ã€ŠHoly Necromancer: Rebirth of the Strongest Mageã€‹


 1 Chapter 1

    "Millions of deaths, destruction, pain, and grief... All because of you..." An emotionless voice fell in the ears of a young man. "You... you should''ve never been born!"

    p A young woman stood before the young man on a battlefield with thousands of bodies littered all around. Blood trickled down her trembling lips as she gazed deep into the eyes of the young man who held the hilt of the sword that had impaled her chest.</anda>

    Even raising her hand was a struggle for the girl, yet she didn''t give up. She raised her hands with great effort, cing them around the throat of Gabriel.

    "I... should''ve... killed... you..." She struggled to speak as her vision started turning blurry. She didn''t even have enough strength to choke the man before her, who didn''t even resist.

    The man simply spoke a few words in response. "You did... Twice..."

    A sad smile crept up the lips of the woman. "Yet you... just refused... to stay dea...d."

    "I can''t die, Maya. Not yet." The young man touched the pale cheeks of thedy who was on herst breath. "I didn''t start this... But I will end it."

    "They will be here soon. You are ying with the Natural Order of this world! Even Gods won''t ignore you now! You can''t escape this time." Maya spoke, gazing deep into the eyes of the young man. "You will..."

    She tried speaking something, but before she could even finish her sentence, her eyes lost their shine, and she slowly fell limp in the man''s arms. She took herst breath in the arms of the man she hated the most in the entire world...

    Gabriel didn''t let Maya''s body fall to the ground. He held her in his arms as he nced at her pale face that once used to be filled with life. Some unexinable emotions flickered through his eyes. "I wish things could''ve been different, Maya."

    He ced the body of the youngdy on the ground carefully in one of the few gaps in the corpse-covered field. "Fate is cruel, isn''t it? When I hadn''t turned to the darkness, I could never tell you my feelings. And when I received this darkness, you refused to listen to my cries for help..."

    Gabriel''s heart felt really heavy. Even though he had prepared for this fated day for a long time where he was going to have the woman he loved and his enemies standing on the same side. Still... When it actually happened, it made him feel the torment once more.

    "But now that I''vee this far... I won''t fall back." He took a deep breath as he stood up, tossing the sword aside, battered and bloodstained as it was, which didn''t belong to him in the first ce. "I won''t let even the Gods stop me."

    Thousands of dark spirits circled around him, protecting him from thousands of zing attacks targeted at him, whether weak or strong, as they barrashed the barrier.

    The entire world was against him. All the mages had joined the war against him, all so they could destroy the one they considered impure. Still, Gabriel didn''t retreat. He didn''t run away. He was prepared to die today if that''s what it took for him to aplish his task.

    The beautiful ck ring that he had been wearing for years on his left hand turned into a speck of Light and flew before him. The speck of ck light increased in size, turning into a beautiful and threatening book with a terrifying aura.

    The pitch-ck book appeared to be something that came from the depth of hell itself, not only from its dark appearance but also from the deathly aura it exuded. All the spirits around Gabriel screeched in excitement and fear at the book''s appearance.

    "The world that refused to let me live... The world that called me the devil just because I awakened the wrong element... The world that destroyed all my hopes and dreams¡­ I don''t ept that world! You want to remove impurity from this world? Let me cleanse the real impurity! Let me make the world anew!"

    Gabriel''s voice kept getting louder and louder until he was literally roaring.

    The book opened on its own as it floated before Gabriel. The pages started turning and only stopped when it was thest page of the Forbidden Book. Thest spell of the Book has been opened, and Gabriel was going to use this spell.

    The ck symbol of Element of Darkness on the back of Gabriel''s right hand shone brightly, in sync with the Forbidden Book.

    For a moment, it was as if the entire world had gone silent as Gabriel started chanting the forbidden spell. The spell was taking a heavy toll on his own body. As he spoke, his body seemed to age every second that went on. He could feel a fragment of his soul being destroyed with each word he spoke, but he didn''t stop. He couldn''t stop!

    The sky started thundering as if it was going crazy at the sphemy. A lightning bolt fell from the sky as if it came straight from the seventh heaven.

    The blinding sh made many people close their eyes. By the time they opened their eyes, they saw a proud figure standing in the distance. All the Mages went down on their knees, stopping all the attacks. A God had arrived in the world of the mortals to stop what was happening!

    "Stop this instant!" the Godmanded Gabriel in his thundering voice that seemed to pierce the heavens as the bolt of lightning had just done, yet Gabriel refused to listen as he kept chanting the forbidden spell.

    He ignored even themands of a real God, preparing for something impossible. He was going to make the entire heaven his enemy!<sub> </sub>

    The world... It was never going to be the same again...

    *****

    *****

    Three years ago~

    "The God of Light has decided! By giving young Gabriel a sign of his blessing, he has graced the young man to be the youngest mage to awaken the element of light at just eighteen years of age!"

    Cheers erupted inside a beautiful yet massive hall as an old man alerted everyone about the news.

    Hundreds of people sat on one knee, facing the white-haired man as a sign of respect. In the entire hall, only two men were standing properly.

    "That''s why the Church of Light has decided to ept Gabriel as a member of the Main Church! He will be our youngest member at just eighteen years of age!"

    The cheers became even louder at the announcement! It was the first time a person from their town was going to be selected as the Mage of Light in the Main Branch of the Church of a Light! This was a massive deal for their town!

    Everyone''s focus shifted to a young man in the lead who was also on one knee. The young man appeared to be only eighteen at the moment.

    The young man appeared to have a beautiful yet innocent smile on his face as he gazed at the back of his left hand. There was a beautiful symbol there... The symbol that had appeared only a few days ago yet was enough to change his life forever.

    Gabriel had just stepped on the cusp of adulthood, and he was already about to join the Church of Light which was the dream of billions of people in the world, including himself.

    There were many elements in the world, but only a rare few awakened the elements to be a mage. And amongst all the Elements, the Element of Light was considered to be the strongest Element.

    The people who hadn''t awakened the element of Light wished to awaken it, while those who awakened with another element were jealous of the destiny of those who got the Element of Light!

    Not only had Gabriel awakened the element of Light, but he was also the youngest to have achieved this feat!

    "Gabriel," The white-bearded man said in amanding yet gentle tone. "Please stand!"

    Gabriel stood up respectfully, following the orders. Only he knew how fast his heart was thumping, but he tried to act asposed as he could.

    He was really nervous and praying that he wouldn''t make any mistakes today. The old man before him wasn''t any ordinary mage of Light after all! He was the Head Priest from the Main Branch of the Church of Light who had arrived here from the Royal City, especially for him.

    The old man stepped closer to Gabriel and ced his hand on the head of the young man. "Tomorrow, we will have your initiation ceremony at seven in the morning. You will be officially epted as a member of the Church of Light. You''ll also receive your Staff and a Guide of Basic Spells. Be here on time."

    Gabriel nodded respectfully. "Yes, High Priest."

    As the High Priest stood near him, he could feel the pure aura of the old man. It felt so powerful! That was the Element of Light, he thought.

    "Good. You can leave." The High Priest turned around and started to leave. "We are done for now."

    Right behind Gabriel in the crowd, there stood a dark-haired man who seemed to be in his early twenties. His face turned dark as he watched the High Priest leave. He couldn''t help but look at the Priest who handled the matters of this small Branch of the Church of Light.

    The middle-aged Priest also seemed somewhat surprised. He ran to the High Priest in haste. "Ah, Your Holiness, about my son... I mentioned him to you. He also awakened with the Element of Light. If you could also¡­."

 Chapter 2 Envy Of The Damned

    The High Priestzily nced back. "Roan, as I told you before, I can''t ept him. Tell your son to get admission to the Royal Academy of Magic and prove himself there. He can join the Church of Light after graduating from the Academy like other Light Mages."

    Hearing the response, Roan became even more nervous. This was about the future of his son, after all. "But Your Holiness, that will take a lot of time. Since you''re already here and epted one member, can''t you make this exception for me? Please ept my son in Church of Light as well."

    The High Priest red at Roan in response. It appeared as if he was starting to get angry.

    "Roan, don''t forget your position. Are you questioning my decision? So what if your son awakened the Element of Light? There are thousands more like him. He is already twenty-three years old. By twenty, almost everyone who has the talent of bing a talented Light Mage awakens the element. By that standard, your son is already below average."

    "Moreover, the only reason I came here is for the kid called Gabriel. There has been no person who awakened with the Element of Light before the age of Neen. Meanwhile, this kid awakened the element before he even turned eighteen properly."

    "He is the most talented Light Mage I''ve seen in my entire life. That''s the only reason for his direct selection into the Church. Don''t think I''ll make that exception for everyone. Next time, don''t even raise that issue with me anymore!"

    The High Priest rolled his eyes before he left the hall to go prepare for the initiation ceremony tomorrow, after which he was going to take Gabriel to the Royal City where the Church of Light was established.

    ? Gabriel stood respectfully, watching the High Priest leave. He couldn''t help but wonder what the High Priest talked with the Priest of this small town. However, it was none of his concern. After the High Priest left, he also started leaving, excited for tomorrow.

    Even though Gabriel attempted to leave the Church, it wasn''t easy for him as there were many people on the way waiting to congratte him.

    Everyone knew that Gabriel was going to be a really powerful mage in the future with his talent. Maybe he could even be the Head Priest one day as well? They all wanted to maintain a good rtionship with him.

    After lots of struggle, Gabriel somehow managed to get out of the Church of Light.

    As he stepped into the sunlight and out of the Church, he breathed a sigh of relief. He gazed at the clear sky as a beautiful smile spread across his slender face.

    He showed the back of his hand toward the sky. "Look, Mom. Your son has made you proud today. I''ve been selected in the Church of Light!"

    Ever since he was young, he had never seen his father. Let alone him, not a single person in this town had seen his father. When his mother shifted to this town eighteen years ago, she was already pregnant with him. Moreover, she never talked about his father.

    In the absence of his father, his mother was his everything. Unfortunately, even his mother left him all alone in this world, dying when he was just five years old.

    Even though Gabriel had lost his mother at an early age, he never felt alone. He always knew that his mother was watching over him from heaven, and he didn''t want to make her sad. Instead, he wanted to make her happy. That''s why he had been working hard to make her dreame true. Today, he believed she must have been really happy.

    "Mother, you always used to say that you wanted me to be the light that illuminates the whole world."

    He gently brushed his fingers on the beautiful symbol of Light which was on the back of his hand as evidence of his awakening. "Look, I''ve taken the first step towards that goal! I wish you were here so I could''ve hugged you today. I''m missing you so much, mother. But don''t worry, I won''t be sad." As he talked, a small tear appeared in his eyes.

    "Gabriel!" A melodious voice came from the distance.

    Gabriel nced back, only to notice ady who appeared to be a few years older than him running towards him.

    "Maya?"

    The beautiful blue-haireddy was wearing a dark blue dress that wrapped her slim figure perfectly.

    "Wait, why are you crying? Wasn''t today supposed to be a good day for you? Don''t tell me something bad happened inside?" Maya instantly turned serious as she saw the tear of Gabriel.

    She had been waiting near the Church for Gabriel since she wasn''t allowed inside. She didn''t see anything that took ce inside.

    "What happened inside?" Gabriel let out a deep sigh, wiping his tear. "They praised me and wished me luck for my academy years."<sub> </sub>

    "What? Only that?" Maya grew stunned as the pitch of her voice became louder. "The Head Priest came all the way from the Royal City only for that? What about the rumors that he was here to ept you in the Church of Light? What happened to that?"

    Gabriel shook his head. "That''s not happening. It was just a rumor apparently."

    While talking, he looked down as if he was really sad.

    "That... D-don''t worry about anything. It''s their loss!" Maya stepped forward and hugged Gabriel tightly. "So what if you can''t join right now? You''re still a prodigy. In the Academy of Elements, you''ll learn lots of things. I''ll take great care of you. I''ve been there for a year, after all. You''ll be the star of the Academy! The Youngest Light Mage!"

    During the hug, Maya felt Gabriel trembling.

    She asked, "Are you crying?"

    Unfortunately, she soon realized that she was wrong. Gabriel wasn''t trembling because he was crying. It was because he was trying really hard to control hisughter.

    Ultimately, Gabriel couldn''t control himself as he burst intoughter. "Hahaha, alright, alright. I ept; I was joking. I was just teasing you! I got selected into the Church of Light. Tomorrow is my initiation ceremony."

    "You!" The beautiful woman puffed her cheeks, unable to believe she was fooled like that. "You Stupid Idiot!"

    She freed Gabriel and raised her hand toward the sky. A beautiful blue formation appeared above her head, and a wooden staff came out of the formation,nding in her hand.

    The two-meter tall staff was an elementary level staff of Element of Water which was the element of Maya. It had a small blue gem at the top to help new mages channel their elements.

    "Hey, hey! Maya, don''t! I''ll get hurt! It''s cheating!" Gabriel waved his hand as he started stepping back. "Maya, stop! I have a ceremony tomorrow!"

    "Water st!" Maya ignored the words of Gabriel as she chanted.

    The blue gem on the staff shone brightly. A massive sphere of water appeared before her out of thin air.

    "Hey, you can''t bully a Mage of Light! Just because you awakened your element before me, you can''t bully me! Wait! Wait! No!"

    "Well, maybe that Mage of Light should''ve thought that before teasing me." Maya shed a grin as the sphere of water shot towards Gabriel.

    Gabriel tried running, but it was toote. The ball of water hit him. Even though it didn''t hurt him, the water drenched him from top to bottom. All his clothes were soaked in water along with his beautiful silver hair, which stuck closer to his body now.

    "Now, you look better." Maya shed a cheeky smile as if she was equal now. "Next time you pull a prank like this, I''ll drench you in three water sts!"

    "Is that so," Gabriel rolled his eyes. "You little bully, just you wait!"

    He started running towards Maya, stretching his arms wide as if he was running towards her to hug her.

    "Wait! No! Stay away! You''ll make my clothes wet! Gabriel, no!" This time, it was Maya''s turn to run as Gabriel ran to her to hug her with his wet body as revenge.

    As the two childhood friends had fun running around, a young man watched everything from a distance. His face was already twisted in anger. His eyes were filled with bloodthirst.

    "This bastard! It''s because of him that I didn''t get a spot! If I can''t get that spot, I''ll make sure no one gets it!" The dark-haired man clenched his fist as he hatched a dark n... Unaware that his one n was going to bring forth a storm.

 Chapter 3 Cant Show Yet Cant Hide

    The Sun had already set, taking its warmth with it, but the surroundings weren''tpletely dark. A beautiful moon had taken the ce of the sun. Instead of the Sunlight, it was the moonlight that the town basked in, preventing the darkness from taking hold.

    All the roads in the small town werepletely vacant. Not a single person could be seen anywhere as the citizens went to thefort of their homes.

    Gabriel sat at the dining table, right beside Maya. A middle-aged man also sat on the other side of the table with his wife, both of whom appeared to have simr features to the youngdy.

    Gabriel''s mother had died when he was just five years old. It was the Aria family who took him in at that troubled time. Even though they didn''t adopt him, they allowed Gabriel to stay with them. He was a part of the family despite being their blood.

    Maya was the only daughter of the Aria family. The two youngsters had spent most of their life together and grew quite close to each other along the way. It was only because of Maya that Gabriel never felt like he was alone in this world. She was always there for him, even when he felt sad or missed his mother. She was his light in the world of loneliness.

    "So Gabriel, you will be going to the Church of Light. You have be a big man now. You''ll have lots of influence. How do you feel?" Maya''s father, Cmus, asked casually before taking a bite from the meat thatid him.

    "I am not sure. It was always my dream to join the Church of Light Magic. I''ve grown up hearing stories about the heroes of light who fought in the Great War against the evil Mages of Darkness centuries ago. The stories of Light that defeated darkness and saved the world. I can''t believe I''ll be one of them now."

    Gabriel could only gaze at his food nkly as he tried to summarize his feelings which wasn''t proving to be easy. Even he didn''t know what he was actually feeling. He was happy, but for some reason, he was also sad.

    "Hey, you can''t give all the credit to the Holy Mages of Light!" Maya chimed in, slightly angry. "If the Mages of the Magic of Water and the other elements hadn''t helped, even the Mages of Light would''ve had a hard time defeating those Demons. I don''t understand why everyone gives credit to only Magicians of Light. It''s as if we don''t exist at all."

    She was a Mage of Water, and she couldn''t ept her element''s contribution being belittled.

    "Of course, the other Elements helped too. I''m not saying they didn''t," Gabriel smiled wryly. "It''s just that... I like the element of Light more... It''s so pure. I don''t know how to describe it, but I''ve always wanted this element, and now I have it. It''s like my dreams areing true one by one, but at the same time, I feel sad as well."

    He gazed at the Symbol of his awakening on the back of his left hand.

    "Sad? Why?" Maya looked at Gabriel, confused. "What''s sad about it? You know how many people would be jealous of you right now? Not everyone gets the opportunity you received."

    "I know. It''s not about that. It''s just that tomorrow, I''ll be a member of the Church of Light. I''ll have to leave this ce. I won''t be able to see any of you for years... Until my trainingpletes."

    "If I had gone to the Academy instead, I could"ve stayed with you all, but not now. It feels like this is ourst dinner together, and that thought makes me sad." Gabriel looked at the te before him. He still hadn''t taken even a single bite.

    "Hey, why are you acting like you''re going to prison?" Maya hit the back of Gabriel''s head lightly. "It''s not like you''re going to die. Stop being such a downer. Of course, you''ll be allowed toe out. We''ll definitely meet again. Don''t think nonsense now. Eat the dinner and focus on the bright future."

    "Only one percent of people wake up an element, and that percentage is even less for Light Mages. The two of us are really lucky. One day, I''ll join the Church of Water. By then, you would be out of your training. We will definitely meet again. And it''ll be a happy reunion," She ced her hand on top of Gabriel''s hands. "It won''t be ourst dinner together, I promise."

    Seeing that beautiful smile of Maya and feeling the warmth of her hand in his hand, Gabriel couldn''t stop himself from being dazed. His heart skipped a beat.

    Even though he had never told anyone, he had fallen for Maya a long time ago, but he could only keep his feelings hidden. He wasn''t brave enough to tell her yet.

    "You''re right. One day, we will meet again, and it''ll be a happy day." Gabriel agreed. "I''ll be a Holy Priest of the Church of Light, and you''ll be the Priestess of the Church of Water."

    He gazed into the beautiful eyes of Maya momentarily. ''I promise, that will be the day I tell you my true feelings. Once I be something significant and not someone who is a burden to your family, I wille clear. That day... I don''t know what your answer will be. I''m already scared...''

    To distract himself from such depressing thoughts about the future, he finally touched his te and started eating as well.

    As much as Gabriel thought himself to be, the truth was that he wasn''t that good at keeping secrets. The parents of Maya had already realized his feelings that he held for their only daughter.

    Unlike their stupid daughter, who hadn''t realized it, they had realized it long ago. They could see that love in the eyes of Gabriel clearly. They were happy as well. Gabriel was a prodigy of the Holy Element of Light after all.

    They knew that he was undoubtedly going to be a big shot in the Church of Light. If their daughter married him in the future, she was going to be really lucky. Even the King couldn''t offend the Church of Light after all! Their influence was just too much!

    Even though the Aria family epted this rtionship, they didn''t want to interfere in it. They wanted to let it take its own course. They didn''t want their daughter to feel like they were forcing her. Inside their hearts, they were both wishing Gabriel great luck.

    After finishing dinner, the middle-aged couple left, leaving Gabriel alone with their daughter.

    After a long time, Gabriel also finished his Dinner. He picked up the empty tes and started clearing the table while Maya waited for him on the table.<sub> </sub>

    After he had ced the tes in the sink, he returned to Maya. "Shall we go outside for a little fresh air?"

    "Sure." Maya stood up and followed Gabriel out of the house.

    Adder was standing with the support of the wall outside the house. Since none of them could fly, they could only use thedder to go to the roof. Gabriel let Maya take the lead on thedder and went up after her.

    Reaching the roof, the two sat right beside each other, facing the beautiful moon as their shoulders touched.

    "This is thest night of mine here, and the moon looks so beautiful. I don''t want this night to end." Gabriel gazed at the beautiful moon that was shining brightly.

    "The moon looks beautiful indeed," Maya agreed. "I don''t know why; it looks even more beautiful than it does normally."

    For a few minutes, no one spoke anything. Only silence remained.

    The scary silence was broken by Gabriel. "Maya?"

    "Yeah?"

    Gabriel turned to the side, focusing on Maya. "How does it feel when you use a spell and your element? I''ve never done it before. What does it feel like?"

    Even though he was genuinely curious about this question, it was also subconsciously an attempt for him to have a reason to look at Maya since it was unclear when he was going to see her next. He could see the moon anytime he wanted in the future, not her. Moreover, for him, Maya was even prettier in the moonlight than the moon itself

    "It feels amazing. It is really hard to describe it in words, but it feels like you''re doing something that you were... meant to do," Maya tried to exin the best she could.

    "You''ll soon learn to use spells as well. I heard the Holy Element of Light has some really amazing spells. The light mages are the elites of the academy after all; even though I''ve never seen them use their spell, I''ve heard some stories."

    The two sat on the roof, talking for hours as Maya talked about her experience in the academy.

    It was only when she started feeling thirsty that she stopped. "It should be midnight already. We''ve been talking here for so long. We should go back and get some sleep."

    "It''s alright; you can go ahead first. I''ll stay here for a few more minutes," Gabriel responded.

    "Are you sure?"

    "Yep. I don''t feel like sleeping so early."

    "I won''t force you if you don''t want to sleep but still, don''t stay up too long." Maya stood up. She was so thirsty and sleepy that even if she wanted to keep Gabrielpany, she couldn''t. "You know you have to be at church early in the morning. Get some sleep when you''re done."

    "Yes, boss." Gabriel chuckled in response.

    Maya simply rolled her eyes. She went down the roof and entered the house after bidding farewell to Gabriel.

    Even as Maya left, Gabriel was still sitting on the roof, gazing at the moon. "I''m really nervous about tomorrow. I don''t know why, but I have a bad feeling. I''m overthinking, right Mother? I hope I don''t screw something up tomorrow."

    "You won''t screw up tomorrow. Because your tomorrow will nevere...." Came a cold voice from the back, stunning Gabriel. Before Gabriel could turn to see who had spoken, something hard smacked the back of his skull.

    It was as if someone had hit him with a wooden bat. His head started bleeding, and his vision started getting blurry. He dropped to the roof. His eyes soon closed.

    Thest thing Gabriel heard before everything turned dark for him were a few cold words, "Man, I thought that girl was never going to leave. Fortunately, she did."

    Even as he lost consciousness, he didn''t know who could''ve hit him from the back...

 Chapter 4 Faults That Are Not...

    After an unknown amount of time passed, Gabriel slowly started regaining his senses. He could feel that he wasn''t on the roof anymore. He was lying on some rough terrain.

    His head was thumping from pain as if it was about to explode. It was still hurting badly, but he had more things to worry about. Just who had hit him? Why would someone do it? Many questions floated in his head as he opened his eyes.

    Initially, his vision was still blurry, but it soon cleared.

    "Oh, it seems our young friend is up. That''s good. Now he can see with his own eyes." An emotionless voice fell in Gabriel''s ears.

    He weakly pushed his body up with one hand and pressed the back of his head with the other.

    He recognized that voice right away.  It belonged to Hawrin, who was the son of the Town Priest. However, as he looked ahead, Gabriel could see that Hawrin wasn''t alone. There was another man with him who was in his mid-twenties.

    Gabriel recognized that man as well. "Hawrin, Javin, what are you two doing?"

    He had seen the other man previously. He was the Elder brother of Hawrin, who was selected in the Academy of Elements since he had awakened the element of Wind. No wonder these people were able to get to him without alerting him. The Mages of Wind could fly after all. They didn''t need to use the stairs.

    Gabriel observed his surroundings briefly. As soon as he realized where he was, he felt even worse. This ce... He was sitting right at the edge of a cliff.

    "What am I doing here?" Javin asked, cackling. "I came back to the town because I was told that my little brother was going to be selected in Holy Church of Light, but you took that opportunity from him. You think you can live after stealing something from my brother?"

    "After today, you won''t be able to steal anything from anyone. You''ll have to be alive to do that!"

    "I didn''t snatch anything from anyone! Ask the Head Priest if you want to be selected! I don''t have control over who is selected and who isn''t. Don''t make this mistake. When someone finds out, you''ll be punished heavily!"

    Gabriel stood up, trying to convince the others to let him leave. "I promise I won''t tell anyone if you let me leave. No one will know what happened here. We still have time to correct the mistakes!"

    "Well, you''re right. This is certainly a crime, and if the Head Priest of Church of Light finds out, we would be killed for attempting to kill his precious disciple." Hawrin agreed. He gazed at his older brother. "He''s right. Let''s leave him, brother. We should stop. I''m really scared now."

    He acted really scared as he talked about freeing Gabriel, but his act didn''tst long as he soon burst intoughter.

    "You idiot, you really thought I would say something like this if you threatened me? You''re right. If someone finds out, we''ll be in trouble, but who will find out? No one is here, and no one saw us bring you here! Moreover, Why do you think we brought you to this cliff? Even your body won''t be found if we ditch it here!"

    " We can kill you here, and not even gods are going to find out! Today, let me reduce the burden on our world." Hawrin stepped closer to Gabriel with firm steps.

    Gabriel stepped back only to realize he didn''t have any room. He was already standing at the edge. One more step back, and he was going to fall off the cliff.

    "Brother, can you help me a bit? This boy took so much from me. I don''t want him to die in an ident. I want to be the one to kill him personally!"

    "Sure."

    Javin shed a big grin as he raised his hand. A beautiful yellow formation appeared above his hand. A staff came out of the formation, having a beautiful yellow crystal embedded on top.

    "Chains of Restrictions!" he chanted, pointing the staff towards Gabriel.

    As soon as the spell was chanted, Gabriel felt as if an invisible chain had wrapped around his arms and his feet, trapping him in his ce. He couldn''t even move his hands and feet. He couldn''t do anything.

    Gabriel fiercely struggled to free himself from the restriction. "Don''t kill me. I need to live! I need to meet the Head Priest tomorrow! I need to fulfill the dreams of my mother! You can''t kill me!"

    His dream of joining the Church of Light wasn''t a dream of his own. It was also a dream of his mother, who had failed to achieve it. She had once told him about it, and it was at that point that he decided that he was going to fulfill her dream through him. He had never told this to anyone before. Unfortunately, his pleas for mercy only fell on deaf ears.

    "Oh, dream of your mother? Should I really care for that? Since you''re a dog, your mother must be a... Hahaha, you really think I would care for a bi*ch''s dream? I only care about my own dream, and you broke it. Now it''s time I break you and your dream."

    "If you said one word about my mother, I''ll kill you!" Gabriel roared without thinking as he heard the cold words of Hawrin about his mother. His mother was already dead, and she was being insulted right before his eyes. He lost all his senses at that moment.

    Hawrinughed out even louder as he ced the tip of the knife on the chest of Gabriel, who couldn''t free himself.

    "You dog, you think you can survive tonight, let alone kill me? Your life is mine tonight! I''m your master, and you''re my pet. And I''ve decided that I don''t need this pet anymore, so you can die in peace. Say hi to that bi*ch mother of yours in hell. Tell her I sent you."<sub> </sub>

    Since Hawrin was so infuriated at Gabriel for taking his spot, he really enjoyed tormenting him. As soon as he noticed that Gabriel''s mother was his soft spot, he intentionally talked bad about his mother.

    Thrust~

    Before Gabriel could respond, he thrust the knife, impaling the heart of Gabriel.

    The cold de prated the skin of Gabriel, entering his heart.

    Gabriel watched his dreams and hopes being crushed right before his eyes, and the pain of that was much worse for him than the pain of being stabbed.

    A pained scream escaped the lips of Gabriel even though he tried to prevent it. He didn''t want to give the satisfaction of watching him scream to Hawrin.

    Hawrin didn''t stop after stabbing Gabriel once either. He pulled out the knife and stabbed Gabriel again and again and again as heughed like a maniac. Along the way, he didn''t forget to twist his knife as Gabriel bled heavily.

    "That''s enough. He''s already dead." Ultimately Javin chimed in, reminding his brother that the young man was already dead.

    Gabriel''s painful screams had stopped. His eyes were already closed by now as a tear droplet trickled down his cheeks. He had died long ago. His clothes were already covered in blood, just like the knife in Hawrin''s hands.

    "Hah, the bastard died faster than I thought." Hawrin finally came to his senses, letting out a sigh. "You can free him."

    <o>,m Javin canceled his spell. The wind chains disappeared, freeing Gabriel''s lifeless body from the restrictions.</o>

    Gabriel''s limp body started falling weakly to the ground, but Hawrin wasn''t even going to allow that to happen.

    "Don''t spoil our precious cliff with your blood." Heughed as he kicked Gabriel.

    His kicknded right on the bleeding chest of Gabriel on the same spot where he was stabbed many times. Gabriel''s body flew back, falling off the thousand-meter-high cliff...

    Hawrin watched Gabriel fall with a wide grin on his face. He stretched his arms as he let out a yawn. "I feel so refreshed now. Thanks, brother, for helping me."

    "Don''t worry about it. As your brother, it''s my duty to help you out." The older brother ruffled the hair of your young brother with love and care. "I''ll do the same even at the academy for you. Anyway, we need to get back now. It''s already two. If anyone finds out we were out sote; people will be suspicious."

    "We can''t let anyone know. The High Priest of Light is still in the vige. If he finds out, our death would be made a royal spectacle." Javin turned his back on the cliff.

    "Right. I''ming." Hawrin nced off the cliff onest time before following his older brother.

    The Cliff returned to the silence as the two brothers left, but it was just the silence before the storm...

    A body fell off the cliff, falling t on the ground. A puddle of blood appeared around the body, which was in a really bad condition. Most of the bones of Gabriel were broken, and his skull was cracked from the fall. His hands were twisted in a position that shouldn''t have been possible.

    However, something strange also started taking ce at that time.

    A thin stream of blood left the puddle of blood and started moving away from the body on its own. It was a really strange event since the bloodstream wasn''t following gravity. It was climbing upward, leaving a trail behind.

    Barely a meter away from the body was a book... A pitch-ck book that appeared to be covered in dust. The book appeared as if it wasn''t used in centuries. There were some strange symbols on the cover of the book which were hard to read.

    The blood of Gabriel kept moving toward the book, leaving a red trail behind.

    As soon as the blood touched the book, the book seemed toe to life. It started changing. The Book, which appeared to be old until recently, became utterly new as a beautiful ck light surrounded it.

    The book wasn''t the only thing that was changing. Through the steam of blood, a bond was established between the lifeless body and the mysterious book.

    The wounds of the body also started healing slowly... The heavy wounds... They were healing as if they were nothing. The body also started floating in the air as the healing of bones began.

    The body, which was lying lifeless, was going through another change. On the back of the left hand of Gabriel, there was a symbol of the Element of Light, while the right hand used to be empty. Not anymore... On the back of his right hand, a new symbol appeared, which was pitch ck...

 Chapter 5 Life After Death

    Gabriel was stabbed in the chest many times before being tossed off a cliff. Unfortunately, he had died before he was even tossed. Even as he was being stabbed, again and again, his vision turned dark, and his breathing stopped entirely.

    The entire world turned dark for Gabriel... He never expected to see the moon''s beauty again... He couldn''t see Maya ever... He was going to leave this world.

    Even as he died, there was only one thought in his head. It was how his words hade true. He had spoken about this being theirst dinner together. Those words couldn''t be truer since this was hisst day on earth, or so he thought.

    The world, which had turned dark again, started gaining some light. All the pain was gone as well. Gabriel opened his eyes, noticing he was at the bottom of the cliff.

    However, as he gazed down, his expression changed. He could see his dead body lying in the distance in his own blood.

    He raised his hands, noticing they were see-through now.

    "I am a spirit..." He said, soon realizing what had happened. His dead body was right before his eyes. If he was looking at it, that could only mean he was dead.

    He noticed a stream of his blood moving toward a ck book in the distance. Curious, he tried stepping closer to the book to see what it was, only to be forced back by some mysterious force. It was as if there was some Mysterious Barrier around the book which prevented him from closing in.

    At the same time, he heard some strange noisesing from the back, breaking the eternal silence of this ce.

    He slowly turned around, wondering if there was another person there. Unfortunately, it wasn''t a person who stood behind him.

    As soon as he turned back, Gabriel noticed a ghastly figure that appeared to be made purely of Darkness. It was like a hooded figure which had no face at all.

    The strange Spector was holding a pitch-ck scythe in his hand, observing the Spirit of Gabriel.

    Gabriel couldn''t help but take a step back in fear as soon as he saw the figure. It was like the Grim Reaper had arrived to take his spirit back to theher.

    The Spector floated closer and closer to Gabriel, carrying his scythe. Before long, Gabriel found his movement to be restricted again. He couldn''t move anymore. Instead, it was as if something was pulling his body toward the Spector.

    As the Dark Spector reached within arm''s reach of Gabriel, it raised its scythe and swung it.

    Gabriel closed his eyes, horrified. Unfortunately, even as he waited for the tormenting pain of his soul being destroyed, nothing happened.

    The link between him and the book waspleted through the blood bond. Heavy winds started flowing as soon as the bond waspleted.

    p The Spector turned to the pitch-ck book before turning to the Spirit of Gabriel. It slowly disappeared as if it was never there.</anda>

    Gabriel waited for a few seconds for his head to be sliced, but nothing happened. He slowly opened his eyes, only to find the Spector was nowhere to be seen.

    Abruptly, his body started being pulled back by some Mysterious Force.

    He turned around in fear, believing the Dark Spector was behind him. Unfortunately, that wasn''t the case either. His body wasn''t being pulled by any Spector. Instead, his body was being pulled toward his body.

    He didn''t know what was happening, but he trusted his gut feeling and stopped resisting. His spirit was pulled back into his body.<sub> </sub>

    ****

    An unknown amount of time had passed before Gabriel finally made some movement. If there were anyone else here, they would''ve been horrified to see a dead person move, who was stabbed multiple times in the chest and was tossed a thousand meters off a cliff.

    Anyone would''ve been long dead by now, so it seems absurd, even the thought that someone could''ve survived the fall.

    The bright sun had started rising in the sky, filling the world with much-needed warmth and light.

    As the light fell on the body of Gabriel, it revealed a wonderful young man who seemed like he was sleeping peacefully. There was no wound on his body. If his bloodied clothes were to be ignored, no one could have guessed that he was ever hurt, let alone killed.

    The only difference he had nowpared to before was that he seemed a little paler now.

    Gabriel came to his senses. His headache was gone. He could also feel his body perfectly fine.  There was no pain anywhere. Gentle winds brushed against his skin.

    "Was I dreaming everything?" He slowly opened his eyes, giving his blurry vision a chance to recover.

    Unfortunately, he didn''t even need topletely open his eyes to realize that this wasn''t a dream. If it were a dream, he would''ve been on his soft bed right now, but he could feel some stones stabbing against his body. He was on a rough surface.

    Opening his eyes, he noticed the top of the cliff. He remembered everything and realized it wasn''t a dream. He was actually killed and tossed off a cliff. "Did that mean the Dark Spector I saw was also...?"

    "How am I still alive then?"  He observed his chest and saw the holes in his shirt, but there was not a single wound on his body.

    To hide his eyes from the direct sunlight, he raised his right hand and tried to give some cover to his eyes. However, as he did that, the back of his right hand came into his view, surprising him.

    He could see a strange new mark on the back of his hand. It was the mark of two ck scythes, making a cross. Even though he didn''t understand what this mark implied significantly, the dark color of the mark was evident of what element it was.

    "I''ve seen the Dark Element Markings in the books. This isn''t how they look. But the color... It''s undoubtedly ck. What..."

    He observed his left hand. His old Symbol of the Holy Element of Light was still there. "Impossible! Two elements? Light and Darkness? This doesn''t make sense. Light and Darkness are even more conflicting than water and fire! Moreover, no one has two Elements, as far as I know! So how is this possible?"

    He also appeared somewhat disappointed. If there were anyone who had awakened two elements, they would''ve been ecstatic. Even he would''ve been happy if the second Element was anything other than the Element of Darkness.

    The ones who awakened the Element of Darkness were said to be the ones selected by the Devil himself to bring ruin to the world. They were hated all over the world. The Churches of Elements joined hands to destroy the Church of Dark Magic centuries ago, and since then, the Dark Magicians were hunted openly whenever one was discovered.

    The Church of Holy Light also awarded citizens massively if they gave them the information about Dark Mages! This Element! It was a nightmare for him.

    He couldn''t believe he had awakened the dark element that was hated all around the world! If someone found out, he was going to be killed... Again.

    Moreover, with this Element, even if he went to someone and told them what was done to him at night, not only were people not going to believe him, but they were also going to try to kill him if they saw his new Element!

    " Both these Elements are contradictory to each other! How can they both exist with the same person? And why me?"

 Chapter 6 Forbidden Book Of Necromancy

    He pushed his body up and stood. There were thousands of questions in his head, but he had answers to none. The only thing he knew was that he was in trouble, and he also knew whose fault it was.

    Because of the Element of Darkness, he couldn''t go to the Church of Light. The High Priest was going to kill him at sight, calling him an abomination! Even if he tried to hide this marking, he was sure that the High Priest of Light could sense it.

    His dream of bing a Holy Mage of Light... It was forever broken with no chance of evering true. At the same time, instead of bing the light that was appreciated by everyone, he became the darkness that was hated by the whole world!

    His head had started spinning due to stress. He didn''t know what to do. What could he even do? Was there anything that could solve his problem? He didn''t know anything.

    His breathing slightly fastened as he started walking back and forth.

    "I will be forced to hide my existence if I don''t want to be killed by the Church of Light. All because of those two! They ruined my entire life... They took everything I held dear and made me this... this Cursed creature!" He looked at the dark mark on his right hand.

    He paced back and forth for a few minutes beforeing up with an idea.

    His eyes lit up. "Wait! That''s right. I still have the Symbol of Light! If I keep my Symbol of Darkness hidden, maybe... Maybe I can fool the others? The High Priest will obviously find my identity if I go before him, but the vigers won''t. If I wait for the High Priest to leave, I might be able to enter the vige without being caught. And then those two bastards..."

    "Still, my life is mostly over now. No matter what I do. Because of Darkness, I can''t go to the Church of Light to learn spells. I don''t have the staff of Magic of Light either. At the same time, there is no Church of Darkness to give me their spells. Despite having two elements, I can''t use any. I... I might be the first person to have two elements yet can''t use even one."

    "It is all because of those two. I will make them pay!"

    Even though he didn''t know how to do it or use spells, he made a promise to himself. He couldn''t let his murderers roam freely after killing him. But first, he needed to leave this ce. He had a mountain to climb to get back to the vige.

    Just as he started leaving, he remembered something else that he had forgotten entirely.

    "The strange Book!" He eximed as he remembered what he had seen when he was in his spiritual form.

    He abruptly stopped and started looking for the book, which wasn''t lying too far from him.

    He stepped closer to the book, wondering if this book was actually what he thought it to be? The Book of Dark Spells?

    He reached out his hand toward the book, bending forward. As soon as his fingers touched the book, he felt a strange sensation inside his body. It was as if he had met a long-lost friend. The feeling was so surreal that, for a moment, he thought he was in heaven.

    After he picked up the book with his right hand, he ced his left hand on it to hold the book with both hands.

    "Argh!"<sub> </sub>

    As soon as his left hand touched the book, the white symbol of Holy Light in his left hand shone brightly. Gabriel felt as if his left hand was on fire. He immediately removed his left hand, letting the book fall to the ground.

    As soon as he freed the book, his pain subsided. He thought for a few moments before picking up the book again, but this time, he only held the book with his right hand.

    "Strange. If it''s an ordinary book of spells, why can''t I hold it with my other hand? I know Elemental Mages can''t hold the Grimoires of other elements, but they have no problem holding Basic Spell books. If this was an ordinary spell book, I should''ve been fine holding it even with my left hand. Could it be a... Grimoire? Impossible! It can''t be the Holy Book of a Church of Darkness!"

    It was said that an Elemental Mage could hold the Spell Books of Other Elements if he wanted. The only book that an Elemental Mage couldn''t touch without hurting himself was the Grimoire of other Elements!

    Each Element only had one Grimoire, and it was called the Holy Book for that Element! Each of those Grimoires were kept in the Church of that Element inplete security. Only the Head of the Church of that Element was allowed to use the Holy Book.

    "This is the Holy Book of the Church of Darkness? How is this possible?"

    Gabriel was freaking out at the thought that he could be holding the Holy Book of Church of Darkness! If that was the case, this book should''ve been kept with their strongest and Highest Ranking member! A Holy Book was different from other ordinary spell books, after all. They were also called the Forbidden Books!

    For a moment, he had forgotten that the Church of Darkness waspletely destroyed. It didn''t have a Head of Church anymore. Moreover, in the destruction and the terrifying battle, thest Head of the Church of Darkness was killed.

    It was only after he remembered it that he realized. "The Church of Darkness was destroyed in thest war, and everyone was killed. Even then, how did the book end up here? The War happened far away from this ce. This book couldn''t have traveled here alone? What is it doing here?"

    Since he couldn''t hold the book with both hands, he ced the book on the ground. He needed to use his right hand to turn pages. He wanted to see what was inside.

    He was going to take his first step on the journey of Darkness.

    Gabriel opened the cover and looked at the first page of the book. Fortunately, he was able to read it properly since he was a mage of Darkness now.

    A spell book of one element could only be read by a member of that element. If he didn''t have the Dark Element, he couldn''t have touched the holy book of Darkness at all.

    To a person who didn''t possess that element, the spells only looked like a jumbled mess of strange characters thrown in together, but for him, the words were no different than themonnguage he was used to reading. That was the advantage of sharing the element.

    On the first page of the book, there were only a few words written in bold letters.

    On top of the page, there was a symbol of two ck scythes, making a cross which was the same as the one which was on his right hand. Under the symbol, there were four words written.

    "Forbidden Book of Necromancy."

 Chapter 7 Banished

    "Forbidden Book of Necromancy?" Gabriel repeated the name. Just the name of the book was powerful enough. However, he didn''t remember ever hearing about Necromancy.

    All the Holy Books that he had heard about were rted to Elements; for example, the book of Light was named the Holy Book of Light. For Thunder, there was the Holy Book of Lightning. If the book before him was actually the Holy Book of Darkness, it should''ve been called Holy Book of Darkness or even Forbidden Book of Darkness!

    As far as Gabriel could remember, there was no element of Necromancy? Or was there? Even he doubted his knowledge at this point. There was a mark of Darkness on his right hand, which didn''t match the Mark of Darkness he knew from the books. There was a Book before him that should''ve been the Holy Book of Darkness, yet it had a name that he had never heard before?

    He turned the page to the second page, which had a brief description of Necromancy.

    As Gabriel went through the description to understand what it was, his expressions twisted.

    "The Art of using Undead and Souls? This doesn''t sound so good. If someone finds it, I can use undead and Spirits; I would be an even bigger enemy of the world than I already am! Could this be the reason why the Church of Darkness was destroyed?"

    "They were using Undead? But why did the Holy Church of Light hide that information from everyone? Why is there nothing about this in the history books?"

    Initially, Gabriel was worried about waking up the element of Darkness, but only now he understood that it was just the start of his problems. The Dark Mages were already considered the Devils! If someone found out he could use the Undead, he was going to be damned for all eternity!

    Gabriel turned the book''s page and started going through it to understand the book more. No matter what he thought about the book and Necromancy, he knew that this was his only way. He needed to learn Necromancy. Now he couldn''t learn the Spells of Holy Elements of Light since no Church of Light was going to allow him an entry.

    He needed something to protect himself! He needed spells. Since he couldn''t use the Holy Light, he was going to use the Damned Darkness and learn it, so he didn''t end up in the same situation as he did before!

    He kept turning the pages, bing more confused as time passed.

    "Strange... There are so many pages, but only the first two pages after the description have a spell on them. The rest of the pages are empty. And even the two spells that are there... They don''t seem to be high-ranking spells. Could it be that I was really overthinking? This isn''t the Holy Book of Church of Darkness but a copy that only has a few spells?"

    "But if that was the case, I shouldn''t have felt the burn when touching it with my left hand? Nothing makes sense! Am I going crazy?!"

    Gabriel held his head which had started aching now. He took a moment to calm himself as he stood up and started walking around the dark book, trying to calm his head.

    Only after a few minutes did he sit before the book once again. He was mentally prepared!

    Gabriel repeatedly went through the two spells, trying to memorize and understand how to use them. Since he had no spells of Holy Light, he had nothing to protect himself with the next time he faced enemies. For his own protection, he knew it was absolutely necessary for him to learn the dark spells. It was better than nothing.

    After spending two hours with the two spells, he finally finished memorizing them entirely. He had memorized the method to use those spells.

    "I hope I won''t ever need to use these spells. The day I use them, everyone will know what I am now. But do I really need to worry about that? I''ll be carrying this massive book with me. Isn''t it like holding a massive sign saying I''m a Dark Mage?" Gabriel scratched the back of his neck, trying to think where he could hide the book.

    He couldn''t leave the book behind. He needed to keep the book with him, but that also was troublesome.

    As if understanding what Gabriel was thinking, the ck book started rising in the air on its own. The Forbidden Book of Necromancy floated before Gabriel.

    Right before Gabriel''s eyes, the thick book turned into a speck of ck light that wrapped around his right hand''s ring finger, ultimately turning into a pitch-ck ring with a beautiful crown in the middle.

    "Ring? Did this book just... read my thoughts?!" Gabriel stared at the ring on his finger nkly. "Now, how do I get the book back from the ring?"

    "Be a Grimoire again," hemanded, raising his right hand as if to test.

    As if listening to hismands again, the ring once again turned to a speck of ck light which became the book of Necromancy again. The Book floated before Gabriel.

    "This... This is amazing! I don''t even need to hold you, do I? As long as you''re in the form of a ring, no one will know a thing! This is perfect!" Gabriel eximed in excitement as one of his problems was solved.

    In his mind, he thought about opening the second page. He wanted to see what more could the book do since he didn''t need to hold it. He decided to test if it could actually work based on his thoughts.

    As soon as he thought, the book opened and went to the second page.

    "This is fascinating! You might not be a Holy Book, but you''re certainly not an ordinary book either. I don''t know what you are, but thank you foring into my life. I know you brought me back to life, didn''t you? Without you, I would''ve been dead."

    ? "Even though I don''t like the fact that I''m a Dark Mage now, it''s not your fault. You just saved my life and probably needed to awaken the second element for that. I won''t me you." Gabriel touched the Dark Book gently as if only this book could understand his pain at this moment.

    "The only ones I can me are back at the vige. And with your help, I''m sure we will have some sweet fun with them." shing a subtle smirk, Gabriel looked at the bright sky.

    Even though he did not like what he had be, he couldn''t deny that the strength of a Dark Mage was certainly very high. It took all the Elements to fight the Element of Darkness. And so what if he had a Dark Element? He knew he wasn''t a devil! He was still the same Gabriel that he had always been!<sub> </sub>

    Just because he gained an element, he didn''t change as a person. On the inside, he was still the same. He was sure that Maya was going to understand even if she found out. She was going to be his support in this dark time, or so he thought.

    The Forbidden Book of Necromancy once again turned into a beautiful ck ring that appeared in the right hand of Gabriel.

    "Wait... What about the Staff of Magic? The Staff of Dark Magic isn''t sold anymore, even the most basic ones. And without the staff, I can''t even draw out even ten percent of the strength of a spell, no matter how weak the spell may be."

    Even though he realized the problem that was limiting him, he knew there was nothing he could do. The Church of Darkness was destroyed a long time ago, and all the Dark Mages were killed.

    Everything rted to them was banned, and all the spell books of Church of Darkness were destroyed. There was no way he could get a staff that supported the Element of Darkness.

    "If only I had received a Magical Staff with the book..." He let out a tired sigh, observing his ring. "I can''t demand too much from you. I''m alive; that''s already enough. So what if it''s just ten percent of a spell''s strength? Still a Spell! It''s better than nothing!"

    Despiteing to terms withcking a staff, he still searched all around, trying to see if his luck was good enough for him to find a staff here as well.

    Unfortunately, no matter how much he searched, he couldn''t find any staff. With disappointment on his face, he could only leave the ce. He took off his blood-covered shirt and left it behind, leaving bare-chested.

    Along the way, he stopped by a river and wiped his body, leaving no traces of blood. He also used a small piece of clothes he had found along the way, wrapping it around his right hand to try to hide his Dark Symbol as he advanced back to the small town of his.

    ****

    While Gabriel walked bare feet, trying to get back to his town, there were people in the small town, still waiting for them.

    The Head Priest sat in the main hall, waiting for the arrival of Gabriel, who was supposed to arrive early morning. Unfortunately, it was already afternoon now.

    The people of the Church tried to find Gabriel in the entire vige, but he was nowhere to be seen. The people from the Church asked the Aria family about Gabriel.

    They discovered that Maya was thest person who had seen Gabriel at around midnight. Maya described her interaction with Gabriel about how he was excited about tomorrow but also nervous and slightly scared.

    Her testimony made everyone feel that maybe Gabriel was actually scared since he was too young to join the Church, and he ran away. That was the only reason why he wasn''t here. They hadn''t even considered the possibility that someone might''ve tried to kill Gabriel!

    Gabriel was someone that even the Head Priest from the Holy Church of Light desired. Only an idiot could''ve tried to kill Gabriel. That''s why they didn''t consider that possibility.

    Even the Town Priest agreed that it might be the reason. Despite everything, the High Priest waited for Gabriel until the evening. It was only in the evening that he gave up.

    "What a pity. He had talent but not the mindset needed to cultivate the talent." As soon as the clock hit five, the Head Priest stood up.  "I guess we were too hasty in offering him a position. Not only did he run away, but he also insulted us by refusing this position without evening face to face. That idiot."

    "Just because he has some talent, he thinks he can act like this?! Talent without the right mindset is nothing but a fickle word!"

    The Head Priest had never felt such an insult. He hade all the way to this small town from the Royal City to bring a kid with him, and that kid refused. If the other Churches heard of it, they were going tough! He was really furious.

    With a red face, the old man departed. However, before leaving, he didn''t forget to make one deration.

    "That boy insulted the Holy Church of Light! He isn''t worthy! I hereby banish him. He would not be allowed an entry into any branch of the Holy Church of Light or even the Academy of Elements!"

    After his deration, the High Priest left the small Church of Light branch in the town.

    Standing at the entrance of the Church, he raised his right hand. A wooden staff shot out of the formation that appeared above his hand.

    The staff had a beautiful white crystal on top of it, which was much bigger than the crystal in the staff of Maya and Javin! A bigger crystal could utilize more elemental energy of a spell from nature.

    "Wings of Light!" The old manmanded.

    Two beautiful white wings appeared behind his back, made from the purest energy of light. His body started rising in the air as he flew away like an angel, amazing everyone in the town.

    "The Strength of Light..." Hawrin muttered, watching the High Priest leave. "One day, I''ll be able to do it as well."

    "You sure will." Javin ruffled the hair of his brother. He made sure that no one was near him before he continued, "However, that poor old man... He doesn''t even know what actually happened here. He banished the poor guy. Someone who is already dead, how will banishment work on him?"

    Hawrin started tough as he agreed. "No matter how talented he may have been, I will still achieve more than him in this life!"

 Chapter 8 No Way Back!

    A young man who had just turned eighteen walked on empty roads, advancing towards his town. As carriages went past him, people gave him weird gazes as he waspletely topless, appearing like a beggar.

    There was a small strip of cloth which was wrapped on his right hand, hiding the ck mark of awakening. A beautiful ring graced his finger.

    After two hours of restless walking, Gabriel finally reached the entrance of the town. He could see only a rare few people in the streets. Most of them had already gone back home by now.

    Gabriel avoided the path which went through the church entrance and took a separate path. He wasn''t sure if the Head Priest had left already or not. He didn''t want to meet him by ident at the moment.

    Along the way, he stopped a middle-aged man and asked him if the Head Priest was gone.

    The middle-aged man who was fawning over him respectfully until yesterday looked at Gabriel withplete contempt now. Gabriel was already banished from the Church of Light and the academy, and this news had spread through the entire town. Almost everyone had lost their respect for him.

    His present was destroyed, and now he had no future either. The man didn''t feel the need to be respectful anymore. No matter how talented Gabriel was, his future was going to be tainted now.

    "You are toote. The High Priest left a few hours ago. And he also banished you from the Church of Light for you blowing him off. You''ve also been banished from the Academy of Elements. Now you''re nothing." The manzily stated before he left. He didn''t want to talk to the kid more than he had to.

    "He banished me from the Church of Light?" Gabriel repeated, letting out a deep sigh. He gazed at his ck ring. "Not as if I could''ve joined the Church of Light if he hadn''t. But being banned from the academy does hurt. I thought I could''ve joined it without being caught."

    He was really disappointed with what he heard. However, overall, he was somewhat relieved. He believed there was only one person in the town who could find his secret here, and that man had gone. He could rx at home for a little while as he tried toe up with a n for his future.

    As for Hawrin and Jarvin, he hadn''t forgotten them either. He just didn''t have the strength to do anything now as he had been walking since morning. For now, he needed some rest and something to eat. He hadn''t eaten anything all day. He went straight home.

    Reaching the entrance of his house, Gabriel was just about to knock on the door when a shocked voice came from the back.

    "Gabriel! There you are! Where had you gone?! And why are you topless?"

    Gabriel could recognize that voice even in his dreams. This voice was his light in the darkness. It was the voice of Maya.

    Gabriel looked back. "Maya, it''s you."

    Before the youngdy, he was really rxed. She was the only one he could trust. He ran straight to her and hugged her tightly. "I''m so d it''s you. Open the door right now. I need to get inside."

    "What happened? You idiot, so what if you were nervous about the selection? Did you really need to run away and hide? You''ve been banned by the High Priest of Light now. Don''t worry though; I think you can still talk to him and ask for forgiveness. Juste up with a nice excuse. Don''t worry about the future. Things aren''t that bad yet." Maya patted the head of Gabriel as she hugged him back.

    "That''s not what I''m worried about. I don''t care about the Church of Light anymore. My life... It''s in shambles. If someone finds out what had happened, I''ll be killed without a chance to exin. Let''s get inside the house. I''ll tell you everything." Gabriel held the hand of Maya and started pulling her toward the house.

    "What are you talking about? Why will you be killed? Who will kill you? They''ll have to go through me first." Maya tried to calm Gabriel, knowing he was really distressed.

    "Don''t worry; I won''t let anything happen to you. You can tell me everything. We can find a solution together. Tell me what happened. I''m here for you," Maya let out, extremely concerned for Gabriel. What was he talking about? What could have happened to him that made him say such things?

    He was her friend, and she didn''t want him to be hurt. "Did you have a fight with someone? You made enemies? Tell me; I''ll go talk to them."

    "I didn''t make anyone my enemy. Instead, the entire world became my enemy without me doing anything." Gabriel freed Maya and took a few steps back.

    He looked at his surroundings to make sure no one was there before he started unwrapping his right hand, taking a deep breath. If he could tell this secret to anyone, it was the girl before him who had been with him through thick and thin.

    There was only one person he could trust in the entire world... His childhood friend Maya who was no less than family to him.

    After taking off the strip of cloth, Gabriel raised his hand to reveal the ck mark of Darkness on the back of his hand. "This is why the world will kill me. It''s not what I wanted, but it happened. I need to hide myself for a little. I need rest. Moreover, I can''t go before the Church of Light unless I have a death wish. Help me hide... I promise I''ll find a solution soon."

    ? "This..." As soon as Maya saw the ck mark, she was shocked out of her core. Her eyes widened as she took a few steps back from Gabriel. Her face went pale as her heart skipped a beat.

    "Sign of the Devil! You''ve been tainted!" She yelled at the top of her lungs!<sub> </sub>

    "Shhhh! Don''t scream, you idiot! On the inside, I''m still the same me. It''s just the mark of Dark Element. I can''t go before the Church of Light because of this. They will imprison and kill me. You know I''m not a Devil. I''m Gabriel! We grew up together!" Gabriel expressed. "Let''s go inside the house! I''ll tell you everything!"

    "You''ve been tainted! Your soul... You''re not pure anymore! So that''s why you ran from the Head Priest!" Maya appeared as if she was going crazy at the sight of the sign.

    "Maya! Come to your senses!" Gabriel yelled in return. "Listen to what I''m saying! The Mark of Element doesn''t matter! I''m still the same old me! Let''s go inside. We can talk there. I don''t want anyone else to find out. I only told you because I trust you. Just please, for god''s sake, listen to me!"

    Gabriel returned to the door and knocked on it. He didn''t want to talk here. This ce was too risky.

    He nced back at Maya. "Come inside. We''ll talk there. I''ll exin everything. I''ll exin what happened. I''m sure you''ll understand."

    However, as soon as he turned, he noticed something which made his lips part slightly.

    Maya had called out her staff. There were tears in her eyes, but she looked determined.

    "Maya! Listen! Calm down! I''m Gabriel! You can''t hurt me! Stop scaring me! Come inside and listen to me, for god''s sake!" Gabriel roared, having a bad feeling about this.

    He had thought that Maya would side with him, no matter what. She was his family. She knew him the best, and she knew what kind of a person he was. She should''ve known he was still the same. That''s why he had told her. He couldn''t understand why she was acting so crazy.

    "I''m begging you; pleasee inside. Keep the staff back. I''m not an enemy!" He continued. "Don''t do it..."

    Maya had a tear-stained face, but she didn''t send the staff back. "You''ve turned to darkness... I have to do this! I have no choice! It''s for the world!"

    Maya kept repeating the same thing again and again. She raised her staff. The small blue crystal in the staff started shining brightly.

    "Water Spear!" she chanted.

    A spear made purely of water appeared before her. As soon as she waved her hand, the spear shot straight toward Gabriel.

    Gabriel would''ve usually jumped out of the way to avoid the spear, but he was standing right before the door, and he heard the sound of the door opening. He knew if he moved, someone from Maya''s family was going to be impaled! He couldn''t let it happen.

    Moreover, what he was trying to avoid all along happened, and more and more people started arriving, wondering what themotion was about. Initially, they couldn''t understand why Maya was attacking Gabriel. They wondered if the two friends had a fight.

    The water Spear shot toward Gabriel, aiming straight at his heart. Maya had grown up hearing the stories of Dark Mages and how they killed millions of people for strength.

    She knew the sign of awakening the dark element meant the soul of a person was corrupted, and he was going to walk the dark path of blood! She didn''t want Gabriel to take that direction and taint his soul further!

    Even though he was like her family, she had made a choice. The choice for her was between the life of Gabriel and the life of millions of people that he could potentially kill if she let him live. If she let Gabriel live, the burden of all those lost lives was going to be on her soul. She hadpletely lost her senses.

    Having no choice, Gabriel realized he couldn''t dodge. But he also couldn''t let himself be killed. He had to protect himself and the people behind him.

    "Come to me!"

    He yelled out loud as he raised his right hand. His ring transformed, changing back to the grimoire. The second page of the grimoire opened up, showing the first spell in the book.

    "Shield on Undead!" Gabriel roared with all his might. It was the first time he was using a spell, and he knew if it didn''t work, he was going to be dead, stabbed by his crush.

    As soon as he chanted the spell, something happened... The sky suddenly turned dark. Thousands of dark spirits came out of the Forbidden Book of Necromancy, cackling like crazy. All the spirits started circling before Gabriel, making a shield!

    The shield made of evil spirits... It had finally appeared...  Everyone in the vige saw it, including the Town Priest of the Church of Light, who had just arrived...

    There was no way back for Gabriel now!

 Chapter 9 Stabbed In The Back

    The Holy Church of Light... It was a massive entity that was known to be the most influential. It was said that even the King couldn''t go against the decisions made by the Holy Church of Light. The Head of the Church of Light was also known as the most powerful mage in the world, even though no one had seen him before.

    The Church had the headquarter in the Royal Capital, but it also had branches in other cities and in some towns. The strongest Light Mages of the Holy Church of Light stayed in the Main Church at the Royal Capital.

    Meanwhile, mediocre Mages of Light were sent to other cities to handle the Branches. As for the really weak Light Mages that the Church of Light really didn''t care for, they were sent to small-town branches.

    Even though these Light Mages were weakest in the Hierarchy of the Church of Light, they were still really powerful overall. They were said to be Light Mages that could at least use a Rank Two spell of light and even more.

    The Church of Light in the small town of Gabriel was the same. It was a small branch in the grand scheme of things. The priest was a weak Light Mage, but even still, he was the strongest mage in this small town and was highly respected here.

    As the Priest arrived after sensing the presence of highly negative energy, his eyes opened wide at sight ahead. He could see a shield made of evil spirits that had swallowed the spear of water as if it was nothing. A pitch-ck spell book floated before Gabriel.

    As the Priest was standing on the right side of Gabriel, he also saw the Mark of Dark Element on Gabriel''s hands.

    As soon as he saw the mark, his jaws dropped. After a long time, the element of darkness was seen again, and it was in his town. It was his responsibility to kill this devil!

    "After I kill him and take his body back, I should be rewarded for this merit! Maybe my son will be selected for the Church! I can''t let this boy escape! What luck! The person who snatched my son''s right, now he has be a Devil. It''s the Heavenly Punishment for him!"

    "Now, he will help my son''s selection! God of Light is really great!" The Priestughed out loud as he raised his right hand.

    A formation appeared above his hand, and a beautiful white staff flew out. The staff ended up in his hand. There existed a small white gem on the top of the Staff.

    The man raised his staff, but before he could even chant a spell, he saw Gabriel drop to his knees. There was a pained look of disbelief on his face.

    Gabriel''s Shield of Spirits also disappeared. The ck Book dropped to the ground as Gabriel groaned in pain.

    He moved his trembling hand and touched his back to locate a knife that was stabbed in his back. He grabbed the knife.

    "Arghh!" He roared in pain as he pulled out the knife. Even though the know had fortunately avoided his vitals but even then, it left a deep wound on his back.

    Gabriel weakly looked back with a look of disbelief, finding a middle-aged woman who was trembling in fear.

    Maya''s mother had been cutting fruits when there was a knock on the door. She came to the door, forgetting to put the knife down; however, as soon as she opened the door, she saw a person standing before her who had used the spell of the undead. In her fear and confusion, she didn''t hesitate twice before stabbing the man. She hadn''t realized that it was Gabriel.

    It was only when Gabriel looked back that she realized who she had stabbed. "Gabr-"

    She called out as she stepped closer in worry, but she soon remembered what she had seen. Instead of stepping closer to Gabriel, she stepped back in fear, resisting her urges to help him.

    Gabriel saw fear and hate for him in the eyes of the woman that was like a mother to him. That same fear and hate were in the eyes of his childhood friend.

    One symbol... Just because of one symbol, they didn''t even give him a chance to exin as they killed him. This one symbol and fear was stronger than their years of rtionship.

    Just to save this woman, he refused to dodge. Just so she didn''t get hurt identally, he let the world see his reality, yet this was the reward he received for his care.

    He couldn''t help but sh a weak smile as he saw the reality of his rtions. He thought these people would help him, but they weren''t going to. They had already given up on him. Their love for him was no more than an illusion, and it took a ck book to bring the reality of these people out to him.<sub> </sub>

    He reached out his hand towards the ck Book to pick it up.

    "Urgh!"

    Another Spear of Water came flying toward him. Just as he was about to touch the book, the spear of water stabbed his shoulder, passing through. A hole was left in his shoulder.

    Gabriel coughed out a mouthful of blood, looking into the tearful eyes of Maya. His weak smile didn''t disappear even as his vision turned blurry. The smile hid all his pain that he was feeling at the moment.

    "Thank you... for... showing me a mirror." Only a few words came out of his lips before he dropped to the ground. His eyes closed... His right hand finallynded on the ck book, touching it.

    The Priest rolled his eyes in frustration. He wanted to be the one to kill Gabriel, but he was killed by that girl. He knew he needed to take advantage of the situation before it was toote. He could still salvage the situation.

    He stepped forward as he yelled, "This Demon! He had been living in your house for years! You think killing him rids you of your sin?"

    "W-we didn''t know," Maya eximed. "He just awakened the element, it seems, and I took action immediately for the betterment of this world! Please don''t misunderstand us. We would never help the devils."

    "You want my help now after helping a devil? Sigh, since you''re both from this town, I''ll help you. No one will talk about what happened here, and you shouldn''t tell anyone that you knew him or that you killed him. Because then people will start digging why he was at your house! The Royal Family will kill you if the truth is out!"

    "I will trust you this time and help you. I will im that the devil hade to the Church to attack me, and I killed him. Are you fine with that?" The Priest asked, putting his n in motion.

    He didn''t just need the body of Gabriel. He also needed a story that he had killed him after a Valiant battle to increase his reputation in the Main Church to help his son.

    "I ept." Maya agreed immediately, along with her mother.

    She took one more nce at the lifeless body of Gabriel. She couldn''t help but remember the countless fun moments she had spent with him. Justst night, they had promised each other that they were going to meet in the future after he was a holy priest of light and she was a priestess of water. And now, she killed him with her own hands.

    She felt so bad... It was as if she had killed a family member, stabbing them in the back. But she convinced herself, thinking that she did the right thing. She had saved the entire world.

    "Good!" The Priest smirked. His n had worked. Now all he needed was to take the body back to the Main Church and give them a briefing.

    He stepped toward the door where Gabriel was lying unmoving. Unfortunately, before he could even get closer, he stopped. He could feel some really negative energy in the surrounding, which appeared to be even more powerful.

    Dark clouds had started covering the sky. Sounds of Crows started echoing everywhere as the speed of the wind increased.

    "What is happening?" The Priest exined. "This isn''t normal."

    He observed his surroundings, noticing his son Javin who was the only Mage of Wind Element here. "Are you messing with the winds and the clouds?"

    Javin shook his head. "I''m not, Father. I promise it''s not me."

    "It''s me." A calm yet emotionless voice echoed right behind the Priest.

    Shocked, the middle-aged man turned back, only to have a knife stabbed in his chest.

 Chapter 10 Unexpected Guest

    As his chest bled, he saw a woman standing before him who appeared to be in her early twenties. The woman had her right hand around the knife.

    There was also a pitch-ck mark on her hand, which was slightly different from Gabriel''s. Her ck mark was what everyone had seen in the books about the Church of Darkness! This was the world-renowned mark of Dark Mages.

    "Mage of Darkness!" The old man weakly eximed.

    The woman only smiled in response.

    The woman was as tall as him. She had beautiful hazel eyes and deep ck hair. Her face was also on the slightly paler side. She was dressed in a beautiful ck gown that wrapped tightly around her curvy figure. She was also donning a ck robe which had a beautiful moon symbol on the back.

    "I really hate the stench of Mages of Light. Don''t mind." The woman seductively said as she pulled out the knife from the chest of the old man. "I''m just taking out the trash first!"

    The old man dropped to the ground as soon as the knife was pulled out. His eyes lost their shine as he died immediately as if the knife had sucked all his life force for some reason.

    After getting rid of the only Mage of Light in the town, the woman turned around, observing her surroundings.

    "I''m sure this is the ce I sensed that strange Dark Auraing from..."

    "Ah, that must be where it came from." She soon noticed a young man lying at the doors, unmoving.

    However, she also appeared to be somewhat confused. Her head tilted sideways as she focused more on the strange symbol on the hands of the young man. It was simr to the Symbol of Darkness in color, yet the design seemed to be different for some reason.

    She started stepping toward the body in the distance with calm yet firm steps.

    "You people killed him?" The woman askedzily. "You couldn''t wait for me to arrive? What a waste; I''m really curious about that Symbol of Darkness. Too bad he''s already dead. He can''t answer me now."

    She casually walked to Gabriel, assuming him to be dead. The mother of Maya stepped deeper inside the house, getting away from the body and the woman who kept getting closer.

    Maya was surprised to see the newly arrived woman. Not only because she was the prettiest woman she had ever seen, but because she was the second Dark Mage she saw in one day! She had thought that Dark Mages were extinct. How was it that two appeared in just one day?

    Watching his father be killed so easily, Javin was dazed. It took him a minute to process what had happened.

    As soon as he came out of daze, his face turned red in anger. "You killed my father! I will kill you!"

    "Chains of Wind!" Javin roared.

    The dark-haireddy felt invisible shackles around her hand and her feet.

    However, that wasn''t all. Javin also chanted another Spell, this time targeting Gabriel. He wasn''t sure if Gabriel had actually died or not. In any case, he didn''t want to take a chance since Gabriel''s return meant his death. He also didn''t want the woman to be able to take Gabriel and save him!

    "Winds of Destruction!" He roared, using a second spell.

    Sharp wind des shot toward Gabriel, this time as if wanting to shred his body to pieces.<sub> </sub>

    As if sensing the danger to Gabriel''s life while he was unconscious and unable to protect himself, the Forbidden Book of Necromancy started shining once again, simr to the mark on Gabriel''s hands.

    Gabriel''s body turned into a speck of light which was absorbed by the Forbidden Book of Necromancy. After taking Gabriel, the book of Necromancy disappeared as if taking him to a safer ce where he couldn''t be killed.

    The Dark Mage noticed Gabriel''s body disappear along with the book, which made her even more confused. A book that could protect its owner from danger?

    Things were bing more mysterious even for her. First, the strange mark on the man''s hand that was simr to the Mark of Darkness yet different. And then, there was the book? She had never heard about a book that could do it. Even the Holy Grimoires weren''t supposed to have this function.

    Gabriel was gone, and this infuriated thedy even more. If only she could''ve studied the book, she might have been able to understand what had happened here, yet that opportunity was taken from her because of this stupid man!

    "You!!" The woman red at Javin even as she was trapped. "You spoiled everything! It''s because of you that I lost him!"

    "Kill him." She coldly stated. No one knew who she was talking to.

    There was no one here, but as soon as she finished hermand, the shadow of Javin appeared toe to life, holding a pitch-ck sword! The shadow came out of the ground and used the Sword to stab Javin. The poor man was killed by his own shadows.

    "Shadow Knight?" Maya eximed in surprise. "Only high-ranking Mages of Darkness can use them. You..."

    "Hmm? You seem to have some knowledge about us. It seems the history books do teach something about us after all. Not bad. I thought they would have wiped everything about us." The dark-haired woman seemed pleased to see that people knew about them even now. "Let me guess. You''re studying in the Academy of Elements?"

    p "Well, it doesn''t matter. I''m not here for you. I was here for someone else, and because of that stupid man, that person is gone, and I don''t know where! I have no reason to be here now." She started leaving, slightly disappointed.</anda>

    "Oh, a friendly reminder. If another Mage wants to attempt to stop me, they can give it a try. But only do that if you''re prepared to watch this entire town turn into a graveyard. I''m already in a bad mood today."

    She wanted in the center for someone to attack her, but no one took her challenge.

    As soon as the people heard her warning, it was as if they were frozen in ce. Even Maya was scared. She could fight Gabriel, who was a new dark mage. He hadn''t learned many spells, but even she didn''t dare to face an advanced Dark Mage.

    She didn''t want to foolishly attack her and end up getting the entire town killed because she knew the woman was capable of it. She was a Dark Mage that was way out of Maya''s league.

    Thedy shook her head in disappointment. She chanted a spell. "Wings of Damnation."

    Two dark wings appeared behind her, made purely of dark energy. The wings appeared simr to the Wings that were used by the Head Priest of the Church of Light, but her wings used a much darker and unholy energy.

    Right before everyone''s eyes, the Dark Mage left; however she didn''t forget to leave something behind.

    Shended right at the entrance of the town and dropped a talisman, hiding it under a heavy stone.

    "I don''t know who that person was, but now I can be sure he wasn''t dead. He is sure to return, and the next time, he should be much different. The oue would be different as well. If I want to find him, this town will be the key," she muttered, gazing at the massive stone. "and I must find him at any cost!"

 Chapter 11 Nightmares

    The Dark Mage was gone from the town, leaving two bodies behind. The Priest of Light and his son had been killed in broad daylight, marking the long-dreaded return of the Dark Mages.

    The Church of Darkness which everyone thought was gone for good, had made a return with an advanced mage. She was right... The world was about to change.

    Maya dropped to her knees, shivering. She was so scared, standing before that woman. Only she knew how she remained standing until she left, not cowering before her. As the woman left, Maya was literally trembling in fear. The Dark Mages... It was only now she saw how scary they could be.

    Maya also realized that Gabriel was still alive. If he wasn''t, he couldn''t have escaped. However, that also meant he was going to return.

    There was a small part of Maya who was happy that he was alive. She hadn''t killed him. However, a big part of her was scared and worried about the future. Not only had she tried to kill him, but her mother as well.

    When he returned, she was sure he was going to kill them all! ording to her, Gabriel was already corrupted, and he was only going to be worse the next time he returned, if not stronger.

    She stood up and hastily ran inside her home. "Mom, pack your stuff! We need to leave this town! We need to go where Gabriel can''t get to us! He will kill us if he returns! Hurry! I''ll go bring father!"

    "Where will we even go?!" The middle-aged woman asked, still unable to believe what she saw with her own eyes. The boy they helped raise was a dark mage now.

    "The Academy I go to is in the Royal Capital. We can get a ce there. That ce is like a fortress. The Holy Church of Light is there, protecting the Royal City. These Devils can never hurt us there! We must also tell the Main Church what happened here! They need to know! Hurry up!"

    She wasn''t the only one who was trying to leave the town. Everyone who was present here had run to pack their bags and leave the town. This ce wasn''t safe anymore.

    Right outside Maya''s house, Hawrin was nkly standing before the dead body of his father and his brother. He was informed what had happened. For a moment, he was in disbelief, but he was sure that so many people wouldn''t lie!

    He also started running in fear, leaving the bodies of his family members behind. "How can that bastard return from the dead! He is really a devil! This ce isn''t safe for me anymore!"

    *****

    In an unknown dark ce, a young man was lying on the ground, unconscious. There was a hole in the shoulder of the man, but he had stopped bleeding. The wound had also started healing slowly as told kept trickling away.

    Still unconscious, Gabriel was only reliving one moment repeatedly where he was being stabbed by the woman he thought to be his mother right before being stabbed by the woman he had loved for a long time. After stabbing him, both of them called him a Demon as they watched him die without helping him.

    That moment kept repeating in his head, destroying all love and trust he had... These were the moments that woke him up from his illusion. The old Gabriel was dead. He was a new Gabriel now... The one who was called a Demon and backstabbed for no reason.

    That moment continued repeating in his head repeatedly, and he never fought back. He died every time in excruciating pain. With each death, something inside him broke... Until there was nothing left.

    He decided to get out of this nightmare. He has had enough. He wasn''t going to let them kill him anymore. As the next dream started with the same thing, this time, he didn''t hold back.<sub> </sub>

    He jumped aside and dodged the first spear, letting it hit the woman in the back. This time he didn''t protect her, and somewhere deep inside, he felt pleased that he didn''t help the one who was about to kill him. However, he wasn''t going to let Maya have an easy time either. After countless dreams of being killed, he has lost all his faith in her.

    The ck Book before him turned to the third page, which was the second spell of the book and the only offensive spell for now.

    He chanted the spell out loud, not hesitating for even a second! This time, the dream didn''t end with his death. Instead, it was the two women who died this time! He had changed the dream, also changing himself in the process.

    p He realized what he should''ve done! The emotions were useless. He needed to care about only himself! Because that''s what the others did. If no one cared for him, he wasn''t going to care for anyone.</anda>

    As soon as he killed Maya in the dream, his dreams finally shattered as if he was free from the nightmarish dream after learning his lesson.

    As his eyes opened, Gabriel observed his surroundings which were awfully quiet. He could even hear the sound of his heartbeat in this ce.

    Gabriel tried sitting, only to notice that his shoulder was still hurting. He remembered being stabbed in the shoulder before. He ced his fingers where the spear had stabbed him. For some reason, there was no wound here.

    The strange phenomenon made Gabriel tilt his head in confusion. All his wounds had healed again for some reason.

    "My book!" he eximed, noticing his book wasn''t in his hands. Fortunately, he soon discovered the Forbidden Book of Necromancy, which was lying behind him.

    He let out a sigh of relief as he picked up the book. The Book turned into a ring once again, gracing his fingers.

    "I don''t know how to thank you enough. You again saved my life, didn''t you?" Gabriel appeared to be talking to his ring, which couldn''t reply.

    There was no one who could survive after being wounded so heavily without getting treated with Holy Magic of Light. Moreover, now that he was also a Dark Mage, Holy Magic of Healing wasn''t going to work on him either. Still, for some reason, his Dark Element managed to heal him.

    Not only did he survive his initial death at the bottom of the cliff but even now. In two days, he had almost died twice yet survived. As for how even he wasn''t entirely sure. All he knew was that it was the work of the Forbidden Book of Necromancy and his new Element.

    The more Gabriel thought about it, the more absurd he found it to be.

    "The Darkness that everyone called bad is what kept an innocent alive. On the other hand, the people who pretended to be morally virtuous were the ones who tried to take an innocent life due to that bias. How ironic. This Darkness is much better than them from what I''ve seen."

    "At first, I was hesitant about using the Element of Darkness, worrying about what the world might think. Even I didn''t want to use a Dark Element, but now... Now I know. If I want to survive, I need to fully embrace this Darkness!"

 12 Chapter 12

    Aftering to terms with his newly awakened element, which protected his life, he tried to observe his surroundings to know where he actually was.

    He was only sure of one thing. He wasn''t with the Enemies. They never would''ve left him alone without taking the Forbidden Book of Necromancy. That could only mean the book had somehow helped him escape when he was unconscious.

    Gabriel observed his surroundings, noticing that he appeared to be in some dark room. There was no source of light here except the torches that were burning on the wall.

    The room didn''t appear to be properly made. The walls were rough as if it was a chamber in a cave which was dug with hands.

    There was only one way out from here, and it was a pathway straight which was like a tunnel. For some reason, Gabriel could also hear the sound of watering from that tunnel as if he was near a water source.

    He picked up a ming torch from the wall and entered the tunnel, trying to find a way out of this dark ce.

    Gabriel walked through the dark tunnel for a really long time, looking for an exit. The sound of water appeared to be getting close, yet he couldn''t see any light source.

    Gabriel hadn''t eaten sincest night. Let alone eat anything; he didn''t even get to drink anything. Moreover, he had been walking since the morning. He had hoped to rest in the house for a little while, but that n turned out to be an even bigger mistake.

    Fortunately, it seemed as if a water source was nearby to quench his thirst. Or at least that''s what he thought.

    After walking for twenty minutes straight, Gabriel finally managed to reach the end of the tunnel and stepped out of it, only to end up in an even more absurd ce.

    He had expected to find an exit through the tunnel, but something was wrong. He ended up in another dark chamber, but this one was even more absurd.

    There was a river passing through this chamber. Other than that river, there was nothing. There was no exit or door.

    "Do I need to swim out of here?"

    Since the river was going out of here, the only path he could see to get out of here was through swimming. However, he was slightly hesitant in this as well.

    The River, it wasn''t any ordinary river. The river''s water was pitch ck, unlike the crystal clear water of the rivers outside. He had never heard of a river like this. Moreover, he could also hear some strange soundsing from the depths of the river, as if there were some spirits that were cackling at the depths of the river.

    "Come inside..."

    "Come fast..."

    "We are waiting..."

    "Kekeke, jump in."

    As if Gabriel wasn''t stupefied already, he also started hearing strange whispers as if there were people who were inviting him to jump inside.

    Gabriel hastily took a step back. This river! There was no way it wasn''t a cursed river!

    "I can''t get inside. This doesn''t look safe at all. But is there another exit?"

    Gabriel walked back and forth in frustration. There appeared to be no other exit except through the river. However, the river didn''t look to be safe either. He didn''t feel safe jumping into the river of cursed spirits.

    "I don''t even have materials here, or I could''ve made a boat. Do I have no other choice except to jump into the river if I want to leave?"

    He had a tough choice before him. Either he could jump inside the strange water and risk his life, or he could stay behind and wait for his death here?

    Both the options had a high chance of death, but only the second option had a slight chance of survival.

    After thinking about it for a long time, Gabriel knew that he only had a choice in name. In reality, this wasn''t a choice at all. Only one option had a chance of survival, while both had a high chance of death.<sub> </sub>

    If he had another way out of here, he never would''ve jumped in the river of the damned. Unfortunately, this was his only way.

    He took a deep breath as he stepped closer to the river. He was ready to jump in the river.

    The voices that wereing from the river intensified.

    "He ising in..."

    "Kekeke, after a long time!"

    "Finally..."

    "Jump, human! Jump!''

    "Come inside..."

    "Shut up!" Gabriel yelled in frustration. He was already stressed about getting in the water, and these Spirits were making it more difficult for him.

    "D-did he just... scold us?"

    "I think he did..."

    "Ah..."

    The Spirits at the depth of water appeared to be gobsmacked to find a human scolding them. For a moment, they seemed to be in disbelief.

    Finally, the river had turned silent.

    "That''s much better." Gabriel took a step forward to jump inside the water, only to stop at thest second.

    He gazed at his right hand. Unable to believe his eyes, he took a few steps back.

    A ck boat appeared to being toward him from the right. The wooden boat appeared to be made of the most rotten wood in existence. It was surprising that something like this was still in use, but what was even more shocking was the person who was rowing the boat.

    "Okay, this can''t be real. I''m really dreaming." Gabriel pinched his hand in disbelief.

    The person who was rowing the boat wasn''t a person at all. Instead, he was the same dark Spector that Gabriel had seen when he was in his Spirit Form. It was the Spector that had disappeared right before he was about to kill him.

    At least that''s what he looked like. Since the Spector didn''t have a face or a body, Gabriel could only assume. He didn''t know how many Spectors like that were there.

    The boat stopped at the edge of the River as if waiting for Gabriel to climb. The Spector didn''t even gaze at him. It just sat calmly in the boat. This time, he didn''t have the scythe in his hand.

    Even though Gabriel thought that it was a dream, as he pinched him, he felt the pain. He could feel it wasn''t a dream at all. He was actually here! It was unclear what this ce actually was, but if he wanted to leave this ce, there was now a third option.

    Either he could stay here for eternity, or he could jump in the strange river and try to swim for an unknown amount of time. And now, the third option was avable, which was to get in the boat and let the Spector take him.

    Unfortunately, he wasn''t sure where the Spector was going to take him or why he was even here? Just what was this ce? As soon as he awakened the Element of Darkness, his life had turned into a collection of strange events!

    After a long time, Gabriel finally came to a decision. He decided to get into the boat with the Spector and hope for the best even though he didn''t have enough answers.

    He advanced toward the boat with the Spector.

 13 Chapter 13

    Even as Gabriel moved closer to the boat, the Spector didn''t react. He just sat there as if he was a dead being who didn''t care about anything.

    Gabriel stopped right beside the boat. He didn''t say anything either and just got inside the boat. Since the Spector didn''t have a face, he didn''t expect the being to speak or answer his question either.

    As soon as Gabriel sat on the boat, the boat started moving ahead.

    For some strange reason, the spirits at the bottom of the river were awfully silent now. Gabriel had thought that those Spirits were going to start calling him out for not getting inside the river, but they didn''t dare let out even a single noise.

    Gabriel wondered if it was because he had scolded the Spirits? That shouldn''t have been the case though. Ultimately, he only concluded that it probably had something to do with the Spector before him. The Spirits were probably scared of him.

    The boat kept floating ahead and soon disappeared into the distance. As the boat left, finally the Spirits started talking again.

    "Did you all see what I saw?"

    "He took away that human..."

    "Why would he do that? And for a measly human at that?"

    The Spirits didn''t understand anything. Since the Book of Necromancy was in the form of the ring, there was no aura of the Book here. Without the aura, the Spirits considered Gabriel to be an ordinary human at best, which was what confused them.

    The Spirits kept discussing something even long after Gabriel left.

    *****

    In another ce, the dark boat advanced in the river of damnation.

    Even as Gabriel sat in the boat, he hadn''t dropped the ming torch. However, not long after, the mes stopped. All the surroundings turned dark, making Gabriel unable to see anything.

    It was as if he waspletely blind at the moment, unable to see his surroundings.

    In frustration, he tossed the torch into the water. It was of no use without fire.

    In the darkness, he only heard the sound of water and nothing else. Everything was so silent.

    "Are you taking me to kill me?" Gabriel finally asked.

    As expected, the Spector didn''t respond. No matter what Gabriel asked, he was only greeted by a terrifying silence as if the Spector wasn''t even there.

    Gabriel had wholly prepared for his death. He wasn''t sure if he was ever going to get out of this strange ce alive; still he wasn''t going to go out fighting.

    He kept rubbing the ck ring on his finger with his thumb, prepared to call out the Forbidden Book at a moment''s notice in case he was attacked. Fortunately, there were no attacks that came to him.

    After a long time of sitting in istion, finally Gabriel heard some voices. The voices were different. They didn''t belong to the spirits from earlier. Instead, they were the voices he recognized.

    "Gabriel! Gabriel, help me!"

    The call for help came from everywhere.<sub> </sub>

    Gabriel subconsciously reacted by standing up, but he soon remembered his past. He took a deep breath, sitting down. He wasn''t going to jump into the river to help someone who tried to kill him. Moreover, he was also sure that there was no way Maya was going to be here. It was probably only an illusion to get him down the boat.

    He took a deep breath and closed his eyes since he couldn''t see anything even with open eyes. At least he could keep his mind calm with closed eyes.

    "I don''t know what this river is, but it is making me hear the voices of people I know. This won''t work. I won''t fall for such an easy trick."

    The boat covered more distance. The screams of Maya only intensified. This time, the voices were followed by her mother''s pleas for help.

    "Gabriel! We helped raise you! How can you abandon us now! Save my daughter! Save her!"

    "You ungrateful bastard! Help my daughter, or she will die! Please help her!"

    The voices became even more intense as they followed Gabriel.

    Gabriel still didn''t react.

    "I already tried saving your life once. Moreover, I also received a really nice reward for it. I believe that reward is enough for me to spend a lifetime. I can''t afford more rewards like those, my apologies."

    "As for me being ungrateful," Gabriel opened his eyes, letting out a deep sigh. "I believe I''ve returned all your favors in full by saving you from the death at the hands of your own daughter. You gave me this life when my mother had died by taking me in."

    "I returned your life in exchange for the life that you gave me. Moreover, you also settled the score by taking my life in exchange for the life that you gave me. I believe I owe you nothing anymore."

    Hearing the calm yet the steady response of Gabriel, the Spector who was sitting before him finally made a movement, raising his head a bit.

    "You! You!" The voices screeched in pain as they disappeared.

    Not long after, aughter started echoing in the surrounding.

    Thisughter... Gabriel could never forget thisugh. It was the sameughter he had heard right before he was killed at the cliff.

    "You dog, you are still alive? Come bow before your master just like your mother did! ept your death like a man, you coward! Come to me!" Hawrin''s voice echoed in the surrounding.

    Gabriel once again responded calmly. "Don''t worry, young friend. I have not forgotten you. I promise there wille a day, and I''ll stand before you. And that day, I will see how much you speak. I hope you speak a lot that day because that will be thest day anyone will be able to hear your voice."

    "I will keep that promise to you. Even death won''t be able to stop me." Gabriel made a deration right before that Spector.

    "You bastard! You are just a coward, aren''t you? You just talk big, yet you can''te to face me? Even after I did so much, you''re still scared to stand up to me! Hahahaha!"

    "You stood up before a man who didn''t have any fighting skills or spells. You used your brother to restrict his movement before killing him. You think that was bravery? In my eyes, you were the real coward."

    "The day I meet you, I won''t restrict you like you did. I won''t hide my act from others as you did either. I also won''t take anyone''s help." A smile finally appeared on the dry lips of Gabriel after a long time. "I will kill you wherever you are, no matter how many Mages you surround yourself with. Look forward to that day because I surely do."

    "You!"

 14 Chapter 14

    The voice of Hawrin also stopped. For a while, it appeared as if there was finally peace; however, Gabriel was too naive to think that.

    As the boat kept moving, the voices made a return. Sometimes he heard the voice of the Head Priest, who told him he was banished and he was going to die being nothing. At other times, there was the voice of Maya''s father, who med him for not saving his daughter and his wife despite all they did for him.

    Things went overboard when he even heard the voice of his mother. The voice that he hadn''t heard for over a decade fell in his ears, sending a chill down his spine.

    It took a lot of effort not to react to the voice of his mother, but he knew that it wasn''t real. It was just an illusion! There was no way the soul of his mother was going to be in the river of damnation! He was sure that she was going to be in Heaven.

    Whatever these voices were, they were trying real hard to instigate him, and he realized that. The only goal behind something like this could be to make him jump into the river of damnation, and he wasn''t going to do that at any cost.

    He kept his eyes closed as he ignored the voices of his mother.

    The torment continued for an hour straight before the voices stopped, just as Gabriel was feeling like he was going to go crazy.

    At the same time, the boat also stopped.

    With a frown, Gabriel opened his eyes, wondering why the boat had stopped.

    As he opened his eyes, he noticed that he was out of the tunnel of darkness. The boat was waiting before something that appeared like a tform for him to get down. In the distance, he could also see a giant stone door.

    This was also the end of the river as the ck river disappeared into nothingness just a few meters ahead. There was no other ce to go to.

    After waiting a few seconds to be sure, Gabriel got off the boat andnded on the tform.

    As soon as he got off the boat, he noticed that the boat started going back against the flow.

    From start to finish, the Spector didn''t even gaze at Gabriel. It was only when the boat was going back that it seemed like he took a nce at him.

    The boat disappeared into the darkness, leaving Gabriel here alone.

    He faced the giant door, wondering what could be behind the door. Was this the exit from this ce? The Spector had brought him here, so there must be a reason, he thought.

    He picked up another ming torch from the wall and moved closer to the stone door.

    The stone door appeared to be twenty meters tall and ten meters wide. Just the sheer size of the stone made Gabriel wonder if he was even able to open the door or not. A door of this size was going to be really heavy, especially when it was made from the strongest of stones.

    "If I can''t open it, it''ll be a dead-end once again. I can''t let that happen. If the exit is on the other side, I need to get to the other side, no matter what it takes."

    Even though he believed it wasn''t going to work, Gabriel still prepared to give it his all. He nted his feet firmly on the ground and adjusted his body to push the door.

    He ced his hands on the stone door and took a deep breath before pushing.<sub> </sub>

    Creek~

    Without even waiting for his push, the doors started opening on their own as soon as Gabriel''s hands touched them. To be more urate, the doors began opening as soon as that ck ring touched the door.

    The heavy doors started opening on their own, surprising Gabriel. Doors that could open on their own? He hadn''t seen anything like that in this life.

    He straightened his back and waited for the massive doors to open.

    After the majestic doors opened, Gabriel finally took his first step inside.

    Unfortunately for him, this ce didn''t appear to be the exit. He still couldn''t see the clear sky even as he passed through the door. Instead, he appeared to be in a massive hall. This time, the hall was even more majestic.

    Even though the ce wasn''t bright, it wasn''t too dark either. Gabriel could see inside the room, even without the torch. Moreover, what he saw wasn''t even close to what he had expected when he stepped inside.

    He ced the ming torch on the wall before stepping to the center of the ce, which appeared more like a massive Temple.

    There were multiple statues in this ce, each hundred feet tall. Except for the one statue in the middle, which was damaged, every other statue appeared to be intact.

    Moreover, each of the statues were holding a book in their hands. Since Gabriel was standing on the ground, he could see the cover of the books in the hands of the statues.

    The books appeared to be made from stone as well, more like a depiction of the real book.

    Gabriel moved closer to the first statue and looked up to observe the cover.

    The statue appeared to be of a woman who was wearing a tight-fitting dress. On one hand of the statue, there was a beautiful magical staff, while on the other hand, there was a book.

    Noticing the Symbol on the cover of the Book, Gabriel frowned. He recognized that symbol. It was the Holy Symbol of the Church of Water.

    "This book¡­ Is this supposed to represent the Holy Book of Water?"

    Just based on the symbol, he couldn''t be sure if it actually depicted the Holy Book or just an ordinary book from the Church of Water that used the same symbol. Still, there was a feeling in his heart that the book was supposed to be a depiction of the Holy Book.

    As for who the woman in the statue was, he had no idea.

    Gabriel moved on to the next statue to observe the book. The Statue, this time, appeared to be of a proud young man who had hair so long that they came down to his knees. The man hadn''t tired his hair. Gabriel appeared to be more interested in the book instead.

    "Holy Symbol of the Church of Lightning," Gabriel grimly stated. "Are these the Founders of Churches of Elements? Or just the Heads at the time the statue was made? Or could they be more...? The Gods of Elements?"

 15 Chapter 15

    Confused, Gabriel moved over to the next Statue, only to notice the Holy Symbol of the Church of mes.

    "Holy Symbol of the Church of Nature."

    ¡­

    "Holy Symbol of the Church of Earth."

    He went through one statue to another, realizing that all the books had the symbol he recognized.

    His suspicion was bing stronger that all these people were carrying the Holy Books!

    In the end, there were only three statues left, including the broken statue.

    The broken statue stood at the end of the hall. On the left of the statue, there stood another statue. On the right, there was the third statue.

    It appeared as if those three statues were supposed to show more influence since they were standing near the center, especially the broken statue, which was in the exact center.

    Gabriel started from the statue of the Woman on the left of the broken statue. The woman had two beautiful wings on her back that were spreading wide.

    "Holy Symbol of Light," Gabriel stated in a gruff tone. The Holy Symbol of Light in his left hand shone brightly in the presence of thedy''s statue.

    He skipped the broken statue in the middle and moved to the statue on the right, which belonged to a slender young man. The man held a staff in his hand, which had the smallest gem out of all the staff here, yet the man appeared to be one of the strongest here for some reason.

    Focusing on the book in the statue''s hands, Gabriel recognized the symbol.

    It was the symbol that he had seen many times in the books. The more well known Holy Symbol of Darkness!

    Gabriel couldn''t help but look at the symbol on his right hand, which didn''t match the symbol of Darkness. Even though both the symbols were pitch ck in color, the symbols at the core were different.

    Unfortunately, no one had seen this symbol before. The people outside only focused on the pitch-ck color to believe it was the Symbol of Darkness.

    That left only one statue in the entire ce. Unfortunately, by now Gabriel had covered all the Elements he knew about. And he hadn''t seen any symbol that matched his. He wondered if thest statue was going to be the one.

    He finally moved over to the statue in the middle. The statue appeared to be broken badly and was missing the head. Some more marks of damage could be seen on the statue.

    Gabriel kept his focus on the book, and just as he expected... There it was! The Symbol that was on his right hand!

    "So this isn''t the Holy Symbol of Darkness. That means I''m not a Dark Mage... But then, what am I? I''m able to use undead and spirits?"

    "And why is this the only statue that is broken out of all?"

    There were many questions floating in his head. He hade to terms with the fact that he was a Dark Mage who awakened the Element of Darkness, but now it turned out that he was wrong. He hadn''t awakened the Element of Darkness but something else entirely.<sub> </sub>

    It didn''t matter. He still couldn''t exin this to the people outside who were going to consider him a Dark Mage Variant. Whatever he was, he needed to embrace it fully.

    He turned around and observed the entire hall. Other than the statues, there was nothing here. There wasn''t even an exit other than the ce he came from, but that wasn''t an exit at all. That was a dead end as well since it led back to the river outside.

    "Does this ce really have no exit? Am I trapped here for eternity?"

    As he worried about his future, he stood with the support of the broken statue, lost in thoughts. Not only was he hungry, but he was also at a dead end. For a moment, he even wondered if this was his personal hell?

    As soon as Gabriel touched the broken statue, the ring in his hand started shining. Lost in his thoughts, he didn''t notice it.

    His attention was only attracted when he heard a creaking sounding from behind.

    Gabriel straightened up and looked behind the broken statue from the gap between the two feet of the statue.

    "This..."

    There was previously no opening in the entire ce. However, now there appeared to be a door-shaped opening in the wall right behind the broken statue.

    Gabriel subconsciously gazed at the broken statue, wondering if this guy was helping him somehow. In any case, he couldn''t ignore this opportunity. No matter where that opening took him, it was better than being stuck here.

    He ran to the opening and entered the dark chamber.

    As soon as Gabriel stepped inside, the opening that had appeared in the wall closed behind him.

    Gabriel found himself in an even smaller room, which was only ten meters wide. However, this room was what surprised and excited him the most.

    The room was lit in a blood-red light that illuminated this ce.

    In the middle of the room, there appeared to be a small pond that was only a few meters wide. The pond appeared to be filled with the same dark water as outside.

    Right in the center of the pond, something appeared to be floating mid-air. Seeing the floating object, Gabriel''s lips curled into a smile.

    He stepped closer to the pond. Unfortunately, to get to that object, he could see that he needed to get inside the dark water.

    For some reason, he didn''t even think twice before jumping into the small pond. The object was more important to him than anything else at this point. No matter what, he believed he couldn''t leave it behind.

    Unfortunately, he was in for a surprise. As soon as he stepped into the pond, which previously didn''t appear to be more than a few feet deep, he found himself being pulled inside into the endless depths of the pond.

    It was unclear what was pulling him, but Gabriel struggled as much as he could to free himself.

    He struggled with all his might to free himself, but his body only kept submerging in the water. Before long, most of his body was inside the dark water, and he could feel thousands of hands holding on to him and pulling him down into the deep abyss!

 16 Chapter 16

    Gabriel''s body was submerged in the water. Before he could even react, his head was also pulled inside the water, making him unable to breathe.

    Deep in the water, he heard some whispers as his body kept getting pulled to realms unknown.

    After being unable to resist, he chose hisst resort, raising his right hand. He didn''t know if the book could help him here or not, but that was his only option here.

    The Forbidden Book of Necromancy once again made an appearance amidst the screaming noises.

    As soon as the book of Forbidden Necromancy appeared, it was as if the Spirits went crazy. They screeched in fear and pain as they freed Gabriel and went to the depths of the pond, far away from him.

    Gabriel held the Forbidden Book and started swimming up.

    His head came out of the cold water, finally giving him a chance to breathe.

    Gabriel''s heart raced, thinking about what could''ve happened if he didn''t have the book. This water... This was certainly something scary. He didn''t want to stay here longer than he needed to. He gazed at the object of his affection which was floating in the center of the pond.

    The Object... It was something he wanted as soon as he had discovered the Forbidden Book of Necromancy. As a Mage, he needed a staff to control and boost his spells. Unfortunately, it was really hard to get the Staff with the Element of Darkness as they were banned by the Holy Church of Light and others.

    Moreover, it was only now that he realized that even if he had a staff that supported the Element of Darkness, it was going to be useless for him. He didn''t have the Element of Darkness as he assumed before. He had something never seen before!

    For this, he needed a staff with a simr element which should''ve been impossible to find. Fortunately, that''s what he saw before him at the moment.

    A beautiful wooden staff was floating in the middle of the pond. As for the staff, it appeared to be the exact one that was in the hands of the broken statue, based on the shape of the staff.

    The staff appeared to have the shape of a question mark, with the top being curved to some extent. Some mysterious characters were also carved on the staff that was shining very weakly.

    On the top of the staff, there it was... A small Crystal... The Crystal of his Element.

    Gabriel sent the Book of Necromancy back to the ring form before he reached out his hand to touch the Staff. He made sure not to use his left hand that had the Element of Light.

    He knew that he wasn''t reaching out his hand toward a Magical Staff... He was reaching out his hand toward his future...

    His hand finally touched the Staff. As soon as his hand touched them, the mysterious characters that were shining weakly until recently started shining so bright that Gabriel was forced to close his eyes.

    As he closed his eyes, he felt something change around him.

    The mysterious light of the Staff surrounded his entire body as if giving him some kind of protection. That wasn''t all though. The light started materializing itself into the form of clothes.

    Gabriel was standing topless. His pants were also torn in ces. However, a new set of clothes appeared around his body.

    Two ck gloves appeared on each of his hands, hiding the two marks of his. His pants healed and changed color as well, turning a beautiful shade of ck.

    A shirt also appeared on the top, making Gabriel seem like he was a Prince from some powerful Empire. A golden robe also appeared on the top of the shirt, which covered his shoulders.

    Two beautiful golden wristbands appeared around his wrist with the exact same markings as on the staff, along with a charming golden ne.

    Gabriel also felt his surroundings change. He was in the pond before, but he could feel warm grass under his feet now. The chirping of birds also fell in his ears as gentle winds brushed against his skin, making him open his eyes.

    He slowly opened his eyes, only to be amazed. He wasn''t in the small room anymore, and that dark pond was nowhere to be found.

    He stood on the beautiful green grass in what appeared to be a forest. He raised his head to notice the beautiful sky. He was standing under the shade of one of the trees. Moreover, the tree wasn''t any ordinary tree.<sub> </sub>

    It was as if the Staff had listened to his wishes and brought him here. He was really hungry, and now he was standing under an apple tree that had tons of apples.

    The majestic staff was still in his hands. Lowering his head, he observed his clothes.

    "These clothes... Aren''t they too attention-grabbing? Then again, at least they aren''t all ck in color. Moreover, it''s better than being naked. And I finally have the Staff of this Element as well."

    " I don''t know what this Element is called, but since its Holy Grimoire is the Forbidden Book of Necromancy, it would be fair to assume it''s the Element of Necromancy... An element that never appeared before. Even if it appeared before, it was kept a secret from everyone."

    After a long time, he got a Staff and a book of spells. Even though these weren''t from the Element of Light as he had wanted, it was still an Element never seen before. He wasn''t even sure if he was the only person in the world with this Element, but it seemed highly likely.

    Gabriel plucked an apple from the tree with his left hand and started eating it as he observed the staff even more carefully.

    "I wonder how strong the spells will be with the staff."

    He called forth the Forbidden Book of Necromancy to test.

    The Forbidden Book appeared before Gabriel and opened the page of First Spell. Since he wanted topare the boost, he could onlypare it with the spell he had used before without the staff.

    "Shield of Undead!" Gabriel chanted the spell.

    As soon as he chanted the spell, the winds fastened. The sky turned dark once again. Multiple dark spirits came out of the Forbidden Book of Necromancy.

    The spirits were still in the thousands like before as they formed the Shield of Undead against all expectations of Gabriel.

    He thought now that he had a staff, the Evil Spirits that appeared were going to her much more than before, but it was exactly the same as before.

    "Wait, no... This isn''t the same..." After some time, he finally realized that there was a difference.

    The Evil Spirits that came this time appeared to be stronger and louder. They were also sucking energy from nature itself to be even stronger.

    The spell... It was more about the quality than the quantity, and the quality was superior this time... Much superior.

    Gabriel was pleased with the demonstration of the skill.

    p~

    p~

    He was just about to stop the spell when he heard ppinging from the back.

    "Not bad. Honestly, I didn''t expect to find you so soon. You need to work on that stealth when using your spell."

    Stunned, Gabriel hastily turned back. He could see a dark-haired woman standing in the back.

    She didn''t have any book or any staff in her hands, but she did have a ck mark that she made no effort to hide.

    "A Dark Mage?" Gabriel eximed, taking a step back and tightening his grip on his staff.

 17 Chapter 17

    "A Dark Mage?" Gabriel was stunned to find a Dark Mage standing before him.

    He had thought that they were extinct. And even if they weren''t extinct, it should''ve been almost impossible toe across one so easily. Also, from thedy''s words, it was evident that this meeting wasn''t a coincidence. She was actively looking for him.

    "Do you really need to be so surprised? I''m not a ghost." The youngdy smiled in response. "Moreover, I hope you won''t attack me without listening to me first. I''m not here to attack you."

    Gabriel had already gone through a simr form of bias where he was attacked just because of his element without anyone giving him a chance to exin. It didn''t matter who this woman was or what element she had; for him, all elements were a threat to him.

    He didn''t actively attack her, but he did hold his Staff firmly in case he was attacked in the middle. At the same time, he also canceled his old spell. He didn''t even send his Grimoire back. The grimoire kept floating before him.

    "Before we begin, I must say. That Grimoire is certainly very unique. It''s definitely not the Holy Book of Darkness. At the same time, it''s not like any other Element either. But it''s certainly a Grimoire since it can fly on its own. Would I be right to assume that it''s a new element that you received?" The youngdy asked.

    "That''s right. I''m not a Dark Mage." Gabriel affirmed.

    "Oh, that I knew at first nce." Thedy burst intoughter. "The world outside can''t differentiate between symbols. They would easily confuse you with a Dark Mage because of your Element''s color, but I''m a Dark Mage. I know that you aren''t one of us."

    "So, what is your Element? What kind of Mage are you?" she further asked.

    Gabriel didn''t answer her question. He wasn''t going to tell her anything about him. For a mage, it was best to keep his abilities a secret. Unfortunately, most of the skills of the other Elements were well known, including the Element of Darkness. These elements had lost the surprise. He was different.

    Instead of exining more about himself, he changed the topic to the woman. "Why did you approach me? What do you want from me?"

    Thedy couldn''t help but smirk. She noticed the hesitation of Gabriel to answer her. She didn''t mind it. She was just a stranger to him.

    "Fine. I''ll be straight. My name is Lira, and I''m what they call a Mage of Darkness. I sensed your strange spell energy from miles away and reached your town to see what it was about. That''s when I noticed the Mark on your hands. Unfortunately, I was toote, and you were already hurt. Your Grimoire took you somewhere unknown."

    "Since then, I''ve been waiting to meet you again. I again sensed that energy just now, and it was even more powerful than before. So I came here, hoping to find you," she continued.

    "I''ll repeat my question. What do you want from me?" Gabriel firmly stated. "We don''t share an Element. You can''t use my Grimoire, and you can''t use my Staff. Both of these things are useless for you. So what do you want from me?"

    "I know I can''t use your Grimoire because it''s a different element. However, even if it were the same Element, I wouldn''t be able to use your Grimoire, which had bound itself to you."

    "Other than you, no one can use that Grimoire, even the ones who share your Element. And even if you die, the Grimoire will just select someone else instead of the person who killed the Owner of the Grimoire."

    "As for why I approached you, it''s because I need your help," she further stated.<sub> </sub>

    "I''m sorry, but I''ve stopped helping others. You should look for someone else," Gabriel stated, ending the conversation immediately. "Now, I don''t expect anyone to help me, and I won''t help anyone either. This is my new life, and I''ll live it only for myself."

    "I know what you''re going through. You just awakened, and you were attacked. Probably by someone you trusted? It can certainly mess with anyone''s heads. But that''s what we Dark Mage have been going through for ages. We''ve been betrayed, backstabbed, killed, and more for no reason at all."

    "Trust me when I say this, but I know what you''ve gone through. In a world where even your blood can betray you, it''s really hard to trust someone. But still, I ask for your trust. The two of us might not share the same Element, but we share the same enemies."

    "Previously, the entire world was against us, but now, it''s against you as well. If we want to stop ourselves from being hunted like wild beasts, we need to work together. We need to change the world! We need to destroy the world that tormented us and create the world anew! A world that will ept us! A world where we won''t have to fight for our lives!"

    Lira appeared to be talking straight from her heart, and her emotions were clearly visible on her face. She didn''t often show them emotions as she believed this made her look weak, which she didn''t like, but currently she couldn''t control herself.

    She had managed to be stronger throughout the years, strong enough to defeat most of the Mages. Unfortunately, throughout the years, she also had to sacrifice a lot for what she gained. She had to fight every day for a world where she didn''t have to worry about being killed abruptly.

    Gabriel noticed the pain in Lira''s eyes. For some reason, she reminded him of himself when he was stabbed by Maya...

    "Create the world anew?" he muttered. "A different world? I think you''re overestimating me. I just awakened. Can we really change the world? Can we really go against the Holy Churches?"

    "Of course, we can! With you and me, we can do anything! You have the Grimoire of your element, and I have one of mine! We aren''t as weak as you think! We don''t need to be scared of the Elemental Churches. In fact, it should be them who needs to be worried about us!"

    "You have a Grimoire too?" Gabriel tilted his head in surprise. Grimoire meant a Holy Book, and each element only had one. It was the strongest spell book of that Element which was like the Holy Grail! She also had one like him?

    Lira nodded. She showed the dark pendant which was hanging on her neck. Just like Gabriel''s ring, the pendant turned into a dim speck of Light. It transformed into a ck book which was simr in size to Gabriel''s book but had a ck crescent moon on the cover instead of the two Scythes that were in his book.

    "Will you help me? I don''t mind if you don''t want to fight with me for long. Just help me once, and I''ll fight all the battles myself!"

    Even though Gabriel didn''t know if he wanted to help her or not, he was really curious about what help she needed? She had a Grimoire of her own. And she was a mage for longer, so she was certainly stronger than him. He didn''t believe he could help her with anything.

    "What one help?" he asked.

    Lira took a deep breath as she grimly stated her request.

    Hearing the requests, Gabriel''s lips parted slightly. "So you are crazy¡­."

 18 Chapter 18

    "No, I''m not a crazy person, and this isn''t a crazy idea. If we can pull it off, it''ll be a great help to our cause," Lira tried to persuade Gabriel, but he still appeared to look at her like she was crazy.

    "Only you can call this n not crazy. I''ve just awakened my element, and I don''t even control more than a few spells, yet you want me to enter the Holy Bastion of the Church of Light? If that''s not crazy, then what is?"

    "Ask someone else to help. I''m not interested." He turned his back on Lira and started leaving. If she was asking for a small help, he might''ve even considered it since the two of them were in a simr situation. Still, her request was literally a suicide mission, especially now that he had awakened his second element.

    "I''m asking you because only you can help me," Lira exined, letting out a tired sigh as she followed after Gabriel.

    "At first, when I sensed your energy, I didn''t think this n was even possible. I only wanted to see who was using this dark energy so I could form a team and work together to spread the influence of the Church of Darkness, but after seeing your two elements, I realized that you were more special than I thought! Only you can pull off this mission!"

    "This suicide mission, you mean," Gabriel rolled his eyes. "They''ll catch me right away if I go there. The only time I''ll step into the Royal Capital is when I believe I''m strong enough, and this isn''t that time! Moreover, I have more important things to finish. I don''t have time for you."

    "More important things like taking revenge on the people who hurt you?" Lira inquired, taking a guess. "You can''t do that either."

    "What do you mean?" Gabriel stopped and looked back at the young woman.

    "The citizens of the town have already vacated it. Themoners shifted to other towns while the mages ran to the Royal Capital to hide, dreading your return. And I can take a guess that it was the mages who hurt you. That would mean that the people you want your revenge on... They are already in the Royal Capital. You won''t find anyone even if you go back to the town."

    The youngdy exined how futile Gabriel''s effort of revenge was going to be since the town was empty now.

    "They can''t leave so fast. It''s only been a few hours since I was hurt. They should still be on the way," Gabriel stated in response.

    "A few hours? I think you might have a slight misconception. You weren''t hurt a few hours ago. It has been three days since you disappeared from the town. And three days are more than enough for them to get to the Royal Capital," Lira chimed in.

    " In fact, if I''m not wrong, those people must''ve informed the Holy Church of Light about you as well. It''s quite possible that the town would be surrounded by the Mages of Light at this point. Go back, and you''ll end up falling straight into the trap," she further added.

    "Why should I believe you?" Gabriel grimly inquired.

    "Because I have a reason to keep you safe. You are a potential future ally and too important to me. Moreover, I don''t want to do anything that will break your trust. If you ept to help me and go to the Royal Capital, you''ll find out if I was lying, and then you won''t help me. So I won''t lie to you about this," Lia exined.

    "All I''ll say at the end is that you really should avoid going to the town this time. If you thought the Town Priest was strong, you''d be in for a real surprise. That person was nothing before the ones who will be present in the town for investigation."

    "If you were able to sense me using my energy, why can''t they do it? Howe they aren''t here yet if they are that strong?" Gabriel inquired before plucking another apple.<sub> </sub>

    He took a bite from the apple and waited for the woman''s response.

    "They can''t sense it. Even though you have a different element than me, yours also contains some semnce of darkness but not quite the same. I was able to sense it because of that, but they can''t unless you''re using your spells while you''re in close proximity to them."

    "And how close would that proximity be where they can sense it?"

    "I''m not entirely sure, but if I were to take a guess, I would say five hundred meters or more," Lia answered. "So you''re somewhat safe for now."

    "So, will you help me?" she ultimately asked.

    Gabriel stood calmly and didn''t respond. He just gazed back into the distance.

    "Infiltrate the Royal Capital and steal the Staff of the Head of Dark Church which is being kept in a high-security exhibition at the Holy Academy of Elements," he muttered after a long time before shaking his head. He gazed back at Lia. "As I said before, this is impossible. You''re asking me to go to war with the Holy Academy."

    "I''m not asking you for that. All I''m asking you is to steal something for me."

    "Steal something that is kept in high security? To me, that sounds the same as going to war with the Academy." Gabriel rolled his eyes. "All the Mages of the Academy will surround me within minutes if I even attempt it. I can''t face them all as I am now."

    "Aren''t you also a mage with the Element of Darkness? You also have the Holy Grimoire. Why don''t you do it? Why do you need me to do it?"

    "Because I''m not as special as you. You have what Ick! You have the Dual Elements! The security of the Royal City is too tight. Even the Advanced Mages from the Holy Church are stationed at the Security Stations."

    "Moreover, the city is surrounded by a barrier which is cast by the Head of Holy Church of Light himself! As soon as a Dark Mage passes through the barrier, it leaves a mark on their soul. And also alerts everyone about your presence."

    "For the next twenty-four hours, the mark can''t be removed. The Dark Mage can be detected by the Holy Mages because of that mark. They are chased, hunted, and killed."

    "So there is no way for me to sneakily enter the city to steal something. Especially not until I get the strength to destroy the Barrier, and I can only get that strength with the help of the Ancestral Staff of Darkness. That''s why I want you to steal it. As soon as the staff returns to me, the barrier will be useless! We can finally have an equal footing."

    Hearing Lira''s exnation, Gabriel finally understood why she was asking for his help.

    "And because I don''t exactly have the Element of Darkness, I can get through the barrier undetected..." He finished what Lira was going to speak.

 19 Chapter 19

    "You are pretty clever. That''s correct. That''s why I said only you can do it!" Lira agreed.

    She sent her Book of Darkness back into the ne around her neck as she stood empty-handed before Gabriel, who hadn''t stopped eating the apples throughout the conversation.

    "Okay, I understand that I can get inside the city, but aren''t you forgetting something important?" Gabriel asked. "ording to you, the Ancestral Staff of Darkness is kept in the Academy of Elements under a secure exhibition. And only the students and teachers there can enter the academy."

    "That''s right, but how hard is it to get admission to the Academy for someone like you? You are a Mage of Light. All you need to do is hide your Emblem of the other element, and you can get in. It''s not like you need to study there."

    "There are two ws in your logic, Lira. Firstly, even if I go to the academy, I won''t get admission. The Head Priest of Church of Light has banished me from the Academy of Elements. I can never get admission there."

    Gabriel talked about his past and how he was to be selected in the Holy Church of Light before being pushed off the cliff. He also talked about hearing of his banishment.

    "And even if I could, by now, the Head Priest has probably already been informed about my Awakening of a Dark Element. My wanted poster would be everywhere before long, starting at the Academy. And secondly, my other element, even if I hide it from in view, can''t it be sensed by the other mages, especially the Mages of Light and teachers there?"

    "Those aren''t actually ws, you see." Lira smiled. She was slightly happy that he wasn''t outright refusing her anymore. Since they were talking about ws, that meant there was a possibility of him agreeing.

    "Firstly, about your banishment. That''s easy. All you need to do is make sure no one can recognize you, and that''s the easiest part. I can help you with that. No one will know who you really are. And secondly, you are entirely wrong. No one can sense what your element is unless you use it."

    "That''s why the Mages of Light don''t hide their Symbol of Light. They want everyone to see and know how special they are. The only way someone can sense your element is through your aura, but a mage only gets an aura after bing an advanced Mage. You aren''t at that level yet, so you don''t need to worry about it."

    "That''s why you can easily get inside the Academy of Elements. So far, everything you stated hasn''t been an obstruction. The only problem with the n is the actual stealing amidst the security, but I have an idea for that as well. As long as you agree, I promise we can pull it off sessfully!"

    "So, are you in?" Lira reached out her hand to Gabriel. "Together, we will make the world a better ce... A better ce for us!"

    Gabriel gazed at her but didn''t reach out his hand. "The world-changing stuff doesn''t matter to me. Tell me how I''ll actually benefit from this n other than all the future stuff. If I seed, you''ll get the Ancestral Staff. If I fail, I''ll be killed. You have no losses in this entire n, and I have no benefits that I can see."

    "In the end, it seems more and more like you''re using me as a pawn. Why should I do anything?" he asked in response. " If I want to change the world, why won''t I go with my initial n of bing stronger so I can do it myself? Why will I depend on you?"

    No matter how much this n made sense for him, he didn''t care about it in the end. As long as he felt like he was being used, he didn''t want to agree to it.

    Lira started cing back and forth as she scratched the back of her head in frustration. Even after trying to convince the guy so much, they were back at square one.<sub> </sub>

    "Fine! Tell me what you want in exchange for your help?" she ultimately asked, ring at the young man.

    "After you get me the Ancestral Staff, I will do any one thing that you ask, no matter whatever that may be! You wanted benefits; what more benefits can I give? You feel like you''re being a pawn, but I''m willing to be a pawn too, all for my goal! So tell me, what do you want in return for your help?!"

    Lira had been waiting for an opportunity like this for a long time where she could recover the Ancestral Staff andplete a set with the Grimoire of Darkness so she could bring out its full strength. Now that she was so close to it, she was so desperate that she was willing to do anything for it!

    "You want me to kill your enemies? I''ll do it! You want me to bring you wealth? I will! You want me to help you plunder cities? I will help you! No matter what one thing you ask, I will do it!" she dered. "As long as you agree to help me retrieve the Ancestral Staff that belongs to us Dark Mages!"

    Gabriel was surprised at the determination of Lira. She was actually willing to do anything for him? Didn''t that imply...

    He observed her expressions as he asked, "Anything anything? No matter how absurd my demand may be?"

    Lira didn''t know why but she felt slightly worried from the tone of the young man. Just what was he nning to ask her.

    ''He is a man, and all men are like that! Of course, he will ask for my body! But if it''s for my goal, I am ready!'' she thought as she gulped down, clenching her fist.

    She nodded. "Anything!"

    "Fine. I will help you as long as you promise to fulfill my one demand after that," Gabriel finally agreed since there really was something he couldn''t miss out on at this point. An opportunity like this doesn''te often.

    "What is your demand?" Lira asked, even though she had already guessed what it might be.

    After a brief pause, Gabriel took another bite from his apple as he told his demand.

    "What?! Are you crazy?!" This time, it was Lira''s turn to be shocked. She had assumed his demand, but even in her dreams, she couldn''t have expected how crazy his demand was going to be!

    The ball which was in Gabriel''s park before was now on her field. The decision rested on her as she incredulously stared at Gabriel.

 20 Chapter 20

    Lira stared at Gabriel nkly as silence ensued. Only the sounds of leaves rustling amongst themselves could be heard.

    The two people looked at each other, trying to guess what the other person might be thinking.

    "It''s not crazy. You said you''ll do anything I ask in return. I told you my demand. Now the rest is on your shoulders." Gabriel appeared to be unphased.

    Thedy hade to him with a request. It wasn''t him who went to her first. Moreover, since he was taking a risk, he needed something in return.

    "Can you ask for something else?" Lira asked after thinking for a few minutes.

    "I don''t need anything else. Take your time and think about it. I''m not in any hurry. It''s not like I have a home to go to."

    Gabriel sat under the shade of a tree. He kept eating the apples as if he was Adam in the garden of Eve, not caring about anything else for now. He didn''t need to hurry back to the town since everyone had gone already. The only destination for him was the Royal City.

    Even if thedy before him disagreed, he was still going to go there. The only difference was going to be that he wasn''t going to attempt that stealth. His goal of going there was simple... Get back at the ones who messed with him, especially Hawrin, since he was the core of this entire mess.

    Leaving Lira to her own thoughts, Gabriel observed the staff even more carefully. ording to him, this staff was most probably the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy.

    It was supposed to be the strongest Elemental Staff. Lira was also after something simr but for her Element.

    This showed Gabriel the importance of the staff he had. He literally had the strongest weapons in the world that anyone could have. He had the Holy Book of Necromancy, and he had the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy. The only part of the equation which wascking was himself. He needed to make himself stronger, and he realized it.

    Initially, his enmity might''ve been with Hawrin, but now the entire world was against him because of his other element. For his safety, he needed strength... Even more strength than he had¡­ strength to kill anyone who even thought about hurting him!

    After a long pause, Lira broke the silence. "As much as I want to help you, it''s impossible. I can''t help you steal the Holy Book of Light!"

    "You are asking for something that is literally impossible. The Holy Book of Light is with the Head of the Church of Light. Even with the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, I won''t be strong enough to face him directly."

    As much as she wanted to agree, she knew she couldn''t. The demand of Gabriel was just impossible for her to fulfill.

    "Who said you will be alone?" Gabriel inquired. "I will be fighting with you. Two against one. Even if he is stronger, we can do it."

    Lira shook her head. "Even if we manage to get lucky and kill the Head of Church of Light, as I told you before, the Holy Grimoires never select the killers as their owners. The Holy Book of Light won''t select you as its owner. It''ll disappear after the Head of the Church of Light is killed. Your wish is literally impossible."

    "That''s why I''m telling you to ask for something else. Literally, anything else. I could make a false promise to you right now saying I''ll do it, but I know it''s impossible," Lira exined. "If I lied now, the day you find out that I lied, there will be bad blood between us, and I don''t want that. So I''m not going to lie to you just to get you to do what I ask."

    Gabriel noticed the eyes of Lira. Even though she was a Dark Mage who had probably taken a lot of lives, her eyes were still so pure.

    "Fine. I''ll help you." Gabriel tossed an apple to Lira. "I know stealing the Grimoire of Light is impossible as well."<sub> </sub>

    "You know... And you agree to help me despite me not promising you? Why?" Lira stared at Gabriel in confusion as she caught the apple.

    "You might be the only person in the world who won''t look at me like I''m a Devil, despite knowing both my elements," Gabriel answered. "Just like I''m the only one who won''t judge you. If you want to change the world, you''ll need my help. And if I want to fight back and be stronger, I''ll need your help."

    "We are the two bad apples of this world that everyone hates," he further added. "It''s time we showed the world what a few bad apples can do."

    As Gabriel spoke, it was pretty ironic that he was holding an apple in his hand.

    Lira couldn''t agree with the statement of Gabriel more. That was precisely what she thought. The two of them needed each other in this battle if they wanted to survive long enough to see a world where they weren''t persecuted.

    That was also why she didn''t want to lie to him and make him her enemy in the future because of this one lie which was inevitably going toe to light after he asked her to keep her promise in the future.

    However, she still didn''t understand why Gabriel asked for a demand he wasn''t going to follow through on. He offered his help without anything in return.

    After a long time, she thought of something as her eyes lit up. "Could it be... You were testing me?"

    Gabriel didn''t answer. He kept his focus on his Ancestral Staff. "There''s a saying in my town. A burnt child dreads fire. I''ve seen what happens when I trust someone without thinking things through. As you said before, even your family can betray you at thest second."

    "I wanted to see if you will lie to me just to get what you want. You didn''t. If you had lied¡­." He stood up and stretched his arms and didn''t finish her sentence, which sounded a bit threatening. "I will help you."

    "You..." Lira just nkly stared at Gabriel.

    This young boy... She thought he was going to be an impulsive young man who asked for requests without thinking things through. But he was different... He had thought things through. Even his demand had a hidden purpose behind it. If she had lied to him, she would''ve lost his help and trust forever.

    ? "So you really don''t want anything in exchange?" Lira inquired.

    "I didn''t say I won''t ask anything in return. I just don''t need to ask you anything this instant. When I need help, I''ll expect you to be there. If you aren''t, I''ll personallye to kill you for breaking my trust," Gabriel dered.

    Even though Lira was an advanced mage with a Grimoire, Gabriel didn''t hesitate in issuing his threat. He had seen death from up close twice. In this life, he wasn''t going to be scared of dying.

    "I promise. When you need help, I''ll always be there. It doesn''t matter if you seed or fail; I''ll be there to help you!" Lira reached out her hand to Gabriel.

    Gabriel responded in a simr manner and reached out his hand as well.

    And thus, an unlikely partnership had formed. A partnership that had the potential to change the world forever... The partnership of two Mages who could stand at the peak of this world.

 21 Chapter 21

    There existed a small vige in the middle of nowhere.

    The Poption of the small vige was only fifty. The vige was cut off from most of the world. People grew their own vegetables here and used the fruits from the nearby forest. They also had a source of water avable.

    Despite having all the things they needed to livefortably, the vige was slowly dying as people kept migrating to bigger cities. Throughout the years, the poption of the vige kept dwindling.

    Despite all the troubles, there were still some people who just refused to leave their vige, no matter what. These were the old people who kept the vige running.

    Unfortunately, all those old people were sitting on the ground, not daring to move. They didn''t even know how it happened, but they were the prisoners of their own shadows that hade to life.

    The Shadows were keeping these people hostages, pointing a shadow sword at them.

    Half the shadows had gone to surround the vige to make sure no one could get in or leave. The others kept an eye on the vigers.

    This was the Vige where Lira had brought Gabriel. Not only was this ce the closest to the forest they were previously in, but it also had what they needed.

    One of the old men in the vige had a horse farm that had some really nice horses.

    Lira could fly, but she was informed by Gabriel that he couldn''t, so she brought him here to get him a horse. She couldn''t just carry him inside the Royal City by air. Both of them were going to be caught, so they needed a horse.

    "Select any horse you like. I don''t think the people outside would mind."

    There were seven horses inside the farm, and all of them looked great.

    Gabriel observed the horses briefly before staring back at Lira. "I don''t know how to ride a horse either. Even if I select, won''t it be useless? You can just drop me near the Royal Capital. I''ll walk from there."

    Lira refused the suggestion without even thinking about it. "If the guards at the Royal Capital saw a Light Mage who was neither flying nor had a horse, they could get suspicious, which I don''t want. It''ll make things more difficult for you."

    "And as far as horse riding is concerned, that''s not hard. We have all the time in the world. I can teach you. You just select a horse that you want."

    "If you say so." Gabriel selected a ck horse that was closest to him. The horse had a long mane of hair along its upper back. It also looked to be the youngest here but not too young.

    "It''s the one then."

    "Not a bad choice." Lira patted the head of the young horse before bringing him out.

    For some reason, the horse was really tame. It was as if it was just following whatever she wanted, even without her having tomand.

    Gabriel observed the strange phenomenon and couldn''t stop himself from asking. "Can you control horses?"

    Lira shook her head. "It''s just the horse can sense my aura since I''m connected to his shadow right now. I can''t control the horse, but I can somewhat manipte him through that connection. It doesn''t work on humans though."

    "I''ll tell you more about it on the way." Lira left the barn.

    The vigers were still sitting on the ground, worried for their lives.

    Lira walked to those people. "I''m taking this horse. I hope none of you mind."

    No one raised any objection in response.

    "That''s better. After today, you won''t see me again. But there''s one thing you should know. If any of you try to tell anyone about what happened here, I might have to return, and that won''t be good for you."

    The Leader of the vige raised his head. "You have my word. We won''t tell anyone. You can take the horse as long as you let us live."

    "It''s so good to talk to people who aren''t stubborn." Lira shed a beautiful smile in response. "See? No one had to die."<sub> </sub>

    She ced three gold coins on the ground. "This should cover the cost of the horse and more."

    Leaving the money for the horse, Lira climbed on the horse before reaching out her hand toward Gabriel. "Come up. Time to leave."

    "I can climb on my own." Gabriel decided against taking her help for this small task. He climbed on the horse on his own and sat, leaving a little space between him and the youngdy.

    Lira noticed the gap between the two. It appeared as if Gabriel was still hesitating in trusting herpletely.

    "Are you looking to fall?" she asked. "I''m a fast rider. You''ll fall if you don''t hold onto me. Come closer and hold me firmly if you don''t want to fall."

    Gabriel let out a tired sigh before sliding closer to Lira. Their bodies stuck so closely to each other that not even an inch of gap was left between the two.

    Since Gabriel had already sent his staff back to formation storage ording to Lira''s teaching previously, both his hands were free.

    He wrapped his arms around the slim waist of Lira, holding her firmly.

    The Horse started moving, and it was exactly as Lira had stated; the horse was really fast. If Gabriel wasn''t holding onto her firmly, he could''ve fallen right at the start.

    The vigers watched the two youngsters leave the town. The shadows that were keeping them hostage had also disappeared, turning into nothingness.

    The leader of the Vige, who had promised Lira that he wasn''t going to tell anyone about their appearance,manded a middle-aged man who stood behind him.

    "Ron, take another horse and go to the Church of Light Branch in the closest town and tell them what happened here."

    "What? Didn''t you just promise them that you won''t do it?" The middle-aged man asked in response.

    "Those two were Dark Mages. We don''t need to keep our promises to them. Do as I say! Tell the Holy Mages that two dark mages had appeared and also tell them the direction they went in. Those two need to be caught."

    "But her promise? What if shees back?"

    "She won''t. She will be dead by then. And even if she survives, she won''t know we informed the Mages of Light. Just do as I said. Inform them so they can catch those two demons fast!" The Leadermanded.

    "Fine. I''ll do as you ask!" Ron ultimately agreed. He couldn''t oppose the chief of the vige.

    However, just as he was about to go to the barn, his face turned pale. He raised his trembling hands toward the old chief.

    No matter how much he tried to speak, no words came out of his lips.

    The old chief noticed that all the other vigers were looking at him with the same gazes.

    His face went still as he thought the worst. He slowly turned around, hoping he was wrong.

    As soon as he turned around, he saw a Shadow Warrior standing behind him. He couldn''t even blink before the shadow sword came swinging. The man''s head flew into the air before falling to the ground with his body.

    Throughout the day, painful screams echoed in the vige as bodies kept piling on.

    Lira had already traveled far away from the vige when she slowed down. She gazed back toward the town.

    "What happened? Why did you slow down?" Gabriel looked back as well, wondering what she was looking at.

    "Nothing. Just amazed by the stupidity of some people who thought they can survive by breaking a promise. It''s nothing we need to care for..."

 22 Chapter 22

    An entire vige was wiped from the face of this earth. All fifty people in the Vige were dead, and not a single person outside knew about it since the Vige was disconnected from the rest of the world for the most part.

    Lira didn''t tell Gabriel what she did, but even if she did, she didn''t think Gabriel would''ve cared. She had given those people an option to save their lives by keeping their mouths shut, but they refused to listen. She didn''t believe she was in the wrong. She just did what she had promised to do. They were in the wrong for making her do it!

    "This isn''t the direction to the Royal Capital, is it?"

    The two of them had only left the vige a short time ago when Gabriel realized something. The sun was behind them. That meant they were going in the wrong direction.

    "That''s right. We aren''t going to the Royal Capital right away." Lira confessed.

    "Where are we going then?"

    "You aren''t ready to get to the Royal Capital yet. There are still a few things we need to handle to ensure you have the highest chance of sess. That''s why I''m taking you somewhere special," Lira exined. "As you said before, there are a few people in the Capital who recognize you and know what you are, so we need all the precautions we can take."

    "You have a way to make sure they don''t recognize me? I don''t think a disguise will work on me." Gabriel shook his head in response. He assumed that she was taking him to a makeup artist who was going to ce a fake mustache and beard on his face for his disguise. He believed it wasn''t going to work.

    "Don''t worry; I''m not taking you to get a disguise. It''s something more than that. You''ll know when we get there." Lira smiled in response. She believed Gabriel was going to be pleasantly surprised when he saw what she had nned.

    Lira was the only Dark Mage that was still in existence, ording to what she knew. All the other dark mages were killed in this world as soon as they awakened, so she could never protect anyone. She had always been alone. She had already lost hopes of someone else supporting her in this battle against the Holy Church.

    In her istion, she didn''t realize when she had gone inside a shell where her real optimistic personality had died. She didn''t even remember thest time she was hopeful for what the future held for her. She just killed and killed to get a purpose in her fight.

    Now she wasn''t alone. She had Gabriel, who had promised to support her. Even though the two had just met, she had already started considering him like her. The two were simr in more ways than one. She didn''t want to lose Gabriel and go back to being all alone.

    The mission was not only for her sake, but it was for everyone like her who had to fight for their lives in this biased world. In this battle, she didn''t want to lose Gabriel. She wanted him toe out safely, and she was willing to waste as much time as she needed for it.

    It didn''t matter how much they waited before infiltrating the Holy City, but what mattered was doing it right on the first attempt. Because if they failed once, it was all going to be over.

    Gabriel was going to be killed and possibly her as well since she wasn''t going to sit back and watch him face the enemies alone. The fight for their freedom was going to end right there, and she didn''t want that.

    "As I told you before, I''ll give you everything you need, no matter what I have to do for it," Lira stated calmly.

    Gabriel didn''t respond. He just gazed into the distance.

    The Royal City was also known as the Holy City. He had already dreamed of going there, but now, that dream wasing true, but not as he had hoped.

    This time, the journey wasn''t for his future and goals. This time, the journey was for his revenge and something even more than that.

    "Can I ask you something?" After a long silence, Gabriel asked.

    "Anything you want," Lira answered immediately.

    "How many spells do you have in your Grimoire?"<sub> </sub>

    Lira was slightly surprised at this question, but she didn''t hold back on answering. "More than twenty. As for you, I suppose you have two or three? One of them being the Undead Shield?"

    "How do you know how many spells I have?" Gabriel asked in surprise.

    "It''s not hard to guess. The Grimoires aren''t like any other books. They are the Holy Books with lives of their own. That''s how they can select hosts."

    "They also decide how many spells you can ess based on your spiritual strength, so you don''t hurt yourself while using a spell. As you can expect, a Grimoire won''t want its host to die using a spell they can''t use, right?"

    "I know you''ve just awakened, so you''re probably a novice mage. Your soul power would be really weak for now, and that''s why the Grimoire won''t give you any advanced or mid-tier spells. So I can guess you have a couple of spells only, but you don''t have to worry about that."

    "The stronger you get, the more spells you''ll unlock, each being stronger than thest."

    Hearing Lira''s exnation, Gabriel finally understood. So this was the secret. Apparently, this wasn''t written in any books, probably because there were only a few Grimoires, so there was no need to generalize this information.

    Lira further continued her exnation.

    "You awakened a never-before-seen element, but that''s about it. On the core, you''re still the same old self. Your soul is also the same. You have a Grimoire and probably an Ancestral Staff as well, but you aren''t strong enough to hold theirplete strength."

    Hearing her exnation, Gabriel was able to understand a few things that he didn''t before.

    He had the weapons, but he didn''t know how to use them properly. He also needed to strengthen his soul and advance as a Mage so he could use stronger spells. Initially, he was confused about why this book only had two spells, but he finally had some rity. He wasn''t the only one who started with only two spells.

    The Holy Books were said to have lives of their own. The Book of Necromancy selected him. It also took him to safety when he had no other option. It was probably the same for all other Holy Books.

    Since the Forbidden Book of Necromancy wanted him to be safe, it only showed him the spells that he could use based on his current strength. As a basic mage who hadn''t trained his soul yet, if he tried to use an Advanced Spell from the Holy Book, he could actually damage his Soul forever, so he wasn''t allowed to see those spells yet.

    "So thisck of spells is nothing more than a safety mechanism," Gabrielmented.

    "That would be urate."

    "That means you are stronger than me and can kill me whenever you want?" Gabriel asked, frowning.

    He had only two low-tier spells while thisdy had over twenty, possibly even advanced spells of darkness? Didn''t that mean she was in a different league altogether?

    Lira shook her head in response. "That''s not entirely correct."

    She further continued, "The spell you used in the forest¡­ It was probably a basic tier spell for you, but the strength behind that spell... I felt it. Your basic spell wasparable to my stronger spells, if not stronger."

    "I honestly don''t know how that''s possible. Even though you used the Ancestral Staff for that spell, your spell still shouldn''t beparable to my advanced spells, but it was. It''s probably something about your element. Honestly, even I''m confused about it. Your Element... It''s something really special, Gabriel."

    "If your Basic Tier Spells are so strong, I can only imagine how strong your advanced tier spells are going to be..."

 23 Chapter 23

    Lira''s words surprised Gabriel. Even he hadn''t expected her to say this.

    His basic spell was really so strong? Was the Element of Necromancy really something that special? If that was the case, then this element really held too many secrets, starting from its origin to how it ended up with him.

    ****

    Two days passed as the group of two continued traveling together.

    Along the way, Lira also stopped asionally and allowed Gabriel to take the lead. She taught him how to ride a horse, how to hold ropes, and everything in between. Initially, even Gabriel struggled a bit, but with time, he got the hang of it.

    From that point on, the two of them took turns sitting at the front so Gabriel could get more experience.

    As Gabriel rode, Lira also taught him how to correct his posture to appear more dignified like he needed to pretend to be.

    Within two days, Lira had made sure that Gabriel went from a novice in horse riding to something that was no less than a Royalty.

    Currently, it was also Gabriel who was sitting in the lead. Lira sat behind him with her hands wrapped around young Gabriel.

    "We are near our destination. That''s the city," Lira reminded Gabriel, pointing in the distance.

    Gabriel observed a beautiful city in the distance which was situated in the middle of a desert. "Are there going to be Mages of Light in the city?"

    "Hopefully not. This city is too far from the Capital. Moreover, it''s not one of those luxurious cities where the Mages woulde for fun. In fact, it''s a city that most mages avoid. It''s a crime-infested City that no one wants to enter. So I doubt we will find any Mage of Light," Lira exined.

    She licked her lips in amusement. "And even if we do, I''ll make sure they are dead before theyy their eyes on us."

    "Who are we meeting in the city?"

    "A man known as Lambard. He''s known as the uncrowned King of this city and also an antique collector. He is the one we came here for."

    "And how will he help us?"

    "Not only can he help us, but his help might be the most crucial for us," Lira responded.

    Gabriel made the horse stop at the city''s entrance, where two guards were standing with spears, blocking the path.

    "State your purpose!" The Guards said in unison.

    "We''re here to meet Lambard," Gabriel answered.

    The guards flinched as they heard the answer. The two guards noticed the gloves on the hands of Gabriel, which seemed to be covering the back of his hands.

    "Are you a Mage?" One of the guards asked. "Take off your gloves."

    Gabriel took off his left glove and showed the Mark of Light. "That''s right. I''m a Mage."

    The two guards looked at each other momentarily before one of them stated, "Master Lambard isn''t in the city. He left two days ago for the City of Sucem."

    "Let me handle them." Lira jumped off the horse, not liking the fact that these guards were wasting their time.

    "Tell Lambard that Lira is here to meet him, and if he doesn''t meet us, I''ll bring this entire city down."

    "You dare talk about Master like that?!" The guards eximed in a rage, seeing her offensive tone. "We told you he isn''t in the city. Go back ande after a few weeks!"

    "You can''t im I didn''t warn you," Lira sighed.

    She took off her gloves as well, revealing the Mark of Darkness. The guards'' eyes widened as they saw the Mark.

    "Shadow Knights," Liramanded.

    Two Shadow Knights appeared behind the two guards, killing them instantly.

    After killing both the Guards, Lira sent the two Shadow Knights back before she walked back to Gabriel. She climbed on the horse.<sub> </sub>

    "The mansion in the center of the City is our destination."

    Gabriel entered the city with Lira.

    The roads were filled with people. The City appeared to be very crowded. There was barely any space to walk, let alone ride on a horse, but Gabriel didn''t need to worry about that since he had Lira with him. Lira didn''t even try to hide her aura.

    That was one advantage of being a Dark Mage. Everyone was scared of you, so no one was going to dare to get close to you except the Mages, and even if there were any Mages here, Lira didn''t worry about them.

    People on the street kept moving aside on their own, clearing the path for Gabriel and his horse.

    "Are they selling the Staff of Dark Element? I thought those things were banned?" Gabriel asked, noticing a staff with a ck gem being sold in one of the shops along with other elemental Staff. Only his element wasn''t there.

    All these Staffs were novice tier though, so their quality was questionable.

    "I told you, this is a city infested with crime. Rules are thest thing they follow," Lira answered.

    "Howe the Holy Church of Light doesn''t shut this city down for ignoring rules made by them?"

    "You think they didn''t try? They tried quite a lot of times, but they can''t destroy this city."

    "Why?"

    "Because of Lambard."

    "Because of him? Didn''t you say he was a human? How can he stop the Holy Mages?"

    "There''s a long story behind that. You''ll know it when we meet him. He does love to talk after all," Lira smiled. "You''re about to explore a world that you didn''t know existed. Let alone you; most people don''t know about the things you''re about to find out."

    Gabriel was really curious about what this girl talked about, but then again, he decided to keep his patience.

    Whatever Lira spoke until now pointed toward a mystery that ordinary people like him were unaware of. There existed a human who could stop the Holy Church of Light from invading this city?

    He wondered just what kind of person that man was. He was soon going to get his answers.

    Without any mishaps, the two of them managed to reach the central mansion in the city.

    The entire city was in a really good condition. There were many luxurious houses and well-established markets. Even illegal work was done in the city withplete freedom, and no one cares about it.

    Still, the mansion which was established in the center of the city was the most luxurious mansion Gabriel had ever seen. The mansion covered twenty acres ofnd right in the middle of the city.

    Gabriel stopped the horse at the entrance, only to notice a woman standing there with a tray in her hand.

    The tray contained two sses of water. There was no guard present here.

    "Wee, guests. Master said you would being." The youngdy weed Gabriel and Lira. "Master is waiting for you."

    Gabriel gazed at Lira in confusion. Lambard knew they would being? And he was waiting for them? Then why did his guards at the city''s entrance not allow them in?

    Amidst thousands of questions, Gabriel got down the horse, followed by Lira.

    Lira picked up the ss of water from the tray.

    "It might be poisoned. You should be careful." Gabriel reminded Lira.

    Lira only smiled back in response. "This water isn''t to drink. Pick the ss and follow the maid inside."

    Gabriel picked the other ss, still confused.

    The maid turned around with the empty tray and stepped inside the mansion.

    Gabriel also stepped inside the mansion with Lira, holding a ss of water, not knowing why.

 24 Chapter 24

    Holding the ss of water, the two youngsters entered the beautiful Mansion, walking through the long hallway.

    Along the hallway, Gabriel noticed lots of portraits hanging on the wall. Unfortunately, the Portraits were nk. There was nothing but a white nk in the portraits.

    "Is there a reason behind having nk Portraits?" Gabriel asked. "Any significance?"

    "They aren''t nk," the maid responded without looking back.

    Gabriel once again observed the portrait, but he still couldn''t find anything. There was nothing he could see in them. They were certainly nk.

    He got close to Lira and asked, "Do you see anything in these portraits?"

    Lira shook her head. "I can''t see anything either. You need something special to see what''s in the portraits and we don''t have it. Only Lambard does."

    Along the hallway, there were many doors, each having a beautiful carving on them. Some had a floral design carved on them, while others had constetions carved on them.

    None of the doors were where the maid stopped.

    After walking nonstop for ten minutes straight, the three stopped at the end of the hallway before the biggest door they had seen so far.

    The twenty-foot tall metallic door had two goblets floating on each side of the door, which surprised Gabriel. How were these two goblets floating in the air?

    Unlike the other doors, this door seemed pretty ordinary in itself since it had no carvings. It was in, but the floating goblets made this ce even more intriguing than the others.

    "This is why we were given the water." Lira reminded Gabriel as she moved over to the left goblet. "You take the right one. Pour the water into the goblet at the same time as me."

    Gabriel was confused as to why they were doing it, but he did as she said.

    He took a few steps to the right to stand right before the other Goblet.

    "On the count of three, pour all the water in."

    "One..."

    "Two..."

    "Three."

    On the count of three, Lira emptied her ss of water. Gabriel did the same. Both of them filled the goblets with the water they had been carrying along the way.

    Lira ced the empty ss back on the tray of the maid. Gabriel did the same as he kept ncing back at the goblets.

    The goblets that were floating at their chest height started going down slowly after being filled as if they were getting heavier.

    With each passing second, the goblets sank a few inches before ultimately the floating goblets touched the ground.

    The metallic doors in front started opening as soon as Goblets touched the ground.

    The phenomenon surprised Gabriel to some extent. He had seen doors that opened on their own in the mystical realm where he found the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy. To see something simr here... This made him really curious as to what kind of ce this was.

    "You two can go in." The maid instructed the young man and thedy.

    Gabriel and Lira entered the ce. The doors closed behind the two. At the same time, the water which was filling the gauntlet started disappearing slowly.<sub> </sub>

    ****

    Gabriel entered the hall, which was massive. The hall appeared to be over a hundred meters wide and a hundred meters long. Everything here was stark white, from the roof to the walls to the floor.

    Despite being such a massive hall, the ce waspletely void. There was nothing here except a throne which was ced at the exact center of the hall. Two seats were ced before the throne.

    "Lambard, I know you want to show off with the neer, but it''s not the time for a grand entry. Come out this instant!" Lira dered as she held Gabriel''s hands and went ahead.

    "Oh, why spoil this old man''s fun?" A man''s voice fell in the ears of two youngsters as a handnded on their shoulders.

    Gabriel turned around to see who it was, but no one was behind him.

    "You''re looking in the wrong direction, young man." The voice, this time, came from a different direction.

    Gabriel turned once again, this time to the Throne in the middle. He could see a young man sitting on the throne. It was unclear how he appeared inside the closed room without them noticing.

    The young man on the throne appeared to be slightly older than Gabriel, in his early twenties. He was dressed in a really majestic attire, wearing a grey robe on top of his blue attire.

    The man had long, deep blue hair with a few streaks of silver in them. His skin appeared to be so wless that it was hard to know if he was a man or a woman just at first nce.

    The man had what appeared like a burnt mark on the left half of his face. His eyes also seemed so fascinating, with his right eye being red in color and his left being a lighter shade of blue.

    The man appeared to be an enthusiast of essories. He had an earring in each of his ears. He wore a ring on each of his fingers, and all those rings had different designs, some looking very fascinating.

    The man also had a silver bracelet on both his hands and a silver pendant around his neck.

    "Lambard, there you are." Lira stepped closer to Lambard with Gabriel.

    "It''s good to see you as well, Lira. It would''ve been even better if you hadn''t killed my guards though," the young manzily rolled his eyes.

    "Not my fault. Those idiots tried to stop us," Lira exined before taking a seat.

    Gabriel also did the same, sitting right beside Lira while facing Lambard.

    "Get to the point. What brought you here with a Mage of Light?" Lambard inquired while observing the Mark of Light in the hands of Gabriel.

    "I brought him here because I need something from you," Lira chimed in since even Gabriel didn''t know why he was here.

    Lambard sat morefortably with his back resting against the cushion in the back of his throne.

    "I never thought I would see the day when you will work with a Light Mage. Whatever, it''s none of my concern. You know I don''t deal with Mages, but since it''s you, I''ll listen to your request. If I find it fair, I might lend you a hand."

    He nced at Lira with intrigue, wondering what she would ask for.

    "I want something that you hold very dear to yourself, but only temporarily. It is an absolute necessity for what we have to do," Lira stated.

    She knew she had to phrase everything just perfectly, or this stubborn guy wasn''t going to listen.

    "Don''t circle around." Lambard chided Lira lightly. "Just tell me what you want."

    "Old man, I need your..."

 25 Chapter 25

    The old man heard the demand of Lira. His eyes squinted as he was taken aback by this absurd demand.

    "Impossible. Forget about it." Lambard stood up as he started leaving.

    "Old Man, wait. At least listen to why we need it?"

    Gabriel was curious why Lira was calling this person an old man. He looked to be in his early twenties. He didn''t look old from any angle, but he was sure there was a reason behind it.

    "If you give me what I asked for, I''m willing to give you something worth it in return," Liramented.

    "There is nothing you can have which I need." Lambard rolled his eyes.

    "Not even the eye of Osiris?" Lira asked, letting out a subtle smile.

    Lambard stopped in his tracks as he heard the words of Lira. He turned around. "You have the Eye of Osiris?!"

    He walked back to his throne. "Fine. If you give me the Eye of Osiris, I will give you what you ask for, but only temporarily."

    "Give me." He reached out his hand to Lira.

    "I don''t have it with me right now, but we will get it for you if you give us what I ask."

    "So you''re trolling me." Lambard sighed in disappointment. "That''s not nice, you know?"

    "I''m not. The reason we need what I asked for is because I n to rob the Royal Academy of Elements to get something I want. And I know the Eye of Osiris is there as well. If you can help, we can get the Eye of Osiris as well," Lira told the young-looking man. "We both win in this situation."

    So far, everything the two talked about went above Gabriel''s head. He didn''t understand a single thing about what all this meant. Most of these terms were something he was hearing for the first time.

    "You think you can steal something from that ce? I''ve tried before. That ce is like a fortress. It''s impossible to rob that ce." Lambard refused to believe the youngdy.

    "Yeah, but just because you failed doesn''t mean we will fail as well. You don''t know that we will fail for sure. I can''t afford to fail with this."

    "Girl, I''ve seen more of the world than you can imagine. I know what''s possible and what''s not. Don''t forget how old I am." Lambard spoke in arrogance and pride. "There is nothing I haven''t seen! There is nothing I don''t know! It''s impossible to steal from that ce."

    " What if I prove you wrong? What if I prove that you haven''t seen everything and you don''t know everything?"

    "Of course, I won''t know minor things like the names of people you killed along the way and things like that, but I know all significant things," Lambard smirked.

    "And what if I can prove you wrong with that too? There are many things that you probably haven''t seen yet that can change the world!" Lira said in an amused tone.

    "You''re trying to get me to agree, which makes me a bit suspicious, but I''ll take your bluff." Lambard smiled as he gazed into the eyes of Lira. "If you can show me something that I don''t know which is significant enough that it can have world-changing effects, I''ll ept that I don''t know everything. I''ll also give you the benefit of the doubt in your sess at stealing."

    "And you''ll give me what I asked?" Lira asked.

    The man paused for a brief second before he agreed. "Yes. But as I said, it must be a significant thing. If you can''t, you''ll leave your Grimoire here instead. It would look nice in my collection."

    Lira hadn''t expected the man to ask for her Grimoire in return, but if it was a bet, it was only fair for her to put something on the line as well. Moreover, she was sure of her victory.

    "Deal," Lira agreed. This was exactly the moment she wanted. Lambard had made a bet with her in his arrogance, and this was useful for her. This way, she could get him to fulfill her demand.

    "So, what is it that I don''t know?" Lambard asked, seemingly amused. He wondered if the youngdy could reallye up with something. He believed it was impossible.

    Lira gazed at Gabriel. "Gabriel, show him your right hand. Let him know how ignorant the old man is about the recent changes of the world."<sub> </sub>

    Lambard tilted his head in confusion. Why was she asking the Mage of Light to show his right hand? What could there be?

    Gabriel did as he was asked and took off his right gloves, revealing the mark on his right hand as well.

    "You didn''t know about the appearance of a Dual Elemental Mage, did you?" Lira observed the expressions of the old man, who appeared to be frozen in ce, staring at the mark on Gabriel''s right hand.

    "Mark of Karyk!" Lambard held Gabriel''s hands, staring at the mark as if he was a child who was given his favorite gift.

    "Mark of Karyk?" Lira muttered in confusion. The man knew this mark? Wasn''t this a new element? How could he know what it was?

    "Mark of Karyk?" Gabriel also asked in confusion.

    "This Mark... I thought it would never appear... Y-you! You are the First Mage of Necromancy?!" Lambard stood up. His eyes were filled with shock and excitement.

    "You know this Mark?" Gabriel asked. "How?"

    "I know everything about history since the history of this world is my first love! I''ve spent my life finding the truth about this world that is hidden in in sight. The Mark of Karyk has made an appearance? The significance of this¡­ I can''t even imagine!"

    Lambard turned to Lira, grabbing her shoulders. "Do you know the importance of this?!"

    "Calm down, old man. Isn''t it just a new Element?" Lira shook her head. "Why are you getting so excited?"

    "I-i might''ve gotten a bit overexcited, but it''s wrong. It''s not just a new Element... It''s the Origin Element!" the man dered.

    "Origin Element?!" Gabriel frowned, not understanding the meaning. What did he mean by Origin Element?

    Instead, it was Lira who seemed to have understood. "It is? I thought the Element of Light was the Origin Element?"

    "You''re wrong." Lambard sighed. "Element of Light isn''t an Origin Element. It''s just considered Origin Element because people don''t know better."

    "Will anyone tell me what Origin Element is?" Gabriel felt like he was hearing two people talk in a foreignnguage since he couldn''t decipher anything. They were using so many unknown terms.

    "You don''t know about Origin Element?" Lambard asked incredulously. He couldn''t believe there was a mage who didn''t know about this.

    "Ah, wait. What''s your age? When did you awaken your element?"

    "I''m eighteen." Gabriel nced at his left hand''s Mark of Light. "I got my first element a few weeks ago."

    "Ah, so young? Fascinating. You are probably the youngest mage with the Element of Light as well." The man also observed the Element of Light of Gabriel. "Not only that, you have two elements, one being the Origin Element of Necromancy?! Man, even I''m jealous of your luck, and I''m never jealous of Mages!"

    The man rubbed his face to calm down his excitement.

    "He was born in a small town, and he stayed there for all his life, so he doesn''t know about the outside world other than the basic things," Lira chimed in, exining the reason behind Gabriel not knowing many things that were basics for people like them. "It''s not surprising he doesn''t know about the Origin Element."

    "Then he doesn''t know about the history of the world either? I have so much to tell him, it seems... About the beginning... About the end, and about our world which is also known as the Tomb of Gods."

    "He will need this information to understand his Element better." The Man walked back to the throne.

    Lira moved closer to Gabriel. She whispered in his ears, "I told you he loves to talk. There he starts."

    "You know I can hear you, right?" Lambard squinted his eyes.

 26 Chapter 26

    Lambard sat on his throne and closed his eyes. For a moment, there was only silence as no one spoke. Even the heartbeats of people could be heard in the silence.

    After a long time, the old man broke his silence as he opened his eyes which looked really deep now. It was as if his eyes were filled with centuries of wisdom.

    "This world of ours, it''s something that no one truly understands. Not many people know the true history of this world or how it came to be. The people don''t even know why we have the Mages and where they get their powers from? Who made the Grimoires? Who made the Ancestral Staffs? How did they achieve it? Where did the first mage get his powers from?"

    "What people don''t understand, they start assuming. They start believing that it was the Gods who gave these powers to the humans, selecting them as their warriors. They believe the first mage gained his abilities because he was selected by the Gods. And that oldest Element to be awakened is known as Origin Element."

    "Most people think that the first Element which was awakened by someone was the Element of Light. That''s why they think light is the Origin Element, but most people are wrong."

    "They are wrong about everything, not just the Origin Element. They are wrong about the Origin of these abilities. They are wrong about how the first Mages got their abilities. They are wrong about thousands of things. Even the most educated people are wrong about such things." As Lambard spoke, he kept turning his ring around his finger as if he was ying with it.

    "What are they wrong about exactly?" Gabriel asked. "And how do you know all this if even the most knowledgeable don''t know about this?!"

    "I''ll answer all your questions. But first, your tea is here, it seems." The young man gazed behind Gabriel.

    Gabriel looked back, only to be stunned. Another person had appeared behind him without making a noise. It was the same maid who had brought them to this ce in the first ce.

    The maid was carrying two cups filled with tea on her tray.

    Watching Lira pick up a cup, Gabriel felt like he should pick the cup as well as courtesy, but he didn''t. No matter who this person was, he couldn''t believe this tea couldn''t be poisoned.

    "I''m sorry, but I''m full. You can give it to Master Lambard," Gabriel told the young maid in the back.

    "You are really careful, it seems." Lambard smiled. "Don''t worry. There isn''t poison in the tea."

    "I''m sorry, but I''ve stopped trusting people with their words for now. Moreover, I don''t think I want to drink anything at the moment," Gabriel answered calmly.

    "Well, it''s certainly a good trait to be suspicious of those around you. You never know who can betray you if you''re not too careful. And by the time you realize, it''s already toote. But still, don''t go too far in your suspicions. Don''t push your genuine supporters away because of suspicions," Lambard calmly stated before he picked the cup that wasn''t taken by Gabriel.

    He took a sip right before the young man''s eyes. "The tea is delicious as always. Thanks, Maria."

    The woman smiled in response. "I''m d you liked it, Master."

    The maid waited for everyone to finish the tea before she left, taking the empty cups and giving everyone the privacy they wanted.

    "Ah, so where was I? Ah, yeah. Don''t push away people; you should keep some close. Because the Element that you have? It''s going to attract too much trouble for you."

    "The ones who don''t know what that symbol means will confuse it with the Element of Darkness. That is troublesome indeed, but not as troublesome as it''s going to be when the ones who truly know about the truth of your Element find out about your existence. You will need all the help you can get at that time, so yeah."<sub> </sub>

    Lambard didn''t speak much about the actions of Gabriel and hisck of trust. In fact, he didn''t mind it at all since it was a good trait when used in limitations. Still, he didn''t forget to impart some knowledge to the young man, speaking from experience.

    Gabriel understood what the young man was trying to imply. He was trying to say that the path ahead was treacherous and that he couldn''t walk alone in this path since there was a risk of losing himself in the process.

    "This Mark of Karyk, what is it? Can you answer me that first?" Gabriel asked, getting back on track. "You were talking about it."

    "Right. The Mark of Karyk..." Lambard straightened his back.

    "To know Karyk''s mark, you need to know how the abilities that the mages use originated. How did they gain these abilities? Where did theye from? And no, as much as people like to im it, these abilities didn''te from the Gods."

    The man started exining in a solemn tone.

    "ording to thest remaining scriptures that managed to survive the test of time, I have managed to gather quite a lot of information about these abilities that people call Elemental Magic."

    Gabriel listened carefully to the man''s words. He wanted to ask many questions, but he didn''t interfere and let the man continue at his own pace.

    "Millions of years ago, there were no Mages in this world. There were only humans who popted this world. There was no magic in this world. However, even though the people here didn''t have magic, they had something else entirely. They had what they used to call Science..."

    "Now, you may not understand what Science means. Even I don''t understand it entirely, but it was something really miraculous. The civilization of that time couldn''t use magic, but they were still very advanced for their time."

    "They managed to make tall buildings, things that could carry them from one ce to another without them having to walk. They also made something that can fly in the air to take them to a farawaynd," the man exined.

    "Isn''t that just magic? It''s impossible to fly without magic. Could it be possible that those people used the word science for what we know as magic? I don''t think there is any other way to fly," Gabriel asked.

    "No. You''re wrong. Initially, I also used to think what you think right now, but I soon found out that I was wrong. Science wasn''t magic. It was something much moreplex. Science could make many things possible that we can do with the help of magic."

    "They made weapons that could destroy cities without using magic. They could fly and more. As I said before, that civilization was more advanced. If only I could go back in time to live in that timeline, I would in a heartbeat."

    The man let out a deep sigh of disappointment. "Unfortunately, I can never see that glorious civilization."

    Gabriel was amazed at the story he heard. Lira seemed calmer as if she had listened to this story many times before.

    "Why did Science not exist anymore? How did people gain magic? How did that Ancient Civilization end?"

    "Greed and hate... These two things can destroy even the most prosperous of Empires. It was no different for those people," the old man answered.

 27 Chapter 27

    "Those people were divided into multiple Empires, and each Empirepeted for supremacy. The Greed of getting ahead of the other Empire and bing stronger than the rest kept pushing the humans to make stronger weapons of mass destruction."

    "A race had started in the field of those weapons. The Greed for advancement and supremacy brought each of the Empire to great heights, but then there was also the hate and conflicts between the Empires."

    "With so many weapons of Mass Destruction, all it needed was one spark, and the entire world was going to burn," Lambard grimly stated.

    "Now you see why that civilization went extinct? A great war took ce, and it was like nothing before. A mentality was spread between the Empires that they were willing to have themselves be destroyed if it meant their enemy was going to be destroyed as well to teach them a lesson."

    "And thus, there was that war... The war which destroyed most of the life forms in the world. Almost all the humans had died, leaving only a few in existence. Most of the animals that used to exist during that time went extinct. Only the ones we see today managed to survive."

    "The War changed the entirendscape and ecosystem of the world, destroying most of the natural resources of this world."

    "Ultimately, the humans that managed to survive learned a lesson after all this... They didn''t want to repeat the same mistake again, so they just gave up science altogether. They started living the basic life."

    " Throughout the millions of years, slowly our world managed to recover and be more habitable. All the remnants of the past were wiped out. The people who were alive during the time of the Ancient Civilization destroyed all documents and evidence of that ever existing."

    "Those people had seen what hell looked like from up close, and they didn''t want their children and their future generations to see something simr."

    "Even though humans kept increasing in number withing generations, the ones who knew about Science died of old age, leaving no knowledge behind."

    The old man finished the story that seemed to cover a long-forgotten history of this world.

    "That would exin why that Ancient Civilization was wiped, but I still don''t get it. How does that rte to the Mages? How does that rte to our ability and the Mark of Karyk?"

    "The incident which I talked about has everything to do with the Elements of Yours because it''s what gave birth to Karyk. The First Human God that we know of..."

    "So when people say that humans received powers from Gods? They are wrong. It''s not humans who received the powers from Gods. Instead, it''s the humans who became Gods themselves!"

    "First Human God?" Gabriel frowned.

    " ording to the stories that I''ve had ess to, that''s right. Karyk was the first Human God, and his Element of Death and Necromancy was the Origin Element that gave birth to a new era after Destruction... The Era of Gods!"

    "This world that you know of? This isn''t just any ordinary world. It''s the world where gods were born! A World where gods walked amongst men! The world where many gods died as well! That''s the reason this world is called the Tomb of Gods!"

    "You don''t understand how, right?" The old man smiled. He could see the confusion on young Gabriel''s face.

    "As I stated before, it all started with the great war of Ancient Civilization and a young man who was right in the middle of all this chaos... Or should I say it started with the end of that war..."<sub> </sub>

    *****

    [Millions of years ago]

    There was a fire in the entire city. Screams and agonizing cries were everywhere, enough to torment the consciousness of everyone that heard them. Unfortunately, those screams were often buried in the explosion that took ce at regr intervals.

    Before long, all the screams and cries for help went silent. The explosions stopped as well, only when the entire city was destroyed. No single structure was left standing in the city.

    The streets of the Royal Capital of the Zeiss Empire were painted red in blood. Bodies could be seen littered all around, some missing their limbs. The entire sight was so gruesome that it would''ve made any sane person close their eyes in disgust.

    Amidst all the unmoving bodies, thereid the body of a young man who seemed to be in his early twenties. His body was covered with blood.

    The young man was covered in blood from top to bottom. Most of his face was burned, and so did his skin for the most part. It was impossible to even recognize him for the most part.

    The previously handsome face of the Young Prince of Zeiss Empire was something that was disgusting. Unfortunately, no one was there to see his face since everyone was already dead. The young man also had his entire left arm missing, which was obliterated in the explosion he barely survived. Whatever was left of his previously Royal Attire was now covered in blood.

    In the entry city, only one person was breathing, and it was this unmoving young man.

    After an hour, the young man finally made some movements as if he was regaining consciousness.

    The man had lost most of his blood, yet he survived, which was no less than a miracle in itself. He opened his eyes toplete silence. There were no cries for help. There were no explosions. The entire city was silent... Deadly silent!

    The young man opened his eyes which were bleeding as well. He rubbed them to regain some rity, only to notice the massive amount of rubble ahead which belonged to the Royal Castle. The ce which was his home! The ce where he grew up.

    Watching that ce like this, the young man roared in agony as he forced his body up. It didn''t matter how much pain he was in; he didn''t care at the moment as he forgot everything while running to the remains of the Castle.

    "Mother! Father! Ria!" The man roared. His voice was hoarse and filled with pain.

    The man tried to remove the rubble to find his family, but he couldn''t. With just one hand, it was impossible. And even if he had two hands, he couldn''t do it since he was so weak.

    He didn''t stop. He kept trying as if he had gone crazy, but he didn''t seed. His entire family was buried in the rubble, and the entire city was destroyed. There was nothing left... Everything was gone because of this war that his father started. Only he had survived in this entire city.

    He stared at the rubble nkly as tears of blood dripped down his eyes as he realized that he had lost his entire family to this war. He was all alone.

 28 Chapter 28

    He also dropped on top of the rubble in weakness. He didn''t believe he was going to survive for long. He was probably going to die soon as well, but he wasn''t sad. He was happy that he was also standing at the death''s door. At this point, death was like mercy to him. It could free him from all this pain and agony.

    He closed his eyes as he waited for the sweet death to take him in his embrace so he could meet his family again.

    As he had his eyes closed, many scenes shed before his eyes. His mother singing songs for him... Teaching him about various things about the world, caring for him. He also saw how he used to tease his sister often. All those happy memories were with him in hisst moments.

    There were also some bittersweet memories of him trying to convince his father not to wage war, only to fail. Tears kept trickling down his eyes while his body bled.

    "You! You did this!"

    "Yes, it''s him! He''s the sin of that Demon who pushed us into this war!"

    "That bastard! Everyone died because of him, yet his own son survived!"

    "Unfair!"

    "It''s Unfair!"

    "Unfair!"

    The young man was prepared to embrace his death when he heard some screeching sounds around him. It was as if thousands of people were chanting in his ears how it was unfair that he survived.

    Instead of being angry that these people wished for his death, the young man was happy... He was happy that some of his citizens had survived this tragedy. He didn''t care if they wanted his death. He only cared about the fact that not everyone was dead.

    The young man slowly opened his eyes and gazed at his surroundings to see his citizens who had survived but probably hated him. Unfortunately, even as he opened his eyes, he couldn''t see anything. There was no one there! There was not a single person there, yet the young man continued hearing the voices.

    For a moment, he even wondered if he had gone crazy.

    "He should''ve died, not us! He should''ve died!"

    "The spawn of that devil survived while we died! This is injustice!"

    "He should''ve died!"

    The screeching continued and only intensified as more and more time passed. Previously, the young man felt as if hundreds of people were speaking, but now it appeared that the number was in the millions.

    The young man didn''t know that what he was hearing was the voice of the spirits of people who had died here! For some reason, he was able to listen to them.<sub> </sub>

    With time, more and more spirits gathered around the young man, each cursing him and wishing for his death since their entire families were wiped out because of the war that the Royal Family started.

    With so many spirits around, something strange was also happening. Each of these Spirits was cursing the young man who was already at death''s door, unaware that all their curses were doing something else entirely.

    All the negative energy that wasing from the Spirits toward the young man was being absorbed in his body somehow.

    Millions of spirits hated the young man, but that hate was bing the thing man''s strength even without his knowledge. The gathering of all this negative energy from the dead was having a miraculous effect.

    The young man didn''t know why, but he felt something strange. It was as if something was happening to his body. The pain... It was decreasing. His skin was also slowly healing.

    He hadn''t realized it, but a ck mark had appeared around his right hand since his left hand didn''t exist, culminating all the negativity of the dead at its core. The mark was something that never existed before, but it hade into existence due to all this energy of the dead.

    The mark on the right hand of the man provided a conduit for his body to better absorb all the energy of the Dead. The more these Spirits cursed the young man, the stronger he became before the mark was strong enough to absorb more than just the energy of the dead! The mark started pulling all the Spirits toward itself.

    The spirits screeched in pain, feeling the strange pull. They tried to resist, but it was impossible. The spirits kept being absorbed by the Mark of the Dead. One after another, the spirits kept being absorbed, and no one could run or escape.

    On the other hand, the wounds of the young man started healing even faster. All his burn marks were gone as his skin became even better than it was before the war.

    Something, his left hand also returned. Even the young man didn''t understand how this was possible. The strange mark also gave the young man another ability... He was able to see all the Spirits who were cursing him.

    "I can see the dead? My wounds? The young man was in disbelief at what had happened. All his pain was gone, and he was as good as new.

    Unfortunately, he wasn''t happy at all this! He recognized the spirits that were around him. Some belong to the maids he has grown up with, while others belong to the servants and the guards. Even his own people were cursing him for the oue.

    As for the other spirits, they were also his own citizens. They had died, and only their spirits were left. He understood their hate, and he believed it was justified, but what he was seeing now wasn''t right. He saw the Spirits groaning in pain and trying to run away, only to be absorbed in his mark.

    "Stop it! Let them go!" The young Prince roared, but it didn''t happen. The mark didn''t seem to listen to him as if it was a process that couldn''t be stopped.

    The man tried everything to stop this. He had already made these people suffer so much when they were alive. He didn''t want them to suffer even in death. The young man covered his mark with his other hand, but the absorption didn''t stop.

    "You Demon Child, even in death, you want to hurt us! You should''ve died! You should''ve died, not us?!"

    The spirits became even angrier, but they could do nothing but empty curses, which made the young man even stronger against his wishes.

 29 Chapter 29

    "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Let them go! Stop it!" The man didn''t want to hurt the spirits. Hurting them was like hurting himself. He wanted them to be at peace, but the mark wasn''t listening to him.

    The young man clenched his fist as he made a terrifying decision to stop all this.

    He ran to a sword that was lying in the distance and picked that Sword in his left hand before chopping his hand from the wrist along with that mark to stop.

    "Argh!" He roared in pain. His actions were really painful, but he hoped he could stop the torment on these innocent souls just by sacrificing one hand, but it didn''t work. His hand healed on its own, and the mark was back where it was previously.

    The process didn''t stop for even a second. He was absorbing the souls of men, elders,dies, and even kids! The young man felt so hurt that he couldn''t stop it. With each soul absorbed, the man hated this mark even more. It was as if a part of his soul was breaking with each passing second.

    The cries of the spirits, it was too much, but the man couldn''t do anything. He was going crazy! He even closed his eyes and his ears so he wouldn''t have to hear the cries, but nothing worked. The cries continued for hours as millions of souls were absorbed in the young man''s body.

    Unfortunately, this didn''t seem to be the worst part of it as he heard a voice he could never forget!

    "Brother!"

    The voice made him open his eyes abruptly, only to see the soul of his little sister being pulled by the mark.

    "Noo!!!" The young man roared in disbelief. He was about to devour the soul of his own sister?

    "I''m begging you; please don''t! Please don''t devour her!" He dropped to his knees, but it didn''t stop. He heard the cries of his sister as her soul was absorbed in the mark as well.

    The young man''s entire face was covered in tears. Not only could he not save his family, but he instead devoured them? He was broken... His eyes lost their focus as he sat with his back resting against the wall, seemingly defeated.

    *****

    "It is said that Karyk absorbed the souls of his entire family against his wishes, and he couldn''t do anything. He was born a human, but the strange phenomenon had given him some form of divinity. He has be a conduit of death and the undead," Lambard exined.

    He gazed at the right hand of Gabriel. "And that... That is the origin of the Mark of Karyk, which is also known as the Cursed Mark of Death and Necromancy."

    "It''s the mark of the First God ever to exist that we know of. Also, that moment was what started the Era of Gods..."

    "So the Element of Light... There was a human who gained the strength of Light just like Karyk?"<sub> </sub>

    "That''s right. However, it''s not clear how the Woman gained the Holy Energy. As I told you before, most of the literature is lost in time. Only some rted to Karyk''s history managed to survive. We don''t know how other Gods originated, but we do know some things."

    "For example, all the gods that cameter, they all came because of Karyk," Lambard continued revealing even more surprising information.

    "Because of Karyk absorbing so many souls, the bnce of life and death was broken. The barrier between humans and something much more divine became much more blurry. The natural energies of this world became much more chaotic because of theck of bnce, and that chaos is what gave birth to the other gods."

    "How do you know it''s the truth and not just someone''s fragment of imagination?" Gabriel inquired, finding it hard to believe that this world belonged to gods.

    "You don''t believe it?" Lambard moved a few inches ahead and looked straight into the eyes of Gabriel.

    "What you said doesn''t make sense logically," Gabriel answered. "You said everyone in that city was dead; that meant no one was there to see what happened to the souls. If no one was there, how could there be literature about that incident? I don''t believe Karyk would have written it on his own."

    Lambard nkly stared at Gabriel before he tossed his head back,ughing. "So that''s what makes you doubt this story?"

    "No one had to be there to know what happened there. Someone peeked in the past of Karyk without his permission to see what he went through. And that person is the one who wrote about it in their personal entry. A few pages of that journal managed to survive. I paid a fortune to buy those pages a couple of decades ago."

    "As I told you before, your knowledge about this world is reallycking, boy. You have six elements in this world. Counting the Element of Death and Necromancy, there are a total of Seven Elemental Mages thate from generation to generation, but that doesn''t mean there weren''t more gods in the past."

    "The imbnce that created the Seven Gods also created the hundreds of demi gods that only a few people know about. Unlike the Gods, the Demi-Gods didn''t leave anything behind."

    "The Ring of Apophis that Lira came here to ask me? What do you think that ring is? Why do you think she needs it? Why do you think even the Church of Light doesn''t destroy this ce despite what I do?" he asked Gabriel.

    "It''s all because of the Numen Artefacts that I gathered! The Artefacts that absorbed the divine aura of the Demi-Gods when they were alive, gaining a divine spirit of their own."

    "One of those Demi-Gods was Apophis. The Demigod was known for many things, but mostly his tricks onmoners and unaware people. He was a trickster who could disguise as anyone he wished to fool people."

    "I hope you aren''t going to tell that disturbing story about him again. I don''t care what he did in the past. He is dead now. All I need is his ring." Lira, who had been sitting silently until all this while, finally spoke up.

    "What disturbing story?" Gabriel asked, curious. The thing about Numen Artefacts had undoubtedly caught his interest. Mythical Artefacts that were used by the Demi-Gods that can even force the Holy Church of Light to reconsider attacking this ce?

    "No matter how disturbing the story may be, it''s all in the past," Lambard answered Lira. "We can''t do anything about the past. We can only learn from history, but we can only do that if we know the history. Now don''t be a spoilsport and let me tell the story. I don''t want Gabriel to walk down the same wrong path. Maybe he will learn something from the tragic story of Apophis."

 30 Chapter 30

    Gabriel waited to hear the story, having no idea what it could be about, but seeing Lira''s disgusting expressions, he felt that it must be something terrible.

    Not making him wait for long, Lambard started the story.

    "Apophis was a demigod that lived in the era when demigods were more often seen than not. He was known as someone who couldn''t care less about the moral rules that this world had established. He did whatever he pleased, as long as he desired. He even robbed mortals at times just to see their expression."

    "That''s why he is also called the most annoying demigod amongst the ranks of demigods. Still, despite all his tactics, the other demigods didn''t stop him. They let him do as he pleased since his small tricks weren''t causing any serious harm and deaths."

    "With time, the boldness of Apophis only increased as he moved from City to City to get rid of boredom. One such city was the city of Eloran. It was a city he had never visited before, but as soon as he entered the city, he decided to settle there. You know why?"

    "He liked the city?" Gabriel took a guess.

    "Nope." Lambard shook his head. "It''s because he fell in love with a woman who lived in the city... A married woman. He tried to pursue the woman, but she avoided his advances at every instance and refused him many times."

    <o>,m "Ultimately, Apophis got frustrated and decided to do something really foolish. He sent some men to keep the husband of thedy distracted with some tasks to make sure he couldn''t go home the entire night. At the same time, he used his divinity to transform into thedy''s husband and went to her house. Hiding his real identity, he slept with the woman..."</o>

    "It was only after he finished that he stopped his disguise and told the woman the truth. He told her that he already had her body and now she was impure for her husband. He asked her toe with him and leave this town."

    "This..." Gabriel didn''t know how to respond. Apophis sounded like a really messed up guy. What he didn''t wasn''t just a trick; it was evil!

    "Apophis told the woman toe to the city''s entrance by the evening to leave with him, or he was going to tell the entire city that the woman slept with him to sully her reputation. Not only did he do something vile, but he also ckmailed her using that information."

    "He waited at the city entrance for the woman''s arrival, but she didn''te. After getting tired, he went back to her house to force her toe with him but as soon as he got to her house, he saw her hanging by a rope. The woman had killed herself."

    "Shocked, Apophis ran from the city, not realizing that the woman had left a letter on the table before dying in which she wrote everything that had happened."

    "When the woman''s husband returned home, he saw the wife he loved more than his life... Dead. For a long time, he was in disbelief before he started crying while bringing her down. He ced her dead body on the bed and asked her why she would do this, but the dead couldn''t answer."

    "It''s said that the husband discovered the letter and found out the truth. He wanted revenge on the man who did it, but he didn''t have the strength, but he knew someone who did..."

    "After giving his wife a proper burial, the man left the city and went to the city of Divinity... A city where most of the demigods lived at that time. And one of those demi gods was the brother of his dead wife..."

    "Apophis didn''t know that the woman he was after was the sister of Demigod Raini... One of the more powerful demigods."<sub> </sub>

    "Apophis was allowed to do as he pleased because he was careful not to annoy the powerful demigods. As for the seven gods, he didn''t even dare to be in the same city as then. Unfortunately, this time his luck had run out since he didn''t know who was the brother of thedy he was harassing."

    "This one mistake finally brought him to his death''s door. The Demigods who refused to stop him throughout the years finally took action as his acts had crossed the limits and had tainted the reputation of the demigods."

    "Apophis tried to run, he tried to hide, he used all the tricks he could to survive as long as he found, but ultimately he was caught and killed."

    "All that was left of Apophis was his Numen Artefact... The ring that was given to him by his mother when he was a kid... The time he never took off. The ring of Apophis," Lambard exined. "This ring is an amazing Artefact that can help you disguise and change your looks to anyone you want."

    "Unfortunately, this ring isn''t without ws either. You can disguise yourself as someone else with this ring, but your disguise stops working whenever the person you''re disguising as gets within hundred meters of you. So one must be careful before selecting who he wants to disguise as."

    "There is one more w to it. Since you''re only using the divine energy of Apophis through the ring, you can only draw out a weak transformation, unlike the real Apophis. There are people in the world who can see through your disguise, for example, the Heads of the Five Churches of Elements that still stand."

    "The Dean of the Academy of Element might also be able to see through your disguise, so when you use the ring, you should do everything you can to avoid them when you''re in disguise, alright?"

    Lambard had already promised to give the ring of Apophis previously, and he decided to keep his promise.

    He took off the beautiful golden ring from his left ring finger and ced it in the hands of Gabriel.

    "I''m only giving this to you temporarily. And it''s only for seven days from the moment you enter the Royal Capital. After seven days, the ring will return to me on its own. Think of it as a safety mechanism in case you fail. I don''t want to lose this precious piece of history."

    "Only seven days?!" Lira eximed. "That''s not enough time! We might need longer!"

    "I''m sorry, I can''t do more. You''ll only have seven days after you enter the Holy City. You can either take my offer or leave it. I''m not forcing you. Moreover, if you can really seed, seven days are more than enough to do it. If you can''t do it in seven days, then chances of your sess were probably never there in the first ce."

    Lambard wasn''t phased by the questioning of Lira. He didn''t back off. Once he had made up his mind, it was done.

    "Seven days should be enough." Gabriel took the offer. He wore the ring on the middle finger of his right hand, right beside the ck ring on his ring finger.

    The golden and the ck ring on his fingers created a nice contrast. Even if he had received only five days, he would''ve taken the offer even then since he wasn''t going to the academy to study. He was going there to steal, and one attempt was all he was going to have...

 Chapter 31 31: The Arrival Of Head Of Church

    "Fine, we''ll take the seven-day offer."

    Since Gabriel had already agreed, Lira also agreed. Gabriel was going to have to go inside the Holy City to steal the Staff and the Eye of Osiris. If he believed seven days were enough, she needed to trust him.

    "How considerate of you." Lambard chuckled in amusement. He nced at Gabriel. "You know, it''s the first time I''ve seen Lira change her mind after deciding something."

    "Anyway, I suppose we are done with the deal here. I''ve fulfilled my part of the deal. All that''s left is for you to fulfill your part of the deal. I sure do hope you seed. Eye of Osiris is something I''ve wanted for a long time, but it''s always stayed out of my reach."

    "May I ask what''s so special about the eye of Osiris? I suppose it''s also a Numen Artefact, but what does it do? Why do you need it?" Gabriel could see the eagerness in the eyes of Lambard to get that item, so much so that he was even willing to part with the Ring of Apophis. It was as if the value of the Eye of Osiris was much more in the eyes of Lambard.

    "Of course, it''s a Numen Artifact. It is a small crystal orb that is only a few inches wide. It was used by Demigod Osiris. She kept it with him as long as she lived. The Demigod Osiris was also the one who peeked into the past of Karyk and wrote it down in her journal," Lambard answered. "The Eye of Osiris can help a person see through the past of another person, no matter who they might be."

    "It also helps you see their darkest secrets. Moreover, I''m not sure how true it is, but it was said that Demigod Osiris could also see the future to some extent. If the Eye of Osiris has that ability, then it''ll be worth even more."

    Lambard had spent most of his life chasing after the literature of Demigods and the Numen Artefacts. He had managed to make a huge collection all because of that, yet he was missing a lot of Numens.

    There were many he had his eyes on that he wanted, and one of those was the Eye of Osiris, which was kept in the holy city under high protection, right beside the Ancient Staff of Darkness which belonged to the God of Darkness.

    <o>,m "There are hundreds of Numens in this world, each having a specialty of their own that it received from the Demigod it used to belong to. Amongst those Numens, the whereabouts of most were unknown as they''ve been forever lost in time. But amongst the ones that have their whereabouts known, the Eye of Osiris is one of the most important Artefacts that I''ve wanted since the beginning."</o>

    "I even tried to send a few people to steal them, but they failed and ended up dying." Lambard let out a tired sigh, remembering about his past failure.

    Gabriel had heard from Lira that Lambard was really powerful despite being a human. He was the reason this illegal City still wasn''t burnt down to the ground. So why couldn''t he get the artifact back?

    "Why didn''t you go there yourself to get it? Since the Holy Church of Light can''t attack this ce because of you, that must mean you''re really strong despite being a human. Can''t you steal that with that strength of yours?"

    Hearing Gabriel, Lambard nkly stared at him for a moment before bursting into a heartyughter, "Hahaha."

    "You think I''m stronger than the Holy Church? You would be wrong if you believed that. Although it''s true that there are some instances when I can face them, but that''s only when certain conditions are met, and one of them is being in this city."

    He further exined, "The reason they don''t attack me here is that this city protects me. This entire city is also a Numen Artefact, known as the City of Abadon, the DemiGod who was known for his defenses."

    "After having his entire family killed in a war, Abadon created this city and covered it in his Divine Aura to make sure no one could hurt the people he wanted to protect. Even after his death, that aura stayed with the city, being absorbed in it. The city became a Numen Artefact, known as the Imprable City of Abadon."<sub> </sub>

    "The only reason the Holy Church can do nothing here is because of that. As long as I''m inside this city, they can''t do anything. Even the Head of Holy Church of Light himself can''t kill me here."

    "As long as I''m inside this city, I''m undefeatable." Lambard smiled. "However, if I leave this city, I don''t have that protection, so I rarely leave this ce, and even if I do, I do it secretly."

    "If I go to the Holy City myself, I won''t have this advantage, and I won''t be able toe back to this city if I''m caught there." He stretched his armszily. "You have no idea how much the Holy Church of Light hates me. If they get me, my fate would be something that will scare even the fiercest. So yeah, I''ll not leave this city and definitely not enter the Holy City where that old man stays."

    "An entire city as a Numen Artefact?" Gabriel asked. That sounded so incredulous. He had assumed that only small essories were lumen artifacts, but an entire city?

    "Heh, I know how impossible that sounds. Even I had a hard time believing it when I found out about this city. Fortunately, when I got to it, the city had no people living here. It was a barren city. The city might be here when I arrived, but I made it into what it is today."

    "Why does this city only protect you then? If the entire city is a Numen, you can''t hold it. Everyone who stays here is in contact with it, so does that mean it gives everyone the same protection it gives you?"

    "No, if it did, why do you think the people here would be scared of Lira when she came unting her identity?" Lambard rolled his eyes.

    He red at Lira. "And you dare call me a showoff? It''s like the pot calling the kettle ck."

    "Then how does it work?" Gabriel inquired.

    "It-"

    Lambard opened his lips to answer but stopped. A frown appeared on his forehead. "It seems we have more guests. The city sure is busy today."

    "More guests?" Gabriel gazed at Lira. How could he know there were more people when he was sitting here?

    "The City of Abandon is under the control of Lambard. He can see everything that happens here," Lira exined. "That''s how he saw using as well. How else do you think he knew? If he''s getting so serious, whoever arrived must be someone significant."

    "Who is here?" she asked Lambard.

    "Someone I didn''t expect toe here." Lambard scratched the back of his head. "The Head of the Church of Water has arrived... The Strongest Mage with the Element of Water in the entire world... And one of the Six Rulers of Elements."

 Chapter 32 32: Gabriel Vs The Head Of Church Of Water?

    "I didn''t expect thatdy toe here. This is really surprising." Lambard stood up. "Though I think I do know what she''s here for."

    "Gabriel, you want to apany me?" he nced at the young man. "I doubt you''ve ever seen a Head of Church before. It might be a good exposure since you''re one of them as well, in a way."

    "He can''te," Lira chimed in. "She might not be able to harm you in this ce, but it''s not the same for Gabriel. She can kill him if she realizes who he is, and I''m sure his aura will give away his identity."

    "Heh, don''t worry about it. Even she won''t be able to sense his aura. Don''t forget who you''re standing with. This city is my Domain. Here even the gods can''t see someone''s aura if I want to hide it. I''ll hide his aura. Moreover, he already has the gloves to hide his mark, so I doubt it would be much of a problem."

    "Come on, let the boy have some fun."

    "But it''s still dangerous." Lira frowned. Even though the man said he was going to take care of everything, she still felt that it was dangerous for Gabriel to be alone with thatdy and Lambard here.

    After thinking for a few seconds, she finally responded, "Fine, I''lle with you as well. Since you can hide his aura, I''m sure you can hide mine as well. She hasn''t seen me yet, so she won''t know who I am if she can''t sense my aura."

    "That''s fine by me. Not like it would matter even if she finds out who you are. Not like she can do anything to me." Lambard smirked, giving Lira the permission to apany him as well.

    ****

    The Head of the Church of Water arrived at the entrance of Lambard''s mansion.

    The youngdy appeared as if she was only in herte twenties at best. Just based on her age, no one could have expected that she was the Head of one of the most prestigious organizations. She was the Head of Church of Water at such a young age and had just received the positionst year itself.

    The youngdy was dressed in a beautiful ck shoulderless dress that wrapped tightly around her body, highlighting her curves. She had beautiful blue hair like the purest form of water. Her hair came down to her waist, covering her upper back, which was left exposed by the dress.

    Unlike her beautiful blue hair, her eyes appeared to be hazel, giving her a distinguished look. Her innocent-looking face was perfectly calm, not showing many expressions.

    "Mydy, are you sure we aren''t wasting time bying here?"

    Apanying the Head of the Church on this trip were the two Head Priestess from the Church of Water, who had the highest authority in the Church after her. They still didn''t believe that what they heard about this ce could be true.

    "Who knows. But we can''t take a chance," the youngdy answered.

    "Greetings to the three Mages." Like before, the maid greeted the three as soon as they reached the castle, but she didn''t give them water this time.

    "Tell Lord Lambard that I''m here to meet him."

    "He already knows you are here," the Maid calmly responded. "Please follow me inside."

    "Huh? He knew we wereing? My Lady, do you trust her? How could he have known?" One of the Head Priestess asked the blue-haired woman in the lead.

    The young woman didn''t answer. Instead, she followed the maid inside the castle with the others.

    The maid brought the three Water Mages to the end of the hallway. Surprisingly, at the end of the hallway, there wasn''t a door like before. Instead, there were stairs that were going up.

    The maid started going up, followed by the Mages.

    *****

    "Lady Elora, wee to the City of Abadon." Lambard greeted the youngdy in the lead. "The two behind you must be Lady Joan and Lady Ruyi?"

    "Hmm?" The Two Head priestesses in the back grew stunned as they were called by their names.<sub> </sub>

    ''How did this person know our names?''

    They wanted to ask how Lambard knew their names since it shouldn''t have been possible. Unlike the Head of the Church of Water Elora, they weren''t that well known, especially regarding names.

    "Greetings, Lord Lambard. It seems you know about me."

    "Of course I do. Who wouldn''t know the names of the Six Heads of Churches of Elements," Lambard casually answered.

    "I suppose it does make sense that you know my name, but I''m still curious about something. How do you know the ones behind me?"

    "Lady Elora, I know their names because you told me their names yourself."

    "I did?" Elora stared at the man in confusion. "But I don''t recall ever telling you their names."

    Lambard simply smiled but didn''t answer. "Let me introduce you to a few more guests of mine."

    "This is Gabriel. And that''s Lady Lira. The two came here just today." He introduced Gabriel and Lira.

    Elora casually nced at the people in the back. She couldn''t find anything special about the two. She didn''t believe any of the two were special enough for her to remember.

    She didn''t even say a word to them in greetings. She just casually nodded.

    Lira rolled her eyes, amazed at the arrogance of Elora.

    Lambard next introduced the threedies to Gabriel and Lira.

    Just like Elora didn''t greet Lira, Lira also didn''t greet Elora, which came across as rude from her side. She just noddedzily as well.

    As for Gabriel, he just stood silent in the back, observing Elora. Lambard was hiding his aura, but he didn''t hide the aura of Elora. Gabriel could see the aura of Elora, which was as vast and deep as the sea itself.

    Even though the young woman looked like she was an ordinarydy, the aura of her told a different story entirely. It was as if behind that innocent facade, there was enough strength to destroy an entire city if she wanted.

    ''So this of the level of the enemies I would need to face. The Head of the Church of Light would be even stronger than her.''

    "You two, don''t you have any manners on how you should greet Lady Elora?" Ruyi called out to Lira and Gabriel.

    It didn''t matter if Elora didn''t meet the twomoners like them properly, but when they were introduced, how dare these peasants ignore the one who was selected by the Goddess of Water herself?!

    "Huh?" Hearing the sudden scolding, Gabriel came out of his thoughts. He was in disbelief that these people were scolding them for what they themselves did?

    Lira was about to respond to these people in their ownnguage, but before they could, Gabriel did it.

    He took the lead. He had been through hell because of people who considered themselves superior to him while hiding their hypocrisy. He couldn''t help but feel the same hypocrisy here.

    He had been through hell, not so he could be scolded like this by some hypocrites. Moreover, since he wasn''t looking for any favor from them, he didn''t need to hold back.

    "If you want respect, maybe you should learn to give the same respect first," Gabriel calmly stated. His eyes didn''t have even a shred of fear.

 33 Chapter 33

    As he talked, he didn''t even nce at thedy who had spoken. Instead, his eyes rested on the Head Priestess who had just chided them.

    It was certainly not the wisest choice to offend the one who stood at the peak of this world when he wasn''t even in the same league as her when it came to true strength, but Gabriel didn''t care at the moment.

    In any case, he was going on a suicide mission soon after, so what was the need to be scared at this point? Moreover, with Lambard here, these three weren''t going to attack him. This ce was the stronghold of Lambard, who had promised to keep them safe, so whatever he said at the moment held no consequences.

    It wasn''t as if he was going to meet the young Head of Church of Water again.

    Both the Head Priestess were stunned to get such a sharp response from Gabriel. Even Elora herself was taken aback. No one dared to talk like that before her. Not only her but even Lira was also surprised. Gabriel said precisely what she wanted to say. The two of them really were simr in some things.

    On the contrary, Lambard was more amused. He turned back, ncing at Gabriel. A smirk spread across his lips which the threedies behind him couldn''t see. This was fun for him. He did like the way Gabriel talked to them.

    Elora didn''t know that Lira and Gabriel didn''t really need to give them any special respect. Just like her, the two of them were also the Leaders of their Individual Element Types. Even though they were all alone and didn''t have hundreds of supporters, they were technically the Head of the Church as well.

    Lambard found this whole thing very amusing, and he could even guess what the reaction from the other side was going to be.

    "Y-you!" Ruyi''s face turned red in anger. "Kid, you should really mind yournguage and consider who you''re talking to."

    "Exactly. Lady Elora owes you no respect! Who do you think you are to demand equal respect from her?" Joan also asked. She went even as far as to call out her Staff of Water as if prepared to show Gabriel his ce this instant.

    A powerful aura acted up on Gabriel, which ced pressure on his body to force him to his knees. "Apologize this instant!"

    Elora wanted to stop thedies behind her, but she was toote. Before she could even speak anything, Joan already did it.

    The mighty aura of the Head Priestess wasn''t harmful, but it did weigh heavily on Gabriel. If it were someone else in his ce, he would''ve fallen to his knees already, unable to resist the aura, but what was the aura of a Head Priestess before the heir of Karyk and the holder of a Holy Grimoire?

    The ck ring on his finger released an invisible aura that surrounded the body of Gabriel. The aura of his own was so powerful that it basically neglected the effect of the Head Priestess'' aura.

    Fortunately, it was just the aura released by the ring. He hadn''t called out his Grimoire, so the aura couldn''t be sensed even by Elora, all thanks to Lambard''s shroud.

    Joan was surprised to see Gabriel still standing perfectly calm, as if the aura had no effect on him. How could it be? How could a young man stay so calm andposed under the effect of her aura? This shouldn''t have been possible. Just who was this person?

    Lambard also couldn''t stand idle and watch thedy bully his guest in front of him. He also didn''t want them to find out just how special Gabriel was.

    He finally took the lead.

    "Youngdies, I would appreciate it if you don''t try to bully my guests. This ce is my home, not your Church of Water. As the Head Priest of Light must''ve told everyone already, everyone whoes to this city is my guest. It doesn''t matter how influential you are; I won''t let you bully my other guests."

    Joan finally got a reason as to why Gabriel wasn''t being affected. She believed it was because Lambard was giving him his protection. That made sense. She had heard stories about Lambard, so it did make sense that he could do that much.<sub> </sub>

    "But they insulted us. We didn''t start it," Rayi chimed in.

    "It doesn''t matter. You''re the first one who took action. Words should be answered with words. If you want to show your strength to those weaker than you, then I''ll also be forced to show you some of what I''m capable of," Lambard casually stated. "And I''m sure you won''t like it if that happens. So please behave while you''re in my city."

    "He''s right, Rayi, Joan. You both should calm down. Not everyone needs to greet us. No need to be that offended over such a small matter." Elora agreed with Lambard.

    She had heard the stories about Lambard. He was a really chill person who didn''t care about many things, but when he got angry, he didn''t care how influential one was. As long as he was in the city, he was no less than a demigod. He had even gone against the Head of Church of Lightst time without a single care in the world, and he still managed to survive.

    She didn''t want to create bad blood between the two sides over such a small matter. Especially since the reason they came here was something that couldn''t be ignored. They couldn''t allow them to be kicked out before achieving the goals.

    "I-"

    Rayi couldn''t believe Elora wasn''t siding with her, but she also understood why. She probably didn''t want to be kicked out of the city. But still, this didn''t sit right with her.

    She red at Gabriel, who had his focus on Elora. Unlike her two followers, the youngdy was much better. She was more careful and considerate. He wondered if she was being real or if it was all just an act.

    "Fine. I won''t do it again," Rayizily stated.

    Joan also agreed that she wouldn''t target Gabriel. At least not as long as he was in the city.

    "Good. Now that we finally have an understanding, let''s sit and discuss what you''re here for. I''m sure it must be something important that brought you here." Lambard smiled as he gestured for everyone to take a seat.

    Even though he knew why they were here, he wanted to hear from them directly.

    Elora sat on a couch, and the two Head Priestesses stood behind her, not taking a seat.

    "You know, you can take a seat too?" Lambard stated.

    Both thedies rejected. They followed hierarchy all too well. Only the two leaders should sit when discussing.

    Unlike them, Gabriel and Lira sat down without Lambard having to insist. Gabriel stood on Lambard''s left, and Lira sat on his right.

    Seeing their actions, the faces of the Head Priestess also twitched, but they didn''t react.

    "So, what brought you here? How can I help you,dy Elora."

    "I came here for two reasons," the youngdy stated calmly. "The first reason being that I want the Ring of Apophis from you."

 34 Chapter 34

    "The first reason being that I want the Ring of Apophis from you," the youngdy stated, surprising even Lambard.

    It wasn''t what he expected. She was here for the ring of Apophis? Why was everyoneing here for that thing at the same time?

    Lira was d that they got the ring already. It seemed they were right on time. If they had arrived an hourter, the ring would''ve been with Lambard, and he might have given it to the youngdy. Now that he had promised them, there was no way he could take the ring back before seven days of getting into the Royal City ran out.

    "I''m willing to pay you as much money as you need for the Ring of Apophis." The youngdy stated.

    "Lady Elora, if you think that money can sway me, you''re wrong. I''m the one who spends money to get Numens, not the one who spends Numens to get money. I''m sorry, but I can''t help you with this. What else do you need?"

    "What if I give you something that''s not money?" Elora inquired.

    "And what might that be?" Lambard asked, curious. " I doubt you can offer me anything that can make me change my mind."

    Even though Lambard had already given the ring of Apophis to Gabriel, that was only for a little over a week. After that, he was going to have the ring back, so he certainly could offer the ring to the youngdy, but to exchange a Numen, he didn''t think it was worth it. He quite liked the Ring, after all.

    Elora nced at Gabriel and Lira. "You should send them out before we can discuss further. I don''t want to mention things thatmoners shouldn''t know."

    "Don''t worry about them. They are the suppliers who work for me by location Numens. They know more about them than anyone. You can talk about anything," Lambard swiftly lied.

    The worries of Elora were fair since most people weren''t allowed to know about Numens and many such things, but he had already told Gabriel and Lira about such things. He didn''t care if they heard more since they were also important yers in the grand scheme of things.

    "Fine. What if I offer you a Letter that was written by the Goddess of Thunder herself to the Goddess of Water?" Elora smiled. "I heard you''re really interested in literature from the times of Gods? If you find me a ring, the letter will be yours."

    "Hmm? A letter personally written by a god?" Lambard straightened up as soon as he heard about the offer. So far, he had only dealt with things regarding demigods. Even the things he knew about the gods were through things written by Demigods.

    He never had direct interaction with anything written by the Gods themselves. If he was truly being offered something like that, then the offer was really worth it.

    Moreover, a letter written by a God might contain their true essence as well. It wasn''t an offer he could refuse.<sub> </sub>

    Also, since the letter was written to the Goddess of Water, it might tell something about the rtionship between the two gods at that time. If anyone could have a letter written to the Goddess of Water, it was going to be the Holy Church of Water, so he didn''t doubt its authenticity either.

    "Why do you want to offer that in exchange for the Ring of Apophis?"

    "We do have a couple of letters that were written to the Goddess of Water by the Goddess of Lightning, so I can certainly offer you one for what I need. But you don''t have any, so you will certainly need it. Do you ept the offer?"

    Even though Elora asked this question, she was already sure that the answer was yes. She could see on his face that he truly wanted the letter.

    Lambard subtly nced at the end on Gabriel''s hands as he seriously thought about it. A mission that was supposed to fail, or a confirmed letter written by a god? Those were his two choices in exchange for the ring.

    Even though he had already promised Gabriel, he still thought about this offer seriously.

    "Why do you want the ring of Apophis?" he asked Elora. "What do you want to use it for?"

    "I want to use it for myself. Whenever I leave the church, almost everyone recognizes me. I don''t appreciate such attention. I want to use the ring to disguise myself, so I can leave freely without attracting gazes. So I need it just for basic use."

    "Fine. I''ll offer you the Ring of Apophis for one month in exchange for the letter. You can use the ring however you want in that month. That''s the deal. I can''t hand over the ring permanently under any condition since I quite like it. But I''m sure one month should be enough for you to experience what you want to."

    "One month is too little. I want the ring for a lifetime."

    "I''m sorry, that''s not happening. Even though I want the letter, I''m not going to give up my ring forever. I''ve spent a lot of effort to get the ring. Moreover, it''s not like you''re losing anything by offering me a letter. You have many such letters, and you''re only offering one. If I had many such rings, I would''ve given one ring to you for a lifetime as well, but I don''t."

    "I''m afraid it''s not an equal deal. You are giving something that you can afford to lose since you have more of it. I''m giving something which I can''t afford to lose. I''m being really generous by offering you one month. I''ve offered a week for things much more precious." Lambard stood firmly on his offer, not taking a single step back.

    The way Lambard was dealing, Lira couldn''t believe it! He had promised the ring to them, and now he was negotiating to take the ring from them and give it to someone else?!

    She couldn''t ept this!

 35 Chapter 35

    Lambard was adamant about not offering the ring for more than a month. No matter what Elora said, he didn''t budge.

    Ultimately, Elora had no choice but to go along with the seal. Even though it was only for a month, it was better than not having the ring at all. One month of freedom was better than nothing.

    Ever since she joined the Church of Water at the age of neen, she had been training only.

    Most of her life in the church went in training as she tried to master her element of Water. She didn''t even leave the Church of Water to explore other ces.

    For eight years straight, she stayed on the premises of the Church, never taking even a single step out. Throughout the years, she mastered all the skills and even got promoted a few times until she became a Head Priestess at the age of twenty-five only.

    That was the highest post someone could be promoted to inside the Church of Element since only one person was above a Head Priestess... It was the Head of the Church.

    No one could be promoted to the Head of a Church of Element since the Holy Grimoire itself selected someone after the death of thest owner.

    Just a few years ago, thest Head of the Church of Water died a few days aftering back from an Exploration. As the Head Priestesses, thedies were given priority attempts on the Grimoire before anyone else could''ve been tried.

    All the Head Priestesses were brought to the chamber where the Holy Book of Water was kept after the death of thest head. Not many people actually thought that the book was easily going to select someone. They thought they needed to spend decades to find the next rightful heir, but they were wrong.

    The Book of Water flew on its own to the Youngest Head Priestess. Elora was selected as the Head of the Church of Water. She also received the control of the Church of Water along with the Ancient Staff of Water.

    The news of that spread like fire everywhere. Almost the entire world knew about her since the position of a Lord of Element wasn''t something that anyone could get.

    Only after bing the Head of the Church of Water did Elora realize how her life had changed. Throughout thest few years, whenever she left the Church for anything, she was often recognized even when she didn''t want to.

    She wanted to find a solution for her problem. That''s when she was informed about a treasure that was held by Lambard.

    She wanted that treasure for a lifetime, but she really underestimated Lambard, it seemed.

    "Fine. I''ll take the ring for one month. Give the ring to me." Elora reached out her hand toward Lambard.

    Lambard smiled as he nced at Lira, who seemed really upset.

    "I''m sorry, but you''ll have to wait a couple of weeks for the ring. As soon as it''s avable, I''ll send an Envoy to the Church with the Ring. You can give the letter to my envoy at that time."

    Lambard wanted the letter, but he also realized that breaking his promise wasn''t a wise decision at this point. He might have broken the promise if it was only Lira, but there was also Gabriel in the mix... There were just too many factors at y, and he didn''t want to offend one side or the other.

    He knew these were chaotic waters, and he wanted to be neutral at this point.

    "May I ask why you can''t give us the ring this instant? If it''s about the letter, I did bring it with me."

    "I''m sorry, Lady Elora. But I have some prior engagements which need the ring to be with me. I should be able to give the ring to you after a few weeks."

    "Fine. We will wait for a few weeks."<sub> </sub>

    Elora didn''t appear to be in any hurry to get the ring. It was going to be with her temporarily, after all. So she was fine if it was dyed by a few weeks.

    "Deal it is then," Lambard affirmed. "That''s one thing covered, but you said there was another reason you came here as we. May I ask what it was?"

    "The other reason is because I want the Map of the City of Ruins that you have. I got some information that it''s going to be avable for the auction that''s about to happen in the city. I want to buy it from you, and don''t tell me you can''t sell it for money since you''ve put it up for auction."

    "Of course, I can sell that for money. It''s just a map. It''s not like it''s a Numen." Lambard smiled. He waved his fingers. A small portal appeared before him.

    "The ring of Damion helps me store some things." Seeing the surprised faces of everyone, Lambard exined as he ced his hand inside the portal.

    Bringing his hand out, he revealed a pale yellow scroll. "I believe this is what you''re looking for."

    "That''s right. How much money do you need for it?"

    "I''m sorry, Young Lady, but I must refuse you once again. As you stated, this map is already up for auction. I can''t sell it before the auction. If you want the map, you should probably get a room in the city and wait for the auction tomorrow."

    Lambard knew the Church of Water had a lot of money, and he could literally ask for any amount he wanted, but he was also a man of principles in certain aspects, and one of those aspects was the auctions he often conducted.

    "I know it''s up for auction, but I can''t wait for that. I don''t believe there is anyone who can bid more for it than me, so just give it to me. Three Hundred Thousand Gold Coins... How about it?"

    "Lady Elora, I doubt you know what you''re speaking. You think you''re the only one interested in this map?" Lambard shrugged.

    "The offer to sell this map directly... I''ve received this offer from many sides. So far, I''ve received a letter from the Church of Lightning, Church of Earth, Church of Nature, and Church of Wind. Only Holy Church of Light hasn''t shown any interest in it yet."

    "I''m giving you the same answer that I gave to all those letters... If you want to buy this map, get it in the auction. If I didn''t break my rule with them, how could I break the rule with you?"

    Ruyi brought her lips closer to Elora''s ears and whispered something in her ears, seeing the man refuse. "Lady Elora, this man has the map in his hands. The rings are also in his hands. Why are we even listening to his arrogant refusals? Let''s just take him down and snatch everything. We can get more than one ring from him."

    Ruyi made sure to keep her voice as low as she could so Lambard had no chance of hearing.

    Unfortunately for them, this was the domain of Lambard. He heard everything. He found this discussion quite amusing but not unexpected.

    ***************

    [Author Note: Create your own character!

    Create a Character (Name, Personality, element, history etc) in thements that you want in the Academy of Elements when Gabriel gets there or vote for characters created by other readers if any by likingments.

    The character you create or like might be reality and might be an important part of the story!]

 36 Chapter 36

    Despite knowing what they were talking about, he acted ignorant.

    "Don''t be an idiot." Elora scolded the youngdy right there and didn''t keep her voice down.

    Even though Lambard acted as if he hadn''t heard their discussion, Elora knew that he heard everything. Lambard was the person who even knew their names which no one here should''ve known. The only time she had addressed them by their names was when they were alone inside the city.

    If he managed to know even that, it meant that Lambard could hear things that happened in the city. If he heard something that happened so far away, it wasn''t impossible that he couldn''t hear what was happening here.

    She believed that Lambard heard the suggestion of Ruyi, and yet he wasn''t phased as if this wasn''t a threat to him. Elora also knew the stories about this city and what happened when the Church of Light tried to bring it down. She didn''t want to test that theory.

    It was better to just wait for the auction and bid through it. Even though it wasted a day of theirs, it was better than picking a fight with Lambard in his own home. Outside the city, it was a different matter, but inside the city, it was impossible to defeat him from what she heard.

    Moreover, Ruyi was literally suggesting theft and robbery! They were from the Holy Church of Water. A theft wasn''t something that they could do. Even if they seeded, this was going to destroy their reputation if it came out that the Head of the Church of Water herself tried to steal someone else''s belongings.

    "Is something the matter, Lady Elora?" Lambard asked innocently.

    "Nothing. Just some stupid suggestion that I was given. Don''t worry about it. If you''ve already decided that you can''t sell that map outside of auction, we will wait for the auction in that case."

    Elora took care of the situation before it could deteriorate too much. Even Lambard was impressed at her actions. Even though she was young, she was more clever than the other two who followed her. She made the right decision at the right time.

    She also wasn''t stubborn or adamant on something. Unlike the Head Priestesses, she didn''t look for a fight.

    "I think it''s time we take our leave. We also need to look for a hotel. We will see you at the auction." Elora stood up gracefully before she left.

    The two Head Priestesses followed her after taking a subtle nce at Lambard. They didn''t know why Elora didn''t go with their n, but they just went with it.

    Elora stopped right at the exit. "Lord Lambard, as I told you before, that map will be mine. I don''t care who bids for it. It''s just too important for me, so please keep that with care."

    Lambard kept the scroll back inside the Portal, which closed. "This map is important for many, it seems. After what happened to thest Head of the Church of Water, everyone has been looking for this map, not just you. I think it''s not going to be that easy for you to buy it."

    "We will see that."

    Elora calmly departed without arguing, but when she was worried to some extent. If what Lambard said was true, that meant there were many sides that wanted the map, and they were all going to be in the auction.

    She didn''t know how high the bid was going to go, but she knew she couldn''t let this map go. This map contained the secret as to what happened with thest Head of the Church of Water. At any cost, she needed to get this map!

    ****<sub> </sub>

    After Elora left, Gabriel somewhat rxed.

    "I really thought you were going to throw us off a cliff to give this ring to Elora. Thank you for not breaking your promise." Lira thanked Lambard for not taking the ring. That gave them a chance to finish their quest in the Capital City.

    "Don''t worry about it. I promised you the ring for a week inside the Royal City. And counting the travel time, you have the ring for a total of two weeks. I can wait two weeks to get my hands on the letters. I''m really curious what the letter was about. Just what kind of Ancient Essence would be contained in that letter."

    "If there is a decent amount of essence in the letter, I might be able to know some secrets with the help of Eye of Osiris that you both are supposed to get for me. So you better seed. I''m making a really big investment on you with this ring."

    "We don''t intend to fail either. Our failure only means the loss of the Eye of Osiris for you. But for us, it meant our death," Gabriel exined. "So I don''t n on failing."

    "That aside, what was that Map of City of Ruins that all the Churches are interested in? Why is that?" Gabriel was still wondering about the map. Thedy was really eager to get it, and so were other Churches. The Map didn''t seem like anything ordinary.

    "It''s a long story." Lambard scratched the back of his head. "In short, the City of Ruins is none other than the City of Gods. It''s the city where the Seven Gods used to live once upon a time, as I told you before. Now there''s nothing left in that ce¡­ Just ruins of an era long forgotten."

    "That''s also considered one of the most dangerous ces in the world. No matter who went there, they didn''t return."

    "A few years ago, the Head of the Church of Water came to me. She bought a map from me... A copy simr to what I''m putting up for auction."

    "She left the Church to explore that ce since she wanted to find the origins of the Gods. She was also the first person to return alive from that ce, but she wasn''t the same as before when she came back. She waspletely nk. Her eyes didn''t have any focus on what I heard, and she couldn''t speak. It was as if she had seen something she shouldn''t have."

    "Within a few days of return, she died. After her, Elora was selected by the Holy Grimoire of Water, and you know the rest."

    "Elora probably wants to go to the city as well to uncover what her predecessor saw there."

    "She''s not the only one though. The other Churches are also interested in that ce, so they also want to go there to explore that ce, but without the map that I have, it''s impossible for them to know what ces to avoid."

    "If it''s just a map, can''t you make more clones of it and give one to all the Churches at a heavy price?"

    "I wish I could, but the maps can''t be cloned anymore. I don''t know what it''s about the maps, but they just can''t be. I''ve tried many times only to fail. It''s like you see the map one moment, and when you try to draw it on another paper, you just forget what you saw entirely."

    "There only exist three such maps. One was soldst time, which was left behind in the City of Ruins by Elora''s predecessor. I have two left. I want one for myself, and I''m selling the other through auction. A man needs money after all."

    "Do you want to bid on the map as well?" Lambard asked Gabriel and Elora.

    "We have more important things to do than such expirations in death zones. I''ll leave that to the other Heads. It would be great if more of them died in the exploration. Would make things easier for us," Lira refused. "Anyway, we should also leave. Best of luck with your auction."

 37 Chapter 37

    Lambard didn''t stop the two youngsters from leaving. He had just casually asked them if they wanted to take part in the auction, but he knew that it was impossible for them.

    The two of them might be in the same position in the hierarchy as the other Church Leaders, but unlike the others, they didn''t have money. The two of them didn''t have the massive wealth that was amassed by the Churches of Elements. It was useless to stop them since it could just waste their own time.

    Moreover, the faster they left, the faster he could get the Eye of Osiris in his arsenal.

    Lambard bid the two youngsters farewell, but he didn''t escort them out personally. The task was given to the maid that had escorted them inside.

    The maid took the two youngsters to the exit of the Castle, where the horse was already waiting for the two.

    Gabriel climbed on the horse first before helping Lira up. Taking onest nce at the mysterious castle, he departed.

    In another part of the city, Elora had already found a hotel. She even paid in advance for a few days as she booked three rooms. All threedies went to individual rooms.

    Elora went straight to a shower in her room. As for Joan, she dropped onto her bed, seemingly somewhatzy. As for Ruyi, she went to the balcony to observe the chaotic city.

    "So many illegal things are happening in this ce, but no one can do anything. All because of that Lambard. No wonder he is arrogant."

    Through the balcony, she could see many shops selling illegal items. If it were up to her, she would''ve destroyed all these shops. Unfortunately, Elora had issued some strict instructions to her that she wasn''t allowed to do anything in this city that could offend Lambard.

    They needed the map from Lambard, and they needed to be like guests. For the next few days, they couldn''t get themselves in any conflict here.

    Even though Ruyi believed that some of Elora''s decisions were a dark blot on the prestige of the Church of Water since it made them look like cowards, she couldn''t do anything against it. Elora was selected by the Holy Grimoire instead of her.

    "Why did the Holy Grimoire have to select that coward Elora when I was there as well. I was in the Church longer than her. I''ve been the most senior, and I wasn''t a coward like her. Yet, right before my eyes, the Grimoire selected her. I can''t understand what it saw in that girl."

    Ruyi let out a tired sigh. She was really missing thest Head of the Church of Water. She was nothing like Elora. She was more ruthless and stubborn.

    She wasn''t scared of anything. She even chose to go alone to the city of Ruins. Under her, no one dared to disrespect the Church of Water, but under Elora, even two kids disrespected their authority. She really hated the fact that she couldn''t do anything.

    Even though Ruyi couldn''t hurt Lira and Gabriel here, she made up her mind that whenever she was going to see the two of them in the future, she was going to teach them what it meant to know their ce.

    "Hmm? Those two...?"

    Ruyi was lost in her own thoughts as she stood on the balcony when she noticed a horse passing from right before the hotel she was staying in. As for the people who sat on the horse, they were none other than the two arrogant kids.

    She looked in the direction they were going in, realizing that they were going to the exit.

    A clever smirk spread across her lips. "So you''re leaving this ce? What perfect timing. I can''t teach you a lesson inside this city, but who says I can''t do the same outside? Let the games begin..."

    Ruyi raised her right hand, casting a formation above her. A staff flew out of the formation tond in her hands.<sub> </sub>

    "Wings of Purity!" Using the staff, she cast a spell.

    A mystical blue light surrounded the staff that was held by her, and the same light covered all her body as well. Before long, two beautiful wings appeared behind her back.

    Unlike the Mages of Winds, who could fly from the start, the Mages of Water couldn''t fly that easily. They could only master a Wing Spell when they became capable of using High Tier Spells, which Ruyi could use.

    Ruyi''s body started rising in the air as she followed Gabriel and Lira without informing Elora and Joan.

    ****

    Back at the Central Castle, Lambard was sitting on his throne with a cup of tea in his hand.

    ? The maid stood right beside Lambard. "Sir, do you believe the Church of Light will also send someone to bid?"

    "Heh, I doubt they will," Lambard answered. "They hate this city as this city contains their shameful secret. They won''te here even for the Map of the City of Ruins."

    "Still, there''s a possibility that they might send someone who isn''t a member of the Church of Light to bid for them. It doesn''t matter in any case. More participants mean higher bidding. It''s just more money for us, so I won''t mind even if the Church of Light sends someone."

    He took another sip. "You really do have some great talent in making tea."

    "I''m d you like it, Master."

    "I-" Lambard nced toward the window abruptly. "Hmm?"

    "Is something the matter, Master?"

    "I guess you can say that. One of our guests from the Church of Water is following Gabriel and Lira. I don''t think she has any good intentions."

    "Should I go and stop her?" The young maid asked grimly.

    "Heh, no need. As I told you, I only enforce myws in the city. Outside the city, I don''t interfere. If she fights here, I''ll send you to take her down. But if all three of them leave the city, then it''ll all be on them. I won''t do anything no matter who is killed."

    "But Master, don''t you have use for those two? If they died, who would bring the Eye of Osiris for you?"

    "If the two Rulers of Elements can''t face one Head Priestess of Water, then I don''t think they were capable of getting Eye of Osiris in the first ce. The Head Priestess of Water is nothing before what they might face in the Royal City. And in that ce, Gabriel is going to be alone as well," Lambard exined as he took another sip of his tea.

    "This can be their first test. If they pass, then good. If they fail, then they aren''t worth my time at all. The ring will get back to me, and I''ll give it to Elora for a month."

 38 Chapter 38

    Gabriel left the city, going through the doors he came in from.

    "Those two guards...?"

    As Gabriel left the city, he noticed two guards standing at the entrance, which surprised him. The two guards were none other than the guards that Lira had killed when she entered the city. They werepletely identical

    "How are they still alive?"

    "Don''t worry about them. They aren''t real humans. Those two are also Numens, albeit ones made by one of the weakest Demigods, the Puppet Master."

    "Despite being Numens, they aren''t any special. They are no stronger than an ordinary human. The only thing that''s special about them is that they can heal themselves, but even that takes a lot of time. So whenever you want to get in, just kill the two and enter."

    "If they are so weak, why would Lambard use them as guards?"

    "Only Lambard can know the answer to that question. Even I believe it''s useless to keep them here. Anyone can kill them easily and get inside. Then again, it''s not like anyone can do anything inside the city itself. I guess he just used them here since he wanted to find some uses for these useless puppets."

    "The Numens... They certainly seem to be amazing. Just how many Numens are there in this world?"  Gabriel inquired.

    "Well, no one knows exactly how many there are since only a few have been discovered so far. I did hear there were around a hundred Demigods in existence," Lira exined. "However, there were also some powerful Demigods who created more than one Numen Artifact. Based on that assumption, there might be a couple hundred Numens in existence."

    "And how many have been discovered?" Gabriel asked, taking a subtle nce at the Ring of Apophis.

    "The answer to that question is also unknown. As you can guess, not many peoplee forward and dere that they found a Numen Artefact in fear of being killed. Only Lambard is an exception, but that''s because he has the protection of his city."

    "Do you know how many are with Lambard then?"

    "No one knows the exact number, but if I were to guess, I''m sure there are more than thirty at least."

    "Even with his thirty Artifacts, he can''te out of the city with confidence to survive?"

    "With the kind of enemies he has made, I doubt he can survive leaving the city without hiding. The Numens came from the Demigods, while the Grimoires came from the Gods themselves. In a battle between the God of Light and thirty average Demigods, I''m sure you can guess who would win?"

    "That''s why Lambard is always looking for more Artifacts, especially the highest-ranking Numens like the city he possesses. The Numens of the Strongest Demigods are yet toe to light, and those are what Lambard wants. Who knows where they will be."

    "Anyway, I''m sure this is far enough. You can stop here," Lira chimed in.

    "Hmm?" Gabriel observed his surroundings. They were in the middle of barrennd, far away from any city. Why was Lira asking him to stop here?<sub> </sub>

    "Why here?"

    "So we could greet the guest who has been following us for quite some time," Lira answered. " I''m sure this is far enough to use my Grimoire without attracting too much attention."

    "Following?" Gabriel stopped the horse. He nced back but couldn''t find anyone.

    "Look above." Lira reminded him as she got off the horse.

    Gabriel looked up, only to find Ruyi floating above them. "It seems like you knew I was following you. That''s very perceptive of you."

    "Your stench isn''t something that can be ignored, can it?" Lirazily stated.

    "You''re still as talkative as before. It seems like you never learn. That''s understandable though. Who will be arrogant of not two Dark Mages, am I right?" Ruyinded before Lira, holding her staff firmly.

    "For some reason, I can''t sense your aura," she gazed at Gabriel, but since you''re with her and also hiding your hands, It is easy to guess that you''re also a dark maze. Right?"

    Gabriel didn''t respond. He was slightly pleased though. Ruyi couldn''t sense his dark aura; that meant the gloves that came with the attire and the staff were working and hiding his dark aura. Even the Head Priestess couldn''t sense his dark element aura even though Lambard wasn''t here to hide his aura.

    This was good news since it meant he had a higher chance of staying hidden in the Royal City. As long as he didn''t use his dark spells or Grimoire, even a higher-ranked mage couldn''t sense him. The only thing which he was still curious about was if the gloves could fool a Head of Church as well.

    He could''ve tested that if Lambard hadn''t hidden his aura before Elora. He realized that he had missed an opportunity there.

    "You can hide your aura, but too bad your partner can''t. I was pleasantly surprised when I sensed that aura after leaving the city. With this, I now haveplete authority to kill you. I won''t even have to hide it. After killing you, I''ll drag your body back to Elora!"

    The mocking tone of Ruyi continued as sheughed at Lira, who failed to even hide her aura.

    Gabriel scratched the back of his head, amused at this idiot. He knew that Lira was more skilled at hiding her aura. If her aura could be sensed after she left the city, that meant she wanted Ruyi to find out who she was, so she continued chasing them.

    It wasn''t Lira who had fallen into Ruyi''s trap while making a mistake. Instead, it was Ruyi who had fallen for the intentional mistake of Lira, and now here she was, all alone before Lira. She thought she was too smart, but Lira so easily yed with her.

    The only question that now remained was if Lira was actually capable of defeating a Head Priestess of Water? Lira didn''t have the Ancestral Staff, so her spells were weaker after all. Unlike Lira, Ruyi already had her staff out. Then again, Ruyi didn''t possess the Holy Grimoire of Water. So bothdies had some kind of disadvantage and an advantage over the other.

    "Should I help you?" Gabriel asked Lira. Even though he didn''t have too many spells, he had some which could be helpful in battles.

 39 Chapter 39

    Gabriel knew he was slightly weak when it came to spells, but he was also informed that the spells he could ess were powerful, especially when apanied by his Ancestral Staff.

    "You don''t need to waste your energy. If you use your Staff to cast a spell, it will attract too much unnecessary attention, which our battle won''t. It''s not the time for you toe before the world like that." Lira rejected the offer of help right away for the safety of Gabriel.

    She focused back on Ruyi, who appeared to beughing. She couldn''t believe two kids were deciding to fight her instead of falling straight to her feet, begging for their lives.

    "All the Churches did the right thing by shredding your Church of Darkness from the core itself. I just wish I could''ve been a part of that battle itself. I heard the agonized screams of the Dark Mages were so sweet to hear. I couldn''t hear it then, but I can now. Isn''t that great?"

    The taunting words of Ruyi didn''t affect Gabriel since he really didn''t care for the Church of Darkness. He wasn''t rted to it, and he didn''t know anyone from the Church of Darkness who had died, but there was someone who was heavily affected by these words.

    Lira closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. Her pendant started shining in a mysterious dark light as if answering to her emotions.

    "You''re right. The agonizing screams of the Dark Mages when you murdered them... I''m sure people like you would''ve enjoyed it. Even though you call the Dark Mages Monsters, in reality, you''re the Monsters. So I wouldn''t put it past you to enjoy the death and destruction you cause."

    "But did you forget one thing? To kill a few hundred mages of Darkness, you brought thousands of Mages of all Element Churches united? If you think that''s something worth being proud of, then no one can be more pitiful than you. Each Mage of Darkness fought tens of you before falling! Your side had more losses than the Church of Darkness had total members!"

    "Five Heads of Elemental Churches! Five of your leaders had to fight one of ours! Five of yours murdered one of ours! Did you forget it? Or do you only selectively remember history? You all weren''t the brave Warriors that you portray yourself in the history books! You were all cowards! You were all a mob! A pack of coyotes that attacked a tiger and managed to win!"

    "Death? Murders? Mob?" Ruyi chuckled. "It''s only a murder when you kill innocents. When you kill Demons, it''s not murder but extermination."

    She further continued, "Of course you''ll need more people for extermination to save some time. We exterminated all the insects to make this world a better ce! Unfortunately, some insects survived. It''s fine; I''ll clear them now that I''m here. Can''t leave everything to the Holy Church of Light, can we?"

    "Extermination." Lira shook her head, gazing at the blue-haireddy. "You will regret your words in two minutes as you die if you don''t run."

    Ruyi went nk in response before bursting intoughter.  "You really do know how to make a joke! Let me see how you''ll make me regret my words in two minutes! I swear to the Goddess of Water that I won''t run!"

    In her arrogance, Ruyi once again fell straight into the trap of Lira. Lira didn''t want Ruyi to run and inform Elora when she called out her Grimoire. That''s why she taunted her in such a manner where she was forced to take an oath that she wasn''t going to run. If she couldn''t run, then she couldn''t go and inform her.

    Gabriel couldn''t help but shake his head. It appeared to be too easy to fool Ruyi. She kept falling into one trap after another, all because she didn''t take them seriously. She thought that these two were just stupid arrogant kids since they were so young. She hadn''t expected that both of them were owners of a Holy Grimoire just like Elora.<sub> </sub>

    Elora was younger than Ruyi, yet she was stronger because her spells were further boosted by her Grimoire and the Ancestral Staff. Even if the two used the same spell, it was clear which side was going to have a more powerful attack. Because of the Grimoire, the experience became somewhat insignificant as the distance between the strength was messed up.

    Moreover, Lira wasn''t a new mage either. She was more experienced than Gabriel since she had lived with the Grimoire for a long time.

    "I''ve wasted enough of my time on you two already. It''s time you die!"

    Ruyi tapped her staff on the ground firmly. "Wave of destruction!"

    Following hermand, the ground started trembling as it split apart a few hundred meters behind Ruyi in a straight horizontal line. From the massive split in the ground came water. Thousands of cusecs of water came out of the split ground, creating a gigantic tsunami behind Ruyi.

    It all happened within a few seconds of the spell being cast as a tsunami advanced toward Lira.

    The Tsunami appeared to have enough strength to destroy an entire town easily, yet there were only two Targets for the Tsunami this time.

    Gabriel gazed at the thousand feet tall waves of the tsunami that was advancing toward him. The wave appeared to have enough strength to drown both of them.

    "Imprison of the Tainted!" Ruyi didn''t stop even now as she cast another spell simultaneously.

    A wall made of water appeared all around Lira and Gabriel, surrounding them. The top was also covered in water. It was as if Lira and Gabriel were trapped in the prison of water, but it wasn''t ordinary water either.

    The walls were made of the purifying water, also known as the Holy Water. This was also one of the reasons that the Church of Water yed an essential role in the destruction of the Church of Darkness since they could use the Holy Water in spells.

    It wasn''t impossible for a Mage of Darkness to pass through the holy water barrier, but whenever they did, they were temporarily weakened, unable to use any spells.

    Since Ruyi didn''t want Lira to escape through air, she used the Prison of Damned to keep them in ce. If Lira tried to fly through the prison of the damned, she was going toe crashing to the ground.

    The Tsunami was going to destroy them if they did anything, but it was also going to destroy them if they did nothing...

 40 Chapter 40

    Back in the hotel in the city of Abadon, Elora came out after showering and decided to check out the city itself. Even though there were many illegal things in the city, it still was worth roaming around the city since they weren''t going to get an opportunity like that every other day.

    She left her room and walked to Joan''s room, knocking.

    Joan had just gone to sleep only to be woken up by a knock on the door. She rolled off the bed and stood on the ground, walking to the door.

    "Lady Elora, do you need something?"

    "I wanted to go out. I was wondering if you would like to apany me."

    "Ah, sure. Just give me a few minutes. I''ll be right out."

    Elora walked to the room of Ruyi and knocked as well, but this time there was no response. She kept knocking for a few minutes, but no response came. By now, even Joan came out of her room, prepared for leaving.

    She saw Elora knocking on the door once again.

    "I didn''t know Ruyi was such a deep sleeper," Elora wondered.

    "She isn''t. I''ve known her. She''s a really light sleeper. She should''ve responded by now," Joan chimed in. "Maybe she isn''t in the room?"

    "The room is locked from the inside. Also, she hates this city. I doubt she wouldn''t left alone." Elora pointed. "I know what''s the problem. She must be angry since I didn''t support her before Lambard."

    She let out a sigh. "She should''ve understood that I had to do it to maintain some peace. We couldn''t afford a battle in this city."

    Elora knocked once again. "Ruyi, I know you''re inside. Open the door; I need to talk to you!"

    "Ruyi, it''s important! Open the door!"

    Elora kept calling out, only to be greeted by silence in response.

    "Ruyi, this is an order! Open the door this instant! Are you defying an order?!"

    Even now, the door didn''t open, which really upset Elora. "Fine. I''ll open it myself. We will pay the damages to the hotel."

    Elora clenched her fist.

    "Blessing of the Goddess!" she chanted.

    The spell not only strengthened her body but also covered her hands with a thinyer of water as a shield for protection.

    Elora punched the door right where the lock was supposed to be. Her fist, supported by brute strength, prated through the door, destroying the lock.

    Elora pulled her hand back, which didn''t have a single scratch.

    "Joan, keep a few gold coins ready for this hotel owner. That should cover a door and more."

    "I already did. We will give it to himter."

    "Good." Elora pushed the door open and entered the room.<sub> </sub>

    "Ruyi, why weren''t you answering. I know you''re angry, but that doesn''t give you an excuse to ignore a directmand!"

    "Hmm?" Elora expected to find Ruyi in the room, but this ce waspletely empty, which stunned her.

    "Check the bathroom," she instructed Joan.

    Joan checked the bathroom. "It''s empty as well."

    "So she really wasn''t in the room but then again, why would the door be locked from inside? Unless..." Elora noticed the door to the balcony, which was open. "Unless Ruyi left through the balcony."

    She walked to the balcony with Joan.

    "Why did she leave from the balcony when she could''ve left from the door. The only way this would be justified was if she was in a hurry and couldn''t take the long route, but if she wanted to explore the city, what''s the hurry?" Joan also couldn''t understand what reason Ruyi could have, but her questions made Elora realize something.

    "That''s right. The only reason someone would jump out of here instead of going through the door is if they were in a hurry but hurrying to leave this room doesn''t make sense, does it? That leaves only one possibility."

    "What possibility?" Joan asked, still unable to decipher.

    "The possibility that she didn''t go to see the city but went after someone and couldn''t wait. If I''m not wrong, she probably saw the two people from Lambard''s mansion. That idiot will certainly think of attacking them if she saw them leaving the city since she wouldn''t ignore mymand of not attacking anyone here! Argh, why is she so stubborn!"

    "We need to stop her before she kills people who work for Lambard. If they die and he finds out, he would never let us participate in the auction!"

    <o>,m ****</o>

    "Well, he already knows." Lambard sat in his room, able to hear everything that Elora was saying. Unfortunately, she couldn''t hear what he was saying.

    Elora flew to the exit as well, followed by Joan.

    "I wonder how the battle is going so far. If Elora gets there, she might be too troublesome for Lira and Gabriel to handle. It''ll be more than just a test for them at that point. Should I really help them? Do I have no other choice?"

    "Then again, if I help them, it would be breaking my own rules..."

    Lambard''s own thoughts were soplicated that he lost himself in them. On the other hand, Elora had already left the city.

    After a long time, Lambard decided that he really needed to take some action. He was fine with Lira fighting with Ruyi since that was a battle of equals in strength. It became a battle of skills, but with Elora and Joan in the mix, it was going to be a massacre.

    "Master, should I go to help now?" A feminine voice came from the back as a maid appeared like a ghost behind Lambard.

    "Yeah. It might create some problems with the Church of Water, but then again, when was I scared of offending a Church?" Lambard casually smiled. "Go there and observe. Don''t interfere if they don''t need help, but if they do, help them and bring them back to the city. I''ll handle the rest."

    "As you wish, Master." The maid disappeared into thin air.

    ****

    Elora flew straight. Since there was only one route leaving the city, she didn''t need to make any choices about direction.

    Before long, she finally got the sight of Ruyi... However, what she saw made her lips part in disbelief as to what she was seeing. She increased her speed.

 41 Chapter 41

    Elora reached the battlefield, only to find puddles of water at ces. It appeared as if it had rained recently as the ground was still wet.

    The water wasn''t what surprised Elora. Instead, it was the body that was lying on the ground. Unlike the puddles of water in most of the ces, there was only a puddle of blood around the body.

    Eloranded before the body and turned it around. Even though she already knew who it was based on the clothing, she still couldn''te to believe that this body really belonged to Ruyi.

    She gazed at the face of the body, confirming that it was indeed Ruyi.

    "She is dead." Elora grimly stated as she checked the nerves of Ruyi.

    "I can sense some dark aura. And the water here means that a battle took ce here, possibly with a dark mage." Joan observed the surroundings.

    Even though she was shocked that Ruyi was killed, she focused more on trying to find who the culprit was. "It looks like the battle took ce not long ago. The one who did it shouldn''t have gone too far."

    ? Elora didn''t respond. She just sat with Ruyi in her arms, still in disbelief that she was killed. It was the first time a Head Priestess had been killed like this, and it was when she was apanying him.

    "A dark mage who is capable of killing Ruyi couldn''t be weak. You think Lambard could be behind it?"

    "Lambard had no reason to kill her." Elora shook her head.  "This is the work of a Dark Mage. Maybe I was wrong that Ruyi went to kill the people who disrespected us. She probably saw some dark mage leaving the city and went after them, only to die herself."

    "We can''t let her killer go free. Joan, do everything possible to locate those people. You haveplete authority. If you need, call more people from the Church here! I want that dark mage to be found!" Clenching her fist, she dered hermand.

    She didn''t want the killers to go free after what they did, no matter who they were! They had killed a Church of Water Priestess. That wasn''t a crime worth forgiveness, even for her!

    In a distant ce, a dark figure watched the twodies with the dead body.

    "Looks like there''s no need for me to take action."

    The dark figure disappeared as if it was never there.

    ****

    The maid once again appeared behind Lambard.

    "What''s the news?" Lambard asked.

    "The two have already killed the Mage of Water before Elora could get there. They weren''t there by the time Elora got there."

    "I see. Well, that was fast even for Lira. It seems she is getting quite strong." Lambard rubbed his chin. "I wonder how strong she will be if she did seed in getting the Ancestral Staff. Chaotic times are ahead, but then again, chaos does bring many opportunities with it. I wonder how it''ll y out."

    Lambard let out a calm smile as he stood on the balcony, gazing at the beautiful city that belonged to him.

    The city was known by the outside world as one of the most chaotic cities. Still, it looked really calm at the moment. Only the sweet whistling of winds could be heard from the balcony.

    "Maya, can you hear anything?"

    The maid stepped closer. "Hear what?"

    "Close your eyes and tell me what you can hear..."<sub> </sub>

    "Other than your voice, I hear nothing. What can you hear, My Lord?"

    Lambard gazed at the clear sky. "Hidden in the silence of the wind is the roars of a storm."

    "Storm?" Maya gazed up. "The sky is clear."

    Lambard simply smiled as he walked back inside his room.

    Maya turned to follow him, slightly confused as to what Lambard was talking about, only to be shocked as a droplet of water fell on her head.

    She gazed up. More and more water droplets started falling. The sky that was clear until now was covered in clouds now as it started raining.

    ****

    The Horse raced through the forest, carrying Gabriel and Lira. Instead of taking the normal route, Lira had suggested that they take a more unorthodox path since she had a feeling that it wasn''t safe to take the normal route after killing Ruyi.

    Even though Ruyi had arrived alone to kill them, Lira knew that it was inevitable that Elora was going to find out about what happened.

    "You are really strong." After a long time, Gabrielmented.

    Throughout the journey, he was thinking about how Lira killed Ruyi. Ruyi wasn''t a strong mage, and she also had an advantage because of the Holy Prison of Water, yet she was killed by Lira.

    It was the first time Gabriel had seen Lira use a proper spell and one as powerful. The spell even made him jealous to some extent.

    "That was one of my strongest spells. I only recently unlocked it. It''s the first time I''ve used that, and you are the first person who saw it and is still alive." Lira chuckled. "So, how was the spell?"

    "It was powerful. The Dark Mages are certainly strong."

    "Not the dark mages but the holder of the Grimoire. This spell isn''t in any other book. Only the owner of the Grimoire is able to use such a skill. I didn''t even know about the existence of something like this until this spell became avable."

    "That was the advanced tier spell... It would be even stronger when you get the Ancestral Staff. If even then you can''t kill the Head of Church of Light, I wonder just what kind of person he is."

    "My spell is powerful, but that doesn''t make me invincible. The other Rulers of Elements also hold such powerful spells. Ruyi underestimated me. Because of the Prison of Water, she didn''t see me call out the Grimoire. That''s why she died so fast. If it were Elora, it wouldn''t be that easy."

    "As far as the Head of Church of Light is concerned, even I''m not sure what he''s like. All I know is that he is called the strongest Mage of a Light. He is a really strange person who never leaves the Church of Light. In fact, I don''t think anyone ever saw him," Lira described the oddity.

    "There are even some rumors that he never appears outside because he doesn''t even exist. The rumors state that the Grimoire of Light hasn''t selected anyone after the old Head of Church of Light died of old age."

    "People say that the Church of Light doesn''t have a head anymore, and that''s why they made up a story about a new head who doesn''t leave the ce. Unfortunately, no one knows what''s the truth of the situation."

    "The Ruler of Light who has never been seen before?" Gabriel wondered. "So if he really exists, no one knows what he looks like?"

    "That''s right. Unlike other Elemental Rulers, the current Ruler of Light has never been seen before. There''s not even a single portrait of him in cirction."

    "How old is he said to be?" Gabriel inquired.

    "The Old Ruler of Light died around ten years ago. ording to the Church of Light, the new Ruler of Light was selected shortly after. Unfortunately, no one knows how old that person was when he was selected. The Church of Light has been really secretive about it."

 42 Chapter 42

    [Five dayster]

    Lira and Gabriel continued their journey to the Royal City, only taking short breaks on the way. Along the way, Gabriel asked Lira many things about the city since it was his first time going there. He wanted to know as much as he could about the city and things that he needed to be careful about.

    Lira also didn''t hold back in giving all the information she had. In fact, she loved talking. Before the arrival of Gabriel, she had no one to talk to. She used to be so silent that, at times, she even forgot what her own voice sounded like. Now she talked so much that she barely stopped.

    Lira also taught Gabriel more about the Grimoires and how the spells are unlocked. She even told him how a mage could strengthen their souls and advance to be a stronger mage.

    Gabriel absorbed every bit of knowledge he could since he didn''t want to stay weak. His goals were bigger than that. He needed strength, and for that, he needed to know how to get that strength.

    "So there are two ways for Mages to strengthen their souls and to advance," Gabriel affirmed.

    At the moment, Lira was sitting in the lead on the horse while he sat behind her with his arms wrapped around her slim waist, listening to her.

    "That''s right. The mostmon way is to use the Soul Crystals. It''s the fastest way, but even it can''t strengthen you instantly. If Soul Crystals could do that, every rich kid would''ve been an Advanced Mage by now."

    "Soul Crystals are expensive and rare. The rich can certainly afford them, but that doesn''t mean anything. In the end, how much they can absorb from the Soul Crystal in a day depends on their own talent. Even with great talent, one can still take years to advance from a Novice Mage to an Advanced Mage with the help of Soul Crystals."

    "I see. So that''s no faster way than Soul Crystals. How did you be an Advanced Mage at such an early age then? Same with Elora. Why?"

    "As I said, even with great talent, it can still take years to make a small advancement. It''s because their soul isn''t strong enough to use more than one Soul Crystal a day. Talent and soul strength are different. Their talent allows them to absorb more of a Soul Crystal than the ones with weak talent, yet they also share the same limitations. They can''t use more than one Soul Crystal without harming themselves."

    "But there are also a different category of people which is quite rare..."

    "And which category is that?"

    "The category of Prodigies. They are also the ones who are most sought after by the Churches as their advancement is the fastest." Lira exined.

    Hearing her words, Gabriel remembered that the Head Priest of the Church of Light had also called him a Prodigy when they met. He thought it must mean he was talented. But there seemed to be more to it than just that.

    *Category of Prodigies?"

    "Yeah. They are rare but also not impossible to find," Lira answered. "There are two types of Prodigies. One is called the Talent Prodigies. They are really talented in magic. They can awaken their element at a really young age and also have an easier time learning to use the spells."

    "They can also absorb the most amount of Soul Energy from the Soul Crystal. In fact, some Talent Prodigies can even absorb a hundred percent of a Soul Crystal which is quite rare."

    "The second type is also really important. They are even harder to find than the Talent Prodigies. They are called the Soul Prodigies."

    "Soul Prodigies? What can they do?"

    "While the Talent Prodigies go for quality over quantity, the Soul Prodigies go for quantity over quality. Their souls are much better, and they can use more than one Soul Crystals in a day. Even though they can''t absorb most of the Soul Crystal energy, by absorbing from more than one, they progress really fast."

    "So they are the ones who have an advantage in the race to be strongerpared to others."

    "Exactly. Their strength gain is faster than their peers, but only if they can afford Soul Crystals. That''s why most of these Prodigies pledge their allegiance to rich Mage Families in exchange for these resources. The families get talented mages while the mages get the support they need. You''ll see quite a lot of that in the Academy. Just be careful from these families.''

    "I forgot to mention that there is also another type of Prodigy which is so rare that only ten or so are discovered in a year."

    "And they are...?"

    "They are called Double Prodigies. They have the best of both worlds. They have peak-tier talent and a powerful soul. Those people don''t even need to work with any mage Families. Instead, the Great Families fight amongst themselves to be in the good books of such people since the Double Prodigies are directly supported by the Holy Churches."

    "Which of the Prodigy are you then?" Gabriel asked. From Lira''s exnation, he understood that one needed to be a Prodigy to progress this fast, so she had to be one as well.<sub> </sub>

    "What do you think?" Lira asked. A smile graced her lips which Gabriel couldn''t see since he sat behind her.

    "Soul Prodigy? You seem like someone who would have a strong soul."

    "No."

    "Talent Prodigy then?"

    "You''re wrong again. I''m none of them. I wasn''t born a Prodigy. Let alone that, I wasn''t even talented in the least. My talent was literally the worst."

    "Then how did you...?"

    Lira grabbed the right hand of Gabriel, which was resting on her stomach, and started sliding his hand up.

    For a moment, Gabriel was so stunned, he couldn''t even react to ask what she was doing.

    Lira ced Gabriel''s hand on top of her pendant. "It''s because of this."

    "Your Grimoire?"

    "That''s right. The only reason I advanced this much is because of this. As soon as the Grimoire of Darkness bonded with me, it changed my life.  It improved my talent, bringing it to its peak. It also strengthened my soul. I''m sure it''s the same for all Sacred Mages who hold the Grimoires, even you."

    "Even me?" Gabriel gazed at the ck ring on his hand. "Just how many gifts did this Grimoire give me? It gave me my life, gave me an element, gave me one of the most powerful magical staff in existence, gave me spells, and now this..."

    "Yeah, I am sure you were a Talent Prodigy since you awakened an element at such a young age, but as soon as the Grimoire bonded with you, it increased your talent even more. So you should be able to use Soul Crystals as well."

    "Do you have any Soul Crystals on you?" Gabriel asked Lia.

    "Of course. I''ve robbed quite a few in my time," Lia calmly answered, not thinking much of the question.

    "Why didn''t you tell me before?" Gabriel frowned. "We have been traveling for days. If I had absorbed a few, I could''ve gotten stronger."

    "You can''t use the Soul Crystals now."

    "And why is that?"

    "Because you need to enter the Academy of Elements. You''ll have to be a student there and face an entrance trial. The exam is easiest for Novice Mages who have just awakened their elements."

    "If you stay the way you are, you can qualify for Novice entrance exams. It''ll give you faster and easier ess to the Academy."

    Lira exined the reasoning behind her actions so Gabriel wouldn''t misunderstand her.

    She slowed down her horse and got down.

    "What happened?"

    "This is as far as I can apany you without bringing trouble to you. We are close to the Royal City. You can get there in ten minutes. You''ll have to travel on your own from this point." Lira pointed straight ahead.

    Gabriel also noticed a city in the distance. It was so far that it looked really small, yet Gabriel knew that it was a massive city in reality.

    He was almost at the Royal City! The City where he was supposed to steal something so precious that it was said to be impossible to steal. It was also the city where Maya and Hawrin were hiding...

 43 Chapter 43

    "Remember. You have seven days from the moment you enter the city. After that, the Ring of Apophis will stop working, and it''ll go back. So no matter what happens, don''t forget the time limit."

    "I know I have seven days to get in and get out. I won''t forget."

    Gabriel was reminded about this time limit, but he also realized why it was the case. This time limit was one of the most important things for him. As soon as the time limit was up, his transformation was going to stop, and he was going to return to his old self, which was dangerous.

    "Can I go now?"

    Even though it was risky to enter the city, Gabriel was also somewhat eager to get inside. He wanted to see what the city he had always dreamed about looked like from the inside. He wanted to enter the academy and meet his old friends and foes. Everything else cameter.

    "Not yet. Before you go, I have something for you."

    "Hmm?"

    "Shadow Storage!" Lira chanted a spell. A shadow came out of the ground, this time belonging to herself.

    The shadow stood without moving. Lira inserted her hand inside the shadow, which appeared to swallow her hand as Gabriel couldn''t see the hand anymore.

    By the time Lira pulled out her hand, there was a small cloth bag in her hand. The shadow disappeared.

    She stepped a bit closer to Gabriel, extending her hand. "Here. Take it."

    "What is in it?" Gabriel gazed at the small bag, which appeared to have something.

    "The Soul Crystals. Since you''re a Novice Mage with a Grimoire, you should be able to use around five of such crystals in a day without hurting your soul. This bag contains around fifty Soul Crystals."

    "You can use around thirty-five of them in a week you''ll be there. As for the other fifteen, you should be able to sell them in case you need money or use them for any number of transactions. Keep them with you. But remember, don''t use any of them until you clear the Trial and get inside the Academy. If you do, you''ll be shifted into a different category of trials."

    "Lira, you''ve never entered the city, have you? How do you know so much about the Academy then?"

    "Who says I''ve never been there?" Lira smirked.

    "You said the barrier had been around the city for over a century at least. You certainly don''t look older than a hundred. Are you?"

    Hearing the confusion of Gabriel, Lira couldn''t help but smile. Her smile was so beautiful that momentarily, it even stunned Gabriel. It was the first time he had seen Lira''s smile properly. He found that smile really beautiful, especially the way itplimented her.

    "Why are you looking at me like that?" Lira tilted her head, noticing Gabriel looking at her oddly.

    "Your smile is really beautiful."

    Gabriel''spliment came so naturally that even he hadn''t realized how effortless it was, probably because he didn''t give any ulterior motives behind thatpliment. He just said what he noticed.

    Seeing Gabrielpliment her, it was Lira''s turn to be stunned as her lips parted slightly.

    "Was that apliment or sarcasm?" After a long time, she asked. "No one ever said that my smile was beautiful. After all, who would find a demon''s smile beautiful? All I''ve seen in people''s eyes in my life was hate and disgust."

    "You are not a demon. I''ve seen the real demons of this world... They hide in in sight in the cover of light while calling others demons. They are the real demons, and this world is filled with them. We aren''t the Demons. I''m not one, and you certainly aren''t one. It''s not demonic to fight for yourself when you''re being persecuted for no reason at all."

    Gabriel had been with Lira for over a week. He believed he managed to understand her quite well. Lira wasn''t like anyone he had seen before. She didn''t hide her bad side. She wasn''t scared, and she certainly didn''t hide behind fake morality for her actions.<sub> </sub>

    Lira was more true to herself than anyone he had seen. She didn''t worry about what others would think of her. She didn''t try to make a fake good impression.

    She killed people when she needed to; she let them live when she needed to. She even argued with Lambard even though she needed his help. She was a really genuine person, from what Gabriel had noticed.

    There were many who called her Devil because of her elements. There were many who judged her for taking lives and killing people, but did those people really have a right to judge her? Those same people cheered for her when thousands of Mages destroyed the Church of Darkness.

    Those same people cheered when innocent mages who awakened with Dark Element were killed simply for existing. Those same people were the ones who weren''t going to hesitate even a single second to take a life as long as it benefited them, as long as it justified their moral conscience.

    Gabriel didn''t believe that those people were fit to judge anyone. If Lira''s taking lives was wrong, then all the Holy Churches of Elements were wrong! Then all those people who supported her actions were wrong! Then this entire world was wrong!

    "Gabriel..." Lira called out, hearing Gabriel''s words.

    "Yeah?" Gabriel gazed in curiosity.

    "Thank you."

    "For what?"

    "For everything. Remember, you muste back safely."

    "You think I don''t want to?" Gabriel rolled his eyes. "I''ll finish the mission ande back with the Ancestral Staff."

    "Even if you can''t get the Ancestral Staff,e back if you believe it''s dangerous for you. I don''t want you to die there. Keep your safety above everything else."

    Initially, Lira was more interested in the Ancestral Staff since that was the only thing that could give her a fighting chance in this war. For her, the goal was more important than even her life.

    Unfortunately, something had changed... Something had changed inside her because of Gabriel.

    After a long time, she had someone who understood her and stood beside her. The first time she had someone who not only didn''t judge her but also was so nice to her. The thought of losing Gabriel made her scared since that meant she was going to be all alone in this world again. That thought was worse than the thought of not getting the Ancestral Staff.

    "I''ll keep that in mind." Gabriel nodded. "Now, can I leave?"

    "Onest thing I should mention. Inside that bag, there is also a small ck stone. Whenever you''re in danger and believe you can''t get out of it, crush that small stone."

    "What will it do?" Gabriel asked.

    "It''ll alert me that you''re in danger, and I''ll get there to help me," Lira exined. "So keep that stone with you always, and don''t lose it."

    "But if you get there, won''t the barrier mark your soul as well? You''ll be put in harm''s way as well."

    "It doesn''t matter. You''re going there for me. It''s only fair that I do something. As I said before, we are a team. So, of course, I''lle to help. Moreover, it''s not that easy to kill me. Don''t worry about anything. You can crush that stone without hesitation whenever you''re in danger and need me. You understand?"

    "I will. Can I finally leave now, or there''s more?"

    "You can leave. I wish you all the best, Gabriel." Lira finally let Gabriel leave.

    Gabriel turned the horse to the city and left, asionally ncing back. He had taken his first step toward his destiny, going all alone in the midst of enemies.

 44 Chapter 44

    Advancing toward the Royal City, Gabriel gazed back at Lira asionally, watching her stand in the same ce.

    Before long, Lira disappeared from his view. She had done as much as she could. From now on, everything rested on his shoulders.

    Gabriel tied the small bag he received around his waist before observing the beautiful city in the distance. A majestic golden dome appeared to be covering the city, which seemed even better the closer Gabriel got to the city.

    His first test was passing through the barrier undetected. ording to Lira, it should''ve been easier since his element wasn''t the Element of Darkness that could be detected by the beautiful golden Barrier.

    Even though Lira was confident in that assumption, Gabriel was still somewhat wary since he knew that his element did share some simrities with the element of Darkness. He pondered if he was going to be caught before he could even get inside.

    Fortunately, he also had his gloves which he ced his hopes on since they hid the aura of his Element from being felt outside. He had decided that he was never going to remove the gloves as long as he was inside the city... At least not the right one.

    After finding a suitable ce where no one could spot him, he stopped near the pond.

    He got down the horse, stretching his arms. Now was the time to decide on his new looks.

    He remembered the way to use the ring of transformation that was told to him by Lambard. He did everything as instructed.

    He closed his eyes after once again making sure that no one was there. He tried to visualize a person he wanted to look like. Since he didn''t want to take a risk, he imagined a face that he had never seen before, so there was no risk of it matching with someone.

    Gabriel''s long hairs became slightly shorter, even changing their color to a beautiful shade of silver. His eyes also transformed,plimenting the color of his silver hair as his pupils became a lighter shade of silver.

    He didn''t want to leave any remnant of his old self in his new look, not taking any risk this time. To be sure, he made onest change, making his skin somewhat paler as if he came from thend of snow.

    The transformation didn''t take long either. The only time-consuming part of the transformation was imagining what he wanted to look like. Everything else was effortless and Swift.

    After he finished his transformation, he moved closer to the pond, observing his reflection in the water.

    Just as he had expected, the ring worked all too well. He lookedpletely unlike his old self and just like he had imagined. He was sure that no one could recognize him now.

    He sat near the pond, cupped his hands, inserting them in the pond before sshing water on his face.

    After washing his face, he got back on the horse.

    ****

    There was only one path leading inside the royal city, and it was crowded at the moment. There were many carriages before Gabriel in the line, waiting to enter the city.

    Most of these carriages were being used as a mode of transport by youngsters who wanted to join the Academy of Elements. In thest few days, thousands of youngsters have arrived in the holy city to take part in the entrance examination of the Royal Academy of Holy Elements from different parts of the nation.

    Every youngster dreamed of bing a powerful mage, and the first step on that journey was getting selected for the Academy of Elements. The poor wanted to join the Academy to be powerful, learn spells, and most importantly, so that they could receive some resources from the academy to strengthen themselves.

    On the other hand, the rich didn''tck the resources. All they needed were the skills and the name of the Academy behind them.

    If one could show their talent in the academy, they had a great chance of seeding in life, and it held true for everyone since many eyes remained on the Academy its toppers throughout the years. Even many Head Priests were previously students in the Academy itself before they reached the high positions.

    There appeared to be around thirty such carriages before Gabriel in the line, and each carriage was checked thoroughly by the guards before being allowed entry into the city, which was taking quite some time.<sub> </sub>

    "It should take around two hours at this rate just to get inside." Gabriel made an assumption.

    "Three hours." A calm voice fell in Gabriel''s ears.

    "Hmm?" Gabriel nced back, noticing another young man who was traveling alone like him.

    The crimson-haired man seemed to be in his early twenties, donning a beautiful silver robe on his back which didn''t appear to be too expensive yet suited him very well. His beautiful violet pupils starkly contrasted his crimson hair, yet it seemed to suit him.

    As Gabriel observed the young man behind him, the man also observed Gabriel.

    Through Gabriel''s attire, the man could feel that the young man before him was from a rich family, yet he didn''t give any special attention to him. It was as if it didn''t matter to him how rich Gabriel was or what his background was.

    "Did you say something?" Gabriel inquired.

    "Yeah. You were wrong about your assumption by an hour. It''ll take at least three hours to get the queue clear."

    "Maybe." Gabriel didn''t argue with the young man behind him. He casually nced at the mark on the back of the young man''s hand, noticing the mark of the Element of Earth.

    "So you''re a Mage of Earth. Did you assume how long it would take after guessing how many people are before us or there was a logic behind that specific number?"

    "It is just basic maths. It''s not hard to guess the approximate number of people inside those carriages based on the extra weight. Most of these carriages are overloaded. From that it''s easy to figure out an approximate number of people ahead of us, who will go through checking, and how much time it''ll take in total before it''s our turn."

    "And how do you know the extra weight inside the carriage from back here?"

    The man shed his mark of earth. "I''m connected to the earth."

    It was only Gabriel who asked the man questions. The man, on the other hand, didn''t ask anything. It was as if he didn''t even want to attempt to get to know anyone. All he did was answer questions.

    "If you''re right, then it''s going to be a long wait indeed." Gabriel got off his horse. Since it was such a long wait, he didn''t feel like sitting on the horse for such an extended period for no reason.

    "What is your name?" Gabriel asked another question.

    The young man also got down the horse, still holding the reins of the horse to keep it in ce.

    "Alexai."

    Once again, Alexai didn''t ask any questions. He didn''t even care to ask the name of Gabriel in return.

    Despite not being asked, Gabriel introduced himself. "I''m Karyk."

    Since he was here undercover, he needed a new persona and a new name. For that, he selected the only choice he could think of... He selected the name of the first God of his element Karyk, bringing the name back to life once again.

    Unfortunately, Alexai appeared to bepletely uninterested. He simply nodded his head, ending the conversation.

 45 Chapter 45

    With time, more and more people came out of the Carriages as if a chain had been started by Gabriel.

    Before long, almost everyone was out of the Carriages and talking a walk outside. Curious, Gabriel observed everyone, counting how many people there actually were before them.

    ''He was right. There were more people here than I expected. It''ll take somewhere around three hours to get the queue clear.''

    Gabriel nced back at Alexai, who was standing with his hands behind his back as gentle winds brushed against him, seemingly lost in some thoughts as he gazed at the setting sun.

    Gabriel found the man really intriguing. The man talked to him. He wasn''t friendly, but he didn''t seem to be arrogant either. There was just something about him that was really fascinating, from his aura to his persona.

    "Why are you staring at me like that?" Alexai noticed Gabriel''s gaze. "Do you want something?"

    "Just curious about your element."

    "Don''t act like it''s your first time seeing an Earth Mage." Alexai frowned. "Tell me straight what you want."

    "You know you don''t have to be so rude."

    Even though Gabriel was curious about Alexai and how he was connected to earth without using a spell, it was still too much for someone to talk to him like that.

    "There are many things in this world that don''t need to be, yet they are." The young man vaguely answered before he brought a book out of a bag.

    He opened the book as if signaling to Gabriel that he was busy and that he didn''t want to be distracted.

    Gabriel rolled his eyes. He also stopped talking to the young man.

    Throughout the next three hours, the two men didn''t talk to each other. Gabriel just waited in silence as the queue moved ahead slowly.

    After close to three hours, finally most of the queue was over, and it was Gabriel''s turn.

    This was the moment of truth where he was going to get an answer if he could fool the barrier or not. Both his hands were still covered in gloves that only revealed his fingers.

    To get to the guards, he needed to first pass through the barrier. Holding the reins of his horse, Gabriel took a step forward.

    His body touched the barrier. He didn''t even face the slightest resistance as he passed through the barrier. It was as if the barrier wasn''t even there.

    Two guards approached Gabriel after he passed through the barrier, finding a notebook in their hands.

    "Entry number 893. State your name."

    "Karyk," Gabriel answered. He had already practiced this name with Alexai. The name came out naturally from his mouth without any hesitation on his face.

    The guard wrote down the name.

    "Age?" The guard asked.

    "Twenty," Gabriel lied, hiding his actual age of just eighteen.

    "Purpose of Visit?"

    "To take part in the Academy of Elements exam."

    The guard wrote down the reason, not even surprised. It was expected as almost every youngster who came here in recent days was here for the same thing."

    "Element?" The guardzily asked.

    "Light," Gabriel answered.

    He noticed that the Guards finally appeared to take some interest in him.

    "You got a really nice element, kid. And at such a young age of twenty. You''re fortunate." One of the Guards smiled at Gabriel.<sub> </sub>

    "You''ll need to show us your mark as evidence." Another guard stated.

    Gabriel took off his left glove, showing the mark of light.

    The guard wrote ''Element Verified'' on the book before ncing at another guard.

    The second guard stepped forward and ced a small badge on Gabriel''s chest with a few numbers written on it.

    The guard further exined. "This will be like your permit to be in the city. It''ll only be valid for three days. You can never take it off. If you pass the exams, you''ll be given a different badge which will have no number on it. If you fail, you''ll have to leave the city. You understand?"

    Gabriel nodded. "Got it."

    He was already informed about this process before. Since it was a Royal City, they couldn''t allow anyone to enter and settle here without permission. Only the elitest of the elites were allowed to stay in the city.

    Everyone else was only allowed a temporary visit, and even for that, there was a really harsh checking. It was only during the Academy Exams that the checking was made somewhatx for the youngsters.

    All the guards took a few steps back. "You are clear to enter. Best of luck for the exams."

    Gabriel got on the horse, finally being free to enter the city. He was finally here... The Royal City! The city that was the base of the Holy Church of Light. He had taken a step toward his destiny.

    It took him the entire day to get inside the city, but he was finally here, being basked in the moonlight.

    ****

    In another part of the city, a blue-haired girl sat on the roof of her house, gazing at the same moon.

    It wasn''t long ago when she was sitting just like this with a young man. She was still the same. The moon was still the same. Yet thepanion was home, being stabbed by her own hands.

    "Are you really alive... Gabriel?" she softly asked, gazing at the moon.

    "Even if you are, you''re forever cursed. You have be a vessel of darkness. I wish things were different. I wish you hadn''t be one of them... Now you are also a demon of darkness. You will be killed even if you''re alive before you can hurt any innocent."

    She didn''t know how to feel about this. Her thoughts were soplicated at the moment. The only thing she knew for sure was that Gabriel wasn''t the same as before. The kind and innocent Gabriel who wanted to fight for light was dead, being swallowed by a demon of darkness.

    She didn''t want him to die, yet she tried to convince herself that it was good for this World since Gabriel wasn''t who she knew.

    "If you''re alive, you must hate me a lot, right?"

    Maya talked to the moon as if she was talking to Gabriel himself.

    "You probably want to kill me and my family for what we had to do? This is the one ce you can never enter... You can never hurt me and my family here... You''ll only be killed by the Church of Light faster if youe here, so please don''t. Please stay away... Please stay safe... Please stay alive..."

    Sometimes Maya felt as if she had gone crazy. On one side, she wanted Gabriel to be dead so the world could be safe, going so far as to try to kill him with her own hands."

    "On the other side, she prayed for his safety and for his life. She knew that if he ever came before her, he was going to be killed, and she wasn''t going to protect him. So she prayed that he stayed away from this city and stayed safe at least."

    *****

    "Gabriel... I can''t believe you came back from the dead." Back at the academy, even Hawrin couldn''t forget Gabriel. Every time he remembered his father and his brother''s death, he woke up cursing Gabriel.

    "You bastard, I hope you are stupid enough toe to this city. Come here fast so the Holy Mages of the Church of Light can kill you and remove one more darkness trash from this world! You need to ept your death for your Sins;e and let us give you your death! Come to your death, don''t be a coward!"

    While Maya was praying for Gabriel to stay away from this ce, Hawrin was praying for him toe to this city.

    Even though both of them desired different things, none of them seriously believed that Gabriel was going to be stupid enough toe to this city. If only they knew...

    "I am here," Gabriel muttered, gazing at the same moon. He arrived in the city where all his enemies were hiding... Also, the city where all his biggest threats stayed.

 46 Chapter 46

    It was alreadyte at night, and the exams were supposed to be the next day, so Gabriel looked for a hotel.

    As for the money, he didn''tck any as Lira provided him with quite a lot of it in case he needed money. Moreover, even if he didn''t have money, he had the Soul Crystals that could be used in ce of money or sold.

    Along the way, Gabriel noticed many Mages of Light who had the special robe of the Church of Light, highlighting their high position. As the city hosted the main branch of the Church of Light, it wasn''t rare to find the Priests of Light.

    Only the Head Priests were harder to find, roaming around the city. As for the Head of the Church of Light, finding him was like finding a needle in a haystack. He was never seen even in the city.

    ncing at the Priests, Gabriel couldn''t help but imagine what his life could''ve been if it hadn''t changed this much on thest day of his old life.

    Even though it was close to midnight, the city appeared as lively as ever. It was filled with light. Not even a glimpse of darkness could be seen anywhere. There was a reason this city was called a city that never slept.

    Even now, hundreds of people could be seen in the city. Most of the shops were still open as well.

    "I''ll never find a hotel like this. I need to ask someone for directions."

    Gabriel stopped the horse near one of the shops and got down, approaching the shop owner.

    "Excuse me."

    The shop owner noticed the attire of Gabriel which made him appear like a wealthy mage. He also noticed the badge on his chest, meaning he wasn''t from the city.

    "Yes, Young Man. How may I help you? Are you looking for some items for your exams tomorrow? We did get some really amazing Magic Weapons in stock if you need. They are created by the Zoan Family."

    "Magic Weapons? You are selling Numens?" Gabriel grew slightly surprised. Weren''t Numens supposed to be precious? How was this guy selling them? Or was he bluffing?

    "Numens? As expected, you''re certainly from a wealthy family to know about Numens. Unfortunately, no, I''m not selling Numens. I''ve never seen a Numen myself. They are so rare to find that the ones who do don''t even tell anyone, let alone sell."

    The old sellerughed out, hiding his embarrassment.  "A Numen may make an appearance once in a blue moon in some auction house, but even the weakest go for millions of gold coins. A poor seller like me can''t even afford to buy one, let alone sell."

    "Then what Magical Weapons you speak of?" Gabriel asked with a frown.

    "A magical weapon or a magical artifact is something that is reinforced by the Spiritual Energy, created by expert artificers. You can call them simr to Numens yet way weaker than a real one."

    "For example, A treasured sword can be more durable or sharper than ordinary swords. It might be really light while having all the weight and properties of a heavy sword. Or a treasure shield that could protect you from ming attacks of Mages of mes. There are many treasure items, and the Zoan Family is an expert in creating them."

    "Why don''t youe in and buy some for your trial tomorrow. Who knows, you might need one? Since you''re from outside the city, I''ll even give you a discount. How about it?"

    "A Sword... a shield?"

    As a mage, Gabriel didn''t believe he needed a Sword. Moreover, even if he did, he could get itter. He wasn''t here for an eternity after all. He was only here for seven days. As for a shield to protect himself, he had the best shield in the world in the form of his first spell: Shield of Undead."

    <o>,m "I''m sorry, but I''m not looking to buy anything yet. Maybeter. For now, I''m really tired and need a hotel. Can you point me to one?"</o>

    Even though the old man was disappointed that Gabriel wasn''t going to buy anything, he still told Gabriel the direction. He believed Gabriel was rich. Even if he wasn''t buying anything today, he was still a potential customer in the future.

    "Thank you." Gabriel thanked the old man before going back to the horse. He was just about to climb the horse when he heard someone yelling in the distance.

    The loud yell attracted his attention. Frowning, he gazed in the distance, noticing a group of youngsters beating up a young man.<sub> </sub>

    There were many people in the surrounding area, yet no one stepped forward to help the man. Even the guards didn''t bother.

    "Young man, I understand what you''re thinking, but I''ll advise you against helping. This city isn''t one where you should do something like that." The old man''s calm voice fell in Gabriel''s ears.

    "Why aren''t the guards helping him?" Gabriel inquired, confused. "Isn''t this city supposed to be... better? Even if it''s for pretension."

    "Better? Heh, people give this city more credit than it deserves. Rules only apply to the poor here. You see the blonde man who is beating up the young man?"

    Gabriel nced at the only blonde man in the group. "Yeah. Who is he?"

    "His Uncle is a Head Priest in the Holy Church of Light. He''s also part of one of the most influential families in the city, the Raini Family. They control most of the markets in the city and outside. They are also very close to the Royal Family, so the guards wouldn''t interfere in whatever their young heir does."

    "So you should stay away from the conflict, or you''ll be in trouble yourself. Just go back to the hotel and rest. After these people are tired, they''ll leave the boy. They won''t kill him."

    "Moreover, you''re here to join the Academy, but Yann Raini is already in his second year in the Academy. So avoid him."

    Gabriel took the advice of the man. He really didn''t need to enter this conflict, especially if it could involve a Head Priest of Light. That could be counterproductive.

    Gabriel climbed back on the horse and started advancing ahead, in the same direction as the group since that was the only way to the hotel.

    "Hmm?" As Gabriel was leaving, not bothering to even help the young man, he stopped, gazing nkly in the direction of the group, noticing a young man he didn''t before. It was only now that the man came into his view.

    "Hawrin!" Gabriel''s fists clenched on their own.

    He saw Hawrin whisper something in the ears of the blonde man.

    The blonde man nodded in response before instructing another man in the group.

    The young man who was thrashed had his lips bleeding already. His clothes were covered in dust. Fortunately, he wasn''t seriously hurt until now.

    Following the instructions of the blonde-haired man, a Mage of Wind in the group stepped forward, bringing his staff out before casting a spell.

    The bleeding young man''s body started rising in the air. Both his hands and legs appeared to be tied by the chains of winds.

    Noticing the situation of the young man, Gabriel remembered his own condition back on the mountain. The same thing was done to him, making him unable to even react. He was sure this was the idea of Hawrin.

    He was still doing the same thing. He still hadn''t changed.

    Gabriel had decided to avoid this conflict, but the more he gazed at the man hanging in the air, the more he saw his reflection in the young man. Turning his back on the man was like turning his back on himself, especially when Hawrin was present there as well.

    Biting his lower lip, Gabriel finally got off the horse, unable to resist. Even though his mind said he shouldn''t do this, his heart made him unable to leave. He didn''t want another person to suffer the same fate as him, especially because of his own enemy.

    The entire group surrounded the young man,ughing as if it was fun for them.

    "Hawrin, since this was your idea, go ahead." The Blonde Haired manzily eximed. "Make sure you don''t go easy."

    "I won''t." Hawrin licked his lips, moving before the bleeding young man who couldn''t even move his hands. "You know, you remind me of someone. That trash was also like you. And since you remind me so much of him, I also hate you more for it. Since I can''t hurt that bastard, I''ll have to make do with you!"

 47 Chapter 47

    Hawrin smirked like the devil before clenching his fist. He aimed straight for the young man''s gut, nning his entire strength behind that punch.

    Grasp~

    Hawrin''s full-powered punch was about tond on the young man''s gut. Just before the punch couldnd, a hand came from nowhere, grabbing the wrist of Hawrin.

    "Huh?" Hawrin raised his gaze, observing the silver-haired man who dared stop him.

    "Who the hell are you? Are you also looking to die? You dare stop me?!"

    Gabriel wanted to just shatter the wrist of Hawrin right this instant before giving him the most gruesome death in front of everyone else, but he understood it wasn''t the time yet. He controlled himself, despite it being hard when such a hateful face was before his eyes.

    "No one looks for death, yet death finds them. Death is the only thing which is inevitable in this world," Gabriel calmly stated. "Who knows when death might find you as well. One should really be careful."

    "Y-you! Are you threatening me?" Hawrin pulled his hand back, roaring in rage.

    "I''m not threatening anyone. I''m just saying that everyone has a limited lifespan. Why waste it on violence." He nced at the blonde man. "I''m not sure what this person behind me has done, but I''m sure he has already been punished enough."

    "Who are you?" the blonde man asked, frowning. "You''re not from the city. Do you think you can interfere in our matters?"

    "It doesn''t matter who I am. I''m not from this city, you''re right. I''m here to take part in the academy exams, and I''m sure the person behind me is here for the same reason," Gabriel responded. He had already noticed a simr badge on the chest of the man behind him.

    "Do you really want to save him? Despite having no idea about who I am, you really want to y the hero, don''t you?" The blonde man asked. "If you really want to save him, I''ll give you an opportunity. Take that man''s ce and be our punching bag. We''ll let you go."

    "I''m afraid I''ll have to decline."

    "I''m afraid I''ll have to insist." Yann brought out his Staff of Element of me.

    Gabriel frowned. This man was really looking for a battle.

    Fortunately, Lira had expected a situation like this as well. She had expected there to be a situation where Gabriel might need to use his strength to fight. Just for that, in the City of Abadon, she had bought him a Mid Tier Staff of Light and a Book of Spells of Light to be used with his other elements, so he didn''t have to use his Necromancy in public.

    Along the journey, Gabriel studied up on the basic spells of light, even gaining a decent amount of mastery on them since he was already a Talent Prodigy of Light.

    Even though the basic spells of Light were nowhere close to the strength of his basic spells of Necromancy, with high efficiency, even those spells weren''t weak.

    Even though he was before a second-year academy student, he still had faith in himself. Last time on the cliff, he didn''t have any spells of light, so he couldn''t protect himself, but now things were different.

    "I''m afraid I''ll have to decline again." Gabriel raised his left hand, casting a spell above him. A formation appeared, which was storing his mid-tier staff of light.

    The staff came out from the formation,nding on Gabriel''s hands.

    "A Mid-tier Staff of Light?" Hawrin red at the staff in jealousy.

    There were six tiers of Staff: Novice Tier, beginner tier, mid-tier, high tier, peak tier, and the strongest... The Ancestral Staff. Even he himself only had a beginner tier staff for now since Mid-tier Staff was so expensive.<sub> </sub>

    Seeing something like that in another person''s hand, his jealousy knew no bounds.

    "Young Master Yann, this kid is too arrogant. We need to teach him a lesson. Since he''s unting his expensive staff, how about we take it from him after breaking his bones?" Hawrin suggested.

    Since he was the only light mage in the group, he was sure that the staff was going to be given to him if they took it from Gabriel. He couldn''t wait to get his hands on the staff.

    Gabriel knew that if Lira were to find out that he got into conflict within hours of entering the city, she was going to be so stunned, especially since she told him to avoid unnecessary conflicts, yet he couldn''t help himself.

    Now that he was already in this situation, he was prepared to go all out, even if it was against Yann. Moreover, this conflict also gave him an opportunity to openly attack Hawrin here without arousing too much suspicion about his real motives.

    "Hmm! He''s certainly from a wealthy family, but today he''ll learn how easily his wealth can be taken. We truly need to shatter this kid''s arrogance, so he knows how to be within his limits from next time." Yann agreed.

    "And who have you the right to teach people their limits?" A calm voice came from behind the group.

    Everyone looked back, including Yann. Even Gabriel was surprised who it was.

    For a moment, everything went silent.

    The silence was only broken by a burst of heartyughter. It was none other than Yann who burst intoughter.

    "That crest on your chest... You''re from that Traitor Ashton Family? Hahaha, you dare take a step in this city once again?" Yann asked, pointing at the brown-haired man in the distance.

    "You know it as well as I do which family was the real traitor." The young man answered. Even though his beautiful blue eyes appeared to be calm, there was a rage hiding behind them, being called a traitor.

    He had to face that word all his life. No matter where his family went, they were called traitors to the crown and the Holy Church of Light! All because of the Raini Family!

    "My family got the me for it. My father and everyone else were killed, all based on the usations by your family. You think you told the right to call me a traitor while your family was the traitor all along?"

    "Nonsense. Such tant usations! No one will believe them. By the way, are you here for revenge because my family told the truth?" Yann asked, amused. "Look around, kid! There is no Ashton Family left anymore! Your family was kicked out of the city, whatever remained of it anyway. Your noble title was taken away by the King himself!"

    "Ashton Family might''ve had some influence in the city once upon a time, but not anymore. You don''t hold any influence here. I can beat you to death this instant, and nothing will happen to me. On the other hand, try leaving a single scratch on me and see your fate!"

    "I''m not here to fight you, but if you do attack me, I do bear a right of self-defense, no matter who you are." The young boy from the Ashton Family smiled.

    For some reason, that smile seemed really scary, as if it was the smile of the Devil who really wanted them to attack so he could have an excuse to fight back.

    "It seems I also have many witnesses here to know I attacked second. So why don''t you go ahead, Yann?"

    Yann bit his lips in rage, noticing the Mark of Light on the back of the young man''s hand.

    "If that''s what you want, I''ll oblige."

    He nced at the other youngsters who were in his group. "You take care of the kid in the back. I''ll be right back after taking care of this Traitor!"

 48 Chapter 48

    Yann stood before Cain, holding his high-grade Sword. Simrly, Cain also had a High-Grade Staff.

    Despite his family being kicked out of the Royal City a long time ago and not having the same amount of wealth as before, he still had a decent grade Staff. The High-Grade Staff of Light was thest thing he had inherited from his father before his death.

    Cain''s blood boiled as he watched Yann. If there was anyone he hated the most in the world, it was the Raini Family.

    "Heh, ten years ago, my father killed your father with his own hands, following his Majesty''s orders. It seems today I''ll get the honor of finishing you. Like father, like son." Yannughed. "Even your high-grade Staff can''t help you before my spells, kid."

    "Why don''t you try and see for yourself?"

    No matter how much Cain hated Yann, he knew he couldn''t attack first. He needed Yann to attack him so he could have a justification for fighting back if he didn''t want to be arrested here. That was also a reason why he interfered in the conflict, which had nothing to do with him, all to provoke Yann.

    He knew that hurting Yann wasn''t going to be enough for the pain Raini Family made him go through, but it could be the beginning... The beginning of the storm which was yet toe.

    Yann also understood that Cain was provoking him yet didn''t want to hold back. He believed he couldn''t lose! He was a Second Year Mage at the academy, while Cain was just here to join the academy.

    He lightly tapped his staff on the ground; however, before he could even cast a spell, he heard a cry of pain as a figure flew past him,nding in the distance.

    "Huh?" Yann gazed at the figure, stunned. It was none other than Hawrin! His lips were bleeding, and he seemed to be in quite a bad condition.

    This made Yann turn around, finding another figure flying in his direction. This time it was the Mage of Wind who appeared to be flying uncontrobly in his direction.

    At thest moment, Yann dodged to the side, avoiding the person who flew past him tond on the ground.

    Even though Yann''s battle hadn''t begun yet, there was a battle that had... A battle which he hadn''t expected to go like this.

    Gabriel had started attacking, and his attacks... They weren''t weak at all. The Spells, the control... Everything was impable. He didn''t appear like a person who had just started learning magic.

    Seeing two of their friends being defeated that easily, the other youngsters were also taken aback. They all took a step back subconsciously.

    They had thought that Gabriel was also a weakling, yet he turned out to be much more.

    As the Wind Mage was sent flying, the young man who was being trapped in the chains of wind dropped to the ground, finally being free of the Chains of Restriction.

    The young man was just saved by Gabriel, but he was also in a daze at what he saw. In this city, he was thrashed, yet no one stepped forward to save him, not even guards. The only person who did was Gabriel.

    After seeing a simr badge of a neer on Gabriel''s chest, the young man had assumed that Gabriel was also going to be hurt like him. It was only now he realized how wrong he was.

    Gabriel hadn''t even used his Element of Death and Necromancy, yet he was already at an advantage.

    Not only the youngsters but even Yann was amazed at how easily Gabriel had defeated two of his minions. Despite that, there was not even a frown on Gabriel''s face, as if it was nothing concerning.

    "Does this guy really not fear death?" he wondered.

    Even Cain was amazed. He honestly didn''t expect Gabriel to be so strong. He thought he would have to save him after dealing with Yann, yet the reality was different.

    "That control¡­ it''s pretty good." Even Cain subconsciouslyplimented Gabriel.

    He was also a mage of light and understood that element better than anyone else here. He knew how hard it was to control such spells and the precision that was needed to master them.

    "It seems there''s another Talent Prodigy of Light here." Cain believed it wasn''t possible for Gabriel to learn spells like this with such precision at such a young age unless he was a Talent Prodigy.

    Since Gabriel looked only twenty, his assumption made even more sense to him.

    "Yann, you shouldn''t let him have all the fun, should you? Attack me so I can also have some fun."

    Seeing Gabriel''s spells, even Cain was itching to use his spells and get some exercise today.

    "You!" Yann could sense a mocking tone behind Cain''s words.

    Infuriated, he decided to give Cain exactly what he needed.<sub> </sub>

    "Then so be it!" Yann raised his staff.

    "Inferno-"

    "Young Master Yann, wait!"

    Yann chanted a spell yet stopped in the middle as he heard someone call him.

    "Who dares?!" He roared but calmed down as he realized it was one of the youngsters who worked for him. "What?!"

    "The Royal Carriage... It seems a Royal ising here. I don''t think it''s good for us to be fighting at this time. The guards won''t interfere in the battle, but it won''t be good if a Royal saw us fighting in the middle of the street like this."

    "A Royal Carriage?" Yann grimaced.

    Even though his Raini family was influential in the city, it wasn''t the most influential in the city, and it wasn''t even close to the Royal Family.

    Despite hating it, he could only decide to retreat at a time like this.

    He red at Cain. "You are lucky. Next time you won''t be."

    "I''m lucky?" Cain let out a disappointed sigh. This was such a good opportunity for him, yet the Royal just had toe at a time like this.

    Yann turned his back on Cain before ncing at Gabriel. "I''ll remember you as well."

    He walked back to his own Carriage along with his friends. Even Hawrin also stood up, wiping the blood from his lips. If his res could kill, Gabriel would''ve already been dead a thousand times by now.

    "You have made the biggest mistake of your life. You''ll regret it!" He dered a threat before running after Yann.

    All the youngsters entered the Raini Family carriage with Yann. This wasn''t how they expected everything to end. Unfortunately, their luck didn''t support them today.

    "The Royal Family... Not for long..." Yann muttered, ncing out the window as the carriage started moving.

    "Are you alright?" Gabriel reached out his hand toward the Young Man who was still lying on the ground.

    "I-i am fine. Thank you for saving me." The youngster thanked Gabriel. "If you weren''t here, I probably would''ve been hurt so bad that I couldn''t have taken part in the trial tomorrow."

    He held Gabriel''s hands using his right hand while holding his aching chest with his left as he stood up.

    "I should also thank him... Huh? Where did he go?"

    After thanking Gabriel, the young man wanted to thank Cain as well. Unfortunately, Cain wasn''t there anymore. He had disappeared as well, leaving them behind now that there wasn''t anything for him to do here.

    Gabriel noticed the figure of Cain in the distance, walking away. He didn''t even nce back as he left.

    Shaking his head, Gabriel shifted his attention back to the young man.

    "Why didn''t you fight back? You have the Element of Earth. It''s said to be a powerful Element for defense and even for attack. Why did you take the beating?" he asked, noticing the Mark of Earth in the hands of the young man.

    "This Mark?" The young man shed a weak smile. "This mark is useless for now since I don''t have any spells. That''s also a reason I came here to join the academy so I can learn some spells and be strong enough to protect myself one day."

    Hearing the exnation of the young man, Gabriel really found it to be strange. The man... He was really too simr to the old him.

    When he was killed, he had the Element of Light but had no spells. This man, on the other hand, had the Element of Earth yet no spells. Both of them were hurt by Hawrin. Both faced the chains of winds. The simrities were uncanny.

    As Gabriel marveled at the simrities, the Royal Carriage finally reached this ce and stopped not too far.

    The door of the carriage opened.

 49 Chapter 49

    The Lumen family, also known as the Royal Family of the Kingdom of Light, was the most powerful family in thend which ruled over the entire Kingdom. If there was anyone who held the highest authority in the Kingdom after Leaders of Churches of Elements, it was the King himself.

    Since Churches didn''t often involve themselves in outside matters much, the King effectively held all the control.

    Moreover, even though the Church of Light was the most influential in thend, that didn''t mean the Royal Family didn''t have any influence on the Church of Light. Throughout the years, many of the Head Priests of the Church of Light were from the Lumen Family itself.

    Moreover, the secondst Head of the Church of Light also came from the Lumen Family. After his death, the family''s influence did weaken by a significant amount but not too much.

    Even now, the Lumen Family had two Head Priests in the Church of Light, one being the Uncle of the current King and the second being the King''s Sister, both being highly talented Mages of Light.

    The Lumen family was still the strongest faction in the Church of Light. That''s why even other Great Families of the city treaded carefully before the Royal Family, despite having many conflicts throughout the years.

    The Royal Carriage stopped near one of the shops, barely five meters away from Gabriel.

    The door was opened by the carriage driver, who stepped back after opening the door.

    Gabriel gazed at the carriage, curious who it was. It was his first time seeing someone from the Royal Family he had heard a lot about in the past.

    "Princess Elia!" The young man behind Gabriel let out, noticing a graceful figureing out of the carriage.

    Gabriel also saw the young blonde girl, seemingly in her early twenties.

    The girl appeared to be wearing a long yet beautiful ck gown that covered her entire body. Other than her face, not even a single inch of her skin was visible.

    Most of her arms were covered by the long sleeves of the gown. Even her hands were covered by the white gloves she was wearing.

    The young girl was apanied by two maids. The maids walked to the shop before her, opening the doors for her.

    The young girl disappeared from everyone''s view, entering the building.

    "You know her?" Gabriel asked the young man behind him. "Aren''t you new here as well?"

    "I am new here, but I''m not stupid. There is only one girl in the Lumen Family of her age, and it''s Princess Elia. So it''smon sense who she is," The young man answered. "Before this, I had only heard stories about her beauty. It''s only now I''m seeing her from my own eyes, and I must say, those stories don''t do her justice. She is much more beautiful than the stories, don''t you think?"

    Gabriel rolled his eyes in response. "Focus more on your strength than girls. Girls won''te to save you the next time you''re being thrashed."

    "I-i will." The young man scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

    "By the way, who was the other guy? Do you know anything about him? The Ashton guy?"

    "Oh, him. I''ve done a lot of research on this city in the time I''ve been here, so I do know a few things about it, but I''m not sure I should talk about that here. It''s not a good history."

    "I doubt you''ll be arrested for telling history. Tell me who he was?"

    Gabriel was going to enter the Academy, and he was sure that this guy was going to be here as well. He wanted to know as much as he could about people who had any influence in this city. He understood that to execute a n, he needed a better understanding of the city, so there were no unexpected factors at y.

    "Ah, if you say so."

    The young man couldn''t refuse Gabriel. Gabriel had saved him. He owed Gabriel a favor, so this was the least he could do.

    "As you know, many families hold great influence in the city. They are the city''s wealthiest families and also hold some influence or contacts in the Church of the Light."

    "Yeah, I heard about the Zoan Family and the Raini Family."

    "Exactly." The young man nodded. "Those two families hold great influence in the city, but those two aren''t the only ones. There are more families like that. Once upon a time, Ashton Family also used to be one of them. In fact, many argue that it was the most influential after the Royal Family itself."

    "The Head of the Ashton Family was Lord Vien. He was said to be the most Talented Head Priest in the Church of Light and also the youngest to be promoted to that post. From what I know, Vienn only had one son, Cain. If I''m not wrong, that son was the one who we just saw."

    "Anyway, during Vien''s time, the Ashton Family held great influence and reputation. Moreover, it was also rumored that Vien was so talented that there was no way he wasn''t going to be selected as the next Head of the Church of Light by the Holy Grimoire."

    "Everything was going so great that no one could''ve expected what was going to happen next. The Raini Family came out with an usation one day that the Ashton Family was selling the secret information of the Church of Light, leaking it to other Churches and the enemies of Churches."

    "That''s when the Ashton Family started losing everything. They lost their wealth, they lost their name, and they lost their reputation. Most of the members of the Ashton Family were executed for this treachery. Only women and children were left alive, but they were also banished from the Royal City for ten years as a punishment."

    " That''s why the Raini Family and the Ashton Family have such a grudge between them. They have bad blood over the past."

    "Is it that easy to get someone kicked out?" Gabriel frowned. He had carefully observed Cain when he was here.

    The way Cain behaved, his words, it didn''t feel like he believed that his family was traitors. Were they really one?<sub> </sub>

    "Well, when another Church member confirms that Vien was selling them secrets, does that even leave any room for doubt?"

    "Hmm? What?"

    "Yep. ording to the story, after the usations came out, the Church of Light started investigating. They directly asked the Church in question, sending an envoy to the Church of Nature where they got confirmation that Vien sold them information."

    "After that, the betrayal charges were confirmed, so I don''t think it''s just baseless usations by the Raini Family which brought this oue."

    "That doesn''t make sense." Gabriel gazed at the distant moon. "If your story is true, then I''m sure the Ashton Family didn''t betray anyone."

    "And how can you say that?"

    "I mean, look at the bigger picture. If you were the Church of Nature, and you had a spy in the Church of Light, would you really ept that and lose that spy? Or would you lie about having any rtionship with him so he could keep working there and leaking secrets to you?" Gabriel summarized. "If that guy were really working for the Church of Nature, they would never ept it since that would be just stupid."

    "This... Your words..." Even the young man was stunned. The words made sense. Why would the Church of Nature ept it this easily? Why would they give up their golden eggsying hen?

    "But why would the Church of Nature lie then? What did they get from lying other than some bad name about using a spy?"

    "Didn''t you say Vien was one of the most talented Head Priests? If with one lie, they could take out such a talented member of your opposition, why wouldn''t you lie?" Gabriel let out, walking to his horse.

    The young man followed behind him.

    "If I''m not wrong, the Raini Family worked hand in hand with the Church of Nature to take out the Ashton Family. Raini Family took out a potential opponent in the form of the Ashton Family and even got some of their property after the Ashtons were kicked out. On the other hand, the Church of Nature weakened the Church of Light even if by a little."

    "It was a win-win situation for both of them," he further added. "The only ones who lost in the trap were the Ashton Family and the Holy Church of Light. Then again, it''s none of my concern. Past is past. Don''t mention this with anyone. If the Raini Family finds out that you know the truth, you''ll be killed next. You understand?"

    Gabriel climbed on the horse.

    The young man gulped down, sweating. "I will keep my mouth shut!"

    "That would be for the best."

    Gabriel started leaving.

    "Wait, what is your name?" the young man called out, just realizing he didn''t even know Gabriel''s name.

    "I''m Karyk," Gabriel responded before leaving.

    "I am Zale! Thank you once again!" Zale yelled, making sure Gabriel heard him.

    Gabriel didn''t react, disappearing into the crowd of people.

    ****

    Gabriel reached a hotel, giving his horse to a caretaker along with some money.

    He went straight to the receptionist and asked him for a room. Even the receptionist was kind to Gabriel since he really looked like a wealthy individual.

    Gabriel also didn''t disappoint the receptionist and booked the most expensive room. He was only here for a short week and didn''tck money, thanks to Lira.

    The receptionist wrote the name of Gabriel and the number of his temporary badge before giving him the key with a fawning smile while addressing him as Young Master.

    Gabriel went straight to his room, instantly going for the shower after taking his clothes off. He still didn''t remove his right glove, not intending to take the risk for now. He even returned to his real form and his old self.

    He turned on the shower, letting water drench him.

    "This city... it''s moreplicated than I thought. The rtionships between the families... the conflicts. I jumped in one of those conflicts today, it seems. But I can use it to my advantage."

    Gabriel talked to himself as cold droplets of water rained over his warm skin.

    "Yann Raini, Cain Ashton... Things will certainly be interesting around here. If I needed a distraction, those two would fit right in. I''ll need to get close to at least one of them for that."

    "If I get close to Yann, I''ll be in close proximity to Hawrin as well, which should make my revenge easier but controlling him would be hard. Yann is very arrogant and also hates me."

    Gabriel nced at his reflection in the mirror as water trickled down his body.

    "That only leaves one person. Cain... Ashton."

 50 Chapter 50

    Finishing his shower, Gabriel came out and got dressed again, wearing the attire he had received with the Ancestral Staff.

    The Attire didn''t just work to make him look good, but it also hid his aura just like his gloves did, making it easier for him to mix around. At least as long as he wasn''t using his Element for a Spell. When he did, even his attire couldn''t hide his aura, especially his dark aura.

    Gabriel walked to the balcony. Since he had taken the most expensive room in the hotel, it also came with many luxuries. He had received a room on the top floor which had the best view of the city.

    With his hands behind his back, Gabriel gazed at the moon.

    "The moon is the same as it was that day, yet everything about it is different. The beauty... It can''t be seen anymore. It looks... Ordinary."

    It was said that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Unfortunately, Gabriel went through so much that something about him had changed. The same moon, which was the prettiest thing for him in the past, appeared like a very ordinary thing now.

    After a brief observation, Gabriel walked back inside the room, closing the balcony door. Tomorrow was going to be a big day, and he needed to get up early to finish thest bit of preparation.

    It was already four at night when he went to the massive king-sized bed, covering his cold body inside the soft nket.

    Even as heid in the bed, waiting for sleep, his mind kept thinking about thousands of things regarding the day that was toe.

    The ring had a timer of seven days, and the timer had started already. He didn''t have much time to do reconnaissance and execute the mission while attending sses. That''s why he needed help to make sure things moved smoothly, and he understood it.

    He had already started shortlisting the people he was going to get close to. He wanted to execute his mission softly, even if it meant using others, and he knew who those people were going to be.

    "Zale is a very naive boy with a weak worldview. He is exactly how I used to be. That makes me understand him even more. He should be easier to sway. He can handle minor things to keep me safe."

    "However, that is only if he can pass through the entrance exams. I''m not sure if he''s capable enough for that since he doesn''t know any spells. It''ll depend on what the exams are. It''ll be good if he gets through. If he doesn''t, I''ll have to find someone else."

    "That leaves a distraction which Cain will take care of. Now what''s left is getting close to them and winning their trust."

    Throughout the night, Gabriel kept thinking about how he could win the trust of the people around him.

    Lira had left the entire responsibility of the n on Gabriel''s shoulders since only he could know what the current circumstances inside the Academy were. Still, she did give him some ideas on what he could do, and one of those ideas was about using others.

    Throughout the night, Gabriel nned every single part of the day that was toe, taking into consideration all the things that could go wrong, so he wasn''t unprepared.

    By the time he fell asleep, it was already six in the morning.

    ****

    "The world is burning... And it''s all because of you..."

    "You betrayed us."

    "You shouldn''t have..."

    "You''ll suffer the consequences.".

    "You''ll be damned for an eternity."

    "You are a demon."

    "How could you be so..."

    "We can''t let you go..."

    "You have sinned."

    Many strange voices echoed in the surroundings as if there were people surrounding Gabriel from all sides.

    Everything was so dark that it was impossible to see anything. He couldn''t even see where he was. It appeared as if he was floating in the air amidst this darkness.

    The voices he heard... It was the first time he heard these voices. They didn''t match the voices of anyone he had seen before. These voices weren''t like the voices of the screeching spirits, yet they weren''t like voices of humans either. There was just something really surreal about these voices.

    Gabriel tried opening his lips to speak something. Unfortunately, he couldn''t speak anything. His lips moved, yet no words came out of them.

    As if the strange phenomenon of not being able to speak wasn''t enough, Gabriel started feeling a terrifying chest pain. It was. As if his heart was going to explode. He even felt the stabbing of thousands of pins all around his body. At the same time, it was as if all the air was sucked from his surroundings, leaving him gasping for breath.

    Thump~

    Thump~

    <o>,m The thumping of his heart intensified along with the pain. No matter what he tried, he couldn''t do anything. He couldn''t even move. It was like he was a puppet at the mercy of others.</o>

    The pain in his heart continued.

    Thump~

    Thump~

    Thump~<sub> </sub>

    "Noo!"

    Gabriel opened his eyes, sitting abruptly. His entire body was covered in sweat. His heart was racing. Fortunately, there was no pain in his heart.

    "Huh." His breathing was heavy, but there was a look of relief on his face as he noticed that he was in his room.

    "A nightmare..."

    Thump! Thump! Thump!

    There was still that thumping. However, it wasn''ting from his heart. It was as if someone was hitting his door from the outside.

    Letting out a long sigh of relief, Gabriel got off the bed, still confused about what kind of stupid dream he saw.

    He walked to the door and opened it. "Yeah?"

    "Sir, thank God you''re up."

    "Why?"

    "You left the instructions at the desk for us to wake you up on time. That''s what I was doing."

    "Didn''t I tell you to wake me up at ten? Surely it can''t be ten?"

    "It''s eleven..." The young waiter scratched the back of his head. "I''ve been knocking on the door for an hour. You really should hurry if you don''t want to bete for the exams."

    "Eleven?" Gabriel eximed. He felt as if he had only slept an hour. How was it eleven already?

    He didn''t want to fail the mission because he had overslept. The trials were supposed to start at twelve!

    He dashed back to the bed and picked up the Golden Book that had the basic spells of Light before running out. He couldn''t bete at any condition because beingte was grounds for immediate disqualification before even being selected. Even if someone was just one minutete.

    He collected his horse as fast as he could before departing. The horse raced through the streets, carrying Gabriel, almost hitting somemoners who were about to cross the road. Fortunately, a crash was avoided.

    Even then, Gabriel didn''t slow down.

    ****

    Right at the heart of the Royal City, there stood the gigantic Academy of Elements.

    The Academy premises covered thousands of kilometers square of area as if it was a city of its own within the Royal City itself.

    There were multiple buildings within the Academy of Elements as each Element was given a castle-like building of their own where they were to be taught.

    The entire academy was surrounded by a thousand feet tall wall from all sides. Many spells were carved on the walls to make sure no one could enter the academy uninvited; that was especially the case for Mages of Winds who could fly.

    All the formations that were carved on the boundary wall worked to stop any infiltration that wasn''t through the main entrance. Even if one could fly, they couldn''t pass through the wall, despite it only being a thousand feet tall.

    The only way to enter the academy was through the main gates that were made from the strongest of metals, further reinforced by magic.

    At the moment, the doors of the Academy were open, allowing everyone who was here to participate in the Academy Selection Exams to enter.

    As for the crowd of participants, it wasn''t any less either. There appeared to be thousands of youngsters here already, still waiting to enter.

    Multiple Teachers of the Academy were also present to make sure everything went smoothly.

    The Academy Selection wasn''t a small matter after all since many of these kids were going to be Mages who possessed a great amount of strength, and they could even be the next Head of a Holy Church.

    "So, what do you think? Anyone worth keeping an eye on?"

    Two teachers stood side by side, watching the students enter the Academy. One had the Mark of Earth while the other had the Mark of Wind.

    "There are certainly a few interesting candidates this year if I were to purely judge from their auras. A few of them also share my Element of Earth, so I''m really optimistic."

    "Heh, I hope there are some Talented Mages of Winds as well. I don''t want our House of Wind to Rank near the bottom again."

    "Hahaha, stop exaggerating. You weren''tst. Your House was secondst. I should be embarrassed since my House of Earth wasst in the rankings. Hopefully, the new year and new students will bring some new luck."

    "I hope the same man. I don''t expect to defeat the top Houses. I at least don''t want to best. It''s already embarrassing as it is." The Mage of Wind smiled wryly.

    The Mage of Earthughed, agreeing with his friend. However, hisughter changed to a frown. "Hmm? That''s strange."

    He gazed into the distance.

    "What is it?"

    "The newest arrival... That student in the back. Everyone here has an aura, weak or strong. It''s just him I can''t feel any aura from."

 51 Chapter 51

    Rem was a teacher at the Academy of Elements and taught the Mages of Earth, possessing elements of Earth himself.

    He was in his early forties yet appeared to be younger than even thirty. Rem had short ck hair and wore sses that suited his long yet handsome face.

    He was said to be one of the more observant teachers at the academy, known for having really unorthodox teaching methods.

    Despite that, not many people at the academy respected him since his House of Earth was always thest ranked in the Academy. If House of Light was the peak, then House of Earth was the bottom.

    Right beside him stood a blonde man who was in the same boat.

    The man appeared like a frivolous young man. It was Lishen who was a teacher for the House of Wind.

    Unlike Rem, Lishen was very popr at the Academy, especially amongst girls. Unfortunately, it wasn''t because of his teaching skills but because of his looks. Lishen had deep green eyes, which created a stark contrast with his blonde hair.

    Even though his House didn''t do as bad as the House of Earth, it didn''t do much better either, barely avoiding thest rank each year.

    The Two Teachers have been close friends for a long time. In fact, the two of them had studied together at the same academy in their younger days before joining as Teachers.

    The two had been teaching for a really long time. They had seen and taught thousands of students personally.

    That''s why when Rem talked about seeing a strange student, that intrigued Lishen.

    Even though Lishen couldn''t sense students'' auras, he trusted Rem, who was born with the talent to see auras.

    "Not even the weakest aura?" Lishen asked, frowning. "How did that guy even awaken an element then?"

    Being able to see Aura was a distinct ability of Rem, which most people didn''t know about. Through the aura of a person, he could make a rough guess about how talented a person was when it came to the path of magic.

    Some people had weak auras, meaning they were really bad at magic and didn''t have any talent. On the other hand, some had really strong auras, which meant they were immensely talented.

    Strangely enough, Rem couldn''t see any aura from Gabriel.

    "That''s right. Not even the slightest aura. It''s like he is amon person with not even the slightest affinity for magic. Why is he even here then? He would be kicked out in the first round itself." Rem frowned. "Idiots like him not only waste his own time but ours as well. They don''t know their limits."

    "Poor guy," Lishen muttered, ncing at the silver-haired young man in the distance who was none other than Gabriel himself.

    Fortunately, he had managed to arrive here on time. He handed over the horse to the establishment near the Academy before dashing here, finally arriving.

    Gabriel was breathing heavily. Even though he had be a mage, it was still very tiring for him, especially when he felt like he hadn''t slept when the slightest.

    After resting for a few seconds, he finally mixed in the crowd, trying to locate Cain and Zale. Unfortunately, he couldn''t find many familiar faces in the crowd. It was as if the others had already entered the Academy.

    While Gabriel tried to locate someone, he also felt like someone was looking at him.

    He took a subtle nce at the two teachers who stood near the entrance, gazing straight at him.

    Gabriel acted ignorantly as if he hadn''t seen them. Still, he was slightly concerned on the inside. The two people appeared like teachers here. The two of them had an emblem of the academy on their chests.

    "Did they find out? That should be impossible though. Even the Head Priest couldn''t sense my dark aura because of the gloves. Is it about my disguise? But if they had seen through, they would''ve captured me. Then why are they staring?''<sub> </sub>

    "Alright, the next hundred people can get inside!" Loud instructions came from inside the Academy.

    Even though it was a unified exam, there was still no way to test them all at once. There were just too many people. That''s why the exams were conducted in the batches of a hundred each. The selection criteria were so hard that only one or two were selected from a batch, sometimes more, sometimes less.

    A hundred participants entered the academy, where they were further escorted by a teacher before disappearing.

    Gabriel didn''t happen to be in those hundred since he had arrived just now. There were still close to two hundred participants before him yet to enter.

    "I don''t think anyone else ising. We''ve already seen the participants for this year. We''ll see further in the Trial Arena. Come, let''s get inside." Lishen patted the shoulder of Rem, who agreed.

    The two teachers entered the Academy, disappearing from public view.

    After ten minutes, there was another call. A hundred more were called in, leaving slightly over a hundred left behind.

    Around twenty minutester, everyone who was left behind was called in. Finally, Gabriel was allowed entry into the beautiful academy.

    "Hmm?" As Gabriel passed through the entrance, he felt some strange feeling. It was the same feeling that he felt when he had passed through the golden barrier. It was as if something was at the entrance to check every participant for something, possibly for the element of Darkness.

    Gabriel nced at his gloves, not worrying.

    A bulky man approached the young participants.

    "There are slightly over a hundred of you left. You shall all follow me. I''ll take you for the basic screening. If you pass that screening, only then will you be allowed further."

    "Remember, if any of you get lost or are found to be roaming where they shouldn''t, the Academy Security Forces possess the right to execute you, no questions asked! So better not lose your way! Stay with the group!"

    The bulky man only issued basic instructions to the participants, scaring most of them. He didn''t even introduce himself as to who he really was. No one asked him either.

    All the participants followed the man, going wherever he took them.

    From the inside, the Academy appeared to be even bigger. It was massive. Unfortunately, no students could be seen in the academy.

    Gabriel wondered if the students were inside the academy buildings, learning.

    While most of the participants were focused on the beauty of the Academy, being amazed at everything they saw, Gabriel was focused on something else entirely.

    Instead of focusing on the building, he was focusing on the security and the guard cements.

    ''The Academy does spend a lot on guards, it seems. There''s no blind spot. They are everywhere, and it''s just the entrance. Near the Museum of the Academy, their numbers will be even more. Lambard wasn''t lying when he said how hard it was to steal the Eye of Osiris.''

    After a ten-minute long walk, the participants were told to stop in the middle of an arena.

    There was one table in the middle, covered in a white bedsheet. On top of the table, thereid three crystal orbs the size of a human head. Behind the table, a white-haired old woman was sitting, seemingly with her eyes closed.

    Behind the woman, there stood two more men wearing the Attire of the Academy.

 52 Chapter 52

    All the participants stood before the olddy, waiting to see what was going to happen. For quite some time, there wasplete silence. No one spoke anything.

    It was as if everyone was waiting for the olddy to open her eyes which she didn''t do.

    For ten minutes, this continued. Fortunately, the olddy did open her eyes, slowly revealing her deep ck eyes.

    "It''s time. Make a line."

    Even though the woman only spoke in a low voice, there was something strange about her voice. It was as if there was some kind of charm in her voice that created an impulse in the heart of whoever heard her to follow hermands.

    Fortunately, this thing didn''t affect Gabriel. His Grimoire connection protected him.

    Every youngster made a line. Even though the words didn''t affect Gabriel, he still followed the instructions to get in the line, being in the middle of the line this time.

    The olddy gazed at the youngsters as they all got in a line.

    "I''m sure some of you might know about the entire process, but there would be many who don''t, so I''ll give you a brief once again. I hope you won''t embarrass yourself after going to the next stage. What you''ll go through here is just a basic test to see if you fulfill the minimum criteria to go to the next stage."

    "Everyone who fails here will have to leave right away. As for the ones who pass, you''ll go to the real tests."

    "Each of these orbs serves a different purpose. The first orb..." The olddy pointed at the crystal clear orb. "It is to test your age. As you know, only the Mages younger than thirty can take part, yet there are people every year who think they can get through, despite being older."

    "That''s why this test was ced here. The crystal will show your real age. You can fool your eyes but can''t fool this crystal."

    "As for the Second Orb." She pointed at the second orb, which was green in color.

    "This is just to test if you have talent or not. Only those who have a talent for magic can pass through. This orb won''t measure your talent level, just the presence. To pass it, you just need to possess a decent amount of Talent. It doesn''t have to be much. Unfortunately, this is also where most of you will be eliminated."

    "As for thest, this one will test your inner self. This is just for your ssification to decide which test you''ll take."

    She gazed at the third crystal orb.

    " In other words, it will test if you''ve ever used a Spirit Crystal or not. If you have, that means you have used resources to grow your inner magic. That would mean you''ll go for level Two Examination, which will be slightly tougher."

    "As for the ones who have never used a Spirit Crystal and can prove it here will be sent for Level One entrance examination, which will be slightly easier."

    "I hope everything is clear now? I don''t want any more questions."

    Hearing the exnation of the olddy, Gabriel understood why Lira hadn''t allowed him to use the Spirit Crystals before the examination here. She didn''t want him to go through a stricter examination.

    Gabriel stood calmly in the line, waiting for his turn.

    "You''re older than thirty. You really thought you could fool the Academy, didn''t you?"

    The old woman talked about people lying to give exams not long ago, yet it was proven by the first person in the line himself. The crystal showed thirty-five for his age.

    "I-i..."

    The man was left red-faced. "I am sorry... I just wanted..."

    "No need for exnation. I''ve seen more people like you than you can imagine. Go stand there. You''re rejected. After the line is done, you''ll be sent out."

    The old woman didn''t even bother with hearing an exnation. It didn''t matter why he did what he did. It was against the rules, and he was eliminated.

    "Next."

    The line moved faster than Gabriel had expected. One after another, people kept getting rejected. There were around forty people before Gabriel, and half of them were rejected; only twenty managed to pass through this basic elimination.

    Most were eliminated because of Talent, while a rare few were eliminated because of lying about their age. No one was eliminated for any reason other than that.

    Finally, it was Gabriel''s turn. He stood before the olddy.

    "ce your hand on the first one."

    Gabriel took off his left glove, finally revealing his Element of Light for the first time since he had arrived here.

    If Rem was here, he could''ve seen that the person he didn''t feel any aura from finally had an aura surrounding him like a raging me.

    Unfortunately, only Rem could see it. No one here could. Even the olddy couldn''t see that aura.<sub> </sub>

    Gabriel ced his hand on the transparent first crystal. A number appeared on the crystal.

    If he could, Gabriel wanted to avoid this test since he didn''t want anyone to know his real age. That was also why he had selected a slightly older look. Too bad this test became an obstruction in his path.

    A number appeared before the olddy.

    "Only eighteen? With the Element of Light?" Just as Gabriel had expected, the woman was shocked to see his real age. The awakening of the element at such a young age was a really huge matter, especially since it hadn''t happened before.

    The youngest awakened mage of Light that was known was close to twenty. Didn''t this make Gabriel the youngest awakened mage?

    Generally, this was such big news that it should''ve been known by the Church of Light. If there were really a Mage of Light with such a talent, the Church would''ve recruited him right away, not even letting theme to their academy.

    She couldn''t believe someone like him was standing here. This young man...

    She Gestured for the young man who stood behind her toe closer, whispering something in his ears.

    The young man nodded before leaving.

    "Is something the problem?" Gabriel grimaced.

    ''Where did this old woman send the man? Don''t tell me she sent him to inform the Church of Light! That would be bad news!''

    Instead of answering, the old woman asked Gabriel a question.

    "Does the Church of Light know about you? Or your awakening?"

    Gabriel frowned. "Why?"

    "Answer my question."

    "They don''t. I''m not known anywhere. It''s my first time here. I''m not an important person for the Church to know about me." Gabriel lied with a straight face.

    He has also calmed down a bit since he saw the man going deeper into the academy instead of going outside. It didn''t look like he was going to inform the Church of Light.

    "That''s good! Really good!"

    "Good?" Gabriel gazed at thedy in confusion. What did she mean by good?

    "If the Church had known about you, they would''ve snatched you before you could be a student. We can''t let such a talented mage go." The olddy smiled.

    Finally, Gabriel understood what this was about. She wasn''t suspicious at all. Instead, she appeared to be pleased that he had applied at the academy instead of going directly to the Church of Light. Having such a young mage as a student was certainly very good for the reputation of the academy after all.

    But this was also bad news¡­ This was also what he wanted to avoid at the academy... Too much attention.

    Looking at the shine in the olddy''s eyes, he could already feel that things had started going south.

    He had nned for many things beforeing here, imagining every instance possible, but this wasn''t one of those. It was like a question that came out of the sybus after he had memorized the entire exam book.

    "Even though I already know you''ll pass through the next crystal test, while we wait, we should get through with it as well, just for the sake of it."

    "While we wait? Wait for what?"

    "You''ll know soon. Don''t worry; it''s not anything bad." The olddy smirked. "Now, young man, ce your hand on the next crystal."

    Gabriel was starting to get slightly worried about the way things were progressing. The n was perfect! He was supposed to take the easiest test, get inside the academy, stay under the radar and execute the theft and revenge.

    But simply because of his age, the entire n was turned upside down. Instead of letting him stay under the radar, the olddy had grabbed him and brought him straight to the middle of the radar.

    Looking around, Gabriel could see the jealous gazes of everyone who heard the exchange. They were so jealous of his luck. He had awakened an element at such a young age. They cursed their destiny for not having luck like him.

    If only they knew that Gabriel was also cursing his destiny for having such bad luck that he was caught right at the first test itself.

    Unfortunately, it was toote now. Even if he couldn''t stay under the radar, he couldn''t abandon his mission, or he would never get an opportunity. This was the first, and thest time he was going to have the Ring of Apophis. If he failed, there was noing back here.

    Even if the n was spoiled, he decided to start from scratch, observe the surroundings, understand the situation ande up with a modified n ording to the circumstances.

 53 Chapter 53

    Gabriel ced his left palm on the second Crystal Sphere and waited.

    The Crystal started changing its color as soon as it came in contact with his hand.

    "As expected, you pass the threshold. I wish I could see your exact Talent on this crystal, but it only shows if you pass the threshold or not. What a disappointment." The olddy let out a tired sigh.

    She didn''t know how d Gabriel was that she couldn''t see his exact Talent. He had already attracted too much attention as it was. He didn''t want to attract more due to his talent because he already knew what it was going to show.

    Even amongst the Talent Prodigies, his talent was at the absolute peak, thanks to the Grimoire of Death and Necromancy. At the same time, his Soul Talent was also boosted by the Grimoire, making him a double Prodigy which was hard toe around.

    That much attention wasn''t good for him. What happened now was already bad enough. He didn''t want to make it worse since he understood what could happen.

    If he was just a talented Mage, the Academy was going to focus on him. But if he was a Double Prodigy while being the youngest awakened mage, the news was going to attract outside attention as well, including the attention from the Church of Light which he wanted to avoid at any cost.

    p From what he had heard, the Head of the Church of Light never made an appearance outside, which was the only good news for him. The Ring of Apophis, mixed with his gloves, could fool the Head Priests of the Church of Light for the most part, but the Head of the Church of Light was a different deal altogether.</anda>

    Just like him, the Head of the Church of other Churches were Sacred Mages who were connected to their Grimoires. They could see what others couldn''t and possessed the abilities to see through such illusions. At least that''s what Lambard told him.

    In any case, Gabriel could feel that uncertain times were ahead.

    "ce your hand on the third crystal." The old Woman tapped the third Crystal.

    Gabriel ced his hand on the third crystal.

    "Interesting. So you''ve never used a Spirit Crystal. You do look to be from a rich family from your attire. May I ask why you didn''t use a Spirit Crystal before?"

    "I''m not from a rich family," Gabriel answered.

    His initial n was to show off as if he was from a wealthy family since it gave him some advantages while also exining why he wore such an expensive-looking attire.

    Unfortunately, now that his true age was exposed, that came with a lot of excess burden.

    His actual age was exposed. If he imed he was from a wealthy family, it was going to open him up to a barrage of new questions. If his family was wealthy, there was no way they lived in a town that didn''t have a Church of Light Branch. And even if they lived somewhere like that, there was still no way for them to not know about the Church at least.

    If he was truly from a rich family, there was no way he would have remained unknown after bing the youngest mage to awaken the element.

    The olddy was right as well with that line of thinking. It was really hard for such a talented person to stay unknown.

    What she didn''t know was that it wasn''t the first time a young mage was discovered who awakened an element at the age of eighteen. There was another she didn''t know about who was discovered by the Church of Light. The church didn''t tell anyone about that discovery, so even the Academy didn''t know about it.<sub> </sub>

    However, that other person was also none other than Gabriel. If she had known about Gabriel before, she would''ve been at least a little suspicious about having another person awaken the same element at around the same age

    To avoid any excess questioning about why he was unknown, Gabriel went with a different story than he had initially nned.

    "I''m not from a rich family. In my tribe, we don''t give importance to money or such things. We live with the bare minimum on the mountains, which provide us with everything we need to survive," Gabriel answered, swiftlying up with a new story.

    "Oh, no wonder you didn''t use the Spirit Crystals. Don''t worry though. You''re exceptional. The Academy won''t leave any stone unturned in your training." The olddy smiled. "You came to the right ce, young man."

    Gabriel nodded as he started going toward the group that was selected for further examination of Level One Grade.

    "Wait. You don''t need to go with them." The olddy called out.

    "Hmm?" Gabriel frowned as he turned back. What did she mean by that?

    "Just wait here. You don''t need to give any entrance exams. You''re already selected without any need for further examination," the olddy exined.

    "I''ve sent a message to Eliana. Since the Dean has left for some important work, in his absence, Eliana is handling everything at the Academy. She would be right here to take care of any formality. You can just wait for her here."

    ''Eliana?'' Gabriel didn''t know who she was. He couldn''t recall hearing that name. It was because even Lira didn''t have that much information about the Academy since people at the Academy often kept changing.

    Lira had only informed him about the basic structure, and going by that, he could take an educated guess as to who Eliana was.

    In essence, the Academy of Elements was divided into Seven Houses, each belonging to an Element. They were: the House of Light, the House of Lightning, the House of Water, the House of Wind, the House of Fire, the House of Nature, the House of Earth, and the House of Summoning.

    Each of these Houses taught mages that belonged to their Elements, and they all had multiple talented Mages as teachers. Only the strongest of the Teachers was given the position of the Head of a House.

    There was also a Head Council at the Academy, which consisted only of these Head of Houses who took essential policy decisions. If there was one person who was above any Head of Houses, it was the Dean of the Academy himself.

    ''Eliana is taking care of the Academy in the absence of Dean? If I''m not wrong, that position would only fall to a Head of a House in the absence of the Dean. And since the strongest House is the House of Holy Light, that means Eliana must be the Head of House of Light.''

    ''It''s also good though. I don''t know how strong the Dean is, but I don''t want to test the strength of my Illusion before the Dean. If Eliana is the Head of the House of Light, then she should beparable to a Head Priest at the Church of Light. The Illusion should be able to fool her.''

    ''As long as the Dean doesn''t return for seven days, even under this extreme attention, I might be able to seed if no one sees through my Illusion.''

    Just as Gabriel summarized that he didn''t need to worry about anything, someone came flying in his direction.

 54 Chapter 54

    A person came flying in Gabriel''s direction. Two beautiful wings made from the energy of light graced the back of the person.

    ''Another exam participant?'' Gabriel frowned, gazing at the figure of the girl who was flying in his direction. ''No, she ising from inside the core of the Academy. Is she already a student here?''

    The figure seemingly belonged to a young girl who appeared as if she was just fourteen or fifteen, nowhere close to being an adult. However, that made things even more strange. If the girl was really a Mage of Light, then how could he be called the youngest Mage of Light to awaken the element of Light? Shouldn''t that title belong to the girl?

    It was evident that the girl had also awakened the element of Light as she was using a Flight Spell of Light.

    "Such a young mage of light who already learned the Advanced Spell of Flight, which takes years to learn? Just how talented is she?"

    The girl had beautiful long hair that appeared to be a mix of violet and a darker shade of silver. Her beautiful violet eyes appeared to have no emotions in them, just like her face, which waspletely expressionless.

    Gabriel didn''t know who that girl was, but he was sure that she was the most talented person he had ever seen.

    The young girl soonnded before the olddy.

    "Where is he?"

    "I imagine you''re talking about the boy? He''s right behind me," The olddy answered before exining the test results of Gabriel.

    The young girl gazed at Gabriel in the back, observing him from top to bottom. Her gaze finally rested on the back of his left hand.

    "You areing with me." She didn''t speak more than she needed to, not asking any questions at all as she asked Gabriel to follow her.

    "Who is this girl?" Gabriel asked the olddy. "I thought you said Eliana woulde to get me."

    The young girl''s expressions flickered for a moment, noticing Gabriel use the first name, but she didn''tment.

    "She is Eliana." The old woman smiled in response. "She will be taking you to give you more details. Don''t worry. You''ll be fine."

    "That kid is Eliana?" Gabriel grew surprised. He had expected Eliana to be a middle-aged woman at least, not a kid. How could a fourteen-year-old child be the Head of the House of Light?

    "Child?" Finally, Eliana couldn''t stay silent anymore.

    She ced her hand on the crystal orb. "Amongst the two of us, only you''re the child here, young man."

    The young girl ced her hand on the first orb, making it start shining brightly. A number appeared on the crystal orb.

    Not only Gabriel but every youngster who saw that number on the crystal orb was also stunned. Even though the girl clearly looked to be a child, it showed that her age was thirty-two. This child¡­ She was in her early thirties!

    The revtion about the girl''s age brought many questions to Gabriel''s head, especially regarding her age. She was in her early thirties then how could she look like a child? Unless this was also an illusion, just like he was using?

    ''Is she using something simr to Ring of Apophis? But she doesn''t seem to have any essories on her. If there was really something like this which could create such impable illusion, then why didn''t Elora ask for it instead of going straight to Lambard?''

    "I understand your confusion. You''re not the only neer who gets confused after seeing her." The old woman patted the shoulders of Gabriel. "But trust me, you don''t want to know anything more than who she is."

    She gently pushed Gabriel toward Eliana. "Now go with her and let me do my work. There are more youngsters who need to go through a test."

    Eliana extended her right hand to Gabriel, who stood only a few meters away from her. Gabriel gazed at her hand, wondering what she was asking for. He didn''t have anything to give to her.

    "Unless you know the Spell of Flight, you need to give me your hand so I can take you with me. Or do you want to walk?''

    "Oh."

    Gabriel finally understood what she was asking for. However, since she had extended her right hand, it meant he also needed to extend his right hand to be in sync, but he didn''t want to take the risk. His right hand had the Mark of Death and Necromancy. He wanted to keep that mark as far away from her as possible.

    Just as a precaution, he reached out his left hand. Before Eliana could ask anything, he provided a made-up exnation. "My right hand is very weak. It has always been like that."

    Eliana used her left hand as well, not questioning the exnation. It wasn''t strange for people to be born with defects in their hands like that. Moreover, he was a Mage who was supposed to use his left hand, which had the mark, so it wasn''t too bad either. He wasn''t a Warrior.

    She grabbed Gabriel''s hand with her left hand. As soon as Gabriel''s hand held the soft hands of Eliana, his mark of light shone momentarily before returning to its normal state.

    Eliana cast the Spell of Flight once again. The Wings of Light once again made an appearance, spreading out as if they were the wings of a real angel. Each of the wings had a span of just over two meters.

    Eliana''s body started rising in the air, holding onto Gabriel. Even though he knew Lira, who could also fly, it was his first time actually being in the air since, with Lira, he either walked or traveled on the horse, which made it his first experience in the air.

    As Eliana carried Gabriel to the inner parts of the Academy, Gabriel queried, "May I ask you a question?"

    For now, he was known as a student to Eliana, so he didn''t believe there was any reason for her to be suspicious of him. In that case, he could ignorantly ask her questions.

    "What?"

    "Why do you look so young? Is this some Spell of Light that makes you look young?"

    "It''s not a spell."

    "Then?"

    Eliana didn''t answer this time. Instead, she started going down,nding before the doors of a beautiful building. "We are here."

    Two Mages guarded the doors. The two respectfully greeted Eliana before opening the door for her and letting her in.<sub> </sub>

    Eliana freed the hands of Gabriel as she entered the building.

    Gabriel followed behind her, wondering where they were. ording to what he was told, he didn''t need to give any tests, so he had a feeling that it was the ce where he was going to stay as a student. Unfortunately, that didn''t seem to be the case.

    As soon as he entered the ce, he found himself in a massive hall. Unfortunately, he was all alone in this ce with Eliana.

    In the middle of the hall, there was a seven-foot tall mirror standing.

    "What is this ce?"

    "This is where we''ll see if you''re truly as special or not," Eliana answered, walking closer to the mirror in the distance.

    She stopped before the Mirror.

    "This is the Mirror of Judgement. It''s a really precious artifact of this Academy, which is used to test the students that pass through all the tests. It can measure the true extent of your talent and soul strength. Let''s see how special you truly are."

    Gabriel frowned, hearing her exnation. Another test? It was like they were asking him to expose himself as much as he could. It was already surprising that he awakened at such a young age, but if they found out his peak Talent, it was going to be even more dangerous.

    "Go ahead. ce your hand on the mirror," she gestured before stepping back.

    With hesitating steps, Gabriel moved closer to the Mirror, ncing at his left hand. If he were all alone here, he wouldn''t mind testing his exact talent here, but in the presence of thedy, it wasn''t the ideal situation.

    Still, he had no choice. He extended his hand to touch the mirror.

    Screech~

    A sound echoed in the surrounding area. Gabriel stopped and turned around, looking back at the door which was opened again.

    As soon as the door opened, two young men entered the hall as well.

    "You?"

    The two men were surprised to see Gabriel again, that too here.

    Gabriel also recognized the two men. They were the same men who were staring at him outside the Academy.

    "How could he get here so fast?" Lishen asked Rem.

    "Look at the one apanying him. You''ll get your answer." While Lishen was still surprised by seeing Gabriel, Rem had already noticed the girl who stood behind him. If she was with him, it was evident that she was the one who brought him here.

    "Eliana?" Lishen frowned, finally noticing the acting Dean of the Academy. Why was she with the kid?

    " Didn''t the kid have no talent?" Lishen asked Rem. It was Rem who had told him that Gabriel had no Talent since he had no aura after all.

    Rem didn''t respond right away. Even he was surprised by it. Last he saw Gabriel, there was no aura around him that could be seen, but now when he was seeing him, his zing aura could be seen, screaming about his talent.

    "It seems I was wrong. He has an aura around him. He is very talented, possibly the most talented out of everyone here."

    He didn''t understand how he couldn''t see that aura before. If he could see it now, then he should''ve been able to feel that aura before. Everything was the same as before. Everything except one thing...

    "Hmm?" He soon noticed that Gabriel''s left hand wasn''t covered by his gloves anymore. "Could that be it?"

    That was the only thing that made sense for now. The only time different about Gabriel when he couldn''t sense his aura was that he had his gloves on.

    "There''s something about his gloves..."

    "What are you two doing here?" Eliana inquired, not liking the interference.

    "We brought the first batch of Level Two Examination Winners. Thest stage of their examination is to measure their exact Talent." Lishen exined, snapping his fingers.

    Winds started flowing, following his movement. The doors opened even more, revealing five students standing outside.

    "Only five?" Eliana muttered.

    The first batch of examinations contained a total of thousand participants who managed to pass through the initial screening. Amongst the thousand, only five managed to pass through, it seemed.

    "Don''t ask us," Lishen scratched the back of his head. "We brought what Qin gave us. You know how stern he is. He only lets the best of the best pass through. We are lucky the number isn''t zero this time."

    "Just when I asked Qin to go easy this time. At this rate, will we even get a hundred people joining the academy?" Eliana grimaced. "I should''ve assigned the responsibility to someone else."

    "You stay here and don''t touch the mirror until I''m back. I''ll be right back."

    In the absence of the Dean, the responsibility of the entire academy was on her shoulders. She couldn''t let anything go wrong, and what could be more wrong than getting no students just because she had selected a strict student who only allowed the top of the top to pass through

    Even though they couldn''t allow everyone to pass through the exams, selecting five amongst thousands was still very low. There was no way there were only so few people in the batch of thousand who had the potential.

    She left Gabriel behind in the hall before leaving, not forgetting to instruct Rem and Lishen to keep an eye on Gabriel until she was back.

    Eliana didn''t realize that she was leaving Gabriel alone with a man who was more interested in the gloves of Gabriel and his true identity than the exams at the moment¡­

 55 Chapter 55

    Level Two Exams... It was the high-tier entrance exam which was much harder than the tier one exam, which was only reserved for people who didn''t take help from external resources throughout their lives.

    On the contrary, the level two exam was more for the wealthy individuals who had external help while growing up, which propelled them ahead of the underprivileged mages. That''s why a tougher test was designed for them.

    No matter how privileged a person was or which family he came from, they needed to pass through the test to get an entry into the Academy.

    Despite the toughness of the exams, it was still impossible to believe that only five out of a thousand managed to pass through to this stage.

    Moreover, all five of the people who were selected were Prodigies, standing at the peak of their group.

    Amongst the five, Gabriel also noticed some familiar faces. Three of the five participants that managed to reach here were the people he had already seen before.

    One of the three was the Earth Mage Alexai he met outside the city, who had managed to urately guess how much time it was going to take them before they could enter the city.

    As for the second person, it was none other than the person who had helped him in the city when he was standing against Yann. It was Cain Ashton.

    Andstly, the third person he recognized was a young woman. She was the Princess of the Lumen family and the only daughter of the King. Just like Gabriel, Elia also had the Element of Light, making three light mages present here, including him and Cain.

    At present, out of six youngsters present here, there were three mages of light, one mage of earth, one mage of Lightning, and one Mage of Summoning.

    All five participants that came with Rem and Lishen stood at some distance from each other. Only Gabriel stood near the mirror. He was slightly pleased that Cain had managed to reach this stage. Even though the core of his n was messed up, Cain was an essential part of what was left of his n.

    "Your gloves seem interesting. Can I see them?"

    Rem didn''t mince his words, directly asking for Gabriel''s gloves since he wanted to see what it was about them. If they could hide someone''s aura, then there was something very special about them.

    "I''m sorry, but I''ll have to decline." Gabriel also didn''t hesitate before rejecting straight away. There was no way in hell where he was going to willingly hand over these gloves to anyone.

    If he took off both his gloves, his other Elemental Mark was going to be revealed, and before he could even realize what was happening, he was going to be surrounded from all sides by the entire force of this academy.

    It was better to offend one teacher than it was to offend everyone in the Academy by revealing his identity.

    "Hmm?" It was the first time someone had refused him, especially a student.

    Elia''s brows furrowed slightly. Cain remained mostly expressionless. He had already been disappointed by the Kingdom and everyone that held influence, so he didn''t care if they were disrespected. He himself didn''t care about doing things just because someone asked them to do, especially when that person wasn''t even a teacher of their own ss.

    Alexai shook his head lightly. He didn''t understand if this was the arrogance of Gabriel or something else, but he didn''t appreciate it that much.

    The fourth mage was the Mage of Lightning, known as Cole. He could understand why Gabriel didn''t give his globes. He was sure that those gloves were his treasures. He was a part of the family that made artifacts so he could notice some things.

    Just like Rem could see the auras of humans, Cole could see the essence of artifacts. The only problem was that he could only see if an item had the essence of a treasure.<sub> </sub>

    Unlike Rem, he couldn''t see the exact quantity. If a Numen Artefact and an ordinary artifact were ced before him, he couldn''t find any difference between the essence of each.

    That''s why he understood why Gabriel wasn''t giving his gloves. Many people preferred to keep their treasures to themselves. Instead of Gabriel''s rejection, what surprised Cole more was the sheer quantity of treasures on Gabriel. It was as if Gabriel was a walking treasure shop.

    He could see Gabriel''s gloves being a treasure, his clothes being a treasure, and even his ring being a treasure.

    ''Must be spending from a rich family. A prodigal young master.''

    Because of the sheer number of treasures that Gabriel possessed, his first impression on Cole wasn''t good.

    As for thest person, it was a man known as Ray, who had the Mark of a Summoner on the back of his left hand.

    "A kid who doesn''t know his ce," he stated, not even caring enough to keep his voice low. "A typical young master without a brain."

    Lishen found Gabriel''s rejection somewhat amusing. The kid certainly had guts which he liked in a person, but senseless guts were an idiotic quality, ording to him. He couldn''t praise the kid. He had to side with his friend on this.

    "So you realize who you''re talking to?" he asked. "Rem is the Head of the House of Earth, and I''m the Head of House of Wind. You should really think before you speak."

    "Hmm?" All five youngsters that were escorted by Rem and Lishen grew surprised to hear who these two really were.

    Initially, they had thought that these two were ordinary teachers who were handling the examination. But they were literally heads of Departments? Did that mean Qin was the Head of the House of Lightning? No wonder he was so arrogant.

    "It doesn''t matter who I''m talking to. My gloves are a family heirloom. I can''t give them to anyone."

    Just because they were Head of Houses didn''t mean he could risk his identity for them.

    The gloves and his attire came with the Ancestral Staff of Death and Necromancy. He couldn''t afford to risk anyone finding out.

    "Even if the King were asking for those gloves, your answer would still be the same?" Ray inquired, taking a subtle nce at Elia. He knew she was the princess. He wondered if the kid was really arrogant enough to even reject the King.

    "Even if it was the King, I''m not giving these gloves to anyone." Gabriel knew he needed to stay firm on his ground if he wanted to protect his identity.

    What he didn''t understand was why these two were so adamant about having his gloves? Were they suspicious of him? First, they were staring at him outside and now this. He felt that it was only suspicion but no more than that. If it were more, they wouldn''t have asked for it. Instead, they would''ve forced him to hand over.

    Elia heard Gabriel say that he would even refuse her father. She couldn''t believe the sheer arrogance of the kid. Just who did he think he was?

    Things had started getting intense.

 56 Chapter 56

    Even though Gabriel didn''t want to be in this intense situation, he knew he had no choice but to stand firm, no matter who he was going to offend.

    He was also a bit surprised to know that Rem and Lishen were heads of their own departments, almost being on the same level as Eliana, yet it didn''t matter.

    Frowning, Elia opened her lips to speak, only to stop as she looked back. The door had opened suddenly in the back, signaling someone''s arrival.

    Even Gabriel nced to the door, feeling somewhat relieved to see who had arrived. Just as things had be too intense for hisfort, Eliana was back.

    "I''ve talked to him. He will be a littlex in the selection from now," Eliana told Rem and Lishen before joining up with Gabriel. "So, where were we?"

    She gazed at Gabriel. "Ah, yeah. We were going to check your talent."

    "Eliana, who is this kid?" Lishen inquired. "He has some great deal of arrogance, it seems."

    "He is... Hmm?" It was only now that Eliana realized that she didn''t even know Gabriel''s name. She forgot to ask him the most basic thing.

    "What''s your name?" she asked.

    "It''s Karyk," Gabriel answered.

    Eliana turned to Lishen and Ren. "He is Karyk. He is going to be a student at the Academy of Elements."

    "Shouldn''t he go through the exams before getting admission? I don''t recall seeing him in the first batch. How did he be a student? Did he arrive with someone''s rmendation?" Lishen inquired, even though he believed that it shouldn''t be the case.

    Most of the time, rmendations didn''t work in the Academy. They could certainly y a subconscious bias or allow teachers to make things somewhat easier for the students, but they still needed to go through the tests. Even Elia, the Princess of the Lumen Kingdom, had to go through the tests to prove herself worthy after all.

    Cole had already noticed the treasures that Gabriel carried. Hearing the conversation, he didn''t find it surprising that Gabriel had a rmendation. He appeared to be from a very wealthy family, after all. Still, to directly jump to thest step of examination was the surprising part, even with the rmendation.

    Even King''s rmendation wasn''t so strong as even the King''s own daughter was taking a test. He wondered just whose rmendation Gabriel had.

    "He doesn''t have anyone''s rmendation. It''s just his talent and his age. Apparently, he''s the youngest mage to Awaken the Element of Light. That''s why he''s directly selected into the academy without the need for any tests," Eliana exined. "He didn''t even need the test of measurement for admission. It''s just I was curious to see his talent, so I brought him here."

    "Youngest Mage of Light? How old is he?" Based on the looks, Rem felt as if the kid was around twenty years old. He certainly was the youngest mage here, but he definitely didn''t look that young.

    "He''s eighteen."

    Eliana''s answer surprised everyone present. An eighteen-year-old mage? It was the first time they were hearing of something like that.

    "No wonder he''s arrogant," the Summoner muttered under his breath.

    He didn''t bother to keep his voice downst time, but for some reason, now that Eliana was here, he was more careful as if he was scared.

    "Go ahead, Karyk. ce your hand on the mirror." Eliana gestured for Gabriel to take the lead and finish it.

    Gabriel didn''t do as she said. He didn''t want to blindly do anything without understanding how it worked.

    "How does it work?"

    "As soon as you touch the mirror, it''ll start measuring your Talent and your Soul Strength. Two numbers will appear simultaneously, showing the measurements," Eliana exined.

    "What''s the range, and what''s the peak anyone ever achieved in this test?" Gabriel asked, taking another step closer to the mirror.

    "Peak?" Lishen smiled. "Are you already thinking about breaking records? Unfortunately, it''s not that easy, even if you''re the youngest mage. You awakened at such a young age, which means you''re definitely talented, but even that won''t ensure the peak. As for Soul Strength, it has nothing to do with how fast you awaken."

    "The range of measurement is from one to hundred, with one being the absolute weakest talent," Rem answered. "As for the highest that''s ever been recorded... The record is said to belong to Lord Aizen, who took a casual test after bing the Lord of Church of Light."

    "And what Score did he achieve?" Gabriel asked.

    "Peak Double Prodigy... So far, only he''s the one who''s been measured in this mirror who achieved a peak score of a Hundred in talent and soul strength. As for the second highest score, it belongs to Eliana... Thedy who stands beside you. She got a score of eighty in talent and Ny Two in Soul Strength." Lishen chuckled. "She''s also a Double Prodigy."

    Gabriel gazed at Eliana, who didn''t react. She didn''t look smug at all, even when her score was mentioned. It was as if it was a useless criterion for her.

    ''So she''s really close to the peak without having the support of a Grimoire.''

    ''It''ll be really chaotic if I get a score of a Hundred in both, which seems to be unavoidable at this point. If even Lira knew that the Grimoire gives someone a peak Talent, then that means the Lord of Light must also know that to be the case. If he really exists, he would know my secret as soon as this news gets to him...''<sub> </sub>

    "What are you thinking?" Eliana noticed Gabriel being lost in some thought. It was as if he was wasting time. "We don''t have all the time in the world. Touch the mirror. There are people after us who need to get tested for their exams."

    Gabriel let out a breath before he finally did what he was asked, leaving everything to destiny. He ced his left hand on the Mirror.

    Two numbers appeared in the mirror, each being at zero initially, but both numbers started rising slowly. While the left number belonged to his talent, the right belonged to his Soul Strength.

    Everyone in the hall carefully observed the score of Gabriel, wondering how the youngest mage was going to perform and if he was really as special as he was considered.

    [000]          [000]

    [005]          [007]

    The numbers on the mirror slowly started rising.

    p ''His numbers are rising so slowly. It looks like they won''t go too high.'' Lishen let out a disappointed sigh, seeing the slow rise.</anda>

    He had seen many such tests, and most of the time, numbers rose rapidly when the Talent was high, and they only climbed slowly when Talent was low.

    Even Eliana was surprised at the slow climb of the numbers, wondering if his early awakening was just a fluke, having nothing to do with his talent.

    [012]          [011]

    [017]          [017]

    As time passed, the speed of the numbers going up only slowed down more as if they were soon going to stop.

    Seeing the numbers going so slow, Gabriel was slightly relieved. They weren''t going too high, which was somewhat good. However, at the same point, he was also upset. Why were his numbers so bad? Was he really not talented despite having a Grimoire?

    At this point, even Eliana was sure that they expected too much from Gabriel. She was having second thoughts about giving Gabriel direct admission into the academy. Neither his talent was strong, nor his Soul Strength.

    However, just as she had lost hope, something happened... Something that shocked everyone.

    The climb that appeared to have almost stopped started going up at a much faster speed which was hard to believe.

    The numbers that were crawling before were dashing now!

    [045]          [057]

    [065]          [073]

    [081]          [097]

    In less than five seconds, the numbers crossed even the highest score of Eliana, bing the second highest score ever recorded in the history of the Academy, and even that didn''t appear to be the end as the climb continued.

    [97]          [100]

    Gabriel''s Soul Strength had reached the peak of measurement, shocking everyone and his Talent wasn''t too far behind. Before long, it also reached the peak score.

    [100]          [100]

    Gabriel had achieved the peak score ever recorded in this Academy, having a tie with the score that thest Lord of Light had achieved.

    It was horrifying! Gabriel was as talented as the previous Lord of Light!

    That revtion in itself was already shocking enough but what happened next made everyone''s jaws drop.

    "How is this possible?!" Lishen eximed in disbelief.

    The always calm looking Eliana was also shocked to her core as her expressions changed.

    As for Rem, he was also taken aback at what he stared at the mirror, finding it hard to believe.

    [103]          [109]

 Chapter 57 Chapter, 57: Recommendation

    [103]          [109]

    To everyone''s disbelief, Gabriel''s Talent had passed the range of a hundred, which no one knew was even possible.

    Eliana''s eyes were in disbelief, noticing the score just like the other teachers since only they knew what it meant. This kid! He had more talent than thest Lord of Light had!

    They didn''t know how much talent and soul strength the current Lord of Light had since he hadn''t made an appearance ever since the beginning, but what they saw before them was still shocking.

    The five youngsters in the back didn''t know everything about the mirror. They had never given this test, so it was also their first time, but they did hear the teachers mention about the talent of the Lord of Light being measured on the Mirror, which was said to be the peak score, but the man before them had crossed the score, and it still didn''t stop climbing.

    [107]          [115]

    ''How is this possible? Didn''t they say the top it could go was a hundred? How did my score pass through that? And how did it pass the score of the Lord of Light? He had the Grimoire, which should''ve brought his score to peak, just like I have. So how is my score higher than him?''

    [116]          [119]

    ''Even now, it keeps going up? How? Don''t tell me it''s because I have two elements? If it keeps going up like that, just where will it stop?''

    He didn''t even dare look back since he didn''t want to see the expressions of everyone in the room. This thing... It was a disaster in disguise for him. He was happy that his score was better than the Lord of Light, but for his mission, it was bad news.

    As if him being the youngest mage to awaken wasn''t bringing enough attention to him, this mirror made him shine bright like a sun. There was no way for anyone to ignore him.

    ''I can''t let it keep going up. It''s already bad enough.''

    He knew he needed to do something to stop this score from going up, but what could he do? He couldn''t just break the mirror.

    After a long thought, he finally came up with an idea to stop his score from going up.

    He slowly pulled his hand back, just enough so that his hand wasn''t touching the mirror. There were only a few millimeters of a gap left between his palm and the mirror now.

    From the back, no one knew that he had taken off his hand from the mirror.

    ''I should''ve done this sooner!'' Gabriel frowned, noticing the score finally stop climbing.

    [130]          [145]

    Unfortunately, the damage appeared to have already happened. He had a behemoth of a score.

    The entire hall was silent... For a minute, no one spoke. Everyone stood still, still trying to grasp what just happened.

    "It seems that''s my score." Finally, Gabriel lowered his hands before turning around.

    As expected, he was greeted by the shocking gazes of everyone.

    "That score..." Eliana grimaced. "Rem, Lishen, you two meet me outside right now!"

    "Everyone else, stay here. No one will leave this ce!" Eliana left the call with Rem and Lishen, leaving the six youngsters behind.

    ''This is bad. Is she going to bring the Church of Light? Should I really stay here and take the risk of being caught? Or should I escape? But then the mission?''

    Gabriel nced at the Ring of Apophis. This was hisst chance. If he left, there was noing back.

    ''Sigh, it seems I have no choice but to take a risk.''

    He sat on the ground, seemingly disappointed. He had decided to take the risk, keeping his faith in the academy. Even after the academy found out that he was the youngest mage of light, they didn''t inform the Church of Light.

    That made him believe that the Academy wasn''t that close to the Church of Light and that they wanted a star student of their own. There was a really good chance that the Academy wasn''t going to inform the Church of Light even now.

    If they wanted a star disciple, then his value had just increased multiple folds. Could they really give him up? He based his entire assumption on the reaction of the old woman''s response from before.

    He knew that if he was wrong, things were going to get really troublesome for him.

    He gazed at the small bag that was tied around his waist, wondering if he really should ask for help from Lira if the Church of Light actually came here.

    "I won''t. I can handle my problems on my own." He dropped the idea as soon as it crossed his head.<sub> </sub>

    After seeing all his Artefacts, Cole had a really bad impression of Gabriel but seeing Gabriel sit in disappointment; he couldn''t help but wonder why that was the case.

    He stepped closer to Gabriel. "A young kid, from a wealthy family, carrying so many artifacts and possessing such an outstanding talent. Despite all that, why do you look so unhappy?"

    "You won''t understand," Gabriel subconsciously answered, but his expressions changed as he noticed what the man had said. He looked up, wondering how he knew about the artifacts he had. Could he see the Ring of Apophis?

    "What Artefacts? What are you talking about?"

    "I can see if something is a treasured artifact or not. My family creates most of the treasured artifacts in the city. I''ve grown around treasured Artefacts, so I know when there''s one around me." Cole shrugged. "Don''t worry. I am not going to tell anyone. It''s none of my concern how many Treasured Artefacts you possess."

    ''Treasured Artefacts? So he can see my artifacts but can''t differentiate between a treasured artifact or a Numen. That''s somewhat better.''

    After realizing that the man didn''t know about his Numen Artefacts, Gabriel felt somewhat relieved.

    "So, what were you worried about? If I were in your ce, I would''ve been so happy. You literally have a god-tier talent. Then what''s troubling you?"

    "What''s your name?" Instead of answering, Gabriel fired a question at Cole, changing the topic.

    "Cole. Also, you don''t have to change the topic. If you don''t want to answer, you can just say. I won''t ask if it''s something personal but remember, with your talent, you''re going to be the Golden Child of the Academy of Element."

    ****

    A carriage stopped before the Academy of Element. The carriage had no insignia or symbol on it. It had no markings of any n either. It was just a in carriage.

    However, as soon as the carriage stopped before the academy, the two guards at the entrance of the Academy instantly went down on their knees in respect.

    The Carriage door opened slowly. A figure stepped out of the carriage.

    It was a young man, having beautiful blonde hair and a slender face. The man was wearing ordinary clothes as if he didn''t have the money to buy decent luxurious clothes.

    Seeing the person, the two guards frowned.

    "Who is this boy? Why is heing in the Carriage of the Church of Light?"

    The person who had stepped out of the carriage appeared to be in his early twenties. He had a piece of paper in his hands.

    The carriage door closed, and the carriage left.

    The man walked to the door of the carriage.

    "Wise Sir, I am here to get admission to the Academy. Can one of you please escort me inside?"

    "A-ah, I am sorry, but the time of entry is over. ording to the rules, we can''t allow you inside. But we can ask inside if we should allow you? I''m afraid you''ll have to wait for that."

    "It is fine. It''s my fault for beingte." The young man apologized. "Please convey my regret to them. Also, if possible, can you please give them this letter? It''s a rmendation letter for me."

    "Rmendation? I''m afraid that even the rmendation from the Head Priest of the Church of Light is ineffective at this point, let alone a rmendation from a random member, but I''ll convey the message. Please give me the letter."

    The young man handed over the letter to the guard, who took a casual nce at the letter.

    "T-this rmendation... It''s from..." The guard started stuttering as he saw the title of the person who gave this rmendation. "Y-you managed to get the rmendation from the current Lord of Light?"

    Through the years, no one had received a rmendation from the current Lord of Light. Let alone getting a rmendation; no one had ever seen him. It was impossible to even get a meeting with him.

    There were no official documents with his sign. It was literally the first time something rted to the current Lord of Light was making an appearance.

    "Yeah. I was lucky enough to meet him. He was a really nice person, even though a little weird at times. He gave me this rmendation out of nowhere and told me that I should study here since there''s a lot to learn here." The young man smiled. "So please give this letter to the incharge inside if possible."

    The guards couldn''t believe that this man was calling the Lord of Light a weird man. In most cases, this could''ve been considered an Insult worthy of punishment, but the guards let it slide. This man was the only person they knew who had met the Lord of Light after all. Not only that, he received his rmendation.

    "I''ll be right back!" The guard ran inside.

 58 Chapter 58

    The guard ran inside, going straight to the old woman who had just finished testing thest batch of students, sending them for further testing.

    She was also one of the teachers at the academy and also the closest one to the doors.

    The guard stopped before her, panting.

    "What happened?" The old woman inquired, wondering why the man was in such a hurry.

    "There is a student at the entrance for examination."

    "Hmm? At this time? Send him back." The old woman didn''t even bother to listen as she stood up, turning around. "The time is up. Someone who can''t even be on time, he isn''t worth wasting our time on."

    "B-but he got a rmendation."

    "I don''t care about his rmendation. Just shoo him away. You should know that rmendations are useless in this ce."

    The Academy of Element held a prestigious position in the Kingdom and a certain kind of autonomy. Even though the Royal Academy received funds from the Kingdom, that was the extent of it.

    No one was given importance when it came to the academy selection of disciples since each student carried the name of their academy for their lifetime. They didn''t want any bad apples to get in, only to spoil their reputation after leaving.

    The old woman didn''t even bother stopping as she kept walking away.

    "B-but he got a rmendation from him... He got a rmendation from the Lord of Light!"

    It was only after she heard the statement that the woman stopped. It was as if her feet froze in ce. It had been years since she heard anything about the Lord of Light.

    She stared back. "What did you say? Whose rmendation is it? Can you repeat it again?"

    "He gave me this letter. It''s a rmendation by the Lord of Light." The guard ced the letter on the table of the old woman. "I know rmendations are useless, but it''s not always that it''s a rmendation from the Lord of Light who doesn''t involve himself in such matters."

    The old woman walked back to the table and picked up the letter, going through it.

    "This is certainly the stamp that only the Lord of Light is allowed to use. That means this sign must belong to him as well. Interesting. That hermit has finally started taking an interest in things after being a ghost for years?" The old woman rubbed her chin, talking to herself.

    "Should I bring him in for examination?" The Guard inquired.

    "He got a rmendation from the Lord of Light. What do you think?" The old woman smiled wryly. "He doesn''t need to give an examination. He''ll get a direct admission. Making him go through an examination would be an insult to the authority of the Lord of Light, especially if his candidate fails the tests."

    "What a day it is. There is rarely a year when we give admission without examinations, and this time, there are two candidates like that?" The old woman nced at the letter again. "What element does he have?"

    "This... I didn''t really notice." The guard scratched the back of his head. In his surprise, he even forgot to ask the man for his element.

    "It doesn''t matter. Just bring him here. I''ll see myself. I need to know his element, so I know which Head of House to inform along with Eliana. Just bring him to me."

    ****

    The blonde man was still standing at the entrance of the Academy, with his hands behind his back, appreciating the beautiful structures.

    "This academy is really beautiful."

    "It is." The guard who was left behind smiled. "You''ll be staying at the academy from now on as well. You''ll have fun."

    "Oh, I''m sure I will." The young man smiled mysteriously.

    "Can I ask you a question if you don''t mind?"

    "Hmm? Go ahead. I don''t mind."<sub> </sub>

    "Can you tell me more about the Lord of Light?" The guard asked. "The current Lord of Light is the most mysterious one. Before him, all the Lord of Lights were known throughout thend. But the current Lord of Light... No one knows anything about him. I even wondered if he really existed until you came with a letter from him? So what is he like?"

    The young man scratched the back of his head, smiling wryly. "I told you. He''s a weird man. He never answers you straight if you ask any question, always trying to be mysterious. He can get on your nerves after some time. Only I know how I controlled myself. I would''ve gone crazy and snapped at him if I didn''t have such good control."

    "What does he look like?"

    "His looks? He is quite short, honestly. I think he should be about two inches shorter than me. He is a chubby man who looks quite cute. He has long ck hair and a chubby face. There''s also a small scar under his right eye. Keep these features in your mind so you can recognize him if he everes before you."

    The guard chuckled. "You''re right. Since no one knows what he looks like, I don''t doubt that. He could''ve even stood before me, and I wouldn''t have recognized him. Thanks to you, I won''t make that mistake now."

    "That''s right. Now you know." The young man smiled innocently. "By the way, how long do you think your friend will take? I''m getting worried if I''ll even get admission here."

    "Heh, don''t worry, kid. You got the rmendation from Lord Hermit. There''s no way you wouldn''t get an admission here."

    "Lord Hermit?" The young man tilted his head in confusion.

    "It''s the nickname that the citizens have given to the Lord Of Light. It''s just because of the characteristics. It''s not an insulting title. Even some members of the Church of Light use this term."

    "Oh, do they now?" The young man appeared quite amused.

    "Yeah. It seems even they don''t know anything about their Lord. Only the Head Priests of Light can get an audience with the Lord of Light."

    "That''s understandable. Still, Lord Hermit... It''s a cute name. I don''t think the old man will mind it."

    "Old man? Is the Lord of Light old?"

    "Don''t tell me you didn''t know that either?" The young man''s lips parted in surprise. "Do you guys really not know anything about him? I mean, at least you should know that he''s an old man."

    "That... We really didn''t know. As I said, there''s not much information about him. But still, an old man. That''s fascinating but not surprising. How did you meet him?"

    The guard kept asking questions about the Lord of Light since it wasn''t often when he got an opportunity to talk to someone who had met the Lord of Light.

    Unfortunately, his question was cut short as before the young man could answer, the other guard returned.

    "You cane in. And I also got some good news. It seems you don''t need to give an examination. You''ll get direct admission at this point. Come with me."

    The young man nodded as he followed the guard inside the academy. At the same time, he didn''t forget to bid farewell to the other guard.

    "Wait. What is your element?" It was only after the guard escorted the young man inside that he realized he had once again forgotten to ask about the element.

    Since the young man was wearing gloves, it was impossible to see his mark.

    "My element?" The young man took off his left glove, shing the bright mark on the back of his left hand.

    "It''s the Element of Light. Just a novice Mage though. I''m here to learn more so I can be a powerful mage and join the Church of Light in the future."

    "Ah, a mage of light. I should''ve guessed. Why would the Lord of Light give his rmendation to another element?" The guard tapped the back of his head. "What is your name?"

    "I am Lelin," the young man answered respectfully.

    "Heh, don''t worry, Lelin. You are at the best academy now. No student of this academy went on to be a failure in their life. You''ll achieve all your goals now that you''re here. By the time you leave, you''ll be a powerful mage who can make anyone tremble with your simple spells."

    "Achieve all my goals?" Lelin muttered softly before he nced at the bright sun in the distance. "I hope so... I really hope so..."

 59 Chapter 59

    Gabriel had just finished his talent measurement. The three Head of Houses left together, appearing very serious.

    While Gabriel sat inside the hall, preparing for the worse, the three heads stood outside the hall.

    "That talent... What do you two think about it?" Eliana asked the two men, trying to gauge their opinion.

    "What do I think? I think it''s not true. There must be some problem in the mirror. How can that kid score over a hundred? The highest the mirror goes is a hundred, after all." Lishen still couldn''t believe that Gabriel had a talent at that level.

    "For a moment, I can believe that he has more talent and Soul Strength than us here since he''s the youngest awakened mage, but having more Soul Strength than thest Lord of Light after he was selected by the Holy Book? There''s no way. The mirror is defective. It''s so old after all," he further added. "I think we should ignore the results."

    "I don''t think we should." Rem didn''t agree with his friend on this. There were rarely situations in which he disagreed with his friend, but this was one of those situations.

    "That mirror is a Numen. It''s not a man-made artifact of low quality. It came into existence because of a demigod. I don''t think we can doubt its veracity. And as far as the highest range is considered, a hundred was an assumption since no one had crossed that limit. There was no way for us to know the exact limit."

    "Who knows, maybe two hundred is the limit? Or five hundred? Or a thousand? Demigods certainly had more Talent and soul strength than we have in our times."

    "So you believe he really is more talented than thest Lord of Light?"

    "I don''t know. I wasn''t there when the Lord of Light was tested. I was just a student at that time, but the mirror does say that the kid has more talent and Soul Strength than thest Lord of Light. And with that kind of talent, it''s quite likely that the holy book will select him as the next Lord of Light when the current Lord of Light dies."

    Rem nced back at the door of the hall. "No matter how arrogant that kid may be, but he is really special. No one can deny that. If the Holy Church of Light finds out about him, they will take him in directly. Without a few years, he might also be elevated to the position of a High Priest, bing the youngest High Priest."

    <o>,m "I agree. That''s why I think we can''t let the Church of Light know about this." Eliana stated inplete seriousness. "I don''t want to lose this guy to the Church of Light. At least not until he graduates from the academy. From that point on, no matter how big he bes in the future, how high he climbs, the prestige will belong to the Academy."</o>

    "Can we really keep such a big thing hidden from everyone?" Lishen asked, finding it really hard to keep such a thing hidden. "He is the youngest mage. That alone should be enough to attract the attention of the Holy Church of Light, let alone his talent scores..."

    "He looks to be in his early twenties, so no one can know his true age is eighteen," Eliana responded. "Only we know his true age. It''s not hard to keep the fact about him being the youngest awakened mage hidden. I''ll handle that."

    "And his score? The students saw that score. Princess Elia was also there. She will definitely tell her father. We can''t force her to stay silent. And even if she doesn''t tell anyone, someone else might. No matter how much we try, it''s not news that can stay hidden for long."

    "Didn''t you already answer that question before, Lishen?" Eliana smiled.

    Finally, after a long time, there was a smile on her face, which made her look somewhat cute. Since she often had an expressionless face, not many had seen her smile, including Gabriel.

    "What do you mean?"<sub> </sub>

    "We know the mirror wasn''t defective, but the kids don''t know that. We can just say that the mirror was defective. That should be enough for the moment. In any case, his score was moving up so slowly. The sudden boost would''ve raised suspicions in their head already. They will believe it right away, including Elia."

    "I know it''s wrong to lie, but this matter is of grave importance, so we need to keep this hidden from Karyk as well. As long as Karyk is here, he will be treated like any ordinary student in sses. I''ll call the meeting of the head council to inform them about this as well. No special preference will be given to him."

    "At any cost, the Holy Church of Light shouldn''t find out!"

    The three teachers knew what an advantage their academy had over the Holy Church of Light, thanks to Gabriel. None of them wanted to spoil it. Not only could they train such a talented mage, but through him, they could also learn just how much of a difference there was between different tiers of talents.

    Aftering to a conclusion, they were just about to go back to execute their story when a middle-aged man came to them with a message.

    The man carried the message from the olddy, informing them about the arrival of a new candidate who had a direct rmendation from the Lord of Light.

    The little piece of information stunned Eliana further. First, there was Gabriel, and now this new student? Just what would the Lord of Light give his direct rmendation to the academy? If he thought the kid was really talented, why didn''t he train him at the academy? Something didn''t appear right.

    Unfortunately, she wasn''t in any position to question the Lord of Light. She wasn''t even the Dean of the Academy.

    "Rem, you apany me. Lishen, you go inside and do as we nned. There''s no need to test any other student through the mirror. Just take them all and show them their rooms. Take care of the formalities. And remember, he is just an ordinary student for now."

    The day was more bizarre than Eliana had expected, but she could only go with the flow. It didn''t matter what kind of student she received; she only looked at the bigger picture.

    Unfortunately, she also knew what a problem there could be. The Candidate selected by the Lord of Light... And the egregiously talented Gabriel... Both of them shared the same element, and both of them were going to be in close proximity.

    No matter how they treated Gabriel, it was inevitable that he was going to shine brighter than the moon itself. However, Lelin was also close to the Lord of Light, so things were certainly going to getplicated.

    She and Rem left the ce together. Meanwhile, Lishen went inside the hall.

    ****

    Before long, Rem and Eliana arrived near the entrance where Lelin was waiting with the old woman.

    "Hmm? His aura..." The first thing that Rem noticed as soon as he saw Lelin was his aura.

    If Gabriel''s aura was like a zing me that was ready to burn everything in its path, then Lelin''s aura was more like a chaotic Tsunami that could swallow the entire earth.

 60 Chapter 60

    The aura Rem saw didn''t depict the current strength of the mage, but it did highlight their potential to some extent. And this guy''s potential... Rem was sure that it was no less than Gabriel''s potential.

    He couldn''t measure an urate potential, but the two had roughly the same potential from his estimates.

    It was as if Lelin noticed someone observing him. His gaze straight went to the young man in the distance.

    Rem didn''t know why, but as soon as Lelin nced at him, he saw Lelin''s aura disappear entirely as if there was not a shred of aura around him.

    ''He can control his aura?'' Rem frowned.

    It was the second time he had seen someone manipting their aura. First, it was Gabriel and now Lelin. However, with Lelin, it appeared to be more intentional.

    "Are they the teachers?" Lelin asked the olddy.

    "Yeah. On the right is Eliana. She is the acting Dean of the Academy in the absence of our Dean. She is also the Head of the House of Light. She will be your main teacher, so make sure to be respectful. You will get to learn a lot from her. And on the left is Rem. He is the Head of House of Earth."

    As soon as Eliana and Rem stopped before him, Lelin lowered his head respectfully and greeted them.

    Eliana straight picked up the letter and went through it after casually nodding in response to the greetings.

    "What is your name?" she asked the young man.

    "Lelin Aeacus."

    "You have the rmendation from the Lord of Light, so giving you an admission won''t be a problem."

    "I suppose there is a ''but''ing?" Lelin smiled. From the tone of Eliana, he was sure that things weren''t that easy.

    "I would appreciate it if you don''t interfere when I''m talking." Eliana''s brows knitted. "Anyway, as I was saying, giving you an admission won''t be a problem, but we still need to measure your talent just to have an idea where you stand."

    "Measure my talent? You mean the Mirror of Talent Measurement?"

    "Hmm? It seems you know about the Mirror."

    "Yeah, the old man talked about the tests I might have to go through here."

    "Old man?" Eliana didn''t understand who Lelin was talking about. "Which old man?"

    "He is talking about the Lord of Light," the old woman smiled wryly.<sub> </sub>

    "He is old?" Eliana inquired in confusion. "I thought he would be in his middle ages. Then again, I''ve never met him, so I only guessed."

    "Is that who you''re talking about?" she asked Lelin, who nodded in response. "Yeah. He told me some things about the academy and the tests I might face."

    "Well, he was right. You can skip most of the tests, but we still need to know your talent levels. You will be following us inside."

    Eliana instructed Lelin to follow her. Unlike with Gabriel, she didn''t carry Lelin through the air this time since she wanted to give Lishen the chance to take the kids away.

    At the same time, she also wanted to ask about the Lord of Light.

    Most of her questions were simr to what the guard had asked at the entrance, and she received the same answer.

    p Only a few of her questions were different. She asked Lelin about why the Lord of Light gave him this rmendation and how the two met. She also asked him what was so special about him. She asked so many questions at once that Lelin had to ask her to stop so he could answer.</anda>

    "I honestly don''t know what he found special about me. It was the day after I had awakened the Element of Light when the old man arrived before my house. He talked about something with my parents. I don''t know what they talked about, but my parents told me toe with him right after."

    "From there, he brought me straight to this city. He gave me a rmendation and dropped me before this academy, saying it was good for my growth if I studied here. I suppose you know the rest. Here I am."

    "Did he tell you why he picked you up? Or why did he specifically bring you here and no other Mage of Light?" Rem inquired.

    Lelin shrugged. "He did talk about some vague things, saying it isn''t safe for me to stay at the Church of Light and that I need to stay at the Academy to be a powerful mage for the future. He also said something about not having much time. He was certainly a weird old man, I''m telling you."

    "Not safe for you to stay at the church?" Rem frowned. If the young man was telling the truth, then that single statement gave him too much insight into why this young man was sent here. "So that''s why."

    "Eliana, did you get it? Why Lord of Light do it?"

    "Why?" Eliana asked.

    "I am not sure why but the Lord of Light managed to sense this kid. He could see his potential... Or at least feel it. He knew the kid had the potential to be the next Lord of Light. He wanted to train him as his heir, but he also knew that there are many in the Church of Light who are dreaming of bing the next Lord of Light."

    "The current Lord of Light is supposedly very old. That could also be why the Church kept him out of public view for so long since they don''t want to appear weak before other Churches."

    Just a couple of statements of Lelin were enough to make Rem see the bigger picture.

    "There must be many Head Priests who are waiting for the Lord of Light''s death from old age so they could have a chance of being selected by the Holy Grimoire. What do you think they would do if they found out that the Lord of Light brought someone who is so talented that he is highly likely to be selected by the Holy Grimoire next?" he asked.

 61 Chapter 61

    Eliana wasn''t stupid enough to not understand what Rem was trying to say after he exined this much.

    With so much exnation, she realized why the Lord of Light sent this kid here as well.

    "If they knew about Lelin, they would try to take him out, possibly through schemes, so they aren''t caught."

    She gazed at Lelin, who appeared to be surprised at their exnation. It was as if even he didn''t know about all this.

    "That''s right." Rem nodded. "So it''s not just that the Lord of Light wants us to train him. He wants us to protect him while also training him, so he is ready when it''s time..."

    "You mean I am on the Target of Head Priests?" Lelin scratched the back of his head as if he was just realizing it.

    "It''s quite likely," Rem responded. "I would really advise you to stay under the radar for now. And don''t leave the Academy alone if possible."

    For now, they had two high-profile students, and both needed to be kept under wraps. They understood howplicated this was going to get. Then again, this was also a massive opportunity for them.

    One of the reasons they didn''t want the Church of Light to find out about Gabriel was because they wanted Gabriel to graduate from their Academy so he could be considered their student instead of training at the Church of Light. Training the next Lord of Light wasn''t a small thing.

    However, now they didn''t have just one candidate who was capable of bing the next Lord of Light... They had two, and both were going to be students at the academy. Even though both of them had different circumstances and different problems to be concerned about, at the crux of it, they were on the same boat.

    ****

    "Alright. It appears that the Mirror of Measurement is not working properly today. It is quitemon with old artifacts. That''s why the score suddenly jumped so high after stopping near mid-thirties."

    As soon as Lishen entered the hall, he gave a short exnation to all the youngsters present there so they could drop this matter.

    Tap~

    Only Lishen''s footsteps could be heard as he walked on the tiled floor. He stopped right before Gabriel.

    The entire hall returned to silence as everyone was still trying to understand this exnation.

    "Based on our assumption, your real score is 35 for Talent and 42 for Soul Strength, which is quite good," Lishen further exined before patting Gabriel''s shoulders. "Not bad, kid. It''s quite a decent score. Then again, I would like to apologize from the Academy for getting your hopes up for no reason at all."

    Gabriel didn''t respond right away. He was still trying to understand if these people really believed that the mirror was defective or if they were lying to make sure this news didn''t reach the Church of Light.<sub> </sub>

    He believed there was a higher chance of it being thetter option since there was no way he could have such an average Talent and Soul Strength.

    In any case, it was good for him since both options worked in his favor. As long as the Church of Light was kept out of the equation, his mission here was going to beparatively easier.

    Lishen observed Gabriel''s expressions, surprised that he didn''t see any sadness or anger. He was just told that he had an average Talent instead of the score he received, and he didn''t even react.

    "Hahahaha!"

    The momentary silence was broken by a burst of loudughter. Everyone couldn''t help but turn to the source of theughter, noticing Rayughing so heartily that there were tears in his eyes.

    "Hahahaha!" He held his stomach, unable to control hisughter. It was after a long time that he hadughed so much.

    "Is there something funny?" Gabriel frowned, feeling as if that mocking tone was being directed at him.

    "Hahahaha, a talent of thirty-five?!" The young summoner asked, trying to control hisughter.

    Initially, he was slightly jealous to see his high scores, but now he finally felt relieved.

    Once again, he didn''t bother to keep his voice down.

    "As expected, he''s trash. And we thought he was some Prodigy! Hahahaha! No talent yet possesses the arrogance of the entire world. As soon as there was such a high score, I knew the mirror was defective. Even teachers confirmed it."

    Even though Summoners weren''t considered to be the strongest mage ss, they were still near the top. Ray didn''t believe he was less than anyone. When he arrived here, he had decided to shine brighter than anyone here, bing a top student at the academy. He had the talent and the confidence to achieve that feat.

    Unfortunately, before he could even start his journey at the academy, he saw someone like Gabriel, who was shown to have a monstrous talent. Seeing those numbers, Ray was shocked to his core. He could feel his dream of graduating as the top student of the academy fleeting away, which made him angry.

    Now that he realized that it was just a false g, he couldn''t control hisughter.

    He wasn''t the only one who was relieved. Such a high score was nothing tough at. If this score was true, it was a signal of chaotic times ahead since an ordinary person possessing Talent like that of Lord of Light wasn''t heard before. Now that it turned out to be a rumor, there were some sighs of relief.

    Even though many were relieved, not many were mocking like Ray, who still hadn''t stoppedughing. He appeared to be the only one in the hall, showing such unkempt behavior.

    Gabriel rubbed his temple, not knowing if he shouldugh or cry at the stupidity of this naive man. Ray was certainly talented enough since he was able to reach this far, even with harsh selection criteria, but he was still like a frog at the bottom of the well for him.

 62 Chapter 62

    Gabriel knew his talent, so he didn''t mind this ignorant mocking. Not as if he was really a student here. He was only here for six more days on his mission.

    He knew that everyone was going to know what he truly was as soon as he was going to seed in his mission. That was when the world was going to know about the appearance of a Death Mage.

    There was no need to offend too many people for now since the more he offended them, the more they were going to be on his tail which could make it hard for him to shake them off and execute his tasks, for which he needed absolute freedom.

    Fortunately, it didn''t take long for Lishen to intervene, stopping Ray. "Enough. Talent isn''t everything. Even people with talent can fail, and even those without talent can go on to be great mages. So you shouldn''t judge. Talent is just one factor in the grand scheme of things."

    "Heh, you''re just saying that to not hurt his feelings," Ray smirked. "You gave him admission because of his rmendation without even checking his talent, and now you have no choice but to let him be. I understand how it works."

    "If he didn''t have a rmendation, he wouldn''t even be able to reach so far with the tests we went through."

    "Are we done here?" Ignoring Ray''s entire existence, Gabriel asked Lishen.

    Since they imed that the mirror was damaged, that meant there was no need to stay here for now. He wanted to leave this ce as fast as he could. The faster he was free from Lishen''s Shadow, the faster he could get to work.

    "Right. Since the mirror is defective for now, this exam is canceled. You''re all considered to have passed this exam. We will see what''s wrong with the mirror and when we have an answer and solved the problem; we can measure your talents again."

    "You''re all students of the academy now. Come with me; I''ll show you where you''ll stay."

    Lishen escorted the youngsters out of the hall. Since they had already used the excuse of the mirror not working, it was stupid to let others go through this exam for now.

    Gabriel wore his left glove again, hiding his aura as he followed the group.

    *****

    On one side, Gabriel left with the group. From another side, Eliana arrived at the hall, just missing the previous group.

    She stood near the mirror with her hands behind her back. "Since you already know about the mirror, I don''t think I need to exin what it does. Go ahead. Let us see your talent."

    Lelin rubbed the back of his neck, which was slightly warm. "Is it really necessary?"

    "Yes," Eliana stated.

    "Fine."

    Lelin walked closer to the mirror and ced his hand over it. Just as Eliana had stated, he didn''t need any exnation as to how it worked.

    As soon as he ced his hand on the mirror, the numbers on the mirror started shooting up.

    Unlike with Gabriel, whose numbers climbed up slowly at the start, Lelin''s numbers rose much faster.

    Within two seconds, his numbers had already stopped climbing, revealing his final score.

    [97]            [94]

    "Very close to a hundred." Rem scratched his temple lightly, finding this whole thing somewhat funny.

    There were two students here who scored over ny, and both had the same element. He couldn''t help but feel slightly jealous of Eliana''s luck. Her house was already considered the strongest house, and now they had two students with such incredible talent.

    Meanwhile, his house was rankedst. He needed these students more for his Element, but his luck just wasn''t good, it appeared. Out of the two, none shared his element.

    "Congrats on getting another talented student." He congratted Eliana, who didn''t appear too happy.

    "You mean another headache." Eliana rified. She could see many troubles in her future.

    *****

    Gabriel was brought to the dorms of the House of Light while the other youngsters were taken by Lishen to their own dorms.

    As soon as he became a student, he was given his own room and a badge which was proof of him being a student here.

    He was straight sent to his room after being dropped off near the dorms, being informed that a senior student was going to be assigned to him to show him around and give him a briefing about this ce.

    While waiting for the person to arrive, Gabriel sat on the clear white bed, observing the room. The room in this ce was no worse than the most expensive room in the hotel where he had stayed previously.

    The first thing Gabriel noticed was the bedside table which was resting right beside the King size bed. There was a small diary ced on the table, right before a pen.

    He picked up the diary, flipping through its pages to find itpletely empty.

    He kept the notebook back and opened the drawer, wondering if there was anything inside. Unfortunately, the drawer was also empty.<sub> </sub>

    It was as if he was the first person who was using this room. Then again, this dorm was so huge that it had thousands of such rooms. It wasn''t odd to get an unused room. Moreover, his room was also on the top floor.

    He got off the bed and walked to the Wardrobe in the distance. He opened the Wardrobe, noticing pairs of clothing inside the wardrobe.

    "The uniform of the Academy... Wearing it on top of my clothes seems like a hassle. And it''s not safe to remove the clothes I received with the Ancestral Staff either, as they help hide my dark aura. But I don''t think I''ll be allowed to go out without this uniform."

    "Unless..." His gaze fell on the ring in his hands as a smile crept up his lips.

    "Since the ring can project a fake look, I''m sure it must also be able to project a fake attire... If this works, things should be much easier from here on."

    He closed the wardrobe after only taking out a golden robe which was a part of the uniform. He left everything else inside.

    He walked before a mirror, gazing at his reflection. For now, only his looks were different, but his attire was the same.

    He closed his eyes and visualized the attire. He opened his eyes, smiling.

    It worked. He could see that the attire was different now. Even though it was still the same, it was being projected differently.

    The only thing missing was the robe which he intentionally left since it didn''t bother him to use a real robe. It didn''t interfere with his attire.

    He opened the robe and wore it around his back, making it so that the robe didn''t fall.

    "Much better."

    Knock~

    There was a sudden knock on the door, attracting his attention.

    He walked to the door and opened it, finding a woman in her early twenties standing outside.

    "You are Karyk?" The young woman asked.

    "Yes."

    "I am Riya. I am assigned to help you. I will be with you today, teaching you about the academy and the basics regarding where you can go, where you can''t, what''s allowed, and what''s not."

    The youngdy didn''t show her displeasure, but Gabriel could still feel that she wasn''t happy being here. Then again, who was going to be happy if they were told to apany a noob on that first day? Unfortunately, she also had no choice. It was just for one day.

    "It seems you already found your uniform. That''s something you must always wear as long as you''re on the academy grounds. If not, someone might mistake you for an intruder."

    "Come, we can talk while I show you around. The faster we start, the faster we can end, and it can be on my way back."

    ''Yeah, she''s pissed.'' If there was any doubt before in Gabriel''s mine, it was gone now.

    He shook his head lightly before leaving his room. He closed the door behind him and followed the youngdy.

    Riya showed him around the dorm first, telling him about all the important ces, including where to go if he needed permission to go outte at night or where to go when he had some problem. She also showed him themon arena where all the Light Mages came around to rx.

    Surprisingly, there was also a practice area inside the Dorm that could be used to practice their spells. However, ording to Riya, that area was only reserved for second-year students.

    The first years were only allowed to use spells in the presence of teachers.

    "And that''s it for the Dorm. However, that''s only a small part of the academy. We haven''t even scratched the surface of the Academy. You''ll see what I mean when we''re outside."

    Riya opened the doors, stepping out of the dorm. Right behind her, Gabriel also stepped out. However, not far from him, another person wasing toward the academy.

    Lelin was also dropped before the dorms by Rem.

    There were only twenty meters of distance between the two youngsters, and the distance only kept decreasing with each passing second.

    Being distracted by Riya, Gabriel hadn''t even seen Lelin at the moment.

    On the contrary, Lelin''s gaze went straight to Gabriel.

    It was only after Lelin gazed at him that Gabriel felt as if someone was looking at him. He also felt a bit of pressure for some reason, not knowing why.

    He looked ahead, noticing Lelin, barely five meters away from him. The two gazes met¡­

 63 Chapter 63

    Gabriel noticed a young man ncing in his direction. He didn''t know why, but under that gaze, he felt danger...

    It was a strange feeling of danger that he had rarely felt before. Thest time he felt a simr feeling was when he stood before Elora. However, that feeling of danger this time was even more intense.

    Lelin''s lips crept up a bit, forming something akin to a smile yet not quite. He walked past Gabriel like a stranger.

    As the young man walked past him, Gabriel momentarily looked back. He only saw Lelin leaving. Unlike him, Lelin wasn''t looking back.

    "Was that guy a teacher?" he asked Riya.

    Even though Lelin appeared too young to be a teacher, after seeing Eliana, he couldn''t be sure of anything. Moreover, this feeling of danger... It could certainlye from a strong teacher. If that was the case, it could exin why he felt that danger.

    Riya also nced back at Lelin. "He? Nope. I''ve never seen him before. He should be a new student just like you. Someone will be assigned to him to show him around. We don''t need to worry about him."

    ''A student? Then what was that feeling...?''

    Even though Lelin didn''t nce back at Gabriel after walking past him, that was only for a moment. Not long after Riya and Gabriel stopped looking at him, Lelin turned around.

    His gaze seemingly rested on Gabriel''s hands. "Quite interesting."

    ****

    "And this is the dorm of the Water Mages. With that, we''ve covered all the boring parts of the Academy: the dorms. As a Light Mage, you aren''t allowed to enter these dorms. Only the images of these elements can enter these ces. So make sure you don''t enter even by mistake if you don''t want to be punished."

    Riya and Gabriel stood before a beautiful building which was no less than the one that housed the rooms of the Mages of Light.

    Gabriel was shown the dorms of all the Elements, which weren''t too far from each other.

    "I will keep that in mind."

    Gabriel didn''t think he needed to worry about such things in any case. The person he wanted to kill shared his element of light. So he didn''t need to sneak inside the dorms of other elements. It made things a bit easier for him.

    "Now, let''s get to the interesting parts of the Academy, which are even my favorites."

    Until now, Riya appeared to be bored and irritated, but as she talked about her favorite ces, she seemed much more pleased. It made Gabriel wonder just what the ce was.

    Riya soon brought Gabriel to the ce she talked about, which appeared to be a giant tower made from pitch ck stones.

    "Tower of Challenges." Riya ced both her hands on her waist as she stood proudly before the tower, making Gabriel wonder why she was so proud. She was acting as if she made the Tower herself. What was for her to be proud about?

    On observing the tower further, Gabriel was able to see a bunch of names carved on the majestic tower.

    There were ten columns of names on the tower, starting from the top anding to the bottom. In essence, there were over a thousand names in each column.

    "What are these names?" Gabriel inquired.

    "They are the names of the highest scorers in the tower." Riya smiled. "This Tower is my most favorite ce in the entire academy. It''s where wee to challenge ourselves to see where we standpared to other students at the Academy."

    "Each student goes through the same set of challenges ording to their element. The farther one can climb in the tower, the higher their scores. And if they score high enough to get on the rankings, their name appears on the tower at the appropriate ranking."

    "In total, there are twelve thousand names on the tower at the moment. And those twelve thousand aren''t all current students. This is the all-time rankings, so even the ones who managed to graduate have their names on the tower as long as they aren''t pushed out of the rankings."

    "Do you have your name there?" Gabriel asked. Since she was so proud and talking so excitedly about how big a deal it was to get their names on the tower, he felt that she had her name there as well.<sub> </sub>

    Riya smiled and held Gabriel''s hands before pulling her around the Tower.

    "There, look." She ced her fingers on a name that was almost ranked near the bottom.

    [11758    Riya Lansher   Light     13]

    "I am ranked eleven thousand seven hundred fifty-eight in the ranking," Riya proudly stated with a smug face. "I managed to reach the thirteenth Floorst I attempted. Next time, I will do better!"

    "Is there any advantage of attempting this, or is it just for fun?" Gabriel asked. It was certainly a fun activity topare yourself to present and past students, but other than that, he didn''t find anything special in all this.

    "Of course, there is something special. The person who can manage to get in the top ten of all time rankings is given the key to the academy. In essence, they are like unofficial teachers. They can go anywhere and do whatever they want; no one can stop them. Moreover, the Dean will personally train them."

    "Unfortunately, it''s not easy to get in the top ten. Thest time it happened was over a decade ago. Since then, no one even managed to enter the top hundred, let alone top ten."

    "There are also some rumors that the top floor contains a really mysterious treasure. No one knows what that is since no one managed to get so far in the history of the tower''s existence."

    "The farthest one went was the Ny-ninth floor..." Riya stepped back a few feet, gazing at the top of the tower where a name was etched at the peak.

    [1   Axion Lumen   Light     99]

    "The First Ranker in the Tower... Lord Axion. He went on to be the Lord of the Church of Light after graduation. It was said that it was under his leadership when the Church of Light destroyed the Church of Darkness. He was also from the Royal Lumen Family."

    "He is considered to be one of the most glorious Lord of Light. Even after a thousand years, his achievements are said to be unmatched..."

    Gabriel also looked at the name of Axion, but his attention was soon distracted by the second name on the list.

    [2     Qin Elisi    Darkness    99]

    ''Elisi? Isn''t that thest name of Lira as well?''

    "That second name... Doesn''t this academy not have an Element of Darkness? Why does it show the element of Darkness?" he asked Riya.

    "The Academy doesn''t have the Element of Darkness ever since the Church of Darkness was destroyed and Darkness was dered as the element of the Devil. Since then, the Academy got rid of all the Dark Mages, handing them over to the Church of Light," Riya exined.

    As she had been at the Academy for over a year, she knew quite a lot about the academy. All those questions that Gabriel was asking now were asked by her when she was new as well.

    "All the Dark Mages of the Academy were killed by the Church of Light."

    "And the Academy didn''t save them? They were their students?! The Academy just handed them over to be ughtered?!"

    "Anything wrong with it?" Riya ignorantly asked. "If those Dark Mages weren''t killed, just imagine how many innocents would''ve been killed. They were demons. It''s good they got rid of them. Unfortunately, one student managed to escape that onught... Qin Elisi."

    "The Second Ranker?"

    "Yeah. He was a third-year student at that time. In fact, he reached the ny-ninth floor while being a third-year student, which was an achievement that was never aplished before. At that time, he still had one more year to be stronger and attempt the tower again."

    "Everyone was sure that Qin Elisi was going to be the first person to reach the top floor. Fortunately, before he could, the Church of Darkness was destroyed. I can''t even imagine what disaster it would''ve been if that demon had received the mysterious treasure on the top Floor. Fortunately, he was stopped at the right time."

    "Too bad before he could be killed, he ran away..."

 64 Chapter 64

    "What happened to him after that?"

    A man with a simrst name as Lira had his name on the rankings. Not only did he have his name there, but he had almost clenched the first ce before he had to leave the academy.

    This only went on to show how strong that person really was. Gabriel couldn''t help but wonder just what was that man''s rtionship with Lira. Was he her ancestor? That could definitely exin how Lira was so talented in the ways of magic, despite nevering to the Academy.

    ''Then again, she said that she is the only Dark Mage left. So her family... She might be thest person from the Elisi Family of the House of Darkness.''

    "I''ve no idea what actually happened to him. He was most probably caught and killed by the Church of Light. It''s none of our concern."

    Even though Riya didn''t know what happened to Qin, she wasn''t interested in knowing either. For her, it happened a really long time ago. And most of the remnants of the Dark Mages were killed by now.

    "Just remember this tower... Getting your name here should be your goal in theing years. Getting their name at the tower is the legacy that the students here try to leave behind, topare themselves with the strongest of the strongest."

    "Come, let me show you another ce."

    Riya tapped the shoulders of Gabriel, who appeared to be immersed in reading the top names on the tower.

    Following the tap of Riya, he came out of his daze. He started following Riya, realizing she was finally going in the direction he was really interested in. It was the direction where the Museum of Elements was supposed to be.

    The Museum of Elements was also known as the most secure ce in the entire Academy. Even the students'' Dorms weren''t as secure, and why shouldn''t it be? The museum wasn''t just an ordinary museum. It contained many special Artefacts that many people were after.

    Moreover, the museum also contained the Ancestral Staff of Darkness which was the holy Grail for the Mages of Darkness. The Academy didn''t want to take a risk with something so precious.

    Outside the museum, there were Mages of Earth who could sense even the slightest of movement on the ground. There were also Mages of Wind assigned outside the museum of Elements to capture any enemy that tried to use the winds.

    The entire Museum was surrounded. And even when students were taken inside to show them around, it was the rule to have them be apanied by at least three teachers.

    The precautions didn''t end there. Even inside the Museum, there were over twenty Mages protecting the ce. Most of the Mages inside were the Mages of Light and the Mages of Lightning, who could attack with much more precision without harming the Artefacts identally.

    While following Riya, Gabriel had to walk past the entrance of the Tower. As he was walking, the door of the tower slowly opened, attracting his attention to the door.

    Subconsciously, Gabriel nced at the door. His feet froze in ce as he saw the person who had just stepped out of the tower. He clenched his fists but didn''t do anything.

    It was a blue-haired girl who had juste out. It was the same girl he spent most of his life with. It was also the same girl who had backstabbed him when he was at his weakest. Even now, Gabriel couldn''t forget that feeling of being backstabbed.

    Once upon a time, his heart used to be filled with love for Maya. However, now that love had a shroud of hate covering it. He hated her... He hated her as much as he possibly could.

    If only she had listened to him... If only she hadn''t attacked him... He wouldn''t be a fugitive to the Church of Light. She used to be his friend, yet she was the one who pushed him to the wolves.<sub> </sub>

    Maya''s face was down with disappointment as she kept ncing back inside.

    "Only Seventh Floor. I can''t be this weak... I need strength! I need more strength!"

    She had attempted the tower once again; however, she couldn''t even clear the seventh floor. To get to the tower, one needed to at least be in the top twelve thousand since the tower only showed twelve thousand names. However, even thest ranked person on the tower had cleared the twelfth floor.

    With her only able to clear the seventh floor, she wasn''t even close to getting her name on the tower.

    "Hmm?" She raised her head, finally noticing Gabriel.

    She could see Gabriel staring at her. She didn''t understand why he was looking at her like that. She couldn''t even recognize him with the illusion.

    Despite not recognizing Gabriel, she didn''t know why, but she still felt a strange feeling. There was a peculiar fear starting to grip her heart slowly. All because of a single gaze. It was as if a predatory beast was looking at their prey, trying to control their urge to bite the prey to death.

    ****

    Lelin reached his room. Just like Gabriel, he was also told that someone was going toe to show him around. Until then, he was told to stay in the room and change into the academy attire.

    Lelin locked the door from inside and walked straight to the bed. He didn''t even bother changing his attire as if he had more important things to consider.

    He took off his gloves as well, revealing his fair hands. On the back of his left hand, there was a mark of Light. While on his right hand, there was a beautiful white ring, contrasting the pitch ck find of Gabriel. He

    For most of the day, the ring was buried under his glove, making it impossible to be seen. Simrly, Gabriel''s rings were hidden by his gloves for most of the day. Still, Gabriel didn''t wear the gloves to hide the rings. He wore them to hide the Pitch ck Mark of Death on the back of his right hand.

    There wasn''t just one ring on Lelin''s fingers. He was wearing three rings in total, one on his middle finger and the other two on the fingers right beside his middle finger. While one of his rings was white, the second was blue, and the third appeared to be green.

    He slightly waved his hand. The blue ring started shining. Following the shine, a scroll appeared on the bed as if it appeared out of thin air.

    While sitting on the bed, Lelin opened the scroll, revealing a map carved inside the scroll.

    From the initial nce, it was evident that the map was the map of the Academy; however, if one was to look carefully, only then were they to realize that it wasn''t all that it seemed.

    The Academy also had a map of theirs. However, their map was different. Lelin''s map showed many special zones that weren''t visible in the map that even the Academy used.

    On the map, there was one ce marked as a cross, which was the most eye-catching. This was also the part of the map that Lelin was focusing on.

 65 Chapter 65

    "Do we know each other?" Maya didn''t recognize Gabriel, but the way he was looking at her, why would a stranger look at her like that? It was as if she had offended him somehow.

    "I don''t think we do," Gabriel responded. He controlled his conflicted feelings, remembering what he was here for. There were more important things than Maya.

    "Then why were you looking at me like that?" Maya frowned.

    "I wasn''t looking at you. I was looking behind you... I apologize if I gave you the wrong impression." Gabriel made a story before turning his back on Maya.

    Maya couldn''t believe that story. She was sure she would''ve realized it if Gabriel was looking past her.

    Unfortunately, before she could ask more questions, Riya came back, realizing that Gabriel hadn''t been following her.

    "What happened? You know we can''t afford to stop." She grabbed Gabriel''s hands and took her with him. "I don''t have all the time in the world to show you around. We need to finish today."

    Riya left with Gabriel, leaving a confused Maya behind.

    "A new student? Was he really looking at the tower? Did I really overthink things?" Maya watched Gabriel leave, trying to make sense of the situation. She didn''t know why, but she could still feel that something about Gabriel wasn''t right.

    *****

    "That is the Battle Arena..." Riya pointed in the distance toward a colosseum-type structure.

    "As I told you before, you aren''t allowed to use your spells without the presence of a teacher as a first-year student. But the second-year students and older also have some restrictions on our spells, even though not as much as the first years."

    "We are allowed to use the spells we learn, even in the absence of the teacher. The only spells we can''t use are the offensive spells that can hurt anyone. We also aren''t allowed to battle one another in the Academy Grounds. That is where the Battle Arenaes into y."

    "If you want to fight another student without getting into trouble, you can use the Battle Arena. There, you can use as many spells as you want. You can go all out. The best part? You don''t need to hold back at all. As long as you don''t kill the opponent, everything is allowed. That''s also a good ce to train with the Mages of other Elements."

    "That''s why there are hundreds of battles in the Arena daily. Moreover, there''s one more advantage of fighting there. You can ce your Credits on the line. If you win, you can win the credits of the other person that they ced on the line. However, if you lose the battle, you lose your Credits as well."

    Riya gave details about the Battle Arena, as much as she believed was worth knowing. "Even you, as a first-year student, can enter the arena to fight someone. However, I would advise you against it. You''ll be like a fish on the chopping block inside. You''ll lose whatever Credits you get."

    "Credits?"

    "Oh right, I didn''t even tell you about the Credits yet." Riya pped her forehead, realizing that she had forgotten to tell him the most essential thing.

    "Credits are like the currency of the Academy. In each ss you attend, you get some credit based on your performance. They are given by the teachers. On top of that, you get some credits every week, default. Other than that, you can win them by challenging someone and betting with Credits on the line. In essence, there are quite a lot of ways to get Credits."

    "Just know that credits are very important. As they are a currency here, you can use them for anything. Most of us use the credits to buy Spirit Crystals to increase our soul strength. Just know that you''ll need lots of credits for one Soul Crystal. Those things are expensive."<sub> </sub>

    "You can also use the Credits to buy treasures from the Treasure Pavilion or ess some special zones of the Academy where you can''t go otherwise."

    Riya kept exining more about the Credits while walking with Gabriel. She only stopped talking about how useful credits were when she reached another Tower.

    "And that ce... It''s also a really special ce in the Academy." She pointed at the Tower, which appeared to be quite different from thest tower. Unlike the previous tower, which was dark, this tower appeared to be made using White Marble.

    "This is the Library of Spells. There, you can find the Books of Spells, from the most basic Spell Books to the most Complex Ones. There are many books here which have been written by the Strongest Mages of the past."

    "However, the more special a book is, the more expensive it will be. You''ll need to save credits for months to be able to afford a decent mid-tier spell book, and that''s if you don''t spend anything on the Soul Crystals."

    Right beside the white Towers, there was a pavilion that only had two floors. However, it covered more area than the Tower.

    "And that on the right is the Treasure Pavilion. There, you can buy Artificial Treasures, created by our greatest artificers. However, once again, you can only use Credits to buy them. You can''t use money or anything else here. It is so that all students have a fair chance of getting treasures, based on their performance."

    "As for how much credit is needed for a basic Artefact, it''s better if you don''t ask. These things are too expensive. Even I can''t afford to buy them, and I''m in my second year."

    Riya''s eyes were filled with longing as she gazed at the Treasure Pavilion. Observing her expressions, one thing Gabriel was sure of. It was that Riya wasn''t from a rich family. If she was, she could''ve easily bought treasures from the city. It wasn''t as if they were Numens.

    "Shall we move on to the next ce?" Gabriel asked, bringing Riya back to her senses.

    "Ah, right. Two more ces left to see."

    Riya brought Gabriel to another ce. It was a small building, only having four floors. There was a sign outside the building which read, "Mission Pavillion."

    "I told you there were more ways to get Credits? One of those ways is the Mission Hall. Many missions are posted in the hall for the students toplete. Some of the missions are posted by other students, while some are posted by teachers. If youplete a mission, you get points."

    "First Floor is for the most basic missions that even first-year students can take. The second floor can only be essed by the Second Year and above. The third floor can only be essed by Third Year Students."

    "And thest floor, I''m sure you can guess. The higher you go in the Mission Hall, the harder the missions get. However, the Credits for the missions also increase."

    "What kind of missions are on the Fourth Floor?" Gabriel inquired. If the academy was giving these missions, he was really curious about what they could be.

    "The first-floor missions are contained to the Academy, like helping other students or doing some task of a teacher, bing their helpers, and more. But the Fourth Floor, those missions need you to go out of the Academy."

    "I haven''t actually seen the top missions, but I did hear some rumors."

 66 Chapter 66

    "The Top Floor is said to contain missions like investigating the ces where the Dark Mages were seen recently, or killing Bandits, or investigating some murder or disappearance. They are the missions that can get dangerous." Riya stared at the Mission Hall, watching people going in and out of it.

    "That''s why they are only given to Fourth Year Students who are the strongest at the Academy," she stared before she started moving. "Anyway, I''m sure you''ll learn about the missions on the Fourth Floors with time. Let me show you thest ce worth mentioning."

    Gabriel didn''t even need to guess what thest ce was. He could already see a glimpse of the Museum of Elements. That ce was like a beautiful castle.

    Throughout the ce, Gabriel had noticed many guards. But as he got closer to the Museum, he realized just the extent of the security of this ce. It was like a Fortress.

    Even Riya wasn''t allowed to take him within fifty meters range of the Museum of Elements.

    "And that''s thest ce on our itinerary... The Museum of Elements. This is as far as I''m allowed to take you here. You can''t go farther without a teacher apanying you," Riya exined before ncing in the direction of Gabriel.

    She noticed him looking at all the guards. Gabriel was taking stock of the guards, but Riya misunderstood him, thinking he was just surprised to see so many guards here.

    "You might be wondering why there are so many guards here. Actually, there have been some attempts in the past. The Museum of Elements contains some really powerful items that the Academy doesn''t want to lose. That''s why this ce is made so secure."

    "What kind of items?" Gabriel asked, despite already knowing the answer to the question.

    "I''m sure you''ll see when you are taken inside. I think the teachers will be able to describe those things better. Just know, those things are a part of history... A much darker history. It''s better if they teach you about it."

    "Anyway, that''s enough for the day."

    Riya refused to exin anything about the items inside, leaving those things for theter. She had fulfilled her part.

    The sun had already started setting by the time they were done exploring the Academy. Riya took Gabriel back to his room.

    "Best of luck for the future, kiddo." After wishing Gabriel luck, Riya left.

    Gabriel also closed the door after she left.

    He removed his illusion, dropping to the bed. The day had been tiring, but it was also very productive. Now he understood the academy better, especially the Museum of Elements.

    Now he knew what kind of security that ce had on the outside. Moreover, Riya also told him that within the next few days, they were probably going to be taken inside the Museum as their first lesson became they were to be taught magic. It was so they understood why it was important for them to learn.

    That was the best piece of information for Gabriel. If he was taken there, he could also see what kind of security that ce had on the inside. Moreover, if there was an opportunity, he could take the items right there.

    Gabrielid on the bed, looking at the roof.

    There was a room right under his room where Lelin was staying. The two prodigies of the Academy were given rooms on different floors, yet their rooms were so close to each other.

    Unlike Gabriel, Lelin didn''t leave his room. He was also assigned a second-year student to show him around, but he just refused, saying he didn''t need any help. He spent his entire day inside his room.

    Just like Gabriel, Lelin was also lying on the bed. His eyes were closed, yet his mind was as active as it had ever been. The old-looking scrollid right beside him.

    "Six Days..." Gabriel muttered. "Only six more days..."

    "I''m close. I can''t fail aftering this far," he said. However, at the same time, there was another person who spoke the exact same words.

    "Failure is not an option." Lelin slowly opened his eyes, ncing toward the window. "It''s time we end it once and for all."

    "Six days... I wonder if the kid can really seed." In another ce, a young man was gazing at the moon, sitting on his balcony. "If anyone can seed, it is him. The one with the Origin Element."

    Lira also waited in a forest near the Royal City. She hadn''t left the ce, even after sending Gabriel. She was ready toe to his rescue if there was a need, not caring about the outside. In any case, it was better to die fighting than to lose her best fighting chance.<sub> </sub>

    She sat near a pond, gazing at the reflection of the moon in the pond.

    *****

    Gabriel sat up after resting for half an hour. He picked up the bag that was given to him by Lira.

    He opened the bag, finding the small bag filled with Soul Crystals. There were supposed to be around fifty Soul Crystals, which was like a considerable amount of wealth in the academy since an ordinary Mage could only use one of them in a day.

    Amidst the Soul Crystals, there was also a small gem that was given to him for emergencies. It was an orb that could alert Lira when he was in danger.

    He pulled out one of the Soul Crystals and closed it in his fist.

    <o>,m He was warned not to use the Soul Crystals before he got admission to the Academy. However, now that he had received an admission, there was no need to worry about it.</o>

    Moreover, he didn''t want to waste an opportunity. He was technically in the backyard of the enemy. He needed more strength. Only by strengthening his Soul with the Soul Crystal could he unlock more Spells from his Grimoire of Darkness.

    Also, a stronger soul allowed him to use more powerful spells of Light.

    Gabriel closed his eyes and started absorbing the soul energy from the Soul Crystal, as he was taught by Lira.

    Surprisingly, it was even easier than he had assumed. It was no different than just letting the energy freely flow inside his body. There was no obstruction.

    Within twenty minutes, he had absorbed the first Soul Crystal.

    He slowly opened his eyes. "This takes an entire day?"

    It was so hard to believe that he absorbed something in twenty minutes that other mages took an entire day to absorb. Then again, he also knew that it was easier for him because he was a prodigy with a Soul Strength of over a hundred.

    Surprisingly, he could also feel some changes in his body as soon as he absorbed the first Soul Crystal. His vision was even clearer. And his mind appeared to be able to focus more.

    He didn''t stop right there and pulled out another crystal. He started absorbing the Soul Crystals one after another. The fifty Soul Crystals were given to him for an entire week, but before he even realized it, he had already absorbed half those Crystals.

    If anyone knew that a man had absorbed twenty-five Soul Crystals in a night, it could easily create amotion. Even Lira hadn''t expected that range after all. Lira thought that Gabriel could only absorb five or six crystals in a day, not twenty-five... And even then, Gabriel didn''t feel tired.

    His Soul Strength had jumped by leaps and bounds within a few hours. However, he also felt a bit drunk by that sudden increase in Soul Strength. He felt tired. If he wanted, he could absorb more, but he decided to stop for the day since his head had started getting dizzy.

    He closed the small bag, keeping it on the table before dropped on the bed. He didn''t even realize when he fell asleep. It was just so fast.

    As Gabriel slept, he didn''t realize that his ring was shining slightly.

    ****

    "Karyk... Come on. Where are you hiding? Don''t trouble your mother like that!"

    It was unclear how long it had been since he fell asleep, but Gabriel found himself in the middle of a dream.

    He could see his reflection in the mirror, near which he was hiding. He looked like he was only seven years old. The face waspletely identical to how he looked when he was young.

    "There you are!" A woman came up to him and picked him up in his arms. "Little boy, why do you trouble your mother like that? You know good Princes don''t trouble their mothers?"

    The woman hugged him. Strangely enough, her face was different from the mother he knew. He didn''t understand why this woman was calling him her son.

 67 Chapter 67

    A mysterious woman was hugging him, and Gabriel couldn''t even recognize the woman. It was his first time seeing that woman. And why was she calling him her son? He found the entire thing really strange.

    Unfortunately, this was just the beginning of strange.

    Carrying him in her arms, the woman walked out. As the woman carried him in her arms through the hallway, he noticed the guards respectfully bowing to her. They had the utmost respect on their faces.

    The woman brought the little boy to a ss door. Through the ss door, he could see that on the other side, there was a balcony.

    A middle-aged man stood on the balcony, carrying a serene aura. The man had both his hands on the balcony, looking into the distance. There was a beautiful golden crown on the man''s head which appeared very heavy yet not at all ufortable.

    Two young men stood on each side of the man, donning a beautiful Armour that was versatile yet carried a strong defense.

    One of the two young men noticed the woman in the back who had a child in her arms.

    The man hastily opened the door for the woman. "Your Majesty."

    The other young man also turned around. "Your Majesty."

    The middle-aged man was thest to turn around. "There you are."

    A beautiful smile graced the lips of the young man. "Why are you carrying him? He''s the Prince and the future King of this Empire. He can''t show weakness, especially on his birthday. Let him walk on his own."

    ''King of Empire? What is this dream? It''s so weird.''

    Gabriel was ced on the ground, yet he remained confused. He walked to the edge of the balcony, standing right beside the middle-aged man, only to be amazed. There were millions of people standing down, cheering for him.

    "Karyk, look at them. They are our people... They are our citizens. They came here to wish you for your birthday and to catch a glimpse of you. Aren''t you going to thank them?" The middle-aged man chuckled. "Come, do as your father does."

    The middle-aged man started waving his hand proudly. Gabriel also did the same, still trying to make sense of this dream.

    He was sure he had never seen these faces in his life. He wondered if it was his subconscious desire to be a King, and that''s why his mind was showing this dream. He didn''t have any luxuries in his life. In fact, he hadn''t even seen his father.

    His family was iplete, and even his mother left when he was too young. To him, it made sense if his mind was showing his subconscious desires. And since he had memorized the name of Karyk and heard about his past, it also made sense that Karyk''s name was being used for him.

    ''Hah, a dream where I can be the King... Too bad it can never happen in real life.''

    Since he couldn''t experience it in real life, he decided to at least enjoy the dream. He observed the faces of the citizens and waved at them.

    However, the sky soon turned dark. The winds started flowing faster, even getting colder. Everything started getting dark, including the faces of all the citizens. Only their eyes could be seen. However, those eyes didn''t have love in them. They were filled with hate as those eyes looked at him.

    "Demon!"

    "Demon!"

    "You should die as well!"

    "Why are you still alive?!"

    "You devil! You should burn in the mes of hell!"

    The cheers initially went silent before they turned into screeching curses, alling in their direction.

    "Huh?" Gabriel frowned, turning to his right. The middle-aged man wasn''t there anymore. It was as if he had disappeared.<sub> </sub>

    "Brother..." A voice came from the back, attracting his attention. He hastily turned around. However, all he saw was a young girl who had her hand missing; most of her body was burned, making it hard even to recognize her face.

    "Brother, why did you eat my soul? Why did you kill me?"

    "Son, answer her..." Another voice came, making him raise his head, but this time there was only a headless body that he saw. The headless person was still wearing the same attire as the woman who had called him son, but those clothes were covered in blood.

    "Answer her! Why did you hurt us? Why did you hate us? Why couldn''t you let us go?"

    "Brother, answer... Why?"

    "Why, son? Why?"

    The questioning voices kept getting louder and louder as the two figures moved closer to Gabriel. He subconsciously stepped back, but there was no way back. One more step and he was going to fall.

    "Why couldn''t you die instead?"

    "Why did it have to be us?"

    "Why didn''t you stop it?"

    "Why?" The mutted bodies kept getting closer and closer.

    Gabriel tried casting a spell to protect himself, but it didn''t work. None of his hands had the Mark of elements. He didn''t have the ring either. There was no Grimoire. He was no more than an ordinary human at the moment.

    The two bodies stopped right before Gabriel before asking once again. "Why? Why didn''t you die? You should''ve died! Died like this!"

    The burnt girl ced her hand on Gabriel''s chest before pushing him gently. With no floor behind him, Gabriel fell off the balcony...

    *****

    "Arghh!" A filled the roam as a young man woke up from his slumber, sitting up straight.

    His body was covered in sweat, including his forehead. His heart raced so fast that he could count his heartbeat even without touching his heartbeat.

    "The dreams... They are getting worse! First the dream in the hotel and now this!"

    <o>,m He had been in the city for two nights straight, and both nights when he slept, he saw a nightmare that forced him up.</o>

    Fortunately, at the end of the day, it was just a nightmare.

    He got off the bed and walked to the balcony to get some fresh air. Unlike that other balcony in his dream, this one wasn''t that high.

    "What is happening to me? The dreams... No, the nightmares... What do they mean? Why is my mind going crazy? Why?" he looked at the moon, talking to himself.

    He had nightmares even before in his life, but none were as intense and as realistic. Moreover, these nightmares made him feel really bad on the inside. He didn''t know why that was the case. Even when he was up, he felt somewhat sad in his heart for some reason. It was as if there was some unexinable sadness in his heart.

    "Hmm?" As he lowered his gaze, he noticed a young man walking toward the Dorms. It was sote that it was surprising that the person was just returning now. But as soon as Gabriel realized who that person was, a smile graced his lips. Finally, he found a distraction he needed.

    "Finally, we meet again, Hawrin."

    He used the Ring of Apophis to change his face again along with his clothes before jumping down the balcony. He entered the dorms again behind Hawrin without being seen by the young man.

 68 Chapter 68

    Gabriel had taken apletely different look, thanks to the Ring of Apophis. Because of the ring, he wasn''t restricted to just one look.

    His new look appeared to be inspired by a young man he had seen before in the city of Abadon. Since he didn''t want to waste time trying toe up with apletely new look, he used one from his memories, especially since there was no way for that person to be there.

    He kept his attire the same as any other Mage of Light was supposed to use at the academy. The only thing different in the attire was the badge.

    Since each student badge had a different number, he made the badge show a random number instead of the one that actually belonged to him. He did everything he could to make sure that suspicions didn''t reach him in case something went awry.

    He entered the Dorm behind Hawrin without raising much suspicion. He even maintained a safe distance of five meters while keeping his footsteps silent as he followed the young man.

    Even though it was sote at night, he could still see some students walking in the hallway. Most of them appeared to be senior students.

    Unfortunately, one of those senior students paid attention to him.

    "Wait right there." A call came from the back.

    Gabriel stopped in his tracks and looked back.

    He noticed a young man who had long ck hair. The man was in his mid-twenties and already a third-year student.

    "I''ve never seen you before. Are you a new student?"

    Gabriel didn''t want to lose Hawrin, but he also couldn''t ignore a senior at a time like this.

    "I''m a new student. I joined just today," Gabriel answered. "That''s probably why you haven''t seen me."

    "Senior!" The dark-haired man firmly stated.

    "What?" Gabriel frowned. Why was this man shouting a random word?

    "I''m your senior. You should call me Senior when addressing me. I didn''t hear ''Senior'' in your statement! You think you can answer me like I''m your equal?" the man started scolding Gabriel, wasting even more of his time.

    If the man''s intent was to frustrate Gabriel, then he was seeding. Not only was the man wasting his time, but he was also scolding him.

    Fortunately, Gabriel didn''t lose his calm.

    "I apologize, Senior. I am new. I''ll keep that in mind from now on."

    "Oh, a new student. Did no one tell you the rules? What are you doing out here sote? First day and you''re already breaking the rules? Why aren''t you in your room?"

    ''Just my luck. Even Hawrin should be a first-year student, but this idiot just had to stop me.''

    Being interrogated in the middle of the hallway while Hawrin kept going farther from him was frustrating. However, Gabriel couldn''t do much else other than answer.

    "I was in my room, but I dropped something while standing on the balcony. I had to go out to retrieve it. Senior, can I go back?"

    The man opened his lips, but before he could speak, a shout came from behind. "Roy, what are you doing there? Come fast; we''re going to bete!"

    The man looked at the source of the voice, gazing at another third-year student standing near the entrance, gesturing for him toe.

    "I''ming!" The dark-haired man responded as he started walking to the man, but not before warning Gabriel.  "Next time, don''t roam out sote."

    "Himself going out sote, but scolding me for the same. What an idiot," Gabriel muttered under his breath, watching the man leave.

    "Ah, right! Hawrin!" He looked back, wondering if it was toote. He started chasing in the direction Hawrin went in.<sub> </sub>

    Fortunately, at this time, Hawrin hadn''t reached too far. Hawrin had just started climbing the stairs.

    Gabriel also went up the stairs. Fortunately, he was able to catch up to the young man, never truly losing him.

    Hawrin stepped into the hallway, which was on the floor right beneath Gabriel''s floor. It was the same floor where Lelin was also staying. Surprisingly, the room of Hawrin was also right beside Lelin''s room. The two were technically neighbors.

    Hawrin stopped before his room. He opened the door with the key he was given and stepped inside the room, closing the door from inside.

    At the moment, there was only Gabriel in the hallway. He stopped before Hawrin''s room and checked his surroundings once again.

    After making sure no one was there, he used the Ring again. He changed his attire, making it appear like the attire of the Mages from Element of mes.

    When he first received the ring, even he hadn''t expected that the ring was going to be so useful. He was literally the lord of disguise with the ring on his fingers.

    He changed his looks, making him appear like Yann Raini, the young man from the Raini Family who seemed to be the leader of Hawrin''s group. If there was any person that Hawrin was going to allow inside his room without making much noise, it was Yann.

    The only thing he did differently in his disguise was to leave the badge. He didn''t show a fake badge since he didn''t know the number of the badge which was used by Yann. Instead of using a fake one and making Hawrin suspicious, it was better to use none.

    After preparing his new look, he knocked on Hawrin''s door.

    ****

    Hawrin had just taken off his robe when he heard the knocking on the door.

    He left the robe on the bed and walked to the door. "Who could be here at this hour?"

    He opened the door. His eyes widened as soon as he saw Yann standing at the door.

    "Brother Yann? Come inside fast before anyone sees you!" Hawrin grabbed the hands of Gabriel and pulled him inside his room. After bringing Gabriel inside, he peeked outside to make sure no one saw him.

    He sighed in relief.

    "What are you even doing here? Do you know how dangerous it can be? You can be expelled, even if you''re from the Raini Family. If you needed something, you could''ve waited till tomorrow."

    He closed the door and turned around. However, as soon as he turned around, his face turned pale. Yann wasn''t standing behind him! Instead, it was Gabriel!

    Gabriel had removed all his disguise, returning to his real form. Now that he was here, he wanted Hawrin to see who it was.

    Hawrin was so shocked that no voice came from his throat initially. It was as if he had lost his voice in shock.

    Before he could find his voice and react, Gabriel appeared before him, holding a wooden bat in his hand that he had picked up from the room itself.

    The bat came swinging, straight hitting Hawrin''s skull.

    Thud~

    The smack sent Hawrin flying through the room. His head bled as he crashed on top of the table.

    The whole debacle was very loud, but still, not even a shred of voice got out of the room. From what Gabriel was told by Riya, all the rooms in the dorms were made soundproof. No matter what they did inside, it wasn''t going to trouble the people in the surrounding rooms or outside.

    "I must say, I see the appeal of the bat. I understand why you used it to attack me," Gabriel nced at the bat in his hand, smiling devilishly.

 69 Chapter 69

    ****

    "Mmm?"

    There was a terrifying pain on the back of his head. For a moment, everything appeared to be blurry as he opened his eyes.

    He wanted to rub the back of his head, but he realized that he couldn''t even move his hands that were tied behind his back using a rope. Not only were his hands tied, but he couldn''t even move his legs.

    His legs suffered the same fate.

    Hawrin had a really bad feeling in his heart as the memories of being hit flooded his head. He remembered the face he saw before losing consciousness. If his hands and feet weren''t tied, he would''ve even doubted his own eyes and memories.

    An unknown amount of time appears to have passed since Gabriel infiltrated Hawrin''s room.

    "It seems you''re awake. The Healing Spell appears to have worked. Not bad." A cold voice fell in Hawrin''s ears, making him look in the distance.

    Not far from the bed where Hawrin was lying, there was a chair. On the chair, a young man was sitting with a ss of water in his hands, seemingly enjoying the water.

    "You! What are you doing here?! A dark mage like you will be killed here!" Hawrin yelled at the top of his lungs.

    From the initial nce, it appeared as if he was threatening Gabriel, but it was evident that his ultimate goal behind yelling was different.

    "You know, you''ve been here longer than me," Gabriel casually stated. "You should know that no matter how much you yell, your voice isn''t going to get out of this room. If I were you, I would''ve saved my energy. We have a long night ahead of us."

    Tuck~

    After finishing the ss of water, Gabriel ced it down on the ground before standing up.

    He walked to the door of the balcony, moving the curtains aside. He didn''t open the balcony doors though. The screams of Hawrin''s couldn''t leave the room, but that was only until the room was closed from all sides. If he opened the balcony door, the voice could escape, which he didn''t want.

    Through the ss doors, Gabriel nced out at the beautiful view of the academy, which was basking in the beautiful luminescence of the moon.

    "There was a time when we were standing under the same moon. That day, I was screaming, and you wereughing. And today..."

    "L-look, Gabriel. I-i didn''t want to kill you. I had lost my sense of reasoning in anger. I... I don''t mean to do it! You don''t take that to heart! Moreover, you''re still alive, so there''s no loss! You can''t kill me for such a small mistake!"

    " If you do, you''ll be vilified for an eternity! If you kill a student at the Academy, you''ll make the Academy your enemy as well!"

    "Listen to me, and free me! We can forget what happened between us in the past. I''ll also help you get out of this ce! I promise! No one will hurt you! It''s my promise!"

    Seeing his own life in danger, Hawrin started speaking whatever he could to get out of this situation. In the same breath, he asked for forgiveness, apologized, issued a threat, and offered to help.

    "If I kill you, I''ll be vilified for an eternity?" Gabriel repeated the statement, seemingly amused. "You are insignificant at this point in time. I''m already vilified as a demon. Even if I kill you, nothing will change."

    "I-i can help you! I can tell the world that you didn''t do anything! You can return to the normal life! I know people who can help you!" Hawrin stated again.

    "You will help me?" Gabriel turned around.<sub> </sub>

    As he started walking toward Hawrin, only the sound of his footsteps could be heard.

    "Y-yes! I will help you!"

    "You''re right about it. Only you can help me." Gabriel smiled devilishly, stopping right before the bed. "Only you can..."

    "S-sure! I know people in the Church of Light! They can help you! They will allow you to live! No one will hurt you! You can trust me!" Hawrin hastily replied, slightly amazed that Gabriel had fallen for his bait.

    Inside his heart, he onlyughed that Gabriel was still an idiot like before.

    ''Help you? You bastard, you think you deserve help? Just let me get out of here once, and then I''ll show you! I''ll make you worse than a dog with the Church of Light and the Academy of Elements at your tail! You''ve managed to enter this ce, but you won''t leave alive! Come! Come free me!''

    "Allowing me to live? Church of Light? That''s not the help I need. I need a different kind of help from you."

    "You don''t need help with that? Then what? Ah, I get it. You are tired of this life of being a demon and need my help to give you freedom from this life of sin? You want me to free you?"

    If Hawrin didn''t have good control over himself, he would''ve beenughing out loud now. He couldn''t believe that Gabriel didn''te all this way to live. Instead, he came here to die? And he wanted him to kill him?

    "I neither need help in living nor do I need help in dying. I need help with something else," Gabriel rified.

    "Not that either? Then what help?" Hawrin grimaced. He didn''t know why, but a grim feeling was starting to rise inside his heart. All the happiness he had until now was gone suddenly as he observed the expressionless face of Gabriel.

    "You see, once upon a time, there was a guy. That guy hurt me a lot. He cursed me; he cursed my mother; he beat me... It''s because of him that I''ve developed a lot of anger issues. And only that person can help me solve those issues. So, shall we begin?"

    A dark smirk spread across Gabriel''s lips as his emotionless eyes peered into Hawrin''s eyes as if being able to look straight into his soul.

    Gabriel grabbed Hawrin by his throat before raising him in the air. With his hands tied behind his back, Hawrin couldn''t even struggle. He was like a doll that was in someone else''s hands.

    "Three hours... We have a full three hours to ourselves. This night is going to be fun." Gabriel started tightening his grip around Hawrin''s throat before smacking Hawrin on the floor.

    "Argh!"

    Hawrin''s back was thrashed on the floor that was made in such a way that it was impossible to break the floor. If it were an ordinary floor, there would already be a crater under Hawrin since Gabriel had cast a strength-boosting spell on himself, belonging to the Element of Light.

    There was so much force behind his thrashing that Hawrin''s shoulders were dislocated right away, making him scream in pain.

    "Don''t cry so fast. We are just getting started." Gabriel smiled. "I won''t give you such an easy death, my dear friend."

    "We have three hours... Three full hours..." Gabriel picked up the wooden bat again. "Three hours of breaking you and then healing you, so I can break you again."

    "You took everything from me. It''s only fair I take my sweet time, isn''t it?"

    Smack~

 70 Chapter 70

    Gabriel swung the bat once again, hitting Hawrin''s head. The pain made Hawrin scream. Unfortunately, the screams didn''t get him any mercy. Instead, they were like the melody of the most beautiful song for Gabriel that he had wanted to listen to for a long time.

    While Hawrin was already screaming in pain, Gabriel stomped on his knees, not giving him even a moment to breathe. Another smacking came, but this time, Gabriel swung the bat straight at the face of Hawrin. He wanted to give Hawrin as much pain as he could, and this was just the beginning.

    Gabriel kept hitting Hawrin, making him roar more and more. First, Hawrin cursed Gabriel, then he asked for forgiveness, then he cursed again. No matter what he did, he didn''t receive any mercy. His throat had already gone hoarse from all the screaming.

    The beating only stopped when Hawrin lost his consciousness. The Floor and his clothes were already covered in blood. His face was swollen, and even his nose was broken.  If one were to look at Hawrin, they would''ve had a hard time even recognizing who this person was.

    After Hawrin lost consciousness, Gabriel stopped beating him and tossed the bat away. He cast a healing spell on Hawrin, noticing his breathing had be faint.

    "Don''t worry, Hawrin. I won''t let you die that easily... Even gods can''t take you from me tonight until I allow them."

    While the healing took effect, Gabriel started checking around the room, trying to see what else there was. It didn''t take him long before finding something that brought a smile to his face.

    He noticed a fruit tray on one of the tables, filled with apples. And in one of those apples, there was a sharp knife stabbed.

    Gabriel picked up the knife and pulled out the apple from it.  He kept the apple back in the tray before picking up the entire tray. He walked back to the chair where he had waited before and started savoring the fruits while waiting for Hawrin to gain consciousness.

    *****

    Right next to Hawrin''s room there was Lelin''s room. However, there was no one inside the room. The room had been empty for a really long time.

    It waste at night, yet Lelin wasn''t in his room. Before Gabriel arrived on the floor, Lelin had already left his room. By now, he was already standing not too far from his destination.

    Surprisingly, he was also looking at the ce that Gabriel was interested in. Lelin stood in the distance, looking at the Academy Museum. He made sure to keep enough distance so that he wasn''t noticed by the guards. In fact, somehow, he managed to about being seening here at all.

    "So that''s the ce."

    ****

    Hawrin once again regained his senses. However, he didn''t dare open his eyes this time. He was sure that Gabriel was still inside the room, waiting for him to wake up so he could torture him once again.

    If Gabriel found out that he was up, he was going to be in trouble. He still hadn''t forgotten the terrifying pain that he felt from the previous beating. He didn''t want to go through it again. The only way out was by pretending to be unconscious.

    He didn''t make even the slightest movement. He even kept his breathing stable.

    Just as Hawrin had started thinking that he could fool Gabriel until it was morning, he heard the words that made his face go pale.

    "You know Hawrin; your heart always betrays you. You know, I used to think that you didn''t have a heart. But now I''m grateful that you do."<sub> </sub>

    Gabriel took thest bite of the apple before he stood up, carrying an apple.

    "Funny, how wee full circle. At that time, you had the knife. And now I do. Let''s see... Let''s see how much blood a person can afford to lose before even healing can''t heal them..."

    Gabriel stabbed the knife on Hawrin''s right shoulder, making him yell like a dying pig.

    He didn''t forget to twist the knife, just like Hawrin had done, giving him the real pleasure of the pain. He pulled out the knife and stabbed the knife in Hawrin''s elbows, which sent a jolt of current down his body.

    ? Next came the turn of his knees. Gabriel stabbed right in the middle of Hawrin''s kneecaps.

    Throughout the process, a subtle smile remained on his face. "Who knew revenge could be so satisfying? If I knew, I would''vee here faster."

    "Still not toote. We have more than an hour for our party. Don''t we?"

    Stab!

    He stabbed the other kneecap of Hawrin as well.  Hawrin roared in pain so much that he even lost his voice. His face was filled with tears! At this point, he was just begging for death.

    Unfortunately, giving death to him was like having mercy for him, which was thest thing Gabriel had for him.

    "Let''s see... What next¡­ Ah, right. Your tongue... The same tongue you used to talk bad about me and my mother. Now that you have already lost your voice, you won''t need a tongue anymore!"

    As soon as Hawrin heard what Gabriel wanted to do, he hastily closed his mouth.

    Unfortunately, all Gabriel had to do was one more stab. As soon as he stabbed Hawrin''s thighs, Hawrin opened his mouth wide in pain.

    That brief moment was enough for Gabriel to grab his tongue and rip it out of his mouth.

    The scene inside the room had turned way too dark. It would''ve made the old Gabriel vomit, but he was so immersed in the revenge, he didn''t care for anything. All he cared about was how he could hurt Hawrin more.

    The pain was once again about to make Hawrin lose consciousness, but Gabriel didn''t let that happen.

    "Enough sleeping. Not anymore!" Gabriel ced his palm on Hawrin''s forehead before chanting a spell!

    The spell didn''t do much except make it so that Hawrin couldn''t lose consciousness.

    "You need to be up through all of it, old friend."

 71 Chapter 71

    Throughout the night, Hawrin''s room was filled with screams. Unfortunately, not a single soul came to help him. The rooms that were made to give students privacy was having an effect that no one could''ve expected when the academy was made.

    No one had expected that someone could go inside the room and attempt to murder spending in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, that''s precisely what was happening.

    Gabriel stood up, observing the floor that was covered in blood. There were multiple wounds all over Hawrin''s body. In fact, there was still a knife stabbed on the elbow of Hawrin, who was trying to beg for his life, despite having no tongue to speak.

    "You were right, Hawrin. I am a demon. Only a demon can do what I''m doing in the way I''m doing, but I embrace the fact that I''m a demon. The world wanted me to be a demon so bad that I wholeheartedly ept. I became what you all wanted me to do... And this is just the beginning."

    "I''ve changed for the world. I''ve be what the world wanted me to be. It''s time the world bes what I want it to be... And that day isn''t far either... I wish you were here to see the end of the story you created..."

    He nced out the window. It was almost the time for sunrise. "Unfortunately, we are out of time... We''ll have to end it."

    "Aaaeee! Aaa!"

    Hawrin tried speaking. His eyes remained bloodshot and his words iprehensible. Despite that, Gabriel understood what he was trying to say.

    "You''re asking me to forgive you? And that you''ll be my ve forever if I let your live?" Gabriel took a guess since that was the only thing that he could expect from a person like Hawrin.

    Hawrin nodded hastily. He had been pleading like a dog to be left alive.

    "Sure. Why didn''t you say that before? And here I thought you''d never ask. I was almost about to kill you!" Gabriel picked up Hawrin by his shoulders. "I did need a servant. And you''ll be just perfect."

    " I forgive you..." Gabriel slowly said. After everything Hawrin went through, he wasn''t going to believe anything until Gabriel actually left.

    Still, there was a small flicker of hope in his heart. He had never expected that his small mistake coulde back to haunt him like a demon. If he did, he would''ve stayed as far away from Gabriel as possible. Let alone killing Gabriel, he wouldn''t even dream of it when they were back in the town. So many problems could''ve been avoided.

    "Wait, I remember something. I''ve forgiven you, but there''s still one person you need to ask forgiveness for. You didn''t just talk about me that night, right? There was one more person you talked about... There is one more person you should ask forgiveness from..."

    Gabriel tightly clenched his fist, holding the cor of the man firmly before swinging him around.

    He tossed Hawrin''s body straight to the ss window in the distance.

    Hawrin''s body was tossed with such force that his body shattered the ss. However, not far from the body, there came a knife which was also tossed by Gabriel.

    "Ask forgiveness from my mother..." Gabriel muttered. A knife stabbed the back of Hawrin''s head, finally putting him to death, but not before his body plopped on the concrete floor outside.

    Hawrin''s lifeless eyes remained open even as he took hisst breath, unable to believe that his one mistake brought him to this turn in his life...<sub> </sub>

    All his life, he dreamt of bing a Holy Priest of the Church of Light... That was his dream ever since he was a child, just like everyone else in the vige.

    Unfortunately, he wasn''t as talented. He awakened his Element of Light veryte in his life. Even then, he didn''t lose hope of being selected by the Church of Light. His dream was about toe true. He even heard the news that the Head Priest wasing to the town to select a disciple. He was so excited... He was so happy that day.

    But right before his eyes, the Head Priest dered that he was in the vige for someone else... He was in the vige for an orphan who was younger than him. Hawrin felt enraged... He felt insulted... He felt his dreams shatter right before his eyes.

    He was so angry that he followed after Gabriel to ask him to leave the vige forever, so the position could go to him.

    However, as soon as he left the Church, he saw Gabrielughing and ying around with his friend. Gabriel''sughter felt like a p on his face. It was as if Gabriel wasughing at his broken dreams. Hawrin was filled with even more hate and rage. He decided to take matters into his own hands.

    He didn''t want to ask anyone for what belonged to him! He wasn''t going to tell Gabriel to give him the position! He decided to Snatch everything! He decided to Snatch what belonged to him. And for that, he took his brother''s help, who also agreed after a lot of convincing.

    That night, they went to Gabriel''s house, waiting for everyone to sleep so they could barge inside, but before that, Gabriel came out with Maya and went to the roof.

    While Gabriel and Maya talked under the beautiful moonlight, the two brothers waited for the right opportunity, which came when Maya left.

    Hawrin finally had what he wanted. He had Gabriel in his grasp and revenge within his reach. He killed Gabriel, and he did so brutally, unloading all his rage and anger that he had umted throughout the years on Gabriel.

    He thought that was the end of it. He thought the Head Priest wasn''t going to go back empty-handed. He thought now that Gabriel was gone, he was going to be selected. But that didn''t happen... He wasn''t selected.

    Not only did his one action fail to help him, but it also indirectly led to his father and brother''s death. Even as he died, he couldn''t believe what one moment... One moment of anger brought him...

    When he took Gabriel''s life, he could never have imagined that Gabriel was going to kill him instead. He wondered if it was karma... Or was it the Divine punishment? With those questions in his head, he took hisst breath.

    The shattering of ss was a sound that couldn''t be ignored. The sound was enough to wake many people in the nearby rooms from their sleep. However, that much time was enough for Gabriel to leave the room.

    He once again used a disguise and walked back to his floor, avoiding any eyes. He went to his room only after making sure that the hallway was empty.

    While the lower floor was in chaos, Gabriel''s floor was very peaceful as everyone was asleep. No one here heard the sound of ss breaking.

    Gabriel walked inside the room. He took off his spotless clothes and went straight for a shower. Throughout the day, he made sure that not a single droplet of blood came into his clothes since if there was an investigation, their clothes were definitely going to be checked.

    Within minutes, people started realizing what had happened. They watched a dead body lying at the entrance of the Dorms...

 72 Chapter 72

    Gabriel came out of the shower and got dressed before going to bed. He didn''t even bother to go to the balcony to check outside. However, even as heid on the bed, he couldn''t go to sleep. He just sat on the bed, going through the Book of Light Spells.

    The people started gathering around the body, especially the senior students and the people from Hawrin''s floor.

    They saw Hawrin''s bloody body and pieces of sses nearby. A knife was stabbed on the back of Hawrin''s head. While some of the students went to inform the Teachers about what had happened, the others went to the old man who was in charge of the dorms.

    Meanwhile, the Fourth Year Students didn''t wait for anyone as they barged inside Hawrin''s room to check if the killer was still inside there. Let alone finding the killer, the youngsters couldn''t even find a single trace of anyone. The room was definitely a mess. There was blood on the floor.

    There was also a wooden bat nearby, which also had some traces of blood.

    "It wasn''t a simple murder. It was an act of proper revenge... Someone took their sweet time in this murder..." A man observed the traces of blood that were spread throughout.

    He walked to the broken ss door of the balcony, gazing outside. "Whoever did it... They are still inside the Dorms. And if I''m not wrong, they are one of the newly selected students. Get the entire dorms sealed. Send the third-year student to ensure no first-year leaves their room."

    "Right." The other students who were following the young man listened to him instantly, even though the man was asking them to run an errand.

    The young man who observed the broken ss was neither a teacher nor the Handler of the Dorms. Instead, he was also a Fourth Year student like the people he justmanded. Despite being in the same year as the people hemanded, no Fourth Year student ignored hismands.

    The blonde man was the strongest Fourth Year Student in the ss of Light. Not only that, he was essentially the strongest student in the entire academy. Ever since he joined the Academy, he never lost any battle or any challenge. He even finished all the missions he selected.

    Not only that, but he also had the highest Rank in the Tower of Challenge. He was the only student from the current generation who had managed to enter the top hundred rank in the Tower. Out of the Twelve Thousand names on the Tower, his name was ranked at Ny seventh.

    [97    Garrick Raini   Light     93]

    He was Garrick who had managed to reach the ny-third floor thest time he attempted. He was no less than an idol for every student at the Academy, even though he just entered the fourth year recently.

    Standing near the balcony, Garrick noticed a young maning toward the dorms from a distance.

    Garrick passed through the broken space in the door and stood at the balcony, observing Lelining.

    He noticed on Lelin''s badge, realizing that the kid was a first-year student.

    "Wings of Light."

    Two wings appeared behind Garrick as he jumped from the balcony.

    ****

    Lelin was observing the Museum when he heard somemotion in the distance. Curious, he came back toward the dorms, noticing a crowd gathering outside.

    He looked up, noticing a man flying in his direction. Behind the man, he noticed a broken window in the room that was right beside his room. There were also some blood marks on the window. It didn''t take him long to realize what had happened, especially as he noticed a body through the gap between the crowd.

    "Someone has been killed. And let me guess, the doubt will be on me since he saw me outside at this time... And here I thought I could avoid troubles until I was done..."<sub> </sub>

    Garricknded before Lelin, observing him from top to bottom. There was not a single speck of blood on his clothes.

    "What''s your name?" Garrick inquired. "And what are you doing out at this hour?"

    "Aren''t you out as well?" Lelin smiled.

    "Anyway, I think you''re looking in the wrong direction. If I had killed him, I wouldn''t need to run outside to avoid suspicions. My room is right next to the room where you came from. If I were the killer, I would have to be stupid to run all the way outside instead of just entering the next room and going to sleep... I didn''t kill him."

    "And how do you know I''m here to talk to you about a murder?" Garrick frowned. He hadn''t even spoken about the room where the murder happened or who was killed.

    Lelin answered everything with such ease; it was as if he knew about everything before even being asked. That made him even more suspicious.

    "Maybe because I''m not an idiot?" Lelin responded. "So many people have gathered outside the dorm at this time. It''s evident something big has happened. I also saw a glimpse of the body. If you look carefully from where I''m standing, you''ll see it as well."

    "Then there''s the broken window, which has some blood, where you came from. That means someone was killed and tossed out the window, and now there''s an attempt to find out who did it," Lelin scratched his temple as he answered. "As I said, you''re looking in the wrong direction."

    "If you only saw the body and the blood on the window, why didn''t you think that I might be the killer instead?"

    "Because you''ll have to be an idiot to fly out instead of sneaking out secretly. I''m not the only one who saw you flying out of that room. You''re not the killer either. If I''m not wrong, the killer is still inside the Dorms, and it''s a student."

    "You might want to look at the personal enmity angle. If possible, look for someone who took a bath recently."

    "Why a bath?"

    "That''s what I would''ve done if I had killed someone in cold blood as my first murder."

    "And how do you know that it''s the first murder of that person?" Garrick frowned.

    With Lelin''s exnation, his suspicions about him had gone down, but he still didn''t clear Lelin. There were still some suspicions in his head since there was a possibility that he was the actual killer.

    With his hands behind his back, Lelin started walking toward the crowd.

    "Because that person became too impulsive. If it weren''t his first killing, he wouldn''t be that impulsive. If he were cool-headed and experienced, he would''ve killed that person inside the room," Lelin exined. "He wouldn''t have tossed him outside. It was rage... But it was also inexperience."

    " Naive... Then again, quite talented..." A smile appeared on Lelin''s face as his lips curved up. " If I''m not wrong, this is the first time a student has been killed inside the Academy since..."

    "Since the Church of Light killed the Dark Mages," Garrick finished the sentence.

    "Exactly. Then again, the Church did it openly. This person... He managed to kill someone and then sneak out without being seen. I doubt someone even saw him leave, but then again, you should always consider the possibility and interrogate everyone. However, as I said, check for the one who recently took a bath... You might find your guy."

    Lelin walked inside the Dorms, not even bothering to observe the body from close.

 73 Chapter 73

    "That guy..." Garrick frowned, watching the young man enter the dorms.

    He didn''t stop Lelin. He didn''t know what it was about that person, but there was a strange feeling inside his heart in Lelin''s presence. He didn''t understand what that feeling was.

    He decided to focus on Lelin''s advice. Just as he was about to send people to check the rooms to see who had taken a shower recently, the teachers started arriving.

    Almost every teacher from the ss of Light arrived here, including Eliana. Not only the Mages of Light but even the Head Teachers from other Branches also starteding as the news spread like a raging fire.

    The Leader of the House of Lightning Qin arrived,nding right beside Eliana. The Leader of House of Earth Rem and Leader of House of Wind Lishen also arrived.

    A ming bird also came flying from the distance. It was only as the ming bird got close that everyone realized it was the Leader of the House of mes Yoan, who was surrounded by mes that made him look like a ming bird.

    The mes disappeared as soon as Yoannded beside Eliana, staring at the body grimly. The temperature had suddenly increased.

    A white tiger came running from a distant part of the academy. A middle-aged woman could be seen sitting on top of the White Tiger. The white tiger stopped before the crowd, and the woman got down.

    She waved her fingers casually. A formation circle appeared under the White Tiger. The White Tiger soon disappeared along with the Formation Circle.

    All the students stepped aside, creating a path for thedy to get to the other Heads of Houses. She was the Xinci, the Head of the House of Summoning.

    What happened here was unprecedented, and it concerned the entire academy. A student had been killed when he was in the Dorms. It wasn''t as if he was roaming outside when he was killed.

    He was killed when he was in his room! The reputation of the Academy was on the line. And there was still a possibility of the other students being in danger.

    The Leader of House of Water Rin and the Leader of House of Nature Loy also arrived at the site.

    "This isn''t good," the Dean of House of Lightningmented.

    "We need to find the culprit, and we need to do it as fast as possible. Before the news spreads outside." The Dean of House Of Water sighed. "This news isn''t good for our reputation, especially if the killer isn''t caught,"

    Rem went down on his knees, observing all the wounds on the man''s body.

    "He has been beaten badly. It''s revenge... We need to find who had the motive to kill him. We need his history," he nced back at Eliana. "We need to see his file."

    "Healing spell has been used on his body for quite a long time. I think the wounds we see aren''t everything he received," Eliana added.

    "Isn''t Healing a High Tier Spell of Light?" Xinci inquired. "Only fourth years can use it. I think that narrows it to some extent."

    "No, it''s a low-tier Healing," Eliana exined. "This spell isn''t something we teach at our academy. Someone used a Spell they learned outside. It could be anyone."

    "Shall we use it to find who did it?" The man with zing red hair suggested.

    "You mean the Crown of Elisus?" Rem asked, taking a guess as to what Yeon was talking about.

    "That''s right. No one should be able to lie when wearing the Crown of Elisus. It''s the Numen of the Demigod of Honesty," Lord of mes Yeon suggested. "We will have our culprit within a day. Why even worry then? Just let everyone go through the Crown."

    "We can''t use it," Lishen voiced his opinion against using it, thinking about the students. "The Crown affects the souls and the talent of the ones it''s used on. We would be hurting hundreds of students and ying with their futures. It''s too risky."

    Just to get one killer, they couldn''t hurt hundreds of innocents, especially since there were other ways.

    "So what? It''s not like they''ll die? Moreover, who knows, we might find our guy on the first try itself. We might not even need to use it on anyone else," Yeon stated.

    Even though he actually wanted to find the killer using it, he also had some other motives. Since it was evident that the killer was from the House of Light, it was going to be used only on them. And why should he care if Mages of Light became slightly weaker? It was only good for his house, which was trailing behind the House of Light.

    "We can''t base everything on luck," Eliana refused as well. "The Mages of Light won''t go through it. And as far as finding the killer is concerned, he''ll be found."<sub> </sub>

    Shemanded one of the teachers that worked under her to collect everything she could about Hawrin, especially about his friends and enemies that he might have.

    After issuing her firstmand, she issued anothermand that all the students were to be called out! They were to report before her in the next half an hour!

    Garrick sent the fourth-year students to call out everyone. At the same time, he didn''t forget to tell them to observe the students to see if someone had taken a shower recently.

    The murder didn''t happen a long time ago. If someone took a shower recently, it was definitely going to be visible.

    While all the students were being called out, all the Teachers went to Hawrin''s room through the balcony.

    One after another, they all entered the room.

    The Head Teacher of the House of Summoning Xinci snapped her fingers, chanting some barely audible words.

    A formation circle appeared before her. A small dog-like creature appeared inside the circle, having blood-red fur. The dog also had two horns on his head.

    The demon dog started going through the room, smelling all the scents that were avable in the room.

    After a few minutes, the Demon Dog returned to Xinci and growled.

    "Is that so... Interesting."

    It was as if Xinci understood what the dog was saying. She sent the demon dog back.

    "Anything?" The Head Teacher of Element of Lightning asked, wondering if she had something that could help them.

    "Yeah. Whoever did it was very careful. There is not a trace of his blood. Every Blood droplet that''s in the room belongs to the dead. The killer wasn''t wounded here. So he managed to get inside and take down the kid who stayed here. That makes me believe that the kid either knew his killer or the killer was just that talented."

    "Then again, the killer was really clever. Just our luck that he had to be a Mage of Light." She nced at Eliana. "You people really have some bizarre spells. If it were someone else, we would''ve had the killer by now."

    "What do you mean?" Lishen grew slightly confused. How would they know the culprit if he had another element?

    "There are traces of more spells here," It was Eliana who answered. She could sense the spells that were used here, especially the ones that weren''t taught at the academy. She was very perceptive to that.

    "The spell to purify the room has been used here."

    "That means no scent of the Culprit is left in the room for Xinci''s beasts to collect," Rem shook his head. "That spell also wiped any other marks if there were any. That effectively removed all the traces."

    "On one end, it seems like an impulse murder, while on the other, it''s too clean to be that..."

    ****

    Knock~

    There was a knock on Gabriel''s door, bringing him out of his immersion.

    He closed the Spell Book of Light that he had bought in the city of Abaddon. It was the book he snuck inside the academy. Also one that he learned all his spells from.

    Instead of keeping the Spell Book under his bed, he carried the spell book with him. He wasn''t sure if anyone was going to check his room, but if they did, he didn''t want the book to be found.

    He tucked the book inside his clothes before walking to the mirror, making sure he looked sleepy. As he saw his reflection in the mirror, a frown graced his face.

 74 Chapter 74

    Just to be sure that he looked sleepy before leaving, he checked his reflection in the mirror. Even though his expressions could make him pass off as someone who was sleeping, his hair was still somewhat wet.

    It was as if he had taken a shower not long ago. He had forgotten about that entirely. Who took a shower thiste? And that too when they were sleepy?

    Knock~

    The knocking on the door continued, only intensifying.

    "Open the door!"

    "I need to take care of it," Gabriel muttered, realizing that he couldn''t leave like this. He was sure that the others weren''t stupid enough to not doubt him if he did.

    Fortunately, he had noticed it at the right time.

    ****

    Almost everyone on the floor was our except Gabriel, despite constant knocking. It was making the Fourth Year Students suspicious.

    "Should we break the door?" One of them asked.

    Fortunately, there didn''t seem to be the need for that as the door opened.

    Gabriel rubbed his eyes, seemingly so sleepy that he was having a hard time even opening his eyes.

    The youngsters looked at Gabriel''s hair before looking at each other. They shook their heads as if agreeing that this wasn''t the one.

    Gabriel''s hairs were ruffled andpletely dry. It was as if he hadn''t even washed his hair in days.

    "Will you say anything? What''s it about?" Gabriel asked. "If it''s nothing, I''m going back to sleep."

    "Wait! You can''t go back to sleep! The Dean has called every student downstairs! You must go down!"

    "Dean? Why would she call everyone down at this time? I''m new here, but even I don''t think it''s the time the sses start."

    "Stop eating our heads! Do as you''re told!" The men snorted, getting irritated by Gabriel''s questions.

    Gabriel also didn''t ask too many questions.

    "Fine." He closed the door of his room and started following the other students who were going down as well.

    ****

    Lelin had just entered his room when there was a knock on his door.

    Frustrated, he walked back. "What a headache."

    He opened the door and was informed that he was to go down as well.

    Even though he was irritated, he expected that this was a possibility. He couldn''t deny the summons.

    He also left his room.

    *****

    All the young Mages of Light had gathered outside the Dorms, ording to their years.

    The batch of first-year students stood together. The batch of second years stood together, and so on.<sub> </sub>

    Gabriel appeared to be thest student to arrive outside. In the group, he saw a few familiar faces, including Caen and the young Princess of the Lumen Empire: Elia.

    Both of them were standing before the group of first years. In another group, Gabriel also noticed the man who had dropped him in the hallway when he was chasing after Hawrin.

    The four groups were ready. A group of Teachers from the House of Light kept an eye on them while they waited for all the Deans toe down from Hawrin''s room.

    "I don''t think we are going to find anything in the room," Rem summarised. "We''ve already gone through everything. It''s a waste of time."

    "My offer of using the Crown is still valid. If we can''t find that person, you know they might kill someone again!" The Head of House of mes stated. "What''s worse than a death at the academy? Two or more deaths."

    "We''re not using the Crown." Eliana firmly rejected. "That''s not happening, so you better stop talking about it."

    She left the room. Standing on the balcony, she observed the crowd of students.

    ****

    As Gabriel arrived to the group of first years, he stood in the lead. The person right next to him happened to be none other than Lelin.

    Lelin nced at Gabriel''s hands once again. Gabriel noticed him looking at the gloves but didn''tment.

    "Did you enjoy it?" Lelin asked, amused.

    Gabriel frowned. What was this guy talking about? For some reason, it felt like he was asking if he enjoyed the revenge. For a moment, he even wondered if he was overthinking.

    "Enjoy what?" Gabriel asked in response.

    "I meant your sleep." Lelin smiled. "Did you enjoy it? You seem like you had a good sleep."

    "May I ask why you''re so concerned about my sleep?"

    "Because your sleep might not be so good in the future," Lelin answered. "You''re ying with fire here, little one."

    Gabriel was taken aback. These words... He was even more sure that Lelin knew something. Or he was at least suspicious.

    "Speak clearly. What are you trying to say?" Gabriel inquired, acting ignorant. Even though he acted like he didn''t know anything, in the back of his mind, he had already prepared to fight if something went wrong here.

    Still, he didn''t jump the gun. He was sure he left no evidence behind for him to be caught. He removed all his traces. There was no way anyone should''ve known that it was him.

    "I won''t interfere unless you make me," Lelin calmly stated. "But when I do, it won''t be good for anyone. Just a reminder..."

    "Is that a threat?" Gabriel nced at Lelin, who was looking at the moon in the distance instead.

    "Or an advice. As I said before, the path you''re walking on... It''s not the right path."

    "You are no one to decide what''s the right path and what''s the wrong path."

    "I don''t need to decide. It''s been clear since the beginning of the time."

    For Gabriel, Lelin was strange. And for Lelin, Gabriel was supposed to be a stranger, yet their destiny appeared to be intertwined in one way or another.

    The moment Lelin walked past on the first day, their destiny was tied. If it was for the good or bad, that was yet to be seen.

    "You''re right. It''s been decided since the beginning of the time," Gabriel answered. "That time is what I''ll bring back... The time that was erased by someone¡­."

 75 Chapter 75

    "If only it were possible..." Lelin nced down at the ring on his finger, subconsciously turning it. "Time is eternal, never moving in reverse. Even Gods can''t change the flow of time."

    Gabriel was about to speak when the Head Teachers came down,nding before them. Everyone observed the students, extremely sure that the killer was one of them.

    "As you can see, a person has died here. And we believe it''s one of the Students that did it... Students from this Dorm." Yoan took the responsibility for interrogation without asking the other Head Teachers.

    "I''m sure the killer won''te forward if we simply ask. But let me make this absolutely clear. We have many ways to find out who the killer is. I hope you won''t make us use those methods. So whoever is the killer, step forward."

    He walked from the group of First Years to the group of fourth years before stepping back, observing everyone''s faces to see if he could find even a single trace of fear.

    "I promise you will be punished with leniency if youe out on your own. If you don''t, we will still find you, even though it might be time-consuming and a bit heavy-handed. But in that case, there will be no mercy! You will be executed without any questions asked!"

    He stepped back after finishing his warning. "The choice is yours!"

    Despite the warning, not a single person stepped forward. One had to be an idiot if they came forward. Gabriel stood with a poker face as if he was totally innocent. Even though he didn''t let it show on his face, on the inside, he was slightly worried.

    Until now, he thought that there was no need to worry since no one knew about him. He also wanted to use Hawrin''s death as a distraction to keep the teachers busy for the next few days for him to have an easier time.  Unfortunately, it appeared as if Lelin knew that he had something to do with this.

    He was slightly worried that Lelin was going to speak. Even if he spoke, Gabriel was sure he could talk his way out of it since the words of someone couldn''t be an evidence against him, but still, he wanted to avoid that situation.

    Fortunately, Lelin didn''t speak. Instead, he looked slightly bored.

    Xinci took the lead this time, trying a bluff.

    "I''m sure you people know about the Crown of Elisus? At least most of you do. It''s an artifact that can check if you''re lying or telling the truth. If the culprit doesn''te out, we''ll be forced to use it!"

    Even though Eliana had rejected the suggestion of using the Crown of Elisus, these youngsters didn''t know that which made her use the bluff. Fear was the best tool and saved some time as well.

    "We honestly don''t want to use the Crown since it can affect your Talent and Spiritual Strength in unexpected ways, but we won''t have a choice. So if you are the killer,e out. Because there is no way for you to escape. As Yoan said, we''ll have mercy if youe out on your own."

    "Also, if there is anyone else who has any clue about this murder, they can also step forward since the Crown will affect you as well. Everyone will have to go through the Crown until we find the killer!"

    The threat of the Crown of Elisus appeared to work. It made everyone nervous. They came here to be stronger, but to be weaker. Everyone waited and hoped that the killer woulde out and help them indirectly, but no one stepped forward.

    Gabriel nced at Lelin in surprise. Even under the threat of losing his talent, he didn''t speak. It was very strange. Lelin still didn''t seem to care. He just stood, lost in his own thoughts.

    Lelin didn''t step forward, but there was one person from the Senior Batch who stepped forward.

    "You did it?" Xinci frowned, observing the youngster.

    "I didn''t kill him, but I do have some information that can be of help."

    The man was none other than the person who had stopped Gabriel in the hallway. The only person who concerned Gabriel at the moment was Lelin. He didn''t care about anyone else.<sub> </sub>

    "What information?" Eliana inquired.

    "I think I might''ve seen the killer," the young man answered.

    "Huh?" Everyone eximed in shock. So the killer was seen? They sighed in relief. It appeared as if they were saved. However, they were still curious as to who could be the person that dared to kill a student on campus.

    "A few hours ago... I was leaving the dorms when I noticed this guy walking inside." The man pointed at Hawrin. "I didn''t think much of it, even though it was toote for first years to arrive at thiste hour. However, not too far from him, there was another first-year student."

    "I didn''t think much of it at that time, but now that I think about it, it looks like the young man was trailing the dead person. I even stopped him to ask him why he was out sote. He said he dropped something outside and went there to take it back."

    "I had to leave after that, so I didn''t ask many questions, but I did notice him moving faster... In the same direction as the guy. I really should''ve been more careful."

    The young man exined everything that he went through, from meeting Gabriel to leaving.

    "Who is that person?"  All the teachers looked at the First Year Students. From this exnation, it was clear that the killer was a first-year student, which was also what everyone was suspicious about at the start.

    Since Gabriel and Lelin were standing in the lead, the man''s eyes went on them first. However, he shifted his gaze to others. He couldn''t recognize the Karyk Illusion of Gabriel.

    "That student isn''t here! He must still be inside the Dorms!" The man shook his head before turning around, failing to find the man.

    "Are you sure?" Eliana grimly asked. "Was the person you saw really a first year?"

    "I am sure he was a first-year student!" the man confidently stated. "And the first-year student I saw isn''t one of them."

    "That isn''t possible," Eliana responded. "All the first-year students are here. I personally epted their invitation today. I know how many of them are there. They''re all here."

    "So he was lying?" A youngster eximed, taken aback.

    "Maybe he''s the killer? He wanted to shift the me but didn''t know he was going to be caught so fast."

    "That would make sense. He was really scared at the thought of being caught. It would make sense if he made a lie in his nervousness."

    ? "Good thing he''s caught."

    One after another, all the students started talking about the same thing, believing that the man was the killer instead.

    Lelin scoffed, finding the entire situation sad yet funny. But he still didn''t interfere. He wasn''t here to interfere in things. He had goals of his own.

    The man who hade out to talk about the killer found himself in the middle of usations. His face went pale in fear.

 76 Chapter 76

    Roy thought he could be the hero in the situation by giving the clues about the killer that everyone was looking for! He thought he could save everyone from going through the test of the crown bying forward and could even get rewards from the teachers for giving clues that they were looking for.

    Unfortunately, he soon realized that he was probably too optimistic in his assumption. Not only was he caught in the middle of this mess, but the people who were supposed to praise him were calling him the killer. Even the teachers were looking at him suspiciously.

    "M-maybe I was wrong about his year..." Stuttering, Roy started looking at other students. If that person wasn''t in the First Year students, then he must''ve been in other years! At any cost, he needed to find that person if he wanted to prove his innocence.

    Unfortunately, even after he went through all the students, he didn''t find the person he had seen before. He had already started sweating while his throat dried up. He gulped heavily in fear.

    All the Head Teachers were still looking at him.

    "Kid, we don''t have all day." The Head of House of Light couldn''t help but feel as if this guy was wasting their time.

    "H-he isn''t here! I swear in my life I saw someone who isn''t here! And he definitely looked like a first-year student! He also didn''t correct me when I called him out in the first year! But he isn''t here!"

    "Do you have any evidence to prove if what you''re stating is true?" Xinci asked. "If not, I''m afraid you''ll have to be the first person who goes through the test of the crown to prove that what you''re telling is the truth."

    "Proof? I... Ah, that''s right! I can prove I''m not lying!" Roy suddenly eximed, realizing that he had forgotten something. He did have something that could prove he wasn''t lying!

    Roy looked at one of his friends in the crowd. "Loid was there with me! He was the one who called me to the gate, for which I had to leave! He saw me talking to that person!"

    In his fear, he had forgotten entirely about the fact that he wasn''t alone. He called his friend forward, who was slightly scared toe ahead. He didn''t want to be used like his friend.

    "Is he telling the truth? Did you see a person in the Dorm who isn''t here?" Yoan asked in his heavy voice, which made the young man take a step back in fear.

    "I-i didn''t see that person''s face clearly, but Roy is telling the truth. He was talking to a youngster when I called him."  Despite his fears, now that he was here, he answered honestly.

    Hearing the answers, Yoan''s face twitched. He realized what that meant!

    Even though it was a bad news that a student had been killed here, hearing Loid''s answers, Eliana looked at Yoan''s face in amusement.

    "All of you can go back to your rooms. Until your next orders, none of you are to leave your rooms except the Fourth Years!" Shemanded. She had the answer she needed.

    Roy sighed in relief. He didn''t know what was going to happen next, but at least he was proven innocent. He could safely walk back. However, he didn''t forget to re at the people who were calling him killers, especially people from his own ss.

    One after another, all the students walked inside the dorms. Lelin and Gabriel walked inside together. Throughout the journey, none of them spoke to each other. However, the silence was somewhat scary. It was as if there was a silence before the storm.

    Lelin went to his room, separating from the group. Gabriel also went to his own room, still thinking about Lelin and his identity. He didn''t know how Lelin found out about him, but he felt that it was because of some Numen that Lelin possessed.

    Only Numens were so mythical that they could help him find out. There was no other way. As for what Numen Lelin possessed, that was the question.

    "Something that can help him read my mind? If that''s the case, it will make sense how he would know. Or it could also be a Numen that can help him see the past."

    He didn''t know too much about the Numens other than the ones he heard about. He only knew how many there were in total and that each of those Numens possessed the strength of a Demigod, but other than that, he didn''t know much.

    "If Lira was here, she could''ve told me what Numens could make something like that possible for Lelin. Or if he was actually bluffing?"

    "In any case, he didn''t tell the Teachers. That''s good. Just a few days more. As long as he doesn''t be an obstruction in my path, I should be able to avoid him. But if he does..."

    ****

    Lelin was about to sleep before he was called down, but now that he was back in his room, he could see the sun rising in the distance. It was already morning.

    He stood on his balcony, looking down at the Teachers who were still there.

    ****<sub> </sub>

    "It seems that our initial assumption about the killer being from the House of Light was wrong," Eliana summarized. "If he isn''t a student from the House of Light, he could be from another House who managed to sneak inside."

    "With that in mind, what do you say Yoan? Should we still use the Crown of Elisus? We can start with the House of mes."

    Yoan''s face twitched uncontrobly. He wanted the crown to be used because the incidence was limited to the House of Light. Even if those people had their talents messed up, it didn''t affect him or his house.

    However, now that his own house was in the zone of fire, he couldn''t let that happen. He couldn''t let his precious students go through this test.

    "Hmph, didn''t we already agree that we won''t use the Crown of Elisus? It''s not good for the academy and for the students to use it on such arge scale!" Yoan snorted. "Also, how can we be sure that the boy wasn''t lying? Maybe he and his friendmitted this murder together?"

    "That''s possible as well. At this moment, anything is possible." Rem agreed. "All we know at the moment is that no one had any clue about the killer other than those two. And even if the Killer was in the crowd before us, he refused toe forward on his own. So it''s too soon toe to a conclusion about anything."

    "What. Aren''t we all forgetting about something?" Xinci rolled her eyes. "We all know that the Spells of Light have been used by the murderer, including the healing and the purifying spell. There is no way that the Killer could be from any other house!"

    "Ah, that..." Yoan pped his forehead. He became so flustered before that he even forgot to consider that factor! It was already proven that the Killer used the Element of Light!

    Unfortunately, in his haste, he had agreed that using the Crown was a stupid idea. He couldn''t go back on his words now, no matter how much he regretted it.

    "As I said, it''s too soon toe to a conclusion," Lishen chimed in again. "Even though it looks like the work of a Mage of Light, there could be more to this than we know."

    "For example, wasn''t the dead a Mage of Light? It''s quite possible that he used healing on himself to survive for as long as he could. It''s also possible that he was forced to use the Purifying under threat? We''re running blind at the moment. First, we need to know more about the dead kid."

    Even though Rem was looking at a really wide picture, he did consider all the possibilities, no matter how unlikely they were.

    "We should have hisplete file in a few hours. We can wait in the Dean''s Castle until then."

    Eliana left a few teachers behind to keep an eye on the Dorms before leaving with the other Head Teachers of the Head Council. Since everything had happened so recently, they couldn''t jump the ship too soon. They needed to consider every factor, especially since it looked like an act of revenge.

    ****

    The Head Council waited for a few hours in a beautiful hall, sitting around a round table.

    It was eight in the morning when a youngdy arrived, holding multiple files.

    "The files are ready."

    She ced a file before each of the Head Council members. Each file had the same content. They had the life history of Hawrin... At least as much as they could''ve gathered.

    "Thank you. You can leave for now."

    After the youngdy ced the file before everyone, she was gestured to leave.

    The youngdy left the hall, closing the hall behind her as she left. The majestic hall returned to silence as all the teachers looked at the closed file before them, curious if it could give them some information.

    Unlike the other teachers, Eliana already knew a few things about Hawrin since she had allowed him an admission here. But even she didn''t dive deep into his past other than knowing a few basic things like his father was killed while serving the Church of Light.

    She had been so busy handling the Academy in the absence of the Dean that she couldn''t find time to even read about how that happened.

    p Everyone opened the file and started going through what was recorded.</anda>

    The more they read the more serious their expressions became as they realized how deep this mess could be¡­.

 77 Chapter 77

    "Did I make a mistake? I became too hasty at the sight of an opportunity. I should''ve been more careful."

    Gabriely on his bed, lost in thoughts. He was slightly upset at himself for giving in to his emotions. It was just the first day, and he had already killed Hawrin, creating a turmoil in the entire Academy.

    It was partially good since it kept people busy, but because of Roy, everyone knew that the killer was a First Year Student. That once again brought him into the range of fire.

    "To get myself out of this turmoil, I''ll need to create an even bigger turmoil. Since I''ve already pushed the schedule ahead, I might as well do it properly."

    All the teachers were busy, focusing on the killers. That was good as well. If the Teachers were that busy, he could use them.

    He stood up and walked to the mirror before him.

    "I''m sure they''ll know that Caen and I had some conflict with the group of Yann. I suppose it is time to use Caen. Too bad I need to use him for a distraction. He is a good guy, but if that''s what it takes, then that''s what shall be..."

    ******

    "Someone from a small town whose family was killed by a Dark Mage. He left the vige and came to the Holy City. Since his father was a member of the Holy Church who died fighting a dark Mage, the Church sent him here, and I gave him admission here," Eliana summarized the beginning of the file.

    "So you know about his equation with the Dark Mages?" Yoan frowned. "You could''ve told us that much as we waited for the files to be ready."

    "It''s better if you all read from the files as this got more details about that incident. I only knew the basics. And even then, I don''t think that''s the part of his life that should be on focus. Not as if a Dark Mage could enter the city and kill him."

    The beginning of the file contained the information about the attack of the Dark Mage on the vige, but it didn''t mention Gabriel at all.

    There was no mention in the file about a young man who was a Mage of Light but somehow ended up bing a Mage of Darkness. The Holy Church kept that part a secret. They even warned Hawrin against talking about it. It was the same case with Maya.

    None of them were to say that a youngster in the vige had turned into a Dark Mage after bing a Mage of Light. That was a dangerous piece of information. The Church of Light represented everything that was Holy!

    It represented a purity that couldn''t be corrupted by darkness. They were the leaders in the battle against the Darkness. However, if someone was to find out that a Mage of Light had somehow changed into a Mage of Darkness, this could make them confused.

    It could send out the wrong signal that the Holy Church of Light wasn''t as pure as they imed to be, which the Church couldn''t ept at any cost.

    This concern made the Church of Light bury the entire incident as something rted to the Dark Mages attacking the town and killing people.<sub> </sub>

    The Church had ced posters of Gabriel in many cities. They had distributed the sketches to all the Branches of the Church of Light. However, all those posters only mentioned that he was a Mage of Darkness. No poster mentioned about his previous identity as the Mage of Light.

    The Church also didn''t expose the age of Gabriel. They didn''t want the world to see that the Mages of Darkness were so talented that they could awaken their element as soon as they turned eighteen. Especially since even in the Church of Light, there wasn''t a single person who had awakened their element at such a young age. The only person who did... They embraced darkness instead.

    Other than the Head Priests of the Church of Light, no one else knew about the reality of this entire incident, even in the Church of Light. Only the Head Priests knew that a Mage of Light became a Mage of Darkness.

    "That''s true. A Mage of Darkness can''t enter the town... At least not without alerting the Church of Light. And even if they came, infiltrating the Academy is impossible." Lishen agreed. "But we can never ignore the possibility of them hiring someone to do their job for them?"

    "I doubt any student of the Academy will work," Yoan scoffed. "The Dark Mages have beenpletely isted. If there''s a person who is talented enough to enter the Academy, they won''t side with the Demons. I''m sure of it."

    "What about this incident instead?" Xinci ced her fingers on the third page. "The kid was involved in a fight in the city just yesterday. Two groups of youngsters fought. And some interesting names here as well... A first-year Mage of Light..."

    "Caen Ashton," Yoan observed the name as well. He had also noticed it. "Apparently, the fight was between Caen and Yann... Those two families do have some bad blood. It is possible that he..."

    Yann was in the House of mes, which came under Yoan. With this new piece of information, he decided that this was where they should focus on. Just one day before this murder, this conflict happened, and the killer was supposed to be a First Year Mage of Light. This all makes sense. It was too much to be a coincidence.

    "Let''s ask both the parties directly." Eliana Was about to send someone to call Yann, but she was stopped by Yoan.

    "Yann isn''t in the academy. He took a couple of days off to go to his family for something."

    "I''ll send Garrick to bring his brother back. He should know what to say and what not to say. We can''t let this information leak to the Raini Family or any Major Family, for that matter. Garrick is clever. He''ll understand."

    Eliana left the Head Council. The meeting was scheduled forter.

    ****

    Gabriel stood before the Mirror, trying a look through the Ring of Apophis. However, this time, he was selected to be Yann.

    "Time to create the biggest fire that the academy has seen..."

    He had a n in his mind... A dangerous n that could give him what he needed but also risky enough that it could backfire on him. Everything depended on this crazy n¡­

 78 Chapter 78

    Gabriel decided to execute his n at night and also when he was going to execute the theft... He decided that it was better to do it tonight itself!

    ****

    Eliana located Garrick, who was one of the best students in the House of Light and also the student she ced most focus on.

    Other than being a good student, he also had another identity. He was the heir of the Raini Family, which was one of the Major Families in the city. One of the Head Priests in the Church of Light was from the Raini Family as well, and so was Yann.

    If she sent anyone else to bring Yann back, she couldn''t trust them not to tell everything that happened in the Academy under the pressure of the Raini Family.

    She also couldn''t send a teacher to bring Yann back suddenly as that could also raise suspicions. At any cost, she didn''t want the Raini Family to find out what happened here. Because if they did, the Church was sure to get involved.

    Thus, she selected the only person she believed could bring Yann back safely without telling the Raini Family everything. It was Garrick Raini.

    "Yes, Teacher?" Garrick was slightly surprised to see Eliana approach him so soon. "Did you find the Killer?"

    "We''ll discuss thatter. But first, listen to me carefully. I want you to go on a mission for me. If you finish it sessfully, you''ll receive appropriate Credits."

    "Mission? At this time?" Garrick nced back at the Dorm. "Ah, alright. What''s the mission?"

    "It''s a simple mission. I want you to go to your home and bring Yann back. However, no one outside must find out what happened at the academy... Not even your family!"

    "My brother?" Garrick frowned. Someone was killed at the academy. Instead of focusing on that, the Acting Dean was asking for his brother to be brought back. This made him suspicious. Why? Why at this time? Unless...?

    "Don''t tell me you think my brother is behind this murder?! He might be an idiot, but he isn''t that big of an idiot. There''s no way he could be involved in this!"

    "Calm down. We don''t believe that your brother did it. However, we believe that your brother can lead us to the real killer... He is innocent, but..."

    Eliana told Garrick about the conflict his brother had in the city right before the Admission Process to the academy and how that was thest conflict in which Hawrin was involved.

    Hearing that his brother wasn''t being called in for the reason he initially thought, Garrick somewhat calmed down. His brother wasn''t a culprit, but he was a witness.

    "I''ll bring him back."

    ****

    Throughout the morning, there were no training sses. All the students were kept inside the Dorms as the teachers went through everything. However, in the afternoon, finally, the first-year students were called out again.

    The First Year batch of the Mage of Lights came out of the Dorms again. They could see that the body was removed by now. All the blood marks were also taken care of. It was as if nothing had happened here.

    Gabriel looked up, observing the window. The window was also reced by now. It was evident that these people had been busy erasing the evidence of what happened here.

    A middle-aged man stood before all of the students.<sub> </sub>

    "I''m sure you all already saw me. I was here this morning as well." The middle-aged man shed a bright smile. "I''m called Noel. I am one of your teachers. And I''ll be teaching you the Defensive Spells throughout the years."

    "As you all know, defense spells are absolutely necessary to protect yourself. I''m sure you already know what could happen if you don''t have good protection." Even the man couldn''t help but nce at the window above as he spoke. "What could be a better example to teach you the importance of a good defense than what happened this morning."

    "Anyway, you are all Mages of Light! You have the purest and the most versatile element, which is also known as the ruler of elements! The Element of Light has many uses if you can utilize it well. It''s as good on defense as it is on offense. Even the passive spells are unique. That''s why this element is unlike anything else."

    "Throughout the years, you''ll learn how to use your Element better. And by the time you graduate, you''ll be the best Mages that the world has ever seen... That is if you focus on your training. So I''d advise you not to bex!"

    Even as Noel exined, the students still looked confused. Most of them couldn''t believe that their sses were continuing as usual even after what happened just a few hours ago.

    Even Noel didn''t feelfortable with this. That''s why he had suggested that there should be no sses today. However, his suggestion was soundly rejected by Eliana, who told him that everything would continue as it was nned.

    Just because someone was killed, they were going to seal the entire academy. The killer was going to be found sooner orter. In the end, Noel had no choice but toe here.

    He acted as if nothing had happened as he gave his introduction.

    "Anyway, now that we are done with the introduction, I would ask you to follow me. The actual training of yours will start from tomorrow. But today, you will be shown just how important mages are to this world and how much the mages before you have achieved to make this world a better ce!"

    "Today, you''ll be taken to the Museum of Elements!" Noel dered.

    His deration came as quite a surprise to a lot of students who didn''t know that they would be taken to the Museum of Elements this soon.

    As for the ones who already knew how the academy worked, they didn''t find it surprising. Every year, the first ss of the first-year students was held inside the Museum of Elements to teach them about the history and what they could achieve if they continued walking the right path.

    It wasn''t strange for them to be taken there. Gabriel also didn''t find it surprising since Riya had already told him about it. He was finally going to enter the Museum of Elements! He was finally entering his destination!

    Noel took all the first-year students to the Museum of Elements. The security during the day was just as strict as it was during the night. It was only because they were with Noel that they were allowed to even pass through the security. However, that was just the external security.

    Gabriel took his first step inside the Museum Building. The entrance was not too big, but it wasn''t too small either. Students could walk in five lines without hitting the shoulders of the one beside them.

    Both Gabriel and Lelin were in the lead of their respective line. The other lines were being led by Caen and the Princess. As for thest line, it was being led by a student that Gabriel didn''t know.

    ''This feeling...''

    As soon as Gabriel entered the Museum of Elements, he felt a strange feeling course through his body.

    His dark ring also started getting restless inside his Gloves. He didn''t understand why it was the case. It shouldn''t have happened just because of the Ancestral Staff of Darkness being here! It was something else... Something that could even make his ring restless...

    Lelin also clenched his fist, taking a deep breath as if trying to calm himself down.

 79 Chapter 79

    Lelin also felt slightly uneasy, but he kept his calm. He didn''t let his unease show on his face.

    All the students were finally inside the Museum of Elements.The firstyer of the Museum contained the relics of the past. They were slightly less important than the core treasures at the Academy, but they were still an essential part of the history.

    The group of first-year students that was apanying Noel stopped behind him. There was a concrete stand before them. On the stand, a rusted helmet could be seen, which was covered in magically reinforced ss.

    "Any guesses who this helmet belonged to?" Noel asked, smirking. "This was worn by a really special person in their battle... By someone who changed the world in his own way."

    "The King''s Crown!" Both Caen and Princess Elia spoke at the same time.

    Even though Caen had been away from the Royal City for a long time, they were still part of the nobles once upon a time. He knew what this helmet was, based on the symbol that was carved on the helmet. He also recognized the number.

    Princess Elia also recognized the crown since it was part of her family history.

    "It is the crown that was worn by the First King of the Lumen Empire on his crusade to unite the Empire," she stated.

    Noel nodded in satisfaction. However, he wasn''t surprised. It would''ve been more surprising if these two hadn''t known.

    "That''s right. It''s the war helmet of King Ignia. He was the First Ruler of the United Lumen Empire and the founding father of the Empire you are standing inside."

    "The man is known to be one of the greatest Kings in the history. He wasn''t a Mage like us. In fact, he was as ordinary as a human could be. Despite that, he wrote his own destiny and became the Emperor of one of the Strongest Emperors in the world."

    "If, as a human, he could achieve all this and create a peaceful Empire, ending wars, then imagine what you all can do with your holy power. All you need is proper convictions, and that''s one of the things you''ll be taught in the Academy!"

    After briefly describing the helmet, Noel started walking away, only to stop as if he had remembered something more.

    "I forgot to mention the most important thing. Even though you''re here, you aren''t allowed to touch anything, especially the sses that protect these items. If you try, you''ll be hurt badly. All these sses have been magically reinforced by our Dean himself. So please be mindful."

    After issuing a warning, Noel moved into the next item in the massive hall.

    "And here we have..."

    Noel kept exining the items and their significance in history. With each item, he didn''t forget to remind everyone what they could learn from this.

    Gabriel wasn''t interested in the exnation. He could see that all the items here were useless. None of these were Numens. Most of these were ordinary items with some historical significance. The only items with his attention were the ones he was after, and they were on the above.

    The above floor had no windows... At least none that could be seen from the outside. So if one was to enter, they could only use this route to get there.

    Noel was immersed in exnation. On the other hand, Gabriel was observing the guards and their positions. He was informed by Lira about what to expect, but now that he was inside, he got a much more urate idea about what he could face. There were just too many guards here...<sub> </sub>

    He also noticed the Elements of the Guards, memorizing every detail that he might need for his goal.

    Even as time passed, his ck ring hadn''t calmed down. It was still uneasy. Gabriel noticed that the closer they went to the stairs to the next floor, the more his ring started to react. Moreover, when they moved away from the stairs to learn about items in another corner of the hall, the ring became a bit less excited.

    ''Something is above... That''s for sure. Something that is making my ring react like that!''

    Only he knew here that his ring was his Grimoire of Death and Necromancy in disguise as a ring. In reality, it wasn''t a ring that was reacting... It was his Grimoire that was responding. And to make his Grimoire react... The item had to be more than just another Element''s Ancestral Staff.

    He believed whatever was making the ring react... It was something rted to Karyk, or his element!

    He remained with the group, eagerly waiting so they could be taken up where he could find what it really was.

    After spending three hours on the ground floor, Noel was finally done with all the Artifacts here. In the entire group of first-year students, there were only two people who weren''t hearing what Noel was saying. Only the two students appeared to be distracted during his exnations, and this didn''t escape Noel''s attention.

    Unfortunately, he couldn''t do anything about it. Every year, there were students who were bored when he talked about the mortal treasures that the academy possessed. He could only shake his head and focus on other students.

    Those two students were Lelin and Gabriel.

    "Now that we are done with the items that humans used to change the World, let me show you the items that Mages used to affect the world in ways that no one could''ve imagined. The Artifacts used by the strongest Mages!"

    With Noel''s deration, there was great excitement amongst the students. They were Mages, and that''s what interested them the most!

    Finally, Gabriel and Lelin also looked interesting. Seeing their interest, Noel could onlyugh wryly. These two were so materialistic.

    "Come."

    Noel walked to the stairs. Gabriel and the other students followed him. Just as Gabriel had expected, the closer he went to the next floor, the more excited his ring became.

    He clenched his fist tightly to try to make his ring calm down a bit. His finger had started aching at this point because of his ring''s reaction.

    With each step, Gabriel''s heartbeat increased. He was about to see just what it was that even his Grimoire couldn''t stay calm before.

    After around fifty steps around the circr staircase, Gabriel stepped foot on the next floor: the floor where all the Numens and everything precious was kept.

    As soon as Gabriel stepped here, the first thing he noticed was the security of this ce. It was even worse than downstairs here. There were more guards here than there were students at the moment. And each guard stood beside one of the artifacts.

 80 Chapter 80

    "That..."

    The most eye-catching Artifact was in the middle of the hall. It was a majestic staff that was floating in mid-air. The staff was pitch ck in color and had a beautiful gem attached to it that seemed to be filled with the infinite power of darkness.

    The staff was also surrounded by shields of ss from all sides that not only protected the staff from being touched by someone but it also made sure that no one could be affected by the dark aura of the staff. The staff''s dark aura was restricted inside the ss chamber.

    It was the Ancestral Staff of Darkness! The Staff that Lira was after. Gabriel was extremely close to the staff, but he couldn''t take it. It wasn''t the time. If he tried now, he knew he was going to be caught.

    "I''m sure you''re all interested in this staff the most. This is also one of the most precious holdings of the Academy! It''s the Staff that was used by the Head of the Church of Darkness! It is the strongest staff that contains the Element of Darkness in existence."

    "Using this staff, the Lord of Darkness destroyed many mages of the Alliance that fought him in the great war before he was ultimately defeated by the Elemental Lords of the Holy Alliance."

    "There''s a great story associated with the Staff actually..."

    Noel went closer to the staff and lost himself in the amazing history of these Artifacts. All the students followed behind. Gabriel also followed him, but as he moved closer to the Staff of Darkness, he became even more sure that the Staff wasn''t attracting his ring. It was something else here.

    Even though he walked closer to the Staff of Darkness, his ring only became less excited, as if it wanted him to go in another direction.

    Gabriel stopped in his ce, observing the items around him. There were so many items, but what was the one that was attracting his ring? He wanted to rush to all of them, but he knew he couldn''t. He had to stay with the group for now.

    He kept the ring in control, waiting for a little longer.

    Unlike him, it appeared as if Lelin knew exactly what was making him uneasy. He looked to his left. A frown formed on his forehead, but he also stayed with the group for now.

    Through the way, he hadn''t opened his fists that were firmly clenched.

    Gabriel and Lelin had never been this ufortable as they were now. They wanted to get to something, but they had to stay with the group.

    "It is said that after the Lord of Darkness was killed, his body turned into smoke. His Grimoire also disappeared. However, one thing was left behind. This staff..."

    "The war was over, but it was the beginning of another conflict. The negotiations for the Staff of Darkness. All the Alliance Church Lords knew that the Staff of Darkness was dangerous and couldn''t be allowed to fall into the hands of a Dark Mage. That all agreed on, but what they didn''t agree on was who should keep it."

    Noel kept his eyes on the beautiful staff as he talked about the story.

    "All of them believed that they should keep it in their Churches, but none of them wanted the others to have it. Even though the Holy Church of Light was the strongest at that time, even it wasn''t allowed to keep it."

    "So in the end, it was decided that none of them will keep it and that it will be kept at a neutral ce, which would be just as secure as the Holy Church of Light!"

    "Hahaha, I''m sure you can imagine what ce they selected." Noel turned to look at the expressions of the youngsters. "Ever since the destruction of the Church of Darkness, this Staff is with us, gracing our internal Museum. This is also our most precious artifact and the reason there is so much security in the Museum."

    "As you can imagine, this is the Holy Staff of Dark Mages, and they have been after it for decades. So we just have to be more careful."

    After finishing with his exnations, Noel felt really amused to see the amazed expression of the youngsters. However, his pleased smile disappeared as he noticed that the two students were still not looking as interested as he had hoped.

    His face twitched unintentionally. "You two, what are your names?"<sub> </sub>

    Gabriel looked back, wondering who he was talking to.

    "I''m talking to you. What''s your name?" Noel especially focused on Gabriel this time.

    "Karyk," Gabriel answered.

    "And yours?"

    "Lelin."

    "Do you two have a better ce you need to be?" Noel asked, supporting a slightly condescending tone. "If you two are not interested in the ss, you''re wee to leave at any time. You don''t have to force yourself to be here if you don''t want to. I''ve noticed it since the start. You two haven''t been paying attention to what I''m saying at all!"

    "Who says we aren''t?" Lelin fired back. "Does one need to stare at your face to listen to your words? It mighte as a surprise to you, but we don''t hear through our eyes. We listen through our ears."

    Lelin was the calmest person in the first year. Even when someone was killed, he was calm, but currently, he was showing an entirely different side at being scolded.

    He was already uneasy because of being in this hall, and on top of that, he was being scolded. He didn''t mince his words at the moment.

    It was fortunate that he spoke before Gabriel could, attracting all the attention to him. It was unclear how Gabriel was about to react since he was going through the same thing.

    "Y-you!" Noel''s face turned red. For the first time, a student had talked to him like that. And not only did he talk back, but he also insulted him.

    Noel felt as if all the students were judging him at the moment. Everyone was looking at him. He couldn''t do anything stupid. Lelin was still a student, after all. He couldn''t just attack a child. He also couldn''t kick him out of here for talking back since his words weren''t wrong either. No one hears through their eyes.

    "Is that so?" he asked, trying to control his rage. "Would you mind repeating what I said then?"

    Even though Lelin imed that he was listening, Noel was sure that he wasn''t. He actually was distracted. There was no way he heard his words.

    Through this question, he believed he had an advantage again. If Lelin couldn''t answer how, he could kick him out!

    Lelin let out a tired sigh before he started speaking. He repeated exactly what he had spoken about the staff. In fact, somehow, he was able to replicate the exact words that Noel had used! There was not even a single word missing! It was as if not only Lelin heard what was being spoken, but he memorized it as well.

    Noel was even more taken aback. Lelin was actually focusing on his words. But how was that possible? Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it now. Lelin had proven. Maybe it was him who was mistaken.

    Despite realizing that he was wrong, he didn''t apologize.

    "Good. Focus on what I''m saying." He turned around, looking aloof. "Moving on..."

    "I''ve shown you the most important Artifact we have; now it''s time to show you the most bizarre one." He walked left, hiding his red face, not even ncing back.

    This time, Gabriel''s ring actually started reacting more intensely. The closer he walked to the next artifact, the most excited his ring became! He was sure! This was it! This was what his ring was calling for! The artifact was right before his eyes!

 81 Chapter 81

    In the left corner of the hall, there was an item that was the least eye-catching out of all the items in the hall.

    The hall was filled with Numens and precious Treasures like the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, but despite all that, Noel decided to show this item to the students second.

    There was a simr concrete stand before the youngsters, which had the insignia of the Academy carved on it. On top of the in white stand, thereid a small wooden box.

    The square wooden box was only thirty centimeters wide and appeared to be made from ordinary wood that looked like it had already started rotting.

    "What''s inside the box?" Princess Elia inquired. If it was in a ce like this, she was sure it couldn''t be an ordinary item at all, no matter how mundane it appeared.

    Noel let out a sigh, gazing at the old box with the same curiosity as the other students possessed. "Your guess is as good as mine."

    "Even you don''t know?" Another student asked, surprised. "Is it such a big secret that only the higher-ups know?"

    "Heh, if only. The truth is that even they don''t know what''s in the box. Not even our Dean knows what''s in the box," Noel exined. "That''s why I called it a bizarre artifact."

    "The box has no lock on it. There is no seal either. Despite all that, it''s impossible to open it. Many people have tried throughout the years. Even the Heads of various Churches arrived here and attempted to open the box, but they couldn''t."

    "Can''t you break it to see what''s inside? Or is it too precious?"

    "Break it? Heh, you think no one tried? The box is supposed to be an ordinary box. We have tested it. However, despite all that, it''s impossible to break it. The wooden box might look weak, but even the strongest have failed to leave a scratch on the box. All the rotten marks and scratches you see on the box?"

    " They have been there ever since the box was first discovered. Even the strongest of attacks couldn''t destroy the box."

    There was not a single teacher in the academy who wasn''t curious to see just what secrets were inside the box. Unfortunately, they had no way. This was a treasure that they were never going to find out about.

    "Could it be that the box is a Numen? If it''s a normal box, it should''ve been destroyed." Caen theorized. "Maybe there is nothing inside at all?"

    "As I said before, that''s not the case." Noel rejected the notion. "We have tested the box through our Numens. It''s not a Numen. That makes us believe that what makes the box so resistant is whatever is inside the box. That''s what protects this wooden box and also makes it impossible to be opened."

    "If there is a Numen, it''s not the box, but what''s inside the box," he further exined. "Too bad we will never find what''s there."

    His answer left many unsatisfied, but there was nothing he could do. If there were a way to open the box, he would''ve been the first in line to do it. Unfortunately, they had exhausted all their options. They had used all the methods they could to open the box, only to fail.

    The mysterious box was no more than a showpiece... A showpiece that highlighted just how little everyone knew about this world. It was a showpiece that basked in the curiosity of those around it. It was the biggest mystery that was impossible to be solved.<sub> </sub>

    "Anyway, moving on..." Noel moved over to another stand, walking away from the wooden box in the ss shell.

    Lelin and Gabriel were still left behind, gazing at the wooden box.

    This was it... Gabriel knew that this was what his ring wanted. It was as if his ring was pleading for him to snatch the box and leave.

    Unfortunately, the timing didn''t support him. Now he had three things that he wanted to steal, but it wasn''t the time yet.

    He turned around unwillingly and joined the group. The ring seemed to resist him moving away from the wooden box, but he ignored the resistance. The ring was like a pet that knew what it wanted but didn''t consider the circumstances or the surroundings. He couldn''t be that ignorant.

    Gabriel joined the group again. There was one more thing he needed to locate... The Eye of Osiris.

    Lelin also took a long breath, observing the guards around him. His face looked really impatient, but he also controlled himself, joining the group. It appeared as if both the youngsters were after the same thing.

    The group moved over to the next artifact, which was another Numen. It was a small piece of paper that was lying on the stand, protected by the ss.

    "The Letter of Yoin," Noel exined.

    The stand for this piece of paper was much taller than the other stands, making sure that the paperid t on the eye level of the youngsters.

    "I''m sure you''re wondering why the stand is so tall with this. That''s because it''s said to be a Cursed Numen. We can''t afford to let any of you make a mistake with this."

    "A Cursed Numen?" This was the first time many had heard that terminology. The youngsters looked at each other in confusion.

    "Yeah. It''s a cursed artifact. Even though it''s just a letter written by a person, the words on the letter contain the anger, rage, and hatred of someone really special. I can''t tell you who it is or why he wrote what he did. I can only tell you a little about the letter."

    Even as Noel talked, he avoided looking at the piece of paper even though he didn''t need to. The ss was already tinted to some extent where only the silhouette of the paper could be seen but not the content.

    "Apparently, the letter only contains three lines. However, whoever reads even one line, dies. In other words, it''s a letter that can kill you. That''s why it''s called a cursed Numen; that is too dangerous. The letter already took many lives before it was secured."

    "What is in the three lines?" A youngster asked. Even though he was intimidated by what he heard in the letter, he was also curious about what was written in the letter.

    "Young one, that curiosity is what killed many people. Even some teachers at the academy died in the past trying to read the letter. And as you may know, the dead don''t talk... Still, there are a few words that we know¡­."

 82 Chapter 82

    "Can you tell us the words?" Elia asked the Teacher. Even though she was the Princess of the Empire, even she didn''t know about such things that were kept by the Academy.

    Noel nodded. "They are only a few words since no one dares to read the entire line now."

    "Oh right. Now that I think about it," he especially focused on Gabriel. "One of the words is your name."

    "The words we know from the letter are "Karyk, you unleashed..."

    After speaking only three words, Noel stopped.

    "Unleashed what?" Elia inquired, wondering what was unleashed and who this Karyk was. And who wrote this letter? How did it be cursed? There were so many questions in her head, and she wasn''t the only one.

    Even Gabriel had these questions at this point. He only knew one person who was named Karyk! The First Human God: the Origin Element of Death and Necromancy. Was ''Karyk'' that this letter mentioned the one he knew?

    Since this letter was a Numen, it was certain that it was written by a Demigod. But which Demigod and why? The answer was probably in the lines of the letter, but whoever read more than a certain part of the letter died. It was as if no one was supposed to know the content of this letter. Whoever did, they died.

    In the Curse of this Numen, Gabriel even wondered if this letter became a Numen because of the Demigod who wrote it or because of the person that it was written to. It was also possible that Karyk kept this letter with them forever, not wanting anyone to see it, which gave this Numen a cursed characteristic.

    ''That shouldn''t be the case. If he didn''t want that letter, he would''ve destroyed it. It became a Numen because of someone who wanted people to read the letter and then die!''

    ''The one who wrote the letter addressed the letter to Karyk. Maybe the Target of the letter was him? Whoever wrote this letter... It wasn''t just a letter. It was most probably a took to kill Karyk, disguised as a letter!''

    Gabriel didn''t know what happened in the past, so all he could do was guess, but he believed his guess was in the right direction. Even though he heard only three words, the words had the essence of hate and anger in them. He could feel it!

    ''The letter was written so that Karyk would read it, and then it was cursed so he would die after reading it! Whoever did it... They wanted Karyk to die, and they wanted him to know why he died! That''s why the curse only works after someone reads it!''

    Was this what killed Karyk? Was this letter the weapon that brought the end of Karyk''s Era? Gabriel had the question but no answer. However, there was a gut feeling in his heart that Karyk couldn''t be stupid enough not to sense that something was wrong with the letter.

    The chances of him dying because of this letter were really low, ording to him. However, it was a fierce attempt, no doubt!

    "Who could''ve written it..." He frowned. Most people had questions about the following few words, but he had a question about the writer of this letter.

    "There are actions that hurt not just the person doing them, but also those around them," Lelinzily stated. "This letter was probably written by one who got hurt."

    It appeared as if he was talking from his experience when he continued, "The deeper one looks into the past, the more they realize that it was a much darker world than one could imagine..."

    Noel was about to talk about but seeing Lelin and Gabriel immersed in their own conversation; his irritation red up again. Fortunately, he had learned his lesson from hisst attempt. He just ignored them this time.<sub> </sub>

    However, just as he was about to exin further, he heard footsteps behind. All the students were already there. And the Guards didn''t move. It made him curious who had arrived. It was their turn in this museum today.

    He straightened up and looked toward the stairs. The hall became slightly warm as a middle-aged man arrived.

    The newly arrived man had zing red hair and a powerful aura around him.

    Through the man''s attire, even the students here could recognize the man.

    "A teacher from the House of mes? Are we having abined ss?"

    "Strange. I thought the Houses stayed out of each other''s path during sses. Then again, maybe this ce doesn''t count as a ss? In any case, it''s not as bad to share a space."

    "If he brought his ss, where are his students? He is alone? I doubt it''s for ss. He''s probably here for something else?"

    The students started a discussion amongst themselves, wondering why he had arrived there. Each of them had a guess of their own.

    The teacher from the House of mes arrived on the second floor and stopped barely five meters away from Noel.

    "Which one of these youngsters is Caen and Karyk?" The middle-aged man asked.

    "Why do you want to know?" Noel frowned. "We are in the middle of the ss. If it''s not t-"

    "I have orders from the Head Council to bring the two to them." Before Noel could even finish his sentence, the middle-aged man exined why he was here.

    Before the Head Council''s Orders, even Noel couldn''t do anything. It was true that the two youngsters would miss the rest of the ss because of this, but he had to let them go.

    He also had a feeling as to what this could be about. He turned to look at the two youngsters, slightly d that Gabriel was being taken away. That kid didn''t appear interested in the ss anyway.

    "Karyk and Caen, you two go with him."

    "Best of luck, little one." Lelin tapped Gabriel''s shoulders, wishing him luck. However, it appeared as if he had another motive behind tapping Gabriel''s shoulders.

    Gabriel and Caen left with the red-haired man. Caen was unsure what it was about, but if it was others from above, he had to listen. Gabriel, on the other hand, knew exactly what it was about. In fact, he had a feeling that it would being. He just didn''t expect that it woulde this soon.

    Even on his way out, he nced over the entire hall once again, especially locating the Eye of Osiris. He already had the location of everyone else. And with the Eye of Osiris, which was lying in the southern portion of the room, he now knew everything that he needed for his final assaultter on.

 83 Chapter 83

    As Gabriel and Caen left, another discussion started between the youngsters who believed that the two were called by the Head Council because they were thought to be the killers. Otherwise, why would the High Council call them? The High Council wasn''t that free.

    "Enough talking. We''ll be moving on to the next artifact here. We don''t have all day. Come." Noel moved over to the next Artefact, trying to stop the youngsters from talking.

    Noel also felt like pping his forehead in frustration. Even now, Lelin didn''t appear to be focusing on him. For some reason, he was looking at his own hand.

    ''Sigh, this kid. Why do I even look at him? Every time I do, he looks more bored than thest time. These spoiled brats with rmendations! If they didn''t want to learn, why did they even bothering here!''

    In recent days, no student had irritated him as much as he was now. And that too when Lelin wasn''t even speaking anything. He was just immersed in his own thoughts.

    ''A Mirage... I was right.'' Lelin closed his fist again.

    ****

    Gabriel and Caen followed the middle-aged man out of the Museum. Throughout the journey, the old man didn''t say anything.

    Caen also didn''t speak. He looked really grim, having a general idea at this point why he was being called, mostly because he was called together with Gabriel.

    The only thing he had inmon with Gabriel was that the two of them stood against Yann and his friends. Moreover, one of those guys was the same one that was killed today.

    Since it was only the two of them that were being called, he was sure that it was going to be about that. The High Council was most probably suspecting them since they had some conflict initially.

    He wondered if he could actually prove his innocence though. He didn''t want to have to go through the test of the Crown only to get his talent weakened. He was sure Yann was going to try to have that happen!

    "You seem worried." Surprisingly, it was Gabriel who started the conversation.

    "The question isn''t why I''m worried.It''s why you aren''t? I haven''t killed that guy. And I''m sure you won''t kill him for a small conflict on the street either," Caen stated. "We''re both innocent."

    Gabriel didn''t react much, but he did find that statement quite ironic. Caen actually had the killer right before his eyes, but he didn''t believe it. Then again, he was right as well. Gabriel didn''t kill him over a minor conflict on the street either.

    "At this point, we are under suspicion. And I have a feeling that just our words won''t be enough to prove our innocence. If they aren''t, we would have to go through the test of the Crown, and that will be bad."

    Caen had arrived back in the city to study at the Academy and begin the rise of the Ashton Family once again. And he also had the talent for that. He was a prodigy! But the Crown... That was what scared him, especially since he was innocent.

    "Is the test of the Crown so bad?" Gabriel inquired. He had heard only a few things about the Crown of Elisus about it affecting the talent of a person, but was it really to an extent where it was scaring the scion of the Ashton Family?

    "Yes, it is," Caen answered. "The Crown of Elisus is the worst thing for the future of a young mage. It checks your soul and your mind to see if you''re lying about something. And it''s never wrong. However, in the process of testing your soul, it also carries the potential to damage your soul, reducing your Soul Strength."

    Ever since the moment Caen arrived at the Academy, he hadn''t talked as much as he was talking now, and that too because he was really concerned. Even someone like him was worried.<sub> </sub>

    "Is that so... Something that can see if someone is lying..." Gabriel scratched his temple, trying to see if he had any use for an item like that.

    The item was good for interrogation, especially on his enemies. He was also sure that the Crown they were talking about was the Crown he had seen in the museum before leaving. They hadn''t reached the part where that Crown was introduced before they had to be called away.

    ''Each of the Numen in the Academy is precious on its own. Since I''m already stealing three of them, what if... I steal all of them?''

    It was unclear if it was greed or preparation for the future, but the more Gabriel thought about it, the more he realized the importance of Numens. If he had them, they could certainly be useful for him in the future.

    *****

    The two of them were brought to the Central Castle, where the High Council consisting of the Head of each Elemental House, was waiting for them.

    All the Head Teachers were sitting on a chair around the table. There were also two more men standing in the distance, one being Yann and the other being Garrick.

    Both stood with their hands behind their back.

    After bringing the two youngsters inside the room, the red-haired man left, not forgetting to close the door behind them.

    For a moment, there wasplete silence in the entire hall. In fact, it was so silent that even the sound of breathing could be heard.

    All the Head Council Members observed the two new students who had entered the hall.

    The silence was broken by the door opening once again as another person made an entry.

    Another teacher arrived with a third youngster who was recognized by Gabriel as well. It was the youngster that he and Caen had helped. He was partially the reason they had the conflict with Yann''s group in the first ce. He was Zale, the young Mage who carried the Element of Earth and was being bullied by Yann.

    Surprisingly, the youngster had also managed to clear the test of the Academy, and now he was donning the Attire of a first-year student from the House of Earth.

    Gabriel, Caen, and Zale stood right beside each other. The other teacher also left, sending the room back to silence.

    Even though Caen was also worried about having to be called here, Zale was the only one who was sweating. He was already very nervous about standing before the Head Council, which wasposed of Mages that were said to be strong enough topete with the Head Priests of the Holy Churches.

    "Are they the ones?"

    The Head of House of Fire Yoan was the first person to speak as he directed a question to Yann.

    "They are," Yann affirmed.

 84 Chapter 84

    "They are the ones who attacked us out of nowhere."

    Not only did Yann recognize the three, but he also med everything on them.

    "He is lying!" Caen eximed. "None of us attacked first! And it was a little back and forth. He wa-"

    "Silence!"

    Caen tried to counter the false usation of Yann, who made it seem like they were the ones that were looking for a fight.

    Even though it was true that he did provoke Yann so he could have an excuse to fight him, but to say that they attacked out of nowhere? That was aplete fabrication.

    Unfortunately, before he could even finish, he heard Yoan''s shout. "It''s not your turn to talk!"

    "I..." Caen Ashton nodded and stopped speaking.

    Yoan focused on Yann again. "You can continue."

    Yann felt really pleased in his heart to watch Caen be scolded. Even though one of his friends was supposedly cared, he could care less about Hawrin. That boy was no more than a servant for him. If Hawrin''s death gave him a path to get Caen and Gabriel in trouble, he felt it was a worthy trade.

    "I remember Caen was provoking me, saying that he wanted me to fight so he could have an excuse to kill me! And on the other side, his two goons attacked my friends. I remember Hawrin''s lips were bleeding when I decided to retreat since the Royal Carriage was about to arrive. I didn''t want to show this bad sight to them, so I left."

    "If only I knew that Caen and his friend were so bloodthirsty that they were going to kill my dear friend Hawrin as soon as they got the opportunity! These guys! They are beasts! I''m sure they killed Hawrin together in cold blood!"

    Yann walked on a path of lies, but he didn''t care. Since he wasn''t the one under suspicion, he couldn''t care less. He wasn''t even in the academy when it happened, after all.

    Moreover, he was actually certain that Caen and Gabriel were truly the ones that killed Hawrin. How else would he die within just a day of their conflict, that too when he was in his dorms that could only be essed by a Mage of Light? It was too much of a coincidence that they were all in the same dorms.

    "So they had the motives, and they had the opportunity," Yoan smiled after hearing Yann''s testimony. "Do we need any more evidence? I think not. Those three are our main culprits."

    "Now that our search has narrowed to only three potential candidates, I believe we can use the Crown of Elisus now." Xinci also agreed.

    "Agreed. Our biggest hesitation was that we didn''t want to use it on the entire House of Light. But now that we have the ones, we should be able to use the Crown. That way, we can get a final confession and close this case."

    " I agree as well. Throughout the years, there has been no death in the Academy. But as soon as these three got admission, the same night, there was a killing. All three of them had reasons to do it, but only two of them had ess. I think we found our killers."

    One after another, all the Head Teachers were assured that they had the killers. All that wascking was the final confession, and they could use the Crown.<sub> </sub>

    Only three Teachers still hadn''t spoken. Those three were Eliana, Rem, and Lishen. Other than them, everyone else expressed their opinion.

    Eliana also knew that their words made sense. Under normal conditions, she would have agreed as well, but one of the supposed culprits was Gabriel. He was the student who was supposed to take the Academy to great heights. His talent was like nothing they had ever seen before.

    Since she wanted him to be treated like a normal student to keep his talent a secret, she hadn''t informed anyone about his reality. She hadn''t even told her fellow Head Council Members. Only Rem and Lishen knew the truth who were present when Gabriel went through his test.

    They knew that sending Gabriel to the test of the Crown was a disaster. It could destroy a potential talent forever. And if they were wrong, it was going to be their biggest regret.

    Lishen also wondered about the same thing. They both wondered why it had to be Gabriel of all people.

    Rem, on the other hand, had a different thought of his own. He was still suspicious about Gabriel because of his aura and his gloves. He knew that Gabriel was hiding something, and it wasn''t about the murder.

    He didn''t believe that Gabriel would kill someone over such a small thing, yet he wanted him to go through the test of the Crown since that way, he could ask Gabriel what he was hiding. Gabriel couldn''t tell a lie under that.

    That''s why he also agreed with the other teachers, even though his actual reasoning was different.

    "I agree. At the moment, it looks highly likely that Gabriel and Caen did it. The two should go through the test of the Crown. I suppose the motion."

    Eliana frowned. Other than her, only Lishen was the one who hadn''t agreed. She was under a lot of pressure at the moment. She couldn''t deny the test, or it would look like she was being partial.

    Seeing Rem side with the others over the bottom, Lishen also had no choice in the matter. He sided with his friend. Since everyone had the same belief, he went along with them.

    "I also think that a test is the only option at the moment. Unless theye forward and ept their crimes," he suggested, taking a meaningful nce as if telling them that if they were culprits,ing forward at the moment was a better option.

    "We did no wrong." Caen stood determined. "Just because Yann has an enmity with me, he is tossing the me on us. I believe it''s wrong to destroy our talent over an usation from a student!"

    "As if a killer will ever ept that they killed someone," Yann snorted in response to Caen''s usations.

    "Respected Teachers, the Academy is supposed to be a safe space. You shouldn''t allow a killer to roam free. Please have them go through the test. I''m sure the truth wille out!" he respectfully addressed the teachers.

    Throughout the discussion, Garrick had been silent. He wasn''t engaged in the discussion. He just observed the three used from the beginning.

    Surprisingly, only two of the three looked worried in this ce. Only Caen and Zale had worries on their faces. As for Gabriel, he didn''t have a shred of fear for some reason. In fact, his nonchnt attitude was more suspicious for him¡­

 85 Chapter 85

    It was as if Gabriel didn''t really care about giving the test of the Crown, not caring about his Talent at all. He wasn''t entirely wrong either.

    Even if Gabriel went through the test of the Crown, his talent couldn''t be affected since it was given to him by the Grimoire. No Numen could everpare to a Grimoire that came into existence because of a proper god and not because of Demigods.

    A Numen couldn''t affect the Grimoires like that. Simrly, they couldn''t mess with the talent and Soul Strength that was provided by the Grimoire.

    Let alone controlling his soul for him to tell the truth, the Numens couldn''t even touch his soul that was already protected by the Grimoire.

    This was one of the lessons that Lira taught him when she talked about how the Grimoire boosted his talent and strengthened his soul. That was also why Gabriel wasn''t really scared of going through the Crown of Elisus. Even if he went through it, he knew he was going toe out unscathed.

    Still, if he could, he wanted to avoid it. Unfortunately, it seemed unlikely in this situation, especially since all the Teachers had already agreed to the test... All except one... Eliana was yet to agree.

    "Eliana, is there a particr reason for you to be hesitating?" Yoan frowned. "Don''t tell me it''s because these people are the students from your House."

    He was already slightly irritated at how much importance the House of Light was given in the Academy. Even as the Dean left, instead of making him,the most senior mage in the Head Council, as the acting Dean; the Dean selected Eliana to act as a Dean in his absence.

    It was finally his time to get back at her and bring the House of Light down a notch.

    Eliana took a deep breath, ncing at Gabriel. She had made up her mind. Even though she mighte out as biassed, she was going to protect Gabriel. Gabriel was a once in a lifetime Prodigy with his talent. Even though she didn''t treat him in any special manner before, she knew how special he was. She couldn''t let anyone mess with his talent, especially if it was just an usation. It was too big a risk to take.

    She clenched her fist and was just about to respond when someone intervened.

    "Wait." Caen stepped forward.

    Everyone''s attention turned to Caen.

    "Are you willing to ept your crimes?" Xinci asked, believing that Caen was taking the opportunity to confess as she had offered before.

    "I can''t ept any crimes since I didn''tmit any! I want to say something else." Caen clenched his fist, taking a deep breath. "I am willing to take the Test of Crown if that''s what will prove my innocence. I am willing to prove that we didn''t have anything to do with the killings and that we didn''t n it!"

    " We are being falsely implicated because Yann doesn''t like me. I can''t let anyone else suffer because of my equation with Yann and his lies! If someone is losing their talent over a lie, I will take that ce since it''s because of me. One person is better than three when ites to this loss!"

    Caen''s proud figure stood before Gabriel, surprising even him.

    Caen didn''t know him that well, and even then, he was willing to do this? Even on the streets, Caen came to help them. It could''ve been because of his hostility with Yann, but it still didn''t change the fact that he was willing to stand up for them.

    Even now, he was willing to step forward to ensure they didn''t have to go through the test over such a baseless lie. His determination surprised Gabriel a bit. He wondered just what kind of person this man was. Was he a righteous idiot? Or was he just a good person with principles?

    For a moment, Gabriel felt slightly bad, but then again, he remembered something which strengthened his resolve once again.

    Once upon a time, even Maya used to bepassionate and caring. But as soon as she saw his Mark, she didn''t hesitate to even kill him.<sub> </sub>

    The kindness of this person... The kindness of all the righteous people in the world was only reserved for people like them! If Caen knew that he was a Dark Mage, he would''ve stabbed him without even waiting for an exnation... Just like Maya did.

    Gabriel clenched his fist, closing his eyes as he remembered this. Whatever Caen did... He couldn''t let it sway him from his mission!He couldn''t risk his mission.

    "I will take the test to prove our innocence and that Yann is lying about how the incidents took ce that day. I will prove that we didn''t n to kill anyone," Caen dered. "Since I''m proving that, I want the other two to be free!"

    Ever since he was little, he had learned that a Mage of Light must always be righteous. As a Mage of Light, they were supposed to protect the weak and innocent. He couldn''t let two innocent peoplee to harm because of him. It was his way of taking responsibility! Just as his father would''ve done.

    Even though he was scared of risking his talent, he was still willing to stand up for what he believed in.

    Eliana noticed the determination of Caen, slightly impressed. Through his words, she had a feeling that he was innocent, and in essence, Gabriel and Zale as well, but she couldn''t let her own beliefs cloud her judgment.

    In any case, this gave her an opportunity to help Gabriel without looking biased. If Caen was actually innocent, it was going to prove that there was no scheme because of that conflict and that killer as someone else. But until then, these three were the only used they had.

    "Alright. I will ept your suggestion. Only you will go through the test of the Crown. And if you can prove that your side is innocent, you''ll all be free. But until then, all three of you will be kept in istion in your rooms under high security."

    Eliana made a deration without even consulting the other members.

    "Huh?"

    All the Head Council Members were surprised that she came to a decision without taking their input. Even though most of them would have agreed to it, it was still odd.

    Unfortunately, they couldn''t object since she was the acting Dean. At least they couldn''t talk about this in the presence of the students since the Dean''s position was dignified.

    The Head Council Members weren''t the only ones who were surprised either! If there was anyone who was most surprised here, it was Gabriel who had nned for everything except this.

    He hadn''t expected to be locked! For what he wanted to do tonight, he needed to be outside and not locked inside his room under strict security! This was a disaster for him.

    ''Calm down. It''s not that bad. The test would probably be in the next few hours. I should be free before evening. The n should be back on track!''

    Despite his headache, he still tried to be optimistic.

    As if even destiny was mocking him, Eliana further stated. "The preparation for the test might take the rest of the day, so the Test of Crown will be held tomorrow morning. Until then, you won''t be allowed to leave your rooms."

    As Gabriel was cursing his luck in response, something big was happening in the Holy City of the Lumen Empire.

    A very special person had arrived in the Holy City of the Lumen Empire. Even the guards at the entrance of the holy city respectfully opened the special path for the new guests.

    Three carriages entered the City, all belonging to the Holy Church of Water.

 86 Chapter 86

    Gabriel and Caen left the Majestic Castle, being escorted by Garrick while another teacher was assigned to take Zale back and arrange everything. At the same time, Yann also left the castle. He was done with his testimony.

    As Yann wasn''t under suspicion, no one was tasked with escorting him. He was to go back to his dorms on his own.

    Standing at the entrance of the castle, Yann red at the three youngsters. "I know you murdered Hawrin. No matter how much you act now, you can''t hide the truth. The truth will be before everyone by tomorrow."

    Gabriel stopped in his tracks, frowning. He turned around, observing Yann.

    "Truth wille out tomorrow. No matter how much you lie, our innocence will be proven." As Gabriel spoke, he walked to Yann as if he was lost in his emotions. He stopped barely a few inches away from Yann while Garrick watched from a distance.

    He was prepared to intervene in case there was any fighting.

    Gabriel raised his left hand slowly."When we prove our innocence, I hope you''ll be there to apologize to us."

    He tapped Yann''s chest as he continued, "I''m sure at least that much shame should still be left in that corruptheart of yours."

    "Hmph." Yann scoffed. "Child, you could''ve killed a weakling like Hawrin, but you''ve still not grown enough to be able to point a finger at me. Go back to where you came from."

    He started walking away, not even bothering anymore, especially since his brother was watching everything. If his brother wasn''t watching and he wasn''t at the Academy, he would''ve been sure to teach Gabriel a lesson for touching him without permission.

    As Yann walked away, he didn''t notice that there was a tiny flicker of light on his chest where Gabriel had touched him. It onlysted for a few seconds before it disappeared. Even Garrick didn''t notice it since Gabriel had done it in a way in which his body obstructed Garrick''s field of view.

    Gabriel joined with Caen, and the two youngsters were taken back to their rooms. Garrick assigned Fourth Year Students to guard the rooms of Gabriel and Caen.

    The security of the Dorms was intensified even more. There was no way for Gabriel or Caen to get out of rooms without alerting everyone else.

    Gabriel walked to the ss doors that led to the balcony, gazing at the lock that was there. Even though no first-year student was supposed to be able to fly, the Academy still locked the balcony. Gabriel was sealed in his own room.

    Gabriel pulled out the Spell Book of Light that he had bought from outside. He ced the book on the bed now that he was all alone in the room.

    He paced back and forth in his room, thinking about all that had happened today. He was really ted when he killed Hawrin, but only now did he understand that he was very short-sighted with what he did. This thing had be a headache for him, creating even more disturbance.

    Instead of keeping the teachers distracted by others, all their attention had now fallen on him.

    The more he thought about it, the more he felt angry at himself for not thinking things thoroughly. He let his emotions control him.

    "Only five more days... After that, the Ring of Apophis will leave me. And if things keep moving on like this, the next five days will be wasted as well. Argh, I was such an idiot! I should''ve controlled my anger."

    He punched the wall in his anger. Just because he wanted to kill Hawrin, he did so, and he even found reasons to justify his actions. He was realizing just how clouded his judgment had been.

    Gabriel was a Spellcasters, but even his own physical strength wasn''t strong enough without artificially boosting it with his spells. His punch didn''t leave even a mark on the wall. Instead, his knuckles were hurt.

    He jerked his fist to relieve some of the pain before casting a minor healing spell on his hands.

    "What should I do...? What can I do...? Tomorrow I''ll be free of house arrest. But if it''s proven that their assumptions about us being killers were wrong, the academy would go intoplete lockdown. The security will only be intensified."

    "If it''s tonight, they still believe that we are the killers. Most of the Teachers would be quite rxed today. Can I use that opportunity?"

    "Or am I once again thinking in haste?"

    He had a n, but that relied on him being able to move freely at the academy, not being sealed in his room.

    "If it''s haste, then so be it. I will take this hasty decision and leave everything to whates next."

    Gabriel had decided on what he was going to do next. He was going to break inside the Museum tonight itself. He knew it was going to be hard tonight, but he also knew that it would be even harder in theing days.

    "First, I need to find a way out of here.*<sub> </sub>

    He stood before the ss doors, looking outside. Breaking the ss doors was going to leave evidence behind that he left and even alert others with the noise itself. He could break the lock, but it was again the same problem.

    If he couldn''t seed tonight, he wouldn''t be able to attempt tomorrow since they were surely going to see something was wrong if they saw a broken lock tomorrow.

    "I need a way out without breaking the seals."

    He knew what he wanted to achieve, but he didn''t know how he was going to achieve it. It was a problem that couldn''t be solved with sheer strength.

    Fortunately, he still had the rest of the day to think about it.

    Throughout the rest of the day, he kept pacing back and forth, going through the Spellbook of Light to see if there was any spell he could use.

    Unfortunately, it was just a low tier spellbook and didn''t have anything in it that could help him. He closed the book and kept it back on the bed.

    "Is it really not possible? The Spellbook of Light is useless. If only it were a Grimoire, maybe it would''ve been able to help... Wait! Grimoire! How could I forget it!" Gabriel''s eyes lit up suddenly.

    He took off his gloves, revealing the beautiful ck ring on his right hand and the two Elemental Marks behind each of his hands.

    He was told that his Element could only be sensed by the Heads of Churches and only if they were right before him. Back in his room, he was still safe.

    The only way for anyone to notice the dark properties of his Element was if he used his Spells from the ck Grimoire. Just calling the Grimoire out shouldn''t have been able to alert anyone.

    Despite that, he still cast a barrier of Light at the walls of his room to make sure no Aura left his room, just to be safe.

    On Gabriel''smands, the beautiful ck ring returned to the form of a majestic Grimoire.

    The Grimoire floated before Gabriel as if waiting for his instruction on which page he wanted to open.

    For a brief moment, Gabriel just stared at the beautiful yet mighty Grimoire.

    "I know you have a Soul... I know you''re able to understand me. I really need your help today..."

    The Grimoire kept floating before Gabriel as he talked.

    Even he wondered if he could seed, but he didn''t give up. The Grimoire was able to change form to a ring on hismand. It was also able to turn to the page he wished. That made him realize that the Grimoire wasn''t as lifeless as he initially thought.

    Lira also said the same thing when she exined why he couldn''t ess more spells! It was because the Grimoire kept the spells restricted for his own safety! If the Grimoire could restrict him from having ess to the spells, it should be able to give him ess as well!

    "I know you want that wooden box. I don''t know why, but I also want that box. I want to get inside the Museum to retrieve that box. For that, I need your help..."

    " I know you just gave me two spells to keep my Soul safe, but those two spells can''t help me get there! They''re not enough! I need more spells! I really need your help this once..."

    Gabriel earnestly exined his problems. He understood the reasons that the Grimoire had to keep the powerful spells restricted because it didn''t want him to destroy his Soul by using spells that were beyond his capacity so soon, but he needed the Grimoire''s help. He knew that if anything could help him, it was the Grimoire.

    He also had a feeling that the Grimoire couldn''t refuse him! When he was in the museum, he could feel just how eager the Grimoire was for him to get the box! With this help, he could also retrieve the box! He had the perfect bait for the Grimoire. Now all he needed to do was wait¡­ wait for the Grimoire to take the bait.

    Around ten minutes passed, but there was no response. Just as Gabriel was starting to like he had failed, he felt a burning sensation in his right hand. His Mark of Death and Necromancy started shining brightly, making him feel as if his hand was burning.

    The Grimoire also started shining as it opened... The pages flipped to the second page, which had the first spell¡­ The Shield of Undead. The book didn''t stop. It turned to the third page, which had his second spell. He already had ess to those pages, but what happened next was what truly surprised him!

    The fourth page was revealed. Some words also appeared on the page. Seeing the fourth page, Gabriel really grew excited! He had received a new spell. But that''s not where the Grimoire stopped! Against all his expectations, a second new spell appeared as the page turned once more!

    Two new spells had appeared in his Grimoire before it, and the mark on his hand stopped shining! He had asked for one new spell, but he received two! And those two spells... He managed to get a glimpse of them. They were¡­

 87 Chapter 87

    After the book stopped shining, itnded on the bed before Gabriel.

    "So I was right! You can understand me! You do have a soul!"

    If Gabriel had a doubt before, he was now sure about this notion that the Grimoire actually had a soul, and it was intelligent. It could understand him and take action ordingly!

    "No wonder you managed to take me to a safe ce when I was about to die. You saved me at that time."

    He was still grateful for the Grimoire, which saved his life twice. However, there were still some doubts in his head as well. If the Grimoire could take him to that bizarre ce where he saw those statues, then why didn''t the Grimoire of Darkness take the old owner there?

    When the Lord of Darkness was surrounded by other Sacred Mages, then why didn''t his Grimoire do the same? Why didn''t his Grimoire save him? Was this something that only his Grimoire could do?

    These questions gued his head, but he kept his mind on his goal. He had a task at hand. Before it was night, he wanted to read the new spells and understand them, so he didn''t make the same mistake.

    He had another concern when he asked for the help from Grimoire. The Grimoire was hard to be detected by the enemies unless they were extremely close to him. And even then, the gloves hid its aura. However, the spells were a different matter.

    Even though his Element was inherently different from the Element of Darkness, the aura still had some traces of darkness. So whenever he used a spell from his Grimoire, he always carried a risk of alerting every Mage in his vicinity.

    As if understanding the concern of his, the Grimoire gave him an extra spell just for that. The third spell he received was exactly that.

    He opened the Grimoire and went into the third spell.

    "Imitation of the Dead!"

    He carefully read the name of the third spell, which was what intrigued him the most. It was the spell that worked on the biggest problem that he had.

    It was a low tier spell that couldn''t be used for offense. It couldn''t be used for defense either. However, its use was something that was even more important for Gabriel than the offensive or defensive spells.

    The spell allowed him to Imitate the Dead, but not like the Ring of Apophis allowed him to do. The spell didn''t help him disguise. It didn''t make him change into someone else. Instead, the spell only worked to imitate the aura.

    It was more like a disguise spell that allowed him to imitate the aura of someone else when casting spells. Since he was a Mage with an Element that was much darker, he could use the Imitation of the Dead on himself to make it impossible for anyone to feel his true aura.

    The spell not only hid his own aura, but it also hid the aura of his Death Spells and everything associated with those spells.

    His biggest problem was being sensed by powerful mages if he used his second Element. However, with Imitation of the Dead, he could use those spells, and no one could sense anything odd.

    This one spell gave him free ess to use his other Element without being detected. The only w with the spell was that it had a time limitation since it was a spell that ced a lot of burden on one''s soul. That''s also why the spell was restricted for Gabriel before.

    The spell couldn''t disguise his aura with anyone''s aura. It specifically disguised his Deathly Aura with the elemental auras of the people he had killed. He had a choice with that.

    Since Gabriel had recently killed Hawrin, he could disguise his Aura of Death with the Aura of Light which was Hawrin''s element.

    That was just the third spell which was for his protection. It couldn''t help him get out of here. For that, there was the fourth spell... The second blessing from his Grimoire.

    Gabriel memorized the third spell and made sure to master itpletely since it was the most important spell for him.

    After spending an hour on the third spell, he turned the page and moved into the fourth spell.

    "Undead Switch!"

    The fourth spell also happened to be a low tier spell. However, despite being a low tier spell, it was also very versatile, just like the third spell.

    Instead of allowing him to imitate his aura, the fourth spell allowed him to change ces with an Undead. It was a spell that was easy to understand, just from the name itself. Still, Gabriel went through the description of the spell.

    The Fourth Spell allowed him to switch ces with an Undead in an instant. It was no less than Teleportation. However, for that, he needed an Undead in the first ce. Only if there was an Undead, he could switch ces with him.

    Despite that problem, Gabriel didn''t feel bad. Instead, he had a grin on his face. With the two new spells, he felt that he hadpleted a set. The two new spells removed his biggest problem and gave him an advantage that he craved for! He now has everything!

    "Thank you!" Gabriel thanked his Grimoire now that he knew that it could understand him.

    After thanking the Grimoire, he went through the fourth spell, trying to learn it to perfection as well. He had already learned the first three spells, which only left onest spell to be learned.

    He spent half an hour more before finally learning the fourth spell. If only he knew what he had achieved, he would''ve been surprised himself.

    The two new spells that he learned were low-tier spells, but they were among the mostplex low-tier spells. To learn spells like them, even a talented person took weeks, sometimes months. However, he was done within a couple of hours. And he didn''t even know what he did.<sub> </sub>

    After he finished, Gabriel let out a sigh of relief. He looked out the window, noticing that it had already be dark outside. It was around nine at night.

    Knock Knock~

    There was suddenly a knock on the door, which surprised Gabriel. He made the Grimoire return to the form of the ring before hiding the Spellbook of Light as well. He once again wore his Gloves and checked his reflection in the Mirror to ensure his disguise was still intact.

    After making sure that there was nothing suspicious, he opened the door, wondering who could be at this time.

    "It''s you..." As he opened the door, he sighed in relief.

    There was a young girl standing outside the door with a tray in his hand.

    "It''s been one day since you arrived here, and you''re already in trouble." Riya rolled her eyes. "Just my luck that I had to be selected as your advisor when you came here. Anyway, I brought some food for you since you can''t leave."

    Riya moved Gabriel aside before entering the room. She ced the tray on the bed. "Eat up and rest."

    She started leaving as if she had onlye to deliver food. However, as he was about to step out of the room, she stopped.

    "I heard what happened. I believe you. I don''t think you can kill anyone," She earnestly stated. "I''m sure you''ll be proven innocent tomorrow. So best of luck."

    She left, closing the door behind her. The door was locked from outside again.

    Gabriel locked the door from inside as well before gazing back at the food.

    It still wasn''t midnight. There was still some time, and he was also feeling quite hungry. He went to the bed and started feasting.

    Within twenty minutes, Gabriel finished eating and started resting, waiting for midnight. He had all the preparations now. Just the right time was needed, which was when the academy wasn''t crowded, and most of the students were already asleep.

    For the next two hours, he justy on the bed, gazing at the roof. For some reason, the time was moving so slowly now.

    For him, three hours seemed like an eternity, maybe because he was excited to use the spells. Finally, he could use them safely without worrying about getting an entire army after him.

    After tormenting three hours, finally, it was midnight! Gabriel got off the bed and walked over to the windows, ncing at the beautiful moon in the sky. The streets were also quite empty. Only a few students could be seen walking.

    "I guess it''s time... Time to make sure I get what I''m here for!"

    "Come to me!" He raised his right hand. His ring turned into a speck of dark light, passing through his gloves before taking the shape of a Dark Grimoire.

    The Fourth Page opened instantly,nding on the Third Spell that he had received.

    "Imitation of the Dead!" Gabriel dered, thinking about Hawrin.

    The first thing he did was use the Imitation of the Dead for protection. And then came the main part.

    Instead of turning to the fifth page, the Grimoire opened the Third Page, following Gabriel''s wish.

    "Time to meet you..."

    "Return of the Dead!"

    He finally used his second spell. The spell that he had for a long time but never used, even though he was curious about it, based on its description. Finally, he used the spell that could summon an Undead from the Nether!

    A blood-red formation circle appeared on the floor before Gabriel. The entire room was filled with blood-red light. If someone outside were looking toward his window, they would''ve seen his windows illuminated in red light, but fortunately, no one was looking there.

    The Formation came with a frighteningly demonic aura that would''ve been sensed from a thousand miles away, but the Immigration of the Dead changed the aura with the aura of a Beginner Mage of Light which was Hawrin.

    A pitch ck door appeared above the red formation, which initially looked like a hologram, but before long, it looked more real than an actual door.

    A metallic door was before Gabriel. There was a scythe carved on the door. A pitch ck gem was embedded in the middle of that scythe.

    The door slowly started opening¡­

 88 Chapter 88

    The enigmatic door gradually opened, connecting this world to the realm of the dead. Through the connection, the dark spell selected the closest being in the realm of the Undead.

    From the description of the spell, Gabriel had found out that he didn''t have much choice in what he was going to summon.

    Since it was his first time and his magical strength level was weakerparatively, he couldn''t be more specific in his search. In fact, he couldn''t even see into the realm of the undead through the door.

    It all depended on luck at this point for him. Despite that, he was still intrigued. Even if it was a random selection, he had ways to use it to get out of the ce.

    Gabriel eagerly waited to see just who was bound to be his first Summoned Undead. Whoever it was... Since it was Gabriel''s first time, the Summoned Undead was supposed to be bound to him for as long as Gabriel lived. That''s why the first Summons were always so special.

    From then on, Gabriel could Summon the undead whenever he wanted, without using much magical strength.

    He didn''t know much about the realm of the Undead at the moment, but he had asked Lira about it, trying to understand just what kind of creatures lived in the realm of the dead. He wanted to understand just what his Summoned Familiar could be like.

    ording to Lira, the mostmon beings in the Realm of the Dead were Skeleton Soldiers and Zombies. There were millions of them. The stronger an Undead was, the rarer they were in the realm of the undead, and the chances of getting them were also very low.

    Based on that probability, Gabriel expected that he was going to receive a Skeleton Soldier most probably. From then on, everything was on his shoulders about how he used the Skeleton Soldier to get out of here. He had already thought of a n as well. It all relied on his fourth skill.

    The doors opened entirely, revealingplete darkness on the other side. Gabriel couldn''t see anything on the other end, but he did feel a strange feeling in his body.

    It was a strange kind of pain that he felt. "It seems the Spell found an Undead for me. The connection is being established."

    Gabriel clenched his fist, bearing with the sharp pain that was only increasing.

    "Urgh!" The pain suddenly increased to levels even he hadn''t expected. He dropped to his knees as his breathing halted. He had to struggle to even breathe! His heart also stopped beating momentarily.

    Clenching his chest, Gabriel tried to breathe even as his vision also started turning dark! He felt suffocated!

    He didn''t know what this was, but it felt as if he was going to die! The pain was even worse than being stabbed again and again by Hawrin.

    He had only one thought in his head at the moment. It was if he was going to die?! He couldn''t have imagined, even in his dreams, that he would die from his own spells. Now he understood why the stronger spells were kept beyond his reach! Just the second spell itself was so dangerous for his soul.

    He felt as if the connection that the spell was trying to establish was destroying his soul in return. He didn''t know why! Why was this happening? Was it really that hard to establish a connection with a mere skeleton soldier?

    His body started turning weak as he began to pass out, almost losing hope.

    Fortunately, just as he felt that he was going to pass out and die, his ring came into action.

    A mysterious dark light started shining all around the ring, slowly surrounding his entire body, helping relieve the pain.

    His heart once again started beating, and he was finally able to breathe. He breathed heavily, trying to take as much oxygen as he could. After gasping for breath, finally, he could breathe!

    He sat on his knees, huffing as if he had just raced for over a thousand miles at his top speed without resting.

    The burden on his soul went down a lot. Now that Gabriel finally felt like he was going to live, he could finally think about this strange phenomenon.

    If it was so hard to establish a contract with a Skeleton Soldier, he didn''t even feel like imagining just how scary it would''ve been to try to establish a contract with a stronger being! Even now, the contract hasn''t seeded!

    ****

    The realm of the Dead... It was a ce where most of the Undead was said to be residing. The Undead couldn''t ess the world of the living, but it was the same for the Living Beings who couldn''t ess the Realm of the Dead... At least, that was the im.<sub> </sub>

    There were billions of Undeads in the Realm of Death, but amongst the billions, there were only fifty who ruled the Realm of Undead. They were called Supreme Undead Beings and enjoyed great prestige in the realm.

    Most of the Supreme Undead Beings had their own Empires and controlled massive armies of the undead.

    Strangely enough, even though there were Fifty Supreme Undeads, there were only forty-nine Empires. Almost all of the Realm of Undead was under their Control.

    The Empire of Skeletons was controlled by the Skeleton King, who had the biggest army out of all the Undead Empires. His army contained not only Billions of Skeleton Soldiers but also Millions of Skeleton Mages and Skeleton Grand Mages.

    Even the Skeleton King himself was able to control magic to fight! It was said that it was almost impossible to defeat the Skeleton King.

    The Smallest Army of all the Undead Empires belonged to the Lich Empire, which had only a hundred thousand warriors. However, despite such a small number, they were still among the strongest Empires. There were many such powerful Empires controlled by the Forty-nine Supreme Undead Beings, but there was still one left... One that was the most unorthodox one here.

    It was a Supreme Undead that controlled no Empires. Not only did he control no Empire, but he didn''t try to establish one either. It was just one person, but that one person was someone that was enough to intimidate even the strongest of the Empires. He was known as the Lone Undead King.

    There were no official rankings of the Supreme Undeads, but if there was one, the Lone Undead King would''ve been amongst the top.

    A horse raced through a desert. As far as the eyes could see, only ck sand could be seen.

    The white horse created quite a contrast in the ck Desert, but the Horse didn''t look like an ordinary horse from the earth.

    Instead of one tail, the horse had nine beautiful tails. There were two horns protruding out of his head, but the strangest part was that his entire body was on fire.Deep blue mes were surrounding the horse, not looking as if it was harming the horse in the least.

    A figure was sitting on the horse, covered by a ck cloak which made it impossible to see his physical features. Even that figure appeared to be unaffected by the deep blue mes...

    A terrifying aura of death emanated from the cloaked figure...

    The horse that appeared to be talking with the wind started slowing down as if noticing something in the distance.

    Around three kilometers away from the zing horse, an army of around a thousand could be seen as if waiting for someone.

    The Army seemingly belonged to the Damphir Empire. While all the Damphirs seemed more or less human, almost all of them had pale skin and dark hair.

    All of them possessed sharpened teeth and ws, highlighting their undead heritage. Unlike most of the Undead that lived in the Realm of Death, only Damphirs appeared to have a heartbeat, even though a very faint one that could barely be felt.

    Unlike the other Undead, that looked grim and scary; the Damphirs were graceful in appearance, simr to many humans.

    This was also one of the reasons they weren''t respected much by the other Undead Empires. Despite that, their Bloodline traits made them a terrifying enemy to face, mainly because their speed was inhuman.

    Seeing an army of around a thousand, the Cloaked Creature made the horse stop. He jumped down the horse,nding on the ck sand.

    As soon as hended on the same, smoke started rising from under his feet as if the ck sand was burning his skin. The person didn''t appear to care.

    The cloaked figure walked closer to the Damphirs. There was not a single weapon in his hand, but still, the Damphirs felt a chill run down their spine as they saw the eyes of the cloaked figure.

    The one that was leading the group gulped down, but he stood firm on his ground, even as he watched the hooded figure get close to them.

    The hooded figure stopped around twenty feet before the Damphir General, who carried a heavy sword on his back.

    The zing sword still apanied the hooded figure, who was said to be someone that could strike fear in anyone''s heart. Even Damphirs felt scared of him.He was the King without a Kingdom... It was he who was known as the Lone Undead King!

 89 Chapter 89

    The Hooded figure didn''t say anything. He just gazed at the Damphirs with eyes that had not a single shred of emotion in them. Just his gaze itself was enough to convey what he wanted to say.

    "Lord Infernal..." The General of the small army respectfully greeted the Lone Undead King, whose extant species was said to be the rarest in the Realm of the Undead. He was an Infernal¡­ the beings that were said toe into existence from the Infernal mes of hell itself.

    Throughout history, there were said to be only two Infernals that ever existed. Out of the two, one was already destroyed, wiped off the existence by the Infernal that stood before them.

    When it came to the Undeads, he was said to be one of the most terrifying beings. Even the other Undead Kings tried to avoid him if possible. It was unclear if it was because they were scared of him or they just wanted to avoid a conflict since the Infernal Sorcerer didn''t have anything to lose, unlike them.

    The Infernal Sorcerer didn''t have an army. He didn''t have any Kingdom. He also didn''t have any friends. He was all alone in the world. If he had anyone, it was only his Burning Horse who always apanied him wherever he went.

    The Damphir General was really intimidated by the Lone Undead King, especially since stories about him made him appear like a monster, even when it came to the Undeads.

    His eyes subconsciously went to the left hand of the Infernal. It was said that once upon a time, the two Infernals fought each other. In the battle, the Infernal Sorcerer got his left arm damaged, while the other Infernal lost his life.

    The Infernal Sorcerer noticed the Damphir General looking at his left hand.

    He raised his left hand, revealing a skeleton-like hand. While his right hand seemed to be simr to that of a human, his left hand was no more than white bones. There was no flesh on his left hand as the flesh on it had already burned in the battle he had.

    Through his skeleton fingers, the Infernal Sorcerer gestured for the Damphirs to move aside. Even now, he didn''t speak. He just gestured for them to move aside.

    "Our Kingmanded us not to let anyone pass through this point. Our Princess is on an exploration there, and until she is there, we can''t let anyone get through. Lord Infernal, can you please take another path?"

    The Damphir General was still quite respectful. Even though he was worried, he still disyed calmness. If it weren''t the Damphir King''smand, then he would''ve let the Infernal Sorcerer pass through. At the moment, he couldn''t ignore the King''smand just because he was scared.

    He really hoped that the Infernal Sorcerer was going to understand his concern and take another path. Not like he had anywhere to be.

    The Infernal Sorcerer frowned, seeing no one clearing his path. He didn''t ask them to move again. Instead, he turned around and started walking back to the Burning Horse.

    The Damphir General sighed in relief. It seemed the Infernal King had agreed to take another route and not escte the conflict over a small matter.

    The Infernal King once again looked in the direction of the Damphirs as he reached the horse. He climbed on the horse.

    It was only after he sat on the horse that he removed his hood, revealing his face. Surprisingly, his face was quite simr to the face of a normal human, albeit very pale. He had short dark hair that covered his forehead.

    The Infernal Sorcerer had a slender face that made him look like he was in his early twenties, despite him being in existence for thousands of years.

    His right eye''s pupils were a beautiful shade of light green. As for his left eye... That was the strange part. He didn''t have a left eye... If he had, it couldn''t be seen. A green fire could be seen in ce of his left eye... A fire that was said to be capable of burning anything!

    Damphir General grimaced, seeing the Infernal King take off his hood. He was looking straight in their direction. For some reason, the Damphir General felt as if the Infernal Sorcerer was able to see through the hidden depths of his soul.

    The Damphir General wasn''t the only one who felt that way. It was the case for every Damphir in the army. Whoever looked into his burning eyes they were frozen in ce.

    While all the Damphirs were frozen, the Infernal Sorcerer raised his skeleton hand, but this time, he didn''t ask them to move aside. Instead, he clenched his fist.<sub> </sub>

    As soon as the Infernal Sorcerer closed his fist, a frightening fire started burning the bodies of the Damphirs. Thousands of bodies burned right before his eyes, yet his face remainedpletely expressionless.

    Even as the Damphirs burned, they were still standing in a daze. It was as if they were so lost in the Infernal Sorcerer''s eyes that they didn''t even feel their bodies being burned.

    The Damphirs burned to ashes within minutes, and they didn''t even fight back! Where thousands of Damphirs were standing until recently, only ashes could be seen there now.

    The Infernal Sorcerer raised the hood again, covering his head.

    The horse walked over the ashes of the people that were blocking their path until recently.

    Just as the zing horse passed through the ashden desert, a metallic door appeared before them, out of thin air. It appeared right in the middle of their path.

    The Infernal Sorcerer frowned at the sight of the strange door that appeared out of nowhere. It was his first time seeing something like this happen. Before he could even think about it, the door opened.

    On the other end of the door, the Infernal King could only see a bright light and nothing more!

    Thousands of Chains came out of the bright light, shooting straight to the Infernal Sorcerer, who happened to be the only Undead that was closest to the door.

    All the chains wrapped around the Infernal Sorcerer, trying to subdue him.

    Unfortunately, the Infernal King wasn''t an easy target. Even the Chains of the Spell couldn''t control him since the soul strength behind those chains wasn''t enough.

    Let alone being able to pull him closer to the door; the chains couldn''t even make him move.

    The Infernal Sorcerer held a chain with each of his hands as the me in his left eye burned even brighter.

    The entire chain caught in mes, which weakened the chains even more. However, the real target of the mes wasn''t the chains! It was the source of the chains.

    For the next few minutes, the Infernal King seemed to have an advantage against the spell chains that were melting due to his mes.

    It looked as if he was going to be free while destroying the source of the chains. Throughout the entire event, his expressions remained still, as if he didn''t even feel threatened by this much.

    Unfortunately for him, just as he was about to win and break the shackles, a mysterious ck light came from the other side. The chains that were on the verge of being destroyed became even stronger.

    The fire that was burning the Chains started weakening instead as if being subdued by the mysterious energy. The mysterious dark energy seemed to contain the purest strength of Death that was able to overwhelm even his Infernal mes.

    Finally, the Infernal Sorcerer''s expressions changed as he felt a terrifying pain all around his body. Even then, he didn''t give up. He fought back against the mysterious dark energy valiantly, firmly resisting the spell and the control contract that the spell was trying to establish.

    What started as a battle between Gabriel''s Soul Strength and the Infernal Sorcerer''s mes had now changed to the battle between the Forbidden Book of Necromancy and the Infernal Sorcerer!

 90 Chapter 90

    The battle between the Holy Grimoire and the Infernal Sorcerer raged on, but somehow the Infernal Sorcerer appeared to be at a disadvantage at this point. Despite that, it wasn''t as if the Grimoire was having an easier time either.

    The Infernal King felt a terrifying pain all around his body. His body soon felt like it was paralyzed as he fell off the horse. The horse tried to fight back the chains as well, but some mysterious force kept it away. The horse wasn''t even able to get close to the chains.

    The Infernal King was on his knees on the ground. Even moving a finger was proving to be hard for him as his entire body refused to listen to him. He didn''t understand just what this dark power in the chains was, but it was overpowering his soul.

    It was as if the mysterious power was trying to leave an imprint on his soul, establishing a link that shouldn''t have been established.

    The Infernal King resisted as best as he could. After a long struggle, he managed to raise his left hand, grabbing the burning chains. He started pulling the chain toward him. It was unclear just what this mysterious power was, but he decided to give it his all to fight back!

    Throughout his long existence, he had never surrendered before anyone! He had carved his own path in the Realm of the Dead, even when things were heard! He wasn''t going to surrender now!

    ****

    Gabriel finally felt some relief from a tormenting pain as a mysterious energy from the Grimoire filled him up. If it weren''t for that mysterious energy, he would''ve been dead by now, unable to breathe.

    Even though the mysterious energy was supporting him, there was still some burden on his soul as he felt the resistance even now. The Resistance wasn''t as overwhelming as it was when he didn''t have the support of the Grimoire.

    He was still on his knees while a dark energy protected his body.

    Throughout the next ten minutes, he remained on his knees, feeling that resistance, wondering if he was going to fail Summoning a mere skeleton as that''s what he believed his first summon could be¡­ unaware of what he was really Summoning¡­

    Gabriel clenched his fist.

    "I can''t fail! I can''t let a mere skeleton defeat me!"

    Even though his body was covered in sweat, he was still filled with determination. He ced his fist on the ground before pushing his body up.

    He stood firmly on his ground, facing a strange pressure head on. He wasn''t going to give up either! The mark on his left hand shone even brighter!

    Fortunately, the pressure was going down with each passing second, and ultimately there was no pressure at all. The pressure suddenly disappeared.

    Instead of feeling weak now, Gabriel felt as if he was suddenly filled with strength. It was as if his body was back to its original state as if nothing had happened in thest few minutes.

    He suspiciously looked at the darkness on the other end of the door as if waiting for something. Right before the pressure disappeared, he felt a strange feeling. It was as if his heart had stopped beating once more, but it was only for a few seconds this time.

    He wondered if that meant he had failed. Was that why the pressure disappeared? This one moment was going to decide if he seeded or failed.

    As he stared at the dark space, he saw a hande out of the darkness.<sub> </sub>

    The hand looked like the hand of a Skeleton. It finally made Gabriel convinced that he had established a contract with an Undead! He believed he had established a contract with a Skeleton Soldier!

    His expressions soon transformed as a being stepped out of the darkness. From no angle did that being look like a skeleton! He has a proper face, even though it looked a bit pale. His burning eyes were so alluring as if there was something hidden behind that fire... Something much darker.

    Whatever it was that came out of the darkness; it wasn''t a skeleton! Other than the left hand, the being had nothing that matched a skeleton.

    "You are... my Summoned Undead?" Gabriel asked, frowning.

    The person that was standing before him wasn''t a human. But he didn''t look like any undead species that he heard about either.

    Instead of responding to Gabriel, the Infernal Sorcerer looked around, observing his new surroundings. He had a questioning gaze on his face as he observed the new ce.

    He looked down at his hands as if trying to feel the energy of this ce. Even the air of this ce was different. It didn''t have the stench of the dead. Instead, it was fresh air that made him somewhat ufortable. He felt really bizarre, being in a ce like this.

    As the summoning waspleted, the door behind the Infernal Sorcerer closed. He turned around, hearing the sound of the door closing.

    He reached out his hand to open the door again, but his hand managed to pass through the door as if the door was just an illusion and not real.

    The door disappeared, and so did the formation that was illuminating the room. The Forbidden Book of Necromancy was once again around Gabriel''s fingers in the form of a ring. It stopped sending its energy to Gabriel''s body as its task waspleted. The contract waspleted against the wishes of the Infernal Sorcerer.

    The Infernal Sorcerer felt suffocated in this ce. He wanted to go back to where he came from, but there was no way!

    He looked at a different door. Even though the door was different from the door he came here, he still went to the door, about to break it open.

    "Stop!" Gabriel called out, seeing the Infernal Sorcerer reacting like that.

    The Infernal Sorcerer was just about to break the door open, but as soon as Gabriel asked him to stop, he felt a strange Restriction around his body, which stopped him from breaking the door.

    The Infernal King was infuriated! So it was the doing of the man behind him! It was that man who pulled him here against all his wishes.

    The me in his left eye intensified as he red back at Gabriel.

    He raised his left hand again, making a simr gesture that he did before he destroyed the Damphirs. It was as if he was going to destroy Gabriel the same way he destroyed them¡­ By burning him to cinders.

    He was overwhelmed by rage and anger, and only by destroying Gabriel could he feel free!

 91 Chapter 91

    The Infernal Sorcerer red at Gabriel, believing him to be the one who had attacked him before! He was enraged. Throughout the time, he still hadn''t spoken anything. Let alone speak; he didn''t make a single noise either, despite being so angry.

    Gabriel frowned, getting a strange feeling from this guy''s reaction, especially since he wasn''t answering either.

    "Who... or rather, what are you?" he asked again, only to receive silence as his answer.

    The Infernal Sorcerer pointed at Gabriel as his emotionless eyes nced at the person onest time before he was going to be destroyed.

    Thud~

    With a thudding noise, the Infernal Sorcerer abruptly dropped to his knees, holding his head which felt as if it was about to explode. Just as he was about to attack Gabriel, that strange pain filled his head, overwhelming him.

    "Are you alright!" Gabriel rushed to the Infernal Sorcerer. "What happened to you?"

    The Infernal Sorcerer was his summoned dead. Despite technically being the owner of the Infernal Sorcerer now, Gabriel didn''t know much. It was his first time dealing with the Summoned Undead, and they didn''te with an instruction manual.

    For a moment, he even wondered if there was something wrong with his spell that was hurting the Infernal Sorcerer.

    The pain didn''tst long, fortunately. The terrifying pain went away just as fast as it came, giving some relief to the Infernal Sorcerer.

    The Infernal Sorcerer raised his head, ring at Gabriel, who was even closer to him now. He once again tried to attack Gabriel, only to experience that pain again. He once again grabbed his head, clenching his teeth in pain.

    Gabriel just watched the Infernal Sorcerer struggle as if he was in pain. He didn''t understand why that was happening. The Infernal Sorcerer wasn''t answering either for him to know what was happening to him!

    There was no way for him to understand why the Infernal Sorcerer was going through this pain. He didn''t have even the slightest clue that it was because the Infernal King was trying to kill him. Now that the contract between the two was established, the Infernal King not only couldn''t ignore Gabriel''smands, but he also couldn''t harm him.

    By now, the Infernal King also realized that much after suffering twice. As soon as the pain went away, he didn''t try the same thing a third time.

    He just stood up, ncing at Gabriel, wondering if he had been enved. He couldn''t ept it! He wondered what his options were at the moment if he couldn''t destroy Gabriel or leave.

    He pointed at Gabriel, but this time with no intention to go back. He made a small gesture as if asking who Gabriel was in his signnguage.

    Seeing the gestures, Gabriel finally understood a few things. It appeared as if his contracted Undead couldn''t speak, despite having a body that was so simr to a human. He was an intelligent being, but he just wasn''t able to speak despite that.

    "I am Gabriel. I am a Mage of Necromancy. I''m also the one who called you here to help me." Gabriel introduced himself. "Honestly, I expected a Skeleton Soldier to be summoned. I didn''t expect you to pass through the door. Not that I know what you are, but I''ll have to make do with what I got."

    Gabriel had no idea just what a massive feat he had aplished with his Summon! He believed the Infernal Sorcerer to be a weak Undead, partially because he was so much like a human. He really underestimated the Infernal King!

    "Anyway, now that you''re here, we are bound together through a contract. Whenever I need help, I can call you for help. That''s how these contacts work from what I understand," he further exined, believing the Infernal Sorcerer was confused.

    "I''m sure you must be missing your home and want to go back as the realm of the living can be quite ufortable for you. But I can promise you, as long as you help me, I''ll send you back where you came from! All I need is a little help!"

    It wasn''t as if he could keep the Infernal King with him always since it took a heavy toll on him. Now that the contract was established, he could call the Infernal King whenever he wanted, so there was no need to keep him in the Realm of Living always and to agitate him further.<sub> </sub>

    Gabriel promised the Infernal King to send him back after they were done with this one task. However, he intentionally didn''t mention that he would call the Infernal King again in case he needed more help. They were now connected through the eternal spell!

    The Infernal King stood in silence as if trying to understand the situation. Since he couldn''t kill Gabriel, that meant he could only help if he wanted to go back.

    The Infernal King pointed back before pping his hands together.

    "Are you asking if I''m sure I''ll send you back?" Gabriel couldn''t understand signnguage, especially when it originated from the Undead. He could only take a guess as to what the Infernal King was trying to say.

    The Infernal King nodded. Even though the Infernal King was supposed to have a terrifying aura that could spread for miles, no one could sense that aura, even outside the room. It was as if that dark aura didn''t exist at all.

    It was all thanks to the fact that Gabriel was using Imitation of the Dead, which hid the real aura and used a fake aura so weak that no one even sensed it. Only Gabriel could sense the real aura of the Infernal King, which he believed to be expected for an undead as it was his first interaction with an Undead like that.

    The aura felt like a fresh breeze to him. Even though it was the aura of a powerful Undead, he didn''t know why, but he felt quite rxed under the aura, which was hated by everyone else.

    "That''s right. I promise I''ll send you back after we are done. In fact, by morning, you should be back already. So, are you going to help me now?"

    Even though Gabriel could just issue amand to the Infernal King instead of asking, he didn''t. Instead, he tried to win the trust of the Infernal King since the two of them were going to have each other''s back in the future. Because it was their first contract, he didn''t want to make the Infernal King hate him.

    It was also a good decision from his side, even though he didn''t realize it at the moment. He could definitely issue amand to the Infernal King, which he had to follow, but the more the Infernal King resisted themands, the weaker it could make their link.

    It could, in turn, ce even more burden on Gabriel''s Soul, which was already under a lot of pressure from using two spells simultaneously, both of which were constantly active. By not forcing the Infernal King, he avoided a perilous situation.

    The Infernal King made another gesture, moving his hand slowly as if asking what help he needed. The Infernal King hated the fact that he had to deal with a kid, but now that he was here, he could go back faster by helping Gabriel. No matter how irritating it was for him, he agreed.

    The Infernal King listened to Gabriel, but so far, it was only that. It was impossible to win the Infernal King''s respect by just forcing him through a spell. Gabriel hadn''t won his respect¡­ at least not yet.

    "I want to steal something..."

    Gabriel exined the entire situation to the Infernal King, including the fact that they were at the enemy base. He also talked about his reason foring here and why they were locked here, including the mission that he had.

    "If I want to be able to leave this ce, I need to rob the museum. But we can''t let anyone know about that either. The Church of Light is right in the city. If they sensed us, we would be surrounded from all sides, and I don''t want to face them at this time, especially since all the Academy firepower will also be after us."

    "So we need to do it, and we need to do it stealthily," Gabriel exined to the Infernal King, who listened carefully. "To get out, I''ll be using the Undead Swap. So here''s the -"

    "Hmm?" Gabriel was exining his n on how he wanted to get out, but before he could even finish, the Infernal King walked to the ss doors instead¡­ seemingly distracted by something else.

    The Infernal King nced into the distance as if seeing something which made him frown.

    A cloaked figure stood on top of a distant building, holding a scythe in its hand, staring in their direction. No face could be seen on the dark figure, as if there was only the floating cloak.

 92 Chapter 92

    Gabriel also walked closer to the Infernal King, wondering what he was looking at like that.

    He looked in the direction where the Infernal King was looking, noticing a figure standing in the distance. Despite it being dark outside, there was enough light to see the figure, thanks to the moonlight.

    Seeing the distant figure, Gabriel was slightly surprised. He recognized that figure as it wasn''t his first time seeing that figure. He saw the exact figure on at least two asions.

    It was the same Dark Spectre who was trying to destroy his Spirit before he was selected by the Grimoire. He saw the figure not long after he had died. In fact, that was also the first time he saw any spiritual being in his life. At that moment, he thought that it was the end for him, but the Grimoire saved him.

    That wasn''t the only meeting that he initially assumed was going to be hisst time seeing the Spectre, but it appeared again when it helped him. When Gabriel needed to travel through the river of spirits, the specter was the one who helped him.

    He still didn''t understand why the Spectre helped him at that time, but he didn''t think too much about it. Every time the specter appeared before him, it was for something significant. But why this time?

    "What is it doing here?"

    Gabriel didn''t expect the Spectre to be here and at this time! What surprised him even more was that no one else could sense the reaper other than them. No Mages of Light were here to capture him, despite his frightening dark aura and the Church of Light being in the city!

    He could sense the dark aura of the Spectre. Unlike him, the Spectre wasn''t hiding his aura. Then why wasn''t anyone else able to feel him?

    The city was a bastion of Light. It was the Holy City which was heavily protected by the Church of Light. Even he himself could only enter the city, thanks to having the Element of Light and his attire that hid his aura of Death. But what about the Spectre?

    It didn''t have the Element of Light. It was the embodiment of death itself. For it to even pass through the barrier of light undetected should''ve been impossible. Yet, not only did it pass through, but it also entered the Academy.

    And even if the Spectre was here, it didn''t make sense. Why would hee here?

    "Could it be because I called an Undead to the Realm of Living? Is it here to stop me? Or could it be for something else?"

    "Do you know that guy?" he asked the Infernal King, wondering if the two knew each other, since both of them were rted to the Realm of Death in their own way.

    It had the highest possibility that the specter was here for the Infernal Sorcerer. The way Infernal Sorcerer looked at the Spectre, it was as if there was definitely some history between the two.

    The Infernal King clenched his fist. The being that was usually very calm was showing quite a lot of reaction at the sight of the Spectre now.  He didn''t answer Gabriel''s questions, as if he couldn''t even hear the questions.

    His body turned into the purest form of mes. The mes passed through the small opening under the ss door, appearing on the other side of the door. It was as if the Infernal King remembered that he wasn''t allowed to break the door, which made him choose another way to leave to avoid the headache.

    "Wait! Don''t!" Gabriel was stunned to find the Infernal Sorcerer leaving. If he attacked or made anymotion, it was going to be quite a headache.

    Unfortunately, as the Infernal King appeared on the balcony and looked into the distance, the Spectre wasn''t there anymore. He had disappeared.

    The Infernal King still nkly looked at the ce where the specter was standing previously.

    Gabriel sighed in relief, getting a feeling that the Infernal Sorcerer and the Spectre didn''t have a good rtionship.

    Gabriel was less surprised about the disappearance of the Spectre as he had be habitual of it, but what surprised him was the trick that the Infernal Sorcerer pulled.

    "And here I was, thinking of a n to get out."

    If the Infernal King could get out through the balcony, then that was better. He didn''t have to go through extra steps of his n to get out of this room, which was just perfect!

    "Undead Swap!" Gabriel cast the fourth spell.

    As soon as he chanted the spell, his surroundings turned white. He felt a strange spatial pressure around him, and the next thing he knew, he was standing out on the balcony. Meanwhile, the Infernal King was now inside the room.<sub> </sub>

    "It worked!" Gabriel could feel the cold winds of outside brushing against his skin as he basked in the moonlight.

    He turned around to find the Infernal Sorcerer inside. "Thank you for the help. However, from here on, I''ll have to do everything on my own. Just stay inside the room and don''t leave the room even if you can. I''ll be right back after I''m done!"

    "Oh, and don''t burn anything inside the room. Just stay there, and wait. There must be no damage to the property. And in case someone knocks on the door, just don''t make any noise or try to open the door! Just let them think that I''m asleep. You understand?"

    Even though he was curious about the Spectre''s appearance, now that he left, he let it be. He didn''t think much about it as there was another important thing for him to do.

    The Infernal Sorcerer still felt irritated that a kid wasmanding him, but he could only agree since only this led him back home.

    "Perfect."

    Gabriel looked down from the balcony, noticing a few guards outside the Dorms. Ever since the incident fromst time, the security was slightly increased.

    Fortunately, it was still less than what it was going to be tomorrow if the Academy didn''t find their killer until then, so he needed to take care of the matters tonight.

    Moreover, tonight he also had an alibi! There were so many people outside his room, which was sealed, so no matter what happened tonight, he was going to be thest person that anyone was going to be suspicious about.

    He used his Ring of Apophis to change his looks once more, but this time, he didn''t change himself to look like someone who wasn''t in the academy. This time, he used the disguise of someone who was very well known in the academy.

    That was risky as well since there was a small chance that the person mighte before him, which could create trouble for him, but it was a risk he was willing to take.

    The Infernal Sorcerer watched Gabriel transform into another person. Through his right eye,  he could see the transformed look of Gabriel, but through his left eye, which was covered by mes, he was able to see through all illusions. Through it, he was able to see Gabriel was still the same, and he was just using the illusion.

    "Remember everything I said, and don''t leave the room at any cost!" Gabrielmanded the man before he moved closer to the edge of the balcony.

    He climbed on the railings of the balcony and jumped off,nding right behind all the guards.

    The heavy sound of his feetnding on the ground alerted the guards. They all turned around, alert.

    "Lady Eliana!" The men respectfully greeted Gabriel, who was now in the disguise of the person who had the highest authority in the Academy! He was disguised as Eliana! The Head of House of Light! At least that''s what the illusion made everyone see him as.

    "What are all of you doing at the same ce, chattering? Is that how you protect the ce? No wonder there is no security here! Spread out and less talking!" Gabriel scolded the people, using the same time that Eliana was known for.

    He had seen Eliana enough to know how she behaved. Before these people could ask any questions about what she was doing here, Gabriel scolded them and made them feel like they were caught doing something wrong! The men acknowledged that they were wrong and spread out.

    Right before their eyes, Gabriel walked away. Not a single person knew how they were fooled!

    ****

    While Gabriel had fooled real guards by using the shock factor, there was another set of guards that were also shocked.

    The guards that protected the main entrance of the Academy of Elements watched three carriages arrive toward the Academy. As for the beautiful carriages, they were so distinct that it wasn''t hard for the guards to know who they belonged to!

    "The Church of Water?" One of the guards eximed. "At this time? Why here?''

    As the guards were confused, the carriages stopped.

    The door of the first carriage opened, and a beautiful woman stepped out of the Carriage, dressed in a beautiful blue gown.

 93 Chapter 93

    "Head Priestess of the Church of Water?" The men were able to understand what position the woman held through the insignia on her chest. But they didn''t understand why she was there.

    The Head Priestess walked to the guards. "Lady Elora is here to meet the Dean. Please inform the Dean."

    "Lady Elora is here to meet the Dean. Please inform the Dean."

    Just that one statement was enough to make the guards even more amazed. If a Head Priestess being here was a big deal, then Lady Elora''s arrival was even more incredible! Elora was said to be the name of the new Head of Holy Church of Water, after all!

    In other terms, she was amongst the six stronger Mages at the moment, all being Heads of various Holy Churches!

    "I-is she really here?" The guard asked. To him, it was as if one of the gods had arrived here personally!

    "She is waiting inside the carriage. We know the protocol of the Academy. Go and inform your Dean about our arrival. We will wait."

    The Head Priestess turned around and started walking back. Generally, she would''ve simply asked them to let them enter as it was, but the Academy and the Churches had a long rtionship, and they knew how each worked. Even if they wanted to barge in uninvited, it wasn''t going to be allowed.

    Moreover, this city had the Holy Church of Light here. They didn''t want to draw more unnecessary attention than they already did bying to this city since that was detrimental to their cause.

    "The Dean isn''t at the Academy!" Watching the Head Priestess go back, the Guard hastily informed her, stunning her.

    The Head Priestess stopped. She turned around, revealing slight anger on her face. "What did you say?"

    The guard took a step back, subconsciously. For some reason, he felt scared before her aura that momentarily became unstable. Fortunately, the Head Priestess soon controlled her aura.

    The guards gulped heavily. "The Dean isn''t at the Academy. He left the academy on some important business, so it would be impossible for you to meet him here."

    The Head Priestess went to the second carriage, knocking on the door.

    The door of the carriage opened. The Head Priestess entered the carriage.

    After a few minutes, she came out again. She went back to the guard. "It''s fine. We will meet whoever is incharge at the moment."

    "That would be Lady Eliana. I will inform her about your arrival. Please wait."

    The guard hastily rushed inside the academy, going straight to the Castle. That was the ce where Dean was supposed to live, but as the acting Dean, Eliana was staying there for the moment.

    Even the guard wasn''t allowed to enter the Castle without permission. He was stopped by the other guards. After exining the situation, he was allowed to enter the castle.

    Eliana was standing near one of the windows, gazing at the beautiful moon outside that was preventing the darkness from taking over.She didn''t know why, but tonight she had a really bad feeling for some reason. She just couldn''t understand why that was the case.

    Because of that strange feeling, she hadn''t been able to sleep at all. She was thinking about going out for a walk, but as she was about to, there was a knock on the door.

    She walked to the door and opened it, finding a couple of guards there.<sub> </sub>

    "Did something happen?" Seeing the grim expressions on the guards'' faces, she wondered if something had happened. "Don''t tell me someone died again?"

    "The Head of Church of Water, Lady Elora, is here with her entourage. We were informed that she was here to meet the Dean, but in his absence, she now demands to meet you."

    The guard exined the entire situation. If the guards were surprised to find Elora here, Eliana was no different.

    "Why would that womane here?" She asked, frowning.

    She hadn''t met Elora before, but she had heard some stories about her. She was very young, yet she became the Head of the Church of Water. Her arrival here was like the arrival of the Head of the Church of Light; only it should''ve been even rarer since the Church of Water wasn''t established in the Lumen Kingdom.

    The guards remained silent. Even if Elora was here, they were going to be thest person to know why she was here. They were mere Guards, after all. There was no way anyone was going to tell them the real reason they were here.

    "Alright, do one thing. Go and wake the others from the Head Council as well. Since it''s a Head from the Church, it''s only fair all of us are here to meet her," shemanded one of the guards. "Tell them to be here in five minutes."

    "As for you." She shifted her attention to the guard who was assigned at the main entrance.

    "Allow their Carriage to enter the Academy, but keep an eye on them. I don''t want anyone from their group roaming around our academy without us knowing about it. If possible, their carriages should only stop before this castle!"

    All the guards retreated after acknowledging themands.

    ****

    Gabriel walked through the night, advancing toward the Museum of Artifacts. Along the way, he had once again changed his disguise to look like a senior student as well since they roamed freely without much restriction.

    He selected the face of one of the Third Year Students this time, the one that he had seen in the morning when everyone was gathered together.

    Eliana''s disguise could only attract too much attention for now, which he decided to avoid until it was needed.

    Despite it being midnight, there were still so many students who were just roaming freely, most of them being Seniors. Since Gabriel also looked like a Third Year student because of his attire, not many people showed any interest in him.

    It was only after Gabriel started getting closer to the Museum that he once again changed his attire and returned to the Illusion of Eliana, not realizing just what mess it could cause in the current situation.

    There were rarely any students in his vicinity, and he made sure that none saw him changing his illusion.

    Unfortunately, as he stepped closer to the Museum, he saw three carriagesing from the distance, being escorted by multiple guards.

    "The Church of Water?" Even though the carriages were in the distance, Gabriel recognized seeing one such carriage before! They were carriages that belonged to the Church of Water! And if they were being escorted under such Security, then could it be that someone special wasing...? Someone like Elora?!

    If it was Elora in one of the carriages, then it was a disaster since Elora could see through the illusions of the Ring of Apophis! She could see his true face!

 94 Chapter 94

    The Ring of Apophis was a miraculous Numen, but no matter how amazing a Numen was, they all had one w or another! One such w of a Numen like the Ring of Apophis, ording to Lambard, was that the illusion didn''t work before the Head of Churches because they had their souls bound with the Grimoires!

    Gabriel didn''t want Elora to see him here as she was definitely going to get suspicious. There was no way she would''ve forgotten seeing him in the Castle of Lambard with Lira! Moreover, it was also possible that she med him for the death of her Head Priestess! Under no situation could he allow her to see him, even by ident!

    Moreover, as the carriages got closer, he felt that familiar aura once again! He was sure that Elora was actually inside one of those Carriages! The Head of the Church of Water was here?

    He hastily hid behind one of the bushes, taking cover. When he left his room tonight, finding Elora here was thest thing he could''ve imagined. It was like the destiny was ying tricks on him.

    "Out of all the ces, she just had to arrive here! Out of all the nights, she just had to select this night!"

    For a moment, he even wondered if he needed to abandon the n tonight. There were too many factors at y here.

    "No. I can''t give up aftering so far! She hasn''t seen him. She can''t stop me! As soon as she leaves, I''ll continue!"

    As Gabriel was talking to himself, lost in his own thoughts, he didn''t sense someone approaching him.

    "Did you lose something?"

    It was only after he heard a voice behind him that he realized that someone was there. Moreover, that voice... He recognized the voice!

    "Maya?" He subconsciously eximed.

    "You know my name?"

    The person behind Gabriel was slightly taken aback. Since Gabriel was still using the illusion, his voice felt like Eliana''s voice in Maya''s ears.

    Fortunately, the Carriages had left by now, moving past the vicinity. Gabriel could finally sigh a breath of relief.

    He stood up and turned to gaze at Maya. He couldn''t show any emotions for now. He had more important things to do. Even before Maya, he needed to y the part of Eliana.

    "M-mam?"

    Even Maya was shocked to find out that it was Eliana! The acting Dean of the academy. What was even more surprising was that someone so high up knew her name!

    "You know my name?" she asked again.

    "Of course, I would know. I know all the students of the Academy, you in particr." Gabriel came up with an excuse to control his blunder. "I heard you killed a Dark Mage not too long ago?"

    "We need more people like you at our academy! We must kill all those Demons! How dare they exist! Right?"

    The more Gabriel talked, the more he realized that he was losing control of his emotions, and at the time, he couldn''t afford that! It wasn''t the time!

    Maya was also taken aback. She didn''t know why, but she felt anger behind those words. She thought that it was the anger toward the Dark Mages. Never in her dreams could she have thought that the anger was for her.<sub> </sub>

    There was something even more bewildering for her though. She didn''t understand why Eliana knew about it. The Holy Church of Light had asked her to keep it a secret. Then again, she thought that maybe the Church itself told Eliana since she was the head of the academy now. She didn''t think too much about it.

    Gabriel also realized that if he stayed in Maya''s presence for longer, he might do something in anger that he would regretter on. He needed to leave.

    "Anyway, I had dropped something. Don''t have to worry about it though. I already found what I lost," Gabriel answered. "You should go back to your room and sleep. If you aren''t well rested, how will you learn tomorrow? Go back to your Dorms."

    "Ah, Y-yes mam."

    There was no way Maya could say no to amand that came from Eliana! She agreed and went back to her dorm, giving Gabriel some privacy. Even though she went back, there were still quite a lot of questions in her head. She didn''t know what it was about Eliana, but something felt different about her. She just couldn''t put a finger on what it was.

    Gabriel watched Maya leave. There were so many thoughts in his head as he watched her leave. For some reason, only the bad thoughts came to his head. He remembered the moment he was backstabbed when he was trying to save Maya''s mother...

    That scene had reyed in his head so many times when he was unconscious after being hurt that he had lost count.

    He took a deep breath, shaking his head. He needed to distract himself now! And what better distraction than his goal?

    As soon as Maya disappeared from his sight, he came out and observed the surroundings again. There was no one there now. The Carriages had also left by now.

    ****

    Gabriel finally reached the Museum of the Academy, which was also one of the most important ces since it was where the Numens were kept under heavy security.

    The Museum was still being heavily guarded. Fortunately for him, since he was in the disguise of Eliana, the guards didn''t attack him! In case he had arrived here as a Student at such a time, even he would''ve been in trouble since no student was allowed to get this close to the Museum at a time like this.

    Gabriel knew that this was a crucial part of his n. He needed to y the part, and he needed to make sure the guards didn''t see anything amiss.

    He walked closer to the guards, using the same tactic as before. He didn''t even give them the time to speak or anything before he started speaking.

    "Is Rem still not here?"

    What better than one teacher? Two teachers from the Head Council! To make it seem like it was an important matter that couldn''t be questioned, he tossed another heavy name.

    "When Rem and Xinci arrive, tell them I already went inside. They can meet up inside."

    As soon as he finished, he didn''t even wait for a response before taking a step forward, as if it was his own ce. Since Eliana was the acting Dean at the moment, even the guards couldn''t technically stop her.

    They were curious about why she might be here at this time, but since other Head Council Members were going to be here as well, they reckoned that it must be something important.

    Gabriel was allowed to walk past the guards without raising much suspicion. In fact, even he was surprised by how smoothly it went.

    He entered his final destination... The Museum of Artifacts!

 95 Chapter 95

    The Carriages from the Church of Water stopped before the Dean''s Castle.

    Throughout the journey, the carriages were escorted by the guards of the Academy to make sure that not a single person from the Church of Water could leave on their own, unapanied.

    By the time the Carriages stopped, all the teachers from the Head Council had already gathered at the entrance of the Castle to wee the Head of the Church of Water.

    If it were just a Head Priest, the Head Council Members still would''ve hesitated in giving these guests so much importance, but as it was the Ruler of Water herself who came here, they needed to show her proper courtesy.

    Despite that, there were some who were still discontent, especially with the timing of their arrival. The one who was the most irritated was the Head Teachers of the House of Lightning Qin.

    "I was having such a nice dream, and I was woken up. Can''t these people wait until the morning?" Qinined to Eliana. "They just had to disturb our sleep!"

    "I don''t think they wanted to disturb our sleep either," Eliana answered, standing firm with her hands behind her back. "If the Ruler of Water had toe here at this hour, then it must be something important. We should at least listen to her."

    "I agree. If they came here, I don''t think they came here for a pic." Rem agreed with Eliana. "Something important must''ve happened. Something that can make a Ruler of the Churche here herself."

    The doors of the three Carriages opened. From the first carriage, there came three Head Priestesses. From the third carriage, there came three more.

    "Hmm? Why would she bring so many Head Priestesses?" Xinci grimaced. "Is she here to wage war or something?"

    A Head Priest or a Head Priestess was the second inmand at a Sacred Church of Element. They were strongest after the Ruler of the Church. Just one Head Priest was enough to defeat hundreds of advanced mages, let alone six.

    Not a single person in the Head Teachers Council could understand why Elora came with so many Head Priestesses. Something didn''t seem right.

    Finally, the door of the middle carriage opened, and a woman stepped out, being another Head Priestess! There were now Seven Head Priestesses here when each Head Priestess was almost on the same level as the Mages of the Head Teacher Council.

    "If there is a battle, we would be at quite a disadvantage," Yoan muttered under his breath. "Even though they were inside the Academy, there were only six of them, while there were seven Head Priestesses, but even counting the Ruler of Water herself."

    Even Eliana was somewhat suspicious now, but she still had faith in herself! This Academy was their base. Even if the entourage from the Church of Water tried to pull something, they had ways to counter it!

    Moreover, the Sacred Church of Light was also nearby. If the Mages of Water actually attacked the academy, it was going to cause an all-out war of the Lumen Empire with the Church of Water, which even the Church of Water couldn''t afford since the Academy and the Holy Church of Light were going to fight together on one side!<sub> </sub>

    Moreover, just because the Dean wasn''t here didn''t mean there were no defenses at the Academy to hold a Ruler of Element back. Also, it wasn''t as if the Dean was never going to return. If Elora tried to pull anything here, they were going to burn all the bridges in between.

    Another person came out from the second carriage. A beautiful blue-haired woman stepped out of the carriage, donning an exquisite blue gown wrapped around her figure. Her deep hazel eyes observed all the Teachers of the Head Council. She was Elora, the Ruler of the Element of Water!

    Elora could feel the unease on the faces of their hosts. She also understood just what could be making them uneasy. She dide with a heavy entourage at such ate hour, after all.

    Despite their uncertainty, Eliana stepped forward, reaching out her hand. "Wee to the Academy, Lady Elora."

    "I am Eliana, the Dean of this Academy in the absence of Lord Izen." Eliana introduced herself before turning to the others. "They are the Head Council Members and leaders of their respective Elemental Houses."

    "He is Rem, from House of Earth. Right next to him is Lishen, from House of Wind...."

    One after another, Eliana introduced all the Head Council Members. Elora greeted them all with great respect.

    Surprisingly, her reaction was quite different at the moment than it was in the past when Lambard introduced Gabriel and Lira. Since these people held important positions at an important organization, she did greet them properly instead of ignoring the introductions.

    Elora also introduced people from her side, starting from Joan, who was on her right.

    Joan was also the closest to her at the moment. Other than Elora, Joan was the one other person who had seen Gabriel and Lira before since she was in Lambard''s city with her.

    "It''s good to be here." Elora smiled. "Is there a private ce where we can talk?"

    "Of course. I was informed that you came here to talk to our Dean. In the absence of Lord Izen, I might be handling the administration, but the entire Head Council is responsible for the Academy. I hope you won''t mind if they apany us as well?"

    "Ah."

    Elora seemed somewhat hesitant with the proposal. She just wanted to deal with one person since many uncertain factors coulde into y if there were more people in the equation. It was much easier to deal with one person.

    "I am afraid I would have to decline the offer. I''m here for something which I am notfortable telling more people than I need to. I only wanted to talk to Lord Izen about it, but since he''s not here, I came to talk to you as I have no choice. Can just the two of us talk?"

 96 Chapter 96

    The Infernal King was left inside the room all alone with his thoughts.

    He just stood near the ss window, gazing outside. It was the world of the living... The realm where an undead like him shouldn''t have been. Even the air of this ce was disgusting to him.

    Fortunately, he appeared to control himself well, despite being in a ce that he hated. He didn''t try to leave anymore. If all he needed to do was to spend the night in the room, then he was going to do it.

    However, he did keep ncing back at the ce where he had seen that Spectre before.

    Not long after Gabriel left the room, the Infernal King felt another powerful aura getting closer. The aura was strange. It was filled with life, yet it was something that he could feel being quite powerful.

    The aura was definitely stronger than what Gabriel had at the moment. He was really curious about just what kind of people there were in this realm and who had that peculiar aura, but he controlled his curiosity.

    For someone like him, who often did what he wanted without caring about a single thing, it was quite challenging to stop himself.

    The Infernal King didn''t know that it was someone who was considered to be something akin to a god in this world. He was sensing the aura of Elora, despite being so far away.

    The Infernal King stared at the moon, which was so different here. They also had a moon in their realm, but their moon was quite different. Their moon was a darker shade of red.

    The Infernal King was distracted by the moon, but he soon came out of his daze as he sensed another presence in the room.

    He swiftly turned around, noticing that the Spectre was now inside the room.

    The specter just floated in the air as if observing the Infernal King from closer.

    The Infernal King clenched his fist.

    "It''s you!"

    Shockingly, the Infernal King spoke at the sight of the Spectre. His voice was slightly hoarse and made it seem as if he really did have a hard timemunicating, but he could at least speak.

    Despite being able to speak, there was not a single person who had heard his voice... At least no one other than the ones that were present in the room at the moment.

    Without thinking twice, the Infernal King attacked the Spectre, but before he could even get close, the Spectre again disappeared.

    The specter disappeared from the room, leaving the Infernal King all alone.

    The Infernal King could still feel that presence though. He once again turned to the ss doors, noticing the Spectre standing on top of the same building as before, once again.

    The Infernal King was so uneasy for some reason that he was showing expressions that he had never revealed before. It was as if he knew that Spectre! Not only did he know the Spectre, but he also appeared to have an intrinsic hate for the Spectre!<sub> </sub>

    In his anger, he decided to chase after the Spectre and leave the room!

    Unfortunately, just as he was about to attempt to leave the room, he felt that dreaded headache again.

    Despite the pain, he didn''t fall to his knees this time, but he also couldn''t leave the room. The more he thought about it, the worse that pain became. Ultimately, he took a step back, breathing heavily!

    He was like a caged Bird who wanted to leave but couldn''t! He hated it!

    The Spectre''s figure flickered. The next moment, he appeared on the balcony, on the other side of the ss door.

    p The specter didn''t seem to be mocking the Infernal King though. It was as if he was trying to tell the Infernal King something.</anda>

    The Infernal King stepped closer to the ss door, realizing something. So what if he couldn''t leave the room? That didn''t mean he couldn''t do anything else.

    The mes in Infernal King''s eyes flickered even brighter, getting slightly darker as well. If he couldn''t leave the room, he was going to destroy the specter without leaving the room!

    He raised his left hand. As if copying him, the Spectre also raised its left hand. As soon as the Specter raised his left hand, a mountain of pressurended on the Infernal King that pressed down on him!

    He was as if the pressure wanted to force him to his knees, but the Infernal King resisted! A dark fire lit up around the Infernal Sorcerer, giving him what seemed like an armor of mes! The mes made him fight the pressure as well.

    Despite the pressure, the Infernal King was able to stay standing. Another fire lit up at the moment, but that fire was around the specter! The fire was simr to the fire that burned the Damphirs to ashes. Just like the Damphirs, the Spectre didn''t move even as the fire burned around his body!

    Surprisingly, the Infernal Sorcerer was so precise in his control of the fire that the fire didn''t even touch the floor, leaving no burning marks on the balcony floors.

    Even though the Infernal King was trying to kill the Spectre, he still had the help that Gabriel wanted in the back of his mind. Gabriel had told him the n, and there needed to be no stranger evident left behind that he left the floor. The burning marks outside could''ve been hard to exin, making the Infernal King only target the Spectre!

    If the Infernal King didn''t have to be so precise because of Gabriel, someone like him would''ve destroyed the entire building with the Spectre in his rage, maybe even the whole Academy!

    The Spectre stood in the middle of the mes, not even attempting an escape. However, the oue with him was different.

    The Damphirs couldn''t leave because they didn''t even know they were being burned. Their consciousness was distracted by the Infernal King, but this wasn''t the same with the Spectre. Even the Infernal King couldn''t sleep the Spectre''s mind hostage! The Spectre stayed there out of his own wish.

    "Boom!"

    The pressure on the Infernal King only intensified as well. He couldn''t help but take a few steps back to bnce himself.

 97 Chapter 97

    The fire around the specter disappeared... There was not even a single sign of the specter being harmed, let alone being destroyed! It was as if even the Infernal mes failed even to touch him!

    The Specter passed through the ss doors, floating closer to the Infernal King.

    ****

    Eliana nced back at the other Head Council Members. She was just an acting Dean. If Elora was here with an important request that needed the authority of a Dean, then she didn''t feelfortable handling that herself. She wanted the entire Head Council to be there, so a consensus could be made for them.

    "If you''re here for a minor matter, of course, we can talk alone." Eliana agreed, but she added a condition. "But if you''re here for something that requires me to use the Dean''s authority over the Academy, then I''m afraid I would have to keep the Head Council with me. We take important decisions together."

    Elora was quite disappointed with the response. If she was here at this time, of course the matter couldn''t be small. She needed the help of the Dean of the Academy. With her condition, Eliana had indirectly rejected her offer of talking alone without explicitly rejecting it.

    Elora let out a sigh, thinking about it for a minute. "Fine. All of them can be there."

    Ultimately, she could only agree. She was here to take their help, and she couldn''t do that by forcing them.

    "That''s great. Pleasee inside!"

    Eliana escorted Elora and the others inside the castle.

    The Head Council members apanied them, quite curious about what Elora was here for. From her response, it was clear that Elora was here to ask for some help from the Academy... And a significant help at that.

    Both the groups had eight people in them. The group from the Church of Water was led by Elora, while the group of Head Council was being led by Eliana.

    The sixteen people entered the meeting hall where Eliana had dered her verdict about Caen''s test in the morning.

    The doors were closed after everyone took their seats, with Eliana and Elora sitting face to face.

    "We can talk about anything here, and the news won''t get out of this room. So you can talk freely."

    Elora sat with her hands on the table, gazing at her fingers as if trying to think of the best way to raise this topic. She seemed a bit distracted about something as well.

    All the Head Council members waited for her to speak.

    After a brief period of silence, Elora finally spoke. "You might be wondering why there are so many Head Priestesses with me outside the Church?"

    "That thought did cross my mind," Eliana affirmed.

    "A Head Priestess of ours was killed," Elora answered. "Not too long ago at that."<sub> </sub>

    "Hmm?" Eliana and other Head Council members were taken aback. Head Priest and Priestesses weren''t ones that could be killed that easily. They were pretty strong, after all.

    "A battle with a Head Priest from another church?" Qin asked. "That can exin it."

    If a Head Priestess was killed, it could be possible that another Church was involved since they had the strength needed.

    "But why would someone kill a Head Priestess from the Church of Water?" Xinci shook her head. "That won''t make sense. No Church would do something like this to someone from another Church, especially someone at such a high position."

    She further stated, "That makes me think it wasn''t the work of another Church."

    "You''re right. You don''t have to guess anymore. We already know who the culprits are," Elora chimed in. "It was a group of two. One of them was a Dark Mage for sure, maybe even both of them."

    "A Dark Mage that killed a Head Priestess? Are there still such strong Dark Mages left?x Yann asked. "That''s intriguing."

    "Surprisingly, it''s the second time we are hearing of Dark Mage today. Apparently, a Dark Mage also killed a Priest of the Church of Light in a small vige," Rem chimed in, remembering reading about something simr in Hawrin''s file. "Could it really be a coincidence? Or could it be that the Church of Darkness is trying to make a return?"

    "I''m not sure. But the Dark Mage lured Ruyi behind them. By the time I found out, she was already dead. I tried to find them, but as you might expect, it''s not easy," Elora further exined.

    "Is that why you''re here? How can we help you with that? If you couldn''t find the Dark Mage that killed your Priestess, how can we?" Eliana appeared confused. Just how was that rted to the help the Church needed? She didn''t understand.

    "We don''t need your help to find them." Elora smiled in response. It seemed as if these people were underestimating her.

    She continued, "We will find that person ourselves. I was just exining the reason for so many to be apanying me. Apparently they are concerned that the Church of Darkness might be making a return and might target me. So they insisted on apanying me here."

    "So if you were worrying about their presence here, don''t be. We aren''t here for war," she once again assured Eliana. "As for why we''re actually here... It''s because we need to borrow an item from your Museum for a few minutes... We only need to use it temporarily. The item won''t even leave your museum, that I can assure you."

    "If you want, you can also apany us to make sure we don''t do anything else."

    *****

    Gabriel entered the Museum of Element, entering the ground floor where he had been in the morning. The guards seemed different at the moment, but their positions were the same.

    He walked to the stairs. Once again, he could feel the eagerness of his Ring! He was getting closer to what it wanted!

    With each step he took, he was closer to his goal, but he still had to take care of the guards. That was his biggest concern at the moment.

    He reached the main floor... The hall where the most important of Numens were kept, but as soon as he stepped into the hall, his expression twisted!

 98 Chapter 98

    The ce was different than he had imagined! The guards¡­ All of them were lying on the ground, unmoving! There was not a single droplet of blood on the floor, which made it appear as if they were simply sleeping.

    It didn''t make sense for all of them to fall asleep at the same time, which made Gabriel assured that either they were dead or they were unconscious.

    He also noticed another person in the room¡ªthe only person who wasn''t lying on the ground.

    Lelin was standing near one of the Numens, holding the box that Gabriel wanted!

    "There it goes." Lelin was slightly distracted by the box as if he needed all his focus to open the box. And surprised, he even managed to seed in unlocking the box, which was said to be impossible to open.

    Gabriel didn''t know why Lelin was here, but he couldn''t let Lelin take what was in the box.

    Before Lelin could open the unlocked box to reveal what was inside, Gabriel attacked with a spell of light. A sphere of pure energy shot to Lelin. Sensing the attack, Lelin finally came out of his daze. He subconsciously stepped aside, without even looking where the attack wasing from. It was as if his battle sense was just so good.

    Unfortunately, it appeared as if he had misjudged this time. Even though the sphere of energy missed him, it did manage to hit the wooden box.

    The wooden box flew from the hands of Lelin, falling into the distance.

    "You!" Lelin red at Gabriel. "I told you that you mustn''t create obstruction in my path!"

    At the moment he was distracted, the box fell to the ground, opened. The items inside the box fell out, being two beautiful crystal orbs. However, one of the two orbs was white. The other one was pitch ck.

    Still affected by the impact, both the orbs went in different directions. While the white orb rolled to the wall in the back, the ck orb seemingly rolled much farther.

    By the time Lelin turned around, he saw the box, which waspletely empty by now. His eyes roamed the entire surrounding, trying to locate something. He only sighed in relief as he saw the white orb.

    Since the ck orb was now behind one of the pirs, he couldn''t see the ck orb. It was as if he didn''t even know the existence of the ck orb and only cared for the white one.

    Gabriel, on the other hand, saw both the orbs. He wondered if the orbs were what the Grimoire was after.

    He ran toward the white orb as well while attacking once again. Unfortunately, it seemed Lelin was prepared for the attack this time. He raised his left hand.

    "Shield of Purity!" He raised his left hand. A majestic white shield appeared before him, which blocked the attack of Gabriel.

    For some reason, Gabriel had already slowed down by now. The closer he got to the White Orb, the more he realized that something was wrong. His Grimoire was reacting much less now. It was as if the Grimoire wasn''t after the white orb.<sub> </sub>

    He wondered if it was the ck Orb in the box that attracted his Grimoire in the first ce. Despite this revtion, he still wanted to retrieve the white orb! Whatever it was, he believed it could be of use sooner orter, even if his Grimoire didn''t want it!

    At the same time as protecting himself, Lelin also cast another spell.

    "Judgment of Light!"

    Gabriel was close to the white orb when around ten floating swords made of light appeared before him. The light of the swords was so bright that it was blinding.

    The ten swords flew to Gabriel like they were arrows that left a bow with the intention of killing the enemy.

    "Shield of Undead!"

    Gabriel had a weak shield of light, but he didn''t use it at this point. He was sure that the low-tier shield of light couldn''t stop the swords, which made even him feel like he was going to die if he didn''t stop them.

    Hundreds of Dark Spirits came out of his majestic ring, forming a shield before him within a fraction of a second! The screeching sound of the spirits was so loud that it should''ve been heard for a long distance. Despite that, even the mages on the lower floor weren''t able to hear it.

    As soon as Lelin arrived on this floor, he had already cast a spell on this floor to make sure no noise went out of this ce.

    The Unholy Shield of Dark Spirits gave the bestyer of defense to Gabriel. It was the strongest protective spell that he had which blocked the attack of Light. Despite that, it didn''t have an easy time. Gabriel didn''t use his staff or his Grimoire to cast the spell, so its potential was quite limited with how he used it.

    "As expected..." Lelin muttered, seeing the dark spirits protecting Gabriel. It was as if he wasn''t surprised in the least. In the meantime, he also picked up the white orb that fit perfectly in his palm.

    *****

    Elora ced her request before Eliana and the Head Council Teachers. All she wanted was the right to use one of the Artifacts that the Academy possessed, and only for a little while.

    The decision was for Eliana to take now. All Elora could do now was to wait. However, she was sure that they were going to agree. It wasn''t as if she was permanently asking for the Artifact. She was going to use it here and then return.

    "Can you excuse us for a minute?" Eliana left the room with the other teachers to discuss in privacy.

    Outside the hall, she discussed with the others if they should give permission.

    "I don''t think there is any risk in that. The artifact she wants to use isn''t a particrly dangerous one. I think we should take her to the Museum right now and let her use it for a few minutes so we can be done with it." Eliana suggested. "We will all be with her. I doubt she will do anything stupid."

 99 Chapter 99

    "I don''t know. We are literally talking about taking her to where we keep all our Numens. I also agree that she won''t pull anything stupid, but still... Why should we help her?" Yann asked. "We are supposed to be the neutral party. If we allow her to use something, what''s stopping other Churches froming tomorrow and asking the same?"

    "I agree." Qin stood with folded arms, nodding. "If we do it now, it''ll establish a precedent, which might be a pain in the neck in the future. It can be a real headache, you know."

    Xinci also agreed. "Agreed. If we allow Elora, we''ll have to allow other Churches, or we''ll look biased."

    "We can''t just say no to them for such a small request. But I do agree as well. It will establish a precedent," Rem agreed as well. "But I think we won''t have to worry about that precedent much."

    "Why not?" Xinci asked as everyone looked at Rem, wondering just how he came to that conclusion.

    "The Dean isn''t here. We are temporarily managing the academy. The decisions we take don''t establish much of a precedent that can''t be avoided since we don''t have the ultimate authority," Rem exined briefly.

    "In other words, when Lord Izen returns, if he disagrees with what we did, he can just say that we were wrong. And if another Churches to ask for the same thing, it can be imed that we naively acted on our own and we were wrong. Even though it would look slightly bad on our part, but the academy won''t look biased."

    "I''m sure Lord Izen would have agreed with what I''m saying as well. Since we aren''t him, our decisions at the current moment don''t hold much of an importance."

    As Rem rified, everyone seemed to finally understand what he was trying to say! They weren''t the Dean of the academy. The Dean could say that we acted on our own here since we didn''t know better, and he won''t have to worry about this precedent.

    "I think Rem is right." Lishen also chimed in, and to no one''s surprise, he agreed with Rem.

    However, he further rified as well. "Elora came all this far, at a time like this. It won''t be good optics if we send her back without agreeing to such a small request. Also, we can ask her not to mention what happened here outside and that it is going to be a one-time thing. That should take care of most of the problems."

    "Everyone in agreement?" Eliana asked. For one, she did agree with the proposal, but just to be sure, she wanted to get everyone''s agreement.

    "Oh, what the heck. We are already up. I don''t want this disturbance in my sleep to be for nothing. Just let her do it so we can send her back fast." Qin also voiced his agreement in the end.

    Not long after, the others also agreed. !

    "If that''s what others want, then I also agree. We can help Elora this once."

    As everyone was finally in agreement, Eliana entered the hall again. All the House Leaders took their seats.

    "We havee to a decision. We can grant your request, but as you may expect, we have some conditions of our own."

    Elora smirked. "I expected that. So, what do you want in exchange?"

    She believed that the Academy''s conditions were no more than the things they wanted in exchange for this

    "We don''t want anything in exchange. At least not yet. Treat it as a favor. In the future, if we ever need a favor, we want your promise as the Head of the Church of Water that you will do that favor."

    "As long as it''s within my capacity and doesn''t harm or ce the Church at risk, I will." Elora seemingly agreed right away.<sub> </sub>

    "Second, you won''t tell anyone what happened here since it''s a one-time thing. The news that we helped you should only stay with the people who are here. If anyone else gets wind of this, the-"

    "Don''t worry. We would be thest people to want others to know about this. You don''t have to worry about that." Elora agreed to the second condition as well. "Anything else?"

    "Onest thing." Eliana nodded. She nced at all the Head Priestesses, observing their expressions before speaking further. "Only you will be taken there. The others must stay in this ce."

    "Agreed."

    "But-"

    Seeing Elona agree right away, Joan tried to say something to make her reconsider. She didn''t want Elora to go alone. Even though it was the Academy, she didn''t feel it was safe for her. However, before she could speak more than one word, Elora gestured for her to stop speaking.

    For now, Elora wanted to be done with it. Moreover, it wasn''t as if she was scared to go alone.

    "Anything else?" she asked Eliana.

    Eliana shook her head. "That would be all."

    "Shall we get going then?" Elora stood up before everyone else.

    Eliana also stood up along with the Head Council members. Elora had a limitation on her that she had to go alone, but Eliana didn''t. She was taking everyone with her, just for the safety of that ce.

    The Head Priestesses were left behind, instructed by Elora to stay in the room and not go anywhere else.

    More mages from the Academy were also assigned there to keep an eye on them.

    The group left the castle, advancing to the Museum.

    ****

    Without having the need to call out his Ancestral Staff, Gabriel managed to block the attack using the Shield of Undead.

    It was slightly surprising for Lelin to see a spell that used the spirits like that, even though he quite expected Gabriel to be able to block his attack.

    The Evil Spirits were immortal in a sense. They were also great at consuming natural energy, which was used by the spells. That made the Shield of Undead one of the best protection spells against magical attacks, despite it being a low-tier spell.

    As Lelin analyzed the spell, being slightly distracted, he also picked up the white orb, still not noticing the dark orb.

 100 Chapter 100

    The Swords of Light didn''t prate the shield made of spirits.

    Gabriel was unharmed. The only change that could be seen was that he was pushed a few steps back.

    The Swords were destroyed.Right after, the Spirits also disappeared, returning to the ring. The dark spirits didn''t look like they wanted to go back inside the ring. Instead, it was more as if they were forced to return by the ring. The screeching of the spirits disappeared as the Spirits returned.

    Gabriel noticed the white orb already in the hands of Lelin. Another thing he noted was that Lelin wasn''t even attempting to get the ck crystal, as if he didn''t even know about its existence.

    "Give me that orb," Gabrielmanded. However, this time he also called out his Ancestral Staff as well.

    A majestic staff appeared in his hand, strengthening him even more. Now that his identity as a Necromancer was already revealed, he didn''t care about calling out his Ancestral Staff.

    "I''m afraid I won''t be able to do that, even if it''s you." Lelin calmly answered. "I came all this way just for this. Do you think I can return it now? Also, I don''t think you even know what this is, do you?"

    Gabriel tightened his grip around his staff, but that only prompted Lelin to speak further.

    "Let me guess; you''re now thinking about attacking me to take the key back?" Lelin asked, letting out a sigh. "Although I would''ve loved to go against someone like you, I am running a little short on time. And If I kill you, he would be quite angry¡­ I don''t want to deal with that mess for now. Whatever, maybe next time."

    As soon as Lelin finished, a blinding formation appeared under him, which filled the entire ce with light. Even Gabriel was momentarily unable to see anything. Despite being unable to see, Gabriel attacked.

    Within a few moments, the blinding light disappeared, revealing apletely vacant room where no one could be seen other than him. Lelin wasn''t in the room anymore.

    Gabriel looked all around, unable to find him anywhere. He looked back at the door, wondering if Lelin had run away. However, that was impossible. How could he leave without being stopped by the guards outside? That also raised another question. How in the hell was he able to enter in the first ce without being seen?

    "A teleportation spell? But if he had that, why didn''t he just the orbst night? What was different today thanst night?"

    "The only thing I can think of is that we were brought here for a trip... Ah, could that be it?! He must''ve left a mark here. The teleportation spell can only take him to the marks he left. Either that, or he can only teleport to the ces he had been to."

    "That could exin why he didn''t steal the orbsst night. He couldn''t find a way to enter. That also exins why the guards downstairs had no idea about what was happening here. But still, teleportation spell... The tier of that spell... If I''m not wrong, it must be an advanced year spell."

    Gabriel walked closer to the ck orb that was still lying behind the pir. Immersed in his thoughts, he was trying to find the answers to his questions.<sub> </sub>

    "That means he will be an Advanced Tier Mage. That will ce him in the same league as Lira and the teachers. Just who was that guy?"

    He gazed at the ck orb which was lying on his feet. The ring was going crazy, asking him to pick it up.

    "He came all this way, taking risks of stealing something from the Academy. And even after he got here, all he took was the stuff in the box. He didn''t even touch any other Numen here. He also addressed that orb as the key...? Key to what exactly?"

    Gabriel bent forward, using his right hand to pick up the ck orb.

    As soon as his fingers touched the ck orb, Gabriel felt something strange. For a moment, his vision turned dark, as if he had lost his eyesight. Some strange scenes started shing before his eyes.

    In one of the scenes, he saw a small girl running. The scene only shed before his eyes for a millisecond, making him unable to see anything. In the next scene, he saw water... There was water everywhere. It was as if the water had swallowed an entire city.

    The third scene seemed even more bizarre to him, where he saw a thousand feet tall lightning beasts... Just a glimpse of them.

    In the fourth scene, he saw a ck door. There was nothing more. After the brief shes of these four scenes, Gabriel finally returned to his senses. He gazed at the ck crystal before him, picking it up.

    His body seemed to be filled with some mysterious energy as he picked up the ck orb. He didn''t know why, but it felt as if his spirit strength was being replenished by the ck Orb. Not only was his spirit strength replenished, but it also increased.

    It was simr to what he felt when he used the Spirit Crystal but only more majestic. Before long, he felt like something had happened inside his body.

    His Spirit Strength had increased, achieving a breakthrough. His mana reserves also increased. He had reached the middle stages of Spiritual Strength! He had be a mid-tier Magician, achieving a breakthrough from the beginner level.

    In merely two days, he had achieved two breakthroughs!

    As he achieved the breakthrough, the orb stopped supplying energy to his body, as if that was all it was going to do, but it still looked as mysterious as before.

    "Just like I wasn''t attracted to the white orb, he wasn''t attracted to the ck. That could be why he didn''t see it. But still, just what are these things...?"

    "This can''t just be a stronger spirit crystal. If it were, I would''ve been attracted to the white one too. I also have Element of Light, after all. These must be the secondary effect of these things. As for the primary effect... It''s something rted to the word he described them as... a key!"

 101 Chapter 101

    "If it''s the key, then it''s a key for what? And what were the scenes that shed before me? The girl? Lightning beasts? A Tsunami? That door...?"

    Gabriel stared at the ck orb, trying to decipher what it could be about, but right then, the Ring on his finger made some movement.

    It turned into the speck of darkness that floated before him. The book returned to the real form of the Book. The pages started flipping on their own.

    The book did manage to attract Gabriel''s attention, who raised his head.

    He saw the pages flipping, stopping on the sixth page, which used to be empty until now. Some words started appearing on the sixth page.

    "A new spell? Is it because I became a mid-tier mage? My soul is definitely stronger now, so that could be why.Or it could be because the book wants to reward me?"

    It didn''t matter how or why he was getting the spell. What mattered was that he was getting a new spell. He eagerly waited to see which spell it was.

    The spell seemed to be bigger than his old spells. It had more words and seemed slightlyplicated as well. The spell somehow from the entire page, and it didn''t stop there! The page turned, and the spell continued, only stopping after covering half of the seventh page as well.

    The eighth page also flipped as one more spell appeared... His sixth spell. Moreover, both the spells that appeared were offensive spells, which made them harder to master as well. Gabriel had four spells before this, but none of them were proper offensive spells if one was to ignore the battle ability of his summoned undead.

    The two new spells that appeared were proper spells that were made to fight! They were made for battles and to take lives!

    The eighth spell also finished appearing. The Forbidden Book of Necromancy didn''t turn to the next page. Instead, it turned straight to the page in the middle of the book.

    "One more spell?" Gabriel was taken aback to see the Grimoire skip all the other pages and turn straight to the middle page. "Why that page?"

    As he waited for the new spell to reveal itself, nothing as such happened. Instead, the page started shining. Gabriel felt some powerful attraction from the page as if the gravity was trying to pull toward itself, but the gravity wasn''t acting on him. Instead, it was acting on his hand, which was holding onto the Sphere.

    "You want this?" Gabriel opened his fist, releasing the ck orb. He didn''t know what the orb was, but if his Grimoire wanted it, he trusted it.

    Just as he expected, the ck orb flew to the page. Somehow, it entered the page of the Forbidden Book, disappearing as if the page was some doorway.

    Finally, after the book seemingly swallowed it, there appeared a word on the page.

    [Space]

    Following the word, more things started appearing under the name, which showed Gabriel what this word implied, what the benefits of this were, or how he could use it.

    "Space for storing items? So it''s a storage spell, like Lira''s dark realm? That would make sense. I did want a spell like Lira''s spell."

    He was already worried about how he was going to carry all these Numens out. He had nned to use Undead Swap to leave the Town as well, with all these itemster on, but if he had a spell like Lira, then there was no problem with it.<sub> </sub>

    Moreover, there was another thing that Gabriel quite liked. Unlike with other Spells, he didn''t need to learn it. The information about this spell came to his head directly. A connection was established, through which he could also sense all the items inside his space.

    The space was vast, much bigger than he expected, but it wasn''t infinite.

    Unfortunately, the orb wasn''t inside the space, which raised the question as to where that orb actually went.

    "Wait! The guards! They are still outside! What am I doing wasting time? I can do all thister as well! First, I need to take the Numens out of here!"

    He had many questions and some excitement about his new spells, but also some worries. He had already wasted a lot of time here. The longer he stayed here, the worse it became for him.

    He went to the Ancestral Staff of Darkness first since that was his primary goal. All the defense spells were already destroyed in this ce by Lenin, so he didn''t need to worry about it much.

    Without the magical reinforcements, the ss that was protecting the Numens was no more than ordinary sses for him.

    He clenched his fist before casting a strengthening spell of Light on himself. That''s where his other element really came to use. His physical strength was boosted immediately.

    He punched the ss that was protecting the Staff of Darkness.

    As he expected, the ss wasn''t able to provide much resistance as it shattered with a loud noise.

    "I wonder if the Grimoire of Necromancy can keep the Ancestral Staff of Darkness?"

    He had already seen what happened when a Mage of Light touched the Holy Grimoire of another element when he tried touching his Grimoire with his left hand. Simrly, the Ancestral Staff was also an item of simr importance which could create trouble with other elements.

    He decided to test the theory and raised his left hand. "Space."

    Contrary to his own expectations, his spell appeared to work. The Ancestral Staff of Darkness disappeared after resisting a bit, entering the Forbidden Book of Necromancy, as if even the Staff wasn''t enough to resist the Forbidden Book.

    ****

    Outside the Museum, Eliana arrived with the group.

    Seeing Eliana with the other Head Council members, all the guards were taken aback.

    "Y-you are here?! Didn''t you enter around half an hour ago?" One of the guards asked.

    "What nonsense are you talking about? Are you drunk? It''s my first timeing here." Eliana rolled her eyes, but as she noticed the others also looking at her like she was a ghost, it didn''t appear as if it was just this guard who had this question.

 102 Chapter 102

    The other Head Council members were also confused.

    "How could she havee here an hour ago? She had been with us since then," Yann scoffed.

    "Did you all see her enter?" Rem asked the other guards, just to be sure.

    "We all saw her enter. Lady Eliana came here and told us that Lord Rem and others would also being here and that she would be waiting inside for others."

    "She walked right inside, and we didn''t see here out... That''s why we were surprised to see her again."

    One after another, all the guards said the same thing. One of them could be drunk and talking nonsense, but all of them? It seemed very unlikely.

    Eliana''s face turned pale as she realized just what might have happened here! Someone used her face to enter! The guards also allowed that person to walk right inside, allowing her ess to their most important items!

    "You idiots! It must be an illusion! You let a stranger walk right inside!"

    Eliana rushed inside. The others also realized what had happened as they all rushed inside as well. If the intruder entered but didn''te out, that meant he was still inside! They could still catch him!

    Elora also followed all the teachers. In a situation like this, she didn''t want to take the lead. She was a guest here, and it wasn''t her ce. She also didn''t want to look like she was involved in this since it happened around the same time as she arrived. She was thest person to enter.

    *****

    The Specter passed through the ss door and entered Gabriel''s room. The mes of the Infernal King couldn''t even touch him. It was the same for his physical attacks. Since the specter was in its spiritual form, the Infernal King couldn''t even touch him.

    <o>,m It was a futile effort.</o>

    The Specter kept his eyes on the Infernal King as a voice echoed in the room. "Killing me won''t bring them back."

    It was as if the specter was speaking, but the voice wasn''ting from him. It was as if it wasing from all directions, falling in the Infernal King''s ears.

    "I will destroy you with this world!" The Infernal King roared, but once again, before he could do anything, the terrifying headache returned as Gabriel''smand was still under effect.

    "You will do nothing."The Spectermented, watching the Infernal King fall to his knees. Gabriel''smands acted like shackles around the Infernal King, restricting what he could actually do here.

    "All for your greed!" The Infernal King red at the Spectre with bloodlust.

    The Spectre didn''t react. Even if he did, it was impossible to see since he was like the physical embodiment of darkness and death.

    "You are in the world of the living. You aren''t supposed to exist here... But I will allow it... Since it''s him..."

    "Who do you think you are to allow me?! I will kill you!" The Infernal King roared, but the Spectre didn''t care.<sub> </sub>

    "You are inconsequential..." The Spectre answered. His words sounded like he was mocking the Infernal King, but his time was very serious as if he was just alerting the Infernal King. "Don''t waste the opportunity... Finally, there can be a return... Forget the past..."

    The Spectre turned around and left, disappearing into the darkness, leaving the Infernal King behind, who was still raging. Fortunately, the noise didn''t get out of the room

    ****

    Gabriel had kept all the items in the museum. He hadpletely emptied the treasures. There was only one thing which he hadn''t taken yet. It was the cursed letter that appeared to be addressed to Karyk.

    He walked to the letter. Just for the sake of it, he decided to take the letter as well, mentally preparing himself not to read what was in it.

    He broke the ss shell around the letter and picked it up without reading a single word. However, as soon as he took the letter, he heard some soundsing from the stairs. It was as if someone was rushing to the room.

    "These guys!"

    He didn''t know that these were the Teachers, only believing them to be guards for now. Teachers couldn''te this fast out of nowhere, after all. However, he still decided to be careful and leave. If he was already done here, there was no benefit in staying behind for longer.

    "Undead Swap!" He used the spell again, returning back to his room. The Infernal King appeared in his ce inside the museum, confused.

    The Infernal King watched his surroundings change abruptly. He was out of the room. He had seen Gabriel use the undead swap before, which made it a bit less surprising. After a few moments, he realized what might have happened.

    He saw an empty hall. There were no treasures here, which meant that Gabriel had seeded. Finally, he could return... Finally he could go back home.

    "There he is! The intruder!" A shout came from behind.

    Yann was so hasty to stop the intruder that, without waiting for anyone, he attacked first. He didn''t deal a deadly blow either since he wanted to question the intruderter on. He simply targeted the legs of the Infernal King. From the back, he couldn''t see the face of the Infernal Sorcerer.

    A ball of fire shot toward the legs of the Infernal King, hitting right in the back of his knees.

    Even though Yann didn''t ce all his strength behind the attack, it should''ve been able to turn the man''s legs into cinders, but there was not even a mark left behind.

    The Infernal King tilted his head to the left, wondering if that was actually fire. It was so weak that he found it insulting.

    He was still angry because of what happened with the Spectre. And since he wasn''t in the room, there was no restriction. The Infernal King smirked.

    Gabriel had appeared back in his room, and he was just about to cancel the Summoning spell when he heard a loud explosion noise. He rushed to the ss door and looked outside, noticing a cloud of blue mes. It seemed to being from where the museum was!

    The entire museum blew up, burning in terrifying mes as the Infernal King finally let loose.

 103 Chapter 103

    The entire Museum of Elements blew up. The surroundings were covered in dark blue mes. A smoke cloud could be seen in the sky

    "This guy!" Gabriel eximed, hastily canceling his spell. He was slightly amazed at how much strength the Infernal Sorcerer possessed, but more than that, he was considerate about what this might lead to.

    The Infernal King stood in zing mes. There was not even a single burn on his clothes.

    Surprisingly, he wasn''t the only one who was still standing, as it was the same for the Head Council Members. They were alsopletely fine from what could be seen, but mostly thanks to Elora.

    As soon as the Infernal Sorcerer attacked in anger, Elora called out her Ancestral Staff of Element of Water, sending just how dangerous these mes were. She didn''t take any risks at the moment.

    Right in the midst of the mes, there was a barrier made from holy water, which was protecting the group from these mes. The spell was one of the Advanced Tier spells of Elora, who didn''t hesitate even for a single second before casting the spell.

    The Infernal King also noticed that they were still fine. He also felt a disgusting feeling from that water, not only because it was the element that was opposite to mes, but because it was Holy Water which was filled with the energy of life.

    The Infernal King prepared to attack again, but before he could, a formation circle appeared under him. The Summoning Spell was canceled by Gabriel. A ck light surrounded the body of the Infernal King.

    "Rain of the Goddess!" In another ce, Elora raised her Ancestral Staff, casting another spell to extinguish the mes.

    By the time she cast her spell, the Infernal King had already disappeared, returning to the realm of Undead as he initially wanted.

    The rain startedshing out, fighting against the mes. Fortunately, since the Infernal King was sent back, the fire lost its source and grew even weaker. Thanks to that, the rain was able to stop the mes quite quickly.

    At the same time, Elora also removed the Barrier."It seems he disappeared. Some kind of Teleportation."

    Even through the wall of water, she had managed to see a spell formation appearing under the Infernal King and his figure disappearing before the rain came.

    She wondered if he had run away, but at the same time, she had a feeling that it was something more.

    From the way he attacked them, it didn''t look like he was scared of them. Even though she couldn''t see that person''s face, just his actions alone gave her the feeling that he wanted to fight.

    "We can''t let him escape! Our Artifacts!" Qin eximed. "We need to find him! I''m going to have the city sealed! No one shall be allowed to leave!"

    He flew away. This was a serious matter! The Academy was basically attacked! They couldn''t sit idle! He left the Academy to get the entire city sealed, so no one could enter or leave without permission.<sub> </sub>

    Hearing the explosion, the other Head Priestesses also rushed to the spot. Seeing Elora was fine, they calmed down. "What happened? Who attacked you?"

    They were prepared for battle, wondering if the Mage of Fire from the Head Council had attacked Elora.

    "No one attacked me. Someone attacked the academy." Elora answered. "All the Artifacts are stolen."

    She turned to Eliana. "I think you should inform the Church of Light as well since this can''t be kept hidden. Moreover, it''s important that they know. I''ll send a message to other Churches as well. This matter is bigger than you might expect."

    "Did you sense it too?" Eliana asked. "It was a Mage of Darkness...."

    "Yeah. Even though his aura was hidden in light, from this closeness, there was no mistake about it. At the core of his spell, I could only feel darkness," Elora agreed.

    "A mage that has Darkness, uses fire, and emits an aura of light?" Xinci frowned. "Just what are we dealing with here?"

    "I''m not sure, but it might be rted to the sudden appearances of the Mages of Darkness throughout," Eliana answered. "It seems the Church of Darkness is really trying to make a return. First, killing a Priest of Light, then killing a Head Priestess of Water. It was like them sending a message before... A message about their return."

    "As for the specific targeting of your Museum, the target was most probably the Ancestral Staff of Darkness. And now they have it, which is quite troublesome if true... If they need an Ancestral Staff, that would mean the Grimoire of Darkness has selected an heir long ago... And that heir is ready now... Ready to make a proper appearance before the world..."

    As Eliana talked about what it could mean, everyone had grim expressions on their faces.

    "I feel like the person we faced... He might be the new Heir selected by the Grimoire of Darkness, who came here personally to take his staff." Elora also tossed out an assumption, gazing at the dark clouds in the sky.

    "What makes you think that?" Yann asked. "Also, I still don''t get why you''re all so sure that he was a Mage of Darkness! He literally used mes! There is no way a mage can have dual elements. He couldn''t have had mes and darkness!"

    "And how are you so sure that the owner of Grimoire of Darkness can''t use mes? They weren''t ordinary mes. As I said before... I could feel them getting weak against my holy water, more than they should''ve. They aren''t the mes that the Church of Fire uses." Elora shook her head in response.

    "Also, who is to say that a dark mage can''t use dark mes? A Grimoire is more powerful than you can imagine. And at times, it can give spells that it didn''t to the old masters. Even I have a few spells that our Church Head didn''t have before."

    "Just because the old Ruler of Darkness didn''t use dark mes in any battle doesn''t mean others can''t either." she further stated.

    Eliana agreed with Elora. "Xinci, inform the Church of Light about what happened here. Have theme here as soon as they can. Meanwhile, I''ll find a way to contact Lord Izen. The rest of you¡­."

 104 Chapter 104

    The Church of Light was one of the strongest organizations in the entire world. At least, that was what everyone thought. Only the Church itself knew the reality, as there hadn''t been many opportunities for the Church to show how much it had grown since the battle with the Church of Darkness.

    Many people worshiped the members of the Church of Light as people who saved their world from Demons; however, there were also some people who knew that there was now lots of politics involved in the Sacred Church of Light, especially among the Head Priests.

    The Mages of Light were said to be the embodiment of purity and justice. But the Head Priests were quite different from what the stories made them appear... At least some of them. They did so many things for their greed, and due to their jealousy that it was enough to make people lose trust in the Church of Light. Fortunately, those things remained hidden from the public eye.

    The biggest incident regarding this hadn''t happened long ago, rted to the Head of the Ashton Family, who was a member of the Church.

    When he was used, many Head Priests knew that the chances of those usations being true were meager. Despite that, just to take out a talentedpetitor for the Head of Church position, which they believed was going to be vacant soon, they all went with the flow, destroying the life of an innocent in the process.

    Even now, that person and his entire family were considered traitors by many, all because of some people''s greed.

    The Church of Light was established not far from the Royal Pce of the Lumen Empire, but surprisingly, the majestic Church building had more area than the Royal Pce. Not only that, the Church of Light was said to be the de facto ruler of the Lumen Empire.

    They had more authority than the Royal Pce, and it was said that they could even destroy the Royal Family if they felt that the Royal Family was a threat to the wellbeing of the Empire. However, everyone knew that it was never going to happen since the Church of Light had some members of the Royal Lumen family who were in high positions of Head Priest.

    At the moment, the Church seemed to bepletely silent. Only the Mages of Light could be seen, guarding the hallways. The Mages had so much discipline that they rarely moved from their ce, which they defended, at times looking like statues.

    Most of the Priests in the Church were immersed in their meditation to strengthen themselves even more. They all wanted to achieve breakthroughs to the advanced stages so they could also apply to be Head Priests.

    Unfortunately, it wasn''t that easy for them. In fact, it was said that achieving a breakthrough was the hardest for a mage of light, especially when it came to advanced stages. Most of the new disciples that the Church had directly recruited were sleeping at this hour, while a rare few were training.

    A middle-aged man walked down the stairs, being greeted by all the guards respectfully. They all addressed the man as Head Priest.

    The man didn''t react, only asionally nodding in response. He reached the lowest floor, where security only intensified, but even here, no one stopped him as the man had the highest authority in the Holy Church of Light.

    The man finally stopped before a silver door. He took a deep breath, gazing at his reflection in the silver door.

    The man was thetest addition to the Head Priest. In fact, he had been promoted only a few weeks ago. It was his first time attending a special meeting that was called by other Head Priests.

    Even though he didn''t know what it was about, he did know that it must be something important since the Head Priests rarely came together like this.<sub> </sub>

    Ever since thest Head of the Church of Light died, the Head Priests were divided into various factions of their own. The Church of Light looked united from the outside, but only when one looked deep inside the swamp did they realize that the Church of Light had never been more divided.

    The man took a deep breath, patting his clothes. "I hope it''s not something bad."

    He pushed the door open, revealing a beautiful hall. There were spheres of light floating near the roof and close to the walls that were keeping the hall bright.

    At the end of the door, there was a statue... The statue seemed to be of a woman who was looking like a dignified warrior. The man respectfully bowed to the statue, which was said to belong to the Goddess of Light, also known as the first Holy Mage of Light.

    The statue was alsopletely identical to what Gabriel had seen in the dark temple. The only difference was that the statue he saw was even bigger in size and that it was before other statues. Meanwhile, the statue here was on its own.

    In the middle of the hall, there was a long round table. There were twenty seats around the table, and around neen of them were already filled, leaving only one seat vacant.

    The man was slightly taken aback to realize that he was thest person to arrive here. Even though he was right on time, the others seemingly came even before. He rushed to his seat and greeted all the other Head Priests before sitting down.

    The other Head Priests also nodded in response.

    "Now that everyone is here, we can begin." An old man nodded, ncing at everyone''s face.

    If Gabriel had been here, he would''ve been able to recognize the old man who had just spoken. The man was none other than the Head Priest who hade to his small town to recruit him. The man was surprisingly the oldest Head Priest in the Holy Church of Light and the leader of one of the three Factions.

    He was also a part of the Royal Lumen Family and the reason that the Church of Light was so cordial with the Lumen family.

    "I have some important news for you all..." The old man took a deep sigh. "That''s why I had to call you all at such short notice."

    "What is it about?" Another Head Priest asked, looking very grim. If an urgent meeting like this had to be called, then something big must have happened... It seemed like bad news as well.

    "It''s rted to our Holy Grimoire..." The old man answered, letting out a deep sigh.

 105 Chapter 105

    "What about our Holy Grimoire?"

    The Holy Grimoire of Light was the most important thing for the Church of Light. Anything rted to that could concern the entire Church and the entire world.

    "The Holy Grimoire has finally started walking up, it seems..." The old man answered, keeping his voice low. Even though they were alone in this ce, he still spoke as if the walls might have ears.

    "You mean..."

    One after another, all the Head Priests started standing up as their eyes lit up.

    There was only one person who seemed confused after this information was made known to him. He didn''t understand what this meant. He was new as a Head Priest and didn''t know any secrets. Just what did they mean?

    "I mean what you think I do." The old man confirmed. "I think it''s soon going to be that time..."

    After getting confirmation, most of the Head Priests had a smile on their lips and a shine in their eyes. They took their seats once again.

    "You old man! When you called us here, you made it seem like there was some bad news. You scared me for a moment." A dark-haired Head Priest let out a heartyughter. "So it was a good news! It''s finally going to be the time!"

    "The time for what?" The new man asked, still curious about what he wasn''t getting. What was it time for? And why was everyone so happy? Just what was happening?

    The old man noticed the confusion on the middle-aged man''s face. He smiled. "You are new, so it''s understandable that you don''t know such things. Alright, tell me one thing. What do you know about our current Head of Church?"

    "I-i haven''t seen him yet, but I heard some great stories about him."

    "Well, let me tell you a secret." The old man smirked. "All the stories you heard? They were a lie that we spread for other churches to keep our Church''s influence alive. In reality, we have had no Holy Priest of Light ever since ourst Head died..."

    "You mean that conspiracy theory..."

    "Yeah, that wasn''t a conspiracy theory. We knew that there would be people who would be able to guess that something was wrong, but we made that appear like conspiracy theories. Not like anyone could verify it, after all. We kept this secret even from our own Priests. Only we knew this secret, and now you do."

    Another Head Priest took the lead and continued from where the old man stopped. "After our Holy Priest died, the Holy Grimoire of Light went to sleep for some reason. And like that, it couldn''t select the next Head Priest. It had been sleeping for a long time, but it''s finally starting to wake up..."

    "That means the Holy Grimoire is getting ready to select the next Holy Priest! That''s why we said it''s about time! Anyone from us can be the next Holy Priest if we are selected by the Holy Grimoire!"

    "Don''t be happy so soon. It''s also possible that none of us can be selected by the Holy Grimoire. We can only hope that it''s us, but don''t forget what happened with the Church of Water."

    "Sigh, even if it''s none of us, at least we would still have a Holy Priest. If the Grimoire will be making a selection, that person will be worth it. Finally, our Church can start expanding our influence again."

    " I''m sure the person will be me! I''m the most capable Mage of Light, after all!"

    "Nonsense! We all know I''m better than you. It''ll be me."

    "In your dreams."

    The Head Priests that were believed to be above all material greed, were fighting each other as if they were kids. Then again, it wasn''t surprising since the allure of bing the Holy Priest and the head of the Church of Light was something that no one could ignore.

    If one of them was selected by the Holy Grimoire, they were instantly going to be one of the strongest and most influential people in the world. With their experience and the strength given by the Holy Grimoire, there was barely anything that they couldn''t achieve.

    ****<sub> </sub>

    Inside the Church, the Head Priests were arguing with each other while still being extremely optimistic about the future. Meanwhile, outside, a giant bird flew above the city, getting closer to the Church of Light. The bird started going down as it reached the entrance of the Church of Light.

    A young woman jumped off the beautiful bird,nding at the entrance of the Church of Light. The majestic bird disappeared.

    "What business does the Academy have with us at this hour?" The Priest at the entrance of the Church asked Xinci, recognizing the youngdy.

    "I need to meet with your Head Priests."

    "At this hour? I don''t think that would be possible. The Head Priests are going through a really crucial meeting. If it''s not important, pleasee in the morning."

    "You think I woulde at this time if it weren''t important? The Academy has been attacked by a Dark Mage! We need to talk to the Head Priests about it! How was a dark Mage able to enter the city amidst all the security that you all brag about?!"

    Xinci was already quite angry, and seeing the man slow her down; she went off on him.

    "Academy attacked by a Dark Mage? How is that possible?!"

    "Let your Head Priests decide how it''s possible! Take me to them. Or do you think I can''t meet him, even though I''ve arrived as an official representative of our Dean?"

    "Fine. Come inside. You can wait inside while I call out Head Priests."

    The Priest opened the door and took Xinci inside the Church of Light.

    ****

    "What?!"

    Lambard was standing on the balcony, looking at the lively city that belonged to him, when he suddenly eximed in shock.

    A woman appeared behind him. "Did something happen...?"

    "That guy... It seemed I really underestimated him, even after knowing what his element was. That boy... He even managed to surprise me."

    "Are you talking about Gabriel? What did he do?" The woman asked.

    "I received a message from my sources at the city of Light. He seeded..."

    "He seeded in stealing the Eye of Osiris?"

    Lambard startedughing heartily in response.

    "Wish I was there to see all their faces. He didn''t just seed in stealing the Eye of Osiris! That guy¡­ He cleaned the entire treasury of the Academy, stealing every single artifact he possessed! And you know what''s the most fun part?"

    "What?"

    "He did it when Elora was at the academy!"

    It''s been a long time since Lambardughed so heartily.

 106 Chapter 106

    Gabriel''s sess was his own sess since he had already made a deal with him in exchange for the Ring of Apophis. As soon as Gabriel returned, he had to give the Eye of Osiris to him.

    Not only did Gabriel have the eye of Osiris now, but he also had more Numens since he had robbed the entire academy. Lambard had already decided to make more deals with Gabriel in exchange for those precious items. He was prepared to give as much money as Gabriel could ask or even deal in other ways.

    "Maria, today is a happy day." Lambard spread his arms, feeling the wing. " It deserves a feast. It deserves a celebration! Start preparing for weing Gabriel and Lira. Those two are our dear friends now. We need to show them our sincerity."

    "I will handle everything." Maria agreed before she left.

    "Gabriel... The heir of Karyk. You really achieved something I didn''t expect you to achieve. Your future prospects... They are really impossible to see at this point. I wonder what the future holds for you, but whatever the future may be, it''ll certainly be quite interesting... I am eager to see what it will be... How far can you reach before you fly too close to the sun?"

    ****

    Gabriel stood near the ss door, looking at all themotion at the academy. It was as he expected. Even though the fire had died down, the academy was still in uproar, all the Dorms were sealed, and all the students who were roaming outside were being instructed to go back to their rooms right away.

    Other than the teachers and the guards, no one was allowed to be out in the open.

    Eliana was going back to the castle to send a message to the Dean of the Academy about what had happened. The other teachers stayed behind, keeping Elora and the Head Priestessespany, or rather to keep an eye on them.

    Elora walked on the soft grass, lost in deep thought.

    She had managed to achieve sess in the auction at City of Abaddon, spending way beyond what she should''ve spent, but she didn''t care even if the Church of Water bled money. She had managed to outbid all the other representatives from various Churches.

    It was very important for her to buy the Map of the Lost City from Lambard. She seeded as well. Now there was only one thing she needed... That''s why she came here directly from the City of Abadon.Unfortunately, before she could get to the artifact she needed, everything was stolen...

    In thest one week, she had lost so much. She lost a Head Priestess, which was embarrassing, especially when Ruyi left the Church while apanying her. In other words, Ruyi was killed by a Dark Mage from right under her nose, and she couldn''t do anything. And how a dark Mage had robbed the Academy of Elements as well.

    She was certain that it was rted to the Church of Darkness, which was really bad news for everyone. If the Church of Darkness returned, they were certainly going to gain more strength and influence with each passing second. They were also going to be hungry for revenge.

    Also, it was slightly harder thanst time as well. Last time, they all knew where they were going to find the Dark Mages. They knew where the Church of Darkness was established and where the Ruler of Darkness was going to be.

    All the Holy Priests had ambushed the Ruler of Darkness together, finally managing to kill him and all his supporters, but now...? Now they didn''t even know where they were going to find the enemies.<sub> </sub>

    Last time, the Dark Mages were in the open, but now the Dark Mages were hiding in the shadows, attacking their enemies when they wished and how they wished. Fighting an enemy like that was always hard, especially now.

    Last time, all the Churches had ambushed the Ruler of Darkness together, but now the new Ruler of Darkness was ambushing them while bing stronger.

    Lost in her thoughts, Elora kept walking, not realizing how far she had walked. Ultimately, she ended up near the Dorms of the House of Light.

    ****

    Gabriel stood near the ss door, looking out. Through the ss, he noticed Elora walking, being apanied by Head Priestesses.

    "I was right... It''s her." Seeing Elora with his own eyes, he confirmed his suspicions.

    Unfortunately for him, Elora also sensed something. She felt as if someone was looking at her. And it wasn''t a gaze she recognized. She raised her head, ncing toward the window.

    There was nothing she could see, even as she looked up.

    Gabriel had moved aside at the right time. He stood with his back against the wall, still holding the cursed letter.

    Elora lowered her head before she continued walking, losing herself in her thoughts again.

    There was only one person who could see through his illusion in the academy at the moment, and it was Elora.

    Gabriel walked to the bed and stopped looking outside. Not as if he could change the oue of what was happening. He had finished what he was here for. Now all he needed was to leave.

    Hey on the bed, finally realizing the letter was in his hand. However, he didn''t send the letter back to his ring. He just gazed at the folded letter, quite curious about what was written in it.

    There was a possibility that he could read it since he had the support of a Grimoire, which could counter the effect of a Numen on his soul, but he wasn''t sure if the effects were definitely on the soul. He didn''t know if the Grimoire could protect him if the letter''s curse affected his body.

    It was certainly a risk for him... A risk that he seriously thought about. He could see what was in the letter by just unfolding it. He even felt as if the letter was calling on him to open it... attracting him and his mind¡­

 107 Chapter 107

    Karyk was the person who was imed to be the origin of all the human gods. He was supposed to be the person who destroyed the natural bnce, which gave birth to more gods. He was the essence of everything.

    Gabriel believed he was the heir of Karyk, sharing that same element. In fact, it was said that he was the first person to receive Karyk''s element ever since Karyk disappeared. The letter was addressed to Karyk, so it made him really curious, especially since it talked about something that Karyk did.

    He wondered if the letter could lead him to answers regarding the disappearance of Karyk. He had to control his hands to not open the letter. Unfortunately, the allure of the letter was just too much. The letter was calling onto him.

    "Argh."

    Ultimately, Gabriel realized that he might not be able to control himself for longer if he held onto the letter. If there was someone who could tell him more about the history of this letter, it was Lambard. But until then, he decided not to open it.

    He sent the letter back into his Spatial Domain.

    He got off the bed and went in to take a shower again to calm his head once more.

    ****

    In one part of the City of Light, Gabriel was taking a shower. In another part of the city, the Head Priests of Light were just informed about the Academy of Light being attacked by possibly a Dark Mage.

    "Impossible. There''s no way a Dark Mage can enter this city without us knowing about it! Don''t forget about the barrier! It was cast by our Holy Priest. There is no way for any Dark Mage to pass through without alerting others, not even using teleportation!"

    "That''s right! It can''t be a Dark Mage! That''s preposterous! It must be someone else..."

    "The element has been confirmed by Lady Elora herself." Xinci insisted. "I''m not making this up. She confirmed that it was a Dark Mage."

    "What does she know? She''s a naive kid. Just because she became Holy Priest, she thinks she can call faults to our protection barrier? That girl must be mistaken."

    "We wille check ourselves! We will see with our own eyes!"

    All the Head Priests decided to check themselves. Unfortunately, since some of them needed to stay behind, it was decided that only five of them were going to go and confirm if there was a possibility of the story being true.

    However, the five that were selected to go were the strongest Head Priests in the Church at the moment. The group of five also included the Head Priest, who had met with Gabriel before.

    "Why don''t you tell the Holy Priest of Light? I''m sure it concerns him as well," Xinci suggested. She hade here to call the Head of the Church of Light since that''s what Elora wanted. She wanted all the Holy Priests toe together to talk about it since it concerned everyone.

    The Old man''s face twitched in anger. "Nonsense! We haven''t even confirmed if what you''re telling us is true, and you''re asking us to disturb his rest? We will check ourselves and then decide if it''s worth informing  him or if it''s a false rm."<sub> </sub>

    There was no way the man could inform the Head of Church yet since there was no Head of Church of Light at the moment. The Holy Grimoire was ownerless.

    The Head Priests rejected Xinci''s suggestions, making Xinci feel that these people were really arrogant. They were even doubting her and Elora? She didn''t know that it wasn''t their arrogance but their helplessness. They couldn''t call the man who didn''t exist.

    Moreover, they actually had faith in their barrier, which had never failed even once. They didn''t believe that it was possible that a Dark Mage passed through the barrier that easily, even if it was the Owner of the Grimoire of Darkness.

    The Holy Priest of Light had used the Holy Grimoire of Light to cast the spell. It was impossible to break it, let alone pass through it undetected, without breaking it.

    They left the Church and flew to the Academy of Elements.

    Many people who were near the Academy heard the loud explosion. They also saw the entrance and the exit of the Royal City being sealed not long after. No one was allowed to enter or leave. This made them realize that something big had happened at the academy.

    The one who was more perceptive also saw the Head Priests of Light flying toward the Academy.

    Most of the people were sleeping at this hour, but the ones who were awake were really worried as to what was happening in the city. What was that explosion? Why was the city being sealed? And the Head Priests of Light were also involved, that too at this hour?

    The Head Priests were also escorted inside the Church of Light by Xinci. By the time, Qin was also back after having the entire city sealed. He had ced hundreds of Mages at the entrance and the exit of the city.

    The Head Priests were brought to the site of the explosion.

    "Where is Elora?" The old man asked, finding no members of the Church of Water here.

    Seeing him address Elora directly by her name, just because she was younger than him, Xinci felt that it was quite disrespectful, especially since the position Elora had. She was technically equal in position to the Holy Priest of Light.

    "She must be nearby. I''ll inform her that envoys from the Church of Light are here." Xinci left, rolling her eyes. She really wanted to beat these idiots up, but she controlled her urges.

    As Xinci left, the Head Priests of Light started observing the sight of the battle. They climbed on top of the rubble.

    The old man grimaced. The closer he went to the spot where the Infernal King was standing before, the more he was able to sense it.

    Since they were Mages of Light, they were more sensitive to the energy of darkness than the Mages of Water.

    "I can feel the aura of darkness, but it''s nothing live I''ve ever sensed before... It has that same old hint of darkness, but it''s something more as well... Something much darker... Something much more rotten...."

 108 Chapter 108

    "I sense it too. Could it be that Elora was right? The Grimoire is Darkness has selected an Heir?"

    "I don''t know, but this aura... It''s notplete... The Holy Water Spell has ruined most of this aura, so I can''t be sure about it, but it''s definitely nothing like I''ve ever sensed before. It''s definitely not an ordinary Mage of Darkness. So it''s quite possible that it''s the person selected by the Grimoire of Darkness."

    "I also have the same feeling. So it''s definitely the heir of darkness. No wonder the museum was targeted. They were here for the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, and now they have it. The useless Academy couldn''t protect one thing! We never should''ve let them hold the Ancestral Staff of Darkness!"

    "It''s because of them that the Dark Mages have the Ancestral Staff as well. This should increase their strength by multiple folds."

    "That''s certainly a concern, but what''s more concerning is that they were able to pass through the barrier, and we didn''t even sense it. That in itself is worth worrying about. If the Dark Mages can now enter the city without alerting us, doesn''t that mean the city might have hundreds of them that we know nothing about?"

    "This is a real headache, for sure. And at a time when we don''t have a Holy Priest of Light. Fortunately, the Grimoire is starting to wake up. It won''t be long now."

    The five Head Priests discussed amongst themselves. Even though they weren''t in the same factions and hated others, when it came to the Church, they were together.

    "I really hope the Grimoire won''t select a newbie like the Grimoire of Water did. We need someone experienced to get that strength at times like this."

    "Agreed."

    It didn''t take the Head Priests long to confirm that Xinci was telling the truth. They waited for Elora, observing their surroundings. They also cast a spell around them so no one but themselves could hear what they were talking about.

    "How are we going to deal with it for now?" The old man asked. "If we confirm that it''s the work of a Dark Mage, Elora will ask to meet our Holy Priest. But if we lie and say that it wasn''t the work of a Dark Mage, that would be bad as well since it''s not something we can let pass. It concerns the world."

    "Both the options are bad. I think we can only use a third option. Lie and tell that our Holy Priest isn''t in the city and that he leftst week for something important."

    "What if they asked where he went?"

    "Just tell them he went to the Lost City to explore as well. Isn''t that great?" The dark-haired man smirked. "The Holy Priestesses of Water died because of that ce. We can say he went there to find out the secret of that ce. That can give us a small window of time which we can stretch for as long as we live."

    "Agreed. We have been lying about his existence all this while to maintain the dignity of our Church. Why not lie a little more?"

    All the head Priests seemed to be on the same track for now. They decided what they were going to say.

    "Alright, we will do that. Now enough discussions. They areing."

    In the distance, they noticed Elora returning with the others.

    Elora looked around, seemingly trying to find someone.

    "Is your Church Head not here?" she asked, after failing to find.<sub> </sub>

    Even though she had never seen the new Head of the Church of Light, she was sure that it was none of them since she couldn''t feel it.

    The old man stepped forward. "He won''t be able toe."

    He told the excuse that they had just decided about how the Head of the Church of Light wasn''t in the city anymore.

    Hearing their answer, Xinci looked at them weirdly. Didn''t they tell her that the Holy Priest of Light was in the Church, and they just didn''t want to disturb him? Were they lying now, or did they lie to her? Whatever the case may be, they definitely lied to one.

    ''As expected, the ones who act like the gatekeeper of purity are the ones who sin the most.'' She didn''t express her thoughts out loud, keeping them to herself.

    Elora was also taken aback, confused as to how he could go to the Lost City of Gods. The only way to even find that city was by using the map that she possessed. She had spent so much money to buy it. Did the Head of the Church of Light also manage to find a map somewhere?

    It could definitely be possible since the map that was used by the Holy Priestesses of Water before her was missing. It could''ve been possible that someone found the map and sold it to the Church of Light.

    "That''s quite unfortunate."

    She also wanted to go to the Lost City, but now that she was facing this headache, she couldn''t leave as that would be like leaving the Church of Water on its own to fend off against the Mages of Darkness.

    First, she needed to find out how the Mages of Darkness were able to enter the city. But after that, she didn''t know what she could do. Locating that person was going to be impossible at this point.

    "If only I knew where they would go next..."

    "Wait... Lambard!" Elora eximed out loud.

    The Mages of Darkness who killed her Head Priestesses were dealing with Lambard. He addressed them as sellers who found the artifact and sold it to him!

    "I think I know where we will find our Dark Mages!"

    "Where?" The old man asked. "And how do you know?!"

    "If the Church of Darkness is trying to make a return, not only will they need lots of money but also many other resources as well. And who deals in illegal resources for both sides? Lambard! He is the only one who still deals with Dark Mages as well!" Elora eximed.

    "The Dark Mages were definitely here for the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, but they stole all the other Artifacts as well, many of which would be useless for them. What would they do with them?" she asked. She was surprised why she didn''t think of it before!

    "They will sell it to Lambard in exchange for something they need!" The old man realized what she was trying to imply, and it made perfect sense. They had a ce to start their search with.

 109 Chapter 109

    Elora was concerned about the heir selected by the Grimoire of Darkness, believing it was the man she fought. Everyone else also thought the same. Not a single person amongst them knew how wrong they were.

    The real owner of the Grimoire of Darkness was Lira, who was still waiting near the city for Gabriel''s return. She remained inside the forest, keeping an eye on the city.

    As everyone was concerned about her, she justid on the soft grass near the pong, imaging with her pendant, which was the artifact form of her Grimoire of Darkness.

    It had only been two days since Gabriel entered the city, so she believed he was still analyzing the academy. She believed that he was going to attempt the theft on thest day of the week or possibly the secondst. If only she knew how hasty Gabriel had been.

    Lira was in the middle of the forest, but at another part in the first, another person appeared.

    A formation circle appeared on the grass. A figure appeared above the formation.

    Lelin came out of the city, still folding into the white orb. He gazed at the city of light in the distance.

    " Who knew it was going to be that easy? A fake letter and a nice illusion of the Church of Light Carriage, and they all fell for it. It definitely helps that no one knows who the Head of the Church of Light is... Such idiots."

    "Still, I didn''t expect to meet him there... That person...How long has it been since Ist..."

    Lelin appeared to lose himself in some deep thought beforeposing himself.

    "He was too weak though. Should I have killed him when I had the opportunity...?" Lelin asked as if talking to himself. However, as soon as he finished speaking, he felt a dark presence around him.

    A cold de touched his throat, which could make anyone''s soul shiver.

    <o>,m "I was kidding. I know you won''t allow me." Lelin rolled his eyes, not looking scared in the least. "Why do you think I didn''t attack him seriously and left?"</o>

    He turned around, gazing at the figure which stood behind him. A dark specter floated before him, shrouded in an aura of death.

    He shed a bright grin, waving the white orb before the specter. "We have it now. Shall we get going?"

    "You left one behind..." The Spectre answered coldly.

    "What do you mean I left one behind? There was only one in the box. This is the one."

    The specter shook his head. "There were two... You lost one."

    "Shall I go back?" Lelin asked. It was just now that he was informed that there were two orbs in the box. He didn''t see the second before.

    "It''s toote now." The dark specter answered, gazing toward the city. "One shall be enough... For now."<sub> </sub>

    ****

    Lira sensed another presence in the forest that appeared out of nowhere. She was sure that it was a mage.

    Suspicious, she stood up and flew in the direction where she sensed the presence. She flew through the forest, soon reaching her destination.

    Unfortunately, by the time she reached there, the ce was empty. There was no one there. And the aura once again disappeared.

    ****

    Gabriel couldn''t care less about what was happening outside. At this point in time, the safest ce for him was inside his room. He was supposed to be sealed in the room. What better alibi than it? No matter who was suspected, it wasn''t going to be him.

    He got dressed aftering out of the shower and observed the room to make sure there was nothing suspicious. He even cleaned his room before he walked to the bed.

    It was three in the night when he finally closed his eyes to go to sleep. Tonight, he was very rxed. Even though the outside was surrounded by Head Priest and Head Priestesses of Two Holy Churches along with all the teachers and Elora, he was still feeling safe.

    He had his special attire, which hid his aura even from Elora. The only thing which could get him caught was if he came before Elora, which he definitely wasn''t going to do.

    Moreover, it wasn''t as if Elora was going to check every student''s room. No matter what, students were going to be thest people who would be suspicious at this point.

    He believed that there was no way they would even consider the possibility that someone would rob all the artifacts of the Academy, only to then hide at the Academy itself. The most dangerous ce was often the safest ce. And if they still decided to get all rooms checked by Elora, then he was going to deal with it as things came.

    For now, he didn''t think negatively since the chances of that happening were almost negligible. In fact, there was also a possibility that they were going to consider that the thief had already left the Academy and the city. Even Elora couldn''t stay here all day after finding nothing. Sooner orter, she had to leave.

    It felt really good when the n came together perfectly in the form of sess, all thanks to his Grimoire. The only thing which didn''t go as he wanted was the white orb which he lost to Lelin.

    He was still curious about what these two orbs were and why did Lelin want them? And what about that Spectre? Why was it in the Academy? There were so many questions in his head that kept him awake even now. It took him an entire hour before he actually fell asleep at four.

    ****

    "The City of Abadon? The domain of Lambard." The Head Priest nodded. "You''re right. I think we should be able to find the Dark Mages there, but then again, the city is Lambard''s Domain. We can''t do anything inside the city, can we?"

    "We know. I heard the stories about how the Church of Light tried to destroy the city of Abaddon and failed," Joan chimed in. "It won''t be easy to do anything in the city."

    Hearing Joan remind him about the past failure of the Church of Light, the Head Priest''s face twitched in anger.

 110 Chapter 110

    "Nonsense. We didn''t fail. We just let them live. The city is a Numen which was impossible to destroy without putting a significant effort, and we didn''t think it was worth it."

    "You mean you can destroy it now? Isn''t that better? We should be able to catch all the Dark Mages in one stroke!" Joan smirked, realizing that the man was bluffing.

    "We definitely can, but we don''t have our Leader. We need him to use his Grimoire for it. Without that, it''s not possible to do anything inside the City of Abadon."

    "If we can''t do anything inside the city, then what about outside?" Elora suggested. "We can''t attack the city, but Lambard doesn''t have any control outside. We all know that it''s impossible to Teleport inside the city of Abaddon.So the one way to enter is through the main entrance."

    "The Dark Mages will have to take the main route to enter the city. And even if they enter before we get there, they''ll have to leave sooner orter, won''t they? We can set an ambush."

    "Do you think that the new Ruler of Darkness wille himself to sell the artifacts?" Yann asked. "Even if you go by the n, it''s not certain that you''ll find him."

    "He will definitelye himself. Only he can ess the storage realm where he kept the artifacts. If he doesn''te, then he will send another Dark Mage that he trusts. Even if we catch that Dark Mage, he can lead us to their new base. In any case, this is the only option that we have at this point."

    "Either we take this opportunity, or we sit idly and allow the Church of Darkness to get stronger until it''s ready to attack us openly."

    "Fine. We will go with you. We will take part in this n."

    "Not only us, but we would also need more help. And I know just the right person. Do a thing. Go to the City of Abadon. I''ll meet you there."

    "Where are you going?" The old man asked, watching Elora leave. He couldn''t believe that the young girl had just issued him amand.

    "I''m going to the Church of mes. That''s the only one that falls on our route. We are going against the Heir of a Grimoire. This might be ourst opportunity to catch him. And I don''t want to underestimate that guy. The man was able to use the dark mes of his Grimoire. What better person to counter him than the Ruler of mes."

    "With the three Churches working together, we should be able to take him down."

    Elora left with the Head Priestesses, not wasting a single moment. She believed the Dark Mage had already left the city, and sooner orter, he was going to be en-route to the city of Abaddon. The faster they were, the faster they could catch him.

    Unfortunately, the person they were trying to catch up to hadn''t left the city. He didn''t even leave his room. While others were trying to catch up to him, Gabriel was sleeping in his room peacefully.

    For the first time in thest two days, Gabriel didn''t have a nightmare. Instead, he had a really peaceful dream tonight.<sub> </sub>

    In the team, he was lying on massive grasnds. He was the one person here, lying on soft grass, looking at the clouded sky with his hands under his head to give him support.

    Everything was so peaceful here that he felt like staying here for an eternity. In the silence, only the rustling of grass against the wind could be heard, which sounded like a melody to him.

    However, the silence didn''tst for long.

    "Are you still angry about that?" He heard a voice. The voice was so sweet, seemingly belonging to a girl.

    He tilted his head to his right, where the voice came from. In the distance, he could see a woman running toward him, dressed in a beautiful green gown. The gown was making it troublesome for her to run, slowing her down, but she didn''t care.

    The woman seemed to be in her early twenties. She had beautiful green hair like that of Nature which was flying with the winds as she ran. Her light green hair matched her gorgeous eyes, which also had green pupils, only having innocence in them.

    On the back of her left hand, Gabriel saw a green mark, which he had seen quite a few times recently. It was the mark of the Element of Nature. Was she a Mage of Nature? For some reason, he could feel that she was way more than that... For some reason, he also felt that he had seen that face before. He just couldn''t recall it.

    The woman had a golden crown on her head, which appeared to be made from some really unique flowers. She also had a ne around her neck, but the ne looked quite odd. It was as if it was less of a ne and more of chains that were attached to a circr golden pendant that hung near her chest.

    The woman stopped near Gabriel. She sat beside Gabriel. "You really made me run a lot today. I don''t think I''ve ever run this much. Why do you get angry over such small matters?"

    Gabriel looked at the woman in confusion. What small matters was she talking about?

    ''Just once, I want to have some nice and peaceful dreams. Why do all of them turn out to be so bizarre¡­ Wait a minute... That face...''

    It was only now that Gabriel remembered where he had seen that face before.

    ''It was on the statues in the temple! The face of the Goddess of Nature! Don''t tell me; she is the Goddess of Nature? The First Holy Priest of Nature?!''

    "Why are you looking at me like that?" The woman asked, noticing Gabriel staring at her like she was a ghost.

 111 Chapter 111

    "You are the Goddess of Nature?" Gabriel asked. Since the woman seemed to notice his strange expressions, Gabriel wondered if she could also hear him.

    Even if it was a dream, he was really curious to know what mess his mind was trying to show him.

    "Why are you addressing me with that distant title as themoners do?" the woman seemed confused, being addressed as the Goddess of Nature. "Call me Eileen like you always do."

    "Eileen?" Gabriel frowned. "Where are we?"

    Gabriel could only see a green field as far as the eyes could see. It looked like a ce he had never been to before, even in real life.

    "Heh, of course, you can''t recognize this ce. It''s been a long time since youst came here. When you came herest time, this used to be barrennd, but today, it is what you see. This is the beauty of nature."

    Eileen fell on the soft grass beside Gabriel.

    "I was informed that you came to meet me, but you left in anger. I was also told why that was. Can I apologize to you from his side? My brother didn''t know better..."

    "Come, I will make him apologize to you personally!" She abruptly stood up like a hyperactive child. She held Gabriel''s wrist, making him get up as well.

    Gabriel was dragged by Eileen, who kept talking about how wrong her brother was.

    Gabriel could only follow along in confusion, wondering just what was happening.

    Eileen soon brought Gabriel to the entrance of a beautiful city which was unlike anything he had ever seen. It was the greenest city he had ever seen. It was like Eileen had gone a bit overboard in making the city to her liking. There was grass even on the roads. No carriages were allowed to enter the city. Whoever came inside the city, they had to walk.

    In fact, if one ignored all the houses and beautiful structures, this ce could easily be confused with a huge garden with exotic flowers that Gabriel had never seen before. There were trees that provided them with shade wherever they went.

    "This ce..."

    Initially, Gabriel was attracted by the beauty of this city, but his mind soon noticed something else as well. He raised his head, looking at all the houses and their positions. He remembered seeing something simr before.

    ''The glimpse I saw before when I touched the ck orb¡­ It was this ce...''

    Amongst the four glimpses he saw, the second one was something he found really simr to this ce. There was a city that was covered in water. It was as if the city had faced a tsunami. Only the top of a few houses could be seen above water.

    Whatever portions of the houses he was able to see above all the water werepletely identical to the top of the houses here. Even their positions were the same.

    "Eileen, is there any sea or river nearby?" he asked Eileen.

    Eileen shook her head. "There is a small pond in the middle of the city. Other than that, there is no sea or river nearby. Why?"

    ''A pond can''t bring a tsunami. There is no sea or even river nearby. This city also seems to be on high grounds. Where did all that watere from...? If there is no natural source, that can only mean one thing... Magic. The Mages of Water.''

    Eileen brought Gabriel to her castle. She was greeted by the maids who worked for her. Just as she was about to enter, she saw the doors open, and a man step out of the castle, apanied by two guards.

    The man didn''t look much older either. In fact, he only seemed to be a few years older than Eileen. As soon as the man stepped out of the castle, he noticed Gabriel. His expressions became twisted again. However, he decided to ignore him for now and not pay attention.

    He stopped looking at him and continued walking without caring about anything else.<sub> </sub>

    "Stop right there!" Eileenmanded. Thousands of Vines came out of the ground, blocking the path of the man.

    "What?" The man rolled his eyes, stopping.

    "I want you to apologize to Karyk for what you said before..."

    "You mean that? I wasn''t even talking to him, so I couldn''t have said anything to him. He was the one hearing what I was speaking with the others. Also, not like I said anything wrong, did I? He is a bringer of death who should be kept as far as possible. He is bad luck. What''s wrong with what I said?"

    Not only did the man refuse to apologize, he repeated what he had spoken. "The whole world might be afraid of him, but I''m not."

    Eileen''s brother didn''t have any strength of his own. In fact, he only felt proud because his sister was the goddess of Nature. Because he had his sister, he was sure that Karyk wasn''t going to do anything to him.

    No matter what his sister said, she was always going to side with the family in the end and protect him.

    ''Again I''m being addressed as Karyk. This can''t be a coincidence. Second dream where I''m addressed as Karyk. Another dream where everything looks so realistic. It can''t be my mind making up things. This must be the work of the Grimoire.''

    Gabriel seemed more concerned about his own self than what this man was speaking. He didn''t care if he was called the bringer of death. Those were childish insults for a man his age.

    He gazed at the back of his right hand, observing the mark. The mark waspletely identical to what he had in real life. However, just like before, he didn''t have a mark on his left hand. There was no mark of light on his left hand.

    ''I should be right. This is the Grimoire of Necromancy, showing me these visions. Since the Grimoire can''t talk to me, it must be its way of telling me what happened.''

    "In fact, I even heard stories that this guy ate his own family. You think this kind of man deserves our respect? You should stay away from him as well, Eileen. The man who even ate his own family, just what kind of demon must he be?"

    The man didn''t stop with his insults, going even farther. He still continued.

    "Ah?" Even now, Gabriel didn''t react. He didn''t care what he was called in this dream, but for some reason, his right hand moved on its own.

    It was as if the body wasn''t in his control anymore.

    "You''re right. I''m a demon who ate my own family." Words came out of his lips. "But what made you think you could talk to me like that?"

    Plop~

    Eileen''s brother dropped to the ground, lifeless. It was as if Karyk had resisted long enough, but when his sister and family were brought into the equation, he decided to show the man just why it was that the entire world was scared of him!

    Eileen froze in ce, seeing her brother be killed. It all happened so fast that she couldn''t do anything. No matter how favorable she thought of Karyk, she still cared for her brother the most. Even though her brother had a sharp tongue, he was still her brother. And he was killed right before her eyes.

    Even Gabriel was taken aback. Just what was happening? How did his body suddenly lose control? He did so many things throughout this dream, like asking questions, but something like this didn''t happen.

    It was as if he was allowed to have control over minor portions of this dream which didn''t change things much, but the core couldn''t be changed. It was like the Grimoire specifically wanted him to know what happened here...

    Karyk had killed Eileen''s brother right before her eyes!

 112 Chapter 112

    Gabriel regained control of the body, only to turn to Eileen. He could see her frozen in ce as if she still couldn''te to believe what had just happened.

    "You killed my brother..." She muttered as a year trickled down her cheeks. "Over something so small... You killed him!"

    She treated Gabriel like a friend, and he did this to her...? Over something so small? He took herst family member, leaving her without family as well! He made her all alone in this world without even thinking twice.

    The wall of vines that she had used to block her brother started going crazy.

    "I-"

    Gabriel reached out his hand, attempting to say something, but before he could, a vine hit him from the back, sending him flying.

    His body flew into the distance, crashing into the castle wall.

    "Wait!" He yelled, sitting up. His eyes opened wide as he woke from his dreams, realizing that he was still in his room.

    "Arghhhh!" He yelled at the top of his lungs to let out all his frustration. All these dreams! In thest three days, he was never allowed to sleep peacefully. All his dreams ended up being bizarre.

    He red at the ck ring on his finger. "What are you trying to tell me?! Is that really a memory? At least tell me what that was! Don''t make me y a guessing game anymore!"

    He was mostly sure that what he was seeing recently were memories since they were all rted to Karyk, his family, his empire, and the people he used to know.

    However, there was also a small chance that it had nothing to do with his ring, and it was just a fragment of his mind''s imagination since he was so intrigued by Karyk! But still, three dreams in three days! It was too much to be a coincidence!

    He once again dropped to his bed. He had slept, yet he felt tired. These dreams made him even more tired than his sleep could replenish him.

    What was worse was that he could never know for sure just what these dreams were, which frustrated him the most.

    "If it''s a dream, then it''s nonsense, but if it''s a memory, it means Karyk killed Eileen''s brother. That could exin why Eileen would be against him. Maybe that''s also what led to the fight between Eileen and Karyk. But Karyk shouldn''t be able to use water. How did that city get buried underwater?"

    "Could it be that this incident was what made all the gods turn against Karyk? Was this why they wiped all history that belonged to Karyk, even his statues? This seems too simple. He was quite strong. I''m sure the Goddess of Nature can''t kill him. He was the God of Death and Afterlife after all."

    "He was also the strongest god, ording to Lambard. Just for Eileen''s brother, the other gods shouldn''t go against him. But still, this seems like an important piece in Karyk''s history."

    "He really had some anger issues, but then again, he was forced to absorb the soul of his family... The pain and torment of all that... If I was in his ce, I can''t even imagine. I would''ve gone crazy."

    "It''s all past though. All the Gods and Goddesses are dead. Even Demigods don''t exist." He got off the bed and stood on the ground, stretching his arms. There was nothing for him to worry about.

    He walked to the ss door and looked out the balcony to see what the situation outside was.

    He couldn''t see much of the Academy through his balcony, but things seemed rtively peaceful for now. It was as if the Academy hade to terms with themotion ofst night.

    He wondered if Elora was still at the academy or if she had left. He couldn''t see any Head Priests of Light from here either.<sub> </sub>

    Tuck Tuck~

    Gabriel observed the academy through the ss when he heard a knock on the door.

    He walked to the mirror to return to his Illusion of the student he was pretending to be. He observed his room onest time before walking to the door.

    He opened the door.

    He could see Gerrick standing outside the door. He pushed Gabriel aside and entered the room.

    "Did you need something?" Gabriel asked, watching Gerrick move to the window. He observed the window, which was still sealed like it was supposed to be.

    "Yeah. The tests of the Crown have been canceled."

    "Really? Why?" Gabriel asked, acting surprised. "Did they finally find the real killer?"

    "Possibly. You don''t know anything, do you? Then again, you were sealed in the room, so you didn''t hear the conversation outside." Gerrick unlocked the ss door that led to the balcony, unsealing it.

    "What happened?" Gabriel asked again.

    "There has been a theft. A dark mage managed to infiltrate the academy and stole everything from the Museum. He even stole the Crown of Elisus, so it''s literally impossible to make anyone go through the Test of the Crown. Only the artifacts that weren''t in the museum are safe."

    He kept the lock in his pocket and started leaving.

    "In any case, there is no need for the test. The Academy believes that the killer was that dark mage as well who ran away. He had some enmity with Hawrin''s family, so probably he took the opportunity to kill him when he was here. That''s why you and Caen are free. You can go out now. Also, there won''t be any sses today."

    After providing basic information to Gabriel, Garrick left since he also needed to unseal Caen''s room as well.

    "That''s convenient. So Caen doesn''t need to lose his talent either. But what about Elora? Is she still in the Academy? If she is, that would be troublesome for me leaving the dorms. I need to find out."

    He closed the door behind him and left the room as well, leaving the Dorms.

    No matter where he went, he overheard students talk about what happenedst night. It was the topic of conversation everywhere since it wasn''t often that something like this happened.

    Through these conversations, he also managed to find out that the Church of Water and the Church of Light also had their envoys present herest night. Both sides left after making sure that the Dark Mage wasn''t at the academy anymore.

    That news was the best news for Gabriel. So he could actually roam freely.

    He stepped out of the Dorms. Now that he wasn''t in a race against time to finish his task, he could finally rx and see the rest of the academy.

    He was especially curious about the Tower of Challenges which ranked all the Mages in the history of the Academy. He really wanted to try that, especially now that he was a mid-tier mage, which was generally most of the fourth-year students.

 113 Chapter 113

    With Elora''s absence, Gabriel didn''t feel the need to worry about much. Not only did he prove his ''innocence'' to the academy, but he also did what he was here to do.

    Now he could leave whenever he wished, but leaving so soon felt like a waste of the opportunity for him. There were many more ces in the academy to explore for now. By going back so soon, he would be just wasting the opportunity he had in the form of the Ring of Apophis.

    He still had four more nights here, and he wanted to use them to the fullest.

    He didn''t need Spirit Stones. He didn''t care about the Academy Points system either. There was a Treasure Pavilion which contained treasures made by the academy that could be purchased with points.

    He didn''t have many points since he had only been here for two days and didn''t earn any points, but even if he didn''t, he didn''t think there was anything that was avable to be bought which could intrigue him.

    He had already stolen one of the most precious treasures of the academy that even the teachers weren''t allowed to touch. If he considered all the treasures he had now, he was probably the wealthiest person in the entire city after the Holy Church of Light.

    Each of the treasures that he possessed was going to be bought at a really expensive cost if he was to sell them. With such great treasures, he didn''t think he needed anything else here.

    He walked past the Treasures Pavilion, which sold artifacts.

    On his way to the Tower of Challenges, his eyes fell on another interesting ce. He was told that the ce was the Library of Spells. It was where books written by teachers and other students were kept if they wished to donate that knowledge to the academy.

    There were quite a lot of spells amongst those books that were created from scratch by some highly talented mages. Gabriel had bought a spell book of Light from outside, which had some decent spells, but there were no powerful spells in them. They were all spells that were publically avable.

    He wanted more powerful spells, and the library could help him with that.

    After thinking for a brief moment, he entered the Library of Spells.

    Entering the library of Spells, the first thing that Gabriel noticed was just how big this ce was. As far as eyes could see, he saw a long line of library stacks that seemed unending. The Library appeared to be much bigger from the inside than it looked from the outside.

    All the stacks were filled with books. Curious, he walked to the first stack, only to be stopped by a young man.

    "May I help you?" The young man had the attire of a Mage of Water, seemingly from the third year.

    The man worked at the Library as a helper in exchange for some credits.

    "I want to see some books, possibly some about Spells of Light," Gabriel answered.

    "I''m afraid you aren''t allowed yet." The man shook his head, disappointing Gabriel.

    "And why not?"

    "Because you don''t have the credits needed to even look at the cheapest book here. From your attire, it''s clear you''re a first-year student. That means you just joined two days ago. Even if I count all the credits, you would''ve been given until now, that''s not enough."

    The man gave an excuse that Gabriel didn''t have enough Credits, which Gabriel found a bit odd. Didn''t pointse into y when he wanted to take a book off a shelf? There shouldn''t be a cost to just walking around.

    "Can I at least wander into the library to observe it? At least I want to decide which book I want to strive for and how long it is going to take for me to get enough credits for that."

    "You Mages of Light are always so... Anyway, I''m afraid you aren''t allowed. Even to enter the library to decide on the book, you will need to spend at least a hundred credits since we''ll need to assign a helper to show you around and help you decide which book would suit you." The young man eximed, feeling slightly irritated.

    It wasn''t odd for Mages of Light to be this stupid. They always thought that they could get whatever they wanted and that they were the best. The kid hadn''t been at the academy even for a few days, and he was already trying to hit above his height.

    "And I am already sure that you don''t have that many points, so please don''t waste your and our time."No matter what, the man didn''t budge from his stance, which made Gabriel also somewhat annoyed.

    If he wasn''t controlling himself for now, he would''ve loved to see how this man was going to stop him.<sub> </sub>

    For now, he just gave up and turned around to leave. He walked out of the Library, taking one more nce at the building. For a moment, a thought crossed his head that maybe he should empty this ce as well, but he dropped the idea.

    This was too much work over nothing. Moreover, sooner orter, he was going to return to this ce when he was ready for an all out war with the Holy Church of Light. At that time, he could take whatever he wanted.

    He left the ce.

    Not long after Gabriel left the library, an old man arrived behind the young man who had kicked Gabriel out.

    "Was someone here?" The old man asked. For some reason, he appeared a bit uneasy.

    "No one," The young man answered since he considered Gabriel as an insignificant person.

    *****

    Walking through the grass fields, Gabriel reached the Mission Hall. It was another important ce at the academy, which was mostly used by the students to get points.

    As if his curiosity was once again ignored, he walked to the Mission Hall as well, trying to see just what kind of missions were being given to the students.

    "I hope they don''t charge points to enter as well since this ce is supposed to be what gives points."

    He entered the mission hall. The ce was quite crowded. Then again, all the sses were off today, so it wasn''t surprising.

    He walked to the massive board in the distance, which had many letters and posters that contained information about the mission. If someone wanted a mission, all they needed to do was note the number on the mission poster and report it to the incharge of Mission Hall to get that mission assigned to them.

    Gabriel walked to the board, observing the missions. Just as he expected, the missions were quite easy. They were for weaker mages, so it wasn''t quite surprising. The real difficult missions were on higher floors, but he knew that he wasn''t going to be allowed there. Then again, maybe he could?

    He looked around, realizing that no one was looking at him. There was no one here who recognized him, so it was quite easy as well.

    He walked near the window, looking outside with his back turned against everyone else. Since his back was facing them, no one should see him. In any case, no one paid attention to him either.

    He nned to make changes to his badge and his face through the illusion to get an entry into the higher floor, but just as he was about to attempt it, he stopped.

    He didn''t cast a new illusion as he thought of a possibility.

    "If I pretend to be a Fourth Year Mage of Light, and there is a fourth year Mage of Light on the floor above, it would be troublesome. It''s the same with other elements..."

    At the right time, he remembered that the students here trained in the same sses for years. There was no way they wouldn''t find seeing a stranger who was supposed to be in their ss odd.

    He dropped the n, realizing that it was quite stupid. There was no need to take this stupid decision just to satisfy his curiosity.

    Dropping the n, he started leaving when he noticed a piece of paper lying on the ground, upside down.

    Curious, he picked up the piece of paper and turned it around, getting slightly surprised. This was the mission eptance letter!

    Once a student entered the Mission Hall and epted a mission, they were given a handwritten letter that mentioned what mission they had selected and their identification so they could im their rewardster on.

    Going through the paper, it seemed like the mission was epted by a fourth-year student from the first floor. It also seemed to be the highest tier mission that was given to students. The student appeared to be a Mage of Summoning named Aira.

    More than the details of the mission, what surprised Gabriel was the content of the mission, especially since the content was directly rted to him!

 114 Chapter 114

    Reading the content, Gabriel understood that it was a mission rted to him. The mission talked about a distant town. The name of the town was also recognized by him. It was his own town, after all.

    The mission was posted just recently. It asked the students to go to the town and investigate what actually happened there. The Academy wanted the students to possibly interrogate the people of the town to find out what had happened.

    "It looks like the mission was issued because of Hawrin. The academy wants to dig out the past of Hawrin. In turn, they want to dig out my past too."

    The mission also mentioned that the town was mostly empty by now, and no one lived there. The person who took the mission needed to investigate the town and then locate the people of that town, who were supposed to shift to nearby towns.

    The mission wasn''t tooplicated. It was basically a reconnaissance mission that didn''t have much danger. However, still the ssification of this mission was the highest level of danger, all because the mission was possibly rted to a Dark Mage.

    Amongst the criteria of the mission, it was mentioned that the student needed to be a Fourth Year Mage and someone who had a way to escape in case he came face to face with a Dark Mage.

    "Whoever took this mission, it seems that they are quite capable if they think that they can outrun Lira when she wants to kill someone. Seems naive; still, maybe they might have a way."

    While Gabriel finished reading the mission, a person entered the Mission Hall, seemingly looking for something. It was a young woman in her early twenties who was wearing a beautiful white gown and a white robe on top of that.

    Seeing the Symbol of Summoning on her hand, Gabriel understood what she was looking for. She was probably Aira who had dropped this letter identally, and now she was trying to find it again.

    No wonder she looked unnerved. The mission was supposed to be ssified, which wasn''t allowed to be known by the others, and she had dropped the letter.

    If Gabriel wanted, he could''ve given the letter to Aira, but he chose against it. She wanted to investigate him. Why should he help her? If he didn''t give her the letter, it could only dy her mission which was quite good.

    Moreover, even if he gave her the letter, he didn''t trust these mages enough. What was stopping her from using him in return for stealing it? She could also get him in trouble for the possibility of him reading a ssified letter which he wasn''t allowed to.

    He kept the letter in his pocket and started leaving, walking right past the girl.

    He left the Mission Hall while Aira kept looking for the letter, seemingly really concerned.

    "Are you looking for something, Senior?"

    As Aira was still looking for it, a young man walked up to him.

    "It''s none of your concern," Aira scoffed.

    The young man was taken aback. But he still didn''t give up. If he could help the woman, he knew he could get close to a Senior and get some benefits. Moreover, Aira was very beautiful to him. He really wanted to be her knight in shining Armor as she seemed like she was in trouble.

    "Are you looking for a letter?" The young man asked.

    Aira stopped. She straightened up and red at the young man. "Where is that letter?"

    She didn''t even ask how he knew it. The only thing that mattered was that he knew what she was looking for, which meant he knew that a letter was lost here! That could only mean he also knew where it was!

    "Do you have it?"

    "I don''t, but I know who does. Not long ago, I saw a First Year Mage of Light pick up a paper that looked like a mission letter. He went through the letter, but as soon as you entered, he hid the letter in his pocket."

    " I watched it with my own eyes, that''s why I took a guess that the letter was rted to you. Why else would he hide it?" The man exined with a fawning smile. "I just thought I should help Senior!"

    "Where is that Man?!" Aira asked quite impatiently.

    "He just left. He should still be outside. I''ll show you!" The man ran out of the Mission Hall as well, followed by Aira.

    Aira was really angry. The man stole her letter even after knowing what it was! She was really going to teach that man a lesson no matter who it was!

    Aira stepped out of the Mission Hall, noticing the young man pointing his finger in the distance. "There, he is the one. The guy who is walking like he has no care in the world!"

    "Are you sure it''s him?"

    "I am a hundred percent sure!" the young man dered.

    "So he''s the thief! I''ll teach him a lesson that he will never forget!"

    Aira ran after Gabriel.

    "You there! Stop!"<sub> </sub>

    Gabriel, who was walking at his normal pace, heard someone yelling from behind. He stopped and turned around, quite curious.

    ''This girl...'' Seeing the girling after him, he felt like he had an idea why she wasing here.

    Behind Aira, another man came. The two people stopped before Gabriel.

    Hearing the minormotion, a few more students in the surrounding area also stopped, wondering what it was about. It looked like a first-year student was in some conflict with a Fourth Year student.

    "Return the letter, you thief!" Aira raised her hand nicely.

    "What letter?" Gabriel tilted his head in innocence. "Am I supposed to have a letter or something?"

    "Stop acting! I saw you with my own eyes, stealing her Mission Letter! Do you know what crime it is to steal at the Academy, especially stealing a Mission Letter of a Fourth Year student?

    "Once again, I have no idea what you''re talking about. I think you got the wrong guy." Gabriel didn''t get nervous. These people shouldn''t do anything just based on usations.

    "Really? Then what is it?!" The young man inserted his hand into Gabriel''s pocket without his permission. It was the same pocket where he saw him keep the letter.

    "Huh?" Unfortunately, as soon as he searched the pockets, he didn''t find anything. There was nothing in that pocket! Hastily, he searched the other pocket as well, but there was nothing there as well."

    "Is this a robbery attempt?" Gabriel asked, seemingly confused. "I''m a new student, and I''m quite poor. So even if you want to rob me, you won''t find anything."

    "Hey, is a Fourth Year student trying to rob a neer?"

    Hearing Gabriel''s response, a wrong message was sent amongst the people who were watching everything. They all felt like Aira and the boy was trying to rob the young boy.

    "Man, that''s quite embarrassing. Stealing from the first year? Hahaha, at least they should''ve selected a rich person to rob!"

    "They seem to be idiots."

    A conversation started amongst the spectators. Despite that, none of them dared to enter the conflict to stop anyone. None of them was a Fourth Year student here, after all, other than Aira. So they all stayed back, just enjoying and asionally mocking Aira.

    Even Aira could hear the conversation that had started. Her face started twitching in anger as she red at the young man who gave her this information.

    The young man was also getting nervous! Where did the letter go?! He saw it with his own eyes! But now, there was nothing in the pockets. He also patted Gabriel''s clothes but couldn''t sense anything!

    "I swear on my life, Senior. I saw him keep that letter with my own eyes! Why would I tell you such a stupid lie?!" The man turned around, seemingly sweating by how. If the letter wasn''t found, he was going to look like a liar.

    Fortunately for him, Aira still believed him. She was sure he wasn''t lying. His expressions weren''t the expressions of someone who was lying.

    Moreover, it was true. Why would he lie about this since this lie couldn''t survive for long? Furthermore, the man knew she was looking for a letter, which meant he definitely saw it! That only meant that Gabriel was lying.She was trying to mock them with his act.

    "If you two are done, can I leave?" Finished with the search, Gabriel started leaving.

    The young man didn''t know that Gabriel could use spatial storage. That''s where he hid the letter. Let alone these people; even their fathers couldn''t find that letter now. And without the letter, he was innocent.

    "Take off your Gloves...." Airamanded.

    Hearing hermand, Gabriel stopped again. Did she just ask him to take off his gloves?

    "I know you have my letter," Aira coldly stated. "From the moment you left the Mission Hall to the moment I came out, you have had enough time to hide it. The letter isn''t in your pocket, nor is it in your clothes, but those gloves..."

    Everything was checked, except Gabriel''s gloves which were a perfect ce where a letter could be hidden after folding.

    Moreover, seeing Gabriel hesitate for a moment when his gloves were mentioned, she misunderstood it as his fear of being caught. She thought that was where he had the letter for sure!

    Gabriel also frowned. There was no way in hell he was going to take off those gloves. If he did, his Ring of Necromancy was going to be visible along with the Ring of Apophis. That wasn''t even the worst part. The worst part was that his Mark of Necromancy was also going to be visible.

    "I''m afraid I''ve wasted enough of my time on you two clowns. I didn''te here to be stripped naked just because you want. You are neither father nor my mother." He was fine with everything else, but when it came to his gloves, the water was getting over his head.

    "Who do you think you even are tomand me?I didn''t even take off my gloves when your Head Teacher of Earth asked me. You think I will listen to you?"

    He stopped ying with their rules.

 115 Chapter 115

    He let them do as they pleased, even letting them check his pocket, but not when it came to gloves. That''s where he drew the line and made it clear to everyone.

    It wasn''t as if Battle Arena. He didn''t feel any need to listen to them. So what if Aira was a Fourth Year student?

    Even Fourth Year students weren''t allowed to use their magic to attack their juniors, especially not in the academy. If one wanted to fight, they could only do so by entering the Battle Arena and cing their Credits on the line.

    Gabriel knew that even Aira couldn''t do more than just re at him.

    "If you lost some letters, I would suggest you be more careful next time," he further stated. "And if you didn''t lose anything and just wanted to use this as an excuse to rob me, then you should select a richer target next time."

    Giving some advice, he turned around and started leaving.

    "This kid... He..." Almost every single mage who saw Gabriel''s actions was stunned. The kid really didn''t know the distance between earth and heaven. Even before a fourth-year student, he talked as if he was talking to a Junior.

    They believed that just because using magic wasn''t allowed on campus, Gabriel was really leaving no stone unturned, believing he wasn''t going to be in trouble.

    "I must say, the kid definitely is brave." A third-year student smiled, watching the scene. "Even I would''ve minced my words before a fourth-year mage, but he..."

    "Heh, he is an idiot. He doesn''t know that it''s always a bad idea to mess with Seniors. Then again, he is new, so I don''t me him." Another manughed.

    Aira watched Gabriel leaving after issuing her a suggestion. As if she had been less angry before, Gabriel''s actions angered her even more. Moreover, his hesitation in taking off the gloves also made her feel that she was right! Gabriel was hiding the letter in his gloves.

    Gabriel had only managed to walk a few meters when he stopped, noticing a formation circle appearing on the ground before him. On top of the Formation Circle, a massive Snow White Wolf appeared, apanied by a freezing aura.

    The Snow Wolf had a peculiar mark on his forehead which signified the name of the Summoner who had established a contract with him. It was a really uniquenguage that only Summoners and schrs could understand.

    Seeing the Snow Wolf, who was even taller than him, Gabriel understood who summoned this guy. He turned around, ncing at Aira.

    He was sure she couldn''t use this wolf to attack him. She was only trying to intimidate him. Even Fourth Year Students weren''t allowed to attack anyone with magic inside the academy. At least, that''s what he was informed by Riya.

    Seeing things escte, the scene caught the attention of even more people. Everyone who wasing out of the Missions Hall came in this direction, wondering what this wholemotion was about. Amongst the neers, quite a lot of them were Fourth Year Students. Unfortunately, none of them were Fourth Year Mage of Light.

    "Return my Mission Letter, and I''ll let you leave! Don''t anger me more!" Aira warned Gabriel again.<sub> </sub>

    Too bad for her, threats didn''t work on Gabriel. And even if they did, he wasn''t going toe out to ept that she was right and that he had the letter.

    Moreover, why was she even going that far? She could''ve taken another Mission Letter without anyone knowing. Instead, she was making it a spectacle, informing everyone that she had lost her letter.

    "Are you really going to break the rules of the Academy to attack another student using magic?" Gabriel asked.

    "Breaking the rules? Huh, it looks like no one informed you, kid!" Yoan, who had informed Aira about Gabriel possessing the letter, burst into heartyughter. "No wonder you were acting so brave! You really thought she couldn''t do anything?!"

    Seeing the reaction, a frown appeared on Gabriel''s face. He observed the others, and all of them had simr expressions, as if they were taking pity on hisck of knowledge. Was there really something important that Riya refused to inform him about the conditions under which magic could be used to attack a mage inside the academy?

    After a burst of heartyughter, the Yoan stopped and exined as if taking pity on Gabriel.

    "You were right. Magic can''t be used to attack another person inside the Academy unless it''s the Battle Arena, but there''s an exception to that rule! If someone is caughtmitting a crime on Academy Grounds, the Senior Students have the authority to punish that person!"

    "I am a witness that youmitted a Crime! And Senior Aira can punish you for that now. As long as we retrieve that letterter on and prove that you had actuallymitted a Crime, we won''t be punished. Instead, you''ll be expelled formitting the crime!" he further stated with a mocking gaze. "Still feeling as confident as before?"

    The young man had the ugliest smirk that Gabriel had ever seen, but then again, he was right. There was definitely a rule like that that Gabriel wasn''t informed about.

    If he knew, he would''ve been more careful regarding that letter. He knew that there was a possibility that he hadmitted a mistake by taking that letter, but now that it had happened, he wasn''t going to be scared of what wasing.

    "And if after attacking me, it turns out that I don''t have the letter? If it turns out that I''m innocent, can I get you two expelled?" Gabriel asked in return. "You know it would be a real pity if a third and a Fourth Year Mage were to be expelled aftering this close to graduation."

    Yoan''sughter stopped abruptly as he gulped down. Even Aira considered that possibility, no matter how distant it was.

    They weren''t just going against a First Year student; they were also going against a Mage of Light! If it turned out that she attacked an innocent, this could be veryplicated since the House of Light was going to get involved.

    Still, she couldn''t step back! She was sure Gabriel was trying to scare her! He wanted her to be scared and leave, possibly because he didn''t want him to get caught. He was bluffing! Why else would he not take off his gloves? There could only be one exnation for her! He was hiding the letter there!

    She didn''t fall for Gabriel''s words. If he wasn''t going to return the letter like a good boy, she was going to force him to return the letter!

 116 Chapter 116

    Despite being almost sure that Gabriel had the letter, Aira still looked in the direction of the young man who was the witness as if asking him if he was actually sure.

    "He is trying to scare us! He is bluffing!" Yoan responded, clenching his fist. "This idiot thinks we''ll fall for it!"

    Even though the young man was slightly scared of the consequences that Gabrielid out before them, he knew that it was a scaring tactic. He was sure that Gabriel had the letter! He watched it with his own eyes!

    Aira nodded. "Before I go on my mission, it''s only fair I teach an arrogant youngster a lesson."

    She raised her left hand gracefully as if gesturing to her Snow Wolf. "Pin him down! Make sure to go easy on him."

    She needed to take off Gabriel''s gloves. If he wasn''t going to take them off himself, she decided to help herself. As long as her wolf could pin him down, she could take off his gloves without having to seriously hurt him.

    As soon as the Wolf received themand, it dashed to Gabriel.

    Seeing the wolf run toward him, Gabriel also reacted. If they could use magic to attack him, then he could also use magic to protect himself.

    "Strengthening," Gabriel muttered under his breath, casting a spell.

    Even though he was only using a low-tier spell of light, the spell was even stronger now that he was a mid-tier mage. The Spell of Light filled Gabriel''s body with strength.

    Aira was a mid-tier mage, being a Fourth Year student, but it was the same for Gabriel afterst night. He was also in the same realm at Aira, despite being in the First Year.

    Moreover, the strengthening spell wasn''t that rare. It was one of the most basic spells that almost every mage of light knew, at times even novice mages.

    "Body of Light." He cast another spell as well, increasing his body''s speed and agility. The spell also made his body a lot lighter since that was what he needed at the moment. He didn''t want to show off his mid-tier strength for now, yet he didn''t want to be beaten.

    He found a perfectpromise! He was going to use the spells that even Beginner Mages could use to fight.

    The Snow Wolf leaped at Gabriel, but it didn''t call out its sharp ws to attack. It just needed to pin Gabriel down. The Snow Wolf could also feel that Aira didn''t want Gabriel to be hurt either.

    The Snow Wolf jumped in his direction, but at the same time, Gabriel also jumped, using his strength and his light body. Thanks to thebination, he had managed to achieve even greater height than the Snow Wolf.

    "What?"

    The spectators watched Gabriel jump even higher than the Snow Wolf. It wasn''t half bad for a Mage of a Light, but when that mage was a first-year student, it was quite a good disy of skills.

    Gabrielnded behind the Snow Wolf, which was also taken aback.

    The Snow Wolfnded on the ground, but before it could turn around, Gabriel grabbed its tail, pulling him back instead.

    Gabriel swung the snow wolf like a hammer, using his tail. Being in the air, the Snow Wolf couldn''t even stop Gabriel.

    Gabriel only released the Snow Wolf only after gaining enough momentum, and that too in a very specific direction.

    The Snow Wolf flew toward Yoan like a wrecking ball.

    Yoan couldn''t even react in what little time window he had. He couldn''t even move, let alone use a spell in such a short time. He brought his hands together, protecting him from the heavy Wolf''s body as much as he could.

    The heavy wolf shed with Yoan. The Snow Wolf was supposed to pin Gabriel to the ground, but he pinned the young man instead.

    As if enraged at being treated this way, the Snow Wolf got back on his feet, freeing Yoan from under its weight.

    Yoan stood up as well, holding his chest. The wolf was so heavy that his chest was still hurting.

    The Snow Wolf was engaged and didn''t want to go easy! He wanted to teach Gabriel a lesson! This time, Aira also didn''t ask it to go easy.

    She was also angry. She was going easy on the kid so far, and he decided to show off instead? If he wanted to show off, then so be it! He wanted a fight; she was going to give him a fight!<sub> </sub>

    She stood with her hands behind her back, coldly looking at Gabriel. Now it hade to her self respect. It was going to look really bad if she didn''t even get a newbie to fall on his knees before her.

    The Snow Wolf roared, attracting even more attention to him. The roar was so loud that even more people started arriving here to check what was happening. Amongst the people that came, there were quite a few that Gabriel would''ve recognized as well.

    On one side, there was Maya. She had just arrived and was asking others about what was happening here.

    In the crowd, there was also Yann, who wasughing. "This idiot, he never learns. I thought he was arrogant when he went against me, but no. He wasn''t arrogant. He was just an idiot! Only an idiot can go against a Fourth Year Mage.

    In the distance, Caen could also see a crowd and hear some roaring noiseing. He was recently freed from his room as well, and he came out for a walk after being informed that there were no sses.

    Themotion attracted his attention instantly, making him run to the crowd, wondering what was happening.

    Another person arrived there, being the same man who was saved by Gabriel from Yann''s bullying. Seeing Gabriel in conflict with a Fourth Year Mage, Zale was taken aback. He looked around, wondering why no one was stopping this!

    "It''s him..." Alexai also recognized Gabriel. He could only shake his head, wondering why this guy was always involved in every conflict.

    He met Gabriel outside the city when they were waiting in line to enter the city. Even in the city, he saw Gabriel getting in conflict with Yann, and now here.

    "Still, it''s quite bizarre that no one is going to help him. A First Year Mage is being bullied inside the Academy, and everyone is just watching?"

    The Snow Wolf opened his mouth wide, firing a freezing beam at Gabriel.

    Seeing the attack, Alexai couldn''t control himself! This was too much!

    Gabriel was also prepared. He could easily avoid the attack, but before he could even do anything, he saw a thick walling out of the ground, protecting him.

    The Beam of blue light hit the stone wall, instantly turning the wall into a thick block of ice. The beam was capable of turning whatever it touched into ice, freezing them. It wasn''t a weak attack.

    "Who dares interfere?" Yoan roared, seeing a wall appear, which blocked the attack. The wall couldn''t be conjured by Gabriel as this seemed to be the work of a Mage of Earth!

    Alexai stepped out of the crowd. "I think it''s enough. Things are going too far at this point."

    "Senior Aira is teaching a criminal a lesson! It''s not too far! Instead, it was him who hurt her wolf first! Moreover, it''s a matter between these two! You had no right to interfere! Also, you used Magic on academy grounds, even though you had no reason being a First Year Mage! It seems you''ve broken a rule as well."

    "So?" Alexai frowned. "Seniors are supposed to protect Juniors, not bully them. You should look at what you were doing."

    Even though Alexai didn''t make friends or tried to get close to anyone, he also couldn''t stay back and watch someone being bullied like that.

    "You used magic, so you broke thews. As your Senior, I should punish you as well!" Yoan spoke.

    He was a Senior to Alexai in the Academy, so he could also interfere here, now that Alexai used magic which he wasn''t allowed to! He could teach him a lesson!

    "Lady Aira, you focus on the Kid. I''ll handle this interruption!" He told Aira. He wanted to teach another arrogant kid a lesson who dared call them bullies.

    Just like Alexai, he was also a Mage of Earth, but he was a Third Year Mage of Earth which made him Alexai''s senior!

    He was quite eager to teach this new mage of Earth what actual strength looked like, while Aira taught Gabriel a lesson.

    He raised his hand. "Earthly Pri-"

    Boom~

    Yoan was about to cast a spell, but before he could finish, a sphere of light came out of nowhere, hitting him. The sphere was like a heavy punch that hit him straight in the gut, sending him flying back.

    The spell of light wasn''t used by Gabriel either! Everyone looked in the crowd, wondering who had used the spell. Quite a few looked at Cain, who stood in the direction where the attack came from!

 117 Chapter 117

    Everyone looked in the direction the attack came from, wondering who would have dared to attack a Third Year Mage! Whoever did it, they not only attacked Yoan but also entered deep into conflict with Aira!

    Aira wasn''t an ordinary person! She wasn''t just a Fourth Year Mage. She was the heir of one of the Major ns of the Lumen City, among the top families like the Raini Family. Her full name was Aira Zoan. She was a part of the eldest daughter of the Head of the Zoan Family.

    While Raini Family controlled most of the businesses in the city and more, the Zoan Family was more of an Artificer Family, which was known to make the best man-made Artefacts, also known as Numen Clones.

    Whoever interfered at the moment was not only going against Yoan, but they were also entering into conflict with Aira and the Zoan n.

    Not long after the sphere came, a spell circle appeared under the Snow Wolf. Hundreds of shackles made purely from Light came out of Spell Circle, entrapping the Snow Wolf in them. The shackles caught the Snow Wolves legs, his neck, and basically his entire body.

    The chains pulled the Show Wolf to the ground, bringing it down to its knees.

    "Who dares!" Aira roared, but before she could do anything, a simr formation circle also appeared around her.

    Not only Aira, but everyone else''s face went pale as well! Whoever it was, they were directly attacking Aira now?

    The chains came out from the other spell circle as well, wrapping around Aira''s hands and pulling her down firmly. Aira was a Summoner, and her strength was based on her Summons. She physically wasn''t that strong. Just a slight pull of the chains and Aira was on her knees as well, feeling enraged.

    Whoever attacked her they were trying to embarrass her! The Snow Wolf opened its mouth, but another chain came out, closing the mouth of the Snow Wolf to make sure the Snow Wolf couldn''t attack anyone.

    Not only Aira and the others but even Gabriel was taken aback at the sudden change of events. Who was helping him?

    Alexai also looked around, trying to locate who it was. Amongst the crowd, there were quite a few mages of light, but none of them looked like they had attacked.

    Only one person was looking slightly amused at the change of events. That person was Cain. Quite a few wondered if Cain was the one who attacked.

    Unfortunately, their misconception soon disappeared as Aira looked up into the distance. "Garrick! What do you think you are doing?!"

    Hearing her roar, the others also looked up, finally realizing who it was. In the sky, there was a person who was floating mid air. There were two beautiful golden wings made purely of energy behind him. The man coldly looked down at Aira.

    His body floated ahead, and hended before Aira.

    "Shouldn''t I be asking that question? What do you think you were doing, attacking a young mage from our house?" Garrick asked coldly.

    Even though he was mostly a calm person, he was quite arrogant and protective when it came to the House of Light. He was one of the strongest students in the House of Light.

    He was like the representative student from the House of Light, who considered it his duty to maintain the dignity of the House of Light! Watching a Fourth Year Mage from another House attack a First Year Mage of Light from his own ss was infuriating.<sub> </sub>

    Not only were they trying to attack Gabriel, who he had just freed, but they were also going to attack another young mage who just interfered to save Gabriel?

    "You don''t know what he did!" Aira yelled, trying to stand up, but the more she tried to stand up, the more these chains tightened.

    "I don''t care what he did." Garrick''s voice became louder. "Whatever he did, what gave you the right to attack him with your Summoned Beast? Who do you think you are? If you''re that interested in showing off your strength, then show it to me! Let me see just how much you have grown!"

    He red at the Snow Wolf, who was growling as if asking to be freed. "And that little puppy of yours... It seems you both forgot the dignity of the House of Light, didn''t you?"

    He raised his left hand toward the Snow Wolf. The Chains that were entrapping the Snow Wolf disappeared. The Snow Wolf was free!

    As soon as the Snow Wolf was free, he jumped at Garrick.

    Garrick simply scoffed. "Let me train this little puppy of yours first. Then I''ll deal with you."

    There were only a few people here who could treat Aira this way, and one of them was Garrick. Garrick was the heir of the Raini Family, which was the top family after the Royal Lumen Family in the City. Not only was he more influential than Aira, but he was also way stronger than her.

    Garrick was the champion of thest year''s Tournament of Houses. He was the strongest student in the entire academy! Amongst the current Generations of students, only Garrick had managed to enter the top hundred ranks in the Tower of Challenges!

    He was ranked 97, while Aira was ranked 357 in the tower of Challenges! Garrick was also one of the few mages who had managed to enter the Advanced Stages of Spiritual Magic Strength, despite only being in his Fourth Year. He was the top prodigy of the Academy. If there was one student who could act like this in the academy, it was Garrick!

    The wolf attacked Garrick, losing itself to its wild urges. Since Aira was also angry, she didn''t stop him either, letting him attack.

    Boom~

    The Snow Wolf couldn''t even get close to Garrick when an energy st of light appeared before it. The energy st was made with such precision that the two explosive energy of that attack only went in one direction... Instead of spreading evenly in all directions. That kept all the others safe from this attack but the Snow Wolf...?

    The Energy Attack directly hit the snow wolf, sending it flying back. The Snow Wolf even started bleeding for the first time following the attack. The white fur of the Snow Wolf began to turn red.

    "You bastard! You are going against me for... For that thief?"

    "I''m not going against anyone," Garrick responded calmly. "I''m just showing some people their ces because it looks like they forgot their ces. It seems they started considering themselves teachers instead."

    It was clear who he was talking about when he talked about such, even though he didn''t look at Aira.

 118 Chapter 118

    The Snow Wolf opened its mouth. Despite bleeding and being hurt, the Snow Wolf didn''t lose its fighting intent. If anything, his fighting intent only intensified. The wolf opened its mouth, attacking with the freezing beam of blue light again, this time but going closer to Garrick personally.

    Garrick rolled her eyes. He called forth his Staff. "Protection of the Divine!"

    A beautiful golden barrier appeared before the attack, blocking it. However, it didn''t look like Garrick used the barrier to protect himself. He used the barrier to protect others since he wasn''t in the ce anymore. If the attack had missed him, it would''ve hit the people in the back. So before moving, he cast the barrier.

    "Strength!"

    "Speed!"

    He also cast the same spells that Gabriel had casted to fight, but he used stronger versions of those spells. His figure flickered as he appeared right beside the Snow Wolf.

    Garrick grabbed the Snow Wolf by the neck, smashing its head on the ground. He didn''t release the Wolf, either. He kept hitting the Wolf''s head on the concrete floor again and again. Before his strength, the Wolf couldn''t even resist. With each hit, the Snow Wolf bled even more.

    Seeing the ruthless side of Garrick, quite a lot of people were taken aback. That guy really was ruthless when he fought. When he wasn''t fighting, he was always warm and cordial like a model student, but when he was angry or in a war, he was no less than a demon who waspletely ruthless.

    Quite a lot of people had seen Garrick fight before, and that was no different than what was happening now. There was a reason he was a top Student at the moment, after all.

    Amongst the crowd, Maya was also looking at Garrick''s actions. She was slightly scared but also in awe as to how strong he was. She wanted to be as strong as him one day.

    On the other end, Yann was quite disappointed. Everything was getting so fun here. Gabriel was about to be thrashed, but his brother just had toe and intervene.

    "Couldn''t hee half an hourter?" he muttered under his breath.

    Alexai simply stood with his arms folded, noticing Garrick thrash the wolf. It reminded him a lot about his own part. He touched his chest, feeling a scar that he had for a long time. Unlike many people here, he didn''t find this thrashing ruthless. When one fought, they couldn''t go easy.

    They had to give it their all because their enemy wasn''t going to go easy on them. It was a mindset that he believed every mage needed to possess. No matter what battle it was, they needed to fight like it could be theirst battle because at times, it could very well be.

    In the end, Aira couldn''t take it anymore. Her Snow Wolf couldn''t defeat Garrick, and it was the same for her other Summons if she called them. She didn''t want her Snow Wolf to be hurt more. She sent her Snow Wolf back, canceling her summon.

    Garrick was about to hit the Snow Wolf''s head on the concrete floor again when the Snow Wolf disappeared. Still, he didn''t stop his hand. He simply clenched his fist, punching the ground before finally stopping.

    Blood marks were left on the floor belonging to the Snow Wolf.

    Garrick opened his fist, casting another spell. "Purify."

    He cleaned the ground through his spell, cleaning all the blood marks.

    He walked back to Aira, sitting on his knees before her as well. "Tell me, what did we learn here today?"

    Aira red at Garrick. "I won''t forget this."

    "That''s your choice, and you''re allowed to do as you please with that. However, what you aren''t allowed to do is bully a mage from my House. If you did it again, this was just a sample..."

    "You don''t even know why I attacked him!"

    "It doesn''t matter why you did it. If you had a problem, you could''ve gone to a teacher instead of taking things into your own hands."<sub> </sub>

    "He stole my Mission Letter!" Aira roared. "Of course, I would want it back!"

    "He stole your Mission Letter from your hands?" Garrick sarcastically asked. "Isn''t that embarrassing."

    "I dropped it identally, and he took it!"

    "So he picked it up from the ground?" Garrick tilted his head to the side. "That''s not stealing in my books then if he picked up what he found. Moreover, why would anyone steal a Mission Letter? Not like they can finish it and get the rewards, can they?"

    "Not even going into the veracity of your usations, but even if what you said was true, that only shows your negligence. Despite being so old, how could you be so careless to lose a confidential mission letter?" he further asked. "And when you do, you attack others?"

    "I asked him to return nicely many times! He didn''t return! What could I do?!" Aira retorted. "Moreover, even if what he did doesn''t count as stealing, he still took a confidential letter instead of returning it to the Mission Hall!"

    "That''s not allowed! So he broke thews!" She continued. "And I have every right as a Senior to punish him! Meanwhile you... You had no right to attack me!"

    "I think it would be great if you didn''t teach me the rules," Garrick rolled his eyes. When it came to rules, he had memorized all of them.

    "Firstly, as the Representative of Students from the House of Light, I have every right to use my magic and attack if I see someone from my house being attacked. Maybe ask your elder brothers. As a representative of House of Lightning, he should know this rule."

    "If the representative of the House of Summoning wants to attack me, they are allowed to as well. Even though the oue might not be what they would expect."

    Garrick informed Aira about the rules which allowed him to interfere in this conflict and teach her a lesson. He didn''t stop there.

    "Secondly, it''s a student''s duty to return items that they found, but if they don''t, even that doesn''t give you the authority to attack them. Since it''s a minor offense that you can''t prove, you can only approach a Teacher and inform them about it."

    "You can''t search the student... Only a teacher can! Maybe read up the rules that you love to brag so much about someday." Garrick further exined, making even Aira surprised. "That''s why I said that you probably started considering yourself a teacher, making your own rules! I had to bring you down to earth."

    He stood up calmly. "Also, you are quite lucky that there''s not a single scratch on him. If there was, things wouldn''t end so nicely for you."

    Garrick was not only strong, but he was smart as well, which made even more people praise him in their minds. Moreover, he was also going so far just to protect a first-year student, which was amazing on its own.

    "Fine! I will get a teacher to search him!" Aira dered.

    Garrick shrugged. "You are free to do that. I won''t stop you. But if you dare attack even one person from House of Light next time... Treat it as a warning!"

    He canceled his spell, freeing her from the shackles of light.

    Aira stood up, rubbing her wrists. If red could kill, she would''ve killed Garrick a thousand times by now.

    "What is happening here?" Another authoritative voice came as a young aged man walked through the crowd to see what themotion was about.

    "Lord Rem!" Aira''s eyes lit up. If she needed a teacher, then who could be better than Rem, the Head Teacher of House of Earth!

    It was Rem who had arrived. Seeing Rem arrive, Gabriel became even more serious. Ren already wanted him to take his gloves offst time, and now he could even have an excuse.

    At any cost, he needed to ensure it didn''t happen, even if he had to go to war for that!

 119 Chapter 119

    Rem was going to meet Eliana when he noticed a massive crowd gathering in the distance. He also heard some loud noisesing, which made him want to check out.

    "What is happening here?" He noticed Aira on her knees before Garrick. Aira stood up as soon as she saw Rem as she was already free of the shackles.

    Rem also noticed Gabriel in the distance. Looking at the scene, it looked like a battle had just taken ce here. Aira''s expressions certainly told that story since she seemed really upset.

    Gabriel and Alexai also appeared to be involved in whatever happened here.

    Rem waited for anyone to exin to him about what happened. The first person to exin was Aira as she stepped forward. She wanted to take the lead and exin what happened here before Garrick could tell anyone with his biased point of view.

    She told Rem all about her losing her Mission Letter. She also talked about Yoan, who informed her about Gabriel.

    Yoan was the first one that Garrick had attacked. Even though the attack was intentionally light and not enough to hurt him, Yoan still stayed back as soon as he saw Garrick since he didn''t want to involve himself in anything that could anger Garrick. He had to be an idiot to offend Garrick.

    Despite that, now that he was in this mess, he agreed with Aira and swore on his life that he saw Gabriel pick up a letter from the ground and leave the Mission Hall.

    Aira further talked about how she had stopped Gabriel and asked him to return the letter and that he not only refused but he was quite arrogant in his refusal.

    "The letter wasn''t in his clothes, that only left his gloves, so I asked him to let us check his gloves. In response, not only did he insult us, but he also insulted you!" Aira eximed. "He said he didn''t even let you take off his gloves, let alone us. He was so arrogant and uncooperative that I had to interfere."

    Hearing Aira talk about the words that Gabriel used for him, Rem was quite surprised. Then again, Gabriel wasn''t lying. Even when he had asked him, Gabriel had refusedst time.

    Aira had expected Rem to get angry at Gabriel after hearing what he said, but Rem was rtively calm, as if he wasn''t surprised. It made her wonder if Gabriel had spoken the truth. Did he really refuse Rem?

    Unlike her, there were a few people who knew about it, Cain being one of them. They are the ones who were present there when it happened.

    She further continued after getting no response. "Since he wasn''t listening to me, and I was sure that he broke the rules, I was forced to use magic. I summoned my Snow Wolf, but only to stop him. However, instead of stopping, he attacked my Snow Wolf! And before I could react, Garrick arrived and attacked us!"

    Finally, in the end, she mentioned the event with Garrick about how he attacked them.

    Throughout her exnation, Garrick just stood, with his arms folded, as if he wasn''t scared at what she was going to say. In his actions, he believed he was justified, and no one could deny that.

    "Garrick, what do you say about that?" Rem asked Garrick after hearing Aira''s side of the story. He wanted to listen to both sides.<sub> </sub>

    Garrick nodded and started exining.

    "I was going to the Library of Spells when a young man came to me, telling me that a First Year Mage of Light was being attacked by a Fourth Year Mage of Summoning."

    "I came here and noticed that it was more than that. It wasn''t just one person being attacked. She was attacking Gabriel, a first-year Mage who isn''t even close to her level, with her Snow Wolf. Not only her, but the guy beside her was also about to attack that young mage of Earth simply for trying to stop this fight."

    "No matter what the reasons behind Aira''s actions, what these two were doing was more of a bullying than anything else, and as a Student Representative of House of Light, it''s my duty to protect our mages from such things. And that''s what I did."

    Unlike Aira, Garrick was more brief and precise in his exnation, finishing much faster. Instead of giving a detailed description of everything that happened, he only gave Rem a summary.

    Rem closed his eyes momentarily and nodded. Both of them seemed to have a justification of their own, yet both had taken things to the extreme. Garrick was right.

    It was wrong and very excessive for Aira to attack Gabriel. She didn''t really need to attack him to stop him. If she wanted to, she could''ve taken other steps. He came to a decision after hearing both sides.

    He first nced at Aira. "Garrick was right. You shouldn''t have gone this far. You could''ve approached a teacher for this instead of taking matters into your own hands. If it was about you fighting a Fourth Year mage or even a third-year mage instead of a first-year, I could''ve understood, but not in this case. You used way excessive force.''

    "As a Head Council Member, I will be taking away half your credits that you have gathered. Moreover, the mission that you have selected from the Mission Hall, I''m taking back that as well. It will be avable for another student now. Andstly, you are barred from entering the Tower of Challenges for the next month."

    Gabriel expected Rem to side with Aira to ask him to take off his Gloves, but Rem appeared quite neutral for now. Gabriel didn''t know if these punishments were severe, but looking at the expressions of the other students nearby, it did look like a significant punishment since they looked quite shocked.

    "And Garrick." After giving a punishment to Aira, Rem turned to Garrick.

    The young mages wondered if Rem was going to punish him too.

    "You just did what you were supposed to do. You did follow the rules even though you went a bit overboard. Moreover, you only fought a Fourth Year Mage. That''s why I will overlook this. However, if something like this happens again, try to de-escte the situation."

    Unlike Aira, Garrick avoided any punishments, which made Aira''s heart burn in rage. If it weren''t the Head Teacher of Earth, she would''ve probably considered Rem to be biassed.

    "What about him? What should the Mission Letter which he hid that he wasn''t supposed to?" she asked, pointing at Gabriel.

    "I''ming to that as well," Rem responded before turning to Gabriel. The two men were face to face once again in such a short time.

 120 Chapter 120

    Rem finally turned to Gabriel. "And you..."

    p He scratched the back of his head. That was his reaction whenever he had to deal with him. Gabriel was like the star disciple of Eliana. She really ced importance on him, especially because of the immense talent he possessed. No one other than him, Lishen, and Eliana knew just what Gabriel was truly capable of based on his talents.</anda>

    "Did you take the letter?" Rem asked.

    "I didn''t," Gabriel responded without a single shred of fear on his face. "However, it won''t be the first time I''m used falsely in the Academy. This one makes it twice in two days."

    Just yesterday, he was used of killing Hawrin. He actually did that, but for the world, he was innocent, and until he was innocent for the world, all these usations were going to be false. And it was the same with this.

    "Hah." Rem understood what Gabriel was implying. "I understand what you are saying, but why would someone use you falsely? They im to have seen you take the letter, don''t they?"

    "Why would someone use me falsely?" Gabriel smirked. He knew that if he needed to get out of this situation without fighting, he needed to guilt trap the others, and what better way than to use their previous usations on him.

    "Why don''t you ask him why someone would falsely use anyone?" he pointed in the distance, making everyone look in the direction he was pointing.

    Yann was taken aback to see everyone looking at him suddenly. He just scoffed in response.

    "Because of his false usations, Cain and I were almost on the verge of being forced to lose our talents in the test of the crown. And now, based on other usations, you all want to do what you please again? I''m sorry, but I won''t let it happen." Gabriel shook his head as if he was quite tired of all of it.

    "The scenario here is different. You won''t lose your talent if you just take off your gloves and let them see you''re innocent. Isn''t that true?"

    "If that''s the case, I use you of stealing the letter." Gabriel was not in the mood to give up. "I saw you take the letter. If you''re not guilty, take off all your clothes, let us see. You won''t lose anything. And if you''re innocent, you can let them see, isn''t that true?''

    Hearing the sarcastic response, Rem''s face twitched. This kid... He was really ying with him.

    "I''ve had enough of these usations and proving my innocence. If I have to prove my innocence every day, then I don''t feel safe at this academy. Today it''s my gloves. Tomorrow you''ll ask me to strip to prove my innocence, the day after that you''ll ask me to stab myself to prove my innocence. If that''s how my life is going to be at the Academy, then I am fine not being a student."

    "I am leaving this academy right away. It''s better I apply to the Church of Light instead. At least they won''t use me daily."

    Being banished from the Academy or leaving it on his own, both were the same, and both were beneficial to him. He could actually leave the academy right now and not regret a single thing. He already had all the artifacts he needed, and this gave him an excuse to leave the ce without raising many suspicions.<sub> </sub>

    Still, if possible, he wanted to stay here for a few more days since he wanted to enter the Tower of Challenges. But if he couldn''t, he didn''t mind that either. This was supposed to be a threat to Rem, and he wasn''t joking.

    The only reason the Academy kept his talent and his age a secret was because they didn''t want the Church of Light to have him. They wanted to be known as the Academy that trained the next Holy Mage. He knew that the Academy wasn''t going to lose him.

    He was their treasure in a way. Even if they needed to act neutral before others, there was definitely some bias toward him, and he wanted to use that bias to his advantage.

    Rem wanted Gabriel to take off his gloves and prove his innocence since that was the easiest way out. He also wanted to see him take off those gloves himself, but he couldn''t force it. If Gabriel actually left the academy and decided to go to the Church of Light, he believedEliana was going to be really upset at him for not handling things properly.

    Eliana was already quite stressed regarding the theft, and more stress wasn''t good for her at this time since he didn''t want to see Eliana when she was angry. Even if Gabriel actually took the letter, it was a very minor thing. He could''ve let Gabriel leave over that.

    He was stuck between a rock and a hard ce. He had just punished Aira. If he didn''t even search Gabriel to see if Aira was telling the truth, he was going toe across as quite biased. Unfortunately, he had no choice in this matter.

    Gabriel was right. He was just used yesterday when the killer was a dark mage. In such a short time, another usation could definitely make anyone angry.

    He gave Gabriel a benefit of the doubt. Moreover, if he checked and it turned out that Gabriel was innocent, then Eliana was going to me him in case Gabriel left the academy after his search.

    In the end, he decided to pick the less bad of the two options.

    "I can understand your anger. You are right that you were used wrongly yesterday, and we all doubted you for nothing. This time, I''ll give you the benefit of the doubt since you already let them check your clothes. Anything more than that would be going overboard. You can leave. No one will search you.''

    Rem gave in. Gabriel''s n to get out of this situation worked. Gabriel had the permission to learn, and he didn''t waste a single second more.

    "What? Aira was left stunned at what happened! He didn''t even search Gabriel? What kind of bias was that? She was punished so bad over a minor thing, and he wasn''t even searched? He was left scot-free. Even Garrick wasn''t punished! Why was only her receiving all the punishment? If she thought Rem was biased before, she was sure now!

    She decided to talk to Xinci about this bias, who was the Head Teacher of her House of Summon.

    Gabriel didn''t waste a single second and swiftly left the ce, but he didn''t walk in any hurry either. He walked at his usual pace as if he was taking a walk, leaving a stunned crowd behind.

 121 Chapter 121

    Gabriel utilized the biggest advantage he possessed after his battle strength. In fact, it was less of his strength and more of the weakness of others.

    Greed was something that almost every person possessed. Some had greed for achievements; some had greed for prestige; some had greed for strength and more.

    Almost every person in the world had some kind of Greed, and for the Academy, their greed was their prestige. That''s why it was such a big blow to the academy that they were robbed. They still hoped to gain some things by training Gabriel in hopes that he could be the next Holy Mage.

    It was that greed that was holding Eliana back. It was the reason she wasn''t willing to let him go through the test of the crown. He had already noticed this hesitation in Eliana''s face when he was standing before her. This was also what made them keep Gabriel''s identity and his talent levels a secret.

    If their greed was their weakness, then the best way to use that Greed was simply through a subtle threat that he could leave them for the Church of Light. It became even worse for them when he had a legit excuse as they had actually used him before, only to free himter.

    As soon as Gabriel saw Rem, he had already made up this n in his head as to how he was going to get out of this situation. If it were another teacher who didn''t know, then it would''ve been much harder for him, but with Rem, Gabriel was quite pleased since the only person who could be better for him in this situation was Eliana.

    However, with Eliana, everyone would''ve considered her even more biased since Garrick and Gabriel were both her students.

    Gabriel nced back once, noticing Rem telling the young mages to get back to what they were doing and not create a crowd here.

    Looking back, he also noticed a young man running toward him. He remembered that man quite well.

    Gabriel didn''t stop since he didn''t need to. He was already walking at his usual ce, which made it rtively easy for the others to catch up to him.

    Zale caught up to Gabriel, finally slowing down. "Are you alright?"

    "I am." Gabriel nodded. He had saved the young man once in the past, but that was it. That was the extent to which he knew Zale. Zale was also the one who gave him the information about Cain, telling him about his past.

    Unfortunately, that information didn''te in handy. He had nned to use Cain and Yann for a distraction that could give him some time, but things went a bit south with Hawrin''s death. He had to modify his ns and go with an entirely different and direct route to steal the Numens.

    "That''s good. I am d I wasn''tte in bringing Senior Garrick." Zale ced his hand on his chest, letting out a sigh.

    "Hmm?" Gabriel curiously nced back at the young man. "You brought him?"

    "Yeah. I saw you being attacked by the Seniors. I knew that only teachers could help you, and that''s why I went looking for a teacher. Even though I didn''t find a teacher, I did manage to find Senior Garrick. Since he was the strongest student from the House of Light, I told him everything and asked him to help you."

    "Fortunately, we came right on time. I''m so d you were safe."

    Zale genuinely looked happy that he was able to help Gabriel, even though indirectly.<sub> </sub>

    "So the person who informed him was you," Gabriel remembered Garrick telling Rem about being informed. So he was telling the truth, and the person that informed him was Zale.

    No matter why it seemed Zale had helped him. If Garrick hadn''t arrived, he would''ve needed to use a little more strength, which could reveal that he was also a mid-tier mage now.

    "Why would you help me?"

    "Did you look for a reason before helping me?" Zale asked in return. "When I needed help the most, you were the only one who came to my help. Cain arrivedter as well."

    "But you... You will always be the person who saved me. So why would I think twice before looking for ways to help you?"

    Gabriel was momentarily at a loss of words. So that was the reason this guy tried to help him?

    "We are equal now. You can leave."

    Despite being helped by Zale, Gabriel didn''t behave like a friend. He didn''t thank Zale either. Instead, he simply told Zale to leave.

    Even though Zale helped him, he didn''t want to feel grateful to him. He didn''t want to lose his resolve.

    He didn''t want to forget the lesson he had learned, even at the cost of his life. It was that people were willing to be your friend and help you, only as long as they didn''t get an excuse to turn on you.

    Alexai came to help him even though he didn''t need it. It was the same for Zale and Garrick. Even the Academy tried to help him in any way they could, but this was all an illusion that was waiting to blow up.

    The moment he lost the ring of Apophis after a few days, all the people who were acting like his friends could easily turn on him. And if his identity as a Necromancer came out, let alone these people, the entire academy was going to be after him to kill him!

    It wasn''t hard to imagine either. It was the same Academy that allowed thousands of its dark mages to be ughtered... The dark mages who studied here for years and were at times really nice people like him. The academy didn''t provide even a single one of them protection.

    In the war, millions of Dark Mages were killed, and no one felt bad for them. Amongst the Millions, the majority of them were just the ones that wanted to live their life. He was sure that quite a lot of them were like him, who were betrayed by the people they trusted as soon as the war was dered.

    It was a world where people didn''t have sympathy for a dark Mage. Instead, they cheered for their deaths. Zale was also a part of that same world. He was also going to have the same mentality. If even Maya, who knew him all her life, could attack him, then what was Zale?

    Gabriel didn''t need any friends. Instead, he wanted to be all alone for now.

    Immersed in conversation, he reached the Tower of Challenges and even entered that ce, leaving Zale behind.

 122 Chapter 122

    Zale stood outside the Tower of Sins, not knowing what to feel. He had helped Gabriel. Let alone thanking him, Gabriel was quite nonchnt as if his help wasn''t needed. Despite that, Zale didn''t feel bad.

    "He must be stressed. He did go through a lot. I can''t me him. If I were used of murder and theft right after, I wouldfeel bad too."

    Zale didn''t take Gabriel''s words to his heart. He simply turned around and started leaving after wishing great luck inside the Tower to Gabriel.

    Not many first-year mages attended the Tower of Challenges, let alone a first-year mage who was only here for three days.

    ****

    Gabriel entered the Tower of Challenges, quite curious about what was going to be inside. If he was here for a short time, he really wanted to see just what kind of challenges there were going to be.

    If possible, he also wanted to test himself to see where he stoodpared to other Mages that went through the tower.

    He also believed that there was another advantage to entering the tower. If he could get even a decent score, he could get some credits which he couldter use to get more powerful skills from the Library of Skills. He only had a few days left at the Academy, and he wanted to umte as much knowledge as he could while he was here.

    If it were anyone else, they most probably would''ve left the academy now that they had managed to steal all the items, but Gabriel was different. He dide here to get the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, but that wasn''t his main goal. It was only his secondary goal. His main goal was Hawrin.

    With Hawrin''s death, he could finally take some time for himself before deciding what he wanted to do here. He wasn''t sure when he was going to get a simr opportunity in the future, so he wanted to use it to the fullest while he had a chance.

    Inside the Tower of Challenges, quite a lot of youngsters were leaving as they had finished their run. Most of them seemed disappointed, as if they had failed to reach the floor that they were targeting. Meanwhile, there were also a few who were quite pleased as they had managed to reach higher than they didst time.

    A few of them were even eager to see how much their names climbed up in the tower.

    Before entering, Gabriel had expected that the challenges would start from the ground floor itself, but it looked like the ground floor was just amon floor, and the challenges began from the first floor.

    "Heh, a first-year mage?"

    Every mage that walked past Gabriel nced at him with amusement. They all knew that the batch of first-year students had just arrived and that their battle sses hadn''t even begun. To see a first year mage in this ce was quite surprising but also funny since they imagined how badly he was going to be thrashed if he started climbing the Tower.

    A young man stopped before Gabriel. "I don''t think you should climb the tower. It''s not safe. Even the first floor will be dangerous for you if you are new here. So better focus on your training.''

    It was a second year mage of light who was giving some genuine advice to Gabriel as he believed that Gabriel was underestimating this ce.

    Gabriel nced at the young man. "I''m just looking around."

    The young mage of light nodded before leaving. If Gabriel was just looking around, then it was fine. And even if he was going to enter, it didn''t matter. He had already informed Gabriel what he needed to.

    In the entire hall, there was only one door that led upstairs. There was a barrier before that door that was semi transparent.

    In the center of the massive hall, there was a formation circle. Young mages kept appearing on the formation circle, leaving the tower. It was like they were teleporting here from the higher floors, which was somewhat surprising and convenient.

    The mages needed to climb up, but when they were done, they could just return here?

    Even though most of the mages were leaving the Tower, there were also some who were arriving from outside to attempt the Tower.

    All those mages went to the end of the hall where an old man was sitting behind a wooden table. They talked to the old man, who seemingly gave all of them a stone.

    The mages took the stone and went to the stairs, passing through the barrier. It looked like that stone was some kind of key, and the old man was in-charge here.

    If he needed to climb, he also needed to approach the old man. That''s what he did.

    He walked to the old man, avoiding all the mocking gazes from others. Even the old man was slightly surprised as he saw a first year mageing to him.

    ? "I want to climb the tower," Gabriel told the old man.

    Hearing his request, the old man couldn''t help butugh.<sub> </sub>

    Even as the old manughed, he noticed that Gabriel was still looking at him thoughtfully. "Wait. You are serious?"

    "Yes."

    "Young man, you really underestimate this tower. It''s not a ce for kids to y around. I''m saying this for your own well-being. Please don''t take it the wrong way. If I''m not wrong, your batch has been here for three or four days."

    "Spend a few months learning and growing up. Then attempt this ce. If not, you might get seriously hurt. You can''t even reach the second floor like this."

    "I understand the risks. I still want to climb." Gabriel was still firm on his stand. He didn''t have months to wait.

    "Kids these days... It seems you won''t understand what I''m trying to say until you see it with your own eyes. Fine. Then so be it. I''ll allow you to enter."

    Generally, the old man only wanted Gabriel to not make this mistake, but if Gabriel still wanted to try, he agreed. It wasn''t his first time seeing stubborn first year students, and he was sure it wasn''t going to be hisst.

    Most of them rarely listened, and then when they were hurt, they understood the value of these words.

    "What is your element?" The old man asked Gabriel.

    "The Element of Light." Gabriel lowered his left glove a little to reveal his Mark of Light.

    "A Mage of Light. I should''ve guessed." The old man shook his head lightly. "Your name?"

    "Gabriel," Gabriel answered, but it was only after he told his name that he realized his mistake. His mind was filled with thoughts about what was going to be on the higher floors. In his distraction, he gave out his real name. He couldn''t even correct that without creating more problems.

    The old man didn''t notice anything strange in the name. He picked a piece of stone that had a special formation carved on it that made these stone orbs work.

    The old man held the stone in his hand and closed his fists. He muttered something inaudible, closing his eyes as well.

    After a few seconds, he opened his hand and gave the stone piece to Gabriel. "There. This is your key to getting to the higher floors. This piece of stone has a formation which connects it to the tower."

    "The higher this stone reaches, the higher your score will be registered. In other words, the stone will be the thing that will be recording the information about the floor you managed to reach."

    "In case you manage to reach high enough, your name will appear on the Tower outside, though I doubt that will happen. The stone won''t reach the second floor it seems. Still, I wish you luck, young man. Hope youe out safe."

    "Oh, and one more thing. The stones also have another formation carved on them. If you feel like you''re in danger, just tap this stone on the floor twice, and you''ll be brought back here. That will be all."

    Gabriel nced at the stone, understanding how these things worked. This was slightly surprising. He had been wondering how the tower recorded the scores for quite some time. "Can others interfere in my challenges when I''m on higher Floors?"

    "No one can even see you," the old man smiled. "The tower gives a separate realm for challenges for each person. In other words, we can''t see what challenges you go through or how you face them, let alone someone interfering in your challenges. It will be like each participant will be in a different tower. That keeps the tower Challenges neutral and free from interference."

    "That''s also why we made this teleportation formation on the stone. Since we don''t know what their situation will be like, it''s to bring them back in case they are in danger. Despite that, there are still times when people die in the Tower. That''s why stay safe if possible and don''t force yourself."

    "I see, so no one knows what a mage does in the Tower or how they fight. The only thing that they can know is which floor a person reached." Gabriel gazed at the piece of stone in his hand, slightly intrigued by this information.

    Didn''t this mean he could use his Element of Necromancy as well? If they were in a different realm from each other, no one could sense his aura.

    Still, just to be safe, he could cast Undead Imitation to keep his aura restricted. He could fight freely using both his elements, and no one could see what he was doing. This was pretty perfect for him... This way, he could also get to higher floors.

    The workings of this tower were quite beneficial for him as it gave him absolute freedom to do whatever he pleased.

    Keeping the stone in his pocket, he also walked to the stairs to see just what he was capable of.

    The old man shook his head, watching Gabriel leave. He expected Gabriel to be back in five minutes at most. Even he didn''t know just how wrong he was¡­ How wrong everyone was...

    Gabriel passed through the barrier, beginning his journey in the Tower... A journey that was going to change everything¡­

 123 Chapter 123

    The Tower of Challenges had been one constant thing ever since the start of the Academy. In fact, it was also the reason that the Academy was started in this ce in the first ce.

    Contrary to popr belief, the Tower of Challenges wasn''t created by the Academy of Elements. It wasn''t created by any mage of the Academy either. The tower existed here for as long as anyone could remember. No one knew who exactly made this tower or why.

    By the time magic and magicians were bing prominent in the world, the founders of the Academy of Elements discovered the Tower of Challenges.

    The Academy of Elements was said to be founded by two friends who were quite powerful mages of their time. Ironically, one of those two men was a Mage of Light while the other was a Mage of Darkness.

    After entering the tower, the two mages managed to find out a lot about this ce. They discovered that each floor of the tower held a different challenge and that challenges only became more fierce the higher they climbed. One more thing they noticed was that the entrance that led to the first floor where the Challenges began was somewhat unique.

    Even though the two friends entered together, they found themselves all alone after passing through the barrier as if they were in different realms.

    Since then, they started researching the Tower of Challenges to try to find out how it worked. They managed to find lots of new information like the Tower only allowed people younger than thirty to go to the first floor and attend the challenges. Anyone older was stopped by the barrier at the entrance of the first floor.

    They also found out that it was impossible to break the barrier. Even though they didn''t know who made this tower, both friends felt that this was the perfect ce to establish the Academy of Elements that they wanted to make. They believed that this tower could be used to train the youngsters and see just what they were capable of.

    Since then, they made a new system for the Tower. They created the formation stones to measure the floors that one managed to reach and connected the information to the source outside the tower to disy a Ranking to motivate the youngsters to do better and to raise apetitive feeling inside them.

    They also made some safety mechanisms in the stone to help the students escape faster. With time, the academy was created around the Tower of Challenges, and it became what it was known today.

    Ever since the two friends found the Tower of Challenges, not a single person had managed to reach the highest floors. There were also many stories about the top floor of the Tower of Challenges.

    Some stories said that the two founders managed to reach the top floor and left some rewards there for the first student who could get there. At the same time, there were also stories amongst the teachers that presented an entirely different picture.

    The other story mentioned that even the Founders had failed to clear the ny-ninth floor, so not a single person knew just what was on the hundredth floor! No one knew which version of the story was correct. All they knew was that it was hard to reach the hundredth Floor.

    In fact, only a few people in history had managed to reach the ny-ninth floor ever since the record-keeping began. Even the top student Garrick was nowhere close to reaching that level.

    Gabriel entered the tower just out of curiosity. He just wanted to see what the tower Challenges were like. He just wanted to see what he was capable of and how far he could reach. Other than that, he had no ns. He just wanted to get to the highest floor he could to see just what he was capable of.

    Since the Tower of Challenges was so hyped, even he hadn''t expected himself to reach particrly high.

    He passed through the barrier of the first floor. As soon as his body touched the barrier, he felt a strange feeling inside his body. It felt quite unique, which he had never experienced before.

    The barrier didn''t check his elements or anything. Instead, it just checked his age before giving him an independent space to climb the tower.

    There were bright stairs before Gabriel as he passed through the barrier.<sub> </sub>

    "Let''s see just what I''m capable of."

    Clenching his fist, he took his first step on the stairs and started climbing up.

    Even though he didn''t count the stairs, there weren''t many. There only looked to be fifty or so stairs to climb.

    He ran to the stairs, not intending to waste much time. Before long, he reached the top of the stairs.

    He ended up in a Majestic Hall that was almost as big as the hall he had seen on the ground floor. The hall waspletely empty. He couldn''t see even a single person here. The only thing worth giving some attention here were the Knight Statues that were standing all around him near the walls.

    The statues were covered in old Metallic Armor as if depicting ancient warriors. Some of those statues were holding only the swords, while others were holding Swords and Shields both. There were also some statues that held spears and some that had a stone ax.

    There was no door anywhere which could lead to the higher floor, making this ce look like a dead end.

    "Where is the challenge of the First Floor?" Gabriel walked closer to the center of the room, observing his surroundings. He looked up as well, seeing if the path that led up was through the roof.

    However, just as he looked up, he heard the sound of two metal pieces screeching against each other. He looked at the source of that sound, finding a statue there. Strangely enough, the statue seemed to have a different pose than he remembered. He was sure that it wasn''t his misconception.

    He heard a simr noiseing from behind him as well. He looked back, feeling a sense of danger.

    As soon as Gabriel turned around, he saw a Metallic Spear flying straight toward his chest.

    "Shield of Light!" Gabriel raised his left hand, casting a protective spell that consumed the least amount of his spiritual strength.

    The Spear hit the Shield of Light, but it failed to pass through. Gabriel still didn''t feel better. Instead, his sense of danger was increasing.

    "Shield of Light!" He cast another shield of Light, this time behind him, blocking another attack that was only a meter away from hitting him.

    "So this is the challenge!" Gabriel eximed. "You aren''t dead. At least not in the conventional sense."

    Another Statue seemingly came to life. One after another, all fifty statues came to life.

    Finally, Gabriel understood why no one wanted a novice mage toe here. Just the first floor itself was dangerous.

    "Too bad for you, I''m neither a novice mage nor a conventional Mage."

 124 Chapter 124

    "If you want to y, let''s y. I was already quite frustrated after what happened outside."

    "Strength!"

    "Speed!''

    "Body of Light!"

    Gabriel started casting spells one after another to boost his physical abilities.

    At the start, he didn''t want to use his Element of Darkness. He wanted to save it for higher floors. For now, he wanted to see just how far he could reach just with his Element of Light.

    Fortunately, he wasn''t empty handed either. He had a mid-tier Staff of Light to boost his spell strength, but he didn''t use that. Instead, he decided to use a new toy.

    He created some distance between him and the knights, jumping back to make sure all the Knights were in one ce instead of all around him. It was better to deal with them.

    "Come to me!" He reached out his right hand toward the left, using his connection with his spatial realm to call out something.

    He had stolen a lot of Numens, and there was one that particrly intrigued him. He wanted to try that a lot. And what better situation than this, where he could test all the stolen Numens without anyone finding out about it?

    "Sword of Ulien!"

    He called out one of the Numens that he had stolen. The Sword of Ulien, which was said to be a sword that belonged to Demigod Ulien. Ulien was known to be a Demigod who was famous for his anger. It was said that even the slightest thing could anger him.

    Moreover, when he was angry, he didn''t listen to anyone. He didn''t hesitate for even a second before raising his sword and killing the one who angered him. It didn''t matter if there was a human before him or a Demigod.

    It was this Sword that Ulien always carried with him, and he treated it like his family member. Unfortunately, this anger also became the reason for Ulien''s demise as he attacked a person he never should''ve.

    ording to the legends, there was a time when Karyk was passing through Ulien''s City. At the same time, Ulien was also riding on his horse inside the city streets,ing back from a hunt. On his way back, he noticed Karyk standing in the middle of the road, seemingly distracted by something.

    Karyk was looking at the sky nkly. Despite repeated warnings from Ulien, Karyk didn''t move and remained in a daze. Ulien thought that Karyk was ignoring him. Ulien didn''t know Karyk at that time.

    He had heard about Karyk, but he never saw him. For him, the guy before him was just an ordinary traveler since he couldn''t feel anything special from him.

    Enraged at being ignored, Ulien came down from his horse and attacked Karyk with his sword. Feeling a sense of danger, Karyk finally came out of his daze and looked ahead.

    It was said that it was the day when Ulien died, and the legend of the angry King ended.

    Karyk left the sword there and continued on his journey. The Sword became a Numen and went from hand to hand before ultimately ending up in the Academy of Element, only to be stolen by Gabriel. And thus, the Sword hadpleted an entire circle, reaching where it started.

    A blood-red Sword appeared in Gabriel''s hands, which felt as light as a feather, especially now that Gabriel had boosted his strength.

    As soon as the sword ended in Gabriel''s hands, it started resisting him fiercely as if the sword didn''t want to work for the one responsible for its master''s death. Still, the resistance onlysted for a few seconds before the Blood Red Sword gave up, thanks to the Ring of Necromancy.

    Not only did the sword stop resisting, but it also providedplete support to Gabriel.

    Gabriel held the sword firmly.

    "Let me see! Show me the strength of a Numen!" Roaring, Gabriel shed horizontally with the blood-red Sword that was zing with a mystical energy.

    A blood-red arc of light left the sharp des of left, flying straight to the knights. The more distance this dark red arc of light traveled, the bigger it became.

    Before long, the arc of dark red light hit the knights. Neither the metallic Armor of the Knights nor their Stone bodies and their weapons were able to stop the attack. The attack passed through the bodies of all Knight Statues, slicing their bodies in half.

    Both halves of the statues dropped to the ground along with their weapons, turning to dust.

    Gabriel knew that the sword was supposed to be strong since it was a Numen, but even he hadn''t expected it to be this strong. With the help of this sword and his spells which increased his speed and strength, Gabriel believed he had found a nicebination.

    Just as he was looking at the sword in slight amazement, he heard the sound of stone sliding.

    He looked to his left, seeing a door shaped opening there which wasn''t there before.<sub> </sub>

    "The entrance to the Second Floor? So that''s what it was. To even see the entrance to the next floor, we need to clear the current floor first."

    Gabriel had cleared the first floor and quite easily at that. He didn''t even feel tired as he hadn''t used much strength. He didn''t need any time for rest. He went to the next Floor right away.

    ****

    Back on the Ground Floor, the old man was sitting in his chair, quite curious. It had been over half an hour, and Gabriel still wasn''t back yet. He was sure that Gabriel should''ve given up by now. Then why wasn''t he back?

    "Don''t tell me he is already dead? That would be a pity.''

    At around the same time, Garrick also entered the Tower of Challenges. After dealing with all the mess with the teachers and the students, he decided to test how much he had grown. He came here to see if he could increase his rank and how much.

    The old man happily gave Garrick a stone, inscribing the name and the element. He didn''t even need to ask for such things since there was rarely anyone who didn''t know Garrick at this point.

    Garrick took the stone and went to the first floor while the old man again returned to worrying about Gabriel.

    Garrick had taken the challenge of the tower, and not long after Gabriel, creating a race between the two unknowingly.

    More and more students kept arriving as well, but only Garrick was worth interest to the old man.

    ****

    Two hours passed. Gabriel still wasn''t back. The old man waspletely sure that Gabriel was dead by now. There was no other exnation as to why he wasn''t back. The old man didn''t even consider the possibility that he was still climbing.

    Not many people realized it yet, but a new name appeared on the rankings of the tower outside.

    [12000GabrielLight12]

    Gabriel had managed to bring his name in the rankings, which only showed the top twelve thousand in history. And he wasn''t done yet. The name only continued rising. Fortunately, the year wasn''t mentioned in the ranking, or it would''ve caused amotion already.

    Three more hours passed, and the name continued climbing.

    [6009GabrielLight25]

    Within five hours of entering the tower, Gabriel had managed to reach the twenty-fifth floor, just a little shy of the top six thousandth rank.

    Inside the tower, Gabriel was breathing heavily, sitting on his knees. He was really getting an idea as to why these floors were hard.

    Over two thousand fierce beasts came before him, and it was left the twenty-fifth Floor. His blood-red Sword was covered in the blood of the beast as Gabriel sat, surrounded by thousands of dead bodies.

    After taking some time to gather his breath, he stood up and walked to the door of the next floor.

    "At this pace, I think I might need to use my Element of Necromancy soon. We''ll see... I will continue as long as I can...''

    He passed through the door, stepping onto the twenty-sixth floor.

    As he stepped onto the next floor, his ranking rose once again.

    [5574GabrielLight26]

    It was now that a few people finally started noticing his name, but they didn''t pay much attention to it even now. It was a good rank but not shocking. The Fourth Year Mages of Light thought that it must be a third-year mage of Light.

    On the other hand, the third-year mages of Light thought that it must be a Fourth Year Mage of Light. In their confusion, no one checked or found a new name odd.

    Gabriel took his first step on the 26th floor, expecting more beasts to face, but things were different this time.

    There were no beasts. Moreover, he wasn''t on the battlefield either. Instead, he was in a small room that was only three meters long and two meters wide. There were no beasts. There were no statues of anything simr either. Something was very wrong here¡­

 125 Chapter 125

    The room was small, and it didn''t have anything but a simple table in the middle. The table seemed to be one with the floor, which meant it was impossible to move that table.

    On the round table, something was lying. A small wooden board was lying in the middle of the table that covered half of it.

    Gabriel stepped closer to the table. He didn''t see anyone here who could attack him, which meant the floor was different from the other floors. He felt that the way to clear the floor was rted to the small wooden board in the middle.

    As Gabriel stepped closer to the wooden board, he was able to see it much better. The wooden board was divided into four colors. One-fourth of the board was ck. The other twenty-five perfect of the board was red. The third quarter was white while the fourth quarter was blue.

    In each of the four parts, there was a strange symbol drawn that was impossible to read even for him.

    In the middle of the board, where all the colors joined, there was a small piece of stone.

    "What is this thing?"

    There was no instruction on what he had to do. There was nothing else happening here either, which made him feel that he had all he needed to clear the floor. He just needed to find out how.

    The guard was the answer and the colors that were on it.

    "Four colors, four symbols, and one stone..."

    He circled around the table, making sure there wasn''t anything he was missing. He even checked under the table. Unfortunately, there was nothing under the table either.

    "This is a headache. If they wanted to make me fight for these challenges, it would''ve been much better, but I don''t even know what the challenge is here."

    He reached out his hand and touched the stone in the middle, gently trying to pick it up.

    "Hmm?"

    Even as he tried to pick up the piece of stone, he realized that he just couldn''t. There was some very powerful gravity that was pulling the stone down, making it impossible for him to pick the stone. The stone was certainly moving a bit but not rising in the air.

    "Strength!"

    He cast the strengthening spell before trying again, but it was the same even how. The more strength he applied, the stronger that gravity became, making it impossible even now.

    "It seems I''m not supposed to pick it up. Then again, the stone isn''t fixed to the board. It''s only a force that is pulling it down. It can still move a little. If I''m not wrong, I should be able to slide it to the side. But what if that''s the challenge?"

    "These four colors... And a stone that could only be slided... No matter where I move this stone, it will leave the exact center, ending up in one of the four colors..."<sub> </sub>

    "I wonder if that''s what this Floor is about? Selecting your own trial? Could it be that all these four colors represent one of the trials, and moving the stone to them would be like selecting that trial for the twenty-sixth floor? Is the tower providing me with options? This would be quite interesting if true."

    "Then again, it''s not like I can read what''s written on these colors. I''mpletely oblivious about these letters, so it''ll just be blind luck at this point."

    Since he couldn''t read anything that was written on the colors, he could only let his luck take over and just take a random guess. As all four were unknown options, he wasn''t losing anything.

    It was better to test than just waste time since there was nothing else on this Floor. He held the stone piece with his hand and slid it to the side. If he had to select one of the four choices, he selected the dark color.

    He didn''t know what the letters on these colors were, but he went with the possibility that these colors represented the Elements. The color ck was for darkness, white for light. The red was for fire and the blue for water. There were two pairs of opposites on the board. Still, that was only his guess. He didn''t know if it was right.

    If he had to select one of the four Elements for his challenge on this floor, he decided to choose the Element of Darkness. With his Element of Necromancy, he believed he had a better chance against darkness. Moreover, he also had the element of Light, which made it the perfect choice.

    Just as he expected, the stone piece moved easily. Moreover, it only took a gentle push from him to move the stone piece before it started moving on its own. The stone piece moved to the center of the ck block.

    Gabriel stepped back, holding the sword firmly. He was prepared for anything, but instead of the Trial, a door appeared behind him.

    "Hmm? The door to the twenty-seventh floor? That was it? This was the twenty-sixth floor''s challenge?"

    As if the floor was less confusing already, it became even more confusing for him when the door to the next floor opened. It was as if all he needed was to move the stone to clear the floor, which was quite unexpected since he had prepared himself for some challenge.

    "Strange Tower..." Even though he was confused, he didn''t think too much about it. If the door to the next floor opened, he decided to leave, believing the subsequent trial was going to be much better hopefully.

    Gabriel walked to the door.

    "Urgh..."

    When Gabriel was about to walk through the door, he felt pain. He lowered his head, noticing his chest had started bleeding as if a sword had prated his chest. However, he couldn''t see any sword. He could only see the blood and a hole in his chest. Fortunately, his vitals were missed in this attack.

    He couldn''t see any enemy, but he was sure that the Sword had prated him from the front! So whoever attacked him was right before him, and it was impossible to see them.

    Gabriel''s clothes were already covered in his own blood. Having a rough idea of where the attack came from, Gabriel attacked with the Sword of Ulien.

    As soon as he attacked, he felt the invisible sword that had stabbed him being pulled out.

    The attack from the Sword of Ulien only hit empty air, as if the attacker had already moved away. If it was true, that speed even amazed Gabriel. The attacker was like a shadow in darkness... Silent, fast, and impossible to see.

 126 [Bonus Chapter]Chapter 126

    ? As Gabriel was about to leave the floor, he was attacked by an enemy that was impossible to see. It was like an invisible warrior who was fast like the wind.

    Gabriel had attacked right away, but his attack still didn''t hit the invisible enemy, which meant that the enemy was faster than his attack speed.

    "Shield of Light!"

    There were too many questions, but first Gabriel needed some time to gather his thoughts ande up with a n. He cast a barrier of light around him, providing him with some protection.

    At the same time, he also ced his hand on his chest, casting a healing spell. "Minor Heal!"

    The wound on his chest wasn''t a minor wound. Because of it, even his Minor Healing spell couldn''t heal him right away, but it was better than nothing. The Minor Healing spell stopped his bleeding and increased his healing speed.

    Gabriel looked around the room, protected by his barrier. The room still looked empty. It was exactly like before, but he wasn''t going to make the same mistake of thinking this room was empty.

    "I know you are still here... somewhere in this small room. I can also say that you''re a good enemy. It''s easier to fight thousands of enemies that you can see but harder to fight even one enemy that you can''t see. Unfortunately, that only works in two situations."

    "First is if it''s a sessful first attack while the enemy is still unaware of your existence," Gabriel exined while waiting for his wound to heal a little more. He didn''t know where the enemy was, but he wanted to keep that person engaged for a little longer so he could recover more.

    He received no response as if he was just talking to himself. Surprisingly, the enemy didn''t attack either. It was unclear if that was because they knew that he was protected by a barrier or because they wanted to hear him finish what he was saying first.

    " In fact, your first attempt was definitely good.I''m surprised I didn''t feel the attacking. I don''t feel any sense of danger for some reason. Then again, you missed... You should''ve gone for the heart.''

    "The second situation where invisibility gives you the best advantage? If it''s in a big area, not in this closed space like we are in now. You know why?"

    The enemy still didn''t respond. If Gabriel didn''t know that there was someone inside, he really would''ve thought that he was all alone here.

    Fortunately, by how his wounds had healed for the most part after another sessful Minor Heal.

    "It''s because, in a small space, you don''t have many ces to escape, do you?"

    Gabriel raised his right hand. "I wanted to save using these forter, but oh well... You''ve earned it."

    He canceled the protection spell.

    As if sensing something wrong, the invisible enemy attacked again. Unfortunately, by now it was toote for him.

    "Soul Explosion!"

    Gabriel used one of the two new offensive spells that he had acquired recently.

    As soon as he cast the spell, an Evil Spirit came out of the Dark Ring, as if being forced out.

    As soon as the dark spirit came out screeching, it exploded, letting a terrible destructive energy flow everywhere.

    Since it was a small room, that explosive energy management to cover every corner of the ce. Gabriel knew that his enemy was fast enough to avoid his sword attacks, or maybe even his single point spells, but how could one avoid an attack that targeted every single corner at once?

    Only Gabriel was safe in the entire room, as the destructive soul energy had no effect on him.

    It was like a powerful bomb had exploded in the middle of the room, which actually managed to hit the enemy.

    Even that invisible person couldn''t avoid the attack as his body flew back, crashing into the wall in the back.

    The person used to be invisible, but now that his entire body was covered in blood, his invisibility was basically useless.

    Through the trails of blood, Gabriel could make a rough idea of the enemy, who seemed like a human. It was a man who had one hand missing. It was unclear if he had that hand before or if it was destroyed in the current explosion itself.

    The man''s legs were bleeding as well, just like the rest of his body. He couldn''t even move his body.

    "Told you, it''s a disadvantage for you to fight in this room." Gabriel walked closer to the body lying in the distance. "Then again, it was definitely interesting to fight you. I didn''t know there were enemies like you as well. Next time, I''ll be more careful."

    Gabriel ced the tip of his sword in the chest of the man, thrusting the sword deep inside. Unlike the man, Gabriel didn''t miss the vitals.<sub> </sub>

    The man finally died, and his body turned to dust like the bodies of the others that Gabriel killed.

    "Not a real person either," Gabriel muttered, looking up. "This tower..."

    The tower could bring these people to exist just for the challenges, which was a feat in itself. It made him really curious as to how someone was able to make a tower like this.

    He was also somewhat impressed by his Soul Explosion. It was his first time using this spell, and it was just as he expected... It was a powerful spell, and it covered arge area around him.

    "It can be a great spell for offense and for defense when fighting a close-range fighter. Then again, every time I use this spell, I''ll lose a soul from the Grimoire, sacrificing it. I don''t know if this affects the Grimoire''s strength... Hopefully not."

    From what he heard through stories, Karyk had absorbed Billions of Souls, but he didn''t know about this Grimoire or how many Souls this Forbidden Book had.

    There could be more spells in the future that might need these spells, so he didn''t want to hastily destroy the souls without knowing more about this Grimoire.

    Despite all the questions, he was still very pleased with everything.

    He walked to the door and passed through to the next floor.

    [5218GabrielLight27]

    The name of Gabriel rose through the tanks again.

    An entire day had passed since Gabriel cleared the 26th floor. By now, the old man was entirely sure that Gabriel was dead, so he decided to forget about him and became busy with his work.

    He didn''t realize that there was something quite interesting happening outside.

    A name that the Mages had never seen before on the rankings not only appeared on the rankings, but it was climbing high at a speed that they rarely saw.

    "Who is this Gabriel? I''m sure I never saw that name on the rankings. How is it possible that it''s his first time appearing on the ranking, and he managed to reach that high?"

    Even fourth year students were looking at the rankings in amazement.

    [918GabrielLight57]

    As soon as Gabriel started using his Element of Necromancy and his Grimoire, his speed of climbing the tower increased by multiple folds. In less than two days of entering the tower, he was already in the top thousand!

    "It seems the Third Year Mages were hiding a talented mage. You think this might be another Garrick in the making?"

    "Heh, they wish. There is only one Garrick. He managed to enter the top hundred ranking when he was in the third year. This year, he might even enter the top fifty. This third-year bratmight be doing well for that stage, but he''s not even close."

    "Hahahaha, you''re right. It seems I was overthinking. The higher they go, the harder these Challenges be. This Gabriel should be out soon."

    "Exactly. If I were to guess, I''d say that he would be out before reaching the 70th floor."

    "Correct."

    While fourth year mages were praising Gabriel, thinking it was a great achievement for a third year Mage of Light, none of them believed that he could go much higher.

    At the same time, the Third Year Mages of Light were also slightly amazed. However, they didn''t evenpare Garrick with Gabriel. For them, both Gabriel and Garrick were from fourth year. Despite being on the same footing, Gabriel was very far.

    There was another person who was looking at the name on the ranking.

    Maya stood before the tower, nkly staring at the name on the tower. It had been a long time since she heard or saw that name.

    "It can''t be him... It must be someone who shares the same name! He can''t be here... He can''t."

    She didn''t believe that it was her Gabriel. Even though this Gabriel also had the Element of Light, ording to what she heard, this Gabriel was a Senior, which made her sure that it wasn''t the Gabriel she knew.

 127 Chapter 127

    Back inside the tower, Gabriel continued climbing up. His clothes were drenched in blood, and he was heavily sweating. He didn''t have much rest ever since he entered the tower. Moreover, as he came Higher, the battles and the challenges became even fiercer.

    He had been hurt so many times. If it wasn''t for his Minor Healing, he was sure he would''ve been in quite some trouble. The Healing Spells were the biggest advantage that a Mage of Light possessed, after all.

    There was one thing which he found quite good. After every ten floors, he received something to eat. It was like the tower was making sure that the participants didn''t have to leave the tower because of hunger! The tower wanted them to only leave once they were defeated or gave up.

    Thanks to the door, and the momentary rest he received, Gabriel was still able to go on.

    He was so immersed in these challenges that he had already forgotten about the outside world and whatmotion his reaching so far could be causing outside!

    *****

    Ten more hours passed. It was another morning when people starteding back to the tower, wondering if Gabriel was out now.

    Their surprise only increased to see that Gabriel was still inside the tower! Not only did he not lose, his speed of climbing only increased; they didn''t understand how it was even possible!

    [318GabrielLight86]

    For some reason, the person they thought couldn''t even cross the 70th floor was already on the 86th floor.

    [249GabrielLight87]

    "No way! He is still going?"

    "Just what kind of monster is he? It''s his first time entering the rankings of the tower, and he''s already in the top 250?"

    ? The news about Gabriel was spreading through the entire tower. By now, the news had be big enough to even attract the attention of the Teachers.

    The students of the third and fourth years might be initially confused as to which year Gabriel was from, but with time, the two sides started talking about it.

    It was finally revealed that none of the two sides knew any Gabriel! This Gabriel was neither a student of the third year nor was he a student of the fourth year!

    They also managed to confirm that there was no student with this name in the first and the second year, which raised the question as to who this guy was.

    The strange news about an unknown student appearing in the tower was enough to make even Eliana, and the other Head Council Teacherse out, who were quite busy trying to get to Izen.

    By now, it was like the entire academy was standing before the Tower of Challenges, looking at the rankings.

    Some were even cheering for Gabriel, wondering if he could actually manage to break the record and reach the top floor.

    ****

    Eliana didn''t know who this Gabriel was, but she was sure it was one of the students. There was no way a stranger could enter the tower like that.

    "This Gabriel is quite interesting. Until yesterday, I hadn''t even heard that name and how this name is on the tongue of everyone in the academy." Lishenmented. "Even umm curious to see who that guy is."

    "It''s definitely a Mage of Light," Rem chimed in. "Whoever this person is, he chose to lie about his name. Unfortunately, even he can''t lie about his Element since they all need to show their marks to enter. That means he is definitely a Mage of Light. But who?"

    "Could it be that Garrick entered with a fake name just to have some fun?" Lishen asked. "I can only think of one person who can reach that high in the rankings in such a short time."

    "I don''t know," Eliana responded. She waspletely ignorant about it. "However, I know one person who can answer."

    Eliana stopped looking at the ranking and entered the tower. The other Head Council Members also entered behind her.

    Seeing all the Head Council members arrive at once, the old man stood up, surprised. He wondered why they were all here together.<sub> </sub>

    Eliana stopped before the old man who greeted all the Head Council Members.

    "Did someone named Gabriel enter the Tower?" Eliana asked the old man, not wasting a single second of her precious time.

    "Oh, you mean that first year Mage of Light? Yeah, he entered a few days ago." The old man still remembered Gabriel as it didn''t happen a long time ago. "I told him not to take the risk, but he didn''t listen. If I''m not wrong, the poor kid is already dead."

    "First Year Mage?" Eliana wasn''t the only one who was taken aback. The Gabriel who managed to climb so high was a first year mage.

    "What nonsense. A first-year mage can''t climb this high!" Yann scoffed even at the thought of this notion.

    "Climb that high? What do you mean? Are you talking about Gabriel? Is this a joke? How high can that kid even climb? If he weren''t dead, he would''ve been out by now." The old man still didn''t understand.

    Lishen ced his hand on the shoulders of the old man. "It seems you haven''t left the tower in quite some time. Go out and check the rankings."

    Lishen took the old man out with him.

    The old man stepped out of the tower and looked up, wondering what he was supposed to see. He started looking from the lowest ranking. Since these people talked about Gabriel climbing high, he wondered if the kid had managed to enter the top 12000 ranking by some miracle which should''ve been impossible.

    "Not there. Look from there..." Lishen pointed up.

    "From there? Are you joking with me? There is no way tha-"

    The old man looked up, not expecting anything much. However, as soon as he looked up, his jaws dropped open. His eyes had managed to locate a name that shouldn''t be here. And the ranking...

    [98GabrielLight93]

    "T-t-top hundred? This can''t be!" The old man was shocked¡­ He was even horrified. How was this even possible? Was he dreaming? No! This should''ve been impossible!

    He wasn''t the only one who was shocked. The other students were also in amotion.

    Gabriel had managed to reach floor 93! It was the same floor which was the highest floor of Garrick!

    In fact, Garrick''sst score was just one tank above him!

    [97Garrick RainiLight93]

    "He... He tied Senior Garrick! Just who is this monster? Where was he hiding all this time?!"

    Even the fourth-year mages of light found it hard to believe their own eyes. It was the same for the Teachers.

    Themotion wasn''t in the House of Light but the entire academy! There was another student as capable as Garrick, and they had no idea about it! Didn''t this mean the House of Light was only getting stronger?

    "Look! Senior Garrick''s name moved up!" There was a sudden exmation that alerted everyone.

    The person was right! Garrick''s score moved up. Gabriel wasn''t the only one who was inside the tower. Garrick was also there to break hisst score as he believed he was stronger now than when he attended itst time!

    [90Garrick RainiLight94]

    The ones who were suspicious that Garrick might be using a different name to climb the tower realized how wrong they were. Both Gabriel and Garrick were inside the tower, and both were climbing separately!

    Moreover, it seemed as if there was a race between two star disciples of the House of Light to see who was going to get higher! It was a race between the current strongest Fourth Year Student of the Academy Garrick, and the mysterious Gabriel, who came out of nowhere, making his name known throughout the Academy!

 128 Chapter 128

    The old man couldn''t believe his eyes when he saw the ranking. The young man that he expected to be dead on the first floor itself managed to reach the 93rd floor? How was that even possible?

    Gabriel was just the first year mage who rarely learned anything at the academy! It was also his first time entering the Tower of Challenges. In his first attempt he was already on that floor? The old man wondered if there was something wrong in the mechanism which was showing the wrong ranking of Gabriel?

    "He''s in the top hundred now? Just where will he stop?" Even Lishen was getting more and more impressed with each passing second. Supposedly it was all the doing of a First Year Mage of Light.

    He had seen the First Yeah mages of light, and there were definitely some who were capable enough, but none should''ve been this capable.

    Lishen took the old man back inside where the others were discussing the same matter. Amongst the first year, Eliana could only think of three students who were more talented than the others. Gabriel, Cain and Lelin. She still knew Gabriel as Karyk.

    Amongst the three, she had seen Cain outside so it couldn''t be him. That made her wonder if the person who was inside was one of the other two.

    Both the Mages of Light had a talent that was beyond anything she had seen in a long time. In fact, Gabriel''s talent when measured was at a level that was never seen before.

    "Could it be one of those two?" she wondered, frowning.

    She looked behind, watching the old man return with a pale face.

    The man kept repeating only one word nkly. "Impossible... Impossible... Impossible..."

    He had been incharge of the Tower of Challenges for Decades. It was his first time seeing something like this happen. Was that kid really this talented? Was he really wrong about him?

    "What did this Gabriel look like?" Eliana asked. "Tell us everything you know about him!"

    The old man came out of his daze, hearing themand of Eliana.

    "I-it was a young boy, who looked like he wasn''t even twenty years old."

    The old man started describing features of Gabriel, not realizing he was describing an illusion.

    "Karyk!" Hearing the description, Rem and Eliana eximed at the same time. If they had confusion between the two youngsters now they were sure! The person that was being described was Karyk! Karyk used a fake name to enter the tower! But why? Why would he use a fake name to enter?

    That aside, how was he even capable of getting that far? When he came for admission, he was a Novice Mage who had just awakened his Element. It was imed that he didn''t even know one decent spell! Then how was he able to climb this high?

    To get that high, one not only needed to know multiple offensive spells, but they needed to have immense spiritual strength! It should''ve been impossible for a Novice Mage, no matter how talented they were.

    "He knew spells without learning them in the Academy... He knew them... That means he learned spells outside the Academy..." As soon as Eliana found out that it was Gabriel, her mind started racing. It was as if all the pieces wereing together finally. Something big was going on in the academy, and it was rted to Gabriel!

    Lost in her thoughts, she started walking away from others, talking to herself.

    She remembered that when Hawrin died, they had noticed that a purification and a healing spell was used. It was the Minor Healing spell that they didn''t teach at the academy. That also meant whoever did it learned that spell outside the academy... Just like Gabriel.

    "The Dorms where Hawrin was killed, Karyk lived in the same ce as well. And his conflict with Hawrin outside the Academy... How could I be so blind? The Dark Mage who infiltrated the Academy wasn''t working alone! Karyk was supporting him!

    "It''s also possible that the Dark Mage sent Karyk to the Academy to kill Hawrin and create a path for his entrance. This would exin why Karyk lied to us when applying for admission. I was so lost in his talent, that I never doubted him!"

    "But how is this possible?" Even though she had managed to find the possibilities, her mind still found it hard to believe it. Gabriel was 18 years old. Even if he was taught spells, how could he reach so high at such an early age? It took years to master such spells even for someone highly talented.

    If Gabriel had mastered these spells at the age of eighteen, just when did he start learning these spells? When did he awaken his element of Light? There were too many questions, and the only one who could answer was Gabriel.

    Rem was also curious. Just what was this Gabriel? Was he really someone who lied to them? Or was there really something wrong with the Tower that was showing a wrong score?

    Eliana was angry when she returned. She was really angry! She had been fooled! She just wanted to enter the tower and drag Gabriel out to interrogate him but even she couldn''t do anything before this ancient tower. Even she couldn''t do anything but wait.<sub> </sub>

    "No one is allowed to enter the tower until Karykes out! You understand?" She instructed the old man. She didn''t want anyone to be in this ce when Gabriel came out. It was for the safety of the students.

    ****

    Unaware as to the situation was turning really bad for him outside, Gabriel was still inside the tower.

    At this point, he had cancelled all his illusions and he was fighting as his real self. His Ancestral Staff of Necromancy was already outside.

    At this height in the Tower, even he found it really hard to stay standing. He was on the 93rd Floor and there was only one enemy before him. Unfortunately, that enemy was the real problem.

    Before entering the ny third floor, he had cast a purifying spell on his clothes to remove all the blood from them, but he was once again drenched in blood.

    Screeching of Spirits echoed in the surroundings as the Shield of Undead remained before Gabriel, protecting him from all the attacks.

    On the other side of the shield, there was a headless mage standing. The distance between the headless mage and his shield was over a thousand feet.

    Unlike the other enemies he faced so far, this headless mage seemed to be a long distance warrior who had never once stepped closer to him.

    Moreover, the headless mage seemingly never ran out of strength. He was like a Machine who never stopped attacking or took a break.

    There was not a single moment where an attack didn''te in Gabriel''s direction, and all the attacks were filled with overwhelming strength.

    Even though the Shield of Undead was protecting him; against the constant barrage of attacks, even Gabriel felt like he was getting weaker. He knew he needed to stop using defence and attack, but the enemy wasn''t even giving him an opportunity.

    The distance between the two was too much.

    "At this rate, I will run out of my Spiritual Energy before this battle is over. I need to find a way to get to him. But how?"

    Whenever he went ahead to attack, another attack came in his direction which sent him flying back. If he could somehow avoid those attacks, there was another problem. This entire dessert where he was fighting seemed to be a disadvantage for him.

    There were traps everywhere! It was like there were thousands of explosive spells spread all around the desert, buried under sand which exploded as soon as someone stepped on them.

    Not only did he need to get close to the Headless Mage while avoiding the constant attacks, he also needed to do this while avoiding all those expensive spells!

    "Do I really have no choice but to use..."

    He seemed somewhat hesitant, but he also didn''t want to lose aftering this far. At the moment, he didn''t think about anything else. He didn''t think about which floor he had reached or what the reaction outside was going to be! All he cared about was winning!

    He just wanted to win at any cost, no matter what he had to do.

    "Fine. If that''s what it takes, then so be it!"

    The floor was too hard to clear. He only had disadvantages here while the enemy had only advantages. Since the enemy wasn''t a real being, he never ran out of spiritual strength. Moreover, he could use spells of three Elements! The battlefield was also an advantage to him, along with the fact that he was as strong as a Teacher at the Academy of Elements!

    All these made Gabriel decide to use everything he had!

    "I am sorry for calling you out so soon, but I need support!"

    Gabriel raised his right hand toward the sky as he roared, "Undead Summon!"

 129 Chapter 129

    Gabriel couldn''t get close to the Headless Mage. And the distance between the two was so high that even if he attacked, he believed the Headless Mage could avoid it. The chances of sess were low.

    He didn''t feel like it was the right decision to waste more strength on a half chance as he needed to reserve some strength for the next few floors as well, including her main attacks, since they were going to be more difficult than this.

    At this stage, he didn''t want to waste strength if he wasn''t sure that it was going to help him. The Spirit Explosion also wasn''t as useful in this situation since the Headless Horse wasn''t getting close to him.

    He needed help, and who better to help him than the person that was able to hold all the Head Council Teachers at bay?

    The only hesitation he had was that he only sent the Infernal Sorcerer back a few days ago, and calling him back so soon wasn''t something he wanted to do initially. However, that was the best option for now. Moreover, it was also a perfect opportunity to see just what the Infernal King was capable of.

    He called out the Infernal King!

    Now that a contract was already established with the Infernal King, he could call him back much easier without the need to call forth a contracting gate.

    A blood-red formation circle appeared before him. The temperature in the surrounding area started getting warmer as soon as the Formation Circle appeared.

    ****

    The Infernal King wanted toe back home as soon as he was summoned by Gabriel for the first time.

    Unfortunately, instead of getting back home, he was sent to the Museum of Elements, where he was attacked. Just as he was fighting back, finally the summoning spell was canceled.

    In the end, he finally returned to where he was taken from. He returned to the Realm of the Undead.

    The ashes of the Damphirs were still there, but for some reason, his ming horse wasn''t there anymore.

    There was no sign of it everywhere.

    The Infernal King frowned. He raised his right hand, clenching his fist. He closed his eyes and tried to sense his ming partner.

    No matter how far it could be, he was able to sense it. Fortunately, since it had only been a few hours, the ming horse wasn''t too far.

    The Infernal King was able to sense that it was nearby.

    He advanced in the direction where he could sense the presence of his horse.

    After walking for close to half an hour, he finally reached his destination. He could see a camp in the distance, which was heavily guarded by Damphirs.

    He could also see a Royal Carriage. The sight of the carriage made him remember the words of the Damphirs that he had killed before. It seemed that the carriage belonged to the Damphir Princess, who was here on exploration.

    He was sure that his horse was inside the camp, and it didn''t take him long to locate it either. However, as soon as he located his horse, his blood started boiling.<sub> </sub>

    His horse was lying on the ground in the center of the camp. There were multiple wounds all around its body, and its legs were tied with a rope that didn''t burn.

    The horse was really hurt, but fortunately, it was still alive, which the Infernal King could see as the horse still had a weak me around its body.

    As if sensing its master nearby, the ming horse weakly opened its eyes. His mes intensified a bit as well.

    The Infernal King had only left for a few hours, and his partner was attacked and captured by the Damphirs! This was uneptable!

    Dark mes of anger burned in the heart of the Infernal King, who was in a really bad mood today. Not only did he have to leave when he started fighting back in the museum, but after returning, he found this. The Damphirs was really crossing the line.

    He stepped closer to the Camp without any hesitation. These people wanted to hunt them? He was going to give them a chance.

    As the Internal King reached closer to the camp of the Damphirs, the Damphirs also noticed him.

    The guards ran out of the camp to stop him, but for some reason, as soon as they stepped out of the camp, their bodies burned to ashes instantly as a dark sphere of fire hit them from the front.

    The Damphirs was fast, but not faster than the attack of the Infernal King, who had never been angrier.

    The screams of the Damphirs who were burned alerted the others as well. Even the Damphirs who were inside the tent stepped out, including the Princess.

    The young Princess stepped out of her tent, only to see the gruesome sight of her people being killed like animals.

    Her Warriors were like children before the Infernal King. Seeing his strength, even her beautiful face turned pale.

    When she found out that her people had been killed before, she believed that it was the doing of this horse. Even though there were stories about the Infernal King traveling on a ming horse, she didn''t believe it was the same horse since it was all alone at the sight where her people were killed.

    That made her take some drastic steps. All the Damphirs attacked the ming Horse, ultimately managing to capture it. They had also sent a messenger with this information to their Kingdom.

    It was only now that she realized for sure that this horse was the horse of the Infernal King. It seemed that they had captured something that they shouldn''t. Still, she couldn''t step back now. Even if they had captured the horse, they had reason to do it since their people were killed!

    She couldn''t bow before the Infernal King when they weren''t in the wrong.

    "Even though I wasn''t sure if this was his horse, I did consider the possibility. That''s why I kept this thing alive. But not to return it to you!" She muttered as if talking to herself since the Infernal King was so far, he couldn''t hear it.

    "It doesn''t matter who you are; I won''t let you walk over us! If you really care for this horse enough to attack us for it, then I''ll make sure you fall to your knees before us!"

    She pulled out a sword and walked to the ming Horse. She stopped right before the ming horse who was lying on the ground, tied in special ropes. The horse couldn''t move even as the Princess ced the tip of her Sword right on its head. Just one thrust and she could kill the horse.

    "Lone King! Stop where you are!" She roared in an authoritative voice. "If not, you''ll be losing what you''re here for!"

 130 Chapter 130

    The Infernal Sorcerer dropped in his tracks as soon as he saw what the Princess was threatening him with.

    The Damphirs who were still alive surrounded the Infernal Sorcerer. One of them brought the same special rope which they used horse.

    In the distance, the Princess was smugly smiling. She had managed to stop the Infernal King! If she could only take him hostage now, the reputation of her Empire was going to go through the roof. The Infernal King wasn''t an ordinary entity in the Realm of the Dead after all.

    The Infernal King raised his hand but not to attack. He took off his good, revealing his charming yet emotionless face. The mes in his left eye flickered when more brighter. The mes had turned to pitch ck from their usual blue.

    "Now go down on your knees and let my men capture you! I promise you, we won''t harm you! We will only take you to our Empire!"

    The Infernal King frowned. The Infernal King rarely spoke in his life, but when he did, he was very precise. It was one of those times.

    His lips parted as he let out a few words that sent a chill down the spines of the Damphirs that were surrounding him.

    "You don''t need to take me. I will go myself... To deliver your ashes."

    "Argh!"

    The Princess was stunned at the response, but before she could even react, she felt a terrifying pain on the hand which was holding the Sword. It was as if her hand was burning.

    She looked down, noticing that her hand was actually on fire. The sword which used to be in her hand was also zing hot. In fact, or looked like the fire was only spreading through her arms like a poison.

    The Infernal King spread his arms as a cloud of dark mes spread out from him, burning everything that stood in its path.

    Seeing the power of Dark mesing toward her, the Damphir Princess was horrified. This man was crazy! He was still attacking her even if his horse''s life was in danger?

    Unfortunately, more than taking someone else''s life, she wanted to save her own. To avoid the mes, she started running away as fast as she could, leaving the Sword and the burning horse behind.

    The dark mes burned all the Damphirs that were around the Infernal Sorcerer. Only their painful screams could be heard which made the Princess even more scared! The entire camp started burning. The only ones that weren''t affected by the mes were the Infernal King and his horse.

    In fact, instead of hurting the horse, the mes rather made him stronger. All his wounds healed. Even the ropes that were said to never burn turned to ashes before the Infernal mes.

    The ming Horse was not only free, but he was also perfectly fine.

    The Horse stood up and ran to the Infernal Sorcerer.

    The Damphir Princess was running as fast as she could as her life was on the line, barely keeping some lead with the dark mes. Her face was pale, and she felt she was just inches away from death which she wanted to avoid at any cost. She was really regretting her decisions ofing here in the first ce!

    A dark cloud of mes was relentlessly following the Damphir Princess to burn her to ashes, but before the cloud of mes could reach her, something else came out of the dark clouds.

    It was a zing horse, surrounded in dark mes. A proud figure was sitting on the horse. The horse was not only faster than the mes, but it was also way faster than the Damphirs who were known for their speed.

    Within seconds, the horse moved past the Damphir Princess, making her expressions turn even darker. After creating fifty metres of distance between the Damphir Princess and itself, the horse slowed down and turned around.<sub> </sub>

    The Infernal King stepped down the horse, ring at the Damphirs Princess who was running toward him.

    The Damphir Princess was stuck between a rock and a hard ce. Behind her, there was a cloud of dark mes which could burn her to cinders, but before her, there was the Infernal King, who was burning in mes of anger. She knew that if the Damphir King got her, her death was going to be worse than anything she could imagine.

    "You can''t do this to me! I am the Princess of the Damphir Kingdom! Stop right now and let me leave! I''ll forget everything that happened here! Don''t make this mistake. My father won''t leave you if I''m killed!"

    The Infernal King snapped his fingers. Within seconds, the mes that were chasing after the Damphir Princess stopped.

    The Damphir Princess looked behind. The terrifying fire was gone. She sighed in relief and slowed down.

    ''It seems the threat worked.''

    She stopped, cing her hands on her knees as she gasped for breath.

    "Thank you for listening to me. I''ll also keep my side of the promise. I won''t mention this to my father. I''ll forget what happened here. You can also leave safely and not worry about anything. By stopping at the right time, you saved your life from my father''s wrath!"

    The Infernal King stepped closer to the Damphir Princess. He stood mere inches away from her.

    "I want to see his wrath..." He hoarsely stated, grabbing the throat of the Damphir Princess. "The Sins of the Daughter, shall be cleansed by her blood only."

    "Arghh!" The Damphir Princess felt her throat burn. The pain was tormenting for her as the fire slowly spread to her entire body.

    When the Infernal King killed the guards that were blocking his path and refusing to move, even though he was angry, he gave them an easy death. They didn''t feel pain even as they died. However, this woman didn''t deserve the same mercy.

    She dared torture his friend! She dared to leave wounds on his body and threaten him with his death! All these sins weren''t worth mercy from him. And if it meant that he had to destroy the entire Damphir Empireter on, he was ready!

    If her father wanted to show him his wrath over this, then he was also ready to show his real strength to make this world tremble before him!

    The Princess burned to ashes, suffering a painful death.

    The Infernal King''s fists were empty as the Princess died, but still he picked up a tiny bit of her ashes. He promised her he was going to take her ashes to her father, and he was going to keep that promise. Instead of waiting for enemies, he wanted to go to them to teach them what they should never do!

    Strangely enough, in the ashes, he also found something else. It was a small coin, which he didn''t understand much about. On one side of the coin, there was a moon carved, but it didn''t look like their moon. It was like the moon of the earth. On the other end of the coin, there was a face of a man which he didn''t recognise.

    Still, without thinking too much about it, he kept the coin with him as well. He didn''t feel like throwing it away, especially since the coin had managed to survive his dark mes without melting, which meant there was certainly something quite special about it. As for what, he didn''t know.

    After more than a day of journey, the Infernal King was only halfway to the Kingdom of Damphirs when he noticed a formation circle appear above him. The formation circle pulled him up and swallowed him whole.

    ****

    The Infernal King was summoned by Gabriel. He appeared right before him,ing out of the Formation Circle.

 131 Chapter 131

    Gabriel used the Summoning to call forth a little extra help for the battle. However, as soon as the Infernal King came out of the Summoning Formation, Gabriel saw him ring at him.

    The Infernal King couldn''t believe that he was back here again. However, this time he didn''t think about attacking Gabriel. He had already realized that it was already useless after his experience ofst time.

    "What... Now?"

    He was sure that if he was called here again, then it could be that Gabriel needed help again.

    "You can speak?" Gabriel eximed in shock. He used to think that the Infernal King couldn''t speak, only to find him speaking now.

    The Infernal King frowned, sending the aura of death nearby. He gazed at the Shield of the Undead. Through the shield, he was also able to see a barrage of attacks that wereing in their direction.

    "Alright. I called you here because I need your help again."Since the Infernal King didn''t look like he wanted to answer, Gabriel decided to move on.

    He informed the Infernal King about the kind of help he needed. He also told the Infernal King as to where he was and what his goal was here.

    After hearing everything, the Infernal King raised his head, looking up. A tower with a hundred floors that had beings like this? This ce was quite intriguing even for him since the aura of this ce wasn''t as disgusting to him as the aura outside.

    He felt much morefortable here than he felt in Gabriel''s room.

    Even though he understood what kind of help Gabriel needed, he was also slightly upset. He had things to do as well in the Realm of Undead, but Gabriel kept calling him here. It was twice now. He wondered just how long it was going to go on like this. He had to find a way.

    "After you help me get to the top floor, I will send you back," Gabriel chimed in, seeing the uncertainty. "Moreover, you won''t need to fight much either. I''ll be fighting alone as long as I don''t need you. So you can just be a backup."

    Hearing the same line as before, the Infernal King rubbed the back of his neck, raising his head.

    "I won''t help." Ultimately, the Infernal King refused to help.

    "What?" Gabriel wasn''t expecting this response. "Why not?"

    He could force the Infernal King even now, but forcing him was going to consume a lot of his spiritual strength, which defeated the entire purpose of calling the Infernal King here. One of the reasons he called the Infernal King here was because he wanted to save his Spiritual Strength for the higher floors.

    The Infernal King just red back in response. He didn''t like talking much, especially with the ones who he didn''t respect, but it looked as if he had to exin in words for Gabriel to understand.

    "You keep calling me here when you need my help. Why should I be your servant? You aren''t worthy," the Infernal King answered. "Even if I help you this time and you send me back, you''ll just call me back again the next time you need my help."

    If it were just about helping, he would''ve helped once or twice, but if it was going to be regr, he hated the thought. He wasn''t going to work for anyone else!

    "You aren''t a ve...," Gabriel responded, understanding why the Infernal King was angry. If he were in its ce, he would''ve been angry as well. "If you were a ve, why would I ask you to help? I would''ve justmanded you?"<sub> </sub>

    "You are my first Summon. I don''t want to have you as my ve. I want to have you as a friend and as a partner. Believe it or not, but you''re the only one who I can trust in this entire world," he further exined.

    Even though he was working with Eliana, he didn''t trust her entirely either. He knew that in the world, anyone could betray anyone for their benefit. That''s why he had prepared some things, in case she ever tried to betray him.

    There was only one person who he could trust at this point, and it was the Infernal King since there was only the Infernal King who could never betray him.

    Because of the Summoning Contract, the Infernal King couldn''t attack him. He couldn''t work with others to kill him as well. The contact ced a lot of restrictions on him, which made Gabriel feel safe with the Infernal King.

    He started talking like a friend in a calm tone, but he knew that with a gentle tone, some authority was also needed.

    "If I wanted to treat you like a ve, I could''ve justmanded you, and you would have no choice but to follow mymands because of the contract!"

    "Still, I won''t take away your free will. I will leave the decision to you. If you don''t want to help me, I won''t force you."

    The Infernal King heard Gabriel. For some reason, he could feel that Gabriel actually was being genuine. He still remembered that when Gabriel hadmanded him to stay in the room, no matter what he tried, he couldn''t leave. So it wasn''t a lie when Gabriel said that he could force him. Despite that, he was asking.

    Gabriel took a deep breath. "If you don''t want to help, stay behind. It might be hard, but I''ll take care of things myself."

    Gabriel held the Staff of Necromancy firmly.

    He left the Shield of Undead for the Infernal King as he stepped out of the protection. He started running in toward the Headless Mage.

    The Infernal King watched Gabriel advance ahead without any backup. Instead of forcing him, he was going alone.

    The barrage of attacks that wereing to the Shield of Undead shifted to Gabriel, who dodged the attacks as much as he could. The attacks that he couldn''t Dodge, he sliced with the Sword of Ulien, which not only cut the attacks in half but also absorbed some of the strength of the attacks.

    The biggest problem was still the hidden formations on the ground, which he needed to avoid. He needed to focus on two sides simultaneously.

    Boom~

    A formation exploded right under Gabriel as soon as his footnded on the ground. The energy explosion sent Gabriel flying. As soon as Gabriel sensed the explosion, he cast a shield of light around him, along with the Minor Healing. Hended on the ground, but as he was about to stand up, he saw another attack of the Headless Mageing at him.

    He rolled to the side, barely avoiding the attack, but another attack came. The attacks were just endless.

    He kept rolling on the ground, avoiding the attacks. The attacks were enough to leave a crater on the ground.

    As Gabriel avoided the attacks, he prepared to cast another Shield of Undead to get some time to stand up, but as he was about to cast a shield, a ming shield appeared before him, protecting him from theing attacks¡­

 132 Chapter 132

    "These mes?" Gabriel frowned, seeing the Dark mes. He looked behind where he left the Infernal King. The Infernal King wasn''t in his ce anymore.

    The reason the Infernal King didn''t want to help Gabriel was because he hated the thought of being someone else''s ve, but seeing Gabriel fight all alone instead of forcing him... The Infernal King felt slightly different about Gabriel.

    Instead of misusing his authority, Gabriel went to fight alone even if it was dangerous for him. Through his actions, Gabriel had managed to get at least some semnce of respect from the Infernal King.

    He was called here to help Gabriel, and he decided to help him. The boy who was brave enough to fight all alone needed to be helped!

    The Infernal King raised his right hand as he walked through the field that had started burning up.

    The Headless Mage finally shifted his attention to the Infernal King from Gabriel. He started attacking the Infernal King with an energy sphere.

    The Infernal King also fired a sphere of his dark mes, which shed with the energy sphere of the Headless Mage.

    Boom~

    The sh of two attacks resulted in an explosion which sent a heavy pressured yet warm gust of wind everywhere. Despite the winds, neither the Infernal King nor the Headless Mage were pushed back.

    The Headless Mage could continuously attack, never running out of magic. However, the Infernal King didn''t have a low amount of spiritual strength either.

    The Infernal King managed to match all the attacks of the Headless Mage as he kept getting closer with each passing second.

    Explosions kept resounding throughout the field as the attacks kept shing.

    For some reason, the Infernal King could also avoid the Explosive Formations as all the formations exploded on their own before he even reached closer to them. It was like his mes were clearing his path of all obstructions in advance.

    Within a few minutes, the Infernal King was only a few metres away from the Headless Mage who still didn''t stop attacking.

    The Infernal King''s attacks only intensified now that he was closer to the Headless Mage.

    p~

    He joined both his hands together, deciding to end it now that he was close enough.

    ****

    "Look! Gabriel also climbed up!"

    Outside the Tower, the students were still going crazy at the sight of Gabriel moving one level up as well.

    [90Garrick RainiLight94]

    [91GabrielLight94]

    Gabriel had climbed up the ranks, once again reaching close to Garrick.

    "They are both on the same floors now! It''s crazy! The Two Mages are crazy! How can they reach that far? Just how strong are they? I can still understand Senior Garrick, but who is this Gabriel? I didn''t even hear his name before! Why was such a talented mage hiding?!"

    "Who knows man. I''ve asked everyone, but no one knows who this Gabriel is. People say that it''s a Fourth Year Mage who is using a fake name to make sure no one recognizes him."

    "Why? Why would someone use a fake name and reject all the glory thates with this achievement?"

    "Who knows? Maybe he doesn''t want to be at the centre of attraction? That could also be the reason he didn''t participate in the annual battlepetitions."

    "How do you know he didn''t participate in it if you don''t know his real identity?"

    "I mean, isn''t thatmon sense? If someone like that had participated, he would''ve given Senior Garrick a toughpetition! But there was no one like that there. Whoever this person is, he stayed under the radar for over three years at the Academy. And even now, he uses a fake name."

    "Man, I''m jealous. If I was in his ce, I would''ve been bragging about my achievements, but this guy hides it. What an idiot!"<sub> </sub>

    There were many students at the academy, and all had a different opinion about this Gabriel and none of them knew who it was which made others even more interested to see who it was.

    Throughout the days, no one moved from before the Tower. Even the teachers stayed here, as they wanted to see this Gabriel when he came out.

    For some reason, the students were also told to keep their distance from the tower. All the students kept at least a hundred metre distance from the tower. Fortunately, the top names were still easier to see even from a distance as they were muchrger.

    It was like the entire academy had halted.

    "Impossible!" After one more hour, another wave of shock went through the crowd.

    "How is this possible?"

    "This can''t be real!"

    Garrick had reached the 94th floor before Gabriel, but surprisingly, Gabriel was the first person to reach the 95th floor!

    Garrick was still on the 94th floor while Gabriel was already on the 95th floor. What was even more shocking was that it only took Gabriel one hour to clear the 95th floor.

    [81GabrielLight95]

    "The Fck?" Even Yann cursed out loud. "Who the hell is this guy?"

    His face was filled with jealousy and he wasn''t the only one.

    He looked at the back of his hand at the mark of mes. "Useless Element! The Element of Light is so strong. Both the Toppers have that element. I just had to get this useless Fire! If not, I could''ve been there as well!"

    Even though he was jealous, he still wanted his brother to be higher than Gabriel. He didn''t want his brother to lose the title of the strongest student of the Academy! This was about the reputation of his Raini Family now!

    "Come on, brother! What are you doing?! Hurry up! Stop embarrassing the family!" He clenched his fist so tight that his veins were visible.

    "Who is this guy...?" Cain was also in the crowd now, watching the ranking. Whoever this guy was, he probably wasn''t part of any Great Family since those people would never use a fake name and lose a chance of showing off.

    While Yann was supporting his brother, Cain wanted Gabriel to win since he hated the Raini Family! Even though Garrick was different, he was still part of the Raini Family. Cain didn''t know who this Gabriel was, but he wanted the top student title to be snatched from the Raini Family!

    Alexai also stood in the back, having his arms folded. He was also very curious about this person. Moreover, for some reason, he was also the first person who had noticed Gabriel''s absence here.

    He didn''t know that the Gabriel who introduced himself as Karyk was the Gabriel whose identity everyone was curious about.

    Alexai found it quite amusing that he hadn''t seen Gabriel ever since hest helped him. Thest he saw Gabriel, he wasing in the direction of this Tower as well, which made this absence really intriguing as well.

    The race between Gabriel and Garrick was only intensifying and everyone had selected a side by now that they wanted to be on top

    They were also very curious to see if one of the two could actually do the unthinkable and reach the 100th floor somehow. The chances of that were almost non-existent in everyone''s mind.

    ****

    No student was allowed to enter the Tower or even get close to it. Moreover, at that point, one two students were inside the Tower¡ª Gabriel and Garrick.

    Only the Head Council Members were standing within ten metres range of the tower, looking at the ranking as well. They all wanted Gabriel toe out as soon as possible.

    While all the students wanted one of them to reach the 100th floor, for some reason, Eliana didn''t want the person who reached there to be Gabriel. The higher Gabriel reached, the worst she felt since she was suspicious of him now.

    Unfortunately, she couldn''t stop him either. It all depended on Gabriel now.

    p Only the old man was still inside the tower, and that too only to inform the Head Council if anyone came out. He stood right at the entrance, having a clear view of outside and inside the tower.</anda>

    "He is out!" The old man eximed!

 133 Chapter 133

    As soon as the Head Council Members heard the old man''s call to them, they all rushed inside.

    In the distance, the others saw the Head Council Members rush inside. Seeing their response, they believed that Gabriel was out. But even if that was true, just the fact that he could make the Head Council Members rush inside for him was enough to show just how influential he was going to be.

    Aftering to that conclusion, Yann sighed in relief. It seemed that it was as far as Gabriel was going to go. Now his brother just had to continue climbing, and he could retake the top position amongst the current students.

    "As expected, he was rushing up too fast. He probably ran out of energy and had to leave. Unlike him, Garrick is taking a long time on each floor, which means he is reserving his energy." One of the Fourth year mages summarized the performance of Gabriel.

    The Mark of Nature graced the back of his left hand. Looking at the ranking, he rubbed his chin, gazing at the name of Garrick.

    "Garrick should be able to take over Gabriel as I had expected. Gabriel might be talented, but Garrick is more experienced. Still, it was a good disy."

    Aster was quite satisfied with this disy of skills. "Maybe there will be six kings from now on in the Academy..."

    He was a part of the House of Nature, but he was someone known throughout the academy. There were only a few people among the Fourth Year Students that enjoyed such poprity. In fact, there were only five such people.

    The top five students of the Academy were known as the Five Kings. Amongst the five Kings, only Aster was the one who wasn''t a part of any Great Family... He came from a small family, only rising this high based on his skills.

    Amongst the five Kings, the first was without a doubt Garrick. He was the Representative of the House of Light and the strongest student at the academy who hadn''t been defeated even once throughout the years.

    The second King was known as Anid, who was the representative of the House of Lightning. Just like Garrick, Anid was also known for his strength. He was also the brother of Aira and a part of the Great Zoan Family.

    He was also known as the second strongest student at the Academy of Elements, only under Garrick, which was a title he hated. He wanted to be considered the strongest!

    He was also in the crowd, standing with Aira, watching the rankings. He was feeling quite angry. First, Garrick attacked his sister, and now he was going even higher inside the tower, increasing the distance between the two.

    He also wanted to enter the Tower and start climbing, but even he wasn''t allowed to enter for now. He could only watch from a distance.

    The Third King was also a part of a Great Family... Possibly the greatest family in the Kingdom. The Third King was Mace Lumen, who was a part of the Royal Lumen Family. He was also the Second Prince, who was a representative of the House of Summoning and a fourth-year student as well.

    Aster came fourth on the rankings of the King. Unlike the first three, Aster wasn''t the strongest mage in the Academy, but he was considered to be the smartest and the wisest student at the academy. He didn''t have high offensive power, but his intellectual skills made him an important person at the academy.

    Aster was said to have the highestprehension amongst the students when it came to spells.

    In fact, amongst the Five Kings, only he was someone who was capable of creating a new spell bybining two existing spells, which was something soplicated that even great schrs couldn''t achieve it easily. It was said that he was rarely wrong.

    Unfortunately, this was one of the times where he was wrong, which he realized when he saw the High Council Members stepping out of the tower. They weren''t apanied by Gabriel!

    There were shocked gasps everywhere as the students noticed that it wasn''t Gabriel who hade out! Instead, it was Garrick who came out! That meant Gabriel was still inside the tower. The one who couldn''t go any further wasn''t Gabriel, but it was Garrick.

    The Head Council Members seemed quite disappointed as well since it wasn''t Gabriel who came out even now.

    Aster stared at Gabriel''s name on the top. "I was wrong? Garrick came out before him? How?"

    At the current rankings, Gabriel was ranked 81st, and he was on the 95th Floor, while Garrick''s journey ended there for now. He had managed to improve his floor level by one.

    He was quite pleased with his growth when he came out, only to find the Head Council Members who seemed disappointed to see him for some reason.

    He also heard Eliana scold the old man for raising a false rm. She told the man to only inform them if Karyk came out. She had already started addressing Gabriel as Karyk openly now.

    The old man apologized and watched the Head Council Members leave.<sub> </sub>

    "Karyk?"

    Eliana''s words were still floating in Garrick''s head. From her words, it was clear that they weren''t here for him, but for the person he knew as Karyk. But why? Something seemed really strange to him.

    The Tower was also looking very empty for some reason.

    As he stepped out of the tower, he saw a huge crowd in the distance. Half of them were looking at him, shocked, while the other half was looking at the top of the tower.

    ''Just what is happening here?'' He wondered as he also looked up.

    "Garrick, you can leave and rest. You did good work." Eliana told Garrick to leave and not stay here. He had to follow the same rules as everyone.

    Usually, she would''ve been quite happy that Garrick improved his tank even more, but at the moment, her mind was only overwhelmed by Gabriel.

    Confused, Garrick agreed. He was sure that something was wrong here. Instead of asking the Head Council Members, who seemed busy, he decided to ask the others.

    He walked to the crowd instead of going to his dorms. In the crowd, he also noticed his brother, but instead of going to his brother, he went to Aster. If there was one person who could exin everything to him, it was Aster.

    "What is happening here?" Garrick stopped before Aster and pointed out all the weird behavior that everyone was showing. "Also, what''s this about Karyk?"

    "I don''t know about Karyk, but all thismotion is because of Gabriel," Aster responded. "Honestly, it was quite surprising for me as well. I really thought that you would go farther than him."

    "Gabriel?" Garrick still didn''t understand. Eliana was talking about Karyk, and this guy was talking about Gabriel? Was there a misunderstanding outside?

    Aster pointed toward the tower. "Look at nine ranks above you. That''s what the entiremotion is about..."

    For him, it was easier to just show Garrick than to tell him everything since he knew that Garrick was smart enough to understand the rest just based on the rankings.

    Garrick turned to the tower and looked above his name. Within a few seconds, he managed to locate a name that even he hadn''t seen before. "Hmm? That''s strange. I''m sure this name wasn''t on the tower before. Was it?"

    "That''s right. It wasn''t there before. It''s a new name that appeared just recently. Someone started climbing the tower, and whoever that person is, they are using a fake name to climb, which is pretty interesting honestly," Aster exined briefly.

    "So far, that person has already overtaken you in the ranking, and I''m not sure how far that person can go at this point. It doesn''t look like he''s about to stop anytime soon though."

    "Something like this has never happened before, and that''s why everyone is here, to see just who this person is when hees out. I think even the Head Council is here to find out who that person is," he added. "The entire academy hase to a halt, just for that one person."

    "I don''t think they need to find out... They already know who it is..." Garrick muttered. "Now it made perfect sense why everyone was disappointed to see that it was I who came out. They are waiting for him."

    Finally, it made sense to him why Eliana wanted to be informed when Karyk came out. If it was Karyk inside the tower ording to Eliana, then it was most probably true. The person who was using the fake name was Karyk!

    "But how? A first-year mage... 95th floor?"

    Just as he finished his statements; to his shock, the rankings changed once again as Gabriel''s name climbed even higher.

    [69GabrielLight96]

    Gabriel was still going just as fast, moving closer to the top floor!

 134 Chapter 134

    Gabriel called the Infernal King to help him, but the Infernal King refused. Instead of wasting even more spiritual strength to force the Infernal King, Gabriel went to fight alone, using subtle maniption as well to influence the Infernal King subconsciously.

    Fortunately, his n seeded as the Infernal King came to help him against the Headless Mage.

    It was the first time that Gabriel saw the Infernal King fight, and it was l overwhelming. The attacks of the Infernal King were strong, but his defense was just as good. What was even more interesting was that his mes seemed to have a life of their own.

    Moreover, Gabriel was also able to sense that the Infernal King''s mes often changed colors along with their properties. The angrier he was, the darker his mes became.

    Even the Headless Mage wasn''t able to stop the Infernal King once he decided to help Gabriel. The Infernal King destroyed the Headless Mage, helping Gabriel.

    As the Infernal King was summoned by Gabriel, it counted as his sess as well. The door opened, allowing them to go to the next floor.

    After killing the Headless Mage, the Infernal King walked back to Gabriel, who was still on the ground.

    Gabriel stood up. "Thank you."

    "One week..." The Infernal King let out a few words.

    "What?" Gabriel looked confused. ''What one week?"

    "I will help you clear this tower, but after that, you won''t call me here for one week!" The Infernal King dered.

    Now that he was here, he decided to help Gabriel once more, but he didn''t want toe here every other day. He had his own business in the Realm of the Dead as well. For that, he decided to set a rule that if he helped Gabriel here, he was going to get one week unconditionally.

    "One week it is." After a brief consideration, Gabriel agreed.

    He epted the request of the Infernal King as it was only one week. What was the worst that could happen in a week that didn''t happen until now? Moreover, after that one week, he was again going to be able to call the Infernal King, and in that case, the Infernal King was going to be even more determined to his cause.

    And thus, an unlikely deal was established with the Infernal King.

    After confirming the deal, the Infernal King didn''t speak much.

    Gabriel took the lead, casting a purification spell on his clothes once again to rid him of all the blood. He also cast another Minor Heal at the same time.

    After preparing everything, he went to the entrance of the next floor.

    Gabriel and the Infernal King started climbing the tower together. The next few battles were even more intense than the ones with the Headless Mage, but fortunately, they weren''t much disadvantageous to Gabriel. He was able to stand firm on his ground and fight back.

    On the 95th floor, Gabriel didn''t even need the help of the Infernal King.

    The Infernal King was more like a spectator, just appreciating the skills of Gabriel. If Gabriel''s courage had made him respect him before, his fighting skills impressed him even more, especially the way he used his Darker Element.

    The Infernal King stood with his arms folded, watching Gabriel kill the enemies using his Soul Explosion and his Sword of Ulien.

    The more spells Gabriel used, the more proficient he became in them. The Tower of Challenges was less of a challenge and more of a training ground for him which helped him master his skills and improve them.

    Moreover, fighting with the Sword of Ulien, his physical fighting skills were also improving much. He was able to utilize his strength and speed boost much more, finding the styles that fit him.

    Gabriel took care of most of the enemies all alone. The Infernal King only had to interfere once or twice to provide backup to Gabriel.

    After fighting for three straight hours, the two tested for a little on the 97th floor. The door to the 98th floor was already open, but Gabriel didn''t go there yet.

    He was really tired after a long battle and needed to gather his breath.<sub> </sub>

    Contrary to the constant phase of shock and intensifying chatter outside the tower, there was only silence here.

    Fortunately for him, the tower also seemed impressed at his performance and provided him with more food and water.

    Gabriel gazed at the food before him. "The Tower really doesn''t discriminate between elements, unlike the outside world."

    Even though he had an element simr to the element of Darkness, the Tower didn''t force him out. Instead, the tower was being quite fair by allowing him to rest. There was no bias here.

    "Do you eat as well?" he asked the Infernal King. He didn''t know if the Infernal King ate anything or not since he was supposed to be dead. He preferred to ask directly.

    The Infernal King shook his head. He was someone who never felt hungry. His body didn''t need strength from food. On the contrary, his food was something else.

    Only when he burned someone to ashes was he able to feel full as even if he didn''t want it; the strength and energy of the ones he burned were automatically absorbed by his body, making him even stronger in the process.

    That''s why he was able to be this strong. That''s also why he was able to fight for so long without getting tired. His energy reserves were huge.

    After getting his answer, Gabriel didn''t force the Infernal King. He simply started eating.

    After half an hour, Gabriel finally stood up and did some stretching.

    "Only three more floors."

    He walked to the entrance of the next floor. He had already cleared 97 floors, leaving only three floors between him and clearing the tower.

    Gabriel stepped onto the next floor with the Infernal King.

    Outside the tower, his rank changed once again.

    [11GabrielLight98]

    He was only one step away from entering the top ten.

    Seeing his ranking climb more, even more, people started thinking that Gabriel was actually aiming for the top floor. They didn''t want to believe it, but at this point, it was looking quite possible.

    Was this Mysterious Person really going to enter the top floor?

    For the next five hours, Gabriel''s rank was stale, not going up even a little. It was as if Gabriel was having a really hard time on the 98th floor.

    "Is that his limit?" Aster wondered, but he couldn''te to any conclusion that Gabriel was actually out.

    He was someone who was rarely wrong, but only when it came to Gabriel, he was proven wrong again and again. That''s why he didn''te to a conclusion right now.

    Two more hours passed, and Gabriel''s ranking finally moved to everyone''s surprise.

    [7GabrielLight99]

    "This... Impossible? He is on the 99th floor!"

    There was great shock and excitement among the students, but the Head Council Members were really grim.

 135 Chapter 135

    The ny-ninth floor was the highest floor that had been reached ever since the Academy was created. Only a handful of people had managed to reach the floor, and none of them had been able to clear the floor.

    Just like the hundredth floor was a core of everyone''s fascination, the ny-ninth Floor was also one which raised everyone''s curiosity. Even the Academy didn''t know what was on the ny-ninth floor as whoever came out of that floor never really talked about it for some reason.

    Only six people had managed to reach the 99th floor before Gabriel, and only one of the six had managed to do it in thest 100 years. As for thest person to reach the 99th floor, he was none other than the current Dean at the Academy of Elements... Izen Aalec.

    With Gabriel''s arrival on the tower, the top ten rankings had changed once again.

    ========================

    [1AxionLight99]

    [2Qin ElisiDarkness99]

    [3Izen AalecLight99]

    [4Yale LumenLight99]

    [5Lia CienWater99]

    [6Jax LumenLightning99]

    [7GabrielLight99]

    [8Orien ZoanLight98]

    [9Aileen DrixiNature98]

    [10Ior DiadysDarkness98]

    ==============================

    As soon as Gabriel stepped on the 99th floor, he had made his name immortal in the history of the Academy of Elements. Now he stood at the ce where all the greatest stood once upon a time. No one could remove his name from the tower even if they wanted, but Gabriel didn''t care about his rankings.

    He was just a few steps away from the final floor to reveal the mystery of that floor. He was more excited about that at the moment.

    Gabriel and the Infernal Emperor came out of the entrance of the 99th floor, expecting to see another battlefield and a fight, but what they were greeted with were ps for some reason.

    From the pping, it was evident that there weren''t too many people here who were pping. In fact, there seemed to be only two people if one was to guess. Unfortunately, it was impossible to see those two.

    The entire surrounding was so dark that it was literally impossible to see anything, even for Gabriel. Just to be safe, Gabriel cast the shield of Undead as a precaution.

    The Infernal Emperor raised his right hand. A bright fire lit up in his hands which acted like a torch, brightening up the surroundings.

    Thanks to the light of the fire, Gabriel was finally able to see the surroundings.

    It wasn''t a battlefield. At least not a conventional one. They seemed to be in a majestic hall that seemed like the Royal Throne Room of a King.

    At the end of the hall, he saw two big thrones. Two men were sitting on those thrones, and they were also the ones who were pping.

    Those two men weren''t alone here either.<sub> </sub>

    There were six more thrones, three on each side of the hall. The only difference was that those three thrones were much smaller.

    Unlike the men on the bigger throne, the ones who were sitting on the smaller thrones weren''t pping. They were just gazing at Gabriel with a slightly curious look on their faces.

    "Congrattions, young man,"One of the two men on the throne spoke. "Congrattions on being able to reach this ce."

    The man who had spoken was dressed in all ck. However, contrary to his clothes, his Element was that of Light.

    The Dark Haired Man appeared to be a Mage of Light and not a weaker one. In fact, his aura was way stronger than the aura of any Teacher he had seen at the Academy of Element.

    His aura was somewhatparable to Elora, but there was something different about him. It was onlyparable to Elora''s aura in terms of strength and intensity; however, it didn''t have any semnce of the aura received from a Grimoire. His aura was pure but not that of a Holy Book.

    In other words, the man seemed to be as strong as the Holy Priestess of the Church of Light, Elora, without being a Holy Priest.

    The red-haired man who sat on the other throne wasn''t much different either. He had a simrly strong aura. The second man had long hair like the first man, but his hair was a lot messier than the first man''s hair, which was more proper.

    Another important difference was that the second man had a mark of Darkness on the back of his hand. Seeing a Mage of Light and a Mage of Darkness sitting right beside each other with suchfort was quite rare.

    "You can speak?" Gabriel asked. So far, the enemies he faced in the tower, none was able to speak. In fact, it was the first time he saw an enemy who could speak here.

    "Cylix isn''t the only one who can speak here. All of us can speak," the red-haired man alsozily chimed in. "Don''t be that surprised over such a small thing."

    "Hahahaha, Novius, you should be nicer to our guests here. It had been a long time since a guest came herest." The dark-haired man addressed as Cylixughed light-heartedly before shifting his attention to Gabriel.

    Even as he wasughing, his eyes were showing a great fascination as his eyes were more focused on Gabriel''s right hand. "Though I must say, your Mark is quite fascinating..."

    Gabriel saw where Cylix was looking, slightly surprised. He was still wearing the gloves on each of his hands. How was he able to see his mark?

    "How can you see my mark? What is this ce?" Gabriel asked directly. "And who are you all? What is my challenge to get to the next floor?"

    Since these were intelligent beings before him who didn''t attack him directly, he believed the challenge here wasn''t to fight most probably. Still, he had to be sure before he lowered his defenses. He didn''t want to make the same mistake as he did on the 25th floor.

    "That''s a lot of questions, Young Man," Novius chimed in. "Though the answers to all those questions are easy, especially your very first question."

    "We can see your mark because your Numens are useless before us on his floor," he exined. "He can see through the gloves of yours. Not only are your gloves useless here, but also the Ring of Disguise."

    "As for your second question, don''t you already know what this ce is?" Cylix took the lead, seemingly quite amused for some reason. "This is the ny-ninth floor. As for who we are..."

    Cylix''s fingersbed through his hair as he smiled. "I am Cylix, and he is Novius."

    ''Cylix and Novius? The Founders of the Academy of Elements?'' As soon as Gabriel heard the name, his mind clicked, and he remembered where he had heard the names before!

    He also remembered that one of the two Founders had the element of Light, and the other had the Element of Darkness, just like the two before him! So these two... They were the Ancient Founders? They were still alive?

    "As for your challenge, it''s simple." Cylix observed Gabriel''s expressions as he continued, "Kill the two of us, and you can go to the final floor!"

    Gabriel had expected thousands of possibilities for his challenge on this floor, but this one even he couldn''t have imagined! The Challenge here was to kill the Founders of the Academy, who were said to be as strong as the Holy Priests? The ones who were said to be one of the most knowledgeable mages of their time?

    If that was the challenge, he finally understood why no one could clear this floor! This floor was essentially impossible to clear!

 136 Chapter 136

    As Gabriel heard about the challenge of this floor, he was quite shocked. If the stories he heard about the two founders of the Academy were true, then the difficulty of this Floor was many times more than thest floor.

    Moreover, he didn''t doubt those stories either, as the sheer strength of their aura was enough of an evidence to show just how strong they actually were.

    Even with the help of the Infernal King, he knew it was still an uphill climb, especially if there were two of them.

    With this kind of challenge, which young mage could clear this floor? It was impossible! Heck, even a Holy Priest at their peak would have a hard time defeating the two founders.

    "Is that really the challenge?" Gabriel asked, just to be sure. "I need to kill the two of you?"

    "That''s right." Cylix nodded. "That''s the challenge, but before we give you an opportunity to fight us, you''ll need to prove that you''re indeed worthy of our time!"

    "So my challenge is to kill you, but before I do that, I need to prove that I''m worthy of killing you?" Gabriel weirdly looked at the two men.

    What nonsense was this? First, the challenge itself was almost impossible, and now he needed to prove that he was worthy of even taking part in the challenge.

    "I managed to reach this floor. That alone should prove that I''m worthy to face the challenge of this floor."

    Even though the challenge was hard, he wasn''t going to go back aftering this far. Even if he had to face these two, he wanted to give it a try.

    "Yes, you came to this floor, but you aren''t the only one who achieved that. There have been people before you, and sooner orter, there will be more after you. Just you being able to reach here doesn''t prove that you canst before us, even with your peculiar element."

    " In fact, as we can see, on a personal level, you are even weaker than the ones who came before you. You have the talent and the spiritual strength, but still, something iscking in you for now. If I''m not wrong, you wouldn''t be able to reach here if it wasn''t for your Summoned Creature..." Cylix gave his observation, ncing at the Infernal King.

    "If anything, I''m more interested in your Summon than you when ites to strength," he further stated.

    Novius agreed. "The choice is yours now. You can either take our suggestion or leave this floor and go back."

    "What if we say no?" Gabriel stated with great calm, even for a situation like this. "You want us to prove ourselves before you allow us to fight you? Who says you have the right to allow anything?"

    "If the goal here is to kill you, why shouldn''t we just attack you directly?" he asked as he called out his Ancestral Staff of Necromancy.

    "Even though I like your attitude, but what you''re thinking isn''t possible." Novius let out a sigh. "Even hour attacks won''t work in this hall. Moreover, even if you tried attacking us, the attacks can''t hit us. Until we take you to a proper battlefield for our battle, our battle can''t begin. This hall isn''t a battleground, and it''s not supposed to be one."

    "Still, if that makes you feel better, you can try attacking us and test the theory."

    Even though Gabriel didn''t attack right away, Infernal King took action to test this theory. He tossed a ball of deep blue mes at Novius.

    Novius only smiled. He didn''t even try to dodge as he watched the ball of mese toward him.

    Surprisingly, the ball of mes passed through them as if their bodies were nothing more than an illusion.

    "Happy?" Cylix asked. "If you want, you can test on me as well. We have no reason to lie to you. As we said before, until we ept your challenge, our battle can''t begin. In other words, if you want to fight us, you need to prove yourself."

    "How can I prove myself?" Gabriel asked. If there was no other way, then so be it. If he needed to prove himself, he was going to do it! And then, he was going to kill these two to get to the final floor!"

    "It''s quite simple. There are six more people in this hall. You can select any two of them. You need to defeat both of them in a battle," Cylix exined briefly. "Generally, we would''ve asked you to defeat only one, but since your summon is so special, we are increasing some difficulty for you."<sub> </sub>

    Gabriel noticed the six youngsters around him. Until now, he wasn''t sure as to who these six people were, and he needed to select two of them for a battle.

    Seeing Gabriel looking at the six people around him in confusion, Cylix couldn''t help butugh. He could understand what Gabriel was thinking about."We will make it a little easier for you to select as well. Don''t worry. I''ll introduce your six options..."

    "The six that you see around you... they are the challengers who had managed to reach this floor before you," Cylix exined, shocking Gabriel even more.

    Six people who came here before him? Did that mean they were the six who were at the top of the tower rankings? The strongest Mages in the history of the Academy of Elements?

    Cylix casually pointed toward the first man. "He is Axion, the first challenger toe here."

    "Axion... The person who was the Head of the Church of Light and led the war against the Church of Darkness, destroying them..." Gabriel muttered, remembering the name. He had heard about Axion a lot in the Academy and what he grew up to be.

    The young man that was pointed at looked like he was in his early twenties at the moment. He was a blonde man who appeared to have a Princely charm on his face. No one could link that schrly face with someone who had killed thousands of Dark Mages and destroyed the Church of Darkness!

    While Gabriel was lost in thoughts, observing Axion, Cylix shifted his attention to the next person.

    "The man beside him is Izen..."

    Gabriel shifted his attention to the next man as well, noticing a young man who looked to be barely twenty years old.

    He remembered hearing that name as well. Izen Aalec... The man who went on to be the Dean of the Academy of Element! He was also the current Dean and a big name in the outside world!

    Izen had the most peculiar look out of all. His hair was a mix of ck and white, the left side being ck and the right side being white.As Gabriel observed Izen, he was also observing Gabriel with his beautiful crimson eyes.

    "He is the third strongest person to reach here," Cylix stated before shifting to the next person. "And the girl next to him is Lia, the fifth strongest person to arrive here."

    Next to Izen, there was a beautiful blue-haired girl, who seemed to be the oldest person amongst the six who were sitting on the smaller thrones.

    Hearing the names, Gabriel was sure that he had seen her name at the top of the Tower Rankings as well. He just didn''t hear much about her, unlike the others. If he had to select any two, Lia seemed like a better option than the other two. However, he had second thoughts.

    He had an opportunity to face the strongest young mages of their time. Could he really go for an easier option?

    Gabriel didn''t wait for more exnation. He had already guessed who the others were based on this order...

    ''That meant the person on the right is... Qin Elisi, who was studying in the academy right around the time Axion waged a war on the Church of Darkness.''

    Gabriel nced at the man on the right, who had long ck hair and deep crimson eyes. He was most intrigued by Qin. It wasn''t only because Qin had the samest name as Lira.

    Even though he somehow being rted to Lira intrigued him, but most importantly, it was because of Qin''s story, which Gabriel could rte to.

    Qin had to run away from the academy at the start of the fourth year to survive. He was never heard from again. He was also considered to be the most talented out of the top six rankers, as he was the only person who managed to reach the 99th floor before he even entered his fourth year at the academy.

    Qin was also the only person amongst the six who had an element of darkness. Despite him being ranked two at the Tower rankings, for some reason, he seemed to be stronger than rank one Axion, who went on to be the Head of Church of Light.

 137 Chapter 137

    Next to Qin there was Yale Lumen, who was ranked four on the tower. During his studies, Yale was the Crown Prince of the Lumen Empire.

    He was also the first person from the Royal family who was able to reach the ny-ninth floor. Just like Axion, Lumen also shared the element of Light.

    After leaving the Academy, he went on to be the King of the Lumen Empire.

    Next to Yale, there was another person, known as Jax Lumen, who was ranked sixth in the tower ranking. Simr to Yale, Jax was also from the Lumen Family. However, there were almost three decades of difference between the time of Yale being at the academy ifpared with his time.

    Jax was a descendant of Yale. However, contrary to Yale, Jax had the element of Lightning. While Yale had a slender body, Jax had a bulky body, despite being around the same age.

    Seeing the six here, Gabriel had realized that these weren''t real people. There was no way that Yale and Jax were going to be of the same age. Moreover, it was impossible for the others to still be alive.

    It made Gabriel sure that these people were also created by the tower, most probably in projection of the real people who fought here.

    "You aren''t real Cylix and Novius, are you?" he asked the two on the throne. "The reason our attacks can''t hit you is because you don''t exist at all..."

    "Well, your statement is partially true, but also partially wrong. Firstly, we are real. But not quite real at the same time," Cylix retorted.

    p He further exined. "When we passed onto the next floor, we were asked to leave a fragment of our consciousness behind."</anda>

    "In other words, we share the same consciousness as our real selves and know everything that they knew... At least up to the point before they separated the consciousness which created us."

    "The consciousness of the real... when they were on this floor... So that''s what it was. That''s why everyone here looks the same age as they were when they entered the tower. That''s why you can speak and interact with me like you''re real people!"

    This piece of information changed the entire equation for Gabriel, giving him some relief. It meant that they were a Mirage of their young self!

    If that was the case, that meant their knowledge and skills were still iplete! He was going to be facing younger Novius and Cylix, who didn''t have any memories of what happened after they left the tower and the great skills that they learned and created.

    That also meant Axion didn''t know any skills of the Holy Grimoire of Light since he was going to get the Grimoire after he left the tower and received it, along with the incredible skills!

    That did reduce the difficulty of this trial to some extent, but not by much. Even though everyone here wasn''t even close to possessing the same impossible strength that they possessedter in their lives, it still didn''t make them weak.

    Even though it was their weaker self, it was still the ones that managed to climb this high!

    Amongst the six, if Gabriel wanted to challenge himself and not waste this opportunity, he knew he needed to select Axion and Qin so he couldpare himself and learn from them, but it wasn''t an easy decision for him at all.<sub> </sub>

    Even though selecting a more formidable opponent was better for him to challenge himself since he could face the best mage of light amongst the six and the best mage of darkness, but it also came with many disadvantages.

    The worst cost that he could see for choosing a stronger opponent was the consumption of strength! If he fought Axion and Qin, he was going to exhaust himself, which wasn''t good for his next battle, especially if his main opponents were Cylix and Novius.

    Unlike the six who were young students who entered the tower, Cylix and Novius were already established mages, despite being so young, when they entered the tower.

    Moreover, as none of the six reached the next floor, it was even more of an evidence of the difficulty of facing them. Gabriel wanted to have as much strength as he could when he went into his main battle.

    If he selected the two weakest here, he could go to the final battle with the two founders without running out of all his strength. However, that was something akin to wasting an opportunity for him.

    At the present time, both Axion and Qin were dead. If he missed this opportunity now, he was never going to get it again. But was it really worth it?

    Even though Gabriel had already guessed the other three''s identities, Cylix still introduced them.

    "Now that you know your options, we would need your answer. You can select any two of them, or you can leave this tower. We won''t me you."

    Cylix''s finger kept tapping his throne as he waited for Gabriel''s response, who looked like he was lost in deep thought.

    "You know, there''s nothing embarrassing about leaving. If you''re having second thoughts, you can return the way you came. It''ll just mean you were never worthy of reaching here. Then again, you can always return when you''re ready. Not like we''ll be going anywhere," Cylix chimed in again after waiting for an answer for five minutes.

    Novius was also somewhat disappointed. If Gabriel was hesitating this much in selecting two youngsters to fight him, could he really ce any challenge before them?

    He closed his eyes, feeling a bitzy, as if this was boring. "The younger generation is getting worse... They even have to think so much between fighting and running."

    In his mind, what Gabriel was thinking about was if he should select Lia and Jax or if he should leave. Novius didn''t even consider the possibility of anything else. He didn''t know that it wasn''t the choice that Gabriel was thinking about.

    The thought of leaving didn''t even cross his mind. He was thinking if he should select Axion and Qin or not.

    After taking some more time, Gabriel finally made up his mind. He wasn''t going to lose this opportunity! He was here, and he wasn''t going to be scared! He was going to fight the strongest avable option and see just what they were truly capable of! If anything, he could learn their fighting styles to improve his own!

    "I''ve made up my mind!" Gabriel dered. "I select Axion and Qin."

    "Hmm?" Novius opened his eyes.

 138 Chapter 138

    "Who did you select?" Novius asked, wondering if he had misheard Gabriel. He really hadn''t expected Gabriel to select the two strongest challengers out of the six.",

    Novius had fought Axion and Qin personally when the two had arrived here. He knew just how strong those two werepared to the others. If anything, Gabriel should''ve selected the weakest out of the six.

    "I said I will select Axion and Qin," Gabriel repeated. "You wanted me to select one, and I selected them."

    "Young man, I think you didn''t hear me clearly when I introduced all of them." Cylix was also somewhat surprised. Even though he had noticed Gabriel looking at Axion and Qin repeatedly before, he hadn''t thought that it was because he was seriously considering them as opponents.

    "It''s either that, or you''re really not thinking straight. The two you''ve selected... They are stronger than you think. With them as your opponent, you should just forget about being able to reach us."

    It had been a really long time since there was a challenger here. Thest person to get here was Izen, and that too was decades ago. Cylix really wanted to fight Gabriel as well since he didn''t know when the next person was going to get here.

    Even though he asked Gabriel to prove himself, that didn''t mean he wanted him to select the toughest opponents and let go of any possibility of getting through to them. To Cylix, it looked as if Gabriel was closing the doors of opportunity.

    "You still have time. Think again and think cleverly. Don''t be hasty," he reminded Gabriel as if seriously signaling them that Qin and Axion were beyond his league.

    "I don''t need to think." Gabriel clenched his fists. "I''ve made up my mind. I''vee all this way, not to take the easy way out. If I''m here, I want to fight the best of the best as that''s the only thing which can improve my skills and make me stronger!"

    "If I can''t even face the younger selves of the legends in the outside world, how can I face my real enemies, who will have decades of experience and much more Knowledge than me?"

    The people here were the strongest Mages under the age of thirty, but that was just for the tower. The real world wasn''t going to have any limitations that the enemies needed to be under thirty. In fact, his real enemies were the Churches, which had mages much older with much more knowledge than the youngsters here could possess.

    The Izen here was one of the strongest students of his time, but he didn''t even have a fraction of the strength that the current Izen had in the real world. The Izen here was younger than thirty, but the Izen outside was supposed to be a mage who had decades of experience and a strength, almost rivaling the Heads of the Churches, without any Holy Grimoire.

    If he couldn''t even fight people like Izen here, how could he fight the real Izen outside in case he came like an enemy? If he was scared now, could he really reach the level he wanted to reach? If he couldn''t even defeat some youngsters, could he really bring all the Churches to their knees to create the world anew the way he wanted?

    He wanted to fight Axion and Qin. He wanted to fight the person who was selected by the Holy Grimoire of Light in the future! He wanted to fight one of the most talented mages of Darkness!

    Seeing the determination in Gabriel''s eyes, Novius could see that he didn''t select these two names because he was an idiot. He also didn''t select these two because he was arrogant. Instead, he wanted to challenge himself. He knew how risky it was as the ess to the hundredth floor was on the line, which many people dreamt of reaching.

    Even aftering this close to the hundredth floor, Gabriel didn''t let greed overwhelm him. It didn''t even look like he was thinking about the hundredth Floor. He was instead thinking about making himself stronger through this opportunity.

    This determination of Gabriel actually impressed Novius, and he finally started taking some interest in Novius. Even Cylix was somewhat impressed.<sub> </sub>

    Both Cylix and Novius gazed at each other, nodding.

    "Alright. We ept your selection," Cylix told Gabriel. "You will receive the opponents that you have selected. Qin and Axion will be your opponents."

    He stood up. Novius also stood up. Since he was finally taking an interest in Gabriel now, he didn''t look bored and sleepy anymore. Instead, he was curious to see if Gabriel could actually pull this off sessfully, the chances of which were too low.

    Cylix gracefully raised his hands and pped once. As soon as he pped, the mark of light on his left hand shone. The entire hall was filled with bright light, which even forced Gabriel to close his eyes.

    Gabriel also felt a change after the light appeared. Even though he hadn''t opened his eyes, he could feel that his surroundings had changed.

    The hall where they were previously was much colder, but the surroundings were warmer now. He could also feel warm winds brushing against his skin as if he was out in the open.

    He also felt like he wasn''t standing on the hard floor like before. Instead, he was on something quite different. It was like he was standing on sand now.

    After the bright sh of light disappeared, Gabriel opened his eyes, realizing he was right. Instead of being in the closed space, they were now in the vast open desert.

    As far as the eyes could see, there was nothing but sand. The sky was clear, not having any clouds. Bright sun could clearly be seen in the sky.

    There were only three people other than him here. Cylix and Novius stood in the distance, both with hands behind their backs. As for the third person, it was Axion.

    He couldn''t see Qin anywhere for some reason.

    "You won''t find Qin here.He will be waiting for you on your second battlefield," Cylix informed Gabriel as if he was able to guess what he was thinking.

    "Next battlefield? That means I will just be fighting Axion here?" Gabriel asked. He had expected that he would be fighting both at the same time based on the words that Cylix had used before.

    "That''s right. You will be fighting Axion only first, and then you''ll be fighting Qin. You won''t be fighting both at the same time," Cylix answered.

    "Initially, we wanted to have you fight two opponents at the same time, but that was when we expected you to select the weakest two." Novius further exined.

    "You''ve surpassed our expectations, so we had to change the rules a little. Having you fight both Qin and Axion at the same time would be too unfair for you, even with your Summon present. That''s why you''ll be fighting them one at a time, your first opponent being Axion."

 139 Chapter 139

    Gabriel was informed that he was going to be fighting Axion first, and it was going to be a one-on-one battle. That did make the battle a bit easier for him since he only had to focus on one enemy, but when that one enemy was the future Head of the Church of Light, that much advantage didn''t mean much.

    "One more thing..." Cylix said, bringing Gabriel''s attention back to him. "The battle willst until you defeat the opponent or you are defeated."

    "If you want, you can give up on the battle in the middle by just saying the words. We will stop the battle. And I would suggest you don''t ignore that advice. Instead of being seriously hurt or even dying, it''s better to give up at the right time. That way, you can save some energy for the next battle."

    "Next battle?" Gabriel didn''t understand what they meant by the next battle. If he gave up, didn''t that mean he lost the battle? Why would there be a subsequent battle in that case?

    "Yeah, next battle. After this battle, don''t you have to fight Qin? To be able to fight us, you need to win at least one of your two battles. So even if you lost the first battle, you could have a second chance with Qin," Novius exined.

    "Is it the same with you? I need to defeat one of you as well?" If that was the pattern, that meant he could get an extra chance with his final battles as well.

    That did change the equation since it meant that he needed to make a long-term n on how much of his strength he wanted to reserve for theing battles.

    p "Hah, if only you were that lucky," Cylix chuckled. "You''ll be fighting both of us at the same time, and we won''t go easy. And you need to defeat the both of us to be able to go to the next floor."</anda>

    "Anyway, that is enough of an exnation. We won''t keep your opponent waiting. You two can start the battle after we are gone."

    Cylix and Novius disappeared into thin air after telling Gabriel everything he needed to know.

    The two returned back to the Throne Room, where they were initially seated.

    The two sat back on their thrones, gettingfortable. At the same time, the Tower created something akin to a portal that was showing Gabriel''s battlefield in the middle of the hall, showing the two contenders.

    "What do you think? Can he seed?" Cylix asked, resting one leg above the other as he moved back a bit.

    "I don''t know at this point," Novius responded. "At the start, when I saw him, I thought he was just a weak mage who managed to get here thanks to his Summon and his peculiar Element, but maybe there''s more to him..."

    "I agree." Cylix agreed with his friend. "His Talent and Spiritual Strength is quite strong... Possibly the strongest I''ve evere across, but his magical strength doesn''t hold up to the same mark at this point. I guess he is just too young at this point."

    "He needs more time to grow to his full potential," he further stated. "That''s why I told him to leave and take some time beforeing back again. But he... He seems quite determined. And I must say, it''s the ones with an undefeatable determination that are often able to pull off the miracles. So he might actually surprise us."

    The entire hall was so silent. Only the words of Cylix and Novius could be heard as they discussed things amongst themselves. An opportunity like this came after a long time, after all.<sub> </sub>

    "I really hope so... I really want to be free of this godforsaken ce." Novius sighed. "I hope he is able to pull off the miracle somehow and defeat us..."

    Even though the two looked like they were too strict on Gabriel, in reality, they were also rooting for Gabriel. They wanted him to seed, no matter how unlikely it was for him to.

    Cylix and Novius were known to the world to be the first people who found this Tower, with only a rare few knowing the reality.

    They also entered the tower after finding it. Moreover, on the ny-ninth floor, they also faced something simr to what Gabriel was facing now.

    When the two of them reached the ny-ninth floor, they were also faced with two Guardians of this floor. To get to the next floor, they had to defeat the Two Guardians of this Floor.

    The Two Guardians were none other than thest two people who had cleared this floor before Cylix and Novius. They had also left behind a fraction of their conscience and knowledge.

    As Cylix and Novius were both in different realms inside the Tower, each of them had to fight both the Guardians. Moreover, surprisingly they both managed to defeat the two Guardians before them, finally clearing this floor!

    After Cylix and Novius defeated the two Guardians, they were given an opportunity by the Tower to leave behind their conscience and take over the Guardian position for the next generation.

    At the time, Cylix and Novius didn''t think much about it and epted it before going to the next floor, making two new Guardians in their image with their memories and knowledge, thinking it was good.

    Ever since then, a new version of theirs was created, which had all their memories and personality up to that period in time.

    While real Cylix and Novius roamed freely in the outside world after leaving this tower and ultimately embraced their deaths, these two were trapped here for an eternity, waiting for someone who was going to defeat them and take their ce so they could also be free of these shackles.

    After over a hundred years, they were still waiting for the people who could defeat them next. Unfortunately, even though there were challengers who did manage to reach this floor, none of them were able to defeat them.

    Moreover, Cylix and Novius had great self-respect, which didn''t allow them to lose intentionally either. They had to fight properly if it was a battle.

    They really hoped that Gabriel could defeat them and take their ce here with the Infernal King. However, first, he needed to defeat his initial challengers to prove if he even had enough strength for them to get their hopes up.

    The two looked at the battlefield from the throne room, really curious to see how the battle was going to unfold. So far, they had some positive opinions of Gabriel, but only in the battle were they going to see if this guy actually had a chance as they hadn''t seen him fight before.

 140 Chapter 140

    Gabriel couldn''t see Cylix and Novius anywhere, but he was sure that they were still seeing him.

    "You can stand back," he told the Infernal King. "I''ll be fighting him myself."

    Just like in the previous trials, Gabriel told the Infernal King to stand back since he only wanted the Infernal King''s help when it was absolutely necessary.

    By now, the Infernal King had also be ustomed to it. He just stepped back, giving some room to Gabriel.

    Initially, when he was called by Gabriel, he wanted to go back to his world as soon as possible, but aftering this far, he actually wanted to finish it and see just what was on the final floor.

    Gabriel also took off his gloves and kept them in his pockets, revealing both his Elemental Marks. As the gloves were already useless on this floor before these Projections, he didn''t feel the need to use them for now.He also felt freer without them.

    He didn''t know why, but he was feeling really excited about the battles he was going to go through instead of feeling nervous. It was as if he was filled with battle intent.

    He had already seen Garrick fighting outside. Since Axion managed to get here, that meant he was definitely way stronger than Garrick of his time. As both of them were Mages of Light, for Gabriel, this battle was like fighting a stronger version of Garrick.

    Axion hadn''t spoken anything. He just stood in the distance as if waiting for Gabriel to be ready. However, Axion couldn''t control himself for longer as he spoke his first sentence.

    "What is the world outside now?"

    This version of Axion never left the tower, which was also why he didn''t know anything that happened after his time. He had been here for a long time, which somewhat intrigued him as to how much the world could change in such a time.

    "You can also speak?" Gabriel asked. Since Axion had been silent until now, he assumed that, unlike Cylix and Novius, Axion didn''t have the personality and consciousness of the real Axion.

    He had assumed that Axion and Qin only had the battle skills of their real ones and nothing more as they were looking so lifeless initially.

    He didn''t realize that it was because they had been here for such a long time that all this scary silence of this ce had molded their personality into something else. They had be more lifeless than when they used to be initially.

    Even Cylix and Novius had changed a bit, but not as much as them. They had still managed to hold onto some semnce of their old personality for now.

    "I can," Axion answered. "I asked you a question. You should answer me. After we start fighting, I won''t stop until you are dead or you leave. We wouldn''t get an opportunity to talkter."

    "The outside world?" Gabriel didn''t know what to answer in response. He decided to tell the truth. "It''s a mess now, partially thanks to you."

    "Thanks to me?" Axion frowned. "What did I do?"

    "After you attacked the Church of Darkness and destroyed it, the world changed... The Dark Mages went mostly extinct, and even the ones who are alive are being hunted by all the other Churches, thanks to you. What do you think the world would be like?"<sub> </sub>

    "I attacked the Church of Light?" Axion asked. "How can I destroy them? And why? I''m not strong enough."

    "You''re right. You weren''t strong enough when you were inside the Tower, but after leaving, you became much stronger. You were selected by the Holy Grimoire of Light, bing the Holy Priest of the Church of Light."

    "After that, you led them to a war against all the Dark Mages. All the other Churches joined you and waged a war on the Church of Darkness."

    "The Church of Darkness was under assault, and it was destroyed..."

    Gabriel gave a brief history lesson to Axion, who looked stunned after hearing. He couldn''t understand why he would do that? He didn''t have any ill will for the Dark Mages. He also knew that there were some really nice Dark Mages. Why would he demonize them and destroy them all?

    Axion wasn''t the only one who was surprised. The ones back in the main hall could also hear the conversation, and amongst them was Qin...

    "Is that why I never returned?" he muttered softly, as his eyes showed some semnce of understanding.

    When this imprint of his was left behind on this floor, it was when his real self was in the third year. There was also one more year for his real self to be stronger and return to the tower to attempt to reach the hundredth floor, but he never returned.

    Qin could never understand why that was the case, but he understood now. When he was created, Axion was the Head of the Church of Light in the real world. The timing matched. If Axion and the entire world attacked all the Dark Mages, that meant his real self was also attacked?

    He even considered the possibility that he was killed in the outside world right around that time, and that''s why he wasn''t able to return. His fists clenched on their own.

    The other Four Youngsters who were sitting in the hall knew about this part of this history; however, they never told anyone since they didn''t feel that it was important to tell. They were the only ones who weren''t surprised.

    However, this revtion came as a surprise to both Cylix and Novius as well.

    "All the Dark Mages were killed?" Novius gazed at the Elemental Mark on the back of his hand.

    Even though the Dark Mages weren''t his real family, he still felt like they were a part of his n. Moreover, his best friend was a Mage of Light. He couldn''t understand how a Mage of Light could destroy all the Mages of Darkness.

    Even Cylix was stunned.

    He red at Izen, who was thest person toe here before Gabriel. "Is what he says true? All the Dark Mages were killed outside when you came here?"

    "Not all, but it''s true that most of them were killed in that event," Izen answered. "Only a few of them managed to escape that tragedy, but they were being hunted by the Churches and being killed by the other Churches who considered them Demons now."

    "I''m not sure how it''s the situation now since I''ve been here, but it''s quite possible that the rest have also been killed by now," he added.

 141 Chapter 141

    "What about the Academy? Did we not try to stop the Churches frommitting these atrocities?" Cylix asked.

    Izen lowered his head, not knowing how to answer. The Academy stopping the Churches? Let alone stopping the Churches or trying to help the Dark Mages that were being attacked from all sides, the Academy even gave their own students who shared the Element of Darkness to the Churches on a silver tter.

    Izen wasn''t a part of the academy at that time, but he knew the history. He didn''t agree with how the Academy handled everything, but he couldn''t change the past.

    "Answer us! Did the Academy not do anything?" Novius asked as his voice got louder.

    His eyes were showing his anger. He created the Academy with Cylix to make the world a better ce! It wasn''t just to train the Mages of different elements but also to make sure that the academy could protect the weak!

    How could an entire side be wiped out, and the Academy did nothing?

    "The Academy didn''t do anything. The Academy sided with the majority and instead helped the Churches that were against the Mages of Darkness."

    Novius received the response he was waiting for, but it only made him more upset. His fists tightened...

    "What about the Dark Mages who were the students of the Academy at that time? Tell me the Academy at least helped them or let them leave?" Cylix inquired.

    Even though he was heartbroken to hear what their Academy had be throughout the year and how it strayed from the purpose it was made for, he still hoped that at least they followed their moral duties of a teacher!

    Izen bit his lower lip. The questions were only getting harsher now.

    "You don''t need to answer," Novius'' cold voice fell in Izen''s ears just as he was about to answer. "Your expressions are enough to give us our answer. The Academy didn''t even protect our own students, did they...?"

    Izen shook his head. "They captured all the Mages of Darkness that were studying at the Academy and handed them over to the Church of Light to be killed..."

    Novius closed his eyes, getting an answer which was worse than his expectation.

    "That''s why no Dark Mages ever managed to reach here after Qin... And here I foolishly thought that it was because the quality of dark mages was declining! It''s not that the quality of the Mages of Darkness declined. Instead, it''s the morality of all the Churches that declined!"

    "Killing youngsters who hadn''t even taken a single step into their journey of life, all because of their element? This level of persecution? Why?! Tell me why!"

    He stood up, asking his question in rage. Before his rage, the light in this room started retreating, making the room darker. He didn''t direct his question only to Izen but to everyone else as well who came here after this happened in the outside world.

    "Tell me why the world chose to hunt Dark Mages like the Dark Mages didn''t deserve to live?! Why?!"

    Cylix let his friend show his anger without interfering. Even though he was also a Mage of Light, he was also angry and disappointed at the outside world.

    "We don''t know..." Izen answered. "It all happened a long time ago. I have no idea how it all started or what led to this, but by the time I came here, no one was even willing to ask these questions."

    "I don''t think any ordinary person in the outside world knows why exactly the Dark Mages were truly attacked. All they know is what has been told to them, which is that the Dark Mages are devils who need to be wiped out of the world for it to be saved," he exined.

    By the time he came here, he wasn''t a powerful being in the outside world. He was also a youngster, just like everyone else here. That was why he had no idea of the upper echelon secrets.

    Let alone him; even the others here didn''t know why it happened. They were the same as the other Youngsters of the Academy like Maria, who just knew that the Dark Mages were bad and needed to be killed, but none of them knew why. Even the Young Princes from the Lumen Family didn''t know.

    Even if one tried to ask a question, no one received any answers.

    The only person here who could have any idea as to why it could be was Qin. It all happened when Qin was in his fourth year, so it was most probably rted to things that were happening around his time, but he couldn''t recall anything like that.

    Even he couldn''t think of any reason why the Dark Mages would be attacked. He came here when he was in his third year, and by that time, everything in the outside world was quite normal.<sub> </sub>

    The Dark Mages studied at the Academy. The Church of Darkness also kept its business to itself. So what could''ve led to something so massive in just one year, he didn''t know.

    Looking at Izen, he could feel that Izen wasn''t lying. The only people who could know what actually happened were the people on the outside. Even Axion lookedpletely ignorant about what he did outside.

    "So I was killed outside... That''s why I didn''t return. Not only me but we were all wiped out... The Mages of Light..."

    ****

    "Are you telling the truth?" Axion asked Gabriel. "Did I really do it?"

    "I have no reason to lie to you," Gabriel answered. "You changed the world, and I also suffered the brunt of that change... It''s because of the war that you started that thousands of families were destroyed every year."

    "The ones who awakened with the element of Darkness one day found their lives changed the very next day. Either their family killed them or their friend. If they still somehow escaped, the Churches killed them."

    "I see..." After the initial surprise, Axion seemingly regained his old calm. "If I actually did it, then they must''ve deserved it for some reason."

    His indifference was quite astonishing for Gabriel. Even when he was informed how he destroyed millions of lives, Axion still seemingly didn''t care. Instead, his first thought was that it was fine.

    "As you said, I wasn''t the only one who fought the Dark Mages. The other Churches also joined me. So I''m sure there must be a good reason which needed us to eradicate all the Dark Mages," he further stated.

    <o>,m "Honestly, it''s much better this way. I always found the Darkness to be an unholy element. If I''m not wrong, it corrupted the Dark Mages in the end, which forced me and the others to put an end to them..." Axion dered.</o>

    His words weren''t only heard by Gabriel but by everyone inside the hall as well. Qin stood up. This guy... Even after finding out how he had killed millions of innocents, he didn''t feel a single shred of regret.

    Novius also found that answer quite disappointing.

    "Is that what you also think?" he nced at Cylix. "Darkness is an Unholy Element?"

    "Nonsense." Cylix scoffed. "How long have we been together? Who could know about the Element better than us? Your Element isn''t unholy at all. It''s just different from mine, which doesn''t make it bad. While I use the Light in this world, you use the Darkness."

    "Both Light and Darkness are needed for her world to survive... I don''t know why the idiots outside would forget such a basicw of nature!" He further wondered.

    Unfortunately, they could only think about such things now. They couldn''t change what happened in the outside world. They couldn''t change the history or bring back the dead to life...

    They could only do something to make the current status quo in the outside world unstable... And they also knew how to do that... Gabriel was the key!

    When Axion talked about the Mages of Darkness like they were some vile beasts who didn''t deserve to live, Gabriel visibly looked upset.

    From what Izen informed them, most of the world outside went along with the majority. By now, the entire story about the past had been changed, and no one knew the truth that the Mages of Darkness were once upon a time good people as well.

    With that logic, even Gabriel should''ve hated the Dark Mage. He should''ve been in agreement with Axion, but instead, he was upset. That meant Gabriel could see how bad this whole thing was.

    They could see that Gabriel wasn''t a blind youngster like the others, who hated the Dark Mages. Instead, he looked like someone who knew how bogus this entire usation was. If there was someone who was worthy to receive their blessing in the current generation, it was most probably Gabriel.

    Gabriel was not only a brave youngster who didn''t choose the weaker option, but he was also someone who seemed to have somepassion for the Dark Mages, which made Novius and Cylix ce even more importance on him.

    They both decided on something just because of that. They needed someone who could bring this unjust world on the right track, and who better for that than Gabriel, who not only possessed two elements but most importantly, the mentality to not be scared of any challenges¡­

 142 Chapter 142

    Seeing the indifference of Axion, Gabriel was actually somewhat upset.

    He had almost died because of this, and this man was just saying that it was because he probably deserved it? He lost his entire old life, and this guy was saying he deserved it? He couldn''t even enter the Royal City without hiding his real self, and this was deserved by him? Just why? Why did he deserve it?

    Just because his Element was simr to the Element of Darkness, he went through so much. What about the people who actually had the Element of Darkness? What about the ones that were waiting for their element to awaken to be a mage, and when their element awakened, they were killed because it was the wrong element?

    The more indifference of Axion he saw, the angrier he became.

    "Just because you and the other Church heads thought it was right, all those people were put to death!" Gabriel asked. "Who gave you the right to decide who gets death and who doesn''t?"

    Since Gabriel had experienced the effect of this personally, this topic was very close to his heart.

    "Just because eight people selected by the Holy Grimoires agreed on something, it became thew? You became the gods of this world who could write the destiny of people you didn''t like? Just because you became Holy Priests, you damned their present and future generations to a life of a beast who had to run?!"

    Axion still didn''t show much expression on his face. He just sighed as if he was tired of this discussion.

    "If I was selected by the Holy Grimoire, that means I was selected by the Gods. And just like me, all the other Church Heads were selected by the Gods as well. Of course, we won''t make a wrong decision. Whatever we did was right. No one in the world has any right to question the actions of a Holy Priest!" Axion dered.

    He was firm on his stance. It didn''t matter what others said; he believed he was right, no matter what he did!

    Gabriel sent his Sword of Uriel back after hearing Axion''s answer.

    Axion had not only disappointed him, but he had also angered him thoroughly.

    "I wanted to save this forter, but not anymore..." Gabriel held his Ancestral Staff firmly, resting its lower end on the sand.

    Initially, he thought that he could seriously fight Axion and learn something from him, but not anymore. He was so upset that he wanted to crush Axion! If Axion thought that having strength and Grimoire gave him the right to kill anyone, he wanted to do the same thing that he did to others!

    Even though he knew that this Axion wasn''t the one who destroyed the world outside, still his words were just as arrogant and sharp. It wasn''t the past that upset him as much as the words that cameter, justifying it by saying that they deserved it!

    Initially, he didn''t even care about thest when he selected Axion. He just wanted to learn from a more powerful Mage of Light, but now that felt like a waste of time. If he had to learn from anyone, he was going to learn from an even greater mage of Light, Cylix!

    "Having a Holy Grimoire gave you the right to decide others'' fate... Let me use the same privilege today! This time, let me write your fate..."

    Gabriel started muttering something under his breath, holding the Ancestral Staff firmly.

    As soon as he started chanting the spell, the surroundings started changing. The sky, which was bright until recently, started getting darker.

    There was not a single cloud in the sky before Gabriel started chanting the spell, but as soon as he began, the sky was entirely covered by dark clouds.

    The warm winds that were flowing turned much colder as an eerie atmosphere spread out.

    This was also the Infernal King''s first time seeing something like this since it was a spell that Gabriel hadn''t used before.

    Gabriel didn''t even finish chanting the spell, but the Infernal King could still feel a strange yet familiar power in the surroundings. This was the same power that he felt when Gabriel''s chains were overwhelming him.

    "Huh, so you''re finally ready to fight. So be it." Axion believed that Gabriel was ready to start the battle. He also called out his High Grade Staff.

    "What?" As soon as Axion called out his Ancestral Staff, his eyes slightly widened. He saw the dark ring which was in Gabriel''s fingers now fly out.

    The dark ring transformed into a strangely charming yet scary ck book that faced Gabriel.

    The book opened on its own as the pages started flipping on their own, ending up on the main spell that Gabriel was casting... the seventh spell.

    *****<sub> </sub>

    [Four Hours Ago]

    Gabriel was on the 95th floor.

    He had been fighting an unending horde of monsters which was quite challenging. No matter how many monsters he killed, more of them kepting.

    After getting extremely tired of them, Gabriel stepped back and let the Infernal King handle them for a little while he rested.

    He had been fighting non-stop without taking the Infernal King''s help on thest ten floors, but he realized he needed some rest on this floor. Moreover, as the enemies were in such huge numbers, the Infernal King was a much better option to deal with them.

    Walking to the back, covered in sweat, Gabriel sat on the ground and started drinking some water.

    After having some water, he used the Spirit Crystals given my Lira to recover some strength. However, as he was using the Spirit Crystals, he felt a vibration in his ring.

    p His Ring came out on its own and transformed back into the form of a Grimoire. It turned to the sixth spell but didn''t stop there. The pages turned to the next page, which waspletely empty.</anda>

    A new spell started appearing there.

    Going through the unending challenges of the Tower, Gabriel had strengthened his soul a lot. As people said, one could only be stronger by facing stronger beings, and it was true for Gabriel.

    Before receiving the Tower, he had six spells in total, but after challenging himself, he was finally strong enough to possess one more spell.

    Moreover, the new spell was a High Tier Spell as well. He went through the spell, learning it.

    "It''s a powerful spell, but it consumes a lot of strength... Then again, that w is to be expected. All powerful spells will consume a lot... Making them harder to use..."

    While the Infernal King fought the unending stream of Monsters, Gabriel went through the spell and learned it.

    ****

    [Present time]

    Cylix and Novius both stood up, pleasantly surprised at the sight of a book.

    "A Holy Book with a new element?"

    As soon as Gabriel stepped into the hall, they were able to see his new elements and all the treasures he possessed, which became useless before them in a ce like this, but even the Tower couldn''t make the ring reveal itself.

    To them, the ring looked like an ordinary ring. It was only now that they saw what it truly was! It was a Holy Grimoire!

    "How Ironic..." Novius muttered as he sat down again. There was a constant smile on his face, which he couldn''t hide. With the appearance of the Grimoire, their hopes for Gabriel went even higher.

    They were sure that Gabriel could truly change this world! He didn''t just have the talent and the spiritual strength but a Holy Grimoire as well, possessing two elements. Who could be better for them to depart their knowledge to than this young man?

    "Ironic indeed," Cylix also sat down after his initial surprise. "Axion was saying that people with Holy Grimoires are allowed to do anything before a person who possessed a Holy Grimoire...."

    ****

    On another end, Gabriel finished chanting his spell, which didn''t take long.

    In the end, he spoke thest three words as he finally raised his staff a few inches above the ground.

    "Curse of the Dead!"

 143 Chapter 143

    As if answering his roar, the skies also roared as dark lightning shed through the sky, signaling the beginning of a storm.

    The attack was a high tier spell, which was enough to use every ounce of Gabriel''s strength to be used only as ast resort. However, Gabriel didn''t care. If he needed to win only one of the two battles, then this was the one he was going to win! And he was going to do it overwhelmingly.

    As for his battles with Cylix and Novius, he could at least ask them for some time to rest and gather his strength. He was sure that they weren''t going to say no to his basic request. However, even if they said no, he still had the Infernal King to hold them back while he prepared himself.

    Before all that, he first needed to defeat Axion.

    A strange dark energy spread everywhere, turning the entire surroundings dark. Even through the Portal, Cylix and Novius also couldn''t see anything that was happening on the battlefield. It was as if an ungodly dark power hadpletely covered the battlefield, making them blind to what was happening on the battlefield.

    If anything, they could at least feel the dark energy even in the hallway, which was sleeping through the portal.

    The dark energy was only a tiny bit simr to the Darkness of Novius and Qin, which they could feel, but they also knew that, for the most part, it was something more... Darkness was a universal force. Even though it was ssified as a devilish element by the outside World, it was a pure form of energy.

    If anything, darkness was the purest form of energy since its existence; even before the universe came, the sun, the moon, or anything else came into existence. Darkness wasn''t an unholy element but the strangest energy that they were feeling now; it was enough even to make them feel chills for some reason.

    It was the energy of death which was the most unholy form of element, consisting of all the broken hopes, dreams, and infinite rage of billions of dead beings! Darkness was a powerful Element, but not as powerful as the Element of Death which walked over the dead bodies of billions of beings in the universe.

    Where there was life, there was death, and death was the only thing that was inevitable for a person! All those who lived had to die sooner orter! The Deadly Energy seemingly appeared in the tower for the first time as long as Cylix and Novius had been there.

    The Dark aura of death was so powerful that it was even able to surpass the spatial restrictions, appearing in the majestic hall, but that wasn''t all. The dark aura spread even wider, able to leave the bounds of the Tower.

    The Head Council Members who were standing right outside the tower, observing the ranking, felt this dark energy that they didn''t feel before. It wasing from the tower, but it was the first time this was happening.

    Eliana was a Mage of Light who was more sensitive to this aura, but the others weren''tpletely ignorant either. All the Head Council Members felt this terrifying aura.

    Eliana raised her hand, joining them together. She cast a barrier around the tower to restrict this terrible aura around the Tower. She didn''t want this aura to reach their students as she didn''t know what kind of effect it could have on them.

    A beautiful golden barrier appeared around the tower, restricting the aura.

    Since the aura had passed through a lot of spaces and barriers to spread it, it had already gotten weaker by the time it reached here. Thanks to that, even a single barrier of Light from Eliana was able to stop the aura.

    "This aura is simr to the aura we felt from the Dark Mage who attacked the Museum," Elianamented, recognizing this aura.

    Even though the aura she sensed before was the aura of the Infernal King, it had a trace of death and darkness. Gabriel''s aura at the moment also had the same essence more or less.

    She was sure this aura couldn''t belong to a Mage of Light. At this point, she was even more convinced about something. She also realized that she had been wrong about her initial assumption.

    "You''re right. This aura is quite simr to the aura we sensed before," Rem agreed with Eliana.

    "The Tower never leaked an aura like that. What is happening?" Lishen asked, confused. He didn''t understand why the aura of the Prince of Darkness wasing from inside the tower.

    "Of course, it''sing from inside because Karyk is inside. There''s only one person who is inside the tower. This aura could only belong to him. Since he''s fighting on the 99tg floor, he probably used some spell that removed whatever illusion he had cast," Elianamented grimly. "We were all wrong about something..."

    "Illusion? Wrong about what?"<sub> </sub>

    "Karyk wasn''t a Mage of Light..." Eliana answered Lishen and the others. "If I''m not wrong, Karyk is the same person we saw inside the Museum! That''s also why he was able to kill Hawrin so easily. Yann was right! Karyk was the killer!"

    "How can that be?" Lishen inquired. "We all saw the enemy inside the Museum. He wasn''t Karyk. I''ve seen both of them, and they both look different..."

    <o>,m "Exactly. They both look different," Ren agreed as he started shaking his head, just realizing how they were all thoroughly fooled by one person!</o>

    "Karyk knew about the Museum and all the Numens. That meant he came here specifically for our Numens! Hawrin was just a bonus for him, if I''m not wrong," he further exined so the others could also understand the entire situation.

    "And if he came here to take Numens, of course, he would deal with Lambard. He wouldn''t attempt the theft without preparing a buyer! He most probably has a good rtionship with Lambard already," Rem theorized, going slightly deeper in his theory.

    "Either Karyk already possessed a Numen, or he asked for one from Lambard... A Numen which could help him disguise..." he further added.

    As soon as he spoke up to this point, Lishen''s eyes lit up.

    He eximed, "The Ring of Apophis!"

    They had all heard about Lambard possessing a ring that could help him disguise any way he pleased. With the ring, it could be impossible even for them to find out the true identity of the person.

    "On the night Hawrin died, a student imed that he saw a first-year student entering the Dorms," Eliana stated. "But there was no student with those facial features... That would make sense if Karyk had the ring of Apophis, which he used to change his looks to not leave any evidence behind."

    "That would also exin why he wasn''t taking off his Gloves on his right hand specifically... That''s where he wore the Ring of Apophis!" Rem dered. He wanted to beat himself up for taking this long to piece all these things together.

    All those stories about the gloves being something special for him were a lie.

    "So he manipted us all... And we fell for it! The Prince of Darkness was right before our eyes all this while, and we couldn''t even see him?" Lishen pped his forehead.

    The entire academy had been fooled, including the smartest of them.

    "That''s probably also why his talent was so high in the measurement... If he is the Prince of Darkness, he has the Grimoire of Darkness, which boosted his talent and Spiritual Strength. It makes sense that his talent came out so high!"

    "We were blinded by his talent and our greed which made us an easy target." Eliana clenched her fist. She was really enraged, mostly at herself.

    "It''s still not toote, is it?" Xinci chimed in. "Stop being so gloomy. We haven''t lost yet. It''s not toote. We found out at the right time. He is still inside. When hees out, we can capture him!"

    "Moreover, isn''t that even better? If we can capture him, we can not only retrieve all our treasures but also destroy thest hope of the resurrection of the Church of Darkness!" Yoan agreed with Xinci.

    "That''s right." The Head of House of Water Rin also found it perfect. "We aren''t toote. When hees out, he won''t know that we already know his truth!"

    "Since he''s using all his strength inside the tower, he probably doesn''t know that his aura is leaking out. He also won''t know that we already know his identity. If he ispletely unsuspecting, we can take him down much easier."

    "That''s right. Moreover, since we have time, we can prepare a trap for him as well!" Rem agreed. Now that they knew who the enemy was and where he was going to beter, they could ce more traps for him.

    "We need to activate the Space Sealing Formation around the academy. Even though it will consume a lot of Spiritual Strength, it''ll be worth it since it''ll make it impossible for him to use Teleportation formation likest time!"

 144 Chapter 144

    Darkness was everywhere, surrounding the entire desert. It was as if the darkness had swallowed the entire sun.

    Cylix and Novius tried to see through the darkness, but there was something that was stopping even them.

    They looked at each other, wondering if they should go there and check for themselves.

    Fortunately, before they could decide, the darkness slowly started retreating.

    The powerful aura that had momentarily covered the entire tower started dispersing.

    The light started returning to the desert, albeit slowly.

    As the darknesspletely disappeared, Cylix and the others were able to see through the portal once again.

    As they looked through the Portal, they saw Gabriel sitting on his knees. His face waspletely pale, and blood was trickling down his lips.

    "He lost..." Cylix muttered, noticing that Axion was still standing.

    Novius shook his head. "He didn''t."

    Novius pped his hands, changing the portal direction. Previously, they could only see the back of Axion, but as the portal angle changed, they could finally catch a glimpse of Axion as well.

    Even though Axion was standing, a ck liquid wasing out of his nose, lips, and even eyes.

    His face looked lifeless and frozen in ce as the dark liquid kept trickling.

    Axion was not only defeated but it was done in just one attack. Slowly, Axion''s body started disintegrating, disappearing into thin air.

    There was only one person who was still standing now... It was the Infernal King. As soon as the Infernal King regained his sight, he went to Gabriel, who was sitting on his knees.

    "Are you alright?" He was shocked at the strength behind this attack, but he was also curious about Gabriel''s condition. He wasn''t looking fine.

    Gabriel had his fist on the ground, giving him an excess of support. He was feeling really bad. Even he hadn''t expected that this spell was going to be this overwhelming. He thought that at least he was going to be able to stand, but it was like the spellpletely sucked him dry.

    His hands were trembling uncontrobly, and his vision was slightly blurring. His body was also aching a lot. His heartbeat was so slow that it had never been.

    Despite all that, Gabriel hadn''t passed out, all because of his powerful resolve. He didn''t want to pass out at this moment since if he passed out, he knew the safety mechanism of the escape stone was going to activate on its own, sending him out of the tower.

    He didn''t want to have to leave aftering this far. He wanted to fight more!

    "I am fine... Just give me a minute." Gabriel didn''t tell what he was feeling, just telling that he was fine.

    The ck book was still floating before Gabriel.

    Gabriel raised his right hand, calling the Grimoire back.

    The Grimoire returned to his right hand, returning to the form of a ring.

    "You did good..." The Infernal Kingmented. It was the first time he was genuinelyplimenting Gabriel for his actual strength and not just the resolve.

    The spell was very powerful, after all. And for him to be able to sessfully cast that spell was indeed incredible.

    Even though the Infernal King didn''t see just what that spell did since it waspletely dark, he still felt just the sheer strength behind that attack.<sub> </sub>

    "Did I?" Gabriel smiled in response. Even as he was in pain, he could still find time to smile.

    "The High Tier spells are certainly very powerful. A bit too powerful," he stated, ncing at his trembling hands. "Then again, I''m sure the Ancestral Staff also had a hand in boosting that spell''s strength. I need to get stronger so I can cast this spell without ending up in such a condition."

    He also sent his Ancestral Staff back before just lying on the warm sand to rest. The clouds in the sky started dispersing slowly, making the surroundings even brighter.

    "You should rest now. I''ll fight the next battle..."

    "Heh, if we don''t have a time restriction, I want to go through that battle myself as well," Gabriel answered. "We will see what rules we will be under. If they don''t give me some time to prepare, I''ll have to leave it to you then."

    The Infernal King also sat beside Gabriel on the sand. "Why fight alone?"

    He was genuinely curious about Gabriel''s mindset. He could take the Infernal King''s help to didn''t, but he still preferred to fight alone until he seriously needed to. Why?

    "Because he wants to get stronger," a voice came from the back.

    The Infernal King stood up and looked back, noticing Cylix standing behind them.

    "Let me help you up," Novius reached out his hand to Gabriel to help him up, appearing before him.

    Gabriel didn''t take Novius'' hands. Even with his aching body, he still sat up by himself.

    Novius didn''t mind. He just retracted his hand. He noticed the slight trembling in Gabriel''s hands which was much less than it had been before but still clearly visible.

    "That spell of yours took quite a heavy toll on you. Then again, a high-tier spell from a Grimoire is supposed to be powerful," Noviusmenter."What''s more surprising is that a young mage like you was able to use a High Tier Spell of a Holy Book... That in itself was more incredible."

    Cylix agreed. "When we first saw you, we knew you had an incredible talent, but even we didn''t know that you were a Holy Mage with such resilience."

    "It''s good to see a Holy Mage who isn''t even twenty years old... I don''t know about the current scenario in the outside world, but in our time, it was almost impossible to find a Holy Priest with your age..."

    "Let''s go back for now." Cylix pped his hands, bringing Gabriel and the Infernal King back to the main hall since Gabriel wasn''t in any condition to fight.

    Gabriel appeared in the same old spot where he was before going to the Desert.

    Cylix and Novius were still standing before him.

    Cylix pped his hands again. A small box appeared before Gabriel.

    The small box appeared to be made from metal but wasn''t very big. It was only around ten centimeters wide and thirty centimeters long. Its height was only twenty centimeters.

    "What is this?" Gabriel asked, looking at the snow-white box.

    "Open it," Cylix answered. "See for yourself."

    "Don''t worry. It''s nothing bad... We won''t harm you like that," Novius chimed in, seeing the suspicions on Gabriel''s face. "Just open it."

    Gabriel decided to check it. In any case, if they really wanted to hurt him, they really didn''t need to use this trick. He wasn''t in any condition to fight.

    Gabriel opened the box slowly¡­

 145 Chapter 145

    Gabriel opened the metallic box that was given to him by the Cylix and Novius.

    However, as he opened the box, he saw only one pill inside. Noticing the small white pill, he raised his head, wondering what it was.

    "What is this pill?" He asked Novius.

    Cylix couldn''t help butugh. "You know, you are strong but not quite knowledgeable. You need to work on that. It''s not just strength that can help a mage, but also the vast Knowledge. The pill you see before you is a Soul Healing Pill. It will give your soul some relief."

    "You''ve ced a lot of burden on your soul. These pills can be used to heal your soul and to relieve some symptoms like trembling," Novius exined. "Take it. There''s no poison in it."

    Gabriel suspiciously looked at Novius and Cylix. Even though he wasn''t too suspicious of them, he didn''t trust them enough to eat something that was given by them. There were many things that could go wrong.

    However, as he was concerned, the Infernal King also spoke, "You can eat. No poison."

    The Infernal King also confirmed that the pill wasn''t poisoned. If there was anything wrong, he could''ve seen it with his ming eye.

    After getting confirmation even from the Infernal King, Gabriel picked up the small white pill.

    He had never heard about a pill like that in his life, which was what surprised him even more.

    "Did you really not see a pill like that before? I thought these pills should bemon," Novius asked. "Any decent Alchemist should be able to make a pill like that."

    Gabriel wasn''t from a wealthy family. He was from a small town, so he didn''t know much. But still, if there were pills like this, he was sure that Lira would have them as well.

    "If she had them, why didn''t she give me or tell me anything about these?" Gabriel stated at the pill, lost in some thought.

    He could think of multiple possibilities, one of which could be that she didn''t think he was going to need something like this, as there was no way for him to overburden his soul with the low-tier spells that he possessed.

    It wasn''t wrong either since there was no way for Lira to know that he was going to be a Mid Tier Mage in a few days and even gain a High Tier Spell of Death...

    "It''s not his fault..." Izen chimed in, breaking his silence.

    "Speak," Cylix said, gesturing for Izen to speak further.

    "The pills aren''t easy to make... At least they weren''t in my time. The medicinal nts that are the core of the pills were bing harder and harder to find when I came here," Izen further exined. "In fact, in my time, there were only a handful of pills, and they were sold at a very expensive price."

    "I see." Cylix nodded. "So the Soul Nourishing Pills could''ve gone extinct by the present time. In that case, it''s really not surprising that he didn''t know about this."

    "What is happening in the outside World..." Novius was surprised that a pill that used to be the most basic item during their time was also extinct.

    The Soul Nourishing Pills allowed them to use spells beyond their limits without being too worried about the consequences. This also allowed them to break through their limitations by challenging their bodies.<sub> </sub>

    Unfortunately, without those pills, the side effects of spells beyond someone''s limits were too much, which slowed down the training of a Mage. No wonder the youngsters of the world were getting weakerpared to their time.

    Seeing the conversation and after getting the confirmation of the Infernal King, Gabriel ced the pill on his lips and swallowed it.

    Anyone here could lie about the pill, but the Infernal King couldn''t allow him to eat something that was dangerous for him as he was bound by the contract of the Grimoire. He could do nothing which harmed Gabriel even in the smallest way.

    As soon as Gabriel swallowed the pill, he really felt better. The pill turned to the purest form of energy inside his body which nourished his soul.

    The pure and gentle energy felt somewhat cold, but it was also very good for Gabriel''s health as the pill didn''t just nourish his soul but also returned some of his strength to him.

    The trembling in Gabriel''s hands was going down slowly with time, but the magical pill increased the process by a lot. The trembling and the body ache disappearedpletely. Gabriel''s heartbeat also returned to its usual pace.

    "This pill..."

    The pill really wasn''t poisonous. Instead, it was magical! Something like this was really too incredible!

    "You should stay seated. Don''t push your body. Even though the pill will heal some symptoms, your body is still tired. Just rest and let the pill help. Even with the pill, you still need an hour of rest," Novius told Gabriel before turning around.

    "As for your next battle, we can start that after you arepletely fine," he added without even ncing back.

    Even though he wasn''t lying about the rest that Gabriel needed, he did exaggerate the time a little to keep Gabriel here for longer. He wanted to talk to Gabriel about the outside world and how things were there at the moment since the information he received today all came as a surprise to him.

    He had many questions to ask, especially about Gabriel''s element and the Academy. But more importantly, he wanted to know about the current situation of the Dark Mages outside. Was there really no dark Mage left?

    Novius walked back to his throne with Cylix. However, they didn''t let Gabriel stay on the ground either.

    Novius pped their hands, making two thrones appear near the center of the call for Gabriel and Infernal King to sit. Since they had an hour here,

    Gabriel stood up himself after seeing the throne. He didn''t even have to ask who it was for. There were only two people here, and two new thrones had appeared.

    Surprisingly, the throne on which Axion used to be sitting before disappearing as his existence waspletely removed with his loss.

    p After Gabriel sat down, Novius also arranged for something to eat for Gabriel and the Infernal King.</anda>

    "Eat up."

    Even though Gabriel was supposed to be fighting themter, they themselves allowed Gabriel to rest and even fed him. This kind of hospitality was never received by Gabriel on any of the floors, which just made him believe that Cylix and Novius were so confident about their strength that they didn''t even consider him a challenge¡­

 146 Chapter 146

    Even though Cylix and Novius were treating him well, for some reason Gabriel didn''t like it. It made him feel weak... As if he was at the mercy of Novius and Cylix. However, he still wanted to have that fight and he wanted to be at his best for that.

    If it took some rest for him to be better, that''s what he was going to have.

    "You said the Dark Mages outside were killed?"

    Not long after Gabriel started eating, Novius asked.

    "That''s right. The Dark Mages are almost extinct," Gabriel answered as he continued eating. For some reason, he really felt hungry, even more than he ever felt before.

    After using a High Tier Spell, he felt like he was starving. Moreover, the pill only made him even hungrier. It wasn''t odd either since his body did need some strength.

    "You said almost... That means some are still alive? So there are still dark mages?" Novius inquired.

    "Of course there are. The element never died. Youngsters keep getting the Element of Darkness. But they are also killed right away. So I won''t count them as being alive. There is only one Dark Mage who had managed to survive the initial phase of her Awakening and being hunted..."

    "Who?" Novius asked. "You know that person?"

    "We..." He didn''t know how to describe Lira. She wasn''t a friend, but she wasn''t a stranger at this point either. He took a moment to find the right word. "We work together as we''re both unorthodox mages by today''s standards. Because of my element, I''m also not allowed to openly show myself without disguise..."

    "If you''re also hated like the Dark Mages, how did you get inside the Academy?" Cylix asked. "Isn''t that supposed to be risky?"

    Cylix and Novius were informed that the academy was siding with the Church of Light. If the Dark Mages and Gabriel were hated by the Church of Light, by association the Academy wouldn''t have allowed him in either.

    " I suppose that''s what the ring is for..." He realized the truth after noticing the ring of Gabriel that he saw before.

    Even though the ring of Disguise was useless before him, he understood that it could work outside. It could''ve helped Gabriel infiltrate the academy but still... Why would he take the risk?

    "Did you sneak inside the Academy just to get inside the Tower?" he asked.

    "That''s right. I wanted to test myself inside the tower. Entering the academy was the only way for me to achieve that," Gabriel responded, swiftly lying. There was no way he was going to tell her that he entered the academy to rob it, and that the tower was only an afterthought.

    "Hah, so only one person managed to get here after decades, and that person isn''t even a student of our academy. The quality of academy students is really falling," Cylix let out a sigh. He hadn''t seen a single student from the academy in all this time.

    Moreover, the youngster who did manage to get here, he wasn''t even a real student at the academy. Instead, he had bad blood with the Academy.<sub> </sub>

    Gazing at Gabriel, Cylix couldn''t help but worry about the future of the academy. The Academy was supposed to be neutral... It was supposed to be the light of guidance, which was to protect the weak and train the next generation.

    However, instead of being neutral, the academy tilted in one direction, making new enemies. Cylix could see that Gabriel wasn''t strong enough at the moment, but it was only a matter of time before he reached his true potential

    He didn''t know Gabriel''s element. It was the first time he saw an element like this, and that''s also why he wasn''t able to gauge the full potential of this Element.However, he could feel that when Gabriel reached his true potential, he could be a terrifying storm that was impossible to stop. And everyone who stood against this nightmarish storm was going to be swallowed by it.

    At the moment the Academy was standing against him.

    ''It I could leave this tower, I would''ve beaten the hell out of whoever is running the academy for all the wrong decisions. Unfortunately, I can''t leave... I''m not even real but a figment of someone''s consciousness. I can''t change anything that happens outside.''

    ''However, it might actually be toote already... The academy had allowed it to happen for too long... It strayed too far from its path. Maybe it''s the only way... They need a wakeup..."

    While Cylix was lost in his own thoughts, Novius kept his focus on Gabriel. "If your friend has managed to survive, she must be a powerful mage of darkness as well."

    He had thought that all the dark mages were extinct. He was quite relieved to know that it wasn''t the case, and that there were still some who were alive, and fighting back. Moreover, now that they had the help of Gabriel, they could really have a chance.

    Novius now wanted to help Gabriel even more since he liked him a lot. Gabriel was the only person who was siding with the Dark Mages. Moreover, if he was strong enough, he could really tilt the scales in the favour of Dark Mages so that their persecution could actually stop.

    "She is the Holy Priestess of Darkness," Gabriel answered. "She holds the Grimoire of Darkness."

    "Huh?" Novius was pleasantly surprised at the revtion. It was good that a dark mage was alive, but if that Dark Mage was the one who was selected by the Holy Grimoire of Darkness, that was even better! It meant there was really a decent chance for the Dark Mages to change the world outside.

    "It won''t be easy though," hemented, controlling his expectations."On one side, there are eight Holy Priests and their churches with an army of mages and all the support. On the other side, there are two of you who have no one other than each other..."

    "What is her name?" Novius inquired. "And how strong is shepared to you?"

    "I''m afraid I can''t tell you her strength," Gabriel kept Lira''s strength level a secret for now, just to be safe.

    However, he did tell her name. "As for her name; it''s Lira Elisi."

    As he spoke the name, he didn''t forget to observe Qin''s expressions since it was hisst name.

    "Elisi?" Qin raised his head, hearing the name. However, he soon lowered his head again. He was supposedly dead in the Academy. So there was no way he could be rted to the girl. During his time, he was thest Member of the Elisi Family after all. He believed it was just someone with a simr name.

 147 Chapter 147

    As Gabriel talked about the outside world while eating, the outside world was changing very fast.

    The entire academy was going through a significant change. The whole academy was sealed. Moreover, all the students were told to go back to their dorms. Even the fourth-year students weren''t allowed to stay outside now, including Garrick.

    Garrick didn''t understand why they were taking such drastic steps for Gabriel. Even though it was surprising that Gabriel managed to reach that floor, the Head Council members were behaving like he was an enemy of the Academy who was going to destroy everything aftering out.

    ording to Garrick, that should''ve been impossible. He didn''t know what Challenges were on the Higher Floors that he didn''t manage to reach, but he knew that all those challenges were many for Mages younger than thirty years of age. Only people younger than thirty could even attempt to climb the tower.

    So even if Gabriel actually managed to clear the 99th floor and even the 100th floor somehow, it still didn''t warrant a lockdown. Even the most talented young mage was nothing before the Head Council mages who had decades of experience and vast knowledge.

    If there was no restriction on age, he believed the Head Council member could''ve cleared the floors as well. So what was making them so concerned? Why were they taking steps as if they could be facing a terrifying enemy?

    Unfortunately, his questions only stayed in his mind as he couldn''t get any answers. The teachers didn''t even allow him to get close to the Head Council members as it was Eliana''smand that no one was to be allowed... No one!

    He could only ask the teachers that taught him throughout the years. Unfortunately, those teachers didn''t know it either. They were just as confused. It seemed that only the Head Council members knew about their reasoning.

    He could only give up and leave it to the Head Council Members, even though his curiosity was killing him.

    Even as he walked back to the Dorms, he only thought about Gabriel. Was Gabriel really a threat for the academy...? A threat that was big enough for the entire academy to be on the lockdown? Or was it rted to the hundredth floor?

    He also considered the possibility that it could be about the final floor instead of being about Gabriel. He had seen Gabriel many times. That guy could be skillful, but he wasn''t strong enough to be a threat to the teachers.

    For him, it made more sense that the Academy was being sealed because the hundredth floor was being opened. Still, until he had the final answers from the teachers, these were all guesses. Whatever being the case, he hoped that the academy wasn''t in danger.

    "He has been on the ny-ninth floor for quite some time. He could being out soon. Unless he does the unthinkable and reaches the final floor..." Rem stared at the name on the ranking.

    "If anyone can reach there, it''s him. If we are right and he''s the Prince of Darkness, he''ll be the youngest Holy Priest. The others who reached the ny-ninth floor didn''t have the help of the Holy Books after all," Yoan said, shaking his head.

    He and the others were informed of everyone that was kept hidden from them, including Gabriel''s talent measurements. The others were quite upset at Eliana for keeping such a big thing a secret from them, but they didn''t argue over it now as they had more important things to do. They had a threat to face.

    "Not just the Holy Book of Darkness," Xinci chimed in. "He also has the Ancestral Staff of Darkness that he stole from the museum. If the others had such advantages, the hundredth floor wouldn''t have been unexplored till now."<sub> </sub>

    Lishen clenched his fist, ring at the name that was in big letters on the huge tower.

    "Don''t worry. Even with the Ancestral Staff, he won''t be able to escape. We have sealed the academy. No Teleportation inside the academy will work. No matter what treasures he gets on the hundredth floor, he won''t be allowed to take them out. He chose the wrong enemies this time!"

    He treated Gabriel with such respect and love, and that guy turned out to be the enemy! It was already embarrassing enough that they were robbed, but being robbed by one of their own students from right under their noses? That was the true epitome of embarrassment! They couldn''t let him escape a second time.

    Yoan agreed with Lishen, which wasn''t often the case.

    "Heh, he should''ve stopped when he had the lead. He had finished robbing the Museum without raising much suspicions to him. He could''ve left easily, but instead, he became more greedy and went for the hundredth floor Treasures. He might be strong, but he''s certainly not very smart..."

    "That guy managed to fool you all, especially you Rem!" Xincimented. "I thought you were supposed to be the most perceptive out of all of us. We didn''t know about his talent levels and other things that you kept secret from us, but you knew it. You still couldn''t find out that something was wrong with him?"

    "His aura was faked so well. I did feel that something was wrong about him, but I didn''t take the risk. I didn''t think he would be a Mage of Darkness, using a Numen to disguise. I ept that I failed."

    Rem took the responsibility for his failure, even though he didn''t need to.

    "You better apologize to Aura too, next time you see her. And remove all the punishments you gave her for this boy," Xinci stated. "Instead of siding with her, you chose this liar?"

    "What is it about? What punishments?" It was the first time Eliana was hearing about someone being punished over Gabriel. As it was rted to the supposed Prince of Darkness, she was instantly intrigued.

    Xinci told Eliana everything that Aira told her. Initially, Aira didn''t consider it a big problem since it wasn''t a major punishment. Still, now that she found out that it was a punishment given over Gabriel, she felt pretty upset since Rem sided with a fake student over the real student.

    "He stole a mission letter?" Eliana''s face was filled with confusion. "Why would he steal a mission letter?"

    "What was in the mission?" she asked the other. "If he intentionally took it, then there must be something in the mission. Tell me the specifics about it."

    "It was a mission rted to Hawrin''s vige," Rem answered.

 148 Chapter 148

    "It was a mission rted to Hawrin''s past," Rem answered. "I made the mission avable in the Mission Hall for someone to investigate the vige where Hawrin used to live. I wanted them to find out the truth about what happened in the vige on the day of the Priest of Light, who was Hawrin''s father."

    "It was a pretty basic mission, just to interrogate the people of the vige and the neighboring towns," he continued. However, now that he knew that it could be true that Gabriel actually took the letter, he also couldn''t help but try to find something wrong with it.

    Why would Gabriel take the mission letter? Why would he try to dy the mission? Unless this mission was somehow rted to him?

    "A mission to investigate the day where Hawrin''s family was killed by a Dark Mage? Why would he care even if we investigate it? Even if the Dark Mage who did it worked for him, that wouldn''t change anything, will it?" Yoan inquired.

    "I don''t think there''s more to it than that," Remmented. Now that he could look at the bigger picture, he was able to take an educated guess.

    "I am sure that the person who killed Hawrin''s father and brother was him." He pointed at Gabriel''s name. "And he killed Hawrin now..."

    "We were looking at it all wrong! We thought that his main goal here was to take the treasures, but if he really didn''t care about Hawrin as much as his main goal, why would he be so hasty as to kill him and make his own mission hard?"

    Rem''s question was enough to make the others seriously think about it to understand what he was trying to say.

    To make it easier for them, Rem straight came to his conclusion.

    "If I''m not wrong, Gabriel is actually his real name. Karyk was the fake name that came with his fake persona. The reason he used Gabriel as his name is because he wants to leave a legacy behind in the Academy! It isn''t that he wanted to hide that he was Karyk!"

    "Moreover, one thing is for sure. Gabriel hated Hawrin and his family... He killed Hawrin''s father and his brother. And now, he killed Hawrin, even at the risk of making things hard for him, instead of waiting. That means his anger wasn''t light."

    "Think about it. Gabriel is supposed to be someone who can even kill a Holy Priestess of Water. How could a simple priest make him so angry that to wipe his own family, he had to put his life at risk?"

    "You''re saying that it wasn''t a small enmity," Eliana said, getting the gist of it.

    "Before a Holy Priest, what could a weak town priest do to offend him to this extent? Nothing. The strength difference was too high... When he was a Holy Priest, that is. But what if that enmity started before he became a Holy Priest?" Rem further stated.

    "An ordinary Priest and his son couldn''t do much to a Holy Priest of Darkness who was capable of killing a Head Priestess of Water, but they could definitely do a lot of things to instill this hate in a young man''s heart who didn''t have the strength..."<sub> </sub>

    Even though some of Rem''s assumptions were wrong, like Gabriel being a priest of Darkness or him being the one who killed the Head Priestess of water, his conclusion was quite close.

    With that line of thinking, he continued with his exnation, "In other words, I think that Gabriel hadn''t awakened his Element when his enmity with Hawrin''s family was established."

    " I don''t know what they did to someone who hadn''t awakened his Element, but it was enough to fill him with such hate that even after all this time, he still chose to kill Hawrin first, even if that meant putting his entire mission at risk," he added before finally stopping, observing the reactions of the others to see what they thought about his theory.

    "That... Does make sense. Hawrin was certainly given a painful death. He was brokenpletely before being healed and then being broken until his soul crumbled before the pain," Lishen could also see that this story made sense if they matched it with Hawrin''s death.

    "Doesn''t that also mean that this Gabriel was from Hawrin''s vige?" Yoan grimaced. "Doesn''t that also mean that Gabriel only awakened his Element a few months ago at best? And with that, he''s already so strong? Was the Element of Darkness really that strong?"

    Yoan didn''t live during the time of the Great War of Churches, but even he knew that Holy Priests shouldn''t have had such fast growth where they could kill Head Priestesses with such ease.

    They were thinking that Gabriel had at least more than a year of training, but if he really had the enmity as they talked about, that would mean that he awakened right before he attacked his Vige and even killed people there. From that time to now, only a few weeks have passed. Could someone really be that talented?

    "It''s possible... His talent is over two hundred after all," Lishen smiled wryly, scratching the back of his head. "Even though it seems unlikely, it''s not impossible. Moreover, maybe he also had the help of someone else when killing the Head Priestess of Water? So he could be strong, but not strong enough to kill a Head Priest alone."

    "So the reason he took the letter was so the mission could be canceled. He didn''t want his story to be out for some reason..." Remmented.

    "So Hawrin''s viger turned out to be a Holy Priest of Darkness. A young man awakened his element and was selected by Holy Grimoire. He was instantly strong enough to kill a Priest. This wasn''t a small thing, and there''s no way the Church of Light wouldn''t know about this!" Xinci eximed.

    She was quite angry at the Church of Light. "Those bastards misled us with half information! They made us believe that an old Mage of Darkness killed Hawrin''s parents, not telling us that it was a mage who had just awakened!"

    "No wonder Hawrin said he wasn''t allowed to talk about such things. The Church of Light wanted to keep this a secret," Lishen couldn''t understand what the Church of Light could be thinking when they came to the decision of keeping such a thing a secret.

    "They probably found it embarrassing to ept that a Novice Mage of Darkness killed one of their Priests," Yoan scoffed. "Those bastards will really do anything for their pride."

    "No. I don''t think that''s it..." Rem disagreed."They could''ve at least told us and warned us if it was just about a young mage killing. There was definitely something more to it..."

 149 Chapter 149

    "The Church of Light members are shallow, but even they aren''t people who will keep everyone in the dark if there was a threat like this. There was probably something more to it, which only they know."

    ****

    While the Head Council Members were trying to guess the reason behind the Church of Light''s actions, the Church was also going through some changes.

    The Church of Light had mobilized most of its strength. White a lot of Church Members had moved out of the city, finishing a few Head Priests, as if they were going for a war.

    Only a few Head Priests and members were left behind in the Church to protect it. Their sudden action and the Explosion in the Academy... It all gave the citizens an impression that the city had been attacked, and now the Church was mobilizing to take down whoever dared to attack the Church.

    Out in the forest near the city, Lira also noticed many Mages of Light from the Church leaving, being led by the Head Priests. She kept her distance and ensured they couldn''t sense her as she saw their strange actions.

    She could also see that the city had been sealed entirely, and no one was allowed to enter the city now. She couldn''t help but wonder if it was because Gabriel had been caught. Did the City find out about Gabriel and their n? Was that why they sealed the city?

    That could exin why the Church of Light members were leaving the city. If they actually found out about their n, they were also going to know that Lambard and she were involved.

    What was worse was that this was going to be the evidence for them that someone was trying to recreate the Church of Darkness, which was enough of an excuse for the Church of Light to ask help from the other Churches to take down Lambard, who was now proven to be helping the return of the Church of Darkness.

    Last time, it was only the Church of Light that attacked Lambard''s city. It was only the Power of one church, and that too when the Holy Priest of Light hadn''t joined the attack properly due to his deteriorating health.

    The other Churches didn''t consider this matter of grave importance, like destroying the Church of Light. However, if they knew their n, then they definitely had the potential to convince the other Churches to get involved in this matter, bringing a union just like there existed during the days when the Church of Darkness was destroyed.

    Before that kind of coalition, even Lambard was going to have a hard time, even if he never left his city. Despite the city being a Fortress Numen, before thebined strength of all the Head of Churches, that imprable defense could also be broken.

    "That doesn''t make sense though. If he was caught, why didn''t he use the stone to call me for help?" she wondered. "Just what is happening inside the city?!"

    ****

    "That idiot!" Lambard was furious, raging in his room as he paced back and forth. It was just now that he received some information from his spies, which was infuriating.<sub> </sub>

    "Here, I was preparing to wee him back, and there he was, pulling such a stupid trick? That naive idiot! You know, people are right! Even if you give an idiot the greatest strength in the world, he''ll still find a way to die due to his own stupidity!"

    Maria stood at the other end of the room, surprised. She had never seen Lambard so angry in her lifetime. Lambard was someone who always had an ice-cool mindset, no matter what kind of troubles there were.

    Even when he was attacked by the Church of Light, he hadn''t been this angry.

    "What happened?" Maria asked, trying to understand just what could''ve made him so angry. From his words, she was sure that it was rted to Gabriel. But in what ways? Just what did Gabriel do that had managed to upset him this much?

    "What happened? That idiot happened!" Lambard scoffed. "He had all the treasures of the Academy. All he had to do was leave ande here. But that idiot chose to stay behind!"

    "He cane after a few days. Is it really that upsetting?" Maria asked. The only reason he was so angry was because Gabriel decided to stay at the academy for longer.

    <o>,m "It''s not that he just decided to stay behind. I would''ve been fine with that since it''s understandable he would want to spend a few more days using the ring! But that idiot entered the Tower of Challenges and revealed his identity!" Lambard''s face was red in anger.</o>

    He had so many expectations. He was already dreaming about having all those Numens in his hands. However, thanks to Gabriel, all those Numens were now far out of his reach.

    He had tossed away everything just to climb the tower. Now it was impossible for him toe out. It was one thing to steal all the artifacts from right under their noses, but now that they knew about him, there was no way for him to be able to leave!

    The entire academy was sealed at the moment, including the space around it. This was the end! ording to Lambard, it was inevitable that Gabriel was going to be caught, and all the Numens were going to be taken back by the Academy.

    "I was so close to having all those precious artifacts! But because of the stupidity of one person...!"

    Lambard didn''t have even one percent hope that Gabriel could escape safely. Not only was he caught, but he was caught because of his own stupidity! Moreover, now that he was going to be caught, there was no way he wasn''t going to expose all their ns, including his involvement in it!

    "Maria! Cancel the feast. Instead, prepared for a war," Lambard dered, clenching his fist. He knew what wasing.

 150 Chapter 150

    "I''ll increase the Defences of the city," he stated. "Thanks to our dear stupid friend, we might be under attack likest time again. We would be lucky if it''s just one Church this time."

    In his anger, Lambard had even canceled the lease on the ring that he had given to Gabriel.

    The Ring of Disguise was still connected to him. And he decided to take back the ring. It was better to take it back now that Gabriel didn''t need it, thanks to his mistakes!

    ****

    "Hmm?" Gabriel had just finished talking about the outside world. He was now ready for his next battle, but as he stood up, he saw the Ring of Apophis leave his finger on its own, flying away.

    He reached out his hand to grab the ring, but he couldn''t. The ring just disappeared into thin air before he could get a hold of it.

    Now he only had one ring in his hand¡ª the Ring of his Grimoire.

    "What in the..." Gabriel just stood nkly, looking at the empty space where the ring disappeared.

    "It seems you didn''t have the ownership of that ring," Cylixmented as he had seen the entire phenomenon. The real owner recalled that ring.

    "Lambard? But I still have some time left before my one week is over. Why would the ring leave so soon?" Gabriel was confused.

    How was he going to leave the Tower like this? Without his disguise, it was going to be even more problematic for him.

    "How could I forget... Words are just words... Even promises don''t hold any value in this world. I thought his greed for the Numens was enough to make him keep his word to me, but he''s tossing me under the bus now?"

    It was one more disappointment for Gabriel. Even though he hadn''t trusted Lambard with everything, he still expected him to keep his words for seven days just because of his greed for Numens that he possessed now. However, Lambard was more selfish than greedy

    Just like Lambard was angry at Gabriel, Gabriel was also quite upset. He believed that Lambard recalled the ring so that he could give it to the Holy Priestess of Water! So he ced him at risk, only to get more profits for himself.

    "He probably knows I finished my mission here, and now he wants to force me to leave faster. At the same time, he wants to give this ring to her. That bastard..."

    "You should''ve bounded that Numen to yourself..." Novius told Gabriel. "That way, you could''ve kept that ring. Then again, let me guess. You don''t know what Numen binding is?"

    Gabriel shook his head. He had heard about Numens only a few days ago. How could he know what Numen binding was?

    "Sigh, the more I get to know you, the more surprised I get. However, at this point, I''m starting to get you."<sub> </sub>

    "Numen Binding is simr to the contracting process that Summoners do with their Summons. In other words, it''s like establishing a connection like you did with the Undead beside you," Novius exined.

    "As you should already know, Numens are special. They have a soul of their own. That''s what makes them different from human-made false artifacts. You can''t bind man-made Artefacts, but you can bind a Numen to your soul."

    "Most of the mages during our time used to do that to keep their Numens safe. This way, they could make sure that no one could use their Numens without their permission. There are also some Numens like that ring which disappeared and can also link with the space to get back to their owners whenever they wish."

    "So if I have Numens, they can be recalled back? I can''t use them?" Gabriel asked, surprised. Didn''t that mean that all the Numens that he had were useless?

    "Wait a minute. How can I use this sword then?" He called out the sword of Ulien.

    Even though he felt some resistance from the sword, there was no restriction on its usage.

    "Because that Sword is ownerless," Cylix answered. "In other words, no one has bound this Sword to themselves since itsst owner died."

    "That''s why you can use it even now. But still, I would advise you to bind it to yourself as soon as you can," he further suggested. "It''s like a security mechanism. If only you had bounded that ring as well, it wouldn''t have disappeared."

    "Didn''t that ring already have an owner? How could I bind it to myself? What happened to the safety mechanism if anyone can bind anyone''s Numen?" Gabriel asked. If it was really that easy to bind, then could it really be called a safety mechanism?"

    "That''s not how it usually works, but it would''ve worked for you," Cylix responded. "Let me exin properly."

    "There are two types of Numens. The ones who have living owners, and the ones whosest owners are dead. If it''s the former type of Numen with living owners, a person can''t bind them to their souls unless their soul is way stronger than the soul of thest owner."

    " I don''t know who the owner of that ring was, but I''m sure that your soul was definitely stronger than their soul since your soul is connected to the Grimoire. That''s why you could''ve broken their binding and bound that ring to yourself."

    " And if it''s an ownerless Numen, it''s much easier to bind it to yourself. That''s why most of the Mages chose to bind their Numens. If you bind that Sword to yourself, then as long as you''re alive, no one will be able to use that without your permission."

    "Moreover, no one will be able to bind it to themselves since their souls just can''t be stronger than yours, thanks to your Grimoire."

    "If you have any other Numen besides that sword, you should bind that to you as well while you have the opportunity," Novius suggested.

    Gabriel instantly agreed to ept his suggestion. As for the question, ''If he had any other Numen?''

 151 Chapter 151

    "I don''t know how to bind anything," Gabriel just stood, staring at his red Sword.

    He hadn''t learned about this binding yet. However, he understood the importance of it. If he managed to bind these Numens to himself, then no one could use them without his permission. For others, they were going to be no more than wasted artifacts.

    If there was anyone who looked like who could teach him, it was the two people ahead of him. Even though they were his challenges, they didn''t shy away from imparting their knowledge, maybe because they didn''t feel threatened by him.

    Whatever being the case, he wanted to learn from them as to how he could bind these artifacts to himself.

    "Oh, we know that," Cylix chuckled. "We know that you are like a nk canvas without much information about the things that every mage should know. However, we don''t mind helping you."

    He nced at Novius. "Do you want to teach him, or should I?"

    Both of them wanted to help Gabriel. There was no doubt about that in their heads.

    Novius agreed as he stood up. He walked down the golden steps toe closer to Gabriel.

    "The most important thing when you bind a treasure to yourself is your blood as it is your blood which contains the essence of your Element and your soul, both." Novius raised his hand, making a small white crystal appear before him, which was semi-transparent as if it didn''t really exist in reality.

    The small crystal floated in the air before Novius, who made a small scratch on his finger to make it bleed. He let a blood droplet call on the crystal and then used that blood droplet to make a symbol on the crystal.

    After he was fine, he stepped back a bit. "That is it. That''s the basic formation that one can use to bind a Numen to them. Observe from closer and learn it, so you never forget."

    Gabriel stepped closer and looked at the blood formation from closer, which was white simple. The formation seemed like two stars were made, connecting with each other inside a blood circle that protected the stars.

    Even the Infernal King also stepped forward, observing the formation carefully.

    "You said this is the basic formation? Is there anything more than it?" he asked Novius.

    "Of course there is, but that''s not important. You can make your personal signature, or any Symbol, on top of the present basic formation, as a form of a unique formation that only you make. That often acts as a sign of who the owner really is, to keep the others away. However, that''s not really needed. You''ll be fine even if you don''t do it.

    "There are many who make unique formations with the basic, personal to them to be more attached to their Numens," Novius exined. "However, there are also ones who go with the basics, not caring about having a personal binding formation."

    "Novius was the one who never chose to make any unique marks on his binding formations," Cylix chimed in. "On the contrary, I made sure to make my own binding formation with my signature. Why would I hide that I own a Numen? It''s my Numen, and I wanted it to have my own unique taste."

    He further stated, "There''s one more advantage to it. Even though we don''t have any evidence for it, I believe that personalizing your bidding formations with a sign or anything that''s close to your heart, it makes the binding force even stronger. I think it even strengthens the Numen a little, as it helps the Numens understand us."

    "Unfortunately, Novius refused to believe me. I can''t prove it either, as it''s just a feeling. Who knows, I might be wrong, but I prefer that you personalize your Numen and you be the judge."

    "It''s your choice if you want to make the basic formation or add more to it. Unlike my friend above, I won''t try to influence you. Select what your heart desires," Novius made the small illusory crystal disappear before walking back.

    He didn''t quite believe Cylix''s theory as he had also once tried to personalize his binding formation, but he didn''t feel any difference from his usual binding formations. Everything was the same. The only difference was that it took more time than it would''ve taken with a basic formation. That''s why he never tried again.

    Novius walked back to the throne and sat on it.

    "Go ahead. Give it a try," Cylix suggested. For some reason, neither he nor Novius was in any hurry to bring Gabriel to the next battle yet. Instead, they seemed like Teachers who were trying to reach a student.<sub> </sub>

    It wasn''t rare for them either, as they always had a mindset that it was good to spread knowledge. They believed that was the only way a world could grow. That''s also why they established the Academy.

    However, even though they werepassionate, they were especially kind to Gabriel, as they believed that Gabriel could be theirst student. He could very well be thest person who wasn''t affected by the lies spread in the outside world that were ever going toe here.

    They still didn''t know if he was going to win against them or not, but they really wanted him to. That''s why they were also trying to increase his strength. In essence, they were trying to make their opponent stronger so that he could have a much better time in defeating them.

    Gabriel had managed to memorize the binding formation that Novius created, and he really wanted to try it without dy.

    Gabriel turned his sword to the other side to make its hilt face him. At the same time, he also observed everything to make sure that there were indeed no binding formations on the sword before it.

    As expected, the sword had no blood mark. Thest mark it had was gone with the death of itsst owner.

    He was still somewhat surprised though. Why didn''t anyone at the academy bound the Numens to themselves, possibly the Dean! Why were the treasures kept in the museum without the additional protection of the Binding Formations?

    Then again, he also guessed that the Academy didn''t truly own the Numens, and not even the Dean was allowed to own the Numens. Moreover, it wasn''t as if they were expecting someone to steal all the Numens from right under their noses.

    Gabriel made a small cut on his finger with the de of the Sword of Ulien and made the blood droplet fall on the de of the Sword, right under the hilt.

    He made the two connected stars, just as Novius had shown him, before circling the two stars. As soon as he finished the small formation, he actually felt somewhat connected to the sword. The Sword didn''t resist the binding either, as it had been submissive to him in all the battles they went to.

    After finishing the formation, Gabriel sat for a few seconds, wondering what he could customize it with. Just what could be his mark... The mark of Gabriel that was unique and personal only to himself.

    As he was thinking about what to make, he remembered something. Amongst all his ups and downs, there was one thing that had always been constant. The moon had always been watching over him.

    Whenever he missed his mother in his childhood and cried on the roof all alone, it was the beauty of the moon in which he found his true sce.

    Whenever he was feeling down, he came to the roof at night, sleeping under the moonlight. If there was anyone, he told all his hopes and dreams; it was the moon in the sky.

    Even on the day which was supposed to be hisst day in the vige, he went to the roof with Maya, just gazing at it with her. No matter what, the moon''s presence in his life had always been a constant.

    The moon watched him lose his mother... It watched him cry all alone in the darkness... It watched him fall in love¡­ It watched him be killed... The moon also watched himing back to life, and now it was watching him satisfy his hunger of revenge.

    If the two stars signified him and his Numen, then the moon signified all his past and his present struggles.

    He cut his finger a bit more, using another droplet of his blood to make the moon. However, he didn''t make a full moon this time.

    Right on top of the Formation Circle, he made a waxing crescent moon, signifying the darkness that was slowly swallowing the light of the moon.

    Under the blood moon, he pressed his finger hard, making two blood dots, as if the dots were the tears of the moon that were falling over the two stars.

    If there was anything personal to him, it was the bleeding moon and the stars. This was his personal sign!

    As Gabriel made this sign, he didn''t realize the significance of it. He didn''t know how one day his sign was going to be a symbol of fear and terror¡­

 152 Chapter 152

    As he finished making his own Numen binding symbol, the binding waspleted.

    Gabriel raised the sword, making some actions with it, swinging it around.

    His feet also moved with every movement of the sword, as if he was performing a Sword dance. For some reason, after he finished binding the Sword of Ulien, he felt even morefortable with it. The sword seemed sharper, and it seemed faster now.

    Instead of being light like before, the sword was slightly heavier. But that additional weight only worked to make this sword even more bnced. With more weight behind it, the attacks of the sword came with much more force.

    Moreover, even as he used the sword, he looked way more skillful with it. As soon as he bound the Sword to him, he had managed to understand the Numen even more, including the secret advantages of the sword that he hadn''t known before. Along with the connection, he also gained the skills that used this sword.

    After testing the Sword of Numen, Gabriel sent the sword back to his ring.

    "How was it? Much better, right?" Cylix asked, expecting some excitement on Gabriel''s face.

    Unfortunately, Gabriel looked more grim than excited as he stared at his hand.

    "Is there any problem?" Novius was also intrigued why he was so grim. "What are you thinking about?"

    "Just wondering if I even have enough blood to bind all my Numens," Gabriel answered. It was a unique problem he had.

    "Hahaha, just that?" Cylix burst into a healthyughter, finding his problem to be non-existent. He was worried over nothing. "What''s two or three droplets of blood? I don''t think this should trouble you."

    "It''s not just two or three droplets." Gabriel knew just how many Numens he had. He needed to bind them all, but that was also going to take a lot of his blood.

    "You take one or two drops of blood for each binding. If not two droplets for all your Numens, maybe ten drops?" Cylix guessed. "Not like you have tens of Numens lying in your storage space."

    Gabriel didn''t answer. He didn''t remove their misunderstanding for now. He wasn''t going to ce all the Numens before them that he stole from their own Academy. He decided to do it one by one.

    Instead of telling them how many Numens he actually had, Gabriel walked back to the seat. Even if it was going to take a bit more of his blood, he still wanted to bind all his Numens before leaving this ce.

    He had time as well since after leaving the city; he was sure that Lira was going to be waiting for him. He wanted to bind all the Numens to himself before leaving as he didn''t n on sharing any with anyone else. At least until he desired.

    If binding a Numen made him understand just what that Numen was capable of, he wanted to don as many as he could before leaving.

    He sat on the seat and called out the second Numen. A pitch ck bracelet appeared in his hand, which was only one millimeter thick and three centimeters wide.

    On the pitch ck bracelet, there was a beautiful red gem right at the center of it.

    So far, Gabriel had no idea just what this Numen was as he had been called by Eliana with Cain before they could be taught about other Numens. That''s why, other than a few Numens, he waspletely ignorant about most.

    "That bracelet..."<sub> </sub>

    Novius and Cylix didn''t recognize that bracelet either. They could just feel that it was a Numen from its energy. However, there was one person who recognized this Numen.

    He had seen that Numen once before as well, in the Museum of Academy of Elements. It was there by the time he hade to take part in the tower in hisst year. It was surprising to see the same in Gabriel''s hand.

    "How do you have that Numen?" Izen asked, not keeping his curiosity to himself. "It should''ve been at the Academy of Elements."

    Gabriel didn''t respond. He just sliced his finger again and started making the symbol that was going to be known as the Symbol of the Necromancer throughout the world.

    "You know that Numen?"Cylix was quite intrigued to hear that this Numen was kept safe at the Academy.

    "I do. I''ve seen this Numen before in my time. It was kept in the Museum amongst all the other artifacts. That Bracelet is the Bracelet of Yerin, worn by Demigod Yerin," Yerin exined.

    "You''re quite right." Gabriel wore the bracelet in his right hand after he finished binding it. Unlike the sword, this artifact was an essory that he could wear all the time.

    "This is the same bracelet of Yerin that you saw in the Museum of Elements."

    "Then how do you have it?" Cylix inquired.

    "He robbed it; what else?" Novius smirked. He wasn''t upset at the thought though. In fact, he was quite pleased. If Gabriel actually robbed the Academy, he was happy.

    The Academy at present wasn''t the same Academy that they left. It had been overtaken by a bunch of cowards who only went along with the masses. It was better that they didn''t possess such things.

    "No wonder he was so distressed when he knew that he had to use blood to bind all the artifacts," Novius finally understood Gabriel''s worries. "So, tell me Gabriel. How many Treasures did you manage to steal?"

    "All," Gabriel answered, stunning both Cylix and Novius. It was one thing to steal a few Numens, but stealing everything that the Academy possessed?

    "Wait, not all. I don''t have the Mirror of Tis that they use to measure someone''s talent." After binding the third artifact, Gabriel sent it back in his ring before calling out the next.

    "Also, I don''t consider it stealing from the Academy."

    "Then what do you consider it?" Cylix asked.

    "How can it be stealing when I took something that doesn''t belong to the Academy in the first ce?" Gabriel asked in return. "Weren''t you the ones who said that Numens without a mark of binding are ownerless?"

    As he answered, he kept looking inside his Spatial Storage to find the next artifact to bind with his soul.

    He wanted to bind a powerful item with him next, which could increase his strength even more. However, even he hadn''t realized at the moment that he was right on the verge of taking a decision that could alter his life and this future forever in a direction he couldn''t have reckoned...

 153 Chapter 153

    "No one owned these things, not even the academy. And even if the Academy did own these artifacts, so what?" he asked the two Founders of the Academy.

    "When we are killed just for our Elements, and the Academy even helps the killers, they don''t deserve to hold these Artefacts. If they keep it, these Numens would just end up in the hands of my enemies if I don''t take them right now."

    "Before they can give it to others, it''s much better for me to take them from their hands and reduce their burdens."

    As Gabriel exined his thinking, he was looking inside his space, wondering which Numen to bind next. However, his eyes soon fell on a specific Numen, which made him intrigued. He really wondered if he could bind that item to himself as well? Was that even possible?

    He looked at the item before bringing it out. Qin and Novius felt some affinity with the item as soon as it was called out, even if the item was wrapped in a piece of cloth.

    "You said there was no restriction on what I could bind, right?" he asked before unwrapping that item. "I want to bind this to me. Is it possible?"

    Even though Novius could feel the energy of the item, he was still surprised as he saw the item. When it was hard for them toe across even one Ancestral Staff, Gabriel was walking around with two?

    Still, he was less surprised by what the item was and more by what Gabriel was suggesting to be done with it.

    "Ancestral Staff of Darkness? You want to bind that to yourself?" Novius asked, quite stunned by the preposterous idea. "Do you even have the element of darkness?"

    "My second Element does share some properties with Darkness. But I don''t have a specific Element of Darkness control.Still, I want to bind this to me. Is it possible?"

    Seeing what Gabriel wanted to attempt, even Cylix found the young man crazy. But he was an interesting kind of crazy. It was quite exciting to see a person like him. Even though the idea was crazy, it was still intriguing to think if it was even possible.

    "Why do you want to bind another Ancestral Staff when you have your own Elemental Ancestral Staff?" he asked. "Moreover, don''t you work with Lira? You can also give it to her, right? So why?"

    "Have you ever been betrayed by your best friend?" Gabriel asked in response, staring at the alluring Ancestral Staff of Darkness.

    Cylix and Novius looked at each other. They were each other''s best friend, but they had never betrayed each other. They didn''t even think about the possibility. Still, they both know just what an awful feeling it would be if one of them betrayed the other.

    "When you are betrayed by your own, you be hesitant in trusting even your own Shadow with information that could harm you," Gabriel further continued. "And this Staff is more than just a tool that could be used to harm me."

    Gabriel came here to get the Ancestral Staff of Darkness for Lira, but he wasn''t intending to give it to her just yet.

    " I told you before... I work with her, but we aren''t friends," he repeated. "And I don''t trust her to the extent of giving her this Ancestral Staff without any failsafe to protect me,"

    Even at the start beforeing here, he was still thinking if he should give her the Ancestral Staff or not. He knew that she could betray him after getting the Ancestral Staff, even though the chances of that were very small. Even with that small possibility, he wasn''t going to take the risk.

    "After binding the Staff to myself, I''ll give it to her to use it. However, then, she won''t be able to use the Ancestral Staff to betray me. That will be my failsafe."<sub> </sub>

    Even though he felt that Lira wasn''t going to betray her only ally, he had had enough of trusting others. He wasn''t going to take the risk as he was still weaker than her for now.

    If he could bind the staff to himself, then even Lira shouldn''t be able to control her Ancestral Staff without his permission. With that, if Lira ever tried to attack him, he could just take away that staff, which could weaken Lira more, giving him an advantage against her.

    ording to him, this could be his failsafe. The only problem was that this was an Ancestral Staff of Darkness, so trying to bind it was going to be quite hard, especially since he didn''t have the Element of Darkness himself.

    "Can I do it?" he asked the two friends on the main throne. He didn''t know if something like this was ever attempted before, but from their expressions, the answer was most likely a no.

    "Honestly, I don''t think I''ve ever heard anything like this. No one even tried to do it in our time," Cylix answered before turning to Izen. "Did you hear about something like this?"

    "Never." Izen also shook his head. It was also his first time hearing something like this. This was definitely a crazy attempt that no one had tried before. Honestly, no one ever needed to attempt it either.

    "I think technically, it should be possible. However, it''s definitely not easy at all." Novius also didn''t know if it could be done or not, but he knew that it was possible. "Are you sure you want to try it?"

    The Ancestral Staffs were also simr to Numens, even though they were more powerful than other Numens. As for the Holy Grimoires, they were in a different league of their own.

    "The Ancestral Staffs do have a Soul of their own as well, but their souls are connected to their respective Grimoires. So if you try to bind it, you won''t just be fighting the Soul of the Ancestral Staff. You''ll also be going against the Holy Grimoire of Darkness," Novius reminded Gabriel just how hard this was.

    "In other words, it can just as easily be a battle between your Grimoire and the Grimoire of Darkness. Normally, with that kind of battle, I would think your chances of sess were nil. However, you do have some advantages," Cylix exined. "It''s definitely a crazy idea, but it is ever going to be possible; it''s right here."

    "The different space on this Floor weakens a Numen. As you saw before, ordinary Numens don''t even work here. As for something like Ancestral Staff, it would be weakened a lot. Moreover, the distance of this staff from the owner of the staff is quite a lot as well."

    "Taking all that into consideration, I would say you have a ten percent chance of sess. It''s still very low, but much better than it would be outside when the Ancestral Staff isn''t restricted. So do you want to take the risk?"

    Cylix gazed at Gabriel with curiosity, wondering if he was going to ept. The chances weren''t in his favor, and there were too many risks since his soul could seriously be hurt in this. However, if anyone could do this, Cylix believed it was Gabriel.

    "I think you shouldn''t do this. Even with a weakened Ancestral Staff of Darkness, the burden on your soul would be quite harsh. Even with the backing of your Grimoire, your soul will be the weak link of this entire process. You might see if you seriously get hurt."

    Unlike Cylix, Novius tried to talk Gabriel out of this idea since he didn''t want Gabriel to take this risk. Moreover, he knew that this could create a wall between Gabriel and Lira which he didn''t want. He wanted Gabriel and Lira to work together.

    Unfortunately for him, Gabriel had made up his mind. He needed Lira''s help. However, he wanted to be able to protect himself against her as well. This was the only option.

    He bit his finger, making it bleed...

 154 Chapter 154

    Gabriel bit his fingers, ignoring the suggestion given to him by Novius. Even though it was risky, he was fully prepared to attempt what was supposed to be impossible.

    A blood droplet fell on the Ancestral Staff of Darkness that was lying on the ground, unmoving.

    As soon as Gabriel''s blood touched the Staff of Darkness, it evaporated instantly. It didn''t stay on the Ancestral Staff for even a second before disappearing, as if the Staff didn''t allow his blood to be there. Not only did the blood burn, but Gabriel also felt a bit hurt at the same time.

    He didn''t know why but as soon as his blood touched the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, his hand felt a burning sensation, even though it wasn''t touching the Ancestral Staff of Darkness.

    "One drop won''t be enough for a treasure like the staff," Cylix reminded Gabriel, who was staring at his hand after that burning sensation. His hand was still looking fine.

    Gabriel ced his bleeding finger on the Ancestral Staff of Darkness directly this time.

    "Urgh!"

    As his fingernded on the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, he felt as if he had ced his finger on moltenva. The pain was just so much that subconsciously, he would''ve already taken off his finger if he wasn''t making a conscious effort in forcing it there.

    Unfortunately, this wasn''t just a burning sensation like before this time. His finger''s skin was actually being burned.For Gabriel, a single second here felt like an eternity before this pain.

    Despite all the problems, he kept his finger hard pressed on the staff as he started carving the binding symbol on the Ancestral Staff.

    Other than the resistance and the pain of being burned, he didn''t face much trouble, thanks to which he was able to finish carving the binding formation sessfully, but that was just the initial part. Just carving the binding formation wasn''t enough. It needed to seed as well.

    As soon as he finished the formation, he retracted his hand, observing his burned skin.

    "Minor Heal."

    He cast a Minor Heal on his finger to give some relief in the pain. Unfortunately, the Minor Heal didn''t work for a wound like this.

    Even though he could see his finger bones through the burnt flesh, the healing didn''t heal his skin as if this wound was too much for it.

    It was also somewhat because it was his right hand that was burned. His Mark of Death was also in his right hand, which decreased the influence of other elemental spells around it, especially the element of Light.

    The pain was hard to deal with, but more than that, Gabriel was concerned about the Ancestral Staff of Darkness. His blood was still on the staff, but the trail of his blood on his mark was slimming down. Even after all this, the binding hadn''t even started taking effect.

    "Is it really not possible?" Gabriel muttered, noticing his Blood Mark almost on the verge of disappearing.

    "Hmm?"

    It was as if Gabriel had already given in when he noticed something different. The blood had donated stopped deteriorating just when the spell was on the verge of being destroyed, being held by a small thread.

    The Ancestral Staff of Darkness started shaking on the ground as his blood finally started taking effect.

    Gabriel had used more blood on the Ancestral Staff of Darkness than he did on any other Numen, and finally, it looked like something was happening.<sub> </sub>

    The Blood formation that he cast on the Ancestral Staff started shining as the spell finally decided to attempt the binding to Gabriel.

    Cylix straightened up. Finally, something was happening. He looked at the Ancestral Staff of Darkness getting down from his throne. He wanted to look from closer.

    Novius also followed behind. The two moved within five-meter range of the Ancestral Staff of Darkness,ing close but not too close.

    As the symbol on the Ancestral Staff started shining, Gabriel felt his head beginning to thump as if someone was hitting his head again and again with a hammer.

    He also felt like all his strength was being sucked down by the Mark of Binding in an attempt to keep the Staff in Control until the binding was sessful.

    With time, Gabriel weakened more and more until he felt no different than he did after Axion''s battle. The burden on his soul was too much, simr to when he used a high-tier spell before.

    The only difference was that at least the high-tier spell was sessful, even though it harmed him. But this Mark of Binding? Even now, it hasn''t seeded. The mark of binding was still shining, trying to gather more and more strength.

    The Ancestral Staff of Darkness also didn''t stop resisting. Its shaking intensified only. Even though it was in a different space, the Ancestral Staff of Darkness was still connected to the Holy Grimoire of Darkness.

    Lira was in the forest, wondering if she should send someone else inside the Lumen City to find out what happened inside the city with Gabriel, when she felt her Holy Grimoireing out to its real form.

    The Holy Grimoire opened on its own; without anymand from Lira, the pages of the Holy Grimoire started flipping on their own, turning from one nk page to the other.

    "What is happening?" Lira wondered, confused. Even she hadn''t seen something like this happen before. She failed to understand what was happening. Why was her Ancestral Grimoire getting so impatient?

    The Holy Grimoire of Darkness stopped on the middle page, which waspletely empty at the moment.

    Some words started appearing on the page.

    Lira read those words, only to be stunned.

    ****

    The Ancestral Staff of Darkness kept resisting to Gabriel, even as the binding formation tried to tie it.

    Gabriel was already feeling very weak after having to use so much energy to control the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, and his Grimoire wasn''t helping him either. It was as if it was his Grimoire''s way of telling him that he had to do it himself.

    The Ancestral Staff of Darkness also started shining as a mysterious ck energy surrounded the Ancestral Staff. The dark energy soon exploded, spreading all over the floor, making everything pitch ck.

    In the Darkness, only Novius and Qin were able to see as they were Mages of Darkness who could see in this darkness as well.

    Both of them saw Gabriel closing his eyes as soon as the dark energy spread out. It was unclear if it was from weakness or from something else, but Gabriel lost his consciousness.

    The Darkness that had spread all around also disappeared as soon as Gabriel lost consciousness. The darkness disappeared, revealing the Ancestral Staff of Darkness. The binding formation was still there, but it was even weaker as its shine was decreasing with time.

 155 Chapter 155

    The Ancestral Staff also stopped shaking.

    "It looks like he failed," Cylixmented, walking closer to Gabriel. He ced his hand on Gabriel''s head, letting out a sigh. "It was indeed too much for him."

    "Of course it was." Novius agreed. "Even a Holy Mage shouldn''t be able to control an Ancestral Staff of other Elements. It''s just thew of Nature. Even though it should be possible, it will be harder than swimming across the entire ocean without using any spell."

    The light of the Binding Spell kept going down, but right when it was on the verge of disappearing, it stopped. Sometimes the blood formation stopped shining entirely, and sometimes it again started shining. It was unclear what was happening, but something wasn''t right.

    The formation wasn''t seeding, but it wasn''t failing either. It was still stuck in some limbo, flickering.

    "It''s not disappearing?" Cylix eximed, slightly surprised.

    He didn''t understand how it was possible. If Gabriel was unconscious, there was no way this blood formation wasn''t going to disappear. However, if he wasn''t unconscious, then what?

    ****

    As soon as the darkness spread everywhere, Gabriel felt his vision turning dark. His body was already very weak, but as the darkness hit his body, he felt even worse.

    He didn''t know what had happened, but it was as if he had lost control of his body. He couldn''t even feel his body at the moment.

    The silence and the darkness disappeared within a few seconds on the outside, but for Gabriel, this Darkness was Eternal as he couldn''t feel or see anything. It was like he was blind as well.

    After what seemed like an eternity, the darkness started retreating, and he started regaining his vision.

    It was still dark around him, but it was the darkness of night. It wasn''t the blinding darkness that made him unable to see anything. Here, he could see most of the things.

    There was a night sky above his head. He couldn''t see any moon above him though.

    He was standing on what seemed like grass, but the grass was pitch ck.

    "Another dream?" Gabriel muttered. He only had one way to see if he was in a dream or not. In his strange Dreams, he only had the Element of Necromancy. However, in real life, he had two elements.

    He looked at the back of his left hand.

    "The Mark of Light is still there... So it''s not one of the weird dreams I''ve been having recently. But what then? Where am I?"

    "You are in my Realm of Darkness," a Voice came from the back, making Gabriel turn around.

    "Lira?" Gabriel gazed back, noticing the young woman he had met before.<sub> </sub>

    "When I came to know that someone was trying to bind the Ancestral Staff which belonged to me, I wondered who it could be. But it''s you¡­ I didn''t expect it, honestly."

    Lira looked at Gabriel in slight disgust. She had sent him there to bring the staff to her, and he was trying to steal the staff for himself. If she hadn''t found out about it, she never would''ve known.

    "Your Realm of Darkness? What is this ce, and why did you bring me here?"

    Gabriel didn''t answer her question. Instead, he asked a question of his own. First, he needed to find out what this ce was before doing anything.

    Moreover, it wasn''t as if he expected Lira to know before he seeded. He thought it was only his battle against the staff and the Grimoire, not Lira as well.

    "It''s the Realm of Darkness where you''ll be spending the rest of your life," Lira answered. "For your sins of trying to steal what belonged to me, this shall be your punishment."

    Gabriel frowned as soon as he heard her words. Just what did she mean this was his punishment? It looked like one of her spells, but she shouldn''t have been able to cast it on him. And even if she did, he should''ve been protected in a different realm.

    "How did you manage to bring me here?" he asked. To know how to get out of here, he needed to know how he came here in the first ce.

    "You came here because of yourself. You tried to control my staff, which weakened your soul in return. And through the same staff, my Grimoire brought that weakened soul inside this realm which will be your permanent home," Lira responded. "This is your punishment for betrayal."

    "There was no betrayal. I was still going to give the Ancestral Staff of Darkness to you after controlling it to some extent," Gabriel responded, which wasn''t a lie at all. He actually was going to give the Staff to Lira after he seeded.

    In other words, he actually hadn''t betrayed her. He was supposed to bring the Ancestral Staff to her, and he was doing it. There was no mention that he wasn''t allowed to bind the Staff to himself. How could it be betrayal when he wasn''t harming her or doing anything simr? He was just creating a safety mechanism for himself.

    "Keep your lies to yourself." Lira refused to believe Gabriel, and even if she could, she wasn''t going to let him leave after all this.

    "You have two options now, and none of them involve you leaving this ce. The first option is you tell me where my Staff is at the moment. If you take that option, you''ll only be imprisoned here.

    "The second option is that you keep your silence, but that won''t be a good option for you, as I''ll destroy your soul right here in that instance. You were already weaker than me before, but now you''re in the Realm of Darkness, where I''m even stronger. So I would advise you to take the first option."

    Even though Lira gave Gabriel two options, none of them were good for him as no way in hell was he going to stay here.

    "So, what option do you choose?" Lira asked Gabriel. Even though she gave Gabriel two options, she believed he could only take the first option.

    "I shall choose the third option," Gabriel expressed, making Lira frown. Since none of the options were to his liking, he decided on an option of his own.

    Moreover, now he was really d that he didn''t have the staff to Lira in the first ce. If she could trap him here now, it would''ve only been worse in the future if she had the Ancestral Staff.

    Lira was taken aback. There was supposed to be no third option. What did he mean by that?

 156 Chapter 156

    "There is no third option for you. At least until I decide to give you a third option," Lira reminded Gabriel. "Don''t forget. You are in my Domain. Here, I am the only god."

    "So tell me. Where is my Ancestral Staff of Darkness?" she asked, asked.

    From her expressions, it was evident that she was quite upset with Gabriel. Even though Gabriel had a reason of his own for trying to bind the Ancestral Staff of Darkness to him, for her, it was no less than him trying to steal something from her, which she had been after for a long time.

    Lira couldn''t believe it! She picked up Gabriel when he was nothing! She was the one who taught him most of the things about this world. She was also the one who took him to Lombard. It was because of her that this naive kid even knew about Numens in the first ce!

    "I did so much for you! Without me, you would''ve beenpletely ignorant about the working of this world. You would''ve been captured by the Church of Light within one week. It''s because of me you''re still alive! And you dared to steal from me?"

    What hurt Lira even more was that she genuinely didn''t see iting. Even initially, when she helped Gabriel, she looked at him as a helper. Even though Gabriel talked about being equal, for her, he was too weak. He wasn''t worth being her equal since he was only a Novice Mage when she was already an advanced mage.

    Even with them both having a Grimoire, his actual strength was too weak. For her, he was like a subordinate who owed his life to her! He was supposed to help her, no matter what! And even that weak subordinate dared to cheat her?

    "Lira," Gabriel could see that Lira was quite upset, but he also felt that she was talking to him like he was lower than her. And it didn''t seem like she considered him weaker in strength only.

    "Listen to me. Let me leave. I''m not going to keep your Ancestral Staff. I am going to give it to you in the end," Gabriel exined, trying to maintain his calm.

    "In the end, the staff was going to be returned to you. It is just a safety mechanism. After I bind the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, I''ll give it to you to use it. It''s not as if I can use the Ancestral Staff of Darkness without an Element of Darkness in any case, can I?"

    Gabriel genuinely had no use of the Ancestral Staff of Darkness. He didn''t own any spells of the Element of Darkness that he needed to amplify, so it was just an ordinary piece of stick for him.

    It only became a useful magical staff in the hands of Lira, so what greed could he have in controlling the Ancestral Staff of Darkness? The only benefit that came with it was that he could prevent Lira from using that staff to attack him. That was all.

    "Gabriel, I won''t repeat myself. Tell me where the staff is?!"

    "Even if I tell you, you think you can get to it?" Gabriel scoffed. If she wasn''t going to listen to the voice of reasoning, he was going to tell her in anguage that she understood... Thenguage of threats that she was using.

    "As you gave me two options, let me give you two as well!" Gabriel let out. If threats worked, he had better threats. The worst Lira could do was keep him here until he escaped, thanks to his High Tier spell.<sub> </sub>

    On the contrary, Lira had much more to lose if she didn''t get the Ancestral Staff of Darkness which was her dream. Not only were the Churches going to be on her trail without resting, but Lambard also wasn''t going to help her. She had no choice but to give in if she actually wanted to avoid the worst.

    "Either you let me leave this ce, and I''ll bring the Ancestral Staff to you after I''m done with it, or you keep me here. But in thetter case, you''re never going to find the Ancestral Staff even if I tell you where it is!"

    "You are threatening me?" Liraughed in anger. "You! A kid! You think you can threaten me when you''re in my domain?"

    The group of two, which initially looked like it was a group of partners that were going to be together in the goal of reestablishing the Church of Darkness, was now falling apart.

    Lira flicked her fingers. Following her movement, it was as if a mysterious power was acting up on Gabriel, which sent his body flying in the distance.

    The mysterious force of darkness didn''t just send Gabriel flying, but it also left thousands of wounds all over Gabriel''s soul! He felt each of those wounds.

    The wounds of the body were painful, but the wounds of the soul? They were even more painful as they even made Gabriel groan in pain.

    Gabrielnded in the distance. There was no blood around him as these were the wounds of the soul, but each of those wounds was worse than a thousand physical cuts.

    Gabriel couldn''t even stand up as another attack came in his direction from the other side, sending his body flying again.

    More cuts appeared over his body as he roared in pain. His bodynded on the dark floor.

    "Why are you yelling?" Lira asked, acting as if she had no idea why Gabriel had roared.

    Gabriel''s soul was seriously hurt as the darkness was hurting his soul, and he couldn''t do anything. He had tried casting his spells when he was first attacked, but he realized that he was unable to cast his spells here for some reason.

    "This is just the beginning, and you''re already on the verge of breaking?" Lira asked, stepping closer to Gabriel.

    With each step she took toward Gabriel, Gabriel felt as if more and more weight was acting up on his body, keeping him pressed down.

 157 Chapter 157

    There was a forest not too far from the Royal Lumen City. At the moment, there was only one person inside the woods, and even that person was surrounded by a dark barrier that protected that person.

    Inside those barriers, there was a young woman who was sitting with her back against the tree. The woman had her eyes closed and even looked like she was sleeping. However, there was a deep down on her face and a really fierce aura.

    Fortunately, her aura was kept inside the barrier so the ones outside couldn''t sense him.

    There was a ck book floating before the woman, covered in an even darker aura. The middle page of the cool was open, which had many things written on it, but there were three words on the top of the page, which wererger in size than the others.

    [Dark Soul Prison]

    *****

    Lira stopped when she was barely three meters away from Gabriel, who was on the ground. He felt as if thousands of pins were pressing down on him. Whenever he tried to get up, the dark pins only stabbed his soul deeper.

    "Lira!" Gabriel clenched his teeth.

    "What? Don''t tell me you''re going to ask me to forgive you or let you leave. If yes, you should save your words. Only open your mouth if it''s to tell me where my Ancestral Staff is. I''ll find someone else to bring it to me!"

    ****

    "His aura... It''s getting weaker!" Novius sat before Gabriel with his hands on the young man''s forehead.

    He could feel that Gabriel was getting even weaker, and his heartbeat was slowing down. It was a really strange phenomenon that even he hadn''t seen before.

    Even Cylix didn''t understand why it was happening. Even if Gabriel failed in binding the Ancestral Staff, he shouldn''t be like this.

    Moreover, the binding hadn''t failed either. The binding formation was shining at regr intervals, even though weakly.

    "He isn''t unconscious, that''s for sure," Noviusmented. "That means his consciousness is still up. But then, why isn''t he up?"

    Novius knew a Holy Priest of Darkness in his time, but even then, he didn''t know about a spell simr to this. Then again, no one attempted to bind an Ancestral Staff of Another element.

    Cyclix took Gabriel''s left hand, sensing something. "It''s not just his aura which is weakening, but also his life force! Whatever effect he is under, if he isn''t out of it soon, we might lose him forever!"

    *****

    "Gabriel, don''t try to be brave. Tell me where you kept the Ancestral Staff of Darkness inside the city?! I promise I''ll go easy on you if you tell me," Lira told Gabriel, sitting on her knees before him.<sub> </sub>

    Through all the pain, Gabriel could barely focus on whatever she was saying.

    <o>,m "I told you, only I can bring it out! Let alone any men youmand to do it; even you yourself can''t get to it! Especially now that the Academy is more secure since the theft happened!"</o>

    "You can''t do anything without me! You might act strong like you''re in control, but you''re mistaken. I''m in control of the situation. You need my help; I don''t!" Gabriel remained firm. Even now, there was not a single shred of pain on his face, despite all the pain he was in.

    The only time he was under fear of death was when he was killed by Hawrin for the first time. Even before this pain, he didn''t fear. If anything, he was more angry than scared.

    "You think you cane back to life after I kill you here, don''t you?" Lira scoffed, understanding why Gabriel was still so confident. "You couldn''t be more wrong. Last time, your body was hurt, and your Grimoire managed to save you. But this time?"

    "This time, just not your body which will die! It will be your soul. And once your soul is destroyed, even your Grimoire can''t bring you back to life." Lira ced her cold hands on Gabriel''s cheeks, smiling. "Now you feel scared?"

    "Is that it?" Gabriel asked in return. "That''s the threat? Go ahead. Kill me. But you''ll be joining me soon after. Don''t worry."

    "What do you mean?" Lira was somewhat surprised. What did he mean that she was going to follow him into death?

    She didn''t know if he was bluffing or not, but was there any spell from his Grimoire which made it so that whoever destroyed his soul died with him? Even though she had never heard about such a spell, she didn''t know about the existence of this element either, so what was a spell?

    "Even in yourst moments, you are trying to fool me, little boy?" She stood up. "If that''s the way you want to y it, then sure. I won''t kill you, but I''ll give you a pain that will make you wish you were dead."

    Even though Lira believes that Gabriel was bluffing, she didn''t want to take the risk. There was a small chance that there could actually be a spell like that, as Gabriel''s element was rted to death.

    Just to be safe, she decided not to kill him. In any case, she could just keep his soul imprisoned here. As long as Gabriel''s consciousness was here, even his Grimoire couldn''t connect to him to free him.

    This wasn''t a different space. This wasn''t in the real world either. This was a proper domain that was inside her own Grimoire!

    Gabriel''s consciousness was trapped inside the Grimoire of Darkness. Moreover, since his Soul Strength wasn''t high enough, his own Grimoire couldn''t locate him.

    His main body was in the tower of Challenges, which was a different realm. It was supposed to work in his favor taking advantage of the weakened connection between the Ancestral Staff of Darkness and the Grimoire of Darkness.

    However, that same distance and separate realm was now working against him in this situation, keeping him separate from his Grimoire.

    At any cost, he needed to find a way to be located by his Grimoire if he wanted to use any spells or take help."

 158 Chapter 158

    Gabriel''s consciousness was trapped inside the Realm of Darkness, unable to use his Element. Even though his control over his Grimoire had improved a lot throughout thest few days, it was still not enough for him to be able to call his Grimoire here.

    He was lying on the ground, with a dark force acting over him. His hands were before him, having both the elemental marks. The only difference was that his ck ring wasn''t here.

    Even though he wasn''t bleeding at the moment, that was only because he wasn''t here in his spiritual form. If he were here with his real body, he would''ve been covered in blood.

    "Onest time, I''m asking you! Gabriel, don''t be stubborn! Tell me where the Ancestral Staff of Darkness is and I might take mercy on you and not hurt you too much!"

    "I suppose your mercy doesn''t include letting me leave this ce?" Gabriel asked as he still kept resisting the dark force acting up on him.

    "I''m afraid you aren''t that lucky anymore. If you had brought me the Staff without trying to betray me, this wouldn''t have to be done. But you... I can''t forgive betrayal."

    Lira was quite simr to Gabriel in that regard, as he hated being betrayed. Even when she was with Gabriel, the vigers broke a promise they made to her, which made her destroy the entire vige in anger.

    Even Lambard knew what kind of personality Lira had. She never forgot a betrayal, let alone one she received from someone whom she taught so much.

    It was a situation where both were wrong, yet both were right at the same time. Lira had trusted Gabriel to bring the staff back, even though she considered him beneath her. She trusted him, and by trying to control the Staff that he was sent to retrieve, she believed Gabriel betrayed her trust.

    At the same time, Gabriel also wasn''t wrong in his ce. He was going to give the staff to Lira like he promised. He just wanted one safety mechanism before he did that. He didn''t consider trying to protect himself as a betrayal. No matter what, he couldn''t have blindly trusted Lira.

    If she wasn''t going to let him leave, then negotiating with her wasn''t worth it for Gabriel. For him, the pain was much better than a lifetime of imprisonment.

    He forced his body up, even as he felt like he was being stabbed by thousands of ice-cold metal spikes.

    Seeing Gabriel still trying to defy her, Lira has had enough.

    "That''s it. If you want to defy me so much, I''ll show you what happens to the ones who do that. I''ll make sure to break your mind and soul, and I''m going to enjoy it now!"

    Lira stomped on Gabriel''s hand, which had the mark of Death. Lira was usually not very heavy, but in this ce, even her stomp felt like a weight of thousands of tons was behind that stomp.

    "Arghh!" Gabriel roared. It was as if all the bones in his right hand were broken under the stomp, which was a pain he felt all through his body.

    "Lira, I will kill you!" he roared as he used the pain to force his body to. Since his soul was already under the pain, what was more pain of being stabbed in his back by thousands of needles? The only problem was the heavy weight that was keeping him pressed down.

    "Arghh!"

    Since he couldn''t get under the heavy weight, he only had one open. He pulled his hand back and rolled to the side until he was out of the heavy pressure before standing up.

    Unfortunately, once again, a mysterious force tossed him back. In Lira''s domain, Gabriel''s soul was like a toy for Lira, especially since he couldn''t use his strength.

    *****<sub> </sub>

    [A few hours ago]

    "Dark Soul Prison?" A new spell had appeared in Lira''s holy Grimoire, which she never saw before. Moreover, it was the peak of High Tier spells. Even she was stunned to know what this spell could do.

    ording to her description, this spell could only be cast when certain conditions were met.

    As for the condition, it stunned Lira even more. ording to the spell description, it could only be used when someone was trying to bind her Ancestral Staff. It made the uses of this spell very limited, but it was also very important as it worked to protect her Ancestral Staff from someone else''s control.

    She also managed to find out that someone was trying to take control of her Ancestral Staff. Initially, she didn''t know who it could be, but whenever it was, she needed to stop them at any cost!"

    It wasn''t until she cast the spell and entered the Dark Soul Prison that she realized it was Gabriel who was doing it!

    ****

    [Present time]

    "I must say, even I didn''t expect you to be this stupid! You really thought you could control my staff? MY STAFF?"

    Gabriel''s body fell around twenty meters away from Lira on the ground.

    "You will regret the moment you decided to go against me, young one!" Lira made a circle in the air with her hand. The dark energy around Gabriel only intensified following her graceful gesture.

    The dark energy didn''t attack Gabriel this time. Instead, Gabriel felt as if some kind of shackles had wrapped themselves around his ankles and his wrist.

    The mysterious dark energy didn''t press his body to the ground. Instead, it made his body start rising in the air.

    Gabriel''s hands were spread as he was raised in the air, shackled by the dark energy. The dark energy kept him in ce, making him unable to move.

    It was like he really was a prisoner here.

    Lira walked closer to Gabriel, taking slow yet firm steps. "Don''t worry. I won''t ask you to tell me where my staff is. Instead, you''ll tell me yourself! You''ll be begging to tell me! At this point, I really hope you don''t break too soon!"

    "You thought what happened before was painful?" she asked, stopping merely a few inches away from Gabriel as his body floated at a height where his eyes were at the level of her eyes.

    The shackles and the dark energy were holding him so firmly on the ground that no matter what he tried, he couldn''t move.

    Lira looked into the angry yet deep eyes of Gabriel as her cold hands gently touched his cheeks. "What happened before was just warmup, little one. It''s only now that you''ll realize what true pain actually means¡­."

 159 Chapter 159

    ****

    At the moment, two of the strongest beings of their times were sitting before Gabriel, worrying about his safety. It had been a long time since Gabriel dropped to the ground. He hadn''t woken up ever since.

    Both Cylix and Novius knew that they needed to do something about it, but what could they even do? There was nothing that was in their control when it came to Gabriel''s subconscious.

    The Infernal King had also tried to use his mes to purify Gabriel''s body from any toxic substance that could be inside his body, keeping him down. Unfortunately, that wasn''t the case here either. Even his mes couldn''t help Gabriel.

    The situation was really chaotic. Inside the Temple, people were waiting for the return of Gabriel''s consciousness, while outside the tower, the entire academy forces were waiting for Gabriel''s return so they could capture him.

    Just one entrance inside the tower changed everything from Gabriel. He was the star of the Academy, and many Teachers cared for him since he had the potential of being their star disciple. Lambard was also happy at him for recovering the treasures, and Lira was also not an enemy.

    However, all it took was this tower, and everything changed. Now Lambard was quite upset at him. As for the Head Council Member, they wanted to capture him and possibly kill him. Even Lira wanted to hurt him.

    All the ones who were tilting to his side before were now against him, leaving him all alone. However, Cylix and Novius, whom he considered an enemy on the ny-ninth floor that he had to defeat, were now caring for him.

    Hispanions became his worst enemies, and his supposed enemies turned into his guardian. The human emotions were really fickle, changing at a moment''s notice.

    While so many people were waiting for him, Gabriel was still trapped in the shackles created by Lira.

    Lira retracted her hand before taking a step back, creating half a meter of distance between the two.

    ''Come on! Let me cast one spell!'' Gabriel had his fists clenched as he tried to force his elements to listen to him. Unfortunately, the elements were unresponsive. He couldn''t even feel his elements in this ce.

    There were no natural energies in this ce that could be used to cast a spell. There was only the element of darkness here which he had no affinity with.

    Darkness started intensifying around Lira''s hand, condensing. The darkness started taking a solid shape as that of a light sword that was one meter long and only five centimeters wide.

    The sword was made purely of darkness which could be felt even by Gabriel.

    Lira hadn''t even brought the sword closer to him, and he could still feel the pressure and slight pain.

    "You know what the biggest advantage of you being here in your Soul Form is for me?" Lira asked Gabriel; however, she didn''t even wait for an answer. She answered herself. "It''s that whatever pain I inflict on you here, you''ll feel it a thousandfold since it''s hurting your soul directly!"

    "You''re right. The pain is certainly fun. I''ll make sure to have you experience it as well," Gabriel sarcastically answered.

    "I don''t think you can. For that, you have to leave this ce first, which you never will. As long as you''re here, I''m your goddess, and you''re a traitor waiting for his punishment," Lira responded.

    Even though there was a calm smile on her face, her eyes were filled with rage and anger, showing her real emotions.

    "Let me ask you another question before you''re in no condition to speak." she continued, seemingly not in any hurry, as if she wanted to take her sweet time. "You know what the biggest disadvantage of you being here in your Soul Form is for me?"<sub> </sub>

    This time, Gabriel didn''t let her answer her own question. He answered, "Is it that you can''t watch me bleed?"

    There were genuinely no disadvantages for Lira here that he could think of. He was weaker here and felt more pain. The only other difference he could think of was that he didn''t bleed.

    "Surprisingly, you''re right." Lira was genuinely surprised to see Gabriel guess correctly. "If you could bleed, this next part would''ve been fun."

    As soon as she finished speaking, she raised her sword and brought it down with great force, striking Gabriel''s left arm.

    The dark sword sliced through Gabriel''s left arm,pletely detaching it from his shoulder. Gabriel had already felt a lot of pain of his soul being hurt, but it was the first time a part of his soul was actually cut, and the pain was unbearable.

    "Arghhh!"

    Even Gabriel couldn''t control his scream as he felt like he had died a thousand deaths in that one moment.

    "I told you I''ll let you experience true pain, right? This is just the beginning!" Lira coldly stated.

    "These are the hands with which you tried to take my Ancestral Staff, didn''t you? Let me take these hands so you can never do that again!"

    She raised her dark sword once again, bringing it down.

    However, just as her Sword was about to touch Gabriel''s right arm, Gabriel''s screaming stopped. The surroundings turned awfully silent.

    Lira''s sword also stopped in her ce, barely a few inches away from Gabriel''s arms. Her sword had frozen in ce as if some power was holding it in its ce... A Power that could ovee even the Darkness in the Realm of Darkness.

    The mark of death which was on the back of Gabriel''s hands, also started shining. It shone as bright as it never did.

    "How? How is this possible? How can you use your Element here?!" Lira''splete attention was on Gabriel''s hands. It was only when she saw her mark of Death and Necromancy shine that she raised her gaze in shock.

    Unfortunately, as her gaze fell on Gabriel''s face, her shock only increased. Gabriel''s face was expressionless, and his eyes werepletely emotionless.

    His eyes, which were their usual color before, were slightly darker now. However, the strangest part was the strange symbol that had appeared on Gabriel''s forehead.

    The Symbol on his forehead was quite simr to the symbol on the back of his right hand, but it was also quite different.

    The dark shackles that were keeping Gabriel captured in ce started retreating slowly. His body slowly floated down,nding back on the ground, right before Lira.

    Other thannding on the ground, Gabriel hadn''t made a single movement... Yet.

    For some reason, Lira could also see something that should''ve been impossible! Gabriel... He was in his spiritual form here, yet she could see blood! Tears of dark red blood were trickling down his cheeks,ing from his eyes.

 160 Chapter 160

    ****

    Pain... Terrifying pain... The pain of having their arm being sliced off when a person was in their spiritual form was something that could break anyone in the world as it was like an important part of their soul was cut.

    This was the pain that even Gabriel had never felt before. He had been hurt many times in his life, including his soul being hurt in the dark realm, but this pain was just too much, even for him.

    His mind couldn''t take it anymore as the pain overwhelmed his mind, bringing him to the edge of breaking apart. It was as if the pain Lira inflicted wasn''t enough; she tried to slice his other hand as well to teach him a lesson.

    That was it... That was the moment when Gabriel found himself helpless. It was simr to what happened to him when Hawrin killed him. He was simrly tied and killed. His thoughts were too clouded, thanks to the pain that was almost on the verge of breaking apart his consciousness.

    Even though the pain now was a million times worse than that, it was still like the history was repeating itself,pleting a cycle. He was back where he started, trapped and unable to use any spells as a mage was close to killing him.

    This time, the pain and the ovepping of memories were too much for him. Gabriel didn''t realize when it happened, but it was as if his mind shut down on its own to safeguard his consciousness from the pain.

    It was as if his consciousness knew just what could happen if another simr attack was inflicted on him. His mind was going to break¡­

    To protect him, it was like a safety mechanism was activated, which protected his consciousness by making him go to sleep. A strangely familiar yet different mark appeared on the forehead of Gabriel''s soul as his consciousness went to the safety of sleep. At the same time, his subconscious took over¡­

    ****

    The World was vast, epassing millions of unknowns. There were so many secrets in the world that no one had any idea about them. There were many incredulous myths and lores in the world that could neither be confirmed nor denied.

    However, if there was one thing that everyone in the world could agree on, it was that a soul never bled!

    It was something that was supposed to be an undeniable fact that even Lira believed until recently. However, all her beliefs were tossed aside as she saw Gabriel''s soul bleed.

    What was even more surprising was that the blood wasn''ting from any of the wounds that she had dealt to him. Instead, the blood wasing from his eyes as if they were tears of Blood.

    As if a soul bleeding wasn''t shocking enough on its own, what made Lira even more taken aback was that her dark shackles that were keeping Gabriel hostage retreated on their own, as if even her darkness didn''t dare to get close to him.

    The surrounding of Gabriel was still dark; however, for some reason, it wasn''t her darkness that was surrounding him. It was something else... Something much darker... Something much worse.

    The tear of blood kept trickling down his expressionless face as Gabriel looked at Lira with lifeless eyes.

    The tear of blood kept trickling down until it finally fell to the ground.

    In the realm, which was only filled with darkness, a red droplet fell on the floor. However, as soon as that droplet touched the ground, everything changed.<sub> </sub>

    A mighty aura spread out as if an explosion of Gabriel''s true aura was released... Even if it was just a fraction of it. The aura was so powerful that even though it was Lira''s realm of darkness, the wave of aura sent her flying back like a doll.

    Even though it was just Gabriel''s aura, Lira was horrified for a moment. He hadn''t even touched her, and it was just her aura, yet her soul was damaged so badly just bying in contact with his aura.

    It was her Domain! She should''ve been invincible here, then how was Gabriel able to do it? Just what was happening to him?

    As soon as the aura spread out, it wasn''t just Lira who was hurt. All the darkness that was spread throughout the realm of darkness turned blood red as if a blood red mist was surrounding them all.

    Through her darkness, Lira could see everything, but this dark red mist made it impossible for her to see anything. She also couldn''t use the darkness of the realm for some reason. It was as if her Realm of Darkness was taken over by someone!

    The aura from a single droplet of blood wasn''t something that was felt in the Realm of Darkness either.

    It was an aura that was somehow felt through the entire World.

    Novius and Cylix were really worried for Gabriel. They still couldn''t understand what had happened to him, but his condition was definitely not good.

    There was also a moment when his condition was so bad that they thought he could die within seconds. However, fortunately, after that movement, his condition started recovering.

    Just as they sighed in relief, a wave of terrifying energy came from Gabriel''s body as the same Mark appeared on his forehead, which was on his soul.

    The connection between his soul and his body was once again established, and the Grimoire of Necromancy could finally sense Gabriel again, reaching him!

    Even though the Forbidden Book of Necromancy was happy sensing this aura, there were others who were hurt.

    Both Novius and Cylix were sent flying by the powerful aura. Both of them crashed on the wall in the back. The other youngsters in the hall weren''t safe either, as the aura also attacked them.

    Even the Infernal King was sent flying by the aura explosion. He was also the only one who had a real body, which was why he was also hurt the worst as he started bleeding.

    Unlike the dark aura from before, this aura didn''t seem to be affected by the difference in space. It didn''t weaken as it passed through one realm of the tower to another.

    As the aura left the tower, it still had the same old intensity as it had when it hit Lira in the realm of Darkness.

    All the Head Council Members were still guarding the tower from outside, so no one could leave their tower without them knowing. They had activated all the defense mechanisms in wait for Gabriel, but even they didn''t see that auraing toward them.

 161 Chapter 161

    A mysterious aura rushed out of the tower, moving at incredible speed. It was as if it was a storm of an aura that the Head Council Members had never felt before.

    All the Head Council Members were sent back flying as if a powerful attack hit all of them at once, which was quite strange since it was just an aura and no attack! If just the aura was this powerful, then what about an actual attack?

    Eliananded on the ground in the distance, bncing herself. Still, she coughed some blood as her face became somewhat pale.

    The other Head Council Members weren''t in much better condition either, and it was only worse for the ordinary teachers.

    "We need to stop this!" Eliana roared, realizing that whatever this aura was, it could hurt their students.

    Just like before, she cast a barrier to stop this mysterious aura from moving further. However, she knew that she couldn''t do it alone. She needed the help of others if she wanted to seed.

    Rem also wiped the blood from his lips as he came to help. He joined both his hands, casting a spell. Thick walls of Earth came out of the group, reinforced by the element of Earth surrounding the tower.

    Eliana''s light Barrier was the firstyer of defense, followed by Rem''s barrier of Earth. Lishen also cast a barrier of wind as the thirdyer of defense to stop the aura.

    A wall of fire also rose, giving anotheryer of cover, thanks to the involvement of Yoan. The other Head Council Members also came forward, helping with their best protection spell.

    Unfortunately, even their best protection spell failed to stop the aura. Let alone the aura that had already passed through, even the ones that were stilling from inside the tower in pulses managed to break the barriers.

    The barrier of Light shattered in the face of the aura, followed by the others.

    *****

    Just as Eliana had stated, if things were bad for them, then it could only be worse for themoners.

    Within minutes, this aura surrounded the entire World. Only the powerful mages were able to resist the aura, but even they couldn''t do so without getting hurt. As for the weak mages, they all fell unconscious, unable to resist that aura.

    It was a phenomenon that was seen all around the World, which stunned everyone. The only ones who weren''t affected by this aura were the mortals who didn''t have any Element! It was like the King of Elements had awakened, and it was telling all the other Elements to remember their ce!

    Lira was still sitting in the forest with her eyes closed. Her nose was bleeding, and her face remained paler than ever as if her body had no blood.

    Just like the mysterious aura of Gabriel wasing out of the Tower of Challenges, it was alsoing out of the Book of Darkness since that''s where the Realm of Darkness was where Gabriel was present.

    ****

    In a faraway ce, there existed a beautiful temple. If Gabriel were here, he would''ve been able to recognize that Temple as it was the ce that he had seen in one of his visions as soon as he had touched the ck Sphere in the Museum of Elements.

    The Temple waspletely identical. The only difference was that the temple looked much older now.

    Before the Temple, there stood Lelin with a white sphere in his hand.<sub> </sub>

    Lelin was about to step closer to the temple when he stopped. He raised his head, feeling a powerful aura''s presence.

    "What do you think could''ve happened?" he asked, ncing back.

    A hooded Spectre stood behind Lelin, looking in the direction of the Academy, which was thousands of miles away from this ce.

    "Someone went a bit too far..." The Spectre answered. "Too bad."

    ****

    In an unknown ce, there existed a dark river that was filled with spirits. There was never a single moment when the ear-piercing screams of Spirits couldn''t be heard. However, at the moment, the river waspletely silent... A bit too silent!

    The river connected to another mysterious temple, from where Gabriel had received his Ancestral Staff from.

    Right at the entrance of the Temple, there were nine giant statues, each belonging to one of the elements. However, there was only one statue that seemed to be damaged... The statue right in the middle.

    However, due to the pressures of the mysterious aura that even managed to cover this part of the world, the other eight statues also broke into pieces. The ground started trembling, which wasn''t an isted incident here as there were many ces that were facing an earthquake at the moment.

    The Statues of the Eight other gods broke apart. At least the central statue was broken from its head up whenever it was broken. However, all the other statues weren''t that lucky either as they all broke into thousands of pieces.

    *****

    The Realm of Darkness was a ce that was Lira''s domain. It was what she used to capture Gabriel; however, she was the one who was captured here now.

    A ck ring appeared around Gabriel''s finger, even in the realm of darkness, as the Grimoire of Necromancy managed to locate him thanks to his slightly more powerful aura. Even though it didn''t seem like he needed the help of his Grimoire at the moment, it was much wee.

    Gabriel was unconscious, and his subconscious was controlling his soul temporarily, but that subconsciously appeared to be able to bring out something that Gabriel couldn''t. It was like there was some power that he couldn''t consciously ess... At least not yet.

    Strangely enough, it seemed as if he subconsciously was not only able to ess that power but also to use it like it had been a part of him for centuries.

    Gabriel raised right hand, ncing at his ck ring with his lifeless eyes. He ced his right hand on his left shoulder as he started chanting something.

    Even as Gabriel chanted a spell, his voice seemed the same as it had always been, but there also seemed something different about that voice now.

    The voice had no shred of emotions in it. Moreover, it also felt as if the voice could be hearding from every direction, even though it was clear that it wasing from Gabriel''s lips.

    Gabriel was also subconsciously chanting a spell that he consciously never used before. Let alone using the spell, he had never even heard the spell. It wasn''t even avable to Gabriel in the Forbidden Book of Necromancy at the moment.

 162 Chapter 162

    The spell and its chant were also not in thenguage that could be understood, even by Lira. It was like an entirely newnguage even for her... Thenguage of gods. Anguage that was older than anynguage currently known.

    After Gabriel finished his spell, the mysterious red mist started rising around him, covering the left side of his shoulder.

    What surprised Lira even more was that Gabriel''s left arm started appearing once again, exactly the same as it used to be. The left arm looked quite illusory at the start, but with time, the left arm became as real as the rest of Gabriel''s Spirit.

    Lira had already seen so many impossible things happening today, and it wasn''t any less surprising! She had sliced a part of Gabriel''s Spirit with her own hands, and regenerating a soul like this should''ve been impossible even for him.

    "Just who... Is he...?"

    She didn''t know what to think anymore. The boy before her was too strange. She had many questions, and one of them was about this strength of his.

    She understood that it could be because of his Grimoire. It was possible that he might have had some spell in his Grimoire which could somehow heal his soul as well, no matter how impossible it sounded.

    However, what still didn''t make sense was how he had taken over her Realm of Darkness. She wasn''t able to use the Darkness of her own realm. It was as if her surroundings were out of her control as well.It puzzled her when she thought why he didn''t do it before if he was actually capable of doing something like this.

    If he could take over her Realm, then why didn''t he do it before? What was he waiting for?

    Unfortunately, she couldn''t ask Gabriel, as he didn''t look like he was in the mood to answer. Even without the support of her realm, she knew she had to stop Gabriel. He waspletely free now, and it was evident that he could also use his Element. She had to take him down before he could attack her.

    So what if she couldn''t use the darkness of her realm? She still had her own Elemental and the support of her Grimoire.

    "Daggers of Darkness," she cast a spell, making a dagger appear in each of her hands.

    "Shadow Transformation." She cast another spell, making her turn invisible. At the same time, she cast a third spell to increase her speed before flying ahead.

    ''I''ll see how many times you can heal yourself!''

    Gabriel seemed distracted in healing his arm, which gave her an opportunity to take him down. She didn''t want to kill him, but she still had to control him in the situation before he could pull some trick.

    Lira moved through the red mist, like an invisible assassin, closing in on Gabriel.

    Gabriel was still looking over his left arm, which had just healed when Lira reached closer. She appeared behind Gabriel and ced both her daggers on Gabriel''s throat.<sub> </sub>

    "Make any movement, and I''ll be slicing you in two halves. Remember, even you won''t be able to heal if I take off your head here," she warned Gabriel.

    She didn''t just kill him since she was still worried about a potential curse on his soul. However, she also didn''t hurt him since there wasn''t much she could do.

    Even if she sliced his hands or legs, he could still fight back. There was also a chance that he could try to escape from her realm after he was hurt, so she had to make him surrender first.

    Gabriel lowered his gaze, noticing two dark daggers on his throat, merely half an inch away. A little movement and the daggers could actually hurt his soul. That''s also where his subconscious desire for survival kicked in. At the same time, there was also a desire in him for revenge on Lira, who hurt him so much.

    Even when Gabriel wasn''t consciously controlling his soul, his desires were still there in his subconscious self.

    He spoke two more words, but this was also in anguage that Lira couldn''t understand. Following the words, Gabriel disappeared.

    His soul appeared behind Lira, switching their positions. Lira sensed Gabriel''s presence behind her. She turned around, but she was toote. As soon as she turned around, mysterious red shackles appeared around her hands and legs.

    The shackles were quite simr to what she had used on Gabriel. Moreover, Gabriel also took the help of this realm to make these shackles like she did.

    The shackles trapped Lira in her ce like they had trapped Gabriel before. Gabriel grabbed her by her throat as his lifeless eyes looked into her deep yet slightly scared eyes.

    As soon as Gabriel touched her, she didn''t know why, but it was as if her bodypletely froze. She had her Element of Darkness, and she was quite close to her Grimoire. If she wanted, she could escape these shackles, but her body froze.

    It was quite ironic that Gabriel held her throat in his left arm, which Lira had cut as if giving it some poetic justice.

    Gabriel started tightening his grip, choking Lira. The pressure in his grip only kept increasing. He hadn''t even used the strengthening spell yet. Lira found it quite painful. Even though her real body wasn''t here, she still felt as if she was actually being choked.

    Surprisingly enough, it was actually the case as some finger marks appeared around her throat in the real world as well, as if some mysterious force was choking her there as well, almost on the verge of crushing her neck.

    Lira found it very hard to breathe as she had to struggle for each breath.

    Lira was at the door of death, and she was unable to do anything. She couldn''t even speak, let alone use any spells. Her two daggers also fell on the ground as her vision started getting blurry.

 163 Chapter 163

    Back in the real world, the Grimoire of Darkness was shaking. Lira''s life force was getting very weak, simr to what was happening to Gabriel before.

    Fortunately, there was a silver lining in the sand for Lira. It was that her soul was still inside the Grimoire of Darkness, where she had the strongest connection with the Grimoire.

    Meanwhile, it has been quite different for Gabriel, who had been quite far from his real Grimoire.

    The Holy Grimoire of Darkness also started taking matters into its own hands to protect its owner. For that, it first needed to break the control of Gabriel on the Realm of Darkness.

    An incredible amount of Dark Energy started flooding the Realm of Darkness which Gabriel had taken into his control. The realm, which had turned all red thanks to the red mist, again started turning dark.

    The Grimoire of Darkness needed immense energy to regain the control. Lira was already very weak, so the energy couldn''te from her soul. Fortunately, she had been carrying high-grade soul crystals in her bags, which came in handy at the moment.

    To have an additional boost, the Grimoire of Darkness utilized the spiritual energy from the Spiritual Crystals.

    Immense amounts of Dark Energy rushed inside the Realm of Darkness, further boosting Lira''s strength. Gabriel lost the control of the realm of darkness, which went back to Lira.

    He tightened his grip, not wasting a single second. However, just as Lira''s next was about to crack, she turned to pure darkness and disappeared.

    In another part of the Prison of Darkness, the darkness started gathering, forming the figure of a woman.

    As the Darkness disappeared, Lira was revealed, standing there. She was coughing intensely, and her face was still pale, but at least she was alive, and she had control of the Realm of Darkness once again.

    Lira stared at Gabriel as she tried to gather her breath. She didn''t know what had happened to him, but he had be very strong suddenly. She knew that he was too dangerous. If he was this strong in her Domain, he could only be stronger if he possessed this kind of strength in the real world.

    "I can''t let him leave. I have to stop him here, or he''ll be too dangerous when he''s outside!"

    She didn''t know what happened to Gabriel in the Academy of Element to make him this strong, but she knew she had to kill him here!

    Gabriel also nced back at Lira, who was standing in the distance. The realm was out of his control, but he didn''t seem to care. It was as if this wasn''t his concern. He could still use his own powers in the Realm of Darkness.

    "Come out of the depths of the Darkness and ughter my enemies!" Lira didn''t dare get close to Gabriel this time as she didn''t want to be caught. However, she still had some options to kill him without getting close.

    She raised her hand, using the Realm of Darkness once again. The excessive darkness that had rushed inside her Domain had made her even stronger.<sub> </sub>

    As if answering to Lira''s calls, around ten Knights appeared around Gabriel, each carrying a heavy Sword. All the knights were made purely from the darkness. They looked humanoid, but they didn''t have any faces. It was just dark energy that had the shape of humans.

    The Darkness Knights surrounded Gabriel from all sides. All the Knights of Darkness attached at the same time, some going for his head while others were going for his chest.

    Lira remained in the distance, seeing her Knights attack Gabriel. As the Knights got closer to Gabriel, her view of Gabriel became obstructed by them, making her unable to see if they seeded or not.

    She soon received the answer as she saw all her Knights of Darkness being pushed back. Shockingly, they weren''t being pushed back by Gabriel!

    "How... is... this... possible?" Lira took a step back subconsciously as she noticed just what had pushed her Knights back.

    She had summoned ten Knights of Darkness with her spell, but at the moment, there weren''t ten... Instead, there were twenty Knights of Darkness there!

    Each of her Knight of Darkness was being held back by another Knight of Darkness. Meanwhile, Gabriel stoodpletely unharmed.

    The other set of Dark Knights werepletely identical to Lira''s Dark Knights, but she had no control over them. They definitely weren''t hers. Then whose? Did Gabriel call them? How could he use her spells? It was understandable that he had some unique spells of his own, but he shouldn''t have been able to use her spells!

    In her mind, there was no doubt that the Dark Knights he called were called through her spells, and they were made purely from her darkness and not the red mist like those chains from before.

    Gabriel wasn''t even looking at the battle of Knights of Darkness as he started stepping toward Lira.

    For each step he took toward her, he felt a heavy pressure over him, as if the gravity kept getting stronger under the pressure of this prison, but unlike before, he didn''t fall to his knees. He was able topletely ignore this gravity.

    He also began to chant another spell that was different from any he had used before. It was also in the same iprehensiblenguage, but it was not the same spell as before.

    Lira didn''t know what spell Gabriel was casting, but she also started casting her strongest offensive spell. She knew Gabriel could disappear when she was near him, so fighting him at close range was the worst option. The best option was to destroy his soul without getting close to him.

    Both the mages were casting their spells at the same time, and it was unclear what each of the spells was going to do. However, Lira was much faster in casting her spell. Gabriel was only halfway through his spell when Lira had already finished her spell.

    "Dark Oasis!"

 164 Chapter 164

    ****

    Gabriel''s consciousness had fallen asleep for its own protection from all the pain that it was going through to protect its sanity. However, even when his consciousness was sleeping, it wasn''t idle.

    While his soul was being controlled subconsciously, real Gabriel found himself in a different ce, as if he was in one of the dreams again, which was the safe ce for his consciousness at a time like this.

    As soon as he woke up in the new surroundings, he immediately looked at his left hand. Fortunately, his left hand wasn''t missing. However, he also noticed that his Mark of Light was missing, which only happened when he was in one of those odd dreams.

    "Again, a dream? What about the battle with Lira? If I''m dreaming, then I can''t be dead yet. But she won''t let me leave either."

    "It seems I''ve lost consciousness because of the pain..." He was quite disappointed in himself for not being able to hear the pain. If he couldn''t even see his body, how was he going to know what Lira was doing with it?

    Fortunately, there was also a plus side to it that he could think of.

    "If I''m unconscious in the Dark Prison, Lira should know that hurting me is useless. She wants me to feel the pain, so she would want me to wake up before she continues," he muttered as he started observing his surroundings.

    Gabriel didn''t know where he actually was in his dream, as this ce was alsopletely unknown to him. All he could see was that he was in an empty room.

    The room wasn''t too big. It was only four meters wide and five meters long. The room had nothing inside it. He could also see dust everywhere as if the room hadn''t been cleaned in a really long time.

    The room also had a wooden door, which had a crack spread across it. There was also a window, which was letting some lighte inside the room.

    With each step that Gabriel took toward the window, he heard some creaking sound from the wooden floor.

    Ignoring the creaking sound of the old floor, he stopped right before the window and looked outside.

    "This ce..."

    *****

    "Dark Oasis!"

    Lira finished her spell which was one of her most powerful spells that could be used for attacking.

    All the Dark Aura in the entire Realm of Darkness rushed to Gabriel. Her attack was powerful in the real world, but it was even more powerful here with all the excess elemental strength avable for her to utilize here. She had the home advantage!

    On the other hand, Gabriel was fighting in someone else''s domain, and he seemed already engaged in a spell. He could either stop casting his spell and take care of the attack, or he could just continue what he was doing and let himself be attacked.

    He decided to take the third option. He made a small gesture which made all his Dark Knights return. All the Dark Knights surrounded him with their Dark Shields as Gabriel continued chatting.<sub> </sub>

    Boom~

    Even though the Dark Knights were also made from the Darkness of this Realm, even they couldn''t stand the assault of the Dark Oasis which attacked them. As soon as they came in contact with the Dark Oasis, their bodies were destroyed and submerged in the Darkness. Their obstruction didn''t weaken the Dark Oasis. Instead, it only made it stronger.

    The Dark Oasis finally hit Gabriel. All the darkness started rushing inside Gabriel''s soul.

    Dark Oasis was a spell that was as scary as it was powerful, as it was quite hard to avoid this spell. Dark Oasis was a spell that specifically targeted a soul, even in the real world. That''s also what made it so dangerous.

    In Dark Oasis, all the poisonous darkness entered a person''s soul, destroying it from inside after overwhelming their souls. Since a mage couldn''t amodate another Element in their soul without having that Element at the start, this made their soul even more chaotic, ultimately destroying the soul.

    This was an attack that avoided all physical defenses of a person and attacked their weakest spot.

    The Darkness kept infiltrating Gabriel''s Soul. Even though Gabriel''s subconscious was controlling the soul, still the pain could be seen on his face.

    All this darkness was overwhelming him, but he stood tall. Gabriel''s fists clenched tightly as he didn''t give in to the darkness. Surprisingly, he still hadn''t given up chanting his Spell.

    Seeing all her Darkness entering Gabriel''s body, Lira could rx. There was no way his soul was going to survive now.

    "You are already dead now... Enjoy yourst few moments..."

    Lira was sure that she was victorious in this battle. Even if Gabriel could survive with all the darkness in his soul for a few minutes, that was the extent to it before his soul was going to blow up.

    Unfortunately, those few minutes were enough for him to call his spell as well.

    Gabriel actually finished his spell, despite all the darkness wreaking havoc inside his soul.

    As soon as Lira saw Gabriel finish his spell, she actually disappeared. Even she didn''t dare to stay behind to see just what this spell was, even though it was her own realm.

    She ran from her own Domain, returning to the real world. She was sure that Gabriel was already dead. It was only a matter of time, so there was no benefit in her staying behind and waiting for her death!

    ****

    Lira''s eyes opened in the real world. Unlike the Prison World, where she felt like she was perfectly fine, she felt dead in the real world. Her nose was bleeding, and her body was in so much pain that even moving a finger was painful for her.

    The Grimoire of Darkness also seemed very stable, but it was only about to get worse...

    Finding Gabriel''s powerful spell, the Prison of Darkness was destroyed thoroughly, being ripped from shred to shred. If Lira had been there, her soul would''ve been destroyed as well. Unfortunately, she wasn''t safe even though she was in the real world either.

 165 Chapter 165

    Since the Prison of Darkness was inside the Grimoire of Darkness, the Grimoire took the brunt of the attack. The Prison of Darkness was destroyed, but that wasn''t the extent of all the damage.

    Gabriel''s attack didn''t just destroy all the Darkness in the Prison of Darkness but also destroyed most of the Dark Energy that the Grimoire of Darkness had gathered throughout the centuries, weakening the Grimoire even further.

    Since Lira was connected to the Grimoire of Darkness, she also took the damage. Her spiritual strength suffered heavy losses. She was an Advanced Mage before she went against Gabriel, but her spiritual strength went down to a mid-tier mage''s level because of all the damage!

    Even though she avoided the attack by escaping in time, Her Spiritual Strength couldn''t avoid it. She had managed to save her life, but in the process, she lost a lot more.

    Lira kept coughing out blood as her face went pale.

    "Cough... Cough..." She kept coughing, unable to stop. She walked to the nearest pond to have some water and to clean the blood.

    As she walked to the Pond, she didn''t realize that there was a new mark on her left shoulder... A Mark of Location. Gabriel''s subconscious had marked her body. No matter where she went, through the mark, he could know where she was!

    ****

    The Prison of Darkness was destroyed by Gabriel, who dealt as much damage as he could.

    Grimoires were Holy Treasures of the gods, which contained their divine strength, so being able to damage one was almost impossible! Still, Gabriel was able to achieve it for some reason. He didn''t just damage the Grimoire of Darkness, but he did a lot more!

    After the Prison of Darkness was destroyed, Gabriel''s soul was free to return to his real body. However, there was still one problem. The soul was inflicted with all the Darkness that had infiltrated it and now causing chaos inside the soul.

    Since the Soul of Gabriel had no other choice, it was back inside the body, bringing all the darkness with it. Gabriel''s body''s veins started turning ck, which was visible even from a distance.

    Cylix and Novius were hurt by the aura explosion from before, but they still managed to recover after the sudden explosion of the aura stopped.

    They stood on their feet, but they didn''t get closer to Gabriel again. They didn''t know what was happening to him at the moment. At first, his life force was weak, but it started recovering, followed by the aura explosion, and now his veins were turning ck?

    Unlike Cylix and Novius, who were observing Gabriel from a distance, the Infernal King walked closer to him again, despite being hurt thest time.

    He stood right beside Gabriel again, observing the changes in his body, especially the dark aura that could suddenly be felt inside his body. For now, he actually looked like he was poisoned, but it was different at the same time.

    The Mark of Binding on the Staff of Darkness that was flickering out of existence in the past, as if it was about to fail, had also stabilized again. Strangely enough, the mark hadn''t just stabilized, but it also started getting stronger.<sub> </sub>

    With Gabriel''s attack right at the core of the Grimoire of Darkness, Lira was hurt, and the Grimoire of Darkness was also much weaker. That, in turn, also weakened the Ancestral Staff of Darkness and its resistance to the binding.

    ****

    Gabriel''s Spirit was overwhelmed by the darkness that was trying to destroy his soul. If it were anyone else''s soul, it would''ve already been destroyed by now. Somehow, his soul was still able to resist. Not only was his soul resisting, but it was also doing something that should''ve been impossible.

    To resist the darkness, there was only one way¡­ to increase their affinity with the Darkness. It was simr to using poison to counter poison.

    Lira had forced the entire darkness of her Dark Prison inside Gabriel''s soul, but he was using that darkness to his own advantage.

    Instead of letting the darkness destroy the soul, Gabriel''s soul started absorbing that darkness to increase its affinity with the Darkness. It also startedpressing all the darkness into a single point...

    Something about Gabriel''s body had started changing. The more that darkness inside the soul waspressed, the more his affinity with darkness increased, almost reaching a natural point as a mark started appearing on his body.

    On the back of Gabriel''s left hand, there was a Sacred Mark of Element of Light. However, right above that Mark of Light, another mark started appearing... A Mark which was much darker.

    "How... is... this... possible...?"

    Novius saw the mark taking shape, recognizing it right away. He had seen that mark more than a thousand times before as it was a mark that he had as well! It was the same mark that he had on the back of his left hand: Sacred Mark of Element of Darkness!

    Gabriel was awakening his Elemental affinity with another Element? This time it was the Element of Darkness!

    "Element of Light, and Element of Darkness... Both inside the same body? Three Elements? Just how could this be...?" Cylix knew that Gabriel was special since he had an element that was never seen before. However, this had surpassed the limits of being special at the moment! This was outright within the limit of being impossible!

    The Infernal King didn''t know theplete significance of these marks and how incredible it was to have more than one of them since he wasn''t training in the way of the living mages. Instead, he was more concerned with the veins of Gabriel that were turning ck.

    Fortunately, his veins started returning to normal as the new mark on his left hand became more and more real with time.

    The Mark of Binding on the Ancestral Staff of Darkness also kept getting stronger since Gabriel finally had more affinity with the Darkness.

    In the end, the Ancestral Staff of Darkness actually gave in, submitting before the strength of the Mark. The Ancestral Staff was finally bound to Gabriel who had created the Mark of Binding.

 166 Chapter 166

    "What is this ce?" Gabriel stood before a window, looking outside. He was sure he was in a dream, but he still had to find out what kind of dream it was.

    Was it like his first bizarre dream where he could just watch and not do anything? Or was it like hisst dream where he met the Goddess of Nature and was able to interact with her as long as the progression of memories didn''t stop?

    From the window, he had a really strange view of the outside. Through the window, it was evident that he was at a great height from the actual surface outside, as if he was on one of the highest floors of some tower.

    Outside the tower, there was nothing but water. As far as the eyes could see, only beautiful blue water could be seen that appeared to be meeting the blue sky at the end of his view.

    It was really surprising to see a structure of this height if it was actually in the middle of the sea. However, he also realized that he only had a view of one side of the tower. Maybe there was ground on the other end of the tower where there was no window for him to look outside?

    He ced his fingers on the windows and gently pushed them open. The windows opened toward the outside, letting all the fresh aire inside.

    The fresh sea breeze was something that Gabriel hadn''t felt before as he lived in a ce where they didn''t have a sea anywhere close to them. The gentle breeze was quite refreshing and actually managed to calm his head which was still worried.

    He wasn''t concerned about this dream, as the dreams often broke on their own after a few hours. He wasn''t trapped here. The only real concern was the Prison of Darkness which he needed to break out of. He had to find a way to get out of that mess after he left this ce.

    He brought his head out the window and looked around, wondering if he could see even a glimpse of somend nearby.

    "Nond here. It doesn''t look like the sea is going to end here either. There shouldn''t be anynd nearby," he analyzed, based on the visuals. "Still... If someone made a tower here, there''s no way they would make one that no one could reach. There must be a bridge or something connecting to the tower that leads to thend."

    "First, I need to find that exit."

    "Body of Light: Flight!" he cast a Spell, only to remember that in these dreams, he didn''t have his Element of Light to use that spell.

    As the spell didn''t work, he nced at the back of his left hand. "Right when I need it..."

    The Flight Spell of Element of Light allowed him to fly. Even though it was a low-tier flight spell that only allowed him to fly at a specific height and only for a few minutes, those few minutes should''ve been more for him to observe the tower''s surroundings andnd on the bridge, if there were any.

    Unfortunately, that spell couldn''t be used. He couldn''t jump out of the window either as he was at a great height, and from that height, even if he fell into the body of water, he was going to be hurt badly.

    He didn''t know if he could get hurt in the dreams or not, but he was sure that he could certainly feel pain. In thest dream, when the Goddess of Nature attacked him for killing her brother, he definitely felt a lot of pain.

    Fortunately, there was also another path. Not too far from the window, there was also a wooden door.<sub> </sub>

    He stepped closer to the door, which had a prominent crack spread across it. The crack was definitely not from a blunt weapon.

    It didn''t look like it came when someone tried to break the door, as the angle was all wrong. It looked more like someone had left that mark intentionally there, making it with a sword.

    Through the cracks, he could also see some lighting inside. Whatever it was outside the door, the ce was definitely brighter than the room he was in.

    There was also no handle on the door, let alone a lock. Gabriel reached out his hands to push the door open but stopped before his fingers could even touch the old rotten door.

    Just as his fingers were about to touch the door, he heard some sounding from outside.

    Tap~

    Tap~

    It was the sound of footsteps as if someone was walking closer to the door from the other side. The sound of footsteps only became more prominent as the person outside the door walked closer to the door.

    From the sound of footsteps, it was quite hard to guess if it was a man or a woman, but one thing was for sure. It was definitely a human and no beast who wasing from outside.

    Gabriel stepped back, gaining some distance. He didn''t know who was outside the door, but he was sure that whoever this person was, he didn''t know him.

    He was sure he was seeing Karyk''s memories from thest few times. This was supposed to be no different than that. The person outside was definitely someone from Karyk''s timeline... And if it was a person from that timeline, there was no way that person was going to be alive in his timeline for him to know about them.

    Unless it was another God of Element like the Goddess of Nature, there was no way for him to know even a single thing about them.

    The footsteps stopped right before the door. There was only silence for a few seconds as Gabriel waited for the doors to open with bated breath.

    Apanying a creaking noise, the old door started opening toward the outside.

    As the door was fully open, Gabriel managed to see the person who had just arrived. Seeing the person outside the door, all of Gabriel''s initial expectations went upside down.

    "It''s you?" he asked with disbelief. "How can you be in these memories?"

 167 Chapter 167

    Gabriel was slightly taken aback to see a young man before him who he had seen before as well. It hadn''t been too long since thest time he saw that person as the man was there at the academy with him.

    It was a young man who had beautiful blonde hair that was covering his forehead. His hair wasn''t too long, but it did match the color of his eyes.

    The man was Lelin, who also robbed the Academy of Elements like him. That was what was most strange about this. How was Lelin here if this was Karyk''s memories? And if it wasn''t Karyk''s memories, then just what was this?

    "I had a feeling I''ll find you here," Lelin stated, observing Gabriel.

    "What are you doing here?" Gabriel asked, but Lelin didn''t answer. He didn''t even react as if he couldn''t hear Gabriel''s question, which gave Gabriel the feeling that it was quite simr to his initial dreams, where he couldn''t interact with anyone. He could just watch.

    Lelin didn''t look like he was here to attack him. There was no intent like that on his face. Instead, he walked to the window and nced at the beautiful sea through the open windows.

    "Then again, I can''t me you foring here. This ce certainly has a beautiful view."

    Gabriel kept his eyes on Lelin, trying to get a grasp on the situation.

    ''There is no way Lelin had been alive in Karyk''s time. If he is here, then it''s definitely not Karyk''s memories that I''m seeing. I was going about it all wrong. It''s something more than the memories. But what?''

    "Won''t you ask why I was looking for you?" Lelin asked Gabriel without looking back.

    "Why were you looking for me?" Gabriel asked in response, but once again, his voice fell on deaf ears.

    "Then again, there''s no way you wouldn''t know about it. You''re right. It''s about the Temple," Lelin continued. "You''ve really pissed them off, you know? There is not a single person on your side now."

    "They sent me as a Messenger to you," he stated. "They want you to hand over what you took from them... Or rather, if I were to use the specific terms that they used, they want you to hand over what you stole."

    "What did I steal?" Even though Gabriel could see that Lelin wasn''t listening to him, he was still curious about what this guy was talking about. Was he talking about the Numens that he stole? But didn''t he also steal one in that case?

    "Anyway, that''s all I had to say. I am just a messenger, after all. After this point, it''s your choice what you want to do." Lelin stated. Though if I were in your ce, I definitely would have returned the things I took. It''s better not to escte the situation, especially after your current equation with the other gods."

    "If the Temple also goes against you, things would be way worse than they are now, even for someone like you... I hope you will make the right choice, Lord Karyk."

    After finishing his message, Lelin started leaving, but hisst words intrigued Gabriel the most. He addressed him as Lord Karyk? So this was actually a dream rted to Karyk as well? Another memory? But how was Lelin here then?

    Gabriel took a subtle nce at the back of Lelin''s hand, wondering if there was any mark of the element. There was no mark on the back of his hand.<sub> </sub>

    ''Is it that he only looks simr to the Lelin that I saw?'' He wondered.

    There was a saying in his world that there were quite a lot of people who had the same face and looks if all the humans were to be considered. It could be that the Lelin he saw in the Academy was just someone who had the same face as this guy but was apletely different person.

    Another question he had was about the supposed Orbs of Time. The name was quite intriguing even for him. He just didn''t know what the orb of time meant. He hadn''t heard about something like that in his lifetime. Maybe Lambard and Lira were going to know about that, but he had already burned all his bridges with them at this point.

    ''It would''ve been so good if I could interact with him like I was able to do with the Goddess of Nature...''

    After delivering the message, Lelin left from the same route he came, leaving Gabriel alone in the hall.

    Gabriel stood alone, thinking about the Spheres of Time, when he received an idea.

    "I still have the Element of Necromancy. The spells of ours should be quite simr since I also received them from the Grimoire. That means our storage realm spell should be quite simr as well."

    He didn''t have the Mark of Light here to cast his spell of light, but he had the Element of Necromancy, which Karyk used to have.

    He could also guess that if Karyk was keeping his treasures somewhere, it could only be his Spatial Storage realm. He was certainly too powerful to be scared and to hide them elsewhere.

    Gabriel was quite confident he was going to find the Spheres of Time in the storage.

    He raised his right hand, making a circr motion with his fingers before him, casting the Space Storage spell.

    Through the. Spell, he was able to connect to Karyk''s Spatial Storage and see all the items that were kept there. Amongst all the items, there were only two items that were spherical...

    There were two spheres thatGabriel could see inside the Spatial Storage, and it wasn''t his first time seeing either of those! These two Orbs were the same that were inside the sealed wooden box inside the Museum of Elements!

    Amongst the two spheres, one was ck, and one was white!

    "These two are Spheres of Time?"

    Gabriel grimaced. If that was the case, that meant Lelin took one of the Spheres of Time while he was able to hold onto one. But what were their uses? Why were these things so special? And what was the Temple that was looking for it?

 168 Chapter 168

    ****

    The Binding of the Ancestral Staff of Darkness waspleted. The Ancestral Staff lied still after it was tied to Gabriel.

    As the Mark of Darkness appeared right next to his Mark of Light, Gabriel''s body also started recovering even more. The veins of his that had turned ck returned back to normal as if a bnce had been established where the darkness was being kept at bay by his light and vice versa.

    Things seemed to have settled down as his life force was also stable. Not only was it stable, but his life force had only be stronger.

    The Infernal King could finally rx as it seemed that Gabriel was fine now. Whatever problem he was facing, he seemed to have navigated out of it. Now all they needed was to wait for him to get up.

    Gabriel was out of danger. The Prison of Darkness had been destroyed, so he was as safe as it could be. It was also when his consciousness started waking up, albeit slowly.

    ****

    Gabriel was inside his dream, looking inside the Spatial Storage. His entire focus rested on the two Spheres of different colors, one being ck and the other being white.

    The Spheres were addressed as the Orbs of Time, which implied they had some connection with time itself. But what connection? And what was the Temple that was supposed to be after him? Also, why was it supposed to be a threat?

    Moreover, there was another question. Why did Karyk take these two orbs? Just what did he want to achieve with them? Did he seed in what he wanted to do? Or did he fail? How did these Orbs of Time end up in the Academy?

    The questions didn''t stop there either. The more Gabriel thought about it, the more his questions increased, simr to his headache. Why did Lelin want these Orbs in the Real World?

    Since Lelin only took the white one and didn''t even know that there was also a ck one, that only made Gabriel convinced that Lelin wasn''t the same person he had seen before.

    The person Gabriel saw there appeared to be quite knowledgeable about the Spheres of Time and knew about them. There was no way he wasn''t going to know that there were two.

    "I need to ask him, but he can''t even listen to me," Gabriel mumbled, ncing at the doors.

    In the end, he just decided to follow the man. Even if he couldn''t talk to the man who looked like Lelin, at least he could know more about that person through his movements. If anything, there was also a possibility that he could''ve traced him back to the people who he was working for to understand more.

    Gabriel stepped out of the empty room to chase after the man.

    As soon as his first stepnded outside the room, he found his surroundings turn pitch white.

    The world created in his dreams shattered into pieces, tossing him out of the realm of dreams and back into the real world.

    ****

    It had been over three hours since Gabriel had fallen to the ground, being attacked by the Staff of Darkness. He still hadn''t woken up.

    He was still lying on the ground with everyone waiting for him to wake up. The Infernal King, Novius, Cylix, and the youngsters were all waiting in the distance, keeping an eye on the unmoving young man.

    None of them had seen a phenomena even close to this in their entire lifetime.<sub> </sub>

    "His condition seems much better now. He has been out of danger for quite some time, and he even seeded in controlling the Staff of Darkness. Why isn''t he waking up?" Cylix wondered.

    They had so many questions, especially regarding that strange yet powerful aura that attacked them, but the only person who could answer that was Gabriel. They needed to wait for him to wake up first. Unfortunately, none of them knew how long he was going to take.

    It was as if everything hade to a halt as everyone waited for Gabriel.

    Gabriel''s dream was broken, and he finally started waking up. Even though his condition was better than it had been before, his body was still aching, as if he had gone through a fierce battle and suffered a lot of damage.

    His pained groan echoed in the hall, alerting everyone that he was up!

    Gabriel''s eyes momentarily opened, only to close right after. He felt as if his eyes didn''t want to open, as if they wanted him to sleep for longer to give them more rest.

    He forced his eyes to open a few times to get them adjusted to the light in the surroundings.

    Holding his head, he sat up and observed his surroundings. He had expected to be back in the Prison of Darkness, but he found himself inside the Tower of Challenges. He also noticed the Infernal King and the two founders, who were looking at him with slight relief.

    "I''m out?" he wondered. He was sure that Lira wasn''t going to let him leave that easily. Then how was he back here?

    "Was that also a dream?"

    He didn''t know that he had fought Lira for his freedom, which was why he couldn''t make sense of his return.

    "No... It definitely wasn''t a dream! That couldn''t be one! The pain was real!"

    He couldn''t ept denying all the pain he had gone through. His interaction with Lira was real. He was sure of it.

    "Did you two help me in my return?" Since Lira wasn''t going to let him leave, it made more sense to think that the two Founders helped him escape from that ce. Or maybe it was the Infernal King? He could give credit to everyone except for taking it himself.

    Cylix and Novius didn''t understand what help he was talking about. Even though they wanted to help, there was literally nothing they could do. It was all the doing of him.

    Seeing the confused gazes on their faces, Gabriel had second thoughts about them as well. It seemed as if they weren''t the ones either. Then who?

    As Gabriel wondered, he noticed the Grimoire of Necromancy lying right beside him. That made sense! His Grimoire helped him, he thought.

    Strangely enough, a new page was open in the Grimoire with a new spell.

    "Huh?"

    He picked up the Grimoire and ced it on hisp, observing the new spell. He also turned pages back to see if it was the only new spell. Surprisingly enough, that wasn''t the case.

    There wasn''t just one new spell, but two! He had seven Spells before, but now there were two new spells.

 169 Chapter 169

    The eighth spell ''Lifeless Heal'' was before him. It was the same spell that he had used subconsciously in the Prison of Darkness.

    It appeared as if the Grimoire had awakened that spell since it was used by Gabriel. The spell not only allowed him to heal his body but also his soul. It was a High Tier Spell, and a more powerful version of his Light Heal that he had been using before.

    As the Lifeless Heal was attached with his Element of Necromancy that he ruled over, that increased the potential of this spell even more.

    What surprised Gabriel more was the ninth spell.

    "Peak Tier Spell..."

    So far, he had only seen the might of a high-tier spell, which was so strong that it was too overwhelming for even his own soul. To use one High Tier offensive spell, his soul wasn''t strong enough. Still, he was given a Peak Tier Spell?

    He couldn''t believe that this was the same Grimoire that was keeping even the middle-tier spells restricted from him as it thought that they were too much for him. And now it was giving him a peak Tier spell?

    He didn''t realize that it wasn''t the Grimoire that gave him that spell. His soul had used that spell on its own, which brought him into his Grimoire as well! The only difference was in thenguage.

    When he subconsciously chanted that spell, thenguage was something that Lira couldn''t understand. Now that the spell was in his Grimoire, he was able to read the spell perfectly as if the spell was made just for him to understand.

    "Wrath of the Dead," Gabriel repeated the name of the spell. There was one strange thing about this spell though.

    In other spells, at least there was a description of what those spells did, but there was no description about this spell here. The page only mentioned the spell name, the spell tier, and the spell chant!

    If he wanted to know what it did, he had to test it himself. He wasn''t stupid enough to do it though. He had already seen the impact of a High Tier spell on his soul and his body when he tried it. When it came to a Peak Tier spell, he knew it could only bring a disaster to him.

    "I need to be at least an Advanced Tier Mage to use that spell safely," he muttered. Even though this spell seemed powerful, it was a bit too powerful even for him. Unless he was in a life-or-death situation where nothing else worked, he didn''t want to try that spell.

    "It can only be like ast resort." He closed the Grimoire of Necromancy, sending it back to the Ring Form that appeared around his finger.

    Even though he was surprised at getting a Peak Tier spell, he wasn''t upset. On the contrary, he was quite happy. He knew just how many enemies he had. He needed as many hidden cards as he could possibly have, as all his enemies were too strong.

    "Thank you for the help." He couldn''t help but thank his Grimoire of Necromancy.

    After he finally had an idea about the reason behind his safe return, some of his questions were answered.

    He stood up, looking for the Ancestral Staff of Darkness.<sub> </sub>

    "Hmm? It also seeded?" Noticing the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, he could see that his Mark of Binding was sessful! His mark was not only visible on the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, but it was also shining.

    Gabriel could also feel some connection with the Ancestral Staff of Darkness.

    "It belongs to me now...?" He reached out his left hand toward the Staff.

    Just as his hand was about to touch the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, he saw something that stunned him even more. On the back of his left hand, there wasn''t just the Mark of Light. There was also a Mark of Darkness there! Another Elemental Mark! As if two were too little, he now had three.

    With a puzzled look on his face, he turned to Cylix and Novius. How was this possible?

    "Don''t look at us like that. Even we don''t know how that''s possible," Cylix shrugged all the responsibility off his shoulders since they had no hand in it.

    He further exined what happened after Gabriel lost consciousness and how his life seemed to be in danger before everything changed.

    Gabriel could only give the credit to the Grimoire of Necromancy in that case. If he was actually captured and unable to escape, the only thing which could bring him back and even help him conquer the Ancestral Staff of Darkness was his Grimoire!

    His Grimoire was his answer to every question which he couldn''t make sense of, no matter how impossible it sounded.

    "Does this Mark mean that I have the Element of Darkness as well now? I can cast the spells of Darkness?" he asked Novius, who was a master of Darkness.

    "That''s right. Your Mark of Darkness is proof that you''re also a Dark Mage now," Novius answered. "You should be able to cast Spells of Darkness. At the same time, you should also be able to use the Ancestral Staff of Darkness to cast those spells and boost their strength even further."

    "The only drawback is that you don''t have the Grimoire of Darkness, so you can''t utilize the element of Darkness as well as the Holy Priestesses of Darkness, but you still have more capabilities than any ordinary Dark Mage thanks to your head start," be continued.

    Even though everything here was so bizarre, it was still something that Novius was happy about. If Gabriel was also a dark Mage, that meant the Element of Darkness had a decent and powerful heir.

    Moreover, he could teach Gabriel as well now. Before, he only had the Element of Light, so he was supposed to be taught by Cylix. Now, the two of them could teach him so he could be much safer outside and ensure the survival of the Dark Element.

    Novius didn''t realize that Gabriel was slightly different now. In the past, he was still allowed with Lira. However, now, things had fallen apart. So by teaching Gabriel, he wasn''t just going to ensure the survival of the Element of Darkness. It was something else entirely...

    "How about you test it?" Novius suggested as he stepped closer.

    He taught Gabriel one of the easiest to learn spells. It was a spell that created a small sliver of darkness over one''s hands. It was a useless spell for the most part, which couldn''t be used for anything except just to create a speck of darkness. At the same time, this was also a perfect spell for this test.

 170 Chapter 170

    Gabriel was the youngest Mage of a Light ever known in history to awaken with the Element of Light at the age of eighteen.

    After receiving the Element of Darkness, he also became the youngest person ever to awaken the Element of Darkness.

    Even though his spirit had no choice but to utilize all the darkness that was forced on him, making it a forced Awakening, it was still no different than the Natural Awakening.

    Thanks to his connection with the Forbidden Book of Necromancy, Gabriel''s Spiritual potential, and Talent were already at the peak tier, which couldn''t just be utilized for the Elements of Necromancy.

    It didn''t matter what increased his talent and potential to leak tier; what mattered was that there was no restriction on what that talent could be used for.

    That also made him a perfect candidate for the Element of Light and the Element of Darkness, further strengthening his mind in learning concepts of various elements as long as his body had an affinity with that Element.

    Novius taught Gabriel the most basic spell, which took Gabriel only a few minutes to learn, thanks to his talent.

    He raised his right hand, casting the small spell of Darkness.

    As soon as he finished casting a spell, a small sphere of darkness appeared above his hand. The sphere of darkness couldn''t be used for attacking as it was very weak and small. However, it still made Gabriel impressed. It was true! He was using a spell of Darkness!

    That meant he had three elements now, with Necromancy being his main and stronger element!

    He was a Necromancer who could use more than what was his specialty! He had no idea how this all worked since he was the first person in history known to awaken more than one element in his lifetime.

    What didn''t make sense was why him? How could he be the only person to awaken more Elements? If it was rted to his Grimoire, then other Grimoires were also simrly strong. Why didn''t any Holy Priest in history awaken another element?

    After a few seconds, the small sphere of darkness dispersed on its own.

    "Incredible, isn''t it?" Novius asked. "You are now a Dark Mage as well, young man. And I couldn''t be any happier."

    "Why are you happy about it?" Gabriel asked. Why did they care if he became stronger? They knew that he was against their academy and possibly against the entire world. Then why were they so pleased to see him gaining more Elements?<sub> </sub>

    "Why won''t we be happy?" Cylix chuckled. "There was a time when Light and Darkness used to be friends. The world still had its problems even then, but we all fought together, and not against one another."

    "I don''t know what happened in recent times, but that bond has broken, and with it broke all hopes of coexistence. With the war of Light and Darkness, the world became a much worse ce than it used to be. Now that you have both Light and Darkness, you are the bond between the two elements!"

    Cylix ced his hand on Gabriel''s shoulder,passionately looking at the young man. "I know things are going to be hard for you because of these two elements, but if there is a person who can heal this World... It is you. At this point, words can''t help the world. Only strength can change the world from its core!"

    "With the kind of potential you have, you are the only person we can think of that can even stand before all the forces of the world," he continued.

    Novius chimed in as well. "If they say people holding the Element of Light are Angels, then you are that angel! If they say that people holding the Element of Darkness are Demons, then you are that Demon!"

    "You are the exception that breaks all their logic. If you''re a Demon, you can''t be an angel. If you''re an angel, you can''t be a demon! You''re a loving paradox for them! You''re proof that there is no good or bad from birth. Being good or bad, it''s all about the person and not their element!"

    "You are the living Gray Area in their ck and white world!" Novius stated.

    When he first saw Gabriel, he thought he had a challenger who didn''t have the potential to defeat them. However, after knowing him better, he realized that he was wrong! Gabriel wasn''t the person who didn''t have the potential to defeat them! Instead, he was someone who had the potential to defeat even Gods and Demons if they stood in his path!

    Unfortunately, that was just the potential. He hadn''t reached the point where he could utilize his full potential yet. If he was killed before he could even reach that point, then it was all for naught... That''s why they needed to make sure that he couldn''t be killed that easily!

    They needed to make sure that Gabriel was strong! At least strong enough to protect himself from danger or to fight back! If they wanted him to change the world, they needed to be his strength!

    Gabriel was already very good at using his Origin Element of Necromancy... A bit too good. He also had a Holy Grimoire to help with the Necromancy, so they didn''t need to focus on that. Even if they wanted, they couldn''t teach him anything about Necromancy since they themselves didn''t know anything about it.

    However, they could still teach him about things in which he wascking! Since Gabriel was more focused on his main Element, he rarely used other Elements, which were also very versatile when it came to battles.

    He didn''t have anyone to teach him about his Element of Darkness; the world didn''t have many Dark Mages or the same resources that they used to have.

    As for people who could teach him the Element of Light in the outside world, they were never going to teach him anything since he had the Element of Darkness, and they considered him their enemy¡­

 171 Chapter 171

    Gabriel had his Grimoire as his teacher for his Necromancy. He only needed teachers for his Darkness and Light Elements, and Cylix and Novius believed that they could fill that gap!

    That had to make Gabriel stronger, so he could be the force of change onto the world! They had really high expectations from Gabriel, not realizing that his own expectations from him were quite different.

    The goals that they thought for him were not the goals that he had made for himself.

    "Do you want to rest, or shall we start right now?" Cylix asked Gabriel, who seemed confused at their words.

    "What do you mean? Start what?" Gabriel asked in return. "You mean my battle with Qin?"

    If it was about the battle, he still needed more time since he had gone through a lot recently. He needed some time to gather his thoughts. Moreover, there was no time restriction on this floor, so he could also take as much time as he needed.

    "Hahaha." Cylix burst into a heartyughter. "You don''t need to fight Qin. That battle has been canceled since you''ve already proven your worth by defeating your first opponent."

    "Then ready for what? If it''s about a battle with you, my answer will still be the same. I need more time."

    Gabriel stuck with his answer since he didn''t want to fight now. Even though his body was perfectly fine now, there was still a headache that he was  suffering from. He also didn''t want to be distracted when fighting these people.

    "Don''t worry. You can take as much time as you need. In any case, it''s going to take a few months in your training at least."

    "My training?"

    "Of course, your training. We both noticed that you don''t have much knowledge of your Elements of Light and Darkness, so you definitely need some guidance. We will be teaching you everything we know about the two Elements and the spells that always came in handy for us."

    "Why?" Gabriel asked, confused.

    He was happy that they were going to teach him since he definitely needed some stronger spells, but why were they doing it for him? In the end, it was he who had to fight them. Why were they strengthening their enemy? Did they want to lose in theing battle?

    Even though he was right about thest part, as Cylix and Novius actually wanted to lose, he was quite wrong about the reason. They weren''t teaching him because they wanted to lose. It was just an added advantage for them.

    "Because we want you to defeat us using our own Element! Consider it your challenge!" Cylix smirked. "Since you have the Element of Light, I want you to defeat me only using the Element of Light. If you use any other Element, then I''ll fail you, and you''ll be kicked out!"

    "And since you have the Element of Darkness, I want you to defeat me using the same Element of Darkness."

    The two of them wanted to teach him, and what better way to motivate him to learn than by iming that it was his only ticket to the hundredth floor?

    If they just said that they simply wanted to teach him because they thought he was worthy, there was a good chance that he wasn''t going to take his training seriously. But if there was something at stake...<sub> </sub>

    Something like the ess to the hundredth Floor, then not only was he going to take his training seriously, but he was going to be much stronger, focusing only on their element while in training.

    This way, both of them left no option before Gabriel but to agree to them.

    If Gabriel was confused about why they wanted to train him before, he now had a proper idea, even though he was still wrong.

    He had a High Tier Spell of Necromancy that he used to kill Axion called the Curse of the Dead! He was sure that he could''ve defeated at least one of the two founders with that spell, gaining the ess to the hundredth floor.

    It also made sense to him that they would change the rules of the Trial. Based on the new rules, it became much more unfair for him since he couldn''t use his strongest Element and his strongest Spells!

    Instead, he had to rely on the Elements that he couldn''t boost with his Grimoire! With the new set of Rules, the Trial on the 99th floor became much moreplicated for him.

    He had to defeat Novius with an element that he had just awakened! And he had to defeat Cylix with the Element of Light that he was master of! It was like his challenge was that he had to burn the God of Fire using fire!

    "Scared?" Cylix asked, seeing hesitation on Gabriel''s face. "You know, if you''re scared, you can leave this tower ande back when you''re stronger."

    Since he was sure that Gabriel wasn''t going to leave the tower, he tried to use Gabriel''s self-confidence and dignity to provoke him into epting this deal. They didn''t want him to think that they were doing a favor on him by teaching him.

    "Yeah, if you don''t have faith in your skills, we won''t force you." Novius also understood what Cylix was trying to do. He yed along as well.

    "I suppose I can''t take his help either?" Gabriel asked, ncing back at the Infernal King.

    "You can''t." Cylix shook his head. "You can only use your own strength to fight us."

    Gabriel knew just how impossible this challenge was, but could he do anything else? He couldn''t force his way to the hundredth floor. Due to the restrictions of this hall, he couldn''t even fight here. He had to do things by the rules, even if the rules made things unfair for him.

    "I can take as much time as I need to learn your spells? And you''ll teach me every single spell you know without keeping the strongest for yourself?" he asked.

    Even though he had a disadvantage in fighting by their rules, he also had an advantage. If he could learn all their spells, it was quite good for his future, even if he lost.

    Moreover, if he knew all their spells, he could learn all their strengths and weaknesses to make a proper n on how to defeat them. So there was still a chance for sess. As long as there was no cheating.

    "We will teach you every single thing we know without holding anything back!" Cylix epted.

    "So, do you ept the challenge?" Novius asked. "Master our Elements and defeat us using them!"

 172 Chapter 172

    Master the Elements to win against the experts of those Elements... That was the challenge that Gabriel was given if he wanted to clear the 99th Floor.

    The challenge also came with more restrictions than just the one about using a specific element. Another restriction ced on him was that he couldn''t take anyone''s help. He was allowed to use a Numen, but only one! It didn''t matter how many Numens he possessed, but he could only select and use one in the battle.

    Other than these restrictions, there was not much that was ced on him. There wasn''t anything rted to how much time he could take. It all depended on him. He could take one month to learn, or he could train for years. It was all on his capabilities.

    Initially, Cylix and Novius were in a hurry for this battle, but not anymore. Since they had decided to take Gabriel as their disciple indirectly, they wanted to make sure that he learned everything that they had to offer. It was going to be thest time they will see him after all.

    They weren''t going to have any other opportunity to teach him such things.

    "Do you ept, or will you leave?" Novius offered a choice that wasn''t much of a choice.

    Gabriel observed the Staff of Darkness lying near his feet. He had a treasure that he could only use if he learned more about that Element.

    "I ept the Challenge of yours." After a brief pause, Gabriel epted the challenge. "I will defeat you with your own elements."

    If someone from outside had seen him make that promise here, they would''ve considered him crazy! He really thought he could defeat the Two Founders of the Academy? Even though it was the younger avatar of the Founders, they were still very powerful around that time... Possibly one of the strongest Mages,parable to the Holy Priests at that time.

    They couldn''tpare to the Holy Priests in terms of magical strength as they didn''t have the Holy Grimoires to support them around their time, but they made up for thatck of raw strength with their immense trove of Knowledge. They only grew stronger after leaving the tower.

    Cylix smirked, getting confirmation from Gabriel. Even though he expected this answer, he was still quite pleased with the answer.

    ****

    Lira was sitting in the forest near a pond. Her face still looked pale, as if there was not even a single drop of blood in her body. Her lips had a cut that she could''ve healed, but she didn''t. She just looked at her pale reflection in the water, thinking about the past.

    Whatever happened in the Prison of Darkness was like a dream. Even now, she had a hard time believing that a novice mage could fight back against her so well and even hurt her so much.

    "The power of Origin Element..." she muttered, clenching her fists so tight that her nails were stabbing her skin, making her bleed even more.

    She had heard Lambard mention the Origin Element. She didn''t ce much importance on that. For her, Origin Element just meant it was the first Element to appear in this world... The Element of Life and Death... However, only now she understood that maybe that wasn''t the only special thing about the Origin Element.

    The Element hadn''t appeared even once in this world after Karyk had been killed as if it didn''t consider anyone worthy to inherit the element... Until now.<sub> </sub>

    That Element was too bizarre, even for her. Even inside her own Grimoire, the Origin Element was able to hurt her... The Element was certainly very scary.

    She ced her hand in the water, letting her blood enter the pure water, cleaning her hand.

    "It would''ve been so good if we could''ve worked together... My Knowledge and Darkness... And your Origin Element with the raw strength. Unfortunately, you chose to double cross me... You deserved that death!"

    She still considered that Gabriel had been killed as she didn''t know better. She had inflicted his soul with his Darkness. There was no way for him to survive that and escape. Even thest attack of his that hurt her so much, she considered it to be thest attack of Gabriel before his death.

    There was no way for her to confirm if he was alive either. In her eyes, Gabriel had been killed inside her Grimoire, and now that the soul was destroyed, there was no way to check.

    Even her Ancestral Staff of Darkness had lost connection as if it went to sleep once again like it had been sleeping for centuries.

    The staff had awakened when resisting Gabriel''s control which established a better yet momentary connection with Lira, who was the present heir of Darkness. However, now that Gabriel had binded the Ancestral Staff of Darkness with him, the staff again lost its connection with Lira and this time for the better.

    She couldn''t sense the Staff now, which made her think that it had once again gone to sleep.

    "The Ancestral Staff is asleep, and Gabriel is dead. Is there a way for me to get to it now? I don''t even know where he kept it..."

    "Since he said I can''t get to it, as it''s even more secure, that only makes me think that it''s still in the Academy somewhere..."

    "Is that in his room that was assigned to him in the Academy?" She wondered but rejected her own suggestion. "No. If they already knew that the Museum had been robbed, keeping the items in his room would be stupid. Or is it?"

    Lira knew that sometimes the most obvious ces were also the best ces to hide something important. Could it be that Gabriel actually did it? Even if it wasn''t in his room, it was still somewhere inside the Academy.

    Unfortunately, her problem was still the same as before. She couldn''t enter Lumen City without getting marked by the Barrier. When that happened, all the Holy Priests who were still in the City were going to be after her.

    No matter what, getting to the Ancestral Staff of Darkness was very important for her. If there was one person who could help her in finding out the exact whereabouts of the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, it was Lambard!

    Lambard found it hard to retrieve items from the Museum of Elements, but it was different if the items were kept in the room of Gabriel.

    She washed her face with the cold water before standing up. She climbed back on her horse and left for the City of Abadon.

 173 Chapter 173

    ****

    Gabriel started his training on the 99th floor inside the Tower of Challenges, unaware as to how many people were actually waiting for him outside.

    As he went into the training that had the potential tost months, the entire Academy hade to a halt. No sses were conducted in the Academy, as it wasn''t considered safe until Gabriel was out of the tower and caught.

    Unfortunately, the wait for him was also making them consume a lot of resources that were getting too much even for them.

    The academy had a defensive formation that sealed the entire space in the academy, effectively cing it on lockdown. It wasn''t easy to keep it running as that formation consumed a lot of Spirit Energy.

    Each second that the Formation was active, it was consuming thousands of Spirit Crystals. Initially, it was still fine as Gabriel was on the 99th floor, and everyone expected Gabriel to be out soon, but even the teachers started getting restless as hours turned to days and days turned to weeks.

    Gabriel had been on the 99th floor for close to two weeks now. His name hadn''t moved up, but he wasn''t out either.

    The Spirit Crystals were already very rare and expensive in the world, and the Academy had been using them for two weeks, waiting for Gabriel toe out.

    They had thought about stopping the formation many times, not each time they dyed it by a few hours, thinking that Gabriel was going to be out soon, but that wasn''t happening.

    Moreover, in close to two weeks, they hadn''t felt any dark aura like before.

    "How long? At this point, I''ve lost hope. It doesn''t look like he''ll being out," Yoanmented. Two weeks had been more than enough for him to believe that it was over.

    "At the spell with which he was climbing the tower, even he shouldn''t have taken two weeks on the 99th Floor. Either he should''ve been defeated and out of the tower, or he should''ve moved to the next Floor. The only other result that can justify something like that is his death," he further expressed.

    For him, it made more sense that Gabriel was dead inside the tower. Even if a person died inside the tower, their name was going to show the highest floor they had managed to climb before their death. In Gabriel''s case, it was the 99th floor.

    "I agree. It makes sense that he would be dead. Two weeks are more than enough time to either be defeated or clear the floor." Xinci agreed with Yoan, which wasn''t often. "I think we are wasting our resources in the lockdown for no reason now. He isn''ting out."

    Their words made sense for the most part, and even Eliana understood that. The Ny-ninth floor wasn''t supposed to be a pic destination where someone could stay for two weeks. The name was stuck there and didn''t look like it was going to move.

    "I think it''s quite possible as well," Lishen stated. "Remember the dark aura that we felt, which hurt so many of our students? What do you think would have forced Gabriel to use this? It could only be that he was fighting someone in the 99th Floor trial to clear the floor."

    "If I''m not wrong, he lost that fight and died there. If not, why haven''t we sensed that aura again? If he had won that battle, he would''ve been on the hundredth Floor over a week ago. But that''s not the case. That can only mean that he didn''t win."

    After one person presented the assumption, it managed to convince everyone with time. The more they thought about it, the more it made sense to them.

    Gabriel seemed to be dead... At least, that''s what all things and this strange silence for weeks pointed at.

    Eliana still stared at the name. The assumptions made sense to her, but she didn''t know why; she couldn''t get herself to believe that Gabriel was dead. Still, he had to ce her own beliefs aside and think about the Academy.

    They couldn''t burn the Spirit Stones for an eternity if Gabriel was actually dead. She needed to think about the future of the Academy as well.

    "Alright," she eventually agreed. She nced at one of the teachers in the distance. "Shut the formation down for now."

    Not only did she agree to close the sealing formation, but she also agreed to unseal the academy. All the students were allowed toe out of their Dorms once again. However, she still didn''t take back all the precautions.

    She ced a one month ban on the Tower of Challenges. For the next one month, no one was going toe even close to the Tower of Challenges. Even if they believed that Gabriel was dead, she wanted to be absolutely sure of that.

    They needed to observe the Tower for one more month and if Gabriel still didn''te out, or his name didn''t make any movement, only then was she going to be convinced that Gabriel was dead.<sub> </sub>

    For the next two months, she assigned the duty of all the Head Council Members near the Tower. At every moment in time, there were going to be two Head Council Members before the Tower, keeping an eye on it and waiting for Gabriel. That was supposed tost for a month as well.

    It was done so that if Gabriel actually came out, they could dy him until the sealing formation could be activated again at a moment''s notice.

    *****

    While the Academy considered Gabriel to be dead, Gabriel was actually still immersed in his training.

    Since he was a Novice in the Element of Darkness, having no idea about it at all, his training began with the basics of Darkness.

    On the other hand, he already had the Element of Light some time and knew some spells, so Cylix had a much easier time in trying to teach him.

    Every day, Gabriel had two sses. During the first half of the day, he was taught by Cylix, who taught him the versatile spells of Lights, including the high-tier flight spell.

    In the second half of the day, Novius taught him the powerful spells of Darkness.

    Not only was Gabriel taught to use the spells of Darkness, but he was also taught how to properly utilize the Ancestral Staff of Darkness in battles.

    He was taught that the Ancestral Staff of Darkness wasn''t just a staff that amplified the strength of a spell. It was much more than that.

    In the blink of an eye, two weeks had passed, and Gabriel had improved by leaps and bounds, but not enough.

    At the moment, he was resting in the hall. He had just finished an intense training session with Novius and needed proper rest.

    Even though it was called a Training Session, his condition was saying otherwise. Gabriel had multiple wounds on his body, and his clothes also seemed to be covered in dirt.

    He ced his hand on his chest and used the Element of Light. "Holy Heal."

    Thanks to Cylix, he had managed to learn an even higher tier healing spell of Light than his Minor Heal.

    The Healing Spell not only healed Gabriel''s body but also relieved some of his fatigue. Still, it couldn''t stop his hunger.

    Fortunately, Novius heard the growling of Gabriel''s stomach. He brought some food for Gabriel. "Tired?"

    "Not enough," Gabriel answered as he took the te from Novius'' hands. However, just as he was about to walk back, he thought of something.

    His feet stopped in ce. He had been wondering about a question for a long time, having no answers. He wondered if Cylix and Novius knew anything about it.

    "Can I ask you something?"

    "Do you even need permission for that?" Cylixughed. They had been training the little guy for two weeks, and he still needed permission to ask them questions?

    "Do you know anything about the Orbs of Time?" Gabriel ced his question before the two Founders.

    "Orbs of Time?" Hearing the name, the two Founders seemed quite taken aback. Their expressions turned grim. "How do you know about that?"

 174 Chapter 174

    Even though Gabriel asked Cylix and Novius about the Orb of Time, even he hadn''t expected such an extreme reaction from them. It was as if he had asked them about some great devil or something.

    It wasn''t just the shock that he could see on his face which surprised him. He was sure that they definitely knew something about it.

    "I heard someone mention that name before." Gabriel didn''t know why, but he decided against telling Cylix and Novius that he possessed one of the two Orbs of a Times. He felt ufortable telling them.

    The Orbs were kept in the treasures of the Royal Academy of Elements, but from what he was told, the wooden box was received by the Academy not too long ago. It definitely was much after the time thatst person managed to reach the ny-ninth floor.

    And even if they could, they wouldn''t have known that the Academy had Orbs of Time. Even the Academy couldn''t open the box to see what was inside.

    There was no way that anyone here was going to know that the Orb of Time was amongst the Numens that he had stolen from the Academy. It was also a good thing that the Orb wasn''t something he brought out yet.

    He felt that it was much safer to keep this a secret. Even Lelin possibly didn''t know that there were two Orbs. That''s why he left without looking for the second orb. ording to him, Lelin wouldn''t have known that he had one as well.

    "Who mentioned it?" Cylix asked grimly. "Is there news about the Orbs? Have they been found?"

    Just from the tone of Cylix, Gabriel could feel just how serious they were. But why? They were already dead. Why would they be concerned about the Orbs?

    Gabriel nodded in response. "I heard that there is a person who found them. A Mage of Light known as Lelin."

    He didn''t talk about him holding one, but he could definitely speak about Lelin, and he wouldn''t be lying. He was just holding back some important bits of information.

    Receiving Gabriel''s confirmation, Cylix''s face turned dark. Novius'' reaction wasn''t much different either.

    They both looked at each other.

    "Death needs life to exist..." Novius muttered.

    "And Life needs death to hold value," Cylix continued as if they were speaking the same yet fragmented statement. "But time..."

    "Time shatters all rules..." Novius finished Cylix''s sentence as he started walking back toward his throne, lost in thought. "If the Orb of Time has been found again... Things are worse than we could have expected."

    It didn''t even look like he was talking to Gabriel anymore. Instead, he was talking to himself at this point.

    Novius ced his hand on the armrest of the throne as he spoke something which was entirely inaudible to Gabriel.

    Cylix also ced back and forth as if thinking of something.

    ''Time breaks all rules...? What did they mean? Why do they look so worried? Just what is it about these Orbs? Why was Lelin only after them instead of other Numens? And their reactions...''<sub> </sub>

    Gabriel didn''t know the importance of the Orb of Time, but with time, he was realizing that there was more to what met the eye.

    Firstly, out of all the treasures, a person only selected this one seemingly ordinary crystal Sphere. As if that wasn''t odd in itself, as soon as he touched the ck Orb of Time, he saw some incredible shes of time.

    On top of that, there was the dream in which he came to know that Karyk had taken the Orb of Time from some temple?

    It was unclear what that Temple was, but if that Temple tried to threaten Karyk to return the Orbs of Time, then it couldn''t be any weaker either. If that mysterious Temple was weak, it would''ve been like courting death for them to threaten Karyk.

    He was already very intrigued about the Spheres of Time, but now this? Cylix and Novius'' reactions affected him the most. These people didn''t exist in Karyk''s time. Moreover, they didn''t even know about the Origin Element. For them, it was just a new element.

    It was clear that when it came to their knowledge about Karyk and his past, then it was almost nil. They didn''t exist at that time either. So how did they know about the Sphere of Time?

    ''Unless someone still existed in their time who was looking for the Orbs as well...'' Gabriel frowned, thinking of something. ''Someone like that Temple!''

    "What is this Orb of Time?" he repeated the question once again. "And why are you both so concerned over it!"

    "We are concerned about it because we know what the discovery of the Orb of Time means!" Novius eximed, turning around to finally face Gabriel again.

    "For a long time, the Orbs of Time were lost." Cylix let out a deep sigh as he walked back to the throne as well. He sat on his head, seemingly quite tired.

    "No one knew where they were or who held them. Wherever they were, they couldn''t be sensed by anyone, so things were quite peaceful. It was as if they were swallowed by the Deepest Pits of Earth!" Novius also sat down, holding his head in his hands, closing his eyes. "However, they have once again been discovered!"

    "If the Orbs are out, that means the people who were looking for them will also return... They will also return..."

    "They?" Gabriel asked, puzzled. Was Novius talking about who he thought they were talking about?

    Novius didn''t answer right away. He wasn''t sure if he should tell Gabriel all this or not.

    "Should we tell him?" he asked Cylix. "Or should we wait until he is ready afterpleting the training?"

    They didn''t want to scare Gabriel at the moment by overwhelming his head with all this information. He already had enough troubles as it was. If they overwhelmed him with even more, then it could affect his training.

    Even Cylix was slightly hesitant. Gabriel was still very going. His worldview was already very limiting, and even in that small worldview, he was already against so many people. cing more on his shoulder certainly didn''t feel right.

    However, after some thinking, he decided to do it. "We should. He would know sooner orter. He needs to be ready for it since he''ll be in the middle of it all. However, things couldn''t be worse..."

    Cylix gazed at Gabriel, prepared to tell him. He took a brief pause before four words came out of his mouth. "The Temple of Time¡­"

 175 Chapter 175

    "The Temple of Time?" Gabriel repeated. It was his first time hearing about something like that, but he certainly found it intriguing that the Temple also had a reference to ''Time'' in their name, like the Orbs of a Time.

    If he were to guess based on the name itself, he would''ve been sure that the Temple had something to do with ''Time'' but at the same time, it didn''t make sense. They couldn''t be like the Churches of Elements. All the Elements that the Churches were named after... They were indeed elements that were inherited by people.

    He was sure there was no Element of Time. Even Lambard had confirmed before that there were only a limited number of Elements, and all but one of them had been prominent in this world.

    "What is that?" he asked to get a rification. "And why were they unknown by most of the world?"

    "They weren''t unknown in our time... At least not initially. Everyone who had even the slightest bit of knowledge about the World knew about them. They were like the Ghosts of this World," Cylix answered before further rifying what he meant by that. "Everyone knew that they existed, but no one knew who they were or where they were situated."

    As he talked about the Temple of Time, he couldn''t help but remember his own interaction with them. He was only fifteen years old at that time and hadn''t even awakened his Element of Light.

    "It feels like it was just yesterday when I saw them..." he muttered.

    ***************

    p ***************</anda>

    [Years ago]

    The City of Roise was full of life as many influencing, and wealthy people had arrived in the city from all over the country.

    A carriage moved closer to the city, supporting the Insignia of the Hale Merchant Group. It was one of the most well known merchant organizations in the country, which had its business spread in many major cities.

    Inside the luxurious green carriage, a middle-aged man was sitting quitefortably.

    The dark haired middle aged man was none other than the Owner of Hale Merchant Union, Bastion Hale. Bastion was holding onto some papers, going through them.

    Right in front of him, there sat a young boy who appeared to be fifteen years old. The young boy also had a darker shade of hair, just like the middle-aged man. However, unlike Bastion, the young boy was looking quite bored.

    "Father, did we really have toe here ourselves? What''s even so special about this auction? It''s just some stupid items!" The young boy eximed.

    He seemed quite frustrated that they had toe here. He was also upset that he was forced toe with his father since his father wanted him to start taking an interest in the family business from an early age.

    Bastion kept the papers down, raising his eyes to focus on the young boy.

    "Cylix, do you really think the entire country would be talking about this if it was just a bunch of stupid items?" The middle man asked, smiling. "This isn''t a normal Auction as many important Artifacts are going to be sold there. Of course, we also need to get our hands in the action as well."

    "Even if we can''t buy anything, it would still be a good experience to see these things from closer and to know more about them. That''s why I also brought you with me," he exined as he nced out the window.

    Their carriage had already entered the city, which was under heavy security because of the big event that was taking ce.<sub> </sub>

    "I still can''t believe they managed to find it," he nced at the piece of paper before him.

    The paper contained a list of all the items that were going to be sold in the Auction. It was a list that was sent to all the potential buyers throughout the country.

    Even though the Merchant Union that was holding this auction was apetition of Bastion''s Merchant Union, he was still impressed at their ability to find these items that even he failed to find.

    "The Items that were only mentioned in the Myths and legends... Even I had lost hope and started doubting their existence. I am sure we are going to see some big spending in the auction."

    The carriage didn''t take long to reach the Auction Hall after gaining an entrance into the city. There was also no obstruction along the way other than the basic checking to see how many people were inside the carriages since each person who received an invitation was only allowed to bring one person with them.

    Bastion''s carriage driver opened the door for him after stopping the carriage before the Auction Hall. Bastion stepped out as well, leaving the papers behind. He only carried the invitation with him.

    Cylix also stepped out after his father, but not before taking a nce at the name on the list his father was reading.

    "Mythical Orbs of Time."

    His father showed the invitation to the powerful mages that were hired to protect the ce. After verifying the invitation, the guards allowed Bastion and Cylix to enter.

    "They definitely spent quite a lot of money in arranging all this. They even hired Advanced Mages for security." Bastion seemed a bit impressed at all the arrangements. "I''m sure they would recover more than they are investing with this auction."

    By now, most of the guards were already inside the Hall, in their seats.

    "Ah, Bastion... You came. I didn''t expect you to ept the invitation." A middle-aged man noticed Bastion from a distance. She walked to Bastion,ughing. "I see you brought your son as well."

    "Jill, I see you''re quite happy today."

    "Hahaha, don''t tell me you wouldn''t be happy if it were your merchant union holding this auction instead of mine?" Jill smirked. She hadpeted with Bastion all her life to make her Merchant Union the top in the country. And with this auction, she was sure she had achieved that goal. She couldn''t be any happier.

    "Anyway, I''ve saved one of the best seats in the Hall for you. Come..."

    ****

    After all the Guests were inside the city, the Auction Hall was closed, and no one else was allowed to enter. However, when one door closed, another one opened... A door that didn''t belong to the Auction House.

    Outside the city, a strange door suddenly appeared in the middle of nowhere, out of thin air, apanied by a peculiar aura.

    Spatial cracks started developing around the mysterious door as if the door was breaking the boundaries of space just to exist in this ce¡­

 176 Chapter 176

    A beautiful golden door appeared not too far from the city entrance, which seemed to be made from the purest gold.

    There were no carvings on the door, except one... Ack mark could be seen in the middle of the door, creating a shape that seemed awfully simr to an hourss.

    The door slowly started opening. Even though there was nothing on either side of the door, after it opened, an entirely different scene could be seen through the door.

    A young man could be seen on the other end of the door. It looked as if the man was standing in a dark room which was connected to this ce. The dark room made it hard to properly see the face of the young man.

    <o>,m Even the light of this world couldn''t brighten the room in which the young man was standing.</o>

    The man stepped through the door,nding on the ground outside the city. It was only when the man stepped through the door and into this ce that his face was clearly visible.

    Pale face... That was the first noticeable thing about the man. His skin was so pale, as if he didn''t have a single drop of blood in his entire body. In fact, his skinplimented his long silver hair that came down to his waist all too well.

    Another peculiar thing about him was his blood-red eyes that were like the blood moon itself. The man was slightly over six feet tall and looked to be in his mid-twenties.

    The young man was dressed in all ck, wearing ck pants and a ck medieval coat that wrapped around his chest tightly. The coat also had a shoulder te on each side which didn''t look odd for some reason.

    Around the neck of the man, there was a pendant that had a blood-red gem attached to it. The man hadn''t spoken anything even aftering out of the door. However, his silence only made him look even more severe.

    The man didn''t start moving. It was as if he was waiting for someone. He nced back at the door.

    Only a few seconds had passed before another person stepped out of the door as well.

    It was a woman who came out this time. She also had simrly pale skin and long silver hair, but her eyes were different from the man''s. Her eyes were also a lighter shade of silver like her hair. The color of her eyes made it look like the woman couldn''t see anything, but her vision was perfect.

    Her attire was quite simr to the man, but not entirely. Hers looked like it had been properly made for a woman, with some changes. Despite the chances, if one thing was the same, it was the red pendant around her neck.

    After the two stepped through the door, the mysterious door closed on its own, but it didn''t disappear. It stayed in its ce as if waiting for their return.

    "Is this the right ce?" The woman asked, ncing at the city.

    The man nodded.

    "The ce which is rumored to hold it."

    The man''s voice was very heavy, having something strangely alluring about it.<sub> </sub>

    "After so long, we will finally get it back..." the womanmented as the group of two started advancing toward the city.

    "As long as he lived, we couldn''t get it back. Even after his death, it became impossible for us to find it..." The silver-haired man let out, ncing at the bright sky that made him look even paler.

    He reached the entrance of the city. However, before the guards could even approach him, the man snapped his fingers, not intending to deal with the guards. The pendant around his neck shone for a brief moment before returning to its usual state.

    All the guards that were at the entrance of the city froze in their ce, unable to move. It was as if they had be living statues.

    The young man known as Vienn and the woman known as Jia walked inside the city with ease, having no one to stop them.

    "Not anymore!" Vienn said as he walked past the frozen guards. "We have waited for so long for a single clue about this. We won''t let anyone interfere!"

    Vienn and Jia entered the city and went straight to the center of the city. The Temple of Time had been waiting for a long time for a single clue about the Orbs of Time, and now that they had a clue, they weren''t going to let it go.

    Vienn reached the entrance of the Auction Hall, noticing more guards there. This time, the guards were two Advanced Grade Mages, both having the Element of Light.

    The two Mages also sensed something wrong. They didn''t know why, but they felt threatened just by the sheer aura of Vienn and Jia. But before they could even do anything, Jia appeared behind the two Guards, disappearing from her original ce.

    Her hands stabbed inside the back of the two Advanced Grade Mages, getting a hold of their hearts. She ruthlessly crushed their hearts before bringing out her blood-covered hands.

    She ced those same bloody hands on the Auction Hall doors and pushed the door open.

    Amidst the shocked gasps of the people in the Hall, a man and a woman walked toward the stage, one of them having her hands covered in blood which was dripping on the wooden floor.

    The Auction had just started, and the first item wasn''t even sold when such an interruption appeared.

    Even though there were two Advanced Stage Mages at the entrance of the Hall, that wasn''t the extent of the security of this ce.There were more Mages even inside the Hall since the most precious items were kept inside.

    All the Mages rushed out to stop the intruders. Unfortunately, they were like meat on the chopping board for Vienn, who didn''t even take them seriously.

    The faster these mages came to stop Vienn and Jia, the faster they died.

    It was Cylix''s first time seeing these people. He was horrified at the same time as amazed at the strength of these two people! These two were like the Gods walking amongst men!

 177 Chapter 177

    ****

    "That was my first time seeing them. The day I saw gods..."

    Cylix exined,ing out of his reminiscence. It was a scene that he didn''t believe he could ever forget since that was also the first time he had seen a person being killed.

    He was from an affluent family and was kept away from all the conflicts. He lived in a world where he never saw a person being killed, so the first time he did, it had a huge impact on him. Especially since the ones who were killed weren''t ordinary humans. High Ranking Mages were killed like ants.

    "They hade to take the Orb of Time that was being auctioned in the ce," he told Gabriel.

    Gabriel was slightly intrigued about this. The time that Cylix was talking about was definitely centuries after the era of gods. It was most probably the era in which centuries had passed since Karyk and other gods had died.

    That meant the Temple of Gods still existed in this aura. But what didn''t make sense was how these Orbs ended up at the Academy of Elements. If the Orbs were being auctioned and were taken by the Temple, they should''ve had this. Unless someone stole these Orbs again? But that would''ve been too much of a coincidence.

    "So they got the Orbs of Time in the auction?" Gabriel inquired to understand the situation better.

    Cylix shook his head. "They couldn''t."

    "They were stopped? By whom?" This was interesting for Gabriel. So someone managed to stop the Temple of Gods from getting the Orbs again?

    The Temple of Gods was able to kill the Advanced Mages easily. Even Head Priests of Churches would''ve had a hard time before them. That narrowed down the choices too much for him to guess.

    "A Holy Priest was there?" he asked.

    "No. There were no Holy Priests there. Moreover, the Temple couldn''t get the Orb of Time, not because they were stopped by a stronger force," Cylix responded.

    "Then why?" Gabriel frowned. "Why didn''t they get it?"

    "Because they couldn''t get what wasn''t there in the first ce," Cylix answered before exining further. "The Merchant Union was holding an auction. They had spread news about this auction everywhere, especially mentioning an item in the list of items that were going to be auctioned."

    "The Item was the Orbs of Time that was mentioned in a few myths and books. No one had seen what these Orbs actually did or other such things. Even the description of the orbs wasn''tplete. The auction house tried to take advantage of this situation and created a fake item..."

    "Since no one knew what these things were, no one could guess that the Orbs of Time that were being sold were fake. They were something created by the Auction House to create some hype and to fool the people. Unfortunately, even they didn''t expect that this false news would reach the Temple of Time."<sub> </sub>

    "The news about the discovery of the Orbs of Time reached even the Temple. After hundreds of years of silence, the Temple finally made a return for this Auction. Unfortunately for the Auction House, if there was someone who could know the difference between true and fake, it was the Temple of Time."

    "The auction house couldn''t fool them. As soon as the people from the Temple saw the orbs being auctioned, they were infuriated at being fooled. They killed the people that were holding the auction and more."

    These memories were still refresh in Cylix''s head. He could still hear the painful screams of people who were killed that day.

    His gaze lowered, resting on his left wrist. He could still feel how firmly his father held his wrist as he tried to bring him to safety. His fists clenched at the memories of weakness and helplessness.

    Even though he and his father managed to escape that ce safely, the feeling of weakness was something he still couldn''t forget.

    That was the day a desire to be stronger awakened in his heart.

    "That was the day that restarted a vicious cycle. Many people died during those times, weak and strong. Royal Families were wiped out, Kingdoms destroyed, all in search for these Orbs," Novius chimed in.

    "The Churches didn''t stop them?" Gabriel grimaced. Was the Temple so strong that even the Holy Priests couldn''t stop them?

    "If only it were that easy..." Cylix and Novius knew just what a nightmare the Temple of Time was for them.

    It was something that the world hadn''t seen before... At least, ording to them. Before their time, there was no information about the Temple of Time in their history books, simr to how there was no mention of Karyk.

    It was only when the Temple of Time first made an appearance around that time that the information about them started spreading. However, the information didn''t spread amongst themon people.

    The influential people made sure that the news didn''t spread amongst themon people as they didn''t want fear to spread among themoners. The news about the Temple of Time was kept in the upper echelon.

    "They tried to stop the Temple of Time. Unfortunately, it was quite hard. They didn''t have any information on the Temple of Time. They didn''t know where the Temple was established or where these people came from. Without that information, finding them was almost impossible," Novius rified.

    "All we knew was that wherever those people appeared, only death and bloodshed followed. Royals were killed, Kingdoms were destroyed, all in the search for the Orbs of Time which were reignited thanks to the Auction!"

    "For the next three years, the search continued, only intensifying," Cylix stated. "However, after three years of bloodshed, death, and destruction, the Temple once again went into oblivion, never to be heard again."

    "But now... Now that the Orbs have appeared again, that can only mean one thing... They woulde as well... They wille for the Orbs of Time... And if theye, you''ll be in danger¡­."

 178 Chapter 178

    "They searched all ces they were suspicious of in those three years but still found nothing," Noviusmented. "Eventually, they again stopped their blind search. Whoever hid the Orbs of Time from them did some thorough work to make sure they couldn''t sense it."

    "Unfortunately, the Orbs are out in the open now..." he frowned. "That means they can be sensed again. And if they can, that can only mean one thing... The return of the Temple of Time!"

    "Even if they return, why do you say that I''ll be in danger?" Gabriel hadn''t told them that he had the Orb of Time. Instead, he told them that someone else had them. Then why did they say he was going to be in danger? What did he have to do with the Temple of Time?

    The only link he could think of was through Karyk. Karyk took the Orbs of Time from the Temple, and those people probably hated him. Could it be why he was at risk? Then again, Novius and Cylix shouldn''t know that.

    Novius and Cylix didn''t know much about his Element or who stole the Orbs of Time. Then what made them link him with danger? Did they know he was lying about the Orbs and that he had one?

    "Because you''re the exception..." Cylix nced at the right hand of Gabriel. "You-"

    "I think that''s enough." As Cylix was speaking, Novius intervened, stopping him from talking too much. "It''s time to get back to training."

    He pped his hand, taking Gabriel with him to the training arena again to practice spells. Since the outside world was going to go through even more change, he needed to focus even more on his training.

    "Wait! What exception?!" Gabriel asked, but he was toote. They were already in the training domain, and Cylix wasn''t here.

    "What did he mean I am an exception? What dangers?" he directed his question to Novius instead.

    "Will tell you before you leave. But first, focus on training!"

    ****

    Cylix watched Gabriel''s training start again from the main hall. His face was slightly dark, thinking about the possible future.

    He raised his head, ncing toward the roof. "If he reaches there..."

    ****

    The Church of Water had joined up with the Church of Lightning in surrounding the city of Abandon, which was ruled by Lambard.

    The Church of Light had also joined the group this time, even in the absence of their Holy Priest. At the moment, no one was allowed to enter or leave the city of Abandon.

    One Church alone was enough to trouble Lambard, but when it came to three of them simultaneously working together, then it was a headache even for him. The only positive in all this that was still working for him was that even the Churches didn''t dare to enter the City of Abadon.<sub> </sub>

    If it were any ordinary City, the city would''ve been razed to the ground by now. However, the city of Abandon was different. It wasn''t just an ordinary City. Instead, it was a living City! It was a Numen, also known as the most secure City in the world, which wasn''t just a city but also a Weapon!

    Even the Churches didn''t want to fight inside the city without being fully prepared.

    At the moment, Elora was standing with the Holy Priestess of the Church of Lightning, having a clear view of the city of Abadon.

    "It''s as if he knew we wereing... He has increased defenses of his city," the Head of the Church of Lightning Thalia spoke, standing tall.

    Thalia was slightly taller than Elora, and her attire also made her look more like a Warrior than a Princess. She had beautiful blonde hair, looking closer to the sh of lightning. Her beautiful green eyes were in stark contrast with the deep blue eyes of Elora.

    Elora also agreed with Thalia. Even though she took some time in telling Thalia about the return of the Church of Darkness and in convincing her, that much time shouldn''t have been enough for the city to be this prepared.

    It looked less like thest-minute preparation and more like something they had prepared in advance.

    "It''s as if they were expecting us," Elora stated as her grasp around her Ancestral Staff tightened.

    This made her convinced that Lambard had something to do with what happened in the Royal Academy of Elements! That also meant he knew about the Church of Darkness.

    She initially wanted to have a good rtionship with Lambard since she needed his ring, but that went out the door now, along with every other deal. Now she wanted nothing more than to kill Lambard and the Dark Mage now since they both had a hand in the death of Ruyi.

    "In a few more days, more of my people will be here. With reinforcements, we will attack the city. It''s finally the time we remove all remnants of the existence of this cursed city from this world!" Thalia eximed.

    She initially didn''t believe Elora when she informed her about the return of the Holy Priest of Darkness. In fact, she even refused to work with her since she didn''t believe it.

    However, as luck would have it, it was around that time when Gabriel''s aura covered the entire world for a moment! The aura of his was tainted in death and darkness. No ordinary person could have that aura.

    <o>,m That aura was what gave Thalia the final push and convinced her of the merits of Elora''s suggestions, finally getting her to agree.</o>

    If the Holy Priest of Darkness could have an aura like this after receiving the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, then his strength definitely wasn''t weak. They certainly couldn''t allow him to be stronger than before.

    They had to kill that person, and they had to do it before he could have time to attack them. Thalia was a warrior whose entire logic was that offense was the best defense. And she was ready for the biggest offense of her life! A battle with the Lord of Numens, Lambard, who had even managed to survive the assault of the Church of Lightst time!

 179 Chapter 179

    Lambard was standing on the roof of his castle, looking in a specific direction in the distance.

    There was too much distance between him and the Holy Priests, but still, he was able to see Elora and Thalia clearly. He looked quite upset, standing with his hands behind his back.

    It hadn''t been long since Elora and Thalia were in the city to take part in the Auction, and now they were here again. However, this time they weren''t here for anything good. It was evident that they were here to attack him.

    A maid stood right beside Lambard, looking in the same direction. Even though she was also very special, even she couldn''t see Thalia and Elora clearly as she didn''t have the Numen, which was helping improve Lambard''s vision.

    "They are waiting for more forces. It looks like they are really determined this time," the maidmented, being able to guess just why these people were waiting.

    "They know we won''t be able to attack them. They can certainly afford to take the time they need," Lambard asserted. The city was one of his most powerful Numens, but it was a defensive Numen.

    All the defense mechanisms were such that it couldn''t attack anyone unless they were attacked first. The Churches knew about this. They knew that Lambard wasn''t someone who could attack first, as his offensive power was quite weak when he came out of his city.

    If he was a Warlord inside the city, then he was only a decent warrior outside. That''s also why he rarely left the city. He had Numens that could be used to attack as well, but even they weren''t strong enough to help him against such a force. That''s also one of the reasons he wanted the Eye of Osiris that was kept at the Academy of Elements.

    He only told Gabriel that he wanted the Eye of Osiris because he was interested in learning about the history through it, but even he didn''t tell Gabriel one thing. His true goal wasn''t just to learn about the history. His true aim was to use the history to his advantage.

    He was called the Lord of Numens, but even he knew that he didn''t have enough Numens. Only a fraction of all the Numens had been found, and amongst the ones that weren''t discovered yet, there were some really powerful Numens.

    He wanted more powerful Numens! He wanted something that was on the same level as the City of Abandon but on the offensive side. He wanted a powerful Numen that didn''t restrict him to a ce, and there were definitely many. He just needed to know where they were.

    The best way to find those Numens was by going through their history. He wanted to use the Eye of Osiris to see through the past of the Demigods to find out where they died. If anything, that was also the ce where he could find their Numens.

    That''s also why he was collecting any random item he could rted to the Demigods, as he could use their essence to look at their lives and find the secrets that were unknown so far.

    The Eye of Osiris was very important to him. That''s also why he couldn''t ignore the allure of receiving the eye of Osiris, even though it meant he was going to be offending many people by going through with the n if he found it.

    The greed of these items was too much for him. However, only now was he waking up from that greed. Not only did he not receive the Eye of Osiris, but instead, he received the wrath of these Churches, all thanks to Gabriel.<sub> </sub>

    He was quite angry at Gabriel. All that guy had to do was steal the items ande to him, but instead, he went inside the Tower of Challenges.

    "I don''t understand one thing though." The maid had a question floating in her head for a long time. She had wanted to ask it even before, but she didn''t want to look stupid since Lambard made it seem like it was too obvious.

    Before these people even attacked, Lambard already knew that the attack wasing.

    "What thing?" Lambard asked.

    "Why are they attacking us? Just because we had a link with the person who went there to steal something? The Academy probably already caught Gabriel. They will most probably recover all the Numens as well. Then why is it that these people came here to attack us?" the maid asked.

    "Don''t they know that a lot of their own people will die as well? Why break the status quo that was established when we sent the Church of Light back over such a small thing?

    "Because they are idiots!" Lambard eximed. "They think that the Church of Darkness has made a return and that they are in danger. They think I''m working with the Church of Darkness against them."

    "Should we just tell them that they are wrong?" The maid asked.

    Lambard couldn''t help but shake his head in amusement. "Even if we told them now, do you think they''ll believe us at this point? They want to remove all the threats, no matter how unlikely. There is only one way to send them back..."

    "... By Crushing them!" He eximed. "I don''t care how many they bring! I don''t care what reinforcements they call! If they think they can kill me inside my own stronghold, then they''re in for a surprise. They want a bloodbath... I''ll give them a bloodbath!"

    As Lambard made a deration, lightning shed in the sky, revealing his tall figure even more. There was a ring on each of his fingers, each having a different function. One of those rings was the Ring of Apophis that he had called back.

    There also remained two pendants around his neck, each having a different gem attached to it. What was different was that this time Lambard was also wearing some earrings.

    Even when Lira arrived herest time, Lambard hadn''t been wearing as many Numens as he did now. It was as if he waspletely prepared for a war that was on the horizon.

 180 Chapter 180

    The world was tossed into chaos, all thanks to Gabriel and some of his ignorant decisions, which he took to the best of his thinking.

    Unaware of the changes in the outside world, Gabriel was still on the Ny-Ninth Floor, still going through his training.

    He could feel that the pace of his training had increased, but he was still able to keep up with it. The spells that he got to learn were what kept him interested in learning them.

    Each of those spells that he was taught was a powerful spell that had real-life uses. Even Novius and Cylix didn''t teach him shy yet useless spells.

    They focused only on the essence of their spells. Gabriel was sure that even if he had learned from Eliana, even then his training wouldn''t be this effortless. He was being taught the spells that were ancient... Some of those spells weren''t even in the Spellbooks of the Academy, as they had been lost in time.

    He was being taught such rare spells that would''ve made even the Teachers at the Academy jealous!

    In his training, he again got distracted. He had tried to ask Cylix about the ''Exception'' and what that meant, but after the initial time, Cylix didn''t mention it again. It was as if he had learned his lesson and wasn''t going to talk.

    Gabriel could only ce that thought in the back of his head for now and focus on his training wholeheartedly. He decided to ask onest time before it was his time to leave.

    Another week passed. Gabriel hadn''t beenzy for even one day during his weeks of training. In fact, even when he was tired, he was still eager to train as the feeling of learning more spells and getting stronger was great!

    This was exactly how he thought his training would be when he was a little child. When he was young and hadn''t awakened, he always used to think what his future was going to be like. He could never have thought that his future was going to be one where he was going to be one of the most hated people on earth.

    However, there was one thing that he came quite close to. He used to think that when he was going to awaken his Element, he was going to get admission to the Academy of Elements.

    He used to think that he was going to get a great teacher who was going to teach him powerful spells... The teacher who was going to treat him with care, help him when he needed and solve all his doubts.

    Even though he didn''t receive an opportunity to learn at the academy, he received something much better! He received an opportunity to learn straight from the source! He had the opportunity to learn straight from the people who founded the Academy of Elements.

    Moreover, Cylix and Novius didn''t have even the slightest bit of arrogance... At least not toward him. They taught him everything they knew without holding anything back. It didn''t matter how many times he failed in casting a spell; they were always there for him, helping him improve his understanding of the spell and improve his techniques.

    That wasn''t all either. After his training for the day used to end, all three of them used to sit together where Cylix and Novius used to talk about the essence of their elements.

    One could use a spell to utilize their element, but if one wanted to be able to create their own spells, they needed to have a better understanding of the essence of their elements, and that''s where the extra Knowledge came in.<sub> </sub>

    Even though Cylix and Novius didn''t have to teach him about such extra things, they still didn''t hold back as they actually started to think of him as their disciple.

    A strange bond had formed between the three of them that was different from anything Gabriel had ever experienced before. However, despite feelingfortable with them, Gabriel still held back a bit.

    His heart was just ustomed to not opening for anyone anymore, and he wanted to keep it that way.

    "Gabriel, what do you like about our world the most?" Cylix asked, lying on the soft grass.

    Since they could create any training arena and manipte the domains, they could create anything.They had created a scene where Gabriel felt mostfortable, based on his description.

    They made a green grasnd. As far as the eyes could see, there was only soft grass. And on top, there was a beautiful star-studded sky, which Gabriel often felt a connection with.

    Gabriel was also lying in the grass, looking at the beautiful sky. He came to the Tower expecting a Challenge on every floor. At the time of entry, he had never expected that there was going to be a moment so peaceful inside the Tower. The Tower was really a work of art.

    "What do I like the most in the world?" Gabriel repeated the question. "I don''t have an answer to this question..."

    If he had been asked this question before he awakened his Element, he would''ve had many answers. However, after Awakening his Element, he had seen the true reality of this world, which was often hidden behind a curtain of Light.

    It was only when he walked in true darkness that he realized how corrupt the Light was...

    It was only when he got his hands covered in blood that he realized what little value a life had.

    All the bonds... All the rtions... Nothing held value in this World. In this world, if even a mother could kill her son... Then was a friend?

    Instead of answering the question, he changed the topic entirely, not wanting to think more about it.

    He already knew that he wasn''t going to get an answer now regarding the orbs of time, so he asked something else... Something which was a question that not just him but the entire world fretted over.

    "Who created the Tower?"

 181 Chapter 181

    "Who created the tower?"

    It was another question that many people didn''t have an answer to. Most people thought that the Tower of Challenges was created by the Academy of Element, but only a few knew that it wasn''t the case. Even before the Academy was established, the Tower of Challenges had been here, standing tall.

    No one even knew just how old this tower actually was in reality. If there was someone who could know, it was most probably Cylix and Novius, as they were imed to be the founders. They were also the first people who entered the tower that were presently known.

    "This tower?" Cylix asked to be clear since Gabriel didn''t mention which tower he was talking about. There were a lot of towers in the world and even in the Academy.

    "Yes." Gabriel nodded, still gazing at the beautiful sky. "The Tower of Challenges."

    "That question is one even we don''t know the answer to," Cylix confessed right away. Even when he was alive, he never tried to lie about it and take credit for it. He never told anyone that they were the ones who made it.

    It was just that somehow this story kept spreading with the future generations of the Academy that the founders of the Academy created this tower.

    As it only increased the prestige of the Academy, the future authorities didn''t clear this rumor, and with time, the rumor took the ce of the truth. At this point, it was impossible in the outside world to distinguish this lie from the reality.

    "When we discovered the tower, it was the only existing structure in the barrennd as far as the eyes could see. Even we were slightly curious about it, wondering who could''ve made a Tower in the middle of nowhere and why?" Novius chimed in.

    He could remember it perfectly since, for them, it wasn''t long ago. It was right before they had entered the tower and left a small part of their consciousness behind to protect this Tower.

    "A tower in the middle of nowhere?"

    As soon as Gabriel heard the description, he couldn''t help but think of the tower he had seen in the dream before. The Tower inside which he was standing seemed to be in the middle of the sea, also matching this description.

    Could it be that there was another Tower like this? If yes, then it meant that these Towers predated even Karyk''s Timeline. No wonder Cylix and Novius didn''t know who made it. If the towers were that old, it was impossible for them to know.

    However, the question still remained the same. Who made these towers, and why in the middle of nowhere? One in the middle of the sea and one in the middle of a barrennd?

    Just how many more were there? And for what purpose were they made? Were they made by Karyk? Or the other gods? Or was it something of even more significance? Instead of his questions going down, they only increased at this point.

    "If you want to know who made the Tower, you might need to get to the hundredth floor. If anything, that''s the ce where you''ll get your answers. Even we don''t know if those answers would be enough to satisfy you or not though..."<sub> </sub>

    For a moment, there was only silence as none spoke. Gabriel found their words to be making sense. The Hundredth floor might be able to give some clues. Moreover, these two had no memories of the Hundredth floor since they were separated from the main body right after they cleared the ny-ninth floor.

    At the moment, in this ce were only three people: Gabriel, Cylix, and Novius. The Infernal King wasn''t present here as Gabriel had already sent him back.

    Since it was going to be a long training where he wasn''t going to be needed, Gabriel didn''t feel like wasting the Infernal King''s time. Moreover, even in the battle, he wasn''t allowed to use the Infernal King, so it was all on him.

    He sent the Infernal King back to the realm of the dead, which he was eager to get back to. Not only did Gabriel send the Infernal King back, but he also promised the Infernal King that he wasn''t going to call him again for at least a month unless he was really facing a life or death situation. The Infernal King could finish his business in the Realm of Dead.

    Immersed in the beautiful silence under the moonlight, Gabriel didn''t even realize when he fell asleep. It had been a long time since he had a sleep like this, where he wasn''t as stressed as he usually was.

    Moreover, even though he was expecting these bizarre dreams, it had been weeks since he had seen something like that. He felt as if he was healing and his Grimoire had stopped showing him such dreams... At least for now.

    After a long time, he was once again seeing ordinary dreams, sleeping in the gentle embrace of Earth.

    After Gabriel fell asleep, Cylix nced at him. Noticing him sleeping, Cylix sat up, folding his knees. Novius also sat up.

    Both of them nced at the peacefully sleeping face of Gabriel, who looked like he was in a deep sleep. After observing Gabriel for a few seconds, they both nced at each other momentarily.

    They both stood up and disappeared.

    ****

    The Academy had been under a lockdown for close to two weeks, and no sses were going on. However, it was only now that sses had resumed. The only ce which was forbidden for the students to go to was the Tower of Challenges which was still being guarded by two Head Teachers every second.

    Now that the ss had resumed, Teachers once again started interacting with the students and found out things that they didn''t before because of their distraction.

    "When is Lord Izen returning?"

    Other than the two Head Teachers who were protecting the Tower of Challenges, all the other Head Council Teachers were sitting in the Dean''s office with Eliana.

 182 Chapter 182

    It was weeks ago when Eliana sent a message to Izen, who was the current Dean of the Academy and the most powerful out of them all. In fact, they believed that even if they all fought Izen together, they still couldn''t defeat him. That was Izen''s strength.

    At the moment, they needed proper guidance, and the only person who could handle it was Izen.

    "I received a response from him," Eliana answered. "He ising back in a week..."

    "Where is he even doing to take so long? Where is he?" Lishen inquired, confused. Their Dean just disappeared one day, handing over the temporary responsibilities to Eliana. They didn''t even know where he went in reality.

    Eliana also shrugged her shoulders. "If only I knew. I''m sure he''s doing something important, which is keeping him engaged. We should get the answers when he returns."

    "Anyway, that''s not the only thing I called you here to inform." Before the others could question her more about Izen, Eliana continued, shifting the topic.

    "What more?"

    "It''s about Lelin..." Eliana let out. Unlike Gabriel, who she hid about from the Head Council, she had already told them about Lelin from the start.

    "The boy who was selected by the Holy Priest of Light to be his heir?" Yoan asked, resting his hand on the table before him. "What about him?''

    "Now that the sses have begun again, we''ve noticed that he has been missing," Eliana answered. "We''ve searched the entire academy, but he''s nowhere to be found."

    "Did he leave the Academy, thinking it wasn''t safe for him after thest attack?" Lishen suggested. The attack on the Academy had really weakened its reputation.

    Previously, the Academy used to be considered the safest ce in the Lumen Empire,parable to the Sacred Church of Light in safety, but not anymore. The news about them being robbed had already spread in the entire city, dealing a heavy blow to their reputation.

    Even though the Academy took every step possible to make sure this news didn''t spread out, none of their steps worked at all. They had be aughing stock for some people in the city because of this.

    However, it wasn''t just them who took a blow to their reputation. The Sacred Church of Light took some of the heat, even though not on the same level as the Academy. Now there were some questions being raised as to how a Dark Mage managed to enter the city, passing through their barrier undetected.

    The Church of Light had no answer to that question, so they could only choose silence and use their influence to spread a rumor that it wasn''t a Dark Mage who robbed the Academy of Element.<sub> </sub>

    They changed the story only slightly to change the Element of the robber from Darkness to Summoning to protect the reputation of their protective barrier.

    "No. The Academy was sealed right after that attack, and even now, no student is allowed to leave the academy, so there is no way for him to leave. At least not through normal means," Eliana expressed, refuting Lishen''s thoughts.

    p "Not through normal means...? What are you implying?" Xinci asked, noticing the importance of the specific terms Eliana used.</anda>

    "At the moment, there are two possibilities, ording to me." Eliana took a brief pause before continuing, "One is that Lelin was working with Gabriel. The Element of a Light that was used to clean Hawrin''s room of all evidence? It was Lelin. We already knew that Gabriel had the help of one of the students who could Lelin light. That person could very well be Lelin..."

    "How does that even make sense? Lelin came with the Holy Church of a Light. He was sent by the Holy Priest himself. Didn''t you tell us that? You also had a letter from the Head of the Church of Light."

    It made sense that Gabriel had the help of one of the students who could use the element of Light when he killed Hawrin, but for that helper to be Lelin? That seemed like a stretch. Why would someone who was going to be the Head of the Church of Light in the future help Gabriel?

    "Maybe because he wasn''t actually sent by the Holy Priest of Light... Gabriel fooled us using Illusions. It could be the same for Lelin. The carriage which brought him here...? What if that was also an ordinary Carriage that was under the illusion to look like the carriage from the Church of Light?" Eliana exined.

    "As soon as he came here, he made up a story to make sure we didn''t cross check his identity with the Holy Church of a Light by telling us that he was sent by the Holy Priest himself, secretly. To keep that secret, we couldn''t ask the Church of Light directly, and that was the final piece of his trick to fool us," she further stated.

    "I should''ve guessed as much! It was too much of a coincidence for two youngsters with such talents toe on the same day at around the same time..." Eliana sighed, slowly realizing that she didn''t just make one mistake in this episode. Instead, she had made mistakes after mistakes due to her greed.

    The more she realized her mistakes, the angrier she got at Gabriel.

    "That would definitely exin how he disappeared right after the theft... He had executed his mission and left. Gabriel was also supposed to leave, but he stayed behind due to the Tower." Rem didn''t find this story too far-fetched. If anything, this made more sense.

    "What is the other possibility you talked about?" Yoan asked, remembering that Eliana had mentioned two possibilities.

    "The other possibility is that we are wrong about our initial assumption and that he was actually sent by the Church of Light. Under this possibility, Lelin was killed by Gabriel since he wanted to remove a future threat. This time, however, Gabriel made sure not to even leave the body behind," Eliana stated, shocking everyone who heard the possibility as it made just as much sense as the first possibility.

    In both cases, they had lost Lelin, but the first possibility was still better. If thetter was true, that meant the Holy Priest of Light was going to be quite angry at them for not being able to protect Lelin!

 183 Chapter 183

    "Shall we go to the Church to ask them directly?" Someone suggested.

    "That''s useless now." Eliana shook her head. With Lelin, they were stuck between a rock and a hard ce. They couldn''t even go to the Church of Light to ask them directly since, either way; they were going to be on the worse side of it.

    If Lelin''s story was true, then the only person who knew about his existence here was the Holy Priest of Light. Only he could confirm this theory. Unfortunately, ording to the information they received from the Holy Church of Light, the Head of the Church of Light wasn''t even in the city.

    "Why are you telling us about Lelin if we can''t even do anything about it in that case?" Yoan inquired. Eliana had mentioned Lelin and the two possibilities, but she herself agreed that they couldn''t do anything about it. Then why mention it?

    "I just wanted to remind you all of something. I mentioned his name for a specific reason," Eliana answered after a brief pause.

    "No matter which of the possibilities about Lelin is true, we will be in trouble from both ends. If he were an enemy, then it would be embarrassing if someone found out that we were fooled by two people. And if he were a friend, we would be med for our failure to protect him inside the Academy."

    "That''s why I want to tell you that you must stick to one story. For the sake of our Academy, we need to create a lie and live with it."

    Eliana was quite grim as she talked about this topic. She hated the fact that they had to lie about it and that they had to live without getting answers about the true whereabouts of Lelin, but it was the only option they had.

    She told them what they had to do regarding it...

    ****

    While the Academy was discussing how to solve Lelin''s issue, Lelin was still standing before a ce that looked like a temple. The door of this Temple was sealed, and it looked to be that way for a really long time.

    It even looked like the door hadn''t been opened in over a century.

    Lelin stood all alone in this ce, as even the Spectre was gone. The only thing which Lelin had was a small white orb that he was carrying openly.

    "That should be thest of it," hemented as he tossed a dirty piece of cloth away.

    He had spent hisst few days trying to clear the entire temple, which was huge. The cleaning took him over a week, but finally, he was done.

    After cleaning the walls and the doors of the Temple, he took a few steps back. The tower previously looked quite different. However, after being cleaned, it was like an entirely different ce altogether.

    Previously, the outer walls and the door were covered in some ck material, which made the tower look quite strange. However, now that the Temple was cleaned, its beautiful blue luminance was quite clear.

    Moreover, there were also some characters that seemed to be written on the wall, which was previously hidden behind that dark material. After being cleaned, all those words were quite clear.

    The entire tower was covered in words that seemed to be written using blood! As for whose blood it was, it was unclear.

    Even though these words were clearly written centuries ago, they still looked very fresh for some reason, as if they happened just yesterday.<sub> </sub>

    "I must say, he certainly had a knack for art," Lelinmented, seeing the blood on the walls.

    Even though the bloody words were covering all sides of the Temple, they still looked more like an art than anything else. It was like each stroke... Each character was telling a story in itself.

    "No wonder these people hated him so much... He really didn''t know how to control himself when he was upset."

    Lelin ced the white orb in his spatial storage before bringing out a scroll and a pen.

    Using the pen, he started writing all the words on the scroll that were written on the Temple with blood.

    The temple wasn''t very small either. Just like cleaning, it took him over a week; even writing all the words that were written on the tower took him hours.

    After he finished writing, he sat on the ground with the paper and started going through the words that were finally forming coherent sentences.

    Thenguage of the characters was different from what was usually used in this world currently, but despite that, Lelin was able to understand the words.

    He had just managed to read the first sentence, which in itself was shocking enough. However, he had to stop right after the first sentence as he felt something.

    His fists clenched as he stood up, slowly turning around.He could sense a strange energy that the world hadn''t seen for a long long time.

    Turning around, Lelin noticed a door... It was just a door that had appeared in the middle of nowhere, not too far from him.

    The door looked beautiful, seemingly made of a material that was quite simr to pure silver. In the middle of the door, there was only one mark... The mark of an hourss.

    Seeing the symbol, even Lelin seemed taken aback.

    "Well, that was fast.."

    It didn''t look like he was shocked at their arrival. Instead, he seemed more appalled that they had arrived sooner than he expected. He didn''t even have the time to leave, and they were already here.

    He scratched the back of his head, seemingly disappointed at his slow speed. He closed the scroll and sent it back to his storage.

    The Majestic door opened, revealing timeless darkness on the other side. Even Lelin couldn''t see anything through the darkness, but his Mark of Light had already started to react.

    His Mark of Light was already sending a burning sensation all over his body.

 184 Chapter 184

    Lelin could only see darkness through the door, but he didn''t have to look to be able to know who was on the other side. Just the appearance of this door was enough to make him understand.

    "I would''ve loved to greet you guys, but I''m afraid I''m done here. We''ll have to dy this meeting forter..."

    As soon as Lelin saw a person step out of the darkness, he stepped back. Two specks of lights appeared in each of his palms. He pped his hands, making both the specks of light hit each other.

    As soon as the two specks shed between Lelin''s hands, a bright light spread everywhere that made everything turn stark white, making it impossible for him to be seen. The bright sh of light onlysted for a brief second before it disappeared...

    As the bright light disappeared, it revealed the ce where Lelin was previously standing. However, that ce waspletely empty now. Lelin was nowhere to be found.

    As soon as the door had opened, Lelin immediately left, making it unclear if he ran away because he was scared or if he really didn''t want to waste time.

    A person stepped out of the door, seemingly in his early twenties. The silver-haired man had a pale white face, showing barely any shred of life.

    The only thing that made him look human other than his physicality was the anger in his deep red eyes

    His long hair waved with the wind as the blood-red gem around his neck shone briefly. The man stepped closer to the ce where Lelin used to be standing.

    He could see some glyphs on the ground, surrounded by a formation that was left behind after Lelin disappeared.

    The silver-haired man only briefly looked at the marks on the ground where he was standing before shifting his attention to the Temple before him.

    He gazed at the words that were written using blood all around the temple.

    "You let him run away..." Another person stepped out of the door, being a woman.

    "He didn''t have both the Orbs," the young man known as Vienn answered grimly.

    "So you intentionally let him leave?" Jia inquired, also staring at the Temple before them.

    Vienn didn''t answer, but his silence was enough of an answer for Jia.

    "One of the orbs is out. We can get it whenever we want but without the second... It is iplete for us." After a brief pause, Vienn stated.

    They could sense the first orb since it was taken out by Lelin, but the Orb that was with Gabriel was safely kept inside his Grimoire of Necromancy, which made it impossible even for them to sense it.

    "I see... So he will lead us to the second..." The woman muttered, nodding. She understood what the man was thinking when he didn''t even try to stop Lelin.

    The two of them were standing on top of the formation that seemed like the aftermath of the Teleportation of Light spell that helped Lelin escape; however, there were also subtle changes in the formation in the form of the added glyphs.

    Even as Lelin left, he didn''t forget to leave some nice surprise for them.

    The glyphs hidden inside the formation started shining, barely noticeable. It seemed as if the glyphs were slowly absorbing energy from Nature.

    Boom~<sub> </sub>

    After the Glyphs gathered enough energy, the entire formation exploded, creating arge cloud of fire that covered quite a lot of area.

    The cloud of fire slowly started dispersing as the temperature that had suddenly gone to the extreme starteding down.

    The fire disappeared, and even the smoke started settling down, revealing arge crater where the formation used to be.

    Above the crater, two people could be seen floating where the ground level used to be before the explosion.

    Surprisingly, there was not even a scratch on those two. They didn''t even lose their bnce, as if they weren''t even standing on the ground before the explosion. There had always been a few millimeters of gap between their feet and the ground.

    A semi-transparent red barrier was surrounding Vienn and Jia. Both of them looked quite unimpressed at the attempt as well.

    Vienn gazed at the crater under him. "Humans are still as naive as they used to be..."

    He snapped his fingers. Surprisingly, following the snap of his fingers, the crater under him started filling up. The ground once again appeared right under their feet like it used to be. The only difference was that there was no carving there now.

    "We''ve waited for so long," Jiamented, finallynding on the ground. "I suppose we can wait a few more weeks as well..."

    They were right at the core of an explosion, but it didn''t even look like they took it seriously. They had already forgotten about it. Instead, their minds were more focused on the words that were written from Blood on the Temple before them.

    "He really was a headache to face..." Vienn muttered, observing the blood that seemed more like a beautiful poem filled with agony and less like a threat or anything else.

    It was as if whoever wrote them was tormented by their own existence and wanted to let out all their emotions.

    "Compared to him, the ones in the present day are mere kids," he stated as he finally lowered his gaze.

    He turned his back on the temple and started walking back to the door behind him.

    Vienn passed through the door and disappeared into the darkness of the other end.

    Jia was the only person who was left behind. She took one more nce at the beautiful yet tragic words.

    She stepped closer to the Temple and ced her soft hands on the wall. As if following hermands, the Temple was once again surrounded by that dark matter which hid the blood-red words which didn''t deserve to exist.

    Unfortunately for everyone, the words couldn''t be erased even by gods! They could only be hidden behind anotheryer, making it impossible to see them unless someone specifically knew what to look for.

    After covering the tower once again, Jia also turned around and went back to the other side of the door she came from.

    After the two of them went back to where they came from, the silver door closed on its own and disappeared as if it was never there in the first ce.

    The ce once again returned to its usual silence, looking like before. There was no crater on the ground and no signs of battle¡­

 185 Chapter 185

    *****

    There was no sense of day and night inside the tower. Everything depended on the desires of the Cylix and Novius. Whenever they wished, it was day. Whenever they wanted, it was night.

    As the Tower also ran in a different space, they could even manipte the flow of time inside the tower,pletely detaching it from the outside World. Despite all that, they just preferred to stick as close to the real timeline as possible since there was no benefit in doing anything extra.

    It was just with the training of Gabriel that they manipted the flow of time, albeit only to a small extent. Since they believed Gabriel was going to train here for a long time, they didn''t want to keep him away from the real world for too long as things could change really fast in the real world.

    They only tweaked the time inside the tower only a tiny bit to make sure that two days inside the tower were equal to one day outside the Tower.

    Since they could control so much inside the tower, it was only a minor thing for them to control the length of a day.

    Gabriel was sleeping in open grass fields. It had been close to twelve hours, but it was still dark out as if the Stars didn''t wish to leave Gabriel''spany.

    After disappearing for a moment, Cylix and Novius were once again back, right beside Gabriel. It was unclear where they had gone; however, as they returned, Cylix had a small cut on his hand. As for Novius, he seemed somewhat fine.

    Both, Cylix and Novius gazed at Gabriel as if they were looking at their younger brother. It had been a long time since they had met a person who didn''t hate being here. Gabriel was immersed in training whenever he was up. In fact, he even enjoyed his training, which in turn made it fun for Novius and Cylix to train the young man.

    "All these years, I wanted to just disappear... I wanted to be free of this ce, having no purpose anymore," Cylix alsoy on the grass nearby, looking at the stars. "But thest few days have certainly been something else... I enjoyed being alive if we could even call ourselves that."

    "He''s reaching near the end of his training. We''ve already taught him almost all of our skills except one... In a few days, he should master them as well. That might be the time when all this finally ends... Maybe for good."

    Novius alsoid on the soft grass, pointing his finger at one of the stars. He moved his finger as if it was a brush with which he was writing in the air. However, it wasn''t the air he was writing on. He was writing in the starry sky.

    The star that he had pointed at moved with each stroke of his finger, leaving a beautiful blue shine behind, seemingly forming a constetion.

    "Even though he''ll know everything we know, it still won''t be easy for him to defeat us," Cylix reminded Novius.

    "I know," Novius agreed. "But if anyone can do this, it is him..."<sub> </sub>

    He further stated. "If he can''t kill us with our own elements, we can allow him to use his original element as well. That should help him stand up to us, thanks to the Ancestral Staff. In any case, our purpose would bepleted after we finish teaching him."

    Cylix smiled. Even though he often smiled, his current smile seemed purer,ing straight from his heart. "Maybe that was the meaning of our existence in the tower all along... The reason no one had been able to defeat us? Because we were supposed to meet and train him..."

    "Since when did you start believing in destiny, old friend?" Novius seemed quite amused. He knew Cylix for a long time. He knew that Cylix was a person who never believed in destiny. However, he was believing now?

    "I didn''t believe in destiny. At the same time, I didn''t believe that there could be a person who could use three Elements at once. If one is possible, the second can be too... It''s just too much of a coincidence that we had a person challenge us who shared both of our elements... Who could be better to give us the freedom we craved than him?"

    "We taught him everything we knew. Even though our knowledge is nothing whenpared to our older selves, but that still makes us his teachers. Isn''t that what we wanted to be when we came up with the idea to start an academy for young mages?" he asked Novius. "What could be more pleasing for us as teachers than to see our students surpass us with our teachings?"

    Novius didn''t answer, but even he was happy that things were going this way. It was much better than any other oue he could''ve thought of. Even though they were probably going to be destroyed forever soon, they were still going to live through the knowledge that they''d imparted to Gabriel...

    Initially, they expected their Academy to be the legacy that they left behind, but after finding out what the Academy had be, they even hated calling it their academy! Their legacy, ording to them, wasn''t the Academy anymore! Instead, it was Gabriel! Gabriel was going to be their legacy!

    Since Novius could control the night here, he made sure that it was night until Gabriel woke up on his own. He wanted Gabriel to be properly rested and not have his sleep be disturbed by the morning since they were going to be teaching him their prized spell tomorrow.

    Amongst the spells that they taught Gabriel, only a few of them were rare spells that weren''t mentioned in the books at the Academy of Elements, but their strongest spells were something that even the Academy didn''t have.

    It was said to be their prized spell that each of them came up with on their own in their time.

    It was said that the spells that Cylix and Novius created were so precious that even the Church of Light and the Church of Darkness of their time wanted to possess those spells.

    In fact, the Churches were even willing to trade for those spells, but the two founders refused both the Churches, saying they only intended to teach their core spell to their personal disciples.

    Cylix and Novius didn''t know if their real selves found any disciples after leaving the tower to teach these two spells, but for them, Gabriel was their first disciple... The first and the worthy disciple¡­

 186 Chapter 186

    After a long and peaceful sleep, Gabriel finally looked as if he wasing out of his deep sleep, having slept for close to twelve hours.

    Noticing Gabriel waking up, Novius finally changed the time in this world to dawn. It was as if the sun was waking up at the same time as Gabriel.

    Gabriel opened his eyes, feeling the beautiful weathering. The winds were slightly cold but not too cold, giving a particrly good feeling.

    "Good morning, young man."

    Gabriel had just opened his eyes when he was greeted by Novius and Cylix. "Enough sleeping now. Get up. We have a lot to cover today."

    Gabriel sat up, agreeing. He didn''te here to sleep. He had to learn... Learn everything he could so he could get to the hundredth floor.

    After giving him a few minutes to get ready, Cylix and Novius began hisst schedule of training finally.

    ****

    Twenty Minutes Later

    ****

    Gabriel was ready for his training. However, instead of the usual, where only one person apanied him during training, both of them stood before him as if they were going to stay there.

    "We''ve already taught you most of our spells. Now only three spells are left for you to learn!" Cylix informed Gabriel. "The three spells that we haven''t taught anyone...''

    "What three spells...?" Gabriel inquired. If there were only three spells left to learn, he could feel that he was really close to the end of his training session. At best, it was going to be two or three days before he had to seriously fight Cylix and Novius.

    "First spell belongs to me and the Element of Darkness," Novius answered. "It''s a High Grade spell, and it will ce a lot of burden on your soul. It might even take a heavy toll on you, but I can promise you that it''ll be worth it..."

    Cylix further stated, "The Second Spell belongs to me and the Element of Light. It''s also a High Grade Spell and should help you a lot in what''s toe."

    "And the third spell?" Out of the three spells that he was here to learn, one belonged to each of them. That left one...

    "The Third Spell is something that no individual person can master in this World... It''s a spell that a Mage of Light can''t cast..." Cylix stated as if he was talking about a really simple yet it was quite surprising for Gabriel. A spell that no Individual Mage could cast?

    Did that mean the spell was so exhausting that it needed the strength of two people to cast? Or was it something else? If it was the former, could he even cast it himself?

    Even though he was a Holy Priest of Necromancy, he was still only a Mid-Tier Mage in Spiritual Strength. Casting a High Tier Spell in itself was quite a lot for him at this point in time.

    Novius smirked, noticing the confused expressions of Gabriel. "Don''t worry about it. When we said no individual mage can cast it, that didn''t include you. You are an exception to this case."

    Cylix nodded. "The Third Spell is something that we created together. It''s not a spell of Light, but it''s also not a spell of Darkness. If anything, it''s a spell of both and possibly the only spell in the World which uses two elements."<sub> </sub>

    "We both needed to cast that spell together for it to work, using both our elements but you..." He nced at the back of Gabriel''s left hand, seeing his two Elemental Marks right next to each other. "You are possibly the only exception in the World who won''t need the help of any other person for this."

    "You can use both, Darkness and Light. You should be able to cast this spell alone, but it won''t be easy even for you. We haven''t ssified that spell, but if we were to, that spell would most probably be considered half step above a High Tier Spell."

    "You already know how much burden a High Tier Spell ces on your soul? The burden of this spell would only be more. That''s why we''ll deal with it in the end."

    After giving Gabriel some briefing on what he was to learn next, the two founders started his training once again.

    Novius took the lead while Cylix stepped back. Gabriel was going to learn the High-Grade Spell of Darkness first.

    Novius raised his right hand toward Gabriel, making a white scroll appear on his hand. "This scroll has everything you need to learn about the spell. Go through the basics, and then I''ll teach you what the scroll doesn''t mention to make it easier for you."

    Gabriel took the scroll from the man''s hands and opened it. The description of the spell was somewhat simr to how spells were described in his Grimoire, making them easier to understand.

    Gabriel read the name on the top of the Spell.

    "Paradise of Darkness?" He repeated the name of the spell, finding it quite fascinating. The name didn''t make the spell feel like an offensive spell. However, it was only when he went through the spell that he realized what it truly was. This spell... It was not even close to what he was thinking.

    The spell was so good that he was sure it would''ve been kept in treasures at the Academy, only being shown to the greatest of their students.

    Novius observed the impressed expressions of Gabriel, feeling quite pleased. The expressions of Gabriel were giving him some validation which made him happy.

    He nced back at his friend, showing off a smug look.

    "Wait until you see mine! It''ll be even better!" Cylix yelled, reminding Gabriel as he scoffed.

    Even the two friends couldn''t ignore the friendlypetitive spirit.

    Gabriel sat down on the ground and started going through the description of the spell, trying to understand it on his own first before taking any help.

    He had only recently awakened the element of Darkness, and he was still trying to test its limit. If anything, this spell was a perfect tool to see just how capable this element of Darkness was. He also wondered just how intense this spell was going to be if he used the Ancestral Staff of Darkness with it.

    After half an hour of trying to learn the spell, he finally closed the scroll again. He had memorized each and every word written inside the scroll.

    He returned the scroll to Novius.

    While Novius was waiting for Gabriel to ask him questions regarding this spell that he didn''t understand, Gabriel surprised him by already starting to cast that spell.

    "He learned already?!" Novius frowned, taken aback.

 187 Chapter 187

    The usual spells were learned by Gabriel quite fast, but this wasn''t supposed to be a standard spell.

    This was a High Tier Spell! Just how could Gabriel learn it in less than an hour? Moreover, how was it possible that he had no questions about it at all? The concepts of this spell were quite deep and intrinsic. Even for Gabriel, it should''ve been somewhat hard.

    Even though Gabriel had learned darkness quite a lot thanks to the usual spells, but even that didn''t change the fact that he had just awakened the Element of Darkness and not like his natural elements.

    Darkness was his forced element, so hisprehension rted to darkness should''ve been weaker as well.

    He wanted to ask Gabriel if the young man had actually learned the spell, but before he could, he felt someone''s hand on his shoulders.

    Cylix was right beside him again, telling him not to interfere. "I know what you want to ask, but let himplete the spell. We will get our answers soon enough."

    Even Cylix was intrigued if Gabriel actually learned the spell so fast.

    A mysterious darkness started surrounding Gabriel as he cast the spell. The sky above started changing, turning slightly darker as if ayer of darkness was covering the star.

    This world was under the two Founders'' control, but even without their permission, the world turned darker, thanks to the spell of Gabriel, which was just starting.

    "He did get the essence right," Novius muttered, sensing Gabriel bringing out the darkness from the nature.

    ? Gabriel gracefully raised his left hand after he reached the end of the spell without missing even a single word.

    "Paradise of Darkness!"

    As soon as he finished the spell, the darkness increased multiple folds. Up to a thousand meters of area around Gabriel was covered in ck mist that made it impossible for anyone to see anything there except the Caster.

    Paradise of Darkness was a Domain spell that changed the surroundings of a Dark Mage to something that was advantageous to him.

    The dark mist around Gabriel wasn''t just there to block the vision of the enemies. Instead, it was also working to weaken the enemy by corrupting their energy sources, stealing their energy.

    It was said that the Paradise of Darkness was one of the best Domain Spells of its time, as it served multiple purposes. Not only did it reduce the mobility of the enemies, but it also weakened them by quite a lot.

    "The spell that can weaken the enemies by up to twenty percent while increasing the strength of the caster by that much as long as the spell is in effect." Cylix seemed impressed at Gabriel''s ability to actually cast this spell.

    Since Cylix had seen Novius create this spell and use it multiple times, he knew almost as much as Novius about this spell, which also helped him see the ws in Gabriel''s spell.

    He had seen what a perfect Paradise of Darkness was supposed to be like, and this wasn''t it... At least not entirely.

    "It''s pretty good for a first attempt. The Domain is quite unstable though. He really needs to work on that. At this rate, he can''t even keep the Domain up for-"

    He couldn''t even finish his sentence before the Domain broke apart and the world returned to normal.

    Gabriel sat on the ground, tired as the spell broke apart. The Spell was definitely taking a heavy toll on his soul.<sub> </sub>

    "No wonder it''s a High Tier spell. I hadn''t even reached the second stage of this spell..."

    "Good attempt for sure... Even surprised us all. If that''s your starting point, I have a feeling you really will be able to master this spell very soon." Novius reached out his hand, giving anotherSoul Healing pill to Gabriel so he could be ready for training again.

    Gabriel at the pill, replenishing his soul once again before he stood up.

    "Firstly, you don''t need to be that tense when casting that spell." After Gabriel was ready for the lesson, Novius started teaching him all the mistakes that he wasmitting.

    "I know that Darkness isn''t your natural spell, but it''s also not your enemy anymore," he stated, creating a few specks of darkness around them that looked like smalls that were encircling around them.

    "If you want Darkness to protect you, you need to think of it as your friend and not just a tool. Darkness is a part of you now. You can''t be hesitant when using it. That''s where you''re making the biggest mistake. If you''re hesitating in fully embracing the darkness, that create a resistance inside you."

    "And because of that resistance, it not only takes more spiritual energy to use that spell, but it also makes the oue very unstable for use in any real situation. Once you remove that resistance and fear from inside you, you will know the true capabilities of Darkness!"

    Novius stepped back, spreading his arms.

    "Paradise of Darkness!" He cast the same spell to show Gabriel how it was done!

    Simr to before, the sky was once again covered in darkness, but the range this time was much longer. The Dark Mist, this time, was even denser and covered twenty times more area than Gabriel had managed to cover.

    The man walked through the mist, which moved aside to clear his path. "The Darkness isn''t your enemy! It''s not going to betray you! It''s the friend that is always going to support you!"

    As Gabriel saw the dark mist move aside for Novius, he couldn''t help but remember the scene where mes were moving aside for the Infernal King, clearing his path.What fire was for the Infernal King was Darkness for Novius!

    Both of them ced their entire faith in their element!

    Gabriel had that same kind of trust for his Necromancy, but even he couldn''t get that level of ease with darkness.

    He was really hurt in the Prison of Darknessst time. He could still feel some of that pain which made him hesitate a bit since the Domain Spell reminded him a lot of the Prison of Darkness.

    The subconscious hesitation wasn''t so clear when he used some lower-tier spells, but when it came to high tier spells, it was noticed instantly.

    "I know it''s not easy to fully embrace another element right away, but when you do, you''ll realize that this makes a lot of difference!"

    "This Darkness is everywhere. No matter where you go, you''ll find this Darkness there! If you can truly control it..."

    The dark mist condensed behind Novius, taking a solid shape of a ck cloak that wrapped around his shoulders.

    Two Dark Gauntlets also appeared around his hands, formed from the same Darkness.

    "This is the Paradise!" Novius dered proudly. "The Paradise of Darkness where I''m the God! In this Paradise, I make the rules, and only I can break them!"

 188 Chapter 188

    "I am the God and the Demon of this Paradise!"

    Even though it was still the same young Novius as before, when he stood in the Paradise of Darkness that was cast by him, his entire personality was different! He truly was like a god of darkness in this ce who had control of everything.

    The dark mist also transformed his clothes into something more authoritative.

    The Mist around Gabriel changed into Sharp Spikes that spread out. Gabriel stood amidst the spikes, not moving. He didn''t look scared either, as if he was sure that he couldn''t be hurt.

    Just as he expected, the spikes stooped right when they were mere inches away from his skin.

    Thousands of dark Spears floated around Gabriel as if they only needed one instruction to hit him.

    "This is the Darkness... The Darkness that makes you control everything!" Novius stepped closer to Gabriel, looking deep into his eyes.

    It was as if he was just trying to show what this spell was truly capable of. The mist in the Paradise of Darkness wasn''t just an obstruction for others! It was the biggest weapon for them since they could control the mist like it was a part of their body.

    "It''s a spell that helps you fight multiple enemies even when you''re alone! That''s why this Spell is something you need to learn if you want to even have a chance of defeating us!"

    Novius canceled the spell, and all the darkness disappeared right away as if everything that they just saw was no more than an illusion. The sky returned to normal.

    "What you felt just now was the essence of this darkness... The overwhelming darkness! If you can embrace it, it''s good. If you can''t, it''ll be such a waste..."

    Gabriel saw Novius retreat back. The spell that he had shown was certainly more overwhelming than what he cast. It was the perfection of Paradise of Darkness that he also wanted to possess.

    "Embrace this darkness..." Gabriel mumbled under his breath, gazing at the back of his left hand.

    All his life, he had heard how darkness was a bad element; that was something they needed to be scared of. That fear of darkness was instilled in their hearts ever since they were young, but he knew that it was just a false mirage that the world had created.

    Darkness was certainly scary, but it was more than that. Darkness was able to take a person''s vision away, but it was also something that gave something equally precious in return.

    A person couldn''t see anything in the darkness, but at the same time, that was also the time that allowed them to see without their eyes. It was the darkness that made people use their other senses, stimting them to improve them further. Darkness was everywhere, yet it was nowhere.

    Gabriel closed his eyes, trying to imagine the feeling of being surrounded by this darkness.

    Novius smiled, seeing Gabriel taking it seriously. He could see that Gabriel was really on the right track.

    To help Gabriel further, Novius snapped his fingers, changing the time of day here. What was a bright day until recently was no more than the darkest of night now.

    There were no stars in the sky. There was not even a moon above them.

    "This guy... If he were born in our time, the world would''ve been so different." Novius walked back to Cylix.

    "If he were born in our time, the history would certainly be different..." Cylix agreed. "The Kid is really something else...Whenever I think that I understand him, he proves me wrong."

    "He is like a deep Abyss... filled with secrets. Whatever he does... None of that is normal. I don''t know what to call what he has. A Gift from the Gods? Or a curse?" Novius asked, even though he knew that Cylix wasn''t going to have an answer to this question.

    Cylix took a brief pause before responding, "I am not sure... But I don''t think it matters at this point. Even the greatest of gifts can be a curse depending on how you treat it."<sub> </sub>

    "It will depend on how he treats what he has," he continued, watching Gabriel just stand in the darkness. "And also on how the world treats him..."

    "So far, we know that the world hasn''t been kind to him." Novius agreed. "Anything is possible in the future. All we can do is try to help him with our teachings... But how he uses that teaching, it''ll all rest on his shoulders."

    "He can either change the entire World, bringing it on the right track of eternal prosperity, or he can destroy it to create something new... I hope it''s the former, but there is some fear in my heart that it might be thetter..."

    ****

    Gabriel stood in silence in the Darkness. For a moment, he even forgot where he actually was, losing himself in the silence.

    The silence of this darkness was so peaceful... So weing...

    Gabriel didn''t even realize when he started truly embracing the darkness. He thought about his experience with the Darkness. Even though it was painful at times, that Darkness was now his ally and under his control. He knew that if he had this ally before, he wouldn''t have had to go through that pain. This ally would''ve protected him.

    "I don''t want to be scared of you... I want to ept you..." Gabriel raised his left hand without opening his eyes.

    He didn''t cast any spell this time, and it seemed more like he was talking to himself, reaching out his hand toward an imaginary friend.

    Since his eyes were closed, he couldn''t see it, but his surroundings were slightly changing. Specks of darkness appeared around him, circling around him as if he was their sun and they were his stars.

    The Darkness had never left him... The Darkness didn''t refuse to ept him. Instead, it was he who had always had hesitation around that darkness ever since he returned from the prison of darkness, but now that he understood himself and this darkness better, he also started embracing the darkness.

    His Mark of Element of Darkness started shining brightly, bing even darker than it usually was, as if the Mark of Darkness was also truly epting him for some reason.

    Seeing all the changes, Novius could only smile. Gabriel was seeding.

    Gabriel slowly opened his eyes, realizing that his vision was much better now. Even in the darkness, he was able to see as if it was a bright day. Moreover, he could also feel the darkness in his surroundings. His entire visage was also different now, and he seemed more grown up and more mature.

    "Paradise of Darkness," Gabriel spoke without even casting the full spell. However, just the three words proved to be enough now that he was one with the Darkness.

    A Dark Domain spread out, even covering Novius in it.

    Gabriel nced toward Novius. He didn''t look sad, but he didn''t look happy either, even though he had seeded in controlling the spell.

    The mist around Novius changed to spikes as well that surrounded him. The sharp ends of the spikes stopped barely a few inches away from Novius...

    Gabriel not only cast a spell sessfully, but he had also managed to enter the second stage of the space where he could control the mist even more.

    The spell still ced a heavy burden on his soul, but that burden was much less than he had when he cast an unstable spell.

    A simr dark robe appeared around Gabriel''s back, but his ck robe was slightly different than what Novius had.

    There was a beautiful mark in the middle of his Robe of Darkness that depicted his Mark... The Bleeding Moon.

 189 Chapter 189

    Novius was surrounded by dark spikes that appeared to being out of the ground, stopping right before they could actually touch him.

    Gabriel walked closer to Novius this time. It was as if he was doing everything that Novius had done before. All the mist between them moved aside, clearing Gabriel''s path.

    There was only one difference this timepared to when Novius cast the spell. When Novius cast the spell, he used flying spears that were made using the Mist to surround Gabriel as well to show him how versatile this darkness was.

    Gabriel didn''t use the spears to surround him, leaving only the spikes on the ground to hold him in ce.

    He had also made some spears, but the spears weren''t surrounding Novius. Instead, all the flying spears remained behind Gabriel as if waiting for a singlemand before shooting straight to Novius and Cylix.

    "Hahaha..."

    The entire field was surrounded in darkness when aughter echoed. Theughter was filled with pride and some amusement.

    It was none other than Cylix who had burst outughing, not only impressed that Gabriel had seeded in making this spell more stable but also due to the fact that Gabriel was using the same trick that Novius used to show off.

    "Good! Very good! That''s how it''s supposed to be done!" He eximed, pleased. With this kind of skill, he believed that there was certainly a good chance that Gabriel could defeat them.

    Gabriel''s spell was executed perfectly, but his own strength wasn''t quite on the level where he could keep that up for long. He was only a Mid Tier Mage when it came to the spiritual strength, which was what held him back from truly being able to keep this spell up for long.

    For a Mid Tier Mage, a High Grade Spell was already too much, so keeping it up for a few minutes was already a big deal.

    Moreover, despite using the spell with such control, Gabriel still seemed as if he could go on for a little longer.

    The spears that were floating behind him disappeared along with all the mist, and the darkness as the World soon returned to normal. Despite having the ability, Gabriel canceled the spell on time.

    He knew the longer he kept the spell going, the more burden it was going to ce on his soul, taking longer to heal it.

    As Gabriel canceled the spell, the cloak behind him disappeared as well. He finally came out of the zone of darkness, sitting on the ground.

    When he was under the effect of the spell, he seemed perfectly fine and at ease, but it was only when he canceled the spell that he felt the true pain. His breathing was heavy, and his stomach was aching really bad.

    The shaking of hands was once again back, albeit not as intense as the time he had used Wrath of the Dead.

    Gabriel raised his shaking hand toward Cylix as if asking for something. He didn''t even need to speak anything for Cylix to understand what he was asking for.

    Cylix brought another Soul Healing Pill and ced it on Gabriel''s hands. Gabriel swallowed the pill right away before falling to the ground, letting the pill take effect.

    He had used the High Grade Spell twice in thest few hours, so even with the pill, things weren''t as swift as before when it came to his healing.<sub> </sub>

    "That spell was really good." Gabriel covered his eyes since the bright sun in the sky was making him feel ufortable when he rested. However, he still didn''t forget topliment the spell.

    "It gave me the feeling of strength... A feeling of control...." he exined.

    He had used the Spell of Necromancy like the Wrath of the Dead before. The spell was undoubtedly more powerful than the Paradise of Darkness by a huge margin even though both are considered High Tier Spells.

    The Wrath of Undead spell was also very chaotic from what Gabriel had experienced before. When he used that spell, it was like he was tapping into a chaotic energy that wanted to destroy every obstruction in his path.

    On the contrary, the Paradise of Darkness was different. It was like a veryposed energy that didn''t destroy anything. Instead, the Paradise of Darkness gave him the control of everything, as if showing him that it was just there for support.

    With Wrath of Undead, Gabriel felt like it was a weapon of gods that could only be used to destroy things. However, with Paradise of Darkness, he felt more like it was something way more versatile.

    It wasn''t as destructive and powerful as Wrath of the Dead, but it gave him a Crowd Control ability, making him capable of not only attacking others but also to protect himself.

    Since Gabriel had just embraced the Darkness and strengthened his Element of Darkness, it wasn''t odd that he was ufortable in the light, at least for a short period of time.

    To make things morefortable for him, Novius changed the day into the night.

    As Gabriel felt his surroundings turn dark, he opened his eyes again, feeling much better.

    "Don''t worry. It''s just your body adjusting to what you went through. In a few hours, you should be perfectly fine." Cylix and Novius sat beside Gabriel, making sure he understood what he was going through.

    For the next twenty-four hours, Gabriel rested and trained the same spell, practicing it again and again to improve himself. Under the tutge of Novius, his improvement was good as well.

    Even though Gabriel had perfected the spell for the most part, there were still a few things that could''ve been improved, and that''s what Novius made him work on.

    It was only after there were no ws left in any of the spells that Gabriel learned from Novius that he was allowed to train next with Cylix to learn the High Tier Spell of Light as well.

    It had been such a long time since Gabriel arrived on this floor that he had already lost the count for now. He didn''t even know what was happening in the outside world, but that was thest thing he would''ve cared about as he stood before Cylix to learn his third High Tier Spell... The Spell of Light.

    Once again, Cylix was apanied by Novius who stood in the back this time, giving Cylix the space to teach.

    Cylix opened his lips to speak, but before any word could evene out of his lips, a shout came from the back.

    "Gabriel, if you can master his spell faster than you mastered mine, I''ll give you a nice gift!"

 190 Chapter 190

    Cylix red back at Novius, who just told Gabriel to learn the High Tier Spell of Light faster to prove that Darkness was more special and moreplex to grasp than Light.

    He understood why Novius wanted him to learn that spell faster. Since heughed at the fact that Gabriel learned the Paradise of Darkness so easily, Novius wanted to do the same when Gabriel showed that the spell of Light was even lessplex. The two never dropped their friendlypetition.

    "My dear friend, it''s not going to be that easy. I''m not sure how long he will take to learn that spell, but it definitely won''t be faster than yours," Cylix scoffed in response.

    He had faith in his spell, and he knew how hard that was to master. He didn''t believe Gabriel was going to learn that in less than an hour like he did with Novius'' spell.

    "What if he does?" Novius smirked, trying to push Cylix a bit. He knew that Cylix was a prideful person, and that was his biggest weakness, if there was any.

    Novius knew that his allure of prize could motivate Gabriel into learning this spell faster, but at the same time, he wanted the added push... A push that only Cylix could give. Only he could hurt Gabriel''s pride by iming that it was impossible for him to achieve it.

    At the same time, he also knew that Cylix had so much faith in his spell that he was most probably going to ce a prize on line as well in the form of a bet, which could give Gabriel even more incentive to learn it faster.

    He wanted to use Cylix to get Gabriel to defeat Cylix!

    Cylix also fell straight into the trap. "Alright. If he can learn my spell in less time than yours and master it ordingly, then I''ll ept my defeat! I''ll also give all my Soul Healing Pills to him!"

    "Deal." Novius took up the offer.

    "You heard, young man?" he addressed Gabriel. "You will need Soul Healing Pills in the future, and they are already supposed to be extinct in the outside world. If you want to take them back, you better master this Spell fast!"

    Gabriel was already excited to learn that spell. He didn''t want to waste a single second, but it was as if every second, his rewards were increasing. First, he was going to get a reward from Novius, and now the Soul Healing Pills from Cylix?

    That was perfect! Those Soul Healing Pills were going toe in really handy in his battle against them and even in the outside world!

    Just for the pills, he wanted to achieve this task!

    "Wait... Did you just... use me?" It was only now that he realized that Novius had yed him, noticing the smug look on his face. "It doesn''t matter. There''s no way he can..."

    He still didn''t lose faith in his spell. Even he himself wouldn''t have mastered this spell so fast. He knew theplexities of this spell. There was no way Gabriel could.

    He brought a spell scroll and tossed it to Gabriel. "There, you have an hour to learn it. Give it your best try."

    Gabriel caught the scroll and opened it to get his first glimpse of the spell.

    "High Blessing of Light?"

    The scroll was not only longer than the scroll of Darkness, but it also had more content as well. Just reading itself alone was going to consume more time than before, let alone mastering it.

    "I told you, it''s not possible," Cylix smirked. "Don''t worry about the bet. Take your sweet time learning it. You might be able to learn it in a few days."<sub> </sub>

    Even though Cylix was normally talking, for Gabriel, it was like he was being taunted. He couldn''t afford to fail. If he wanted to win in a battle against them, he needed the ability to cast High Grade Spells more than once, and he could only do that if he had those pills now!

    Gabriel didn''t know that they were going to give him the pills in any case. They weren''t going to send him back without the pills. For them, these pills were already useless. Instead, all they craved for was eternal sleep.

    Still, it worked as a good motivation without letting Gabriel feel as if they were doing a favor to him.

    From the beginning, Cylix and Novius made it seem as if they weren''t doing any favors on Gabriel and just making things more interesting for themselves.

    Gabriel sat on the ground and started going through the spell. He couldn''t waste even a single second as he was in a race against time.

    <o>,m Fortunately, even though the spell was longer, for some reason, it wasn''t asplicated as he had expected. Even he hadn''t realized it yet that ever since he lost his consciousness in the Prison of Darkness, hisprehension had increased by multiple folds.</o>

    He just had to read a line once or twice to understand its essence. Even though the scroll has many such lines, the more Gabriel read, the faster he became.

    "There''s no way." Cylix still didn''t believe that Gabriel was going to win this. Still, he had already prepared to console Gabriel after he lost.

    He had already decided that he was going to give a few pills aspensation for now before giving him everything else when he was at death''s door.

    "Don''t underestimate him, Cylix." Novius appeared next to him. "I made the same mistake, and he managed to surprise me. We shouldn''t treat him like an ordinary Mage."

    "Even if he isn''t an ordinary Mage, it''s still impossible. I know your spell. Even though I can''t use it, I know it''s slightly easier toprehend since it just deals with the inner element of a person," Cylix responded. "Meanwhile, my spell deals mainly with the main forces of the nature without connecting them to the caster."

    "I also want him to seed, but I know that it''ll be really unlikely in this case."

    "We shall see."

    "That was good." Gabriel stood up in less than twenty minutes after going through the entire spell.

    "Don''t tell me that you...?" Cylix refused to believe it. Just what was this nonsense? How could he learn it so fast? And he was calling it easy?

    Novius felt likeughing out loud, but he controlled himself. Gabriel had to use the spell first to see if he actually learned it.

    "Go ahead. Prove it then."Cylix stepped back to test Gabriel. "Use it on me!"

    Gabriel also didn''t hesitate. He had only learned the basicws of the spell and how to use it, but he still hadn''t used it, so he didn''t know if there were any ws like before or not, but he gave it a try.

    "High Blessing of Light!"

 191 Chapter 191

    ?191 Chapter 191: The Final Battle: Cylix (I)

    [Two dayster]

    Gabriel and Cylix stood in a field that was specially made for their battle. Today was the day of the battle since Gabriel had managed to master all the spells they had to teach him. Not only did he master them, but he did that with such perfection that even the two Founders couldn''t find any ws.

    "I''m asking you onest time. Do you want more time to train? You don''t have to hurry with this battle!" Even though Gabriel had learned all the spells, Cylix still wanted him to take more time to get some more practice.

    Gabriel, on the other hand, refused the offer. He had learned the spells that he needed to. As for practicing the spells... He didn''t believe they were going to change much for him since he had already practiced enough, ording to him.

    "I am ready for the battle now." Gabriel dered.

    He was already given the Soul Healing Pills after Gabriel managed to win the bet. Cylix was happy that Gabriel was so impressive, but at the same time, he was quite upset that his spell was proven to be even easier to understand than Novius'' spell.

    Cylix could still remember theughter of Novius. For a mage, their spells were their child, especially the ones that they created from scratch.

    The moreplicated and harder to grasp a spell was, the better it was supposed to be ording to them since it meant moreplex elementalws were used in their creation.

    By learning his spell faster than Novius'' spell, Gabriel had proven which one of them was harder to grasp for him, which was a proud victory for Novius.

    After that loss, Cylix was silent for quite some time before he regained his usualposure. After two days, he had almost forgotten that incident, even though not entirely. Now his entire focus was on the battle with Gabriel!

    Today was the day that they had been waiting for over a century! It was the day when they might get the freedom they ever so craved. That all depended on Gabriel and his strength.

    Even though they were hopeful that he might achieve it, they knew that the chances of their victory were more, and to stand by their morals, they couldn''t go easy on him.

    In the entire field, only Gabriel and Cylix were standing. As for Novius, he was standing outside the battlefield, observing the battlefield.

    His fists were tightly clenched. He also looked slightly nervous. He was feeling so many emotions at the same time. On one end, he was excited at the possibility of being free from this cursed tower. On the other end, he was scared of Gabriel''s failure. If Gabriel couldn''t win, it was going to bring all their hopes crashing down.

    "Best of luck, young man. Make your masters proud!" he spoke in a barely audible voice that no one on the battlefield could hear.

    A bright sun rested in the sky, covering the entire world in its sunlight, also making the temperature really hot. In this heat, two Mages decided to fight, both using the same elements.

    "I''ll give you the first attack opportunity. Show me what you''re made of." Cylix ced his hands behind his back and gave Gabriel the first opportunity to attack.

    The battle had finally begun with his attack invitation. However, for some reason, Gabriel didn''t attack.

    "I reject the invitation. I want you to attack first," Gabriel responded, thinking of something. The distance between them was too much. To attack first, he had to take the first step, which was quite a risky step in this battle.

    It was a battle in which both sides knew the moves of the other side. It was like the checkers where the two opponents could reach each others'' minds and wanted to prompt them to attack first. Unlike in games, there was no first move advantage in a battle against a senior.

    Cylix received the same offer that he gave, which made him smile. He wondered if Gabriel realized what was going to happen if he had moved first.

    "Alright. I will take the first step myself!" Cylix stretched his arms as he started walking to Gabriel. Surprisingly, he was walking so slowly that it looked like he was taking a walk in his personal garden.

    Because Gabriel didn''t have a proper and powerful High Tier Staff of Light, Cylix had decided that none of them were going to use any Staff. It was a battle of the mages and not their equipment.

    No one was allowed to use any Numens either, which was kind of a disadvantage that was ced on Gabriel since he had most Numens here.

    Watching Cylix walk closer to him, Gabriel started casting some spells on himself.

    "High Strength."

    "High Speed of Light."

    ...

    As he wanted to be able to react fast and have the strength to control his body beyond its capacity, he cast booster spells on his body, investing his physical strength, defense, speed, and other characteristics.

    The spells that he cast weren''t the old weak booster versions. Instead, they were the same spells that Cylix taught him. Strangely enough, Cylix hadn''t cast these spells on himself.

    "Vision of Eternity." Gabriel cast another spell to further protect his vision against the illusions.

    The light was one of the most versatile Elements, which had multiple uses like crowd control, illusion, healing, sabotage, and many more.

    Amongst the spell that Gabriel was taught, the spell that concerned him the most was one of the Illusion Spells, which he believed could easily be used to make it impossible for him to see the real enemy. He made sure to stay one step away from this trick.

    Cylix noticed every spell that Gabriel was casting, nodding in satisfaction. "You aren''t making any rookie mistakes. However, that much won''t be enough."

    Finally, after Cylix was within five meters range of Gabriel, he finally cast his first spell. "High Speed of Light..."

    As soon as he cast the spell, his speed increased multiple folds. Within the blink of an eye, he was right in front of Gabriel, leaving barely half a meter of a gap between the two.

    "Surprise." Beautiful golden light surrounded his fist as if creating a Gauntlet.

    With his entire strength behind it, Cylix punched. Even though he had the advantage, he didn''t want to hurt Gabriel seriously in the first attack itself, which made him resist using the strength booster.

    He knew that Gabriel probably expected the bigger spells to be used, which left him open for the most basic of spells.

    When one aimed too far, they often couldn''t see what was right next to them, and he believed Gabriel was making the same mistake.

    "Huh? What?" Cylix expressions changed.

 192 Chapter 192

    "Surprise indeed." Another voice came, but this time from behind Cylix.

    "Step one, deflection." Standing afar, Novius had a clear view of the battlefield. Moreover, as the third person, he understood Gabriel''s trick very clearly.

    The first part of his n rested on throwing Cylix in disarray by making him attack first, instead of taking the offer of attacking first. That way, he made Cylix curious as to what he was actually nning.

    Next, he intentionally cast the strengthening spell to create some false smoke while his real goal was creating an illusion at that time, and he even seeded.

    While Cylix attacked the illusion, Gabriel was actually right behind him. On one end, Cylix attacked the illusion. On the other, Gabriel attacked him.

    Unfortunately, a barrier of Light appeared between the two, blocking Gabriel''s attack.

    "Interesting indeed. Then again, just getting a jump isn''t enough. You need to consider other important factors as well like the reaction time of the enemy." Cylix turned around, giving some teaching to Gabriel even in the middle of the battle. "Without that, this trick is a wasted opportunity."

    Cylix once again punched, this time the real Gabriel. His fist passed through the barrier, managing to hit Gabriel, who couldn''t avoid it in time.

    Gabriel''s body shot back like a bullet,nding on the ground twenty meters away from Cylix.

    Gabriel kept his hand on his aching chest, standing up. Cylix still hadn''t used the strength boost, and still, his attack was powerful enough to seriously hurt Gabriel. That was the difference between an advanced-tier mage and a mid-tier mage.

    A mid-tier mage depended mostly on their spells, but an advanced Tier Mage had a much stronger body as well, helping him fight back even without spells.

    Gabriel touched his bleeding lips, which had received a minor cut from his fall. He knew Cylix was right. He should''ve considered the reaction time of Cylix. He had wasted an opportunity.

    Any ordinary Mage would''ve been stunned right there, unable to think at the moment on how to protect himself, but Cylix was experienced.His mind was very calm andposed, and he didn''t take a single second before he cast a barrier as soon as he sensed danger.

    "High Heal!" After casting a healing spell, Gabriel was once again ready for the battle.

    The distance between the two was once again twenty meters, but this time Gabriel didn''t wait for Cylix toe to him.

    He cast a Flight Spell and flew to Cylix this time.

    ***

    Two hours... The battlested two hours, and even now, Gabriel hadn''t seeded in defeating Cylix. No matter what, defeating Cylix using his own spells was proving to be a task much harder than imagined.

    It wasn''t that he knew his enemy''s every move. Instead, it was also that his enemy knew all his spells that he was allowed to use, which made it impossible for Gabriel to defeat Cylix.

    "As expected, it''s not easy for him to defeat Cylix. Then again, it would''ve been strange if he could defeat us using our own spells. No matter what a prodigy he might be, in the end, we are still a tier above in this Element which he is new to."

    After all this time, even Novius realized that Gabriel wasn''t going to win this battle. By preventing him from using his core element and his Numens, they had basically given him a handicap.

    Then again, they already expected something like this. The challenge about using them with their own Element wasn''t a serious challenge at all. It was just a trick to get Gabriel to learn their spells which he could master and improve even more with time. Their trick had served its essential purpose

    Gabriel''s clothes were covered in blood. His face was slightly pale, and his soul was exhausted, but he still hadn''t given up.

    He was still standing on his feet, which in itself was shocking for Cylix. He knew that if his younger self was in Gabriel''s ce and he had taken that much damage, even he might have fallen by now.<sub> </sub>

    Gabriel was bleeding, but his resolve wasn''t. He wanted to win! He wanted to win at any cost! He couldn''t afford to lose!

    But how could he win? That was the question. He had already tried the High Tier Spell of Light, and it hadn''t helped him much against Cylix other than exhausting his soul even more.

    He swallowed a Soul Healing pill, which was his third in thest two hours of battle, before casting another Healing Spell. He had already stopped caring about his clothes, which were covered in his blood now.

    "I think that''s enough." Seeing Gabriel in this condition, even Cylix shook his head. He also realized that this was a futile effort. Gabriel couldn''t defeat him like this. He couldn''t defeat him without using his original Element of Necromancy, which was still the core of Gabriel''s strength!

    "You can''t defeat me like this!" Cylix dered.

    "Try me!" Gabriel responded, wiping the blood off his lips before he flew again, once again attacking.

    Boom~

    As Gabriel flew to Cylix to attack again, he failed once more. Even now, Cylix had managed to best him. No matter what, Gabriel wasn''t as good as Cylix when it came to controlling the Light, partially thanks to his Mid Tier Magical strength.

    The battle hadn''t been on equal footing ever since the beginning since even though they were both using the same element, Cylix was superior in everything from battle experience with the Element of Light to Magical Strength.

    Gabriel was faster than Cylix when it came to learning the spells, but in battles, that didn''t y much of a role.

    Gabriel''s body flew back once again, being hit by an Explosion of Light.

    He fell in the distance, scratching his knees, which also started bleeding now, simr to his arms.

    "Gabriel, this is enough! I know you can''t win this battle without using your main element, and even you should know that much. You are just getting hurt for no reason now. You lost this battle already! This is where we''ll be ending it."

    Cylix had already had enough. He didn''t want to go through it more since it just looked like he was bullying Gabriel at this point by making him fight with this handicap. He had decided to fight him again, but next time without cing any restriction on him rted to his main Element. But before that, he wanted Gabriel to rest.

    In this long battle, Gabriel had exhausted his Soul a lot. He needed proper rest.

    "Novius, that will be the end!" he called out to Novius in the back.

    "I told you I haven''t lost!" Gabriel roared, still not giving up. Even now, he forced his body too, not taking this defeat!

    "I will defeat you today, following your rules!" he eximed, wiping his blood from his lips again.

    ording to the rules he was given, he couldn''t use any pure spells of darkness or his Original Element. He had to only use the spells of Element of Light and the spells that were rted to it. At the same time, he couldn''t use Numens or the Infernal Emperor, and he had decided to follow the rules.

    No matter what, he had to win this battle today! He didn''t know what it was, but there was just a strange feeling inside his heart that was telling him that he couldn''t lose! He had to win! For some reason, he was scared of defeat today, and that fear was also stimting his inner strength even more.

    As he challenged Cylix, something about him was different this time, and it wasn''t just his undying determination.

    There were two marks on his left hand, and both were shining at the moment at the same time! His Element of Darkness and Element of Light were both shining as bright as they could for some reason...

    "This... Is he...?" Novius'' lips opened wide as he saw the change in the battlefield.

 193 Chapter 193

    A dark barrier appeared all around Cylix as if made from ck mes. The barrier spread out, surrounding Cylix from all sides. Within seconds, Cylix was entrapped in the ck barrier.

    "He did learn it," Noviusmented in the distance, quite amazed. They had taught Gabriel everything that they knew, and which included the spell which needed both of them to be present to cast.

    Unfortunately, unlike the other spells, Gabriel hadn''t managed to master thatst spell since it needed two elements to work at the same time simultaneously.

    When there were two people casting that spell, both of them could handle one Element and make the spell seed, but even that wasn''t easy. On the other hand, Gabriel had an extra task that he had to do both things alone, which he kept failing into.

    No matter what he tried, he hadn''t managed to get the spell working in unison. However, if he could, then that spell was certainly a part of this challenge and didn''t go against the Challenge as it was considered a Light spell as well, with some added parts.

    Cylix saw the barrier around him which had captured him. He knew he could leave the barrier, but not without giving it some time, and that much time was enough for Gabriel. Escape wasn''t worth it since, in the time he could get out of the barrier, everything was going to be over.

    Either the spell was going to bepleted by that time, or the spell was going to fail, only to be known as a good attemptter on.

    Gabriel didn''t look like he was in any mood to fail. He hadn''t managed to cast this spell before, even though he knew how to. All because his Elements just refused to work at exactly the same time. That was an entirely different thing which even Cylix and Novius didn''t know how to help him with.

    That was also why they didn''t force him to use this spell, knowing it was going to take time. They expected Gabriel to take a few years after leaving this tower to sessfully use that spell, but not this time.

    The darkness around the barrier wasn''t just sealing the physical space but also invading the corporeal space, sealing all teleportation spells inside the barrier.

    It was like Gabriel was casting two High Grade Spells at the same time; one was to seal the space, and the other...

    Boom-

    A powerful explosion took ce inside the barrier, filling the entire space in bright light.

    The explosion was so powerful that even the barrier of darkness shattered, but it had done its job by then. It had kept Cylix in ce for long enough.

    Cylix''s body flew back,ing in contact with the explosion. For the first time, he was seriously hurt. Quite a lot of his skin was burnt. His shirt was already destroyed, revealing his bleeding chest. Cylix had taken some serious damage.

    He wasn''t alone though. Just for casting that spell, Gabriel felt like almost fainting. It really was too much for him.

    "Can''t yet!" he dered, somehow finding some strength to still hold on. He brought the soul healing pill and ced it in his mouth before chasing after Cylix.

    He knew he couldn''t afford to go down now. He had finally received some upper hand as his spell didn''t just hurt Cylix, but it also had another effect... The effect of stunning the enemy, slowing down their thoughts, for a few minutes.

    "He seeded. This kid... Seriously... How is he still standing after all that?" Novius had already been impressed by Gabriel, but this was something different. Gabriel''s conviction was what kept him going even after all this.

    As soon as Cylix managed tond on the ground, he couldn''t even cast a healing spell when he saw Gabriel right next to him.

    "Soul Weakening!"

    "Aura Submersion."<sub> </sub>

    "Mind Slowdown."

    Gabriel cast spells one after another, all of which needed him to be in contact with the enemy, and that''s exactly where he was.

    At the same time as he cast this spell, he flew up, casting a flight spell, finding only Cylix by his neck, who couldn''t move. Cylix''s mind was still dazed, and his body was weakened. He couldn''t even think that he needed to cast a healing spell on himself.

    After flying around ten meters up, Gabriel tossed Cylix on the ground.

    Bang ~

    Cylix''s body crashed on the hard surface. Even though his body was strong enough, just the impact of that fall was still enough to hurt him, creating a crater around him.

    This was the time... The opportunity that he was waiting for!

    Gabriel appeared right next to Cylix.

    "Spear of Light!" he cast another spell, creating a spear purely from the Element of Light. Since he couldn''t use a Numen, he could only rely on weapons like this.

    He thrust the spear down at Cylix, who was still inside the crater.

    Novius closed his eyes. This was the time where his friend was going to get the freedom that he was looking for. Despite all that, he still looked somewhat sad. He couldn''t watch his friend die, even though it was a good thing.

    A few minutes passed, yet there was no noise, which made Novius frown. He slowly opened his eyes, wondering if everything was over.

    "Huh?" As soon as he opened his eyes, he noticed that things were quite different.

    The spear was still in Gabriel''s hand; however, it wasn''t stabbed into Cylix''s chest. The tip of the spear was stopped barely an inch away from Cylix''s chest. Moreover, it wasn''t any spell of Cylix which was stopping Gabriel.

    It was Gabriel himself who stopped himself, unable to go through with it.

    Gabriel held his spear tightly, stopping it. He could finish this battle if he wanted, but he couldn''t get himself to kill Cylix like that.

    Cylix also came out of his spell induced daze by now, noticing the tip of the spear right next to his chest. Just a little push, and he was going to be dead.

    "Why did you stop?" he asked, still lying inside the crater with the spear right above him. If he even sat up a little, the spear could hit him.

    "I have defeated you. This is enough," Gabriel responded, even though the reason behind his hesitation was slightly different.

    These people had been like the teachers that he always wanted in his childhood. In such a short time, they had be no less than his friends and family. When he tried to go through with killing Cylix, that slight hesitation stopped him.

 194 Chapter 194

    Moreover, the challenge was about Gabriel winning. He could win without even killing them. At least, that''s what he thought.

    Cylix saw Gabriel''s hesitation, momentarily getting stunned.

    "Ha...hahaha¡­ Hahahahaha!"

    He covered his face with his hands as he burst into aughter, but it wasn''t a mockingughter. It was something else... Something much more emotional.

    In Gabriel''s eyes, he could see the respect that he had never expected. Even though they didn''t show Gabriel their intentions to teach him, always hiding behind excuses as to why they were training him, the young kid still treated them like teachers.

    After a long time, Cylix stoppedughing and shed a weak smile filled with gratitude.

    Young Cylix was left here by the main Cylix before they could even get real students in the outside World. These versions of Cylix and Novius hadn''t experienced what it was like to have a student, but with Gabriel, they had received the missing puzzle of their life.

    Now they had achieved everything. Even though the top floor was on the line, Gabriel still couldn''t get himself to kill them.

    "Gabriel... Thank you..." Cylix said. His voice was slightly unusual now as this time; it wasn''t filled with his usual authority. It was more like a man who had received everything he wanted in his life, having no desires left.

    "Unfortunately, you can''t get to the top floor unless you kill us... So do it. Take the final step..." Cylix insisted. Even though he was back now and could fight back, he had epted his defeat already. If it were anyone other than Gabriel, he would''ve already been dead after all.

    "If you don''t kill us, you can''t get to the top floor... You must do it. Don''t worry about us! It''s not bad to be free after all these years..." Cylix stated, but Gabriel still didn''t push the spear ahead.

    In the outside World, he was often confused as to who was a good guy and who wasn''t since everyone had a hidden side that they didn''t show. Even from Lira, he had received the same impression when he met her, that there was something inside her that she wasn''t showing, which made him always keep his guard around her.

    However, with Cylix and Novius, it was different. Even though these two imed that they were training him because they didn''t want a boring challenge or because they wanted to make this trial harder for him by restricting his Origin Element in the battles, he could feel that there was something more to it.

    Through the conversations they had in thest month, the time they spent under the moonlight, it was different. They didn''t look like they were just teaching him for the sake of it. They were like real teachers who genuinely helped him, scolding him at times and praising him at others.

    Gabriel raised his head. He couldn''t see the hundredth floor from here and only the sky. However, he knew that the hundredth Floor was going to have some nice treasures for sure... Maybe treasures that could help him even more.

    However, there was one question in his head. Could those treasures really be better than the knowledge Cylix and Novius had imparted to him?

    In his left hand, he still had the Soul Healing Pill that made it possible for him to at least stand in this battle for so long. He nced at the pill given to him by Cylix.

    There was a strong dilemma in his head. On one side, he wanted to think logically, and that required him to kill Cylix. In any case, Cylix was just a spiritual form and not a real person. However, on the other end, he didn''t want to repay Cylix''s gratitude with death.

    "Is there no other way to get to the hundredth floor?" he asked Cylix, wondering if there really was no other option.<sub> </sub>

    Cylix shook his head. "There is none. You must kill the Guardians of the Floor, which is us. So do it... Take the step!"

    Gabriel took a deep breath as he prepared himself. However, just as he was about to thrust his spear, he stopped again.

    "Gabriel..." Cylix saw the same hesitation again. "Please... Do it. This is the freedom we craved for all our life! We have been waiting for this moment. If you think we helped you even a little, and want to repay it, then kill us! That will be your best gift to us! Free us from this World! You can''t stop aftering this far..."

    Gabriel raised his head and looked at Novius in the distance. Were these people really tormented on this floor? They really wanted freedom?

    In the distance, Novius also saw Gabriel''s hesitation. After seeing Gabriel look in his direction, he just nodded as if talking through his eyes.

    "Finally, we can be free..." Cylix stated. "Finally, we can merge with the real stars instead of looking at the fake sky in this fake world... Finally, we can be free of our prison... You have no idea how long I waited for this moment. For someone to rightfully defeat me."

    With more information, Gabriel believed their words. He had always seen something strange in their eyes as if they were the eyes of the people who had been trapped in a dark cell all their lives and craved for freedom. This was their freedom...

    Gabriel tightened his grip around the Spear of Light. Even though it was a hard decision, he couldn''t keep them imprisoned in this ce.

    "Thank you... For everything..." Gabriel''s voice fell in Cylix''s ears before a spear stabbed straight into his chest, right where his heart was supposed to be.

    Cylix didn''t grunt in pain. Even though his face was pale, he didn''t feel hurt. Instead, he looked as if he was filled with gratitude.

    "I... couldn''t have asked... for a better student..." Cylix stated as his body started disappearing. "I hope you get the happiness you''re looking for as well..."

    Slowly his body turned into specks of light. Before Gabriel could even respond, Cylix''s body disappeared entirely.

    At around the same time, Gabriel''s spear also disappeared as he also dropped to the ground, finally losing his own consciousness as well. He had been forcing his body throughout the battle, but eventually, all the damage caught up.

    Seeing Gabriel call, Novius appeared right next to him, checking to see if he was fine.

    As he was checking Gabriel, even he didn''t see that a small speck of light had entered Gabriel''s ring, disappearing into it.

    "Just unconscious... This kid... He really pushed himself today." Novius picked Gabriel in his arms to take him back, but not before ncing onest time at the exact spot where Cylix had died.

    "Have a safe journey, old friend."

 195 Chapter 195

    Gabriel was lying on a bed in a peculiar room that was much smaller than the throne room. There was only one bed inside the room, and on the bed, Gabriel seemed to be sleeping.

    His clothes were different than before, as his old clothes were either destroyed or covered in blood in the battle.

    The clothes he was in now were the same that he was wearing when he entered the Tower of Challenges. It was the attire that he had received when he got the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy.

    Just for the battle with Cylix, he had taken off the clothes that could easily be considered Numens. In any case, his clothes weren''t ordinary.Instead of them, he wore ordinary clothes before the battle.

    Now that his special clothes were back on his body, thanks to Novius, he felt much morefortable since his attire was filling him with a familiar andforting feeling. The attire was also healing his physical wounds much faster.

    Novius also fed Gabriel some Soul Healing Pills to help his soul recover, but it wasn''t as easy this time.

    For his hunger for victory, Gabriel had used too many High Ranking spells! As if that wasn''t enough, he even used the ''Divine Entrapment of Light and Darkness'' in the end, which was a bit too much for him even when he was at his best, let alone when his soul was already exhausted after two hours of battle.

    Just the fact that Gabriel hadn''t passed out right away after casting that spell in itself was stunning for Novius.

    Novius sat right next to Gabriel, watching the unconscious young boy. "Just why...?"

    He was happy that Gabriel seeded, but he didn''t understand why the boy pushed himself in harm''s way like that. Why did he want to win so badly? If he wanted to, he could''ve tried next time. He could''ve even used his Originter, but he didn''t. Even at his own risk, he went forward with the challenge and stuck to the rules even till the end.

    Novius ced his hand on the forehead of Gabriel, checking if the kid had any fever.

    ''As expected, even with healing and the pills, he has a fever. This boy...''

    As soon as Novius touched his forehead, he realized that Gabriel had a fever, and it wasn''t a weak fever at all.

    "You know your hand is really cold." A voice came, surprising Novius.

    "You are up?" he asked.

    Gabriel moved Novius'' hand from his forehead as he opened his eyes, which looked tired.

    "No, I''m talking in sleep," Gabrielmented, slightly amused that Novius was really asking this question even after seeing everything.

    Novius was sitting to his left. After answering him, he nced to his right. If Cylix were here, he would''ve been standing to the right, asking him if he was good while scolding him for being so reckless.

    For some reason, he was missing Cylix''s presence. In such a short time, he had be so ustomed to them. If only the people outside were like them.

    "I really killed him, didn''t I?" he asked Novius, trying to sit up.

    Even though his head was aching and he had a fever, he didn''t care.

    "You did what he wanted. Don''t me yourself." Novius sighed. "Taking lives isn''t always wrong... Sometimes, it can also be a form of mercy."

    He further continued, "As death is mostly used for punishment and revenge, people often forget that it''s not even a fraction of death''s essence. Death isn''t just a form of punishment. It''s much more."

    "Sometimes it can also be a reward, a doorway to a new and a better life... You didn''t take his life. You freed him from these shackles that were keeping him trapped here, and that''s what he wanted."<sub> </sub>

    Gabriel nodded, still feeling a bit empty with the absence of Cylix, but maybe this was it? A lesson to him that nothing was permanent.

    "You want to die as well?" he asked Novius. The same shackles that were keeping Cylix here were the ones that kept Novius here as well. Both spent the same amount of time here as well, so it wasn''t hard to guess.

    Novius only smiled in response. He didn''t say anything, but his expressions were enough to answer.

    "Enough talking. Rest now. I''ll give you some privacy." Novius knew that Gabriel had a fever, and no medicine they had was going to work on him for this because of the obstruction with his unusual Element.

    Moreover, Cylix knew about healing much more than him. He couldn''t do anything other than letting Gabriel''s body naturally heal with time. And for that, he needed lots of rest.

    "Oh, one thing I forgot..." Novius stopped before the door and turned around, revealing a small box in his hand.

    "This is from Cylix to you," he exined. "He asked me to give this to you if you seed in killing him. This is hisst gift for you..."

    He ced the small box on the bed before leaving.

    Gabriel was left all alone in the room with the small box.

    Gabriel''s hands were still shaking a little as his soul was still in the process of healing. He picked up the small box and brought it closer to him.

    This was what Cylix left him... Thest gift from the man who had given him so much.

    People said knowledge was the biggest gift a person could give, and Cylix had imparted all his knowledge to Gabriel, along with everything else that he had. He left everything to the only person he ever had as a student...

    Gabriel gazed at the beautiful silver box that was made from some kind of metal that was very light yet very firm.

    He slowly opened the box, noticing the first thing that was inside the small box... It was a folded piece of paper.

    Gabriel picked up the piece of paper and unfolded it. It was only when he unfolded the piece of paper that he realized that it was a letter written by Cylix.

    ****

    [A few days ago]

    Gabriel was sleeping peacefully under the starry sky. Tomorrow was supposed to be his battle with Cylix, and he was told to get plenty of rest.

    As Gabriel slept, Cylix sat near him with a letter and a pen in his hand, writing something.

    "Dear Gabriel,

    Since you''re reading this letter, It would be safe to assume that I''m no longer alive... if I could even call myself that."

    He nced at Gabriel as soon as he finished writing his first paragraph.

 196 Chapter 196

    "I don''t know if I thanked you before dying or if I didn''t have a chance, but if it''s thetter, I will tell you now. Thank you... Thank you... Thank you so much!"

    "I have so many things to tell you, and I don''t know where to start. I''ve never liked being emotional, as I thought that it depicted weakness. I know if I tell this to you, even I will find myself pathetic for letting my emotions get the best of me. That leaves me no choice but to write what I wanted to tell you all this time..."

    "Throughout the centuries, Novius and I have spent most of our life in this tower, feeling trapped. People run from death, but it''s only after you live long enough that you realize what a privilege death truly bes..."

    Cylix took another pause from writing, gazing at the stars above. "Thank you for granting me that privilege."

    He further continued writing his thoughts in the silence of the night.

    "After my family was wiped out, I had no one left in this world. I started closing myself from this cruel world, and I see some of that in you as well."

    "Fortunately, that''s when I met Novius, and he became a part of my family... The person who finally made me change my perspective and open up. In this world, he was all I had, and I was all he had in the name of family. I didn''t believe someone else could be a part of this family, at least in this lifetime..."

    "However, in such a short time, you''ve made me realize how wrong I was. Not just in judging your attention but also in everything else as well.*

    "In thest few weeks, even we didn''t realize when it happened, but we started considering you a part of our family and not just a disciple... You were the little brother that we never had... The little brother that we wanted to protect. The little brother that we would be leaving all alone in this world after we die. That''s why we wanted to give you a gift... A gift of strength."

    "You might think we were being biased to torture you by setting a restriction that you must defeat us with our own elements, but that''s the only way we had to give you enough motivation to train. And since you''ve managed to kill me with that rule, I would like to think that we seeded."

    "We didn''t do it because we wanted to make it impossible for you to defeat us. Instead, we did it so you could be stronger... Strong enough to protect yourself."

    "When you go out of this tower, we won''t be there to protect you. However, we hope that the knowledge we gave you will be able to help you in your times of need. If it can, no one would be happier than us! So please don''t think of us as bad people. Andstly, don''t think of yourself as a bad person."

    "I gave you the most precious thing I could, knowledge. But that''s not everything your master is leaving for you... I hope you enjoy your gifts. And stay safe... That''s all I ask."

    After finishing, Cylix folded the letter and ced it inside a small box that disappeared.

    He stood up and walked closer to Gabriel, looking down at him."I really hope you seed tomorrow in the battle. However, I''m not going easy on you. If you can''t even defeat me here, that means you aren''t ready to face the world."

    " I won''t cheat you by going easy on you. Therefore, you''ll be facing the strongest of me. So let me see... Let me see what miracles you can do with my Element, little brother."

    ****

    [Present day]<sub> </sub>

    Gabriel went through the letter, reading paragraph after paragraph. He didn''t know why, but after going through the letter, he felt even more heavy on the inside.

    "Family, huh..." He ced the letter safely inside his Spatial Storage, not wanting to lose it. If anything, this was the biggest gift that Cylix left him... Being called family by a person known as one of the strongest of his time.

    "One family that wants to kill you for the safety of strangers," he muttered, remembering Maya. "And another family that wants you to kill them for their freedom."

    He couldn''t help but shake his head. It was as if he had received a family, only to lose it eventually. First, he lost his mother when he was very young. And next, he lost his other family because... They tried to kill him. And in this case, it was within a month.

    Still, he preferred Cylix and Novius much more than he did Maya and her family. He felt much closer to them. For Maya and her family, that stabbed him while he was protecting them, he only had anger. But for Cylix and Novius, he felt sadness.

    The two had really been trapped here for centuries, going crazy. It was surprising they were still sane.

    After keeping the letter safely, he shifted his attention to the other items in the box.

    One of the items was a beautiful golden key. He picked up the key but didn''t know what it was. What did this key unlock? There was no mention of this key in the letter at all.

    Observing the key from closer, he could see that there were some small symbols on it. Not only were these symbols too small, but they were also hard to recognize. He hadn''t seen such symbols before, at least.

    "Novius might be able to tell." He ced the key to the side and picked up the next item, which was a beautiful white ring.

    As soon as he picked up the ring, he felt extremely cold. It was as if the ring was made of ice.

    "A Numen?" Not only was the ring cold to touch, but it was also resisting being held by him for some reason which made Gabriel understand that it was also a Numen. But which Numen?

    "I see you''ve started opening your presents already." Around the same time, Novius also returned with some more medicine.

    He ced the te with the medicine on the bed. "I''m not great at alchemy like Cylix, but I''ve tried my best. Eat it. This might provide some relief in your fever."

    "What is this ring?" Gabriel asked Novius. More than his fever, he seemed concerned about this white ring.

    Novius briefly observed the ring. "The Ring of Ice King... Cylix''s most precious Numen. He didn''t even let me touch it. He was so protective of it."

 197 Chapter 197

    Gabriel observed the ring. If even Novius talked so highly of it, that meant the ring was definitely exceptional. He could also feel the strength from the ring.

    It was certainly a tier above the Sword of Ulien. If Ulien was a powerful demigod, then the Demigod this ring originated from was most certainly a high tier Demigod, maybe even near the Peak.

    So far, these were only his guesses since he had never heard of the Ice King to know more about it. It was his first time hearing that name.

    "Who was the Ice King?" Gabriel asked Novius. Before knowing about the ring, he wanted to know more about the person that this ring came from... That was what could help him understand the true essence of the ring.

    It was clear that the Ring was Cylix''s gift to him... The most precious gift he could think of that he always kept with him.

    "The Ice King... Even though I don''t know much about him, from the few things I heard about him, he was very powerful. He was called the Wargod of the North. Another peculiar thing about him was that he wasn''t very fond of the other Demigods."

    Most of the history about the past was gone, erased, or hidden from the world. There were also many things that were forever lost, including many scriptures rted to the Demigods. Even Cylix and Novius didn''t have much information about that, despite being such high tier beings of their time.

    Still, Novius didn''t keep anything hidden, telling Gabriel everything he had managed to find out about the Ice King.

    "Most of the high tier Demigods lived in the city of Gods in the middle ins, but the Ice King lived high in the freezing North. We also heard about there being a battle between the Ice King and the other Demigods from the center, but what happened in the battle... Your guess would be as good as mine."

    "The ring was first discovered by ordinary humans, who didn''t know its true worth. He sold the ring to a jeweler for a few silver coins. From there, the ring kept changing hands. All that time, the ring never fell in the hands of a mage, remaining under the radar."

    "How can humans not know that it''s a special ring? Did they not feel the cold?" Gabriel asked, slightly confused. As soon as he touched the ring, he felt a chilling cold in his entire hand. How could the humans think that it was an ordinary ring?

    "The cold you felt is only because the ring is resisting you. With ordinary humans, the ring doesn''t need to resist since it knows the ordinary humans can never bind it, but in the hands of the mages, it senses the risk of being bound. The cold that you feel is the warning of this ring."

    "That''s also why the humans didn''t know how special it was. One day, a woman took a liking to the ring after seeing it on the fingers of another person. She bought it from the current owner at an exorbitant cost."

    "The ring that you hold in your hands has way more significance than just being a Numen..."

    Novius ced his hand in the small box, picking up something. It was a small portrait...

    He opened the portrait, realizing what it was since he had seen it before. He ced the portrait before Gabriel.

    In the portrait, Gabriel could see three people drawn... One was a woman who looked like in her early thirties, and the other was a man who looked slightly older.<sub> </sub>

    In the middle, there was a young boy who was only fourteen years old. The simrities between the young boy and Cylix were uncanny. It was clear that the young man was Cylix when he was young. That meant the portrait... It belonged to his family.

    In the portrait, Gabriel could see the ring of Ice King on the fingers of the Woman.

    "Thest person to buy that ring... She was none other than Cylix''s mother. The ring wasn''t just a treasure of his. It was also thest thing that he had received from his mother before his family was wiped out. That''s why he kept that ring so safe."

    "He gave that ring to you, passing his legacy. You should be able to bind it easily as well. That will tell you more about how this ring can be used since even I''m not sure about everything."

    Gabriel initially thought that the ring was like a treasure from the Academy that the mages found from all around the world, but this was different. This was like a family heirloom for Cylix, which he passed on to Gabriel. A gift he was entrusted with.

    Gabriel bit his thumb right away, making a binding formation on the beautiful ring with his blood. Even in this weakened condition, he didn''t want to dy it.

    Unsurprisingly, the ring binding was sessful as well. As soon as the binding finished, Gabriel received more information from the ring, including its abilities that could be used. The ring had be a part of him now. Through that information, he was also able to decipher that the ring had simr spatial properties to the ring of Apophis.

    It could also fly back to its owner through space, no matter how far away it was.

    Gabriel wore the ring in his left hand where his Mark of Element of Light was with respect to Cylix, who was a mage of light. Gabriel now had one ring on each of his fingers.

    "You can use this ring in the battle with me," Novius informed Gabriel. "I will consider it a part of your strength."

    Gabriel didn''t answer immediately. He just shook his head as he picked up the next scroll in the box.

    "I won''t use it in battle. The rules remain the same. I promise I will give you the freedom you are looking for, but I won''t cheat for that... I''ll use everything I have rted to Darkness. I won''t lose," he dered as he slowly opened the scroll, which was thest thing in the box that was left to him by Cylix.

    When Gabriel opened the scroll, he didn''t know what to expect. Was there another letter in the scroll? Was there a map? Or was there some secret skill in it?

    It was only when hepletely opened the scroll that he realized it was none of that. There was just something else in the scroll.

    As soon as he opened the scroll, he went nk.

 198 Chapter 198

    Novius knew that Cylix was going to give the Ring of Ice King to Gabriel, but other than that, even he didn''t know what was inside the box.

    He didn''t know what was in the scroll that could make Gabriel so stunned.

    Gabriel was someone who was ustomed to controlling his emotions, at least on his face. He rarely showed what he was thinking, but in this case, even he failed, mostly because even he didn''t know what he was feeling.

    All he knew was that there was sadness in his heart... Extreme sadness as if he had lost something fundamental.

    Curious as to what was in the scroll, Novius also stepped forward to see himself just what it was.

    Soon enough, he got a clear view of what Gabriel was looking at, even he

    On the scroll, there wasn''t any skill or any mysterious artifact map. On the scroll, there was only a simple painting that Cylix made with his own hands.

    He could see another portrait. "He made his portrait himself... I can see it."

    The portrait depicted a beautiful sky filled with stars. Right under the stars, there was a beautiful green field. Three people could be seen sitting there.

    On the left, there was Cylix, who still had a kingly look. He was in the same set of clothes that he wore when he met Gabriel for the first time. On the right, there was Novius, and in the middle, there was Gabriel.

    In the painting, all three of them looked really happy... Gabriel could also remember the scene that was depicted in the painting. It was from the night right before his battle with Cylix.

    He still remembered the instance where Cylix and Novius were bickering like kids, which had made him smile. That smile was depicted so beautifully by Cylix.

    It wasn''t just a painting for Gabriel... It was a piece of history that Cylix thought was worth saving... His history that he was always going to cherish.

    Under the portrait, there were only a few words written. "Always with you."

    "That night... was indeed beautiful..." Gabriel muttered as he closed the scroll. He kept the scroll in his Spatial Storage, protecting him from ever being harmed. This piece of history... He was never going to lose it as it was a part of him now.

    The family that he had made within thest month... It was precious as it taught him that he wasn''t alone. No matter how hard the journey ahead was going to be, he had the legacy of Cylix and Novius! He had to survive at any cost, no matter who the enemy was!

    After keeping the box back in his storage space as well, he looked at Novius. He was thest person here, but sooner orter, he was going to be gone as well.

    "Stop looking at me like that. I am not dead yet," Novius rolled his eyes, understanding what Gabriel was thinking. "And at the rate you are healing; I doubt you''ll seed anytime soon. So get better fast. And start by eating all your medicine!"

    ****

    War was on the horizon for the City of Abadon. The army of the Two Churches had already gathered around the city,pletely surrounding it from every side.<sub> </sub>

    Even the City of Abadon had finished its preparation for the war,at least as much as they could in this situation. Now all that was left was to wait for the invasion. The City of Abadon couldn''t fight until the enemies were inside the city. They didn''t have the first move advantage.

    "Their numbers increased even more," the maid informed Lambard about the number of enemies outside.

    "It seems they are almost ready in that case. There should be no more reinforcementsing for now. It should start soon."

    Lambard was sitting near the window, drinking his favorite tea. "How sad... The peace in this city that I worked so hard to maintain is going to be gone. Even if we won this war, they mighte with even more help from other Churches. What a headache...Exactly the thing I was worried about."

    "The only way to stop this from happening again is by striking fear in the heart of the Churches!" he dered. "This is one war we can''t lose... We must destroy them... Destroyed them overwhelmingly," he stated. "We can''t allow anyone to escape either. You understand what I''m saying?"

    The maid nodded. "Yes. If anyone managed to escape, they could bring more help, even informing them of our secrets."

    "Yes." Lambard nodded. "Information about what will happen shouldn''t go outside the city. If we can kill the forces of both the Churches this time, that might bring some peace back. Even if the other Churches found out that we destroyed the forces of Two Churches, including the Holy Priests, they would think twice before attacking us, wondering how we did it."

    "Even if it''s the Churches, they won''t attack something they had no information about. Fear is a powerful tool, after all. Either that or they will strike with even more force. Even though I doubt it''ll be thetter, we can''t ignore the possibility."

    "What a mess indeed." He rubbed his forehead after returning the teacup to the maid behind him. "All because of that boy."

    "I thought the kid with the Origin Element would bring me more Artefacts and more influence, but all he brought for me was this headache. People are right. Even if you give a donkey the greatest of skills, it''ll always be a donkey. Skills can''t change intelligence."

    "I should''ve seen iting... I let myself get too excited by the appearance of the Origin Element..."

    Even though Lambard was so close to this war, he still couldn''t get his mind off Gabriel.

    "Do you want me to bring him back after this war so you can punish him?" the maid asked Lambard.

    "Yeah. No matter what happens in this war, I certainly want to meet the boy personally. I really have to ''thank'' him for this favor after all," Lambard stated sarcastically. "Maybe we''ll be able to trade one of the High Priests of Light in exchange for the kid. We will see..."

    Oooooo~

    Lambard had just finished speaking when he heard a warhorn, signaling the beginning of the battle. The sound of that warhorn was heard all around the city.

    Themoners who lived in the city hid inside the houses while the mages readied themselves for what was toe.

    The sky above the city started turning dark as roars of thunder spread far and wide, all thanks to a High Tier Spell cast by the Holy Priestess of Thunder, who took the first attack!

    Thousands of mighty Lightning Bolts came crashing down, enough to destroy any city at once!

 199 Chapter 199

    Powerful lightning bolts came crashing down as if they were the divine punishment from Heaven itself.

    Standing on the balcony, Lambard watched the Lightning fall.

    "And so it begins..."

    A beautiful golden dome appeared all around the city, preventing the city from the wrath of the Holy Priestess of Lightning, at least for now.

    ****

    After being attacked by Gabriel, Lira had left the forest near Lumen City, where she was staying, imagining Gabriel to be dead from her curse.

    Even though he was dead ording to her, she still needed to find the whereabouts of the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, and the only person she believed could help him was Lambard.

    Unfortunately, the sight before her wasn''t pleasant. She could see hundreds of Mages in the distance. More than half of them belonged to the Church of Lightning, while the rest belonged to the Church of Water. There were also a few Head Priests here who were from the Church of Light.

    Seeing the massive force, she understood a few times. They were the same people that had left the Lumen City. The attack was certainly motivated by whatever happened in the Lumen City and was rted to Gabriel.

    She knew she had to get inside the city somehow. However, as soon as she took another step toward the city, a mysterious voice echoed in her head.

    "Don''t make that mistake."

    She stopped in her tracks.

    The mysterious voice told her that even someone as strong as her couldn''t pass through this encirclement.

    "If you even tried, before you know it, you would be fighting with two Holy Priestesses."

    Lira''s face was already pale. She still hadn''t recoveredpletely from her battle with Gabriel. Her magical strength was even weaker than it was initially. She wasn''t in any condition to fight the Holy Priestesses at the moment.

    A bright sh covered the surroundings, even making Lira momentarily close her eyes as the lightning shed with the barrier of the city. The battle had started.

    Lira watched the start of the battle. She didn''t know if Lambard could survive an invasion of this stage, even though he had the Defensive City of Abadon.

    Lira stopped in her tracks and didn''t approach the city. Instead, she started stepping back, not knowing what to do next. It was clear that Lambard had troubles of his own. He wasn''t going to help her unless she could help him, and she wasn''t in any condition to help anyone else.

    "It''s his battle... If he survives, good. If he doesn''t, then it''s his destiny," the grim voice told Lira. "Your destiny is different... No need to involve yourself in this battle. You aren''t strong enough yet, especially after what happened."

    "And what is my destiny?" Lira asked, not surprised. It was as if she was very familiar with that voice. "I couldn''t even defeat Gabriel properly. I had to run away after using a trick attack to kill him."

    "If you hadn''t left, you would''ve been dead," the mysterious voice told Lira. "It''s not your fault... It''s mine. I should''ve known what he was capable of. I should''ve made a better n when I told you to approach him."<sub> </sub>

    The mysterious voice sounded a bit disappointed as well. "What a waste... If only he had brought the staff back to us, we could''ve used the Mind Restraint to make him forever loyal to us. The Staff would''ve finally made you capable of casting that spell. He would''ve made a fine addition..."

    "There are not many Initial Stage Holy Priests, after all. Every new Holy Priest is protected by the Church like a precious treasure until they and their mind are strong enough to resist such spells. Gabriel was all alone..."

    "Do you think he knew what we wanted to do?" Lira asked in response as she turned around and started walking away from the battlefield, asionally hearing the sounds of an explosion behind her.

    Even though she had approached Gabriel for a reason, she really did appreciate hispany. She hadn''t expected him to take a step like this.

    "I don''t know... Even I can''t read the minds of the ones protected by the Grimoires, but I don''t think he could''ve known. There was no way for him to know. Then again, maybe he was like you. Hiding behind a facade? He made us believe that he was working for us, only using us..."

    Lira momentarily went silent as the explosions behind her intensified along with the attack of the Churches.

    She seemed more distracted by her thoughts.

    After a long pause, she finally spoke. "Do you know how he had that much strength? How was he able to fight back in my Domain where he should''ve been helpless? You said I was invincible in my Prison of Darkness."

    The mysterious voice didn''t answer. Even it didn''t know the answer to this question. He was as surprised as Lira when he saw what had happened. That was something even he hadn''t seen before.

    A Spirit shouldn''t have been able to fight back like that, even in Lira''s Domain. Moreover, the strength that Gabriel had shown wasn''t something that a Mage was supposed to possess...

    None of that had the answer to this question. The silence was understood by Lira. She realized that the voice only went silent when it didn''t have an answer.

    After a long time, the voice finally spoke, "We need to retrieve the Ancestral Staff of Darkness at any cost. But before that, you need to increase your magical strength even more."

    "That entire battle weakened your Magical strength. Before doing anything else, regain your old strength. If Lambard is still alive until then, approach him. If he isn''t alive, then we will need to find another way to retrieve the Ancestral Staff of Darkness! That is the most important key in what we have to achieve!"

    Lira agreed. "The Ancestral Staff of Darkness...

    ****

    The Ancestral Staff of Darkness was called out by Gabriel, who practiced his Dark Spells a few more times.

    Two days had passed since his battle with Cylix, and he had finally healed. Despite being healed, he didn''t immediately ask for a battle.

    His body might''ve healed, but his soul was still not at a hundred percent. He could''ve fought even now, but he didn''t want to disrespect Novius by fighting him when he couldn''t even give his hundred percent. Moreover, he wanted to be able to cast high-tier spells in battle.

    Even if he did fight now, he knew he wasn''t going to win without giving it his all. Even winning against Cylix took it his all.

    His battle with Novius was different though, as it allowed both of them to use the Magical Staffs in battle.

 Chapter 200

    Gabriel was new to using the Ancestral Staff of Darkness. He wanted to understand how to use it as much as he could and get ustomed to it in the meantime.

    His battle with Novius allowed both of them to use Magical Staffs to boost the strength of their spells, unlike his battle with Cylix, which was mostly raw.

    His battle with Cylix tested their raw Magical Strength expertise without any Magical Staff boost. However, his battle with Novius was going to test their maximum magical potential in battle when they had their Magical Staffs and could use their spells at their full potential.

    This was also what made this battle even more dangerous for both of them.

    "Dark Poison!" Gabriel eximed, tapping the other end of his Ancestral Staff of Darkness on the ground, using one of the spells in his practice.

    Standing in the distance, Novius watched Gabriel practice all alone.

    There were many times when he forgot that Cylix was dead, only to realizeter that he was alone when he received only silence in response. He still hadn''t gotten ustomed to the fact that he was thest of them left here.

    "The world is really in for a surprise when Gabriel leaves this ce. The person who entered this ce was a young man who had immense potential but not enough knowledge toplement that potential, but now..."

    "I suppose I should also prepare my inheritance for him," he muttered, looking at the small box that was lying in the distance.

    ****

    Seven hourster~

    Novius returned, noticing that Gabriel was still training.

    He appeared right next to Gabriel, who was tired yet still full of spirit. "That should be enough. Time to eat. Your body needs some energy and rest."

    "Just a little more," Gabriel responded, not stopping.

    Novius didn''t take no for an answer as he changed the surroundings once again, bringing it back to their usual favorite ce... A beautiful starry sky above a green field.

    Multiple delicious dishes appeared before Gabriel on the ground. "Eat up and stop looking at me like that. If you want to train more, do it tomorrow."

    He also sat on the ground, refusing to change the surroundings back to the battlefield even though Gabriel wanted to train more.

    Gabriel scratched the back of his head, sighing. Even though he looked discontent and upset, on the inside, for some reason, there was an unknown sense of happiness that he hadn''t experienced in a long time.

    Before his mother had died, even she used to scold him for not eating, forcing him to eat. Maya''s family was different as they never did anything like this even when he didn''t eat. This brought so many memories back.

    He sent his Ancestral Staff of Darkness back to hide inside his Mark of Darkness before sitting down as well.

    He started eating,ter realizing that he was the only one eating there. Novius was just sitting and watching.

    He slid a te closer to Novius as well. "You need to eat as well."

    "It''s fine. I''m not feeling hungry," Novius answered. "Moreover, I''m in spiritual form, so I don''t have to eat anything to be at my hundred percent, unlike you."

    "Eat," Gabriel didn''t take no either, showing the same stubbornness.

    "I-"

    Novius tried to say no, but seeing the look in Gabriel''s eyes, he gave in. He smiled as he pulled the te closer as well.

    "Hmm, I must say, it''s definitely tasty," Noviusmented, taking his first bite. "I think we should repeat it tomorrow as well."<sub> </sub>

    Gabriel didn''t initially answer, remaining silent.

    After a long time, he spoke, "There won''t be a tomorrow for it."

    "Hmm?" Novius wondered what he was talking about. "And why won''t there be a tomorrow?"

    "I''mpletely healed." Gabriel further exined. "We''ll be having our battle tomorrow."

    "I see." Novius lowered his head, ncing at the food. "So that''s why you wanted me to eat. This would be ourst dinner together."

    Gabriel nodded, not showing much expression. He had returned to his usual self, not showing his true emotions on his face. "I wanted to have it with you before you are gone as well."

    In his heart, even he felt a bit sad and wanted to dy the battle, but when death was a form of freedom for Novius and Cylix, could he really be that selfish to hold them back because he was greedy?

    He had received so much from Cylix and Novius. The only way for him to return some of this favor was by giving them the freedom they desired as soon as he could, even though it left him all alone again in the process.

    Novius could feel that the atmosphere was getting a bit down. If it was theirst dinner, he wanted Gabriel to enjoy it as well.

    "Don''t be so sure. Defeating me isn''t going to be as easy," Novius let out, shing a smirk. "Before you know it, we''ll be having tomorrow''s dinner after you are healed from my thrashing."

    For the first time, Gabriel didn''t feel bad about that possibility either. Even if it was the case, he wasn''t going to be sad. Even if he lost, he could try again, but if Novius lost, that was the end.

    "Can I ask you something?" Gabriel broke the silence.

    "What?"

    "What did you both mean when you said I''m an Exception, for which the Temple of Time will be after me?" Gabriel asked. He still hadn''t forgotten that thing.

    Novius smiled in response but didn''t say anything. He just brought out a small box that was simr to the box that Cylix left behind for him.

    "All the answers that you look for are inside that box, along with a small present. But you aren''t allowed to open it... At least until you defeat me."

    Gabriel held the small box in his hand firmly. Anotherst gift?

    Nodding, he kept the box in his storage, promising to only open it after defeating Novius.

    Throughout the night, Novius and Gabriel talked a lot about many things, mostly rted to the theory of magic.

    "Gabriel, what was your father like?"

    Novius and Gabriel had finished dinner and were lying on the soft grass, waiting for sleep toe, when Novius asked a question out of nowhere.

    "Why?" Gabriel answered.

    "Just wondering if he was as special as you," Novius said as he continued ying with the stars. "Was he also a Mage?"

    Gabriel closed his eyes. "I don''t know. I never saw him, and he was never a part of my life."

    "I see." Novius realized what those words implied. He didn''t ask more about it so as to not open up old wounds.

    "Mother never told me about him either. She kept saying that she would tell me when I became older, but she also died, leaving me all alone in this world." Even though Novius didn''t ask more, Gabriel still answered. "That''s why I don''t know who my father was. All I know is that he is dead for me... And that''s all he''ll ever be."

 Chapter 201

    Novius could sense many emotions in Gabriel''s voice as he talked about his father. He could sense anger, sadness, and some curiosity as well.

    Gabriel didn''t know just who his father was or if he was even alive in this world. On one side, he thought that it was better if he wasn''t alive since that could exin why he wasn''t present in his life and why his mother had to go through all that alone. However, on the other side, he still wanted to know just who that person was...

    ? He let out a tired sigh, changing the topic back to Novius. "What about your father? Was he special?"

    "Hahaha, special... I guess you can call him that." Remembering his father brought a smile to his face since he really had lots of fond memories of him.

    "My father was the one who taught me most of the things I knew. He was the one who allowed me to chase after my dream of bing a mage instead of going for the boring routine life of a Prince."

    "Prince?" Slightly surprised, Gabriel turned to Novius. This guy... He used to be a Prince?

    "Yeah. My full name is Novius Arcadius Arecia, the First Prince of the Arecia Empire and the ex-heir to the throne..." Novius answered.

    "Arecia Empire of the East?" Gabriel asked, just to be sure, even though there was only one Arecia Empire. That ce was Novius'' home?

    Novius nodded. "Centuries must''ve passed in the outside World. I wonder how that ce is doing. Since you still know its name, that means it still exists. That''s good to know..."

    He had been in the Tower for centuries, not knowing what happened in the outside world. Even though he knew that the outside world must''ve changed a little, it was only when he found out that most of the Dark Mages were wiped did he realize how much the world had truly changed.

    Even he was slightly worried if his Empire had also gone extinct in all this, but fortunately, it was there.

    "It''s really a beautiful ce. If you get time, you should visit. I don''t know which generation of my family will be on the throne now since so much time has passed, but if they still hold the same values that we did in our time, that ce must be really good. Especially the food... If you like the food here, you must try it! That food is the best!"

    Novius was so excited as he talked about his Empire since it brought him back to his past, making him remember his past life.

    "I will visit it once." Gabriel nodded. If it was really Novius'' home and he rmended it so much, Gabriel also wanted to see just what that ce was like. He had only heard about the Arecia Empire''s name a few times, but not much to give him a general idea as to what that Empire was like.

    "That is good... My home..." Novius was already lost in thoughts. His life had been so long that even he had started craving his home. If possible, he wanted to see his home onest time at least.

    Unfortunately, that wasn''t possible. He was trapped in the Tower as its guardian, and now, he could only be free through death, but that death was Eternal.

    He closed his eyes, trying to remember exactly what his home City used to be like.

    "Huh?" Gabriel sat up, noticing a castleing from the ground near him. More and more structures kepting out of the ground, forming an entire city... It was the Royal City of the Arecia Empire, as Novius remembered it to be.

    Novius opened his eyes. He sat up as well, pointing at the castle. "This is my home."<sub> </sub>

    "You really loved your home, didn''t you?"

    "Who won''t?" Novius asked in response as he stood up, walking toward the castle. "You know, I had three younger sisters and two brothers. Whenever they made a mistake, they used toe to me since they were scared of our father''s scolding."

    "It still amuses me even to think how those little ones would have a family of their own now... Their own lineages... They would''ve lived their lives, be grown-ups, had children of their own, and even grandchildren before dying of old age."

    Novius brought Gabriel inside the castle and showed him his entire home, reminiscing about his past before he had left home to be a powerful Mage of Darkness.

    He knew that it was hisst night in this world. Even though he told Gabriel that it wasn''t easy to defeat him, after seeing Cylix''s death, Novius was already prepared for death as well. His death was going to be thest staircase for Gabriel to reach the next floor as well.

    He was also quite simr to Cylix as he also remembered the best memories of his life, feeling nostalgic. He wanted to show Gabriel his life and what his past was like.

    Throughout the night, Novius showed Gabriel the castle and then gave him a tour of the Royal City. The beautiful moon in the sky still brightened the night under its luminance, bearing witness to thest night where Gabriel was going to be with Novius.

    After showing him around, Novius made the city disappear, returning back to the calm and peaceful night, putting an end to their conversation. It had already been a long time, and he knew Gabriel needed some sleep.

    Novius didn''t want to extend his time in this world more than he had to... He didn''t want to manipte this world anymore, letting natural courses take ce.

    The time inside this World finally synced back to the time of the real world. Gabriel eventually fell asleep even though he didn''t want to.

    Throughout the night, Gabriel was the only person who slept. Novius just remained up, looking at the moon in the sky...

    "Thest night, huh... It''s time..."

    ****

    As the first ray of light fell on Gabriel''s face with the arrival of morning, Gabriel opened his eyes, which were also slightly red.

    Even though he wanted to sleep, his sleep hadn''t been as peaceful as before since he was very uneasy for today... It was the day.

    He stood up, noticing Novius was already prepared for the battle. It was also his first time seeing Novius'' Magical Staff of Darkness, which was a peak tier Staff! It was just one level below the Ancestral Staffs in terms of Magical Enhancements.

    "It seems you''re up. Shall we begin?" Novius turned around, hiding so many of his emotions behind a simple staff.

    Gabriel also stood up, calling forth his Ancestral Staff of Darkness.

 Chapter 202

    The surroundings of Gabriel and Novius changed. The sun that had just started rising once again disappeared, hiding behind the dark clouds.

    The lush green that was filled with life also started disappearing as the area was changed to a barrennd made entirely of hard-to-break stones.

    Gabriel observed the surroundings, which were simr yet different from hisst battle. As the surface here was entirely made of stones, this made this battlefield even harder.

    Even though both of them could increase their defense using spells, but their body was still not much different from a human. The way he smacked Cylix on the ground on his previous battlefield, he was sure if he had done that here, at least a few of Cylix''s bones would''ve broken.

    This field made the battles even more dangerous with just the terrain itself.

    Gabriel started taking off his robe that he had received from the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy.

    "You can keep wearing them," Novius informed Gabriel, but Gabriel didn''t listen. He kept the robe and everything else in his Spatial Storage before bringing out an ordinary looking shirt.

    He didn''t take off his rings, but he didn''t need to either. Those Numens couldn''t activate without his desires, and he wasn''t nning on using them, so he didn''t need to take them off.

    His old attire didn''t wait for his permission as it was a Passive Numen which not only increased his defense and speed but also mainly worked to hide his aura.

    After changing into his new attire, both of them were ready for the battle. Around ten meters of distance remained between the two as both of them waited for the other person to attack, signaling the start of the battle.

    "You can attack first," Gabriel told Novius, sticking to the same strategy as before. The only difference was that this time, he wasn''t going to use the same trick attack. If anything, that attack could only work on Cylix and not on Novius.

    Novius was a dark mage who was even more alert to his surroundings. If the attack hadn''t worked on Cylix, Gabriel was sure it wasn''t going to work for him either.

    "You really want to be the second to attack, don''t you?" Novius asked, noticing the same tactic being used again. "I don''t prefer fighting in close range, so even if I attacked first, you can''t take advantage of the situation to get close to me. And without that advantage, the first attack does give a person an edge."

    "Are you sure you don''t want to take the first strike?" Novius asked again, genuinely giving Gabriel some battle advice.

    Gabriel stood firm in his stance. "You can attack first."

    He knew all the spells of Novius. Just from those spells alone, it was clear that Novius was a long-range warrior who mostly maintained his distance in battle. That knowledge also gave Gabriel some ideas as well.

    Based on that knowledge, he was able to decipher the choices of spells that Novius could use.

    ''He will either use Dark Enlightening or the Night of Destruction. I doubt he will use the Paradise of Darkness so soon. Since it needs Element of Light to cast the Divine Entrapment of Darkness, that''s definitely out of the question. So only two options and both leave an opportunity for me to strike...''

    Gabriel held the Ancestral Staff of Darkness firmly, letting dark energy flow through his body freely.

    Novius could see that Gabriel was genuinely serious about going second.<sub> </sub>

    "If that''s what you desire, then let''s start. No ying around anymore."

    Novius raised his Peak Tier Staff and spoke a few words, "Paradise of Darkness!"

    "Huh?"

    Paradise of Darkness was the highest tier of spells that Novius had. Gabriel didn''t think he was going to use it right at the start of the battle. It was like Novius wanted to end the battle right away!

    The biggest w of the spell was that it could only be used for a limited time, and if the enemy couldn''t be defeated in that time, it was like wasting a lot of energy and weakening yourself for nothing. That''s why he didn''t expect Novius to use it right now!

    Gabriel had also thought about using the same spell, but he knew that he could only keep the Paradise of Darkness for a short time, which was why he wanted to save it forter when it was the right time, but it was clear that Novius didn''t think the same.

    Gabriel had nned for the other two spells, but with Paradise of Darkness in y, it changed a lot of things.

    The Paradise of Darkness could easily change the surroundings to Novius'' advantage, thanks to the dark mist that he could control. He couldn''t let that happen without preparation of his own.

    He needed to protect himself at any cost, at least until this spell''s effectsted. He could also use the Paradise of Darkness, but he knew it was a waste at this time!

    If he also cast the Paradise of Darkness, he could certainly protect himself from Novius'' attack, but that was a waste of opportunity. His Paradise of Darkness could definitely establish a stalemate between the two, but his Spiritual Energy was weaker due to him being a mid-tier mage.

    His spell couldn''tst as long as Novius'' spell, so it was clear that whatever stalemate he could establish by casting the Paradise of Darkness was going to be broken soon, and that too in favor of Novius.

    After his spell broke, he knew he was going to be a lot weakened, and with the same Paradise effect still in ce, Novius could easily thrash him. No matter what, he had to face the Paradise of Darkness!

    This also brought an idea to him as well. He had once heard a saying that there was an opportunity hidden in every problem, and he could easily see the one which was hidden here.

    This was his ticket to win the battle! His ticket to sess! If he couldst the entire duration of Novius'' Domain Spell without losing, then when the spell was over, Novius was also going to be left a lot weakened. If he cast his Paradise of Darkness at that time, victory was guaranteed!

    "But surviving the Paradise of Darkness... That is easier said than done."

    "First, I need to stay away from that mist!" Gabriel decided on a n of action, casting a spell of Darkness. "Wings of Flight!"

    As soon as he cast the spell, two wings appeared on his back. The wings not only gave him the ability to fly but also increased his speed which he desperately needed.

    Unfortunately for him, even as he flew back, he could see the dark mist was just faster,ing closer to him to take him in its dark embrace.

 Chapter 203

    The Dark Paradise was the domain of Novius, where everywhere moved ording to his wish, thanks to the dark mist.

    There were many ways to destroy the Dark Paradise ording to Novius'' teachings, but it wasn''t easy to pull off those other ways since they involved using immense Power to destroy the domain of Darkness.

    ording to Novius, a person could potentially destroy the Domain of Darkness by using a destructive Domain Spell of their own which was even more powerful. Unfortunately, there was no way for Gabriel to cast a more powerful domain.

    The only Domain spell he knew was the Paradise of Darkness, and even with the help of Ancestral Staff of Darkness to ovee the gap between their strength, his Domain could at most equal the strength of Novius'' Domain which wasn''t enough to destroy it.

    Another way to destroy the Domain was by using a High Tier Spell of Light that could counter the Darkness, but neither he had that much strength nor could he use the Element of Light. Even his Element of Necromancy wasn''t allowed, and he was going to stick to those rules.

    "If I can''t destroy this, then I need to protect myself! Even if it''s him, he shouldn''t be able to cast it for long since he''s restricting himself to the spiritual energy he would''ve had when he was alive."

    Only one minute had passed since the battle began, and Gabriel was already forced to stop since a wall made of mist covered both of them inside a Giant Dome.

    The Domain of Dark Mist even covered the sky, creating a Dome, entrapping Gabriel, leaving no way out. He could either move closer to the walls that were made purely of darkness, or he could stay where he was and mount his own defense.

    "Feel like a trapped prey yet?" Novius asked as he walked closer to Gabriel, seemingly in no hurry at all.

    "Dark Manifestation."

    Gabriel didn''t get distracted by Novius'' approach. In his mind, he was very clear as to what he had to do.

    "Hmm?" Novius smiled, noticing the spell that Gabriel had cast. "Dark Manifestation... A spell that makes youpletely invincible for a short time. Too bad in the Manifestation Phase, you can''t attack either. Are you trying to bid for time?"

    It was a battle where both opponents knew each other''s skills. Generally, the mystery about another person''s spell was what created a huge difference since there was no way for every Mage to know the exact same spells except in this one case here since Gabriel learned everything about Dark Spells from Novius.

    Since Novius taught him these spells, even he knew that this spell was Defensive. Until the effect of Dark Manifestationsted, Gabriel couldn''t even be touched. He was no less than a spiritual manifestation of Darkness at the moment.

    "I see. So you''re waiting for me to run out of my Spiritual Energy, aren''t you?" Novius asked, realizing just what Gabriel was nning. "An advice for the next time when you''re fighting real enemies... You should never make your strategy that obvious."

    Even at this time, Novius found a teachable moment for Gabriel.

    "Remember the first spell I taught you?" He asked. "You could''ve used the Dark Spectral to distract me and then used the Shadow Dispersal to hide in the shadows."<sub> </sub>

    "That would''ve served two purposes. It would''ve given you time to hide and think about your next step. And it would''ve kept me guessing as to what you were nning since that certainly would''ve signaled to me that you were nning to sneak attack. I would''ve had a harder time guessing your real intentions."

    Novius was very analytical of Gabriel''s strategy since he really wanted Gabriel to learn something from their battle if it was theirst battle.

    Gabriel clenched his fist. It wasn''t as if he hadn''t thought of this idea before. The problem was that those two spells were mid-tier spells that consumed more energy with time.

    The only thing he wanted now was to protect himself while saving as much of his energy as he could for when it was the time to strike.

    He could keep the Dark Manifestation for as long as he would''ve been able to keep the Shadow Dispersal with less energy consumption. That''s why he didn''t care if he exposed his strategy. Sometimes it was much easier to go the straight route than taking aplicated route.

    Even if he had followed the strategy suggested by Novius now, it wouldn''t be long before Novius had realized that he was wasting time for now. It was just dying the inevitable, so he just let ite to the open right away.

    Novius raised his right hand, casually waving his finger. A dark spear shot straight for Gabriel''s head.

    Gabriel didn''t mind, remaining in his spot. He didn''t even flinch as the dark spear passed through his head like it wasn''t real. That was the magic of Dark Manifestation!

    He was invincible for now, even though he couldn''t attack either. This also gave him some time to think about his next n. He was safe for now, but not long.

    ''If I''m not wrong, he should be able to keep Paradise of Darkness for close to an hour at most. But surviving an hour with the Spiritual Energy I have... That will be the real challenge...''

    He couldn''t even use the Divine Barrier of Darkness since its effect could be negated by the Dark Manifestation of Novius as well. That spell was out of the question with a Dark Mage who knew Dark Manifestation. Fortunately, Dark Manifestation was also a spell that Cylix had created with his own understanding of Darkness.

    He hadn''t taught this to anyone, even on the outside. Most of the people didn''t even know about the existence of a spell like that, which was of mid-tier but made a person undefeatable, at least for a few minutes.

    ''Soon, the effects of Manifestation will be over, and I''ll be attacked from all sides...:

    Gabriel could already see the Dark Mist around him intensifying as he thought about his next step. Even Novius was quite amused, waiting to see if Gabriel could pull off a surprise. The chances of sess for him were nil, at least in this situation.

    ''The only option you have now is using the Paradise of Darkness..." Novius had a smirk on his face as he guessed Gabriel''s next step as well. It was a game of chess for them where both sides had the same yers. How they used those yers was what changed the oue...

    In this game of chess, none of the two wanted to lose!

 Chapter 204

    The Paradise of Darkness... It was named after the Paradise, but for the people who were trapped inside this ce in the past, this was no less than hell itself.

    ? Novius rarely used this spell in real life situations, but whenever he did, he made sure to kill the person that made him use it. Not a single person in a battle with Novius had managed toe out alive.

    Fortunately, at present, Novius wasn''t fighting an enemy, so he wasn''t in any hurry to end the battle. There was not a shred of anger on his face.

    As time kept passing, the Dark Manifestation of Gabriel started disappearing as the effects of the spell were near its end.

    The shackles made of Dark Mist were waiting to entrap Gabriel as soon as he was out of his Dark Manifestation, and even Gabriel could see it. In any case, he didn''t want to be caught since getting out was going to be very hard as well.

    "Ten seconds before the spell''s Effects are over... What can you do, little one?" Novius asked, wondering if he could actually be surprised by Gabriel.

    "Nine..."

    He started counting down, having an exact idea when that spell was going to end.

    "Eight..."

    There was no way out of this situation, ording to him, since as soon as Gabriel''s spell was over, before he could cast any other spell, his Shackles were going to capture him, even taking his Ancestral Staff from him.

    "Seven..."

    Gabriel also heard the countdown, and he knew that it was urate. He only had seven seconds of this spell, but he had already thought of a way as well.

    He held his Ancestral Staff firmly.

    "Five..."

    Novius had just spoken when Gabriel swung his Ancestral Staff of Darkness, canceling his Dark Manifestation before it was time. Novius knew exactly when his spell was going to end, so the best way to throw him off was to end the spell much sooner! That was the n, at least.

    Gabriel understood that Novius knew he was trying to vie for time, so it was clear that he was going to hold out with each spell as much as he could, utilizing every second, but that''s where he was wrong.

    For his own safety and to gain an element of surprise, Gabriel changed his strategy midway. He ended his spell, even though it meant wasting a few seconds of his precious spell.

    Initially surprised, Novius was slow to react since he had already decided to use his Shackles at the end of his count when the spell supposedly ended.

    Even the slightest dy in his reaction now gave Gabriel an opportunity.

    "Shadow Dispersal!" Gabriel chanted, turning into a shadow that disappeared into the Dark Domain.

    "Even that can''t save you, my dear disciple!" Novius started rising in the air. Since he knew Gabriel wanted to waste time, even he decided to grant Gabriel''s wish this time.

    He flew high in the air since the shadow couldn''t reach the air. If Gabriel wanted to fly, he had to cancel the Shadow Dispersal, which meant he had toe out of hiding. That way, Novius knew that Gabriel couldn''t attack him from behind.

    Boom~

    As soon as the man settled down in this air, something solid came, hitting him straight in the head, sending him flying back to the ground.

    Gabriel appeared out of thin air where Novius was standing before. It was as if he was expecting this from Novius. He even knew the exact spot where to hide.

    With the distraction of the Dark Manifestation, Novius had forgotten that there was another spell that Gabriel had cast before that looked quite ordinary... It was the Wings of Light.

    Because the spell was so basic that it even skipped Novius'' mind. When Gabriel ended his Dark Manifestation, he kept his Wings of Flight.<sub> </sub>

    In essence, Gabriel cast two spells at the same time, all with the expectations of getting Novius. He also didn''t speak before the attack this time, learning a lesson from his battle with Cylix!

    The Ancestral Staff of Darkness was simr to a magical staff, helping the caster strengthen their spell, but as it was an Ancestral Tier Staff, it was also unbreakable, working as a blunt weapon in situations like this.

    Novius was hit out of nowhere, being momentarily surprised as well as stunned. The attack wasn''t weak either. Even with his hardened defense, he could still feel blood trickling down his forehead as he flew back.

    Fortunately, before he could fall to the ground, his mist captured him, softening his fall.

    Gabriel didn''t chase after Novius but for a reason. As Novius was stunned, trying to bnce himself on the ground with his aching head, Gabriel had already finished casting another spell.

    The defensive battle had gone on for long. Even Novius knew what he was nning, and if he still wasn''t stressed enough, that meant he knew that even with all defensive spells, Gabriel couldn''t oust his Paradise of Darkness. This was also why Gabriel changed his strategy back to an offensive one.

    It didn''t matter if Novius had the invincible Paradise of Darkness; he was going to break it down, and more with his own Paradise of Darkness.

    "Night of Darkness!"

    A second spell was cast by Gabriel, which turned the entire world pitch ck. Even Novius couldn''t see anything in this darkness.

    Night of Darkness was another spell that had a very short range. It only had ten meters of range, but as long as the spell was in effect, no one except the Caster could see anything within those ten meters. It was like the entire world was swallowed by eternal darkness, which took everyone''s vision with it.

    "I see... It seems you''re getting serious. I should also oblige." A dark robe appeared behind Novius, made purely of the dark mist in the surrounding.

    His body started rising in the air once again, but this time he kept his eyes closed. Since the world was already dark, there were only two ways to see. Either he could leave the range of the spell, or he could fight without sight, but for him, thetter option was more interesting.

    Swiss~

    Novius moved to the left gracefully, avoiding another attack. Gabriel had once again appeared behind Novius, who couldn''t see. Surprisingly, even without his eyes, Novius avoided the attack.

    Boom~

    Thousands of Dark Needles appeared all around him, shooting in every direction, especially in the back where Novius expected Gabriel to be standing.

    "Wrong ce..." Gabriel''s voice came, but this time it didn''te from behind Novius. It came from above.

    Novius flew toward the source of the voice, only to sense a destructive energy under him as if a powerful spell was being cast into the ground.

    "Night of Destruction!"

    Gabriel''s voice came, surprisingly, this time from the ground. Even though Novius taught Gabriel every spell he knew, even he was surprised at how Gabriel was doing it. How was he switching ces so fast? It was as if there wasn''t just one Gabriel here!

    Gabriel cast the Night of Destruction, which was the most powerful individual spell of Novius if one was to ignore the Paradise of Darkness. The only problem was that the spell wasn''t easy to cast as it took the blood of the caster and time to set it up as well.

    The lengthy preparation was what made this spell the hardest to use since that much time was enough for the opponent to defeat a person.

    It was only now that Novius started realizing everything! The [Dark Manifestation], then the [Shadow Transformation], followed by the [Night of Darkness], it was all a plot by Gabriel!

    "Ha... Haha¡­ Hahaha!" Novius bursts intoughter, realizing what just happened. "That was very..."

    A powerful destructive energy spread out in all directions, mostly going to the sky where Novius was standing.

    The dark yet destructive energy shrouded Novius, who was in the air and away from the protection of his mist, taking him in its embrace¡­

 Chapter 205

    Novius was amazed to think that Gabriel had made such an borate n. Not only had Gabriel brought him exactly where he needed, but he did all that while keeping everything hidden, causing a distraction by throwing a faint.

    Strangely enough, for the first time, he got the wrong idea about it. It wasn''t what Gabriel had nned, at least not initially. He really hadn''t thought of such an borate trick since it needed the help of great luck.

    Not only did Novius have to be at the exact ce, but he also needed to move in apletely identical pattern for this trick to work.

    It was only after Gabriel used the Night of Darkness that he thought of this possibility. It was clear that Novius couldn''t see anything under his effect, but he could still fight back, even without seeing. He had incredible senses as well, which made Gabriel smile wryly.

    The idea of using the Night of Destruction was something that even Gabriel couldn''t avoid after noticing Novius not leaving his range.

    Even though it all wasn''t a part of the n, sometimes on, spot ns were what every warrior needed. Not only did Gabriel have the flexibility of changing his n, but he also did so for the better.

    A powerful dark energy shot up, creating something like a Tower of Darkness that engulfed Novius.

    The tower made of darkness made it impossible for even Gabriel to see what was happening inside, but he had a feeling that it was his victory. Even Novius couldn''t avoid this attack since he was right at the eye of it. Moreover, most of the mist that he could control was on the ground, which would''ve taken him time to call upon.

    "It looks like this is it..." Gabriel sighed, feeling like the battle was over. Being hit by this attack, even Novius couldn''t survive. "You left..."

    "Huh?" Gabriel was already believing Novius to be dead as the Dark Tower''s destructive energy started disappearing, bringing Gabriel a surprise. Not only was Novius still in the air, but he waspletely unharmed. There was not a single scratch on his body.

    "Dark Manifestation," Gabrielmented.

    Novius only smiled in response. "If I can teach you this spell, surely you should assume that I can use it for myself, and what better time than this."

    "Still, I must say. It was a good attempt, to say the least. Unfortunately, but good enough," Novius came down to the ground. The effects of Night of Darkness were over, and so were any other spells that Gabriel had cast, except his Wings of Flight.

    "Now that you''ve had your chance let me get started too¡ªtime to increase the stakes. There are only two options before you now! Either you kill me today, or you die today! There won''t be a tomorrow for both of us!"

    Novius'' figure disappeared, and the next moment, he appeared right behind Gabriel, finding him by his cor to raise him in the air before sending him flying in the back.

    Gabriel tried to control his body in the air, using his Wings of Flight, but his bnce was hard to gain. He didn''t know what Novius did when he touched him, but his wings weren''t working as effectively as before.

    Thud~

    Even without theplete control of his wings, Gabriel could still slow down his body, but before he couldpletely stop, his body crashed into a wall of darkness, made using the Mist of the Domain.

    The wall wasn''t simple either, as there were multiple spikesing out of it, one of which managed to pass through Gabriel''s stomach.

    "Argh!"<sub> </sub>

    Groaning in pain, Gabriel coughed out a mouthful of blood. Novius was right. He had be slightly careless. Since he realized that Novius wanted to die, he subconsciously started taking things easy, believing he wasn''t going to be killed, but Novius just proved how right he was.

    Gabriel ced his hands on the wall and pushed his body forward to bring the dark stake out of his body.

    A hole was left behind in Gabriel''s stomach, which was bleeding, covering his clothes in blood. Fortunately, his vitals were missed. It was unclear if it was just a coincidence that his vitals weren''t hit or if it was intentional, but he knew he couldn''t take the risk.

    Novius once again appeared behind Gabriel, using the same trick, trying to show that he wasn''t going to go easy anymore.

    He reached out his hand to grab Gabriel''s neck this time, but as if expecting something like this, Gabriel turned around, swinging his Staff of Darkness like a blunt Weapon.

    Novius gracefully sidestepped the attack, avoiding the attack. At the same time as Gabriel was distracted by Novius, Dark Shackles came out of the group, wrapping themselves around his foot, even going for his hands.

    Gabriel ignored the shackles and cast another spell just as Novius dodged the attack as if he was expecting this step

    "Maelstrom!" Gabriel cast a new spell.

    Boom~

    A whirlpool of dark energy appeared between the two Mages, sending both of them flying back, hurting Novius more than it hurt Gabriel.

    Maelstrom was another Mid Tier spell of darkness that hurt the caster as well as the opponent. The only difference was that the caster only took a fraction of the damage that the opponent could take from this attack.

    The best part about this attack was that it immediately removed the mist from their surroundings, at least momentarily.

    Gabriel tapped the dark shackles with his Ancestral Staff, breaking them instantly before observing Novius in the distance, who had managed to gain his ground, bncing himself.

    There were some wounds and cut marks around his body, including his cheeks which were bleeding, but he still seemed carefree.

    "If it keeps going on like this, I''m never going to defeat him. I have the same spells as him, all of which are either as strong as his or weaker. My spiritual strength is also less than his. The scales are really unbnced. Just how long before his Dark Paradise is over?''

    It had been quite some time since the battle started, and Gabriel was still waiting for Novius'' Domain Spell to end, but that wasn''t happening either.

    Novius couldn''t help butugh, realizing what Gabriel was thinking. He could see Gabriel asionally observing the Dark Domain. He was definitely waiting.

    "If you''re waiting for my spell to end, then let me tell you, that''s not going to happen. I can keep my Domain for two hours..." Novius exined as the Dark Mist once again returned to its usual ce after momentarily being dispersed by the Maelstrom.

    "Two hours?" Gabriel''s face turned grim. This was unexpected and quite troublesome. He couldn''t wait for two hours!

 Chapter 206

    From what Gabriel had assumed, even though it was Novius, he was still supposed to have the same strength as the young Novius did before he entered the Towers of Challenges and left a figment of his conscience behind.

    Didn''t that mean that even before Novius was thirty years old, he still had so much Spiritual Strength that he could keep the Domain for that long? It was no wonder the two Founders were called to beparable to the Holy Priests of their time.

    Unfortunately, it wasn''t the time to praise the enemy.

    "I need to-"

    Gabriel clenched his fist, but before he could even finish his sentence, his expression twisted as Novius disappeared. Gabriel felt a cold hand around his neck as Novius appeared right in front of him.

    His grip around Gabriel''s neck tightened as Gabriel''s body started rising in the air.

    "Humans often make the mistake of underestimating their opponents. Many people did that with you and ended up dead, but aren''t you making the same mistake?" Novius dered as his grip only tightened, making Gabriel struggle to even breathe.

    "It''s disappointing. I thought you were strong enough to survive outside the Dungeon, but you aren''t capable. And I don''t feel like training you more. It''s just a waste of time for me... I suppose I will actually kill you and wait for someone who can actually defeat me."

    Gabriel was gasping for breath, and his head was filled with thousands of thoughts. He didn''t know what to do. His body was aching in the grasp of Novius. Even his vision was starting to get affected. He was sure if he didn''t do anything, he was going to die.

    Unfortunately, he couldn''t even cast his spell as some mysterious force kept his mouth sealed, making him unable to speak.

    Dark Shackles also wrapped around Gabriel''s wrist, bringing his arms behind his back against his will, tying his wrists right next to each other.

    Even though Gabriel hadn''t dropped his Ancestral Staff of Darkness, he couldn''t move his hand either.

    "If there is ever a next life, I hope you remember this lesson and don''t die the same way!" Novius calmly stated. He seemedpletely different than before, as Gabriel could see some bloodlust in his eyes now. It waspletely unlike anything he had seen before.

    "It''s good to analyze the moves of your enemies, but you can''t base your analysis on guesses. When you don''t have enough information in battle and are in a situation like this where the enemy has more Spiritual Strength than you, there are only two feasible options."

    "Either you use all you have instantly to win without giving the opponent the time to think. Or you escape so you can gather more information before facing the enemy. You chose the third option, which might be good in some situations, but not in most."

    "You''ve made so many wrong decisions in our battle, but also some very clever ones which honestly surprised me. Unfortunately, not enough."

    As Novius talked, his body started rising in the air, simr to what Gabriel had done with Novius.

    After rising up to twenty meters in height, Novius finally stopped. He could see two ways now. Either he crush Gabriel''s neck right now, or he does the same that Gabriel did to Cylix. In both cases, Gabriel was going to die.

    "Hah," Novius let out a deep sigh. "So many expectations, only to end up in disappointment." Sighing, Novius decided on what to do.

    "I suppose I will give you a quick death." He applied even more force around Gabriel''s neck.<sub> </sub>

    Gabriel couldn''t free his hands. He also couldn''t chant any spells, thanks to his mouth being closed. Initially, he wondered if this was it, but the more he heard Novius speak, the more his anger increased.

    He didn''t want to die! He didn''t want to be disgraced. He wanted to win! At any cost, he wanted to win. It didn''t matter how that victory came, but he knew he couldn''t die like this! He had so many things to do in the outside world!

    ''No! I won''t die!''

    His grasp around his Ancestral Staff tightened. Gabriel couldn''t move his mouth, but despite that, for some reason, his feelings seemed to be conveyed to the Ancestral Staff of Darkness.

    Even Novius noticed this much. A faint smile appeared on his lips, which disappeared before Gabriel could even notice it.

    "I always knew Cylix was weak. To even lose to a weakling like you, what a pity. I guess he really went easy on you...." He further continued taunting Gabriel.

    Through Gabriel''s training and his growth, he realized that Gabriel wasn''t a normal person and his source of strength wasn''t the same as theirs. While they grew stronger to protect the world and themselves, Gabriel grew stronger to have his revenge.

    Gabriel''s source of strength wasn''t as holy like this since it was considered a major sin in their world... Gabriel''s source of strength was anger, ording to Novius.

    The angrier Gabriel was, the more he was able to surpass his limits, achieving new heights. That''s precisely what the goal of this battle was. He wanted Gabriel to reach that new height... A height that only a Holy Priest could do... The Wordless Chants!

    The Wordless Chant was said to be a phenomenon where a Mage could cast a spell without even speaking a word, just through their thoughts. Unfortunately, it was something that only Holy Priests had been able to achieve. Even those two hadn''t achieved that.

    The only reason he closed Gabriel''s mouth and tied his hands was to force this out of him! It was all to make him break the barrier between his consciousness and his words. And what better way to help him but by making him angry?

    Novius knew that as long as Gabriel respected him in the battle, he wasn''t going to win. He wasn''t even going to achieve the Wordless Chant, so he went out of his way to force it out, and he seeded as well.

    The Ancestral Staff of Darkness started shining, surrounded by a mysterious darkness.

    Boom~

    Novius'' body was shot back like a bullet as some mysterious force hit him. Surprisingly, his hand was also missing.

    The hand with which he was choking Gabriel was detached from his body. He couldn''t even see what sliced his hand before his body was attacked once again.

    Novius still managed to bnce his body, but for the first time in the battle, he coughed out some blood, wiping his lips.

    A dark aura surrounded Gabriel, who held the detached hand of Novius. The Dark Robe appeared behind him, still having the same symbol of the bleeding moon... Gabriel had cast his own Paradise of Darkness¡­

 Chapter 207

    The Wordless Chant... It was something that only the Holy Priests of Elements were able to aplish, but even for them, it wasn''t as easy a task as it took them years to master it. Even the Holy Priestess of Water hadn''t yet mastered something like this.

    Fortunately, thanks to the interference of Novius, Gabriel actually managed to achieve it, casting a High Tier Spell.

    Novius had expected Gabriel to achieve something like this with a little push, but still, he couldn''t help but be amazed at the disy of talent right in front of his eyes.

    Gabriel''s Domain was slightly different from his. It covered a slightly shorter area than his domain, but in terms of Potential and intensity, Gabriel''s Paradise only looked much moreplete in a sense.

    Novius'' right hand was missing, but he could notice it on the ground. As soon as it was sliced, it fell on the ground, leaving him with only one hand in this battle. As for his only hand that was left, he held his Peak Tier staff with it.

    "Darkbolt!" Novius cast a new spell, utilizing the opportunity to attack Gabriel, who was still standing in his ce.

    Gabriel didn''t move at all. Even his lips didn''t move as it looked like he wasn''t going to cast any spell to protect himself, but even without him speaking anything, a barrier appeared before him, which was further reinforced by the Dark Mist that was also in his control now.

    It was as if a ck sphere of protection had surrounded him to protect him from Novius'' attack. The Sphere even made it impossible to see Gabriel inside it in all the darkness.

    Novius nced at his right soldiers. Without his arm, he felt as if he was missing something. If he wanted, he could''ve made a new arm since he was the Guardian of the Floor, but he didn''t. He wanted to fight fair.

    Boom ~

    As Novius was thinking about which direction to take the battle, he felt a presence behind him. He also cast a barrier around him this time, but the attack came from such proximity that even with his barrier, he was tossed back, losing bnce.

    Just as he looked like he might be able to bnce himself, Dark Chains came out of the ground, wrapping around his Ankles.

    "Annoying!" Just like Gabriel had done, even Novius broke the shackles before finally casting the enhancement spells on himself.

    The advantage of Wordless Chant was that no one could know what a mage was casting or which spells they had used, but the mage could very well know what the enemy was casting.

    Noticing the enhancement Spells being cast, Gabriel also cast simr spells, if not more.

    It was a world covered in darkness, and two Dark Mages fought each other to see who could be thest person standing. Unfortunately, it was hard to even keep an eye on the battle since both the Mages were so fast.

    It was hard to even catch a glimpse of them with the amount of speed they possessed after the Enhancements. Only explosions could be heard as the two shed with each other repeatedly.<sub> </sub>

    The explosions weren''t in the same ce either, as the two also kept moving from ce to ce, not even keeping an eye on their surroundings. One moment, they were in the middle of the two Domains, and the next moment, they were five hundred meters away.

    The battle raged on, and surprisingly, Gabriel was holding on his own. Thanks to the mission arm of Novius, he was also slightly weaker than he usually was, but in a battle, that was an excuse that couldn''t be given.

    For the first time, the Battle looked like the battle of two equals as both the opponents read each other''s move. Both of them had their clothes covered in blood. For some reason, Novius appeared to be in a worse condition, but there was no regret or anger on his face.

    He wasn''t upset at the situation of the battle. Instead, he was excited! It had been a long time since he had a battle like this! It had been a long time since he enjoyed a battle this much. He was filled with excitement and fighting intent, enjoying every moment of the battle.

    As time passed, both the Mages were running out of Spiritual Energy, but Gabriel was still able to hold up, thanks to the Soul Healing Pills of Cylix. However, even he didn''t want to waste too many pills. He knew he had to end this battle right there and right now!

    In their intense battle, both the men were already out of the range of the Dark Paradise. From where they stood, they could only see a dark domain in the distance.

    Novius'' lips were bleeding, and his face was already pale, but there was an excited smile on his face! This battle! It was exactly what he wanted.

    ''If it''s like that, even outside, you might just manage to...'' He tried to gather his breath, keeping an eye on Gabriel.

    Gabriel also stood just ten meters away from Novius with a pill in his hand. His condition was slightly better than Novius, but not by much. Even his body was covered in cuts which were slowly healing.

    He ced a Soul Healing Pill in his mouth, noticing the trembling of his hands return. That could only mean that his Soul was already nearly exhausted, and he couldn''t take the battle longer.

    He raised his Staff of Darkness. Even though he didn''t chant any spell, seeing both the marks on his left hand shining, it wasn''t hard for Novius to see what he was returned to cast.

    "That spell? On me? It won''t work. That spell works by entrapping a mage first in darkness before the explosion of light. I can easily pass through that barrier of light. I also have the Dark Manifestation, which can save me. You better not waste your energy on that!"

    It was genuine advice that not most opponents would''ve given since almost everyone would''ve preferred to see their opponents waste their energy in this fashion.

    Surprisingly for him, Gabriel wasn''t looking like he was interested in listening. He knew about this w right at the start, and that''s exactly why he wasn''t using that spell before.

    Since Novius couldn''t hear that chant either, he could only guess what the spell was. In any case, he didn''t feel threatened.

    Even though Gabriel could chant without speaking, he intentionally spoke thest few words of the spell to make sure Novius heard him. All the preparation for the spell wasplete. They were out of the Dark Paradise, so it was the best ce for him to try something new... Something he hadn''t tried before...

 Chapter 208

    "Dark Entrapment of Light!"

    "Huh?" Even Novius was surprised at the name. He hadn''t heard of that spell before, but that sounded awfully simr to the Divine Entrapment of Darkness that he and Cylix had made. Just the elements were in a reversal...

    "Don''t tell me you...?" Even Novius was amazed at the possibility of what this implied. "Did you... Just create a new spell?"

    If he was to go by the name and what he saw, this spell also used both the element and was simr yet opposite of their spell. They hadn''t taught this spell. Did that mean Gabriel had learned the essence of their spell and management to reverse theirponents?

    Even though they taught him how to understand a spell to create their derivatives or new spells, even that didn''t expect him to do it on a High Tier Spell! Most people started by creating basic tier spells first.

    Just as he expected, this was quite simr to the Divine Entrapment of Darkness. The only difference was that it covered the w of their spell.

    The Divine Entrapment of Darkness used the Barrier of Darkness with the offensive spell of Light after trapping the enemy, but that''s also where its w came since a Dark Mage of Novius'' caliber could easily break through a Dark Barrier.

    To solve the w, Gabriel had already decided to change some things in the spell, mainly changing the barrier.

    "I was right!" Even Novius realized this much as a powerful Barrier of Light trapped him inside. Gabriel had switched the element of the Barrier.

    For a dark mage, it was much harder to get out of a Barrier of Light without putting in a significant effort. Unfortunately, Novius didn''t have time for that since, within seconds of the Barrier appearing, an explosion shook the earth, sending the tremors far.

    Even Gabriel felt the tremors of the Earth as if an earthquake wasing. The spell was definitely very powerful for someone like him, but he still didn''t know if this was enough to take Novius out.

    Novius had Dark Manifestation, which made him almost immune for a short time. It was all going to rest on the strength of his spell. He had fulfilled all conditions to ount for the dark manifestation of Novius. Now, all it came down to was the strength of his attack.

    If his spell was powerful enough to break Novius'' Dark Manifestation, he believed it was his victory, but if it couldn''t, then this was it... Gabriel was already exhausted. If he didn''t win now, he believed that he wasn''t going to winter either.

    Still, just to be sure, he kept a soul-healing pill in his hand, ready for any situation.

    The barrier of light disappeared, revealing the inside, which was covered in smoke.

    "It can''t be..." Gabriel grimaced, noticing Novius standing in the same ce. He looked just like before, perfectly fine. Did he survive the attack? This was bad!

    Novius nced back at Gabriel, shing his same old smile. "You surprised me..."

    He looked down at his left hand, noticing it start to disappear as well as if it was disintegrating.

    "What?" Gabriel was surprised to see Novius disintegrate. What was happening?

    "Why are you being surprised?" Novius asked, walking closer to Gabriel. His peak tier Magical Staff disappeared. "I should be surprised. A spell modification of the spell that we taught you? And one which could break my defenses too... Incredible."

    "What is happening to you?" Gabriel asked, frowning.<sub> </sub>

    "Your attack broke the limit of my defense," Novius answered as he kepting closer to Gabriel. His body kept disappearing with time.

    "This was your victory, young man. He reached out his left hand to touch Gabriel''s head, but before he could, his only remaining hand also disappeared.

    Novius dropped to his knees, coughing out blood on the ground.

    Even though he didn''t show it initially, the damage he took was too much for even him. Moreover, unlike Gabriel, he wasn''t using any Soul Healing Pills or any other advantages.

    "Open your mouth!" Gabriel reached out his hand with the Soul Healing Pill in hand to help Novius.

    "Keep it," Novius answered, shaking his head. His eyes had already lost their shine, making him unable to see anything either. "They can''t help me. I''m already dead, just living on the borrowed time for a few minutes."

    "You are... Dead?" Gabriel also sat on his knees, not knowing what to feel. So he had won the battle, but for some reason, he still didn''t feel like he had won anything. Instead, it was as if he only lost here... He lost Gabriel as well.

    Novius nodded. "I only borrowed some time to tell you something important¡­  Whatever happens, don''t say yes to the Tower!"

    Gabriel didn''t understand what these words implied. What shouldn''t he say no about? Unfortunately, he couldn''t ask as Novius also lost his voice soon, unable to speak anything.

    He coughed out more blood. He couldn''t see now. He couldn''t speak or hear either. He didn''t even have hands. Whatever he was trying to say was something that was possibly forever lost unless he left some clues on the box he left behind for Gabriel.

    Novius dropped to the ground. Even though he couldn''t see, speak or hear, he could still feel a warm hand under his head, giving him support. He could only smile.

    ''Cylix was right... We couldn''t be happier. I am d we met you... Gabriel. But the outside world is more treacherous. Their actions mold your actions, but in that, you might lose your own path... So I hope you are able to stand firm...''

    ''Achieve what you want to... Don''t let the situation influence you to lose your path... Do it, and you''ll be a mage that stands on top of not only this world but the entire universe... You have something that others don''t... Exception...''

    There were so many things that he wanted to tell Gabriel now, but without words, those things could only stay in his heart.

    He had so many thoughts in his heart, but they were all buried in him, disappearing forever as his body disappeared forever, turning into a speck of dark light.

    Gabriel looked at his empty hands. Finally, it happened... Eventually, they were both gone¡­ Finally, he was left all alone again.

    Even though Cylix and Novius were gone, their presence had influenced Gabriel so much that even he didn''t realize at the time.

    The emotions that he tried to seal after he was betrayed by Maya... The emotions that he never wanted to carry again... He felt that same sadness as he did when he was killed, maybe even more. He also felt angry¡­ more angry than ever.

    He closed his eyes and just sat in silence, not realizing that their Speck of Darkness flew straight to his Ring of Necromancy, being absorbed by it.

 Chapter 209

    Gabriel sat in silence on the battlefield, not speaking anything. Even his eyes appeared out of focus. His hands were still shaking, but he seemed not even to notice them anymore.

    The Soul Healing pill that he had offered Novius was lying on the ground right next to him.

    "A World which changes one''s path..." After a long time, he finally said something.

    He picked up the Soul Healing Pill from the ground and ced it in his mouth before forcing his tired body up.

    "I won''t let the World change my path... I will make one myself, safe from all external influence..."

    The world around him also started disappearing. The battlefield was created by Novius, and now that he was gone, the battlefield also started disappearing.

    Once the battlefield disappeared, Gabriel appeared back in the Throne Room. The Spiritual Form of the youngsters who had arrived on the 99th floor was still here, and all of them were slightly shocked. They had all seen Gabriel''s battle, and it was just something else entirely.

    They could see that Gabriel didn''t use his Origin Element in the battle at all. So he managed to defeat the two Guardians of the Floor, all without using his main strength.

    The two thrones in the distance were empty since the people who used to sit on them were dead. Without them, there was nothing left on this floor for him to focus on.

    He shifted his attention to the door of the next Floor in the distance. The final floor... The Hundredth Floor.

    From what he knew, in recent times, only Cylix and Novius had seen what was on that floor. No one in the Academy knew either.

    "Don''t say yes to the tower..." He repeated thest words of Novius. He still didn''t know what those words implied, but he kept that statement engraved in his mind.

    As Gabriel reached the Floor of the next floor, no one stopped him.

    He ced his fingers on the door to push it open, but as soon as his fingers touched the door, he stepped back, feeling something strange.

    He didn''t know why, but as soon as he touched the door, he could feel that the Tower was directly talking to him as if it was a living being.

    The Tower didn''t use any words to talk to him. It was a really strange conversation as well. Gabriel couldn''t hear anything. He could just feel what the Tower was trying to say, as if the Tower was directly in contact with his soul as he touched the door.

    "This Tower..." The strange conversation came as a real surprise. It was as if the Tower was telling him that it needed a Guardian for this Floor and that it was offering that position to Gabriel.

    The Tower was asking him to leave a figment of his conscience behind, along with a copy of his memories up to this point, so the Tower could have a new guardian... The Guardian who defeated theirst guardian.

    As Gabriel thought about the question, he remembered the words of Novius. "Don''t say yes to the Tower!"

    "So that''s what he was talking about," Finally, Gabriel believed that he understood the meaning behind those words.

    Even though Cylix and Novius didn''t show it on their faces, being the Guardians of this floor took a heavy toll on them, especially since they had to be sealed in this Tower until they could be defeated by the next person.

    Their real selves had made the mistake of agreeing to the Tower, thinking of the betterment of the future generation. However, Gabriel didn''t want to do it.

    Even though all he had to do was leave a copy of his memories, he didn''t want to do it. Even if it was just a copy, if it was like Novius and Cylix, it was no different than a real person. Gabriel couldn''t toss anyone into this hell just for the well-being of the future generations. <sub> </sub>

    He didn''t care how the others were going to be treated in this Tower or if they weren''t going to have the proper guardians to face. It was none of his concern. For the Tower, he wasn''t going to sacrifice himself.

    If it was the requirement to go to the next floor, he might have considered it, but even then, he would''ve just returned after checking the Hundredth floor and destroyed his copy himself. Fortunately, that wasn''t the case. There was nopulsion on him to take the Guardian position to get to the next floor.

    Gabriel once again ced his hand on the door, but this time he didn''t step back. He just told his answer, "My answer is no. I won''t leave a part of me behind!"

    As soon as he finished speaking, he pushed the door open and disappeared.

    The Thrones were left all empty, without a Guardian...

    ****

    "Impossible!"

    House of Wind''s Head Teacher, Lishen, was on the Guard duty of the Tower with Rem.

    Their guarding duty was just about to end. By this time, they had all convinced themselves that Gabriel was already dead inside the Tower, but just then, Lishen noticed a change in the rankings.

    Shocked, he pointed at the top of the Tower. "Look there."

    Rem also raised his head. "How is this possible?"

    [1 Gabriel Light 100]

    Gabriel had reached the top floor! He wasn''t dead. Instead, he was still moving!

    Moreover, since the Academy had started keeping a track of the Rankings, Gabriel was the first person to reach the Hundredth Floor.

    He had surpassed even Axion, reaching the highest level floor.

    "This guy... Just how talented is he?" Lishen eximed. "He is still alive!"

    Rem was also grim. He was thinking that maybe their problem was already solved since Gabriel had died. All they had to do was to have a student of theirs reach the 99th floor and retrieve all the stolen Numens.

    Since there was a high chance that all the Numens were being carried by Gabriel after his supposed death on the 99th floor, they believed that the Numens could be found there.

    Unlike the other Floors, where all the Floors were in separate spaces, the 99th floor was abined Realm where more than one student could be present together even though they were traveling a different spatial floor.

    It was clear that the next person who reached that floor was going to end up in the same space where Gabriel was killed. That was the case initially at least, but now...?

    The Hundredth Floor was a different beast in itself... A beast that no one known to the Academy had faced before¡­

 Chapter 210

    Three dayster... The news about a person reaching the hundredth floor spread in the academy like fire. There was only one name on everyone''s mind... Gabriel.

    He was the first person, ording to them, who had reached the top floor just when they all assumed that he was dead.

    Surprisingly, even now, most people didn''t know who this Gabriel was. The Teachers had kept that news a secret from everyone. Despite that, there were a few students who had managed to guess Gabriel''s identity, like Garrick.

    Garrick stood on his balcony, looking in the direction of the Tower.

    "The Hundredth floor... A goal that I''ve been working towards for thest two years. The closer I got to my goal, the farther it seemed. Despite being a fourth-year student now, I couldn''t even reach the 99th floor, and that guy in his first year... Just what is his identity?"

    He also couldn''t help but look back to the time when he jumped into the battle to protect Gabriel.

    "Now that I think about it, I should''ve realized it right there. Even when he was facing Aira from fourth year, there was no shred of fear on his face. Now I understand why. That guy... He knew he couldn''t be defeated. Even then, he was hiding his strength."

    "If he had the strength to clear the Higher Floors, he could easily wipe the floor clean with Aira. Why though? How is he that strong at this young age? Just what is his past?"

    ****

    The Hundredth Floor... It was the biggest mystery for everyone in the world that no one had an answer to.

    It wasn''t wrong to say that every person in the Academy wanted to know just what was there.

    Now that Gabriel had reached the hundredth floor, it just proved that he was still alive, which put all the teachers on alert.

    The Academy was once again sealed, and all the students were told to be back in their Dorms until the next instructions. All the Head Council Members were once again before the Tower, covering it.

    "I wonder what he sees there..." Lishen wondered. Even he couldn''t avoid the curiosity rted to the top floor and what it was like.

    "We can get all the answers I need once we can capture him," Xinci responded. "Just focus on the main prize. At the moment, it''s certainly Gabriel."

    "I know... We will definitely be catching him." Lishen affirmed. "No matter how long it takes, as soon as hees out, he won''t be allowed to leave the Academy."

    "Since he just reached the top floor, he should at least be there for a day, if not more. I believe we should seal the space tomorrow," Rem suggested to Eliana, only to have Yoan from the House of me counter.

    "You forgot how long he stayed on the 99th floor? It was as if he was having a pic there. It''s clear that he has no intention ofing out anytime soon. If I''m not wrong, he''s intentionally wasting time inside."

    "And why would he do that?" Xinci asked, slightly curious. Just why would someone waste time like that? What would it get them?

    "Because he knows about the Academy. Think back to the time he stole all the items from our Museum. He knew exactly where we kept what. He also knew about the Academy a lot more than I would like to ept. In that case, it won''t be far-fetched to assume that he knows about our space sealing formation as well," Yoan gave a hint. "Now, do you see why he''s wasting time?"

    "He wants us to waste our resources to keep the Space Sealing Formation up for as long as we can until we run out of our Spirit Crystals," Qin nodded, understanding what Yoan was implying.

    "Of course. If I were in his ce and knew all that, I would''ve done the same thing. He''s intentionally wasting our time, waiting for us to exhaust our resources."

    "In that case, that guy... He has lots of patience. He stayed on the 99th floor, despite probably being curious about the 100th floor," Xinci grimaced, understanding that the enemy wasn''t as simple as they thought. The assumption of Yoan also made sense.

    For them, Yoan''s assumption made more sense than the reality, which was that the Guardians of the 99th floor were training Gabriel.

    Xinci further continued. "With that kind of patience... He might be able to spend two or three months on that floor, just for the sake of it."<sub> </sub>

    "That''s right. If we ce the Space Sealing Formation now, we would only be wasting our resources and have none when the timees."

    "So what are you implying we should do?" Lishen asked. "You have stated the problem but no solution. What if we don''t use the Formation, and hees out tomorrow and immediately escapes before we can seal the space?"

    "The answer is simple. We just need to engage him in conversation. Keep him distracted until the Formation gets activated when hees out. Instead of blindly activating it, we should wait until the guy is out of the tower."

    "But-"

    "It''s true. That does make sense," Before Lishen could rece, Rem chimed in, agreeing with Yoan, which didn''t happen often.

    "We should only activate the sealing formation after he is out. It''s better than blindly activating it likest time since that might be what he actually wants. If we don''t use it blindly, we might be able to use it even if hees out six monthster."

    "As for keeping him engaged, I''m sure I''ll be able to find a way until then."

    Since the beginning of the discussion, Eliana had been silent, listening to others'' opinions, but she actually agreed with it, and the n was finalized.

    ****

    Seven days passed since Gabriel''s name climbed to the top spot, and there was still no sign of himing out.

    At that moment, everyone could see the smug face of Yoan, who proved that he was right. Gabriel didn''t look like he wasing out anytime soon.

    "If I''m not wrong, we might be waiting for him for months."

    It was Yoan and Rem who were guarding the Tower at the moment. Since their n was to keep Gabriel engaged until the ve sealing formation was activated, they decided against having too many people here.

    They didn''t want to intimidate Gabriel right away by making him think that there were too many opponents for him to win. If that was the case, he could only run after all.

    Both of them also had a crystal in their hands to signal Eliana in case Gabriel stepped out of the Tower since it was her job to activate the Space Sealing Formation after that point.

    "You were right. It doesn''t look like he''sing out anytime so-" Rem quite casually answered, but just as he was about to end his sentence, he stopped abruptly.

    He could sense a strange auraing from inside the tower. The door of the Tower of Challenges opened, making that aura even more prevalent.

    "He..." Yoan was shocked to his core to see a person standing at the entrance of the Tower.

    It was a young man who seemed barely twenty years old. Since Gabriel didn''t have the Ring of Apophis, he couldn''t keep up his illusion anymore, but he was sure he didn''t need to either.

    As soon as he appeared on Flood Zero, he realized something was wrong. There was no person here. The ce waspletely empty. It didn''t take him long to realize why that was either. Still, even if he had the ring of Apophis, he wouldn''t have cared at this point.

    He didn''t even try to hide his Aura as he stepped out of the Tower. It was unclear what it was that happened on the hundredth floor, but something about him was very different. It was as if he was more... dangerous.

    As soon as Gabriel stepped out of the Tower, he noticed two Head Council Members. This just confirmed his suspicions. They knew.

    Realizing that, a smile spread across his lips¡­

 Chapter 211

    Gabriel stepped out of the Tower of Challenges, looking very different. Surprisingly, his name also disappeared from the Tower ranking on its own for some reason.

    Axion''s name was once again on top of the Rankings, brown on the 99th Floor.

    Even though the top name on the tower had disappeared, none of the Two Head Teachers saw that since they were more focused on Gabriel.

    Rem was holding a small crystal in his hand. He clenched his fist, crushing that crystal immediately into dust.

    ****

    Eliana was sitting in her chair, looking out the window. She didn''t know why, but she was feeling really uneasy today. The sky was also covered in dark clouds since the morning, as if it was going to rain.

    "Why am I feeling so uneasy suddenly?" She stood up and walked closer to the window. She just couldn''t shake off this feeling as if something bad was going to happen.

    She decided to leave her office and take a walk around the campus to ease her mind, but before she could even take a foot out of her office, she felt the crystal in her pocket shake intensely.

    She pulled out the crystal, which turned into dust in her hands.

    "This..." Without thinking of anything, she rushed out of her office. She needed to activate the Sealing Formation! The crushing of the crystal meant that Gabriel was discovered by Rem!

    ****

    "I suppose that''s your real look?" Rem asked, trying to engage Gabriel in conversation. They needed to waste his time since they didn''t want him to use a spell to escape before they could seal the space.

    Gabriel didn''t answer right away. Instead, he observed his surroundings. Even this ce was too empty. Other than the Teachers, there was no one here.

    "Did you already seal the entire academy?" he asked.

    Hearing Gabriel now, Rem couldn''t help but feel that Gabriel was really different now. Thest time he met Gabriel, he had seen a rebel who rarely listened tomands. But even inside that rebel, Rem could see some fear and some hesitation, as if he was often worried about something.

    Currently, that fear and hesitation were missing. It was as if Gabriel hadplete rity now. Moreover, even as Gabriel stood before the two of them, there was no worry on his face.

    "We had no choice. It''s just a precaution," Rem answered. "We don''t want you to attack and kill the innocent."

    "You don''t want me to attack and kill the innocent... Did the Academy tell the same thing to the Church of Light when you handed over your students to be killed?"

    Gabriel didn''t care much about what happened in the past with the academy, at least not at this moment. However, he still found this hypocrisy amusing.

    "Don''t worry. I won''t me the Academy for this hypocrisy." He nced down at his hands. He was still wearing his golden gloves, but they were now blood red, covered in blood. "We all have a little hypocrite inside us after all."

    He didn''t forget to count himself in the same batch as well since even he had to make many decisions that countered his stance, especially inside the tower.

    Even as he spoke, barely any expressions could be seen on his face.<sub> </sub>

    The two Teachers had also seen the blood covered gloves.

    "May I ask whose blood is that?" Rem asked. From what he could remember, the Tower was unique in that thing. No matter how many beasts a person killed inside the tower before they left the Tower, the Tower always cleaned the blood on their clothes.

    Not only did the tower heal a person right before they came out, but all their clothes were clean as well. Not even a shred of blood could be seen on a person''s clothes, even if that person came out of a bloody battlefield.

    That''s what made this so strange. Why were Gabriel''s hands covered in blood? And whose blood was it? Just who did he kill that even the Tower didn''t want to clean?

    Initially, Rem''s goal was only to keep Gabriel engaged, but at the moment, he was actually intrigued. He had so many questions that he needed answers to.

    "This blood?" Gabriel raised his bloody hands.

    Rem nodded in response, wondering if there was another battle on the hundredth floor that Gabriel had to win.

    Gabriel opened his lips to answer, but he stopped before he could even utter a word as he raised his hand, noticing a beautiful white barrier covering the entire Academy.

    He could also feel some Spatial Disturbance in the surrounding area. Since he also knew some Spells of Light that utilize some of the Spatial Elements, he could also sense this change.

    Even when Lira told him about the Academy, she hadn''t mentioned a single thing about this security mechanism. It was Gabriel''s first time seeing something like this.

    "You brat, you are done for now!" Yoan, who had been silent all this while as Rem kept Gabriel engaged, finally started speaking.

    He burst into a heartyughter. They had seeded in this mission of keeping Gabriel engaged until the Formation was activated. Eliana had seeded.

    "Now that the Spatial Entrapment Formation is active, you can''t use teleportation spells inside the Academy! You can''t escape now!"

    "Yoan, calm down. Let me talk to him." Rem ced his hand on Yoan''s shoulder to pull the Head of House of Fire back. He didn''t want Yoan to instigate Gabriel since it was much better to take him down without a battle if possible.

    "No need for that anymore." Yoan pushed aside Rem''s hand. "Now that we have the Holy Priest of Darkness in our grasp, he isn''t going anywhere. No need to be careful now! Within seconds, all the others will be here as well!"

    "Holy Priest of Darkness?" Gabriel tilted his head to the side, slightly confused. Just what were these people talking about? Were they considering him the Holy Priest of Darkness? Did they not know that it was Lira?

    "I''m not the Holy Priest of Darkness."

    "Nonsense! You think you can fool us now, little brat? We know every trick that you pulled! You can fool Eliana and Rem, but not me!" Yoan refused to believe Gabriel''s words.

    At this point, almost all the Head Council Members of the Academy were sure that Gabriel was the Holy Priest of Darkness. No ordinary person could reach the top floor of the tower with such ease and release such a dark aura.

    "You can''t escape now!"

    Just as he finished speaking, the other Head Council Members also started arriving, surrounding Gabriel from every side.

 Chapter 212

    Other than Rem and Yoan, all the other Head Council Teachers were busy with their own work since they weren''t on guard duty.However, as soon as they received the signal through the crystal, they all rushed to the Tower.

    A bright sh came from the distance as if a bolt of Lightning wasing toward the Tower. A person could be seen inside that lightning sh whonded next to Rem.

    The Head Teacher from the House of Lighting, Qin had arrived. Not long after him, the Head Teacher from House of Water Rin also arrived, covering the left side of Gabriel.

    She only came here after making sure that the barrier was up. Sitting atop a Giant Eagle, the Head Teacher from the House of Summoning Xinci also arrived. She jumped down from the Eagle,nding on the right side of Gabriel.

    The Head Teacher from House of Wind, Lishen also arrived swiftly, standing with Rin. It was uncle when the Head Teacher from House of Nature Loy arrived, but he was already standing right next to Xinci.

    Six of the right teachers were already here. They had already covered all the paths, leaving no path of escape for Gabriel.

    Rin and Lishen stood firmly on Gabriel''s left, keeping a distance of ten meters from him. Xinci and Loy covered his right, and Rem, Qin, and Yoan covered the path ahead.

    The only way left for him was behind him, which led back inside the Tower. Unfortunately, with Eliana''s arrival, that path was also blocked.

    "Give up. You can''t escape. All your paths of escape have been closed. This Academy... It shall be your graveyard if you don''t surrender!" Qinmanded Gabriel, who was still standing without much reaction.

    Even when he was surrounded by so many Advanced Stage Mages, he still didn''t react. He just nced at all the Head Teachers, especially Eliana.

    "Don''t worry. I won''t be going back inside the tower again. I''m done with it," he informed Eliana, who was standing at the entrance of the tower as if worried that he might enter the tower to protect himself as ast ditch effort.

    "Enough talk!" Yoan roared, quite upset that despite being surrounded, Gabriel was acting as if he was in control! Did this guy have no brain?

    "As I told you before, you only have one option if you want to survive!" Yoan tossed a small bracelet toward Gabriel.

    Gabriel didn''t touch the bracelet and just watched it fall to the ground at his feet.

    He didn''t pick up the bracelet. He just asked, "What is it?"

    "That''s Bracelet of Sealing," Yoan answered. "It''s a Numen that will seal your elements if you wear it. It only works if the mage wears it himself, so wear it and surrender! After you wear it, we can stop considering you a threat, and there won''t be a need to eliminate you!"

    "Eliminate me?" Gabriel repeated thest words as he finally picked up the bracelet of Sealing.

    Seeing him pick up the bracelet, most of the Head Council Members were slightly happy. If he was actually sealing his Element and surrendering, then they didn''t need to fight and risk damaging the Academy.

    There was only one person who was upset even now. It was none other than Yoan. He wanted Gabriel to reject their peace offer since he really wanted to kill the young man. It wasn''t often that one got an opportunity to im in the future that they killed a Ruler of Element with their own hands!

    He clicked his tongue in disappointment.

    "I should''ve known this coward would take the offer," he muttered under his breath.

    Gabriel picked up the bracelet of sealing and observed it for a few seconds. "A Numen that wasn''t in the museum..."

    "Thanks for bringing it to me. Mighte in handy in the future." Instead of wearing the Bracelet of Sealing, he kept it in his pocket, shocking everyone.

    "This guy!" Xinci couldn''t believe it. "He already stole most of our Numens, and he wants to steal even the one we gave him to surrender? This guy is just... Argh!"

    Even Lishen didn''t know how to react. It was as if they had left, giving the thief of Numens one more Numen to keep.<sub> </sub>

    "Even if you keep it, it''s not like you can leave this ce alive. Either you wear that and surrender, or you''ll die!" Qin''s heavy voice reached Gabriel.

    Even he was starting to get upset and feel a bit insulted.

    "I''ve had enough!" Yoan was ted on the inside at the rejection, but he still pretended to be angry. He wanted to be the first to strike and kill Gabriel. "Why are we even talking to him? Let me kill that bastard!"

    "mes of the Warriors!" He roared as he rushed ahead before anyone could even stop him. A fire ignited around his right fist as he aimed to shatter Gabriel''s skull with just one punch.

    Within a blink of an eye, Yoan was already in front of Gabriel, throwing his punch ahead.

    Boom~

    His ming fistnded on Gabriel''s face. Most of the Head Council Teachers expected Gabriel to be flying back, heavily injured from the attack, but what happened next stunned even them.

    Gabriel hadn''t even moved an inch from his ce. His face was alreadypletely fine. It was as if he was made of the hardest of stones that couldn''t be broken by a punch.

    Even Yoan couldn''t believe what had just happened. How was it possible? Gabriel hadn''t used any spell since the beginning! Then how was hepletely unharmed?

    He didn''t realize that Gabriel had already used a spell. It''s just that he didn''t chant it. As soon as he was attacked, Gabriel used the [Dark Manifestation], which made him invincible for a short duration

    It was a defense that even Novius couldn''t break, let alone Yoan! The only w in this spell was that Gabriel couldn''t attack as long as he was using this spell.

    That wasn''t a problem for him though. All he had to do was cancel the Dark Manifestation after he was protected from the attack, and he was free to attack. That''s also what he did.

    Once again, he used the Wordless Chant, this time using the Dark Maelstrom.

    Yoan was still unable to believe how Gabriel was safe despite his attack.

    "I will kill you, bastard!" He attacked again, but it was toote.

    Boom~

    A Dark Maelstrom hit him, and from very close since he was standing barely half a meter away from Gabriel.

    Yoan yelled in pain as his body shot back like a rocket. He could even feel as if his ribcage was broken.

    Yoan crashed into a tree in the back, coughing out a mouthful of blood. This attack... It was very powerful even for him.

    All the Head Council Teachers were shocked to see Gabriel''s attack. There was no doubt in their minds that it was a Dark Spell, but they never saw him Chant the spell!

    <o>,m "Wordless Chant!" Rem eximed, realizing what just happened.</o>

    "He mastered wordless chant? At such a young age? Just what monster is he?" Lishen also couldn''t believe it. If he hadn''t seen it with his own eyes, he never would''ve believed that a man who was barely eighteen years old had mastered the Wordless Chant!

    Gabriel didn''t chase after Yoan to attack. Instead, he just stood his ground as if Yoan wasn''t even worth his attention. He could see that none of the teachers here were as strong as Novius and Cylix.

    "It seems you are all under a heavy misconception," Amidst the shock of the Head Teachers, Gabriel spoke. "If I don''t leave this ce, it won''t be my Graveyard that this Academy bes¡­."

 Chapter 213

    Wordless Chant... Many people knew about its existence, yet only a rare few had seen it actually in action. Only the Holy Priests were able to use something like that, and it had been over a hundred years since there had been a significant war.

    That was thest time where the Holy Priests took part in arge-scale battle and showcased their fighting skills, amazing everyone. Before that moment, even though people knew that the Holy Priests were strong, the extent of their strength was unknown.

    It was that battle where most of the Mages saw the true strength of the Holy Priests.

    Almost all the Holy Priests used Wordless Chants in that battle, proving the existence of something like that.

    Before that war, most people only considered the Holy Priests to be stronger than the Head Priests of the Church, but that war revealed that even an entire army of Head Priests wasn''tparable to a single Priest at their peak!

    A holy priest ruled over their Element, and through years of training, they had enough strength to tten a city with a single spell. That war showed that the Holy Priests were truly the strongest beings in this world.

    Even the Kingdoms couldn''t stand before a single Holy Priest. That''s why all the Kingdoms tried to maintain a good rtionship with the Holy Priests.

    Unfortunately, there was one exception... The Holy Priest of Darkness. Even before the War, the Holy Church of Darkness was always in istion, never forming any bonds with any of the Kingdoms outside. The following war destroyed the Church of Darkness, but it didn''t affect any of the Kingdoms since none was associated with the Dark Church.

    The Church of Darkness still hadn''t managed to recover from that destruction, but it finally had an opportunity since there was a rumor spreading in the world that there was a new Ruler of Element of Darkness.

    At the moment, the entire Head Council was sure that the young man standing before them was the Ruler of Darkness.

    They just saw him use the Dark Maelstrom, which was a well known spell of Darkness. Moreover, he used a Wordless Chant! There was no doubt in their minds now. This guy... He was the Holy Priest of Darkness...

    Seeing Yoan hurt badly, Eliana wanted to rush to heal him, but she couldn''t abandon her post. Despite Gabriel''s assurance that he wasn''t going to enter the tower again, she couldn''t take the risk.

    Fortunately, Rin came to help. She appeared next to Eliana, cing her hand on the young woman''s shoulder. "Help him. We will need his strength as well. I''ll block the entrance."

    Eliana nodded and rushed to Yoan, who was injured, being hit by the Dark Maelstrom from such close proximity. She cast a healing spell on Yoan, healing his broken bones.

    "He isn''t trying to stop her," Remmented, analyzing Gabriel''s actions. Even when Eliana went to help Yoan, he didn''t try to stop her. He didn''t attack them either for some strange reason.

    This guy... Did he really not consider them strong enough to be a threat? Or did he find some treasure on the hundredth floor, which gave him this confidence? Rem couldn''t help but wonder. In any case, they couldn''t afford to take Gabriel lightly.

    Rem knew that even though Gabriel looked young, he was a really strange mage. Judging him based on his strength was no less than a huge mistake.

    ''But what then? How can we take him down without killing him? If he really is a threat, we really don''t have a choice but to kill him, it seems.''

    Until now, Rem wanted to solve this entire mess peacefully by capturing Gabriel alive so they could question himter, but at the moment, it seemed unlikely.

    Gabriel momentarily nced at Yoan, who was being healed.

    "High Heal..." He even recognized that spell since he had also learned the same spell from Cylix himself. High Heal was just a slightly weaker version of the lost spell Holy Heal which Gabriel also learned.

    Unfortunately, since he also had the Dark Element, the effect of Healing Spells was much lower on him than it would''ve been on a different Elemental Mage, but it was still better than nothing.

    ''All of them... They are scared.'' Just like Rem was observing him, Gabriel was also observing the Head Council Members. He could sense it. He could feel their concern and their fear of the unknown.<sub> </sub>

    ''When I saw them for the first time in their office, they looked so aloof. They were deciding our future, even if it meant damaging someone''s Spiritual Potential. They were like gods who could crush us whenever they wished but now... If I were topare them to the younger Cylix, they would still be slightly weaker.''

    ''Even if they all came together, they couldn''t take down Cylix and Novius. The Head Council... It''s not as strong as I thought. If there is anyone in the Academy who could''ve taken down the younger versions of Cylix and Novius that I faced, it is only one person... the Dean of the Academy, Izen. In his absence, this Academy is very weak. But maybe that''s for the best.''

    ''The only problem is that the Church of Light is still in the city and possibly the Holy Priest of Light as well.''

    The Head Teachers still blocked Gabriel''s path, motivated by only one goal... The goal to take him down.

    "Just what are you after?" Rem asked Gabriel, who was still seemingly lost in some thought.

    "Huh?" Gabriel came out of his daze, wondering if someone asked something.

    "I want to know what you''re after. What do you want to achieve? Do you want revenge for what happened to the Church of Darkness? Do you want to destroy the world? What exactly is your goal?!"

    "Revenge for the Church of Darkness?" Gabriel nced in the distant horizon in the direction of the City of Abadon.

    "I can''t destroy the entire world, can I?" he asked in return. "His home is in this world too."

    When someone talked about the entire world, Gabriel couldn''t help but remember the face of Novius when he spoke of his home. If he destroyed the world, that meant he was destroying the descendants of Novius as well.

    " I don''t have any ns to destroy the world, but I do have one other goal..."

    "What goal?" Novius inquired.

    "I''m sure you''ll all know when the timees," Gabriel answered, casting the Wings of Flight spell on himself.

    His body started rising in the air as he felt like he needed to be somewhere else. There was no need for him to kill the Head Council Members.

    "Where do you think you''re going?!" As soon as Gabriel started flying away, he heard a shout from the back as a wall of mes appeared before him, blocking his path.

    Gabriel stopped in his ce, watching the wall of mes expand, surrounding him from all sides. Within seconds, Gabriel was sealed inside a box of mes that could burn any human to ashes on a simple touch.

    Yoan was perfectly fine now, thanks to the healing spell of Eliana. Despite being healed, he was still feeling so insulted. Out of everyone here, he also had the worst anger. He couldn''t allow Gabriel to leave after hurting him.

    "Yoan, don''t kill him! We can probably still force him to wear the Sealing Bracelet." Rem suggested, still trying to walk down the passive route.

    He knew that if they killed Gabriel, they were never going to get any answers. There were so many questions that needed an answer, like how many Dark Mages were part of Gabriel''s group? Where were they staying? What was their strength? And most importantly, what was on the top floor.

    "Shut up!" Instead of heeding Rem''s advice, he listened to his own rage.

    He clenched his fist, filling the inside of the ming box with a fire, leaving not even an inch that wasn''t burned.

    "I''m afraid I spoke too soonst time... It seems not all of you will be there to see it when the timees," A voice came from the back, apanied by a dark aura.

 Chapter 214

    Yoan had trapped Gabriel in his ming Prison, but imprisonment wasn''t his main goal. His main goal was to crush Gabriel, sending him straight to the depths of hell. He couldn''t afford to let a Dark Mage insult him like that!

    Gabriel was inside the ming box, shaking his head. After what happened on the hundredth floor, he wasn''t looking for a battle so soon, but it seemed that these people weren''t going to let him leave without a battle.

    "If that''s the case," he muttered, calling out the Ancestral Staff of Darkness.

    "Paradise of Darkness."

    ****

    The entire space inside the ming Prison was filled with burning mes. Not even a mage with the strongest of defense could survive being burned to ashes inside the ming Prison.

    "See? It was easy. You were all worried for no reason. The Holy Priest, my foot," Yoan scoffed. "He was no less than an insect destined to be crushed under my foot!"

    "Something doesn''t feel right."

    Unlike Yoan, Rem appeared even more concerned now as he felt a strange feeling. It was unclear what it was, but he was still able to sense Darkness. The only difference was that it wasn''ting from one direction. He could feel Darkness all around him as if it was everywhere.

    ****

    The Spatial Entrapment Formation that the Academy used was a precious formation that cost a lot of effort and money to be made. The best Mages and Artificers were used to create this formation.

    Even running this formation was a costly affair as each minute it was active, the Academy had to use Hundreds of Spiritual Crystal. The formation worked by sealing the space inside the Academy so that no one could use Teleportation inside the Academy, but even the Formation wasn''t without its ws.

    The major w of this Formation was that it didn''t work inside the Domains. In other words, the effect of this Formation was non-existent inside a person''s Domain Spell range.

    Even though most people didn''t know of this w or didn''t have the Domain Spells, Gabriel wasn''t in that league.

    As soon as he was trapped inside the ming prison, the first thing he did was cast the Paradise of Darkness which wasn''t an ordinary Domain Spell. It was the most precious spell of the Founder of the Academy himself.

    Inside the Domain Range, the Entrapment Formation waspletely ineffective, which allowed Gabriel to leave the ming Prison without having to pass through the mes.

    Just as Yoan was celebrating his achievement, he heard a cold voiceing from behind him.

    "I''m afraid I spoke too soonst time... It seems not all of you will be there to see it when the timees."

    The Dark Mist covered most of the Academy, alerting even the students who were currently in their Dorms.

    "You?!" Yoan turned around, stunned to see Gabriel behind him.

    "Fireball!" He cast a spell right away in Gabriel''s direction. Unfortunately, before his fireball could even hit Gabriel, the young man disappeared into the darkness like a ghost.

    "I''ll make it quick," Gabriel stated. Strangely enough, it was unclear where his voice wasing from. It was as if he kept changing spots. One moment, he was on their next. Next moment he was right. He was everywhere!

    "Whirlwind!" Lishen cast the spell of Wind to clear the mist. He couldn''t stay out of the battle anymore. It was clear that Gabriel was a threat that they needed to stop! No matter how impulsive Yoan was, they had to support him.

    Heavy winds blew away the dark mist that was surrounding all the Head Council Members, only to reveal a ghastly sight that almost made Rin vomit.<sub> </sub>

    A pitch ck spear could be seening out of the ground. Even though the spear was also made of the mist, it was solidified, unaffected by the winds of Lishen.

    What was more shocking was what was on top of the Spear! On top, there was Yoan''s lifeless body, bleeding from his chest, which was impaled by the Dark Spear.

    Generally, the Dark Mist would''ve returned to cover the entire ce once again, but not this time since Gabriel canceled the Dark Paradise.

    Eliana''s face was already pale. She wasn''t standing too far from Yoan, but even she didn''t know how and when Yoan died. She didn''t even hear a scream. It was as if right before Yoan was impaled by the spear, something had closed his mouth.

    The Paradise of Darkness was Gabriel''s Domain, in which the dark mist was his soldier. It was a spell that even threw the Head Council intomotion.

    Eliana rushed to Yoan, destroying the dark Spear to bring his body down before casting a High Heal Spell.

    "It''s not working!" She eximed, seeing the spell not working. It was toote already. Yoan was already dead, and even she couldn''t bring the dead back to life... Death was permanent that even gods couldn''t reverse... At least, that''s what she believed.

    Yoan was dead.

    "I can''t sense his presence," Rem called out, unable to find Gabriel.

    "I can''t either. Did he run away?" Lishen asked. The Dark Mist wasn''t returning, and the dark presence was also gone. None of them could feel the presence anymore.

    "The exit! He''s probably trying to leave this academy!" Qin eximed as he ran toward the exit of the Academy. Since none could Teleport out of the Academy, that left only one path to escape.

    "Qin, wait! He''s too powerful. Don''t go alone!" Rem called Qin, but it was toote. That man was lightning fast and had already disappeared.

    "I''ll go after him!" Xinci chimed in. "I''m sure Qin is right! That boy is trying to leave! We can''t let him!"

    Xinci raised her Staff, casting a summoning spell. "Come to me, Nature Wolf!"

    As soon as she finished her spell, a dark red formation appeared before bed. From the formation, it was as if a door to another world was open, from where a twenty-foot-tall beast jumped out.

    The beast, which looked like a fierce wolf, had beautiful green fur. It was also known for its strong battle prowess and its great sense of smell which could help him find anyone as long as that person left behind some significant aura.

    And that Dark Aura was already in the air everywhere now.

    The Nature Wolf also ran toward the exit, carrying Xinci on his back.

    "I''ming after you too!"

    Only the Head Council Teachers went to the exit, while the rest of the teachers were told to protect the Dorms to make sure that no student was hurt.

    ****

    Against everyone''s expectations, Gabriel wasn''t really going to the exit. Instead, he went somewhere else entirely...

    "Found you," Gabriel''s voice broke the silence.

 Chapter 215

    ****

    In the mist-covered Paradise of Darkness, Gabriel was like a ghost, moving without making any noise.

    Even though Yoan stood near Eliana, Gabriel was still able to kill him without anyone else even finding out. That was made even easier since no one expected him to be skillful enough to be able to kill Yoan in such a short time.

    Another thing that came in handy was that the Paradise of Darkness was a spell that was unknown even to the Academy. The Academy heads only knew that their founders had some unique spells, but other than that, they didn''t know anything.

    They didn''t even know that the spell that Gabriel was using was one of those secret spells of their founders.

    A spell was powerful enough on its own, but it only became more effective when it was arge-scale spell that no one knew much about. Due to theirplete unfamiliarity with the spell, they were only limited to their guesses, being forced to think that the Dark Mist only worked to decrease their vision.

    Not even Eliana realized that Gabriel was able to control the Dark Mist to do anything he wanted. He was like a god who could mold the space here.

    Before he even attacked Yoan personally, Gabriel used the Dark Mist to close Yoan''s mouth. The dark shackles also wrapped around his hands and feet, holding him in his ce.

    Yoan couldn''t even cast any spell. All he could do was struggle as his eyes widened. Without his spells, he couldn''t free himself. He couldn''t even make any noise. If he wanted to do anything, first he needed to free his mouth.

    In his mind, he was even cursing Eliana. Their enemy had captured him, and despite being so close to him, Eliana didn''t evene to help.

    His struggle didn''tst long either as a dark Sphere impaled his chest, passing through his heart and raising his body high in the air.

    From the moment Gabriel closed the middle-aged Mage''s mouth to the moment of his death, only a few seconds had passed, but those few seconds were like an eternity for Yoan.

    His eyes were bloodshot, but he couldn''t even scream in pain. His eyes lost their shine, and it was only then that Gabriel released his mouth.

    "Hmm?" Gabriel had just finished killing Yoan, who tried to stop him when he went slightly tense. He could sense a presence that didn''t belong to the Head Council Teachers.

    His figure disappeared into the darkness. As he left, his Paradise of Darkness also stopped. It all happened in such a short time that no one could believe that Yoan was already dead!

    ****

    Gabriel''s figure appeared on the Treasure Hall''s roof, which wasn''t very far from the Tower of Challenges.

    He could see a very familiar figure¡ªsomeone who was watching his battle with the Head Council Teachers.

    Even as Gabriel appeared on the roof, there was only silence there.

    "Found you." Gabriel broke the silence, finally making the figure turn around to face him.

    "Why are you following me?" Gabriel asked. "It''s the fourth time I''ve seen you and the second time in the Academy. Just what are you after?"

    Before him, there was no human. There was also no beast. There was only a Dark Spectre, covered in a dark shroud which made it impossible for anyone to even see the Spectre''s face. At times, it even felt as if the Spectre had no face at all.

    Hearing Gabriel''s question, the Spectre lowered his head as if he was disappointed by something.

    "I see... So you still haven''t..." The lifeless voice of the Spectre reached Gabriel.<sub> </sub>

    It was Gabriel''s first time hearing the Spectre''s words, who had never spoken before. The voice of the Spectre waspletely lifeless, but it was certainly a voice simr to the voice of a man.

    For some reason, he found that voice a bit familiar as well. It was as if he had heard that voice many times before, but he just couldn''t remember when.

    Even in the lifeless voice, Gabriel could sense some disappointment, as if the Spectre was expecting something else instead of the question.

    "Wh-" Gabriel spoke again, but before he could even let a word out, the Spectre once again disappeared as if he was no more than an illusion.

    "He left again..."

    With the Spectre''s departure, Gabriel was the only person who was left standing on the roof.

    The aura of the spectre was gone, and even he couldn''t feel that presence anymore. It was as if it was truly gone.

    Gabriel stood on the roof, looking at the Head Council Teachers who were running toward the exit in hopes of catching him.

    "It seems they can''t sense my aura here."

    He was sure that the Head Council Teachers wouldn''t be running to the exit if they could sense him. However, he wasn''t hiding his aura either, so it was unclear just what was keeping his aura from reaching them.

    He observed the roof, mostly sure that it was the doing of the Spectre.

    "Hmm?" Even though he couldn''t find any formation that could give auras, but he did find something. There was a piece of paper where the spectre was standing previously.

    On top of the piece of paper, there was a beautiful golden ring that was keeping the paper in its ce, working as a paperweight.

    "Is it because of the ring?" He walked closer to the ring that was emitting a special radiance. It was undoubtedly a Numen, but why would the Spectre leave this here? Was it for him?"

    He picked up the ring, followed by the piece of paper.

    Initially, he observed the paper that had something written on it.

    There were only two words written on the piece of paper, and that too with magic. "Keep it."

    "Is he giving this to me?" Gabriel frowned, shifting his attention to the ring that was clearly a Numen that wasn''t from the Academy. It was also an ownerless Numen.

    Despite that, he didn''t wear the ring. His suspicious nature prevented him from wearing any Numen without enough information.

    Fortunately, now he knew a method to understand a Numen. All he needed to do was just control it!

    He bit his thumb and ced a small droplet of blood on the small Numen. As long as he was able to bind it, he could easily get the information about this Numen.

    Amongst all the things he learned from Novius and Cylix, Gabriel considered this binding method worth the most. Even though it wasmon knowledge in this World, he wasn''t sure if he would ever know about it if not for those two.

    The Binding didn''t take long enough as the ring was tied to him. His mind was filled with information about the strange ring.

 Chapter 216

    "I see. So this ring hides every magical aura within a ten-meter range of it, no matter how strong it may be. Was this what the Spectre used to get inside undetected? But if that''s the case, why would it leave it for me? Is he truly trying to help me? Or something else?"

    Even though Gabriel didn''t understand why this Numen would be given to him, he still wore her ring since he had made sure that the ring was safe.

    In essence, the ring worked in a simr concept to something he had seen before. Just like Lambard hid his aura before Elora such that even the Holy Priest of Water couldn''t sense his dark aura despite standing merely a few meters away from him, this ring also did.

    The only difference was that this ring didn''t just hide his own aura. It hid any aura within ten meters range of him from others.

    With him getting strong, his aura had also gotten stronger. However, at the same time, he also worked on ways to improve his ability to control his aura and didn''t feel like he needed the ring, but now that he had it, it was better to just use it.

    After wearing the ring, he turned his attention back to the Academy.

    "Did hee here this time just to give me that ring?"

    In the absence of the Spectre, Gabriel had many questions. Unfortunately, the person who could answer him was already gone.

    The Head Council Member had also left the ce, going straight for the exit of the Academy, thinking they were going to find Gabriel there.

    If he wanted, he could''ve also gone there to continue his battle from before. However, he decided against it. For him, it was no more than a waste of time and effort to fight the Head Council Members. This city was still the supposed home of the Holy Priest of Light, after all.

    "Wings of Flight."

    Two beautiful wings came out of his back, helping his body rise in the air.

    ****

    The Head Council Teachers reached the exit. Strangely enough, there were no signs of battle. The guards that were protecting the entrance were still perfectly fine.

    Eliana asked the guards if they saw Gabrieling here, to which the guards could only say no.

    "If he didn''te here, then where...?" Rem frowned, wondering about the whereabouts of Gabriel. He could feel that Gabriel was still inside the Academy.

    Even Eliana was confused. However, it was also at that time she noticed the space sealing Barrier flicker.

    "The Barrier!" she eximed as if she finally understood everything. She hastily flew back inside the academy.

    ****

    Inside the Academy, other than the buildings that were shown to the students during their first day, there were a few more buildings, and one of the main ones at that was one that stored the core of the Space Sealing Formation.

    Not only did the building house the Space Sealing Formation''s core, but it was also the ce where the Academy stored all their Spirit Crystals.

    There was heavy security around the Storage Hall, but all the security personnel were lying on the ground, unconscious. It was as if someone had ced them into a deep slumber.<sub> </sub>

    The main door was also open, revealing that someone had already entered the building.

    Gabriel stood inside the massive hall which stored all the Spirit Crystals of the Academy, which wasn''t just used to keep the Space Sealing Formation running but was also used for everything else in the Academy.

    Gabriel was in the middle of the hall, observing the massive treasure trove. Unlike a Numen was a treasure that increased a person''s strength without making him intrinsically stronger, the Spirit Crystals were treasures that made a Mage stronger internally, helping them increase their magical strength.

    <o>,m ****</o>

    Eliana''s face went pale as soon as she saw all the guards unconscious. She rushed inside the hall without wasting a single second.

    As soon as she reached the central hall, which was supposed to store all their Spirit Crystals, she dropped to her knees. The massive hall... It was all empty now. All their Spirit Crystals were stolen, leaving no Spirit Crystals there.

    Eliana gathered her breath before screaming at the top of her lungs. "Gabriel, you thief!!!"

    Not only did Gabriel steal all their Numens, but he also took all their Spirit Crystals and the Soul Sealing Formation''s core.

    Eliana''s rageful roar echoed in the entire academy. Unfortunately, the person she was screaming for was already out of the academy by now.

    Gabriel was already out of the Academy and inside the Lumen City, walking on the crowded street. He had stolen so many things from the academy that if wealth was a criterion, that he was probably the third richest person in the entire Lumen Kingdom, only after the King and the Holy Priest of Light.

    It was already night, and the moon hung high in the sky. The night looked almost identical to the night when he had arrived in the city. He remembered the night where he had promised himself that he was going to achieve his goal.

    Even he didn''t realize how his goals were going to change in such a short time, but he believed he had more or less achieved all his goals.

    "I wonder when the city is going to be unsealed." Even as he walked on the streets, he couldn''t help but overhear the conversation of the people that were walking ahead of him.

    "I wonder the same. Ever since the Academy was attacked a few weeks ago, the entire city has been sealed. No one is allowed to enter the city or leave. We are effectively trapped here, waiting."

    "I think it has more to do than just the attack on the Academy. Don''t forget that almost half the Holy Priests of the Church of Light have gone to a war. I''m sure sealing the city was just an extra safety mechanism since the Holy Church of Light is running at half force."

    The group of people kept discussing about the war and when they thought the city was going to be unsealed. Still, the only thing which caught Gabriel''s attention was the war. Just who was the Holy Church of Light at a war with?

    "War, huh."

    Unfortunately, it appeared as if even they didn''t know who the Holy Church of Light was at war with.

    Another interesting piece of news was that the Church of Light was at half force currently. That meant it was at the weakest it was ever going to be.

    A thought crossed his head, to which he soon wondered if it was worth it¡­

 Chapter 217

    The Holy Church of Light... It was said to be one of the strongest powers in the World especially because of the Holy Priest of Light who was imed to be the strongest of all the Holy Priests ording to the people of the world.

    Under normal situations, it was almost impossible to infiltrate the Holy Church of Light, but these weren''t the normal situations. Half the Church of Light was out of the city, possibly in some war so their strength was already half of their peak.

    Moreover, whatever half was left, he had a feeling that those numbers were going to dwindle even more if the Academy of Elements called for help.

    Before this month, he hadn''t even thought of infiltrating the Church of Light because there was a possibility of the Holy Priest being there. The Head Priests of Light were also more sensitive to the Darker Elements so there was a good chance that his Darkness could''ve been sensed if he even tried entering.

    But what changed the equation in his favour was the ring that he received from the Spectre.

    "The timing of receiving the Ring is really strange though." He nced at his ring.

    He couldn''t help but feel as if the Spectre also wanted him to enter the Holy Church of a Light, which was the reason he brought this ring to him. With the ring, he wasn''t sure if even the Holy Priest of Light could sense his aura.

    Still, there was a lot of risk involved. If he infiltrated the Holy Church of Light and stole their treasures, he was going to make the entire Holy Church his enemy. Then again, it wasn''t as if they already didn''t consider him an enemy of humanity.

    The two sides were already on two opposite ends wherepromise was impossible.

    Gabriel thought a lot about his future course of action, wondering if he really should invade the Holy Church of Light. After thinking for a long time, he eventually came to a decision...

    "It is too soon for that. ording to the people, the Holy Priest of Light hasn''t gone to the war. I''ve already received enough treasure. I won''t risk my life for my greed until I''m sure that I can take him on." He clenched his fist, deciding to not enter the Holy Church of Light.

    Not many people in the world knew for sure that there was no Holy Priest of Light at the moment since the Holy Grimoire was yet to select the next Holy Priest. The Church of Light had done a good job in keeping that a secret, and it also worked.

    Even Gabriel couldn''t take the risk at the moment. It was one thing to fight the younger versions of Novius and the Head Council Members who were along the same strength range but it was apletely different thing to fight the Holy Priest of Light who could take the help of Ancestral Staff of Light.

    He could see the Holy Church of Light within a walking distance already.

    "Two guards at the entrance and a protective barrier all around." Gabriel walked past the Holy Church of Light, observing the safety mechanisms that he could see.

    "It seems now that they are at half strength, they have increased their security even more. They certainly aren''t taking things lightly."

    Gabriel didn''t stop before the Church of Light and kept walking as if he was no more than amoner.

    It didn''t matter how much he wanted to do it, he wasn''t going to risk it. Even though he had more than one Element and some powerful spells thanks to his teachers, he was still a Mid Tier Mage when it came to Magical Strength.

    He didn''t think he was ready to face a Ruler of Element until he became an Advanced Tier Mage. So far, he had only faced Lira, the Ruler of Darkness and that''s also when she didn''t have the help of her Ancestral Staff. He didn''t even know how he survived that situation, but it gave him some insight into the strength of the Holy Priests.

    Lira was supposed to be weaker than the Holy Priest of Light, even if both of them fought without an Ancestral Staff. At least that''s what she used to think. In that case, Gabriel believed that fighting him at the moment was no more than stupidity since he was definitely going to use his Ancestral Staff of Light.

    Gabriel felt a familiar presence once again, which made him raise his head. He could see the Spectre standing on the roof of one of the buildings, looking at him.

    This time, Gabriel didn''t chase after him since the Spectre could disappear again.

    "If you have anything to say,e to me. I don''t care why you gave me this Ring, but I won''t let you, or anyone else define my path for me."

    The Spectre shook his head lightly before disappearing in the darkness again. It was unclear what he was thinking. The only thing which was certain was that Gabriel didn''t walk the pathid out for him by others. He thought clearly about his every future action, remembering thest words of Novius.

    Even when Novius was dying, he only told Gabriel to make sure that he doesn''t lose his own path because of the actions of this world.

    The Academy of Elements was in chaos thanks to Gabriel, but the Holy Church of Light waspletely silent, not realizing just how close they were from a battle with Gabriel.

    The entire city had been sealed but that sealing was nothing for someone like Gabriel. He didn''t leave through the main entrance of the city where most of the guards were ced. Instead, he stopped at the back of the city, observing the dome shaped Barrier.

    Unlike the marking barrier from before that allowed all mages to walk past it as long as they didn''t have the Element of Darkness, this barrier sealed everyone inside the city, making it impossible for anyone to get out of the city.

    "The Protection Barrier cast using the Holy Grimoire of Light by thest Ruler of Light. A barrier that''s said to be impossible to break... Let''s see if the words hold some value."

    Gabriel brought his Holy Grimoire of Necromancy out, along with his Ancestral Staff for the same.<sub> </sub>

    "A barrier cast using the Holy Grimoire. If it was at its peak, even breaking it using another Holy Grimoire would''ve been hard, but after such a long time has passed since the barrier was cast, it''s weakened. My Grimoire should be able to break it."

    Gabriel raised his right hand, cing it on the barrier before him.

    "Soul Explosion!"

    [Boom]

    "Soul Explosion!"

    [Boom]

    "Soul Explosion!"

    [Boom]

    "Soul Explosion!"

    <o>,m [Boom]</o>

    One after another, Gabriel cast five Soul Explosions, destroying five souls in the process, but it appeared to work as he saw a crack develop in the barrier before him.

    "Soul Explosion!"

    He cast the same spell one again. Following an explosive sound, the world returned to silence again. The cracks on the barrier kept spreading.

    At times, it sounded like a ss was cracking. Within minutes, the cracks spread throughout the barrier, covering every ce. Even the barrier at the entrance of the city was cracked due to residual forces.

    "What?"

    "How is this possible?"

    "What is happening?"

    Even the Mages who were assigned to guard the entrance couldn''t see what was happening. All they could see was that the barrier that was supposed to be unbreakable was breaking.

    Inside the Academy of Element, the Head Council Teachers were fuming in anger. They had finished searching the entire Academy but Gabriel was nowhere. It was as if he had already left the Academy.

    "He can leave the academy, but he shouldn''t have an easy time leaving the city," Qin eximed as he suggested they take the help of the Holy Church of Light to widen their search.

    "I wouldn''t be so sure about it," Rem''s grim voicecked any sort of optimism as he pointed up.

    The other Teachers also looked up, only to see the cracks in the barrier of the Holy Church of Light.

    Within the next few seconds, the entire barrier shattered, turning back into energy that merged with the nature again.

    "He left the city..." Eliana summerized. She was sure that only one person could break the barrier. This only meant that he was already at the exit.

    ****

    Even the Head Priests of Light were informed about the breaking of the barrier. They all rushed out of the Church to see it with their own eyes.

    Even as they saw it with their own eyes, they still found it hard to believe. First, their initial barrier was rendered ineffective as a Dark Mage was allowed to infiltrate and now their second barrier was broken?

    "Things are more serious than I thought," one of the Head Priests stated as his face remained covered with a concerned frown. "If the Grimoire doesn''t select a candidate soon, it can get really troublesome even for all of us."

 Chapter 218

    The Holy Grimoire of Light... Amongst the known Grimoires, it was considered by the people to be the strongest Grimoire in existence. This Grimoire was also used by the Holy Priest of Light to wipe out the Church of Darkness as well, which proved his superiority to the world.

    Ever since thest war, not many people had seen the Holy Grimoire of Light being used since there was never a need to. And in recent years, let alone the Grimoire of Light, people hadn''t even seen the Holy Priest of Light himself.

    Despite the rumors that were out, not many people believed that the Holy Priest of Light didn''t exist currently. This was just impossible to believe for many.

    Almost all the citizens considered that rumor to be too stupid. The Church also maintained its silence, not openly paying any attention to these rumors, but secretly, the Church certainly influenced public perception to make sure that no one believed this, especially the other Churches.

    Even since theirst Holy Priest had died, the Church of Light had been patiently waiting for their next Holy Priest, but the Grimoire didn''t select anyone. It was as if, for thest few years, the Holy Grimoire of Light had gone into a deep sleep.

    It was only now that it was starting to wake up, making the Head Priests believe that the time for the appearance of the next Ruler of Light was near.

    Unfortunately, it was still too soon to say when exactly. Even the Head Priests didn''t know when the Holy Grimoire of Light could wake up entirely.

    Until the time arrived, the Holy Grimoire of Light was supposed to be protected as if their life depended on it.

    Even Gabriel didn''t realize it at the moment, but he had really avoided a great risk by not entering the Church of Light without any n. Even though it was true that the Church was at half its usual strength, but that didn''t mean it was easier to infiltrate it now. If anything, now it was much harder.

    When the Church was at its full strength, they were too confident. That also led tocency. But currently, they didn''t want to take any risk since they were weaker. That was also why they had activated all the traps inside the Church, including the defensive mechanisms.

    They were burning so many Spirit Stones to keep all these traps up, but if anyone could afford that, it was them. Currently, it was almost impossible to reach the Holy Grimoire of Light.

    Moreover, the supposed existence of the Ruler of Light inside the Church of Light was also a huge deterrent. No one could afford to verify if the rumors were true since that only meant inevitable death in case the Ruler of Light actually existed.

    Despite all these safety precautions, all the Head Priests of Light were still wary as they watched the barrier shatter.

    They weren''t the only ones though. Around thousands of kilometres away from the Lumen City, a person was standing in the air, gazing in the direction of the Lumen City.

    "The barrier of Light is broken?"

    The young man looked like he was barely in his early twenties, but the aura surrounding him was something that was much more powerful than any Head Priests that Gabriel hade across. If anything, his aura was a lot closer in strength to the Holy Priests.

    The young man was dressed in all ck, having a cloak behind him which had raised cors. The cloak covered his shoulders as well. Not many people knew, but the cloak of this man was also a Numen.

    Not only was it a Numen, but it was a High Tier Numen at that, which was said to protect him from any Magical attack in existence. The Cloak was said to nullify any magic attack that touched him.

    This was also what made the man so formidable. One could argue that he was even more threatening than a Holy Priest, despite having slightly lesser Magical Strength.

    The man had two-toned hair, with the left side of his hair being silver while the rest of his hair was grey.

    "It seems I''m not toote. Eliana didn''t exaggerate," the young-looking manmented, slightly curious. "I suppose it''s time to meet our new guest."

    His figure disappeared into the darkness.

    ****

    The City of Abadon was under constant attack, surrounded by the forces of three Churches. What was worse was that the armies were being led by Two Holy Priests, which made it even more dangerous.

    Despite such a massive force, the Defensive City of Abadon was still standing tall, just proving how strong it was.

    Despite all that, Lambard still didn''t appear to be in a good mood. Their side had suffered heavy losses. What was worse was that all these attacks were long range attacks.

    He had expected the Mages to try to enter the city to attack from inside, but that wasn''t the case.<sub> </sub>

    "Even after all this time, they are still so cautious. They aren''t entering the city." The young maid also realized why Lambard was so upset.

    Lambard smacked his fist on the railing in anger. "It seems they learned a lesson fromst time. They know that we can''t attack them properly when they are outside."

    "If they had entered the city with their full force, they would''ve had a chance to capture us and bring an early closure to the war. But at the same time, we also would''ve had the advantage. We couldn''t hurt them where it hurt the most. But they are too careful!"

    Lambard''s n depended on luring the enemies inside. That''s why he also gave them so many openings to enter the city without making it explicitly clear that those ws in his defense were intentional.

    Despite all that, the enemies weren''t entering the city. The Trap just wasn''t working.

    "The long range attacks have less effect on the city since the barrier, and other defenses neutralize that. That''s also why the city is still standing after so long, but if this continues like this, even I''m not sure when the defensive barrier might be broken."

    Lambard looked up, noticing all the explosions outside the barrier. The attacks were mostlying from the sky.

    "Should I go outside?" The maid asked Lambard for permission. "I should be able to wipe them out."

    "No. It would''ve been a different matter if there weren''t two Rulers of Elements there. But at the moment, even I''m not confident if I can defeat them outside the city. It''s not worth the risk."

    Lambard rejected the suggestion right away. He knew just how capable the woman next to him was, and he didn''t doubt that she could hold her ground against any enemy, but even he didn''t want to take the risk.

    "Then are we to stay here like sitting ducks?" the maid asked, not understanding just what her Master was thinking. "We are running out of time. If we don''t do anything, things might take a turn for the worse."

    Lambard didn''t answer. He just looked in the direction of the massive army outside the city. Time was of the essence, and he knew that he really needed to do something.

    "I suppose there is no choice but to..."

    After a long time, he seemed as if he hade to a decision. All the Numens that were on him started shining as his body started rising in the air.

    ****

    Gabriel had left Lumen City after breaking the barrier. Generally, anyone would''ve worried that they were going to be chased by the Church of Light now that they had broken the barrier, but Gabriel knew that they needed to find him first for that.

    Even if the Church of Light found out where the barrier was first broken, they still couldn''t find him because he had already taken some precautions, changing his direction.

    He intentionally broke the barrier in a direction that he didn''t intend to take, creating a false trail.

    On the contrary, he took an entirely different route, using his Wings of Flight.

    He was done in the city for now. He had already promised himself that he was going to return once he became an Advanced Tier Mage, but before that, there were many things he needed to think about and take care of. After what he saw on the hundredth floor, he realized that there were more important things for him to do first...

    "Hmm?" As Gabriel was flying away from the Lumen City, he noticed a personing toward him from a distance. The person wasn''t chasing him from behind buting from the front.

    Gabriel already had the Ring, so he was sure that his aura wasn''t leaking. He had already purified his Gloves as well, which were hiding his Elemental Marks.

    The person who was flying toward him stopped movement as soon as he entered ten meters range of him.

    Gabriel also stopped. It was clear that the man wasn''t just an ordinary traveler since he recognized that person.

    "I guess I should give you credit for destroying that barrier?" The young-looking man asked, making Gabriel frown.

    ''Dean of Academy of Element, Izen...'' Gabriel had expected him to be thest person that he could meet here, but it was as if the situation was already as bad as it could be for him.

 Chapter 219

    "Interesting... Very Interesting,"Izen observed Gabriel from top to bottom as his eyes shone in a mysterious blue light.

    "Not even a shred of any Elemental Aura, yet you''re flying." To him, it was immediately apparent that Gabriel was the person who broke the Barrier of Light.

    Moreover, he also matched the description that was given for Gabriel in Lia''s letter... A young man who was in his early teens, possessing a Dark Element.

    Another thing that convinced him about Gabriel''s identity was the fact that he wasing from the direction of the city. Not many people would''ve left the city after the Barrier was broken without understanding the entire situation... Unless they were behind breaking the barrier in the first ce.

    "I suppose you''re using a Numen to hide that Aura of yours, and if I''m not wrong, that Numen isn''t one of ours. Lambard, is it? The person who gave you these?"

    He wasn''t sure just how many Numens Gabriel possessed before he entered the Royal Academy of Elements, but one thing which was clear was that he was now in possession of all the Numens from the Academy of Elements along with his own Numens.

    If Izen were to guess, he could''ve readily epted that, at the moment, Gabriel was the person who possessed the most Numens in the entire world, even more than Lambard.

    Even Gabriel realized that the situation was a mess. He had faced off against Cylix and Novius. The two were definitely strong, but Izen had lived for a really long time.

    Unlike the younger version of Izen, who was on the 99th Floor, this Izen was the real deal. He had gone through a proper growth, learning more magic, mastering his spells, and eventually bing the Dean of the Academy.

    It was clear that he was still nothing before the two founders of the Academy at their peak, but the thirty years old versions of the two Founders inside the Tower weren''t the same. This Izen was stronger than anyone he saw inside the Tower.

    "Izen Lazarik." Gabriel clenched his fist. His expressions were more or less constant, but in his eyes, there were a lot of emotions that wereing through, including concern.

    He didn''t want to have to fight anyone around this time, at least not Izen or any Holy Priest.

    "Oh? You know my full name?" Izen was quite impressed that Gabriel knew hisplete name. He hadn''t told anyone hisplete name, at least not in the Academy, so it was quite interesting for him that Gabriel was able to know.

    Initially, he would''ve thought that it was because Gabriel used some mind-reading spell on him, but that was impossible. His robe not only protected him from all Magical Spells but also fortified his mind from mental attacks. There was no way anyone could read his mind or see what he was thinking.

    "Anyway, it doesn''t matter how you know. What matters is that you''ll being back with me to the Academy. I''m sure you''ll have a lot to answer there."

    Now that Izen was here, there was no way he was going to let Gabriel leave. And defeating him was a headache even for an experienced Holy Priest, let alone Gabriel. Still, he wasn''t going to surrender here!"

    "What if I say no?" Gabriel went down in altitude,nding on the ground.

    Izen alsonded on the ground, a short distance away from Gabriel.

    "I''m afraid you don''t have any choice in the matter." Like a surreal expert, Izen stood with his hands behind his back.<sub> </sub>

    "You will have toe with us, even if you don''t want to," Another sentence came, but this time from the back.

    Gabriel looked back, noticing another Izen behind him. There were two Izen.

    "If you resist, then we''ll have to use force to bring you back." The voice was heard again, but this time,ing from the left.

    There was another Izen!

    "No matter what you do, we''ll be taking you back." Another one! A fourth Izen appeared on his right.

    "Now it''s on you to decide if you want to surrender peacefully or force my hand."

    "If it''s thetter, it would be quite bad for you."

    One after another, the voices multiplied as there were over twenty people surrounding from all sides, forcing a circle of ten meters radius with Gabriel at the center.

    There were so many Izen, and it was impossible to find out which of them was the real one. It was certainly a Spell of Light, but it was wless! Every Izen here had an entirely identical aura.

    Even if he tried to attack one of them, it wasn''t clear if that one was going to be real.

    Gabriel had already used Paradise of Darkness once, so using it again was definitely more burden on his soul, but that was the only spell he could think of at the moment which covered such arge area.

    If it was just one person, he could''ve used his Wrath of the Dead, but with so many, it was only a waste of his most powerful spell.

    Eventually, he realized that he had no choice in the matter. If he didn''t want to waste his spells, he needed to use the Paradise of Darkness. The Domain spell gave him control of arger area and also increased his senses while weakening the senses of the enemy.

    He used the Wordless Chant to cast the Paradise of Darkness.

    A Dark Mist started rising from the ground, covering the surroundings. The Domain of Gabriel had returned, even though it was taking some heavy toll on Gabriel at the moment.

    "Hmm? This spell?" Izen was taken aback as soon as he saw the mist. It wasn''t because he was scared of this spell, but it was more of an astonishment since he had seen that spell being used before!

    Unlike Eliana and the Head Council Members, who couldn''t recognize this spell, Izen was different. In his younger days, when he was still allowed to enter the Tower of Challenges, he had managed to reach the 99th floor.

 Chapter 220

    It was at that ce where he faced Novius. It was a sound and thorough defeat. He didn''t evenst there for two minutes before being defeated, and the biggest contribution to that defeat belonged to the Paradise of Darkness. He couldn''t even fight back in this Domain.

    Even aftering out of the Tower after losing, he didn''t tell anyone about what happened inside the Tower.

    "How do you know the Lost Spell of the Founder?" Izen asked Gabriel, surprised to see the young man use the spell.

    "He taught me," Gabriel answered. "Maybe because you''ve all thoroughly disappointed him."

    "I see. So that''s the case." For some reason, Izen didn''t doubt Gabriel''s words. It was a known fact that Novius never taught this spell to anyone in the world outside. He never wrote the spell anywhere either. The spell was always only in his head.

    It wasn''t impossible to see that he could''ve taught that spell to Gabriel.

    "I suppose you already told him about the situation of his lineage?" The only question left was why Izen would teach him this spell, and Gabriel''s words already answered that.

    Even when he went inside the Towerst time, he was careful enough not to tell them what happened to the Dark Mages outside, but it appeared as if Gabriel had told them. No wonder they were upset. Izen could also see why they would teach Gabriel that spell.

    Gabriel was supposed to be the Holy Priest of Darkness and one of the few Mages of Darkness remaining. Novius certainly wasn''t going to let him die as well. If anything, he taught this spell to Gabriel so he could protect himself.

    Gabriel was also a dark Mage, so he also had an affinity with the spell, so it wasn''t too shocking.

    "I must say, that spell is really good. I myself lost to that spell, but times are different now. Despite my looks, I am not going anymore. I''ve had decades of time to prepare and train myself, so I would never find myself in a simr situation again."

    Despite being in the middle of the Paradise of Darkness, Izen didn''t look scared. If anything, he was only amused. It was as if he was sure that this spell was harmless to him for some reason.

    Dark Shackles came out of the ground to trap Izen while Gabriel disappeared in the dark mist.

    ? The Shackles wrapped around Izen''s wrists and ankles, only to shatter as soon as they touched his body. Even Gabriel, who was hiding in the darkness about to attack, was stunned. Izen hadn''t used any spell yet he broke the Shackles? How?

    A Dark Spear came out of the ground, attacking Izen, but as soon as it touched Izen, it also turned into specks of light and disappeared.

    It was impossible to see just what was happening. It was the first time Gabriel was seeing such a phenomenon. It was as if no matter what, Izen was immune to his Dark Paradise.

    "If it was anyone else other than me, the spell could''ve helped you win. Unfortunately, the tricks are useless before me." Izen''s eyes shone mysteriously as he looked to his left.<sub> </sub>

    The other Izens also looked in Gabriel''s direction as if they were all able to see him even in the Dark Mist.

    Gabriel didn''t know what those eyes were, but it was clear that they helped Izen see through things. He used those same eyes to try to see his aura, and now this.

    Three of the twenty Izens moved at the same time. Gabriel turned into a Shadow, switching ces. He appeared in a different ce, but even there, he wasn''t safe as another clone of Izen attacked him even there.

    "Darkbolt!" Gabriel raised his left hand and attacked. Unfortunately, even his dark bolt disappeared as soon as it touched Izen. He wasn''t harmed in the least.

    Gabriel flew back, ending up in the same ce as before. His face was filled with questions. He had no idea what was happening here. Why were his spells not working on Izen? Just what was this secret?

    "As I said, if it was someone else, it might''ve worked, but unfortunately, you ended up with the wrong enemy. All your spells are useless against me as they can''t even touch me. Let alone me; they can''t even touch any of my Clones."

    Gabriele knew that something like this should''ve been impossible. There was no way Izen could be immune to magic spells. ording to him, that could only mean one thing...

    "You are using a Numen."

    "Hoh?" Izen was slightly impressed that Gabriel had managed to guess the secret even though he hadn''t clearly spoken about that Numen. "Not bad. Very perceptive."

    "You''re right. It''s all thanks to a Numen. No matter which spell you use, they don''t affect me. At least I haven''te across a spell that could bypass the defense of my Numen to harm me." Izen confessed now that Gabriel had managed to guess.

    He could''ve denied it and lied, but he didn''t see any need to. Even if Gabriel knew about it, he couldn''t do anything. Moreover, even if Gabriel knew that he had a Numen, which item of his was that specific Numen was another impossible task to find.

    "A Numen that cancels all forms of Magic." It sounded impossible. If Gabriel hadn''t seen it with his own eyes, even he would''ve found it hard to believe, but now that he did, it was certainly as true as it could be.

    At the end of the day, his Dark Paradise was also a Spell, along with the mist. No matter which spell he used, Izen was unharmed. If that wasn''t proof enough, then he didn''t know what was.

    Gabriel clenched his fist. "I see. So spells are useless on you. But what about physical attacks?"

    He didn''t want to lose even here. So what if he couldn''t use magic spells to hurt Izen? All he had to do was change strategy, and that''s what he did as he called out a blood-red Sword!

 Chapter 221

    A Numen that could nullify all Magical Attacks was something that not many people in the world even considered the possibility of existing.

    Only a few people knew about a Numen like that, and Lambard was amongst those people. Amongst the treasures that Lambard had been craving throughout the years, the Cape of Nullification was at the top of his list.

    It was one of the Highest Tier Numens in existence, holding an even higher grade than the Protective City of Abadon that Lambard possessed. Not getting the Cape of Nullification before Izen could get his hand on it was the biggest regret of his life which he couldn''t change.

    "If only I had received it before that man, I wouldn''t have to worry even when facing the Holy Priests. If only I were a little faster there!" Lambard flew high in the sky, stopping right under the barrier of his city. From there, he could see the entire battlefield.

    He could see the two Holy Priestesses in the distance. A pendant around his neck started shining as he used one of his Numens.

    "Elora, are you sure you want to attack me? Even after all the help, I provided you? Talking about a traitor, you should be the biggest one! Only a few weeks ago, you were enjoying our hospitality, and now you are trying to destroy the same city?"

    Thanks to his Numen, his voice managed to reach far and wide. Every person on the battlefield heard his words, momentarily stopping their attacks.

    Elora squinted her eyes. "You mean before you had Ruyi killed by the Dark Mages that you worked with?"

    Unlike Lambard, Elora didn''t need any Numen to get her words across. "You have not only betrayed our trust, but you''ve also betrayed humanity! And we can''t forgive you for that!"

    "Betrayed humanity? Such heavy words! You think anything that doesn''t happen ording to your wishes is a betrayal of humanity?" Lambard scoffed in response. "Elora, heed my words carefully. No matter how much you attack or what force you bring, you can never bring this city down!"

    "As for you!" He shifted his attention to the second Holy Priestess. "Thalia, the Ruler of Lightning. I expected Elora to be a coward, but your cowardice certainly came as a surprise. You''re even afraid of entering my city to kill me, and you all talk big about destroying this city? How preposterous!"

    "You!" Thalia was already very impulsive, and the words of Lambard only angered her more. "If that''s what you want, I''ll kill you right this instant!"

    Lightning flickered around Thalia as she rose in the air, flying straight to the city.

    ''Heh, as easy as taking candy from a child!'' Even though Lambard didn''t show it, he was quite happy that Thalia took his bait. If she truly came inside the city, he could actually find ways to destroy her, weakening the enemies and scaring them off.

    "Wait!"

    It was as if Elora could see what Lambard was trying to do. She appeared before Thalia, blocking her path, so she didn''t fall for the trick. Elora was much younger than Thalia, but she was certainly more mature and less impulsive.

    She understood the situation much better and knew just how cunning Lambard was. There was no way he would''ve asked them toe in if there was even the slightest chance of his defeat in that.<sub> </sub>

    "Don''t fall for his trick. He''s trying to instigate you!" Elora eximed. "Just think about it. He''s forced to address us and use such cheap tactics to bring us inside the city. Why would he do it if he wasn''t worried?! That must mean that our attacks are working, and the city''s Barrier could be broken anytime now! Don''t fall for it!"

    Lambard was slightly taken aback by Elora, who managed to guess his intentions. Still, he didn''t give in. "Yes, find excuses for your cowardice."

    "As I said before, you can use any excuse you want. It won''t hide the fact that you are cowards. Take my suggestion. Keep attacking from outside the city and after a month or so, when you get tired, leave. In any case, you won''t be entering the city."

    Lambard''s amused waves ofughter echoed on the battlefield as he expressed his carefully decided words to send a subtle message.

    He went down again,nding back on the balcony next to his maid.

    His amused expression disappeared, turning into a grim face as soon as hended away from the view of his enemies.

    He entered his room, sitting on a throne studded in gems as he waited for the two Holy Priestesses toe to a decision. Even though he wanted them to enter the city, he was ready for any decision. He just preferred one over the other since that was better in the long run.

    "He can''t do anything to me even if I enter the city. I''ll kill him from the inside! That man has grown too arrogant! It''s time I bring him back to his ce!" Thalia eximed, holding her Ancestral Staff of Lightning firmly.

    "I know you can defeat him, but we shouldn''t forget the past. The City of Abaddon is said to be a Numen which makes him even stronger as long as he''s inside the city."

    "It doesn''t matter. Even when he''s being supported by the city, I''ll defeat him!" Thalia was still upset over being called a coward. Still, it wasn''t that she wanted to throw her life over an insult. She genuinely believed that she could not only protect herself inside the city but also defeat Lambard.

    "We shouldn''t forget that he isn''t alone there. It''s most certainly a trap!" Elora also held onto her position firmly, trying to bring Thalia out of her impulse. "The Ruler of Darkness might be hiding inside. Ruyi made the mistake of underestimating them, and she paid the price with her life. I don''t want them to seed again!"

    "We should stick to our initial n! Even though the City of Abadon is a powerful Numen, before our attacks, even it shouldn''t be able tost long. I''m sure we are close, and that''s why he is getting nervous! Once we took their protection from them, they would be no more than the sitting ducks for us!"

    "Arghh! Fine! I''ll wait longer!" Thalia took a deep breath before she flew back,nding in her ce. She resumed her usual long-distance attacks on the city.

    "How disappointing." Lambard could only sigh in response as he watched the attacks resume. It was clear that his instigation didn''t work! These people were just too stubborn.

    "I really wanted to avoid it, but they left me no choice. What a waste... After all these years, for them to force my hand...."

    A scary silence filled the entire room.

 Chapter 222

    Gabriel stood before Izen, holding a demonic red sword. The sword had a strange red luminescence as if it had been bathed in blood many times before, only to now belong to Gabriel.

    "The Sword of Ulien, also known as the bloodthirsty sword which can even slice through the hardest of metal without any trouble." Izen nodded without much surprise at the sight of the Sword. "Not a bad Sword, but I''m afraid it belongs to the Academy. You''ll have to return it."

    He didn''t have a hard time recognizing the sword since it was discovered by him in the first ce. He was the person who personally ced that Sword in the Museum of Elements.

    Gabriel held the sword''s hilt firmly. He couldn''t defeat Izen with his spells, but Izen could still use his spells on him. That meant he was fighting a Magician as a Swordsman. If that were the only problem, he still would''ve been fine with it, but that was the least of it.

    There were many major problems before him. Firstly, he still didn''t know which of the twenty was the real Izen since all the clones could use the same Magic and had the same aura.

    "This is yourst chance, young man. If you decide to attack me now, there is no going back. If you surrender now, I promise you won''t die. But if you..."

    "If I fight you, I''ll be killed?" Gabriel finished Izen''s sentence. "I can''t die yet. I can''t surrender either. So I''ll have to reject both of your offers."

    "You don''t have a choice in the matter."

    "There''s always a choice." Gabriel took a deep breath. It didn''t matter who he was facing. He couldn''t afford to lose. Novius and Cylix died at his hands to help him progress. He had to keep on living even if it was for them.

    He couldn''t die here. If he died, then all their training and their deaths were going to be for nothing. He couldn''t let their deaths go to waste. Even if it was the hardest battle of his life, he had to win!

    "I see." Izen was hoping that Gabriel was going to surrender after realizing that there was no hope of victory, but as he saw the determination in Gabriel''s eyes, he received his answer. No words had to be said.

    Since the Paradise of Darkness was useless on Izen, Gabriel canceled the spell. Usually, he would''ve cast the Night of Darkness in a situation like this to make sure that the enemies couldn''t see his attack, but he was sure that it was going to be useless as well.

    He couldn''t weaken his enemies. Since his Spells couldn''t affect Izen, he used them on the one that they could still affect. He used those spells on himself, casting spells to boost his strength, speed, defense, and stamina.

    As soon as he was done, he selected a target out of the twenty. He flew to the closest Izen, intending to destroy them one after another until he found the right one.

    "Too slow even now." Even as Izen saw Gabriel get close to him, he could only shake his head in response.

    He simply snapped his finger, casting a small spell.

    Boom~

    A sphere of light appeared right before Gabriel, exploding as soon as he got close to it.

    Gabriel cast a shield before him at thest moment, but to get the shield faster; he couldn''t cast a stronger one. The shield also shattered as Gabriel''s body flew back.

    Boom~

    Another explosion urred as Gabriel''s body was still in the air, hitting straight in his back, sending him flying ahead.<sub> </sub>

    Gabriel couldn''t even control his body as the Explosions kept targeting him, not even giving him a chance to bnce himself.

    It was certainly not the work of one person. It was as if all the clones were working independently while sharing the same thoughts. That also allowed them to cast more than one spell at the same time. It was really no different than fighting twenty powerful mages.

    If Gabriel weren''t wearing the clothes that he received from his Ancestral Staff of Necromancy, all his clothes would''ve been burned to ashes.

    Unfortunately, even with those clothes that weakened the impact of the attacks, the damage wasn''t entirely nullified.

    Gabriel felt the burn all over his body which made him groan in pain.

    "As I told you before, you stand no chance against me. To defeat me, you can only use physical attacks. But tond an attack on me, you first need to get close to me, which is impossible for you."

    Izen wasn''t exaggerating either since this was Gabriel''s only path to victory. He had to get closer to Izen... The real one. But how?

    First, he needed to escape the chains of explosions. Even as he was in such pain, he thought of a way.

    ''Dark Manifestation!''

    He used the Dark Manifestation, making him invincible for a few seconds, finally escaping the chains of Explosion as his bodynded on the ground.

    From what he had observed, those spheres of Light were invisible and stationery. As long as he didn''t hit them, he could avoid being hurt. Unfortunately, by now, he was sure that the entire battlefield was covered in them.

    Wiping the blood off his lips, Gabriel pushed his body up. He was back in the encirclement of Izen, right at the center.

    His clothes were covered in blood already. The attack took a hefty toll on him. It was as if Izen had calcted everything, from the strength of the impact to the direction his body was going to fly. At times, it even felt as if Izen could predict his future movements.

    That kind of spell should''ve been impossible to execute for any ordinary Mage of Light, but when there were twenty such mages, the difficulty certainly came down a lot.

    "Holy Heal." He ced his hand on his chest, casting a healing spell. He couldn''t fight with the condition his body was in unless he healed himself first.

    "Hmm? A holy spell?" Until now, Gabriel had only used the spells of Darkness. That''s why Izen was so surprised to see him use the Holy Heal of Light.

    "How are you using that?" he asked, quite surprised. "As a Dark Mage, you shouldn''t be able to use that."

    "There are many things that we shouldn''t be able to do. Yet we are doing," Gabriel answered, slightly sarcastic. He was quite upset after what he went through, and he still had no idea how to get close to Izen... At least for now.

    He knew that if he couldn''t get close to Izen, he had no chance of winning it. At worst, he could be killed right here if he didn''t find a way¡­

 Chapter 223

    The only way to get out of this situation was to get close to Izen and destroy all the clones. Unfortunately, that was the real troublesome part.

    He didn''t know just what this Numen was that Izen was using, but the effects of that Numen were even covering all his clones, making them immune to all the magic as well.

    The Numen was amazing and even he wanted something like that, but taking that was looking like an impossible task since he had to defeat Izen first.

    "A dark mage who can use the spells of Light? The spell that you used was certainly not an illusion as far as I can see. That would mean that you..." Izen''s gaze lowered, resting on Gabriel''s gloves.

    Even with his mystic eyes, he wasn''t able to see through those gloves and that''s what made him so suspicious. A man who was hiding his Elemental Aura along with his hands that had the Elemental Mark that he had received. Both of that seemed to make sense if he was trying to hide something from others.

    "You have awakened with Light and Darkness?" he asked, no matter how impossible it sounded. If that was the case, it could exin why Gabriel was trying to hide it and trying to not use the Element of Light unless forced.

    Gabriel didn''t answer right away, even though Izen was more or less correct.

    ''If I try to get close to him like before, he''ll use the same spell to attack me. All those explosives might already be in ce, just waiting for me to move. Attacking him from the front doesn''t seem like an option. From the back?''

    Escaping from Izen was almost impossible since Izen was probably only faster than him who was a Mid Tier Mage who was only weaker once all his spells were made ineffective.

    "If you''re not going to attack, allow me the opportunity. We should start finishing up." One of the twenty Izen disappeared, appearing right behind Gabriel, reaching out his hand which was shining in a mysterious light.

    "Not so soon!" Gabriel turned around, swinging his sword with full strength. He still had some awareness of his surroundings and his sense of danger.

    His Sword sliced through the wind but it was unable to find Izen who had again disappeared. Gabriel''s face turned grim as he realized that Izen had again disappeared. He could feel the same sense of danger from the back now, but before he could even stop his attack, a cold handnded on his back.

    Boom~

    Gabriel felt as if a powerful bomb had exploded right next to him, burning his skin again. The explosive momentum sent him flying ahead.

    Gabriel had tried to fight as a Warrior inside the Tower of Challenges as well, but that was mostly against ordinary mages. Most of the time in important battles, he relied on his magic. Rendering his magic useless was exploiting the weakness that he never knew existed.

    The back of his clothes was once again covered in blood, but the clothes were still unharmed. If one was to look at the condition of his clothes, they never could''ve guessed that Gabriel''s body was so badly burned.

    Thousands of Swords made purely of the Energy of Light appeared in the direction he was uncontrobly flying in, all aiming at him.

    "Maelstrom!" He cast an explosive spell but this time, he didn''t attack the enemy. He used the spell on himself, making it hit his own chest, having no choice. Controlling his body''s momentum at the moment was impossible, at least without any external factors.

    The Maelstrom was a spell of his own, so it couldn''t hurt him, but it could still create a pressure of wind around him.

    Just as he nned, a wind pressure was created around him as soon as the Maelstrom hit him, stopping the forward momentum.

    Not only did his forward momentum slow down, but it also gave him more control over his own body, helping him bnce himself.

    Instead of hitting the Swords of Light, he changed his direction and flew straight up into the sky, using his Wings of Light.

    The battlefield was too dangerous for him unless he found a way.

    "Arghh!" Gabriel was flying up to get a moment to breathe and gather his thoughts, but he hit something.<sub> </sub>

    Even he hadn''t realized it before but there was an invisible dome shaped barrier around them which prevented him from leaving the zone. It was only when his body touched the barrier that it momentarily became visible.

    Not only did the barrier stop Gabriel, but it also sent a burning sensation inside his body, giving him even more pain. It was something simr to being electrocuted, but not quite.

    Gabriel was weakened even more as his Wings of Flight disappeared on their own, sending him falling down.

    Thud~

    Gabriel dropped to the ground, making the group tremble for a moment with the impact. He didn''t know what that barrier was, but it was as if the barrier targeted his soul directly, taking whatever bit of strength he had left.

    There was only one light in the darkness for him and it was that he still hadn''t lost consciousness.

    He brought out a Soul Healing Pill, even though moving his hand was proving to be a hard task in itself.

    Since his Soul was already so exhausted, it was as if his body was also giving up on him. Even though with a trembling hand, Gabriel brought the Soul Healing Pill closer to his mouth.

    Kick~

    One of the twenty Izen appeared next to Gabriel, kicking his hand to send the pill flying in the distance.

    The pill fell around twenty meters away from Gabriel.

    Another Izen pickled to the pull, slightly intrigued. "A Soul Healing Pill? I thought these things went extinct. You are certainly quite resourceful, aren''t you?"

    "Let''s see how resourceful you can be when you''re inside our prison."

    Gabriel clenched his fist. His body was very weak, but his anger was at its peak. He didn''t want to give in now.

    Even though his soul waspletely exhausted, he still pushed his body up.

    Izen could only smile in response, watching the young man stand up again, even though he clearly had no chance against him.

    "You won''t ept defeat, will you?" Izen asked, shaking his head in disappointment.

    "Not until I will." Gabriel answered as he ced whateverst bit of strength he had inside his onest attack as he swung his Sword, using his most powerful strike.

    Izen disappeared again before the strike could even hit him, making the attack miss. Weakened, Gabriel couldn''t control himself anymore as he dropped to his knees.

    Izen appeared behind Gabriel. "Since you won''t surrender, let me knock you out first then."

    He raised his right hand. "Oh Goddess of Light, I-"

    "Hmm?" Izen was chanting a spell, but he stopped in the middle as his face went slightly serious. He turned around, looking in the back, feeling a new presence.

 Chapter 224

    Izen had already taken note of Gabriel''s resistance. It was clear that the boy wasn''t going to give up, at least not until he was knocked outpletely.

    That''s exactly what he decided to do as he started casting a spell, only to stop midway, sensing a strange presence in the back... The presence wasn''t weak either... If anything, it was very powerful now that he thought about it

    Not only him, but all other Izen also looked in that direction.

    Even Gabriel was surprised as he felt that presence.

    "How...? How could he be here? And why...?" he muttered under his breath, not understanding anything.

    In the distance, there was a beautiful red formation on the ground that appeared like a summoning spell. Strangely enough, Gabriel hadn''t cast any summoning spell. He had promised someonest time that after he cleared the Tower, he wasn''t going to Summon that person for at least a week.

    That''s why, even now he was hesitating in calling that person. He didn''t use his Summoning skill. Then how was he here? Did hee on his own? Could he even do that? There were many questions on Gabriel''s face as he turned around, looking at the formation in the distance.

    Within a few seconds, a man waspletely visible. It was also clear that this aura belonged to him.

    Gabriel could feel the warmth spread all around. The temperature had suddenly be very hot with the arrival of that being.

    ****

    [A few moments ago]

    [The Realm of Dead]

    The Infernal King had just finished letting out his anger on the Damphirs who dared to attack his horse. In his anger, he went straight to the Kingdom of Damphirs.

    Amongst all the Undead Kingdoms, the Damphirs were the Weakest and also had a really low numberpared to other Kingdoms, but despite that, it was unheard of that one person was able to destroy an entire Kingdom alone.

    The Infernal King stood outside the Royal City of the Damphirs, watching the entire city burn in beautiful blue mes that made the sight look even more beautiful.

    "Those who attack the ones I hold dear... They shall pay."

    It took him only a week to destroy this entire Kingdom. It was a good thing that the other Kingdoms didn''t try to interfere in the war. It was unclear what would''ve happened if they did, but for now, it was a swift victory of the Infernal King which made his name even more prominent in the Realm of the Dead.

    The Kingdom was destroyed and all that was left for him was to watch the kingdom burn, but as he was enjoying the sight, he also had an uneasy feeling for some reason.

    He didn''t know what that feeling was, but it was as if he needed to be somewhere urgently. It was as if he didn''t hurry, it was going to be very bad.

    "Is he in... trouble?" He wondered, looking in the distant horizon.

    ****

    A man stood on the barrennd, surrounded by the aura of death. His eyes burned brightly as he observed his surroundings.

    It didn''t take him long before he found Gabriel, sitting on his knees in the distance. He was surrounded from all sides by men who all looked alike.<sub> </sub>

    Gabriel didn''t even have enough Spiritual Strength to be able to cast aplete spell of healing. The wounds on his face and body were clearly visible as well. The only good thing was that he was still safe and conscious.

    The Infernal King clenched his fist as he started walking toward Gabriel.

    "I don''t know who you are, but your aura reeks of something evil. Drop to your knees and surrender. We would allow you to live," Izen warned the Infernal King. It was his policy to warn an enemy first before going all out.

    The Infernal King didn''t heed to the warning. He simply raised his right hand.

    "Burn." Only one word came out of his mouth.

    Surprisingly enough, that one word was enough to make Izen''s body burn in deep blue mes. Before he could even react, his body burned to ashes, disappearing.

    One of the Twenty Izens were killed, but the others still existed which made Gabriel assured that the real Izen was still alive. He was also the most powerful out of them all since all the clones only had a fraction of his strength. He was also sure that the real Izen hadn''t even made a move since the beginning.

    "Hmm?" All Izen were slightly surprised, watching one of the clones burn. "Our Numen makes it impossible for any Magical Spell to hurt us. That means your fire..."

    Gabriel also came to the same conclusion. The Infernal King wasn''t using any spell. Even though he was also called the Sorcerer King, he wasn''t really a mage.

    The mes that he used weren''t a spell, they were his Bloodline ability! That meant they were able to pass the defenses of the Numen that protected Izen from all the Magical Attacks.

    It appeared as if the tides had turned in their favor, but still not entirely since Izen was yet to make a move.

    "I need to help him as well!" Gabriel called out another Soul Healing Pill to heal his Soul now that everyone else was distracted.

    Unfortunately, now that the Soul Healing Pill was in his hand, he couldn''t do anything with it since his hands weren''t listening to him. It was as if his hands had turned into a stone, unable to move.

    "The Hundredth Floor was right... My body is weak. If I don''t hurry there..." Gabriel looked at his hands. He could never forget what he found out on the Hundredth Floor which made him understand himself more.

    He knew that it wasn''t just an ordinary phenomenon that was happening. It had much deeper routes and that''s why he was in a hurry to leave the City and avoid more battles if possible.

    Unfortunately, the situation didn''t allow it.

    "Come on... Listen to me!" Gabriel ced all his strength, just to raise his hand now. He needed to use the Soul Healing Pill if he wanted to fight back now. He could even heal his soul normally with time, but time was what hecked.

    He didn''t give up and kept putting more and more effort in raising his hand.

    "I am not this weak! No! I refuse to give up!"

    He let his body lose momentarily before trying again. The only thing he changed was that he closed his eyes this time.

    Surprisingly, he was finally able to move his hand. It was still heavy and for him, it was like he was a child who was lifting a heavy hammer, but he didn''t care! The battle was just beginning¡­

 Chapter 225

    Just trying to move his hand was a task in itself, making Gabriel look up asionally, wondering just what kind of Barrier it was that hit him. He was already on the weaker side recently, but the barrier sucked even more of his strength as soon as he shed with it.

    Fortunately, he was still able to move his hand eventually, finally cing a Soul Healing Pill in his mouth before lowering his hands again.

    He didn''t try standing up yet, letting the pill take effect. Moreover, since the Infernal King was already here, that meant things were getting better.

    Izen was the worst enemy for him due to his Magical Immunity Numen, but that wasn''t the case for the Infernal King who wasn''t using magic.

    "Careful! There is a barrier around us! As soon as you touch it, you''ll be weakened!" Since Gabriel already had a sh with the barrier, he had a rough idea as to how much of an area the barrier was covering. It had be visible for a few minutes right after he hit it.

    Unlike him, he believed the Infernal King had no idea about that barrier as the barrier only came into effect when people tried to pass through it and not attack.

    Hearing the warning, the Infernal King momentarily stopped, barely a few inches away from the barrier.

    "I wonder just what exactly you are... You look like a human, but there''s something about you that doesn''t add up. That aura which is covering you... It disgusts me." Izen was still quite curious about the identity of the person who arrived here.

    The spell formation that was used was slightly different from the summoning formation that he was used to.

    The Infernal King didn''t answer the man. Instead, he just raised his hand, cing them on the barrier which was right before him. Just as Gabriel had expected, the barrier came into existence and tried to steal the life energy of the Infernal King as well to weaken him just like it did with Gabriel.

    The Infernal King just tilted his head, slightly confused. He could feel nothing from the barrier. He wasn''t weakened at all. If anything, it was no more than an ordinary banner for him.

    The phenomenon even surprised Izen. He didn''t realize that it was because the Infernal King had no life energy at all. Because of that, the barrier couldn''t take anything from him. It was reduced to an ordinary barrier for him.

    Now that the barrier was visible to him, a dark fire started burning around his hand which was on the barrier. Surprisingly, the me started spreading all around the barrier, as if taking over it. For a moment, Gabriel and Izen were covered in a dome of mes as the fire covered the entire Barrier, destroying it.

    Even Izen''s Barrier couldn''t resist the Infernal King''s mes and eventually broke, removing all resistance. There was no restriction anymore. The mes also disappeared along with the barrier, opening up the battlefield.

    The Infernal King walked closer to Gabriel, who was still on his knees. Izen didn''t try to stop him and just watched his actions. For some reason, he was really intrigued with the identity of this person.

    "A mage? No, what he used wasn''t magic. A Summoned Being? No, they would''ve been stopped by the barrier. Then what...?"

    In the meantime, the Infernal King stopped before Gabriel, reaching out his hand to help Gabriele.

    "You didn''t call me here," he stated, breaking his silence.

    "I could''ve handled it myself. It was all within my control," Gabriel answered, for some reason not epting that he needed help. However, he couldn''t help but tell the real reason as well after a momentary pause. "Also, I promised you I won''t. I''m done breaking a promise with you."<sub> </sub>

    He reached out his hand, holding the hands of the Infernal King who helped him up.

    Even as Gabriel stood up, he still didn''t look like he was at his best. A lot of his life energy was sucked by the barrier, which left him weakened. The Soul Healing Pills only healed his soul, but his life energy was a different matter altogether.

    "You are hurt," Infernal King stated, noticing Gabriel covered in blood. Gabriel didn''t even have time to heal himself this time.

    "This much is nothing. I can still fight." Gabriel responded, not giving in. He knew that with the Infernal King''s help, they had a real chance of winning.

    The Infernal King didn''t listen to him, simply stating, "No you can''t. I can sense it... Your life energy is weak. If you don''t stop, things might get really bad for you. I''ll take care of them."

    "I''ll be fine. Just letting the Soul Healing Pill take effect," Gabriel answered. He knew just what the reputation of Izen was. With the amount of strength he was supposed to possess, even for the Infernal King, it wasn''t easy to defeat him... At least not the real him.

    The Clones of Izen could use his strength, but only a small portion of it. They were also weaker than the real one. The only advantages they had was that they shared the effect of Izen''s Numens and that they could use the same spell that Izen knew.

    "One of them is the real one. All the others are clones. If we kill the real one, others should disappear as well. But finding the real one... That''s the problem."

    Defeating Izen cameter. First, they had to find him and that was the problematic part.

    "A problem which isn''t a problem at all," The Infernal King raised his right hand. "Why find the real one when we can destroy all of them."

    He ced his hand on the ground.

    Boom~

    Dark blue mes rose from the group, covering his surroundings in an instant.

    The battlefield changed to a pit of fire in an instant. The Infernal King made sure that the mes didn''t even touch Gabriel. As for himself, his own mes couldn''t hurt him.

    Gabriel could only see the mes in his surroundings. Even he wondered if this was the right way. Could it actually work?Was Izen really going to be destroyed with this? Everything was going to be revealed soon, but for some reason, he didn''t believe it was that simple.

    Just as he expected, as the mes disappeared, the scorched battlefield was once again revealed to the naked eye. There were neen Izens before, of which eighteen were clones. However, there were only eighteen left now. One was missing...

    Gabriel turned to his left, realizing that even the Infernal King wasn''t there anymore¡­

 Chapter 226

    Izen had already seen the Infernal King use his mes to destroy one of his Clones. And with everything else that he sawter, it was clear that the mes weren''t made using any magic.

    That could only mean that they were the real Bloodline abilities of the Infernal King. As much as he didn''t want to believe that the Infernal King was a summoned beast, he knew he had to treat him like one. He couldn''t leave everything to his Numen which was ineffective against the Infernal King''s mes.

    As soon as the Infernal King attacked again, the real Izen took action. This time, he didn''t leave everything to luck and cast his strongest Barrier around him and all his clones, one that could especially stop the Infernal mes.

    A Magical Barrier covered all his clones and even the real him, protecting them all from the mes. Even though the Barrier did weaken due to the mes, looking like it was going to break soon, the barrier did manage to survive the initial attack, maybe because the Infernal King didn''t go all out, expecting this to be enough.

    Even as he stood in the fire, protected by only a barrier, Izen only had a single thought...

    ''This guy is more of a threat than Gabriel. If I let him stay here, he would destroy all my clones. I need to get him away from here and leave Gabriel to my Clones. He is much more helpless against my Numen, so he should be easy for them to take down and drag back to the city. In the meantime, I''ll handle that... Thing."

    As soon as the mes stopped, real Izen made a move, appearing right behind the Infernal King.

    The Infernal King also sensed the presence, attacking as well.

    Izen blocked the attack with a Magical Barrier as a formation circle activated under the two of them. Both of them disappeared from the battlefield.

    Real Izen decided to deal with the Infernal King personally, taking down this beast forever. As for Gabriel, he was left alone with Eighteen Izen Clones, back in the same problem.

    "Now that I''ve dragged your friend away, what now?" One of the Clones asked. "He won''t being back anytime soon. At Least not alive."

    Gabriel clenched his fist, understanding what was happening. He was sure that Izen wasn''t stupid enough to send a clone after the Internal King. That meant everyone else who was left behind was a clone.

    At least now he knew who the real one was, but he still had to face the rest of them, and in his weakened condition.

    Gabriel nced at his hands, slightly thoughtful. "If I could, I wanted to avoid it... But..."

    ****

    [A few days ago...]

    The Hundredth Floor was a ce that everyone dreamed of reaching. Gabriel finally managed to make this a reality as he stepped on the hundredth floor after sacrificing Cyclix and Novius.

    Before stepping on the floor, even he had his own imagination as to what he was going to find. On one hand, he thought he was going to meet more enemies. On the other hand, he expected to find lots of treasures on the top floor... Treasures that were said to hold incredible powers.

    He expected a lot, but reality was often disappointed as he realized when he reached the top floor.

    Unlike the lower floors, the top floor was much smaller. It had no monsters. It wasn''t filled with treasures either. If anything, the top floor of the tower looked slightly identical to the top floor of the tower that he saw in his dream when he lost his consciousness in the Prison of Darkness of Lira.<sub> </sub>

    The only difference was that there was no crack on the door and there were no windows inside the tower.

    After seeing this floor, he was convinced of one thing. Both the towers were made by the same people and there was a possibility that there were more of such towers spread out in this world.

    The top floor of the Tower was more or less empty. There was only one thing that Gabriel found interesting... There was a ten foot tall mirror in the centre of the hall, showing him his reflection.

    The mirror looked very ordinary but there was something strange about it as well. For some reason, the mirror didn''t look old at all. The entire hall was filled with dust as if it wasn''t cleaned for centuries, but the mirror was still as clean as new.

    "Is that the treasure I''m supposed to receive?" Gabriel wondered as he walked closer to the mirror in the centre of the room. "I don''t feel any special energying from it. It doesn''t feel like a Numen at all. Was it a prank?"

    When he stood before the talent measuring Mirror of the Academy, even there he could feel magical energy from the mirror, proving that that was Numen. But this Mirror, it had no such energy.

    Moreover, he could also see that a part of the mirror was embedded in the ground as if the mirror was ced first and then the flooring was done.

    "This Mirror is definitely not something I can take. If I tried taking it, it would break. But other than it, there is nothing here. Were there ever any treasures here?" he wondered, soon remembering that he wasn''t the first person to reach here.

    "Ah that''s right. How could I forget? Cyclix and Novius'' real self reached this floor. If this floor had any treasures in the first ce, they took it. If not then, then the ones before them."

    It was clear to him why there were no treasures here. At least that''s what he thought as he ced his hand on the Mirror, checking it.

    "They didn''t take anything." Just as Gabriel finished thinking out loud, he heard a strange voice echoed in the entire hall as if someone else was speaking.

    "Huh?" He raised his head, surprised. "Who is speaking? Show yourself."

    "No one took any treasures from this ce before. All they took was knowledge... A knowledge that was worth more than any treasure." The voice came again, but Gabriel couldn''t find anyone

    There was no presence in the hall at all. Was it a Spirit?

    "Where are you?" Gabriel asked again.

    "Before you," the same voice came again.

    Gabriel looked ahead, noticing the mirror before him which was showing his reflection.

    "Are you the Mirror?" Gabriel asked, frowning. The mirror was speaking? So it really was no ordinary Mirror? And knowledge worth more than any treasure? What did it mean? There were so many questions in his head.

 Chapter 227

    Gabriel looked at the Mirror, only finding his own reflection. Strangely enough, his reflection nodded in response, as if answering his question without any words.

    "My reflection?" Gabriel frowned. The mirror was using his reflection to talk to him?

    "What... are you? And what did you mean that the ones before me took something worth more than any treasure?"

    "What am I?" The reflection repeated the question.

    "I am but a guide of lost souls, using your reflection to temporarily answer you," Eventually it answered. "As you have managed to reach this ce, you have earned a reward like all others who came before you."

    "What is my reward?" Gabriel asked. At this point, it was clear that the mirror wasn''t an ordinary mirror. It didn''t look or feel like a Numen but it most probably was one. It was somewhat disappointing to him, but he still remained optimistic.

    "Three answers," the Mirror Reflection responded to Gabriel. "Acknowledging your achievement in reaching here, you''ve been awarded three answers. No matter what question you ask, you''ll get an answer."

    "Is that the same reward you offered others before me?" Gabriel asked. This reward was quite strange.

    "Shall I count that as your first question?" The Mirror Reflection asked, quite amused. "I won''t mind you wasting your three opportunities with questions like this."

    Gabriel frowned. "No, it''s not one of my three questions."

    He retracted his question. He was just curious about it, but if it was truly his reward and he could get any answer in the World with this Mirror, then he couldn''t waste even a single opportunity.

    "I see." The mirror reflection nodded. "So what is your first question?"

    "My first question is about the Orbs of Time. What are they?" Gabriel let out. He had a question about them for a long time. Even though Cylix and Novius did tell him a bit of its history, even they didn''t know about its use or anything about its origin. All they knew was that the Temple of Time was looking for it.

    The Mirror reflection went silent for a moment. "The Orbs of Time... Alright. Your question is epted."

    "What is your second question?"

    "Aren''t you going to answer my first question before we move onto the next?" For now, Gabriel hadn''t decided on a second question. He wanted to wait for the answer of the first question and if there was something in that answer that he wanted to know more about, he could''ve asked about itter.

    "You need to tell me all three questions before you get any answers." The Mirror Reflection rified. It was as if this was a restriction in ce to make sure the people couldn''t change their questions ording to the answers.

    Gabriel clenched his fist. His only reward was that he could ask questions and even in that he didn''t have freedom? Unfortunately, he couldn''t force the mirror either.

    "Alright. My second question is about the Temple of Time. What are they? What are their goals? What''s their strength?"

    "That''s three questions," the mirror responded.

    "Fine. I''ll shorten it. How did the Temple of Timee into existence?"<sub> </sub>

    Since he didn''t want to waste two of his questions on this one thing, he tried to form a question that could epass everything important that he wanted to know and this was it. If he knew how the Temple of Time came into existence, he would''ve known about their goals and their past.

    "And third question?" The Mirror asked.

    Gabriel wasn''t hasty in asking the third question. This was hisst question and he wanted to make it count. He didn''t want to waste hisst question.

    ''What should I askst? Should I ask how to be the strongest mage in the world in the shortest time? But what if it said that I can be that by training more? That can be a wasteful question. Shall I ask about my enemies? No, that''s not it either.''

    He couldn''t help but fall into deep thought. He had so many questions but he could only select one more.

    ''Shall I ask for ways to bring Novius and Cylix back? But what if they don''t want toe back? Wouldn''t I be forcing them? Shall I ask the Mirror about my father?''

    Even though he told Novius that he didn''t care about his father, there was still some curiosity in his heart about the man who abandoned them.

    ''Or should I ask about this Tower? Who made these towers and why were they made? The Tower''s origin had been a mystery in this world as well. The Mirror might be able to answer. Or I can ask how Karyk died?"

    Eventually, he rejected all the questions in his mind and came up with something else. There was one question that no one in this world could answer him. He couldn''t even ask anyone about it. He knew that this might be hisst chance of getting an answer to that question.

    "I''ve decided on myst question. Why do I keep living Karyk''s life in my dreams?"

    It wasn''t just once that he lived a dream that appeared more like Karyk''s past. Initially, he thought it was the Grimoire''s way of showing him then memories of its first master, but he couldn''t be sure about that.

    The dreams were more realistic than they should''ve been. Moreover, for some reason, there was a strange and uneasy feeling in his heart whenever he was inside house dreams. It was as if he knew those people in the dreams... Just what was happening with him? He wanted to know more.

    "Is that your final question?" The Mirror Reflection asked in response.

    Gabriel nodded. "That''s right. That''s myst question."

    "I see. Then that finishes your three questions. Not bad," the Mirrors Reflection nodded, seemingly quite impressed at the questions Gabriel came up with.

    They were all questions that weren''t easy to find an answer to. At least thest question was something which no one in this world knew about.

    "All your questions are epted."

    The Mirror held the right of rejecting any question if it felt like it, but all the questions that Gabriel asked were within the rules and all of them were epted.

    "Your first question, about the Orbs of Time. The Orbs of Time are the most precious treasure of the Temple of Time, which was once used as their energy source. It was also what made them a formidable force. Until one day when the orbs were stolen by-"

    "By Karyk," Gabriel finished the sentence, only to have the reflection agree.

 Chapter 228

    "What are they used for?" Gabriel asked.

    Unfortunately, the Reflection didn''t answer this time. "I''ve already answered your first question, and you have no questions left."

    "Your second question, how did the Temple of Timee into existence?"

    "The Temple of Time was made right after the Greatest Disaster, where the world was destroyed in the war. In the Era of Gods, an arrangement was reached where the peace was maintained for the most part. But there were also some people who didn''t agree with it."

    "They were the people who couldn''t ept the past, and that''s why they wanted to change it. They wanted to go back in time to before the great tragedy and change the future of this world so that the great war that destroyed the world never took ce."

    "With that single goal, an organization was made of like-minded individuals, and it was named the Temple of Time."

    The Mirror Reflection answered about the origin of the Temple of Time, but nothing more.

    "Wait, since the past hasn''t changed, that means the Temple of Time hasn''t seeded?" Gabriel asked, thinking of something. "And they''ve been looking for the Orbs of Time as if their life depends on it. Could it be that... the Orbs of Time what they needed to go back in time? Is that why Karyk took these from them?"

    The Mirror Reflection only smiled but didn''t answer. It just skipped to Gabriel''sst question. "Your third question. Why do you keep living Karyk''s life in my dreams?"

    Gabriel was slightly frustrated that he wasn''t getting answers. That''s why it was important for him to have questions left before getting answers, but he couldn''t do anything.

    "The answer to that question is as simple as it can be," the Mirror Reflection answered. "You aren''t living anyone else''s life in your dreams... You''re just living your own life in your dreams."

    "What do you mean?" Gabriel asked, slightly confused. What did she mean by that? He hadn''t seen a single thing from his past in his dreams. In those realistic dreams, he never once saw Maya or his mother in his childhood. How could it say that he was his own life."

    "I''ve answered your question. Now it''s on you to understand those answers," the Mirror Reflection didn''t rify anymore. "It''s time for you to leave now."

    "Also, I know what you''re thinking. And no, I''m not a Numen. You can''t bind me to force me to answer. You can''t even touch me. If you don''t believe me, then you can try."

    It was as if the Mirror had managed to read Gabriel''s mind, who was actually thinking about binding this Numen. If the mirror was bound to him, was there really a need for him to worry about limited questions? This all-knowing Numen could be a great help.

    Unfortunately, it was as if the Mirror had managed to read his mind to know what he was thinking.

    "Do you mind if I try?" Gabriel asked. It was better than not even trying.

    "Go ahead." The Mirror Reflection nodded as if it didn''t worry at all, despite knowing everything about Gabriel.

    Gabriel stepped closer to the Mirror and bit his thumb to make a Blood Mark on the Mirror to bind it.

    "Huh?" Surprisingly, his hand simply passed through the Mirror, unable to even touch it. It was as if the Mirror was no more than an illusion.

    If his blood couldn''t even touch the Mirror, there was no way he could bind it.

    "I see what you meant." Gabriel stepped back, letting out a sigh. "It was still worth a try."

    Since he was done here, there was nothing more he could do. He cast a little healing spell on his hand before bringing out the crystal that was able to take him back to the ground floor.

    "Before you leave, there is one more thing I think you should know."

    Just as Gabriel was about to tap the stone on the ground, he heard the Mirror call him.

    He stepped. "What?"<sub> </sub>

    "Even though I should only be telling you three answers, but I''m feeling a bit generous today. It''s been a long time since someone came herest... That''s why I''ll tell you something that I''m sure you need to know."

    "Tell me what?" Gabriel asked. Something he really needed to know? What could it be?

    "Your body... It''s weak," the Mirror Reflection expressed.

    "I know. I''m only a Mid Tier Mage. I should be getting stronger with time," Gabriel responded, believing that she was calling his physical strength weak.

    "That''s the problem. You don''t have time." The Reflection stated. The voice that appeared to being from every direction in the hall was a bit more grim as it talked about it.

    "What do you mean I don''t have time?" Gabriel turned severe as well. That statement... It appeared to have more meaning than one. He was sure that the mirror wasn''t just talking about him being weaker than the enemies he needed to face. Then what was it? What time?

    "Your Soul... Even though it just momentarily awakened recently, that made your soul a lot stronger. Unfortunately, that''s not always a good thing."

    "Your soul is too strong, even for your own good. Your body can''t keep up with your soul strength. Because of that, the more of the Spiritual Strength you use, the more you''ll hurt your body in the process," The Mirror answered, talking about something that even Gabriel hadn''t known anything about.

    "With time, it''ll get worse for you as your body will eventually give up, sooner orter. You should really do something about it."

    "My body will give up?" Gabriel frowned upon hearing.

    He had experienced something simr when his hands trembled in the past after using his Spiritual Strength and High Tier Spell. However, Cylix told him that it was normal. Then what was wrong? Was Cylix wrong? Was there more to it than he knew?

    "Yeah, I''m sure you already experienced the trembling. Your body is stronger than an ordinary mage, so an ordinary High Tier Spell or two shouldn''t have put so much burden on your body to hurt it, so something is different. I''m sure you could''ve guessed that much too."

    Gabriel nodded. He did feel something was wrong, but he just couldn''t put his finger on it.

    The Mirror Reflection continued, "Your physical threshold is much higher. That''s why a high-tier spell shouldn''t have affected you as it does a normal mage. That weakness in your body after using a heavy spell isn''t the same as what happens with the others. Instead, it''s a sign of your health getting worse."

    "And with time, it''ll only get worse. You can relieve the symptoms with those pills for the time being, but after some time, even those pills will be useless if you use them often."

    "Moreover, your soul is connected to the Origin Element. So those exact spells take the most toll on your body as well. The more you use them before strengthening your body enough, the worse it''ll get for you physically with time. That''s why you need to solve this problem urgently."

    "Is there a solution?" The information that the Mirror gave him was scary, especially since he had no idea that it was happening to him. He still tried to keep his calm to understand the situation better to see if he had any choice.

    "There is one that I can think of. You should strengthen your body to the same extent that it can keep up with that soul of yours. There should be one item that can help you with that right away. Something you should be able to find in Arecia. It''s their Royal Treasure, after all."

    "Do you mean the Arecia Empire?" Gabriel asked. It hadn''t been long since hest heard that name. It was the homnd of Novius!

    "Yes. The most important Treasure of the Arecia Empire is the only thing that should be able to help you immediately. Until then, I advise you to try to limit the use of stronger spells, especially spells from your Origin Element of Necromancy, as much as possible."

    " Only use them if there is no other way. You can try to handle things with other elements that you share for now as well. However, if possible, avoid battles altogether unless you absolutely have to fight."

    ****

    [Present Time]

    Gabriel stood, surrounded by Izen''s clones from all sides.

    "If I could, I wanted to avoid it... But¡­"

 Chapter 229

    Even as Gabriel received the Grimoire of Necromancy, he had only received two Spells and that too, low tier spells. ording to Lira, it was because he wasn''t strong enough to use more powerful spells and it was the Grimoire''s way of protecting him.

    However, with time, he realized that he needed a more powerful spell if he wanted to rob the Academy. He had no other choice but to request the Grimoire for more powerful spells.

    That''s where the cycle began... A Cycle where he started receiving more powerful spells. From that point on, he had be a Mid Tier Mage straight from Novice Mage and learned High Tier Spells of other Elements as well.

    He couldn''t have guessed just how much burden such a thing was cing on his body since he wasn''t even aware of a phenomenon like that. As if to make things worse, he entered the Tower of Challenges where he had to use his powerful spells more often than not.

    He only used to think that the reason he felt so weak after using a High Tier Spell was because his soul was exhausted, but it was only thanks to the Mirror on the top floor that he found out just how troublesome this matter actually was.

    Affording to the Mirror, he was on a clock. The more he used his powerful spells, the shorter his time left was going to be, since every time he used ones, he was harming his body.

    The Mirror didn''t say that he was going to die if he fought people, or used powerful spells, but it did suggest him to avoid any battles if possible.

    Fortunately, he was also told the solution of this problem. All he needed to do was find one item. Until then, he wanted to avoid fighting or using any powerful spells since he wanted to make sure that he had enough strength left in case of emergencies in the future. He didn''t want the Soul Healing Pills to be ineffective for him.

    That''s also one of the reasons he didn''t fight the Head Council Members properly, only killing Yoan.That was also a main consideration for him when he decided against infiltrating the Holy Church of Light.

    Before anything, he wanted to go to the Arecia Empire and take what he needed.

    It was his biggest consideration in not using any powerful spells of Necromancy until now. Even though it was a powerful element, that''s what also became its biggest w at the time when his own body was struggling to contain the power of his soul.

    He wasn''t even sure if his Necromancy Spells were going to work or not, as they were also part of his magical spells. If they were also going to be nullified, using powerful spells was no less than a waste in this situation.

    Fortunately, now that the Infernal Emperor and the real Izen weren''t here, this was also what provided him with a perfect opportunity! With Izen''s absence, the effect of Magical Immunity on his clones should''ve been weaker due to distance. At least he believed so.

    If he was ever going to seed with his Necromancy Spells, it was now.

    He also called out his Ancestral Staff of Necromancy, which arrived, apanying a powerful aura of death with it that even made Izen''s clones flinch for a moment.

    Even the real Izen who had just started fighting the Infernal King was shocked as he momentarily stopped in ce. As he was connected to the clones, he could see what they were seeing and feel the Ancestral Staff''s aura.

    The Ancestral Staff of Darkness was something that was kept at the Academy of Elements for the longest of times.

    He had seen the Ancestral Staff of Darkness quite a few times. In the first nce itself, he was sure that the Ancestral Staff that Gabriel was holding onto wasn''t the Ancestral Staff of Darkness!

    For some reason, he had a bad feeling. It was as if he had to go back to Gabriel and if he didn''t, all his clones were going to die! Even though the clones were created using a spell, it wasn''t as easy to recreate them.<sub> </sub>

    It took him close to three decades to create twenty such clones who could share his strength. If they were all destroyed, he could only regain one each year. They were akin to limited resources which he didn''t want to lose. And seeing the arrival of Ancestral Staff, that''s what he worried.

    "I need to get there to stop him!" He started flying back.

    "You aren''t going anywhere!" Izen had just moved when a seventy feet fall wall of blue mes appeared before him, blocking his path.

    "Stay out of my path!" Izen roared in rage.

    The Infernal King didn''t listen to the man and attacked.

    "Fine! I''ll kill you first and then capture your master!" He joined his hands together. "Blessing of the Goddess!"

    He cast another spell which cast a barrier around him. As the barrier only had to concentrate on him, it was much much more stable than the barrier he cast on everyone else before. It was also more resistant.

    ****

    While the real Izen was being held back by the Infernal King, Gabriel already finished the preparation.

    He raised his head, looking at the sky that was covered in clouds. A strange yet powerful energy started filling up the entire surrounding, giving even the clones of Izen a bad feeling.

    All the Clones attacked together. However, this time, it was as if Gabriel wasn''t going to hold back. He wanted to avoid using his Origin Element, but now that he did, he wasn''t going to be stingy. If that''s what he needed to destroy them, he wasn''t going to hold

    "Shield of the Dead." He cast a protective spell around him.

    "What... is... happening?" All the clones rushed to Gabriel to attack him, but as soon as they got close to him, they saw thousands of evil spirits appear out of nowhere. The Dark Spirits surrounded him from all sides, as if creating a whirlpool around him, protecting him from all kinds of attacks.

    The screeches of the Dark Spirits were painful and scary. The screeches of the Dark Spirits alone were enough to scare an ordinary human into submission.

    "What in the..."

    All Izen Clones were shocked. They had seen many Dark Spells, but a spell that uses the evil spirits? And the Ancestral Staff that they didn''t see before? Was this guy really a Dark Mage? They couldn''t believe that anymore!

    There was no way that this person was just a Dark Mage! But then what was it? Despite so many questions, they all couldn''t waste time. They attacked at the same time.

    "Curse of the Dead!" Gabriel also finished his spell¡­

 230 Chapter 230

    As if answering Gabriel''s roaringmand, the skies also roared as dark lightning shes through the sky, signaling the beginning of a scary storm that covered all the Clones and Gabriel in its embrace.

    The attack was a high tier spell and one of the spells that he had used to kill the remnant of the Top Ranker Mage of Light from the Academy in the Tower of Challenges.

    It was just his second time using a spell like that... His Seventh Spell and his second most powerful offensive spell! Unfortunately, he also expected the bacsh to be just as strong for using something like this at the situation he was in.

    Still, he didn''t care. If he needed to win here, then this was the only way. If he didn''t do anything, not only was he going to lose here, but even the Infernal King might''ve been killed.

    He had to make an example of these Clones! An overwhelming example that would''ve made even Izen think twice before attacking him next time.

    A strange dark energy spread everywhere, turning the entire surrounding dark. It was as if an ungodly dark power hadpletely covered the battlefield, making everyone blind to what was happening in the battlefield.

    The dark energy was only a tiny bit simr to the Darkness of Novius, but it was something more...

    It was the energy of death which was the most unholy form of element, consisting of all the broken hopes, dreams, and infinite rage billions of dead beings! Darkness was a powerful Element, but not as powerful as the Element of Death which walked over the dead bodies of billions of beings in the universe.

    Where there was life, there was death and the death was the only thing which was inevitable for a person! All those who lived had to die sooner orter!

    "Who... are you?" The Clones asked, realizing that none of their attacks were able to destroy Gabriel''s Shield of Death!

    Just what was this guy? How could he be so strong? Not only did he cast such a powerful defensive spell, but it was clear that he had cast a powerful offensive spell as well? They could feel the chaotic energy in their surroundings getting more powerful with each passing second.

    Gabriel could hear the Clones even from the other side of the Shield of Spirits and so could they.

    Hearing them ask who he was, even Gabriel was momentarily confused. Just what was he? He raised his head toward the sky, noticing the energy of death getting stronger.

    "I am death..."After some time, only three words came out of his mouth which sent a chill down the Clones'' spines for some reason.

    The Dark aura of death was so powerful that it was even able to surpass the spatial restrictions that had covered arge area.

    The strange phenomenon outside the city was something that couldn''t escape the observation of the people in the City. Since it was happening so close to the city, even the Head Priests of Light could feel that disturbing energy.

    They knew they had to check it out. They needed to know just what was happening. The teachers of the Head Council at the Academy also saw the dark clouds in the distance. Leaving a few Head Council Members back, most of them flew to the source of Darkness to see.

    *****

    For a moment, everything turned dark, as if the entire space had disappeared momentarily. It was so silent, that not even a single scream could be heard. The winds had also stopped flowing.<sub> </sub>

    Fortunately, the darkness soon started retreating, revealing the condition of the battlefield. A huge crater, having a diameter of two kilometers and a depth of one kilometer was left behind, seemingly scorched.

    Only one person was visible, standing in the middle of the Crater... It was a young man, only eighteen years old. He was holding an Ancestral Staff in his hand, using it as a support to keep standing. For some reason, he felt as if he was going to fall if he didn''t take the support of the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy.

    Surprisingly enough, there was no one in his surroundings. All the clones that Izen had left behind were missing, as if they were swallowed by death itself.

    ****

    This kind of attack, it wasn''t the Infernal King''s first time seeing a spell like that. He had seen Gabriel use that spell before. He knew just how powerful that spell was, but currently it was even stronger!

    He also knew just how heavy this spell was for Gabriel. Thest time he used this spell, it left him unable to fight anymore. Was this the case again? That was what he feared. If any enemies had survived, and Gabriel was unable to fight, then he was in danger! He had to get back to Gabriel! That was his priority.

    Fortunately, there was no one stopping him. As soon as Izen''s clones were destroyed, he felt a Soul crunching pain since all those clones were connected to him. He held his chest where his heart was supposed to be, looking in the direction where his Clones were before. He couldn''t feel their presence anymore!

    "W-what was..."

    While he was distracted with what had happened, the Infernal King already left the battlefield without even him realizing.

    ****

    The Infernal King reached Gabriel, who was standing with the support of his Ancestral Staff. His eyes were still full of fighting spirit, even though he wasn''t in any condition to fight.

    "Told you, I could handle them," Gabriel told the Infernal King, shing a weak smile.

    Unfortunately, his body was so weak that it was as far as he could take it for now. His eyes closed as he lost his bnce.

    The Infernal King stepped forward, holding Gabriel who had lost his consciousness due to being exhausted. If he wasn''t here, Gabriel would''ve already fallen to the ground.

    The Ancestral Staff of Necromancy disappeared as well, returning back to the Mark of Necromancy where it was kept.

    The Infernal King just stared at Gabriel who had given this battle his all. "Yes, you did it. You won," he spoke. "Now rest, Gabriel..."

    He ced his hand in Gabriel''s pocket and pulled out a Soul Healing Pill. After opening his lips, he ced the pill in his mouth.

    "Leave the rest to me. I''ll make sure no harmes to you anymore..." The Infernal King clenched his fist, looking in the direction of the city, from where he could feel some powerful aurasing toward them.

 231 Chapter 231

    A huge pir of deep blue fire rose from the barrennd, rising high in the sky. It was so high that not just the people of the Royal City but people of the faraway City could also see that ming Pir.

    The City of Apophis was being bombarded by the Church of Lightning and the Church of Water simultaneously which was cing a lot of burden on the City''s defenses.

    Lambard had tried a lot to draw the enemies inside the city, but they just refused to fall for his trick. Lambard knew that his city was definitely strong enough to oust the attack for months without any troubles, but that was the case at the current pace of attacks.

    The Two Holy Priestess hadn''t yet used their stronger attacks. Moreover, once other Churches joined in, it was only going to be harder.

    Another option which he had was to go out and fight. With his current fighting strength, he was sure that his maid alone could destroy at least half the event army, bringing their number down.

    The problems were the Two Holy Priestesses. Even with his Numens, facing the two at the same time was an impossible task, especially since he didn''t have the Robe of Nullification that Izen possessed.

    Lambard wasn''t someone who wanted to take a risk when there wasn''t an absolute chance of victory. That''s why he preferred not to leave the city in this situation. That left only one other choice...

    "Looks like I''ll have to end this fight prematurely..." He stood up and left the room. "After I did so much to establish our city here, now this."

    His heart was filled with anger, as if all the hard work that he had ced behind establishing himself here had gone down the drain, and there was only one person he could me for this...

    He went to the deepest section of his castle. It was the ce where only he was allowed to go. It was where the core of the City was present.

    After twenty minutes, Lambard reached the depths of the Castle where he hadn''t gone in a really long time.

    "Time to end this war... For now."

    He sat on his knees in the core of the city and closed his eyes.

    He started speaking some words, but it was unclear just what he was saying as those words weren''t a part of thenguage... At least not thenguage that was known around the world.

    After half an hour, he finally opened his eyes, feeling the entire room filled with spatial energy.

    "It''s been so long since Ist used it..." He stood up, letting out a sigh as he left the room. Slowly, the Spatial Energy started spreading out of the room.

    It took twenty more minutes before the Spatial Energy surrounded the entire city, taking the city in its embrace.

    Lambard returned to his room, where the maid was still waiting for him.

    "Master, what is this strange energy that I feel?" The Maid asked Lambard. It was even her first time seeing something like this.

    "This is another safety mechanism of the city," Lambard answered. "One that isn''t often used."

    "Will it kill the enemies?" The maid asked.

    Lambard shook his head. "As I said, the city is only for defense. It can''t attack anyone as long as they are outside the city."

    "Then what is this strange energy for? What does it do?"

    "You''ll know soon enough." Lambard didn''t directly answer. He just stood near the window, observing the spatial energy that had covered the entire city.

    Before long, the Spatial Energy formed a dome around the entire city, covering it in a beautiful white light.

    Even the forces of the Churches outside the city were stunned, wondering just what was happening. For a moment, they all stopped attacking.

    No one could see inside the city through that white barrier. It was the same for people inside the city who couldn''t see what was happening outside the city.

    After only two minutes, the white light disappeared.

    "What?" As soon as the White Light Barrier disappeared, the young maid eximed in shock. There was no enemy outside the city now. Were they all killed? What was happening? Didn''t Lambard say this wasn''t an energy that was going to attack anyone?<sub> </sub>

    "What happened to the Church forces?" she asked in surprise.

    Just as shocked as her were the forces of the Churches. After the white light disappeared, they were all taken aback to see that the ce where the city used to be waspletely empty!

    "Invisibility Cloak? What trickery!" The Holy Priestess of Lightning scoffed as she cast another attack. Even if the city was invisible, it didn''t matter! The attack was still going tond.

    Boom~

    Her attack of Lightning came falling from the sky like the Wrath of Heaven. Strangely enough, it didn''t face any barriers at all.

    The Lightning fell on the ground, leaving deep craters behind.

    "It''s not invisibility?" Elora was also surprised to see the attack hitting nothing. If it were just an invisibility, the attack would''ve still hit it.

    ****

    "No, they aren''t invisible," Lambard told his maid. "And they aren''t killed either. It''s not that something happened to them. Look around the city once again, and you might realize..."

    The Maid flew high in the sky and observed her surroundings. The area around the city was definitely different. But why?

    "Ah, did we...?" It didn''t take her long to realize just what might''ve happened. Shended back near Lambard.

    "Yeah. I teleported the entire city to avoid that mess. We''ll just have to contact all our sources again and give them this location," Lambard informed the maid.

    The City of Apophis wasn''t called an absolute fortress of defense for no reason at all, as it had many such tricks to protect its citizens, and one such trick was Teleportation to a different part of the world.

    The Teleportation couldn''t be used randomly and needed a huge amount of energy to be gathered before it could be used a second time, but Lambard believed it was worth it in this situation. This gave him more time.

    "Where are we now?" the maid asked Lambard. "Are we still within the boundaries of the Lumen Kingdom?"

    Lambard shook his head. "Not anymore. If I''m not wrong, we should be inside thend of the Arecia Kingdom..."

    ****

    "Where did they go? What happened to them?" the Holy Priestess of Lightning raged as she flew where the city used to be. It was clear that the city wasn''t there anymore.

    "I feel remnants of Spatial Energy." Elora alsonded next to Thalia. "It''s as if arge-scale Teleportation took ce..."

    "A Teleportation that covers the entire city? Is that even possible?" Thalia was taken aback. It was her first time hearing of teleportation of an entire city!"

    "If it''s a Numen, maybe. Lambard is more resourceful than we expected. With him working with the Dark Priests, he would definitely be a headache in the future..."

    Elora came here to destroy a future threat when they had a chance, but even she didn''t expect an oue like this. Lambard was supposed to be an ordinary human, but thanks to his Numens and the wealth he had amassed, he was a very powerful enemy for the future... An enemy that they needed to take care of.

    "It doesn''t matter where he hides. Even if he is hiding in the depths of hell, I''ll find him. He has upset the wrong person now!" Clenching her fist, Thalia stood up. She had decided that no matter what, she was to wipe out Lambard the next time she met him.

    Elora nodded. It was time all the Churches came together. As she was thinking of what to do next, she felt something strange.

    She looked to her left. "Hmm? What''s that?"

    Thalia also looked in the same direction, noticing a bright blue pir of light.

    "That''s... Lumen Royal City? Is it under attack?"

 232 Chapter 232

    A bright pir of Blue Fire rose from the ground, engulfing two people inside it.

    The fire was so hot that even the ground had started to burn under its heat.

    Izen was in shock as to what that spell was. Just what was Gabriel? Even a few seconds of him being in a daze allowed the Infernal King an opportunity to get back to Gabriel.

    However, as soon as Izen came out of his daze, he decided something.

    "No matter who or what he is. He is a threat to this World. He is too dangerous, especially with the side he is following. I wanted to capture him alive to get some answers, but it looks like I have no choice but to kill him."

    He flew in the direction where the battle took ce between his clones and Gabriel. However, just as he reached near,he saw a beautiful yet demonic fire engulf the two, forming a huge pir of fire.

    At the same time, the Head Priests of the Church of Light also arrived, slightly surprised to find Izen here.

    "Dean Izen? You are also here? Would you like to exin what''s happening here?" One of the Head Priests asked.

    Not long after them, the Head Council Members also arrived, who all sighed in relief after realizing that Izen was back. They had seen this type of fire before when the Museum of Elements was robbed. It didn''t take them a long time to guess just who was inside these pirs!

    "With Lord Izen here, there is no way he can escape anymore!" The Head Council members could finally rx. Izen wasn''t toote.

    "Inside that pir of fire is an enemy who wouldn''t stop at anything before he destroys everything because of the troublesome past," Izen told the Head Priests of the Church of Light.

    "I''ll tell you moreter. First, I need to stop him. I would advise you all to step back."

    The Head Priests didn''t understand half the things, but they listened to Izen and stepped back.

    "You too..." Izen told the Head Council Members, who also retreated.

    "Is he about to cast what I think it is?" Rem wondered, talking to himself.

    "It seems that way," Xinci nodded. "It seems Gabriel has really pissed him off. The kid is dead now."

    "We will get to see the strongest spell of Lord Izen. Aren''t we lucky? I''ve never seen him use it. He didn''t use it even when they caught Frost Giants of North," Lishen eximed. "This Gabriel is definitely something special to make him use something like that."

    Just as they all expected, Izen started casting a spell. The natural energy in the surrounding trembled with each word of the spell, as if realizing the implications of that spell.

    "Hmm?" Even the Head Priests were stunned, feeling the changes in the surroundings. "They were also quite curious to see just what spell it was. Were they going to see the true strength of Izen that he never showed before?"

    "Look, the energy of the tower is weakening!" One of the Head Priests eximed, noticing the mes of the tower getting weaker.

    "Lord Izen is only halfway in his spell; it is clear that this shouldn''t be because of his spell. Is Gabrieling out? Is he going to surrender finally after realizing the strength of Lord Izen?" Xinci chuckled.<sub> </sub>

    "That would definitely be a wise decision on his part," Remmented. "The choice is between death and surrender, after all."

    Izen was also surprised to see mes weakening, but he didn''t stop casting his spell. Even if Gabriel tried to surrender, he was going to kill him. That guy was too dangerous.

    Izen had almostpleted his spell, leaving only thest sentence. He kept chanting his spell, but just as he was on thest word of his spell, he stopped, seemingly shocked at the sight of something.

    The me pirs had entirely stopped, but that wasn''t shocking. What was surprising was that...

    "There is no one inside?" The Head Priest of the Church of Lightning eximed, finding no one there. It was as if the pir of fire was empty right from the start. Did someone fool Izen? They wondered.

    "They..." Izen clenched his fist. Even he was slightly taken aback. But more than that, he was angry. They managed to escape from right within his grasp. Just how?

    "This guy..." Eliana also couldn''t grasp the situation. Did Gabriel really manage to fool Izen? Just what kind of monstrosity was he that he could even fool someone like Izen and escape? That man... He definitely wasn''t simple.

    While everyone was shocked after noticing that there was no one inside the pir, around twenty kilometers away from them, a young-looking man was walking through a deep forest.

    A beautiful blue me burned in ce of one of his eyes which couldn''t be seen clearly since the man was covering most of his face thanks to his cloak.

    Strangely enough, no aura could be felt from the young man, despite the fact that he was the Infernal King! It was all thanks to the ring that was given to Gabriel by the Spectre, which hid the aura of everything within ten meters of him.

    The Infernal King was carrying another young man, who was unconscious.

    He couldn''t help but nce in the direction of the city of Lumen once again. He wasn''t a person who wanted to run away from a battle as it was insulting to him, but currently, he chose to do it for the sake of Gabriel.

    He believed that he could fight them, but he couldn''t protect Gabriel if he were going to fight. And if he was dragged back by Izen likest time, Gabriel was going to be helpless in the situation he was in.

    For the sake of Gabriel, he decided to retreat.

    Carrying Gabriel, he couldn''t help but remember the first time he met the young man. He absolutely hated the young man who had forcefully established a contract with him. He considered Gabriel, a weak man who wanted to rely on his strength. That was also what he hated about him the most.

    Still, having no other choice, he decided to help Gabriel with that theft. The second time Gabriel called him, he hated Gabriel even more since Gabriel had broken a promise. He wanted to kill Gabriel if possible, but that''s when he saw that Gabriel wasn''t entirely the same as he thought.

    The young man fought the enemies all alone, even though he could''ve forced him to fight. Even when the enemies looked like they were almost impossible to defeat, he was always in the lead in fighting them.

    The Infernal King didn''t even realize when he started respecting the young man that he absolutely hated. They ate together, they made ns together, and they even fought together.

    All his interactions with Gabriel led to this point... A point where the Infernal King started considering Gabriel more than just a Summoner. Without even realizing it, he started considering Gabriel... a friend.

 233 Chapter 233

    It was silent... Too silent. When Gabriel starteding to his senses, he realized that the surroundings were just too silent. He couldn''t even hear the sound of the wind.

    His head was thumping in pain as he suffered through a heavy headache. Fortunately, his body wasn''t in pain. Even though he still felt as if his body was slightly heavy, it wasn''t too hard for him to handle it.

    He slowly opened his eyes, wondering where he was. Thest thing he could remember was that he had just finished killing all the clones of Izen.

    "Did I pass out after that?" he muttered as he came to hisplete senses. He looked around, observing his surroundings.

    As he observed his surroundings, he came to a realisation that he wasn''t on the battlefield anymore. Instead, he was in what appeared to be a room. The room wasn''t too big, but it wasn''t too small either.

    He was also lying on a bed which was particrlyfortable.

    "Where am I?" Confused, he pushed his body up to sit.

    He could see that he was in a different set of clothes. The clothes that were covered in blood before were nowhere to be found. Since he hadn''t used healing before passing out, some of his wounds were still there, but it was as if someone had ced medicine on his wounds before wrapping them up.

    Creak~

    The wooden door in the distance opened and a person stepped inside the room.

    "Ah, you''re up!" The young girl''s surprised voice filled the room.

    The girl was dressed in a white dress, which wasn''t luxurious by any means. Gabriel could already see some stitching on the dress that was done by hand, most probably by the girl herself. The dark haired girl was in her early twenties.

    "Who are you?" Gabriel frowned. "Where am I? How did I get here?"

    "Uh, I am Olivia. This is my house, or rather my father''s house..." The young girl answered.

    "Did you change my clothes?" Gabriel inquired.

    He couldn''t help but wonder if he somehow managed to escape the battlefield, only to pass out for the girl to discover him. His clothes were changed but his gloves were the only thing that weren''t taken off.

    He wondered if the girl had seen his Elemental Marks when he was unconscious. Did she already inform the Churches about his presence in that case?

    "N-no. Your friend helped you change. He was also the one who brought you here when you were unconscious. Since ours is the only physician family in the entire town, he forc- cough, I mean asked us to help you," the girl exined. "It''s good that you''re up."

    "My friend?" Gabriel couldn''t help but wonder who she was talking about. Did she mean the Infernal King? Did that guy bring him away from the battlefield? That was surprising since he knew that the Infernal King hated leaving the battlefield in the middle of the battle.

    "Where is he?" Gabriel asked, sliding off the bed tond on the ground. He still felt a little weak. It was just as the Mirror had stated. The more he used his abilities, the worse he was going to feel. It was like his body was facing a bacsh.

    In any case, he needed to retrieve that item from the Arecia Empire.<sub> </sub>

    He picked up a ss of water from the nearby table and gulped the water down at once before walking to the girl.

    "Your friend went with my father to retrieve some herbs from the beast mountain that were supposed to help you heal faster," Olivia answered. "The two of them should be back by evening."

    "Beast Mountain? I see. So we are still in the Lumen Kingdom..."

    "That''s right. Ours is a small town on the outskirts of the Lumen Empire." Olivia nodded.

    "Shouldn''t there be a Church of Light branch here? Did you already inform them?" Gabriel opened the door to leave the room, followed by Olivia.

    Olivia went silent for a few seconds before answering, "To inform them, don''t they need to be alive in the first ce."

    "What do you mean?"

    "I mean the first thing your friend did aftering here was to destroy the Church of Light," the girl answered. "Since you were asleep, it''s understandable that you don''t know."

    "I see. So he already handled everything. If there is no Church branch in the town, the main Church can''t be informed about our presence here. That way, no one knows we are here. And if they even find out, by that time, it''ll be toote. Not bad."

    Gabriel had only seen the Infernal King fight before but seeing him take care of the entire matter and thinking of the long term n was really very refreshing.

    "Where are my clothes?" he asked. In the new clothes, he felt quite ufortable. The clothes were a little loose since they belonged to Olivia''s father who was on the healthy side.

    "They were covered in blood, so we had to clean them up." Olivia took Gabriel to a specific room where his clothes were being kept. It was just as she stated, the clothes had been cleaned already. There was not even a speck of blood on them.

    Olivia was really curious about the identity of these two people. One of them was covered in blood when he was brought to them. Even the second in the group was so powerful that he could destroy the entire Church of Light branch. Just who were these two people?

    Gabriel closed the room after entering, leaving Olivia behind. He took off the clothes he was wearing and wore his old clothes that he received with the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy.

    Wearing his old clothes, finally he felt a bit morefortable. After getting changed, he opened the door and stepped out of the room.

    Olivia had seen Gabriel when he was brought to her in a bloody condition, but now that there was no blood on him and he was back in his princely attire, even she couldn''t help but find herself dazed for a moment.

    ''Now that I look at him, he is certainly very handsome, like a Royal Prince. Who would''ve thought that he would be an enemy of the Churches...''

    Since the Infernal King destroyed the branch of the Church of Light, it wasn''t hard for her to guess their identity. She didn''t need to check their marks to realise that these two most probably belonged to the remnants of the Church of Darkness.

    "You don''t seem scared of us. Is there a reason for that?" As soon as Gabriel stepped out of the room, he asked the girl.

 234 Chapter 234

    Most people would''ve been scared of them after finding out that they destroyed the Church of Light branch that the world considered their protectors. Still, strangely enough, he couldn''t feel even the slightest bit of fear from her when she addressed him.

    Even though the branch was way weaker than the Main Church of Light, it was still an affiliate so going against them was no different than going against the entire Church. Anyone would''ve been scared of them but not this girl. He wondered why that was.

    "I won''t lie, initially I was scared... Very scared." Olivia ced her hand on her chest, remembering just how fast her heart was beating when she saw the entire Church of Light burning in the deep blue mes.

    She wasn''t the only one. The entire town was scared and everyone wanted to run, only to have their escape routes be sealed by the Infernal King. No one was allowed to leave.

    Everyone in the town expected them to be killed by these Demons. However, strangely enough, the Infernal King didn''t touch anyone at all.

    "After destroying the Church of Light branch, he asked everyone if there was anyone amongst them who could treat you. He also promised that as soon as we treat you and you are fine, he would leave without harming anyone."

    ''Stick and Carrot approach, I see. Not bad. First he instilled fear in them by destroying the Church Branch while also taking out a potential threat who could''ve informed the main branch and then they offered them the carrot to get their help.''

    Gabriel was quite impressed to hear the story about how the Infernal King handled everything.

    "My father was the only physician in the town, so he raised his hand and we took you in. Since then, we''ve been treating you as much as we can to our capacity."

    "That still doesn''t exin why you''re not scared of us. Is it because you think you won''t be killed if I''m healthy? Do you really believe everything that he said?" Gabriel asked, wondering if that was all there was to it.

    "That''s not all. Even after he promised us that he''ll let us all leave if you''re healthy, I was still scared. We didn''t know any of you, and didn''t know your personalities. We also couldn''t be sure if what we were promised was true, but did we have any other choice?" Olivia responded.

    "The person who could take out the Branch of Church of Light, just how long would it take him to exterminate all of us?" she continued, not even realizing that they were already at the gate. "That''s why, I was still scared. But since that time, I got to know more about your friend by watching his actions. And I don''t know why, but I think I can believe his words."

    "What do you mean?" Gabriel asked, right as Olivia pushed the door open.

    Olivia basked in warm sunlight as soon as she opened the door. The sun was high in the sky, shining brightly.

    "That man... He was really worried for you. He never once left your sight. Throughout the time you were unconscious, he was always by your side. I don''t think he even slept at all in thest two days."

    "Two days? I''ve been here for two days?" Gabriel eximed, surprised. He was out for two days? How was that possible?

    "Approximately two days, yeah." Olivia nodded. "If it wasn''t for my father saying that he needed to get some herbs from Beast Mountain, I doubt your friend would''ve left your side even now."

    "A person who can worry about their friends so much, I don''t know why, but I can''t bring myself to doubt him. That''s why, I believe what he said. I believe that he would keep his words. I know I can be wrong as well, but we don''t have a choice in the matter, do we?"<sub> </sub>

    "I see..." Gabriel stepped out of the house, observing the streets that werepletely empty now. That wasn''t surprising either since not many people were going to dare to walk outside in fear ofing across the Infernal King.

    "It''s alright. If he promised you, I''ll keep it. But there is one condition..."

    "What condition?" Olivia asked. Wondering if he also wanted them to do something for him.

    "Sooner orter, the Main Church will send some people to investigate. As soon as theye here, I want you to tell them something."

    "Tell them what?"

    "Tell them that we forced you to treat us. That should protect you from their wrath for helping us. If anything, you can also give them a clue about our next destination."

    "Your next destination?"

    "You can tell them that you heard us discussing where we were talking about going to the Yan Empire next," Gabriel responded.

    "You aren''t going to the Yan Empire, are you?" Olivia asked, wondering if this was truly their destination. Or was this to set a trap for them.

    "I''m not. But that information should keep them busy for a bit. And for giving information like that, you might even be rewarded. We both win something in this deal, don''t we?"

    Since Gabriel hadn''t told the Infernal King that he wanted to go to the Arecia Empire, the Infernal King took him in a different direction. They were still within the Lumen Empire, but they were closer to the Yan Empire territory than they were to the Arecia Empire.

    That gave Gabriel an opportunity to send the enemies on a fake trail while he went to the Arecia Empire without any worries to retrieve what he needed from Novius'' descendants.

    Olivia wasn''t sure if she should listen to Gabriel. It was going to be bad if she sent the Church to the Yann Empire only for it to be a trap. There was a small possibility that the Church was going to me her.

    But if she didn''t do it, or even pretended to help the Church, they were definitely going to consider her and her father a Traitor for helping dark mages even though they were supposedly forced.

    "It seems I have no choice in the matter, do I?" she asked Gabriel.

    Gabriel only smiled in response. "That''s quite true. If you don''t do as I told you, the Church of Light will punish you as well. You have no choice but to do it. It''s for your safety as well."

    "You... Fine. I''ll tell them once theye." Eventually, Olivia could only agree. "But can you tell me honestly. Are you nning to set a trap for them?"

 235 Chapter 235

    "Trap them?" Gabriel couldn''t help but let out a sigh. "If only I could..."

    He didn''t have any forces to split them up to be able to make a trap for them. Moreover, there was another ce where he needed to be, so that was out of the question.

    "Don''t worry. There will be no trap for them. In reality, we are going to the Axin Kingdom. It''s just to throw them off our trail that we need you to lie. It''s because I don''t want to have to fight again."

    Even now, Gabriel lied to her about his real intention. He wasn''t sure if Olivia was going to betray them or not. That''s why he lied about his real destination as well, naming the Axin Kingdom instead of the Arecia Empire. That way, even if she betrayed them, there was no way that anyone could create trouble for them.

    Olivia didn''tment, though she certainly was surprised that Gabriel told her where they were actually going to know. She wondered if this guy really trusted her.

    Gabriel and Olivia walked on the empty streets of the town together. Gabriel observed the town which was in a much better condition than the town he was born in. Despite being near the border, the town wasn''t shabby.

    "You like our town?" Olivia asked, feeling that Gabriel was somewhat impressed at what he was seeing.

    "It''s not bad," Gabriel answered.

    "Yeah. We don''tck anything in this town. Here, we do our own farming and create the things we need. Still, unfortunately this town has never gained the favor of the Royal Family. No one shifts to the town either, due to our proximity with the Beast Mountain which is overrun by fierce beasts."

    "That fear is what keeps the town from growing. If not, I have a feeling that we could''ve be a city by now. Unfortunately..."

    Olivia had lived in this town all her life and knew just what the ground reality was. The perception of this town amongst the outsiders wasn''t good.

    "Do the beasts ever attack the town?" Gabriel looked in the direction of the tall mountain in the distance which was clearly visible from where he was standing.

    "Fortunately they don''t. Otherwise our town would''ve been destroyed long ago," the young girl answered. "Though there are certainly times when one or two stray beastse toward the city. But in that case, the Church takes care of them. Well, at least they did in the past. I believe we''ll have to do that ourselves now."

    Walking through the streets, Gabriel soon reached the spot where the Church of Light branch used to be. He could only see a burned building before him that was barely standing.

    Not thinking much, Gabriel entered the burnt building out of curiosity. Not even the remnants of the bodies were left behind. It in itself was surprising that the building was still standing.

    After looking around the Church of Light, he stepped back out. He could still notice a few gazes on him. The citizens of the Town were looking at him through the windows, most hiding behind curtains. It was evident that these people were scared and there was nothing he could do about this.

    While taking the trip of the town, he didn''t even realize when he reached the end of the town which wasn''t very big.

    He stood at the entrance of the town, which was also its exit. Looking at the direction of the sun, he tried to get a general idea of the direction he needed to take to get to the Arecia Empire.

    ''It should be that way... After he returns, I should get going. I also need to send him back to his home. He already did more than he needed to. He had been in this world for a long time. Since it''s just traveling now, I shouldn''t keep him here..."

    He decided to send the Infernal King back to his home before leaving the city, not bothering him to travel together since that wasn''t needed. From this point on, he needed to be more inconspicuous.<sub> </sub>

    [Growl]

    In his initial curiosity, he had even forgotten that he hadn''t eaten anything in thest two days. His stomach had already started growling, bringing his attention to his hunger.

    "Let''s go back," Olivia suggested. "Now that you''re up, you should eat something. You still need to eat to regain some strength. There''s no better healing than letting the body do its work."

    Gabriel agreed as he also turned around to go back, only to stop in his tracks as soon as he took his first step.

    Frowning, he looked behind in the distance.

    "What happened?" Olivia also turned around, wondering why Gabriel stopped. However, it was only when she turned around that she realized the reason.

    In the distance, she could see a group of peopleing toward their town on their horses.

    The distance for now was too much so she couldn''t see them clearly, but it was clear that they weren''t from the Royal Army or the Church of Light.

    Unlike her, Gabriel was able to see much more clearly. It was a group of six, all in their early twenties. Only two of them were boys while the other four were girls.

    "Based on their attire, they seem to be from a wealthy family," hemented. "Do you know them?"

    Olivia shook her head. "I don''t remember seeing them before. My first time as well."

    "I see..."Gabriel couldn''t sense any danger from those people. At best, he could feel that they were as strong as Garrick from the Academy of Elements, if not slightly weaker. If the Royal City knew about his presence there, there was no way they were going to send people like them here. He was sure of that.

    ****

    A group of six came closer to the town, noticing Gabriel and Olivia standing at the entrance.

    "Hahaha, it seems there are already some guests waiting for us." A red haired man burst intoughter.

    "That shouldn''t be possible," the blue haired woman in the lead shook her head. "They should''ve had no information about our arrival. How could they be waiting here for us?"

    All six people had Marks of Elements on their left hand, highlighting their prestigious positions of mages.

    "Yeah, it must be a coincidence that they were at the entrance when they saw us. We shouldn''t think too much about it. Just focus on our aim," Another woman chimed in.

    "Qing is right! We can''t afford to fail. This will be our opportunity to shine!"

 236 Chapter 236

    As the people got closer, Olivia was finally able to see them clearly.

    "From their attire, it seems they aren''t from the Lumen Empire either."

    "What do you mean?" Gabriel didn''t know much about people''s attire since he hadn''t seen much of the world yet. If anything, he had only been to two major cities: Abadon and Lumen.

    "The clothes they are wearing, they aren''t from the Lumen Empire. These people... If I''m not wrong, they are from the Yan Empire. Their position inside our neighboring Empire shouldn''t be weak either. They might even be nobles from Yan as well."

    "Nobles from Yan? What would they be doing inside the Lumen Empire?" Gabriel was slightly surprised to hear that these people were from the neighboring Empire.

    He had just told Olivia to use the name of Yan when the Church asked where he went. But the people of Yan were already here? Was this just a coincidence?

    The horses got closer to the town, only stopping when they were a few meters away from the entrance of the town.

    At such proximity, Gabriel could sense their strength even better. He understood that he was quite close in his guesses. All of these people were Mid Tier Mages. They weren''t a threat... At least for now.

    All six youngsters stepped down from the horse.

    "Take us to your Town Head," the blue haireddy in the leadmanded Gabriel, not even ncing at Olivia.

    Looking at Gabriel''s attire, she believed that he was most probably the son of the town head. How else could he afford such decent clothes?

    Fortunately for them, Gabriel didn''t take her words seriously.

    "He isn''t in Town. He went to the neighboring City," he answered. "May I know for what purpose you''re all here? When he returns, I''ll inform him."

    "No need. We''ll talk to him ourselves when he returns," the red haired man scoffed. "Our words are precious and we prefer to not waste them on you."

    He ced one of his hands on Gabriel''s shoulder and the other on Olivia''s shoulder before pushing them both aside to clear their path.

    "Take us to the best amodation you have, since we''ll be staying here for a little while," he arrogantly stated, without even putting Gabriel in his eyes.

    Thanks to the ring Gabriel received from the Spectre, let alone these people, even the strongest of beings would''ve had a hard time seeing his aura. For these people, Gabriel and Olivia were bothmoners, none of whom had any magical strength.

    "Yeah, I''m really tired as well," the Second Man alsomented as he entered the city.

    One after another, the other youngsters also entered the city with the Blue Haired girl being thest. Surprisingly enough, their horses also followed them inside without having to be guided. It was as if they were already trained enough to follow their masters.

    Gabriel watched all the arrogant youngsters enter the town. However, he had already gone through a battle with Izen. For them, these people were kids and his tolerance level was higher, for now.

    Olivia stared at Gabriel, wondering what his instructions were now. The city was under Gabriel''s control. It was for him to decide what to do.<sub> </sub>

    "What are you doing standing there like statues?" The red haired man, known as Rong, still hadn''t given up on scolding Gabriel and Olivia. He was the most impatient out of everyone in the group.

    "Didn''t I tell you to lead us to the best ce for us to stay? Do you know how precious our each second is? Even if we take your lives, it won''t be worth a second of ours that we''ll have to waste! So you two better behave! And if you don''t, I''ll have no choice but to create an example of you!"

    ''These kids... They don''t know the difference between heaven and earth, do they?'' Olivia was amazed at how stupid these people were being.

    She believed that Gabriel was a friend of the Infernal King. These two fought the Church of Light and were most probably dark mages. Could these youngsters really afford to be that arrogant? She couldn''t help but worry about the future as she nced at Gabriel, wondering if he was getting angry.

    Even Gabriel was slightly surprised at the arrogance level of this guy. Just because they thought he was an ordinary human, he was threatening to kill him?

    Olivia held Gabriel''s hands, just as he was starting to feel a bit angry.

    Having his hands grabbed by the girl, he couldn''t help but look at her. His mind was immediately distracted.

    "Young Guests, the Town Head might not be back for a week. He went on an important trip. But if you still want to wait for him, we do have some aodation avable. Let us lead you."

    Olivia took the lead. She had already watched the entire Church of Light branch being destroyed. She didn''t want these to youngsters to be killed just because they were too stupid.

    Moreover, if they were killed, the Yan Empire could even potentially start a war. Their town was not too far from the Yan Empire. If there was a war, she believed that her town was going to suffer the effects as well. So she had to save them.

    "I must say, the girl is smarter than that stupid guy." Rong rolled his eyes. "Whatever. It doesn''t matter who takes us. Just get us a ce. We are already tired after a long journey."

    "Right away." Olivia still hadn''t released Gabriel''s hands as she also took him with her in the lead.

    She just needed to keep them alive until Gabriel left the town. That was a hard task, but she believed she was the only one who had an opportunity.

    She just had to keep these people in a house for a week. At best, Gabriel was going to leave by tonight now that he was healed. It was quite possible to protect these people!

    Unlike the other youngsters, the blue haired girl was more focused on Gabriel who was walking in the lead with Olivia. She didn''t understand why, but she felt as if there was something strange about that man. She just couldn''t put a finger on it. She wondered if it was just her misconception.

    "Are you all nobles from the Yan Empire?" Olivia asked, after some time, just to confirm her theory.

    "That''s right." Rong proudly stated, "My father is a Duke in the Empire!"

    "Well, as a matter of fact, all our Fathers are Dukes of the Empire," the second man of the group chimed in.

    "All except for Xin," he added, ncing at the blue haired girl in the lead. "She is the Second Princess of the Empire. Her father is not the Duke but the Emperor himself!"

 237 Chapter 237

    "Second Princess?" Olivia eximed as great concern engulfed her.

    Until now, she only thought that these people were from ordinary noble Families as they didn''t have any guards with them. However, the reality was that they were all from the top families of Yann? This was even more dangerous.

    She couldn''t help but nce at Princess Xin before looking back at Gabriel. If a Princess was killed here, things were going to be even worse. A noble dying and a Princess being killed had entirely different significance as thetter ensured that there was definitely a war!

    ''No matter what, I need to ensure they stay alive!'' Olivia clenched her fist.

    ''Princess and kids of Dukes?'' Even Gabriel was slightly surprised. The Dukes held the most important position in the Yan Empire after the King.

    The Dukes were even allowed to possess their private armies, which weren''t weak. Just why were such important people here in this small town of the Lumen Empire? Just why did they want to meet with the Town Head? There was definitely something going on here.

    "The Town Head won''t be back soon. Why don''t you tell us your purpose? We should be able to help you any way we can," Gabriel stated, trying to get some answers.

    "Why we''re here? That''s none of your concern, brat. Mind your own business," Rong arrogantly stated. It was unclear what he was angry about, but whenever he talked to Gabriel, his tone was always worse than what he used with Olivia.

    "It doesn''t matter if your Town Head isn''t here or not," he further stated. "It would''ve been good if he was here, but even when he isn''t, it won''t change much. We''ll still finish what we''re here for!"

    Rong''s friends didn''t find anything wrong in his behavior or the tone he used. It was quite normal since he was a noble and from a great family.

    Rong momentarily nced at Gabriel. ''This kid... Despite being amoner, his clothes are better than mine! He really thinks just because he has better clothes, he is equal to us and can ask us questions. He needs to remember his ce!''

    Even though all six of them were Royals, due to the attire that Gabriel received from the Ancestral Staff, he looked like the real Prince here. Even the calmness on his face and his expressions were a testament of someone who had gone through a lot. His temperament was also more of a Royalty, even without him realizing it.

    Just that small thing gave Rong the impression that Gabriel was being pretentious, which made him even angrier.

    Seeing Gabriel being scolded again, Olivia clenched her fist subconsciously. She had never seen such idiots! They were standing at the doors of death, and instead of stepping back, they were trying to break the door with a hammer to invite their deaths?

    Gabriel could also feel Olivia''s grip around his hand tightening. She was still holding onto his hand.

    "Please don''t misunderstand, my Lord. What my friend meant to say was that it''ll be our pleasure to be able to help you all. In case you need anything, please tell us. We will get it done right away."

    Before things could escte, she took over the conversation again.

    "Help? We don''t need much," the second young man of the group, known as Huang, answered.

    "Yeah. What we need, you can''t help. You two are too weak. Moreover, if we needed more help, we could''ve brought mages who work for us instead. So don''t worry about us."

    For some reason, none of the Nobles said what they were here for, keeping that under wraps for now.<sub> </sub>

    Unlike Rong, Princess Xin was not angry at Gabriel. Instead, she was more intrigued.

    She didn''t know what this was about that man, but for some reason, she felt as if the man was a deep abyss that she couldn''t see through.

    She was a mid-tier mage who was on the verge of bing an Advanced Tier Mage at such a young age, yet she couldn''t see through the young man.

    She couldn''t feel any magic from Gabriel, as if the young man was nothing more than an ordinary man, but she felt there was more to him than just that. At times, she even wondered if she was overthinking.

    "Who made your clothes?" she asked after some time, starting a conversation with Gabriel.

    "I found them," Gabriel answered.

    No one made these clothes. Instead, he received them with his Ancestral Staff, so finding them was more urate.

    "Xin, did you really expect something else? How else can someone like him afford such clothes," Rong once again chimed in. "Some Royal of Lumen probably tossed away his old clothes, and this beggar picked them up to show off."

    Insult after insult, Gabriel was really getting irritated at this point. He was on the verge of letting all his anger out, but he still controlled himself.

    Olivia felt like pping Rong! If he weren''t a Royal, she would''ve already pped him! That idiot! She was sure that if the guy knew that Gabriel was a Dark Mage of the upper echelon, he would''ve already wet his pants!

    "T-there is the guest house! That''s the best we have!" To reduce some tensions, Olivia pointed at the nearest house. They were finally at their destination.

    She intentionally didn''t take them to the center of the town since she didn''t want them to see the destroyed Church of Light. It was better to keep them away from the center so they could easily leave ande to their residence without having to pass through the center of the town.

    "You all, please stay outside. I''ll go talk to the owner and tell him everything." She entered the house, taking even Gabriel with her inside. She couldn''t afford to leave him alone with these Nobles.

    She also had to inform the owner of this guest house about the new guests and how important it was that they didn''t find out what happened in the town if they wanted to keep them alive.

    Xin and the others waited outside the guest house.

    "Did you all notice it as well?" A dark-haired girl known as Yui asked. Throughout the country, she had been the most silent, observing her surroundings more than paying interest on the conversation.

    "Noticed what?" Rong asked, confused. He didn''t notice anything strange.

    "The Town..." Xin agreed with Yui. Even she had noticed this strange phenomenon. "There is not a single person outside in this town. It''s like this is a ghost town."

 238 Chapter 238

    "Now that you mention it, I see it too." Another girl agreed. She didn''t believe she hadn''t noticed it before."Other than the two people who escorted us, we haven''t seen a single person in this town. What is happening here?"

    "What''s there to be surprised about?" Rong burst intoughter. "You''re all overthinking. This is a small town. What else did you expect from it? This town is near the beast mountain. It''s clear that people would prefer to stay in much safer towns. Most of them would''ve already left this town, leaving this ce almost empty. Just stop overthinking."

    "That''s quite possible," Huang agreed. "Instead of worrying about such minor things, we should keep our focus on the Beast Mountain. Don''t forget what we''re here for."

    Even though the empty town was slightly strange, Rong''s excuse also made sense for most. In any case, they hadn''t sensed any danger in this town.

    After around five minutes, Olivia came out of the house and escorted the six inside the house, where they were provided amodation.

    After showing everyone their rooms and helping them settle down, Olivia finally left the ce with Gabriel. She didn''t forget to tell the Guest House Owner to make sure that these people didn''t see the destroyed Church.

    Xin stood in her room near the window, looking at Gabriel on the streets, who was walking toward the center of the town. Even now, she couldn''t take her focus off him.

    "A ghost town, and that strange man... Something really doesn''t feel right." She ced her hand on her chest. "Just why am I having this uneasy feeling? It''s as if something really bad is about to happen..."

    "I need to find out more about it." She made a determination.

    She couldn''t just rx in her room at a time like this with such a feeling. She was the Princess of the Yan Empire. She was always taught to be careful and be suspicious of others.

    After a few minutes, making sure that Gabriel and Olivia had left, she came out of her room. She gathered her friends.

    "What happened? I was about to go take a shower!"

    "I also wanted to take a short nap. Do you have something to talk about?"

    "Is it about what we have to do tomorrow? Is there a change in n?"

    All the Nobles tried to guess her reasoning for calling them out so soon.

    "I just can''t shake this feeling that something is really wrong with this town. I want to investigate," Xin answered.

    "You''re still on that?" Rong asked, shaking his head. "I told you, you''re overthinking. It''s a small town. There is nothing wrong here. Just rest and stop thinking about it. Tomorrow is going to be a big day. We need to be well rested."

    "We can restter. First, we need to get to the bottom of it. If I''m wrong, I''ll make it up to you all in the future! Just treat it as a favor to me!" Xin was quite stern. That uneasy feeling wasn''t leaving her.

    "Argh!" Rong scratched the back of his head. "You are so troublesome. Fine. I''ll do it."

    "Let''s get some answers so we can put your mind at ease!" Rong took the lead. He wanted to be done with it fast so he could finish his shower and go to sleep!

    He went downstairs, followed by the others. As soon as he reached the ground floor, before others could even say anything, he grabbed the cor of the middle-aged man who was the owner of this ce.

    He pulled out the man from behind the counter and raised him in the air. "Tell us the truth! Why are you all hiding? Why isn''t there anyone on the streets? If you don''t tell me, even gods won''t be able to save you today!"

    Rong didn''t expect to get any significant answers. He was sure that Xin was wrong, but if this man''s confirmation was going to put her mind at ease, he was willing to bully him a little. He was confident that it was what he thought and that the people of the town migrated.

    Rong was just bluffing. He wasn''t intending to kill the middle-aged man at all since he knew that Xin was wrong. But he still had to put on a show.<sub> </sub>

    Unfortunately, the middle-aged man didn''t know this was an act. He believed that these people had already seen through everything, and if he didn''te out clean, he was going to be killed!

    "D-dark Mage..."

    The middle-aged man said only two words, but those two words were enough to send chills down the spine of the youngsters present there.

    "What do you mean?" Rong was just ying before, but hearing those two words, even he understood that maybe Xin was right! There was something these people were hiding. His grip tightened around the man''s throat.

    "Tell us everything!"

    ****

    "I really thought that you were going to kill them. Thank you for being patient." Back at her home, Olivia respectfully bowed before Gabriel.

    Despite Rong talking in such a rude manner, Gabriel still didn''t kill him. She knew that even if Gabriel had killed them, it wouldn''t have mattered to him.

    The man who was against all the Churches, why would he care if one measly Empire was against him too? That meant the only reason he didn''t kill them was for this town.

    "I am hungry," Gabriel stated. He still hadn''t eaten anything. He didn''t respond to her gratitude since he knew he hadn''t done anything special. What he did was just a way of thanking Olivia for helping him.

    She helped him heal faster when he needed it. He didn''t want to put her in trouble right away by killing a bunch of idiots. In any case, it wasn''t as if those people attacked him. Those were just some words. If he wanted, he could still kill them and clean the streets with their blood.

    "Ah, right!" Olivia rushed inside the kitchen to get something for Gabriel to eat.

    Gabriel walked to the dining table, waiting for the food to arrive.The Infernal King wasn''t here yet either. The day felt so long...

    ****

    "Two Dark Mages took this city hostage? They destroyed the Branch of the Church of Light?!" Huang eximed in shock, hearing the entire story from the middle-aged man.

    "Nonsense. You''re saying that the stupid kid who escorted us was a Dark Mage? Absolute bull***t!" Rong scoffed. Initially, he took the story seriously, but after hearing who these people considered a dark mage, he could onlyugh.

    "There is no way he is a dark mage! If he were one, I would''ve sensed it already! That man has no Magical Aura around him!" he further stated.

    "I haven''t seen him using any magic since he was unconscious when he was brought here. Maybe he wasn''t a mage, and I was confused about him," the middle-aged man rified. "But his partner was definitely a dark mage! I can never forget that sight of the Church of Light burning in zing dark mes!"

    "There is a Dark Mage in this town? I think we should leave now!" Huang stated. "Let''s go back to Yan!"

    "I agree. We shouldn''t get involved in the matter of this town. This is getting too dangerous for even us!"

    "Nonsense! How can you all be such a coward?" Rong roared angrily, seeing such cowardice. "Why are you so scared of a Dark Mage? Did you forget how they are hunted like dogs? There is nothing special about them!"

    "Just think about it!" he further stated. "If it were really a powerful Dark Mage, he would''ve killed us already as soon as we entered their Territory. Even after being insulted, they did nothing. That means they were scared of us! They can''t be very strong, can they?"

    "If they are scared of us, that means they are weak and can be killed by us! Instead of running away, we should kill them and take their bodies back to Yan as proof of our achievement! Just think about the glory!"

 239 Chapter 239

    "They destroyed the Church of Light branch. Can they really be that weak though?" Huang asked, slightly worried.

    So far, he had only heard about the Dark Mages and their stories, but he never came across one. Being able to kill one of them was certainly an achievement but were they really capable? That was the question.

    "So what if they destroyed a measly branch? It was a remote branch of the Church of Light in a small and useless town. Do you think they would''ve sent strong Warriors to guard this ce? The priests that were assigned here must''ve been low-tier mages," Rong smacked his hand on the table before him as he responded.

    "It''s not that shocking that they were killed. If I''m not wrong, we could''ve killed them too, if they were really that weak. Moreover, didn''t you hear? The person looked really young ording to them. Don''t tell me you believe that a man as young as that could be an Advanced Tier Mage?"

    "That''s true. Someone so young... If they were really advanced Tier Mages, they wouldn''t need toe to such a small town for medical treatment." One of the girls agreed.

    "If one of them was injured and had to be brought here for treatment, that probably means he was hurt in the Beast Mountain. A dark Mage who couldn''t even protect his people from measly beast mountain beasts? How strong could they even be?" Rong further continued. The more he talked, the more he started to believe his own words.

    "In any case, so what even if he is an advanced mage? When we all work together, it''s not hard for us to take down an Advance Mage. This is an opportunity we can''t waste. Not only can we kill a Dark Mage and gain all the glory, but we can also get the favor of the Church of Light by eliminating the one who killed their people. I think we shouldn''t miss this opportunity."

    The middle-aged man who owned the ce was quite surprised to hear their words. Initially, he thought that these people were going to run after hearing what was happening there, but instead of running, they were nning to kill them?

    "You!" Rong pointed his finger at the middle-aged man arrogantly. "You lead us to where those people are staying! We''ll handle the rest."

    "Calm down," Xin finally chimed in, stopping Rong, who she believed was starting to get quite impatient. "Even if it''s true that they''re weak, we can''t be impatient. Within a few hours, our guards should be here as well. We should wait for them before taking any action."

    "Yeah, we came first since they were slowing us down. But in a situation like this, it''s better to be careful. We should wait for a few hours for their arrival... That way, we can take precautions against any mishap," Yui agreed with the Princess.

    Unlike Rong, she wasn''t impatient. Moreover, she was also slightly scared, even though she didn''t show it.

    "Come on!" Rong impatiently stated. "We can''t waste time, can we? Where''s the glory if we take the help of our guards? Even if we do all the work, the credit will go to them! We need to do it ourselves before they arrive! Just imagine the shock on their faces! Xin,e on! It can''t be that you''re scared of a few kids, is it?"

    Princess Xin could only rub her forehead. She knew there was some risk in attacking first without back-up. What if they were wrong about the other side''s strength?

    They hade here for something else entirely. Who knew they were going toe across dark mages in a small town like this?

    "It''s not that I''m scared, but I just want to be careful. There is a reason the Church of Darkness was dreaded so much in the past. Even though I haven''t fought any Dark Mage, the stories about them don''t put me at ease. I don''t care what you say in this. We will wait for our guards to catch up before taking any action!"<sub> </sub>

    Xin didn''t give Rong even an inch. She was stern in her stance since she didn''t want to lose even a single person in this quest.

    "Everyone, get back to your rooms. We will deal with the matter in the evening."

    Xin made sure that everyone went back to their room, especially Rong. She also warned the middle-aged man against telling others that they knew about the situation of the town. In exchange, she promised to free the town of this hostage situation when her guards reached here.

    <o>,m The middle-aged man promised her that he wasn''t going to tell anyone.</o>

    Even as Xin returned to her room, she couldn''t sleep or rest. It was a town captured by the Dark Mages.

    "They didn''t kill anyone in this town except the Mages that could threaten them. It seems that the stories about them that they ughtered entire towns were certainly somewhat exaggerated. I wonder what else was exaggerated about them?"

    Xin stood near the window, looking at the city that looked so peaceful. No one could''ve guessed that so much was happening in this city.

    "When our guards get here, we can finally put an end to it..." She muttered before turning her back to the window. She went back to take a shower.

    In another room, Rong was pacing back and forth. This was the perfect opportunity for them to prove to their parents how capable they were. If their Advanced Tier Mage guards came here that was going to get quite troublesome.

    Even if they killed the Dark Mages after that point, no one was going to believe that they did it without the help of their guards. That''s why he wanted to do it before the guards arrived! It wasn''t often that they coulde across such weak Dark mages.

    After ten minutes of pacing back and forth, he just couldn''t take it anymore. He opened the door and stepped out of the room.

    He nced toward Xin''s room. "If she doesn''t want toe, then so be it. I''ll go myself. I''ll take care of it myself!"

    He went downstairs and got in contact with the middle-aged man again, threatening him to take him to the ce where the Dark Mage was staying.

    The middle-aged man had no choice but to agree, even though he was scared.

    Barely a few minutes had passed since Xin stopped looking out the window, missing Rong, who was walking away with the middle-aged man on a quest that he didn''t understand the weight of...

 240 Chapter 240

    "Where are you going?" Olivia asked Gabriel, who was leaving the house after he finished eating.

    "I''m going to the Beast Mountain. I''m getting bored waiting for his return. I''ll go meet him on the mountain. In any case, there''s no need for him to gather any herbs. I''m perfectly fine now."

    Gabriel only gave a brief exnation before he left the house, leaving Olivia behind.

    The more he stayed in this town, the more he felt as if he was wasting his time. He had to be on a journey to the Arecia Empire.

    Half an hour after Gabriel left, Rong arrived at Olivia''s house with Rong.

    "That''s the house!" The middle-aged man pointed toward the mediocre house. "I can''t go any farther."

    He didn''t dare step closer to the house since he didn''t want to be seen.

    "You did your part. You can go back. I''ll handle the rest." Rong didn''t bother the middle-aged man either.

    The man was weak, so it wasn''t as if he could help in the fight. His only job was to show him the ce, and now he was done.

    The middle-aged man bowed respectfully before he started running back.

    ****

    After the middle-aged man left, only Rong was left on the street, all alone, looking at the house ahead.

    "I heard you Dark Mages love to light buildings on fire?" He muttered, raising his left hand. "As it happens, I also love the same.  Let me y around too."

    The Mark of mes on the back of Rong''s hands shone brightly in zing red color as he started chanting a spell.

    Inside the house, Olivia picked up the empty tes and was going to clean them up.

    "Finally, they will leave. The Nobles will be safe now. Thank God, I won''t need to worry. Now I just need to think about the aftermath for when the Church''s main forcese..."

    Olivia carried the empty tes in which she and Gabriel had eaten; however, for some reason, she felt as if her surroundings were getting hot... Really hot!

    Before she could even think about what was happening or leave the house, she saw a wave of fire filling up the entire house.

    ****

    The entire House started burning in mes, thanks to the spell of Rong.

    Rong just stood outside the house with his hands behind his back like he was a surreal expert who didn''t put anyone in his eyes.

    Just as he expected, he heard screamsing out of the house, but the screams didn''t belong to any man. Against all his expectations, the screams belonged to a woman.

    Rong watched a figure run out of the house.

    Fortunately, when the spell was cast, Olivia was already near the exit. Looking at the mes, she didn''t have any choice but to rush outside. Fortunately, she reacted fast before the fire could spread too much.<sub> </sub>

    Even though she reacted so fast, she still couldn''t avoid being hurt. Her skin was burned all over, and so were her clothes. Her face was pale as if itcked any blood.

    The pain of having her skin burned was so much that she couldn''t control her painful cries as she dropped to her knees. Her face was filled with years as she cried in pain.

    "Uh, it''s just you." Rong didn''t even bother taking a second nce at the woman who was crying as if she was nothing. He was after the big fish.

    He was waiting for Gabriel''s scream, or the screams of the dark Mage who was supposedly hiding inside that house. Strangely enough, there were no screams.

    Let alone screams; he couldn''t even sense any movements inside the house.

    "Don''t tell me they burned to ashes right away from my mes? They couldn''t be that weak, could they?" Rong wondered, frowning. "No, if the girl coulde out alive, they should''ve at least made some movements! Could it be that they weren''t in the...?"

    Realizing that he had attacked without even making sure if the Dark Mages were inside or not, Rong''s face twitched in frustration.

    "I wasted my spell for no reason? What a waste!"

    He stepped closer to Olivia, who was still in tears, trying to ovee the pain. She had never felt so much pain before. She couldn''t even go to anyone else for treatment since hers was the only physician family in town.

    "Stop crying! You''re hurting my ears," Rong arrogantly stated as he swung his legs, kicking Olivia.

    Even as he kicked a girl who didn''t have any Magical Strength, he didn''t hold back even the slightest. Just his kick alone was enough to send Olivia flying back.

    Olivia''s forehead also started bleeding as she crashed on the ground in the distance.

    "Don''t expect any mercy from me, you traitor! You think you can help the Dark Mages against humanity and get no consequences?" Rong scoffed arrogantly.

    "Humanity?" Even though Olivia was in pain, she forced her body to sit up again. "Do you even know what humanity is¡­? After all I did to save you people...?"

    "Save us?" Rong burst intoughter. He appeared before Olivia, grabbing her cors as he raised her in the air. "You, an ordinary human, thought you could help us? By helping dark mages? You think those excuses are enough to hide your crimes?"

    Carrying Olivia by the cor, he walked closer to the burning house. "Hurry up and tell me where you hid them! Where are those so-called Dark Mages!"

    Olivia was already in so much pain, and on top of that, the people she tried to save were repaying the favor like that? She had never felt so betrayed before. She wondered why she even stopped Gabriel from killing these people! Did they really deserve to live?

    For a moment, her mind was covered in anger and hate as she thought about telling them where exactly Gabriel went so they could court death themselves. However, she also remembered that the town didn''t just have her family.

    Thousands of lives depended on the lives of these people. If anything happened to them, there was definitely going to be a war between the two Empires. Just how many lives were going to be lost then? Could she really be selfish?

    Even as her eyes were covered in tears and her body in torment, she still thought about the people of this town and the Empire.

    ****

    Gabriel had just reached the bottom of the Beast Mountain, but before he could even take one step, he heard some footsteps.

    Before long, he also saw who those footsteps belonged to. The Infernal King was already back? He was walking with a man who looked to be in histe fifties. The old man was carrying a bag filled with herbs while the Infernal King was empty handed.

 241 Chapter 241

    The Infernal King walked with the old man, escorting him back. It was clear that they had gathered all the herbs that they needed.

    The Infernal King also noticed Gabriel. Realizing that the young man was already up, he was somewhat relieved.

    He walked up to Gabriel. "How are you feeling?"

    "Better than ever," Gabriel answered. "I don''t think I''ll be needing those herbs."

    He turned to the middle aged man in the back. "You must be Olivia''s Father?"

    "Y-yes." The middle aged man respectfully bowed. Even though Gabriel looked really young, he didn''t dare underestimate the young man. He knew that he was too weak to even stand in the presence of the two before him.

    He and his family were very weak after all.

    "You and your family have helped me a lot. I wanted to give you some spirit stones as a reward, but I''m afraid if I do that, it''ll only bring more trouble to you," Gabriel told the middle aged man.

    He didn''tck the Spirit Stones since he had already robbed the treasury of the Academy of Elements. At the moment, he had no less wealth than a King. Still, he couldn''t give the spirit stones to the middle aged man.

    The Church of Light could send their envoys anytime to investigate what happened here, and if they found these Spirit Stones in the middle aged man''s house, his entire family could be considered traitors to the Empire for helping enemies in lieu of financial aid.

    "I don''t want to owe any favour to anyone. If there is anything else you want help with, tell me right now, before I leave."

    The middle aged man was quite surprised, hearing Gabriel''s words.

    Gabriel was so strong, that there was no need for him to even help anyone in return. In any case, it wasn''t as if they could do anything to him. Still, despite all that, he was offering that?

    For some reason, the old man couldn''t help but feel that he was wrong about these people. They weren''t outright bad, even though some of their actions were somewhat bad.

    The middle aged man couldn''t dare ask anything from Gabriel. In any case, it wasn''t as if he needed anything. He was an ordinary man, living in a small town. What could he even need Gabriel''s help for?

    "I see..." Seeing the middle aged man''s hesitant expressions, Gabriel understood that he wasn''t going to ask anything.

    "Since you don''t need anything, I''ll do things on my own."He brought out a small bag and ced around hundred Spirit Stones in it.

    Compared to the vast amount of wealth he was carrying, these hundred or so were nothing for him, but the number was enough to horrify the middle aged man!

    ''H-hundred spirit stones? That''s enough to bring anyone equal to a Lord in the City in terms of wealth! These people...''

    He wanted to tell Gabriel that he couldn''t ept such a gift, but Gabriel didn''t give it to him in the first ce.

    Gabriel used one of his swords to create a hole in the ground. He ced the bag in the hole and buried it properly.

    "It''s better you don''t keep it at home. When you need the money, or if you need to leave the Town, you cane back here and take them back," he told the middle aged man, stomping on the ground once where he had recently done filling.

    "And with that, we''re done. You can go back to the city and we''ll be on our way..."

    Since Gabriel was already in a hurry to get to Arecia, he decided to leave right from here without going back to the town. That saved some time.

    The middle aged man watched the proud back of Gabriel as he walked away. The Infernal King also followed Gabriel, leaving the middle aged man behind.

    The middle aged man was happy that the Dark Mages were leaving. Finally, they didn''t need to worry about offending them and being killed. He didn''t even try to convince them toe back to the town once again to have dinner or anything before leaving.

    He took onest nce at the ce where the bag filled with spirit stones were buried. He made sure to memorise this location so he didn''t forget in the future. This amount of wealth was no small thing!

    ****<sub> </sub>

    Gabriel walked with the Infernal King, going in the opposite direction of the town where they had taken shelter.

    Initially, Gabriel hadn''t spoken much. The two just walked in silence.

    "Thank you," After a brief pause, Gabriel spoke.

    The Infernal King didn''t respond. He didn''t even think there was a need for gratitude. He only did what he wanted to do after all.

    "If it wasn''t for you, I might''ve had to take more drastic steps," Gabriel further said.

    "I''m just d that you''re safe," the Infernal King spoke. For some reason, he found this sentence hardest to speak since he was really bad at showing concern.

    Gabriel only smiled in response. "How can I be hurt when you''re with me?"

    The Infernal King didn''t respond. He just looked in the direction of the setting sun. "So where are we going now?"

    "Our next destination is the home of Novius. Remember him from the Tower?"

    "The guy who taught you?"

    "Yeah. His home should have an item that I need to strengthen my body so nothing like before happens again," Gabriel exined everything, including what the strange mirror told him about his own soul.

    <o>,m "A soul stronger that is a burden to the body?" The Infernal King was quite surprised. He had never heard of such a thing. Just how strong was Gabriel''s soul that even with his physical strength, the soul was so overbearing?</o>

    "Is this normal in this world!?" he asked.

    Gabriel shook his head. "Not quite. I seem to be the unlucky one stuck with this problem."

    "I can keep that problem in control thanks to these pills for now." He ced his hands in his pocket to bring out the Soul Healing Pill that he was keeping there.

    "Hmm? It''s not there?" He was surprised to find his pockets empty. Even though he had more Soul Healing Pills in his Spatial Storage, but losing the ones he kept in his pocket made him somewhat surprised.

    "Did I drop them in Olivia''s house?" He stopped, ncing back toward the Town. "If the Churches find them, it could be quite troublesome for her family. They''ll think they received that as a bribe..."

    "Ah, what a headache..." Scratching the back of his head, Gabriel eventually made a decision. He decided to go back to the town to retrieve the Soul Healing Pills.

    Since that family had helped him so much, he wanted to at least make sure they weren''t considered traitors to their own Empire.

    Moreover, if they were considered traitors, their words weren''t going to be taken seriously and the distraction was also going to fail since the Church would never believe them when they said that he went to Yann...

    "We''ll have to go back. What a waste of time..."

    Gabriel could only turn around. Fortunately, he hadn''t covered too much distance and the town was still in his view.

    ****

    Back in the small town, Olivia was bleeding. Her vision was already blurry, due to all the blood loss and weakness.

    "I''m asking youst time! Tell me where they are?!" Rong asked again. "Next time, I won''t go easy on you!"

    "They left the city an hour ago! I don''t know where they are now!" Olivia eximed. Even after all this, she still didn''t guide them toward the beast mountain. For some reason, she was willing to die herself to prevent a war.

    "Looks like you don''t respect my kindness. Let me show you the ruthlessness then!" Rong raised his right foot and stomped on Olivia''s knees with full strength.

 242 Chapter 242

    "Arghh!"

    Rong applied all his strength behind his stomp which was enough to crush Olivia''s kneecap, making her cry in pain.

    Even the people who were watching everything from their house windows were horrified. They wondered if these people were really Nobles of the Yann Empire? Why was it that they looked more evil than the Dark Cultivators themselves?

    "I''m giving you ten seconds. If you don''t answer, I''ll break your other leg as well..." Rong warned Olivia once again.

    He was also somewhat surprised how far this girl was willing to go to protect the Dark Mages. He didn''t realise that it wasn''t the Dark Mages she was protecting... It was them!

    "Ten..."

    "Nine..."

    Rong started the countdown while Oliviay on the ground, crying while holding her broken knee. The pain felt worse than death itself.

    She found her heart filled with hate for these people. Why was it that the Dark Mages were nicer to the citizens of this town than these people? Were these people really the good guys? Were the Dark Mages really that bad? No, this couldn''t be! These people were the real demons!

    Even as shey on the ground in pain, she couldn''t help but remember the face of Gabriel... Those kind eyes that seemed to have a hint of pain in them yet they were full of determination.

    The eyes of a man who had enough strength to destroy all these people, yet he didn''t do so, all because he didn''t want trouble toe to her. A man who didn''t need to help them yet did so on his own, even though he was insulted so much...

    Tears trickled down her cheeks as she wondered if she was really going to die here. Was her death going to solve anything? She hoped it would... As long as it could save people''s lives...

    She closed her eyes.

    "What are you doing?!" A shout came from the back, making the girl open her eyes suddenly. "What are you doing to my daughter?"

    "Father, what are you doing? Run away!" Olivia screamed at the top of her lungs. Why was her father here? And if he was alone, did that mean that the Dark Mages had already left? In that case, she realized that her father''s life was also in danger if he stayed there.

    The middle aged man didn''t listen to her daughter. The bag which was filled with the herbs that he gathered dropped to the ground as he ran to his daughter to help her.

    "I see. So you''re her father? That''s even better!"

    A grin spread across Rong''s face. He was quite careful before to not kill Olivia since he believed she was the only one who could answer, but now he could go all out. Even if Olivia was killed, the old man could still answer.

    Moreover, it was quite possible that her daughter''s death was going to fill the middle aged manwith so much fear that he was going to answer everything.

    "Time up..."

    Stomp~

    "Arghhh!" Olivia roared in pain as the man crushed her other knew as well.

    The old man couldn''t watch it. He had just reached his daughter but he was still toote. Both her legs were crushed.

    Before he could even touch his daughter, a footnded on his chest, sending him flying back.

    The middle aged man fell in the distance.

    "What are you doing? You want to kill people of the Lumen Empire? You want a war with the Lumen Empires?" The middle aged man asked, standing up while holding his aching chest.<sub> </sub>

    "Hahaha!" Rong burst intoughter. "A war with the Lumen Empire? The Lumen Empire might be somewhat strong, but do you think they''ll go to a war with Yann over the death of two random people from an unknown town?"

    "Today, even gods and demons can''t save you! The only one who can save you from me is me!" He dered proudly. "Tell me where those Dark Mage bastards are hiding! Today, I won''t go back without taking two lives! Either it''ll be the lives of those two, or it''ll be the life of you and your daughter!"

    "So think carefully! Do you traitors want to sacrifice your lives for those bastards?!"

    The middle aged man clenched his fist. The people from Yan were really arrogant. But why did they want to kill them? Did his daughter not tell them that those two already left?

    "The two already left! We won''t know where they went!" Olivia''s father eximed.

    "I see. So you want to stick to the same story.We both know that you''re hiding them somewhere in the city! But if you don''t want to answer, then so be it... I''ll just continue ying around until you decide to answer!"

    Rong sat on his knees before Olivia. He gently touched her tear stained face. "I don''t know why you''re protecting those people with your life, but I''ll make you regret it."

    "Let''s continue our game. You have ten seconds... If you don''t tell me their whereabouts, I''ll break your right hand. After twenty seconds, I''ll break your left hand. Don''t make me cripple you, youngdy."

    Olivia already felt so weak. She didn''t even feel as if she had the strength to speak. What could she even say? Her father already told them that those people already left. It was him who wasn''t believing. No matter how many times she answered, he wasn''t going to believe it.

    This man... He had the answer right before his eyes but he chose to close his eyes because he didn''t want to ept that he had already lost the Dark Mages. He refused to believe that they left!

    "So are you going to tell the truth, or not?" Rong asked once again.

    Olivia already felt defeated. At this point, it looked less like he wanted his answer and more like he wanted to let out his anger since he had lost his chance of gaining glory. He wanted to kill them to calm his anger because he felt like a failure!

    Olivia didn''t answer this time. She just gazed at Rong''s face which was close to her face before spitting on him. "Kill me."

    "You bit*h!" Rong raged as he cleared his face. It was the first time someone spit on him. This insult... It was too much.

    He could already see people looking at him through their window. They all saw him being spit on.

    "It looks like you don''t respect my mercy! Then so be it! You embarrassed me before everyone else, let me return the favor! You forced me to do it."

    Rong grabbed Olivia by her throat and raised her in the air. With his other hand, he grabbed her clothes.

    "Since we already have spectators, let''s give them something worth watching! Let''s have them all appreciate your body!"

    Since he felt disrespected by Olivia in front of everyone else, he decided to get back at her by giving her something worse! At this point, he felt like death was a mercy for her!

    He wanted to make her experience hell while she was still alive!

    "Let''s see how you maintain that same bravery when you''re without any clothes on your body before thousands of people! We''ll see your courage then!"

    As Olivia heard what those words implied, she felt as if her heart stopped momentarily in fear. Was he...?

    Rong grabbed Olivia''s clothes. With his strength, just a little pull was enough for him to tear her clothes before all these people.

    Rong was about to pull, but around that same time, he froze. He could feel an aura like he never felt before! It was like the aura of a King! And that aura, it was filled with extreme Bloodlust!

    Back in the guest house, Xin and the others also felt that same aura that was strong enough to cover the entire town! The powerful aura made them all feel a chill run down their spines! It was like death itself hade to this town!

 243 Chapter 243

    ****

    Gabriel had received quite a few Soul Healing Pills from Cylix, so losing one or two wasn''t a big deal for him. Despite that, he decided to return to the Town to retrieve the pill he believed he had dropped there to avoid future troubles for many.

    For now, he hadn''t sent the Infernal King back to the realm of the dead either.

    "Hmm? There''s fire?" As Gabriel reached near the town, he could see smoke rising from the distance as if something was burning.

    He was quite curious about what was happening, but even he hadn''t expected to find what he did.

    As soon as he reached Olivia''s house, he realized that it was her house that was burning and nothing else. Not only was her house burning, but her father was also hurt.

    Olivia''s neck was in Rong''s hand. Just the sight alone made Gabriel''s blood boil, let alone the threat that Rong used.

    This kind of anger... It had been a long time since he felt such anger. Olivia and her family had helped him heal faster, and something like this was being done to them?

    He couldn''t control his Bloodlust, which spread far and wide. When he was calm andposed, his ring could hide his aura as if there was nothing there. However, when he was infuriated, even the ring couldn''t do anything.

    That powerful aura covered the entire town. There was not a single person in this town who didn''t feel suppressed by that aura.

    Xin and her friends were shocked to sense such an aura. It was so powerful and so chilling. They all came out of their rooms, looking at each other.

    "Where is Rong?!" Xin asked the others. Only Rong was missing.

    She knocked on Rong''s door, having a bad feeling about this.

    Even as she knocked repeatedly, the door didn''t open. Eventually, she kicked the door open before barging inside.

    "He''s not here!" She eximed, feeling slightly angry. "He didn''t listen to me! That idiot! We need to hurry. His life might be in danger!"

    All young mages rushed out of the guest house.

    Before this fierce aura, the mages could still walk, but the ordinary people couldn''t even move. Olivia''s Father subconsciously dropped to his knees, just like everyone else in the town.

    Rong was about to tear Olivia''s clothes when he also sensed that killing intent. His hand stopped where it was; however, before he could even turn around, he found Gabriel standing right next to him with a blood-red sword that was covered in blood.

    That blood belonged to none other than him either. Gabriel had used the sword to cut the arm which was holding onto Olivia''s clothes to tear them off.

    "Arghh!" A sharp scream escaped his lips as his right arm was cut from the shoulders.<sub> </sub>

    The Sword was so sharp that there was not even the slightest resistance when his arm was cut.

    When Rong initially saw Gabriel, he couldn''t feel any aura from the young man. Moreover, the young man looked like a coward to him, who couldn''t even talk back. He didn''t feel threatened by the kid. Looking at Gabriel''s weakness, he considered the other person who was with Gabriel to be weak as well.

    Unfortunately, it was only now that he realized how wrong they were. Now that Gabriel had stopped hiding his aura, it was clear just what kind of person he was. This kind of strength... How could such a young man possess all this strength? Just what was this guy? Was he even a human? No, he was a monster!

    For the first time in his life, Rong felt it... the fear of death. He was the son of the Duke of Yan Empire. He had always been safe and never had to worry about his life. Only idiots would have dared to even hurt someone like him, but for the first time, he felt like he was looking death in the eye!

    He raised his left hand and started casting a spell, not only to protect him but also to hurt Gabriel. At the same time, he also jumped back, freeing Olivia, who dropped to the ground, weak.

    Both her legs were broken, making her unable to even stand.

    Gabriel didn''t do anything for her for now. Instead, he rushed after Rong. He let the young man live, even after he had used such sharp words previously. Despite all that, the young man wasn''t content? He wanted to be more brazen?

    Rong finished casting a spell, making a wall of fire rise from the ground that surrounded Gabriel from all sides.

    "As expected, you just have a strong aura and not enough strength toplement it! For a moment, you scared me!" Rong eximed. Initially, he was scared, but after seeing Gabriel being trapped in his spell, he could sigh in relief. "You might be a dark Mage, but even you can''t kill me! It''s time you pay back for taking my arm from me!"

    "Let me pay you back in full," A grim voice fell in his ears,ing from behind him.

    Shocked, Rong turned around to find Gabriel behind him.

    "Argh!" Before he could even react, his left arm was also cut, which made him scream even louder.

    "You bastard, do you know who I am?" Rong stepped back. He had no arms, but even now, he hadn''t given up. He didn''t want to die. He had realized his mistake and knew that he was not strong enough to face this monster. He had overestimated himself. But that didn''t mean he couldn''t have Gabriel killed.

    He knew their army was going toe soon. He just had to dy for a little, and then he should watch Gabriel be killed. Later on, it wasn''t hard to get a Head Priest of Light to heal his arms!

    "My Father is the Duke of Yan! If you kill me, even if you hide in the depths of hell, he won''t let you live! Take this advice and stop what you''re trying to do. Beg for forgiveness, and I''ll forgive you!" Rong dered.

    Hearing the words, only an amused smirk spread across Gabriel''s lips. "Yan? Duke? Let alone you, even if the King of Yan were here himself, even he would be dead today for what you did!"

    Gabriel didn''t take the threat seriously. He was already against the Church of Light. What was a measly Empire? The only reason he didn''t do anything was because he didn''t want them to harass Olivia and the others in this town, but despite his mercy, they did it! There was no mercy anymore.

    Gabriel walked closer to the pale-faced Rong, who kept stepping back.

    "Wait right there!"

 244 Chapter 244

    "Wait right there!"

    As soon as Gabriel started walking closer to Rong, a shout came from the back.

    Gabriel didn''t even have to turn to know who it was. Rong''s friends were here.

    "I am the Princess of Yan! Stop right there! If you don-"

    "If I don''t, then what?" Xin hadn''t even finished speaking when she heard some words.

    Gabriel had disappeared from where he was standing and now was right behind her. She could feel his cold hand around her neck. All he needed was to apply a little pressure, and he could kill her.

    "H-how?" The other Nobles were also stunned to find him right there. Wasn''t he standing far away from them? How was he next to them in the next minute itself? Was this a teleportation spell?

    They couldn''t even react, and Gabriel had already taken their Princess hostage?

    "Finish your sentence. If I don''t, then what?" Gabriel asked again as his demonic voice made Xin feel chills deep down.

    "You people came here, you destroyed houses there, and you tried to kill innocent people in this town. Do you think you have the moral high ground? You want to use your influence to scare me?" Gabriel asked.

    "Raphael!" Gabriel called out to the Infernal King.

    The Infernal King stepped forward.

    "That guy used mes to destroy Olivia''s home. I want you to show him what true mes look like. But make sure not to kill him that easily," Gabriel instructed the Infernal King.

    He was really angry, and there was no way he was going to let him live. It didn''t matter if it was the Yan or Lumen Empire. Whoever made him angry deserved death!

    The Infernal King, who was named Raphael by Gabriel, stepped forward.

    It wasn''t just Gabriel who was upset here. This girl and her family had earnestly helped them in thest two days. And for something like this being done to them as soon as they left for no reason at all? This was infuriating.

    "You! Stay away!" Rong didn''t know what to do anymore. When Xin arrived, he thought that he was going to be saved. He believed that together, they could take out Gabriel, but that looked unlikely now that Xin was Gabriel''s hostage.

    Moreover, dragging things for time also seemed unlikely. His only hope was the arrival of his army. He was really regretting not listening to Xin''s advice and waiting for theirpanion armies to reach the town.

    "Listen, I didn''t mean-"

    Rong tried to talk things out. Unfortunately, it was toote now. He had already crossed the line that he shouldn''t have.

    The Infernal King appeared before Rong, who was still speaking, grabbing Rong''s tongue between his fingers.

    "You speak too much," he said as a small ck fire lit between his fingers.

    "Aaa!"

    Rong cried in pain as his tongue was on fire. It wasn''t an ordinary fire either. The pain... He could feel that pain even in his soul.

    He couldn''t even control his tears that kept dripping out of his bloodshot eyes.

    Until now, people had only heard about the brutality of the Dark Mages against the ones who offended them, but it was the first time for everyone here to witness that. Most people realized that the rumors weren''t false at all!

    ****

    "You are making a big mistake. You don''t know the strength of our Yan Empire. You will have a chance. Let us all go, and I give you my word as the Second Princess of Yan that we won''t pursue this matter!"<sub> </sub>

    At this moment, it looked impossible for Rong to survive, but Xin didn''t give up. Having revenge after their death was useless, ording to her. If she could get their freedom in exchange for not pursuing this matter, it was much better.

    Even though Rong was hurt, he could still be treated by Head Priests of Light after all!

    "Strength of Yan?" Gabriel repeatedly. "Is Yan''s strength more than the strength of all Churchesbined? With my identity, I already have enough enemies. Do you really believe I can''t afford one more?''

    "Olivia!" Olivia''s father was sitting near Olivia. He had carried her away from all the battle, only to find out that her breathing was feeble. At this rate, she wasn''t going to live for long.

    Olivia was hanging between life and death. Still, she was happy. She couldn''t believe that Gabriel hade back to protect her. For some reason, that made her happy enough and sad at the same time.

    The people who were called emotionless demons were the ones who were truly humans, ording to her.

    ''What an irony...'' she thought as her eyes started closing.

    "This..." Gabriel also noticed Olivia''s condition. He couldn''t dy it longer, or she was going to die. After that girl helped him, could she really let her die? For him, the answer was no.

    "I warn you, Princess. Leave while you have a chance, and don''t dare hurt this town in the future. If anything happens to this town, let alone you, your entire Empire won''t be safe from my wrath."

    Gabriel freed Xin after issuing a warning and walked to Olivia, who was hanging by a thread.

    "What about Rong?" Xin asked.

    "He will stay here and ept the punishment for what he did. Heed my warning and be wise. Don''t make the same mistake he did. It''s for your and your Empire''s sake," Gabriel responded as he sat before Olivia.

    "Her condition is really bad. No medicines can help her now," he stated, observing Olivia''s condition. He ced his hand on the young girl''s chest.

    He didn''t prefer using his spells before strengthening his body, but for small spells, he could still use them without much worries.

    "Heal."

    Following one word, Olivia''s body was surrounded by a beautiful golden light that covered her entire body.

    The nourishing natural energy started entering Olivia''s body, healing all her wounds. Her broken legs were healed, and so did her bleeding head.

    Her heartbeat also stabilized within a few seconds.

    "Um..." Olivia was in so much pain that she didn''t believe she could live. Her face was covered in tears. She had already embraced her fate but didn''t as she felt as if it was herst moment; all the pain in her body disappeared entirely.

    Some strange energy filled up her body. It was such a beautiful feeling... Something that she had never experienced before.

    "Light Magic? Healing?" Xin hadn''t left yet. She wanted to see what Gabriel was going to do with Olivia, but seeing that familiar golden energy, her eyes widened.

    There was no doubt about it! That was the Healing Magic of Light! How could a Dark Mage use the Element of Light?

    ****

    "Sigh, finally we are here! Those young brats really move fast!" An old man sighed, looking at a small town in the distance. "They left even their own entourage behind..."

    "Hahaha, old man, don''t think much. It''s not like they even need us anymore. They are already strong enough to protect themselves," Another man chimed in,ughing. "The Kids have grown up."

    He wasn''t alone. There were hundreds of Mages with him, all having the attire of Yan Empire.

 245 Chapter 245

    Olivia''s legs healed. The pleasant energy filled her body, giving her the strength she had lost.

    Olivia''s vision was still somewhat blurry, but she could still realize who the person before her was.

    "You will be fine. Just rest here," Gabriel lightly patted the cheeks of Olivia before he stood up, turning his back to her.

    He looked back at Xin. Seeing Gabriel looking back at her, Xin couldn''t help but take a step back subconsciously. That feeling of suppression was too much. She could feel that she wasn''t strong enough to face him.

    Even if she tried to fight him together with the others, there was no chance of victory.

    Rong was still in Raphael''s grasp, but she couldn''t do anything. It was evident that if she even tried to do anything, she was going to die as well.

    She decided to take Gabriel''s offer. One person dying here was better than all of them dying.

    "We are leaving!" She dered as she turned around. The other youngsters were somewhat hesitant but even they weren''t stubborn enough to fight after seeing the skills that Gabriel had shown.

    The man was just too strange. He could use the Dark Spells, and the Spells of Light. Something was really wrong with him ording to them.

    The other youngsters also turned around and followed Xin.

    Rong couldn''t speak anything as his tongue was burned, but he still cried in pain, as if calling them to stop and help him.

    Xin could only clench her fist and avoid those calls for help. She and Rong were friends. She didn''t want to leave him to die. It was torture for her, but there was nothing she could do.

    Without enough strength, she could only lead her other friends to death as well. If anything, she could only hope that these people were going to let Rong live until their army arrived.

    Gabriel watched the youngsters leave but didn''t stop them.

    "Are you sure you want to let them leave?" Raphael asked Gabriel after the youngsters disappeared from their sight.

    He also tossed Rong back to Gabriel as if the man was a toy.

    "Don''t worry. They will return in a few minutes," Gabriel calmly responded as he caught Rong. He carried Rong back to Olivia.

    "What do you mean they will be back? How can you be so sure?" Infernal King Raphael wondered just what it was that Gabriel knew and he didn''t.

    "There is a small army outside the town, having quite a few advanced Tier Mages," Gabriel exined without showing much worry.

    "The Churches are here?" Raphael was somewhat surprised that Gabriel could sense the enemies before he could.

    "I don''t think they are from the Church. The forces are too weak to be sent by them to catch us. This isn''t the work of the Church."

    "It doesn''t matter who they are from. I''ll go and handle them," the Infernal King stated. For him, there was no different between the forces of the Church and other forces.

    He was already quite irrigated as he had to run away from a battlest time. This was a perfect opportunity for him to leave everything in the past and focus on the present.<sub> </sub>

    Surprisingly enough, Gabriel didn''t stop the Infernal King either.

    Gabriel was sure that these forces were white weak by Gabriel''s standard, despite having a few advanced tier Mages.

    "Don''t spend too much time. We have to leave as well," Gabriel told the Infernal King. From no angle did it look like Raphael was going to fight hundreds of Mages. Instead, from Gabriel''s reaction, it looked more like Raphael was going to y with some kids.

    ****

    "There," After the Infernal King left, Gabriel gave a knife to Olivia. "Get your revenge with your own hands. You can either kill him, or let him live. The choice is yours."

    After giving the knife to Olivia, he stepped back. He had already made up his mind. It was a test for Olivia to see if she was really someone who deserved his help.

    He had already decided. If Olivia let Rong live, even after all he did, he wasn''t going to interfere in her matters and leave right away. He had already paid them back for helping him after all.

    However, if she was brave enough, he was going to help her family to migrate to a different town where they could start a new life and not worry about being hurt by Yan. It was all her choice now.

    Rong was lying on the ground. For some reason, he couldn''t even move his body. Because of all the bloodloss, his body felt really happy for some reason.

    He didn''t have a tongue to cast his spells, nor his hands to fight physically. He felt as helpless as he never did. He had already stopped resisting, as if he had given up entirely.

    Olivia held the knife in her hand firmly. If she wanted, she could kill the pitiful guy who wanted to strip her before the whole town. But still, in the corner of her mind, there was a thought about the future. Could she really afford to kill this person? He was the son of a Duke after all.

    "I-i don''t want to kill him. Please let him leave. It''s enough..."After a long time, Olivia dropped the knife, still hesitant.

    Gabriel just looked at Olivia who was on her knees now. She had made up her mind.

    Hearing her decision, Gabriel was quite disappointed. But he didn''t do anything. He had already given her a chance to decide. If this was her choice, then he didn''t feel like there was any need for him to go out of his way to help her. The ones who couldn''t help themselves even this much, they didn''t need his help.

    "If that''s what you want." Gabriel turned to the old man. "Take the gift from the mountain and leave this town with your daughter."

    Even though Gabriel talked in his usual manner, for some reason, Olivia felt as if Gabriel was quite distant now. Previously, she didn''t feel this way. Previously, she could feel some friendliness in his tone, but now, that was missing. Did she really make him upset by not killing him? She wondered.

    Unfortunately, she couldn''t do anything. She couldn''t kill him and bring a cmity onto her people.

    Her father bowed to Gabriel before holding Olivia''s hand and leaving the town.

    Even as she left, Olivia asionally nced back at Gabriel.

    Back on the ground, Rong felt somewhat relieved. Since Gabriel left his life in the girl''s hand and she let him leave, did that mean he finally avoided the cmity?

    Before he could even sigh in relief, a foot stomped on his head, crushing his skull.

 246 Chapter 246

    Rong was feeling happy that he was left alive. If he wasn''t killed, he could still survive and get healed.

    Unfortunately, Gabriel had something else in mind. Just because he gave Olivia an opportunity to decide didn''t mean he was going to let him live if she did.

    Gabriel crushed Rong''s skull without thinking twice. He didn''t care what happened to Rong here.

    ****

    The youngsters reached the exit of the town, only to find their armies there. Xin had never seen so excited to see her army as she was now. These people had finally caught up to them.

    He ran to them to tell them everything and ask for their help in saving Rong. Unfortunately, as soon as she stepped out of the town premise, she saw a sea of mes rising from the ground that covered her entire army.

    The Mages hadn''t expected an attack out of nowhere.

    Seeing a huge sea of fire cover her men, Xin and her friends were frozen in ce. What was happening here? Just what? How could someone use a spell on such arge scale? And that too, this powerful? Shouldn''t only someone on the same level as the Head Priests of Churches be able to do something like that?

    She could only hear screamsing from the sea of mes. She was horrified, dropping to her knees. Just what was happening? Just what was this scary sight? So far, she had only heard of the past glories of the Church of Darkness and how strong they were. Was this their true strength? They were so strong? Did they really underestimate them?

    Since the Mages weren''t expecting to be attacked in such a small town, they hadn''t taken any precautions. This attack came out of nowhere and before they could react, they were swallowed whole in the mes. The power of these dark mes were too much for theirst minute spells.

    The Mages didn''t have time to cast powerful spells since they were attacked so suddenly. As for the weaker protection spells, they didn''t evenst a second before Raphael''s dark mes.

    Standing on one of the roofs, Raphael watched the destruction caused by his mes. It wasn''t a new sight for him since even in the realm of the Dead, he had only recently destroyed the Kingdom of Damphirs. This sight had be amonce for him.

    By the time the mes stopped, only ashes were left behind. The mes were so hot that even the weapons of the army were melted.

    The only people from Yan who were still alive were the five youngsters who were on their knees, pale faced.

    Raphael jumped down from the roof,nding behind the youngsters. These five were thest ones who were left here.

    Raphael raised his hand to burn those five as well. They couldn''t resist. They could only ept death! This was their destiny!

    All the youngsters turned around, looking at Raphael who was about to kill them. After seeing the sea of fire and the strength of these people, Xin and her friends had already lost any hopes of resistance.

    They couldn''t even muster up the courage to fight back. It was their first time going through a situation like this since most of their lives, they had been sheltered.

    Xin couldn''t even move her hands as she felt like her hands were frozen in fear.

    She closed her eyes, as if epting her fate. These people weren''t scared of their influence. They didn''t care about money. They didn''t care about taking hostages. There was nothing she could offer them in exchange for her life.

    "That''s enough." Just as the Infernal King was about to burn these people, a voice came from the back.

    Xin opened her eyes, realizing that the voice was quite familiar. It belonged to the person who was with the Infernal King.<sub> </sub>

    Just as she expected, she could see Gabrieling in their direction. The Infernal King also stopped and looked back, wondering why he was stopped.

    Gabriel stopped before Xia and went down on a knee as well.

    "Are you scared?" he asked the young Princess.

    The young Princess was shaking already. She could only nod her head. All her confidence from before was gone. For some reason, she felt even more scared of Gabriel than she did of Raphael.

    "Why did youe here?" Gabriel asked the young girl. "I''m sure it wasn''t to die, was it?"

    "We..." The girl tried speaking, but it was proving hard for her to speak either. "We wanted... To train... On beast mountain."

    Xin eventually managed to answer. Her heart was beating so fast.

    Gabriel was quite disappointed with the answer. He was expecting something more special. He expected there to be some treasure that these people were after. To eventually find out that they were just kids who were here to train? However, it was clear to him that she wasn''t lying.

    He stood up. The five youngsters before him were at their mercy and he could do whatever he wanted with their lives.

    However, he didn''t feel like he had any personal enmity with them. Only Rong had angered him to that extent. These people weren''t even there.

    "Did you tell your friend to attack that girl?" he asked another question.

    "We didn''t! We told him to not do anything stupid! We would never hurt innocent people! He left without informing us! If we had known, we would''ve stopped him!" Another girl in the group answered.

    In her mind, she was cursing Rong for bringing this cmity to them.

    "Onest question. Give me one reason I shouldn''t kill you right here?" Gabriel asked his third andst question.

    He didn''t feel much anger toward these youngsters and he wasn''t scared of their influence. To him, leaving them alive didn''t matter either. He was initially nning to let them leave after all. But still, he was curious what reason they were going to give.

    "I can give you gold! Millions of gold coins! My family is very rich!" One of the girls stated. If there was a chance of survival, she was willing to take it! She was sure her father wasn''t going to hesitate in giving this ransom.

    "My father owns a lot of businesses! If you let me leave, I''ll convince him to give half to you!" The only man left in the group dered.

    One after another, all youngsters offered one thing or another. To any ordinary person, such advantages were enough to sway them but to Gabriel, they were nothing. He already had enough wealth and materials that he could ever need.

    Seeing Gabriel unimpressed, Xin was even more scared. She finally decided to do something stupid to save her life!

    "I will give you the Spirit Tomb Key!" She dered with clenched teeths.

 247 Chapter 247

    Xin dered that she was going to offer the Spirit Tomb Key. Her words clearly shocked all her friends, who couldn''t believe she had offered the Key! Seeing their reactions, even Gabriel could feel that this key was something special for them.

    Xin never thought she would have to give away such a precious treasure. She was sure that if her father found out what she did, he was going to be really angry.

    Unfortunately, she didn''t have any other choice at the moment. She wanted to survive, and she wasn''t sure if the items they had previously offered were enough to sway Gabriel. Other than that, she only had the Spirit Key, which she could think of.

    "Spirit Tomb Key?" Gabriel was pretty new in the world of Mages. He didn''t even know about the Numens until not long ago, let alone something like the Spirit Tomb Key. It was his first time hearing of something like that.

    He looked at Raphael, who also looked just as confused at him.

    "What do you know about the Spirit Tomb Key?" he asked. He wasn''t sure if it was wise to tell the girl that he didn''t know anything about it, but if he asked her in a different way, he knew he could get some answers.

    He made it appear like he was testing Xin''s knowledge.

    "It''s the key to the only known Tomb left behind from the Era of Gods," Xin answered. From Gabriel''s expression, she didn''t know what he was thinking."There are only a limited number of such keys that allow entry into the Tomb, and each Empire only possesses two such keys with them..."

    ''A Tomb from the Era of Gods?'' Gabriel was slightly surprised but didn''t let it show on his face. If he wasn''t wrong, the Tower at the Academy was also from the Era of Gods, but these people didn''t know about it.

    "One of our keys is held by my brother. The other is held by me. I am willing to trade that key for our lives!" The girl eximed.

    She didn''t know what the world was going to think once they found out that she had given one of the keys to a Dark Mage, but currently, she had to protect their lives first.

    Despite her exnation, Gabriel didn''t react, which made Xin wonder if he really didn''t like the exchange offer.

    She just kept her head down and really hoped that he would take that offer.

    Gabriel hadn''t heard about the Tomb before, but for now, he found it quite interesting.

    "Fine. Give me the key, and I promise to let you leave safely in return."

    Xin stared into Gabriel''s eyes, trying to see if he was really serious. From her tone, it didn''t look as if he was lying.

    Eventually, she brought out a key that she was using as a pendant.

    She gave the beautiful silver key to Gabriel.

    Gabriel held the key firmly. Strangely enough, he could feel a really familiar feeling from the key. It was an energy quite simr to his Grimoire. The key was certainly not an ordinary key, but he wasn''t sure how it was rted to his Grimoire.<sub> </sub>

    There were no strange marks on the key. It was only the shape of the key that was different than any key he had ever seen before.

    "Where is the Spirit Tomb?" he asked the girl. "And when can people enter it?"

    It was clear that the Spirit Tomb wasn''t open yet. If it was, she was sure the girl would''ve already gone there instead of wasting time elsewhere. Even if she had already gone inside before, she could''ve given it to someone else in her Empire to enter. But she didn''t. That could only mean that the Spirit Tomb wasn''t open.

    Xin didn''t respond right away as she thought about fooling Gabriel. However, she was hesitating as well. What if she lied and was caught? That was going to be worse.

    ''Should I tell him that he can enter whenever he wants and let him suffer? If I don''t tell him about the time when the protection around the Spirit Tomb is off, and entry is allowed, the Protection should be able to kill him before he even gets close,'' she thought, but just the thought of trying to fool Gabriel was making her heart shake.

    She was scared. She didn''t know just what skills Gabriel possessed, but if there was one that helped him catch lies, then she was as good as dead after telling a lie. Moreover, she wasn''t even sure if Gabriel didn''t know about it and was just testing her.

    Eventually, she let out a tired sigh and decided to y it safe. In any case, so what if she told him the safe time? By the time the Tomb allowed entry, the others with keys were going to be there as well.

    As soon as their sides saw a dark mage, they were going to take action. It was better to let them handle things on their own instead of risking her own life...

    "The Spirit Tomb is surrounded by protective formations that can''t even be broken by a Holy Priest. The formation only stops working once every four years, and that too only for a short time. That''s the rule where a person is allowed to approach the Tomb and use the key," she answered honestly.

    "So that''s why you aren''t there," Gabriel understood why the girl wasn''t there yet. It was because she couldn''t. "When will be the time when the formation stops?"

    "It happens once every four years. After exactly one month, it will be four years since itst stopped working. That should be the time you can enter."

    Xin told Gabriel everything he asked and sometimes even things that he didn''t ask, all in hopes of being able to leave this ce alive.

    Gabriel kept the key in his Spatial Storage safely. Even he didn''t expect a trade like this in exchange for the lives of a few youngsters who he wasn''t nning to kill in any case.

    "You can leave." Even though he didn''t need to, he kept his side of the deal as well and allowed them to leave.

    Xin stood there, still suspicious. Were they really free? Could they really leave?

    As Xin was confused, Gabriel stepped forward and ced his finger under her chin, raising her head, so she was looking right into his eyes.

    "But remember what I said before... If you told anyone what happened here, the Yann Empire would be a relic of the past. I''ll personally destroy it."

 248 Chapter 248

    He freed Xin and walked past her, leaving a group of stunned youngsters behind. The Infernal King also followed behind Gabriel, leaving the kids alive.

    It was only after Gabriel left that Xin dropped to her knees weakly. She could finally be assured that they had survived this cmity! She felt so weak. All the fear she felt before... Finally, she could rx.

    "The Dark Mage who can use light... This going is too big to keep a secret. We should get back and inform our Elders." After Gabriel disappeared from their sight, one of the girls in the groupmented.

    "No! No one will say anything!" Xin clenched her fist. "That guy... He is terrifying. Even if he''s a Dark Mage, I don''t want him to be our Enemy. With the kind of strength he and his strength possess, we can''t be sure if he''ll really destroy the Empire! We should keep our promise to him!"

    "But Xin, he is a Dark Mage. Can we really allow him to roam freely?"

    "Who says he''ll roam freely? He destroyed the Church of Light Branch in this town. He already has the Churches on his trail. Leave this matter for the Churches to handle. We shouldn''t get our Empire involved in the War of Churches. No matter what, I don''t want this kind of monster to be our enemy!"

    Xin was usually the bravest of them all, but she wasn''t stupid. She was more far-sighted than others. She had already realized that Gabriel wasn''t throwing empty bluffs. That guy really meant it when he said that he was going to destroy them if they did anything stupid!

    "Just the two of them are so strong. We don''t even know how many people they actually possess in the Church of Darkness now. We didn''t even know it existed until now! We shouldn''t take the risk!" She further stated, still believing that Gabriel was part of the Church of Darkness.

    She even expected a huge army to be behind him.

    "What about Rong? How are we going to exin his death back home? And our entire army? What are we going to do about this? We can''t keep such a thing secret, can we?" Yui asked.

    That was the real problem. A son of the Duke had died. How could they exin it without mentioning a Dark Mage?

    "You don''t have to worry about that. I''ll think of something... For now, get back. I don''t want to stay at this ce even a second longer..."

    This was the ce where Xin had seen an entire army being massacred like they were nothing. The chilly feeling still hadn''t left. She wanted to get back to the Royal City as soon as she could.

    ****

    "Do you really think she was telling the truth?" The Infernal King asked Gabriel. They had already gone far enough that they had lost sight of the group of youngsters.

    "I am not sure. I couldn''t sense any lies at least, but we need to verify the information from a third source," Gabriel answered.

    "However, I do feel that they were telling the truth. ording to them, in one month, the Spirit Tomb is going to open. And they came to the Beast Mountain for training. It looks like they were nning to train for the Spirit Tomb."

    "Of course, I could be wrong as well. It''s possible that they fooled me. If ites to that, we''ll handle it in a different way. But for now, I don''t have many reasons to doubt them."<sub> </sub>

    The Spirit Tomb was something he hadn''t heard of before, so he wanted to know more about it for sure. Moreover, he had plenty of time to do that as well. There was still a month left before the Spirit Tomb opening.

    That much time was enough for him to get to the Arecia Empire and retrieve the thing that could strengthen his body to the same level as his Soul. After that, he didn''t have to worry about using Heavy Spells, no matter what.

    "ording to that girl, each Empire has two Keys to the Spirit Tomb. That also means that they have knowledge of it. In the Arecia Empire''s, I''m sure we''ll be easily able to verify this information from Novius'' descendants."

    After Gabriel was backstabbed in the past, lying at death''s door, his Grimoire was the one that took him to safety, inside the mysterious ce where he discovered the Ancestral Staff.

    His Grimoire wanted to save his life, and so it did. But it also did something else. After being hurt, he was unconscious for close to two days, where he was constantly trapped in the same dream... A repeat of reality where he was stabbed.

    The dream kept repeating again and again as if never wanting him to forget what had happened. With time, something inside him changed subconsciously until he finally let go of his extremely trusting and naive nature. No matter who it was, Gabriel never trusted anyone entirely... It was his self-preserving nature...

    There was only one person he trustedpletely with his life in this world... And it was the person right next to him.

    "Are you still feeling ufortable with the Natural Energy of Earth?" he asked Raphael, who was walking right beside him.

    Raphael was from the Realm of the Dead, so he was quite ustomed to the aura of death in his realm. The energy in this world was mostly filled with life, which was enough to not only make Raphael unable to use hisplete strength here but also to make him ufortable.

    Raphael nodded. "I don''t think I''ll ever get ustomed to it. But it''s better than before."

    "Do you want to go back home?" Gabriel inquired. Raphael had onlye here to save him. He couldn''t keep him here all the time as a guard. Raphael had a life of his own, after all.

    Raphael didn''t answer. He just silently walked beside Gabriel, keeping up with his pace.

    "We are done with all the battles. For now, I only need to go on this journey. I doubt I''ll have to fight anymore. And thanks to the ring, I don''t think they''ll be able to find me. If you want to go back, you really can..."

    Even though Gabriel liked Raphael''spany since he didn''t have any other friends at the moment, he didn''t want to be greedy.

    Raphael eventually nodded. He had many things to do in the Realm of the Dead. He had just destroyed the Damphir Kingdom when he had to rush here to help Gabriel.

    His ming Horse was back there as well. He didn''t even know what the situation was like now.

    He knew he had to deal with the aftermath there, and now that Gabriel was safe and healthy, he could leave¡­

 249 Chapter 249

    ****

    [Thud]

    "Hahaha, this ce looks lively."

    The door abruptly opened, and a group of men walked inside a restaurant.

    Amongst the group of seven, none of the youngsters had any magical aura of their own, but all of them appeared quite strong. They were all carrying a heavy Sword on their back.

    Gabriel was peacefully eating in the restaurant, keeping his identity hidden, but even he couldn''t help but nce at the people who had just barged inside. It was their swords that attracted him the most.

    The swords that they carried on their back weren''t Numens; however, they were still stronger than ordinary swords. The swords appeared to be Artificial Artifacts made by the Artificer Families of humans.

    The group of seven looked like Knights based on the attire they wore.

    "Huh? There are no seats avable?" One of the Knights let out after noticing that all the tables were taken.

    This was the town that was closest to the Arecia Empire. After this point, one could only enter the Arecia Empire. Usually, the ce didn''t have many visitors, but from what Gabriel heard, quite a few people were resting here nowadays on their journey to the Arecia Empire.

    The group of seven walked to the Manager of the Restaurant. Even the Manager seemed confused as to what to do. There were truly no empty seats. However, the guests weren''t ordinary people either.

    The Manager looked around the restaurant and noticed that all the tables were truly full, except one where only one person was sitting... Instead of getting a group to leave to make space, he believed that it was better to get just one person to leave.

    ''After that table is free, I can arrange some chairs there, and it should be enough,'' he thought as he approached the table near the window.

    "Ah, dear Guest, can you please vacate the table?" The Manager asked the young man who was sitting at the table.

    Even though the young man was also dressed in an attire that made him look wealthy, but he was still just one person.

    "My order isn''t here yet," Gabriel told the Manager. He had just ordered after sitting down. Instead of serving his food, they were asking him to leave? He was too hungry to listen for now.

    "Ah, Guest. Please try to understand. Those seven are distinguished guests from the Arecia Empire. We still need to maintain some rtionship with them. So please get up. I''ll refund you the money you paid, and at the same time, after another seat gets empty, you can take that! I promise no one will disturb you there."

    If Gabriel didn''t have the attire of a wealthy man from an influential family, the Manager wouldn''t even bother talking to him so nicely. He would''ve just kicked Gabriel out to make space. However, believing that Gabriel wasn''t a poormoner either,he maintained his humbleness.

    ? Gabriel nced at the group of seven in the back, who were engaged in a discussion amongst themselves, not even bothering to look at him.

    "I''m sorry, but I don''t want to stand up for now. How about you give that same offer to them? When another table bes empty, send them there."<sub> </sub>

    If it were normal circumstances, Gabriel could''ve still considered it, but the group of seven wasn''t powerful. They weren''t even mages. No matter how much influence they possessed, for him, it was useless. Even their treasures were useless to him. There was no need to take them into consideration.

    "Young Man, don''t be so short-sighted," the Middle Aged Manager still didn''t give up. "Those people are from Arecia and they are quite influential. From their attire, it''s clear they are also from the Sacred Knight Academy."

    "Please give me some face, and don''t make things difficult for us," he further stated. "Moreover, aren''t youing to Arecia for that thing? If I''m not wrong, these people can make your life a living hell. The Knight Academy is incharge of that! So think of your own future as well."

    "That thing?" Gabriel was somewhat surprised. What did he mean by that?

    ''There is no way he could know what I''m here for. Then what is he talking about?''

    He waspletely sure that the Manager couldn''t read his mind to know what he was there for, which made his words even stranger.

    "The Sacred Knight Tournament!" The Manager eximed. "What else if not that? Aren''t you here like everyone else for the same thing? Come on, don''t be arrogant and lose such a great opportunity in the process. Who knows, I might even be able to introduce you to these Knight Academy students."

    "If you are kind enough this time, your future path should be very smooth. I heard that a Holy Priest is also going to attend the Tournament as a guest, along with the Knight King... It''s such a perfect opportunity to show your skills to great people. Do you really want to lose it over food?"

    "A Holy Priest?" Gabriel was slightly taken aback. A Head of Church was going to be in the Arecia Empire around the same time he was here? He didn''t know what these Knight Tournaments were or anything about the Knight King, but what concerned him for now was the presence of a Holy Knight in the city.

    If a Holy Priest was there, that spelled trouble. There was a great chance that the Holy Priest was going to stay in the Royal Arecia Pce as a guest. That did increase the difficulty of his mission and created some obstacles.

    Gabriel went silent, losing himself in thoughts.

    Seeing him go silent, the Manager sighed in relief. ''Even though this kid is slightly arrogant, at least he knows what''s good for you. He is scared, and finally, he understands the gravity of the situation.''

    "What''s taking so long?"

    Even though the Manager tried to convince Gabriel, since it took so much time, the Knights had already started paying attention to Gabriel. One of them even approached the table personally.

    "Kid, scram out of this ce if you know what''s good for you!" The red-haired man ced his hand on Gabriel''s shoulder, applying slight force as if showing off his strength.

    Gabriel came out of his thoughts and looked at the red-haired next to him.

    "Hmm?" The Red-Haired Knight was slightly surprised at theck of Gabriel''s reaction. Even though he didn''t use too much of his strength, but the amount of strength he used should''ve been enough to at least make him groan in pain. Why was Gabriel not reacting?

    The man''s face turned slightly red in anger and embarrassment as he increased the strength with which he grabbed Gabriel''s shoulder¡­

 250 Chapter 250

    The red-haired knight increased the strength, applying even more pressure on Gabriel''s shoulders. It was a matter of his dignity.

    The other six knights from the Knight Academy didn''t interfere either. They only watched the scene with amusement, finding the young man quite interesting.

    Gabriel''s strength had increased recently, increasing his defense as well, but even it wasn''t enough to resist such pressure without the help of his spells. The red-haired man was going all out, after all. If it were an ordinary man instead of him, their shoulder would''ve already been crushed to a powder before this strength.

    "Have you done enough?" After some time, Gabriel finally broke his silence. "If yes, then please go back and wait for me to eat."

    "You!" The red-haired man was furious. Not only was Gabriel still not reacting, but he was talking as if he was dealing with a kid.

    The manager of the restaurant couldn''t help but step back. He had tried all he could, but it was already toote. It appeared as if bad blood had already been established between the two sides. It was toote for him to do anything, and he could only leave it for them to deal with...

    ''This kid, even after all my advice, he didn''t listen. He really doesn''t know what''s good for him.'' Sighing, the man went back, wondering what was going to happen next.

    Even if Gabriel was slightly stronger, he couldn''t face a Knight of the Knight Academy, especially since there were seven of them.

    "Good!Very good! You really have some courage, kid!" Even though the red-haired knight sounded like he wasplimenting Gabriel, from his tone, it was clear that he was being sarcastic. "But don''t forget. Sometimes, courage without strength can lead to an early grave. I hope you remember that!"

    "I couldn''t agree more," Gabriel replied as he picked up the ss of water before him and took a sip."So leave, and I won''t pursue this matter anymore. I''ll forgive you this time."

    "Hahaha!" The red-haired knight was furious. But the other knights in the back found it quite fun. It wasn''t often that they came up to people with such courage.

    "You!" The Red Haired Knight raised his hand, cing it over the hilt of his sword on his back. He has had enough. He was so angry that he wanted to slice Gabriel''s neck with one swipe.

    "That''s enough," A voice filled with authority came from the back, making the red-haired knight stop.

    The young man turned around, "But Senior Brother, he-"

    The voice belonged to one of the six people in the group. That person also had the strongest sword in the group and looked like the leader of the group.

    "Rx a bit. There''s no benefit in getting angry. It''s not often we meet such amusing people after all. In the world we live in, we need courageous people. Shouldn''t we be friends with such people instead of being enemies?" The young man, who looked like he was in histe twenties, stated.

    He stepped forward, stopping before Gabriel.

    "I am Yuan, a Fourth Year Student in the Knight Academy of Arecia," the Dark Haired Man introduced himself as he reached out his hand. " What is your name?"

    "Gabriel," Gabriel answered as he also reached out his hand. If the guy before him was a mage, he could''ve probably hesitated in shaking hands with them, but since the man wasn''t a Mage, there was no risk in it.

    Yuan nced at the Manager in the back. "Instead of getting little brother to leave, why don''t you arrange seven more seats here? We can eat with him."

    Gabriel didn''t react. As long as they weren''t going to make him bother with a battle, he was fine.<sub> </sub>

    The red-haired knight was still somewhat discontent, but he couldn''t do anything other than agree.

    "I would like to apologize to you for our little brother. He is somewhat impatient, but he isn''t a bad person," Yuan stated.

    "Anyway, let me introduce our side. The man you met before is Zack. He is my cousin and a first-year Knight at the Academy. I brought him with me on a mission, and we were on our way back when we decided to stop and eat."

    Yuan introduced his side one by one, starting with the red-haired Knight.

    Gabriel didn''t speak in the middle of the introduction, but he did memorize all their names. It turned out that the red-haired man was just a first-year student? For a first-year student without any magic, his physical strength was quite impressive.

    That made Gabriel wonder just how strong Yuan was. Since these people didn''t use magic, judging their real strength was slightly harder than judging the strength of a Mage.

    The Manager arranged seats for them around the same table. All seven Knights sat down, and finally, the food was brought.

    With time, the two sides actually started getting along somewhat well. Moreover, Zack was a person who couldn''t hold a grudge for long, and with time, he also calmed down. He realized that he actually was too impatient and tried to hurt a stranger.

    Without even being asked to, he apologized to Gabriel on his own. Just as Yuan has said, the young man didn''t look like a bad person on the inside. He was just slightly short-tempered and impatient.

    "So little brother, are you a Mage?" After some time, Yuan finally asked.

    Even when faced with Zack, Gabriel wasn''t scared. It was clear that the kid wasn''t weak and was confident enough about his strength. However, it was also clear that he wasn''t a knight since he wasn''t carrying a Magical Weapon. That could only imply that he was a mage.

    Moreover, since Gabriel was hiding his hand behind his gloves, that made it difficult to see his Elemental Mark, which made him feel as if he wasn''t wrong about his assumption.

    Gabriel nced at his hands. Previously, he could''ve at least shown his Mark of Light, but now that the Mark of Light has somewhat merged with the Mark of Darkness in his left hand, he couldn''t even show that.

    "Does it even matter?" Gabriel asked. "There are so many mages in this world. Mages aren''t that hard toe across."

    "True." Yuan nodded. Even though Gabriel didn''t answer directly, his words were enough of an answer. The guy before them was definitely a Mage.

    "Are you here to participate in the Knight Tournament?" Yuan asked.

    Even though Gabriel didn''t know what Knight Tournament was, from the name, it did sound like a battle of Knights.

    "I am a Mage. How can I participate in the Knight Tournament?" he asked.

    "Little Brother, could it be that you don''t know anything about it?" Yuan was somewhat taken aback by this question. He thought everyone who came here knew about such basics. But this kid... Did he not even know these things? Was he judging by the name?

    "Little brother, the Knight Tournament isn''t a battle of Knights. It''s not a battle tournament either. Don''t judge by its name, as the name is quite deceptive. It''s something else entirely...."

 251 Chapter 251

    "What is the Knight Tournament then?" Gabriel asked Yuan.

    He didn''t know much about the Arecia Empire other than the fact that the Empire was stronger than the Yan Empire. Moreover, based on the name of the tournament, it really did sound like a battle tournament for knights. Was that not the case?

    "You really aren''t from around here, are you?" Yuan smiled wryly. "As I said before, the Knight Tournament is something in which everyone can take part in. Even mages who aren''t Knights..."

    "Is this for selection in the Sacred Knight Academy?" Gabriel inquired. If this wasn''t a simple battle tournament, he could only guess that it was a selection exam for the Academy of Knights.

    Just like the Lumen Empire had the Academy of Elements, the Arecia Empire had the Sacred Knight Academy, which trained Knights. Even though the Knight Academy was considered weaker than the Academy of Elements as a whole, it was still very powerful.

    The Academy of Elements was the dream for people who awakened their elements. On the contrary, the Academy of Knights didn''t differentiate between the people who awakened their elements and the ones who didn''t.

    They opened their doors for everyone as long as the person had enough talent since they didn''t need an element to be a Knight.

    "Academy Selection Exams like this? I wish," Yuan smiled. "Anyway, as I said, you should try participating. If you actually seed, destiny''s door will open for you."

    "Destiny''s Door?" Gabriel repeated, wondering if this was just a metaphor or something more. "Can you tell me directly? What is this Knight Tournament? What is the purpose of it?"

    "Since you''re not from here, I suppose you don''t know about the Saint King either?" Yuan still didn''t answer directly.

    "Saint King?" Gabriel shook his head. He really didn''t know any Saint King. Then again, his knowledge of this world was still in its initial stages.

    "The Knight Tournament is rted to him, so I think you should know about him first. That should help you understand what the Knight Tournament is," Yuan stated. "Do you at least know about the Era of Gods?"

    Gabriel finally nodded. That was the thing he knew. It was the Era where Karyk and the other gods lived, along with the Demigods. It was the Era where all the Numens that exist in today''s world came into existence...

    "In the Era of Gods, there existed gods and demigods who could destroy cities with a flick of their fingers. However, at the same time, there also existed many ordinary humans. One of those ordinary humans was Lord Avalon."

    "Since he didn''t have any magical strength to stand against the Demigods, instead of epting his fate of being weak, he decided to be strong based on his own hard effort. He started training his body in hellish conditions. Eventually, he even managed to break through the human limit, strengthening his body to such an extent."

    "He was known as the first Knight, also addressed as the Saint Knight by the current generation."

    Through Yuan''s exnation, Gabriel was somewhat surprised. There was really a human who wanted to be as strong as the Demigods without possessing any magical strength?

    "That person''s willpower must''ve been quite strong," Gabrielmented.<sub> </sub>

    "He certainly had a reason after all. Unfortunately, he was very unfortunate. He chased after this strength to win the heart of the woman he loved so he could protect her all his life. However, by the time he returned from his training, the woman he loved was already married," Yuan exined.

    "What did he do then? Did he kill her husband?"

    "He was an upright Knight. He would''ve never killed her husband. However, her husband did die from heart disease on his own after a few years," Yuan responded.

    "Quite a coincidence," Gabriel muttered, slightly apprehensive of the story. Since it was an old story, it was quite obvious that some parts of the story could''ve been changed or exaggerated. There was no saying that Avalon wasn''t involved in her husband''s death.

    "When that woman''s husband died, she was troubled a lot. Their family went into a decline due to all the debt her husband had gathered, and eventually, things went sour as people kept targeting her. That''s when the Saint Knight came and protected her. The Saint Knight protected the woman, fighting hundreds of people alone to protect the girl''s dignity."

    "ording to the legends, the Saint Knight killed over a thousand people that day. It was a massacre that shook the entire city, even alerting the Demigods. It wasn''t a small thing for an ordinary human to possess a strength like this after all."

    "Shouldn''t the Saint Knight be condemned for killing so many people?" Gabriel asked. Looking at the world''s condition, he knew that an act like that would''ve been considered devilish, no matter how righteous it was. "Why would the Arecia Empire treat that person like an idol?"

    "You''re not wrong. The Saint Knight was condemned a lot for an act like that. The City of Gods even sent a Demigod to check the situation and deal with it ordingly," Yuan answered, taking another sip of his wine.

    In the Arecia Empire, everyone knew of this story as it was very widespread. For many, it was like a myth or just an urban legend, but quite a few believed this story as well. This story was the foundation of this Empire after all.

    Yuan continued with his story.

    "So the Saint King trained to be able to stand against a Demigod without losing, and a Demigod had toe to exterminate him." Gabriel was quite interested in the story. "Even if the Saint King strengthened his body, I doubt he could''ve defeated a Demigod. The difference in Power isn''t something that could be covered with training."

    "You''re not wrong. That was exactly what happened. The Saint King was defeated in the battle single-handedly. Even though he was strong, he was no match for a Demigod," Yuan agreed. "The difference in strength was just too much."

    "So he was killed?" Gabriel asked. "Or did he run?"

    "No. ording to the legends, he wasn''t killed. He didn''t run away either. Instead, he stayed behind to dy the Demigod while giving the woman he loved an opportunity to escape first. That''s when something happened..."

    "What?" Gabriel asked, somewhat curious. Since the Saint King became a legend, he shouldn''t have been killed so easily.

    "An Army of Undead... Hundreds of Undead entered the City where the two were fighting."

    "An army of Undead?" Gabriel frowned. "Why did it sound familiar...?

 252 Chapter 252

    "That''s right. An army of Undead, filled with powerful Undead beings. I''m sure it''s hard to believe some of this, and you''re not wrong. Maybe there is a certain exaggeration, but it''s also possible that it''s entirely true. The Era of Gods was a crazy time after all."

    Yuan could see that Gabriel was taken aback to hear of the Undead. He wondered if Gabriel was finally scared.

    "It was said that each of the Undead was as powerful as the Demigods." Yuan smiled. "Can you imagine strength like that? The Demigod stopped fighting and retreated. He didn''t forget to attack onest time, giving a mortal wound to the Saint King before leaving."

    "ording to the myth, even though the Demigod ran, the Saint King was so hurt that he couldn''t even stand. He dropped to the ground, and his body bled."

    "He couldn''t even hope to fight the Undead. He had already epted his fate as he lost consciousness," Yuan spoke as he imagined himself in the ce of the Saint King.

    ''An army of Undead, powerful enough to scare even Demigods? This doesn''t sound like the power of a Demigod. The Power to control the dead? Undead strong enough to fight a Demigod? So an Undead like Raphael? This army... If I''m not wrong, it should''ve belonged to Karyk...''

    '' But what was he trying to do? Why would he send his army to a random city? Unless... He was looking for something and thought this could make the search easier?''

    For a moment, there was only silence as Gabriel also lost himself in deep thought. He couldn''t help but link this entire event to Karyk. There was no other person ording to him, who could control the Undead that had this much strength!

    After some time, he finally broke his silence. "What happened next?"

    He wanted to know everything about Karyk if possible, and he believed that this story was as much a story of Karyk as it was the story of the Saint King, which could give him more clues about Karyk!

    "What do you think happened? The Saint King was killed," Yuan sighed.

    "Huh?" Gabriel was even more taken aback. Karyk killed the Saint King, who was unconscious? Why would he? There was no threat? This didn''t make sense.

    Yuan looked at Gabriel''s grim expression, trying to control hisughter.

    Eventually, he couldn''t control it anymore and startedughing. "Alright, I was kidding. He wasn''t killed, even though ording tomon sense, it should''ve happened."

    "When the Saint King woke up, he found out that he was still in the same city. However, there was no Undead there. There was only one other person there, a young man, who was sitting in the distance, eating some fruit."

    "Who was that person?" Gabriel asked, even though he already had some idea. It couldn''t be anyone other than Karyk.

    "The Devil," Yuan answered. "ording to the Legends, the man was the Devil himself. He offered the Saint King his help in making him stronger, but in exchange, he asked for the Saint King''s soul."<sub> </sub>

    ''That sounds like a certain exaggeration. I can believe the help part, but asking for the soul in return? I''m sure someone added that part in the story just for the fun of it,'' Gabriel found it hard to believe thest part of the story.

    He could believe that Karyk needed something from the Saint King, and that''s why he decided to help him but to ask for his soul? That sounded quite unlikely. Karyk was already so strong. There was no way he needed the Saint King''s soul. He really wasn''t a devil after all.

    "The Saint King agreed to the offer. He sold his soul to the devil in exchange for strength to be able to protect the woman he loved. He didn''t want to be killed by the Demigods or lose the woman. That was the Saint King! A person who was willing to even lose his soul to protect the woman he loved," Yuan further exined. "That''s exactly why everyone respects him so much."

    "So did Ka... I mean did the Devil help?"

    "He did. After the trade seeded, the Devil gave the Saint King something. It was a blood-red sword that was said to be able to cut the soul of a person itself. Even the hardest metal in this world couldn''t remain unharmed in front of that sword."

    ''That sword.'' Even though Gabriel had a calm exterior, on the inside, he was quite turbulent. It didn''t take him long to recognize that sword! ''Isn''t that the Sword of Ulien?''

    He already had the Sword of Ulien. He was quite surprised that this was the sword of the legends. The Sword that was carried by a Demigod before he was killed andter carried by the Saint King?

    "We all call that Sword the Saint''s Sword. With the help of that sword, the Saint King really became more powerful. For some reason, the Demigods didn''t attack him again after that point. He managed to protect the woman he loved and eventually married her."

    "After that, he also established a Kingdom of his own, along with the Academy of Knights. That Kingdom was known as the Arecia Empire since the Saint King''s full name was Avalon Arecia," Yuan finished his exnation. "That''s why we all idolize the Saint King so much."

    ''Avalon Arecia? So the Saint King was the Ancestor of Novius? No wonder his family was against him leaving home to be a Mage. They probably wanted him to be a Knight since he had such talent. They wanted him to walk the path of his Ancestor, but he chose otherwise.''

    Finally, everything made sense to Gabriel. The only question still left was about Karyk. Just what did he trade the Sword of Avalon for? Why would he need the help of the Saint King that he could kill easily? For some reason, the more he got to know about Karyk''s past, the more mysterious it became.

    Gabriel could only shake his head. No matter how much he thought about it, the answers weren''t going to fall from the sky. For now, he needed to focus on things before him.

    "What does this have to do with the Knight''s Tournament?" he asked the young man before him.

    "Of course it does. The Saint King was known as the first Knight, so this tournament was named after him. But it''s also a part of our culture. In the Arecia Empire''s culture, a man is supposed to be strong enough to protect their woman, just like the Saint King protected his."

    "That''s why this Knight Tournament is held... It isn''t a simple battle tournament, young man. It''s something where the next Prince Consort, future husband of our Eldest Princess, will be chosen!"

 253 Chapter 253

    "A tournament to select the future husband of the Princess?" Gabriel asked, slightly taken aback. That was thest thing he could''ve expected this tournament to be about.

    "That''s right. It''s a tradition in the Arecia Empire to select the husband of the Princesses through the Knight Tournament." Yuan nodded. "Last time the tournament was held around twenty years ago for our current King''s sister. In the current generation of Royalty, this is the first time it is being held."

    "That''s why, not just Knights, but anyone can take part in the Knight Tournament. Moreover, there is no limit on participation. You don''t have to be a citizen to Arecia to take part. The only limitation is that the person needs to be younger than thirty."

    Yuan exined the most basic of rules to the young man before him who waspletely unaware.

    "So, changed your mind now?" he asked Gabriel. "If you can win this tournament, you can really open the doors of destiny for you. The Princess is a real beauty, and also the most talented person in the Knight Academy who not only is a powerful Knight, but can also use magic to fight."

    "Her beauty is praised even in farawaynds. I also heard that a few of the neighbouring Princes are going toe personally to take part in the Knight Tournament."

    Now that Gabriel was informed about the essence of the tournament, Yuan didn''t believe that Gabriel could say no. Gabriel was a young man after all. Which young man could reject the chance of being married to a beauty that everyone was after? Moreover, once he won, he could be the Son in Law of the Royal Family. The offer was just too alluring.

    "If I wasn''t older than thirty, even I would''ve taken part in the Tournament. But my luck is so bad. I turned thirty onest month," Juan sighed, taking another sip of his wine.

    From his eyes, his disappointment was quite evident. Since he couldn''t take part in the tournament, he had already given up on trying to pursue the Princess.

    "What kind of a person is the Eldest Princess of Arecia n?" Gabriel didn''t answer if he was going to take part or not. Instead he asked a question of his own. He wasn''t interested in taking part in it either. He hadn''t even seen the Princess and felt nothing for her.

    Moreover, he wasn''t here to fight. He couldn''t just enter a battle for no reason. What was worse was that one of the Holy Priests was going to attend the Knight Tournament as a guest along with the current Generation of Holy Knight. Fighting before then had the risk of exposing his identity. He didn''t want to do that until he found what be came here for.

    "Arecia n?" Yuan responded, slightly taken aback. "What do you mean? The Princess isn''t from the Arecia n. A friendly advice, you shouldn''t even mention those traitors when you''re in the city."

    "Traitors? Is Arecia n not the Royal n of Arecia?"

    The first Saint King was from the Arecia n. And ording to Novius, his family was the Royal Family. How could the man say otherwise then? Did something change? What happened to the Arecia Empire?

    "You are right. The Arecia n was the one who established the Arecia Empire. It was the n created by the Saint King after all. However, things are different now. Arecia n isn''t the Royal Family now," Yuan responded but stopped right after, letting out a sigh.

    "Sigh, I''m afraid I can''t tell you more than I did. Just remember that you should forget that the Arecia n even existed and don''t mention their name ever again."

    "Anyway, we are done here. We will be leaving now." For some reason, not only did Yuan not answer, but he also stood up, cing a few gold coins on the table.

    The others also stood up. They had finished eating as well.<sub> </sub>

    "Young Man, I really hope to see you in the Knight Tournament. Don''t miss this opportunity as it doesn''te often. Also, remember what I said. Don''t mention that n anymore..."

    After giving thest bit of advice, Yuan left with his men, leaving the restaurant.

    Only Gabriel was left behind, sitting in silence. Even though he hadn''t shown it, his heart was filled with concern and anger.

    He couldn''t understand. Just what happened to Novius'' family? They were the Royal n of the Empire and now even their name was considered a taboo?

    "Novius was so happy when he mentioned his home, telling me about his family on hisst day. He asked me to check up on his family once. Who knew something like this would''ve already happened? The Arecia n is long gone, reced by another n? But why?"

    This also created some troubles for him. He was expecting to ask for the treasure from the Arecia n directly, citing his rtionship with Novius. But now that the Royal Family was different, he couldn''t do that. Even if he tried, they weren''t going to listen nicely. Things had be slightlyplicated.

    He also stood up. Even though the Knight Academy students left gold behind, he also did the same, paying for everything he ate. He didn''t want to owe anyone.

    After cing the same amount of gold coins, he also left.

    Leaving the Restaurant, he walked to his horse and climbed on it. The horse started racing toward the Royal City.

    Even as Gabriel moved closer to the City, his thoughts were still on the Arecia n. If they were truly dead, that meant the entire lineage of Novius was wiped out? For some reason, that thought made him feel somewhat sad.

    Novius had left this World to help him climb up the tower. Even until hisst moment, he still believed that his family was fine.

    Gabriel couldn''t help but remember the moment Novius wondered if his little brother would''ve already had cute little grandchildren by now. If possible, he wanted to see them.

    Gabriel nced up, looking at the beautiful moon in the sky. "The World never stops changing... I am sorry, Novius. But we are toote. Your family has fallen, it seems..."

    ****

    The world was vast. There were many kingdoms and Empires, but each of that ce was quite careful about who they allowed in their Royal City since there were still a few Dark Mages in existence.

    There were a lot of cities who didn''t allow entry without checking the hands of a person to make sure that they weren''t a Dark Mage. The Arecia Empire''s Royal City was the same.

    Gabriel stood near the entrance of the majestic City but didn''t move closer.

 254 Chapter 254

    To get an entry into the City, a person needed to show their hands so the guards could check that they didn''t have the Mark is Darkness.

    Unfortunately, Gabriel''s left hand actually had a mark of Darkness which was right next to the Mark of Light. He knew that if he showed his hands, it was only going to create trouble for him.

    "I can''t enter through the main entrance..."

    He turned around after making sure that there was no way to get an entry through the main entrance without being checked. One thing was for good though. The City didn''t have any Barrier like the Lumen City which marked the souls of the Dark Mages once they entered.

    Now that he also had the Element of Darkness, that thing could''ve immediately disclosed his identity.

    ****

    "Hah, little girl, there''s no benefit in screaming. No one is going to save you. In these parts of the City, even the Knights don''t enter!"

    Theughter of a man echoed, mixed with the calls for help that seemed to being from a woman.

    "Hmm? A part of City where even the Knights don''te?" On the other side of the wall, Gabriel was standing. He was still trying to find the best ce to enter from since he didn''t want to create a mess right at the start by identally appearing before a Royal Knight.

    However, hearing the voicesing from the other side, all his doubts were clear. If there was no Royal Knight here, then this ce was perfect. Moreover, he also believed that if he helped the girl, he could get some answers about the Arecia n and what happened to them.

    ****

    On the inner side of the wall, the middle aged man licked his lips as he held the wrist of the woman who struggled to free herself. Unfortunately, her strength was nothing before the man.

    "Scream! Scream more! Do you really expect the gods to send a saviour from the sky for you? Let me tell you, little girl! Tonight, even gods can''t save you from me!"

    There man raised his head toward the sky as heughed out loud.

    However, hisughed stopped abruptly as he actually saw something in the sky! It looked like a person who wasing down! The man''sughter stoppedpletely and his face was filled with shock. Did the gods really send saviour? No, how could that be!

    Gabrielnded on the ground, not too far from the middle aged man.

    He could finally see the man who had a scar on his face. As for the woman before him, the woman didn''t seem to be from a poor family. From her clothes, she looked like she was fairly rich. Unfortunately, her clothes were torn at ces.

    "You! Who are you?!" The middle aged man asked.

    "Please save me!" The girl also pleaded for Gabriel''s help.

    Gabriel didn''t pay attention to what the girl was saying. His focus was mainly on the man.

    "You said gods won''t save people to save anyone? You''re right. Gods have stopped sending people a long time ago. Nowadays, no one wille to save anyone," Gabriel stated.

    Hearing the response, the middle aged man signed in relied. So this man wasn''t here to stop him. It was just a coincidence that the man was here. Moreover, from his tone and his body, he looked like a weak cowardly man.<sub> </sub>

    The woman''s face also turned pale. Was this man really a coward? He wasn''t here to help? Did she really have no hope in this world?

    "Good! Now that you understand, then scram! Don''t disturb my long night!" The man scoffed. Now that he knew that Gabriel was a coward, he didn''t worry one bit.

    Gabriel didn''t leave. Instead, he appeared next to the middle aged man, grabbing the throat of the man.

    The man''s face turned pale. He used both his hands to get Gabriel to loosen his grip but nothing worked. The young man''s strength was just too much.

    Since the middle aged man was busy trying to save himself, the woman was freed. She hastily stepped back, shocked. This man was really helping her? Was he really not a coward? Did she misunderstand his words?

    Gabriel brought his lips close to the man''s ears and whispered, "Although the gods stopped sending people to save people, the Devil hasn''t stopped sending people to kill. You''re quite lucky today. Be a stepping stone for me..."

    The middle aged man felt a chill run down his spine as he heard the words. He had never felt this kind of fear before. And this was all when Gabriel hadn''t even released his Aura.

    Crack~

    The middle aged man tried speaking but he was so scared that no words came out of his mouth. Only a cracking sound came after a few seconds as the man''s throat was crushed.

    His eyes widened as the man took hisst breath. Gabriel tossed the man''s lifeless body aside. This kind of a man wasn''t even worse his attention. The only reason he even killed the man was so he could approach the womanter.

    He wanted to get some answers about the Arecia n from her and if possible, he wanted to do that without revealing his true identity.

    It was the first time the woman saw someone die. She dropped to her knees, scared out of her wits. Just who was this person? Was he going to kill her as well? There were so many questions in her head.

    Watching Gabriel step closer to her, her heart started beating faster. She was grateful to Gabriel for saving her. At the same time, she was scared of him.

    "Are you alright?" Gabriel stopped before thedy. He could understand why she was scared so he didn''t take it to heart. If it was him before his awakening, he would''ve been scared as well. Seeing someone die, of killing someone for the first time... Both were quite scary for an ordinary person.

    He reached out his hand to help the woman.

    "I-i am alright," the woman replied. Even though she was also scared, she couldn''t offend Gabriel. She reached out her hand as well. If he really wanted to kill her, he could only help her.

    "Ouch!" As soon as the woman stood up, she dropped to the ground again as her ankles twisted.

    The youngdy cried in pain. She was so scared of Gabriel that she didn''t even pay any attention to her surroundings.

    Gabriel sat before the young woman. "You are fairly weak. Someone like you shouldn''t be in these parts of the City at a time like this."

    Even as Gabriel talked, he ced his finger on the ankles of the youngdy.

 255 Chapter 255

    "W-what are you doing?" The youngdy grew scared as soon as Gabriel touched her ankles, subconsciously pulling her leg back. However, Gabriel had already grabbed her head by now.

    "Stay still."

    Since she wasn''t hurt much, he didn''t need to use any high-tier spell. The smallest spell of Healing was enough to treat her.

    As soon as Gabriel used his healing spell, the youngdy felt a warm energy enter her body. She had felt a simr kind of energy even before.

    She couldn''t help but raise her head, looking at Gabriel with surprise. "You''re a Mage of Light?"

    "You can call me that," Gabriel answered as he freed the youngdy''s legs. "Your leg is healed now. You should be able to walk."

    He stood up and reached out his hand to help the youngdy up again. This time, thedy didn''t hesitate. Even though the Arecia Empire was the Empire of Knights, it didn''t mistreat the Mages either. The Mages of Light had an especially good reputation in the Empire.

    "Thank you for helping me." After standing up, the woman respectfully bowed. "And I apologize for misunderstanding you. It''s just that I never saw someone die..."

    "Don''t worry. If I hadn''t killed him, he would''ve killed us or brought more people to deal with us. It was necessary, so don''t think about it much," Gabriel exined why he killed the person. "However, if possible, I would appreciate it if you don''t tell anyone what happened here."

    "I-i won''t." The woman agreed.

    Gabriel had already won some of her trust, and that''s exactly what he was after. Later, he offered to escort her back, to which the woman agreed.

    Along the way, Gabriel talked to the woman, understanding more about her. He straight wanted to jump to the topic of the Arecia n, but he decided to take things slow to not be too suspicious.

    "I am Shia Alecton," the woman introduced herself and nced at Gabriel as if waiting to see the surprise on his face.

    To her surprise, Gabriel didn''t react at all. It was as if everything was normal.

    "Hmm?" Shia was slightly taken aback. "You haven''t heard of our n, have you?"

    Since he didn''t react, she could only believe he didn''t even know about her n. If it were anyone else, they would''ve been shocked to learn her identity.

    "I am new to the Empire," Gabriel answered. "Is yours one of the Noble Families of the Empire?"

    From the attire of the woman, he was already sure that she was from a wealthy noble family in the Empire.

    The woman could only smile in response. "So you saved me without any expectations?"

    "You know my family is quite rich. We can give you quite a lot of rewards..."<sub> </sub>

    "I don''t need any rewards. You just happened to be on my way, and I helped," Gabriel answered. He wasn''t looking to go with the woman to her n since he wasn''t sure what kind of security they were going to have.

    If the n had all visitors show their hands to check for Mark of Darkness, that could be troublesome, so he didn''t n for it. All he wanted was to get his answers from her on this short journey back and then leave.

    "Are you sure you don''t want any reward?" Gabriel''s response again surprised Shia. Just what kind of person was he? He was rejecting rewards?

    "What is your name?" She asked.

    "I am Gabriel, a wandering traveler," Gabriel answered.

    "Are you here to take part in the Knight Tournament?"

    Gabriel shook his head in response. "I have no interest in marrying the Princess. I was on my journey and decided to stop in the Arecia Empire, which I had heard so much about. I heard stories of the Saint King even in my homnd and wanted to check the Empire myself and maybe meet the descendants of the Royal Arecia n."

    " Unfortunately, I don''t think the Royal Family will allow me to meet them, so I can only watch them in the Knight Tournament from the stands."

    Along with his response, Gabriel intentionally injected some subtle words to turn the topic in the direction that he wanted. Not only did he pretend to be ignorant of the fact that the Arecia n was ousted, but he did so with such conviction that no one could guess that he was pretending.

    "Arecia n? The Traitors? Sigh, it seems you''re destined to be quite disappointed then," Shia said, letting out a sigh. "The Saint King was indeed great, and our idol, but his descendants were a disappointment... They spoiled the name of the great Saint King with their actions, and they were ousted."

    Unlike Yuan, the woman didn''t hesitate in talking about the Arecia n at all, probably because she was from a Noble family and there wasn''t anyone nearby.

    "Traitor! Did something happen?" Gabriel acted like he was shocked. "His descendants betrayed the Empire? Were they really so vile? It seems wealth and influence corrupted them as well."

    To get in the good books of Shia and get her to lower her, Gabriel acted as if he believed everything she said and that the Arecia n really betrayed the Empire.

    "That''s true. Those bastards stole our Holy Sword and secretly sold it! The sword should''ve belonged to the Empire! It''s because of them that the strength of our Empire went so down. After this scandal came to light, even more secrets were revealed, like the Arecia n nned to kill all Major ns to make sure that there were no threats left to their power!"

    " They colluded with foreign powers against their own people. Fortunately, it was revealed before it was toote. All Major ns joined hands to destroy the Arecia n and take back the Empire that belonged to our people!" Shia exined. "It''s a pity that we couldn''t recover the Saint King''s Sword. We don''t even know where it is... If it weren''t for those bastards!"

    Gabriel silently heard all the usations as he walked next to the woman. His hands remained behind his back, making the woman unable to see how tightly his fists were clenched.

    ording to her story, descendants of Novius were massacred! That was enough to make his blood boil. He had to really struggle to keep his emotions in control. As for their story, he could feel that there were some ws in it.

    Even though he didn''t personally know the descendants of Novius, he found it hard to believe that they would do something so stupid. They would sell the Sword of Ulien first and then n to kill the Major ns? That didn''t make sense. If they wanted to kill Major ns, any sensible person would''ve saved their strongest weapon for an event like that!

 256 Chapter 256

    Through Shia''s story, Gabriel could feel that this was a conspiracy that was created to destroy the Arecia n, and no one thought about it deeply. Everyone went with the flow and started calling the Arecia n traitors!

    "It was most probably the greed of the Major ns which led to something like that...

    "Are you alright?" Shia asked, noticing that Gabriel had gone silent. He wasn''t speaking much.

    "I''m fine. I just hate traitors, so I was lost in some thoughts. The Arecia n was truly evil to go against their own people. The Major ns did well," Gabriel answered.

    "So yeah, you can''t meet the Arecia n in the Knight Tournament. They are already eliminatedpletely. Not a single person was left alive." Shia smiled. "You can still meet the current Royal n though. They are even better than the Arecia n! They are also more majestic!"

    For a girl who was scared of watching a person being killed right before her eyes, she seemed quite amused to know that an entire family was wiped out.

    "I''ll certainly attend the Knight Tournament as a spectator." Gabriel agreed. "Anyway, thanks for the information. I will leave now."

    "Huh, what? You are leaving?" Shia was shocked. After helping her all this time, the guy was simply leaving when they were almost at the exit? Did he truly not want to be rewarded by her family?

    "Yeah." Gabriel didn''t speak much. He was so angry after hearing her words, he wasn''t sure if he would do something he shouldn''t. He believed it was better to just take his leave and spend some time alone to truly grasp all this and calm his chaotic heart.

    After his mother, Novius, Cassius, and Raphael were the closest to him in his heart. He really treated them all like a family, which also made him feel the pain to understand that the family Novius cherished so much was wiped while Novius was trapped in the Tower, waiting for a new challenger.

    Novius had imparted all his knowledge to him, and Gabriel couldn''t do anything in return.

    Gabriel disappeared from the Shia''s view, not even looking back once. She just stood shocked.

    "This guy..." She was quite fascinated by Gabriel. That guy saved her life. When he said he wasn''t after rewards, she didn''t believe him. She was sure that the rewards were why he was apanying her back. However, right as they were near the exit of this outer area, he left?

    Thanks to the stories of the Saint Knight protecting his loved one from dangers without any greed at all, Shia had always been really fascinated. She always wondered if she could ever find a person like that. But right now, she felt that she had found a simr person... A Mage who had the temperament of a proper knight.

    "I hope we meet again..." She muttered as she started leaving. The longer she stayed here, the more dangerous this ce could get.

    "There you are!" Just as she was about to exit the outer area, she saw a group of Knights in the distance.

    It was as if an entire search army was prepared to go into the Outer Zone to look for her! As soon as the Knights saw Shia, they all sighed in relief.

    All the Knights were carrying precious treasures and seemed stronger than Yuan, who Gabriel met at the restaurant.

    "You are finally here." Shia nodded. She wasn''t very happy to see them. If it weren''t for Gabriel, she would''ve already been forced by that man! These people were toote!

    "Your Highness!" All the Knights went down on one knee respectfully, except the one who was in the lead.

    The Knight Captain observed Shia to make sure that there were no wounds on her.

    "Are you alright?" The Knight Captain asked.<sub> </sub>

    "I am, no thanks to you!" Shia rolled her eyes.

    "Who told you to leave the Pce without informing everyone?" The Knight Captain sarcastically asked. "You''re lucky we found your maid dead on the streets and realized that something must''ve happened to you! Next time, please don''t leave without the Knight Squad! Even though it''s the Royal City, some parts are really dangerous for you!"

    "I was left getting bored in the Royal Pce and wanted to see the City for myself without any guards. Moreover, everyone is already busy with the preparation of the Knight Tournament for my Elder Sister. I didn''t feel like disturbing anyone. Who knew that even with my disguise, I was going to be kidnapped..."

    The entire experience left Shia slightly shaken. If not for Gabriel, she wasn''t even sure what would''ve happened. However, she also remembered that he told her not to tell anyone what happened there. She decided to keep her word.

    Apanied by the Squad of powerful Knights, the Fourth Princess of the Empire of Arecia went back to the Royal Pce.

    Deep in the outer zone of the City, Gabriel was standing with his back resting against the wall, lost in thoughts.

    He just looked at the moon. Every time he felt sad or lost, he just looked at the moon. Looking at the moon always provided him peace of mind.

    Throughout the night, Gabriel just sat there in silence, not speaking even one word.

    It was only in the morning that Gabriel felt someone touch his shoulder, bringing him out of his thoughts.

    Looking to his left, he saw a woman who was in herte seventies from her looks.

    "Young Man, is something troubling you?" the old woman asked.

    Gabriel shook his head. "I am fine."

    "You''ve been sitting here like that since the night," the woman further said. "I''ve seen you from my house. You don''t look like someone who is fine. If there''s anything, maybe I can help? Do you not have money to eat or something?"

    Gabriel could only smile in response. "If money were the only problem, everything would''ve been so simple."

    "Then what''s the problem?" The old woman asked, sitting next to him. For some reason, Gabriel didn''t feel bad in thepany of the old woman.

    "A question has been troubling me."

    "What question?" the old woman asked.

    "I promised my friend that I''ll look after his family. But I found out that his family is already dead. I don''t know what I should do. Should I kill everyone who killed them? But that won''t bring his family back either. In any case, I''ve already failed him after taking all the benefits."

    Gabriel didn''t even know why, but he felt that he could tell the woman what his troubles were. He didn''t go into specifics though.

    "Isn''t the answer simple?" The woman responded.

 257 Chapter 257

    "Hmm?" Curious, Gabriel nced at the old woman, wondering what she was going to say. "The answer is simple?"

    "Didn''t you say yourself, little one? No matter what you do, you can''t bring them back to life. So even if you''ve promised your friend to take care of his family, at this point, there really is nothing that you can do about that. The only thing that you can do is not let this affect your inner peace..."

    "Not let it affect me?" Gabriel also wanted to do that, but it wasn''t that simple.

    "Was that friend close to you?" the old woman asked.

    "He was like family..." Gabriel answered, remembering all the training he went through in the Tower.

    "Was? Is he dead too?"

    Gabriel nodded in response.

    "So his entire lineage is dead now... I see why you''re so upset." The old woman sighed, understanding that Gabriel was upset because it was something like thest wish of his friend.

    "But I''ll still say the same thing. You can''t change what happened. So instead of focusing on the ones who are dead, focus on the ones who are alive. That way, you can keep your promise to your friend." The woman pushed her body up and stood up.

    "He was like a family to you. I''m sure you would be like family to him as well. Doesn''t that mean one of his family members is still alive?" The woman asked as she lightly tapped the forehead of Gabriel. "And that member is you."

    "You promised your friend that you''ll take care of his family. So you need to take care of yourself. If you don''t, won''t he be upset?"

    Hearing the woman''s words, Gabriel was slightly surprised. Her words did make sense. In the short time he was with Cylix and Novius, they had been like a family. That meant Novius'' family was still alive... through him.

    "Sometimes answers are right before our eyes, but our judgement gets so clouded that we fail to see those answers," the woman stated as her voice grew distant. "You just need to find those answers..."

    "Thank you. I understand what I have to do now." Gabriel raised his head, thanking the old woman. However, to his surprise, there was no one there.

    He wondered if the old woman went back to her house. He also stood up and went to the house that the woman introduced as her own house. Since she had helped him, he wanted to thank her. He also wanted to leave some Spirit Crystals as his gratitude.

    He walked to the house before him and knocked on the door.

    The door was opened by a middle aged man. "Yes?"

    Gabriel told the middle aged man that he wanted to meet the old woman and thank her. However, to his surprise, he was informed that no old woman lived in that house. The man didn''t seem to be lying either.

    "You might be mistaken. Check some other houses." The middle aged man went back inside and closed the door.

    Gabriel went to the nearby houses and asked everyone, but he couldn''t find that old woman.

    After searching the entire area, Gabriel ended up where he started, confused. If the woman didn''t live in this area, then who was she? Where did shee from? Why did she lie to him about her house? And more importantly, how did she disappear so suddenly?

    There were so many questions, but no answers.

    "Was I hallucinating?" Eventually, he could only wonder if he was imagining things. But it didn''t look like a hallucination at all.<sub> </sub>

    He could only give up for now and leave this ce. It didn''t matter if the old woman was real or just a figment of his imagination. What mattered was that he now knew what to do!

    ****

    As soon as Gabriel left, the old woman was seen sitting right where he was sitting before. The woman looked in the direction Gabriel went in.

    "Just like him..." She muttered softly.

    ****

    Gabriel stepped out of the outer zone and entered the main city, which was much different than the outer zone of the City.

    The streets of the main city were much wider and a lot cleaner. A few statues were also erected at ces where roads converged.

    "The City is quite simr to Lumen City." Gabriel could see that the structure of the houses was very simr. He could only see a few differences in this city.

    ording to what he had heard, this city was created much before the Lumen City. That made him believe that Lumen City took inspiration from this ce.

    Along the streets, he could see Knights patrolling under streets. In fact, he could see more Knights in this ce than the Mages. Moreover, people appeared to respect Knights more than they respected Mages.

    Mages in this city were only slightly above ordinary citizens in respect. Above them came knights, and above knights was the Royalty.

    In Lumen City, Gabriel had seen shops that sold man-made artefacts. However, in this city, the number of such shops was astronomical.

    Since this city was filled with Knights who mainly relied on their own strength and magical treasures, this ce was like the dreand for an Artificer for sales.

    Most of the shops were filled with customers. Amongst the customers, the majority were people who were aged between twenty and thirty.

    "The Knight Tournament must have attracted all these people here. They all want a good weapon to be able to stand out in the Tournament."

    It wasn''t surprising to Gabriel that people were so crazy about the Knight Tournament. It wasn''t often that a person got to marry the Eldest Princess of an Empire. And if they won this tournament, they were going to be the Prince Consort.

    "I wonder if the Arecia Empire is the only ce which selects the husband of Princesses like this," he wondered. He hadn''t heard of this happening in the Lumen or the Yann Empire, so it certainly wasn''tmon.

    In the distance, he could also see the Royal Pce. Since it was the tallest pce, it was visible from almost all corners of the City.

    Initially, he didn''t want to deal with the Royal Family. He just wanted to take the item that could strengthen his body and leave. But after the new discoveries, he had changed his mind.

    "The Royal Family, huh. If I''m not wrong, the current Royal Family must be the Noble Family that nted all those lies and created such tides against Novius'' descendants. It would be a pity if Novius'' Empire remained in their hands."

    He still couldn''t forget the words of the old woman. Even though he didn''t have a blood rtion with Novius, he was no less than family. That''s also why he decided to take action personally. He had decided...

    "The Empire that belongs to Novius... In his stead, I''ll take over this Empire! It shall belong to me!"

 258 Chapter 258

    To be an Emperor... this was what Gabriel had finally decided on! The Empire was robbed from the descendants of Saint King and Novius. Now that all those descendants were dead, there was no way to return the Empire to its rightful owners.

    The only way he could think of to make sure that the Empire remained in Novius'' family was by bing the Emperor himself. Even if not by blood, he was part of Novius'' family, and he was sure that Novius would''ve wanted the same as well! It was better than letting the Empire fall into the hands of the corrupt Nobles.

    "But how to achieve that... It''s easier said than done..." He rubbed his temple, losing himself in deep thoughts. He had decided on an end goal, but the path to be taken to reach that goal was yet to be decided.

    If he wanted, he could destroy the current Royal Family. With all the Knights protecting the family, it wasn''t easy, but he believed he could achieve it. However, that wasn''t the answer. Even if the current Royal Family fell, another corrupt Noble Family would be there to take its ce.

    He could kill all the Noble Families and forcefully take the throne, but if he did that, it was going to attract the attention of all the nearby Empires and even the Churches. If anyone found out who he truly was, it was going to be a full on war with the entire world, which he wasn''t ready for yet.

    Even if he sessfully took the throne as a Mage of Death, the aftermath was the hardest to deal with. The Churches were never going to ept him as a legitimate ruler. At best, he was going to be considered an evil mage who took an entire Empire hostage. He was going to be attacked from all sides.

    If he was alone, he could''ve fought them and escaped if the situation didn''t go as nned. However, this Empire was the home of Novius. He didn''t want the Empire to be destroyed.

    "There is only one way to achieve it without attracting the attention of the Churches; I need to do it without using too much force and while keeping my real identity hidden. But bing an Emperor without using force...? That''s also quite hard. Is it even possible?"

    The goal was extraordinary and almost impossible to achieve. In this Empire, he was new. He wasn''t even a Noble, so bing the Emperor through legitimate means seemed impossible. If he told anyone what he wanted to achieve, that person would''veughed at him for being stupid. However, Gabriel had made up his mind.

    He had to do it. As for how that was the question he wanted to find an answer to.

    As he kept walking in silence, wondering what the best approach could be, he noticed another shop nearby which was filled with youngsters.

    "All these people were going crazy over the Knight Tournament, all to be... Wait... The Knight Tournament... What if..."

    Bing the Emperor without using force was almost impossible, but he finally saw a chance that he hadn''t thought about before. If he wanted to be a legitimate Emperor, he had to first be a Noble and then create an opportunity for himself.

    To be a Noble, there were two paths before him. First was that he could join the Knight Academy andter join the Royal Army. Then he could achieve some great merit in the army. After that, he could potentially be rewarded with the lowest noble position.

    Unfortunately, that option was a long term investment, and it wasn''t certain if he could even do it. And even after he became a Noble through that method, he was going to be the lowest-tier noble. From that point, even ording to optimistic estimates, he believed it could take years for him to reach the position of Emperor, even with all his tricks.

    He rejected this option outright. The only other option was to marry another Noble, which could directly make him a Noble as well. And what better opportunity than the Knight Tournament?

    "If I take part in the Knight Tournament and win, I can be the Prince Consort. That can make things easier for me. Once I get ess to the Royal Pce, it would be easy to retrieve that item as well."

    "Moreover, if I y my cards right, without much bloodshed, I should be able to cover the distance between me and the throne. This way, I won''t attract much attention from the Churches either. But..."

    The second n was the perfect option, ording to him as it gave him a lot of room to maneuver. However, that also meant he had to marry someone that he didn''t want to.

    Just to reach the throne, he had to be the husband of a girl. That was his biggest hesitation. Even after all he went through, deep inside, he didn''t feel that it was right to do that. To marry a girl just to use her to reach the throne and wipe her entire family from the inside? He just couldn''t convince himself to do it.<sub> </sub>

    He didn''t feel any hesitation at the thought of killing the entire Royal Family for what they did, but using the Eldest Princess'' emotions and marrying her toter leave her broken due to this? That was the troubling part...

    He just couldn''t convince himself to pretend to be in love, that too with a girl who was aplete stranger who probably had no hand in what happened to the Arecia Family.

    In his childhood, he had lived in a house where he never saw the face of his father. He didn''t know his father''s reason for never being with his mother, but he could always feel the heartache his mother felt, waiting for that man even in herst moments. Those eyes¡­ he could never forget them.

    He didn''t want to be like his father¡­

    He wondered if there was a third option to achieve the goal that he couldn''t think of yet. Fortunately, there was still time for the Knight Tournament. He still had time to think about it... Time toe up with a n that he could be satisfied with.

    ****

    Gabriel walked to the nearest hotel to get a room, only to find that the entire hotel was booked.

    "Can you tell me where the next hotel will be?" he asked the receptionist.

    "I can tell you, but I don''t think you''ll find a room even there. All the main hotels are booked. Because of the Knight Tournament, many wealthy people have entered the City. You can only try your luck and hope that you''ll find a room, but it seems unlikely."

    The receptionist was particrly kind. Not only did he give advice to Gabriel, but he also gave him a map. "This has all ces marked. You can check the hotels marked on it. Everything else depends on your luck."

    Gabriel took the map. Thanking the middle-aged receptionist, he left the hotel.

    He left the hotel and started checking the map to see where to go. If the receptionist''s words were true, he didn''t expect to find an empty room in the central part of the City. Even for his search, he focused on the hotels that weren''t in the central parts. If he could find a room, it could only be there.

    "This one should be the closest." Gabriel decided on a location, and after memorizing the map, he folded the map.

    m~

    Gabriel was just about to ce the map in his pocket and leave when he felt a push from behind him. Since Gabriel wasn''t expecting something like this, even he was taken by surprise.

    Fortunately, he presented his fall and managed to bnce itself.

    He turned around, wondering why anyone would push him. He wasn''t doing anything. Moreover, there wasn''t any killing intent behind that push. If there was, he could''ve sensed it. Then who and why?

    *************

    (Author Note: If you were in Gabriel''s ce, what approach would you use to be the Emperor of Arecia? All suggestions and ideas are wee.)

 259 Chapter 259

    After bncing himself, Gabriel turned around, finally noticing the person. Surprisingly enough, it was a Knight and not an ordinary Knight.

    The Knight who had pushed him wasn''t just carrying a powerful weapon, but his attire was also different from any Gabriel had seen so far.

    The clothes were dark, pitch ck, with golden highlights. On the chest portion of the clothes, there was a badge attached which had the Royal Symbol of the Arecia Empire.

    The man wasn''t the only Knight either. It was a group of close to twenty Knights, all having simr attire. Looking at the Knights, Gabriel had a feeling that these people were a lot stronger than Yuan.

    "May I ask why you pushed me?" Gabriel asked. Even if these people were strong,pared to Izen, these people weren''t enough to intimidate him.

    Moreover, if he wasn''t strong, he was sure he would''ve already been lying on the ground. The perks who pushed him certainly didn''t control his strength by much.

    "We don''t owe you an exnation. Scram," the Knight arrogantly stated before he opened the door.

    The other Knights also stepped aside as if creating a path for someone to the entrance of the hotel.

    As the Knights stepped aside, finally Gabriel saw another person. Behind all the Knights, there was a woman. The woman was dressed in a beautiful white dress that wrapped around her body tightly, highlighting all her curves.

    The woman had beautiful brown hair and a slender face. She looked to be in her mid-twenties and someone from a rich family. However, unlike the Knights, who were filled with arrogance and confidence, the woman seemed a bit passive and timid.

    She kept her head down as she entered the restaurant, without even raising her head.

    After the woman entered, the Knights also followed after her. However, just as the first Knight was about to step inside the restaurant, a footnded on his face, sending him flying back.

    Boom~

    The Royal Knightnded on the wall on the road. Everything happened so fast and was so unexpected that the other Knights were initially in a daze, shocked.

    The brown-haired woman also stopped, turning around. She finally raised her head, revealing her beautiful dark green eyes.

    "You, kid! What did you do?!" The other Knights finally came out of their daze.

    One of them pointed at Gabriel. "Are you looking for death?"

    "I don''t owe you an exnation," Gabriel said, repeating the same thing that the Knight had told him. "Anyway, I don''t like to owe things. We should be equal now."

    Gabriel had already been controlling himself a lot in thest few days, but to be bullied even by these Knights? This was too much. If they wanted to see arrogance, he was going to show them arrogance! In any case, he had already thought of a third way to take the Throne while avoiding all the aftermath problems.

    "You!"

    The Knights were furious. It was the first time that someone had dared to attack a Royal Knight! Moreover, it happened in the central district with so many people around. The crowd had already seen everything and had started gathering.<sub> </sub>

    The Knights knew that it was a question of their reputation now. If they didn''t do anything now, they were going to be aughing stock. They were Knights, and reputation was very important for a Knight!

    All the Knights pulled out their swords, aiming them at Gabriel.

    "Are you sure you want to do this?" Gabriel asked.

    He wasn''t looking for much attention, but he knew that it wasn''t a problem if he didn''t reveal that he was a Mage. Even though he was dealing with Knights, thanks to the training and all the battles he went through in the Tower of Challenges, his physical skills developed significantly.

    As long as he wasn''t facing a monster, he was sure he could deal with them without the need of Magic.

    Since he was here and didn''t want to attract the attention of the Churches, he had decided to bury his past for a few days and take on a new identity... It was time for him to be a Knight for the others.

    To reach the Throne, he had to do a lot of preparation. Since he had given up on using the Princess or serving the Royal Empire to get the Noble Title, he decided to use some different methods. And this was where he was going to put everything into motion.

    "Despite being Knights, you people attack others for no reason. Saint King taught us that no matter how strong one gets, a Knight''s job is to protect, not to hurt people due to their arrogance!" Gabriel dered. "You people got drunk in Power and lost the most basic oath of a Knight? It was only fair for me to teach you a lesson!"

    "You! Who do you think you are to teach us a lesson? Do you even know who we are? You, amoner, think you can teach us what it means to be a Knight? We are the Royal Knights assigned to protect Princess Azia!Attacking is attacking the authority of the Princess?"

    "The Princess?" Gabriel nced at the brown-haired woman who was standing inside the hotel on the other side of the ss.

    He couldn''t help but wonder if the woman was the Eldest Princess for whom the Knight Tournament was going to be held.

    As soon as Princess Azia saw Gabriel look in her direction, she flinched as she lowered her head right away.

    Looking at her response, even Gabriel was stunned. For a Royal, wasn''t this Princess a bit too timid? She couldn''t even look people in the eye? She was quite different from the Princess of Yan and the Princess of Lumen, whom he had met before.

    The Knight that was kicked by Gabriel had already lost consciousness. Fortunately, he wasn''t hurt too badly.

    The situation was still tense as one man stood empty-handed before the Royal Knights, who were aiming their swords at him.

    "Commoner?" Gabriel didn''t pay too much attention to the Princess. He shifted his attention back to the Knights before him, who looked like they were going to attack if he didn''t surrender.

    "Are you sure I am amoner?" Gabriel asked.

    With his confident tone, even the Royal Knights were slightly taken aback.

    The hidden meaning behind Gabriel''s tone wasn''t something that was only grasped by the Royal Knights. Even people nearby started thinking that something was amiss. This guy was a Noble? Or was he bluffing?

 260 Chapter 260

    ****

    [A few minutes ago]

    Gabriel had just stepped out of the hotel, and he was looking at the map, trying to decide on his next destination. He was so long on his map that he didn''t even realize that a woman was standing behind him, waiting to enter the hotel.

    The woman opened her lips, but she couldn''t speak anything. She was just so timid. She even raised her hand a few times to tap his shoulder to attract his attention, but she couldn''t gather enough courage.

    Eventually, the Royal Knights who were apanying her grew somewhat irritated. Instead of bothering to remind the unaware Gabriel to move aside, one of them pushed him aside without holding back any strength, not caring that it could hurt him.

    ****

    [Present Time]

    The current Royal n of Arecia climbed to the throne by pulling down the legitimate rulers. Their rise depended on the fall of the Arecia n. Now, it was his turn to repay the favor.

    Gabriel understood that if he wanted to take the throne, he needed to pull down the current Royal n as well. Gabriel had already thought of a way to take over the throne without attracting the attention of the Churches.

    He needed a third option, and he had decided on one. The only problem was that it didn''t satisfy all the conditions that he was looking for, but it was the closest to what he wanted.

    He wanted his n to satisfy three criteria if possible. One was to use a legitimate method to take over the throne so as to not be attacked by the Churches or any uprisings in the future. He didn''t want to give them any reason to jump into a conflict with the Arecia Empire.

    The second was to avoid attracting the attention of the Churches onto him altogether. And third was to avoid bloodshed if possible so as to reserve his strength for true emergencies.

    With his n, he had satisfied two of the conditions already. He had thought of a legitimate way to take over the Throne. Moreover, that way, he didn''t even need to marry a Royal or depend on the mercy of the Royal Family to be granted a Royal Title.

    However, the problem was that there was a lot of potential in this n to lead to a lot of bloodshed. However, this was also the fastest method to achieve this as well.

    He had decided toe forward as thest remaining descendant of the Arecia n from the lineage of Novius! That way, he satisfied one of the criteria. With that im, he was going to be from the lineage of the previous ruler, after all. And if he imed to be from Novius'' bloodline, that meant he had a pure bloodline of the Saint King!

    He could also use people''s devotion to the Saint King to make them side with him.

    Through that method, he could certainly im his right to the throne if he exposed how the Arecia n was betrayed and people were lied to about them.

    That way, if he could convert this whole situation into less of a takeover and more of an internal conflict over session, then he could avoid the interference of the Churches and the other Empires.

    If this was an internal Conflict, then they had no valid reason to interfere since Churches were supposed to be neutral and only get involved in the matters of Mages or to be specific, dark mages.

    If he could win the support of the people by revealing all the dark secrets of the Empire or even nt some seeds of doubt, half his goal was already achieved. The love in people''s hearts for the Saint King was his biggest weapon after all.

    He had nned to do all that while iming to be a pure Knight. That way, the Churches were not going to pay too much attention... At least not to the extent of sending their Holy Priests to check out the situation.

    That way, two of the three criteria were fulfilled. The only problem was that it could lead to a lot of bloodshed and potentially lead him down the path of fighting all the Royal Knights to reim the throne.<sub> </sub>

    However, he had thought about that as well. He knew he needed support, and that''s why he decided to make this the best show these people were going to see! It was time for him to show them what ''Descendant of Saint King'' was capable of.

    Currently, he didn''t know all the secrets of this Empire. He didn''t know which Noble n was still loyal to the Arecia n on the inside. Through today''s incident, he wanted to spread the word that the heir of the Arecia n has returned to reim the Throne!

    Once this news spread, he was sure that the ones who were truly loyal to the Arecia n were going toe forward to approach him, even if secretly. And if none came forward, that could only mean there wasn''t anyone who was loyal to Arecia n, and all Nobles had a hand in their massacre. That way, he found freely take them all out.

    Initially, he wanted to gather some more information before executing this n, but after seeing the Royal Knights, what better opportunity than now?

    Hearing the hidden implications behind Gabriel''s words, even the crowd that had gathered started talking.

    "Could this guy really be a Noble?"

    "No, I''m sure the Royal Knights know all the Nobles here. How could this kid be a Noble? If he were, they would''ve already known him!"

    "Exactly! This kid can''t be a Noble! He''s certainly bluffing! He''s probably amoner who wants to get out of this situation by bluffing!"

    "Exactly! This damn liar, he dares fool the Knights?!"

    Most of the people believed that Gabriel was lying, but there were also some objections mixed in.

    "Wait. So what if he isn''t a Noble of our Empire? What if he meant he''s a Noble from a neighboring Empire? In that case, it''s clear Knights wouldn''t know him!"

    "Ah, that''s possible! A lot of foreigners have been entering the City for the Knight Tournament!"

    "If that''s the case, wouldn''t attacking him count as a big political trouble?"

    ****

    The Knights also thought about the same thing. Was this guy a Noble from a neighboring Empire? Then it could make sense why he was so arrogant.

    "Are you a Noble from the neighboring Empire?" One of the Knights asked.

    Gabriel shook his head. "I''m not a Noble of a neighboring Empire."

    "Then who are you?!" Another Royal Knight asked, frowning.

    This was the moment... The moment to finally put the n into motion and nt the seed for the future.

    "I am..."

 261 Chapter 261

    "What''s themotion? Why is there a crowd?"

    Gabriel was prepared to put his n into action, albeit a bit in advance, but before he could even dere his identity, he heard a voiceing from the back.

    There wasn''t any magic in the voice, but he could still feel some suppression. It wasn''t enough to affect him, but it was still enough for him to be sensed.

    Unlike him, the others looked even more shocked, especially the Knights.

    All the Royal Knights looked in the direction that voice came from, going down to their knees. The crowd also appeared shocked. They cleared the path right away.

    As soon as the crowd stepped aside, Gabriel was also taken aback.

    There were two people in the back. One of the two was a man who was in histe forties. The man was wearing a beautiful Royal Attire of the Arecia Empire. A charming golden robe hung on his shoulders.

    Unlike the Royal Knights before him, the man seemed different. If the Royal Knights were a small pond of strength, then the middle-aged man looked like he was an entireke!

    All the Royal Knights that Gabriel saw before carried Artificial Treasures made by humans. However, the middle-aged man was clearly carrying a Numen!

    There was a heavy sword on his back, yet the man was effortlessly carrying it. Gabriel was sure that the sword that the man carried on his back was a Numen and not a weak Numen!

    Even though he could feel that the heavy Sword wasn''t on the same level as the Sword of Ulien, it was still a high-tier Numen.

    Most of the Royal Knights were on one knee before the middle-aged man. It was clear that they were giving this respect to the middle-aged man. However, the person that really shocked Gabriel was the second person!

    Next to the middle-aged man was a woman... The person whose presence seemed like a disaster to Gabriel.

    The woman next to the middle-aged man appeared to be much younger. She didn''t even look like she had turned eighteen properly. Even her height was only slightly over five feet. However, Gabriel knew the true identity of that person!

    The woman wore a very ordinary ck dress as if she was trying to be inconspicuous and not attend much attention. Ordinary people couldn''t even feel her aura properly to differentiate her from an ordinary person.

    Strangely enough, despite hiding her aura, the woman didn''t hide her Elemental Mark! The Mark... It was a mark he had seen quite a few times before, but this time, the owner of this Mark had an aura that wasn''t ordinary! This person was clearly a Holy Priestess, the Head of a Church!

    ''Head of the Church of Summoning... What is she doing here? Is she the guest that the Empire invited for the Knight Tournament? But why is she here so soon?''<sub> </sub>

    ? Even though most people here were intimidated by the middle-aged man, only Gabriel was there, who was taken aback by the woman instead. He didn''t care for the middle-aged man as much as he did for the woman!

    She was a Holy Knight! He had only met a Holy Knight twice. First was Lira, who could sense his element right away. And second was Elora, the Holy Priestess of Water. Thanks to his gloves and Lambard''s domain, she couldn''t sense his Aura.

    Unfortunately, this time Gabriel didn''t have the protection of being in that domain. He also didn''t have the Ring of Apophis. He only had the ring that was given to him by the Spectre. He didn''t know if the Ring was enough to hide his Aura enough to fool a Holy Priestess!

    ''Even with the ring, Izen was able to find out what I am. Could it be that she too...?''

    Thest time Gabriel came face to face with Izen, even that guy discovered him. However, he wasn''t sure if it was because his ring wasn''t strong enough to hide his Aura from Izen or because Izen had some other skill and had the help of luck. Whatever the case, he knew that situation had changed drastically for now.

    Gabriel only took a mary nce at the Holy Priestess of Summoning before shifting to the middle-aged man, not wanting to attract too much attention for now if possible.

    Still, he was prepared for a battle. If the Holy Priestess of Summoning recognized him and attacked him, he was prepared to fight! However, for now, he could only curse his luck for meeting her here.

    Avilia Achlon, the Holy Priestess of Summoning, had long ck hair with bangs that covered her forehead. Unlike her hair, her eyes were a darker shade of Crimson.

    Avilia was known as one of the strongest Heads of Churches of present times. She was known as a powerful Holy Priestess who could control hundreds of powerful beasts during battle. It was said that if she wanted, she could destroy an entire Empire without even leaving her room!

    Despite such strength, she was not particrly liked by the masses, all thanks to the legends about her. There were a lot of stories about her being an arrogant person who didn''t give respect even to the Holy Priest of Light.

    Gabriel had heard a lot of stories about this person, and that''s why she was also the one he was most guarded against.

    It was said that amongst all the Holy Priests of the current Generation, she was the only person who wasn''t a member of a Church before bing a Holy Priest!

    ording to some of the stories, it was said that initially, when the Holy Grimoire of Summoning selected her as the new master, she rejected it right away. She refused to even touch the Grimoire, calling it a waste of her time.

    Her rejection offended the Church of Summoning a lot as they felt the girl was saying that their Church wasn''t worth her time. Her actions offended them so much that quite a few Head Priests of the Church of Summoning decided to kill her so the Grimoire could select another person instead of her!

    Unfortunately, that was also their biggest mistake, as that was what truly wrote the future path of Avilia in stone. It was said that when she was attacked and was actually on the verge of death, she actually epted the Holy Grimoire of Summoning and ughtered everyone who came to kill her.

    Not only that, but she also killed everyone who was a part of this scheme before actually taking over the Church of Summoning! In that part of the world, Avilia was the god that couldn''t be offended!

 262 Chapter 262

    ****

    A Holy Priest was going to attend the Knight Tournament as a guest. That was what Gabriel had heard from Yuan. However, there was still time for the Knight Tournament. He didn''t expect the person to be here so soon. Moreover, that person just had to be the biggest headache among the Holy Priests.

    "Saint Knight!" All the Royal Knights greeted the middle-aged man with great respect. None of them knew that the person next to him was worthy of more respect. That woman could destroy this entire Empire within a few hours if she wanted. Even the Saint Knight couldn''t afford to offend that person.

    The woman didn''t even bring any Head Priest with her when she came. It was clear that she was quite confident in her abilities.

    The Saint Knight could see that all the people here were giving him respect except one. It was a young man who was standing bare-handed.

    Not too far from them, the Saint King saw a Knight lying on the ground. He walked closer to the Knight and checked if he was fine.

    "He''s unconscious, not dead," Avilia told the middle-aged man right as the Saint Knight confirmed the same.

    Despite knowing the person''s identity, the Saint Knight was still slightly surprised that she could check that without even getting close to the unconscious Knight.

    Amongst everyone here, Avilia was only looking at one person with great interest. She was looking at Gabriel.

    Gabriel also knew that she was looking at him and that he couldn''t act suspiciously. For now, he had to avoid a confrontation if possible. If he avoided her gaze so much, he was sure even if she didn''t know that he was a Mage with the peculiar element, she would still know that something was wrong.

    As she was hiding her aura, making it unable for an ordinary person to see it, there should''ve been no way for him to see if he was normal. For him, that girl should be an ordinary person until she intentionally revealed her aura. If he let her know that he knew who she was, then it was game over.

    He also nced back at the woman in the back.

    The gazes of two Holy Priests met. It seemed that both of them were observing the other person.

    "Who hurt him?" The Saint Knight''s thundering voice echoed as he asked in anger.

    Usually, he didn''t leave the Castle at a time like this, but he was just informed that the Holy Priestess of Summoning wasing over at around this time. He personally came out to escort her and bring her back to the Royal Castle. Even he hadn''t expected that on his way back, he was going to see a sight like this.

    Someone really dared to attack the Royal Knight? Moreover, these Royal Knights weren''t ordinary Royal Knights either. They were special guards of the Eldest Princess!

    Fortunately, the Saint Knight could see that Princess Azia was still inside the hotel and she was safe.

    "Who dares to attack a Knight in our city!" The Saint Knight asked.

    "I did." Before the Royal Knights could take the lead and tell their side of the story, Gabriel took the initiative.

    Even though the situation waspletely against his expectations, he knew that he had to do something about this. Aftering this far, he couldn''t avoid the confrontation with the Emperor. He had to keep the n moving!

    If he stepped back now, he was certainly going to be published for hitting a Knight. If it came to that, it was only a matter of time before his real identity was going to be exposed.

    Fortunately, thanks to Avilia''s reaction to him, he could feel that she didn''t know who he truly was. That meant that she wasn''t going to fight him. With that in mind, he could finally take some action, albeit with some slight modification in the n.

    Usually, he was sure that there would be a confrontation with the Knights if he dered his intentions for the throne as a valid heir, but with Avilia present, even the Knights couldn''t outright take action against him. They had to justify their actions to save their face.

    Now that Avilia didn''t know who he was, he decided that her presence was maybe a blessing in disguise. Not only could he move forward with the n, but he could also use Avilia''s presence to his advantage.

    "You attacked a Knight? Do you know the punishment for attacking a Knight?" The Saint Knight asked the young man.

    On the other side of the ss door, Princess Azia was looking at Gabriel. She could see no fear in the man''s eyes despite all that had happened. She knew that her people were also in the wrong, but she just couldn''t get herself to speak.

    Still, seeing the confidence in Gabriel''s eyes, even in this situation, she could only feel jealous.

    "I know the punishment all too well, but I''m sure my actions were justified. Your Knight attacked me first unjustly. I have every right to attack!" Gabriel eximed.

    "The moment they decided to attack an unarmed person who had nothing to do with them, they lost all protection of being a Knight! From that moment on, that person wasn''t a Knight anymore but an unjust tyrant disguised as a Knight!"

    Before the Saint Knight, most of the people were usually so scared that they couldn''t even speak properly, but this man... Not only was he speaking, but he was speaking with such rity.

    Even Azia was surprised and taken aback by the young man''s tone. If she didn''t know that the person that he was talking to was the Guardian of the Arecia Empire, also known as the Sword and Shield of the Empire, she could''ve easily misunderstood it as him talking with an ordinary person!

    The more she observed this person, the more she felt a strange feeling in her heart. She was timid ever since she was born, never having courage. Something about Gabriel''s courage was very attractive to him.

    To her, he looked like a person who could always be relied on... A person who was never going to abandon anyone just to save his life... Looking at him, she could actually see it¡ª a true Knight!

    She didn''t even know how it happened, but the more she saw him, the more her heartbeat fastened.

    "Lord Saint, he''s lying! We didn''t attack him! He''s making stuff up! He was blocking the path of the Princess, and we just pushed him aside lightly since he looked to be in a daze. It was just a light push! If we had used all our strength to attack him, would he really be standing?!" One of the Royal Knights stated!

    "Even after we were so considerate not to hurt him, he used a sneak attack to hurt one of us! This vile man is now making up stories to save his skin!" another knight chimed in.

 263 Chapter 263

    "Is that the truth?" The Saint Knight asked the other Royal Knights as well.

    All the Royal Knights agreed. There was no way they would say otherwise after all.

    After receiving the confirmation, the Saint Knight didn''t need to know anything. He had already received all the answers he needed. He chose to believe his Knights over a stranger.

    "Young man, it''s good to be young and energetic, but using that energy to attack a Knight through such vile methods?"

    The Saint Knight hadn''t used much suppression initially, but with time, it was clear that he was getting angry.

    Gabriel could feel some kind of suppression acting on his body, which was only getting stronger. Since the Saint Knight didn''t have an element, Gabriel was convinced that he was using an artifact for such suppression. He wanted to bring Gabriel down to his knees to show him that there were mountains beyond mountains.

    "Saint Knight, may I ask you something?" Gabriel asked. Even though the suppression didn''t affect him with the kind of strength he possessed, he still pretended to struggle to stand under the suppression.

    "Hmm? Ask." The Saint Knight nodded. Still, he didn''t stop his suppression, slightly surprised that Gabriel was able to remain standing.

    "With whom does your loyalty lie?" Gabriel asked. A Saint Knight wasn''t a position that was given to a Royal just because of their title. It was a position that was given to the strongest Warrior of the Empire, so even though the Saint Knight had such influence, he wasn''t a Noble.

    "Is that even a question? My loyalty lies with our Empire! It lies to our Royal Family!" The Saint Knight dered.

    "Which Royal Family?" Gabriel asked, slightly changing his question. "Does your loyalty lie to the real Royal Family, the descendants of the Saint King who established this Empire from scratch? Or does your loyalty lie to the Traitors that schemed against the true heirs and killed them?"

    "Hmm?" Not only the Saint Knight but everyone else here was also stunned. Was this guy really calling the current Royal Family Traitors?

    "Nonsense! You dare call the Royal n traitors?" The Saint Knight was furious, hearing such insults. Ever since the Arecia n was wiped, there was only one Royal n! As the Sword and Shield of this Empire, he couldn''t bear hearing insults to the Emperor!

    In his anger, the Saint Knight stopped holding back. This kind of disrespect... And that too in public... There was no need to arrest this person! This kind of disrespect only deserved one punishment... Death!

    The Saint Knight pulled out his Sword. Within a blink of an eye, he was right before Gabriel, swinging the Heavy Sword that was strong enough to cut him in two halves.

    As if Gabriel had already expected this, he was prepared to call out the Sword of Ulien. If he wanted, he could just use magic to protect himself, but before Avilia, he didn''t. For now, he was only a Knight who relied on his strength and his treasures!

    "Huh?" Gabriel was about to bring out the Sword of Ulien to block the attack, but he didn''t as he saw another person appear before him. It was a woman who appeared before him as if she was a ghost.

    The Saint Knight hastily stopped his attack, jumping back. He didn''t want to harm that woman.

    "Lady Avilia, what are you doing?!" he eximed.

    Not only him, but even Gabriel was also slightly shocked. Avilia jumped in to protect him? Why? Not only did she not attack him, but she also stopped the Saint Knight?

    "I''m curious what he has to say," Aviliazily stated. "Let him speak."

    From her tone, it was evident that she didn''t put any of the warriors of the Empire in her eyes. If she wanted, she could easily eliminate them all.

    Even the Saint Knight knew about her abilities. He knew that if his Sword had even touched the Holy Priestess of Summoning even a little just a moment ago, the entire city would''ve been destroyed by now.

    "Lady Avilia, you are the guest of our Empire. You''ve been invited by His Majesty himself. Do you really want this man to keep disrespecting our Emperor? Who is this man even? What right does he have to criticize our Royal Family?" Saint Knight asked.

    "That''s for him to answer," Avilia shrugged as she walked back again, leaving the discussion between the two men.

    ''This woman... Is she using this for her entertainment?'' Gabriel wondered. There seemed no other reason for her to help him.

    From what he had heard about Avilia, she was a very unorthodox Holy Priestess, not really caring about anyone. All she cared about was not being bored. Wherever she had an opportunity to have entertainment, she did it, even if it offended many people.

    Gabriel wondered if it was the same here. If she saw their conflict as entertainment for her, this could exin why she helped him. For her, if he were dead, this entertainment would''ve been over. By protecting him, she protected herself in a way.

    ''It doesn''t matter why she''s helping me for now. What matters is using this opportunity. Things might even be better now than I expected...'' Gabriel nced at Avilia. Avilia''s face didn''t have many expressions, but in her eyes, Gabriel could see amusement.

    "Young man, answer me! Who do you think you are to criticize the Royal Family?" Even if the Saint Knight couldn''t kill Gabriel, he knew he could still arrest the person and kill him after Avilia was gone. However, before that, he wanted his answers!

    Just who was this man? Why wasn''t he scared of offending the Royal Family? Did the man not fear death? Where was his confidenceing from? And why did it look like he hated the Royal Family? What did the conflict between the Arecia n and the current Royal Family have to do with him? Andstly, why was he calling the current Royal Family traitors? There were many questions in his head.

    Since it was happening in the main district of the city, such amotion attracted even more attention. There were already thousands of people in the crowd, watching everything.

    "Who am I to criticize the current Royal Family? Why should I not criticize the traitors?" Gabriel asked in return.

    "The Empire that my Ancestors made... The morals and righteousness that they strived for... Everything that they dreamt for this Empire... Everything has been destroyed! The Knights that were supposed to work for the well-being of mankind act like kings, and the traitors who hold no right now pretend to be the Royal n? Who can talk about it if not me, the true heir of the Throne?!"

 264 Chapter 264

    "Who can talk about it if not me, the true heir of the Throne?!"

    One sentence... Just one sentence was enough to send a wave of shock to everyone in the crowd who heard it.

    Avilia, who had remained expressionless all this time, finally smiled. "Interesting."

    "True Heir?"

    "Did the man just say he was the true heir?"

    "How could that be?"

    "He''s lying, isn''t he?"

    His words were hard to believe! How could a random person be the true heir to the Throne? Was this guy bluffing again?

    The Royal Knights were also stunned.

    "This guy is again talking nonsense! How could he be the true heir of the throne?" One of the Royal Knights eximed, pointing fingers at the young man.

    On the other side of the ss, Azia couldn''t help but take a step back. She knew everyone in her family. The man before them wasn''t from her n. She was certain of that. Then what did he mean by being a true heir?

    Was this man really lying? Did she really misunderstand a liar as an honorable Knight before? Or was he telling the truth? If he was telling the truth and believed he was the true heir while calling the current Royal Family traitors, did it mean this guy was...?

    "What is your name?" The Saint Knight also thought of the same thing. This guy was certainly not from the current Royal n. If he still imed his right to the throne and wasn''t lying, that could only mean he was from that n...

    "My name is..." Gabriel took a deep breath before he spoke his name as loud as he could.

    "Gabriel Arcadius Arecia, a true descendant of the Saint King!"

    Gabriel Arcadius Arecia... Gabriel told the name, using thest names of Novius'' family. He knew the power of this name. Even though the Arecia Family was called traitors, most of that was by the Nobles. For themoners, the Arecia Family was always associated with the Saint Knight!

    When telling his name, he made sure to mention the Saint Knight, who was like a god for this Empire! He indirectly imed to be the descendant of their god!

    "A descendant of the Arecia n?" Saint Knight''s face twitched uncontrobly. This guy was from the Arecia n? No wonder he was that arrogant. However, how could he be alive?

    Saint Knight was sure that all the descendants of the Arecia n were killed in the revolt. Was this guy lying about his identity to take advantage of the situation?

    "How can I believe that you aren''t lying? After all, we know that the entire Arecia n was dead. Then where did youe from?" The Saint Knight asked, frowning.

    Even if this guy was a true descendant, the man couldn''t ept it. In any case, he was sure that Gabriel couldn''t prove it.

    "Will this be enough to prove my identity?" Gabriel pulled out a pendant from his pocket. The pendant didn''t look very special. It was something made of ordinary silver, but there was something inside it that only the powerful people could see. It was the Saint King''s aura!

    "That pendant... Isn''t that the Saint King''s Pendant?" Since the Empire treated every story of the Saint King as a holy text, despite the seemingly ordinary nature of this pendant, many people knew about it.

    "What''s this pendant?" Among the many people who knew about it, Avilia wasn''t included. She could only ask the Saint Knight about it.

    "The Saint King''s Pendants," Saint Knight answered, frowning. This was truly bad. This thing was certainly enough to prove Gabriel''s identity.

    ording to the story, there were only two of these pendants made by the Saint King during his time, and he passed these pendants to his two sons. From then on, these pendants were passed down to the two eldest sons of the Arecia n in every generation.

    These pendants contained the essence of the Saint Knight, which could be used as a protection treasure. But what was more important was that these pendants were the symbol of Royal Authority during its time. These pendants couldn''t be stolen. They could only be passed down. The original owner didn''t want to pass it down, no one could receive it, and these were destroyed.

    When the Arecia n was wiped out, only one such pendant was discovered, which was destroyed on its own after the Eldest Prince was killed.

    The presence of this pendant in Gabriel''s hand was enough to prove his identity, but still, how was it possible? Just where did this guye from?

    "If I''m not wrong, the Empire had two of these Pendants. Only one was left in the Empire after the Eldest Prince Novius left the Empire hundreds of years ago to train, taking one with him. Are you...?"

    "The grandson of Novius Arcadius Arecia," Gabriel finished the sentence of the Saint Knight.

    This pendant was a treasure of the Empire, passed from generation to generation. However, these people didn''t know that it could also be passed to someone who didn''t have the true bloodline, as long as the owner of the pendant wished.

    This Pendant was one of thest few gifts that were given to him by Novius, who gave him the ownership of this pendant. This was also one of the reasons he could prove his identity. Now that he had proven his identity, only one thing was left to do... Prove the innocence of the Arecia n and cleanup.

    "So you''re from Prince Novius'' lineage... The selfless Prince who wasn''t greedy for the throne and let his younger brother take it. It''s a pity that his descendants aren''t as selfless as him. It looks like the greed of the throne brought you back." The Saint Knight sighed.

    "Unfortunately, so what if you''re the descendant of the Arecia n? What makes you think you still have the right to the throne? The Arecia n betrayed the Empire! They sold the Holy Treasure of our Empire! With that, they betrayed the trust of their people and their ancestors! They lost the right to rule over this Empire long ago!"

    Even though the Saint Knight respected the Saint King, he still couldn''t let any conflicte to the Empire. The current Royal Family had already consolidated their power. If Gabriel tried for the throne, he could only be crushed since the Saint Knight didn''t want any instability in the Empire!

    Moreover, throughout the years, the Saint Knight received so much respect from the Royal n that he started considering them as family. The current Royal n was what prompted him to the position of Saint Knight after all. He had never worked under any emperor before that.

    The current Royal n had his absolute loyalty, even if it meant that he had to get his hand dirty.

    "My n sold the Holy Treasure?" Gabriel asked, seemingly confused. "You can''t be talking about this, can you?"

    A powerful aura spread in the surrounding, covering the entire city. This aura was so powerful that even the Royal Family could sense this aura while sitting inside the Royal Castle.

    The present Emperor was in bed with his concubine, having some personal time. As soon as he sensed this strange yet powerful aura, he stopped and stood up.

    "Are we under attack?"

    Even the strongest warriors of the Knight Academy sensed this aura and rushed to the ce where this wasing from. Even they thought that the Empire was under attack.

    "That... That sword..." The Saint Knight was shocked to his core, seeing a zing red Sword in Gabriel''s hand. Before this, he had only heard about that weapon, but it was his first time seeing the Holy Weapon personally... The weapon that was known as the King of Swords!

    Just the aura of the Sword was enough to overwhelm the crowd. Everyone in the crowd went down to their knees subconsciously. Even Princess Azia couldn''t control her legs and dropped to her knees.

    Only the Saint Knight and Holy Priestess of Summoning were still standing straight.

 265 Chapter 265

    "That sword..."

    In his entire life, the Saint Knight had never seen the so-called Holy Sword. It was said that the sword was sold by the greedy royals a long time ago already. The biggest problem was that no one knew who the Sword was sold to. All they knew was that the Sword wasn''t in the Empire.

    ording to the current Royal Family, the Holy Sword of the Arecia Empire was sold to the neighbouring Yan Empire by the Arecia n in exchange for some benefits. That was also the event which was used as the foundation for the revolt where the Royal Family was destroyed.

    After the new Royal Family took control, they asked Yan to return the sword. Unfortunately, Yan never epted that they even possessed the Sword. Eventually, the Arecia Empire could only give up and curse the Arecia n for this downfall.

    Sensing the unpleasant aura, more and more Royal Knights arrived at the location. Before long, the ce had less citizens and more Knights.

    Gabriel held the Sword firmly, observing just how many knights there were in total.

    ''There should be over a hundred Royal Knights... If there''s a battle, things would get really chaotic. However, I couldn''t have asked for a better stage for myself!''

    Even if the Royal Knights were siding with the current Royal Family, the most important thing for him was to win their support. The Saint Knight had already prepared the stage for him.

    Gabriel knew that these people hated the Arecia n. However, if he could sessfully fool them and make them believe his lies, they were definitely going to feel just as guilty at the thought of betraying the Arecia n which was innocent.

    He really didn''t have any evidence that the Arecia n didn''t betray the Empire or that they didn''t sell the Sword but it didn''t matter. He didn''t need to y fair for now.

    "So, tell me. You say that my Ancestors sold this Sword to the enemies? Then why should I have it? Why would it be in the hands of a descendant? Unless you believe that I was able to sneak inside the enemy Empire and steal this treasure sword without causing anymotion?" he asked. "If you do say that, I''m sure you know yourself how stupid you''ll sound."

    The Sword of Ulien was in his hands now. And there was no way for these people to know that this was something he stole from the Academy of Elements.

    The Academy didn''t know that the Sword they possessed was the Royal Sword of Arecia. If they knew, they would have mentioned it in the description of the sword to their students. Since they didn''t mention it, it could only mean two things.

    First was that they didn''t want Arecia to know that they had this sword. If that was the case, they definitely weren''t going to publicise that this sword was stolen. Even if they told anyone about the robbery, they were going to focus mainly on the Ancestral Staff of Darkness so this information was as good as buried.

    The second possibility was that they didn''t know either and it was just a coincidence that this sword fell in their hands, which was more likely.

    Gabriel knew that he was taking a big risk by bringing out this sword, especially before a Holy Priestess but for now, it was a calcted risk.

    The Saint Knight was just about to talk about the possibility of Gabriel stealing or receiving the Sword, but Gabriel already took the initiative to put forward this possibility while also using a mocking tone while describing it. If the Saint Knight actually used this logic, he could very well be aughing stock.

    "Why do you have that sword?" The Saint Knight asked, frowning.

    Even he was slightly curious how Gabriel had the sword. If this Sword was actually sold to an Empire in exchange for benefits, then that Empire was surely going to know its worth. There was no way they could let it get stolen.

    Moreover, he didn''t believe Gabriel was strong enough to steal inside the Pce and take it.

    ''If he was actually strong enough to do that, wouldn''t it mean he was strong enough to kill me? Even I can''t achieve a feat like that. There is no way he stole it from the Royal Pce. Then why does he have it?''

    Gabriel could already read the thoughts on the middle aged man''s face. He could also see some killing intent from the Saint Knight.

    ''He really wants to kill me, doesn''t he?'' he wondered. ''He just doesn''t dare to do it in Avilia''s presence. If she wasn''t here, he would''ve attacked already.''

    "Who will have that Sword if not a member of our Arecia n?" Gabriel asked. "As you said, my Ancestor Novius Arcadius Arecia was the Eldest Prince who left to train in the outside World. Of course he took the Sword with him to train! He wanted to be as strong as the Saint Knight to protect the Empire like our Ancestor!"

    Gabriel had a story about why he had a Sword that he just made up. He also knew the follow-up questions which was the hardest part.

    "They why didn''t he return all this time? And where were you all this time? Why juste now?"

    Just as Gabriel expected, the question came. Many people in the Lumen Empire knew of the Dark Mage Novius who founded the Academy of Elements. However, none of them knew what that person''s full name was. None knew that he was a Royal of Arecia as Novius had already abandoned his Royal identity after leaving Arecia.

    The Two Empires were neighbours, but they couldn''t be any farther apart. Unlike the other Empires, the Arecia Empire didn''t have any Church branches and the trade was also very limited with the other Empires.

    Arecia didn''t care what was happening in the neighbouring Empires.

    "He wanted to return. Unfortunately, in his quest for getting stronger, he came across the Holy Priest of Darkness," Gabriel sighed.

    He didn''t want to drag the Dark Mages into another mess, but he didn''t have much of an option. Since Novius was supposed to have the Sword of Ulien, he couldn''t just say that Novius was defeated and killed by an ordinary mage. He had to name some higher ups like a Holy Priest.

    With the current reputation of the Church of Darkness, it was also much easier to convince them with this story if he just borrowed their name. Not as if their reputation could get any worse than it already was.

    "A Holy Priest of Darkness?" Many in the crowd eximed. At this point, even the Royal Knights were immersed in the story, listening carefully.

    As Gabriel told his story, he could also sense that another person had arrived in the back¡­

 266 Chapter 266

    Another middle-aged man came from the back. Even though the man didn''t let his presence be evident, Gabriel could still sense it. It was a Mage... A Mage of Darkness...

    The Dark Mage also appeared to hide his Aura very well, probably using some treasure, but as a Holy Priest of Necromancy, Gabriel could sense it. The treasure that hid his aura was good, but it wasn''t as good as his Gloves and his rings. It could possibly fool some Head Priests but not a Holy Priest.

    Just as Gabriel expected, Avilia also sensed it. Just from the minute expression changes on her face at the same time, Gabriel was sure that she also sensed it. However, she didn''t do anything andpletely ignored that person.

    ''That idiot... He came right before a Holy Priestess? It looks like he really overestimated his treasure.'' Gabriel didn''t react either. Even if it was a Dark Mage, it didn''t matter. For now, he had to focus on the task at hand.

    "What happened after Lord Novius came across the Holy Priest of Darkness?" One of the Royal Knights asked. He was so intrigued that he didn''t even wait for the Saint Knight to speak.

    It was only after he had spoken that he realized he should''ve kept his mouth shut. He just lowered his head.

    "The Holy Priest of Darkness was very powerful but also greedy. He wanted our Holy Sword. When Ancestor refused to give him the Sword, he attacked him. In the battle thatsted for three hours, both of them were injured. The Holy Priest of Darkness retreated, but the Ancestor was also hurt a lot."

    In his mind, Gabriel only had two stories that he could use. One was the current one, and the other was that Novius was trapped in a secret realm. If he chose thetter, he believed the following questions were going to be a nightmare to answer, so he stuck with the first story.

    For some reason, as soon as he finished talking about the battle, Avilia smiled. She was quite amused.

    "Not bad," she muttered, but no one could hear her.

    Gabriel didn''t notice her smile. He didn''t want to look at her repeatedly to make her suspicious. He kept his focus on the Saint Knight while talking. His voice was loud enough to make sure that everyone heard it.

    "The battle with a Holy Priest took a heavy toll on our Ancestors. He didn''t want toe back until he was strong enough. But this injury only left him weakened. That''s why he didn''t return before his death."

    "He only trained his next generations so that the knowledge could pass on. He knew that, thanks to his injuries, it was hard for him to be strong. He could only train the future generation, waiting for someone to appear who he believed was worthy of this Sword!"

    "It was his oath to not return to Arecia until someone worthy of this Sword came from his descendants. Unfortunately, his injury was too heavy. Five years after the battle, he died."

    "I''ve trained all my life in istion to be strong enough to make him proud, so I could return one day and fulfill his oath!"

    Gabriel was only telling lies at this point, but with the intensity that he spoke, it was almost impossible to distinguish lies from truth.

    "Ancestor Novius sacrificed so much for the betterment of the Arecia n and the Empire. I never expected that behind him, all this was going on. The people that he worked so hard for backstabbed his own family members and killed them all?"

    Now that Gabriel had made up a story before anyone could ask any questions, he started using their emotions. He wasn''t sure how much it was going to work, but he hoped that he could sway at least half the Knights here.

    "Not only that, the excuse you all used was that our Family sold the Sword? Nonsense! We are the true descendants of the Saint Knight! Did you all really think the blood of Saint Knight could be so dirty that it could create descendants like that?!"

    "Just because of some people''s ambitions of getting the Royal Throne, they killed the righteous owners and made up stories to find a cause to kill people in broad daylight? And the citizens of the Empire supported them?!"

    "When I found out about all that, I was so disappointed and disgusted that I just wanted to leave! I thought that the people of this Empire deserved evil rulers like that who could one day be the downfall of the once glorious Empire! I wanted to leave you all to your fate. Unfortunately, I can''t abandon the Empire that all my Ancestors worked so hard to protect!"

    "I don''t want to be here after knowing that this Empire was bathed in the blood of my family members over some lies, but I just can''t abandon it!" Gabriel dered.

    He didn''t know why, but even some tears appeared in his eyes as he spoke. Even though he was only making stories, it was true that he wanted to protect this Empire... The Empire that Novius was so passionate about. It was this City''s illusion where Novius and him spent hisst night in the Tower before his death.

    The shine in his eyes, the expectations of his empire, the hope... Gabriel couldn''t abandon it all. That''s why, even in his lies, there was the truth. His words were lies, but his emotions were true! He was angry at the betrayal but also sad.

    The words that Gabriel used were powerful, stabbing the hearts of everyone present there. Even the Royal Knights who just had a conflict with them couldn''t control themselves. They could feel his emotions.

    Moreover, seeing the tears in Gabriel''s eyes, none of them could even think that he was lying.

    Even Princess Azia, who was the Eldest Princess of the Empire, had tears in her eyes. Even she fell for his words, wondering if her father was truly so evil. Did he really kill innocent Arecia n Members because he was greedy for the throne?

    Before today, she never would have believed something like that, but now... Now even her heart was wavering.

    "In the past, so much injustice happened in this Empire... Most of our Family was wiped out, and we didn''t even know about it. Men, women, and children were ughtered, and the citizens of this Empire cheered! Was this the kind of Empire that Saint King dreamt of? Was this the kind of Empire you''re proud to call your home?!" Gabriel roared at the top of his lungs.

 267 Chapter 267

    ? Amongst the many methods that Gabriel thought of, which were fast and Swift in helping him achieve his goals, all options had one thing inmon... It was that he had to prove the innocence of the Arecia n, which he couldn''t do without revealing the Sword of Ulien.

    It was only after proving that the Sword wasn''t sold but was passed down the Arecia n generations could he clear the name of the Arecia n, allowing him a path to reach the throne. Unfortunately, this didn''te without risk.

    The only advantage he had for now was that there were no Mages in the crowd for now, none other than the Dark Mage. As for the Dark Mage, Gabriel was sure that even that person hadn''t seen this sword since he couldn''t have entered the Lumen City.

    The only problem here was the Holy Priestess of Summoning. Unfortunately, having no choice, this was all he could do, even though it had the potential to create some new problems in the future.

    Fortunately, ording to the rumors, it looked as if Avilia really didn''t care about other Holy Priests. With that kind of personality, it was highly unlikely that she would''ve ever gone to the Academy of Elements.

    Even if she did, the chances of her seeing the Sword there should''ve been as slim as nine since the Academy rarely took anyone who wasn''t a student to the Treasure Hall. No matter what, it was only a guess for now, which he couldn''t be sure about. He had already considered the other possibility.

    For now, he knew he had to handle the task at hand... He had to sway the hearts of the people first!

    "Was this the kind of Empire you''re proud to call your home?!"

    His words echoed far and wide like thunder falling on the consciousness of everyone present here.

    "I refuse to believe that the people of the Proud Arecia Empire would be so vile. I''ll leave the choice to you. Tomorrow, I''ll go to the Royal n to demand for the return of the throne. If you wish, you can stand on their side and fight against me."

    " Even if I die, I won''t step back. If I need to walk through the sea of blood to protect this Empire from the demons, that''s what I shall do! I leave the choice to you! You can either correct the injustice of the past or double down to protect your false sense of reality!"

    Gabriel made a deration, leaving the rest to others. He was sure that one day was enough to get this information to every citizen of this city. It was enough time for everyone to know about his return and clear the name of the Arecia n.

    He wasn''t sure how many of those people were going to side with him in the end, but even if he was all alone, he was still going to do it. At least he now had a righteous excuse to stop the interference of the Churches here!

    After his deration, Gabriel turned around and started leaving. For one day, he didn''t have to fight anyone. Things all needed time. He had to let the people go back to spread this news.

    For a moment, even the Saint Knight was left stunned. He noticed the expressions of the Knights around him. Their expressions were telling him a lot. It was as if they had all fallen for a spell of Gabriel.

    "Stop right there! Even if what you say is true, you shoulde back with me to the Royal Pce! We shall discuss it there!" The Saint Knight called out to Gabriel.

    "Don''t worry. I''ll go there tomorrow. You''ll get your moment to shine," Gabriel responded, not stopping. "You don''t have to be in a hurry."

    Saint Knight Albetron''s face twitched. ''This guy... He is really arrogant.''

    "Don''t force me to take action! Please cooperate with the authorities! I promise we will be fair, and you won''t be harmed!" He knew that the words which were spoken here... If Gabriel was given one day, he could easily gather an army of his own, causing a civil war. He couldn''t let that happen.

    ''I can''t let him go! If I try to kill him, I''ll only provoke the sentiments of everyone present here. Even the Holy Priestess of Summoning doesn''t allow me to kill. I can only try other methods.''

    Unlike the other people here who were swayed by Gabriel, the Saint Knight was truly loyal to the current Royal ce. Even if he had to get his hands dirty to protect the Royal Family, he didn''t care!

    ''For now, I''ll y along and take him to the Castle. There, he''ll be all alone. If we kill him there and share the story that he ran away after his lies were exposed, no one will know!''

    He had already nned a n of action to take Gabriel out without provoking the citizens. He was sure that some of the citizens were going to be suspicious for a little while, but after a few weeks, they were all going to forget that this even happened.

    "I won''t be harmed?" Gabriel repeated. "If you say so, I''ll apany you."

    He didn''t worry about being harmed. He wasn''t even sure if the Royal Family could harm him even if they wanted. Instead, they were going to take him to the castle, which was exactly what he wanted.

    Gabriel knew what these people wanted to do. It was clear that the Saint Knight wanted to kill him inside the Castle, but that didn''t matter much. The best way to defeat an opponent was using their own strength against them, and this gave him the perfect opportunity for that...

    He had already cast a seed of doubt in the citizens. With the spreading of the news, he was sure that quite a few citizens were going to side with him. All he needed was a little more push, and this was what gave that push.

    "Albetron, I''m afraid that''s not fair, is it?" A voice came from behind. "Shouldn''t you stop?"

    "It''s him..." Gabriel muttered, ncing back. Just as he expected, it was the Dark Mage who had been observing everything from the back. It was strange that he was taking action.

    Even the Holy Priestess of Summoning nced at the Dark Mage in the back, slightly surprised. She expected the man to stay hidden, but this guy really came forward.

    This only confirmed her suspicions that this man didn''t know that his treasure didn''t have an effect on her.

    "This is getting interesting," she muttered.

 268 Chapter 268

    Gabriel was ready to go with the Saint Knight. For him, it didn''t matter if he took care of certain matters tomorrow or today. However, he didn''t expect someone to interfere as soon as he was about to ept.

    Not only did the person interfere, but he did so despite being a Dark Mage?

    Gabriel looked at the man in the back, finally getting a clear view of the person.

    The man was in histe forties. Despite only being in his forties, all his hair was already white. The man wasn''t dressedvishly, but his clothes looked very refined. Looking at the surprised reaction of the people around him, Gabriel could feel that this person didn''t have an ordinary identity in the Empire.

    It was clear that he wasn''t the King, but his position wasn''t low.

    "Duke Callum?" The Saint Knight frowned. "What are you doing here?"

    "Duke?" Gabriel was even more surprised to see the identity of the person. Usually, Empires tended to stay away from Dark Mages, but in this Empire, one was already a Duke? That was the highest Noble position in this Empire after the Royal Family.

    A Duke''s position was more or less the same as the Saint Knight, but due to their Noble title, they were considered slightly higher in the hierarchy.

    "I felt a strange aura and came to check," the middle-aged Duke calmly stated.

    "How long have you been here?" The Saint Knight asked, wondering if this guy heard Gabriel''s story.

    It wasn''t hidden from anyone that amongst all the Dukes, Callum was the only one who was in conflict with the Royal Family. Moreover, for some strange reason, the Royal Family never dared to act against him either.

    It was as if a status quo was established. Duke Callum couldn''t hurt the Royals, and the Royals couldn''t hurt him. The Royal Family more or less just ignored Duke Callum and let him do his things as long as it didn''t interfere with the Empire''s workings.

    "For a long time," Duke Callum stated calmly. "I heard what the young man was saying. And I am more inclined to believe his words at this point. He already showed quite a lot of evidence after all."

    "Duke Callum, it''s not for you to decide if it''s the truth or not. We''ll take him back to the Castle and call a meeting of all the Dukes and Ministers to decide on the matter. I hope you won''t interfere in this matter for now. You''ll get your time."

    Saint Knight was already frustrated that Avilia didn''t allow him to kill Gabriel when he had an opportunity. If she hadn''t stopped him, things would''ve been solved at the start, and this story wouldn''t be out.

    Just as he thought of a new way to solve this problem, another person arrived, interfering in the matter? And that person was a first-tier noble as well.

    "I''m sure we can solve this matter in the meeting of Ministers and Dukes. However, until then, I don''t feel safe sending this young man with you. Since he''s a potential heir to the throne, what if he is killed in the Castle, and youter make up a story that he ran away?" Callum asked, slightly revealing a grin. "It won''t be the first time you''d have killed someone from the Arecia n."

    "You!" Saint Knight Alberton''s face twitched uncontrobly. This guy... He was intentionally doing it! Was he trying to break the status quo by cing a new person on the throne?

    "Since this guy is here for the throne, I''m sure he won''t run away. I can keep him in my castle. When all the Dukes have gathered, I can bring him, and the final decision can be taken. What do you think? There''s no reason to take him to the Castle since everything will be decided in the meeting of Dukes, isn''t that right?"

    Callum had the Saint Knight in his palms. In a situation like this, even the Saint Knight couldn''t do anything. He just couldn''t attack a Duke out of nowhere, especially since he didn''t suggest anything wrong. In people''s eyes, the Duke was only being fair and worried about the safety of the young man before the Dukes could gather.

    At this point, even the Saint Knight knew that his option was to take Gabriel forcefully, but that was detrimental to his cause. If he did that, not only did he have to fight the Duke, but he also couldn''t kill Gabriel and act innocentter on.

    "Fine. He''s your responsibility. But if you fail to bring him to the meeting of the Dukes or let him escape, you''ll be the one getting punished. I hope you know what you''re doing..."

    Even though the words of the Saint Knight were ordinary, Gabriel could sense the hidden threat he was issuing through those words.

    After issuing the threat, the Saint Knightmanded everyone to go back to their work. He also instructed them to not share what happened there with anyone. However, even he knew that no one was going to listen to him. It was impossible to hide what happened here unless he killed every person there.

    "Lady Avilia, pleasee with me." The Saint Knight walked back to Avilia, who was here as their guest. Even at a time like this, he couldn''t abandon her or be disrespectful. If he did, he knew it was simr to putting oil on the fire.

    The Holy Priestess of Summoning nced at Gabriel and the Duke onest time before she followed the Saint Knight and left.

    The Saint Knight also brought Princess Azia back with him since he didn''t want to leave her behind at times like this.

    "Are you alright?" Duke Callum asked Gabriel.

    "I am fine. Thank you for the help."

    Despite knowing that their person was a Dark Mage, Gabriel didn''t reveal that he already knew about it. He was sure that the Duke didn''t approach him for no reason. There was something he wanted from him. As for what that was, he let time decide. He just kept his guard up.

    "Let''s go back to my Pce. You should be safe there." The Duke escorted Gabriel with him.

    "When will this meeting of Dukes be held?" Gabriel asked, walking next to the Dark Mage.

    "Since it''s an important matter, it should be held tomorrow," Callum answered. "It will be attended by the Dukes, the Emperor, the Ministers, and quite a few influential people of the Empire."

    "Tomorrow... That is definitely fast," Gabriel nodded.

    After a few moments of silence, Gabriel again spoke. "By the way, may I ask why you helped me? What do you hope to achieve."

 269 Chapter 269

    "I helped you because I know," the middle-aged man answered vaguely.

    "Know what?" Gabriel pretended to be ignorant as if wondering what this guy was talking about.

    The middle-aged man slowed down, keeping up with the slow pace of Gabriel. It was only after making sure that no one was near them that he spoke, "The story that you used... It was all a lie."

    "Oh, and you know that because...?"

    Gabriel had already expected the answer, but he still wanted to hear it from the man.

    "Because I''ve heard about Lord Novius... Things that are unknown in this Empire," The man grimly stated. "I know what he was?"

    "And what was he?" Gabriel asked, slightly amused. It was just as he had expected... This man knew that Novius was a dark Mage in the past and a well-known one at that. Not many people knew about it, but it wasn''t hard for Dark Mages to know this since it was rted to their element and their history.

    "I know that you lied about your past. And since I don''t feel any killing intent from you even though I told you all that, I suppose you also realized that I knew about this?"

    "I took a guess," Gabriel calmly answered. "Still, isn''t it risky for you to live in such a high position as a Dark Mage?"

    "Huh?" The man expected Gabriel to be shocked when he told him that he knew Gabriel was lying. However, instead of that, the oue waspletely different. He was the one getting shocked.

    "How do you know?" The man asked, stepping back suddenly. Killing intent shed in his eyes for a moment. He hadn''t expected anyone to know the secret that he had hidden so well. He only wanted to tell Gabriel that he knew about the lies and then help him get the throne so he could be their puppet King!

    "Not just me; the Holy Priestess of Summoning also knows about that," Gabriel answered,pletely ignoring the killing intent of the man.

    "She..." Duke Callum felt his heart stop for a bit as soon as he heard Gabriel.

    "That Demoness knows about me? How could that be? Did my aura leak? How is it possible?" The man was covered in sweat. In his mind, he had already started preparing to escape from this Empire.

    Amongst all the Holy Priests, he was the most scared of two¡ª the Holy Priest of Light and the Holy Priestess of Summoning! Now that the girl knew about him, he wanted to get out of the Empire as far as possible to save his life.

    "There''s no need to run away. If she wanted to kill you, you would''ve already been dead."

    Since Avilia was so strong, it was easy for her to kill the Duke. If she didn''t kill him personally, she could''ve just told the others about his secret, but she didn''t. Based on that single decision of hers, Gabriel managed to find out quite a few things about her.

    "She doesn''t want to kill me? But why?" The Duke grimaced. As far as he knew, the Dark Mages had no allies. The Church of Summoning surely didn''t side with him. So why didn''t that woman kill him?

    "Who knows? You''ll have to ask her yourself." Gabriel shrugged. He could only take a few guesses. Even he couldn''t be sure what that woman was truly thinking about.

    "How do you two know about my secret? Even the Saint Knight doesn''t know. Who exactly are you?" Initially, the Duke just thought that Gabriel was an ordinary person who was using Novius'' name to take over the throne because he was greedy.

    However, now he was sure that there was more to it than that. He certainly wasn''t an ordinary person.

    "It doesn''t matter who I am. What matters is what I can do for you," Gabriel stated. He didn''t want to rely on anyone, but if it was a trade, he was quite confident that he could get the Duke''s help without owing him.

    "And what can you do for me?" Duke Callum asked.

    "I can protect you from Avilia if she ever wants to harm you. If you work for me, your safety will be ensured. Moreover, once I take over the Arecia Empire, you''ll be getting even more benefits..."

    As Gabriel spoke, he raised his left hand. A small dark sphere appeared above each of his fingers. He made sure that no one was there to see. Moreover, thanks to his ring, none could even sense the aura of his dark spell.

    "This... This is... You are..."

    Duke Callum was stunned. Not only was Gabriel not a Dark Mage, but he was also a Dark Mage? Was he one of them?

    Even though Gabriel used a small spell to disy his element, just his control of the dark spheres was enough to make Callum realize that Gabriel''s magic wasn''t weaker than him at all! If anything, Gabriel was even stronger.

    He could, at best, call out three spheres and control them with such precision, but Gabriel could use five!

    "Work for me with all your heart, and you''ll get all your heart desires," Gabriel reminded the middle-aged Duke.

    The Duke nodded. "Y-yes."

    Despite Gabriel''s young age, just his sheer talent and control were enough for the Duke to consider him a Master. The strength of a Dark Mage decided their hierarchy and not age.

    Gabriel was also so carefree despite knowing that the Holy Priestess knew about them. This gave him some confidence in the young man''s abilities as well.

    Gabriel was surprised to be called Master. He couldn''t help but take a second nce at the middle-aged man, ''His tone is really respectful. It doesn''t look like he''s nning to betray me. Still, I have to keep my guard up against him...''

    "Master, if you wanted to take over this Enough, why don''t you just go to the Royal Pce and take over? Are you also worried about the other Churches?" Callum asked.

    Strangely enough, the man didn''t even feel slightest shame in calling a young man his master, all because of Gabriel''s presumed strength.

    "You''ll know when the timees," Gabriel vaguely answered.

    The Duke escorted him to the Duke''s castle, which was also in the central region of the Royal City, not too far from the Royal Pce.

    The Duke''s castle was smaller than the Royal Pce, but it wasn''t any less luxurious. Even Gabriel was surprised at how well this Dark Mage was living. While the other Dark Mages were living day by day, fighting for their lives, running from enemies, this guy was enjoying life here?

    "Master, you can take any room. I''ve also gathered some Spirit Stones. If you want, I can get them to your room right away!"

 270 Chapter 270

    Duke Callum was really like a follower to Gabriel, even offering Spirit Stones to help Gabriel and win the young man''s favor. So far, he didn''t know the identity of the young man, but for some reason, he felt as if the man had the potential to be someone special in the future if he already wasn''t one.

    Gabriel was surprised to be offered the Spirit Stones since he hadn''t even asked for them. However, he had already robbed all the Spirit Stones from the Academy of Elements. Spirit Stones was thest thing that he needed now.

    "No need. Keep your spirit stones for yourself," Gabriel responded. "I just need information."

    "Information?" Callum asked. "What kind of information?"

    "Prepare all the information you have about the Royal Family, especially about their treasures and the whereabouts of the said treasures. I also want to know about the destruction of the Arecia n and information rted to all the ns that had a hand in that."

    "If you also had a hand in that, I want your name in that information as well. Make sure you miss nothing. You only have one night... I want everything in the morning."

    Gabriel had received some information from the girl he helped, but he was sure that a Duke could help him more with the information, especially rted to the treasure he was looking for.

    After issuing his instructions and was just about to go upstairs when he was stopped by the Duke.

    "Master, there''s one more thing I should mention."

    "Oh? Do you have a family? Don''t worry; I won''t hurt them. I don''t care how many people live here. Even I''m here temporarily. You''ll still own this mansion even after I take over Arecia."

    Gabriel didn''t care about the people living here. He had no enmity with ordinary people. In any case, every Duke had some people in their mansions. Living alone would''ve been strange.

    "Ah, that''s not it. The people who live with me... It would be better if you juste with me..." Duke Callum seemed a bit hesitant initially, but after thinking for some time, he decided to take Gabriel somewhere to avoid some misunderstanding in the future.

    Duke Callum took Gabriel to the basement, where a special hall was made. The doors of the hall were closed and locked. Only the Duke had the key to open the door.

    After taking a deep breath, he opened the door.

    "This... How did you get away with it until now?" Gabriel was shocked to see what was on the other side of the door. This guy was really ying with fire here.

    "I took the help of a formation master to make a formation around this room, so no one else finds out. You''re the second person after me who knows... I just don''t want any misunderstanding in the future, especially now that the Holy Priestess is the Empire. I hope in the future..."

    ''This guy...'' Gabriel could only scratch the back of his head. ''I don''t know if I should call him stupid or brave...''

    "Fine. Close the door. We''ll see when the timees."

    Not speaking much, Gabriel turned around. "I''ll take a room. Don''t disturb me tonight."

    He didn''t speak much about what he saw. For now, he didn''t want to get his hands on things like that. He had a mission at hand, and he wanted to focus on that only.

    Gabriel went upstairs and selected a room on the Castle''s second floor. The room he chose was in the middle of the Castle. It already had all the furniture that was needed for a Royal''s stay, but the only thing different in this roompared to other rooms was that this room had no windows, and that''s exactly what Gabriel wanted.

    Gabriel closed the door before bringing out door stones from his storage.

    Each of the four stones was only the size of an apple. They looked like ordinary stones, but only Gabriel knew that these blue stones were really special. These stones were something that he had robbed from the Academy of Elements.

    It was one of the Numens of the Academic, known as The Four Cornerstones of Protection.

    These stones weren''t High Tier Numens, but their use was very unique. These stones not only restricted any aura from leaking out of the room, but they also provided protection so that the Owner of these stones couldn''t be attacked when he was in meditation.

    Gabriel ced all these stones, one in each corner of the room.

    "This should be enough protection. Even if it can''t stop a powerful enemy, it should hold on for long enough so no one can use sneak attacks."

    He walked back to the bed and sat down. From what the mirror told him, his Soul was strong, but his body wasn''t strong enough. That''s also what hurt him whenever he used spells. However, now that he was about to get something that could strengthen his body instantly, he decided to work more on his Soul Strength.

    Increasing Soul Strength couldn''t harm him, but using High Tier Spells could. For now, he only wanted to increase his Soul Strength as much as possible while avoiding battles so that as soon as he got the treasure he was after, he could use the spells that he wanted without being restricted by Magical Strength.

    Even Duke Callum was an Advanced Tier mage, but he... He was only a Mid Tier Mage when it came to Magical Strength. He couldn''t even hope to fight the Holy Priestess of Summoning if things went south. He needed something to fall back to in case of emergency, and he could only rely on his own strength.

    He brought hundreds of Spirit Stones out of his storage. He wasn''t restricted by his Talents and could absorb way more Spirit Stones than others.

    He closed his eyes and started absorbing the spiritual strength from each of the Spirit Stones.

    Despite being High Tier Spirit Stones, each stone onlysted a few seconds before running out of energy. However, Gabriel''s magical strength also increased at a pace that he had never seen before.

    He kept bringing out more and more Spirit Stones whenever the old ones were all used up, not stopping absorption at all.

    It wasn''t until two hours had passed before he finally stopped, and that too only because he felt as if his strength had crossed a threshold.

    He opened his eyes, which looked even more serene now.

    "Advanced Tier? Could it really be that easy?" he wondered, looking at his hands.

    He was covered in sweat and already extremely tired. He just wanted to go to sleep. Even staying up now was a hassle.

    "Huh?" Even though he was sleepy, his sleep disappeared entirely as soon as he saw his ck Ring of Necromancy shining brightly!

    "This is..."

    The ring turned into specks of darkness that flew before him, transforming into the Forbidden Book of Necromancy.

    The book floated before Gabriel as the pages of the book started flipping on their own.

    "This... A new spell?"

    Gabriel had seen this phenomenon even before. It often happened when he was receiving new spells.

    "Now that I''ve be an Advanced Tier Mage, I''m getting another spell?"

    Gabriel had already received around Nine Spells of Necromancy, more than half of which were High Tier Spells.

    The pages stopped flipping after reaching an empty page, and the content started appearing. Before even reading the name, Gabriel moved straight to the tier of the spell. That''s what he was more curious about.

    [Tier: Core Tier Spell]

    "Core Tier Spell? I thought there were only four tier spells¡ª Basic, Mid, High, and Peak. What is the Core Tier?"

    It was his first time hearing such a tier. Unable to find any clue from the Tier, he eventually read the name.

    [Army of Undead]

 271 Chapter 271

    "Army of Undead?"

    The name of the spell couldn''t help but remind Gabriel about the story he had heard before regarding the Saint King. ording to the story, just as the Saint King was going to be killed in the battle, an Army of Undead had entered the City, forcing the Demigod to escape and the battle to stop.

    "Is this the spell Karyk used to create that Army of Undead? This kind of spell..."

    Even though the spell wasn''t ssified in a tier that he understood, just the name and the idea of this spell itself were enough to remind him how useful this spell could be in real battles.

    "If I can have an Army of Undead, that might be able to make things safer for me in the future. With a powerful army of Undead, if one day I had to go against Avilia, I wouldn''t necessarily be pushed back against her Army of Summoned Beast."

    The thought of having a personal army that was going to listen to his everymand and never betray him... It was exciting, especially for someone like him who found it hard to trust people around him.

    Gabriel went through the description of the spell.

    "So it''s not just one spell but divided into two independent spells that don''t rely on each other..."

    After going through the entire page, he understood a few things, especially about this spell. Even though he had gained one spell in reality, in technicality, he had two new spells.

    "I see. So the first tier army of Undead gives me the ability to turn anyone I killed into an Undead Soldier. This isn''t a bad spell at all. The Undead lose their memories as well. That means they can''t hold a grudge against me for killing them. Moreover, other than being surrounded by the Aura of the Dead, they are no different than a real person..."

    "If I can find a way to hide their auras, wouldn''t that allow me to...?"

    Under the first tier spell, he could also see some restrictions and warnings about this spell. ording to the Warning, the chances of sessfully turning someone into an Undead depended on his Spiritual Strength, and there were chances of failing.

    "I don''t know how much energy a Core Tier Spell consumes, but there''s a good chance it''s more than a High Tier Spell. I''ll have to be careful when using it."

    He moved into the Tier Two Army of Undead spell, which was even more fascinating.

    ording to the description, he was allowed to enter the Realm of Undead and select one Undead for his army there every time he used this spell. It was his responsibility to make that Subordinate be loyal to him though.

    Unlike the First Tier Spell, which was used in the World of living, which made the dead into the Undead, the second tier dealt with the ones who were already Undead, so it was left to him to make them surrender and ept him as their King! Once an Undead epted to be his subordinate, the spell was considered to be a sess, and the Undead was always loyal to him.

    Unfortunately, the second Tier Spell was also more dangerous, and there was a chance that the caster could be killed in the Realm of Undead if they weren''t careful.

    The Tier Two Army of Undead was definitely more powerful since it worked on beings that had been Undead for a long time. The chances of sess in making a King Tier Undead into his subordinates were low, but it wasn''t impossible as it all relied on his skills.

    Under the description of the spell, there was also a warning.

    [Warning: Don''t use this spell until you reach the Peak Tier Soul Strength]

    "The Army of Undead... Fascinating..."

    Gabriel closed the book after going through the spells. He hadn''t expected the spell to be so useful yet so risky at the same time.

    The spell allowed him to slowly form his army, and if he wanted, he could make his army with the strongest beings, one by one. The beings were always loyal to him, which was the best part.

    "If I make an army, Raphael can be their Commander. I don''t think I''ll need to work too hard to handle them. But before even thinking about using a Core Tier Spell, I need to solve my problem first. And then..."

    The Forbidden Book of Necromancy turned into a speck of light, returning into a ring around his finger.

    Gabriel got off the bed and cleaned up all the used Spirit Stones before going to take a shower in the room.

    He left his clothes back on the bed since he intended to wear the same clothes again that were useful in hiding his aura. He only kept his gloves on as he entered the shower, closing the door of the shower room.

    ****

    Thud~

    A loud sound was heard as a fist smacked on the armrest of the Royal Throne.

    A dark-haired man was sitting on the throne, having long dark hair. There was a beautiful crown on the middle-aged man''s head.

    A broken ss of wine was lying near his feet on the ground, which was broken only recently.

    "How could it be? Are you telling the truth?"The man roared in rage.

    A young woman was sitting on the middle-aged man''sp, having barely any clothes on her body.Even she was scared as she heard the Emperor, who was always so gentle, scream like that.

    Before the Emperor, the Saint Knight was present, still on one Knee. He had just finished telling the Emperor everything that had happened before, especially about the appearance of a new heir out of nowhere.

    "That bastard Callum! Despite knowing his real identity, I let him stay here, and he dares to side with my enemies?! He thinks I''m scared of him?!"

    The Emperor was furious. He pushed aside the woman who was sitting on hisp and stood up.

    "No matter what, that boy can''t be allowed to live! I don''t care if he''s telling the truth or lying! I don''t want to give that bastard a chance to pull another trick! After what he did today, I''m sure he''ll already have a lot of support in the public! That sneaky bastard is using people''s emotions. This kind of person can''t be allowed to live!"

    "Albetron, make sure that boy doesn''t see the sunrise, no matter what you have to do! If possible, try to avoid Callum and kill the boy without being seen. But if it''s not possible, kill Callum as well!" The Emperor gave hismand.

    "Until now, I didn''t take any action against him because he remained within his limits, and I was worried about the possibility of more Dark Mages behind him, but I can''t ignore him anymore! Callum, don''t me this Emperor for being ruthless! You forced me!"

 272 Chapter 272

    ****

    After taking afortable bath, Gabriel stepped back into his room, only having a towel around his waist.

    "You took your sweet time. I was starting to get bored here."

    As soon as Gabriel stepped into the room, he heard a melodious voiceing from nearby. He turned around but couldn''t find anyone anywhere.

    "Lady Avilia, isn''t it bad manners to barge inside someone''s room without knocking?" Gabriel asked in return. Even though he couldn''t see thedy, that voice was something he had heard before. It belonged to the Holy Priestess of Summoning, the Crazy Ruler of Element.

    It was slightly surprising to him as well. The four stones were still in the same ce. Despite that, the woman managed to enter the room without alerting him. Her skills... They were certainly good.

    "You don''t look surprised by my appearance here," the woman finally appeared before Gabriel,ing out of the shadow of the bed.

    "Hiding in the Shadows?" Gabriel asked. "A trick of one of your beasts?"

    He knew that Avilia was a Summoner and not a Dark Mage. She couldn''t hide in the shadows on her own. It could only mean that she took the help of a Summoned Beast that could take advantage of the shadows.

    At this point, Gabriel was sure that she wasn''t the only one hiding in the shadows.

    ''If I''m not wrong, she should have quite a few beasts still hiding here.''

    "You are not half bad," Avilia sat on the bed. "That''s right. It''s the abilities of one of my Contracted Beasts, the Shadow Wolf."

    "By the way, I''m surprised that you show no fear despite my presence here. It''s as if you knew that I would being here. But that doesn''t make sense either. If you knew, then why didn''t you run away?"

    "Would running away matter? You''ve already covered all the exits of the City," Gabriel answered, not showing much reaction as he walked to pick up his clothes from the bed.

    "Oh, you knew that as well?" Avilia frowned. Instead of surprising Gabriel, she was the one getting surprised. "Not bad at all. I''m really intrigued now. Just what are you? I can sense so many auras on you, especially the aura of the dead, the aura of darkness, and the aura of Light. Quite interesting."

    "What am I? I''m just a person who was forced into a role that I didn''t want, quite simr to another person I see before me," Gabriel answered.

    Hearing Gabriel''s response, Avilia was slightly taken aback. She could understand what this guy was implying.

    Gabriel walked back inside the bathroom with the clothes. "If possible, keep your beasts outside. I''ll be getting dressed."

    "Heh, quite amusing. Can he read my mind? Or does he understand my thoughts that much?"

    As time passed, Avilia was getting even more interested in Gabriel. In this boring world, she had finally found an interesting person.

    She didn''t send any beast to keep an eye on Gabriel. Moreover, just as Gabriel had promised, he returned fully dressed.

    "Want to eat something?" Gabriel asked as soon as he stepped out of the room.

    "Huh?" Avilia was momentarily stunned. In this situation, Gabriel was not only not scared, but he was also thinking about food at a time like this.

    "I just finished training and feel hungry. If you don''t want to go out, I can have Callum bring some food here," Gabriel told the Holy Priestess. All his actions were above Avilia''s understanding.

    ''This guy...'' She finally couldn''t stop herself from smiling.

    "Let''s go out then," Avilia stood up, shrugging her shoulders. "I haven''t eaten anything either."

    "I don''t know any good ces here though. It''s my first day. I suppose it''s your first day as well? I''ll have Callum escort us," Gabriel stated as he left the room with Avilia.

    "Are you scared to be alone with me?" Avilia asked, slightly amused.

    "Scared? If I was scared now, do you think Callum''s presence could make me feel safe? If I can''t stay safe against you, then he won''t be of help either. He''s too weak," Gabriel vaguely answered. Even though his words weren''t much, Avilia could feel some hidden meaning behind them.

    It was as if Gabriel was implying that even if she fought him, he had the capacity to protect himself without anyone else''s help. She didn''t feel angry though. Instead, she was even more pleased. This type of person... She was starting to get quite fond.

    Even when she hadn''t taken the Holy Priestess position of the Holy Church of Summoning, she was already one of the strongest Summoners in the world. It was a talent that she possessed from the start.

    Despite that, she never wanted to be associated with the Holy Church. She just wanted to enjoy her life freely without worrying about anything else. That''s why she even rejected the Holy Grimoire for the first time. However, when attacked by the Head Priests of the Church, she couldn''t help but ept the Grimoire to get more strength so she could protect herself.

    The way Gabriel was... She couldn''t help but see quite a few simrities with her personalities... No care in the world for anyone, no matter how strong. No regard for the rules or thews of this world...

    Ever since she became the Head of the Church of Summoning, she had only seen people who were scared of her. They were no different than ves who didn''t have any individual personalities. As for the other Head Priests, they were just too different and too bound to boundws... Even their arrogance was just too much.

    It was her first time seeing someone like Gabriel.

    "You won''t ask why I didn''t kill Callum already?" she asked Gabriel.

    "You won''t," Gabriel answered.

    "Oh, and why won''t I?" Avilia asked, slightly curious. "You think I''m too kind?"

    "If you wanted to kill him, you could''ve killed him when you first saw him. I don''t think you even care about the Dark Mages," Gabriel responded.

    Initially, he didn''t know Avilia at all. All he knew were the stories about her. However, seeing her ignore the presence of a Dark Mage, he realized that she truly was different from the other Head Priests.

    At that point, he had considered the possibility of hering to meet him but not to kill him. The only thing he didn''t expect was for her toe so soon. His recent interaction with her helped him understand her even more. She really was different.

    He was sure she didn''t care about the War between the Dark Mages and the other Churches. That meant she was neutral as of now, despite the pressure of other Churches! That gave him a chance... a great chance¡­

 273 Chapter 273

    It was alreadyte at night. The moon hung high in the sky, basking Gabriel and the Holy Priestess of Summoning in its moonlight as the two youngsters walked together.

    The explosive news about the return of an heir from the Arecia n had already reached most parts of the City. Even though most of the people should''ve been sleeping at a time like this, the news kept them up and discussing the future of the City and the past where they falsely med the Arecia n.

    Everyone who heard about the story felt back about the past, believing that they had been fooled. The story spread from one person to another, and in their guilt, each person kept adding something to the story to make Gabriel sound like a literal god who was the kindest soul on earth.

    Within a few hours, Gabriel Arcadius Arecia... This name had spread far and wide. Even though most people who heard this story hadn''t seen Gabriel, they still sided with the young man. Gabriel''s reputation had increased multiple folds, and this time, it wasn''t in fear. This time, people actually idolized him and wanted to help him take what rightfully belonged to him.

    Most of themoners and even the Knights believed that only by giving Gabriel what belonged to him could they ask for repentance from the Saint King in the future after their death.

    The Saint Knight had left the Royal Castle to assassinate Gabriel. As he moved through the City, he heard some of this conversation, realizing that the King was right. The young man had already won the hearts of most people with his unwavering and fearless attitude. Some people even called Gabriel the reincarnation of the Saint King!

    "Those bastards! Chirp all you want today! From tomorrow, everything will be back to normal." the Saint Knight clenched his fist, feeling his blood boil.

    He soon reached the Duke''s castle, making sure that he wasn''t seen along the way. He didn''t take the main entrance to enter the castle.

    "I, the Saint Knight, have to barge inside a ce like a thief! All because of one boy!"

    The Saint Knightnded on the balcony on the first floor. He carefully opened the window and jumped inside one of the rooms.

    "If His Majesty hadn''t instructed me to avoid the Duke if possible, I would''ve entered through the main door and ughtered everyone in this ce! For peace in this Empire, that would''ve been a minor sacrifice!"

    Now that he had sessfully entered the castle, all he needed to do was find Gabriel and take him out without alerting anyone else.

    With silent steps, he walked through the hallways, checking each of the rooms.

    "Hmm, this room?"

    Most of the rooms he entered had been unused for a long time; however, one of the rooms wasn''t. The room he entered didn''t have any windows in the room, but looking at the condition of the room, he was sure that someone had been inside the room not long ago and spent quite a long time in bed.

    "This shouldn''t be the room of Callum. Is this the room that was given to that bastard?"

    The Saint Knight entered the bathroom to check.

    "Yeah, as I expected. Someone was definitely here and took a shower recently. This room must be his! But why isn''t he in the room?"

    The Saint Knight stood alone in the room with his hands behind his back, looking at the door.

    "Did he leave the room to discuss something with Callum? Instead of going out, it should be much easier to just wait for him here. Sooner orter, he''ll have to return here to sleep!"

    ****

    "Hmm?" Avilia nced back in the direction of the Duke''s castle. "That idiot..."

    "Did you say something?" Gabriel asked, noticing Avilia looking back.

    Avilia shrugged. "Nothing. It has nothing to do with me."

    Avilia had a Shadow Beast that could not only hide in the shadows but also create some clones who could also use these shadow abilities. She had left one of those clones back in Gabriel''s room, which helped her see everything that was happening there.

    The other clones searched around the city to find a restaurant for them to eat.

    "This way."

    She led the way to lead Gabriel to one of the fanciest restaurants that her Shadow Beast could find.

    The two youngsters soon reached the restaurants, which could only be afforded by the wealthiest of people in the city. Due to being this expensive and thiste at night, the entire restaurant had no customers at the moment, leaving all the seats empty.

    Gabriel and the Holy Priestess of Summoning entered the restaurant. While the Holy Priestess of Summoning was wearing ordinary clothes, Gabriel''s clothes were quite fancy, which made the restaurant staff wee them properly.

    The Knight Tournament was near, and quite a few wealthy youngsters hade to the City to either take part in the event or to watch it. Thanks to Gabriel''s clothes, the restaurant believed he was one of those wealthy youngsters.

    "Young Master, wee to the best restaurant in the city!" The maids weed Gabriel. "I''m sure you and your girlfriend will be very satisfied with our food and our service when you two leave this ce!"

    "Girlfriend?" Gabriel repeated but didn''t bother rifying the situation. He just walked to the table, which was closer to the window.

    As for Avilia, she was waiting for Gabriel to rify and tell the people that they were just acquaintances. Seeing his silence, she grew somewhat surprised, but she didn''t raise the issue.

    The maid gave the menu and left Gabriel to decide what to order.

    Gabriel went through the menu, realizing that all the dishes mentioned were something that he had never heard before.

    "Shouldn''t you let your ''girlfriend'' order first?" Avilia asked, slightly sarcastically yet amused at the same time. From Gabriel''s expressions, it was clear that he didn''t understand anything.

    "Cough! Cough!"

    Gabriel was immersed in the menu, trying to understand it, when he heard Avilia. It was clear that the girl was being sarcastic and teasing him, but it wasn''t bad.

    Avilia was on the Neutral Side in this battle, and he needed her support. If he could get a Church''s support, his safety and this Empire''s safety were definitely going to increase. Even though he couldn''t lower his guard against Avilia, he still wanted to work with her in the future.

    "What happened, Young Prince? Don''t you want to listen to your poor girlfriend?" Avilia asked again, but this time she was less sarcastic and more teasing, quite amused by Gabriel''s previous reaction when she used it.

    The boy, who had been calm andposed since the start, was finally showing some different emotions to her.

 274 Chapter 274

    Gabriel gave the menu to Avilia, regaining hisposure. "If you want me to rify the situation with the staff, I don''t mind. I just didn''t think it was a big deal what others thought."

    "Don''t fret over it." Avilia took the menu and went through it once. "They really have some nice things. Order the second, fourth, and the twelfth item along with the Seventh in the list of wines."

    She returned the menu to Gabriel.

    "Why aren''t you ordering yourself?" Gabriel didn''t understand why Avilia was adding these extra steps. She had the menu, and she knew what to order. She could''ve ordered herself.

    Avilia didn''t answer. She just moved forward and reached out her hand toward Gabriel''s face.

    Gabriel moved back at the same time, avoiding her hand.

    "You''re really careful, aren''t you? Don''t worry; I''m not going to hurt you," Avilia rified. "The world would be quite boring if something happened to you. I won''t let anyone harm you."

    "What were you trying to do, then?" Gabriel asked, frowning. She suddenly reached out her hand. He really had to be on his guard.

    "Come closer, and I''ll let you know," the Holy Priestess of Summoning stated. From her expression, it didn''t look like she was going to harm him. She had no killing intent either.

    Moreover, she was a Summoner. Her own personal abilities shouldn''t have been strong enough to hurt him without her beasts. Yet Gabriel couldn''t lower his guards.

    "Forget it then." Avilia moved back, sighing. "You don''t have to."

    Gabriel remained silent and didn''t answer. He was ny percent sure that the girl before him couldn''t harm him without calling her beasts for support. If she wanted to attack him, it would''ve been much easier for her to use her Shadow Beast, which Gabriel was sure was hiding behind him in the chair''s shadow.

    Moreover, now that he had the support of his Grimoire and Two Ancestral Staff, mental attacks couldn''t affect him either.

    If she pulled something, he could teleport back right away. So it was safe. He was also curious about what she was trying to do. Based on his understanding of her, she would''ve used such sneaky tricks to kill him. Avilia was a person who fought the enemy head-on, especially now that she was so strong.

    Eventually, Gabriel''s curiosity took over as he decided what to do. He had the Wordless Chant of Teleportation ready if she pulled any trick and the mental protection, so he was slightly confident.

    "Fine. I''ll let you," he agreed.

    Avilia moved forward once again as soon as Gabriel agreed. Surprisingly, at the same time, Gabriel also moved forward, not realizing that she was going to do the same.

    Avilia was stunned. Even though Gabriel agreed to let her touch him, she still expected him to be hesitant. That''s why she moved ahead, not expecting him to do the same.

    As both of them moved forward at the same time, their faces were only a few inches away from each other.

    "So what did you want?" Gabriel asked, having a clear view of Avilia''s beautiful crimson eyes. At such closeness, he didn''t lower his guard. He didn''t let himself be distracted even though Avilia looked even more beautiful from such close proximity. His spell was also ready to be used at a moment''s notice.

    Avilia raised her hand. "I was about to do this..."

    She ced her hand on Gabriel''s cheeks and pinched them. "You really don''t know how the world works, do you? They''ll look down on you if I order for you. You''re supposed to be the Prince. At least y the part. That''s why I let you order."

    After giving him the rification, she sat back.

    Gabriel also moved back, rubbing his cheeks. He expected her to try at least some mental attack or something else, but this was all that she wanted? This girl... He was getting more and more sure with time that this girl... She was quite unique. Sometimes she was a scary Demoness when someone offended her, and at other times, she was like a child.

    He also sat down and called for the waitress, ordering the same dishes thatAvilia told him.

    At this dinner, he wasn''t sure what he was going to be eating, but he really hoped that Avilia''s taste in food wasn''t bad.

    ****

    After twenty minutes of waiting, the dishes started arriving one after another. Each of the dishes that Avilia selected was one of the most expensive dishes in this ce that even an ordinary noble couldn''t afford to eat regrly.

    "There, use it to pay." After the waitress left, bringing every food item that they had offered, Avilia brought a small bag out of her storage space and gave Gabriel.

    Gabriel opened the bag, noticing it had a few high-grade spirit stones.

    Avilia had ordered all these items, but she didn''t know if Gabriel had enough money for them. All these items were expensive. She gave him enough to pay for the food in advance so the Staff couldn''t know that it was her who was paying.

    Gabriel stood up and returned the bag to Avilia. However, this time, he moved closer and pinched her cheeks as if getting his revenge.

    "You really don''t know how the world works, do you? They''ll look down on me if I take money from you to pay. I''m supposed to be the Prince. How can I take your things to pay?"

    Avilia''s eyes opened wide in surprise. For the first time in a long while, a person touched her face, and that too, the guy who was using her own tricks to bully her?

    She didn''t know what it was, but she felt really strange. She couldn''t keep herposure this time. Her thoughts were jumbled. She couldn''t even respond.

    Gabriel had enough money already. If anything, he was richer than the Royal Family of Arecia now. How could he let the Holy Priestess of Summoning pay for him? He didn''t want to owe her any favor for this.

    The food on the table looked really delicious. There were three tes before each of them, each containing a different dish. Gabriel couldn''t even recognize most of the ingredients used in the dishes, but it was clear that it was some kind of meat, along with some herbs and spices. Each dish was prepared and decorated properly.

    "Mm?" He took the first bite, realizing that the dish didn''t just look good. It also tasted great.

    The two people were the only guests in the restaurant, eating at this time.

    The waitress in the corner of the hall could only look at Avilia in jealousy. "That girl is so lucky. Her boyfriend is so wealthy. He ordered so many expensive dishes. I wish I were in her ce."

    "Stop dreaming," Another waitress chimed in. "How can we even get those wealthy guys? Our luck will never be that good."

    "So, what are your ns for the future?" Gabriel asked the question that he had in his head for quite some time. "If you don''t want to hurt me, then will you help me?"

    "My ns for you? Well, I do have one...."

 275 Chapter 275

    The Holy Priestess of Summoning took a brief pause as she took another sip of the wine, taking a look outside the window.

    "I won''t be helping you," she stated, cing the ss down.

    Before Gabriel could ask anything, she continued, "But I won''t stand against you either. I don''t care if the Dark Mages win or if the other Churches win. From what I''ve seen, both sides are just as bad. It''s just that one side is much better at marketing themselves."

    "In this world, there are not many things I care about. I don''t desire strength. I don''t desire wealth. And I surely do not crave any treasures. There is nothing that anyone can offer me."

    Avilia was perfectly calm as she spoke. She was the Head Priestess of the Church of Summoning. She already had all the strength she could need. As for treasures and wealth, if she wanted that, she wouldn''t have rejected the Holy Grimoire of Summoning initially.

    "Then why did you approach me?" Gabriel inquired. "Why do you say that you''ll keep me safe?"

    "Because you pique my curiosity," Avilia answered. "I don''t know what treasure you use to hide your aura, but even I would''ve failed to sense your true strength if I hadn''t taken the help of my beasts."

    As she talked, she couldn''t help but think back to the time she first saw Gabriel. Initially, she only thought that the young man was an average person. She wasn''t nning to interfere either.

    It was only after she felt the fear of her Shadow Beast that she realized something was wrong. She couldn''t sense Gabriel''s aura, but the senses of her Shadow Beast were much sharper.

    The Shadow Beast of hers didn''t feel this kind of fear even when it was before the other Holy Priests in the past. There was something hidden in Gabriel''s aura that could even intimidate the Shadow Beast even though it was in her presence!

    That was the first time she realized that something was wrong. It was all thanks to the Shadow Beast that she realized that Gabriel didn''t just have the aura of Darkness, but he also had the holy aura of Light!

    Other than that, there was also something else... Something that even her Shadow Beast couldn''t recognize... Something which was much darker... Something that shouldn''t have existed.

    The Holy Priestess of Summoning was sure of only one thing at that time. It was that Gabriel was on the same level as the Holy Priests. She didn''t know if he was the Holy Priest of Darkness since that was the only one she hadn''t met, or the new Holy Priest of Light that hadn''t been seen before, or something entirely new. But what she knew was that she was curious about this guy.

    "The world has been too boring recently,especially after the Church of Darkness was destroyed. To see someone as strong as you pretending to be the heir to take over a human Empire?" the youngdy asked, finally telling her true thoughts."How can I not be intrigued? I just want to see how far you can go. There is one thing I''m sure of. It''s that the world will be more interesting with your presence."

    Gabriel didn''t react as if he hadn''t even heard anything. He just lowered his head and focused on finishing dinner. However, deep down, he was still thinking about her words.

    '' She''s just as the rumors stated. It seems I wasn''t wrong. She doesn''t want to help me, but she also doesn''t want to go against me. In this world, she just wants to be a spectator, enjoying the view from the front seat...''

    While eating, he couldn''t help but take another nce at the woman who also focused on the dinner.

    ''But it''s also not bad. If there is one Holy Priest who can threaten me the most at this point, it''s her. Even if she doesn''t help me, as long as she is out of the equation, it would only be beneficial for me. With enough time, I should be able to personally craft my Army of Undead.''

    He wasn''t sure if thedy wasn''t going to go against him in the future, but from his initial assumption, the chances seemed to be low.

    Still, it was impossible to understand the human heart fully. One could turn against anyone at any moment. He wanted to have his own Army of Undead in case she ever decided to side with the enemies in the future. He wanted to have some cards hidden safely for the future to protect his life.

    "If you want to be a spectator, I have no problem. But I''ll just tell you one thing in advance. If you ever backstab me in the future, even your entire army of beasts might not be able to keep you safe."

    The youngdy only smiled in response. She didn''t feel angry. If anything, she felt impressed. If she was in his ce, she was sure that she would''ve said something simr. The man truly didn''t have any fear of death. It was only this kind of people that had the potential to change the world forever.

    The two finished dinner. Gabriel brought some High-Grade Spirit Stones out of his storage ring and ced them on the table.

    ****

    [Twenty Minutester]

    Gabriel stood before the Duke''s mansion, looking back at the girl behind him.

    "Aren''t you going to go back?" he asked Avilia, who had followed him all the way here.

    He expected the girl to go back after the dinner, but instead, she was still apanying him back. "Aren''t you the guest of the Royal Family? I''m sure you already have a ce to stay."

    "Meh, who cares about the Royal Family? They might not be the Royal Family any longer after all. I just came to this city because I thought the Knight Tournament sounded interesting. Who knew I''d find something even more interesting in this Empire? Also, how can I miss...?"

    "Miss what?"Gabriel asked, slightly confused. Was there something that was going to happen? This girl had followed him back. She wouldn''t have wasted her time if she didn''t find something interesting.

    ''Did she sense what''s in the basement?''

    Her words were enough to make him realize that something was wrong. He couldn''t help but think about it.

    ''It doesn''t look like that. And even if it was, I doubt she would have cared about it. It''s something else. It seems to be about me. Could it be... Ah, so that''s how it is¡­.''

 276 Chapter 276

    Initially, he didn''t understand why she was following him, but the more he thought about it, the more he started to realize things.

    ''An assassin must be inside to kill me. The Emperor really was eager it seems. That would exin why this little demoness followed me back.''

    "Do you want to stay here tonight?" he asked the Holy Priestess of Summoning. "It might just be toote to go now. We should have a few rooms avable here."

    "Sure." Avilia agreed. She followed Gabriel inside the mansion.

    "You areing from outside?" Callum was about to leave the mansion at around the same time that Gabriel entered. He didn''t even know that Gabriel had left. Thest he saw, Gabriel was going to his room.

    Not long after Gabriel, Avilia also entered the mansion. Thest time she came, no one saw her, but now that she came from the main entrance openly, she was seen by Callum.

    "Y-you?" Callum''s face turned pale momentarily as he took a step back subconsciously.

    From what Gabriel had told him, Avilia already knew that he was a dark Mage. Seeing her in his mansion, his thoughts went straight to only one possibility... It was that she was here to kill him!

    ''But wait... If she wants to kill me because I''m Dark Mage, why isn''t she attacking him first? Did the two of theme together? What is happening?''

    "Don''t worry. I won''t kill you. You are too insignificant." Avilia reminded Duke Callum.

    Even though her tone was calm, the Duke felt a chill run down his spine. Just what was this woman nning?

    "Don''t worry. She isn''t lying. As long as you don''t attack her, I don''t think she will care about what we do," Gabriel affirmed the Duke, who still couldn''t believe his eyes.

    ''These two were really working together? So they were really friends?'' The Duke frowned. ''No wonder she didn''t attack me even after realizing what I was. It was because of him.''

    He was even more impressed with Gabriel now. He had managed to win the favor of the Crazy Priestess. What couldn''t this guy achieve, he wondered.

    "Oh, and one more thing. She''ll be spending the night here," Gabriel informed the Duke, who was already lost in some thoughts.

    Since his mind was already very cloudy, hearing Gabriel''s words, he was even more shocked. "Spending the night here? You two... Ah, no worries. She can treat it as her mansion as well."

    For a moment, he couldn''t believe his ears.

    ''This guy is truly worthy of being the overlord. Not only did he sway the crazy priestess, but he also made her fall in love with him so much that she is already here to sleep with him?''

    "Don''t worry. I will be going out for a few hours. No one will disturb you too." He hastily ran out of the mansion, leaving a confused Gabriel behind.

    ''This guy... He reallycks somemon sense in such things.'' Even Avilia understood the thoughts of Callum, facepalming herself. ''First the misunderstanding about being his girlfriend, and now this...''

    "Don''t mind him. He must be busy." Gabriel led Avilia up the spiraling stairs.

    He stopped before the room where he had absorbed the Spirit Stones but didn''t open the door.

    Avilia stood in the back with folded arms, ready for the show that was toe.

    "The room is nourished by Spirit Stones and protected by a Numen. Since you''re a guest, I''ll let you stay here. I''ll pick a different room."

    "What?" Avilia''s lips parted. This guy... Aftering so far, was he really not going to go in? Not only was he not going in, but he was also giving this room to her?

    She couldn''t help but wonder if he also had some trick that helped him see inside the room.

    ''But if that were the case, he would have already entered and killed that guy. I''m sure he has enough strength. He wouldn''t need to avoid this room. Is he really giving me this room because he thinks it''s good for me? Am I really overthinking?''

    On the other hand, seeing the slight hesitation of Avilia, Gabriel also confirmed his suspicions.

    ''I must be right. An assassin is sent to kill me. If the Emperor isn''t underestimating me, the person he sent should be the Saint Knight. That guy was already eager to kill me as well. I should be able to kill him, but where''s the fun in that?''

    He knew that Saint Knight couldn''t even scratch a hair of Avilia, so she wasn''t in danger even if he sent her inside. If anything, that way he could get to see a glimpse of her skills.

    ''You came to watch a show. Let''s give you the center stage then.''

    Gabriel stepped back, giving the key to Avilia. "The rich Spiritual Energy should be very helpful for your skin and strength."

    Avilia''s face twitched. She was just here to watch a show and see Gabriel''s skills to see how he was going to handle the situation. How did it be entirely different than she expected?

    "Is something wrong?" Gabriel innocently asked, seeing Avilia standing there silently.

    "I don''t need any rich Spiritual Energy. I think you need it more for your growth. Isn''t that right?" she asked in return. "It would be more beneficial for you."

    "I already took too much before. I think it would just harm my soul if I absorbed more Spiritual Energy. It''ll be a waste to me. Go in. You don''t need to thank me. We''ll be working together in the future after all."

    Gabriel ced his hand on the back of the youngdy, giving her a gentle push. No matter what, he wasn''t going to let her step back unless she came clean that someone was inside.

    He also knew that Avilia wasn''t going toe clean about that since that meant epting the fact that she knew there was someone in the room to harm him, yet she kept that information hidden.

    "Fine. I''ll take this room," Avilia unwillingly agreed. Even if she couldn''t see Gabriel in action tonight, there were many opportunities in the future. She couldn''t lose the future opportunities for one night.

    ****

    Inside the room, the Saint Knight had been waiting for Gabriel to enter the room for close to an hour.

    After a long time, his eyes finally lit up as he saw the doorknob turning.

    He stood up excitedly. Finally, he was going to kill the person, eliminating all future threats to the Empire.

    He held his Heavy Sword firmly.

 277 Chapter 277

    The Saint Knight was excited. Finally after waiting for so long, his target wasing in.

    As soon as the door opened, without thinking twice, the Saint Knight swung his Sword, releasing a powerful arc of energy that could slice even metal after hit.

    Gabriel had sent the Holy Priestess of Summoning inside the room, but he didn''t leave. He still remained outside the room, just waiting to observe.

    As soon as Avilia opened the door, she saw a bright arc of light flying toward him.

    The Holy Priestess of Summoning was keeping an eye on everything that was happening inside the room even before opening the door through her Shadow Beast. She already expected an attack like that and she was fully prepared.

    Right after opening the door, she used the Shadow Beast to turn into a shadow and disappear before the energy could even reach her.

    Gabriel was outside the room, observing the scene. However, now that Avilia disappeared, he was right in the line of attack, with barely any time to react.

    Having no time, he brought out the Sword of Ulien, reacting as fast as he could.

    Swiss~

    Gabriel swung the sword of Ulien in the same trajectory as the attack of the Saint Knight. A more powerful and more destructive wave of energy came out of the Sword.

    He didn''t know just how strong the attack of Saint Knight actually was. Just to be on the safer side, he attacked with hisplete strength behind the attack.

    Saint Knight''s attack was destroyed before the red wave of destructive energy as if it was nothing more than a child''s attack. Not only was the Saint Knight''s attack destroyed, but Gabriel''s attack also destroyed the walls of the room and even then it didn''t stop.

    ****

    The Saint Knight attacked with the intention of killing Gabriel, but it was only after he attacked that he realized the person who opened the door was the Holy Saintess! At the realization, his heart skipped a beat in fear. Did he just attack that crazy monster? He couldn''t believe it.

    The Holy Priestess of Summoning disappeared and the attack went straight for Gabriel, only to get a counter.

    The Saint Knight couldn''t kill Gabriel. Instead, he faced a massive torrent of destructive energy from the Sword of Ulien. Even though the Sword was called the Holy Sword, it was one of the strongest Swords in the world, filled with chaotic energy.

    The Saint Knight had never expected a counter. At thest moment, he couldn''t even react properly. His mind was clouded and he could only think about dodging, feeling as if he was going to die if he didn''t move aside!

    He couldn''t believe that a person like Gabriel was able to draw out this level of strength from this Sword, as if the Swords had truly epted him as its master!

    The Saint Knight dodged to the best of his abilities, but still he couldn''t avoid the attack properly. His left arm was caught up in the wave of destruction, disintegrating entirely.

    ? The Holy Priestess of Summoning came out of the shadows in another part of the room, observing the brief exchange.

    "Even without using any spells, his destructive power is quite strong. But as a Mage, his first thought was to use a weapon to attack? That is somewhat strange. Usually, a mage''s first thought should''ve been to use spells of protection to be safe. Is there a reason he didn''t use spells?"

    Avilia hadn''t seen Gabriel use any spells since the beginning. In fact, if it wasn''t for her Shadow Beast, she would''ve found it hard to even believe that the young man was a Mage. Gabriel''s refusal to use Spells made her somewhat suspicious.

    "You!" The Saint Knight had lost one arm already. He didn''t know what to do anymore. His sneak attack had failed badly. Not only did he fail to kill Gabriel, but he also offended the Holy Priestess of Summoning by attacking her.

    From his initial assumption, he believed that the two were working together. Even with his strength, he finally lost hope of defeating Gabriel. Even if he could, he was going to be killed by the Holy Priestess.

    His first thought was to escape for now and think about how to deal with the situationter. Unfortunately, the room had no windows and it was also in the middle of the castle. There was only one way to leave this room, and it was through the main door where Gabriel was standing.

    "Wait, I''m here to talk!" The Saint Knight eximed. "I-i was just testing your skills and not trying to kill you!"

    "Let me test you as well then," Gabriel responded as he disappeared from Saint Knight''s view.

    "What?" The Saint Knight''s face went pale. Wasn''t Gabriel just a knight? How could he disappear then? He finally realised that there was more to the situation that he had realized! The man could disappear and he was apanying the Saintess of Summoning?

    "Y-you are a mage?!" he eximed. "Argh!"

    A Sword came out of the Saint Knight''s chest, covered in his blood.

    "Took you long enough," Gabriel''s voice came from the back as the Sword was pulled back.

    The Saint Knight coughed out a mouthful of blood, dropping to his knees. His chest was bleeding and his clothes were covered in blood.

    "The Saint Knight, the guardian of the Empire, was sent to kill a kid... Isn''t it just too good? It''s like you sent an opportunity straight to me," Gabriel whispered in the Saint Knight ears. "I wonder what people will think of the Royal Family when they find out about this... I''ll be sure to use you well."

    The Saint Knight''s body dropped on the ground as his eyes closed. He couldn''t believe he had fallen into a trap. So this was Gabriel''s purpose in irritating him before... It was to make him take action against him to destroy the Royal Family''s reputation with more direct evidence!

 278 Chapter 278

    "Who knew such a strong person was hiding inside." Avilia sighed, pretending as if she had just survived a cmity. "Good thing I dodged in time or I would''ve been killed."

    "Yeah. Who knew. If I had known, I never would''ve sent you first," Gabriel agreed. "Still it''s good. After you dodged, I got the opportunity to deal with his attack. I should thank you."

    Both of them knew that the other person knew what they were thinking, but none of them outright epted it.

    "Now that you''ve killed the Guardian of Arecia, what''s your next n? Reveal this news to the citizens?" The young Priestess inquired. If Gabriel went out now, he could use the Duke as a witness to im that he was attacked and he already had the Saint Knight''s body as evidence.

    Everyone knew that the Saint Knight stayed inside the Royal Castle as well. There was no way for Gabriel to kill him inside the Royal Castle without making some noise. That could only mean the story about Saint Knight entering the Duke''s castle was true. All he had to do was present the body and his path was set.

    "Not yet. I''ll wait a little. Isn''t tomorrow the meeting with all the Nobles? It''ll be time to solve all grievances then," Gabriel responded as he kept the body of the Saint Knight in his storage. "I''ll make sure to give you a nice show tomorrow."

    "Anyway, there''s some blood in this room. It''s better if you take another room. The next room should be clean. I''ll be downstairs if you need anything."

    He left the room, keeping the four cornerstones back in his storage as well. Gabriel went to the ground floor, leaving Avilia back to rest.

    He selected a room on the ground floor to have a more direct ess to the Duke.

    It was already four in the night when everything was settled and Gabriel couldn''t fall asleep anymore. Outside the mansion, the sun had already started rising, brightening up the horizon.

    After a few hours, Duke Callum also returned, with some documents in his hand.

    He arranged hundreds of documents properly in a file. After finding Gabriel, he handed over the file.

    "This should have all the details about that incident that I was able to find. The first half contains the details about the destruction of the Arecia n and all ns that were a part of it."

    Along with the file, he gave Gabriel a brief introduction so that Gabriel could go through the part that interested him first.

    "As for the second half, it contains the blueprint of the Royal Pce, a list of treasures and their whereabouts along with the information about all Royal Family members."

    "Did you go out to meet your informer in the Royal Pce for the information? It seems very detailed," Gabriel opened the file, finding it to be very detailed. It didn''t look as if it was made in any haste at all. He could feel that Callum was quite capable

    Callum nodded. "In tomorrow''s meeting, more than half of the Noble n leaders are people who took active part in the extermination of the Arecia n. I''ve marked their names. As for the others, they more or less stayed out of the conflict entirely. That''s also why they aren''t as close to the current Royal n as the others."

    "I''ll go through the information. You can prepare for our departure for this meeting. Oh, and I have prepared a gift for the Nobles. Make sure to pack it well."

    "A gift?" Callum frowned, wondering what Gabriel meant by gift. For some reason, he had a feeling that it wasn''t an ordinary gift at all.

    "It should be in the room on the left. I''ll leave it to you." Gabriel immersed himself in the document, going through the details of the destruction of the Arecia n.

    "Rebellion led by the Alecton n. If I''m not wrong, that should be the current Royal Family. These people are truly something, aren''t they? It seems they weren''t even a Noble n at the start. They only became a Noble n after a daughter from their n managed to win the heart of Arecia n''s Eldest Prince."

    "The Prince married the girl and in one fell swoop, that woman became the Queen of the Empire after the Prince inherited the throne from his father. So that''s where the bad times of Arecia n began... They led a wolf straight to their home..."

    The more Gabriel read through the Alecton n''s history, the more surprised he became. Things were moreplicated than he thought.

    "Unlike the Nobles who lived in luxury, the Alecton n had risen from the bottom, so their greed for power was definitely strong. Thanks to the Queen, their n rose in power and eventually became a Noble n, getting even more power in the Empire."

    "Instead of being grateful to the Arecia n, the Alecton n desired to swallow even more power. If I''m not wrong, the Queen of Arecia was the pawn that caused this downfall so her family could rise. She had everything as a Queen. Her son would''ve been the next King, but this girl... She really did as her family asked. How stupid..."

    "If I were to guess, she must also be the one who stole the Sword of Ulien and gave her family an excuse to create trouble. Since the Arecia n already had a queen in ce, no one would have thought that they wanted to be the Royal Family since the next King would''ve been a son of their daughter after all. That gave them a free pass, clearing them of any suspicions when the rebellion rose up."

    "Argh, these guys really made a nice web and the Arecia n fell right in the middle. I don''t even know who to entirely me in this situation."

    "Even though Arecia n was the descendants of Novius, how could they be so stupid to not even guard the Holy Sword properly? They didn''t even find out about this scheme until it was toote. It was as if they were making mistakes one after another..."

    Gabriel could only sigh at the situation, feeling disappointed. He was sure that even Novius would''ve been angry to know how stupid his n was being. However, even then the real me was on the Alecton n.

    One after another, Gabriel went through the details of the Noble ns, memorising every detail. It was only at the end that he read the details of the Royal Family members.

    "Shia Alecton? Why does that name sound familiar?"

 279 Chapter 279

    *****

    "Is everything prepared?" After spending three hours in the room reviewing the documents, Gabriel came out.

    "As you wished," Callum answered. He had been waiting all this time for Gabriel.

    "What about Avilia?" Gabriel asked, looking in the direction of the stairs. "Is she still in the room?"

    As Avilia slepttest night, he wasn''t sure if she was still sleeping.

    "I''m not sure," Callum answered, looking slightly hesitant. "I couldn''t gather the courage to check up on her."

    Even though Gabriel told him Avilia wouldn''t hurt him, there was still an innate fear in his heart. He had been hunted by the members of the Sacred Churches, and now, one of their leaders was there? How could he not be shaken?

    Gabriel could only sigh in response.

    ''This guy is usually so brave, but at his heart, he is also scared. Then again, Avilia does have a fairly impressive reputation. I can''t me him.''

    "I''ll call her down. You get the carriage ready. We''ll be leaving. Oh, and don''t forget the gift."

    Gabriel went upstairs to check up on Avilia and knocked on the door. "Are you up?"

    Even as he knocked, he didn''t get any response. He was only greeted by silence.

    He knocked again, but still, there was no response. It was as if Avilia was in a deep sleep.

    "Just how much does she sleep?" He knocked a third time as he called out to her, but he didn''t get an answer.

    Eventually, he used the master key that was given to him by Callum. The key allowed him to open any door. Since knocks weren''t working, he took a more direct approach.

    After unlocking the door, he stepped inside the room.

    As soon as he entered the room, he stopped as confusion spread across his face. The room... It was empty. There was no one here.

    "Did she already leave?" he wondered, slightly confused. That girl left the room without even unlocking the door or informing anyone?

    Looking at the condition of the bed, he was sure that she didn''t even sleep in this room.

    ''That girl, she probably left as soon as I left. As expected, she only came here to watch me fight.''

    He could only turn around now that Avilia wasn''t here. Even though Avilia wasn''t here, he had a feeling that the Shadow Beast was still around him. The question was about Avilia''s whereabouts. Just where exactly did she go?

    He had expected her to be with him, at least today. What could be more important?

    *****

    Far away from the Empire of Arecia, there existed a beautiful range of mountains. All the mountains were covered in a thickyer of snow, all except the one which was in the center of the mountain range.

    It was as if all the Snow Mountains were protecting the mountains in the middle, which was also the smallest mountain of them all. The Central Mountain was also the one mountain that didn''t have even a speck of snow. Instead, the mountain was covered in beautiful greenery.

    Even the temperature around the central mountain was normal, quite different from the temperature on other mountains.

    Many demonic beasts were roaming around the forests on the mountains freely as if it was their domain, and they were the divine beasts of this domain.

    However, on the top of the mountain, there existed a beautiful structure covering the entire mountain peak. The beautiful ce was also the ce that was one of the most well-known locations in the world... The Mountain was known as the Beast Mountain, and the Pce at the peak of the Mountain was what the world called... The Church of Summoning.

    It was said that it was impossible to get to the Church of Summoning through feet. One could only fly to the Mountain of Summons if they even wanted to reach that ce. However, even that was filled with dangers. If the Church of Summoning wanted, it could kill anyone in the air since even a powerful mage was at their weakest when they were in the air.

    At the moment, a Majestic Beast was flying above the snowy mountain range, carrying a beautiful woman.

    Even though the woman was flying above the beautiful picturesque location, she looked angry.

    The flying beast reached the Central Mountain and started descending. The beastnded on the ground right outside the Church of Summoning.

    A group of Head Priests and Head Priestesses were already waiting for the woman to wee them.

    "Holy Priestess, you-"

    "Shut up!"

    As soon as one of the Head Priestesses started speaking, Avilia yelled. She was still very upset.

    "Didn''t I tell you not to disturb me until something big happened, like the entire existence of the Church being on line?!" She couldn''t help but scold others.

    She had been waiting to see the fun today, apanying Gabriel. However, all because of their urgent signal, she had to return.

    When she was rushing back, she thought that something significant had happened at the church, or the Church was attacked by the others, only to realize now that nothing like that had happened. She couldn''t help but feel as if her time was wasted.

    "If you don''t give me a satisfactory reason, having to apologize would be the least of your worries!"

    "Saintess, please calm your anger!" All the Head Priests went down on a knee, feeling a chill run down their spine.

    They had experienced firsthand just how much destruction this little girl could cause when she was angry. Even if they all fought her, they were no match for her.

    "We had no choice but to call you urgently. The Holy Priest of mes is here to meet you," the man further stated, exining why they had to call her with such urgency.

    "That''s it?" Avilia frowned. "Why didn''t you just kick him out? You could''ve told him that I was out. Isn''t that what we''ve done all this time? I have no interest in hearing what those idiots have to save."

    "Ah, Saintess... It''s not easy for us to kick him out. He is blessed by a Holy Grimoire. He is very powerful," the Head Priest exined, keeping his head down.

    He couldn''t believe that Avilia was even suggesting this. If they were as strong as a Holy Priest, won''t that mean a Holy Grimoire was useless? The Holy Priests were an existence that were considered gods of the present day. They couldn''t be defeated by ordinary people like them.

    "Also, We told him that you were out, but he refused to leave. He even threatened to burn this entire mountain down personally if we didn''t let you meet him¡­."

 280 Chapter 280

    "Hahaha. Burn the entire mountain down?" Aughter came from inside the Church of Summoning. "I would appreciate it if you don''t misquote me, old man. I can never say something like that."

    The voice was filled with the strange power of naturalws. No magic was used, yet the surroundings started turning warmer as the footsteps resounded.

    "Oh? Then what did you say?" Avilia asked, realizing who this voice belonged to. She remembered meeting this person a few times... The Holy Priest of mes, also considered one of the strongest four.

    It was clear that her people weren''t lying. This person had personally arrived here... The man whose arrogance knew no bounds. However, he was also skilled enough to back that arrogance with strength.

    A young man came into view as he finally stepped out of the Church of Summoning. Not the hands of the man were in his pockets as he walked as if he had no care in the world. A grin was spread across the lips of the young man, who looked to be in histe twenties.

    The man had short ming red hair that could easily make him stand out in a crowd.

    "I clearly never told him that I would burn this mountain down if you didn''t meet me," the man repeated, taking a proper nce at Avilia. "What I said was that I would burn down this entire Mountain Range if you didn''t meet me. I''m hurt that they would change my words to malign me. You should really train your dogs so they can hear better next time."

    Even though all the mountains in this mountain range were covered in a twenty-inch thickyer of snow, the Holy Priest of Light still couldn''t care less. If he wanted to destroy all these mountains, it was like child''s y for him, after all.

    Unlike Elora, who was the newest addition to the Holy Priests, considered to be the weakest, and Lira who didn''t have Ancestral Staff or peak tier magical strength, the Holy Priest of mes had everything.

    He was also one who had his abilities the longest out of the current generation of elemental rulers. He looked like he was in histe twenties, but in reality, he was much older.

    "If you want to try, I won''t stop you," Avilia answered. "But I will certainly tell you one thing. The day this mountain range gets engulfed by mes, the very next day, all members of the Church of mes will be inside my beasts'' stomach. Oh, and that includes you."

    "You''re just like I heard," the Holy Priest of mes smirked. The threat in those words was as clear as day to him. However, it wasn''t enough to intimidate him. "An aggressive one with a big mouth. People with those characteristics tend to have a really short life span, youngdy."

    "Anyway, since it''s our first meeting, I''ll let it go," he added.

    "Oh, how kind," Avilia sarcastically responded. "Since it''s our first meeting, I''ll let it go as well. Just tell me why you''re here. Or is it your hobby to go to ces without being uninvited?"

    "When you''re strong, there is no ce where you''re uninvited as long as one wants to be invited," the red-haired man responded.

    He didn''t get angry at Avilia''s responses. If anything, he found them childish. In his eyes, the girl clearly hadn''t seen what true strength was. If she knew, she would''ve been a lot nicer to him. ording to him, dealing with Avilia''s beasts was child''s y with the help of his mes. There was nothing his Holy mes couldn''t burn after all!

    "Anyway, I''m not here to waste time. My time is very important. I came here to bring you," the Holy Priest of mes said, turning around. "For some reason, those idiots decided to assign the babysitting task to me. So get ready. We''ll be leaving in an hour."

    "Bring me where?" Avilia followed the Holy Priest of mes.

    "The Meeting of Saints has been called," the Holy Priest of mes answered. Since you''re the most stubborn of the bunch, I was tasked to make sure you attend the meeting. So don''t make it harder for yourself than it has to."

    "The Meeting of Saints?" Avilia asked, slightly surprised. From what she heard about the Churches, the Meeting of Saints was a meeting that was attended by all Holy Priests. It was a meeting that couldn''t only be called when something really important had happened, that could affect not only the peace of this world but all the Churches as well.

    Thest such meeting was called decades ago when she wasn''t even born yet. To call the Meeting of Saints, at least four Priests had to give their permission and believe that a meeting was needed.

    ''No wonder those idiots sent this guy here. This time, they really want me toe to meet them. I wonder what happened? Is it rted to Gabriel? It looks like I''ll really have to attend if I want to know more.''

    Usually, even if it were a meeting of Saints, Avilia wouldn''t have bothered to attend. However, now that she believed the meeting had something to do with Gabriel, even she wanted to attend and see just what had happened.

    "I will attend the meeting," Avilia dered.

    ****

    "We have reached the meeting ce."

    The Duke''s Carriage stopped, and a man stepped out of the carriage.

    Duke Callum opened the door and stepped out of the carriage, followed by Gabriel.

    "The meeting isn''t being held at the Royal Pce?" Gabriel inquired as soon as he looked at his surroundings. When he heard about the meeting, he instantly assumed it would be held at the Royal Pce.

    Instead, this ce was more like a garden... A garden that was spread as far as the eyes could see. On the boundary of the garden, many exotic flowers could be seen.

    "Apparently, the Emperor doesn''t want the meeting to be held at the Royal Pce since he imed you were unworthy. So the meeting was shifted to the Royal Garden of Enlightenment."

    "Royal Garden of Enlightenment?" Gabriel asked, slightly intrigued. With this kind of name, he had a feeling that this ce definitely had some great history. "Any reason it''s called that?*

    "Of course." Callum nodded. " I''m sure you heard the story of the Saint Knight and the army of Undead?"

    "What about it?"

    "It is said that this was the exact ce where Saint Knight had been fighting his enemy when the army of Undead arrived. This was also where he was given the Mythical Sword. It was the ce where he gained enlightenment as to what it means to be a true Knight. This ce is deeply engraved in the history of this Empire."

    "The ce where the Army of Undead stood once upon a time?" Gabriel muttered. "Interesting history, for sure."

    He took his fist step inside the garden, only to stop abruptly. He couldn''t help but nce at his right hand.

    For some reason, his Ring of Necromancy had suddenly started shaking as soon as he entered the garden. This feeling was simr to what he experienced when he entered the Museum of Elements. It was as if this garden had something that the ring craved for. As for what that was, even he had no idea.

    So far, he couldn''t find anything significant in this garden other than some beautiful flowers.

    In the distance, he could see some seating that had been arranged. All the Nobles were already at their seats. Each Noble brought their strongest guard with them. Only the Emperor was yet to arrive.

    Gabriel was more interested in the ring though.

    ''Just what does this ring want? What''s the secret hidden in this garden that can even wake up this ring...?''

 281 Chapter 281

    The Ring''s behaviour was really strange. Gabriel knew that whatever it was that was in this garden, the ring wanted him to find it as it was important.

    Instead of walking straight to the Nobles in the garden, he started strolling around the garden, trying to see if he could find something strange.

    In the Museum of Elements, he was able to find what he was looking for, all because the ring became more impatient the closer he got to the thing he was after. Whenever he went farther from the item, his ring''s shaking weakened.

    Unfortunately, that wasn''t what happened. Then as Gabriel circled the entire Garden, his ring didn''t stop vibrating. It didn''t intensify either. It was as if no matter where he was in the garden, it was the same for the Ring of Necromancy.

    "What is happening? It can''t pinpoint the whereabouts of that item?" Gabriel frowned, stopping in his tracks.

    Without the help of this ring, even he was sure that it was hard to find anything. He didn''t even know what he was looking for after all.

    "It looks like I can only rely on myself now." As he walked around the garden, he kept his eyes on the surroundings, looking out for any strange item.

    Unfortunately, other than the beautiful flowers, he couldn''t find anything at all. There was literally nothing in this garden that could even be ssified as a Numen, let alone a relic of the forgotten past.

    "This is really strange. The ring can''t be wrong. There should definitely be something here, but I can''t find it. What is it?"

    At this point, Gabriel was sure that there was nothing in the garden.

    " Could it be something that is on the Nobles? But if that''s the case, why is my ring not giving me any stronger indication when I get closer to them?"

    Even after spending so much time, he still didn''t understand the ring in its entirety. He could only rely on his guesses.

    "It would''ve been so good if you could sleep," Gabriel sighed, ncing at his right hand for a brief moment. "If you can''t help me pinpoint the location, then we might really lose that thing today. Don''t me me after that."

    He was sure that the things which could make the ring react so strongly weren''t something that could be ignored by it. It was clear that the ring wanted those things. It was already clear to him when the Holy Grimoire agreed to give him stronger spells just so he could get the item it was after.

    "Master, he has arrived." While Gabriel was still lost in thoughts, trying to negotiate with the ring so it could help him more, he heard Callum''s voice.

    Gabriel couldn''t help but look at the entrance of the Garden where he noticed a middle aged man, walking with some Royal Knights. The man was dressed in the Royal Attire of Arecia. It was quite evident that he was the current Emperor of Arecia!

    What surprised him more was that the Emperor didn''te here alone from the Royal Family. Other than his guards, he brought his Eldest son and the two Two Princesses, Azia and Shia Alecton.

    ''This guy brought his kids to a hostile environment? Just what is he nning?'' Generally, he assumed that the Emperor was trying to kill him here to get rid of him, but he brought his son and his daughters?

    ''Even he can''t be stupid enough to not know that I''ll fight back if I''m attacked in this meeting, putting his family at risk. Then why?''

    Gabriel ced the thought of the Treasure that the ring wanted at the back of his head for now and focused on the task at hand. After he became the Emperor, this garden was going to belong to him anyway. At that time, he could take all the time in the world to find the secrets of this garden.

    The Emperor was respectfully greeted by all the Nobles, especially the Nobles that were absolutely loyal to him.

    "Your Majesty, you really didn''t have to waste your time. We all know that the little brat is lying. We could''ve dealt with it ourselves."

    "Hahaha, yeah. That greedy brat thinks he can get the Empire just because he wants? That little idiot forgot that this isn''t the property of Arecia n! You''re our Emperor now!"

    "Yes. No matter what story he makes, we all know that the Arecia n betrayed the Empire. I don''t know how he got the sword back, but it''s clear that everything else that he said was a lie!"

    "Since he dared to lie to us, we would definitely make him pay!"

    Most of the Nobles had already started revealing their loyalties before a single thing was even said by the Emperor or Gabriel. There were only a few Nobles who were silent. However, because their number was so low, they could only look at Gabriel in the distance with pity.

    "Of course I know that he is lying. Who could know better than me?" Emperor Alecton sighed deeply. "If the Arecia n hadn''t betrayed the Empire, why would I go against them? The previous Emperor was my brother-inw after all. All I wanted was their happiness."

    "Unfortunately, they betrayed the Empire and all our trust in them. To save this Empire from their hands, our family had no choice but to kill them, even though it meant destroying my sister''s new family."

    "If possible, I wanted to avoid that... For this Empire''s wellbeing, I had to sacrifice my sister''s love... I still feel heartbroken... If possible, I would''ve loved to die so she could be happy..."

    Even though quite a few Nobles knew the truth, the Emperor still kept up his act of being a pitiful brother who had no choice but to sacrifice everything he held dear to protect the Empire.

    The Nobles flocked even more strongly around him, after seeing his act. As for the ones who don''t know the truth, most of them also believed his words.

    Watching her father look so down, even her daughters were taken aback. They didn''t know the truth, but they absolutely believed the version of their father''s story.

    Even the timid Azia couldn''t help but take a subtle nce at Gabriel. ''I''m sure father isn''t lying. It must be him who is lying. I can''t believe I almost believed his words and felt bad for our family''s actions.''

    Seeing the convincing act, even Gabriel was slightly amused.

    ''What a great act... This man sure is smart at such things. Too bad, in front of absolute strength, everything falls. Today, I will make him understand what the meaning of true sacrifice means.''

 Chapter 282 282: The Present

    ''That guy... Isn''t he the one who helped me?'' Shia also recognised Gabriel as the one who protected her.

    She remembered how Gabriel reacted when he heard her full name. It was clear that he didn''t even know that the Alecton Family was the Royal Family when he arrived here. Could he really have schemed so much in advance without even knowing about the Royal Family?

    Unlike Azia who had just changed her mind in favor of her father, Shia who had always believed in her father before was now starting to doubt him.

    Since Gabriel didn''t even know about her family, he really couldn''t have schemed in advance. She couldn''t help but wonder if his story about only recently finding out about the changes was true. In that case, he really couldn''t have schemed all this.

    She nced at her father''s back, not knowing what to think anymore. His mind was so hazy that she couldn''t make sure who was right and who was wrong. She wanted to believe in her father but she also felt that Gabriel wasn''t lying. Both of them couldn''t be telling the truth so it was clear that one of them was lying.

    Unfortunately, even if she knew who was lying, she couldn''t do anything. The truth was supposed to be decided by the Elders and no matter what the verdict, it was going to be final.

    "That little brat... Once his truth is out, I''ll make sure the entire Empire knows what happens to the people who dare to defame my family!" Unlike the two sisters, the Eldest Prince didn''t even think about it. For him, Gabriel was just a little thief who wanted to steal the throne that was to belong to him after his father!

    "Don''t worry, young prince. This meeting is just for formality. We all know the truth already. You''ll get your opportunity in the future." One of the Nobles smirked. "Please have a seat for now. He ising here as well. The faster we start, the faster we can end."

    "Hmph." The Eldest Prince took a seat right next to his father. As for the two Princesses, they sat on the other side of their father.

    The Nobles also took seats. Only three Royal Knights were standing, ready to kill Gabriel if he tried anything.

    Unlike the Nobles who were so sure of what was going to happen, the Emperor was still slightly concerned.

    '' I sent the Saint Knight to kill Gabriel. That brat is still alive! No wonder that trash didn''t return to the Castle! He must''ve failed and was too embarrassed to show his face around! After I''m done here, I''ll deal with him properly! It looks like we need to select a new Saint Knight, one who isn''t as useless!''

    Even though the Emperor had a calmposure on the exterior, but on the inside, he was fuming with anger. He expected to hear the news of Gabriel''s death when he arrived here, but instead, the man was not only alive, but he looked unharmed.

    Gabriel reached the group of Nobles, apanied by Duke Callum.

    All the Nobles remained seated. From their gaze, it was clear that most of them were looking down at him. This meeting... It was nothing more than a sham to fool the publicter on by iming that they gave him a proper chance to prove his ims, only for him to fail.

    There were only two seats left after all the seats were taken, and both of the chairs looked slightly shabby.

    Just from the initial nce, Gabriel had a feeling that the chairs could easily break as soon as he sat down.

    ''Are they little children? Using such tricks to make fun of me?'' Gabriel could only shake his head in disappointment. These people were really petty.

    ''It seems the cleanup is really necessary.''

    "Sit," One of the Nobles instructed Gabriel. "It''s time we start the meeting."

    In the Noble''s eyes, their contempt was clear. It was as if they were just waiting for him to make a fool of himself. They wanted him to see that he wasn''t even worthy of sitting with them.

    "I don''t feelfortable sitting with the person who destroyed my family. I would prefer to be standing," Gabriel responded, calmly.

    "You brat, are you looking down on us? By not sitting, are you implying that we aren''t worthy of sitting with someone like you?" A Noble''s thundering roar resounded. "You really think you are already an Emperor to look down on us?!"

    "Heh, this kid really has a bad nature. He doesn''t respect his Elders at all. This kind of person really can''t have the blood of Saint King! It seems that we thought too much. This boy was lying about his identity."

    "Of course he was. It''s as clear as day. With his disrespecting attitude, he could only bring the downfall of our glorious Empire if he ever became the Emperor."

    "I agree with you. Since he doesn''t respect us, could he be a spy sent to our Empire by Yann?! If I''m not wrong, the Sword was sold to Yann. Maybe the Emperor of Yann gave him that sword and told him toe here so he could im the throne?"

    One after another, the Nobles started their verbal attacks on Gabriel.

    "Exactly! The Emperor of Yann is really cunning! Since he couldn''t defeat us in a war, he nted this puppet of his to take the throne without any bloodshed by simply fooling the public!"

    "Hahaha, so that''s what it was. And here I thought he might actually be a descendant of the Arecia n. It looks like I was too optimistic. It looks like we don''t need to deliberate anymore. We already have our decision! The truth is already out!"

    The Emperor hadn''t spoken a single word from the start to now, and the Nobles had already taken care of everything. Only a single hint of a smirk could be seen on the Emperor''s face.

    "You aren''t even going to listen to me?" Gabriel asked, even though he already knew the answer. "Are you sure?"

    The Nobles that were Neutral were already in minority. They couldn''t sway any decisions. They already knew that if they interfered at this point, not only could they not help Gabriel, but they could also put their own families at risk. They decided to remain silent.

    "What''s there to listen to? Everything is as clear as the sky! You are a dog of Yann, who came here to steal the throne from His Majesty. Who agrees?" The Head of the strongest Noble n asked.

    One after another, all the Nobles started raising their hands. Even the Nobles who were neutral raised their hands since not raising couldn''t change the oue either. The Emperor''s loyal Nobles were in clear majority. No one could take the throne from him, at least through this meeting alone.

    "The Council has reached the verdict! The man iming to be Gabriel Arcadius Arecia is a liar who was nted by the Emperor of Yann to bring chaos to the Emperor of Arecia and steal the throne. His contendership for the Throne is hereby dered invalid!" The white haired Noble dered.

    "Also, since he schemed against our Empire, he is hereby given death penalty! Guards, arrest him!"

    Gabriel wasn''t even the slightest surprised at the deration. It was more or less exactly as he expected. These people weren''t going to give him a chance.

    "Duke Callum, since they''re going to kill me, it seems I might not have a chance to give them the present I prepared for themter. Why don''t you give them their present now?" he stated while all the Royal Guards raised their swords at him,manding him to go down on his knees.

 Chapter 283 283: How Was This Possible?

    "Give a present?"

    "Is this brat trying to bribe us?"

    "Hahaha, not bad. He wants us to let him live in exchange for rewards? He really underestimates us, doesn''t he?"

    The Dukes had a mocking smile on their faces. They couldn''t even believe that Gabriel could give them something that could attract their attention at all. Moreover, even if he did have a nice thing to give, so what? They knew that they couldn''t let Gabriel live now that the Emperor was here.

    ''Little boy, let us see what you can give. If it''s something nice, we can still take it and then kill you. Did you really think that anyone here would let you live?''

    Gabriel didn''t even need to look at the Dukes to know what they were thinking. At this point, he had read them uppletely.

    Not only the Dukes, but even the Emperor and his children thought that Gabriel was trying to bribe the Dukes in his favor.

    "Heh, as expected. This kid isn''t righteous. After all this act, he finally reveals his real face... Using money to escape when his lies were caught." The Eldest Prince scoffed, finding Gabriel to be very pathetic.

    That timid Princess Azia simply lowered her head, not saying anything.

    As for the Emperor, he could only smirk at this point. It was clear that the man before him was at the end of his wits and didn''t have anything that could help him.

    "Don''t capture him for now. Let us see what bribes he has prepared for us," A Nobleughed heartily, gesturing for their guards to wait for a moment.

    Even though he didn''t intend to let Gabriel live, he still wanted to get the benefits from Gabriel before actually having him killed.

    The Royal Knights didn''t move closer to Gabriel but they didn''t lower their weapons either. They kept their swords aimed at Gabriel, who was still standing calmly.

    He didn''t even look at the Royal Knights, as if he didn''t put them in his eyes. His face was so calm that it was really strange and the person who felt that strangeness the most was Princess Shia.

    In the entire Empire, she was the first person to meet Gabriel. She had also seen him fight. She had seen a glimpse of Gabriel''s strength. Moreover, she was the only person who knew that Gabriel was a mage of Light.

    With how things were progressing here, she had a really bad feeling about it.

    Even though her Empire didn''t pay much importance to mages, she knew just how capable they were, especially a Mage of Light which was considered to be the strongest element.

    "Father, We should leave here..." She told her father.

    When she arrived here, she didn''t know that the person challenging their authority was Gabriel and by now, it was toote.

    For some reason, at the moment, she didn''t feel as if they were victors. Instead, she felt as if they were being stared at by a Predator. Her family was out in the open, and it was really dangerous, especially since the person on the other side was Gabriel.

    "Leave? We aren''t done yet. Today, we need to remove future trouble from its roots and I want to watch it happen with my own eyes!" The Emperor calmly answered. "Don''t disturb me more. Just sit silently! Let your elders deal with it!"

    "But father, he isn''t-"

    "I told you to shut up!" The Emperor smacked the table before him, seemingly frustrated. "Enough with your antics. I told you to not disturb me anymore!"

    "But I just wanted to tell you that he-"

    Shia at least wanted to tell her father that it was dangerous to be here since Gabriel was also a mage. Unfortunately, before she could evenplete her sentence, she watched her father re at her.

    Shia shut her mouth immediately, feeling intimidated under that gaze. She had already tried speaking three times. She wasn''t sure if her father was going to p her if she tried speaking one more time. Her father really looked like apletely different person than she had seen before.

    At the moment, she felt as if her father was really shaken on the inside, and wanted Gabriel to die at any cost. He wasn''t even hearing anyone else. His entire focus was on Gabriel. She couldn''t understand why her father was suddenly like that. If Gabriel was really lying about their family''s betrayal, why would her father behave so strangely?

    She couldn''t help but feel even more suspicious of her father, wondering if Gabriel was actually telling the truth.

    After a long period of silence, Callum returned, carrying a heavy bag on his shoulders.

    "Hmm? Is he giving us gold or something? That bag looks heavy!"

    "Hahaha, looks like our random guess was right! The boy is indeed from Yann. How else could he have so much gold?"

    "Heh, we can''t be so sure before we check. Maybe he''s just trying to fool us? Who knows, he might''ve just filled the bag with stones to fool us. What I''m more curious about is why Duke Callum is helping that boy. Did he already sell his loyalty?"

    "It''s possible. I think we should kill him as well, after dealing with Gabriel. I''ve always been suspicious of him. We might as well do some cleanup today!"

    The Dukes watched Callum returning with the bag. At the moment, they had already made up their minds to kill Callum as well. However, first they wanted to deal with Gabriel. He

    "Open the bag and show us what''s inside! We want to make sure you didn''t fill the bag with useless things!" one of the Nobles eximed.

    "Don''t worry. I''m sure it''s not a useless thing. If anything, the young inside the bag is something that you''d all have considered a treasure," Gabriel vaguely answered, gesturing for Callum to show everyone what''s inside.

    Callum opened the bag and turned it upside down before raising it in the air.

    As soon as the bag was raised upside down, a lifeless body came falling down from the bag,nding on the table with a thud.

    "My present to you all... I hope you all like it," Gabriel stated, without the slightest change in his expressions.

    The lifeless body of Saint Knight fell out of the bag, scaring quite a lot of people, especially the one who was expecting gold or treasures.

    Almost all the Nobles stood up, as shock and fear filled them up. Their chairs fell behind. They couldn''t believe what they were seeing.

    Even the Emperor was horrified as he stood up. The Saint Knight that he sent to kill Gabriel had been killed instead? How was this possible?

 Chapter 284 284: Do You Really Think?

    Emperor Alecton knew that Duke Callum was a Dark Mage, but he was also sure that if Saint Knight fought with the Duke, the Saint Knight wasn''t going to lose! If anything, both of them were more or less equal in terms of strength. Then how? How could he die? Who killed him? Was there an even more powerful person backing Gabriel?

    The Royal Knights that were keeping their Swords aimed at Gabriel felt their hands tremble at the gruesome sight. The Saint Knight was the strongest warrior in the Empire. They were sure if they had all fought with the Saint Knight together, they would''ve instantly!

    "Saint Knight!" The Eldest Prince who had been smug all this time was horrified. Today, he expected to watch Gabriel''s death and not the death of their strongest warrior!

    Both the Princesses were scared. Their faces were already pale, especially Prince Azia. She had just met the Saint Knightst night when he had a conflict with Gabriel and now he was dead?

    ''D-did he kill him? Then his strength...?'' Her legs froze in ce in fear. She couldn''t even move, let alone say anything!

    On the other hand, Princess Shia felt a dread in her heart. She knew Gabriel was dangerous! She knew that they should''ve let him go! That''s why she was trying to tell her father. However, even she didn''t know that this guy was so strong! He could kill the Saint Knight? She finally understood why Duke Callum was so respectful to Gabriel.

    "Duke Callum, you dare to betray our Empire and kill the Saint Knight?!" The Emperor roared. He refused to believe that Gabriel could do it! As for having a stronger force behind him... There were only a few forces that were strong enough to kill their Saint Knight, and they were the Churches of Elements!

    He didn''t believe that Gabriel could''ve gotten the help of Churches that didn''t interfere in the matters of Empires! Moreover, Callum was a Dark Mage! How could any Church stand on the same side as him! No matter how hard, he wanted to believe that it was Callum who managed to kill the Saint Knight!

    "He must''ve used a sneak attack! That bastard, using such vile methods to kill the Saint Knight!"

    "You evil demon! Killing the guardian of our Empire after all this Empire gave you? How dare you?" Even the Nobles believed that it was done by Callum, but they didn''t know about his identity as a mage. They could only think that he used some sneak attack to kill the Saint Knight!

    "Sneak Attack..." The Royal Knights frowned. Unlike the Nobles, they were trained warriors. They were more perceptive as well.

    From the wound on the Saint Knight''s body, and the trajectory, it was clear to them that the attack came from the front! Moreover, an attack of this strength that came from the front couldn''t have been a sneak attack!

    "I didn''t kill him, so it''s better if you stop looking at him. I don''t even have the fraction of the strength of the person who killed him," Callum smirked. "This time, you don''t know just where you all truly stage. You''ve all been standing at the edge of the cliff of despair all this time and you didn''t even realise it."

    "W-what are you trying to say? You didn''t kill him? Then who? Who could have that much strength?!" Emperor Alecton thundered.

    "Me," A calm and serene voice came from the distance, making everyone look in the direction of Gabriel.

    A Sword appeared in the hands of Gabriel out of thin air which was none other than the Sword of Ulien that was called the Holy Sword in Arecia.

    Gabriel only briefly nced at the Royal Knights who had their weapons aimed at him. As soon as the Royal Knights watched him look in their direction, they could feel a chill run down their spine. It was as if all their strength and their secrets were worthless before the man that stood in front of them!

    As Royal Knights, they had trained their hearts so it could stay firm even in the most dangerous of situations, but at this moment, their heart was filled with dread and fear. It was as if their bodies were frozen in ces.

    "What are you all looking at? Kill him!" The Nobles moved back, feeling really scared. They also instructed the Royal Knights to kill Gabriel. Today when they arrived here, they didn''t even bring most of their forces because they didn''t expect a situation like this. They only brought their core guards.

    Despite each person only bringing a few guards, there were a total of over fifty Royal Knights! They were sure that it was enough to kill Gabriel!

    "Royal Knights!" Gabriel firmly spoke. "I''m the descendant of the Saint King. You''re all a citizen of our Empire. I would give you one more chance... Leave the treacherous path of evil that these people made you walk! Come into the light and follow me! Even you all saw how the trial today was a sham! Do you really think people like they couldn''t kill the Arecia n simply for their greed?!"

    "I''ll count to three! If you don''t drop your weapons, I''ll forget that you''re my citizens and I''ll start killing! I hope you won''t force my hands!"

    Gabriel could kill everyone here if he wanted, but he didn''t want to. He wanted to save the Royal Knights since they could only be a part of his army once he took over the Empire! He needed strong Warriors to maintain the peace in the Empire.

    The only problem was that he wasn''t sure if his words were actually going to work. Still, he began the count.

    "One!"

    Gabriel started the count.

    The Nobles kept telling the Royal Knights to not listen to him.

    "What the hell are you doing? Are you all useless trash? The Empire did so much for you! Your sries came from us! And you''re not even protecting us today? Kill that bastard! Do your duty!" Some Nobles even cursed at the Royal Knights who hadn''t moved an inch.

    The Royal Knights didn''t listen though. They just nced at each other. In their heart, they didn''t want to fight Gabriel if possible. Moreover, they had already seen how unjust these Nobles were! This meeting was truly a sham.

    ...

    "Two!"

    ...

    "Th-"

    ? Before Gabriel could finish the count, all the Royal Knights dropped their Swords and went down on one knee.

    "We want to walk the righteous path with the descendant of Saint King!" They all said in unison. "Please ept our gratitude for waking us up before we could truly lose our path!"

    Finally, even the Emperor''s face went pale.

 Chapter 285 285: No Choice

    The entire situation was so chaotic. It was nothing like he expected when he came here.

    Not only did the Saint Knight fail to kill Gabriel, but he also lost his own life instead? And now all their Royal Knights also changed loyalties? Without the Royal Knights, weren''t they all on their own?

    Even though Emperor Alecton also knew some swordsmanship, he wasn''t as strong as the Royal Knights here.

    "What are you all doing? Don''t fall for his tricks! You need to protect your Emperor!" Emperor Alecton said, taking a step back subconsciously.

    The Royal Knights only nced at them but didn''t respond. They had already changed their minds and now they couldn''t do anything. Their loyalties were already with Gabriel now.

    "Do you want to help him?" Gabriel asked the Captain of the Royal Knights.

    The captain could only shake his head. "We don''t. It''s clear that most of the Nobles are corrupt. Everything you said was right. Maybe it''s truly a time for change. We ept you as our new Emperor..."

    Gabriel brought out a second sword. It was the Sword that he had received from the Saint Knight.

    "Take good care of it." He handed over the Heavy Sword of the Saint Knight to the Captain of the Royal Guards. In the absence of the Saint Knight, he was also the strongest. If this way, Gabriel could win his absolute loyalty, then it was a beneficial trade.

    "This sword... But I..."

    The Captain of Knights was taken aback. The Sword was being given to him? Generally, there was a tournament for something like that and even in such a tournament, thest round wasn''t a battle. In thest round, it was up to the King to decide which of the finalists he liked better!

    Even he had participated in the selection of the Saint Knight. He even reached the finals, winning every single battle. However, in thest round, he failed to win the favour of the Emperor. The Emperor selected someone else as a Saint Knight.

    To be given this Sword was no different than receiving the title of the Saint Knight! The Captain of the Knights was shocked. Did Gabriel really trust him so much? In his heart, he only felt his impression of the young man rising. Not only was Gabriel righteous and a person with a great bloodline, but he also respected his subordinates.

    If he arranged a tournament for selection of Saint Knight, he could''ve received a lot of rewards as a bribe in the final round. But he ignored all that, only to select someone that truly deserved it? After all his service for the Royal Family, the Captain of the Knights finally had the Saint Knight''s Sword.

    The Captain of the Knights epted the sword, immediately going down on one knee, "I, Razel Kaizen, swear that I''ll always be loyal to Your Majesty, no matter what! If I ever betray you, may heavenly thunder strike me to death!"

    Gabriel could only scratch the back of his head. Since he had the Sword of Ulien, the Saint Knight''s Sword was useless for him. He just wanted to win some favor by giving this sword to the strongest knight here. Even he didn''t expect that knight to swear an oath like that for him.

    He didn''t know how to respond. He wasn''t a Royal and didn''t know what words were proper in situations like this. Did he need to say that he epted the Knight''s loyalty? Or ask him to stand up? Or use some fancy line? He had no idea.

    Eventually, he didn''t say anything. He simply nodded.

    After a brief moment of silence, he shifted his attention back to the Nobles. At the moment, all Nobles felt a chill run down their spine.

    The garden was big. They didn''t bring their personal armies either. Even if they wanted to run, they knew that they were going to be killed instantly by the Knights who now treated Gabriel as their Emperor. This was a nightmarish situation for them!

    "It''s been proven that the Nobles worked with the Alecton n to betray the Royal Family. Not only did they nder the Arecia n, but they also exterminated all of them. That is treason!" Gabriel coldly stated before ncing at Duke Callum. "Duke Callum, what''s the punishment for treason?"

    "There is only one punishment for treason..." Duke Callum stated. "Execution!"

    "Follow thews set forth by my Ancestors." Gabriel agreed. "The Traitors are to be executed! Not only did the traitors send the Saint Knight to kill the real heir of the thronest night, but they also tried to kill me today!"

    "W-wait! You can''t do it! You can''t kill us! We are the Nobles! We are the pirs of this Empire! Without us, the Empire wil-"

    "Argh!"

    Before the Noble could even finish his sentence, a sword passed through his chest.

    "F-fast!" The Captain of the Knights eximed in disbelief.

    One moment, Gabriel was standing next to him, and the next moment, he was behind the Noble who had spoken? With this kind of speed, he finally understood how Gabriel killed the Saint Knight! This man was young, but his strength was extraordinary!

    "These pirs are really cheap quality. We don''t need such pirs. Only one pir is enough for this Empire!" Gabriel pulled out the sword which had bathed in Noble''s blood.

    When Gabriel entered the Empire, he just wanted to greet the Arecia Family and get the artefact he needed. Even after finding out about what happened to the Arecia n, he didn''t want to lose his mind and kill everyone without knowing the situation. But now... Finally he had all the culprits that were behind the ughter of the Arecia n!

    The Sword belonged to the Saint King! In that way, it also belonged to Novius. Gabriel used Novius'' Sword to kill the people who were responsible for Arecia n''s extinction. It was his way of paying back Novius for all his help... By helping Novius clear up all these snakes that swallowed his loving family!

    One after another, the Nobles cropped to the group. They couldn''t even see the sword most of the time. All they saw was a red sh before their death.

    Even the Nobles who hadn''t sided with the Emperor in the extinction were scared, thinking that Gabriel was going to kill them as well.

    Some of the Nobles even tried to run, but before they could even travel a few metres, they were killed.

    ''His strength... He is too strong. After he kills all the Nobles, he won''t let me live either. What can I do... What can I do... Argh!'' The Emperorhadn''t spoken anything, even as Gabriel started killing. Unlike all the Nobles, he didn''t beg for his life either.

    ''Do I have no choice but to...''

    He clenched his fist tightly, hiding a small red crystal in his right hand. The small crystal had a peculiar mark on it which was well known all around the world.

 Chapter 286 286: Death Is A Mercy

    Within a few minutes, Gabriel finished killing all the Nobles whose names were on the list that was given to him by Callum, only leaving a few Nobles who were still alive.

    He stood still as blood dropped from his Sword. His Sword was covered in blood, but on his clothes, there wasn''t even a speck of blood.

    "The Noble n leaders who are still alive... I know you had no hand in what happened with Arecia n. However, you also didn''t help them in times of trouble." Gabriel''s cold voice echoed in the surroundings.

    "You won''t be killed, but you will still be punished!" he dered. "From today onwards, all your property belongs to the Royal n! All your noble titles are to be taken back! From today onwards, you are no more than meremoners who aren''t allowed to use any Royal Titles!"

    The Nobles who were still alive were stunned. Even though losing their titles and wealth was heavy punishment for them, but it was nothing if they could save their lives!

    They couldn''t believe it! Gabriel was really letting them live? Even though the young man killed so many Nobles, he was being fair to them and letting them keep their lives? Despite losing everything, they felt impressed by Gabriel.

    They all went down on their knees at once. "We will heed the Emperor''smands!"

    "Good. Contribute to the Empire in the future, and I might think about returning your titles to you in the future! Leave now! And remember, from today onwards, all your personal armies will belong to the Royal Family as well, to be merged in the Royal Army! Duke Callum will take care of the armies temporarily in my stead!"

    "Yes, Your Majesty!" All the Noble n leaders felt their hearts racing. Even though Gabriel allowed them to leave, some of them were still suspicious if he was going to kill them before they could leave.

    They all turned around and left together, praying to gods to not be stabbed from the back by Gabriel. Fortunately, they were all able to leave sessfully.

    After leaving the garden of death, they could finally sigh in relief. They hastily entered their carriages and left for their domains. They had to handle the transfer right away!

    "Are you sure you want to let them leave?" Duke Callum appeared behind Gabriel, asking in a low voice. "It might get dangerous if they go against us or bring their armies to help."

    "They won''t," Gabriel answered. "They know the Royal Knights are with me. Their armies can''t stand before the Royal Army. Moreover, I have a feeling that they''re quite scared of me already. That''s why I let them watch all the other Nobles who betrayed the Arecia n die with their own eyes."

    He already considered every aspect of allowing the Nobles to leave today and only after he was sure if it did he allowed it to happen. Instead of looking at the short term picture, he was thinking of the long term situation. Each of his words that he told them before allowing them to leave was calcted.

    "Allowing them to leave is more beneficial to us, especially with the bait I gave them about them being able to regain their titles in the future," Gabriel exined to the Duke who didn''t understand why Gabriel didn''t kill everyone here. "They won''t tell others what truly happened here. If anything, they''ll twist the story in my favor so the world knows that I was the innocent victim and the rightful heir."

    "I really didn''t think of this. So you showed them the punishment before luring them with rewards." A smirk spread across Callum''s lips as he realized everything.

    "Truly marvellous! Not only do we get all their property legally, but we also get them as witnesses. Even after losing their properties, they can still help us with their contacts and influences in managing their territories. Not bad!"

    He already knew that Gabriel was a strong mage, but it was only now that he realized how far away this person had nned.

    "What shall we do with the ''Royal'' n?" he asked. Now only four people were left alive... The Prince, the two Princesses and their father.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Emperor Alecton still kept the red crystal in his hands, not revealing it. Even he seemed hesitant in using it. It was as if he didn''t want to, as long as he had a choice.

    "Young man, you should really not push people to the dead end. Things might really get dangerous for you!" The Emperor warned Gabriel. "You want the Empire? I''ll give you the Empire! I''ll abdicate the throne! Just allow us to leave safely! We''ll never step foot in this Empire again!"

    Even in this situation, the Empire was still able to stay standing. That in itself was impressive. He expected the Emperor to start grovelling at his feet by now. His behaviour was really strange for sure. However, Gabriel didn''t want to let the man leave. The man had the main responsibility in Arecia n''s tragic hate after all.

    "If I truly let you leave, will I ever be able to justify my actions to Novius?" Gabriel asked. The man was thest person he wanted to kill. It didn''t matter what happened after that! Nothing was going to stop him today!

    "I''m warning you. If you kill me, not only you, but this entire Empire will be destroyed in the future!" The Emperor roared like a maniac. "Are you sure you want to ce so many lives on the line just to kill me?! Don''t force me! I want to live! Just let me live and we''ll both be safe!"

    With each word, the Emperor kept taking a step back. "Don''t force me!"

    "You just want to live?" Gabriel asked, filled with more and more anger the more he heard Emperor Alecton!

    "Who didn''t want to live amongst the people you killed? Did the men of Arecia n not want to live? Did the little children not want to live? Did their mothers not want to live?!" With each sentence, Gabriel''s voice kept getting louder until he was almost roaring. "Tell me who didn''t want to live, my dear Emperor! Tell me now!"

    "I-i... I had no choice! I know I made a mistake! I regret my mistake! But are you really willing to put the entire Empire and millions of lives at risk for your revenge?" The Emperor''s face was already pale. He didn''t even know if he could make it out of here alive. "I promise you! If you kill me, your fate will be worse than a dog! You don''t know anything! Don''t be foolish!"

    "Even if the gods want to protect you, you''ll still die today!"

    No matter what the Emperor said, Gabriel didn''t care. He only remembered the days he spent with Novius and Cassius in the tower. Those two were like his family now. This man single handedly destroyed the entire lineage of Novius! He couldn''t ept that! He couldn''t let the man live!

    "You do-" As the Emperor kept stepping back without looking behind, he tripped over a stone behind him, falling down.

    No matter how much Emperor Alecton asked Gabriel to let him leave safely, Gabriel didn''t care. Even the Emperor knew that the man was crazy in revenge.

    Gabriel stopped right next to the Emperor, aiming the sword at the Emperor''s throat.

    "Today, I will die! But you won''t live for long either! This is thest opportunity! Let me leave!"

    "Death is a mercy for you... But I don''t want to let someone like you live in this world a second longer!" Gabriel raised his sword.

    The Emperor closed his eyes. "So be it... Don''t me me for what happens in the future!"

    The Emperor clenched his fist tightly, crushing the red stone which was in his hands. At the same time, Gabriel also brought his sword down, shing the throat of Emperor Alecton¡­

 Chapter 287 287: Meeting Of Saints

    ****

    The Meeting of the Saints, also known as the meeting of the Holy Priests was a meeting that was a rare event in which all Holy Priests came together at the same ce.

    Each of the Holy Priests had the strength to bring Empires to ruins and all of them were gathered at the same ce at the moment... At least most of them.

    The Meeting of Saints was being held in the City of Albatross. The City was also the ce where the first ever meeting of Saints took ce in the past. This was also the only City where all the Churches had branches, all except the Church of Darkness.

    The City of Albatross was the most prosperous City in the entire continent. It was also the City which yed an important role in the trade between all the major Empires, all because of its strategically advantageous location.

    All because of its location, many Empires tried to bring the City under their control, but none of the Empires could watch the City being taken by another. No matter who tried to take the City, all other Empires were going to resist. They couldn''t let another Empire take advantage.

    With that kind of stalemate, the City of Albatross managed to avoid quite a lot of conflict, maintaining their independence.

    Since the City was the main trading hub of the continent, it also had the biggest market! If the City of Abbadon was the biggest marketce of illegal items, the City of Albatross was the biggest marketce of legal things.

    No matter what a person wanted, from spells to magical potions to high grade staff, they could find anything here as long as they had enough money!

    The City was just too lively. However, there was one part of the City which waspletely silent. In the Central part of the City, there was a building. From the outside, the ce looked like a beautiful ce, but only when someone entered inside could they realize that this wasn''t a pce.

    On the inside, there was nothing! There were no stairs, no room, nothing! It was just a massive hall inside with a small round table at the center. It was as if someone just made the outer structure of the Pce and then forgot to make anything inside.

    The roof of the Pce was made from ss, allowing light to easily pass through.

    The pce was being protected by Head Priests of all the Churches who didn''t allow anyone to approach this area.

    Inside the pce five people were already sitting around the round table, seemingly waiting for someone to arrive.

    Thud~

    The door was abruptly kicked open as a ming red haired man barged inside, still having his hands in his pocket.

    "Brought the little brat," hezily stated as he walked to his seat. Even as he sat down, he didn''t seem to care for anyone else as he ced his feet on the table.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Behind the Holy Priest of mes, the Holy Priestess of Summoning also entered the hall.

    This was Avilia''s first time seeing the Heads of the other Churches personally. However, with the two of them, one person appeared to be missing.

    "Where is the Ruler of Light?" The Holy Priest of mes asked, instantly realizing who was missing. "Don''t tell me the new Ruler of Light is also like the brat of Summoning who won''te out of his Church until I drag him out?"

    Like everyone else here, he also knew that the new Church of Light wasn''t fond of appearing in public. That reputation was very well known by now. Until now, he didn''t care much about it. However to miss the meeting of Saints and not even put them in his eyes... The actions of the Ruler of Light really managed to irritate him.

    "He won''t being. We weren''t able to get in contact with him. Apparently he isn''t even Lumen City anymore," the Holy Priestess of Thunder, Thalia answered.

    "That brat isn''t in the city? From what I heard about him, I thought he never left his house?" The Holy Priest of mes asked, slightly amused. He couldn''t help but wonder just what could''ve made someone like that leave Lumen City?

    "Don''t tell me they''re giving us excuses because of this meeting. Did you verify?" he further asked, still finding it hard to believe. "A man who never left the Church to the point that no one even knows how he looks is now out of the Lumen City right when he was to be invited for the meeting of Saints? Isn''t it too convenient?"

    "It would''ve been suspicious indeed. However, I heard about his departure before the meeting of Saints was even called," Thalia replied. She had already received this information from Elora when the two of them fought against Lambard. "ording to his people, he left to explore the Abandoned City of Gods."

    "To explore the Abandoned City of Gods? Isn''t that the ce which thest Ruler of Water also went to explore before her death? To think that another person would be courageous enough to explore that ce..." The Holy Priest of mesughed out loud. "Not bad. I thought he was a coward, but this is not bad at all!"

    "I also wanted to explore that ce. That''s why I sent someone to buy the map from Lambard. Too bad I failed," he added, taking a meaningful nce at Elora who was the person that managed to buy the map in the auction instead.

    "Anyway, if he''s in the Abandoned City of Gods, nothing can be done about it. It''s better to not wait anymore. Just start this meeting so we can leave fast. I''m starting to get hungry."

    Since everyone except the Ruler of Light was already here, he could only ask for the meeting to begin. It was unusual for a meeting of Saints to not have all members, but at the moment, nothing could be done. If anything, they could just tell their decision to the Church of Light after the meeting was over.

    "The Holy Priestess of Water Elora, Holy Priestess of Thunder Thalia, Holy Priest of Nature Welin and Holy Priest of Wind Yael... The four of you were responsible for calling this meeting. You can begin."

    Avilia had also taken her seat and the main doors were closed.

    It was something that was discovered by Elorq first, so it was her duty to exin. However, since Elora was new, Thalia took the responsibility. "Don''t worry. The meeting this time was actually important. Something has changed... Something that might need us all to cooperate to solve the situation."

 Chapter 288 288: Its Broken!

    "Not long ago, Elora went to buy the map of the Abandoned City of Gods." Thalia stated.

    "Are you trying to anger me?" The Holy Priest of mes Lerian asked, slightly annoyed that the girl was raising the topic. He already knew his subordinate lost the bidding war. He couldn''t understand just what she was trying to get at, other than attempting to piss him off.

    "Get to the topic!"

    "That''s what I''m doing," Thalia rolled her eyes. "While she was there, she met two people at the Pce of Lambard."

    She informed everyone how Elora lost one of the Head Priestesses of the Church of Water at the hands of a Dark Mage.

    "Just that? Doesn''t it just mean that the Church of Water is just too weak? Is there even a reason to call this meeting?"

    Most people didn''t think of the story much... At least not this far. However there was one exception. It was Avilia. From Tha''s description she was sure that the person Elora had a conflict with was none other than Gabriel.

    "That much was truly not worth paying much attention. Do you really think I''ll call a meeting of Saints over that?" Thalia rolled her eyes. Out of everyone here, only Lerian was someone she found irritating since the man didn''t care about anything. He didn''t even have much patience. He already acted like he was better than everyone else and no one bothered him either.

    Out of everyone here, only this man was talking and intervening.

    "Back to the topic. A few days after that, the Academy of the Elements was robbed..."

    "Huh?"

    Finally, Lerian''s curiosity peaked. The death of a mere Head Priestess of Water was not even worth mentioning in his eyes. However robbing the treasury of the Academy of Elements? That wasn''t easy to achieve, especially for a dark mage!

    Achieving that meant that the Dark Mage not only managed to pass through the Ancestral Barrier of Light that covered Lumen City, but they also managed to infiltrate the Academy of Elements and steal all their precious treasures. Even he wasn''t sure if he could''ve achieved something like that if he was in their ce.

    "Izen didn''t stop him? Shouldn''t that be impossible? With his strength and the Numen that nullifies all magic, shouldn''t it be impossible for someone to rob the Academy?" Lerian frowned, thinking if there was even a way. "Unless... he wasn''t in the Academy?"

    "That''s right. That guy wasn''t in the Academy at that time." Thalia nodded.

    "Hah, no wonder. That does decrease the difficulty by a lot. But still, entering the holy city of Lumen and robbing the Academy of Elements right under the nose of the Church of Light, hahahah, not bad." Lerian couldn''t help butugh the more he thought of it. "No wonder I didn''t hear of this. Those idiots must be so embarrassed that they don''t want this story to spread!"

    "I don''t think it''s the time tough!" Thalia grimaced. "The Ancestral Staff of Darkness is stolen. It''s most probably already with the Ruler of Darkness. Not only that, they also have other treasures of the Academy. With such treasures, it''s only a matter of time before their strength increases even more!"

    "Not only that, even Lambard is siding with the Dark Priests. With the kind of funding and resources he can offer, it can get really troublesome and really fast."

    "Is that all? I didn''t have much of a conflict with Lambard. That guy was certainly very resourceful. However, now that he has chosen a side, I don''t need to hold back. I''ll go to Abbadon and deal with him. We should be able to clean the Church of Darkness in a few days. I hope the new Ruler of Darkness won''t disappoint me."

    Lerian removed his foot from the table and stood up. "Not much of a problem."

    "Lerian, stop." Before Lerian could leave, a voice came from the back. "I''m sure there''s more to it. We should listen properly first."

    Lerian stopped and turned around, ncing at the silver haired woman in the back. The young woman was dressed in all red, which created quite a contrast with her pure silver hair.

    The woman had a blindfold around her eyes which hid her eyes from everyone. She was also the only person amongst the Holy Priests who couldn''t see. Despite that, she was also one of the peak powerhouses amongst the Holy Priests. She was the Holy Priestess of Earth Rivia.

    Amongst the current eight Holy Priests, Rivia was someone who had been a Holy Priest the longest. After her was Lerian and then the Holy Priest of Wind Yael.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Amongst the ones who had been in contact with their Holy Grimoires the shortest time, at the top was Elora, who only recently became the Holy Priestess of Water. The second shortest time was said to be the current generation of Ruler of Light who had never made an appearance.

    The Holy Priest of Nature Welin looked the oldest out of everyone, but he was also the one who had the third shortest time since being selected by the Holy Grimoire. And the fourth shortest was Avilia.

    Even though each Grimoire possessed immense power of that element, it was said that the longer one had with their Grimoire, the more power they could withdraw, including the more powerful spells.

    If Lerian paid attention to anyone in this entire group after the death of thest Ruler of Light, it was Rivia even though he was confident that he could destroy her in the battle if the two of them fought.

    "Is there anything else to say?" he asked Thalia, still not taking his seat.

    "There is a lot. You can''t attack the City of Abaddon," Thalia answered, sighing. She told everyone here thest part of her story about how she and Elora attacked the City of Abaddon already, only to fail in destroying it.

    "Now we don''t know where the city of Abaddon is currently situated," she ended her story. "That was everything."

    Lerian was silent as he heard thest part of the story about how the two Holy Priestesses attacked.

    There was only silence in the entire hall. The air around them started getting warmer.

    "Are you being serious right now?!" Lerian asked, finally losing to his anger. He smacked his fist on the table in anger.

    Bang~

    The entire table that was made from the strongest of marbles in the world broke apart as if it was made of the weakest of ss!

    "So we had only one clue to get to the Dark Priests and you idiots attacked them all alone? Not only did you attack the ce but you also failed to conquer that ce? Can you be any more useless?"

    "You already did everything to ruin every opportunity we had of finding the Church of Darkness and now youe to us to help you salvage the situation after ruining everything?"

    ****

    Even though tempers were ring inside the Pce, nothing could be sensed from the outside. The pce not only contained all the noise inside to ensure that no one outside was able to hear what was being discussed inside, but also the increase in temperature couldn''t be sensed on the outside.

    It was as if the inner area of the Pce was in a different realm itself.

    Head Priests of many Churches were standing outside the Royal Pce, keeping an eye on each other even though it wasn''t necessary.

    However at the same time, another Head Priest came flying from a distance. Two wings made entirely of mes could be seen on his back, as if he was an angel of mes.

    "What is he doing here?"

    One of the Head Priests of mes flew up to intercept the middle aged Head Priest of mes who was flying in haste.

    "You came so far from the main branch. Did something happen?" The Head Priest, who apanied the Holy Priest of mes here, asked.

    "Yes! The crystal! It... It''s finally broken!"The middle aged Head Priest eximed. "We need to inform him!"

 Chapter 289 289: A Life For A Life

    The Head Priest of mes hade straight from the Church of mes, all to tell the Holy Priest of mes about this news.

    The other Head Priests who heard the news were also shocked, at least the ones who knew what it meant.

    "After all this time..."

    The Head Priest of other Churches were also curious about what was going on in the Church of mes. From their reactions, they should feel as if something big had happened but they didn''t know what.

    If it was enough to shock the Head Priests of the Church of mes, other Church members realized that it was certainly a big deal, maybe even rted to the meeting that was going on inside.

    "You''re right. We must inform him. But even we can''t interfere in the Meeting of Saints. Wait for him toe out first."

    The Head Priests of mesnded on the ground, agreeing to wait. Even though it was big news, they couldn''t enter the Pce to inform. Not only were the other Churches going to stop them, but it was also the same as directly offending all the Holy Priestess who were present in the meeting. They were sure that if they did that, even Lerian wasn''t going to save them.

    ****

    Gabriel had killed the Emperor of Arecia. After killing the man, he looked around, quite confused.

    With the kind of words that the Emperor was using to threaten him, he expected that some cmity was going to strike him and the Empire if Emperor Alecton was killed. However, everything seemed very normal for now.

    Everything was the same as before. The air was still gentle. The sky was still clear. He couldn''t feel any killing intent or any danger either.

    "Was he really bluffing?" he wondered.

    Duke Callum stepped closer to Gabriel, also observing the body of the old emperor on the ground.

    "Congrattions on bing the Emperor of Arecia. Within a day, everyone should know about it. It should be legal as well. But there is still something we need to deal with," he stated, pointing back at the three youngsters who were on their knees, crying.

    Gabriel turned around, noticing the Prince and the Two Princesses. The three of them didn''t have a hand in the fate of the Arecia n. They weren''t even born when that happened.

    "Even though their Royal Titles are invalid now, they were still once considered Royals. If they can gain enough support in the future, they might lead a rebellion," Callum warned Gabriel. "It''s better to rid trouble from its roots."

    "They can''t lead a rebellion," Gabriel answered. "After what happened today, do you think any of the remaining Noble family would dare support them? As for the public, they have already picked a side. Even I know just how bad of a reputation the young prince has."

    Gabriel was quite confident that these three had no cards in their hands. If anything, they were even more useless than they were in the beginning.

    "What about foreign help? There are many Empires who always wanted an excuse to invade. They won''t care about public sentiment or the prince''s reputation once they get an opportunity. Ours is also one of the only few Empires which doesn''t have the support of any Church," Duke Callum reminded Gabriel.

    He didn''t believe in giving mercy to the enemies, especially when one killed their parents. Bad blood was already established between the two sides after all.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "To avoid any future troubles, we need to be careful," he further added. "I don''t want you to regret it in the future. Maybe these people can''t hurt you now, but their lineage will continue growing. It might not be in the next hundred years, but what about the next thousand years? You won''t always be in the Empire, acting as a deterrent to all who have bad thoughts for this Empire."

    "If even Saint King''s lineage can fall once, what about yours? I don''t want to force you, but I still think you should avoid all troubles if possible. That''s all I''ll say. After this, the decision is yours."

    Duke Callum said all he had to say before taking a step back, leaving the final decision to Gabriel.

    Even Gabriel knew that his words weren''t wrong. As long as he lived, he didn''t think any Noble was going to dare rebel, but he wasn''t an immortal. Sooner orter, he was going to die. Could he really leave potential snakes lurking in the darkness to hunt his future descendants? Can he really allow the past of Arecia n to repeat itself?

    Princess Shia felt her heart being gripped by fear. The first time she met Gabriel, she didn''t feel like that. In fact, Gabriel was her saviour. But how... She truly felt scared. The young man who was once her saviour was going to kill her with his own hands?

    She could only close her eyes as she watched Gabriel step closer to her.

    She stabilized her breathing, even though her heart was racing.

    "You saved my life once. If not for you, I would''ve already been dead. I owe you a life, and if you want to take this life from me, I would ept."

    She didn''t dare open her eyes. She didn''t want Gabriel to see how terrified she truly was. Even in death, she wanted to be brave and ept death like a Royal.

    Even in death, she wanted to repay what she owed Gabriel... A life for a life...

    Unlike Shia, the other two siblings were much more different.

    Eldest Princess Azia was on her knees, shivering. Her face was covered in tears. She was always the timid one, but now, she couldn''t even speak. It was as if she had already lost her voice.

    She felt as if her body was already weak, all over.

    As for the Prince of Arecia, the young man had already wet his pants as soon as he watched his father die.

    He was always the brave and arrogant one, but only because he had the backing of his father and the Royal Knights. In one day, he lost all his backing and was already at death''s door.

    "E--Emperor! Don''t kill me! I''ll do anything you say! I''ll be your loyal dog in this life and in the next! Please don''t kill me! Please don''t kill me!"

    Gabriel was like the grim reaper for the Prince who was the most scared of death. The young prince ced his forehead on the ground, like a lowly servant, begging for forgiveness.

    He also didn''t forget to remind Gabriel that just like the Nobles who were allowed to live, he didn''t have anything to do with the fate of Arecia n!

    Gabriel watched the reaction of all three youngsters. All of their reactions were different from one another. One was brave, one was scared and one was already wetting his pants.

 Chapter 290 290: The Emperor!

    The fate and the future of all three of them was in Gabriel''s hands. However, looking at their pitiful state, even Gabriel didn''t feel like killing them.

    The Prince kept begging Gabriel to let him live, even if he meant bing a ve. As for Shia, she remained with her eyes closed, waiting for Gabriel''s sword to take her life.

    Gabriel knew that it was true that they hadn''t done anything wrong to him. The only problem was the potential future threat. Then again, could these three really increase his future threats more than it already was? Moreover, he was upset that the Arecia n even killed the children, all because they were scared of the future threat, even though the children weren''t an immediate threat to him.

    He couldn''t help but find himself in the same situation as the Alecton n in the past, having to decide if he needed to kill innocent people to remove potential troubles from roots or let them live.

    If he selected the first, he felt like he was going to be no different than the people he med. He was going to prove that the Alecton n was right in destroying the Arecia n from its roots.

    Gabriel''s silence was more scary for the three youngsters. They didn''t know what the young man could be thinking. This stress was particrly the highest for Azia who was already having a hard time breathing, due to fear. Azia was already feeling as if she was suffocating.

    Thud~

    Azia fell on her back. Her body was weak and her face was pale. She couldn''t even maintain her consciousness in this situation.

    Gabriel walked closer to Azia to check if she was still alive. He never really saw a person dying because of being scared.

    "Just unconscious," he muttered after checking the youngdy''s wrist. For some reason, he couldn''t help but find her pitiful. In a few days, there was going to be a tournament for the woman to find her husband who could protect her. And here she was, in a situation like this.

    Even Shia was simr. He himself saved her life, not realizing her true identity. He was the one who gave her life. Could he really take it now? The twodies didn''t do anything wrong to him.

    After a brief moment of silence, he finally decided on how to deal with the situation for now.

    "Duke Callum, Take them to the prison in the Pce for now. I''ll think about what to do with themter.Also, get a physician to check up on Azia. Don''t let her die until I''m done deciding."

    No matter what, he couldn''t convince himself to kill these three people. It wasn''t as simple as he had expected. At least not until he found out just what was in the heart of these three people. That''s why he came up with an idea. Sending them to the prison was just the start. He already decided how to decide their fate...

    At the same time no one else could see it, but a small piece of jade appeared in Gabriel''s hand. An invisible thread came out of the jade that wrapped around the neck of all three youngsters. The thread was invisible and maintained a few millimetres of distance from their throats. However the thread also controlled their lives. The thread could easily take off their heads if Gabriel desired.

    ''If you can pass this test, you will live. But if you can''t...''

    The young prince couldn''t believe that Gabriel was actually having mercy on them! Even though they were going to be imprisoned, it was better than a painful death! At least they could live that way! And who knew, Gabriel could even let them live in the future, taking some mercy on them.

    Even Shia was stunned. She knew that if her father was in Gabriel''s ce, he never would''ve let them live. But this guy... Didn''t this mean he saved her life twice?<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    The Royal Knights picked up Princess Azia who was unconscious. The others also made Princess Shia and Prince Rozen stand, escorting them out of the garden, making sure they couldn''t escape.

    "Are you sure you want to let them live?"

    Callum hadn''t expected Gabriel to be so merciful. In his heart, he knew that this kind of mercy was not something that a dark mage should possess. However, he also knew that maybe this was what made him different from every other dark mage?

    Even after years of torment, the man still managed to retain some of his sensibility. He couldn''t help but wonder if this was why he was able to win Avilia''s favor?

    "I''m not sure yet. But I''ll be sure soon. I''ve already thought of something. But first, I have another task for you." Gabriel didn''t answer what he nned right away. At least, not for now.

    "What task?"

    "Take the Royal Army and take control of all the Noble ns that lost their heads today," Gabrielmanded. "From today on, all their armies will be ours. Whoever stands in your way, kill them. You understand? I don''t want even the remnants of those ns to be left in the Empire!"

    "I''ll handle it." Callum agreed. "From today on, this entire Empire will be yours. And who knows, maybe one day, this Empire can also be the ce where the Church of Darkness can make a return!"

    ''Church of Darkness in Arecia?'' Gabriel frowned, but didn''t respond.

    He didn''t want the Arecia Empire to join the war of churches. Even if he was to fight with other churches, he didn''t want to use Arecia for that battle.

    Even though he was the Emperor of Arecia; for him, this Empire still belonged to Novius. He didn''t want it to face a war which could destroy Arecia from its core!

    Callum left the garden as well, leaving to handle the matters that could solidify Gabriel''s control over the Empire.

    Gabriel also sent the remaining Royal Knights back, making sure that only he was left behind in the midst of all the bodies.

    In the beautiful garden, the blood of Nobles had already painted some of the grass red.

    After everyone left, Gabriel finally lowered her guard, sitting on the soft grass, letting out a sigh. So far, things had gone really smoothly. From tomorrow, everyone was going to know that Arecia had a new Emperor. His control over this Empire was absolute with the removal of the traitorous Nobles.

    He didn''t even have to use much of his magic to achieve all this. In the eyes of the Royal Knights, he was just a slightly more powerful Knight with the Holy Sword. He didn''t possess any magic like mages.

    "Everything is over... I did it... I freed this Empire. Then why...? Why do I not feel any relief? Why do I feel as if something is wrong? As if danger is getting closer from all sides? As if the future is going to be even more chaotic than I initially expected?"

 Chapter 291 291: Fate Crystal

    ****

    The morning sky was a brilliant shade of blue, with the sun beginning to peek over the horizon. A light breeze rustled through the trees, bringing with it a sweet scent of fresh flowers and grass. The birds were chirping happily as they flew around looking for breakfast. The dew glistened on the newly bloomed wildflowers, giving them an extra sparkle in the early light.

    Gabriel had spent the entire night in the Garden, trying to figure out the mystery behind the garden. His ring was still giving him the same signals as before, as if something really was in the garden that he couldn''t see.

    It was clear that whatever his ring was after was still in the garden. During the night, he checked the body of every person who was present here and only after making sure that they didn''t have what he was looking for did he destroy the bodies.

    Even on the body of the Emperor, he didn''t find anything worth great importance. The Emperor didn''t carry any Numens with him at all. The only strange thing that he found was some kind of broken jade dust that was in the hands of the Emperor.

    Gabriel didn''t understand what the jade dust was. It had no special aura and didn''t feel like a treasure. However, as soon as he touched the jade dust, he realized that it wasn''t ordinary either. The jade dust was really warm, as if it was sand that was just taken out of scorching mes.

    Despite being so hot, it didn''t burn his, or the Emperor''s skin.

    Despite spending the night here and searching every corner of the garden, he couldn''t find anything at all.

    In the end, he could only sit on one of the chairs, feeling tired. All the bodies of people who were killed were gone. Even the blood that was sttered around the garden had been cleared, thanks to one of the Numens that Gabriel took from the Academy of Elements.

    The calmness that came from this beautiful morning gave way to a feeling of peace and serenity that seemed to linger in the air. It was truly breathtaking and one could not help but feel grateful for such beauty all around them. Looking at the present atmosphere, no one could''ve guessed that just a few hours ago, something horrible had happened here where most of the Nobilities were wiped.

    "Something is definitely in this garden, but I can''t seem to find it. If it''s not on the surface, could it really be underground?" Gabriel wondered, observing the massive garden.

    Looking at the massive size of the garden, he understood just how hard it was to dig the entire thing up, especially since the ring wasn''t telling him exactly where he needed to dig, or what he was looking for. He didn''t even know if it was actually a Numen, or something weird like before.

    "If some orbs like before are buried under this garden, they would definitely increase my spiritual strength. But I just increased it myself. Increasing it more before strengthening my body would only be more dangerous. I should really retrieve the thing that can help me before digging the garden..."

    Gabriel didn''t know just how long the peace of Arecia was going tost. He was sure that he couldn''t rely on Avilia entirely either. He needed strength himself. He already had strength to some extent, but the problem for now was that he couldn''t safely use all the strength he possessed.

    Now that the Royal Pce was under his control, he wanted to solve that problem at the earliest.

    ****

    The meeting of Saints which was supposed to be over in a few hours strangely dragged on for over twelve hours. No one outside knew what the Holy Priests were discussing for so long inside the Pce. They couldn''t even guess what could take such strong existences so long to discuss.

    It was early morning when the door of the Pce opened. The first person to step out of the hall was the red haired Holy Priest of mes, who looked a bit irritated.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "Holy Lord!" The Head Priest of mes rushed ahead, as soon as he watched Leriane out.

    "What are you doing here?" Lerian asked, slightly intrigued to see the Head Priest here who he left at the main Church to protect that ce.

    "My Lord, something big happened. I had toe here to inform you personally!" The Head Priest replied.

    Lerian knew that the Head Priest before him was the strongest mage in the Holy Church of mes after him. He really wasn''t the one to exaggerate things.

    "The fate stone of your daughter... It''s been broken..." The Head Priest exined, subtly taking a step back. He wasn''t sure just how Lerian was going to react to this information.

    They had been waiting all this time for information like this, but this information was also something that was painful for all of them to share.

    Avilia and the other Head Priests also came out of the meeting hall, at the same time as the Head Priest divulged this information.

    Hearing the information, Lerian wentpletely silent. For a moment, he didn''t even move. There was no reaction... To some, his reaction made him look as if this information wasn''t worth any interest to him and that''s why he was unmoved.

    However, only the ones that knew him understood the truth. Lerian was an overbearing and arrogant man who was very easy to anger at times. He was also very strong. However, it was only when he was truly hurt that he didn''t say anything.

    Since Lerian''s hands were in his pockets, not many could see his clenched fists. His own nails were stabbing his fist, making his hands bleed.

    "I think I forgot something inside. I''ll be right back." After a few moments, he finally spoke. He turned around and went back inside the meeting hall.

    Since every other Holy Priest was already outside, he was the only one who was inside. Lerian closed the door for a moment, cutting him off from the outside World.

    No one could hear what was happening inside. Simrly, no one could interfere.

    "Arghhh!" Inside the meeting hall, Lerian screamed at the top of his lungs, letting out all his rage and emotions that he kept hidden throughout the years.

    It was the first time in his life where his mes went out of control. Usually, Lerian''s mes that people saw were dark red, that could burn anything in its path. However, the mes that came out of his body were a darker shade of blue, which was even more powerful than his ordinary mes.

    The dark blue mes covered the entire hall as Lerian roared at the top of his lungs, smacking his fist on the table again and again!

    *****

 Chapter 292 292: Changed Forever

    Usually, all the Holy Priests would''ve already left now that the meeting was over, especially since all of them were feeling a bit tired. However, in the current situation, they didn''t leave. They remained behind, ncing back at the door of the mansion.

    "Is he going to be alright?" The Holy Priestess of Thunder asked, slightly worried. It was as if she understood what had happened.

    She wasn''t the only one either. Almost everyone here knew what this was about, except one person... Elora.

    Elora was the newest addition to the Holy Priests. She also didn''t have an extensive intelligencework like other churches. Moreover, since she was so new, she didn''t know much about other Holy Priests at all. That''s also why she had to take Thalia''s help to arrange for the meeting of Saints.

    Even Avilia was slightly down as soon as she heard the news. She didn''t have any friendly rtions with any Holy Priest. However, she could understand what the Holy Priest of mes must be feeling at a time like this.

    "I wonder who did it... They really invited a disaster." Avilia could only sigh. She knew what the oue of this was going to be.

    "What is happening?" In the end, Avilia could only take Thalia''s help to get some information. She didn''t want to be the only one who didn''t know what it was about.

    "Do you know what fate stones are?" Thalia asked the Holy Priestess of Water.

    "I do. I have one as one. They are so rare that even my entire Church only has one." Elora nodded. "The fate crystals can be attached to a person. When that person is in danger, they can crush that fate stone and this information is then sent to the ce where the core of the Fate Crystal was set."

    "Of course it''s rare, since the materials to make them can''t be easily found. If I''m not wrong, there are only ten such fate crystals in this entire continent," Thalia agreed.

    "In other words, if you crush your jade stone, the Church of Water will get that information along with your location. They can then send help. This is only used as ast resort by us since each Church only has one Fate Crystal. Only the Church of Light which has two."

    "Usually, the Fate Crystal is kept by the Holy Priests of the Churches since their safety is of utmost importance for the Churches. However, the Church of mes was different. Lerian didn''t use his fate crystal for himself," the Holy Priestess of Earth also chimed in. She had been a Holy Priestess the longest.

    "Who did he give?" Elora inquired, wondering who could be worth a fate stone. Who could Lerian care for more than his own life?

    "He gave it to his daughter," the Holy Priestess of Earth answered. "The person he cared the most for in his life..."

    "He has a daughter?" Elora asked, taken aback. She had no idea that Lerian had a family and a daughter? She wondered why she never heard it.

    "He ''had'' a daughter," the Holy Priestess of Earth rified.

    "Before he became a Holy Priest, he was already married," Thalia affirmed. "Not only did he have a daughter, but he also had a wife and a son. Unfortunately, his son and his wife were killed by some bandits. Only his daughter managed to survive. Since then, his daughter had been his life. A few years after that incident, he became the Holy Priest of mes..."<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "I still remember the day he introduced his daughter to me," the Holy Priestess of Earth let out a sigh, as if she remembered the past. "You might hate his behaviour and how he reacts, but he used to be really different before he lost his daughter as well. I know that on the inside, he''s still the same person, but he has buried his real self in a shell for a long time."

    ? "H-his daughter died?!" Elora eximed in shock. Who could''ve killed his daughter, especially after he became a Holy Priest? Wasn''t it even worse than attacking him personally?

    "How is it possible?" she asked. "Didn''t she have a Fate Crystal? She could''ve easily alerted him! Right?"

    "That''s what should''ve happened ideally." Thalia nodded. "However, for some reason, even as his daughter was kidnapped, her fate stone wasn''t broken. It was as if whoever took her knew about her fate stone and prevented her from breaking it."

    The Holy Priestess of Earth further exined, "The Church of mes searched everywhere for his daughter. Of course I also helped, along with the other Churches."

    "We were all hoping to find the little girl alive, but we couldn''t. After two weeks of search, all we found was her dead body, in an abandoned house... She was only twelve when she was killed. And it wasn''t a merciful death either. From the wounds on her body, she was tortured before being killed."

    "The entire incident had left a deep impression on all the Churches, especially on Lerian. He was so angry that he burned the entire town where her body was found in anger."

    "It was the first time a Church was targeted to such an extent. That incident changed Lerian forever. I don''t think anyone has ever seen Lerian genuinely smile ever since that incident. He always hides behind a fake personality from what I can understand," the Holy Priestess of Earth stated. Since she knew Lerian the longest, she also knew him the most.

    "Ever since that day, he had been looking for clues as to what happened that day. We could only guess that the Dark Mages were behind this. Even though we have no evidence, only they could pull something like that off. That''s why he was so eager to leave the meeting to find the Church of Darkness as soon as he heard about their return."

    "That''s also why he was so upset when he found out that you lost the only clue which could lead us to the Church of Darkness that rose again. So I hope you won''t me him for being rude. It''s something really personal for him... And for me as well," the Holy Priestess of Earth eximed. "I also want to know what happened that day, and who was behind this."

    "I get it... I think I understand him better now..." Elora lowered her head, gazing toward the pce. She finally understood why Lerian was so intimidating in the meeting. It was only now that she realized how little she knew about everything.

    ********

    (A/N: Some extra and important detail has been added in chapter 290 which I forgot to mentionst time. If you want to read and can''t see updated chapter, please try clearing cache of the app and check the chapter.

    Also Important information: From 20 December, there will be a WN event where you can give your Golden Tickets to help the book. The GT will be counted double and should also help the book more than usual. So if you want to give at that time, please save your GT and don''t give before 20 December.

    If we reach the target, there should be two mass releases in next 30 days and something extra.)

 Chapter 293 293: About Time

    "Now that the fate stone is broken, doesn''t that mean...?" Elora understood why Lerian was so upset.

    The only thing which could''ve helped him find what happened that day was the Fate Stone. It was something that could record events that led up to the death of the owner even if it was not broken.

    As long as they could''ve found the fate stone, they could''ve recovered that information and found out the truth of that incident. With the destruction of the Fate Stone, they lost all opportunity.

    "This is bad news as well as good news in a way," The Holy Priest of Wind also spoke, entering the discussion. "He has been trying for so long to find the Fate Stone of his daughter. If he couldn''t find it until now, that means it was impossible for him to find it. Instead of failing to find it, it''s better to have the stone broken."

    "What do you mean?" Elora inquired, not understanding why having the stone broken was a good thing.

    "The Fate Stone wasn''t on the body when we found out," the Holy Priest of Wind answered. "And the Church of mes searched the entire path, worrying that maybe the kidnapper tossed the stone. Since they couldn''t find the stone in the path leading upto the location we found the body, that meant the stone wasn''t tossed. Instead, the killer took the stone with him."

    "Now that the Fate Stone is broken, it not only transmits its location to the Church of mes, but it also marks everyone who was within a hundred thousand miles of the stone when it was broken."

    "I don''t know why the stone broke after all this time, but if the stone was kept by the killer, when it broke, it must be near the killer as well. Now that everyone who was in the range of the stone has been marked, Lerian should finally be able to get some answers."

    The shattered Fate Stone meant the chance of finding the exact details were forever lost, but it also meant that Lerian could finally get closer to the real killer, or at least people who were associated with that incident.

    "I''m afraid if he can''t find answers, he would most probably kill everyone marked by the stone." The Holy Priestess of Earth sighed, shaking her head.

    She turned to the Head Priest who brought this information here. "You there! Tell me which city it is?"

    She knew that whichever City the stone was broken in was definitely going to face a cmity in the future. She just didn''t want it to be one of the cities in her jurisdiction. If that was the case, things could get moreplicated between her and Lerian.

    "I-i can''t tell you that." The Head Priest stepped back, slightly hesitating. He couldn''t provide this kind of information to anyone else without the permission of Lerian.

    The door of the Pce opened at the same time as extremely scorching air rushed out. A man stepped out of the Pce. The aura around the man waspletely different from before.

    *****

    Gabriel entered the Royal Pce, slightly tired. As he entered, he was greeted by all the Royal Knights. By now, everyone in the Empire knew that the young man who barely looked to be twenty years old was the new Emperor of Arecia!

    The Head Servant of the Royal Pce personally came to escort Gabriel inside to show him around the Pce.

    "Take me to the Royal Treasury first..." Gabriel told the Head Servant who seemed to be taking him to the room where he could rest first.

    The Head Servant agreed and changed directions. "The Treasury is in that direction in the central part of the pce."

    As Gabriel was being escorted, he couldn''t help but observe all the portraits that were hanging on the wall. In most of the portraits, only the Royal Alecton Family was depicted.

    "Have these portraits changed. If you still have the pictures from Arecia n, hang them instead. If not, buy any random paintings from the market. I don''t want to see these the next time," he informed the Head Servant, who instantly noted it down.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "It shall be done, Your Majesty."

    Looking at the portrait in which the Emperor was painted with his family, Gabriel thought of something. "That reminds me. It should be time..."

    ****

    "That bastard! I will kill him when I have the strength!"

    The Eldest Prince of Arecia was tossed in a cell. It was only after he made sure that no guards were here that he finally calmed down and returned to his old attitude.

    He was supposed to be the Prince who was destined to be the Emperor after his father! This Empire was supposed to be his inheritance and his property. However, it was because of Gabriel that he lost everything! Not only was his father killed, but he was also a prisoner now!

    Whenever he remembered how shameful he felt when he wet his pants before Gabriel in fear, he could only scream at the top of his lungs in anger. Unfortunately, even he knew that there was nothing he could do for now.

    In a nearby cell, both his sisters were kept. Azia was already given the medical treatment that she needed before being left in the cell.

    The Prince was still cursing Gabriel when he heard the sound of footsteps. He instantly closed his mouth and didn''t dare speak, not knowing who wasing.

    He sat with his back resting against the wall, keeping his eyes focused outside to see who wasing.

    ''Another prisoner?'' he thought, noticing the guards outside the door. The guards were escorting a middle aged man who had both his hands tied behind his back.

    The guards opened the door and pushed the middle aged man inside.

    "A spy from Yann dares to roam around in our Empire? This bastard really thought he wouldn''t be caught." The Guards scoffed before they turned and left.

    "A spy from Yann? You must not be a good spy if you were caught that easily," the Princemented, shaking his head in disappointment.

    If it was in the past, he would''ve hated the man who was spying on his empire, but now the Empire wasn''t his. He couldn''t care less who was spying on the Empire. If anything, he wanted more people to know what happened here to see if someone could help him.

    "Young Prince, your words are really sharp. And that too, after I came all this way to help you?"

    The middle aged man said, letting out a disappointed sigh. "It seems you don''t need my help. In that case, I''ll be leaving."

    The man stood up, stretching his arms as hezily yawned.

    Initially, the Prince didn''t think much. In fact, he was about to call the middle aged man an idiot for thinking that he could still help him, despite being a prisoner as well. However, it was only after a while that he realized something wasn''t right!

 Chapter 294 294: Judgement

    The Prince realized that something was wrong. When the man was pushed inside the cell, his hands were tied behind his back by shackles. However, now his hands were free? How was he able to free himself without any help?

    "W-who are you?!" The Young Prince eximed. "You aren''t an ordinary person, are you? To get out of the shackles so easily without help... Who truly are you?!"

    "Who am I? Didn''t you already hear that I''m someone from Yann? I happened to be here when this Empire went through such a sudden change that even I didn''t expect. I must say, the new Emperor is really too hard headed, and I think that he would prove to be a much worse adversary for Yann."

    "I would much prefer the Alecton n''s way of doing things which ensured peace between the two Empires! But with this sudden change, things can be much moreplicated. That''s why, I couldn''t stand idle."

    "With the current Emperor''s mentality, I don''t think the peace willst long. That''s why, I decided to lend a helping hand in this situation to you," the middle aged man turned around, shing an amused smile. "I intentionally got caught by the guards so I could have easy ess to you. If we want to bring you back to the throne, I''ll need your help after all."

    The middle aged man didn''t seem scared at all. Moreover, from his words, the Prince confirmed that the man intentionally came here. How could someone who can easilye out of the shackles get caught so easily?

    "Y-you can help me reim the throne?" The Young Prince asked, taken aback. At a time like that, he really needed an opportunity and only an Empire like Yann could provide that support!

    "Of course I can," the middle aged man answered smugly. "I can help you get out of this ce easily. However, even I''m not strong enough to kill that young bastard. He is quite strong, especially with the Holy Sword of Arecia. That''s why, after we leave, we need to get to Yann first."

    "After we get to Yann and you sign the documents asking for our help, our Empire will send some great experts to help you. This will also help us improve the rtionship between the two Empires. So, what do you say, young prince? Do you agree with my suggestion?"

    The Prince was slightly hesitant. He knew that Yann wasn''t as righteous as they were pretending to be. If Yann was going to help, they were definitely going to ask for some great rewards in exchange.

    They could even ask for half the treasury in exchange. They were very greedy ording to the young Prince.Unfortunately, he had no other choice. If he could keep the throne for himself, he was willing to sacrifice the Empire''s treasures!

    "I-i am willing!" The Prince agreed. No matter what he chose, he was at a loss. However, if he sided with Yann, at least he could reim the throne and watch Gabriel die with his own eyes!

    "Good." The Middle Aged man walked to the door. He pulled out a small pin from his pockets and used it to break open the lock.

    "You think you can break the locks like that? And here I thought you had some skills." The Prince could only sigh in disappointment. However, as he heard a clicking sound, his eyes widened! The lock actually opened!

    The man had managed to open their lock with a small pin? He couldn''t understand how this was possible.

    "Stop daydreaming. The faster we get out of here, the better. We need to leave this city as soon as possible."

    The man opened the door and stepped out of the prison cells.

    "This man... People from Yann are not bad. Maybe cooperation with them is for the best..." The Prince stepped out of the cell as well.

    "I heard your sisters were here as well. We need to take them as well. With more Royals from Alecton n, Yann''s actions would have more legitimacy," the middle aged man reminded the Prince.

    "That''s right!" The Young Prince didn''t question the logic. He rushed to the cell right next to him. Both his sisters were in the same cell, just waiting in silence.

    Azia had also regained her consciousness, slightly relieved that she was still alive.

    "Brother, how are you outside?!" Shia eximed in shock to find her brother outside.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "We don''t have time for questions. Come with me! We are leaving Arecia! We will go to Yann and ask for their help in killing Gabriel!" The Prince informed his two sisters while the middle aged man used the same pin to unlock the second door as well.

    "Going to Yann...?" Shia was stunned. Her brother was thinking about attacking Arecia with the help of Yann? Had he gone crazy? That too, after Gabriel let them live?

    "Stop thinking! This is the only way to get the throne which belongs to me! Don''t worry, I''ll finalize the deal! You just need to stand beside me! Nowe out!" The Prince kept looking around to make sure that no guards wereing.

    Shia didn''t know what to say. She just looked at the middle aged man. ording to her brother, the man was from Yann. If she left, she truly could have a better life. Yann was slightly stronger than Arecia after all. With their help, reiming the throne was certainly possible.

    Despite all that, she didn''t stand. She only lowered her head. "You can leave. I''m not going."

    "What?! Have you lost your mind?! Stop being stubborn ande with me! The guards might return at any time!" The Prince felt like scolding his sister out loud but he couldn''t risk alerting the guards above.

    "I won''t leave. I ept that we''ve lost the Empire. I''ve epted my fate. Moreover, I don''t think Gabriel is a bad person. Despite what our father did to his family, he let us live. He saved my life twice... I would rather die than leave. I don''t want to repay a life with death."

    "You stubborn idiot!" The Prince could only curse in his heart. If they didn''t need to sneak out, he would''ve dragged her out personally. However, he couldn''t afford to drag a burden who didn''t want to leave as that could only slow them down.

    "Azia, youe with us! Let this stubborn idiot stay behind and die! I don''t care anymore!" He turned his attention to Azia.

    Azia was already very confused. Initially, she didn''t like Gabriel since the man killed their father. However, after she thought about it, it was clear that their father was indeed the one who betrayed others for the throne. Gabriel was just reiming what belonged to him.

    Moreover, Shia was right. Even when he had an opportunity, he showed them kindness by letting them live. He even sent doctors to help her when she lost consciousness. She had heard everything from Shia. Even her opinion about Gabriel had changed.

    Another reason she didn''t stand up was that she was truly scared. She was already the most timid person here who couldn''t even speak in a loud voice, let alone have courage to sneak out of the Empire when they were supposed to be prisoners. She would rather stay here in silence all her life than risk anything.

    She opened her lips to reject the invitation of her brother, however she couldn''t gather courage to say that either. In the end, she could only shake her head, refusing to leave. She lowered her head, making sure to not look in her brother''s eyes.

    "You idiots! Have you all lost your sanity? Fine! If you don''te, then don''t me me for being ruthlesster! From today onwards, you aren''t members of our n! Even when I get the throne, I will never release you from this prison!" the Prince ruthlessly stated as he turned his back on both his sisters.

    He turned to the middle aged man, ready to leave. "Envoy of Yann, my sisters aren''ting. But don''t worry. I''m the Crown Prince. I should be enough alone for Yann to take action! Let''s leave!"

    The middle aged man smiled in response. "There''s no need for leave. That should be enough. We are done here..."

    "We are done?" The Prince frowned in confusion. "What do you mean? That should be enough for what?"

    "Enough for your judgement," A voice came from the distance, making the Prince hastily look to his left.

    The Prince recognised that voice! It was the voice that he dreaded the most! It was Gabriel''s voice!

    Even the two Princesses stood up as soon as they heard the voice! It was really Gabriel!

    Just as the Prince had expected, not too far from him, Gabriel was standing. Finding Gabriel right in front of him, the young Prince was so scared that he subconsciously started stabbing back, tripping over and falling down.

 Chapter 295 295: Fate

    "Y-you stop him! Don''t let him kill me! Yann needs me!" The Prince eximed at the top of his lungs, even when Gabriel hadn''t started moving.

    He had seen the middle aged man remove shackles on his own. He knew that the man was strong. He didn''t know how strong, but he really hoped that he was strong enough to hold Gabriel back. He still hadn''t realized that the man was working for Gabriel and the only reason he came out of the shackles was because he wasn''t properly shackled at all.

    The middle aged man looked at the young prince with a pitiful gaze. The Prince had fallen straight into the lie. Then again, he was a citizen of Yann and expected something like that. He knew the personality of this young man who could do anything to live. What he didn''t expect was the two Princesses who refused to leave.

    He was sure that the Princesses didn''t know that this was a set-up by Gabriel to decide the future of the three. It only meant that they genuinely had no intentions of usurping Gabriel.

    "Help you?" the middle aged man asked the Prince on the ground. "With a Prince as stupid as you, it''s no wonder your family couldn''t hold onto the power. Let alone me, no one in this Empire can help you. You were dead the moment you agreed to leave the cell with me."

    The man didn''t interfere in what was about to happen next. He just stepped back, wondering just how Gabriel was going to deal with the Prince.

    Gabriel didn''t speak much. After briefly observing the Prince who was on the ground, he turned around. "Shift the Princesses to proper rooms in the castle. They aren''t allowed to leave their rooms without my permission. Assign some guards before the rooms assigned to them."

    "Your Majesty, about the Prince?" the middle aged man asked, surprised. Was Gabriel not going to kill the Prince? That didn''t make sense.

    "What Prince?" Gabriel asked, without even bothering to look back.

    "That... Huh?" The Middle Aged man was about to reply when he heard some noiseing from behind him. As soon as he turned around, he found the Prince still lying on the ground. However, his head wasn''t attached to his body anymore.

    ''This guy... He is frightening,'' the middle aged man thought, watching Gabriel leave.

    The two Princesses were horrified to watch their brother being killed. All they saw before their brother''s head rolled on the ground was a single thread of light appearing around the man''s neck as if it was a cor. The cor of light immediately tightened, slicing the throat of the Prince.

    Both the Princesses gulped down, touching their throats, wondering if there was a simr cor around their necks which they couldn''t see...

    ****

    The Two Princesses were shifted to proper rooms in the castle, treated like guests. However, all the servants knew that it was no different than house arrest. They were given a proper room to stay, and delicious food daily, but they weren''t allowed to leave.

    It only took twenty four hours and the news about the new Emperor spread in the entire Empire. The news even travelled to the neighbouring Empires with time, shocking all the nearby Empires. The change was so sudden after all.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Most of the people didn''t even know what the Emperor looked like, but ording to the stories that spread, the new Emperor was a young Knight in his early twenties who was a descendant of the Arecia n. No one knew that he was a Mage... No one except Duke Callum who was the only Duke left in the Empire.

    All the Dukes that helped the previous Emperor in destroying the Arecia n had been killed. Duke Callum also destroyed all the ns that refused to surrender right away. As for the ns that did surrender, all people who could influence the future stability of the Empire were killed by him, leaving only the ones who couldn''t affect anything.

    The Dukes who sided with Gabriel gave up their properties, wealth and armies on their own. Duke Callum didn''t even need to work hard for that.

    Within a day, the size of the Royal Army had increased by multiple folds and all Powers who maintained their own armies were brought down a notch. Despite such a drastic change happening in the Empire in such a short time, nothing back happened since most of the people already supported the new Emperor.

    Even the criminals didn''t dare to cause any troubles after hearing just how ruthless the new Emperor was to his enemies. There was not a single person in the Empire who wasn''t talking about Gabriel for now.

    Meanwhile, Gabriel was still in his room in the Pce. He had searched the entire Pce from top to bottom throughout the day, finally finding the telling that he was looking for.

    He was sitting on the bed, looking at the cross shaped earring that was ced before him.

    The mirror in the tower of challenges only told him that the earring could help make his body be stronger, but how? He didn''t know. He wasn''t even told anything about the earring, or the demigod it belonged to. Since he had limited questions, he couldn''t ask these questions either.

    However, he had something that he believed could help him understand this peculiar Numen and its past.

    "Lambard was after this item, so it shouldn''t have been disappointing. Unfortunately, it has only failed me so far. I hope it doesn''t fail now..." He brought out the Eye of Osiris, which belonged to the Demigod Osiris who could see past and present of anything.

    Even though the eye of Osiris wasn''t as powerful as Demigod Osiris in terms of abilities, it still had one of the Demigod''s skills. No matter which item Gabriel looked at, the ring of Osiris could look into its past and reveal all the mysteries about it...at least that''s what he thought initially.

    He only used this ring three times... First was on the Orb of Time and the second was on the Grimoire of Necromancy. The first two times, the eyes of Osiris failed to look through these items, as if the items were beyond its reach. It was only when he used it on a low tier Numen that was associated with Demigods that it worked.

    With that kind of experience, Gabriel wasn''t even sure if this was going to work on the earring before him, but he could only try. Since the earring of strength belonged to a Demigod, he had a feeling that it might work.

    He held the eye of Osiris between his thumb and his finger before touching the earring with it.

 Chapter 296 296: Alion

    The Eye of Osiris was a gem that belonged to Demigoddess Osiris who had an ability that was strong enough to even look into the past of gods like Karyk. This was also the ability which gave her an ability to know things that others didn''t, helping her take decisions ordingly.

    It was said that this was also the reason Osiris was very peculiar about who she associated with. She never used her abilities to help others.

    However, unlike Osiris, the gem that came into being after her death only had a fraction of her strength. Let alone being able to look through the past of gods, it couldn''t even look through things directly associated with them... Things like the stone of time and the Grimoire of Necromancy. Whenever it tried, it only faced a dark cloud that stopped it.

    The gem could only help someone look through ordinary items and Numens associated with Demigods.

    As soon as Gabriel touched the earring with the Eye of Osiris, the gem started shining brightly. A lot of information suddenly gushed inside Gabriel''s head through the eye of Osiris.

    It was as if Gabriel was living through that time, watching everything from a third person''s view.

    In the first vision, Gabriel found a boy lying on the ground. His head was bleeding, but he was still conscious.

    Not too far from the boy, there was a woman who was lying dead on the ground. The woman had simr facial features to that boy. Looking at her age, Gabriel could feel that the woman was probably her mother.

    There was also a man, whose legs were cut. The man and the boy were surrounded from all sides by people who seemed to be bandits.

    The man was begging the bandits to at least let their son leave, but the bandits were onlyughing heartlessly. It didn''t seem as if they were going to let anyone leave alive.

    The little boy watched his father be killed as well, unable to do anything. The bandits didn''t even stop there and moved over to the boy.

    Gabriel watched the entire scene, slightly curious. Since this was shown by the Eye of Osiris, that meant this had something to do with Demigod Alion who owned the Earring.

    He was sure that one person in the entire scene was Alion, and most probably that person was the young boy.

    "We would''ve loved to sell you as a ve in three market, but too bad that''s not feasible. We are tasked to kill you. So be it!" The leader of the bandits raised his Sword, ready to slice.

    The little boy closed his tear filled eyes that were filled with anger and indignation.

    "Boss! Someone ising!" Just as the sword was about to touch the boy, one of the bandits eximed.

    The Bandit King stopped and turned around. "What are you telling me that for? No matter who it is, kill him! No one who saw us today shall be left alive!"

    Gabriel also looked in the distance. Looking at the person who had arrived, he couldn''t help but scratch the back of his head. "These guys are doomed it seems..."<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    He was sure that the boy was going to live since he was Demigod Alion in the future. He just didn''t know how. However, now that he saw the person who had just arrived, he understood how Alion survived.

    The young man who was arriving was traveling on a horse. He didn''t even seem to care about his surroundings. There was a blood red sword hanging on the man''s back.

    "Demigod Ulien," Gabriel muttered, recognising that man. The man not only had the strength to destroy other Demigods with ease, but he also had a very short temper. If not for him facing off against Karyk identally, Gabriel was sure that Ulien wouldn''t have died that soon.

    For someone like him to deal with a few bandits was certainly an overkill ording to him.

    Gabriel could only pity the bandits that attacked Ulien without knowing the demon that they were provoking.

    Just as he expected, Ulien was angered right away. In a single strike, he killed all the bandits who were standing in his path. Even the Bandit King couldn''t survive.

    The only person still alive was Alion. Ulien didn''t care for Alion who was injured. He simply got back on his horse and left...

    Gabriel watched Ulien leave. "Looking at his attire he''s wearing, and his age, there should not be much time before he''s killed by Karyk."

    Looking in Alion''s eyes, he realized that this was also the moment... The moment when Alion realized the importance of strength. He wanted to be strong like Ulien. He knew that if he was stronger, he could''ve protected his family from all troubles. His family wouldn''t have died.

    The vision changed. In the next few scenes, Gabriel saw Alion train as hard as he could, to bing as strong as possible. He didn''t even care about his life as he trained, slowly increasing his strength. There were many times when Alion was close to death''s door in his training, but he didn''t care.

    It was unclear when it happened, but Alion became a Demigod, selected by the chaotic energy that gave him immense physical strength. His skin became so hard that even swords couldn''t prate his skin.

    When it came to physical strength, he was the strongest. However, his spiritual strength was the weakest amongst all the Demigods. He couldn''t use any magic, only relying on his own strength.

    The cross-shaped earrings that Gabriel now possessed was also one of the two earrings that Alion used to wear.

    The vision showed Gabriel a lot of things, rted to Alion, but there was one thing it didn''t show. The eye of Osiris didn''t show Gabriel just how Alion died. Just what led to Alion''s death... Someone who had such powerful physical strength? And what happened to the second earring? Was that also a Numen? Gabriel still had many questions.

    Unfortunately, he was pushed out of the vision,ing back to his senses. He didn''t know the end of Alion.

    Since he couldn''t get an answer, he sent the eye of Osiris back and tried another method. He used the method to bind the earring to himself, using his own blood. When binding, it gave him a small chance of being able to know more things, especially from the memories stored in the earring of strength.

    He used a small knife to slightly cut his thumb and used his own blood to create his unique binding formation. Thest owner of the earring was dead, so he doesn''t worry about failing. He was left curious about the past¡­

 Chapter 297 297: Strength Isnt Free

    Gabriel used the binding formation, created with his own blood on the earring, binding it with him. Unlike the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, the Earring of Strength didn''t resist his control a lot. Within a few minutes, the formation was sessful, granting even more information ess to Gabriel.

    He received all the information on how he could use the earring of strength and exactly how it affected him. All this information flooded his head. Unfortunately, all he received was the information regarding the cross-shaped earring and nothing more. There was nothing rted to Alion in the new information.

    "So that''s what this is... I wasn''t expecting it to work like that... This makes it a bit challenging..." Gabriel picked up the Silver Earring of Alion. When he was informed about this Numen initially, he expected it to make his body stronger simply by using it. However, it was only now that he realized that there was more to it.

    Although the earring made his body stronger when he wore it, the strength came at a cost... The cost of immense pain. Alion went through a lot of pain, borderline torturing his body to gain this strength. After his strength, the earring became a Numen, gaining a consciousness of its own.

    The way it made a person stronger was by using a simr method to Alion, just a little more concise.

    "From what I can understand, this will hurt a lot if I wear it," Gabriel observed the earring, which looked very ordinary from the initial nce. "But I don''t have much of a choice. The constant pain and pressure will only make me stronger with time..."

    *****

    "Arghhhhh!"

    A pained roar echoed through the hallways,ing from the Emperor''s room. Outside the room, many Royal Knights wondered what was happening and why Gabriel was screaming. They even wanted to check if something was wrong. However, they couldn''t disobey Gabriel''smand.

    Gabriel had already informed them that no one was allowed to enter the room, no matter what happened.

    The Captain of the Royal Knights and the new Saint Knight also arrived outside the room, seemingly concerned.

    From Gabriel''s constant screams, it was clear that he was going through soul-crushing pain. The pain should''ve been enough to make anyone lose consciousness by now, but Gabriel was still holding on.

    "What is he doing inside...?" The Saint Knight wondered. "He said he would be doing some training, but a training this painful?!"

    ****

    Gabriel expected pain when he wore the earring in his left ear, but even he didn''t expect this much pain... It was as if he was going to lose consciousness from pain, but the earring kept him conscious so as to make his willpower stronger as well.

    The room was filled with a tense atmosphere as the figure in the bed writhed in agony. Sweat beads were on his forehead, and his eyes were squeezed shut as his hands gripped tightly to the sheets beneath him.

    His breathing was shallow, punctuated by low screams of pain that came from deep within his chest. He continued roaring for hours until finally, mercifully, he drifted off into sleep - exhausted from all the suffering he had endured.

    As Gabriel went through the torturous amount of pain, he didn''t have time to notice that his body had already started changing. His skin became clearer and smoother, which would''ve made a person think that his physical defense was decreasing. However, on the contrary, his physique was only bing stronger with each passing moment!<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    ****

    "He stopped screaming. Should we check?" One of the Royal Knights asked the Saint Knight as Gabriel''s screams stopped. No sound wasing from inside anymore.

    "No need," the Saint Knight didn''t give anyone permission to enter the Emperor''s room. He believed in Gabriel. The man wouldn''t have gone through it if he wasn''t confident about his safety. The Saint Knight didn''t think that Gabriel risked death, despite how much he screamed.

    If anything, he believed that Gabriel passed out from all the pain and that they needed to let him rest.

    "Just guard this ce properly. No one should be allowed in. If I find out that someone went inside, I''ll kill that person myself!" The Saint Knight eximed as he took another nce at the door of Gabriel''s room. "I''ll be meeting Duke Callum. If something happens that needs my attention, don''t forget to inform me."

    As Gabriel had just passed out, the Saint Knight didn''t believe that he was going to wake up anytime soon. So waiting here was useless. He instead decided to deal with the matters of the Empire. Since so many Noble Families had been wiped out recently, there were many things that had to be taken care of.

    ****

    Gabriel passed out of all the pain. The room returned to silence. However, even as Gabriel went into a slumber, he didn''t findplete peace.

    Instead, he found himself in a strange ce. His physical body was still in the room inside the pce, but his consciousness was in a strange ce... A dream that looked more real than the reality itself.

    "Another such dream?" It had been a long time since he found himself in a dream like that. In fact, ever since he left the Tower of Challenges after going through the soul torture of Lira, he didn''t have such dreams ever again.

    It was the first time since that moment that he was here again.

    Gabriel found himself near a waterfall. For some reason, he felt quite familiar with the waterfall. It was as if he had seen the waterfall before, and that too, recently. It''s just that his mind was a bit cloudy, preventing him from remembering instantly.

    "Ah, that''s right! This waterfall! I remember where I saw it! In the vision induced by the Eye of Osiris! This was one of the ces where Alion trained!" he suddenly eximed, finally remembering where this ce was.

    Gabriel slowly approached the base of the majestic, mist-shrouded waterfall. Its thunderous roar echoed through the air as it cascaded down from high in the mountains, sending a fine spray into the air with each plunge.

    Gabriel stood there for a moment, awestruck by its beauty and power. Even though he had seen this ce in the vision before, but in this dream, it was like he was actually physically present there! He took a few steps closer and reached out his hand to feel the cool droplets on his skin.

    The sun was beginning to set behind him, casting an orange glow on everything around him as Gabriel gazed up at this natural wonder in intrigue. As he walked closer still, he could see rainbows dancing in each droplet that sshed against his face. It was clear to him that this waterfall wasn''t normal... there was something about it... Something that broke thews of nature¡­

 Chapter 298 298: Chaotic Waves

    Gabriel reached out his hand to touch the water, only to stop mid-way, feeling a powerful presence in his surroundings.

    As he looked back, he found a young man standing behind him. The man had appeared there like a ghost, but it didn''t look like he could see Gabriel.

    "Alion!" Gabriel took a step to the side, observing the young man who was brimming with power.

    The man didn''t look at Gabriel. Instead, he just walked closer to the waterfall, walking right under it. He sat cross-legged on the rocky surface under the waterfall as he closed his eyes, resting his hands lightly on his knees. Despite the water falling with such pressure, the man didn''t make even the slightest of sound.

    The sound of the rushing water was almost deafening, but Alion seemed to be in a state of meditative peace despite it. The steady flow of the waterfall created an ethereal atmosphere that enveloped him like a cocoon as drops from abovended on his bare skin, cooling him off from the harsh heat outside.

    Gabriel simply observed the man for a short time, wondering if something significant was going to happen in this dream. Unfortunately, that didn''t seem to be the case. Even as half an hour passed, nothing of significance happened.

    "Stop standing there... Your body is weak... You need more help..." After an hour passed, the man under the waterfall finally opened his eyes. "Get under the waterfall."

    "You can see me?!" Gabriel eximed, surprised. He didn''t expect the man to be able to see him. Not only did the man notice him, but he also knew that his body was weaker.

    Despite his question, the man didn''t answer. Instead, he simply closed his eyes again, behaving as if Gabriel wasn''t even there.

    Gabriel didn''t get any answer, but still, he decided to follow through. From what the man said, it didn''t look like he had any bad intentions. If anything, it looked more like he wanted to help him.

    Gabriel took off his shirt and entered the water, getting under the waterfall near the man.

    The pressure of the waterfall came crashing down on his body. Each water droplet was like a force of nature that was forcing him down as if telling him to leave if he couldn''t handle this pressure.

    Gabriel struggled a lot under this pressure, but the man next to him was calmly sitting as if this pressure was nothing.

    Gabriel also positioned him the same way as Alion, sitting with his legs folded. Despite the heavy pressure on his body, he didn''t give in. He also closed his eyes and sat in a meditative position.

    The waterfall was forcing his body down as if ten times more gravity was acting on his body. However, despite all that, Gabriel didn''t feel much pain. If anything, he felt as if something in his surroundings was nourishing his soul.

    While Gabriel sat under the waterfall in the dream, in the real world, a mysterious yet simr energy was nourishing his body, healing all his hidden injuries from every time he got hurt for overusing his soul strength.

    The pressure acting on Gabriel''s body kept increasing in the dream, albeit a bit slowly. If initially, he was under ten times the effect of gravity in his dream, then with each passing hour, the gravity was increasing by ten percent...

    Gabriel sat under the waterfall for seven hours, not moving. His skin had already turned slightly red, and his legs had gone numb, but he didn''t try moving.

    It was only when he heard Alion''s voice calling him that he opened his eyes.

    He slowly opened his eyes, noticing Alion standing on the ground in the distance. "That''s enough for today. Leave."<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "Wait, yo-" Gabriel stood up, saying something. However, before he could even finish his sentence, the dream shattered.

    He abruptly opened his eyes, observing his surroundings. It was clear to him that he was back in the Emperor''s room. He touched his left ear, checking for the earring, which was still there.

    "That dream... What did he mean enough for today... And that waterfall... How can a dream make my soul and physique stronger...?"

    Gabriel stood up, feeling a new strength in his body. He could feel that his body was stronger nowpared to before. The pain was also almost gone, but for some strange reason, he still felt some of the gravity suppression.

    "Is it because of the earring of strength?"

    The gravity suppression he experienced from the earring was the same as he experienced under the waterfall. Even the percentage of gravity increase that he felt was almost the same as what it was when his dream broke.

    To test it, he stood up. As soon as Gabriel stood up, he immediately lost his bnce under the increased gravity effect on him. For some reason, gravity only affected his body, but it didn''t increase any pressure on the ground under his feet.

    It was as if even if he stopped on a thin floor created using the weakest wood, the increased gravity wasn''t going to break the floor under him. It was just something that affected him personally and not the surroundings.

    "Increase in strength, but at a cost... A worthy trade for now..." Gabriel pushed his body up, trying to find a bnce so he could familiarize himself with the increased gravity on him.

    Initially, he struggled to adjust to the sudden change. Each of his steps was more than ten times heavier. Even raising his hand felt like he was raising a heavy hammer. Fortunately, the pressure was still manageable.

    After practicing movement for half an hour, he finally managed to familiarize himself with the change.

    After handling his movement, Gabriel went for a shower right away. After thest night, his body was already covered in sweat and impurities. He took off his clothes, along with the bedsheet, and tossed all of them aside, burning both of them right away.

    He also cast a purification spell on the room to clean it from the smell before he finally entered the shower.

    After a long shower, Gabriel came out of the shower room,pletely dressed, only to be surprised once again to find someone present in his room.

    "You''re finally back?" he asked. "You missed an interesting event."

    "You still have time to talk about that?" The youngdy who sat on the bed answered, sighing. "I came here to tell you something important."

    "What happened?" Gabriel inquired. It wasn''t often when he saw the Holy Priestess of Summoning with such seriousness.

    "Nothing happened yet. However, the same can''t be said about the future," Avilia replied. "You should leave this Empire as soon as possible. A big storm is brewing, which might swallow this Empire soon¡­."

 Chapter 299 299: Absurd Plan

    "What storm?" Gabriel inquired, slightly confused.

    The only thing that could trouble him at this point was if any Churches wereing after him. However, he was sure that none of the Churches knew about him being here... He made sure of that. Then why would he need to run?

    "You really don''t know anything, do you?" Avilia sighed, slightly surprised at how ignorant this guy was. Then again, she also knew that there was genuinely no way for him to know. Even she only knew because she was there when the Lord of mes was informed about the location where the stone was broken.

    "What don''t I know?" Gabriel asked. "There''s no reason to be vague. Just be direct. Who ising for me?"

    "No one ising for you specifically, but you''re also caught in this whole mess this time. You''ve been marked by the Fate Stone with everyone else who was in this city when the stone was broken," the Holy Priestess of Summoning replied. "The Church of mes will be directly involved this time."

    "Fate Stone?" Gabriel only grew more confused. He had no idea what the Fate stone event meant, but he hadn''t forgotten thest words of the Emperor of Arecia, where he said that the entire city would suffer. He had a feeling that whatever doom the Empire was facing had something to do with him.

    And since Avilia personally came here to warn him this time, it was clear that he hadn''t bluffed.

    "The Church of mes will being to destroy this Empire? So you''re saying that the Church of mes doesn''t know I''m here specifically? This time, it''s a coincidence that I''m caught in this mess... But what''s this Fate Stone?"

    Gabriel couldn''t believe that even when he was trying to avoid the Churches to gain more strength, he was still caught in this mess with a Church. He wanted to understand the whole situation before doing anything.

    The Holy Priestess of Summoning exined everything that happened after she left Gabrielst time, including being taken to the Meeting of Saints.

    The Saints had a rule that no one was allowed to tell anyone about the discussion that took ce in the meeting of the Saints, but Avilia couldn''t care less, especially since no one had any way to know if any information was leaked. She already knew that other Holy Priests didn''t bother about this rule either.

    She also told him about the incident that urred after they came out of the meeting regarding the Fate Stone. Along the way, she exined to him about the Fate Stone.

    "The third strongest Holy Priest, Lerian... This is certainly a mess if theye here to investigate."

    After hearing everything, Gabriel perfectly understood just why this was a problem. The Holy Priest of mes was said to be quite strong after all, with spells that targetedrge ranges.

    ''I am an Advanced Tier Mage, but he''s said to be at the peak of Soul Strength... I might be able to face him if I go all out, but the problem arises when other Churches join in... I''m not strong enough yet. This Empire will certainly be destroyed if I fight at this point...''

    There were some things that he didn''t tell Avilia, keeping his secrets to himself. However, he still knew that if he wanted a better chance, he had to take Avilia''s help in this.

    "If Lerianes here to investigate, he would definitely ask to meet the Emperor," he stated. "If he meets me, I can''t be entirely sure that he won''t find out my real identity. But if I sent someone else to pretend to be the Emperor, it won''t take him long to find out the truth either... If that happens, he might even destroy this city in anger."

    "That''s why I''m asking you to leave." Avilia nodded.Find Lambard, and he might be able to help you take off the Mark of Fate Stone from you. I heard you had some dealings with him. If you know his new location, you should go there."

    "His new location?"<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Gabriel hadn''t known that Lambard''s City had changed ces, and even the Churches didn''t know where the city of Abbadon was presently established.

    After being informed by Avilia, he realized that this option was out of the question as well. He only knew thest location of the City of Apophis.

    Even he didn''t know the new location. And even if he knew, he had a feeling that Lambard wasn''t going to help him. Those two didn''t have any good rtionship anymore after all.

    "I can''t take Lambard''s help. Even I don''t know where he is," he honestly told Avilia. "That''s not an option."

    As Gabriel spoke, he kept observing Avilia''s reaction, trying to gauge her position.

    "Don''t look at me like that. I won''t help you fight Lerian." Noticing Gabriel''s strange gaze, Avilia shrugged. "I told you before... I''m supposed to be neutral..."

    Gabriel didn''t react much. He wasn''t surprised by her reaction.

    Even though Avilia was strong, he knew that her position was slightlyplicated. If she joined him to fight a Holy Priest, it could create arge-scale war between all Holy Priests. They weren''t close enough for her to take this risk yet.

    He also didn''t want her to take this risk. She was his trump card for the future, someone who could get him more information about the Holy Priests. He didn''t want other Holy Priests to find out that she was working with him as well.

    "Don''t worry. I am not going to ask you to fight for me," he exined. "I have an idea, and I''ll handle Lerian myself. I just need a little time and a tiny bit of help from you..."

    "What help?" Avilia asked, frowning. For some reason, she didn''t have a good feeling about this. Just what help was Gabriel looking for if this wasn''t asking her to fight?

    "I want to borrow a beast from you..." Gabriel exined. If possible, he wanted to avoid this situation, but he couldn''t. "A beast that can fly and carry me."

    "A Flying Beast? Why do you need one?" Avilia inquired, having no idea.

    ...

    Gabriel took a brief pause before telling one line to Avilia. However, that one line was enough to shock the Holy Priestess of Summoning.

    "What the... Have you gone crazy? Are you looking for death?!" The Holy Priestess of Summoning eximed, standing up in shock.

    When she came to Gabriel to inform him, it was only because she believed he wasn''t strong enough to handle this mess. She wanted him to run away and continue growing until he was strong enough to face a Holy Priest to break the bnce. However, she didn''t expect him to devise such an absurd idea!

 Chapter 300 300: The Counter

    "Why would I look for death?" Gabriel didn''t mind Avilia calling him crazy. If anything, he would''ve called himself crazy as well since he was actually suggesting something absurd.

    Unfortunately, he had no choice for now. He could either risk the entire Empire and his identity, which was going to lead to something even more problematic, or he could go with his n.

    He didn''t know how Emperor Alecton got the fate stone that was taken by the killer of Lord of mes'' daughter. However, he knew that this entire Empire was turned into a scapegoat. Moreover, since he heard how the Lord of mes destroyed an entire city in the past, he didn''t put this possibility past him.

    This Empire and him were made scapegoats. If he wanted to get out of this situation, he needed to give Lerian another scapegoat. Only then could he avoid future troubles. However, achieving that was the hardest part... He couldn''t just tell Lerian about Emperor Alecton while meeting him.

    There was no way Lerian was going to believe anything he said. That''s why this n became absolutely necessary, no matter how absurd it was!

    "So you''re really serious? You really want to attack the Church of mes instead?!" The Holy Priestess of Summoning grimaced. She knew that Gabriel was unorthodox, but even she didn''t know that he could n something like this.

    The strangest part of the entire n was that even though it was so risky, he didn''t ask for her help in the battles. The only thing he asked for was a beast to carry him near the Church of mes.

    Gabriel had already promised her that her beast didn''t need to carry her all the way and that he could fly the rest of the way on his own so that the Holy Priestess of Summoning couldn''t be linked with this.

    But still... Something like this... Even Avilia would''ve thought twice before trying something like this.

    "If you don''t want to lend me a Beast, give me a map which I can use to get there. It''ll take a longer time on my own, but I should be able to pull it off," Gabriel reminded Avilia, who was lost in thoughts.

    "You realize if you do that, there''s no going back?" The Holy Priestess of Summoning asked onest time. "You might lose your life... And I won''t save you!"

    Gabriel already knew the things that Avilia was saying. He didn''t expect her toe to save him. However, he was still confident in his own abilities... At least he believed that he could get out alive now that he was able to use his Spells of Necromancy properly without having to worry about losing control of his body.

    ''It''s not as if I would''ve done it so soon if I had another choice.'' He only sighed in response. The way Avilia reacted, it was as if she thought that he was really crazy and actually wanted to do this because he thought it was fun.

    "I told you. Even if you don''t help me, I''ll still do it. This Empire is someone else''s lineage. I didn''t want it to be destroyed right when I got it... If you don''t want to help, you can leave. It''s safer for you if you get out of here before Lerian arrives..."

    Even after waiting for a few minutes, Avilia didn''t look like she was going to lend him a beast. He could only look for other ways. He stood up and started leaving the room. He was sure if he wanted, he could find a map in the Empire that led to the Church of mes. It''s just that it was more time consuming.

    The only way to push Avilia to help him in this situation was to act like he didn''t need her help. He was sure that she was going to stop him if he tried to leave.

    "Wait!" As Gabriel was about to step out the door, the Holy Priestess of Summoning called out. "I''ll lend you a beast... It''ll carry you to the Domain of the Church of mes. However, as I said before, after that point, everything will depend on your own abilities. I hope you won''t regret this choice."<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Gabriel turned around. "There are many choices that I regret making in this life. But this won''t be one of them..."

    ****

    [Five Hours Later]

    Gabriel soared through the air, riding atop a magnificent flying beast. The Beast had a speed that was much faster than his own flying speed.

    "Being a Summoner is definitely good. They can summon a myriad of beasts, each with a different ability. A beast like that would''ve been quite useful if I controlled one. Even I might not be able to catch up to a beast like this..."

    He had heard a lot about Summoners. So far, other than Avilia, all Summoners he met were low level Summoners. They could control weaker beasts. However, Avilia''s beasts were top-tier beasts. He could see that just the beast alone that was carrying him was as strong as the Saint Knight in terms of physical strength! This also made him somewhat jealous.

    "As a Necromancer, I wonder if there is an Undead species that can also fly and catch up to such a speed?" he wondered, sitting atop Avilia''s beast. "If not, I should find a powerful beast in the future for myself and turn it into an Undead. It can be quite useful in the future for travel..."

    "I should really start focusing on the Undead Army."

    The sun glinted off the Summoned Beast''s wings. The Beast''s wings were made from shimmering scales that glowed in hues of blue, green, and gold in the early morning light.

    With the speed of the Beast, it didn''t take long for them to reach the Domain of the Church of mes. It was just outside the Domains of the Church of mes where the Flying Beast stopped. It didn''t move any further.

    At this point, Gabriel could only stand up and let the Beast wait outside for him. He cast a Flight Spell on his body. He traveled the rest of the way himself, along the way making sure that he didn''t forget anything!

    ****

    While Gabriel reached near the Church of mes, a group of Head Priests had also entered the Empire of Arecia.

    It had been a long time since the Church of mes had mobilized this many people! The Priests of the Church of mes had already sealed the Empire of Arecia from all sides. No one was allowed to enter the Empire, and no one was allowed to leave either!

    The two enemies were now in each other''s territories¡­

 Chapter 301 301: City Of Gold

    More than half the Church of me''s forces had entered the Arecia Empire after sealing it from all sides, leaving only half the forces back at the Main Branch of the Church.

    Even the Lord of mes had personally gone to the Arecia Empire. In each of the City of Arecia, a Head Priest of mes was ced, to exert a greater level of control over the Empire.

    At the same time, the Lord of mes led the core group to the Royal Capital where the crystal was shattered.

    When the crystal broke, everyone who was in the Empire was marked and those marks could be sensed by the Lord of mes. Everyone except one...

    Gabriel couldn''t be sensed by the Lord of mes. Even though Avilia asked Gabriel to take Lambard''s help to remove the Mark of Fate Stone and escape, he didn''t bother.

    If he wanted, it was easy for him to escape after all since he had a way to iste the mark of Fate Stone thanks to his Grimoire of Necromancy which had an expertise in the area of souls!

    Before leaving the Empire, he made sure to erase the Mark of Fate Stone. He knew that Lerian was going to enter the Empire soon.

    He wanted to keep Lerian in the dark, making him believe that everyone who was marked by the stone at the time was inside the Empire when he entered and sealed the City! That gave him a greater safety range while also ensuring that he couldn''t be sensed when he reached the Church of mes!

    He already had a n in his head... A n to take care of some troubles while he had an opportunity, even if it meant offending a few Churches. In fact, he had already offended them without even doing anything. This time, he wanted to make sure that he used that to his advantage.

    ****

    Gabriel entered the territory of the Lord of mes. The main branch of the Church of mes was situated in the Leviria Empire, which was inherently different from many nearby Empires. It was one of the farthest Empires from the Lumen Empire where the Church of mes was established.

    The Leviria Empire was also very chaotic at its core. It was said to be an Empire where strength reigned supreme. If one had strength, they could achieve anything!

    In fact, if one wanted to be an Empire, it was also an achievable task. One didn''t need a high profile background or anyone''s support to achieve it.

    There were only three rules to be an Emperor. One was that the person had to be a Mage of mes! The second rule was that the person had to be a citizen of the Leviria Empire. And thest rule was that the person had to challenge and defeat the current Emperor at that time.

    Despite it being such an easy task to achieve, people preferred to avoid it. If they were strong, they would''ve much rather preferred to join the Church instead. Even an ordinary priest of the Church of mes had more prestige in the Empire!

    Even the Emperor had to treat the Church members with great respect. However, that respect was only extended to the Church of mes which lorded over this Domain.

    Traveling in the Empire was easy, especially passing through the outer cities, but as soon as Gabriel started getting closer to the inner part of the Empire, things became slightly hard.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    In the inner cities, everyone was checked properly before being allowed inside. Moreover, for some reason, there was suppression around the cities which prevented flight spells.

    Gabriel didn''t know how the Empire achieved something like this. He found himself really interested in this... A way to stop flight spells in the area? He had a feeling that it was possible thanks to therge scale formations that covered the cities.

    "But how can they keep it running? If it''s a usual formation, it needs an energy source. To run this formation in multiple cities, can the Empire really afford so many Spirit Stones? That should be it..."

    Gabriel snuck inside one of the cities, avoiding the checking of Elemental Marks at the entrance. In every major city, a person was allowed entry only after their left hand was checked.

    Usually, he could''ve shown his left hand when he hadn''t merged with the element of darkness, but not anymore. Now, he could only use other methods to sneak inside the city.

    "If it''s a formation, it definitely needs an energy source in the form of Spirit Crystals. If it doesn''t, they would''ve covered outer cities with it too. But it''s also possible they don''t care about outer cities since they aren''t that important? Could it really be that Leviria found an alternate energy source for formations that they can afford?"

    Gabriel was really curious as to how these people achieved it. If anything, he wanted to have something like this in Arecia as well.

    "If I can have this, no one can attack me from the air. This should especially be effective inrge scale wars since our side doesn''t have anyone who can fight aerial battles effectively, other than me."

    "Even if Avilia wages a war on me, her flying beasts would directly be out of the battle and on ground, I can establish my army of Undead... This should take care of the biggest weakness of Arecia..."

    Gabriel was really eager to get something like this formation for himself, already thinking about the future. However, he didn''t forget his main goal.

    After passing through the City on foot and getting out of formation range, he started flying again, continuing his journey toward the Royal Capital of Leviria where the main Church of mes was established.

    After seven hours of journey without any break, he finally reached the Royal Capital which had an even higher tier of security. The flight restriction was even stronger in the city. On top of that, he could feel as if around half of his spiritual strength was immediately suppressed as soon as he entered the City.

    "Another formation to restrict Spiritual Strength? If I''m not wrong, this should only affect Mages who don''t have the element of me. These guys... They really took some extreme measures." Gabriel could only sigh in response after sneaking inside the Royal City.

    "It doesn''t matter though. The Church of mes is very vulnerable now. Most of its forces have left the City for Arecia. Even at fifty percent, it should be possible... Moreover, I still have something..."

    "If this formation doesn''t restrict the strength of ones associated with mes, this shouldn''t affect the Infernal Emperor. Church of mes... Today is going to be very long for you guys¡­"

 Chapter 302 302: They Wanted A Villain? Ill Give Them One!

    The Royal City of Leviria was the City with the highest poption in the entire Empire. It was also thergest city in the Empire.

    Gabriel was immediately taken aback by its grandeur which was quite different from the other Royal Cities he had been in. Everywhere he looked, there were towering buildings of gold and marble, intricate sculptures adorning their facades. The streets were bustling with people from all walks of life - merchants hawking their wares, courtiers in their finery,moners going about their daily lives.

    The City was morevish than he expected. He could only be amazed at how wealthy this city was. Looking at the other cities of the Leviria, he hadn''t expected that the Royal City to be like this.

    At every corner Gabriel found something new to marvel at; a serene garden tucked away between two stately manors; an ornate fountain spouting crystal clear water into a pool surrounded by statues depicting ancient gods; a massive clock tower that seemed to loom over the entire city like some sort of silent sentinel keeping watch over it all.

    Not too far from him, his attention was immediately grabbed by the Royal Castle in the distance.

    The massive castle sparkled like diamonds in the distance. It had towering spires, intricate carvings, and grand arches that were nketed with bright colors from the setting sun.

    As he walked closer to it, he saw an emerald green moat surrounding the castle walls and lush gardens within them. Around the castle, he noticed arge crowd gathering. He didn''t understand why the crowd would be gathering here all of a sudden, but it looked like some big event was taking ce here.

    He stopped a woman closest to him who looked like she might know something about why so many people came here today.

    The young woman turned to him with a surprised look on her face. "Yes? Do you need something?"

    "Do you know why so many people have been gathering here?" Gabriel asked the dark haired woman. "What is happening?"

    "Young man, didn''t you hear the news already?" The woman eximed in surprise, finding it hard to believe that there was still someone in the Empire who didn''t know about it.

    Looking at Gabriel''s unaware expressions, the woman sighed. "It seems you really don''t know. I''m not sure under which rock you were hiding to not know something like this, but people are here to see a battle. A young mage of mes is challenging the Emperor for the throne! If he can win the battle, he would be the new Emperor."

    "Aigh, I still don''t understand what the man is thinking. It would''ve been much better for him to join the Church of mes instead. Even if he wins today, he''ll only be lowering his status. Then again, it''s his life. I am just here to watch the battle between the two!"

    After briefly exining, the woman rushed through the crowd to get a better position to watch the show.

    "Battle to snatch the throne?" Gabriel shook his head lightly. "If only everything was this easy in Arecia, how good would it be... Then again, it could''ve led to people challenging me again and again in the future. That would''ve been a real headache. I suppose it''s better that we have a different system..."

    "What''s even better is that this weakens the Church of mes even more." He could already see that some of the members from the Church of mes were already here to officiate and watch the battle. This left the Church of mes even weaker for him to handle.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Having no interest in watching a battle, he left the Royal Pce behind and approached the Church of mes with a sense of purpose.

    As he reached near the Church of mes, he found a ce where no one could see him. After getting some istion, he cast a Summoning Spell to bring Raphael back to help him. He wasn''t sure if Raphael was busy doing something or not, but at the moment, he believed that it was better to take help just to be safe.

    Half his strength was restricted because of the mysterious formation of the Church of mes that covered the City. He didn''t want to underestimate the Church as it was their base.

    "I wonder if the Army of Undead spell will work on Head Priests of Church of mes. If it works, it should be a great harvest this time. The spell didn''t mention too many details though. I still don''t have enough knowledge about the spell. I have no idea if they can still use their ming Spells when I turn them into undeads or if they can still use the Element of mes. It would be a big waste if they can''t..."

    Gabriel came to the Church of mes mainly for one reason... To make sure that Lerian was going to leave Arecia alone! However, at the same time, he also wanted to utilise this situation for his own advantage by increasing his army.

    He wanted to create his army of undead, and believed that this was the best opportunity for that since he was already going to be killing some people.

    This way of creating an army was at least much safer since he could use the first tier Army of Undead to turn recently killed into Undead. It was better for himpared to going to the realm of Undead to control the already existing undeads with the second tier Undead Army spell!

    He didn''t feel that he was strong enough for thetter yet, especially if there were powerful undeads like Raphael there! He wanted to be prepared when he attempted that. For now, he focused on the Church of mes which had no idea as to what was about to happen in the next few hours.

    A ck summoning circle appeared before him which was filled with the mysterious energy of death that was the rarest in the world of living. The energying from the Summoning Circle wasn''t much and couldn''t be sensed by the people in surroundings, but that was all because of Gabriel using one of his Numen.

    In the centre of the formation circle, a figure appeared. The person was covered in a dark mist of death, however his eyes were closed. It was only after the person felt the energy of the living that he opened his eyes.

    "I don''t sense any danger. What did you need me for?" he directly asked after observing his surroundings.

    Gabriel simply pointed in the distance, at the majestic Church of mes.

    "I called you here because I need to borrow your strength this time," Gabriel answered as he called out his Ancestral Staff of Necromancy after a long time.

    "Since the Church of me wants to pin the me on Arecia, then I will gracefully ept. No more avoiding! No more hesitating! They''re looking for a viin... I''ll give them one¡­"

 Chapter 303 303: Dark Flames Of Death!

    "What are we going to do?" Raphael asked, trying to understand the situation better. For now, he was sure that they weren''t under attack. That meant they were the ones who were going to be attacking.

    "We''ll be attacking the Church of mes," Gabriel replied while bringing out a full-face mask that he ced over his face to hide his face as much as possible. His real face was already seen by people at the Academy of Elements, but those people also knew that he had a face changing treasure so he didn''t worry much about that.

    He was sure that they definitely weren''t going to believe that what they saw was his real face enough to promote it. However, the Church of mes was different. He didn''t want to reveal his face here for the time being.

    As for Raphael, he didn''t need a face mask. As much as he wanted to hide his identity, he wanted people to know Raphael! Raphael had a bigger role to y in the future and he wanted everyone to know. Moreover, since Raphael stayed in the realm of Undead most of the time, there was no need for him to worry about his face being revealed much.

    "Seal the entire area," Gabrielmanded after he finished donning the mask. "That building is our target. No one should be allowed to disturb us while we''re taking care of things inside."

    Gabriel also changed his attire to a much darker shade of Clothes. The one thing which he didn''t change were his gloves since they hid his strange elemental marks. Instead, he wore another set of gloves over his usual gloves to hide their real colors so they couldn''t be linked to him in the future.

    Even though Raphael didn''t know what the Church of mes did to offend Gabriel, but he still believed that it was significant enough for Gabriel to attack them. Usually Gabriel was someone who tried to avoid direct confrontations afterall.

    ****

    While the Holy Church of mes was facing a danger like never before, the Holy Priest of mes entered the Royal Capital of Arecia Empire, being apanied by only two Head Priests.

    "This is the City where the crystal was broken. Seal the City," hemanded the Head Priests, not wasting his time with such a small thing personally

    The two Head Priests brought out their Peak Tier ming Staffs and chanted a strange spell that was never heard in the Empire.

    As soon as the two finished their spell, a ming wall shot up from all around the Royal Capital, meeting up at a single point in the sky, sealing the Royal Capital inside a ming dome!

    The sky was lit up by a brilliant orange light as the dome of mes encased the Royal Capital of Arecia. High above, atop the castle walls, Royal Knights could be seen gathering to witness what had be of their beloved city.

    From within the dome, an eerie silence descended upon all who were still inside. The air was thick with smoke and ash that threatened to choke those who dared breathe it in. Everywhere there was evidence of panic and despair as people tried desperately to find a way out but failed at every turn.

    The citizens of the Royal Capital of Arecia were in a state of shock and disbelief as they looked up at the dome of mes that had suddenly appeared around their city.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Everywhere people crowded together, talking to each other in hushed voices as they tried toprehend what was happening. Everyone''s eyes were wide with fear as they realized that their city had been sealed off from the outside world. They couldn''t help but wonder if their city was under attack!

    Noticing the situation getting chaotic, the guards on duty quickly shouted for everyone to stay back and remain calm but it was toote; panic had already set in among the popce.

    People began shouting questions at one another, asking what this meant for them and how long would thisst? No-one knew for sure but all were certain that things would never be the same again inside these walls. It was certainly the work of Mages!

    They knew that even though Mages and their Empire didn''t have the best of rtionships in the past, but it wasn''t bad enough to be attacked either. They still treated mages with respect! But for them to seal the entire city like this? This wasn''t normal!

    Some of the Royal Knights rushed to the Royal Pce to inform the Emperor about the City being sealed, only to be stopped before they could enter the pce by the captain of the Royal Knights.

    The Captain of the Knights was being apanied by the Duke of Darkness. The two of them were the only ones in the city who knew that the Emperor wasn''t here! In fact that wasn''t the only thing they knew. Gabriel had already told them that something like this would be happening!

    "When he told me this would be happening, I didn''t quite believe it. But now that this has happened, we can''t back off. Handle things ording to the n... I''ll be going into hiding since I can''t be seen by them," Duke Callum told the Saint Knight before he entered the castle, disappearing into the darkness.

    The Saint Knight clenched his fist, looking at the ming dome in the sky.

    "The Holy Priest of mes is here..." he muttered, not knowing if they could even survive this Knight. The Holy Priest was here for answers and if he didn''t find the answers satisfying, this entire Empire was in danger.

    "I don''t think I''ll be able to dy him for more than a day. Your Majesty, I hope you can seed..." He held the hilt of his Sword as he stepped ahead.

    *****

    In the Leviria Empire, another wall of me rose up, but unlike the ming wall in Arecia, this wall of fire was pitch ck! It was a darker shade of mes which weren''t as violent as the mes of Lerian, but these mes were more threatening. They had an aura of death, as if they could even burn the souls of a person!

    The citizens of the Royal City of Leviria were focused on the battle for the throne. The person who had challenged the current Emperor seemed closer to victory. It was clearly a matter of time. However, before he could deal the finishing blow, he stopped, looking at the towering mes in the distance.

    The Emperor also stopped, looking in the same direction as everyone else. Everyone could see that the area was where the Church of mes was established! The Church of mes was surrounded by Dark mes of Death!

 Chapter 304 304: Drain Touch

    No one knew what was happening in the Church of mes. Some even thought that this was the work of the Church members who were testing some new kind of spell or protective formation. However, the Church members who were present here knew that it wasn''t the case.

    The mes that the Church of Light could control came in two shades... The usual mes that could be controlled by the ordinary mages and the dark blue mes that could be used by the Holy Priest of mes!

    A pitch ck me? None of them could use it! And even if they could, it could only be their Holy Lord. However, the Holy Lord wasn''t even in the city! So how could it be him? They all knew that something was wrong!

    The me-covered dome towered over the city, casting an ominous shadow across the entire region.

    At first,moners were too scared to go near it; however, the Mages were different. The members of the Church who weren''t at the Church immediately rushed back, without thinking of anything else.

    Unfortunately, they couldn''t even get closer to the Wall of me! Despite being Mages who could control mes, they couldn''t see through the ck mes. If anything, this me feltpletely foreign. It was much warmer than the mes they could control and stronger as well.

    Most of them felt that if they even tried touching it, they could seriously be invited!

    The Priests of mes circled all around the mes, trying to find an opening from where they should pass through. Unfortunately, there was no gap! Even a small ant couldn''t pass through these mes, let alone someone like them.

    "Who made these mes? We can''t even get inside? Could this really be made with a formation?"

    "That should be the case! How can a person other than our Holy Lord control this level of strength? This must be a formation! Maybe the Lord himself created this formation to protect the Church?"

    "In that case, it might really be a test of this formation! I don''t see anyone who could be trying to attack the Church after all. We were worried for nothing..." Another Priest sighed in relief.

    "They could''ve at least told us they would be testing this. They worried us for nothing!" A young priest rolled his eyes.

    "Informed us? Do we even have that much importance? I think only someone at the level of Head Priests knew about this. They wouldn''t have bothered informing us. If I was in their ce, I wouldn''t bother either." Another man sighed. "All we can do is work hard to reach that high position where we would be informed of such things in advance!"

    "True..."

    All the Priests misunderstood the mes. They never thought that the Church was being attacked since even in their wildest dreams, they couldn''t have thought that there was a mage who could control this level of mes that could attack the Church. If anything, they gave all the credit to the formation of the Church.

    They didn''t even think that a stranger or an enemy activated this formation since they believed that this level of formation setup needed months of work on ground level.

    "All of you, go back and continue what you were doing! There''s no need to stay here! This is the personal matter of our Holy Church!"

    After getting into a misunderstanding, all the Priests started dispersing the crowd, sending them back. None of them knew how wrong they were. Unfortunately for them, even if they knew, they couldn''t have passed through this wall of mes that even Izen had a hard time breaking!

    ****<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    On the other end of the Dark Wall of mes, Gabriel stood at the entrance of the Church of mes shrouded in a dark mist. Not too far from him, there stood Raphael.

    Only two men... Only two men were here to destroy an entire Church!

    Gabriel took a calm breath. From this step, there was no going back. This was the foundation of his future... A foundation where he wanted to make his name synonymous with death, so that the ones who wanted to chase after him would''ve had to think ten times before even trying!

    ****

    The Church of mes had a total of thirty Head Priests, amongst whom only three had the peak tier of Spiritual Strength. The rest had an advanced tier of Spiritual Strength which was on the same level as the Head Teachers at the Academy of Elements.

    Amongst the three strongest Head Priests, two had left the Church, following the Holy Lord of mes. They were already in the Royal City of Arecia, also being the ones who cast the Dome of mes in Arecia''s Royal Capital.

    At present, only Twelve Head Priests were left in the Holy Church of mes, of which only one was Peak Tier Mage. With this, the Church was at less than half its usual strength, but even this strength was enough to dominate the world! The number was way more than what the Church of Light currently had.

    However, that was also because the Priests of Light had a harder time evolving their strengthpared to others. That also meant when they increased their strength, it was stronger than the other Elemental Priests. That was also why the Church of Light enjoyed such a high position in this world, despite such low numbers.

    Other than the twelve Head Priests, the Holy Church of mes over a hundred Priests present inside at the moment.

    Most of the Priests were inside their rooms, meditating to increase their strengths. As for the Head Priests, they were in a meeting in the deepest floors of the Church when they sensed a strange kind of suppression. The surroundings were also getting warmer and warmer with each passing second.

    "Do you also feel this?" A Head Priest asked, grimacing.

    "I do. Something is wrong...." The other Head Priests agreed as he pushed his chairs back, standing up.

    "Is the Holy Lord back? No, this isn''t like that. It''s something else. We will go and check!" Another Head Priest stood up.

    The two of them went upstairs to check what was happening. As for the rest, they stayed behind. They still didn''t realize the extent of dangers they were inside.

    The Priests of the Church who were in their meditation stepped out of their rooms as well, finding it ufortable to meditate with such a strange kind of suppression acting on them. Moreover, since they were in higher floors, the suppression was much more here than in the lower floors.

    One of the Priests stepped out of his room, hearing footsteps outside. However, as soon as he came out, he found the entire hallway empty.

    "Drain Touch," a voice fell in his ears,ing from behind him. He felt a hand on his shoulders.

 Chapter 305 305: Six Hours

    The young mage was stunned to hear a calm yet intimidating voiceing from behind him. As soon as he was touched, he felt as if his body lostplete strength, as if his life energy was being sucked inside a ck hole by a powerful force.

    "You!" Another Priest stepped out of the nearby room, shocked to find his friend being attacked by a stranger.

    He didn''t know who Gabriel was, but from the expressions of his friend who couldn''t move, he knew he had to do something to stop him.

    He raised his hand, casting a spell.

    "No interference." Before the second Priest could even finish his spell, he heard another voice. It was evident that Gabriel wasn''t alone here. Shocked, he turned around, only to find another young man, whose face wasn''t clearly visible.

    The second man had a cloak which was covering the top half of his face, making it impossible for his face to be seen. However, what was clear was that as soon as the Mage of mes saw the figure of Raphael, he felt as if he was looking at death itself. There was an innate fear in his heart that was telling him to run as far as possible.

    His lips froze. He wasn''t even able to continue his spell before his body started burning in fire itself. Within seconds, his body turned into dust...

    On the other hand, Gabriel had also finished absorbing the strength of the young Priest, whose body fell on the ground.

    Gabriel observed the scorching mark in the distance.

    "When we meet the Head Priests, try to leave their bodies intact... After we are done here, I''ll be needing their bodies," he informed Raphael as he continued walking deeper in the Church of mes.

    ****

    Back inside the Empire of Arecia, the Lord of mes stood with his hands behind his back. The two Strongest Head Priests of the Church of mes stood behind him.

    They had just finished sealing the entire Empire, making it no different than a massive prison.

    Most of the citizens were scared and hiding inside their houses but there were also many who were on the streets.

    The Holy Priest of mes raised his right hand toward the sky. He didn''t chant any spell. He didn''t even need to use words to create spells. Just like Gabriel, he could also use Wordless Chants.

    A massive wave of mes shot out from him towards the sky, taking the shape of the Majestic dragon that circled the sky like the overlord of Arecia.

    The me Dragon was bursting with energy. It was evident that if the giant me Dragon came crashing down, it could destroy most of the city itself. And this wasn''t even one of the strongest spells of Lerian.

    Lerian closed his eyes, calling out his Ancestral Staff of mes! A mystical light surrounded his entire body.

    "Citizens of Arecia!" He spoke in a calm voice. He didn''t yell or roar. If anything, he was talking in his usual time. However, for some reason, his words reached every corner of the Empire inside the Domain of Fire, as if some mysterious force was transferring his voice while amplifying it.

    "I am the Holy Lord of mes and I am here to find a person! If that persones forward on his own, not only will he live, but the entire Empire will live! However, if within six hours, that person doesn''te forward, I will make sure this entire Empire and everyone in it dies with him!" The Holy Lord dered, shocking everyone in the Empire.

    The Empire of Arecia wasn''t associated with any Churches but they had heard about the Churches and knew how powerful they were, especially the people known as the Holy Priests! They definitely had strength to destroy an Empire, but the citizens of Arecia couldn''t understand why a Church would be so evil to destroy an entire Empire just for one person?<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "The person who destroyed the Fate Stone e forward and you may live! This is thest chance you may ever have!" The Holy Lord dered again before goingpletely silent.

    The ming Dragon kept circling the sky while the shocked citizens tried to understand just who the Holy Lord was looking for?

    "He''s looking for someone who broke a stone yesterday?"

    "He wants to destroy the entire Empire over a stone?"

    "Has he gone crazy? Wasn''t the Church of Darkness said to be evil?! Why is it the other side that looks more crazy? Killing millions for a stone?!"

    "Father, are we really going to die? We should run!"

    "Little girl, can we even run? The entire ce is sealed! We can''t run anywhere!"

    With time, the situation started getting chaotic as fear started setting in with people realizing the situation they were in. All their lives depended on one person stepping forward! However, was the person really going to step forward?!

    Most of the citizens were already praying for that person to step forward already!

    Inside his mansion, Duke Callum was sitting in silence with grim expressions on his face. "Six hours... We only have six hours... You can''t afford to fail! At any cost! If you fail, we''ll all die!"

    All his hopes were now resting on Gabriel. He knew that even if he wanted, he couldn''t do anything. If it was an ordinary mage, he could''ve fought back, but Lerian was personally there! There was nothing he could do.

    *****

    Not too far from Arecia, there was a strange valley at the depths which didn''t have much resources. No one even tried to go into the valley since it was a waste of time. However, presently in the valley, there was a mysterious City that had appeared recently out of nowhere.

    Not a single person in the surrounding knew about the City appearing here.

    Since Lambard had recently used the City teleportation, he felt really weak, as if most of his strength was sucked in. He spent most of his time resting in his room, rarely going out of his mansion.

    Not a single person was allowed to go outside the city at the moment since Lambard wanted to be at his peak first, before taking any risk.

    He only kept an eye on the nearby cities through his Numens which weren''t able to get him too much information.

    Through one of the Mirrors in his room, he could see outside the valley. It was also the mirror which showed him the Empire of Arecia which was covered in a me dome.

    "What is happening in Arecia? Why is there a barrier surrounding it?"

    "That looks like the spell of the Church of mes. For them to use such arge-scale spell on Arecia, I wonder what might have happened." The young maid stood next to Lambard, observing the situation as well.

 Chapter 306 306: Let Me Feast...

    "Shall I check it out?" the Maid asked Lambard. "For a Church to seal an entire Empire... It definitely isn''t a small thing."

    "No need. Just wait and see," Lambard replied, not giving her permission. "For something like this, the Church would''ve definitely needed Lerian''s permission. It''s quite possible that he''s inside the Empire itself. If you pass through his domain, he could probably sense you. It''s not safe, especially since it''s him..."

    "My Lord, do you know what this could be about? I don''t think the Church of mes have made such a big movement in the past. Could it be rted to that matter...? Did Lord Lerian find out about the secret of Arecia?" the maid asked, frowning. "If that''s the case, wouldn''t it be troublesome for us?"

    "I don''t think he knows anything yet. How could he even know? Even I only found out recently. Moreover, if he knew, the other Churches would''ve been there as well. It''s quite possibly something very personal to him... Something like..." Lambard went silent for a moment, as if losing himself in deep thought. "If I''m not wrong, didn''t he use to have a daughter? It should be because of that matter."

    "His daughter?" the maid grimaced. "That matter...? Do you think he knows about our involvement in that matter?"

    Lambard didn''t answer immediately. He just silently observed the mirror.

    ****

    "My Lady, should we really not stop Lord Lerian?" Inside the Holy Church of Earth, the Head Priests also seemed very concerned about the situation.

    "If Lord Lerian destroys Arecia, the reputation of all the Churches will take a hit. Hundreds of years of our work will vanish in an instant," another Head Priest added.

    "Let him y around," The Holy Priestess of Earth calmly answered. "There''s no need to interfere in the matter. It doesn''t matter if there''s one less Empire in this world, as long as it calms his heart. It might just force the other Empires who haven''t allied with any Churches to change their stance..."

    "Just let it y out. Arecia isn''t under our protection," she added. "Moreover, even if I go there, I doubt he''ll listen. That little girl... Even I''m upset about that matter..."

    ****

    "That guy... He really doesn''t think before he acts." One of the three oldest Holy Priests, the Holy Priest of Wind stood on his balcony, looking in the distance.

    "Then again, if he ever wanted to do it, this is the perfect time since the Lord of Light is in the Lost City of Gods. I doubt anyone would interfere in this matter..."

    After a moment of silence, he turned around and went back, not thinking much about it. The world had many Empires and many citizens. The disappearance of one Empire wasn''t a matter of concern for him, especially if the Empire wasn''t under his protection. He didn''t want to go to war with Lerian over such a useless matter.

    The other Holy Priests had the same reaction. After thest Holy Priest of Light died, the Holy Priest of mes became the second most influential person in this world. Over a miniscule Empire, they didn''t want to interfere.

    Most of the Holy Priests also took this as an opportunity to remind the world why a Holy Church should never be offended. The world had been peaceful for far too long after all.

    Amongst the Holy Priests, there were only two who had a different thinking. The Holy Priestess of Water didn''t want to watch an Empire be destroyed, but she was also the weakest. She didn''t have enough courage to step forward to protect Arecia. Her strength wasn''t enough to stand before Lerian and she knew it.

    As for the second person, it was the Holy Priestess of Summoning. She was someone who wasn''t scared of Lerian. If she wanted, she could''ve easily stepped forward. However, she decided to stay out of it, primarily because she had already told Gabriel that she wasn''t going to interfere.

    Moreover, she was also curious to see if Gabriel could even seed in his n. This was a very bold n after all. He was literally taking Lerian head on, establishing a life long enmity.

    She was outside the Empire of Arecia, standing on her Flying Beast, observing the situation inside the Empire.

    "Six hours is indeed not enough. Young man, if you can really pull it off sessfully, it''ll be a miracle..." she muttered, looking in the distance in the direction of the Holy Church of mes.

    She had sent her Shadow to follow Gabriel since she wanted to see how he was going to handle this situation and what tricks he had. However, she only failed.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    It was as if Gabriel knew what she was doing. He already created some distance between him and the shadow that was secretly following him, making sure that the shadow Beast was outside the ck me tower, unable to pass through.

    Since the shadow beast couldn''t pass through the ming tower, it couldn''t enter the Church of mes to spy on Gabriel.

    The only thing that was worth the interest that Avilia could find was watching Gabriel summon Raphael which stunned her. She didn''t know that Gabriel could summon as well. She really wanted to see more, only to be blocked. Now she could only wait for the ming tower to disappear...

    ****

    The Two Head Priests of mes rushed out of the ground floor to check the situation, only to find the smell of blood in the air. They only saw bodies littered all around the Church, belonging to their members.

    Most of the bodies looked as if life was sucked from them. There were no wounds on those bodies! The sight looked as if someone was really trying to kill while also trying to keep the bodies intact.

    Amongst all the bodies, there was one body which still showed signs of movement.

    "One is still alive! He should know what happened!" The Head Priest rushed toward the person who showed movement.

    "What happened! Who attacked you all?"

    "I did," A calm voice came from the distance as Gabriel appeared, standing calmly. He had already killed many ordinary Priests in the Church. As for the ones who were left, he sent Raphael to finish the work as both split their work.

    At present, he was the only person here.

    "You! Who are you?! How dare you attack us!" The Head Priest turned to Gabriel who was empty handed.

    "Two nice people taught me a lesson. It''s that you really shouldn''t turn your back on the enemy. Did no one teach you?!" Gabriel asked, tilting his head to the side.

    "What do you mean?" The Head Priest frowned. He had already checked that there was no one here other than Gabriel. So what did he mean?

    "You think that distraction will work? Brat, you came here alive but you won''t leave aliv-" The Head Priest eximed, only to stop mid sentence as his eyes widened.

    His face turned pale as a knife passed through the back of his neck.

    The second Head Priest was about to attack Gabriel when he heard the painted grunt of the other first Head Priest.

    He turned around, only to be shocked as he saw the person who was supposed to be dead, standing behind the first Head Priest with a bloodyknife in his hand. His eyes looked lifeless and his face pale, but he still showed movements!

    The Undead once again stabbed the first Head Priest who already lost most of his strength after his throat was stabbed.

    "Didn''t I tell you not to turn your back on enemies?" Gabriel repeated his sentence, but this time the target was different. The second Head Priest felt as if the voice came from behind him.

    "Dark Suppression!" Gabriel cast the spell of Darkness. Chains made of Darkness came out of the group, wrapping around the wrists of the second Head Priest and his legs, pulling him on the ground. Another chain came out which tied his mouth.

    "Now be a good boy and don''t move... Let me feast," Gabriel calmly stated as he ced his hand on the shoulder of the Head Priest. "Drain Touch."

 Chapter 307 307: Evolution

    Thud~

    The second Head Priest''s lifeless body dropped to the group. It was as if his body had lost every single drop of blood, even though there was not a single wound on his body.

    Gabriel observed the Head Priest''s lifeless body briefly before observing the surroundings.

    "ording to her, the Church of mes should have around thirty Head Priests. Even if Lerian took half of them, there should at least be around fifteen here. Only two came up. It looks like they aren''t taking things seriously..."

    Gabriel had somewhat of a disappointment on his face. Only two Head Priests came up to check, separating from the main group while he wanted more. In the end, he decided to just take things slow.

    He used a knife to slice his finger a bit, letting it bleed.

    The blood droplet fell on the forehead of the Head Priest while Gabriel used the Wordless Chant. The blood droplet entered the forehead of the dead Head Priest of mes, creating tiny blood threads that spread inside the dead body.

    "Arise!" Gabriel''s calm voice echoed in the surroundings as a mysterious power of death flooded the body of the Head Priest.

    As the power flooded inside the body of the dead priest, his body started changing somehow.

    Gabriel had already used the spell on an ordinary Mage of mes before, however the reaction was quite differentst time, which made him even more surprised now. The body of the ordinary priest hadn''t changed even after he was turned into an Undead.

    The only thing differentst time was that the Mark of mes had disappeared. That was what disappointed Gabriel immensely before. However, this time was different.

    Now that Gabriel used the spell on a Head Priest whose body had been nourished by the Divine mes of the Church, the body changes were somewhat different.

    The Mark of mes on the back of the Head Priest of mes hadn''t disappointed. It just changed! The shape was still the same. Just the colour of the mark had changed from red to pitch ck.

    The hair of the Holy Priest also changed, bing longer. His hair changed to a beautiful shade of Silver, just like the moon. The body still looked lifeless, but somehow, it looked stronger than before, as if the Head Priest''s body muscles had increased.

    On the forehead of the Head Priests, a strange mark appeared. Even though Gabriel didn''t do it intentionally, subconsciously the mark on the forehead had taken shape simr to all the marks that were left on the Numens when he bound them to him. The mark was that of a Bleeding Moon!

    "Intriguing... Why did this body go through different changes than thest body? With thest body, it was as if I just brought back a dead to life who was no more than a lifeless human. However, this time, it was as if the person had thoroughly evolved, basking in the energy of death...?"

    The Head Priest of mes who had not turned into a Soldier of Death opened his eyes. For some reason, his mind waspletely nk. However, there was something deep inside him that was telling him that no matter what, he had to serve the young man near him, no matter what.

    "Could it be because the Army of Undead is a unique spell which works best on people who are stronger?" Gabrielwondered, observing his first proper Soldier of Death. "This is a Core Tier Spell, so this might be the reason... But doesn''t that mean the hundreds of Undead in Karyk''s army were all as strong as a Head Priest?! That strength..."

    The spell was specifically made for powerful people. It was as if using this spell on weaker people was just a waste of time and space! Gabriel was sure that Karyk wouldn''t have wasted the spell like that. That could only mean that, in the army of Undead that the Saint Knight saw for the first time, all the members were at least as strong as a Head Priest that he controlled now!

    "With this kind of strength and army, just what exactly happened to him... And what happened to his army? If that kind of army ever makes a return, wouldn''t that mean the entire world can fall on their feet?"

    Gabriel now had two Undead Soldiers. He only paid attention to one of them. Just to test his theory, he moved closer to the first Head Priest.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    He came here for something else but if he could get over ten Death Knights, he believed that this was the best oue!

    "The Church Formation restricts more than half my spiritual strength which makes it harder and more time consuming to use each spell. If I didn''t have Drain Touch, it would''ve been quite troublesome."

    Hemanded the Death Knight to keep an eye on surroundings to make sure that no one disturbed him.

    He ced his bleeding finger on the forehead of the other Head Priest, casting the [Army of Undead].

    ****

    "Those two still didn''t return?"

    Back in the meeting, the other Head Priests started getting impatient. The more they stayed there, the more ufortable they felt, as if a poisonous snake was getting closer to them.

    They couldn''t wait anymore. Just to be on the safer side, all of them decided to check out personally just what was happening upstairs.

    All the Head Priests rushed upstairs.

    ****

    After barely a few minutes of hard work, he finished the spell sessfully, creating another Death Knight.

    The only thing he still didn''t know was if the Death Knights could cast any spells or not. They had the Mark of mes, but it was different from the usual Mark of mes in colour. It was more like a modification so he wasn''t sure if they could still use that element.

    After creating a second Death Knight, he wanted to ask them to try a spell. Unfortunately, it was also around that time that he heard some footsteps rushing upstairs.

    "So they finally decided toe out," Gabriel muttered, keeping an eye on the stairs.

    He raised the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy in the direction of the stairs. "If I don''t worry about blowing up your bodies, it would''ve been much easier to just use the Wrath of Undead. What a pity...''

    "Soul Explosion!" Gabriel used the fifth spell in the Book of Necromancy. A spirit came flying out of his ring, rushing straight toward the stairs.

    Even though he couldn''t see anyone there yet, he made sure to time things just right.

    The Head Priests were almost upstairs. However, just as they turned around the spiralling stairs, they saw an evil spirit flying in their direction, screeching.

    Boom~

 Chapter 308 308: All According To Plan!

    ****

    The Head Priests were shocked to find a spirit flying in their direction, screeching and cackling at the same time. It was their first time seeing an attack like that.

    Fortunately, they had years of experience and reacted almost immediately.

    The person in the lead raised his head. "Divine Wall of Fire!"

    A wall of fire rose up from the stairs, creating something akin to a shield before the Head Priests.

    The Dark Spirit touched the wall of mes.

    Boom~

    The Evil Spirit exploded, creating a powerful impact. Fortunately for them, the Wall of mes was still intact, not broken by a spirit.

    "So we really are under attack!"

    He hadn''t removed the Wall of me yet. In the back, the other Head Priests started casting an even more powerful spell, working together. They wanted to cover the entire Church in fire that only destroyed the ones who didn''t share the Element of mes.

    However that spell wasn''t something that could easily be cast by one person! Even with the help of the Protective Formation in the Church, they will need most of the Head Priests to work together.

    Since the spell was the most powerful spell that was specially created to destroy all enemies that entered the Church at once, it also took a longer time to cast the spell.

    The work of the Head Priest in the front was just to keep that shield up while the others took care of the spell.

    "Just two more minutes! And you will be dead!" The leading Head Priest eximed, in a mocking tone. "You naive fool! Did you really think one attack is enough to defeat us?!"

    "Who said it was just one attack?" A mocking voice came in return, followed by another explosion. Another spirit shed with the me Shield. Unfortunately, it also didn''t manage to pass through.

    The Divine Wall of mes was a spell that was a peak tier defensive spell while the Spirit Explosion was Gabriel''s earliest spell. The only reason he still used it was because this was the only spell which he believed could leave the bodies intact. Their bodies were a precious resource for him!

    "With such weak strength, you dare infiltrate the Sacred Church?!" The Head Priest''s mockingughter echoed.

    On the other side of the ming Wall, Gabriel didn''t mind the mocking tone. If anything, he found it only amusing. The people on the other side of the ming wall were like turtles hiding in a well, unable to see what was happening on this side.

    Gabriel knew that they were trying to cast some powerful spell. He could feel the changes in the air. However, he wasn''t worried.

    "You''re right. It''s a weak spell," he epted, stepping closer to the Divine Wall of mes. "Now, wouldn''t it be a pity if the Head Priests were defeated by such a weak spell?"

    As soon as he finished speaking, he didn''t even give others the chance to speak before using the same spell again. However this time he didn''t take a break.

    One after another, he kept casting the Spirit Explosion, with each explosion getting closer to the Wall.

    Boom~

    Another Explosion was survived by the Wall of Fire, giving the Head Priest even more confident. They were also halfway done with the spell.

    Unfortunately, things were different. Barely a millisecond after the first explosion, another Explosion urred, which only increased the strength of the Explosion.

    Theughter of the Head Priest suddenly stopped as he felt a third explosion before he could even blink his eyes.

    Since the Spirit Explosion wasn''t a high tier spell, even with his strength Suppression, Gabriel didn''t have any trouble bringing out its full strength.

    Boom~<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Boom~

    Boom~

    Within three seconds, ten Spirits had exploded! Gabriel didn''t know how many spirits the Book of Necromancy had, but if he could get more than ten Death Knights after sacrificing a few, he believed it was worth it.

    With each explosion, the strength kept increasing. On the other side, the Wall of mes was finally at its weakest.

    "I can''t hold it anymore! Someone give me reinforcements!" The Head Priest eximed, almost at the edge of falling.

    "Just ten seconds more! We can''t stop now! Just hold on for ten more seconds!"

    Every other Head Priest was already busy with therge-scale spell to cleanse the entire Church of all the enemies since they didn''t know exactly how many had infiltrated. Even in their dreams, they couldn''t have imagined that just two people dared toe here alone to attack this ce!

    In their minds, they believed that there were at least fifty peoplewhich prompted them to cast such a spell to finish things faster.

    "You fools! Why would I ask if I could ho-"

    Boom~

    Before the Head Priest could even finish his sentence, another spirit exploded, finally breaking the wall of mes.

    With nothing to protect them, all the Head Priests were hit with the explosive power of the explosion which sent them all flying back, suffering injuries!

    All the Head Priests fell at the bottom of the stairs. They were so close to finishing their spell. If they had only three more seconds, they could''ve seeded. Unfortunately, not only did they fail, they also suffered a bacsh for failing this spell while also being hit by the explosion. Some of them suffered worse than the others.

    "Who are you?!"

    The Head Priest, who could still fight, pushed their bodies up forcefully. While the ones who were heavily injured couldn''t even move their legs.

    A mysterious dark mist surrounded the entire ce, covering everyone''s vision, making it impossible for them to see.

    "Who knew my n would work so well," A mocking voice was heard,ing from straight ahead

    One of the Head Priests attacked in the direction of the voice, using all his strength behind that attack..

    "All I had to do was wait..." The voice came again, this time from the back. It was evident that the first attack had missed.

    The Head Priest attacked again, without waiting.

    "Argh!" A scream echoed, but this time, this scream wasn''t Gabriel''s. The attack instead hit another Head Priest, sending his body flying back.

    Since no one knew where the other person was, attacking blindly was the only solution to them. Unfortunately, it only resulted in them attacking their own.

    "I never thought Lerian would be so easy to fool. The n really moved smoothly. All I had to do was intentionally break that fate stone in a random faraway city that didn''t fall under any Church!"

    Gabriel''s mockingughter echoed in the surroundings as he appeared behind another Head Priest, stabbing a knife in his neck!

    "With that, Lerian could easily go there without hesitation with all his forces, leaving this ce open for me to attack! That fool fell so easily. There, he will destroy a useless Empire that no one cares about, and here I''ll destroy the ce that I always wanted to destroy! Everything ording to n..."

    "Poor guy will never know how easily he was fooled... Heh¡­Not only will he lose the Holy Church of mes but since he''s attacking innocents who had nothing to do with it, he''ll also lose the support of the public! What a downfall!"

 Chapter 309 309: Real Treasure

    Screams kepting from the basement as more and more Head Priests died. They didn''t even know what was happening around them as the dark mist not only blinded them but also trapped their movements.

    With each scream, a fear was instilled in the other Head Priests. If they couldn''t even see the enemy, how could they even attack? They hadn''t seen a spell like that in the past. In fact, they hadn''t even heard about this, let alone knowing how to counter that.

    Since they were in closed space, the efficiency of this spell only increased as the dark mist couldn''t be pushed aside. In an open setting, they could''ve at least countered this spell to some extent. This dark mist didn''t even burn with the mes!

    The only things that could be burnt were the shackles that were made with the mist, but Gabriel''s vision wasn''t obstructed. Whoever broke the shackles, he killed them directly, without even giving them an opportunity.

    There was only one person he avoided killing... the person who was closest to the stairs. Even as that person broke the shackles, Gabriel didn''t kill him. If anything, he ignored that person entirely.

    At the same time, that person didn''t dare attack Gabriel either. After so many people were killed here, he had already lost all hope. He didn''t know who the masked man was, but his spells were unorthodox and in a sudden situation like this, he didn''t believe he could change the situation.

    If anything, the Head Priest who managed to free himself had only a single thought! It was that he had to find a way to escape at any cost, and get this information to the Holy Priest. He knew that if there was one person who could change the situation, it was Lerian!

    After initial struggles, he found the stairs. He couldn''t see the stairs, yet he started climbing, asionally even stumbling along the way.

    The screams kept echoing downstairs but the Head Priest didn''t look back. He doesn''t realize that someone was already keeping his eyes on them. Even as Gabriel killed the other Head Priests swiftly, his main attention was only on him.

    The Head Priest came to the ground floor, breathing heavily. His entire body was bleeding but he couldn''t care less. He rushed out of the Church hastily.

    As the Head Priest rushed out, he noticed the ming Tower which was still the same. However, there was an opening in the tower.

    Usually, he could''ve found that opening suspicious, but since his mind was clouded, he didn''t think much. He snuck out of the opening and kept rushing away.

    Aftering out of the tower of mes, he cast a Flight Spell, creating wings of mes and rushed away in the direction of Arecia! He had to inform the Lord of mes as soon as he could! He didn''t want the Lord of mes to fall for this trap and kill innocents only to then be medter.

    He didn''t want the enemy''s n to seed! Moreover, he wanted Lerian to return to kill Gabriel and all the enemies who dared to attack them!

    "Are you sure it''s right to let him leave?" A young man appeared near the entrance of the Church of the mes as the opening in the wall of mes closed.

    "It''s a pity to lose such a precious material, but it''s for the best," Gabriel appeared behind Raphael. His hands were covered in blood, but his face waspletely calm. "As a Head Priest, his speed is much faster than an ordinary Priest."

    "Moreover, it would be more believable for Lerian to think that a Head Priest managed to escape aftering in contact with me,pared to an ordinary member of the Church escaping," he further stated, exining more of his thoughts.

    "Stay here. I''ll be right back." He turned around and went back inside again.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    ****

    Gabriel entered the Church of mes and started using his Army of Undead spell, increasing the number of his Death Knights. This time, he only focused on the Head Priests and didn''t create a weaker undead.

    After he finished, in total, he had twelve Head Priest level Death Knights, all of whom went through the same evolution. Other than that, there was one ordinary Priest level Death Knight.

    "Search all the higher floors. Get any treasures you can find back to me," Gabrielmanded all the Death Knights to make the search faster. He was here. He couldn''t just pretend to be here to kill the Head Priests. He decided to take some treasures as well.

    Sending the Death Knights upstairs, he personally went downstairs to check. As for Raphael, he was left to guard the entrance to make sure that no one could enter the Church of mes until he came out.

    The Death Knights didn''t have their personality memories but they still possessed somemon knowledge which wasn''t wiped by the spell. They still knew what treasures were and what they had to gather

    All of them checked every room thoroughly, gathering all the Spirit Crystals, spell books, Staffs and other precious treasures that they could find.

    The higher floors were reserved for low ranking members of the Church. Meanwhile the lower floors were where the Head Priests stayed. He personally checked the ce, keeping everything in his Storage Space.

    After going through some ordinary rooms, he eventually reached a ce which had much bigger doors. The doors of this ce were even thicker than every other door in the Church so breaking it was almost impossible.

    Fortunately, the Head Priests had to rush out to check the situation so they didn''t close the door properly, leaving it unlocked.

    Gabriel simply pushed the door open, entering the Forbidden Hall of the Sacred Church of mes. Other than the Head Priests and Lerian, no one was allowed toe here. If someone was said even by ident, they were to be executed.

    Gabriel had a feeling that this was the ce where he was going to find the real treasures!

    Pushing the doors open, he took his first step inside the ball.

    "Urgh!"

    As soon as he stepped inside, he felt the pressure on his body multiplying by many times. It was as if an entire mountain was pressing over his body. The pressure was different from the pressure of the earring as it even affected his surroundings.

    He couldn''t even resist as he was pushed down on his knees. Cracks developed on the ground around him as the mysterious force pushed down even more on him!

 Chapter 310 310: Wrath Of Gabriel

    ****

    As soon as Gabriel stepped inside the Forbidden Hall, a mysterious force pushed him down to his knees. For some reason, he couldn''t even offer any resistance to the force that pushed him down. The force was way beyond his limit.

    He could even feet as if his bones were being crushed under that pressure which was now trying to force his head to the ground to bow down.

    "Enough!" Blood trickled down his lips as he roared at the top of his lungs, using his hands to force his body up, resisting the pressure.

    At the same time, he cast [Dark Manifestation]. The spell was one taught to him by Novius which was strong enough to make him invincible for a few seconds. The only w was that he couldn''t move or attack during that time or the effects weren''t going to work.

    At the moment, he didn''t care about attacking. If anything, he wanted to at least have some time to react.

    As soon as he cast the Dark Manifestation, the powerful pressure disappeared immediately. Gabriel couldn''t even feel the pressure anymore. However, he was sure that the pressure was still there! It was just that he couldn''t feel it because of the Dark Manifestation!

    He raised his head, looking into the distance. In the Forbidden Hall, there were many things, including a mysterious pond which was filled with a strange red liquid that was different from blood. The liquid appeared to be boiling. However,his attention went more toward the statue in the distance!

    The Statue was the statue of the God of mes! The one who was in the same hierarchy as Karyk during his time! Both were Human Gods that came into this world due to Chaotic Energy of nature. Karyk was stronger than the God of mes and he also came before the other gods.

    Gabriel didn''t know just what kind of rtionship this God of mes had with Karyk, but he had a feeling that the strange pressure that forced him down wasing from the statue itself.

    He didn''t understand just what kind of statue it was and how could it still affect him, as if it was alive!

    Gabriel was still in the middle of thoughts, thinking about what to do next. He couldn''t teleport out of this hall as the space was sealed either. He had to find a way to solve this pressure and he only had ten seconds left of the Dark Manifestation.

    As he was still thinking, wondering if he needed to destroy the statue to free himself of this pressure, he felt something strange. He felt as if the statue''s eyes shone for a brief moment as the pressure on him increased.

    Thud~

    The pressure this time was so much that it was even able to surpass the limits of the Dark Manifestation, breaking Gabriel''s defence before it was the time!

    Gabriel''s body was pushed down to the group. The cracks had already developed around him previously, but now those cracks changed into a two metre deep crater, in the centre of which Gabriel was lying.

    His head was forced down so fiercely that his skull hit the hard floor. Since he didn''t expect the Dark Manifestation to break, he was taken by surprise, unable to protect himself. His head started bleeding. The blood trickled down his face. The pressure only kept increasing! It was as if the statue really didn''t want to let him leave alive!

    Gabrielid at the center of the crater, feeling his bones shattering under the pressure. Due to blood loss, even his vision started getting affected. The blood droplets trickled down to his eyes, making his eyes blood red.

    For a moment, it even looked as if Gabriel had tears of blooding out of his eyes.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Despite this pressure, he still didn''t give up. As long as he could move, he didn''t want to surrender to a mere statue!

    "I don''t care who you are..." He ced his hands on the ground again. Despite his broken bones, he still tried to push his body up.

    "I don''t care why you want to kill me!"

    Blood kept trickling down his lips as he spoke.

    "But today... A shall destroy everything!" He opened his bloody eyes, ring at the mysterious statue in the distance.

    The sky outside started getting covered in dark clouds as an aura of death covered the entire city! Everyone who was outside the tower of mes in the city stooped. They felt a chill run down their spines. Even the King of Leviria couldn''t ignore this pressure. It was as if the entire city was surrounded by death!

    The Statue of God of mes increased the pressure. The crater around Gabriel became even deeper by a few metres. Despite that, he didn''t let his head touch the ground.

    If the Statue wanted to kill him, he wanted to destroy it! Even if God himself was here, he wanted to destroy him! Gabriel''s heart was filled with anger and hate!

    "Wrath of the Dead!" He shouted. A powerfura gushed out of his body, as if answering to hismands. The sky also answered Gabriel''s roar in its own way!

    The entire city turned pitch ck! Not a single person could see anything, including Raphael!

    Raphael was shocked to see this change. He had experienced this same feeling before when Gabriel used his strongest spell in the Tower of Challenges at the Academy of Elements to kill someone in an instant! This spell was so powerful! Seeing this spell, he had a really bad feeling.

    "Someone who could force him to use this spell? Just who is it?!" He wanted to rush inside the Church. Unfortunately, his feet froze on their own. He was unable to even move. It was as if his body wasn''t in his control anymore!

    ... Silence... There was only silence in the entire city. No one knew what was happening but they all felt as if they were going to die if they even moved a little! There was no explosion! There was no sound. It didn''t even feel as if someone was attacking. However, it felt much worse.

    All the citizens closed their eyes, praying their hearts to avoid this cmity!

    The darkness onlysted for a few seconds before it started disappearing. The sky was once again clear as the dark clouds disappeared. The citizens were able to see again. Most of them looked in the same direction together. They all looked toward the Church of mes, feeling as if this had something to do with them.

    "What?"

    "How is this possible?"

    There was not a single person in the citizen who could believe their eyes as they looked toward the Sacred Church of mes!

 Chapter 311 311: I Know How!

    Carnage... That was the only word that could describe what the citizens saw.

    The Sacred Church of mes that had been in the Lerian Empire for as long as one could remember had fallen... The foundation of the Empire had fallen! The Church was missing as if it had been wiped off the face of the earth.

    The people who were far away couldn''t see it yet, but instead of the Majestic Church which used to be there, presently there was only a two hundredmeter wide crater on the ground, revealing the destruction that took ce.

    In the middle of the crater, a young man was lying, bleeding all over. The young man appeared to be wearing a mask, half of which was already broken apart.

    In the Holy Church of mes, everything was destroyed. Nothing was left behind... Nothing other than a Statue which wasn''t too far from Gabriel.

    The statue was still left standing, but there was no aura around it anymore. It was unable to harm Gabriel.

    Only a single crack could be seen on the face of the statue. However, that single crack was spreading out slowly. Within a few seconds, the single crack split into thousands of cracks that covered the entire statue.

    Not too far from Gabriel, Raphael was present, stunned momentarily. Since he was connected to Gabriel, the Wrath of Undead didn''t harm him in the slightest.

    As he came out of his daze, he noticed Gabriel lying on the ground in the middle of the crater. He rushed ahead.

    On the other hand, the cracks were too much for the statue. The statue couldn''tst anymore and broke apart. Gabriel had single handedly destroyed the entire Church of mes. Unfortunately, in the process, he also lost consciousness. The strength he used while being injured was still too much for him, especially since he was under pressure.

    Fortunately, things weren''t as bad as before. Since he had strengthened his body with the help of the earring, his body was more sturdypared to before which helped him avoid most of the dangers.

    Not too far from Gabriel, a hand came out of the ground out of nowhere. On the back of the hand, a ck mark was clearly visible which seemed somewhat simr to the mark of mes.

    Following the hand, another hand came out. The person who was buried inside the ground after the attack pushed his body up, revealing himself. Not just him, one after another, more than ten Death Knights came out of the ground.

    Just like Raphael, they were also linked with Gabriel and managed to avoid the carnage. However, since they weren''t as strong as Raphael, they still found themselves buried in the ground in the aftermath.

    "Just what did you face?" Raphael frowned as he picked up the bleeding Gabriel in his arms. He still didn''t know what forced Gabriel to take this step. The pressure that Gabriel felt was limited to the hall. It wasn''t sensed by Raphael.

    "Whatever, since you''re fine, that''s all that matters. We should get out of here first..." He stood up, carrying Gabriel and left with the Death Knights.

    Right before the eyes of everyone in the city, Raphael left. By now, people were clear that this was done by them. However, even then, no one dared to stop them.

    Even the members of the Church of mes that were outside the tower of mes before the destruction didn''t dare to move as a small army of undead walked out of the city right before everyone''s eyes. They didn''t even dare to follow Raphael, worried about their life.

    ****

    Right outside the Arecia Empire, Avilia was standing stunned. She didn''t know what happened on the other side of the tower of mes, but her Shadow Beast did see the aftermath where the Sacred Church of mespletely disappeared... They still couldn''t believe what she saw.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    She initially thought that even if Gabriel managed to kill some Head Priests, he couldn''t cause suchrge scale damage. However, the extent of damage even surprised her.

    What was even more shocking for her was to watch Gabriel being taken away by Raphael who was followed by twelve Death Knights!

    The Death Knights were filled with the aura of death. However, from their faces, she recognised a few of them. She had seen one of them outside the Meeting of Saints! The man used to be a Head Priest of mes before! However, now he was an Undead servant of Gabriel? She couldn''t understand how this was even possible?

    "Power of controlling the dead?" she frowned. This was unheard of in this world, at least for most of the people. However, she had heard some legends rted to it, the most prominent of which was the story of Saint Knight in which he met a god who was apanied by an invincible Army of Undead!

    ****

    [Three hourster]

    A wounded Head Priest of mes flew at his top speed, surrounded by the destructive mes. He didn''t even waste a single second to rest, despite his condition. At any cost, he had to inform Lerian of what happened!

    He wanted to get to Arecia as soon as possible!

    ****

    In the Royal City of Arecia, Lerian and his two strongest Head Priests were still waiting. They had given the Empire six hours for people with any information about the incident toe out. The time was almost over. Only ten minutes were left before the time was going to run out!

    "Ten more minutes!" The voice of Lerian echoed in every city of Arecia. At this point, people were already shivering in fear. Most of them had already epted their fates, not believing that the culprit was going toe out.

    "We''re all dead today! No one ising out! We don''t even know who they are looking for! What shall we do?!"

    "What can we even do but ept our deaths?" Who told us to be so weak?!"

    "If the culprits wanted toe out, they would''ve already been out. We have no hope of Survival!"

    The citizens of Arecia were at the ends of their ropes and all they could do was discuss and mock their destiny as time passed slowly.

    "No! I can''t ept it! I can''t ept death!" A middle aged man known as Reon eximed. His heart was racing in fear already. He was one of the wealthiest merchants in the city and to not only lose all his wealth but also his life? He couldn''t ept it!

    "What can we even do?" A friend of Reon sighed. "Not like we can find the culprit, right?"

    "Wait! That''s it!" Reon eximed, suddenly thinking of something. "I know how to find him!"

 Chapter 312 312: I Did It

    "You know who did it? Could it be that you saw that person?!" Reon''s friend eximed in shock. "If that was true, we might actually survive! Who is it?!"

    A cunning grin spread across Reon''s lips as he stared at an old man in the distance.

    He walked to the old man, who was standing next to a twelve year old girl.

    Reon''s people followed him, wondering if he really knew the truth or was he only bluffing?

    Reon stopped next to the old man. The old man lowered his head respectfully, recognising the influential merchant.

    Reon''s smirk widened. He observed the young girl next to the old man.

    "You''re one of our workers, aren''t you? Is that girl your granddaughter?"

    The old man felt something was wrong, especially since Reon talked about his granddaughter. Reon was said to be an arrogant man who never talked to the one beneath him like this. He usually only hung out with influential people. Why would he suddenly talk to him?

    "Y-yes. She is my granddaughter."

    "If I''m not wrong, she''s also your only kin left after your son and daughter inw died?" Reon further asked.

    The old man felt even weirder. Just what was this guy after? To talk about that, especially at a time like this when the entire city was about to be destroyed?

    "Y-yes." He could only nod. His granddaughter was his only family member now. She was also the reason he worked so hard. It was all so he could give her the best life possible.

    "What a pity." After a brief pause, Reon sighed. "In less than ten minutes, she would also die with everyone else. If only there was a way to let her live..."

    The old man frowned. He didn''t know how to react.

    Receiving no response, Reon felt slightly angry. However, his calm expressions didn''t change.

    ? ''This guy... Even after I said all this, he still doesn''t realise? How dense can he be?''

    "If only the person could''ve gone to the Holy Lords and epted the mistakes, your daughter and everyone could''ve survived," he further said, breaking the silence.

    His nce was meaningful and his words had even more meaning hidden inside them. Not many people could sense what he was trying to say, but the way he said it, the old man finally realized why he was here.

    He could only clench his fist, understanding that he was being asked for a sacrifice. The Holy Lords didn''t know who did it. So if he went forward and epted death, his granddaughter could''ve been spared.

    He looked at his granddaughter next to him. The young girl didn''t even understand the situation they were in. The old man didn''t want her to die. And at this point, it was clear that the real criminal wasn''t going to step forward.

    Reon stepped even closer to the old man, bringing his lips closer to the old man''s ears as he whispered. "I''m sure you know what to do. Not only will your granddaughter survive, but I''ll also make sure she gets the best life possible. You know our family can afford it. I can even adopt her after you do it. The choice is yours."

    He stepped back after secretly telling the old man what he had to do. He turned and silently left.

    The old man watched Reon leave. It was true that this was his only option. In any case, he was on the verge of death. Even if he wanted, he could only live a few more years because of his old age. If he could sacrifice himself to save his granddaughter and the others, he epted it.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    He went down on his knees before his granddaughter. "Little Wui, go with Master Reon. Grandpa has somewhere to be."

    ****

    "Looks like they won''te forward." The Head Priest of mes had been standing silently for thest six hours but now that time had almost run out, he finally spoke. "Are we really going to kill them all?"

    "Of course we should! We already told them the consequences. We can''t go back on our words, can we?" the Second Head Priest retorted. "We can only destroy the cities. I''m sure once we follow through our words, the culprit would actually try to escape ore forward."

    "I see." The First Head Priest nodded. "So you want to scare the culprit intoing out by actually following through. I''m not sure if it''ll work, but I won''t oppose it. If it''s the decision of the Holy Lord."

    Both the Head Priests looked at Lerian who was the final decision maker.

    Lerian was simply standing silent, having his eyes closed as if he was lost in some deep thought. The Head Priests thought that Lerian was thinking about how to destroy the cities swiftly, not realizing that his true thoughts were quite different.

    ''I don''t know why, but there is this strange feeling in my heart... It''s as if I''m missing something... Something really important. This bad feeling I suddenly have... Why?''

    Lerian usually didn''t feel like this in the past so he didn''t know what to think of this. It was as if his heart was trying to warn him about something. He just didn''t know what. He only felt as if he was standing in the middle of a bridge and the both ends of the bridge were burning with the fire slowly getting closer to him.

    ''Could it be that the killer is really here in this city? Is this feeling because of that? Or could it be rted to something else? This feeling...''

    He tried to think for a long time, only to be unable toe to a conclusion. It was like there was a puzzle that he couldn''t solve.

    He slowly opened his eyes, ncing in the distance in the direction of the Empire of Leviria for some reason. "Is it about the Church?"

    As he was trying to figure out the situation, the time to the deadline had almost run out. Only one minute was left.

    The Fire Dragon in the sky also started getting more impatient with time.

    "What are you doing here?! There''s no use begging for mercy!"

    Lerian''s attention was attracted by a Head Priest''s words. He looked ahead, noticing an old man standing before them.

    "I-i am the one who destroyed the Fate Stone!" The old man eximed.

    Lerian frowned. He didn''t even respond to the old man. He just raised a single finger and the old man''s body started burning in heavy mes.

    "Another liar... This city is full of liars it seems," Lerian stated, letting out a sigh. It was the thirtieth time he caught a liar who came forward to ept the me to survive!

    None of the people who came forward realized that Lerian was someone that could catch even the smallest of lies, making it impossible to fool him as long as the liar was lying in front of him.

    "Enough wasting time. Destroy the cities and catch everyone who tries to escape. I''ll interrogate them personally!"

 Chapter 313 313: Death It Is

    "Finish it..." The words were subtle and spoke without much care. However, the aftermath was much beyond anyone''sprehension.

    As soon as Lerian gave permission to start attacking the City to draw out the real culprit, the ming Dragon took action.

    The sky suddenly darkened as the massive dragon descended from the heavens. Its wings stretched wide, casting a long shadow over the city below. It was an awe-inspiring sight to behold; a giant creature of me and fury that seemed to havee straight out of legend.

    The citizens of the city scrambled for cover, some screaming in terror as they ran for their lives. The dragon roared loudly, its voice echoing off the walls like thunder through a canyon. Its mes shone brightly against the night sky, illuminating everything around it with an orange glow.

    The dragon flew directly towards one of the towers in the center of the City and released its fiery breath upon it without mercy. The tower began to crumble immediately under its assault and soon copsed into rubble on top of many unfortunate souls who had not been able to escape in time.

    As if this weren''t enough destruction already, more buildings were engulfed in mes as embers spread throughout the city due to wind gusts caused by powerful ps from its wings above them all adding fuel to fire already started by dragon''s breath moments earlier.

    "They are attacking! Does heaven really want us to die!"

    People screamed louder now as they watched their homes burn before their very eyes while trying desperately to find safety elsewhere but unfortunately there wasn''t much else left standing at this point besides ashes and charred remains everywhere you looked .

    "Could it be that today is really the day I die?" Duke Callum sat inside his mansion, having his eyes closed. He didn''t leave the mansion to join the battle yet. Not only did he not believe he could stop this assault, but he also thought that going out was just epting death.

    "If I go out to fight, they will know I''m a Dark Mage and kill me first. The entire me might also befall me. Not if I don''t go out, I''ll still die. Should I really try to escape the City? No. The barrier won''t let me leave. The only way to break the barrier now is by killing Lerian."

    He didn''t want to fight but deep inside, even he knew that no matter what he did, he was probably going to be buried with the City.

    He nced in the direction of the stairs that led downstairs to the secret locked room.

    "In the end, it seems that I really can''t abandon this ce..." After a deep sigh, he stood up. "If death it is, I''ll fight to death!"

    He decided to fight back. Since he couldn''t win in a battle of strength, he decided to wait for an opportunity and use a sneak attack to kill Lerian and break the barrier.

    He wasn''t the only one who decided to didn''t. The new Saint King tried to follow Gabriel''s orders and avoid Lerian as much as possible but in the end, even he couldn''t take it anymore.

    Now that the city was under attack, there was no other option! All the Royal Knights were already prepared for battle to the death for the Empire.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "Knights of the Empire!" He roared at the top of his lungs. "Today we face our greatest challenge yet: A seemingly invincible enemy that threatens to destroy all that we have worked to protect. Today is the day we must stand together against this foe if we are to save our beloved Empire!"

    He paused for a moment to allow his words to sink in before continuing. "But do not fear! We have strength in numbers, courage in our hearts and the blessings of our Ancestors who established this Empire to protect people!Today is the day we fight to survive! Today is the day we fight to protect! Today is the day we make Saint King proud!"

    The Saint Knight knew that all the Royal Knights were scared. Who wouldn''t be scared of death in a situation like this? However, all he could do for them was to lead them to this battle, hoping his words could give them some courage!

    "For the Saint King!" The Royal Knights roared in unison as they rushed on horses galloping towards danger brandishing weapons ready for battle against what most would consider unbeatable odds, beingled by the new Saint Knight.

    The citizens watching held their breaths with anticipation , hoping these brave men could somehow turn things around despite all evidence pointing otherwise. This was their only chance if they had to survive! They had to take down the Mages!

    ****

    "The Knights are not bad." In the distance, Avilia watched the changingndscape. "If it was just a Head Priest here, they must''ve held on. Unfortunately, the waters are much deeper today. At most, this army willst a minute."

    "If I take action now to save them, even the destruction of the Church of mes would be linked to me. It would certainly be an unnecessary headache. What a pity that the timing was so wrong."

    "When he returns, he''s going to be quite upset for sure..."

    After a moment of silence, Avilia sighed. "Whatever. I guess I''ll lend a helping hand after all."

    She pped her head once. Multiple formation circles appeared all around her, releasing a frightening amount of magical energy.

    ****

    "Futile efforts." The Head Priest shook his head lightly, watchingthe Knights getting closer to attack them . "I''ll handle them."

    Lerian didn''t stop him. A whirlpool of mes surrounded the Head Priest who watched hundreds of Royal Knights rushing toward them from all sides, trying to use the numbers to their advantage.

    "If you wanted to die faster, you really came to the right ce. Let me just fulfil your wishes." The Head Priest raised his right hand.

 Chapter 314 314: Overbearing

    The Head Priest raised his right hand, preparing to wipe anyone who dared to attack them from the face of this earth."Sunf-"

    "Stop!!!" A sudden shout came from the distance that shocked everyone. A wall of fire rose from the ground between the Royal Knights and the Head Priest who was about to attack.

    The Head Priest stopped his attack and turned around. This wall of fire was powerful and he also recognised this voice.

    "What are you doing here?" he asked as he turned. However, as soon as he looked back, his expressions shifted. The Head Priest that they left behind was here and he was covered in blood. His face was also pale, as if he had burned his life essence to even reach here as soon as he could.

    "What happened?" Lerian asked as his face turned dark. He already had a bad feeling deep inside his heart since the beginning and now this?

    "Were you attacked on the way here?" The other Head Priest asked. "Who dares to attack you on the way?!"

    "I wasn''t attacked on the way here. I was attacked inside the Church!" the bleeding man eximed, dropping to his knees. "Holy Lord, please get back as soon as possible! The Church is under attack! I''m not even sure if the others are still alive or not! I could only get out ande here to inform you as soon as I could!"

    "This was a trap! We''ve all been fooled!" he further added, telling everything that happened at the Church of mes and how the other Head Priests were killed.

    The Holy Lord of mes was stunned to hear all this. Not only were they fooled, but someone even dared to attack the Church of mes in broad daylight? He finally realized just what that strange feeling in his heart was! It was about this!

    "You!" His fists tightened. He didn''t yell or show his emotions but the ones who knew him understood what he was feeling!

    His figure flew high in the air as he left. His speed was already ten times faster than the speed of the Head Priests. Within seconds, he disappeared from everyone else''s view. He didn''t care about bringing the others back with him. At the moment, he just wanted to get back and kill the person who dared to attack his home!

    The other Head Priests also flew back, on the way gathering other Church members. The attack on the Empire of Arecia was cancelled. The ming dragon in the sky also dispersed as if he was never there.

    The members of the Sacred Church of mes and the Barrier were dispelled. The Empire was free once again. Once the Mages of me left, only stunned citizens were left behind!

    "T-they left? Were they scared of us?" One of the Royal Knights asked, unable to believe his eyes. Just as they were about to attack, the enemy left which made him wonder if it was because of them.

    "Nonsense. I know we are strong but we aren''t that strong. I think they left for another reason!"<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "Agreed! Maybe they found the person they were looking for? If that''s the case, it looks like our luck isn''t bad..."

    The Royal Knights got down from their horses. The feeling of surviving at the face of death was something that they were experiencing for the first time and they were already so relieved.

    "Good luck?" The Saint Knightsighed, also getting down from the horse. "Look at the surroundings. Do you think this was great luck?"

    The Royal Knights of the Arecia Empire looked around, standing on the edge of what had once been a bustling city. The ming Dragon had done its work; all that remained was its destruction and ruin. Even though it was stopped before it could destroy the entire city, the destruction that it already caused was too much in itself.

    Everywhere they looked, buildings were reduced to rubble, homes burned down to their foundations, and the streets littered with charred remains. Everywhere there was smoke in the air from fires still smouldering from the dragon''s attack.

    The Saint Knight surveyed the scene before him, his face grim as he took in all that had been lost. He knew that many lives were taken in this attack, but he also knew it could have been much worse if the Church of mes hadn''t stopped attacking.

    Deep inside his heart, he felt a lot of hate toward the Church of mes now. Those people really didn''t value the lives of a person, treating them like ants!

    He turned away from the carnage and spoke softly to the others: "Send out search parties - we need to find any survivors. Check if there is anyone buried under the rubble and if they''re still alive, help them. We need to focus on the rescue now!"

    His voice betrayed none of his inner turmoil as he made this order; instead it held only determination and strength as he faced an uncertain future ahead of them all.

    In silence, one by one each Knight turned around and went to help people. The attack of the Church didn''t evenst for a few seconds and half the city was already destroyed. Even a small part of the Royal Pce was also damaged. Fortunately, most of it was still intact.

    One of the attacks of the ming Dragon alsonded on the Garden of Legacy near the Royal Pce. However, for some strange reason, there was no mark left in the garden. It was as if no attacknded there. The mysterious garden was still perfectly fine!

    Duke Callum stood in the distance, watching the Mages leave. His pce was still left standing as well. He finally sighed in relief. "It looks like he really seeded. If only the Messenger was a few minutes faster, so much of the destruction could''ve been avoided."

    "These Churches are still as overbearing as before." He entered his mansion, not bothering about the rescue.

 Chapter 315 315: Resentment

    ****

    Gabriel opened his eyes as he felt the cool morning air against his skin. He looked around, trying to make sense of where he was.

    Thest thing he could remember was that he was being pushed down by the mysterious force of the statue when he used his strongest offensive spell. He didn''t remember anything that happened after that. Instead, he woke up here.

    As he looked around, he soon realized where he was. It was the same ce where he had been in hisst dream! The mysterious waterfall dreamscape where he trained in his dream with the help of the creator of the earring Alion.

    He was standing in front of it again. The sun shone brightly off the cascading water, creating an almost surreal atmosphere that sent shivers down Gabriel''s spine.

    He stepped closer to the edge, once again mesmerised by its beauty. No matter how many times he looked at the waterfall, he always had this surreal feeling as if the waterfall was a special ce that hid more mysteries than it revealed.

    As he stepped closer to the Waterfall, suddenly something strange happened; the water began to swirl around him like it was alive and beckoning him forward. Gabriel hesitated for a moment before finally taking a deep breath and jumping into the pool below.

    The sensation was incredible as a warm energy started nourishing his soul. He also felt himself being pulled deeper and deeper into this dream world filled with vibrant colors and sounds that seemed almost too real forfort.

    He could feel his body rxing as if all his worries had melted away in this new environment - until suddenly he heard a familiar voice calling out from behind him: "Just a meeting with a fragment of his remnant Divine Aura and your body was almost broken? You are really weak..."

    Startled, Gabriel spun around only to find Alion behind him, surrounded by the same mysterious energy that he felting from the water. It was surprising to see Alion being able to talk even inside the water.

    "Your body is much weaker than I thought. Training you would take much longer than I expected. It''s hard to believe that someone so mighty could fall to this level..." Alion didn''t even open his lips. Despite that, his words were heard clearly by Gabriel. It was clear that Alion wasn''t speaking. He was using his thoughts tomunicate.

    "Can we use thoughts to talk inside the water?" Gabriel wondered, frowning. He had never heard of a ce like that existing in the past. There were definitely treasures which allowed people to talk through thoughts but those treasures were all rare!

    "You can. But it''s better if you focus your time on training yourself. This time, it was just a fragment of a Divine Consciousness and you were already brought to your knees," Alion replied. From his reaction, he seemed really upset at Gabriel.

    "Stay inside and don''t you dare to go out! If you dared to leave the water before I told you, you''ll never receive my help in your training... Do you understand?" he asked Gabriel.

    Thest time Gabriel was here, Alion was much calmer and talked in an usual manner. However, currently it was clear that he was angry. Gabriel didn''t understand why he was so angry? It wasn''t as if he wanted to fall to his knees. The pressure was just too much for him. Moreover, why did this guy even care if he fell to his knees somehow?

    He didn''t understand much about this man''s strange reaction, but from his words, Gabriel did understand a few things. Firstly, it wasn''t that the Stone Statue of the God of mes was alive. It was just that the statue had some Divine Aura of his which was what pushed Gabriel down.<novelnext></novelnext>

    And secondly, Alion was actually here to help him train to make his body stronger. No matter how angry Alion was, in the end his intentions were good.

    He nodded. No matter what, staying in the water felt helpful for now. He didn''t know what kind of condition his body was in, but he had faith in Raphael. He wanted to heal his soul and his body before leaving and this ce was the best when it came to healing. It was even more efficient than his healing spell somehow.

    Alion left Gabriel inside the water and came to the surface. Water dropped down his long hair as he stepped on the surface, taking a nce back at the surface of the water. With his vision, he could still see Gabriel even though he was at the depth of fifty meters.

    "This kid... He''s really..." He sat on the ground, seemingly tired. He nced up at the clear sky, sighing. "I wonder if I was too harsh on him. It''s not entirely his fault either. Even if it was my younger self in his ce, I would''ve had a hard time staying up. That Divine Aura... It was too soon for him toe in contact with that, after all."

    "That was really impatient though. Attacking that ce alone? Then again, I guess old habits really are hard to change, aren''t they? Old friend?"

    ****

    The sun was setting over the Empire of Arecia, casting a golden light across its majestdscape. As night slowly descended, a mystical flying beast soared through the sky, carrying an unconscious Gabriel back to his home. The beast that was lent by Avilia also carried Raphael with it.

    As for the Death Knights, for some reason, as soon as Gabriel was brought out of the City, all Death Knights disappeared, turning into specks of light which entered Gabriel''s ring of Necromancy.

    Gabriel hadn''t left Arecia for a long time. However, now that he was being brought back, the City looked quite different than before. It was as if the City went through arge-scale war already.

    "So this is the City that belongs to him," Raphael muttered, looking at the City in the distance. It was his first timeing to this city.

    If he wasn''t informed about this city and the beast that was waiting outside to take them back before Gabriel attacked the Church, he never would''ve known where to even take Gabriel.

    ****

    From the start of the attack on the City to the end, the new Emperor hadn''t made an appearance. Gabriel''s reputation was already at his lowest now. Even the Saint Knight had shown up but the so-called Emperor didn''t. Many citizens were starting to call the new Emperor a coward who didn''t even dare to show his face before the Holy Lord.

    Many citizens had lost their loved ones in this attack. Many of them lost their house, their property, their wealth as well. They all wanted to me someone and this me was tossed at the new Emperor!

    At the moment, not a single person in the Empire knew how this anger and resentmenttoward the new Emperor was the foundation of something that had the potential to destroy the world''s foundation itself¡­

 Chapter 316 316: Cant Be!

    ****

    The beast carrying Raphael and Gabriel felt under constant suppression, despite being a powerful beast. Even though Gabriel wasn''t conscious, just the strange auraing from his body was enough to intimidate the Beast.

    As the Beast flew toward the Royal City of Arecia, it started slowing down.

    Raphael noticed the slowing in speed, even though they still weren''t at the Royal City. He also noticed a figure in the distance, floating in the air.

    The person was a young woman who didn''t look very intimidating. However, just the aura around that woman was something that Raphael could sense clearly. That woman was powerful... At least more powerful than the Head Priests that he went against.

    He couldn''t sense any killing intent from the woman in their direction. She was just gazing at them silently.

    Raphael stood up, keeping an eye on the woman in the distance while the flying beast stopped before her.

    "Are you the one who lent us this beast?"

    Now that he was closer to the woman physically, he could feel that her aura was somewhat simr to the aura of the beast which was carrying them. She certainly wasn''t a Mage of mes from what he could guess.

    The Holy Priestess of Summoning nodded as she alsonded on the flying beast. "How is he now? Is he hurt?"

    Raphael didn''t answer. Even if it was possible that the woman helped them, he still didn''t want to tell her anything for Gabriel''s safety.

    Avilia understood what Raphael''s silence meant and she didn''t probe more. From her initial nce, she could already see that Gabriel''s breathing was stable. Even though his clothes had blood, his wounds weren''t visible.

    "We should take him to the Royal Castle first. There, he can rest better."

    Following her words, the flying beast resumed its journey and flew to the Royal City. Without the barrier of mes, entering the City was much easier now.

    Raphael sat near Gabriel while Avilia was made to keep her distance. Raphael also cast a small barrier of his own so that there shouldn''t be any surprise attacks on them. No matter what, before Gabriel woke up and confirmed that the woman was an ally, he couldn''t lower his guard around her.

    ''A summon who is more clever than usual summons." Avilia was previously interested in Gabriel, but at the moment, she even started taking interest in Raphael who was shrouded in the aura of death. "His strength isn''t bad either. Even I can''t see the extent of his true strength. Very intriguing. Just how many more things are you hiding, Gabriel?"

    She stood silently, not speaking much. With Raphael''s suspicions, she didn''t want to create a misunderstanding before Gabriel woke up.

    During thest stretch of their journey, none of them spoke anything.

    The sun had already set but Raphael was still able to look down and notice all the destruction that urred in the city. Looking at that destruction, it didn''t take him long to guess who was behind it, since fire was used in these attacks. He finally understood to some extent why Gabriel would attack the Church of mes. Their enmity was already established after all.

    The majestic beast finally entered the City, shrouded in the darkness of night. Most of the citizens didn''t know when it entered the City at all.

    Even the Royal Knights who were guarding the Royal Pce who saw the majestic beast about tond on the top of the Royal Pce were stunned.

    To them, the beast seemingly descended from the heavens. Its wingspan was so wide that it seemed to fill up the entire sky, and its scales glittered in all colors of the rainbow. For a moment, even the Knights were dazed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As it drew closer to thending, they could make out three figures riding atop its back- two men and a woman dressed in fine clothes. One of the two men appeared unconscious, being carried by the other man.

    The Royal Knights instinctively surrounded the majestic beast.

    Even the Saint Knight jumped high,nding on the roof before the beast, raising his sword. Since they just went through the attack, they were more alert.

    "The Royal Pce isn''t a ce where you can just- huh? The Emperor?"

    Initially, the Saint Knight couldn''t see who those three people were, but after he saw clearly, he realized that the unconscious person was none other than Gabriel.

    "What happened to him?!"

    He hadn''t known Gabriel for a long time, but Gabriel was the first person who saw through his Talents and awarded him the position of the Saint Knight. If there was a Knight in this Empire who was most loyal to Gabriel, it was the new Saint Knight.

    He was shocked to see Gabriel being covered in blood. Amongst the two people that brought him back, one was the Holy Priestess of Summoning who he had seen before. As for the other person, he had no idea. However, those people didn''t appear like enemies.

    "Stop wasting time. Gabriel needs rest!" the Holy Priestess eximed as she jumped down the beast. Raphael also came down, carrying Gabriel.

    "Y-yes. Follow me!" The Saint Knight told his men to call the Royal Physician to the Emperor''s room while he escorted the three people there.

    After Gabriel went through strengthening his bodyst time, the room was left quite dirty. However, it had been cleaned by now. And this part of the pce also stayed unaffected by the attack on the City.

    Gabriel was brought to the Emperor''s room and carefully ced on the bed.

    Not long after, the royal physician was brought to the room.

    The old physician entered the room. After finding Gabriel on the bed, he went closer and started checking Gabriel''s body.

    "Hmm? That''s strange?" The old man stepped back in confusion after checking Gabriel''s body.

    "What happened? Is something wrong? Can he be treated?" the Saint Knight inquired.

    "Treated? He can''t be treated," the Physician answered, shaking his head.

    The Saint Knight''s face went pale, hearing the response. He couldn''t believe that Gabriel''s wounds were so heavy that he couldn''t even be treated!

    He knew that Gabriel had gone to help the Empire! He knew that Gabriel was the reason that the Holy Priest of mes left the Empire withoutpletely destroying it!

    His gaze lowered. ''To protect the Empire, he put himself in harm''s way and we can''t even treat him?''

    He grabbed the shoulders of the old man. "That can''t be! You must help him at any cost! I don''t care how you do it! Nothing must happen to him!"

 Chapter 317 317: The Chaos Of Beginning

    "Ah, Saint Knight. I think you''re misunderstanding my words! When I said he can''t be treated, it''s not because his wounds can''t be treated! It''s because there is nothing to be treated! I don''t know how, but there are no wounds on his body. And I can''t sense any injuries either. For some strange reason, his body is already healed!" The Physician eximed.

    It was even his first time seeing something like this. Gabriel''s bloodied clothes were telling apletely different story, as if he was really hurt. However, he couldn''t sense anything wrong with Gabriel.

    "How is that possible? He isn''t hurt?!" The Saint Knight eximed, finding it hard to believe. He wondered if the old man was trying to say that Gabriel was pretending to be hurt! His hand subconsciously went for the hilt of his sword as he red at the Royal Physician for this sphemy.

    "That''s not wrong. Along the way, we met a Priest of Light who used a healing spell on him to help him. You don''t have to be shocked about his physical condition," Avilia chimed in before the situation could devolve into more chaos.

    Since Gabriel didn''t want the Saint Knight or others to know that he was a Mage, she gave them an excuse to justify his sudden healing. Using a Mage of Light as an excuse was simply the easiest option for her.

    "So that''s what it was. Good." The Saint Knight sighed. "Nothing can happen to him..."

    ****

    On another side of the continent, Leriannded in the middle of the where the Sacred Church of mes used to be. However, there was nothing there that could be seen anymore. It was as if the Church never existed here! Not only did the enemy kill everyone here, they even destroyed the entire Church before leaving!

    Lerian stood in silence in the crater, not speaking or moving. However, a terrifying killing intent surrounded him. The killing intent was so powerful that it spread for thousands of kilometres, making everyone shiver. The weaker humans couldn''t even bear the terrifying killing intent and dropped to the group, dying just from the killing intent itself!

    Lerian didn''t attack anyone yet thousands of people died in Leviria at that single moment...

    Hourster, the other Head Priests also arrived,nding not too far from Lerian. Even they couldn''t believe their eyes... The Church... Their home was destroyed just like that...

    ****

    Inside the dreamscape, Gabriel spent hours submerged inside the water. For some reason, he didn''t feel short of breath inside the water. Instead, he felt surreal. The feeling he received being submerged inside the water was different from sitting under the mysterious waterfall.

    Sitting under the waterfall was constant suppression which kept increasing with time. While being under the waterfall felt like his body was constantly being broken apart to strengthen it, being submerged in the water felt more like his body was being nourished very gently. He felt as if all his hidden wounds were being healed slowly.

    ****

    It had been over twenty-four hours since Gabriel entered the dreamscape. His body was already healed, but he still hadn''t woken up. In his sleep, he didn''t realize how things were changing on the outside.

    His reputation was at an all time low and there was not a single person who wasn''t calling him a coward. Even some of the Royal Knights who didn''t know the truth felt that Gabriel was a coward.<novelnext></novelnext>

    There were only four people in the entire Empire who knew what actually happened¡ª Callum, Saint Knight, Raphael and Avilia.

    "That boy talked so big about the Spirit of the Knights and bravery. In the end, it was all a lie! That boy was nothing more than a coward who just hid in his castle in the face of danger!"

    "That''s right! It''s our stupidity that we fell for his lies! Who knew, he probably also lied about thest Emperor and even about his Lineage!"

    "The old Emperor would never hide inside while the Empire was in danger! We don''t want a coward and a liar in the top position!"

    "That coward doesn''t deserve to be the Emperor! He must be tossed out!"

    "I''m fine with anyone having the throne but him! He must be kicked out! How can a coward be our Emperor? At this rate, won''t he just sell our entire Emperor to the enemies if a powerful enemy came?"

    The anger and resentment spread amongst the citizens like fire and no one stopped them. Even though it was the Royal Knights'' duty to stop people from talking bad about the Emperor, they didn''t stop the people. If anything, their views were the same as the citizens.

    Initially the Royal Knights felt that Gabriel was different and brave, but now that they went through such an experience without the Emperor even showing himself, their feelings were different.

    The Saint Knight stood on the balcony of the Royal Pce, looking over the entire Empire. He also heard the news about the citizens talking bad about Gabriel.

    His heart felt as if it was under a really heavy burden. Gabriel went through so much to save the Empire. He hadn''t even woken up for more than a day and they didn''t know if he was ever going to wake up. And after all that, the people he saved were not only ungrateful but they also resented him?

    He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs and tell all those ungrateful bastards what Gabriel did for them, but he couldn''t. He knew that if he told people the truth, and this news reached the members of the Church of mes, then this was going to be a cmity like no other!

    For the sake of this Empire''s safety, none of them could tell the citizens about the truth. All they could do was let things happen and hope the situation didn''t get worse than it already was.

    He asionally nced back inside the room where Gabriel was still lying on the bed. He couldn''t help but wonder what Gabriel''s reaction was going to be after finding out what the citizens were saying about him. He had a feeling that even Gabriel couldn''t avoid being sad deep inside.

    "What a bunch of idiots." The Saint Knight was lost in thoughts about the future when Callum arrived to stand next to him on the balcony. "People say that ignorance is bliss. But they don''t know that in some situations, this ignorance can..."

    Saint Knight was about to reply when the door of the room suddenly opened. A young maid rushed inside the room, breathing heavily as if she had run all the way here.

    "Lord Saint Knight, an envoy from the Church of mes is here, asking to meet His Majesty!''

 Chapter 318 318: The Trap Of The Trapped...

    "Envoy from the Church of mes?" The Saint Knight was taken aback. It hadn''t been long since these people left and now they were back and they wanted to meet Gabriel?

    "Could it be that they already found out about it?" he asked the Duke, ncing at his Sword that was lying nearby.

    "I don''t think that''s the case. If they knew, you think they would only send one envoy?" Callum knew just how big a deal it was for someone to destroy a Sacred Church''s main branch.

    He was clear that if they knew about this and Gabriel being behind this, let alone the city but the entire Empire would''ve been destroyed already!

    "They must be here for some other reason," he told the Saint Knight. Even though the situation wasn''t ideal, it still wasn''t as bad as it could''ve been.

    "Even if that''s the case, what should we do about it? They''re here to meet the Emperor, but he..." The Saint Knight couldn''t help but shake his head, ncing at Gabriel who was lying on the bed with Raphael keeping an eye on him.

    "What can we even do? Go out and handle the matter," the Duke replied. If he wasn''t worried about his identity, he personally would''ve gone. However, for now, the only choice they had was to send the Saint Knight who had a simr level of position as him in the Empire.

    The Saint Knight scratched the back of his head, nodding. He couldn''t do anything else. He walked closer to his sword that was inside the sheath and picked it up before leaving the room.

    "Huh?" The Saint Knight stepped out of the room, only to be shocked. The envoy from the Church... He wasn''t in the meeting room. Instead, he wasing directly toward him! He was just a few steps away from the entrance of the room where Gabriel was resting...

    ....

    The entire hall was filled in silence. Two people sat face to face, both being at the top of this world when it came to strength. One was the Holy Priest of mes while the other was the Holy Priestess of Earth.

    Even though it''s been half an hour, the silence was still deafening.

    "I need your help..." After a long time, Lerian finally broke the silence. He had never asked anyone for help in his entire life. Unfortunately, now he had no choice but to ask for help.

    He was so angry that he wanted to kill! It was already proving hard for him to control his emotions for now. He wanted to find the people who attacked the Sacred Church of mes and he believed he could only do so with the help of the Holy Priestess of Earth.

    "How can I help?" The Holy Priestess of Earth asked. Usually, she didn''t think that the situation was going to deteriorate to this level. Even she couldn''t have guessed that this was a trap to lure Lerian away from Leviria. That trap also seeded.

    It was clear that whoever was behind this attack was very clever and that killing Lerian''s daughter was a part of this trap. They knew how strong Lerian was and that they couldn''t kill him. That''s why, they wanted to decide the forces behind him first to break him!

    ording to her, not only did they kill his daughter, but they intentionally kept the Fate Stone safe throughout these years, only to use it now when the opportunity was right to lure Lerian away from the Church with most of the forces.

    For some reason, she also felt that whoever did it knew what they were doing all too well. It all happened right around the Meeting of Saints after all! It was as if the enemies knew about the Meeting of Saints and timed things ording to that.<novelnext></novelnext>

    At this moment, they were out in the open, having no idea who was behind all this and where the enemies hid. On the other hand, the enemies seemed to know a lot about them!

    When Elora told them that the new Holy Priest of Darkness was very cunning and nned things ordingly, she didn''t think it was that bad. However, at the moment, she was starting to believe those words.

    Lerian pulled out a small letter from his pocket and ced it on the ss table between him and the Holy Priestess of Earth.

    The Holy Priestess of Earth picked up the letter and unfolded it slowly.

    As soon as she read through this letter, her face darkened. "Who gave you this letter?"

    "A few hours ago, amoner gave this letter to one of our members. He said that this letter was given to him by a masked man who told him to pass this letter to us after twelve hours," Lerian answered.

    "Then this letter..." The Holy Priestess of Earth frowned.

    Lerian nodded as a trace of anger shed in his deep eyes. "This was sent by the person who attacked the Church... The hand behind the curtain..."

    The Holy Priestess of Earth went through the letter once again. "This person... He is really bold, isn''t he?"

    "Only as long as I can''t find him. When I do, his skull would be under my feet," Lerian responded. "Then I''ll see how bold he is!"

    "For that, I need your help," he told the Holy Priestess.

    "Don''t tell me you''re asking me to use... that?" The Holy Priestess of Earth frowned. Seeing Lerian be so serious, she was already sure what he was here for!

    "That''s right. I''m here to ask you to use it... The treasure that you found two years ago," Lerian confessed. "Only that can help me now. When that person used his spells to destroy the Church, his aura had been left there. It will be dispersed in a few days so we need to be fast. With your treasure, we can use that aura to teleport him back to that ce and kill him!"

    "You realise that I can only use it once, right?" The Holy Priestess asked, not showing much reaction. "I was saving that to catch people from the Temple of Time once they made an appearance in this world again. To use that on this person..."

    "The Temple of Time hasn''t appeared for hundreds of years. For now, the biggest danger this world faces is the person who attacked the Church and the force behind him. If we don''t capture him, who''s to say he won''t get stronger and attack your home next?"

    After speaking, Lerian stood up. Only the sound of the chair being pushed back could be heard in the silence.

    "I said all I wanted to say. Now the choice is yours..."

 Chapter 319 319: Clashing With The Saint Knight

    "Wait..."

    Lerian was about to step out of the hall when he heard the voice of the Holy Priestess.

    "I''ll wait for you there." He didn''t turn around and walked out of the hall, as if he already knew what she was going to say.

    ****

    "Are you the envoy from the Church of mes?" the Saint Knight blocked the path of the envoy.

    The person before him was one of the Priests of the Sacred Church of mes. For him to be here and this close to the room with Gabriel... The Saint Knight knew that he couldn''t let him go forward and see Gabriel.

    "I am. Take me to your Emperor. My time is precious," the man arrogantly stated.

    In his voice, there wasn''t much hostility, but it was clear that he was looking down on the people from this Empire, including the Saint Knight.

    Despite being displeased by this behaviour of the man, the Saint Knight sighed in relief inwardly. It was evident that he didn''t know about Gabriel or what he did. He was most probably here for some other reason. But still, he couldn''t let him meet Gabriel since he wasn''t sure if Gabriel''s aura could be sensed by him or not.

    "Lord Envoy, His Majesty can''t meet you today. Our Majesty''s health has been bad recently so I''m afraid it''s not good to meet him. How about you tell me what you''re here for? No matter what it is, I''ll help you." The Saint Knight stood between the room and the Envoy.

    The Envoy couldn''t help but snort. "So the rumours I heard about your Emperor are really true. He''s really a coward who doesn''t even daree out. Don''t worry. I''m not here to hurt him. Even if he''s scared, there''s no need to make excuses."

    The Envoy didn''t look like he was willing to leave. In any case, he was under orders from above. He didn''t want to leave without meeting the so-called Emperor.

    "This is not an excuse. Please show some respect." The Saint Knight didn''t know why this guy was being so stubborn. All he had to do was tell him what he was here for, and he would''ve done it! There was no need to even go through Gabriel in this time of emergency.

    "Do you ants think you deserve my respect?" The middle aged mage of mes scoffed disrespectfully. He ced his hand on Saint Knight''s shoulder to push him aside.

    "Hmm?" The Envoy frowned, unable to move the Saint Knight even an inch. Even though he was strong, but his main strength was in his magical prowess. His physical strength wasn''t as good. On the other hand, the Saint Knight focused more on the physical strength.

    The envoy couldn''t move him aside that easily.

    "Don''t force my hands. You''re really lucky to survive a cmity recently. Don''t push your luck because this time, you won''t be that lucky!"

    The members of the Church of mes were already angry and irritated after what happened recently and to see a mere knight disrespecting him, he couldn''t help but get angry.

    The situation was getting heated. The Saint Knight also stepped back a little, holding his sword firmly. "Lord Envoy, I don''t want to go against the Church of mes, but if you want to break our rules and disrespect us, then I would be happy to apany you even in death!"

    "You! Good! Very good! Looks like you really don''t know the difference between earth and heaven! In that case, let me enlighten you!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Envoy was already angry and seeing him blocked by a person on his way and even threatened, he was furious.

    ''Wait...'' Despite his anger, he found something strange. These people... If they really didn''t worry about death, then why didn''t they show themselves before? Now that he really thought about this, there was no need for the Saint Knight to block him, was there?

    Even if the Emperor was really sick, all he had to do was escort him and let him see with his own eyes? Why would he take the extra effort to block and even risk offending the Church of mes?

    Something didn''t add up! He could feel that there was more to it than met his eyes. It was as if the Saint Knight was intentionally trying to block him, as if he wanted to hide something! The more he thought about it, the more things appeared out of ce.

    He had seen which room three Saint Knight came out of. He had a feeling that the room was the one which supposedly belonged to this mysterious Emperor!

    He didn''t attack the Saint Knight. Instead, the corners of his lips crept up as he took a nce behind the Saint Knight. More than fighting the Saint Knight and getting dyed by him, he wanted to see what was in the room.

    "Fine! Since you don''t want to ept our blessings, I will leave!" He suddenly turned around and started walking away, as if he really wasn''t intending to fight.

    The Saint Knight couldn''t help but frown seeing all that. The man who was just about to attack him... Why would he suddenly turn around and leave?

    He stood behind in confusion. How could a person change his mind really fast? Did he really have such good control over his emotions? Or was hemanded by his higher ups to not attack anyone here? That seemed to be the only option that made sense for now.

    He didn''t think that someone like a member of the Church who already had such strength would scheme against him.

    Unfortunately, just as his mind was distracted, the Envoy abruptly turned around. A ball of fire, as big as a person''s head shot out toward the Saint Knight.

    The sudden iing attack stunned the Saint Knight who could only raise his Sword to block the attack at thest moment.

    Boom~

    The Saint Knight''s body flew back, amidst the explosion. Since he wasn''t ready, he didn''t even have a battle stance which made it impossible for him to keep his feet nted.

    While the Saint Knight crashed on the wall in the distance, the Envoy of Church rushed ahead toward the room. The path between him and the room was already clear for him by now!

    The Saint Knight stood up, even as his body was aching all over as he rushed ahead as well. Unfortunately, the envoy attacked again to dy him.

    The Saint Knight this time was more prepared. His Sword came shing down, cutting the attack on two halves, destroying it!

    Unfortunately, that much of a dy was enough for the envoy to reach the room.

    The Envoy of the Church pushed the door open and entered the room¡­

 Chapter 320 320: Could It Be That Youre Blind?

    ****

    The Sacred Churches... There weren''t many of them but they still possessed immense power. Each Church was enough to trample over any Empire if they ever wished. However, they all remained out of conflicts of the mortal World for the most part.

    Even if they usually interfered, no one could dare to say anything against them. There was no need for them to offer any exnation to anyone.

    Unfortunately, this time was different. They had attacked the Empire of Arecia and almost destroyed it, only toter find out that they were fooled.

    The Holy Priest of the Church of mes was quite upset and distracted by the whole matter of the attacker, so he left the matter of dealing with the aftermath of the Empire conflict with a head priest.

    The Head Priest in turn sent an envoy to Arecia in hopes of giving the Empire a brief exnation so the matter could finally be put to rest. He didn''t want the matter to spread more than it already did. In this way, they were giving some face to the Empire of Arecia even when they didn''t need to.

    There was also another reason for him sending an Envoy. He wanted a message to be delivered to the new Emperor so that the new Emperor could change the story a bit! For now, no one in the Empire knew why the Church left so suddenly. There were definitely going to be some mixed feelings. That was why he wanted to get the Emperor to calm down his people to put the matter to rest.

    Through this matter, he wanted the Emperor to tell the citizens that the Church came here because a criminal was being given shelter in the Empire and the Church left after they received the criminal.

    In this way, not only did the Church clean its hands of the whole matter, but they could also act as if they were full of virtues, even if they had to push the me of sheltering the criminal on the ''innocent'' Empire.

    The envoy came only for that matter. He didn''t respect the Empire and its people. If anything, he just wanted to deliver the message and leave as soon as he could. Each second he spent here was a waste of his time.

    Unfortunately, finding himself being blocked by the Saint Knight, he felt as if they were hiding something. He rushed inside immediately after pushing the Saint Knight back.

    The Envoy opened the doors and rushed inside the room, only to be stunned.

    The Saint Knight also rushed ahead, brandishing his sword. He wasn''t sure if the Envoy recognised the real identity of Gabriel or not, but he was willing to take the risk and take his head off!

    Strangely enough, as soon as he looked inside, he was also surprised. The room... It was differentpared to when he left the room.

    Raphael was nowhere to be found. What stunned him even more was that Gabriel was up! He was finally up!

    Gabriel had woken up from his slumber. Not only that, he was also dressed in a new Attire, worthy of his position.

    "You are the Emperor?" The Envoy asked, frowning. In the room, there were only two people. First was Gabriel and the second was Callum who stood behind Gabriel.

    He had already heard along the way that the new Emperor was a cowardly young man. Since there was only one young man in the room, he immediately realized that Gabriel was the Emperor.

    Strangely enough, even though he heard that Gabriel was a coward, he felt entirely different. Gabriel''s eyes were clear. His body was brimming in energy and there was not a shred of fear on his handsome face. If anything, there was something about Gabriel which made even the Envoy feel slightly intimidated.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The envoy shook his head lightly, believing it to be his misconceptions.

    "I am the Emperor of Arecia, Gabriel Arcadius Arecia. The person behind me is Duke Callum," Gabriel calmly answered. "Are you the Envoy from the Church?"

    Initially, Gabriel didn''t want to meet members of the Church so soon. However, as soon as he woke up, he was informed by Callum about the arrival of an envoy.

    Since it was just an Envoy and not a Head Priest or Lerian himself, Gabriel didn''t care much. After all, his ring was enough to hide his aura along with Callum''s aura as long as the person before him wasn''t a Holy Priest or someone on simr level.

    His hands remained behind his back as he greeted the Envoy calmly.

    "Hmph, you have good eyes!" The envoy arrogantly walked toward a nearby chair. "I am the Envoy of the Church of mes. Do you know your crimes?"

    He sat down on a nearby chair, resting one leg above the other without even waiting for permission from Gabriel.

    Callum in the back frowned. This guy really didn''t respect the Empire or even the Emperor. He was acting as if he was talking to his servants in his own backyard.

    Gabriel didn''t care much about this man''s reaction. He had already killed half the Church''s forces. If he wanted to kill this weak guy, all he had to do was snap a finger to summon one of the Death Knights and they could handle everything else. Even this Envoy''s body wasn''t going to be left behind.

    Unfortunately, the person had Lerian behind him. Gabriel didn''t worry about having to fight with Lerian in the future, but he didn''t want this Empire to be dragged into the mes of war. That''s why he took such a long winded route to deal with this problem.

    "May I ask what I did wrong?" Gabriel asked.

    The corners of the Envoy''s lips crept up, forming an ugly smile. "You tried to have this Holy Envoy fooled?"

    "What do you mean?" Gabriel asked again.

    "Don''t pretend to be innocent. You had your dog tell me that you were sick so I could be sent back. However you seem perfectly fine. Do you know what crime youmitted by lying to me?"

    The Envoy didn''t care about the dignity of the Empire. He was already frustrated that he had toe this far, all to give an exnation to a measly Empire that they could destroy in an instant. Unfortunately, it was the other of the Head Priest. Despite that, he still wanted to trample on the dignity of the so-called Emperor.

    "Lord Envoy, could it be that you''re blind?" Gabriel asked calmly.

    A sentence... Just a single sentence fell in the Envoy''s ears like an explosion. This guy... He actually called him blind?

 Chapter 321 321: Abdicate

    "Could it be that you''re blind?"

    Not just the envoy, but even Callum and the Saint Knight were stunned. Even though Gabriel''s words sounded insulting, his voice and expressions were so sincere as if he was genuinely asking. They didn''t know whether tough or cry.

    "You! You! You called me blind?" The Envoy stood up, stunned. Even though it wasn''t clear, some could faintly see that his face was turning red in anger.

    If he wasn''t worried about being killed by the Head Priestter on, he would''ve already killed the man in one strike!

    "It''s not that I called you blind. I''m genuinely asking. Just because I''m standing, you say I''m perfectly fine. Could it be that you can''t see blood trickling down my lips?" Gabriel asked.

    It was only now that the Envoy and the others saw a thin line of blood that was trickling down from the corner of Gabriel''s lips.

    The Envoy was so stunned that he didn''t even realize that the blood wasn''t there before. Gabriel intentionally made him bleed slightly to give the impression that he was genuinely hurt.

    "I''m indeed sick. It''s a gic sickness which opens up an internal injury every so often. Since I didn''t want to show you this unsightly sight, I asked my men to help you instead."

    Gabriel didn''t care about the man so being respectful didn''t matter to him. All he wanted was for the man to leave. If they wanted to fight him, he wanted the battle to happen outside Arecia.

    The Envoy didn''t know what to say. When he entered, he genuinely didn''t focus on Gabriel''s lips so he didn''t know if there was blood before or not.

    "This is the first time I''m hearing about such sickness," the Envoy wondered.

    "There are many firsts in this world. It was also our first time being attacked by a Church, wasn''t it?" Gabriel asked. A tinge of sarcasm could clearly be felting from his words.

    "Hmph." The envoy rolled his eyes and didn''t delve into the matter. "Whatever. Sit down. I''m here to talk to you. The rest of you can go out!"

    He directlymanded the Saint Knight and Callum to leave. Unfortunately, no one listened to him, which made his brows rise.

    "You two can leave," Gabriel stated, telling them to leave as well. It wasn''t as if he needed their protection. If the envoy tried doing anything, the one who needed protection wasn''t him but the Envoy!

    The Saint Knight bowed respectfully before he left the room. Callum also left the room.

    After the two left, the Envoy brought his High Tier Staff since he wanted to use a stronger spell.

    Gabriel didn''t care what spell was used and just calmly sat on the bed. The spell didn''t sound like an attacking spell in any case.

    As the Spell finished, a barrier appeared around the room.

    ''A sound sealing barrier? Interesting spell...'' Gabriel observed his surroundings, slightly impressed. By now, he had already guessed why the Envoy was here.

    And just as he expected, the Envoy started telling him the truth about how they received the information about a criminal hiding in Arecia and came personally to catch that person. Along the way, he tried to act mighty.

    Even though the Church attacked the helpless Empire, he still made the Church seem like righteous people who were fighting against evil.

    "By forcing him toe out, and catching that terrifying criminal, we saved your Empire! If we hadn''t arrived and caught him, sooner orter, he would''ve destroyed your Empire! You should be thankful to us!"

    The Envoy proudly stated.

    Seeing the pride and arrogance on the man''s face, even though he lied so openly, Gabriel''s face twitched unwillingly.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He had really never seen such a shameless person in all his life? Not only did these people attack the Empire, they even wanted the Empire and the citizens to be grateful to them?!

    He could only scratch the back of his head in face of such shamelessness. "You''re right! The Church is righteous! We don''t know what we would''ve done without you!"

    The Envoy grinned. "Exactly. We are! It''s your blessing that our Church was willing to help your Empire deal with these matters!"

    The more shameless this guy was, the more Gabriel felt like stomping on his foot. However, he controlled his urge.

    "Exactly! The righteous Church of mes is so strong! The strongest in this world! I''m sure no one can even hurt a single hair on your head! I wish I had such strength." Gabriel lowered his head, sighting.

    The Envoy''s face turned dark for a moment as he remembered the Church being destroyed by a person. What couldn''t harm a hair? What strongest? He wanted to cough out a mouthful of blood at this statement! Let alone harming a hair on his head, there were people who killed the entire force they left behind!

    ''Fortunately, this guy doesn''t know!'' he thought, trying to hide his real emotions.

    "Cough, that''s right. We are quite strong!" He nodded proudly. "Anyway, I just came here to tell you about this matter. I hope you can spread the news about how righteous we are and how we helped you!"

    After finishing, the envoy stood up.

    Gabriel watched the Envoy leave as the corners of his lips rose up. ''This guy...''

    The door opened and the seal on the space was broken as the Envoy stepped out of the room, leaving. From the start to the end, he never dropped his arrogant expressions. Now that he had finished dealing with the matter, he swiftly left.

    The Saint Knight personally escorted the man outside while Callum entered the room.

    "What did he say?"

    Gabriel shook his head. "A bunch of nothing."

    He walked to the balcony. Now that he had dealt with the matter, he wanted to see just how much damage this city suffered.

    As he stood on the balcony, he noticed the condition of the City which was half destroyed. A lot of structures from before were missing entirely.

    "That''s a lot of damage. How long will it take to make things like before?"

    "Probably a month," Callum answered. "The rescue work is almostplete but the construction will take longer."

    Gabriel nodded and lowered his head, focusing on the entrance of the Castle. He noticed a huge crowd outside the Castle doors.

    "What are they doing?" he asked, frowning. For so many people to gather here, this didn''t seem right.

    "They are..." Callum hesitated. He didn''t know what to say.

    "Speak."

    "They are here to ask you to abdicate the throne..." After a long silence, Callum finally spoke. "There are protests going on all over the Empire. The ones before the castle are but a small fragment of the people demanding that you abdicate¡­"

 Chapter 322 322: Repaying Gratitude With Malice

    ****

    Gabriel stood inside the Garden of Legacy.His ring was still signalling that something was in this ce, yet he still failed to find it. In the end, he came to a realization that there was a good chance about that thing being underground.

    He still had no idea what it could be that managed to stimte his ring to this extent. Thest time his ring was stimted, it was because of the God Tier Items Orbs of Time.

    Unfortunately, at the moment, his face was quite unsightly. No matter how much he tried, he failed to dig the group. Even his powerful attacks couldn''t leave a mark behind.

    "No wonder this ce was left unharmed in all that chaos before." He stood in silence with his arms folded around his chest, as if lost in deep thoughts.

    He had tried everything! He used his attacks! He used his various Numens! He tried his hands. He even tried digging using an ordinary shovel but none worked.

    For the longest time, he was the only person in the garden since he had banned anyone else from even thinking about entering this ce.

    "I can''t dig this ce, but without digging, can I bring anything out? Just what is this garden?"

    Even the Church of mes couldn''t bear his attacks, turning into rubble but this Garden was still intact. Not even a single de of grass was harmed.

    After twelve hours of not seeding, he turned around. He didn''t know what this ce was, but he understood that for now he couldn''t understand the mysteries behind this garden.

    Turning around, he left the garden.

    ****

    Outside the Garden of Legacy, the Royal Knights were wondering why Gabriel was inside the garden for so long. However none of them dared to go inside to check.

    It was only when Gabriel stepped out that they straightened up.

    "They still haven''t stopped?" he asked the Saint Knight, looking at the crowds of citizens in the street.

    For some reason, after what happened with the Church of mes, the citizens had not only started ming him for being a coward but that me slowly turned into hate.

    If there was one person in the Empire who was hated the most at the moment, it was him! Quite a lot of citizens even lost the fear of death after what they went throughst time, protesting in front of him, demanding his abdication without worrying about their lives.

    What was worse was that the Saint Knight and Duke Callum had used some really heavy-handed methods to stop people from making noise while he was still unconscious.

    Even though they did it for his own good, in the end, it made the situation even worse as people believed the new Emperor was a coward hiding from the strong and exercising his strength on the weak!

    He could still hear the chants of citizens who called him cowardly, asking him to step down and let the crown return to the Bloodline of the Alecton Family.

    For some strange reason, the citizens also found out that the two Princesses were still alive and they wanted the throne to instead go to them as they lost all their faith in him.

    "Should we kill the Princesses?" Callum asked.

    Gabriel shook his head. "The Princesses aren''t the problem. They are just being used by the citizens as an excuse to remove me. If we kill them, these people will just demand someone else to be made Emperor."

    He understood just what kind of thoughts that these people had. Who became the ruler of the Empire was secondary. They just wanted him to step down, no matter what.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Even though Gabriel didn''t show any emotions on his face as if he didn''t care about anything that was happening around him, it would''ve been a lie if one were to say if he didn''t feel hurt. These people were the ones he risked himself to save and these people were also the ones who wanted to push him out.

    If it was up to him, he wouldn''t even bother with this weak Empire since this ce wasn''t of much benefit to him. There were just two reasons keeping him here. First was his promise with Novius and the second and most important was that he wanted to solve the mystery of the garden first.

    Gabriel stepped inside the Carriage with Callum and the carriage started going back to the pce.

    Unfortunately, it hadn''t even moved far when it was forced to stop. The yells of the citizens were even more clear as thousands of them had blocked the path of the carriage.

    Gabriel could only rub his forehead in frustration. Even though the citizens were protesting, he couldn''t help but feel as if something was unnatural about it.

    "Your Majesty, people are blocking our path. What are yourmands?" The Saint Knight asked. Last time, he dealt with these people quite heavy handedly and ended up making Gabriel upset. This time, he directly asked Gabriel.

    Gabriel opened the door of the carriage. The more he avoided, the more these people became agitated. It was as if they didn''t even want to give him a chance to move peacefully.

    As Gabriel stepped out of the Carriage, he was able to see that amongst the people who were blocking his path this time, there were also quite a few people who were from the Knight Academy, one of the most prestigious academies in the Empire that trained Knights.

    He could sweep all these people away with one wave of his hand. Unfortunately, he was supposed to be a Knight in this Empire and not a Mage.

    He stood next to the Carriage, looking at the crowd ahead of him. Most of the citizens didn''t have any weapons. They didn''t even have sticks. They were just raising his hand, demanding Gabriel''s removal from the Royal Pce.

    The only people in the crowd who had weapons were the students of the Knights Academy. They all carried a treasure sword on their back.

    "Chicken Emperor, abdicate!"

    "Chicken Emperor, abdicate!"

    "Chicken Emperor, abdicate!"

    The Chants roared in the surroundings. The citizens had already given him the name of Chicken Emperor because he was such a coward.

    "Because of your cowardice to stop them, my entire family died! Abdicate you bastard!"

    "My entire life''s wealth was destroyed! Abdicate!"

    "You don''t deserve this Empire! You''re a shame to the Ancestors of this Empire! Abdicate Chicken Emperor!"

    The more Gabriel saw the scene, the worse their words became. Gabriel''s expressions still didn''t reveal anything. He just calmly observed these people.

    In the end, he just turned around and walked to the Saint Knight to discuss something when a flying projectile came from the back.

    Bang~

    A stone hit Gabriel''s head,ing from behind. One of the citizens even dared to toss a stone at him. Even though Gabriel''s physical body was powerful, it was still enough to make him bleed. And that wasn''t the end either. Once a person started throwing stones, others joined in.

 Chapter 323 323: Blood Demon Emperor

    "Protect His Majesty!" The Saint Knightmanded the Knights who stepped forward, raising their shields to protect Gabriel.

    Gabriel stood in silence in the rain of stones with his back facing the citizens. Blood dripped down his forehead slowly....

    An iprehensible feeling overtook his heart, filling him up with something he had felt many times before. The same feeling he felt when the people in his town turned on him, asking him to be killed.

    The demands of people here were slightly different than the demands of those people, but in his heart, there was the same pain. These were the people he saved? These were the people he offended the Church of mes directly for?

    He slowly touched the blood on his forehead as he slowly muttered, "Good... Very good. Thank you for not letting me forget..."

    He didn''t bother looking behind at all. Only his cold words echoed in the surroundings that made not only the citizens but even the Royal Knights tremble.

    For a moment, even the Saint Knight wondered if he heard Gabriel right?

    "Kill everyone here!" These words fell like thunder in everyone''s ears. Even though they had beaten up peoplest time to make them calm down, but killing people and so many at that...?

    "Your Majesty...?" The Saint Knight frowned.

    Gabriel didn''t exin himself. "Either you kill them, or I kill all of you with them."

    Saint Knight was frozen in ce. This was the first time he heard Gabriel be so emotionless. Usually, Gabriel was always calm, even in the face of criticism. That''s why he didn''t do anything to the citizens all this time. He even scolded them for beating the citizensst time, and now this...?

    The rain of stones had stopped entirely. The citizens were still in shock. This Emperor... he wanted to kill them? Even the Royal Academy students who joined the protest were stunned.

    Entering the carriage, Gabriel closed the door. He didn''t even bother casting a healing spell, letting him bleed.

    "This will make things quite troublesome in the future," Callum stepped inside the carriage. "I think we should-"

    "I don''t care what you think." Gabriel stated without much emotion. This time, even Callum felt that Gabriel was different. It was as if he had... stopped caring.

    ? Callum didn''t dare speak anything else for now. He felt as if he spoke more, Gabriel would''ve killed him as well. He just sat silently, worrying about the future.

    If thousands of citizens were killed here, the news couldn''t be kept hidden. The entire Empire was going to erupt in violent uprisings. He was sure that Gabriel knew about such a thing since they had discussed this before. However, Gabriel couldn''t care less.

    There was a knock on the door of the carriage. The door was opened and Saint Knight peaked inside. "Your Majesty, there are students of the Knight Academy as well. Should we let them go at least...?"

    "If I single person left alive, I''ll make you and your menpensate with your lives," Gabriel''s cold voice fell in his ears, sending a chill down his spine.

    "If the Academy has any problem with it, destroy the Academy as well! If ten raise their voice, kill ten! If thousands raise their voice, kill thousands! If millions raise their voice, kill millions!"

    Each of Gabriel''s words made Callum and Saint Knight''s heart tremble violently. They could see that Gabriel was serious this time! It was as if the citizens of this Empire had lost any meaning to them and he wasn''t going to hesitate in killing everyone if there was a need.

    The Saint Knight closed the door. His face was slightly pale but Gabriel neither noticed nor cared.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Outside the carriage, all the Royal Knights looked at the Saint Knight with expectant eyes.

    "Lord Saint, did he... Rescind the order?" They asked.

    The Saint Knight shook his head as he slowly pulled out his mighty Sword.

    "Knights of the Empire! Follow themands of His Majesty!" He roared, pointing his swords toward the citizens.

    Usually, even he was hesitant in doing something like this and felt as if his heart wasn''t willing. However, for him, his life was more important than anything! He had a feeling that if he really let one person escape, he was going to die!

    He had already seen how easily Gabriel killed peoplest time! Moreover, Gabriel was also the person who single handedly attacked the Church of mes! There was no doubt that he could destroy this Empire and them if he wanted.

    In his heart, he even tried to somehow justify his actions. "The Emperor was kind enough to ignore these people, not even allowing us to use the slightest force on them, yet they dared to attack His Majesty directly! They were given an inch yet they took a mile! Attack on His Majesty couldn''t be epted! Follow mymands and charge!"

    The Saint Knight was the first person to charge. At the moment, even the students of the Academy of Knights were stunned. They had never expected the situation to turn like this! The Royal Knights were attacking them and there was clear killing intent in their eyes.

    "Wait! Wait! I''m from the Knight Academy! You can''t kill me! You''re dering a war on the aca-"

    sh~

    Before the young knight could even finish his sentence, a cold Sword came shing and took his head off in a single strike.

    The screams of people resounded outside, but Gabriel just sat inside the carriage. His eyes were closed yet he wasn''t asleep. He was hearing everything. His arms were folded around his chest. His head was still aching but the bleeding had stopped.

    "If there is a civil war, the other Empires might take this as an excuse to invade," Callum softly muttered, shaking his head. He could feel as if turbulent times were ahead.

    "I don''t care even if gods came to take this Empire from me. They''ll only leave their lives behind," Gabriel''s cold voice was heard in the carriage.

    Even though Gabriel only spoke a few sentences, Callum felt unable to raise his head. He didn''t know just what magic was in these words, but he felt as if his heart was screaming and telling him to never offend this person, no matter what!

    The ughtersted for less than twenty minutes. Even though the Knight Academy students who were in their early twenties were good fighters, before the Royal Knights, they still couldn''tst long.

    The streets were covered in blood and not a single person was left alive.

    The carriage finally started moving again after the path was cleared, passing over the puddle of blood on the ground.

    When the news of what transpired here spread, heavy waves were created in the Empire.

    The person who was called Chicken Emperor was soon known throughout the Empire as Blood Demon Emperor!

 Chapter 324 324: Let Me See The Might!

    ****

    Throughout the next two days, Gabriel didn''t leave the Castle. He just remained in his bed, training in his dreams at night and absorbing the Soul Crystals in the morning.

    He had realized that his own strength was the most important and everything else was secondary, especially now that he had offended the Churches even more.

    Even though Gabriel didn''t leave the Pce in thest two days, his name was still on the lips of everyone in the Empire and not for good reasons.

    After the news spread that Gabriel hadmanded the protestors who were blocking his path to be killed, the entire Empire was stunned! It was one thing for an outsider like the Church to do something like that, but for the person who sat on the throne to do it? Was he not a human?

    They initially couldn''t believe it. No matter how much they disliked Gabriel and wanted him to step down, they didn''t expect him to be capable of doing something like this. The people were discontent and the news about Gabriel''s ruthless nature was like pouring oil in fire.

    The protests of citizens grew, bing even morerge. Moreover, violent protests arose all over the Empire as citizens banded together. Usually the citizens shouldn''t have been able to gather so quickly, but not many people realized that it was mostly because of the Academy of Knights!

    The students of the Academy were killed! The new Emperor didn''t even give face to the Academy by killing their students which made the Academy stand on the other side of him.

    As if this wasn''t enough, the other neighbouring Empires were also keeping an eye on the situation with greedy eyes, ready to take action. The Empire of Arecia was in a civil war and at its weakest. Moreover, they now had a righteous cause to attack the Empire.

    Fortunately, for now, the Churches hadn''t started caring about Arecia, not even bothering with sending a delegate. The matters of Arecia didn''t concern them as long as it wasn''t about a Mage.

    Throughout the days, the protests became worse and worse. The Saint Knight didn''t know what to do anymore. He just followed the previousmands of Gabriel and ruthlessly solved the protests by violence!

    That method did work for a few days, but it also failed in the end as the Royal Knights started feeling as if they couldn''t kill their fellow citizens.

    Today was the third day since Gabriel''s path was blocked outside the Garden of Legacy. The Saint Knight stood outside the pce, looking at a huge crowd gathering in the distance.

    The crowd was like nothing he had seen before. In the lead were the leaders of the Knight Academy. As if that wasn''t enough, the secondyer of this Rebellion Army consisted entirely of the Royal Knights that had resigned from their positions to join the people.

    At the thirdyer of the rebellion were the citizens who were also given weapons by the Knight Academy.

    Next to the Saint Knight stood Callum, frowning.

    "Half the members of the Royal Army have resigned and joined the rebellion. Even if we manage to kill them, the losses would be too many."

    Callum knew just what this implied. The scale of this thing grew to a stage that even he hadn''t expected and all of this happened in just two days!<novelnext></novelnext>

    "The losses would indeed be too many. After this war, we''d be like sitting ducks, open to attack from the Neighbors." Even the Saint Knight felt distressed at the thought.

    In the end, he could only sigh and step forward.

    From the other side, the Dean of the Knights Academy stepped forward, carrying a heavy sword on his back. It wasn''t wrong to say that he was someone who was even stronger than thest Saint Knight. Even the current generation of the Saint Knight wasn''t sure if he could take this guy down or not. The Dean of the Academy was his teacher once upon a time after all!

    The Saint Knight and the Dean of Academy stood before each other. Behind each of them was a huge army but the rebellion seemed stronger at the moment in terms of absolute numbers.

    "Lord Tize, do you know what you''re doing leading this rebellion?" The Saint Knight asked grimly. "If you don''t stop, the consequences would be unimaginable!"

    "You should''ve thought about the consequences when you killed innocent civilians!" the Dean of the Academy snorted. "Now that you''re on the backfoot, you suddenly remember the consequences?!"

    "Innocent civilians? After all the Emperor did for the citizens, they attacked him with stones! All of them! That was no different than an open rebellion and they were dealt as such! We only followed the rules set forth by the Saint King! An Emperor''s dignity cannot be sullied!" the Saint Knight coldly responded.

    He knew just what Gabriel did for these people. Even when they did all that, Gabriel ignored them until things went too far. The Saint Knight knew that they went a bit too far in their actions, but if they were to look at the Royal Laws, this was indeed what they were supposed to do even if Gabriel hadn''t said!

    "An Emperor''s dignity?!" The Deanughed as if mocking the Saint Knight. "Where was this dignity when he was hiding in the Pce while the Empire was on the verge of destruction? Don''t tell me this dignity only makes an appearance before weaklings?"

    "So the emperor really is a person who is scared of the strong and mighty before the weak?" he further asked. "If that''s the case, then we don''t need such an Emperor! The citizens have spoken and they don''t want this person in the throne! Today, even gods can''t save him, let alone you!".

    After finishing, the Dean turned around and went back to the rebellion army. Today, he didn''te here to talk. He was here to kill the Emperor and punish him for what he did!

    "Today, I shall see just what the hell this so-called Blood Demon is capable of!" He stated, ncing in the direction of the Royal Pce.

    The Saint Knight also walked back to the Royal Knights, telling them to stay ready. No matter what, he had to defend the Royal Pce to thest man!

    ****

    Inside the Royal Pce, Gabriel had woken up from his slumber and his dream training. He felt as if his body was even stronger now. Unfortunately, for some reason the constant pressure acting over his body was also stronger now.

    He resisted the pressure on his body and stood up, getting dressed in a new set of attire.

    He walked to the balcony, hearing somemotion outside. A sliver of coldness shed in his eyes as he saw the scene outside.

 Chapter 325 325: Maybe Thats What I Really Want?

    Gabriel stood in silence inside the room, looking outside. The room was filled withplete silence.

    He calmly turned around, taking a casual nce around his room. His expressions were iprehensible but in his eyes, there was a momentary shine as if he had noticed something interesting. He didn''t express it. He just walked to the bed and picked up his golden robe, donning it around him.

    After wearing his robe, he turned into a shadow and disappeared from the room.

    As Gabriel left, the room returned to silence. The silence onlysted for a few minutes though.

    A few minutes after Gabriel left, a person appeared in the room,ing out of the shadows, revealing their face.

    A beautiful woman appeared in the room, having a slender figure and a charming face. However, she wasn''t someone that Gabriel hadn''t seen before. In fact, he recognised that woman all too well. He had met her at the start of his journey after all.

    "So his guess was right. There was really something wrong with the new Emperor. Who would''ve guessed that it would be the case. The Emperor is none other than..."

    A frown spread across her face as she thought about it. When she was sent here, she hadn''t expected this to be the case.

    "None other than the person who came to ask for Numens?" A voice came from behind, finishing her sentence and stunning the young woman.

    The young woman was shocked as she turned around, only to find Gabriel back in the room.

    Gabriel was standing with his back resting against the wall, observing the young woman that he only met a few times in the past.

    The woman was none other than the maid of Lambard! He had always felt that the woman was special since she apanied Lambard all the time and was trusted by him the most.

    However, even he hadn''t expected the woman to be this good. The woman managed to sneak inside his room, even though Callum was right outside the pce? Callum wasn''t as strong as him, but he was still a powerful mage after all.

    Even he found it hard to sense the presence of the woman. It was all thanks to his interaction with Avilia that he found out about people who could hide in the shadows to lurk.

    It was only from that time that he decided to keep an eye on all shadows around him to make sure that he wasn''t being spied on. That was also how he found the strange presence.

    "Lord Gabriel!" The woman turned around, stunned. This guy actually knew about her being here? The entire thing about him leaving was no more than a trap to bring her out of the shadows?

    As soon as she realized that she was caught, she instantly tried to get out of here! She was only sent here to observe the new Emperor onmands of Lambard who felt that something wasn''t right about the new Emperor.

    She wasn''t authorised to fight at all.

    "Huh? What did you do?" Her face turned dark as she realized that she couldn''t leave the room! He was unable to turn into a shadow at all. It was as if the entire room was sealed by a strange power.

    Gabriel doesn''t bother exining. He just yed with a small orb in his hand, tossing it into the air and catching it like it was a ball.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "That! That orb?!" She eximed. She recognised the orb right away. As she had spent so much time with Lambard, she knew quite a lot about the Numens, especially about the Numens that Lambard paid quite attention to!

    The Orb in Gabriel''s hand was one of those Numens. It was kept in the Academy of Elements and was amongst the items that were stolen by Gabriel.

    "It looks like Lord Gabriel has no intention of letting me leave." The woman frowned as her eyes showed a trace of killing intent.

    "That depends on your behaviour," Gabriel answered. He already had a situation to deal with outside, but the woman before him was more important! He had always wanted to find Lambard''s new location and this woman was the key to get to Lambard.

    He didn''t have any good impression of Lambard since that guy pulled back the ring of disguise before the time was up, essentially leaving him abandoned in the middle of the enemy zone. To say they were friends was an overstatement. However, they weren''t entirely enemies either... At least to that extent. There was a really unique rtionship between them.

    "What do you mean?" The young woman asked, frowning. Even though she wasn''t allowed to fight, it wasn''t that she was scared. If the situation demanded it, she was sure she could fight back and get out of here!

    "I would advise you to not even think about escaping. I promise you, no matter how strong you are, you aren''t capable," Gabriel calmly reminded the woman as more and more Death Knights appeared in the room, surrounding the woman from all sides.

    The Death Knights were created with the Head Priests of the Church of mes as a base. Initially, Gabriel didn''t know if they could use spells like the Head Priests even though they had a peculiar elemental mark which looked like the Elemental Mark of mes.

    However, throughout the days and his experiment, he found out that it was the case! The Death Knights, especially the evolved ones, could use their previous elements without any problem.

    Moreover, what was the best part was that they had forgotten most of their memories rted to their lives but they still remembered the basic things and their spells!

    The only difference between their current spells and their old spells was that they could only control pitch ck mes now and not the dark red or blue mes like usual.

    Gabriel didn''t care about that much of a difference though. He only cared about his fighting prowess that had increased by leaps and bounds thanks to that.

    The young maid looked around, frowning. She didn''t know what these creatures around her were, but she could feel a heavy aura of death from these lifeless beings! It was as if their strength wasn''t weak at all!

    "Does Lord Gabriel really intend to go against us?" she asked Gabriel coldly.

    Even though she wasn''t sure if she could sessfully escape or not, she still wasn''t willing to surrender.

    "If something happens to me, Master will-"

    ? "He will attack me?" Gabriel finished the woman''s sentence again. It was as if he didn''t care about that at all.

    "Maybe that''s what I want? He does have something that he owes me after all."

    Gabriel walked closer to the young woman, not in any hurry. An aura of death filled the entire room, giving the woman a feeling of standing before death itself!

 Chapter 326 326: The Unexpected

    The young maid only came out to Arecia to investigate, never imagining being caught in such a way. She wanted to escape from this ce, but the space was sealed and with her skills, even she was doubtful if she could escape.

    She subconsciously nced in the direction of the balcony, realizing that there was a chance of escape if she somehow reached the balcony and jumped out. However getting there was the real problem. She was surrounded from all sides by Death Knights.

    She didn''t know what these beings surrounded by the aura of death were. However, she had a feeling that they weren''t weak in the least.

    While she was lost in thoughts on how to escape, she felt something around her ankles.

    Stunned, she lowered her head. Her eyes opened wide as she noticed dark shackles wrapped around her legs, making her unable to move her feet at all.

    What was worse was that Gabriel was already within a few feet of her by now. The strange suppression became even stronger.

    Gabriel finally stopped just as the distance between the two was around a meter.

    "I''m sure you''re wise enough to decide what to do."

    As he spoke, he brought a small bracelet out of his storage.

    Seeing the bracelet, the maid''s expressions instantly turned dark. She knew what the Bracelet was! It was the Bracelet of Sealing that could make it impossible for her to use her abilities!

    The bracelet only worked as long as it was worn willingly by the person. It couldn''t be forced on a person. As for taking off the bracelet, that was almost impossible for the person who wore the bracelet. Only with the help of a second person could this bracelet he removed after wearing.

    The young maid believed that this was amongst the items that was stolen by Gabriel in the Academy theft, not knowing that Gabriel hadn''t found the Bracelet in the theft. Instead, it was given to him by the Heads Teachers of the Academy who wanted him to seal his abilities.

    By holding the Bracelet of Sealing, the maid understood what Gabriel was implying! He wanted her to wear the bracelet on her own. That way, she was no different from an ordinary mortal who couldn''t draw out even the speck of her abilities. It was hard even for a Holy Priest to use their abilities under the suppression of the bracelet after all.

    She initially thought that even if she surrendered today, she could find a way to escapeter on. However, who knew that Gabrielhad already seen through her thoughts.

    "I would advise you to be fast. As you see, I am somewhat just today," Gabriel muttered, ncing out the balcony. The battle had already started outside after all and it wasn''t going in the direction that Saint Knight would''ve liked.

    The young maid clenched her teeth, ring at Gabriel. This man... Not long ago, he came to them for their help, and today this man had the gall to threaten them?

    "I''ll count to ten. If you still haven''t decided, I''ll think of another way to get to Lambard. But at that time, you might not be here to see him again. Think it through."

    Gabriel didn''t move from his ce. He didn''t lower his hand either. He just waited for the maid to pick up the bracelet herself. If not for the restriction of the bracelet, he would''ve forced it on her hand already.

    "One..."

    "Two..."

    He started his count. The aura around him became more and more threatening with each passing second, making the maid feel as if she was standing before a god itself.

    "Five..."

    The count continued while the maid thought about ways to escape. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no other way out. Every way she could think of was riddled with problems. The chances of dying here were higher than the chances of living!<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Eight..."

    "Fine! I''ll wear it!" She clenched her left fist while picking up the bracelet with her right hand.

    Since there was no way, she decided to follow through. It was better to live and wait for Lambard to save her than it was to die! Moreover, she still had some secret methods that she believed could help her.

    ''So what if I can''t use my elements! I still have some Numens that Master gave me! After he leaves, thinking that I can''t do anything, I''ll show him what it means to underestimate me!''

    Her eyes were filled with bloodlust as she wore the bracelet on her left hand.

    As soon as she wore the bracelet, she immediately felt suppression of her magical abilities. Fortunately, she didn''t need magic to be able to use a Numen. If that was the case, the Saint Knight wouldn''t have been able to use the Sword!

    "I did as you said! I surrender!" She red at Gabriel. If res could kill, Gabriel would''ve already been dead a thousand times by now. "I hope you won''t regret this in the future."

    Gabriel didn''t reply. He didn''t care about future regrets in any case. He only focused on the present for now.

    "Good decision," he stated. "Now onest thing..."

    Gabriel looked at the young woman from top to bottom. Seeing that strange gaze, the woman felt really strange. She had a really bad feeling about this.

    Dark chains came out, wrapping around her wrists as well, restricting all her movements now.

    "Wait! What are you doing?" She eximed as her face flushed.

    "Don''t touch there! Argh! You beast! What are you doing?!"

    "Argh, stop touching me!"

    The young maid''s face turned red in embarrassment, shame and anger as Gabriel patted her body from top to bottom, not forgetting to check every ce thoroughly.

    Gabriel knew that the young maid worked for Lambard who was known as the Lord of Numens. There was no way Lambard would''ve let her go without giving her life saving treasures. He didn''t want to remove the space seal before making sure that she had no Numens left on her body that could help her escape.

    "Argh, what are you doing?! Stop!!! You perverted beast!"

    "Wait, wait, wait! Not the clothes! Stop right there! Argh!"

    Gabriel didn''t react to her words.

    The young woman''s face was as red as it could be, including her ears. Not only did Gabriel touch her all over, he even took off her clothes to make sure that there was nothing he missed.

    She had never faced such humiliation in her life! Not a single person had seen her in such a condition, let alone being touched by a man like that!

    She stood in the room, trying to cover herself with her two hands as all her clothesid on the ground...

 Chapter 327 327: Taking Matters Into Own Hands

    All of the young woman''s clothes were lying on the ground while Gabriel held two items in his hand. One was a small piece of paper that he would never have known about if he hadn''t checked thoroughly. And the second item was an inner clothing which could fool even the best of the best.

    The piece of paper was an ordinary treasure that still hadn''t reached the grade of a Numen. However it could still help a person teleport hundreds of kilometres away in an instant as long as the space wasn''t sealed.

    As for the inner garment, that was actually a Numen! Even Gabriel didn''t know what that item was for or what it could do. However, he could feel Numen''s aura as he held it in his hands.

    "What does it do?" he directly asked the maid since it was a Numen that wasn''t of any use to him. It was something that could only work for a woman after all. If anything, he could only give it to someone else as a gift.

    "Protects against sneak attacks," the young maid eximed, clenching her teeth. Her eyes were filled with anger and shame as she tried to avoid Gabriel''s gaze.

    At the end, she could feel her face burning in embarrassment. "If you''ve had enough, can I wear my clothes again?"

    "Go ahead."

    Gabriel had already checked everything and taken the treasures from her. There was nothing she could do anymore. All that was left was an ordinary piece of clothing.

    The young woman wore her clothes again, even though she was missing a piece of her inner garment. Anything was better than standing before a man without any clothes.

    Gabriel kept both the items in his space storage. The woman couldn''t escape anymore so there was no need to waste his strength in space sealing. He removed the sealing, freeing the space.

    Shatter~

    As Gabriel was about to continue his discussion with the youngdy, he heard the sound of ss shattering.

    He walked to the balcony and noticed that the rebellion army had already infiltrated the castle.

    It was supposed to be the Royal Knights who held the rebellion back, but on the contrary, it seemed as if the rebellion was holding the Royal Knights back, especially the Knights Academy!

    While most of the Knight Academy Elders kept the Royal Army back, the other protestors rushed past the Royal Knights, infiltrating the Royal Castle. They weren''t holding back either.

    The people were so angry that they didn''t enter the castle silently. Instead, they broke everything that they found on their way, from doors to old sculptures to doors.

    "It seems you''re really popr amongst your people and I can understand why!" The maid stated with clenched teeth. Her sarcasm couldn''t be any clearer.

    "Of course I''m famous. I''m the person who opens the door to an afterlife for them after all," Gabriel answered, without holding back.

    "I''ve been too silent recently. These people will not understand until I take care of matters myself."

    He had only been trying to train himself and leave the matters of fighting to his army. However, for now, that didn''t seem to work. He decided to take things into his own hands to crush this rebellion once and for all!

    ****

    "Find the Emperor and take him hostage!" One of the Knights who entered the Royal Pce eximed, followed by hundreds of people.

    They were all being escorted by a maid who had betrayed the castle. The maid knew the room of Gabriel and was directly escorting them to his room.

    "Take him prisoner? Nonsense!" Another Knight eximed. "We need to kill that bastard! He ruined our Empire through his actions! He doesn''t deserve to live!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Right! He doesn''t deserve to live!"

    "We need to kill him!"

    Most of the people agreed as they were filled with bloodlust. Even the people who were against the killing couldn''t stop them as the majority wanted Gabriel''s death. They could only give in.

    In any case, for them it didn''t matter if Gabriel was dead or alive. The throne was going to go to someone else.

    The people didn''t control their actions at all, leaving only destruction in their wake. They destroyed whatever they could find along the way from portraits to paintings.

    Amongst the paintings on the wall, there was one painting in which Gabriel was standing with two young men next to him.

    In the painting, the three looked really close. In fact, it was a painting that Gabriel made himself.

    The people didn''t know who the other two men in the painting were, but they recognised Gabriel in the middle.

    "That bastard! After killing the citizens, he is living here in luxury, having his paintings being made?" One of the Knights eximed.

    "I wonder who the two people next to the Blood Demon are. I''ve never seen them before!"

    Not a single person recognised the other two people since none of them had seen Novius before, despite Novius being a member of the Saint King n in the past.

    "Who cares? The other two just be like bastards like the Blood Demon as well! If we find them anywhere, we should kill them as well!" One of the Knight Academy members scoffed with a cold face.

    He reached out his hand toward the painting to tear it from the wall and destroy it.

    Silence~~~

    The entire hall was filled with chatter and calls for the death of the Blood Demon. However, at the moment, there was only silence as everyone froze in ce with a pale face.

    Even the man who reached out his hand toward the painting on the wall froze. For a moment, his face was expressionless however, his face slowly twisted as he noticed that the hand which he stretched out was missing!

    It was as if his hand was destroyed in an instant and he couldn''t even see how it happened. It took a brief moment for the pain to reach his head.

    "Arghhh!!!" He eximed at the top of his lungs, holding his shoulders as he dropped to his knees. His face was as pale as it could be.

    He didn''t even see just how it happened. There was only a shadow that he saw shing before him, and the next second, his hand was missing.

    As the Knight groaned on the ground, a dark mist started spreading out.

    In the distance, everyone noticed a person... A man shrouded in darkness. However, they could still see that person''s face.

    Behind the man, they could see more people who lookedpletely lifeless.

    "Blood Demon!"

 Chapter 328 328: Swept Away

    The situation inside the castle wasn''t good, but that was mostly the case for the intruders, especially now that they found themselves before Raphael.

    They immediately recognised that person as the new Emperor. They were all talking so much, about how they were going to deal with the new Emperor when they found him. However, for some reason, they couldn''t even speak now that Gabriel was actually in front of them.

    "Arghhh!" The agonising screams of the young Knight whose arm was cut brought them out of their daze.

    The Knights in the lead found their heads quite confused. However, their hearts were telling them that if they didn''t kill Gabriel now, they couldn''t leave this ce alive.

    They tried to put their fears aside as they all pulled out their weapons, aiming them at Gabriel.

    "If you don''t want to perish at our hands, you better surrender this moment!" Theymanded Gabriel.

    Gabriel didn''t respond. He just found it quite interesting that these people still thought that they were in the position tomand him.

    "What if I don''t?" he asked in a calm voice. Even though his voice was calm, a lot of undercurrent could be felt from his tone.

    "Then we would be forced to kill you! You already hurt one of us! We are still being merciful by giving you this opportunity!" The Knight in the lead red at Gabriel.

    Even though he was ring at Gabriel, his main focus was on the people who stood behind Raphael. He didn''t even know how his friend''s arm was cut since none of the people held any weapons! Even Gabriel hadn''t called out the Saint''s Sword yet.

    "I would love to see you try." Gabriel answered.

    The Knight frowned but didn''t hesitate. If this guy wasn''t willing to listen, he could only use force! He still had many people! No matter how strong Gabriel was, they still had superior numbers, let alone their strength!

    He raised his Sword to sh, however before he could even move his sword, his face went pale as he found a dark figure appear right in front of him. A palm came before him, grabbing into his face.

    A booming sound echoed in the surrounding area.

    The next moment, the Knight who had just threatened to attack Gabriel found himself coughing blood as heid inside a crater on the ground, feeling as if his back was crushed. He didn''t even know how Gabriel could be this fast!

    The next moment, Gabriel disappeared amidst the crowd, appearing on the other side of the enemies.

    He raised his right hand gracefully. "Shield of Undead!"

    He cast a shield, not only blocking the path of escape but also to protect himself from what wasing next.

    All the enemies were stunned to find Gabriel using a spell. For a moment, they couldn''t even believe their eyes.

    "T-that is a spell! He can use a spell!"

    "Is he a mage?!"

    "How can that be?! He hid that from everyone?!"

    "So a Mage took over our Empire?! He fooled us all?"

    Everyone that saw this was shocked to their core. From the start to the present, the Empire only had one rule for the Royals. It was that the Emperor couldn''t be a Mage, no matter what! At this point, it was clear that Gabriel had fooled them by pretending to be a Knight.

    Everyone was horrified at the thought of it! Not only was Gabriel a mage, but he also seemed like a powerful mage!

    They didn''t know what kind of spell it was that Gabriel used, but most assumed that it was a dark spell, which made them believe that Gabriel was a dark mage!<novelnext></novelnext>

    "He''s a Dark Mage! That''s why he hid from the Church!"

    "He''s the Devil!"

    "We need to let the Churches know!"

    "We''ve been infiltrated by the Demons!"

    Most of them were of sound mind, realizing that they couldn''t win today. Just one mage at the level of Gabriel was enough to kill them. The only thing which could deal with a Dark Mage were the Churches! If they could somehow get this information to a Church, all their problems were solved.

    For the moment, all of thempletely forgot that it wasn''t the so-called Dark Mage who attacked the City and killed millions. That''s how deep the historical bias had prated their bones at the moment.

    Unfortunately, they couldn''t find a way to escape at all. How could they even send the information to the Church if they were stuck here?

    "We surrender!" One after another, they all raised their hands, surrendering.

    Even though they openly surrendered, in their minds they were clear. It was only if they survived today that they couldter leak this information to the Churchter.

    "We were wrong! Please forgive us!"

    One after another, everyone dropped to their knees. Their words were asking for forgiveness, but their eyes were filled with hate.

    Gabriel didn''t even have to spend a second to understand what these people were truly thinking. It wasn''t that they regretted attacking him. It was just that they foolishly believed that the Death Knights were dark mages like him and that they didn''t have a chance of winning.

    The Dark Mages were supposed to be very powerful after all. For ordinary people, it was understandable to think that they couldn''t win. Even the Knights were the same.

    "You want me to free you?" Gabriel asked, still maintaining the Shield of Undead.

    Everyone affirmed and not a single person was rejected. In fact, they all pretended to be grateful and loyal to Gabriel, saying that they were fooled by the people and led astray to attack the Castle.

    Gabriel didn''t reply. He just closed his eyes for a moment. The Death Knights on the other hand of the crowd started chanting a spell in unison. Unlike him, the Death Knights couldn''t use the Wordless Chants.

    "me Storm!"

    After the spell was finished, a storm of me arose from the ground, covering the entire hallway.

    The me storm struck everyone in its path. No amount of screaming and crying for help was enough to stop the storm.

    The screams kept echoing for a long time before they ultimately stopped. The attackers couldn''t even run since on one side, there were Death Knights while on the other side, there was Gabriel.

    The ck fiery storm swept everything in its path, only stopping when it hit the Shield of Undead, unable to pass through. The Storm finally stopped.

    As the storm disappeared, the hallways werepletely clean. Only a few weapons could be seen lying on the ground. Even the walls were left scorched.

    "You''re all free now¡­" Gabriel softly spoke.

    Just as he finished dealing with the intruders, he frowned and nced back, noticing another strange presence. This time, the presence was much more powerful than Lambard''s maid.

 Chapter 329 329: Blood Feast

    "Are you here to stop me?" Gabriel''s voice echoed in the hallway as his cloak flew with the wind.

    He didn''t show any change in expressions at all, from start to end.

    "What do you think?" A woman''s voice came in return.

    "Stay out of my path then," Gabriel stated, realizing who the person was. "Since you said you''ll be neutral, then stay neutral. Unless you really want to stand in my way."

    Even though Gabriel knew that this person was strong, he wasn''t intimidated. He had his own strengths, and now that his strength restrictions were removed more or less, he felt even more free.

    Moreover, there was no formation in this Empire like in the Church of mes which could reduce his strength by sixty percent. If anything, he was at his strongest in this Empire!

    Even though he was still a few steps away from bing a top tier mage when it came to magical strength, with the help.of his three elements and two Ancestral Staffs, he believed that if things became worse, he could not only put up a fight against a Holy Priest but also win.

    "As I said before, I won''t interfere in what you do. I''m just here as a spectator..." Avilia came out of the shadows, appearing next to Gabriel. "In any case, they attacked you first. Maybe I would''ve been much worse for them if I was in your ce."

    Gabriel nced at Avilia, slightly intrigued. So this woman really wasn''t there to stop him. That was good. It gave him some freedom of movement while removing some risks.

    "Do you have a Beast that can seal the space?" he asked after a brief pause.

    "Why do you ask?" Avilia asked, frowning. She was sure that Gabriel already had a treasure like that.

    When she was outside the castle, she couldn''t sense anything that was happening inside the castle. It was clear that Gabriel had a way to seal the space inside the castle to make sure no one could see what was happening inside from outside.

    "I have something that can do this. However, I can only seal a small space like this castle," Gabriel earnestly answered as he walked towards the exit of the castle to look at themotion outside.

    It didn''t seem good for his army for the time being, since most of his army was already spread out throughout the Empire to stop smaller uprisings.

    The army which was present outside the castle was limited and the force they faced was many times more. Despite their training, in front of the Knight Academy and their absolute number advantage, they were at a heavy disadvantage.

    He wanted to go out and help them as well, but he was still hesitating if he should since he had a feeling that many eyes were hiding in the shadows, observing the battle secretly.

    He could only prevent themselves from peeking inside the Castle.

    "I see. So you want my help to prevent others from seeing you use your true strength to stop this uprising?" Avilia asked. "You can still think clearly it seems. Not bad. If you really used your element outside, even if you use the Element of Light, just for being involved in this Empire''s matter, all the Churches would be here the next day to investigate."

    "I know. I can''t use magic as the Emperor, at least not in public. And I can''t leave a witness escape who saw me use magic. I know that much. I''m asking you to seal the space so I can deal with the matter personally."

    Gabriel didn''t care about the enemies that were outside since they weren''t enough to threaten him. However, if those people killed his entire army, it was a real headache for the future of the Empire. He had to stop them and he had to stop them with force this time since all other ways were closed.

    "So will you lend me a Beast that can seal the space?" Gabriel asked.<novelnext></novelnext>

    In response, Avilia could only shake her head. "Even if I do that, it will benefit you. The others would stille to investigate if a barrier appeared in the middle of the City and the next moment the entire rebellion was killed, leaving only your army alive."

    " This matter will definitely be linked to you and it''ll lead to the same oue. Even I might be linked with you in that situation."

    Avilia understood how the Churches dealt with matters, even though she didn''t deal much with them. She knew that doing something like sealing the space to kill people in the city was enough to attract at least the attention of the Churches since only powerful Mages at the level of a Head Priest could seal a small space, let alone sealing a space of that magnitude.

    Even though Gabriel understood what she was saying and that it made sense, he knew that he couldn''t stay out of this situation. He had to deal with this matter somehow and he had to do it while making sure to not reveal his identity before the ones who were hiding in the shadows, watching the show.

    As Gabriel walked to the exit, he saw many intruders along the way. He didn''t hold back in the least since at least the space inside the pce was sealed. All it took was a few shadow spheres.

    At the same time, he sent his other Death Knights to check the other ces in the castle to make sure that not a single person who dared to infiltrate the castle today was going to leave alive.

    He stepped out of the castle, all alone. Even though Avilia was also nearby, she disappeared in the shadows once again.

    Standing at the entrance of the Castle, Gabriel watched the people in the distance who were fighting the war. His Royal Knights held on firmly, but they were slowly being pushed back.

    Callum could use spells to stop them right away, but on Gabriel''smands, he had resisted the urge of blowing away all these people in an instant, only using weapons to fight

    The best warrior appeared to be the Saint Knight who had already killed many enemies. However, he was now being held back by the Dean of the Knight Academy and the best Knight of the Academy.

    Other than Callum and the Saint Knight, the other Royal Knights were also performing well, but not enough to turn the tide of the war. In this situation, it was clear that it was only a matter of time before the Royal Army was going to lose the war.

    That also lowered the morale of the army with each passing second since the army understood what kind of situation they were in.

    Gabriel nced in the empty space in the distance, shaking his head lightly. "Too many spectators today. What a headache."

    In the end, he decided to deal with the matter in a different way.

    He called out the Sword of Ulien which was now in the form that even the Academy of Elements had never seen before.

    The bloodthirsty Sword in Gabriel''s hands trembled with excitement as if it was able to sense the bloodshed on the battlefield. Holding the Sword, Gabriel felt as if the sword was finally home! This blood-covered battlefield... This ruthless war... This was where the sword was supposed to be!

    The powerful aura of the sword spread far and wide. It could be sensed by everyone on the battlefield. There was not a single person on the battlefield who didn''t nce in the direction of the Sword.

    Amidst the various gazes, some friendly and some hostile, Gabriel walked to the battlefield holding the Sword firmly.

    It was as if he could feel the urge of the sword. "You like to drink blood? Then today shall be a feast for you!"

 Chapter 330 330: How Come Youre So Stupid?

    "Look there! That coward finally came out!"

    "He must be running away from the people who entered the castle!"

    "Hahaha, as the saying goes, when it''s time for a person to die, they will run straight toward their death!"

    Finding Gabriel outside the castle, the enemies who were here to kill him were ted,especially the members of Knight Academy who didn''t want the war with the Royal Army to stretch for any longer. The longer this war continued, the more losses they were going to have.

    It was clear as day to them that the war was going to end as soon as they managed to kill Gabriel. As long as Gabriel was alive, his orders were valid and the loyal soldiers were willing to fight even their own people for him. However as long as Gabriel died, things were going to be much smoother.

    The Knight Academy didn''t believe that the Royal Knights were going to continue fighting for a dead man!

    "We will hold the Knights back! Kill the Demon!" The Dean of the Knight Academy eximed at the top of his lungs.

    The archers in the distance who were hiding for this exact moment licked their lips in excitement. Finally it was time for them to shine. Their arrows couldn''t pierce the Knights since it was a close battle.

    The archers didn''t want to identally hurt their own side by shooting into the crowd. However, Gabriel was standing in the distance, much closer to the castle which was the perfect distance for them to safely kill them.

    While Gabriel''s arrival made the enemies ted, the Saint Knight was absolutely shocked. He couldn''t believe that Gabriel was out in the open at a time like this.

    He was already informed that Gabriel was strong enough to hold back a few Head Priests. As long as Gabriel was inside the castle, he didn''t think the people who snuck inside the castle could threaten him. Unfortunately, outside there were too many variables.

    "Your Majesty, get back inside the castle!" he eximed, still engaging in the battle with the Knight Academy Dean. He wanted to pull back to help Gabriel but there was just no opportunity!

    "Get inside?" Gabriel muttered, hearing clearly. "Won''t that be a pity after such a nice stage has been prepared for me?"

    He didn''t want to take the step. This step was too extreme after all. If anything, he wanted to avoid bloodshed as much as possible. That was his goal at the start. Unfortunately, the people here didn''t give him that opportunity.

    "If I can''t rule with love, I''ll rule with fear. As long as I protect his Empire, I don''t care!"

    Gabriel took his first step toward the bloody battlefield, only to face over hundred arrows that were shot in his direction. The arrows covered every route of escape, making sure he was going to be hit, even if he managed to escape.

    Gabriel raised the Sword of Ulien, pointing it toward the arrows. "Since you haven''t seen this Sword in over a century, let me refresh your memory!"

    Gabriel''s feet moved making him appear as if he was in perfect sync with the flow of the wind. Strangely enough, his graceful movement created quite a contrast with the bloody reflection that the sword was leaving behind with each movement.

    sh~

    A bloody arc of light left the Sword, flying straight toward the shower arrows.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The bloody arc hit all the arrows. Not only were the arrows stopped, but they disintegrated under the attack.

    "Royal Knights! Heed mymand! Move back!" Gabriel roared,manding all his soldiers.

    The battlefield was chaotic. It was hard to differentiate friend from foe when he used suchrge scale attacks. He wanted to have free reign as he decided to fight all the enemies alone!

    The Royal Knights were stunned. Their new Emperor was calling them to retreat? None of them understood what he was nning. Did he not remember that these people were here to kill him and not them?!

    Even the Saint Knight was surprised. Despite his confusion, he still listened to Gabriel''s words.

    "Everyone, retreat!" He also issued the samemand as Gabriel.

    All the Royal Knights didn''t dy a single second as they all moved back, getting out of the battles that they were desperately engaged in.

    Even the Saint Knight jumped back, creating distance from the Knight Academy Dean.

    The Knight Academy was as confused as the Royal Knights. However, they didn''t attack the Royal Knights when they were retreating, thinking that this meant Gabriel had decided to surrender.

    The Saint Knight stepped back, standing behind Gabriel. The other Royal Knights also moved back.

    Duke Callum also walked back under Gabriel''s careful gaze. Unlike the Saint Knight, the Duke appeared to be more wounded. Then again, he understood why that was.

    Callum was a mage and not a close range warrior. If he was allowed to use his magic, he could''ve killed at least half this army on his own. However since he was not allowed to use his Dark Element, Callum held back, only using physical boost and his Sword to fight!

    Despite being forced to hold back, he didn''tin even once since he understood just why Gabriel told him to ignore his spells. Even he could sense that this city was under observation. He just didn''t understand who it was that was observing them.

    "Are you going to use your real strength?" he asked, standing behind Gabriel, wondering if Gabriel was finally going to use his spells.

    "They aren''t worthy for me to use it," Gabriel calmly answered. His voice was filled with confidence as well as anger.

    "Emperor Gabriel, it is said that when a person stands before their death, they be wiser! It is good that you''ve decided to surrender! That would make things easier!" The Knight Academy Deanughed. There was a clear hint of ridicule in his eyes.

    "Don''t worry. We will make sure that you have a fair trial! You won''t be killed right away at least! And who knows, you must be lucky enough to get only life imprisonment despitemitting so many sins!" He further stated, straightening his back. For him, the war was already over.

    "A person stands before their death, they be wiser?" Gabriel asked, slightly intrigued by the saying. "Howe you''re still so stupid then? That saying doesn''t seem to hold on much."

    "You!" The Dean of the Knight Academy was stunned. This guy was still daring to insult him. "It looks like you really don''t cherish your life! There''s no need for that trial anymore! Today I shall cleanse this Empire with your blood!"

 Chapter 331 331: A (K)Night Of Slaughter

    Gabriel had long realized this rebellion wasn''t as natural as it seemed. No matter what, handling so many people, and that too in such an orderly manner, it couldn''t be done without someone arranging everything in the back. There was order even within this chaos which was the strange part.

    At the moment, Gabriel had a feeling that the Dean of the Knight Academy was the person who was heavily involved in this. He was also capable of arranging all of that.

    "Let me see how you cleanse this Empire with my blood!" Holding his sword in one hand, Gabriel stepped toward the battlefield. With each of his steps, the aura of his sword was getting stronger.

    If he wanted, he could''ve appeared in the middle of the battlefield right away. However, he didn''t bother using teleportation. That was too eye-catching.

    "It''s true that the Holy Sword is supposed to be great, but it also depends on the user! I refuse to believe you can even draw a fraction of its power!" The Dean of the Knight Academy frowned. "In the hands of a weak person, even the greatest weapon would be a waste! Let me show you the difference between heaven and hell!"

    The Knight Academy Dean rushed toward Gabriel, raising his sharp sword. Strangely enough, his speed was so fast that it even surprised Gabriel for a moment.

    "It seems I really underestimated the Knights. Without using magic, they can still move this fast. What a pity that these earrings slow down my movement."

    Despite being on a battlefield where he could only use his physical strength, he still wasn''t free of the pressure exerted on his body by the earring. It was as if he was under constant pressure, which was even stronger thanst time.

    Even standing with that much weight being exerted on their bodies would''ve been hard for an ordinary Knight. However, not only was Gabriel able to stand, but he was also able to walk at his usual pace.

    "Then again, for you, this speed is enough," he muttered as he raised his sword.

    Within a few seconds, the Dean of Knight Academy appeared before Gabriel, swinging his sword. "You are so slow! Die!"

    The powerful treasure Sword of the Knight Academy Dean moved at the speed of lightning. Ordinary people found it even hard to see the de of the sword due to their speed.

    nk~

    A metallic sound resounded on the battlefield. When the Dean''s sword finally came into view, it was enough to surprise everyone. The Dean moved so fast that others couldn''t even see his sword. However, that sword was still intercepted by Gabriel before it could touch him?!

    Unlike the Dean''s sword movement that no one could see, everyone could clearly see Gabriel''s movement. To the ones watching, it was the most basic movement that was slow, even ording to their standards! Despite that, Gabriel was able to block the Knight Academy Dean''s sword?!

    "With just your ability,I''m afraid I can''t die even if I wanted to." Gabriel''s face revealed a disappointed expression. "Though I agree about one thing. In the hands of weak people, even a treasure bes trash."

    The old man''s face turned red as he red at Gabriel. However, his anger immediately turned into astonishment and then into fear as he noticed something.

    His Treasure sword....it wasn''t just blocked! There were also cracks on it now, and they were spreading! He couldn''t believe that just one sh with the Holy Sword and his treasure Sword, which was said to be the second best Sword in the history of the Empire, tied with the Saint Knight''s Sword, was almost broken that easily!<novelnext></novelnext>

    "H-how could the gap be so big?" he muttered in disbelief. Before he could evene out of his gaze, a shattering sound resounded.

    The sword that was cherished by many at the Knight Academy as one of the strongest swords in the Empire shattered like fragile ss. Pieces of the sword flew everywhere right before the old man''s eyes as the sword broke.

    Before he could evene out of the daze, he saw a bright red light. The next moment, the entire world turned upside down.

    "Huh?" He frowned, finding Gabriel to be upside down. Not only that, Gabriel''s body appeared to be rising. It took him quite some time to realise that it wasn''t Gabriel who was rising but it was his head which was falling!

    It was only when his head fell on the ground, rolling around that he understood what happened. He... One of the strongest Knights in the Empire... He was killed just like that, in a single strike!

    "H..ow..." His lips bled as his vision turned dark. He finally lost his life.

    "This death is too merciful for you!" Gabriel looked down at the head, stomping under his feet before passing over the dead body of the old man toward the battlefield.

    This time, Gabriel swung his Sword with each step he took. With each movement of the sword, a blood red arc of destructive energy made an appearance in the world that killed anyone that stood in its path. With each step of Gabriel, hundreds of people died! Blood sttered everywhere.

    Even as everyone rushed toward Gabriel, none of them could get closer to him at all!

    The battlefield was filled with chaos and cries filled with pain. At the moment, even the Royal Knights couldn''t help but close their eyes! They had seen a lot of bloodshed in their lives.

    In fact, they also killed people many times in this war alone, but even they found this scene to be too gruesome! This was the strength... The strength to annihte everyone in the path!

    This wasn''t the power that a human was supposed to possess ording to them. They couldn''t believe the strength of Gabriel. Some even wondered if they were imagining things. Even in the records of the Empire, the Sword wasn''t said to be this strong after all!

    The Royal Knights weren''t the only ones who were surprised. Callum was even more stunned. Gabriel was a powerful mage who could kill even Head Priests with spells. But even his physical strength was this strong?

    "This can''t be exined just by the treasure. Even the Saint King was unable to use this much power ording to ancient records. Just how could he...? Could it be something to do with him more than the sword itself?"

    Callum had a strange feeling about this. The sword was strong, but he felt as if the sword was only able to show the extent of this power because it was drawing it straight from Gabriel''s elements!

    ''Is he using his magic through the sword to disguise his use of magic?'' he wondered. ''A Magic Knight? I wonder if this can be sensed by the ones who are watching this war in secret. They shouldn''t be able to know. Even I can''t be sure of my guess after all. Maybe it''s actually the sword''s true strength and I''m overthinking things?''

 Chapter 332 332: The Burden Of Souls

    ****

    There existed an unknown space in the middle of nowhere. It was a ce that was considered impossible to reach. However, it was also a ce that Gabriel had seen a few times already.

    It was a strange ce, in the middle of an unknown forest where a majestic waterfall could be seen, having mystical properties in the water. If people knew about this ce and its advantages, it could''ve easily led to wars. Fortunately, this ce was impossible to reach. There were only two keys to reach this ce in the entire world after all.

    Under the waterfall, a man was sitting. His eyes were closed as he felt the water fall over him. If Gabriel was here, he easily could''ve recognised the man since this man was none other than the person who had been training him in his dreams to strengthen his physical body.

    When Gabriel sat under the waterfall, he usually felt a lot of weight over his body. However, even he didn''t know that the man on the other hand had to experience a weight that was over a million times more than what Gabriel experienced under the same waterfall. Despite that, the man never showed any difort to Gabriel.

    At the moment, the man had a frown on his face as if he was unable to concentrate.

    He slowly opened his eyes, gazing into that distance.

    "So much bloodlust," the man muttered, frowning. "He is changing and I can''t interfere in his fate. If he doesn''t find his way out of it..."

    "He''s still a child for now. For him to bear the burden of the Grimoire of Necromancy and all the souls it had absorbed throughout the millennia... all their negativity... all their anger... all their hate..."

    He let out a deep sigh, closing his eyes again.

    "I wonder if it was a blessing or a curse for him to reunite with Grimoire so soon. On one hand, it saved his life. On other hand, it pushed him down this path when he wasn''t mentally ready. If he can''t control his emotions due to the influence of the burden that Grimoire carries, it''ll be..."

    The man genuinely seemed worried about Gabriel. However, despite that, he couldn''t tell the young man anything, otherwise he risked affecting the fate of Gabriel. No matter what, he wanted to let nature take its course!

    It was fate that Gabriel found a way to get to him to strengthen his body, and that was the only thing he could do to help Gabriel.

    The young man wasn''t the only person who was seeing the battle Gabriel was going through.

    In the Church of Wind, a mirror floated before the Holy Priest of Wind. The mirror showed the battlefield where Gabriel kept killing everyone who raised their sword against him.

    Only the people in the back who were running were allowed to leave. Gabriel let the people who didn''t have any courage to fight escape, but there was also a reason behind his actions. He needed people... People who had seen this battlefield spread the word about what happened here!

    No matter what, the Churches already knew what happened here. He was sure of that. However, by letting some leave alive, he wanted to use them to spread the word to the ordinary citizens of this Empire to let them stop this rebellion.

    After his current disy, he was sure that not only were the citizens not going toe for his head, but the other Empires were also going to be wary. When he dealt with the Church of mes, by killing a few, he saved millions. This time his approach was the same.

    "This man... He is very interesting," the Holy Priest of Wind muttered, observing the battlefield. "Especially that Sword..."

    ****

    The spies from other Churches were also keeping an eye on the battlefield, ready to take back this information that even they couldn''t believe if they hadn''t seen with their own eyes.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Fortunately, the battle didn''tst long. From start to finish, it took Gabriel only ten minutes to end this war.

    After finishing the battle, he observed the bloody sword which was trembling in excitement as if after a long time, it was allowed to have a feast like that. For some reason, Gabriel felt as if the Sword was thanking him.

    There was one more thing that Gabriel noticed about himself which he didn''t before. It was so strange that even he couldn''t understand it properly. When he killed for the first time, even though he was killing an enemy, it wasn''t easy mentally. It was the same second and third time.

    However, something about him was different. Not only was he not phased by the killing, but in his heart, he felt as if he was more calm than ever. As if his heart that had always been chaotic was finally at peace for the time being. This was a really strange feeling.

    He observed the bloody battlefield but didn''t spend much time there. He simply turned around, sending the sword back in his storage.

    "Have the roads cleaned," he told the Saint Knight before walking inside the castle, as if this thing wasn''t even worth a second of his life.

    The Saint Knight couldn''t even reply. For a long time, he was in a daze at what just happened. This was it? That was the end?

    When he found out that Gabriel had killed thest Saint Knight, he knew that Gabriel was strong. However, it was only now that he understood how strong he actually was! This man... He was a one man army!

    The Saint Knight knew that even if he had his entire army and the help of every warrior in the city, he probably still couldn''t defeat Gabriel.

    Callum rushed after Gabriel, entering the castle as well.

    "Are you alright?" he asked Gabriel, walking behind him.

    "Why won''t I be alright?" Gabriel answered calmly. "Anyway, the castle is in a mess as well. Get some people and clean up this ce as well."

    "Y-yes." Callum stopped in his tracks. "I''ll check the status of damage."

    Leaving Callum behind, Gabriel walked in the hallway, observing the defaced walls and the broken statues.

    Along the way, he also noticed a mirror that made him stop.

    He nced at his reflection in the broken mirror.

    Even though there were cracks in the mirror, he was still able to see his reflection. However, for some reason, he felt really odd as he looked at him through the mirror. It was as if he was the same yet he waspletely different somehow.

    He raised his right hand, touching the ne area of the mirror. However, as soon as he touched, that part of the mirror also shattered, even though he only touched lightly.

    On the back of his right hand, he noticed another strange thing. The Mark of Necromancy was even darker now and slightly bigger.

 Chapter 333 333: Because Of Me...

    The cracks on the mirror kept spreading until nothing could be seen on the mirror. It was as if even the mirror didn''t dare to show his reflection suddenly.

    "Why are you standing before a broken mirror?" Just as Gabriel was distracted, he heard a voiceing from behind him.

    "Avilia?" Gabriel asked, turning around. Avilia was out of the shadows again. "Did you find out which forces were watching me?''

    Avilia rolled her eyes. "Shouldn''t you ask which forces weren''t? All the Churches saw themotion in recent days. All of them were keeping an eye on this city."

    She continued, "However, there was someone else who was also watching. I just don''t know who it was. It definitely wasn''t someone from a Church."

    "Probably Lambard. That guy is getting intrigued as well it seems," Gabriel answered. Even though Lambard sent his maid here to investigate, he was sure that he was still going to keep an eye on the City at least.

    "It''s not him. I''ve already taken him into consideration," Avilia responded. "I don''t know where he''s hiding, but my beasts can easily sense his spying. The one I''m talking about is someone else. Someone who even my beasts can''t properly sense."

    When Gabriel was fighting, Avilia wasn''t sitting idle either. She was using her beasts to find out just how many forces were observing this city.

    Hearing Avilia''s answer, Gabriel was slightly surprised. Avilia''s beasts could sense the spying of all the Churches and even Lambard. However, they couldn''t recognise what method that mysterious person used to spy on the City? Didn''t that mean the person was more threatening than the Churches? But who could be more threatening than a Church?

    "Temple of Time?" He subconsciously muttered, frowning. He had heard in the Tower of Challenges that the Temple of Time was an existence that could stand toe to toe with the Churches. However, they were even more mysterious.

    Novius also told him that now that the orb of time had reappeared in this world, it was only a matter of time before the Temple of Time reappeared in this continent!

    ''Why would they spy on this city though? Did they find out that I have the Orb of Time? No, this can''t be. They shouldn''t be able to sense the orb. It''s kept in the Grimoire. It''s impossible for anyone to sense it. Then why? Just a random check? Or are they suspicious of me?''

    Just the thought of being observed by the Temple of Time was a headache for Gabriel. The Temple of Time existed even in the Era of Karyk!

    Moreover, the two sides had enmity since Karyk stole the Orb of Time from them. Despite this enmity, Karyk didn''t destroy the Temple of Time like every other organization that stood in its path. That was enough for Gabriel to understand that the Temple of Time probably had as much strength as Karyk at his peak!

    Since none of the sides could destroy the otherpletely, that only meant that both sides had more or less an equal level of strength.

    ''But that was in the past. I''m not Karyk. I don''t have as much strength as him. I don''t even have as powerful an army as hemanded. I don''t know the strength of the Temple of Time, but they should still have a simr level of strength as they did in the past. The bnce is already broken...''

    Gabriel wasn''t worried about facing the Churches since most of the Holy Priests were more or less simr to him, part of the younger generation who used Grimoires as their source of strength. He had enough faith in his Grimoire to face them. However, the Temple was different.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Temple of Time was like a snake lurking in the darkness, bearing its poisonous fangs, ready to bite as soon as it was given an opportunity. What was worse was that no one knew where the Temple was even situated at all! They could appear anywhere and disappear right after.

    Even when all Churches worked together in the past, they couldn''t do anything against the Temple of Time!

    Gabriel couldn''t help but rub his forehead, feeling as if the times ahead were even more chaotic than he expected. There were Churches after him, there was Lambard who had aplicated rtionship with him, and then there were the other Empires and now the overlord of thend, the Temple of Time!

    Gabriel didn''t know what the future held for him, but he knew that no matter what, the only thing which could help him was his own strength! He had to be the strongest... Only by bing stronger like Karyk could he hold back the Temple of times!

    ''I need to find the mystery behind that garden, no matter what it takes! Time is running out!'' He clenched his fist, having a general idea of what he had to do.

    "You know about the Temple of Time?" Avilia asked, slightly surprised. Since Gabriel didn''t appear much knowledgeable about this world due to histe entrance in the realm of mages, she didn''t expect him to know the secrets that only the higher ups of the Churches knew.

    Most of the mages didn''t even know about the existence of the Temple of Time since it hadn''t appeared in a long time. The ones who knew about it were already dead in this world!

    "Am I not supposed to know?" Gabriel asked in return.

    "I didn''t mean that." Avilia shook her head, wondering if Gabriel misunderstood her words as her looking down on him. "I was just surprised. Even I didn''t know about this before I took the highest position of the Church of Summoning and went through the records."

    ? "Anyway, what you said could make sense. If it''s the Temple of Time, it would make sense why I couldn''t sense their identity. They are the most mysterious out of everyone. Even the Churches don''t know the methods they use."

    "I just don''t understand why they would appear in this world again and take an interest in this city? Noticing seems out of the ordinary in this city, at least to me. Nothing other than..." She briefly paused as she stared at Gabriel. "Nothing other than you! You are the reason they are keeping an eye on this city?"

    "Seems to be that way," Gabriel also had the same thought. He knew that other than himself, there was another strange thing in this city which was that garden.

    However, there was no way the Temple was observing this city for that garden. The garden existed in this city from the beginning. If they could''ve sensed the garden, they would''ve been here decades ago.

    It was most probably him who attracted their attention since he was the only new addition to this city in thest few days!

    "They are observing this city because of me¡­"

 Chapter 334 334: One Condition

    "Even though you''re quite an intriguing person with a few secrets, I still wonder how you managed to attract their attention. As far as I know, those guys have been obsessed with only one thing throughout their existence."

    Avilia knew just why the Temple of Time used to create chaos in the past. They were searching for something to the point of being obsessed. It was only because they failed to find what they were looking for despite the amount of effort they put in that they stopped.

    Even she didn''t know just why those people would take an interest in Gabriel. From what she could guess, the Temple of Time most probably thought that Gabriel had something to do with what they were looking for. Only that made sense for her.

    "That can''t be. If you had something they were after, with their personality, they would''ve already destroyed the city and taken you hostage." She lightly shook her head, realizing that things weren''t as simple as she would''ve liked them to be. There was something else... Another undercurrent that she didn''t know about.

    "It doesn''t matter what they''re after. I''ll deal with them when the timees."

    Gabriel didn''t think too much about that. Even if the Temple of Time was spying, as long as they didn''t directly take action, he couldn''t do much. No one knew where they were after all. For now, he had only one focus... Solving the mystery of the Garden of Legacy.

    He turned his back on the shattered mirror and went deeper into the castle. He still had a few things to do.

    As Gabriel walked, he was followed by Avilia but he didn''t care. Avilia was like a curious observer. As long as he didn''t show too many secrets, he didn''t care if she followed him. He couldn''t feel any malice from her after all.

    His mind was instead lost in some other thoughts.

    ''The Garden must have some secret that I must find out about! However, how can I? Even with my strength, I can''t remove a single de of grass from there. That means it''s impossible to find the mystery behind the garden with force.''

    He rubbed his chin, so deeply immersed in his thoughts that he even forgot about the surroundings for a moment.

    ''There must be another way to get that treasure. But what way is that? I''ve tried everything I could think of, even using the aura of the Grimoire but nothing worked. Even the eye of Osiris doesn''t work in the garden. Where can I find the answers from...?''

    As he walked, he noticed another mirror in the distance. The second mirror waspletely intact. As Gabriel walked past the second mirror, he once again nced at his reflection which appeared a bit blurry. He didn''t think too much about it.

    It was only after he took a few steps past the mirror that he suddenly froze! His eyes lit up suddenly.

    "That''s right! How could I forget it?!" He eximed.

    Stopping behind him, Avilia looked at him in confusion. Just a few moments ago, Gabriel e was looking all gloomy, but now he was full of excitement as if he had solved a great mystery.

    "What made you so excited?" she asked Gabriel

    Gabriel turned around, revealing his bright face. "I need to leave the Empire for the time being. Can you help me with one thing?"

    "Where are you going?" Avilia looked at him suspiciously. Whenever Gabriel left the Empire, that meant the world was in for a wave of chaos. She couldn''t help but wonder just what he was after this time.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "And what help are you looking for? As long as it doesn''t involve directly getting involved in your conflicts, I can think about it."

    "Don''t worry. I won''t ask you to fight for me. I just want you to look after someone while I''m gone," Gabriel answered. "Follow me."

    He was sure that after his current disy, no Empire or church were going to attack the Empire, at least for a few months. This disy was certainly intimidating for anyone who knew about it. This gave him the confidence of traveling freely. However, there was still one person he wanted someone to keep an eye on in his absence.

    Gabriel took Avilia to his bedroom. Avilia didn''t think much and followed Gabriel inside his bedroom.

    Only after entering the room did she find out a youngdy, standing in the middle of the room, being surrounded by three Death Knights.

    "Who is she?" The Holy Priestess of Summoning asked. The youngdy before her didn''t seem very weak. If she were to guess, the youngdy had strengthparable to a Head Priest of a Church. She could also feel that something was preventing her from using her abilities.

    "She is a subordinate of Lambard. She was spying on me so I caught her," Gabriel exined. "In my absence, I wanted you to keep an eye on her so that Lambard couldn''t take her back until I''m back. She''d be a burden if I take her with me and I don''t want to leave her behind without oversight."

    "Just that? I should be able to help you with that." Avilia smirked. "But I have one condition."

    "What condition?"

    "I want you to tell me where you''re going and why you''re going there?"

    To keep an eye on a little girl was child''s y for Avilia. In fact, she had thousands of ways to solve this problem.

    For a moment, Gabriel was silent, ncing at the young maid in the distance.

    Avilia also understood what he was implying. She cast an istion barrier around her and Gabriel so that no one else could hear what they were saying.

    After the Barrier was cast, Gabriel finally said, "I''m going to Lumen."

    "What? Thend of the Church of Light?" The Holy Priestess of Summoning frowned. That ce was the riskiest for the time being, especially for a person like Gabriel since the Mages of Light were more sensitive to Darkness Element.

    The Church of Light was at its weakest because of the absence of the Holy Priest of Light, but that didn''t mean Lumen was weak. Not only did Lumen have the Church of Light, it also had the Academy of Elements which probably hated Gabriel to death! To go back there? Just what was Gabriel nning?

    "It''s too risky. Why would you want to go there?" The youngdy asked Gabriel, not understanding his reasoning.

    For him to take such a risk right after he went against the Church of mes was confusing for her.

 Chapter 335 335: Thats Almost Everyone...

    "I need some answers, and the answers lie in Lumen," Gabriel briefly exined. "That''s all I can tell you."

    He didn''t tell the Holy Priestess where exactly in Lumen he was going, or what his true goal was. His answers were vague enough to protect his real goals while also giving away some information to keep the youngdy happy.

    Avilia wasn''t stupid either. She understood what Gabriel was trying to do here. However, she didn''t interrogate too much. No matter where he was going, with her Shadow Beast following behind him, she believed that it was only a matter of time before she found out about this.

    "When are you leaving?" she asked.

    "Tonight." Gabriel answered, waving his hand to disperse the istion barrier. He had already answered everything he wanted to.

    "Do you need to borrow a beast again?" Avilia asked, watching Gabriel who walked toward the balcony.

    "It would be faster if I could," Gabriel replied, without looking back. Even though his rtionship with Avilia wasn''t very close, he knew that they were close enough for him to borrow a beast.

    "Onest question. Can Ie with you?" Avilia inquired after a brief pause.

    "Who will keep an eye on the girl then? I''m leaving you behind for a reason." Gabriel rolled her eyes. Why would he even need her to stay here in the first ce if that was the case.

    "It''s not a problem. I can leave a shadow beast behind to keep an eye on her. She can''t use any of her strength anyway. And with my other beasts around, as long as there is the slightest risk of Lambarding in, I should be able to return immediately."

    Avilia had expected Gabriel to immediately reject her proposal but she didn''t expect him to have an attitude which made it seem like he might agree.

    "Can you teleport back?" he asked the youngdy. Even Gabriel himself could only teleport in short range. For the youngdy to say that she could immediatelye back from Lumen to Arecia? It was indeed surprising.

    "I can switch ces with my beasts," the youngdy replied. "It won''t be a problem."

    "Something akin to the Undead Switch of mine." Gabriel frowned. It was only now that he realized that he had forgotten about such a versatile skill after all! The only problem was that he only had one Undead that he could use this skill on... Raphael.

    This skill could only be used on the beings from the Realm of Death and not on the artificially created Death Knights.

    That w made the skill a little redundant since he didn''t want to leave Raphael behind. Raphael was his secret in case of emergency after all.

    He didn''t answer right away, taking some time to think about it. Honestly, taking Avilia with him wasn''t bad at all. He knew the advantages of such a thing. Moreover, it wasn''t as if he was going to collect some treasure that she could steal from him.

    There were many safeguards in ce even if he took her. On the other hand, her presence could help him get rid of a lot of unnecessary troubles!

    "Alright. Assign a Shadow Beast to thedy. You areing with me." After a long time, he finally agreed. This was also something which could help him bring Avilia closer to him for his future goals.

    A graceful smile spread across the lips of Avilia. She knew it was going to get boring if she had to stay behind. Even if Gabriel didn''t take her, she was nning to sneak out after he left, leaving only a shadow beast behind. However, now that he agreed, it was much easier.

    She assigned a Shadow Beast to keep an eye on the young maid who was escorted to a prison cell by the Death Knights. At the same time, she also assigned some other beasts to keep an eye on the outskirts of the Empire so she could know whenever a threat entered Arecia.

    At the moment, the Royal Pce of Arecia waspletely under the protection of two Holy Priests!<novelnext></novelnext>

    ****

    It was six in the morning. Gabriel sat on the roof of the pce, looking at the rising sun in the distance.

    If one was to just look at nature like this, the world appeared to be so peaceful. However, it was only when people looked deep within the undercurrent that they could see how chaotic this entire world was, especially for an existence like him.

    "Are you ready?" Avilia arrived on the roof where Gabriel was waiting for her already.

    Gabriel stood up.

    Avilia raised her hand toward the sky. She didn''t speak a single word and she cast a Summoning Spell.

    A majestic Summoning Circle appeared in the sky which was close to thirty meters wide. From the Summoning Circle, a flying beast rushed out, spreading its beautiful wings so wide that for a moment, it felt as if the beast was covering the entire sun!

    After circling the sky once, the beast stopped above Avilia.

    Both Avilia and Gabriel flew up,nding on the back of the beast.

    The majestic beast was beautiful as well as huge. It was enough to carry over fifty people on its back easily and still have enough space for everyone to restfortably.

    "Where in Lumen City are we going?" Avilia asked.

    "The Royal City," Gabriel answered. "It''s time to go back."

    As soon as Gabriel spoke, the Beast started flying. Its speed was many times faster than the peak flying speed of Gabriel.

    "How many people in Lumen have seen your real face and believe that you''re a Dark Mage?" Along the way, Avilia asked.

    "Not many," Gabriel replied. "Only Izen and the Head Teachers of the Academy."

    Hearing the answer, Avilia couldn''t help but facepalm herself. "Doesn''t that make it to almost everyone significant then?"

    "Your aura is well hidden so as long as you don''te across a Holy Priest, no one should be able to sense your real identity. However, your face will give us away, creating some troubles," she continued on her train of thoughts, trying to find the safest option without creating too much noise.

    "It doesn''t matter even if they know," Gabriel responded. "In any case, it''s impossible to achieve what I want in Lumen peacefully."

    Avilia didn''t understand what Gabriel was implying or what his goals were, but she had a really bad feeling about all this. Just what was this guy nning that couldn''t be achieved peacefully? There were many questions in her head.

    "Don''t tell me you''re really going to target the Church of Light?" she asked after a brief pause.

 Chapter 336 336: Sheltered Brat

    Avilia stared at Gabriel, wondering if he really had such a thought in his mind. He had attacked the Church of mes not long ago, making them suffer like they never did before. It hadn''t even been a week since then and he was now moving onto another Church?

    Gabriel nced at the youngdy next to him, but didn''t exin his true thoughts for the time being.

    Receiving no response, Avilia could only roll her eyes and stopped asking. In any case, it didn''t matter if he told him or not. As long as she was apanying him, she was going to know what he nned when the time came.

    Moreover, even if he nned to attack the Church of Light for whatever reason, it had nothing to do with her. It wasn''t as if she was going to take part in that battle. She had already cleared her stance about this.

    Silence ensued as no one spoke anymore. Only the sound of rushing winds could be heard as the beast raced through the vast sky.

    ....

    Three hours passed and the flying beast was already close to the Royal City of Lumen. Throughout the way, none of the two spoke anything.

    Fortunately, they didn''te across anyone else during their journey either. Not many people could afford such majestic flying beasts that could fly at such an altitude after all.

    At such a height, it was even impossible to observe the ground. Only the clouds could be seen under the flying beast.

    "We are getting close to the Royal City. Do you really not want to use any disguise?"

    The long silence was finally broken by the Holy Priestess of Summoning. ording to Gabriel, there were many people who had seen his real face in Lumen. It was quite troublesome to enter without a disguise.

    "You think I wouldn''t have used a disguise if I had the ability?" Gabriel answered. He really had no way to disguise his face in a convincing manner. The only reason he was able to do itst time was thanks to Lambard''s ring.

    "If possible, I would''ve preferred to deal with Lambard first to get a disguise treasure," he added. "Even if I manage to find his whereabouts with the help of his maid, it''s quite hard to deal with him due to the protective city he hides inside."

    " He can''t be handled in a short time. So I had to forget about that treasure for the time being. It''s much better to wait for him to crawl out of his city in search of that woman. As for this trip, it can''t be dyed."

    "Do you really think Lambard wille out of his city for that woman?" The Holy Priestess of Summoning couldn''t help butugh.

    She lightly tapped Gabriel''s forehead. "Young man, it seems you really don''t know that rat well. If there was a ranking of cowards, Lambard would''ve been at the top of that ranking."

    "Even if you find his parents and kill them outside the city, he won''te out, especially when it''s clearly a trap. To him, his life is most precious."

    "I know it won''t be easy to make hime out. Still, it''s worth a try. If he doesn''te out soon enough, it won''t be toote to go to his city personally."

    Gabriel really wanted that ring of disguise since it was so helpful. However, trying to take the ring from Lambard was no different than trying to pull meat out of a lion''s mouth.

    Avilia had already told him that the Holy Priestess of Thunder and the Holy Priestess of Water attacked him together. Despite such an assault, he was still safe and sound inside the city.

    If he had that kind of defensive capabilities, even Gabriel wasn''t confident enough to be able to break his defence even if he found Lambard.

    What was worse for him was Lambard''s skill which helped him teleport his city to an unknown location. Even if he found that city, if he couldn''t deal with it swiftly, it was no less than giving Lambard an opportunity to shift his city again. At that point, finding him would''ve been even harder.

    Gabriel wanted to be Swift and decisive in his strike to make sure that he didn''t give Lambard a chance to escape when he did so. That was why he didn''t go there right away. First he wanted to be stronger! And the key to that strength was what lied in the Royal City of Lumen!

    "Don''t worry about me. I''ll find my own way inside the city."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Even though he didn''t have a way to disguise himself in a convincing manner, he still had enough confidence in being able to enter the City and about unnecessary attention.

    For a brief moment, Avilia red at the young man. "You really love to make simple things moreplicated, don''t you?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "What I mean is that with my help, do you really need to sneak around?" The Holy Priestess asked.

    "What are you implying?" Gabriel still didn''t understand what the woman was trying to say. He wondered if she meant that she was going to shelter him openly to make sure that no one harmed him even if he walked openly. However, he soon realized that with this girl''s personality, that wasn''t possible.

    "I mean you don''t need a Numen for such a simple thing. I''m enough for that."

    "You mean with my disguise? You have a way?"

    The youngdy only smiled in response as she joined her hands. A small formation circle appeared before her in the air.

    Gabriel curiously looked at the summoning circle which looked slightly different than the ones from before.

    The summoning circle was also way smaller than the one before. It only had a diameter of twenty centimetres.

    From the small formation circle, a small creature flew out. The strange creature was quite odd. It was like a small sparrow, but it was even smaller than Gabriel''s finger. It was as if someone had made a miniature version of a seven coloured sparrow.

    "What is this creature?" Gabriel asked, observing the tiny sparrow which circled the Holy Priestess of Summoning while the summoning circle disappeared.

    "It''s the Seven-coloured Illusory Sparrow. Don''t look at its size. It''s a high tier beast. In terms of sheer magical powers, it should beparable to a Head Priest," Avilia answered, surprising Gabriel.

    She raised her hand. The small sparrownded on the beautiful hand of the youngdy. "That''s only based on the magical strength though. Its fighting strength is almost nil."

    "You mean it can''t even defeat an ordinary Mage if you sent it to fight?" Gabriel asked.

    Avilia nodded.

    "Then what''s the use of its magical strength? It can''t be that simple, can it? With the topic at hand and based on its name, I suppose it uses its magical strength to cast some omission?" Gabriel inquired, already having a rough guess.

    "Exactly. With its help, as long as you don''te across Izen or another Holy Priest, no one should be able to see what you really look like. This should help you move freely."

    As Avilia finished speaking, she sent amand to the little sparrow. The sparrow flew closer to Gabriel andnded on the young man''s shoulders.

    As soon as the sparrownded, its body started shining, covering Gabriel in a mysterious light.

    An illusion appeared around Gabriel, thanks to the little bird. In the illusion, he looked like apletely different man. He was slightly taller. His face was still young and handsome, but quite different from his real face. His hair appeared blonde and his eyes a beautiful shade of blue that could charm even the most stubborn ofdies.

    "Not bad," Avilia smirked. She could see through the illusion, but she could also see what the illusion made him appear. "Though I must say, I prefer your real face. In this illusion, you look like a sheltered brat."

 Chapter 337 337: Sudden Invitation

    Even though Gabriel didn''t care about how he looked, he was still curious about how the illusion showed him to the others.

    Avilia realized what he was thinking about and gave him a brief description about his present looks.

    "You need to keep one thing in mind. The Seven-colored Illusory Sparrow needs to be in contact with you for that illusion to work. So let it rest on your shoulder for the time being."

    Gabriel nodded, observing the fascinating little beast. Even though the tiny bird was small, he found it to be quite useful. The bird wasn''t as useful as the Ring of Apophis since unlike the ring, it couldn''t hide the aura of a person and could only give a disguise.

    "Being a Summoner is quite useful for sure." He was even more impressed by Avilia''s abilities. The youngdy had many beasts, and if all of them had a unique ability like that, that meant he really underestimated her.

    He had only seen three of her beasts and all three were amazing. One could fly many times faster than an ordinary mage. Other could use shadows and most probably could''ve been used for assassination. And the third could be used for disguise. The more he came to know about her, the more mysterious she appeared.

    "You will disguise as well?" he asked the Holy Priestess of Summoning. "Or you''ll being openly as a Holy Priestess of Summoning?"

    Avilia chuckled as she shook her head. "I can''t disclose my identity, can I? It would bring too much attention to us. I will enter like an ordinary Mage. I don''t think many people here are familiar with how I look."

    " The Priests from the Holy Church of Light didn''t attend the Saint Summit either, so they haven''t met me before. As long as I don''t openly dere my identity, I doubt they would know who I am... At least as long as our luck isn''t bad enough for us toe across the Izen or the Lord of Light."

    Unlike Gabriel, her identity wasn''t widely spread. Not many people had seen her before since she didn''t deal with the matters of the Church as a representative. It was only recently that she attended a meeting and revealed her face but there weren''t any people from Lumen there.

    "That''s good." Gabriel didn''t ask too much about that, shifting his attention to his disguise. "By the way, can you modify this illusion a bit?"

    "Modify how? And why?"

    "I don''t want anyone to see that I''m wearing gloves. If the illusion can show no gloves and only a single Mark of Light on my left hand, it would be good."

    Gabriel had two marks. Previously, he was able to enter the City by showing his Mark of Light. However, now that mark had merged with the Mark of Darkness, making it look really strange. He couldn''t show that to anyone. As for showing his Mark of Necromancy, that was even more out of question.

    "That won''t be a problem." Avilia nodded, sending another message to the little bird, modifying the illusion a little more.

    Twenty minutester... The flying beast started going down. Within seconds, it was under the clouds.

    Now that Gabriel was under the cloud, he was able to see the Royal City of Lumen in the distance.

    The Royal City was still far enough for it to look like a small dot in the distance.

    "We will fly on our own from here..."

    Avilia started rising in the air. Gabriel also did the same, following Avilia. None of them wanted Avilia''s beast to be seen since it had the risk of exposing her identity.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As soon as Avilia and Gabriel got off the air, the majestic flying eagle disappeared into thin air, returning to the realm of summons.

    "That''s strange. Why don''t I see the golden barrier anymore?"

    After flying closer to the City, the small speck started getting bigger, revealing the beautiful city. However, Gabriel felt the City looked quite different. Last time he was here, there was a majestic golden barrier which stopped the entry of the Dark Mages. However, now that barrier appears to be missing.

    "You brat, did you forget that you broke that barrierst time you escaped?" Avilia burst intoughter. Even she didn''t know about this previously. If not for the meeting of Head Priests, she never would''ve known how much this city suffered in the hands of this young man either.

    "They still haven''t repaired that?"

    Gabriel knew he broke the barrierst time. However, this was the City of the Church of Light. He had assumed that the barrier would''ve been back by now.

    "You think it''s easy to cast a barrier of that level?" Avilia rolled her eyes. "Only the Holy Priest of Light can cast that barrier and that too after a lot of effort."

    "You mean Lord of Light isn''t in the city?" Hearing the news, Gabriel was slightly pleased. One less expert of the Holy Priest level in the city made things a little easier.

    "Yeah. From the news I''ve received, he went to the Forgotten City of Gods." Aviliaaffirmed. "Thest time you caused the damage in his city, he was already out. If he was in the city, I think the oue could''ve been quite different."

    "Is he that strong?" Gabriel had never seen the Holy Priest of Light and had no idea how strong he was. However, from the rumours he heard, the guy didn''t make any moves.

    At least a few people had still seen Avilia in this world. However, it was said that no one other than the members of the Church of Light had ever seen the Holy Lord.

    "I''m not sure how strong he is either since he never revealed himself or his strength. If I were to say, the current Holy Priest of Light is supposedly the most mysterious, even to us. However, if I were to consider the historical patterns of the Holy Lords, the Holy Priest of the Church of Light should be quite strong..."

    "Anyway, you should really be d that he isn''t in the city. If you want to make a move on the City, it''s the best opportunity you''ll have."

    ****

    Inside the Royal City, the Church of Light had been a hot topic of conversation throughout the days.

    A long line could be seen outside the gate of the Church of Light . All the Mages who had the element of Light were called to the Church of Light today, especially the ones who weren''t members of the Church of Light.

    Usually, no one other than the members were allowed to enter the Church. However, for some unknown reason, the Church of Light came out with a sudden deration a few days ago, inviting all Mages of Light.

    The announcement didn''t mention the reason at all. However, it was clear that this wasn''t a small matter. Many people had a feeling that whatever it was rted to was enough to change the world...

 Chapter 338 338: Holy Child

    The golden barrier around the city which restricted the entry of Dark Mages was broken. However, that didn''t mean it was easy for a Dark Mage to enter. The security around the city was increased in the absence of the Golden Barrier.

    Surprisingly enough, a Head Priest of the Church of Light was ced at every entrance of the City. Moreover, the City had used some means to ban teleportations inside the city. No one could sneak inside in such a way. Whoever wanted to enter the City had to do so through the main entrance.

    Gabriel advanced closer to the City entranceon foot, apanied by the Holy Priestess of Summoning.who had also restricted her powerful aura to make sure that even a Head Priest couldn''t see her as anything more than an ordinary mage.

    There was a long line before the entrance of the City itself and surprisingly enough out of people who were trying to enter the City, more than ny percent of them were Light Element Mages b

    "I didn''t know this City was such a desired ce for Light Mages. There are so many Light Mages standing in line to enter the City."Avilia was slightly curious about just what could be attracting so many Light Mages to Lumen.

    She wasn''t the only one who was surprised. Gabriel also appeared quite intrigued. Last time he came here, he had seen many Light Mages, but the other Element Mages were certainly more in numbers. However for some reason, at the moment the ce was overwhelmed by Light Mages.

    "There must be a reason for so many people toe here," Avilia muttered, ncing at Gabriel in amusement. "You know it, don''t you? You came here for the same reason?"

    "You give me too much credit." Gabriel shrugged. "I''ve no idea why they are all here. One thing I''m sure of though. They didn''te here for the same reason as me."

    With time, more and more people entered the City after checking and verification. Slowly yet steadily, Gabriel moved forward in the line. However, the line hadn''t shortened at all. As people entered the City, even more people joined the line.

    "Whatever attracts these people should be special. Let me ask someone." Avilia couldn''t let her curiosity torment her anymore. She decided to ask the people in her surrounding.

    "Excuse me." She turned around, focusing on the man behind her.

    The man who stood behind Avilia was in her early twenties as well. He was initially concerned about entering the City and didn''t focus on his surroundings. However as Avilia turned around his eyes lit up.

    The man was instantly dazed before the youngdy''s beauty. He had no idea that the person who stood before him was such a beauty.

    "Y-yes." He stuttered for a moment as his face turned red. He had never talked to such a beautifuldy before. He didn''t feel confident enough in himself. In the end, he could only lower his hand, sneakily stealing nces.

    Avilia understood the thoughts of the young man clearly. However, she didn''t react. It wasn''t her first time seeing people like that. If anything, the man was much better than others before since he was at least not brazen enough. If he had been more brazen, she could''ve already thrashed him.

    "I wanted to ask you why so many Light Mages have gathered here so suddenly. Would it be possible for little brother to enlighten us?"

    "Coughcough!" The man was shy, but hearing thedy call him little brother, he almost felt like he had choked.

    He had been thinking about how to get closer to thedy yet she had already made him a little brother? He couldn''t help but scratch the back of his head in embarrassment. From the youngdy''s words it was clear that she had no interest in him and was intentionally speaking such words to make it clear to him.

    He could only swallow that awkward feeling and exin. "It''s because of the Decree of the Church of Light."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Decree of the Church?" The Holy Priestess asked in confusion.

    There was only one time when the Church had issued a decree, and that was when it fought the Church of Darkness years ago. And that was when they needed warriors in a battle against the Church of Darkness which was at its peak.

    Even Gabriel was intrigued by this, paying more attention to the exnation.

    "What Decree?" he asked.

    The young man in the back frowned, noticing the mark on the back of Gabriel''s hand. "Young friend, you''re also a Mage of Light. Since you''re here, I thought you came here because of that decree as well."

    Gabriel shook his head. "I''ve no idea. I just came here for something else. What Decree could you be talking about?x

    "Young friend, you''ve truly been a frog at the bottom of the well. Still your luck is quite good that you''re here, despite not knowing anything." The young man smiled wryly. "Anyway, the Church issued a Decree asking all the Light Mages to gather before the Church of Light for a great opportunity."

    "Great opportunity?" Avilia frowned, curiously ncing back at the nearby City.

    "That''s right. Apparently, the Church has recently decided to select a Holy Son of the Light. However, they don''t want to restrict this to only the members of the Church."

    "That''s why, everyone has been called here. If destiny wills it, the person who is selected would immediately soar through the skies!" The young man eximed with fervour in his eyes as if he had been dreaming of this day and night!

    "Holy Child?" Gabriel frowned. He held the hand of Avilia and pulled her closer to him, whispering in her ears. "What is that?"

    He could''ve asked the question to the young man as well, however from what he could understand, the man already told them the content of the decree. Other than that, he could never have more information about such a thingpared to Avilia.

    Avilia didn''t immediately answer. She appeared to be lost in some thoughts. "A Holy Child? Something doesn''t seem right..."

    The young man in the back saw Gabriel grab the youngdy''s hands and turn her toward him. His face turned red in jealousy but he couldn''t do anything. It appeared that the youngdy had some line of special rtionship with Gabriel so he let it be. He just closed his eyes, not speaking much.

    "What are you thinking?" Gabriel asked the Holy Priestess who was lost in thoughts.

    Avilia came to her senses and exined. "A Holy Child is a position that''s said to be just under the Holy Lord of Light. A Holy Child is allowed to train under the Holy Lord, personally learning from him the spells that others can''t even dream of. "

    She continued with her line of thought. "The Church of Light has never had a Holy Child throughout their history though. For them to do something like this now of all times? I have a feeling it''s not as simple as it looks. Something else is going on..."

 Chapter 339 339: Path Of No Return

    "Why do you think that?" Gabriel asked. Even though he also felt that there was something more than caught the eye, he wanted to know why Avilia thought that

    Avilia moved closer to Gabriel. She didn''t want to use a barrier to iste them since they were standing in a line. She brought her lips closer to Gabriel''s ears and exined in a low voice.

    "Other than the high tier members of the Church, only us Holy Lords have been informed about the absence of the Holy Lord of Light from the City."

    "That''s why most people might not find this odd. However, we should be able to see the w in this. Since the Holy Lord isn''t in the city, why would the Church select a Holy Child now?"

    "That''s true. Since a Holy Child is essentially a disciple of the Holy Lord who is essentially guaranteed to be a High Ranking Member of the Church in the future, he should be selected by the Holy Lord himself." Gabriel also felt the same as Avilia. This was also the reason why he felt something was amiss.

    "There can only be two possibilities in this situation." Gabriel muttered, as if talking to himself. "Amongst the two possibilities, one might be extremely bad for us. As for the other, I can''t say if it''s bad or good for the time being."

    "Oh? What possibilities?" Avilia asked. Since she was already sticking closer to Gabriel, she was able to hear his musings. "Let me know what you think."

    Gabriel felt something soft sticking closer to his back. He initially wanted Avilia to move back a little. However, since they couldn''t let anyone else hear their conversation, he let it be. If anything, he also moved slightly closer.

    "The first possibility is that the Holy Lord of Light is still in the city. Maybe he returned from his trip already or maybe the Church lied to you about his absence in the first ce? In any case, if he''s in the city, the situation might not be so good for us," Gabriel answered softly.

    Avilia''s chin was resting on his shoulders as she listened to Gabriel. The two of them appeared so close, that if one was to observe them, anyone could''ve been fooled to think of them as two lovers.

    "That''s true. If he''s in the city, he would sooner orter sense your presence the moment you get close to the Church of Light." Avilia also understood just what it implied. The Lord of Light was supposed to be one of the most capable Mages in the World after all, with skills that were granted by the Holy Grimoire of Light.

    Amongst all the Grimoires, the Holy Grimoire of Light was known for its extremely versatile skills. It was said that there was nothing a Holy Lord of Light couldn''t do if they were talented enough. That was also the reason why the Church of Light reigned supreme throughout the centuries.

    Even though the Holy Lord of Light didn''t make an appearance in the years, just the title and the prestige was enough to make people hesitate in offending the Church of Light.

    "If you want to attack the Church of Light, you need to be really careful. The Church of Light is different from the Church of mes. It''s an entity in an entirely different league from what I''ve heard," Avilia reminded Gabriel.

    She didn''t care about fighting someone since she had skills and faith in her abilities. However, if she had to avoid fighting one person in her life, she would''ve chosen the Holy Lord of Light above all other current Holy Lords!

    "I know. I didn''te here to destroy the Church of Light," Gabriel replied. "I came here for something else. However, now I''m really intrigued... I really want to pay them a visit..."

    Initially, his purpose ining here wasn''t to fight the Church of Light. If anything, he didn''t have anything to do with them. It was a useless task with not enough rewards.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Not for the Church of Light?" Avilia frowned, wondering if she really misunderstood him. "Why did youe here then?"

    "I came here for the Academy of Elements initially," Gabriel answered. Now they were already at that point, he just let her know. "There is something in the Academy that I need."

    "The Academy?" Avilia smiled wryly. When Gabriel said he wasn''t here for the Church of Light, she thought that it was good. He didn''t have to fight a powerful person. However, after knowing his real intentions, she could only shake her head.

    Didn''t he just swap one powerful enemy for the other? She thought, staring at Gabriel. The Church of Light was powerful with their Holy Lord''s presence. However the Academy wasn''t weak either! The Academy had Izen, who could nullify all attacks on him! He was no weaker than a Holy Lord!

    "That''s right. I came here for the Academy. However, after seeing all thismotion in the city, I think I would be making some changes in my ns. I want to check what''s going on with the Church of Light!"

    Gabriel was here for something else. However, his current ns had slightly changed, all thanks to such a huge change in the city.

    "You mean you want to deal with your matters at the Academy as well as deal with the Church?" Avilia rolled her eyes. She already understood Gabriel to some extent. This guy really wasn''t afraid of death.

    "That''s right. I can''t ignore the Academy since it has something that can help me get what I want..." Gabriel exined. "As for the Church of Light, maybe I would''ve avoided it if the first possibility about the Holy Lord being in the city was true, but I don''t think that''s the case."

    "And why is that?" Avilia asked. "Also, what''s the second possibility you thought about?"

    "I don''t think the Holy Lord of Light is in the city. If he was, he probably would''ve repaired the golden barrier. The Church could''ve imed that they used some treasure to repair the barrier and hid the news about his presence. It wouldn''t have changed anything. However the barrier is still missing. That means the Holy Lord of Light isn''t here."

    "As for the second possibility, it''s simple. The Church of Light is lying about their purpose in calling all the Light Mages here. It''s certainly not for them to select a Holy Child. They are using the Holy Child position as bait to call so many Light Mages here."

    Gabriel already had a basic idea in his mind about the situation, which was what he was interested in.

    "Why would they do that?" The Holy Priestess of Light asked, still so close to Gabriel that it appeared as if she was hugging him from behind.

    "They probably wanted to invite all the Light Mages here, so they had to use powerful bait to attract everyone. However, I think whatever they called all the Light Mages here for is probably more precious than a Holy Child position since they mobilized all their forces," Gabriel answered, still keeping his voice low. "They just didn''t want to tell the truth so as to not attract the attention of the other Churches."

    His fists clenched as he stared at the City. The line kept getting shorter. He didn''t know what the Church of Light had nned, but he could see that it was a perfect opportunity like never before, especially for someone like him who actually had the Element of Light!

    "Whatever they have in mind, I want to see myself. If it''s good, I want to take it for myself! I''m also a Light Mage after all. However, if it''s bad, I would personally send them down the path of no return¡­"

 Chapter 340 340: No Choice

    *****

    Three hours... After three hours, the line before Gabriel finally shortened to the point where there was only one person in line before him.

    After the person''s identity was verified, he was allowed to enter.

    The guards red at Gabriel, seemingly tired after a day''s hard work. "Hurry up."

    Gabriel stepped forward. He could see that not too far from him, a Head Priest of Light was sittingfortably on a chair. He wasn''t paying much attention to people in the line. It was clear that he was just here in case of emergencies. The task of checking was left to ordinary Mages.

    "Another mage of Light." The Guards noticed the mark on the back of Gabriel''s hands. Thanks to the illusion, they couldn''t see anything more than an ordinary Mark of Light.

    "What is your name?" The guard asked. "And where are you from?"

    "I''m Raziel," Gabriel answered, making up a fake identity. "I came from the Empire of Yann after hearing about the decree from the Church."

    "Another person who wants to be a Holy Child?" The guards sighed. There were so many people like Gabriel in the city already. They didn''t think much about it.

    The guard signalled another guard.

    The second guard came forward, holding a small white sphere in his hand. He handed over the sphere to the main guard.

    The main guard raised the sphere before Gabriel. "Send a little of your elemental strength to this orb."

    Gabriel observed the sphere with a frown. He didn''t know what that thing did, but he had a feeling it wasn''t simple.

    "What is that thing?" he asked.

    "As a Mage of Light, you need to prove your identity. Only then will you be allowed entry into the city. Last time, a bastard entered the City using an illusion. That''s why we have this verification now," Another guard exined a bit. "Once you use your Elemental Strength, no illusion can fool this sphere. Only if your Element of Light is real will this sphere shine."

    "I see." Gabriel didn''t show any expressions of fear on his face. If what the guard said was true then he didn''t feel any need to worry. His Element of Light was real after all. It was a pure uncorrupted element, even though its mark had merged with the Mark of Darkness.

    Gabriel didn''t ce his hand directly on the sphere, leaving merely an inch of gap between his hand and the sphere. At the same time, he used a small spell of light, sending his pure aura of Light to the sphere to prove his identity.

    As soon as he sent his pure aura to the sphere, the sphere started shining. Moreover, that shine was even brighter than anything the guards saw before which proved that his element was not only more pure than others, but it was also quite powerful.

    The guards looked at Gabriel in surprise. With this kind of purity, they thought of something and stepped aside. "Please enter."

    At the moment, the guards were even more respectful for Gabriel as if they didn''t want to offend him.

    With the decree of the Church, the ordinary guards still believed that the Church was looking for a Holy Child and with what they just saw, they thought that Gabriel had the highest chance of bing a Holy Child amongst all the ones that entered before him.

    Gabriel took another nce at the Head Priest in the distance who still had his eyes closed, seemingly lost in meditation.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He entered the City and waited not too far from the guards for Avilia to enter.

    "Name and purpose of entry?" The guards asked Avilia.

    "I''m Riva. My purpose ining here is to apany my husband," Avilia answered, showing an innocent smile.

    "Your husband? Where is he?" The guards inquired. They looked behind the youngdy, wondering if the man behind her was her husband. However, when they saw Avilia pointing behind them, they turned around, noticing Gabriel looking in their direction.

    "Ah, so you''re the wife of that young man. You''re quite lucky, youngdy. If the young man is lucky enough, he might be the next Holy Child. Then you''ll have the honour of being the wife of a Holy Child!" The guardughed. "Please verify your element and then you can enter as well."

    "You''re right. I never could''ve imagined that an ordinaryperson like me would have the chance of being the wife of someone in such a high position," Avilia smiled as she raised her hand.

    She verified her element through another sphere. She was also allowed to enter and catch up with Gabriel.

    It was only when Gabriel and Avilia left that the Head Priest at the entrance slowly opened his eyes, ncing at the back of the two young people in the distance.

    ****

    Inside the Church of Light, it was very crowded. One after another, young mages of Light were being invited inside the Church, only to be sent out a few minutester. All the ones who were being sent out were being told to go back to where they came from.

    No one outside knew just what was happening inside the Church of Light. All those who came didn''t say anything either, it was as if they weremanded to keep their mouth shut.

    Inside one of the rooms in the Church of Light, the Head Priests were sitting around a table. In front of them was a wall that was made entirely of ss which connected to another room.

    Through this room, they could see what was happening in the other room. However, in the other room, no one could see through the ss to see what was on the other side.

    All the Head Priests in this room had an angry and ufortable expression on their face as if they hated the whole thing.

    In the middle of the table, a pure white book was lying, unmoving.

    The Head Priests were often looking back and forth between the white book on the table and the youngsters on the other side of the ss window who were being called in and sent back one after another.

    "I hate it!" One of the Head Priests said with clenched teeth as if he was so angry that he wanted to kill people right now?

    "It''s the seventeenth time in thest twenty minutes that you''ve said it," Another Head Priest scoffed. "You think we like it?!"

    All the Head Priests in the room were upset yet they couldn''t do anything about it.

    "We have no choice but to do it."

 Chapter 341 341: The Unavoidable Fate

    "The City is just as lively as before." It was Gabriel''s second timeing into the city. In fact, it wasn''t wrong to say that this city was the ce where he actually started his journey on the path of bing the strongest mage.

    The only difference this time was that there were less people with other Elements since there was no recruitment of the Academy of Elements. Instead, there were young light mages who came here to fulfil their dreams and be the Holy Child.

    It wasn''t wrong to say that other than the Head Priests of the Church of Light, only Gabriel and Avilia knew that it was nothing but a lie.

    "So, are we going to the Church now?" Avilia walked next to Gabriel on his journey, wondering where they were to go next.

    Gabriel didn''t answer. He still hadn''t decided where to go first. He wanted to go to the more dangerous ce at the end so he could leave right after.

    "Can you check if Izen is actually inside the Academy?" In the end, he asked Avilia''s help. If Izen was there, he wanted to deal with the Academy in the end. Without Izen, the Academy was an easier target after all.

    "I don''t need to check. I know he''s in the Academy. So far, he hasn''t sensed us because I''m hiding our presence. However, if we get closer to the Academy, it won''t be long before he senses us."

    ****

    ? As Avilia was answering Gabriel''s question, Izen was sitting inside his office, busy in a meeting with the Head Teachers. The Academy had suffered many lossesst time after all. They had lost all their inventory and spirit stones which they used to train students.

    Izen and the others were trying to solve the problem of the Spirit Stones first since that was the most urgent task at hand. In fact, Izen had already asked the Royal Family of Lumen for a favor, asking them to give more Spirit Stones to the Academy for the time being.

    ****

    "That makes it moreplicated." Since he had verified that Izen was still inside the city, he decided to deal with the Church of Light first. "Tell me one more thing. Can Izen sense me inside the Church of Light?"

    "What do you mean?" Avilia didn''t understand what Gabriel was actually trying to ask.

    "When I was inside the Church of mes, I sensed that the space inside was different. It was harder to spy inside from outside even when I stood right outside the door. I want to know if it''s the same with the Church of Light? Once I''m inside the Church of Light, can Izen sense me if he''s nearby?"

    What Gabriel wanted to try was moreplicated than a game of chess. He had to create a delicate bnce between two things. He had to make sure that Izen couldn''t interfere in his matters before he was done dealing with the Church of Light''s matter.

    Last time, Izen had managed to sense him, even though he wore the ring. This time, he didn''t want Izen to sense him and enter the Church to expose his identity again.

    "That? You don''t have to worry about that. Once you enter the Church of Light, even if I''m not near you to shield your subtle aura, Izen can''t sense you. Unless Izen or a Holy Lord is directly inside the Church of Light, they can''t sense you because the space inside a Church is protected from outside prying. It''s the same with every Church."

    "I see." With the new information, Gabriel was slightly relieved. This meant that Izen couldn''t interfere and expose his identity, no matter what he did inside the Church.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As for Izen entering that ce, it was almost impossible. He was sure that even Izen wouldn''t be allowed to enter the Church, especially in the absence of the Holy Lord of Light.

    Even amidst the crowd, the two youngsters walked unobstructed, immersed in their discussion. While most of the Light Mages were taking the shortest route of reaching the Church of Light, Gabriel took the longer route, only to avoid the Academy for the time being.

    After taking the longer route and under the protection of Avilia, Gabriel finally reached the Church of Light, only to be stunned at the size of the massive line before him!

    There were already over five hundred people in the line, waiting patiently.

    Fortunately, each person who was entering the Church wasing out after merely a few minutes. That meant he had to wait for around six or seven hours. The time was long, but it wasn''t too long.

    Gabriel stood in the line while Avilia stood in the distance, keeping a subtle eye on him. At the same time, she also observed Izen secretly to make sure that Izen didn''t suddenlye out of the Academy without them realizing.

    Three hours passed and Gabriel moved forward in the line to the point that there were only three hundred people before him. He didn''t know what the Church was trying to do, but one thing was clear. They hadn''t seeded so far.

    ****

    Two more hours passed. It''s been over five hours since Gabriel entered the City and he was finally close to entering the Church of Light. There were only seventy people before him now. The speed of people going in and out was much faster now.

    At the same time, the meeting between Izen and the Head Teachers had finished as well.

    Izen has issued all of the Head Teachers some instructions. Head Teacher of House of Lightning Qin, and Leader of House of Summoning Xinxi were assigned the task of going to the Royal Pce. They were in charge of bringing back the Spirit Stones from the Royal Pce.

    Head Teacher of Element of Earth Rem, and Leader of House Of Wind Lishen were tasked with overseeing all the repair work, including the repair of all the protective formations that were damagedst time.

    The other Head Teachers were also issued other important tasks to improve the working of the Academy. Only the Head Teacher of Light Eliana hadn''t been told to do anything.

    "Eliana,e out with me." Izen told Eliana who was the only person left in the meeting with him now.

    "Where are we going?" Eliana asked Izen. Izen didn''t usually tell her to apany him after all. Whenever Izen left the Academy, he left all alone.

    "I''m just getting bored, sitting here all week," Izen replied as a tired sigh was heard in the room. He stretched his armszily, yawning. "I heard the Church of Light has been busy with selecting their Holy Child? Since it seemed interesting, I thought we should check it out as well."

    With his hands in his pocket, Izen left the office. Two beautiful wings appeared behind his back as he rose in the air. Eliana also followed the man. Both of their destination... The Church of Light!

 Chapter 342 342: A Few Seconds

    ****

    Izen left the Academy and flew toward the Church of Light, being apanied by Eliana who looked like a little girl, creating a stark contrast with her position and real age.

    Izen hadn''t flown for a long time before he slowed down. Even his expressions changed to some extent.

    "This aura, it feels familiar..." he mumbled as he increased his speed.

    Eliana was initially confused as to why Izen would suddenly slow down. However, before she could ask anything, Izen increased his speed again.

    The two of them soon reached the Church of Light,nding at the entrance. While Eliana observed the entrance of the Church of Light, she noticed that Izen wasn''t focused on that. On the contrary, Izen was looking elsewhere.

    "Is something wrong?" she asked Izen who red at a person in the distance with a frown on his face. His hands were behind his back as if he was a worldly expert.

    Izen didn''t exin much to Eliana right away. He just started walking in the distance, keeping his eyes on one particr person.

    In the distance, a person stood without much care in the World. It was clear that the person had also noticed Izen.

    Izen stopped on the other side of the road in front of the youngdy. "Holy Priestess of Summoning... I had a feeling that it was a familiar aura. May I know what you''re doing here?"

    As Izen spoke, he didn''t forget to observe the surroundings. There was no way this girl woulde here for no reason. She didn''t even leave her home until there was something worth her attention after all.

    "Can''t I take a walk outside?" Avilia responded. There was not much reaction on her face. However, in the inside, she was somewhat relieved, looking at the entrance of the Church of Light.

    ''He''s really lucky, it seems. Saved by a few seconds. Otherwise...''

    ****

    A few minutes ago...

    Gabriel stood in the line. It''s been hours and even though the line had been moving quite fast, it felt extremely slow with how many people there were. There were already over five hundred people behind Gabriel in line now. It was said that Light Mages were somewhat rare, but if one was to look at the City, they never would''ve thought that.

    Avilia was standing in the distance. She had been quite calm all this time, but for some reason, she currently had a frown on her face as she looked into the distance.

    "Looks like it''s time to leave," she muttered as she walked toward Gabriel to inform him of something. However, she had only taken a few steps before stopping as she noticed an old man in the distance who was observing Gabriel.

    The old man had the Mark of Light on the back of his hand. He was none other than the old man who they had seen sitting at the entrance of the City. The old man initially didn''t pay much attention to them as far as she had seen.

    However, now that he was returning to the Church after finishing his task for the day, switching his position with another Head Priest, he was more focused on Gabriel who was in the line.

    "You." He stopped before Gabriel who had over a hundred people before him in the line.

    Gabriel looked back at the old man. Initially, he thought that the old man noticed some w in his illusion, but from the man''s reaction, that didn''t appear to be the case.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Come with me," the old man coldly told Gabriel. It was as if even though he paid attention to Gabriel, he still didn''t think that Gabriel was worth his respect for the time being. It was just that he felt that Gabriel had the potential for the time being after the spirit sphere''s reaction to his pure aura.

    When Gabriel was tested, no one knew that the man who appeared to be sleeping at that time was also paying attention.

    Gabriel didn''t resist. The old man was strong, but he wasn''t a threat, at least to him. If anything, the old man could be used.

    Gabriel stepped out of the line and followed the old man who took Gabriel straight to the front at the entrance of the Church. Since the man had seen Gabriel''s potential, he took the young man directly to the Church to get him tested.

    As he was apanied by a Head Priest, no guards dared to stop him from entering the Church. Moreover, for the time being, not a single person noticed who he really was!

    Gabriel took his first step, entering the Church of Light. As soon as he entered, he actually felt as if he had stepped inside an entirely different world! The aura of Light inside the Church of Light was iparably pure.

    Just being present inside the Church of Light was beneficial to him as he felt his Element of Light being stimted and his strength increasing.

    ''No wonder this ce is called the Holy Land for Light Mages.'' He thought, not realizing just how close he was to getting caught by an old acquaintance.

    Merely a few seconds after he entered the Church of Light, Izen and Eliana arrived outside the Church of Light. The two sides missed each other only by a small gap.

    Since Gabriel was inside the Church of Light, Izen couldn''t sense him. Instead, he noticed Avilia who was still staying there, in case of an emergency.

    Avilia didn''t exin her reason for being there and Izen knew that it was impossible for him to get an answer out of her. Despite her not answering, Izen knew that her presence had something to do with the Church of Light.

    Curious, he nced back at the Church. He already had a feeling that something was wrong with the Church selecting a Holy Child in the absence of the Holy Lord of Light.

    Avilia''s presence only confirmed his suspicions even more. Something else was going on here... Something that was enough to attract the attention of this demoness!

    A calm smile appeared on his face, hiding his real thoughts. "Eliana, you shall take a look inside as well. It''s not bad to be a Holy Child after all."

    "I don''t want to be a Holy Child," Eliana responded. She was already quite old and experienced. In fact, she wasparable to a Head Priest already. Wasn''t bing a Holy Child something simr to being demoted in seniority at this point?

    "Do as I said. Enter the Church and investigate. I want to know everything that''s happening inside. And if you really end up bing a Holy Child, it''s not bad either. The Holy Lord of Light really knows some decent spells that would be beneficial for your growth."

    Izen didn''t let her reject. He couldn''t enter personally, however, if it was Eliana, there was no problem. The Church didn''t ce any restrictions on who could try after all. With Eliana''s capabilities, he was sure that she was the best person to investigate.

    With Izen''s persistence, Eliana couldn''t reject it. Even though she was still confused, she understood that Izen wanted her to investigate with the excuse of applying for the position of a Holy Child. This way, she could get an easy entry inside.

    The Holy Priestess of Summoning didn''t care who Izen was sending inside. As long as he wasn''t personally going inside, everything else was fine. Despite how capable Eliana was, Avilia believed in her beast and its disguise skills. No one under the Holy Priest level could see through!

    She just stood back and watched as Eliana entered the Church of Light. Since she also had a special position, she wasn''t stopped from entering either. If anything, the Head Priest who had taken Gabriel inside also noticed her.

 Chapter 343 343: Avilias Strength!

    After Eliana entered the Church, Avilia turned around and started leaving. Everything else was now on Gabriel''s shoulder. She understood that if she stayed there for longer, sooner orter Izen was going to realize that she was waiting for someone.

    Another problem was that she believed that as long as she didn''t leave, Izen wasn''t going to leave either. Just like her, that man was going to keep an eye on the Church and if Gabriel happened toe out, he was going to be recognised.

    She left a small shadow behind to keep an eye on the Church and left.

    With a Holy Priestess roaming around in the city, Izen couldn''t rest easy. The woman had enough strength to cause arge-scale destruction after all.

    He had to apany her to make sure she didn''t create any problems in the city. He followed behind the youngdy as if he was a cop who was following a thief to make sure that the thief couldn''t steal.

    "How long are you going to follow me?" Avilia asked after walking for a few kilometres. Even though her initial intentions were to make Izen follow her subconsciously to drag him away, she still had to show some unwillingness to make Izen feel as if she didn''t want him to follow her.

    "How long are you going to stay in this city?" Izen asked in return. The answer to Avilia''s question was clearly hidden in his question.

    "Am I not allowed to walk in the city without supervision?" Avilia coldly asked.

    "Don''t take it the wrong way." Izen shrugged. "With your strength and your notoriety, it''s only fair that I keep an eye on you to avoid any future troubles. If you want to roam freely, you are wee to go to other cities and I promise I won''t follow."

    The Academy had already suffered heavy damages in recent weeks. They couldn''t afford any more damages, especially rted to Avilia. If Avilia caused anyrge-scale destruction in the city, the Royal Family was going to be hard pressed to deal with that.

    With the expenses of repair that were going to pile on, there was no way the Royal Family could afford to help the Academy with Spirit Crystals. In essence, the reason Izen was keeping an eye on Avilia was less because he wanted to protect the City and more because he wanted to protect his own interests.

    The HolyPriestess of Summoning stopped in her tracks and turned around, looking straight into the eyes of Izen. A mysterious energy covered her entire body as a two kilometre wide Summoning circle appeared above her head in the sky.

    "Also, what gives you the impression you would be able to stop me if I want to try something?"

    Avilia''s voice was cold and emotionless. However, it was also filled with authority as if she really was a deity looking down on all mortals.

    "Izen, you might be strong, especially with that Robe of Nullification, but it would do you good if you don''t overestimate yourself. Your robe is nothing before me since my Summons can''t be affected by your robe," she reminded the man in front of her. "If I want, I can crush you under my feet in the next three minutes. So you better stay out of my way and not give me a reason..."

    A terrifying aura spread in the surroundings. For a moment, time seemed to have stopped as silence spread...

    ****

    Gabriel had entered the Church of Light and he was being escorted by the old Head Priest. However, the Head Priest stopped mid-way, turning around, gazing at Eliana who had also entered the Church.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I didn''t expect her to be interested in the position as well." He walked back to the youngdy after telling Gabriel to wait for a few seconds.

    Gabriel also stopped and looked back. He was immediately surprised to see Eliana in the distance. The woman looked like a young girl who wasn''t even a proper adult yet. However, underestimating her was the biggest mistake anyone could make.

    When he was at the Academy, he often interacted with her and knew that she wasn''t an outright bad person. However, she wasn''t flexible either.

    Gabriel watched the old man discuss something with the youngdy before he brought her with him as well. Amongst all the Light Mages that came inside the Church, most of them were apanied by Holy Priests who were only there to maintain order. Only Gabriel and Eliana were apanied by a Head Priest personally.

    The old man brought Eliana to Gabriel. He didn''t bother introducing both of them as he himself didn''t know Gabriel''s name at the moment. He just told the two of them to follow him and not to get lost.

    Eliana followed the old man deeper inside the Church of Light, walking next to Gabriel. She didn''t know why, but she felt a familiar feeling from Gabriel. She just didn''t know what it was.

    "Have we met before?" she asked, trying to remember if she ever saw the young man before. Even though she couldn''t remember seeing that face before, but as time passed, that strange feeling of familiarity was getting stronger.

    "I don''t think so," Gabriel answered, not even looking at thedy next to him. "It''s my first time in Lumen."

    "Where are you from then?" Elina inquired. Usually, she wasn''t the one to talk much. She couldn''t care less about the people around her. However, she really wanted to know why she felt so familiar.

    "Yann." At this point, Gabriel had been toozy. He didn''t even make a full sentence. From that point on, no matter what the youngdy asked, his answers ended in only one sentence.

    If others were to see their conversation, they would''ve genuinely believed that Gabriel was an arrogant man. However, Eliana didn''t notice it.

    In the end, Eliana could only stop asking questions. Even though Gabriel answered all her questions, she still had no idea why she felt familiar to him. ording to his answers, they couldn''t have met before.

    ''Was I really wrong? But he really feels familiar. It''s as if we really met before. However, his face... I can''t recall. Wait... Could it be that he''s using an illusion? Is that why I feel familiar but can''t recognise his face?''

    Eliana immediately looked at the hands of Gabriel, trying to see if he had the ring of illusion. Fortunately, in Gabriel''s illusion, he made sure that no ring or gloves could be seen.

    Eliana couldn''t find anything strange in his hands either. However, her suspicions still didn''t end. She understood that it was possible that the illusion could''ve erased the ring from being seen.

    ''I have to hold his hands to know! No matter what illusion, before touch, all illusions fail!''

    She didn''t know why, but she couldn''t let it go. If the young man was actually using an illusion, it reminded her too much of Gabriel who had robbed the Academy clean! And if he was the same man, she had to test herself!

 Chapter 344 344: The Test

    Eliana walked next to Gabriel, wondering how she could hold his hand. She could''ve just forced herself, but since she wasn''t sure, that option wasn''t the best. If she was wrong, then it could very well look as if she was attacking someone for no reason.

    In the end, there was no better way than to be subtle about it, even if it was embarrassing. She slowly reached out her hand toward Gabriel, trying to hold hands as if she was a girl in love who wanted to be held by her lover.

    Gabriel didn''t nce at the youngdy. If anything, it was impossible for him to see what the girl was trying to do. However, that was because Eliana didn''t know the reality. Even though Gabriel wasn''t looking at her, his entire attention was on the girl as she was focusing more on him.

    He had a feeling that the girl had noticed something about him. When he saw her reaching out her hand closer to his hand, he understood what she was trying to do.

    Eliana''s hands were merely a few inches away from Gabriel''s hands, just about to touch him.

    "Senior, can you tell me what we have to do to be selected?"

    Gabriel took a few steps forward right as Eliana was about to touch him. He acted as if it had nothing to do with Eliana and it was only because he wanted to ask the old man a question.

    Eliana frowned at the failure. However she still wasn''t sure if Gabriel''s action of avoidance was intentional or a coincidence.

    Gabriel walked closer to the old man, walking right next to him.

    The old man didn''t think much of it. He simplyexined, "There is only one test. It''ll be the aptitude test. We''ll take you to a room. On the other side of the room will be the other Head Priests who will check your aptitude."

    Eliana also fastened her pace. She took the left side of Gabriel, who was on the left of the old man. At the moment, Gabriel was in the middle of the Head Priest and Eliana.

    Eliana once again reached out his hand as Gabriel was focused on the old man.

    "Huh?"

    Gabriel suddenly bent forward, touching his feet just as Eliana was about to touch him, once again avoiding her hand.

    He picked up a small piece of stone that was lying in the middle of the hall. "Strange. Who ced a stone here?"

    He pushed the stone to the corner before standing up again.

    Along the way, Eliana tried many times to hold Gabriel''s hand, but every time, he did something to avoid her hand while making it look coincidental. Even after Gabriel avoided her five times, Eliana still wasn''t sure if it was intentional. She just couldn''t confirm it.

    ''This guy! Just what kind of luck does he have? He always avoids my hand without even looking at me! Is it really a coincidence?'' She grimaced. ''If that''s the case, then I''ve had enough of being subtle! This time I''ll forcefully hold his hand, no matter what the aftermath!''

    Eliana had made up her mind this time. No matter what, she wasn''t going to let Gabriel avoid it.

    "We''re here."

    She stepped closer to Gabriel, only to hear the old man''s words. Just as she was about to take action, the old man tapped her shoulders.

    "That''s the room. Go inside first!" The old man told Eliana who was marily in a daze.

    "Go inside?" she asked.

    "That''s right. Enter the room and get tested. I was about to send Raziel first, but you''re more talented from what I''ve seen throughout the years. You should get tested first."

    The old man knew Eliana was as capable as them. At the same time, she was much younger. This was enough to show her talent. If anything the old man had more faith in her seeding!<novelnext></novelnext>

    Eliana looked back and forth between Gabriel and the door on the other side of the hallway. In the end, she sighed and nodded.

    She was here to test! She was here because of Izen and this investigation was her mission. As for Gabriel, she believed she could test himter as well. He wasn''t running away anyway.

    She pushed the door open and entered the secret room.

    ****

    On the other end of the room, the other Head Priests of the Church were sittingfortably. At the moment, they had already lost hope of someone being selected.

    "I told you. This isn''t going to work!" A dark haired Head Priest spoke, breaking the long silence. "This was a waste of time and resources!

    A few of the Head Priests had already fallen asleep on the chairs, only to wake up as they heard the angry shout.

    "Not like we had any choice." Another Head Priest sighed. "After a long time, the Holy Book has be active again! That means the Holy Book wants to select an heir."

    " If it wants to select an heir, why did it reject us?"

    "Exactly! Who could be more talented than us? Are you sure nothing is wrong with this Grimoire?"

    "When it became active, we thought it would select one of us to lead the Church. Who knew that all of us were rejected! It doesn''t even react to our presence as if we aren''t worth its attention!"

    "Let alone us, we''ve had all the Church members tested secretly and the Holy Book didn''t select anyone! In the end, we had to invite outsiders!"

    All the Head Priests were quite upset. If it were any normal times, they wouldn''t have tried something like this. They already waited such a long time after all.

    "Did we have any choice at all? We can''t go on without a Holy Priest now. The World is in chaos. The Church of Darkness is making a return again. The Church of mes have suffered heavy losses. We can''t ignore this any longer. We need a Holy Priest, even if it''s not one of us!"

    They have hidden the information about the absence of a Lord of Light for so long. However, it was getting harder and harder with each passing second, especially now that all the Churches were getting more and more active. They couldn''t sit idle.

    Unfortunately, they couldn''t openly dere that they were selecting a Holy Priest either. That''s why they came up with this secret method to invite people and test them without having them realize.

    In their initial n, if they were to find someone, they were going to secretly train that person for a few months and then reveal that person as the old Holy Lord before the entire world!

    "Wait. Isn''t that Eliana? Isn''t her position high enough? She came to be a Holy Child as well?"

    All the Head Priests were lost in discussion when one of them noticed Eliana in the other room.

    "Who cares why she''s here. As long as she can win the favor of the Holy Book, I don''t care. Moreover, if she''s selected, it''ll probably be good. She''s already quite strong. With the Holy Book, she might directly reach the peak and lead our Church to great heights!"

    The Head Priests were quite interested in the appearance of Eliana. They nced at the Holy Book, expecting to see a reaction from it.

    In the end, all of them sighed in disappointment. "As expected, the Holy Book pays no attention to her either. At this point, I don''t even know what this Book is looking for! It keeps rejecting everyone!"

    The Holy Grimoire waspletely unreactive, filling every Head Priest with disappointment.

    On the other side of the ss, Eliana was standing silently, wondering what she had to do. After a few minutes, she only heard a voice echoing in the room which told her that she failed. She was told to leave the room and send the next person in!

 Chapter 345 345: The Awakening

    Eliana thought she would be asked to do something after entering the room, or at least asked to show her skills. However, for some strange reason, all she had to do was stand there before she was asked to leave the room.

    She was still confused as to what the purpose of this whole thing was. However, she couldn''t do much. She turned around and left without questioning it.

    She was sent here to find the secrets behind the current action of the Church. However, she hadn''t noticed anything strange so far.

    ****

    Outside the room, the old man had a feeling that Eliana was going to seed. She had the potential ording to him.

    As Eliana came out of the room, he initially had high hopes. However, seeing her disappointed expressions, he realized that she had failed.

    ''Even she couldn''t seed? Are we destined to fail?'' he wondered.

    "You can leave," he told Eliana. The outsiders were only allowed inside for the purpose of testing. Other than that, they weren''t allowed to be there.

    Eliana still wanted to test Gabriel. Unfortunately, as if Gabriel had expected it, he was standing on the other side of the hallway, away from the path that led to the exit. If Eliana wanted to get to him, she had to take a different path, which was going to make the old man take action

    Eliana red at Gabriel. Her eyes expressed some anger. She turned and silently left.

    Gabriel watched the youngdy leave. ''She really has suspicions about me. If I''m not wrong, she''ll probably be waiting outside for me.''

    "Stop wasting our time. There are many people waiting to get tested." The old man pushed Gabriel toward the door to make him hurry up.

    Gabriel pushed the metallic door open and entered the empty room which really had nothing inside.

    There was only a ss in front of him which showed his reflection and nothing else. In the reflection, Gabriel finally saw what the illusion made him look like.

    After taking an initial nce at Gabriel, the Head Priests lowered their heads as if they didn''t think the guy had any chance of sess.

    The Head Priests didn''t even bother looking at the Holy Grimoire before asking Gabriel to leave.

    "You can leave." They told Gabriel.

    Gabriel was intrigued. He could sense that someone was on the other side of the room. Other than that, he also had a familiar feeling. The feeling was simr to what he felt from the small white orb that was taken from the Museum of Elements from the mysterious box by someone else.

    What he felt was the purest aura of Light which wasn''t something a Head Priest could possess.

    Even after being asked to leave, he didn''t turn to leave. Instead, he stepped closer to the ss before him, trying to feel that strange yet pure aura from close. He didn''t know why, but he had a feeling that the Church''s action had something to do with what he was feeling.

    "Hmm?" The Head Priests frowned, watching Gabriel step closer and ignoring theirmand.

    They asked Gabriel to leave again. However this time also they were ignored.

    Gabriel stood barely a meter away from the ss wall. He raised his left hand toward the wall.

    "You brat! You really don''t know the difference between life and death, don''t you?!" Seeing them be ignored a third time, the Head Priests couldn''t tame it any longer.<novelnext></novelnext>

    One of them smacked his hands on the table, standing up. A powerful aura spread out, targeting Gabriel to force him down to his knees.

    Before the aura could even reach him, Gabriel''s hands touched the ss wall.

    Crack... Crack...

    The ss started cracking even though Gabriel touched the ss very gently. The ss wall shattered within a second, revealing what was on the other side.

    At the same time, the Head Priest''s aura shed with Gabriel, as if it was a torrential storm that could destroy anything.

    The aura pushed down on Gabriel. If it was another person, they would''ve already been on their knees with broken bones, but Gabriel still remained standing, more focused on the beautiful white book in the distance!

    It didn''t take him long to realize what that book was! That book was the Holy Grimoire of Light! Looking at the book in the middle of all the Head Priests, everything was revealed to him! He finally understood the purpose of the Church of Light in organizing this event!

    ''The rumor about it was true! The Holy Lord of Light... He doesn''t exist!''

    Gabriel was more immersed in the beautiful white book in the distance. As for the pressure acting on him, he didn''t feel it much. That pressure was nothing before the pressure of the statue of God of mes that he experienced before!

    If anything, it was way weaker! Moreover, ever since he came across that statue, he had trained his body and was much stronger now!

    Seeing Gabrielpletely ignore his aura as if it wasn''t nothing before him, the Head Priest who had targeted Gabriel felt his face turn red as if someone had pped him in front of everyone!

    "You!" He clenched his teeth, not holding back. At this point, he didn''t even care if he was to kill Gabriel in the process of punishing him.

    He had decided to teach the young man a lesson that he was to never forget!

    "Divine Punishm-"

    He chanted a spell, but before he could even finish, his body froze. He felt a chill run down his spine. The world went silent in the moment as a terrifying yet powerful aura spread out from near him.

    The aura was so powerful that he felt as if he was suffocating. His body was forced down to his knees! All the other Head Priests who were standing were forced down to their knees as well, as if they were nothing but weak puppets before this aura!

    As for the people who were sitting on the Chair, they fell down to the ground as the chair under them broke!

    The terrifying aura wasn''t just felt in the room either. It spread far and wide. Everyone who was a Priest of Light went down on their knees subconsciously as if a deity had appeared before them.

    The aura slowly covered the entire city.

    Avilia and Izen were far away from the Church of Light when they felt this strange mysterious aura. Both of them had experienced this aura before. They both understood what it was.

    "The Church of Light... They fooled everyone..." Izen frowned, looking in the direction of the Church.

    "So that''s what it was about!" Avilia also understood what was happening. However, there was still a frown on her face.

    Back inside the room in the Church of Light, all the Head Priests looked toward the Holy Grimoire of Light! Their faces turned pale as they saw the Holy Grimoire flying in the air, shining brightly!

 Chapter 346 346: Meeting The Celestials

    The Holy Grimoire floated mid-air, stunning everyone who saw it. All the Head Priests understood what this implied! It meant that the Holy Grimoire of Light had finally selected a person!

    Dazed, everyone looked at Gabriel in the distance, only to find him standing silent. Gabriel''s eyes were nk and his face expressionless. At the moment, it was as if he was an unmoving statue!

    It wasn''t that Gabriel was shocked to the point that he couldn''t move. However, he just couldn''t. As soon as the Holy Grimoire of Light awakened, Gabriel found his surroundings changed. Everything around him turned stark white, filled with light. He couldn''t see the room or anyone present in it!

    Gabriel looked all around, only to find a white light that was enough to blind ordinary people. As he turned around, he noticed that the white light had started dimming and the surroundings started taking shape.

    He found himself standing near a cliff. Surprisingly enough, that cliff was the same where Hawrin had pushed him to his death. But at the moment, Hawrin wasn''t there. Instead, there were three people there!

    Gabriel couldn''t see the faces of those three people as all three of them had their backs toward him. He could only notice the back of their hands!

    The person on the left was a young woman who was donning a beautiful white dress. Not a speck of dust could be seen on her clothes, as if she was so pure that even the dust refused to sully her clothes. A serene aura could be felt around that woman.

    On the back of the woman''s left hand, Gabriel noticed the Elemental Mark of Light that he had seen many times before!

    On the right, there was a slender young man, who had a cold aura around her, that reeked of darkness. The man had the Holy Mark of Darkness on the back of his left hand.

    What attracted the attention of Gabriel the most was the person in the middle. Even though Gabriel couldn''t see that person''s face, he felt extremely familiar with that person.

    Theman had short light blue hair and appeared like a Prince from his attire. However, his aura felt the most dangerous out of the three of them, suppressing the auras of the other two without even trying!

    The man had no elemental Mark on the back of his left hand. However, the same couldn''t be said for his right hand! On the back of his right hand, the young man had the Holy Mark of Necromancy that was the same as what Gabriel possessed.

    Gabriel felt really curious about the three people. This scene was clearly not a dream, but it wasn''t reality either. It felt something else entirely. Subconsciously, Gabriel started stepping closer to the three people.

    Even as Gabriel stepped closer to the cliff, the two men didn''t turn around. On the contrary, it was the young woman on the left who turned around, ncing at Gabriel with her pure eyes.

    It was only when the woman turned around that Gabriel noticed a beautiful white Grimoire floating before her. The woman''s face had no expressions initially. However, as she noticed Gabriel, she seemed a little surprised.

    She nced at the young man next to her before looking at Gabriel again. Her lips crept up, as if showing a bit of a smile that wasn''t quite a smile yet.

    A small white arc of light appeared next to Gabriel, leaving a small cut on his finger.

    "Argh!" Gabriel gasped in pain. It was quite different from the pain he ever felt before.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The youngdy slightly nodded before turning her back on Gabriel again.

    Gabriel reached out his hand, about to speak something but before he could even let a word out, the world turned white again.

    When the stark white light retreated, Gabriel found himself standing back in the room inside the Church of Light where he previously was. He felt a little pain in his left hand. As he looked down, he noticed his finger bleeding.

    The Holy Grimoire of Light floated closer to him,ing right under his finger that was bleeding. As soon as a drop of his blood fell, the Holy Grimoire of Light captured it and absorbed it, making a blood connection with the young man.

    What was even stranger was that after the Grimoire absorbed his blood, the cut on his finger healed on its own.

    Gabriel felt a connection with the Holy Grimoire of Light, simr to what he felt with the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy. The only difference was that the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy felt like something which truly was a part of his body but the Holy Grimoire of Light was slightly different.

    Gabriel sent a thought to the Holy Grimoire of Light to see if it could also disguise itself as an essory. Within a blink of an eye, the Holy Grimoire of Light turned into a small bracelet that wrapped around Gabriel''s left wrist.

    The suppressing aura that had forced everyone to their knees had already disappeared as soon as the Holy Grimoire of Light was bound to Gabriel. The Head Priests could move. But still, none of them stood up. They all looked at Gabriel in a daze while remaining on their knees.

    The door of the other room opened and the old man who had escorted Gabriel inside the Church rushed in.

    "He is selected?" He asked. There was excitement in his eyes at the same time as some jealousy. He wanted to be selected by the Grimoire but he had failed. At the same time, he was happy that the Church had finally found a Holy Priest!

    "Send every outsider out! And seal the Church! Without our permission, no one is allowed inside!" The other Head Priests also stood up one after another, taking charge of the situation.

    "Also, activate the defensive formation!" Another Head Priest eximed. "Make it harder for even a Holy Priest to probe inside!"

    "Yes!" Some of the Head Priests spread out. They had already found their new Holy Priest. Now all that was left to do was to suppress the information from the world until Gabriel was ready to appear before the world as the Holy Priest of Light.

    Gabriel didn''t focus on what the people around him were saying. Instead, his mind was still focused on the white Grimoire before him. He kept thinking about the scene he saw with those three people at Cliff?

    ording to his information, before him, there was only one other person who had the Holy Mark of Necromancy and that person was Karyk!

    ''That means the person in the center was Karyk! To be able to stand beside him, the other two people must be... The Goddess of Light and the God of Darkness?'' A frown engulfed him the more he thought about it.

 Chapter 347 347: The New Lord

    Izen was on the other end of the City with Avilia when he sensed that powerful aura of Light that disappeared soon after. However, it wasn''t before he noticed something.

    "That aura... It''s the aura of the Holy Grimoire!" He frowned. "Did the Church really fool everyone by iming that the Holy Priest of Light wasn''t in the City?"

    He only felt the aura of the Grimoire which could only be used by the Holy Priest. It was enough to make him believe that the Holy Priest of Light was still in the city. What really surprised him was that the Church of Light lied to all of them by iming that he wasn''t there.

    "Or did he just return to the City?" He wasn''t sure just what the case was. However, he decided to check things out personally. He left Avilia behind and flew toward the Church of Light. If the Holy Lord of Light was in the city, he was sure that Avilia wasn''t going to y around the city for long.

    Avilia didn''t speak much. She also flew in the direction of the Church of Light. Her thoughts were slightly different from Izen.

    Gabriel was inside the Church. If the Holy Lord of Light was really inside, he would''ve caught Gabriel the moment he stepped inside the Church. Since that wasn''t the case, she was convinced that the Holy Lord of Light wasn''t there! However, it couldn''t be denied that the aura she felt was indeed the aura of the Holy Grimoire of Light!

    These two points made her realize one thing! It was that the Holy Lord of Light wasn''t in the Church but the Holy Grimoire was there! That only meant one thing... There was currently no Holy Lord of Light in the world! If there was, the Grimoire wouldn''t be away from him.

    All the absence of the Holy Lord of Light, and the rumours, they all started making sense to her. She understood everything! The Church had lied to everyone. It wasn''t that they lied about his absence from the city. Instead, they lied about him existing entirely!

    ''Calling all these people here, inviting them inside the Church one after another as if they were trying to find someone and now the awakening of the Holy Grimoire? There''s no denying it anymore! The Church wasn''t looking for a Holy Child! Instead, they were looking for the next Holy Lord of Light that could awaken the Grimoire!''

    Avilia understood the Church''s mindset. For far too long, they had been without a leader. Moreover, they were also weak in this way so they couldn''t let the information leak. That''s also why they were so secretive about this entire thing. However, she was still confused about one thing!

    The Holy Grimoire of Light had awakened! That meant it selected the next Holy Lord! She was really curious as to who it was! The next Holy Lord was new, so she didn''t have to worry about him finding Gabriel right away.

    That meant Gabriel was at least safe enough to be able to exit safely. Unfortunately, there was still Izen outside. She knew things could get reallyplicated if the two came face to face.

    Izennded before the Church of Light, only to find a defensive barrier already being activated. All the Mages of Light who were invited here were told to go back where they came from. What was even more shocking was that three Head Priests were standing outside the Church of Light, personally guarding the ce.

    Eliana found Izen returning. She rushed to him and caught up.

    At the same time, Avilia was looking around the crowd, trying to find Gabriel. Strangely enough, she couldn''t sense Gabriel anywhere.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Since everyone was already pushed out of the Church, she thought that Gabriel was also made to leave. Unfortunately, she still couldn''t feel his presence.

    ''Did he already leave his city?'' She wondered. She stared at Izen. ''Probably because he expected Izen''s return and didn''t want to fight yet? Maybe it''s for the best.''

    She looked into the distance, wondering where Gabriel could''ve gone next. ording to his n, he wanted to go to the Academy of Elements next, but if that was the case, she could''ve still sensed him.

    What was even stranger was that she couldn''t sense her Sparrow that she lent to Gabriel for his disguise. It was as if Gabriel had cut her connection with the sparrow somehow, or he was somewhere where even she couldn''t feel the sparrow.

    If Avilia wanted, she could''ve cancelled the summon. Even if she couldn''t reach her sparrow, the spiritual sparrow would''ve disappeared. Fortunately, he didn''t do it. She let Gabriel keep it. No matter where he was, she felt that he probably needed it.

    "I want to meet your Holy Lord." Izen approached the Head Priests who were guarding outside the Church of Light.

    "Our Holy Lord just returned from a long journey. He''s resting now," the Head Priest gave an excuse. "If you have anything important to talk to him about, you can leave a message with us. We''ll deliver it to him when he finishes resting."

    There was no way the Head Priests could allow anyone to meet the Holy Lord, especially someone the calibre of Izen who couldn''t be stopped by ordinary means. Izen was strong after all.

    They didn''t want anyone to know that they had just finished selecting a Holy Priest as that would''ve meant that the Holy Priest of Light was at his weakest he was ever going to be. That could''ve stimted the Church of Darkness to attack the Church of Light since it would''ve been the perfect opportunity for them!

    They didn''t want to go down the route of the Church of mes, especially since it was going to be even more embarrassing if they were to have their Church destroyed while their Holy Priest was still there! What they needed the most was time... Time for their new Holy Lord to be as strong as the previous generation of Home Lords!

    Izen was rejected but he couldn''t do anything. He could force his way inside the Church, but that wasn''t a good option as that would''ve easily offended the Church of Light and brought trouble to the Academy of Elements.

    Moreover, he didn''t know much about the Holy Lord that he never met before. He still wasn''t confident enough to fight him, especially for no reason.

    Izen still had no idea that the Holy Lord that he was so respectful toward was none other than the person that he intercepted and fought against not too long ago.

 Chapter 348 348: Arent You?

    Gabriel stood inside the Holy Church of Light, feeling extremely weird. The people who were supposed to be his enemies had their heads lowered before him as they treated him respectfully. However, he also understood why that was the case.

    The Holy Book of Light now belonged to him. Even though he hadn''t checked any spells in the Holy Book yet, it didn''t change the fact that he was supposedly the new Holy Lord of Light as well as the leader of the Church of Light.

    He also knew that it was all superficial. The Head Priests of Light only respected him because they thought he was someone who could lead them to hear heights against their enemies now that he was selected as the Holy Lord.

    It didn''t take a genius to guess what their reaction was going to be if they found out who Gabriel really was.

    Gabriel was quite fortunate that even the strongest person inside the Church of Light was only a Head Priest who couldn''t see through the illusion at all. That wasn''t the case for the other Holy Lords. He could''ve fooled these Head Priests, but he couldn''t fool the other Holy Lords if they ever came to meet the Holy Lord of Light.

    Let alone the fact that his illusions were useless against the other Holy Lords, just his aura alone was enough to let them know who he really was.

    "Follow us," The oldest Head Priest told Gabriel as he left the room.

    Gabriel didn''t have much choice but to follow them. He went after the old Priest. The other Head Priests followed Gabriel from behind.

    At this point, it looked as if all his routes of escape were sealed by the Head Priests who walked around him with him in the center. Fortunately, there was no hostility yet.

    "My name is Qian," the old Head Priest told Gabriel while walking in the lead. "I''m sure you have a lot of questions at this point. For example, what just happened?"

    Gabriel didn''t answer. He already knew what happened, but he didn''t tell them.

    "As you must''ve heard, we were looking for a Holy Child to train under the Holy Lord? At least that''s the news we spread," Qian responded even as Gabriel didn''t reply. "However, that was not the truth."

    None of what the old man said came as a surprise. Gabriel remained unreactive.

    "What is the truth then?" he asked.

    Qian seemed somewhat fascinated as he heard the calmness in Gabriel''s voice. He couldn''t help but take another nce at the young man behind him. Usually, any ordinary youngster would''ve been flustered with no information about what happened. However, Gabriel was still calm andposed.

    "Maybe the Grimoire really didn''t select a bad person," he muttered. "He isn''t as strong as us, or as talented as Eliana, but he does have some qualities of his own."

    No matter how much Qian wanted to be the next Holy Lord, they couldn''t force it. The Holy Grimoire had rejected them. Now they could only ept the decision unless Gabriel made some grave mistakes in the future.

    "The truth is something that we kept hidden from the outsiders for a long time," Qian exined, scratching his chin. "The truth is that we weren''t looking for a Holy Child. Instead, we were looking for a Holy Lord."

    "Ever since our Holy Lord died a few years ago, we told everyone that the Holy Book has already selected the next Holy Lord for our protection. Since then, we''ve been walking on a thin rope with all the lies and stories to keep this information hidden. We also waited for the Holy Book to start selecting a candidate again."<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Head Priests were already very tired after hiding this information for a long time. It had been very hard on them throughout the years. Unfortunately, they had no choice. The Church of Light had always been very overbearing and they had a lot of enemies.

    Even though openly no one dared to offend them, there were many who were waiting to strike as soon as they were given an opportunity. That''s why they had to hide! Only a Holy Lord could''ve acted as a deterrent after all.

    "By now, you probably guessed what happened today. The White Book that you saw before is the Holy Book of Light, also known as the Holy Grimoire of Light. It has selected you. That means you''re our new Holy Lord and we''ll do everything we can to train you so that you can stand atop this world to take your rightful ce!" Qian eximed.

    Gabriel didn''t know how to react. He could just shake his head lightly. Even though these people spoke such heavy words, he knew the truth. On the inside, they were just greedy for their own benefits. As long as they could raise a Holy Lord, they could go back to their overbearing ways of thest.

    Moreover, let alone helping him stand on top of the world, as long as the truth about him was out, they would probably do everything within their means to destroy his body and his soul altogether so the Holy Grimoire of Light could''ve been free of his control. There was no way they would''ve trained him!

    "Do you have a family?" Qian asked for some reason.

    "Why do you want to know?"

    "If you have a family, we can shift them here to keep them safe. It''s the responsibility of the Church after all," the Head Priest answered.

    At the time, no one knew that Gabriel was the new Holy Lord. However, that wasn''t going to be the case forever. The Church of Light didn''t want anyone to get control of Gabriel''s family since that could have been his weakness! They had to protect the weakness of their new Lord if there was any.

    "I don''t have a family," Gabriel replied. "I''m an orphan."

    "That''s great!" Qian eximed, only to realize that his words might''ve been inappropriate. "Cough, I mean it''s great that you''ve been able toe so far all on your own. You''re very talented."

    "Don''t you still have a wife though?" Just as Qian was satisfied that Gabriel was all alone, another Head Priest chimed in. He was also the one who brought Gabriel inside the Church.

    When he saw Gabriel at the entrance of the City, he had heard Avilia mention that she was his wife. He still remembered that.

    "How do you know that?" Qian asked his old friend.

    "Because she came with him and mentioned it. She is still outside if I''m not wrong!" White haired Yaze answered.

    "What are you waiting for then? Since she''s his only family member, let''s bring her inside." Qian turned around. "Let''s bring your wife back as well. I''m sure she''d be surprised."

    Instead of going deeper into the Church, he went toward the exit. He didn''t go alone and brought Gabriel and others with him as well.

 Chapter 349 349: Hes The One!

    As soon as the Head Priest told Gabriel to go with him to bring Avilia back, he marily froze. Was this guy really asking him to go out with him? Was he really looking to cause arge-scale war?

    He knew that there was a good chance of Izen being outside along with Avilia. There was no way he wouldn''t have sensed therge-scalemotion caused by the Grimoire of Light. As long as Gabriel was inside the Church, Izen couldn''t sense who he was. However, once he left, everything could go bad!

    He still had the Death Knights inside his Grimoire. He had faith that he could hold on even if Izen and the others joined forces. However, winning wasn''t easy unless Avilia joined forces with him. He had a feeling that Avilia wasn''t going to work with him. He had to do everything himself!

    "I think my wife would''ve already left by now. She was just escorting me here," Gabriel gave an excuse. "After helping me get here, she probably left for the next City since she had something to do there."

    "There''s no loss in checking. Maybe she''s still waiting?" The old man who brought Gabriel inside the Church replied. Gabriel felt like thrashing the old man but he controlled himself.

    Gabriel kept his silence. He had a feeling that the more he spoke, the more suspicious he was going to make others. He had to do something on his own.

    ''Izen would be outside. If he''s there, he probably already met Avilia. He also knows that Avilia is the Holy Priestess of Summoning. If these idiots went out, iming her to be my wife, it could be quite a headache. Even if I hide my face and don''t step out of the Church, it would be troublesome.''

    ''As if Izen''s attention wasn''t enough, once the other Holy Priests know that Avilia has a husband, they''de here as well. The best thing here is if Avilia already left. But if she hasn''t...''

    ****

    Gabriel was already near the exit. Just like anyone outside couldn''t sense who or what was inside, anyone inside couldn''t sense outside either. He didn''t know if Avilia and Izen were still there or not.

    "Do you have a mask?" he asked Qian.

    Even though he also had a mask, the mask he had was already used when he destroyed the Church of Light. He didn''t want to use that mask with this identity. Moreover since Izen had already seen him before and the illusion was useless before him, he wanted to use a mask to hide his face.

    "Why do you need a mask?" Qian asked, confused. Something didn''t seem right but he didn''t think too much about it. In the end, he didn''t even wait for an answer before giving a face mask to Gabriel.

    The mask not only covered the top half of Gabriel''s face but also the left side of his face, leaving only a small part of his face visible Gabriel immediately ced the mask on his face. With this, he at least had some measure of protection.

    ''If I stand at the entrance of the Church, just inside the threshold, Izen shouldn''t be able to sense. The Head Priests of the Church wouldn''t find it too odd either.''

    ? ''Now there''s only one more thing left to cover...''

    After a brief pause, he spoke again. "Can I ask you for one more thing? When you invite my wife inside, can you do it without letting any outsider know that she''s married? It''s for her safety in the future."

    "Ah, I see." Qian smirked, as if realizing something. "So that''s why you wanted a mask! You''re thinking about the future! Not bad, young man!"

    The group of Head Priests finally reached the threshold of the Church of Light. From here, they could see outside and the outsiders could see them. However, the space on either side was different. One more step and Gabriel could''ve been sensed by Izen!<novelnext></novelnext>

    ****

    Izen was outside the Church of Light with Avilia standing not too far from him. The Church of Light had already refused to allow him a meeting, saying that the Holy Lord was resting.

    Since he didn''t want to force them, he was willing to wait or leave. However due to Avilia''s presence in the city, he couldn''t go back yet. He had to wait for her to leave first.

    During this time of waiting, Eliana informed her about Gabriel, a young man who she saw inside the Church that she found somewhat familiar. She also expressed her doubt about the identity of Gabriel to Izen.

    "Everyone who went inside is outside except that young man. I have a really bad feeling about this," she told Izen.

    Izen didn''t ignore her concern either. She knew that Eliana wasn''t the one to exaggerate things. If she sensed something wrong, then he was sure that there was definitely something wrong about that young man.

    However, one thing still didn''t make sense to him. Even if Gabriel really used an illusion to fool everyone inside, he couldn''t have fooled the Holy Lord of Light.

    ''Since he isn''t out, does that mean he has already been killed by the Lord of Light? The aura we sensed before... Was it the Holy Lord using his strength to kill that intruder? That could also exin why everyone was told to leave right after...''

    He had thought of a possibility. Due to his misunderstanding about the Holy Lord of Light being present inside the Church of Light, he couldn''t think of any other possibility. Out of everyone in this World, the Holy Lord of Light was the only one who was truly immune to even the greatest of illusions!

    "He''s probably already dead. Don''t think much about it," he told Eliana.

    Unfortunately, just as he finished his sentence, the door of the Church of Light opened, revealing a group on the other side.

    Even Izen was surprised since that group included all the Head Priests.

    One of the Head Priests pointed in his direction. However, his finger was pointing more toward Avilia.

    "As expected, he sensed Avilia''s presence," Izen muttered, giving some credit to the Holy Lord of Light, again misunderstanding the situation.

    However, one thing confused him. Amidst the group of the Head Priests, there was one person... From his build, he looked like a young man who was barely twenty years old.

    The young man stood with his hands behind his back.

    "There! He is the one! He''s the one I was talking about!" Eliana pointed at Gabriel.

    At the moment, Eliana was pointing her finger at Gabriel. The Head Priest was pointing a finger at Avilia. Also, Izen and Gabriel were looking at each other¡­

 Chapter 350 350: Hes The Lord Of Darkness!

    Izen was informed about Gabriel by Eliana. ording to what she said, Gabriel was most probably using an illusion. However, the illusions were useless to him. Unfortunately, even while ignoring the illusion, he couldn''t see much since Gabriel was wearing a mask.

    Despite that, he still found Gabriel somewhat familiar. It was as if he had seen the young man before. The body built of Gabriel reminded him a lot of the young man that had escaped from his handst time. However, he couldn''t believe that to be the case. How could it even be possible?

    From what he knew, the person that escaped from him was a dark mage. There was no way he could''ve entered the Church of Light and survived so far, especially with the presence of the Lord of Light inside. At least, that''s what his mind was telling him. However, his heart... It was saying otherwise!

    Head Priest Qian noticed Izen''s strange look. He couldn''t help but wonder if Izen had already recognised that Gabriel was their new Holy Priest of Light.

    "That shouldn''t be possible. Even if it''s him, he shouldn''t be able to know that much. Moreover, it wasn''t Izen who looked here first. It was Eliana who pointed here. Does it have something to do with Eliana?"

    He stepped out of the threshold of the Church of Light along with another Head Priest. The second Head Priest went to Avilia while Qian went to Izen and Eliana.

    "Lord Izen, may I ask what you two are doing here?" Qian asked.

    At the same time, the other Head Priest stopped before Avilia. "Young Lady, would you like toe inside the Church for a little while?"

    Following Gabriel''s instructions, he didn''t tell her anything, especially that it had something to do with her husband. Avilia also didn''t speak much. She didn''t know why, but she had a feeling that it had something to do with Gabriel. Not only was he safe, but he also appeared to be extremely respected.

    Seeing this sight, she had an absurd thought. ''Don''t tell me that the aura and awakening of the Holy Grimoire of Light was rted to...''

    With wide eyes, she stared at Gabriel. That young man never failed to amaze her.

    Gabriel was just standing inside the Church of Light, right on the other side of the threshold. Both his hands were behind his back. To an ordinary person, it looked as if he was an arrogant expert who looked down on the entire world in his arrogance. However only Gabriel knew the truth.

    He wasn''t standing with his chest held high and his hands behind his back because he was arrogant. It was just a show to make him look arrogant. His real purpose was to hide his hands behind his back. The illusion wasn''t effective on Izen.

    Gabriel understood that if Izen was allowed to see his hands, he would''ve recognised that Gabriel was wearing two gloves, hiding his real elemental Marks. At that point, it was quite easy for Izen to realize the truth.

    Izen didn''t answer Qian. He just watched Avilia advance toward the Church of Light with a frown on his face. He could already see a small bird sitting on Gabriel''s shoulder. He hadn''t seen that bird before, but it was clear to him that it was a summoned beast, most probably belonging to Avilia.

    That meant Avilia knew the young man inside the Church of Light and that both of them were together.

    "I''m afraid I''m not the only one who knows him. Lady Avilia of the Church of Summoning also knows that young man," Izen expressed, revealing the real identity of Avilia.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Qian''s jaws dropped as he stared nkly at Avilia. Thedy who was supposed to be their Holy Lord''s wife was the Holy Lord of Summoning? Just what kind of sh*t luck was that? Did their Church gain a powerful ally just like that?

    The Church of Summoning had been neutral in most conflicts, especially since the new Lord took over. Despite them rarely taking action, no one could ignore their presence. Who could''ve thought that their Holy Lord was already married and that too to an ordinary person?

    ording to them, before Gabriel was selected as the Holy Lord of Light, he was quite ordinary.

    "From your expressions, it doesn''t look like you knew." Izen noticed the subtle change in the old man''s expressions. "Then I suppose you also didn''t know thatdy Avilia lent a small bird of hers to the young man in the back? You probably don''t know that what you saw as the face of the man was no more than an illusion that was cast by that bird?"

    He didn''t know what kind of rtionship Gabriel had at this point with the Church of Light, but the other side appeared to have some respect for him. He wanted to expose Gabriel and then watch the scene unfold so that he could find out the real identity of Gabriel.

    Qian grimaced, looking back at Gabriel. The young man was using an illusion? Such a high grade illusion that they couldn''t even sense it?

    He red at Avilia, understanding that if it was the work of a beast lent by Avilia, then it made sense. Avilia was capable of something like that.

    Fortunately, they didn''t think that Gabriel wanted to fool them. On the contrary, he felt as if Avilia did that just for the safety of Gabriel. She was his ''wife'' after all!

    "Lord Izen, I''m afraid you are wrong. We already knew about this," Qian stated, lying without blinking. "Anyway, If that''s all, I''ll be taking my leave now."

    Qian didn''t feel like spending too much time outside. They had a lot of things to do. Moreover Avilia was already inside the Church of Light by now.

    Qian turned around and left Izen behind as he went back to the Church.

    "Qian, I think there''s a possibility that the young man inside the Church of Light is the Lord of Darkness!" Unable to ignore anymore, Izen finally said, making almost everyone freeze in their ce.

    "Lord of Darkness?!" The people outside the Church of Light eximed in shock. Even the Head Priests had unsightly expressions.

    "Lord Izen, are you saying that we''re all stupid enough to allow the Lord of Darkness inside the Church of Light and not even realise it?" Qian coldly spoke.

    "Lord of Darkness is a young man, having the same age and body built as the young man behind you. Even though he''s behind a mask, the simrities are uncanny. Moreover the Lord of Darkness has a way to hide his aura and use illusions. If you don''t believe me, ask him to show me his hands! I want to check myself!"

 Chapter 351 351: Bluff? Or Truth?

    Silence... There was absolute silence as Izen spoke of the possibility of Gabriel being the Lord of Darkness. Even though it was only a possibility that he suggested, but even then it couldn''t be ignored!

    The one saying that was the Dean of the Academy of Elements after all. He was an existence that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Lord of Light!

    Unfortunately that''s also why Gabriel hated him. Even after so many precautions, the man was still able to sense something. A subtle killing intent shed in Gabriel''s eyes which he hid instantly.

    He couldn''t show his hands. If he did, it would''ve confirmed Izen''s suspicions.

    The Head Priests looked back and forth between Gabriel and Izen. Some of the Head Priests wanted to allow Izen to check Gabriel just to be safe. However there were also some who felt that allowing Izen to do as he pleased with the Holy Lord was the same as allowing him to trample on their dignity!

    The Head Priests of Light were known to be arrogant and dominant. How could they allow others to do as they pleased? No matter what, this was a mockery of their dignity! They couldn''t let themselves seem too weak.

    There was also one more thing! They had faith in the Holy Grimoire of Light! There had never been a case of the Holy Grimoire of Light selecting a Dark Mage, let alone a dark mage who already had another Holy Grimoire! That was just a crazy thought!

    "Izen, you''re getting quite bold, aren''t you? You''re iming that I''m working with the Dark Lord?" Now that her identity was already exposed and it was known that she lent a bird to Gabriel, even Avilia couldn''t let the truthe out. "Or do you think that only you can see through illusions?"

    "Who knows? It might exin why you''ve never joined the other Churches in their actions against the dark mages, won''t it?" Came Izen''s scathing remarks out of nowhere.

    "If I''m with the Dark Mages, doesn''t that mean I''m the enemy of this city?" A devilish smirk spread across Avilia''s face as she cracked her knuckles. "Since you''ve already given me the title, how about I do as you im and kill everyone here? Can you stop me?"

    Even though Avilia didn''t summon anyone, just her words alone were enough to send chills running down the spine of many people here. Even Izen frowned. This girl really didn''t care about the consequences of her words or actions. No wonder she was called the crazy priestess by the others!

    "If you''re not wrong, isn''t the solution simple? Just show me his hands!" Izen eximed. "If you''d rather go to war with the entire world rather than showing his hands, doesn''t that say something about me potentially being right?"

    It didn''t matter if Avilia was standing before him. As much as Izen didn''t want to fight her, if it came to that, he was ready as well. He wasn''t someone who was scared of others! Moreover he had never fought Avilia. He just heard stories about her. He didn''t know how much truth was in those stories!

    "You want me to show my hands?" Gabriel asked, chiming in. His voice was calm and his tone wasn''t loud. However, his words were very clear. Almost everyone heard it.

    "Yes." Izen nodded. He had once lost Gabrielst time. He didn''t want to do the same again. Previously, he didn''t have much enmity with Gabriel. The Academy even stayed out of most of the conflicts between the Church. It was Gabriel who went to them and harmed their interest by robbing them first!<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Alright. If you want to see my hands, I''m willing. But currently, I don''t see any benefits to doing so. Since I''m neither a servant nor a ve of yours, just doing something because you want me to do it is impossible," Gabriel replied. "However, I might do so if I get some benefits as well. How about it? Since you''re so confident, would you be interested in a bet?"

    "What bet?" Izen red at Gabriel. For some reason, he had a really bad feeling about what Gabriel was going to ask.

    "You want to see my hands. And I''ll show you my hands. If you''re right, I''ll surrender to you and let you kill me," Gabriel stated. His statement brought a smile to Eliana''s face. However her smile soon froze as she heard Gabriel''s next sentence.

    "But... If you''re wrong and I turn out to be innocent, ording to the bet, your academy will belong to me!"

    Citizens gasped in shock as they heard the content of the bet! This was indeed a ruthless bet! If Izen was right, then Gabriel was going to lose his life! However if Izen was wrong, Gabriel was going to win the entire Academy of Elements! No matter who won, thendscape of the Lumen City was going to change!

    Izen didn''t show much reaction on his face. In fact, other than Gabriel and Avilia, only he was looking calm. Everyone else was shocked, including Eliana and the Head Priests. This kind of bet was too risky, for both sides!

    However, the one who was more at a loss was Izen, at least ording to the Church. No matter who won, the Church was in a win-win position. If Gabriel lost, that meant he really was a dark mage. His death would not only be justified but also save them. And if Gabriel won, they could get the ownership of the Academy!

    Izen on the other hand felt quiteplicated deep inside his heart. Even though he trusted Eliana, he didn''t truly sense Gabriel''s aura since Gabriel was still inside the Church of Light. If he could at least send his aura, he could''ve been a hundred percent sure about his assumption.

    Unfortunately, his confidence wasn''t a hundred percent now! If he lost, he was going to lose the Academy of Elements, making the Academy a subsidiary of the Church. The risks were too many and the rewards didn''t seem to be worth it!

    He didn''t have to be in a hurry to expose Gabriel even if he was a Dark Mage after all. He could just wait for Gabriel to leave the Church of Light in the future and test his assumption at that time. There was no need to be hasty.

    In the end, his mind won over his heart, convincing him to not take the risk.

    "I can''t bet the Academy on line!" He told Gabriel.

    Gabriel felt slightly surprised deep in his heart. He was only bluffing with his confidence. He didn''t expect it to work either but it did! His bluff really worked!

 Chapter 352 352: Holy Region (I)

    As Gabriel received the answer, he was quite pleased. It meant that Izen wasn''t willing to take the risk. He wasn''t a hundred percent sure which helped him about a lot of troubles.

    "In that case, I advise you to stop wasting our time with these rumors and leave."

    Gabriel took a few steps back, still facing Izen to not reveal his hands. The Head Priests and Avilia were already inside the Church of Light and the doors of the Church started closing once again. Since Izen wasn''t confident either, the Head Priests didn''t take his words seriously. They trusted their Holy Grimoire''s selection after all.

    Even as the door started closing, Izen''s eyes remained focused on Gabriel. He didn''t take his eyes off until the doorpletely closed. As time passed, his feeling about Gabriel being a dark mage only got stronger. However, he actually had many doubts that made him think that there was a good chance about him being wrong.

    If Gabriel was a dark mage, would Avilia really work with him? Even though in anger, he had spoken such words about Avilia working with Dark Mages, he wasn''t quite convinced of that himself.

    "Something really strange is going on..." He stood before the Church of Light as the others started dispersing.

    ****

    Once the doors closed, Gabriel could finally rx. For the time being, he didn''t have to fight anyone. At least as long as he was inside the Church of Light.

    "Do you all have some enmity with Izen?" he asked Qian. "I never met him yet he targeted me. It makes me think as if he was actually targeting the Church of Light to ruin your reputation. Is that the case?"

    Gabriel couldn''t let people suspect him so he changed ck into white and made it appear as if Izen was targeting the Church and not him. That way, he could get the help of the Head Priests in one way or another.

    "Even though we don''t have a deep friendship between the Church and the Academy, there shouldn''t be any enmity either. So we have no idea what he was trying to do." Qian shrugged, not taking Izen seriously. Even though Izen was strong, since he wasn''t a Holy Priest, the Church didn''t consider him worth their respect.

    In the eyes of the Church, they were true Nobles, devoted to the gods. As for Izen, he was just a strongmoner. No matter how strong amoner became, he wasn''t worthy of their respect and consideration.

    "It might be because he knows something about me being selected as the new Holy Priest," Gabriel responded. "Maybe he had doubts about that so he wanted to test. I never thought he woulde up with such an absurd story to make me show my Mark of Light though."

    The way Gabriel talked, even the gods could''ve been fooled. There was not the slightest hesitation in his eyes. His words were wless as if they came from his heart without any falsehoods.

    "Maybe. That guy is really cunning after all." Qian nodded. "I suggest that you don''t leave the Church anytime soon. He might be keeping an eye out. If you have something to do outside, you can tell us and we''ll do it for you."

    The Head Priests had finally received a Holy Lord. They couldn''t let anything happen to him until he was strong enough to protect himself.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As much as the Head Priests were surprised about Gabriel''s talents and calmness, what stunned them even more was the girl that walked next to him. If it wasn''t for Izen, they never would''ve known that Avilia was the Holy Priestess of Summoning! Such a strong existence was the wife of their new Holy Lord!

    With the backing of Avilia, even if Gabriel wasn''t a Holy Lord, he would''ve been treated with extreme respect by anyone!

    "Stop looking at me if you don''t want me to permanently blind you." Avilia didn''t even have to look around to know just who was staring at her. It was only before Gabriel that her words were calm and considerate. Before the others, she was still the demoness that was unpredictable.

    Hearing the threatsing from Avilia, right inside their headquarters, some of the Head Priests felt their lips twitch but they didn''t say anything. They stopped looking at her. The woman was already hard to deal with after all.

    The Head Priests took Gabriel with him to the depths of the Church of Light, stopping right outside the huge golden doors. The doors were simr in size to the door that Gabriel saw in the Church of me. It had the Mark of Light and a seal on the door.

    When he went through a simr door in the Church of mes, he was immediately pushed to his knees by the statue on the other side. He didn''t know if there was a simr statue of the Goddess of Light on the other side of the door. However, if that was the case, he really wondered if something simr was going to happen.

    Unlike the Church of mes where the room was seemingly already open and explored many times, the room here appeared to be sealed. From the amount of dust gathered, it looked as if the room hadn''t been opened in a long time.

    "This is the most important ce of the Church of Light. Ever since thest Lord died, no one entered this ce," Qian exined. "Only a Holy Lord can open the seal on the door. That''s why, only you are allowed to enter."

    "Please go inside. You shall receive a blessing from the Goddess of Light."

    The Head Priests took a few steps back after exining. They also told Avilia to step back. Even they weren''t allowed to enter, let alone Avilia. This was the holy ground of their Church after all.

    Avilia was really curious about what was inside the room. However she also felt that these Priests weren''t going to allow her to enter. She still wanted to see what was inside though. She sent a small shadow to hide in Gabriel''s shadows. She couldn''t see what her sparrow was seeing, but it wasn''t the case for her shadow beast''s clone.

    As soon as Gabriel and her Shadow Beast entered, she believed she could finally see just what secretsy ahead.

    Gabriel could feel the shadow beast clone attach to him, but for the time being, he didn''t care. It wasn''t a big deal. If anything, this way Avilia could know when he was in trouble inside ande to help!

    Gabriel could feel his heart beating heavily as he stepped closer to the doors. Taking a deep breath, he ced his hands on the door.

 Chapter 353 353: Holy Region (II)

    Gabriel ced his hands on the door, feeling a flood of energy rushing toward him. Only he could feel that storm of energy around him. He felt as if he was being torn apart by that destructive energy. It was as if the door was warning him to take his hands off if he didn''t want to die.

    Gabriel''s face turned pale. He wondered if this was a trap by the Head Priests. They were the ones who told him to ce his hands there to break the seal!

    Just as he was about to take his hands off, the destructive energy suddenly disappeared as his white bracelet sent a soothing energy around his body, forming a protectiveyer around his body that could specifically counter this destructive energy.

    For some reason, Gabriel felt that even his Dark Aura or the aura of Necromancy couldn''t counter this destructive energy in such a short time, but this pure white energy of Light that came from his Holy Grimoire of Light instantly neutralized it!

    "So it was a defensive mechanism to keep outsiders away..."

    Gabriel didn''t take his hands off anymore and just waited there. After some time, everyone heard a heavy click. The seal was temporarily removed and the heavy door started opening.

    Only half a meter wide opening was made between the doors before the door stopped opening.

    Gabriel took his hands off and passed through the small opening to enter the holy region of the Church of Light. The shadow clone also followed Gabriel inside.

    After Gabriel entered, the door closed on its own...

    Avilia was quite eager to see just what secrets were inside this holy region. However, before she could even see anything inside, her face went pale. She coughed out a mouthful of blood as she felt her body heavily injured!

    "H-how?"

    She held her chest, feeling extremely weak. It was as if she was injured! As soon as her Shadow Beast Clone entered the holy region, the clone was destroyed by something. And because of the connection, even she was injured!

    Even a Holy Lord shouldn''t have been able to destroy her Shadow Beast Clone in such a short time. However, that happened! She didn''t know what was on the other side, but it was terrifying! She felt as if she could''ve been easily killed as well if she had passed through that door!

    All the Churches had such Holy Regions where they have tributes to the statues of their gods and goddesses or prayer. The Church of Summoning also had one! However, this ce was very different.

    In other ces, the Head Priests could also enter and they could also invite others if the others earned enough merit! However, in this ce, even the Head Priests couldn''t enter!

    Only the Holy Lord could pass through! That''s why she wanted to know just what was different about this ce! She hadn''t expected herself to get injured instead!

    ''In such a ce, could Gabriel survive? He has the Element of Darkness and his weird element as well. Whatever lies on the other side, he probably can''t fool it...''

    At this point, she even wondered if Gabriel coulde back alive from the other side.

    ****

    Gabriel walked through the door, finally entering the other side.

    As soon as he stepped on the other side, he felt a strange energy all around him. It was as if he had walked to an entirely different world altogether. He couldn''t sense any of the natural aura that he could sense back at home!<novelnext></novelnext>

    What was even stranger was that the small sparrow that was sitting on his shoulders disappeared abruptly, as if the summon was cancelled. The shadow beast clone that was following him was destroyed as well. Only he stood in that ce with no prying eyes.

    "This ce...?" Gabriel didn''t remember seeing the ce before. Moreover, for some reason, even though he had walked into a hall in the underground area of the Church of Light, the sky above his head was clear!

    He could even see clouds and a sun above him! He didn''t feel any teleportation so he was sure he was still underground! For some reason, in this small hall, there existed an entirely new world altogether!

    The world was vast. As far as his eyes could see, he saw no end.

    He cast flight spells to check his surroundings using the sky, but the flight spell didn''t work. Let alone his Flight Spell, none of his spells could work at all!

    All the illusions around him had dispersed, revealing his true self. Even the mask that he was wearing was shattered, falling to the ground!

    Only his clothes that were the artefacts he had revived with his Ancestral Staff were still intact.

    "What is this ce?" The curious eyes of Gabriel looked around everywhere as he tried to make a sense of the situation.

    He could see him standing in the middle of nowhere! There were nine fall stone bs standing all around him, forming a circle and he was in the center.

    All the stone bs were simr in size. However, all of them had a different color. There were no words written on the bs. The stone bs didn''t look like ordinary pieces of bs either.

    There was something special about them that even Gabriel could understand. It was as if the stone bs were very profound. He couldn''t even look at a stone b for more than a few seconds without experiencing a heavy headache. This ce really wasn''t simple.

    He couldn''t see any statue of the goddess of Light in this ce, making this ce different from the other Churches'' Holy Regions.

    "What are these bs?" he wondered, talking to himself.

    "They are naturally something good for you."

    Gabriel was still lost in his thoughts when he heard a voice. The voice belonged to a woman!

    Gabriel couldn''t believe that there was another person in this strange ce. He abruptly turned around, noticing the blue stone b behind him.

    Next to the b, he could see a woman in her early twenties, standingzily. The woman had a strange fruit in her hand which she had already taken a bite out of.

    She was dressed in a beautiful white gown that highlighted her mature aura even more.

    "Who are you?" Gabriel frowned. The woman next to the b... He had never seen that woman! It wasn''t the Goddess of Light he saw in the dream when he received the Grimoire either! So who was she? That was the question.

    "Don''t worry. It''s not surprising that you don''t know that old hag," another voice came from another direction. The voice this time had some arrogance mixed in, as if the person who spoke had quite the arrogance.

 Chapter 354 354: Senior

    "Don''t worry. It''s not surprising that you don''t know that old hag," a man''s voice came from a distance. The voice was filled with some mysterious power, as if it perfectlyplemented thews of heaven.

    Gabriel turned around, noticing another person in the ce. It was a man, donned in a beautiful silver robe that fluttered with the wind, making him look even more mysterious.

    Just like the woman before, the dark haired man also had the Mark of Element of Light on the back of his hand.

    The man stood with the support of the blue b with his arms folded around his chest. His eyes remained on Gabriel, as if he was judging the young man from top to bottom.

    It really intrigued Gabriel to see the man call the young woman an old hag, especially since he looked much older than the seemingly youngdy. The man had a well built body and looked to be in his early thirties.

    "Can you two stop bickering like kids? Is that how you want our first impression on the little one to be?" Another voice came as a third person appeared near another stone b.

    "Let them y around. It''s been a long time since we had a persone here." Laughterechoed in the ce as a fourth person appeared.

    One after another, more and more people appeared. What was surprising was that all of them stood near a stone b! There were nine stone bs and there were exactly nine people around Gabriel!

    Amongst the nine people, there were five women and four men. Most of the nine people had a friendly tone and were talking to each other as if they had been friends. However, there was one amongst them who wasn''t speaking anything.

    The person who stood around a dark golden b was standing silent. He had only once taken a nce at Gabriel and from that single nce, Gabriel could see that the man wasn''t friendly to him. Fortunately, the man didn''t do anything. He just stood silently, not even taking a second nce.

    "Can anyone tell me where I am?" Seeing no signs of the people around him stopping their chatter, Gabriel had no choice but to intervene and stop them himself.

    "Little brat, can''t you even let us talk for a little? It''s been a long time since west met with each other," the dark haired man rolled his eyes. "You''re quite eager to be a Holy Lord, aren''t you?"

    "Long time since you all met? Who are you all?" Gabriel inquired. He couldn''t feel much from them. Their identity was unclear. All he could sense was that all nine of these people were strong, at least that was what came across from their behaviour.

    "We are your seniors," the young woman who was the first person to appear exined. "We are also the ones who decide if you can be a Holy Lord or not."

    The woman didn''t speak more than she needed to. However what she said was enough to surprise Gabriel. They were going to decide if he could be a Holy Lord? Why did he never hear such a thing before? Just who were they all?

    They all imed to be his seniors and all of them had the Element of Light. From their words, Gabriel had managed to form some guesses but he waited to hear from them first.

    "Didn''t I get selected by the Holy Grimoire already? So why do I need your permission to be a Holy Lord? Just who are you?"

    The ce was strange and the people here were even stranger. Gabriel wasn''t even sure if this ce was safe for him or not.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You''re right. The Holy Grimoire selected you. But did you really think it was that simple to be an overlord of the millennia old heritage of Light?"

    Gabriel could see some peopleughing, probably at how naive and ignorant he was.

    "You are the previous Holy Lords?" he asked after a brief period of silence.

    He wasn''t sure if his guess was correct. However that was the only thing he coulde up with when they imed to be his seniors.

    Before this moment, he had already be the Holy Lord of Necromancy. However, he didn''t have to go through something like that.

    ording to his guesses, it was because he was the first person to be selected by the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy after Karyk himself! That''s why he had no seniors! It was different with the Holy Book of Light.

    "Not bad, kiddo. From just the small hint, you''ve managed to decipher our identity. You are much better than Guo." The first womanughed as she nced at the man who had been silent from the start. "He was thest person toe here before him and we had to literally spell everything out for him and even then he couldn''t guess."

    The middle aged man known as Guo rolled his eyes, scoffing. He didn''t say anything.

    Gabriel also looked at the man. ''So he''s the person who waged a war on the Dark Mages! Is that why he showed his hostility toward me?''

    The middle aged man nced at Gabriel again. Gabriel felt a little suppression acting on him as the man red. However, it was nothing before what he faced at the Holy Church of mes. Gabriel remained standing tall.

    "Enough." The first woman gently spoke. As if her words were sprinkled with a mysterious healing force. Not only did Gabriel feel as if his soul became stronger after hearing her, but the suppression of Guo also disappeared.

    Guo scoffed but still didn''t react.

    "You are the first Holy Lord?" Gabriel asked the woman who looked to be the youngest here. He didn''t pay much attention to Guo for now.

    "Oh? Why do you think that?" The first woman to arrive here smirked. "Don''t tell me it''s left because I came here first?"

    "That''s not all. Even though that also ys an important role in my guess," Gabriel answered. "You said Holy Lord Guo is thest Holy Lord to be here. He also appearedst. That makes me think you all appeared in proper order."

    "What else?" the woman asked, taking even more interest in Gabriel.

    "The person who appeared after you called you an old hag," Gabriel answered, only to hear the stifledughter of the second man who appeared here. The others also looked as if they were trying hard to suppress theirughter. It wasn''t often they heard the first Holy Lord be called an old hag by a newbie.

 Chapter 355 355: No Right To The Blessing!

    The first Holy Lord red at the second Holy Lord as her face turned slightly red. If res could kill, the man would''ve been dead a thousand times by now. She was cursing the second Holy Lord in her heart so much for addressing her like that in front of a Junior!

    Gabriel pretended to not notice and continued, "From the way he spoke, many things became clear. He only addressed you like that. He talks to everyone else like his junior. That''s why I think you became a Holy Lord before him and everyone else. As for him, he should be the second Holy Lord of Light."

    "I like this one," the Second Holy Lordughed. "Little brat, your personality is quite simr to mine. Later, when ites to selection, you should select me. My skills would suit you a lot."

    "Selection?" Gabriel looked at the Second Holy Lord. "Can you tell me what Selection?"

    "Why don''t you guess that as well," the first Holy Lord jokingly stated.

    "If I had a skill to predict the future like that, wouldn''t I be a god?" Gabriel asked in return. "I''m just an ordinary human, so I''ll have to rely on you all."

    "Fine, fine. I was just joking." The first Holy Lord didn''t continue messing with Gabriel. She quite liked the kid after all. "Let''s get serious. We don''t have much time here after all."

    "As we already told you before, you aren''t a Holy Lord yet. Even though you''ve been selected by the Holy Grimoire, that''s the extent of it. So far, you have no spells from the Grimoire and if we don''t agree, you won''t get any spells either," the first Holy Lord exined. "To be a true Holy Lord, you need to get approval from us all."

    "And what do I do to get your approval?" Gabriel asked, observing every Holy Lord around him.

    He didn''t really care about receiving the approval or spells of light as he already learned a lot of powerful spells of Light in the tower on the ny ninth floor, but if he could get them, he was obviously willing to try. Each spell of a Grimoire was said to be as precious as an elixir of immortality after all.

    "That depends on you. You can try anything you want. As long as you get all our approval, you will be set," the first Holy Lord exined.

    "And what if someone isn''t willing to give me their approval?" Gabriel inquired, especially looking in the direction of the ninth Holy Lord.

    He wasn''t sure if the others here could sense his other Elements since the gloves he received with his Ancestral Staff of Necromancy were still in his hands, hiding his Elemental Marks.

    All these Holy Lords here were strong, but they were just a spiritual avatar. They weren''t real. So it was unclear just how much of their old strength they possessed or how much they could sense.

    From the reaction of the others toward him, Gabriel didn''t think that they knew about him already being a Holy Lord of Necromancy. However, Guo''s reaction made him think otherwise.

    "Simple. If you can''t get someone''s approval, you still have a chance to pass the trial without their approval. There is anothermethod. Unfortunately, seeding like that is quite hard," the first Holy Lord answered. "Especially for a young one like you!"

    "What other method?"

    "Simple. Just beat them up until they give their approval," the Second Holy Lord smirked. "That is, if you are capable of that."

    "If I''m not wrong, you''re concerned about little Guo''s approval, aren''t you?" he further asked. "It''s true that he has some bad blood with Dark Mages. You are tainted by the Dark Aura, even though it''s very weak. You surely had a rtionship with the Dark Mages."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "We don''t care about that, but he might. He might not be willing to give you his approval," the first Holy Lord said, as if she was able to read Gabriel''s mind. "We can''t convince him for you. Everything depends on you at this point."

    Gabriel finally understood just what this was about! At this point, everything was clear to him! These people really couldn''t see his other Elements! The Gloves were working.

    Unfortunately, even though they couldn''t sense his other Elements, they could still see some hints of the Dark Element since he had used a Dark Element spell before entering this ce to strengthen his physique just to be safe!

    Because of that, they thought he had some friendship with the Dark Mages!The others didn''t care about that. However, Guo was the one who waged a war with the Dark Mages. He clearly hated them.

    ''No wonder none of them seemed curious about my elements. They don''t know yet! If it was their real body, they would''ve known right away!'' Gabriel sighed in relief. With this, the approval process became much easier.

    From what he understood, he could probably convince almost everyone with words. As for Guo, the man was strong. Fortunately, he was also the weakest out of all the Holy Lords here since he became a Holy Lord thest.

    Fighting against the first and the second Holy Lord could''ve been harder, but with Guo, Gabriel felt he had a much better chance, even without his Necromancy and Darkness.

    "Little brat, Guo is the weakest out of all of us. Even though it''s not easy to defeat him, if you can, I will be willing to give you my approval!"

    ? "If you can, me too!"

    "If you can defeat a previous Holy Lord, that shows your capability. I would also be willing to agree."

    Out of the eight remaining, seven had already agreed to give Gabriel an approval if he could defeat the ninth Holy Lord.

    Though they all talked about testing Gabriel, Gabriel''s face twitched in frustration. He was sure that these people had already decided to approve him.

    However, just because they wanted some entertainment, they hid their approval behind him defeating Guo, not even giving him an opportunity to convince Guo using other methods.

    Guo also felt his face twitched. All his Seniors were underestimating him so much. He couldn''t believe that they all thought that he was so weak.

    "Even though I might not be equal to you all in strength, if you think that a kid can defeat me, aren''t you underestimating me too much?" Guo clenched his teeth in anger. "Anyway, if that''s what you want, I''ll agree! I''ll show the kid the difference between heaven and earth!"

    "And while I''m at it, I''ll also deal a light punishment to him for working with the Dark Mages, even though I''d forbidden it!" The ninth Holy Lord stepped forward. With each of his steps, the space around him cracked, as if the space here wasn''t enough to support his true strength!

    "A person who ignores mymands and works with the Dark Mages has no right to get the blessing of Light!"

 Chapter 356 356: Holy Oath

    Guo was the weakest out of nine who were present here. However, he still had years of experience of being a Holy Priest who had mastered a lot of the Holy Spells himself. His strength could never be underestimated. Even Gabriel understood that.

    Despite having some really decent spells of Light that he learned in the Tower of Challenges, he wasn''t a hundred percent sure if he could win since his one of the most powerful spells of Light was something that relied on him using the Element of Darkness.

    Gabriel understood perfectly well that in this battle, if he couldn''t win, he might need to expose his other Elements. That''s why he needed to do something for a safety. He needed to make sure that no matter what he did, he could seed.

    "Are you ready to challenge him?" The first Holy Lord asked Gabriel.

    Gabriel didn''t reply immediately. It was as if he was still thinking of something.

    "Are you getting cold feet?" The seventh Holy Lord asked, frowning. Initially, he was happy that Gabriel was a confident young man. However his hesitation in answering was concerning.

    "Before I agree, I want to make something sure," Gabriel responded, taking a deep breath. "Are you all sure that I will be a Holy Lord if I can defeat him? What if you all found another excuseter on to reject me?"

    The Holy Lords were taken aback. Was this guy really saying that he couldn''t trust their words?

    "Are you saying that we might go back on our words?" The Second Holy Lord frowned. "Young man, do you really think we would do something like that?"

    "It''s not that I think that. However, there is always a possibility. Who knows what might happen in the battle. If you change your mindter on, it''ll be a waste of my time to go through this battle!"

    Gabriel understood that he needed the approval of these people to get full control of the Holy Grimoire. As long as he could get that right here, he would''ve never needed to return here.

    "How do you want us to prove our words then?" The Fourth Holy Lord asked. "Don''t tell me you want us to take a Heavenly Oath?"

    "That''s exactly what I want." Gabriel didn''t even waste a single second before responding. As long as these people could make a Heavenly Oath, he didn''t have to worry about anything!

    "I want you all to make a Heavenly Oath that as long as I can defeat him, you would all help me be the strongest Holy Lord of Light!"

    When he suggested the Heavenly Oath, he carefully crafted the words. The Oath that he spoke of wasn''t just about him getting their approval anymore. It was very subtle, but the oath was more about the others doing their best to make him a strong Holy Lord of Light!

    That single oath covered a lot of things in it. Not only did it mean they had to give him their approval, but they also couldn''t show any bias in helping him in the future if there was ever a need!

    It wasn''t as if the other Holy Lords didn''t think of what his words implied. However, they didn''t think too much of it. For them, Gabriel was just a youngster with hot blood who didn''t know how vast the world truly was.

    "What do you think?" The second Holy Lord asked the first.

    "Well, it''s never happened before that a newbie had defeated an old Holy Lord for approval. If the young man can achieve that, he''ll certainly create history. I don''t mind helping a talent like that if he really can achieve that." The first Holy Lord was not only not worried about this Heavenly Oath, but she was even more impressed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    They have Gabriel an inch, but Gabriel was trying to get even more! This kind of greed for future strength was worth admiration.

    "I think the same." The Second Holy Lord nodded. "I don''t see any problem with that."

    One after another, all the Holy Lords agreed. Guo didn''t believe that Gabriel could achieve it, so he also agreed. For him, Gabriel was thinking about eating more than he could swallow.

    All the Holy Lords looked at the sky and said in unison, "With Heaven as our witness, we all take the oath! No matter what method you use, as long as you can defeat Guo, we will not create any obstruction for you! Instead, we''ll instead help you unlock the strongest potential of Light!"

    As soon as the Heavenly Oath waspleted, thunder shed in the sky, as if acknowledging the oath!

    "Good." With that kind of Oath, Gabriel could finally lower his guard. Even though he wanted to use his element of Light to win, if he couldn''t, he was safe to use other Elements! The wide gap between the ninth Holy Lord and him had shortened by a lot!

    "You can begin now!" the First Holy Lord pped her hands. Gabriel felt a strange force around his body, grabbing him. He couldn''t even resist that strange force of space.

    The spatial force made him and the ninth Holy Lord disappear.

    Both of them appeared in a different ce in the Holy Region. The Eight Holy Lords appeared in the sky, observing the battle like gods who were watching the mortals y.

    Gabriel and the ninth Holy Lord stood on the ground on rocky mountain terrain.

    "I will not go easy on you!" The Ninth Holy Lord eximed. "Nor will I allow you to surrender."

    "Is that what you said to the Dark Mages when you ughtered them all?" Gabriel asked in return. "However, I am not like them. It''s still unclear who will try to surrender."

    "Your arrogance is really high. But before true attention, arrogance can only lower its head!" The Ninth Holy Lord raised his head toward the sky. An incarnation of the Ancestral Staff of Light appeared in his hand.

    It wasn''t the real Ancestral Staff, but since this was the Holy Region, the Ninth Holy Lord could use it and it had the same strength as the real Ancestral Staff.

    Even though Gabriel was sent to the Holy Region, he still hadn''t received the Ancestral Staff of Light from the Church of Light. He just realised that he came here unprepared.

    "Today, I will trample your arrogance under my feet!" The Ninth Holy Lord eximed. Just like Gabriel, the ninth Holy Lord had also mastered the Wordless Chant!

    He didn''t speak any chant, but Gabriel still felt a disturbance in the energy around him. The battle had already begun!

 Chapter 357 357: The Calling Of A God!

    "Do you think he can win?" The Second Holy Lord asked the first.

    "The chances are low. I can''t feel the presence of the Ancestral Staff of Light on the kid. It looks like he came to this ce unprepared. Without the Ancestral Staff, even if he knew some powerful spells, the efficiency would be quite low," the first Holy Lord answered. "The only way he could''ve won was if the Ninth was underestimating him."

    "That doesn''t seem to be the case for now." the Second Holy Lord sighed. "Ninth is going all out from the start. The kid really can''t win."

    "We can''t do anything about it. He should''vee prepared," the third Holy Lord scoffed. "With just this kind of ability, the kid made us take a Heavenly Oath. He really overestimated himself. Even if he fails now, he can only me himself."

    "That''s true. But I don''t think it''s that simple. Just look at the kid. Even in this situation, he''s so calm. It doesn''t look like he''s faking his calmness." The first Holy Lord smiled. "I wonder where his confidencees from."

    "I guess we''ll know soon enough." The Second Lord also took great interest in the battle. It wasn''t often they got to see that. "I''m really curious about the level of present day mages."

    The battle between the Ninth Holy Lord and Gabriel, who was supposed to be the tenth Holy Lord of Light, began.

    Right at the start, the Ninth Holy Lord went all out. His body split up in ten. The spell was quite simr to the spell that Izen had used in a battle against Gabriel. All the ten clones had the same aura and looked the same. Moreover, all ten of them could use the same level of strength!

    If anything, Guo''s control over this spell was even stronger than Izen!

    The ten clones of Guo surrounded Gabriel and it was unclear which one of them was the real Ninth Holy Lord.

    "This thing again!" Gabriel scowled, seeing the same thing again which had troubled him so muchst time.

    He boosted his strength, speed and endurance simultaneously before casting a flight spell. Finally in the battlefield, he was able to use his Spells of Light. There was no restriction here.

    His body rose in the sky. Unfortunately, at the same time, a rope made of white light appeared around his ankles, pulling him straight back to the ground.

    Just as his body was about to be smashed on the ground, Gabriel cast protection spells around him.

    A spherical barrier appeared around him. The barrier hit the ground, leaving a deep crater behind. Inside the Barrier, Gabriel was still perfectly fine

    Gabriel didn''t have any of his items inside this ce. He didn''t even have the Sword of Ulien to cut the ropes around his ankles. Fortunately, he had learned how to create swords with his own energy.

    Specks of light gathered around his right hand. A sword made from the aura of Light took shape. Gabriel swung the Sword, cutting the shackles around his ankles.

    Unfortunately, the time he wasted in cutting the shackles and protecting himself from the fall, Guo had already taken action.

    A mountain appeared above Gabriel''s head. The mountain looked like a treasure that was real and unreal at the same time. It had the weight of a real mountain at least.

    The mountain came down. As soon as it touched Gabriel''s barrier, the barrier shattered immediately.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Thump!

    The earth trembled as the barrier smashed on the ground, right where Gabriel was standing. None saw Gabriel step out of the way. It was clear to everyone that this was the end of Gabriel.

    Even the Holy Lords in the sky frowned. It was clear that Gabriel was at a disadvantage but the battle still ended too soon. Something didn''t seem right! Just as they were looking at each other in confusion, they sensed something. All their expressions changed, turning much darker.

    A dark aura spread in the surroundings.

    "The difference between one with an Ancestral Staff and one without isn''t something that could be ovee so easily..." Guo was internally mocking Gabriel for thinking so highly of himself only to die so soon. "Let alone the fact that even if you had the Ancestral Staff, you couldn''t win! You really thought you were something, weren''t you?"

    "Is an Ancestral Staff so important?" A cold voice came from a distance, making Guo marily freeze in shock! This voice... It was Gabriel.

    His expressionsdarkened as he turned around, noticing Gabriel standing in the distance. Gabriel looked perfectly fine as if he wasn''t hurt at all. What was even more shocking was that his aura was unstable and it was only getting stronger.

    Gabriel knew that Guo wasn''t lying. Even though Cylix was a powerful mage who taught Gabriel and was defeated by him, it was also partially because Cylix didn''t do his best. Cylix also didn''t have an Ancestral Staff! Moreover, Gabriel was allowed to use his Element of Darkness in that battle, which had helped him win.

    Unfortunately, it was different with Guo. Not only wasn''t Guo not going easy, but it instead looked as if the guy really wanted to trample him under his feet. He was also using the Ancestral Staff!

    "Of course an Ancestral Staff is important!" The ninth Holy Lord scoffed. "But you can just forget about it! After you lose, you will never be a Holy Lord! You''ll never get an Ancestral Staff! You''ll always be an ant!"

    Guo called Gabriel arrogant. However, from his tone, it was clear just how much arrogance he personally had.

    "I wanted to avoid this if possible." Gabriel''s voice was low, but still, everyone here was able to hear each of his words clearly. "But since you''ve already said that you won''t let me get an Ancestral Staff, I''d like to see how you keep your words!"

    The Dark Aura around Gabriel suddenly strengthened a lot. Seeing that dark aura, all the Holy Lords were shocked! This wasn''t the aura of someone who was just working with the Dark Mages! It was instead the aura of...

    "I can''t hold one Ancestral Staff?" Gabriel asked as his voice became louder. A mocking gaze appeared in his eyes.

    He raised his left hand toward the sky. The dark aura around his left hand intensified and started taking shape. Within seconds, a pitch ck staff appeared in Gabriel''s hand!

    Seeing the Ancestral Staff, all the Holy Lords took a step back in shock. It wasn''t their first time seeing this staff! They all knew what this Staff was!

    "Ancestral Staff of Darkness!" The ninth Holy Lord eximed.

    Gabriel wasn''t done either.

    "The difference between one with an Ancestral Staff is big. What about the difference between one with an Ancestral Staff and one with two?" Gabriel''s cold voice prated deep inside everyone''s heart here as he raised his right hand. The space trembled as if a god was being invited into this lowly ce!

 Chapter 358 358: The Single Blade Of Grass Will Destroy Heaven!

    The Ancestral Staff of Darkness had appeared in Gabriel''s hand which was shocking in itself, let alone what Gabriel was trying to do next.

    After the first Ancestral Staff appeared, the light in the surrounding dinner but it wasn''t enough. It was only when Gabriel started bringing forth the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy that the Holy Priests felt suppression.

    They were the Holy Priests! When they lived, they were the mighty existences that no one could offend! If anything, it was the others who bowed before them to get their favor. Even though they weren''t as strong now since it wasn''t their real bodies, but to be suppressed to this extent was shocking to them as well.

    "This kid..." The second Holy Lord grimaced. "How can he have the Ancestral Staff of Darkness? Is he a Holy Lord of Darkness? In that case, how could he be selected by the Holy Grimoire of Light? Just what is his identity?!"

    The Third Holy Lord''s brows rose as his expressions darkened. "More than the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, I''m concerned about what he''s trying to do now! For some reason, I feel fear... A fear I never felt before! Should we stop him?"

    "Don''t stop him!" the first Holy Lord eximed. "I want to see more!"

    Even though she also felt concerned, she still wanted to see just what this kid was capable of!

    When Gabriel asked them to make a Heavenly Oath, everyone assumed that Gabriel was just being childish. However, at this point, they all realized that there was more to it! The young boy had many hidden secrets inside him!

    The space trembled. The Holy Region was strong, but even it wasn''t enough to contain the strength of what Gabriel was trying to call forth! The Ancestral Staff of Necromancy had never made an appearance since the era of Gods after all! At least for the Holy Lords of Light!

    "You are the heir of Darkness?!" The Ninth Holy Lord coldly eximed. "Good! Very good! Previously I was thinking about only hurting you badly! But now, I''ll destroy yourplete soul! You won''t be the first Holy Lord of Darkness to die at my hands after all!"

    "Come, ept your death!" All the Clones of the Ninth Holy Lord flew toward Gabriel. The real Ninth Lord was also hiding in the clones.

    "Argh!"

    Thunder crackled in the sky as all the clones of the Ninth Lord dropped to their knees under the heavy suppression as soon as they reached closer to Gabriel! A new Ancestral Staff appeared in Gabri hand... The Ancestral Staff of Necromancy.

    The secret realm that was created for this battle shattered before the might of the Ancestral Staff of Darkness. Everyone appeared back in the middle of the Stone bs.

    Gabriel was still standing in the center. However, the Ninth Holy Lord was sitting on his knees, unable to even stand up! At least he was still lucky enough! All his clones couldn''t even survive. His clones were destroyed just by the pressure alone.

    Gabriel coldly looked at the man before him. Initially, the man was just fighting. But in the end, he had outright spoken that he was going to kill Gabriel!

    The other Holy Lords stood near their stone bs. They all looked at the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy, only to be frightened!

    They didn''t recognise what this Ancestral Staff was since they never saw it before. Let alone recognising it, they couldn''t even look at the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy!

    The first Holy Lord was breathing heavily, as her entire body was covered in sweat. She had tried to probe the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy.

    Unfortunately, as soon as she looked at the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy, she felt as if her soul was about to be sucked inside the Ancestral Staff! She felt that she couldn''t even offer any resistance! She barely managed to take her eyes off the Ancestral Staff!

    None of them realized that the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy was invincible before Souls! The Necromancer dealt with souls and the undead after all! No matter how strong they were, they weren''t in their real bodies! Before the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy, they were like little chickens sitting on a chopping block.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Gabriel hadn''t even called out his Grimoire yet and the battle was already over which came as a little surprise to him as well. He felt as if he had really overestimated these Holy Lords by calling the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy and that the Ancestral Staff of Darkness was enough!

    "Y-you! Don''t act reckless!" The Ninth Lord roared, noticing Gabriel looking at him, as if he was trying to think how to kill!

    "If you do anything to me, you will sever the path for all the future generations of the Holy Lords of Light! The Goddess will never allow it!" he eximed. "No matter who you are, before the Goddess, you would be nothing! Don''t make her take action!"

    "The Goddess of Light?" Gabriel asked. "Is she alive?!"

    "Alive?" The Ninth Holy Lord scoffed. "You''re just a little frog at the bottom of the well! I don''t know where you got the Ancestral Staff from, but don''t overestimate himself! Before the gods, all your effort is futile! You can''t go against Heaven!"

    "Is that so..." Gabriel muttered. He stepped closer to the Ninth Holy Lord who felt confident that Gabriel wasn''t going to kill him! Killing him was the same as offending the Goddess after all! All the Holy Lords had an important role for the future after all!

    "You''re saying I''ll be going against Heaven if I kill you?" Gabriel asked when there was only half a meter of distance between him and the Ninth Holy Lord.

    At this closeness, the suppression acting on the Ninth Holy Lord was even stronger than before! He couldn''t even raise his hand anymore.

    Despite that, the Ninth Holy Lord was still as haughty.

    "That''s right! Before a god, you''re nothing but a small de of grass that they can trample on anytime! So don''t go overboard!" The Ninth Holy Lord roared. "You want my approval? I''ll give you! Just retreat, apologize to me and abandon the path of Darkness!"

    "Do I need your approval?" Gabriel asked. "I''ve already received all the approval. Yours isn''t needed anymore."

    He didn''t care what they meant by the future path of the Holy Lords being obstructed if one of them died. It was none of his concern. Why should he care what happened to the lineage of the Holy Priests of Light!

    "And as far as me offending Heaven is considered, you think I care?" he asked, not having a single shred of fear in his eyes. "The moment I walked on this path, I''d already stopped caring about my life and death!"

    " I don''t have friends! I don''t have a family! I don''t have anyone in this world who will cry over my death or miss me! I don''t have anything in this world to be scared for!

    "If Heaven wants to go against me, they are wee to try! If your goddess wants to trample me, she is wee to try! No matter who tries to kill me, I''ll ughter them!"

    "I have no gratitude and no hate. The ones who don''t stand in my path will live. The ones who stand in my path will die whether it be gods, Demons or the Heaven itself..."

    Usually, Gabriel wasn''t that impulsive. He generally wouldn''t have bothered with the Ninth Holy Lord or go this far. However, for some reason, his emotions were in turmoil at the moment!

    He held the two Ancestral Staffs in his hands while standing in the Holy Region of Light, feeling some indescribable feeling. There was some hidden anger... Some unfulfilled desires... Some rage... Some sadness... Even he couldn''t understand what he was feeling.

    "Even if I''m nothing but a de of grass before a god, this single de of grass will go against Heaven if they try to suppress me! This single de of grass will be the bloody sword that ughters them all!"

 Chapter 359 359: Theia

    Even Gabriel didn''t realize what it was; however, for a moment, he was like apletely different person that looked down on all the gods as if they were nothing but a speck of dust before him!

    The Ninth Holy Lord opened his lips but no words came out. It was as if he was being choked by the pressure. His soul was being suppressed. It was clear that he was close to being destroyed entirely.

    "Young man, stop!" the Second Holy Lord couldn''t help but intervene. Now that things had reached a dangerous level, if he didn''t do anything, he was sure that the Ninth Holy Lord''s Soul Fragment was going to be destroyed!

    Gabriel didn''t react right away. It was as if he stood there in silence, not saying anything. At the same time, the Ninth Holy Lord started screaming, as if his entire soul was being torn apart.

    The ring of Necromancy on Gabriel''s left hand started trembling in excitement as it turned into a speck of light.The speck of light flew before Gabriel and changed shape into a ck book.

    As if the suppression of the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy wasn''t enough, as soon as the Grimoire appeared, even the other Holy Lords couldn''t remain standing.

    One after another, all the Holy Lords dropped to their knees, barely supporting themselves with their hands from falling t.

    The first Holy Lord was the one who resisted the most out of them all, but even she couldn''t remain standing for long as she also fell!

    Gabriel didn''t even realize what was happening around him. It was as if he was in apletely different zone for now.

    The ground in the Holy Region of Light started trembling as all the Holy Lords fell to their knees.

    The Head Priests of the Church of Light were standing outside the Holy Region. They had no idea what was happening on the other side of the door. Even Avilia was waiting eagerly for Gabriel to return and tell her what he saw.

    "It''s been over half an hour. How long will he take?" one of the Head Priests wondered. "From the information we have, none of the previous Holy Lords spent so much time inside. Could something have happened?"

    The Head Priests had some records of the past. The records didn''t mention what was on the other side of the door. All it mentioned was that a new Holy Priest was to be sent to the Holy Region as soon as he took his position. They did the same, but for some reason, Gabriel spent more time there than others before him!

    "I don''t know. We can only wait." The other Head Priest sighed, shaking his head. Even if they wanted to know what happened, it wasn''t as if they could do anything. Going to the other side was no better than actively looking for death!

    As everyone else was wondering what could''ve happened to Gabriel, the ground suddenly started shaking. The shaking wasn''t subtle either as many of them lost their bnce instantly, falling to the ground.

    Only a few of the Head Priests could stay still, despite the earthquake. However, even they had to take support of the wall for safety. Only Avilia was standing without any support. She hadn''t moved at all from her ce.

    The earthquake wasn''t just felt in the Holy Church of Light. It spread out, covering the entire city.

    Izen had returned to the Academy of Elements when he felt the earthquake. He immediately understood that it had something to do with the Church of Light! This earthquake wasn''t natural!

    Even the Royal Pce was rmed as the Emperor went to the balcony, looking at the City which was trembling. The earthquake was so intense that many of the houses ofmoners that didn''t have proper structure or foundation came crashing down.

    ****

    Lumen was suffering from the earthquake. However, the person who caused this earthquake had no knowledge of it.

    Gabriel didn''t even understand himself what he was doing. It was as if a hidden urge had taken over him. This feeling was ufortable, but it also made him feel extremely powerful. It was as if he could do anything!<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Ninth Holy Lord''s Soul was ripped to pieces. The fragments of the Soul flew toward the Grimoire of Necromancy, as if the Grimoire wanted to swallow the delicious soul of a Holy Lord! Even though it was just a small soul fragment and not the main soul, it was still something that the Grimoire of Necromancy preferred to hold.

    The Soul Fragment flew toward the hungry Grimoire of Necromancy under the eyes of the other Holy Lords. All the Holy Lords felt their faces turn pale. It was as if they were before a Predator that wanted to eat them!

    If they had their real bodies, they could''ve at least fought back. However, as they were now, they couldn''t do anything! They couldn''t even resist the suppression.

    The soul fragment of the Ninth Holy Lord was about to enter the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy but just as it was a few inches away from the Grimoire, it stopped!

    A surreal aura swept over the entire Holy Region as the trembling of the ground stopped. The space that was breaking apart also stabilized.

    The Soul Fragment of the Ninth Holy Lord flew back, far away from the Grimoire of Necromancy. The Soul Fragment flew back to the stone b where the Ninth Holy Lord was standing when he appeared.

    As the Ninth Holy Lord appeared next to the stone b, his soul fragment started healing, taking old shape once again. It was as if the soul waspletely healed!

    Even the other Holy Lords saw that, their eyes lit up! The pressure of the Holy Grimoire was still there, but it wasn''t as intense as before! They could at least stand now!

    The Holy Lords were able to stand. However, they didn''t stand up. Instead, they arranged their positions properly, standing on one knee as if they were greeting a superior.

    "Goddess!" They all shouted in unison, looking in a different direction from Gabriel.

    In the different direction, they could see a young woman standing. The woman had a charming, pure yet powerful aura around her.

    She was dressed in a beautiful white gown that looked no more special than an ordinary gown. However, only the ones who knew the reality knew that even if all the Holy Lords attacked that ordinary looking gown together, they couldn''t leave a single scratch on it.

    The woman wore no essory. Her hands were bare. She had no weapons either. She was like a mortal, at least from the initial nce.

    Gabriel looked in the direction of the woman, having a familiar feeling. It was as if he had known the woman...

    "Goddess of Light..." he muttered.

    He had seen the woman once before! She was the same person that he saw when he was selected by the Holy Grimoire of Light! At that ce, she was standing next to someone who looked like Karyk and the God of Darkness at the Cliff.

    "Since when did you stop calling me by my name?" The woman asked. Her voice was so melodious that it could make anyone fall in love with her instantly. Unfortunately, her voice had no effect on Gabriel. Gabriel was truly immune.

    Gabriel felt as if he knew the woman more than just the one time he saw her. However, at the same time, he felt as if he didn''t know her at all. It was a strange feeling that he couldn''t understand.

    He didn''t know why, but a single word came out of his lips, "Theia..."

    Listening to the name, Theia wentpletely silent. Many iprehensible emotions shed in her eyes.

 Chapter 360 360: Show Yourself Or Ill Drag You Out Myself!

    "Theia..." Gabriel subconsciously spoke a name, not realizing why he did so. It was as if he knew yet didn''t know the girl before him.

    Moreover, the more he tried to remember, the more his head started aching. It was as if there was a powerful barrier that was stopping him from remembering, no matter how hard he tried.

    The more he tried to remember, the more hurt he felt. At the end, he couldn''t help but grab his thumping head as his veins popped up, bing clearly visible.

    Both the Ancestral Staffs disappeared as he freed them to grab his head instead. Only the Ancestral Grimoire of Necromancy was still out, floating before him.

    Theia gazes at Gabriel who was in pain. Unfortunately, she didn''t do anything to help the young man. She just watched silently.

    "Who.. are... you...?!" Gabriel spoke, still experiencingthe tormenting pain. "Why do you seem so familiar?!"

    Gabriel''s headache only increased yet he didn''t give up. He had this strange feeling for a long time, as if there was something important which he didn''t remember. It was the same feeling ever since he received the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy!

    All the Holy Lords were before their stone bs, watching Gabriel wreath in pain. Most of them didn''t know what was happening or why the Goddess was even here! Even though the Ninth Holy Lord said that killing him could cut the path of future Holy Lords, that wasn''t entirely true!

    As long as Gabriel didn''t kill more than half of them, it didn''t affect much! There was no need for the goddess to appear! So why did shee? That was the question in their heads! It also looked as if the arrival of Theia had more to do with Gabriel than the Ninth Holy Lord. It was as if saving the Ninth Holy Lord was just an afterthought!

    Another taking that stunned them was that Gabriel looked as if he knew Theia! Even they hadn''t known the name of the goddess! How could he know? He wasn''t even a Holy Lord yet! So how??

    The Ninth Holy Lord had barely survived. He was covered in sweat as he barely remained standing with the support of the stone b. Killing intent shed in his eyes as he red at Gabriel in the distance. Gabriel was at his weakest ording to him! For him, it was the best time to strike!

    The thought appeared in the eyes of the Ninth Lord and he decided to kill Gabriel.

    "Argh!"

    The Ninth Holy Lord dropped to the ground, roaring in pain. He only had the thought to kill Gabriel but he hadn''t even taken a step yet. Despite this, a mountain-like pressure descended on the Ninth Holy Lord!

    The pressure was different from the pressure of Gabriel! It was more like the pressure of the goddess herself!

    Covered in sweat, the Ninth Holy Lord looked at Theia, only to find her looking in his direction.

    "Don''t even dare to touch him in this state. If you try and theprotection on his soul activates, even I won''t be able to save anyone here then..." Theia''s cold voice fell in the ears of all the Holy Lords. Theia''s voice was cold but it was also full of concern.

    Even though she was a goddess, she was saying she couldn''t save them?! This was horrifying in itself for the Holy Lords! Just what kind of person was Gabriel that even the Goddess was afraid of going too far?! Just what was his identity?<novelnext></novelnext>

    Gabriel marily even forgot his surroundings. All his focus was on a headache that kept increasing. He didn''t even think about where he was or what he was doing! All he wanted was for the pain to end!

    "Goddess... The space is bing unstable. If you don''t do anything, this ce will be destroyed!" The First Holy Lord stated. Even though Gabriel didn''t do anything, just a fraction of Gabriel''s uncontrolled power was enough to destroy this ce! The space was bing more and more unstable.

    Even Theia was concerned about this. If she didn''t do anything, the Holy Region could be destroyed. Unfortunately, she had a lot of restrictions in this ce, especially since the person before her was... him. One wrong step and things could get out of control.

    "Are you still not going to show yourself?" After a brief pause, Theia softly asked. "Or are you waiting for this ce to be destroyed before you show up?"

    No one here knew who Theia was talking to. All they could see was that she was looking at Gabriel when she spoke.

    The Holy Lords wondered if she was talking to Gabriel. Just who was she asking to show themselves? What was happening?! The Holy Lords were nothing more than just spectators at this point.

    While everyone was confused, a strange yet powerful aura spread out. The aura was so powerful that it was almost equal to the aura of Theia.

    Unlike the soft and surreal aura of Theia, the new aura that appeared was as heavy as a mountain as if the owner of this aura had tempered himself in the heavenly thunder itself!

    "Finally you decided to show yourself." Theia folded her arms, ring. If you still hadn''t shown yourself, I would''ve had to drag you here myself!

    Gabriel was still in pain and didn''t know what was happening. His earring started shining brightly as a speck of light came out of the earring.

    A young man appeared behind Gabriel. None of the Holy Lords recognised the person. However, if Gabriel could see, he could''ve recognised that person easily! It was the same person that was helping him train his physique under the fountain.

    "A mere spiritual avatar thinks it can drag me anywhere?" The man behind Gabriel asked, coldly. "Why did you have to appear here? Do you know what disaster you almost caused?"

    The man ced his hand over Gabriel''s head. Gabriel doesn''t understand what it was, but all the pain and headache suddenly disappeared. Sleepiness took over and he couldn''t even keep his eyes open.

    Even though Gabriel felt sleepy, he was still relieved that at least the pain had stopped. He didn''t know who the male voice belonged to. He couldn''t even turn back to see that person. All he remembered were the words that were spoken before he fell into a sweet sleep, away from all the headache.

    At that moment, Gabriel fell asleep. The man stepped forward, supporting Gabriel by holding his shoulders.

    "If the Spiritual Avatar isn''t enough, do you want the real me toe?" Theia smirked. "You know what will happen to you if I actuallye, don''t you?"

 Chapter 361 361: Youre Playing With Fire

    "Theia, you''re ying with fire. I might not be able to stop the real you, but I''m not the one you should be concerned about if you came, am I?" As the young-looking man spoke, his eyes subconsciously looked at Gabriel who was peacefully sleeping. Finally, his face was calm and there was no pain.

    Even Theia understood what the man was implying. There was only one person who could kill her here, and that person wasn''t the man who helped Gabriel.

    Theia didn''t respond to the statement. She had her own calctions after all. "Take him and leave this ce. We are done here."

    The man didn''t stay back to argue either. He turned around. However, before leaving, he didn''t forget to speak his mind. "You shouldn''t have involved him by giving your Grimoire to him. I hope you won''t regret your interference in the future..."

    The Holy Lords almost had their jaws dropped. There weren''t many people in this world who could talk back to the Goddess in such a way and leave alive! They wondered just who this guy was! They couldn''t see any Elemental Marks on his hand which meant that he wasn''t a god from the Era of Gods either! So who was he?! Throughout the nine generations of Holy Lords, none had seen him!

    Once Alion disappeared with Gabriel, only the Holy Lords and the Spiritual Avatar of Theia were left behind. The entire Holy Region was submerged in silence. No one dared to speak anything before the goddess. It was so silent that it looked as if not a single person was here!

    After a long time, the first Holy Lord managed to gather enough courage to speak. She went down to her knees respectfully. "Mydy! What was the identity of those two people?"

    "The identity of those two?" Theia didn''t take offence to the question. She knew that everyone here had the same question.

    Unfortunately, despite the question being a fair question, she didn''t answer. "You''re not qualified enough to know who those two are."

    After speaking, her spiritual avatar disappeared as well.

    ****

    Back in the real world, the Head Priests were still waiting for Gabriel''s return. The door of the Holy Region didn''t open. However, none of them realized that Gabriel wasn''t inside the Holy Region anymore.

    Alion had already brought Gabriel out of the Holy Region. He brought Gabriel to one of the rooms in the Church of Light and ced him on the bed. He covered Gabriel with a nket.

    He didn''t want to interfere more than he had to. If it wasn''t urgent, he wouldn''t have appeared in the Holy Region at all!

    Gabriel peacefully slept on the bed as Alion observed the young man to see if he had any wounds. Fortunately, there were none.

    "You really make one worry, don''t you?" he tapped the forehead of Gabriel lightly. "It''s a real headache though. God of mes should also know about your appearance after what you didst time. Then there''s the God of Darkness. And now Theia also knows. Everything is happening so fast..."

    He raised his head. It was as if he could see through the roof and directly into a forbidden ce. "I hope I''m just overthinking things. Even they wouldn''t be crazy enough to..."

    "Hmm?" Alion came to his senses as he looked toward the door. He could feel some movement outside. His body turned into a speck of light as he disappeared again.

    ****<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I sense his presence from this room!" Avilia came to the room. As soon as Gabriel came out of the Holy Region and inside the Church, she was able to sense him again.

    She came straight to this room. Other than Gabriel, she couldn''t sense anyone inside the room

    Half the Head Priests also followed her, even though they didn''t believe her.

    "How could the Holy Lord appear inside this time straight from the Holy Region?"

    Despite not believing her, they still couldn''t do much. They couldn''t stop her. She was a Holy Lord and the wife of their new Holy Lord. They could only apany her to keep an eye on her.

    Avilia opened the door and saw Gabriel lying on the bed. His breathing was calm and it didn''t look as if he was hurt. However, she didn''t understand why he was suddenly asleep as soon as he came out.

    She moved closer to Gabriel, wondering if something was wrong with him

    The Head Priests were behind Avilia. She thought quickly and realized that Gabriel wasn''t wearing a mask anymore! And he wasn''t under any illusion either! If any Head Priest saw him, they could see his real face!

    For a moment, she even regretted leading them here. In the heat of the moment, she could only cover Gabriel entirely with the nket.

    "Is it really the Lord?" The Head Priests also stepped inside the room, only to find someone who was covered from head to toe in a nket.

    Since they couldn''t see who was inside the nket, they couldn''t confirm Gabriel''s identity. However, they were slightly convinced. This room was supposed to be empty after all! And no stranger could get here!

    "That''s right. He''s sleeping. Don''t disturb him. He must be tired after what he went through at that ce."

    Avilia didn''t let anyone get close to Gabriel. Even though it was none of her concerns, she still wanted to leave the matter of revealing his identity to Gabriel when he woke up.

    Moreover, she loved chaos but not mindless chaos. Things had just started bing interesting for her. A Dark Mage was now the Holy Lord of Light! The longer this farce went on, the more fun it was for her when Gabriel revealed his identity! It was all too soon for now!

    "Y-yes. We wouldn''t disturb the Holy Lord!" The Head Priest respectfully said. "You can stay with the Holy Lord. We would make sure this area is sealed! No one but us would be allowed toe here. There won''t be any disturbances!"

    The Head Priests didn''t know why Gabriel was asleep, but they could wait. Moreover, there was no problem in leaving Avilia here. She was Gabriel''s wife and both of them had confirmed it. If anything, he was safer with her than he was with a Head Priest!

    All the Head Priests respectfully stepped out of the room and closed the door without making much noise. Next they went downstairs to inform the other Head Priests to tell them that the Holy Lord was already out and there was no need to wait next to the door anymore.

    Only Avilia and Gabriel were left in the room, all alone!

 Chapter 362 362: Fortunately No One Saw...

    ****

    After an eighteen hour long sleep, Gabriel finally showed some signs of waking up. It wasn''t often that he received such a peaceful andfortable sleep.

    Before he could even open his eyes, he felt a warm breath brushing against his neck. There was afortable warmth around him. Moreover, he felt as if his arms were wrapped around something soft.

    Confused, he slowly opened his eyes, only to have his eyes widened in surprise. He was wide awake as soon as he realized that he wasn''t in the Holy Region anymore! Instead, he was lying on a warm bed.

    What was more shocking was that there was another person on the bed right next to him. Moreover, the other person was extremely close to him!

    The other person was none other than Avilia who was somehow sticking extremely close to him physically. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was calm. From the signs, it didn''t appear as if she was faking it! She was actually asleep.

    However, what was this situation? How were the two of them in the same room and on the same bed? That question kept rising in Gabriel''s head, especially since he wasn''t much different from her.

    Even his own hand was wrapped around Avilia''s waist while her graceful hand was resting on his chest as she remained so close to him that there was no room between the two of them. If both of them weren''t wearing their clothes yet, it could''ve easily been misunderstood into something else entirely.

    Gabriel didn''t make any movement. He first tried to make sense of the situation.

    ''From what I remember, I was in the Holy Region. I won the test and was about to kill the Ninth Lord when someone arrived and intervened. Who was it? Why can''t I remember their face? Just what happened after I defeated the Ninth Lord?''

    Gabriel was so confused. He knew he saw someone in the Holy Region but he just couldn''t remember anything. It was as if the part of his memories were clouded.

    ''How did I get out of the Holy Region?'' he wondered. ''If Avilia is here, that means I''m definitely out of that ce. But why can''t I remembering out?''

    Before finding out about what happened in the Holy Region, there was another question in his head that he wanted the answer to. He didn''t remember how he came here. That also meant that he didn''t remember if Avilia was here when he arrived and fell on the bed or not.

    If Avilia was already here sleeping when he came, that meant he was the one who snuck inside. In that case, he could easily be misunderstood by Avilia if she woke up and found him here. If that happened, he knew that it would be hard to exin.

    On the other hand, if he was already in this room when Avilia arrived, why would she sleep here? That also didn''t make sense. Since he was the one who didn''t remember, he considered the first possibility more prominent.

    ''I have to leave without waking her up.''

    In the end, she just decided to go with the safest option. No matter who snuck inside, he needed to get out of here before Avilia woke up!

    He looked at the sleeping face of Avilia. Usually when Avilia was up, he never really noticed her face that carefully. However, now that she was so close to him and sleeping, he could see more clearly.

    Avilia looked really beautiful as she slept. It was as if she was a beautiful princess of some Empire. Just by looking at her in this situation, no one could''ve guessed that she was someone who could kill without blinking an eye.

    Avilia''s face was close to Gabriel''s neck as she was in his embrace like a little kitten. If he wanted to get away, he first had to take out his hand from under her. But doing so without waking her up was harder to execute.

    ''If I find out that it was someone''s scheme to get me in this situation, I''m going to teach them a nice lesson!''<novelnext></novelnext>

    Gabriel slowly pulled out his arm from under Avilia''s body.

    "Umm?"

    Gabriel had managed to pull out a little when Avilia seemingly made a noise.

    Gabriel immediately closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. If Avilia woke up, it was better for him to pretend to be asleep. He didn''t want her to misunderstand him even more if he truly snuck inside subconsciously.

    Avilia was sleepingfortably. However, feeling some movement, she came out of her deep slumber.

    She slowly opened her eyes, still in a marydaze.

    As she came to her senses and saw what was before her eyes, her eyes widened as well.

    She had been waiting for Gabriel in this room for so long, that she didn''t even realize when she fell asleep herself. As there was only one bed, she slept on the bed.

    The bed was so big that five people could sleepfortably. That''s why she thought that could rest if she took the other corner. Now that she opened her eyes, she was shocked.

    Both of them were sleeping in different corners of the bed. However, now they were both in the center of the bed in each other''s embrace as if they were passionate lovers.

    Avilia''s face turned slightly feverish as she felt Gabriel''s hands around her slim waist.

    ''How did this happen?'' That was the biggest question in her head. ''Fortunately he''s still asleep. If he was up and misunderstood me, I wouldn''t know how to exin the situation myself...''

    Avilia sighed in relief that she wasn''t seen like this by anyone, not realizing that it wasn''t the case.

    ****

    [An hour ago....]

    The Head Priests of Light arrived near the room but they didn''t enter. They were still curious that Gabriel wasn''t up yet.

    "Could something have gone wrong?" Head Priest Qian wondered. "I think we should at least check once. It''s been too long..."

    The other Head Priests also agreed. They opened the door and carefully peaked inside so as to not disturb anyone inside.

    Through the small opening in the gap, the Head Priests saw inside the room. As for what they saw, it made their expressions quite awkward as if they had done something wrong.

    Inside the room, there was only one bed. On the bed, two people were lying close to each other. Both people seemed asleep, but the closeness of the two was enough to surprise the Head Priests who had been single all their lives. It was enough to make them believe that the two youngsters were indeed husband and wife.

 Chapter 363 363: I Didnt See Anything

    ****

    Avilia sighed in relief that she was safe. She didn''t realise that other than her, everyone else saw the scene already, including Gabriel.

    She didn''t immediately get up from the bed either as her guard was already lowered. She didn''t think Gabriel was going to wake up anytime soon and felt a littlezy to get up as well. As much as she wanted to deny it, she really feltfortable in Gabriel''s embrace and wanted to stay like this a little longer.

    Avilia gazed at the face of Gabriel who looked even more handsome from this close. She couldn''t help but poke his cheeks lightly. "Little brat, bless your stars that you''re asleep. If you had seen..."

    She didn''t even know what she could''ve done if he had seen, but she didn''t think so far.

    "Though I must say, you don''t look half bad. At least better than everyone else I''ve seen before," she muttered, as if talking to herself. Since Gabriel was asleep ording to her, she could finally speak without worrying.

    Gabriel kept his eyes closed, still pretending to be asleep, hearing everything she said. At this point, everything was clear to him. He finally understood half the situation. It wasn''t him who snuck here, but it was her. However, he still didn''t know why.

    Since he already had his answers, he could stop pretending. No matter what, he wasn''t at fault. Moreover, he also needed his answers from her.

    "Thank you for thepliment," he softly spoke. Since they were so close to each other, even as Gabriel kept his voice low, in Avilia''s ears, it was like thunder. Her face turned red.

    "You, you, you are awake?!" She eximed as she tried to get up. However, she couldn''t offer any resistance. Gabriel''s arm was still wrapped around her waist. She didn''t let him get up.

    "No, I''m just sleep talking. You can continue. I didn''t see anything," Gabriel casually answered.

    At this point, Avilia''s entire face was flushed red in embarrassment. "Continue what?! I''m not a pervert! Stop talking nonsense! I-i was just here to make sure that no one attacked you when you were asleep!"

    Gabriel didn''t reply. He just opened his eyes and looked in the eyes of Avilia. Even without any words from him, Avilia felt even more embarrassed. It was clear to her that he didn''t believe her. Let alone him, even she wouldn''t have believed her if she was in his ce.

    Avilia had never felt this embarrassed in her life. Just as she was about to do something, Gabriel freed her. He didn''t go too far in messing with the youngdy. No matter how childish Avilia acted at times, Gabriel hadn''t forgotten her real identity.

    He pulled out his arm from under her waist and let her be free as he sat up.

    He had slept for so long that his entire body feltzy at this point. He stretched his arms and asked, "Tell me the truth. How did I get here and what happened after I entered the Holy Region."

    Avilia also sat up. She was still embarrassed that Gabriel saw her and heard her call him handsome. However, for now, she knew it was better to forget that it ever happened.

    She informed Gabriel everything that happened after he went inside the Holy Region. She also informed him about the strange earthquake and how he appeared in this room directly.

    After that, she didn''t forget to inform him of her side of the story as to how she stayed behind in this room to protect him and how she fell asleep, only to end up in this awkward situation with him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "So that''s how it was..."

    Gabriel had no reason to doubt her. With her personality, it was clear that she wouldn''t have done this intentionally. What was more intriguing to him was his sudden arrival in this room.

    He knew what happened after he came to this room but what happened between the time when he was about to kill the Ninth Lord and the moment he arrived here was still nk at this point. That was a question which no one here could answer.

    He wondered if that was always going to be a mystery to him...

    ****

    After waking up, Gabriel went for a shower while Avilia left the room. Now that Gabriel was up, she didn''t need to protect him. He was already strong enough for that.

    Avilia stepped out of the room, finding the Head Priests waiting outside. She didn''t know why, but she felt as if their gazes were different now. At leastpared to before. Previously, they still looked at her with some suspicions but now that suspicion was gone to some extent.

    She didn''t understand why that was the case. She didn''t think much of it. She just informed the Head Priests to bring another mask for Gabriel as thest one was broken.

    ****

    Gabriel stood under the shower. Little droplets of water washed his skin which was even better now that he had received the blessing of Light.

    Ever since he had started training his physique, his skin had hardened and his physical defence increased. However, now that he was blessed by Light, his skin returned to how it used to be in the past while maintaining the same level of defence and physical strength!

    Gabriel cast a small barrier around the bathroom to make sure that no aura leaked out of the ce. It was only after casting a barrier that he took off both his gloves. It had been long since he himself saw his Elemental Marks after all.

    He wanted to see if he had actually passed the test or not as he didn''t remember anything.

    As he took off his gloves, he noticed that the Mark of Light which had merged with the Mark of Darkness was more overwhelming now. Each stroke of the Mark of Light was not only thicker but contained more power than before.

    The Mark of Darkness was slightly underwhelming. Even though it was also stronger than an ordinary Mage of Darkness, but it wasn''tfortable to the Mark of a Holy Priest.

    As for his Mark of Necromancy, it was in a different league altogether.

    Since he usually wore his Gloves, he didn''t notice it before. However, his Mark of Necromancy had spread out so much that it covered his entire hand, even covering his fingers! It was emitting a strength that was overwhelming thebined strength of Light and Darkness and it didn''t appear to be its limit either!

    Gabriel looked at the Mark of Necromancy with a frown, having some apprehensions. Why was this Mark spreading? Was it going to spread to his entire right arm slowly? What about his body? He had so many questions!

 Chapter 364 364: Rebirth Of Light

    Gabriel wore his gloves once again before leaving the shower. He dried his body using a simple spell and wore his clothes.

    He could also see a simr mask to what he wore before lying on the bed. It was as if someone left it here for him. Since he hadn''t reminded anyone about it yet, it was clear that this was the doing of Avilia.

    "That girl..."

    He walked up to the bed and picked up the mask, wearing it directly. He was about to leave, but stopped right before the door, remembering something.

    Even though he had a mask, he had no illusion anymore. Izen had already warned the Head Priests about him, telling him about his Mark and gloves to check for. If he didn''t have an illusion, the Head Priests could clearly see his gloves which wasn''t ideal.

    He stood before the door, opening it lightly. After opening the door, he ced his hands behind him and stood like a surreal expert as if he knew that the Head Priests were right outside.

    Just as he expected, the Head Priests were in the hallway, waiting for him. They were already informed about Gabriel waking up.

    "You''re up. Good." Qian greeted Gabriel. "Come, we will give you a tour of the Church and show you other important ces today. After that-"

    "Not yet." Gabriel didn''t leave the room. "I have to train myself first and learn the new spells. In the meantime, I won''t be leaving this room. I want you to make all the arrangements. No one other than Avilia is allowed inside this room. Do you understand?"

    Qian and the other Head Priests looked at each other but they didn''t question it. What could be better than Gabriel wanting to immerse himself in his training. The faster he did so, the faster he could be ready for his meeting with the other Holy Lords.

    "We will do as the Lord asked." The Head Priests respectfully stated as they stepped back.

    ? "One more thing." The Head Priests were about to leave but were stopped by Gabriel. "Where is Avilia? Where did she go?"

    "Lady Avilia left the Church not long ago."

    "Did she tell you where she went and when she''ll be returning?" Gabriel asked. It was surprising that Avilia left the Church without telling him at all.

    "She didn''t say anything. However, from what I know, it looks like she already left the City. We don''t know when she''ll be back," Qian answered. "Maybe she had something to do at the Church of Summoning? We''ll make sure to bring her here when she returns."

    Gabriel nodded. "Alright. You can leave. Make sure to remember what I told you. In the next few days, no one is allowed to enter this ce. Even if a Holy Lordes, find some excuse and don''t disturb me."

    "We have be an expert in doing that throughout the years. Holy Lord don''t have to worry about anything." Qian smirked as he retreated. They had done nothing more than finding excuses ever since their Holy Lord diedst time after all.

    After the Head Priests left, Gabriel closed the door and took off the mask, tossing it on the bed. He locked the door from inside. He brought a defensive artefact to make sure no one could enter without him finding out.<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was only after making sure that everything was set, he walked to the bed. He had received the Holy Grimoire of Light and the approval. Now all that was left for him to do was to see just what kind of spells he received.

    ording to the stories he heard, a Holy Grimoire usually gave different spells to every new Generation of a Holy Lord. It was rarely the case of a spell being repeated. Moreover the spells that they received were supposed to be the spells that could help them there most. That was what raised Gabriel''s expectations from it.

    Right now, the biggest problem for Gabriel was that he needed something to hide his identity before Izen or other Holy Lords. Avilia''s summoned beast''s ability wasparable to a Head Priest. It couldn''t fool a Holy Lord.

    The only thing that could fool a Holy Lord was a powerful spell of another Holy Lord! That''s what he wanted the most from his Grimoire!

    The Element of Light was said to be the most versatile element in this world. It was also the spell which had great illusion abilities. That''s also why this element was used in most of the clone spells in battle against him by the Ninth Holy Lord and Izen.

    "I hope you won''t disappoint me." Gabriel nced at the bracelet on his left hand. "I went through a lot to get your control after all."

    His left bracelet transformed into the purest of light which floated before him. The sphere of light started taking a rectangr shape before finally ending up as the Holy Grimoire of Light.

    Gabriel already had lots of experience of handling a Holy Grimoire. He already knew quite a lot about one. Currently, he didn''t even need to touch the Grimoire. The Holy Grimoire opened on its own, revealing the first page.

    Just the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy, the first page of the Holy Grimoire of Light didn''t have a spell either. Instead, it had a quote...

    Gabriel read the quote word by word. "No Darkness can dim the light that shines from within..."

    "Strange. This quote seems so simple yet soplicated at the same time..."

    He didn''t think too much about it and turned to the next page.

    One by one, he kept turning the pages and learning the spells that he received. Most of the spells in the first few pages were mid tier spells which didn''t impress Gabriel much. Those spells were nothing before the spells that he learned from Cylix.

    Despite being unimpressed, he learned all the spells. It was only theter spells that truly impressed Gabriel.

    There were five High Tier Spells in the Grimoire and one Origin Tier spells as well! The Origin Tier Spell made Gabriel''s eyes lit up. The spell tier was the same as his Army of Undead.

    Amongst the five High Tier Spells, there were two which he was really impressed by. He knew that they could reallye in handy in the future to achieve his goals. However, what he was really happy about was the Origin Tier Spell! That was what he was looking for!

    "Rebirth of Light!" The spell''s name itself was something that Gabriel never heard before. However, it was still quite an interesting spell from what he was able to grasp.

 Chapter 365 365: Who Are You?

    For the next twenty four hours, Gabriel stayed inside the room, mastering all the new spells that he had received.

    Even though he had already mastered an Origin Tier Spell before, it was different this time. With Necromancy, he felt as if it was a part of his body. Not only were learning Necromancy spells easier, but they were also easier to execute without any previous practice at all.

    However it was different from the Element of Light. Even though he had the Holy Mark of Light, it still felt different, as if the Light wasn''t entirely a part of his body but an external help. Just learning the spell wasn''t enough and he needed to practise the spell as well.

    He understood that it was time to leave this ce. He also knew the best ce to practise these spells. That ce was also his real destination when he came here! He still hadn''t forgotten his original objective.

    Before leaving the room, he still practised one spell which didn''t need arge space to practise. The spell was none other than the [Rebirth of Light]

    After six more hours, he finally left the room, casting the Rebirth of Light around him.

    The Rebirth of Light was an Origin Tier Spell. Because of that, it also consumed a lot of his spiritual strength every second. Fortunately, he had a lot of spiritual reserves tost for quite some time even while keeping the spell active.

    Gabriel stepped out of the room. Just to be safe, he still hadn''t taken off his mask. He was quite curious to see the reaction of the Head Priests.

    "W-what?" As soon as the Head Priests saw Gabriel step out of the room, they were shocked.

    They couldn''t see Gabriel properly. Let alone see him, they had to struggle to even keep their eyes open. Gabriel was like the reincarnation of Light itself! His body was made purely of light! They didn''t realise that it was all thanks to the shield of aura that was around him now.

    Not only did the Rebirth of Light spell give Gabriel a powerful shroud which hid him and his aura entirely, but that wasn''t all! If anything, that was just an additional advantage of this spell. The main advantage of this spell was that it gave Gabriel an even higher degree of control over the element of Light!

    As long as he was using the Rebirth of Light, whatever spell of Light he used had twice the usual strength! His spells were more powerful and they were more in sync with nature.

    There was one more advantage of the Rebirth of Light! In this form, Gabriel was able to ignore all the barriers. No matter how powerful a barrier was, he was able to pass through it easily, as if he was a ghost!

    This spell was quite bizarre. It wasn''t an offensive spell or a defensive spell. If anything, it was an auxiliary spell which boosted his other skills. However, despite that, this was the spell that Gabriel liked the most!

    Seeing the Head Priests'' stunned expression, Gabriel was quite pleased. It was clear that the spell was working.

    "Where is the Ancestral Staff of Light?" he asked the Head Priests.

    The Head Priests initially couldn''t even confirm that the person before them was Gabriel since all they saw was a person made purely of light. However, Gabriel''s voice convinced them that he was the same person.

    "My Lord, this form... It''s...?" Qian curiously asked.

    "I''m just testing a new spell. Don''t think too much about it. Just take me to the Ancestral Staff," Gabriel responded as he told them to hurry up. He didn''t want to waste the duration of this spell since it consumed a lot! He still had to reach his destination while keeping this spell active!<novelnext></novelnext>

    ****

    A short timeter, Gabriel finally stepped out of the Holy Church of Light.

    As he left, he didn''t expect the hugemotion he was going to cause. When the people on the street saw him, under his mighty aura, they immediately dropped to their knees.

    The spell that Gabriel was using for a basic disguise was so powerful that just the aura in this form alone could push an ordinary person to their knees subconsciously.

    Two beautiful wings appeared behind Gabriel as he flew straight into the air. He had already informed the Church of Light that he was leaving for a short time to practise outside.

    The Church tried to convince him to stay behind, saying that they could help him train but Gabriel didn''t listen.

    The Church didn''t even know where Gabriel was going. They didn''t dare follow him for the time being and just waited for him to return. In any case, they weren''t worried that he was going to just run away! Who could dare abandon such a precious position after all!

    ****

    On the other side of the City, Gabrielnded at the entrance of the Academy of Elements, gazing inside. It was his second time being here.

    The two guards who stood at the entrance, guarding it were covered in sweat as soon as they saw Gabriel. They didn''t know who the person was! They couldn''t even see through the bright aura of that person at all! However, they knew that the person was certainly strong!

    "M-may I know what brought Senior here?" One of the guards respectfully asked, lowering his head slightly. None of the guards dared to point their weapons at Gabriel.

    "You don''t need to know. Someone will be here soon enough." Gabriel stood in silence. He could easily enter the ce, but he didn''t need to. Now that Izen couldn''t recognise him, he believed he was in a much better situation.

    Not long after Gabriel finished, the two guards saw more bright beams of light in the sky. A few secondster, Izennded on the ground before them, facing Gabriel

    The other Head Teachers also arrived next to him, all looking at him with hostility. It wasn''t often a powerful stranger came to their doors after all. Fortunately, they could sense that he was a Mage of Light, thanks to the bright aura that was surrounding Gabriel.

    ? Strangely enough, even they couldn''t see through that aura!

    Izen tried to use his special skull to peek through that shield of bright aura to see the real face of Gabriel.

    In the end, he closed his eyes, feeling pain in his eyes. No matter what, he couldn''t see through Gabriel''s aura shield. He knew that if he tried to force his way, he had a small chance of being able to see through. However, that also meant that he was going to suffer a heavy bacsh and injure himself.

    "Who are you?" he asked, frowning.

 Chapter 366 366: Shameless Holy Lord

    "Who are you?" Even though Izen had some guesses, he still asked.

    Gabriel didn''t immediately answer. He looked past Izen inside the Academy of Elements. He was still somewhat far from his destination.

    "Little boy, shouldn''t you be capable enough to know who I am?" Gabriel asked as he patted the head of Izen as if Izen was a junior and he was older.

    Frowning, Izen stepped back as if to avoid the hands of Gabriel.

    Gabriel ignored the movement and continued, "Then again, I can''t me you. I haven''t shown my face for a long time, after all."

    "I came here because I heard that you came to the Church to meet me a few days ago. Since I was busy with something, I couldn''t meet you then."

    No one had seen the so-called Holy Priest of Light in the past. Gabriel decided to take advantage of the situation to pretend to be a Holy Lord who had held this position for years. With that, he could avoid a lot of troubles.

    "Holy Lord of Light?" Izen asked. He didn''t know why, but he felt somewhat suspicious, even though he was convinced that the aura of this man wasn''t something that the ordinary mage of Light could possess.

    "Why do you hide your face?"

    "Think of it as me training myself. You don''t need to concern yourself with my affairs," Gabriel shrugged. "Anyway, aren''t you going to invite me inside, little one?"

    Izen''s face twitched uncontrobly as he heard the Holy Lord address him as if he was a little child. He couldn''t see just how old the Holy Lord was, but how could he be older than him? That didn''t make sense to him.

    He had a bad feeling about all this, but he didn''t understand why. It was as if he was missing something really important. However, no matter what, he couldn''t reject the Holy Lord of Light. In fact, he had gone to meet the Holy Lord first. Now that he was here, he had to be a host.

    "Pleasee inside first. We should be talking inside in that case."

    No matter what, now that the Holy Lord of Light was here, he could only apany him inside. Moreover, he also had another reason for bringing Gabriel inside the Academy.

    He could see that Gabriel was surrounded by an aura of Light which hid his appearance. He had an item in his office that should dispel all auras. Inside his office, no disguise could be maintained. No matter who the person was, their real face could only be revealed!

    No matter why Gabriel was using a disguise, Izen was sure that he was going to see Gabriel''s real face to see for himself.

    Izen flew inside the Academy, apanying Gabriel. The Head Teachers flew inside behind them, keeping an eye on the Lord of Light.

    Usually, the Church of Light members were very arrogant. For their Holy Lord toe here alone without much fanfare was indeed surprising.

    "Hmm? Is that the Tower of Challenges?"

    Right when everyone was getting close to Izen''s office, Gabriel slowed down.

    Hended before the Tower of Challenges, observing the names on the list of the top achievers. His name was still on the top, above Axion''s name. He was also the only person who had managed to reach the Tower of Challengesst time.

    "This is the ce where we train our Juniors. One has to be under thirty to be able to enter," Izen told Gabriel. He didn''t know how old Gabriel was, but the way he talked, Izen could only guess that he was at least a middle aged man who wasn''t qualified to enter the tower.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I''ve heard that it''s very hard to clear this tower. I''m quite interested in trying for myself," Gabriel smirked. "I wonder if you would be kind enough to allow me an entry?"

    Finally Gabriel was where he wanted to be! This was his destination! This was the reason he came back to this ce, travelling so far.

    Currently, his biggest problem was that he didn''t know how to solve the mystery behind the Garden of Legacy. No matter what he did, he couldn''t find anything. He needed answers that he couldn''t find through ordinary means.

    There was only one source where he believed he could find those answers. It was the Mirror on the hundredth floor of the Tower of Challenges! The mirror was supposed to know everything! It was also what told him about the weakness of his physical body and also how to solve that problem.

    Last time, he wasn''t strong enough to take the mirror with him. This time, he wanted to try again. Even if he couldn''t take the mirror back, he could at least get more answers after reaching the top floor once again.

    "Allow you an entry?" Izen asked, slightly taken aback. "Are you younger than thirty?"

    "Do I look older?" Gabriel asked in return.

    Hearing his response, Izen''s face twitched even more. Was this guy messing with him? He hid his body behind the aura of Light and had been addressing him as a Junior and now he was saying he was younger than thirty?

    It wasn''t often that Izen felt angry, but it was one of those times. Just how could the Holy Lord be so shameless?

    "We don''t allow an outsider to enter the Tower. Only the Academy members can enter," Izen responded, subtly rejecting Gabriel.

    He didn''t know why, but he didn''t want to let Gabriel enter. No matter what Gabriel was here for, Izen didn''t want to let him seed before he saw his real face.

    "That''s good. Since I''m not an outsider, I should be allowed to enter. Thanks for the approval." Gabriel shrugged. Without wasting a single second, he stepped forward.

    Izen appeared before Gabriel, blocking his path. "What is the Holy Lord trying to imply? Why aren''t you an outsider?"

    Gabriel tilted his head to the left. "Aren''t you my little brother? How can I be an outsider in my little brother''s academy?"

    Even though Izen didn''t show it on his face, his blood was boiling. This man was even more shameless than he expected!

    Before Izen could react, Gabriel had already moved past him and entered the Tower.

    "What should we do now?" Lishen asked Izen. He could see that Izen didn''t want the Holy Lord to enter. Let alone him, everyone could see it, except the Holy Lord himself!

    Izen coldly looked back at Gabriel.

    Before he could say anything, the Head Teacher of Eartha Rem chimed in. "It looks like he''s determined to enter. If we try to stop him, it might make the two sides enemies."

    "So what? This ce isn''t a yground!" The Head Teacher of mes scoffed! "Even if it''s the Holy Church of Light, we can''t let them do as they please."

    If anything, Izen agreed with the Head Teacher of mes more! No matter what, he couldn''t allow Gabriel to enter! He had to stop the young man!

 Chapter 367 367: I Dare You!

    Izen understood that Rem made more sense. Since Gabriel was so determined to enter, they could only stop him by force which meant establishing a bad rtionship with the Holy Church of Light which was already known to be arrogant.

    However.still, deep inside, he had a feeling that he couldn''t allow Gabriel to enter the first floor of the Tower. It was a very strong feeling as well.

    He chased after Gabriel inside the Tower of Challenges.

    Gabriel seemedpletely ignorant to the others. It was as if he wasn''t in any hurry. He was just observing the surroundings like it was his first time here.

    "This ce is so beautiful. Nothing less expected from an ancient structure!" He eximed, ensuring that everyone heard it.

    "Holy Lord, as I said before, you can''t enter!" Izen appeared before Gabriel. Without the crystal, Gabriel couldn''t enter in any case, so he didn''t worry. He just had to send Gabriel back first.

    "Why can''t I enter?" Gabriel asked, turning around.

    Izen couldn''t see Gabriel''s face, but he expected Gabriel to be angry. He didn''t realize that in reality, Gabriel was quite calm. It was as if he had already expected all this.

    "Because these are the rules established by the Academy! Only members of the Academy can enter! Brothers and sisters of members can''t enter. Otherwise, we''d have to allow millions of family members of our students inside as well. I hope you can understand."

    Even though they hade to this point, Izen tried to reject Gabriel with logic to keep some decency.

    "Is that so?" Gabriel muttered, letting out a sigh. "I''m that case..."

    He turned around and started leaving. The others sighed in relief. However, their expressions became still as they saw Gabriel stop right before the exit.

    "Before I leave, I do have one question to ask!" Gabriel turned around.

    Suddenly, the entire atmosphere became heavy! All the students who were already inside the Tower felt as if they were suffocating. They all dropped to their knees. Even though the students were strong, they were nothing before a powerhouse like Izen, Gabriel and the other Holy Lords!

    Even the Head Teachers felt pressure as heavy as a mountain in their shoulders.

    "What question?" Izen asked, standing still. It was as if he was the only person here who wasn''t affected in the slightest by Gabriel''s aura.

    "My question is simple." Gabriel stated, sounding calm initially. However, the question that followed stunned even Izen.

    "What gave you the right to decide the rules?!" Gabriel''s cold voice echoed in the entire hall.

    Gabriel didn''t use any spell. He didn''t do anything out of the ordinary and just asked a question. However, there was just something about his sentence that gave Izen a bad feeling.

    "What are you trying to imply?" Izen grimaced. "This Tower was established by the Academy founders. Who will have the right to decide on the rulers but the Academy? These rules were decided by the Academy!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "My little Izen, you might be able to fool your little students and your subordinates, but do you think you can fool the entire world?" Gabriel asked. With slow steady steps, he reached closer to Izen.

    "Our Church has existed since before your founders were even born," Gabriel stated. "As much as I respect the two founders, do you think I won''t know the truth about this Tower? This Tower existed in this ce before your founders came to this area! If anything, this tower was the reason your Academy was established here in the first ce!"

    "Even though this Tower doesn''t belong to you, we didn''t trouble you in the past and let you do as you please! But did you really think you could pretend to own this ce before me? Did you think you could show off your measly rules before me?!"

    The more Gabriel spoke, the louder his voice became until his words were like thunder, striking at the hearts of everyone present here!

    Out of everyone, only Izen knew the truth about the Tower of Challenges which was passed down from one generation of Dean to the other. He was shocked to find out that Gabriel already knew about that truth as well! That meant the Church knew for a long time as well!

    "I don''t carewhat you do with the things you create," Gabriel said firmly. "However, if you try to show off your rules for the things that don''t even belong to you, what''s stopping you from one day saying that the sun and the moon were created by you people?"

    "What''s stopping you from making rules about how much water we could drink, saying you created water?!"

    Gabriel went to the Teacher who was tasked with giving the entrance crystals to the students. Izen and the others didn''t even move as they were still in a daze about what Gabriel spoke. Gabriel wasn''t even looking at them yet they felt the pressure.

    "Just because we arezy enough to not bother you all, don''t think you can take a mile instead of an inch!" he spoke. "And if you''re still unconvinced, I dare you to stop me! I swear to Heaven that the next moment, I''ll wipe your entire Academy!"

    Gabriel''s words sent a chill down everyone''s spine. Even the Head Teachers felt concerned. It didn''t look as if Gabriel was joking.

    They had Izen who was said to be strong enough to a Holy Lord. However, the Holy Lord of Light was said to be a special existence! Even they weren''t sure just what he was capable of!

    Just as they expect, Gabriel really wasn''t joking. The Academy was established by Novius and Cylix. If possible, he didn''t want to destroy it! However, Novius and Cylix already told him that they were done with the Academy after the wrong path the Academy selected! If anything, they gave Gabriel the permission to do as he pleased with the Academy!

    Since Hantie already had the permission from the two founders to do as he pleased, why was there a need to be concerned.

    He hadn''t mastered a lot of his spells but he understood them enough to be able to fight Izen!

    Since Gabriel already fought with Izen once before, he understood the things that he needed to be careful about. The first thing was the Robe of Izen which nullified all magical attacks. Because of that, he had already been training with the Sword of Ulien to improve his battle skills.

    Another thing which Izen had was his ability to create clones that could use his powers. Gabriel also had the same skill now that he was the Holy Lord of Light! He wasn''t scared!

    "Holy Lord, you should watch what you say. If we really fought, I might just identally kill you!" Izen''s cold voice came in response.

    Gabriel nced back, looking straight back at Izen. "Try it. And I promise your head won''t remain on your shoulders¡­"

 Chapter 368 368: All Out

    The Head Teachers were in a daze as they heard Gabriel threaten Izen. It wasn''t often when a person threatened the Dean of the Academy. Gabriel was not only arrogant, but he was also not holding back at all. It was as if he thought that he really ruled this ce.

    "You!" The Head Teacher of Light Eliana couldn''t take it anymore. No matter who it was, she couldn''t let them insult Izen! Even though Izen was the Dean of the Academy, she considered him like her elder brother! To see him get disrespected in such a way...

    "Me what?" Gabriel shifted his attention to Eliana. He understood that Eliana had helped himst time, but that was when she didn''t know him. After she found out about him, she was also a part of the people who tried to imprison him. He didn''t feel much gratitude toward her.

    Moreover, Eliana was also the one who recently told Izen about his suspicious identity, bringing more trouble to him at the Church. If he couldn''t solve the situation at that time, he knew that all his ns would''ve gone down the drain.

    As soon as Gabriel''s focusnded on Eliana, Eliana felt a heavy pressure on her body. It was as if a mountain was resting on her shoulder.

    Eliana was a Mage of Light. No matter how powerful she was, she was still suppressed before a Holy Lord of her Element! The other Head Teachers were in a much better condition and so was Izen who had the help of his Robe and higher strength.

    "That''s enough." Izen stepped in front of Eliana, stopping the heavy pressure that was affecting her.

    At the moment, even though Izen wasn''t speaking much, a lot was going on in his mind. He was angry! He was frustrated! And he was having a hard time controlling his anger!

    First, Gabriel robbed the Academy and killed the previous Head Teacher of mes! That incident was the reason the Academy of Elements currently had the worst reputation in a long time. The Academy was already insulted and it had be aughing stock of the Churches and the Royal Family that knew about the robbery!

    As if that wasn''t bad enough, the Holy Lord of Light was here to disrespect them in the open?! It would''ve been a different matter if they were alone here, but many students were here as well, seeing everything.

    Even Izen couldn''t ignore it anymore.

    "Since you''re so eager, I would love to see how you take my head off!" Izen finally couldn''t control his anger. His robe fluttered as a strange pressure was emitted from his body.

    His aura countered Gabriel''s aura for the most part, allowing the students and the others to be able to stand up.

    He knew that today''s actions could easily make them the enemy of the Church of Light, but he didn''t care! Today, someone insulted him before his students! Someone had threatened to kill him before everyone else! His bottom line had been reached!

    "The Church of Light had been arrogant for far too long! It''s time someone puts it in its ce!'' Izen stated. He has had enough! "The rest of you, vacate this ce. Take all the students to a safe distance!"

    Eliana and the other Head Teachers acted fast, telling all the students to follow them. Thanks to Izen''s aura, they could finally move freely.

    Gabriel genuinely didn''t expect a response of this kind. He really thought that Izen was going to give him a path to enter the Tower. It was surprising to see that Izen would instead fight and make the Church his enemy than to step aside!

    The old man behind Gabriel, who was responsible for giving them crystals that recorded their achievement and allowed them to teleport out easily, also stood up to leave. However, as soon as he stood up, he fell down.

    Gabriel reached out his hand toward the old man. "Before leaving, give me the stone..."

    The old man was horrified. Gabriel was close to him. He could kill him at any moment. On the other hand, Izen hadn''t taken any action since he was still waiting for the ce to be vacated first so that the students weren''t hurt!

    The students who were in this tower were the future foundation of the Academy after all!

    The old man was already sweating. He didn''t have much courage. He just picked up a stone which corresponded to the Element of Light and gave it to Gabriel. He didn''t even have the courage to carve a name for the stone.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Gabriel received the stone and kept it in his pocket, allowing the old man to leave as well.

    Within a few minutes, the ground floor Tower of Challenges waspletely empty, leaving only two people inside. There was around ten metres of distance between the two people.

    The doors of the Tower were still open. Izen didn''t even bother to have the doors closed since he was sure that the Holy Lord of Light wasn''t going to be a coward enough to run. It was the same for him.

    If they were already in this situation, he was ready for the aftermath. He believed that today, either he was going to die or Gabriel!

    If he died, it was going to be the end of the Academy of Elements which couldn''t survive the next full strength attack of the Church of Light! However, if he managed to kill the Holy Lord of Light, the Church was going to be no more than a Headless Snake which couldn''t do anything.

    Also, who was even going to dare to attack the Academy which had a person who was strong enough to kill a Holy Lord?!

    The fate of two huge organizations was on the line and over a small thing!

    Outside the Tower, a lot of teachers were standing. Students also started gathering. Amongst the students, there were many who had known Gabriel when he was a student here.

    In those students, there was also one particr student that Gabriel had partially even forgotten about after so many things happened in quick session. The person was Maya...

    "Why do you always stand in my path?" Gabriel asked, sighing. It was the second time that Izen had blocked him. First time, he was blocking him from leaving. If the Infernal Emperor wasn''t there, he would have probably been killed at the time!

    Izen didn''t answer. Since things had reached this point, there was no point dying the battle.

    Just likest time, Izen used the same trick. His body split up into twenty clones, all having the same aura and strength as him. All the clones surrounded Gabriel from all sides.

    This time, Gabriel was already prepared for it.

    "That same trick won''t work everytime..." Gabriel responded, raising his left hand high up.

    What happened next surprised even Izen. Izen had managed to create twenty clones. However Gabriel... He managed to create over forty clones already, and all were the same as him!

    Previously, Izen enjoyed the number advantage to take care of his enemies. He hadn''t expected that this time, his enemy was going to use the same trick as him to deal with him!

    For each of Izen''s clones, there were two of Gabriel''s clones!

    Gabriel didn''t stop there either! He didn''t have much of a mastery of his new spells of light. Moreover, Izen also had the robe of Nullification. Gabriel doesn''t want to hold back anymore. For that, he took some extra steps. .

    He called forth his Ancestral Staff of Light and immediately cast a spell! The spell cast a barrier around the Tower. The entire tower was covered in a white shroud. No one who wasn''t as strong as Gabriel could pass through the barrier! That wasn''t the biggest advantage either!

    The biggest advantage was that no one could see what was happening on the other side of the barrier. No auras leaked outside either! Moreover, Izen couldn''t leave this ce without killing him either!

    Izen was trapped! And he was trapped with someone that the world called a Demon! What was even better for Gabriel was that he didn''t need to hold back any of his Elements inside this shield!

 Chapter 369 369: Ill Hunt!

    Izen wasn''t an enemy that could be defeated without going all out. It was already clear from the first day he met Izen. If anything, for Gabriel, Izen was as big a threat as a Holy Lord. It was best to take him out so as to avoid any future troubles!

    Gabriel knew he couldn''t defeat Izen just by using his spells of Light that he hadn''t mastered entirely. It was the same as when he faced the Ninth Holy Lord. He had to take help from his other Elements.

    In the entire Lumen City, there was only Izen who could sense his real identity if he didn''t use the Shroud of Light to protect him. He couldn''t always go out in the city with the shroud. So it was much better to take Izen out already.

    Izen looked around at the barrier. It was really strange. Why was Gabriel wasting his strength on a barrier? Was he really worried that someone was going to attack from outside? Or was there another reason behind it?

    "Enough wasting strength now," Gabriel said as he stretched his armszily. The shroud spell cost a lot of his strength, each second he kept it active. Initially, he expected to easily enter the tower. But now that he was in a battle, he couldn''t waste his time anymore.

    "Weren''t you curious about my face?" He asked after a brief pause. "I''ll let you see in that case."

    Gabriel wanted to kill Izen now that he was here. To reveal his face before Izen was also another reason that he was giving himself to kill Izen. After Izen saw his real face, there was no way he could let Izen live. It was just an additional motivation for himself to go all out today.

    Gabriel cancelled his Shroud. The aura of Light that was surrounding him slowly retreated before ultimately disappearing.

    Finally, the shroud was off and Izen was able to see Gabriel''s face.

    "It''s you!" Izen subconsciously took a step back, shocked. The man before him was none other than the so-called Holy Lord of Darkness that he fought before! It was also the person who robbed the Academy and was behind their downfall.

    "You''re the Holy Lord of Darkness! And you''re the Holy Lord of Light? How is that possible? Impossible! It must be an illusion!" Izen eximed, shocked.

    He was usually very calm, but seeing someone like Gabriel who defied all thews of nature, even he couldn''t remain calm.

    "Who am I? Don''t you know?" Gabriel asked in response. "I''m the person who was attacked by you when I was leaving this city. I''m the person who was almost killed by you. I''m the person who you didn''t even give a chance to talk before you attacked!"

    "Oh, and one more thing..." He called forth another Ancestral Staff... The Staff of Darkness this time.

    On one hand, he held the Ancestral Staff of Light and on the other hand, he held the Ancestral Staff of Darkness. Two conflicting auras spared inside the Tower. However, thanks to the barrier of light, no one outside could sense that aura at all!

    To the outsiders, everything appeared normal.

    The Head Teachers of the Academy wanted to enter the Tower to make sure that Izen was alright. However, they couldn''t even pass through the barrier.

    Even the Head Teachers didn''t realize that there was another Holy Lord there.

    ? High in the sky, Avilia stood, looking down at the Academy. She had been here for quite some time but she didn''t interfere. She wanted to see just what Gabriel was going to do. Was he really going to kill Izen?<novelnext></novelnext>

    Other than keeping an eye on the Academy, she was also here for another reason. She was making sure that no other Holy Lord could peek inside the Academy to see what was happening here. Since she was supposedly with the Holy Lord of Light, she didn''t need to hide her presence here anymore.

    Other than Gabriel''s shield that protected the Tower, she cast another shield herself to protect the entire Academy from the prying eyes.

    "This guy really loves to make enemies wherever he goes" Avilia smiled wryly. "Then again, maybe it''s for the best. The louder he gets now, the more weight his voice will carry in the future... Maybe it''s time for the world to see the rise of another..."

    ****

    Inside the Tower, Izen was feeling slightly ufortable in his heart. He wasn''t scared and he was still confident that he could fight on equal terms with Gabriel.

    However, there was still a strange feeling inside his heart, as if he was facing a disaster like never before. It was as if he was a prey who stood before a Predator.

    "Do you think you can survive now that you''ve exposed your identity?" Izen asked coldly. "As soon as I get out of here, the entire world will know who you are! You will be hunted to the ends of Earth until you''re found and killed!"

    "Hunted like the students at the Academy were hunted by the outsiders?" Gabriel tilted his head slightly as he asked, seemingly amused.

    At the same time, a dark mist also started covering the entire area. The dark mist gave Gabriel even more control over his surroundings. His clothes were also covered in ayer of dark energy which increased his defence even more.

    "You don''t have to worry about me being hunted though. I''ve had enough of being hunted already! This time, I''ll be the one hunting and removing all obstacles!"

    "And you, little brother... Are the first obstacle!"

    As soon as Gabriel finished, his figure disappeared inside the Darkness.

    "You overestimate yourself!" Izen roared as he also raised his Peak Tier Staff, casting a quick spell.

    A majestic sun appeared above his head, brightening his surroundings. For some reason, no dark mist could get close to him. Whatever tried to get close to him was destroyed by the sun''s light!

    Gabriel didn''t attack Izen directly. He appeared above the sun instead.

    He ced his hand on the zing hot sun that was as hot as a real sun. However, Gabriel''s hands didn''t burn! He covered his hand in the Holy Light to protect himself! The Light had a unique effect against the Darkness. However, when Light was faced with Light, the effects were heavily reduced.

    Izen had created the sun to destroy his surroundings and kill Gabriel who was hiding somewhere in the darkness. However, before he could even throw the majestic sun, his face went pale.

    It was as if the sun above him lost control! Not only did the sun lose control, but for some reason, it was a thousand times heavier, as if someone was pushing this sun down instead!

 Chapter 370 370: Heavenly Rupture

    Izen was stunned. The sun he created using his spell to attack was so heavy that even he couldn''t control it.

    Under the heavy pressure, even Izen couldn''t feel that he could remain standing. There was no way for him to use it.

    Above the Sun, Gabriel used a spell to increase his weight even more to push the sun down. At the same time, his dark mist turned into shackles around Izen''s ankles.

    Unfortunately, before the shackles could capture him, they stopped. It was as if the shackles couldn''t even get close to Izen due to his robe of Nullification.

    The other clones of Izen haven''t attacked yet. They were instead surrounded by Gabriel''s Clones. It was as if Gabriel was just using his clones to hold Izen''s clones back from interfering in this battle.

    Unlikest time, this time Gabriel didn''t want to waste his time on the clones. He had already found the real one and he focused on that person!

    Izen couldn''t take it anymore. His figure turned into a speck of light and shifted ces. The sun crashed on the ground as Izen released it from his control.

    Izen appeared around fifty metres away from the sun which crashed on the floor, having no one to stop it.

    Gabriel was taken aback as he realized that there was no resistance under the sun. He hastily jumped back,nding in the distance while the explosive energy of the crash spread everywhere.

    All the clones were sent flying by the torrent of destruction energy. The real Izen was still fine since his Robe of Nullification took care of the aftermath for him. As for Gabriel, the shield of Undead appeared before him, protecting him as well.

    The two Mages stood facing each other in the middle of the field which was covered in cracks. The cracks on the ground were slowly healing themselves.

    Izen was furious. Gabriel had managed to make him abandon his own attack. For a mage, that was an insult to him! He stepped forward, eyes zing with determination as he shouted out his incantation. A bright yellow light shot from his staff and hurtled towards Gabriel at lightning speed.

    Gabriel reacted quickly, raising his own staff and countering with a brilliant ck light that collided with the yellow one mid-air, sending sparks flying everywhere.

    Izen was undeterred though. The two Mages continued casting spells back and forth at each other until finally they both unleashed powerful sts of white energy that met in the center between them. The force of it shook the ground beneath them as it exploded into millions of tiny pieces that scattered across the sky like stars before fading awaypletely.

    Both Gabriel and Izen stood at some distance from each other. Izen was looking very tired but Gabriel wasn''t different. Gabriel had already spent a lot of his strength in maintaining his shroud from the Church to here. That already left him somewhat exhausted, let alone the battle here.

    "Your attacks are strong," Gabriel muttered, frowning. "And your defence is impable."

    Thanks to his robe, Izen still wasn''t seriously hurt. Izen appeared impulsive but he was very careful and didn''t allow Gabriel to close in on the distance between the two. It was as if he knew that if Gabriel was allowed to get close, he could use the Numens to attack him.

    The Robe of Nullification protected him from magical attacks but not from physical attack and impacts.

    "I should say the same to you," Izen responded. "But if that''s the extent of your attention, then it''s time to end this!"

    Gabriel didn''t reply. Instead, he just looked at the floor. The cracks had developed as an aftermath of their battle. Their attacks could''ve easily destroyed an ordinary building but this ce was self healing.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You''re right. It''s time to end this." Gabriel''s calm voice echoed in the surroundings as his aura solidified.

    Initially, he was worried about something when he started fighting here. He was worried about damaging the tower seriously with his attacks. He still had a lot of things to do in the tower after all. That''s why he had been keeping control of his attacks to test if the tower could actually contain his more powerful attacks.

    Now that he had confirmed that the Tower was actually self healing and not easy to destroy, it was as if a heavy burden was taken off his shoulders.

    He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

    Izen didn''t know why, but he suddenly had a bad feeling about this. He didn''t want to give Gabriel a chance to attack.

    His body was covered in a bright luminescent light that increased his defence even more. At the same time, he attacked with his most powerful spells. The natural energy in the surroundings started going out of control as if it wasn''t ready for Izen''s control.

    "Heavenly Rupture!" Izen finished his spell.

    At the same time, Gabriel also opened his eyes. Just like Izen who cast one peak tier spell, Gabriel also cast spells. However his spells were more instantaneous since he didn''t need to spend much time on these spells.

    "Wrath of the Dead!" Gabriel cast a spell of his own. However, he didn''t stop there. No matter how exhausting a spell was to him, he didn''t stop there!

    If one peak tier spell wasn''t enough, he started casting another!

    "Spectral Burst!"

    "Dark Oasis!"

    One after another, Gabriel cast three peak tier spells! One was a spell of Necromancy, other was a spell of Light andstly was a spell of Darkness!

    Izen had just finished his peak tier spell when his eyes opened wide! He had just cast one spell while the man before him already cast three supreme spells, each of different elements? Just who was this monster?

    Even Izen didn''t realize that Gabriel hadn''t cast three spells. In total, he had cast four spells. As for the fourth spell... It was something Izen didn''t know about yet.

    As Gabriel finished four spells, he dropped to his knees, slightly exhausted.

    His Spectral Burst was a spell he learned from Cylix in the past. It wasn''t a spell with a lot of destructive power, but it was still very useful on our own.

    The Spectral Burst and the Heavenly Rupture were both same tier spells. However, Spectral Burst was more useful for Gabriel. The spell cast a level of protection around him which made Gabriel immune for a short time.

    That was all Gabriel wanted... All he had to do was to avoid this one attack of Izen! If he could do that, he was prepared for everything else! However, it was unclear to him if the Spectral Burst could actually stand against the Heavenly Rupture...

 Chapter 371 371: There Is One More...

    While Gabriel was facing the Heavenly Rupture, it was as if the Heaven and earth around him was splitting apart. Even the space was bing unstable. It was as if the heavenly rupture wanted to destroy him from his core, ripping him apart entirely.

    Even the self healing of the tower couldn''t keep up with the destruction.

    Gabriel was already exhausted. He had ced all his cards on the field already. Now it was up to his cards.

    The Spectral Burst brought an explosive burst of energy around Gabriel''s body, resisting the Heavenly Rupture. Fortunately, spectral Burst was also a spell of Light, which decreased the advantages Heavenly Rupture held against the other elements.

    While Gabriel was facing the strongest attack of Izen head on, Izen wasn''t in any better condition either. He was facing two of Gabriel''s attacks at the same time.

    ****

    Outside the Tower, no one could even sense an iota of energy fluctuations. None of them could even expect that the battle inside the tower was so fierce. All the saw was the shield of light around the Tower fluctuating slightly at times.

    Avilia kept her eyes on the Tower of Challenges. Even she couldn''t see inside the Tower. However, she could at least feel the spatial disturbance around her. It was clear that the battle inside was raging on.

    To be able to affect the space outside the Tower despite the Barrier, Avilia understood just how fierce the battle inside the Tower was.

    She personally had absolute confidence in being able to defeat Izen as her real strength relied on her Summoned Beasts and not her spells which could be nullified by Izen. She was Izen''s bane. But it was different for Gabriel.

    "I believe you will win..." She clenched her fist, having confidence in Gabriel. She hadn''t seen him fight using his spells. At best, she saw him fight as a warrior in Arecia. She didn''t know just what exactly Gabriel was capable of. However, she didn''t want him to lose.

    Unfortunately, as Avilia was focused on the tower, she felt a strange energy fluctuation around her.

    She frowned as she turned around, sending the energy fluctuations bing even stronger. The winds suddenly increased in speed, making even her long hair and robe flutter.

    Before long, a man arrived behind Avilia, as if he had appeared out of thin air.

    "You''re here too," the young-looking man stopped next to Avilia, floating in the air. There was a surreal aura around the man that made him look no weaker than Avilia.

    "Holy Lord of Wind," Avilia muttered. "What brought you here?"

    She didn''t express much surprise even though she was slightly shocked to find him here. His arrival here wasn''t a good thing for her and Gabriel.

    If the Holy Lord of mes was the most straightforward Holy Lord who did as his heart desired, then the Holy Lord of Wind was entirely different. The Holy Lord of Wind rarely showed his true personality. If anything, he always hid in the shadows despite the immense strength he possessed.

    It was said that when it came to the currentgeneration of Holy Lords, the Holy Lord of Wind was the most cunning! There was never an instance where the Holy Lord of Wind was said to have made a mistake!

    "Shouldn''t I ask you this question, Lady Avilia? I had no idea that you''d be here." The Holy Lord of Wind asked as his eyes subconsciously nced in the direction of the tower. "Why are you here?"

    Even he could feel the spatial fluctuations as if a battle was taking ce. There was no aura in those spatial fluctuations so he couldn''t feel any element but it was clear that there was a battle of two giants going on.

    "I''m not your subordinate. I can go anywhere I want," Avilia rolled her eyes. "I don''t have to report to you."

    The Holy Lord of Wind smirked but didn''t reply. No one had ever seen him getting angry in the past. It was as if the guy never felt anger.

    "The Holy Lord of Light is back it seems," the Holy Lord of Wind observed the Tower of Challenges carefully, noticing the white barrier around the tower which prevented him from looking inside.

    He wanted to check from closer to see if he could sense anything. From his initial assumption, the Holy Lord of Light was figuring someone inside the tower and cast this barrier to stop any interference. However, that also raised a question. Just who was he fighting in a ce like this?<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Holy Lord of Wind flew closer to the Tower andnded at the entrance, stunning the Head Teachers of the Academy.

    Behind the Holy Lord of Wind, Avilia alsonded.

    Many people there recognised the Holy Lord of Wind, but rarely anyone recognised Avilia. If not for the powerful aura around her and the mask of Summoning on the back of her hand, many couldn''t even guess that she was the Holy Lord of Summoning.

    Eliana already knew Avilia as she had seen her outside the Church. To find two Holy Lords in front of them, even Avilia felt slightly concerned.

    She couldn''t help but wonder if the two Holy Lords were here to help the Holy Lord of Light! If that was the case, then it was really bad news for Izen!

    "Who is the Holy Lord of Light fighting inside?" The Holy Lord of Wind asked before the Head Teachers could even speak.

    After slight hesitation, Eliana responded. "He is fighting Lord Izen."

    "Hmm? He''s fighting Izen?"

    This time, it was the turn of the Holy Lord of Wind to be surprised. Even he himself wasn''t confident enough to be able to defeat Izen thanks to that robe of Nullification but the Holy Lord of Light was fighting?

    "Why?" he asked. He didn''t believe that the Holy Lord of Light who never made an appearance before was here to fight for no reason at all!

    *****

    Outside the Tower, Eliana was exining everything that happened today from the moment the Holy Lord of Light arrived at the doors of the Church to the moment they started fighting.

    Meanwhile on the inside, the battle had already neared the end.

    Gabriel''s lips were bleeding. There were many wounds on him, but over-all, he looked safe. He hade out of the Heavenly Rupture without being seriously hurt.

    He was sitting on his knees at the moment, not even having the strength to stand. Despite strengthening his physique, casting four high tier spells was already beyond his limit.

    His breathing was weak as he looked at Izen in the distance. Izen was still standing, looking down at Gabriel. However, something felt strange about him.

    His robe of Nullification was already torn! It was as if Gabriel''s Wrath of Undead and Dark Oasis had already surpassed the limit of the Robe of Nullification. The robe couldn''t take it anymore and was finally destroyed.

    Even though Izen was standing, his face was deathly pale at the moment. "H-how could you cast three high tier spells?"

    Izen had never imagined that there was a person in this world who could cast three High Tier Spells simultaneously. Let alone someone who could survive and remain conscious after casting all these spells!

    Gabriel''s lips were bleeding and his aura was weak. However, despite that, there was a calm smile on his face.

    Looking at the calm smile, Izen felt as if something was wrong. There was a feeling of fear in his heart, as if he was actually standing at death''s door. However, he didn''t understand why!

    Even if his robe of Nullification was destroyed, he was still in a better condition than Gabriel! He was still standing and had the strength to cast more spells! Shouldn''t Gabriel be scared instead? Why was Gabriel smiling? Something was really wrong.

    "Not three spells," Gabriel answered weakly as he raised his hand, pointing behind Izen. "There is one more..."

    As soon as Gabriel finished speaking, Izen felt as if his heart was gripped by fear!

 Chapter 372 372: Battle Of Gods

    To survive the two attacks of Gabriel, Izen had ced his all on the line! Even his robe of Nullification was damaged in the process. However, now that everyone was over, he realized that something was wrong.

    Not only was Gabriel still calm, but Izen also felt a presence behind him. Initially, the hall was blocked and no one from outside could enter this ce so Izen didn''t have to divert his attention to protect from others. It was only now that he realized how wrong he was.

    He suddenly turned around, jumping back. Unfortunately, it was toote. Before he could even move, he saw a sword pass through his chest!

    The Sword was being held by a man who looked more like a lifeless person than speaking who was alive! The man had a pale and expressionless face. In fact, he didn''t even have much of a presence or breath of life! He was an undead!

    The Undead was one of the weakest undead that Gabriel had created in the Church of mes, the only one of his men who hadn''t managed to evolve to a Death Priest. However, that also allowed him to have much less of a presencepared to the other Death Knights!

    When Gabriel cast four spells, the first two of his spells were cast to aplish one simple task. It was to destroy the Robe of Nullification as well as to distract Izen.

    As for the third spell, it was to protect himself from Izen''s attack. As for thest spell, it wasn''t asplicated. Gabriel''sst spell was just summoning a Death Knight who was already nted with a sword! The Death Knight was what was there to kill Izen?

    The sword stabbed through Izen''s chest. Izen coughed out a mouthful of blood as he looked at his bleeding chest which was impaled. He raised his head to look back at the Death Knight.

    "You really are..." he weakly muttered but couldn''t even gather enough strength to finish his sentence. His body went weak and he fell to his knees as all his strength left his body.

    Izen''s vision started getting darker and the entire world became blurry.

    "Urgh!" The Death Knight pulled out the sword, making Izen grow in pain as he dropped to the ground, unmoving.

    Izen used his Ancestral Staff as support to push his weak body up, slowly moving closer to Izen.

    He checked the breathing of Izen and made sure that Izen was actually dead. It was only after ensuring Izen''s death that Gabriel sat down and swallowed some soul healing pills that Cylix gave him in the past.

    He was careful enough to not use them when not needed since they were close to losing their effect if he used them more.

    After gathering some strength, Gabriel stood up. He looked back at the white barrier outside the tower. Now that he was out of strength, the barrier wasn''t going tost long either, allowing everyone to enter the ce.

    "Carry the body..." he told the Death Knight as he sent his Ancestral Staff of Darkness back, only carrying the Ancestral Staff of Light.

    Despite his weakness at the moment, Gabriel raised his AncestralStaff of Light and cast another spell. "Purification!"

    Gabriel wiped all the unstable auras that were spread throughout the hall, leaving no evidence that a spell of Darkness was ever used in this ce. It was only after that that he prepared to leave.

    ****

    [A few minutes ago]<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Holy Lord of Wind exined everything. If he wanted, he could break Gabriel''s barrier and enter the Tower since he also had the strength of a Holy Lord. However, he held back.

    It was clear that the Holy Lord of Light was in a bad mood at the moment. It was the same for Izen. If it wasn''t needed, the Holy Lord of Wind didn''t want to do something that could make them misunderstand his intentions.

    He calmly waited outside for the barrier to stop working before checking inside. There was one thing he was sure about. It was that one of the two inside the Tower wasn''t going toe out alive! Since the battle had stretched for so long, there was no way that it was going to end in a draw.

    The Holy Lord of Wind just stood in silence.

    "Who do you think will win?" he asked Avilia.

    "We both know who will win. Why ask these stupid questions," Avilia responded without paying much attention to the Holy Lord of Wind.

    The Holy Lord of Wind smiled.

    "That is... Huh?"

    Just as the Holy Lord of Wind was in the middle of responding, he stopped and looked at the tower. The barrier of light was flickering and it was getting weaker. It was clear that the barrier wasn''t going tost long. That meant the battle was already over!

    "Since the battle is already over, let''s check it out." The Holy Lord of Wind didn''t even wait for the barrier to stop entirely! Now that the battle was seemingly over, he wanted to check as soon as possible.

    He casually flicked his finger. Everyone only saw the winds intensify and nothing more. The next minute, the barrier that had already weakened shattered.

    The Holy Lord of Wind flew inside the Tower of Challenges after the barrier was gone.

    Avilia also followed inside. She was also curious as to what actually was the result. The Head Teachers didn''t stay behind either.

    Over twenty of the most powerful people present inside the Academy of Elements rushed inside the Tower behind the two Holy Lords, concerned about the fate of their Dean. They didn''t know who won and who lost. However, they were still worried.

    As everyone entered the Tower, their eyes widened. There was not a single person who wasn''t shocked at what they saw! The hall on the ground floor was almost unbreakable! Even if something was broken, it could heal instantly! However, at the moment, there was not a single part in the hall which wasn''t broken!

    Blood was everywhere! Craters were spread throughout the ground. All the walls were covered with cracks as if they were breaking apart.

    Even though the Tower tried its best to heal all the damage, it was still too slow since the damage was just too much!

    The sight that everyone saw before them was like a witness who was screaming and telling everyone about the devastation that took ce in this ce not long ago!

    This wasn''t a battle between two mortals! This was like the aftermath of a battle between two gods!

 Chapter 373 373: Death Knight

    Gabriel felt the barrier getting weaker. He didn''t know if the barrier couldst long enough for him to recover. Just to be safe, he decided to leave the ce and enter the first floor of the Tower which was in a different space entirely.

    Even Gabriel didn''t expect that only a few seconds after he entered the first floor with the Death Knight and Izen''s body, the barrier outside the tower was broken and two Holy Lords entered the ce.

    The Two Holy Lords could see the signs of carnage. Unfortunately, there was no one else there. They couldn''t find Izen or the Holy Lord of Light!

    "This is strange. There was definitely a battle here, but even I can''t sense any auras. It''s as if the ce was wiped clean of all signs of the battle other than the physical marks in the surroundings," the Holy Lord of the Wind touched the ground, frowning. "Even the blood traces have been cleaned. That''s interesting. It''s as if someone is trying to hide something..."

    "What do you think?" he asked Avilia.

    Avilia simply shrugged and didn''t respond. In her heart, she had already guessed everything! Since this ce was so thoroughly cleaned, that meant that Gabriel had won. It was clear that Gabriel used his other Elements and didn''t want others to find out about this so he cleaned the ce up.

    There was still one question in her mind though. If Gabriel won, did that mean he killed Izen? And if that was the case, then where was Izen''s body? Was the body destroyed entirely or was there something more?

    ''If the body was destroyed, it''s nothing. However, if he saved the body and took it with him, does that mean he''s nning to create another Death Warrior, this time with Izen?''

    Avilia had already seen how strong Death Knights created using the Head Priests were. She couldn''t help but wonder how strong a Death Knight created by using Izen was going to be.

    Even though the majority of Izen''s strength was due to the Robe, but even if one was to take out the robe, he was still more powerful than an ordinary Head Priest.

    ''This guy... Just what is his ultimate goal?'' She looked at the entrance of the first floor. Since she was older than thirty, she couldn''t enter that ce. And even if she entered, she wasn''t going to be in the same space on the first floor as Gabriel. Before the ny ninth floor, she couldn''t even meet Gabriel.

    It was the same for the Holy Lord of Wind. The only difference was that the man had less information than Avilia which made him really ufortable. It was almostconfirmed that Izen was dead. That meant the Holy Lord of Light wasn''t weak at all.

    Despite such a strong Holy Lord of Light, he didn''t know a single thing about him, let alone knowing how he looked. That was what made him ufortable. He liked knowing about everything and nning ordingly. Missing pieces of information was what he detected the most.

    "Looks like I really need to take a trip to the Church of Light." He turned around and left the Tower. It was clear that the Holy Lord of Light had entered and he wasn''t going toe out anytime soon.

    In the meantime, the Holy Lord of Wind ced his hopes on the Church of Light to get more information.

    Avilia also followed the Holy Lord of Wind to keep an eye on him.

    The Holy Lord of Wind went to the Church of Light andnded before the entrance, not hiding his aura. He wanted to let everyone inside the Church know that he had arrived.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Avilia alsonded next to the Holy Lord of Wind.

    One of the Head Priests stepped out of the Church of Light, slightly surprised to see two Holy Lords before the entrance. Fortunately, he recognised Avilia as a friendly figure. He assumed that Avilia was back to meet her husband.

    "Lady Avilia, please enter. Even though your Husband isn''t here, he should be back soon." The Head Priest eximed. "Our Lord was asking about you before he left. Now that you''re here, he should be here anytime soon as well."

    As Avilia came with the Holy Lord of Wind, he assumed that the two of them were close and that the Lord of Wind probably already knew about Avilia''s marriage.

    The Holy Lord of Wind was pleasantly surprised to find out that Avilia was married. A smirk spread across his lips. So far, none of the Holy Lords knew about Avilia''s marriage after all.

    On the other hand, Avilia''s face turned dark. She couldn''t believe that even after Gabriel told them to keep this story a secret, he blurted it out so openly.

    Not only did this idiot tell that she was married, but he also addressed her husband as their Lord.

    She couldn''t help but look at the Holy Lord of Wind. She knew that he would''ve had to be an idiot to not understand who the Head Priest of Light was talking about. There was only one person they addressed with such respect after all.

    "No wonder you were waiting above that Tower and hiding all the presence there." The Holy Lord of Wind looked back at Avilia with an amused nce. This was literally the most important piece of information he knew about the Holy Lord of Light which he believed he could use to his advantage in the future!

    ****

    Back inside the Tower of Challenges, Gabriel was sitting on the first floor. He wasn''t fighting at all. Instead, he just focused on his recovery. If anything, he sent the Death Knight to fight.

    Gabriel didn''t worry about climbing the Tower. He knew that at best, he could climb to the top floor in less than an hour this time. For now, what was more important was his recovery! It was only after he recovered his strength that he could cast the Army of Undead to turn Izen into an Undead!

    "What a pity that the Robe of Nullification was destroyed. It could''ve been useful to me."

    In this battle, Gabriel won. However, he still wasn''t happy. He didn''t gain as much as he wanted after all. The loss of the robe of Nullification was too much. He initially expected that the robe was going to survive this battle. That''s why he nned the Death Knight to kill Izen in close range.

    "Now I can only ce my hopes on you. I hope you won''t disappoint me when you turn into a Death Knight. You should be almost as strong as Raphael even without the robe¡­"

 Chapter 374 374: The Soul

    After regaining some of his strength, Gabriel finally stood up. He didn''t have time to regain all his strength again since there was a time limit within the [Army of Undead] could be cast after the death of a person. Gabriel didn''t want to miss that time limit.

    Fortunately, there was still over ten minutes left before the limit was going to be over.

    Gabriel still had some paleness on his face. However, he was much better than before. At least he could stand without any troubles and cast another Origin Tier Spell.

    Gabriel called forth his Ancestral Staff of Necromancy to aid him in the spell.

    The spell was long, but it was still easy to remember. With the Wordless Chant, it became even easier for Gabriel who finished the spell without much trouble.

    A dark mist started rising around the body of Izen which was tainted with the aura of death that defied nature. The dark mist soon surrounded Izen and slowly entered his body through his nose.

    Gabriel waited on the side for the process toplete. Now that the spell was effective, he was somewhat confident that he was going to seed.

    As Gabriel waited on the side, time kept passing. Soon, it had been over ten minutes since the dark mist entered Izen''s body.

    "Strange. Why isn''t there any movement? Why don''t I feel any connection with his soul anymore?"

    As more and more time passed, even Gabriel was starting to get concerned. Generally, even after death, a body still had the soul of a person.

    The [Army of Undead] used its strength to wipe the memories of that soul and turn it into a ve that could only listen to the caster while strengthening the body even more. That was how it was supposed to happen. However, something was different!

    Currently, the soul should''ve already been discovered and wiped. However, let alone wiping the soul to a clean state, he couldn''t even feel the soul at all!

    "This is impossible. This shouldn''t be!" Gabriel frowned, unable to understand. He had used the spell many times before, but never once did something so odd happen.

    It was as if the soul... It didn''t stay in the body for even a second after Izen was killed, which should''ve been impossible! A soul couldn''t leave the body so easily! This was unheard of!

    ****

    There existed an unknown ce. The atmosphere of the ce was quite different from the ce where Gabriel currently was. In fact, the ce was much richer in the natural aura.

    The air was cleaner, the sun was brighter and the air was brimming with magical energy! If anything, this ce could''ve been considered to be a tier above from anything that Gabriel had seen so far.

    In the strange ce, there existed a strange mountain. The mountain had all the properties of an ordinary soul, which should''ve been more than enough for nts to grow there. But for some reason, not a single de of grass could grow on the barren mountain.

    There existed many beautiful courtyards in the mountain, all being made into geological locations where the magical energy was the heaviest! The courtyards were beautiful, but there was nothing in front of the beautiful pce-like structure that existed on the peak of the mountain.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The mountain was heavily guarded. Not a single person was allowed to even step on the foot of the mountain without permission. Everyone knew about the temper of the person who lived at the highest pce.

    Even the guards didn''t want to make a mistake by identally allowing someone on the mountain and offending the master of the mountain.

    Inside the pce atop, there was a secret room. The pce absorbed the magical aura from the mountain peak through the magical formations and transferred all that to the secret room which could only be essed by one person.

    A man sat inside the secret room in a meditative position. The man''s eyes were closed for a long time as he absorbed all the aura from his surroundings. The more he absorbed, the stronger he became.

    It was unclear just how strong that person was, but one thing was evident. He was a name that was feared by many!

    There was a mirror in front of the young man who looked as if he was only in his early twenties. The mirror had a beautiful golden frame and looked out of ordinary.

    The mirror existed in this room for a long time but it never made any movement in the past. Unfortunately, it was different now.

    The mirror suddenly started shining. The entire dark room was filled with light which made the young man open his eyes in surprise.

    The young man opened his eyes and looked at the bright mirror ahead. In the center of the mirror, he could see a beautiful speck of light that was the reason behind all this light.

    Surprise was clearly visible in the face of the man as he saw the speck of light in the mirror.

    If the other people on the mountain knew that there was something which could surprise even this person, they would''ve been shocked to their core! There was nothing this man hadn''t seen in his life after all.

    "In such a deste ce, someone was able to kill him?"The man stood up. Even though his movements were gentle like an ordinary human, with every step he took closer to the mirror, the entire mountain shook as if there was an earthquake!

    The man stopped in front of the mirror, observing the speck of light. "Could it be the Holy Lords? That doesn''t make sense. They aren''t strong enough. With the robe I gave the little one for his protection, he should''ve been able to protect himself. Unless... Unless a god intervened...?"

    "That doesn''t make sense either. Why would a god go to that deste world? Why would they want to offend me for no reason?"

    The man was quite confused. Even though he was surprised that Izen had died, he didn''t look particrly sad. It was as if he had already given up on most of his emotions in this life, including the emotion of sadness.

    "Good thing I''ve ced something on his soul before sending him there. I should be able to know some things through his soul."As the man spoke, he observed the small speck of light as if it was the soul he was talking about.

    The young man reached out his hand and touched the speck of light. As he touched the speck of light, he closed his eyes to assimte the information.

 Chapter 375 375: Have You Returned?

    In another room inside the pce, a few men and women were sitting, lost in meditation as well.

    It was only as they felt the entire mountain tremble that they opened their eyes.

    "What happened?" A woman asked, frowning. "Are we under attack?"

    Another man opened his eyes. "Who would dare attack this ce? It looks more like the work of Master! He should be upset about something..."

    "Something that could upset Master?" Almost everyone in the hall was shocked. They knew just who their master was. He was a person who wouldn''t frown even if the entire world was falling apart!

    Everyone looked at each other in confusion. However, just as they were about to get to see what could''ve happened, they heard a shocked gasp of someone amongst them.

    Everyone looked at the person who had eximed in shock, only to find him pointing at the front with dread.

    The others also looked in the direction he was pointing at. At the other end of the hall, there was a small altar. The altar had some stone tablets, each with a name.

    In total, there were around four stone tablets initially! However, correctly there were only three which could be seen there! As for the fourth one, it was broken!

    "No wonder master woke up..."

    Most of the people in the group understood what could''ve happened. There were only a few in the group who didn''t understand. They were all the people who had just joined this hall. They were yet to be taught about these stone tablets.

    "Senior, what does it mean?" A fourteen year old youngster asked.

    "That means someone is dead," the old man answered as he walked closer to the Altar. He observed the broken stone tablet. "From the looks of it, it was the youngest brother of Master..."

    "The youngest brother?" The young man asked as he became even more confused. He had never heard about their master having a brother at all.

    "Master has three brothers. Two of them have been imprisoned by him. As for the third one, he was banished by master to a ce that even I don''t know about," the old man eximed, staring grimly at the broken stone tablet.

    "These four stone tablets contain the soul essence of the master and his three brothers. In other words, these are just like a messaging beacon to let us and master know when one of them is dead," he further exined.

    The ones who already knew about such things didn''t show much surprise. However, the young ones were full of questions.

    "Why would Master imprison his two brothers and banish the youngest?" The youngster asked.

    "Don''t ask what you shouldn''t know about." The old man walked back to his seat and sat down. "Get back to what you were doing."

    "Shouldn''t we inform Master about it?" Another person asked.

    "No need. He already knows about it." The old man casually responded before entering meditation again.

    ****

    In the secret room, the young man managed to assimte most of the information he could find.

    He slowly opened his eyes which shed with a confused as well as a cold look.

    "This disgusting aura... How long has it been since Ist felt it?" The young man frowned, looking at the mirror which didn''t even show his reflection. "Are you back... Death?"

    He wanted to read the memories of the soul that he had received to find out what actually happened. Unfortunately, because the body was attacked by the Death Knight, the aura of Death had already seeped inside the body and the soul, making it impossible to read through the memories of the person.

    There was only one thing that the young man could sense for now. He knew what element of the spell killed his brother. And this presence... He could never forget this cold feeling.

    The young man turned around, keeping Izen''s soul with himself. He had already understood half the situation by now.

    "No wonder Izen died. If it''s him, then it makes sense. Izen could never face someone like him, especially in that deste ce," the young man turned his back on the mirror. His mind was still lost in something.

    ****

    Back in the Tower of Challenges, Gabriel tried his best to seed in his spell. Unfortunately, Izen never woke up. It was as if there was no soul to use at all! There was just a body which there was no use of!

    In the end, Gabriel could only give up, realizing that whatever he did at this point was just a waste of time. He sent the body into his Spatial Storage of his Grimoire, not knowing what he was going to do with it. He just didn''t want to waste it.

    After storing the body, Gabriel gathered some more strength before he started climbing the Tower.

    Unlike the first time, this time it was just like a walk in the part for Gabriel to climb the tower. He already knew what he had to do. The challenges were nothing before him now. In fact, he didn''t even need to summon his Death Knights or Raphael to help him this time.

    Throughout the entire time, he only used his new spells of Light to gain better control on them. He had already mastered all other spells after all.

    Before long, Gabriel was already on the ny ninth floor.

    The floor brought back so many memories for Gabriel, especially the two vacant thrones where Cylix and Novius were sitting in the past.

    In the present, there was no one on the throne. Other than the throne, there were still the soul clones of the ones who had reached this floor in the past before Gabriel.

    The challenge was still the same as the first time. Gabriel had to defeat two of those soul clones to reach the next floor. The difficulty this time was much easierpared tost time when he had to face Cylix and Novius.

    Gabriel once again chose the two strongest people here and swiftly passed through the trial. In fact, the soul clones already remembered Gabriel and didn''t even want to fight him, knowing they had no chance. Yet, they still had to fight because of the rules.

    After Gabriel passed through the trial on the 99th floor, he took onest nce at the majestic hall that was like his second home! It was where he gained his second family... It was where he met Novius and Cylix.

    He couldn''t help but touch the vacant thrones, remembering the past. He didn''t say anything and went to the next floor.

    While inside the tower, everything was peaceful and easy, outside the tower, there was an even biggermotion.

    Another person had appeared at the top of the tower ranking, reaching the top floor within a fraction of time that the second ce took!

    Unfortunately, there was no name before the first rank now. Since the stone which Gabriel was given was a stone without any name, now that he reached the top floor, the name ce was empty. Only his rank and floor level was mentioned.

    Despite having no name, some of the teachers were quite happy, especially the ones who didn''t know that Gabriel had just fought Izen and killed him.

    In fact, the ignorant teachers and students were happy that the Holy Lord of Light reached that ce.

    Last time, Gabriel had reached the top floor. They were initially happy but when they found out that Gabriel was a dark mage, all their happiness disappeared!

    After that, whenever they looked at the top name, they felt disgusted and insisted that a pathetic dark mage was upying that ce! Now that a Light Mage had taken that ce, they could once again rx and be proud that Light was superior to darkness!

    "Finally we have someone who could defeat that Gabriel!" One of the students smirked. He was none other than the person who was beaten by Gabriel in the past.

 Chapter 376 376: The Answer...

    Gabriel passed through to the hundredth floor, once again returning to the same familiar ce. The people outside the tower had many assumptions for the top floor, believing that it had some incredible treasures.

    Only Gabriel knew how wrong they were. There were no treasures here... At least none that could be taken away. There was only one item... The mirror of knowledge. It was what Gabriel came to this city for.

    Gabriel stood before the mirror which didn''t show any reflection initially. It took a few seconds before Gabriel''s reflection appeared on the mirror.

    The reflection was slightly different from the real Gabriel though. Its movements were different as if the reflection wasn''t actually a reflection but an entirely different being who was present inside the mirror that took Gabriel''s form.

    "You are back again," the being inside the reflectionmented. "It looks like you seeded in getting the earring."

    "I did." Gabriel nodded, lightly touching the earring. "Thanks to it, I feel much better than before. At least I don''t suffer as much bacsh from the spells that I used to do before."

    "Why did youe here then?"

    Gabriel expected that question already. "I am here to get another answer. Since I''ve reached the top floor, I should be able to ask you three questions again. Shall we begin?"

    The mirror reflection smirked. "Did you really think it works like that?"

    "What do you mean?" Gabriel frowned. Was the mirror saying it was not going to answer?

    "A person can only get three answers in their lifetime after reaching the top floor, no matter how many times he climbs. It looks like your trip here is a waste." The Mirror Reflection didn''t care who came to it. If anything, it was more prone to following the rules.

    Gabriel was slightly taken aback. He wasn''t told of these rules in the past. All he knew was that one could get three answers after finishing the climb. He expected he could do so again.

    Unfortunately, it looked like it wasn''t going to be easy. Still, no matter what, he wasn''t going to give up aftering so far.

    Gabriel was already here and he wasn''t going to leave without answers. Since he was stronger than he was in the past, he believed that there were more ways for him to get answers!

    Last time, he wasn''t able to even take the mirror with him because he wasn''t strong enough. He imagined it to be different this time.

    "Are these the rules of the tower?" he asked.

    The mirror reflection nodded, not saying anything extra.

    "In that case, I''ll just have to take you out of the tower for the rules to not apply!" Gabriel eximed. "No matter what, I won''t go back without my answers!"

    At any cost, he had to find a way to get the secrets of the Garden of Legacy and this was the only ce where he could get the answers.

    "You''re still not strong enough to be able to move me." The Mirror Reflection sighed. "You''ve just stepped through the threshold of the past..."

    Before Gabriel could even get closer to the Mirror, he felt a mysterious restriction around his body. It was as if there were shackles that made it impossible for him to even get close to the mirror.

    The spatial energy around him started getting unstable, as if something was trying to force him outside the Tower of Challenges!

    Gabriel waspletely surrounded by the spatial energy and it was so fast that he couldn''t even resist before he was caught in it. His body started turning illusory.

    Before hepletely disappeared, he heard the words of the mysterious reflection in the mirror. "I know what answer you came here for. This one time, I''ll help you again, but there won''t be a next time! The answer lies in..."

    The space energypletely engulfed Gabriel, sending him straight out of the tower of the Challenges and into the midst of the crowd outside.

    The Head Teachers were standing outside the Tower of Challenges, looking at the leaderboard ranking. Their faces were dark. They knew that Izen was killed. Which meant, the Academy had lost their only powerhouse. Without Izen, they weren''t as strong as they used to be.

    For that reason, they hated the Holy Lord of Light even more than Gabriel who they believed was the Holy Lord of Darkness.

    As soon as Gabriel appeared in the middle of the crowd,many youngsters around him noticed him right away.

    Gabriel didn''t have any masks covering his face. Even though his aura couldn''t be sensed by the Head Teachers and the students thanks to his ring, they could still recognise him with his face. Many people had seen him in the past after all, especially the teachers.

    "G-Gabriel?!" One loud shout attracted the attention of everyone onto Gabriel.

    All the youngsters stepped away from Gabriel in shock, as if they were going to die if they stood near Gabriel for longer.

    Even Gabriel was slightly surprised. As he came out so suddenly, he didn''t have time to use a mask, letting others see him.

    The Head Teachers also looked at Gabriel, shunned. They couldn''t believe that he had managed to sneak inside the Academy without them finding out.

    Fortunately, none of the Head Teachers attacked Gabriel. Without Izen, they weren''t confident enough in defeating Gabriel. All of them were slightly worried about attacking him.

    The Head Teachers considered two people as their enemies. One was the Holy Lord of Light who was inside the Tower of Challenges and the other was Gabriel. As much as they hated to believe it, they understood that only those two here could defeat each other!

    Instead of getting in the middle and losing their own men, the Head Teachers believed it was better to let Gabriel remain here and wait for the Holy Lord of Light toe out of the Tower!

    ''As long as that bastardes out of the Tower, he''ll definitely fight with Gabriel. Gabriel isn''t weak either! In their battle, both of them must be heavily injured! If that happens, we should be able to kill them both!'' Eliana clenched her fist, struggling to control her disgust and hate from shing in her eyes. She didn''t want to alert Gabriel!

    This was their only chance where they could kill both! They could me the Holy Lord''s death on Gabriel and take credit for Gabriel''s death! No one could find fault with them! What was even better was that the Holy Lord of Wind and Summoning had already left the Academy!

    Gabriel was taken aback. He was recognised. Fortunately, no one knew he was the Lord of Light who had entered the Tower before. That meant he could take advantage of the situation and have some fun!

 Chapter 377 377: Hes Our Holy Lord!

    The young students were looking at Gabriel as if he was a ghost. Only a few people had seen his real face. As for the rest, they only heard about him! Gabriel was like a legend!

    The more the Academy tried to suppress the information about the Dark Mage Lord studying at the Academy, the more this information spread! At this point, there wasn''t a single person who hadn''t heard about Gabriel at the Academy.

    Gabriel ignored most of the students here, even though he saw a few familiar faces. His attention subconsciously went to a youngdy who was standing at the back of the crowd. It had been a really long time since he had seen that face.

    There used to be a time when he loved a young girl that he grew up with. Being stabbed by her was the worst pain he experienced at that time, at least emotionally. However, after all this time, for some reason, he didn''t have much feelings for the woman.

    Let alone the feeling of love, he didn''t even feel that she was worth her anger anymore. She was... Nothing!

    Maya had killed Gabriel once. At least that''s what she thought. But after she heard the stories about how Gabriel infiltrated the Academy and killed Hawrin, she understood that the Gabriel she knew before and the new Dark Lord were the same people!

    To find out that the person she used to know was standing at the peak of the world now was a strange feeling, especially when she remembered that once upon a time, they used to dream of bing the Head Priests together in the future.

    To be a Head Priest was their goal which even they felt was almost impossible. However, it didn''t even take Gabriel a year and he was already a Holy Priest, standing on an equal footing to the other Holy Lords. Even though he was despised by the world, there was no denying about his strength!

    Watching Gabriel look at her, Maya subconsciously took a step back in fear! She didn''t know what Gabriel wanted. If he was still angry, he could easily kill her.

    Just a single nce of Gabriel and she felt as if she was being suffocated. There was just too much difference between the two of them. Maya was a strong student of the Academy, but that was all! Let alone a student or a teacher, even the Dean couldn''t kill Gabriel!

    Maya kept stepping back as fear engulfed her heart. Eliana noticed Gabriel looking at Maya. She had already heard about what happened between the two in the past from Maya herself!

    Even if she didn''t think she could kill Gabriel, she still couldn''t let him kill a student right in front of her!

    Her figure disappeared. And the next second, she appeared before Maya, hiding her from Gabriel''s view.

    Gabriel saw Eliana''s swift reaction but he didn''t care much. If he wanted, he could kill Eliana easily as well after all.

    Instead, he turned toward the ranking list of the tower, ncing at the first rank.

    Most people thought that Gabriel was upset to see that his name was second now. However, none realized that he just found it amusing that he could take the top two spots easily.

    He didn''t care about the students or even the teachers. Instead, his mind was still being upied by what the Mirror Reflection said when it sent him out of the Tower of Challenges.

    "The answer I''m looking for lies in my pockets..." he muttered thest statement of the Mirror, frowning. He couldn''t believe it was that simple. The answer he was looking for was with him all this time? But what was the answer?

    He checked his pockets. Most of his pockets were empty, but there was one pocket which had something that even he forgot about in the past.

    "This..." Gabriel frowned, noticing the item in his pocket. When he received the item, he wanted to use it. However, because of everything that happened with the Arecia Empire and the Church of mes, hepletely forgot about it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He brought out the item from his pocket that he had received from the Princess of Yann in exchange for sparing her life.

    "The key to the Tomb...?"

    ording to the Princess, every Empire was given two such keys. It was the key that was used to enter a tomb which could only be essed by youngsters.

    "If I''m not wrong, she said the Tomb''s entrance waa going to be essible soon. The time should be near. If I''m not misunderstanding the Mirror, then I need to enter the Tomb to find the mystery behind the Garden? But whose tomb is it? How can its formation stop even the Holy Lords from entering if they don''t satisfy the age criteria?"

    While the students and teachers were worried about Gabriel''s next action, Gabriel was more immersed in the ordinary looking key.

    There were many mysteries behind this key and the tomb that could be essed. He was almost sure that the tomb was created by a Demigod at least! Only they could have enough strength to even make a Holy Lord obey their rules!

    "I don''t know what''s in this tomb that hasn''t been explored all this time, but if that leads me to what I need, then I need to get there! Moreover, since every Empire gets two keys, Arecia should have two as well. Should I bring Avilia with me just to be on the safer side?"

    "But I don''t know how old she is. If she doesn''t satisfy the age criteria, it''ll be useless..."

    He left most of his questions forter. He still had to leave this ce first. But before that, he had to put on a show.

    "Who is in the top ce now?" he asked Eliana who was protecting Maya.

    Eliana knew that it was the best opportunity. If she could subtly taunt Gabriel and awaken his fighting spirit, Gabriel was probably going to stay behind to fight the Holy Lord of Light! She couldn''t miss this chance! She also couldn''t let him know that the Academy had enmity with the Holy Lord of Light as well

    "Do you really think you''re some god?" Eliana snorted. "The top ce is upied by our great Holy Lord of Light, who just became a Holy Lord! Not only is he more talented than you, but he''s also younger than you! With enough time, he''ll definitely be your biggest nightmare in the future!"

    Eliana didn''t know how old the Holy Lord of Light was. She just said that he was young and a person who just became a Holy Lord to fool Gabriel. She was subtly letting Gabriel know that the Holy Lord of Light was more talented and a hidden threat for the future for him?

    That way, she could get Gabriel to stay behind to kill the so-called young Holy Lord before he had a chance to grow. She didn''t realise that the fake story she just came up with was actually the truth!

    "Is that so? In that case, should I wait for him toe out and finish him off while he''s still young?" Gabriel asked, already understanding her intentions.

    "Well, I don''t really hate the idea. But I also don''t like wasting my time waiting." He further stated as he nced toward a particr direction. "While I''m already here waiting, I might as well do something productive."

    Eliana noticed where Gabriel was looking. Her heart skipped a beat as soon as she realized his intentions! The location where Gabriel was looking was the ce where they stored their spirit crystals!

    Last time, Gabriel had already robbed them clean! At least he was still sneaky at that time! But now, he was trying to rob them openly? Her face went pale as she cursed herself for trying to stop him!

 Chapter 378 378: Maya And Gabriel

    Just as Eliana was trying to think of a way to get Gabriel to stop, Gabriel disappeared from her view as if he was never there.

    She looked around to find where Gabriel was, but she couldn''t find him anywhere. That was until she felt his presence behind her. Her face went pale. She hastily turned around.

    As Eliana turned around, she saw Maya standing behind her, still confused. Unlike Eliana, Maya still couldn''t sense anything. She was just shocked to see Eliana turn around so suddenly and Gabriel disappearing.

    Eliana was frozen in her ce, finding a young man standing behind Maya. Gabriel stood silently right behind Eliana. He didn''t speak and just nced at Eliana, as if he was telling her that her protection meant nothing and that he could kill anyone he wanted, as long as he desired!

    From Eliana''s expressions, even Maya realized that something was wrong. She slowly turned around. As she looked back, her face went pale. Her legs went weak as she dropped to her knees in front of Gabriel, as if she couldn''t muster up even a little strength.

    Many memories shed in her mind about their time together. In their childhood, they used to be inseparable and the best of friends, who used tough and cry together. None of them expected that there would be a day like today, especially Maya. Everything changed so fast.

    Gabriel nced down at Maya.

    Eliana wanted to do something, but somehow, she couldn''t gather the courage at the moment. There were just too many students around. If she really started a fight here, the chances of victory were really low. Moreover, in the battle, the lives of the other students were going to be in danger.

    She couldn''t decide if she should fight Gabriel for the life of one student and put the life of the other students in danger, or let Gabriel do as he pleased as long as it saved the life of more students. That way, she could also get him to stay here, protecting their spirit stone reserves.

    Her eyes subconsciously nced at the top ranked name in the tower. The Holy Lord of Light was already on the top floor. For her, it was only a matter of time before the Holy Lord of Light came out. After that, things were much easier for her to settle.

    In her heart, she was quite angry that she had to do this little bastard as he pleased, even going so far as to sacrifice the life of a student in the process. Unfortunately, she had no other option. She had already lost the support of Izen after all. All the responsibilities of the Academy were now on her shoulders.

    "Gabriel, being a Holy Lord, are you really going to go so far as to bully little kids?" After a brief pause, Eliana asked. "You don''t have the courage to face the other Holy Lords, and are turning to bullying the weak?"

    "Lady Eliana, are you sure you have the moral right to say such a thing? Does anyone in this world have the right to say such a thing?" Gabriel asked. "When all the Dark Mages in the Academy were killed in the war, were they killed by other students who had the same strength as them or were they killed by stronger priests from Churches?"

    "You should know the answer to the question as well as I do," he added. His tone was light, but his words were heavy. "The world has never been fair. It''s always been strong, killing the weak, oftentimes for no reason at all."

    It was something he already experienced after all. The moment he had just awakened, he was killed by Hawrin who was much stronger. Harin already knew spells and had the help of his brother who was a student at the academy while he hadn''t even learned a single spell.

    As if that wasn''t all, the entire vige had gathered to kill him when he had awakened the Element of Darkness, being led by the girl before him! If no one considered the strong and the weak at that time, did they really have that right?<novelnext></novelnext>

    "The concept of being strong and weak... The concept of righteous and evil... The concept of fairness in battles... It onlyes into y for you all when you''re the ones who are facing trouble. But when it''s the people you consider enemies, you all just be blind spectators and nothing more. Am I right?"

    There was not a single person in the entire field who dared to respond. They couldn''t even find words to respond after all. Everyone understood that it was always strong killing the weak in this world. There was really no fairness in this world!

    Moreover, even if they could respond, they didn''t dare. The person before them was said to be a Holy Lord that even the Head Teachers were intimidated by!

    "That reminds me..." Gabriel didn''t care what the others thought. In fact, he had already surpassed most people here. His heart was already far above what anyone could imagine. Unfortunately, despite all that, there was still a little sadness in his heart whenever he remembered the past.

    He looked down at Maya who was frozen in her ce. Maya was just an elementary tier mage of water. She couldn''t do anything if the teachers didn''t help her.

    Gabriel went down on one knee before Maya so that he could look straight in her eyes.

    "Am I right?" he asked Maya.

    Maya couldn''t even open her mouth. She didn''t know just what kind of person Gabriel had be now, but she imagined that he wasn''t the same as the person she knew in the past.

    All the stories she heard about him made him out to be a Demon Lord who killed without blinking an eye! It was also said that thest Head Teacher of mes was killed by Gabriel and the other Head Teachers couldn''t do anything to stop him at all!

    "What happened, Senior Sister?" Gabriel asked. His face had no emotions, just like his voice.

    When Maya looked in Gabriel''s eyes, she found them to be quite different than in the past. In the past, Gabriel''s eyes were full of dreams, righteousness and love. But now, his eyes didn''t have a shred of emotion. It was as if he had already be a different person at his core after all the bloodshed.

    Maya waspletely silent.

    Gabriel ced his fingers around the soft cheeks of Maya, gently caressing her face. "Weren''t you going to kill mest time to eradicate the evil from this world?"

    Unfortunately for Maya, his gentle actions didn''t match his bloodthirsty eyes.

 Chapter 379 379: I Love You... And I Hate You!

    Maya couldn''t say anything but her eyes were enough to answer. A stream of tears trickled down her cheeks. It was unclear if Maya was crying because she was scared for her life, or because she was regretting her past decisions but Gabriel didn''t care.

    "What happened?" Gabriel asked. "Don''t tell me you''re taking pity on me by letting me leave with my life today? Don''t worry about me. Be the hero you wanted to be. Right?''

    Maya understood that Gabriel was being sarcastic but she was in no position to answer.

    "You should stop. I know what happened in the past, but you shouldn''t me kids for that. If you were in her ce, you would''ve done the same!"

    Gabriel was talking to Maya when someone intervened, attracting Gabriel''s attention.

    Gabriel nced at the person who had spoken. "Head Teacher of Earth, Rem. It''s been quite some time since west met, hasn''t it?"

    "Leave her. I''ll show you the Storage Room. You can take as many Spirit Stones as you want. Just don''t hurt any student here!" Unlike Eliana who had to think aboutthe Academy''s interests along with the students'' interest, Rem only cared about the students.

    Even if they lost some Spirit Stones, he was fine with it. They could always find ways to get more Spirit Stones but they couldn''t bring a person back to life! He also understood that only Spirit Stones could distract Gabriel at this point.

    Gabriel only smirked in response. He didn''t stand up. There was a smile on his face, but still, Rem had a bad feeling about this. It was as if a Predator was looking at him.

    "I think you have some kind of misunderstanding," Gabriel said.

    The sky above their head was already covered in clouds, as if it was going to rain soon. The wind was already cold, but it felt even colder thanks to Gabriel''s intimidating aura.

    "What misunderstanding?" Rem asked grimly.

    "The misunderstanding that you''re all in control, and that you can give me the Spirit Stones," Gabriel replied. "The truth is that you don''t even have the right to negotiate with me. I can take whenever I want from this Academy and whenever I want! None of you can stop me this time. How can you give me something which is already mine?"

    Many students felt a chill run down their spine, hearing the arrogant tone of Gabriel. Even the teachers couldn''t say anything to Gabriel. Everyone understood that this arrogance wasn''t blind arrogance! In fact, Gabriel had enough strength backing this arrogance! All their lives seemed to be depending on Gabriel''s whims.

    Rem was taken aback by the response. He nced at the other Head Teachers. All of them felt so insulted! Even if Gabriel was strong, he was just too arrogant!

    Eliana gestured for the other Head Teachers to stay silent and not take any action against Gabriel. It was as if she had already surrendered to Gabriel. However, the reality was different.

    Inside her heart, she was already cursing Gabriel with all her might!

    ''If we didn''t have to worry about the other students, do you think you had the right to be so arrogant?! Even if you''re strong, if all of us had worked together, do you think we couldn''t take you down?!'' Eliana looked down at Gabriel in her heart.

    She kept looking back and forth between the Tower and Gabriel, as if waiting for something. '' I''ll see how much longer you can be arrogant!''

    There was a long period of silence in which no one moved or spoke anything at all. The silence was calm yet scary.

    After a long time, Maya finally managed to gather some courage. Her heart was racing and she was scared, but she still opened her lips, "What do you want from me? If you want to kill me, then do it! I won''t resist as long as you promise that you won''t hurt my family after killing me!"

    "I was the one who hurt you! It had nothing to do with my family! I''m willing to pay the price!"

    Maya didn''t think that Gabriel was going to let her live! If he didn''t want to hurt her, why was he even here and not getting the Spirit Stones? To her, it was clear that his end goal was to take her life! Since there was no way out of here alive, she tried to at least save her family.

    "For the sake of all those years that you''ve lived with our family... All the care and love that my family gave you... Give them a path to life!" She eximed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was surprising that even in such a situation, her voice was still loud enough.

    "Their love and care...?" Gabriel repeated. He knew that it was true once upon a time. The family treated them like their own. But that was all in the past... That was all before things changed that day.

    Gabriel subconsciously touched his back where Maya''s mother had stabbed him when he was trying to protect her from Maya''s attack.

    He rubbed his back softly. There were no wounds left on his back. No one could even see any signs of him being hurt there, but for Gabriel, that wound was never going to disappear. It was going to stay there forever.

    "You''re right. I really felt their love and care when I was stabbed in the back."

    Drip~

    The dark clouds in the sky couldn''t contain themselves for longer. A raindrop fell from the sky, right on Gabriel''s hands. Before long, more and more rain drops started falling as the rain intensified.

    The rain droplets were cold and everyone''s clothes were getting wet but none dared to move even a single inch from their ce to look for a shelter.

    Water trickled down Maya''s cheeks, making it impossible to distinguish between ordinary water and her tears. Maya''s entire body was drenched.

    "I felt your love and care even more when you attacked me..." Gabriel''s hand was still on Maya''s cheeks but it slowly moved down.

    Before long, his hands were already on Maya''s throat. Maya felt a chill run down her spine.

    Initially, Gabriel thought that he didn''t care about the past and these insignificant people. He hade very far in his journey but the more he saw Maya, the more he was reminded of the past. He wasn''t as aloof as he thought. There was still anger in his heart which was boiling like moltenva the more he looked at her.

    Gabriel grabbed Maya by her throat and pulled her closer to him.

    From a distance, it even looked as if the two youngsters were tightly hugging each other. However, only the ones with good perception knew the truth.

    Gabriel brought his lips closer to Maya''s ears. Even the sounds of rain couldn''t prevent Maya from hearing what he wanted to say.

    "On ourst day on the roof, there was one thing I wanted to tell you. I wanted to wait until I became stronger before telling you."

    Maya felt as if she was suffocating but she couldn''t free herself. She didn''t even dare ask Gabriel what he wanted to tell her.

    Without even being asked, Gabriel took the initiative on his own. His feelings for Maya were different from what they were in the past before he was stabbed by her. They were moreplicated now!

    Gabriel didn''t want thoseplications anymore! He wanted to kill the old Gabriel! He wanted his past to die along with everything his naive self cared about! And for that, he wanted to tell Maya the thing that his naive self had held on for so long.

    Only by telling her could he end the fate that they had together, forever erasing his old self and take his first step into this new life... A life which had no ce for Maya!

    "I love you..." Gabriel spoke, stunning Maya. However, just before Maya coulde out of her daze, Gabriel continued, "And I hate you..."

    Maya froze in ce.

    "I want to kill you so bad," Gabriel further said. His voice was cold and filled with anger and hate. "I want to destroy you with my own hands and erase every semnce of that past!"

 Chapter 380 380: No Way Out?

    There wasplete silence. Only the sound of rain could be heard by the people in the surroundings. No one knew just what Gabriel said to Maya, but from the looks of it, his rtionship with Maya wasn''t as simple.

    "We need to save her. Her life is in danger," Rem secretly sent a message to Eliana. "We can''t let him do as he pleases."

    Eliana was silent for some time, not reacting right away. After quite some time, she sighed and agreed to do it.

    "Wait a second. Do it on my signal. At that time, I''ll take all the other students to a safe ce. You''ll hold back Gabriel. After a few minutes, I''ll be back."

    The biggest obstruction for her were the students who could easily be coteral damage. She wanted to take all the students back as only she could take them back and return within a few minutes.

    "Alright. Be quick. I am not sure how long he''ll let her live!" Rem clenched his fists, prepared to attack Gabriel. He also sent the same message to the other Head Teachers, telling them the n.

    Eliana closed her eyes, calming her chaotic heart. Izen was already dead! She had to fill the shoes of the Dean now!

    Even though Gabriel didn''t show it on his face, he could notice that the Head Teachers appeared to be ready to attack him. He found it quite amusing.

    ''These people aren''t half bad. To save a student, they''re going to fight me? If only they were as brave in the past.''

    Gabriel was still close to Maya who had prepared herself for the death that was toe. The only thing which she didn''t understandwas why Gabriel didn''t kill her instantly. Instead, it looked as if Gabriel was momentarily distracted by the surroundings.

    Maya mentally prepared herself and opened her eyes. Gabriel was also prepared for what was toe. However, just as the two sides were about to take action, both their expressions changed.

    Something strange happened. The rain... It abruptly stopped. No... That wasn''t it! As Gabriel looked around, he could see that the rain was still as intense as before. It''s just that the rain wasn''t falling over him or the Head Teachers. It was the same for the students!

    Gabriel looked up, frowning. "Wind..."

    As he looked up, he understood what was happening. It wasn''t that the rain had stopped around them. Instead, it was because of some kind of barrier above their heads. And the barrier wasn''t meant for them! It was meant for the two people who were standing mid-air in the sky.

    It was as if one of the two people had cast a barrier to stop rain from touching them. Because they stood above Gabriel and the Head Teachers, the barrier protected the ones below from rain as well.

    Amongst the two people in the sky, Gabriel recognised one! It was the Holy Priestess of Summoning Avilia. As for the other person, he hadn''t seen him before, but he did recognise that person from the description that he heard, and thanks to the barrier that was used in the sky!

    The second person was none other than the Holy Lord of Wind! The most mysterious Holy Lord out of all.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "How strange," the Holy Lord of Wind observed Gabriel. "I can''t sense any aura from you, but at the same time, I can sense that you are no weaker than a Holy Lord."

    "Are you the Holy Lord of Darkness?" he asked as he slowly came down,nding barely a few meters away from Gabriel.

    Avilia had quite aplicated look on her face. She wanted Gabriel to avoid all unnecessary trouble as much as possible. Unfortunately, it was easy for a Holy Lord to sense Gabriel as long as they were in the near vicinity.

    Since she was with the Holy Lord of Wind, she also had to apany him here, even though she already knew what they were going to find. The only thing she could do was try to dy him, but that didn''t work either. And here they were now, right before Gabriel.

    What was even worse was that she couldn''t show she was familiar with Gabriel. Many people knew that she was close to the unseen Holy Lord of Light. At the same time, quite a few knew what Gabriel looked like, and believed him to be the Holy Lord of Darkness.

    If she sided with him at this point, it was going to alert all the other Churches to the point that they could assign even bigger threat to them. Currently, even though they took the Holy Lord of Darkness seriously, they didn''t take him as seriously as they could.

    But if Avilia was thrown in the mix, it was confirmed that they were going to feel even more threatened, to the extent that they were going to leave no stone unturned in their attempt to destroy them.

    Her actions could also make the Holy Lord of Wind guess that Gabriel was also the Holy Lord of Light, which was even worse. The Holy Lord of Wind wasn''t stupid after all.

    To avoid that kind of situation, all she could do was treat Gabriel as a stranger and just watch how the situation developed.

    Gabriel also understood what Avilia was thinking. He didn''t want her to show her favour to him now either. Avilia was more like a spy in the group of the other Holy Lords. He didn''t want this important piece to fall out of his chess board just because of a moment.

    Seeing the two Holy Lords arrive, the Head Teachers couldn''t be any happier! If there were two Holy Lords, they believed even Gabriel couldn''t do anything! It was only a matter of time before the Holy Lord of Light also came out! Today was the day Gabriel died!

    However, before that, they still had to protect the students since they didn''t want Gabriel to use any hostages!

    As Gabriel was distracted by the two Holy Lords, the Head Teachers took advantage of the situation. Eliana disappeared and the next moment, she appeared right before Gabriel. She ced her hand on Maya''s back and the next second, both her and Maya disappeared!

    She didn''t leave with just Maya! She appeared before the other students and cast a flight spell on all of them at the same time, exhausting most of her strength!

    At the same time, all the other Head Teachers surrounded Gabriel from all sides, as if providing backup to the two Holy Lords.

 Chapter 381 381: Can You?

    "Holy Lord of Wind, and Holy Lord of Summoning." Gabriel also stood up. The situation certainly wasn''t ideal, but nothing could be done about it.

    Dealing with a Holy Lord was harder than dealing with a Head Teacher of the Academy, especially if he didn''t want to show all his cards.

    Moreover, it was an open space. Even if he cast a powerful barrier, a Holy Lord probably had enough secrets in his arsenal to be able to destroy the barrier and escape after he realized that winning against Gabriel wasn''t easy.

    Since there was no way to stop the Holy Lord of Wind from running away, that made things somewhat moreplicated, especially since he had to fight Avilia as well to keep up the act and he couldn''t go easy.

    In essence, it was his toughest battle until now.

    "You recognise us. Not bad," the Holy Lord of Wind was somewhat surprised. For even the Holy Lord of Darkness to know what he looked like.

    "You know, I''m curious about one thing though." The Holy Lord of Wind rubbed his chin curiously. "There are some rumors that state that the current generation of the Holy Lord of Darkness is a woman. However, other rumors state that you''re the Holy Lord of Darkness. Are you really the Holy Lord of Darkness?"

    "You''re right. The Holy Lord of Darkness is a woman," Gabriel answered. There was no benefit for him to lie. It only attracted more enmity to him after all. Moreover, it was the first time he saw someone who managed to guess the truth.

    The Holy Lord of Wind nced at Avilia before ncing toward the Tower of Challenge in the distance. It was unclear just what he was thinking about.

    "So you''re not the Holy Lord of Darkness. I don''t believe you''re a subordinate of the Holy Lord of Darkness either. If anything, you''re stronger than her," the Holy Lord of Windmented.

    Gabriel frowned. That guy... So he was still hiding things from him. He knew more than he showed! It was clear at this point!

    "So what you said about hearing the rumors was a lie." From the way the Holy Lord of Wind talked, it was clear that he had already met the Holy Lord of Darkness Lira! In that case, everything he said before was just a test!

    "Who says I can''t hear rumors and meet the real person?" The Holy Lord of Wind smirked. "Though I must say, I''m more interested in you than I''m in her. You''re not the Holy Lord of Darkness. And you''re as strong as us. Moreover, even I can''t sense just what element you use. Let me guess..."

    The smirk only widened as the Holy Lord of Wind furthermented, "You''re the masked person who attacked the Holy Church of mes, aren''t you?"

    "That means, your element is... the long lost ancient Element of Necromancy!"

    ...

    Silence. For a moment, there was only silence everywhere. Even Avilia was stunned. Just how did this guy find out? He managed to decipher the answer just based on the little pieces of information he had? Even she wasn''t capable of something like that!

    Gabriel wasn''t any less surprised either! The Holy Lord of Wind... He was dangerous! For the most part, his enemies were in the light while Gabriel hunted them from the darkness! It was the first time where another Holy Lord came down to the Darkness to reveal his reality!

    What was even worse was that he spoke it openly. Even the Head Teachers of the Academy heard what he said! Even Eliana who just returned heard what the Holy Lord of Light said which shocked her!<novelnext></novelnext>

    She hadn''t heard about the Element of Necromancy in her life, but from what the man''s tone implied, this Element was powerful and never seen before!

    "No wonder he was strong enough to escape from us. This Element of Necromancy... It allows him to use other Elements freely?!"

    Eliana didn''t know what the element actually did. In her mind, the Element of Necromancy was like a Cloning Element which allowed a mage to use the abilities of other Elements! She had already seen him use the Element of Light and the Element of Darkness after all!

    "If this is true, then his strength..." Eliana looked grim. If her guess was right, then Gabriel was more threatening than she guessed. Fortunately, the two other Holy Lords were here to kill him! She could finally rx a little! If Gabriel died, there was no threat anymore!

    Gabriel hadn''t used the Element of Necromancy in the open for the most part. His aura was hidden and so was his mask. Moreover, it''s been so long since someone saw his element! Then how was the man able to guess? That was the question in his head.

    "Did Lira tell you?" He asked the Holy Lord of Wind.

    There were only three people other than Avilia who knew about his Element of Necromancy! One was Lira, the other was Lambard and the third was Lambard''s maid!

    Lambard was a turtle who wasn''t going to leave his city. As for the maid, that was out of the question as well. The only one who was left was Lira! Not only did she have an enmity with him, but she was also the one who met with him.

    "It doesn''t matter how I know, does it?" The Holy Lord of Wind shrugged. "What matters is what can you do about this? The Holy Lord of mes will burn you alive if he finds out that you were the one who messed with him. As for the others..."

    The Holy Lord of Wind didn''t finish his sentence. His implication was clear.

    "The world is wary of the unknown," Avilia chimed in. "If this news spreads, you will be the first target of everyone... And a hunt will begin... A hunt like never before... A hunt that will put even thest Holy Wars, where the Dark Mages were wiped out, to shame."

    It was as if Avilia was talking to herself, but in reality, she was reminding Gabriel without revealing herselfpletely.

    "What if I killed everyone here?" Gabriel asked as he stopped holding back his aura.

    The aura which was like a tsunami engulfed the entire Academy, flooding it!

    The Holy Lord of Wind felt the power aura, but he wasn''t even frowning.

    "Hahahah!" Instead of worrying, the Holy Lord startedughing. "Incredible! So this is the aura of Necromancy! Truly incredible!"

    "You''re right. If you killed me, no one would know. But can you?"

 Chapter 382 382: Dangerous

    After a brief period of silence, the HolyLord of Wind further continued, "It''s not that I''m underestimating you. Instead, it''s you who is overestimating himself."

    The Holy Priest of Wind, known as Yael wasn''t known to be arrogant like the Holy Lord of mes. However, his words were filled with such confidence that even Gabriel was forced to think twice.

    He didn''t know what Yael was truly capable of. Attacking Yael was quite troublesome, especially since fighting Yael right now meant fighting Avilia as well. His Necromancy relied on his summons. Simrly, Avilia could summon her beasts to keep Gabriel back. It was aplicated equation.

    Another problem was that Gabriel couldn''t stop Yael from leaving without Avilia''s help which seemed unlikely for now.

    In the end, Gabriel decided to take a decision which he didn''t prefer. He nced back toward the Tower of Challenges leaderboard before ncing back at the two Holy Lords.

    "Two Holy Lords before me, and a third one inside the Tower. It looks like you all are really prepared," Gabriel eximed, shaking his head lightly. "Too bad I don''t have time to y around."

    Since things were soplicated here, Gabriel let it be. He already had to go to the Tomb and didn''t have much time. Let alone the fact that he didn''t want to dy himself, but even if he did, the chances of sessfully killing Yael were almost nil especially since the Element of Wind was known for its speed.

    A dark mist surrounded Gabriel, slowly covering him from all sides.

    "Don''t worry. Sooner orter, I''ll definitelye to you to continue this conversation." Gabriel''s voice came from inside the mist.

    Yael understood what Gabriel was trying to do. However, for some reason, he didn''t try to stop Gabriel either. Just like Gabriel knew that he couldn''t kill Yael or prevent him from escaping if things went south, Yael knew he couldn''t kill Gabriel...

    He just remained where he was, watching the mist engulf Gabriel. By the time the mist disappeared, nothing was there! Gabriel had disappeared and he was nowhere to be found.

    The two Holy Lords didn''t react to his disappearance. On the other hand, the Head Teachers of the Academy were fuming deep in their hearts! After so much trouble, they had managed to hold Gabriel back! They were in such a perfect situation to be able to kill him with two Holy Lords, but the Holy Lords allowed him to escape?!

    "Holy Lord of Wind, Holy Lord of Summoning!'' Eliana red at the two Holy Lords. "How can you allow evil to escape?! Do you know how much trouble he can cause if he gets even stronger?!"

    Yael turned to Eliana. Before Eliana could even blink, Yael appeared right before her, covering over ten meters of distance in an instance.

    Eliana was stunned to suddenly find Yael before him. She subconsciously took a step back and fell on the ground.

    Yael looked down at Eliana. With a simple wave of his hand, gentle winds started flowing which pulled Eliana up.

    It was as if Eliana was caught by the shackles of the wind, floating mid-air!

    "Holy Lord Yael, what are you doing?!" Rem stepped forth. Unfortunately, he had only taken a step forward when an explosion took ce, sending him flying back.

    "It seems you all forgot who you''re talking to."A cold glint shed in Yael''s eyes as he looked around like he was looking at ants. He was a calm and calcting person, but that didn''t mean he was a hero of justice.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I''m neither your servant, nor your ve. I''m not obligated to do anything for you. Next time you talk to me in that tone, or try to teach me what I should''ve done, all your heads would be rolling on the ground..."

    With a snap of his fingers, the winds that were holding onto Eliana disappeared, making Eliana fall on the ground with a thud.

    Yael didn''t speak further. With his hands behind his back, he started walking away as if he was a surreal otherworldly expert. What was surprising was that he wasn''t walking on the ground. Instead, he was walking on the air like it was his morning walk.

    Avilia also flew up, leaving distressed mages of the Academy behind, who had never felt this insulted before! Izen was dead and now everyone was treating them like they were nothing but trash!

    For the people who were used to standing on an equal footing with the Church thanks to Izen,falling so far was even worse. They were nothing in the eyes of the Church without Izen!

    "It''s all because of him!" Eliana clenched her teeth, looking at the top rank on the leadership board.

    ****

    The Holy Lord of Wind left the City, not dwelling there further. In fact, it was already the longest he had stayed in Lumen City. Initially, he was here to meet the Holy Lord of Light after sending the magic of the Holy Grimoire of Light.

    However, now that he was leaving, he believed he had gained more than he expected! There was some new information that he managed to decipher.

    "What do you think of Gabriel?" Yael flew out of the City with Avilia who was more or less keeping an eye on him to make sure he actually left.

    "He''s strong," Avilia answered, not telling more than she had to.

    "That''s for certain. There aren''t many people who can use three elements after all," the Holy Lord of Wind responded. "It would''ve been surprising if he wasn''t strong."

    "Huh?" Avilia was stunned. Even though she expected Yael to know a few things about Gabriel, what he knew from just one meeting surpassed what most others knew. She couldn''t help but have a bad feeling about this.

    She realised one thing. Yael was a dangerous person.

    Avilia thought about attacking and killing Yael to avoid any future troubles while she still had a chance.

    "Are you thinking about attacking me to protect the secret of yourso-called husband?" Unfortunately, before she could do anything, Yael further said, "Before you decide to attack me, let me remind you that I''m carrying Prison of Teiri with me. The moment you attack me, I''ll have no choice but to imprison you."

    Avilia went silent and didn''t attack. Shock was clearly visible on her face though. The Prison of Teiri was a Numen on the same tier as the City of Abadon that helped Lambard before a leader of his generation!

    Unlike the City of Abadon which was a defensive Numen, the Prison of Teiri was something that was purely for offence and capturing the enemy! It could easily be carried by the owner unlike the City of Abadon. It was a dangerous Numen! She couldn''t believe that it was with Yael! This man... He was more dangerous than she thought!

 Chapter 383 383: His Existence...

    None of the two Holy Priests stopped moving. However, both of them seemed to have their guard up.

    "When did you get the Prison? Wasn''t it lost ever since thest Holy War?" Avilia inquired. As far as she remembered, the Prison of Teiri was an item that was kept by the Holy Church of Darkness.

    Many forces wanted this Numen after the war ended but no one could find it at all.

    "After thest Holy War," Yael replied. Now that he already told about the existence of the Prison, there was no need for him to hide it. In any case, he didn''t believe that Avilia could tell the other Holy Lords since her own secrets were much worse.

    "So the Church of Wind got the Prison in thest Holy War and kept it a secret from the others?! You''re all pretty good at acting!"

    "We just don''t believe in showing off," Yael shruggedzily.

    "Why didn''t you use the prison on Gabriel though?" Avilia asked. If Yael had something like that, he could definitely hold back Gabriel for a short while until the backup arrived. It didn''t make sense as to why he didn''t use it. Unless...

    "You didn''t want to stop him in the first ce?" Avilia frowned. "Why?"

    She couldn''t understand just what Yael was nning and why he didn''t take action before. Moreover, why was he telling her now?

    Yael slowed down and nced back at Avilia. "Because I don''t have to do anything at all. He''ll die even if I don''t lift a finger. His existence... There''s a reason why no one inherited this Element for centuries. You''ll know soon enough..."

    "I hope you don''t throw your life away for him when the timees. It would be such a waste..." The Holy Lord of Wind stepped out of the City, finally leaving the ce.

    Avilia was left inside the city, lost in thought. The words seemed to imply a lot of things which even she found hard to understand. Just what did Yael know that she didn''t? And how was it that he wasn''t surprised even after knowing that Gabriel controlled three elements? It was as if... That wasn''t Surprising at all?

    "The reason Necromancy had disappeared thousands of years ago?" Avilia frowned. No matter how she thought about it, she couldn''t guess the reason. Necromancy was the most mysterious element after all. There weren''t many mentions of it. Even some of the Holy Lords hadn''t heard of that Element in the past, let alone knowing the mysteries behind it!

    Avilia didn''t know what Yael knew. However, she understood one thing. She had unintentionally gotten involved in something that was far beyond the understanding of this world.

    Yael disappeared into the distance while Avilia went back to the Church of Light to find Gabriel.

    When she reached the Church of Light, she was informed that Gabriel wasn''t there. He hadn''t returned ever since he leftst time.

    Avilia stood before the entrance of the Church, slightly concerned. Gabriel had left the Academy. However, he wasn''t in the city? Then where did he go? How could he disappear like that?

    Since she couldn''t sense him, she assumed that Gabriel was inside the Church. If that wasn''t the case, that meant that Gabriel was already far away from her.

    "Did he go back to Arecia on his own?"

    Since Gabriel wasn''t there, Avilia also summoned her Majestic Eagle and left the Lumen City, going back to Arecia.

    ****<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was the second time Gabriel had arrived in Lumen City, and both times, he affected the Academy of Elements in a way that made it look as if he had some enmity with the Academy.

    None in the Academy knew that Gabriel didn''t even know anyone in the academy to that extent, let alone having an enmity. If only the Academy knew that Gabriel just wanted to look into a mirror at this academy this time and they lost their Dean for no reason, it was unknown just how much blood they would''ve coughed!

    Leaving great devastation behind, Gabriel had left the City. However, he didn''t directly leave. After he left Yael and Avilia, he hadn''t left the Academy. Instead, he had gone to their storage!

    The Academy still didn''t know that all their Spirit Stones were once again robbed. Only a single spirit stone was left behind in the storage!

    By the time the Head Teachers found out, Gabriel had already gone far away!

    ****

    Gabriel travelled all alone this time. He was somewhat missing travelling on a summoned Eagle since that was easier and morefortable. Sitting on the eagle, he could also train without having to focus on the other things.

    Unfortunately, Avilia was with Yael and he didn''t want to wait for her to get rid of Yael. He was already in a hurry!

    After training in the tower, his spells of Light had improved once again. He also managed to increase his flight speed, which wasn''t much lower than the speed of Avilia''s eagle now.

    Gabriel flew all alone in the sky during the day, only resting at night in the small cities that he could find. As far as the money was concerned, he didn''tck any either!

    On his journey, he also saw many other people who were travelling in the same direction as him. Most of the people were Royals from various Empires! The Empires which were wealthy enough used Spirit Beasts to take their heirs to the Tomb. As for the less wealthy ones, they used luxurious carriages!

    One thing was certain! All these heirs were doted by their families! There was not a single heir of any Empire who wasn''t escorted by a powerful mage from their Empire!

    The escorting mages weren''t as strong as the Head Priests, but they were much stronger than the ordinary Priests!

    It was the second night of Gabriel''s journey when hended in the city to spend the night there.

    After finding a good hotel, he went straight inside and ced a spirit crystal on the table of the receptionist.

    "I''ll take a room for the night."

    The receptionist looked at the spirit stone. His eyes lit up! The man before him was certainly wealthy! A spirit stone was enough for a person to spend ten days in that hotel after all!

    "Young Sir, you''re really lucky. We only have one room left here. You''re just in time!" The receptionist turned around but just as he was about to pick the key, there were many shocked exmations in the hall.

    "The Royal Family of Yann is here!"

 Chapter 384 384: Did He Go Too Far?

    The loud announcement stunned many people in the hotel. Even the receptionist stopped paying attention to Gabriel while still holding the key in his hand. He looked toward the door.

    Amongst the existing Empires, Yann Empire was in the top five when it came to strength. It couldn''t bepared to smaller Empires at all, which was also why more attention was paid to them.

    Despite so many Royals passing through this town and staying here, the news about the Yann Empire''s arrival was still shocking.

    The receptionist rushed out from behind the counter and ran to the door to greet the Nobles. For him, even though Gabriel was rich, he wasn''t a Royal since he wasn''t apanied by an entourage. Apanying the Yann Empire guests was more important!

    Not long after the announcement, two youngsters entered the hotel. One of the two was a young man in histe twenties while the other was a young woman who was much younger.

    The two youngsters were dressed in noble attire and were apanied by multiple guards. Most of their guards were high tier mages. It was hard for even strong Empires to dispatch so many high tier mages to apany the youngsters. However, for some reason, Yann didn''t hesitate.

    "The man in the lead, isn''t that the Crown Prince of Yann? Even he, the future Emperor,came? Incredible!"

    "Look next to him, that''s Princess Xin, his younger sister! She''s just as beautiful as the rumors stated!"

    "Shhh, are you looking to die?! If their guards heard you, you would die!"

    Many people in the hall had already started gossiping as soon as they saw the arrival of two new guests. Thanks to their discussion, Gabriel had some ideas as to who had arrived.

    Amongst the two guests, there was one name which he found quite familiar. He turned around, ncing at the two Royals at the entrance who were surrounded by guards.

    The Royals hadn''t noticed him, but he could see them clearly. Just as he expected, the Princess was none other than the little girl that gave him the key to the tomb to save her life!

    "Protect the key and if possible, don''t give the key to others this time! You have no idea how much our father had to pay to buy this key for you from the other Empire!" The Prince reminded the young princess, as if he was worried about something.

    "Brother, stop talking as if I''m an idiot who goes around giving my precious items to others!" The Princess rolled her eyes. "I already told you what happened! I had no choice but to hand over the key to save my life! I''m lucky that I''m even alive right now!"

    The young prince opened his lips to reply but before he could say anything, the Receptionist approached them.

    "Wee Guests. Please tell me how many rooms you need! I''ll arrange it right away!"

    "Give us seven rooms." The Prince told the receptionist before gesturing to the guards to pay the man.

    The leading guard brought out a small bag which was filled with spirit stones and handed it over to the receptionist.

    Seeing so many Spirit Stones, the receptionist was amazed. His respect for the Royals increased even more.

    He hastily rushed back to the counter and brought out six more keys from the drawer. Adding the six keys with the one he already had in his hand, there were a total of seven!

    Gabriel was somewhat surprised. The man had just told him that there was only one room left but in reality, there were seven left at that time? His selling tactics weren''t half bad.

    The receptionist held the seven keys in his hand but before going back to the Royals again, he handed over one spirit stone back to Gabriel.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I''m sorry sir but we don''t have any rooms left. Please try elsewhere." After cing Gabriel''s spirit stone back on the table before him, he rushed out.

    "Huh?" The receptionist had just taken a step out when he froze in ce. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn''t move a step. It was as if some mysterious force was holding him in his ce.

    Stunned, he looked around but couldn''t understand what was happening! The Royals and the guards were standing before the stairs, waiting for the keys. The other guests were also in the distance! Only Gabriel was near him but even he wasn''t looking at him!

    Gabriel''s back was toward the man while he stood silently just like before, looking at the single piece of spirit stone on the table.

    "What is happening to me? Why can''t I move?" The receptionist''s heart started beating fast. His entire body was covered in fear. It was clear that some mage was having fun with him!

    "Your Majesty!" He called out to the Prince in the distance. It was clear that some mage was messing with him secretly and only the Royals could help him!

    Unfortunately, just as he called out to the Royals in the distance, Gabriel raised his hand toward the receptionist.

    The mysterious force intensified even more. The receptionist''s body flew back toward Gabriel. His neck flew straight into Gabriel''s hand, only for him to be thrashed on the table right next to the ce where he kept Gabriel''s spirit stone.

    Gabriel''s grip around the man''s neck tightened as he looked down at the man. "I don''t think I asked you to give me a Spirit Stone."

    The receptionist gulped down, feeling extremely scared. He wasn''t a mage so he didn''t know about the strength of the other people. He never expected Gabriel to be this strong!

    Gabriel was busy with the receptionist but the Prince was also getting irritated by the wait for the keys.

    "Did that idiot forget to give us a key?" The Prince frowned. He pointed toward one of his powerful guards. "You, get the keys for us. And don''t forget to teach that man a lesson for dying us!"

    "Yes, Your Majesty!" The Guard left swiftly.

    "The people of this town are so stupid. They can''t even do one thing right. Making me wait? They''re lucky I''m in a good mood today and won''t have them killed by my guards!" The Crown Prince sighed. No matter how he spoke, the arrogance in his eyes was impossible to hide!

    ? The Prince closed his eyes, expecting to hear the cries of the receptionist when he was beaten by his guards for dying them. However, something strange happened!

    The Prince felt a sudden gust of wind sh past him.

    Thud~

    The next second, he heard a loud noise which forced him to open his eyes.

    "Did he go too far and kill the receptionist?" The Prince opened his eyes and looked behind him, expecting it to be the receptionist who was thrashed.

    Unfortunately,as soon as he looked back, his eyes widened! The wall behind him was broken and it was his guard who was lying in the rubble, bleeding from all his orifices!

 Chapter 385 385: My Lover

    The Prince was stunned and so was the Princess and the other guards. Even though the guard that the Crown Prince sent wasn''t the strongest in the group, he was still strong enough to deal with people in this small town!

    For someone to not only attack him but to defeat him so badly, it was clear that the person wasn''t a resident of this town. As there were so many Royal Families in this town at the moment, the Crown Prince''s first assumption was that it was the work of the guards of some other Empire!

    "For another Empire to dare attack my people?!" The Prince roared. "Who dares?!"

    "Does it matter who dares? We just have to kill them all! Let their Empire know what happens when you mess with us!" Princess Xin eximed, just as angry as the Prince. For their people to be attacked like that, it was insulting!

    All the guards who had surrounded the Prince and the Princess to protect them were forced to move aside by the Prince.

    "Let me see which bastard is so courageous!" The Prince eximed, looking straight ahead.

    Strangely enough, there wasn''t any big group in the hall. It was hard to associate anyone else in this hall with the Royals...

    "That man!" The Princess pointed ahead, noticing Gabriel in the distance whose back was facing her! She could also see that the man was holding the receptionist by his neck! It was clear that the man had something to do with what happened!

    "It must be him!" The Princess eximed. "All of you, go and teach him a lesson!''

    Princess Xin had already suffered a defeatst time in a small vige. She was already extremely embarrassed because of that. However, she didn''t take it too seriously since that defeat was at the hands of the dark mages. But to think that even strangers in this small town dared to do such a thing?

    "You! Kneel down before His Majesty!" All the Guards stepped forward. They were all ready to attack Gabriel at the same time.

    Gabriel tossed the receptionist aside before turning around. A strange smile was on his lips which for some reason made everyone in the hall feel as if something was wrong.

    "You want me to kneel down before you?" Gabriel asked, turning around and revealing his face.

    Most people didn''t think much of his face other than understanding that the man looked quite handsome but that was it.

    "Young Man, kneel down! Don''t offend the Royals! Keeping your life is more important!''

    "That''s right! It''s not the time to be arrogant!"

    The nearby spectators also couldn''t stay out of it as they all started telling Gabriel to kneel down. It was unclear if they were telling it because they actually wanted Gabriel to save his life, or because they were just trying to be on the good side of the Royals.

    "The kid looks so weak! How can he defeat one of us?!" One of the guards eximed. "He must''ve used some sneak attack! What a vile man!"

    Since the guard who was trashed by Gabriel was already Unconscious, he couldn''t tell the others what actually happened. Moreover, everyone happened so fast that the others didn''t even see anything until they heard the thrashing sound.

    Most of the people believed Gabriel used a sneak attack since he didn''t look any older than twenty. There was no way for Gabriel to be as strong as a Royal Guard.

    Even the Crown Prince was looking down at Gabriel.

    "And here I thought there was some powerful mage who wanted to go against us," the Prince eximed in disappointment. "It''s just a little boy using vile tricks to show off.''

    "All of you, since he doesn''t know how to kneel and ask for forgiveness, break his legs and make him kneel." The Princemanded his men.

    Since the Prince and the others were so focused on Gabriel in the distance, they didn''t notice the weird expression of Princess Xin. The Princess was covered in sweat as if she was remembering something really tragic.

    The same kind of fear that she feltst time once again engulfed her as if she was back into the moment where her entire army was wiped in one attack and her own life was on the line! The man before her... He was him!<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Princess'' face was already pale. She opened her lips multiple times to stop her men, but no words came out of her mouth, as if she had already lost her voice in fear.

    Her heart was thumping the more she looked at Gabriel. There were many thoughts in her mind! She knew she couldn''t tell the others that Gabriel was the same dark mage who had destroyed their entire army! She didn''t know how Gabriel was going to react to that after all!

    If Gabriel didn''t want others to know that he was a dark mage and she told them, she believed he was going to kill them all to keep a secret! However, if she didn''t do anything and her men attacked him, they were going to be killed as well! In both options, they were going to die!

    Her mind was so chaotic that she couldn''t think of anything at all. She couldn''te up with any ideas to stop her men. It was as if her mind was in short circuit at the moment.

    She saw her men about to attack Gabriel. There was no time and since she couldn''t speak, she could only take some actions of her own to stop her men from attacking!

    Through normal means, she couldn''t stop her brother from attacking! The guards also listened to her brother and not her. To stop them from attacking, she saw only one option.

    She rushed out, running straight to Gabriel.

    The guards who were just about to attack to break Gabriel''s legs stopped abruptly, scared that if they attacked, they might identally hurt Gabriel.

    "What are you doing?" Even the Crown Prince was stunned.

    It was the same for Gabriel who saw the Princess running toward him. He was clear that the Princess wasn''t going to attack him. She knew better than to be so stupid. However he didn''t understand why she was running to him.

    Before he could think of a reason, the Princess stopped before Gabriel. She stood before Gabriel, facing her brother.

    "No one is allowed to attack him!" She eximed, stretching her arms. Finally she had managed to regain her voice.

    "Why? Do you know him?" The Prince frowned. "Even if it''s the case, it doesn''t matter! This isn''t a yground. It doesn''t matter if you know him. Even if he''s your friend, he attacked our people! But for your sake, I won''t kill him! I''ll just have his legs broken and then he''ll be healedter!"

    The Prince didn''t care even if Gabriel was a friend of Xin. It was about the reputation of the Royals after all.

    The Princess felt so angry. She was trying to save her brother and the others but they were still being so stupid. She clenched her fist. If being friends wasn''t enough, she came up with a new way to stop her brother!

    "He''s my boyfriend!" She eximed, but even having the slightest bit of embarrassment in her face.

    If a friend wasn''t enough to save Gabriel, she just had to show a stronger rtionship to sway her brother. No matter how arrogant and short sighted her brother was, there was no way he could attack the person she was in love with! She knew her brother well enough!

    "Xin, stop joking to save your friend. It''s impossible for you to have a lover and not tell me!" The Crown Prince eximed, seeing right through.

    Xin bit her lower lip. Her mind was already short circuit since she could already imagine the scene where her brother and everyone in the hall was dead! No matter what, she had to stop her brother without revealing Gabriel''s true identity! She had to convince him!

    She turned to Gabriel. Her brother definitely wasn''t going to believe her words at this time. Even though she knew she was being stupid, for the sake of her family and the others, she didn''t think too much.

    She moved closer to Gabriel who was still confused as to what the woman was trying to do. Was she really stupid? Since when did he be her boyfriend? Did she lose her mind after hisst interaction with her? There were so many questions in his mind.

    "Sorry." While Gabriel was still lost in his thoughts, trying to make sense of the situation, he smelled a sweet fragrance as the woman came even closer to him.

    Everyone who was present there had their eyes wide open as they saw what happened next. The Princess'' lips were touching Gabriel''s lips.

    Even the Crown Prince couldn''t believe his own eyes. He could only scratch his temple, wondering if she was telling the truth. There was no way she was going to kiss a friend just to save someone after all.

 Chapter 386 386: The Goal?

    Everyone in the hall saw the Princess kiss Gabriel out of nowhere. However, none knew the truth.

    Princess Xin suddenly rushed forward to kiss Gabriel only to find her body frozen in ce as her lips were about to touch Gabriel''s. It was as if some mysterious force was holding her in her ce, making her unable to do anything.

    From the back, it indeed looked as if the Princess was embracing and kissing Gabriel but only she and Gabriel knew the truth.

    Gabriel didn''t let Xine close to him without taking precautions. He had already ced some safety mechanisms in ce to prevent any sneak attacks.

    The Princess'' lips were so close to Gabriel that he could even feel her warm breath on his face.

    "What do you think you''re doing?" Gabriel asked with a heavy frown.

    "Trying to prevent a battle." Xin couldn''t move her body yet she could at least speak.

    It didn''t matter how scared she was of Gabriel or how amazed she was at his unique abilities. Since she had already taken this step to prevent the battle, she had no other choice.

    Gabriel didn''t understand what she meant. How did her attempt to kiss her save a battle? If she really wanted to save her brother, there were way better methods.

    "I don''t need you to stop battles for me." Gabriel took a step back. Xin was free from the restriction and she was allowed to move.

    To the others, it instead looked as if the two were finally done with their long kiss and were finally stopping their public disy of affection.

    "That man, no wonder he wasn''t scared of the Royal Guards. He already made the Princess fall for him!"

    "What a lucky man!"

    Some spectators were praising Gabriel''s luck since he was in a rtionship with the Princess while the others were jealous of him.

    Gabriel didn''t care what others thought. He didn''t need the support of a Princess to achieve his goals. He already had an Empire of his own after all? What Prince? What Princess? He was the Emperor!

    He picked up one of the seven keys on the table, leaving the six keys for the others before leaving.

    The Princess remained behind, not knowing what to do next. She had just pretended that Gabriel was her boyfriend and the man left without any reaction. If the truth was out, her brother was definitely going to find him!

    "Cough, look what you did! You made him so angry that he doesn''t even want to talk to me!" The Princess was riding a tiger and now she had to keep that y up. She couldn''t tell the others the truth until she was back in Yann.

    She exined the ignorance of Gabriel as him being angry with her because of her brother and the ones who attacked him.

    The Prince was standing in his ce. His jaws were dropped and he didn''t even know how to react.

    ''Wasn''t she also the one who asked the guards to beat the man up before realizing who he was? Now she''s ming me? What did I even do?'' The Crown Prince could only scratch the back of his hand.

    No matter how fierce or arrogant he was, it was also true that he doted on his sister for the most part. If she truly loved the man, he wasn''t going to make her upset.

    He walked closer to his sister and patted her head lightly. "Don''t worry. No one can stay angry with my cute little sister. I''ll apologize to him. Come."

    "Argh." The Princess didn''t know what to do. Gabriel had finally left. There was no need to approach that cmity again! Unfortunately she couldn''t tell her brother that. "T-there''s no need. He''s a little shy! I''ll talk to him myself. Just stay out of it and don''t get close to him. I''ll bring him to you myself when he''s ready."

    ****

    Gabriel was already in his room, having no idea that he was already made out to be a shy man who was the future son inw of the Yann Empire.

    He closed the door of his room from inside and straight went for a shower. It was alreadyte at night and he wanted to sleep after the shower and leave early in the morning.

    ****

    "Go ahead. What are you waiting for?"

    The Prince stood near Gabriel''s room, poking the shoulders of his sister, telling her to knock.

    Even as the Princess tried to convince him that Gabriel was shy, the Prince didn''t let her do as she pleased. He also wanted to meet with his future brother inw and brought Xin with him to introduce the two.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Don''t worry. I''m sure he won''t be upset. Who can stay angry with my cute little sister for long?" The Prince further motivated Xin.

    At the moment, only the two of them were there to show their sincerity. The Crown Prince had already left their guards behind in the distance.

    Xin''s heart was racing. In her eyes, Gabriel was a ruthless dark mage who could kill without blinking an eye. What if she identally annoyed him bying here and she was killed along with her brother?

    Unfortunately, there was no way out. She couldn''t tell her brother that she was lying before. If that happened, she knew her brother was going to make things even harder for Gabriel.

    Seeing his sister still hesitate, the Crown Prince took the lead himself and knocked on the door before stepping back and pushing his sister ahead. "No need to thank me."

    The Princess felt her face turn red in anger. What thanks? She was instead cursing her brother for being so dense. She wanted to run from there but couldn''t.

    Gabriel was still in the shower when he heard the knocking on the door. He ignored the knock for the first time, but when there was a second knock, he decided to check who it was.

    He stepped out of the shower and donned his clothes before opening the door.

    Opening the door, Gabriel noticed a young man and a young woman standing outside.

    "What are you doing here again?"

    "W-we..." The Princess initially stuttered but before she could finish her sentence, she froze, noticing Gabriel''s expressions change. She grew scared that he was displeased.

    She didn''t know that she wasn''t the reason behind Gabriel''s surprise. It was just that Gabriel sensed the same presence and that presence wasing from inside the room.

    Frowning, he turned around. When he entered the room, he was all alone, but currently, there was another person in the room. The window was also open now, making it evident that the second person entered through the window.

    Gabriel left the Princess at the door and walked back to his room.

    "Well, he''s quite an odd one," the Crown Prince smiled wryly seeing Gabriel''s bizarre behaviour but he didn''t think too much. He held his sister''s shoulder and entered the room with her.

    As Gabriel hadn''t closed the door, to them it seemed as if he was telling them toe inside. The Crown Prince just thought that Gabriel was shy like the Prince described.

    Gabriel walked back to the room, and found a youngdy, lying on the bedzily.

    Thedy had a small fruit in her hand which she was eating while lying in bed.

    "Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to find you? You ran without even waiting for me," the youngdy eximed. She was none other than the Holy Priestess of Summoning.

    "How can you abandon your poor wife like that?" She sarcastically stated as in the eyes of many people they were husband and wife, even though in reality, they weren''t even that close.

    "Isn''t my wife the one who left me alone at the Church and disappeared, only toe back with an enemy?" Gabriel responded, shaking his head lightly.

    "Is my husband angry at me?" Avilia jokingly stated,ughing charmingly. "Anyway, this time I came here to talk to you about that. There''s something important that I need to tell you."

    Avilia just finished speaking when she noticed that two more people had entered the room, looking at her in a daze, especially the Crown Prince.

    "Wife? Husband?" The Crown Prince frowned. "This cheating bastard? He already has a wife yet he made my sister his girlfriend?"

    He couldn''t believe his eyes. The boy that his sister loved was a cheater?

    "Your sister is his girlfriend?" Avilia couldn''t help butugh. She didn''t believe this in the slightest but she still found this whole thing interesting.

    She stood up and observed the Princess. "It seems my husband really found a beautiful concubine."

    "When he told me that he was going to make a harem of hundreds of beautifuldies, I thought he wasing. Who knew he was being serious and already started."

    Gabriel''s face twitched uncontrobly. What hundred people harem? What nonsense was she spouting?!

 Chapter 387 387: Lecherous Man!

    Gabriel knew that Avilia was just messing with him but the Prince took her seriously. Even the Princess'' face turned slightly red. The man she thought to be so serious was really a person who wanted hundreds of wives? And he really was after her?

    She didn''t know why, but she was somewhat happy to think that Gabriel was actually interested in her.

    When Gabriel stopped her from kissing him, even though she was relieved that she didn''t have to kiss Gabriel, she was also somewhat upset.

    She was considered a beauty matter wherever she went. Despite that, she waspletely ignored by Gabriel which made her feel somewhat ufortable especially since it was her first time where she was about to kiss someone.

    Other than being a Dark Mage, she couldn''t find any ws in Gabriel after all. He was a beautiful man and attractive enough.

    "Y-you lecherous man!" The Prince was so furious that it looked as if he was about to cough out blood. "You were ying with my sister''s heart?! I''ll kill you!"

    The Prince was so angry that without thinking twice, he was about to attack Gabriel. His sister was such a nice person that whoever she married was going to be heaven''s chosen!

    She also had the Yann Empire''s backing! And after all that, the man dared to think of her as a second wife?! And even after all that, he wasn''t satisfied and was nning to marry hundreds more?!

    "Brother, that''s enough!" Xin was really regretting her decision to bring her brother here. Unfortunately, before she could even react, the Prince attacked!

    He has had enough! Not only did the man belittled their Empire by attacking his people, but he also insulted his sister? Even if his sister liked the man, he wasn''t going to let her marry such a lecherous man!

    ? "That''s enough." Gabriel has had enough. He was not in the mood to y around with the two idiots who were instigated by Avilia.

    With a single wave of his hand, a mysterious force pushed the Prince back. The Prince''s body was flung back, making him fall outside the room.

    The guards who were standing in the hallway in the distance were shocked to find their Prince on the ground in the hallway. They rushed straight to their Prince.

    "You get out as well. This is myst warning. Whoever enters my room will be killed!" Gabriel also sent the Princess outside before closing the door.

    It was only then that he turned to Avilia. "Have you had enough fun? Can you stop ying around?"

    "If people don''t y around, won''t the world be boring?" Avilia chuckled. "Anyway, what''s the deal with that stupid man? Did you really fall for his sister?"

    "He''s just an idiot," Gabriel responded before briefly exining what happened here.

    "So that''s how it is. And here I thought you finally fell in love. It seems this poor wife was getting jealous for no reason." Avilia sighed as sheid back on the bed again, feeling somewhat tired after the long journey to find Gabriel.

    Because of the thing that happened in the Holy Region of Light, the shadow which she left on Gabriel''s trail was destroyed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    After that, she tried to assign a shadow again but for some reason, none of her shadows could get even close to Gabriel as if there was something mysterious about him ever since he came back from the Holy Region which was intimidating even her shadows.

    It was because of that, she failed to keep track of Gabriel and had to employ other less effective ways to find him. It took her quite some time and effort but she finally seeded and was tired now.

    "I don''t care how much you y around. But your games are starting to affect me. Since you instigated that stupid Prince, you will deal with him. I don''t care how you do it. I am not in the mood to kill them."

    Gabriel understood that the Prince was somewhat stupid when it came to his sister. He wasn''t wrong to be angry either after hearing what he heard.

    Even the sister wasn''t entirely wrong since she was trying to save her people when she lied. She was just somewhat of an idiot ording to Gabriel. There was no malice so no need to be heavy handed.

    "There''s no need for me to do anything personally." Avilia didn''t even get up from the bed. She was a Summoner and she could bezy all she wanted. She just cast a Summoning Spell using Wordless Chant.

    Thanks to the Wordless Chant, Gabriel couldn''t hear her spell which also hid the information about what spell she used.

    Gabriel only heard some heavy noisesing from outside which didn''tst long.

    Within a few minutes, all the noises stopped and there wasplete silence in the hallway outside.

    "There, I dealt with them!" The Holy Priestess eximed as she cancelled her spell. "Now, let''s get back to the reason I was looking for you. Something big has happened!"

    ****

    At the same time, on the ground floor, the Prince and the Princess were sitting around a table. Before them, all their guards were sitting on their knees, groaning in pain. There were wounds all over their body as if they were flung around like toys. Fortunately, they weren''t heavily injured and were allowed to go down.

    Since the Prince and the Princess didn''t attack personally, they were the only two people who were unharmed.

    "Just what was that beast? He was so strong! Even none of my elite guards could put up resistance." The Prince sat with his arms folded around his chest, lost in deep thoughts. "Xin, are you sure you''re not hiding something from me? That man... Just what is his identity for him to not be scared of us and even attack my men?"

    "Brother..."

    Xin had tried so much to avoid a direct conflict with Gabriel. Even though their men were beaten, she was sure that the beast didn''t belong to Gabriel. If Gabriel had taken action, none of them would''ve been left alive after all. She understood it was the work of the woman next to Gabriel.

    However, that made her worried even more. Last time, Gabriel was apanied by a man who could use ck mes and was as strong as a Holy Lord. And this time, he was apanied by a woman who could use summoning and her strength wasn''t any weaker than Raphael.

    The more she got to know Gabriel, the more amazed she became! Everyone around Gabriel was extraordinary after all! Was he really just a Dark Mage? Just what was it about him that made her feel as if she was in the presence of God that had the right to look down on all the mortals!

 Chapter 388 388: Its Time To Come Out Of The Shadows

    ****

    "You''re saying that he knows I destroyed the Church of mes?"

    Avilia had informed Gabriel about everything she heard from the Holy Lord of mes. Amongst those things, what stood out was that the Holy Lord knew about him more than he expected.

    "If he knows that much about me, could it be that he knows about Arecia as well?" Gabriel asked. He didn''t care about his identity. Sooner orter people were going to know about it anyway. What mattered was the danger it could attract to Arecia if someone finds out about that.

    "I''m not sure. He didn''t mention it," Avilia answered, shaking her head lightly. "However, it would be wise to assume that he knows about that already. Moreover, he might not be the only one who knows. Sooner orter, it''ll be impossible to keep Arecia out of trouble."

    The more one tried to hide something, the more it came to light. It was clear how risky everything was at the time being. Gabriel didn''t like the feeling of being passive. He didn''t like the fact that someone had the power that could be used to threaten him.

    "What are you going to do next?" Avilia asked. With Gabriel''s personality, she genuinely wondered if Gabriel was going to take the fight to the Holy Lord of Wind.

    However, she didn''t believe that it was going to change anything. The Holy Lord of Wind would''ve already taken precautions for that. He might''ve already arranged for the news to leak if something happened to him.

    Unless Gabriel could kill all the Holy Lords at the same time, there was no way to stop them from teaming up against him like they did against the Church of Darkness if the news spread out.

    Gabriel lied on the bed next to Avilia, closing his eyes. There was a little frown on his face as if he was thinking about something.

    Avilia turned to her side and just gazed at Gabriel''s wless face, wondering what the young man could''ve been thinking.

    For some reason, whenever she talked to Gabriel or was with him, she never saw him as a new Holy Lord. The way the young man schemed, the way he took actions, his decisive nature... Everything made her feel as if he was just as experienced as the rest of them if not more.

    It was as if it was just Gabriel''s inner nature that even he didn''t know about. It was also this strange feeling which made her feel closer to Gabriel despite knowing him for only a short time. She really liked hispany.

    "I don''t know how he knows so much, but I really hate the feeling." After a long time, Gabriel finally broke the silence. "If that''s the case, I can only stop being passive."

    "What are you implying?" Avilia asked, grimacing. Was he actually going to go on the offensive again? Or was it something else?

    "The Holy Lord of Wind thinks he got my weakness after finding out everything about me. I won''t let that be. I won''t let that sword hang over my head," Gabriel replied, slowly opening his eyes and ncing at the charming face of Avilia. "It''s time toe out of the shadows."

    Avilia could only frown. She still didn''t understand what exactly Gabriel was nning to do. However, his next words gave her a clear idea, shocking her!

    "You can''t be serious!" Avilia eximed in shock.

    "I''m not in the mood to joke with you," Gabrielzily responded. "After I''m done exploring the tomb, I will begin..."

    "There have been eight Churches in existence for a long time now. It''s time for the ninth to appear..." Gabriel stood up, patting his clothes that had formed a crease because of lying down for so long in them.

    Avilia wasn''t as carefree as Gabriel. She wondered if Gabriel didn''t understand the implications behind what he was trying to do, or he was doing it knowing full well. Whatever being the case, she understood that a huge change was in store for everyone!

    A Ninth Church... The Church of Necromancy was going to appear in this world, finallying out of the shadows and into the light?

    "When the timees, you can either join others or side with me. I won''t care what you choose."<novelnext></novelnext>

    After reminding Avilia, Gabriel left the room. Even though he could have some food delivered to his room, he was more in the mood to eat outside under the beautiful moonlight.

    Usually, Avilia would''ve followed Gabriel right away, but for now, she was in a daze herself.

    ****

    ? Gabriel went down to the ground floor. His attention immediately went into therge group from Yann. All the guards were still tending to their injuries while the two Royals were discussing something.

    It wasn''t often that Yann suffered such losses but they couldn''t do anything about it. The Prince could only inform his father, but he didn''t dare.

    He didn''t want to be scolded by their father. If he tried that, he knew his father was going to call the two of them back and never let them go to the tomb. For now, he could only swallow the insult!

    At least the Prince had calmed down now. He was just about to leave this hotel to find a different ce, not intending to stay here. Unfortunately, before he could stand up, he saw Gabriele down the stairs.

    For strangers, Gabriel was like a handsome prince who wasn''t tainted by mortal sorrows. However, to the Prince, Gabriel was no less than a demon!

    He could only look elsewhere, trying to avoid Gabriel''s attention.

    Gabriel also didn''t want to pay attention to the two and left the hotel.

    ****

    After eating outside, Gabriel returned to the room when it was already midnight.

    Avilia was already upying the bed sleepingfortably.

    Instead of taking the bed, Gabriel just slept on the couch for the night.

    ****

    The soft chirping of birds with the arrival of morning could be heard even inside the room. Gabriel woke up from his slumber and his still sleepy eyes.

    "For a person who is called lecherous by others, you''re pretty innocent, aren''t you?"

    He had barely woken up when he heard the melodious voice of a woman.

    "Whose fault do you think that I''m called lecherous by those idiots?" Gabriel sarcastically answered, standing up.

    After getting ready, he and Avilia left the hotel together. By the time they left, the Royals of Yann had already left as well.

    ****

    After one more day of nonstop travel, Gabriel and Avilia finally reached the destination!

 Chapter 389 389: Weak

    "Is this the ce?" Gabrielnded on a mountain peak, staring at the valley in the distance.

    "That''s right. That''s the Valley of Death," Avilia answered Gabriel, pointing in the distance. "As far as your eyes can see from this point on, it''s the area of the Valley of Death. The Tomb is in the centre of the Valley."

    "Usually, there is a powerful formation all over the Valley with thousands of traps that could even kill a Holy Lord if someone tried to force their way inside. However, there is always time when the formation and the traps are their weakest."

    "It''s that time now. The traps are at their weakest and shouldn''t be able to stop people as long as one has the protection of the keys."

    Gabriel didn''t doubt Avilia''s words since he had also heard the same thing from Xin when he received the key. If the valley was still dangerous even with the keys, there was no way the Royal Families would''ve sent their youngsters to this ce.

    "Now that the Traps are at their weakest, they shouldn''t be able to stop a Holy Lord even without a key, right?" Gabriel asked, trying to understand how the traps actually worked.

    "That''s right." Avilia nodded. "They aren''t as strong as usual so they can''t stop a Holy Lord if one was to rush to the center of the Valley. However, that''s the extent of it. To enter the Tomb, one still needs the key."

    Gabriel understood the essence of how things worked. No matter what, the key was really important.

    "That shouldn''t be hard for you. You can just snatch the key from one of the idiots and get inside with me."

    Since it was the case and he didn''t know what was actually inside the tomb, he still felt that it was better to take Avilia with him as long as she could satisfy the criteria for entry.

    Avilia rolled her eyes. "No need. I can''t enter even if I have the key."

    "I see. So you''re older than thirty," Gabriel understood what she meant. There were only two criteria to enter the Tomb after all. One was the key and the other was the age!

    "Hmph, barely over." Avilia scoffed. "Let me tell you, I''m still one of the youngest Holy Lord."

    Gabriel didn''t expect her reaction to be so interesting. It looked as if Avilia really didn''t like talking about her age. Then again, Gabriel was only eighteen so he understood why Avilia was like that.

    He believed that she felt as if she wasn''t talented enough to be where she was after all this time while Gabriel reached that level when he wasn''t even twenty. He didn''t think too much about it.

    "Alright. You can go back. I''ll go alone. Until I''m back, try to protect Arecia."

    After speaking, Gabriel jumped off the mountain. In the valley, no one could fly. However, he could still use other spells.

    He used the spells to make his body strongerand as light as a feather before jumping off the cliff.

    Thanks to the precautionary spells, he managed tond in the valley safely, despite the fall being over two thousand metres. From there on, he travelled on foot.

    Gabriel had expected himself to be one of the first few to reach this valley. However, he was surprised to find many more youngsters along the way.

    It was as if the youngsters had started the journey to reach this valley months ago, to be here at this time.

    All the youngsters were dressedvishly and had many life saving treasures that were given to them by their families, including some previous talismans.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As Gabriel wasn''t greedy about these small human treasures, he didn''t pay any attention to the youngsters and rushed past them.

    "That''s interesting. The closer I get to the centre of the valley, the heavier this gravity bes."

    After three hours of travel, Gabriel had started to slow down to some extent. At first, he thought the gravity was because of his earrings, but with more time, he realized that there were some external factors involved as well!

    The earring was already applying external gravity pressure on his body which was hard enough to deal as it was. However, thanks to the valley, the pressure was even more!

    "Without these earrings, it would''ve been a walk in the park to walk through this valley under the valley''s pressure!"

    Gabriel was forced to take rest regrly since it was getting more exhausting. Whenever his body was ustomed to increased gravity, the earring increased pressure on his body. It was the same for the valley. No matter what, the pressure was always beyond Gabriel''s limit.

    Despite all the disadvantages, Gabriel was still able to hold on and tread deeper into the valley.

    The journey which should''ve taken him barely half a day took him entirely three days. The person who was in the lead at the start was now at the end!

    Fortunately, after three days, he did manage to reach the centre of the valley, making him thest person to reach here!

    Even the Royals from Yann were already there!

    Everyone looked at the neers who had juste out of the forest. They saw Gabriel covered in sweat all over. Looking at this sight, the youngsters could onlyugh amongst themselves.

    "What a weakling. He can''t even reach this ce under such weak pressure without being half dead!"

    "Must be an untalented idiot from some lowly Empire!"

    "What a waste for him to have a key. He should''ve given that key to someone who deserved it more!"

    There were over fifty youngsters who were already outside the Tomb, waiting for it to open. Amongst them, most were looking at Gabriel mockingly,pletely underestimating him.

    However, there were three people who didn''t take Gabriel lightly at all!

    Amongst those three, one was the Crown Prince of Yann while the other was Princess Xin! The two had already seen what Gabriel was capable of! That man was way stronger than all of thembined!

    The two didn''t understand why Gabriel was covered in sweat because of such weak gravity, but they didn''t think too much. They didn''t dare mock Gabriel! They had no intentions of courting death!

    The third person who didn''t mock Gabriel was someone who was standing in the distance. The person was covered in a good, making it impossible to see their face or even their figure. The person didn''t speak, but asionally nced at Gabriel.

    "It doesn''t matter how weak he is! If he''s weak enough to easily die inside, it can only be good for us since it means lesspetition! We can even use him like a human shield to check for traps ahead!" One of the youngstersughed heartily.

 Chapter 390 390: Creation Of Gods

    Amidst all the mocking and the scheming against him, Gabriel''s entire focus remained on the entrance on the entrance of the Tomb before him.

    It was his first timeing here, but for some reason, he felt as if he hade here before and not just once. This feeling was very strong and didn''t appear as a misconception.

    The entrance of the tomb was really strange. It was as if there was just a thick b of stone standing in the middle of the valley. Behind the stone b, there was nothing! However, some spatial distortion could be felting from the mysterious stone b which was covered in strange patterns.

    Around the stone tablet, there were four stone pirs, each climbing to thousands of metres in height. For most people, it was impossible to even look at the top of these stone pirs.

    The four pirs were shining at the moment as a thin stream of energy was being transferred from each of their keys to the stone tablets, as if providing the stone pirs with the energy.

    Even the key that Gabriel held in his hand wasn''t different. Unlike the ordinary royals, Gabriel could see the thin stream of energy even more clearly. It was like a single thread of energy but that energy was the purest form of energy.

    Gabrilso felt a bit of deathly energy from the thread of energy. It was very subtle and very hard to detect for even the other Holy Lords but as it was his own element, he was more perceptive toward it.

    After barely five minutes, the stone pirs stopped absorbing the energy from the key, as if they had had enough.

    All the stone pirs started shining brightly, illuminating the entire valley. Even Avilia who was standing in the distant mountain could see four bright towering pirs of light.

    "I wonder why this valley was made, and who made it? This isn''t something any ordinary person could''ve made."

    Avilia sat at the edge of the cliff with her legs hanging in the air. She didn''t enter the valley but she still waited outside for Gabriel.

    ****

    After the stone pirs started shining, a pathway opened inside the five meter tall stone tablet in the shape of the door.

    For the most part, that entrance was like a Spatial Portal that led to the actual tomb.

    "You, enter first!" The person who had suggested using Gabriel to test the path aheadmanded him to enter.

    "That''s right. If there are any traps, let him activate them before we enter!"

    "He''s so weak, we might as well get some use out of him before he dies!"

    More and more people were thinking simrly. At the same time, the Royals of Yann were sweating.

    ''You idiots, if you want to die, do it yourself! Why are you dragging all of us down with you!'' Princess Xin scratched the back of her head.

    She decided to help Gabriel out of the situation for their own safety. However, before she could even chime in, Gabriel moved and entered the portal.

    "Hahaha, see? The weakling couldn''t even talk back to us!" The youngstersughed. "Let him activate the traps if there are any! We will enter in two minutes!"

    Many of the youngsters stayed still, waiting a little but it wasn''t the same for all.

    Unlike most of the people who were extremely cautious, there were some who weren''t.

    The person covered in cloak entered the tomb not long after Gabriel, stunning the others present there. That person was considered strong by others after all since that person was the first toe to this ce.

    With time, the others also started hesitating a little and entered the tomb, worried that the cloaked person might get the treasures if they dyed longer. They could''ve snatched the treasures from Gabriel, but not from the hooded person.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Royals of Yann also didn''t hesitate to enter.

    ****

    Aftering out of the portal, Gabriel found himself in a dark hallway that was illuminated by some shining white stones along the way.

    There weren''t many such stones. Only one could be seen every ten meters or so.

    "This stone is strange..." Gabriel stepped closer to one of the stones, observing it carefully.

    Just as he was about to touch the stone, he heard a shocked exmation from behind. "That''s a Heavenly Stone! We are so lucky!"

    Gabriel turned around, noticing the others had also arrived there.

    Most of them were staring at the stone with greedy eyes.

    "Thest few times, the people who came to the tomb were sent to different parts of the tomb. Most of them couldn''t even find a single Heavenly Stone! Who knew we would be so lucky as to be led straight to one!"

    "What is a Heavenly Stone?" Gabriel asked the people behind him.

    The youngsters only scoffed in response and didn''t answer, thinking Gabriel wasn''t worth knowing. They were also worried that Gabriel was going to get greedy after knowing what it was.

    "Little man, take your hands off and step back! That stone isn''t something any random person can touch!"

    "That''s right! What if you made it dirty with your hands or damaged it?!"

    "Your death won''t be enough topensate us if you damage it!"

    Gabriel was getting more and more irritated with the tone of these youngsters. Initially, he didn''t pay attention to them, but they were only getting more frivolous.

    Xin noticed Gabriel''s expressions. It was the same when he had attacked her brother. She wanted to punch all the youngsters right now!

    To calm Gabriel, she came forward with an exnation. "ording to the legends, the Heavenly Stones are said to be the stones that were created by gods themselves! While the Spirit Stones that we mages use were created by Demigods and Holy Priests, the Heavenly Stones were the creation of gods themselves!"

    "Not only do the Heavenly Stones contain the purest energy of heaven and earth, but it''s also more soothing for the training of a mage. Unfortunately, these stones are so rare that it''s almost important to find them outside!"

    "This stone is also the reason why so many youngsterse to this tomb every time it opens. This is the only ce that we know where these stones can be found!"

    With Xin''s exnation, Gabriel finally had a better idea about these stones.

    "No wonder I felt the strange energy fluctuations from this stone which is stronger than an ordinary spirit stone."

    Gabriel touched the Heavenly Stone. The energy of the stone felt extremely familiar as well.

    "This also partially confirms that this ce was indeed made by a God. But why? Just what''s the secret behind this tomb? And why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

 Chapter 391 391: This Cant Be...

    So far, Gabriel had only heard rumors that this tomb was made by gods, but he was already more or less convinced that this was the truth. Even if it wasn''t made by gods, this tomb was still from the Era of Gods!

    What was still unclear was why someone made this ce? He didn''t believe that this ce was made to give these Heavenly Stones to the youngsters. The stones weren''t to be used as a gift. However, the stones didn''t appear to be for decoration either.

    He had a feeling that these Heavenly Stones had something to do with the reason this tomb was made. He just didn''t know how the two things were linked.

    "I need to go deeper to find out..."

    He left the Heavenly Stone behind and didn''t take it. Instead, he went deeper into the tomb, leaving the others and the Heavenly Stone behind.

    "Is that guy really an idiot? Not only did he not take the Heavenly Stone but he also went deeper inside the Tomb out of his own volition? We didn''t even have to force him!"

    The Royals who came to this tomb were quite amazed. They had already started considering Gabriel a big idiot.

    At the same time, the Royals from Yann were different. They didn''t know why Gabriel didn''t take the Heavenly Stone but they had a feeling that there was a reason behind it.

    That''s why they didn''t rush ahead. They stayed behind, waiting for others to take the stone first, just so they could verify if something was wrong.

    Now that Gabriel was gone, the battle for the Heavenly Stone intensified between the youngsters. All of them rushed to the Heavenly Stone to take it first.

    Only three people didn''t join them. The cloaked person entered deeper into the tomb, ignoring the stones as well. The Royals from Yann just stayed behind for now.

    "I got it first! It''s mine!" After a long struggle, one of the Royals finally managed to ce his hand on the Heavenly Stone.

    The other Royals weren''t content. They weren''t willing to give in even a single Heavenly Stone due to their greed. However, as they were about to attack the Royal from the Dustia Empire, they froze in ce.

    Their faces turned pale, noticing a huge formation circle appearing around the Heavenly Stone.

    There wasn''t just a single formation circle! More and more appeared around the wall.

    The youngsters felt as if something was wrong. They wanted to retreat while wondering why this formation circle didn''t activate when Gabriel touched the stone! Unfortunately, it was toote to retreat now!

    More than half the Royals who were closest to the formation circles and the Heavenly Stone felt their legs and hands freeze. They watched their skin decay with their own eyes as if their life was being sucked right before their eyes!

    Their pleading eyes were begging the Royals who were still in the back and safe to save them! Unfortunately, no one dared to get closer at all.

    The ones who were caught in the trap felt their skin and bones decay until they were nothing more than dust! Even their spirits were sucked by the formation, to be damned for an eternity.

    The other Royals who were in the back sucked in a cold breath of air, feeling a chill run down their spine!

    Over the years, many youngsters had entered the Tomb. Some of them even faced traps and died, but most of these traps were easy to avoid if one retreated! But this current trap, it was much scarier and almost impossible to avoid!

    "The traps are scarier here... Did something change in the tombpared to thest few times?"

    "Or are we near the core of the tomb this time? Only that could exin why traps are scarier here?!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Many Royals had many theories, but what had the highest possibility was that they were in the danger zone of the tomb... Unlike the past where most of the Royals appeared on the outer edge of the tomb, this time, they were taken near the core for some reason. They just didn''t understand why!

    They also had another question in their heads. Why were the traps only activated when one of them touched the stones? Why didn''t it happen when Gabriel touched it? Why did Gabriel leave the stone behind? Did he know about the trap in advance? How did he know about the tomb traps so much? There were many questions in their heads but none of them even dared to take a step forward.

    They were already so scared that they had lost all their courage. They didn''t dare go deeper. If anything, they decided to walk away from the core and only try to take the Heavenly Stones once they were sure that they were near the outer edge!

    Even though the Royals from Yann knew that Gabriel was special and had the potential to reach the core, they didn''t dare to apany him. They weren''t his friends for him to help them after all.

    They only sighed, looking in the direction that Gabriel went in before turning around. The Royals were greedy but they weren''t stupid to that extent! Even though they understood that the core might have a precious treasure, they couldn''t take it!

    Not all royals had good thoughts though.

    ''So what if he knows how to avoid traps and take treasure? He''s still a weakling who couldn''t even reach the time without being half dead! If he can really find the treasure and leave the tomb alive, it still won''t be toote to snatch the treasure from him!''

    ''Hahaha, I''ll let that idiot do all the hard work and take the treasure from him when we leave this ce! The treasure of this tomb can only be mine!''

    There were many people who had already started coveting the imaginary treasure.

    ****

    Unaware about the intentions of the outsiders, Gabriel went deeper and deeper into the tomb. The tomb was said to have thousands of traps to prevent people from reaching the core. However, none of those traps activated! For Gabriel, it was no different than a walk in the park.

    He didn''t even know that there were supposed to be traps here! He hadn''t seen any after all.

    After walking for close to ny minutes, Gabriel finally reached the end of what appeared like a maze. He didn''t know why there was a maze in between, but he managed to get out easily without losing his way even once.

    ? He didn''t realize that he was probably the only person in this tomb currently who could''ve had such a smooth journey!

    After getting out of the maze, Gabriel found himself in another hallway which was even wider! At the end of the hallway, there was a majestic door which was made from a simr stone tablet that he saw at the entrance!

    The walls in the hallway were slightly different from what he saw before as they were all covered in a mysterious pattern. He didn''t understand what those patterns implied, but he felt them quite soothing.

    He also felt as if the patterns were really beautiful. For others, they must just be random strokes on the wall, but for some reason, Gabriel felt as if they were a work of art!

    Gabriel observed the patterns on the walls that appeared to be unbreakable as he walked closer to the door on the other end.

    He reached the dark door and ced his hands on the wall, pushing it toward the inside.

    The door looked heavy, but it easily opened with an ordinary push from Gabriel.

    Gabriel walked to the other side of the door, however as soon as he entered, his expressions changed. For the first time inside the tomb, Gabriel felt shocked, losing hisposure. For a moment, it was as if he froze in ce.

    ''This can''t be...''

 Chapter 392 392: Why?!

    The majestic room was filled with an oppressive power that was enough to kill an ordinary person before they could even take a single step inside the room.

    Thousands of ck shackles wereing out of the wall, filled with heavenlyws. All those shackles had only one purpose! Those mysterious shackles were keeping someone imprisoned in the middle of the room.

    If one was to see just how much precaution was taken to keep one person suppressed, even a Holy Lord would''ve been shocked!

    ''This ce...'' When Gabriel entered the tomb, he had no idea what this tomb was going to be. However, he never expected to see what he saw! The tomb... It wasn''t a tomb at all! Instead, it was a Prison!

    That also made sense as to why it was so hard to get to the tomb inside the valley even for a Holy Lord! It was because the owner of the tomb didn''t want anyone to reach this ce!

    Gabriel still didn''t understand where these keys came from if the creator of the tomb didn''t want anyone toe to this ce, but there was no way for him to find an answer.

    The person who was suppressed in the core of the tomb was clearly a woman. Her face was already pale. Her hair was a beautiful shade of silver but since her head was lower in weakness, Gabriel couldn''t see her face!

    Despite being unable to see her face, for some reason, Gabriel felt as if that person''s figure was familiar.

    The person was dressed in a green gown which was torn at ces as if the woman had furiously fought with everything on the line before being caught and trapped here!

    The clothes were still covered in blood but Gabriel couldn''t see any wounds. It was as if despite the suppression of this ce, all the wounds of the woman had healed!

    "Here to try killing me again? Even if it''s you, you can''t kill me, no matter how many times you try." The woman''s weak voice echoed in the room. Her voice was weak yet it was filled with anger and hatred. For some reason, there was a bit of longing and sadness hidden in her voice as well.

    She didn''t even open her eyes but the way she talked, it was as if she thought Gabriel was someone she knew.

    "Who are you?" Gabriel asked. Now that the woman already knew he was here, there was no need to hide! Moreover, the woman was suppressed so he didn''t feel much danger.

    The woman slowly raised her head, revealing her pale yet beautiful face. It took her some effort to even open her eyes in a weak condition like that.

    As soon as Gabriel saw her face, he was even more shocked. The beautiful green eyes of the woman and that familiar face... He could never forget it! He had seen that face in one of his dreams before! The only difference was the colour of the hair! The one he saw in his dream didn''t have silver hair!

    Shocked, Gabriel hastily looked toward the hand of the woman to see if she really was the same person.

    On the back of the woman''s hand, Gabriel saw a beautiful green mark... The Mark of Nature. And it wasn''t just any ordinary Mark that could be inherited by a Holy Priest!

    "Goddess of Nature?" Gabriel asked, unable to believe himself that the woman before her was the Goddess of Nature!

    ''Why is she imprisoned here? Who could be strong enough to imprison her here for thousands of years? And why?''

    There were many questions in Gabriel''s head. He didn''t know the Goddess of Nature well enough outside of that one dream! In his dream, he had even interacted with the Goddess of Nature!

    ''If I remember correctly, that dream was more like the past of Karyk! She and Karyk were friends, however, her brother had attacked and insulted Karyk''s family in his arrogance, because of which he killed her brother!''

    '' It was only when she attacked Karyk that the dream was broken! I don''t know what happened after that, but could it be that what I see is the oue of that battle?''<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Could it be that this prison... It was made by Karyk to imprison the Goddess of Nature after that battle?! Then the Heavenly Stones... They were also created by Karyk? As for the purpose of those Heavenly Stones... Is it to supply energy to the suppressing chains in this room?''

    ''This whole mess is deeper than I expected. I can''t even be sure of my own assumption. The Heavenly Stones have been taken by the Royals throughout the years. Doesn''t that mean the suppression here has been weakening year by year?!''

    ''The person who spread the news of the treasure in this ce... The person who spread these keys of entrance... Is it someone who wants to free this woman from prison?''

    ''This woman... If my assumption is correct and she was trapped by Karyk, won''t she hate me to her bones because I inherited his element? If she gets free, won''t I be the first person she kills?!''

    While Gabriel was observing the woman, the silver haired woman was also looking back at him. Her beautiful green eyes that used to be full of life in the dream that Gabriel saw were now lifeless.

    "Do you think these chains will be able to hold me back for an eternity?" The woman weakly asked as a tinge of hate shed in her eyes. "The day I get free from here... I will bring hell to you."

    Gabriel didn''t know how long these chains could hold her back, but he didn''t want to find out. If possible, he wanted the chains tost for an eternity as he didn''t want to face a goddess that even Karyk could only trap and not kill!

    "I have no enmity with you." Gabriel responded to the woman. For him, it was his first time meeting the woman in real life. "If you take a Heavenly Oath to never hurt me, I might think about freeing you!"

    He didn''t know how these chains worked or how to strengthen them. Since that was the case, he really preferred toe to apromise which could maintain his safety.

    For him, Karyk was dead. So there was no need for the woman to get revenge. As long as she took the oath to not hurt him, there was no need for him to keep her trapped.

    The Goddess of Nature stared at Gabriel but didn''t respond right away.

    "After suffering for thousands of years, you want me to forget my hatred for you in exchange for freedom?" She asked after a long time. "You want a Heavenly Oath? I''ll give you a Heavenly Oath!"

    Gabriel had a really bad premonition. He didn''t want her to take an oath anymore. Unfortunately, before he could speak, the woman took the initiative!

    "With Heaven as my Witness, I take the blood oath that I will kill you!" The woman''s cold voice made the entire tomb tremble.

    The mythical ck chains felt the trembling and used even more strength to suppress the Goddess of Nature.

    The Goddess of Nature felt extreme pain throughout her entire body yet she didn''t reveal any painful expression before Gabriel, as if she didn''t want to show any weakness to the man she hated the most in this world!

    ''Such a vicious oath... It looks like she hates Karyk so much that you''re not even willing to let an inheritor live... This woman...''

    Gabriel could do nothing in a situation like this. He could only hope that the woman was going to be trapped here for at least the next hundred years, allowing him to be strong enough to protect himself from any cmity!

    In the end, he could only shake his head and turn around. This tomb.... It wasn''t a treasure trove. It was the bringer of a cmity and he had to stop the other youngsters from taking Heavenly Stones and weakening chains!

    "The next time I see you will be the day Ie for your life!" Hearing footsteps bing distant, the woman weakly spoke.

    "I''ll wait for that day," Gabriel''s response came from the distance and the ce returned to silence once again¡­

 Chapter 393 393: The Missing Disaster

    Gabriel felt a little headache. If possible, he wanted to kill the Goddess of Nature to avoid any future trouble. Unfortunately, it was impossible for him to kill her. Even Karyk couldn''t do so in the past after all.

    All he could do for now was to prevent her from escaping.

    He just came here because the mirror told him that he was going to find a way to recover the secret hidden in the Garden of Legacy from this ce. Not only did he not find any such treasure that could help him, but he instead found a woman who crazily hated him!

    "What a loss." He shook his head in frustration. "Could it be that the mirror fooled me?"

    Gabriel walked back in the same direction where he came from, trying to find the other youngsters to stop them and to take them outside.

    Unfortunately, even as he walked back through the same route, he couldn''t find them.

    "They aren''t here? Could it be that they walked in the opposite direction?"

    ****

    After searching the outer zone of the tomb for close to seven hours, Gabriel finally found the group of youngsters. Along the way, he had seen around fifteen dead bodies. They belonged to the people who had been killed in the traps along the way.

    Other than the ones who were dead, the rest were all alive. The Royals from Yann were alive as well.

    ? "It''s him! He''s back!" One of the youngsters eximed, noticing Gabriel in the distance.

    "That little idiot is still alive! He must''ve received the treasure at the core region! That''s why he came back!"

    "Core treasure, if I can get it, won''t my Empire be the strongest? It''s a ce that can even hold back the Holy Lords after all!"

    The people who were only dreaming of taking back the Heavenly Stones until now found their new goal as soon as they saw Gabriel! Their eyes shone with greed! Going through all the hardships to get a treasure was good, but what was even better was to just snatch the treasure without any hardship!

    "He''s just lucky to avoid traps! But so what? Without strength, the treasure will only be a waste in his hands!"

    Gabriel was still thinking about the Goddess of Nature and wasn''t in the mood to enjoy his surroundings. If that wasn''t the case, he would''ve found their response quote shameless and amusing.

    "Hahaha, yes!" The strongest Royal Heir in the group was none other than Crown Prince Asten from the Lumen Empire!

    Throughout the dangerous journey with so many deaths, he had also be the leader of this small group, thanks to his talent of avoiding some weaker traps!

    Asten was also the one who wanted the treasure of Gabriel the most. "Young man, sometimes a treasure can bring a great cmity to a person. If you leave this ce with the treasure, you might attract the attention of bad people outside!"

    "Let alone enjoying the treasure, you might even lose your life!" he told Gabriel. "How about this? You give that treasure to me and I''ll protect it for you! When everything calms down, you cane to the Lumen Empire and I''ll return it to you? Isn''t that a great deal for you?"

    Gabriel didn''t answer Asten. In his eyes, Asten was the biggest idiot here. If anything, the Crown Prince of Yann was a better person to talk to.

    He counted all the people who were here as well as the dead bodies he had seen along the way.

    "That''s strange. One person is missing... Did I miss a dead body? Or was the body destroyed by some trap? Strange..."

    Gabriel was still trying to think. However, Asten was getting impatient. Not only did Gabriel not give him the treasure, but he also ignored him?

    "Are you looking down on me?" Asten roared, bringing Gabriel out of his daze. "Since you don''t want to appreciate my kindness, don''t me me for being ruthless!"

    Gabriel stopped thinking about the missing person. Since he hadn''t seen that person along the way, that meant the person was either dead or already left. There was no danger anymore.

    He just had to take these people back. But before that, he had to convince these Royals who looked down on everyone!<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Don''t worry. I won''t me you for being ruthless." Gabriel told Asten. "I hope you extend the same courtesy to me when I start getting ruthless."

    "Hahahaha... You really know how to talk big!" Asten burst intoughter as a trace of killing intent shed in his eyes. However, hisughter abruptly stopped as the trace of killing intent in his eyes disappeared, turning into pure fear!

    He only saw a blinding light sh before his eyes. He couldn''t even react! Everything happened so fast!

    The entire world turned upside down for him as a thin blood red line spread across his throat.

    Asten froze in ce, deathly still.

    The next second, Gabriel appeared before Asten.

    "Don''t me me for being ruthless..." Gabriel repeated as he lightly touched the forehead of Asten, giving it a gentle push.

    Asten couldn''t even speak as his head rolled back, falling into the ground while his body was still standing.

    A few secondster, his body also followed, falling next to Asten''s head!

    All the Royals who were mouring in the past for Gabriel to hand over their weapon were now frozen still as chill ran down their spines. They never expected Gabriel to be this strong! They didn''t even see how Gabriel did it, but Asten was already dead! It was as if everything happened in an instant!

    The Crown Prince of Yann was also scared out of his wits. He knew Gabriel was strong, but even he hadn''t expected him to be this strong and ruthless! Finally he understood why his sister had lied to him to stop him from attacking Gabrielst time!

    If he had known it in the past, even in his dreams he wouldn''t have rushed inside Gabriel''s room!

    "I don''t care what you came here to do. However, it''s time for you all to leave!" Gabriel dered. "I''ll count to three and whoever stays behind will be killed by me!"

    Normally, the Royals wouldn''t have listened to him. However, seeing what he was capable of, they didn''t dare to stay behind. All of them brought their keys out and applied some of their spirit energies to the keys!

    One after another, all of them were sent out except the people who were already dead!

    After making sure that everyone had left, Gabriel sighed in relief. He did the same and left this ce. There was nothing more to do here.

    ****

    Gabriel left the Tomb but even he didn''t expect that he was right about missing one person! And the person he missed was neither dead, nor did that person leave!

    Only after Gabriel left the tomb did the cloaked figure finallye out of hiding.

    The person rushed through the hallways, destroying all the Heavenly Stones along the way while also avoiding the traps! That strength wasn''t something an ordinary mage could possess either. This time, no one could stop that person as the suppression of the tomb kept getting weaker!

    Inside the suppression room, the chained woman raised her head. She could feel that the strength of these chains was getting weaker...

    Ten minutes passed and the suppression was at its weakest. The Goddess of Nature felt as if her strength was finally returning to her body now that the chains couldn''t suppress her. Unfortunately, it was still impossible for her to break the chains for now.

    [Creak]

    While the Goddess of Nature was thinking about how to break the chains and free herself, the doors opened.

    She heard footsteps as someone stepped inside the room.

    "It''s time for you to be free¡­"

 Chapter 394 394: Whose Fault Is It?

    "It''s time for you to be free..." The words were simple yet meaningful.

    Even though the one who spoke didn''t reveal their face, but from the voice, it was clearly a woman.

    The Goddess of Nature raised her head. "Who are you? And how did you get here?"

    After the Goddess of Nature looked carefully at the person before her, even she failed to see through the cloak. "Cloak of Yehua? It''s not something that everyone can use... No wonder you were able to hide from his perception and reach here."

    "Who are you?" She asked again.

    The cloaked woman didn''t answer right away. She removed her hood, revealing her face. However, the Goddess of Nature was still confused as she had never seen that woman before.

    The woman was clearly younger than thirty. Although she was strong, but not strong enough to be able to stand against a Holy Lord. Despite that, there was something quite different about her.

    The Goddess of Nature was quite intrigued. When the woman took off the cloak, the Goddess of Nature was able to sense something that she couldn''t before. It was a trace of a familiar aura!

    "You... You inherited his legacy? Hah, he helped Karyk create this prison for me and his inheritor came to free me?" The Goddess of Nature appeared slightly upset. For thousands of years, no one came here and today, two people came one after another?

    "You didn''t tell me you were behind this prison?" The young woman frowned. As she spoke, she wasn''t looking at the Goddess of Nature. Instead, it appeared more as if she was talking to herself. "If that''s the case, won''t she hate us? Isn''t it a bad idea to free her?"

    "Do you think I wanted toe here? Even I don''t want to take the risk of freeing this demoness! She hates me after all!" A voice echoed in the head of the woman. "However, whose fault is it that you lost the chance of getting the Ancestral Staff? Without that, we can''t achieve anything! I have no choice but to take this risk!"

    "Whose fault is it that we lose the Ancestral Staff? Isn''t that your fault? You told me to approach Gabriel and have him work for us!" The woman yelled in anger.

    She couldn''t believe that she was being med for it after she was already injured because of it!

    If Gabriel was here, he would''ve been surprised as well to see who this person was! He had already met this person a few times and even travelled together!

    The woman who rushed inside the Tomb this time was none other than the woman who had first approached Gabriel with the idea of robbing the Academy! She was the Holy Priestess of Darkness, Lira!

    When she came here, she didn''t expect Gabriel toe as well. As soon as she saw Gabriel outside the tomb, she was slightly worried, wondering if Gabriel somehow found out about their n!

    Fortunately, she soon realized that it was a coincidence for Gabriel to be here. Thanks to the cloak, she managed to hide her presence and wait for Gabriel to leave before taking action, just to be safe!

    However, even as she did all that, she had no idea that the one who told him toe here had a hand in the creation of this Tomb as well!

    The Goddess of Nature was slightly surprised to see Lira talk to herself. It didn''t appear as if the woman was crazy.

    "Could it be...?" The Goddess of Nature frowned as she thought of something. Her eyes shone with beautiful golden light.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Not only did her vision improve with the golden light, but it also allowed her to see through what others couldn''t! Now that the suppression was weaker, she was allowed to use some of her abilities already.

    "It''s you!" The Goddess of Nature roared, seeing a small fragment of an injured soul hidden inside the woman. No wonder she was talking to herself! It wasn''t that she was talking to herself but more as if she was talking to that soul fragment which was hiding inside her to heal itself!

    She was so angry that she wanted to break the shackles and kill the woman and destroy that soul fragment!

    The injured soul fragment trembled a little, sensing the killing intent.

    "And here I thought, after being trapped here, you would have grown calmer. It looks like it had the opposite effect!" The small soul fragment came out of the body of Lira momentarily, taking a humanoid shape that no one but the Goddess of Nature could see!

    The real shape that the soul fragment took was that of a human. The human had long ck hair that came down to his waist. His eyes were pitch ck, as if his eyes were where all the darkness in the entire world resided.

    On the back of the man''s hand was a pitch ck mark, which was the origin of the Element of Darkness! It was the Mark of Darkness!

    *****

    Outside the Tomb of Gods, Gabriel stood in silence, still trying to think just why he was sent here by the mirror.

    Since Gabriel didn''t speak, the other youngsters didn''t dare to move either. They were worried that if they tried to leave, they were going to offend Gabriel and be killed.

    On the other hand, Gabriel didn''t think about those people at all.

    ''The mirror hinted that the key is the clue to getting what I want. And this key led me to this Tomb. That must mean the tomb has something that can help me explore the Garden of Legacy. But I don''t think I found anything like that.''

    ''Could it be the Goddess of Nature? That can''t be. There''s no way I could free her. She shouldn''t be what the Mirror sent me here for... But then what?''

    Gabriel looked back at the Stone Tablet which was surrounded by the four stone pirs.

    ''Other than the Goddess of Nature, there were only the Heavenly Stones. Is that what the Mirror meant?''

    The more Gabriel observed the entrance of the tomb, the more he seemed to realise something.

    The Heavenly Stones that he saw inside looked as if they were chaotically ced at regr intervals, however slowly, he was realizing that there was something more to it.

    The Tomb and the four stone pirs, the suppression room with all the Chains... And the pattern that the Heavenly Stones were creating... All of that appeared to have something inmon.

    "Do I really need the Heavenly Stones to explore that garden? Do I need to get back inside again?"

 Chapter 395 395: A Deal

    ****

    "Think clearly. Who is your bigger enemy? The person who actually trapped you here? Or I, who had no choice but to help him?" The man asked the Goddess of Nature, still trying to convince her.

    He knew just how much malice and anger that woman had collected throughout the years. That''s why he didn''t want to free her if possible. Instead, he had ced his hopes on Lira. Unfortunately, that only resulted in disappointment and he had no choice but to take help from this woman!

    He knew how dangerous it was to convince the woman but there was no other way for him right now!

    The Goddess of Nature didn''t answer. She still kept fiercely struggling to break the shackles to free herself without help!

    "No matter how much you try, you can''t break the Chains that easily. Even though the chains aren''t getting support from the formation that I gave him, these chains were still created with his ownprehension. Even without an energy source, it''s not easy for you to break them without external help."

    As the two giants talked with each other, Lira only stood in the back in silence. She couldn''t believe that even an existence like that man was scared of the woman who was shackled here!

    The Goddess of Nature still didn''t answer. Her silence was like a refusal for the man. However, the man didn''t give up! He didn''te so far to get a rejection!

    "Even without my help, you should be able to break the shackles in a few years at most. However, do you think you have that much time?" the man asked, trying a different approach.

    As he talked, his aura and hisposure was something that no mortal could possess. It was as if he was a person who could talk to the Goddess of Nature on an equal footing!

    The Goddess of Nature was already an existence that was beyond anyone''s reach, however, currently that man didn''t appear much different! He was no ordinary existence either, despite having a much weaker aura than the Goddess of Nature!

    "You''ve also seen the condition he was in! Isn''t it the perfect time for you to have revenge?" He reminded the Goddess to push her even further into agreeing with him. "If you don''t take this opportunity right now, it can only lead to a disaster for you! You''re doing nothing more than giving him an opportunity to seed. And when he does... You don''t have an opportunity again!"

    "Can you really afford to waste time like that when such a heavenly opportunity is waiting before you?!" he asked while his voice became louder.

    Despite speaking with such authority, the man didn''t get closer to the Goddess of Nature! It was unclear if he was still scared of the Goddess of Nature or he was just worried about getting caught by the shackles as well.

    "He is your real enemy!" he further stated. "He is behind all your suffering! I only yed a minor role, and not because I wanted to! For that, I''ve suffered enough already! If you still don''t want to work together, then I can only leave you behind and think of other ways for myself. However, after I leave, I hope you won''t regret i!"

    The man turned back into a speck of soul. He was already very injured and couldn''t stay out for long. He returned inside Lira''s body, exhausted.

    "You can leave," he told Lira.

    "Are you sure? So we came all this way for nothing?" Lira frowned.

    "Or you can go and free her and watch her kill you!" The man''s voice echoed in Lira''s head. "Even I won''t dare free her without making her promise that she won''t hurt me!"

    "Fine!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Lira turned around and gave up as well.

    "Wait!" Lira was about to leave the room when she heard the Goddess of Nature, telling her to stop. "I will work with you! Free me!"

    "It looks like she can''t hold back anymore! If her hate for me is like a droplet of water, her hatred for him is like the entire sea! To have her revenge, she will definitely work with me!" The man''sughter echoed in Lira''s head. "Go and break the chains!"

    "Are you sure I can break them? They look quite strong." Lira somewhat hesitated. The chains that were made from theprehension of a god weren''t easy to deal with! The shackles could even hold back a god, after all!

    "Don''t worry. Without the support of the energy formation, the Shackles can''t draw much power. They can only spend everything they have in holding back that demoness. Take advantage of it and break the chains! The more chains you break, the weaker they''ll get!"

    "Moreover, as you break the chains, you might be able to receive some unexpected regards in the form of that guy''sprehension."

    The man was quite pleased now that the Goddess of Nature had agreed to work with him. Everything went smoother than he expected.

    ''With the help of the Goddess of Nature, my path ahead will definitely be much smoother," the man thought. "Same can''t be said for him...''

    Lira brought a Sword out of her storage. Even though the Sword wasn''t on the same level as the Sword of Ulien that Gabriel possessed, it was still a treasure that was cherished by many!

    Holding the Sword firmly, Lira stepped closer to the first shackle!

    ****

    Outside the Tomb of Gods, Gabriel held the entrance key firmly in his hand. He had convinced himself that he needed the Heavenly Stones, at least four of them, to create a simr formation in the Garden of Legacy to see if he could uncover any secrets that way!

    He stepped closer to the tomb entrance.

    ****

    The Goddess of Nature watched Lira get closer to the shackles. She didn''t even remember how long it had been since thest time her heart beat so fast. After she was trapped here for so long, she had be more and more lifeless. With time, she even started losing hope of ever being free.

    There was never a time when she didn''t think about what the outside world must have be like while she was trapped.

    Her heart was already closed for everything but hate. However, now that she was so close to freedom, her heart couldn''t help but thump! She eagerly waited for the Shackles to break so that she could once again be free and leave this hell!

    "Looks like this trip really wasn''t a waste. With her, I''ll definitely get back at him! It''s time for the gods to return!" Lira clenched her teeth as she raised her sword high before bringing it shing down with full force!

 Chapter 396 396: One Step Further

    Everything was moving smoothly for Lira. Her Sword was barely a few inches away from hitting the shackles.

    "Not good! Retreat!" Just as the sword was about to hit, Lira felt a jolt of current course through her body as she heard the panicked shout of the man.

    She didn''t know why the man was telling her to retreat at thest moment after being the person who told her to cut the shackles in the first ce. However, she didn''t have time to think about it. She could feel just how panicked that person sounded and listened to the advice.

    Before her sword could touch the shackles, Lira jumped back. However, she was still toote. A strange energy flooded out of the shackles, causing what appeared like an explosion.

    Lira''s body flew back like a lifeless puppet, crashing on the wall in the back. She coughed out a mouthful of blood. Her face was already pale. Her entire body was aching! She even felt as if she would''ve died if she was a single secondte!

    Not only her, but even the Goddess of Nature was in a bad condition as well!

    Her painful cries filled the room, as if her soul was in pain this time!All the strength that she had managed to recover with the weakening of the shackles was sucked dry again. The shackles that had grown weak were running at their full strength once again for some unknown reason.

    "What happened?!" Lira roared in rage, wiping the blood off her lips. "Didn''t you tell me the shackles were weak and that there was no danger?!"

    "That bastard! I underestimated him!" The man''s voice echoed in Lira''s head. "He must''ve created another energy source!"

    "When I gave him this formation, I thought he followed my arrangement for the Heavenly Stones! I didn''t expect him to go one step further! He never really trusted me, did he?!"

    "He used my n, but that was secondary! For thousands of years, this prison was running in secondary defence!" The man eximed. "And I thought he used my arrangement as the primary form of defence!"

    "In fact, he didn''t even start the primary defence! He must''ve set the primary defence to activate in case of the failure of weaker defence! It''s as if..."

    The man couldn''t even finish his sentence since he was so frustrated.

    Lira finished his sentence, as if understanding what he was trying to say. "It''s as if he expected you toe here to free that woman. Just how far did he n?"

    "Is there really no way for us to free her now?" she asked, knowing that if they couldn''t do anything now, then this was the end of their journey to this ce.

    The man didn''t say anything for quite some time. It was only after a long time that he sighed. "Since he expected this, there is nothing more we can do anymore. He must''ve created a hidden source of energy in this tomb. And now that the primary mechanism has been activated, if we try to find that source, you would only end up getting killed."

    "Get out of this tomb now!" He warned Lira. "Don''t worry about that woman anymore! She has no hope of ever leaving this ce, unless those guys from abovee down personally. Unfortunately, even they won''t casuallye down after what happened in the past..."

    "Moreover, now that the primary mechanism is active, the main traps that even I don''t know will start getting active! Before that happens, leave!"

    The man was unwilling to leave yet there was no other path before him than to go back.

    Lira turned her back on the Goddess of Nature who had once again lost all her strength. The Goddess of Nature watched Lira leave. Her eyes were lifeless again. All the hope that she had gained for freedom was crushed once again right before her eyes.

    The suppression room once again returned to silence as the door closed again.

    ****

    Outside the tomb entrance, Gabriel believed that the Heavenly Stone was the solution that he needed. There was only one way to get the stone and it was the tomb! However, just as he was about to enter, he stopped and nced back at all the youngsters.

    "Wait a minute. You guys were in the tomb for a long time, looking for Heavenly Stones, right?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Gabriel stopped himself from entering the tomb again. He knew that the more stones he took from inside, the weaker the formation was going to be. So if the youngsters here already had some which was enough for him, then he didn''t need to weaken the formation anymore. That was also safer.

    All the Royals who fought fiercely for the Heavenly Stones had their faces turn pale. They understood what Gabriel was implying. After they went through so much effort to get inside and take the stones, Gabriel was asking them to hand over the stones?

    "Senior, w-we didn''t get any Heavenly Stones." One of the youngsters answered. "There were many traps and we couldn''t get any! Just as we were about to go get some in a safer zone, we were told toe out."

    The other Royals had their eyes lit up! If they stuck with the story, they didn''t have to give the heavenly stones. As long as they could get out of this ce and meet up with their guards, they believed they were safe.

    ''That''s right! He wasn''t there! He doesn''t know we got the stones!''

    "Yes Senior! If you want the stones, you might need to go inside again. If you want we can apany you inside?! We all might get our first Heavenly Stone thanks to you as well!"

    The others also yed along, striving to fool Gabriel.

    Unfortunately, none of them could seed. Gabriel had no intention of letting them leave without checking personally.

    Instead of believing their words, he checked everyones personally to see if they had a Heavenly Stone or not.

    With his personal checking, none of the Royals could hide the Heavenly Stone that they had received, especially since the Heavenly Stone was something that couldn''t be kept in an ordinary spatial storage treasure!

    As Gabriel checked everyone, the Royals were so scared. They thought Gabriel was going to kill them after he caught them lying.

    Fortunately Gabriel didn''t make things difficult for them. The Royals and their Guards were too weak to cause any trouble. He let the youngsters leave after their checking.

    In the end, the Royals were relieved to at least leave with their lives while regretting ever meeting this demon.

    In the end, Gabriel was the only person who was left behind, looking at the Heavenly Stones before him.

    "Only four Heavenly Stones. I thought they''ll have more. However, four should be enough. I shouldn''t be too greedy and risk freeing that woman..."

    Gabriel picked up all the Heavenly Stones and kept them in his Grimoire which was one of the only few objects that could contain a Heavenly Stone.

    Keeping the stone, he looked at the four towers once again. However, just as he was about to leave, he saw another figuree out of the Portal of the tomb!

    For a moment, his heart froze. He didn''t expect anyone to still be inside so when a figure jumped out, he thought the woman was free of the shackles.

    It was only after he clearly saw who the person was that he calmed down. It was the cloaked person.

    "So you were still inside..." Gabriel frowned. "How did you hide from my perception inside?"

    Before leaving, he had checked most of the ces and only then he left to make sure that there was no one behind who could weaken the formation further. However, for someone to still be left inside.

    What was even stranger was that he didn''t feel any aura from this person. It was as if the person before him was as ordinary as one could be, which didn''t make sense¡­

 Chapter 397 397: Looks Like I Was Wrong

    ****

    The door of the suppression room inside the tomb closed once again. The Goddess of Nature was again suppressed and everyone had left the Tomb, including Lira.

    "And here I thought I would need to personally get involved to stop them..." Out of nowhere, a calm voice echoed. "It''s good that she wasn''t freed."

    A figure could be seen standing outside the room, standing with the support of the wall. The man had two earrings, one in each of his ears. His cross shaped earrings looked quite simr to the earring of strengthening that Gabriel was wearing to strengthen his physique.

    "I thought you were being overly cautious when strengthening the defences of this ce while making it. Looks like I was wrong." The man''s voice echoed in the lonely hallway of the tomb before he disappeared.

    ****

    Outside the Tomb, Gabriel was standing  before the cloaked person who had juste out. Initially, he hadn''t thought too much about the person, but now he couldn''t ignore that person.

    "Take off your cloak," he told the woman before him.

    Even after hismand, there was no response from the person in the front.

    He didn''t realize that even though the woman''s face was hidden thanks to the cloak, but that woman was currently biting her lower lip in anger.

    It was as if her bad luck was so bad that even after so long, Gabriel was still before the tomb entrance!

    ''Old man, if you don''t help me this time, I might really be dead! If he sees my face and decides to kill me, just think about what might happen to you!''

    ...

    There was no response from the woman even after Gabriel asked her to reveal herself. He was already suspicious of the woman''s identity but seeing her silence, he was even more sure that something was wrong about her!

    Since so much was at stake with the tomb, he couldn''t take any risk.

    A voice floated in Lira''s head.

    At the same time, the woman''s ne turned into a speck of ck light.

    The ck light took the shape of a pitch ck book which stunned even Gabriel. It had been such a long time since hest saw that book.

    "It''s you!" He eximed, taken aback. "Lira!"

    Lira took off the cloak, revealing her pale face. "You''ve already taken my Ancestral Staff. You want to take my life as well?!"

    "Aren''t you the one who wanted to take my life? I still haven''t forgotten all the pain that you made my soul go through!"

    Gabriel had always wondered where Lira was after that day. There were so many things in his mind that he just didn''t have time to find her. Who knew that she was going to appear before him abruptly.

    What was even worse was that this woman went inside the Tomb? Lira was strong and she stayed inside the tomb for so long. He couldn''t help but worry if she freed the Goddess of Nature to get revenge on him!

    ''No! If she was free: with how much she seemed to hate me, she would''ve already been out of the Tomb to kill me! She couldn''t have been freed!''

    Gabriel didn''t know what the woman did, but he couldn''t let her escape now that he finally had her!

    His Grimoire of Necromancy also came out on its own, floating before him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Thud~

    "Huh?" Gabriel called out his Grimoire but before he could even attack Lira, the young woman dropped to her knees.

    Her dark Grimoire floated before her, but Lira didn''t attack.

    Instead, she abruptly eximed, "I surrender!"

    Her response came as a surprise to Gabriel who was expecting her to fight. She had called out her Grimoire after all. Despite that, for some reason she surrendered?

    He didn''t understand what the woman was nning but he didn''t lower his guard. He still had to find out from her what she did inside the tomb. He didn''t lower his guard.

    It was the first time he was regretting using the bracelet of sealing on Lambard''s maid. If he could''ve used that on Lira, he didn''t have to worry about it being a trick of hers.

    "Recall your Grimoire!" Gabriel told the woman while a dark mist came out of the ground, turning into shackles which entrapped Lira in her ce, making it impossible for her to move.

    No matter what she was nning, Gabriel didn''t want to leave any room for a mistake.

    "You''ve really gotten stronger after all this time. You can even use my spells with close to perfection. No wonder you broke our promise and stole my Ancestral Staff after all I did for you!" Lira eximed. She didn''t resist even a little.

    It was unclear what the voice in her head said when she had asked for help, but it was as if she had no intent to fight.

    "Broke our promise?" Gabriel asked. "Our promise was that I was going to give you the Ancestral Staff of Darkness. I intended to keep that promise but it was you, who came to kill me!"

    He had already been betrayed a few times. He didn''t want to give others a chance to betray him. That was why he tried to take the Ancestral Staff first before giving it to Lira.

    The taming of the Ancestral Staff by him didn''t affect the strength of Ancestral Staff for Lira at all. There was no loss to her, other than the fact that she couldn''t have used it to attack him! He never expected her to try to kill him just for that!

    Not only did she try to kill him, but she did so while tormenting his soul.

    "If I wasn''t lucky, I would''ve been killed by you already. The day you tried to kill me, our deal became invalid!" He eximed. "However, that doesn''t make us equal, does it? Shouldn''t it be a life for a life?"

    After the dark chains shackled her, a pitch ck spear floated before Lira. The tip of the spike was already touching Lira''s neck. A little push and Lira could''ve been killed. Despite all that, there was not much fear on her face.

    "Don''t you think so?" Gabriel asked.

    "You''re right. And you''re definitely capable of killing me. At the moment, I can''t even resist," Lira replied, sitting still on her knees.

    Not only did she not resist, but she also recalled the Grimoire of Darkness.

    The Grimoire returned to be a ne around Lira''s neck.

    Lira''s actions were as bizarre as they were surprising. It was as if she didn''t care for her life at all. Gabriel didn''t know why, but he felt like something was really wrong! That feeling was only getting stronger.

    Thrust~

    The pitch ck spear rushed ahead!

 Chapter 398 398: What Did You Find?

    Gabriel didn''t feelfortable with how Lira was behaving. Not only was she not resisting but she wasn''t showing any concern at all. She was just too calm.

    Gabriel didn''t take the risk anymore.

    His spear throat forward, impaling Lira''s throat.

    Lira raised her head, looking straight in Gabriel''s eyes. Her eyes still didn''t reveal a trace of fear. It was as if she didn''t even feel the pain. Instead, there was a trace of smile while Lira''s body disappeared right around the dark spear.

    At the same time, thousands of kilometres away, Lira dropped to the ground, breathing heavily. Her face was pale as snow and her body was weak. Her lips were bleeding as if she had been biting them to prevent her from falling unconscious.

    ....

    Gabriel remained outside the tomb, staring at the spot where Lira had been sitting before. He was still unclear how she achieved her escape. From the start to the end, he never felt as if the person before him was fake or an illusion.

    If it wasn''t for her calmness,he wouldn''t have felt anything wrong either. Amongst all the spells of Darkness that he had known, there was none like this!

    Moreover, ever since Lira appeared before him, he had also kept an eye on the surroundings to make sure that Lira didn''t use any of her shadows to escape. Despite all the precautions, she still somehow seeded.

    Gabriel didn''t remain behind. He cast a flight spell and flew high in the sky! It was restricted to flying in the valley and not even the best of the best could achieve it. However, since the valley was rted to Gabriel, he realized that it wasn''t a problem for him as long as he used the Element of Necromancy.

    He flew higher and higher into the sky until everyone could see it! Even the young royals were forced to look above at Gabriel who was like a deity descending! Avilia also noticed Gabriel, being surprised that he was able to fly there.

    What surprised her even more was that Gabriel was out of the tomb so soon. Generally, people spent a few days inside at least.

    Gabriel remained high in the sky where cold winds brushed against him, making his long hair flutter with the wind. His eyes didn''t look at Avilia or the youngsters. Instead, it appeared as if he was looking at his surroundings, searching for something.

    Gabriel searched the entire Valley carefully. Even for Lira, it would''ve been impossible to escape this valley so soon. Unfortunately, even after searching the farthest corners of the valley, he couldn''t find Lira. He could only return to the cliff where Avilia was waiting for him.

    "You look concerned. Did something happen?"Avilia asked, approaching Gabriel from behind while he was still lost in some thought, looking at the valley.

    "I saw her," Gabriel answered.

    "You saw who?"

    "The Holy Priestess of Darkness, Lira. I thought I had her but she escaped!" Gabriel exined everything that happened. However, he hid the matter of what he found inside the tomb, only telling Avilia about Lira and the matters rting to her.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "So you''re saying she was standing near you but you couldn''t sense her." Avilia was also somewhat intrigued. There weren''t many things that could hide someone from the perception of a Holy Priest, especially one like Gabriel who had such a powerful soul strength.

    "If she had used a spell for it, the spell wouldn''t havested this long. Even if there is such a spell, it must consume a lot of strength. If she was using it the entire day, she wouldn''t have had the strength to escape." Even though it appeared as if Lira was talking to herself, Gabriel understood that she was talking to him.

    "It''s probably a treasure that she found," Gabriel agreed. And his first thought went to the cloak that she was wearing. The cloak looked as ordinary as a cloak could, but still, the more inconspicuous a thing was, the more it had the ability to surprise one.

    "Do you know of a way to find her now?" he asked Avilia, still not losing the opportunity. No matter what spell Lira used, she was most probably still around somewhere.

    "If we could sense her aura, it would''ve been easy to find her. But if she really has a treasure as you describe, it''ll be quite hard. It''s like finding an ordinary needle in a haystack," Avilia answered. But she still cast a spell.

    A formation appeared before her, from which a shadow beast jumped out!

    It was Gabriel''s first time seeing a shadow beast in itsplete form. The Shadow Beast was as tall as the two of them. It was like a fierce beast who had impable speed and stamina. However, just by looking at it, no one could have expected that it was a shadow beast since the only pitch ck part of the beast were his two eyes.

    As for his fur, it was a beautiful shade of white, just like his two beautiful tails.

    "Even though it''s not easy to find her, I can send some shadows to search around cities. However, we''re looking for the Queen of shadows who should be the best at hiding. I won''t expect her to be found so easily."

    The Shadow Beast disappeared into the shadows. He split into thousands of shadows and easily rushed in a different direction in search for the Holy Priestess of Darkness.

    Gabriel sat at the edge of the cliff in silence, looking at the sky above which had darkened. Stars were already visible in the sky. He didn''t look like he was in a hurry to leave this ce.

    "Avilia, I want your help with something..."

    "What help?" Avilia asked, wondering just what could this guy need other than her fighting strength.

    "I want this entire valley to be sealed. So that no one could enter this valley and that tomb. If we can''t stop people from entering, sooner orter, it''ll lead to a great disaster,"Gabriel answered, lying on the hard rock, having a clear view of the sky.

    For him, Lira had already escaped and to find her was almost impossible for now. So the next best thing he could do was to secure this ce.

    "Why?" From what she had heard, there were only a few Heavenly Stones inside. Even though they were like a treasure, they weren''t worth taking action personally. She didn''t understand why Gabriel was so serious about this tomb. It was as if she found out something about the tomb that even she didn''t know.

    "What did you find inside?" she asked directly.

 Chapter 399 399: All Planned By Gabriel!

    "You don''t need to know what''s inside. Just know that if people don''t stop entering, something really bad will happen. Can you take care of it for the time being?" Gabriel didn''t reveal anything.

    He didn''t know what the impression of the Goddess of Nature was on others. In any case, it was definitely better than Karyk''s impression on others. The more he hid it, the safer he felt. He just went with being vague. It wasn''t a lie that something bad will happen after all. The only thing was that it was bad only for him!

    "You don''t need to worry about that. The valley will close now. Even I won''t be able to enter until it''s next time of the opening. At that time, if you''re busy, I''ll send someone to stop people from entering."

    "That''s good."

    Gabriel could finally rx a bit. The valley opened once every few years because of weakening of natural energy. So for a few years, he was safe. That allowed him to deal with matters of importance without being distracted. However, for now, he just wanted to rest under the starlight.

    He asionally nced at the four towers in the distance. This trip here led him to some answers but it led to even more questions. He found out about things that made him realize just how shallow his knowledge about the World had been.

    He used to think that all the Gods were dead but he was realizing that it wasn''t the case. If the Goddess of Nature could survive for so long while being trapped, then what about other gods? What happened to them? Were they also alive? If they were, then where were they?

    ''Are you alive as well? Karyk?'' Gabriel thought, looking at the beautiful moon in the sky.

    Gabriel didn''t realize when, but he eventually fell asleep. Fortunately, he cast a spell around himself to alert him in case there was even the slightest of danger. That spell could not only wake him up from his sleep, but also teleport him in a short range to protect him.

    He didn''t leave his protection on Avilia.

    The beautiful yet cold night was silent enough to not disturb Gabriel''s sleep at all. If anything, sleeping at such a height was even morefortable for Gabriel.

    During his sleep, he once again found himself near the waterfall where he was usually training.

    Alion was still under the same waterfall, training his body. Alion was bare chested and didn''t use any essories other than the two earrings that matched the one with Gabriel.

    Looking at those earrings, Gabriel often wondered just where the second one was which he could use. He didn''t know if having two was better for training or if two of them increased even more pressure on the body.

    He also jumped inside the water after taking off his shirt and swam to Alion. Silently, he sat under the waterfall without disturbing Alion and started training himself.

    After Gabriel closed his eyes, Alion opened his eyes and nced at the man next to him. He closed his eyes again.

    ****

    It was the morning. Since there was no shade at the top of the cliff, the sunlight fell straight on Gabriel''s face, waking him up from his long yetfortable slumber.

    He sat up and stretched his arms. His body felt sofortable. After going through the pressure in the valley and the night''s training, his body felt more rxed.

    Avilia was still at the Cliff. She was already up yet she hadn''t woken him. Instead, she was sitting near a fire, cooking something.

    "You know how to cook?" Gabriel stood up, patting the dust off his clothes.

    "How do you think I survived in this world before bing a Holy Lord?" Avilia asked, smiling wryly. "I won''t praise myself too much, but I''m the best chef that I know. You''re lucky to be able to eat my cooking."

    Gabriel didn''t take Avilia seriously. However,he didn''t think of her as a narcissistic person either.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He didn''t realise that he was really in for a surprise. It was only when he ate what Avilia had made that he understood that she wasn''t lying at all.

    "It''s quite good. How about you be my official chef?" Gabriel asked jokingly.

    "How about I push you off this cliff?" Avilia answered in the form of a question.

    "If you agree to my request, I''ll let you push me off," Gabriel answered, even though he knew she was never going to agree. Making a Holy Lord as his personal chef was impossible.

    Moreover, it wasn''t dangerous for him even if he was pushed off now! He wasn''t the same weak person who almost died thest time he was pushed off a cliff. Currently, he had hundreds of ways to protect himself even without using his flight spell.

    Avilia only red at Gabriel but didn''t answer. "Are we finally going back to Arecia? Is it time for you to execute your n?"

    Gabriel nced in the distance in the direction of the Arecia Empire. "It should be the time."

    "Is this n also the reason you used violence against the citizens who resisted you?" Avilia asked, wondering if Gabriel had already thought this far in advance.

    "Not initially." After a brief period of silence, Gabriel answered. "Initially, I just wanted to avoid the conflict and protect Arecia. But there were too many people who were working in the dark against me."

    "They just used the excuse of me noting to help to incite people. However, even if they didn''t have that excuse, they would''ve found another excuse."

    "I had to think of a way to deal with them. But the other Churches were also a headache. When the Church sent an envoy to me, it was clear that I couldn''t hide my identity for too long."

    "Once my identity was out, the resistance was going to be a thousand times worse than what it was at that time," Gabriel exined.

    "So you let those people fan the mes to reveal themselves." Avilia frowned.

    "Instilling fear with a thousand people against you is better than doing so with millions against you," Gabriel answered. "Especially since at that time, the other Churches would''ve been behind those millions as well."

    "So you took this opportunity to control the people in advance?" Avilia asked.

    Gabriel nodded. "I''m already called the Blood Emperor. So what if someonees out and tells them that I''m a Dark Mage? It would be too insignificant. Moreover, after what happened in the past, the Empire''s fighting force is weakened! Only the ones who are loyal to me are left. Instigating them would be impossible even if someone reveals my identity?"

    "The scene of war would still be fresh in everyone''s mind."

    The more Gabriel spoke, the more Avilia became stunned!

    When Gabriel fought against the people who wanted to kill him and remove him from the throne, she thought he killed them because of his anger! However, she was slowly realizing that Gabriel was just thinking too far ahead! Anger and heartbreak was just an excuse he used to show his own guards!

    She knew that Gabriel was truly hurt on the inside at that time with the way people came for his head after all he did for them. However, he really didn''t let his emotions control himself at that time! It was all for a bigger goal!

    Everything that happened was what he had nned! As for the end goal, Gabriel was finally going to put it in motion! A goal that could send a wave of shock down the entire world! Gabriel had already nted seeds and now it was time to water that seed and watch it be a majestic tree!

    This man... He was more dangerous and farsighted than she thought!

 Chapter 400 400: Ambitious!

    ****

    Gabriel''s departure from the Kingdom of Arecia was in such a way that not many people in the Empire knew that he wasn''t in the Empire at all!

    Throughout the days that Gabriel was missing, the news about the deaths of most of the people who rose in an uprising against Gabriel was spread far and wide! The stories were even more brutal than reality, oftentimes exaggerated by the people who spread such news!

    This was also what Gabriel wanted in the first ce. More and more people were starting to acknowledge Gabriel as a blood Demon. However, they were also scared because of the stories. None of them dared to n an uprising again.

    The Royal Knights also didn''t stop to curb any stories. If anything, they just let things progress. Amongst all the stories, there was also one more rumor that had started to spread under the Knights'' noses.

    It was unclear where that rumor came from or if it was true or not, but at many ces, stories were spreading subtly that Gabriel was associated with the Dark Mages!

    Many other Empires had also sent their spines to the Arecia Empire to slowly infiltrate and find out more about the current situation. Many neighbouring Empires sent their spies which were currently in the Royal Capital!

    If it was before, the news about Gabriel being associated with the Dark Mages would''ve been enough to shock people enough for them to demand a change in leadership or even look for outside help.

    Unfortunately, currently the situation was just too strange and the citizens were just silent and only observing the situation.

    In one such tavern of the Royal Capital, many prominent figures of the capital were sitting and having a good time. Since Gabriel had stripped all the Nobles of their powers, most of the people in the Empire suddenly becamemoners and lost all powers! Even the strength of the Academy was curbed under such heavy measures!

    Many people from other Empires noticed such things and thought about trying to take advantage of the situation. The Empire was at its weakest after all and perfect to swallow.

    Unfortunately, after the intelligence gathering and all the stories they heard, even they didn''t dare to be hasty! It was said that Gabriel had wiped out an entire army himself while he was only a Knight!

    "I really pity you people, living under the rule of a demon! It seems even worse than it would''ve been living under a dark mage!" One of the spies sighed, talking silently to his informants in the Empire.

    "Shh, don''t speak so loud! If the Knights heard you, it won''t be good! Don''t get me in trouble with that Demon!" The informant looked all around the tavern carefully, making sure that no one heard them.

    "You''re quite popr in the Empire, aren''t you?" In one of the private rooms on the first floor, two youngsters were sitting next to each other, looking at the entire ground floor through the ss window. "To me, it looks like you''re sitting over a bomb that can explode at any time, with even the slightest fire."

    "The entire world is a bomb for someone like me, no matter where I go. It''s just a matter of my identity being exposed," Gabriel replied to Avilia, not being bothered about her words. "However, you don''t have to worry about me. This bomb... It will only blow up my enemies. I will let Arecia be my downfall. This is just the start."

    "Well, you certainly have some time now. The neighbouring Empires won''t even think about attacking Arecia anytime soon. However, the same can''t be said about the Churches. If you really execute your n, it''ll lead them straight to this Empire, won''t it?" Avilia asked, still unclear how Gabriel was going to execute such an ambitious project while preventing the Empire from being destroyed.

    Gabriel took a sip of his beer, finishing it in one try before standing up. "As I said before, they''lle to this Empire even if I don''t do anything. Since I have some time before the execution, I would rather spend that time in preparation. However, before that... I need to go somewhere. You can go and wait for me at the pce."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Gabriel stepped out of the room, covering his face with a mask. However, before leaving, he turned around. "Oh, and tell the guys at the Pce to increase the speed. The formation that I stole from the Church of mes is still not implementedpletely."

    "Tell them to finish it in a week. Also, don''t think about sending a shadow after me. I don''t want to have to destroy it."

    Avilia heard Gabriel and rolled her eyes. However, she also stopped the spell that she was going to cast. This guy was really troublesome!

    After Gabriel left, the room returned to the old silence with only Avilia behind. Avilia was still sitting in the room, thinking about the past and more importantly about the words that she had heard from the Holy Lord of Wind!

    "Even if I don''t do anything, he will die..." These words kept floating in her head. She didn''t understand what the Holy Lord of Wind meant at that time, but she couldn''t help but wonder if this was what he meant.

    Even without him doing anything, Gabriel was executing such a dangerous n. This was akin to turning the entire world against him in one stroke. This was just too dangerous.

    However, she felt as if this wasn''t right. She felt that there was more to the words of the Holy Lord of Wind than what was happening! Something much bigger.

    In the end, she also finished her alcohol. She left a few gold coins on the table before disappearing as well.

    She went straight to the Royal Pce of Arecia. After telling the current Saint Knight to fasten the progress of construction, she went to the room that was assigned to her to rest, still wondering just where Gabriel went and what was he trying to hide.

    "Whatever. You can''t hide it for too long. Sooner orter, you''ll have to show me..." She muttered lying on thefortable bed.

    ****

    Leaving the tavern, Gabriel reached near the Royal Garden of Legacy which he had prohibited for others! Many Royal Knights were assigned outside a seemingly ordinary garden to prevent anyone from entering!

    The Knights didn''t even know why they were protecting a garden. It wasn''t as if anyone was going to rob grass here. However, they followedmands.

    "Your Majesty!"

    The Knights that were getting bored guarding at night were stunned to find the Emperor in the distance! They all dropped to their knees respectfully.

    "Enough with the greeting. Retreat and no one is allowed to enter within five hundred meters of the boundary of this garden, including you!"

 Chapter 401 401: Tower Of God!

    All the guards retreated by five hundred meters, increasing the security parameter while also giving Gabriel privacy. Although they were curious about what Gabriel was going to do there, none of them disobeyed themands!

    Gabriel stayed at the iron gates of the majestic garden, making sure that everyone had left. It was only after he made sure that everyone had left, he entered the garden of legacy. He didn''t even open the door and simply jumped over the doors.

    After Gabriel entered the garden, he raised his right hand and cast a barrier all around the garden, ensuring no one could see what was happening there.

    From the distance, the guards couldn''t see the barrier but even if they could, they wouldn''t have guessed that it was cast by Gabriel and not by a treasure.

    Gabriel brought out the four Heavenly Stones from the Book of Destiny and flew high in the sky. His main focus was on the center of the garden. Based on the center at the reference and the direction of the moon, he selected four points in four different edges of the garden.

    He made sure that the direction and all the points that he selected were simr to the arrangement of the four stone pirs and the stone b in the middle at the tomb.

    He flew on one of the edges and ced a Heavenly Stone there before moving to a different edge and found the same. One after another, he did the same at four points.

    He used all four stones before flying up again to confirm that there was nothing wrong.

    After confirming everything, he still remained in the sky to see if something was going to change.

    ....

    The night was silent. Even the sound of the wind couldn''t be heard. Unfortunately, other than the winds abruptly stopping, nothing strange happened! There was no change in the garden. Everything looked exactly like before.

    "This is strange. Did I guess wrong?" Gabriel wondered, slightly confused. "Or are the stones just not enough?"

    "Even if the stones aren''t enough, there should still be some movement if the formation was correct. Is the positioning wrong? Or did I understand everything wrong?"

    "No, I can''t give up aftering this far. If it''s not about the missing stones and the positioning isn''t wrong, then what''s wrong should be that I''m still missing something... But what?"

    Gabriel rubbed his chin, trying to visualize the tomb in ce of the garden.

    "The four stones are the four pirs. That''s right. Then what?" He stopped focusing on the stones and instead turned his attention to the centre.

    "The Stone b? Is it what I''m missing? Something that can take the ce of the stone b? The four pirs were a source of energy so the four Heavenly Stones can take their ce. But the stone b is different. I thought the garden center would act as the stone b. Is that where I''m wrong?"

    ? After wondering for some time, Gabrielnded near the center of the beautiful garden.

    "The Stone b was the core. And it wasn''t just the source of energy but something that had a world of its own inside. Is there really something that can take its ce in this garden?"

    Gabriel walked around the garden, thinking heavily. He went through all his Numens to see if there was something that could take the ce of the stone b in this formation but nothing appeared suitable.<novelnext></novelnext>

    At the same time, the buzzing of his ring of Necromancy also kept troubling him.

    "I know! I know you want me to get what''s in this garden, but at least give me time to think about how to get it!" Gabriel eximed, slightly frustrated at the constant buzzing in his hand.

    "A stone b with a world of its own... Something that can contain infinite Treasures like the Heavenly Stones inside... Wait... It''s..." His eyes that were filled with trouble suddenly lit up as he thought of something!

    "In this world, if there''s a treasure that can contain a Heavenly Stone inside, isn''t that the Holy Grimoires? I have two of them already! However, this ce is rted to Karyk! If I use the Grimoire of Necromancy as the core, would it work?"

    After thinking for a little longer, he decided to give it a try. He called out his Grimoire of Necromancy.

    The beautiful ck ring that was constantly buzzing transformed into the Forbidden Book of Necromancy!

    Gabriel grabbed the Grimoire and walked to the center of the garden. He ced the book on the ground exactly ording to the formation and flew high in the sky so that he could see the entire garden property to see thechanges!

    The Holy Grimoire of Necromancy was ced on the ground, but it floated a few inches above the ground on its own! All the Heavenly Stones also flew higher by a few inches.

    A beautiful threat of light shot out from the Heavenly Stones, joining up with the other Heavenly Stones!

    Before long, a beautiful square could be seen from the sky, made purely of the threat of Heavenly Energy. After all the Heavenly Stones were connected with each other, all the Heavenly Stones connectedwith the Heavenly Grimoire in the center, transferring their energy to the Grimoire in unison!

    The Grimoire didn''t just take the energy! Instead, it was like a conduit that was purifying all the energy that it received from the Heavenly Stones, and amplifying only the Energy of Death before transferring it to the garden under it!

    The aura of death infiltrated the Garden of Legacy where Gabriel had failed to even leave a single scratch!

    Slowly, all the grass in the garden started turning ck. The grass was shining in that mysterious darkness, making the scene look even more fascinating. It was as if the grass was lifeless yet had a life of its own!

    Staying in that ce, Gabriel felt as if it was even more soothing to his soul for some reason! It was as if his soul was getting stronger! Not just his soul but even his body was slowly getting stronger and improving each passing second under the mysterious energy! It was as if he was finally there... The ce that was like his home!

    "!!!"

    Gabriel was distracted by the strange yetfortable feeling. However, he was shocked to see a beam of energy suddenly shooting out of the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy toward the sky.

    Subconsciously, Gabriel reacted fast and moved back, avoiding being hit by that beam of dark energy. He didn''t know why, but he felt as if it was dangerous if he was hit by that!

    The beam of dark light didn''t even target him and shoot straight to the sky. It was as if a majestic tower of gods was created by that dark light that could be seen from every corner of the world! And indeed, it was noticed... By everyone... good and bad!

 Chapter 402 402: Its Coming!

    A bright beam of light shot through the sky! All the clouds that were in the sky were dispersed, as if they were destroyed by the towering light.

    Even the barrier that was cast by Gabriel to hide everything that took ce inside the garden shattered like a thin sheet of ss without even the slightest of resistance.

    Gabriel had told the Knights to retreat half a kilometer to avoid anyone seeing anything out of ce, but the current change couldn''t be hidden from anyone! All the guards could see that the source of this towering light was at the Garden of Legacy!

    They already expected something to be special about the garden with how much attention Gabriel paid to that ce, but now it seemed even more extraordinary!

    It would''ve been fine if it was just noticed by the guards, but that wasn''t the case! Many citizens noticed the bright beam of light. To them, it was more as if the light had descended from the seventh heaven, instead of rising from earth!

    Even the people who were inside the house were drawn out by the people who were outside. Themotion was just too difficult to ignore!

    The Crown Prince and the Princess of Yann had just returned to Yann. At the moment, they were in a meeting with their father, telling him what took ce at the tomb.

    Unfortunately, before they could exin much, the guards of the Emperor rushed inside, informing him about the strange phenomenon outside!

    In the Lumen Empire, the Head Priests of the Church of Light flew high in the sky, looking at the beam of light that was thousands of kilometers away, yet still visible!

    It was their first time, seeing something like this! There was no mention of any phenomenon like that in their books either.

    Not too far from them, the Head Teachers of the Academy of Elements were also high in the sky. Without Izen, the academy was weakened but they were still an influential group.

    It was hard to attract people''s attention in the world, but currently everyone''s attention was in the same direction! The direction of Arecia!

    The Holy Priest of mes was standing outside the destroyed Church. The construction work had started again. Moreover, the Holy Priestess of Earth was also setting up her treasure to use Gabriel''s origin energy trace to bring him to them!

    There was still some work left to do before everything was ready for their trap. However, currently none of them was focused on the task at hand.

    "This energy... It''s simr to what destroyed your Church!" The Holy Priestess of Earth eximed. "Looks like we won''t need to use my treasure after all."

    "That person! Instead of hiding, he dares to be so high profile to reveal his trace? Good!" The Holy Priests of mes already had a fire burning in his heart.

    His entire body was covered in scorching blue mes as he shot straight toward the Empire of Arecia!

    The Holy Priestess of Earth followed behind the Holy Lord of mes. Even she was curious just what this tower of light was being used for, or why now!

    The Holy Priestess of Lightning and the Holy Priestess of Water were together, trying to find traces of Lambard''s current location and to some extent, they had also seeded. They found out that the city of Abbadon was currently near the Arecia Empire. They didn''t know exactly where.

    They were already on their way to the Arecia Empire when they saw the beam of light. The two of them also happened to be the closest to that ce.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Both of them left their carriages. To get to the source of this disturbance, they decided to cover the rest of the way through flight! The Head Priests who were apanying them followed along.

    One after another, all of the Holy Priests were on their way to the Arecia Empire... All but two... The two were already inside the Arecia Empire!

    One of them was Avilia who was already inside the castle when it happened. She had fallen asleep but woke up as soon as she sensed the flood of this strange energy that even made her feel ufortable!

    Through the window, she looked out in the direction of the garden. This thing... Is that where he went? But what is this beam of light? Why does it even make me shiver? Just what''s happening?

    Being closest to the garden of Legacy, Avilia felt even more influenced by that strange energy. However, she still decided to check it out for herself.

    "What a bigmotion this guy caused!" She eximed, sighing. "Soon, the others should be there as well."

    ****

    Above the Royal Pce, the Holy Lord of Wind was sittingfortably, looking at the garden of legacy.

    Unlike Avilia, he didn''t get close to the Garden. Instead, he just observed it from a distance.

    After some time, he turned around, gazing in the distance. "As expected, this time the disturbance is just too much. Even the Temple of Time came out."

    Outside the Empire of Arecia, a giant door appeared out of thin air. In the middle of the door, only an hourss was carved. Despite being just a carving, the hourss was full of life.

    A small crack appeared as the door slowly opened.

    The door connected two different spaces through one portal. From the door, a young man and a young woman came out. None of the two appeared to be in any hurry at all. What was even stranger was that both of them had pale faces yet deep blood red eyes.

    The two looked at the beam of light.

    "So this is the ce where he hid it. No wonder we couldn''t find anything. What a headache... If that army returns, it would get quite troublesome for us." The young man muttered, not showing much reaction. "But how is it opened again? Only he could''ve opened that ce. But he''s dead! So how?"

    The woman next to him doesn''t speak anything. Even she appeared somewhat confused. "Could it be that he returned?"

    "Impossible! It''s just not possible with everything that happened in the past. There''s no way. I don''t know how, but someone must''ve found a way to open that ce!" The man grimaced. It wasn''t often that he showed such serious expressions.

    He nced back at the red pendant that was hanging around his chest. For a moment, there was only silence. "It doesn''t matter how it happened. The tower of light can''t be faked! It''s appearing... It''s appearing in this world again... The army that left only death in its path!"

    "Even if he hasn''t returned himself... Even if it''s just the army... Even if it''s just one soldier... this world isn''t capable of resisting! We can''t let it seed! Whoever opened it, we shall eradicate them!"

 Chapter 403 403: The Nameless

    Gabriel was still present inside the Garden of Legacy. Looking at the tower of light before him, even he was slightly worried. There was no way such a big disturbance wasn''t going to be noticed by the others. It was clear to him.

    "I didn''t expect the disturbance to be so big."

    He didn''t realize that he had still underestimated just the kind of disturbance he had caused.

    The Holy Grimoire of Necromancy was at the core of that bright beam of light. Even he couldn''t get close to the Forbidden Book of Necromancy. He could only watch from a distance.

    He didn''t even understand just what exactly was happening. So far, other than the beam of light, he hadn''t noticed anything else in this garden. However, he did sense that his strength was slowly increasing.

    It was as if the natural energy in the Empire of Arecia had improved multiple times but only for him! He could even feel the aura of death in the wind itself!

    The bright beam of light didn''tst for a long time. After only fifteen minutes, the bright light slowly started dispersing. However, the light didn''t just get destroyed! Instead, the beam of light spread all around the Empire, forming some kind of natural barrier around the Empire of Arecia!

    It was as if the entire Empire was covered in a majestic ck dome. It was impossible to look through the barrier for ordinary people, let alone pass through it. Even mages could only barely see through the barrier.

    After the barrier appeared, the book of Grimoire floated straight to Gabriel. Gabriel reached out his hand to touch the Holy Grimoire, but before his fingers could evennd on the Grimoire, the Holy Grimoire opened on its own!

    The pages started flipping on their own until a nk page was opened.

    Gabriel was fascinated to see the book open on its own! It only happened when he was receiving a new spell! Everything appeared simr!

    Just as he expected, words started appearing on the nk page! Surprisingly, the title was nk! The spell... It had no name! Not only did it have no name, not even the rank was left as a nk! He didn''t know if it was a high tier spell or a low tier spell. However, since it appeared now, he tried to convince himself that the spell couldn''t be bad.

    There was also no description of that spell! There was only the chant that Gabriel could read but not understand! It was as if there were some foreignnguage words that he couldn''t understand!

    He could feel a strange powering from those words. It was as if he was already very familiar with them, even though he didn''t understand them.

    There were no warnings about this spell. No limitations were mentioned and he couldn''t even see just how much strength this spell consumed. It was also unclear if the spell was an offensive spell, or defensive? Or something else entirely?

    He wanted to test the spell, but without knowing what it was, he hesitated.

    "If this is a weak spell, it is fine. However, if it is an offensive spell which is even more powerful than the wrath of undead, then would the entire city be destroyed under it? Should I test it in some barrennd?" He wondered, as if talking to himself. There were a lot of considerations to take into ount.

    "The Grimoire wouldn''t give me an offensive spell without description, would it?" He went through the spell again, trying to see if he could grasp something from it. "This spell only appeared after I went through so much to uncover the secret of this garden but that still isn''t finished. Is this spell rted to this garden?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "If this spell is a way to uncover the secret of this ce, it would be a real loss if I miss this chance. I can''t find more Heavenly Stones for another such opportunity. Should I really take the risk?"

    In the end, he was in conflict with himself. On one side, he wanted to take the risk to achieve his goal. On the other hand, he wanted to be cautious. This beam of light had made such a hugemotion that Gabriel was sure the other Heavenly Lords were already on their way. If he used this spell, and it was a high tier offensive spell, it was just a waste of his strength!

    If this spell consumed all his strength in exchange for destroying this city, not only was he going to lose this city but also he was going to be at his weakest when the Holy Lords arrived to attack him.

    "If that happens, I can''t even rely on Avilia to help me!"

    "Argh, forget it! I can''t miss this opportunity aftering this far!"

    After a long back and forth, in the end, Gabriel managed to convince himself and take the risk! He didn''t want to miss this opportunity or rely on others! If it was really something bad for him, then he left it forter. He didn''t think the Grimoire would actually do something to harm him!

    He memorized the spell and used wordless chants to cast the spell.

    After a few seconds, Gabriel''s expressions changed. He opened his eyes, frowning.

    "Hmm? The wordless chant can''t be used with this spell? That''s strange. Just what is this spell?"

    With wordless chant being useless, Gabriel decided to take the long route and actually chant the spell.

    With each word he chanted, he felt a strange feeling in his heart, as if he had used such words thousands of times before! It was as if he was already familiar with this spell, even though it was his first time using this.

    Moreover, as he continued chanting the spell, something strange was happening under his feet. The entire ground that was covered in ck grass now was changing slowly!

    All the grass broke apart slowly and turned into specks of darkness! Gabriel''s body started rising in the sky on its own while the ground continued changing!

    From this height, when he looked down, it was as if he was looking at a pitch ck abyss! Other than darkness, nothing could be seen in the garden! Even he couldn''t see through that darkness!

    What was even more bizarre was that each word he finished from the chant, hundreds of evil spirits rushed out of the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy and disappeared into the dark abyss in the garden!

    Gabriel didn''t have time to stop or even think about it and continued chanting the nameless spell, getting closer and closer to the end!

 Chapter 404 404: Depth Of Abyss

    The two Envoys from the Temple of Time got closer to the Empire but before they could step inside, they saw the bright tower of light disappear. The next moment, a barrier appeared around the Empire when they were just a little outside the border.

    The two Envoys were taken aback at the sudden appearance of the barrier, especially when they hadn''t managed to enter the Empire of Arecia yet.

    On another side of the Empire, the Holy Priests had also started arriving, only to be greeted by the barrier.

    The Holy Lord of mes clenched his fist and punched the barrier with his full strength! Even his fist was surrounded in deep blue mes as he attacked.

    Boom ~

    The Holy Priest''s fistnded on the barrier, creating an explosive sound. However, what the others saw was something they didn''t expect. They saw the Holy Lord of mes flying back uncontrobly.

    Not only was the barrierpletely unharmed, but it was the Holy Lord of mes who suffered. It was only after the Holy Lord of mes was pushed back a few hundred meters in the air that he managed to regain his bnce.

    "What kind of barrier is it? It''s stronger than anything I''ve seen. Not only does it prevent me from passing through, but it uses my own attack against me by reflecting it?" The Holy Lord of mes frowned, moving closer to the Holy Priestess of Earth.

    "Can you tell us what is going on here?" The Holy Priestess of Water asked. Since she was thest to arrive here, she thought that the others had some idea at least.

    "I don''t know what''s happening. However, it''s definitely not good. It''s rted to the one who destroyed the Church of mes," the Holy Priestess of Earth responded.

    "The barrier is really hard to break. Even if we all attack together, it''ll take at least half an hour to break it by my estimates," the Holy Lord of mes muttered. He turned to the Holy Priestess of Earth. "Can we use the earth to pass through the barrier?"

    "You mean enter from under the barrier?" The Holy Priestess wondered. Even though she didn''t know just what this barrier was, she felt that it wasn''t easy to pass through it even if she tried making a tunnel under earth.

    Still, just to be safe, shended on the ground. Her figure turned Illusory as she submerged inside the earth, disappearing. It was as if the earth had be her water and she was a mermaid born to travel through it.

    After around five minutes, she came out again with disappointment on her face.

    "It won''t work. The barrier covers everything, from sky to earth. We can only destroy it if we want to enter!"

    No matter how strong a barrier was, at the end of the day, its energy was limited. It was impossible for any barrier tost for an eternity against all the Holy Lordsbined.

    "Then so be it!" The Holy Lord of mes eximed. "I will let that bastard live for half an hour more!"

    As there was no other option, all the Holy Lordsbined their strength and started attacking together with their strongest of spells, slowly wearing down the barrier.

    ****

    Back at the side of the Temple of Time, things were much more different.

    Unlike the Holy Lords, they didn''t use brute strength.

    Both the Envoys were quite unphased. The man simply ced his hand on the barrier. He didn''t use any force behind it, so as to not be countered.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As soon as the man ced his hand on the barrier, the red gem around his neck started shining brightly, as if releasing a strange power.

    The power didn''t fight against the barrier at all. Instead, it just controlled the surrounding space of the barrier. It was as if the time was moving in reverse by a few seconds to the time before the barrier was cast in that space.

    Even though time moved back by only a few seconds in a small space, it was still enough to almost exhaust the man entirely. He was barely holding on as his entire body felt weak. It was a struggle to even remain standing.

    Fortunately, within a few seconds, an opening was created in the barrier. The two Envoys passed through the small opening, finally stepping foot inside thend of Arecia.

    As the two passed through, the man stopped using his strength! The time that was revered by a few seconds returned to normal and the barrier appeared once again.

    "Are you alright?" The woman known as Litvia asked. "If you''re tired, you can stay here and recover. I''ll handle everything else."

    "No need." The man called Ozen was weak after using barely only a little bit of power of time, but he didn''t show weakness.

    He was still calm even though weak. He brought a small gem from his pocket and ced it under his tongue, regaining some of his strength.

    Litvia didn''t question him anymore. The two started flying toward the Garden of Legacy.

    ****

    At the same time, the garden of legacy had transformedpletely! The ground had turned into a dark abyss, filled with the aura of death. However, that abyss wasn''t just limited to the ground!

    As soon as Gabriel spoke thest word of the chant, the darkness shot out of the garden, swallowing Gabriel inside it!

    Gabriel was stunned but he couldn''t even resist. Everything around him turned pitch ck and even he was unable to see anything.

    For him, the entire world had turned dark! He flew higher and higher, but he couldn''te out of the darkness for some reason.

    Somehow, he even felt as if he wasn''t outside the garden anymore, but in a different ce entirely.

    After trying to get out of the darkness for a long time and still failing to get out, he stopped wasting time. If there was nothing to be done, he wanted to see just what this ce was.

    "Come to me." He raised his right hand, calling for his Grimoire of Necromancy which he could still feel around him, even though he couldn''t see.

    Other than the Grimoire of Necromancy, he couldn''t feel anything. He couldn''t even feel the other Grimoire that was under his control. It was as if in this ce, only his connection with the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy was the eternal truth.

    The Grimoire of Necromancy listened to hismands and flew straight into his hands.

    "If only you could talk, I could''ve known just what was happening. Everything is so bizarre." Gabriel held Grimoire firmly. He stopped flying higher and instead went down. If under him was an abyss, then he believed that going to the depth of this abyss was the answer.

 Chapter 405 405: Is This...?

    Gabriel had flown up for a long time, trying to get out of the darkness. ording to him, he should''ve been far away from the ground. However, as he started going down, within a few seconds, his feetnded on something solid.

    It was as if he had reached the ground which was hard to understand. It was as if the space and time was distorted in this ce.

    Moreover, as soon as hended on the ground, the darkness seemingly started retreating.

    He was once again able to see the dark grass under his feet. It was as if he was back in the garden again. However, what was strange was that his surroundings were different!

    It was as if he wasn''t in the Royal City of Arecia! Moreover, it wasn''t the garden at all! It was just that the grass was simr.

    Not too far from him, he could see a ck river. The river was simr to what he saw in the past when he was taken to a safe ce by the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy. It was the same river which was filled with evil spirits.

    "Get inside..."

    "Come in..."

    "Come in..."

    The evil spirits were still whispering to him to get inside the water. However, afterst time, Gabriel didn''t have any intention of entering the river. There was just something too strange here.

    On the river, he noticed a dark gray bridge which appeared to be the only way to cross the river. However, the other end of the bridge and the area was covered in mist that was impossible to see through. Even Gabriel couldn''t guess what was on the other end of the river...

    Let alone on the other end of the river and bridge, he couldn''t even see around the mist behind him. Only the small garden area where he was standing was visible.

    Currently, he had two paths before him. He couldn''t either turn around and go back inside the mist. Or he could cross the river to see what was on the other side of the river.

    Fortunately, it wasn''t hard to decide. His heart was telling him that he needed to cross the river. Moreover, even if he couldn''t find anything worthwhile on the other side, he could at least return back to this ce and check the surroundings.

    Not wasting much time, he stepped closer to the river of souls. He stepped on the dark wooden bridge. The bridge looked really weak, as if it could break at any moment. It was filled with cracks everywhere.

    Gabriel was really careful when walking over the bridge, asionally ncing over to the river under him.

    The river was simr to what he saw before, but for some reason, it looked even deeper and more dangerous. It was as if the river he saw before was just a weaker branch of this river.

    The Grimoire in his hand returned to the form of a ring like before, freeing his hand.

    "Just what was that garden? It was as if the garden was a door to another space. I hope I won''t find another god trapped who wants to kill me here. One is already enough..."

    He didn''t know what this ce was, but he was sure that it was rted to Karyk. Which also meant that there was a possibility of some dangers here.

    Despite being weak, the bridge didn''t break. The spirits kept trying to lure Gabriel inside the water, but they didn''t dare to get close to him, as if they were scared of something.

    Just the aura of the Spirits here alone was enough to bring a powerful mage down to their knees yet it had no effect on Gabriel at all. His mind was still as clear as before.<novelnext></novelnext>

    After walking over a thousand meter long bridge, Gabriel finally reached the other end of the bridge, entering the mist.

    "What... is... this...?" As soon as he passed through the bridge tond on the other side, his expressions changed slightly.

    He had no expectations as to what he was going to see whening here. He was prepared to find many bizzare things in this ce. However, what he saw was probably thest thing he expected to find in a dangerous ce like this!

    Before him, there were no dangerous monsters! There were no ghosts! There wasn''t even any visible trap! What was before him was quite mundane instead! In front of him, there was a beautiful castle.

    Other than looking beautiful and majestic, Gabriel couldn''t find anything special in that Castle.

    He didn''t get close to the castle, only observing from a distance.

    After observing the entire castle, his attention was mainly attracted by a single part of the castle... the balcony.

    The balcony felt a little familiar. He observed the balcony carefully, trying to remember just where he saw itst time.

    After a long time, his eyes lit up in surprise as he finally remembered. "Wait, isn''t that where I stood in that dream?"

    At the start of receiving his Grimoire, he had a lot of strange yet realistic dreams. In one such dream, he was a little boy. He was treated like a Prince. In that dream, he even had a mother, a father and a sister.

    He was brought to this same balcony at that time, where his father gave a speech to millions of people who were standing in the same ce where he was currently standing.

    Even though he was on the other side of the castle, it was as if he could still vividly see the entire scene where the entire family was standing on that same balcony and he was being scolded by his father for beingzy.

    At the same time, the people around the castle were paying their respect to the Emperor!

    For some reason, a sudden feeling of sadness engulfed his heart. He didn''t understand what that feeling was but it came from the depths of his heart. A pain that was buried so deep that even he couldn''t find the reason for it.

    A single tear trickled down his cheeks on its own while Gabriel kept staring at that balcony.

    He came to this ce for the first time in reality ording to him, but in his heart, it was as if he was finally back home... A home which was filled with memories...

    "Is this Karyk''s home?" Gabriel muttered, wondering if the sadness he felt was because of his connection with Karyk through this Grimoire.

    "Wasn''t the castle destroyed in the war?" He slowly stepped closer to the entrance of the castle. "Did Karyk make it again...?"

    Gabriel reached the entrance of the castle which waspletely unguarded. He pushed the majestic door open.

    However, as soon as the door was fully open, he subconsciously stepped back, seeing what was on the other side.

 Chapter 406 406: It Wasnt Destroyed?

    Gabriel opened the door of the majestic castle, only to be greeted by apletely unexpected sight.

    The first thing that greeted him after he opened the doors was a majestic hall, that was huge! The hall seemed to cover an area evenrger than the castle itself. It was as if the space inside the castle didn''t follow the rules of space and time.

    However, what stunned him even more was that the hall wasn''tpletely empty.

    He could see many people inside the hall. There were at least more than a hundred people inside that ce. However the strange part was that all of them had no signs of life. It was as if they were all lifeless.

    Despite being lifeless, they weren''t like corpses. They had their own aura, it was as if they were just sleeping.

    Gabriel had seen many Head Priests outside, but even the aura of the weakest undead here was stronger than what any Head Priest could possess! If anything, that aura was closer to a Holy Priest!

    "Is this... the real army of Undead?" Gabriel frowned. All the undead here were stronger than what he was able to create. Even the weakest here was like Raphael in strength, let alone the stronger ones! Every one of them could destroy an Empire all alone!

    "The army that was actually created by Karyk? It wasn''t destroyed?" Frowning, Gabriel finally stepped inside the castle.

    Even though there were so many undeads, none of them were moving. It was as if they were all in deep sleep at the moment.

    What was even more surprising was that there were shackles around their ankles, as if they weren''t allowed to leave this ce. Other than the shackles, there was also a powerful formation under all of their feets.

    "These shackles... They are simr to what was used to imprison the Holy Priestess of Nature. They were created by Karyk. But why?"

    If Gabriel didn''t know better about the spells of Army of Undead, he would''ve assumed that it was because these undead betrayed Gabriel but that was impossible. As an Undead, if these people had anything, it was their undying loyalty to their master!

    "There was no way they could betray or go against Karyk. Then why?" Gabriel frowned, observing the shackles which were obviously weaker than the shackles of the Holy Priestess of Nature. It was as if these shackles were just here as a form of precautions for something.

    "Why would he seal them here? What exactly killed him? Why didn''t he use this army?"

    Confused, Gabriel walked deeper and deeper into the hall, looking carefully at all the Undead. He couldn''t deny that they were all just in a different league than his own Undeads!

    Many of the Undeads here had weapons of their own, which were also Numens! It wasn''t surprising though. They worked for a god after all.

    "This entire ce is so strange. The energy here is full of death. Is this the Holy Region of Death?"

    After passing through the sea of undead army, Gabriel reached the end of the hall where he saw a dark red staircase leading upstairs.

    He didn''t step on the stairs. Instead, he turned around. Looking at all the powerful undead, he had an idea. Even though he wasn''t Karyk and couldn''t have their undying loyalty, but if he could free them, and use their strength for himself, wasn''t it an incredible feat?

    "Will they really work for me just because I share the same element?" He wondered. He didn''t know how to break the formation under their feet, or what was going to happen after he released them which made him hesitate a little.

    "I should check upstairs first. Try to find out just what happened here. I should free them when I''m leaving. If I try now, and something goes wrong, I''ll have no choice but to retreat and won''t be able to check upstairs..."

    After a few minutes, he dropped the idea, not wanting to be too hasty.

    He stepped on the stairs and went upstairs, not knowing that all the Undead opened their eyes at once, ncing at his back...<novelnext></novelnext>

    ****

    Gabriel stepped on the first floor, which was quite different from the ground floor.

    No matter what, the interior of this castle was far away from looking like a real castle. It was as if each floor had a different world in itself.

    While the ground floor contained the Army of Undead, the first floor had something even more amazing.

    The first floor was covered in mist, all around. It was even impossible to see through this mist, no matter what he tried. However, through this mist, he felt an even stronger power than the army of undead.

    Gabriel walked through the mist, having no destination at all. The deeper he entered, the heavier the mist became.

    Through the mist, he could even see some figures at times, but as he chased after those figures, they disappeared like ghosts.

    Even though he didn''t understand what was on this floor, he felt as if it was too important for him. He could even feel the buzzing of his ring of Necromancy which was getting stronger and stronger.

    ****

    Outside the garden of Legacy, the two Envoys of Temple of Time were standing. They were staring at the darkness ahead.

    The man known as Ozen rubbed his forehead. "So that ce was always hiding in the spatial cracks in this garden. What a good ce..."

    "Can you close that crack?" Litvia asked him.

    "I can close it, but would that change anything? Whoever opened this ce is already inside. Even if I seal this crack, all it takes is one attack from those Undeads and the crack will not only open, but also be bigger," Ozen responded. "We can only enter that ce ourselves and kill the person who opened it."

    "I just hope that it won''t be toote." He sighed, before stepping inside the garden.

    Litvia followed behind the man, entering the dark abyss inside the garden as well.

    As soon as the two of them entered, both of them expected to be sent to the same ce as Gabriel.

    Boom~

    Two figures flew out of the Garden of Legacy, crashing on the streets far away from the Garden.

    Both the Envoys of Temple of Time were bleeding, and seemed heavily injured. It was as if they had suffered heavy injuries!

    Their expressions were unsightly while their faces were pale. However, thanks to the pendants on their chest, all their wounds healed, as if the time of their body was reversed.

    The two stood up. There was a trace of anger in their eyes while also a trace of astonishment.

 Chapter 407 407: Collapse In Itself

    Even after all these years, the defense is still so strong. It looks like, we won''t be able to enter that ce. There''s natural resistance..." Litvia grimaced as she slowly stood up, not even caring about the dust on her clothes.

    For now, her entire focus was on the garden which was like a deep abyss. Even though she wasn''t close to the garden now, she could still feel the powerful energying from the Garden of Legacy, that was making them feel pressure.

    They weren''t alone who tried to get inside the castle to fail either.

    On the other side of the garden, Avilia had already tried as well, but even she was pushed back. Even her beasts couldn''t enter the ce. It was as if that ce was the Sacred Region of Death where no one else but the heir of that element could go!

    In the end, she could only retreat while wondering just what was happening inside the garden and why such drastic changes took effect.

    She still remembered the words of the Holy Lord of Wind. There were too many secrets in Gabriel. She could only wait for him to get out before asking him what this was all about.

    At the same time, she also wondered if Gabriel coulde out before the barrier covering the Empire of Arecia was broken by other Holy Lords. That was much safer since she could at least tell them that the person who caused all this had already escaped. If not, they were going to find Gabriel and she didn''t know how prepared he was at the moment.

    Even though Gabriel had already nned to go against the other Holy Lords, he hadn''t nned to do it so soon.

    "Hmm? Who are they?"

    Avilia was still thinking about Gabriel when she noticed two more people near the Garden of Legacy. The people didn''t appear much affected by the aura of the garden as long as they were outside. It was just like her. They were not weak at all.

    "The gem on them..." She frowned. Even though she hadn''t seen the people from. Temple of Time in the past, she had heard about them and knew some basic details about them.

    One of the most recognisable things about the members of Temple of Time was the red gem that hung around their neck like a pendant. It was said that the gem was the source of most of their powers.

    Many people tried to break those gems or steal them to take these people down, but all of them failed. The strength of these people was just too extraordinary.

    "The Temple of Time is also here? They came out? Themotion this time is surely big..."

    She didn''t approach them, even after recognising them.

    "Should we inform the higher ups?" Ozen inquired. "They should have enough strength to enter that ce forcefully."

    "It would be toote," Litvia responded. "We can''t contact them from here because of this barrier. We have to leave the Empire and contact them."

    " Let alone the fact that they might not be able toe here because of..." She paused and didn''t continue for some time. After a brief period of silence, she continued. "Even if they managed toe, it would be toote."

    Ozen went silent. He understood that Litvia wasn''t entirely wrong. They didn''t have much time after all.

    "If only we had the Stones of Time that were stolen by that bastard! We would''ve been able to enter easily!" The man was quite frustrated but there wasn''t much he could do.

    "Since we can''t enter that ce, we might as well destroy this entire city," Litvia spoke, not showing much emotions even though what she talked about concerned the lives of millions of people in the city.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Are you thinking about...?" The man frowned, guessing the woman''s intentions. "The chaotic energy of life and death of so many people should be able to make that space unstable. The space would copse on itself and be destroyed from inside. It might just work."

    "That''s right." Litvia expressionlessly nodded. "No matter how strong that army is, if the space itself is destroyed, they won''t be able toe out! That space will be their tomb... Their final resting ce!"

    ****

    It was already decided outside the Garden of Legacy to destroy the entire Royal City just to kill Gabriel and the frightening Army of Undead inside that ce since they couldn''t be allowed to leave!

    Gabriel had no idea about all that and he was still walking through the mist.

    Since he couldn''t see anything, he only followed his own instincts and walked in a random direction that he subconsciously selected.

    After half an hour of walking nonstop, he finally felt something. His heart was getting restless for some reason! As for the Ring of Necromancy, it went awfully silent abruptly!

    The ring which was constantly buzzing waspletely silent for some reason.

    Gabriel didn''t stop. It was as if his soul was being called ahead... And it was different from when the evil souls were calling himst time. This time, it was his own deeper desires that were telling him to keep moving.

    Even though Gabriel wasn''t barefoot, he felt the ground getting warmer and warmer the further he moved.

    After an unknown amount of time, Gabriel finally stopped. Even though it was still impossible topletely see through the mist, there was one thing that he could see. It was as if that thing before him wasn''t affected by that mist at all.

    He could see it crystal clear! Before him, there was a piece of stone, which was only one meter high. The stone wasn''t ordinary stone. It was more like a deep red gem... Thergest gem that Gabriel had ever seen before.

    Gabriel was subconsciously attracted to that stone.

    He stepped closer to the stone. Even he couldn''t see through the stone. The stone had no aura. No symbols were carved on the jade stone. Other than being beautiful, nothing extraordinary could be seen. However, his heart was still telling him that it was special.

    Gabriel reached out his hand, letting his fingers touch the stone.

    As soon as he touched the stone, the stone started changing shape.

    The stone turned from a solid form to a gaseous form, as if it was a mist as well. However, that mist was different from the ordinary mist he had seen along the way.

    The mist slowly gathered, changing into a humanoid shape. The figure was real but not real at the same time. It was more Illusory than it was real, as if it could disappear at any time.

    Gabriel''s heart was filled with shock as he eximed, "You are¡­"

 Chapter 408 408: Shes The Calamity

    The illusory figure belonged to a young woman who didn''t look older than twenty.

    Looking at the Illusory figure of the woman, it was as if the woman was a spirit. However, something didn''t feel right.

    Gabriel couldn''t help but feel some simrities between the woman before him and another girl.

    In the same dream where he saw this castle for the first time, there was another girl who was quite close to him in age. In that dream, the girl was his sister... Or rather the sister of the young Karyk whose life he was seeing.

    "You''re his sister...?" Gabriel was quite stunned.

    The spiritual figure floated before him. Her face was nk, as if she was still a little dazed and muddled.

    The illusory figure before Gabriel was just like how he would''ve imagined the girl to have looked like when she grew up. The simrities were uncanny. However, that didn''t make sense.

    ording to what he had heard through Lambard, when Karyk first awakened his abilities through the chaos of destruction, his body swallowed all the souls of the dead in the Empire! No matter how he resisted, he couldn''t stop it.

    Even his sister and his family''s souls were swallowed by his body, bing the unintentional stepping stone for his incredible abilities thatter shook this entire world.

    The souls that were absorbed at that time weren''t like the souls that could be recalled or Karyk wouldn''t have been so troubled. The souls he absorbed at that time were all torn apart, turning into the purest form of energy.

    That''s why Gabriel found it hard to believe that the soul could belong to Karyk''s sister. Unfortunately, the simrities were just too much to be a coincidence.

    This ce was getting more and more weirder the more he saw. First, the Army of Undead which was sealed here, and now a person who was supposed to be destroyed? Unfortunately, there was no one who could guide him or exin things. He had already lost hope for the Grimoire to exin anything.

    "Who are you?" Gabriel asked the Illusory figure directly. He didn''t know why, but looking at that spirit, there was astonishment in his eyes, yet there was also a strange feeling of relief which he didn''t understand.

    The spiritual figure that came from the dark red stone looked at Karyk, not speaking anything. It was unclear if she could even speak or understand his words in the first ce.

    She didn''t get close to Gabriel, but she didn''t leave either.

    "Can you understand what I''m saying?" Gabriel waved his hands before the girl, but the girl didn''t react. She just looked at his moving hands in curiosity.

    Gabre sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. It was clear that he wasn''t going to get an answer.

    "She won''t understand a single thing. She''s like a newborn."

    Just as Gabriel was wondering what he should do with the woman, a voice came from behind him... A voice that he recognised and didn''t feel any hostility towards.

    "Alion?" Surprised, he turned around.

    Just as he expected, there was a man behind him. The man had simr cross shaped earring but looked slightly older than him.

    "How can you be here?" Gabriel asked, perplexed. Every Time he saw the man, it was in the dream. "Am i still in a dream? Did I fell asleep after I entered the abyss?"

    Everything that Gabriel saw in this ce was hard to believe. In fact, it was easier to believe that it was a dream than the reality. However, he didn''t remember falling asleep. Even though the line between his dreams and reality was oftentimes blurred, this ce still felt too real forfort.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "This isn''t a dream," Alion responded as he walked closer to the spirit in the distance. He gently patted the head of the spirit.

    Gabriel was astonished to see that the man could touch the spirit that didn''t have any physical body.

    He also subconsciously stepped closer, reaching out his hand. He didn''t feel scared.

    Even though he just wanted to test to see if he could also touch the spirit, just as he was about to touch the woman''s hand, his wrist was grabbed by Alion who stopped his hand.

    Gabriel''s hand was only a few inches away from the cheeks of the woman when he was stopped by Alion. The woman looked back and forth between the two of them like a little child full of curiosity.

    "Why are you stopping me?" Gabriel frowned. He didn''t feel as if there were any dangers. Moreover, for some reason when he was stopped when he was about to touch the head of the girl, he felt a strange anger. Even he didn''t understand where that originated from.

    He had never seen his father. As for his mother, she died when he was little. He never grew up with a proper family, let alone knowing what it felt like to have a real sister. Yet, for some reason, he felt quite close to the girl before him.

    "If I don''t stop you, you''ll destroy her soul." Alion released Gabriel''s hands.

    Gabriel didn''t dare reach out his hand this time. If he touched her, she was going to be destroyed? Even though he didn''t understand why, he didn''t take a risk.

    "Why can you touch her but I can''t? Is it because you''re also a spirit and I''m not?" Gabriel asked. Even though Alion was before him, but Alion was just a Demigod. Unlike Gods, he couldn''t live this long.

    For Gabriel, what was before him was just the spirit of Alion which came through the earrings... Simr to the remnants of souls of Novius and Cylix in the Tower of Challenges.

    Alion''s lips curved into a smile. "Do you want me to be dead so bad?"

    "You''re not dead?!"

    "I''m as alive as you are," Alion vaguely answered but before Gabriel could ask more, he changed the topic. "As for why you can''t touch her, it''s not because of you being alive. It has more to do with your elements."

    "What do you mean?" Gabriel asked. "What does my Elements have to do with her soul?"

    "What do you think? You''re at the Holy Lord level of Light. If you touch her now, even if you don''t want to, the Holy Aura of Light will destroy her soul and I can''t allow that to happen..."

    "You seem to care about her." Even though Alion didn''t say it explicitly, Gabriel felt more as if he did care about the girl like family. "Who is she? And why was she in that stone? What was even that stone in the first ce?"

    Alion didn''t answer immediately. It was as if he was thinking about what to say.

    After a brief pause, he finally said something.

    "She... She is the cmity that destroyed everything..." He touched the woman''s cheeks gently, as if he was scared of hurting her. "She is the reason the world was turned upside down."

    As he spoke, his eyes nced at Gabriel. Some inexplicable emotions shed in his eyes. "She''s the reason for the downfall of the person that was once called invincible¡­"

 Chapter 409 409: Suggestion

    "Downfall of Karyk?" Gabriel''s expressions darkened. From all the legends he had heard, the only existence that was worthy of being called invincible was Karyk.

    "How could a Spirit cause the downfall of a god who controlled life and death?!"

    If there was one thing that Karyk was the best at, it was controlling spirits and the undead! So how could a Spirit be his cmity?

    Gabriel had always wondered just how exactly someone like Karyk died but to think that the answer was right before him?

    There were still many questions in his mind and finally he had a person who could answer!Unfortunately, despite his questions, the man didn''t say anything.

    It was as if he didn''t even hear what Gabriel asked, despite clearly hearing the question.

    "How did he die exactly?" Gabriel asked again.

    Unfortunately, this time he was also ignored.

    While ignoring Gabriel''s question, Alion''s focus remained on the woman before him, as if he was treating it as an excuse for ignoring the question altogether.

    "The Destiny Soul Stone didn''t disappoint. To think that it actually worked..." He walked around the spirit, as if observing the spirit aura carefully.

    "Are you ignoring me?" Gabriel asked again, this time, stopping right before Alion and blocking his path.

    Looking at the innocence in the eyes of the spirit, she didn''t look like an evil existence who could even dream about hurting someone.

    Alion finally stopped and turned serious. "Are you sure you want to enter the muddy waters of the past?"

    "I want to know what happened in the past. I want to understand the source of my powers and everything rted to it."

    Ever since he received the Grimoire, he had been looking for answers as to why he was selected and just what was the origin of this element that he received.

    "Alright. I''ll tell you then."

    Alion finally gave up, even though he felt that it was still too early for Gabriel to know such things, especially about theplicated past. Even though he didn''t think he could tell Gabriel everything now, he could at least tell him some things to ease his mind and give him a glimpse into the past.

    "How much do you know about Karyk?" he asked Gabriel, cing his hand on Gabriel''s shoulder and bringing him away from the child-like spirit.

    Gabriel didn''t hide anything and told Alion everything he had heard about Karyk through Lambard, along with his own understanding.

    After listening silently for some time, Alion shook his head. "That''s more or less correct, but not entirely."

    "If you want to know where everything started, it was probably something you''ve already seen," he said. "The Tomb... You''ve already been to that ce. And as you said, the dream you saw was also correct. It was indeed a part of the past."

    Gabriel didn''t interfere and let Alion speak.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "The Goddess of Nature lost her brother at that time. Her brother was herst family member, so no matter how much of a friendship she had with Karyk, she couldn''t stop her anger and attacked Karyk."

    Alion appeared slightly dazed, as if he could still remember the past vividly, losing himself in the bygone era. "When she attacked, she didn''t hold anything back. She was strong, but even she couldn''tst long before Karyk, and was defeated shortly. Not only did Karyk defeat her, but he also imprisoned her at that Tomb."

    "I think you already guessed that much, right?" he asked Gabriel who nodded in response.

    "What you don''t know is what happened after that..." Alion sighed. He snapped his fingers and the mist around them started changing shape, showing a scene from the past from Alion''s memories.

    ****

    [An unknown amount of time ago]

    "Do you know how much trouble you''ve caused for yourself?"

    In a room, a person was standing near the window, looking outside.

    From the back, the man''s face couldn''t be seen, yet the mark on the back of his hand was visible. The person was the God of Death and Necromancer, the person at the center of a storm to be, Karyk.

    Also inside the room was a woman, sitting in a chair, ncing in the direction of Karyk. She was also the one who had just spoken. The Mark of Light was on the back of her hand and she looked exactly like the Goddess of Light Theia that Gabriel had seen before, just slightly younger.

    There was another person in the room, standing with the support of a wallzily. Thest person was none other than Alion himself.

    Three cups were ced on the table before the chairs, filled with a blue unknown liquid that had a very sweet smell, like it was a drink. Despite that, none picked it up.

    Theia looked in the direction of Alion. "Aren''t you his so-called friend? You should''ve stopped him, shouldn''t you? It''s the first time a God has been imprisoned here. You know how much this situation has made others concerned about him?"

    "You think I can stop him?" Alion shrugged. "Also, it was her who attacked him first. It can be called self defense."

    Theia rolled her eyes in response, as if telling Alion to stop considering her as an idiot who didn''t know the truth.

    "It doesn''t matter what it was." After a period of silence, she spoke again, "Karyk''s constantly increasing strength was already concerning to the others. However, none of the gods interfered with each other, so the situation was stable. However, with what happened to her, the situation has changed."

    "Let me guess. Since Karyk defeated and captured the Goddess of Nature, the other gods are scared of being targeted next?" Alion asked, taking an educated guess. It wasn''t hard for him to understand the reaction either.

    Theia nodded. "That''s right. The situation isplicated and quite tense. None of them wants a war, but if nothing is done, then the situation might explode at any time. Given Karyk''s temperament, just one spark can cause a headache for everyone..."

    "Let it be." Karyk finally chimed in, still not looking bothered at all. It was as if he was quitezy to care about the situation. "If they want a war, I''ll wee them with open arms. I won''t mind creating seven more tombs."

    Hearing the response, Theia wasn''tsurprised. She had expected this kind of response after all.

    "I don''t want any more tombs though. You know that if there is a war, it''ll only weaken us. And we can''t afford to forget that with the kind of enemy we face, we can''t afford to be weakened with internal strife. So I have a suggestion. It might help alleviate the situation¡­"

 Chapter 410 410: Third Benefit

    Karyk still didn''t appear to care about what she was saying. Instead, he was more focused on a little bird which was sitting on a tree in the distance.

    The little bird was feeding its hungry children. However, for some reason, the bird appeared to be somewhat injured. It was as if it was hurt when gathering food.

    Even though Karyk didn''t respond to Theia, Alion was different.

    "What suggestions?"

    Theia took a deep breath, as if she was very careful with what she was about to say next.

    "What makes the others wary of you is your constantly increasing strength. If it was just you, it was still not worth concern for the others. However, you also have an entire army... The Forbidden Army that can destroy Kingdoms at ease. So my suggestion is that..."

    Karyk didn''t react but he was still listening to Theia, wondering just what this woman was suggesting. However, what she said next made him frown.

    "My suggestion is that you seal the Forbidden Army for a thousand years," she spoke.

    However, before she could even finish her statement, she felt a deadly pressure acting on her body, as if she was being stared at by the god of death himself!

    Just as she expected, Karyk had finally turned around.

    Even though his face was still expressionless, but his eyes were speaking a lot. It was as if he was looking down at her, telling her that she wasn''t worthy to put such conditions before him.

    "They are concerned about my Army?" Karyk asked in a seemingly calm tone. However, there were a lot of undercurrents in his statement. "How about I give them a chance?"

    "What do you mean?" Theia asked, feeling as if something was amiss.

    "What I mean is simple," Karyk responded. "If they''re concerned about my army, I can simply give them an opportunity to destroy it. Let me send them to their territory to kill everyone that is associated with them! I won''t interfere. If those gods can destroy my army, they''ll get what they want."

    Even though his words made it sound like he was giving a concession, but Theia understood that it wasn''t a concession at all. It was more of a threat! Even if the Gods came and managed to destroy the Army of Undead, it wasn''t going to be before their entire territory was turned into a graveyard, filled with rivers of blood!

    Karyk''s army was filled with undead with strength no less than Demigods after all! It wasn''t wrong to say that the army was considered a big part of Karyk''s strength!

    Theia maintained her calm. "I know what you''re implying, but remember, I''m not here to harm you. What I''m saying is for your own good. If you follow my suggestions, there will be three benefits for you which can''t be ignored."

    "What benefits?" Karyk asked.

    "First benefit... With your army sealed, the other gods will calm down and won''t be too wary. That will calm the current situation while also preserving everyone''s strength," Theia spoke, finally picking up the drink.

    However, she didn''t drink herself. She stood up and walked to Karyk, handing over the ss to him. "The second benefit... After a thousand years, your army will be free. In the meantime without your army, you can truly focus on increasing your own strength. When your army awakens in the future, you''ll be even stronger than you are now."

    "If that''s all the benefits that you talk about, then it''s not worth it," Karyk responded. "I don''t care about strength. And I care even less about what the others think of me. If they attack me, I''ll kill them. If they don''t attack me, I''ll let them be."

    Karyk returned the drink to Theia, not even taking a sip. He turned and walked back to the window. "If that was all you had to say, you can leave."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Won''t you listen to the third benefit?" Theia asked as a hint of a smile appeared on her lips. "I had a feeling that even you can''t ignore this benefit."

    Karyk didn''t react at all. "Alion, show her out."

    "Let''s go," Alion straightened up, gesturing for Theia to leave the room with him.

    Theia didn''t resist. She turned to leave. However, before stepping out of the room, she didn''t forget to say onest thing.

    "Third benefit... Your sister."

    After finishing, she stepped out of the room. However, she had only taken a step out when she found Karyk standing before him, appearing like a ghost.

    Karyk didn''t even think twice before grabbing Theia by her throat, pushing her inside the room.

    "Speak!" His cold voice roared in the entire castle!

    Karyk was usually very calm. So seeing him like this was shocking even for Alion who had been friends with him for quite some time b

    "Destiny Soul Stone! I know where it is!" Theia spoke, not scared at all despite being caught by Karyk.

    "This is the third benefit I can promise you, for de-escting the situation!"

    "Are you ckmailing me?" Karyk''s expressions darkened. "You''ve grown quite courageous, haven''t you?"

    "It''s not a threat," Theia responded. "Release me and I''ll exin the entire situation. Or if you don''t care about the Destiny Soul Stone, then you can keep holding onto me."

    Even though Karyk was impatient, he still released the woman, pushing her back. "You have five minutes to exin before I lose my patience!"

    "I''ve heard about what happened to your family and your sister. I also heard that you''ve been looking for a Destiny Soul Stone for a long time. If I''m not wrong, you want to bring the soul of your sister back?"

    "Only a Destiny stone can recover aplete soul from thousands of fragmented soul pieces of a person. Without that, even you can''t do anything. So, how about it? Is that benefit worth it?" She asked.

    "To be honest, the Destiny Soul Stone isn''t on me either. It''s with another god. And as you can guess, with the current tense situation, it''s impossible for you to get that stone from them. Even if you try to take it by force, they might just destroy it."

    "That''s why, I came here with the proposal to de-escte the situation as soon as I found out the whereabouts of the Destiny Soul Stone. This way, I help the others get some peace of mind and get you the Soul Stone. It''s a win-win situation and all it needs is to seal your army for a thousand years..."

    "Thousand year long peace doesn''t sound bad, does it, especially when ites with a Destiny Soul Stone."

    The more Theia spoke, the more she couldn''t be ignored. She had already read Karyk. She knew that Karyk was awless God, who didn''t care about offending or killing anyone. If there was anything that could be used to help him co-operate, it was something that could help him achieve his deepest goals and this was it!

 Chapter 411 411: Stone Of Destiny

    Karyk had always been tormented by the past. Even though he was an existence that people could only look up to, the people didn''t know his pain.

    There was never a night where he didn''t hear the screams of his sister and the others as they were tormented and destroyed by his uncontroble strength!

    His sister was the closest person to him, and being the person who ripped her soul to shreds had always been his biggest regret. Unfortunately, he couldn''t do much about it. There was only one thing that could help him. It was the Destiny Soul Stone.

    Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried through the decades, he couldn''t find any clues to the Destiny Soul Stone. Since it was a soul treasure, not even a Demigod could trace it! This thing could only be found with great luck!

    At times, he even wondered if that thing even existed in the first ce or was it all just a legend. No matter how small the hope became, he didn''t give up. And now that he had a clue, he couldn''t give up!

    Karyk waspletely silent. The Soul Stone was what he absolutely desired. If needed, he was even willing to go to war for it. Unfortunately, just like Theia said, the stone could easily be destroyed by the owner if he actually fought for it.

    "Fine! I will seal my army for a thousand years!" Karyk eximed. In the end, nothing was more important than the Soul Stone for him!

    Also, even if he sealed his army, that wasn''t much of a concern. With his own strength, he didn''t need to be concerned! For others, his army was a scary existence, but for him, it was just something he used when he was toozy to deal with something personally.

    He promised Theia to agree to her conditions in exchange for the Destiny Soul Stone from the owner!

    ****

    [Present Time]

    The mist dispersed after revealing the scene from Alion''s memories.

    It was the first time Gabriel had seen Karyk from a third person perspective. In every dream, it was as if he was Karyk himself. For the first time, he looked through someone else''s eyes.

    "So the seal on the Ground Floor is because of this?" Gabriel finally understood why Karyk sealed his own men! It finally made sense to him! It wasn''t because the army betrayed him! Instead, it was for his love and regret toward his sister!

    "That means the red stone was... the Destiny Soul Stone. And that girl..."

    Gabriel was stunned. He didn''t dare to touch the woman anymore. Karyk had gone through so much just to bring her back. He couldn''t let the soul be destroyed because of his mistake.

    "That''s right. That girl is y... Karyk''s sister." Alion nodded. "He used all the broken soul fragments and the Soul Stone. It took such a long time for the soul to beplete. However, it''s still not perfect."

    "Because the soul waspletely destroyed and ripped to pieces, it really affected the memories of the girl," he further exined. "Even though this soul belongs to his sister, she is like apletely new person without any memories. Even I''m not sure if she can regain her memories or not."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Alion felt quite bad for the girl before him. Through no fault of her own, she had to bear the pain of her soul being destroyed peace by peace by her own brother. The entire family was so pitiful, especially Karyk.

    Even now that she was back, she didn''t have a body and was no more than a nk canvas.

    "What are you going to do with her?" Gabriel asked. From the scene he saw in the mist, it was clear that Alion knew Karyk in the past and they were quite close.

    Now that Karyk wasn''t here, it made sense that he was here to take care of the soul. It made sense why he came out now!

    "I won''t do anything," Alion shrugged. "I will leave her to you. I will just help you recreate her body. After that, she can apany you outside. I''ll leave her protection to you."

    "You can recreate the body for a soul?" Gabriel asked, slightly surprised. "Also, why do you want me to take her? Won''t she be safer with you? After themotion I caused outside, even I''m not sure what kind of situation I''ll face outside."

    Alion looked above, as if he was able to see through the endless darkness to see the scene outside.

    "You''re right about one thing. The situation outside is definitely not good for you," he sighed. "Even the Temple of Time sent people to check the situation. Themotion is really too much this time. A lot sooner than I expected. Then again, maybe it''s destiny itself."

    "The Temple of Time is there too?" Gabriel frowned. Even he didn''t expect those people to show up. From what he heard, those people were even a bigger threat than the Holy Lords that were probably waiting for him outside.

    It was already a surprise to him that those people hadn''t rushed inside yet. He didn''t know that it wasn''t as if they didn''t enter this ce. It was just that they couldn''t!

    "Exactly. Why do you think it''s a good idea for me to take her?" he asked. "What if I fail to keep her safe?"

    Alion shook his head. "I have a feeling that you won''t fail this time. As for why you need to take her, it''s because she might remember a few things if she stayed outside with you. If I took her, she would only be more and more like a new person altogether."

    ''Her soul had just recovered. It''s essential that the first person she apanies is someone who is close to her," he thought, but not voicing it.

    Since Alion had already made up his mind, Gabriel didn''t speak much. He still had a lot of questions left after all. Now that there was a person to answer, he was getting greedy.

    "You only told me the origin of soul stone and how it ended up here. But that didn''t exin how Karyk died. And how did this girl be his Cmity? Even if his Army was sealed by him, he was still a strong existence. So what happened to him after that?"

    "Don''t ask what you shouldn''t know. I''ve already told you more than I should have." Not only did Alion not answer, but hepletely dropped the topic altogether and started helping the woman recover her body. "Her soul can''t stay outside for long. I''ll start recreating her body."

 Chapter 412 412: The Aria

    Alion brought a small gem out of his pocket that he had been carrying for a really long time, exactly for this moment.

    "Don''t move," he told the woman''s soul before directly cing the small blue gen on her forehead.

    After cing the stone on her forehead, the man stepped back.

    A whirlpool of magical energy rushed out of the blue gem, surrounding the soul of the young woman who looked slightly scared for the first time.

    The whirlpool made it impossible for Gabriel and Alion to see what was happening inside it but the power it was emitting wasn''t something an ordinary item could emit.

    "How long will it take?" Gabriel asked.

    "Two days," Alion answered. "Recreating the physical body to bring the dead soul back to life isn''t an easy process. It goes against thews of nature that no one canpletely ignore."

    "To think that there were such magical items..." Gabriel had only known about the Numens and hadn''t known about such gems which could even recreate physical bodies for a person.

    Looking at the whirlpool before him, he also had an absurd thought.

    Novius and Cylix had their souls destroyed. If he could find more Destiny Stones to recover their souls, and the blue stones to recreate their physical bodies, they could once again live.

    Unfortunately, even he knew that it was only theoretically possible. In reality, it was as hard as ascending to heaven. Even Karyk couldn''t find a Destiny Stone at his peak, without a big enough sacrifice, let alone him.

    "Are there more Destiny Stones in this world?" he asked.

    "I''ve never heard of any more in existence. However, if there are, they are impossible to find," Alion responded. Deep in his heart, he felt slightly bitter. If it was that easy to find a Destiny Stone, would the world have to go through such chaos?

    "And the blue stones?" Gabriel still hadn''t given up. He didn''t know what happened to the real Novius and Cylix. He wasn''t even sure if their souls were actually destroyed. Since the souls weren''t absorbed by him, the chances of them beingpletely destroyed like the souls of Karyk''s sister were slim.

    So there was a possibility that he didn''t even need a red stone. He just had to find the two souls in the realm of the dead. He didn''t know how to go there yet, but he had faith in his future abilities. What was the real problem was the blue stone. That was absolutely necessary.

    "The Aria?" Alion asked. He couldn''t help but think of the past. "The Aria isn''t found... It''s created."

    "You created it?" Gabriel asked, slightly surprised. If that was the case, it solvedhalf his problems. "Can you make one more in that case?"

    "Do you think they are some wild cabbage that can be grown whenever we want? To make one Aria, you need to kill at least over a hundred million people! Moreover, all those people have to be as strong as a Head Priest in the outside world. Only then can their soul and blood be merged to create the Aria!"

    The more Alion spoke, the more nightmarish this process sounded. Killing a hundred million people with the strength of a Head Priest? Let alone the fact that there weren''t more than two hundred head Priests, even if there were over a hundred million, it would''ve been impossible for him to kill so many!<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You mean you...?" He was slightly taken aback, thinking that Alion killed so many people, all to bring back Karyk''s sister. Was he the reason the era of gods ended? He was behind it?

    As if reading Gabriel''s mind, Alion rified right away. "This stone was created by Karyk after he received the Destiny Stone."

    "By him...?"

    So far, Gabriel had only expected Karyk to kill people who offended him. However, to think that not only he sealed his army, but he also took so many lives, all for the sake of one person...?

    "That''s why I told you..." Alion muttered, ncing in the direction of the whirlpool. "The girl he wanted to save so much... She was his salvation, as well as his biggest cmity."

    "And now that everything is sessful, you better protect her with everything you have. Don''t let the sacrifices of the past be in vain," he further added. Even though he still wasn''t clear what happened in the past but his words gave Gabriel a hint.

    "Karyk killed so many people here. There was no way the other gods would let him do it. Without his army, he was even weaker. So all the gods joined forces to kill him?" he asked, guessing the entire story.

    "If you think that''s the case, you really underestimate the overlord of that era." Alion shook his head, as if outright rejecting Gabriel''s guesses. "Even without his army, he wasn''t someone who could be killed by the human gods."

    "Also, you''re wrong about one more thing," he added. "Even in the era of gods, there weren''t more than a few thousand people above the strength of the Head Priests of the current era. So finding a hundred million here was impossible."

    "Not here...? Then where? If this ce only had a few thousand, then how could he find over a hundred million? How could he create the Aria?"

    "Young man, shouldn''t you be thinking about how to solve the mess outside first?" Alion tapped the forehead of Gabriel lightly, bringing him out of a daze. "There are guests waiting outside for you. How about you find a way to deal with them first?"

    " The people outside?"

    Gabriel had almost forgotten about them. There were the Holy Lords outside. At the same time, there were also people from the Time of Temple.

    His protection formation of the City still wasn''tpleted. Moreover, he had heard that the real strength of the Temple of Time was even stronger than the Holy Lords. Without enough preparation, he didn''t want to face them yet.

    "How long until the army can be freed from that thousand oath?" he asked Alion. If he could use that army, was there even a need to be concerned for now?

    "Still over a month left," Alion answered. "After a month, when the seal would''ve opened, this Pce would''ve appeared in the world once again. However, you forcefully opened this ce ahead of time. The seal on the forbidden army won''t be lifted before the scheduled time. So don''t think about using them for now."

    Gabriel frowned. Lost in thoughts, he walked back and forth in the beautiful mist-covered hall.

 Chapter 413 413: Bait

    "So if I go out and fight them, not only will I risk them finding out about the army that''s sealed here, but it''ll also make them bring out all the forces of the Temple of Time. It would really waste a good opportunity."

    "The best option would''ve been to wait a month before having any conflict. The protective formation of the City would''ve been ready by then as well, to give me some extra boost. I was really hasty in trying to uncover the mystery behind the garden..."

    Gabriel felt slightly upset, but at the same time, he didn''t lose hope. He was sure there were still ways to salvage the situation.

    "Can I stay here for a month?" he asked Alion. "If they can''t enter this ce, then I can just leave with the army after a month."

    Alion shook his head in response. "Even if you stay here for a few more days without controlling the situation outside and the main forces of the Temple of Time came to the battlefield, then the barrier of this ce wouldn''tst. They might even destroy the forbidden army while it''s sealed."

    "Everyone thinks that the Temple of Time was looking for the Orb of Time for close to a thousand years. But that''s not the entire truth," he further exined. "The Temple of Time had also been looking for Karyk''s castle where the Forbidden Army was sealed. They wanted to destroy the army before the seal was opened. If you let them seed, you''ll be in big trouble."

    "That''s why I told you to focus more on the present than the past!"

    Even though Alion was talking about how risky the situation was, he didn''t look particrly concerned at all. It was unclear if it was just because of his faith in Gabriel, or he had already taken some precautions of his own for emergencies.

    "You''re right." Gabriel seemingly agreed. "The best way to deal with the situation is to dy them. I can''t risk the forbidden army being destroyed before their seal is broken! I need their strength!"

    Even though Gabriel was clear about what he had to do, Alion was intrigued about what the young man nned.

    "Do you have a way to dy them?" he asked Gabriel.

    Gabriel nced at the whirlpool of energy which was intensifying in the distance, as if thinking of something. "I do have a n, but I''m not sure if it''ll work or not."

    "Dying them for a month is easier said than done. I would need your help if I want to seed," he told Alion.

    "What do you need?" Alion asked, somewhat interested. He didn''t know what Gabriel was nning, but looking in Gabriel''s eyes, he had a feeling that the young man was quite confident about this n.

    "I need you to teach me everything you know about this ce. I want to know how to control this entire ce!"

    "That''s easy to achieve. Now that the seal above this space is already opened by you, the rest is easy for you to control." Alion reached out his hand and ced his finger on Gabriel''s forehead, sending some information straight to the young man''s head.

    Gabriel remained still, trying to assimte all the knowledge he had received.

    After around half an hour, he finally seeded and opened his eyes. "This makes it a little easier. There is one more thing I need you to do. If Avilia was here, I could''ve taken her help, but in this situation, only you can do it. Moreover, it''s the most important part of the n!"

    Alion couldn''t help but have a bad feeling about it as he noticed the devilish glint in Gabriel''s eyes. "What do you want?"

    "You need to be the bait," Gabriel answered. He exined the entire n to Alion, from the start to the finish.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Alion smiled wryly,unable to believe that this was the n Gabriel came up with. Even though the n was feasible, it was the first time in his life that he was being used as bait. Unfortunately, just as Gabriel had said, they didn''t have many options but to go forward with the n.

    The sess of this n didn''t eliminate all the risks of the future, yet it was better than anything he imagined it to be. The

    "Alright. We''ll go with your n." He agreed in the end.

    ****

    Outside the Garden of Legacy, the barrier around the Empire was already broken by thebined strength of all the Holy Lords.

    All the Holy Lords who were outside rushed inside, straight to the source of this strange energy.

    Reaching near the Garden of Legacy, they noticed Avilia standing near the entrance. They allnded next to her as well, asking her to exin the situation.

    Only the Holy Lord of Wind wasn''t at the sight. He was still sitting above the Royal Castle in the distance, just keeping an eye. On the situation. "What a chaotic situation. Almost everyone is here."

    Avilia told the Holy Lords about the things that everyone in the city already knew. She didn''t tell them about the details that only she knew. However, the things she said were already enough for the Holy Lords to be wary of the situation, especially when they noticed the Envoys from the Temple of Time.

    "The Temple of Time is here at will. This matter really isn''t small," The Holy Lord of Earth stated. "We should talk to the Temple of Time. They don''te out often. They must know about the situation in depth."

    "Who cares what the situation is about. All I know is that the person I''m looking for is inside that garden! I will kill him myself!" The Holy Lord of mes didn''t care about anyone else. He hade here for one reason only. It was only for revenge!

    He clenched his fist. The deep dark me burned around his fist. He even used a strengthening spell on himself as he rushed inside the garden of legacy.

    Boom~

    It hadn''t even been a second since the Holy Lord of mes rushed inside that an explosive sound resounded.

    The next moment, a zing figure shot out of the garden, shing with a wall in the distance. Even the wall couldn''t stop the momentum of the Holy Lord of mes. His body broke through many more walls before finally stopping.

    "These barbarians," the Envoy from the Temple of Time Ozen sighed. "Did they really think they could enter when we couldn''t?"

    Everyone was slightly distracted by the Holy Lord of Wind. However, their expressions soon changed as everyone abruptly turned toward the Garden of Legacy!

    Gabriel had finallye out of the garden and he was flying high in the sky above the garden.

 Chapter 414 414: Injured

    "Someone is outside?"

    "He is...?"

    The Envoys from the Temple of Time, as well as the Holy Priests, all looked at the figure that had rushed out of the Garden of Legacy, flying high above their heads. While they couldn''t even get close to the garden, the person came out straight from inside.

    "Is he the one who opened this ce?" Ozen wondered, looking up.

    No matter who it was, he had to catch that person to get answers.

    However, strangely enough, that person was covered in a shroud made entirely of Light! No one could even see the face of that person. The only thing that they could see was the Ancestral Staff of Light and the Holy Grimoire of Light that was floating before the person!

    There were some traces of blood, as if a fierce battle took ce not long ago.

    "The Holy Priest of Light?" The Holy Lord of mes came out of the rubble he was buried under, surprised to find the Holy Lord of Light.

    Not many people knew that the Holy Lord of Light was also the same person that they called the Holy Lord of Darkness.

    "What is he doing here? Didn''t he go to the Lost City of Gods?" The Holy Priestess of Earth was also slightly surprised. It hadn''t been long before the meeting of Saints where they were all informed about his absence. To think that he came out straight from the core of this chaos.

    Fortunately, since Gabriel was shrouded in light, they didn''t attack Gabriel directly before finding out the truth.

    While everyone was confused and wanted to approach Gabriel, the earth started trembling!

    Boom~

    A loud explosion was heard! The explosive sound was heard all around the Empire! It was as if the explosion was strong enough to destroy an entire City!

    A wave of fire rushed out of the Garden of Legacy, high in the sky as if it was caused by the explosion that took ce inside the Garden of Legacy.

    Gabriel moved back, barely avoiding the explosion that caught him by surprise. Despite moving fast, he could still be seen hurt through his movements.

    The Envoys of Temple of Time frowned yet they didn''t step forward. They were curious as to what the situation was. The explosive inside the garden of legacy was as if someone had attacked that ce.

    Gabriel flew about fifty meters back. Through the white shroud, no one could see him, but from his gestures, it looked as if he really was exhausted.

    Gabriel looked in the direction of the other Holy Lords. He didn''t say anything and shiftedhis focus back to the garden again,as if he was waiting for something.

    The Holy Priestess of Earth flew up, standing next to the Holy Lord of Light.

    "What''s the situation?" She asked.

    The other Holy Lords also caught up. Amongst all of them, only Avilia was looking at the Holy Lord of Light weirdly, as if she was wondering just what kind of act Gabriel was ying now!

    Could it really be true that he wasn''t behind the strange phenomenon in the garden? Or was he pretending for a specific reason? No matter what, she wasn''t going to expose him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Envoys of the Temple of Time also flew up. "Did you open this ce? What did you see inside?"

    Unlike the Holy Lords, Gabriel could genuinely feel some killing intent from the Envoys of the Temple of Time.

    "I didn''t open it," Gabriel answered. "He did..."

    "He?" Ozen looked in the direction Gabriel was looking. The Garden of Legacy was still covered in darkness. However, a heavy amount of killing intent rushed out from that ce.

    The killing intent was overbearing. It was as if the killing intent alone could kill many people, without anyone having to take any action.

    Following the killing intent, another figure rushed out of the garden. The figure was surrounded by darkness. It was impossible to see if it was a man or a woman since the person had a long cloak to cover him.

    The person faced the others, all alone. However, for now, there was no battle. It was as if both sides were observing the enemies.

    "He''s the one who opened it!" Gabriel exined. "I was passing through here when I felt a strange auraing from this garden. When I came, this person was already here."

    "I chased after him through the portal that he opened since I didn''t feelfortable letting him do as he pleased, only to find out that the other side was too dangerous to be left alive!"

    "What do you mean? What is inside the garden?" The Holy Priestess of Summoning asked as her face twitched. She didn''t know who the dark robed person was, but she didn''t believe a single word of Gabriel.

    "An army... An army that was still sealed but if they were freed, they could ravage the entire continent. The goal of that person was to free that army. And if I waste, he would''ve seeded as well," Gabriel answered, sounding extremely righteous.

    "I had to exhaust all my strength to destroy that ce before rushing out!" he added. "Unfortunately, he still survived..."

    "So that explosion... It was because if you attacking the other space?" Litvia from the Temple of Time asked.

    She didn''t know why, but she couldn''t find any ws in the story. She couldn''t believe it either.

    While everyone was still thinking about Gabriel''s words, the dark figure in the distance spoke. "You destroyed everything! The goal that I''ve been working for a lifetime...all destroyed because of you! I will kill you all!"

    At the same time, Gabriel flicked a finger without anyone noticing. His ring of Necromancy shone momentarily, unnoticed by others.

    As if the ring was the key to the other space, the Darkness that was covering the Garden of Legacy slowly disappeared.

    There was no portal there anymore! Instead, the entire garden appeared to have been destroyed. It was covered with chaotic spatial energy, as if the spatial channel that was in this ce had copsedpletely.

    The strange phenomenon also verified Gabriel''s story that he had destroyed the other space, along with the words of the dark figure.

    "You are not strong enough!" Gabriel eximed, proudly taking the lead. However, before attacking, he coughed out a mouthful of blood, as if he had been injured in the battle before. He couldn''t just let others see that he waspletely fine or that was going to leave ws in his story.

    Moreover, the real n was still toe into y.

 Chapter 415 415: Spatial Chaos

    Gabriel''s act worked as well. Initially, he was going to send a mental transmission to Avilia to ask her to y a scene with him to get him out of this battle, but he didn''t expect things to work even better!

    Before he could ask Avilia what he wanted to do, Litvia from the Temple of Time took the lead. "You are hurt and too weak now. You''ll only slow us down and be a burden. Get away."

    Even though she was initially suspicious, now she had more or less fallen for Gabriel''s story. No Holy Lord of Light had ever worked with the Holy Lord of Darkness after all. Even if they worked together, it would''ve been too stupid to destroy the spatial channel for the small act. She didn''t have much room to doubt.

    Gabriel was pleasantly surprised. In his heart, he was even thanking Litvia for falling for his ruse. Now that the first part of the n waspleted, the rest was much easier. It all depended on the bait...

    "I can still fight!" Gabriel scoffed.

    When Litvia told Gabriel to back out, Avilia felt as if Gabriel wasn''t opposed to it. In fact, it felt as if he wanted it. Even though his words said otherwise, she felt as if deep inside, he really wasn''t opposing backing out.

    Since he was ying, she decided to help him as well. In any case, she didn''t believe that Gabriel and the dark figure were enemies. If that was the case, that dark figure wouldn''t havee out alive. She knew the true strength of Gabriel after all.

    "She''s partially right," Avilia agreed. "It''s not that you''ll be a burden, but you''re injured now. You''ve already done a lot to stop whatever that person nned. You should rest now."

    "Don''t worry! I already have a score to settle with that guy! You can rest!" The Holy Lord of mes was already furious since his home was destroyed. And now the culprit was the dark figure before him, ording to him. He wanted to kill that person himself!

    "Yeah. All of us should be enough. You can rest first. We''ll deal with the rest." The Holy Lord of Earth chimed in.

    Through this act, not only did Gabriel manage to distract everyone else for the time being, he also became a hero from a viin.

    If the Holy Lord of mes found out that the person he was asking to help was the one he wanted to kill, it was unclear just what kind of expression he was going to have. In his story, Gabriel was one of the heroes while he was also the biggest viin.

    "I-" Gabriel tried speaking, but in the middle, he coughed blood again, showing some traces of having internal injuries.

    He looked at the blood in his hands, sighing. "Looks like I really can''t participate. The internal injuries I got in the previousbattle with him are getting worse."

    He flew down, while also eximing. "Everything depends on you now! You can''t let him escape! When I''m done treating my internal injuries, I''ll join the battle with you!"

    Gabrielnded in the distance. His body was still covered in a white shroud so no one could see his smirk.

    In fact, even Alion in the distance was surprised at how well Gabriel could act. This guy really was different from Karyk to some extent, despite being simr.

    Karyk was a straightforward person his entire life. He never took help from any tricks. He spoke what came in his heart, never filtering anything. Then again, he had absolute strength so he didn''t need to fool anyone either. He could just beat everyone who opposed him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''If he had this trait in the past, I wonder if things could''ve been different...'' Alion wondered, still hidden by the cloak he had received from Gabriel. It was also Gabriel that shrouded him in that dark aura of death to help his disguise.

    He shook his head lightly, remembering to stay in the act.

    "You people have destroyed my n! And now you want to kill me?" he asked. "You really overestimate yourself."

    The Holy Lords wanted to capture Alion to get more answered. The Temple of Time envoys also wanted to capture him, so they could take him to their base and interrogate him thoroughly to find out if the forbidden army was actually hurt, and how much he knew about Karyk!

    Despite having simr goals, both sides worked separately, attacking Alion.

    Gabriel stood in the group, watching the battle in the sky. He wasn''t worried about Alion at all. Alion was a Demigod! If he hadn''t asked Alion to y along, he could''ve easily defeated all the Holy Lords and the envoys.

    Unfortunately, their end goal wasn''t these envoys and these Holy Lords. What they wanted to avoid was the people behind them! At least for a month until the Forbidden Army was actually free from their thousand year shackles to roam the earth again!

    If Alion actually defeated these people, the higher ups from the Temple of Time were going toe next. Even the Gods might descend to check the situation since the forbidden army was a bigger threat to them than anything else. If that wasn''t the case, they wouldn''t have requested Karyk to seal it!

    What was even worse was that if Alion actually fought all of them on an equal footing, then it was definitely going to raise some suspicions in their mind, as to how Gabriel didn''t die in the hands of such a powerful person and also managed to destroy the army and spatial channel from right under his nose.

    Gabriel had already yed his part to perfection. He already closed the spatial channel to the Pce while also leaving some spatial cracks in the garden to give the impression of the spatial channel copsing because of the explosion.

    Now all he had to do was just watch out from behind, and fan the mes for the next month, to make sure they didn''t invite the stronger beings from the Temple of Time and the others.

    The battle in the sky was intensifying. However, just as Gabriel wanted, Alion wasn''t fighting back properly. He was only using a fraction of his strength to give the impression that he was fighting with all he got!

    The battle was taking high in the sky, yet the tremors of all the attacks could be felt in the city. The citizens were already hiding in whatever safe space they could find to avoid identally being killed by the energy waves of the attacks.

    So far, everything was going ording to n. All Alion had to do now was to escape while pretending to be injured.

    Unfortunately, just as Gabriel was starting to rx, he felt some spatial chaos behind him. The energy he felting through the spatial chaos didn''t seem like something he felt before.

    Frowning, he turned around. His face darkened.

 Chapter 416 416: Shameless

    Feeling a peculiar energying from behind him, Gabriel turned around.

    Not too far from him, he could see a spatial portal that was not much bigger from an ordinary door. However, the energy that could be felting from that door didn''t seem to belong to this ce.

    Initially, he thought that more people from the Temple of Time had already arrived, only to remember that they came through a door. Toe through the portal wasn''t something that was said to be rted to the Temple of Time since they couldn''t control space to that extent.

    However, if this wasn''t the Temple of Time, then that created a bigger concern for Gabriel. Just who was the person that arrived?

    Gabriel still didn''t cancel the shroud of Light. No matter who it was, he didn''t want to reveal his real identity, especially when the battle behind was still raging on.

    From the portal, someone stepped out. However, looking at that person, Gabriel felt somewhat weird.

    He expected some powerful being toe out from the portal, but the person who came out appeared to be only a child.

    A little girl, who looked like she was barely twelve or thirteen years old came out of the portal, yawning as if she had just woken up from sleep and was still feeling a little sleepy.

    The girl was short, not evening up to Gabriel''s shoulders. However, what was strange was that despite looking very ordinary, the woman was dragging a heavy Sword behind her which was twice her size.

    The heavy Sword was being dragged by the woman with ease. It didn''t look as if the woman was dragging the heavy Sword because it was heavy, but instead because she was toozy to carry it properly.

    As the Sword was dragged on the concrete road, a one meter deep mark was left behind, leaving its trail.

    No matter what, that Sword didn''t look like an ordinary weapon. And to see a little girl drag it with ease was even more surprising. Gabriel was really curious about the little girl''s identity.

    The little girl stopped not too far from Gabriel, rubbing her sleepy eyes as she looked up in the sky,pletely ignoring Gabriel.

    "You''re still alive, old man?" The little girl asked. Even though the girl tried hard to stay awake, it was as if she could fall asleep at any time.

    The girl didn''t speak loudly. She only used an ordinary tone. However, despite that, her words were heard far and wide. Even high in the sky, the battle that was raging on had stopped as Alion flew back, stunned after hearing that voice.

    The Holy Lords also looked down. As they saw the little girl who had spoken, they were a little confused. They didn''t recognise who that person was. It was their first time seeing that person.

    Even the envoys from the Temple of Time couldn''t recognise her. Despite that, they could feel that the little girl wasn''t weak. If anything, she was a lot stronger than all of thembined, which made them even more confused. How could they not hear about someone so strong who looked so young?

    The person who was most surprised to see that little girl here was none other than Alion. It was as if he was the only person who recognised that little girl.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Who is this girl?" Gabrisked Alion through a silent transmission to Alion. "You seem to know her. Is she a friend?"

    "She is... bad news. If she gets involved in the battle, I''d have to use all my strength. And even then, I won''t be sure if I could win the battle," Alion responded, frowning.

    "She is that strong?" Gabriel was slightly taken aback. Even though he knew her sword was a treasure, but to know that her strength was something that could even alert Alion was nothing to scoff at.

    "If that''s the case, then you can''t fight her," he told Alion. "No matter what, you can''t show your real strength for now. This ce will get too crowded when you do. Leave. This much fighting should be enough for now."

    "I''m afraid it''s toote to leave now. If she came here, it''s probably because she also sensed the opening of the Pce and my presence here. She won''t let me leave that easily. I can only fight here," Alion replied, getting serious.

    He hadn''t faught seriously yet but now he was prepared. "She still hasn''t sensed your real identity because of the shroud. You should slowly retreat from the battlefield. I''ll handle the rest."

    "No need." Since Alion wasn''t sure if he could defeat the little girl or not, Gabriel didn''t want to leave him behind. He was the only person who could help him with his knowledge in the future after all.

    Moreover, if the truth was out because of Alion fighting at full strength, the next step was the arrival of the full strength of Temple of Time which was an even bigger problem. He couldn''t allow that.

    "I have a n... That should allow you a safe retreat," he added.

    "What n?" Alion asked. In this situation, it wasn''t easy to get out without a fight unless he revealed his real strength.

    For a moment, there was only silence as Alion looked at the little girl on the ground. No one knew that the reason he wasn''t speaking was because he was listening to Gabriel''s n.

    After he finished hearing the entire n, his expression turned slightly weird. This kind of n... He really didn''t know he could''vee up with it on his own. It was just too shameless yet genius.

    "After hiding¡ª" the girl spoke, but before she could even speak properly, Alion interrupted her, not allowing her to say something that could convince the others that they weren''t friends.

    "Old friend, you''re finally here! Good!" Alion eximed, sounding pleasantly surprised. "I didn''t expect you toe out to help me as well. Just as I was getting pushed back and was about to be defeated, you are here! We can kill all of them together!"

    "Huh?" The little girl frowned, not understanding what was happening. She even wondered if Alion hit her head somewhere and went crazy. Why was he calling her an old friend? Usually, he would''ve been the first person to rush ahead to fight her.

    "Even though I''m already exhausted, but I can still distract them! You are much stronger than me! While I dy them, you can take the opportunity to attack them from behind! Alion further stated, making sure his voice was heard by everyone around him.

 Chapter 417 417: One Sword To Split The Sky

    "Huh?" The more the little girl heard, the more confused she became. Since when did they be friends? Why would she help him fight these people? Heck, did he even need her help to deal with these people?

    For a moment, she even wondered if she was still asleep and dreaming. She turned to Gabriel. "Pinch me."

    "What?"

    "I told you to pinch me. I want to know if I''m still sleeping," the little girl said. Even though her strength was said to be quite high, her voice was like she was really a little child.

    Gabriel was slightly amused by her reaction. The girl was much older than him, and around the same age as Alion ording to Alion, but despite that, she still appeared somewhat naive, asking to be pinched to test if she was in a dream.

    Gabriel did as he was asked, using his left hand. He ced his hand on the little girl''s cheeks and pinched with a little force.

    "Oww!" The girl ribbed her cheeks. "This doesn''t seem like a dream. Then did he really go crazy or something?"

    Unfortunately, while she was still trying to understand the situation, the scene above was quite different. The little girl was a stranger to the Holy Lord and the Temple of Time. However, they knew that the girl was strong... Probably even stronger than Alion.

    Since that was the case, just a few sentences from Alion managed to create some concerns in their heart about the girl actually working with him. None of them wanted to be attacked from the back by the girl, especially since the girl just came while Alion was still exhausted.

    The Temple of Time wanted to take down the person who entered the garden of legacy. The envoys didn''t want to let Alion escape. However, they couldn''t leave the little girl to attack them either.

    "We will capture the man. You hold back the little girl," Ozen told the Holy Lords, splitting their work. "After we finish capturing him, we''ll join you against that girl."

    Usually, Ozen and Litvia didn''t need any help. They were sure that they could catch Alion. However, the equation had changed with the arrival of the little girl who even they couldn''t see through.

    The Holy Lords wanted to catch Alion as well, but they also knew being attacked from behind was the worst situation they could be in.

    "You deal with her. I''ll be here to take down that man," the Holy Lord of mes agreed to stay behind to fight Alion while sending the other Holy Lords down to down against the little girl.

    It didn''t take long for the n to be finalized. Even though the Holy Lords and the Temple of Time hadn''t worked together before, but in this situation, they decided to do it since there was just too much at stake.

    Just as it was nned, the two Envoys and the Holy Lord of me stayed behind to deal with Alion as soon as possible. At the same time, the other Holy Lords came back andnded before the little girl.

    Gabriel had already expected what was going to happen next. He sneakily stepped back, creating more distance. He didn''t want to be a part of any battle. All he wanted was to make the situation even more chaotic for the two sides so that Alion could have time to escape.

    The little girl was still wondering when she became Alion''s friend. She still hadn''t realized that Alion had lied to her to use her against his enemies. In fact, the girl even roamed through her memories, trying to remember all her meetings with Alion to see if she forgot something which could give Alion the impression that they were friends.

    Unfortunately, she couldn''t find anything.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Youngdy, please drop your weapon. If possible, we don''t want to fight you. Just cooperate with us and surrender!" Holy Holy Priestess of Lightning said, bringing the little girl out of her daze.

    The little girl looked back at the Holy Lords. However, she didn''t feel anything worth worrying about. If anything, shepletely ignored her and started flying up, dragging her heavy sword behind her.

    The little girl was flying straight to Alion. She first wanted to beat him up and then ask him when they became friends in the first ce.

    Unfortunately, just as she rose in the sky, a bolt of lightning fell from the sky, falling straight on the little girl.

    In the eyes of the Holy Lords, the reason the little girl was flying high in the sky was because she wanted to help Alion. Somehow, this made thempletely believe Alion''s words.

    No matter what, they couldn''t let her get close to Alion.

    None of the two sides realized that the person who really instigated them waszily standing in the back, with the support of a wall as if he was watching a show.

    The lightning bolt was cast by the Holy Priestess of Lightning. It was strong enough to burn anything in its path. However, despite the bright bolt of lightning, the little girl wasn''t scared.

    She just raised her heavy Sword, creating a sh.

    A bright red arc of light came from her sword, breaking apart the lightning bolt as if it was child''s y. Even after destroying the lightning bolt, the arc of red light didn''t stop.

    The attack flew straight to the sky. For a moment, it appeared as if the entire sky was split in two, thanks to the little girl''s random attack. Spatial cracks developed everywhere, telling the strength of a seemingly random attack.

    In the back, even Gabriel was slightly taken aback. When Alion said that the girl was on the same level as him, he didn''t expect her strength to be this high!

    ''One Sword to split the sky? Just who is this girl?'' Gabriel frowned.

    What surprised him even more was Alion! ording to Alion, he was at least as strong as this little girl. Gabriel already expected him to be quite strong but only now did he realize that he had still underestimated him quite a lot.

    ''Is this the strength of a Demigod? In that case, just how strong would a god be?'' Gabriel frowned, looking at the back of his right hand.

    He understood one thing. It was that he needed more strength! Strength to be able to face all his enemies. He couldn''t rely on Karyk''s army of undead for everything either! He needed something tangible! He needed to be strong on his own as well.

    While Gabriel came to a realization, the battle in the sky had intensified. The little girl was sessfully infuriated!

 Chapter 418 418: The Sword Of Time

    Thud~

    Multiple figures crashed on the ground, leaving heavy craters wherever they fell. Two of those even fell on some houses, bringing the house crashing down.

    Gabriel expected the little girl to keep the Holy Lords engaged for some time, but even he didn''t expect the little girl to end the battle so fast. It hadn''t even been ten seconds since she was attacked and all the Holy Lords were already lying on the ground.

    Even Gabriel was amazed at the little girl''s strength. Her attack was so fast that he couldn''t see it clearly. Now he finally understood why Alion was telling him that this little girl was troublesome!

    ''Good. The more troublesome she is, the easier it will be for Alion.''

    Even after all this, Gabriel still didn''t interfere in the battle. If anything, he went to the Holy Lord of Summoning who had fallen closest to her.

    The Holy Lord of Summoning had summoned quite a few of her beasts, yet all of them were destroyed in an instant. A trace of blood could be seen on her lips.

    "Are you alright?" Gabriel jumped inside the crater and reached out his hand to help Avilia up.

    "Do I look alright?" Avilia grabbed Gabriel''s hands and stood up before wiping the blood off her lips. "Just who is that little girl? Just what exactly are you nning today?"

    "Would you believe me if I tell you that I don''t know her and that I have nothing to do with her arrival today?"

    "Only an idiot would believe you." Avilia rubbed her aching shoulder.

    Gabriel moved closer to Avilia and whispered in her ears. "All I can tell you is that the little girl isn''t a child. She''s much older than she looks. Moreover, she''s most probably also a Demigod, and a strong one at that."

    "Even if you summon your strongest beasts, you might not be able to slow her down. So just step back from this battle and pretend to be injured," he further reminded the youngdy while wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

    Avilia had already realized how troublesome that little girl was. Even though she hadn''t Summoned her strongest beasts to face the little girl, she didn''t expect them to seed either.

    Moreover, since Gabriel seemed to know about the situation, she decided to listen to him.

    She leaned on him for support, pretending to be extremely weak.

    Avilia was a Summoner and she was known to be weak when it came to her physique. She relied on her beasts to fight after all, so it was easy for her to fool others by pretending to be hurt that easily.

    Gabriel carried Avilia out of the crater and away from the battlefield.

    ****

    Seeing the Holy Lords beaten so swiftly, even the Temple of Time Envoys were stunned. By now, it was clear to them that the little girl was a Demigod level being! They couldn''t take her lightly! For them, she was much more dangerous than Alion and they couldn''t allow her to attack her from behind.

    "Litvia,e with me to hold that little girl back!" The Temple of Time envoys left only the Holy Lord of mes behind temporarily to dy Alion while going to stop the little girl themselves.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I dealt with a few insects and more came!" The little girl yawnedzily. "Then so be it. If you stop me from dealing with my matters, then I''ll just have to deal with you first."

    Unlike the Holy Lords who underestimatedthe girls and were injured right away, the Temple of Time Envoys didn''t take her lightly after seeing her skills!

    They both held the gems that were around their chest and pulled those little red gems out.

    The small gems turned into the purest form of energy, before condensing into the form of a blood red Sword.

    The sword was unique and had an hourss carved on the hilt. However, that hourss appeared to be alive as if time was passing slowly inside the sword.

    "They really aren''t taking her lightly," Avilia muttered, looking at the two blood red swords.

    "Do you know those swords?" Gabriel asked, finding those swords to be somewhat extraordinary.

    "I''ve read about them," Avilia answered. "The red crystals that all the envoys carry are said to be the lifeline of the Temple of Time. These crystals are what provide them with the strength that they disy."

    "Each member of the Temple of Time has one such crystal and the size of these crystals show the level of their strength. However, that''s not the only use of those crystals. These crystals can even transform into weapons for them."

    " These swords are quite extraordinary. If I were to estimate, the Sword made by the leader of the Temple of Time should be on the same level as a Holy Grimoire... Categorized as a disaster level item!"

    "The swords of these envoys are a little weaker, but they still can''t be underestimated. If even a small cut is left behind on the body of an ordinary person by these swords, your body ages by at least ten years. The stronger the person, the more life they lose!"

    The more Avilia exined, the more Gabriel was stunned. An ordinaryhuman had a lifespan of less than a hundred years. That meant even if a person received just ten scratches from this sword and no life threatening wound, they were still going to die!

    What was worse was that the effect was even stronger for stronger beings!

    "This sword... Isn''t it too strong then?" Gabriel frowned. Even for Demigod level beings, the sword could easily kill them after a few light cuts?

    "Of course these swords are strong. How else do you think the Temple of Time became such a fierce existence that even the Churches were hesitant to stand against them?" Avilia smiled wryly.

    She was still in Gabriel''s embrace, avoiding the battle while exining. "What''s more is that it''s really hard to avoid the sword. Not only does that sword increase the strength of the user by around ten times, but it also increases their speed, which makes it almost impossible to avoid their attacks!"

    Gabriel looked at the two swords in amazement. This kind of sword appeared to be even stronger than Ulien''s sword that he used. However he still couldn''t understand one thing. "Why didn''t they use this sword when fighting Alion before?"

    ''If the sword was that strong, it made sense for them to use it more often. In their eyes, Alion was weak. If they wanted to deal with the little girl, they should''ve thought about using that Sword to take out Alion first.''

    Gabriel had a feeling that there were more secrets behind the sword than the Temple of Time showed before the world.

 Chapter 419 419: Righteous

    It was just as Avilia had said. As soon as the swords came out, Gabriel could feel that the entire temperament of the two Envoys changed. Their movements were more Swift and more strength could be felt from them.

    The two Envoys disappeared from their spot, appearing right before the little girl, blocking her path.

    "You are strong," Ozen stated as his grip tightened around his sword. "Possibly stronger than anyone we have ever faced before. You deserve us going all out before you! However, that''s the extent of how far you can go!"

    He raised his sword, pointing it straight at the little girl in the distance. "Now that you''ve forced us to bring it out, this battle can only end with your death to make up for the waste..."

    It was proving hard even for Gabriel to keep an eye on their movement. It was as if the two Envoys had speed that wasparable to the realm of teleportation the way they moved just now.

    ? The little girl still didn''t appear seriously,zily yawning. "I feel so sleepy. I just want to take him with me and leave. Why does it have to be so hard?"

    Seeing the girl underestimating him, even Ozen couldn''t keep himself calm. Now that the sword was out, it was hard even for him to control his emotions, especially since there were too many restrictions and ws on the Sword.

    The world knew these swords as invincible, but only the people from the Temple of Time knew just how dangerous these swords actually were... Not just for the enemies but for the users as well.

    Everytime the sword was called out, it took ten percent of the owner''s life from them. In their entire life, a person could only use this Sword ten times! That''s why everyone was so hesitant in calling the sword out as long as it wasn''t absolutely necessary.

    What was even worse was that everytime the sword was called out, it could only remain in the sword form for ten minutes. The live hourss that was on the hilt of the sword showed those ten minutes passing away.

    As soon as the hourss was empty, the swords could only return to their crystal form.

    The envoys didn''t think that Alion was worth them calling out their swords. Even if they had to call out their swords, it had to be for the little girl for it to be justified!

    Fortunately, this was exactly what Gabriel wanted them to do. He wanted them to underestimate Alion.

    Now that there was only the Holy Lord of mes left to stop Alion, it was time to end the charade.

    Gabriel sent a message to Alion secretly, telling him to end this. Now that they had found a perfect distraction, they could easily leave the rest to the little girl. Who could be a better distraction than her in this situation.

    As soon as Alion received the instructions, he prepared himself. This time, he didn''t avoid the attack of the Holy Lord of mes! In fact, he even lowered his defense so as to leave some more wounds.

    After facing the attack, Alion coughed out a mouthful of blood. "Argh!I didn''t expect you to be this strong! You destroyed all my defense and treasures! I can''tst longer like this!"

    He held his chest, coughing out more blood.

    "If I wasn''t injured, I would''ve killed you today! You all destroyed my ns today! Next time we meet, will be the day you die!"

    After finishing his pretentious act, Alion weakly brought out a talisman that was given to him by Gabriel.

    It was one of the thousand mile teleportation talisman that Gabriel stole from the Academy of Elements. By showing this talisman, it once again proved that Alion was the person who robbed the Academy, linking all pieces of puzzle to separate the Holy Lord of Light from the equation, proving Gabriel''s innocence!

    Seeing the Talisman, the Holy Lord of mes was stunned.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Yo-" He tried to stopAlion, but before he could even move, Alion used the talisman and disappeared.

    "Holy Lord of Light! You destroyed my army! A righteous person like you can''t be allowed to live! I''ll kill you the next time I see you! You''re my mortal enemy now!"

    Only his voice was left behind along with hisst warning

    Watching the scene, even Gabriel was bbergasted. This kind of overacting... Even he found it somewhat cringe. It was as if Alion was trolling him before leaving.

    "Righteous... Hahaha." Even Avilia couldn''t control herughter any longer. Fortunately, no one heard her.

    "Stopughing!" Gabriel rolled his eyes, pinching Avilia''s waist tightly, making Avilia cry lightly in pain.

    In one end, Alion had already escaped, surprising the two Temple of Time envoys. They had only left for a few seconds and the one they wanted to capture already escaped! They were furious.

    "You''re useless! You couldn''t even hold an injured weakling back? I should never have left this task to trash like you!"

    The Holy Lord of me was also angry, being scolded like this. However, more than that, he was angry at himself. The person who destroyed his home escaped from right under his nose.

    He couldn''t let Alion escape. He knew that the talisman could only send a person upto thousand miles away. There was still a chance to catch up.

    Without thinking twice, the Holy Lord of mes selected a random direction and flew as fast as possible. He also created many more me clones, sending them all in different directions to find ''injured'' Alion.

    On the other side, the little girl was looking at everyone weirdly. They were calling Alion weak? Did they all lose their minds? She also couldn''t understand why Alion left, instead of killing them all.

    Despite her strength, the little girl couldn''t understand human schemes and treachery.

    "Now that your friend escaped, you are ourst clue! Don''t even think about escaping!!!"

    With Alion''s departure, everyone''s attention was now on the little girl.

    Gabriel felt somewhat bad for using the girl like that, but he still didn''t interfere. He had a feeling that even with the sword, they weren''t a match for the little girl who could even intimidate Alion. She was also from the era of gods after all.

    The little girl didn''t even bother with the people before her and turned around, trying to find the new location of Alion.

    Unfortunately, the two Envoys thought that she was also trying to escape and attacked her.

    Ozen appeared right before the girl, thrusting his sword.

    His sword stabbed right through the chest of the little girl. The attack was sessful. However, Ozen''s expressions didn''t look pleasant. Instead, he was even more disturbed.

 Chapter 420 420: Speed

    Even as Ozen''s sword passed through the girl''s body, he only felt as if his sword had passed through empty air and not a real person.

    Just as he expected, the little girl that he had stabbed dispersed, as if the attack had only managed to hit her afterimage and not her real self.

    "Your speed is not bad... It''s almostparable to mine with my sword" The little girl appeared around thirty meters away from Ozen and Litvia.

    Unlike the little girl who justplimented the speed of the two Envoys, the two Envoys were even more stunned. Even with the sword, they could barely match the speed of the little girl.

    "She is fast..." Gabriel muttered.

    The two Envoys only had a short time where they could fight with the sword and they couldn''t waste this time.

    No matter how fast the little girl was, they could only go all out. Moreover, thanks to the Holy Lords, their pressure came down a little.

    The little girl was surrounded from all sides, leaving no ce to escape. What was even worse was that the Holy Lords had managed to seal the space, making it unable for the little girl to escape using any talisman. They didn''t want to make the same mistake they did with Alion.

    What was even more was that all the Holy Lords used their unique skill. Since they couldn''t defeat the little girl with straight attacks, they left the part about fighting to the two Envoys.

    Unlike their attacks that the little girl swiftly destroyed without even moving, the attack of Ozen was avoided which gave them the impression that the little girl was scared of the swords.

    The Holy Lords each cast their unique skill. The Holy Lord of Water cast Illusory water prison all around the little girl, which could make it impossible for any person to love.

    The Holy Lord of Earth cast a spell which pulled the little girl toward the ground, increasing the gravity on the girl while making it harder for her to stay in the air. The gravity also slowed down her speed.

    All the other Holy Lords each contributed a little, either to slow the little girl down, or to weaken her defense.

    Through their sessful cooperation, they had managed to decrease the speed of the little girl by upto fifty percent.

    Even the little girl seemed somewhat amazed at the fighting style of the people before her. They were really targeting her weakness. However, there was still no fear on her face.

    "At first, I was in a hurry to leave. However, it looks like there''s no need to leave so soon. It''s been long since I yed around to my heart''s content." The little girl raised her heavy swords.

    Everything prepared for theing attack. However, the girl didn''t attack them. Instead, she tossed the sword toward Gabriel on the ground.

    Gabriel moved back, barely avoiding the sword.

    "Does she know I was behind it?" Gabriel wondered. As soon as the swordnded on the ground, it made the entire City tremble under its weight. Cracks developed all around and even some houses came crashing down once again.

    Gabrielknew that the weight of the sword was a lot, but to cause such a phenomenon was even beyond his expectations.

    "Take care of my sword," the little girl told Gabriel, as if she didn''t have any intention to attack in the first ce, and was just giving the sword to Gabriel for safekeeping. In the entire ce, only Gabriel hadn''t attacked her after all.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "And you say you don''t know that girl," Avilia rolled her eyes. Even the other Holy Lords felt that something was wrong. The girl was trusting the Holy Lord of Light so much.

    However, for now, they couldn''t be distracted. They put all their attention on the little girl before them as the two Envoys attacked in perfect sync, as if predicting all the movementof the little girl.

    Many people thought that with so many Holy Lords in the fray, the little girl had no chance to escape. Even Avilia thought that it was going to be hard for the little girl with so many people going all out to capture her.

    However, the oue turned out to be quite different.

    The spells that had slowed down the little girl by upto fifty percent were proving to be of no use! As soon as the little girl got rid of the heavy Sword, her speed shot up by an extraordinary amount.

    If she was fast like a cat in the past, then now she was like a leopard. Even when her speed was fifty percent lower than her peak speed, that speed was still twice as much as her peak speed with the sword.

    The battle... It wasn''t the fierce struggle that everyone thought it to be. It wasn''t a longsting battle either. Instead, it was like a deity was ying around with kids.

    Even Gabriel couldn''t see the little girl with how fast she was moving. He had to take help of spells to increase his perception to know where that little girl was. She was like a bolt of lightning shing everywhere.

    The two Envoys couldn''t even catch her afterimage, let alone being able to wound her.

    ''Is this the level of a Demigod? I thought Demigods of the past used to be as strong as the Holy Lords of now. But I really underestimated them.''

    Gabriel watched the Holy Lords fall down like shooting stars, crashing on the ground once again. Even the best of their shields couldn''t prevent them from being hurt. As for attacking the little girl, it was even impossible. Their spells never hit the Target with how fast the girl was.

    "Of course you can''tpare a Holy Lord with a Demigod," Alion''s voice echoed in Gabriel''s head.

    "Where are you?" Gabriel frowned, looking around.

    "I''m back inside the castle," Alion answered. "The little girl can''t find me. However, you need to be careful of her."

    "I''ve already seen her skills. She is a fighter and her main advantage is her superior speed, which makes it hard for spellcasters to face her. Even I won''t take her lightly." Gabriel nodded. The little girl didn''t look the part, but her skills didn''t lie.

    "Is she also here to destroy the Castle and kill me?" Gabriel asked. "And why didn''t anyone know about an existence like that in this ce? Where does shee from?"

    "From what I know about her, she is not here to destroy the Pce. And she couldn''t care less about Karyk," Alion responded.

    "Then why is she here?"

    "She is here to capture me and take me back...Since I''m not allowed to be here."

 Chapter 421 421: Prison

    Only a few minutes had passed, and the battle was already over. The two Envoys were standing on the ground, bleeding from their nose, mouth and eyes.

    They hadn''t even managed to touch the little girl yet they were the ones who were seriously hurt. This was something they never would''ve believed if they hadn''t seen it with their own eyes.

    What was even more strange was that the little girl didn''t kill them, despite having multiple opportunities. It was as if she didn''t care whether they lived or died, like they were just some ants before her who she was toozy to crush.

    Ten minutes with the Bloody Sword still weren''t over, yet the two Envoys already understood the difference between them and the little girl.

    Both of them sent their swords back. There was no use keeping it out any longer since they had already lost their life span and still couldn''t do anything.

    "May I ask who Your Highness is? And why were you trying to help people awaken the Forbidden Army?" Litvia asked, wiping the blood with the back of her hand. "After our battle, I''m sure you aren''t from this ce. Then why do you want to get involved?"

    "The Forbidden Army?" The little girl asked, as her eyes shone in amazement. "You mean the army of the Death Star?"

    "Death Star?" Gabriel smiled wryly. Even though he was standing in the distance, he could still hear their conversation.

    "That was the name given to Karyk by them," Alion exined.

    "Did you also have a name like that?" Gabriel asked, slightly intrigued. Death Star wasn''t a bad name after all.

    Back in the castle, Alion scratched the back of his head, as if slightly embarrassed. "Cough, you don''t need to know that."

    However, his embarrassment disappeared as he thought of the name of the little girl, which was even worse than his. "Though I can tell you the nickname of that little girl before you,"

    "I''m listening," Gabriel responded. "She''s quite strong so her name should be nice as well."

    "She was called Crazy Loli," Alion answered.

    Even though Gabriel couldn''t see the face of Alion through their conversation, he could feel that Alion was trying really hard to control hisughter. The name was certainly strange.

    "Who decided on these bizarre names?" Gabriel asked, wondering just who was capable of giving this girl a name like that and still surviving.

    "There was no system of officially naming gods and demigods. However, there were times when gods and Demigods came up with nicknames for others on their own. When these names spread enough, everyone started calling them these names more than their real names," Alion exined vaguely.

    "As for that little girl''s name, this name was given to her by me," he further added. "I thought I was anonymous when spreading her name to mess with her. Who knew that crazy loli would find my real identity. Ever since then, she''s been chasing after me to kill me for that name."

    Hearing the response, Gabriel felt slightly awkward. His impression of Alion changed by a lot instantly. He previously thought Alion was a serious Demigod, somewhat like Karyk. However, it was clear that Alion was more mischievous than he thought.

    "So she was here for you," Gabriel muttered. "That''s good. It would''ve been a hassle if she was after the Pce and the Army too."

    "That''s right. With the opening of the Castle, the aura protection around this ce became quite weak. When I was fighting, I think she sensed my aura thanks to that, and found out where I was. I didn''t expect her to still be looking for me after all these heard." Alion said, getting somewhat serious. "This girl really knows how to hold a grudge."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "However, this is also an opportunity for you!"

    "Opportunity?" Gabriel asked, observing the proud little girl in the distance who was talking with the two Envoys.

    "This girl is crazy and her presence in this ce is a big headache for you. However, if you can use her well, and get her support, we might have a decent backing in the future." Alion exined while he kept applying some of his energy to the sphere in front of him. "With her around, you should be able to dy the other side for a month at least."

    "Death Star''s army is in this ce?" The little girl asked the two Envoys. It was only now that she sensed her surroundings properly and sensed that there was indeed some present of the aura of death.

    Previously, she was so distracted by Alion that she didn''t even notice that.

    "You didn''t know that? You weren''t here to help that man in freeing the army?" Litvia asked, finally realizing that something was wrong.

    "Why would I help him?" The little girl asked in return. "I was here to capture him and take him away. I didn''t know he was hiding in this prison. If I had known, I would''vee here sooner."

    The two Envoys finally realized that they were fooled by Alion! The little girl before them was so strong that she had no reason to lie to them after all.

    The envoys started exining everything that happened since their arrival and how a misunderstanding was created by Alion.

    At the same time, Gabriel was also wondering about something. "What did she mean by hiding in Prison?"

    Despite Gabriel''s question, he didn''t receive a response.

    The silence made Gabriel feel even more curious. It was clear that Alion was trying to hide something.

    Gabriel didn''t request again. He had a better way now to convince Alion after all. "Fine. Don''t tell me. Let me go to that little girl and tell her where you are. Don''t me me for what happens next."

    "You!" Alion felt like choking. "Stop! Don''t tell her where I am! I''ll tell you!"

    "That''s much better. So what''s this about?"

    After a period of silence, Alion sighed. "You went to that tomb recently, right? What do you think that ce was?"

    "It was the prison created by Alion for the Goddess of Nature. What about that?" Gabriel asked. "Don''t tell me the little girl was talking about that prison. You were hiding in the tomb?"

    "Wrong. She wasn''t talking about that prison. The tomb that you saw wasn''t the only prison... There was an even bigger prison that you don''t know about."

    "What''s that?"

    "Where you stand currently... And as far as your eyes can see! As far as you can travel, as far as you can go, it''s all a prison. This entire World that you think is the starting and the end of life, is just a prison created by Karyk himself," Alion said in full seriousness. "That''s why even Gods are scared to descend here¡­"

 Chapter 422 422: Sleep

    "This world is just a prison..." The words fell like thunder in Gabriel''s ears.

    It was said that this was the ce where gods were born. From then on, he assumed that the reason there were no gods or Demigods in this ce was because they had died, or lived somewhere in seclusion. However, to hear that this world was nothing more than a prison was indeed shocking for him.

    "Why would this ce be a prison?"

    Karyk had already imprisoned the Goddess of Nature in the tomb. It didn''t make sense for him to make this entire World into a prison. Unless, there was something more to it.

    Gabriel was standing frozen in ce, feeling a terrible headache. If this world was a prison, that meant he was a prisoner as well.

    While he was distracted, the little girl appeared before him. She grabbed the heavy sword. However, before taking it away, she looked at Gabriel who was in a daze.

    With the misunderstanding being clear, the Holy Lords already realized that they had made a mistake and that they were fooled by Alion. No one made things more difficult for the little girl. However, they still kept eyes on her.

    "I will go back to inform the Temple about the events that took ce here. You''ll stay in the city." Ozen disappeared, leaving Litvia the incharge of the City for the time being.

    Tap~

    The little girl poked the stomach of Gabriel like a child, bringing him out of his daze.

    Gabriel was still thinking about the prison when he sensed someone poke him. He came out of his daze, but he couldn''t see anyone before him.

    It was only when he looked down that he noticed the little girl in front of him, holding onto the heavy sword which was still too big for her.

    He stopped talking to Alion secretly. Now that the little girl was this close to him, he didn''t think it was preferable to risk exposing himself.

    "Do you need something from me?"

    Gabriel had neither fought the little girl, nor had he offended her. Unless she sensed his real identity, he didn''t believe that she was going to hurt him.

    "I am sleepy." The little girl yawned. If people hadn''t seen her fight before, they would''ve just assumed that she was a little girl who had lost her way in themotion.

    Gabriel didn''t know why she didn''t chase after Alion anymore yet came straight to him. However, from what he could guess, it was because she couldn''t sense Alion anymore.

    Alion was back inside the pce and the spatial passage with the Pce had been sealed by Gabriel for a month, making it impossible for anyone to sense him.

    Moreover, the girl was already sleepy when she came here. Now that Alion was gone, she didn''t feel it was worth it for her to spoil her sleep over him.

    Amongst all the Holy Lords here, only Gabriel hadn''t attacked her before. Moreover, he didn''t treat her with hostility. That''s why she left her sword for him to protect when she was fighting.

    Now that she had a good impression of him, she went to him first.

    Gabriel also didn''t argue with the little girl. It was better to keep the little girl satisfied for the time being.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Come with me. I''ll arrange for a room for you to sleep in." Gabriel freed Avilia and held the hands of the little girl, as if he was guiding a little child.

    The little girl was slightly surprised. It wasn''t often that someone took the initiative to touch her, especially since everyone was so scared of her.

    She looked at Gabriel nkly. While everyone avoided her like a gue in the past, Gabriel was still so nice even after seeing how strong she was. She didn''t feel even a trace of fear from Gabriel.

    The little girl followed Gabriel. Her left hand remained in Gabriel''s hand while her right hand held the heavy sword, dragging it while leaving a deep ravine behind.

    All the other Holy Lords also felt slightly taken aback. They hadn''t seen the Holy Lord of Light before, not now that they saw, the man didn''t just defeat Alion, spoiling his n but also calmed down the little demon.

    Unfortunately, even though they wanted to stay behind to observe the situation, they couldn''t. Alion had already escaped. And before leaving, he threatened them all to have revenge on them.

    None of them wanted to stay away from their churches for too long, not wanting to suffer the same fate as the Church of mes.

    One after another, all the Holy Lords left the City which had be a battlefield not too long ago. What was worse was that they didn''t seed and only got beaten. Fortunately, not many people saw that which saved some of their dignity.

    ****

    Gabriel brought the little girl back inside the Royal Castle. Now that things hade this far, he couldn''t just avoid the little girl.

    Avilia also followed behind Gabriel, going inside the pce. Only Litvia was left behind in the garden.

    Now that the protective barrier was gone, she could easily enter the garden to check it. Unfortunately, with the spatial passage closed, someone at her caliber couldn''t detect anything unusual.

    Gabriel brought the little girl to the room he had arranged.

    "If you need anything, just tell the guards and it''ll be arranged. Treat this ce like your home." Gabriel stood before the door. However, before he could even finish, he saw the little girl already asleep.

    It hadn''t even been a second since she fell on the bed and she was already in deep sleep. The girl really looked tired. The heavy sword was lying by the support of the bed.

    "Is she always so sleepy?" Gabriel asked Alion secretly.

    "Not this much. She must''ve really exhausted herself to enter this ce. It''s not easy after all," Alion answered. "Now that you know just how strong others can be, you should really focus on strengthening yourself. You have only one more month."

    "I know. As soon as the seal breaks, even gods might not be able to remain immune. I have to be stronger in this one month." Gabriel stepped closer to the heavy Sword of the little girl.

    He held the hilt of the sword firmly. Unexpectedly, he didn''t feel any resistance from the sword. In fact, he couldn''t feel anything. The sword felt like an ordinary Sword with nothing out of the ordinary. It didn''t feel like the sword had a spirit or was a treasure.

    Unfortunately, it was only when he tried to raise the sword that he truly understood the difference.

 Chapter 423 423: Are You Scared?

    Gabriel tried his best. Unfortunately, even with his strengthened physique and strength boosting spell, he couldn''t move the Sword in the slightest, let alone raise it.

    It was as if the sword was nothing less than a heavy mountain which could crush anyone under it!

    Now that Gabriel knew exactly how heavy the Sword was, it surprised him even more that the little girl carried this sword all the time.

    He gazed at the little girl in the distance who e was sleeping peacefully.

    He held the nket. Since the girl slept so soon, she didn''t even bother covering herself with the nket, even when the room was cold.

    Gabriel raised the nket, covering the little girl.

    Gabriel left the room, meeting the Knights outside. "Make sure no one disturbs her. If she needs anything, get it for her. And contact me when she wakes up."

    He left with Avilia after dealing with some minor matters. At the same time, he also told the Knights to get people into the work of recovery.

    Even though the battle this time hadn''t harmed many people, many buildings were damaged already. There was a lot of cleaning work to do. He left all that inconsequential work to the Knights to deal with.

    Gabriel didn''t go back to his room either. Along the way, he had already canceled his shroud.

    He went to the cells under the castle where the prisoners were kept. Amongst the prisoners, there was one special person.

    It had been such a long time since he had captured Lambard''s maid yet there was no movement from him, as if he already knew that it was a trap. Even with the hugemotion in the city which kept everyone else busy, Lambard didn''t sneak inside the castle which was surprising.

    "Shouldn''t you rest first instead of following me? I''m only dealing with small matters." Even when he was going to the cells, Avilia was behind him. He wanted to send her away yet he couldn''t be too straight.

    "Do you want to get rid of me that bad?" Avilia caught up to Gabriel, walking right next to him.

    "I don''t want to get rid of you. I just want you to rest first, since there is an important task that I need you to finish. If you''ve already rested, how about you start that task now?"

    "What task?" Avilia asked. "Also, you still haven''t told me what happened back there. Who was the guy in the dark and where did a Demigode from? Just what did you do?"

    "I told you I have no idea," Gabriel shrugged. "I was just taking a walk in the garden when that dark robed man came and opened a portal. You don''t believe me?"

    "Only an idiot will believe you." The youngdy rolled her eyes. "Anyway, Thank you for stopping me from fighting that little girl. If you hadn''t stopped me, I would''ve lost a lot of my beasts. Thanks to you, I didn''t summon them."

    "If you want to thank me, do the task I want you to finish."

    The Holy Priestess of Summoning looked at Gabriel, confused. She still wasn''t told what task she had to achieve.

    Gabriel briefly stopped, telling some things to the youngdy which surprised even her. Avilia instantly agreed since the task didn''t seem too dangerous.

    ****<novelnext></novelnext>

    Gabriel stopped before the cell where Lambard''s maid was being kept.

    The young maid was already asleep. Even though she was a prisoner, she wasn''t treated badly and was even provided with a proper bed to sleep. It was as if she was in house arrest.

    Gabriel entered the cell.

    As soon as he entered, the young maid sensed his presence and opened her eyes.

    "No matter what you do, I won''t tell you anything." The young maid stood up. Thanks to the bracelet of sealing, she couldn''t use any of her abilities. However, she was still firm in her resolve.

    "You don''t need to tell me anything anymore. I''ve already run out of patience." Gabriel''s expressions were still but his words had ipatible sharpness which made the youngdy tremble slightly.

    "Tomorrow, you''ll be executed. When you''re dead, I wonder if Lambard wille to me for revenge or not. It should also send a message to the other spies who dare to infiltrate my city! I just came here to tell you to prepare yourself for that."

    The maid initially thought that Gabriel was just bluffing, and that he was going to insist that she tell him Lambard''s whereabouts if she wanted to survive. However, to her surprise, Gabriel didn''t speak anything more. He just turned around and left, leaving the dark cell.

    It was as if Gabriel had already given up on her and he was dead serious about executing her before the public.

    After leaving the cell of the young maid, Gabriel went back to the higher floors. He still didn''t go to his room and went to the rooms of the two Princesses of the previous Emperor who were under house arrest.

    The two Princesses lived in the same room, protected by the Knights outside.

    As soon as the Knights saw Gabriel approaching, they straight went down to one knee, greeting their new Emperor.

    Their greeting was so loud that even the two Princesses inside the room heard them. Both of them straightened their clothes and stood up.

    A slight trace could also be seen on their faces. They had already heard about the rebellion that was violently crushed by Gabriel. When they first saw Gabriel, they didn''t expect him to be this kind of person. But now, they couldn''t help but be scared of him.

    With the uprising being crushed, Gabriel had no need to keep them anymore which gave them the impression that Gabriel was here to kill them atst.

    The two Princesses looked at each other, as if they were looking at each other for thest time. Their small fists were closed as they prepared themselves for the uing death.

    One of the Knights opened the door of the room and Gabriel''s tall figure entered. After the day where he killed the previous Prince, it was the first time Gabriel had seen the two Princesses.

    Unlike before, the two princesses were less cheerful and a little pale as well. They were treated like princesses and given the best of food in this ce even when they were under house arrest. Yet they were even slimmer than before, as if they weren''t eating properly.

    Gabriel stood before the two Princesses. He could see their clenched fists and some trembling.

    "You are scared of me?"

    The two princesses clenched their teeth, shaking heads fiercely. However, only a fool would''ve believed them.

 Chapter 424 424: Changes

    It was clear that the two girls who enjoyed all the glory of being Princesses in the past were under a lot of stress now, not even realizing just how long they could''ve lived in a situation like this. In fact, living so far had already surpassed their expectations.

    Gabriel understood what they were thinking. It was clearly written on their faces.

    "You don''t have to be scared. I just came here to tell you that you''re free from this moment on."

    "Huh?" The two girls raised their heads in surprise."Free?"

    "Yeah. You can leave the room if you want. You can even leave the Empire if you want. The guards won''t restrict you anymore." After informing the girls, he turned around. "If you decide to leave, go to the Saint Knight. I''ll tell him to give you gold and other things for you to start a new life in a safer ce."

    Even though Gabriel had to control an entire Empire, he didn''t really need gold for personal use. Moreover, even though the two girls didn''t actually have the right to rule the Empire, he still didn''t want to leave them empty handed after taking the Empire from them.

    Not only did he arrange for a few servants and carriages for the two princesses, but he also arranged for more than enough gold and protection for their departure.

    As much as he wanted to protect this Empire, he knew that this ce wasn''t safe. In theing days, even the Royal Pce wasn''t certain if it was going to stay safe, let alone the other ces in the Empire.

    The ce was at the eye of the storm after all.

    After Gabriel left, the two princesses looked at each other in surprise. Not only did Gabriel not kill them, but he also gave them an opportunity to leave and live a life of luxury in some other ce?

    For a moment, they didn''t know what to even think.

    ****

    After dealingwith the two Princesses, Gabriel finally walked back to his room. The little girl was still asleep while Avilia was engaged in a task, which left him with some privacy for the moment.

    "Can I meet you again in the dream to train?" Gabriel asked, sitting on the bed in his room.

    "Not for the next few days. I am busy with the task at hand." Alion instantly answered. He was at the Pce and didn''t have time to leave that ce. Because of that, Gabriel also couldn''t strengthen his physique in his dreams.

    Fortunately, there were still other ways to strengthen himself.

    Gabriel cast a barrier all around his room, making sure that not even the slightest of his aura leaked outside.

    At the same time, he brought out the remaining spirit stones that he had robbed from the Academy of Elements to absorb them and increase his strength.

    At the moment, he was as strong as the other Holy Lords, despite just being an advanced tier magepared to the others who were peak tier mages.

    He wanted to reach the peak tier and even surpass that since he knew what dangersid ahead of him. Even a peak tier mage couldn''tpare to a Demigod after all, let alone the gods above.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Gabriel sat in meditation, surrounded by the Spirit Stones from all sides, absorbing the energy.

    While most Holy Lords could only absorb a few hundred spirit stones in a day to strengthen themselves, Gabriel could absorb thousands, even though it put a lot of burden on his body.

    After seven hours straight and using thousands of spirit stones, he finally reached the threshold between advanced tier mage and the peak tier. It was as if there was a small curtain that separated the two realms. It wasn''t easy to pass through that threshold right away.

    Even though the jump was small, it took Gabriel one more hour to pass through that small step. Fortunately, he seeded and became a peak tier mage, finally stepping on the same realm as the other Holy Lords.

    After seeding, Gabriel dropped on the bed,pletely exhausted. He was covered in sweat and multiple crushed spirit stones were around him that had now be useless.

    It took him a few minutes before finally regaining some strength. Even with the breakthrough, he was more exhausted than anything else.

    He walked through the mountain of ruined spirit stones in his room, taking off his clothes. He straight went for a shower.

    It was only inside the shower where he wasn''t wearing anything that he noticed another strange thing about him.

    The strange mark of Necromancy that was only covering the back of his hand up to his wrist had spread even more! It was as if it was a tattoo that was covering his entire right arm upto his shoulder now.

    The tattoo looked good and also emanated with the power of the dead. However, this also made it impossible for him to hide his aura anymore without using a shroud of light.

    The gloves could only restrict the mark upto his hand. However, now that his entire arm was covered, it was impossible to cover it.

    What he didn''t realize was that it wasn''t just his arm that was covered in that dark yet beautiful mark. Some traces of it could also be seen on his back.

    He asked Alion about it, wondering if he knew anything about it or if it was worth worrying about.

    Unfortunately, there was no response from Alion this time, as if the man was more busy than anything.

    In the end, Gabriel could only finish his shower in disappointment before stepping out and wearing clothes again. He didn''t notice that his skin was visibly different now. It was much better than it used to be. Moreover, his skin shade was now almost identical to what Karyk used to possess.

    If in the past, he only looked simr yet different from Karyk, then now it was much harder to differentiate between the two. The only difference that could be seen between the two now was that Karyk didn''t have such long hairs like Gabriel and the color of their hairs were also different.

    After wearing the clothes, Gabriel looked out the window from his room. The City was still seemingly peaceful and nothing out of the ordinary could be sensed. It was as if what happened just a few hours ago near the garden was nothing more than a dream and a figment of his imagination.

    Unfortunately, only Gabriel knew that things were about to get much messier from now on.

 Chapter 425 425: Awakened Death

    Only three hours had passed since midnight. As Gabriel was already feeling exhausted after his breakthrough, he didn''t go outside or do anything out of ce. Instead, he simply rested in his room, soon falling asleep.

    Even he couldn''t recall how long it had been since he actually slept where he didn''t have to train in his dreams.

    The night was silent yet many eyes were lurking in the darkness inside the Royal City of Arecia.

    Lambard''s maid was sitting in the prison cell, unable to sleep. Ever since she heard from Gabriel that it was herst night before she was going to be executed, she lost all her appetite and calmness.

    Despite all that, she still didn''t consider betraying Lambard. She kept looking at the bracelet of sealing. Lambard was so interested in Numens. And despite living with him for so long, she still didn''t know how to get free from the bracelet of sealing other than the usual way of getting outside help.

    "It looks like I''m never going to see you again," she muttered, looking in the distant darkness. Her eyes were nk as if she had already epted her death.

    Tap~

    Tap~

    In the scary silence, some footsteps resounded which made the young maid look up. The footsteps weren''t like the footsteps of Gabriel. They were much lighter.

    The maid couldn''t help but wonder who could being at a time like this. Fortunately it wasn''t long before she saw the person.

    "What are you doing here?" The young maid asked, frowning. "Are you here to convince me to betray Lord Lambard as well, Holy Priestess?"

    Outside the cell, Avilia stood calmly gazing at the young maid. Not a single guard could be seen anywhere.

    The maid had already seen Avilia with Gabriel and knew the two were working together. She didn''t expect much from the Holy Priestess before her other than trying to help Gabriel in trying to convince her.

    Unfortunately, to her surprise what happened next was something she hadn''t expected.

    The Holy Priestess of Summoning didn''t speak anything. She simply broke the lock on the cell, opening the door.

    "What?" The maid stood up, stunned. She didn''t understand what Avilia was doing. If she worked with Gabriel, she could''ve just asked him for the key. Why did she have to break the lock? Something didn''t seem right.

    "I know you have a lot of questions along with many misunderstandings. However, I don''t have much time to exin to you." Avilia stepped closer to the maid, reaching out her hand.

    She held the sealing bracelet. With her help, the sealing bracelets opened. After freeing the young maid from the sealing bracelets, Avilia kept the bracelet with her.

    The young maid was just too surprised already. She didn''t even notice Avilia keeping the bracelet with her.

    "What are you doing?" She asked. Now that she was free, she could use her magic again. Even though she knew that her magic was nothing in front of the magic of Avilia, but if she wanted to escape, now that she didn''t have to worry about the sealing bracelet, it was easy for her.

    However, she didn''t leave immediately. She was still a little suspicious. "Is this what Gabriel asked you to do?"

    "Why would he ask me to free you? He''s already prepared for your execution. I came here to free you because I don''t want you to be killed," Avilia responded. "I''ve been working with him all this time to get him to reveal his secrets to me. However, because of you, I had to break my character ande out to help you."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "So don''t make it difficult for me! Get out of here as soon as possible before Gabriel realize that something is wrong. I''ll go back and continue pretending to work with him. There are still many secrets that he hasn''t told me since he doesn''t trust me enough!"

    The more the maid heard, the more she realized what Avilia was implying. "You mean you aren''t actually working with him and are just pretending to find out his secrets and his weaknesses?"

    Avilia didn''t answer. She just turned around. "Gabriel is much stronger than we could''ve expected. I knew this as soon as I saw him for the first time. That''s why I didn''t fight him. You already know that his element is different. Not much is known about him. So I can''t take the risk. I need to know the enemy so we can defeat him when we actually fight!"

    "Now don''t talk too much and leave?"

    Avilia left the cell and disappeared in the darkness.

    The young maid still stood frozen in ce. What she found out was too surprising for her. Avilia was just pretending to work with Gabriel?

    ''Now that I think about it, I never actually saw her do anything to help Gabriel. She never fought for him either. It looks like I found out a big secret today! Lord Lambard should be very happy! Maybe we can even use Avilia in the future!''

    The young maid smirked, as if finding out a big secret. Now that she was free to use magic, her figure also disappeared into the darkness.

    She appeared far away from the Royal Pce, right around the edge of the Royal City.

    After appearing at the edge of the city, she checked her surroundings to make sure that she wasn''t being followed before continuing.

    She didn''t realize that what was following her wasn''t a person but her own shadow!

    Back inside the Royal Pce, Avilia came out of the darkness, appearing right where she had disappeared.

    "Thank you for leading us to Lambard..."

    Gabriel had already given her a task and she was quite pleased to know that she had alreadypleted half the task already.

    While Avilia was following Gabriel''s instructions, Gabriel was sleeping in his bedroom.

    Without any training tonight, it was supposed to be quite a peaceful sleep for Gabriel. However, something wasn''t right.

    Instead of sleeping peacefully, Gabriel appeared more and more restless, twisting and turning in the bed. A dark aura of death had shrouded her entire body.

    Fortunately, the barrier he had cast previously was still in its ce, making sure that the aura of death couldn''t be sensed outside the room.

    The aura of death kept intensifying around Gabriel more and more. asionally, he could be heard speaking some iprehensible words in his sleep that didn''t match anynguage known.

    While Gabriel''s body was going through a strange phenomenon, what was really troubled was his soul and his consciousness.

 Chapter 426 426: Life And Death

    As Gabriel''s real body was covered in the aura of darkness which was only getting stronger with each passing second, his spirit and consciousness appeared to have transcended to an entirely different ce.

    Gabriel felt as if he was floating in an eternal unending darkness where he couldn''t sense anything. It was as if all his senses were sealed except the sense of thoughts.

    The surroundings were so silent that it was scary. It was as if it was the silence after death, unlike any dreams before.

    In the empty dark space, there was no semnce of time. Sometimes it felt as if only a second had passed since he arrived here while at other times, it was as if an eternity had already passed while Gabriel floated in the darkness.

    After an unknown amount of time passed, Gabriel finally saw something in the unending darkness. He didn''t know what it was, but in the distance, he could see a small speck of light which was shining bright in the unending darkness.

    Through the speck of light in the distance, Gabriel finally realized that he wasn''t stationary in space. Instead, he was floating closer to the small speck of light... Or the speck of light was floating closer to him.

    Slowly, Gabriel moved closer to the speck of Light in the distance. The closer he came to the speck of light, the bigger the speck of light became. It was as if the distance between the two was just so much that it looked so small from far away yet it was actually very big in reality.

    In fact, when Gabriel was close enough, he even felt as if it wasn''t a small speck of light but an entire world altogether.

    In the majestic world, there was no life. Gabriel could only see a strange terrain, filled with mountains, desert and sea.

    The small world kept turning around its own axis while Gabriel remained stationary, unable to move. He could only watch the beautiful yet deste world in front of him.

    The world was void of all life, despite having everything that was needed to nourish life.

    It was as if millions of years passed yet nothing changed in the world. Gabriel didn''t understand why, but he didn''t take his eyes off the world. In the vast darkness, this was the only thing that he could see. No matter how much time passed, this was the only interesting thing in the vastness.

    Fortunately, after millions of years, something changed in the world... The first life was born.

    With the birth of the first life form, more and more life forms were born in the world. Life flourished in the world that once used to be deste.

    Before long, humans also came into existence, even though their intelligence was barely passable, unlike the humans of this era.

    More than a million years passed again. Gabriel saw life forms being and then dying. No being was eternal. Sooner orter, death caught up to every single one of them. Sometimes death was natural while at other times, it came in the form of external influences like war, idents or even gues.

    Throughout the millions of years, death was constant.

    Gabriel didn''t understand why but he felt as if he was realizing something the more he watched the world. Life was what people cherished yet death was what they hated. However, it was death which gave birth to new life. Without death, all life could eventually only extinguish.

    Death was the great equalizer yet it was never constant. Some lived for over a hundred years while others died in their childhood. There was no logic that could be seen from the naked eye, yet there was just something intriguing about the whole thing for Gabriel.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Gabriel didn''t realize that the closer he came to the true concept of life and death, the more his aura of death was strengthening in his real body, surpassing human limits and reaching the threshold that only Karyk had surpassed in the past.

    Strangely enough, he didn''t have to work too hard to understand the concept of life and death. It was as if he already had great understanding and he was only remembering a fragment of that understanding again.

    "Death is eternal. Death is constant. Yet even the god of death couldn''t ept death." Gabriel muttered, thinking back to how Karyk did everything to reverse the death of his sister, even going as far as sacrificing others for his one desire.

    For others, it was selfish. However, it was different for Gabriel. For some reason, Gabriel felt as if he could understand Karyk. No matter how great death was, at the end of the day, it could only work hand in hand with life. He knew that even if he was in Karyk''s ce, he would''ve done the same as well.

    The entire thing was just too deep for his understanding.

    The millions of years turned into hundreds of millions as life and death worked hand in hand until eventually the entire world embraced death and was destroyed. Death was eternal. Even the world couldn''t avoid death, dying with billions of life forms in the end.

    However, as the world died, after millions of years, another world came into existence and the entire cycle began again...

    Gabriel just stood in silence in the emptiness, watching the new speck of light in the distance. His understanding of death and life had reached a new realm even though he didn''t understand death to a greater extent.

    After what seemed like an eternity, the scene about the birth and death of new worlds finally stopped, as if freeing Gabriel from its constraints.

    The scene around him changed and the vast emptiness of space disappeared.

    The surroundings turned bright again and Gabriel felt as if he was once again standing on solid ground again.

    As far as his eyes could see, there was nothing. Not even a single leaf of grass could be seen.

    Just as he was wondering where he was now, he heard cries of pain which made him tremble. The cries of pain... He recognised that voice! How could he forget that voice? He felt a chill run down his spine as he turned around in disbelief.

    Not too far from him, there were hundreds of thousands of beautiful pirs. Each of the pirs was marked with identical yet different markings.

    What was truly weird was that there was a person tied to each of the pirs. Moreover, the pirs were slowly destroying the spirits of the beings who were tied to it.

    As for the cries of pain that he recognised, they belonged to the two people who were tied to the two leading pirs!

    "No!" Gabriel''s face turned pale as he flew ahead.

 Chapter 427 427: Graveyard Of Gods

    Gabriel clenched his fist. He appeared furious yet scared at the same time. It wasn''t often that such a scary expression could be seen on his face. .

    In this life, there were only three people that he considered family! One was his mother who had died when he was still young. As for the other two... They were his teachers. However, they weren''t just his teachers. They were like his brothers and his family members who gave him everything they had, even going as far as dying at his hands so he could progress.

    And to see those two people being tied to the pirs as their souls were slowly being devoured, he couldn''t take it! Even if he had to destroy this entire ce to ruins, he wanted to free them. He had never felt this angry in this life.

    Gabriel rushed toward the pirs where Cylix and Novius were tied to. He reached out his hand to shatter the shackles.

    Cylix and Novius were screaming in pain. They appeared to be tortured so badly that their eyes had already turned blood red, making them unable to realize what was happening around them.

    Unfortunately, just as Gabriel was about to touch the shackles, the scene disappeared.

    Gabriel''s eyes opened as he sat up straight, huffing heavily. His entire body was covered in sweat and his breathing was fast. However, he didn''t care about anything like that. Instead, his face was still filled with worries.

    He didn''t think that what he saw was a dream. It was more like a reality that he had somehow managed to glimpse at.

    "Arghh!" He roared at the top of his lungs, so furious that he wasn''t able to save them.

    He knew that no matter what, he couldn''t watch Cylix and Novius suffer a single second more. Unfortunately, he didn''t know how to save them either. He had no spell which talked about a ce like that.

    He got off the bed, impatiently walking back and forth. He didn''t even know where the two souls were, let alone know how to find them.

    "Souls....Karyk''s sister... That''s right! Karyk saved his sister! He must know where that ce is! Alion should also know!"

    Initially, Gabriel didn''t want to talk with Alion too much since the little demigod was in the ce as well but he didn''t care about anything for now.

    "Alion!" He called out.

    ...

    Unfortunately, despite him calling Alion, he only received silence in response. It was likest time where Alion wasn''t answering.

    However, this time Gabriel didn''t let it go!

    "Alion, answer me or I''ll personallye down to the Pce with that little girl and the Temple of Time!"

    This time, Gabriel didn''t care about cordiality. The more he dyed this time, the more Cylix and Novius were going to suffer. Moreover, even though Gabriel didn''t see his mother in that ce, he couldn''t help but wonder if his mother was also there.

    No matter what, he had to check that ce personally.

    "You know the more I talk, the slower the process of reconstructing her body bes. Is it really so urgent?"

    After a few minutes, finally Gabriel received a response.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "A ce with thousands of pirs where souls are tied and destroyed! Where is that ce?" Gabriel didn''t waste a single second in talking around the topic and directly asked.

    Deep inside the Pce of Death, Alion was stunned as he heard Gabriel''s question. It was as if even he wasn''t expecting a question like that.

    "How do you know about that ce?!" Alion asked, standing up. For the moment, hepletely forgot about his surroundings or what he was doing.

    "Where is that ce?" Gabriel''s tone was firm. It didn''t appear as if he was simply asking and more like he was interrogating.

    "Don''t tell me you want to go there?!" Alion''s loud voice echoed in the entire hall in the pce. "Impossible! No! Never!"

    "I''m not asking your permission to go there. I''m telling you that I ''have'' to go there!" Gabriel didn''t back off. No matter what, he had to go there personally. If there was a chance to save Cylix and Alion, he had to do it. Moreover, if he could find his mother there, that was even better.

    "That ce is too dangerous! You don''t know how dangerous that ce is!" Alion eximed. "Let alone you, even if that little girl and I went there, only one fate awaits us there... Death!"

    "Throughout the years, many powerful beings went there, including three gods! However, only one person came out alive from that ce, and even that person was heavily injured! If not for that ce, he..."

    Alion didn''t finish his sentence and remained firm. "I won''t let you go there. It''s really too dangerous. Let alone you as you are now, but even if you were at your strongest, it would be just as dangerous."

    "The only person who came out alive and injured... Was that Karyk with his sister?" Gabriel asked.

    Alion didn''t answer yet his silence contained the answer in itself.

    "If Karyk can go there for the people he cared about, why can''t I?" Gabriel understood that Alion most probably wasn''t exaggerating yet he also couldn''t let it go.

    The way it looked before, it was as if the two souls couldn''t hold on for long. He didn''t even know if they couldst for a week or so. If the souls were really destroyed, then in the future, he would''ve had to kill millions and look for the stone of destiny to heal their souls. That was just impossible

    If he wanted to do anything, he could only do so while their souls were still intact. Moreover, he didn''t think that he saw that vision in his dream for no reason. It was as if somewhat deep in his heart, something was telling him that he had to take the opportunity if he didn''t want to regret it in the future. That feeling came from deep within his soul.

    "Are you really not going to listen to me?" Alion asked, frowning. Even after he tried to convince Gabriel so much, Gabriel wasn''t listening. It was as if he just couldn''t give up this time.

    For some reason, Alion had a feeling that if he didn''t give in this time, Gabriel might actually go to the Temple of Time for help...

    Moreover, their n was still at a crucial stage. The army was just about to awaken in a month. He couldn''t make any mistake and risk it.

    "Fine! I''ll tell you where that ce is! But I''lle with you as well! I won''t let you go alone this time!" Alion let out, remaining firm as well.

    Gabriel didn''t argue this time. It was much safer with Alion who knew more about that ce after all. "Fine! Tell me where that ce is."

    "The ce you saw.... It''s in the realm between life and death. A realm which is also called the graveyard of gods!"

 Chapter 428 428: Control

    It was early in the morning and the sun had already risen high in the sky.

    Gabriel had already been waiting at the roof of the Royal Castle, looking into the distance as if he was waiting for something.

    Even though Alion had agreed to take him to the ce where he wanted to go, he still told Gabriel to wait till the morning before departure for some reason.

    Gabriel assumed that it was because Alion wanted to prepare something for the trip while also making some arrangements back at Karyk''s castles to make sure that nothing went wrong in their absence.

    Even Gabriel had done some preparations of his own.

    He had initially wanted to deal with the matter of Lambard first. However, with the urgency of the current matter, he left Lambard for Avilia for the time being.

    For some strange reason, the little demigod was still deep asleep. Before leaving, he wanted to make some excuses to the little girl. However, now that she was asleep, he just left a message with one of his knights outside the little girl''s room to inform her when he left.

    After he and Alion were going to leave, there was no one in the Royal City who could stop the little girl. However, Gabriel could only hope that she wasn''t going to cause any unnecessary troubles.

    "Are you sure I can''te with you?" Standing behind Gabriel, Avilia looked at his distant back. She didn''t understand why, but he appeared slightly different than thest time.

    Even though Gabriel wasn''t using his shroud of light, yet she couldn''t feel his aura of death. It was as if Gabriel''s control over his element of death was so high now that even a Holy Lord couldn''t sense his aura. It was as if not a single thread of his aura leaked without his permission, unlike before.

    What was even strange was that she felt as if Gabriel was even more iprehensible for some reason, even though it had only been one night. There was only a few meters of distance between the two, yet it felt like they were standing thousands of miles apart.

    "Not this time." Gabriel already had Alion and didn''t feel it was safe to take more people with him. The ce they were going was too dangerous ording to Alion.

    Avilia didn''t raise the question again and agreed to Gabriel''s instructions. She didn''t know why, but there was something deep within his heart which made her unable to say no to Gabriel. Even she didn''t understand that feeling herself.

    It hadn''t been long since the two of them started working together. However, strangely enough, she didn''t like the feeling of being away from him. At the same time, she also didn''t want to make him get angry at her. Even she was conflicted inside her heart as to what was happening to her.

    She raised her left hand to summon a flying eagle to carry Gabriel to his destination. Unfortunately, just as she was about to finish her summoning, Gabriel turned around.

    His beautiful blue eyes looked deep within Avilia''s eyes, momentarily stunning her. There was a slight trace of darkness that could be seen deep within Gabriel''s blue eyes.

    Looking back at Gabriel, Avilia even forgot the rest of her summoning spell, only losing herself in Gabriel''s eyes. She already knew how beautiful Gabriel''s eyes were.

    However, there was a strange kind of charm in his eyes now which made anyone who looked into them momentarily stunned. It was as if those eyes contained vast worlds deep within.

    "You don''t need to call any beast this time. I''ll go alone."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You think I will spy on you through my beast?" Avilia didn''t know why, but she felt slightly taken aback. It was as if she was surprised that Gabriel still couldn''t believe her.

    "It''s not that." Gabriel shook his head before giving a brief exnation. "It''s just that I need to pass through the cities of the other Holy Lords to get to my destination. When they see your beast and me sitting on it, it''ll attract unnecessary attention and I don''t want to have to waste my time dealing with them."

    Avilia remained silent. What Gabriel said made sense. She was also slightly happy that it wasn''t because Gabriel didn''t trust her. He was just trying to avoid some unnecessary trouble.

    However, this also gave her some hints as to where Gabriel wanted to go.

    ''A dangerous ce and to reach that ce, one has to pass through the territory of more than one Holy Lord? Isn''t that... The Abandoned City of Gods?''

    Avilia was stunned as soon as she realized where Gabriel was nning to go. The City was said to be the ne where real gods lived once upon a time. Throughout the time, many powerful people tried to explore the city but in the end, none of them came out alive!

    Even the Holy Lords who entered that ce only received death and nothing else! Even thest Holy Lord of Water died because she entered the City of Abandoned Gods identally!

    She wanted to persuade Gabriel to think twice before going to that ce as it was too dangerous even for him. However, looking at Gabriel''s determined eyes, she realized that he wasn''t going to change his mind.

    Gabriel abruptly turned his back on Avilia, seemingly distracted by something. He looked at the sun in the distance, lost in some thought. Avilia didn''t realize that it was because he had just received Alion''s message.

    "I''m waiting for you outside the Empire borders."

    "I''m leaving. If possible, take care of the Empire," Gabriel turned around, revealing a calm yet beautiful smile. "When I return, I''ll hopefully be bringing back the real Emperor of this ce."

    Gabriel started rising in the sky. Two beautiful ck wings appeared on his back. The wings appeared to be made of a dark fire which wasn''t fire at all. Instead, it was the pure and untainted aura of death.

    What was even weirder was that despite Gabriel using a spell of death so openly, Avilia still couldn''t feel Gabriel''s aura which was contained only around his body.

    The wings not only allowed Gabriel to fly high in the sky, but the speed that provided Gabriel was also faster than the peak speed of the Beasts that Avilia lent him to travel at times.

    Gabriel nced at the Royal City onest time before he flew south.

    As soon as he reached outside the borders, he noticed Alion standing there with the support of a protective wall. This time, he wasn''t wearing any dark cloak, revealing his handsome face.

    "You''re finally here."

 Chapter 429 429: Disciple

    The Abandoned City of Gods... A City that brought both curiosity and fear amongst the people who knew about it.

    As it was said to be the City of Gods of the past, it was said that it contained many precious treasures. That''s why many people who knew about this city tried to enter it to find those treasures.

    Unfortunately, barely anyone who entered the City ever came out alive. Even the ones who managed to survive ande out, died a few dayster without speaking anything about what they saw on the other side.

    Let alone finding any treasures, even keeping their lives was said to be hard. With time, the people who went to the city of Gods decreased and eventually, barely anyone knew about that ce anymore.

    There were only a few maps existing currently which helped someone locate the city and navigate inside and they were sold like precious treasures.

    One such map was bought by the Holy Priestess of Water Elora.

    To buy just one map, she had to pay many precious treasures to Lambard and even with the map, she had no certainty that she was going to be safe.

    Elora stood at the entrance of the Abandoned City of Gods with an old map that was carved on a beast skin which had turned pale yellow.

    Despite the passage of years, the map was still intact. It was unclear just which beast skin was used to create this map but Elora had never seen such a beast.

    Elora didn''te with many people this time. In fact, there were only two Head Priestesses apanying her this time who were trusted by her the most.

    Other than the two Head Priestesses, there was one more person who was apanying them. It was a young girl, who appeared to be barely twenty years old.

    The girl wasn''t strong. Even though she also had the Element of Water, she had only managed to advance to a High Tier Mage, and that also thanks to the help of the Holy Priestess of Water.

    The young girl stood right next to Elora, holding a smallpass in her hand.

    The needle of the rustedpass was turning all around, seemingly very unstable. However, despite that Elora kept looking at thepass asionally.

    "Maya, keep an eye on thepass. Since you''ve managed to bind thatpass to your soul, only you can use it. So make sure to warn us if thepass points at any danger," the Holy Lord of Water told the young girl next to her.

    Even though she could''ve killed Maya and taken thepass if she wanted, but she didn''t do so. Thepass wasn''t that precious outside the Abandoned City.

    The only purpose of thepass was to point to the dangers so that they could potentially avoid them and have a safer journey inside the Abandoned City of Gods.

    Together, with the map and thepass, Elora had faith that they really had a chance of finding the secret behind the City.

    Everyone knew that no matter how much strength you possessed, your safety wasn''t guaranteed inside. It was proven by the death of Holy Lords who were stronger than Elora inside the Abandoned City of Gods.

    What really mattered inside the city of gods was the awareness of the surroundings as well as a trace of luck to avoid danger zones that weren''t marked on the map.

    This was also why Elora had gone to the Academy of Elements to borrow a treasure to help her. Unfortunately, just as she had reached the Academy of Elements, the Academy was robbed by Gabriel right before her eyes and she couldn''t get anything.<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was also because of that, she had to dy her ns and use all she had to catch Gabriel so she could retrieve the item and aid her journey again.

    Unfortunately, she didn''t seed even after all she tried. Let alone seeding alone, even the other Holy Lords suffered losses after losses when trying to go against Gabriel, especially the Holy Lord of mes.

    In the end, she had already lost hope of ever retrieving the item that could help her. Fortunately, at around the same time, she heard the news about a girl finding the Compass of Fate and binding with it.

    As soon as Elora received the information, she instantly went to the Academy of Elements.

    Without the protection of Izen, the Academy of Elements was like a ce of great talent and treasure which was without a guardian.

    Elora promised to help the Academy of Elements with the protection from the Church of Water in exchange for Maya''s help during her journey.

    Not only did she bring Maya with her, but she also taught Maya some spells and trained her with spirit stones so she could get strong enough to not drag them behind.

    At that time, Elora hadn''t thought that even she was going to be surprised by Maya''s learning skills. Maya''s awareness and willpower was much stronger than people of her own age which helped her learn faster.

    Even though her spiritual strength didn''t grow at the fastest pace, it was still a decent enough speed and with the help of her spell mastery skills, she had good potential in Elora''s eyes.

    It was only thanks to that, Elora took Maya as her student, establishing a master-disciple rtionship.

    "Yes Master." Maya respectfully nodded. Her entire mind was focused on thepass.

    With how the needle of thepass was turning randomly, anyone could''ve thought that thepass was broken but only the ones who were truly knowledgeable knew that when thepass was unstable, it meant there was no danger nearby.

    Only when there were dangers nearby was the Compass supposed to be stable.

    As the ground of four was still outside the city, even thepass didn''t sense anything.

    Elora went through the map once again, location the safest location marked on the map for the entry.

    There was one road that led inside the Abandoned City of Gods which was made to enter. However, ording to the map, that path wasn''t what they were supposed to take.

    Elora and the others entered from within a random direction, entering through a hole in the wall which was covered byrge bushes. As the four entered the City, the outside returned to the old silence.

    The four didn''t realize that they weren''t the only ones who hade here this time.

    Not long after Elora''s group entered the Abandoned City of Gods through the hole in the wall, two powerful auras arrived.

 Chapter 430 430: Arrival

    "This is the City?" Gabrielnded at the entrance of the City with Alion.

    "That''s right. From this point on, we can''t fly. We''ll have to cover the rest of the way on foot."

    Alion still appeared slightly hesitant in entering the City as he nced back at Gabriel. He knew that if something happened to both of them, it was truly going to be the end. If possible, he wanted to enter alone. Unfortunately, Gabriel didn''t agree.

    "Are you really sure you don''t want me to go alone? If the two of us go together and we fall into a trap, it''ll be difficult for both of us."

    "It''s my responsibility." Even though Gabriel didn''t want to enter if he didn''t had to, there was not much of a choice either.

    Fortunately, he still had some cards at the back of his hand for his protection. He didn''t know what he was going to face once he entered the Abandoned City of Gods, but he had made some preparations of his own.

    It had been a long time since he called Raphael to his help. Even though it looked as if there were just two of them, Gabriel still had Raphael as his backup who could be summoned when he faced danger.

    It was a trip that included two Holy Lord level beings and one Demigod. If this wasn''t safe, then Gabriel didn''t know what was going to be safe.

    "If you''ve decided, then so be it. I hope we won''t be regretting in the future." Alion clenched his fist. As a Demigod, in this world, there weren''t many things that could make him feel threatened. However, the City of Abandoned Gods was one of those things.

    Alion took the lead. Unlike Elora, he didn''t strive to look for another route. Instead, he chose the main route. He took a step forward.

    ....

    Just as Alion had taken a step forward, he stopped. His expressions turned dark as soon as he felt a familiar aura.

    Boom ~

    Just as he expected, a bright beam of light came from the distance, falling right before him. If he had taken just one step forward instead of stopping at the right time, that beam of light would''ve fallen on him.

    The fall made the entire ground tremble marily. Dust flew everywhere, making it harder to find just what it was that had fallen before them.

    As the dust settled down, the truth came to light. Gabriel also felt a little headache, seeing just what had fallen.

    It was a Sword... A heavy Sword to be exact. It was also the sword that even he couldn''t pick up. He had only seen that one Sword before.... It was the sword of the little girl.

    "She was supposed to be sleeping." Gabriel frowned. "Looks like even entering that ce isn''t going to be as peaceful as I thought."

    Gabriel called out the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy. Since the girl was here and saw him with Alion, Gabriel was ready for the battle that was roe.

    Alion also took a step back, creating some distance with the sword.

    "Finally found you!" A melodious voice came from the back. However, that was exactly the voice which Alion didn''t want to hear.

    Gabriel turned to the source of the voice, finding a little girl standing in the air. The little girlnded next to her heavy Sword.

    She grabbed the hilt of the unmovable Sword and pulled it out of the ground as if it was a wooden Sword and nothing more.<novelnext></novelnext>

    She pointed the heavy Sword at Alion. "Where will you hide now?"

    "Do you really think I need to run from you?" Alion frowned. "Just because I don''t fight you doesn''t mean I''m scared of you. If you want to fight, you should be prepared to die as well!"

    Even before Alion''s threat, the little girl didn''t show any trace of fear. Instead, her eyes were filled with fighting spirit.

    Gabriel hadn''t seen Alion''s real weapon from the start. Even when Alion fought before, he only used a random weapon given to him by Gabriel.

    Gabriel was really curious as to which weapon Alion actually used. A Numen was already strong enough that it was cherished by even Holy Lords, let alone the weapons of real Demigod who was still alive!

    All the Numens that Gabriel had seen so far belonged to the demigods that had died.

    However, for Alion and the little girl to still be alive, it was clear that they were a lot stronger than the others that had died before them, which meant their weapons were stronger as well. It was further proven by the fact that his Sword of Ulien appeared weaker than the little girl''s Sword.

    "Hmm?"

    The little girl looked like she was ready to fight. However, at the moment, she appeared surprised, looking back at Gabriel. To be specific, she was looking at the Ancestral Staff in Gabriel''s hands.

    "That Ancestral Staff..." The little girl stabbed her heavy Sword in the ground before disappearing.

    Her Sword was left back where she used to stand. She instead appeared right before Gabriel, staring at his Ancestral Staff in surprise.

    "This staff... It''s not a clone. How could that be? It''s real... A god''s weapon! Karyk''s weapon! Why do you have it?!"

    Gabriel initially wanted to teleport away to protect himself from the little girl as soon as she appeared before him. However now that the girl was right before him and without her weapon, it didn''t look as if she was here to attack him. Instead, she was like a child whose eyes were filled with curiosity.

    "Not a clone? What do you mean? Haven''t you seen the Ancestral Staffs of other Holy Lords as well? What''s so shocking about mine?"

    For him, it wasn''t as if he was the only person who had an Ancestral Staff here. That''s why he didn''t understand why the little girl was so surprised now and not before she saw the other Holy Lords.

    Looking at Gabriel''s ignorance, the girl didn''t feel as if he was pretending or lying. "You really don''t know?"

    "Don''t know what?"

    Gabriel looked in the direction of Alion, wondering what the little girl was talking about.

    "Are you going to tell him, or should I?" The little girl also looked back at Alion. For the moment, the little girl even forgot about her battle. She was more intrigued by Gabriel''s staff.

    Alion scratched the back of his head. "I''ll tell him."

    He raised his right hand, casting an illusion before him.

 Chapter 431 431: The God Staff

    In the illusion, multiple Ancestral Staffs appeared before Gabriel, floating in mid air. Even though it was just an illusion, all the Ancestral Staff looked so real.

    Amongst the Ancestral Staff, Gabriel could also see the one he had.

    What surprised him the most was the other Ancestral Staffs in that illusion... Although they were simr to the Ancestral Staffs of the other Holy Lords, they were slightly different at the same time. Only his Ancestral Staff waspletely identical to the one in the illusion.

    "All the so-called Ancestral Staffs that the Holy Lords use are the clones of the real God''s Staffs that are used by the Origin Gods."

    "You mean they are fake?"

    Gabriel was stunned. He used to think that the Ancestral Staffs were what the real gods used once upon a time. But to think that it was all a lie? The Ancestral Staffs that he thought to be a treasure all this time was nothing more than a clone of the real thing?

    "You can say that they are fake. They are only linked with the real Ancestral Staffs and can only use a fraction of the real thing''s powers," Alion answered. "Didn''t you ever feel that the spells you cast with your Ancestral Staff of Necromancy are many times more powerful in the same tierpared to the spells cast with other Ancestral Staffs?"

    He further exined, "In other words, if the God Staffs are the river, then the Ancestral Staffs are just a small pond that can neverpare to the majestic river."

    "Why would there be clones in this ce? Who can make clones of a god''s item? Also, why is it that only my Ancestral Staff is the real God Staff?" Gabriel had many questions already, especially regarding how different he was from the others.

    "What stupid question." The little girl rolled her eyes. Even though her tone sounded like she was looking down on Gabriel, but her childish looks and her cute voicepletely destroyed her harsh image. No matter how angry she was, she always looked like a child who couldn''t intimidate anyone.

    The little girl didn''t notice that Gabriel was looking at her weirdly. She just continued, "Of course the gods themselves made the clones."

    "Why?" Even though Gabriel had a rough guess that it was the work of the gods, he still didn''t understand why they would do something like that.

    Just what did they receive by doing this? Why did they create the Holy Lords? Why did they share their powers from generation to generation? Why were the Churches created? The questions just kept on multiplying.

    "More than why they did what they did, I''m curious about why you have the real God''s Staff. And that too, something that belonged to the most frightening of them all?"

    The little girl was so fascinated that she subconsciously reached out her hand to touch Gabriel''s Ancestral Staff.

    She was so fast that before Gabriel could even react, the little girl''s hands were already on his Ancestral Staff.

    He wanted to move back, but before he could, he felt something strange. It was as if a strange power inside the Ancestral Staff had awakened on his own. The power felt scary and dangerous, yet it didn''t hurt him.

    The same couldn''t be said about the little girl though. As soon as her fingers touched Gabriel''s staff, her face turned deathly pale.

    Her body flew back on its own, falling in the distance as if the little demigod who could scare everyone with her mighty strength was nothing more than a powerless doll in front of an item that belonged to a true God.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Blood came out from the little girl''s eyes, ears, nose and lips. Her face was still pale and her body was weak. Just one touch was enough to injure the little girl.

    Fortunately, the little girl was strong and didn''t die from the bacsh.

    Her breathing was rough yet she gathered herself and stood up, wiping blood from her face.

    Gabriel assumed that she was going to be angry and was going to attack him. However the little girl instead startedughing...

    "Hahahaha! As expected of a crazy god''s item! It doesn''t even let me touch it! Just a single touch and I felt like my soul was going to be ripped into pieces! No wonder Karyk was the nightmare of all the gods!"

    Instead of being angry, the girl appeared more excited. For a moment, Gabriel even wondered if there was something wrong in the little girl''s head or if she liked getting hurt.

    "Are you alright?" Gabriel asked. The girl didn''t have any visible wounds on her body, yet her eyes, nose and ears were still bleeding. Despite that, she still wasn''t phased in the least.

    "Why won''t I be fine?" The little girl asked as if she really had no idea why Gabriel would ask something like that.

    Gabriel could only scratch the back of his head, wondering if the little girl was an idiot.

    He pointed toward his own eyes, as if signaling the little girl that her eyes were still bleeding.

    Unfortunately, the little girl still didn''t understand. She just looked back at Gabriel, wondering what he was trying to say.

    "Your eyes are still bleeding, idiot." Gabriel couldn''t take it anymore and blurted out. "Are you sure you''re fine? I know some healing spells if you need my help."

    No matter how childish and stupid the little girl appeared to be, she was still a Demigod level powerhouse who didn''t seem to have any bias toward Karyk or people associated with him. If only her enmity with Alion could be kept aside, she could clearly be a good ally for his trip inside the city of gods.

    "Oh? Only this? I thought something big happened." The little girl shrugged. "This will heal on its own. My self healing isn''t much worse than the healing spells."

    "Anyway, you still didn''t tell me why you have Karyk''s real staff? And why didn''t it reject you in the first ce?" she asked again. That question was still guing her mind.

    "Even though I''ve never seen ore in contact with the Death Star, I''ve heard a lot about him in the past. Let alone an ordinary mortal from this ce, even gods weren''t capable of controlling something that belonged to the Death Star. So how could you do it?"

    "The real staff of Karyk?" Gabriel nced at his Ancestral Staff.

    He already believed that this staff was what Karyk created and used in the past. He thought the same for all the other Ancestral Staffs that he saw before. However, to find out that only this was the real thing? That was shocking even for himself.

 Chapter 432 432: Twin!

    "Who exactly are you?" The little girl asked Gabriel in full seriousness. "Last time, I at least felt the aura of Lighting from you. However, now I can''t feel a single trace. It''s as if you''re nothing more than an ordinary mortal with no element."

    Not only was Gabriel able to hide his aura of death afterst night, but he was also able to use all the other Elemental auras inside him, which gave others the impression that he was no more than a mortal.

    If the little girl hadn''t felt the same scent from Gabriel that she feltst night, she wouldn''t have even recognised them as the same person.

    "You''re mistaken. How can you sense himst night when he wasn''t even there?" Alion stepped in between Gabriel and the little girl. "And what Element of Light? Do you really think someone with the Element of Light can use the Godly Staff of Death?"

    The little girl looked back and forth between Gabriel and Alion in confusion, wondering if this guy was implying that she was mistaken.

    Before the little girl could even speak anything, Alion once again forcefully chimed in. "Ah, are you talking about his twin brother?"

    "Twin brother?!" The little girl and Gabriel, both eximed at the same time.

    "Yes. His twin brother has the Element of Light while he has the Element of Death. The person you sawst night must be the Holy Lord of Light who was his twin brother."

    The little girl frowned, wondering if she really was wrong. She had never even seen who was behind the shroud of lightst night. However, the voice of that person was the same as the voice of the one who stood before her now. Their physiques were the same as well and so was their scent. Only the elemental aura was different.

    While the personst night had the aura as powerful as a Holy Lord, the one before her had a silent aura that was impossible to even sense.

    "If the two really are twins, that can exin the same scent. However, can there really be such a coincidence?"

    For quite some time, the little girl was immersed in her own thoughts, looking at Gabriel before her.

    Meanwhile, Gabriel was also stunned with this story. If he was in the little girl''s ce, even he might''ve believed Alion. The story that Alion made up was stupid ording to him. However, that was precisely why people would have tended to believe him since no one would''ve made such a stupid story if it wasn''t true.

    ''Why did you lie to her?'' Gabriel sent a mental transmission to Alion secretly.

    ''Do you really want her to know that you can control more than one element this time?'' Alion''s expressions were calm. It didn''t even look like he was secretly talking to someone.

    ''Even though Jia is quite an airhead and not scheming, but that''s precisely why we have to be careful of her. Even if she doesn''t have any bad blood with Karyk, but there are many others who do. If she secretly leaked the information about you and your multiple elements, it''d be a disaster.''

    Gabriel nced at the little girl in the distance who was called Jia. The little girl really didn''t appear as if she was going to do anything bad. She was just like a child who was fascinated by things around her.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Wait a minute!" Just as it looked as if the little girl was about to believe Alion''s story, she suddenly red at Alion. "Where is his twin if that''s the case?"

    Even though it appeared as if the little girl was still investigating the truth and raising questions that were hard to answer, but for Gabriel, this was a perfect opportunity!

    "He entered the City before us, as a vanguard. If you want to meet him, you shoulde with us."

    He was already trying to think of a way to convince Jia to enter with him and Alion. He never expected that her question and her suspicions would give him an opportunity.

    If he lured her with the excuse of bringing her to his brother to remove her suspicions, he could truly lead her inside. Not only could the present of another Demigod improve their strength, but she could also help them face troubles that needed brute strength to solve them.

    Jia rubbed her chin, as if thinking again. Throughout his interaction with Jia, Gabriel had already realized that the little girl was very slow when it came to thinking. It was as if she often had a hard time thinking and that''s why she did whatever came to her heart.

    Just as she expected, after thinking for a short while, the girl only looked frustrated as she started scratching the back of her head.

    "Argh, enough with this! I''ll enter with you! I also want to see your twin to see if you''re telling the truth. I also need to know more about you to understand why you can use the Death Star''s staff."

    Gabriel didn''t show it on his face, but he found the little girl to be quite cute, just like a little puppy. She was fierce when she needed to be, but deep inside, she wasn''t a bad person. If Alion hadn''t given her a rude nickname for the world tough at her, she probably wouldn''t have chased Alion for so long.

    Now that Gabriel had two demigods apanying him to the ruinednd of gods, he felt much safer. He didn''t feel that he would need to call Raphael to help him anymore. However, even if he felt the need, Raphael was just one spell away.

    This was probably the strongest exploration group of the abandoned City of Gods ever.

    "Even though you''reing with us, you need to listen to me. Don''t run around aimlessly and don''t touch anything without my permission. It''s dangerous inside even for us, so follow our instructions!" Alion reminded the little girl onest time before he finally stepped inside the Abandoned City of Gods through the main entrance.

    Gabriel was only a few steps behind him, apanied by Jia who kept asking him question after question. Most of her questions were about Karyk, the inheritance and the Ancestral Staff. Unfortunately, she didn''t get any answers from Gabriel as even he didn''t know much about anything.

    Even Alion kept his silence.

    ****

    The group of three was finally inside the Abandoned City of Gods that had always been a mystery for the outside world. It was said to be a city where real gods used to live after all!

 Chapter 433 433: Cursed Mouth

    "I must say, your twin is much better than you. At least he used to speak when I asked him questions. But you... You don''t even answer."

    Jia was still distracted by Gabriel to realize that she had already entered the City of Gods. It was as if she didn''t even consider this ce to be worth her attention.

    "When we meet him, you can ask him any question you want." Gabriel still had no idea how he was going to exin to the little girl about the absence of his twin when they reached the core, but he left that forter. For now, he could only use his non-existent twin to his advantage.

    "Hmph, he must be older than you. Even though he''s not as wise as me, but he''s much wiser than you." Jia spoke bluntly, not even realizing that her words only made Gabriel more amused. The little airhead was actually calling herself wiser than him.

    If she had said she was stronger than him, he must''ve reluctantly believed her, but when it came to everything else... She was just too far behind others.

    "Stop talking now. We are inside the city! Remember what I said before! Don''t touch anything here! Anything can be a trap, even a random piece of stone on the streets!" Alion reminded everyone once again, turning around.

    However, as soon as he turned around, his jaws dropped.

    His stunned expressions even made Gabriel wonder just why Alion was so shocked. However, it wasn''t until he heard the little girl that he realized what had happened.

    "This status isn''t bad. It should be the divine beast of the old era." Jia was already standing near one of the stone pirs which had a majestic statue sitting atop.

    The statue belonged to a beast that Gabriel hadn''t seen in reality. Not only did the beast have six wings, but his body was that of a fierce seven-wed lion. Even though it was just a statue, there was still a powerful suppression that could be felt from the statue, as if it contained a trace of the will from the maker of the statue.

    Just from the trace of suppression alone, Gabriel was sure that the person who made this status was at least a Demigod!

    "You crazy airhead!" Alion roared with a facepalm. It hadn''t even been a minute since he told everyone to not touch anything here, and the little girl was already sitting atop the majestic statue, poking it.

    Even Gabriel could only smile wryly. Finally he understood why Alion felt the need to give the little girl a nickname like that. She really never listened or thought about the dangers with her actions.

    "Stop being a scaredy cat. What are you worried about? It''s just a statue that''s catching dust here. It''s not like it''s going toe alive and attack us." Sitting above the majestic six winged tiger, Jia rolled her eyes as if mocking Alion for being so cautious.

    "You-" Alion was about to respond and tell her to get down and stop ying around. However, he stopped abruptly as his shocked expressions turned into a smirk.

    Even Gabriel was taken aback. Initially he thought that it was just his misconception but when it happened a second time, he understood that he wasn''t imagining things! The six winged tiger statue... Its eyes were opening slowly, as if it really was alive.

    He reached out his hand subconsciously to alert Jia who was still atop the lion. Unfortunately, before he could speak, Alion appeared before him and closed his mouth, gesturing to him to stay silent.

    He calmly whispered, "It''s time she learned her lesson. Don''t interfere!"

    Gabriel could only rub his forehead, feeling as if he was caught in a fight between two kids. Even Alion acted like a child at times like this.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Alion''s grin widened. "You''re right. It''s not like the statue cane back to life. However, this statuecks quality. It needs some finishing touches from an expert like you! How about you use your swords to give it some final touches to make it look even better?"

    Gabriel could only remain silent in the back, watching the scene between two demigods who were like the peak existences in this world, yet they were both like that in reality. If others got to know the real personality of these deity-like existences, he wondered just what their reaction was going to be.

    The little girl didn''t find anything suspicious in Alion''s words or his sudden change of behavior. Instead, she was quite pleased.

    "Hahaha, you finally understand how talented I am. I suppose I can forgive you for your past mistakes now that you see the truth!"

    This time, even Gabriel couldn''t help but facepalm himself. He wasn''t sure if the girl was a narcissist or if she really believed those words because of her dense personality.

    No matter what the case, the little girl was convinced with Alion''s words.

    She raised her heavy sword, flying slightly higher. "I really should improve this statue. It''d be a pity if such a bad statue was seen by others."

    "She''s going to use that heavy Sword to carve the statue? Won''t that break the statue in one stroke?" Gabriel wondered out loud.

    "You think that dunce knows anything about carving statues?" Alion rolled his eyes. "Just he prepared to watch a good show."

    Jia raised her heavy sword, trying to use it like a fine de to improve the statue ording to her desires. Her Sword came shing down, as if about to strike one of the six wings of the lion, looking to cut it off entirely.

    Boom ~

    Her Sword shed with the stone pir, bringing the entire stone pir down. However, Jia wasn''t happy. Just as her sword was about to touch the stone statue, the statue disappeared in thin air, making the sword hit the stone pir!

    Roarrr~

    A wild roar resounded in the air, apanied by the aura of a Demigod! Even though the aura in the will of the statue was just a small fragment of the sculpture''s own strength and will, but that small fragment was also the strength of a real Demigod.

    Jia looked above her head. The stone statue that had gone missing was in the air, above her. All six wings of the stone tiger were wide open, making the seven wed lion look even more majestic.

    The wild Lion was looking at Jia fiercely, as if it couldn''t wait to rip the girl apart!

    "Oh? The thing really came alive," Jia let out in surprise. She looked back at Alion on the ground. "You really have a cursed mouth, don''t you?"

 Chapter 434 434: Jias Secret

    "You dunce, you talked about it noting alive. You''re the only cursed mouth here!" Alion rolled his eyes.

    He tapped Gabriel''s shoulders. "Let''s get going first. She''ll catch up to us soon."

    Alion didn''t even consider trying to help Jia. If anything, he wanted to leave her behind for now and continue ahead.

    In the sky, Jia had alreadystarted fighting the stone statue which was somehow able to keep up with her.

    Even the impact of their shes was able to send waves down in the surrounding, asionally even making the ground tremble.

    The Stone Lion was very swift and even faster than Jia. It was able to avoid Jia''s Swordas if it had intelligence of its own and knew what was dangerous.

    The stone lion barely gave Jia an opportunity to get close to it.

    "Isn''t it just a stone statue? How is it able to keep up with a Demigod?"

    Even though the stone statue was something that existed in this unknown City, but still it was just a statue while Jia was a real Demigod. To see the two on an equal footing was surprising even for Gabriel.

    If just a stone statue was this strong, Gabriel couldn''t help but wonder how strong the sculpture of this statue was.

    "If you knew the creator of that stone statue, you wouldn''t have asked that question. Even though that person wasn''t a god, he was a Demigod who was closest to being a god. No matter how strong Jia is, she isn''t in the same league as that guy." Alion observed the majestic stone statue in the sky.

    "In that era, that guy was quite famous as well. The Stone Lion statue was probably something that he made when he was quite young. It doesn''t even have a fraction of the strength of his other statues that I saw before."

    "In that case, can that little girl actually hold the Stone Lion back? Won''t we have to deal with itter when it attacks us if Jia fails?" Even though Gabriel didn''t like the fact that they were pulled into a fight out of nowhere, but it was also true that they could only destroy that stone statue if they wanted to progress further.

    Alion shrugged, as if he didn''t even consider the possibility.

    "Even though the stone statue is strong, it can''tst long in a battle with someone like that crazy girl."

    "Doesn''t look like that." Gabriel could see that it didn''t look like Jia had any advantage. She waspletely defeated in speed which made it impossible for her heavy sword to even touch the stone lion.

    "You might not know this, but there''s a reason I don''t fight that crazy girl." Alion had a lot ofprehension in his eyes as he looked at the battle. "That girl is a battle maniac. While other people exhaust their strength in a long fight, this girl gets stronger the longer she fights."

    "That''s why, it''s better to avoid fighting this girl if one can''t kill her immediately. Otherwise, she''ll only keep getting stronger until she wins while others exhaust their strength."

    Thanks to Alion, Gabriel finally managed to understand why he avoided the little girl so much instead of just fighting once. With an ability like that, the girl was really a headache for her enemies.

    It was also just like Alion had exined. The longer this battle went on, the stronger Jia appeared. With time, her speed only increased more and more, until her speed finally surpassed the lion.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The speed that she showed now wasparable to her speed when she had tossed the Sword awayst time. However, the surprising part was that she still held the sword this time. It only made Gabriel wonder just what her speed was going to be in this battle at this point if she tossed away that sword now.

    Now that the gap in speed was covered, even the stone Lion couldn''t keep up with the little girl who appeared right above it.

    Jia thrust her sword down which passed straight through the Seven wed Lion. The Lion that was so fierce previously froze in ce as its body was impaled with Jia''s sword.

    Cracks started developing around the body of the Stone Lion as soon as the little girl pulled out her heavy sword. Before long, its entire body was covered in cracks.

    Right before everyone''s eyes, the Stone Lion shattered into thousands of pieces.

    "Too bad, I wanted to use my sculpting skills to make it look even better." The little girl stood mid-air watching the stone pieces fall to the ground. "Who would''ve thought that it would be so ungrateful."

    Even though all the stone statues had fallen to the ground, there was still a small speck of white light floating mid-air that seemingly came out of the stone lion''s body.

    Jia didn''t care about the speck of light as if it wasn''t even worth her attention.

    Instead, it was Alion who paid more attention to that small speck of white light.

    His figure flickered as he appeared mid-air, right before Jia. He reached out his hand, grabbing the speck of light before appearing back on the ground next to Gabriel.

    Jia alsonded on the ground, slightly curious as to why Alion would take that speck of light which had no use for them.

    She soon received her answer as Alion reached out his hand, opening his fist before Gabriel, revealing the speck of light.

    "Here, this is the small bit ofprehension that the sculptor of the Stone Lion left inside to make it work. It''s useless for us, but it should bring you quite a few benefits."

    Alion gave the small speck of light to Gabriel.

    Gabriel also thought that this speck of light appeared somewhat special. This was something that belonged to a powerful demigod after all. If he could get even the slightest bit of understanding about how these statues were created from this speck of light, it was truly beneficial to him.

    Not only could he have a better way to deal with such statues in the future, but he could also create something of his own. However, that was only his assumption for now. He still had no idea if it was going to work or not.

    Gabriel reached out his hand, touching the small speck of light, which was absorbed directly inside his body.

    Gabriel closed his eyes, feeling a strange sense ofprehension that had entered his mind. It was as if a strange knowledge was beingprehended by him on its own. For a moment, he even forgot about his surroundings, deeply immersed in the knowledge.

 Chapter 435 435: "I Care More For You!"

    Gabriel was immersed in his thoughts. He could see some scenes in his mind where the Stone Lion was being created. The small speck of light contained the entire process of creation, along with something more. Unfortunately, he still couldn''t see the face of the sculptor.

    As Gabriel was standing silently like he was also a statue, Jia was looking at him with great curiosity.

    "Old man, for you to try to help this kid like that... And for him to have that Ancestral Staff... Why don''t you be direct and just tell me who he is? And why are you so helping toward him?"

    "Do I need your permission to help someone?"

    "I don''t think I''ve ever heard you help someone else. In fact, you were always such a loner, only association with the Death Star. After the death of Karyk, you also disappeared. To think you appeared again, and for this kid... Why?" Jia''s heart was still filled with curiosity. Unfortunately, she couldn''t think of a reason.

    "Wait a minute!" Her eyes lit up suddenly, revealing a trace of shock as she stared at the Ancestral Staff in Gabriel''s hand and his aura. "Don''t tell me he is...?"

    Alion''s face turned darker, ring at the little girl before him. A trace of killing intent shed in his eyes as he thought that she found out the truth.

    He couldn''t let this leak, no matter what. He clenched his fist, ready to attack the girl.

    "Don''t tell me he''s your secret son?!" The little girl eximed, nkly staring at Alion. "Since you''ve been loyal to Karyk, it would make sense that Karyk left his Godly Staff to you before his death! You gave that staff to your son? No wonder you''re helping him so much!"

    Alion''s face twitched uncontrobly as he heard the little girl spot nonsense. She already thought she was stupid, but even he hadn''t expected her toe to this conclusion out of nowhere.

    "Nonsense! He''s not my son!" Alion snorted coldly.

    "Not your son? Then is he Karyk''s son?" The little girl was somehow still stuck on the possibility of Gabriel being the son of some great person to have such qualifications.

    She was sure of one thing. The Ancestral Staff of Karyk contained his will! It couldn''t be taken with force. Even gods couldn''t touch this staff, let alone use it. And with the kind of personality that Karyk had, he never would''ve let strangers use his staff, even after his death.

    For the Ancestral Staff to acknowledge Karyk, Jia was sure that Gabriel was somehow deeply associated with Karyk. She just wasn''t sure how.

    Alion could only facepalm himself.

    ****

    On the other side of the City, Elora and her team had also entered the City. Thanks to thepass of disasters, they had somehow managed to avoid dangerous ces.

    Unlike Jia, they didn''t touch anything on their way. If anything, they were even more cautious than Alion.

    Elora asionally kept looking in the direction of the City where Gabriel was standing as she heard some sound of battle. She was really curious as to who was fighting... Who was strong enough that they could change the direction of the wind and make the ground tremble.

    However, just as she was considering the possibility of going there to see, she heard Maya call out to her.

    "That direction... It''s dangerous!"

    Maya pointed in the same direction where Gabriel was present. For some reason, herpass kept pointing in that direction, trembling as if the dangers in that direction were the highest in the entire city.

    Thanks to Maya''s warning, Elora dropped the idea of checking things out. She progressed further with the help of the map, even improving the map herself, marking all the new things she found along the way.

    Even though they had only walked one kilometer inside the city, they had still seen a lot of things that they had never seen in their lives before.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Even the outeryer of the city was filled with the purest aura of heaven and earth, which was quite simr to the aura of their Holy Region.

    ****

    Gabriel opened his eyes after close to an hour. He appeared slightly distant as he woke up, looking at the broken pieces of the Stone Lion.

    "How are you feeling?" Alion asked. "Did you gain something?"

    Gabriel nodded. "I think I gained a lot of understanding about the statues. They''re strong yet fragile at the same time..."

    "That''s good. As demigods, we can''t use thatprehension or we''ll only taint our own source but you''re different. It can be considered a gain for you."

    "However, this is just the outskirts of the City. So the dangers here are limited. The deeper we go, the more dangerous it''ll be. So this time, don''t y around."

    Even though Alion talked as if he was speaking to everyone, it was clear to Gabriel that he was reminding the little girl who forgot his instructions again and again.

    Gabriel also knew that Alion wasn''t joking. The City was the only way that led to the region between life and death. And that ce was something which even left mortal wounds on Karyk once upon a time.

    They really couldn''t afford to y around anymore. He knew that he had to make sure that Jia didn''t do anything stupid anymore.

    He stepped closer to Jia and held her soft hands. From a distance, it looked as if an elder brother was holding onto the hands of his little sister.

    ? "What are you doing?" The little girl raised her head to look at Gabriel who was a lot taller than her. Out of nowhere, Gabriel held her hands. Jia''s face had an unusual shade as her expressions shifted.

    "This city is dangerous. We should walk together so we don''t get lost," Gabriel said, making up an excuse.

    After spending so much time with Jia, Gabriel was already sure that the more he forced her to do something, the more she was going to do something entirely different. He couldn''t be headstrong with her, leaving him with a gentler approach.

    As long as she could hold her hand and walk with her, he could make sure she didn''t leave suddenly like before, bringing dangers to them.

    "Why don''t you hold that old man''s hand then?" The little girl asked. There were two demigods here but Gabriel was only holding her hand, despite knowing Alion for much longer.

    Since Gabriel was quite tallpared to Jia, it was ufortable to talk to her like that. He went down on one knee before the little girl, still holding her hand.

    His eyes looked deep in the little girl''s beautiful yet innocent eyes.

    "I care more for you!"

    Even though his meaning was that he cared more about the little girl bringing dangers to them with her nativity, to the little girl''s ears, the words held apletely different meaning which made her stunned.

    A red shade appeared on her cheeks. With her personality, people only ran away from her. She had been all alone, traveling and fighting with others. People were either scared of her, or avoided her, calling her crazy. It wasn''t wrong to say that she had been alone all her life, not even having any friends.

    It was the first time someone came close to her intentionally and even held her hand, telling her that they cared for her. In her ears, those words implied that she was precious for Gabriel, which sent her in a daze.

    What was even worse was that Gabriel''s eyes were so beautiful that she even lost herself in those eyes, not even realizing how fast her heart was beating. It was the first time she felt that strange and unfamiliar feeling.

 Chapter 436 436: Karyks Past

    For the first time, Jia was short of words. She avoided Gabriel''s gaze yet still didn''t pull her hand back from his hands. "A-alright. Since you insist!"

    Gabriel stood up, not speaking anything more. As long as the little girl didn''t run around randomly, everything else was much safer.

    Gabriel followed Alion inside the Abandoned City of Gods, holding the little girl''s hands firmly. He didn''t notice Jia ncing at him from time to time with an unnatural expression.

    The City was stillpletely intact. It was as if the buildings were stillpletely new, with not even a single crack or mark of damage throughout the years.

    Unfortunately, there were no signs of life in this city anymore. It was as ifit was a ghost town in this ce.

    Along the way, Gabriel noticed a few more statues, all belonging to different beasts that Gabriel had never seen before.

    Fortunately, thanks to Gabriel holding Jia''s hands, she didn''t run around to mess with the statues. If anything, Jia also seemed slightly reluctant to free her hands. Even she didn''t understand what she was feeling and why there was this reluctance.

    "Are these statues based on the sculptor''s imaginations or such beasts really existed in the era of gods?" Gabriel stood before the statue of a nine headed snake. The snake was much bigger than an ordinary snake. It was as if a single head of the snake alone could swallow the entire seven wed tiger in an instant.

    "Not just the era of gods. Those beasts still exist," Alion answered.

    "That''s true. I think I remember seeing this beast before. It tasted really good." The little girl chimed in. In her eyes, some longing could be seen, as if she really wanted to have a taste of this snake again.

    Gabriel didn''t know how to react. The snake that looked so fierce was just the food for the little girl?

    "Don''t be surprised." Alion shook his head, noticing the stunned expressions of Gabriel. "Even though the beasts in these statues might look fierce, they are not particrly strong in reality. The Snake is much weaker than the tiger that crazy girl fought before."

    "If the stone statues alone have the strength of a Demigod, shouldn''t the real beasts be even stronger?" Gabriel asked, wondering if there were beasts that were as strong as gods.

    ording to Alion and Jia, those beasts still existed even though he hadn''t seen them before. In other terms, they were just like gods and Demigods who were real yet unseen in this world.

    "Stronger Beasts?" Alion frowned. He didn''t answer the question directly. "I''ve no idea what the current situation outside is now, but when Ist saw, there were definitely some beasts who were as strong as gods, receiving natural blessings."

    Jia agreed with Alion. "That''s right. There are some really strong beast ns outside, especially the ones who can take a human form."

    "Beasts that can transform into a human form?" Let alone seeing one, Gabriel hadn''t even considered the possibility of that being the case.

    There were so many powerful beings yet he had only seen the Holy Lords and thought that it was the peak of this world? He couldn''t help but feel as if he was like a frog at the bottom of the well.

    "By outside, you mean...?" he asked.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Of course the world outside this prison," Jia answered, not even noticing Alion''s expressions who was trying to gesture to her to stop speaking.

    Unfortunately for him, Jiapletely ignored Alion. In her eyes, there was only one person for now... The man who held her hand.

    "A world outside this prison?" Gabriel''s eyes lit up as he understood what she implied. He had always considered the possibility of there existing another world since Karyk had to kill multiple powerful people to help his sister that he couldn''t find in this world.

    As Karyk seeded in the end, that meant there was actually a ce where beings like demigods weremon. Jia also confirmed his suspicions.

    "So the gods and the demigods of this world went to that ce? That''s why this city was abandoned?" Gabriel asked. "You also came from that ce?"

    Finally he had an idea as to why the era of gods ended in this ce and why the gods who could live for an eternity as long as they weren''t killed had disappeared into thin air.

    "That''s right. This was the reward they received after Karyk''s death," Jia replied.

    "That''s enough! Stop speaking. We''re gettingte!" Alion forcefully interjected, trying to stop Jia from speaking more. He was finally starting to regret bringing Jia with him.

    "No need. I want to know more!" Gabriel didn''t let Alion do as he pleased. He always wanted to know just what happened to Karyk in the past. Even though he didn''t understand why Alion was hesitant in telling him about what happened in the past, but finally Gabriel had another hope!

    It wasn''t just Alion who knew what happened! Jia was also a Demigod from that era and knew almost just as much. What was even better was that Jia wasn''t on good terms with Alion. He could truly receive the answers he was looking for.

    Even though he didn''t want to dy rescuing his two teachers, but he couldn''t ignore the answers either. He wanted to know everything and better prepare himself for what was toe!

    Jia felt Gabriel''s grip tightened around her hand. He looked somewhat uneasy.

    "Can you tell me more about Karyk''s death? How did he die? I heard he was the strongest. He was the Lord who ruled over life and death. So how could he die that easily?" Gabriel stopped right where he was, once again going into his knees, looking straight in the little girl''s eyes so that Alion couldn''t distract her or interfere.

    Jia was surprised to see Gabriel so eager to know about the past. What stunned her even more was that Alion didn''t tell Gabriel himself. Alion used to be the closest to Karyk after all.

    Unfortunately for her, all her questions disappeared as soon as she looked in Gabriel''s eyes. She couldn''t say no to that person. She didn''t care why Alion didn''t say anything. In any case, this wasn''t a secret. Almost everyone from that era knew about this truth!

    "Alright. I''ll tell you how the Death Star was killed..." Jia nodded.

    Alion wanted to stop her, but he knew he couldn''t force her. If he tried to fight her to stop her, it could only make Gabriel hate him more.

    In the end, he just stood frozen in his ce, not speaking anything. Even though it was sooner than he wanted, he let destiny y out.

 Chapter 437 437: Death Star (Part 1)

    There wasplete silence as three people stood in the middle of the deste street.

    The silence was finally broken by Jia.

    "It wouldn''t be wrong to say that the Death Star was the leader of his generation. I don''t know how much you know about the era before the gods, but it was said that the Death Star was the first person to be a god in this world."

    "He was also the one who opened the path for other humans to be gods by destroying the bnce of natural forces."

    "Some called him god, some called him a demon. However, what remained unchanged was that no one could stand before him, or oppose him. Even though the other gods didn''t fight with Karyk together, it was clear that they weren''t a match for him."

    "Fortunately for them, Karyk didn''t look for trouble with them either. For the most part, Karyk was a loner himself, only having a few friends... If those people could be called that."

    "For a long time, there was a fragile power bnce. Karyk didn''t look for trouble with the other gods and the other gods and avoided interacting with him. However, there were two Gods who didn''t avoid Karyk... It could be said that they were also the reason this fragile bnce was broken..."

    Even though Jia hadn''t met with Karyk before, but since Karyk was the legendary figure from the forgotten era, there were a lot of stories about him that were passed down. Fortunately, no one dared to fake stories rted to Karyk.

    "The Goddess of Light and the Goddess of Nature?" Gabriel asked. Jia said that Karyk only talked with two gods. Gabriel had already experienced Karyk''s interaction with the Goddess of Light and the Goddess of Nature, so it didn''t take him long to guess that.

    "That''s right." Jia was slightly taken aback. At times, Gabriel was as if he didn''t even know the basic things about Karyk''s past, while at other times, he knew a lot.

    "The fragile bnce was soon broken when Karyk fought with the Goddess of Nature. No one knows why the two of them fought but the result is still widely known. It was said that Karyk not only defeated the Goddess of Nature but he also imprisoned her in some unknown ce."

    Gabriel remained silent, hearing about Karyk''s past. He already knew why Karyk fought the Goddess of Nature, but he didn''t talk about it. There was no need for others to know.

    "It was the first time Karyk had gone against another god, showing his true strength. Not only did this break the fragile power bnce between two sides, but it even scared the other gods, making them worry if they could resist when Karyk came for them with his army."

    "It was said that the time was so tense that arge-scale war could''ve started at any moment where billions of lives would''ve been sacrificed. Fortunately, someone interfered and stopped it."

    ''The Goddess of Light...'' Gabriel thought. He already knew that after Karyk imprisoned the Goddess of Nature, the Goddess of Light came to him and ckmailed him into imprisoning his own army to satisfy the other gods in exchange for the stone of destiny.

    "Even now, no one knows what the Goddess of Light talked about or how she convinced Karyk , but when she returned, the news spread that Karyk had agreed topromise with the other gods."

    "To ease the concerns of the other gods, Karyk agreed to seal his army for a thousand years, weakening his own strength in the process. This oue didn''tpletely satisfy the other gods, but the tensions were eased. At least the other gods had faith that they could fight Karyk now if he attacked them."

    Gabriel already knew up to this point. However, what he truly wanted to know was what happened after this point.

    Fortunately, Jia didn''t stop there. "That was where everyone thought this would end. Unfortunately, that was just the start."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "For over three years, Karyk disappeared. No one knew where he actually went but no one saw him in theing years. There were many rumors at that time, like Karyk was hiding now that he had lost his army, or that he was creating another army. The rumors were endless."

    "Disappeared for a few years?" Gabriel frowned, ncing at Alion. Jia was only telling what she heard and what the people of that time knew. However, Alion was much closer to Karyk. Gabriel was sure that he knew exactly where Karyk went.

    "Don''t look at me like that. The little girl also knows where Karyk went at that time." Alion rolled his eyes. Even though he was still irritated that the girl told Gabriel what she shouldn''t, but he didn''t interfere.

    Jia still didn''t pay attention to Alion and continued, "After three years, Karyk appeared once again. There were some wounds on his body. It was unclear how he got hurt, but his aura was very unstable."

    "ording to the people who saw him at that time, he looked as if he was extremely weak and he could die at any time. Even his clothes were covered in blood."

    Jia could see that Gabriel was extremely immersed in her story. It was as if he could imagine Karyk standing in the middle of the streets, covered in blood and injured.

    She didn''t find it odd. She knew that she was also like that when she first heard this story from the others. Unfortunately, she didn''t realize that Gabriel''s immersion was different.

    Gabriel wasn''t just visualizing what she was saying. Instead, he was living that scene! He didn''t know why, but he felt as if he stood exactly where Karyk stood at that time, covered in blood and heavily injured. Even his own heartbeat was racing.

    He could feel the pain that wasing from the depths of his soul, as if he could really experience it.

    It was as if he alone stood in this world, facing what others would''ve called invincible.

    "Even in that condition, Karyk didn''t go back to his pce to recover. He stood in the middle of the City while his blood kept dripping on the ground."

    "That was the day where Karyk cast a spell that was never before seen in this world! A spell of this scale and this magnitude... Let alone before that time, but even in the future, no one saw something simr."

    "Even though I wasn''t there at that time, but even I saw the phenomenon that could be seen from all around the world. In fact, I don''t think there wasn''t a person in this world who didn''t see it!"

    Jia raised her head, looking at the sky as if she could still see that phenomenon even now.

    "That day, the entire sky turned dark! The sun was hidden behind a dark mist. The beautiful blue sky turned dark. I can still feel the chill."

    Jia wrapped her arms around her body as if she was freezing. Gabriel could also see some traces of fear in the eyes of the little girl¡­ something he never saw before.

    "It became so cold that day, as if even my soul was going to freeze! That was the day I saw the true strength of the Death Star! That was the day when I truly understood why everyone in this world was so scared of him!"

 Chapter 438 438: Death Star (Part 2)

    "That was the day this world was sealed..."

    Alion had been silent all this while, but ultimately, he also started speaking. His memory was still so vivid, as if everything had happened just yesterday.

    The little girl nodded. "That''s right. At that time, no one knew what that spell did. Some even thought that the spell was going to destroy everything. Multiple shackles could be seen flying through the skies all around the world that day."

    The sky was crystal clear and bright blue. It was even hard to imagine that this sky used to be all ck once upon a time.

    "You can''t see the shackles anymore but they still exist outside. Even though so many years have passed since Death Star passed away, his shackles are still intact, although slightly weaker than they used to be at the start."

    Gabriel looked up at the beautiful sky. He had never guessed that this was the imprisonment that Alion talked about before. If he imagined this world as the Goddess of Nature, the shackles around the world were simr to the shackles around her.

    "He sealed this world, but this time, it wasn''t to keep the people of this world imprisoned, was it?" Gabriel wondered. Usually, when something was imprisoned, it was to make sure they didn''t roam around freely outside,l. However, from what he was told, the situation this time was different.

    "This world was imprisoned to keep the outsiders from entering this ce?" he asked.

    Even though Alion didn''t answer, it was already quite clear.

    "If I''m not wrong, the years where he was missing, he wasn''t even in this world. Instead, he was outside, killing and gathering soup strength for the stone of destiny."

    "That means the people who managed to hurt him were also the people from the outside. To prevent them from entering this ce, Karyk sealed this ce."

    Even with the limited pieces of information that Gabriel had, he understood multiple times. The people of this world weren''t strong enough to suppress Karyk. However, when the outsiders were thrown in the mix, that changed the entire situation, making it much moreplicated.

    Gabriel continued with his line of thought. Since Karyk was already dead, that could only mean he failed in the end. "Despite the sealing of the world, those people managed to enter this ce and Karyk died? Did the sealing spell not seed?"

    "How could that be? The sealing spellpletely exhausted Karyk. He even used a part of his soul, sacrificing it entirely to seal this ce. The spell was a sess and even gods couldn''t trespass the barrier." Alion sighed. "Unfortunately, when things start falling apart, misfortunees one after another."

    He further continued, as if forgetting that he was the one who was against telling Gabriel everything. "Since Karyk was in a hurry, he didn''t evenpletely wait for himself to heal after thisrge scale spell before going to the ridge between life and death to recover his sister''s soul."

    "His sister''s soul? The ridge between life and death?" The little girl asked, stunned. Even though she knew that Karyk disappeared, but she didn''t know the exact reasoning behind it. Just as she expected, Alion knew more about Karyk than she did!<novelnext></novelnext>

    "So that''s where he was when he disappeared for two more years after casting thatrge scale sealing spell?"

    "Hmph. If he didn''t go there, do you think things would''ve deteriorated to the level they did?" Alion coldly asked. "Karyk was said to be a ruthless and emotionless being. However, if he really was like that, could he really have trusted those shameless gods to forget the grudge between them?"

    "You mean...?" Gabriel frowned.

    Alion sounded angry but there was also a trace of sadness in his tone. "One could guard against the outside enemies, but when the enemiese from within, all precautions fail..."

    "While Karyk was missing for the next two years, the outsiders found a way to contact the people of our world. They contacted the strongest gods of this world, and even some demigods." Even though Jia didn''t know where Gabriel had gone for two years in the past, she knew everything that happened outside at that time.

    "The outsiders gave the gods some advantages. They even offered them treasures and opportunities to enter their world which was filled with treasures and growth opportunities. All they had to do was help them make a small opening in the barrier."

    "Since the gods already had some bad rtionship with Karyk, they didn''t even hesitate in the slightest."

    "After seeing Karyk''srge-scale spell, they further realized the difference between the two sides at that time. They just didn''t want to allow Karyk to exist anymore," the little girl spoke. "While Karyk was missing, the two sides worked together and finally found a way to create a small opening in the barrier."

    "Karyk came out after two years. He was already hurt before entering the ridge between life and death because of therge scale spell and using a part of his soul on the Barrier. Inside the ridge, his body and soul was even more hurt," Alion again took the lead. "He was already at his weakest."

    "Even the person known as the god of death couldn''t travel safely in that ce. When Karyk came out of that ce after seeding, he was already at his weakest. However, by that time, those bastards were already here!" Some blood lust shed in Alion''s eyes. It was as if he wanted nothing more than to kill those people.

    "The strongest beings of the outside world, and the gods of this world... All of them attacked Karyk as soon as he came out," Alion exined.

    It was clear that he was having a hard time controlling his emotions. Gabriel couldn''t help but wonder if this was the reason why Alion refused to tell him anything. Because he didn''t want to remember that past?

    "I don''t know if he was taking precaution or he already expected this, but right before he was surrounded, he sent the stone of destiny with his sister''s soul to me and told me to leave and hide..."

    "Even though I wasn''t there personally, I''ve heard some descriptions about that battle. That day, one person stood against everyone, all alone." Jia spoke. It was unclear if she was idolizing Karyk for his bravery, or for his strength, but in her eyes, it was clear that she respected him a lot.

    Even at his weakest, Karyk didn''t run. He stood in the middle of the onught, all alone. That kind of courage, she didn''t think she could''ve disyed something simr.

 Chapter 439 439: Welcoming The God!

    "Before that day, this world used to contain three continents. However, after that day, only one continent was left... The one where we stand currently."

    The little girl kept speaking, giving some brief descriptions about the battle that she hadn''t personally experienced. However, she didn''t even realize that Gabriel wasn''t listening anymore.

    It was as if Gabriel couldn''t hear her at all. The entire world had turned silent for him. It was as if the entire world disappeared for him, only leaving him all alone in the darkness. He couldn''t even hear his own breathing anymore.

    He looked all around, but other than the darkness around him, he couldn''t see anything.

    "Jia! Alion!" He called out. Unfortunately, there was no response. Only his voice echoed in the darkness.

    The little girl finally stopped speaking, noticing that Gabriel was standing in a daze, living nkly in the distance. "Hey, are you even listening?"

    "..."

    She received no answer from Gabriel.

    "Hey? Are you sleeping with your eyes open?" She asked, reaching out her hand, as if she was about to shake Gabriel to wake him up.

    Thud~

    The little girl was just about to touch Gabriel, but just as her fingers were about tond on Gabriel''s shoulder, she dropped to her knees! It was as if someone had ced hundreds of mountains on her shoulders. Even a strong person like her couldn''t resist that pressure.

    She wasn''t the only one who dropped to her knees either! Not too far from her, Alion also couldn''t control his body. His face turned pale as he also dropped to his knees, unable to resist the pressure.

    The pressure was felt in the entire city. The ground started trembling. Even Elora and her team dropped to their knees. They didn''t even know where that pressure wasing from. All they knew was that they couldn''t resist this pressure.

    "Did we activate some trap?!" Maya eximed, slightly scared. "But we didn''t touch anything! Thepass didn''t show anything either!"

    Elora had no answer to give. Even she didn''t know what happened suddenly. They were still in the outsideyer. They had been quite careful to not touch anyone, afraid of activation traps. However, despite all that, they still fell for something.

    She looked around, wondering what they did wrong!

    Back in the Royal City of Arecia, the female envoy from the Temple of Time was still staying in the garden of legacy. She had tried everything, but she couldn''t find anything out of ce. It was as if the opening and the pce was really destroyed.

    Unfortunately, despite having no evidence, she still felt that it wasn''t right. She didn''t believe that the pce and the army could be destroyed so easily, even if they were sealed! If it was that easy, that army wouldn''t have been that famous!

    "I can only wait for the higher ups toe and check personally," she muttered, wondering how long it was going to take for the others toe.

    However, just as she finished speaking, her face turned pale. She felt a powerful pressure that forced her directly to her knees. She didn''t even know where that pressure came from. However, she directly used her pendant to cast a shield to resist that pressure.

    A red shield appeared all around the girl, protecting her from the pressure. She finally sighed in relief, forcing herself to stand.

    Crack~

    The girl had barely stood up when her shield started cracking apart. Her face went pale. The shield was her most powerful shield since it used the strength of the crystal but even that shield couldn''t resist the strange pressure.

    Right before her eyes, her shield shattered and she was once again forced down to her knees. This time, her fall was even worse, as if the pressure had multiplied on her.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Her knees started bleeding yet she couldn''t do anything but resist the pain.

    ****

    Thanks to secretly following the maid without letting her realize, Avilia was finally led to a small valley outside the Arecia Empire.

    She finally saw the City of Abbadon that had disappeared thest time.

    The maid entered the City but Avilia remained outside. She finally knew the location. Now all she had to do was enter and drag Lambard outside.

    Avilia prepared herself for entering the City. However, before she could even move, a powerful pressure fell upon her, forcing her to her knees as well.

    ****

    Inside the city, Lambard was standing on the balcony, looking outside.

    "It''s been so long since she went to gather information. She still isn''t back. Could something have gone wrong?"

    Lambard really didn''t like leaving the City since he was more cautious about his safety. In fact, it was even more dangerous to leave this time after all the Churches issued bounty on his head. Despite that, he also couldn''t let his maid die. She was his onlypanion.

    In his eyes, hesitation could clearly be seen. He clenched his fist. "Whatever! I''ll check it out personally!"

    His entire body was covered with Numens of varying strengths and advantages.

    "Master, I''m back!"

    As Lambard decided to leave, he heard a sweet voiceing from behind. His eyes lit up as he turned around, finding the maid behind him. "You''re back! I thought something happened to you! What took you so long!"

    The young maid couldn''t help but feel touched, seeing worries on Lambard''s face. She had already heard that Lambard was willing to leave this ce to find her.

    "I-" the young maid opened her cherry lips to exin. However, before she could speak, her face went pale as her body subconsciously dropped to her knees.

    It was the same for Lambard. He couldn''t understand what was happening. Even all his defensive Numens couldn''t resist this pressure as he dropped to his knees.

    The entire city started trembling. Let alone the city, even Lambard''s Numens that he was wearing started trembling.

    Lambard stated at his Numens with a nk face. He had never experienced this strange phenomenon. It was quite simr to something that happened just a few months ago when a strange force forced everyone on their knees. However, that time, it only affected mortals.

    The strongest mages could easily resist that pressure. However, this time, even the strongest of the beings couldn''t remain standing. It was as if they had to be on their knees to greet the arrival of a god!

    There was not a single person in this world who was still standing. Even all the Numens were trembling as if they were shaking in fear. None of them knew what actually caused it.

    What no one knew was that it wasn''t just the Numens that were trembling. They couldn''t see the countless dark shackles surrounding their world that even gods couldn''t break. Those shackles had been there for close to a thousand years, unmoving. However, even those shackles were trembling at the moment¡­

 Chapter 440 440: Are You Ready For The Consequences?

    Gabriel floated in an unknown space, feeling a cold deep within his soul. It felt ufortable yet it wasn''t painful at all.

    Even though he couldn''t see anything in his surroundings. He didn''t even know how vast his surroundings were, yet he could still feel as if he wasn''t there alone. There was another presence.

    That presence didn''t make any sound or any movements at all, yet somehow it was clear to Gabriel that there definitely was someone.

    "Who are you?" Gabriel asked, even though he didn''t expect any answers.

    "Are you sure you want to know about me?" A voice fell in Gabriel''s ears, stunning him. That voice came from right behind him, as if someone was speaking right in his ears.

    Gabriel hastily moved away, stunned that he didn''t even realize when the other person came this close to him.

    "Why won''t I be sure?"

    He didn''t know why the other person in this darkness talked as if Gabriel should''ve been hesitating to ask this question. He hadn''t fallen asleep.

    His consciousness was directly sucked into this ce. It was simr to what he experienced when he was pulled into the prison of darkness by Lira. He didn''t think that this time he was in a dream.

    "Because once you know... you can''t forget..."

    The voice was calm yetposed when the other person spoke. However, something was really unique about the tone of the person. It was as if that person had existed for an eternity and seen through the things that none could''ve even imagined in their lifetime.

    Gabriel remained silent. He didn''t understand why but that voice was somewhat familiar. He didn''t notice it initially, but the more he heard, the more familiar it sounded.

    He closed his eyes, trying to remember to the best of his abilities.

    After a few seconds, Gabriel''s eyes opened in shock.

    "You are... Karyk!"

    In his shock, he didn''t even control his voice. It was so loud that if he was outside, he could''ve been heard from a few blocks away easily.

    He never met Karyk in reality, but he had lived as Karyk in his dreams. It was in the dreams where he heard that voice! It was his own voice in the dreams! This voice was what he heard when he lost control of his body in the dream when fighting against the Goddess of Nature!

    As Gabriel stood shocked, there was a period of silence.

    "Am I?" After a brief period of silence, the voice was heard again, once againing from near Gabriel. "Or are you? Or are we?"

    One after another, three questions came from the other person. Even though it sounded like the other man was just speaking randomly, but for Gabriel, those words were not that simple.

    "What do you mean?" he asked.

    The surroundings became even colder. Even Gabriel felt as if he was going to be frozen at that ce if he stayed there for a single moment longer.

    The darkness around Gabriel disappeared, changing into a slightly brighter surrounding. Finally, Gabriel wasn''t standing like a blind person in the middle of nowhere. However, his new surroundings were just as surprising.

    When the darkness disappeared, Gabriel found himself standing in the middle of a vast sea. As far as the eyes could see, there was only this sea and nond! What was even worse was that this sea wasn''t filled with water! Instead, this entire sea was filled with nothing more than purest of blood!

    "I''ll ask you again. Are you ready for the consequences?" The mysterious voice was heard again. "Once you know, the future that you imagine for yourself will disappear. All you''ll receive is pain and suffering..."

    ****<novelnext></novelnext>

    "What is happening? What is this scary suppression?!" Jia yelled, unable to even stand up. "How can something like this exist in this ce? Who is this man?!"

    Gabriel''s body was floating mid-air in front of the little girl. It was clear that this suppression wasing from the seemingly ordinary young man! Unfortunately, none could even get close to him at the moment.

    The Staff of Death was floating right next to him. Even Jia felt as if she was going to die if she even dared to step closer to Gabriel at this moment!

    "The lock is opening." Only four words came from Alion in response.

    "Lock? What lock?" Jia red at Alion. She felt as if the man before her already knew what was happening. Despite all that, he didn''t warn her in advance which was frustrating for her.

    "You wanted to know who he was, right?" Alion asked, letting out a heavy sigh. "Now that the seal is opening, you''ll receive your answer soon enough."

    ****

    In another ce, the Spectre who helped Karyk travel through the sea of souls also looked in the direction of the Ancient City of Gods.

    In front of the specter, a young man was sitting on his knees. All the veins around his neck were popping up as if it was hard for him to remain still under this pressure.

    "Is it finally the time that you''ve been preparing for a long time?" The young man, with the Mark of Light at the back of his left hand, frowned.

    "If his seal really opens, then..." He raised his head, looking at the sky, as if he was somehow able to look at the shackles that were around the world clearly.

    The worldly shackles were trembling and even some cracks could be seen clearly around those shackles.

    ****

    "I''ll ask you again. Are you ready for the consequences?" Gabriel stood in the middle of the sea of blood when he heard. Once you know, the future that you imagine for yourself will disappear. All you''ll receive is pain and suffering..."

    Now that he could clearly see, he turned around, looking directly at the source of the voice.

    As he turned around, he finally saw the person who was standing behind him. Even though he already knew who that person was, he still couldn''t contain the trace of shock in his heart.

    Behind him, stood a young man who looked as if he was only in histe twenties. He had long yet beautiful silver hair that came down to his waist.

    The man was wearing clothes that looked quite ordinary yet special at the same time. Even in ordinary-looking clothes, the man was just so handsome that he looked as if he was a Royal Prince of one of the greatest empires in the world!

    The man was the Death Star... The Lord of Death who made everyone tremble with just his name alone! He was Karyk!

    ***************************

    [Author Announcement 1/3/2023: I''ve released a book that will take part in the WSA 23petition. The book is titled "Eternal Viin"... A story about a person destined to be the greatest viin. The main character is blessed (Or Cursed) with a book that can grant any of his wish that he writes on it, but also at an equivalent if not worse cost!

    You can find it by searching the title on Webnovel directly.

    Even though it has only two chapters for now, if possible, please read the book and give your valuable feedback. If you like it, don''t forget to add it to your library. I am sure you won''t be disappointed :)]

    ******************************

 Chapter 441 441: Birth Of A God

    The man who stood before Gabriel on the vast sea of blood carried no weapon. He wore no essory. The man was so simple that none could''ve guessed that he was the Lord of Death, Karyk, just based on his looks.

    However, the aura around that person was what made others realize that even though the man looked like a handsome schr, he was someone who could kill without blinking an eye.

    The man had killed so many people that he was surrounded by an aura of death that was even more powerful than anything Gabriel had seen before. Just looking into the pitch ck eyes of the man was enough to make others feel as if they were shoved into the battlefield of blood and death!

    "I''ve already received plenty of pain and suffering." Gabriel answered. Even though he stood before the god of death, he wasn''t scared. He didn''t feel any ill intent from Karyk after all. If anything, Karyk felt more familiar to him than anything.

    Gabriel didn''t know if it was because he had lived the life or Karyk in his dreams, or if it was something else. All he knew was that Karyk didn''t mean any harm to him. Instead, he was warning him about something.

    Karyk looked just like him. If one was to ignore the difference of temperament and strength between the two, it was quite hard to find any difference between the two just based on their looks.

    "What you felt before..." Karyk muttered, as if he already knew what Gabriel experienced. However, in his eyes, that much was nothingpared to the past and what was toe.

    "I don''t know what pain and suffering you implied, but no matter what it is, I''ve never been scared of pain!" Gabriel eximed. "Not anymore! I''ve seen what happens when one lives in fear... Not anymore!"

    He didn''t know what Karyk wanted from him, but no matter what, he didn''t want to be scared anymore! He already had plenty of enemies who were much stronger than him currently! He didn''t want to be his naive old self who was nice to everyone, only to be killed by others again and again!

    If anything, he wanted to live like Karyk! He wanted to be someone who could make people tremble just with his name! It didn''t matter if it was gods or demons, he wanted to stand above them all!

    Karyk simply gazed in the eyes of Gabriel that were filled with determination.

    Gabriel didn''t know if it was his misconception, but for a moment, he felt as if he was looking at himself in a mirror.

    "Since you''ve decided, then so be it. It''s time to return..."

    Karyk walked over the sea of blood, covering thest few steps between him and Gabriel.

    "You asked me before if I was Karyk?" He asked when there was only half a meter of distance between the two of them. "You are right. At the same time you are wrong."

    "You mean...?"

    Karyk didn''t answer. "Since you''ve chosen to walk this path, then so be it!"

    Karyk raided his right hand, cing his finger on the forehead of Gabriel.

    ****

    Back in the real world, Gabriel was still floating mid-air. His eyes were closed and it even appeared as if he was sleeping. However, his eyes opened suddenly.

    "Arghhh!"

    Gabriel roared, as if his entire body was breaking apart and being healed at the same time.

    Gabriel''s hair became longer, at the time, slowly turning into the beautiful shade of silver, just like Karyk.

    His beautiful blue eyes turned darker until his pupils were pitch ck. His entire body was brimming with strength that he never felt before.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Unfortunately, more than his body, his mind was in pain! It was as if there had been a seal in his mind and his soul for a long time and that deal was just unlocked!

    Thousands of foreign memories suddenly flooded in his head, as soon as the seal was opened!

    Jia watched Gabriel cry in pain but she couldn''t even stand up!

    "He''s hurt! Save him!" She yelled at Alion since only Alion knew what was happening here.

    "Don''t worry. He isn''t hurt," Alion answered. He hadn''t taken his eyes off Gabriel for even a single moment ever since Gabriel started crying in pain.

    "Then why is he roaring like that? What''s happening to him?" Jia asked. From what she could see, it felt as if Gabriel was almost dying from pain!

    "He''s receiving what belonged to him in the first ce," Alion answered. "It is his choice."

    "You should get ready," he told the little girl.

    "Ready for what?"

    "To witness the return... The return of a god!"

    ****

    Gabriel''s mind was in turmoil. Even he hadn''t expected something like this to happen! All his seals that he didn''t even know about were suddenly open at the same time, letting all the foreign memories rush inside his head.

    In the memories, it was as if he lived apletely different life than his current life!He saw a loving childhood where he was born as the child of one of the most powerful Royal Families in the World. He was a Prince who grew up with aplete family with his mother, father and sister.

    In one of those memories, he also saw the same thing that he had seen in one of his dreams where he stood on the balcony of the Royal Pce, greeting the subjects of the Empire!

    It was as if the dreams that he experienced before were nothing more than memories that somehow managed to pass through the seal!

    The memories showed him an era that was long forgotten! The era which was destroyed by war and battle between humans, giving birth to the gods!

    ****

    For three days and three nights, Gabriel kept roaring in pain due to the torment. As his old memories merged with his current memories, he started understanding everything.

    At the same time, as his souls merged, the strength and the aura of his body also kept increasing. In just three days, his aura had reached the level of the demigods but it didn''t stop there as he continued getting stronger.

    After five days, the aura finally stabilized. However, by now, it was at that level which couldn''t even be sensed by Alion and Jia!

    Gabriel''s painful roars finally stopped. His entire body was covered in sweat yet he looked even more handsome than before. His skin was wless. Even though his hair color and his eye color was different now, but somehowthat just made him look even more charming.

    After five days of torment, Gabriel finally stopped. His body floated down, ultimatelynding on the ground softly.

    The suppressing aura that made everyone kneel for five days straight finally disappeared as well, giving the others a sigh of relief! Many still didn''t know what this aura was! They didn''t realize that it was a sign...a sign that it was time for the world to change and for the entire universe to tremble¡­

 Chapter 442 442: Impure

    ****

    "Why isn''t he waking up?"

    Both, Jia and Alion were looking at Gabriel who was lying in the middle of the street, as if he was deep asleep. Fortunately, he didn''t seem to be in pain anymore and his breathing was stable.

    "He has received too much information in thest five days. He''s probably assimting it all, now that he isn''t in pain," Alion exined. "However, it won''t be easy."

    "What do you mean?" Jia asked, frowning. "Also what memories? You still haven''t told me who he is? Why did I feel the same auraing from him that I had felt when Karyk cast a world level spell?"

    "Little girl, you still haven''t realized it?" Alion sighed. "You felt the same aura because those two are the same people! You asked me why Gabriel could use Karyk''s Origin Staff? That''s because they''re one and the same."

    Alion picked Gabriel up in his arms, who was still sleeping. He didn''t move deeper inside the city and instead, started walking back where he came from, as if he didn''t want to be in this ce when Gabriel was at his weakest.

    "Silver hair... Dark eyes... Karyk? He''s Karyk?!" Jia eximed in shock, chasing after Alion.

    Alion didn''t answer. His silence was an answer in itself for Jia. She had always been wondering why Alion was so caring toward a young boy, but she finally understood the truth.

    However, even now she found it hard to believe. She had always believed that Karyk had died around a thousand years ago!

    ****

    Alion brought Gabriel outside the Abandoned City of Gods, only stopping when they reached the nearest forest.

    He ced Gabriel on the soft grass, under a tree before casting a protective barrier that not only protected them but also hid their aurapletely from anyone who could''vee there to check.

    For close to half an hour, Jia sat next to Gabriel in silence, just looking at him. All her thoughts were chaotic.

    "Even if Karyk was reborn through some special means, he should''ve lost all his previous strength. After rebirth, one loses all their previous strength since their souls be impure, unsuitable to carry their divine strength." After a long time, she finally expressed her thoughts.

    "If he was reborn, he should''ve be an ordinary mortal who could never use a single shred of magic in his entire lifetime. So how?" she asked. "Moreover, if he was reborn, the others who tried to kill him should''ve sensed it as well. So what actually happened in the past?"

    "How about you try asking him when he wakes up?" Alion shrugged, not having even the slightest interest in answering the little girl.

    "I''m not crazy enough to ask the Death Star." Even though Jia idolized Karyk, but it didn''t mean she wasn''t scared of him. "How about a deal? If you tell me everything, I''ll forgive you for giving me that stupid name? I won''t kill you in the future!"

    "I can''t tell you." Despite what Jia tried, she only received a firm rejection. "What I do know is that it is the most dangerous for him."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "His soul is recovering its old strength that had been sealed for a long time. And with the sudden influx of his memories, it became even more dangerous. One single mistake and he''ll either be a bloodthirsty demon, losing his consciousness forever, or he''ll end up going crazy, not knowing what''s reality and what''s a dream anymore..."

    Jia gulped down heavily. She didn''t want to see what a bloodthirsty Karyk looked like. With the kind of strength this guy possessed, he could be a nightmare if he lost his sanity.

    "What are the chances of his failure?" She asked with slight hesitation as she started standing up, as if she was about to escape.

    "Are you trying to sneak away due to fear?" Alion couldn''t help but find the little girl''s reaction amusing. "I didn''t know you were such a coward."

    "If it was anyone else, I would''ve happily faced them even if there was no chance of victory. However, when ites to Karyk... I heard that if one is killed by him, their souls get trapped for an eternity. That''s worse than death. So if there''s a chance that he''ll kill me, I would rather escape."

    Alion smirked. "If he really goes crazy, do you think there will be a ce where you''d be able to hide?"

    The little girl had been chasing her for a long time, making his life much harder. Now that she had an opportunity to mess with her, he took a total advantage of the situation.

    Jia stood in her ce, scratching the back of her head. For the first time, she was regrettinging to this ce!

    She also couldn''t believe that the first guy she liked turned out to be the Death Star. She didn''t know what his attitude was going to be after he woke up, but she really hoped that he could seed.

    "If he fails, we''ll die no matter how far we run. So why waste the effort? Just sit here silently and wait for his sess," Alion told the little girl.

    Unlike the little girl, he appeared more rxed, eating fruits that he picked from the nearby trees.

    "How could you be so rxed? Does it mean the chance of him seeding are high?" The little girl asked. She didn''t believe that Alion was brave enough to face death head on, if he didn''t believe that Gabriel could seed.

    " He has a fifty percent chance of sess. Everything after that depends on his own luck." Alion appeared somewhatzy, as if he didn''t care about the oue. However, Jia didn''t know that even he was scared deep inside. He just wasn''t showing it on his face.

    If anything, he was the most against this n of Karyk when he was told about it since he knew how dangerous this was. One of the reasons he was avoiding this was also because he didn''t want to face this situation without being mentally prepared for the failure.

    He looked up, finding a nk faced Jia who was somewhat conflicted.

    "How about it? If you stay behind and calm down, I''ll give you a hint about one of the questions that''s been bugging you," Alion said.

    "What question?" Jia frowned. She had thousands of questions in her mind after all.

    "You asked why his soul didn''t be impure?" Alion responded. "The answer is much simpler than you expect. In fact, the answer has been before your eyes all this time."

 Chapter 443 443: World Tier

    "Right before my eyes?" Jia looked around, noticing the Ancestral Staff of Death. "Does it have something to do with that?"

    "No." Alion shook his head. "As I said, the answer was right before your eyes. It just depends on whether you are capable enough to find the answer or not."

    "Right before my eyes? Does it have something to do with you?" She asked. However, she herself wasn''t convinced with her answer. "I don''t think you''re capable enough. Then what else could there be?"

    "Argh, I''m getting a headache! Just tell me what it is!"

    Alion didn''t speak. He simply raised his head, pointing toward the sky.

    Jia also looked above. Her eyes suddenly lit up. "You mean... The World Tier Spell?!"

    Alion nodded. "That''s right. He took the help of the World Tier Spell. For most people, the spell appeared as if it was a barrier that Karyk cast to protect this world and the people. However, it was more than just that."

    "Only Karyk could seed through those methods as well, since none of the gods have control over the dead and the souls which was a must for it to seed," he further exined.

    "H-how did he do it?" Jia asked with eyes full of fascination. Even though no one other than Karyk was able to use this method, she was still extremely eager to know how it worked in the first ce.

    Unfortunately, it was as if Alion was taunting her. After bringing her curiosity to its peak with some hints, he closed his eyes with a satisfied expression on his face.

    ****

    For five days straight, none of the people could move at all! They were all forced to be on their knees due to the suppressing aura that covered the entire world, as if it was to wee the arrival of the gods.

    However, to everyone''s surprise, during those five days, they didn''t feel hungry or thirsty either. Whether it be old, or young... They all felt as if during the five days, under the suppression not only did their physique be stronger, but also their soul and body was being nourished constantly.

    It was as if there was some force that was preventing them from dying during the five days where they couldn''t move. What was even weirder was that in this world, there was not a single day where not a single person had died.

    However, during those five days, there was not a single death! No one knew why that was the case, but it was quite fortunate for Gabriel.

    Since there were no deaths, the bnce between life and death was maintained for the five days where Gabriel was recovering all his memories and strength.

    It was unclear if it was intentional or unintentional, but it really helped Gabriel. As everyone was on their knees, there were no fights. There were no battles with the risk of people dying. There were no idents either!

    It was only after five days when the aura disappeared and everyone was finally able to move. Most people were grateful that they were finally free of the suppression and could ultimately move.

    The weak went back to their ordinary lives while wondering what could''ve caused the strange phenomenon while the strong tried to find the cause.

    Unfortunately, even the Holy Lords couldn''t find the reason behind the strange phenomenon, unable to even locate the aura that the aura came from.

    Unfortunately, this aura wasn''t limited to the world. Traces of it could be felt far and wide, surpassing the limits of this world as well, even reaching the people that it shouldn''t have.

    ****<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was early morning. The sun rose high in the sky yet its direct sunlight couldn''t touch Gabriel who had been sleeping peacefully under the shade.

    Two more days had passed since Gabriel was brought here and he hadn''t woken up yet.

    Throughout the two days, Alion and Jia hadn''t slept for even a single second, keeping an eye on Gabriel, especially Jia who wanted to be ready to escape as soon as she saw something wrong with Gabriel.

    In the forest, chirping of birds could be heard every morning. However, ever since Gabriel was brought here, it wasplete silence.

    "Could it be that he''ll sleep for years?" Jia asked.

    Alion opened his lips to respond. However, before he could even speak, he noticed Gabriel''s eyelids moving slightly, as if he was finally waking up.

    He stood up and prepared for whatever the oue. His fists were tightly clenched behind his back as he stared at Gabriel, wondering if he seeded or failed.

    Noticing the strange reaction of Alion, Jia also gazed back at Gabriel. However, just as she looked back, she saw Gabriel''s eyes open.

    Her heart skipped a beat as she subconsciously stepped back. She didn''t even dare to look into Gabriel''s eyes.

    Gabriel sat up straight. Even now, he looked nothing different than a mortal with no unique aura around him. His figure was athletic yet he looked frail and weak when it came to physique.

    Gabriel first looked at Alion before ncing at Jia.

    "Looks like your crazy n really seeded."

    Alion sighed heavily in relief, patting his chest. Even though he wasn''t showing, his heart was so scared that he wanted to escape faster than Jia if something was wrong. Fortunately, Gabriel hadn''t gone crazy after awakening and remembering his past.

    "Since you''re still alive, that seems to be the case." Gabriel stood up. He took off the two gloves, sending them back in his spatial storage.

    Previously, Gabriel used to talk to Alion with great respect, as if Alion was his senior. However, his tone now was slightly different, as if he was talking to a junior.

    His voice was filled with authority like he was the only monarch in this world.

    The attire that Gabriel previously treated like great treasure burned around Gabriel''s body, turning into dust as a new set of clothes appeared around him, as if Gabriel created them out of thin air.

    What was even more surprising was that the new set of clothes that he had created was a Numen that was even higher level than Jia''s sword!

    Gabriel''s attire waspletely ck now which created a beautiful contrast with his long silver hair. His robe looked like it was made of real ck mes of death!

    The robe and the mes looked alive, as if whoever dared to even touch his robe was going to burn to their death, even if it was a Demigod! It was a God Level Artefact that had a spirit of its own!

 Chapter 444 444: Even If Im Weak

    "Should I call you Gabriel now, or Karyk?" Alion asked. He didn''t even notice that there was a smile of relief on his face. After Karyk died, he had waited for this moment all his life. And now that the moment was here, it was as if a heavy stone was removed from his chest!

    Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck, stretching his head. "You can call me anything. It''s just a name."

    He reached out his other hand toward his Ancestral Staff that was lying on the ground nearby.

    ? The Ancestral Staff flew straight to him, directly entering his body. Even the Book of Necromancy that had always been in the form of a ring on his finger disappeared, entering his body.

    He turned to the little girl next to him. In his first life, he had no interaction with the little girl. In fact, he hadn''t even heard about her.

    "You are called Jia?" he asked, looking at the little girl next to him.

    The little girl who was brave ever since she came to this world found herself packing words for the first time.

    "Y-yes, Lord Death Star!" the little girl went down on one knee, lowering her gaze.

    Gabriel couldn''t help but rub his forehead. He couldn''t help but find this name to be slightly frustrating. "It''s better if you don''t call me by that name anymore."

    The little girl frowned, wondering why Gabriel didn''t like the name. Compared to her own name, this name was a thousand times better in her eyes.

    "This name was given to him by her," Alion chimed in. "The person who was the first to work with the outsiders that led to this entire thing."

    Gabriel took his gloves off. He didn''t care about hiding his marks anymore.

    After taking off his gloves, he nced at the back of his left hand. "I also notice that I''ve received the blessing of her Element as well.."

    "I don''t know. I couldn''t interfere too much. Still, I didn''t expect her to do this," Alion responded.

    Gabriel gazed at the clear sky above. "The Goddess of Light..."

    He couldn''t help but think of the past.

    ****

    [Almost a thousand years ago...]

    Karyk stood in the middle of the air. He had been fighting for many days straight. Not only did he kill thousands of beings much stronger than him in the battle but two entire continents were also destroyed in their battle.

    Spatial cracks could be seen all around the world, as if the natural boundary of the world was also being destroyed in the battle of gods that was beyond the limit of this world.

    Unfortunately, he was already injured before this battle and his injuries only kept increasing with time, making him weaker and weaker with each passing second.

    Without the help of his army, he couldn''t even get any auxiliary help to give him a moment to breathe.

    His entire body was covered in blood. Some bleeding cuts could be seen all around his body, including on his cheeks.

    No matter how many people he killed this time, more and more enemies kepting up, as if killing him was their entire life''s mission.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "We will see how long you survive!" A powerful voice echoed in the surrounding,ing from beyond the space and time barrier, as if it came from another world.

    The voice clearly belonged to a person much stronger than anyone who was present here. Unfortunately, that person couldn''t enter this world thanks to Karyk''s shackles around the world.

    Even with the help of insiders, only a small opening could be made in the barrier which allowed outsiders to enter. However, there was a limit to the strength of the person who could enter even after the w, which prevented beings much stronger from entering this ce.

    Unfortunately, even with all that, the ones who managed to enter were thousands of God-Level beings.

    Karyk had been killing them for days, yet he was still surrounded by close to a thousand people, as if he hadn''t made the slightest dent in their numbers.

    "Don''t worry! I''ll show you how long I can survive!" Karyk roared, looking at the sky. "However, you should also think about how long you can survive yourself! I''ll definitelye to greet you soon!"

    Karyk clenched his fist firmly, ready for another barrage of attacks. No matter how much spiritual power he had, but in his injured condition, he was already getting exhausted.

    What was worse was that all the intruders had sealed the Spiritual Strength in the air, preventing Karyk from recovering his strength at all!

    Karyk didn''t know if he could get through this battle or not. However, he did seem a bit concerned.

    Throughout the battles, none had noticed that Karyk hadn''t been focusing on too much defense in this battle! The only ce he was protecting was his pocket.

    There was a small stone fragment in his pockets. He pulled out the stone fragment from his pocket, holding it firmly in his hands.

    Even though the space around them was sealed, making it impossible to teleport, Karyk still used all he had to open a small Spatial Portal, the size of a fist.

    The portal appeared behind him. Fortunately, none noticed a portal the size of a small fist.

    Karyk closed his eyes for a short moment, letting out a deep breath before tossing the small stone inside that portal.

    As soon as the stone entered the portal, it closed. No one knew that Karyk sent the stone back to his Pce, along with a message for Alion. It was as if Karyk already expected that the chances of him leaving this ce alive were close to none.

    "Even if I''m weak, you''d all die before me!"

    Now that he sent away the burden that was on his shoulders, he could finally let go. Even if he was to die, he wanted to have everyone else in this ce apany him to death with him!

    "Don''t give him a chance! Kill!" The leader of the group shouted, taking the lead and attacking first.

    The god level attack destroyed the space around it as it shot straight to Karyk at the speed of lightning.

    Karyk breathed calmly. It was as if he wasn''t afraid of death. Even at this moment, his eyes were calm and serene. It was as if some part of him was waiting for his death... A death that kept avoiding him all this time.

    He raised his right hand. If Karyk''s aura was that of a person who could die at any moment, it suddenly transformed into a much stronger aura, full of vitality!

    Only the people who lived in this world knew what that aura implied! It was the aura of a world level spell being cast!

 Chapter 445 445: Fall Of The Mighty

    Just as Karyk''s aura transformed. He knew he wasn''t in any condition to cast a spell with this strength in his current condition. It was a spell on the same league as the [WorldlyShackles] that could prevent even the strongest of outsiders from entering this world after all!

    He had just started casting a spell but something strange happened. A beautiful white barrier appeared between him and the attack that wasing straight for him.

    Even though the barrier shattered after the collision with the attack, it did sessfully manage to stop the attack!

    Karyk felt a familiar presence around him as a woman appeared next to him in a beautiful white gown.

    "It''s you..." Karyk muttered, stopping the spell at thest moment. The Goddess of Light stood before him, as if she was here to help him.

    "Who else would it be? It''s all happening because of me. If I hadn''t made you seal your army, none of this would''ve happened in the first ce!" the Goddess of Light said, shaking her head lightly. "I can''t believe that just when I went for my seclusion training, so much has happened in this world!"

    "As soon as I found out that the other gods colluded against you, I came here to help you! Those idiots... No matter how scared they are of you, how can they work with the outsiders against their own people!" The woman genuinely appeared angry and frustrated as if she really wanted to p them all for their stupidity.

    "Anyway, I don''t think we can fight all of them currently. Your current condition is barely manageable! I''m surprised you''re still alive in this condition after all! If it was anyone else, they would''ve long died!" The youngdy eximed. "We should get out of here as soon as we can! We can always have a chance of revenge as long as we are alive!"

    "We can''t leave." Karyk raised his finger. He showed the Goddess of Nature by trying to cast a spatial portal, only for it to copse in itself. "The space here is sealed. People can onlye here and not leave. If that wasn''t the case, I would''ve done much more."

    "Argh, this is going to be hard with just the two of us!" The Goddess of Light frowned. With so many enemies, even she wasn''t confident. She wasn''t as good as Karyk at fighting after all.

    It was just the two of them against a thousand people after all.

    "With the way things are, we can''t keep going. We''ll both die here. I have a n!" The youngdy stated. "Can you still cast a barrier that can stop their attacks for just a minute?!"

    Even in his current condition, Karyk felt that it was possible to hold them all back for a short time. However, he didn''t understand why the Goddess of Light wanted that.

    "What is your n?!"

    "Of course it''s to heal you!" The young woman eximed. "Currently, our biggest problem is that I don''t have much fighting prowess while you are injured. So the first thing we need to do is heal you!"

    "After you are healed, you should be able to fight back! We might even turn the situation around!" She further stated.

    "Can you even heal me in this condition?" Karyk asked. Even though he knew that the Element of Light was the element that had the ability to heal, his wounds were really serious after all. Even a god would''ve had a hard time healing him.

    "I should be able to, if I use my vitality!" The Goddess of Light replied. " I''ll only use some of my strength as a bacsh, but at least we''ll get out of this problem alive! If not, we''ll both end up dead here. I don''t know about you, but I surely don''t want to die!"

    Karyk didn''t have much time to think about the suggestion. He could see that her n did make sense. As long as he could recover, he could fight back for longer.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Alright! I''ll hold them back!" Karyk raised his right hand, changing the World Tier Spell to a barrier spell.

    He cast his strongest spells all around him, covering him and the Goddess of Light inside a spherical barrier that covered them from all sides.

    The Goddess of Light didn''t dy any further either. She ced her hand on Karyk''s back and started casting a healing spell.

    Karyk felt a soothing energy entering his body, nourishing his body and slowly healing his wounds.

    At the same time, constant attacks keptnding on his barrier. The barrier trembled after each attack. Only thirty seconds passed before the barrier started showing cracks all around.

    Karyk cast another barrier spell to reinforce his barrier. At the speed he was healing, even though he didn''t believe that he could be healedpletely but he felt that at least thirty percent of his wounds could''ve been healed. He could at least help the Goddess of Light escape after that.

    The cracks on the barrier recovered as soon as Karyk cast a second spell.

    Karyk focused on maintaining the barrier as he spoke, "I should be able to maintain the barrier for half a minute. After that, I''ll help you get ou-"

    Karyk froze in the middle of his sentence. His face turned pale as he suddenly coughed out a mouthful of blood. His face was filled with disbelief as he lowered his head.

    He noticed a sharp swording out of his chest, passing straight through his heart. The sword was covered in his blood. Not only was the sword a god tier weapon that could kill even gods, but it was also poisoned to momentarily paralyze the person so they couldn''t fight back even as they died.

    "You..." Even under the effect of the poison, Karyk forced his body to move, holding the sharp de of the sword firmly. Even his hands bled as he held the sword yet he didn''t care.

    "Argh!" Just as he had held the sword to break it, the sword was pulled out by the person who stabbed him.

    Karyk''s body felt so weak. He was having a hard time even remaining standing. He couldn''t even turn around to see who stabbed him, but he already knew. There was only one person behind him after all.

    "Why?" he asked as blood kepting out from his chest. If it was anyone else here, they would''ve already died by now but Karyk was still standing.

    Unfortunately, as if maintaining even thest bit of dignity wasn''t eptable, the Goddess of Light swung her sword, making a heavy cut in the back of Karyk''s legs before kicking the back of his knees, making him finally fall to his knees.

    "The mighty Death Star... Lying on his knees before me. What a sight to behold..." Theughter of the Goddess of Light echoed in the surroundings.

    As she spoke, her sword once again moved, passing through his chest again as if the woman didn''t even want to give him a chance of identally surviving.

 Chapter 446 446: The Biggest Mistake

    [Back in the present time]

    "The biggest mistake I made in my life was trusting her."

    Gabriel gently touched his chest, as if he could still remember the stab wound that killed him. The sword not only hurt his physical body but also his soul.

    "Did she also attack you that day?"

    Even though Alion knew how Karyk was reborn, however, even he didn''t know just how the battle between Karyk and the other side ended that day. To hear Gabriel say such a thing, he felt it had a lot to do with the Goddess of Light.

    "She''s the person who killed me," Gabriel replied. "She came just as I was about to cast a World Level Spell. I thought she was there to help me, but she was just there to stop me from casting that spell and hurting her interests..."

    "That wasn''t the only time she lied to me either." Gabriel''s fists tightened the more he thought about it.

    Through Alion and Gabriel''s conversation, even Jia found out some inexplicable secrets that she had never heard. "The Goddess of Light? How could it be? Wasn''t she your friend? I heard only she didn''t participate in the weakening of this world''s barrier from inside."

    "She didn''t participate in the weakening of the barrier?" Gabriel asked in return. "If you really think that, then you''re quite naive. Let alone working with them, she was the one who nned this entire thing!"

    Gabriel''s voice was filled with anger. Fortunately, he could still control his emotions and didn''t let even the slightest of his killing intent leak.

    ****

    [Thousand years ago]

    Karyk was on his knees. A sword passed through his chest once more. His legs were already bleeding. He was already injured before the battle, but thanks to a direct attack at his heart in such close proximity, he couldn''t even move anymore.

    A woman stood before him, looking down. "What happened to the so-called God of Death? You don''t look so good, do you?"

    Karyk red at the Goddess of Light. The woman had such vicious expressions on her face that she never revealed in the past.

    In the past, she had always pretended to be nice, yet her current expressions made her look much different. It was as if her old self was just an act and she was finally revealing her true self.

    "Let me guess what you''re thinking." The woman ced her fingers under Karyk''s chin, raising his head slightly. "You want to kill me at any cost. Am I right? Unfortunately, the Sword that I used made you unable to even move."

    "You must also be wondering why I have a sword like that." An amused smirk spread across the face of the Goddess of Light.

    She brought her face closer to Karyk''s ears and gently whispered, "It''s the reward from them that I received for creating that small opening in the barrier to help them enter. However, this isn''t the only reward. I really should thank you, my dear old friend."

    As she finished speaking, her lips touched Karyk''s cheeks as she gave him a light kiss. "It''s all because of you that I have an opportunity to be even stronger. I really should thank you!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You nned it... from the start..."

    Karyk wanted to crush the neck of the woman before him. Unfortunately, the Goddess of Light was right. He couldn''t even move a single finger. Even speaking was proving to be hard. What was worse was that he felt that his spiritual strength was also sealed.

    "Oh? It looks like you guessed some things. Anyhow, since you''re about to die, I''ll let you have all your answers so that your soul can rest in peace after you die!" The young woman stood straight, stepping back.

    She raised her right hand, showing a red stone. The stone was the same as the Stone of Destiny that Karyk had received from her!

    The Goddess of Light yed with the red stone in her hand, as if it was just a small toy for her.

    "You''re right. Everything I did was for this moment. I started nning it as soon as I found two Stones of Destiny. In the ce I found these stones, I also found out about the existence of the other world. Unfortunately, with my strength, it was impossible to go there even if I struggled for a thousand years."

    "So you used me," Karyk finished the women''s line of thought. He couldn''t help but feel likeughing at his own foolishness. Because he wanted to save his sister at any cost, he didn''t even think about the possibility that it was all part of such an borate scheme!

    "Hey, don''t be so harsh with your words." The Goddess of Light chuckled. "What if others misunderstand your words?"

    "It''s better to say that I borrowed your strength," she further added. "I needed to find a way to enter the other world. Unfortunately, I wasn''t strong like you. I couldn''t pass through chaotic space and time to get there. So I had to find other ways and what better way to enter that ce than to be invited by them personally?''

    "So that''s why you gave me the Stone of Destiny... You knew I would have to go to that ce to gain enough spirit energy for my sister''s recovery!"

    Even though Karyk already guessed this much, However, to hear it directly, he felt even more like a fool!

    "That''s right. I wanted to find a way to give you the stone so you could go there and create a mess! I know your abilities the best after all," the Goddess of Lightughed. "However, who would''ve thought that you would give me an even better opportunity!"

    "As I was about toe to you with the information of the stone to put my n in motion, I heard the news that you sealed the Goddess of Nature. At that time, I knew I could use that to my advantage!"

    "You used it as an excuse to make me believe that the other gods were scared and then suggested that I seal my army so I could make a deal for the stone with them!" Karyk eximed.

    As time passed, his body condition only deteriorated. Even for the Goddess of Light, it was shocking that he still wasn''t dead. However, she believed it was just a matter of time.

    She didn''t realize that while Karyk was receiving his answers, he was also doing another thing simultaneously... A thing that was never done or even attempted before!

    "That''s right." The Goddess of Light agreed. "The stone was with me already at that time. I just borrowed their name to make myself look like a good person who was just there with the information. I was there to ''help'' you after all!"

    "I had to make you seal your army to make you even weaker so there couldn''t be any variables in my future ns!"

 Chapter 447 447: I Was The One

    "Oh, and one more thing." The cold woman spoke further. "I was also the one who sent them information about you being in this world. How else do you think they found you so fast after you escaped from that ce?"

    "I thought that just with your information, I could trade with them for ess to their World. Who would''ve thought that you would make it even better for me by sealing the world! Even though it surprised me, it was perfect! You did even better than I expected!"

    "I got so many benefits thanks to that!" The woman felt so ted the more she thought about how Karyk''s actions went above and beyond her ns in helping her!

    "The harder you made it for those people to get to you, the better it became for my trade with them! They had no choice but to ask for my help after all!"

    "I was just hoping for ess to their World. But thanks to your extra help, I not only received an opportunity to go there, but also a god tier Sword that directly attacks the soul of a person along with a high position in that ce!"

    "Since you did so much for me, how could I let you die without a nice reward."

    The woman came closer to Karyk again, this time, directly cing her lips on Karyk''s bleeding lips.

    "Treat this as a reward for you." She licked her lips that were also covered in Karyk''s blood, as if the blood was tasty for her. It was the taste of her sess! It was the first time a God was going to die here and it was all at her hands!

    Moreover, once she killed the biggest enemy of the other world, she could only get more influence in the future!

    She pulled out his bloody sword again. This time, she ced the tip of her sword on Karyk''s forehead. "Now that you know everything, you can die in peace. I hope you don''t hold any grudges against me. It was all business after all..."

    Thrust~

    Her sword moved forward, passing through Karyk''s skull directly.

    Karyk didn''t make a single noise even as he was killed. It was as if he didn''t want to give her any satisfaction anymore!

    After a few seconds when the Goddess of Light pulled out her Sword, Karyk''s body dropped to the ground, lifeless.

    She stretched her arms,zily yawning. "Finally done! Even though it took a long time, I finally seeded! Now I can start a new chapter of my life!"

    Her eyes looked at the sky, as if longing for the other World where she could have even more opportunities for growth. Even the weakest Royal Guards in the other world were God-Tier after all. As for Demigod-Tier beings, they could be found everywhere!

    That world was filled with over a hundred times purer magical energy after all! It was a dream for people like her to go there!

    And finally her dream was about to be a reality!

    ****

    "She really... So it was all because of her that we went through so much?!" Alion clenched his teeth, trying to control his anger! He wasted close to a thousand years of his life, all because of that woman and he didn''t even know about it!<novelnext></novelnext>

    He didn''t know how the battle ended after all! He only knew that Karyk died in that battle! He had always assumed that Karyk died at the hands of the people from the other world!

    "So she nned everything! She guessed everything about your future actions in advance and nned all this! Amazing! What incredible nning skills!" Jia muttered, stunned.

    She couldn''t even n for the next twenty four hours, let alone make a n involving the strongest god of this world and the mighty beings of the other world!

    There were so many variables! If a single thing had gone wrong, or if someone had found out about what she nned, then she would''ve been dead a thousand times over! Just her conviction alone made Jia stunned. Everything went ording to her n! Even the strongest fell for her schemes!

    Hearing Jia''s praises for the woman that he hated the most now, Alion couldn''t help but re at her. "How about you go work with her instead since you like her so much?!"

    Jia could only scratch the back of her head, nkly. She hadpletely forgotten that this wasn''t the right time to praise that woman.

    Alion rolled his eyes and didn''t pay more attention to her. Instead, he turned back to Karyk. "What I don''t understand is why she didn''t do everything to kill you this time? Why did she share a fragment of Element of Light with you? Is this another of her schemes?"

    Gabriel didn''t know how to respond himself. Even he didn''t understand what the woman was nning for the time being. Not only did that woman not try to kill him, but she also made him stronger.

    "Not just her, you also received a Fragment of Darkness," Alion further stated.

    "You''re wrong. I didn''t receive the Fragment of Element of Darkness," Gabriel rified. "It''s much more urate to say that I snatched it identally when my soul was under attack. It''s only the Element of Light that makes me wonder."

    "Could it be... That she wants to use you like before? She wants to make you stronger so you can once again be a public enemy and help her rise even higher?" Jia eximed, throwing another possibility.

    "She doesn''t need to give me the Element of Light to make me a public enemy," Gabriel responded. "Did you forget who I am? Just my identity alone is enough to make me the public enemy."

    Gabriel couldn''t see directly into the other world from where he was currently standing. However, he still remembered the general direction.

    He gazed at the clear sky, thinking back to the time he had left this world for the first time. He didn''t expect that so many things would''ve happened after he returned.

    "I don''t know what she is nning. I don''t care either. All I know is that this time, I''ll make her life worse than a living hell!"

    ****

    In an unknown ce, that was filled with many times pure magical energy, there stood a woman, covered in a beautiful white gown.

    The woman stood on the balcony, looking out at the sky that was currently covered in dark clouds.

    A dark robed woman appeared behind the Goddess of Light out of thin air. "Lady Theia... Your request to meet the Lord has been approved. Please follow me."

 Chapter 448 448: Ambitions

    ****

    Theia... Who was worshiped like a god once upon a time was standing in the middle of a majestic looking hall, with her head down.

    Not too far from her, there was a majestic throne. Just the aura of that throne itself was stronger than Theia''s aura, let alone the aura of the person who sat on that throne.

    It was said that many Divine Beasts in the world were killed, just to get satisfactory materials to make the throne that could satisfy the person who was supposed to sit on it!

    The throne''s aura was like a violent torrent of energy. It was impossible for even Theia to look in the direction of the throne, without hurting her own soul!

    She kept her head down, as if waiting for the man on the throne to speak something.

    The Throne''s violent aura could kill even gods who got close to it. However, there was a person on the throne who appearedpletely unaffected by that torrential aura. It was as if his strength had far surpassed that level.

    Because of the aura of the throne, no one could look at the man. They could only hear his voice. Unfortunately, the man waspletely silent now, as if he was lost in some thought.

    The entire hall was silent as no one dared to disturb the man on the throne.

    The man had his eyes closed. At times, it even looked as if he was sleeping. However, there was currently a frown on his face.

    Theia stood silently for close to half an hour yet she didn''tin. Fortunately, the man on the throne didn''t make her wait for long. He opened his eyes after half an hour, revealing his deep blue eyes.

    Just the eyes of the man alone made him appear as if there was not a single thing that the man hadn''t seen, throughout his long life. It was as if there was nothing in the world which could disturb the calmness in his eyes.

    "What brought you here?"

    The man''s calm and serene voice echoed in the hall.

    Even though the man didn''t use any of his strength, just his calm voice alone was strong enough to make others'' hearts tremble, as if they were listening to a person who could kill them without even moving a single finger.

    Theia took a deep breath, not revealing her real thoughts on her. She ced her hands on her clothes.

    Slid~

    Her beautiful white gown fell on the ground, revealing herpletely bare skin to the man in the front.

    Theia had wless skin and a perfect figure with just the right amount of curves. She could''ve made any man go crazy for her in an instant.

    However, the man on the throne didn''t seem to care about that in the least. What he was more interested in were the white spirit lines that could be seen all around the young woman''s body.

    The spirit lines around her body were simr to the Spirit Lines of Light that created the tattoo on the back of her left hand. At times, it even looked as if it was the Mark of Light that was somehow spreading all around her body.

    "I should be able to enter that ce now." Theia spoke after a brief pause. "I want permission to enter."

    The man snapped his fingers. Theia''s clothes appeared around her body once again, covering her.

    "It''s only been a thousand years and you''re already halfway there. It looks like you haven''t been cking," the man spoke. "Unfortunately, it still isn''t enough. You can go back."

    "But I..."

    Theia tried speaking. However, before she could even speak, a strange wave of energy covered her entirely. Before she knew it, the strange force pushed her down.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Thud~

    Theia was forced to her knees right there, unable to even resist in the slightest! Even her knees started bleeding because of the force she fell with.

    Her body was already as strong as a high grade treasure. However, there was not a single crack in the floor due to her fall. Instead, it was Theia who was hurt.

    "Did you say something?" The man''szy voice fell in Theia''s ears.

    Theia clenched her teeth, but quickly controlled herself. "No. I''ll follow your instructions."

    "Good."

    The pressure around Theia disappeared. She was finally free to move.

    "You can leave now."

    Theia stood up, following the man''smands. She didn''t show any discontent on her face and left the hall. It was only after leaving the hall that she cast a healing spell on her knees!

    Throughout the hallway, she waspletely silent. It was only after she reached her own Pce that her expressions turned vicious.

    She couldn''t control her anger anymore and punched the wall with all her strength to let out some of her anger.

    The entire pce trembled due to the pressure of her fist. However, her pce was also made from simr materials. The wall didn''t break.

    "For a thousand years, I did everything he asked, all for one opportunity to be a True God, unbound by thews of elements! But even after all that, that bastard still doesn''t give me an opportunity!"

    She was so angry that she would''ve already killed that man if she had that ability. Unfortunately, she knew what she was capable of!

    She was nowhere close to that person in strength. Even if she tried her best with everything she had, she still couldn''t even leave a single scratch on that person! She could only end up dead which she wasn''t ready for!

    ****

    Back in the pce, the man was still sitting on his Divine Throne. However, this time, his eyes weren''t closed.

    "You think I don''t know your ambitions, little girl?" he muttered as if talking to himself. "Unfortunately, you''re still too young to go against me."

    He closed his eyes again. The majestic hall once again returned to silence...

    ****

    Gabriel entered the Abandoned City of Gods, once again. This time, he wasn''t walking in the back like before. Instead, he was walking in the lead.

    Jia walked behind him. However, somehow, she kept looking at Gabriel''s hands, often. It was as if she still couldn''t forget Gabriel holding her hand in the past.

    For some reason, Gabriel appeared more distant now.

    "Lord Karyk... M-may I ask how you were even to be reborn?" After a long time, the little girl finally asked the question, gathering all her courage. "If it''s a secret, you don''t have to tell me. I am just curious."

    She was still somewhat scared which was clear from her voice.

 Chapter 449 449: Absolute Control

    Gabriel didn''t even bother to stop, let alone look back. "Even if I told you, you won''t be able to replicate it. That method can only work for someone with the Element of Death."

    After speaking, he stopped. However, there was another sentence that he only thought but didn''t speak. ''Even I could only do it once in my life.''

    He didn''t want others to know that he couldn''t do the same thing anymore. It was his biggest secret.

    The little girl didn''t ask anymore. Even though Gabriel didn''t speak directly, from his words, it was clear that he wasn''t going to tell her anything.

    She only had Alion''s words to rely on. Even though she doesn''t know how that happened, she knew it had something to do with the worldly shackles that Karyk cast in the past!

    "Are we really going to the Realm between life and death?" She asked after some time. "From what I heard,st time, even you barely-"

    The little girl closed her mouth abruptly, worried that she must insult Gabriel. The man barely survivedst time, yet now he was going there again. She was somewhat worried about all their safety.

    "If you''re worried, you can go back. That ce is more dangerous that you can ever imagine," Gabriel responded, not feeling insulted in the least.

    He knew that the little girl wasn''t wrong. Even he could still remember thest time he went there. That ce was much different than anything he saw before. He had almost died there. Even he was surprised that he managed toe out of that ce alive, and that too, sessfully!

    However, even he didn''t know if he could recreate that miraculous feat. If possible, he didn''t want to go there anytime soon.

    Unfortunately, from his memories in this life, he felt somewhat close to Cylix and Novius. They were like his brothers and he couldn''t leave them behind in a situation like this.

    Moreover, there was another reason for him going back, which he didn''t tell anyone yet.

    "Can I ask one more question?" Jia fastened her pace, walking right next to Gabriel.

    She was so close to him, that her hands kept brushing against Gabriel''s hands. It was unclear if it was intentional from her or not.

    "Ask." Gabriel was still in the outer boundary of the giant City so the dangers in this ce were limited. He could easily take care of the traps that were ced along the way as if it was child''s y for him.

    "It''s about the realm between life and death," Jia spoke. "I''ve never heard about that ce. However, from what I understand after hearing about it from both of you, it feels like a ce that is closely rted to death and spirits."

    "That''s not wrong." Gabriel nodded.

    "Then why are you in danger in that ce? Aren''t you the God of Death, who has absolute control over spirits and Death?" Jia asked. In her eyes, Karyk used to be absolute authority over life and death after all. So it was all somewhat strange for her.

    "You can even create Undeads and use spirits to fight. So why is that ce dangerous for you?" she further asked. "Shouldn''t you be able to control that ce like the back of your hand!"

    "Who said I have absolute control over death?" Karyk couldn''t help but shake his head lightly.

    In his life, he heard many people say that the gods had absolute control over their elements. However, only the so-called gods of this world knew that the reality was somewhat different.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You don''t?!" The little girl eximed. "Then how...?"

    "You already know how the era of gods began, don''t you?" Gabriel asked as he finally nced at the little girl next to him.

    "I heard it was because the world was almost destroyed. At that time, because there were so many deaths at the same time, the barrier of the naturalws shattered, allowing you to gain the Element of Death, making you the first god of this world. Am I right?" The little girl asked, raising her head as if she was looking at Gabriel eagerly for him to praise her for her knowledge and right answer.

    "That''s right. I gained control of Death," Gabriel said, nodding. "However, that doesn''t make me a God."

    Jia still didn''t understand. In fact, she appeared even more confused now.

    Gabriel further rified. "I''ll make it simple so you can understand. Imagine an element is like a world."

    He raised his head. Using his Spirit Energy, he created the illusion of a small world that was floating above his hand.

    "Take this world as theplete Chaotic Element of Death that controls and maintains the life and death of all the beings in the universe, including the lives of the Gods."

    The little girl nodded. She did as Gabriel asked.

    A small portion of the world that he created started shining. "Now, this small shining portion... Imagine this ce is a small Kingdom in this world."

    The little girl didn''t speak, worried that she would disturb Gabriel in his exnation. She didn''t want to miss this opportunity as she believed that today, she was finding out about the secrets of this universe that not many people knew!

    "This small Kingdom... When we gained our abilities when the Era of Gods started, what we gained was control over this small Kingdom," Gabriel said. "However, that doesn''t mean we became the rulers of this world.."

    "That''s why, even though we''re called the Gods of this world, there are still some things about our elements that are beyond our control. We''re all still bound by thews of our elements, unable to break thosews."

    After Gabriel finished speaking, he clenched his fist, making the illusion of the world disappear. However, he still didn''t stop.

    Gabriel stopped walking and snapped his fingers. His robe and his shirt disappeared as well, revealing his bare chest.

    The little girl was stunned to see Gabriel remove his clothes so suddenly. Her face turned slightly red and even she didn''t understand why. Gabriel''s body was like a work of art. He was strong and had plenty of muscles. However, what really attracted people''s attention were the strange ck marks all over his body.

    The ck lines that created those marks appeared to be alive and pulsating with en

    ergy that was beyond the understanding of this world.

    Jia had already seen those marks when Gabriel''s clothes were destroyed before. However, she still didn''t know what those lines were. They were simr to the marks of elements of gods.

    "What are these marks?" She asked without even realizing.

 Chapter 450 450: Weak Guardian

    The strange ck patterns could be seen covering Gabriel''s entire back. However, for some reason, he looked even better with them around. As if there was something really special about those ck patterns.

    "These are what define our control over the core of our element," Gabriel responded.

    "Does that mean, you''re really not a god yet?" Jia asked, stunned. She had never heard about this before. She even wondered if this was also what the other gods were trying to achieve when they left this ce!

    "God was the name given by you all. He''s more like a candidate to be a God,"Alion chimed in before turning to Gabriel. "Should you really be going around, telling others about this?"

    "It doesn''t matter," Gabriel replied. "The ones who want to kill me already know about this. Since she doesn''t even know the basics, that only means she has nothing to do with them."

    He snapped his fingers, making clothes appear around his body again. The ming ck robe wrapped around his shoulders once again.

    Gabriel told the little girl about the basics. However, he still didn''t tell her one thing. He didn''t tell her that the more these Spirit patterns expanded around his body, the more pain he felt. It was as if his body was constantly changing into something he wasn''t.

    ****

    Elora and the others had a lead at the start. However, currently, Gabriel had already entered the inner part of the City while Elora was just reaching the entrance of the city.

    "Strange... Why are there broken statues along the way?" Elora wondered. They hadn''t yet faced any trap. However, they did find some signs of battle along the way, as if there was someone who had already taken care of all the traps in their path.

    Even thepass had stopped making any big movements, as if there were no dangers left there anymore.

    "Can we really take the main path to enter the inner parts?" One of the Head Priestesses asked Elora.

    Elora in turn looked at thepass of Maya.

    "There doesn''t seem to be any danger within a hundred meters. It seems safe."

    Elora took her first step inside the city. She didn''t know why everyone called this city the most dangerous ce. They had such an easy time there.

    ****

    While the outer part of the City was dangerous, it was nothingpared to the inner regionwhich was filled with dangers, as if this city''s entire existence was only to stop people from moving forward!

    The deeper Jia went inside the city with Gabriel, the more she realized it.

    "There''s someone ahead!" Jia suddenly stopped, sending a presence not too far from them.

    Gabriel was still calm, as if he already knew about this. Their surroundings started changing as soon as Jia reacted. The buildings around them disappeared and a strange white mist spread out.

    Not only did the mist make it hard for people to see, but it also had another magical effect. The mist messed with people''s sense of direction as if it could manipte space and time itself.

    The more one stepped forward inside the mist, the further in the back they appeared!

    "This trick never changes," Gabriel muttered, somewhat irritated. He raised his right hand.

    As soon as Gabriel raised his hand, the aura of death spread out. Just his aura alone was enough to counter the mist.

    The mist slowly dispersed, revealing a strange being before them.

    The person looked like a human. Yet at the same time, it looked like something else. The man had a human-like body. However, he had six hands instead of two hands. His entire body was muscr.

    The bare-chested man didn''t look dead. Instead, his body was full of vitality. Unfortunately, he didn''t look alive either. His eyes were blood red and his face was nk, as if he was nothing more than a puppet.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Isn''t he...?" Alion frowned. "I thought he was dead!"

    "He''s notpletely dead. He''s in control of someone else. When I came herest time, this guy also fought me," Gabriel answered. "When it was about to lose, it disappeared."

    "He''s the guardian of the core region of the City. In other words... He''s the one who guards the path that leads to the realm between life and death. So you should be able to guess why he''s still alive..."

    "You mean he''s being controlled by a Spirit from the Nether Realm?'' Alion frowned. He finally understood why the man looked dead and alive at the same time.

    Gabriel didn''t just answer. Instead, he raised his right hand.

    "You''ve annoyed me enough," he told the being before him. However, just as he finished speaking, that man disappeared.

    The man appeared right behind Gabriel, stunning Jia and Alion who didn''t even have time to react.

    The man punched with all six fists at the same time. His physical strength also appeared to be contactable to Jia''s strength. It was as if just one punch from that man could shatter even stars.

    Not only did the man have strength, but his speed was also something mystical, almost bordering teleportation, making it impossible for others to keep up with him!

    Boom~

    The man''s fistsnded on Gabriel''s back, all at once. However, what happened next made even Jia tremble!

    Gabriel didn''t even move from his spot. It was as if he was a wall while the being who punched him was no more than a child.

    Gabriel''s reaction was still calm. However, the reactions of the being behind him twisted in fear and anger.

    "You''re too weak to y with me." Gabriel''s calm voice fell in the ears of the six-armed man.

    The man made a quick decision, jumping back. However, as soon as hended in the back, his body dropped to the ground, lifelessly.

    It was just his body that moved back. However, his spirit couldn''t move back at all!

    It was as if some mysterious force had trapped his soul in its ce, making it unable to move at all.

    That invisible force was not only strong enough to hold the spirit back, but it also made the spirit feel immense pain.

    Gabriel turned around,zily ncing at the spirit which was struggling to free itself.

    "And here I was wondering, how I could get your spirit. Who would''ve thought that you would deliver it personally..."

    He ced his finger on the forehead of the evil spirit. The spirit screeched in pain as it was slowly devoured by Gabriel.

    Spiritual energy entered Gabriel''s body, not only making him stronger but also giving him some of the memories of the spirit.

    Before long, the entire spirit disappeared. As for the body of the man, it slowly disinterested, turning into a pool of blood in the middle of the street.

    Jia was still standing in a daze. It was the first time she had truly seen Gabriel''s skills when it came to dealing with the Spirits. She even wondered if Gabriel could kill everyone like this! It was a brutal way to kill someone after all!

    She understood even better why Gabriel was so frightening in his era. Just because he had been kind enough with her to answer her questions, she had forgotten for a moment that he was the Death Star!

 Chapter 451 451: Stairway To Hell

    "Why do I feel like you''ve be even stronger ever since your return?" Alion asked, taking a subtle nce at the pool of blood in the back. "I don''t remember you ever having a trick like that."

    "My strength resides in my soul." Gabriel raised his right hand in the direction of the blood pool. A small portal appeared above the blood pool that started sucking in all the blood from the pool, as if it was a ck hole.

    "With the merging of two lives, my soul is certainly stronger than it was in the past," he exined. However, only he knew if he was telling the truth or not. Alion knew that even if Gabriel wasn''t stronger than before, he wasn''t going to ept it before outsiders like Jia.

    After what happened in the past, Gabriel had been very careful in what information to give Jia. Even though he looked as if he was answering everything that Jia asked, only Alion knew that Gabriel was only giving her the information that he wanted to give her.

    Even if Jia ever spread the information he gave her, it could only make his enemies more wary about him.

    After all the blood was absorbed, the blood pool disappeared, leaving only the red marks on the street.

    Gabriel''s robe fluttered in the wind as he turned his back toward Alion and continued treading ahead.

    ****

    Half an hourter, Elora also reached the spot. The small group of people from the Church of Water still hadn''t faced any dangers. They didn''t even realize that it was because they were indirectly following Gabriel who was way ahead of them.

    All they saw along the way were battle marks and destroyed formations.

    "This looks fresh... As if blood was spilled here but long ago." Elora touched the spot on the road where the blood pool used to be.

    Even most of the blood was cleaned, but as a Holy Lord of Water, she could still feel the blood easily. She also felt that the blood didn''t belong to anyone weak! If anything, it was the blood of someone who was as strong as her, if not more.

    "Could it be that there really is someone else here other than us?" Maya asked.

    "The sounds of battles in the past and all the traps that were destroyed along the way... It can''t be anything else. We aren''t alone here." Elora nodded, slightly wondering who else coulde here that wasn''t worried about these traps and could easily walk through the deadly City!

    "Could it be another Holy Lord? Should we try to catch up to them?" One of the Head Priestesses asked. "If we can work with them, we might be able to get more information!"

    "What if they aren''t friends?" Another Head Priestesses asked. "If they try to kill us, could we really survive? I think it''s better if we follow thepass and move slowly."

    "Master, I think the same." Maya also nodded. "Since they''re moving so fast, it only means they''re in a hurry. The deeper they go, the more dangers they''ll face. It won''t be long before they are dead if they aren''t careful. We don''t need to work with idiots like them."

    "Exactly. They can lead the way as long as possible. And when they are dead, we can move ahead with the help of thepass, avoiding dangers." The Second Head Priestess also agreed, licking her lips.

    Since they were safer in the back, they didn''t have to worry about anything. All they had to do was pick up the fruits of someone else''s hard work!

    She further added. "Let them be the tools for our use! Thanks to them, we must be the ones who truly enter the core region of the City and find out the secrets that no one could!"

    Elora could only rub her forehead. She wasn''t ruthless enough to watch others die if she could save them. However, she also knew that the others were right. It was a good opportunity for them to take advantage of.

    Moreover, there really was no guarantee that the other side wasn''t going to kill them first if they went to them. In the end, she agreed with the decision of the others and intentionally slowed down even more!

    ****<novelnext></novelnext>

    The traps of the inner city were made to stop people from getting close to the core region. The traps were strong enough to hold even ordinary gods back. Unfortunately, it was different for Gabriel who had already been to that ce once.

    Not only did he know all about the traps in advance which he faced in the past, but he also had strength to force through all those traps, destroying thempletely along the way!

    The defenses of the City copsed one after the other in the face of Gabriel''s true strength. When Gabriel came to this ce for the first time, it was still somewhat hard for him to get here since everything was so new for him. However, this time things were different.

    "I didn''t think it would be so easy to pass through this city," Jia scratched the back of her head. She didn''t even have to do anything from the start. She was like a child who was just following the adults.

    "Don''t getcent," Gabriel responded. "The defense of this city is nothing inparison to the ce we''re going. Passing through the City is the minimum criteria to reach that ce... Just the ''minimum'' criteria."

    "I''ll keep that in mind." Jia didn''t talk back to Gabriel. Not only did she not have the courage, but she also believed that he wasn''t lying.

    Moreover, she knew that if it wasn''t for Gabriel traveling with them, it would''ve been almost impossible for them to get so far, let alone having strength to enter the Nether Realm.

    Thud~

    Jia walked right behind Gabriel. However, as Gabriel suddenly stopped, Jia hit him from behind.

    "This is strange..." Gabriel stood still, frowning. It was the first time throughout this entire trip that Gabriel showed such expressions.

    Along the way, it was as if he knew everything about everything. However, for the first time, even he appeared confused.

    "Did something happen?" Alion asked, wondering why Gabriel stopped so suddenly.

    He looked ahead, tryingto see what Gabriel was looking at. However, since everything in this ce was new to him, he didn''t understand what was out of ce.

    He could only see the stairs before them. There appeared no end to the stairs at all. Both sides of the stairs were covered by a strange chaotic energy, making him feel as if he was going to die if he touched that ck energy.

    "I don''t remember these stairs being here in the past..." Gabriel frowned. He tried to use his magic to disperse the ck mist to see if he could walk past the stairs without taking them.

    However, even he didn''t seed. The ck mist had the same element of death as him which countered his spell, making it impossible for him to do anything to it!

    "This chaotic energy... I only remember seeing it in the Nether Realm. Why would it be outside?"

    Frowning, Gabriel stepped closer. He reached out his hand, touching the ck chaotic mist. However, he soon pulled his hand back, feeling a terrible pain as if his hand was being destroyed by that mist.

    His hand waspletely pale, as if most of the blood had been sucked dry by that mist. Fortunately, he pulled his hand back fast enough.

    Alion also saw what that mist did to Gabriel. It was clearly more dangerous than anything they had faced before. "It looks like we can only take the stairs if we want to go further."

    Gabriel frowned, looking at the stairs. He didn''t know why, but he had a really bad feeling about this¡­

 Chapter 452 Chaotic 452: Undead!

    "Should we go up the stairs?" Alion wondered as there appeared no other way to move forward. All the other ways were blocked and almost impossible to pass through.

    Gabriel thought for a short period of time, before nodding. Even though he hadn''t seen these stairs thest time he came here, he still didn''t hesitate.

    He stepped on the stairs.

    As soon as Gabriel stepped on the first staircase, he felt as if the entire space around him had changed. He looked back yet he couldn''t see Alion and Jia anymore.

    Alion watched Gabriel step on the stairs and disappear right before their eyes.

    He also stepped up. However, he experienced the same thing as well. He couldn''t see Gabriel or Jia anymore. He was the only person on the stairs.

    ? Jia was the only person who still hadn''t stepped up. However, even she didn''t take long before taking her first step forward. Aftering this far, she didn''t want to go back.

    ****

    Gabriel was already on the first step of these mysterious stairs that he hadn''t seen before. There was no way back anymore. He couldn''t even meet up with Alion and Jia. The path back had been blocked. He could only move forward.

    He didn''t know why, but as soon as he stepped on the stairs, he felt a strange connection between these stairs and his spirit patterns. Even though he couldn''t control or see through these stairs, he felt that these stairs had something to do with his element.

    He started going up the stairs. So far, the stairs looked quite ordinary. The only thing that appeared out of ce was that some traces of blood could be seen on the initial steps.

    The marks of blood looked as if they had been there for a really long time, possibly for more than thousands of years.

    Even after such a long time, a trace of spirit aura could still be felt from the dried blood marks, which only showed just how strong the person must''ve been whose blood was spilled here.

    Gabriel kept climbing higher, yet he wasn''t able to see the end of these stairs.

    He also felt that the stairs were dangerous yet he didn''t experience any dangers so far.

    After Gabriel took his hundredth step on the stairs, the blood marks weren''t there anymore. It was as if there was a qualitative change in the stairs after he came so far. He also felt someone''s presence.

    He raised his head, looking above. Even though he still couldn''t see the end of these stairs, but he did find something even more extraordinary.

    There stood something not too far from him. It was a cloaked figure whose face was impossible to see. However, that thing had an aura of death all around it.

    The aura was so strong that for a moment, even Gabriel was surprised. Fortunately, that thing didn''t have any signs of life, or he would''ve thought that it was another person who was simr to him.

    Instead, the being was more like an undead... An undead who could use the Element of Death!<novelnext></novelnext>

    "A Lich?" Gabriel frowned. He couldn''t see the face of the thing ahead. However, from the body structure, and the aura, he already had a rough idea as to what he was facing.

    The Liches were rare in this World. In fact, it was hard to find one even for him. It was even harder to kill one!

    Many liches took precautions to hide or safeguard one or more soul-artifacts that anchored a part of their soul to the material world. If the corporeal body of a lich was killed, that portion of the lich''s soul that had remained in the body did not pass on to the next world, but would rather exist in a non-corporeal form capable of being resurrected in the near future.

    However, if all of the lich''s soul-artifacts were destroyed, then the lich''s only anchor in the material world was their corporal body, whereupon destruction could easily cause their permanent death.

    That''s why, Liches were often called one of the rare few overlords even in the realm of the undead!

    Liches were beings that were quite different from him. While Gabriel still had his independence and his soul, Liches were the ones who gave up their souls to form soul-artifacts. The Liches were known to seal their souls in exchange for immortality and strength.

    Unfortunately, that made them no different from a slightly intelligent beast. An ordinary Lich couldn''t even speak.

    So far, Gabriel only knew one Lich who could speak! It was the Lich King from the Undead Region where Raphael also resided. However, even if that Lich could speak, it was only basic, as if a child was speaking. He could only speak a few words with his limited intelligence.

    Contrary to the Lich King, the Lich in front of him felt different. The Lich that stood before him felt not only stronger, but also more intelligent!

    The Lich still hadn''t tried to attack him, but it didn''t leave either. It was as if it was judging him!

    Gabriel frowned, observing the Lich in the distance. When he came herest, he hadn''t seen one. He was clear that this thing was born in thest thousand years.

    Unfortunately, a thousand year old lich, born in the Nether Realm was much more dangerous than even the Lich King since it could utilize the Strength of the Nether Realm which was hard for even Gabriel to control for the time being.

    Gabriel had a good sense of his strength and weakness. If it was an ordinary Lich, he would''ve already tried to use the Army of Undead to turn this Lich into his own soldier but unfortunately, that was unlikely this time.

    "Are you sure you want to block my path?" he asked.

    With that kind of strength, Gabriel was sure that the Lich had a high level of intelligence... At least much closer to an ordinary human if not more.

    "You are the thief..." Only four words came out of the Lich''s mouth. However, those four words surprised Gabriel. The Lich was calling him a thief?

    "What did I steal?" Gabriel frowned. He didn''t remember stealing anything from this Lich as far as he remembered.

    "Souls... Don''t belong... You steal..." The Lich said, only speaking briefly. However, that was enough for Gabriel to realize what it was talking about!

    "So the Nether Realm sent you to stop me from entering?" Gabriel asked, slightly interested. He understood that it was becausest time he came in and stole a soul. He was clear that the Nether Realm already hated him the most so it wasn''t surprising that it was trying everything to kill him this time!

 Chapter 453 453: Are You Sure?

    If possible, Gabriel didn''t want to enter the Nether Realm since he was sure that the Nether Realm was going to go all out this time, in order to stop him from ever leaving!

    Last time, he somehow managed to leave alive. He knew precisely how dangerous that ce was. However, he had a feeling that this time, it was going to be much harder thanst time.

    Last time, he was attacked after he freed the soul of his sister. However, this time, they were trying to kill him before he could even get to the souls!

    "So that''s why these stairs were made... To make it impossible for me to escape or have enough space to dodge..." Gabriel finally realized why there were stairs here which weren''t herest time.

    Most people would''ve already tried escaping when faced with a Lich with such strength. Not only could the Lich also control magic, but it could also use the undead to fight! It was said that it was easier to kill a god than it was to kill a strong Lich.

    However, Gabriel didn''t hesitate in the slightest. Even though the presence of the Lich made him concerned, but if he couldn''t even pass through the first obstruction, how could he reach the area where the souls were kept.

    His aura also intensified, spreading out. The Lich sensed Gabriel''s aura. Unfortunately, even before Gabriel''s aura, it didn''t feel a single shred of fear. As they were both beings of Death, their auras didn''t affect each other much.

    Moreover, the Lich before Gabriel was out of his contribution. Gabriel''s control over the death was limited and the Nether Realm and its beings were precisely the things that he couldn''t control. It was like he was a King of one Kingdom while they were in an entirely different Kingdom altogether!

    "Are you really sure you can stop me this time?" Gabriel asked as his voice turned colder.

    The Godly Staff that he hadn''t used before appearing right in his hands, amplifying his existing control over the undead even more.

    Instead of being scared, the Lich nodded. "Today... You die..."

    The Lich raised both his hands. None could hear what the Lich said next. However, after a few seconds, its figure disappeared as if it had left already. However, that didn''t make Gabriel feel better. If anything, he prepared for a battle!

    The stairs that were unbreakable started splitting apart, as if cracks were developing in the middle of the stairs. The cracks widened soon as hands kepting out of the cracks.

    Before long, multiple undead beings were standing before Gabriel, from Skeleton Mages to powerful undead Orcs. Gabriel could even see some undead elves that held bows and arrows made from dead tree branches, standing far away in the distance, aiming at him.

    In such a short time, there were already over a hundred undead beings before him with different specialties.

    Some could use brute strength, without being scared of pain. Others could use magic and then there were long range attackers that used bows. It was like a short yet powerful army was created right there on the stairs to face him.

    What was worse was that the dangers weren''t just ahead of him! There were even more troubles behind him.

    In the first ny nine steps that Gabriel took, he saw blood marks in each of the steps. However, all those blood marks started changing into a pool of blood!

    From each of the blood pools, a being appeared, each made from only the blood itself!

    "Blood Demons?" Gabriel frowned, ncing back. Unlike humans, the blood Demons didn''t have bones or flesh. They were purely made of blood. What was worse was that they could heal themselves again and again, as long as each drop of their blood wasn''t destroyed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Gabriel rubbed his forehead, having a little headache. All this preparation was done, just for him. It made him feel slightly impressed that these people took him so seriously. He could only imagine how frustrated they had been for thest thousand years ever since he stole something from right under their noses.

    ****

    While Gabriel was faced with so many undead, the situation of Jia and Alion wasn''t very optimistic either.

    After leaving Gabriel, the Lich appeared before Jia.

    Unlike Gabriel, Jia wasn''t calm at the sight of the Lich. She had only heard about these beings in legends. It was her first time seeing one in reality.

    Jia held her heavy sword in her hand firmly. Just the aura of the Lich alone was enough to give her a sense of danger.

    Fortunately, the Lich didn''t take Jia seriously. Compared to a god like Gabriel, Jia was nothing in his eyes.

    He didn''t even speak with the little girl. He summoned close to ten Undeads to deal with Jia before leaving.

    It was only after the Lich left that Jia slightly calmed down. She much preferred to deal with the Undeads than to deal with a Lich who was almost impossible to kill! She only believed that Gabriel was the only person here who was capable of killing one.

    She raised her heavy Sword, pointing it toward the Undead Orc that was closest to her. "Let''s finish it fast before he returns!"

    ****

    The Lich next appeared before Alion. Even though he was only here to stop Gabriel, but he didn''t want to let others pass through either.

    He considered Alion to be more threatening than Jia and summoned over twenty Undeads before disappearing.

    Only Alion was left behind, slightly confused. He didn''t understand why the Lich didn''t try to kill them directly, instead of Summoning twenty undead. He wasn''t as strong as Gabriel tost against a Lich after all.

    Alion didn''t know that it wasn''t that the Lich didn''t fight them directly. It was just that he couldn''t. He was sent here only to deal with Gabriel. He couldn''t surpass the rules ced on him and attack others directly. In fact, what he was doing was already more than enough ording to it.

    The Lich could only personally fight Gabriel. However, he didn''t do that either. Even though the Lich didn''t show it before, but he was also a little hesitant in fighting Gabriel directly. There was an innate sense of fear inside him that he didn''t let Gabriel realize.

    He knew that it was dangerous to fight Gabriel directly. That''s why he left his undead there to deal with Gabriel or at least exhaust him so he could take advantage of the situation.

    It was only after he ced all his pawns in position that he rxed. Now all he had to do was wait... Wait for the right opportunity to strike at the so-called thief!

 Chapter 454 454: What Could A Dead Person Even Do?

    Gabriel stood in the midst of hundreds of enemies that could neither feel pain, nor fear.

    What was worse was that he was attacked from both sides, front and back. Due to being on the stairs, he didn''t even have enough space to dodge.

    The stairs also had a sealed space, making it impossible to open up a space to teleport to a different ce. One could only climb up step by step if they wanted to go above.

    The Undead Orc rushed to Gabriel, holding a heavy ax in his hand. On the back, the Blood Demon''s hand transformed into a sharp bloody Sword that he swung at Gabriel''s back.

    "If you think making it crowded is enough to kill me, then you still underestimate me a lot." Gabriel''s cold voice spread far.

    nk ~

    A metallic sound was heard, followed by a boom. On one side, Gabriel called out the Sword of Ulien that he used to block the ax of the Undead Orc. At the same time, on the other hand, he held the real Ancestral Staff of Death.

    To fight the Undead Orcs, Gabriel knew that just his cold weapon was enough. However, the Blood Demon''s weren''t so special as their blood was their weapon. Only magic could stop them.

    The Book of Necromancy came out of his body, floating right before him as well. The Book of Necromancy looked slightly bigger now. Its aura was more subtle now. However, multiple spirits could be seen floating around it.

    As soon as the book appeared, the Orcs and the Blood Demons stopped for a moment. However, it was just a brief moment before they broke free of the subconscious control of the Grimoire.

    "Spirit Explosion."

    After the Blood Demon was blocked,Gabriel used his first spell. An evil spirit rushed out from the Grimoire, as if it was unable to control itself.

    The spirit shot straight to the closest Blood Demon, only exploding after it struck the Blood Demon.

    Boom~

    A loud explosion took ce that made even the stairs tremble a little. Deadly mes spread out due to the explosion, destroying more than just the one Blood Demon that was hit.

    While Gabriel dealt with the Blood Demons using magic, a head could be seen flying high in the air.

    Not long after, the head finally dropped to the ground, followed by the lifeless body of the Undead Orc who was in by Gabriel''s Sword.

    Gabriel took a step forward, climbing up. Even with so many undeads to face, he still had an advantage that the Lich didn''t think of. Even though the stairs made it impossible for him to dodge, but at the same time, it was precisely because of it that more than a few Undeads couldn''t fight him at the same time.

    What was even better was that even the Undeads couldn''t dodge!

    The Magic Casters and the Undead Elves were more troublesome since they attacked from long range. It was very hard to kill them without exposing himself to danger. That''s why, Gabriel just let them be for the time being.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He simply cast a small barrier in the air above him to protect himself from the magic attacks and the arrows of the Undead Mages and the Archers. The Undead Orcs before him also acted as his shield so that any attack from the Mages could onlye from above him which gave him this opportunity.

    With each step that Gabriel climbed, the head of an Undead Orc rolled on the stairs while their bodies dropped lifelessly. Gabriel climbed the stairs, walking above the corpse on each of the steps. At the same time, the Blood Demons behind him were having an even harder time getting close to him.

    They were the ones who had to face the brunt of Gabriel''s magic. They were usually very hard to kill. However, in front of Gabriel, all their weaknesses were exposed, leaving all their ws in the open for him to exploit.

    One after another, the Undeads kept dying. Whether it be strength, magic or defense... Gabriel was above the Undead in all these aspects. What was even better was that the Lich underestimated him.

    Not only did Gabriel not exhaust himself, instead he was only recovering his strength the more he killed. It''s been a long time since he could kill so many after all.

    Within the next ten minutes, Gabriel had already climbed fifty more steps, leaving only fifty or so more.

    He also dealt with all the Blood Demons behind him and the Undead Orcs. The stairs of hell were covered in blood and footsteps that belonged to him.

    Now all that was left were the Undead Skeleton Mages and the Archers. However, Gabriel didn''t deal with them one by one.

    He just raised his right hand in the direction of the Undead Skeletons and the Archers.

    "Devour." Only one word came from his mouth... A world belonging to a spell that he hadn''t used before in his current life.

    As soon as Gabriel used the spell, it was as if time stopped at once. The Archers and the Skeleton Mages stopped even moving, as if their souls were going through sevenyers of hell, unable to even see what was happening right before their eyes.

    At the same time, an invisible force kept attacking their body, slowly devouring it.

    Within seconds, over fifty Undeads were dead, leaving not even a single drop of blood behind. What was even better was that Gabriel felt as if he had regained all his strength that he spent in casting the spell.

    "Are you going to show yourself now, or should I drag you out personally?" Gabriel asked as he kept climbing upzily.

    "You are strong." A lifeless voice was heard before a cloaked being appeared at the top stair.

    The Lich had appeared again. However, he was somewhat surprised himself. He wasn''t even born when Karyk came herest time. So he hadn''t seen Karyk''s means or how this guy faught. He only heard some things about Karyk which made him believe that he could easily take the guy down.

    He didn''t realize that everything he heard wasn''t entirely correct. He lived in the outermostyer of the Nether Realm. The beings there were the most arrogant. Even if they were brutally thrashed, they would''ve never epted the opponent''s strength.

    Just to maintain their dignity, the others from the outeryer that saw Gabriel''s onughtst time bragged that Gabriel was just lucky to be able to avoid their pursuit. They didn''t say that it was them who were hiding when Gabriel was in the outeryer of the Nether Realm.

    It was all because they didn''t really believe that Gabriel was still alive. What could a dead person even do even if he found out that they were lying.

 Chapter 455 455: The Last Chance

    The poor Lich took them for their words and came out of the Nether Realm to guard its borders to get rid of the ''Shameless'' person who only knew how to sneak around and hide.

    The Lich had been waiting here for close to five hundred years, for this moment exactly. He didn''t even know that the others in the outeryer of the Nether Realm wereughing at him for waiting for a dead person who was never going toe!

    "I''m not strong," Gabriel responded. "Instead, you''re weak. I will give you one chance! It''s not easy for a Lich to grow up to your level! Surrender to me and clear my path! I''ll grant you your life and allow you opportunities to be even stronger!"

    "A cowardly human who only knew how to hide and steal in the past is talking about sparing my life? Laughable!" The Lich spoke coldly, expressing some killing intent as well.

    "I won''t allow you to step inside the Nether Realm. Today is the day you die for your sins!"

    The Lich raised both his hands, joining them together. "Just because you killed them, you think I can''t bring them back?"

    The Lich used all his strength to bring all the undead back again that Gabriel dealt with before. This time, he wasn''t going to let Gabriel fight them alone; instead, he was going to kill him together with his undead!

    "I''ll personally lead this battle! Even if you keep killing them, I''ll keep bringing them back! I''ll see how long you canst!"

    The Lich still didn''t want Gabriel to get close to him. He was very careful. He wanted to make it a battle of attrition where no matter how many undead Gabriel killed, it wasn''t going to make any difference.

    After a day, or a week, or even a month, the Lich didn''t believe that Gabriel could survive this unending onught for an eternity!

    "Hmm?" After a few seconds, the Lich opened his eyes in disbelief. "How is this possible?! Why can''t I bring them back?! What did you do?!"

    For the first time, the Lich lost hisposure as his sharp screech echoed.

    "Are you talking about them?" Gabriel raised his right hand, clenching his fist.

    A strange aura of death covered the stairs. It was as if Gabriel''s magical energy was directly prating inside the stairs this time.

    Now that he spilled so much blood on the stairs, bathing it in blood, he had managed to gain some of the control over the stairs. What was even better was the second thing.

    Cracks opened up in the stairs. And what happened next made the Lich take a step back in shock.

    The Blood Demons that he created before came back to life! The Undead Orcs also woke up, as their heads flew to their bodies, merging. It was as if they werepletely fine now!

    The Undead Skeletons Mages and the Archers were also back! However, instead of being happy, the Lich was in disbelief.

    When he tried to wake them up again, he couldn''t even feel them. However, Gabriel seeded instantly! This was nothing like he nned! He wanted to make it a battle of attrition for Gabriel! Who would''ve known that Gabriel had already prepared to use the same trick for him.

    "I know that you won''t die even if I kill you here," Gabrielzily spoke. "Your real soul should be sealed somewhere else. So even if I kill you, it won''t be useful. It''ll just be a waste of my time."

    "That''s why, why don''t you y with my toys for the time being? I''ll deal with you when I''m back."<novelnext></novelnext>

    After Gabriel finished speaking, his figure disappeared. He wasn''t on the stairs anymore. On the other hand, the Lich was even in a worse situation. Not only did Gabriel steal the control over his Undeads, but Gabriel also stole the control of the stairs.

    The spatial restriction that was ced on Gabriel disappeared while the same restrictions were ced on the Lich.

    All the Undeads that once fought for the Lich now attacked him, intending to destroy his body.

    Even without his Undead, the Lich wasn''t weak. He fought back with everything he had, even calling a Wraith to help him. Unfortunately, nothing helped him. The more Undeads he killed, the more they returned back to life. It was exactly like his n.

    It was as if he was using his skull against a wall and hoping that it would break, but he was only exhausting himself.

    The more this battle went on, the more exhausted he became. He couldn''t even leave without killing all of the Undeads. Some arrows impaled his arms, but he still kept fighting, facing attacks after attacks.

    ****

    "I gave you a choice. You can''t me me," Gabriel appeared outside the boundaries of the stairs, looking back in the direction of the stairs.

    Before him, there was a giant door. The door appeared to be made from blood crystals. It was not only impossible to break, but the more one was in contact with the blood crystals, the more they had the chance of losing their mind into the sea of bloodlust. That''s why, many people tried to avoid even going near the Blood Crystal Door.

    Unfortunately, this door was the only way to enter the Nether Realm! This door was also at the heart of the Abandoned City of Gods!

    While Gabriel was observing the door that he was seeing after a long time, he felt some footsteps behind him.

    "You came out pretty fast," Gabriel muttered, without even looking back.

    Alion smiled in response. "If I couldn''t even take care of a few Undeads, it would''ve been embarrassing."

    "So this is the door of the Nether Realm?" He asked, looking at this door for the first time in his life.

    Gabriel nodded as he opened his lips to answer. However, just as he was about to speak, more footsteps were heard.

    Jia was also out of the stairs. Her Sword was covered in blood that was still dripping down. However, her face and expressions were still as innocent as before. There was not a single scratch on her body, let alone a single speck of dust on her clothes.

    It was as if the Undeads couldn''t even get close to her.

    "Now that you''re both here, this will be yourst reminder," Gabriel said, ncing at the door before him. "This is yourst chance. You can still leave. If you enter that ce with me, there''s a high chance that you''ll end up dead!"

    As Gabriel spoke, he also touched the door, pushing it with all his might.

 Chapter 456 456: Ordinary Person

    The Door used the Blood Crystals for its construction. A single blood crystal alone contained immense blood energy that could make anyone go crazy, filling them with bloodlust. A door made from thousands of such crystals was even more dangerous.

    Even for Gabriel, who had a lot of blood on his hands due to killing many people, it was hard to keep his mind calm.

    Multiple thoughts rushed into his mind, trying to overwhelm him. It was as if thousands of voices were whispering in his ears, telling him to kill everyone who was near him to get immense strength!

    Gabriel fought back against these bloody thoughts, knowing that these were the effect of the Blood Door.

    "Let me help you!" Alion stepped forward. The door was hard to open. Even with Gabriel using all his strength, the door clearly looked so heavy that Gabriel could only move it a few inches in every attempt.

    "Stay back!" Gabriel yelled back. He could at least control himself even when he was in contact with the Bloody door, but it was almost impossible for Alion.

    Even though he was opening the door slowly, it was still not bad. After a few minutes, he finally managed to open the crack between the doors enough so that one person could enter at a time.

    After opening the doors, Gabriel finally took his hands off, breathing heavily. Just opening the door itself was like fighting a great war in his mind.

    He told the others to follow closely behind before passing through the crack in the door, disappearing into an unknown space.

    Alion and Jia entered after him, acting cautiously to not touch the door on their way.

    ****

    "This ce..."

    Alion and Jia appeared in an entirely different space. It was their first time in the Nether Realm but what they saw stunned them thoroughly.

    They were still in the outermostyer of this Realm yet they still felt the aura of death pressing down on them! This ce was simply heaven for the undead beings.

    The sky had no sun, yet this ce was bright enough for them to see their surroundings clearly.

    The sky wasn''t blue like they could see on earth. Instead, it had a reddish yue, as if someone had painted the sky blood red.

    Let alone the sky, even the ground here was different. There were no signs of life anywhere. With the atmosphere around this ce, it wasn''t surprising for them to find not a single de of grass in this ce.

    The temperature was also very high, as if they were standing right at the edge of an active volcano.

    "This is the Nether Realm?" Jia observed his surroundings. This ce was something that she always wanted to see eversince she heard about it. However, now that she was here, this ce really didn''t look anything special.

    "It is just the outermost edge of the Nether Realm. It''s obvious you won''t see much here," Gabriel casually answered. "However, this ce is more mystical than you can imagine."

    "It''s one of the three mystical realms in our universe after all." Alion nodded. "It''s no less special than the Upper Realm that all the gods went crazy for. The only difference is that it''s much harder to survive in this ce."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Other than the souls that are entrapped there, what''s so special about this ce?" Jia asked, following Gabriel and Alion deeper into the Nether Realm.

    Since they were still in the outermostyer, let alone finding anyone, they couldn''t even see a single structure. They just walked over a barrennd that was filled with cracks. Not even a single droplet of water could be seen in this as far as the eyes could see.

    "This ce is dangerous, but it also contains many opportunities," Gabriel exined while navigating further.

    As this realm had no sun or winds, it was very hard for people to navigate through this ce and find the right direction to get out of the destend. All the directions looked the same after all.

    "Once upon a time, this Realm used to be more developed than the Upper Realm. However, something happened which resulted in this ce bing what it is now. Despite that, this ce is filled with treasures."

    "Moreover, Earth isn''t the only world that has a portal to enter this ce. There exists one such portal in every world, including the upper realm. Unfortunately, no one dares toe to this ce anymore."

    Gabriel had no idea if he was walking in the right direction or not. Even his own perception of direction was messed up in this ce.

    He could only leave everything to his inner sense which was somewhat connected to the souls of Novius and Cylix, hoping to navigate the right direction.

    Along the way, just to keep him engaged, he told Alion and Jia about some of the history of this ce. Unfortunately, even his own knowledge was very limited.

    "If it was more developed than the Upper Realm, then how did it fall to this point?" Jia asked, stunned. She couldn''t even imagine the Upper Realm falling to this point out of nowhere while this ce supposedly used to be even better.

    "I heard that a True Immortal God died at this ce," Gabriel let out, remembering a story he had heard when he was in the upper realm. He didn''t know how true the story was.

    "Ever since that day, the entire Realm changed. From that day onwards, the Realm lost all its vitality, making it almost impossible for beings even more powerful than me to live in this ce."

    "You want to know why?" He asked, ncing back at the little girl.

    "Why?" Jia frowned. She had a feeling that this world was truly not simple. She didn''t know what it was, but ever since she entered this ce, she had a feeling that something was wrong with her. She just couldn''t put a finger on it.

    "Because you can''t recover your strength in this world," Gabriel smirked. "On earth, or in the upper realm, you can recover your spirit essence from the air around you and use it to cast spells even when you''re exhausted once."

    "However, there''s no such thing here. Once you exhaust all your strength, you can''t recover it."

    "What''s worse is that all your divine treasures are useless in this ce. A slightly more talented person can kill you even with an ordinary iron sword while you carry your treasure sword."

    "This world is truly dead, and so are all the treasures. That''s why, it''s useless to carry treasures to this ce. They can''t help you much. What''s even worse is that your divine protection is useless in this ce."

    "In short, you''re no different than an ordinary person after you exhaust all your strength in this ce. So you better use your spells and strength only when absolutely necessary. Otherwise, you won''t even know how you died!"

 Chapter 457 457: Nether Clan

    "Can''t recover?" Jia''s face went nk. If what Gabriel said was true, then she finally understood why the great gods refused to enter this ce!

    In this ce, they had no advantage! Outside this realm, they could use all their strength to face their enemies. However, when they were inside this Realm, they could be killed much more easily! Even defensive treasures were useless here!

    She was already wondering why Gabriel brought her and Alion to this ce. Gabriel was already the strongest amongst them after all. There was no way he would''ve brought two burdens like them after all!

    She finally realized the difference between the three of them was much smaller in this ce and Gabriel could use their strength to deal with minor troubles until they were exhausted. That way, he could save his strength for the real powerful enemies and traps!

    Despite hearing it from Gabriel, the little girl still tried to test. She tried to absorb the Spiritual Aura from the air. Unfortunately, she couldn''t feel even a single trace of it! It was as if she really was no more than a mortal who couldn''t even feel any magical aura in the air.

    She brought out Spirit Crystals. Even if she couldn''t absorb spirit aura from the aura from the air, she believed that she could at least use her Spirit Crystals.

    "They are also useless. You''d be much better after giving up hope. I''ve tried everything thest time I was here," Gabrielzily answered. He didn''t even need to look back to see what the little girl was trying.

    Unlike Jia, Alion was more calm. He already knew everything that Jia was just finding out.

    Jia closed her fist, using the Spirit Crystal. Unfortunately, even with the Spirit Crystal, she couldn''t recover any strength! This ce was just too mystical!

    "Without being able to recover our strength, can the three of us really seed?" she asked, looking nkly at the Spirit Crystal in her hand that was no more than an ordinary stone at the moment.

    "It depends on how you use your strength and how many enemies we face." Even Gabriel wasn''t sure if he could seed this time.

    His situation was even worsest time. When he was here for the first time, he didn''t know about the specialty of this ce. He had already wasted a lot of his strength facing enemies in the outeryer.

    That left him with very little Spiritual Strength forter. It was also why he couldn''t protect himself properly, getting seriously injured before he was able to leave.

    This time, he wanted to reserve his strength for the real troublesome enemies... The Nether ns of the Core Region.

    Unfortunately, he also knew that unlikest time, the enemies weren''t going to underestimate him now. If they remembered who he was, then they were all going toe for him.

    "You two, I have a special mission for you this time. That''s also the reason I brought you to this ce."

    Although Jia believed that Gabriel brought them here so he could use them in the initial battles to reserve his strength, she didn''t realize that she was absolutely wrong. His real intentions were much different.

    For a brief moment, Gabriel stopped and turned around, looking at the two before him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    In the middle of the destend, only three people could be seen. One was speaking while the other two were listening carefully, at times revealing shocked expressions on their faces.

    "Are you looking for death?" Alion eximed in disbelief. "After you''ve sessfully managed to return, you want to do this? Did you go crazy during the soul merger or something? I absolutely won''t agree to this! You know how dangerous this is!"

    Jia also had the same thought. The only difference was that she didn''t speak her thoughts out loud. She only said mildly, "I don''t think this is good."

    "I''m not asking you. I''m telling you." Gabriel didn''t even bother to convince them. It was his decision and it was final. "If you two don''t agree, we can go back. I can find other people who will agree with me."

    Alion and Jia went silent. They didn''t doubt Gabriel''s words. It didn''t look like he was joking either.

    After a long period of silence, Alion and Jia eximed in unison. "Alright. We will do it."

    "That''s much better." Gabriel nodded in satisfaction. His purpose in bringing these two people here was almostpleted. Now all that was left was the execution of the n.

    However, before all that, they still had to find a way out of this destend and leave the outeryer.

    For the next seven hours, Gabriel and the others walked on the driednd. Along the way, Gabriel told the two more about this ce.

    "As I said before, it''s hard for people to live here. However, that''s not the case for all. There are a few ns that not only live here, but also possess immense strength. Three ns in particr that you need to keep in mind."

    "The first is the Nether Blood n, consisting of humans that were born in the Nether Realm itself. They can''t use any Spiritual Energy in this ce, thus, they use a different method to strengthen themselves... Blood magic."

    Jia looked at Gabriel in confusion, not understanding what Blood Magic was. However, before she could even ask, Gabriel continued.

    "The second that you need to keep in mind is the Nether Beast n. They are born with incredible physical strength. They are real beasts that can take human shape once they are strong enough."

    "Amongst the great beast n, look out for the ones that can take human shape and have two dragon-like horns in their head and light blue skin. They are the Flood Dragons, having the highest strength in the Nether Demon n."

    "If youe across them, don''t look back and just run. You two will die in less than ten seconds if you try to fight them. It took me a great effort to kill themst time I was here. Those bastards were the ones who made me exhaust most of my strength, giving the Nether Blood n a chance to injure me."

    As Gabriel spoke, he couldn''t help but remember the battle as if it was just yesterday. After he saved the soul of his sister, he fought with three beasts from the Nether Demon n that blocked his path. Two amongst them were Flood Dragons.

    "As for the third great n, it consists of the undead beings that were born in the bloody rift of the Nether Realm. They have low intelligence but high strength. They are also the ones who guard the Soul Equilibrium.''

 Chapter 458 458: Overlords

    Jia and Alion knew that the Nether Realm was dangerous. However, it was only now that they realized truly how dangerous it was. They were already weak while their enemies were strong here.

    What was worse was that there were only three of them while the other side had entire ns behind them with seemingly inexhaustible strength. Moreover, the ce where they could find the souls were also heavily guarded, making it almost impossible to sneak inside.

    Jia didn''t even know what Blood Magic was. She could understand why the Undead were strong. They didn''t need spiritual strength. They were half dead after all. As for the Beast n, they were born with incredible physical strength so it wasn''t anything out of ce.

    It was the humans of the Nether Realm that seemingly used the Blood Magic. ording to Gabriel''s n, the chances of theming across Blood Magic users were close to none. However, she still wanted to be ready for the scenario.

    "What is Blood Magic?" Jia asked, frowning.

    "Using Blood as a medium of strength," Gabriel answered. "This Realmcks the spiritual aura that others use. However, what it doesn''tck is Blood."

    "The Ancient battlefield of this ce has been basked with the blood of many incredible beings in the past. The Blood Magicians use their own blood as sacrifices to summon the ancient warriors from the forgotten era that had died in this Realm and had their blood absorbed by this ce."

    Jia already knew that Blood Magic wasn''t special. However, as she heard more about it, she realized that it was more than just a little special! The Blood Magicians were somewhat simr to Summoners! However, they didn''t summon beasts!

    They used their Blood as the sacrificial source to summon ancient beings to fight for them if needed.

    "Since they''re Summoners, they should be quite weak personally. It shouldn''t be hard to kill them if we ignore their summon and directly kill them," Jia thought out loud. With her speed, she didn''t think that the Blood Magicians could be a threat to her if she didn''t give them a chance.

    Only the Nether Beast n was worth her concern if she came across them. Their physical defense was said to be very strong after all.

    Seeing Jia look down on the Blood Mages, Gabriel could only shake his head. There was a saying that people with narrow world views often failed to see the profound secrets. Jia was a living example.

    "If you underestimate the Blood Mages, you might find yourself at a loss. There''s a reason that whoever tries toe to this Realm died. And that had nothing to do with the Beast n or the Undead. It''s because of the Blood Mages..."

    "Because of the Blood Mages?" Jia asked, slightly taken aback. "You mean the humanns here are more dangerous than the other ns?"

    "I told you that they can summon. But if that was all, they wouldn''t be called the Royals of the Nether Realm," Gabriel casually answered. "The absolute Ruler of the Nether Realm was also from the Blood n thest time I was here."

    Jia rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache. She had been trying to be optimistic. However it was as if Gabriel didn''t even want them to have hope of getting out of this ce alive.<novelnext></novelnext>

    One after another, he kept giving them blow after blow. Just when they prepared themselves for one danger that he talked about, he tossed out information about something even more dangerous and it kept continuing.

    At the moment, it felt less like a rescue mission and more like a suicide mission. Unfortunately, they were already here and there was no way back. She could only try to keep faith in her abilities.

    "Why is the Blood n so dangerous? Aren''t they also humans? How can they scare even the Upper Realm beings from stepping foot in this ce. Even if there is no recovery in this ce, it shouldn''t intimidate them that much. How did the Blood n be the overlord of this ce?"

    "I heard that it has something to do with the ancient being who died in this ce, changing the entire Realm into the realm of death that we know today. Is it true?" Alion also inquired. His knowledge was also very limited in this matter.

    "How should I know? I didn''t talk to anyone from the Blood n. However, I did hear some stories myself. As for how believable those stories are, I am not sure." Gabriel nodded.

    "ording to the legends, after the ancient being died in this ce, this entire Realm became a cursed ce where the Spiritual Strength started dying."

    "It was an era of great change for this ce. ording to stories, it was also around that same time that a human managed to get a single blood droplet from that Ancient Being''s body before its body was destroyed."

    "It''s said that the human used that blood droplet. Not only did it increase his strength immensely, almost to the level of gods, but it also gave him some inheritance from that dead Ancient Being."

    Even Gabriel was intrigued by the stories that he heard about this Realm. Even in the era where he had infiltrated the Nether Realmst time, the Overlord of this realm wasparable to the Ruler of the Upper Realm.

    However, that person didn''t reveal himselfst time he was here. Gabriel didn''t know why that person didn''t try to stop him. He wasn''t even sure if he could''ve managed to leave if that person had shown himself since he had already exhausted all his strength at that time.

    Gabriel knew that if that person had shown himself, he would''ve had no choice but to cast a World Level Spell in this ce which was hisst resort.

    "The Inheritance of the dead ancient being? If that person''s death caused this entire Nether Realm to turn into a deste wastnd, then just how strong must he be? How strong must his inheritance be?" Jia''s eyes revealed an envious gaze for the first time.

    She couldn''t help but be jealous of the Ancestor of the Nether Blood n for receiving that inheritance, jumping from being a nobody straight to being an overlord.

    "You don''t have to guess. The inheritance was supposedly a skill that allows them to absorb blood from the living beings that they kill. In that way, they can steal the strength of others," Gabrielzily answered.

    "That''s why, in the era after that, anyone who entered this Realm was hunted and killed by the Blood n who were taught this skill by their Patriarch. The Upper Realm tried to have their revenge."

 Chapter 459 459: Supreme Element

    "They could''ve sent an army to raze all the ns of this Realm. However, before the limitations of this world, their army couldn''t recover their strength once they used it. At the same time, the Blood n could recover nonstop by absorbing the blood of each person they killed."

    "The Blood n could fight nonstop as long as they could kill enough. In other words, every person they killed became their strength! That''s why, the Upper Realm gave up and just forbade their people from entering this realm."

    "The Upper Realm doesn''t send anyone because there''s no benefit and only death that awaits their people if theye here. However, at the same time, the Nether Realm can''t send anyone outside either."

    " Their advantages are essentially useless in the outside world where people can recover their strength from their surroundings. That''s why the stalemate took ce."

    Even though Gabriel appeared to know a lot of things about this ce, it was all from his past life. As he had been dead for close to a thousand years, he didn''t know what changes may have urred in the Nether Realm and the Upper Realm.

    The only thing he was sure about was that the Blood n probably didn''t have anyone that they could use to strengthen themselves since outsiders stopped entering. He didn''t believe that the Blood n could''ve been stronger than they were when hest came here.

    The Undead didn''t have blood for the Blood n to use. At the same time, the Nether Beast n had Beast Blood which was like poison for humans. Thus, without outsiders, the Blood n had no choice but to develop slowly, unlike their rapid eleration from the past.

    Even though the Blood n tried to lure outsiders through various means, all their efforts failed due to the Upper Realm which prohibited anyone from entering this ce. The Upper Realm was very concerned about the Blood n''s growth and didn''t want to give them an opportunity.

    If anything, the Upper Realm was waiting for the day when the Blood n would get impatient and leave this ce so the Upper Realm could ughter them all!

    As Gabriel spoke, he noticed Jia looking back again and again.

    "Why do you keep looking back again and again? Is something there?"

    "Nothing, I''m just wondering if the door is still open. Maybe I should stand outside the door of the Nether Realm to make sure no one enters this ce from outside to disturb you."

    Jia didn''t show even a trace of embarrassment. However, Alion could see what was in her mind. He couldn''t help butugh.

    The girl who chased after him for so long was genuinely scared this time and wanted to find an excuse to leave. Even though he couldn''t me her, he still found it funny.

    This trip was really dangerous for sure, especially with how they were like walking food for the Nether Blood n which had been starving for over a thousand years for fresh blood!

    Even Gabriel felt slightly amused. The little girl certainly cared about her reputation. Instead of showing that she was scared, she was still finding a righteous cause.

    However, he also knew that she was only hesitating slightly. She wasn''t really a coward. If she was, she would''ve already turned around and left long ago.

    Gabriel slowed down, walking right next to the little girl.

    He ced his left hand on the head of the little girl, roughing up her head, as if he was an older brother who was messing with his little sister.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You don''t have to be so scared. I told you, the Nether Blood n will have no interaction with you. Just follow the n. I''ll take care of them."

    The little girl could only nod her head. She was one of the strongest people that she knew. However, her strength was nothing inparison to the ancient giants like the God of Death Karyk, or the Patriarch of the Blood n who wasparable to the mighty ruler of the Upper Realm.

    Even when she was in the Upper Realm, there were thousands of people who were much stronger than her. As for the Ruler of the Upper Realm, even though she hadn''t seen that mysterious person before, however she still knew that he wasn''t something that she could everpare to!

    He was someone that had such a high level that he was like the majestic sky while she was an ant, crawling on the ground.

    She didn''t even know if Gabriel could bepared to her.

    From what she heard through Gabriel, she really felt that the Ruler of the Upper Realm was someone who had managed to gain a hundred percent control of his element, or even surpassed the level after that.

    In fact, she didn''t even know just how many people were there in the Upper Realm who reached that level, leaping through the gate of heaven, gaining strengthparable to true gods.

    Whenever she thought about the fact about how strong Gabriel''s enemies were, she could only sigh.

    However, she was optimistic about one thing. It was Gabriel''s Element! There were many special elements in the world. me, Water and others were ordinary elements.

    Above them were special elements like Light, Darkness and such. The Special Elements were inherently stronger than normal elements. However, at the absolute peak, there was another ss of Elements... The Supreme Element!

    It was said that this tier contained rare few elements like Space, Time, Life and Death!

    Even though Gabriel didn''t have a hundredpercent authority over his Element yet, but because of how special his element was, he could face those beyond his level already! She could only imagine how strong he could be if he gained absolute authority!

    She could already imagine a scene where the supreme warriors from all over the universe who died a long time ago came to life at the same time, fighting for Gabriel! She didn''t even know if that was possible but she could only think about how chilling that scene could be!

    Currently, most of Gabriel''s body was covered in the sacred Spirit Lines of Death. She could already see that those spirit lines covered over seventy percent of Gabriel''s body.

    That meant, in the World of Death, his empire already covered more than seventy percent of thend area! Just a little more and he could''ve reached the perfection. Unfortunately, thest thirty percent was the hardest.

    The further one progressed, the harder it became. It could even be seen by the Goddess of Light who was only halfway there.

    Even when Jia was in the Upper Realm, she didn''t hear anyone else possessing a Supreme Element. She had a feeling that the Ruler of the Upper Realm had a Supreme Element. However she wasn''t even sure which element it was, or if he even had any!

    All she knew was that the future wasn''t going to be peaceful.

 Chapter 460 460: He Really Is Back...

    Gabriel was inside the Nether Realm which waspletely cut off from the earth. There was no way for him to contact earth without leaving this ce. That was also why he wasn''t informed about the changes that were happening on earth.

    Avilia had already located the City of Abadon. However, infiltrating it was still as hard as ever. Lambard was even more careful ever since his maid was caughtst time.

    At that moment, the entire city was sealed. Even Avilia didn''t try to enter for the time being. She didn''t want to alert Lambard and decided to wait for Gabriel to return first.

    Looking at the cloudy sky, she couldn''t help but wonder what Gabriel might be doing at the moment. However, just as she was thinking about Gabriel, she felt a strange auraing from all around.

    She turned around, ncing back in the direction of the Royal City of Arecia Empire! This aura wasn''t ordinary. It was as intense to the aura of the little girl who had single handedly defeated all the Holy Lords.

    Avilia didn''t know who this aura belonged to. However, now that Gabriel wasn''t in the Empire, she couldn''t let anything happen to that ce. At the same time, she was also d that Gabriel wasn''t there. Even if the person was strong and came for Gabriel, he was going to be disappointed!

    Avilia disappeared as she went back to the Royal City of Arecia.

    Back in the Royal City, Litvia was still guarding the Garden of Legacy. Even though she couldn''t find anything out of ce in the garden, she still made sure that no one could enter that ce to mess with it.

    She also felt a simr aura. She didn''t even have to guess who it belonged to, as she saw a Majestic Door appear right outside the garden!

    The door was bigger than the door from which they entered. It was evident that someone stronger than them wasing... Probably even the High Envoy who was multiple times stronger than them!

    Their entrance doors could directly appear at the hearts of the City! No barrier was able to block them, unlike the doors of entry for ordinary envoys that appeared outside the barriers most of the time.

    While they personally had to break the barriers to travel further at times, the High Envoys didn''t have that problem.

    The majestic door from the Temple of Time opened and two people stepped out.

    In the back was Ozen who had gone back to inform the higher ups about what they experienced so that they could deal with the matters personally!

    In the front was the one leading the mission. Seeing that person, even Litvia was stunned. It was a young man, who looked like he was barely ten years old. The man was bare handed. However, there was a red gem around his neck.

    The gem was smaller than their time crystals. However, the young boy''s gem contained a thousand times more power of time!

    Litvia wasn''t surprised at the young boy''s age though. She had already seen that young boy in the Temple many times! What stunned her more was that the Temple of Time sent this person!

    She thought they would only send a High Envoy! However, the person they sent was the second inmand in the Temple of Time... A being who had lived for over a thousand years!

    While others used their life energy when they used their time crystals, growing older with each use. The young man before them was different. The more he used his powers, the younger he became!

    Everyone in the temple of Time knew that there were two people they could never offend! First was the Leader of the Temple while the second was this young-looking boy before them!<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Is this the ce?"

    The young boy had no emotions on his face. It was as if he was no more than an emotionless statue.

    Litvia nodded respectfully. "Yes, High Lord. This is the ce where the entrance of that Castle appeared! However, the entrance was destroyed by a Holy Lord."

    The man raised his brows, looking at the woman before him. "No wonder you''re still just an envoy. Your observation skills and judgment are pathetic."

    The boy didn''t even care about insulting the woman right before her eyes. He also did it without much reaction on his face, as if he expected them to disappoint him before he even came here.

    "High Lord, please guide me! What did I miss?" Litvia felt somewhat hurt since she was insulted. However, she was even more curious about what she missed.

    "That ce is Karyk''s castle. Do you think that ce and its portal could be destroyed by a Holy Lord with some clone staffs? Even real gods would''ve had a hard time trying to destroy that ce."

    The boy had juste here. However, he already guessed a few things. It was impossible for things to have progressed as these people said. If anything, the truth was that these two were fooled.

    "This..." Litvia found herself unable to respond. She didn''t even think about this before. However, now that the Holy Lord told her personally, she realized how wrong she was. She really missed a great detail!

    The Dark Robed man couldn''t be killed even by them. So how did Gabriel manage to hold him back all alone while destroying the portal? It didn''t make sense now that she thought about it clearly.

    The woman could only me herself. However the boy didn''t care.

    He simply raised his right hand.

    The beautiful red gem around his chest shone brightly as a portal appeared before him! However, the portal wasn''t something that could be used to travel! Instead, it was something that could be used to see the past events that happened at a ce!

    The farther one tried to look in the past, the more strength it took. Fortunately, the young boy was only looking back by a few days so it didn''t matter.

    Litvia and Ozen stepped behind him, looking in the portal as well which started ying some scenes of the past.

    Through the portal, they saw an empty garden where Gabriel was standing in the center.

    There were some special stones ced in four corners of the garden. Moreover, Gabriel ced a ck book in the center.

    "The Book of Death." For the first time, the young boy''s expression changed. However, itsted only for a brief moment before he returned to normal.

    "It looks like he really is back... That bastard¡­"

 Chapter 461 461: Just A Spectator

    The scene showed how Gabriel opened the Garden of Legacy with the Book of Death as the true key, before entering the ce.

    The scene changed and showed two peopleing out of the ce. One was a dark robed man while the other was a figure d in the brightest of light which made it impossible for anyone to see his face.

    However, it was different for the young man. No disguise had any effect on him, especially ones like that.

    ? His eyes could see through the barrier of light and what he saw made him frown! Inside the barrier of light, there was none other than Gabriel!

    "He can use Light as well?"

    His focus shifted to the man who was dressed in ck cloak. "Alion... Of course he woulde out as well, after hiding for so long. I should''ve guessed this already! These two really..."

    Through the portal, the two Envoys behind the young boy also saw the true face of the man in ck robe along with the face of the Holy Lord of Light! Their faces were filled with shock while anger rose in their hearts!

    Not only did they fail to guess the truth, but they couldn''t even find the Lord of Death who was standing right next to them all this time!

    Litvia clenched her fist, feeling a rage deep in her heart that made her tremble. She was truly an idiot! If it wasn''t for the High Lord of Temple of Time, she would never have known!

    "That guy is really good! He managed to fool the other Holy Lords as well!" Ozen muttered under his breath. "However, this is the end of it. Now that we know who he is, it''s only a matter of time before he dies!"

    "It''s time for the Temple of Time to appear in full strength and take back what belongs to us!" Litvia also agreed.

    However, the young boy didn''t say anything. He kept looking at the screen, frowning.

    He was sure that Gabriel was Karyk! However, something was also different about his personality! From what he knew about Karyk... That guy would never scheme like that! Karyk always used his strength to bury all resistance against him!

    If it was the usual Karyk, both his envoys would''ve died along with the Holy Lords. However, that didn''t happen. Instead, Gabriel used another method to deal with the matters. If it wasn''t for him, no one would''ve known either.

    "Just what is he scheming this time?" The young boy kept looking through the various scenes.

    He already knew that Alion was acting. He was pretending to fight with the Holy Lords and his envoys. He couldn''t help but look back at his two Envoys. He thought they were idiots but they were bigger than just idiots! They couldn''t even see through such cringe and obvious acting!

    The young boy felt like killing the two boys with a single p from his hands for just how stupid these two were. However, he controlled his anger.

    When the two Envoys the young boy looking back at him, they felt a chill run down their spine. Their entire back was soaked in sweat. They didn''t know if they were imagining things, but they thought that they saw some killing intent in the young boy''s eyes.

    Fortunately, the young boy didn''t look at them for long. He turned around and focusedback on the scenes that were ying in the front.

    "Hmm? That crazy girl is here as well? With how much she hates Alion, no wonder she came here."

    However what he saw next made him go nk! Not only did these idiots not allow the little girl to fight Alion, but they instead thought she was his ally and blocked her, giving Alion an opportunity to leave?!

    It''s been a long time since he felt such anger. He even started having a headache.

    He rubbed his forehead, as if messaging it. "Where is that little girl now?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "In the Royal Pce with..."

    "With the Lord of Death?" The boy finished the sentence as he saw the end of the battle and the little girl leaving with the man who pretended to be the Holy Priest of Light.

    The portal before the young boy disappeared. The red gem also stopped shining. However, it wasn''t long before the young boy sent a message to the Temple of Time.

    No matter how much of an idiot these two Envoys were, it was true that Karyk had returned. With his return, they also had hopes of retrieving the Orbs of Time!

    They already knew where one Orb of Time was. As for the second, it was clearly on Gabriel! It was finally time for them to get to work and desk with the ''thief'' who stole from them!

    Just after sending the message, the young boy disappeared. The next moment, he appeared in front of the Royal Castle of Arecia.

    His face was still expressionless as he looked at the castle in front of him. The castle didn''t look anything out of ce. Even though he sensed the presence of a Mage of Darkness, he didn''t care. The only thing that mattered to him was Karyk. Unfortunately, he couldn''t feel that guy''s presence inside the castle.

    Frowning, he disappeared again.

    Around fifty miles away, there was a person looking straight at the Royal Castle and the young boy who was standing in the front. It was none other than Avilia.

    She had thought that someone strong from the Temple of Time had arrived. However, she realized that it was much worse than she imagined.

    The aura that she sensed when the young boy used his red crystal was not close to the aura of Jia. Instead, it was much stronger! As if he could swallow the entire world in his aura if he wanted!

    It was clear that the man held one of the highest positions in the Temple of Time. That also meant his arrival at this ce signaled a disaster. He was after Gabriel!

    "Looked enough?"

    While Avilia was thinking about what to do next, she felt a cold yet emotionless voiceing from right behind her.

    She turned around, only to be stunned that the young boy was standing right behind her! Not only did he find her, but he also came here personally!

    "I was just curious. I was nearby when I felt your aura and came to check," Avilia responded, giving an excuse as to why she was looking at the boy. It was already clear that she had been caught.

    ***************************

    [Author Announcement 1/3/2023: I''ve released a book that will take part in the WSA 23petition. The book is titled "Eternal Viin"... A story about a person destined to be the greatest viin. The main character is blessed (Or Cursed) with a book that can grant any of his wish that he writes on it, but also at an equivalent if not worse cost!

    You can find it by searching the title on Webnovel directly.

    Even though it has only two chapters for now, if possible, please read the book and give your valuable feedback. If you like it, don''t forget to add it to your library. I am sure you won''t be disappointed :)]

    ******************************

 Chapter 462 462: Separation

    ....

    "Finally we are out of that ce!"

    A relieved sigh of Jia came from behind. She finally saw the end of that barren crack-fillednd.

    She had been walking for a long time. In fact, she had already started to lose hope about ever being able to leave this ce. It was as if there was no end to that barrennd.

    Fortunately, after hours of walking, she finally saw the terrain change in the distance.

    The new terrain was still as lifeless as before, but it was much better than the barrennd as she could see some houses spread around sparsely. Thend also didn''t have cracks the size of fists like the barrennd.

    "Wear it." Gabriel''s face was still as calm andposed as before. He brought out two sets of robes and tossed them to the two people behind him.

    It was clear that he was signaling them to wear the robes to hide their identity.

    "Now I have a general idea as to where we currently are. I''ll send a map to your mind. It''s time we separate and start working on the n."

    After Alion and Jia wore the robes, Gabriel turned around. He ced his fingers on Alion''s forehead, giving him the knowledge about what routes to take from here.

    Jia was already informed about the n and knew that Gabriel wasn''t going to travel with them. He didn''t bring them here to use them like a shield either, unlike her earlier expectations. In fact, with time, she had only realized that they were too weak to even be a shield!

    In reality, the shield was Gabriel himself! The reason he told them that they weren''t going toe across the Blood n or the Nether Beast n was because those two ns were going to be chasing after him!

    "Are you sure about this n? It might look feasible, but it''s really dangerous," Alion frowned, not leaving yet.

    "That''s right. You want to draw everyone''s attention to yourself, leaving the Soul Region unprotected. That might be good for us to sneak inside without any trouble and save the ones you want to save. However, it won''t be easy for you." Jia agreed with Alion.

    She knew that Gabriel was strong now that he had awakened all his past memories but after hearing about the forces of the Nether Realm that could even make her Lord of Upper Realm hesitate to enter this ce, she wasn''t sure if even Gabriel could pull it off.

    Unlike her and Alion, Gabriel lookedpletely unconcerned.

    "Don''t worry about me. There are still other things I need to do. You can leave. And make sure to follow the n. As soon as you save the two souls, leave this ce. I''ll leave when I''m done. So don''t wait."

    Gabriel didn''t exin much. He calmly walked away with his hands behind his back.

    No one could see what he was truly thinking. Alion and Jia also didn''t understand if he really wanted to risk his life to save two people!

    They didn''t realize that saving Cylix and Novius might''ve been one of the reasons for Gabriel toe to this ce, but that wasn''t all. There was another reason which no one knew about.

    Before long, Gabriel disappeared into the distance. His speed was much faster than Alion and Jia. It was as if he was moving more than the wind which could go anywhere instantly.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Alion remained standing in silence. After a long time, he sighed. "He never tells me what he truly thinks. Whatever, I''ll trust you like always."

    "Let''s go." He tapped Jia''s shoulders lightly. They were not as strong as Gabriel so they couldn''t afford to be as high profile as the God of Death.

    In fact, they had to travel without letting others know that there were more outsiders than one. Otherwise, the distraction wasn''t going to work.

    Fortunately, the robes provided by Gabriel helped a lot. Unless they were really close to beings of the Nether Realm, no one could realize that they were outsiders.

    *****

    Unlike Jia and Alion, Gabriel didn''t move in a low profile. Let alone using a cloak to hide himself, he traveled more openly, as if he was taking a walk in his garden. There was no intention for him to hide himself.

    Along the way, many people from the Nether Realm saw him. Most of them didn''t recognise him since they hadn''t lived long enough. However, it was clear to them at first nce that Gabriel wasn''t from this ce!

    Many even decided to kill the outsider after finding him. However, there were some who did recognise Gabriel... And what they remembered made them tremble. Their faces went pale, as if they were looking at a grim reaper.

    They were the ones who were here a thousand years ago when Gabrielst came here! In fact, they were also like the others who had attacked Gabriel right away. However, things didn''t progress as they would''ve imagined!

    That was the time when they saw how cruel Gabriel could be! The entire area was painted red in blood. The ones who remembered the past could still feel the bone-chilling fear that originated straight from their soul!

    This was a simr fear that they felt whenever they saw the higher ups of the Three Great ns of the Nether Realm.

    They were much weaker than the ones in the core region. That''s why they lived in the outeryer of the Nether Realm. They neither possessed the strength to resist Gabriel, nor the courage!

    They knew they would only be seeking death if they even tried.

    The ones who knew about Gabriel hastily stopped the others from attacking Gabriel out of fear of offending him. In fact, it was much better to secretly inform the three great ns about this, than to personally get involved!

    The others were surprised to hear about Gabriel''s past. They didn''t even believe that the man who looked so young could''ve been so scary. However, they didn''t insist on attacking him anymore. They couldn''t take risks.

    Finally, everyone in the outeryer dropped the idea of attacking Gabriel, letting him progress.

    At the same time, they also sent one of their own secretly to inform the Three Great ns about the arrival of an outsider from the past!

    Gabriel was walking in the distance, seemingly in no hurry. He already knew what was happening in his surroundings but he paid no attention to them.

    Instead, it looked more as if he was trying to find something in the outeryer¡­

 Chapter 463 463: Ghost City

    The Nether Realm... A Realm that was much bigger than earth was so vast that just the area covered by the outeryer was twice the size of Earth''s total area!

    It wasn''t easy to go from er to anotheryer as it was equal to traveling circling the entire earth!

    Fortunately, the beings in the Nether Realm weren''t backward. Despite the absence of spiritual energy, they had found a way to increase the speed of travel between ces.

    They couldn''t use spirit formations that ran on spiritual stones since they were useless here. It was precisely because of that, they found another way! Using the undead!

    There was an undead species that could use teleportation, without magic! The species was mentally weak, but had strong mastery of spatial concepts.

    In the world, every important ce had a few people from the Undead n who could use teleport to other locations.

    Whenever someone had anything urgent, they could ask the Undead n for their help in travel. However, helping or not helping depended entirely on the will of the Undead n.

    Most ordinary people didn''t even have authority to ask for the Undead n''s help in travel until it was a matter of life and death of the Nether Realm.

    Once a person was found to be lying, or exaggerating to use the Undead n, they were killed swiftly. That''s why, even when it was important, many people still hesitated and preferred slower travel!

    Only the higher ups from the Blood n and the Nether Beast n could use the Undead n for teleportations whenever they wanted. It was a deal between the three ns.

    Unfortunately, no one realized that at the moment, there was something big happening in the outeryer.

    ****

    The Ghost City was one of the biggest and most influential cities in the outeryer of the Nether Realm. Even though the outeryer was called the most uselessnd in the Nether Realm, people from the three great ns could often be seen in the Ghost City.

    Even though the three great ns had many deals between them, that didn''t mean there wasn''t conflict between them. The youngsters of the three great ns could often be seen fighting each other, right in the city itself.

    No one even dared to stop them, in fear of offending the great powers behind them! The three Great ns were the undisputed overlords of the Nether Realm after all.

    Even though the Nether Beast n and the Undead n weren''t as strong as the Blood n, their strengths weren''t to be underestimated either as no one truly knew just what the true depths of the two great ns were.

    They never revealed their true strengths after all. That''s why, no one dared to underestimate them. There were even some rumors that the Nether Beast n had a true dragon hiding inside the n!

    Obviously, the Nether Beast n never acknowledged the rumor. However, that didn''t mean it was a lie either. As for the Undead n... They were the most mysterious out of the three since they were truly born from the chaos and deaths in the Battlefield!

    At that moment, two people stood at the entrance of the Ghost City. Both those people were wearing a cloak that was covering their faces. However, that didn''t hide their heights. It was evident that one of them was a child while the other was an adult!

    Nothing seemed out of ce about their aura, as if they were ordinary people of the outeryer.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "ording to him, this is the ce." The taller person amongst the two said. He was none other than Alion. After a long and arduous trip, he had finally managed to reach this ce with Jia.

    What was fortunate was that there were no problems along the way. They stayed away from the people in the outeryer throughout their trip. They only stopped for a short period to confirm directions from the others.

    As they still hadn''t used their Spiritual Strength at all, they still had theirplete strength. They were just a little exhausted from the long journey.

    "The Nether Realm is almost as big as the upper realm. However, without the spiritual aura, it is not easy to travel."

    Jia had spent a long time in the Upper Realm and she had gotten used to the convenience of flying to their destination, or just using teleportation portals without any troubles. However, this ce was much different.

    It was like they had traveled from the modern area to the times where magic had yet to evolve.

    "I don''t think we can me the people here for that. Without the spiritual aura, it''s impossible to do anything. We also can''t waste our limited strength in flying. We have to reserve it for emergencies. There''s a long way ahead of us after all," Alion sighed, stepping inside the Ghost City.

    When Jia used to chase him in the past, many people knew of the enmity between the two. However, none could''ve expected that there would be a time when the two would be walking side by side, talking like true allies.

    "It''s already very fortunate that the Undead n has someone who can take us to our destination," Alion responded, looking in a certain direction.

    The Undead n branch was established in the center of the City along with the branches of the three other ns. That was also his current destination.

    "I don''t think the undead n will help us, even if we pretend to be people from the Nether Realm. We really might need to take them down first." Jia reminded Alion.

    If someone else from the ghost City were next to them to listen to their conversation, they would''ve been shocked. Someone was talking about taking down the mighty Undead n so casually, as if they really weren''t scared of death. Unfortunately, no one heard the conversation between the two.

    The Ghost City was huge. Even with so many people living in the city, it still appeared empty due to how big the City was.

    Just the road in the middle of the city was over twenty meters wide. One thing that the Nether Realm didn''tck was its area after all.

    Alion and Jia tried to avoid walking close to the others from the start.

    Boom~

    It hadn''t been long since the two had entered the City when they heard a loud explosion in the distance.

    They rushed over, only to find two people fighting with each other! One appeared to be a human while the other was a person with horns on his head and a light blue skin! It was just like how Gabriel described the beings from the Nether Beast Realm that they were told to avoid fighting if possible!

 Chapter 464 464: Meeting Of The Great Clans

    "Hahaha, is that all you can do?" Not too far from the young man of the Beast n, there stood a red haired man who appeared more like a human.

    There was a blood-red halberd in the hands of the red haired human that he had used to push back the youngster from the Nether Beast n.

    The red haired man''sughter had a tinge of arrogance which wasn''t hidden from anyone.

    Initially, people were stunned as to who could be stupid enough to offend the mighty Nether Beast n. However, as soon as they saw the red-haired man, they realized everything. Only people from the Blood n had strength and influence like that after all!

    Standing in the distance, Alion was also somewhat intrigued. He hadn''t expected to see people from the two ns so soon.

    Since they were still in the outer region of the Nether Realm, it was clear that the two youngsters weren''t from the main branch. They weren''t as talented as the youngsters from the core n otherwise, they wouldn''t be sent to this ce.

    However, despite being the throwaways of the two mighty ns, their strength wasn''tcking at all. Both of them had some great skills of their own.

    Seeing the strength of the two youngsters, Alion could only wonder just how strong youngsters in the Core Region of the Nether Realm could be. As for the elders and the leader of the n, that was beyond imagination for the time being.

    He finally understood just how hard it must''ve been for Gabrielst time he was here, being surrounded by Elders of the three great ns who came with the full strength of their ns behind them. To be able to leave even under that situation only showed just what level of strength Karyk had achieved at that time.

    The battle between the two youngsters didn''t end. It went on for far too long. Multiple buildings in the city were destroyed yet no one had the courage to intervene in the matters of the two ns.

    Even the City Lord could only watch with an ugly expression on his face as he watched his city being destroyed. Fortunately, the City was massive and the damage these two could cause was limited. The destruction of a few buildings was bad enough but not as bad as it could''ve been if the ones fighting were the stronger ones from the three great ns!

    If it were the two sessors of the great ns that were fighting at the moment, the entire city might''ve been destroyed by now! He could only be optimistic and be grateful that the two ns didn''t send their sessors to this ce.

    After two hours, the sounds of explosions finally stopped. The battle seemingly came to an end. Moreover, no winner was decided. It was as if both of them had an equal level of strength. However, everyone knew that the two youngsters didn''t use all they had in this fight.

    No one knew why the two ended the battle so abruptly before they could even decide a winner. Some thought that it was because they realized they couldn''t win since they were both equal. Others thought that it was because their ns told them to stop causing nuisance for no reason.

    No matter what the reason, the fight stopped.

    "Looks like I overestimated you, Awon," The Young Man from the Blood n sighed. "And here I thought, you might be able to force me to utilize all my strength. How boring."

    "Xuwen, you really know how to talk nonsense. You can''t even break my defense but you sure do know how to put up an act!" The young flood dragon scoffed.

    He knew all too well that the young man before him was just saying that to maintain his dignity. Not only had he initiated the fight, but he was also unable to end it. Even with a draw, in his eyes, the young man from the Blood n had lost!<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Keep telling yourself that." Xuwenzily responded before turning around. "I hope the next time, you''d be able to entertain me for longer."

    "Don''t worry. I''ll go easier on you next time." Awon wasn''t any less arrogant than Xuwen. His pride didn''t allow him. "That way, you won''t have to run away from a battle!"

    The young man from the Blood n frowned as his lips twitched. However, he didn''t react. He had received a message from the Blood n Branch in the Ghost City and was told toe back urgently.

    He had no choice but to leave the battle in the middle.

    The two youngsters didn''t realize that their entire battle was watched by Alion and Jia. Jia was even itching for a battle. However, she didn''t want to fight these two youngsters. Even though they were strong, they weren''t worth her attention.

    Fighting them was no different than wasting her limited energy for no reason. If possible, she wanted to one day fight the geniuses from the two ns and not some rejects.

    "Let''s get moving. We still need to find the Undead n and a way to use them." Alion left as well, followed by Jia.

    ****

    While Jia and Alion were still trying to find a way to get to the undead who could teleportthem, in another part of the Outer Region, something had already happened.

    Rike was another important City in the outer Region, which also had the branch of the Undead n that was responsible for teleportation.

    At the moment, many people in the city saw the Branch Members of the Blood n enter the Branch of the Undead n!

    In fact, one of the people who entered the Undead n was none other than the Branch Head of the Blood n.

    His face was dark at the moment. A trace of anxiousness and fear was clearly visible in his eyes. Hidden between all those emotions was anger.

    No one noticed that in the group of the Blood n, there was also another person. Even though that man wasn''t part of the Blood n, and was only a random citizen in the outer region, he was still in the group for some reason. Moreover, the Blood n members appeared to be protecting him.

    The Branch Head of the Blood n was brought to the main hall of the Undead n Branch where the Undead n branch head was waiting for them.

    While the Rike City Branch Head of the Blood n was full of vitality and looked like a great warrior, the Branch Head of the Undead n was quite different.

 Chapter 465 465: The More The Merrier

    The Branch Head of the Undead n didn''t even have a single trace of blood in his body. He was still a human but his body appeared to have decayed already. He didn''t even have eyes, only empty eye sockets.

    Despite having no eyes, it still appeared as if he was able to see through everything, including the secrets of heaven and earth!

    "What brought you here?" The Undead n Branch Head''s calm yet ancient-sounding voice was heard in the hall as soon as the Branch Head of the Blood n sat down.

    "I need to go back to the Capital. I have some information that we need to directly convey to the Monarch," the burly dark haired man responded. "Time is of the essence. So I hope you won''t waste our time."

    "Even though you''re the Branch Head of the Great Blood n, you still need to tell us the reason if you want us to send you to the Capital directly. These are the rules set by the Capital and our ancestors after the discussion between the three ns," the lifeless man responded.

    The dark haired man frowned, subtly ncing at the stranger that he brought with him. Since the rules were set in ce, he had no intention of breaking them.

    "It''s something that concerns the Entire Capital, and the Undead n even more than us." After a long time, he responded calmly. No one noticed that even though he was calm, he was also somewhat anxious deep inside.

    He was strong, but he wasn''t as strong as the ones in the Capital. The information he received was too dangerous. If possible, he wanted to go back to the capital.

    Not only could he convey this important information and get the rewards, but he could also stay much safer in the ce,pared to staying in the outeryer with such great dangers looming over his head.

    Hearing the intriguing words, the lifeless man raised his head. Even though he didn''t respond directly, it was clear that he was pondering over the meaning of those words. Something that concerned them? Now he wanted to know more about it.

    "Speak." The lifeless man nodded.

    "So you still remember what happened about a thousand years ago?"the Dark Haired man asked. The younger generation might''ve forgotten the terror of that time, but the ones from the older generation like them still remembered.

    Even though Gabriel had underyed what he did in the past in the Nether Realm before Alion and Jia, only the ones from the Nether Realm knew just what kind of terror that period of time had brought to them!

    They had used all the forces of the Three Great ns and the other minor ns to kill Karyk. They thought that Karyk was going to die easily. Unfortunately, the reality proved to be much different.

    Not only did Karyk not die, but he inflicted so many losses over the three great ns! At the moment, the Nether Realm didn''t hate anyone more than Karyk! In fact, they hated Karyk more than they hated the people from the Upper Realm.

    "Who can forget? That reaper appeared in the Nether Realm," the lifeless man responded. "But what about that? Isn''t he already dead?"

    After Karyk had escaped the Nether Realm, the Nether Emperor had sent some people outside to find out more about Karyk. However, the information they received after that put them at ease. They came to know that Karyk was already dead. He was killed by the Warriors of the Upper Realm.

    Since Karyk was already dead for them, the Nether Realm also didn''t do anything more.

    The old man just didn''t understand why the Branch Head of the Blood n would suddenly talk about that period of time out of nowhere.

    "He''s not dead." The dark haired man sighed, hiding the terror in his eyes. He had seen what Gabriel was capable of with his own eyes after all. He was still a kid at that time, so that gruesome scenery affected him a lot. He could still remember that day, as if it was just like yesterday!<novelnext></novelnext>

    That was the day where the entire Nether Realm came to a halt! In fact, if the Nether Emperor and the leaders of the three great ns hadn''t personally arrived to stop Karyk, he believed the entire Nether Realm would''ve been wiped out!

    The Nether Emperor was no less than the Overlord of the Upper Realm. However, despite him personally taking action, Gabriel still managed to escape. That was the only time the Nether Emperor had failed to kill a person right before his eyes!

    That was also the first time the Nether Emperor had suffered such a loss!

    The current generation in the Nether Realm had no idea about that period of time. All mentions of that time were erased from the books. There was no mention of Karyk anywhere. Only the older generation still remembered that!

    The three great ns personally made sure that no one would write about that battle,pletely erasing it from the history of the Nether Realm!

    "He''s not dead?!" The lifeless man also couldn''t remain calm. He subconsciously stood up in shock. "That''s impossible! He was killed by the Upper Realm! How could he still be alive?"

    "I don''t want to believe it either. Do you think I want to see that Demon again?" The Dark Haired man sighed.

    Most of the time, the man was arrogant and confident in his own abilities. He was the Branch Head of the Great Blood n after all, even if it was in the Branch in the Outer Region. However, it was the first time he had shown such expressions.

    "Tell him what you saw." He gestured for the man who was escorted by them to speak.

    The man took a deep breath. It was his first time being face to face with higher ups of the three great ns.

    He didn''t dare to hide anything and told them how he saw Gabriel passing through the outer region leisurely.

    He also talked about having seen Gabriel in the past, about a thousand years ago to convince them that he couldn''t be mistaken about this! The person he saw was the same as the one about a thousand years ago!. Even their auras, the expressions and the clothes were simr.

    "This..." The lifeless man was also stunned for words. He didn''t have time to doubt the words of the man. If it was true, they had to inform the capital right away! Or they couldn''t afford the consequences.

    "I''ll go to the Capital with you as well! We also need to inform the n!" The lifeless man stated.

    "No worries. The more the merrier." An amused voice echoed in the hallway.

    What was strange was that the two branch heads hadn''t spoken.

    "Who dares speak when two elders are talking?!" The dark haired Branch Head of the Blood n roared arrogantly. He turned to the source of the voice.

    However, as soon as he turned around, his face turned as white as a thin sheet of paper!

    "Y-y-you!"

 Chapter 466 466: I Was A Good Guest

    The lifeless man felt a chill run down his spine. His entire body could be seen clearly trembling as soon as he saw the person who had just spoken.

    His first instinct was to leave everyone behind and just run.

    As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he didn''t think twice. He turned around and dashed away, finding the closest exit. Even if it was Karyk, he had faith that his people could dy him until he left.

    No matter what, now that Karyk was personally here, he couldn''t stay behind! Unlike the ignorant lich who was fooled by the people from the outeryer, he knew just what kind of terror this man was, much better!

    The Branch Head of the Blood n had his face twist in regret as he saw the lifeless man run away. He didn''t waste any time either.

    "Kill that bastard!" He eximed before he also dashed away. Now that he had personally seen Karyk, he didn''t need any other witness either. He left his men behind to dy Karyk, along with the witness that he brought.

    At the same time, he chased after the lifeless man! He knew that the lifeless man must''ve had a way to go to the Capital. He didn''t think twice before following his only hope.

    The dark haired man chased after the lifeless man, only to find the lifeless man standing still in the middle of the hallway, as if he was frozen.

    He could even see the lifeless man''s fists tremble slightly. For an undead like him, it was hard to imagine what could scare that man so much. The dark haired man thought of something and his face darkened.

    He looked behind, only to freeze in ce. There was not a single sound of fight behind him. Instead, the sight waspletely gruesome. The entire hall was painted red, including the walls!

    He didn''t even hear a single scream before all of them were killed.

    Moreover, Gabriel was missing! He finally understood why the lifeless man stopped in the middle of the hallway.

    The dark haired man slowly stepped back, not daring to make a single noise.

    "I came all the way to meet you, and you''re not even willing to meet me?" Gabriel''s calm yetposed voice echoed in the entire hallway, making the dark haired man stop where he stood.

    "And here I thought, I was a good guest thest time I came here."

    The Lifeless man stood before Gabriel. Even though he didn''t have eyes, he could still see his surroundings. On Gabriel''s face, there was a devilish grin that he hadn''t shown when he was before Jia and Alion. It was as if Gabriel was apletely different person when he was hunting!

    Everyone before him was nothing more than a prey who had no right to negotiate with him. He was the only existence that could stand above all!

    The lifeless man didn''t have any misconception about his strength. He knew that he was no more than a tiny ant before Gabriel, who called kill without any break, even when he was in the Nether Capital!<novelnext></novelnext>

    "L-lord, I won''t dare." The lifeless man''s voice could be heard trembling. Even though Gabriel didn''t use anything special to suppress the Branch Head of the Undead n, just his presence alone was enough of a deterrent for them!

    Even a thousand years of peace wasn''t enough to wipe out the fear that he had carved deep in the hearts of all the beings of the Nether Realm! Let alone the Nether Realm, Gabriel was someone who even went to the Upper Realm and managed toe back alive even after killing so many people there! That was enough to show just how far his strength had progressed!

    The Blood n was the overlord of the Nether Realm. The Branch Head of the Blood n had arrogance deeply ingrained in his bones. However, before Gabriel, even he didn''t dare to make a single noise now.

    He still remembered how he justmanded his men to kill Gabriel. His face was shifting between red and blue in regret. He knew that his men couldn''t kill him.

    However, he still said that since he wanted them to dy him with their lives! Who knew it was going to bepletely useless! They couldn''t even dy him for a single second!

    The dark haired man really wished that he had a way to inform the Lord of the Blood n! Only the main forces of the Capital could stand against the demon before him. Unfortunately, there was no way to inform them! The path was blocked by Gabriel!

    "What do you want? Why have you returned again?" The Dark Haired man clenched his fist, struggling to calm his heart.

    If the arrogant youngsters of the Blood n would''ve seen him like this, it was unclear just what kind of reaction they would''ve shown. However, only the dark haired man knew how he managed to gather his courage to speak.

    Gabriel raised his right hand. A strange pressure acted that seemingly grabbed the dark haired man. The mystical force pulled the dark haired man closer,releasing him when the man was right next to the lifeless man.

    Now that the dark haired man was right next to the lifeless man, he was able to see Gabriel more clearly. He didn''t know why, but Gabriel looked even younger than thest time he saw him.

    If it wasn''t for the identical aura, skills and personality, he would''ve wondered if the man standing behind him was really the same demon who came here thousand years ago or not.

    "Why did Ie here?" Gabriel repeated the question with an intrigued smile on his face. His devilish smile was enough to send a chill down the sounds of two branch heads. However, they didn''t dare interrupt the young man before them.

    Gabriel further continued, as he answered. "Let''s just say that I was getting bored outside and thought about having some fun in the Nether Realm."

    Hearing his answer, the two Branch Heads could feel their lips twitch. He was bored so he came here to kill? Just what kind of a reason was this?

    They weren''t stupid enough to believe Gabriel''s every word. They even thought that he was here to take revenge for what happened about a thousand years ago.

    "Anyway, I need a little lift. I wonder if you can be kind enough to take me to my destination?"Gabriel further asked, revealing the reason he came to this ce.

    The dark haired man remained silent, wondering if Gabriel wanted to go to the Capital. In that case, it was the start of a true nightmare since no one knew about his presence here yet!

 Chapter 467 467: Deal

    If people knew that Gabriel was here, the dark haired man was still convinced that they would be prepared enough to face him. That way, the chances of Gabriel causing too much damage could be contained.

    However, when no one knew what wasing, that was a disaster. He didn''t even know how many lives could be lost. At the moment, he even wondered if Gabriel was here to save a soul like he came here a thousand years ago.

    He wasn''t stupid enough to think that Gabriel was going to let them live to inform others. There was no way their ns could know.

    "Where do you want to go?" The lifeless man asked. Even though he was an undead, he still feared Gabriel since the man was simr to a reaper, having a soul container inside his body!

    Once he killed someone, the souls couldn''t escape either! They could only be swallowed by him, so there was no chance of ever returning, even in the form of an undead, unless he let them go out of his own free will!

    If possible, the lifeless man didn''t want to be killed by Gabriel. It wasn''t death that scared him, but what came after the death if he were to be killed by Gabriel.

    However, despite that, he wasn''t willing to betray his n either. He knew that if he took Gabriel to the Capital, the risks were too big to ignore.

    "The Forbidden Zone of the Nether Realm," Gabriel calmly answered. "The Battlefield of cursed Gods!"

    As for his answer, it waspletely unexpected! Not only the lifeless man, but even the Branch Head of the Great Blood n was stunned!

    They both thought that Gabriel was going to go to the Capital. However, the reality waspletely unexpected! The Forbidden Land was the most dangerous ce in the Nether Realm! It was said that out of a hundred people that enter there, all hundred would die!

    Only the Blood n leader was able to enter that ce and leave safely! However, even he was cautious!

    It was said that the Forbidden Land was a special ce where true gods fought! It was also the ce where a true God had died, which was the reason that destroyed this entire Realm, turning it into what it was today!

    Just the aura of that ce alone was corrosive enough to destroy a person''s body and soul altogether!

    Moreover, there weren''t any Treasures in that ce either. At least none that they knew about. So they couldn''t understand why he wanted to go there. However, no matter what, this was still great news for them!

    If Gabriel went to the Battlefield of the Cursed Gods, the chances of his death were incredibly high! What was even better was that the Forbidden Land was very far from the Capital!

    It proved that Gabriel couldn''t fool them, by having them take him to the forbiddennd entrance, only to then turn around and enter the Capital! The Capital was safer!

    "You really want to enter the Forbidden Land? You don''te here for revenge?" The dark haired man asked, still having some suspicions.

    In response, Gabriel revealed an amused smile. "Revenge? Revenge for what? I killed millions of your nsmen while you couldn''t even kill one... Me. Shouldn''t you be the one asking for revenge?"

    Hearing Gabriel''s response, the dark haired man felt his face turn red in anger. However, he controlled his emotions. It was true that they couldn''t kill Gabriel. The Blood n lost to make people in that war. However, Gabriel was only injured before he managed to escape!<novelnext></novelnext>

    What was a small injury inparison to the lives of a million? He felt a strange emotion in his heart, seeing Gabriel insult his n in such a manner. However, there was nothing he could do about it. At least not until he could send this news to his n!

    "I''ll send you to the Forbidden Zone. However, you must promise me that you won''t kill me," the lifeless man stated. "If you can''t promise that, then I''ll kill myself right here!"

    "Only that? Sure. I won''t kill you. Let alone you, I won''t kill him either," Gabriel said, taking a subtle nce at the dark haired man.

    It was unclear just why Gabriel agreed. However, both Branch Heads felt that something was amiss. They didn''t know just what. Unfortunately, now that Gabriel agreed, they couldn''t do anything about it.

    The lifeless man escorted Gabriel to the secret basement in the Branch where there mysterious undead were standing.

    All three of them were the existences of a special species that only existed in the Nether Realm! These undead had low intelligence but high loyalty. Moreover, only they could teleport with a group in the Nether Realm! They were also the reason the Undead n was so important amongst the three great ns!

    If the Great Blood n was a sharp sword, then the Nether Beast n was an unbreakable shield while the Undead n was important passive support! All three ns were the foundation of the Nether Realm!

    The lifeless man gestured for one of the three mysterious Undeads whose bodies were surrounded by a mysterious silver mist.

    "Take the Lord to the entrance of the Forbidden Land!" The lifeless manmanded the mysterious silver skinned undead.

    The silver skinned undead didn''t react. Like a puppet, it stepped in the middle of the hall.

    Even now, the lifeless man and the dark haired man were worried that Gabriel was going to turn around and attack them. However, Gabriel didn''t care about them at all.

    He didn''t even nce back before he stepped in the middle of the hall as well, stopping right next to the silver skinned undead.

    A mysterious spatial light surrounded the both of them before they disappeared from the room, surrounded by various spatialws.

    It was only after Gabriel disappeared that the two Branch Heads rxed, sighing in relief. They didn''t believe that Gabriel was really going to leave them alive. However, strangely enough, he did exactly that.

    Unfortunately, the two Branch Heads didn''t have much time to think about that. They had to go and inform the ns in the Capital!

    Even if Gabriel entered the Forbidden Land, they couldn''t be convinced that he wasn''t going toe out alive! They had to inform the three great ns so that the ns could send their armies to the forbiddennd to make sure that Gabriel didn''te out alive, even if it meant emptying the entire Capital!

    Another silver skinned being stepped forward and disappeared with the two Branch Heads!

 Chapter 468 468: Ill Go Inside

    In the middle of nowhere, spatial principles distorted, creating a disturbance. Two figures appeared, one being a young man while the other being something that looked more like a lifeless puppet than anything else.

    Gabriel appeared at the entrance of the forbiddennd. Last time he came to the Nether Realm, he wanted to visit this ce. However, he didn''t get the time because of all that happened in the past. Now that he was here, he couldn''t help but be intrigued.

    This ce was definitely nothing like the ces he saw before. Even after millions of years, he could still feel a strong aura of blooding from the space ahead. It was as if this was thend of the blood!

    Even though he was standing outside the entrance of the forbiddennd, he could still feel the terrifying auras inside the forbiddennd. It wasn''t surprising that this ce was called the Forbidden Land.

    It was the ancient battlefield of gods, and also the ne where the Ancestor of the Nether Blood n received his inheritance. It was also a ce of birth for the beings of the Nether Undead n!

    After a brief nce at the Nether Battlefield, he nced back at the undead who had apanied him. In a ce like the Nether Realm, an undead like him was extremely precious. Unfortunately, they were all controlled by the Undead n of Nether Realm.

    Gabriel had seen themst time as well. However, he wasn''t able to get so close to one. This was the first time he was so close to one, and that too, alone.

    The undead was standing silently,pletely unreactive. At times, its eyes showed child-like curiosity as it looked toward the Ancient Battlefield. However, he didn''t ask anything.

    "Want toe inside with me?" Gabriel asked.

    He had two purposes in contacting the Undead n, revealing his whereabouts. One was that he wanted those old fossils in the Capital to know where he was. He wanted them toe to him! That''s also why he selected a ce that was far away from the Capital.

    He was the biggest threat to the three great ns and he was sure that hated him the most. As long as even a single clue about his whereabouts was revealed, the three great ns were going to leave no stone unturned!

    That''s also what he wanted! Once the Three Great ns came here with their full forces, the defenses of the Capital were certainly going to be at their weakest... This way, Gabriel not only created a distraction, but also weakened the capital to make things easier for Jia and Alion!

    Even he knew that if he went to the Capital personally, the entire capital was going to be sealed by the three great ns. It would''ve been much harder to save Cylix and Novius!

    That''s why, he acted as the bait personally this time!

    Another reason he went to the Undead n was specifically for the Undead who could use Spatial Principles without the use of spiritual energy. He knew how useful it could be in emergency cases!

    He had various powerful Undeads in his army that had been sealed a thousand years ago. However, none of them could control space without spiritual energy. That''s why he came here. He slowly wanted to gain control over the Undead next to him!

    At the same time, there was also a third reason for him toe here that no one knew about! And it was precisely rted to the Ancient Battlefield of the Nether Realm!<novelnext></novelnext>

    The silver-eyed undead nced at Gabriel. There was no reason on his face, making it hard to even guess if he could understand what he said or not. However, his eyes weren''t as lifeless anymore.

    Gabriel smiled and didn''t ask anyone. "Let''s go inside. Those old fossils will take a long time to get here. In the meantime, we can get to work!"

    ****

    Back in the Ghost City, no one knew what had happened in Reke City. The City was still somewhat peaceful after the battle between the two youngsters from the Beast n and the Nether n ended.

    In the city, in front of the Undead n branch, there stood two people, gazing at the door ahead. They were Alion and Jia who hade here since they needed to borrow an undead to take them to the Capital secretly.

    Unfortunately, they had to do it without creating too muchmotion, which was the hardest part. They weren''t really people from the Nether Realm, so they didn''t know if they could be recognised by the Undead n, even despite the special cloaks that were given to them by Gabriel.

    "You guard the entrance. I''ll be going inside. Make sure no one enters." Alion carefully looked at both sides of the street, making sure it was empty before finally deciding to take action.

    Since they couldn''t let anyone know, that meant they couldn''t allow anyone here to live! He had nned to enter the branch alone and assassinate everyone and take control of the ce. He didn''t want anyone to enter while he was doing his work.

    Jia didn''t argue either. She was very careful. It was much better for her to save her strength in this ce after all. Since she relied on her strength, that exhausted her more as well.

    It was easier for Alion to control his strength. While on the other hand, she was ustomed to full power blows. That was why she also believed that Alion was better for the precision tasks.

    After Jia agreed, Alion passed through the door, directly entering the Undead n branch. Two sharp knives appeared in each of his hands as his face turned expressionless.

    For the next half an hour, Jia remained outside the branch of the Undead n. No sounds came from inside the n. However she knew that was for the best. It meant Alion wasn''t caught yet, and the task was progressing smoothly.

    What was even better was that no one came to the n during this time, which made it easier for her!

    People only came to the Undead n when they had to go to the Capital more or less. At other times, no one bothered the Undead n which made it easier for Alion and Jia.

    After ten more minutes passed, the door of the Undead n opened. Hearing the sound of the door opening, Jia turned around.

    She nodded in satisfaction as she saw Alion standing there, gesturing for her to quicklye in. It meant the task wasplete and the branch was under their control!

 Chapter 469 469: Is He Looking For Death?

    Even as Alion went inside the Undead n Branch, killing people, he still lookedpletely wless. There was not a single speck of dust on his clothes, let alone a drop of blood. It was as if he just went inside for a tea party and came out.

    However, only he knew that it wasn''t easy to assassinate the Undead n Branch Members. He had exhausted quite a lot of strength of his, which couldn''t be recovered until he left the Nether Realm.

    Fortunately, he conserved his strength as much as he could for the future, rarely using his abilities.

    Jia entered the Undead n Branch. Both of them closed the door after entering.

    "You took a long time." Jia stated, walking next to Alion. Bodies could be seen littered all around them, most of them being headless.

    "Were you worried about me?" Alion asked, rolling his eyes.

    "I was worried indeed. I was worried that you would fail and I''d have to clean after your mess," Jiazily answered. Even though the two worked together, they were still like fire and water.

    "You? And cleaning up a mess? Aren''t you the one who loves creating a mess instead?" Alion found her words to be quite amusing, as if the little girl didn''t even have the slightest of self realization.

    The little girl didn''t answer. She knew that if she continued, she was only going to get more frustrated. She couldn''t beat up Alion because she had to work together with him after all.

    The two went to the basement of the Undead n Branch where the three Undeads were standing that could take them to the Capital.

    Alion killed everyone but those three. Moreover, he also kept the Branch Head of the n alive since only that guy couldmand the Undead to teleport them to their destination.

    Alion carried the Undead n Branch Head by his throat. Just a little more force and he could''ve killed him!

    " Tell your pets to take us to the Capital, at some empty ce. If you tried to trick us, or brought us to a ce where someone saw us, believe it or not, your head would be rolling on the ground before you could even have a chance to beg."

    The Undead n Branch Head felt his face twist. He had never expected that he would be treated like this one day. He had always been a dignified person who was treated with utmost respect in the Ghost City after all.

    Unfortunately, he also didn''t want to be killed. Since Alion managed to kill inside his branch undetected, that meant that Alion was at least stronger than him. He didn''t want to take any risks and did as Alion said.

    One of the three silver-eyed undead stepped forward like stone puppets. The spatial principles around them started twisting and turning, creating spatial chains that could break the boundaries of space.

    After a few seconds, the Undead disappeared with Alion, Jia and the Branch Head who was still being held by his throat.

    ****<novelnext></novelnext>

    Deep inside the main castle of the Nether Blood n, a man was sitting on his knees, facing the person who sat on the throne before him!

    The person on the throne was like a god in the Nether Realm! Generally, a measly branch head wasn''t even allowed entry inside the castle. However, it was different now! That was because the Branch Head came with some information that couldn''t be ignored!

    He hade here as soon as he could after Gabriel left. He came straight here to inform the Overlord of the Blood n about seeing that cmity!

    At the moment, there wasplete silence in the main hall. People didn''t even dare to breathe too loudly, worried that they were going to displease the man on the throne who was silently gazing at the Branch Head, as if he was able to peer through the depths of his soul, finding out all the secrets!

    "After a thousand years, he once again came back... And here I thought he was dead..."

    The man on the throne finally broke the silence. Even though he calmly spoke and his voice was neither too low, nor too loud, it was still enough to make everyone in the hall tremble inwardly.

    "My Lord, even if he didn''t diest time, isn''t he still being too stupid bying here? Is he really that courageous or is he just that stupid?" One of the men inside the hall stated! He was the only one who wasn''t afraid of speaking out loud since he was the son of the Blood n Patriarch.

    "Is he looking for death? Last time, he barely left with a single shred of his life. However he darese again! Not only did hee here, but he also went straight to the Ancient Battlefield? Could it be that he''s looking for something in the Ancient Battlefield?" He further asked.

    The man on the throne frowned but he didn''t say anything. It was as if he was still thinking about it. Even though he was stronger than Gabriel, if he wanted to kill Gabriel, it still wasn''t easy.Gabriel had too many tricks ording to him.

    Evenst time, when he personally took action, Gabriel just retreated! He wasn''t able to kill Gabriel!

    That had always been the biggest shame for him! However, when he thought about how Gabriel also managed to slip past the Leader of the Upper Realm, that made him feel a little better. He wasn''t the only one who failed afterall.

    Unfortunately, with Gabriel''s return here, he couldn''t help but turn serious. Most people would''ve thought that Gabriel had no chance ofing out of the Forbidden Region alive. However, he knew that it wasn''t as simple as that.

    Since Gabriel entered that ce, he probably had some idea about what he was going to find! Moreover, he also couldn''t help but wonder if the reason Gabriel went to the Forbidden Region was because he knew about the biggest secret of the Nether Blood n! That made him somewhat ufortable!

    It didn''t matter if Gabriel knew about that secret or not, he couldn''t take the risk! He couldn''t let Gabriel do as he pleased!

    This time, instead of showing himself in the end to kill Gabriel, he decided to lead from the Front!

    He told his nsmen to prepare for departure to the Forbidden Region! The matter was too big to ignore!

    He wasn''t the only one who was going to the Forbidden Region either! The other two great ns also managed to receive that news which shunned them. They also prepared to go to the Forbidden Region!

 Chapter 470 470: Taming

    The Forbidden Land of the Nether Realm was spread as far as the eyes could see. Even Gabriel couldn''t see the true end of the Forbidden Realm once he entered that ce.

    In fact, the Forbidden Land was as vast as a continent. The aura of death was prevalent in the air. It was as if the battlefield had basked in the blood of various living beings.

    Even the ground that used to look ordinary once upon a time was now blood red, as if even the soul here was nothing more than dried up blood.

    There were many valleys and ravines. It was clear that those valleys weren''t naturally formed. Instead, they were the aftermath of the massive battle that took ce here once upon a time!

    The strength behind a single attack could be seen with the fact that even the weakest of such attacks had managed to leave behind a thousand meter deep valley in an otherwise in area of the Nether Realm.

    As Gabriel was rted to the Element to Death, he could also feel remnants of resentment of people who died here. Even the people of the Nether Realm or the Undead n couldn''t sense it as much as he could.

    The resentment of the remnant souls was also one of the reasons this ce was more dangerous. It was something that could corrupt a person, making them lose their mind, only thinking about killing, as if the great war of the Nether Realm was still ongoing.

    Fortunately, that kind of resentment had no effect on him. Not only did Gabriel manage to protect himself, but he also protected the Silver Eyed Undead next to him.

    At the same time, he also kept sending some of his death aura inside the silver eyed Undead''s body, slowly erasing his previous memories, so that he would forget everything he had to do with the Undead n of the Nether Realm.

    The beings of the Nether Realm weren''t in his control since they were born here and were obviously different from the other Undeads. However, there was still a way to control them and that''s what Gabriel wanted to attempt.

    The battlefield was so long that even Gabriel wondered how long he was going to take to get to the center of this ce. Even the silver eyed Undead couldn''t teleport in this ce after all.

    For some strange reason, along the way, Gabriel kept leaving a single drop of his blood on the ground every few meters. At times, it looked as if he was leaving a trail behind.

    However, that was out of question since his blood kept being absorbed by the ground, leaving no trace. Gabriel also knew what was happening but he didn''t stop.

    His body was different from others. He didn''tck blood. He could replenish as much blood as he wanted, as long as he used a light bit of his spiritual strength.

    Moreover, the blood that he left behind wasn''t ordinary blood either. His blood drops were brimming with powerful magical energy that, although weaker than the blood of the beings who once fought here, was still much stronger than the others.

    ....

    Seven days passed... Gabriel kept going deeper and deeper into the Forbidden Land, without resting.

    Just as the various leaders of the Nether Realm had thought, the dangers of this ce were limited for someone like Gabriel.

    In thest seven days, Gabriel did face some strange monstrous beings that were born in the Forbidden Land but he was able to take care of them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    In seven days, he only exhausted ten percent of his total Spiritual Reserves, which couldn''t be recovered until he left the Nether Realm. However, he didn''t seem to care about that.

    It was as if his goal was much bigger than anyone could imagine! Moreover, his current reserves were still enough for him to take care of the other matters in the Nether Realm.

    "The Three Great ns should already be inside the Forbidden Land. I wonder if Alion and Jia reached their destination yet."

    Currently, Gabriel wasn''t moving. Instead, he was facing the silver eyed Undead who was standing nkly before him.

    The Silver Eyed Undead already had his entire consciousness and memories erased. He was ready for harvest!

    Gabriel''s hands were on the forehead of the Undead! The Book of Necromancy floated next to Gabriel. As for the page that was currently open, it was a long yet one of the most used spells of Gabriel... The Army of Undead.

    After recovering his memories, it was the first time Gabriel was using this spell to turn an Undead into his servant! In fact, it wasn''t wrong to say that after he promised to seal his armyst time, this was the first time he was doing something like this!

    The silver eyes of the Undead shone brightly as a strange unfamiliar aura rushed inside his body. Many Divine Chains appeared around his body before merging with the body of the Undead whose aura became even stronger!

    The Undead also started changing! If previously, he was like a fool with no intelligence, then now he waspletely different. His eyes revealed some intelligence, making him appear no different than a normal human.

    His face was still pale and his body didn''t have a single drop of blood. If it wasn''t for that, it would''ve been hard for anyone to differentiate between him and an ordinary person!

    A strange ck mark appeared between the Undead''s brows which was simr to the bleeding moon mark that Gabriel had carved on all his artifacts! It was the sign of his master!

    Gabriel only had ny percent of his energy reserves. However, this one spell alone exhausted almost twenty percent of his spiritual reserves, leaving him with only seventy percent now.

    However, Gabriel didn''t regret it. With his current n, he didn''t need to worry about it too much. He already had his mind set on something. Other than saving Cylix and Novius, that was the reason he came here as soon as he recovered his memories!

    ....

    Not too far from the entrance of the Forbidden Land, thousands of battle ships had gathered, belonging to the three great ns!

    At the moment, the people in the Nether Realm Capital were still wondering why the three great ns left with such massive forces. Who could be the enemy that made them so concerned? Unfortunately, no one knew about it. The three great ns also didn''t spread the news.

    It only made the people of the Capital feel that the enemy was very strong! They even wondered if the upper realm had finallyattacked. Were their armies going to suffer losses this time?

 Chapter 471 471: Soul Land

    Amongst thousands of warships at the entrance of the Forbidden Land, there were three that caught the most attention.

    Not only were those three warships the biggest, but they were also carrying the most important people from Three Great ns.

    In the middle warship, there were the leaders of the Blood n with their Patriarch who had a cold look on his face. While the other two ns didn''t know much about the secret of the Forbidden Land, how could he not know?

    It wasn''t wrong to say that half the reason his n came into prominencewas because of the inheritance that their ancestor received in the Forbidden Land.

    That''s why, they knew even more about this ce than the others. It was also why the current Patriarch of the Blood n had such a grim expression on his face.

    "Is it really a coincidence that he entered that ce? Or did he know about that...?"

    If it was any other ce, he wouldn''t havee personally, even if it was Gabriel who came here. However, because of the Forbidden Land, he couldn''t take things easy. He didn''t want to mess everything up when they were so close to it!

    He raised his voice,manding his men to enter the Forbidden Land in search of Gabriel! The leaders from the Nether Beast n and the leaders from the Undead n alsomanded their people!

    At once, thousands of battleships entered the dangerous Forbidden Land in search of one person!

    The new warriors from the three great ns knew that they were here to search for a person. However, they had no idea why all the mighty figures from their ns were so agitated because of one person!

    Only the ancient beings who were present a thousand years ago knew what it was all about. However, even they didn''t understand why the Blood n Patriarch personally came!

    The other two great Nether ns only sent their leaders. Their Patriarch didn''te personally either. They were still in seclusion. It was just the Blood n Patriarch who left his seclusion, even at the risk of a bacsh toe to this ce, as if he was worried about something!

    ? ....

    Inside the Nether Realm Capital, Alion and Jia were sitting in a garden. Even though the outside world was lifeless, the Capital still looked like it was flourishing.

    There were majestic buildings, and many intriguing structures that could be seen outside. They had even seen many fascinating statues, fountains in the middle of crossroads, and other such measures that made this ce look no different than any ordinary City outside!

    If it wasn''t for the baleful aura andck of a trace of spiritual strength in the air, even Alion would''ve wondered if he was still in the Nether Realm or identally left the ce.

    They had arrived at the Capital seven days ago. And they still weren''t caught. No one even knew that there were two outsiders in this ce.

    They still had the Ghost City Branch Head of Undead n in their grasp. It was because of him that they found out so many things about the Capital.

    In thest seven days, they also saw three great armies of the Nether Realm leaving the capital in majestic ancient battleships. Even if the others didn''t know where they were going, Jia and Alion knew! It was clear that they were going for Gabriel!

    That meant it was also time for them to take action! The Capital''s defense was clearly at their weakest! It was the perfect opportunity for them to take advantage! Moreover, with the Undead n Branch Head, their chances were much higher.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Even though the Undead n Branch Head wasn''t as strong or influential as the Undead n members from the capital, he still had his own advantages!

    Not only was he knowledgeable about the Nether Realm Capital, but he also knew about the Soul Land of the Nether Realm Capital where all the souls were imprisoned!

    It was said that the Soul Land was the holy ground of the Undead n! It was directly connected to the sea of reincarnation! It was also one of the few Soul Lands that were spread throughout the universe!

    Whenever a person died, their souls were sent to one of the Soul Lands where their souls were erased... Or rather, their entire personality and memories were destroyed, leaving only the purest form of soul energy that was then sent into the sea of reincarnation!

    This soul energy was then used to keep the bnce of the universe. Soulnd yed an impossible role in maintaining the universe!

    In fact, what others didn''t know was that Gabriel also had a Soul Land inside his body! It was his personal Soul Land which was no smaller than the other Soul Lands.

    The only difference was that the souls that went to his Soul Land didn''t have a chance of reincarnation ever! It was only when Gabriel increased his control over the Element of Death that he formed this Soul Land!

    When he woke up as the god of death for the first time, he had no control over his soulnd. In fact, his body absorbed the souls of millions of beings at that time to strengthen him and he couldn''t control it!

    Amongst those souls, there were also souls of his family members. At that time, he thought that everything was over. However, it was onlyter that he realized that there was one soul that wasn''tpletely destroyed by him!

    It was the Soul of his sister which split in two for some reason. One of the two entered his Soul Land, getting destroyed! As for the other, it couldn''t remain intact because of being split into two!

    The other half of his sister''s soul split into thousands of fragments, identally entering the Soul Land of the Nether Realm!

    It was also because of that, Gabriel was able to save his sister... Or at least save half her soul.

    He saved the soul fragments from the Nether Realm Soul Land. Used the stone received from the Goddess of Light to nourish the soul Fragments for thousands of years, healing it to some extent.

    Unfortunately, since half his sister''s soul was already destroyed, even when the other half of her soul was healed, she still didn''t have any memories. It was as if she was herself, yet at the same time she was someone else!

    In fact, it was also the reason Gabriel created the Grimoire of Death that was connected to him! Others thought it was a way for him to strengthen himself, which prompted other gods to create Grimoires as well.

    However, only Gabriel knew that it was something else. His Grimoire was a safety precaution!

    It worked like a terminal between his Soul Land this world. Instead of souls going directly to his Soul Land and bing his strength, they went to the Grimoire and were kept there!

    This way, he could decide which souls to absorb and which to keep for other things!

    Only he knew this secret though. Even Alion had no idea about his reason behind creating the Grimoire!

 Chapter 472 472: Destination

    The Soul Land of the Nether Realm was guarded by the Undead n. However, even the Undead n didn''t dare enter that ce easily. They only guarded the parameters of the Soul Land.

    In thest seven days, Alion and Jia used their prisoner to arrange a ce for them to stay under the radar.

    Even though the Ghost City Branch Head lived in the outeryer, he was born and raised in the Capital so he knew many things about the Capital and had easily arranged for a ce for them to stay.

    Moreover, throughout thest few days, Alion and Jia spent most of their time, trying to observe the security mechanism of the City.

    They weren''t like Gabriel who didn''t need to worry about such things. They couldn''t just kill everyone who stood on their path like Karyk didst time. Instead, they had to be more careful. They weren''t as strong as Karyk and they certainly didn''t have vast spirit reserves like him.

    By now, they had a rough idea as to what kind of security they had to pass through. First, even though the City defense was weaker now, there were still many Guards that could often be seen patrolling the streets.

    A littlemotion and it was easy to attract the attention of the guards! It was even harder to trespass into the Soul Land.

    The Undead n sent most of their people to the Forbidden Land after Gabriel. However, they didn''t make any changes in the security of the Soul Land.

    There were over hundred Undead nsmen guarding the Soul Land. Moreover, amongst them, there were many Silver Eyed Undead who could teleport.

    After getting a rough understanding of what they had to face, Jia and Alion were sitting in the garden, making a n after making sure that they were here alone.

    In his hand, Alion had a page. On the page, he made a circle which depicted the Soul Land area.

    Around that circle, he marked the position of the guards with dots.

    Amongst the hundred dots, there were four dots which he made darker! These were the positions of the Silver Eyed Undead.

    "Before anything, we need to kill the Silver Eyed once. We can''t allow anyone to escape with their help. After we take them out, it should be rtively easier."

    Alion made sure that Jia paid attention to his n. ording to him, he was going to hide in the shadows and assassinate the Silver Eyed Undead to prevent any chaos. It was only after they killed the Silver Eyed Undead that Jia was supposed to enter the scene and use her abilities to kill the rest!

    Even if Jia couldn''t kill them all, she could at least hold them back for a short while. Without the silver eyed Undead, the other guards couldn''t escape that easily.

    It was clear that they were going to give it their all to kill Jia since she was only one person before them.

    "In the meantime, I''ll sneak inside the Soul Land," Alion eximed. "I''ve seen the people we are supposed to save. I should be able to save their souls."

    "After Ie out, I''ll signal you and we''ll retreat."

    They had already captured the Branch Head of the Undead n. They also had a silver eyed Undead prepared for their escape!

    It was a mission where they wanted to be swift. ording to the n they were told by Gabriel, after they saved the two souls, there was no need for them to stay in the Nether Realm!<novelnext></novelnext>

    They were supposed to simply go to the Outer Layer and leave where they came from! As for worrying about Gabriel, that wasn''t for them to think about.

    Gabriel already told them that he had a way to leave after he was done. Alion and Jia were somewhat suspicious but they didn''t think too much about it.

    "Two hours... We''ll execute the n after two hours. Make sure that there are no mistakes! Even though the defense of the City is weak, it''s not something we can face. So we can''t let anyone else know that the Soul Land was under attack!"

    "Your role is most important in that! Make sure the battle isn''t too loud and no one manages to get past you! If you fail, we might have to be buried here!"

    Alion couldn''t emphasize enough how dangerous this ce was for them.

    ****

    Back in the Forbidden Land, Gabriel had already gained control over the Silver Eyed Undead who had also managed to evolve and gain intelligence.

    However, even under this intelligence, he knew that Gabriel was his absolute master! Even if he had to die, he couldn''t betray Gabriel or let any harme to him!

    Fortunately, there was no need for him to worry about that. Gabriel led the Silver Eyed Undead deeper into the Forbidden Land. However, he still didn''t stop leaving drops of his blood wherever he went.

    The Silver-eyed Undead noticed his strange action. However, he couldn''t understand why Gabriel was doing it. The silver eyed Undead didn''t have blood in his body. However, he still knew how important blood was for the people who possessed it. Why was his master wasting his blood for no reason?

    "Master, why are you doing that?" He couldn''t help but ask.

    He understood that Gabriel wasn''t stupid. If there was no benefit, he wouldn''t be doing that. Unfortunately, he couldn''t understand the benefit, if there was any.

    "You''ll understand when the timees," Gabriel calmly answered, seemingly not in any hurry to exin his reasoning.

    He still hasn''tpleted his task yet after all.

    Moreover, he already guessed that the army of three great ns had arrived after him. It wasn''t going to be long before the army caught up with them since they were traveling on foot while the army would''ve brought their battleships.

    However, Gabriel didn''t worry. He could already feel that he was close to his destination!

    ****

    In the Capital City of the Nether Realm, it was already the middle of the night.

    A beautiful red moon could be seen high in the clear sky where not a single cloud could be seen. The night was beautiful yet many people couldn''t help but feel somewhat restless. They didn''t understand why they felt that way either.

    Near the Soul Land, Alion and Jia had already taken action! While Jia waited at the entrance of the area that led to the Soul Land, Alion turned into a shadow andpletely disappeared into the darkness of the night as if he was nothing but an illusion!

 Chapter 473 473: Assassin

    The Undead n was very different from the other two great ns. They didn''t need to eat. They also didn''t need to rest or sleep. Since their bodies were already dead, they could do without food.

    In fact, they only absorbed the aura of death from the Nether Realm to survive. That''s why, the Undead who protected the Soul Land didn''t work in shifts. That didn''t leave any gap in security since there was no need for shift changes, or the confusion it could''ve brought.

    Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, fifty two weeks a year, the same faces could be seen guarding the Soul Land. It also made the Undead more alert. That knew everything about this area and could instantly sense even the most minute of changes.

    However, currently, even they couldn''t sense anything wrong.

    Alion moved like a ghost. Not only did he not make any noise, but he also merged with the wind, as if he and the wind were one, to make sure no one could detect him.

    Even though he wasn''t as strong as Gabriel, he had his own skills. To be able to survive for so long, even when so many people wanted to kill him, he had already honed his skills to the level of perfection.

    He already had a rough idea about the position of the Silver Eyed Undead. Now all he had to do was kill the four of them without being detected and without making a noise. For that exact reason, he also brought a spatial treasure with him where he could store the bodies after killing them so the others couldn''t notice.

    The Silver Eyed alreadycked intelligence which made it slightly easy for Alion.

    It wasn''t long before he located a silver eyes Undead. Since the silver eyed Undeads were important for the Undead n, they were kept in the back at some distance from the guards who stood at the front! As soon as Alion passed by the guards, everything else was much smoother.

    He appeared silently behind one of the Silver Eyed Undead like a thousand year old ghost!

    With his left hand, he closed the mouth of the silver haired undead while with his right hand, he stabbed his knife in his throat. The Silver Eyed Undead was stunned.

    If he had his normal intelligence, he would''ve teleported away as soon as someone touched him. However, he wasn''t that smart. Instead, he just trembled as he was killed.

    As soon as he killed the Silver-eyed Undead, Alion kept the body in his treasure storage before disappearing in the darkness as if nothing happened!

    The guards who stood in the front didn''t hear anything strange. They just stood like statues, keeping an eye on their surroundings.

    In fact, if it wasn''t for the fact that entering the Soul Land was going to make a loud noise, Alion could''ve already entered the Soul Land without being detected!

    After killing a Silver-eyed Undead, Alion moved to his next Target. He followed the same method and killed his next Target as well. His Assassination Skills weren''t something that one could ignore.

    Within the next ten minutes, Alion sessfully killed all four Silver Eyed Undeads. It was only after that, he sent a signal to Jia! It was time for her to move!

    Jia was standing at the entrance of the area that led to the soulnd. She was already starting to get somewhat bored, wondering when it was going to be her turn to take action.

    It was only when she received the signal that the corners of her lips crept upwards, revealing a smirk.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Finally."

    She raised her sword. Her powerful aura covered the entire area! There was no need for her to wait anymore! Now all she had to do was attract all insects in her direction so that she could keep them busy, allowing Alion an opportunity to enter the Soul Land and save the two souls.

    Feeling the unfamiliar aura, the Undeads who were guarding the Soul Land were stunned! This wasn''t a ce where others were allowed toe!

    Some of them decided to send someone to inform their main n. At the same time, the rest went to intercept the enemy!

    It wasn''t long before the Undeads realized that they couldn''t send information back! The Silver Eyed Undeads were missing! Not even a single trace of theirs could be found! It was as if they had disappeared into thin air!

    This made them realize that something wasn''t right! The way to send information back went missing. Now the only path before them to send the information back was to take the long road and go back to the main n physically!

    However, the aura that they had felt before came from that direction exactly. It was clear that someone was blocking that path! Moreover, the aura was getting closer!

    Over a hundred undead were alert at once. Someone was targeting the Soul Land and there was no doubt left in their minds!

    All of them rushed toward the aura. No matter who it was, they couldn''t allow them to enter the Soul Land! They had to kill the intruder!

    They didn''t realize that one of the intruders was already standing at the entrance of the Soul Land.

    Alion came out of hiding, watching the Undeads go in Jia''s direction. He still didn''t enter the Soul Land, as if he was still waiting for something.

    He had to wait for the battle between Jia and the Undead. He knew that once he entered the Soul Land, it was going to make some noise. He wanted that noise to be buried in the battle sounds of Jia!

    In fact, he already told Jia what she had to do. Now all he had to do was wait.

    He sighed deeply, ncing at the two blue stones in his hand. The two stones weren''t as precious as the red stone received from the Goddess of Light.

    They couldn''t heal a soul that was broken into thousands of pieces. However, these step stones were enough to store an intact soul each, at least temporarily. This was also what Alion brought with him to save Novius and Cylix.

    It wasn''t long before the sound of battle resounded. Alion clenched his fist. It was finally time for him to enter the Soul Land!

    He was slightly curious about what the Soul Land was like. However, more than that, he knew that he had to be careful since this ce was dangerous. If he made a mistake, even escaping that ce was going to be impossible.

    His eyes shed with determination as he finally stepped inside the Soul Land!

 Chapter 474 474: Ancient Skeleton

    In the middle of the night, Alion rushed inside the Soul Land. However, as soon as he passed through the boundary of the Soul Land to enter it, he felt as if he had entered apletely new world.

    The entire ce was surrounded in a strange yet cold mist, that came up to his waist. The mist didn''t make it difficult for him to locate where he was going. However, it made it impossible for him to see the ground!

    It was even worse that the entire surrounding was so cold that it was making his soul tremble. He felt as if he was going to be frozen to death in the Soul Land if he wasn''t fast!

    The Soul Land was like apletely different world from the Nether Realm, despite being connected. Even the sky couldn''t be seen in that ce.

    "It looks like it''ll be harder to find the Souls than I initially thought."

    Despite the unfamiliar surroundings, Alion kept moving forward, carefully taking each step so as to not fall since he couldn''t see the ground.

    He didn''t want to identally fall off a cliff without even realizing it.

    Fortunately, the ground was more or less normal. There weren''t any cliffs so far... At least none that he fell into.

    He could only asionally hear cracking sounds with his footsteps, as if he was stepping on bones or skulls of people who had died here. However, he wasn''t sure if it was actually bones or just his misconception. It was the first time he had to rely only on his senses instead of his eyes to move forward.

    ****

    Back in the Forbidden Land, Gabriel had finally stopped walking. He finally reached the middle of the ancient battlefield, where true gods were said to have fallen.

    In fact, one could only imagine the level of battle that took ce. Even with his all, Gabriel didn''t know if he could''ve survived a battle like that if he was there.

    The level of battle was certainly beyondprehension. If it wasn''t, there was no way it would''ve changed the Nether Realm forever,pletely eliminating Spiritual Elements from the atmosphere.

    At the moment, he stood before a skeleton, observing it. However, the skeleton was so huge that it was impossible to see it entirely in a short time. The skeleton appeared to belong to a being who was at least ten thousand feet tall! Just a single bone in that skeleton was thicker than Gabriel''s entire body.

    Moreover, those bones were not ordinary either. Even though over a million years had passed since the Ancient Battle, the bones were stillpletely intact!

    If it wasn''t for the fact that the skeleton was impossible to move, the three great ns would''ve tried anything to take it with them, especially the Undead n.

    The bones of the ancient being had many strange golden symbols that were brimming with power. Gabriel couldn''t help but feel that those symbols were out of the ordinary. It was as if the mystery behind those symbols was the key to his evolution.

    Even if he couldn''t find the true origin of those symbols, he could still try to bring that ancient being back to life as an Undead after leaving the Nether Realm.<novelnext></novelnext>

    No matter what, he couldn''t attempt that here. Even in the outside World, it was an almost impossible task, let alone this ce where his strength was quite limited.

    Fortunately, unlike the Three Great ns, he didn''t have to worry about how to move the skeleton. Even if others couldn''t do it, it was easy for him, although somewhat exhausting.

    He stepped a few meters back before raising his right hand. The Forbidden Book of Necromancy came out of his body. Its pages started flipping on their own until thest page was opened!

    The Holy Grimoire floated high in the sky while thest page faced the skeleton! The page shone brightly, illuminating the entire skeleton with its bright light!

    The strange golden symbols resisting the light of the Forbidden Book, as if they were something that defied thews of space and were impossible to subdue. However, since the skeleton wasrge and there weren''t too many such symbols, the resistance didn''tst for long!

    Even though it took half an hour andplete focus of Gabriel, the Skeleton did finally disappear, turning into small specks of light before entering Gabriel''s Grimoire!

    As the Skeleton disappeared, only a deep crater was left behind, which made it appear as if an asteroid had fallen to this ce a long time ago.

    Gabriel sat on the ground after seeding. He couldn''t help but feel exhausted. He had really underestimated the giant skeleton. Keeping the Skeleton in his Forbidden Book exhausted him almost as much as a World Level Spell should''ve exhausted him, leaving only a small reserve for him.

    "This was harder than I expected."

    He remained seated on the ground, calming his breath while looking at his left hand. He only had ten percent of his reserves left, which made him wonder if it was going to be enough.

    However, in the end, he shook his head. "It looks like this won''t be enough. Looks like I''ll have toe to this Battlefield once again in the future to finish this matter..."

    At best, he had thought that he would''ve been left with thirty or forty percent of his spiritual reserves. However, the strange symbols were really different. He had never seen them before, but he could feel the mystery behind them was extraordinary!

    Moreover, he was also convinced that the skeleton also belonged to the ancient being who had chased the Blood Ancestor to this Battlefield!

    The reason the Nether Realm was destroyed was that a True God called Blood Ancestor was chased to this ce by other ancient beings. In the end, the Blood Ancestor died and passed his inheritance to the humans who became the Blood n in the future.

    However, Gabriel was more than convinced that the death of the Blood Ancestor was more or less rted to the ancient skeleton! It was the owner of the skeleton who truly fought with the Blood Ancestor. It was the aftermath of their battle that left the Nether Realm in ruins.

    "If I''m not wrong, both the Blood Ancestor and the owner of that Skeleton died in that battle. The owner of the skeleton still had his skeleton left along with those symbols. As for the Blood Ancestor, only two blood drops of his were left behind in the ancient battlefield."

    "One of those drops was taken by the Blood n. The second drop was absorbed by the battlefield... If only I can get that before I leave¡­"

 Chapter 475 475: Showing True Strength!

    Gabriel couldn''t help but sigh. The ancient battlefield was a treasure trove. Not only did it have the Blood drop of a true god left behind, but it also had another secret which was the reason he actually came here.

    Unfortunately, thanks to the Nether Realm''s limitations and restrictions on his recovery, it seemed almost impossible for him to reach his destination.

    "Looks like I can only stop here... And collect the rewards."

    He stood up, patting his clothes. He could already see the shadows of some battleships in the distance.

    Just as he had expected, they were already here, almost catching up to him.

    Gabriel''s face didn''t show even a single ripple of emotions, as if he had already expected that.

    He nced at the silver eyed Undead next to him, who he had already given a name.

    "Dren, you wanted to know why I was leaving my blood drops behind?" he asked, revealing a calm smile. It was as if everything was within his expectations. "Let me show you the reason."

    He took a deep breath before cing his hand on the ground!

    For a moment, it was as if time had stopped! Gabriel''s aurapletely changed into what seemed like an aura storm!

    If previously, he looked as if a calm yet approachable mage, then now he was like an unapproachable God, who looked down on every being in this world!

    Dren couldn''t help but feel as if this was the true personality of Gabriel... He was an Overlord! Even if he minced with ordinary mortals, deep within his bones, he was still a god!

    Gabriel''s eyes subtly changed color, turning into blood red. The ck patterns that were covering more than half of his body started shining even more brightly, as if it was the eve of destruction!

    This wasn''t Gabriel anymore... This was the real Karyk, showing his might!

    The entire Forbidden Land started trembling as if there was an earthquake!

    Even the members of the Three Great ns who were on the ancient battleships were stunned to see the ground tremble! They had never seen that strange phenomenon before... It was as if they were pushed into the ancient era.

    Not only was the ground trembling, but they could also see thousands of cracks developing on the ground.

    The cracks kept getting wider and wider. There was not a single person in the battleship who wasn''t looking at the ground beneath in surprise. Even the Patriarch of the Blood n who personally came here was no different!

    The cracks on the ground developed even further until there were thousands of meters long cracks on the ground everywhere!

    Moreover,what was even worse was that the people from the Three Great ns could see that the depths of the cracks on the ground waspletely dark, yet there seemed to be some movements!

    What happened next made many gasp in shock! Through the cracks, thousands of Undead rushed out!

    Moreover, they weren''t ordinary undead that were born in the ancient battlefield. Instead, they were the people of the three great ns who had died in the Ancient Battlefield in the past!

    It was as if they had suddenlye back to life for no reason!

    The Undead n was the most shocked since they felt that the Undeads on the ground were different! Not only the members of the three great ns had returned to life as Undead, but there were also some old corpses of ancient beasts that could fly that came back to life as well!<novelnext></novelnext>

    What was even more shocking was that a strange yet powerful pressure suddenly descended on the battleships that pulled the battle ships down to the ground, making them unable to fly!

    When the three great ns were still in the air, they could easily avoid the hordes of Undeads except the ancient undead beasts that could fly in the air. However, now that the ships were unable to fly, they had no choice but to walk through the hordes of undead, killing them!

    There was not a single person amongst the older generation of the three great ns that didn''t realize who was behind this ambush!

    Even though they knew it, they couldn''t do anything but fight!

    ****

    "You are controlling them?" Dren asked, slightly stunned. To see Gabriel control thousands of Undeads simply by using his blood, this waspletely out of his expectations.

    Especially since Gabriel was doing that when he was almost exhausted. It was as if he had already prepared for this moment as precaution as soon as he entered the forbidden battlefield.

    Gabriel''s face was slightly pale yet his aura was stable. As if he was just a little tired. Bringing all those Ancient Battleships down wasn''t easy.

    ****

    Back in the Soul Land, Alion was still moving deeper and deeper into the soulnd. He was slightly curious about how Jia was faring in the battle.

    His trip to the soulnd took longer than he expected. In fact, he was supposed to have left by now but he hadn''t even found Cylix and Novius yet.

    Fortunately, during this time, he did reach the core region of the Soul Land. He could see thousands of strange ck pirs all around him. Moreover, each of those pirs had a soul tied to it.

    All those souls looked like they were going through great torment but they weren''t able to even move, let alone free themselves.

    Alion scratched the back of his head, frowning. Even though he had seen Novius and Cylix before, finding their soul amongst these tens of thousands of souls was much harder.

    It was as if he was looking for a needle in a haystack. If he was lucky, he could find them on the first pir he searched, and if he was lucky, he might''ve had to go through all those pirs one by one!

    As for how long that was going to take, he didn''t even want to imagine. He sighed deeply, preparing himself for a long night!

    He turned into a shadow and finally began his search for the two souls amongst the tens of thousands of souls. He could only hope that Jia wasn''t going to run out of her spiritual strength in the meantime.

    If she couldn''t find the Undead Guards back, then things were only going to go from bad to worse.

    ****

    Sounds of battle resounded all around. Jia alone was facing over a hundred Undead Guards and holding them back. Whenever she had an opportunity, she didn''t forget to deliver a killing strike.

    However, she did try to avoid that. She had to hold everyone back and for that, she needed to reserve her strength. Even if she killed half the guards here and exhausted herselfpletely, that was useless.

    She could also feel that she was going to be in trouble if Alion didn''t return soon. It had already been over four hours!

 Chapter 476 476: She Was A Distraction

    ....

    Seven hours passed. Alion kept searching without stopping or even caring about his exhaustion. Unfortunately, he still hadn''t found the souls of Cylix and Novius.

    As more time passed, even Alion was starting to get worried. It''s been close to eleven hours since he entered the Soul Land. He was getting worried about the outside, wondering if Jia was still holding on.

    "Argh, just how long is it going to take! Why is my luck so bad?"

    The longer it took, the more frustrated he became as his body shed from ce to ce like lightning.

    "Wait, was that...?"

    He abruptly stopped as his mind processed the scene that he saw before. Since he was moving so fast, he didn''t have time to stop and think about each soul clearly. It was only when he moved past an area that he felt that he saw souls that looked simr to the two he was looking for!

    He hastily moved back, appearing a hundred meters away.

    His eyes gazed at two pirs before him, on which two souls were being imprisoned.

    He couldn''t help but let out a sigh of relief. Even though it took longer than he expected, at least he still seeded. His luck wasn''t good but it wasn''t bad either.

    "Everything else should be easier." He brought two blue gems out of his pocket and ced both on the forehead of the two screaming souls.

    As soon as the blue gems touched the souls, the souls stopped screaming. It was as if a calm yet gentle aura was nourishing them while protecting them from the eternal pain.

    Not only did the gems protect the two souls, but they also absorbed the souls, sending them to a temporary Soul Land that Gabriel created inside those gems.

    Since they moved from a soulnd to another soulnd, the resistance was also much lower, making it easier to free them from the two pirs!

    The two gems floated in the air after absorbing the souls. Alion grabbed the two stones and kept them in his pocket before he disappeared, going back where he came from!

    ****

    "I''ll be back in half an hour, said that bastard!"

    Jia''s breathing was rushed. Her entire body was covered in sweat. She had been holding on for close to half a day, cursing Alion. In fact, she also knew that if she hadn''t reserved her strength until now, she would''ve been in much bigger trouble by now.

    However, it wasn''t as if she was in any better situation now. She had exhausted almost all her Spiritual Strength. Now all she had was enough to escape and reach the exit of the Nether Realm.

    Despite almost running out, she still held on, not backing away even as her shoulders bled.

    "Alion, you bastard, if you don''te out in the next ten seconds, I''ll rush inside and kill you personally!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    In the end, she couldn''t control her temper and roared out loud. Even she didn''t expect anything to change though. Not as if Alion could hear her inside the Soul Land.

    "You can''t even hold on for half a day?" A calm yet taunting voice came from behind not long after Jia issued her threat. "Looks like you''ve grown weaker in thest thousand years."

    "You''re finally back!" Jia didn''t have time to get angry over the taunts. She was somewhat relieved that Alion had seeded! Now they could execute thest part of the n... The most important part! It was to... Run!

    As soon as Alion came out, she turned around and disappeared. Alion also disappeared. Both of them had seeded. Now they had to meet with the Branch Head of the Undead n who was under their control! Through that person, they could easily reach the Outer Layer of the Nether Realm, close to the exit!

    The Undead Guards of the Soul Land were stunned to hear someone''s voice behind them! They could also sense the aura of the Soul Land on the person! It was clear that the person had entered the Soul Land! They finally understood why the foolish girl was fighting them and not running away!

    "She was a distraction!" One of the Undead Guards eximed.

    Most of the guards stayed behind, not chasing after the girl. Even now, they couldn''t leave the Soul Land unprotected, worrying that the two people were trying to lure the tiger away from the mountain by pretending to run away! Their first priority was to inform the main n about what took ce here!

    Even though it was clear that they were going to get punished, they still had to do it!

    ****

    Near the borders of the Capital, there was a small inconspicuous courtyard where the Undead n Branch Head was waiting.

    He didn''t want to work with the outsiders. However, he had no choice. He was nted with a soul devouring insect that was almost impossible to find in the Nether Realm. He didn''t know where these outsiders found out, but because of it, he was now at their mercy! A single thought of Alion was enough to kill him!

    At the moment, he wasn''t even sure if Alion was going to leave him alive after escaping from the Nether Realm, or was he going to kill him to erase all evidence? He could only hope that he was going to be left alive.

    While he was lost in thoughts about how today might be hisst day if Alion came back alive from the Soul Land, two figures appeared behind him.

    Sending the movements next to him, he turned around. His eyes widened slightly as he cursed his luck. These two were still alive! Even the Soul Land couldn''t stop them.

    "Stop wasting time. Take us to the exit!" Alion frowned, noticing the Branch Head look at him nkly.

    They didn''t want to stay in the city and wait for the lockdown. Before that happened, they had to escape!

    The Branch Head of the Ghost City nodded. Now that it came to this, he could only pray for the best. He stood up andmanded the Silver Eyed Undead to take the three of them to the Lifeless Desert in the Outer Layer where the exit of the Nether Realm that connected to earth was ced!

    The three people in the courtyard disappeared like ghosts, thanks to the Silver Eyed Undead.

    As they left the Capital directly, they didn''t realize that just a few seconds after they left, a dome-shaped majestic blood red barrier appeared around the Capital that enclosed the City! The entire city was under a lockdown!1

 Chapter 477 477: We Cant Even If We Wanted To

    The entire Capital City of the Nether Realm was sealed! No one could teleport inside the city or teleport outside! It was almost impossible to sneak out!

    The Undead n utilized all the members they had left in the city. The other two ns had no idea what the Undead n was doing.

    It was only after they found out that an outsider had sneaked inside the city and the Soul Land did they react and send people as well!

    No one was stupid enough to think that the outsider appeared at the same time as Gabriel! It was clear to see that the two sides were working together. It even made them feel as if Gabriel intentionally made them find out his whereabouts since he wanted to weaken the City and make them lower their guard!

    Unfortunately, it was toote for the realization. They didn''t have a single clue that the people they were trying to find had already left the City.

    At the same time, millions of miles away from the Capital City, four people appeared in the middle of a barrel ofnd. Amongst the four, two were undead.

    "It should be the same ce where we came from." Alion observed his surroundings, nodding. It was the same barrennd with cracks everywhere and no signs of life!

    "I did as you said and brought you here. Now get the Soul Devouring insect out of my body," the Branch Head of the Ghost City let out as he suspiciously nced at Alion to see if he actually had a chance or not.

    Alion didn''t respond. He didn''t have to lie to the Branch Head anymore. He was already at his destination. Moreover, it wasn''t as if he ever nned to actually let him leave.

    Alion wasn''t merciful, especially when it came to their safety! Only the Undead n Branch Head and the silver eyed Undead were the ones who had seen his and Jia''s face and were still alive!

    He knew how petty these people could be. They were certainly going to try to kill them in the future. He didn''t even want to let them know what they looked like.

    He simply raised his right hand, cing it on the chest of the Undead n Branch Head, as if he was going to call out the Soul Devouring Insect.

    The Undead Branch Head sighed in relief, feeling as if he was really left alive.

    In fact, he was already nning on how to report everything to the main n along with giving them the description of how these two looked like and their goals ining here, so they could get revenge in the future.

    While he was lost in thoughts, his face suddenly turned pale as he coughed out a mouthful of blood! Alion didn''t bring out the Soul Devouring Insect! Instead, his hand had prated the Branch Head''s chest,pletely passing through.

    The Branch Head coughed out a mouthful of blood at his lips parted in disbelief.

    "Y...ou..."

    Let alone freeing him, Alion personally killed him but he also used the Soul Devouring insect to destroy his soul!

    The Branch Head''s lifeless body dropped to the ground. Until the moment he died, he was in disbelief. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do.

    After the Branch Head died, only the silver eyed Undead was left. Unfortunately, unlike Gabriel, Alion could neithermand him nor control him. If he could, he had no reason to use the Branch Head!

    In the end, he killed the Silver Eyed Undead as well.

    "Let''s leave."

    After killing the two Undeads, he turned around. Even though there was no sense of direction in this lifeless desert, he still had a rough idea as to where the exit was.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As per Gabriel''s instructions, he didn''t wait for him.

    While Alion and Jia left for the exit of the Nether Realm, in another part of the same desert, a small group was looking at everything in amazement!

    The group of the Holy Priestess of Water Elora had also entered the Nether Realm,pletely unaware just what kind of ce this was.

    There were no signs of life in this ce. It was like apletely new world altogether which stunned even Elora.

    They had been walking in the desert for over two days and they were yet to find a way out of this desert. Let alone find a way out of this ce, they couldn''t even find their way back anymore!

    Theirpass was also useless in this ce since for them, there was not really any danger in this desert.

    To them, it even felt as if this desert was all there was to this world and that there was nothing more to see here.

    It was only after one more day passed that they finally felt that the terrain was changing! They were finally out of the desert!

    On the other side, at around the same time, Alion and Jia also reached the exit. They passed through the exit, safely leaving the Nether Realm!

    It was only after they stepped out of the Nether Realm that they sighed in relief!

    The air wasn''t as lifeless anymore and it was filled with Spiritual Elements that they could use to recover! They could finally regain their strength!

    Both of them started greedily absorbing the Spiritual Aura from the air to recover their strength back to their peak, while also waiting for Gabriel toe out.

    "Do you think we should go inside to help Gabriel after we recover?" Jia asked, ncing back at the stairs in the distance.

    "It''s impossible. After entering that ce, we can''t enter again that easily. Unless you want your soul to be corrupted, you can only pass through the door twice in a month."

    "We''ve already passed through the door twice, once to enter and next to exit. For half a month, we couldn''t go in even if we wanted to. Or we might even lose our own souls in the process," Alion replied, not going into too much detail.

    In fact, if Gabriel hadn''t told him, he wouldn''t have known about that either.

    For now, he could only wait here for half a month and hope that Gabriel coulde out safely by then. If not, he would''ve had to enter again to see what happened.

    ....

    A massive battle broke out in the Forbidden Land where thousands of Undeads rushed out of the ground, attacking the people from the three great ns!

    Unfortunately, even those Undeads couldn''t hold back the Patriarch of the Blood n.

    In fact, the patriarch didn''t even waste a single second in fighting the Undeads. He just passed through them like lightning. No undead could stop him!

    As for his destination, it was none other than Gabriel!

 Chapter 478 478: Were Going Home

    The Patriarch of Blood n hadn''t seen Gabriel. However, he knew that Gabriel was trying to dy them for some reason. Instead of falling into that trap, he left the others to deal with the Undeads while he, along with some other leaders of the three Great ns, went deeper into the Forbidden Land.

    They were sure that Gabriel wasn''t far from them. For him to cast this spell, he had to be somewhere around there!

    They were right as well. When Gabriel cast that spell, he was indeed there. Unfortunately, he didn''t need to stay there once the spell was sessful!

    The only reason he used this spell was to dy the three great ns so he could leave. He was in no mood to fight currently. Not only did he not have enough strength, but also there were no benefits to it.

    In the end, he simply decided to leave the Forbidden Land for the time being.

    The Patriarch of the Blood n looked for Gabriel all around, at least as far as he could. Unfortunately, this ce was so vast that even for him, it was impossible to cover every ce!

    ....

    The armies of the three great ns had already finished dealing with the Undead that had suddenly appeared. After dealing with the Undead, they once again got back to the Ancient Battleships before going deeper to catch up with the leaders of the three great ns.

    At around the same time, Gabriel had already left the Forbidden Land.

    He stood outside the entrance, gazing back at the ancient battlefield. It was much harder to leave the battlefield than it was to move deeper.

    While it took him over eleven days to get where he was, it took him only three days to return.

    "If I hadn''t exhausted myself in this ce, maybe I could''ve dealt with everything. Unfortunately..."

    From this distance, he couldn''t even see the Ancient Battleships either. However, he was sure that they were probably still searching for him.

    "Alion should''ve seeded by now. I should go back."

    He walked closer to Dren who used his spatial abilities to take Gabriel back to the lifeless desert. That was as far as he could go as well. From there, the exit gateway interfered in his abilities.

    Gabriel and Dren could only walk to the exit together. Fortunately, the distance to cover wasn''t long.

    After only half a day, Gabriel reached the exit. This time, he believed that his trip to the Nether Realm was really fruitful, especially thanks to the mysterious skeleton.

    He still had no idea just what mysteries remained behind those patterns on the skeleton bones but he wanted to research more.

    ....

    "There''s some movement." Alion stood up, sending spatial movements in the direction of the Nether Gate. "Someone ising."

    "Is it Gabriel?"

    Jia also stood up and turned around, looking back curiously.

    Just as the two were waiting, a figure came out from the Nether Gate. The person was a young man, who appeared as if he hadn''t even turned twenty years old yet. However, from the aura and the expressions of the man, he didn''t feel like a youngster at all.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The young man was apanied by a silver eyed Undead who looked slightly different than the one Alion and Jia had apanied! Somehow, the one who apanied Alion looked like... It had intelligence. It didn''t have nk eyes like the others that they had seen.

    He was still devoid of any aura of life, but if that was to be ignored, he looked no different than any ordinary human!

    Gabriel came down the stairs, gazing at Alion and Jia. From their expressions, he was convinced that they hadn''t failed their mission. There was no disappointment or regret on their faces after all. What was even better was that they werepletely unharmed...

    "Did you seed?" Despite knowing the answer, he still asked as hended on the ground.

    Alion brought two blue gems out of his pockets. "It was easy."

    "Hmph, of course it was easy for you. You didn''t have to hold back the Undead Guards for eleven hours straight." Jia rolled her eyes, mumbling under her breath.

    Gabriel ignored herints, having a rough idea about what happened.

    He took the two blue gems from Alion and observed them for a brief moment.

    A strange emotion flickered in his eyes for a brief moment, but it disappeared before anyone could notice it.

    Now that they had the souls, it was slightly easier to recreate their bodies, at least for him. All he needed was to find some materials.

    Novius and Cylix had their souls intact! However, Gabriel knew that they weren''t going to recognise him. They werepletely different people from the two he met in the tower of challenges!

    The two in the tower of challenges were only a small bit of their consciousness. They weren''t a part of their souls. However, it didn''t matter for Gabriel.

    The consciousness of the two from the Tower of Challenges was still in his Grimoire. Even though he didn''t do it intentionally in the past, it came handy now. All he had to do was merge this consciousness with the main souls and he could bring back the two people that he knew!

    Once Novius was back, he could hand over the Empire to Novius and be free from his promise. As for Cylix, he could also gain freedom and enjoy life again!

    The two had spent all their time inside the tower of challenges, never seeing the outside world from the moment they were created. Gabriel couldn''t help but wonder just how excited they were going to be when they realized that they were not only alive but they were also free.

    For now, Gabriel kept the two gems inside his Grimoire Spatial Storage. "In that case, we are done here."

    "Are we going back to the Empire?" Alion asked.

    Gabriel gazed in the direction of the Empire which he controlled. If anything, that was the only ce he could call home in this world. That was also the ce where his real Pce was! Moreover, it was where his army was sealed.

    Half a month had already passed, leaving only half a month more before his army could be unsealed. No matter what, he had to go back there!

    He nodded in response.

    Now that he was back, the restrictions of the Abandoned City of Gods didn''t apply anymore. He could freely break any restriction, including the restriction on flying. There was no one here who could stop him!

    "We''re going home¡­"

 Chapter 479 479: Trap

    The Arecia Empire... A ce that was once the home of the Royal Arecia Family until the family waspletely wiped out, was now the Empire that Gabriel ruled over.

    Not many things had changed in the Empire, other than the power structure when Gabriel came into power. The Knight Academy was reduced to a second rate force. The Nobles were removed from their positions.

    The ones who resisted were removed with force while all their property was taken by the Empire. As for the ones who didn''t resist, they were allowed to keep their property which was enough for them to live a lifetime of luxury.

    The only thing that changed for them was that they weren''t allowed to keep any military power. Throughout the days, the Empire had stabilized.

    Without the Nobles, the lives of themoners had somehow improved as well. Other than the Emperor, everyone in the Empire was the same now! Even a noble wasn''t allowed to kill amoner unless they wanted a death penalty.

    Some people praised Gabriel for this change while others cursed him, calling him a demon. No matter what, every single person in the Empire was talking about Gabriel, even after weeks had passed.

    However, strangely enough, one day Gabriel disappeared from the Empire. Since then over two weeks had passed and no one had seen Gabriel anymore! Even the Royal Guards had no idea as to where Gabriel was!

    What was even worse was that some mysterious people had appeared in the Empire! They had blood red eyes and some strange yet mysterious abilities that made them stronger than even the Saint Knight of the Empire!

    Not a single person could resist them! Fortunately, the men didn''t make things difficult for them. Instead, they seemed to be looking for someone!

    It was only recently that news started spreading in the Arecia Empire and even the nearby Empires! That news was about Gabriel and it was spread by the Churches who received this news from the Temple of Time!

    For quite some time, the citizens found it hard to believe! However when they thought about Gabriel''s previous actions, they slowly started believing it.

    ording to the news, Gabriel was a mage! A mage who was even worse than a Dark Mage! The information that was spreading stated that Gabriel was a Mage of death, who was so evil that he used the death to gain strength!

    Even digging a grave was considered to be a taboo in this world, let alone a person who used Undeads and souls to strengthen!

    What was worse was that Gabriel was nowhere to be found, which made everyone believe the rumors even more. If Gabriel wasn''t guilty, why would he be hiding after all?

    Just like that, in an instant, the entire world had turned against Gabriel when he was still inside the Nether Realm.

    Almost everyone hated Gabriel! Moreover, thanks to this rumor, the Churches also realized that the person they considered to be the Lord of Darkness was in reality the Lord of Death! He was behind the death of all their members throughout the years!

    Even the Lord of mes believed that the Church of mes was destroyed by Gabriel!<novelnext></novelnext>

    As if this problem wasn''t enough, another piece of news spread which made things even worse for Gabriel! ording to the news, Gabriel had somehow taken control of the Grimoire of Light using his evil methods and he had been pretending to be the Holy Lord of Light this entire time!

    This explosive news was so shocking that for a long time, the Church of Light was cursing themselves for not realizing the truth! They had lost the Grimoire of Light and that too to such an evil man!

    Even the Academy of Elements realized many things. They understood that the person who robbed them the first time was Gabriel! Moreover, the person who killed Izen while pretending to be the Lord of Light was also Gabriel! That''s why he wasn''t worried about being caught!

    Almost everyone was sheeting in anger, trying to find the whereabouts of Gabriel!

    Another news that spread throughout thest few days was that the Holy Priestess of Summoning had been captured by the Temple of Time! It was said that she had been working with the Lord of Death! That''s why she was imprisoned!

    As for who could be strong enough to not only defeat her but also imprison her alive, not many people knew. It was only said that it was a high ranking Temple of Time member who was the second inmand of the Temple, almost as strong as the Temple Lord! However, it was also said that the person looked like a kid!

    Ever since the Deputy Lord of the Temple of Time captured Avilia, he had been staying in the Arecia Royal Pce along with the prisoner, as if tainting Gabriel and waiting for him to show up!

    Just twenty four hours ago, many people who were loyal to Gabriel in the Arecia Empire had been executed in public! These people included the Saint Knight, some high ranking royal guards of the Empire and even the Duke who was a high ranking dark mage!

    It was as if everyone who was close to Gabriel was executed one after another, only leaving Avilia who was still kept alive!

    Unfortunately, everyone knew that it was only a matter of time! Even after all this time, Gabriel hadn''t shown up. Which meant he was scared and hiding!

    Just as everyone was wondering how long Avilia was going to be left alive, a deration spread that Avilia was going to be executed after three days!

    It was the first time someone said a Holy Lord was going to be executed! However, no one dared to doubt these words! It came from the Deputy Lord of the Temple of Time after all!

    Not a single person knew if Gabriel was finally going to show himself or not. However, they believed that if Gabriel showed up, it was no different than him epting his death!

    The Temple of Time was out in full force and the Churches had also joined them! There was no way out of this trap! As long as Gabriel came, he couldn''t leave!

    Many people who hated Gabriel were just waiting for him to show up so that he could die! That way, they could at least rx a little. As long as Gabriel was hiding, they always had to be wary!

    None of the people realized that the person they were looking for wasn''t even in this world at that time! It was just now that Gabriel hade out of the Nether Realm and he wasing straight for the Arecia Empire!

 Chapter 480 480: Somethings Off

    "Something feels off..."

    Alion flew right beside Gabriel. His expressions were slightly different as if he could feel that something was wrong. It was just a subconscious feeling.

    Even though Gabriel didn''t respond, even he could feel something was wrong.

    He could feel subtle traces of hostility that were being directed toward him, even when he was far away from any city. This was only possible when the people who felt hostility toward him were too many.

    What was even more strange was that he should feel the aura around him bing somewhat unstable. As the Chains of the World were still keeping this world sealed to some extent, he was more sensitive toward even the most minute of changes in the elemental aura around him!

    The Elemental Aura was very chaotic and most of it was unusual for the time being, thanks to this chaos.

    ? "Not many people could achieve something like this," he muttered as if talking to himself.

    As far as he knew, there were very few people who could do this. Thanks to his Shackles, he didn''t believe that the Overlord or Generals from the Upper Realm came here.

    Even the old gods of this World couldn''t enter this World directly unless they wanted to suffer a Bacsh. As for the Holy Lords, they weren''t capable of something like that. That left only one possibility...

    "It seems all the rats areing out one after another."

    His flying speed increased even more as he understood that things weren''t going to be as simple as he expected. Since such a massive change had happened, that meant the other side already knew his identity and his disguise as the Holy Lord of Light.

    In that case, it meant they had already prepared for everything, including sealing the Arecia Kingdom where his Castle of Death was.

    With only two weeks left before his army awakened, things went south. However, Gabriel didn''t appear worried. It was as if even if the sky came crashing down, it wasn''t enough for him to even flinch!

    "Could it be the Temple of Time?" Alion asked, as if understanding the meaning behind Gabriel''s words. "Those old monsters areing out?"

    Unlike the previous gods who left this world, unable to return thanks to the Worldly Shackles, the Temple of Time had never left! They had always been here. For thest hundreds of years, they just didn''t show themselves.

    Since they had always been here, that meant the Worldly Shackles couldn''t stop them from appearing, including the old overlord of the Temple of Time.

    In fact, even Gabriel didn''t know just how old the Overlord of Temple of Time was exactly. The person wasn''t like them who gained an element when many civilizations died in this world thanks to war.

    Instead, his strength wasn''t his own! His strength came from a special gem that granted him many abilities, including abilities which allowed him to always stay young, or to manipte the flow of time to a small extent!

    Moreover, even though the person only used external elements to manipte time, that didn''t change the fact that he was very strong! Unlike Gods, he didn''t have an element of his own. He wasn''t like Gabriel who owned a Supreme Element.

    Many people thought that the Overlord of the Temple of Time had the supreme Element of Time which was in the same league as the Element of Death, Element of Life and Element of Space! However only Gabriel knew the truth that he wasn''t special at all!<novelnext></novelnext>

    If anything, the overlord of Temple of Time was more like Lambard, who was just a mortal but used external help to project an image of the supreme being.

    "Temple of Time?" Jia eximed, slightly surprised. Ever since the World was sealed by Gabriel, she hadn''t heard any news about the Temple of Time.

    In fact, even in the Upper World, no one knew about the Temple of Time. However, the ones who went to the Upper World from this world knew that the Temple of Time was strong enough to be considered a top force even in the Upper Realm!

    Even in the Upper Realm, there were only three people ording to her who could wipe the Temple of Time! One was the Monarch of the Upper Realm. As for the other two, they were the two Generals who worked right under the Monarch of the Upper Realm!

    That was enough to show just how strong the Temple of Time was. ording to Jia, even if the Goddess of Light came down from the Upper Realm, she wouldn''t have been confident enough to face the Temple of Time.

    What also made her intrigued was Gabriel. Even after knowing the enemy, he didn''t show a single trace of concern.

    She couldn''t help but wonder just why the Temple of Time and Karyk were enemies.

    Initially, the two had nothing to do with each other. However, one day a sudden news came that Karyk stole something from the Temple of Time. Ever since then, Karyk and the Temple of Time had been at throats of each other!

    Unfortunately, even with their influence, the Temple of Time couldn''t do much to Karyk. At the same time, Karyk also couldn''t destroy the Temple of Time.

    She really wanted to ask Gabriel just what he stole from the Temple of Time to make those bastards go so crazy. However, she didn''t have enough courage. She had heard that knowing too many secrets could be dangerous as well, especially when it was a secret between two overlords.

    "Do you really think the Master of the Temple of Time personally came this time?" Alion asked, trying to assess the threat level.

    "It doesn''t feel like that. If I''m not wrong, he should''ve sent his second inmand. With how cautious he is, he wouldn''t personallye until everything was ready for his arrival," Gabriel answered, shaking his head lightly.

    That kind of personality really didn''t suit a person who was known to be so strong. However, that''s exactly the person that the Master of the Temple of Time was. It was as if he was always worried about hidden traps, especially when it came to Karyk!

    Many people from the Temple had died in Karyk''s hands a thousand years ago after all!

    "Should we stay put for two weeks then?"

    Alion appeared as if he was thinking to himself, but Jia knew he was talking to Gabriel.

    "After two weeks, your army will be unsealed. At that time, the Temple of Time will have to be careful as well! Your army isn''t called Unrivaled for no reason after all," he added.

    "It took a lot of time and effort to create that army after all." Gabriel couldn''t help but think back to the past.

    Every single person in his army was handpicked by him personally. As for the Undeads who could satisfy the selection criteria of someone like him, they definitely couldn''t be weak!

 Chapter 481 481: I Wish I Could Be There

    The world only saw the Undead Army that he created, but they didn''t see how much effort he put behind each member.

    In fact, even he slightly regretted that he had to seal his Army for a thousand years. However, if he was given the same choice, he was sure he would''ve made the same decision.

    What was a thousand year seal in exchange for a Destiny Stone, even if it meant he had to fall in someone''s scheme.

    Gabriel slowed down, noticing a city in the distance. The City was veryrge and it was in the area controlled by the Church of Element of Earth.

    Initially, he had no ns to stop in any city. However, with the sudden changes in this world, he felt like what hecked the most now was information. Just what exactly happened in this world after he went to the Nether Realm?

    He could get his answers when he reached the Empire of Arecia. But he didn''t want to wait that long. There was still too much distance between his current location and the Arecia Empire.

    He flicked his right finger. A ck cloak appeared around his body, which had sleeves that were so long that even his fingers were hidden in the sleeves.

    The cloak also covered the top half of his face, making it impossible for anyone to recognise him. Moreover, now that he had better control over his Element of Death, he could easily hide his aura, even from a Holy Lord. It was to an extent where he appeared no different than an ordinary mortal.

    As for Alion, even though he looked slightly extraordinary, he didn''t have an Element. His abilities worked in a different principle. Meanwhile, Jia looked just like a kid. No one could associate her with a great warrior. All she had to do was hide her heavy Sword.

    "Hide your sword. We''re going to the city." He reminded the two people next to him.

    Alion understood right away and also donned a cloak. As for Jia, she kept her Sword in her storage space.

    She didn''t really like separating from her sword since she felt too light without the Sword. It was ufortable for her. Unfortunately, since it was Gabriel''s instructions, she didn''t talk back.

    Gabriel didn''t forget to hide Dren either. Since Dren was an Undead from the Nether Realm, he was too eye-catching for their goals.

    He could only send Dren to the Special space inside his Grimoire, before entering the City with just the three of them.

    With the kind of skills the three had, even a High Priest from the Church of Earth would''ve had a hard time noticing them sneaking inside the city.

    It was much easier than sneaking inside the Capital City of the Nether Realm as well.

    Gabriel walked on the main streets of the City that weren''t too crowded. In fact, not many people could be seen on the streets, as if they were all staying in their house for some reason.

    Amongst the few people on the streets, quite a few of them were members of Various Churches, which was a little surprising.

    Fortunately, even though there weren''t many people on the streets, the ones that were walking nearby weren''t shy of talking about the sudden changes.

    A young couple was walking not too far from Gabriel, holding hands.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Are you sure it''s safe outside? You heard the announcement about that Death Mage being on the loose? What if hees to this city?" The young woman''s voice sounded a little scared as she kept looking around her, as if she was worried that the man who had scared the entire continent was going to appear in the city to destroy it!

    "Hahaha, what are you worried about? You shouldn''t be as naive as the other people in the city. My brother is a Priest in the Church of Earth. He told me that it''spletely safe in this city!" The young manughed freely, as if he didn''t worry about anything.

    "Even if that Death Mage came here, I''d punch his face so hard that he''d die right there on the spot!" The man didn''t forget to brag when he had the opportunity.

    Since he was sure that this city was safe, he waspletely fearless. Moreover, what were the chances that the Death Mage was going to be there and hear him?! Almost none!

    He didn''t notice three people walking about five or six meters behind him, hearing everything clearly.

    Hearing the young man''s words, the corners of Jia''s lips crept upwards as she nced in the direction of Gabriel.

    Unfortunately for her, Gabriel''s face didn''t reveal much reaction. The people before him were no more than ants. It didn''t matter what they said. In fact, if he showed himself right now, the young man was going to probably wet his pants!.

    This kind of person wasn''t worth his reaction.

    Instead, Gabriel was more curious about the man''s words. It was clear that everyone knew about him now. His assumption was more or less urate!

    "How can you be so sure that he won''te here? Isn''t it that no one knows his whereabouts? What if he''s in the city?" The girl still asked.

    "Hahaha, do you think he has time to worry about this city when people who worked for him are dying in Arecia Capital?" The young man rolled his eyes. "Didn''t you hear that the Temple of Time killed everyone who was close to him? Even after that, he didn''t show up. He''s probably hiding in some mountains, scared out of his wits!"

    "Ah, right! The man was disguising as the Emperor of Arecia! Who would''ve known! I heard that his Generals and all his aides have been executed publicly by the mysterious Temple of Time! Even the other Churches are working together with them!" The little girl eximed, as if she was somewhat amazed.

    "However, the rumor about the Holy Priestess of Summoning working for the Death Mage... Do you think it''s the truth? Or is it a rumor?"

    "Of course it''s the truth! My brother told me that there''s no doubt about it! That bitch betrayed the continent! Good thing she''s caught by the Temple of Time before she could do too much damage! In fact, if what my brother told me is true, then Temple of Time is going to execute that bitch in two days!"

    "Then again, that''s what she deserves! I only regret that I can''t be there personally when her head rolls!" The man eximed,ughing heartily.

    However, hisughter abruptly stopped as the world turned upside down! It was as if the world was rolling around! It wasn''t long until he realized the truth when he saw his body next to him! His head was rolling on the ground instead while his body was yet to fall to the ground!

    "Arghhhh!" The next moment, a young woman''s scream echoed in the surroundings.

    In the meantime, the three people who were walking behind had long disappeared, leaving this city!

 Chapter 482 482: Its Been Long

    Right outside the Capital of Arecia where Avilia''s execution was going to take ce, a powerful barrier was erected by the Temple of Time.

    The City was filled with members of Temple of Time, each on high alert.

    Less than two days were left until Avilia was going to be killed. If Gabriel was ever going toe, the Temple of Time believed that this was the time.

    The Second Head of the Temple of Time, who looked like a little boy, was sitting on the throne in the Royal ce,zily ncing at the woman in the middle of the hall.

    Avilia''s hands were tied in some mysterious shackles from the Temple of Time, which made it impossible for Avilia to summon anything. As for her strength, it wasn''t enough to break those shackles either.

    "You are a fool if you think he wille to save me." Despite being imprisoned, Avilia''s face was perfectly calm, as if she wasn''t scared about hering death.

    Instead, her eyes looked mockingly at the little boy on the throne, as ifughing at his nativity in thinking that she was important enough for Gabriel toe here despite knowing that it''s a trap.

    "Oh, I know he won''te." The little boyzily answered. "If anything, I know him much better than you. The man who killed my little brother..."

    "It doesn''t matter even if he doesn''te. Now that he has returned, there is no ce in this world where he can hide from us," he further added, not exining further. However, from his words, Avilia managed to receive some hints.

    "He should''ve stayed dead. Then again, I''m happy that he''s back. My biggest regret was that I didn''t manage to kill him with my own handsst time!"

    "Stayed dead?" Avilia frowned. Since she was imprisoned, she didn''t hear any rumors outside. She knew the Temple of Time hated Gabriel for some reason but she didn''t know why exactly. Just what was so special about his identity?

    Thinking to this point, she couldn''t help but remember the words of the Lord of Wind, who said that there were many people who wanted Gabriel dead, even without him having to do anything.

    "Honestly, I have no enmity with you. If you want to me anyone for your death, me Karyk for getting close to you. If you still have some hate left after that, then me yourself for working with him."

    The young boy closed his eyes after he finished speaking, not paying any more attention.

    "Karyk?" Avilia muttered, frowning. She couldn''t remember hearing that name before. Even as she read all the books in the Church of Summoning, there was no mention of this name.

    But from what she understood, Karyk was some ancient being who had enmity with the Temple of Time.

    When she thought to this point, she remembered something. The records mentioned that the Temple of Time had something stolen from them! The name of the person who stole wasn''t mentioned in the records. However, through the years, the Temple of Time had been searching for that item.

    Putting the pieces together, she had some assumptions which even she found absurd. Gabriel was the rebirth of Karyk who stole from the Temple of Time! Not only that, Karyk used to be so strong that he had killed many people from the temple of Time, including the brother of the young boy on the throne.

    She didn''t know how urate her assumptions were, but she had a feeling that she was quite close to the truth.<novelnext></novelnext>

    She didn''t say anything and the hall returned to silence. She simply lowered her head. Even though she believed that Gabriel wasn''t going toe to save her, somewhere deep in her heart, she couldn''t help but hope that he was going toe and save her.

    ****

    Outside the Royal City, far away from the barrier erected by the Temple of Time, there stood three people.

    A young man, who was almost twenty years old, stood in the middle, apanied by a man and a little girl.

    "These guys are really shameless, aren''t they?" Jia scratched the back of her head, looking at the barrier in the distance. "On one hand, they taunt you toe to the City. On the other hand, they do everything to prevent you from entering the City. Something seems to be wrong with their heads."

    "Something had been wrong with their heads for over a thousand years," Alionzily responded. "How else could someonee up with such an absurd n a thousand years ago about the use of Orbs of Time?''

    "Orbs of Time? The thing Karyk sto- cough, I mean confiscated?" Jia subconsciously talked about the rumor she heard in the past, but she quickly corrected her words, remembering who was standing next to her.

    "It''s been so long since Ist saw that barrier."

    Gabrielpletely ignored the chatter of the two people next to him. Instead, he observed the barrier that reminded him of thest time he dealt with the barrier.

    It was the time where the Temple of Time had ced an borate trap for him. Not only did they use the barrier to make it impossible for him to leave the ce, but they also sent their Second inmand at that time to kill him, along with many high ranking members.

    For Gabriel, it was as if it had happened just yesterday where his hands were covered in blood! Bodies were lying all around him, lifelessly. Almost everyone who was sent to kill him was dead and the barrier was also half broken when he left.

    The barrier before him at the moment was simr to the barrierst time, yet it was also different, as if it was slightly improved, correcting the ws of thest barrier.

    The space inside the barrier was sealed, making it impossible to pass through the barrier withoutpletely destroying the barrier.

    The barrier also passed through the earth, leaving no ws. As for the core of the barrier, it was supposed to be in the hands of the leader sent by the Temple this time.

    "This is going to be harder than expected. We can''t sneak inside. It would have to be a frontal assault. But that would also mean a head on sh with no advantage to us." Alion stated, as he sat on the ground.

    Currently, they were in the dark while the enemies were in the open. However, once they attacked the barrier, that advantage was going to be gone.

    There was still a little over a day left so they weren''t short on time at least.

 Chapter 483 483: After Were Done

    Alion brought some fruits out of his storage and handed them over to Gabriel and Jia. Ever since they came from the Nether Realm, none of them had eaten anything.

    Jia took the fruit. Even though she was hungry, she was somewhat surprised that Alion could be so rxed in this situation. He still had the appetite to eat?

    While she was still standing like a statue with the golden fruit in her hand, she noticed that Gabriel also sat on a nearby rock, taking his first bite of the golden fruit.

    "Is it from my pce?" He nced at Alion. He still remembered the day over a thousand years ago when he had someone nt some trees in his Pce, just for these golden fruits.

    The fruit didn''t exist in this world at all. The seeds of the golden tree were brought back by Gabriel from the Upper Realm. Unfortunately, he left for the Nether Realm right after he had these seeds nted.

    After that, he didn''t have time to return to his pce. It was the first time he was tasting the fruits from his castle.

    "Where else can I find it?" Alion smiled. "You should see how big the trees have be. Almost half your garden is covered with those trees. In fact, there are fruits but no one to eat them. After we are done here, I''ll take you to see the garden."

    Gabriel revealed a long lost smile, as if time had reversed to a thousand years ago. He still somewhat missed that time. Everything had changed in this world ever since he disappeared. Now this world was beyond recognition to him.

    It was a good thing that Alion was still his same old self, without the slightest bit of change.

    "My sister should be up by now. Even though she won''t have any memories of the past, but maybe that''s for the best."

    He didn''t want his sister to remember all the destruction that the world faced, including the fact that her soul was devoured by himst time.

    In fact, even if she hadn''t lost her memories, he would''ve found some way to erase her memories. As much as he wanted his sister to remember him, he wanted her to live a life without worries and regret of the past even more.

    "The little brat won''t remember me. But she would be happy to know that she has two brothers. I do wonder what kind of back story I should tell her to not make her suspicious."

    "Two brothers?" Alion was slightly taken back before he understood. He couldn''t help but feel happiness from the depths of his heart. Gabriel had been all alone ever since the era of gods started. He had no family!

    At the same time, Alion also had no family at all. He didn''t even know how the two of them became friends in the past, but to think that Gabriel was giving him a family... Now he had a sister as well, and a brother like Gabriel!

    Since Gabriel''s sister didn''t remember her past, as long as they told her that they were her brother, it was the same as Alion bing her real brother.

    Alion couldn''t help but clench his fist, swearing in his heart that even if he had to sacrifice his life, he would protect his sister... He could finally experience what it was like to have a family.

    "We should have a celebration when we go back." He revealed a bright smile, gazing at the beautiful moon above them.

    Gabriel nodded in response. Even though he hated what happened a thousand years ago, he was also happy at the same time. This way, he got to understand just who were his real allies and who were the traitors, just pretending in the past.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He had a suspicious nature in the past but after the betrayal, he realized that he wasn''t careful enough. If there was anyone in this world he could trust, it was Alion!

    Around three hours passed. None of the three had made any moves. In fact, it all depended on when and how Gabriel wanted to move.

    Instead of going inside the city, or attacking directly, Gabriel waszily lying on the ground, gazing at the Star filled sky. It was as if there were still some things he had to decide on.

    Moreover, all three of them were tied. They had been on the move all the time, ever since they entered the Nether Realm. It wasn''t good to attack the City unprepared.

    If he was alone, he didn''t care much about how tired he was. However, Alion and Jia were different. They needed proper rest to give theing battle their all.

    "The execution of the day after tomorrow. Should we attack the City tomorrow or wait for thest day?" Alion''s calm yet peaceful voice came.

    Gabriel nced to his left, noticing Alion resting with his back against a rock.

    At their levels, they didn''t need much luxuries. Even a rock or the barren ground was fine enough for them. In fact, Alion felt no different between resting on a throne and how he was currently resting.

    If anything, Alion was more distracted by theing battle.

    Even though it looked like a battle against the Temple of Time, in reality, it was a battle against all the forces of the world.

    He wasn''t naive enough to think that the Churches hadn''t sent people to the Royal City. If anything, he believed that almost all the Churches had probably sent all their Head Priests who were currently in the Royal City!

    Moreover, he was also convinced that almost all the Holy Lords were inside! Once the battle began, it was going to be hard!

    Thanks to the Temple of Time''s assistance, all the Holy Lords would''ve had their abilities enhanced. He knew just how tricky the Temple of Time and their tricks were, after all.

    It wasn''t the same as fighting a Holy Lord in the past this time!

    "Do you really want to attack the City, knowing it''s a trap?" On the other hand, Jia thought a little differently.

    When they knew it was a trap, why were those two men so insistent on attacking the City? Was this the pride thing that the men often talked about? Or was the woman who was to be executed really that special for Gabriel? She had no idea.

    She hadn''t known Gabriel for a long time as she only recently came to this world. In fact, she didn''t even remember ever seeing this Avilia or what she looked like at all.

    "What do you think?" Gabriel broke his silence and asked.

 Chapter 484 484: Abbadon

    "What do you think?"

    Gabriel''s question in response to her question stunned Jia. She didn''t know how to answer. There was no way for her to know his exact intentions after all.

    "This battle is inevitable." After a long period of silence, Gabriel responded. It wasn''t just about Avilia for him. Even though she was a factor behind his decision, but his real intentions were more than that.

    His main intention was to free the City where the portal of his pce was.

    He was sure that the Temple of Time already knew about the portal, even though he hid it thoroughly. They were probably trying to find ways to break the defenses. If they somehow seeded, they could reach his Pce and find his sealed defenseless army!

    What was even worse was that his sister was also inside the Pce at the moment!

    If they didn''t attack in theing days, there were too many risks. He didn''t tell Jia.It wasn''t that he thought she''d betray him but he didn''t trust her enough either. Moreover, there was no need for her to know such things. It wasn''t going to make any difference in their goals after all!

    Seeing Gabriel not exin any more, Jia also decided to not ask. She stopped thinking too much about it and went to sleep.

    She didn''t worry about her safety in this ce since who could even dare to attack her in Gabriel''s presence. Even if there was an enemy attack, she was sure that Gabriel was going to know and deal with it.

    Gabriel cast some spells in his surroundings to hide their whereabouts, including some detection spells to make sure that no one disturbed them during the night.

    He was also thest person to go back to sleep as well, only falling asleep a few hourster than the other two.

    His mind was still filled with many thoughts, yet he was so tired that he didn''t even realize when he fell asleep.

    ....

    It was early morning. The sun had started rising in the distance, providing warmth to the surroundings.

    Gabriel slowly opened his eyes as direct sunlight fell onto his face.

    He had only slept for less than five hours yet he was also the first person in the group to wake up. Unlike the others, Gabriel didn''t have any dreams.

    Time passed extremely slowly for him when he was asleep, as if everything around him was dark and he was trapped in that darkness. In fact, he didn''t even remember thest time he had a dream as Karyk.

    Since his memories were sealed when he lived as Gabriel, at least he had some dreams. However, now he was back to his old self... Someone whose heart was empty inside.

    He still remembered the dreams he had when his memories were sealed. Even though most of those dreams were nightmares, he still cherished them. It was much better than how he was now.

    He let out a sigh as he stood up, casting a cleaning spell on himself. At the same time, his clothes also changed, turning into something much brighter.

    He was in a beautiful white attire, donning a silver robe on his back.

    Strangely enough, his attention wasn''t toward the Royal City of Arecia at the moment. Instead, he was looking in apletely opposite direction, as if he was able to see something that others couldn''t.

    Not long after, Alion and Jia also woke up. While Alion stretched his arms, Jia rubbed her eyes, as if she was still sleepy.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Gabriel didn''t exin anything to them. He just opened a spatial portal, without giving the other two much time to even ask questions.

    "You two stay here. I''ll be back soon." After speaking, he walked inside the Portal.

    The spatial portal closed as soon as Gabriel passed through, making it impossible for anyone to know just where he went.

    "Don''t tell me he''s going to attack the Royal City right now?" Jia subconsciously nced in the direction of the Royal City in the distance. She couldn''t think of any other ce where Gabriel would go at this time.

    Alion didn''t respond. He simply remained silent, as if thinking about something.

    ****

    The space cracked and a spatial portal opened hundreds of miles away from the Royal Capital of Arecia.

    The ce waspletely barren and not many people even came here since there wasn''t anything here... Or so everyone thought.

    From the spatial portal, a young man, d in white stepped out, observing the valley in the distance.

    Gabriel took a step forward and jumped inside the valley without thinking twice.

    Unlike the others, he wasn''t worried about the fall. His physical body was already strong enough that even if he fell from thousands of meters, he could still remain perfectly fine.

    A booming sound resounded in the valley as Gabrielnded in the depths. A crater appeared under his feet, as if the force of hisnding was too high for the ground to stay intact.

    Gabriel patted the dust off his spotless white clothes before turning to his left where a majestic city could be seen.

    No one could''ve guessed that there was a city in a ce like this. In fact, if Gabriel hadn''t recovered all his memories, even he would''ve had a hard time locating the city since this was the City of Abbadon, the City controlled by Lambard.

    A barrier was erected all around the city that could remain unbroken even when it was attacked by two Holy Lordsst time.

    Gabriel walked to the entrance of the City of Abaddon. He was greeted by two human-like puppets before the entrance of the City of Abaddon whomanded him to leave as no one was allowed to enter the City!

    Unfortunately for the puppets, the person they tried to stop didn''t have any intention to stop.

    Gabriel raised his right hand, clenching his fist lightly.

    At the same time, a strange energy appeared inside the bodies of the two puppets. Blood red light covered their entire body and before they knew it, their bodies exploded!

    The two human puppets were artifacts that could be killed yet never destroyed as they could recover themselves. However, when faced with Gabriel''s attack, both the puppets were thoroughly destroyed, turning into specks of light, merging with the surroundings. They could never heal anymore!

    While Gabriel destroyed the two puppets easily; Lambard, who was inside his Pce in the city sensed it!

    He had been sleeping at the moment yet he suddenly sat up, covered in sweat!

 Chapter 485 485: What A Pity

    Lambard had refined almost all the artifacts that he had found throughout the years... At least the ones that he was strong enough to refine. Because of that, he was connected to his Artifacts.

    Feeling that his puppets were destroyed, he found it hard to believe! The two puppets were supposed to be unbreakable.

    He flicked his sleeves. A bright light shot out from inside his sleeves, taking the shape of a human sized mirror.

    The mirror initially showed Lambard''s reflection yet when he activated the mirror, the scene changed and revealed what happened at the entrance of the City!

    His lips parted in shock as he saw a young man, dressed in spotless snow white clothes. With a simple gesture of his, two unbreakable artifacts level puppets were destroyed.

    There was no way he couldn''t recognise that person! He had seen the young man a little over a year ago after all! At that time, he had just be a mage and had received a rare element!

    After that point, he asked Gabriel to work for him and when Gabriel failed, he took back the items he gave him, without thinking about the situation carefully.

    He couldn''t believe that Gabriel became so strong in such a short time! Even with the Holy Grimoire of a supreme element, this speed of growth was impossible! He found it hard to believe but the scene was ying right before his eyes!

    Another thing he noticed was that when Gabriel came here for the first time, he appeared somewhat ignorant and naive. He was so weak that he could be crushed like an ant!

    However, this time, he looked as if Gabriel was a deity and they were the ants before him! He didn''t know why he had a feeling like that. Were the rumors correct? Gabriel was the reincarnation of that Cmity called Karyk?

    Even though Lambard lived inside the city, not revealing himself, but even he had heard the stories going around in the World, including all the rumors. He already partially believed this since this information was spread by the Temple of Time. But still, watching it with his own eyes was apletely different experience!

    "This bastard, instead of going to the Royal City to face the Temple of Time, he came here to bully me?!" Lambard''s face turned slightly pale.

    He didn''t believe that the city could remain intact if Gabriel attacked! The City was a Demigod level artifact while Gabriel was a God! It was only a matter of time before the City was destroyed!

    Lambard wasn''t naive enough to think that he could stop Gabriel himself! At best, he could only dy the inevitable!

    He strengthened the barrier around the city. At the same time, he sent a message to his informant inside the city, telling them to inform the Temple of Time that Gabriel had appeared!

    If anyone could deal with Gabriel at the moment, it was the Temple of Time. He just had to hold back for a little!

    Gabriel stood before the City of Abbadon. In fact, it wasn''t his first time here. When he lived as Karyk, he hade to this city quite a few times.

    He also knew Demigod Abbadon who created this city. Gabriel could still remember that even Abbadon used toe to the gates to wee him, shivering that he was going to destroy the entire city if he was offended!

    "It seems like Abbadon fell in that war." Gabriel shook his head lightly. Only when a Demigod fell could their artifacts be taken by others after all.

    He didn''t think much about the past. Many people had died at that time, mostly because of his battle with the upper realm! Even though those people weren''t attacked directly, they still died as coteral damage of the battle.

    It was a reallyrge-scale battle where even the aftershocks of the attacks were enough to destroy continents, let alone killing some demigods!<novelnext></novelnext>

    He could see that the barrier around the city had strengthened. It was clear that Lambard knew that he had arrived.

    "What a pity that you can''t bring even a fraction of this Artefact''s defensive power."

    Gabriel didn''t care about the strength of the barrier. Even though he wasn''t at his strongest,his control over his element of death was stronger than it used to be in the past.

    "If it was Abbadon himself maintaining the barrier, it could''ve been a little challenging at the moment. However you... You''re still a few centuries too young to try to stop me."

    He ced his finger on the barrier that was said to be unbreakable! The aura of death covered Gabriel''s hands. Various universalws intertwined at the tip of his finger.

    One second... Within one second, the cracking sound resounded in the golden barrier before the entire barrier shattered like a barrier made from a thin sheet of ss.

    Back inside the Mansion, Lambard coughed out a mouthful of blood as soon as the barrier broke! His face was filled with horror!

    His barrier that could hold back two Holy Lord for days without any trouble was broken with just a simple touch from Gabriel! That kind of strength... It wasn''t something a human should''ve possessed!

    At that moment, he started believing the rumors even more!

    Unfortunately, it was toote now. Even if he tried to teleport the entire city, that wasn''t going to change anything. He had a feeling that Gabriel could easily find them with how he was currently!

    Moreover, even if he teleported the City, Gabriel was going to go with them since he had already stepped inside the city!

    "I can only abandon the City and escape myself!"

    Lambard clenched his fists, making a decision to abandon the City and leave himself! When it came to his life, he didn''t want to take any chances. If he wasn''t such a coward, he wouldn''t have stayed inside the city for so long, without daring to go out!

    He hastily called his maid while he took all his artifacts that he didn''t want to leave behind!

    The maid was slightly stunned to see Lambard so scared, even when he was inside the city! She also noticed the barrier was broken, which meant a powerful enemy was here! She didn''t dare dy either.

    Lambard held his maid''s hands before raising a small sphere which was a teleportation treasure, one of his life saving treasures!

    A Spatial Aura surrounded him and his maid.

    Lambard''s heart was racing but he still believed that he could escape sessfully! Unfortunately, his face soon turned pale as the spatial aurapletely disappeared before it could send them away!

    Moreover, footsteps resounded behind him! Someone else had entered the room.

 Chapter 486 486: He Appeared

    As soon as the footsteps resounded, the entire space was sealed, making it impossible to use any Spatial Artefact that wasn''t as strong as a God Tier Artefact at least.

    Even the City of Abbadon, which was a Demigod Tier Numen, couldn''t resist this restriction. No matter how good the City was in defense, but currently, even it was too weak for the person who had moved unhindered in the Upper Realm and the Nether Realm, even while being targeted by many stronger beings.

    "You seem to be in a hurry to leave." Gabriel''s voice responded in the room as the footsteps stopped.

    Lambard''s face was dark as he slowly turned around, stunned at how helpless he was.

    "You!"

    The Maid was also stunned to find Gabriel there. She finally realized that it was because of Gabriel that the barrier broke. She didn''t believe Gabriel came here for anything good.

    "I''ll hold him back! Leave!" She suddenly eximed. Even if she had to sacrifice her life, she wanted Lambard to leave this ce safely.

    Before Lambard could even say anything, the maid brought two sharp daggers out and disappeared.

    Within a blink of an eye, her figure appeared right behind Gabriel as she thrust the daggers toward the back of his neck.

    "Huh?"

    The daggers reached closer to Gabriel''s body but just as they were about to touch him, the daggers froze in ce. Even the maid, also found unable to move dark shackles came out of the group, trapping her!

    Gabrielzily turned around, gazing at the young maid who was pulled to her knees by the shackles.

    "You''re too naive. If I couldn''t even protect myself from your weak attacks, you think so many people would''ve been after my life?"

    Gabriel had no interest in the maid who only had a few Numens that were given to her by Lambard for her protection. She was too weak for him to pay any attention.

    Lambard, on the other hand, was different since he had some nice items at least... Including one item that Gabriel was interested in.

    Even though the Maid had asked him to escape while she kept Gabriel busy, but Lambard was still standing in the same ce. He wasn''t naive enough to think that the girl could stop Gabriel, who was Karyk''s reincarnation.

    "L-Lord Karyk..."

    Seeing no other option, Lambard forced a smile on his face. He was sure that the Temple of Time was going to be here soon as soon as his people gave them this information. Until then, he just had to hold back Gabriel, keeping him distracted.

    "Take me to the core of the City." Gabriel didn''t waste any time at all since he could already guess what this guy was thinking.

    He didn''t waste a single moment of his time and forced Lambard to take him to the core of the City!

    Lambard was slightly surprised to find out what Gabriel wanted but he had no other choice. He didn''t resist at al). Instead, he took Gabriel with him to the depths of his mansion to a secret room.

    This was the room where the core of the City was!

    It was almost impossible to find the room unless one had great luck since the room kept changing its position. Only an extremely lucky person or the owner of the City could end up inside the room.<novelnext></novelnext>

    In fact, even Gabriel wasn''t able to find the room. He could destroy the City and the core along with it, but finding the core was apletely different matter.

    This was also the reason he came to this city in the first ce. He wanted to take control of the City and to refine that, he needed to use his blood on the core of the City.

    Lambard wanted to move as slowly as possible to dy Gabriel, but he didn''t have the courage. He didn''t want to risk his life like that, since Gabriel wasn''t stupid to not realize what he wanted to do. At the time, he could only pray that the Temple of Time was going to be here before he could refine the City.

    ****

    Back in the Royal City of Arecia, the spy that Lambard had nted was hastily running toward the Royal Pce, to deliver the message to the Temple of Time.

    However, along the way, he was stopped by some members from the Temple of Time that were patrolling the City.

    Finding him running in such haste toward the Royal Pce was somewhat suspicious. However, when they heard what the man had to say, all their expressions revealed shock!

    "Karyk?! Do you know the consequences of lying to us?!" The member from the Temple of Time frowned, still finding it hard to believe a random person on the street when it came to Karyk''s information.

    He knew that if this information was a lie, not only was that person going to be killed, but even he could get punished.

    "That''s the information I received from Lord Lambard. He sounded somewhat panicked! Please deliver this information! Or else, it might be toote!" The spy eximed, breathing heavily since he had been running for quite some time.

    "Fine!" The pale-faced guard ced his hands around the spy''s neck before he disappeared.

    He went straight to the Royal Pce where the second inmand of the Temple of Time was staying. Since it was rted to Karyk, no one other than the Commander could make a decision.

    ****

    "He appeared?" The little boy who appeared to be somewhat sleepy sat up straight as he heard the news. His face revealed a little killing intent. "So he finally decided to show his trails!"

    Avilia who was sitting like a prisoner in the main hall was also surprised to find out that Gabriel was nearby! She already knew where Lambard''s City was. However, what she didn''t understand was why Gabriel revealed his trace so suddenly!

    There was only one day left before her death sentence. For him to show up so suddenly, she couldn''t help but wonder if he had returned to save her.

    The little boy stood up. Even though he wasn''t certain if the news was true or not, but even if there was a slight chance, he had to make sure.

    He called all his men, and also informed all the Churches to move out!

    Even though they had fortified the City, but that didn''t mean they couldn''t leave.

    Moreover, he didn''t worry that Gabriel was going to attack the City when they left. The barrier couldn''t be broken in such a short time. If Gabriel attacked the City in their absence, they could return in an instant!

    No matter what, the City was safe! As for theing battle with Gabriel, that was inevitable.

 Chapter 487 487: That Reminds Me

    Gabriel was taken to the room in the depths of the mansion where the core of the City was.

    Lambard personally opened the door and entered first, as if he was worried that Gabriel was going to think that there was some trap inside.

    He didn''t realize that Gabriel wasn''t worried about traps at all. He entered right beside Lambard.

    The room was dark yet it was slightly illuminated by a deep blue sphere that was floating in the middle of the room.

    The sphere seemed as if it was made of crystal, releasing a weak light. If it wasn''t for the aura of the crystal sphere, it could''ve easily been confused with an ordinary crystal decoration item.

    Lambard stood near the door, right next to his maid. His mind was still wondering how long it was going to take for the Temple of Time toe here. He didn''t want to lose his city before that happened.

    Unfortunately, at the moment, he felt that it was highly likely that those people weren''t going toe in time.

    Gabriel stopped before the crystal sphere. A small scratch appeared on his thumb that started bleeding.

    He ced his thumb on the crystal sphere, carving his blood mark to refine the City.

    Even though the current owner of the City was still alive, that didn''t matter since the difficulty in refining the City was the same for him, with, or without the previous owner of the City being alive.

    As soon as hepleted carving the bleeding moon mark on the crystal sphere, the sphere changed color. It turned from a shade of blue to deep red.

    A trail of blood came out from Lambard''s lips as his connection to the City was forcibly cut. His face was slightly pale and his body felt a bit weak but he was still mostly fine.

    He had lost his control over the City which now belonged to Gabriel.

    He wondered just why someone like Gabriel needed a Demigod Tier Artefact like this city. However, he didn''t ask.

    He only took a random guess that it was because he wanted to somehow use the City in his battle against the Temple of Time and the Churches. As for how he was going to do that, Lambard had no idea.

    Gabriel didn''t stop with just the City itself. In fact, after taking control of the City, he made Lambard give up the other Numens as well. It was unclear if he really needed those Numens or he was taking revenge because Lambard had taken back the disguise ring when he was in need of it inside the Academy of Elements.

    Within the next ten minutes, Lambard lost all his Numens to Gabriel, getting one injury after another.

    He felt so aggrieved but he couldn''t do anything. At the moment, he wasn''t even sure if Gabriel was going to let him live or not. He could only y along while cursing the Temple of Time for being sote.

    "Looks like your help is finally here."

    Gabriel suddenly spoke, raising his head slightly as if he could see through the walls.

    Lambard''s eyes didn''t show much happiness. What was the benefit of those bastardsing now that he had already lost his everything? Instead, now it was even more dangerous for him since a battle between the Temple of Time and Gabriel could easily kill an ant like him who had nothing to protect him with.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Gabriel didn''t pay much attention to Lambard. Instead, he just raised his hand, clenching his fist. The entire city turned into a speck of light, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

    The core of the city floated inside his Grimoire, leaving Gabriel, Lambard and the woman standing in the middle of the valley.

    Lambard''s eyes widened as he felt like cursing Gabriel.

    Now that the enemies were here, instead of using the City to protect himself, he brought all of them in the open? It felt as if Gabriel was looking for them to be killed at the hands of the help they called for.

    For Gabriel, the protection of the City wasn''t much. However, for them, staying inside the city was at least safer than standing in the open in the middle of the battle.

    Gabriel flew out of the valley, standing at the edge above. He didn''t bring Lambard and the woman with him since his attention was on someone else.

    In the distance, he could see a little boy... Floating high in the sky, looking down at him.

    Even though the little boy was high in the sky, Gabriel still felt his killing intent clearly.

    The man wasn''t alone either. It was as if everyone in the Temple of Time who came out this time was there!

    Not only the Temple of Time, but even the forces from the Churches were there, including everyone from the Church of Light, who felt as if he had stolen their Grimoire through evil tricks.

    He was surrounded from all sides, as if the enemies didn''t want to leave him even the slightest chance of escaping.

    He could also feel that the space had been sealedpletely, making it impossible for even him to teleport.

    A majestic formation could be seen high in the sky, which was releasing a strange yet familiar force.

    "Isn''t that the same formation you used thest time the Temple tried to kill me?" Gabriel asked, gazing at the formation in amusement. "What a pity that I had to kill everyone at that time in such a hurry. I couldn''t enjoy the battle at all."

    The little boy frowned. Gabriel lookedpletely calm, even though he was trapped. What was even worse was that he was talking about the battle in which the little boy had lost his brother.

    "You''ve grown even more arrogant, haven''t you?" The little boy asked Gabriel. The beautiful gem of time hanging around his neck started shining brightly, releasing an immensely powerful aura that felt as if true gods had descended!

    "This time, there''s no escape for you. We''ve been preparing for a thousand years for this moment. Even if there were ten of you, all ten would die Today!" he further added. "By revealing yourself, you''ve made the biggest mistake of your life! You should''ve remained hidden like the rat you are!"

    "Rat? The reminds me of the man who led the team from the Templest time." Gabriel''s clothes changed, turning into pitch ck. Even the aura around him was stronger.

    All the nts and trees nearby started dying as soon as this aura came in contact with them.

    His body started rising in the air as well. "I seem to remember him being as confident as you, only to beg like a rat when it crushed him. You both have the same personality. Don''t tell me he was your brother or something?"

 Chapter 488 488: Caught

    ****

    Gabriel was surrounded by all his enemies yet he looked so calm, as if this was exactly what he wanted.

    At the same time, he didn''t realize that another change was taking ce in the Abandoned City of Gods.

    The Portal of the Nether Realm had suddenly opened and a small group of people came out.

    The group included people from the three great ns of Nether Realm. What was strange was that the group was apanied by a young woman who tightly held apass in her hand.

    Maya had entered the Nether Realm with the Holy Priestess of Water, thinking that it was some secret realm which contained some treasures from the Era of Gods. However, it was onlyter that she realized how wrong she was!

    As soon as their group left the barren desert in the Nether Realm, they were discovered by the warriors of the three great ns.

    Since they were an outsider, the people from the Nether Realm tried to capture them. However, the Holy Priestess of Water didn''t allow them. She fought back, and killed the beings of the Nether Realm who lived in the outeryer.

    Unfortunately for her, even she couldn''t contain this information. The Nether Realm was already on high alert since the capital city was sealed! There was a lot of hostility toward the outsiders as well. And now that she had killed even more people of the Nether Realm, there was no way out!

    The Holy Priestess of Water decided to turn around and leave this ce after realizing how strange this ce was, without a single trace of elemental aura.

    Just as she was near the portal to leave this ce, she realized that the path was blocked! The people from the Three Great ns had arrived at that ce straight from the Capital after receiving the information!

    No matter how hard the members of the Church of Water tried, they couldn''t fight their way out and they were eventually captured and led to the leaders of the three great ns who had failed to catch Gabriel in the Ancient Battlefield.

    Because of Gabriel, the leaders of the Three Great ns were really furious. It was even worse for the Ancestor of the Blood n who realized that not only Gabriel had left but even the ancient skeleton was missing as well!

    No matter what he tried, he couldn''t find a trace of Gabriel which convinced him that Gabriel had already left that ce!

    As he was in a bad mood, the group from the Church of Water was brought before him! In his anger, he didn''t even ask any questions before killing at least half the people in the group, as if he was giving a warning to them that their lives were in his hands!

    The scene of their death was also gruesome as blood spilled out from all their orifices before their bodies eventually exploded, turning into blood that was absorbed by the Patriarch of the Nether Realm!

    "Where is he?" The Patriarch asked without even trying to hide his killing intent.

    "He?" Elora frowned, not knowing who the man was talking about. In their group, there was no man.

    ''Is he talking about the people who were ahead of us? Don''t tell me they created some trouble in this ce and now I have to pay for them?!''

    The Blood n Patriarch''s aura was so heavy that even Elora had a hard time remaining standing under the pressure.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "If you don''t answer me, I''ll kill you all right here! Where is Karyk!" The red haired old man once again asked.

    Hearing his words, Elora shook her head lightly. "We don''t know any Karyk. I only cake with the people that you see here. However, I do think there was another group before us. We aren''t with that group!"

    " We haven''t even seen that group clearly! You must be looking for them! It''s just a misunderstanding!" She further exined, ncing around. The strength of the people around her was beyond her expectations. In fact, even a single of them could run around unhindered in the outside world!

    As for the strength of the red haired old man, she couldn''t even see the extent of it. It was as if she was standing before a giant mountain that was impossible to see through!

    The thought of attacking the red haired old man didn''t even cross her mind since she knew how stupid was.

    Hearing the young woman''s words, the old man frowned. He raised his hand again. A scream responded before another Head Priestess died!

    "Are you sure you want to protect him?" he asked. "Every minute that you dy in answering me, I''ll kill one person behind you!"

    The old man was already impatient since he had lost something important. Moreover, he didn''t believe Elora''s words.

    Just as he promised, every minute he kept killing a Head Priestess that came with Elora, as if he was trying to see just how long she could hold back!

    On the other hand, Elora was also getting restless. She truly didn''t know who the old man was talking about! Who had the strength to mess with a person like him in his own domain? Was it even possible?

    She kept frantically telling the old man that she didn''t know the man as she watched her people die. It was as if she was caught in a long nightmare that was impossible to get out!

    In the end, Elora couldn''t take it anymore! Almost everyone she brought with her had been killed except her and Maya.

    "I don''t know who angered you but I promise I''ll find him for you if you let me live! No matter where he''s hiding outside, I''ll bring him back for you!" Elora eximed at the top of her lungs.

    Almost everyone was already killed. If she still didn''t stop the old man, in the next minute, it was going to be her number to die!

    She was really regretting her decision ofing to this ce! She finally understood why no one came back from this ce alive! This ce was thend of nightmares!

    "Oh? You think you can bring someone like him back?" The old man raised his brows. "Either you underestimate him, or you really overestimate yourself. However, since you''re that stupid, it does feel like you don''t know who I''m talking about."

    "Fine. I''ll give you one chance!" he stated. His suppressing aura still wasn''t lifted. Instead, it became even stronger!

    Even Elora couldn''t resist it anymore and dropped to her knees with a thud.

 Chapter 489 489: I Know Him

    "I don''t need you to bring him back! I just need someone to lead my men outside! Lead them to the people that Karyk holds dear in the outside world! We can''t bring him back by force but we can definitely force him toe back!"

    The Patriarch didn''t want to personally leave this ce since even he wasn''t confident in fighting anyone outside the Nether Realm.

    Moreover, if the Upper Realm found out that he had left this ce and sent someone to kill him when he was outside, it was even more dangerous.

    He wasn''t as worried about facing Gabriel as he was about facing those old monsters from the Upper Realm in their domain. That''s why, he only wanted to send other people to bring Gabriel''s dear ones to the Nether Realm where he could freely do as he wanted!

    "Fine. I''ll go with your people and help them!" Elora agreed right away! Anything was better than dying.

    "Who said you''ll be going there?" The old man flicked his finger, sending Elora flying back. A blood prison came out of the ground, trapping Elora inside.

    "You''ll be a prisoner here. The other girl will go, since she looks like your subordinate! If she doesn''t return or fails in the task of guiding my men, you''ll be the one who dies!"

    The old man didn''t know much about the outside world since no one from the Nether Realm had gone outside for centuries. However, from the way Elora behaved initially, it was clear that she had a high position in the outside world.

    Sending her outside was no less than releasing a tiger in the forest! There was nothing to stop her from using her outside influence to trap or betray his men. On the other hand, Maya appeared much weaker... As if she was the weakest in the group that came with Elora.

    That was also why the old man hadn''t killed her yet. All he needed was a guide to lead these people to Karyk and his dear ones. From there, the rest was for them to handle. All they had to do was take his dear ones and enter the Nether Realm.

    Elora nced at Maya, slightly taken aback. That meant her life and death depended on her new disciple?

    She tried to give some excuses and exin how it was a better idea for her to leave to help them better, but the old man didn''t listen at all.

    He had already gathered a few of the strongest warriors from the Blood n for this task.

    The other two great ns also selected some people. It was partially because they also wanted to deal with Gabriel while at the same time, it was to keep an eye on the Blood n to make sure they didn''t do anything against their interests.

    After a team was prepared at a short notice, they left the Nether Realm,ing out from the other side.

    The old man from the Blood n had already given a portrait of Gabriel to his men. It was only after his men came out from the Nether Realm that they showed the portrait to Maya, telling her that this was the person they needed to find.

    When Maya saw the portrait, she had a hard time believing it herself! The portrait belonged to a young man that looked awfully familiar! She had seen that person many times before. It was none other than her childhood friend.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    In the portrait, he looked a little older and more mature yet it was impossible to not recognise him.

    "The Lord of Darkness?" she eximed.

    She had been in the Nether Realm with the members of the Church of Water so she had no idea about what happened in the outside world, or about the new identity of Gabriel that was already exposed. In her eyes, his identity was still the same that she had misunderstood.

    What was even more surprising was that this person was the one who offended the old man and yet managed to leave the ce safely? Even her master, Elora, couldn''t achieve it but Gabriel was able to do it, and in such a way that the old man hated him to the bones?

    She couldn''t help but wonder how strong he had be in such a short time. It waspletely beyond her expectations. In fact, it was her who was left in his shadow now, unable to catch up.

    She was still only an advanced mage and that too because she got help from her master. However, without any help, Gabriel was stronger than her master!

    Looking at the portrait, she couldn''t help but remember theirst day in their vige where they were both sitting on the roof under the moonlight, talking about the future!

    Everything had changed between them in such a short time. They used to be so close yet now they were nothing less thanplete strangers. She couldn''t me Gabriel for that either, knowing that it was her who had attacked him, almost killing him!

    She thought she was doing good for the world by sacrificing a friend yet it turned out that she had donepletely the opposite.

    She hadn''t sacrificed her friend but she had certainly sacrificed her friendship! Gabriel was still there and he was stronger than her master yet she hadn''t heard about any evil deeds targeting the innocents.

    He had certainly killed people from the other Churches but that was because the two sides were at a feud. He wasn''t anything like a mindless killer that the rumors had mentioned a dark mage to be in the books.

    She could only clench her fist tightly. If she could go back to the past, she would''ve certainly made a different decision if she knew how mistaken she was. Unfortunately it was toote.

    Moreover, currently she was leading people who wanted to kill Gabriel yet she couldn''t do anything. She had already fallen out with Gabriel and her master''s life was on the line. She couldn''t do anything but go along.

    "Oh? It seems you already know this person." The leader of the group from the Nether Beast n revealed his sharp fangs as he smiled. "It looks like this will be easier than we thought."

    "I know him." Elora nodded after slight hesitation. "He''s the Holy Lord of Darkness Gabriel. But he doesn''t have any family or friends. I don''t think it''s possible to find anyone he holds dear in this world."

    "Oh? If that''s the case, then the other woman would have to die. So for her sake, I hope you can find that man and someone he cares for. If not, we can only go back and watch your master''s execution together!" The manughed coldly.

 Chapter 490 490: Hatred

    The entire earth could be felt trembling. Most continents were already destroyed in Karyk''sst battle, leaving only one. However, in that one remaining continent, another storm was brewing.

    The space had been sealed, and over ten majestic stone gates emerged from the ground, creating a formation pattern of the Temple of Time.

    An area asrge as a country was covered in between the formation. The formation amplified the strength of Gabriel''s enemies while, at the same time, restricting his abilities.

    What was even worse was that all the doors were directly connected to the main Temple of Time, drawing their strength straight from the core, unlike the other formations that used the surroundings as the source of energy.

    Far away from the battlefield, there was the Temple of Time which was very empty currently. Most of the people from the Temple of Time were already sent to deal with Gabriel.

    Despite utilizing so many people this time, the Leader of the Temple of Time still hadn''t stepped out. He was sitting on a throne in an empty hall, looking at the mirror before him, which showed everything that was happening.

    Through the mirror, he could see the real-life situation. For now, he didn''t know what kind of trap Gabriel could''ve had in ce, so he didn''t leave right away. Instead, he waited for the right opportunity.

    If his men seed, then good. But even if they failed, as long as they could force Gabriel to exhaust all his secret tricks, that was also worth it. From there on, he could handle the rest personally.

    The Leader of the Temple of Time was the strongest in the Temple of Time. However, it was said that he was just too cautious for his own good! Even when dealing with a weakling, he was so cautious that at times, it embarrassed others.

    Most of the time, it was the second inmand who made decisions about such things.

    "He had disappeared for a thousand years, and now he''s back. There''s no way; he doesn''t have any secrets. What if the entire fight with the Upper Realm was a lie? What if he was trying to trick us? What if he had made up with the Upper Realm after that fight, and only then did hee out again?"

    Sitting on the throne, the leader of the Temple of Time kept thinking of all the possibilities, no matter how unlikely and stupid they seemed. At times, he even wondered if the man was indeed Karyk or just someone pretending to be Karyk for fame.

    If it were up to him, he would''ve taken decades to decide if he should attack Karyk after knowing of his return. Unfortunately, his second inmand was much more eager.

    The leader also didn''t try to intervene too much and let him do as he pleased, even though he did try to convince his people to take more time to think about it.

    In fact, if he weren''t that confused and cautious all the time, he would''ve used the Orbs of Time long ago! He had the Orbs of Time for hundreds of years, but because of his caution and confusion, he never really used them.

    It was also because of this uncertainty that his people didn''t really think of him as a leader but as a coward. On the outside, his reputation was of a ruthless and cunning leader. But only he and the members of the Temple of Time knew just how much of a letdown he was!<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Even over a thousand years ago, it was the second inmand who finally forced him to use the Orbs of Time and execute their ns, saying that they had already wasted enough time as it was!

    Unfortunately for them, it was also that time when Karyk came to know the secrets of the Temple of Time rted to the Orbs of Time. When the Orb of Time was secretly being shifted to another destination for the execution of the n, Karyk appeared, taking the Orbs amidst the weak security.

    It was also at that time, the enmity between the two sides started. The second inmand chased after Karyk, using every means possible to kill him and take back the Orbs of Time, even going as far as using most of the force of the Temple of Time.

    Despite all that, he failed and even ended up dying. Unfortunately, the situation didn''t change much. After his death, his little brother became the second inmand with even more hatred in his heart.

    The hatred between the two sides continued further. However, it didn''tst long. Before the Temple of Time could attempt a second time, the news of Karyk''s death came!

    The one who was most furious at that time was none other than the man who looked like a little boy since he wanted to kill Karyk personally.

    This time as well, he only came out when he heard the news about the appearance of Karyk''s pce. He hadn''t expected to get news about Karyk''s return at that time! However, when he found it out, his eyes lit up! Finally, he had an opportunity to take revenge for his brother with his own hands!

    "These two brothers... Just why are they both so alike? The older one died because he didn''t listen to me, and now the younger one does the same." The leader of the Temple of Time sighed, ncing at the little boy in the sky who was holding on to a red gem firmly.

    "Whatever, maybe this time, we''ll end it all. If you make him exhaust all his tricks and make me convinced that he isn''t that strong, I''ll help you. But if he''s scarier than I thought, I won''t think twice before abandoning you all! That''s what you get for not listening to me!"

    ****

    "This is for my brother! Pay for his life with your life!" The second inmand from the Temple of Time, known as Heriet, clenched his fist tightly, using the strength of the superior gem of time!

    The red light in the gem started shining, covering his entire body in a mysterious light! He didn''t care about sacrificing his life at the moment! All he cared about was getting revenge for his brother, who was his only family!

    Thanks to the mysterious powers of the gem, the Heriet became even stronger than he was before! It was as if he was out of the bounds of time, freely able to manipte time to some minor extent!

    The time started flowing at least a thousand times slower for him before he finally made his move!

 Chapter 491 491: Free Of Time

    Time seemed to have slowed down to the point that it appeared as if the time had almost stopped entirely!

    Even though Heriet had gathered so many people to deal with Gabriel, in reality, he only brought them for backup in case something went wrong! He didn''t really want to fight with them! If anything, he wanted to deal with Gabriel personally!

    In the next instant, he appeared right before Gabriel!

    "Brother, I''m sending him to personally apologize to you!" He screamed at the top of his lungs before thrusting his Sword.

    Even though Heriet seemed strong to the others, not many could see that there were tears in his eyes as he was finally getting his revenge!

    His parents had died when they were very young and he only had his elder brother who was only three years older than him.

    At that time, they didn''t even have enough to eat yet his elder brother used to do anything he could to get food for them, even going as far as begging, all so his little brother wouldn''t go hungry!

    That was how those two spent their childhood. Their lives only changed when they became adults and managed to join the Temple of Time with some luck!

    At that time, they thought that their sad times were over and they could finally live like humans and not insects at the mercy of others!

    Unfortunately, that happiness didn''tst long since Heriet''s brother lost his life while attempting to kill Karyk.

    Heriet didn''t care what his brother did or whose fault was it! For him, his brother was his everything! To lose him was to lose the biggest emotional support of his life!

    He didn''t even remember for how long he had been dreaming of this moment!

    "I''m afraid your brother might have to wait a little longer."

    Heriet''s Sword stopped right as it was about to stab through Gabriel''s skill. At the same time, Gabriel nced at him.

    Heriet was shocked. Time was moving slowly. However, Gabriel was still able to move freely, as if he wasn''t bound by the restrictions of time!

    Even though Gabriel''s face didn''t have many expressions, Heriet felt that his gaze was mocking him.

    "H-how can you..." Harriet jumped back,nding in the distance. He was so shocked that his control over time eventually broke, freeing the others from his control!

    The others were momentarily surprised to find out that Heriet wasn''t standing in the air like before! He was standing around ten meters away from Gabriel.

    Everything happened so fast that they couldn''t even notice it!

    "How can you stay unaffected by time?! It''s impossible!" Heriet frantically asked.

    "You really underestimate your brother if you think he didn''t try this trickst time." Gabriel''szy gaze rested at Heriet. "You all can''t truly control time. You only take external help to control a fraction of the time."

    "What a pity that it''s useless. If you could truly stop timepletely, maybe it would''ve been challenging. But slowing down time? You''re looking down on me too much."

    Gabriel had already realized how the Temple of Time gained their strength. They didn''t have a single mage. They also didn''t have the Supreme Element of Time! If they had someone with that Element, then that person could''ve been much harder to deal with. However, these people...?

    The aura of death around Gabriel intensified as he stood in the midst of all his enemies like a god of death.

    In fact, he didn''t even think too seriously about his enemies. If he hadn''t awakened his memories, he might''ve died at this ce. However, now that he had returned to his peak, these people weren''t challenging enough!

    Instead, his target was the Upper Realm! The people before him were just a stepping stone!

    Gabriel nced at the sky, as if thinking of something. "It looks like, after today, everyone will know that I''ve returned. In that case..."

    He raised his right hand toward the sky.

    Unfortunately, Heriet didn''t want to give him any chance to use a spell! Hemanded everyone to attack! Even if it was Gabriel, he couldn''t leave alive!

    Thousands of attacks, containing thebinedstrength of various elements came for Gabriel. At the same time, the crackling of thunder resounded in the sky!

    "You''ve made us run in circles to catch you! But this time, we will get equal!" The Holy Priestess of Lightning chanted her strongest spell while her Grimoire floated before her.

    Her spells were even stronger under the effect of the unbreakable formation!

    Through the dark clouds in the sky, a raging lightning dragon came down, destroying space wherever it passed through!

    "Return the life of my people that you took!" The Holy Lord of mes also roared, casting his strongest spell... A blue ming Tsunami that could burn everything in its path to cinders came out of the group, as if it was looking to swallow everything!

    p¨¤§ád¨¢-¨¾?¦Í¨º¦É.§ã¨®§® At the same time, the ground split apart under the spell of the Holy Priestess of Earth, as if looking to swallow Gabriel whole!

    The Holy Lord of Nature wasn''t behind either! Thousands of unbreakable vines came out of the ground, wrapping around Gabriel''s feet, not allowing him to move.

    One after another, all the Holy Lords had made their move! However, there were clearly two missing. The Holy Priestess of Summoning was still in shackles in the Royal Pce while the Holy Lord of Wind had disappeared as soon as Heriet had appeared in this world!

    As for the Holy Lord of Light, he was Gabriel himself so his presence or no presence was the same!

    Boom~

    All the attacksnded on the target! The ming Tsunami covered the entire ground, wrapping it in deep blue mes that were impossible to see through. At the same time, the lightning dragon also entered the sea of mes, seemingly hitting the target.

    For a long time, explosions kept resounding as all the attacks hit the target inside the sea of mes.

    Heriet still hadn''t attacked. Since hisst n failed, he let the others test the waters. However, he was certainly slightly surprised to see that Gabriel hadn''t resisted and was hit by all the attacks.

    He was frowning, wondering if Gabriel had truly died inside the sea of mes. He didn''t believe that it could be that simple.

    Thud~

    Thud~

    While everyone was wondering if Gabriel had died, loud rumbling sounds resounded, as ifing from the sky! It was as if multiple chains were trembling and shing together.

    Heriet looked towards the sky. He had a bad feeling about this. The sound of chains... As far as he could remember, the only chains in the sky were from... A World Tier Spell!

 Chapter 492 492: Break

    The sound that seemed like the rattling of chains resounded all over the world, falling in everyone''s ears like divine chimes.

    Under the effects of the sound, people from all around the world stepped out of their houses, trying to find the source of that sound. However, that sound wasing from every direction!

    The sky was covered in dark clouds, covering the entirend under heavy shadows. Even the Holy Priestess of Thunder who had just used the Lightning Dragon was taken aback since the dark clouds created from her spell were devoured by the new dark clouds that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

    The rattling of chains only intensified, bing even louder while the deep blue mes raged on the ground where Gabriel was supposed to be standing.

    In the end, something appeared to break! A strange yet powerful aura suddenly flooded earth. It was as if some restriction on this world was removed, freeing the world from the shackles.

    At the same time, the sound of shackles breaking apart also echoed everywhere!

    The aura of this world was no longer imprisoned. However, that also meant that what happened here was no longer hidden!

    The giant shackles that were holding onto the sky suddenly opened. Instead, like a majestic dragon, the shackles came flying down to the ground, rushing straight to the blue sea of mes in the middle of nowhere.

    Watching the pitch ck shacklese down from the sky, everyone was taken aback! To ordinary people, it even appeared as if a world destroying dragon was rushing down to destroy everything in its path!

    The giant shackles were even visible from the Abandoned City of Gods as well! The team that was sent by the Nether Realm noticed the intimidating Chains in the distance.

    They had never seen something like that before. However, they had a feeling that it had something to do with the person they were after. Only that person could be strong enough after all since he also managed to escape safely from the Nether Realm!

    "It looks like a battle is happening there! Amongst the ones involved, one should be our target!" The Blood n member frowned, looking at the direction where the shackles were falling!

    Almost everyone had an ugly expression on their faces. Even though they were strong in the Nether Realm, they weren''t as strong as their n leaders. Moreover, currently, they were outside the Nether Realm which meant they were even weaker.

    "Can we even go against someone like that? Isn''t it just courting death if we go there? This mission is too dangerous. Should we just go back and tell the ns that we couldn''t seed? Punishment of the n is better than dying here!" Someone amongst the Nether Beast n chimed in.

    There was rarely a time where he felt scared. However, this was one of those times!

    "That''s right. We''re the geniuses of our ns. Even if we fail, we won''t be killed. At best, we''ll be published. That''s better than going against that monster who won''t think twice before killing us!" Another person from the Nether Beast n nodded. This mission was impossible ording to him!

    If their leaders personally came, it was still possible but for them, it was much different.

    At the same time, the ones from the Undead n were silently watching the dark shackles, feeling as if that thing was too scary. It was as if the shackles were made purely from the element of death.

    "Are you really such a coward?" The group leader from the Nether Blood n was also hesitating but he knew he couldn''t go back. His n has explicitlymanded him that he must seed or he was also going to be killed!

    He didn''t know why Gabriel was so important to his n but he also had no choice in the matter. Also, since he was already caught in this mess, he didn''t want others to leave as well. With their help, it was slightly easier. Moreover, even if they fall, it was much better to drag the others with him than to die alone!

    "Do you really think your ns will just let you go with slight punishment if you go back like this? The matter is too serious this time. We must seed! Moreover, who said we will die? It''s not as if we are going to fight Gabriel!" He further added.

    "Our mission has nothing to do with him. Instead, we just need to take the ones he cares for! And what better opportunity than this?!"

    "What do you mean?" The young man, with dragon scales on his skin, asked.

    "If I''m not wrong, Gabriel is fighting someone. And it doesn''t appear to be an easy one either! Doesn''t that mean we can take advantage of this situation?" The red haired man from the Blood n smirked, hiding the deep fear in his heart behind his calm facade.

    "If he''s fighting, then it''s obvious that his friends must be fighting with him as well, to help him. We just need to find those people and take them with us amidst all the chaos!"

    The red haired man took a step forward. His fists were tightly clenched as he tried to be as optimistic as possible.

    In the end, he managed to convince the others to follow him! They also dragged Maya with them along the way, going toward the battlefield.

    The dark shackles rushed inside the sea of fire, disappearing inside. However, at the same time, the deep blue mes also froze in ce.

    The mes that were even hotter than the moltenva froze in ce as soon as they came in contact with the dark shackles.

    Snap~

    Following that, the sound of someone snapping his fingers was heart. The frozen me turned into small specks of snow, dispersing in the atmosphere. For a moment, it even appeared as if it was snowing on the battlefield.

    The Holy Lord of mes had his lips opened in disbelief.

    His mes were destroyed just like that! What was even worse was that Gabriel was stillpletely unharmed!

    The ground under his feet had disappeared. However, he wasn''t pulled inside! His body was floating right where he was standing previously. Not a single speck of dust could be seen on his clothes.

    As for the lightning Dragon that had attacked him... He could still be seen there! However, the lightning Dragon was just like a helpless beast whose neck was grabbed by Gabriel with his right hand.

    The lightning dragon struggled to the best of his abilities. Flickers of lightning could be seen everywhere in the midst of snowfall. However, the dragon couldn''t free himself!

 Chapter 493 493: Free

    In the end, the lightning dragon could only wail in pain in front of everyone''s eyes before it was destroyedpletely!

    As soon as the lightning Dragon was destroyed, the Holy Priestess of Lightning coughed out a mouthful of blood while her face turned pale.

    The Lord of mes had at least handled it between as only a trail of blood came out from his lips when his strongest spell was destroyed from the core but the Holy Priestess of Lightning was in a much worse condition.

    After destroying the lightning dragon, Gabriel looked at his palm. There were some burn marks on his right hand which clearly looked painful yet he didn''t have much reaction.

    He had also gotten hurt but his condition was much better than the rest. Moreover, it was also what he wanted as well. It was waiting for the others to attack him at once so he could deal with them at the same time.

    Heriet was stunned. Even under the effect of his formation, Gabriel could still remain mostly unharmed. However, what stunned him the most was the disappearance of the pitch ck shackles that had once entrapped this world. The shackles were nowhere to be found;

    He couldn''t help but wonder just where the shackles disappeared! How could such a big thing disappear into thin air!

    "His right wrist...!" While he was still thinking about it, someone eximed in shock pointing towards Gabriel.

    Heriet noticed Gabriel''s right hand carefully! Only now did he notice that something was different! There was a new essory on his right wrist which wasn''t there before!

    There was a pitch ck bracelet in his right wrist and the bracelet looked too simr to the shackles that had trapped this world for such a long time!

    It was as if the shackles that wererge enough to cover the entire world had shrunk to a size where they could be reduced to a bracelet! This seemed impossible!

    The shackles were created with a world tier spell! That meant they weren''t real but a manifestation of Gabriel''s element! How could that turn into a real essory? If that was really the case, didn''t that mean Gabriel had managed to create a Numen from his world tier spell?!

    A Numen that was made from a world tier spell... Just how strong could it be? It was definitely in a league way above any other Numen! Since Gabriel created this Numen from nothing, its strength couldn''t be guessed! Nothing like this had ever happened before.

    "Shall we get serious now?" Gabriel raised his right hand. Since he didn''t need to change a spell, no one could hear his spell. However, they all saw a summoning circle before him!

    "Since they don''t want to let me leave, I will also stop caring. If the Upper Realm wants to go to war, I''ll wee them this time!"

    Then though the others couldn''t see it, as soon as he recalled the Chains of Death, his control over the element of Death had improved even further!

    For a thousand years after he diedst time, the shackles of the world had been gathering the aura of death from this world that was imprisoned! No one knew about it! Even the ones from the Upper Realm hadn''t managed to guess it!

    In thest thousand years, the chains of death had gathered too much aura of death which was even difficult for Gabriel to absorb at once.

    The more he assimted with the chains of death, the more the dark patterns on his skin spread, making it appear as if his entire body was covered in a tattoo!

    The ck patterns then spread up to his neck, slightly visible even when he was fully dressed!

    "Just a little more..." Gabrielmuttered, feeling the overwhelming energy. Even after gaining so much, he was stillcking a bit! Correctly, his absolute control over the Element of Death had spread to close to ny percent!

    Others didn''t know about it, but while Gabriel created a summoning formation before him, another summoning formation appeared in the Garden of Legacy in the Arecia Empire!

    The summoning formation covered the entire garden and even more!

    No one was near the area. However, if one was there to see, they would''ve been stunned to see that a Majestic Castle had appeared there, as if it came out of thin air!

    The castle was surrounded by a river of blood on all sides where wailing of evil spirits could be heard loud and clear.

    The beautiful yet scary castle was the castle that Karyk used in the past! It was also the castle where he had sealed his army for a thousand years!

    Even though he had promised to seal his army for a thousand years, ever since the Goddess of Light betrayed him, he also stopped caring about that promise. Unfortunately, even he couldn''t break the seal that he had cast on his army!

    To break his own seal prematurely, he had to be even stronger than he was when he cast the seal which wasn''t easy. If that wasn''t the case, he could''ve already called his army when he was attacked from all sides, even if it meant breaking a promise. However, it was different this time.

    After assimting with the worldly shackles of death, his strength was iparable to what he possessed in the past.

    At the same time, from the smaller formation circle that was right before Gabriel, another person came out. A man, covered in a dark cloak which hid his face.

    Even though the man''s face looked like a human, there was a deep blue me burning in his left eye. What was even weirder was that one of his hands didn''t have any flesh, leaving only bones!

    Gabriel had finally arranged everything! He intentionally drew his enemies out of the Arecia Empire so the Empire wasn''t harmed in their battle!

    Moreover, he also used their own attacks to sessfully refine the Worldly Shackles into a Numen which was impossible even for himself if all the conditions weren''t met!

    Now that everything had settled, he was finally ready... Ready to kill!

    ****

    In the Upper Realm, the Ruler of the Realm waszily sitting on his throne, listening to some reports by one of his Generals. His eyes were closed yet he was still awake,zily listening without giving much reaction.

    However, a few seconds after the report was finished, the man suddenly opened his eyes, looking strangely in a particr direction.

    "This.... Interesting. It''s him again..."

    He wasn''t alone who sensed something strange either. It was as if Gabriel was openly dering his return this time, making everyone know!

 Chapter 494 494: Help

    Gabriel floated in the middle of the air as if he was an Overlord who was looking at everyone from high in the sky.

    "I should thank you for getting so many people here to help me." Gabriel''s calm voice echoed in the entire battlefield that seemed to havee to a standstill.

    For a moment, everyone was so surprised that they even forgot to attack. Gabriel had summoned Raphael, who no one recognized. They had never seen Raphael before, but they could also feel the cloaked man''s Strength.

    What was even weirder was to hear Gabriel thank them. They couldn''t understand the reason behind his thanks.

    Gabriel also didn''t bother exining. Ever since he recovered his memories, he realized how important the worldly shackles were for him. These had absorbed the element of death for a thousand years!

    Along with the element, the Worldly Shackles also gained all the hate and resentment, gaining something akin to a consciousness that wasn''tpletely controlled by Gabriel.

    If anything, that consciousness hated Gabriel! Unfortunately, it couldn''t free itself. No matter how much that consciousness hated Gabriel, it was still trapped in the shackles, tied to a spell that only the caster could break!

    Ever since Gabriel recovered his memories, the Worldly Shackles had been restless, feeling its connection with him. It wanted to kill Gabriel to be free of his control, thanks to all the resentment and hate it had absorbed from the beings who died in thest thousand years.

    Even Gabriel sensed this resentment. He could feel that his control over the worldly shackles was unstable as if controlling it was getting harder and harder.

    If he wanted to refine the Worldly Shackles into an artifact that he could carry with him, it was harder than it seemed. Even he didn''t have confidence that he could seed!

    If he was too forceful, he could''ve identally destroyed the spell instead of being able to control the Shackles. If that happened, it was no different than him wasting the resources that took a thousand years to gather.

    At the level he was at, it was getting harder and harder to increase his control over the Element of Death since he was reaching closer to the true god level. The closer he came, the harder it was to take another step forward!

    He didn''t want to fail and waste a Worldly Spell, and the element of death gathered in a thousand years!

    Initially, he was nning to drag the Temple of Time to this ce and use them to his advantage. Fortunately, he didn''t even need to do anything. By the time he came out of the Nether Realm, surprisingly, everything was already in ce!

    All his enemies in this world had gathered at a ce, doing exactly what he wanted!

    None of them realized that it was intentional for him to not attack them right away. He wanted them to attack him with their strongest spells. That''s why he waited for the right opportunity!

    It was only when the others attacked with everything that they had, he broke the Worldly Shackles, only maintaining a minimal level of control!

    While everyone thought that the Worldly Shackles came down to help him, in reality, it came down to kill him!

    Unfortunately for it, all the attacks weakened the Worldly Shackles, especially the Holy Element of Light that came from the members of the Church of Light. Even mes and Lightning had some purifying properties that helped him weaken the resentment in the shackles!

    He used all the attacks on him as auxiliary support while using everything he had to refine the Worldly Shackles to increase his chance of sess. Fortunately, in the end, he seeded!

    Even he wasn''t sure how sessful he could''ve been if he didn''t have help. Still, he didn''t have any intention of going easy on the others.

    His targets were ancient beings in the Upper Realm and not the people before him. The ones before him were just a stepping stone! Once he got rid of them, he could truly cleanse this World of all the remnants left behind the traitors who worked with outsiders to kill him!

    Not that his refining was sessful, the calm expressions on his face disappeared, returning to the cold emotionless face that Karyk was famous for.

    He didn''t care about the hundreds of thousands of people that were surrounding him. Moreover, the number of people only kept increasing as all the Churches had issued a decree for all Mages to participate in the subjugation of the so-called devil!

    Even some spatial Portals were opened in every city to bring the Mages here! It was as if the Temple of Time and the Churches were ready to sacrifice as many people as they needed if it got rid of Gabriel.

    In the blink of an eye, the battle intensified. On the entire battlefield, magical spells could be seen everywhere! One after another, explosions resounded everywhere!

    Raphael was slightly surprised that he was suddenly on a battlefield. Moreover, Gabriel felt different. He felt stronger... And scarier.

    Raphael couldn''t understand why so many people were here for Gabriel. It was as if this world really wanted him dead!

    Still, no matter what, he had to fight with Gabriel. He joined the battle without a second thought, fighting like a Warlord who was made for the battlefield!

    Raphael stood in the middle of the battlefield, his eyes fixed on the two mages standing before him that appeared to be there to not only block him but also to kill him.

    Seeing how dangerous Gabriel was, no one doubted the capabilities of someone he would''ve summoned. That''s why, to stop Raphael, the Holy Lord of mes and the Holy Lord of Lightning stepped forward personally!

    They had already suffered heavy damages against Gabriel and weren''t confident enough in facing him at the moment, at least until they recovered to some extent. However, they weren''t scared of dealing with Raphael.

    The air was thick with tension as the three prepared for battle. Raphael knew that he was outnumbered, but there was not a trace of surprise or hesitation on his face.

    The Holy Priestess of Lightning was the first to attack. She raised his hands and summoned a bolt of lightning that struck the ground near Raphael. Raphael quickly dodged the attack and retaliated with a burst of mes that engulfed the young woman covered in Armor.

    The Holy Priestess of Lightning didn''t take Raphael seriously! She had a Numen that made her immune to mes! Moreover, she also cast a spell to protect herself.

    There was a mocking look on her face, as if she was mocking Raphael for being useless against her. There was a reason she

    came to stop Raphael after all!

    The Holy Lord of mes was obviously safer against Raphael who could only use mes while she had the help of her protective treasure that was most useless against mes. If that wasn''t the case, it was doubtful if they would''ve stepped forward.

 Chapter 495 495: Spatial Flames

    The Holy Priestess of Lightningzily stood in the middle of the deep blue firestorm. She didn''t even try to escape from the firestorm as if she wanted to see Raphael''s face when she came out unharmed.

    She wanted to wait for Raphael to exhaust himself first so she couldunch a surprise attack and take him out at once.

    Unfortunately, her condescending expressions soon changed. Her calm and arrogant face turned pale white as if it was a thin sheet of paper.

    It didn''t take long before she screamed in agony, feeling the terrifying heat that was burning her skin and her bones.

    She was horrified! Her treasure hadn''t helped her at all, as if it didn''t recognize these blue mes as mes at all! As for her own barrier, it was destroyed right away;

    In the blink of an eye, her entire body was on fire! She tried to escape from the firestorm but it was toote! She was locked inside, unable to leave! Even space was blocked inside this firestorm!

    She couldn''te out. Only her agonizing screams managed to escape the firestorm.

    Even the Holy Lord of mes was in disbelief! It had only been a few minutes since the battle started and the Holy Priestess of Lightning was already at death''s door, screaming like a dying animal!

    He wanted to save her but he didn''t. He wasn''t even sure if he could save her in the first ce since her screams had already grown weaker as if she could die at any moment.

    Instead of wasting his time to try and save her, he decided to use it for the better and attack Raphael when he was distracted by the woman.

    He was not deterred by the fate of hisrade. He raised his hands and summoned a wall of mes that separated him from Raphael to hide him from the view. At the same time, he also wanted to give the impression that he was scared and not a threat!

    He knew that he had to act fast. He closed his eyes and focused his energy. Suddenly, he opened his eyes and unleashed a massive wave of mes that engulfed the wall of mes, surpassing it to engulf Raphael who was on the other side.

    The two locked in a fierce battle, each one trying to gain the upper hand. Unfortunately, it wasn''t easy since they both used mes! Even though their mes were different at the core, they were also simr which made the two of them the worst match for each other.

    Their attacks were weak against the other, let alone the fact that they were both experienced in battles.

    Raphael summoned a dark fireball, that looked like a pitch ck sun ,that he hurled at the Holy Lord of mes. The Holy Lord of mes countered with a wall of mes that deflected the fireball at thest moment!

    "You might''ve been strong against the others, but you''re useless against me! I can hold you back as long as I want!"

    The Holy Lord of mes was taken aback that he couldn''t kill Raphael ever with a sneak attack. However, it didn''t matter. All he had to do was wait for the others to kill first. After they joined him, there was no way Raphael could survive!

    Raphael also understood what this guy was nning! He wasn''t taking a risk and only trying to drag the battle. If the Holy Lord of mes seriously fought, there would''ve been many chances for him to kill him.

    Unfortunately, the Holy Lord of mes was a turtle, hiding in a shell, not revealing any ws!

    Raphael knew that he had to end the battle quickly. No matter what he had to do, he couldn''t let the battle drag! The number of enemies for Gabriel were increasing with each passing second. There were over a million mages there now!

    "Even if you hide in a shell, you won''t survive!"

    Raphael closed his eyes and focused his energy once again. He also brought out a pitch ck crystal out of his pocket, cing it in his mouth.

    As soon as he ced the crystal in his mouth, the veins around his neck popped up. It looked as if he was in pain, using something he truly wasn''t capable of. However, he didn''t care.

    Suddenly, he opened his eyes. The me in his left eye turned from deep blue to pitch ck, as if Raphael was using something he never showed before.

    The aura around himpletely changed, as if he was an entirely different person! Moreover, some traces of Spatial Elements could also be felt in the ck mes now that matched the aura of the crystal! Even though it was temporary, his mes did have a second element now!

    Just like the Temple of Time used the Time Crystals to use the abilities of time, Raphael had used the Space Crystal. It was unclear where he found it from but it was so small that it looked as if it could break easily after a few uses!

    Raphael didn''t care about how precious this crystal was! The battlefield wasn''t a ce to think about the expenses.

    While the Holy Lord of mes was still maintaining his distance while regrly attacking to make sure Raphael didn''t leave, he didn''t realize that Raphael was slightly different now. He couldn''t feel the spatial element in the mes.

    While he was still hiding behind a ming wall, he didn''t even notice thousands of spatial Portals open behind him. More spatial Portals appeared above him and around him.

    It was only after the space around him started cracking apart that he noticed something amiss. He turned around, only to be greeted by thousands of small Spatial Portals.

    His face immediately turned pale but it was toote. Something akin to ck ming bullets shot out from each of the spatial portal around him!

    Before he could even have time to cast a shield, all the bullets prated his body, leaving him filled with holes! A hole could even be seen in the middle of his forehead.

    His expressions were nk as his body lost all its strength. He wanted to ask how it was possible but his throat had multiple bleeding holes, making him unable to speak.

    The wall of mes disappeared while the Holy Lord of mes dropped to the ground lifelessly.

    Raphael stood alone within the zing crater, drenched in perspiration and struggling for breath. He had triumphed in the conflict, but was aware that it was just one of many battles toe. In addition, the use of the crystal had drained him even further!

 Chapter 496 496: Frozen

    Raphael had just finished killing the two Holy Lords, all alone. It was only after that he had some room to breathe.

    He turned to Gabriel to see what the situation was like on the other side. However, he was quite surprised by what he saw.

    Two more Holy Lords had died on Gabriel''s side! What was even better was that Gabriel''s bracelet had returned to their giant shackles form which was like a dragon, flying through a battlefield, destroying all the gates created by the Temple of Time to create the formation.

    The battlefield was drenched in blood as death could be seen everywhere. At the moment, the millions of mages who had rushed to this ce, thinking that it was a war that they could win were frightened out of their minds.

    They were cursing themselves for evening there! It was as if they hade to death''s door on their own.

    Let alone joining the battle, ever standing closer to the battlefield was hard for the ordinary mages, especially when Gabriel used the Wrath of Undead, wiping hundreds of thousands of mages at once!

    Unfortunately, it was hard to kill Herriet thanks to his blood red crystal! Whenever Gabriel was able to kill Herriet, Herriet''s crystal came into effect, sending his body back in time by a few seconds!

    Thanks to that, it was as if Herriet could see the future since he was experiencing it first hand! Unfortunately, moving the time back was too taxing.

    Herriet kept getting younger and younger as a pride. If he looked like a twelve year old before, then now he looked like an eight year old. Even he knew that he couldn''t go on like this! If this continued, he was going to be wiped off the existence for using the crystal.

    Unfortunately, he had no choice.

    "Even if I have to die, I''ll drag you with me!" Amidst the painful cries of hundreds of thousands of beings every second, Herriet clenched his fist tightly.

    This time, he didn''t use the Crystal of Time slowly. Instead, he ced the crystal in his mouth, swallowing it whole. Instead of using a fraction of its strength, he decided to use it all, even if it meant sacrificing his life for just a few seconds of Power!

    He sacrificed hisst eight years as well, for only thirty seconds of crystal''splete strength!

    He hadn''t expected Gabriel to be this strong even under the effect of the formation. However, it didn''t matter! Before time, everything was useless!

    As soon as he used the crystal to its full capacity, Herriet felt his body burning. It was as if his body was disintegrating slowly, unable to contain this massive power;

    His hair turned pure white, as if they were brimming with incredible strength. His body was also surrounded by the aura of time. Space cracked around him constantly, as if unable to maintain the bnce between space and time.

    Herriet knew that there was no way back. Now that he had used hisst resort, he had to die after thirty seconds... A painful death. However, no matter what, he still wanted to drag Gabriel with him to hell.

    Gabriel was slightly surprised at how much strength the small insignificant red crystal contained.

    He had never met the God of Space. However, for that person to be able to create such crystals, it was clear that his control over the Supreme Element of Space was much higher than his own control over the Element of Death!

    He also hadn''t expected that a mortal would''ve been able to use most of the strength of the God of Space thanks to the Crystal.

    Gabriel didn''t even have the time to think about it when the time suddenly stopped entirely. It was as if the Domain of Time had spread everywhere, covering the entire battlefield!

    Inside the Domain, time didn''t move slowly. Instead, it waspletely halted! A Domain like this was something that only the True Gods that hadplete control over their elements could cast.

    Inside such a Domain, everything was under their control!

    Even though time inside the Domain had stoppedpletely, for Harriet, it was still moving at normal speed. His body was still decaying at normal speed.

    In the next moment, Herriet appeared right before Gabriel, who appeared to be frozen in time as well. Even though he also had a Supreme Element, he couldn''t cast a Domain like that thanks to his control not reaching that realm.

    Despite being frozen, at least he could still think. His body was frozen but his consciousness was free, allowing him to see everything.

    This feeling was really strange..he could feel what was happening but he couldn''t do anything. He realized that he had really underestimated the Crystals.

    "How does it feel?" Herriet stood right before Gabriel, with a cold smirk on his face. "Do you regret killing my brother? Don''t worry. I''ll send you to him to apologize personally!"

    Twenty seconds had already passed, leaving only ten seconds. Blood could be seen trickling down Herriet''s lips. His body was almostpletely destroyed. He could feel himself dying, experiencing pain like never before.

    However, he wanted Gabriel to feel much worse! He brought a small dagger out, that was made using a weaker Time Crystal. Not only did it work like a normal dagger, but it also had the potential to kill true gods, let alone an iplete one like Gabriel.

    "This is the dagger of my brother. And this shall be what kills you today!"

    With only five seconds left, Herriet thrust the knife ahead!

    "You talk too much." Just as Herriet thrust the knife ahead, a calm emotionless voice fell in his ears. Something grabbed his wrist, making it impossible for him to push the dagger forward.

    He lowered his gaze, taken aback. How could someone move in the Domain? This didn''t make sense! However, what he saw was even worse. It was Gabriel himself who stopped him!

    Gabriel''s left hand was holding onto his wrist, making it unable for him to move the dagger forward.

    One second... Only one second was left in Herriet''s control. However, he couldn''t even pull the dagger back, let alone do anything else.

    His skin cracked apart, as if he was a statue. Under the effect of time, his body had finally reached its limit.

    His eyes were still open in disbelief as he watched Gabriel''s face while his body broke apart, disappearing into nothingness.

    He couldn''t believe that even after using such strength, he still failed! Why? Was it because he wasted too much time talking, giving Gabriel a chance to recover? He had no idea.

    However, even as he died, there was a devilish smirk on his lips.

 Chapter 497 497: Twice

    With the death of Herriet, time once again started moving. However, right at that instant, something big happened.

    A sword passed through Gabriel''s back, impaling his heart from the back.

    When the time stopped, there was no one near him. So it didn''t make sense that right when the time stopped, someone could be so close to him to attack! Unless...

    Gabriel realized that it was the trick of Herriet. Even when he had confidence in his skills to kill Gabriel, he still left a backup! He stopped time for everyone... Everyone except someone that he left behind to kill him in case he failed!

    When time was frozen, Gabriel could only see what was ahead and couldn''t sense the entire battlefield. That was the perfect time for someone toe closer from behind while he was distracted.

    However, it was hard to imagine that Herriet, who was crazy in his anger, coulde up with this n. It didn''t make sense.

    The sword was still in his chest, covered in blood. However, it was only when Gabriel saw the Sword that his expressions changed! This sword... It wasn''t from this world! It was a sword from the Nether Realm, containing the cursed powers of the Nether.

    His expressions darkened. It didn''t make sense for Herriet to be in contact with them. Even the Temple of Time couldn''t go to the Nether Realm after all.

    At the moment, the worldly shackles had destroyed all the gates of the Temple of Time. The Formation was destroyed while the shackles returned to him.

    As soon as he was stabbed in the back, his figure disappeared as he appeared a thousand feet away, still having the Sword stabbed in his back.

    He held the Sword firmly, pulling it out while also looking in the direction where he was standing to see just who it was that attacked him like that! If it was someone strong, he would''ve been able to sense their threat after all, even if they were from the Nether Realm.

    "You..."

    The Nether Sword fell on the ground, still covered in Gabriel''s blood. Some mist could also be seen surrounding the Sword which was decaying his blood around the sword. It was as if the sword was poisoned!

    Just we he especially, the wound on his chest wasn''t healing as it should. However, he doesn''t think about that. Instead, his gaze rested at a person in the distance.

    In the middle of the battlefield where he used to stand, there was a girl, on her knees. Her face was pale and she looked scared.

    It was none other than Maya.

    Gabriel was almost killed twice in this life, and both times it was the girl who used to be his friend. Even now, she was the one who stabbed him in the back.

    A killing intent like never before exuded from Gabriel! The killing intent made everyone in this World tremble deep within.

    ****

    [Ten minutes ago]

    The group from the Nether Realm reached the battlefield, amazed at the scale of the battle that they saw!

    They came here to find people close to Gabriel that they could take with them. However, there was only one person here who was fighting for Gabriel... It was Raphael!

    Unfortunately, when they saw how strong Raphael was, they dropped the idea. If Raphael was so strong, wouldn''t it be better to kill Gabriel instead. Both paths led to death after all.

    They didn''t even dare to get closer to the battlefield in fear that they were going to be caught in the crossfire and die. They had almost given up hope when they saw a white domain cover the battlefield!

    It was the Domain of Time! Even though they never left the Nether Realm, they knew about such things since their world had fought the Upper Realm many times in the past.

    Thanks to all that knowledge, they realized that this was the opportunity! An opportunity where Gabriel could be killed by his enemies. Unfortunately, they couldn''t leave it to chance!

    "Here." The Leader of the Blood n took off his ring, giving it to the Maya. "This is my treasure, so it should help you. Wear it and enter the battlefield!"

    "This ring should make you immune to the Time Domain for three minutes. Enter the Domain and make sure that he is killed!" The middle aged man eximed.

    Maya''s face went pale. They were asking her to do it herself? And that too, entering the battlefield of this scale? One wrong step and she could die!

    "Y-you are stronger. Shouldn''t you do it?" She asked, hesitantly.

    Unfortunately, she didn''t receive a response. The man only gave her a re. No matter what, he wasn''t going to take this risk. She was a tool to them that had no value. It was better to send her that going themselves! Even if she died, it didn''t matter after all! Her death was better than their death!

    "You''re weak. It would be harder for him to sense you since he''s paying his attention on that little boy who used the Domain. Go now and kill him! Don''t you want your teacher to be saved?" The middle aged man also tossed a blood red sword at Maya''s feet. "Make sure to stab him with that."

    Maya looked at the Sword at her feet before ncing at Gabriel frozen in the distance. Unfortunately, she still picked up the Sword. Even though they used to be friends in the past, the time was long over. Even if she was nice to him, he wasn''t going to forgive her after all!

    She wasn''t even sure when Gabriel might change his mind ande look for her to have his revenge for the past. Moreover, he had already killed so many people on the battlefield. If he wasn''t stopped, millions of people were going to die!

    She clenched the sword''s hilt tightly. Even though she was scared, she decided to do it!

    She hid the sword in her storage ring so it couldn''t be sensed easily before she flew inside the Domain.

    The ring that she was given was something that could only protect her from the Domain for a few minutes before shattering. However, a few minutes was more than enough!

    She flew straight inside the battlefield from where she could see Gabriel''s back.

    Even Herriet didn''t notice her since he was more focused on Gabriel, blinded by hate and revenge!

    Maya stopped behind Gabriel right when he stopped Herriet.

    When dying, Herriet noticed Maya behind Gabriel. His lips couldn''t help but curve, revealing a smirk even as his body was destroyed!

 Chapter 498 498: Drain

    Maya had stabbed Gabriel right through his heart. She was still in disbelief and felt her body felt weak as soon as she stabbed him.

    Her legs buckled and she dropped to her knees, right after Gabriel disappeared from her view. She still couldn''t believe that she had done it! She had managed to stab the man who was fighting all the mages of this world alone!

    She didn''t know if Gabriel was dead from just that as he disappeared right away. She could only look back in the direction of the Nether Realm Warriors, as if telling them that she did as they asked.

    The Nether Realm Warriors were also stunned that she actually seeded! Even they didn''t expect her to achieve the task while still remaining alive. However, no matter what, she was sessful!

    Their eyes lit up in surprise. As long as Gabriel was poisoned, it was only a matter of time for him to die. They didn''t believe that anyone could ovee the poison on the sword which was made from the blood of the Blood Ancestor.

    "We still need to find his body to drag that bastard back!" The leader of the group from the Blood n revealed his devilish smirk as he stood up. There was no need to hide anymore! There was no need to stay wary!

    The others also stood up with glee in their eyes. Unfortunately, right then, a wave of killing intention rushed everywhere that made all of them tremble.

    It was clear that this was the doing of Gabriel!

    "To think that he''s still alive and this strong even after being poisoned..." The young leader of the Nether Nether Beast n sighed. "This pressure is simr to our Patriarch."

    "Probably hisst flicker. He should be bluffing. Don''t take it seriously!" The Blood n Leaderughed. He had absolute faith in the poison.

    Without thinking twice, he flew toward the source of the killing intent.

    The others in the group also believed him and followed after him. If they could drag Gabriel''s body directly, instead of his loved ones, then this was an achievement of lifetime for them! They couldn''t even imagine the awards.

    The entire battlefield had alsoe to a halt. As soon as time started moving, everyone watched the girl stab Gabriel in the back. The Second Lord of Temple of Time had also died.

    They weren''t sure if Gabriel was seriously injured or not. They didn''t even know who poisoned the sword. However, they really hoped that the battle was over. Without the Second Lord of Time, they had no faith in winning. Even four Holy Lords had also died!

    At the moment, they wanted nothing more than to run and hide. However, when they felt the terrifying killing intent they realized that it wasn''t going to be that simple.

    The Warriors from the Nether Realm soon located Gabriel standing on top of a nearby cliff. His chest was still bleeding, tainting his clothes blood red. However, his face still showed no emotions. Only his eyes were filled with killing intent, as if it contained the fury that had umted for thousands of years!

    Gabriel''s lifeless eyes looked at the Nether Realm Warriors in the distance. Just as he expected, the sword came from the Nether Realm! They were all working together!

    His rage was overwhelming. It was as if the entire sky had turned pitch ck, only showing a shadow of a bloody red eye as if it was the sun in the sky.

    His figure disappeared once again. While the young leader of the Nether Realm was stunned as to where Gabriel went, his face went pale when Gabriel appeared right before him.

    In the next moment, he only saw a palm before his eyes. His face was grabbed by Gabriel. Before he could even struggle, he heard Gabriel''s words. "Drain Touch!"

    "Arghhh!" The leader of the Blood n roared as if he was in pain that made him wish he was dead. His entire body shriveled up as if all his blood and bones were sucked by Gabriel!

    Even his soul felt as if it was being sucked away.

    He couldn''t even beg for his life before all the pain stopped! His shriveled up body was tossed away while his soul was forcefully dragged inside the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy that floated next to Gabriel.

    The others from the Nether Realm were horrified by what they saw. They wanted to flee as fast as they could, but before they could even turn around, their eyes turned blood red while they all screamed in pain!

    Multi illusory thin threads came out of Gabriel''s hand, prating deep inside their bodies, connecting to their souls.

    "Drain Touch!" Gabriel used the same spell again, absorbing their strength for his own use!

    Usually, he needed to touch a person to use the spell. However, thanks to the illusory red thread, that wasn''t needed.

    Even as he destroyed all the Nether Realm Warriors, his rage hadn''t calmed down.

    All the mages in the battlefield seemed to be frozen in fear. However, Gabriel didn''t nce at them. His lifeless gaze rested on Maya in the middle of the battlefield while his chest still bled.

    Even though the poison wasn''t life threatening to someone like him, it was still painful since the wound healed extremely slowly. Every moment, he felt a soul crunching pain thanks to the poison. It didn''t affect his skills and his strength, but the pain couldn''t be ignored.

    His Grimoire of Necromancy floated high in the sky while Gabrielnded on the ground. Just his presence alone felt different than in the past.

    The Holy Grimoire of Necromancy opened on its own. Thousands of evil Souls kepting out of the Grimoire every passing second! Moreover, all those souls found targets in the battlefield.

    Explosions resounded everywhere as souls kept exploding after finding their targets. Blood sttered everywhere, making it the most gruesome sight that the Mages mages present here had ever seen!

    This was the battlefield of the demon that doesn''t even blink while taking lives!.

    Gabriel didn''t care about the explosions behind him. Now that the Second Lord of Temple of Time and all the Holy Lord of Elements that joined the battle were dead, there was no threat to him.

    A simr Soul Shield appeared behind him, made bybining millions of Souls which protected him from all the attacks of these people.

    Gabriel''s shield kept devouring all the attacks that were targeted at him. He grabbed Maya by her throat, raising her light body in the air, tightening his grip.

    "Disappointed that you still can''t kill me?"

 Chapter 499 499: Even If It

    "Disappointed that you still can''t kill me?" Gabriel''s lifeless voice fell in Maya''s ears.

    His voice, his expressions and his persona were all so different from the time when the two used to live together that it was truly like he was apletely different person.

    Maya felt slightly suffocated. She knew that Gabriel wasn''t going to let her live in any case. However, when she saw all the people dying around her, she felt even worse!

    There were many youngsters in the battlefield who didn''t even want to fight anymore and just left. However, Gabriel didn''t let them leave, killing them all in the worst possible ways.

    "Millions of deaths, destruction, pain, and grief... All because of you..." Maya spoke, still struggling to breathe. She felt so heartbroken at all the destruction. "You... you should''ve never been born!"

    Previously, she still felt bad that she tried to kill Gabriel. However, she was convinced that she was right! He had be a demon who killed everyone, without caring in the slightest.

    Now she didn''t regret trying to kill him. What she regretted was falling! Failing to kill and stop her old friend in time before he became this Demon.

    Maya''s feet were a few feet above the ground while her throat was in his grasp. Her life and death was in Gabriel''s hand but she didn''t beg for life v

    It was a battlefield with thousands of bodies littered all around. Blood trickled down her trembling lips as she gazed deep into the eyes of the young man.

    She noticed Gabriel pulling out a small yet crude sword. This was the sword that she herself had given him when they were children. She still didn''t know how he still had something like this. However, to think that he was going to kill her with what she gave him... She found it quite ironic.

    "Today, I shall sever every rtion between us and return this sword."

    Initially, he didn''t want to kill her since she was too weak and pathetic already. Moreover, no matter what, he was still a little soft hearted at that time, forgetting old enmities and focusing on new.

    He had owed their family his life since they saved him when he was a child and he paid that back with his life in the past. At least that''s how he thought of it. However, the second time wasn''t the same... No matter what, this was enough!

    He didn''t owe them anything and she still tried to kill him. Now she owed him something... She owed him a life!

    Gabriel raised the small Sword. His eyes looked at the deep blue eyes of Maya as he thrust his sword. It was as if there were only the two of them in this World.

    The sword passed through the heart of Maya, making her face go pale. She bit her lips but didn''t cry in pain.

    Her eyes were somewhat wet, as if she was really trying to resist the pain in front of Gabriel who held the hilt of the sword that had impaled her chest.

    Even raising her hand was a struggle for the girl, yet she didn''t give up. She raised her hands with great effort, cing them around the throat of Gabriel.

    "I... should''ve... killed... you..." She struggled to speak as her vision started turning blurry. She didn''t even have enough strength to choke the man before her, who didn''t even resist.

    The man simply spoke a few words in response. "You did... Twice..."

    A sad smile crept up the lips of the woman. "Yet you... just refused... to... Die."

    "I can''t die, Maya. Not yet. You''re too insignificant to im my life!" The young man touched the pale cheeks of thedy who was on herst breath.

    He raised his head, ncing in the direction of the sky. "I didn''t start this... But I will end it."

    "They will be here sooner orter! You''ll die! Even you can''t win! You can''t escape this time." Maya spoke, gazing deep into the eyes of the young man. In her eyes, the Overlords of the Nether Realm were much stronger and they wanted him dead. She was sure that he would die sooner orter as well. "You will..."

    She tried speaking something, but before she could even finish her sentence, her eyes lost their shine, and she slowly lost all her strength or resistance. She took herst breath in the arms of the man she hated and loved the most in the entire world...

    Gabriel didn''t let Maya''s body fall to the ground. He held her in his arms as he nced at her pale face that once used to be filled with life.

    Even though he lived longer as Karyk, his life as Gabriel also held equal significance. All the emotions that he felt as Gabriel... Everything that he felt in the past... Everything was new.

    Those ten years of his life in a calm and peaceful atmosphere of the vige was precious for someone like Karyk who hadn''t had a moment of peace for over a thousand years.

    Unfortunately, that was too much for him. No matter what, someone like him was never made from that peaceful life.

    Some unexinable emotions flickered through his eyes. "Things could''ve been different."

    He ced the body of the youngdy on the ground in one of the few gaps in the corpse-covered field.

    "Fate is cruel, isn''t it? When I hadn''t started recovering my soul, I couldn''t tell you my feelings. And when I became what I was meant to be, you refused to listen..."

    Even as Karyk, he never felt what the feeling of love was like. It was only when he lived ignorantly as Gabriel that he got to experience something like that... Something which was sweet yet so painful.

    He couldn''t help but shake his head lightly. "Human emotions are so fickle..."

    "But now that I''vee this far... I won''t fall back. I''m still not finished!" He took a deep breath as he stood up while holding the wound on his chest. He tossed the small sword near Maya''s body. As battered and bloodstained as it was, it didn''t belong to him in the first ce. "I won''t let even the Gods stop me."

    Thousands of dark spirits circled around him, protecting him from thousands of zing attacks targeted at him, whether weak or strong, as they barrashed the barrier.

    The entire world was against him. All the mages had joined the war against him, all so they could destroy the one they considered the devil. Still, Gabriel didn''t retreat. He was even prepared to die in this life if that''s what it took for him to aplish his task.

 Chapter 500 500: Hope You Dont Disappoint Me

    The Holy Grimoire that was floating high in the sky kept turning its pages until it stopped on thest page... The page that had never been seen before.

    Thest page was different from any other pages. Its entire texture was different, as if it was just the purest form of death energypressed in the form of a page.

    "This world has been tainted by the other gods... I will erase all their traces from this world!"

    A terrifying amount of energy rushed out of the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy that was connected to Gabriel''s soul.

    The terrifying energy was so frightening that it even alerted the Upper Realm and the Nether Realm! Unfortunately, in such a short time, none could react or even have any forces ready.

    For the first time in a long while, Gabriel actually changed the spell.

    The ck symbol of Element of Darkness on the back of Gabriel''s right hand shone brightly, in sync with the Forbidden Book.

    For a moment, it was as if the entire world had gone silent as Gabriel started chanting the forbidden spell. The spell was taking a heavy toll on his own body. As he spoke, his body seemed to age a little every second that went on. He could feel pain deep within his soul with each word he spoke, but he didn''t stop.

    It was the same thing he experienced thest time he cast a World Level Spell. However, there was not a single trace of hesitation on his face as if he was prepared for this.

    The sky started thundering as if it was going crazy at the sphemy. This time, Gabriel wasn''t just trying to seal the to protect himself like in the past. However, he was instead trying to destroy all thews of nature that acted in this world other than his own Element of Death!

    He was trying to change the World at its core, making it his own Domain, like the Nether Realm was the Domain.

    This was an idea that he had when he went to the Nether Realmst time. Unfortunately, his control over the Element of Death wasn''t enough.

    Even a mere earth was hard to turn into a domain, let alone something much stronger and vast like the Upper Realm. Fortunately, thanks to the Worldly Shackles that made him stronger, he finally felt that he could barely achieve his goal... A goal of creating a Realm of his own.

    Since he couldn''t create something of his own, he could only twist what he had to his own benefit, making it so that this ce was only beneficial to him. It was much more efficient than the Worldly Shackles as well.

    The worldlyws around earth twisted and turned. Spatial cracks appeared all around the world. Many earthquakes and natural disasters were noticed all around the world.

    Some even felt that it was an apocalypse and that their entire world was going to be destroyed. Almost everyone was scared, worried for their safety while praying to their gods for safety.

    ****

    "Has he gone crazy?" The Overlord of the Upper Realm frowned, standing up.

    He didn''t care about earth since that was a pathetic world, much beneath the Upper Realm. He didn''t care if that world was turned into a Domain. However, for it to happen under Karyk''s control, this was beyond his expectations.

    He was surprised to know how strong he had be. Even though Karyk was still not at a level which could be a threat to him, but to know that his strength was growing so fast was worrying.

    He wanted to go there personally. Unfortunately, he couldn''t. Earth was in the midst of disaster and all the space around it was unstable.

    He could face Karyk but just getting to him in this situation was the main problem.

    A skill that could turn a world into their own domain... For a person toe up with such a skill was incredible on its own, no matter how weak that world was.

    ****

    "As expected, he''s still just as crazy as ever." In her mansion, the Goddess of Life was also taken aback. However, she didn''t look scared. Instead, she had a smile on her face as if she was happy at this development.

    "Keep growing at this rate. The more you grow, the more beneficial you''ll be to me!" She muttered, revealing a rare smile on her face.

    She hade to the Upper Realm in hopes of evolving to her perfect form as the true Master of Light. Unfortunately, she was never given such importance in the Upper Realm.

    The Overlord of the Upper Realm never treated her any better than an ordinary subordinate. She was rarely granted the opportunities she asked for. It was so bad that even after a thousand years, she was still far away from her goal.

    Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do. She couldn''t even face the Generals of the Upper Realm Lord, let alone facing him personally.

    Just as she was fretting over how long it was going to take her to achieve her goals at this speed, she sensed Karyk''s presence on earth through the Grimoire clone she left behind as an inheritance and as a form of control over earth since she didn''t believe she would''ve been able to return after leaving that ce

    As soon as she sensed Karyk''s presence, she was shocked as well as ted. The opportunity she was waiting for was finally here!

    She couldn''t kill or harm the Lord of Upper Realm. However, there was one person who could! It was the person who had turned the Upper Realm upside down a thousand years ago.

    Unfortunately, even for Karyk at his peak, it was hard to stand against the Lord of Upper Realm. That''s why she decided to help him even further.

    Since Karyk''s soul was sealed in the body, his body was much less affected with the element of deathpared to the past.

    This was also the perfect opportunity for her to grant him her Element''s basic ess. It wasn''t up to the point of her control but she still believed that it would''ve only made Karyk stronger!

    She also knew Karyk hated her. However, thanks to theck of his memories, he didn''t even reject when she was granted him her element!

    Even though she was also scared about his revenge, it was nothing before her crazed desire for an evolution.

    No matter how strong Karyk became, he could only stand on an equal footing as the Upper Realm Overlord. If the two fought one day, it could only hurt the two of them, allowing her an opportunity to take advantage of the situation!

    "I hope you won''t disappoint me... Karyk. Also, don''t hate me too much. You were born to be my pawn. You should be happy for this opportunity!"

 Chapter 501 501: Crazy

    ****

    "This is getting crazier than I expected." The Holy Lord of Wind still remained inside the Royal Capital of Arecia. He wasn''t the least interested in joining the battle against Gabriel since he had a feeling that this wasn''t going to go the way they all nned.

    Unlike the other Holy Lords, he had been in contact with the Goddess of Wind and knew much more than the others.

    Through the Goddess of Wind, he knew all too well the terror of Karyk! In fact, even though the Goddess of Wind was in the Upper Realm, far away from earth, he could still feel the trembling and fear in her voice when she talked about Karyk.

    Thanks to that knowledge,he never dared to enter a conflict with Karyk. For him, his life was more important than anything. Moreover, it was stupid to join the losing cause.

    Instead, now that the battle was almost over, he entered the Royal Pce to take action.

    Currently, the only person close to him that he knew about was Avilia. He wanted to save her to show that he had no ill intentions.

    Since most of the Temrs had already left the Royal Pce to fight Gabriel, there were only ordinary guards left in the ce. Taking care of ordinary guards was like child''s y for him

    There was no one in the Pce who could stop him. He was like the wind itself.

    Within a few minutes, he entered the Royal Chamber where Avilia was sitting on her knees with her hands tied behind her back.

    Avilia was really curious as to how the battle was going. She could only hear sounds of explosion or feel the trembling of grounds, along with a terrifying aura in the sky. However, she didn''t know who that aura belonged to.

    The shackles had sealed all her abilities, leaving her no different than an ordinary human as long as she was imprisoned.

    "You seem to be enjoying your vacation in the Royal Pce."

    Calm footsteps resounded at the entrance of the Royal Chamber. Avilia was slightly surprised to see the Holy Lord of Wind step out.

    "Why are you here?" Avilia asked, frowning.

    "Of course to save you. Why else?" The Holy Lord of the Wind answered. "I''d been waiting for an opportunity to sneak inside and free you. Unfortunately, it wasn''t easy since I was on the radar of the Temrs ever since I refused to join them against Gabriel."

    "Why are you doing this? Why don''t you side with them like everyone else?" Avilia inquired, not understanding what this guy was thinking.

    "Are you that eager to see me die?" The Holy Lord of Wind chuckled. He snapped his fingers, destroying the shackles that had tied Avilia. "I just want to live in peace, taking no part in any conflict. You know how I am."

    He reached out his hand to help Avilia up. However, Avilia didn''t take his hands and pushed herself up on her own, even when her body was weak.

    The Holy Lord of Wind awkwardly retracted his hand. "Are you worried about the situation on the battlefield?"

    Avilia didn''t answer. However, from her expressions, it was clear. All the Temrs had gone to kill Gabriel after all. Even if it was her, she would''ve died a thousand times if she was faced with something like that, let alone Gabriel.

    "You really underestimate him, don''t you?" The Holy Lord of Wind could only shake his head lightly. "You probably already know his real identity. Let me tell you, he seems to be safe, albeit a little hurt. Moreover, the war is almost over."

    "Huh?!" Avilia eximed in surprise.

    "All the Temrs that came to kill him have already died. All the Holy Lords who joined the war are also dead. The battle... It''s almost over!" The Holy Lord of Wind walked toward the exit.

    He could''ve broken the roof to leave, but he knew how much importance this city had for Gabriel. He didn''t want to damage it and end up upsetting him. He still wanted to live after all.

    Avilia followed him outside the pce, growing even more stunned to feel the aura of death everywhere! Even the sky had turned pitch ck! It was as if a god was descending to this world!

    Moreover, she also felt that her own element was slightly weaker in this world now. It was the same for the Holy Lord of Wind.

    In this world, it had suddenly be much harder for them to use their elements to their still potential.

    A war had destroyed the bnce of elements in the past, granting abilities to others. However, another war seemed to have changed the situation entirely.

    She flew high in the sky, looking at the Battlefield in the distance! Even from this distance, she could see that the entire battlefield had been painted red in blood!

    ****

    Meanwhile in the Temple of Time, the Leader was sitting with a grim face.

    It was just as he expected. The armies stood no chance before that demon who was even stronger than he used to be in the past!

    He couldn''t help but feel somewhat relieved that he hadn''t joined that battle. However, he was also somewhat scared about the future if Gabriel''s spell seeded.

    On the other hand, Lambard and his maid had already left the Battlefield right at the start. Even without his Numens, Lambard still had his maid who could use her abilities. She took him away from the battlefield, saving his life.

    Lambard was assured that he would''ve been dead if he had stayed behind, next from the aftershocks.

    ****

    The new equilibrium of the world was being broken. It was as if earth was separating from this universe, entering a dimension of its own... A dimension created by Gabriel. This was a change that even the true gods couldn''t ignore!

    Amidst all the cracks that were opening up in the sky, a pitch ck void appeared!

    A lightning bolt fell from the void as if it came straight from the seventh heaven.

    The blinding sh made many people close their eyes. By the time they opened their eyes, they saw a proud figure standing in the distance.

    All the Mages that were still alive went down on their knees, stopping all the attacks. Just the aura of that man alone was enough to make them tremble. The aura felt somewhat stronger than Gabriel!

    It was as if a true god had arrived in the world of the mortals to stop the earth from being forced to separate from the naturalws of the universe. This kind of disturbance was something that could make the entire universe unstable after all.

 Chapter 502 502: Need To Die

    "Stop immediately!" the man with silver hair ordered Gabriel in a thunderous voice that appeared to prate the heavens, just like the lightning bolt had. Despite this, Gabriel didn''t listen as he continued to chant the prohibited spell.

    Disregarding themands of a deity he had never seen before, he persisted in preparing for an unattainable goal. A goal that was impossible for even the old him to attain. His personal Domain!

    The silver haired man was taken aback slightly that his words were ignored so swiftly. Not only did the mortal before him try to break the bnce of the universe, but he was doing it right before his eyes!

    Generally, no matter what happened in this World of mortals, he never would''ve interfered since it was beneath his attention. Even the Upper Realm was ignored by him. However, this time, he couldn''t ignore it.

    A person domain as vast as a world was something that not many people had in this universe. Only some great gods were capable of doing something like that after all. To think that a man who wasn''t even twenty years old was able to do something like this was indeed shocking.

    "If you don''t stop, I''ll be forced to kill you myself!" The man eximed with a cold voice.

    Unfortunately, Gabriel still didn''t care. He waspletely focused on the world tier spell to think about anything else. As for his own protection, he didn''t have much. He only had a simple soul barrier before him.

    The silver haired man grew even more angry as he was ignored once again.

    "Since you''ve made up your mind to die, then I''ll fulfill your desires, before our Prince gets here."

    The man raised his hand. The reality around him itself started falling apart as a pitch ck lightning trident appeared above his head.

    As soon as he clenched his fist, the lightning trident shot ahead, erasing everything in its path from existence, leaving only a deep void whenever it passed through.

    The ck trident shed with the Soul Barrier.

    The soul barrier which remained unbroken even when facing thousands of attacks previously shattered while the souls were disintegrated by the lightning, surrounded by their screeching.

    With the soul barrier broken, there was nothing left between the trident and Gabriel who was chanting his spell.

    Fortunately, just as it looked as if he was about to be hit, his bracelet tracted! The Worldly Shackles unraveled themselves, increasing in size before circling around Gabriel like a snake, taking him in its protection.

    The trident was made with the powers of a true god. It was something that couldn''t be stopped. However, the Worldly Shackles didn''t hesitate to protect Gabriel.

    After absorbing the aura of death for over a thousand years, the worldly shackles were also something that weren''t ordinary anymore.

    As the dark trident shed with the Worldly Shackles, a loud impact took ce. It was as if the sky roared in rage. Winds flew backwards from the impacts, sending back all the bodies in the group nearby.

    Only Gabriel and the silver haired man were left standing where they were. Even the other mages who were alive were sent flying back, coughing out blood.

    The silver haired man had a slight frown on his face. For something in this mortal world to have blocked his attack...? Even though he only used a fraction of his strength behind that attack, but still it should''ve been impossible!

    His trident was destroyed, turning into flickers of lightning. However, the Worldly Shackles weren''t in any good condition either. Cracks spread all around the worldly Shackles. It was as if they were so fragile now that they couldn''t even stop a hit of an ordinary Sword without breaking apart.

    It was even more surprising that the worldly shackles hadn''t fallen apart already.

    The silver haired man raised his hand once again. However, this time he didn''t hold back anymore. His eyes turned a deep silver as an aura surrounded him that made even the space around him tremble.

    He raised his right hand. The pitch ck trident appeared again. However, this time, there wasn''t just one! There were over hundreds of such tridents above him! Moreover, each of those tridents appeared to be stronger than what he had created in the past.

    "Those who break the world''s authority need to die!" The silver haired man clenched his fist. The ck tridents all shot ahead at once.

    The Worldly Shackles once again covered Gabriel, even though it was obvious that they couldn''t protect him.

    It was as if everything was another to be over soon.

    Boom~

    The Worldly Shackles broke apart as soon as the first trident hit them. It broke into small pieces that couldn''t do anything. At the same time, thousands of pitch ck tridents fell.

    One after another, all the tridents impaled Gabriel''s body. The chanting of the World Spell finally stopped.

    The silver haired man didn''t reveal any emotions. It was as if this wasn''t a surprising oue. A mortal could never stand against them.

    He turned around, to open a void before him to return. However, it was only now that his face revealed a strange expression. He was unable to open the void at all!

    Even despite being a true god, he wasn''t able to manipte thews of this world ordingly! It was as if this world... Had escaped the authority of this universe!

    Frowning, he looked back. How was it possible? Was the spellpleted? Even if it waspleted, then so what? After Gabriel''s death, this world should''ve returned to where it was supposed to be. It didn''t make sense.

    He looked at Gabriel''s body that was barely standing with all the lightning tridents that were inside his body. Something appeared amiss. Unfortunately, he couldn''t put a finger on it.

    Just as he was lost in thoughts, he saw Gabriel open his eyes. The Holy Grimoire does down again, shrouding him in the blessing of this world that he had taken to make this world his domain.

    One after another, Gabriel pulled out all the tridents from his body, tossing them on the ground.

    His face was still pale since he had used a spell that was beyond his control with barely any chance of sess. However, despite all that, he still managed to seed!

    Now this entire world was his Domain! It was something akin to the Nether Realm! The only difference was that it was his! Here, he could use his abilities to the fullest, despite not being a true god yet! It was as if the world conditions allowed him to break the rules ced on his strength!

 Chapter 503 503: Crafting

    As Gabriel pulled out more and more tridents, blood kept gushing out of his wounds. However, he still didn''t reveal any expressions of pain.

    His eyes remain fixed on the silver haired man in the distance. The man was very strong! It wasn''t wrong to say that he was a true god. However, he didn''t remember hearing about such a man even in the upper realm!

    The man was definitely not a General of the Upper Realm and he certainly wasn''t the Lord of Upper Realm. Unless something major had changed in thest thousand years that he didn''t know about.

    Since this ce was now his Domain, it didn''t matter even if he was before a true god! As long as one was within his domain, there were a lot of restrictions on their strength! One such restriction was that their strength couldn''t be more than the Lord of this Domain!

    This was also why the Lord of Upper Realm was able to rule without worrying about someone bing stronger and backstabbing him.

    At best, the people in his domain could have a strength level that wasequal to his.

    Thanks to suchws, as soon as he finished the World Level Spell, the silver haired man''s strength was restricted to a level that wasparable to Gabriel.

    "It''s quite rude to attack someone who''s in the midst of chanting." Gabriel calmly spoke as a trickle of blood droplets came down his lips. His voice didn''t contain even a single trace of the pain he was constantly feeling.

    The silver haired man only frowned in response. He could feel that this entire world was much different than it used to be when he came here. The spell was sessful! The entire world felt like someone''s domain.

    He could also feel that this world was restricting how much strength he could use on its own.

    "You seeded, it seems." The Silver-haired man frowned. "I really underestimated you. I should''ve gone all out from the start!"

    Gabriel didn''t respond. He only stood in his ce while his wounds slowly healed. His body was still poisoned which made his healing slightly slower. However, thanks to the man''s lightning that was coursing through his blood, he had managed to cleanse almost all the poison.

    "Even though you''ve seeded, if you think that you can survive, then you''re very wrong. Even if my strength is restricted to your level in this world, it''s more than enough for me to kill you ten more times!" The silver haired man coldly stated. His fists tightened as a pitch ck Lightning Armor formed all around his body.

    At the same time, he also brought out a sword that Gabriel had never seen before. Even though the man couldn''t use the strength of a true god level being, but he still had his treasures from before, that could defy this limit!

    The sword that he carried was a true god level item. Just the aura of the sword alone was threatening. It was as if the sword came straight from heaven itself.

    The world had gone silent. Only the roars of lightning around that long sword could be heard on the battlefield.

    Gabriel had no weapon at that level. Even the sword he used in the past was only Demigod level, that wasn''t even close to his current level, let alone beingparable to a true god level item.

    As for the worldly shackles, it was shattered to pieces already.

    The pieces of the worldly shackles were lying near Gabriel''s feet, as if they were nothing but broken metal chunks.

    "Thank you for helping me..." Gabriel muttered, going down on one knee, cing his fingers around the metal pieces of the shackles. "You gave me enough time to seed. In return, I shall grant you a new life to see the world in a new way "

    The worldly aura that he had gathered after turning the world into his own domain wasn''t of much use to him. It couldn''t increase his strength since many elements conflicted with what he possessed. Even if he forcefully absorbed them, it could''ve only made things worse by conflicting with his aura of death.

    On the other hand, the conflict of auras wasn''t a problem for an artifact at all!

    He transferred the auras of the other elements that he had taken in while refining the world, including the elements of other gods that were of no use to him.

    p¦Á§ád¦Á-¨¾?¦Í¨º|¡¤§ã¨®§® One after another, all these auras rushed inside the broken metal pieces that already had the aura of death that had been refined for over a thousand years by them.

    The metal pieces started trembling with the terrifying amount of elements that were rushing in. In fact, even if Gabriel had tried it on himself, he understood that death would''ve been the only oue. A human''s body was much different than a lifeless weapon.

    The metal pieces absorbed the aura greedily as they started flying in the air! It also appeared as if the metal pieces were melting, thanks to the destructive energy. The pieces melted into the form of liquid and joined together, before soon taking a new shape...

    The ck liquid that was brimming with power took the shape of a sharp sword that had multiple symbols carved on the de! As for those symbols.... They were the symbols of other elements!

    Even though there were many Elemental symbols on the de, there was only one symbol on the hilt... The symbol of the element of death!

    Even though it appeared as if a long time had passed in the entire process, in reality, it only took less than a second under Gabriel''s control.

    Within a second, the broken metal chunks were refined into a sharp sword that didn''tck inparison to the sword aura of the silver haired man.

    What was even better was that the sword had maintained its old consciousness that even many True God Tier weapons didn''t possess! It was thanks to the thousand years of loneliness and deathsthat the shackles went through in order to gain that consciousness.

    Even though the silver haired man revealed a look of surprise with how Gabriel created his weapon, he understood that it was also because Gabriel was inside his domain. Under his domain, his control had improved a lot.

    "Are you from the Upper Realm?" Gabriel grabbed the hilt of his sword, feeling the strength of a weapon of such caliber for the first time in his life.

    He was quite curious about the identity of the silver haired man, along with the ones whose fight had caused the Nether Realm to fall in the past.

 Chapter 504 504: First Time

    "Are you from the Upper Realm?" Gabriel asked. However, the silver haired man didn''t respond and attacked right away.

    His figure flickered, appearing right next to Gabriel instantly as he swung his sword.

    Gabriel raised his sword, blocking the attack. However, even then, he was pushed a few steps back just from the impact. He could feel that when it came to raw strength, he was slightlyckingpared to the silver haired man. However, his strength wasn''t his speciality.

    The battle moved all throughout the battlefield as the two figures appeared and disappeared all over. shing of weapons could be heard like the rumbling of skies. At the same time, Gabriel also took advantage of his unique spells.

    As he weaved his incantations, the ground below their feet began to shake, making it difficult for his opponent to maintain bnce. The silver haired man stumbled for a moment, giving Gabriel the opening he needed to strike.

    His sword glinted in the sunlight as he lunged forward, aiming for his opponent''s chest. The silver-haired man managed to deflect the attack, but Gabriel was already in motion, unleashing a flurry of strikes. Despite hisck of physical strength inparison to the silver haired man, Gabriel''s speed and skill with a de made him a formidable opponent.

    The two continued to dance around each other, des shing and sparks flying. Gabriel could feel his heart pounding in his chest, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he focused intently on his opponent''s every move.

    He was a mage from start to the end. However, fighting with swords was certainly a new experience that was very enjoyable, even though he was fighting against a person who wanted to kill him!

    He had just created the Elemental Sword. He didn''t have any experience with that Sword so this battle allowed him to grasp the battle experience with the sword.

    The silver-haired man was clearly skilled, yet Gabriel was determined to emerge victorious, but not before using the silver haired man to train himself through this battle.

    The ng of their swords echoed as the two entered the forest without even realizing.

    Sword wounds were all around their bodies yet none of them cared. At the moment, they weren''t fighting like mages at all. Even if they used magic, they used it through their swords.

    Moving through the silent forest, they circled each other, waiting for an opening. Gabriel blocked his opponent''s strike and counterattacked with a swift sh, leaving a seven colored arc wherever his Sword passed through.

    Through the strength of the Sword, he could feel that even the space was constantly breaking apart. He could also feel that for some reason, his sword also contained some traces of Element of Time, maybe because it was used in the battlefield by the Temple of Time.

    The silver haired man who had an advantage in strength and skills at the start started getting pushed back instead, as Gabriel grew more ustomed to this kind of battle.

    Raphael was injured yet he didn''t stop working. Now that Gabriel was busy with his own battle, Raphael decided to take care of the rest who had survived.

    mes burned around his fist as he stepped towards the few mages who were sent flying by the massive winds created from the impact of the battle.

    Gabriel understood how dangerous the Nether Realm was. It was a ce where he shouldn''t use Spiritual Elements. However, it was different for a True God Tier sword. The only reason he wanted to train with this sword was because of the Nether Realm where he wanted to go again.

    If he could take care of most of the trouble with the Sword there, it was enough for him to save plenty of his spiritual aura for true emergencies.

    "This should be enough for experience..." In the distance, Gabriel finally nodded in satisfaction.

    Most of his wounds had also healed in the meantime.

    After half an hour focusing entirely on the sword fight and finally grew seriously.

    A pitch ck mist came out of the ground. Under the mist, the silver haired man felt as if his speed had slowed down a lot.

    Boom~

    He used his Lightning to blow away the dark aura. However, thanks to this ce being Gabriel''s Domain, it was almost impossible to cancel his spell with just aparable attention.

    Multiple shackles came out of the ground, even as lightning crackled in the surrounding, wrapping around the silver haired man''s legs.

    At the same time, multiple explosions resounded in the vicinity as the evil spirits flew straight to the silver haired man, only exploding when they touched him.

    Multiple explosions made the man''s skin burn. However, for some reason, his clothes were still intact. Only his face appeared to be half burned.

    The silver haired man was furious. For the first time, he had suffered like this.

    p¦Á§ád¦Á-¨¾?¦Í¨º|¡¤§ã¨®§® Unfortunately, before he could even counterattack, he felt something cold touching his neck.

    Amidst the dark mist, and all the explosions, he had failed to keep an eye on his surroundings. However, it was only now that he felt something was wrong, wondering why he suddenly felt so cold around his neck.

    Frowning, he looked in the distance. Gabriel was standing calmly with his sword lowered. However, there was some blood on his sword now.

    A thin red line spread across the silver haired man''s neck. He went silent, slowly raising his fingers to touch his neck. Unfortunately, just as his fingers were about to touch his neck, the entire world turned upside down for him.

    His head rolled on the ground, still in disbelief. A true god''s body wasn''t something that could be cut that easily. Even the weapon that could kill a god was supposed to be cursed because of a true god''s blood!

    However, despite being the first time, Gabriel''s sword killed him, and that too, in such a manner that he couldn''t believe it.

    When Gabriel started using spells, he had thought that he was stopping using his sword since it was useless. It was only now that he realized it was because of that statement, he lowered his guard.

    Unfortunately, it was toote to change anything. A true god had fallen here! His body soon followed, falling on the ground.

    Gabriel moved closer to the body of the young man, still holding onto the Sword.

    "First time I''ve killed a true god. Even though it''s because of this domain and that his strength was limited to a realm simr to mine, but still... This experience..."

    He couldn''t help but nce at his Sword that was still trembling.

 Chapter 505 505: Godslayer

    Gabriel could feel that his sword was trembling in pain. It has killed a True God and was suffering the side effects. Fortunately, this was his domain.

    Gabriel could easily sever the cause and effect in his domain since this world was now not under the control of the universe. It was his own world! A world where he was a god!

    He bit his finger lightly, cing a drop on his Sword.

    Only when his own blood fell on the sword did the Sword stop trembling and calmed down.

    "Looks like I''ve found a new name for you. I wonder if you''ll like it," he smiled, ncing at the sword in his hand. "...Godyer."

    The sword had a consciousness of its own. As soon as it heard the name, it buzzed lightly as if it was happy with the name it was granted.

    "d you liked it. Though today is a first for many things for me." Gabriel dropped on his knees, feeling extremely tired.

    Even he didn''t realize how he had managed to do all this. He fought so many people, and then cast a world level spell to turn this World into his domain and then even fought a true god!

    It was only thanks to his strong will that he kept going, even when he had no strength left.

    "One wrong step and I would''ve died. Hah..." He knew how low the chances of making this world into his own domain were.

    Even if he had full control of his Element, the chances of sess were still only seventy percent, let alone at present where the chances were only thirty percent.

    Still, he somehow seeded, there to all sacrifices he had offered in this war! Millions had died! Their souls became the necessary fuel for his sess!

    Gabriel reached out his hand, cing it on the man''s chest. He had many souls in his Grimoire, but he didn''t have a single soul of a true god! He wondered just what kind of changes he could experience if he absorbed a true god''s soul.

    As soon as he ced his hand on the silver haired man''s chest, multiple small specks of light came out of the man''s body that flew straight into the Grimoire that had flown closer.

    All those specks of light that represented the soul of the silver haired man were absorbed by the Forbidden Grimoire.

    After absorbing the soul, Gabriel felt like storing the body in his Grimoire as well. He had never made an undead from the body of a true god. However, in his Domain, he felt that he had a chance to seed.

    He wanted to try it as soon as he recovered.

    However, just as he was about to send the body in his Grimoire, he frowned, looking into the distance. He had a strange feeling. It was as if someone was looking at him from some faraway ce.

    This feeling was really bizarre and strange. However, it was hard to find the onlooker easily.

    Fortunately, in his Domain, nothing was hidden from him. He calmly located the source of the disturbance and looked straight in that direction.

    He didn''t know who was looking at him, but the energy felt different from the Upper Realm or the Nether Realm. However, he still didn''t allow anyone to spy on him.

    He raised his right hand, crushing his fist, sealing the entire space around him, cutting the connection of this ce with whatever treasure was used to spy on him.

    He didn''t know if he could destroy that treasure this way, but his first priority was to deal with all the spies!

    It was only after dealing with the strange feeling of being spied on that he kept the body in his Grimoire before finally falling on the ground in the middle of the forest, looking at the clouded sky.

    His breathing was heavy and his face was slightly pale. However, after a long time, he felt this serene atmosphere. It was as if this ce was finally safe. All the threats were dealt with... for now.

    Gabriel remained still for two hours, only resting on the fallen leaves. His entire body was aching. It had been a long time since he felt such exhaustion ever since he first received his element. In fact, even in thest great war, he didn''t feel this exhausted.

    It was as if even moving a single finger was difficult for the time being.

    Gabriel only rested in the forest, feeling the gentle breeze brushing against him.

    "It is like you killed him."

    After some time, Gabriel heard a voice. He didn''t even need to look around to know who it was.

    "I suppose you dealt with the rest?" he asked.

    Raphael came closer, nodding.

    He reached out his hand to help Gabriel up. "Don''t tell me you want to stay there all day long."

    "Let me stay like that." Gabriel smiled lightly.It had been a long time since he felt so light amidst the constant troubles. He wanted to just stay here and let this feeling sink in, while also recovering his strength.

    His Godyer was also lying right next to him. Raphael could feel the strength emitting from the sword. For some reason, the aura of the sword felt even stronger than when it was made by Gabriel! It was as if through this battle, it had be stronger.

    "I suppose you''re curious about my real identity or why so many people wanted to kill me?" Gabriel inquired, already expecting what was in Raphael''s mind. He hadn''t told him anything about his real self.

    Despite that, when Raphael was asked, he joined the battle without a single question about why there was such a battle in the first ce. That had somewhat impressed Gabriel.

    Even though Raphael didn''t respond, Gabriel started telling him about his past. He only mentioned things briefly, and even hid some details about his personal life that he didn''t want others to know.

    He only told Raphael why there were so many people who wanted to kill him, and about his rebirth.

    All this new information was hard to believe for Raphael but he knew that it was the only exnation that made sense. For him to be so strong in such a short time wouldn''t have been possible otherwise.

    "Do you have anything else you want to know?" Gabriel asked.

    Raphael went silent for a moment. However, after a few moments, he finally spoke. "The Reaper of the Undead Realm... Did he work for you?"

    Some unexinable emotions flickered through Raphael''s eyes, mixed with some anger as he asked.

 Chapter 506 506: Return

    "He doesn''t work for me." Gabrielzily answered. "Though you can say that we do know each other a bit. Do you have any enmity with him?"

    Raphael frowned, but didn''t answer. He chose to believe Gabriel''s words.

    Even though he didn''t say anything, Gabriel had a feeling that there was some unexinable past between Raphael and the reaper. From what he could guess, it was something rted to the Undead Realm.

    However, no matter what, he chose to not interfere between the two.

    "I''ll leave it to you two to solve the mess between you. However, if you do need some help, you can always tell me. Now let me sleep... I feel like I''ll die if I don''t get enough rest."

    p¦Á§ád¦Á-¨¾?¦Í¨º|¡¤§ã¨®§® With Raphael''s presence in this ce, Gabriel felt pretty safe. With how the world was changed, there was currently no one in this world who could trouble him here.

    "If you''re that sleepy, shouldn''t you sleep in your castle?"

    Just as Gabriel closed his eyes, he heard another voice. Alion also arrived in the forest.

    Even though he had been waiting to join the battle with Gabriel, he didn''t. He followed the instructions of Gabriel and stayed where he was supposed to be. However, now that the battle was over, he couldn''t wait anymore.

    Jia could also be seen apanying him. "The rumors about you weren''t wrong. To think that you ended the battle so soon."

    Raphael stepped between Alion and Gabriel. He hadn''t seen the two before but he could feel that these two were slightly dangerous.

    Alion could only smile in response. "Don''t worry. I don''t have a death wish to even think about hurting him."

    "I don''t want to die either." Jia also chimed in. She had just seen what Gabriel was capable of. No matter what, she had promised herself that she was never going to stand against him.

    Gabriel was someone who had achieved impossible feats one after another. She still couldn''t believe that he had turned this ce into a Domain.

    "Since you two have so much time to talk, help me with one thing." Gabriel opened his sleepy eyes, ncing at Alion. "Take care of all the aftermath."

    "I understand what you mean." Alion nodded. Suddenly, all the mages in this World were gone. Moreover, all the elements had weakened to the extent that they weren''t a threat to him at all. But still, the people of this world were probably still scared about the sudden changes.

    Alion knew he had to take care of this mess so the next few weeks could be peaceful and everyone understood that the world had changed owners.

    He ced his hand on Jia''s head. "Let''s go, little crazy one. We have lots of work to do."

    "Hmph." Jia pped Alion''s hands away. "You''re the only crazy one here."

    ****

    For the next two days, information spread about what happened on the battlefield at a rapid pace. However, to make sure that there were no unexpected situations, Alion and Jia kept an oversight on everything.

    Thanks to the efforts of the Temple of Time and the Churches, all the people in this world considered Gabriel to be a demon reincarnated. It wasn''t easy to make them change their opinions so fast.

    Early morning on the third day, Gabriel finally opened his eyes, waking up from his two day long slumber.

    He felt so refreshed, as if he had recoveredpletely. There was still a wound mark on his chest that he had received from the Nether Sword. Fortunately, there was nothing that could affect him adversely.

    As Gabriel woke up, he found that Raphael was still sitting next to him, with his back resting against a tree trunk.

    Raphael had been keeping watch over Gabriel, making sure that he was safe and secure throughout his time of rest.

    Gabriel sat up and stretched, feeling his strength returning. "Did something happen while I was asleep?"

    Raphael shook his head in response. "Nothing worth mentioning."

    Gabriel didn''t react much. He knew that the chances of another true goding to this domain were almost negligible. Thanks to the changed worldws, the true gods were much weaker in this domain. They wouldn''t have taken the risk ofing here ever since hepleted refining this world.

    "We''re going back. It''s time I free the rest." Gabriel raised his hand, opening a spatial portal before him.

    His eyes revealed a look of anticipation and expectation about what he had to do next. He was going to finally free his army that had supported him in hisst life.

    Since he was mostly alone in hisst life, other than Alion, his undead soldiers were the closest he had to his family, just like Raphael was currently. Moreover, he was also somewhat interested in seeing his sister.

    Even though he knew that his sister was not the same person she used to be in the past, without a single shred of her memories, it was still a strange feeling to finally have another family member in this world.

    Gabriel entered the spatial portal before him. Raphael also walked behind him, passing through the portal.

    In another ce, near the center of the City, another portal opened up. Two people stepped out of the portal. Gabriel looked more or less like an ordinary mortal with not even a single shred of his aura leaking.

    On the other hand, Raphael also didn''t look like an undead. Even though his face was slightly pale, after seeing the members of the Temple of Time, no one looked at pale faces suspiciously.

    In any case, there weren''t many people outside. In thest two days, the world had more or lesse to a halt as people were yet toe to terms with what had happened!

    Uncaring about his surroundings, Gabriel only gazed at the beautiful pce before him that was now standing where the Garden of Legacy used to be!

    His castle alone looked more magnificent and dominating than the Royal Pce of Arecia!

    Moreover, thanks to all the security mechanisms in this ce, not many people could approach this ce unless they had a death wish.

    In his absence, Alion had been managing the workings of Arecia. Fortunately, he could lead Arecia''s handling to Avilia who was now free and in the Royal Pce, taking care of the mess while Alion focused on other Empires.

    "It feels like I was there just yesterday when this ce used to be so different... In the blink of an eye, a thousand years have passed..." Gabriel muttered, still remembering that in the past, not a single person used to even dare settle in this area.

    However, now there was aplete Empire around his castle!

 Chapter 507 507: Unsealed

    Gabriel stepped closer to his castle. All the traps, and dangers that not many people could avoid were in ce. However, since it was Gabriel in the lead, none of the traps activated! An illusory bridge also appeared over the bloody river of evil souls.

    Gabriel and Raphael walked over the bridge, swiftly reaching the entrance of the castle that used to be the most forbidden ce in the past for other people.

    "I''m back home." Gabriel pushed the door opening, finally taking a step inside his old home.

    The interiors of the castle hadn''t been cleaned in a thousand years yet they were still spotless. Hundreds of undead stood on the first floor, trapped in Shackles that had sealed them. However, they all suddenly opened their eyes, as they felt the true presence of their monarch!

    Even though it was painful for them to move under the effect of the seal, they all turned toward Gabriel, going down on one knee, as if they were greeting their Emperor.

    Raphael was also stunned by the phenomenon! All the people here were undead! Moreover, not a single person was weaker than him! This kind of army... It was impossible to even imagine!

    What was even more bizarre was that he could see a few people who appeared to be of the same species as him! The Ancestors of his n!

    He was still in disbelief! His ancestors that were said to be all powerful also worked for Gabriel?! Moreover, with the devotion in their eyes, it didn''t look like they were forced to work either! They truly believed in Gabriel!

    He had always been thinking that everyone from his n had died and he was thest person from his n who was still alive. However, strangely enough, just in this castle alone, there were over twenty people from his n.

    "Rise..." Gabriel raised his hand gracefully. It was as if he was back a thousand years in time. He wasn''t Gabriel in this ce. Instead, he was Karyk!

    "I''ve trapped you into this ce for a thousand years to save the life of a person I hold dear. However, it''s time for you to be free and once again walk this earth freely!"

    Gabriel raised his hand in the air. Thousands of thin illusory threads came out of his hands, all attaching to the sealing chains that had maintained themselves for a thousand years.

    Crack~

    Crack~

    One after another, the cracking sound of all the chains responded in the huge hallway.

    Within a few minutes, all the sealing chains shattered. His entire army was free of the shackles!

    He could only imagine what his soldiers felt being sealed in this dark ce for a thousand years. However, since he was connected to them, he knew that none of them had any resentment toward him!

    All of them had epted his decision without a single question and remained here for a thousand years, despite having consciousness.

    He still remembered the day when he had sealed his army. He told everyone in his army what he was going to do and why he was going to do it.

    Moreover, he had also offered them all a choice! If they didn''t want to be sealed, they could leave his army and go back where they came from, having no rtion with him! His promise was only to seal his army after all. Once the soldiers left him, they didn''t count as his people.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    However, strangely enough, all of them decided to say! That kind of loyalty was surprising, even though he was the one who gave them a new life!

    The consciousness of his undead wasn''t under his control. He had allowed them the ability to think freely, only keeping certain controls for himself. For example, the soldiers could decide what to do in case of emergency.

    However, even with free will, they couldn''t scheme against him. Other than that, there were not many restrictions that he had ced on the Undeads since he treated them like his army and not just puppets!

    For the world, Karyk used to be a tyrant who was an emotionless being that could kill anyone standing in his path without blinking an eye. However, to his soldiers, he was their master... A master that they could give their lives for!

    As all the undead were freed, they could finally move without any pain. However, they all still remained on one knee before Gabriel, as if weing their overlord back after a thousand years!

    Even though Gabriel hade here a few weeks ago, but he hadn''tpletely awakened and the Undeads could also sense it! This time, it was his true return!

    Gabriel told them all to stand up. He had already told them many times in the past to never do such formalities since he didn''t care about such. However, these guys never listened when it came to this.

    All the Undeads stood up after being given Gabriel''s permission to stand.

    Karyk''s undead army had multiple generals that led a certain section of his army.

    For the mages in his army, the General was an undead Lich King. The Lich King was also one of the strongest members of the army! He was also the first Undead that Karyk had controlled, right after he created the Army of Undead Spell!

    That also made the Lich King the oldest member in Karyk''s Undead Army! Moreover, the Lich King was so strong that the Lich Gabriel faced on the way to the Nether Realm couldn''t even bepared to him!

    Another General of his army was the Damphir King, who was half vampire. The Damphir King controlled the smallest section of the Undead Army, but all the men under him were extremely skilled. Thanks to their skills and speed, they were said to be the perfect assassins.

    In total, Gabriel had seven Undead Kings of the past era, working under him as Generals. Raphael''s ancestor was one of those Undead Kings.

    "Two new members will be joining the army from today." Gabriel broke the long period of silence, gesturing to Raphael to step forward.

    Raphael''s ancestor''s eyes lit up to see a descendant here! He felt relieved that his descendants were still strong enough to attract the attention of their monarch.

    Gabriel assigned Raphael to work with his Ancestor.

    After that, he brought out the Silver Haired undead from the Nether Realm who was never seen in this world. None of the Undeads in his army recognized such an existence. They couldn''t even feel a trace of spirituality from this person.

    They were really curious about where this person came from.

 Chapter 508 508: Long Wait

    Gabriel left Raphael and Dren behind with his army before going upstairs so the two sides could talk and get to know each other better.

    There was some anticipation in his eyes, along with some curiosity about how his first real meeting with his sister was going to go. All he knew was that his sister didn''t have her old memories but he didn''t know anything about what kind of personality she was going to have now that she had returned from the dead.

    The Floor where his sister was, used to be dark and foggy. However, ever since his sister hade to live, Alion had taken care of the floor and the surroundings.

    The dim floor that used to be filled with blood red mist was now bright, full of cheerful vibe. In fact, it was hard to distinguish this floor from an ordinary floor in some human pce. It had everything one needed to live in luxury.

    There was a barrier at the entrance of the floor which prevented people inside from leaving. It was created by Alion since he was worried that Karyk''s sister might get bored here and try to leave, only to be scared at the sight of all the Undeads on the ground floor.

    No matter how strong that barrier was, it wasn''t strong enough to stop Gabriel who easily passed through it like it was nothing.

    After passing through the barrier, Gabriel finally saw what interior changes Alion had made to this ce.

    Initially, Karyk wasn''t interested in such human luxuries, which was why his Pce used to be much darker,cking many things. However, the entire look of this ce was changed so much so that he couldn''t even recognise this ce anymore.

    Multiple rooms were created on the floor, along with a hallway that connected to them all. Many more ces, like a beautiful garden and such were also created in this ce.

    However, more than the interiors of the Floor, Gabriel was interested in his sister. Even though she was a new person and not the sister he knew in the past, it was still a strange feeling.

    He went to the garden where he could feel the presence of his sister.

    Opening the door, he entered the garden and finally got the first glimpse of the beautiful garden.

    The beautiful garden was filled with colorful flowers, tall trees, and a small pond in the center. Gabriel''s sister was sitting by the pond, quietly gazing at the water, looking at the colorful fishes in the pond that could be seen jumping asionally.

    As Gabriel approached her, he couldn''t help but feel some strange unfamiliar emotions of

    "This is a beautiful garden." Gabriel said softly, stoppingright next to his sister while trying to process his feelings.

    His sister turned to him, slightly surprised that there was another person here! She couldn''t remember anything about her past and only had memories of a few weeks.

    In those memories, she only remembered meeting Alion who told her a few things. Alion told her that she had been in an ident and lost her memories. He didn''t go into any details. However, he also didn''t forget to tell her that she had a brother who was going toe meet her soon.

    The girl who looked to be in herte teens wanted to leave this ce and see outside. However, she wasn''t able to. It was as if some mysterious force was trying to stop her. Moreover, she had been waiting for Alion to return. As for her so-called brother... No matter how much she waited, no one came.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    Initially, when she heard the voice next to her, she subconsciously thought that Alion had returned. However, the voice didn''t match which made her turn her face.

    As she looked to her side, she saw a young man who appeared to be barely twenty years old. He had a beautiful ck robe on his back. His attire was so fascinating that it was as if he was a Prince of some big Dynasty.

    Gabriel''s face was also very attractive and he looked much more handsome than Alion. What was even more alluring were his deep beautiful eyes that appeared to have seen through all the deceptions in this world.

    "B-brother?" She subconsciously asked, standing up.

    "Hmm?" Gabriel couldn''t help but frown, surprised that she knew him. He couldn''t help but wonder if she still remembered her past.

    "He said I have a brother and he wille to meet me. Are you my brother?" The girl asked, raising her eyes to look at Gabriel more carefully.

    Hearing her response, Gabriel finally understood what happened. It was probably Alion who told her. She couldn''t actually remember him and only took a guess based on the information she previously received.

    Gabriel could only innocently smile in response, patting the head of his younger sister.

    Even though it looked like brotherly love, making him pat her head but Gabriel had another reason.

    With his hands on his sister''s head, he subtly cast tens of spells on her body, all being protective spells! With these spells, he was sure that as long as his sister was in this World, nothing could harm her!

    "I made you wait long, didn''t I?" Since Gabriel had been without a family in hisst and current life, he had no experience on how to deal with emotions or how to properly talk to dear ones.

    Even though he wasn''t overly emotional after seeing his sister, all the memories of their past still rushed in on his head, making him lose himself in the memories for a moment.

    Since the girl didn''t have any memories, even she didn''t know how to react, or how long she had supposedly waited. However, she felt a strange feeling deep within... A feeling of closeness with Gabriel. She didn''t doubt him for even a single moment. She could feel that he was precious to her.

    Unfortunately, she couldn''t remember anything. Tears fell out as her eyes got wet. She felt so lost.

    Gabriel noticed her tears and immediately responded. "Don''t worry. You have a long life before you, to make more memories. No one will be allowed to hurt you this time."

    His sister didn''t know why, but she felt sofortablejust hearing Gabriel speak. She wiped her tears, but they kepting. For the next ten minutes, her crying only intensified. Even she didn''t know why she was crying so much, as she hugged her brother tightly.

    It was as if she could still feel some subconscious fear, even though she didn''t remember anything. And only in the presence of her brother did she feel safe.

 Chapter 509 509: Changed

    Gabriel spent the entire next week inside his pce, spending time with his sister who was starting to feel lonely.

    He handled all his work from within his pce. Throughout this week, Alion and Jia came to visit him to brief him about the outside world, and how they were managing themotion caused by the sudden change.

    Throughout this week, Gabriel''s sister had be even more cheerful. Her eyes were bright and full of expectations.

    Moreover, when she found out that there were mages in this world, and that her brother was the strongest mage amongst them, she couldn''t even believe initially, until Gabriel showed her some magic.

    Within this one week, the situation in this world had more or less settled. Everyone already understood that the world had changed. The era of the churches was gone and now there was only one person who truly ruled over this world.

    The Holy Lord of Wind also visited, along with Avilia. He had been weakened a lot, since his element was weakened in this world, almost cutting off his ess to magic. However, he was still happy that he was at least alive. As for magic, it wasn''t as if he couldn''t use it at all.

    Since he hadn''t joined the war against him, and even helped Avilia, Gabriel didn''t care too much about the Holy Lord of Wind and let him be free, but not before warning him to not do anything stupid in the future.

    In this one week, almost every piece had fallen into its ce.

    Gabriel had also arranged for materials needed to create bodies for Cylix and Novius. Unfortunately, it was going to take almost a month for those bodies to be created in such a way that Cylix and Novius could use their old magic again.

    At the end of the week, after making sure that the situation in the outside world was truly stable, Gabriel allowed his sister to finally go out of the Pce whenever she wanted. He had already assigned some shadow guards to protect her if needed.

    At the same time, his sister had also gotten close to Avilia for some reason. In fact, at times, even he didn''t know what the two talked about since theypletely cut him off from their conversation.

    He didn''t care too much about that either. However, he was somewhat perplexed by the fact that even when they talked secretly in the distance, the two asionally looked at him, as if they were talking about him.

    All in all, Gabriel had a peaceful time now that he had turned this world into a safe domain. It was something he wanted to do for a long time and only seeded just now.

    Despite everything being so peaceful, he knew that it was only temporary. He couldn''t stay in his domain forever. There were more things he had to do! He had to kill many more people... Everyone who schemed against him in the past, he wanted to crush them right under his feet!

    Unfortunately, the protection of his domain didn''t extend to the Upper Realm so he knew that it was dangerous. He needed more help.

    Jia hade down from the Upper Realm so she was perfect to be his guide while Alion and the others protected his domain in his absence. But there was another person that Gabriel thought he needed... Someone who he hadn''t talked to in a long time.

    Gabriel rubbed his temple, slightly frowning as he thought about it. In his life, he had made many wrong decisions that he regretted.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    After giving his sister permission to leave the ce whenever she wanted, he finally departed from the castle after a week-long rest.

    As he stepped out of the Pce, he noticed that the atmosphere had actually changed inparison tost week. While streets werepletely empty in the past and everyone was full of fear, many people could be seen on the streets now.

    Cities had started to open. Humans were very versatile. After understanding that the situation was stable, they had finally started to live their lives the old way... At least to some extent.

    Most of the mages had died, but that didn''t really affect ordinary humans at all.

    Unfortunately, some people were still cautious and preferred to stay indoors as much as possible, even now. That small percentage of people didn''t matter though.

    Walking on the streets undetected, Gabriel noticed that the city was verylively now. From street performers to cafes and shops, everything was bustling with energy as people enjoyed the warmth of the sun and the fresh air.

    He felt a sense of intrigue to see that life had returned to normal after being disrupted like that. As he continued to walk, he couldn''t help but notice the little moments of joy that he saw people experiencing - a young couple holding hands, a child running after a butterfly, an old man enjoying his coffee. It was a reminder of how capable humans truly were.

    He was somewhat d that the world had returned to its normal pace. Moreover, there was no need for anyone to worry about any future wars! The hunt for the dark mages had also ended. No one had to kill their family members just because they awakened the wrong element.

    Gabriel had changed this world into something that he truly wanted to see. He had kept his promise to Cylix and Novius that he had made in the Tower of Challenges. Now no one like him had to be backstabbed by their own friends. No one like him had to run and hide from mages, only to survive, even though theymitted no wrong.

    There were many people who had died before this could be achieved, including the Saint Knight and the Duke who worked right under him. However, reality had finally changed into something beautiful and peaceful.

    No one noticed that the overlord that had changed this world was walking amidst themselves on the streets, noticing every small change that ured.

    In the midst of the crowd, Gabriel soon disappeared, as if he was never truly there in the first ce. No one noticed his absence either, aa if he was a ghost.

    After disappearing from the Royal City, Gabriel appeared in the depths of a distant valley that used to be called another Forbidden Land in this world.

    In the depths of the valley there was a deep forest which could make anyone lose their way inside.

    "Now to take care of thest matter..." Sighing, Gabriel stepped toward his destination in the valley.

 Chapter 510 510: Looks Like You Had A Good Life

    Gabrielwent through the forest in the blink of an eye, appearing near the other end, right before the four sky pirs.

    Usually, it was impossible to get there unless the restrictions were weaker, but for Gabriel, it was child''s y since he was the one who ced these restrictions in the first ce.

    He ced his hand on the stone tablet, using some of his purest magical energy.

    A portal appeared in the stone tablet, as if opening the pathway to an unseen ce. Unlikest time when the portal sent someone randomly inside the tomb, the portal directly connected to the core of the Tomb.

    Gabriel passed through the portal,ing out from the other side, right inside the core room. He could see multiple ck shackles,ing out from all corners of the room, connected in the middle where these shackles entrapped a person.

    Feeling a sudden presence in the room, the Goddess of Nature slowly raised her head, ncing at the young man ahead with lifeless eyes. However, as soon as she saw who it was, the mes in her heart were ignited as her entire body was covered in murderous intent.

    "So you''re back again... Are you here to mock me?!" she asked, struggling once again. Unfortunately, she still couldn''t break through the shackles.

    Gabriel didn''t respond. He just looked at the woman before him. Over a thousand years had passed yet it was as if just yesterday, they were lying over grass ins, talking like old friends.

    After living his life as Gabriel, he came to know a lot of things that he hadn''t understood in the past. Through Gabriel''s perspective, he came to know that what he did in the past to the Goddess of Nature wasn''t entirely right.

    When he thought from a different perspective, if she was in his ce and his sister had attacked her for no reason, would he have allowed her to kill his sister? No. What would he have done if she had killed his sister? The answer was clear.

    Even if his sister was at fault, he would''ve killed the Goddess of Nature for hurting his sister. What she did in the past was no different. Her brother was wrong, but killing him like that was not entirely right, especially considering that he was the brother of someone who was akin to a friend.

    He didn''t know if the Goddess of Nature would''ve worked with the other gods if he hadn''t fought with her, but the chances were really low.

    "I am sorry..." After a long pause, Gabrielfinally spoke. "I should''ve realized what the existence of a sibling signifies for people like us..."

    Even though Gabriel had apologized in the past, but Karyk never apologized to anyone! No matter what he did, he never said such words that were unfamiliar to him. However, this time, these words came straight from his depths.

    Now that his sister was back, and his life was calmer, he had plenty of time to think about it. During the week he spent with his sister, he managed to understand what the Goddess of Nature went through even more.

    The Goddess of Nature frowned, confused. She couldn''t understand if she was hallucinating. Karyk was apologizing to her?

    "You think an apology will stop me?! The day I''m free, I''ll kill you with my own hands! I''ll pay you back for everything that you did!"

    "You are free to do what you want... If you want to kill me, I wee you to try. However, the oue will remain the same."

    Gabriel didn''t show any strange reaction to her words. This was a thousand year long hatred and it wasn''t going to end with just an apology. However, it was still a start.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    He waved his hands lightly, breaking the imprisoning spell.

    The shackles that were keeping the fiercely struggling Goddess of Nature disappeared into thin air, turning into specks of light.

    The Goddess of Nature was finally free! Initially, she couldn''t believe it. However, it didn''t matter. Her mind was already filled with anger! She couldn''t control her body that rushed toward Gabriel to kill him!

    Boom~

    An explosion resounded inside the tomb. A deep crater appeared in the middle of the hall. However, inside the crater wasn''t Gabriel. Instead, the Goddess of Nature was lying on the ground, with her neck in Gabriel''s hands.

    "As I said, you''re free to try. However, the oue will be the same," Gabriel responded. In his Domain, even true gods couldn''t do anything to him, let alone someone like the Goddess of Nature. However, he still hoped that her anger was going to calm down given the time.

    "You were trapped here for a thousand times, and it''s because of me. I understand. However, I won''t allow you to kill me." He released the Goddess of Nature, taking a few steps back,nding outside the crater.

    The Goddess of Nature coughed out a mouthful of blood, as she stood up, gazing at Gabriel. She was surprised at his current strength. Even though he was strong in the past, his strength mainly lied in his spells. However, at the moment, it was as if his physical strength had increased tremendously.

    "Looks like you had a good life..." She stated. She still had the killing intent in her eyes, but she felt a little hesitant in attacking this guy. She had failed every time she tried. They were just in two different leagues.

    "A good life?" Gabriel couldn''t help but look at her strangely. Since she was trapped here, it was clear that she didn''t know many things, especially about the betrayal and maybe even how he died in the past.

    "If that''s a good life, then I think I''ll be giving a great life to them in return for what they did..." he let out, shaking his head lightly.

    He changed the topic. Even though he really felt bad about what he did to the Goddess of Nature, but that wasn''t his only reason foring here. He had a second reason.

    He wanted to go to the Upper Realm. Jia was his guide, but he knew that he needed the help of the Goddess of Nature as well. Unfortunately, convincing her was easier said than done. Still, he had some ideas for it.

    Fortunately, he had something at hand.

    He brought out a small red stone, tossing it to the Goddess of Nature.

    The Goddess of Nature caught the soul stone, frowning. "What is it?!"

    "Your brother''s soul..." Gabriel calmly responded, still maintaining his calm face. "I''ll bring him back to life for you."

 Chapter 511 511: Offer

    It was clear that his enmity with the Goddess of Nature started with her Brother''s death. For her, thousand years of solitary confinement was not even worth mentioning,pared to her loss of her only family member at the hands of her so-called friend.

    If he wanted to turn her around, he had to first return her brother and start from there.

    Fortunately, it was easier to bring back the brother of Goddess of Nature since he didn''t have to go to the Nether Realm to bring his soul back. Her brother''s soul was already inside his Grimoire after all, with the consciousness intact. All that was needed was to create a body, which was even easier for him.

    "Why are you doing it?" The Goddess of Nature frowned. "Instead of just killing me, why are you freeing me? And even help me bring my brother back?"

    She didn''t know what Karyk was doing. From what she knew, he was someone who didn''t deal with emotions too well. In fact, he would rather kill someone who offended him than talk it out, even if it was his closest friend. However, for him to go this far, instead of killing her? That was unexpected.

    Gabriel was silent for a moment. However, after a long time, he finally stepped closer, reaching out his hand.

    He lightly ced his hand on the Goddess of Nature''s head. "Because I feel sorry for what I did to my friend. I was in the wrong..."

    "Friend?" The Goddess of Nature muttered, gazing at the Soul Stone in her hand which was enough to bring her brother back. However, as she raised her gaze back, she noticed that Karyk was already gone, nowhere to be found.

    The Goddess of Nature didn''t know what to do next. She just looked at the Soul Stone nkly.

    In the end, she activated the Soul Stone, which became bigger. The soul stone became six feet tall,rge enough to create a human body inside.

    The process was very slow though, and at the speed it was going, it was clear that it was at least going to take a few weeks toplete.

    The feeling of being free after a thousand years was strange. She had been in those chains for so long, that even though she was free now, she could still feel those chains around her wrists and ankles.

    She raised her head slightly, gazing in the direction where Gabriel was standing previously. "He has changed..."

    She cast a protective barrier around this room which could not only protect the soul stone but also inform her if someone came close to this ce. The only person she thought who could break the barrier in this ce was Karyk. However, since he himself gave her the Soul Stones he had no reason to destroy it.

    Leaving her brother''s Soul Stone in the core of the Tomb where she was trapped for a thousand years, she disappeared.

    The Goddess of Nature appeared in a distant mountain, standing at the peak. It was the first time she felt fresh air outside the Tomb. However, she could feel that something was different in the air.

    In the past, the air used to contain a high concentration of elemental energy. However, currently, that couldn''t be felt. Even for her, it was very hard to gather her elemental energy from the air around her.

    "Just what did he do?" She muttered, frowning. To get more answers, she tried to locate the nearest city. What she wanted was information about thest thousand years, and the changes.

    As she flew above thendscape, she couldn''t help but marvel at the sights. It was as if the entire world had changed in thest thousand years. The ces where deserts used to be, there were rainforests now. The ces where not a single trace of humans could be found a thousand years ago had the biggest cities now.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Oldkes and rivers had dried up in thest thousand years yet new ones had appeared. The world didn''t feel like anything she remembered. In fact, for a moment she even doubted if she was in the wrong world.

    Along the way, she saw the ce where Gabriel had fought with all the mages. She could still feel traces of his deadly aura in the bloody battlefield.

    "Such arge-scale battle... Just who did he fight?" She muttered,nding on the battlefield.

    She didn''t know exactly how many people Gabriel faced, but the number wasn''t low at all! Moreover, she could also feel some traces of the Element of Time as well. It was clear that the Temple of Time had also joined.

    Even though she could feel the presence of other elements, none of it was at a significant level. It was as if no gods that she knew participated in this war.

    She walked through the battlefield of corpses, trying to gain a better understanding.

    After four hours, she finally reached a city near the battlefield, where she felt she could get more information about what happened.

    The City was quite crowded and full of life, despite the fact that such a battle took ce so close to it.

    After walking through the City, she finally felt some presence that felt somewhat familiar. It was a young woman who was a Mage of Nature. Since she hadn''t joined the warst time, she had managed to survive.

    After that war, she hid for a week, worried that all the elemental mages were going to be hunted down after the war, but fortunately none of it happened. In fact, things felt more normal than they used to be.

    "You, there." The Goddess of Nature approached the young woman.

    The Young Woman didn''t recognise the Goddess of Nature but she did have her suspicions lowered when she saw that the Goddess of Nature also had the Elemental Mark of Nature. She felt much safer approaching her.

    The Goddess of Nature met with the young woman and asked about everything that happened.

    The young mage was initially surprised, wondering which mountain thisdy came down from, to not even know such basic knowledge. However, she didn''t express it on her face.

    She told the Goddess of Nature everything she knew, including the secret information about Gabriel that she had received thanks to the Temple of Time before the war. Her brother used to be a Head Priest in the Church of Nature after all, so he was informed about such things before the war.

    Since her brother knew how dangerous Gabriel was, that''s why he asked her to stay away from the war and she listened and survived.

    "He was killed a thousand years ago?" The Goddess of Nature frowned.

 Chapter 512 512: Opportunity

    "Did you release her?" As Gabriel returned to the Royal City, Alion inquired, as if he had a rough idea where Gabriel had gone previously.

    Gabriel nodded in response,nding on the roof of his pce, from where he had a clear view of the entire city.

    "Are you sure you can trust her?" Alion asked. "Even though she''s much weaker than you, she can still be very dangerous. And she hates you as well. Isn''t it like taking a poisonous snake with you? Moreover, what if she just doesn''te to help you?"

    "She wille." Gabriel responded. Even though he couldn''t see through the future, he had a rough understanding of the Goddess of Nature since he had known her for such a long time.

    He was sure that at the moment, the Goddess of Nature was somewhere, trying to find out what happened in thest thousand years. In fact, that was also the reason he party left out some clues for her to investigate. He wanted her to know everything, but not from his mouth.

    "You''re right about her being dangerous, but that was only until I returned her brother. I''m sure you also know what kind of person she is..."

    "I think she must be feeling quite satisfied that you didn''t have a happy life while she was trapped." Alion couldn''t help but smile wryly, stopping next to Gabriel.

    "Happy and angry." Gabriel rified. "She must be thinking that I was manipted into a war with her. Even though it isn''t true, but as long as I can y this right, it should be easier to convince her."

    "Looks like you''ve already calcted everything." Alion was slightly surprised. Even though he thought that Gabriel just freed someone dangerous, but to see that he had a n was slightly calming.

    "When are you leaving then?" he asked. He knew that with this world bing a Domain, even the Warriors of Upper Realm wouldn''t have tried to enter this ce easily, unlikest time. However, it was different when the battlefield was the Upper Realm.

    Once Gabriel went to the Upper Realm, he was once again back to his origin, not possessing the support of his Domain.

    "I''m sure that almost everyone there knows that you''re alive. If you go there and they find out, it could get quite dangerous."

    Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck, slightly frowning. He understood it as well. Unfortunately, there was no choice. It wasn''t as if he was going to be stronger the more he dyed.

    To get stronger, he had to go to the Upper Realm... Thend of mysteries. However, before that, he had to do something else in this world.

    After wrapping up his conversation, he entered his Pce and went to the lowest floor, where no one other than him was allowed to enter. It was a space that spread underground, having an area as vast as the City above ground.

    There were many restrictions on entering that ce... So dangerous that they could kill almost any intruder!

    In this huge empty space, there was only one thing. It was a giant skeleton that was lifelessly lying on the floor. However, despite the fact that the skeleton had died thousands of years ago, it was still emitting a power that was overbearing.

    Even though Gabriel had killed another True God just recently, but feeling the Skeleton''s aura, he had a feeling that the person he faced wasn''t even close to the level of this person! The difference was like earthand sky!<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Throughout thest week, Gabriel had been trying to study the symbols on the bones of the Skeleton but the more he tried to understand, the moreplicated these symbols appeared.

    It was as if the more he explored, the more mysteries he found.

    The strange symbols contained a power that he had never seen before. It wasn''t a power of any of the elements that he had seen before, but it wasparable if not stronger.

    Gabriel touched one of the symbols, standing before the rib cage of the skeleton.

    "Just what is the mystery that you''re hiding?"

    If possible, he wanted to awaken the skeleton as his undead knight, to understand this mysterious power even more. However, whenever he tried to cast any resurrecting spell, it was canceled out by those symbols.

    The mystery behind those symbols was an opportunity for him. However, it was also a headache.

    Even after spending a week on it, he felt as if he was back at the starting point.

    "Whoever this was, definitely didn''te from the Upper Realm." In the end, Gabriel shook his head lightly, sending the skeleton back to his storage.

    Since he had to leave, he wasn''t going to leave the Skeleton behind. Moreover, he had a feeling that he needed to be stronger to explore these mysteries.

    After he kept the skeleton back, he left the Royal Pce again. Since that moment, he wasn''t seen for one month straight.

    Even though he wasn''t in the Royal City of Arecia for one month straight, but still there were some sightings of him all around the world! It was as if he was searching for something.

    There were many mysteries towers in the worlds on unknown existences. Even though many of the continents were destroyed in thest year war, but the towers still somehow remained intact!

    As if trying to find something, Gabriel went to the ce where each of the towers was situated. He entered all these towers, one after another to reach the top floor.

    Moreover, from each of the top floors, he received one ordinary silver key.

    After a month, he finally finished exploring all the towers on earth, receiving eight keys in total.

    Most people didn''t know what these keys were for. In fact, even Gabriel didn''t know. However, he did have a wild guess. It didn''t matter if his guess was right or wrong, but he didn''t want to miss out on the chance if it was true.

 Chapter 513 513: Are You In Love?

    Just like that, over two months had passed since Gabriel''s war with all the mages of this world. The world was at peace and not many people talked about the past anymore.

    In these two months, these people didn''t face any problems from Gabriel''s side. It was as if only the Overlord had changed, but their lives were still as mundane as ever. Gabriel, or his people didn''t interfere in the workings of this World, more than absolutely necessary.

    While Gabriel went from tower to tower, his sister and everyone else was left in Arecia. His sister was apanied by Avilia most of the time, living the life of an ordinary human.

    Even though she asked about Gabriel from time to time, she only received an answer that Gabriel was busy with something.

    Throughout this month, Avilia also tried to reach some of her magic to Gabriel''s sister. Unfortunately, it didn''t work. Gabriel''s sister couldn''t use her element since the Goddess of Summoning hadn''t granted her any stigma of the element.

    Only a god that was born on earth could provide others with elements in the form of a blessing. At the moment, only Gabriel was capable of something like this in this world ording to her. However, there was no way Gabriel was going to teach her the Element of Death.

    He had gone through trying to control the Element of Death and only he knew what nightmare it was,pared to other Elements.

    Gabriel''s sister lived the life of an ordinary human, experiencing many things for the first time since she had no memories of the past. Moreover, on Gabriel''s insistence, she had also started calling Alion as her brother.

    It was as if her small family waspleted. She had two brothers, and one who was akin to a sister. As for Jia...she had no idea how to treat her. It was clear that Jia was older than her, but she felt strange calling a little girl like that.

    In the end, she only called Jia by her name, treating her as a friend.

    "Is brother still not back?" Gabriel''s sister Zena returned to the castle.

    Even though there were many undead soldiers in the practice field of the castle, training tirelessly with spells and swords that looked out of this World, she hade to terms with it and didn''t find it out of the ordinary.

    All these undead soldiers were nice and treated her with respect. She wasn''t scared of them, unlike the first time she had seen them. In fact, she still remembered how she had stumbled in fear the first time she saw them.

    "Not yet," Avilia responded, taking a nce back at the setting sun in the distance. Another day was over yet Gabriel still wasn''t back.

    She didn''t know why, but ever since Gabriel awakened his memories, she felt that he was a little distant, as if there was a wall between them. He was the same Gabriel as the past, but he was also different.

    She wasn''t able to talk or joke as freely as she used to do in the past. It was a strange feeling, but she was sure that she missed the old Gabriel a little.

    Zena noticed a look of reminiscence on Avilia''s face, slightly surprised. Even though she didn''t remember most of her past, but she could still understand what that look meant!

    "Are... Are you in love with my Brother?" She asked, slightly stunned.

    Avilia came out of her daze.However, she didn''t know how to answer this question. Even she didn''t know the answer to this question. It was just a strange yet ufortable feeling in her heart, that made her want to stay in Gabriel''s presence as much as possible.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "I-" she tried responding, but froze in the middle as she felt another powerful presence which was certainly stronger than her.

    It was clear that this person was stronger than her, which should''ve been impossible since the only person stronger than her in this world should''ve been Alion and Jia.

    She looked back with a frown on her face, noticing a young woman, who appeared to be in herte twenties. She was tall, and dressed in a beautiful green gown that matched her deep green eyes. However, her aura was no joke. She was clearly very strong... Maybe even stronger than Alion and Jiabined!

    Avilia couldn''t help but wonder if it was an enemy. She moved Zena behind her as she blocked her from the view, worried about Zena suddenly being attacked.

    In the distance, the Goddess of Nature waspletely unfazed. It was as if she didn''t even care about the reaction of the people around her.

    She had onlye here to meet Gabriel after hearing that this was the ce where the guy lived. However, now that she was here, she couldn''t feel his presence at all.

    Moreover, as far as Zena was concerned, she had no idea that she was Gabriel''s sister and she was back to life! She had never seen Gabriel''s sister in the past after all.

    "He''s not here either..." She muttered. However, her attention soon went to Zena. She could feel some of Gabriel''s residual aura on Zena.

    However, just as his eyes fell on Zena, a person appeared before her!

    It was man, who looked to be in his early twenties. He had ears that were akin to an elf, and blood red eyes of a Vampire.

    The man''s face was pale,cking any blood, as if he wasn''t alive. However, the man was holding a heavy sword in his head.

    As soon as he appeared before the Goddess of Nature, the tip of his sword twitched the ground while he stood like a proper knight with both his hands on the top of the hilt of the sword.

    However, as soon as the tip of his heavy sword touched the ground, the entire ground started trembling. No one knew how heavy his sword was, but it was said to be even heavier than Jia''s Sword.

    Next to the Damphir General of Gabriel''s army appeared the Lich King, holding a magical staff that emitted a magical aura that was no weaker than the Goddess of Nature.

    One after another, all the Generals of Gabriel''s undead army arrived. And all looked as threatening as the one next to them.

    "I heard he had sealed his army after sealing me. Looks like he has freed all you brats." The Goddess of Nature didn''t reveal any fear or confusion on her face. It wasn''t her first time seeing all of them after all.

    When she and Gabriel used to be slightly closer, she had seen them many times. However, the equation was different now.

 Chapter 514 514: He Went Easy On You

    "What are you doing here?!" The Lich King asked. However, his voice appeared to use some mysterious magic that allowed him to speak without even opening his lips.

    His voice could clearly be heard by the Goddess of Nature and the other Undead Generals but not by Avilia and Gabriel''s sister.

    "I''m here to meet him," The Goddess of Nature replied. She was not here to fight. And even if she fought, she didn''t think she would win, with the current condition of this world. However, she was really curious about one thing.

    The Undead Generals were blocking her path. However, for what reason? That was the question in her mind. Karyk wasn''t here after all. So who were they trying to protect from her?

    In the end, she could only think of one person... The woman that Avilia hid behind her.

    She had already felt some of Karyk''s aura on Zena and everyone was trying to protect her.

    "Is she his daughter?" She asked in the end, even though she couldn''t believe it herself. Karyk wasn''t a person who would have a child since ording to her, that guy was incapable of falling in love in the first ce.

    Moreover, ording to her information, he was dead for a thousand years, and only recently awakened. There was no way he was going to have a daughter who was this old.

    All the Undead Generals revealed some unnatural looks when they nced back at Zena. To hear her be called their master''s daughter was slightly odd.

    In fact, even they wanted their master to someday have a family and children, settling down. Unfortunately, the situation didn''t allow him.

    "Her identity doesn''t concern you. Just remember, that if you tried to harm her; in this universe, Master might make your life worse than living hell."

    "He already did for thest thousand years." The Goddess of Nature retorted.

    However, in response, one of the Undead Generals smiled. "What happened to you for thest thousand years will look like child''s ypared to what he might do if you hurt that girl. You might think what Master did to you was bad, but let me remind you... He went really easy on you..."

    The Goddess of Nature frowned, but didn''t respond. What she went through was him going easy? Her face revealed some traces of anger but she couldn''tpletely deny the possibility.

    What Karyk did to her felt less like a punishment and more like him locking her somewhat for a few decades to make her calm down. It was as if he was nning to free her after some time, but with his death at the hands of others soon after, the time was pushed forward by a thousand years.

    Her anger did decrease after a short time in imprisonment since she had lots of time to think about it. She thought that Karyk was going to free her. However, as centuries passed, her anger and hate only continued to build up, as if Gabriel hadpletely forgotten about her.

    Even though she didn''t show it on her face, she felt really good when she heard that Karyk had died a thousand years ago and just returned, only to free her. It showed that he hadn''t forgotten her.

    Moreover, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that things weren''t bad. Even when Karyk had killed her brother in anger, he had saved his soul, to bring him backter. So he never really intended to take her brother''s life but only to punish him.

    Even though she had some misunderstandings about Karyk''s actions with the kind of assumptions she made, if he were to know about it, it was unclear what kind of expression he would''ve revealed

    "I''m not here to hurt her." In the end, the Goddess of Nature shook her head lightly. She had enough of fighting Gabriel. "I''m just here to meet him. However, since he''s not here, I''ll take my leave."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    She simply turned around. Even though she was curious about Zena''s identity, it didn''t matter.

    "Leaving so soon?" As the Goddess of Nature was about to leave, a voice came from behind her.

    "Alion... I should''ve expected you to be here." The Goddess of Nature nced at the roof of the castle, noticing a man standing there.

    She disappeared and in the next moment, she appeared right next to Alion. After that, both of them went inside the Castle, talking about something.

    Avilia finally sighed in relief. Even though the person was dangerous, it appeared that she had no intention of harming Zena.

    "She is master''s friend." The Damphir exined, raising his heavy sword, cing it on his shoulder. "Don''t worry. She won''t harm you. And even if she tried, she won''t be able to. So don''t think about her."

    After he finished speaking, he also left with the other Generals.

    Gabriel had prepared a specific training zone for them in the Pce perimeters, where they could go all out without affecting their surroundings with the strength of their attacks. That''s also the ce where all the Undeads trained.

    Since they had woken up after a thousand years, they were even more hungry for battle, giving it their all in their training. It was a sight to see, to watch such monsters fight.

    ****

    After searching all around the world, Gabriel finally found the eight keys that were spread throughout this world in different towers.

    He was really curious about the beings who made these towers yet he didn''t think about it too much. He kept the ordinary looking keys in his storage ring before finally returning to his pce.

    As he reached his pce, he already felt the presence of the Goddess of Nature. However, he didn''t reveal any traces of surprise, as if he was expecting it to happen.

    During his absence, Alion had been talking to the Goddess of Nature, telling her about thest thousand years that only he and Gabriel knew about.

    There were more details in his description that changed a littlepared to the version of the Temple of Time. However, the core was the same... Karyk''s death and betrayal of gods.

    While the Temple of Time called that betrayal as gods working together to kill an evil God, he knew that it was no more

    than backstabbing someone just because they were scared of their abilities and influence. It wasn''t even just fear, but also greed.

    If someone was the evil god ording to him, it was the Goddess of Light, who nned so far ahead, only to get what she wanted!

 Chapter 515 515: Pieces In Place

    After telling the Goddess of Nature everything, Alion didn''t speak much. He didn''t tell her about their next n of action. He didn''t want to make it too obvious.

    Instead, he wanted for her to ask it herself first. That way, it wasn''t them who was trying to involve her in their mission but she herself who asked them to involve her.

    In the end, everything happened just as he expected. The Goddess of Nature knew that Karyk wasn''t the kind of person who was going to let the ones who betrayed him, live in peace.

    The sun might rise from the north, but Karyk forgetting his revenge was still impossible. She knew that he was nning something! It was also clear that his current absence had something to do with his nning.

    "Is he nning to go to the Upper Realm himself?!" In the end, she took a guess. It was easy for her with the kind of personality Karyk had. She knew him all too well.

    Most people would''ve stopped their journey after converting a world to their Domain. This was the safest ce from outside influence. They could''ve lived an eternity in peace here.

    However, Karyk was different. He wasn''t the kind of person who could forget the past. Instead, he was someone who was to return it a thousand fold! He was the same person who sealed his friend for a thousand years over a single fight, after all!

    Alion was slightly intrigued. Was Karyk so obvious that everyone who knew him understood what his next n was? Didn''t that mean the Goddess of Light and the beings in the Upper Realm also guessed it?

    "Don''t tell me you really didn''t expect others to guess this n?" She asked, noticing the stunned look of Alion. "That means you really underestimated others."

    "I''m sure Karyk also knows that others have guessed what he''s going to do next. Since he''s still going forward with this n, he must''ve had another n on top. That''s the one I can''t guess..." The Goddess of Nature rubbed her temple, lost in thoughts.

    "Looking at your expressions, it''s clear that even you don''t know the other n of his. Am I right?" she asked after opening her eyes.

    Alion''s lips twitched. However, he knew that she wasn''t wrong either. He really hadn''t thought about it since he had been busy managing this world.

    "Yes, you''re right, I''m just as clueless as you are," he replied with a sigh. "But whatever his n may be, we cannot afford to sit back and do nothing. You know that the other gods will never ept your truth since Karyk''s the one who freed you. They''ll always think of you as someone who could backstab them just like they did."

    "In the end, you''re also their enemy. Maybe not to the extent of Karyk, but still." He further added. "If he does, this world will lose the Domain protection and we''ll all be the ones who are killed next. So no matter what his n may be, I''ll be supporting him. And I have a feeling that you will too. Isn''t that right, Eia?"

    The Goddess of Nature frowned, not responding right away. Her answer was obvious. If there was a war, then her only chance of survival was with Karyk. That also wasn''t the only reason she wanted to help him!<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    She hated the fact that the Goddess of Light used her like a pawn in her scheme! As if her thousand years of suffering was just to be a stepping stone for the Goddess of Light to step higher. She hated this feeling and wanted to pay her back a thousand fold.

    ****

    "What are you two talking about?" Gabriel''s voice came from the other side as he stepped inside the room, as if appearing out of thin air.

    The Goddess of Nature nced back at him, but didn''t show any emotions on her face. It was as if she was just meeting a stranger for the first time.

    "Are you still angry?" Gabriel asked, cing his hand on Eia''s head, like she was a little child.

    Eia pushed her hand away. "Let me seal you for a thousand years and then I''ll ask you if you''re angry."

    "I''m afraid that''s never going to happen." Gabrielzily answered. "In this life, I''ll either die fighting or live freely. There''s no in between..."

    There were so many things for him to be concerned with, but Eia wasn''t one. He knew she was angry, but it was also clear that her anger had mostly dissipated. Even though they hadn''t reached the same rtionship that they had in the past, but at least she didn''t want to kill him anymore.

    Despite knowing that she wasn''t going to kill him, Gabriel had learned a lot from the Goddess of Light. Even in the presence of the Goddess of Nature and Alion, he always kept his guard up. He wasn''t going to allow anyone to betray him this time, even if they were his trusted friends! Even Alion wasn''t immune from this suspicion.

    "I''ll go with you to the Upper Realm. I also have to pay back the Goddess of Light for using me like a pawn!" Eia said, standing up and facing Gabriel while looking straight in his eyes.

    "We aren''t going on a pic. You aren''t needed." Gabriel retorted.

    Even though he wanted to bring her, he knew that agreeing right away wasn''t the right move. With her stubborn personality, the more he rejected her, the more she was going to be fired up toe with him, in the end feeling as if it was her own n to go to the Upper Realm with him, not realizing that she yed right into his hands.

    Moreover, to make sure that his n worked as expected, he didn''t forget to imply that she was weak. That way, he also targeted her ego and her zeal to prove herself!

    All the puzzle pieces were in ce and it was soon time for his departure.

 Chapter 516 516: Switched

    "You should worry more about yourself. You aren''t going to have the advantage of your domain in the upper realm. So stop being so overconfident." The Goddess of Nature scoffed, feeling as if she was being looked down on.

    Her fighting spirit was ignored. She wanted to go with Gabriel as well. She had her own personal scores to settle and she needed Gabriel''s help to leave this ce.

    "I am strong enough to protect myself. I don''t need you to worry about me." She further insisted.

    Gabriel didn''t react right away, but this was also what he wanted. In the end, she acted as if she gave up and allowed the Goddess of Nature to apany him.

    "Fine. Start preparing. We''ll leave tomorrow."

    "Tomorrow? So soon?" The Goddess of Nature was slightly taken aback at the timeline. Her brother''s body was still in the process ofpletion. She at least wanted to meet him before leaving.

    "Alion and the others will bring your brother back to the castle when he wakes up. His safety is almost assured."

    Even though Gabriel also wanted to see the return of Cylix and Novius before leaving, but he didn''t want to dy any more than needed.

    In any case, they weren''t needed here. He had already used the stones needed for body recreation and given the souls to Alion. He could handle the rest.

    Alion could help the two return to this world and also inform them about what had happened in the past.

    At the same time, Gabriel also made some slight changes in the soul. He ced the main souls of Cylix and Novius into deep sleep. They had already lived their life to the fullest. Instead, he made the fragments that were left inside the Tower of Challenges as the main soul.

    For him, the Cylix and Novius who were outside were nothing more than strangers. Instead, he wanted to help the Cylix and Novius who were stuck inside the tower, unable to see the light of day.

    It was as if he had swapped the sealed fragments and the main personality. This time, it was the main personality which was sealed.

    Gabriel only kept the main personality''s spell knowledge intact to help the two who he knew.

    He had already done his part. As for meeting them before leaving, for now he had no interest.

    He didn''t want it to feel like he was going to his death, never to return. He had decided to meet them when he returned victoriously after achieving his goals.

    After finishing what he had to say, he didn''t even wait for the Goddess'' response and simply left, as if he was a ghost.

    "Urgh, he''s still like before. And here I thought, he changed." The Goddess of Nature shook her head lightly. However, she also understood why Gabriel was in a hurry to leave.

    Since she had decided to leave with him, she also decided to make some arrangements for her brother once he returnedpletely.

    She also disappeared.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ****

    Most of the Mages in the World were killed. All the Churches and their main ns had been abandoned.

    Only a few mages had managed to survive, and that too because they hadn''t joined the war. Amongst them, the mages from the Academy of Elements were also ones.

    They hadn''t joined the war for unknown reasons. Instead, they were just spectators, as if they had suddenly forgotten the hatred between them and Gabriel.

    Unfortunately, with the change in this World, it was almost impossible for new mages to appear, so the Academy was eventually closed and all the Teachers of the Academy left on their own journey, in search for opportunities to grow stronger.

    The City that once used to be called the City of life was now no different than any ordinary City in the continent.

    The Academy of Elements had closed and the Church of Light had no members left. Every single member of the Church of Light was killed already.

    At the moment, Princess Elia of the Lumen Empire could be seen walking on the streets, surrounded by her guards who were there to protect her.

    However, she appeared very different from the past, when she used to be in the same ss as Gabriel. At that moment, her eyes were filled with pride and arrogance. However, now she appeared to be at a loss.

    She still couldn''t believe that the youngster that she rarely paid attention to was the one who changed theplete hierarchy of this World.

    He was now the strongest person in the world. Even an entire army couldn''t defeat him.

    As she was walking in the streets, she was slightly taken aback. She saw the back of a person. Even though the person had donned a robe on his back, she felt as if she had seen that person before.

    The person had beautiful silver now, which made her shake her head lightly. She remembered that Gabriel didn''t have hair of that shade. However, she still couldn''t shake that feeling.

    Was that person really Gabriel? Was he really the new overlord of this world? What was he doing in this city suddenly?

    She didn''t even realize when she subconsciously started following after him, trying to make sure if he was really Gabriel.

    However, just as she had taken a step following Gabriel, she froze in her ce as a dark haired undead appeared before her,ing out of a shadow, cing a cold to the touch sword on her neck.

    Even though he didn''t say anything, but it was clear that he was warning her... As if saying that he was going to swing his sword if she moved even an inch.

    Elia froze in ce, not daring to move. At this distance, even the guards couldn''t save her! Even if they wanted, she would''ve stopped them since she was finally sure that the person she thought about following was none other than Gabriel.

    If her guards even thought about resisting, then it was going to be a ughter.

 Chapter 517 517: Show Yourself

    In the end, she lowered her head, as if showing her willingness to give in.

    The Undead removed his sword. Finally a few words came out of his lips. "Wise decision."

    After speaking, he disappeared, once again returning to the shadow as if he had never appeared in the first ce.

    Without any interruption, Gabriel soon reached his destination, stopping right before a majestic building that looked even better than the Royal Pce of the Lumen Empire. It was the Church of Light which had been abandoned since there was no member left in this world. However, the ce was still intact.

    Gabriel took his first step inside the Church of Light, pushing the doors open. Even though the doors were sealed, they couldn''t offer even the slightest resistance against his strength.

    As he stepped inside the church of light, the silence of the ce spoke volumes to him. The decoration inside was breathtaking and the candles still illuminated the ce, even though it has been closed for quite some time.

    Gabriel walked down the aisle, noticing the beautiful stained-ss windows and intricate carvings on the pews. The emptiness of the church made him feel strange.

    The ce looked the same as it looked in the past. However, there was one difference. Thest time he came here, this ce was crowded. But this time, not a single person could be found.

    Many of the treasures were still left intact inside the Church of Light. However, those treasures werepletely useless to him, especiallypared to his Elemental Sword that he created during his battle with a Demigod.

    Instead of Treasures, there was a different reason for him toe here.

    Only his footsteps resounded in the empty Church of Light as Gabriel kept going deeper and deeper, without a single care in the world.

    It was only when he reached his destination that he slowed down.

    There was a majestic gate before him that looked like it was impossible to open in the first ce. The gate was different from any other gate in the Church. It was the Gate that protected the entry to the Sacred Region of the Church of Light!

    Only the Holy Lord of Light could open this gate, and that too, only once in their life. It was a ce that couldn''t be opened with brute force either.

    Gabriel didn''t even use the small fragment of Element of Light that he had received. Other than some improved healing, he didn''t want to rely on any other element!

    In his eyes, the Element of Light was way inferior to the Element of Death when it came to fight. Instead of working on his Element of Light that was never going to get close to the level of goddess of Light, he only focused on the Element of Death, which was already nearpletion.

    He also had a guess as to why the Goddess of Light gave him this element. He didn''t want to y into her hands.

    "Even your master had to scheme against me because she was scared of me. Can a mere gate stop me?"

    Gabriel ced his right hand on the door. The door started shining in bright light as lightning flickered, as if intending to harm Gabriel for trying to open the gate when he wasn''t allowed to. However, Gabriel remained unphased.

    Instead, his aura of deathpletely covered the gate, as of taking it hostage.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Boom ~

    With a loud explosion, the gate broke open as some fragments of the door flew inside the sacred region, falling on the ground with a thud.

    The gate was broken. All the seals that stopped a person from entering the Sacred Region broke along with the gate, as if the seals were nothing before his strength.

    The aura of death shrouded Gabriel, changing his attire into something that he used to wear a thousand years ago. It was as if he was back into the past when he stepped inside the Sacred Region.

    As he entered that ce, he once again found himself in the center of all the pirs.

    All the fragments of the souls of the Previous Holy Lords still existed in this ce. They appeared one after another, still as talkative as thest time.

    "So soon? A new Holy Lord? Don''t tell me the brat that came herest time died already?"

    For the previous holy lords, it was evident that one couldn''t enter a second time. Only when thest Holy Lord died could a new onee here.

    However, as soon as their eyes fell on the person who stood in the middle, they all went pale. It was the same person asst time. Moreover, his aura was even more scary!

    His entire body was shrouded in death, as if he was a reaper who came here to take their souls!

    "Who are you?" The First Holy Lord of Light asked as she became cautious. "How did youe here a second time?"

    Gabriel didn''t react right away. Instead, he looked around, as if he was looking for someone.

    In the end, he looked above. "Are you still not going to show yourself?"

    He received no response to his question, only silence.

    "You''ve always been this cowardly, huh?" Gabriel further stated, but he didn''t ask anymore. Instead, he shifted his attention to the fragments of the souls of other Holy Lords of Light.

    He raised his head lightly. A frightening aura appeared, with him at the core. Even though the Holy Lords were in the sacred region, blessed by their Element, but it was as if Gabriel''s aura was strong enough to break every restriction ced here.

    Their bodies were forced down to their knees. Even the strongest one couldn''t avoid it!

    A look of embarrassment, shame and anger shed on the faces of the previous Holy Lords as they red at Gabriel, as if they wanted to kill him.

    They had never faced an insult like this in the past, which made them even more unwilling.

 Chapter 518 518: Ill Make Sure You Both Drag Each Other To Hell

    All the Holy Priests of Light looked at Gabriel with naked hostility. From their expressions, it was clear that they would''ve given their all to kill him if they could.

    Even the ones who had had a positive expression of Gabriel thest time hated him now. Unfortunately for them, their feelings were thest thing Gabriel cared for.

    He stepped toward the first Holy Priest... The first person who had received a clone of Grimoire of Light from the Goddess of Light.

    The first Holy Lord was a woman. Even though she didn''t have a muscr build, she still felt much stronger than the rest. Even though all the people here weren''t real holy lords of the past but only a fragment of their soul, they were still quite strong whenpared to an average mage.

    "If you want to watch, then I''ll make sure to put on a good show for you!" Gabriel eximed.

    To the Holy Lords, it was unclear who he was talking to. However, far away in the Upper Realm, the Goddess of Light was sitting in her room in silence with her eyes closed. Her face had an unnatural expression but she didn''t do anything.

    Gabriel ced his hand over the soul of the First Holy Lord.

    These people were strong when it came to controlling the element of light. However, their abilities weren''t even a fraction of what the Goddess of Light was capable of.

    For him, they were just as useless as the Element of Light.

    The Element of Light was somewhat connected to the Superior Element of Life but that connection was only minute. Until the Goddess of Light truly mastered her Element of Light, she had no chance of even touching the threshold of evolution into the Goddess of Life.

    Meanwhile, Karyk''s starting line was already way ahead of her since he inherited a Supreme Element of Death.

    Even though he also had the Element of Darkness, but that element was also more or less useless to him. Just like the Element of Light was connected to the Element of Life, the Element of Darkness was connected to the Element of Death.

    He still remembered the day he had found out about the fact. He wasn''t the only one who found out about it. The God of Darkness and the Goddess of Light were with him when the three had discovered this information.

    At that moment, the other two didn''t show much reaction, as if this information was useless to him. It was only now that Gabriel understood that this was the moment where a seed of greed was nted in their hearts... The greed for true evolution into a god with Supreme Element.

    At least the God of Darkness was still straightforward and attacked him, only to be destroyed in the process. The Goddess of Light was more cunning, never revealing her greed until thest moment.

    "Now that I think about it, it looks like that guy didn''t diest time either, since the Element of Darkness was still passed around. Did his soul somehow escape?"

    Gabriel had a fleeting thought, but he left it forter. For now, he had other things to focus on.

    He ced his hand over the first Holy Lord of Light who wasn''t even able to resist.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The Holy Grimoire of Death came out from his body. The pages started flipping open while Gabriel absorbed the soul of the First Holy Lord.

    The First Holy Lord has her soul destroyed while her knowledge was stolen.

    In the Upper Realm, the Goddess of Light had a pale face as she suddenly coughed out a mouthful of blood! Even though these were just soul fragments, they were still connected to her since she was the one who granted them their abilities.

    As their souls were being destroyed, she was the one who was getting hurt in the process! If possible, she wanted to go down and bring all those fragments back, but she bit her lips, resisting the urge.

    She knew that if she went down, then Gabriel was never going to let her return! He was doing all this to drag her soul down with him;

    Even though she had spent a thousand years in the Upper Realm, she was still scared of Gabriel.

    When she granted Gabriel a small fraction of her abilities, it was only so he could gain some additional strength to fight the overlord of the upper realm.

    She wanted the two of them to fight each other to death. At the end, if Gabriel was barely alive, she was supposed to kill him while also taking back her abilities from him that he would''ve worked hard to strengthen! That way, he would''ve lost the healing of Light that he would''vee to rely on!

    On the other hand, if the Overlord of the Upper Realm had the upper hand, she could''ve let him use her healing to drag the fight enough to weaken the Ruler of the Upper Realm.

    Unfortunately, things weren''t moving as she guessed. Instead of directly targeting the Ruler of the Upper Realm like she guessed, Gabriel was insteading for her first! This was out of her expectations!

    Another strange thing was that Gabriel hadpletely stopped using the Element of Light, instead of relying on it more and more like she wanted!

    She wanted him to strengthen that element so when she took it back, her control over the Element would''ve reached the true god territory.

    She wiped the lips off her blood, ring into the void.

    "You might want to target me first, but do your thing I''ll let that happen?" The Goddess of Light clenched her teeth, talking to herself. "You might not Target him first, but do you think he''ll do the same? I''ll make sure that both of you drag each other to hell! You''ll have no choice but to be my pawn!"

    However, as soon as she finished speaking, she coughed more Blood as another soul fragment of the Holy Lord was destroyed.

    Her eyes were bloodshot as she looked in the void, with a pale face.

 Chapter 519 519: Last Time

    Gabriel wiped thest Holy Lord Soul Fragment. He was thest person left in the ce.

    "What happened?" he asked again as his aura spread out, slowly devouring the entire sacred region of the Church of Light. "Won''t youe and meet your old friend?"

    "Don''t worry. You might forget this friend of yours, but I won''t forget you." As the sacred region was destroyed, Gabriel finally turned around. It was evident that the Goddess of Light wasn''t going to show herself.

    "Look forward to it..."

    Gabriel appeared outside the Church of Light, which came crashing down, as if it had lost all its support.

    In the Upper Realm, the Goddess of Light heard everything that Gabriel spoke. Her eyes revealed a cold glint. "Don''t worry, old friend. I''ll make sure to prepare a nice ''wee'' for your arrival!"

    ****

    The Lumen City that had gained peace to some extent was once again filled with discussions as people wondered just why the Church of Light suddenly came crashing down.

    Most people were sure that someone had intentionally destroyed it. As for who did it, Princess Elia realized everything. However, she didn''t speak of it. Even if she told others, it wouldn''t have changed anything after all.

    After leaving the Church of Light, Gabriel walked through the City of Lumen which was where his journey into the world of magic began in this life.

    Walking alone, he didn''t even realize when he reached the Academy of Element.

    The Academy which used to be filled with students and teachers was nowpletely empty. Even normal guards couldn''t be seen.

    The academy wasn''t just void of people. All the treasures and everything else was also taken. Only the old buildings were left behind.

    Gabriel had a feeling that it was the teachers who took everything since he hadn''t seen them in the war. However, it didn''t matter. He had already taken most of their treasures thest two times he robbed their treasury. Whatever they had left was useless for him.

    It wasn''t wrong to say that the Academy was almost bankrupt.

    "To think that I robbed people of those useless treasures..." Gabriel couldn''t help but reveal a look of amusement.

    In his first life, those treasures weren''t even worth him taking a second nce. However, in this life, when he hadn''t awakened his memories, he treated those useless treasures as precious items.

    Looking back at his journey this far, he couldn''t help but reveal a rare smile. Even though his journey in this life was much shorter than hisst time, but there were still some moments that had left asting impression on him.

    "Who are you? Why are you here?" While walking inside the academy that was supposed to be empty, Gabriel heard a voiceing from behind.

    He turned around, intrigued, only to notice a small group of people, who had some bags in their hands.

    Gabriel didn''t react much. It wasn''t odd for people toe here, thinking that they could find some treasures in the abandoned academy.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    With his hands behind his back, he turned around and started leaving. There wasn''t anything else worth seeing here.

    "Stop right there!" Just as Gabriel started leaving, the same arrogant voice once again came from behind.

    "Seeing how you''re leaving, you must''ve already found some treasure inside, right?!" The scar-faded man asked, revealing a greedy smile. "Shouldn''t you share that treasure with us?"

    "I haven''t taken any treasures from this ce... today," Gabriel calmly responded without looking back. "You should keep searching. Maybe you''ll find something nice. My suggestion, try the Tower of Challenges."

    "You! Who gave you the permission to leave?! Stop and hand over everything that you have! You think you can fool us so easily? We''ll search you ourselves!" The man once again stated. "If you don''t have any treasures, we''ll let you leave!"

    "However, if we find a treasure on you, we''ll kill you for lying to us!" he further threatened. "So you better hand over everything before we start searching, you little brat!"

    "I gave everyone an opportunity to kill me a few weeks ago already. I''m not interested in entertaining you anymore," Gabrielzily responded, snapping his fingers lightly.

    The group of men was angry at Gabriel''sattitude. However, as soon as they pulled out their weapons, their faces went nk.

    They didn''t even see how it happened but their hands that were holding onto the weapons fell to the ground! All of them had lost their hand which was holding onto a weapon and they didn''t even see how it happened!

    They were horrified, watching blood gushing out of their shoulders. Their arms were lying before their feet, along with their weapons.

    They were so scared that even as they felt pain, they bit their lips but didn''t scream. They didn''t know who the man before them was, but it was certainly a scary existence! They didn''t know if he was going to slice their necks if they annoyed him further.

    Ignoring the people behind him, Gabriel stepped out of the academy. He couldn''t help but feel as if this was thest time he was going to be here. Even he didn''t know if he could return in the future or not.

    He was confident in his abilities, but that was the extent of it. Before leaving, he was already prepared for his potential death during this journey. That''s why, he wanted to savor every memory in this world onest time.

    After leaving Lumen City, Gabriel moved with the wind. Within a few minutes, he appeared in the small town where he was said to be born.

    Ever since the initial incident, the town had been Abandoned. However, most of the houses were still intact.

    He stood before the house where he used to live with Maya and her family.

    Even though the blood on the streets and at the entrance of his house had dried, some marks could still be seen, as if acting as a witness of the start of his journey into the world of darkness.

    Gabriel couldn''t help but nce at the roof of the house, from where he used to look at the moon almost every other night.

    He couldn''t help but feel as if it was just yesterday where he was sitting on the roof when someone hit his head, kidnapping him and taking him to that cliff where he first met with his old Grimoire.

    At that time, he felt as if it was a coincidence that he found the Grimoire of Death there. However, it was only when he awakened his memories that he realized that the truth was somewhat different.

 Chapter 520 520: A World Beyond

    It wasn''t that he found the Grimoire of Death at the bottom of the cliff. Instead, those two things came out of his own body right as he fell. It''s just that at that point, he couldn''t guess that.

    It wasn''t luck that saved his life, but his own self.

    Pushing the door of the abandoned house open, Gabriel stepped inside, taking onest look at the ce where he spent more than half of his current life.

    "Everything is fleeting." He muttered, stepping out of the house that came crumbling down as soon as he stepped out. It wasn''t just his old house that came crumbling down, but every other house as well.

    Within seconds, the entire town was destroyed. Everything turned to dust, making it impossible to know that a town even used to exist in this ce.

    Winds started intensifying, bringing sand with it, covering thend of town in sand, making it look like a sand desert instead.

    Leaving the town, Gabriel had only onest ce that he wanted to see.

    He went to the distant cliff, which was somewhat far from his town.

    The cliff was void of people, but it still felt threatening since it was so high that an ordinary person would''ve died after falling from it.

    Gabriel stood at the edge of the cliff, looking straight down.

    The view from the top was breathtaking, as she could see that the end of the cliff was still covered in a white mist.

    He couldn''t help but remember how different this ce was,pared tost time. A thousand years ago, this ce used to bepletely different.

    There used to be crashing waves of the ocean on one side and the endless expanse of the desert on the other.

    Even in hisst life, he hade to this ce quite a few times. Whenever he used to stand here, he used to feel as if he was standing at the edge of two different worlds.

    This World was huge. Yet, at the same time, it felt small enough to fit within his palm.

    Gabriel remained on the cliff, the entire night, just lying there and looking at the moon in the sky. It felt very simr to the time he used to spend on the roof, gazing at the moon.

    "A world beyond, huh..." he muttered, basking under the moonlight.

    He had always felt that there was something... Something beyond the upper realm. It was as if it was a subconscious feeling that was constantly telling him to get stronger.

    In fact, even before he awakened the Element of Death, he used to feel like that. Even now, he didn''t understand what that feeling was. It was like a natural instinct.

    The war, the destruction, and even the appearance of elemental energy... At initial nce, it felt like it was all a coincidence that led to the eventual oue of his awakening, but he could feel that something wasn''t quite right.

    Why him? Why was he the only one who received a Supreme Element in this world? And what was that strange feeling he had all his life even before he awakened? It was as if he could hear someone calling for him from the eternal darkness.

    Gabriel spent the entire night deep in thought, unable to drift into slumber. Hey still and quiet, feeling the gentle winds caress his skin.

    It was only in the morning that he stood up while the moon went into something akin to a slumber.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He cast a simple spell to alter his outfit, opting for a more subdued appearance. After changing his clothes, he disappeared, finally going back to the Arecia Empire. It was the promised time of departure.

    Even though he wanted to go to the Nether Realm first, but since he hadn''t been able to unravel the mystery of the Skeleton, he dyed that n forter. Before going there, he wanted to solve the mystery of the skeleton.

    Moreover, since he already had a domain, the reason that he wanted to go to the Forbidden Land of the Nether Realm wasn''t as important anymore. In any case, he believed he could go there from the Upper Realm as well.

    His figure appeared at the entrance of his castle, where all the Undead Soldiers went down on one knee, greeting their master.

    Gabriel nodded in satisfaction. "Today, we shall leave."

    Gabriel cast a new spell that he hadn''t used in over a thousand years since he didn''t need to. It was a spell that altered his shadow into a special space where all his army could reside.

    This spell was also what he used in hisst life, since moving with his army was too eye-catching.

    The Undead Soldiers revealed a look of understanding. Even though it was just Gabriel''s shadow, the space inside that shadow was no different than a vast world. They could even train there until they were called.

    Raphael had been staying with his ancestors for thest few weeks and now he had a better understanding of Gabriel and all his past achievements which impressed him.

    Previously, he used to think that he was all alone, which was also why his mood was always so solemn. However, now that he had something akin to a family, he was starting to adapt. Especially since Gabriel also brought his horse to this world from the Undead Realm.

    In the end, he also wanted to train with his ancestors to be strong enough to be called a General. He went with them all to Gabriel''s Shadow Space, where he wanted to train and fight more with the others.

    He still had the Space Crystal and he wanted to master that crystalpletely, since he had already experienced how strong that thing was.

    Within a few minutes, his army disappeared entirely, returning to his shadow.

    The majestic Training Arena that used to be filled with battle sounds of his Undead waspletely silent now as not a single undead was left behind.

    Gabriel entered the Castle. He still had to inform his sister, Avilia and the others about the fact that he was leaving. He intentionally left that for thest moment.

    Inside the castle, he expected to find them one by one. However, to his surprise, he found all of them together.

    Zena and Avilia looked at him, as if they already knew that he was going to leave.

    "Are you really leaving?" Zena asked, after slight hesitation.

    Even though she hadn''t stayed with Gabriel for long, she had already started considering him a close family member with the time they spent.

    She didn''t know where Gabriel was going, or if it was dangerous. She was only informed that he was leaving and might not be able to return for some time.

    Gabriel maintained his calmness. "Don''t worry. I''m just going to meet some old friends."

 Chapter 521 521: A New Journey

    Even though he didn''t know which one of them identally leaked the information, but it only made things easier for him, since he didn''t need to waste time talking about it.

    "Old friends..." The Goddess of Nature''s lips twitched unintentionally.

    "It''s just been such a long time since I met them, I thought I''ll visit them once, and maybe bring a few gifts for them."

    Gabriel didn''t tell Avilia and the rest about what he was really going to do. However, unlike Zena who was kept in the dark, Avilia had already heard many things about Gabriel''s past when she was a prisoner of the Temple of Time.

    She knew what happened to Gabriel in the past. As for the so-called friends, she could also take a guess as to who he was talking about.

    The friends were in essence his true enemies who he hated the most.

    Avilia didn''t know just how dangerous this trip was for Gabriel, but she couldn''t do anything. Since Gabriel didn''t ask her to go with him, it just meant she was too weak. She couldn''t even stand against the Temple of Time after all.

    Amongst the group that Gabriel was taking with him, one was a goddess while the other was a demigoddess. It was already a group made from three of the four strongest people in this ce, excluding Alion.

    Zena was unaware of Gabriel''s past since everyone had kept it a secret from her.

    Moreover, Avilia was always apanying Zena, also to make sure that she didn''t identally hear anything outside since almost everyone else in this world knew of Gabriel''s past.

    In the end, Zena waspletely ignorant and actually believed Gabriel''s words. Since it was only a short trip to meet friends, she didn''t worry too much.

    She stepped closer to Gabriel. With her left hand, she grabbed his right hand and raised it.

    As for her right hand, it was already clenched into a fist. After raising Gabriel''s right hand, she also raised her right hand, revealing a six leaf clover in her hand.

    She ced the six leaf clover in Gabriel''s hands.

    "A six leaf clover?" Gabriel frowned, slightly confused, not understanding what it meant.

    Even though it was pretty rare to find it, but for someone like him, there was no meaning in a few leaves.

    "There''s a human saying that a six leaf clover signifies great luck and longevity. It''s very rare." Alion could notice that Gabriel was confused. Since he wasn''t here for thest thousand years, he hadn''t heard many of human superstitions. So he took the lead to exin.

    Gabriel only gazed at the six leaf clover in his hands, in the end, revealing a smile.

    He kept his sister''s gift safely. Even though he hadn''t known about the superstitions behind a six leaf clover, he knew how rare it was to find one.

    Still, his sister had found one in the first week itself. He still remembered how happy she looked, bragging about the clover she found. It was as if she had found a treasure for herself.

    Her reaction had really intrigued him, since it was interesting to think how humans could find happiness in such small things. However, he hadn''t bothered asking her why this clover was so special to her. It was only now that he found out.

    He was slightly taken aback to think that she had given this to him, when it was the only one he had.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    In the end, he ced his hand on his little sister''s head. "I''ll make sure to bring it back safely..."

    After a few seconds, he retracted his hands, looking at Jia and the Goddess of Nature. His smile had disappeared, returning to his calm expressions.

    "We are leaving now." He didn''t look back twice as he turned around, and left Avilia, Alion and Zena behind.

    His robe waved with the gentle wind as a portal opened before him.

    Jia and the Goddess of Nature stepped forward, standing behind him.

    Even though the spatial portal looked like a normal portal, the Goddess of Nature could see that it wasn''t ordinary by any means! She could see many intricate elemental lines, forming a structure that even she hadn''t seen in her life.

    It was as if the portal was cutting through the space time continuum, connecting to the Upper Realm.

    Usually, it was impossible to connect to the Upper Realm without permission from the Upper Realm. However, Gabriel had forcefully opened the void. It wasn''t his first time doing this either. .

    As soon as the portal connected to the Upper Realm, an unnatural amount of energy rushed out from the portal. It was the energy and aura of the upper realm, which was multiple times purer than the energy on earth before Gabriel had turned this into his domain.

    The Goddess of Nature felt so refreshed, basking in this strange yet familiar energy. She could understand why the Goddess of Light was so eager to go to the Upper Realm.

    "It''s stable. We can enter." After the portal was stabilized, Gabriel entered the void, disappearing into the darkness.

    Carrying her heavy sword on her shoulders, Jia also entered the void.

    The Goddess of Nature was thest person. She took onest nce behind her, gazing at Alion. "Please take care of my brother. He''s somewhat stupid, so if he doesn''t listen, you can teach him a lesson. But please, don''t kill him."

    She knew the ws of her brother the best. She understood how he was like an entitled child with arrogance filled in his bones because of her position. However, she also didn''t want a situation like what happened with Gabriel again.

    Thus, she granted Alion the permission to train the guy to at least improve his attitude. As long as her brother was alive, it didn''t matter if he suffered a few losses. .

    After telling Alion everything she had to, she also stepped inside the void.

    As if the void was only made for three people. As soon as the Goddess of Nature stepped inside the void, the portal closed on its own, as if copsing.

    The strange energy that had rushed inside was still left behind, but the portal was gone.

    Alion looked at the empty space, wondering what the future was going to be l

    ike. In his eyes, this was the most dangerous battle for Gabriel, in a world that was much different from earth.

    He also wanted to apany Gabriel, but he couldn''t. Someone had to stay behind to protect this ce as well. In the end, she could only wish Gabriel luck for his new journey.

 Chapter 522 522: When One Disappears

    The Upper Realm... Even though it was called one realm, it was in essence a group of five worlds, each having the densest elemental energy that no ordinary world could everpare to.

    Each of the five worlds was multiple times bigger than the world where Gabriel was born. If one was topare, then Gabriel''s world was not even one tenth the size of the smallest of the five upper realm worlds.

    When one looks at the whole upper realm, Gabriel''s world was only fiftieth the size. That was also why not many people paid attention to his world, until he came out of that ce, and brought chaos to the upper realm along with him.

    It was only at that point that the name of Earth started resounding in the Upper Realm, but only with hostility.

    Even though Gabriel didn''t randomly kill people in the upper realm, and only targeted a particr set of people to gather the life essence needed to bring his sister back, but that still wasn''t enough for the people of the upper realm who hated and feared him.

    Amongst the five worlds, the world at the center was the most protected, and also restricted. It was the ce where the leader of the Upper Realm stayed after all.

    The other four worlds surrounded the central world from four sides. Each of the four worlds was guarded by one of the four Generals that worked directly under the Upper Realm Overlord.

    Whenst time Gabriel came to the Upper Realm, he had appeared in the Southern Upper World.

    However, even for him, it proved to be almost impossible to reach the central Upper Realm world since even he couldn''t open a portal to that ce! The Central World was truly restricted! Only the four Generals could open the portal to the central world.

    It was the same asst time. A portal opened in the Southern Upper World. Gabriel was the first person to step out of the portal, followed by Jia and the Goddess of Nature.

    "Is this the Southern World?" Jia said, breathing in the distinct elemental aura. "From what I heard, evenst time you came to this ce first. Isn''t it too dangerous toe to the same ce twice? Since they already know you''re back, it''s even more dangerous to be here."

    As she had loved in the upper realm for quite some time, she had a good understanding of the ce. It doesn''t take her long to realize where they were.

    Gabriel appeared quite carefree, even as she expressed her concern.

    "The most dangerous ce is often the safest." After a moment, he finally spoke.

    He also knew that the Upper Realm was probably on high alert. He expected that much. However, he was also sure that the four Generals weren''t going to think that he was stupid enough toe from the same spot where he camest time. That''s why, for him, this was the safest ce.

    He knew that they expected too much from him, and he took advantage of the situation.

    Even though he brought Jia with him, it was only because she knew thetest changes in this world. His information was a thousand years old. He didn''t know what kind of powers now existed in this world and what powerful ns had appeared ever since he disappeared.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He still remembered that thest time he was here, he didn''t know anything about this world. He only wanted to gather some life essence from powerful mages.

    It was when he was walking around this ce that he met a young man, who was from a n that resided nearby.

    At that time, Gabriel didn''t know that the n was one of the three strongest ns in the Upper Realm.

    To receive more information about this world, he went with the young man. Unfortunately, the situation deteriorated quite fast.

    Even he hadn''t expected the kind of hostility he received when people in the n found out that he was from a lower realm. Those people acted as if he was some bacteria that could make them all sick.

    What was even worse was that the n then tried to kill and bury him.

    "When one organization disappears, another appears to fill the void," he muttered, looking in a particr direction.

    He had destroyed that entire n thest time he was here. That was also what started hisst journey in this world. However, he also knew that there was a reason one of the three strongest ns in the southern world was established in this ce.

    It was because of the resources avable here. For those resources, he already expected another n to have established themselves here in thest thousand years.

    "Is there a n nearby?" he asked. Thest time, he was only here to gather enough life sources so he didn''t care about anything else. However, this time, his goal was much bigger.

    "Ah, yeah. The Wester n I think." Jia answered, after thinking for a brief moment. "After you left this ce in ruins and left, there was said to be a battle between multiple ns to take control of this region."

    "In that battle, the Wester n won. At that time, it used to be arge n but not enough topare to the top three ns. However, in thest thousand years, their strength has only increased. There are one of the five strongest ns in the Southern World."

    Jia had also lived in the Southern World for quite some time, thus she knew quite a lot of information about the workings. There was another reason she knew of the Wester n so well.

    "Even though the Wester n isn''t the strongest, but even the strongest ns are careful around them. So it''s better if we avoid them."

    "Why would the stronger ns be apprehensive of them?" Gabriel asked, slightly curious. However, even as he asked, he didn''t stop walking.

    Even as Jia told him to avoid the Wester n, that was exactly where he was going.

 Chapter 523 523: One Way Or Another

    "You... Isn''t your target the goddess of Light? Shouldn''t we avoid the other problems in the meantime?" Jia asked, chasing after Gabriel.

    "How do you expect us to reach her then?" It wasn''t Gabriel but the Goddess of Nature who answered, as if she could guess what Gabriel was thinking.

    "In thest thousand years, she must be in a high enough position in the Upper World. We can''t just directly go to her, without knowing anything else. Your information about her is also superficial," she further stated before exining. "What we need now is an insider to get more information. And who better than one of the top ns?"

    "But the Wester n is dangerous! The daughter of the current head of the Wester n is a concubine of the Southern General who works right under..." She didn''t finish her sentence since she knew that everyone else already understood.

    The Wester n wasn''t dangerous because of their strength only. However, they were dangerous because they were close to the Southern General.

    Even though the Southern General was the weakest amongst the Four Generals of the King of Upper Realm, his strength still wasn''t anything to scoff at. His strength was said to be at true god level!

    "Oh?" Gabriel slowed down, showing some intrigued. "There''s that link as well? Doesn''t that just make it better?"

    "Better? How? Isn''t it worse? If the Southern General finds out, we''re all dead. It''ll be even worse if hees with the other Generals."

    Jia didn''t know what Gabriel was thinking about. She was only a guide here. However, even she could feel that it was dangerous to get close to the Wester n, especially since the entire upper realm was on high alert against them!

    "You''ll understand when the timees..."

    Gabriel didn''t speak further. Instead, he brought out a mask out of thin air, cing it over his face.

    It was one of the treasures he had refined after taking all the Numens from Lambard. He used the ring of disguise as a base, and added even more of his purest elemental energy along with other treasures.

    In the Upper Realm, he was sure that almost everyone already knew his face, at least most people. If he wanted to achieve his goals at the fastest, he couldn''t reveal his true face so soon since he didn''t want to y into the hands of the Goddess of Light!

    He knew she wanted him to fight the Upper Realm, to weaken both sides. By now, he understood her too well. He didn''t want to y along, until he dealt with her.

    Beforeing here, he had also realized another reason why the Goddess of Light granted him her Element.

    Even though it was a small fraction of her element, it was still part of her divine power. Thanks to that, no matter where he was, she could sense him. It was as if he was walking with a tracker.

    Even though it was only a guess, he was almost certain of it. That was also why he had sealed the Element of Light and the Element of Darkness within his body, cutting off the connection temporarily.

    ....

    Just as Gabriel expected, the Goddess of Light had sensed when he cut off the connection on earth. She couldn''t believe that he managed to realize her intentions. She was slightly taken aback, not knowing where in the Upper Realm that guy was.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Initially, she was nning on keeping an eye on Gabriel through her Elemental connection with him, and then leaking this information to the four generals one way or another.

    However, now she herself doesn''t know where he was. The only thing she knew was that he was already in the Upper Realm! But which of the four worlds he was in, she didn''t know!

    "That guy... He''s really careful. But it doesn''t matter. No matter how much you struggle, you''ll have to y right into my hands at the end of the day. I''ll find a way to drag you out of your hole!"

    The Goddess of Light clenched her fist,ing up with the next n of her own.

    ****

    The Wester n was one of the five biggest ns in the Upper Realm. It covered a precious piece ofnd, containing many important resources. However, not even the strongest ns acted arrogant against them, since the Southern General was involved!

    The King was the ruler of the entire upper realm. However, he never really left the Central World for some reason. Because of that, the four worlds were managed by the four generals, who didn''t interfere in each other''s duties.

    In that way, it wasn''t wrong to say that the Southern General was the ruler of the southern world. He was also the strongest in this world! No one wanted to have the Southern General as their enemy, especially over some resources!

    Things were even moreplicated since the woman from the Wester n who became the Southern General''s concubine was his favorite out of all his wives! It was said that the Southern General fulfilled most of her wishes, as long as they weren''t overboard.

    Thanks to that connection, the Wester n grew more and more arrogant throughout the years, not putting anyone in their eyes. A person acting against them was the same as them acting against the fifth strongest person in the entire Upper Realm after all!

    The youngsters of Wester n were even worse, doing anything they pleased without worrying about consequences. They killed people who looked at them in a way that they didn''t like.

    The people from the Wester n acted as if the region and its people were their properties, kidnapping girls that attracted their fancy in broad daylight.

    Almost everyone in the region hated the Wester n, but they couldn''t do anything about it! They could only pray to gods to send someone to save them from this constant torment.

    ****

    Gabriel had changed his face into something unrecognizable. As for the Goddess of Nature, no one in the upper realm had seen her face other than the traitors. Moreover, the ones who saw Jia with him on earth had already been dealt with, or left behind. Thus, he only hid his face before entering the Wester n''s territory.

    The weather in this ce was a little cold, but Gabriel''s was full of warmth, covered in his protective aura.

    "This is the region controlled by the Wester n. We have to be extremely careful here. Alright?" Jia asked, particrly looking at Gabriel.

    However, Gabriel appeared uninterested, looking instead at his surroundings. The ce looked very different from thest time he was here. It looked... lifeless. The eyes of the people here also appeared to be dead, as if they were just living without any hope or will to live.

 Chapter 524 524: Bet

    Gabriel expressed his observation, "There is something both familiar and unfamiliar about this ce."

    The mask had transformed his appearance, making him seem much younger. He now looked like a man in histe twenties, with shorter hair than his usual long locks.

    At first nce, he appeared non-threatening, with his blue eyes and youthful appearance. It was unlikely that anyone would assume he had any training inbat or ever held any weapons.

    Since he was being apanied by a beauty like the Goddess of Nature, he appeared even more like some young master who wasn''t from this region.

    "Of course it feels different. Even though most of the ces are simr to the past, the people and their temperament is different," Jia replied.

    "If my memory serves me right, during yourst visit here, this city was renowned for its thriving art. Yet, unfortunately, it seems that very little of that former charm has been preserved."

    "What do these people do now?" Gabriel asked. "And why don''t I see any young men here. All I see are old people, children and young women?"

    "Of course you don''t see them. Every man who is able to work has been sent to a mine to dig crystal ores. And the ones who refused... They are probably already killed if I''m not wrong," Jia responded. "Even though the people here look free, they''re no different than ves who can''t even control their own lives."

    "Why don''t they just leave this ce and go to another region? Wouldn''t that be better than this?"

    Gabriel''s experiences in life had already exposed him to many things, and he understood that life could be unjust. As a result, he didn''t feel much empathy for these individuals. Nevertheless, he remained curious.

    "They aren''t allowed to," Jia shook her head lightly. "If they were allowed, they would''ve already left. Anyone who tries to take one step out of the region without the Wester Family''s permission is killed on the spot."

    "And even if these people somehow gathered enough courage to take the risk, they don''t have enough money for this journey. They would''ve died of hunger or been killed by beasts before they could even get to the border of this region."

    "When the choice was between dying, or working like a ve, many people would often choose thetter, at least the mortals would..." The Goddess of Nature chimed in. It was the same principle all around the world.

    "Do you want to help them?" Jia asked, wondering if that''s why Gabriel was asking so many questions.

    "No need. Even though these people probably hate the Wester Family, they''ll probably be the first ones to expose me in lieu of rewards from the Wester Family if I try to get involved in their mess." Gabriel shrugged, not paying much attention.

    The words of the Goddess of Nature rang true as these individuals had epted their current circumstances. Despite their disliking of their situations, the majority had opted for potential stability when faced with risks of attempting an escape.

    It wasn''t worth it for him to risk his goals in exchange for helping these people.

    ****

    As Gabriel walked through the former City of Art, a group of young people on horseback suddenly appeared from a different entrance, galloping through the streets.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The City''s streets appeared nearly deserted, as though people were already informed about this race.

    Those who remained on the streets were swiftly taken down by various spells, eliminated instantly, as if they were mere hindrances to the pleasure-seeking of the youth.

    One such person who was killed was a young child , appearing to be only eight or nine years old.

    As the horse came closer suddenly, the young child was stunned, frozen in ce. However, before anyone could help him move, his body blew up as a ball of fire came from one of the youths on the horse.

    It was also surprising to see that the youngsters were only in theirte twenties yet they possessed strengthparable to that of a Demigod on earth.

    "Hahaha, little brat, you can never defeat me!" Amidst a pleasant peal ofughter, a young woman could be heard speaking as she confidently rode the front-most horse. Herpanions trailed close behind, attempting to catch up to her pace.

    She bravely held onto her position as her fiery red locks blew in the wind.

    "Don''t be so overconfident, my dear sister! The oue will be different this time! I''ll overtake you and win this race!" The young man who was in second ce wore a slight frown on his face, trying to maintain aposed demeanor despite his apparent sense of urgency.

    He continued, "Don''t forget the bet when that happens! Your spot for the Southern General''s banquet will belong to me then!"

    The man possessed a strikingly simr shade of red hair to that of the woman. Additionally, their facial features shared noticeable resemnces, hinting at a possible familial connection.

    "That''s never happening," the woman scoffed. "I''m winning this time as well. Do you think I would''ve made this bet if there was even the slightest chance of me losing?! I must attend this banquet since the Northern General will be there as well! I''ve always wanted to see the strongest of the four Generals! I''ll never lose this opportunity!"

    "I''ll keep my spot for the banquet and at the same time, I''ll also take all your resources for the month after I win!" Sheughed, giving no indication that she took her brother''s words seriously.

    Her horse moved so fast that many mortals in this city only saw a blurry image passing through the streets, unable to even react in time! It was as if even the horses that these youngsters rode weren''t ordinary horses, but mythical beasts.

    "Hmm?" The woman''s calm face showed a frown as she saw three more people in the distance. "Are the people of this city idiots? Even after they were informed to keep the streets empty, they still didn''t listen! First that child and now these three?!"

    The woman raised her hand, gathering Elemental Energy in her palm. It was the same attack that she had used to kill the little child who might have blocked her path previously.

    Without even thinking about giving them a warning or using a lighter spell to simply move those people aside, she straight went for the killing shot.

    A ming red elemental energy gathered before her. With a simple wave of her hand, the molten ming sphere shot out, straight at the group of three people in the distance!

 Chapter 525 525: Mortal Heir

    Gabriel had been walking on the streets for a long time, slowly advancing toward his destination, which was the Wester n pce in the next City. However, he didn''t appear to be in any hurry.

    He was instead curious about something else. Initially, not many people paid attention to him, but along the way, more and more people were looking at him.

    For some reason, their gaze appeared to be of pity yet mockery at the same time. It was as if all the people knew something that he didn''t.

    Moreover, even though it was subtle, he could see some hate in the eyes of those people. It was as if they hated him, simply because he appeared to be a wealthy young master who didn''t suffer like them. It was as if those people would''ve been happy if he was hurt or killed.

    Even though Gabriel was intrigued, he didn''t even try to talk to these people.

    However, soon, his footsteps came to a halt. Even though the shadow horses were fast and didn''t make much noise, he still felt them and the vibrations on the ground. It was as if multiple people wereing here.

    Noticing their movements, he had a guess as to who these people were. It was clearly people from the Wester n. He finally understood what those gazes meant! The citizens of this city already knew about this.

    They probably wanted him to somehow block or offend the Wester n and die in the process! That way, they would''ve expected the n behind him to attack the Wester n, causing mutual destruction.

    Since Gabriel didn''t want to have any conflict with the Wester n, he decided to move and not block the path. He had much better things to do. However, before he could even take a single step to the side, he frowned.

    The horses were still far away from him, yet he felt a zing attacking straight for his direction! What was worse was that this wasn''t an attack that could be dodged. It was as if this spell had locked in on him. No matter where he moved, the zing sphere was going to follow until it hit him.

    "Watch out!" Even though Gabriel had already noticed it, Jia reacted first. She pulled out her heavy sword, moving before Gabriel.

    Standing before Gabriel, she swung her heavy sword. The zing sphere of mes that could destroy anything in its path was cut in two halves when faced with Jia''s sword!

    Even though Jia was also a Demigod level being like the youngsters, but she had lived a long life and had a lot of experience. Even amongst the Demigods, she was amongst the strongest! She had lived for more than a thousand years after all.

    Moreover, since the red haired woman didn''t use all her strength behind her attack, the attack was much weaker than it could''ve been!

    The red haired woman from the Wester n was taken aback! She thought that a single attack was enough to kill all three people who appeared to have never used a single spell in their lives. However, to her surprise just the little girl alone had managed to destroy her attack.

    She really wanted to stop there and take care of the girl, but she knew that if she did, she was going to lose this race! Her little brother wasn''t going to stop here after all! She also couldn''t dy for the time being since a lot of things were on the line in this bet.

    "You didn''t have to take action," Gabriel let out. "That level of attack was easy to handle for me."

    "I know. But I don''t want you to reveal yourself," Jia responded. "Leave such small matters to me."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    She lowered her Sword, focusing her attention on the horses in the distance. Even though she didn''t want to have any conflict with the Wester n which was close to a General, but she knew that things would''ve been much worse if she hadn''t taken action!

    She had already seen Gabriel''s battle on earth. She knew that if he fought against these youngsters, he was probably going to kill them identally.

    "Let me do the talking. I know a lot about the Upper Realm. If we pretend to be from another great n, we should be safer. Moreover, we might also get an easier entry into the Wester n Pce," she reminded Gabriel.

    Gabriel also knew what she was trying to do. Even though she wanted to save those youngsters from being killed by him, but she had another purpose.

    If he had taken action, it would''ve been revealed that he was also a powerful mage. However, since she took action instead, even though she had been walking behind him all the time, it was enough to make others believe that she was her guard!

    To have a Demigod level guard wasn''t something special in the eyes of the Wester n. However, to have a Demigod level guard while being a mortal... That was enough to make the others curious about his identity.

    Only High Ranking ns would''ve bothered assigning guards to their heirs! While talented heirs would''ve had stronger guards, mortal heirs would''ve had Demigod level guards since the threat to their lives was minimal.

    That''s what Jia wanted others to believe... It was that he was an heir of some great n who couldn''t use magic!

    After the initial attack, the red haired woman didn''t attack again. She only signaled to her guard, who was following her secretly.

    She didn''t tell the guard to kill Gabriel. Instead, she sent her guard to find out more about Gabriel and to stop him from trying to interrupt the race.

    A Shadow Guard appeared before Jia. His aura was stronger than Jia''s aura, but it was weaker than the aura of the Goddess of Nature. Fortunately, her aura was hidden safely so that even the Shadow Guard couldn''t sense it.

    "Don''t move if you don''t want to die!" The Shadow Guard eximed, revealing a trace of his aura that was enough to send mortals down to their knees, shivering.

    Unfortunately, to his surprise, it didn''t have any effect. Gabriel remained in his ce, calmly looking at the horses in the distance, as if he couldn''t even feel that aura.

    "It looks like you really are some big n''s heir, to even have a treasure to protect you from my aura." The Shadow Guard frowned.

    In his eyes, Gabriel and the Goddess of Nature were just mortals who didn''t have a shred of magic inside their bodies! However, for them to seempletely fine under his suppression, he thought they had some high ranking treasures given by their ns.

    "Which n are you from?!" The Shadow Guard asked in amanding tone.

    However, his expressions soon went pale.

 Chapter 526 526: Azen

    The eldest daughter of the Wester n held the esteemed position of the n''s heir, despite her youth. Her standing within the n was also very high.

    For the sake of her safety, she was assigned several guards who covertly followed her, ensuring that they remained undetected.

    In fact, the one who had shown up was the weakest of her guards. There were still many who were invisible. They were much stronger than the guard who approached Gabriel.

    Even though the other powerful Guards were invisible, hiding all their traces to an extent where even their young mistress didn''t know about their presence, but they couldn''t stay hidden from Gabriel.

    Upon sighting the horses, Gabriel quickly took notice of the guards discreetly trailing nearby.

    Upon observing the high level of the guards, Gabriel couldn''t help but pay more attention to the Wester n, recognizing it as a n with some depth.

    Regardless, he had no desire to harm the guards as he deemed them unimportant in his overall goal. He instead focused his attention on a muchrger objective.

    Unfortunately, not everyone was the same.

    Unlike him, the Goddess of Nature was slightly short-tempered. She was quite frustrated by the behavior of the red-haired woman. She intended to teach her a lesson, to calm herself.

    As the horses approached, a solitary vine discreetly emerged from the ground unnoticed by the others. Its impable timing allowed it to strike the horse''s leg, catching everyone off guard as they were focused on Gabriel instead.

    Bang~

    As the horse stumbled and fell onto the ground, the red-haired woman was taken aback by the sudden turn of events. However, her quick reflexes kicked in, and she leaped off the horse just in time, avoiding any injuries.

    The Vine, however, vanished without a trace as if it had never existed.

    The woman with fiery red hair touched down on the ground with grace and agility. She wore a look of disappointment on her face as she watched her brother and the rest of the racers disappear into the distance, leaving her trailing behind. Despite her natural talent, she knew it was a futile effort to catch up with her injured horse.

    "Don''t worry, dear sister. I''ll wait for you back at home!" In the distance, a young man''s voice could be heard, taunting and full of mirthfulughter.

    The woman''s frustration boiled over as she watched her brother depart, causing her to tightly clench her fist. In a burst of rage, she struck the horse''s head with a forceful stomp, tragically causing its instantaneous death, as if the animal was somehow to me for her devastating defeat.

    Despite the unfortunate incident of her horse falling, she did not attribute it to the influence of any magical power. Reasoning that she did not feel any magical aura around her during the fall, she simply med her equinepanion for not being up to the task.

    "Argh! That bastard!" She let out a loud roar of frustration, her anger already reaching its boiling point. She couldn''t help but feel regret for not setting any rules for this bet, which only intensified her frustration.

    Since there were no rules, then her loss couldn''t be challenged. She had indeed lost the right to her invitation. In the end, she couldn''t do anything but follow the bet that was approved by her father!

    Despite having killed the horse, her rage persisted as she directed her attention toward Gabriel and hispanions.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Before, she had ignored them due to her busy race and didn''t want to waste too much time, but the situation had changed now.

    "Did you really have to mess with her?" Gabriel spoke in a hushed voice that only the Goddess of Nature could hear.

    "She was too arrogant. I had to make her suffer a little," the Goddess of Nature replied.

    Gabriel let out a sigh, feeling that the other person he wasmunicating with was still acting immaturely. Despite that, he carried on with the secretmunication method they were using.

    Yulia, with her striking red hair, strode towards Gabriel, disying signs of annoyance, yet her primary focus seemed to be directed towards Jia, who had intercepted her attack earlier.

    Yulia expressed her frustration, "If you hadn''t interrupted me, I wouldn''t have fallen. And now, nothing can make up for my loss, not even your lives."

    Even though she acted as if their lives weren''t enough, she still intended to kill them all. Previously, she would''ve at least tried to find out their identity, but now she was so angry, she didn''t think twice.

    "Kill them all," shemanded her guard.

    The guard nodded in response. In his eyes, it was easy to kill these people.

    "Yael n."

    Just as the guard was about to attack, Jia spoke. Even though she only said two words, they were enough to make the guard pause, looking in the direction of Yulia.

    Yael n wasn''t just a name. It was the name of the strongest n in the Southern World. The region under their control was more than ten times the size of the Wester n!

    As for the strength, the Yael n was so strong that the Wester n couldn''t even bepared. Even though the Yael n didn''t have any conflict with them, it was also because they didn''t need to.

    Even though the Yael n was apprehensive of the Wester n''s rtionship with the Southern General, but if they identally killed an heir, then it was unlikely that the Yael n was going to stay silent!

    Even the Southern General might not intervene in a war with the Yael n since it could only weaken the Southern World even more. Moreover, it could only help the other Generals in the process!

    Even Yulia frowned in response. "You''re from the Yael n?"

    She did remember hearing that the youngest son of the Yael n Master was born with a unique physique that made it impossible for him to use magic.

    However, she didn''t quite believe that Gabriel was that person. If it was a Yael n heir, then there was no way that the guard would only be a Demigod-level person.

    "Master is the youngest son of the Yael n," Jia said. "Azen Yael."

 Chapter 527 527: Taking The Lead

    She knew a lot about the Yael n. ording to what she had heard, the youngest son of the Yael n was known as Azen. He was called a useless person by many people in the n. However, the Master of the n still loved his son equally.

    Since Azen never left the n because of his weakness, not many people had seen him. In fact, even within the Yael n, not many people knew what Azen looked like.

    Gabriel remained silent, listening to Jia. He wanted to enter the Wester n without making much noise so he could directly kill the Wester n Master and turn him into an undead puppet.

    The less conflict he had along the way, the easier it was to contain an unnecessary leak of information to the Southern General. He had already told his aim to Jia along the way. It was clear that Jia was trying to help him now.

    However, Gabriel could also see that Yulia didn''t believe them entirely. He also knew why that was. The Wester n heir had such a powerful guard, and there were many hiding in the darkness. How was it possible for the strongest n to not do anythingparable?

    Fortunately, he also had a way to convince the red-haired girl.

    "The Wester n is really as arrogant as I heard. All because of some connection. But did you really think that allows you to act arrogant before me?" he arrogantly stepped forward as if he really was some young master from a big n. "You can try killing me if you dare,"

    There was no trace of fear in his eyes as he looked directly into Yulia''s eyes. "However, I can guarantee that you''ll end up dead before your people can then touch my hair."

    As he talked to Yulia, he also sent a secret message to the Goddess of Nature. It was time to show them just what kind of guards the Yael n Master sent for his precious son.

    "Is that so?! And how do you expect to kill us all? With a mere Demigod level guard?" Yulia scoffed. She was already furious that she had lost the race, and now there was an idiot threatening her. She has had enough.

    She didn''t even take their words seriously. There was no way these weaklings were from the Yael n.

    "Kill them all," shezily stated. "I''ll see what they can do to me!"

    "Argh!"

    Just as Yulia finished speaking, a scream resounded in the distance. The scream was followed by more screams.

    One after another,screams resounded all around them.

    "These screams... They are..." The guard who was standing next to Yulia was stunned. He recognized the voices. They belonged to the other guards, who were even stronger than him.

    However, before he could tell Yulia, all the guards'' bodies came flying, falling to Yulia''s feet.

    All the bodies were dressed in the shadow guard attire of the Wester Family, and they all had one thing inmon... They all had a hole in their chest as if they didn''t even know when they were killed.

    In the distance, bloody vines went back inside the ground after killing and tossing the guards that were hiding in secret.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "This..." Yulia was taken aback as the bodies of her guards fell on her feet.

    Some of the guards were ones that even she had never seen. She didn''t know there were so many guards that her father had assigned to her. However, the ones she recognized... She knew their strength!

    For someone to kill her guards so easily... It only showed just how strong the killer was.

    She couldn''t help but think back to Gabriel''s words.

    "You have more guards?" She eximed, taken aback. Indeed, now this perfectly made sense for her!

    She thought the man couldn''t be from the Yael n since he had a weak guard. At best, he was from a middle-strength n, pretending to be from the Yael n.

    However, now that all her guards were killed in an instant, it meant he had more guards... Ones that were hiding nearby... And they were so strong that her guards couldn''t even sense them!

    She could only guess how many guards he had. However, in her mind, that number wasn''t less than the number of her guards. This guy was definitely... Azen Yael, the cherished youngest son of the Yael Family!

    That made Yulia feel even worse. First, she lost the race. She also lost the invitation to the banquet. At the same time, she now also offended the Yael n, and even then, she lost?!

    There was only one guard left with Yulia. However, she was quite scared. His entire body was covered in sweat as he felt relieved that he hadn''t attacked yet. Or else, he would''ve been a dead body as well.

    "Y-youngdy was just joking. The Yael n is a friend. Why would we hurt you? Isn''t that right?" he asked Yulia, wiping his sweat.

    Currently, they were at Gabriel''s mercy, and at least they had to calm the situation down first. Unfortunately, they had already tried killing that guy, so it wasn''t easy.

    "You don''t need to bother. You''re too weak. You''re not worth our time," Gabriel responded, shaking his head lightly. "If it weren''t for your youngdy to attack us, we wouldn''t even bother talking to you since we are just passing by your territory."

    Now that the bait was set, all he had to do was act that he wasn''t here for the Wester n and try leaving. Since these people had already offended him, he was certain that they were going to make up for it by inviting him to their n. That was just what he needed.

    Just as he stated, he didn''t pay attention to the youngdy of the Wester n and continued leaving without even ncing back.

    Even as he walked away, he kept his attention behind him, waiting for them to stop him. Unfortunately, Yulia didn''t try to stop him, which was strange. It was clear that she was still angry and embarrassed.

    Fortunately, just as he thought that he had to think of something else, the guard called out to them. "Wait!"

 Chapter 528 528: Planning To Kill

    ****

    [Three hourster]

    Gabriel stood before the majestic castle, which was the home of the Wester n. He had finally reached his destination.

    Along the way, he also saw many guards and many dangerous trap formations, some of which he had never seen before. It was as if the Wester n had taken many precautions to make sure that they didn''t suffer the same fate as thest n which used to rule over thisnd.

    Without being apanied by Yulia, he didn''t think he could''ve had such an easier time to reach this ce.

    Just as he was about to leave the City of art, the guard had stopped him, apologizing for what happened. At the same time, the guard invited him to meet their Patriarch without asking Yulia. He took the decision on his own, believing that even the Wester n Patriarch was going to think that this was the right decision.

    As Gabriel reached the n with Yulia and her guard, he saw a young man, standing at the entrance with a smug look on his face, as if he had been waiting for quite some time. It was the same young man who was right behind Yulia in the face before taking over.

    "My dear sister, you''re finally back. You kept me waiting a long time." He stepped down the stairs, stepping closer to his sister.

    He didn''t even pay any attention to Gabriel and the others, as if they weren''t even present there. He simply reached out his hand before his sister, as if asking for something.

    Yulia could only clench her teeth, cing a small invitation token in the hand of her brother!

    Even though the Wester n was rted to the Southern General, they still only received three invitation tokens to the banquet. The first two were kept by the Patriarch and his wife while the third was given to the Eldest Daughter, leading to the jealousy of her younger brother and subsequently this bet which resulted in her loss.

    "Hahaha, that''s more like it. I''ll miss you at the General''s banquet, my dear sis." The young man kept the invisible token in his pocket safely before going back inside the castle, as if he was worried that his sister was going to have a change of heart and steal the token from him.

    "That bastard!" Yulia scoffed, entering the castle as well, leaving Gabriel to her guard. She didn''t want to see anyone''s face anymore.

    "General''s Banquet?"

    After Yulia left, Gabriel asked the question to the Guard apanying them. When he came here, he had already seen that some preparations were being made.

    Carriages were being filled with precious treasures, as if they were to be gifted to someone. Moreover, he heard the name of the Southern General a few times as well.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "The Southern General''s banquet. It looks like you left your n quite some time ago, for you to not know." The guard smiled, leading everyone inside the castle. "All the top ten ns received two invitation tokens for the banquet while our n received three because we''re special."

    He also started talking about the bet between the two siblings, as if trying to justify why their young miss was so upset.

    "Southern General is throwing a banquet?" Gabriel asked, slightly surprised. Even though this wasn''t his intention whening here, this was indeed a great opportunity for him to get to the Southern General, which was almost impossible nowadays with how alert that guy was.

    "That''s right. It''s his 1500th birthday, which also coincides with the time when the Northern General was stated to visit the Southern Realm. So he apparently decided to hit two birds with one stone," the Guard exined. Even though the exnation was basic, but it gave Gabriel a lot of understanding about what was happening.

    The banquet didn''t just lead to the Southern General but also the Northern General! From what he had heard, the Goddess of Light was also in the Northern Upper World! However, it was also clear that dealing with two Generals was dangerous since his disguise wasn''t going to work on them.

    Even when he could hide his aura, as long as he was in their presence, there was a good chance that they could see through him. The opportunity was riddled with many dangers.

    From the outside, the ce looked like a simple castle. However, it was only when Gabriel walked inside that he realized that the castle contained a different space inside itself, which was akin to a small world in itself with mountains and rivers.

    The guard brought Gabriel and his group to a smaller castle inside, which was reserved for guests only. Since he hadn''t talked to the Patriarch, he didn''t bring Gabriel there directly, and instead made him wait while he went there to report.

    ****

    "This was easier than expected." The Goddess of Nature sat on the bed in the guest house, slightly amazed at how easy it was to reach this ce. If they wanted, they could now destroy this ce from inside.

    "The n has been peaceful for quite some time, thanks to their rtionship with the Southern General. It''s understandable that they wouldn''t be as careful, not expecting anyone to dare attack them." Jia agreed. At this speed, she could feel that they were closer to their goals. Maybe they didn''t need to fight at all.

    Unlikest time when Karyk exposed his presence by destroying a n openly, they were more careful this time.

    "If that''s what you think, then you really underestimate them," Gabriel chimed in, standing near the window. "They''re already nning to kill us. We''re surrounded."

    "Huh? Did they find out the truth?" Jia stood up, running closer to the window, looking outside. However, she couldn''t see anything.

    "I doubt that''s the case. They would''ve been more careful if that was it," Gabriel shook his head lightly. "Instead, it''s more like they''re nning to kill us because of the identity we used to get here."

 Chapter 529 529: Missed Feeling

    Initially, he went with Jia''s n, but now that he was actually here, he realized that they had indeed missed something. Instead of making up with the ''heir'' of Yael n, the Wester n directly decided to kill them after luring them inside, where they had no chance of escape.

    Gabriel had considered two possibilities behind it. First was that they already knew what Azen Yael looked like. And the second was that they didn''t care. They just didn''t want to pay to make up for Yulia''s mistakes, instead burying them here forever.

    Other than them, no one else knew that they were inside the Wester n after all.

    "And here I thought I could go easy this time."

    Gabriel opened the door, after noticing some powerful auras getting closer. Since the n already knew about his so-called strong guards, they had sent their elders to get rid of him swiftly.

    Gabriel took off his mask, keeping it in his storage. His looks returned to his usual looks. At the same time, his clothes changed, turning all back.

    Gabriel opened the door, stepping outside. Just like before, no one could be seen at sight. However, it was obvious that there were over a hundred people around the castle where they were told to stay.

    Amongst the hundred auras, at least ten were stronger than the Goddess of Light.

    ****

    The Elders of the Wester n were told to kill the guests swiftly. However, they felt like it was too much to ask them to kill a few kids, as if it was a waste of their time.

    Unfortunately, despite their objection, the Patriarch of the Wester n didn''t listen to them, as if he didn''t care even if he used a hammer to kill a small ant. All the Elders were free all day anyway.

    The Elders thought that it was an easy task to take care of a kid and his guards. However, before they reached the guest''s castle, they were taken aback, seeing a young mane out.

    They hadn''t seen Gabriel''s old look. So they thought that his current self was the same person they were tasked to kill. They were initially surprised, wondering if the guy sensed them. They thought it was impossible.

    For a few seconds, they were still, unmoving. They simply observed Gabriel from a distance. However, strangely enough, they only saw Gabriel walkingzily near the castle, as if he was just taking a walk since he was bored.

    The Elders couldn''t help but scoff in response. It was clear that this guy still didn''t know about them.

    They weren''t as cautious as before and finally moved. One of the Elders sealed the space around the castle with Gabriel inside it. Only they were able to enter and leave that space that they had sealed Gabriel and the other inside.

    After sealing the space to make sure that Gabriel and no one else could escape, they finally stopped hiding, revealing themselves.

    At the same time, thousands of lightning spears appeared above the castle and Gabriel''s head, as if simply waiting formands and they would''ve fallen on Gabriel, killing him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "I don''t sense any guards nearby, other than two women inside the castle." One of the Elders said, smiling. He could see that the Goddess of Nature was strong, butpared to them, it wasn''t threatening enough.

    The elder clenched his fists. All the lightning bolts fell from the sky at the same time.

    However, strangely enough, as they drew closer to Gabriel, they suddenly changed direction, striking the ground around him instead.

    Gabriel stood unharmed, a shield of energy surrounding him. His eyes were just as expressionless as before, not surprising in the least by their sudden appearance.

    The other Lightning Bolts fell on the castle, bringing the entire building crashing down, turning it into nothing but rubble. There was no movement inside the rubble, implying that everyone inside was killed.

    However, the Elders soon realized that it wasn''t the case. Multiple vines came out of the group, as if carrying a giant closed flower inside them.

    The flower bloomed next to Gabriel, revealing two women inside it - Jia and the Goddess of Nature.

    At the same time, the Elders frowned, sending a change in the space around them. They had already sealed the space, but they were free of that seal. However, at the same time, a new seal appeared around them, trapping them inside as well. What was even worse was that the second seal was even stronger than their own Spatial Seal!

    They felt as if even if they all attacked the seal together, they couldn''t break it!

    At the same time, they finally felt a trace of Gabriel''s aura. Even though it was just a small trace, it still felt like a mountain pressing down on them.

    "You... You aren''t Azen! He''s supposed to be a mortal! Who are you?!" The First Elder asked, grimacing. Amongst the three people there, none was a mere mortal!

    "So it was thetter... You didn''t know the truth when you decided to attack," Gabriel muttered, sighing. If only these people hadn''t attacked him, things could''ve progressed smoothly.

    However, now that it came to this point, he could only send the Wester n down the same path as thest n who tried to kill him in this exact ce a thousand years ago.

    From within Gabriel''s shadow, multiple undead Soldiers came out, all possessing strengthparable to the Goddess of Nature, having unique abilities of their own.

    "U-undeads?! You''re Karyk?!" The Elders eximed. They had already heard a lot about Karyk, especially in recent days! All the Generals were on high alert against him after all! Moreover, he was the only person who could use the strength of the undead!

    Gabriel didn''t answer. He only watched his Undead Soldiers move. It had been so long since he used his army to take care of his enemies. It felt slightly rxing, since he didn''t even have to move at all. It was a feeling that he missed a lot.

 Chapter 530 530: Gabriels Soul Corruption

    Even though he sent his Undead to kill everyone who was inside his domain, he also decided to join in as well, intending to go straight for the Patriarch of the Wester n.

    Gabriel prepared to leave, but at that exact moment, he suddenly grabbed his chest as his face turned slightly pale.

    He abruptly coughed out a mouthful of blood, feeling a scorching pain deep within his soul. It was as if he was burning and freezing at the same time!

    The pain was so overwhelming, even for someone like him who had gone through so much. Moreover, this was clearly not because of any attack from outside. It was from deep within...

    Gabriel''s body felt extremely weak, as he somewhat lost his bnce.

    The Goddess of Nature and Jia were looking at the battle in the distance. Multiple powerful spells were used all around, that kept destroying the nearby terrain. However because of the domain seal, the loud sound of explosion was contained in this ce.

    The twodies don''t notice Gabriel''s unsteady steps as he tried to maintain his bnce. To some extent, it looked as if he was extremely drunk with his unsteady steps.

    There was a look of confusion on his face, not realizing what was happening to him.

    Even with his weakness, he tried to observe his soul, where the pain came from. However, as he saw his soul, his expressions became even darker!

    There was a small crack on his soul which didn''t use to be there in the past. In the soul crack, he could feel some trace of light and darkness as well, which previously wasn''t noticeable.

    The crack was very small, but it was slowly extending out, making him feel a pain worse than death.

    He had thought that he had entrapped the element of Light and the Element of Darkness to prevent himself from being tracked. However, he just realized that there was a small trace of that impure aura that had already seeped inside when his old soul was merging with his new soul.

    Initially, the traces were so small that they weren''t even noticeable. That''s why he thought that the sync of his two souls was absolutely perfect. However, with time, that corruption deep within his two souls was extending.

    "That woman!" He couldn''t help but suddenly roar, looking at the sky! It was clearly the work of the Goddess of Light!

    When two souls were merged after rebirth, absolute purity was needed. He had thought that all the conditions were satisfied when he woke up. However, he just now understood that there was another reason the Goddess of Light had granted him the Element of Light!

    She wanted to use another Element when his original soul wasn''t awake, to slowly corrupt his new soul with the Element of Light!

    Thanks to that, his soul merger that was previously in perfect condition was slowly starting to seperate. It was clearly a self protection step that she had taken.

    She wanted to use Karyk to kill the Ruler of the Upper Realm. However, at the same time, she didn''t want to create a monster that even she couldn''t take down! That''s why she used this method, which was akin to using a slow poison!<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The more this corruption spread, the worse it was for him!

    ****

    Within her Pce, the Goddess of Light was standing near the window, taking a sip of drink. Even though she knew Karyk wanted her dead, she was still somewhat calm.

    "It should set in soon. Maybe a week at best." Her voice echoed in the room where no one could hear her. "I wonder what you''ll do now, old friend. You will soon know what I actually did. I wonder what kind of expressions you''ll make when you find out. I wish I could''ve seen that..."

    "The worse your soul merger bes, the weaker you''ll get. So before that happens, you should try to kill the King of the Upper Realm. Since you''ll only get weaker from that point on. If you still go after me, even if you kill me, you''ll end up dead at his hands."

    " So it would be wise for you to think carefully, and take care of the stronger one while you have a chance... As for me, you''ll never get a chance to reach me... At least not until you end up dead!"

    "I really hope that you help me one more time before you die... Just likest time you helped me with your death..." She revealed a calm smile, looking at the two moons in the sky.

    ****

    The pain within his soul only kept increasing, forcing Gabriel to sit on the ground, using his own aura of death to nourish his soul. Unfortunately, it wasn''t easy since the corruption of the other Elements had already corrupted his second soul.

    Gabriel felt immense bloodlust rising within his heart as he thought about the Goddess of Light who did this.

    The Goddess of Nature finally noticed Gabriel, who didn''t look to be in a good condition. He was sweating profusely while sitting on the ground.

    Most of the time, he looked like a person who could face anything in this world without even flinching, yet that same person now appeared to be going through something that made him reveal those never before seen expressions.

    "What happened to you?" The Goddess of Nature approached him, reaching out his hand. Even though Gabriel couldn''t get sick, but she still tried to send some of her natural healing energy to his body to help him to the best of her abilities.

    However, something went terribly wrong. As soon as she touched Gabriel, a burst of soul energy came from within his body, sending her flying!

    Even Jia was taken aback, abruptly raising her sword to protect herself from this explosion. However, even then she wasn''t in any good condition, coughing out blood repeatedly.

    All her bones were aching as if she could''ve easily died in that attack.

    All the Elders who were sent to kill Gabriel had already been killed by his Death Generals. However, even they couldn''t avoid this soul energy explosion.

 Chapter 531 531: If He Escapes...

    The Soul Energy Explosion even hurt his own Death Generals, especially since it contained the holy aura of light. Fortunately, this wasn''t enough to kill his Death Generals, only hurting them in the process.

    They were simply sent back flying. The Domain Seal that had closed this space from the rest of the Wester n also broke apart under the explosive soul energy, making this strange yet threatening energy he felt all around the Pce.

    In the entire Wester n Pce, this energy could be sensed. Some of the weaker people in the n died as soon as they came under the contact of this distractive energy.

    Fortunately, this strange soul energy didn''t leave the n and went unnoticed by people outside the Wester n.

    Gabriel was in constant torment and he knew that it was just the beginning.

    He had to find a way to control this pain before it consumed himpletely, since this pain was only going to get worse from this point on! Moreover, he couldn''t fight in this condition. He was in no situation to face the Wester n Patriarch.

    He clenched his teeth, ring at the Goddess of Nature. "We are leaving!"

    He raised his hand, opening up a spatial portal to an unknown destination. Even with the soul crunching pain, he forced himself up, entering the portal, after sending his Death Generals back.

    The Goddess of Nature also entered the portal with Jia, having a solemn look on her face. She couldn''t understand what was happening to Gabriel, but it felt more as if his soul was injured somehow.

    Gabriel didn''t directly leave the Wester n either. Even though he wanted to leave, he had to take something with him.

    Passing through the portal, he directly appeared within the room of the Wester n Patriarch''s second son, grabbing him by his throat before opening another portal and disappearing with the others!

    The Wester n and other powerful beings of the n came out, as soon as they sensed that strange yet deadly energy. However, as they reached that ce, they were only greeted with a huge crater with no life at sight!

    The guest pce was destroyed and all the Elders they sent were dead. However, the people who were supposed to be killed were nowhere to be found.

    The Wester n Patriarch ordered the entire n to be sealed whilending on the ground, sensing the aura that was still present in the surrounding area.

    The ce had many auras, however there was one peculiar aura which was distinguishable. That aura''s presence also stunned the middle aged man! This was an aura of Death and he knew of only one person who had this... The Death Star!

    This realization made him stunned, at the same time somewhat scared. That was the person that had once terrorized the entire Upper Realm! He was also the person who had destroyed an entire overlord n thest time he was here.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The Head of the Wester n didn''t waste a single time. There was a great chance that the person was still inside the n after all! However, for a person like him to suddenly disappear after creating such disturbance, something seemed amiss.

    He told all the elders to stick together and be careful. In the meantime, he went back to his room as there was something there which he could use to contact the Southern General directly.

    The Wester n Head believed he could protect himself. However, he didn''t think he was strong enough to stop Karyk if the guy wanted to escape.

    They finally found Karyk. He didn''t want that guy to escape again and the only man in his eyes who could make sure that Gabriel died was the Southern General.

    Entering the secret chamber connected to his room, he reached out his hand toward a palm sized stone tablet that was carefully kept there, protected by multiple special formations. Only he knew how to pass those dangerous formations.

    Taking a deep breath, he recited the ancient incantation that would activate the tablet. A beam of light emanated from the tablet after a few moments and a holographic image of the Southern General appeared before him.

    "What do you need from me?" theSouthern General asked coldly.

    The Wester n head swallowed hard before saying, "It is aboutKaryk! He had appeared within the n and he''s hiding somewhere! I need your assistance to make sure Karyk does not escape again."

    The Southern General who initially appeared sleepy and irritated suddenly straightened up, as soon as he heard that old yet familiar name.

    A thousand years ago also, that guy made a lot of trouble in his domain. Unfortunately, he was never able to catch up to him. And in the end, Karyk finally left the Upper World, going back to the smaller world.

    None of the Generals could chase after Gabriel in the lower realm, since the guy had used an unknown yet powerful spell that prevented them from entering the lower realm.

    Even when they found a way to make an opening in the worldly Shackles with some help, it still wasn''t enough for the four Generals to enter that ce. They could only send their Soldier down.

    Fortunately, the Soldiers had seeded. At least that''s what they used to think, until they recently found out that Karyk was alive, and probably intending on returning to the Upper Realm. Ever since that news was received, all the Generals were alert, as if intending to make sure that Karyk would die at their hands this time.

    "I''ming!" The Southern General doesn''t waste a single second, getting ready to leave. However, at the same time, he didn''t forget to issue a warning. "Make sure he doesn''t leave! If he escapes from me this time, I''ll let out all my anger on you!"

    Even though the Wester n Patriarch was his father inw in a sense, the Southern General didn''t care one bit about that when it came to Karyk!

 Chapter 532 532: Theres A Way

    A portal opened up in an unknown ce.

    Gabriel flew out of the portal, falling on the ground. His body was burning up as if he had a fever.

    He had brought the unconscious son of the Wester n Patriarch with him, who fell in the distance, hitting his head on the ground.

    The young man started bleeding from his head, but in his unconscious condition, he couldn''t do anything.

    Jia and the Goddess of Nature also came out as the portal closed behind them. The both of them noticed that they were in a closed space, which appeared to be protected by some strange power!

    Moreover, there were some things nearby, like a bed and a table. It was clear that this ce was used by someone in the past. However, thest time it was used was a really long time ago.

    "We''re in the depths of the Southern World underground..." Gabriel said, wiping blood off his lips.

    This was the ce that he had made a thousand years ago, to rest and recover when he was hurt while trying to gather enough life sources.

    He had already cast enough protective measures around this ce in the past. Moreover, since this ce was in the depths of this World, thousands of feet under the ground, it was also harder to locate.

    The Goddess of Nature didn''t care much about where they were. Instead, she was more concerned about Gabriel. She had never seen him in a condition like him in the past.

    Since he made her suffer for a thousand years, she should''ve been pleased to see him suffer. However, that wasn''t the case at all.

    "How can I help?!" She didn''t ask what was wrong with him as that was useless at this point. She only wanted to find a way to help him, because his situation was only getting worse.

    "Elemental Soul Corruption..." Gabriel eximed, patting his chest. "My soul merger has been corrupted. I didn''t notice at the start, but it''s gotten worse..."

    "Elemental Soul Corruption? Could this be because of..." The Goddess of Nature revealed a look of understanding. Even though this phenomenon was rare, it wasn''t unknown.

    Usually, this phenomenon was seen in Demigods, who tried to receive a god''s blessings. Their souls were weak and onlypatible with one element. Another elemental blessing usually corrupted their weak souls, slowly destroying it.

    There was also no way to reverse this corruption which only became worse with time. With time, those Demigods became weaker.

    Usually, a god like Karyk had a powerful soul. In fact, his soul was probably the most powerful amongst all gods. There was no way his soul could''ve been corrupted!

    However, the more the Goddess of Nature thought about it, the more she understood! It was the work of the Goddess of Light, who took advantage of the fact that Karyk''s godly soul was asleep.

    As for Karyk''s secondary soul, it was weak, and prone to epting more elements.

    She didn''t directly attack Gabriel and destroy his chance of rebirth, since she wanted to use him to get rid of a bigger threat.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Another reason she didn''t interfere was because she was worried that if she went to earth and tried to kill Gabriel, she might identally awaken his real soul and end up being killed! Even after a thousand years, she wasn''t confident enough that she could face Karyk.

    Thus, she came up with another method to weaken him in the future when his real soul awake.

    She couldn''t corrupt his main soul. However, she knew that Karyk was going to merge with his secondary soul after waking up.

    The secondary soul was what she corrupted, and started waiting for when Karyk awakened and merged with the soul corrupted with her element and the element of darkness!

    "Can you heal yourself?" The Goddess of Nature asked, gazing at Gabriel who was sitting with his back against a wall. Hisplexion looked better and he wasn''t vomiting blood anymore.

    However, she knew that it was just the start. These symptoms were going to get worse and his strength was going to get weaker if he didn''t do anything about it.

    Gabriel remained silent, not speaking anything. He just looked at the Goddess of Nature silently. His mind was clearly lost in some thought. As for what it was, no one knew.

    "There is a way... But..." He muttered but didn''t finish the sentence.

    "What way?"The Goddess of Nature asked, frowning. She had never heard of a method that could reverse the Elemental Corruption for a god. However, she also didn''t think that Gabriel was in the mind to joke.

    Gabriel bit his lip, tasting some of his own blood that had dried up on his lips. His expressions were somewhatplicated, as if even he wasn''tpletely confident about this method.

    He didn''t know if this was actually going to work or not. It was also very dangerous.

    The Goddess of Nature wanted to ask again, but she controlled her urge and didn''t interrupt. As long as it could heal the Elemental Corruption, it was fine.

    "Can you make this ce bigger? This much space isn''t enough..." After a brief pause, Gabriel spoke.

    "Bigger?" The Goddess of Nature asked, slightly intrigued. This ce was already big enough to amodate over a hundred people easily. But they needed an even bigger ce?

    Despite her curiosity, she did as she was told. Multiple vines came out of the ground that started breaking the stones around the hall and eating the fragments of those stones, making this hall even bigger.

    "Search his body for the Invitation Token and get rid of his body." While the Goddess of Nature was digging the ground with her incredible skills, Gabrielmanded Jia.

    He didn''t feel like moving anymore. While the twodies worked, he simply sat with his back resting against the wall, drinking some water.

    Simultaneously, he cast a spell to cleanse his attire and remove any traces of blood. His gaze remained fixated on something, lost in deep contemtion, suggesting he was pondering over something significant.

 Chapter 533 533: A Spell Unknown

    The Goddess of Nature doubled the space in that ce, before asking if she should stop. Unfortunately, ording to Gabriel, this much space wasn''t even close to being enough.

    He requested for her to expand it further, saying that they needed an area at least ten timesrger.

    The Goddess of Nature continued digging the surrounding area while using her Vines as support for the roof to make sure that the space was stable enough and didn''t copse on itself.

    On the other hand, Jia found the token that was the invitation to the Southern General''s Banquet. It also contained his aura. Fortunately, she soon gave the token to Gabriel who sealed this token to make sure that this couldn''t be used to trade them.

    After constantly using her Element for close to four hours, the Goddess of Nature finally finished, and looked back at Gabriel.

    From a great distance, her voice came, echoing in the empty space. "Is this much enough?!"

    Gabriel finally nodded, calling her back. The space was enough. And now there was some for final preparation... Which was also the most uncertain part. He had tried something simr in the past, but never to this extent. He didn''t even know if it would work.

    ording to him, there was only less than a five percent chance of sess. Unfortunately, he had no other choice. He could either y into the palm of the Goddess of Light and watch himself getting weaker. Or he could take his destiny in his own hands and do something he never imagined before!

    It was clear what choice he made.

    The Goddess of Nature came closer to Gabriel, sitting next to him. Her face was filled with curiosity.

    She was already exhausted and didn''t think that she could even move a finger anymore. She had constantly been using her abilities to change the terrain of this ce, which was hard even for her, since it was the depth of an Upper Realm World! Yet, she didn''tin.

    She gazed at Gabriel, waiting to see his next action. Just what did he need such a big area for?

    While she was lost in thoughts, the Book of Necromancy came out from Gabriel''s body. The pages started flipping on their own, until thest page opened.

    A small speck of light came out from thest page, flying to the center of the giant hall! The speck of light only continued to grow bigger and bigger, before revealing what it really was.

    A giant skeletonnded on the ground, stunning the Goddess of Nature and Jia.

    The two had never seen the giant skeleton before. Even though the person seemingly died a long time ago and only a skeleton was left, it was still brimming with strength.

    Gabriel weakly stood up. Even though the effects of the Soul Corruption had subsided temporarily, but he could still feel some effects on his body.

    He walked closer to the giant skeleton. He didn''t tell anyone what he was doing.

    Gabriel stepped on the air, standing above the chest area of the skeleton. It was where he pulled out another thing from his Grimoire. It was the body of the True God that he had killed taking advantage of his domain.

    The body fell next to the Giant Skeleton, lifelessly.

    Gabriel remained in the air, closing his eyes. He usually didn''t chant a spell, but this time it was different.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He started speaking the spell out loud. However, for some reason, Jia and the Goddess of Nature couldn''t hear the spell that was surrounded in a strange shroud. They could hear Gabriel''s voice but at the same time, they felt as if they couldn''t hear it at all.

    Gabriel kept chanting the mysterious spell. The body of the True God that he had killed started floating in the air, slowly rising. At the same time, blood starteding out of the man''s lifeless body, as if all his blood was being sucked dry.

    More and more blood came out, gathering in a blood sphere above, that kept getting bigger as the man''s body shriveled.

    Eventually, the man''s body looked as if he was a shriveled up mummy.

    After getting the blood from the man, Gabriel waved his hand lightly. The bloodless body of the man turned into a small speck of light, containing some of his life essence. The small specks of light merged with the blood, making the blood even stronger.

    Gabriel floated closer to the blood sphere. For a moment, his behavior even scared Jia. It was as if he was the only God in this world who could control life and death as he wished.

    Even though she couldn''t see it, the dark elemental marks on Gabriel''s body started growing, covering more area.

    Gabriel stopped before the Bloody Sphere. He didn''t stop chanting the spell at all. Instead, he simply brought out a de that he had arranged in advance.

    He poked his thumb lightly, letting a single blood droplet fall out. The blood fell on the blood sphere, entering the core.

    The blood sphere slowly changed color, turning into an even darker shade. Just the aura of the blood sphere itself was incredible.

    Gabriel nced back at the skeleton. His eyes were focused, especially since he knew that a single moment of distraction could destroy everything!

    He waved his hand again. The blood sphere started floating closer to the giant skeleton, ultimately falling on the skull where the forehead was supposed to be.

    The strange symbols on the skeleton lit up on their own. However, they didn''t resist as the blood entered the skeleton, slowly merging with it. The skeleton had already lost his soul after all.

    As the Blood was absorbed by the skeleton, golden lightning flickered around it while the giant skeleton started slowly shrinking.

    With each passing second, the giant skeleton shrunk a few meters, before ultimately it was only around six feet tall, simr to a human''s skeleton. Only then did it stop.

    However, the changes didn''t stop. Gabriel tossed out a blue stone that turned into a strange light that shrouded the entire skeleton.

    It was only when Gabriel finished the first step, that hended on the ground. However, he was so exhausted that he found it hard even to remain standing.

    He sat on the ground and didn''t say anything. He just closed his eyes, as if he had fallen into a deep slumber.

    A terrifying amount of soul energy surrounded Gabriel, making it impossible for anyone to get close to him. It was so strong that even the Goddess of Nature felt that she would''ve been injured heavily if she tried.

 Chapter 534 534: Reversal

    *****

    A void opened above the residence of the Wester n. From the void, the Southern General came out, donning a bearing ck armor that made him appear like a powerful warrior.

    Many members of the Wester n stood in awe as they watched him approach, unsure of what this unexpected visit might mean. However, the Southern General wasn''t alone. There were even more people apanying him this time.

    Without having to wait for a singlemand, the Southern General''s men surrounded the entire ce.

    The Southern General just looked down, standing high in the air. There was a frown on his face since he couldn''t feel Karyk''s aura in this ce. It felt as if the guy wasn''t here in the first ce.

    A trace of anger shed in his eyes. He wasn''t sure if the Wester n lied to him about Karyk''s presence or if he simply failed to hold him back. There was also a possibility that Karyk was hiding his aura, but that seemed unlike him.

    In any case, to get to the truth, he worked with the Wester n Patriarch and searched the entire ce to catch Karyk.

    Unfortunately, the longer the search went on, the angrier he became. In the end, Karyk was nowhere to be found.

    Even when he spread out his Divine Consciousness as far as possible to search for Karyk, he couldn''t find the man.

    In the end, his anger only diverted to the Wester n Patriarch.

    Even the Wester n Patriarch was surprised that Gabriel or those guests were nowhere to be found even though they had sealed this ce soon after the incident. However, he stuck to his story, leading the Southern General to the ce where Karyk had used his magic, to show him that he wasn''t wrong.

    "This is indeed the aura of that guy..." The Southern General stood in the bloody field, sending the aura in his surroundings. Karyk''s aura was so powerful that it still hadn''t disappeared from this ce.

    The Southern General was irritated. Karyk was actually here yet he managed to escape. He doesn''t even know where Karyk could be right now. However, one thing was for certain. It was that Karyk had entered the Upper Realm! That was the news worth noting.

    Arge-scale hunt for Karyk was to bemenced in the Southern World. He also decided to inform the other Generals about this! Until now, they were all careful, thinking that Karyk mighte there in the future. However, he was already there!

    ****

    While people were getting ready to hunt Karyk to the ends of this world, the young man in question was sitting next to a skeleton shrouded by a mysterious light.

    His eyes were closed and his aura was so weak that he appeared as if he could die at any moment. No one knew what he was doing but it appeared dangerous.

    ....

    There was darkness everywhere in the void. In eternal darkness, only a void could be seen. It was as if there was nothing but empty dark space as far as the eyes could see.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    In the vast darkness, there was only one source of light. It was a soul staying still in the middle of the empty void.

    The soul lookedpletely identical to Gabriel. However, there was a small crack in the soul. The crack slowly kept increasing, as if it was some poison that was impossible to stop.

    The speed of this crack increasing was so slow that it was barely noticeable.

    However, the soul appeared to be going through a strange phenomenon.

    Multiple golden words appeared around the soul in physical form. Those words were also the same words that Gabriel had chanted before;

    All the words shrouded the soul in a mysterious light. Even though the light couldn''t stop the corruption from increasing, that wasn''t its purpose.

    The reason for this Corruption was his main pure soul merging with his second soul which had been assimted by other Elements at the core. This was the cause of everything.

    There was only one way to solve this ording to him. That was to reverse the merger. However, there was one problem with that. If the merger between his main self of Karyk and his secondary self of Gabriel was reversed, then one of the two souls had to die.

    Now that his main soul waspletely awakened, it wasn''t impossible for his two souls ro stay in the same body. He couldn''t put his main soul to sleep for an eternity again, especially since they were in such a dangerous situation. That left only one option for him.

    He wanted to separate his two souls while at the same time, preparing a bodypletely identical to his main body, in some ways even superior to it!

    He used his own blood on the skeleton to give it some of his Traits, making sure that it looked just like him and was a real person.

    Next, the second body contained the skeleton of a True God that was stronger than anything he had seen. He still didn''t know the mystery behind those golden words on the bones but it was certainly that the power was nothing to scoff at! Andstly, he used the blood that contained the strength of another true god.

    In essence, Karyk had used his knowledge to create another person, who had the skeleton and blood of two true gods!

    His main soul couldn''t enter the second body as it was too strong. Moreover, all his Death Elemental Marks had already merged with this body. However, that wasn''t the case for his secondary soul of Gabriel.

    If he could seed, he believed he could bring Gabriel back, separate from him. Maybe even stronger than him!

    Moreover, unlike him who had to stick to only the Element of Death, Gabriel had the merged element of Light and Darkness. As long as the two souls were separated, Gabriel didn''t have to worry about Soul Corruption again.

    Karyk didn''t want to do this initially since there were lots of risks involved, but in the end, they had no chance. They could either watch themselves getting weaker or separate!

 Chapter 535 535: Brothers

    ****

    "You are... Me?"

    A calm voice was heard in the void as a young man''s Spiritual Consciousness appeared. The process of Soul Separation had begun!

    The consciousness belonged to Gabriel. Although he had be one with Karyk, to the point that he felt that Karyk was him. But when the Separation began, his feelings somewhat started to change.

    It was as if most of the feelings that Karyk possessed in his life... He couldn''t feel them. Most of his memories in Karyk''s life were missing, other than some of the knowledge about magic and the world that Karyk had assimted.

    When he was one with Karyk, he felt that Alion was truly a brother. He was Karykand felt everything that Karyk did. However, currently, he didn''t have any such feelings. He only felt that Alion was just someone he worked with, having no extra attachment.

    It was the same for the Goddess of Nature. He didn''t feel much about Karyk''s behavior with her, or her anger. It was as if this had nothing to do with them. He wasn''t Karyk! He was Gabriel.

    On another side, Karyk''s consciousness also started taking shape. Just like Gabriel, Karyk didn''t feel any particr attachment to the people that Gabriel held dear in this life.

    In fact, he now found it quite stupid that he had to enter the Nether World to save the life of Novius and Cylix who held no importance.

    It was as if the two personas were starting to separate again. They shared the memories of the other''s life, but for them, the life they lived was their main life. They couldn''t feel what the other felt.

    It was a strange feeling of strangeness yet closeness.

    Karyk didn''t answer. He simply remained silent, as if letting the Separation take effect. Since their souls had been together for quite some time, their Separation wasn''t going to affect his strength to any significant extent.

    "I''ve prepared a new body for you," Karyk spoke after a brief pause. His eyes were slightly different from what they used to be before Separation. He felt more like the same old Karyk who didn''t like talking to people.

    Gabriel already knew what was happening since it was partially his decision when they were one soul. Moreover, it wasn''t as if he could ask Karyk to take the second body since his element had seeped in deeply in this body.

    Even if Karyk left and Gabriel possessed the main body, because of the deep element of death, that Corruption was going to ur again.

    His soul couldn''t stay close to the Element of Death as its purity and conflict with the Element of Light was way higher than the conflict between Element of Light and Element of Darkness.

    The two consciousness looked at each other. Even though they initially came from one soul and lookedpletely identical, but they were two different people at core.

    One was the High God that had once terrorized the world and only wanted revenge, while the other was someone who thought of himself as a human and only wanted to get stronger to protect himself and survive in the world where so many people wanted to kill him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The crack in the soul started disappearing as one soul split into two, simr to how they merged initially.

    Outside Karyk''s soul realm, soul energy was creating a turmoil. It was even hard for Jia to breathe. She felt as if she was being suffocated under this pressure. She couldn''t even move.

    If anything, this was simr to what she felt when Gabriel had awakened the memories of Karyk. She didn''t even know how she could avoid this pressure. None of her barriers worked.

    Just as she felt like she couldn''t do anything to protect herself from this pressure, multiple vines came out from the ground, surrounding her and the Goddess of Nature, while protecting the two of them from this pressure.

    Unfortunately, the soul aura was only getting stronger, which worried the Goddess of Nature. She didn''t know how much stronger this soul pressure was going to get. She was concerned that even the barriers cast around this ce might be broken if the soul aura didn''t stop soon!

    *

    Karyk and Gabriel, both watched the Primary and the Secondary soul separating slowly.

    "Will I be something like your clone?" Gabriel asked after a brief pause. "Or like an Undead of yours?"

    Karyk shook his head. "You won''t be an undead. You''ll be a real human. Even though you''ll look like me, you aren''t my clone, and I can''t control you. You''re free... If you want, I''ll open a portal to send you back to earth as well."

    Just as he stated, even though he was the main soul, he didn''t create the body of an Undead. Instead, he used his own blood, sacrificing some of his life essence to create a real human.

    He initially tried to do the same thing to bring back his sister after getting her soul. Unfortunately, the bodies couldn''t contain the strength of her blood and ended up breaking apart. The spell that he had worked long and hard to create was useless for him.

    However, this was different now. A true god''s skeleton that couldn''t be destroyed even in the Nether Realm... It was the perfect material to bring back someone! Moreover, he had the blood of another true god, which worked out when better.

    They weren''t clones. The two consciousnesses were simr, yet they had their own thinking and different personalities. If anything, it was more urate to call them twin brothers.

    Karyk wasn''t sure if he could survive his battle against the Upper Realm. He was already prepared for his eventual Death. That''s why, he considered his meeting with his sister and everyone else as hisst.

    However, with Gabriel there, his sister didn''t have to be alone. She could still have her brother, even though it wasn''t him. Moreover, since Gabriel came from his soul, he also had the control of his domain of Earth just like him.

    So, then if Karyk died, the Domain around earth wasn''t going to be destroyed, which was what he was initially worried about. The safety of everyone on earth was ensured.

    Another good thing was that Gabriel had the bones and the blood of true gods. With a little practice, his strength could reach the level of a true god. Moreover, even though Gabriel didn''t have the Element of Death now, but he had the Element of Light and the Element of Death that had merged into creating something new and unseen.

 Chapter 536 536: Understand His Role

    "Won''t this hurt both of us?" Gabriel asked after a brief pause. Even though Karyk made it sound safe, but it was dangerous, especially for the main soul, which was going to be weaker for at least a month after the soul separation since this processing was akin to it cutting a part of itself.

    It was as if they were both losing something if they separated since they were one and the same. Even though it was good for them to have separate lives as they could do more things at the same time, but still, something seemed amiss.

    Karyk also knew everything that Gabriel was telling him. He was already feeling the pain of Separation. He was sure that if the process was sessful, he was at least going to be in a weakened state for a month.

    The Banquet of the Southern General was going to be held soon. He didn''t know if it was going to be canceled after what happened, but if that wasn''t the case, then he was going to miss the banquet.

    However, there were not many options. He could either let the Corruption take ce.

    In that case, he would''ve had to fight all the Generals and the King of the Upper Realm while he still had all his strength, shifting the focus away from the Goddess of Light. However, he didn''t want his destiny to be written by someone else.

    Karyk didn''t respond to Gabriel, simply closing his eyes. There was not a single trace of pain on his face even though he felt most of the brunt of this soul separation since his main soul was the core.

    Feeling as if Karyk was ignoring him, Gabriel also didn''t speak further. In any case, he could understand what Karyk was going through. Even though they had separated, they used to be one person. They were still connected, even though by a slim thread of destiny.

    From the one merged soul of Karyk and Gabriel, two souls started taking shape, in a process that appeared tost for an eternity.

    In the meantime, the outside world was in turmoil as the hunt for Karyk had intensified. Every single trace of him was being followed but since he had traveled through a void to somewhere, it was very hard to find him.

    It was as if there were thousands of traces of him in the chaotic void that seemingly went in all the directions, making it impossible for anyone to find him.

    The news about Karyk''s sudden appearance and disappearance also reached the Goddess of Light in the Northern World. She knew that Karyk wasn''t the type of period to appear and disappear without doing anything. It was clear that he was in the Wester n to achieve some goal.

    However, he hadn''t managed to do anything other than reveal his identity. In a case like that, Karyk would''ve killed everyone in the Wester n to contain the news. However, he instead seemingly ran away. That meant something was wrong with him.

    "It looks like his soul already..." She muttered, shaking her head lightly. "That was faster than expected. But it''s good. Now he''ll understand the importance of time and understand his role."

    ****

    Two days passed. By now, the Wester n Patriarch had realized that his son was missing. He was nowhere to be found. It was as if he just disappeared into thin air. In his room, only some traces of the void could be felt, which was simr to what Karyk used.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    It was clear that Karyk took him. However, why? That was the question in everyone''s mind. Many people thought that Karyk wanted to use the young man''s life to threaten them and in essence, control them.

    However, they understood that it was futile. Even though the Patriarch loved his son and daughter, it wasn''t to the extent where he was going to betray the Upper Realm and stand against the Southern General for them.

    In fact, he already considered his son to be dead. In any case, it was his daughter who he considered to be more talented.So the heir of the Wester n was safe.

    Because of the search for Gabriel, the banquet of the Southern General was supposed to be dyed. However, surprisingly enough, that wasn''t the case. It was said that the banquet was going to be held on the same day, while the search for Karyk continued. However, the purpose of that Banquet had changed.

    Instead of being a simple celebration that it was supposed to be, now it had another purpose. It was the meeting ce of all the Upper Realm Generals who wereing to this ce. As for their purpose in holding the meeting here, it was obvious for everyone.

    The tension in the air was palpable as everyone waited for the generals to arrive. Meanwhile, Karyk''s whereabouts were still unknown, and the fate of the war rested on the shoulders of the generals.

    Whispers and murmurs filled the entire SouthernWorld as people spected on what the oue of the meeting would be.

    ****

    Back in the depths of the Southern World, neither Gabriel nor Karyk had any ideas as to what was happening outside. They were more focused on their own troubles.

    Fortunately, after two whole days, the process was almostpleted. However, the space around that ce appeared to be broken at ces, as the massive amount of Soul Energy kept creating chaos.

    Fortunately, the Goddess of Nature continued to manage her barrier.

    After some time, the chaotic soul energy stopped entirely. It disappeared without a single trace, as if it was never there in the first ce as soon as Karyk opened his eyes. He was finally awake.

    He stood up, ncing into the distance where multiple vines appeared to be creating a protective shield.

    As soon as the soul pressure disappeared, a small opening appeared in the vines, from where the Goddess of Nature and Jia were able to catch a glimpse of the young man.

 Chapter 537 537: Different

    Before the eyes of the twodies, Karyk stepped closer to the white sphere of light before him.

    Even though they couldn''t properly see Karyk, they could feel that he appeared extremely tired, as if a human who hadn''t slept for a week.

    Before using the spell of recreation, Karyk''s control over death was close to ny percent. However, after using that spell, this absolute control had increased, albeit only slightly.

    Even though he was weak, he felt that this process helped him under a soul much better than he initially did, bringing him one step closer to bing the absolute master of death who could never be killed.

    He stopped before the sphere of light, cing his palm over it. After that, he just simply stood there without moving an inch.

    The soul energy could once again be felt from him, but this time it wasn''t chaotic likest time. Instead, it was calm and precise.

    Even though the others couldn''t understand what Karyk was doing, but they were quite curious.

    With his hands on the sphere of light, Karyk performed thest step of recreation. He started sending his secondary soul into the body of a true god that he had created personally.

    Inside the sphere of light, there was only a skeleton ording to Jia. However, in reality, the skeleton was already inside a proper human-like body now. A body that was brimming with godly power, onlycking a soul.

    Usually, it would''ve been hard for any soul to be inplete sync with the body. However, as Karyk used his own blood while creating it, he managed to surpass the restrictions.

    After a few minutes, he finally took off his hands before walking back to the Goddess of Nature and Jia with unsteady steps. His eyes were colder than they used to be. However, there was also a look of relief on his face, as if he had healed the corruption of his soul.

    The Goddess of Nature wanted to ask him what he did when Karyk sat down next to her, exhausted. His body was slightly weak temporarily. However, it wasn''t weak to the point where he couldn''t protect himself. If he wanted, he could still kill everyone here.

    For a few minutes, no one spoke anything, waiting for Karyk to gather his breath.

    It was only after some time passed that Jia asked, "What''s inside that?"

    "You''ll know soon." Karyk closed his eyes, not speaking further.

    ****

    Another day passed and there was no change in the sphere of light. Karyk also didn''t move, seemingly falling asleep from all the exhaustion.

    Even he didn''t know how long the process of Gabriel''s merger was going to go on. But he had done all he could. He had no role in the process anymore.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    All he had to do was recover in the shortest time possible. Unfortunately, even that shortest time that he could guess was at least a month.

    After such a long time, the Goddess of Nature had naturally stopped paying attention to the sphere of light that was brimming with a strange godly energy and soul aura.

    On the other hand, Jia was still quite intrigued with it. She often approached the sphere of light but didn''t touch it. She was eagerly waiting to see what was inside.

    What had be of that skeleton? Was it made into some heaven shaking weapon? Or some treasure that could cause chaos in the Upper Realm? Nothing Karyk did was ever ordinary after all.

    As Jia was lost in thought, she heard a faint sound emitting from the sphere. It sounded soothing and divine. It was as if there was a person inside who was just waking up from a long slumber.

    She was quite taken aback. She took a few steps back subconsciously, wondering if the skeleton inside the sphere of light was back to life. Was all Karyk did just to bring the skeleton back to life to make it into an Undead Soldier?

    While she was lost in thoughts, cracks started developing in the sphere of light, as if it was a shell that was breaking apart.

    The cracks started getting bigger and bigger. It was as if it was about to disappear. Jia couldn''t help but call for the Goddess of Nature, attracting her attention to the sphere of Light.

    She also tried waking up Karyk, but Karyk didn''t react, as if he was asleep and didn''t want to be disturbed. He only revealed a frown at the unnecessary shouting but didn''t open his eyes. He already knew what was inside after all. For now, his rest was more important.

    The Goddess of Nature stepped closer to Jia. Even though the sphere of light was emitting a powerful aura, but she wasn''t scared. She was sure that Karyk wouldn''t create something that could harm them. However, she was still ready for unexpected situations, ready to protect herself and Jia if needed.

    Within a few seconds, the cracks covered the entire shell of light which soon broke apart, disappearing into thin air.

    After the shell of light disappeared, the twodies were finally able to see what was inside. As for what they saw, it was enough to stun them to their core.

    The Goddess of Nature looked back at Karyk in the distance, looking back and forth.

    Even Jia was taken aback. There was a person before them, lying on the ground. The person appeared to be a young man, who wasn''t even twenty years old yet.

    He waspletely identical to Karyk, but there were some differences. The hair of the young man before them was different than Karyk.

    Jia recognized that right away! This was the hair color that Gabriel had before his awakening! Moreover, his aura was different from Karyk''s aura, yet powerful enough to stun them both.

    On the left hand of the young boy, there was a strange Elemental Mark which didn''t match the Element of Light or the Element of Darkness. Instead, it was like the merger of both!

 Chapter 538 538: Our Enemies

    The Goddess of Life was taken aback to find Gabriel before her eyes. He didn''t look Undead. Instead, he simply appeared to be a young man, who was sleeping peacefully.

    Unlike Karyk, his body wasn''t covered in the dark patterns of Death. Instead, he only had one mark on the back of his left hand.

    The Goddess knelt beside Gabriel and examined the strange mark on his hand, trying to determine its meaning. As she studied it, she noticed that the mark began to glow softly, and a feeling of warmth spread in the surrounding that was apanied by a strange aura.

    As the mark of Light and Darkness shone, Gabriel''s eyelids flickered. He slowly opened his eyes, feeling a surge of energy flowing through his body. When his gaze met the Goddess of Nature, he realized that something within him had changed.

    Before, he at least felt something for the Goddess of Nature, as if they were close. However, now she only felt like an acquaintance. He had some memories about her, but nothing worth the importance. If anything, Jia felt closer than the Goddess of Nature.

    The Goddess of Nature stood up, as soon as she saw Gabriel open his eyes. She turned around, asking Karyk. "Who is he?! He doesn''t feel like an undead or a clone."

    "Because I''m none," Gabriel answered as he pushed his body up. He felt quite strange in this body. It was different yet it was familiar. If anything, it was brimming with strength that he never felt before. In fact that strength appeared to be beyond his understanding at the moment.

    On the other hand, Karyk was still sitting with his eyes closed, gathering his soul strength that he had exhausted.

    "Then what... Are you?" The Goddess of Nature asked. She was very sensitive to people''s aura as she was closer to nature itself. Looking in Gabriel''s eyes, she could feel that he wasn''t Karyk. If anything, he was closer to how he used to be the first time she saw Gabriel in the prison!

    No, he was even more differentpared to that since he didn''t have the aura of death around him. The only thing that he had simr to Karyk was now his face, and maybe his stubborn personality.

    Gabriel nced in the direction of Karyk, who wasn''t paying attention. When he awakened his first element back on earth, he never expected that his journey was going to lead him to such a point where he would be looking at himself in such a way.

    "I''m not Karyk," he calmly replied, looking at the Mark of Light and Darkness in his hand. At the same time, the mark of death was missing.

    He stepped closer to Karyk, as he continued. "I''m Gabriel."

    Hearing his response, the Goddess of Nature thought of something impossible. She was stunned to even consider this possibility but now that she thought about it, it made sense!

    Karyk used the method that others with corrupted souls couldn''t. He had two souls that led to this Corruption so the only solution was to separate them again.

    She finally realized what might have happened! Karyk had separated from his secondary soul, bringing Gabriel back to life!<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Just how much control over life and death does he have now?" She muttered, slightly amazed by his strength.

    She already knew a thousand years ago that Karyk was in a different league than the rest. That''s why there were many people who were jealous or scared of him. However, currently, he was even more monstrous with what he was able to do.

    She was somewhat d that she hadn''t sided with the Goddess of Light. Just facing Karyk alone was difficult but now there was Gabriel as well?

    While the Goddess of Nature was lost in her thoughts, Gabriel walked past Jia, patting her head lightly before stopping next to Karyk.

    He sat down right before him. At times, it even appeared as if there was a mirror between the two. If only their clothes weren''t different, it would''ve been hard to differentiate between them.

    "Are you ready to go back to earth?" Karyk calmly opened his eyes. His tone was without much emotional ripple. "I''ll open a portal for you when I recover."

    "Who said I''m going back?" Gabriel asked in return, not even thinking about returning back to earth. "I still have a banquet to attend to."

    "This matter doesn''t involve you. Why do you want to intervene?" Karyk inquired. He had intentionally taken away thousand years of hatred onto himself, only giving Gabriel the knowledge from his first life.

    All because he wanted Gabriel to live a life on earth that he couldn''t. So there was no reason for this guy to go after the Goddess of a Light or the Upper Realm.

    Moreover, in any case, his sess or failure wasn''t going to harm him. If he seeded, then the reign of the Upper Realm was over. And if he failed and died, then the Upper Realm was going to consider this matter ended, not knowing that there was another person like him without the element of death.

    What scared the Upper Realm was the supreme element of death since in the Upper Realm, only the King possessed a supreme Element. Thus, they knew what a supreme element was capable of.

    As for a hybrid element that was a merger of two high tier elements which Gabriel possessed, not many had seen it in the past since they were all killed by corruption before they could even fully utilize it. Gabriel on the other hand was different.

    Now that the soul separation was sessful, the Corruption was gone and he didn''t have to worry about being affected again, unless he was also reborn and merged with a secondary soul which suffered from Corruption.

    "If I don''t, then who will?" Gabriel asked in return. "You might be the main soul, but I don''t consider myself secondary either."

    "Our enemies... Are the same." His fists tightened. Even though he couldn''t feel the mes of rage and the emotions of anger towards the Goddess of Light and the Upper Realm, he still remembered all those emotions that he felt when he was one word Karyk!

 Chapter 539 539: His Son; Royal Blood

    "Also, you''re weak now. Can you even attend the banquet in this condition?'' Gabriel further asked, letting out a calm response.

    "You''re not strong enough either," Karyk responded, without reacting much. "You need time to be able to understand the strength of your own body. I''m dropping this n. We won''t attend the banquet. I''ll take care of the rest after I finish recovering. As for you, you''re going back. Unless..."

    "Unless...?"

    "Unless you can show me that you''re capable enough to protect yourself in this world." Karyk wasn''t a person of many emotions. His emotions were only reserved for his friends and family. However, he also didn''t want his other self to die for no reason.

    At the same time, he also knew how stubborn his secondary soul was since he had been one with it. Just words weren''t enough to convince Gabriel, so he used another method, all to protect this stubborn guy who didn''t want to listen to him.

    "And how should I show that?" Gabriel frowned. He couldn''t help but feel that Karyk was treating him like a child which left a sour taste in his mouth.

    Even though it was true that he wasn''t able to utilize or even understand the full strength of this godly body that he had received, but it didn''t change the fact that he was a mage! He might not have the Element of Death, but he had the Element of Light and the Element of Darkness!

    Moreover, he had learned to master those two elements from Cylix and Novius, who wereparable, if not better than the Holy Lords of the two Elements! He also had the knowledge that he had gained when Karyk devoured the souls of previous Generations of Holy Lords!

    His knowledge when it came to those two elements was secondary to none! At the same time, he had the Ancestral Staff of Darkness and the Ancestral Staff of Light. Although they were both clones of the real thing, that didn''t change the fact that they were beneficial to him.

    At the same time, he also had the Holy Grimoire of Light! As a person in a god''s body, he might bepletely clueless. However, as a mage of Light and Darkness, he wasn''t! He could at least protect himself, or so he believed.

    "Is that so?" Karyk nced at the young man through the corner of his eyes. "I''ll give you an opportunity to prove it."

    He raised his gaze, noticing the Goddess of Nature in the distance before continuing. "As long as you can defeat her, I''ll allow you to do as you please."

    Even though the Goddess of Nature didn''t fight often, her strength wasn''t weak at all. If anything, she had been amongst the strongest gods on earth.

    She didn''t have the offense of the Element of Death. She didn''t have the versatility of darkness. She also didn''t have the benefits of light. However, what she had was nature, which allowed her to turn every terrain into her own strength!

    Karyk knew that even if the Goddess of Light had fought her a thousand years ago, she wouldn''t have been defeated. The only reason she lost and was sealed was because it was he who fought her!

    Karyk knew that Gabriel had potential. When it came to physical strength now, he was probably even stronger than him. However, he also needed plenty of time to show the potential of that body. That''s why he didn''t want to watch him leave stubbornly.

    He used a battle with the Goddess of Nature to sway him. At the same time, it was to train him! If Gabriel was weak minded, then after a few defeats, he was going to give up and agree to go back.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    On the other hand, if he actually had the zeal to win, no matter how many times he lost, then these battles were something akin to his training, which could force him to learn more about his new strengths and weaknesses in an effort to win.

    Karyk didn''t know what the oue of these battles was going to be. However, no matter which oue it was, it was good. One oue led to his safety while the other oue led to his strength.

    After he finished speaking, he closed his eyes once again, not paying attention to anything else. In any case, the invitation token that led to the secret realm of the banquet was with him. Without his approval, Gabriel couldn''t leave. He needed to prove his strength!

    At the same time, Karyk could focus on his soul strength recovery to his peak.

    ****

    In a faraway ce, there were two people standing next to each other. One was a young boy, whose body was brimming with strength that was way above the strength of the True God that Karyk had killed on earth.

    Next to him, stood a man, seemingly in histe twenties. The man felt like an ordinary human, not having a trace of any godly strength. However, thews of the universe could be seen in his eyes, revealing that he wasn''t a simple man.

    Before them, was a mirror that was showing them a still image. In that image, they saw the lifeless body of a True God, and next to him stood Karyk.

    "Should we meet him?" The man asked, looking at the image that he had seen a month ago for the first time.

    At that time, they had received the news that a god was killed by a mortal who didn''t even have true divinity yet! As they were both curious about who this person could be, the young boy had used a treasure.

    It was a mirror that could show them the scene of that god''s death! That''s where they saw Karyk for the first time! However, for some strange reason, it was as if even Karyk was able to see them!

    They saw Karyk looking straight in their direction before their mirror shattered ultimately. Ever since then, they only had this one still image. However, more than anger, their faces revealed fascination.

    "If he''s really rted to ''him'' then he might have the Royal Blood. You might have another Candidate..." The man asked the young boy next to him.

    Even though the boy looked young, he had lived for what appeared like an eternity already!

    "Then you won''t need my son for the battle of thrones... Isn''t that right, Janus?" The man asked, revealing a calm yet intrigued nce.

    On the other hand, the young-looking boy didn''t respond. He only frowned, looking at the still image on the mirror. "Could he really be... his son?"

 Chapter 540 540: Words From Unexpected

    ****

    Absolute defeat... That was the oue of Gabriel''s first battle with the Goddess of Nature. In fact, he couldn''t evenst for more than a few seconds, even after using everything he had learned from Cylix and Novius.

    Even though the Goddess of Nature didn''t look like this, her strength was absolutely something that Gabriel couldn''t resist. She was truly a powerful god.

    Even though he already knew about that woman''s strength thanks to the memories of Karyk where he forgot her in the past, that didn''t help him since Karyk had used his element of death to fight her, and even then it took quite some time for him to end the battle.

    Even though the first battle showed him the immensegap in their current strengths, it also helped Gabriel learn more about himself. He realized that his body''s defense was quite high. It was as if there was an Armor around him that reduced the damages of all the attacks that were targeted towards him.

    After his defeat, he once again challenged the Goddess of Nature after just a short break, not intending to give up.

    One after another, he kept having continuous battles with the Goddess of Nature. In each battle, he felt that he was bing stronger and learning more about himself. Even though he was fast in learning, defeating the Goddess of Nature was still hard.

    After two days, he was able tost an hour in a battle against the Goddess of Nature, but in the end, it was still his defeat. However, he felt that he learned even more in thest few days.

    His new body had nice self healing abilities, that made him a little surprised. It was as if a healing spell was constantly being cast on him, without him having to do anything.

    Another thing worth noting was that his physical strength was much higher, as a single attack of hiswithout any use of magic was able to break walls.

    Unfortunately, that strength hadn''te handy so far, since the Goddess of Nature didn''t even allow him to get close.

    Along the way, even Karyk asionally opened his eyes, observing the battles once or twice. He understood the True God whose blood he had used. However, even he didn''t know the mystery behind that skeleton, whose bones were covered in strange mysterious characters.

    He had always felt that those characters had some scary strength hidden inside them. As for what that was, even he didn''t know.

    After observing the battle for a little, he closed his eyes again, realizing that Gabriel was going to be defeated again. He focused on his recovery. He knew that his intervention would not change much. Gabriel had to learn how to use his skills properly and how to win battles.

    It was his own battles and his training. Karyk didn''t think it was right for him to intervene. However, he didn''tpletely stay out of it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Gabriel was sitting on the ground, covered in sweat. His breathing was unhurried, but it was clear that he was extremely tired as he had just gone through a battle.

    While he was trying to go through what he could improve on for his next battle, he heard Karyk''s voice.

    Even though Karyk didn''t open his eyes, his words fell in Gabriel''s ears. Even the Goddess of Nature and Jia heard him, as if he had no intention to fight.

    "Stop focusing on her weakness. Focus on your strength instead." Karyk said before returning to silence. His words were vague, but it contained the essence of his experience.

    Ever since he saw the battles, Karyk already understood what Gabriel was doing wrong. Gabriel was trying to fight the Goddess of Nature while thinking about taking advantage of her weakness.

    Since the Goddess of Nature was weak in closebat, Gabriel had been trying to get close to her in this battle, thinking that was the way to defeat her. Unfortunately, that was the worst method to defeat her.

    If he couldn''t even break her spells, then getting closer to her was impossible. And if he could break her spells, then why was there a need to get close to her to defeat her?

    ording to Karyk, Gabriel had to increase his own strength. Instead of focusing on getting closer, he had to focus on his own strength. He had to make sure that his spells were strong enough to break through the defense of the Goddess of Nature, or rather, break through everything that stood in its path!

    Cylixy and Novius were the best mages of Light and Darkness on earth in their generation. However, that was limited to their generation. They had never faced a god. Their strength was not capable of facing a god. It could also be said that their spells were very weak.

    Just because they could defeat the Holy Lords of Elements didn''t mean they could defeat gods themselves, since the Holy Lords were only granted a small fragment of a god''s power, maybe not even one percent of their total strength.

    If Gabriel relied on the old spells all his time, then it was going to get troublesome. He was depending on the wrong weapon, and Karyk was sure that even Gabriel would''ve been able to see that, if he wasn''t so focused on somehow getting closer to the Goddess of Nature.

    Gabriel nced back after hearing Karyk''s advice, only to find him lost in meditation to calm his spirit. He didn''t pay any more attention to him.

    "He''s not wrong. That''s been your w this whole time." Contrary to Gabriel''s expectations, the Goddess of Nature also agreed. "I was wondering how long it''ll take you to realize that. I thought you were very close to that realization yourself. I didn''t expect Karyk to give you the answer right away."

    She stepped closer to Gabriel, patting his head lightly. "As soon as you heard that you had to win against me, you jumped straight into battle, instead of considering all possibilities. As he said, focus on your strength... Only then shall you stand a chance against me."

 Chapter 541 541: Creation

    After the Goddess of Nature finished speaking, she walked past Gabriel, leaving him lost in his thoughts.

    "You should''ve let hime to the answer himself." She sat next to Karyk, softly asking.

    "I know," Karyk replied calmly. "But I''m afraid he doesn''t have time. If he can''t get stronger before the banquet, I''m afraid he might still be stubborn enough to leave this ce. I don''t want to forcefully restrain him. So I can only help him get stronger while also focusing on my own strength."

    "Are you starting to care for someone else again?" The Goddess of Nature asked.

    "How is he someone else?" Karyk asked, frowning. "I''m only taking care of myself. If I die, he would need all the strength he can gather to protect himself..."

    "You aren''t dying. I''m with you." The Goddess of Nature replied.

    "The fact that you''ll die with me doesn''tfort me in the least," Karyk responded, shaking his head lightly.

    If there was a situation in the future where he could die, then the chances of survival of the Goddess of Nature were also close to none after all. So he didn''t think too much about it.

    "So you still know how to joke," the Goddess of Nature rolled her eyes. "Anyway, how long until youpletely recover?"

    "Soon." Karyk vaguely answered, shaking his head lightly. However, even though he said that, even he didn''t know how long it was going to take exactly.

    Initially, he had thought that it was going to take at least a month for him to recoverpletely. However, everything had been moving smoothly, so he felt as if he could heal before a month was over.

    ****

    Gabriel sat alone in the middle of the hall, unaware of the conversation that was taking ce between the Goddess of Nature and Karyk. He was simply looking at the mark of Life and Death on the back of his hand.

    His eyes were slightlyplicated.

    "Focus on my strength..." He muttered the words. It was clear that the words meant that he had to improve his spells, ore up with new spells that matched his fighting style, containing more power.

    He was different from a Mage of Light or a mage of darkness. He had both the elements and they had both merged into creating something new. So it was clear that the old spells of Cylix and Novius didn''t match him perfectly.

    He needed something more!

    *****

    Two more days passed in the blink of an eye.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The Southern General was getting more and more frustrated since he couldn''t find a single clue about Karyk. Moreover, the information about Karyk''s appearance in the Upper World had also reached the Ruler of the Upper Realm.

    Strength enough, the King of the Upper Realm didn''t react much to this information, as if he already expected this. In fact, he still didn''t leave the Central Realm. He left everything for his Generals to handle.

    No one knew what he was thinking, or why he didn''t leave the Central World of the Upper Realm. Some felt that it was because he didn''t think that Karyk was strong enough for him to personally make a move. While there were also some who thought that he had another reason for not leaving the Central World.

    In fact, most of the people couldn''t even remember thest time he had left the Central Realm. Most of the tasks were handed over to his Generals.

    In fact, most people were sure that thousands of years had already passed since thest time the Ruler of the Upper Realm came out of the Central World.

    Many people thought that this problem could''ve been solved easily, if only their king woulde out and deal with it himself, but they were left disappointed.

    As for the Generals, even though many people respected them, there were many who also secretly questioned their capabilities, since a thousand years ago, they had also failed in capturing the same person.

    Even though the Four Generals were the strongest beings in the Upper Realm after the King of the Upper Realm, in reality, their skills weren''t even close to the King.

    But the Four Generals were determined to prove their worth and regain the trust of their people by capturing Karyk once and for all. They used all their might, sealing all four worlds, making it impossible for a person to go from one world to another.

    Only the Four Generals and people approved by them could travel freely through the sealed space. Even Karyk couldn''t do that.

    After sealing the entire ce, they ced even more people on the search. Every city was searched from top to bottom, in search of Karyk who was said to be apanied by two women this time.

    The Four Generals created a force, led by their most skilled warriors, to track down Karyk''s whereabouts. The Warriors were given the authority to use any means necessary to capture Karyk.

    They could also execute anyone who they found suspicious. In fact, they were even allowed to destroy an entire town if needed. This showed how serious the Four Generals were.

    While a search for them was intensifying, Karyk was sitting on the ground, still in meditation.

    Even the Goddess of Nature was rxing a little. For thest two days, Gabriel hadn''t asked her for a battle even once. It was as if Karyk''s advice had worked for him. He wasn''t as impatient as before.

    Instead, Gabriel was sitting alone in the distance. Thews of various elements could asionally be felting from his direction, as if he was working on spells of his own, that could utilize his merged elements himself.

    Creating a new spell was hard to the point that it was considered almost impossible. However, Gabriel had Karyk''s knowledge, who was the person that started from scratch and created all his spells himself! That gave him some basic understanding.

    Moreover, Cylix and Novius had also created some unique spells of their own, which were something that even the Holy Lords wanted. He had everything he needed.

 Chapter 542 542: Someplace Else

    Two more days passed in the blink of an eye. The sun had set over the horizon, casting a colorful glow over the tranquilndscape.

    As the stars began to twinkle in the night sky, a soft breeze picked up, bringing the sweet scent of blooming flowers. The evening air was cool and refreshing, providing a wee break to many people from the scorching heat of the day. Crickets chirped in the distance, their rhythmic melodies creating a sense of calm and tranquility.

    Unfortunately, the depths of the Southern World werepletely void of all these. It was just an empty space, mostly disconnected from the outside.

    Moreover, everyone was focusing on their work. Only the Goddess of Nature and Jia could asionally be heard talking to each other.

    During thest four days, the Goddess of Nature had already informed her everything about what happened with Karyk and why there were two people who looked alike.

    Initially, Jia was stunned. However, she was also somewhat amazed that there existed a method like that.

    She couldn''t help but wonder what other impossible feats the gods and goddesses were able tomit. As the days passed, Jia also told the Goddess of Nature about the workings of the upper realm and the delicate bnce required to maintain order in the issue outside world.

    Amongst the four of them, only she had lived in the upper world in recent years.

    On the fifth day, Gabriel finally opened his eyes. His eyes looked serene, as if he was much calmer than he had to be in the past. The mark of his element of light and darkness looked even more refined, as if it had improved and could further improve even more.

    Throughout thest four days, Gabriel immersed himself in understanding the core of light and darkness, thanks to all the knowledge that he had gathered.

    Through that, he realized that even though light and darkness weren''t a supreme element on their own, the mysteries they possessed were incredible, especially whenbined. They contained both holy power and unholy strength.

    Gabriel was fascinated by the bnce of power that light and darkness possessed. He wanted to explore their capabilities and harness their power to increase his strength. Moreover, he also tried to maintain the bnce of this power in the spells that he created.

    Initially, the few spells that he created were imperfect and unbnced. It wasn''t wrong to call them unstable. Not only were they used to cast, but they also consumed more of his strength than he wanted.

    During thest few days he had been working constantly, resting to refine those spells. He knew that even though spells that he created were powerful, but he could not win a battle against the Goddess of nature if he just relied on the unstable and imperfect spells.

    Fortunately, his hard work paid off. Within just five days from start, he had managed to take care of most of the problems that were in his new spells, starting from their efficiency.

    He had also found a way to incorporate the power of his bloodline itself into his spells, which gave him an advantage in his uing battle. With his newfound confidence, he took a deep breath and found the strength to face his opponent.

    He finally stood up. After five days, he was ready to face the Goddess of Nature.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He nced at the Goddess of Nature in the distance, who was looking back at him.

    "I''m ready. However, I don''t think this ce is suitable enough for our battle. Shall we go to some ce where we can freely use our spells?" Gabriel asked. Even though the space here was vast, but it didn''t change the fact that this was still a closed space.

    He didn''t want to identally bring the whole ce down and disturb Karyk''s recovery.

    As for going outside, that wasn''t dangerous for them. Since his element of light had be apletely new element now, he couldn''t be traced by the Goddess of Light. As for the people of the Upper World, they were only tracing after the one with the Element of Death, so he was free from that too.

    He could easily leave without being detected. All he needed to do was find a barren ce where they could fight freely.

    The Goddess of Nature nced in the direction of Karyk before nodding at Gabriel. "Looks like you''re very confident this time. Fine."

    She waved her hand, opening a void. "I already know a ce like that."

    "Take care of Karyk." She told Jia before entering the void. Someone needed to be here to take care of the guy who was lost in his soul meditation.

    Behind the Goddess of Nature, Gabriel also entered the void, ready for theing battle. In the end, only Jia was left behind, slightly frustrated that she couldn''t watch the battle.

    *****

    The sky darkened and the winds howled as the sh between the Goddess of Nature and Gabriel approached. They stood in the center of arge field, each preparing to do battle.

    This ce was far away from any human settlements. Moreover, the Goddess of Nature also cast anotheryer of protection on the surroundings to make sure that the sound and the aura of the battle couldn''t leave this ce.

    This was the perfect ce for the battle.

    On one side was the Goddess of Nature, her long hair billowing in the wind as she stared down her opponent. She had a look of determination on her face that showed she didn''t take Gabriel lightly, even though she was confident in her skills.

    She raised her arms and called forth the power of nature to surround her, a brilliant green aura emanating from her body.

    On the other side was Gabriel, his dark wings spread wide as he prepared for battle. He had the power of light and darkness at his disposal, and he was not afraid to use it. His eyes glowed with a strange determination, as if he knew he was going to win no matter what.

 Chapter 543 543: Stronger

    The two of them began to observe each other, looking for an opening in the other''s defenses. The Goddess of Nature attacked first, sending a flurry of wind at Gabriel. Thousands of vines came out of the ground, attacking simultaneously. He quickly summoned a shield of darkness to protect himself, but the force of the attack still knocked him back a few feet.

    Unlike before, he didn''t hastily try to get close to the Goddess of Nature. However, he hadn''t forgotten how powerful she was.

    He bnced himself,avoiding any harm thanks to his shield. Instead, he retaliated by shooting a powerful beam of light at the Goddess of Nature. It was as if he had created the Holy Sword of Light that shot straight out, looking to annihte everything that was wrong with this world.

    The Goddess of Nature was slightly intrigued, but she still quickly put up a barrier of her own. At the same time, golden vines came out of the ground, as if intending to be her shield.

    The Golden Vines appeared stronger than the ones she had used to attack Gabriel. Moreover, they were also harder than metal, and almost impossible to break.

    Unfortunately, the Holy Sword of Light wasn''t to be taken lightly either, especially since Gabriel didn''t just stop with one! He created more of such Swords that flew out.

    Amidst the Holy Swords made purely of Light, he also created some Swords of Darkness, which had different properties.

    The barrier of the Goddess of Nature barely managed to hold on for the most part, but knew that under the constant barrage of attacks, it was only a matter of time before her barrier broke.

    That was also exactly what happened. The beam of light bounced off the barrier and hit the ground, causing a huge explosion that sent dirt and debris flying everywhere.

    The Goddess of Nature was not done yet, though. As if already expecting it, she had already switched ces and appeared in a different ce. There was no one behind the barrier that she had created.

    "Not bad. You''ve certainly be calmer," sheplimented before sending a wave of earth and vegetation to surround Gabriel, entrapping him. He was able to break free, but the Goddess of Nature was alreadyunching another attack.

    She summoned a huge tree toe crashing down on Gabriel, but he managed to dodge out of the way just in time. He retaliated by summoning Shadow Generals to attack the Goddess of Nature.

    The battle only kept intensifying with each passing second, as both the people involved in it went all out.

    Smoke and dust could be seen everywhere on the battlefield, decreasing the visible range. However, for the two of them, it didn''t matter.

    Gabriel was determined to defeat the Goddess of Nature, while the Goddess of Nature didn''t want to lose either.

    Amidst all the dust filling the surrounding, she sent a powerful shockwave of energy at Gabriel, knocking him back several feet once again. However, she once again failed in hurting him as a beautiful armor appeared around him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Strangely enough, the Armor was made by merging two contrasting elements of Light and Darkness.

    Noticing the effectiveness of Gabriel''s armor, the Goddess of Nature waved her hand. Multiple trees in the distance were uprooted, rising in the air. All of them flew straight to Gabriel, as if they were mountains,ing to crush him.

    As if anticipating her move, Gabriel countered with a strategic sh of his sword that he made by merging light and darkness. It was stronger and sharper than any said he had created before.

    He swung his Sword, as if he wasn''t a mage but a knight instead!

    His sword came swinging at the tens of trees that came for him, splitting the trees in half. The energy emitted from the sword was so powerful that it transformed the surroundingndscape into a surreal scenery.

    He quickly recovered and retaliated with a st of darkness that enveloped the whole area. The Goddess of Nature managed to dodge the attack, but the darkness still caused some damage to the nearby trees and vegetation.

    Instead of targeting her directly, Gabriel tried to take away her advantage by changing the entirendscape into something that she couldn''t take advantage of. Unfortunately, that wasn''t an easy task.

    He had only been training for five days so the spells that he created weren''t many. As for the stronger spells that he created in the meantime, he didn''t use them yet. He wanted to test his limits, to see how far he could go without using his more powerful spells.

    The battle raged on, both mages trading blows and using their respective powers to try and gain the upper hand. The darkness and light shed against the purity of Nature in a brilliant disy, neither side willing to back down.

    Eventually, the Goddess of Nature managed to gain the upper hand, and Gabriel was forced to retreat a few steps. However, the battle was far from over.

    Gabriel was just getting started, and he knew that he had to take things up a notch if he wanted to turn the tide in his favor. He closed his eyes, focused his energy, and began to chant a spell that he had never attempted before.

    As he changed the spell, he kept moving without even looking at his surroundings. He knew that the Goddess of Nature wasn''t going to allow him to finish this spell. However, he was ready for that and kept changing his position.

    Hundreds of shadows appeared in the surroundings and he also became a shadow, disappearing amidst all the other shadows. It wasn''t easy to locate him.

    Moreover, the chanting of his spells appeared toe from all of his shadows, being identical.

    The air around the shadows crackled with power as he unleashed the spell, causing the ground to shake and the trees to sway. The Goddess of Nature looked on in surprise as the spell began to affect the very fabric of reality itself.

 Chapter 544 544: Breaking In

    "How long will they take? It''s already been over seven hours since they left. Could something have happened to them?"

    Sitting in the underground hall, Jia was still waiting for the two to return. However, as more and more time passed, she started getting worried about them.

    On the other hand, Karyk didn''t seem to care about it in the least. Jia wondered if she should wake Karyk up and tell him how long it had been since the Goddess of Nature and Gabriel went missing, but she couldn''t gather her courage to disturb him.

    As if being able to read her mind, Karyk opened his serene eyes.

    "Don''t worry. They should be back soon."

    After only speaking one sentence, he closed his eyes once again, focusing on his recovery. Even he didn''t expect how fast it was. Only less than a week had passed and he felt that he had almost healed!

    At this rate, he couldpletely heal himself before the banquet. At this speed, he believed that only one more day was needed before he could recoverpletely. Not only recover, but he could also go farther since his understanding of death and souls had improved.

    After half an hour passed, a void opened in the middle of the hall. From the void, the Goddess of Nature came out. She looked perfectly fine. However, there was a small cut on the corner of her sleeves, as if made from some dark energy.

    Behind her, Gabriel also came out. He also didn''t look much worse. He didn''t have any wounds, at least not something that could be concerning. He more or less looked the same as he did before he left. However, something felt different about him.

    "I suppose you finally won?" Karyk opened his eyes once more. Even though the two didn''t say anything, he could understand what happened through their expressions.

    The Goddess of Nature still appeared slightly surprised, as if she was unwilling. Even though her defeat at the hands of Gabriel wasn''t as brutal as it has been in Karyk''s hand, she still felt frustrated.

    It was the second time she had lost, and the first time it happened at the hands of someone who was so much younger than her. However, even through this difort, she felt slightly pleased. They had another strong person in their group now. The chances of their sess had increased.

    "I will go to the banquet," Gabriel said, reaching out his hand, as if asking for the invitation token.

    Karyk didn''t react much and tossed the invitation token. "It doesn''t matter. We''ll be getting more such invitation tokens soon. All of us will be going there together."

    Initially, he had to change his n to attend the banquet because of the sudden change in his condition due to corruption. However, now that he felt that he could heal himself soon, he once again returned to the old n.

    This was their perfect opportunity to get to the Southern General, after all! And if they were lucky, the other Generals could be there as well!<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ****

    The next morning, Karyk finally stood up, stretching his arms. It had been a long time, but he finally felt that he was back to his usual self. His soul and his strength was back to its peak. Moreover, his Elemental Control had also improved more.

    As soon as he recovered, he opened a void before him, and told Gabriel and the Goddess of Nature to follow him.

    All four of them left the temporary hideout and entered the outskirts of the Southern World once again.

    However, since these people already knew that he was in the Southern World, Karyk didn''t bother being cautious to the previous extension.

    Karyk appeared before the Wester n once more, which was connected to the Southern General. He didn''t like leaving things iplete. Since these people tried to kill him thest time he was here to talk nicely, he could only return the favor.

    Over a hundred Undead Beings appeared all around the n. This time, Karyk took the lead, destroying everything in its path. Not even the strongest Warriors in the Wester n could resist. What was even worse was that Karyk wasn''t alone.

    Vines that could drink blood... nts that could eat humans.... They saw many timese out of nowhere, overwhelming them in an instant.

    The Patriarch of the Wester n was horrified at the gruesome sight before him. He hadn''t expected the Death Star to be this scary. He didn''t even think that he could resist against this man, even if he was stronger! In fact, the thought of standing against the man didn''t even cross his mind.

    Instead, he rushed inside his mansion, to contact the Southern General. His heart was racing as his whole body was drenched in sweat because of fear. He knew that the Southern General was the only one who could aid them in this dire situation.

    He pushed the door of the secret chamber open, hastily rushing inside. However, as soon as he stepped inside, he was horrified. Karyk was inside there! But how was it possible? He had just seen Karyk outside? Moreover, why did Karyk change his clothes so suddenly? Something didn''t make sense.

    As the man noticed the hands of the person before him, he was even more shocked. The young man didn''t have the Elemental Mark of Death. Instead, he had a strange mark which appeared to be a merger of the Elemental Mark of Light and the Elemental Mark of Death.

    The person before him wasn''t Karyk! It was evident. But why did he look simr? Was he a clone? The Patriarch of the Wester n was flooded with questions in his mind.

    "Looking for something?" Gabriel held a small item in his hand that was used to contact the Southern General.

    Before the Wester n Master''s eyes, Gabriel destroyed the item, making it impossible for anyone here to contact the Southern General! Everyone was trapped here and no one could escape, just like they had trapped Karyk and the rest previously.

 Chapter 545 545: Temple Of Elements

    The wall of the mansion broke apart and a figure came flying out, falling on the ground. Blood wasing out of his lips and he felt that some of his bones were also broken.

    However, the man didn''t move. Instead, it was as if he was frozen in fear as he felt an even scarier aura around him.

    The Patriarch of the Wester n turned around, finding Karyk standing right behind him. He had already taken care of everyone else in the n. Only the Patriarch of the Wester n was left.

    On the other side, Gabriel also jumped out from the broken wall.

    The patriarch of the Wester n felt an impending doom.

    That day, two great ns disappeared from the Southern World, causing a great turmoil. Almost everyone knew who was behind this. They also understood that Karyk had some enmity with the Wester n. However, soon after the Wester n, another n was destroyed which made people even more confused.

    More than confused, they were scared as they remembered what happened a thousand years ago. It appeared to be a repeat of that. However, nothing else happened after the two ns were destroyed, as if that was all.

    Karyk didn''t make any moves anymore. Instead, he disappeared like a ghost, making it impossible to find him.

    It was as if he was a demon who just appeared in this world to create chaos and then disappear in the midst of darkness after achieving his goal. No one knew where he was.

    While the entire Southern World was wondering about his whereabouts, most of the Major ns had strengthened their security. They didn''t know if they could be the next to be attacked. However, they couldn''t leave anything to change.

    On the other hand, the Southern General had even more headaches. It was as if it was the repeat of the past. He couldn''t help but curse Karyk.

    "Evenst time, that guy created chaos in my domain and now as well! Why doesn''t that brat go and mess with other Generals! What is wrong with his head!"

    The Southern General mmed his fist on the table before him. The table broke apart and shattered into pieces.

    His subordinates watched in silence, unsure of how to calm down their furiousmander. But the Southern General knew he had to take action fast or else it would be toote. Unfortunately, finding Karyk was like finding a needle in this vast world.

    He had thoughts about canceling the banquet and focusing on the situation more. However, in the end, he decided to go forward with it. It was also the meeting between the four generals after all!

    Even though he hated to admit it, he needed the help of others to draw this rat out.

    ****

    While the world was guessingwho Karyk was going to target next, Karyk was calmly sitting in the secret hall in the depths of the Southern World.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    In his hand, there was an invitation token to the Southern General''s banquet which was going to be held in a secret realm. Only with these invitation tokens could one enter that ce.

    That is why he had destroyed two ns and gathered the tokens that they had received.

    Now all four of them had the invitations to attend the prestigious banquet where the Four Generals were going to be gathered together.

    "Do you think the Goddess of Light will attend the banquet as well?" Gabriel asked Karyk.

    Even though the banquet was being kept in the Southern World, but be careful all the Generals were attending, the scope of the banquet was increased and many prominent leaders from all four worlds were invited. At least that''s what Gabriel had heard when he left this ce.

    He was sure that the Goddess of Light should''ve carved an important identity in thest thousand years. So she should''ve received the invitation as well. If she was going to be there, then it was even better!

    Karyk looked up, shaking his head lightly. "I doubt she''d show herself now that she knows I''m here. But it''s only a matter of time before she runs out of patience."

    "She had ced a lot of cards to control me, but in the end, she still failed," he further continued. "As soon as she realizes that the corruption failed, she''ll start getting desperate. That day isn''t far."

    He nced at his hand. The strange ck patterns of death were spreading out in his hand as well. He was extremely close toplete control of the Supreme Element of Death. However, to cover thest stretch was harder than said, since it needed a lot of external help.

    He couldn''t achieveplete control naturally since it was harder than climbing the tallest mountain in the world without any magic or any equipment.

    However, he also knew just what exactly he needed to achieve his goal. He needed to enter the Temple of Elements, which was in the Central World.

    He was sure that this was also why the Goddess of Light had betrayed him! The Temple of Elements was said to be connected to the true core of the World, which was helpful in increasing a person''s control over their elements.

    Unfortunately, entering that ce was even harder since the Central World was under the control of the master of Upper Realm. Going there was directly going against him.

    Without his permission, no one could enter that ce. It was clear that even after betraying him, the Goddess of Light had failed to get his permission to enter that ce. That''s why she was trying her best to remove her from the Central World with Karyk''s help.

    Unfortunately, Karyk also knew how hard it was. He still wasn''t strong enough to face the King of the Upper Realm. Fortunately, that man never left the Central World or it would''ve been extremely easy for that guy to find him.

    It was also why he gave management of the other upper realm words to his generals.

 Chapter 546 546: Not The Time

    The Central World was the core of the Upper World. It was not only said to be the most important ce in the upper realm, but also the most precious. However, only one person lived there, as if monopolizing the entire ce.

    That was the ce where Karyk really wanted to enter, however he wasn''t confident enough. Rushing inside the Central Reason was impossible, since there was said to be only one way to enter the Central World which only the four generals knew about.

    That was also why he had been targeting the four generals ever since he came here. And finally, he had an opportunity to meet them face to face.

    As the banquet drew near, the preparations intensified. The Special realm where the banquet was going to take ce was being prepared for the uing event. Not only was the security of that ce being arranged, but responses for all the invitations were also sent.

    The Southern General was personally overseeing the preparations to ensure that everything was perfect for the asion. At the same time, he also remained alert about Karyk''s presence in the Upper Realm. However, for the time being, that was secondary.

    A few days passed and the time for the banquet finally arrived!

    The secret realm was prepared! Guards were arranged. There was not a single w in arrangements. Moreover, multiple traps were also arranged to make sure that information of any attacks would reach the four generals directly.

    There was only one portal which led to the Secret Realm. However, to enter, one had to not only verify their identity with the Captain of the Guards but also possess the invitation token.

    It was hard for the Captain of the Guards to keep an eye on everything alone since there were thousands of guests who had arrived. The entrance to the secret realm was also starting to get crowded, which prompted him to use his other guards to verify the identity of people.

    He didn''t realize that in the distance, this was exactly what four people were waiting for.

    The Guard of the Captain had a great memory and a good perception. Moreover, if he was the only person who verified identities, it was hard for anyone to fool him and enter.

    Now that there was controlled chaos because of the crowd, this gave them the perfect opportunity.

    At the moment, Karyk was wearing a disguise like before. He even hid all his aura, as if not intending to show it in the slightest.

    Next to him, Gabriel had also disguised. The Goddess of Nature and Jia were staying inside Karyk''s shadow space, so that left only the two to enter.

    Unlike Karyk who didn''t reveal any aura, Gabriel had shrouded himself in a powerful aura of light.

    The two men stepped closer to the guards, instead of going straight for the Captain of the Guards.

    The guard raised his head, looking up and down. He asked to see their invitations.

    Gabriel and Karyk showed the invitation tokens which luckily enough didn''t have the name of the person that these were granted to.

    After verifying the invitation, the guard opened a list of names. It contained the names of people who had affirmed that they were going to attend the banquet.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "I''m Wezitik, the second son of the Talon n. This is my guard, Agia," Karyk responded.

    He didn''t randomly close these names either. In fact, people with these names had actually entered the secret realm. The only difference was that they verified with the Captain of the Guards.

    Unfortunately, the current guard wasn''t there when those people verified and entered, so he didn''t know. Moreover, these two namespletely matched the list that was on his hands.

    He stepped aside, nodding. At the same time, he ticked the two names in the list of names, not realizing that those two names were already ticked in another list.

    Karyk and Gabriel walked past the guards, stepping closer to her heavily protected portal in the distance.

    "Nervous?" Karyk asked Gabriel. Even he was slightly intrigued about how their meeting with the Four Generals was going to go. When it came to pure strength, the two of them weren''t as strong as the Four Generals. That''s why it wasn''t easy. However, still, Karyk had something that he had prepared.

    Karyk ced his hand on Gabriel''s shoulder before walking inside the portal together, to make sure the two of them came out at the same ce.

    *****

    Gabriel stepped through the portal, only to be surprised when he came out of the other side.

    The world before him was nothing like Earth or the Southern World. It was a realm of pure beauty and wonder, where the sky was a kaleidoscope of colors and the ground was covered with soft petals.

    He felt a gentle breeze caress his skin and heard a melody of birdsong andughter. At the same time, he smelled the fragrance of exotic flowers and fruits and tasted the sweetness of the air.

    This realm was beautiful to say the least. It was long a small world in itself, containing many precious natural treasures.

    He walked forward, mesmerized by the sights and sounds, seeing creatures of all shapes and sizes, some familiar and some fantastical.

    She saw beasts that he had never seen before, running around freely or flying high in the sky. The strange beasts weren''t strong, but they appeared to add to the beauty of this ce.

    They all seemed to live in harmony. There were also trees that bore jewels and crystals, rivers that flowed with intoxicating water as if it contained alcohol, mountains that sparkled with snow and fire. There were also castles and temples, gardens and fountains, statues and paintings.

    While Gabriel was lost in his surroundings, he felt a touch on his shoulder and turned around. He saw a man with beautiful long hair and eyes deep like an abyss.

    "It''s not the time to appreciate the beauty of this ce."

 Chapter 547 547: For The King?

    Even though over a thousand people were invited to the Secret Realm for the banquet, that didn''t mean the banquet was to start after everyone entered.

    Each of the n was given only two invitations, despite their prominence or influence. Only the Masters of their n, and their potential heirs were invited. That''s why, many middle aged people could be seen apanying their young son or a young daughter.

    This banquet had be a gathering ce of many important people where youngsters could meet each other, and build connections. At least that''s what came across to others. However, that wasn''t all.

    Everyone knew that the Southern General''s banquet wasn''t so simple. In this ce, the only benefits weren''t connections. However, there were also many opportunities for the youngsters to get stronger.

    The Four Generals were still not in the Secret Realm. However, the Captain of the Guards was here to manage things. The portal for entrance was closed and there was no need to keep it secure since no one else could enter after time was over.

    Despite that, some guards were still left outside to keep an eye on the surroundings.

    "Greetings, to all the guests!" The Captain of the Guards stood mid-air in the distance, so that he was visible to everyone. Moreover, his voice was also loud enough for everyone to be able to hear him.

    "We are highly grateful that you decided to attend the Birthday Celebration of our General. However, I would like to apologize in advance since Master won''t be able to attend the banquet!" The Captain of the Guards stated.

    As soon as Karyk heard his response, his frown deepened. They weren''t here? Didn''t that meaning here was a waste?

    There was a trace of uncertainty in his eyes. However, before he could think further, the Captain of the Guards continued.

    "Master is currently waiting in his Pce for the other Three Generals. After that, he might be busy in the meeting of the Four Generals!"

    The Captain of the guards could see uncertainty on the faces of the guests. It was clear that they were all thinking why they were here so early then.

    "However, after the meeting is over, the Four Generals wille here and it''ll mark the start of the real banquet."

    "There is also one more thing that I should mention." The smile on the Guard Captain''s lips widened. "The reason you were all brought here so early is because of an opportunity that only a few of you can grasp!''

    "Opportunity?" Many n Master''s eximed. Some of them had already expected something like this. That''s why they were all told to bring their heirs. It was easy to guess for them.

    "An opportunity to be a personal disciple of one of the Four Generals!" The Guard captain made sure that his voice reached far and wide.

    "Your performance will be directly seen by the Four Generals and each of them will select one disciple to further train personally!"

    "What?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Personally trained by a General?"

    Many people were stunned. The Four Generals were the strongest beings after the King of the Upper Realm. Bing a personal disciple of people like them was like reaching the sky in one step!

    Even some in the older generation were feeling jealous of the youngsters for this opportunity.

    Initially, they thought that it was only going to be somepetition between youths where the winners were going to be given some heavenly fruits that could strengthen them! However, what was such a fruit before the personal teaching of a General?!

    Once someone bes a General''s personal disciple, such resources were thest thing they had to be concerned about, after all.

    "Those guys..." Hearing the announcement, Karyk couldn''t help but raise his head, ncing at the sky. "So this ce was a yground for their entertainment. They''ll only show up at the end after watching entertainment.''

    "Are you going to join thepetition?" Gabriel inquired, keeping his voice low. Unlike him, Karyk didn''t have any element other than death. So as long as he used his spells or aura, his identity was going to be revealed.

    Even though he could also win without using any aura against the other youngsters, but that was going to be even more suspicious, bringing more attention to them.

    "I can''t. Neither can you," Karyk responded. They had already assumed identities. Thanks to Gabriel''s disguise of a middle aged man, he appeared like a proper guard. However, that also meant he couldn''t participate, unless he canceled his disguise.

    "It would''ve been so much easier if we could. If we could be a personal disciple of a General, we could''ve had personal ess to him at all times. That would''ve made it easier to deal with one."

    Gabriel could only shake his head in disappointment. They hadn''t expected this to happen, or they would''ve prepared ordingly.

    Karyk also didn''t speak anything. He just remained silent, gazing at the colorful sky.

    A suddenpetition to select a personal disciple appeared out of ce for some reason. All the Generals were supposed to be so busy because of his appearance, so why did they think that they had time to take a disciple? Something seemed amiss, but he just couldn''t put his fingers at it.

    He didn''t know why, but he felt as if it had something to do with the King of the Upper Realm. It was just a feeling that he had no evidence to back. Even he wasn''t sure if he was thinking too much. However, this certainly didn''t appear ordinary.

    "This is a mandatory test. So all the youngsters, please step forward!" The Guard Captain further stated, as if not even giving the youngsters a chance to stay out of it.

    In any case, there weren''t any youngsters whowanted to miss this opportunity.

    Moreover, it was hard to avoid the attention of people around him in such an open space, where the Guard Captain could see almost everyone in his view.

 Chapter 548 548: Stairway To Heaven

    Karyk couldn''t avoid this unnecessary attention either. Even though he was supposed to look like a person who couldn''t even use an ounce of magic, still, everyone was called forward.

    In the end, he followed suit and stepped forward, getting slightly frustrated. It was good to get ess to a General directly by winning the challenges. However, he couldn''t do that without revealing his identity.

    He knew that if that happened, then the guys who were looking in the secret realm as a form of entertainment were going to be alert. It was also possible that they were directly going to destroy this ce.

    Even though he could easily escape this ce even if that happened, reaching the four Generals was going to be even harder then.

    He didn''t know what the contents of the challenges were. However, if they required him to use magic, then it was his early defeat.

    Amongst the hundreds of youngsters that stepped forward, Karyk stopped in the back. Not many people paid attention to him. However, the ones who did notice him couldn''t help but snicker.

    Many people were looking at him with amusement, wondering where this person got the courage from, when he couldn''t even use magic.

    On the other hand, the Guard of the Captains also started paying some attention to him, as if he was really intrigued.

    He knew what the contents of the trial was. It didn''t really require the use of magic at all. It was to the point where even he was confused why the Four Generals would make a test which even a mortal had the potential to pass. However, he didn''t have any right to question them.

    Was a mortal really worthy of being their Disciple even if he passed the test? Unfortunately, he could only think such things and not say anything about it.

    He pped his hands once. It was as if an illusion started taking ce, as soon as he pped.

    The surroundings initially appeared to be normal, until the sky suddenly changed. A bright light pierced through the clouds, creating a contrast with the colorful sky.

    All the guests looked up, wondering what was happening. Some thought it was a sign from the arrival of the Four Generals, others thought it was a natural phenomenon, and others thought it had something to do with the test.

    But as they watched, they saw something more amazing. A stairway of pure white light emerged from the opening in the clouds, spiraling down to the earth.

    It was like a bridge between heaven and earth, a connection between the divine and the human. The stairway was so bright that it hurt to look at it directly, but it also had a soothing effect on the eyes. It seemed to radiate warmth and love, inviting anyone who wished to climb it.

    The stairway was not solid, but made of light particles that shimmered and sparkled. It looked like a stream of stars flowing down from the sky.

    The steps were smooth and even, creating afortable path for the feet. The stairway was wide enough for two people to walk side by side, but not too wide. The stairway was surrounded by a halo of rainbow colors, reflecting colorful rays in a dazzling disy.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The colors changed with every angle and movement, creating a dynamic and mesmerizing spectacle.

    The air around the stairway was filled with a gentle melody, as if angels were singing from above. The music was harmonious and uplifting, calming the nerves and soothing the soul. It sounded like a choir of heavenly voices, singing praises and blessings. The music also had a hypnotic effect, drawing people closer to the stairway.

    The stairway seemed to offer a glimpse of paradise, a promise of peace and joy beyond this world. It was a beautiful sight that filled people with awe and wonder.

    Some felt drawn to climb the stairway, hoping to reach heaven and reach the top. Others felt afraid to approach it, fearing that they were not worthy or that they would die. And others felt curious to know more about it, wondering what secrets and mysteries it held.

    The stairway to heaven was a beautiful phenomenon that materialized in reality, changing the lives of many people who witnessed it. However, Karyk realized what it really was.

    It wasn''t actually a reality. There was no stairway to heaven in real life. Instead, it was just a treasure being used, that created this illusion which turned into reality in itself.

    He didn''t know what the purpose of this was, since he hadn''t really seen that treasure even in the past. However, he was sure that it wasn''t dangerous to the extent that it could kill someone.

    "All of you can see the stairs before you? That''s your test. If someone can reach the top of the Heavenly Stairs, then you''ll naturally pass the test. However, let me remind you. You aren''t allowed to use magic, since the stairs repel magic!"

    Even though the stairs were looking fascinating, as people heard about the test, they were slightly relieved. If going to the top was the real test, then they could just fly to the top. Or so they thought, until they heard that flying or any form of magic wasn''t allowed.

    The Guard Captain also reminded them that the test had already begun. He didn''t exin anything else, or even what the test was about.

    As soon as the youngsters realized that the test had already begun, they rushed ahead without a second thought, as if they didn''t want to be left behind.

    Bing a disciple of a Heavenly General was a temptation that many people could not resist. They felt a strong urge to climb the stairs and win.

    They believed that the stairway was a test of speed, will and endurance, and that only the worthy would make it to the top. They ignored the warnings of their Elders who advised them to be careful on the stairs.

    The youngsters gathered at the base of the stairway, rushing straight to climb, looking up at the spiral of light that seemed to go on forever, wondering what awaited them at the end. They felt a mix of excitement and nervousness, but also a sense of determination and confidence.

 Chapter 549 549: The Real Test

    Initially, it felt very easy as if this wasn''t even a challenge to them. The first steps were easy and light, as if they were walking on air.

    They felt a surge of energy and joy, as if they were being lifted by the angels. They smiled and increased their speed even more.

    But as they climbed higher, they started noticing a change. The steps became harder and heavier. They felt a pressure on their legs and feet, as if they were carrying a heavy weight on their back. Many started to sweat and pant, feeling a strain on their muscles and lungs. They slowed down and paused, feeling fatigue and pain.

    If they could use magic, they could try strengthening their bodies. However, even that wasn''t allowed.

    Despite that, many youngsters tried to act sneaky, using strengthening magic in secret, making sure the Guard Captain couldn''t notice them in the crowd. However, as soon as they used magic, they felt a strong repulsive force that hit their chest like a heavy mountain, tossing them away.

    They even felt as if their ribs were broken when they were pushed back by such a heavy force, coughing out blood as they fell back on the ground, far away from the stairs.

    The people who had apanied those youngsters rushed ahead, treating their wounds right away.

    While a few people had ignored the rules and were forcefully sent out, the others learned a lesson after seeing what happened to them.

    Even though they were tired, they didn''t cheat. Instead, at best they stopped climbing temporarily, sitting and resting on the steps.

    Some had turned back, descending with difficulty. Some had fallen off the stairway, crashing to the ground with a thud. And some had disappeared, as if they had been swallowed by the light.

    This test was supposed to be an easy test. However, it was slowly bing the most dangerous test they had ever gone through. Many didn''t even know if they could stay alive while climbing, which scared them into giving up.

    Quite a lot of people were also wondering what was happening. Why was the stairway bing harder to climb? Was it a sign that they were not worthy? Was it a challenge that they had to ovee? Was it a trap that they had fallen into? They felt confusion and doubt, but also stubbornness and pride. If this was a test, they had to pass it.

    They decided to continue climbing, despite the difficulties. They thought that they could make it to the top, if they tried hard enough. They thought that they could prove themselves to Generals, or to themselves. They thought that they could achieve their goal, or their dream.

    While the youngsters from many of the important families were in a race against each other, none had time to pay attention to a young man who was inst ce.

    He hadn''t rushed like everyone else, instead staying at the first step, observing the others. He tried to understand the steps first, to pass this trial without revealing any w.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Fortunately, it didn''t take him long to realize what this test was for. This wasn''t a test of physical strength, or magic power. Even the best of mages would''ve failed to reach the top. Instead, it was a test of willpower from what he could understand.

    The notion that each step was getting heavier was only in their own mind, because of the stairs. In reality, the steps weren''t getting heavier. Instead, their willpower was getting weaker the more they climbed, making them feel tired and heavier.

    While Karyk was observing the stairs, many pushed themselves to climb higher, ignoring their bodies'' signals, not willing to fall behind the rest.

    They ignored the pain and exhaustion, focusing on the light above. They ignored the cries and pleas of others, isting themselves from their fellow climbers. They ignored the danger and risk, exposing themselves to harm.

    But as they climbed higher, they realized their mistake. The steps became impossible to climb, as if they were made of lead. They felt an immense force on their legs and feet, as if they were being crushed by a mountain. They could not move or breathe, feeling paralysis and suffocation.

    They looked up and saw that they were nowhere near the top. The spiral of light seemed to stretch infinitely into the sky, mocking their efforts. It made many feel as if they had wasted their time and energy, chasing an illusion. They realized that they had lost their way and their senses.

    They regretted their decision to climb the stairway to heaven, feeling that it was actually impossible. None had even reached the hundredth step, but more than half of them had already lost their willpower to climb higher.

    As more and more time passed, people kept giving up. With trembling legs, they went back to the foot of the stairs. Even though the opportunity to be a General''s disciple was precious to them, it wasn''t as precious as their lives.

    They were all heirs of prestigious households after all. Even if they didn''t be a General''s disciple, their lives were to be spent in luxury without any worries. They didn''t feel the need to put their lives on the line.

    On the contrary, there were also many who wanted to bring their households to even greater heights by seeding and bing stronger than a General in the future. Even as their lips bled and their legs trembled, they didn''t give up climbing.

    Albeit slowly, but they kept climbing as if their willpower was as strong as the heaven itself.

    Unlike the rest, Karyk finally started climbing. In a test of willpower, he could definitely win without revealing a single trace of magic. It was as if the test was a gift for him.

    Unlike the rest, his steps were much calmer. He didn''t hurry. Instead, taking his time on each step. However, before long, he did start attracting the attention of the others, since a mortal was still on the stairs.

 Chapter 550 550: Attracting The Generals

    Even though many people were in a much higher position than Karyk, their speed had finally started to slow down to arge extent as the youngsters in the speed started resting regrly, feeling as if they couldn''t continue without having enough rest.

    On the other hand, Karyk was moving slowly, yet his speed was constant. He didn''t appear to be affected by the pressure in the least, even when he didn''t use any of his aura at all.

    Standing in the back, Gabriel silently observed. He asionally also kept looking at the sky. At the speed Karyk was going, it was highly likely that he was going to win. That meant they were going to meet the Generals soon.

    If nothing went wrong, then things were going to proceed even more smoothly than they expected when they came here. Albeit, it was just an assumption for now. There were still many things to consider.

    Just as he expected, Karyk kept climbing higher and higher, attracting even more attention. In fact, he had already entered the top hundred and he didn''t stop there.

    All the youngsters who had their own pride were stunned that a mortal could keep up with them or even surpass them.

    They didn''t know how it could be this easy for the kid, but they couldn''t do anything. On the stairs, they couldn''t interrupt anyone else. It was a rule akin to the rule about not using the magic in stairs.

    Karyk maintained his pace, his eyes fixed on the top of the stairs, ignoring everyone else. He knew that he had what it takes to reach the summit and im the prize that awaited him. After hours of climbing, he finally managed to reach the same step as the young man in the lead.

    There was already amotion amongst the older generation.

    "It''s impossible! Who is that kid? How could he take the lead?!"

    "He must be cheating! That must be it!"

    "How dare he cheat so openly? Did he think that he won''t be caught?"

    Many in the older generations were frustrated that their heirs weren''t in the lead. However, if a mortal managed to win, then it was going to be even more insulting to them. For the sake of their dignity, they couldn''t ept it.

    They all looked at the Guard Captain, asking him to remove Karyk from this test. The voices of discontent only increased as more and more ns joined in.

    On the other side, the Captain of the Guards could only smile. He knew better than anyone else about the secrets of this test. It was impossible to chest in the test. As for a mortal taking the lead, even though it was surprising, it wasn''t impossible since the test was for willpower.

    The Captain of the Guards didn''t react to the voices of discontent and focused on Karyk on the stairs. From the start, Karyk hadn''t slowed down. His speed was constant, where he only rested for a second at each step before climbing to the next.

    ****

    In another ce, the Four Generals were sitting around a round table, each with a ss of delicious wine in their hands.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Their discussions mostly involved Karyk and his recent actions. However, they also asionally kept looking at the screen in the distance, which was showing the test of Stairway to Heaven.

    "I really didn''t expect a mortal to take the lead. His willpower must be quite strong." The Eastern General nced at the screen, which showed Karyk taking the lead.

    "He''s certainly not bad. But he''s still a mortal in the end. Can he really be of use?" The Northern General frowned. "I know the Lord asked us to train the winner of this test to the best of our abilities for some reason, but he''s a mortal. How can we even train him?''

    "Should we select the second rank instead?"The Western General asked, only to get a disappointed look from the Northern General.

    "The second can''t even reach halfway up the stairs. He''s also useless. The younger generation has really fallen, it seems."

    "We should just listen to the Lord and take the person who can reach the top. He must have some use for a person with strong willpower. It''s the first time in a long while that he asked us to do something after all. That is, if he manages to reach the top." The Southern General smiled, revealing a cunning look in his eyes.

    None of them was actually interested in training Karyk. However, if he reached the top, he really had no choice. So there was only one way left for him... To make the trial even more difficult!

    The Stairway to Heaven was an artifact that belonged to him after all. It was something that he could control at will.

    Currently, the pressure on each step was in the average range. However, the Southern General used his excess control to raise the difficulty.

    ****

    The difficulty of the Stairway to Heaven suddenly increased. It not only came as a surprise to many that were still on the stairs, but also made them cough out blood since the pressure had suddenly increased so much.

    In an instant, almost everyone was expelled from the Stairway to Heaven after failing the test.

    On the other hand, Karyk slowed down for a moment. He noticed the sudden change and had a few guesses of his own as to why this was happening. However, even then, he was a god level being who had lived twice. So when it came to willpower, he was only superior to the Four Generals!

    If he wanted, he could dash to the top step in an instant. However, he maintained hisposure and showed as if he was having some difficulty, even as he continued climbing higher.

    This surprised the Southern General even more. Even in the hardest situation, the mortal was still climbing. How could his willpower be so strong? Did they really have no choice but to select him?

    While many of the Generals were surprised to see Karyk''s performance, the young man seeded in reaching the top.

    Karyk stood on the top step, finishing this trial!

 Chapter 551 551: Confess

    As soon as the Trial finished, the Stairway to Heaven disappeared. Karyk''s bodynded on the ground safely. However, he could see that he was being red at by everyone in his surroundings, especially the Elders who were embarrassed and the youngsters who were jealous.

    "You little brat,e clean! How did you cheat?!"

    "Confess and ept your wrongs and we might not punish you! If you don''t..."

    "We can understand that your greed got the better of you. However, that doesn''t mean you''re allowed to cheat!"

    One after another, people kepting to Karyk, scolding him as if they were better than him and he was a fool.

    "You''re saying that a mortal was able to cheat in a test created by the Southern General and powerful people like you don''t know how?" Karyk asked in return. "Doesn''t that mean you''re all quite useless? You''re the one using me. Shouldn''t you be the one telling me how I cheated?"

    The crowd fell silent, stunned by Karyk''s boldness.

    One of the Elders stepped forward, eyeing Karyk with suspicion.

    "You have some nerve, kid," he growled. "But that doesn''t mean you can do anything you want. Do you think there is a way for a mortal to reach where all the heavenly geniuses couldn''t reach, without cheating?"

    "Heavenly Geniuses?" Karyk smiled in response. "It looks more like you''re insulting them. What you''re saying sounds more like saying that all of your so-called heavenly heavenly geniuses are ipetent who can''t pass the Southern General''s test without cheating."

    The man''s eyes narrowed, his suspicion growing stronger with each passing moment.

    His aura intensified, pressing down on Karyk as if trying to bring him to his knees. "You talk too much, boy. You still haven''t answered my question."

    However, as soon as the pressure came, Gabriel appeared before Karyk, blocking the aura of the old man. Even though the aura didn''t affect Karyk in the least, but it would''ve been suspicious if Karyk remained unharmed before the aura.

    Moreover, as far as he knew Karyk, he wasn''t going to go down on his knees, just to fool the kid.

    "You!" The old man was even more furious to see someone stop him. The young man from his n was in the first ce before Karyk took him over, so he was even more furious.

    His eyes revealed a clear anger. However, before he could do anything, the Guard Captain also moved, appearing in the middle of the conflict.

    "There was no cheating. Stop now," he directly exined.

    "That''s impossible!" The old man scoffed. "Are you saying that a mortal won the test without cheating?"

    "Unless you''re saying that the test designed by our Lord was so useless that it couldn''t even detect and stop cheating," the Guard Captain squinted his eyes. "So you better stop now."

    The old man looked taken aback, realizing that he was in a difficult position. He nced around and saw that the other spectators were also staring at him in disapproval.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    If he still insisted on cheating after the Guard Captain said that, it meant he was going to be directly using the Southern General of being useless.

    He wasn''t a fool who wanted to go ahead the strongest man in their world, simply because of his anger. Even though he still believed that Karyk somehow cheated, he could only stop here for now.

    With a final huff, he muttered under his breath and retreated back. His pressing aura also disappeared in an instant.

    As he walked away from the confrontation, he couldn''t help but feel defeated. He was from the second strongest n in the Southern World, and now he couldn''t even stand up for himself.

    He could only re at Karyk. If res could kill, he would''ve killed Karyk a thousand times already.

    "Now that the first test is over, we shall start the banquet!" The Guard Captain smiled now that the test was over. His first mission waspleted. Now there was time for a three day long banquet celebrating the birthday celebration of the Southern General.

    At the same time, the Guard Captain escorted Karyk and Gabriel personally, worried that he might be troubled by the others if he stayed with them. He didn''t realize that the person he was looking for everywhere was right next to him.

    If it was old Karyk, it would''ve been easy to sense his presence even when he didn''t use any magic. However, after his control had increased, not a single trace of his aura leaked, making it impossible for people around him to sense the aura of death.

    After some time, therge-scale celebration began.

    The banquet was a spectacle of magic and wonder. The guests were seated at circr tables that floated in the air, with crystal chandeliers above them.

    The tables were covered with tes and bowls of food that changed color and shape ording to the guests'' preferences. The food was delicious and satisfying, and the drinks were refreshing and intoxicating.

    The guests were also entertained by performers who used their mystical abilities to create illusions and tricks. There were dancers who moved gracefully in the air, singers who harmonized with the birds, and mages who revealed various amazing spells to lighten the mood.

    It was as if fireworks could be seen high in the sky, which made the already colorful sky look even more beautiful.

    The banquet was a celebration of the birthday Celebration of the Southern General which was said tost for three days, and only on the third day was it going to be attended by the Four Generals.

    Moreover, the guests included influential people from all four upper realm worlds, which made it a perfect opportunity for them to create more connections.

    They exchanged stories and gifts, and learned from each other''s cultures, getting more understanding about the other words in the upper realm.

    The banquet was a spectacle to remember for everyone who attended. However, there were many who were still feeling regretful about failing the earlier test.

    On the other side, Karyk was waiting for the Four General''s arrival.

 Chapter 552 552: Stein Family

    The Celebration went on for three days straight, with many minor events taking ce. During that time, a smallpetition was established by the various ns of their own, in which the youngsters were to fight.

    The Elders thought that this was thest opportunity for them. If the younger generation from their ns could still attract the attention of the Four Generals through their fighting skills, then they still had hopes of bing the General''s disciple.

    And thus, a battle tournament was held in which various ns took part. Many of those ns even insisted for Karyk to take part, but in the end, Karyk refused, having no interest in such.

    On the other hand, he was just waiting for the General''s arrival. At the moment, he had every opportunity that he might need.

    ****

    The tournament between the youngsters went on, but Karyk paid no attention to it. He didn''t even care who the winner was.

    The person who was second in the Stairway test came out as the winner of the battles. However, he still didn''t look happy, as if he was still frustrated about his previous loss to a mortal.

    Taking advantage of the situation, the Elders also had some battles amongst themselves, to show that they were stronger. With so many influential people in this ce, this was the perfect opportunity for them to spread their fame as well.

    Karyk didn''t take interest in this battle either, but Gabriel was different. Gabriel paid lots of attention to the battles of Masters of Various ns, trying to learn everything he could from them.

    Even though they were his potential enemies, he tried to learn from them everything that he could to the best of his abilities.

    In the end, three days passed and the end of the banquet drew near. Everyone was only waiting for one thing now. The arrival of the Generals.

    The portal that allowed people to leave this ce had opened up, but no one was leaving, at least not before the Generals arrived.

    Fortunately, the wait wasn''t long as a new portal opened in the middle of the Special Realm. An unknown yet powerful aura rushed out of the portal, apanied by the arrival of four strongest people under the King.

    Even Gabriel felt their aura, realizing how strong it was. This was nothing simr to the Goddess of Nature. It was much more powerful.

    The four Generals stood next to each other, without much expression on their faces. However, it was clear that they appeared somewhat disappointed for some reason.

    The n Masters who were still hoping for their Juniors to be selected because of the battle tournament performance were left disappointed when the Southern General thanked them for attending his birthday banquet.

    However, he didn''t say much else, only telling them that he hoped to see them next time as well, before allowing them to leave.

    The n Masters were taken aback. It was clear that they had no interest in taking anyone else.

    Instead, Southern General gazed at Karyk, with interesting yet disappointed expressions on his face.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "You''reing with me." He told Karyk. Surprisingly enough, he still didn''t recognise the young man as long as Karyk didn''t use his magic.

    He gestured for Karyk to leave with him and the other Generals.

    Karyk also didn''t resist. What could be better for him? His goal was the King of the Upper Realm and these four generals were the key to reach the Central World. It was impossible to find all of them together.

    Without hesitation, he followed after the Four Generals. Gabriel also apanied Karyk. Unfortunately, a me wall appeared before Gabriel, blocking him.

    "He won''t need a bodyguard from this point on," the Southern Generalzily nced at Gabriel. However, it felt as if he was telling Gabriel that he would kill him if the man bothered them anymore.

    Karyk didn''t look back, but with his hands behind his back, he gestured for Gabriel to remain calm. Even if he was alone, he had confidence to protect himself.

    Gabriel clenched his fist, standing still as he watched Karyk and the others enter the portal and disappear.

    After everyone left, Gabriel finally scratched the back of his head, as if slightly frustrated. Was there nothing he could do other than wait? No, he didn''t want that. He wasn''t Karyk''s subordinate. Even though Karyk was older, that didn''t mean anything for him.

    From the start, he had been his own self, working ording to his own notion. He couldn''t leave everything to Karyk.

    "Since you have your own path, I suppose I''ll have to make my own as well." Gabriel turned around, leaving the Secret Realm.

    He was left alone in the Upper Realm since the Goddess of Nature and Jia were in Karyk''s Shadow. However, by now, he at least managed to gather the basic knowledge about the Upper Realm

    He also knew that there was nothing to do in the Southern World anymore. It was just the barrennd of the Upper Realm after all.

    Thus, he also selected his new destination... The most prosperous World in the upper realm after the Central World... The Northern World where all the minor gods from earth who betrayed them had settled down.

    The only problem was getting there. But he also thought of a way.

    As soon as he left the secret realm, he turned into a shadow, sneaking inside the Majestic Ship in which a prominent family from the Northern World had arrived. This was also the easiest way to get to the Northern World, albeit dangerous as well.

    The Ship belonged to the fourth strongest family in the Northern World, the Stein Family, which was an expert in Artefact Creation.

    It was said that no one had more treasures than the Stein Family. Despite that, no one was able to harm them, because the Stein Family used immortal golems for their protection which were created by their ancestors. This was the secret of their strength.

 Chapter 553 553: Sole Authority

    The only reason the Stein Family had fallen to the fourth ce was all because they had lost the method of creating the Immortal Golems a long time ago. They couldn''t create more. Thus, their strength was limited.

    Despite that, they were still in a very safe position, albeit asionally having conflicts with other ns. They had hoped to strengthen the position of their family in this meeting, but they were only disappointed.

    The Master of the Stein Family couldn''te here personally, so he had sent his little brother, apanying his daughter Ulesis who was the heir of the Stein Family.

    Unfortunately, Ulesis had failed in bing the Disciple of a General, losing this important opportunity.

    Her uncle didn''t me her for losing. However, she could see the disappointment on his face, that was impossible to hide.

    In order to make up for her failure, Ulesis decided to focus her efforts on another aspect that could potentially benefit her family.

    She had to find a way to make the Immortal Golems once again. That was the only way for her to improve her family''s position. Unfortunately, that was a far fetched dream and she also knew that

    Now that the banquet was over, every family started leaving. Hundreds of ancient battle ships could be seen in the sky, all going in a different direction. One of those ships belonged to the Stein Family which started flying towards the Spatial Crack that led to the Northern World.

    The sky was dark. It was impossible to see any stars, a clear indication of the approaching storm. The winds had started getting colder, but Ulesis didn''t seem to care.

    She stood in the front of the battleship, feeling the cold wind brush against her soft skin, making her feel a lot cold, yet refreshed at the same time. However, her thoughts were still distracted.

    She also asionally nced down at the Southern World, which was known as the barrennd with far and few resources. Even though she had troubles of her own, at least she felt d that her family wasn''t established in this region.

    "I wonder who that guy was.... For a mortal to finish that Stairway test that even the best of the Upper Realm couldn''t finish..." She muttered, as if talking to herself. "I wonder if I''ll meet him again in the future."

    As she looked into the distant sky, she didn''t realize that in the distance, there was another man, standing with his back resting against the railing of the ship, ncing at the young woman in the distance.

    Gabriel wondered how long it was going for them to reach the Northern World. Usually, it was very hard for someone to go from one World to another, since only major families could do that, using the ancient battleships that were carved with many protective formations to protect themselves against the spatial storms during travels.

    Because of this banquet, it became much easier to find the others who were going to the same ce as him. The only problem was that he didn''t know anything about the Stein Family. Jia also wasn''t here to help him with her vast knowledge.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "He went on his own journey. I can also do the same. Let''s see who reaches the goal faster..." Gabriel calmly said, looking at the sky. His fighting spirit was ignited and he gained even more motivation.

    Even though both of them had the same goals, they both were using different methods to reach their goals, as there was a race between them.

    Karyk had the head start. However, Gabriel didn''t feel as if he was much behind. Even though Karyk was with the Four Generals, it still wasn''t easy for him to get to the Central World since he had to first find the secret method to get to the Central World from the Four Generals.

    One mistake and his answers were going to go down in mes, since the Generals were stubborn beings, who would''ve rather epted death than answer Karyk who they hated the most.

    Initially, he was hoping to force the four of them, even though it was hard. If it didn''t work, he was hoping to use them as hostages to force the King of the Upper Realm toe out of the secret Realm, even though it was a dangerous method.

    However, with these new changes, Karyk changed his methods into something that made things easier for him for the future. Although it was a potentially easier method, it was also much slower and depended heavily on Karyk''s luck and his skills.

    Gabriel clenched his fist. "For them to select a so-called mortal as their Disciples, based on a Willpower Test... Just what are the Four Generals nning?''

    He was really curious about the goals of the four Generals, but he left that for Karyk to find out. Instead, he focused on his own goals.

    Even though he had the Element of Light, it was different from the Element of Light that the Goddess of Light possessed, thanks to his true god''s body.

    Previously, only the Goddess of Light had the authority over light and she could grant or take away others'' ess. However, now things were different.

    Usually, it was impossible for two people to exist with authority over one element. However, that was the care with Gabriel. Because of his new body, he also received authority over his Light. That was why the Goddess of Light couldn''t locate him anymore, despite him using the Element of Light frequently.

    Unfortunately, it was also a headache for him. Since there were two people with authority over light, that meant both of them were iplete. Progressing from this point on was harder for both of them, unless one person with authority was killed.

    Moreover, as long as one of them was killed, the other was going to grow their control over the Element, maybe even reaching a much higher level than the others. That was also one of the main reasons Gabriel was going to the Northern World... To kill hispetition!

 Chapter 554 554: The Founder

    Even though the Southern World was a vast world, making it hard to tread from one end to the other end, thanks to the ancient ship, the journey became much shorter. It had only been a day since the banquet ended and the ship was already halfway to the portal.

    Throughout the time, Gabriel only observed the people in his surroundings, asionally changing his position to not be caught.

    During the night, when most of the people went to sleep, only he was standing on the deck, looking in the distant sky.

    The night looked beautiful. The moon shone brightly, illuminating the ship. Gabriel couldn''t help but feel a sense of peace wash over him, as he enjoyed the stillness of the night.

    While Gabriel was lost in thoughts, he felt the door in the distance open. There was a presence of another person there.

    Carefully, he disappeared once again to not be seen. Until he passed through the portal to the Northern World, he needed support from these people after all.

    As the door opened, he once again noticed the girl called Ulesise out. It was as if she wasn''t able to sleep peacefully after what happened recently and came to get a fresh breath of air.

    "Are you still not going to show yourself?" After a long period of silence, she finally spoke.

    Gabriel frowned, but didn''t respond. There was no way for the girl to see him when the others couldn''t. However, he was taken aback when he saw that girl turn around, looking straight in his direction.

    Her eyes shone in a mysterious light, as if she had some innate ability that allowed her to see through the use of magic.

    Even when Gabriel was hiding, he still had to use the Dark Magic for that after all. However, since his magic was so subtle, even the General level beings would''ve had a hard time detecting him, that''s why he was so surprised.

    "How can you see me?" he stepped out of the shadow, frowning.

    There was no killing intent in his eyes since he was sure that the girl came here alone. That meant she hadn''t informed others. She also didn''t appear stupid enough to reveal the fact that she could see him for no reason.

    "Just call it an innate talent." The young womanmented, before continuing, "Anyhow, aren''t you the person who apanied the General''s new disciple? Why are you on our ship?"

    "Why do you think so?" Gabriel asked, stepping closer. However, he didn''t answer directly.

    "You''re a criminal trying to escape from the Southern World?" The girl took a guess, revealing an intrigued nce.

    ording to her, as Gabriel was able to attend a General''s Banquet, that meant the n he served wasn''t insignificant. However, for some reason, he was escaping like a criminal, which made her intrigued.

    It was only because of her curiosity that she came to talk to him.As for worrying about being attacked, she didn''t think too much since she had the means to protect herself.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Gabriel didn''t react much. It wasn''t a lie to say that he was technically a criminal.

    "Why are you telling me that you know? Aren''t you scared that I''ll kill you?" Gabriel asked, leaving only half a meter of distance between Ulesis and him.

    Ulesis was silent for a short time, but in the end, she shook her head. "You would''ve already attacked me if you wanted to. Moreover, I''m not here to hurt you. Instead, I would like to make a deal with you."

    "A deal?" Gabriel frowned, wondering if the girl was a little crazy. Even after knowing that he was a criminal, she thought it was a good idea to deal with him? If there was a real criminal instead of him, she would''ve already been killed.

    "Did you see me the moment I entered the ship?" he asked. "In that case, you''ve been observing me throughout the day?"

    Ulesis affirmed. It was only after she saw Gabriel not harming anyone on the ship, and just secretly apanying them that she thought he wasn''t a killer at least. Moreover, since he was hiding, it also gave her a false impression that he was weak and scared of her uncle, which made him hide.

    "What deal?" Gabriel inquired. He didn''t know anyone in the Northern World. So if it wasn''t a bad deal, he was quite interested in it, since that meant he could get more information from the Stein n. Information was what he severelycked at the moment after all.

    "You''re not very old. I can see that you''re not even twenty years old, even though you disguise as a middle aged man. However, your skills of using a shadow aren''t half bad. So the deal is simple. I want you to help me with something. And in exchange, I''ll give you Asylum and protection in the Stein n."

    Usually, people would''ve at least thought that there was a possibility of this guy being the person that all the Generals were looking for. However, she could see that he had no traces of Element of Death through the mana that he used. That meant he was not the god of death.

    Moreover, since that person appeared to be abandoned by his n, that was a perfect opportunity for her.

    "And what is it that I need to help you with?" Gabriel frowned. There weren''t many things that he could help with, after all, since he had no interest in showing his skills for others.

    "The Garden of Shadows... I need your help in entering that ce. I want you to work with me, and help me win."

    Gabriel didn''t know what the Garden of Shadows was. However, from the name, it appeared to have a link with the Element of Darkness.

    "The Garden of Shadows is the ce where the Founding Ancestor of the Stein Family resided." Noticing the confusion on Gabriel''s face, the girl continued.

    "You may not know, but the Stein Family once used to be the strongest in the Northern World. Our Founding Ancestor used to be the leader of the Upper Realm. However..."

    For a brief moment, she paused. "That''s when he appeared."

 Chapter 555 555: Ill Introduce You

    Ulesis continued,"The current King of the Upper Realm. His strength was nothing like anyone had ever seen before, and so was his strange magic. However, without a few years, he gained control over the entire Upper Realm, killing everyone who stood in his path."

    "Our Founding Ancestor was amongst those people who were killed by him. Throughout theing years, the other ns also got involved and we lost most of our legacy that was supposed to be passed to us."

    "Many people died in the war of control. Many great ns fell, and new ns rose, who were loyal dogs of the new King. The Four Generals also rose in that war, still serving the King loyally."

    "Isn''t it ironic?" She nced back at Gabriel, his eyes revealing sadness. "The person who killed our great ancestor and caused the fall of our family... Now we were fighting to be a disciple of that person''s loyal dog..."

    She sighed, as if she even found something funny.

    "You mean you intentionally lost the Stairway to Heaven Trial then?" Gabriel asked. He had noticed that strange sight, after all. As he was observing the other youngsters on the stairs as well, he did feel that the girl had the potential to at least climb halfway. However, she was eliminated in the first thirty steps.

    "I would have lost anyway, so I decided to conserve my energy," Ulesis replied calmly and truthfully. Even though she hated the Generals and the King, she knew that she needed their strength to have revenge. If possible, she would''ve liked to win the trial, even though it was insulting.

    "So you''re looking for revenge?" Gabriel asked, revealing an intrigued smile. Not many people in the world openly talked about how much they hated the King as it was considered sphemy."How does the Shadow Garden help you achieve that?"

    "I''m looking for strength. Revenge... I don''t think it''s possible for me. At least that''s what I thought when I lost all hope. However, now things are different. I know someone who can help me... I just want to be strong enough to help that person from the side!"

    "And that person is?" Gabriel grew quite curious. There were other people who were strong and wanted the King dead? If he could work with them, then it wasn''t half bad.

    "The Death Star, who has appeared recently." The woman answered, lowering her head. "The Shadow Garden contains the true Legacy of our founding Ancestor. However, after his death, no one has been able to find the legacy, even the other ns tried their best."

    "However, if I can find that legacy, I should be able to make more powerful Golems that can help Lord Karyk. With his help, the dream doesn''t look as distant anymore."

    Even though she tried to hide her emotions, she was still a young girl. Her uneasiness was quite visible. She didn''t even know why she was telling all this to Gabriel in the first ce.

    On the other hand, Gabriel had quite a stunned look in his eyes. This girl was taking Karyk as her savior? Though she wasn''t wrong since Karyk did want to kill the King of the Upper Realm, along with everyone else who hunted him in the past.

    "I''ll help you." In the end, Gabriel agreed. Even though the girl didn''t know Karyk or his connection with Karyk, she was still willing to tell him everything.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Moreover, even though he didn''t know what the Legacy of the Founding Ancestor of the Stein n was, if it was something that helped him before the strongest in the upper realm once upon a time, then it was definitely going to be a great help.

    Gabriel knew he could not let this opportunity slip away. He promised the girl that he would get his hands on the Legacy. Moreover, this was also a perfect opportunity for him to make a connection in the Upper World that he could use against the Goddess of Light.

    "Thank you. As long as you help me, you''ll be considered the Saviour of our n. When I work with Lord Karyk, I''ll make sure to introduce you to him. Together, we will save the upper realm!" Ulesis lowered her head respectfully, not showing an ounce of arrogance.

    "Introduce me to him?" Gabriel could only scratch the back of his head.

    "Don''t worry about the rumors. You don''t have to be scared of Lord Karyk. He only punishes evil! He won''t hurt you. I''m sure of it!" The girl insisted, not realizing why Gabriel was looking at her like that. She thought that it was because he was as scared of Karyk since the man did have a bad reputation.

    "Don''t forget to put in a few good words for me, in that case." In the end, he didn''t exin anything.

    After discussing a few more things, he disappeared into the shadows. Even though he had a deal with Ulesis, he still had to hide until they reached the Northern Realm after all. It was only after they reached there could he reveal himself.

    Ulesis watched Gabriel disappear. No matter how many times she saw it, this skill was always fascinating to her.

    It was said that the Founding Ancestor of their n was also someone who used the Element of Darkness! Moreover, he was the best when it came to that. Even for the King of the Upper Realm, it wasn''t easy to kill her ancestor after all.

    Looking at Gabriel''s skill,pared to his age, she felt that he had lots of potential, maybe even reaching the level of her Ancestor in the future.

    After a while, she also went back, finally going to sleep. She looked forward to destroying the four generals and the King, paying them back for everything they had done!

    ****

    Back in the Central Realm, the Ruler of the Upper Realm was sitting on his throne, appearing to be sleeping. However, there was a mirror before him, which showed the four generals who were talking to him, telling him that they had finished the job and selected the person with strong enough willpower.

 Chapter 556 556: Spatial Storm

    After a long journey, the Ship of Stein Family reached the spatial crack that connected to the Northern World.

    Even though it was a spatial crack, it appeared as if the entire world was split apart, in that space. Lightning could be seen crackling in the sky. However, even those Lightning Bolts seemed to contain some elements of Space.

    Just the single bolt was alone to rip a person apart, destroying them from their core. It was also because of these Spatial Disturbances that people couldn''t pass through to other worlds without using special vessels.

    Fortunately, the Ship of the Stein n was one such vessel. Thanks to all the protective measures that were cast while creating the massive ship, it was protected in a barrier that helped it avoid the Spatial Lightning Bolts.

    It was as if the barrier made it so that the spatial element couldn''t causerge-scale harm. However, it didn''t mean that there was no harm. The longer a ship remained in the spatial storm, the more harm the ship was going to face.

    Gabriel stood on the deck of the ship, observing the sky. At the moment, no other person even dared to step on the deck, as if they were worried about being hurt.

    On the other hand, Gabriel felt more interested in the spatial element in the lightning bolts.

    Lightning was said to be one of the most destructive elements in the world, because of the chaotic energy it possessed. On the other hand, Space was a Supreme Element, just like the Element of Death.

    A merger of the element of space and the element of lightning was a fascinating sight in itself. It was as if a single lightning bolt was passing through thousands of parallel spaces at the same time.

    Looking at the Spatial Cracks everywhere, Gabriel couldn''t help but think back to the moment where Raphael had used the Spatial Stone in the war against the Temple of Time.

    "The power of space..." he muttered, not taking his eyes off the chaotic sky for even a moment.

    He didn''t know why, but he even felt as if the spatial lightning was alive. It was unclear if it was just his misconception.

    Throughout the entire time, Gabriel didn''t leave. Even as the ship entered the spatial crack, Gabriel remained out. It was his first time traveling in such a way after all. He was quite curious about the spatial tunnel that the Ships used.

    He wanted to experience everything. However, as soon as the ship entered the spatial crack, the surroundings turned stark white. It prompted him to close his eyes, to avoid going blind.

    Also, in the next moment, he was already out of the spatial tunnel. It was as if the journey only took an instant.

    On the other side of the Spatial Crack was the Northern World. However, even as they entered the Northern World, none from the Stein n came out, since this ce was also facing spatial storms.

    The ship kept traveling, without break. Only when it passed through the spatial storms did the others in the Stein n starting out, to check the extent of the damages on the ship.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    But fortunately, the damages were minimal and easily repairable. At best, there were only a few cracks that were visible, but that didn''t affect anything.

    As everyone came out, Gabriel once again disappeared, as if he was nothing more than a ghost. However, he didn''t forget to observe the Northern World... The world which people dreamt to enter.... People like the Goddess of Light.

    The Northern World was a beautiful ce, with rolling hills covered in snow, icy ciers, and shimmering auroras lighting up the sky.

    However, that was only one side. This world also had areas with green nes, sea, and even mountains and volcanoes.

    Moreover because of the diverse climate and rich history, the Northern World was also the most prosperous. This was also the ce where the strongest in the Upper Realm resided.

    Even the tenth strongest family in the Northern World was said to be as strong as the strongest family in the Southern World. The Stein Family was the fourth, even after their fall.

    The Stein Family was established in the central zone of the Northern World.

    Even though they didn''t possess their old glory anymore, throughout the years, they had built an extensivework in the Northern World, coborating with other renowned factions to establish their presence.

    Although their strength had fallen from their peak, it still wasn''t something that others could ignore. Unfortunately,many powerful ns were eying them as well, waiting for them to make one mistake.

    With this looming threat, the Stein Family knew they needed to tread carefully and strategize their moves wisely to maintain their position and protect their interests in the ever-changingndscape of the Northern World. They understood that any wrong move could result in the copse of everything they had painstakingly built over the years.

    Thanks to their peculiar position, Gabriel felt that he was at the right ce. However, he also knew that he had to be careful. A family that was already on theirst steps, being surrounded by wolves, could easily toss him to the wolves to protect themselves, so he didn''t quite trust them either.

    After half a day of journey, the ship finally reached the area that was controlled by the Stein Family.

    From the high above, the Stein Family looked wealthy. Just on the outskirts of theirnd, multiple giant golems could be seen. Moreover, the area of their mansion was multiple timesrger than the ones in the Southern World.

    As the ship entered deeper into the territory, a few more Ancient Ships could also be seen on the ground.

    The ship on which Gabriel was travelingnded and finally, people on the ship sighed in relief. After a long journey, they were finally back.

    Ulesis also got down the ship. However, she didn''t forget to gesture to Gabriel to follow her.

 Chapter 557 557: Forceful Increase

    Gabriel stepped down the ship,nding on the ground. He carefully followed Ulesis who was thest person to step down the ship.

    "Are you still not going to reveal your real face?"Ulesis asked, while walking next to Gabriel. Even though Gabriel now looked much younger, it was still a disguise, hiding his real face. However, at least he now looked much closer to his real age.

    "Why are you so interested in my face?" Gabriel asked in return.

    He really didn''t have any interest in showing his real face. It was already a headache that the girl had some special skill to see that he was wearing a disguise mask. However, even she couldn''t see his real face. And he wanted to keep it that way.

    "May I ask what you did in the Southern World that you had to escape with us?" Ulesis asked, while also asionally introducing some things in her family as she came across.

    "I offended someone powerful, and I''m not interested in ying hide and seek with them anymore, since someone else is taking care of that matter," Gabriel answered, being as vague as he could.

    "Offending people... That''s so easy to do nowadays." Ulesis smiled. "However, it''s good to see that you aren''t some murderer who''s on the run."

    Gabriel nced at the youngdy next to him, whose dark hair fluttered with the wind. "How can you be sure that I''m not a killer?"

    "The aura you give... It feels... Pure. Not like someone a bad person should have," Ulesismented. Since she was very perceptive, she always believed in her perception. Moreover, so far she hadn''t been wrong. At least not yet, which gave her more confidence.

    Looking at the girl, Gabriel could only scratch the back of his head, thinking back to how many people he had already killed. He didn''t even know if he could count that much.

    Even if he didn''t count the ones that he had killed when he was one with Karyk, even then his number was astronomical.

    He couldn''t help but wonder just how this girl could be so confident despite being so wrong. However, he didn''t tell her the truth.

    "I guess that''s the truth. I haven''t even killed an insect in all my life..."

    "Anyway, where are we going now?" he asked the girl, wondering if she was taking him to the master of the n.

    Unfortunately, her response wasn''t quite what he hoped. "I''m taking you to the outer guest houses. No one stays there, so you can rest easy. Just stay there for some time, until I talk to my father and convince him."

    The woman brought Gabriel to an area where there were multiple houses. However, all those houses were quite empty. No one lived in the area and the n had stopped receiving guests a long time ago.

    In fact, this area was made in the generation of the founding Ancestor, but after the fall of their n, it wasn''t used much.

    If anything, the number of people in the Stein n had only decreased throughout the years.

    "Here, you can eat whatever you like. Just wait for me until I return." The girl gave a storage ring to Gabriel, which contained the food that couldst for months.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    After handing over the ring, she ran back to the main house, leaving Gabriel behind.

    Gabriel stood with the storage ring in his hand, shaking his head lightly. Even though he had many questions about this ce, he left them forter. It was too early to reveal his true desires. Moreover, he was quite curious to see just what this n was all about, especially all the Ancient Golems that he had seen along the way.

    Even though it was his first time seeing them, he could feel a familiar energy from them for some reason. It was an innate feeling that even he didn''t understand.

    He wanted to get closer to check just what this feeling was. However, in the end, he dyed the ns forter and entered the guest house, closing the door from inside.

    It had been quite a long time since he properly rested. The first thing he did was to take a shower, before dropping on the bed as if he was half dead, from being tired.

    He cast multiple spells to alert him if anyone came near the guest house, before falling asleep.

    ****

    Throughout the days he stayed with the Generals, Karyk tried to gain as much understanding of his surroundings as possible.

    However, something seemed amiss. All four Generals were always together, never being alone. It was unclear just what brought all of them together. However, they also continued the search for Karyk in the Upper Realm.

    It was clear that they didn''t know the truth. Unfortunately, since the four of them were always together, it was hard for Karyk to do much.

    He first tried to understand their intentions. However, since he couldn''t use his element of death to be careful, he had to be quite careful in whatever he did.

    During this time, the Four Generals didn''t do much. In fact, they didn''t evene to meet him. He was simply left in a room where a servant often came, delivering him a pill to eat.

    Karyk was careful about the unknown pill, which wasn''t a poison. However, since he didn''t know just what this pill actually was, he didn''t eat it either.

    He kept taking the pills everywhere, and kept it safely instead of eating. At best, he only pretended to eat.

    Whenever he was all alone, he tried to investigate the pills and its materials. Unfortunately, even with his knowledge, he couldn''t find out much, since most of the materials of the pill were unknown.

    However, there was one material which he recognized... A power that was used to forcefully increase the mana inside a person''s body by a small quantity with each pill.

    Sitting on the bed, Karyk yed with the pill in his hands. "Just what are they nning?"

 Chapter 558 558: Nightmare

    ****

    Gabriel had been asleep for quite some time, but in his dream, there was nothing but emptiness. The vastness of space surrounded him, and he seemed to be floating in a void.

    There was no sound or light, just the feeling of weightlessness, as if time had frozen still. However, suddenly, a faint whisper broke the silence, and Gabriel jolted to life, trying to discern where the sound wasing from.

    It was as if someone was calling for him in the void. It was a voice that was clear, yet unclear at the same time. It was as if he could understand thenguage, while also beingpletely unfamiliar with the voice.

    However, one thing was certain. Whenever he heard the voice, his heart tightened, feeling somewhat ufortable, as if he was in lots of pain.

    In the vast space, he looked all around. However, he couldn''t find the source of the voice. It was as if the voice wasing from every direction at the same time.

    He also wasn''t sure if it was his misconception, but it appeared as if the darkness was only increasing.

    ****

    In another ce, Karyk had also fallen asleep. Even he was experiencing the same dream as Gabriel. This was also his first time seeing a dream like that.

    Even someone like him found it hard to discern between a dream and reality.

    That unknown and unfamiliar voice felt close.

    It was as if the voice was right next to him, yet he couldn''t pinpoint its exact location.

    Karyk''s heart was pounding fast and he felt a sense of dread creeping over him. He had lived a long time, and went through many things, including death. However, this was his first time feeling a fear like that... A fear that was innate. It was as if there was something in the vast space that was scary, even for him.

    The whisper was alluring, as if drawing him near. At the same time, there was something deep within his heart, that was telling him to stay away.

    Unfortunately, he couldn''t control his curiosity and instinctively tried to find the source of the voice. Unlike Gabriel, he was more active. However, as soon as he started moving, it was as if he froze in ce.

    His entire body refused to move, like he was paralyzed. Within the next moment, a terrifying wave of energy swept over him.

    Karyk and Gabriel, both woke up at the same time. Their hands were trembling subconsciously and their hearts were racing.

    They didn''t know what it was that they saw, but before they woke up, they both felt as if they had seen a shadow of something akin to a sword...

    Karyk looked at his trembling hands, frowning deeply. It was as if there was innate fear buried deep within his heart, and it had something to do with that unfamiliar sword.

    Gabriel, on the other hand, tried to calm his racing heart, taking deep breaths and trying to shake off the lingering feeling of dread.

    They were both still in a trance, trying to make sense of it all.

    *****

    Gabriel couldn''t sleep the entire night, as if he was worried about that dream. Before he could even realize it, it was already morning.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Moreover, he also started getting hungry. Still, he didn''t use the ring given to him by Ulesis, and used the food he had prepared himself.

    After he finished eating, he was greeted with a few knocks on the door.

    Since he had already sensed peopleing, he wasn''t surprised. He walked to the door and opened it while expecting it to be Ulesis.

    However, to his surprise, Ulesis wasn''t there. Instead, there was a guard there... A guard of the Stein n.

    On the back of the man in histe twenties, a heavy sword was hanging. His aura wasn''t weak either. However, for some reason, he was looking at Gabriel with a threatening gaze.

    Since the man directly knocked on his door, Gabriel was sure that Ulesis had told everyone about him. However, if what happened next was a good thing, or bad, he wasn''t sure.

    "Follow me. Master wants to meet you." The young man said. Even though his voice was calm, it was clear that he was looking down on Gabriel.

    Gabriel didn''t react much, and only closed the door before walking out. He followed behind the man, who led him through therge estate grounds.

    As they approached the main house, Gabriel couldn''t help but feel a sense of intrigue.

    The protection around the main mansion was even stronger. Even for him, it would''ve been hard to pass through this level of defense undetected.

    Moreover the closer he came to the mansion, the stronger this defense became, which only made him frown.

    There were many Formations that he didn''t understand, even with his vast knowledge.

    One such formation even weakened his strength as long as he was within the mansion parameters.

    Gabriel could feel that he could only use half of his strength inside the mansion. He was sure that this wasn''t the case for the people of the Stein n.

    The Formation didn''t restrict their strength. It only worked on the strength of the outsiders, like him.

    He finally understood why the Family Head agreed to meet him so easily.

    Gabriel was let to arge golden door, where the guard stopped.

    He knocked on the door, and waited on the side. It was only when a voice came from inside, giving permission, that he opened the door.

    "Enter." He told Gabriel, while remaining inside.

    Gabriel nodded, and entered the main hall of the Stein n. However, to his surprise, there wasn''t just the Family Head there.

    Along with the Family Head, the other Elders members of the Stein Family were also present there, as if there was some important meeting going on there.

    Right next to the family head of the Stein n was Ulesis, standing with her head down.

 Chapter 559 559: At Any Cost

    Gabriel immediately noticed a tense atmosphere in the room. He cautiously made his way to the center of the room.

    The Family Head of the Stein n and everyone else looked in his direction, momentarily observing him as if they wanted to see through all his secrets.

    Fortunately, Gabriel wasn''t worried about that. Even though he himself wasn''t able to utilize that level, his body contained the strength of true gods... Along with the essence of Karyk, which granted him partial ess to the Element of Death without needing any Elemental Mark.

    His body wasn''t something that people in the Upper Realm could see through, at least not until they were at the level of the King of the Upper Realm.

    His body contained many secrets. However, everyone who tried to see through him couldn''t find them, which gave them the impression that he was more ordinary than they expected.

    After a few moments of silence, the Family Head finally broke the ice. "So you want to work for us?"

    Gabriel frowned. Wasn''t it his daughter who wanted to work with him? How did the story suddenly change?

    He didn''t raise his doubts at the moment.

    "This brat froze in our presence. He can''t even answer," one of the elders mockingly stated before ncing at Ulesis. "Don''t tell me you really thought this guy could be of use to us."

    Another Elder nodded. "That''s right. Entering the Shadow Garden and finding the Legacy of the Founder? He would be lucky if he could even survive half-way in the shadow garden."

    "I agree. It''s just a waste of effort. Even the best of the shadow mages don''t want to enter the Shadow Garden because they know it''s impossible for them to return alive. To send a brat like him, and ce our hopes on him is nothing but a childish fantasy," the first Elder continued.

    The Elders already looked hostile toward him from the start. However, their hostility was directly visible now. It was as if they weren''t even trying to hide it anymore.

    "I don''t know how you managed to fool our intelligent niece to make her think that you''re capable. However, it''s not easy to fool us. You dare try to scam the Stein n?"

    One after other, the Elders kept raising their voices.

    "Eldest Brother, this brat tried to fool our family, despite having no skills. He wasted our time. We should make an example of him. Let him leave one of his hands behind, so he''ll remember who not to mess with!" Another Elder stated, ncing at the Family Head.

    "Father, no! It wasn''t h-" Ulesis chimed in, seemingly concerned. She brought Gabriel here. However, even she didn''t think that her family was going to be so stubborn.

    Unfortunately, before she could even finish her sentence, the family head raised his head, telling her to stop. "That''s enough."

    Hearing his voice, all the Elders also stopped speaking.

    The family head focused on Gabriel. "What do you have to say?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "What do you expect me to say?" Gabriel asked in return. "Do you want me to beg for my life? I was called here. I didn''t ask your daughter to help me. She asked for my help."

    Even though the help of the Stein Family was of great use to him, it didn''t mean he was going to be their servant. They wanted him to leave one hand behind? They could only imagine.

    "If you don''t want my help, then so be it. However, the ones who want me to leave a hand behind..." He nced at all the Elders who were the loudest. "They can try their best. However, the oue might not be what they imagined."

    As he finished speaking, Gabriel turned around, as if he didn''t want to stay there any longer.

    "You arrogant brat, you dare!" One of the Elders was furious, watching Gabriel leave while also threatening them.

    He stood up in anger. However, that was all. As soon as he stood up, he froze at once, feeling a sharp de against his neck!

    A single movement, and his head would''ve fallen to the ground.

    He couldn''t even turn behind, to see who had their sword on his hand. However it was clear to the others. It was a shadow!

    "Oh, and one more thing. Your formation might have weakened me, but it doesn''t affect my shadows. Try to stop me and half your family will die before you can even touch me."

    From the start to the end, the Family Head of the Stein n hadn''t moved. It was as if he was calmly observing everything.

    Even when one of the Elders was taken hostage, his eyes didn''t reveal any surprise. If anything, there was only a smile on his lips as he gazed at Gabriel.

    "We will provide you with everything you want, as long as you help us." Just as Gabriel was about to leave, the Family Head spoke, surprising all the Elders.

    Others were thinking that he would go furious because of Gabriel''s words and try to kill him. However, to everyone''s surprise, he looked more pleased than anything.

    It was as if after a long time, he had seen some hope. Not only did Gabriel have courage, but he had enough skills to use his shadows to such perfection even when his strength was limited because of their formation.

    Moreover, he was sure that it wasn''t all the strength the young man had. Even though he wasn''t able to see through Gabriel, that was also what made it more suspicious. It made him feel that Gabriel was hiding many secrets. His strength was no way near the level he had shown.

    Even though he heard from his daughter that Gabriel was skilled, seeing everything with his own eyes was even more impressive.

    With Gabriel''s help, he had a feeling that they could actually seed in retrieving the Legacy the next time the shadow garden opened for everyone in the Northern World.

    No matter how much he had to pay, he wanted Gabriel!

 Chapter 560 560: Taking Care Of Loose Ends

    "Don''t mind what the others said. They''ve just been disappointed recently so they find it hard to trust people." The Family Head sighed, before gesturing all the Elders to sit down and to not intervene.

    Gabriel also stopped, turning back to the Family Head. As long as these people weren''t really going too far, he didn''t mind working with them. In any case, he was also curious about this Shadow Garden that many powerful ns in the Upper World were interested in.

    "Every five years, the shadow garden opens. And every major n sends people inside the Shadow Garden. We also do the same. However, throughout the years, we''ve always been failing to even get to the inner area, let alone reaching the core." The middle aged man on the main seat sighed.

    As he mentioned, the other Elders also showed frustrated expressions. This had been the great shameof their n.

    The Shadow Garden was supposed to belong to their n. However, everyone was allowed to enter it ever since their family fell. Moreover, despite being the original owners, the performance of their family had been worse when it came to exploring the Shadow Garden.

    Every year, they selected the best Shadow Mage that they could find. However, most of the better ones were already selected and groomed by the bigger ns. And the ones that the Stein Family selected were either bribed by the other ns, or proven to be useless.

    After being disappointed so many times, all the Elders had slowly started giving up on the Shadow Garden, only taking part for the sake of it.

    Moreover, throughout the years, it wasn''t the first time where some shadow mages approached them to scam their n. That''s why, they got angry when they felt like they saw another person like that.

    Even though they still didn''t trust Gabriel, but at least after seeing his performance, they did start having some hopes.

    All the Elders sat down, listening to the Family Head.

    The Shadow that was keeping one of the Elders hostage also disappeared.

    However, at the same time, another shadow appeared behind Gabriel, taking the shape of a majestic dark seat.

    "I''ll give it another chance then." Gabriel sat right before the Family Head, without showing much reaction.

    It was as if he was implying that he wasn''t a subordinate of the Stein n, but a partner.

    The Family Head only smiled in response, but he didn''tment on anything. He waved his hand, closing the main doors to prevent anyone outside from listening to the contents of the meeting.

    *****

    For the next two hours, no one came out of the meeting hall. There were many servants outside who were quite curious about the contents of the meeting. Amongst the servants, there were also some spies, who wanted to get as much information as they could to send to their masters.

    Unfortunately, this time the family head was more careful. He even cast a sound isting barrier, which made it almost impossible for even the spies. However, they could easily guess that this meeting was rted to the opening of the shadow garden which was supposed to be opening soon.

    ****<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    In another ce, there was an isted n which didn''t involve themselves with the outside world. However, not many people knew that there was a reason that the n was so isted.

    They didn''t get involved with the outside world much because they had things that even they wanted to hide.

    Unfortunately, because of the banquet of the Generals, they had no choice but to send an heir with a guard to attend the meeting.

    They didn''t realize that their heir was the same person whose identity was stolen by Karyk and Gabriel to enter the banquet.

    Moreover, to make sure that there were no loose ends, Karyk had already taken some steps.

    Since his identity was the biggest w he had, he just had to do one thing... Kill the people who could expose him.

    As for the me, that was naturally going to fall on the Death Star. Karyk already realized that the world was going to justify that action, saying that the n was wiped out by Karyk because one of the n members became a Disciple of a general.

    It was even better when he found out that the n was more isted. Even in the banquet, they didn''t interact with the others, remaining separate as if they were just here for formality.

    The n didn''t want to keep any rtionship with the outsiders, especially since they didn''t want to attract the attention of a General. It wasanother reason why the heir of that n was out of the Stairway test so soon.

    The n had told him to avoid attention as much as possible, and just to show attendance in the records, since not attending was also going to attract attention.

    Since the n dealt with the dead bodies and evil souls, they didn''t want to attract the Generals and found out. The Generals were already looking for Karyk who used the element of death after all.

    The n didn''t realize that their heir had attracted unwanted attention. Before he left the banquet, Karyk had already attached a shadow to the heir of the n whose identity he was stealing.

    Fortunately, using the shadow wasn''t enough to attract much attention since his shadow was always out.

    As the heir returned to the isted n, entering the main building to meet his Father and brief him about what happened in the banquet, the shadow finally became bigger.

    Two of the stronger generals of Karyk came out of the shadows. Before the n master could even react, his head flew high in the air. His eyes remained wide open in disbelief as he died.

    Even his son died right before his eyes.

    No one realized that a n had disappeared like nothing. Everyone in the n died. However, when the Death Generals reached deeper into the n building, even they were slightly surprised as they sensed the aura of death filling the entire ce.

 Chapter 561 561: The Unknown Statue

    The Death Generals reached the depths of the n, sensing a powerful aura of death around them. However, as they stepped downstairs, even they were slightly surprised.

    They could see the stairs being covered in blood. Even some sshes of blood could be seen in the walls.

    Walking down the stairs, one of the Death Generals noticed a finger lying near the corner of the stairs. The finger was very small and didn''t appear to belong to an adult. If anything, it seemed to belong to a little child.

    Even the Death Generals felt slightly disgusted. However, they had seen many such scenes. After only a brief nce, they kept going down.

    After reaching the end of the stairs, they were even more stunned. In the middle of the hall, there was a statue of a strange creature who had six arms and three heads.

    The person in the statue seemed to have canine-like teeths, that were covered in blood. However, what was even more surprising was that all around the statue, fresh bodies of little children were littered around, all of them being dead.

    Moreover, there were also cells in the distance, which were filled with skeletons that appeared to be there for thousands of years. There appeared to be tens of thousands of the skeletons, all belonging to children.

    "This n... Just what was it trying to do? How can they be so disgusting?" one of the two Generals frowned.

    He raised his hand, casting a dark me that couldn''t be extinguished, as if intending to burn this entire ce straight to hell.

    The General was the Ancestor of Raphael, and was quite wide.

    Since Karyk was pretending to be a son of this n, it was going to be troublesome for the time being if this truth was exposed.

    After casting a fire that could burn anything, both the Generals left the n together, disappearing into the shadows.

    The entire n burned down to ashes leaving nothing in its ce. However, if the Generals were here, they would''ve been stunned.

    The strange statue in the basement was stillpletely intact, even as it was constantly burned by the invincible mes. This was the only taking that was left intact in the entire n premise.

    However, the blood on the teeths of the statue had disappeared.At the same time, something seemed different about it. Unfortunately, it was impossible to put a finger on what.

    ****

    After two long hours, the doors of the meeting room finally opened and Karyk stepped out. Behind him, the Elders also left the hall. All of them appeared somewhat pleased, as if the discussion had gone well.

    "From now on, Gabriel will stay with us. Assign a room on the first floor to him." The Family Head told the Head Butler of the house, before leaving. There were some more things he had to take care of, especially rted to Gabriel''s demands that he had ced forth during the negotiations.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The Family Head of the Stein n didn''t understand why Gabriel wanted the information about the Goddess of Light, and everyone else who was close to the Northern General.

    However, he didn''t pry the young man''s matters. In any case, their n was also against the King of the Upper Realm and the four Generals who were the cause behind their Downfall.

    Also, the more he talked to Gabriel in the meeting, the more he realized that Gabriel wasn''t ordinary. In some regards, his understanding of the situation and his knowledge was even better than him after all!

    The Family Head of the Stein n found himself to be quite impressed. Moreover, he had high hopes that Gabriel wasn''t going to be bought by the other ns since he also hated the General. All other ns were puppets of the Northern General after all.

    So the two of them were natural allies. He was once again hopeful that they could retrieve the legacy and revive their n. However, he didn''t dream too high yet, since things were easier said than done.

    All the Elders also got back to their work, looking quite pleased. Moreover, none of the Elders appeared to be faking it! They truly loved the Family and wanted revenge! They wanted nothing more than to see their n rise to the same old heights after recovering the legacy!

    The Head Butler of the n escorted him to the new room that was assigned to him. However, before he could do much, Ulesis stopped him, telling him that she was going to take care of it.

    Leaving the Butler behind, she held Gabriel''s hands and took him upstairs to show him the best avable room on the first floor.

    "You scared me when you started fighting there. Fortunately, things turned out well in the end." As she walked next to Gabriel, she couldn''t help but think back to that tense moment where everyone was on the verge of a war.

    "There was nothing to be scared of. I knew your father wouldn''t move. As a family head, he had to worry more about the family than about his own feelings," Gabriel responded, not showing much reaction. "As soon as I got a hold of his family, he could do nothing. Either he could watch me leave, or he could negotiate. And he did thetter."

    "Did you n everything?" Ulesis asked.

    However, Gabriel didn''t answer. Instead, he asked a question of his own. "Why did your founder leave his legacy in a ce where even you can''t retrieve it easily?"

    "He didn''t leave that legacy there. If anything, he didn''t even have the time to leave behind any legacy..." Ulesis sighed.

    "Then that Legacy...?" Gabriel frowned.

    "That''s the original source of the Legacy. Even he learned everything he knew at that ce. No one knows when shadow gardens appeared, or where that legacy came from. However, if we want to gain the knowledge that our founder had, we can only go directly to the source." The girl answered.

    "Directly to the source huh..." Gabriel thought of something, but didn''tment much.

 Chapter 562 562: Unknown

    "If that Legacy is such a threat to the King of the Upper Realm and the Generals, why don''t they just take it and make it impossible for the others to even get an opportunity?" Gabriel asked, intrigued about the hidden current behind everyone''s actions.

    It was said that many ns were after that legacy. However, so far, the Four Generalshadn''t gotten involved, let alone the King of the Upper Realm.

    If he personally tried, no one thought that he was going to fail at all. So why didn''t he?

    "It''s because he can''t... No one at the level of a true god can enter the Shadow Garden," the youngdy answered, surprising even Gabriel.

    "A ce that can even stop true gods? How?"

    True Gods were the ones who had sole control over their elements. When a true god of one element appeared, that meant no one else in the world was able to use that Element anymore. It was as if they were the sole master of their element.

    Gabriel couldn''t help but wonder how there was a ce that could even suppress a true god? Just what was that ce? Where did that legacye from?

    "Do you have any guesses where that Legacy could''vee from?" he asked the youngdy.

    Unfortunately, in response, he only received a light shake of head. "No one knows. Maybe only the King of the Upper Realm knows. However, there are some rumors that the legacy doesn''t belong to the Upper Realm."

    "Not from the Upper Realm?" Gabriel frowned. The battle that changed thendscape of the Nether Realm entirely... The people involved in that battle weren''t from the Nether Realm or the Upper Realm either.

    Moreover, the True God who was killed by him back on earth wasn''t from the Upper Realm either. However, they had such an impact on the Upper Realm and the Nether Realm.

    Gabriel couldn''t help but raise his head, as if thinking about something. He couldn''t help but wonder if the reason the King of the Upper Realm didn''t leave the Central World of the Upper Realm had something to do with that unknown ce.

    He had many questions, but not enough answers. The only taking he knew was that he had to get that legacy at any cost, to understand more.

    Moreover, even though he had some elements of a true god inside his body, like his skeleton and his blood, when it came to his Element, he hadn''t reached the True God Level. If anything, he was only halfway there. That made him believe that he was probably able to enter that ce, however he still couldn''t be surepletely.

    From what he had heard so far, the Shadow Garden was something that no one knew much about. Only the founder of the Stein n had somehow managed to reach the core and learn some things. However, Gabriel believed that the guy was most probably just lucky to be able to reach the core region.

    "The Shadow Garden will open in three days. Until then, father will collect all the information that you wanted. So rest assured." Ulesis stopped before a room, opening the door.

    "This is where you''ll stay. However, be careful. Even though we tried to hide the information, there are many unknown spies of other great ns even within our own n. Many people must already know by now that you''re the mage we asked to work with us in Shadow Garden exploration."

    Gabriel entered the room, nodding. "You mean they might try to kill me before that happens?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "The chances are still there, no matter how negligible.So it''s better if you don''t leave the n before the shadow garden opens. However, the spies might still contact you, to buy your loyalty."

    As the woman spoke, she lowered her head slightly, as if still somewhat worried that Gabriel was going to join another n, just like many others before him. However, she also felt that the chances of that happening were low.

    If Gabriel was really that kind of person, then he would''ve just demanded Treasures or wealth from his n in the first ce. He didn''t even ask for a single treasure and only focused on the information, as if he had no intentions of amassing treasures in the first ce.

    "I''ll take care of that when that happens..." Gabriel responded, before closing the door.

    Even as he closed the door, Ulesis remained behind for a few more seconds, before ultimately leaving.

    As Ulesis left, Gabriel finally started observing the bearing room.

    The room was quite luxurious to say the least. It definitely didn''t appear to be prepared for ordinary guests. Not only was the room big, but it had everything a person could ask for.

    However, for Gabriel, the luxuries were useless. He slept outside more often than he slept inside a room. So he wasn''t picky about his surroundings.

    In the room, he only paid attention to the shower and the bed.

    He took off his clothes and entered the shower, still lost in thoughts about the shadow garden and the unknown danger. He didn''t know why, but he felt that there was something that neither he nor Karyk could see.

    The legacy of the Shadow Garden, the skeleton and the Blood Monarch in the Nether Realm, and the scary sword in his dreams... Something big was happening, that he hadn''t yet understoodpletely.

    He really wanted to talk to Karyk about this. Unfortunately, he couldn''t. He had to take care of everything on his side on his own.

    "It would''ve been better if at least Raphael was here with me..." He muttered, as cold water droplets trickled down his perfectly chiseled body. "I should ask him back next time..."

    ****

    In the night, Gabriel cast another protective spell around his room. Even though he saw many people approaching his room, none of them tried entering. It was as if they were being careful.

    That''s how the first night passed away without much happening. However, the next morning, something did happen.

 Chapter 563 563: Open Offer

    There was a knock on the door, which made Gabriel wake up from his sleep. This time, he didn''t dream of that sword. If anything, he didn''t dream at all, as if something was blocking him from even entering dreams.

    Gabriel got off the bed, donning proper clothes before opening the door while still rubbing his eyes as if he was still sleeping.

    As the door opened, Gabriel was greeted with a beautiful maid, standing on the other side. The maid had a tray in her hand, which appeared to contain breakfast.

    The maid respectfully greeted Gabriel before informing him that she was here to bring him breakfast.

    Gabriel didn''t think much and moved aside, allowing the maid to enter with the tray, carrying food.

    The aroma of delicious food filled the room as she ced the tray on the table, arranging everything.

    However, she didn''t leave right away.

    "Young Master, I heard that you''re here to help the family?" The maid asked, as if she was just curious.

    However, her seemingly innocent question made Gabriel frown. "What if I am?"

    "N-nothing. It''s just that there were many people before you. And most of them died. So I just wanted to remind you to be careful, if you''re really hellbent on working with the Stein Family. Who knows, what might happen..." The maid kept her head down, even as she spoke.

    However, to Gabriel, her words clearly sounded like a threat, no matter how tame she behaved.

    It was clear that she was someone who was working for the other ns, while staying in the Stein Family.

    "Is that a threat?" Gabriel asked, maintaining his calm as he closed the door behind him.

    The maid was slightly taken aback. However, she soon regained herposure. "I wouldn''t dare. I was just worried about you, since I''ve seen so many things happen. I just thought I should alert you so previous tragedies don''t happen again.

    "Is that so?" Gabriel pulled a chair, sitting right before the table where the breakfast was ced. "Then what do you suggest I should do?"

    "If I was in your ce, I would''ve left the Stein n as soon as possible. Life is more important than treasures," the maid vaguely replied. However, it was clear just what she was talking about.

    "That''s true. Life is more important than treasures. However, what''s a poor life without any wealth? Isn''t that simply a life that no one wants?" Gabriel asked. "If I leave, won''t I be the biggest idiot? Not only will I not get any money, but also I''ll be chased by the Stein n for revenge..."

    "That''s true. But you can... Work with the other ns?" The maid said, as if she just wanted to give Gabriel a hint. "I''m sure they''d be willing to pay you for doing nothing."

    "Is that so?"

    "That''s right. In any case, even if you join the Stein n, you probably won''t seed in the Shadow Garden. That ce is scarier than one can imagine. So instead of doing something and dying, isn''t it better to do nothing and still get a profit through the other ns?'' the maid replied.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    It was as if she was revealing her true thoughts, now that she had started receiving a positive response from Gabriel.

    "That''s true. If I can earn wealth and support without doing anything, why would I risk my life. However, are you sure the other ns will work with me? I don''t even know how to contact them. Moreover, I''m not even sure how much, if anything, will they pay me."

    Gabriel started eating breakfast, after making sure it wasn''t poisoned. Even though he was mostly immune to poison, he was still careful.

    "Don''t worry about it. I know some people in the other ns. I can talk to them for you!" The girl grew excited. "As for the rewards, you don''t even have to worry about that. The Stein n looks big, but they''re much poorer than the other ns. If anything, the other ns will only reward you with more than you''re getting here!"

    "What do I have to do in return? Shall I leave right away?" Gabriel smiled, taking the first bite of the breakfast that was somewhat delicious.

    "N-no! Cough, I mean you should wait for the deal topete first. The deal should be finalized until a few hours before everyone is to enter the Shadow Garden. All you have to do is change sides at that time!"

    As the maid spoke, she was having a hard time hiding the greed and malice in her eyes.

    "Alright. You can take care of the negotiations." Gabriel smiled in response, but didn''t do anything else.

    He simply watched the maid leave. The door was closed again after the maid left.

    Gabriel''s smile disappeared, and he focused mainly on the food.

    "She''s quite bad at controlling her facial expressions. I''m surprised she survived as a spy in this n for so long. Is the Stein Family so stupid?"

    He could only shake his head lightly, finishing the dinner.

    After he finished, he left the room to roam through the Stein n premise. Now that he was a respected guest here, he was allowed to go anywhere he wanted, barring a few Forbidden ces where only the n members could enter.

    Fortunately, he didn''t have any intention of going to those ces. All he wanted was to see the giant golems that felt somewhat familiar to him.

    They were created using the legacy in the shadow garden. For them to feel so familiar to him, even though it was his first time seeing them made Gabriel quite intrigued about them.

    As he left the n building, a few guards apanied him. Even though the excuse was that they were following him to protect him from any danger.

    However, Gabriel was sure that they were there to keep an eye on him, in case he left the n. They had to make sure he didn''t meet the other ns while outside.

    Gabriel just let them follow him, not caring much.

 Chapter 564 564: Within Grasp

    The mansion of the Stein n was surrounded by a lush forest that covered quite a lot ofnd.

    Many traps and formations were also ced in those ces. However, as a guest, Gabriel was given a token that allowed him to walk through the forest without activating any traps. It was as if he was part of the Stein family.

    Gabriel stepped tentatively into the lush forest, his senses alive with the heady scents of blooming flowers and the rustling of leaves underfoot. The canopy overhead filtered the sunlight into an ethereal green glow, dappling the forest floor with shadows that seemed to shift and dance as he walked.

    As he followed a winding path deeper into the woods, he couldn''t help but feel a sense of wonder. There was a mystery to this ce, a feeling that there were secrets lurking just beyond the next bend in the trail.

    This ce contained such a pure aura that he was surprised. It made it evident that the Stein n was actually an ancient n with many mysteries hiding in the shadows.

    As he rounded a particrly thick stand of trees, he stumbled upon a hidden de. The grass here was a vivid green, and in the center of the clearing stood a pool of crystal-clear water that seemed to shimmer in the dappled sunlight.

    Without hesitation, Gabriel approached the pool and peered into its depths. He was slightly surprised at what he saw. However, since the guards didn''t try to stop him, it was evident that this ce wasn''t that big of a secret.

    Beneath the water''s surfacey an entire world of vibrant coral, teeming with fish and other sea creatures that he had never seen before. Moreover, those creatures contained some magic in their blood that he could feel clearly. How was it possible, he wondered, that such a ce could exist in the heart of a forest?

    For a little while longer, he explored the de, marveling at its beauty and mystery.

    However, he knew that he wasn''t here for this. Before long, he finally stopped his observation and continued on his way toward the Giant Golems in the distance that appeared like mountains which got bigger the closer he came.

    After a short journey, he finally reached the end of the beautiful forest, catching the sight of the Ancient Golems.

    They were immense, towering over him like mountains themselves. Their stone bodies were intricately carved, with runes and symbols etched into their surfaces. And yet, for all their grandeur, they stood motionless as if they were mere statues.

    Gabriel approached one of the golems, awestruck by its sheer size and strength. He circled it, taking in every detail, but there was no sign of life. It was as if the golem were waiting for something, some signal to awaken it from its slumber.

    The closer he came, the more familiar he felt, for some reason, that he couldn''t grasp.

    He tried to speak to the golem, but there was no response. It was as if the golem couldn''t hear him or didn''t want to. Despite that, he couldn''t shake the feeling that there was something more to them.

    As the sun began to set, he decided to stay a while longer.He watched as the shadows grew longer and the stars appeared in the sky, yet he couldn''t understand the golems.

    However, just as he was about to leave, he heard a sound, a faint rumbling that grew louder and louder. He turned to see one of the golems moving, its massive arms swinging as it reached for something.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Gabriel was intrigued. The golem was incredibly powerful, but it seemed to be moving with a sense of purpose. He wondered what it was trying to do.

    The golem eventually stopped, its arms falling back to its sides. Gabriel approached it again, hoping to get some answers. But still, there was no response. The golem stood there, silent and unmoving once more, as if what he just saw previously was nothing more than an illusion.

    This was very strange. He was sure that the Golems moved on their own, stretching their hands as if they were trying to grasp something that was beyond their reach.

    Gabriel turned to look in the direction that they reached out their hands. However, he couldn''t find anything special in that direction except the moon hanging high in the sky.

    Gabriel touched the Golems, frowning. "Just what are you? Do I really need to get the legacy to understand you?"

    As he touched the Golems, the strange yet familiar feeling deep within his heart only intensified. That feeling made him somewhat restless.

    In the end, he took his hand off, taking a few steps back.

    He was sure that he couldn''t understand anything as he was now. He had to do everything he could to get that legacy for himself.

    After some time, he turned around and went back. All throughout this time, the guards had been keeping an eye on him to make sure he didn''t mess with the golems. However, Gabriel didn''t know that the guards hadn''t seen the hands of the Golems moving at all.

    It was something that only he saw. However, it really wasn''t an illusion either. It was something more.

    Even as Gabriel left, the Golems remained still, like lifeless statues, facing the moon.

    So far, no one had seen the statues move, at least not in thest thousand years since the statues only moved thest time the Stein n was attacked. They were the only reason that the n had still managed to survive all this time, after all.

    ****

    Two days passed. There had been no significant movements. Gabriel remained inside the Stein n throughout this time, only trying to create new spells, especially ones that were more focused on his darkness element.

    He had a feeling that he was going to need that a lot in the Shadow Garden. Throughout this time, only Ulesis came to talk to him every day. However, she was always sent back by Gabriel, who only wanted some privacy.

 Chapter 565 565: Opportunity

    In thest two days, the Stein n had used all they could, to receive the information that they needed.

    However, since they were still a big n, with lots of branches in all zones of the Northern World, they had managed to gather the information swiftly.

    Within two days, the n had gathered information about every powerful person in the Northern World.

    The Family Head held over a hundred pages in his hand. He had finished going through all the pages. If anything, these pages contained all thetest information, even some that he hadn''t known previously.

    After he finished verifying the information, he stood up and personally went to meet Gabriel.

    Reaching closer to Gabriel''s room, he was slightly surprised to see that the entire area waspletely empty. Even the servants weren''t there. However, he could feel a powerful auraing from Gabriel''s room.

    To some extent, this aura even surprised him. It was more powerful than what Gabriel had shown in the main hall when he stood against them.

    He was even more certain now that his hunch about Gabriel was correct. That guy was hiding more strength than he had shown.

    As if Gabriel also sensed the presence of the family head, his aura slowly disappeared.

    He got off the bed and donned proper clothing to wee theing guest.

    Before the Family Head could even knock on the door, Gabriel opened it. Moreover, his eyes directly went on the papers in the middle-aged man''s hands.

    "It looks like you''ve gathered the information."

    "Everything that you asked for..." The middle-aged man nodded before handing over the papers to Gabriel.

    "Surprisingly enough, it was harder to find the information on the woman you are looking for. Even harder to find than the information on the Four Generals. Not much is known about her other than the fact that she stays in the Castle of Light in the Central Region."

    Hearing the man''s exnation, Gabriel took the papers. He hadn''t expected that getting information about the Goddess of Light was going to be so hard.

    "What''s her strength whenpared to the Four Generals?" Gabriel stepped back, allowing the middle-aged man to enter the room.

    "She''s said to be much weaker. However, no one can say for sure since no one has actually seen her fight. However, there are rumors that she''s close to the King. Other than the Four Generals, she''s the one who has been to the Central World and met the King," the n Head replied.

    "That''s to be expected. She''s a snake who won''t be satisfied until she gets everything," Gabrielmented as he focused on the little details about the Goddess of Light that was before him. "Still, it''s good to confirm that she knows how to get to him."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "I''m curious about something. Do you have an enmity with that woman?" The Family Head asked, slightly curious. From the way Gabriel talked about her, he was already certain that Gabriel hated that woman.

    "Perhaps one could make that observation," Gabriel replied in a rxed manner.

    "How did you make any enemy of someone her level? From what I know, she rarely leaves her pce and hasn''t made any enemies. Moreover, you came from the Southern World, but she never went there. So how are the two of you connected?"

    The Family Head was quite curious about Gabriel''s identity since his daughter had already told him that Gabriel was using a mask and he didn''t like showing his real face.

    If he wasn''t sure that Gabriel didn''t have the Element of Death, he might have already suspected that the person before him was Karyk himself. Who else dared to make the King and the Generals his enemies?

    "You don''t need to know that." Gabriel ced the documents aside. "Now that I''ve received my payment, I''ll help you explore the Shadow Garden. However, I won''t be anyone''s babysitter. So you should tell them to listen to me at all times."

    "Ah, right. I''ll make sure." The Family Head felt somewhat awkward. Gabriel was the only person who talked to him in that manner. However, he didn''t get angry. He had noticed that Gabriel was truly capable. If they seed this time, then their n could really rise to the top once again, bing a formidable force.

    Last time, only the founder had the legacy, and he became the strongest. However, this time the family head wasn''t nning on monopolizing that knowledge. Instead, he was nning to teach all the core members of the family.

    He wasn''t going to make the same mistake that his ancestor did! With so many powerhouses, he was sure that he could stand against the other ns! Even the Generals would''ve had to hesitate in attacking them.

    In any case, he wasn''t nning to publicize it, even if their n found the Legacy. He had nned to pretend that they had failed in retrieving the Legacy, even if they seeded.

    Dreaming about a pleasant future, the old man left Gabriel''s room, seemingly happy.

    As the Stein family head left, closing the door behind him, Gabriel once again picked up the documents.

    This was the information that even Jia didn''t have. It contained so many secrets about the Northern World that Gabriel hadn''t expected.

    He read everything in the documents, even about the ns that he had no familiarity with. It was as if he wanted to know everything that was to be known.

    "So many ns are loyal to the Northern General... Even though I expected this, but it''s still..."

    Gabriel kept flipping the pages, going through all the information. "Hmm? The Northern General is said to not like the Goddess of Light? This is... A conflict? For a clever person like her to get in a conflict with a General... Just what was she thinking?"

    After he finished everything, Gabriel burned all the papers before dropping on the bed. He was thinking about how to deal with the Goddess of Light. However, now he had a n.

 Chapter 566 566: Not Strong Enough To Conquer

    ****

    It was finally the time for everyone to leave for the Shadow Garden. After a long time, the Stein Family appeared to be full of life.

    An Ancient Ship was already ready and waiting for everyone outside. Moreover, almost everyone had already gathered outside the Stein n, including the family head and his daughter.

    The ship was beautifully crafted, with intricate designs carved into every corner. The sails were a deep purple, and the g atop the mast bore the emblem of the Stein Family. As they boarded the ship, excited chatter filled the air.

    Only Gabriel was yet toe out for now. Fortunately, it wasn''t long before he did.

    Gabriel didn''t use a mask to change his face anymore. Instead, he used a property mask that covered hisplete face, since he had heard that there were some traps in the Shadow Garden that made all disguises unusable.

    Other than the mask, Gabriel was donning all ck. His pitch ck robe fluttered in the wind behind him, as he stepped out of the n building.

    The robe didn''t belong to him. It contained the symbol of the Stein Family. The robe was a treasure of the Stein Family from the first generation. Once upon a time, this same robe was used by the Founder of the Stein n. By giving this robe to Gabriel, the Stein n was showing a lot of faith in them.

    "Even though I don''t know what he looks like, or why he hides his face, I have a feeling that he''s quite good looking." The Stein Family Head stood at the edge of the ship, next to his daughter as he spoke.

    "He''s also talented in magic, certainly even more than I was," he further continued while his daughter looked up at him, wondering why he was suddenly talking like that.

    However, she soon understood when her father further spoke, "If you two somehow fell in love, I really wouldn''t mind making him a son inw."

    "Father!" Ulesis was stunned. She grabbed her hand tightly, not believing that her father actually said that. Even though she didn''t have such feelings towards Gabriel yet, but hearing her father talk about such, made her slightly embarrassed.

    "What? I''m just saying that I wouldn''t mind." The middle aged manughed.

    Ulesis cast a furious nce at her father, before she stopped looking at him.

    On the other hand, Gabriel nced up at the ship in the sky. Stairs made using ropes were tossed down to help Gabriele up. However, Gabriel didn''t pay attention to that.

    He simply gathered some of his elemental energy, making his body as light as father before raising his right foot.

    He stomped his foot on the ground, jumping high in the sky. As he rose higher towards the ship, he felt the rush of wind on his face and the sheer exhration.

    He soonnded on the ship, right next to Ulesis. "Is everyone here already?"

    "They are. We can leave now." The Family Head smiled, before raising his hand, gesturing that they were ready to leave.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The ship turned around and started leaving.

    While the Majestic Ship left the Stein Family territory, no one noticed that the Ancient Golems that had always remained unmoving were actually looking up now, ncing in the direction of the ship.

    ****

    Even though the Shadow Garden was the most important ce for the Stein Family, it wasn''t in their territory. If anything, it was in a neutral territory that wasn''t under anyone''s control.

    The Shadow Garden was in an area called the Beast Region. That was the ce which was the home of many frightening beasts. It was said that there were also some Ancient Beasts in the Beast Region that were as strong as the four Generals.

    All because of that, no one tried to conquer the Beast Forest. Humans could enter the beast forest to explore the Shadow Garden since the Overlord Beasts didn''t care about it. However, if one was to try and conquer the Beast Region, then the result was quite different.

    In fact, there were many major families in the Northern World with ancient roots. They sent all of their strongest members to conquer the Beast Region. However, none of them returned alive. All those ns just disappeared in one day.

    That''s why, the Stein Family and the other families were very careful to not do anything extra when they were in the Beast Region.

    After half a day, the Stein Family Head brought Gabriel to the deck, showing him a vast area ahead that was surrounded in a dark beastly aura.

    "From here on, the Beast Region starts, the only independent region that isn''t under the control of the King of the Upper Realm..." The middle aged man spoke.

    "Was he not strong enough to conquer this ce?" Gabriel asked.

    "Who knows?" The Stein Family Head shook his head lightly. He could still gather the information about the Four Generals to some extent, but gathering information about the King was almost impossible.

    No one knew much about his past, other than the fact that he suddenly rose, taking over the entire upper realm within a short few years.

    There were some rumors that he had received some great legacy that helped him be stronger. However, there were also rumors that he wasn''t from this world at all, and came from somewhere else.

    Since no one knew about the King, the rumors kept appearing one after another. Some even said that the King was the reincarnation of some ancient being. The rumors only became more and more absurd with time.

    Despite all the rumors, one thing was for sure, the King was a force to be reckoned with. His army was fiercely loyal to him, and his power seemed to be immeasurable.

    He ruled his Upper Realm with an iron fist, and no one dared to challenge him. And that was when he didn''t even appear in the four worlds anymore. That was the level of fear that he had on the others, who had seen his past.

 Chapter 567 567: Ancestral Beast

    The Younger Generation might''ve underestimated him since they hadn''t been born when the King was crushing all his opponents, painting the Upper Realm blood red. The younger generation didn''t even believe most of those stories about the King''s Achievements.

    However, the older Generation knew that most of those stories about the King were true. They had seen the true terror. If the Stein Family Head didn''t have such a heart filled with anger, even he wouldn''t have dared to stand against the King of the Upper Realm and his people.

    However, it was toote to step back. He had to find the legacy at any cost. That was the only way to regain their old glory! This was the dream that all previous Stein Family Heads shared.

    "There''s someone really powerful in this ce... I sense multiple auras..." Gabrielmented, looking down at the ground that was covered in dark mist.

    "Hmm?" The Family Head frowned. Even he hadn''t sensed any auras yet. However, Gabriel was able to sense one? Moreover, he was the person who stood unphased against all his Elders.

    For him to say that the aura was powerful, it couldn''t be a small thing.

    "It''s not shocking. Maybe an Overlord Beast is nearby. However, they wouldn''t attack us, unless we attacked the Beast Region," the Stein Family Head replied, before turning around.

    "You should rest. In half a day, we''ll reach our destination. From there on, you might not have a chance to rest."

    The middle aged man left, after telling Gabriel to leave as well. However, Gabriel didn''t leave. He remained in his ce, gazing down in the direction where the aura wasing from.

    That aura wasn''t weak in the least. If anything, it was as strong as the auras of the Four Generals that he had felt in the banquet.

    Unfortunately, because of the mist, he couldn''t see anything at all.

    He didn''t know that on the ground, there was another person looking in his direction, with great interest.

    The person appeared like a human, but he wasn''t quite. He was bare chested, carrying some traits of a lion.

    In fact, he also had fur all over his body. His fur was a golden brown, shimmering in the light, and his muscles rippled with every movement it made.

    The creature let out a low growl as it caught sight of Gabriel. However, his eyes looked to be filled with great intrigue.

    Gabriel frowned, hearing the subtle noise.

    Despite his intimidating and fierce appearance, the beast didn''t do anything. As if he had no intention of even getting up, being toozy.

    Each of his movements was fluid and graceful, despite his bulky frame. His eyes were a piercing amber, and they seemed to be watching Gabriel closely.

    He also had sharp ws and teeth, which he used to tear into the carcass of a recent kill. It seemed to relish the feast, letting out deep, rumblingughter of satisfaction with each bite, as if he was a child enjoying delicacies.

    Despite his animalistic tendencies, however, there was a sense of intelligence in its eyes. He seemed to be aware of his surroundings.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Gabriel was really curious about the beast that this aura belonged to. If possible, he wanted to go down and check. However, he knew that it would''ve been a bad idea if he created some misunderstanding that would''ve been hard to clearter on.

    In the end, he could only give up on his thoughts, and return to his room as well, but not before taking another nce down.

    As Gabriel left, the beast revealed a smile. His teeth were covered in blood as he was still eating. However, his smile was of great interest.

    "He''s quite different... A person with the scent of an Ancestral Beast... How interesting..."

    The person nced at the ship, as if memorizing it. After that, he returned all his focus to eating.

    ****

    After half a day, the Ship of the Stein n reached near the Shadow Garden where multiple other ships were already present.

    Amongst the top ten ns, almost all were here. Other than that, there were also some weaker Families, who were here to try their luck to see if they could get the legacy.

    Many groups had gathered on the ground, with people they werefortable with. Many ns had already allied as well.

    However, as soon as the Stein Family Ship reached there, all attention fell on them. There was not a single person who wasn''t looking toward the ship.

    Many Major n Heads could also be seenughing.

    "These idiots never give up. How foolish." One of the n Heads smirked. "They have be aughing stock of the entire Northern World.

    " If I was in their ce, I would''ve destroyed this joke of a family myself, to prevent any further embarrassment!" Another n Headughed.

    Laughters and mockery filled the air. Fortunately, it was limited to the top ten ns. The weaker n didn''t dare to do such a thing. No matter how weak the Stein n was, it was still technically the fourth strongest Family.

    Being small families, they didn''t want to offend the Stein n even by ident. The Major ns might not have to worry, but they weren''t the same.

    While there was mockery everywhere, the ship of the Stein nnded. The members of the Stein n quietly stepped down from the ship and observed the environment, assessing theirpetition. They knew they had to be cautious if they wanted to obtain the legacy.

    However, after hearing all the mockery, their expressions were naturally quite unnatural. Even Ulesis appeared angry. She wanted to shut the mouth of everyone here, but she kept her calm, knowing that it could only worsen the thing there.

    On the other hand, Gabriel saw one of the Family Heads subtly sending a signal to the maid behind them. It was the same maid who had approached him, telling him that the deal was final and he had to wait until they reached the Shadow Garden before he was supposed to change his position!

 Chapter 568 568: Choice

    "Just like always, you''re still thest person to show your face, aren''t you?"An old manughed, approaching the Stein family Head.

    He was the Patriarch of the second strongest family in the Northern World, the Skyler Family. He was also the one who was the most eager to get the Shadow Garden Legacy as he always wanted his family to be the strongest.

    Unfortunately, it wasn''t easy for him to achieve that since the Northern Dragon n was currently the strongest n, and their strength was way above everyone else.

    In fact, while every other n paid so much importance to the Shadow Garden, the Northern Dragon n only sent one person to explore this ce each time, as if they actually didn''t have much intention of getting that legacy but just did it for formality.

    It was said that the Northern Dragon n were the true descendants of the Dragons, being able to use the most unique magic of real dragons.

    A young girl, in herte twenties stood in the distance, not even bothering to nce at the others. On her robe, the symbol of the Northern Dragon n was clearly visible. However, not a single person dared to approach her.

    The Skyler Family Head didn''t pay attention to her. He was more focused on Gabriel. From what he heard, the Stein n had too much faith in this young man, which also made him want to crush their hopes and use Gabriel to his advantage.

    The Stein Family Head didn''t reveal much hostility even though he was quite frustrated.

    "Apologies. I didn''t think that you all would be waiting for me. To think that you all still wait for us like you used to do in the old era when your family was nothing but a third rate family... It''s touching..."

    The Skyler Family Head frowned, sensing the mockery. However, he eventuallyughed. "Yeah, the past was certainly good. Who would''ve thought that your family would fall to this extent that it''s like dogs in front of us now. What a pity."

    He didn''t give the Stein Family Head the time to respond before ncing at Gabriel. "Is he the secret weapon you found this time?"

    The Stein Family Head frowned, but he didn''tment. He just felt somewhat strange. Why was this guy talking in this manner? Something appeared amiss. He also looked at Gabriel.

    "Wouldn''t it be a pity if he were to leave you right now and join my team?" The Skyler Family Head asked, as his smirk widened.

    "That won''t be happening. He isn''t on sale!" The Stein Family Head frowned. However, deep inside, he was already expecting that. If anything, he was pleased. Everything was going as Gabriel told him. Now the next part was more important.

    "Heh, you still think that? There''s no person who isn''t on sale. It''s just a matter of how much someone is willing to pay." The Skyler Family Headughed, as he reached out his hand to give a small ring to Gabriel.

    "There is the payment you asked for. You can switch teams now, ording to our previous deal."

    To everyone''s surprise, Gabriel didn''t hesitate either. He simply took the ring from the hand of the man that contained various treasures that would''ve been enough for a small n to live their lifefortably.

    "You..." The Stein Family Head was taken aback, as he looked at Gabriel in disbelief. However, within his heart, he wasughing. Gabriel wasn''t a person who needed treasures. The only reason he took that offer was for something else... Something that they both knew about.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    In the background, the young maid smiled. Everything had worked out. She knew she was also going to get rewarded for her sess.

    Even Ulesis couldn''t believe her eyes. Did Gabriel really double cross them for money? But he didn''t appear to be a person like that? Then what? Why would he take the treasures from their enemies?

    She reached out her hand to pull his hand and ask. However, to her surprise, Gabriel didn''t even look behind, as he started walking away from their group, surprising everyone else.

    Ulesis and everyone else in the Stein n was stunned. Gabriel could even feel a lot of bloodlusting in his direction from the Stein Family Members, as if they all wanted him dead!

    They trusted him and he also betrayed them at thest moment.

    Unfortunately, before they could do anything to Gabriel, the Skyler Family Head stepped in front of Gabriel, protecting him behind him.

    "He''s now a member of my team. Are you trying to go to war with my family?" The old man asked, asking the Stein Family Head, who was still standing nkly.

    Eventually, he gestured for his ns to stop. They really couldn''t do anything in this ce.

    "Let him go. We have no ce for traitors," he spoke, frowning. However, his eyes never left Gabriel.

    The Skyler Family Headughed. "As I said, there''s no absolute loyalty in this world. It''s just a matter of the right price!"

    With his hands behind his back, he started walking back to his group, but not before taunting, "Looks like you''ll be the first to fail this time as well. You better leave right now and don''t make things hard for yourself."

    ****

    "We never should''ve trusted that bastard! What are we going to do now?! Do we really have no choice but to give up?" One of the Elders asked as an emergency meeting of the Stein Family Members was called.

    "You''re right! We brought that bastard here, only for him to be used by others! We really should''ve killed him while we had the chance!" Another Elder chimed in.

    One after another, all the Elders kept speaking. If possible, they would''ve entered the Shadow Garden personally, but there was a limit of age, which prevented them from entering. Only youngsters could enter and explore Shadow Garden.

    "Just because we lost one person, doesn''t mean we lost the cause! We still have more people that we brought! We can still get the legacy if we give it our all! We can''t act like cowards!"

 Chapter 569 569: Ancient

    The discussion of the Elders continued. However, there were two people who weren''t saying anything. One was Ulesis, who was still in shock. The second was her father. However, even though her father was silent and expressionless, there was something akin to a smile on the corner of his lips that was barely noticeable.

    "We won''t be entering the Shadow Garden this time." In the end, the Stein Family Head finally spoke, surprising everyone.

    "What are you saying? How can we give up so easily?!" The First Elder asked, taken aback.

    "Just as I said. We don''t have a powerful shadow mage. So entering now would only mean the death of our people. So we will give up on the search this time. Not like they can find it anyway," the Family Head exined.

    "You... How can you even think that?! You should''ve been even angrier?! Why do you look so calm instead?! Have you be silly with anger?"

    "That''s enough. My decision is final. None of you will be entering this time."

    The Family Head rarely revealed such fierce expressions. Since the Stein family had cast a barrier, no one could hear what they were saying. No one could even see them properly.

    However, to everyone''s surprise, when the barrier was removed, the Stein Family Head cast a furious nce at Gabriel. "I hope that the treasures were worth it. Because for as long as you live, you will be chased by the Stein Family. You won''t have a single ce where you''d be able to hide."

    "And if you think the Skyler Family will protect you for all your life, then you''re too naive!" He spoke. At the same time, the other members of the Stein Family also revealed their killing intent openly. If possible, they would''ve already attacked Gabriel.

    "I think you don''t need to worry about me," Gabriel responded. "You should worry more about yourself. How many of your people do you think cane out of the Shadow Garden alive, now that you''ve threatened me?!"

    "We won''t be entering the Shadow Garden this time. So you won''t have that opportunity. However, I''m really furious to see how long you can have that arrogance of yours!''

    The Stein Family Head turned around, going back to the ship with the other family members. However, he didn''t leave.

    Instead, the ship still remained there, as if the Stein n wanted to make sure that no one found the Legacy. They wanted to stay behind to make sure that everyone else had failed too.

    The Stein Family, which was known to be stubborn, had suddenly given up on exploring the Shadow Garden. Even the Skyler Family Head found it too surprising.However, at the same time, he knew that this was a sensible decision.

    Since the Stein Family was convinced that Gabriel wasn''t going to betray them, they didn''t bring any backup shadow mage to support them. And if they entered without one, they were going to have a really hard time even surviving, let alone entering the core region.

    The Skyler Family Head couldn''t help butugh out loud, nodding in satisfaction.

    The mockery of the Stein n only intensified in that ce. However, no one knew that the reality behind this ''betrayal'' was quite different than they were expecting.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Only two people knew about the true n¡ª Gabriel and the Stein Family Head. Even Ulesis wasn''t prone to such information, which was why she appeared to be so heartbroken.

    Her father felt bad keeping her in the dark. However, he knew that it was better if no one else knew the heir.

    Other than the Stein Family, there were many sets of eyes of Gabriel now. Even the woman from the Northern Dragon n was looking at him.

    However, her gaze wasn''t favorable. It was as if she hated traitors, who broke their promises for their greed. That was why her impression of Gabriel was already pretty bad. However, she also felt that the man had something more to him.

    The Northern Dragon n was said to have the bloodline of True Dragons. However, even that bloodline of hers was being stimted as she looked at Gabriel, as if it was somewhat fearful for some reason. This was a strange feeling for her as she hadn''t experienced this before.

    Even when she was before the Northern General, she didn''t have this feeling. It was not the suppression of strength, but a suppression of Bloodline.

    She found it quite hard to believe, slightly confused as to what this feeling was. Was it really because of Gabriel? Or did he have some treasure, because of which she was feeling like that?

    She didn''t realize that she wasn''t the only one who was feeling this strange feeling. In the Beast Region, many overlords had sensed that, since they were overlord beasts with ancient Bloodlines that even scared the four generals.

    It was as if an ancient Beast had walked inside their territory, making their Bloodlines restless, despite their strength. This feeling was safe, but also quite different.

    Gabriel didn''t realize it, but at the moment, many Overlords of the Beast Region had started paying attention to him, keeping an eye on him.

    Fortunately, they just observed and didn''t act hostile. They didn''t attack the group of humans. If they wanted to, they would have already killed them after all.

    Fortunately, Gabriel didn''t have to stay behind for long. As soon as the barrier around the Shadow Garden weakened, it was time for everyone to enter the Shadow Garden.

    "We paid a lot for you, so you better not disappoint me, or I''ll kill you myself! Also, you better listen to all my others!" The team of the Skyler Family was being led by the grandson of the Patriarch, who acted as if he was the owner of everyone in his team.

    He walked inside the shadow garden, apanied by his team members.

    The woman from the Northern Dragon n also entered, but not before looking around, noticing that there were many ancient beasts who were observing this ce, which didn''t happen usually.

 Chapter 570 570: Shadow

    The Shadow Garden was a Mystical Space inside the Beast Region that even the Beast Monarchs couldn''t enter. However, as this ce was explored by humans so many times already, quite a lot of things were already known about this ce to the outside world, especially about the basic outer structure of the ce.

    It was known that everyone who entered the Shadow Region, appeared at the same ce in the Outer Zone. That meant the battle for supremacy in the Shadow Garden started right from the start... From the moment everyone entered.

    That was the time where many powerful teams attempted to kill the weaker teams to eliminate the variants.

    The stronger teams formed alliances to increase their chances of survival, while the weaker teams had to rely on their own skills and instincts to stay alive. The Shadow Garden was a ce where strength mattered the most, and only the strongest and most cunning would emerge victorious.

    Moreover, there was no outside interference in a ce like this. No one from the outside could even see what was happening inside the Shadow Garden either. So no one could stop them. The ones who died could only me their bad luck and nothing else.

    This was something that Gabriel was already informed by the Stein n before he even came here. That''s why, he wasn''t surprised in the least when he was attacked as soon as he entered the Shadow Garden.

    He raised his hand lightly, casting a shadow barrier before him, which blocked the attack for him. However, that wasn''t enough. This was the new spell that he had personally created when he was inside the Stein n after all.

    It wasn''t just a simple barrier. It was much more.

    Not only did the shadow barrier absorb all the attacks, but it alsoter reflected those same attacks where they came from.

    The person who had attacked Gabriel was stunned, when he saw his attacking back at him. Unfortunately, before he could even move, he was hit. His body flew back, as a hole was left behind in his chest.

    The other people from the Skyler Family also arrived, along with the other powerful families. The entire ce had turned into a small stage battlefield.

    However, the heirs of various big ns were simply standing in the back with great arrogance on their faces. They had people who could fight for them. They didn''t even have to dirty their hands.

    There was only one person in the entire ce who was all alone, yet that person wasn''t attacked. She was the girl from the Northern Dragon n. Neither the big ns, nor the small ns dared to attack her.

    She simply walked through the battlefield, asionally ncing at Gabriel in the distance. However, she didn''t approach him.

    The battle didn''tst long. Just as everyone had expected, the smaller ns were thoroughly destroyed. No one outside was going to know what happened since this had happened every time.

    It was going to be said that they died because of falling into some trap. Everyone knew how dangerous the Shadow Garden was, after all.

    After the battle was over, everyone continued entering deeper into the shadow garden while being careful about the traps.

    Fortunately, in the outer zone, they could be more rxed since most of the traps in this ce were already known. It was the Inner and the Core Zone which was truly dangerous.

    That was also where the shadow mages were going toe into y.

    For now, Gabriel had no use. However, strangely enough, he didn''t get much respect in the Skyler Family.

    While all other big families kept their Shadow Mages in the back, to protect themselves for the time being, the Skyler Family Heir didn''t do so.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    For him, Gabriel was no more than a dog that wagged their tails for them. If he couldn''t even survive in the Outer Zone without being protected, then he had no abilities to lead them to the Core Region.

    Moreover, the Skyler n brought an extra shadow mage, on which they had more faith after all. If anything, they didn''t really believe that Gabriel was any special. The only reason Gabriel was hired was to mess with the Stein n.

    Gabriel didn''t argue for the time being either. With his hands in his pocket, he walked ahead of everyone else, observing the Shadow Garden like a child, filled with curiosity.

    He didn''t know that the strange symbols on his bones that even Karyk couldn''t understand had started shining a little.

    As he walked further, the intensity of the glow increased, causing him to feel a strange warmth coursing through his body. Gabriel frowned, not realizing what that was.

    "This ce is really interesting. The nts were, I have never seen before. The essence they contain isn''t something that belongs to the Upper Realm?" he muttered, feeling everything in his surroundings, thanks to his element having properties of Light and Darkness.

    "Where are you?" While Gabriel was walking in the Shadow Garden, he suddenly froze, hearing a voice in his head.

    ''Karyk?'' he frowned, raising his head.

    "Hey!" While Gabriel stopped walking, someone pushed him from behind. "Stop wasting our time. Be a good dog and continue walking!"

    Frowning, Gabriel nced back, noticing it was again the heir of the Skyler n.

    He shook his head lightly, not getting angry. He had seen too many idiots like this already.

    He started walking again, but was still curious how he was able to hear Karyk''s voice.

    "How are we able to talk?" Gabriel asked, after creating some distance with the others.

    He didn''t notice that the girl from the Northern Dragon n was still keeping an eye on him.

    "Look at your shadow..." Karyk''s voice fell in Gabriel''s head.

    "Huh?"

    As Karyk said this, Gabriel looked down, finally realizing that there was something different about his shadow that he hadn''t noticed before.

    His shadow contained something else... It was.... The path to Karyk''s Shadow Realm where his entire army was!

    "How did you do it?" he asked, only to get a small answer in return.

 Chapter 571 571: Approach

    "I sent you some friends..." Karyk responded. "Since I can''t use them here, it''s better if they apany you."

    Even though Karyk could still ess that space whenever he wanted, but because he sent some Death Generals to Gabriel, he was connected to the same space as well.

    That also allowed the two of them to keep in touch, without leaving any elemental trace.

    As for the Death Generals that found Gabriel, they were the same that Karyk had sent to destroy all traces of his fake identity. The shadow couldn''t return to him, since he was under the watch of the Four Generals. That left only Gabriel who could take care of them

    Gabriel didn''t stop walking, but he kept ncing at his shadow. Just recently, he was getting jealous that Karyk took everyone with him, but to his surprise, he got everything back, and even more.

    In the Shadow Region, there wasn''t only the Death Army of Gabriel. There were also Jia and the Goddess of Nature.

    Thanks to that, he now has more hands to y in the Northern World. He had a force of his own.

    "Did you find a way to enter the Central World?" Gabriel asked, remaining calm.

    In another ce, Gabriel was standing before a window, gazing out at the dark surroundings.

    He was in a castle, which appeared to be the most protected ce in the world. The entire ce was surrounded by spatial storms, which made it impossible for anyone to teleport to this ce, or leave this ce without knowing a specific movement pattern.

    Even for Karyk, it wasn''t easy to leave this ce. However, strangely enough, the Four Generals weren''t leaving either.

    "I did find some clues," he answered. "It shouldn''t take long."

    He further continued, "However, I sense some danger around you. You should be more careful. Too many eyes are on you at the moment, with auras no weaker than the Generals. That''s why I asked, where are you?"

    Gabriel also had the same feeling. As if too many people were watching him as soon as he reached the Beast Region.

    He told Karyk everything, from where he was, to why he came here.

    "The Legacy of the Shadow Garden?" Karyk frowned. He remembered hearing something about it thest time he came to the Upper World. However, he was so busy with his own thing, that he didn''t have any time to pay attention to it.

    "So the auras I feel are the Overlords of the Beast Region... And they are all paying attention to you..." Karyk frowned. Something felt off.

    Even if Gabriel was strong, it shouldn''t have been enough to attract the attention of the Beast Monarchs, especially when he was hiding his aura.

    That meant that there was something more to this.

    No matter how much he thought about this, he could only think of three times. Either it was because of his blood and soul connection with Gabriel, or the blood of a true god that was used to make his body. Andstly, it could be because of the Skeleton.

    "They must havee across many True Gods already. So it shouldn''t be because of blood. The Beast Monarchs are said to be toozy after all, not paying attention to anything else but their ownnd and their own people."

    Karyk appeared to be talking to himself, but his voice was clearly heard by Gabriel.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Does that mean it''s because of that Skeleton which we found in the Nether World?" Gabriel asked.

    "There''s only one way to find out. Approach them after you''re done here," Karyk responded, cing his hand on the cold window before him.

    "Won''t that be dangerous? They don''t like humans approaching them. At least that''s what I heard..." Gabrielmented, with slight hesitation.

    "They are paying attention to you. That means they''re more curious about you. Moreover, their attention doesn''t feel hostile toward you, but filled with curiosity."

    Karyk was more sensitive to such things. Thanks to his shadows, he could feel just what kind of attention Gabriel was getting.

    If it was really because of the skeleton, then this was the only way that they had to find out more about the Skeleton, the Shadow Garden and what happened in the Nether Realm thousands of years ago!

    Gabriel remained silent, thinking about this. He didn''t realize that his speed had slowed down because of that.

    Behind him, the heir of the Skyler n was once again furious. This time, he didn''t just push Gabriel.

    Instead, he raised his foot to kick Gabriel. Unfortunately for him, the result this time wasn''t the same.

    Since Gabriel was actively thinking about what to do with the Beast Monarchs, he didn''t have enough focus to control his subconscious reaction.

    As soon as the kick of the Skyler n heir reached near him, he subconsciously reacted.

    A spike shot out from the shadow, prating the heart of the Skyler n heir, making him vomit blood right away.

    It was only when he heard the screams of the man that Gabriel came out of his daze, turning around.

    Unfortunately, things had already happened. He couldn''t change anything.

    Initially, he was nning to use the Skyler n who had most information about the Shadow Garden to reach the core. This was also a n he had discussed with the Stein n head. Unfortunately, before he could even get out of the Outer Zone, he had already subconsciously screwed this cooperation.

    Now that he couldn''t change this, he could only act sooner than expected.

    The other youngsters in the Skyler n Faction were taken aback, as soon as the heir of the n was killed.

    They reactedright away, but before they could attack, shadows appeared behind them, slicing their throats.

    One after another, the youngsters of the Skyler n dropped on the ground.

    The other ns were also not far from them, so they saw everything clearly, which stunned even them.

    Even the Northern Dragon n Heir revealed some reaction.

 Chapter 572 572: You Dont Seem Close

    Within an instant, the entire team sent by the Skyler n was wiped out, making them the top n to bepletely wiped out. And it was all because of one person.

    Even the Shadow Mages that were brought by the other ns were stunned. Gabriel only revealed his strength for a short time, but that was enough for them to know that he was stronger than them.

    All the ns created some distance from Gabriel, being wary. The heirs of various ns moved in the back. Since Gabriel had killed everyone from the Skyler n, he only had one way to prevent this information from leaking and that was to kill everyone who was present here.

    That''s also what everyone thought, and was prepared to face.

    However, to everyone''s surprise, Gabriel didn''t attack them. Instead, he turned around and started leaving. He felt that it was a pity to kill all those people so soon. Moreover, he had a feeling that he was being watched by something scary, even now.

    He was in no mood to reveal all his tricks until he reached the core region of the Shadow Garden.

    Watching Gabriel leave, everyone sighed in relief. They changed their direction, making sure that they weren''t going toe across Gabriel when exploring the Shadow Garden.

    There was only one person who still followed Gabriel. It was a woman who was carrying a heavy Sword on her back, yet her footsteps were light.

    She was from the Northern Dragon n, the strongestfamily in the Northern World.

    Unlike others, she didn''t appear scared. If anything, she appeared to be even more intrigued about Gabriel. The man was the strongest youngster she hade across. Moreover, he gave her an iprehensible feeling.

    She was even more convinced that the strange feeling she was getting from him wasn''t a coincidence.

    As she continued to walk towards Gabriel, her eyes never left him even as she was just a few feet away. She followed quietly observing him from head to toe, analyzing every detail of his appearance.

    "When will you stop following me?"After a long time, Gabriel finally asked, slowly down.

    Even though he hadn''t reacted previously, he had been clear that the girl was following him for quite some time.

    Fortunately, she didn''t have any Killing Intent which made him allow her to follow him.

    "I''ll stop following you when I find what I''m looking for," the girl replied with a determined look on her face.

    Gabriel couldn''t help but be intrigued by her persistence and curiosity. He decided to humor her and ask, "And what is it that you''re looking for?"

    "Answers," the woman replied. Her expressions didn''t falter at all.

    Gabriel was intrigued but also a bit hesitant, feeling as if whatever answer she was looking for had something to do with him.

    "Answers to what?" he asked, still cautious.

    The woman didn''t reply. Even though she had many things she wanted to ask, she was more clear than anything that Gabriel wasn''t going to answer if she directly asked, as the two of them were strangers for now.

    Instead, she decided to observe him and try to decipher the truth herself.

    "I know everything about the Shadow Garden. I can help you." The woman spoke after a brief pause.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "And why do you think I need your help?" Gabriel asked, frowning.

    "If you didn''t need someone''s help, a strong person like you wouldn''t be working with the Skyler n. I understand that the betrayal of the Stein n was false. You were using the Skyler n for their information, weren''t you?"

    As the woman spoke, Gabriel frowned even more. He was surprised that she had managed to guess as much.

    "Now that you killed them, you don''t have anyone to guide you."

    "I can just take the others hostage, if I wanted to. Why would I need your help?" Gabriel rolled his eyes.

    "Because the ones who are alive don''t have that much information. If the information was so easy to attend, the Stein n would''ve already given you," the woman further spoke, stepping closer. "However, I''m different. I know quite a lot about this ce, if not more than the Skyler n heir."

    "And what are you looking for in return for helping me?" Gabriel frowned.

    "A simple favor..."

    "And that favor would be?" Gabriel didn''t want to make any nk promises.

    "I''ll tell you when the timees," the woman replied with a cryptic smile. "But for now, let''s just say our interests align."

    "If you don''t tell me now, then I''m not making any promises. Even if you help me, I might disagreeter if it''s too much of a bother for me."

    Gabriel shrugged. He did need a guide, for the most part. However, that didn''t mean he was going to do anything.

    The woman didn''t react to his statement. Instead, she finally introduced herself.

    "I''m Ezil."

    "Gabriel." Gabriel walked behind her.

    Even though the woman was strong, she was still very young. If anything, it was clear that even if all the ns in the Shadow Garden had joined to attack her, they would''ve lost easily.

    Even Gabriel couldn''t see the true depths of her. All he knew was the information that was in the documents he had received but that information was also missing a lot of things.

    "Does the Northern Dragon n really have the Bloodline of the true dragons?" Following behind the girl, he inquired.

    Just like this was an opportunity for Ezil, this was also an opportunity for him to know more. The Northern Dragon n was really close to the King of the Upper Realm. However, they couldn''t be called subordinates of the King.

    Gabriel wasn''t trusting enough to reveal his secrets to the people that might be his enemies in the future. However, that didn''t mean he couldn''t ask for their secrets instead.

    "What do you think?" Ezil asked in return as she kept walking deeper into the forest.

    "Sounds like a rumor. It was said that true Dragons were the Ancient Mythical Beasts,parable to true gods. However, you... Doesn''t even seem to be close."

 Chapter 573 573: The Shortcut

    The woman frowned in response. She didn''t know why, but she felt somewhat insulted.

    "Our Ancestors were actually True Dragons. However, over the years, the Bloodline has diluted a lot. However, our n is still strong enough to dominate the entire Northern World."

    "Before the new King rose to power, the Northern Dragon n and the Stein n used to be the two overlord ns. At that time, the Stein Family went against the current King. On the other hand, our n remained neutral, not caring much."

    "The Northern Dragon n was scared of the new King?" Gabriel inquired.

    "That wasn''t because our n was scared," Ezil rified. "It just means we don''t care much about control of the Upper Realm. We have bigger concerns..."

    "Bigger concerns? What?"

    Ezil opened her lips to speak, but she soon realized that she had already spoken more than she should. She closed her lips and rushed ahead, as if she suddenly noticed something.

    She rushed ahead,observing a small pattern that was on the ground, hidden amidst the dark grass.

    Gabriel also stepped closer, observing the pattern. As soon as he saw that pattern, he grew somewhat surprised.

    The pattern... It was simr to what he had seen on the Ancient Golems. Moreover, now that he looked clearly, it also felt somewhat simr to one of the ancient characters that were carved on his skeleton.

    "You know what this pattern is?" he asked Ezil, who was sitting on one knee before the pattern, observing it.

    "This will be our shortcut," Ezil replied, as she bit her finger lightly, making it bleed.

    "A shortcut?" Gabriel asked, while Ezil ced her blood on the small pattern.

    "Exactly. This is what I was looking for. I believe only our n knows about this. Inside the Shadow Garden, no one can use Teleportation."

    "However, there is said to be one such pattern in each of the three Shadow Garden Zones that lead directly from one size to another, making the journey easy."

    "You mean this is like a Teleportation Formation. Howe the Northern Dragon n still hasn''t obtained the legacy, even if you know this secret? Doesn''t that make it super easy for you to reach the Core Region?"

    "You think it''s that easy? Our n was lucky to find the formation in the outer zone. However, we don''t know where the formation in the Inner Zone is. So it''s impossible to directly enter the Core Region."

    Ezil stood up as the formation circle appeared around her. Unfortunately, the formation circle was very small, as if it was only made for one person.

    She reached out her hand, grabbing Gabriel''s hands, pulling him into her arms, amodating him inside the small formation circle.

    Gabriel felt his body brushing against the soft body of the young woman, which made him taken aback.

    However, he didn''t have much time to think about anything. His surroundings turned white. He finally felt the element of space in the Shadow Garden.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The Spatial Element was simr to what he felt when the ship passed through spatial cracks between the worlds. If anything, it was even stronger.

    Fortunately, it didn''tst long. The two of them appeared in the center of the Inner Zone of the Shadow Garden, shortening their journey by a few days at least.

    Ezil pushed Gabriel back as soon as they sessfully Teleported. Her expressions were somewhat unnatural, but she didn''t say anything.

    She didn''t know why, but when her body was pressed against Gabriel, her heart had started beating even faster.

    Moreover, that strange feeling from before became even stronger for her. Her Bloodline felt suppressed, as if it truly was scared of whatever Gabriel was hiding.

    Gabriel patted his clothes, observing his new surroundings. He didn''t think much about what happened before.

    The Inner Zone of the Shadow Garden was even darker. If anything, it was impossible for an ordinary person to see a single thing here.

    He finally understood why Shadow Mages were paid so much importance in the exploration. In a ce where it was even hard to see, it was truly impossible to reach the threshold of the core region.

    It was also clear why so many people died throughout the years in this ce. Even he could barely see anything, despite having the Element of Darkness. However, one thing was certain. They weren''t alone here!

    He could feel more auras in this ce. The auras didn''t feel like the auras of humans. It was something else. One thing was certain. This ce wasn''t simple.

    "Can you see in this ce?" He asked Ezil, who was also looking around.

    Ezil turned around, revealing her beautiful face. Her eyes were shining in a mysterious green light.

    She answered, "Barely... And it''ll only get darker the further we go. So be careful. No one has managed to reach the core region, but it''s said that a person''s six senses stop working when one enters the Core Region. Even I don''t know how true is that."

    "Also, this is why our n hasn''t managed to find the formation of the Inner Zone. In this darkness, it''s impossible unless you''re the child of destiny... So we''ll have to take a long route."

    As they walked, the green shine in her grew brighter and more intense. However, her vision only grew weaker, having a hard time keeping up.

    The air around them grew colder, sending shivers down their spines.

    "We must be getting closer," she whispered, "stay close to me."

    They continued on cautiously. For every step, they had to be careful that they weren''t walking into some trap. That''s why it took them even longer to cover a short distance.

    Gabriel could also feel that those strange auras were following them. They still hadn''t attacked or revealed any hostility. However, Gabriel was prepared for the moment they did.

    Since this ce was so dark, he could actually use the Army of Undead without alerting Ezil. However, if possible, he wanted to avoid that since he had a feeling that this was bad for him if she found out the truth.

 Chapter 574 574: Ill Take Care Of The Rest

    The further Gabriel entered into the Shadow Garden, the worse it became.

    After some time, Ezil was unable to see anything at all. Even with her unique eyes, she failed to see a single thing. It was as if she was nothing more than a blind person who could only rely on her senses.

    However, for some reason, Gabriel was still able to see to some extent. Even though his vision was also affected, making him unable to see farther than a few meters, but he could at least watch his footsteps.

    He noticed Ezil walking even more carefully, checking her surroundings with her hands. This made him realize that she had finally lost the ability to see things at all.

    "You can''t see anything now, do you?" he asked.

    "Like you''re doing any better," Ezil rolled her eyes. She didn''t believe that Gabriel was in a better condition than her.

    "At the rate we''re walking, we''re never going to get out of this ce. I can still see. You focus on the barrier around us, and let me leave you."

    He reached out his hand, holding the youngdy''s hands, who was taken aback by the sudden touch. However, she didn''t resist. If Gabriel could actually see, then it was certainly better and made the journey shorter.

    Holding Ezil''s hands, Gabriel led her. He focused on the direction ording to Ezil''s guidance. On the other hand, Ezil focused on the barrier around them to protect them from the decaying energy around them.

    Even though Gabriel guided her while holding her hand, their speed was still not very fast, since she still had to walk carefully as she was unable to see at all.

    In the end, Gabriel became even more impatient. He didn''t have any intention of spending more time here than he had to.

    He moved closer to Ezil, leavingher hand. Instead, he ced an arm over her shoulders, stunning her. However, at the same time, he ced his other arm behind her knees.

    "What are you-" Ezil tried to speak, but before she could finish, she was picked up by Gabriel like a princess.

    "I''m increasing our speed. Focus on your barrier. I''ll take care of the rest."

    Gabriel sent out multiple shadows to check the terrain in his surroundings, especially in the direction of the auras that made him feel threatened. The auras were getting closer to him slowly. This was another reason he wanted to move faster.

    However, there was another reason that he picked up Ezil. Initially, the strange auras that he felt didn''t feel hostile. That''s why he didn''t know much. However, the closer he got to the Core Region of the Shadow Garden, the more their killing intent he felt.

    In the end, he understood that things were much worse than he would''ve liked. It was only a matter of time before they were attacked. So he had to take care of that matter before it could be shackles around his neck.

    That''s why, he embraced Ezil. While keeping her close, he could cast a small barrier around him and her to prevent her from sending the auras of his Death Generals. Moreover, it was also much safer.

    Gabriel sent his shadows toward the terrifying auras that didn''t belong to the Beast Overlords of the Shadow Region.

    Instead, these were creatures that were born in the Shadow Garden itself. They were stronger inside the Shadow Garden than they were outside.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The Shadow Beasts didn''t have much intelligence. They didn''t attack everyone they saw. However, they also had an innate feeling that they had to prevent anyone who tried to enter the Core Region.

    That was also why they were slowly getting more and more hostile as Gabriel reached closer to the Core Region while avoiding most of the natural traps in the Inner Zone.

    In the end, all the Shadow Beasts prepared to take action and attack Gabriel.

    p¦Ánd¦Á---no¦Í?1,§ão§® All the Shadow Beasts spread out, slowly surrounding Gabriel.

    Even Gabriel felt their auras spreading out. He realized that the beasts were finally ready to attack him.

    A terrifying beastly roar resounded in the Shadow Garden that echoed even in the Outer Zone.

    Most of the other n members were still in the Outer Zone. However, they all started trembling as soon as they heard this terrifying roar.

    Fortunately, thanks to Gabriel''s barrier, Ezil didn''t hear anything. Even though she had also felt those auras, before she could feel their killing intent, Gabriel had already cast a barrier.

    Even with the beasts surrounding him and offering a warning, Gabriel didn''t stop walking.

    In the end, the Beasts became even more furious. It was as if they were ready to rip Gabriel to pieces.

    However, right then, all the Beasts felt a terrifying aura that even made them hesitate. Moreover, that aura wasing from near them.

    While the beasts were still confused, multiple powerful beings came out of the Shadows, shrouded in the auras of death.

    Without the next few minutes, the terrifying roars of the Shadow Beasts turned into scared shrieks of fear, as if they were all being killed.

    This was the first time they felt fear like that. Usually, in the Shadow Region, only youngsters could enter, and no youngster was able to possess so much strength. This was the first time they came across something like that.

    Gabriel heard the pained shrieks, but he didn''t react. Instead, it was as if nothing had happened as he continued walking, while the Army of Undead disappeared inside his shadow, as if they had served their purpose.

    The Inner Zone was a ce that no one had managed to pass through. It was said that the people who managed to return alive from the inner zone had all failed to find a path to the Core Region.

    As for the ones who were on the right path, they had all died. However, until now, no one knew exactly how they died.

    However, for the first time after a long while, someone had managed to pass through all the traps and survive the Shadow Beasts.

    After two long days, Gabriel finally found the entrance of the Core Region of the Shadow Garden.

 Chapter 575 575: Resistance

    The Shadow Garden... One of the most Mystical ces in the Northern World that everyone knew about, yet none managed to fully explore.

    It was said that this was a forbiddennd. However, despite that, the greed of the Major ns and their arrogance didn''t allow them to give up on the treasures that were supposedly inside the Shadow Garden.

    Everyone was waiting eagerly outside, to see the results. Most of them were feeling optimistic this time, especially the Skyler n.

    The Head of the Skyler n kept taunting the Stein n Head every so often, telling them to leave since this ce wasn''t for cowards who couldn''t even protect their own people.

    His taunts also worked well in irritating everyone in the Stein n. However, they couldn''t do much. When it came to brute Strength, the Skyler n was much stronger.

    On the contrary, the Head of the Skyler Family remained calm, as he asionally kept ncing toward the Shadow Garden.

    Just like the Skyler n, he was also very optimistic. If Gabriel could actually get the legacy, and teach them the long lost way to create the Ancient Golems, then they could finally regain their old glory... At least to some extent.

    While the family head was lost in thought, Ulesis approached him.

    Her head was down and her eyes were full of regret. "I''m sorry. It''s all because of me. If I hadn''t brought him to the n, you never would''ve trusted him. His betrayal and everything that happened is my fault."

    The Stein Family Head turned around, revealing a beautiful smile. He patted the head of his daughter before speaking.

    "Reality is often not what it seems. Just wait. I have a feeling that you have something to look forward to..."

    He still didn''t tell his daughter directly. It wasn''t that he didn''t trust her, but he just didn''t want to change anything before everything was over.

    "I just hope that everything works out..." He furthermented, letting out a sigh.

    ****

    The Inner Zone and the Core Region of the Shadow Garden were separated by a weak barrier.

    The barrier couldn''t be broken, but it also didn''t stop people from entering. However, there was one problem. There were certain limitations on who could enter the Core Region.

    Gabriel recognized that when he tried to walk inside with Ezil.

    The resistance of the weak barrier was so strong that even he couldn''t pass through. It felt as if he was only going to be hurt if he forced his way.

    He ced Ezil on the ground next to him.

    "There''s a barrier ahead of us. This should be the threshold of the Inner Zone. However, it feels impossible to pass through it."

    As he spoke, he subconsciously ced his fingers on the barrier. However, strangely enough, as soon as he ced his fingers on it, he felt no resistance at all.

    His hand was easily able to pass through. He soon retracted his hand, frowning.

    If it was that easy to pass through, then what was that previous resistance?

    Ezil also appeared somewhat curious. From this point on, she had no information as to what was ahead. Her n hadn''t managed to reach this ce either.

    e¦Áglesn?¦Íel Even if someone did, they probably never returned alive.

    She reached out her hand, cing it on the barrier.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    She managed to verify Gabriel''s statement as she felt the resistance. She pulled her hand back, frowning.

    "Is it possible to break this barrier?"

    Wondering, she pulled out her heavy sword. Gathering all her strength, she attacked the barrier even though she wasn''t able to see anything.

    Her Swordnded on the barrier, which managed to create some ripples on the barrier. However, it wasn''t enough to break it.

    If anything, the barrier reflected most of her attack, sending her flying back as if she was a doll.

    Ezil crashed on a distant tree, coughing out a mouthful of blood. The attack that was reflected was even stronger than her own attack. Moreover, since she couldn''t see it, and wasn''t expecting it, she was taken aback even more.

    Gabriel approached her, helping her up. "Are you alright?"

    "This barrier is much stronger than I thought. Is there no other way to enter? The Teleportation Formation of the Inner Zone might be the only way to enter the Core Region."

    Ezil wiped the blood off her lips, as she stood up.

    "There is another way. However, that way only works for me," Gabriel responded.

    "What way?"

    "That barrier doesn''t seem to resist me. The only reason I was stopped previously was because I was carrying you," Gabriel exined. "Finding a small teleportation Formation in this huge ce seems impossible. It''ll also waste too much time."

    "So you want me to stay behind as you go ahead?" Ezil inquired.

    "Unless you have another way?" Gabriel asked in return.

    From this point on, Ezil also had no information on what they were going to find. Her usefulness had ended when they reached the end of the Inner Zone. There really wasn''t any need to take her further.

    He wasn''t doing charity either. The Legacy was something that he wanted for himself after all.

    He thought Ezil would offer some resistance in response.

    However, to his surprise, Ezil agreed right away. "Alright. I''ll wait here for you."

    "Hmm?" Gabriel frowned. "You aren''t going to throw any tantrums?"

    "Did you think I was a child?" Ezil rolled her eyes. "In any case, I had no interest in the Legacy of this ce. My n has no interest in the Golems. We focus more on our own strength."

    "However, don''t forget our deal. You owe me a favorter."

    "I never agreed to that." Gabriel turned around, letting outughter. Even though Ezil could end up being his enemy, he quite liked her straightforward personality.

    Before Gabriel passed through the barrier, he didn''t forget to say onest thing.

    "If your favor doesn''t make things difficult for me, I''ll do it."

 Chapter 576 576: Secret Realm

    The Barrier for the Inner Region was almost impossible for others to pass through. However, for Gabriel, it proved to be very easy.

    What was even better was that he had to go in all alone, so he didn''t have to worry about always watching over his back. He also had an entire army in his shadow, so it made things even easier for him.

    As he ventured deeper into the Core Region, Gabriel noticed the stark contrast between the Inner Zone and the Core Region.

    In the Inner Region, he could at least see some things. However, as soon as he passed through the barrier, his vision hadpletely gone nk, as if he had be blind.

    Not only did his vision, but his other senses were also blocked right away. He couldn''t smell anything. He couldn''t hear anything. He also couldn''t feel any touches.

    It was as if he had entered into a vacuum, devoid of any sensory inputs. The only thing he was left with was his own thoughts, and the realization that he was still breathing.

    The entire ce was confusing. He didn''t even know where he had to go, or if he was even on the right track.

    He couldn''t ask for the help of his army, but he knew that it was also useless. If even he couldn''t see in this ce, then there was no chance that they were going to see.

    The only clue he had was that he had to walk straight, or he could be walking in circles without even realizing.

    Fortunately, there appeared to be no obstructions in his path.

    He didn''t know what the terrain of the core region was like. Was it like the inner zone? Or was it different? Was it like a forest, or was it barren? The only thing he knew was that he hadn''t fallen yet.

    Since he couldn''t feel any senses, he couldn''t use touch to know what the terrain was.

    "Where am I to go?" He asked, only to realize that no words actually came out of his mouth. It was as if he couldn''t speak either.

    He decided to keep moving forward, hoping that he would eventually find some clues about his location.

    As he moved through the unknown void, he began to feel somewhat warm. It was strange for him to feel the warmth since he had lost all his senses. However, that warmth didn''t feel scary. Instead, it feltfortable.

    It was as if he was being embraced by that warmth, that kept inviting him closer.

    Since the warmth didn''t feel threatening, and it was the only clue he had in thisnd of the unknown, he kept walking closer to the warmth. It was as if that warmth was his only guide in this ce.

    As he walked towards the warmth, he started to see some light ahead of him. Even though his eyes were still filled with darkness, but he was able to see a blurry source of light.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The light was flickering and it was getting brighter and brighter, and he could hear some faint voices. He couldn''t make out what the voices were saying, but the sensation of the warmth and the light was all he needed to move forward.

    As he got closer and closer to the light, the voices started getting clearer and he could make out what they were saying.

    The voices seemed to be chanting something in anguage he could not understand. But the rhythm and melody of the chant enticed him and made him feel morefortable in this strange ce.

    He didn''t realize yet, since he couldn''t properly see, but there were two Ancient Golems standing on both sides of the Source of Light.

    As he got closer, the golems noticed him and turned their heads towards him. A shiver went down his spine as he realized that he may not be weed in this ce.

    However, the Golems soon returned to their usual calmness, as if they had no intention of stopping Gabriel.

    Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief and continued towards the Source of Light. The closer he got, the brighter and more blinding the light became, until he was standing in front of a massive, glowing orb.

    He could barely see the orb, which was the only thing in this vastnd of darkness.

    He subconsciously reached out his hand toward the orb that seemed to be calling for him.

    It was as if the strange familiar feeling in his heart was only getting stronger with each passing second.

    As soon as his fingers touched the orb, all his senses returned. He was able to feel and see everything! However, before he could even take notice of hei surroundings, an enormous force pulled him into the orb, and everything went nk.

    Gabriel felt weightless and a sense of calm washed over him. After what seemed like an eternity, he opened his eyes to find himself in a vast, lush meadow, surrounded by vibrant trees and flowers he had never seen before.

    The air smelled sweet, and the sun was just beginning to set, casting a warm orange glow across thendscape. As Gabriel took it all in, he noticed a figure in the distance, making their way towards him.

    As the figure approached, Gabriel realized it was a young woman with a warm smile on her face. She greeted him warmly and beckoned him to follow her.

    With some hesitation, Gabriel trailed behind her, curious about this strange ce he had found himself in.

    Together, they walked deeper into the meadow, and Gabriel began to feel a sense of peace he had never known before. It was as if there was some unknown longing inside him for this ce.

    The young woman led Gabriel to a small, crystal-clear pond in the midst of the meadow. She motioned for him to sit beside her on the soft grass, and they spent several peaceful hours enjoying the beauty of their surroundings.

 Chapter 577 577: Youd Be Dead

    For some strange reason, the woman didn''t say anything. Even Gabriel remained silent.

    But the silence didn''t feel ufortable or awkward, as both of them seemed to have an unspoken understanding. They simply enjoyed the tranquility of the meadow and thepany of each other.

    Even though it was Gabriel''s first time apanying this woman, but he didn''t know why, he felt strangelyfortable next to her. As if he wouldn''t have minded even if he had to stay here for an eternity.

    It was a moment of serenity that Gabriel would always hold onto, even when he would eventually leave this ce.

    Unfortunately, he knew that he couldn''t stay at this ce. He had to get back! There were things he had to finish! There were loose ends that he had to fix. And there were peoplethat were dear to him that he had to protect.

    More importantly, there were people he had to kill.

    Gabriel pushed away those dark thoughts and stood up. He took onest look at the peaceful scenery, before turning to the woman.

    "Who are you? And where am I?"

    The woman raised her beautiful eyes, ncing at Gabriel. Her lips revealed a beautiful yet calming smile.

    "You have a simr personality to him..." After a long pause, the woman finally spoke.

    Her voice was melodious and beautiful, and it was ethereal. It was as if it was a goddess.

    "Who are you talking about?'' Gabriel inquired, frowning.

    "I''m talking about the one who created all of this," the woman replied, gesturing towards the peaceful surroundings. "The person whose skeleton you seem to be using."

    "I knew he died. But I didn''t expect that even her remains would be used like this..." She further added, letting out a deep sigh.

    Hearing her response, Gabriel was taken aback. He took a few steps back, preparing for a fight.

    The woman knew the person who had destroyed the entire Nether Realm with his fight? That meant she wasn''t much weaker than him either. Moreover, she seemed to be a friend of his!

    Gabriel wasn''t sure if she was going to try to kill him because of what they did.

    "Don''t worry. I can see that you weren''t involved in his death," the woman noticed the hesitation on Gabriel''s face.

    "If you were, I would''ve already killed you before you even stepped a foot in here."

    A look of reminiscence shed in the girl''s eyes as she looked at the pond in the distance. "The person I knew... He''s long dead. And then your friend can''t bring him back."

    eaglesnov?1,§ão§® "My friend?" Gabriel frowned, wondering who she was talking about.

    "The one who''s listening to our conversation?" The woman asked as her pearlyughter resounded in the surroundings.

    ****<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    In another ce, Karyk frowned. He didn''t know who that woman was, or why she was able to sense him. However, he could feel that her strength was something even he couldn''t understand without being physically present before her.

    However, from his initial guess, he had a feeling that she was much stronger than she seemed.

    He wanted to keep an eye on her and try to gather more information about her without exposing his presence. Unfortunately, she already knew about him.

    "Don''t worry. I won''t kill the little guy before me. If anything, meeting me might be a blessing for him." The woman spoke. However, her words sounded like they were directed straight toward Karyk.

    The woman stood up, gracefully waving her hand.

    A terrain of strange energy fluttered in the surrounding while the water in the pond split apart, opening a path that led to the depths at the entrance of an unknown ce.

    "Come with me."

    Karyk hesitated for a moment, but he knew that Gabriel had to follow her if he wanted to get some answers about what happened to the Nether Realm in the past, and who these people were.

    Gabriel cautiously followed the woman towards the opening. He stepped down the straight yet old stairs.

    Each step creaked beneath his feet, and he couldn''t shake the feeling that this ce was ancient, older than anything he had ever seen before.

    As they descended deeper into the underground, Gabriel spotted strange etchings on the wall that glowed a faint blue, illuminating the passageway.

    There were strange markings, depicting some kind of battle. However, the etchings were so old that it was hard to understand them properly.

    One thing was certain. He couldn''t understand the writing on the wall since it was apletely unknownnguage. But he felt a strange sense of familiarity, as if he had seen these symbols before in a dream or some forgotten memory.

    It was as if he had some connection with them. Moreover, for some reason, he felt that the symbols and the writing on the wall here was somewhat simr to the strange characters etched on the bones of the ancient skeleton.

    The only difference was that these words don''t seem to contain any mysterious power. On the other hand, the characters that were carved on the bones appeared to epass a power beyond measurable.

    As they continued further into the dark caverns, Gabriel couldn''t shake off the feeling that they were being watched by ancient, unseen eyes. There appeared to be many ancient traps everywhere, as if they were made so that no one unworthy could enter this ce.

    Fortunately, since Gabriel was apanying the blue haired woman, he didn''t need to worry about the traps. He could keep marveling at the surroundings as he followed her.

    The woman seemed to know her way around the ce, leading them deeper into the heart of the underground. Gabriel couldn''t help but wonder what kind of secrets this ce held and what kind of origin did these people have.

    One thing was certain for him. They weren''t from the Upper Realm.

    At the end, the woman finally stopped before an ancient stone wall. There appears to be no opening in the wall. However, the woman created an aura Sword, that condensed on her fingertips.

    Even though it was only a basic use of her abilities, Gabriel could feel the strength from that aura Sword. It felt no weaker than a world tier spell.

 Chapter 578 578: Gift

    The woman then proceeded to make a single precise strike on a specific spot on the wall. A low rumble echoed throughout the chamber as the wall slowly began to shift, revealing a hidden passage.

    In another ce, Karyk also felt that aura. It was just as he had expected. The woman was at least as strong as him, if not more.

    That made him even more curious about the true origin of the Shadow Garden, which contained a mystery like this.

    "Did the Founder of the Stein ne here as well? Are you taking me to the legacy?'' Gabriel asked, slightly frowning.

    "Stein n? What''s that?" The woman asked, seemingly confused.

    "Though I do remember a little brat who identally ended up here long ago. Since he was kind, I gave him a random book and sent him on his way. Are you talking about him?" she further asked.

    "That doesn''t seem to be right. You won''t be calling that random useless book a legacy. That''s nothing more than trash. So who are you talking about?" the woman becameeven more confused.

    However, Gabriel already had his answers by now.

    This also made him realize that he was underestimating this ce even now. The treasure that was called a legacy by the Stein Family which helped them reign supreme in the Upper Realm was nothing but a random book for this woman.

    He didn''t know how they were going to react once they found out the truth.

    If just a random book from that woman was so powerful, then he was really curious just where this woman was taking him.

    "Where are you from?" Gabriel asked, frowning as he walked next to the woman in the long corridor underground.

    The woman nced at him and calmly replied, "I''m from a ce that I''ve long since abandoned."

    "And that ce is?" He further asked, really curious just where that skeleton came from. Just what was that ce? And was it going to be a threat for him in the future?

    The woman nced at him, but didn''t say anything. She continued walking.

    Gabriel raised an eyebrow, but didn''t press for more information. He had learned long ago that some things were best left unsaid, especially since she wasn''t going to tell him anything.

    As they walked in silence, Gabriel thought about what she said. He wondered what kind of ce she left behind and what kind of experiences she had. But he knew better than to pry, at least for now.

    However, one thing was certain. There was another ce above the Upper Realm. And it was something that was connected to the reason that the King of the Upper Realm didn''t leave the Central World.

    After walking for a long time, protected from all the traps, the woman finally stopped in a chamber which was being guarded by two golems.

    However, the golems this time were the size of an ordinary human. They were much smaller than the golems that he had seen outside.

    Despite being smaller, the golems appeared much stronger, covered in strange marks all over.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The woman whispered some words and the golems immediately stepped aside, allowing her to enter the chamber. She motioned for Gabriel to follow, and as they entered the room, he couldn''t believe what he was seeing.

    The walls were covered in intricate carvings and glowing crystals, illuminating everything in a soft blue light. In the center of the room stood a pedestal and on it rested a singr object that seemed to pulse with a magic of its own. Gabriel couldn''t take his eyes off of it.

    "That is...?" he asked, frowning.

    Even Karyk was frowning, sensing that aura. He hadn''t felt anything like that before. It was as if this aura didn''t belong anywhere. It was the true darkness of Chaos that could even scare gods!

    If anything, this aura somewhat reminded him of the darkness in which he had seen the sword floating in his recent dreams.

    But Gabriel''s mind was fixated on the object, he couldn''t shake off the feeling that it was calling out to him.

    "Go ahead. Take it," the woman gestured, telling Gabriel to take the small gem that appeared to be a piece of something much bigger.

    Even though it appeared precious, the woman didn''t seem to care about it.

    Gabriel nced at the woman, before ncing at the small gem.

    He couldn''t help but wonder if it was a trap. However, did she really need a trap to hurt him in this ce? There were many thoughts in his head, but he had a feeling that if he didn''t take this gem, he was going to miss something really important.

    So, slowly and carefully, he reached out and grabbed the gem. However, as soon as his fingers touched the gem, he felt an electric current coursing through his body.

    A voice appeared in his head, as if trying to take over his body. Karyk also felt the same sensation, as if he was going crazy.

    Fortunately, both of them had seen the life of thousands of years. Their minds were much stronger than ordinary people, and even the woman knew that.

    While Gabriel was resisting the strange voices in his head, the blue haired woman stepped closer to him, cing her hand over the young man''s head.

    A serene andfortable aura shrouded Gabriel.

    The voices in his head gradually disappeared, and Gabriel regained control of his body. He looked up at the woman, who seemed to exude an otherworldly charm.

    For a moment, he forgot where he was and what they were doing. But then he remembered the urgent matter at hand and stood up.

    He looked at the beautiful gem in his hand which was still radiating the same aura.

    "What is this?!" he asked the woman. "Why do you want me to have it?!"

    "Because this will help you," the woman calmly answered. "Think of it as me paying back his inheritor."

 Chapter 579 579: Your Fall Is Near

    Gabriel couldn''t help but frown. It was clear that the woman considered him the inheritor of the person that the skeleton belonged to.

    She wasn''t quite wrong either. Even though he didn''t meet that person when that person was alive, he had his bones inside his body. Gabriel had everything that the person left behind.

    If the Blood n in the Nether Realm was called the inheritors of the Blood Monarch, then it made sense that he was called the Inheritor of that person.

    "What does this gem do?" Gabriel inquired, keeping the small piece of stone safely in his storage.

    The woman only smiled in response. "You''ll find out when the timees."

    As she finished, she turned around and started going back. "It''s time for you to leave..."

    "Wait, I have more questions!" Gabriel eximed. "Who is that person? Why was he fighting the Blood Monarch? And many more!''

    Unfortunately, his voice only seemed to fall on deaf ears as the surroundings started turning blurry. He only saw the woman waving her hand, without looking back.

    After a few seconds, Gabriel felt his body sucked into the void.

    He appeared back in the Shadow Garden. However, one thing was different now. He was able to see clearly even when he was at the core of the shadow garden!

    Moreover, all his senses had returned! Even though everything felt like a dream at the moment, but he knew that it was real, since he could still see the ring in his storage.

    The small orb that transported him to that ce was also before him. Moreover, next to the orb, there were two old books.

    Gabriel picked up one of the two books, realizing that it was about the Golems! This was an even more advanced version than what was given to the Stein n Patriarch.

    It contained all the information that he had received. However, it also contained more. The book contained information about humanoid golems that were one tier above the Ancient Golems.

    As for the second book, he didn''t know why he was given that book. However, the second book appeared to be a story book.

    It was as if some fictional stories were written on them. However, Gabriel was careful about it, since there was a good chance that they weren''t stories but the truth.

    He picked up both of the books and kept them in his storage, before trying to pick up the teleportation orb.

    Unfortunately, no matter what he tried, he wasn''t able to pick up the orb, as if it was impossible to move it from its ce.

    Frustrated, Gabriel could only give in. There appeared to be no way to take the orb with him.

    In the end, he could just leave like that. He had achieved everything he came here for! If anything, he had achieved even more!

    Now that he was able to see clearly, he was quite amazed on his way back.The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful, with lush greenery and colorful flowers surrounding him. The ce truly looked like a wonder of this world.

    If anything, this was the most beautiful ce in the entire world that he had seen in this life.

    As he walked through the path, he couldn''t help but wonder just how many things were in this world that were unknown to him even now.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He couldn''t shake off the feeling that he was involved in more things that he knew about at the moment.

    After taking a walk around the Core Zone of the Shadow Garden to make sure that he didn''t miss anything, he stepped out of the Core Zone.

    Now his vision hadpletely been restored. It wasn''t the same for the woman from the Nether Dragon n since she still couldn''t see anything.

    She could be seen sitting with her back resting against a tree, as if waiting for someone.

    As soon as she heard some footsteps in the distance, she raised her eyes.

    "Did you seed?" she asked as she stood up. Even though she opened her eyes, facing him, her vision waspletely dark.

    "I didn''t. I barely survived and returned. There appear to be some living beings inside, with quite a powerful aura. If I''m not wrong, they''re as strong as the Beast Monarchs."

    Gabriel didn''t bother telling her the truth. She wasn''t really his friend or his family member after all.

    Moreover, giving her information was partially the same as giving the information to almost everyone in the Upper Realm.

    She probably wasn''t going to hide this from her family. And in return, her family might leak this information.

    The Stein n and the Northern Dragon n used to be two strongest ns once upon a time.

    As the Stein n fell, the Northern Dragon n didn''t intervene. No matter how many excuses they gave, it was clear to Gabriel that the Dragon n wanted to see the fall of the Stein n in the first ce, which made them the strongest n that couldn''t be threatened by anyone.

    It was clear what the Northern Dragon n was going to do once they knew that the Stein n had a chance of recovery!

    They were going to stay out of it, maintaining their righteous image. However, at the same time, they were going to use other ns as pawns to destroy the Stein n.

    Even if no one went after the Stein n, their own life was going to be in danger, more than it already was.

    "Without my vision and senses, I couldn''t even think aboutsting a minute against them. Fortunately, it appeared as if they were just giving me a warning. So I was allowed to return."

    Gabriel didn''t stutter even the least when lying openly.

    "No wonder that no one had managed to seed in retrieving the Legacy. It''s impossible!" He further stated, letting out a tired sigh.

    After that, he once again picked up the woman in his arms. She was his witness... The witness of his so-called failure. So he wanted to take her back.

    ****

    Back in the unknown realm, the blue haired woman was once again sitting next to the pond, gazing at the water.

    "Your fall is near... So called Guardian of the Throne... Janus¡­"

 Chapter 580 580: Arrival In The North

    While Gabriel was on his way back, he soon reached the Outer Zone of the Shadow Garden.

    On the way back, he came across other teams as well. However, none of them could see him on the way, which granted him an additional advantage.

    Along the way, he killed almost everyone from other ns. If anything, he intentionally found people to take them out. They had seen him destroy the Skyler n and he didn''t want a headache.

    It was also because of that, he also thought about killing the girl from the Northern Dragon n, but in the end, he didn''t. She was supposed to be his witness that he didn''t find anything.

    Moreover, she also wanted him to do her a favor. That made him believe that she probably wasn''t going to betray him as soon as they came out. And even if she tried to betray them, he could still protect himself now that Karyk sent him help.

    Gabriel soon reached the Outer Zone of the Shadow Garden and ced the girl down. From here on, there were no restrictions on her vision. She could freely move around.

    The girlnded on her feet, feeling somewhat relieved that she was able to see again. However, she was quite disappointed that she wasn''t able to enter the core region of the Shadow Garden.

    She was really curious why Gabriel was the only one who was able to enter that ce. Why did the barrier stop her, and not Gabriel? Somewhere deep inside, she was also thinking if Gabriel had lied to her about not finding anything inside.

    Unfortunately, she had no way to find the truth. She wasn''t even sure if she could defeat him or not. And even if she had an overpowering strength that was able to defeat him, could still be able to stop him if he wanted to escape?

    Killing a person was much easier than stopping them. In the end, she knew it wasn''t easy.

    As for the legacy, she really didn''t care about it much. The legacy was useless for her n. However, her n still wanted to know who received that legacy, if any, because that could change thendscape of the entire Northern Realm.

    "What are you thinking about?" Gabriel asked, walking in the lead. He didn''t even need to look back to know that the girl was lost in some thought.

    "I''m just pondering about the legacy," she replied, still lost in thought. "It''s strange that someone would go to such lengths to ensure no one found it."

    Gabriel slowed his pace, giving her a curious nce. "Perhaps it contains something valuable or dangerous."

    "Maybe," she said, shrugging. "But I really wonder who that legacy belongs to. Where did ite from?"

    "There are some mysteries in the world that are almost impossible to resolve. It''s better if you stop thinking about it," Gabriel replied, shaking his head lightly.

    Even he didn''t know the exact reality behind this legacy, even after receiving it. What was that small gem that he received from that mysterious ce? Who exactly was that woman? What did she want from him? There were so many questions in his head.

    If even he wasn''t sure about the reality, he was convinced that the woman had no chance of finding the truth.

    If there was one person in the Upper Realm who knew the truth, then it was probably the King of the Upper Realm. The reason he never came to the Shadow Garden was probably because he knew something that the others didn''t.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ''I need to solve this mess as soon as possible...''

    ****

    In another ce in the Northern World, there existed a ck market.

    It was a ce where many artifacts were sold, without the information. No one knew just who owned this ce, but one thing was certain. The ck Market was strong.

    Even though it dealt in some shady stuff, the Generals didn''t bother with it. There were also some rumors that the person who ran the ck Market was close to the Northern General.

    Since the Northern Realm was the richest, many artifacts from the other worlds that were discovered by various people ended up in the Northern World, to be sold here.

    Today, one such artifact was brought to the ck Market, which came straight from. The Southern Realm.

    The seller imed that the artifact was mysterious. It didn''t look much out of ordinary, but it was the only artifact that was left in the ce which waspletely destroyed by a mysterious force.

    In that ce, everyone was killed and everything was destroyed. However, only that one statue was left intact.

    Almost no one knew just what was special about that strange statue. However, whoever nced at it once, found it hard to take their eyes off.

    It was also said that the statue was connected to the new Disciple of the Four Generals. It was found where that disciple''s n used to be.

    The statue was brought to the Owner of the ck Market, who personally came to see it and decide its value.

    The Owner of the ck Market had covered his face with a ck mask. However, his eyes revealed astonishment at the statue''s intricate design and rare materials.

    It didn''t appear to be something that belonged to this world. It was his first time seeing these materials after all.

    The statue appeared fragile, as if it was going to break by just a light touch. However, at the same time, it seemed unbreakable, as if even if the world was destroyed, this statue was going to remain intact.

    The ck Market owner knew that it would fetch a high price from collectors around the world. This was probably the most expensive and mysterious item that he had received.

    However, for some reason, his eyes revealed greed. It was as if he didn''t want to sell this at all. He wanted to keep it... Keep it for himself.

    There was some mysterious voice calling out to him, within the statue, as if slowly eroding his mind.

 Chapter 581 581: Beasts On The Move

    "How much should we set the price for it?" A chubby middle aged man asked the masked person next to him.

    The masked man didn''t react, as if he was in a momentary daze, just staring at the mysterious demonic statue.

    "I''ll take it with me." In the end, he spoke, sealing the statue safely inside a wooden box, before picking up the box himself.

    The chubby man watched as the masked man left, wondering just what happened. Previously, the owner never really took interest in anything, no matter how precious it was. However, now that they received this strange item, not only did he personallye, but he was also taking it back with him?

    The chubby man couldn''t shake off the eerie feeling that lingered in the room even after the masked man left.

    He decided that it was better to stay away from anything demonic from now on, but little did he know, the statue was not the only ominous thing that arrived at his doorstep.

    ****

    Gabriel finally stepped out of the Shadow Garden, right before everyone''s eyes.

    There was only one way out of the Shadow Garden after all, where everyone was waiting for him.

    The man from the Skyler n revealed a frown, since Gabriel was out so soon. That much time wasn''t enough for the youngsters to even get to the Core Region, let alone receiving the legacy.

    He couldn''t help but wonder if Gabriel became scared after entering, and ran back.

    The other ns were also snickering, watching Gabriel back so soon.

    "And that''s what happens when one talks big without having any skills. They run out, before things start getting hard." One person said out loud.

    The Skyler n Head stepped closer to Gabriel, a frown covering his face.

    "Where are the others? Why are you back alone?" he asked. If Gabriel actually ran away, then it was too cowardly.

    But Gabriel stood straight, his expression serious. "They are all inside."

    "Then why are you back?!" The man further asked, frowning.

    He next nced at the girl from the Northern Dragon n who was next to Gabriel. It was even more weird that she was also back so soon.

    He didn''t know why, but something felt ominous.

    The other ns also started paying attention to him as well. The more they thought about it, the weirder it appeared, especially thanks to the person he was apanying.

    "The two of us fell into a trap. The next thing we knew, we were out of the Shadow Garden, in front of you," Gabriel had already thought of an excuse.

    He couldn''t say he abandoned others, since that was an unnecessary headache. At the same time, he also couldn''t say that the others were dead and that''s why he came out.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The only way left was to make it seem like an ident.

    The woman from the Northern Dragon n also revealed a look of agreement, along with some frustration, as if she was furious that she had fallen into a trap like that.

    "There''s a trap like that inside? I never knew." The Skyler n Head frowned, but he couldn''t find a w in their words.

    The Shadow Garden was a mysterious ce. And no one knew exactly how many or what kind of traps there were inside that ce.

    It was said that there were many traps that hadn''t been activated in thousands of years, and no one knew what they did.

    If it was Gabriel alone, they could''ve still doubted his words, but there was the girl from the Northern Dragon n, who didn''t have a reason to lie.

    "What are you doing then? Go back inside and help them!" The middle aged man further eximed.

    However, to his surprise, Gabriel simply shook his head.

    "I''ve already fallen far behind. Catching up to them is impossible. By the time I reach the same ce where I fell into the trap, the others might be out already."

    "Do you think I care? Drag your ass back inside! Do you think I paid trash like you to loiter around?" The n Head roared, getting even more angry that a young man was talking back to him.

    Gabriel only smiled in response. "I''m not your servant. The only reason I was paid was to betray the Stein n. You haven''t paid me anything to work for you like a servant. And even if you could, I doubt you''ll be able to afford me."

    He wanted to avoid any confrontation. That''s why he lied about what happened inside the Shadow Garden. However, that didn''t mean he was scared of confrontation.

    The middle aged man''s eyes widened to hear Gabriel''s response. The young man didn''t reveal a trace of fear in his eyes. He didn''t know if Gabriel was too brave, or he was just too stupid to not realize when he was standing at the doors of death.

    "Yo-" the man tried speaking. However, he stopped before he could even finish his words.

    His expressions changed, turning much darker. Not only him, but almost everyone else in that ce revealed a stunned expression, as multiple powerful auras seem to be getting closer to them.

    The powerful auras were no weaker than them. If anything, they were only stronger. They were the auras of the Beast Overlords.

    The Beast Overlords usually didn''t make a move at all. However, to everyone''s surprise, they were actually on the move this time?

    All the ns felt as if they were in danger. They all prepared for battle. Even the Skyler npletely forgot about Gabriel for the time being, focusing more on the iing danger.

    The Beast Overlords were notorious for their ruthlessness and destructive power. The ns knew that they had to put aside their differences and unite if they were to have any chance of survival.

    Even though they still didn''t know what they did wrong to attract the Beast Overlords this time, but no matter what, if they wanted to make it out of this ce alive, they had to fight back when needed.

 Chapter 582 582: Failed Escape

    Even Gabriel could clearly feel that aura. He took a few steps back, frowning. He already intended to meet the Beast Overlords. However, to find out that they were insteading here to him, it was somewhat surprising.

    But he knew he had to be prepared for whatever was toe. Gabriel took a deep breath and focused his energy, ready to face the Beast Overlords if needed.

    He was even prepared to escape if it was needed. However, for some reason, he had a feeling that this wasn''t all bad, especially since he still couldn''t feel any hostility at all.

    It was just that the aura of these Beasts was so strong that it was intimidating.

    Most of the people in this ce couldn''t leave since they had to wait for the youngsters inside the Shadow Garden toe out first.

    The Stein n was different. They had no burden and they were already on their ships. They could leave at any time.

    A mental transmission fell in Gabriel''s ears,ing from the Stein n Head, who told him to sneak inside their ship while everyone was distracted, so they could leave this ce.

    Gabriel couldn''t help but nce in the direction of the Stein n Ship. He could still see many hostile gazes. However, the Stein Family Head was still telling him to leave with him, before the Beast Overlords arrived to this ce.

    Unfortunately for him, Gabriel didn''t want to leave yet. He had to meet the Beast Overlords first.

    "You all leave. I still have something I need to finish. I''ll return to the n as soon as I''m done."

    The Stein family head frowned, not understanding why Gabriel was being so foolish. It was the only opportunity they had to escape. He tried once again, but Gabriel kept ignoring him.

    Because of that, he couldn''t leave either. The middle aged man didn''t know if Gabriel managed to recover the Inheritance or not, but he had a feeling that the young man had seeded.

    ''Argh, At least give the legacy to us! We''ll keep it safe!'' the man further stated, as the ship started rising in the air.

    Gabriel couldn''t help but smile in amusement. These guys were still so focused on the legacy, even in a situation like this.

    But he knew that their pursuit of the legacy would never end. He also had no interest in giving the Book to them, since it was more advanced than anything they ever knew. If anything, to thank them, he was willing to share some knowledge about the Ancient Golems that could help them. But not yet.

    "I don''t have the Legacy yet," Gabriel replied to the middle aged man. "That''s why I need to stay here. There''s a chance that I might get it. However, that''ll depend on luck."

    "So you all should leave. If I find it or not, I''lle to the Stein n personally."

    The middle aged man had no choice. He could only nod understandingly.

    He signaled to hispanions to leave. The longer he stayed, the more dangerous it could be. As for Gabriel, he had a feeling that the young man had skills needed to protect himself.

    Gabriel watched the ship rise, and the Stein n departed until they were out of sight.

    The other ns kept cursing the Stein Family for being so cowardly that they were escaping. However, at the same time, they all knew that they would''ve done the same thing if they didn''t have to stay behind!

    Unfortunately, something happened that surprised all of them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The Stein n Ship hadn''t traveled far, when a terrifying aura descended on the ship.

    A mythical creature with angel-like wings appeared before the Stein n Ship, as if blocking their path.

    The person appeared somewhat of a human, but now quite. He had the body of a human, but instead of hands, he had eagle-like ws.

    The aura around that man was something that could make many low ranking members of the Stein n feint at his sight.

    The creature spoke in a booming voice, "Turn back! No one is leaving!"

    The Stein Family Head frowned. However, he could also feel other auras nearby. If there was a fight, then this wasn''t good for them at all.

    He decided to y it smart and calmly replied, "We mean no harm. We only wish to pass. Is there any way we cane to a peaceful agreement?"

    "Return where you were! No one shall leave!" The winged creature spoke, as he raised his hand.

    He brought a single finger down, creating an arc of dark energy that shot straight toward the ship. It was so strong that it could destroy the ship easily.

    Fortunately, the dark energy didn''t hit the ship, and just flew past it!

    The arc of dark energy hit the mountain in the distance, splitting an entire mountain in two halves.

    Ulesis looked at the destroyed mountain in the distance, stunned.

    "This is the strength of a Beast Overlord?" She frowned.

    It was clear that this guy alone could destroy their ship, let alone if the other Overlords joined.

    They had no choice but to listen to them and turn around. In any case, if they wanted to kill them, they could''ve already done that.

    The Stein n Ship that had almost managed to leave the Beast Region turned around, returning toward the Shadow Garden.

    However, this time, the Beast Overlord flew next to them.

    The Stein Family Shipnded at the same ce from where they had left. However, this time, all their faces looked down.

    The other ns were enjoying the scene with amused nces. However, they also knew that this wasn''t the time to enjoy, as one of the Beast Overlords had arrived with the ship, and others were on the way.

    The Eagle-like Beast Overlord nced at everyone present there, but he particrly focused on the girl from the Northern Dragon n. He also nced at Gabriel, looking at him carefully. A look of intrigue shed in his eyes.

 Chapter 583 583: Taken

    Most of the ns had gathered together, with the Heads of the ns standing in the lead.

    Since only the girl from the Northern Dragon n was here, the Head of the Second Strongest n took the lead.

    "May I ask why you''re interfering this time?"

    "Interfering?" The Beast Overlordughed. "So what if we are?"

    From his words, it was clear that his arrogance and confidence knew no bounds.

    The Head of the Second Strongest n narrowed his eyes. "I believe we have the right to know. This concerns the safety of our ns and our people. And it might even lead to a war with the Beast Region!"

    The Beast Overlord smirked. "War? You mean to say that we should be scared of you? You aren''t worth our attention."

    "On the contrary..." He took a careful nce at Gabriel, but didn''t continue.

    The silence that followed his remark was deafening. The Heads of the ns also noticed the Beast Overlord''s nce toward Gabriel.

    "Did this little brat offend you somehow? Is that why you''re here?" The Skyler n Master asked, taking a subtle guess.

    Usually, the Beast Overlords were toozy to get involved with humans, at least until they were offended.

    In response, the Beast Overlord remained quiet, staring nkly ahead. Not even the slightest hint of emotion crossed his features. It made everyone in the ce uneasy.

    However, they knew that this possibility made sense. Since so many Beast Overlords had moved, it was clear that they were offended.

    "If he did something wrong, you can have him! If anything, I''ll help you kill that little brat myself!"

    The Skyler n Head frowned. He disappeared from his ce, and the next moment he appeared right before Gabriel, swinging his hand.

    Gabriel wasn''t expecting it, but he still was prepared to reach. However, before he could even react, he felt a familiar scent again.

    It was the aura that he felt when he had just entered the Beast Region.

    The attack of the Skyler n Head was lost, as a hand was grabbing onto the wrist of the middle aged man.

    Before Gabriel, another person had appeared. The person wasn''t a human either, as it had lion-like features all over his body. However, his strength was easy to sense.

    The Skyler n Head couldn''t even free his wrist from the grasp of the Beast Overlord, who only used a single hand to stop the man.

    In his other hand, the Beast Overlord was carrying a jar filled with wine. He took another sip of the wine, relishing the taste beforezily ncing at the middle aged man before you.

    The Beast Overlord spoke in a deep and raspy voice. "I was hoping for a bit more strength behind that attack..."

    Despite his arrogant tone, the n Head could sense an immense power emitting from the beast''s body, and knew that fighting him would be suicide.

    The Beast Overlord could only shake his head in disappointment. He reached out his hand, extending the jar of wine toward Gabriel.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Gabriel frowned, but he still took the Jar of Wine, as if holding it for a little time.

    Now that the Beast Overlord had his hand free, he brought his fingers closer to the Skyler n''s head, flicking his finger lightly.

    Boom ~

    A loud boom resounded in the ce, and Gabriel could feel the ground shake beneath him. The flick from the Beast Overlord had caused an explosion, and as the dust settled, Gabriel was quite surprised by what he saw.

    The Skyler n Head had flown back, uncontrobly, crashing on multiple trees in the back.

    Despite the impact, the Skyler n Head managed to get up, shaking off the debris from his clothing. However, he couldn''t hide his pale face as he rubbed his chest.

    The Beast Overlord, on the other hand, seemed unfazed, his expression impassive as he surveyed the scene before him.

    One after another, more and more Beast Overlords arrived. Within minutes, everyone was surrounded by close to seven Beast Overlords.

    The being with lion-like features nced back at Gabriel, taking the jar of wine back. He took another sip.

    "What do you all want?" The n Head of the Second Strongest n frowned. "Do you really want to fight to death?!"

    "Fight to Death?" One of the Beast Overlords frowned. "You aren''t worthy!"

    "We''re here to invite someone to be our guests for a few days. If you want to stop us, we won''t mind having some fun." Another Beast Overlordughed.

    It was clear that all the Beast Overlords were observing Gabriel carefully with great interest.

    "You areing with us." The Lion-like being told Gabriel, patting the young man''s shoulders.

    Gabriel didn''t hesitate in agreeing. That''s what he wanted in the first ce. He had a feeling that this Beast Forest was rted to the mysterious woman that he saw.

    The woman didn''t tell him much about the being that the skeleton belonged to. However, he had a feeling that he could get the answers from the Beast Overlords.

    In any case, if they wanted to kill him, it wasn''t going to make a difference if he fought them now orter, so it was the same even if he apanied them. This was also the advice that he had received from Karyk.

    Right before everyone''s surprised nce, Gabriel walked away with the Seven Beast Overlords.

    The ns that had prepared for a war were stunned. This was all? The Beast Overlords moved for Gabriel? They couldn''t understand just what was so special about Gabriel that he received so much attention.

    The Skyler n red at Gabriel''s back with some hatred in his eyes. On the other hand, the Stein n people also showed some apprehensions.

    No one knew just what was going to happen to Gabriel. They weren''t certain if the Beast ns were going to treat him as a friend or as an enemy to be killed. However, the chances of it being thetter was unlikely.

    Some even thought that Gabriel had received something special inside the Shadow Garden which brought their attention.

    Even the woman from the Northern Dragon n was frowning.

 Chapter 584 584: Chaos And Janus

    And various ns were uncertain about Gabriel''s future. Even though they were quite curious, most of them considered him dead in any case.

    They focused more on the people who were still inside the Shadow Garden.

    While the other ns waited, the Stein n finally departed from the Beast Region.

    It was only when they came out of the Beast Region that the Patriarch of the Stein n called out the meeting of Various Elders.

    The meeting was attended by his daughter as well. It was in this meeting that the Patriarch told the truth about Gabriel to everyone.

    He told everyone that whatever Gabriel did, was a part of their n, including their fight.

    His words were enough to stun everyone. Many peopleined about why they weren''t told about such an important thing.

    On the other hand, Ulesis was in disbelief. She didn''t know why, but she felt angry at her father, while also feeling happy that Gabriel hadn''t betrayed them. It meant she hadn''t trusted the wrong people.

    The Patriarch of the Stein n didn''t give any exnations. He just told the Elders to remember it, so that they didn''t offend Gabriel since he had told him that he was going to get to their nter.

    "Do you think he can even return alive? Should we have tried to help him?" One of the Elders asked.

    "Don''t worry. I don''t think he''s a person who will die so easily. Also, the Beasts didn''t look like they meant him any harm. He will return... And maybe with a great surprise that will shake the entire Northern World."

    "But until then, we have no choice but to trust Gabriel''s words and wait for his return." The leader of the n said with a reassuring tone.

    The Elders nodded in agreement, knowing that Gabriel was someone that they couldn''t underestimate. They could only hope for his safe return and whatever surprise he may bring.

    ****

    Back in the Beast Region, Gabriel was walking next to the Beast Overlords.

    None of them spoke anything for quite some time. Even Gabriel didn''t ask anything. If anything, he focused more on the strange aura in his surroundings that felt veryfortable.

    He also observed the Beast Overlords. It was impossible to judge how old they were. Howev, one thing was certain. They were strong... Strong enough to be a serious threat to the entire Upper Realm.

    "You look like you have a lot of questions." The Beast Overlord, having Lion''s features asked, as he continued drinking the wine in his hand. However, for some reason, Gabriel could smell the scent of blood from the jar of wine.

    "What do you want from me?" Gabriel asked after a long time. "I am weak,pared to you all. If you want, you can leave this ce, and take over the entire Upper Realm. So why did you look for me?"

    "Leave this ce?" The Beast Overlordsughed. "There is no way we would''ve lived here if we could leave."

    Gabriel frowned. The Beast Overlords couldn''t leave? Why? He hadn''t sensed any seal when he came here. So why couldn''t they leave?

    "Is it because you''re scared of the King of the Upper Realm?" Gabriel asked.

    All the Beast Overlords stopped in their tracks, before gazing at Gabriel. However, before long, they all burst intoughter.

    "Hahaha, scared of that little brat?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Hahaha, we''re not that pathetic!"

    "It''s been so long since Iughed this much! Scared of that guy! Hahaha!''

    All the Beast Overlords burst intoughter, as if they had heard the funniest thing in their entire life.

    From their words, it didn''t look like they even took the King of Upper Realm seriously at all.

    "In the grand scheme of things, that guy is nothing but an ant!" One of the Beast Overlords let out a sigh. "The reason why we don''t leave is because of something else."

    "What?" Gabriel inquired, having a feeling that it was rted to the skeleton he possessed and the Monarch of Blood that destroyed the Nether Realm.

    One of the Beast Overlords looked up, ncing at the shadowy sky.

    "Before we tell you anything, you need to answer us. Why do we feel the aura of the God Beasting from you? And it''s not an aura that contains any hostility for you. So why?" One of the Beast Overlords asked.

    This was the only thing they were curious about, at least for now. That''s the whole reason they moved in the first ce.

    "Before I tell you anything, I want an answer as well." Gabriel didn''t answer directly. He still didn''t know if he could trust them entirely.

    "Ask."

    "Do you know the woman inside the Shadow Garden?" Gabriel inquired.

    "Woman inside the shadow garden? So you even met her?" All the Beast Lords revealed some surprise, as they looked at each other.

    "If he''s still alive even after meeting her, that means she approves of him."

    "That''s surprising. No wonder I felt her aura on him. I thought it was my misconception. So he really did meet her."

    All the Beast Overlords started talking amongst themselves, leaving Gabriel confused.

    He wondered who this woman in the shadow garden could be and why meeting her was such a big deal for them.

    As he waited for them to finish discussing, he couldn''t help but feel a sense of intrigue and curiosity about the mysterious woman. However, he knew better than to pry and patiently waited for them to include him in the conversation again.

    "You asked us who she is?" After a long time, the Beast Overlords stopped and started paying attention to Gabriel again.

    Gabriel nodded in response.

    After a brief pause, one of the Beast Overlords replied, "She''s the only one who survived the onught of Chaos and Janus... And managed to escape."

    "Chaos and Janus?" Gabriel frowned. He didn''t know why, but he felt some familiarity with those names. However, he didn''t know why. The names themselves seemed to contain some special power.

    "Who are they?" he further asked.

 Chapter 585 585: Destruction

    "The ones who destroyed everything..." The Beast Overlordmented, letting out a tired sigh.

    Gabriel had no idea what this meant. However, it was clear that whoever these guys were talking about had strength beyond hisprehension.

    "Did they trap you here?" Gabriel asked. This was the only thing that made sense.

    The Beast Overlords shook their heads lightly. "We aren''t sealed here. We are simply using this ce to hide and survive. Funny, isn''t it?"

    "The so-called Beast Overlords that the entire Upper World is concerned about are nothing more than prisoners of their own fear?" The Beast Overlord continued.

    "Is this the reason why you don''t attack humans who enter here, unless you''re attacked first?" Gabriel inquired.

    In response, the Beast Overlords maintained their silence.

    After some time, one of them continued. "We just don''t want to fight. It''s a waste of our time. Also, we are toozy to bother with the people in this world. However, you aren''t in a different boat either."

    "What do you mean?" Gabriel asked, not graspingpletely what they were trying to say.

    "Since she didn''t kill you, that means she has epted you as that person''s heir. That also means you... You have be a part of this fight as well, whether you like it or not. Sooner orter, you''ll start attracting their attention. What will you do at that time?''

    "Chaos had been sealed forever during that war, but Janus... He still guards the throne for his nephew. When he finds out about you, do you think he''ll let you be?"

    Gabriel didn''t know why, but he couldn''t understand anything that these people were saying. It was as if they were talking about something that he had no inkling about.

    Who was Janus? Which throne were they talking about? Why were they being hunted? There were so many questions in his head. He hadn''t even finished dealing with his own matters yet, and there were already more headaches?

    "You still don''t get it, right?" The man smiled. "Don''t worry. The reason we brought you with us was to see a few things for ourselves, and to tell you the reality that you might not know yet."

    The Beast Overlords brought Gabriel to the tree that was the tallest in the entire Beast Region. The aura around the tree was as pure as it was near the pond where Gabriel had met that mysterious woman.

    All the Beast Overlords sat near the tree, which was marked with mysterious patterns.

    "Do you know about the War of Gods?" One of them asked.

    "The War between the Upper Realm and the Nether Realm?" Gabriel took a guess, replying.

    All the Beast Overlordslooked at each other nkly before bursting intoughter.

    "That isn''t even close to what we''re talking about. We''re talking about the War of True Gods that have existed since the beginning of time..."

    Gabriel didn''t respond. He only shook his head lightly.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    In another ce, even Karyk was curious about what he was going to hear. He had a feeling that this had something to do with the reason the King of the Upper Realm didn''t leave the Central World.

    "I''ll tell you." The Eagle-like Beast Overlordmented, shaking his head lightly.

    The other Beast Overlords revealedzy nces. However, they still listened.

    "A long time ago, there existed the Realm of Gods that governed the entire universe. It was a peaceful ce. However, there was one person there who was greedy for even more strength..."

    "His name was Chaos... The only God who was born without any powers..."

    As the Beast Overlord spoke, Gabriel started paying even more attention. Everytime he heard that name, he felt a strange feeling rise deep within. It was even worse for Karyk. This strange feeling was ufortable.

    The Beast Overlord continued, "Chaos was jealous of the other gods and wanted to be the ruler of the realm. So, he started to plot and scheme to gain more power."

    "He did something that no one had expected, borrowing the strength of the Dark Realm. He created an item that contained a trace of every god''s power."

    "However, he couldn''t keep it a secret. Just as he was about toplete that item, this news spread. All the gods joined and attacked Chaos."

    "In the end, Chaos couldn''t avoid that fate, and was killed at the hands of his brother, but not before he killed half the gods in the Realm of Gods!"

    "None of the gods could use the Item that Chaos had created. Nor could they destroy itpletely with their strength. That''s why, they broke the item into multiple pieces, and hid those pieces in different parts of the universe."

    "The woman that you saw before... She was one of the Major Gods that took part in that War. And the Skeleton that you possess... It also belongs to one of the Leaders of that War... That started this crusade against Chaos..."

    "Chaos was killed? Why did you say that he was sealed then?" Gabriel asked, realizing that something didn''t make sense.

    Another Beast Overlord continued from this point on, "We all thought that he was killed. However, that wasn''t it. No one knew at that time, but this was all part of Chaos'' n. While we all thought that he was dead, he had reincarnated into a small mortal world, called Earth..."

    "And the person who helped him achieve that was none other than the so-called brother who killed him, Janus!"

    "Avoiding the attention of gods, he gathered his strength on Earth, finding the fragments of his item, and recovering his strength before he attacked the Realm of Gods!"

    "The day he returned was the day of Carnage, where he destroyed everyone who stood in his Path. Fortunately, someone came to stop him... An Ancient God, who was the Ruler of the Realm of Gods."

    "He used thest of his strength to seal Chaos to protect this world. However, he was also sealed at the same time. Both of them were sealed in a Sword, disappearing forever."

    "However, that wasn''t the end. Even though Chaos was gone, the destruction he caused left the Realm of Gods in shambles. Only a few gods had managed to escape. And they were also hunted by Janus."

    "Almost no one survived, except the woman you saw! And now you''re one of us as well. He won''t let you escape when he finds out about you!"

 Chapter 586 586: Was It Possible?

    Everything that Gabriel heard here came out of nowhere. There were even more powerful people out to kill him? But that didn''t make sense either. He had been roaming freely. If they wanted him dead, why didn''t they find him yet?

    Moreover, if this was all because of the skeleton he possessed, didn''t that mean that Karyk didn''t have to worry about that? In other words, each of them had a mess of their own.

    There was another question in his mind. Was everything that the Beast Overlords said the truth? What if there were lies mixed in between? What if the entire story was twisted? He didn''t blindly believe everything yet.

    No matter what, he didn''t want to be used as a puppet for others.

    "So this Janus... He is the strongest person in the whole universe?" Gabriel asked, frowning.

    Since even the Beast Overlords and that woman were scared of Janus, that meant his strength was beyond measure. He was the brother of Chaos after all.

    While Gabriel was focusing on Janus, Karyk had a different question in his head.

    The Beast Overlords said that Chaos and the Ancient God were trapped in a sword at the end of the war. No one knew where that sword was. If they knew, Janus would''ve already found that sword to free his brother.

    Karyk couldn''t help but remember his recent dream, where he saw a Sword floating in an unknown dark space. He couldn''t help but wonder, if that was the sword!

    But if that was really that sword, then why did he see that Sword? If it was because of Gabriel''s skeleton, then only he should''ve seen that.

    However, Karyk saw the same, which made him feel that it had nothing to do with the Skeleton. If anything, it had something to do with both of them. But what was that?

    "Strongest? There''s one more person... Possibly even stronger than Janus... Living on Earth where Chaos had reincarnated..." The Beast Monarch spoke. "ording to the Empress, his name is... Ryder."

    ****

    "Father, I had something to talk about..." A young man, in his early twenties, stepped inside a room.

    "Uncle Janus is here as well?" The young man nced at a white haired young boy, who looked like a young boy. However, he knew by now that the young boy was much older than the earth itself.

    Janus smiled. "I just came to meet my nephew... If only that little brat was like you as well... I would''ve had nothing to worry about."

    Next to the white haired boy called Janus, there was a man, who looked like he was in histe twenties.

    Just looking at him, no one could''ve guessed that he was the father of the young man who had just entered the room. Even though the man had no trace of aura inside him, but his strength was something that even Janus couldn''tpare to. He was called Ryder Flynn.

    Despite possessing such strength, the man lived an ordinary life on the modern earth.

    "You two talk. I''ll be leaving. I have something else to handle..." Janusughed, waving his hand. A void opened up before him.

    "Are you going to find the young man who carries Chaos'' aura?" Ryder nced back at Janus, inquiring.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Not yet. First, I need to take care of something else. I might''ve found some clues for my brother''s Sword. I need to check if the clues are valid or not... After that..."

    He entered the void, disappearing before he could even finish the sentence.

    The void closed behind him.

    ****

    "I think you should stay in the Beast Region for a little. Learn how to use the strength that you''ve inherited. That will definitely help you. It''s much safer here..."

    The Beast Overlords tried their best to keep Gabriel here. If anything, they were even willing to be Gabriel''s teacher and teach him various things that could help him.

    Unfortunately for them, Gabriel didn''t appear interested. He didn''t want to live his life in the forest, afraid of the unknown that he wasn''t even sure about existed.

    He only came here because he wanted to know about the history of that woman and his inheritance. However, now that he found out about such aplicated history, he felt it was only going to get worse if he stayed here.

    In any case, he could always return here in the future.

    He told the Beast Overlords that he wasn''t going to stay there. He had other things to do as well. However, he wasn''t in a hurry to leave either.

    He still needed a safe ce to go through the two books that he had received from the Shadow Garden. He wanted to understand everything he could, and if possible, be stronger.

    ****

    A week passed. The Heads of all the Major ns remained at the entrance of the Shadow Region. However, to everyone''s surprise, even after all this time, no one else came out.

    The only two people who came out were Gabriel and the girl from the Northern Dragon n. After that, it waspletely silent.

    Soon, one week''s deadline hit and the Shadow Garden entrance finally closed on its own. The time was over.

    All the youngsters were informed about the deadline, by which they were to leave. However, to the surprise of various ns, not a single youngster came out.

    Something like this had never happened in the past. Even though none of the ns seeded in the past, at least there were always a few people who had managed toe out. However, this time, there was not a single person.

    All the Heads of the various ns couldn''t help but look at each other, realizing that something was wrong. For some reason, they all doubted Gabriel, who was the first person to return.

    Initially, they didn''t think about this. But now, they were starting to wonder. Was it possible that Gabriel found the inheritance and killed everyone else with the help of that girl from the Northern Dragon n?

 Chapter 587 587: The Truth Behind Golems

    As all the ns thought up to this point, their faces started turning darker.

    They started to put the pieces together. The reason the Beast Overlords came to take Gabriel... They all thought that it was because Gabriel had found the inheritance of the Shadow Garden, which made them even more alert.

    The Beast Overlords were already very strong. But if they received the Inheritance of the Shadow Garden, they were going to get even stronger. They could be even more of a threat for the Upper Realm.

    "We need to go to the Northern Dragon n! If that brat really has the inheritance, then we can''t let it be!" The Skyler n Head eximed.

    "But if the girl was really involved, doesn''t that mean the Northern Dragon n is involved too? Do you think it''ll be safe? We should approach the Northern General and take him to the Northern Dragon n! With him around, even those arrogant people won''t dare lie!"

    One after another, all the ns came to a consensus. For them, it didn''t matter if Gabriel actually had the inheritance or not.

    Even if he didn''t have anything, they still wanted to drag him into this mess, along with the Northern Dragon n, to get to the truth about what happened to their people inside the Shadow Garden.

    Soon, various giant ships rose into the air as all the ns stopped waiting around. The ships all rose in the air, departing from the Beast Region slowly. However, they all intended to return soon enough.

    In thest week, Gabriel wasn''t idle either. He had studied both the books. The first book talked about the information of Ancient Golems. At least that''s what the people of the Upper World called them.

    However, it was only when Gabriel read the entire thing that he found out that these weren''t actually Golems, that were made from nothing.

    The Golems had a real soul and the method to make one was really cruel!

    To make one ancient golem that was used by the Stein n, multiple lives had been sacrificed.

    ording to the Book, multiple living beings had to be sacrificed to make one golem! And they all had to be alive during the process which was worse than death itself.

    If anything, the process could only be described as demonic.

    The thought of creating such a being using such sinister methods was unsettling, and it made him wonder if it was worth having such power.

    He finally understood why the Founder of the Stein n didn''t share this information with the others in his n. This wasn''t something that could be shared.

    For the n members, the Golems were ordinary golems that were made using some magical means. However, if they were to find out the method used for that were the lives of real humans in such a way, it was unclear just how disgusted some of them would''ve been.

    If the information about this method was leaked, the Stein n could''ve attracted condemnation from all around the world! The Founder of n didn''t want that.

    "He was probably waiting for hisst moments until sharing this information with the next n head, so he didn''t have to see their judgemental gazes. Unfortunately, he was killed by the King of the Upper Realm by that time."

    Gabriel closed the book, and kept it aside. "So that''s the story of the so-called inheritance that everyone is craving for..."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Even though Gabriel wanted to burn this book altogether, he still kept it in his storage ring for some reason.

    It was only after that, he started reading the other book.

    The second book was even more interesting for him than the first one, since it talked about the Blood Monarch and the giant whose skeleton he had inherited.

    Not just then, the Book went into quite the detail about many people from the Ancient time, including the Goddess that he had met inside the Shadow Garden.

    What was even more surprising was that it even mentioned the small gem that he had received.

    That small item was called the Core of the Universe, which was stolen by the woman before she escaped. On its own, this core was useless since it couldn''t do anything other than being a source of power.

    However, there were two things that could bring out the full Power of the stone!

    That was also the goal of the Blood Monarch and the person to whom that skeleton belonged.

    They went there to find some things that they needed. And their goal was simple! They wanted to go against thews of the universe and reverse time for the entire universe so that they could change the War of Gods oue to their advantage!

    With the information about the future, it was easy for them! However, this was only a theoretical assumption of theirs.

    ording to the Book, the two Ancient Gods went to the various power worlds to get the items that they needed.

    The history that was famous in the upper realm about the skeleton and the Blood Monarch dying after fighting each other wasn''t true either. At least ording to the Book.

    They didn''t die fighting each other. Instead, they were killed as soon as they were discovered.

    The Book appeared more like a diary of the woman who mentioned her thoughts and knowledge in that. ording to that, the two didn''t fight against each other. Instead, they fought Janus, who had the physique of a young boy, but the strength way beyond!

    The reason the Nether Realm was destroyed to that extent was because it couldn''t hear Janus using his full strength. Variousws of the universe were distorted, which left the world in ruins.

    However, that moment didn''t just affect the Nether Realm. Instead, it also affected the world Karyk was from.

    Since the Nether World was ruined, it only brought more instability to his own world, which led to the birth of the gods after humans ruined that world as well.

    The more Gabriel read, the more fascinated he became.

 Chapter 588 587: Fate

    From the Book, it was clear that almost everything was connected, one way or another to the War of Gods.

    Every change that his world went through... and the Changes that the Nether Realm went through.

    At this point, he couldn''t help but think if the sudden rise of the King of the Upper Realm was also rted to the Great War of Gods.

    ording to the Stein n, the King of Upper Realm rose suddenly, at the time where their n used to reign supreme because of the inheritance. And the inheritance was given to their n after the great war.

    That made him believe that the change in the Upper Realm happened at around the same time as well.

    Everything was connected with an invisible threat. However, he still couldn''t see if it was all an ident, or there was a puppet master behind all this.

    Was this really a coincidence that Karyk was the first person to awaken in their world with a supreme element? Was it just a coincidence that his awakening led to the awakening of others? Or was there something else about him that they hadn''t seen yet?

    "Argh, it''s so frustrating." Gabriel closed the Book, feeling a headache.

    He looked around and could see nothing but darkness and the faint glow of the moon. It was the middle of the night. In his reading, he was so engrossed that he didn''t even know how much time had passed.

    "I need some fresh air," he muttered to himself and headed out for a walk.

    As he walked, the wind whispered eerie tunes, and his thoughts were clouded with more questions than answers. Something strange was definitely going on. He didn''t know why, but after knowing everything, he felt even more lost.

    Subconsciously, he didn''t feel connected to the Beast Monarchs and the woman who gave him the gem.

    However, for some reason, there was a deep feeling hidden inside him that made him feel as if he could trust them. He couldn''t help but wonder if it was the remnant feeling inside the skeleton that was affecting him.

    "What do you think about all this?" he asked, gazing at the moon above the sky. However, he was clearly talking to Karyk.

    Unfortunately for him, Karyk didn''t reply. It was unclear if the two couldn''t hear each other, or Karyk just didn''t feel like speaking anything for the time being.

    He had thoughts of his own.

    As Gabriel was starting to think that he wasn''t going to get an answer, a voice fell in his ears.

    "The Realm of Gods... It might actually be the reality. But if that''s the reality, then those people already know about us... They knew about us long ago."

    "What do you mean?" Gabriel asked.

    "They knew about our existence. They knew about everything," Karyk replied. "And not just that, they are watching us...closely."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "How can you be so sure?" Gabriel frowned.

    "When we turned our world into our Domain..." Karyk muttered. He didn''t have to speak much. Just that much was enough for Gabriel to realize what he was thinking.

    The time when the two of them were one, they had used a World Tier Spell to turn their world into their domain. An unknown True God had entered their World to stop them.

    At that time, they both knew that the man wasn''t from the Upper Realm but they didn''t know where he was from.

    Thanks to their Domain, they had killed that man. However, not long after that, Karyk had felt that someone was watching them from far away.

    Now that the both of them knew about the existence of the Realm of Gods, it wasn''t hard for them to guess who was watching them.

    They had killed a True God and broke thews of the universe. At the time itself, the news about them should''ve spread.

    That meant their existence was exposed right then. However, no one came to kill them, which was more surprising.

    At the end, both of them were confused on what to believe. However, Karyk knew that no matter what, his goal remained the same! He had to kill all the Gods who betrayed him! That was his priority! As for everything else, he didn''t care!

    ****

    Another month passed. Even though Gabriel wanted to leave the Beast Region, he had decided to stay behind for the time being to learn more from the Beast Overlords.

    He knew that there was still some gap between him and Karyk. He could use the Element of Death through his link to Karyk, but It wasn''t as strong as Karyk. At the same time, his mastery over his other Elements wasn''t even close to being adequate.

    He could defeat the Goddess of Light, but when it came to facing Karyk in a battle, he knew he had no chance!

    That''s why, he wanted to learn everything that was hidden inside him, especially the abilities rted to the Bloodline of the True God that they had killed, and the abilities of the Skeleton that he possessed.

    He could only rely on himself to master the Bloodline. However, to be able to use the abilities that this skeleton granted him, he needed the help of people who knew and understood the person this skeleton belonged to.

    Throughout the entire month, Gabriel was training with the Beast Overlords, while learning the Art of Worldly Laws that he could control.

    Initially, he didn''t know what the characters on the skeleton were. However, through the Book he had, and the Beast Monarch Guidance, he came to know that those characters were called the Worldly Laws.

    There were said to be thousands of worldlyws which could be controlled by learning to utilize their ancient character. However, only a few of those characters were discovered by the owner of that skeleton, who carved those characters on his bones.

    He was able to use the Ancient Characters to use the Worldly Laws, which allowed him to survive the War of Gods and escape. However, he couldn''t survive for long. In the end, even he couldn''t avoid fate.

 Chapter 589 588: Words Of Law

    ****

    "How long do I have to eat this medicine? When will my training start?" Karyk asked the maid who delivered him the strange pills.

    It had been over a month since the four Overlords took him as a disciple but they didn''t even show themselves.

    There was no training or anything. If anything, he was only supposed to eat these medicines every day. And the number of pills he was given was only increasing.

    Unfortunately, no one knew that he wasn''t eating a single pill and only pretending while gathering information about the path to the Central World.

    So far, he has managed to find out something important. There was said to be only one way to enter the Central World. And it was by collecting four keys from all four of the Generals.

    One when the four keys were used simultaneously, could the path to the Central World be opened.

    Unfortunately, the Four Monarchs didn''t carry the keys with themselves, which made it even hard for Gabriel to find them.

    Another thing he found out was that if a General was to die, then their key was going to be destroyed on their own, which made it impossible for it to be used. So he couldn''t just kill them and then search for the keys either.

    He could imprison them, but it wasn''t easy even for him. He could do it, but not without attracting too much attention, which was even worse for him.

    There were so many problems in the path that led him to the four keys. So far, he only knew about one key... The Key of the Southern General, who used it like a pendant around his neck.

    That was the easiest. However the other three Generals were more cunning.

    "The Generals said that your training will start after six months in the Central World. So stopining and just eat the pills."

    The maid ced the pills in Karyk''s hands, and gazed at him.

    It was only when Karyk ced the pills in his mouth and swallowed, she left.

    As soon as she left, Karyk raised his tongue, pulling out the two pills that he was thought to have eaten.

    "In six months, the Central World? Just what are these four ns?" Gazing at the pills in his hand, Karykmented, as if talking to himself.

    ****

    Throughout the month, Gabriel tried to master the Words of Universal Laws.

    He used his fingers, creating a character before him in empty air. A streak of elemental aura was left behind, wherever his finger moved, as if his fingers were the pen, and the elemental aura was the ink.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Unfortunately, it wasn''t easy. For some reason, he noticed that he was wasting too much energy. By the time he was about toplete the characters, he mostly ran out of all his energy reserves.

    Another thing of interest that he noticed was that every time he practiced making these characters, the elemental energy reserves inside his body were increasing, ever so minutely.

    He wanted to explore this further and find a way to efficiently use the energy while making the elemental aura characters. He was determined to master this art and create something great.

    He continued to practice, focusing on his breathing and using his energy reserves wisely. Unfortunately, it still wasn''t easy. Just the sheer amount of energy needed to create just one character was to the extent that he couldn''t bear, let alone more.

    If he was to describe, then each character on his bones that was carved by the god before him... Was on the level of a World Tier Spell, if not stronger.

    Mastering each of the characters was like mastering a World Tier Spell.

    But he didn''t give up. Day after day, he worked tirelessly, determined to perfect his craft. As time passed, he discovered that it wasn''t just about the physical act of carving the characters, but it was also about understanding their deeper meanings and the power they held.

    Slowly but surely, his skill improved. However, he still wasn''t close to sess yet. Fortunately, he now knew the path he had to take to seed in the future.

    Now that he had learned almost everything that he had to, he could finally leave the Beast Region.

    Even though he didn''t know if he could actually believe the Beast Monarchs or not, but in any case, he was grateful for them to teach him what he wanted to learn.

    Even if he hadn''t seeded yet, that was because it was hard. Not because the teaching was wrong.

    He couldn''t help but thank the Beast Overlords. Throughout the time he stayed here, he had understood the Beast Monarchs even more. They were reallyzy. Other than eating and rxing, they did nothing else.

    If anything, most of them just slept and barely woke up. He finally understood why the ns said that they didn''t need to worry about the Beast Overlords

    These people actually weren''t going to do unless they were really under attack. However, that also made Gabriel feel better about them. They werezy, and didn''t appear to be greedy at all.

    They had been respectful to him. Even though they realized that he had received the inheritance, they didn''t desire for it. They didn''t even ask about it, as if it didn''t matter.

    They had already reached the peak of their strength that their bodies allowed them.No matter what, they couldn''t get any stronger.

    Overall, these Beast Monarchs appeared more human than many humans themselves. They weren''t like the gods who betrayed one of their own for greater authority. If anything, they were all together if they were to fight, no matter what was offered to them.

    If he had to stay at a ce to learn, Gabriel was d that he stayed here. However, now was the time for him to leave.

    He had to get out of the Beast Forest and finish the task that they came to this world for. He had to take the identity of the Death Star¡­

 Chapter 590 589: If You Need

    The Beast Monarchs were surprised that Gabriel was leaving.

    Even though the young man had been telling them all this time that he was soon going to leave, when it was finally time for him to leave, they were still taken aback.

    They had expected him to stay there, at least until he was able to control his strength to his fullest.

    They were somewhat worried that Gabriel''s link to them was going to be discovered and then he was going to be killed. In fact, they were surprised that he wasn''t already killed.

    They tried to convince Gabriel to stop. However, none of them used force. They only used their reasoning to stop the young man.

    As Gabriel was walking out of the Beast Region, he noticed a figure in the sky.

    Before long, the figurended right before him, making the entire ground tremble, as if it was a short earthquake.

    The figure belonged to a Beast Monarch who had the Characteristics of a Lion, having ws that could rip even gods to pieces.

    The Beast Monarch was still holding onto a jar of wine, which was filled to the brim. Not a single droplet had fallen out.

    Without saying a word, the Beast Monarch extended the jar of wine towards Gabriel.

    Gabriel hesitated for a moment, but then reached out to take the jar. As soon as he took it, the Monarch turned around. "I know that you won''t be staying behind. I can see that you have something important to do outside. However, just remember one thing..."

    The Beast Monarch took a few steps away, at a calm pace. However, he hadn''t walked far, before he continued, "We couldn''t save that guy, because we were too cowardly. And I don''t want to make the same mistake again."

    The Beast Monarch nced back. For the first time, something akin to a smile could be seen on his face.

    "So if you need any help, don''t hesitate. No matter what, I''ll be there for you, even if it means alerting the Guardian of the Throne! So don''t hesitate."

    "You-" Gabriel was momentarily dazed. However, just as he was about to speak, he saw the Beast Monarch jump, disappearing just like he hade.

    Only a small talisman could be seen floating where he was previously standing.

    The small talisman floated to Gabriel, until itnded on his other hand.

    As Gabriel held onto the talisman, he felt that it was connected to the Beast Monarch. Just as he had said, it was something that could be used as thest resort to contact the Beast Monarchs and ask for their help once.

    Gabriel kept the talisman safely in his storage, as he nced at the direction where the Beast Monarch had disappeared.

    He took the sip of the wine that the Beast Monarch had given him, as he continued walking away from the Beast Region.

    With each sip of the wine, he felt that his aura was getting stronger. The wine appeared to have something special.

    "What a gift..." Gabriel muttered, shaking his head lightly.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ****

    Three dayster, he finally stepped out of the Beast Region.

    When he entered the Beast Region, he only expected to find the Inheritance to strengthen himself. However, the reality was quite different.

    The inheritance that he was after, turned out to be quite evil and useless. On the other hand, he received the gifts that he didn''t even expect, uncovering the mystery behind the strange marks on the bones.

    As he walked away from the Beast Region, Gabriel couldn''t help but feel grateful for the unexpected turn of events. He knew that he still had a long journey ahead, but now he felt more confident and prepared for whatever challenges may lie ahead. He had everything that he needed, and even more.

    ****

    One week passed and Gabriel finally returned to the Stein n. He had no intentions of teaching the vile method to the Stein n.

    Even though he himself had taken many lives, anything was better than the torment people were put through, to make these golems.

    This time, he didn''t need anyone to guide him inside.

    He still had the token given to him by the Patriarch of the Stein n,which allowed him to pass through the security. However, even without the token, he had faith in his abilities.

    Gabriel didn''t directly go to the Stein n Mansion. Instead, he flew toward the Giant Golems, standing guard.

    Hended before the Golems, taking a careful nce at them.

    The two Golems remained standing like proper lifeless statues. However, Gabriel could now feel why he felt so familiar to them. It was because of two reasons!

    The first reason was because he was connected to the Element of Death through Karyk, so he could feel connected to the souls inside the golems, without even knowing.

    And the second reason was because the method of creating these Golems was said to be created by the woman who he had seen in the Shadow Garden. And she used the knowledge of the man that the Skeleton belonged to. In a way, he was connected to these golems.

    Not just connected, but now that he knew how they were created, he could even use them to the extent that he wanted.

    He stepped closer to the Golems, walking in the air. He ced his fingers on the chest of one of the golems

    Now that he knew about this, he could pass through every security mechanism in the Golems, feeling every particle of the golems for himself.

    He didn''t even need to surpass the seal of the Stein n Founder since he had a higher level version of the same method, while the Stein n Founder used the iplete method.

    Gabriel was even able to see the souls that were used to create the Golems, and he actually found the sight to be an abomination!

    If he wasn''t strong mentally, he could''ve easily vomited at the sight. None of the souls were intact. They were merged into something abysmal. Many human parts should also be seen inside!

 Chapter 591 590: Greedy

    All the souls that were used to create the Golems had merged into something abysmal. It was as if they had all lost their individual personalities while still maintaining some of their old selves.

    Because they were abination of multiple souls, they had no single thought. It was as if they were full of Chaos.

    He could also feel plenty of hatred inside the souls that were directed at the outside world. Unfortunately, they couldn''t move on their own, no matter how much they wanted. They were bound in something akin to shackles.

    "You''re back!"

    While Gabriel was lost in thoughts he heard a voiceing from behind him. Multiple footsteps resounded.

    He took off his hands from the statue and nced back, noticing various High Ranking Guards of the Stein n.

    He realized that some of the guards had already gone to inform the higher ups about his arrival.

    He took one more nce at the statues, feeling as if they were asking for his help.

    He didn''t do anything for now, simplynding on the ground, facing the guards.

    He didn''t react to the query of the guards and simply started walking toward the Mansion in the distance where the Patriarch of the Stein n was staying.

    Since everyone already knew about his arrival, it was only a matter of time before they came for him anyway.

    Apanied by multiple Guards, Gabriel reached the mansion where the Elders were already prepared for him.

    They were all told that Gabriel was on their side,and it was quite likely that he possessed the inheritance! They had to treat him nicely if they didn''t want to offend the Patriarch of the Stein n.

    " It''s good to see you safe and well." One of the Eldersughed, weing Gabriel. The door of the mansion was open.

    As Gabriel stepped inside, he couldn''t help but feel a sense of unease. Despite their friendly demeanor, he knew that the Elders were cunning, and their true intentions were quite easy to decipher.

    They all wanted to ask about the inheritance right away. It was clear that this was what they were all after.

    Unfortunately for them, Gabriel had no intention of giving away that information. It wasn''t as if they could know if he seeded or not. After all, there was only one person who apanied him inside, and even that person didn''t know that he received the inheritance.

    Gabriel was brought to the main hall, where the Stein n Patriarch was already waiting for him.

    Next to the Patriarch, was his daughter who revealed a beautiful smile as soon as she saw Gabriel.

    She was quite pleased when she found out that Gabriel hadn''t betrayed them. However, ever since he was taken by the Beast Overlords, she had been constantly worrying about his safety, especially since such a long time had passed.

    After seeing him safe, she finally sighed in relief, waving her hand at Gabriel.

    Gabriel took notice of her, but his reaction was quite normal.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Unlike before, this time there was already a seat prepared for Gabriel, on an equal standing to the seats of the Elders. However, none of the Elders were offended.

    All the Elders were grinning from ear to ear, believing that the inheritance was within their grasp. Why else would this kide back if he didn''t have the inheritance?

    Gabriel was informed about which seat was his. He took the seat. The other Elders also sat.

    The main hall was closed and a sound proof barrier was cast, to make sure that none of the conversation leaked.

    "You have no idea how much you''ve helped us by finding our inheritance!" The Patriarch of Stein nughed, heartily. It was rare for him to be so happy. "With that inheritance, it''s only a matter of time for our n to rise! Then we can work together, helping your revenge!"

    "Hahaha, I knew Gabriel was a talented young man! He actually seeded." An Elder chimed in.

    "That''s correct. It''s rare to find such talented youngsters!" Another Elder affirmed,ughing.

    The atmosphere was quite pleasant. The long cherished wish of the n was about toe true after all.

    "Give it to the Patriarch." After all the elders spoke their heart, praising Gabriel, one of them spoke, getting to the main topic.

    From start to the end, Gabriel was sitting silently, not showing much reaction. His eyes were calm, as if he was just observing his surroundings.

    "Give what?" he asked, seemingly confused.

    "The Inheritance, of course! What else!" The First Elder smiled. "Come on, don''t joke around. We''re all quite eager to see what it''s like!"

    Gabriel tilted his head sideways. "Inheritance? Is there a misunderstanding? I didn''t find the inheritance. I was followed by the girl from the Dragon n all the way. If I had the inheritance, you think I would''ve been alive?"

    Gabriel could see the greed in the eyes of all the Elders. Even though Ulesis and her father were somewhat different, but he still didn''t feelfortable giving that book to them, especially since that was thepleted version, which was even worse than the ones their founder had found.

    "Young man, as I said, now isn''t the time to joke around!" the smile on the First Elder''s face disappeared, changing into a malicious look.

    "If you failed in finding the inheritance, how dare you return to us instead of dying somewhere?!" He further continued, as his tone became only sharper.

    The Stein n Patriarch was also frowning. He was still trying to understand the situation. Did Gabriel really fail? But if that was the case, why did he feel that something wasn''t right?

    "That''s enough..." He intervened, telling the First Elder to stop.

    "I can''t stop! It''s clear that this brat found the inheritance! Didn''t you hear that he went to the Golems as soon as he returned? Why else would he do that if he didn''t have the inheritance?" The First Elder only became louder.

    "It''s clear that this brat has gotten greedy! He wants to monopolize what belongs to us!"

 Chapter 592 591: Overstepping

    "Are you saying that I shouldn''te back if I didn''t find the Inheritance?" Gabriel still didn''t bother epting.

    If he wanted, he could possibly annihte everyone here. However, he had no interest in that, even though these people had revealed their greed so openly.

    He still wanted to salvage the situation if possible, since these people hadn''t yet attacked him. Moreover, there weren''t many ns who shared the same thought as him, especially when it came to the King.

    "I came back because even without the Inheritance, we share the same goal," he further exined. "And the reason I went to see the Golems is because I saw something simr inside the Shadow Garden, blocking my path. I wasn''t able to pass through them and was forced to return."

    "When I came here, I went to your Golems to see the simrities between the two sides."

    Even now, he didn''t tell them the truth. Even though the Method of creating the Goldems was crooked, he wasn''t sure if the Stein n still wanted to go through it.

    At the moment, revealing the truth was no different than creating more enemies for himself, especially ones that weren''t enemies in the open.

    "I believe you." The Head of the Stein n nodded, surprising every Elder.

    But just before the Elders could say something, he continued, "However, I can''t force the Elders to trust you. They''ll always be doubting you, which isn''t good for our cooperation. So how about you let them have some peace of mind? Allow a simple Soul Search on you..."

    "Father...?" Ulesis was taken aback by her father''s request.

    Even Gabriel was frowning. A Soul Search was a method that could be used by powerful beings in the Upper Realm, which allowed them to go through all the memories of a person!

    If the method was used with the other person''s permission, it allowed them to read every single memory of that person. The only w was that it was something that slightly weakened the soul of the person it was used on.

    However, this method could also be used without the other person''s permission. Unfortunately, in that case, the process was way more painful! Moreover, there was also a risk of the entire soul being destroyed!

    Even though it appeared as if he was doing this to convince the Elders, it was clear that the Stein n Patriarch was doing it for himself, to make sure that Gabriel actually didn''t have the inheritance!

    The Patriarch of the Stein n was the person who wanted the Inheritance the most after all. It was his obsession!

    Gabriel hadn''t expected this kind of requesting from the Stein n Head. In an instant, all the positive impressions he had of the n were destroyed!

    "Would you like to rephrase your words?" he asked.

    However, the Stein n Patriarch was still perfectly calm. Even though Gabriel was strong,he didn''t feel any threat. If anything, he felt that he was being a bit too nice for Gabriel, to the point where the young man was bing more and more arrogant.

    "Why are you hesitating? It won''t take much time. And it''ll be the easiest way for you to prove your innocence." The First Elder chimed in, grinning.

    "That''s right. If you''re not a thief, then go through with it!"<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Are you finally epting that you''re a thief? You still have time! Hand over the inheritance!''

    All the Elders became active. No matter where Gabriel looked in the fall, he only saw extreme greed in the eyes of these people, which was very different from what he saw with the Beast Monarchs.

    Only one person was different in the entire hall, and was Ulesis. Unfortunately, she couldn''t do anything either.

    "May I ask, what gave you the impression that I need to prove my innocence to the likes of you?" Gabriel inquired, finally having enough.

    Just as Gabriel tried to stand up, a heavy pressure descended on him, forcing him down. It was as if the heaviest mountain was pressing down on him.

    Gabriel''s eyes also turned dark, as he red at the Patriarch of the Stein n, who had finally moved.

    "I didn''t want to force you, but your insistence is bing more and more suspicious! I have no choice but to force you."

    The Patriarch of the Stein n stood up.

    "Father, stop!" Ulesis tried to stop him. However, Shackles came out of the group, trapping her wrists and her ankles, making her unable to move at all

    "Stay right there. I promise I won''t kill him!" The Head of the n patted the head of his daughter gently before he stepped down the steps.

    "You should''ve listened while I was being nice," he stated, stepping closer to Gabriel.

    "If you think your shadows can protect you here, then you''re in for a surprise. Did you think we wouldn''t do anything in this hall after seeing your disyst time?"

    Above the hall, a majestic formation circle became visible. The formation circle made it impossible for any Shadow Warriors to be formed. Since that was supposed to be Gabriel''s biggest strength, that formation made him essentially useless, especially since he couldn''t move.

    At the same time, more shackles came out of the group, trapping Gabriel''s ankles and his wrist. One of the shackles wrapped around his neck, and another around his forehead, to keep his head straight for the Soul Search.

    Gabriel''s entire visage had changed. His eyes weren''t calm anymore. Instead, traces of bloodlust were visible in his eyes that had turned pitch ck.

    "You will have time. Stop while I''m giving you this opportunity. If not, then I won''t have any choice either..."

    "That''s the thing I find most fascinating about you. Even when you can''t do anything, your arrogance is still at the peak. Unfortunately, that can''t change anything."

    The Stein n Patriarch stopped just a few inches away from Gabriel. His eyes revealed a look of pity as well, as if he wanted to have Gabriel as one of his own people if possible, since the young man was talented. However, he had no choice! He wanted inheritance most!

 Chapter 593 593: You Wont Be Here

    "Before I start, let me take that mask off."

    The Stein n Patriarch reached out his hand, cing it around Gabriel''s face, grabbing onto the facial mask that the young man was using.

    Since he was already going to use the Soul Search, he didn''t want to have the mask interfere with contact between his hand and Gabriel''s face.

    Grabbing the corner of Gabriel''s mask, the man slowly took it off, before tossing it aside.

    He ced his hand under Gabriel''s chin, raising his face slightly so he could watch it carefully.

    However, as soon as he raised Gabriel''s head and saw his face, his eyes opened wide. Subconsciously, he took a few steps back.

    That face wasn''t something that the Patriarch could forget! This was the face that almost everyone in the Upper Realm was looking for!

    Portraits with this face were avable everywhere, since this was the face of the person who was most wanted in the Upper Realm.

    If anything, the Stein n Patriarch always wanted to work with Karyk to take down the King of the Upper Realm. That''s why he was looking for Karyk, not to capture him.

    However, the situation waspletely opposite to his expectations. Not only was Karyk right next to him all the time, but he had also offended Karyk in this way!

    The person that even kept the four Generals wary... He tried to Search his soul?

    His eyes went nk.

    In the back, even Ulesis''s lips were parted in surprise. She still remembered when she talked about Karyk being her idol, only to now find out that Gabriel was him?! She couldn''t understand how Karyk was able to hide his death aura though.

    The Elders also appeared as if they had swallowed poison. Their faces were pale as a thin sheet of paper. There was a trace of fear in their eyes. That all remembered the stories they had heard, about Karyk''s past!

    Not a single n who stood in his path ever had a good ending.

    The Stein n Patriarch only frowned in the end. "To think that you would be the Death Star..."

    "I wanted to work with you so bad. But now that I''ve already offended you, I have no other choice but to kill you here! But before that, let me search your soul! I''m sure it''ll have many secrets that can help my n rise to the peak."

    The Stein n Patriarch reached out his hand, to ce them on Gabriel''s forehead. However, just as his hand was about to touch Gabriel, he froze.

    A bright light shed before his eyes. The next moment, he roared in pain as if he was a dying pig.

    A thin line of blood spread across his arms, as the lower half of his right arm dropped on the ground.

    "Arghhh!" The Patriarch of the Stein n roared in pain, holding his bleeding arm. He jumped back, gazing at a Death General who was standing right next to Gabriel.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The formation in the hall could stop the summoning of Shadows of a Shadow Mage. However, what Gabriel summoned wasn''t the shadows but real beings... The Death Generals, created by Karyk himself.

    The Elders were also taken aback. However, before they could respond, they saw a deep blue fire burning around Gabriel.

    All the shackles that were holding Gabriel into ce broke apart in an instant. However, the fire didn''t harm Gabriel in the least.

    Gabriel rubbed his wrists, which had a mark left on it, because of the shackles. It was as if he was a different person entirely.

    He nced at Raphael, who he was meeting after a long time. Raphael appeared much stronger, as if his training had worked. Moreover, now his mes also appeared to have some traces of space. It was as if his mes could also break apart space now.

    "W-wait! We can still talk about it!" The Stein n Patriarch eximed, frowning.

    He had a bad feeling. Now that he had offended Karyk, he didn''t want to suffer more. He was confident in taking out the ruling shadow mage, but when it came to Karyk who was free, he didn''t have confidence!

    Last time Karyk came to the Upper Realm, he was all alone and yet he caused so much damage. On the other hand, this time he came with his Death Generals which made the Upper Realm even more wary.

    The Stein n Patriarch knew that the situation was dire. He had toe up with a n to solve this conflict peacefully. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.

    "We should talk about it! If there''s a conflict, we both will suffer! Even though you have your strength, we also have the Ancient Golems which can kill you! So instead of fighting amongst ourselves, we should join our strength to fight the King of the Upper Realm."

    "That''s what I also wanted...," Gabrielmented.

    His response made the Stein n Patriarch sigh in relief. However, his calmness soon disappeared as he heard the other half of Gabriel''s sentence.

    "... In the past. However, now there is no need for this cooperation..." Gabriel tightened his fist, ncing in a particr direction.

    At the same time, his Divine Consciousness spread around.

    Within a few seconds, the entire ground started trembling, as if there was an earthquake.

    The Stein n Patriarch had his face turn pale, as he realized what was happening! The earthquake wasn''t natural! Instead, it was because their guardian Golems were moving on their own,ing toward the n Mansion.

    "H-how did you?" The Stein n Patriarch asked, stunned. However, his eyes soon revealed a look of understanding.

    He fiercely eximed, "The Inheritance! You received it!"

    "You''re wrong." Gabriel said, without any expressions on his face. "I didn''t receive the inheritance of your Founder... I received something else... Something that you won''t be alive to see..."

    As soon as he finished speaking, a deep blue me filled the entire hall. Only Ulesis remained unharmed in the mes.

 Chapter 594 594: Death Sentence

    Boom~

    As soon as the mes filled up the fall, sounds of the walls being broken responded.

    The ones who were able to protect themselves,cast a barrier around their bodies to protect themselves. However, the ones who couldn''t do it, broke the wall and flew outside, to get away from those mes.

    Unfortunately for them, the mes appeared to be alive, chasing after them.

    At the same time, the earthquake kept getting stronger and stronger, as if the Ancient Golems were getting closer.

    "Stop it!" The Patriarch of Stein n eximed, his voice getting louder. A burst of aura came out of his body. His aura strengthened, as his body was surrounded by a strange soul energy.

    The Energy st didn''t differentiate between friends and foes. Even the Elders of the Stein n were sent back, coughing out blood.

    Gabriel brought his hands together, casting a Barrier of Light. However even that barrier wasn''tpletely intact under the energy st as multiple cracks developed on it.

    Raphael, raised his hand, forming a ming sword which he stabbed on the ground, to firmly maintain his footing.

    The energy st sent multiple people flying back.

    "That was...Soul Energy?" Gabriel''s expressions darkened. He wasn''t concerned about his weakened barrier. Instead, his thoughts were more focused on the strange energy, which matched something he had read in the book he recently received from Shadow Garden.

    The so-called inheritance contained the method of using living beings to create the Ancient Golems. But in that, there was also another method, which allowed one to harvest the soul energy for themselves!

    Looking at the Soul Energy, Gabriel realized what was happening here! The Patriarch of the Stein n already had portions of the so-called inheritance from his founder.

    Unfortunately for him, the method he received wasn''tplete, making him unable to create Ancient Golems. But it still allowed him to use Soul Energy.

    That made it clear to Gabriel! The Patriarch of the Stein n knew just what kind of cruelty lied inside that inheritance yet he didn''t hesitate in order to gain strength!

    The more Gabriel saw that man, the more he felt as if he was looking at the Goddess of Light. The two had so many simrities, as both were willing to do anything to get strength.

    "To think that you would force me to use this power!" The Patriarch of the Stein n eximed, frowning.

    A Spirit Armor appeared around him, which made it almost impossible for the ck mes to harm him.

    "You should''ve taken my offer when I was being nice to you!" He spoke.

    "A method to use Soul Energy in such a way, without having that element... It''s quite fascinating to see it in real life..."

    Standing inside the castle in the middle of nowhere, Karyk kept the two pills in his hand safely, once again not eating it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    At this point, he was only waiting for the next five months to be over so he could directly be taken to the Central World without having to do anything.

    However, since he had nothing better to do in the Pce, he often took interest in what was happening on Gabriel''s side and every time he did that, he found something interesting.

    Since he could be considered the God of Death, he could easily use the souls he collected in a simr manner. However, their methods were different at their core.

    Karyk didn''t need to forcefully take any souls. Everything was natural for him. However, to see another using something simr in real life was fascinating for him.

    "You know that weakness of the Soul Armor, don''t you?" He asked, gazing at the beautiful sun in the distance.

    For the Stein n Patriarch to use this method before them was simr for someone using their own weapon against them... A weapon that they knew everything about, including its strength and weaknesses.

    "Who could know better than me?" Gabriel replied, watching the blue mes slowly disappear.

    "Me." Karyk answered jokingly. "Anyway, make sure to deal with them swiftly. I noticed some movements here. They''ve probably sensed the aura of my Death Generals. It''ll only be a matter of a few moments, before they locate you. So get out of here after you''re done."

    Even Karyk didn''t know what it was, but he had slowly started treating Gabriel like a real little brother, even though both of them were part of the same soul. He didn''t have any intention of just sitting idly and watching Gabriel get hurt.

    "I''ve no intention of wasting time either..." Gabriel nodded.

    The Ancient Golems had finally reached the Mansion of the Stein n.

    The members of the Stein n were stunned as to what was happening. Why were the Golems moving suddenly?

    Their faces were covered in shock when they watched the Golems before them.

    The Warriors of the n remained dazed. However, it was only when one of the Elders told them that the Ancient Golems were under someone else''s control that they realized.

    "Hold them back until we take care of the intruder!" The Stein n Elder eximed.

    "We hold them back?" The Warriors of the n were momentarily frozen in ce, looking at the massive golems.

    These golems were the reason that even the strongest ns didn''t easily attack them. And now they had to hold these golems back? Was it any different from asking them to die?

    But they knew they had to obey their Eldersmand. So, they took their weapons and surrounded the golems, bracing themselves for the attack.

    The golems slowly started to move, their massive limbs making the ground shake beneath the feet of the n warriors. The Warriors knew that they needed a n, and fast. They couldn''t take on these golems head-on; they needed to find their weaknesses.

    Unfortunately, who knew better than them that the only person who knew the weakness of these Golems was probably the patriarch. There was no way the weakness was going to be known by others, since no one wanted that information to leak.

 Chapter 595 595: Test

    The ground shook violently as two colossal figures walked like the ancient mountains.

    These were the Giant Ancient Golems, awakened from their slumber. It had been a long time since theyst moved.

    Thest time these Golems moved was hundreds of years ago when the Stein n wasst attacked. And it was because of the help of these Golems that the Stein n was still standing tall to this day.

    However, now that n had to face their own Protectors, especially while most of their Elders were kept busy by Gabriel. This was the worst difficulty that they had ever faced.

    With their massive bodiesposed of ancient stone and their eyes glowing with an otherworldly energy, the Golems stood as formidable adversaries against the Warriors of the Stein n.

    The Warriors of the Stein n, renowned for their mastery of magic, quickly assembled their forces.

    d in shimmering armor, each warrior carried a staff imbued with elemental power. They formed a protective circle around their elder, a man named Eldrik.

    With a stern expression, Eldrik channeled his magic, sensing the immense power emanating from the approaching golems.

    As the golems drew nearer, the earth quivered beneath their colossal feet. With each step, they caused tremors that sent shockwaves through the ranks of the Stein n. The warriors stood firm, though fear flickered in their eyes.

    "Prepare yourselves. We need to hold them back or everyone will die!" Eldrikmanded, his voice resonating with authority.

    With that, the warriors raised their staves, summoning a tempest of wind to buffet the golems. But the wind merely brushed against their stony forms, having little effect.

    Undeterred, the warriors unleashed bolts of lightning and torrents of fire, attempting to exploit the golems'' weaknesses.

    Yet the golems, impervious to the magical onught, pressed forward relentlessly. Their colossal fists crashed down, smashing the earth and causing plumes of dust and debris to billow into the air. The warriors dodged and weaved, narrowly escaping the devastating blows.

    Eldrik''s eyes narrowed as he realized the futility of their efforts. He knew they had underestimated the power of the ancient golems. The golems, devoid of emotion or mercy, showed no signs of weakness or vulnerability.

    "Fall back!" Eldrik shouted, his voiceced with desperation.

    The warriors, their faces etched with frustration and determination, regrouped as the golems advanced, their steps shaking the very foundation of the battleground. Eldrik surveyed the situation, contemting their next move.

    The golems reached even closer, their presence overwhelming. With an ear-splitting roar, they unleashed abined onught of brute force and unyielding power. The ground beneath the warriors trembled violently as the golems'' blows crashed against their defenses.

    One by one, the warriors of the Stein n sumbed to the golems'' might. The earth soaked in their blood as they fell, their magical abilities proving insufficient to ovee the ancient behemoths. Eldrik, thest remaining warrior, stood alone, his staff trembling in his hands.

    With a heavy heart, Eldrik acknowledged their defeat. The golems, towering over him, stood as a testament to the unstoppable forces of the past. As the warriorsy defeated and broken, Eldrik''s eyes met those of the golems, a silent acknowledgement passing between them.

    The golems, having achieved their purpose, didn''t retreat and attacked Eldrik.

    Eldrik summoned all his strength and readied himself for the final battle. With graceful movements, he weaved and dodged the golems'' attacks, striking back with his staff. The battle raged on until finally, Eldrik received a fatal blow.

    His body flew back, falling in the distance. His staff also fell in the distance. Before he could even get up, he saw the massive foot of the Giant Golem hovering above him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He could only close his eyes as the giant foot came crashing down, crushing him under its weight.

    After taking care of all the guards, the two golems stepped closer to the mansion and started destroying it slowly.

    ****

    Inside the Mansion, the sound of demolition and Explosions resounded everywhere.

    The Spirit Armor of the Stein n Patriarch shone brightly. His arm that was cut off, appeared again. However, it appeared to be made of spirits, allowing him to hold things.

    Gabriel took a step back, raising his finger only. "Let me test this..."

    He raised his hand. As soon as the Stein n Patriarch flew toward Gabriel; Gabriel''s fingers moved, creating a strange pattern in the air, as if he was creating a word on empty air.

    Unlike when he was in the Beast Region, he didn''t take a long time to create it. However, what he created was only the most basic one.

    That was the only one he had managed to master.

    Beforethe Stein n Patriarch could even get close to Gabriel, he saw the strange word beingpleted.

    A bright ray of light shot out of the strange world.

    ****

    The Golems were still destroying the mansion when they suddenly stopped, sending a familiar energy. It was as if they were scared of it.

    A bright beam of light shot out from the mansion, destroying everything in its path.

    In the end, the beam of light hit a mountain in the distance, however it didn''t stop there either, leaving a giant hole in the mountain itself, allowing to see through it.

    Inside the mansion, Gabriel was breathing heavily. This attack had exhausted himpletely. However, this was also what allowed him to see the true might of these words.

    Everything that was before him, disappeared. Even the Stein n Patriarch was nowhere to be found. Only a few traces of his clothes could be seen fluttering in the wind, as if he was caught in the attack and was destroyed.

    The attack that was intended for the Stein n Patriarch didn''t just catch him, but also a few other Elders in the back.

    The remaining Elders were frozen in ce. In the end, they just dropped to their knees in fear. It was as if their bodies refused to listen to them.

    Gabriel couldn''t use any more magic for the time being since he exhausted himself. However, Raphael and the others were still here, which allowed him to freely exert himself.

    Gabriel nced at Ulesis on the other side of the hall.

 Chapter 596 596: Favor

    Gabriel nced at Ulesis in the distance, while all the Elders trembled on the side.

    At the same time, the sound of the Stein n Mansion being destroyed filled the entire ce.

    The Elders who tried to escape were killed right away, as if not a single person was allowed to move.

    Gazing at Ulesis, Gabriel didn''t speak a single word. However, his gaze was enough to show his disappointment with her n.

    After some time, he finally stopped looking at her. He turned around, and walked out of the Hall.

    He didn''t care about killing the rest of the elders. There was no benefit of getting rid of the witnesses since the aura of death was already filling up this entire ce. And many of the guards had already escaped as well.

    He also didn''t want to spend too much time here, since the Generals could get here anytime. He had to leave before that happened.

    Ulesis didn''t say a single word, even as Gabriel left the hall.

    After stepping out of the Hall, Gabriel raised his hand lightly, gesturing the Ancient Golems to stop.

    He stepped on the air, walking closer to the Giant Golems.

    Gabriel knew that it was beneficial for him to have the two Giant Golems. However, he also knew that there were more drawbacks than benefits.

    Firstly, the Golems were not Invincible. That''s why the Founder of the Stein n had lost. When he was against the truly strong people these golems were nothing.

    Another w was that they were too big, and couldn''t be kept in the Shadow, a realm where Karyk''s army was kept.

    If he wanted to have them, he had to be followed by them in reality, which was no different than having a big target hanging over his head.

    It not only would''ve interfered with his movements, but also troubled him in other ways.

    Andstly, he didn''t feel like having them in the first ce. The more he thought about them and how they were made, the more disgusted he felt.

    "I don''t need your help anymore, so I grant you... Freedom." He ced his hands on the Golems.

    With a single word of his, the two golems started developing cracks. Their bodies soon fell apart, while their souls slowly disintegrated, as if they were finally freed of this misery.

    As the souls were destroyed, Gabriel could feel that even the souls were confused. They thought they would live like this for an eternity, but they were finally being freed. To them, death was a gift that they were waiting for.

    Even though they couldn''t speak, Gabriel had a feeling that they were thanking him as thest shreds of theirs disappeared.

    Only the pieces of the golems were left behind on the ground, as if pieces of stones from a mountain. However, these stones were now useless.

    After dealing with the matters at hand, Gabriel left the ce.

    He had no interest in getting in conflict with any General, since it could affect Karyk''s n. Both of them had their own goals at the time!

    While Karyk had to get to the Central World to kill the King of the Upper Realm and uncover the secret of the Central World, Gabriel was to kill all the traitors, especially the Goddess of Light.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    It was only after he killed the Goddess of Light, his control over his own element could increase.

    ****

    Three weekster, in an unknown part of the Northern World, a young man entered a city. His face was covered in a disguise, but no one could see through that disguise, at least not until they were at the level of the King of the Upper Realm.

    The disguise was so perfect that it could even fool the Four Generals.

    In thest three weeks, an explosive piece of news had spread. It was about the fall of the Stein n at the hands of Karyk!

    Because of that, Karyk had once again entered the limelight. People were starting to talk about him again.

    After disappearing for a long time, he appeared again and targeted one of the top ns!

    With that news, everyone had found out that Karyk had reached the Northern Realm!

    There was another piece of news. It was that the remnants of the Stein n had dispersed. There was no Stein n in the Northern Realm anymore! All the remaining Elders had Abandoned it, worried that Karyk might return.

    And no one knew where Ulesis currently was. She had also left, taking everything precious in the n with her.

    That was the only information avable for the public. However, for the top ns, there was more information avable.

    That information stunned them even more, especially the Skyler n Head, who was still trembling!

    He couldn''t believe that Karyk was right before him outside the Shadow Garden and he was being so disrespectful.

    His entire body was drenched in sweat. He was so d that he was still alive. However, from the rumors about her, it was clear that Karyk was a person who repaid all grudges

    The Skyler n Head increased the security of his n, and also prepared to escape if needed.

    Another person who was surprised was the girl from the Northern Dragon n.

    She was in a meeting with her father. She had already told her father everything that happened in the Shadow Garden.

    Initially, she didn''t think that Gabriel got the inheritance. However, now she was confused as well.

    It was now well known that Gabriel was able to control the golems of the Stein n, which implied that he had the inheritance.

    "So you''re saying the Death Star owed you a favor?" The Head of the Northern Dragon n frowned.

    The girl nodded. "At least that''s what he said. ording to him, if the request isn''t overboard, he''ll help me once. However, I''m not sure if he actually will, since that guy already lied to me once and I even believed him."

    "It doesn''t matter. If he actually wants to repay a favor, it can be a great opportunity for us!"

 Chapter 597 597: Advice

    "If he can help us, it''ll be good. But if he can''t help, then he''ll just be a variant that we''ll need to get rid of."

    The middle aged man who spoke had two blue horns protruding out of his head. Around his neck, some dragon scales were visible clearly.

    It was as if they were real dragon scales. Another strange thing about the man was that each of his eyes had two pupils in them.

    "Do you understand?" he asked the young woman who was on one knee before him.

    The young woman raised her head, looking at the middle aged man. In the end, she nodded her head.

    "Good. Then find him first, no matter what method you have to use!" The man waved his hand. A portal appeared behind the woman. Her body was pushed inside the portal, making her disappear from the room.

    ****

    Unaware of some of the changes in the Northern World and the entire Upper Realm, Gabriel had entered a new city.

    His new disguise wasn''t eye-catching, and he tried to avoid as much attention as possible.

    Fortunately, the city he entered was quite crowded already, which made it very easy for him.

    ording to the information that he had, the City was hosting a Poetry Competition between various schrs of the Northern Realm.

    To take part in the Poetry Competition, many Schrs from faraway ces had arrived at this ce.

    Everywhere he looked, Gabriel was able to see Schrs, dressed in pure white attire, as if they were above everyone else, with how intellectual they were.

    There was not a single Schr who wasn''t arrogant. However, their arrogance was only revealed when they talked to other people. When the Schrs talked to other Schrs, they behaved like a gentleman.

    Seeing all that hypocrisy, Gabriel couldn''t shake his head. He didn''t know any Poetry personally, however he had memories of Karyk.

    Since Karyk used to be a Prince before everything was destroyed, his knowledge about poetry was already quite high. Gabriel also had that knowledge.

    However, he didn''t n to use that Knowledge. He hade here only for one purpose and one purpose alone...

    There were multiple gods that had betrayed Karyk, and in essence, him. He wanted to kill the Goddess of Light, who was the main perpetrator. However, it was hard to get to her. So he decidedto start with someone else...

    "The Goddess Of Water...."

    ording to what he had heard, the Goddess of Water lived in this city. She hadn''t reached a high position like the Goddess of Light, but her position wasn''t low either.

    The Meztil City was an important City in the Northern Realm. It was considered a high tier City, and it had its own importance.

    In thest thousand years, the Goddess of Water had managed to be the City Lord of the Meztil City.

    Because of that, she also held quite the decent amount of power in her hand. She was the reason Gabriel came here.

    Fortunately, information about the Goddess of Water was also included in the Documents that he received from the Stein n.

    "Have you heard? The City Lord will be attending the Schr''s Conference this time?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    While Gabriel was walking toward the City Lord''s Mansion, he noticed many guards in the surroundings. With what happened to the Stein n, almost every city was on high alert.

    Multiple people were being stopped and being thoroughly checked for any disguises, as long as they managed to raise even the slightest of suspicions of the guards. Even some of the Schrs were checked. However, as there were so many people, not everyone was checked.

    It was even harder to get closer to the City Lord''s Mansion with how tough the security was. He could easily go there if he had to force his way. However, he knew that it was bad since it could alert everyone.

    The Goddess of Water was going to escape before he could even reach the City Lord''s Mansion.

    The further he went, the more he saw the schrs talking about the City Lord.

    "I''ve never seen her, but I heard that she''s a very clever person! Is she really attending this time?"

    "Not just clever, she is also very beautiful. Some even say that she''s the most beautiful woman in the Northern Realm! I really can''t wait to see her!"

    Almost half the schrs that Gabriel saw were talking about the City Lord. And the ones who weren''t talking about it also revealed a look of interest in their eyes.

    "The City Lord ising herself, huh..." He muttered, as he slowed down.

    A thought shed in his mind. Since she wasing here already, he didn''t need to go to her Mansion either. He could simply wait for her here.

    At least that''s what he thought. However, after half an hour, he noticed that the streets were getting cleared. Everyone was being sent away, as if they wanted empty streets for the arrival of their City Lord and other Important Guests.

    Not a single person was allowed to be outside here. Moreover, the entire city was covered in a formation that made it impossible for anyone to hide in space.

    Gabriel didn''t leave with the others. However, he also didn''t fight. He looked towards the mansion that was being used to host the Schrly Meeting.

    Even though his disguise didn''t make him actually appear like a schr, but that didn''t make him hesitate.

    "Why go through all this effort? Just raze the city to the ground. No need to make it soplicated."

    Gabriel had only taken a single step when he heard Karyk''s voice.

    However, Gabriel shook his head. "I think differently than you. I don''t want to kill people not associated with her if I don''t have to. Moreover, I don''t want to give her a chance to escape."

    "Don''t tell me you''re starting to awaken your morality now, after killing so many people..."

    Back in the Pce, Karyk was lying on the bed. He had quite aplicated look on his face.

    None of them was pure. He had killed so many innocent people as coteral that he had already lost the count. No matter what, if it led him to his goal, he was ready to do anything.

    Gabriel also had a lot of blood on his hands, even before he awakened his memory.

    That''s why Karyk found those words to be quite ironic. However, he didn''t have any interest in forcing Gabriel. In his eyes, they were two different people now.

    Even though they could talk, that was the extent of it.

 Chapter 598 598: Answer

    Gabriel stepped closer to the Mansion where the meeting of the Schrs was to take ce.

    Most of the prominent Schrs were all issued an invitation which allowed them an easy entry. However, entry to the ones without the invitation wasn''t banned either. It''s just that they had to prove that they were indeed schrs with a vast amount of knowledge.

    As Gabriel stepped closer to the mansion, the guards first looked at his attire. Even though Gabriel''s clothes were also spotless, for some reason, the guards didn''t feel that he was actually a schr.

    "You don''t have an invitation, do you??" The guard asked. "I suppose you''ll be taking the test in that case? Unless you came here by ident and have no interest in attending the Schr''s meet?"

    Gabriel nodded in response. Even though he didn''t know what the test was, he just had to stay here until the Goddess of Water arrived here.

    He followed the guards to the side, where a board was ced. On the board, there were over a hundred riddles ced.

    Amongst those hundred, ten were rified as unsolvable, thirty were ssified as almost impossible to solve and the rest were hard and averaged difficulty.

    To get an entry, one only had to answer any two of the hundred riddles sessfully.

    "Solve any two of them, and you shall be granted an entry," The guard informed Gabriel.

    Looking at Gabriel, the guards didn''t really expect him to be able to answer any. Even they themselves didn''t know the answer to any of them. They only had a list which contained the answers of most of them, at least the ones that were solved in the past.

    "Any two?" Gabriel looked at the riddles on the board. Even though there were some that he didn''t know the answer to, amongst the riddles, he knew the answer to most of them.

    This test was very easy for him. He nodded, and selected the first riddle on the board, not knowing that they were ssified by their difficulty.

    Gabriel went forward and gave an answer to the first two riddles right away, without even taking much time.

    The two Guards looked at each other in confusion. Even they didn''t know the answer to the two riddles so they couldn''t even know if he was correct or not. However they also couldn''t prove that he was wrong.

    They both looked at each other, not knowing what to do. In the end, one of the guards came up with an idea.

    "Alright. Solve thest two then!"

    If they didn''t have the answer to the top two, they just had to make sure that Gabriel wasn''t giving any random answers. They told him to solve what they knew.

    To their surprise, Gabriel once again gave the answer. If the top ones were hard, then the bottom ones were the easiest.

    Both the guards were taken aback. It was clear that Gabriel wasn''t answering nonsense.

    ''Does that mean his top two answers were correct as well?'' one of the guards thought, as he noted the answers that Gabriel had given, making sure to tell this to the City Lord, who came up with these riddles herself!<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    At the same time, they allowed Gabriel an entry into the premise, where all the Schrs were already seated.

    Some of the schrs were still talking about how they were going to meet the City Lord, while getting acquainted with the others while the rest were standing alone, keeping their distance from the others as if worried about being tainted by them.

    As Gabriel entered, he gathered quite a lot of attention, unintentionally, especially since he didn''t look much like a Schr.

    "Do they allow any dog to enter this ce as well? Did you bribe the guards?" One of the Schrs asked as he stepped closer to Gabriel, having a hand fan in his hand.

    "You''re right. They do allow dogs to enter this ce. To think that you would have so much self awareness about yourself..." Gabriel calmly responded, shaking his head lightly.

    He didn''t want to interact with the people here. He just had to wait for the Goddess of Water to arrive so she couldn''t escape him. Everyone else wasn''t worth his attention.

    Gabriel walked past the Schr, whose face was red. As a Schr, he didn''t want to act vulgarly by fighting. However, he did remember Gabriel''s face.

    Throughout the rest of the time, he kept using poems while sipping his tea, clearly targeting Gabriel with those poems. However, Gabriel remained seated, with his eyes closed as if he didn''t have any intention of associating with anyone.

    Half an hour passed, and a loud noise was heard outside. The entourage of the City Lord had finally arrived at the entrance of the mansion.

    Most of the people who were still outside, despite the warning of the guards, were imprisoned and if they resisted, they were killed.

    The Goddess of Water stepped out of the carriage, carrying a graceful presence. Her beautiful blue hair fluttered with the wind as she stepped down.

    However, she wasn''t alone. From her carriage, another girl stepped out.

    The girl shared simr facial features to the Goddess of Water, but her aura was even stronger for some reason.

    "Mother, I never understood why you like poetry so much? Isn''t it just a pastime of weak people who can''t grow stronger or do anything else that is useful with their lives?" The young girl asked, rolling her eyes.

    "Your thinking is naive, little one. Knowledge is never useless." The Goddess of Water stated, as she startedughing.

    From another carriage, a young man also stepped out. The man appeared charming, and had a robe that carried the symbol of the Northern General''s mansion. However, no weapon could be seen on him.

    "That''s correct. Strength without knowledge is nothing but an arrow without aim..." He stepped closer to the twodies, joining them.

    "Your father isn''t a Schr, is he?" The Young Girl rolled her eyes. "No matter how much knowledge one has, can they go against the Northern General?"

 Chapter 599 599: No Scar Of Time

    "Are you saying that all my father has is strength?" The young manughed in response. "The reason my father rules the Northern Realm is because he has strength, as well as knowledge!"

    "A weak yet knowledgeable man can still win against a strong yet ignorant man through schemes! Many great warriors have fallen like that. But my father is different. He just doesn''t have strength but he''s the smartest person I know."

    The young man appeared somewhat proud as he talked about his father, the Northern General!

    "All schemes are useless before absolute strength!" The young girl still refused to agree to what her mother and the son of the Northern General was saying.

    She rolled her eyes and followed her mother to the entrance of the mansion.

    However, as soon as the three of them stepped closer to the entrance, one of the guards approached the Goddess of Water.

    He told the City Lord about Gabriel, saying that there was a man who had supposedly solved one of the top two riddles.

    As soon as the Goddess of Water heard the information, she also revealed some surprise on her face.

    She didn''t expect someone to actually solve the riddle! Everyone thought that this riddle was created by her, but only she knew who actually made that riddle! Even she had never been able to solve it.

    She took the sheet of paper from the guard and looked at the answers!

    Looking at the answers, she revealed a look of surprise. Even though she didn''t know the answer herself, the answers that were given made sense to her. They didn''t appear to be nonsense.

    "Who was that Schr? Someone from the Northern Academy? Was it Qian Ye, their topper? I heard a lot about him. Did hee here as well?"

    "Ah, yes. Senior Qian came here. However, he entered with an invitation and didn''t answer any questions. The person who answered didn''t have an invitation," the guard exined.

    "Oh?" The Goddess of Water frowned. "To think that there would be a guest like that... Let me see who it is, that can answer what I can''t..."

    The Goddess of Water revealed a look of curiosity for the first time in her life, which she didn''t often reveal.

    The guard opened the door, allowing them entrance. On the other hand, the son of Northern General looked slightly upset, to see the Goddess of Water praise another man, since he had a crush on her and wanted to make her his woman!

    Not only the Goddess of Water, but he also wanted to monopolize his daughter for himself as well. His wish was to marry both mother and daughter. That''s why he was putting so much effort.

    ****

    Inside the Massive Hall, Gabriel was sitting on a table. There was a ss of wine before him, but he hadn''t taken even a single sip.

    "To think that she would use the riddle that you spoke nonchntly..." In his head, he was talking to Karyk.

    The reason he was easily able to answer the top two riddles was because they were spoken by Karyk in the past. He didn''t expect the Goddess of Water to use the same.

    "Knowledge without understanding is nothing but ignorance. I doubt even she knew the answer to that..." Karyk shook his head lightly.

    However, just as he finished speaking, he felt the door opening.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He stopped talking and sat straight, thinking that it was time for the medicine to be delivered. However, to his surprise, it wasn''t the maid who entered.

    The person who stepped inside was none other than the Northern General himself!

    "Looks like you''re doing good." The Northern General took azy nce at Karyk.

    He didn''t notice a single trace of killing intent in Karyk''s eyes since Karyk hid it so well.

    "Get ready tomorrow. Early morning, we''ll be leaving this ce!"

    "Where are we going?" Karyk answered, seemingly confused.

    "That''s not for you to worry about. Just be up on time."

    The Northern General left after only saying that one thing. However, as he left, Karyk couldn''t help but wonder if it was finally time for him to enter the Central World! He didn''t have to hide any longer! The time was finally here!

    ****

    In another ce, the door of the massive hall opened and the soldiers of the City Lord entered the hall, protecting the three people who entered after them.

    Almost all the Schrs stood up, at the sight of the Goddess of Water and her daughter. Looking at the two women, they were in a daze.

    They had heard rumors about their beauty, but they realized that the rumors  had still underestimated their beauty. They had seen many beautiful women, but the Goddess of Water was long a fairy walking on thend.

    Even Gabriel was looking at them, but his expressions were different. He wasn''t looking at them because he was appreciating their beauty.

    Because he had some memories of Karyk, he remembered the Goddess of Water. Even though a thousand years had passed, she still looked the same as he remembered her to be.

    The passage of the hadn''t left the slightest mark on her.

    However, what surprised him was the girl next to the Goddess of Water, who looked somewhat simr to her. He didn''t know that the Goddess of Water had a daughter as well!

    On the other side, he also noticed a man that he didn''t recognise. However, it was clear that the man was associated with the Northern General, because of the clothes he wore.

    While Gabriel was looking at them, one of the guards pointed at him, while speaking something to the Goddess of Water.

    After that

    , Gabriel saw the Goddess of Water looking at him. Her daughter and the son of the Northern General also looked in his direction, which slightly surprised him.

    The three of them walked towards him, amidst the watchful eyes of all the Schrs present there, who wondered why Gabriel attracted their attention.

 Chapter 600 600: Old Friend

    The Goddess of Water stepped closer to Gabriel, carrying a calm visage.

    If Gabriel didn''t know better, he would''ve thought that she truly was a kind soul who could never scheme against anyone else! It was as if she didn''t have the slightest ill intentions for anyone else in her heart.

    It made sense why she had managed to gain the praise of everyone else. With the way she carried herself, apanied by her beauty and her talents, it was easy for her to be a City Lord.

    The Goddess of Water stopped before Gabriel.

    "I heard you answered my riddles?" she asked.

    ''Yours?'' Gabriel thought, but didn''t react.

    He simply nodded, as he nced at the son of Northern General and the girl on the other side of the Goddess of Water.

    Finally this woman was close to him. There was no need to waste any more time.

    "How did you know the answer to these? Did youe up with them yourself?" The woman asked.

    "The answer was given to me by an old friend," Gabriel answered.

    "Hah, so you cheated!" The son of the Northern General scoffed. "Just to get inside, you pretended to be smart by using borrowed answers?"

    The young girl also rolled her eyes.

    The Goddess of Water frowned, as she gestured for the young man to stop mocking Gabriel.

    "Who is that friend? Can I meet him?" the woman asked.

    "I''m afraid my friend also wants to meet you and reminisce about the old times. Albeit, he''s busy with something else. So I came here to help him."

    "Reminisce?" The Goddess of Water asked, getting curious. "Do I know him? To think that I knew such a talent and didn''t even know about it. Who is it?"

    "This..." Gabrielrevealed a little hesitation. "I can''t tell you about it in front of everyone else. Can we talk in private?"

    "What nonsense are you spouting? Why can''t you talk about him in the open?" The son of the Northern General eximed, thinking that Gabriel was using this as an excuse to get some alone time with the City Lord and to increase his reputation.

    Even the Daughter of Goddess of Water looked at Gabriel with a disgusted gaze. She could see that Gabriel was using the friend as an excuse to increase his reputation. How many people could im that they talked to her mother in private after all!

    If given an opportunity, everyone here would''ve been rushing to talk to her mother alone.

    Even the soldiers and the others were stunned at Gabriel''s atrocious behavior.

    "You can tell here. I don''t think I have a friend that I need to keep a secret." The Goddess of Water smiled beautifully, thinking the same as her daughter.

    She thought that Gabriel was taking this opportunity to try to flirt with her.

    "Are you sure? I don''t know how the people here will react if they find out that you were friends with the Death Star that is responsible for so many lives lost?" Gabrielmented.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    As soon as the name was mentioned, almost everyone was stunned. Not many people knew about the past of the Goddess of Water, but almost everyone hated Karyk.

    "You''re spouting nonsense!" The daughter of the Goddess of Water roared. She couldn''t take someone trying to defame her mother.

    She didn''t even think twice before she raised her sword, ayer of water surrounded which. However, to her surprise, before she could even move, a figurecame out from her shadow.

    Deep blue mes surrounded her, sending her flying back.

    Her figure crashed on the distant wall, flying past the guards.

    "How can you forget an old friend that easily?" Gabriel asked, keeping his attention on the Goddess of Water as his disguise disappeared, revealing his true visage.

    The Goddess of Water had her pupils shrink in fear.

    Even the son of the Northern General, who has been arrogant all this time, took a step back in fear.

    Gabriel''s shadow became bigger and multiple Death Generals came out of the shadow. The guards who were marily frozen were ughtered by the Death Generals while the Schrs were allowed to escape.

    The Schr who had a conflict with Gabriel found his legs to be trembling in fear. Only he knew how he left the ce, covered in sweat. He couldn''t believe he was about to try to teach a lesson to the Death Star after the Sohr meeting.

    "I see you''re putting my riddles to a good use here. It just feels good, right!?" Gabriel asked, as he reached out his hand, touching the fair cheeks of the Goddess of Water.

    The Goddess of Water was momentarily frozen but she soon came out of her daze.

    Her figure turned into water that fell to the ground.

    At the same time, outside the Mansion, the real Goddess of Water appeared. She used a special stone, and crushed it to open a portal to escape without leaving a trace.

    She also brought her daughter with her. As for the son of the Northern General, he was left behind.

    "Going somewhere?" Gabriel also appeared outside the Mansion. He created a spear of light in his left hand, and tossed it toward the spatial formation before it could activate.

    The aura of light destabilized the spatial formation. The Goddess of Water knew she had to act fast. She chanted a spell and a water shield enveloped her and her daughter as they leaped through the unstable portal.

    However, to her surprise, someone else also entered the portal with them.

    Gabriel followed after them. He didn''t worry about the instability of the portal or what he was going to find on the other side.

    Initially, the Portal would''ve led to the Northern General''s mansion or another secure ce where the woman could feel safe. However, with the destabilization of the Spatial Postal, it was almost impossible for it to lead to the right destination! That left nothing for Gabriel to worry about.

    On the other side, a portal opened up and the Goddess of Water fell out with her daughter.

    Only a second after, Gabriel also stepped out, with his clean clothes fluttering with the wind.

 Chapter 601 601: Shes Coming...

    Gabrielnded on the ground, his robe fluttered with the wind. All his disguise was gone, revealing his true face... A face that was handsome yet was a cause of nightmare for many people.

    "What do you want from me? I didn''t kill you! I won''t do anything to you!" The Goddess of Water eximed, as the aura around her also became stronger.

    Even though she wasn''t strong like Gabriel, she didn''t want to die that easily. Unfortunately for her, the ce where they appeared was a barrennd with no people at sight. However, she also knew that she just had to hold him back until the Northern General sensed him.

    To distract him, the best way she coulde up with was to keep him talking.

    "So, tell me, what is it exactly that you want from me? Why are you after me?" she asked him, trying to sound calm and curious although she was scared deep down.

    Gabriel shook his head. "I''m not here to find you any exnation..."

    ****

    The Northern General had just finished telling Karyk to be ready tomorrow. However, not long after he left, he received a message from his son.

    The message was urgent and talked about him being attacked.

    The Northern General became concerned for his son and immediately opened a portal to go to the City.

    Unfortunately, by the time he came out, hefound that the body of his son was burned to cinders, leaving nothing behind.

    It was unclear just what kind of fire it was, but he could still see the pitch ck mes burning on the body of the young man.

    "Karyk!" The Northern General roared, as his aura turned into a flurry of storms that covered the entire city, ripping it apart.

    The people of the city panicked and fled in fear as the General''s rage continued to escte. Through his tears, he swore to find the person responsible for his son''s death and make them pay for their actions.

    At that moment, many houses copsed and many Citizens in the city died, without any fault of their own.

    The General''s advisors tried to reason with him, but his grief and anger consumed him, and he refused to stop the destruction until he had justice for his son. The once beautiful city was left in ruins, with the General''s rage leaving asting scar on its people and history.

    However, soon the General senses the aura of deathing from another direction.

    His eyes revealed burning mes of revenge. He opened another void and disappeared. Today, he fully intended to kill Karyk, not realizing that the person he was looking everywhere, was sitting right in his pce.

    He appeared above the barrennd where hest felt trades of death, and the aura of goddess of water. However, as he came here, he couldn''t find anyone!

    There was not a single person in sight. However, the ground had some water on it. And some battle marks were visible.

    He couldn''t understand one thing. How was Karyk appearing everywhere and erasing all his traces, as if he didn''t have the Element of Death at all.

    Even from this close, he couldn''t see Karyk. However, he did feel something else...<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    There was a strange energy aura left behind, which was the strongest he had ever seen.

    Moreover, a strange word could be seen on the ground, as if its shadow was still left behind.

    It was as if this strange aura was the remnants of a powerful attack that destroyed everything in its path. He could even see some stones and rocks crumbling to dust in the distance.

    The more he looked at this sight, the more surprised he became. He wrote that strange word somewhere, intending to ask the King about it.

    After he finished, he searched for Gabriel anywhere. Unfortunately, he couldn''t find that young man anywhere. It was as if the person had disappeared into thin air, getting rid of all his aura, which should''ve been impossible after using it.

    For the next twenty four hours, the Northern General personally searched all the surroundings. All the ns in the area were highly alert because the Northern General was there.

    They did all they could, to help the Northern General to the best of their abilities.

    Unfortunatelyfor the Northern General, he didn''t find anything. Moreover, he also couldn''t continue his search which appeared like a futile effort.

    He also had something else to do. He had to go to the Central World with the young boy in his pce. It wasn''t something that could be dyed.

    The Northern General was burning in mes even as he left.

    He appeared back in the castle where the other three Generals were already waiting for him.

    "Any luck?" asked the Western General.

    The Northern General shook his head. "Nothing," he replied grimly.

    Almost everyone expected an answer like that. They had all been trying to find the same person, but it was as if Karyk was a rat who couldn''t be found anywhere.

    "Did you hear that Karyk was seen inside the Beast Regionst time? He seemed very close to the Beast Monarchs ording to the information. Do you think he could be hiding there? Should we sweep through the forest?" The Eastern General inquired.

    The Northern General considered the proposal carefully before answering. "It''s possible, but also very risky. The Beast Monarchs are fiercely protective of their territory. We could end up starting a war if we''re not careful. First, we''ll need to consult... him."

    "Yeah. We''re already going there so it''s good timing," the Southern General agreed.

    He further said, "Did you hear that the woman is alsoing to the Central World this time?*

    "Is she going to plead for His Majesty to open that ce for her again? Just how many times does she want to be rejected? Just because she helped us catch Karykst time, she thinks she can get anything?"

    "Moreover, she didn''t even do a good jobst time in killing him! That bastard is still alive! I even wondered if she schemed with him, faking his death!"

    "Who knows." The Eastern General sighed. "We can ask her directly. She''sing here¡­"

 Chapter 602 602: Maniac

    The Four Generals didn''t chase after Gabriel any longer, but it was only because they were busy with something else.

    On the other hand, Gabriel continued his hunt, all around the Four Realms.

    He was often seen by people, far away from hisst sighting. And every time he appeared, he killed powerful people before leaving.

    However, that didn''tst long since there were some people who started recognizing the pattern amongst the people that were being hunted by him.

    Most of the people who died in the recent few days had only one thing inmon, and only few people knew that.

    All of them were friends and they were said toe to the Upper Realm from one of the multiple Lower Realms.

    The people who knew their past realized why Gabriel was hunting them. However, that also gave them a rough idea as to where Gabriel was going to appear next. They all knew that the next target was going to be the Goddess of Light.

    Multiple traps wereid out, as people waited for his arrival.

    However, Gabriel didn''t arrive. It was as if he once again disappeared from the Upper Realm.

    ****

    In another ce, Gabriel had also realized that it was easy for people to guess his next few targets. However, he didn''t do anything. He was already informed where the Goddess of Light was... To his surprise, she was in the General''s Mansion where Karyk was.

    He had already killed most of the traitors. Only two of them were still alive. One was the Goddess of Light, while the other was the God of mes. .

    The Goddess of Light was with Karyk while no one knew the whereabouts of the God of mes, as if he had disappeared a thousand years ago, as soon as he came to the Upper Realm.

    Even the Stein n wasn''t able to gather any information about that person.

    Gabriel bought a small house with the money he had gathered, and didn''t leave for the time being, trying to master more of the Ancient Words.

    However, even he didn''t realize that there was an even bigger danger looming over his head.

    In one of the mansions in the Northern Realm, there lived a middle aged man. Not many people knew that the man was someone who ruled over the ck Market in the Northern Realm.

    His ming red hair came down to his waist. His eyes were a beautiful shade of red as well. Usually whenever he left the house, he always used a mask to cover his face. However, at home, he didn''t use any masks.

    His face was clearly visible and so was the Elemental Mark of me on his shoulder.

    He was the God of mes. However, at the moment, his eyes looked somewhat crazed.

    There was a strange devilish statue before him that he brought home. It was as if he was hypnotized by the statue, unable to take his eyes off.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Moreover, for some reason, he also noticed that the statue was making him stronger. His Elemental Control was getting stronger and his fire was changing.

    As the sole ruler of mes, he could control all types of mes. However, his mes were slowly changing into something that he had never seen before.

    His mes were the purest form of mes before. However, now they contained a much darker aura.

    Most people would have found that aura devilish, but that wasn''t the case for the God of mes.

    He didn''t even realize how he was changing. The statue was able to control the mind of a god like him as well.

    "Blood... Blood... Give blood..." He kept hearing the statue''s voice in his head and he didn''t find it strange for some reason. As if it was only natural.

    The God of mes listened to the statue like he was nothing more than a puppet. Every night, he left the Mansion and kidnapped hundreds of children before returning to the mansion, bathing the statue with their blood.

    The more blood he gave the statue, the more his Elemental Control increased and the more his Elemental was corrupted.

    However, the demand of the statue kept increasing only... It wasn''t satisfied with a small amount of blood anymore... It wanted more! It wanted a lot more!

    Also, the more blood the statue had, the more its eyes appeared alive, as if it was a living being that came from the depths of hell.

    The God of mes kept feeding it blood. However, the voices he heard only increased. At times, he even felt as if he was losing his mind, but for some reason, he couldn''t resist the statue.

    It was long a drug that became his addiction. An addiction that he didn''t want to lose... An addiction that gave him strength beyond his wildest beliefs.

    Initially, the statue could only ask for blood. However, with time, its mind was appearing to be more active.

    It didn''t just ask for blood, but it could also be heard cursing someone... And the name that the God of mes often heard being cursed was only one... Janus.

    The God of mes was too far gone. His Elemental Mark of mes became pitch ck within a few days. However, at the same time, his control over his Element reached a hundred percent, almost granting himplete control over death, making him a true god that even the Goddess of Light and Karyk hadn''t achieved yet.

    Unfortunately, the God of mes had lost something else in return. He had lost his free will, and he didn''t realize it! He was like a maniac!

    Within the next day, an entire city was ughtered. Only blood could be seen on streets, all over the city! Not a single person was left alive in the gruesome incident.

    Also, the me for that incident also went to only one person... Karyk.

    When Gabriel came out of his house the next day to buy some herbs that he needed, he heard a lot of people talking about Karyk and the incident where an entire city was ughtered.

    That made Gabriel frown as well.

 Chapter 603 603: Shackles

    ''Why would I wipe out a city for no reason?''

    He shook his head, walking through the street. Almost everyone here was talking about the same thing, which made him quite frustrated.

    At the same time, he even wondered just who was behind this. It wasn''t easy for someone to wipe out an entire city. Even for him, it was almost impossible to kill everyone without letting anyone escape to tell others who did it.

    He kept his thoughts to himself and continued to walk, trying to blend in with the crowd. He needed to gather more information before making any move.

    Thanks to the others, he also heard that many children had started going missing in the city and the nearby cities around the same time before it happened.

    For the next few days, the news only increased. More and more cities were getting wiped. What was worse was that the Four Generals weren''t here to stop it!

    ording to the information, the Four Generals had left for a meeting with the King and this was also the time when all these problems started.

    Until now, many people hated Karyk but many didn''t care about him because he only targeted big people. However now, there was only negativity about him. Every single person hated him in the Upper Realm.

    Even Gabriel couldn''t control himself as he heard about all the cities being destroyed. However, this also reminded him of something when he heard about the disappearance of children.

    It wasn''t long ago before one of the Death Generals had told him about what happened on the way when they wereing to the Northern World to find him.

    They also found a ce where only children were killed, only to have their blood be sacrificed over a statue. However, the Generals did say that they destroyed everyone in the n.

    Despite that, Gabriel couldn''t help but wonder if this was still something rted to it. Because of this, even the people who stayed out of the conflict between the King of Upper Realm and Karyk were starting to take a side.

    The entire Upper Realm had United against him!

    ****

    The God of mes kept destroying cities, to bathe the statue in blood. Moreover, the more he killed, the more he started enjoying it! It was as if he was slowly bing a psychopath.

    Because of receiving so much blood, the Statue also started changing more.

    Even though the statue looked normal on the outside, there were multiple spiritual chains around it that couldn''t be seen by ordinary people! Even the God of mes was only able to see those Spiritual Chains when he became a true god of mes!

    Even he couldn''t break those chains, which were stronger beyond his imagination. However, thanks to the blood filled with resentment, the chains had finally started breaking.

    At the start, there were seven spiritual chains. However, now only two were left. The Statue was also starting to sound excited as his curses for Janus only increased.

    "Just you wait! As soon as thesest two chains break, we shall give you a living hell!"

    ****<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    A few days ago, it was time for Karyk to finally go to the Central World.

    However, as soon as he came out of his room to meet the Four Generals, he saw a familiar figure in the back which stunned him!

    Not too far from the four generals, there was a beautiful woman standing, dressed in a beautiful white dress that had not a single speck of dirt.

    The person was none other than the woman he entrusted his back to, in hisst life! It was also the person who stabbed him in the back. She was thest face he saw when he died in hisst life. Moreover, it was also the face of the person he hated the most!

    Karyk was still in disguise and he didn''t have her element of light anymore. So he didn''t believe she could recognise him, when even the Four Generals couldn''t recognize him!

    However, his heart was also filled with anger. His hands were behind his back, clenched into a fist, as if he just wanted to grab the neck of the woman and kill her! However, that would''ve spoiled his opportunity of entering the Central World.

    His hands started bleeding, being clenched so tightly. However, his face maintained his calm and respectful expression without a single change.

    The Goddess of Light also nced at Karyk.

    "Is this the Disciple you selected?" She asked, smiling.

    Even though she couldn''t see anything abnormal about Karyk, she didn''t know why, there was a strange feeling in her heart. She herself couldn''t understand this feeling.

    She stepped closer to the young man, and brought out a small fruit from empty space.

    She reached out her hand toward Karyk. "This is the Wisdom Fruit. Treat it as our meeting gift..."

    Karyk reached out his hand and took the Gift, not showing anything out of ce. However, in his mind, he had made a promise that he was definitely going to give her a gift in return. There were many things he needed to pay her back for, after all.

    "Are you Master''s friend?" He asked respectfully. However, in reality, he only wanted to grab her neck and crush it right before his eyes, smashing her face on the wall again and again.

    He calmed himself, thinking it was only a matter of time. First, he needed to know her purpose.

    "I guess you can call us friends."

    The woman smiled innocently. However, in her response, the Southern General rolled her eyes. "Your friend? Not in this lifetime at least. We all know what happened to thest person you used to call a friend."

    The woman''s smile faded, reced with a look of difort.

    "That''s not relevant to our current situation," she replied.

    The Southern General rolled his eyes. "I still don''t trust you. I don''t even know why His Majesty kept you alive!"

 Chapter 604 604: Entrance

    The Goddess of Light didn''t respond. However, her eyes did reveal a trace of anger which she hid right away.

    She didn''t really care what the Four Generals thought of her. In fact, she knew that they always had a bad impression of her, even though she helped their side.

    She had a feeling that even the Ruler of the Upper Realm had the same impression of her, which was why he wasn''t granting her wish.

    Unfortunately for her, she couldn''t dy it anymore. She had ced many safeguards to protect herself against Karyk, including sacrificing a trace of her own Element. However, Karyk managed to destroy all her ns.

    Instead of targeting the Ruler of Upper Realm, he was still hellbent on targeting everyone who betrayed herst time, which she confirmed as soon as she heard that the Goddess of Water was killed.

    She couldn''t just wait and do nothing. She had to take matters into her own hands!

    The Southern General hated the Goddess of Light. If she had captured Karykst time instead of killing him, they wouldn''t have to worry about him. However, now he was back and he felt that she had a hand in it!

    Why else would she destroy the body of Karyk a thousand years ago, instead of handing it. He couldn''t help but feel that she had a hand in it, even if it wasn''t to help Karyk.

    Unfortunately, despite his repeated reminders, the Ruler of Upper Realm didn''t take care of her! He let her live. And without his permission, even the Generals couldn''t do anything about her.

    "It''s time!" The Northern General changed the topic. Even though he also felt that the woman was a vicious snake, he didn''t care about it. Since the King let her live, that meant she still had some use.

    The Northern General took the lead, ground downstairs. The other three Generals also followed him, along with the Goddess of Light and Karyk who walked in the back.

    The Depths of the Pce was a ce that Karyk wasn''t allowed to enter, since that was the ce which contained the portal to the Central World but to activate the Portal, one needed four keys from the four Generals.

    The door to the underground stairs was pushed open by the Northern General, after he carved a symbol on the wall blocking the stairs.

    The wall moved back, before sliding down and disappearing from the sight, revealing the stairs that led down.

    All six people went down the stairs. After passing through many more security mechanisms that even surprised Karyk, they managed to reach the depth of the mysterious Pce in the middle of nowhere.

    Karyk found himself in a secret chamber. However, to his surprise, there were strange characters carved all over the chamber. Most of the words were unknown, but Karyk recognized some! These were simr to the symbols carved on the bones of the skeleton!

    However, the difference was that these words held no power. It was as if someone had simply carved them while trying to copy the real symbols of the True God of Laws.

    Unfortunately, just carving these words wasn''t enough, or everyone would''ve been able to possess this power and there would''ve been nothing special in it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    On one of the walls, a formation circle was carved, creating a Spatial Pattern. Moreover, many spatial stones were embedded into the formation circle.

    It was impossible to find one in this world. Even the one that Raphael possessed was the first time that Karyk had seen one in his long life!

    On the other hand in this ce, there were a total of ten such spatial stones!

    Other than these ten stones, there were also four empty spots that were needed to be filled toplete the formation circle.

    The Southern General stepped forward first. He pulled out a small piece of stone from his pocket and ced it on one of the four empty spots.

    After him, the Western General took off his pendant and ced it on the second empty spot.

    The Eastern General sliced his fingers a little, letting a blood droplet fall, which crystalized into a crystal that he ced on the third empty spot.

    Andstly, it was the turn of the Northern General, who also came here with a stone of his own. He raised his right hand, destabilizing the space above his hand. As the space broke apart, a ck crystal appeared above his hand.

    He ced the ck crystal on the formation circle, finallypleting the formation circle!

    As the generals stepped back, the crystal formation started to emit a bright light. It grew brighter and brighter until it illuminated the whole room, casting a warm and cozy glow that seemed to purify everything it touched.

    Everyone present couldn''t help but feel a sense of calm and tranquility as they basked in the glow of the crystal. At the same time, the formation circle also starteding to life, shining so brightly that even the space was breaking apart.

    A small opening was created between the Northern Realm and the Central World which surpassed all the defensive mechanisms and spatial barriers that were in ce.

    It wasn''t easy for even a true god to reach the Central World with so much restriction!

    The pathway was now open, bridging the gap between two adjacent worlds that had been separated for so long.

    A palpable surge of energy enveloped the vicinity of the opening, as the two realms gradually intermingled with each other.

    The Northern Generalzily nced at Karyk, telling him to enter first. Karyk nodded. Finallyhe was entering the forbidden ce that he always wanted to enter... The ce which contained thest thing he needed to be a True God... A ce that contained something that he needed to be... death.

    Karyk took a step forward, entering inside the portal,pleting half his goal! He was finally going to the true core of the Upper Realm!

 Chapter 605 605: Why

    Karyk entered the portal of the Central World.

    Passing through the portal, he felt as if centuries had passed in an instant by the time he came out from the other side.

    Not long after him, the Four Generals and the Goddess of Light also entered. However, all of them appeared right next to a majestic castle.

    The portal led them straight to the Pce of the King of Upper Realm. Even Karyk knew that his disguise was going to be useless before the King of the Upper Realm.

    He wasn''t sure if he could win either. In any case, now that he was finally here, he didn''t need to apany these people anymore.

    He had to get back to work, finding what he was looking for. However, before that...

    He nced at the Goddess of Light, who wasn''t too far from him.

    His figure flickered, and the next minute he appeared right before the Goddess of Light. Her aura wasn''t hidden anymore either.

    Now that the Four Generals saw Karyk use his aura of death, they were momentarily stunned. This wasn''t the boy who was a weak mortal. Instead, he was someone whose speed surpassed their own.

    Even the Goddess of Light had her eyes wide open as she eximed only one word, "You!"

    Karyk''s hands were about to grab the throat of the Goddess of a Light, but before he could, he felt another powerful aura.

    The space between Karyk and the Goddess of Light split apart. Karyk''s hands passed through the Goddess of Light, as if she was in a parallel space!

    The Goddess of Light still remained there but Karyk failed to touch her.

    At the same time, he saw the space breaking apart even further, as a young man stepped out of the portal, gracefully donning a beautiful Royal Attire!

    "Your Majesty!" All the Generals eximed, looking at the person who had just appeared out of thin air.

    He was none other than the person who was the King of the Upper Realm, the person who was called a God by the people of the upper realm... The man known as Aliac, the person who controlled the Supreme Element of Space!

    There were only four Supreme Elements known by the people of the Upper Realm: Life, Death, Space and Time. And Aliac controlled Space amongst them.

    Even as he stopped calmly, space around him twisted and turned, making him look even more surreal.

    His long silver hair matched his pale silver eyes that appeared like they could see through everything.

    At the moment, his eyes werending on Karyk.

    A beautiful silver robe, made purely from the broken space Fragments fluttered behind Aliac''s back.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    On the other side, the aura of Death was surrounding Karyk. His clothes had turned pitch ck as every single piece of grass around him started dying, unable to resist the death!

    Karyk''s long ck robe fluttered with the wind as well, as he faced the King of the Upper Realm. After so long, he was finally standing face to face with the person he heard so much about... He was finally facing the person who ordered his death... The person who was behind most of his suffering.

    On the other side, the Goddess of Light was standing silently. Deep in her heart, she was feeling gleeful! She couldn''t believe that everything turned out to be in her favor so easily.

    This was all she wanted... A battle between the God of Space and the God of Death, in which both of them were going to die, or get heavily injured to the extent where she could easily take care of them.

    "We finally meet..." The God of Space spoke, but he didn''t attack.

    He pped his hand, swiftly changing thendscape. The surroundings changed.

    The God of Space and Karyk appeared inside the Royal Pce. However, the Four Generals and the Goddess of Light weren''t there.

    Aliac was back on his throne,zily ncing at Karyk, noticing the death fragments around the young man which even gave him some chill.

    "I''m surprised as to how far you''ve managed to progress in such a short time. Returning to life, making a Domain of your own and then returning back safely from the Nether Realm? Even I would have hesitated to do some of those things. Not that''s not all, you even killed a True God from that ce..."

    Aliac calmly spoke, as his beautiful eyes observed Karyk carefully.

    "Why aren''t you tryingto kill me anymore? Isn''t that what you wanted?" Karyk asked, snapping his fingers.

    Multiple evil spirits came out from within his body, flying behind him to make a throne of his own, which wasn''t any lower than the throne of the King of Upper Realm.

    The King of Upper Realm revealed an amused smile.

    "You''re right. I should kill you while I have the opportunity. However, even I know that it won''t be that easy. And isn''t this also what your little friend wants for both of us?" The silver haired man further spoke, implying that he already knew everything about the little trick of the Goddess of Light.

    "You''ve managed to impress me. And I want to give you an offer... Work with me, and I''ll forgive all your past transgressions," Aliac eximed and waited for Karyk''s response.

    To his surprise, Karyk didn''t even take the offer seriously, even though it really wasn''t a bad offer.

    However, as Karyk thought more about it, he noticed something unusual in the words of the King of Upper Realm. He didn''t ask him to work under him, but to work with him! What did it mean?!

    Seeing Karyk frowned, the King of the Upper Realm smiled. "I know you hate me. However, what would you do if you were in my ce and there was a person who came from an unknown realm and started killing people in your domain? Won''t you try to kill him? I did the same? Am I wrong?"

    "However, have you ever wondered why I never leave the Central World? Why did I always stay here, and didn''t even leave to kill you?" He further asked.

 Chapter 606 606: Offer

    "I am giving you this opportunity. Let us put the past behind. You promise me that you won''t kill people in the Upper Realm unnecessarily and forget your grudge," the Lord of Upper Realm stated.

    He further added, "At the same time, you work with me to help me with something. In exchange, I''ll grant you strength beyond what you can imagine...."

    "I already know what you''re here for, and I promise I''ll give you that opportunity. So do you agree?" The question of the Lord of the Upper Realm made Karyk frown.

    This was actually a good offer. If he epted, he didn''t have to worry about the King of the Upper Realm. However, for some reason, he still couldn''t forget his anger. If possible, he wanted to kill the person before him.

    "I know what you''re thinking." As if reading his mind, Aliac smiled. "However, if you try that, it won''t be easy for you. If this was your Domain, things might have been different but this ce is my Domain."

    "If you attack me, you won''t be able to harm me. However, because of your Element, I might not be able to kill you either. If we actually fight, it will only benefit one person. And I have a feeling that you hate that one person more than me."

    His face was calm, as if he really didn''t worry about his life. Even if he actually was going to die, he wouldn''t have cared.

    "If you knew what she was nning, why didn''t you kill her?" Karyk asked.

    The King of Upper Realm let the Goddess of Light live, even though he knew that she was scheming against him. Why?

    Karyk also had another question of his own. He already knew that the so-called disciple of the Generals was being selected on the instructions of Aliac. He was curious as to why he wanted a person who supposedly didn''t have any powers. Moreover, what were those pills?

    Even if it was just to get answers to his question, he remained calm and didn''t take any action.

    "You are asking why I didn''t take any action against her?" Aliac asked. He waved his hand, making a mirror appear before him, which revealed what was happening at the entrance of his pce.

    The Four Generals and the Goddess of Light were standing there confused, after Aliac and Karyk had disappeared.

    "What do you think will happen if I kill her?" he asked.

    "What will happen?" Karyk asked in return. What was so special about her that even Aliac was hesitating in killing her when he didn''t hesitate in trying to kill him.

    However, as Karyk thought about it, a fleeting thought crossed his mind.

    "You kept her alive for a purpose?" he asked. "The reason you allowed her entry into the Upper Realm wasn''t to thank her for killing me but for your own reasons?"

    The man on the throne smiled again. His fingers brushed against his long silver hair that came in front of his eyes. He moved his hair behind as he continued, "That is correct."

    His eyes rested on the mirror which showed a beautiful woman who was surrounded by a radiant light.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "She has something that I need... Or rather, something that we need if you work with me."

    The man let out a tired sigh, as he lowered his head. Even though he was in the hall, his eyes appeared to be looking into a space beyond that no one else could see.

    "I spent thousands of years inside the Central Realm, not because I liked it here. It also wasn''t because I was trapped here. However, I can''t stop it anymore..."

    "Stop... It?" Karyk repeated the word, paying attention to even the most minute of detail.

    As he stepped in the Central World, he had also sensed a strange sensation. It was a feeling that was pleasing yet at the same time, making him feel disgusted.

    Aliac shook his head lightly. "You don''t have to worry about that for the time being. I only want to know if you will work with me, forgetting our grudge? Because if you don''t, we both will lose everything... It''s the first time I''m requesting someone."

    "You''re asking me to help you after your Generals haunted me all over the ce to kill me?" Karyk scoffed.

    Aliac shook his head. "That''s because even they don''t know about this secret. They aren''t qualified. I don''t inform them about it. As for them chasing after you, why do you think they didn''t find you ever?"

    "No matter how well you hide your aura, the Upper Realm is my Domain... Especially in thest thousand years, since my strength increased. If I wanted, there''s not a single ce in the Upper Realm where you could hide!"

    "You''re saying you knew everything about me from the moment I stepped in the Upper Realm?" Karyk calmly asked.

    He was wondering why the King of Upper Realm didn''t find him, with the trace of his aura. However, he thought that it was because that guy was trapped in the Central World and didn''t leave. But, it made sense. He already found him long ago but he just didn''t take action.

    "I know more than you think I do... And that''s why, I am extending this offer to you... And not just you, I''m offering this offer to your other half as well..."

    Hearing the response of the man, Karyk frowned. This guy even knew about Gabriel.

    "Though I must say, your friend is in quite a lot of trouble..." Before Karyk could speak, the King of Upper Realm spoke. "A great evil has started walking up... The War of Gods is starting to affect the Upper Realm as well... And your little friend is dragged inside it, without even realizing."

    "The War of Gods? The one started by Chaos in the past? Wasn''t the war over?" Karyk inquired. At least that''s what he heard through Gabriel.

    "Did those Beasts tell that? Hah, the War is over for the winning side. However, for the losing side, it''s not over until they are all dead. This is just the beginning... And even I can''t stop everything that''s toe... I''m busy with my own troubles... And that''s why, this is thest offer."

    He pped his hand, opening a spatial portal next to him. "You can either leave right now, and let nature take its course and lose everything in the process, or you can take a step towards a destiny that might lead you to your personal hell¡­"

 Chapter 607 607: Realm Of Gods

    ****

    The Realm of Gods was untouched by gods that gained strengthparable to gods through their own effort.

    Only the Ancient Gods and their children who were both with the powers of a god could reside in the Realm of Gods. It was a world that most people didn''t even know the existence of.

    The people from the Realm of Gods didn''t care about other Worlds and rarely even left their own world. However, even if they left their Realm, almost no one could threaten them.

    It was said that the people of the Realm of Gods were born with Divinity inside them. They were born as true immortals, and that they were impossible to kill. Only others who had a Divine Soul like them could kill them.

    However, despite possessing so much strength, the Realm of Gods didn''t show much influence over other worlds. At least that was the case in the past. However, it wasn''t long since something had changed.

    A Great War urred in the Realm of Gods, in which more than half the gods were killed by Chaos, before he was sealed.

    However, only very few people outside the Realm of Gods even knew what actually happened.

    Currently, there was no Ruler on the Throne of the Realm of Gods. However, everyone knew who the Ruler was going to be...

    In the Realm of Gods, there was a majestic castle, floating in the air, surrounded by Divine Energy.

    From the distance, multiple dark Beasts came towards the castle, carrying a youngster each.

    The young man in the lead donned a beautiful silver robe. His face was handsome, and he appeared to be in his early twenties.

    The young man had beautiful red eyes that looked to be epassing the entire world in them.

    Most of the people who knew that young man knew that they had to show him respect since he was the only son of Chaos.

    Even after the disappearance of Chaos, no one dared to even think about opposing the fact that the young man was going to be the next Ruler of the Realm of Gods.

    However, there were also some undercurrents in the Realm of Gods.

    Usually, Caen should''ve been dered the King of the Realm of Gods as soon as he became an adult. Not only did he inherit most of the abilities of his father who killed all the Ancient Gods single handedly, but he was also one of the strongest gods in the Realm of Gods, despite him being so young.

    However, he still didn''t have his coronation. There were even some rumors that Chaos'' brother didn''t want Caen to be the Ruler of the Realm of Gods.

    There was also said to be some bad blood between the uncle and nephew, and most of the people had already taken a side. However, no one talked about it openly.

    No matter how much the coronation was dyed, everyone knew that it couldn''t be dyed for an eternity.

    In a year, Caen was going to turn twenty four, after which he could rightfully get the throne himself, without needing any approval, at least unless someone was willing to stop him.

    The Dark Beast that Caen was riding was said to be the Beast from the Deep Abyss that even Gods from the Realm of Gods were scared to enter!

    However, for some reason, Chaos had the ability to open the portal to the Abyss and control the dark beings from Abyss...it was an ability that no one expected his son to inherit at all.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    As the Dark Abyssal Beastnded on the ground, Caen jumped down.

    "That was fun." Next to him, another young mannded from his beast. He had beautiful blonde eyes and a crown made entirely of mes on his head.

    Even his robe was made of mes. However, his gauntlets were freezing cold, like they were made of ice.

    He was Izac, the son of another god, who was a childhood friend of Caen.

    "Watching those pathetic insects burn to death was interesting for sure," He continued.

    Caen didn''t respond. However, he did nod as he walked inside his pce with his friends.

    He hadn''t been in the Realm of Gods for quite some time, ever since he left to explore the outside ces a few months ago.

    In his journey, he visited many ces personally with his friend. He even destroyed a few worlds that he didn''t like, or that somehow offended me, killing billions of life forms.

    Unfortunately, there was no regret on his face at all. It was as if those lives didn''t matter at all.

    He only cared about his entertainment. Sometimes, he made the world wage war on each other, just so he could be entertaining. Other times, he sent Abyssal Beasts to invade the worlds just to see their resistance.

    Unfortunately, before his strength, none could stand.

    It was only when he started getting bored that he returned, leaving at least ten worlds in ruins.

    "Is it alright for us to enter as well?" One of Caen''s followers asked, slightly hesitating in entering the pce.

    This wasn''t the normal pce. This was the pce where Caen lived. But more importantly, the guardian of the Throne, the brother of Chaos, Janus lived here.

    "Your uncle might be upset." Another person nodded.

    "Who cares about what he thinks?" Caenzily responded as he stepped inside the Pce, gesturing for others to follow after him.

    "He''s just a freeloader, living on myte father''s achievement."

    If there was another person who talked about Janus like that, they would''ve been killed. Janus was someone who fought next to Chaos in the great war, and he was also the strongest in the Realm of Gods, that was the staple of stability!

    However, Caen didn''t care. He hated his uncle, for always trying to lecture him on the right and wrong. He even felt that his uncle only did that because he was jealous and wanted to control him, so he could maintain his power!

    He thought that the reason his uncle wasn''t giving him the throne was because he wasn''t able to control him.

    "But it doesn''t matter. I''ll see how long he can stop me from getting the throne."

 Chapter 608 608: Caens Conflict

    As Caen entered the Pce, he walked through the long hallway.

    Thanks to his abilities, he was able to hear all the voices, even if they wereing from miles away.

    Thanks to that, he was able to listen to the conversation of some servants, who were talking about a topic which made him interested.

    He casually waved his hand.

    The servants that were standing in another corner of the pce disappeared. The next moment, they appeared right before him

    Both the servants were stunned to find themselves standing before Caen, their young prince!

    "Y-you are back, Young Lord." The Servants bowed respectfully.

    In the entire pce, the person they were most scared of was Caen. His mother, and Janus werepassionate but he was different. He didn''t hesitate even for a second before taking a life. And even if he killed a mere servant, nothing was going to happen to him.

    "You were talking about a God being killed in the mortal realm?" Caen asked.

    His words even stunnedhis friends. Since they had returned after a long time, it was their first time hearing of this incident.

    The maid nodded. "T-that is right. It happened recently. The Lord of Lightning is no more..."

    Hearing the maid, a young man in the back looked in disbelief. His figure flickered as he appeared before the maid, grabbing her throat.

    "Do you know what you''re saying?! How can my father die in the Mortal Realm! That''s impossible!"

    He was the son of the God of Lightning who had gone to the Lower Realm when he felt thew imbnce because of Gabriel''s world level spell to make the world into his domain.

    Unfortunately, let alone being able to stop Gabriel, he died inside.

    Caen also frowned. This didn''t make sense. How could a god with Divinity be killed by mere insects? However, he also knew that his maids wouldn''t dare to lie before him.

    "That''s enough." Hezily stated, snapping his fingers.

    The grip of the young man grew weaker. His palm opened and he was shot back, crashing on the wall behind.

    Caen didn''t care how he behaved with his followers.

    He nced at the young man, who coughed out some blood.

    "Next time, don''t interfere when I''m talking. Or you might not have a tongue left to speak," Caen reminded the young man before turning to the maid who was breathing heavily.

    Finger imprints were still left on her throat.

    "Who did it?" He asked, frowning.

    The maid just looked nkly. They didn''t know who did it. All they knew was that a god had died. Other than that, most of the information was unavable to them or to anyone else.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "No one knows who did it," the maid answered.

    "How is that possible? Someone died and no one knows who did it? Did no one go there to investigate and find out who did it?" Caen tilted his head, in disbelief.

    This news wasn''t small and should have spread far and wide in the Realm of God, but even then, for some reason, no one knew anything yet?

    The maids lowered their heads as they shook their heads. They had a really bad feeling, as if they had somehow ended up in the conflict between two existences that they shouldn''t have.

    Everyone knew that many people demanded investigation. However, in the end, it was the decision of Janus to end this matter right there. He neither allowed others to leave the Realm of Gods, nor went there to investigate himself.

    However, there were some people who thought that it was because Janus himself did it, since when it happened, even Janus wasn''t in the realm of gods.

    If they mentioned that rumor, it was bad for them so the maids didn''t know what to say.

    However, as they hesitated they started feeling suffocating, as if they couldn''t breathe at all.

    Scared of death, they only saw the emotionless eyes of Caen as if he was looking at an ant who he could crush at any moment.

    He had thousands of people he could ask. The maids knew that he was actually going to kill them if they didn''t answer him. He wasn''t known for his patience after all.

    The maids told Caen everything they had heard about Janus, including the rumors. Even though they liked Janus more and more that he wouldn''t do it, but when it came to their lives, they didn''t hide anything.

    After receiving his answer, Caen was lost in some thoughts.

    The God of Lightning was someone who supported him after all. For Janus to kill the God of Lightning, it wasn''t impossible ording to him.

    "Where is my dear uncle now?" He asked the maids.

    "He returned for only a little while before leaving. He''s not in the Realm anymore. However, the Lady might know where he went."

    "Mother?" Caen nodded. It made sense for the maids to not know where his uncle left. However, his Uncle would usually tell his mother if he had to leave the Realm for a long time.

    Caen let the maids go. At the same time, he told his friends to leave. He only brought them here to annoy his uncle.

    Instead, he went to his mother to know where Janus actually was. At the same time, he decided to investigate himself, just what it was that Janus was trying to hide by stopping this investigation.

    In fact, he already knew that Janus was hiding something, since he often left the Realm of Gods without telling anyone where he was going. Even his mother didn''t tell him most of the time where Janus used to go.

    He tried following Janus by using other people. However, Janus was quite powerful, that it was possible to follow him without letting him know.

    In thest twenty years, he still didn''t know where Janus used to go. However, he had a feeling that it had something to do with his Uncle''s Scheme, because of which he kept dying the coronation.

    He didn''t want to stay idle. He decided to take care of the matter personally as only one year was left.

 Chapter 609 609: Another Candidate

    Caen entered the Garden where his mother was sitting near a beautiful pond.

    The pond was filled with crystal clear water, where one could clearly see the two pairs of fishes that were swimming inside the water.

    "Mother." The young man sat next to his mother, taking a nce at the pond.

    "The answer is no."

    Before he could even speak further, his mother answered, keeping her eyes on the four fishes in the pond.

    "I didn''t even say anything."

    "I know what you want to ask. The answer is no. I can''t tell you where Janus went. At the same time, I also can''t allow you to leave." The woman answered.

    Before Caen could respond, the woman further continued, "And the reason Janus didn''t investigate what happened isn''t because he''s involved. It''s because he already knows who did it."

    "Who did it then? Why isn''t that information public? Why isn''t the traitor killed in public for breaking the rules and killing a god?!" Caen eximed, as his fists tightened.

    "Because that person is also a candidate for the throne..." The woman answered, stunning his son even more.

    "What?!" Caen eximed, standing up in shock. "How is that possible?! I''m the only Candidate for the throne!"

    The woman shook her head lightly. She didn''t respond. She just kept ying with the four fishes in the pond.

    Two of the fishes had a simr symbol on their forehead. While the other two had a unique symbol each. Something appeared out of ce about all four fishes, yet even Caen didn''t know what it was.

    All he knew was that there only used to be two fishes in this pond when he was born, until one day there were two more.

    "You can''t go silent! You have to tell me! How can there be another candidate?! It''s the Throne that my Father sacrificed his life for! Who else can deserve this throne but me?!" Caen eximed, frustrated.

    The woman finally stopped paying attention to the pond, and gazed at her young son with her beautiful translucent eyes.

    "The Throne has always been insignificant to your father and to me. However you... You''ve lost sight of what''s important. How I wish I could''ve helped you..."

    She had tried to help her son multiple times in the past. However, because of her son''s suspicious nature and innate arrogancebined with some bad influence, he had long stopped listening to her.

    She tried to tell him many times that what he was doing was wrong. He was walking down the wrong path, at the end of which, there was only pain waiting for him. However, he never listened. At times, he even ignored hermands, thinking that she didn''t love him.

    In the end, she stopped trying. She could only watch her son fall down this spiral, feeling grief everyday.

    She turned around and left the hall. However, not before telling her son that he wasn''t allowed to leave the Realm of Gods.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The young man watched his mother leave. His face darkened in anger. Even after all this, his mother didn''t try to help him.

    Even if there was another candidate for the Throne, she should''ve helped him kill that person. Instead, she didn''t even tell him where that person was!

    Duan Mu clenched his fist. "As I expected, neither she, nor my dear uncle wants me to get the throne! They always try to create obstacles in my path, just because I am not a puppet like they want!"

    "But if they thought that it could stop me, then they''re wrong!"

    Caen raised his hand. A ck portal opened behind him. He passed through the portal, disappearing. His first goal was to find the so-called Candidate that his family was trying to protect!

    He couldn''t allow that person to live and be a threat to his goals, even if it meant to destroy every lower realm!

    The ce returned to its silence as soon as Caen disappeared. The four unique fishes kept circling in the pond, creating minor ripples in the water that was akin to the passage of time.

    ****

    "Take the step toward Godhood, or return and give up on everything."The King of Upper Realm told Karyk, as he remained seated on the throne, with a Spatial Passage opened up before him.

    "If you don''t take this step, the girl outside will be the only person entering. And I have a feeling it won''t be good for you if she bes a True God before you..."

    As Aliac finished speaking, the door in the back opened, allowing the Goddess of Light and the others to also enter the room.

    All of them were initially surprised to see Karyk sitting sofortably before the King, especially when they expected the two of them to fight.

    The most stunned was none other than the Goddess of Light! The two were meant to kill each other! Why were they sitting before each other so calmly as if they were long lost friends! Just what happened between the two?!

    He had a really bad feeling. If the two actually worked together, then it was a disaster for her.

    "You wanted to enter the Temple of the Ancestor, right?" Aliac nced at the Goddess of Light. "That''s what you kept asking from me? I''ll grant that. You are allowed to enter."

    He gestured toward the portal next to him. Initially somewhat hesitant, the Goddess of Light nodded. If it was truly the passage to the Temple of the Ancestors, then this was what she needed! She didn''t expect her to be granted permission this time!

    Without wasting a single time, she rushed ahead. However, to her surprise, as soon as she moved, Karyk appeared before her.

    "You said if I don''t take this opportunity, she will? But how will that happen if I kill this traitor right here?" Karyk''s calm voice fell in the hall.

    The Goddess of Light was stunned. She cast a wall of light before her, and jumped back to get behind the Four Generals.

 Chapter 610 610: Ancestor

    A thin veil of light appeared in the middle of the woman and Karyk, as she retreated hastily. However, to her surprise, Karyk didn''t follow her.

    However, before Karyk could move, the Lord of the Upper Realm once again appeared before him, blocking his path.

    "As I said before, I can''t allow you to kill her."

    His calm voice spread in the hall. However, at the same time, Karyk heard the rest of the sentence which only he could hear, where the King spoke, "At least not yet. She still has a purpose to serve."

    Karyk took a nce at the woman hiding in the back, looking at him as her mocking gazended on him, as if she was instigating him to attack.

    Instead, Karyk turned toward the portal in the front. Even though there was a chance that on the other side of the portal, there was a trap waiting for him, but that''s not what he felt.

    He felt as if there was something calling for him on the other side of the portal... The Temple of the Ancestor... A ce that no one knew much about.

    However, it was said that the Temple was created by one of the Ancestral Gods and no one really knew where it was. There were only some rumors that it was here.

    Since the Lord of the Upper Realm never left this ce, it made Karyk always feel that there was some truth to the rumors.

    However, if the Temple of the Ancestor was here, that meant there were more things here as well...

    Moreover, his element of death was getting somewhat restless as he looked toward the portal in the distance.

    "What if I don''t take your offer?" Karyk asked.

    The King of Upper Realm waved his hand, creating another portal that led straight to the Northern World. "Then you are free to leave. And from this moment on, you won''t be charged by the Generals if you don''t kill innocent people for no reason."

    As the man spoke, he raised his right hand, grabbing onto something above him in thin air.

    A small sphere appeared in his hand, which he tossed at the Goddess of Light.

    The Goddess of Light subconsciously grabbed the sphere. However, as soon as she held the sphere, her body went out of control, shooting toward the portal of the Ancestral Temple.

    Her body flew uncontrobly, entering the portal that she was so eager to enter.

    "It''s a simple choice. You want to take a step into the future, or a step back into the past?" The Lord of Upper Realm stated before turning around.

    He walked out of the hall, followed by the four Generals, who just went with the flow.

    Only Karyk was left behind in that ce with no people to influence him. He was free to choose any of the two portals.

    Nevertheless, he had already reached a decision. He stepped toward the first portal, disappearing inside.

    Outside in the long hallway, the Four Generals didn''t know how to ask. They had so many questions.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Before they could even think what they wanted to ask, the man in the lead answered, "You''ll get all your answers soon enough."

    His gazended in the distance, as he thought of something. He only shook his head lightly.

    "He''s going to need that for what''s toe. However, if he had left through the second portal, maybe he could''ve stopped some things... Then again, it''s not as if I didn''t warn him. What happens to his home has nothing to do with me. There are bigger things at stake..."

    ****

    Karyk disappeared inside the Portal leading to the legendary ce that very few people knew the existence of.

    However, in the other ce, Gabriel had also begun his search for the person who kept destroying cities, killing millions of people wherever he went through.

    The Northern Realm was in turmoil, as people were filled with dread, not knowing which city was going to be targeted next.

    The only clue that people had was that it was the work of Karyk, which made Gabriel''s life even harder.

    Gabriel appeared in one of the cities that were destroyed. He could only see blood spilled around, and human limbs everywhere. The scene was gruesome, as it meant someone didn''t just kill them, but kill them in the most gruesome of ways.

    He called out the Death Generals from his Shadows, telling them to help him.

    Thousands of Karyk''s Death Soldiers spread out through the city, searching for any clues or traces.

    At the same time, Gabriel checked the destroyed buildings. He could see some burn marks all over the building, as if it was burned. However, the marks didn''t appear to be made from mes that he knew.

    He couldn''t even touch the walls, without feeling a burning sensation that made him feel like it was something truly evil.

    "This sight is definitely what I saw when people were being sacrificed to the statue. It''s too simr... Someone is definitely sacrificing these people. But why?" One of the Death Generals asked.

    Unfortunately, he couldn''t even contact Karyk at the time.

    "That''s right. The question is why? Why is someone sacrificing so many lives? What''s their goal?" Gabriel asked the same question.

    He didn''t know much about these things, even through Karyk''s memories. It was somethingpletely new.

    "If you hadn''t killed everyone in that sect, maybe we could''ve interrogated them." He stood up, letting out a sigh. "Or could it be that someone in that cult survived and is doing it? But still, why?"

    "For them to be able to destroy this city, they are definitely very strong. So what else do they want?" The Death General frowned.

    "It''s like some evil ritual in the stories, used to awaken some demons..." The Silver Haired Undead that Karyk had brought from the Nether Realmmented, thinking of something.

    Gabriel raised his head, thinking that it made sense. "But, if the person trying to awaken the demons is that strong, how strong would the person being Summoned is?''

 Chapter 611 611: Caens Might

    There was no pattern in which cities were being destroyed. They were all so random. The onlymon thing was that they were all so popted.

    To stay one step ahead of the others, Gabriel decided to try another method.

    Hemanded all the Undeads in the army to spread out, each of them going to a different city.

    No matter which city was attacked, the Undead assigned to that city could immediately contact the Generals and maybe even hold out until they arrived.

    On his instructions, all the Undead Soldiers left alone, to take their ces.

    ....

    Three more days passed, and a few more cities were destroyed. However, finally on the fourth day, Gabriel received some information from the General who was always following them.

    "Found him!" Gabriel eximed, as he raised his right hand, creating another word that he didn''t use before.

    Thanks to his constant practice, his spiritual strength had also increased, allowing him to bring down his Consumption and unlock some new words.

    As soon as he finished the character in the air, the strange character split apart into multiple specks of light, creating a portal before him, connecting to the ce where he received the information from.

    Gabriel stepped inside the Portal with the Death General, to finally see just who it was, and stop that person from awakening whatever he was trying to awaken.

    There was no one else who could stop that person after all, since the Generals hadn''t returned for some reason.

    In another ce, a Portal opened up. From the portal, Gabriel stepped out. However, as soon as he came out, he felt a disgusting scent in the air, which made him feel like he was suffocating.

    There was a rotten smell all around him, as he heard screams all around him.

    He could see people''s skin melting, as if they were in contact with some acid.

    At the same time, there were others who couldn''t even move. Multiple strange creatures were walking all around the city, ughtering people.

    In the sky, he saw a man standing proudly. The man was wearing a long red robe that fluttered with the wind. However, the most eye-catching taking was the strange statue in the man''s hands.

    The man was talking to the statue, looking a bit crazy.

    "That statue!" The Death General eximed. "How''s it still intact?"

    He told Gabriel that it was the same statue that he saw in the Southern Realm. For it to still be intact, it didn''t make sense.

    Gabriel also frowned. Even though he didn''t have the Element of Death, he was still connected to Karyk and could feel the aura of death.

    He could see a strange mist rising from the dead bodies that was flying straight to the statue, being absorbed by it.

    As Gabriel looked at the statue, he was suddenly taken aback, since he saw the statue''s eyes move.

    It was as if the statue had nced at him out of nowhere! It even turned its head, as if it was alive!

    ****

    As Gabriel faced a strange sight of himself, he didn''t realize that something big was happening in the background. There was another ce which needed him.

    The world that was turned into his own Personal Domain by Karyk was sealed from the outside world by him. However, even after all that, it still wasn''tpletely protected.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The beautiful sky above was bright blue. Yet, there was a strange vibe in the air that made everything seem eerie and foreboding.

    Karyk''s sister was training, trying to learn the art of Summoning from Avilia in the outside garden of their Pce.

    It had been a long time since Karyk left, and both thedies were wondering when he was going to return.

    After all this time, the world was finally at peace and life had gotten normal. Most of the people had almost stopped caring about the war that took ce.

    The Churches of Elements had disappeared, and no one missed them. People also stopped awakening Elements in the world. And the ones who did have elements joined the army, which was now managed by Avilia in Karyk''s stead.

    This world was finally what Karyk and Gabriel wanted it to be. However, at that moment, something was about to change.

    In the distant sky, the barrier cast by Karyk broke apart. Even the barrier couldn''t stop the aura of theDark Abyss, that could only be used by one person!

    It was Caen... The Prince from the Realm of Gods. However, he wasn''t alone! All his friends were here with him.

    Even though his mother refused to tell him anything and prohibited him from leaving, but even his mother couldn''t stop the Abyssal Energy that her son had received from her husband.

    It was the energy that even scared gods, since it could surpass most of the defenses. It was also what had made Chaos so scary, that many people tried to kill him, or prevent him from using this energy.

    Unfortunately, despite the Queen''s efforts, she couldn''t stop Caen, who found out where the God of Lightning was killed!

    Even though this world was now someone''s Domain, he didn''t care about it, as he arrived here to find the person who killed his men, and to make their lives a living hell.

    As Caen entered Karyk''s Domain, he felt some restriction. However, it didn''t matter to him.

    "A mere Lower World Domain wants to stop me?" He raised his right hand.

    Multiple pitch ck portals appeared all around the world, connecting this world to the Abyss!

    Throughout millions of portals, the beautiful blue sky had suddenly turned ck.

    Avilia was also taken aback, as she looked at the sky.

    From the millions of portals, multiple Abyssal creatures came out,nding all around the world. Most of the creatures could fly, and were strong enough to destroy cities all alone.

    The Abyssal Creatures kept ravaging through the cities, destroying everything in sight.

    In the sky, Caen''s friends watched the sight, enjoying. For them, it was like watching ants struggle to survive.

    With his arms folded, Caen remained in the sky, waiting for the other candidate to show himself so he could kill that person.

    He only knew that the person was here, but he didn''t know who it was.

    "If you had the strength to kill my men, you should have the strength to reveal yourself! Stop hiding!" After a few minutes, he spoke.

    His voices echoed all around the world.

    Within a few minutes, most of the cities were destroyed, and billions of people were killed. However, Caen showed no concern.

 Chapter 612 612: I Dont Ask Twice

    The only City that even showed slightest of resistance was the Royal City where Avilia had summoned all her Beasts to protect the City.

    Unfortunately, even she was distressed. Her Summoned Beasts were strong, but they were being ripped apart!

    She didn''t know who attacked them, but the person was stronger than anything she had ever seen before. Not only was he stronger, but he was also ruthless!

    No resistance couldst against the beings that he summoned.

    Noticing the resistance from the Royal City, Caen revealed slight interest.

    Hended in the royal City. Wherever he passed through, people disintegrated into thin air.

    No matter who tried to attack him, they died! Most people shouldn''t even look at him, without having their eyes destroyed.

    "This world is so weak. It''s boring. Are you sure it''s the ce where a god died?!" Izac asked, as the ming crown over his head appeared even more scary.

    Wherever he walked through, everything was being burned to cinders. The entire city behind him was burning.

    "Pathetic Beasts." Caen raised his hand, snapping his fingers.

    All the beasts that were Summoned by Avilia disintegrated instantly into nothingness.

    Avilia coughed out a mouthful of blood, as all her Summoned Beasts were killed instantly, giving her a bacsh.

    Karyk''s Sister rushed to her, as Avilia appeared as if she could fall at any second, due to weakness.

    "Stop worrying about me. Escape!" Avilia refused to take support, pushing Karyk''s sister aside.

    Even she didn''t believe that she could survive. Not even five minutes had passed and everything was destroyed!

    The once lively city was now reduced to rubble and ash. People were running around, searching for their loved ones amidst the chaos, only to be killed.

    The World had never appeared this dark. Smoke and dust filled the air, making it difficult to breathe. Most of the city was burning and the fire was slowlying towards the Royal Pce, as if following someone.

    "How can I leave you and run away?! Come with me!" Karyk''s sister eximed, as she stood up. Tears streamed down her face as she looked at Avilia. She couldn''t leave her alone.

    Avilia was about to summon herst beast, even in such an injured state, all to send Karyk''s sister to safety. At the same time she decided to stay behind to hold the enemies back.

    Unfortunately, before she could do either, she heard a calm voice that sent chills down her spine.

    "Are you all nning to go somewhere?"

    It was as if there was some authority in that power that made her drop to her knees.

    Karyk''s sister was also stunned as her body refused to listen to her. Her body also dropped to knees.

    They both looked at each other in shock as they realized the gravity of the situation.

    In the distance, some calm footsteps resounded. With each footsteps, their hearts trembled as if they were facing some ancient beast.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    They raised their heads, only to be taken aback. The person who felt so scary was a young man, barely in his early twenties.

    The man appeared like an ordinary man, with not a single trace of aura around him. However, the worldlyws were twisting and turning with each of his steps.

    Avilia could also feel the same dark energy that belonged to the creatures which came out of the portals.

    Behind the young man, there were more youngsters. All of them were bare handed. However, despite being a Holy Saint, Avilia wasn''t able to see through them.

    Even the weakest amongst them was stronger than the Goddess that she received her powers from. This group... She had no idea where they came from, but she couldn''t even look at them straight.

    She wasn''t sure if even Karyk could stand against these people.

    She nced back at Karyk''s sister. She didn''t know how she could have that girl escape. The only thing she could rely on were the protective marks that Karyk had left on her.

    "You keep looking at her. She must be very important to her. And you are the strongest ant I''ve seen in this world so far. So you must know who I''m looking for..."

    Caen raised his hand.

    Karyk''s sister felt an invisible hand choking her throat.

    Her body rose in the air. With a single wave of Caen''s hands, the girl''s body flew back, crashing straight on the castle walls.

    "Argh!" The girl coughed out a mouthful of blood as she felt some of her bones break. She tried to stand up, but her legs gave out beneath her.

    The strange patterns that Karyk had left on the girl''s back started shining, slightly surprising Caen.

    One of the patterns seemed to glow more intensely than the others, forming a symbol.

    The aura of death surrounded the young woman, healing her wounds. At the same time, multiple Death Generals came out of her shadow which Karyk had left behind to protect her when her life was in danger.

    "Oh? Undeads?" Caen was somewhat intrigued as he watched the Undead Generals. "You''re too weak to make them.I suppose they were created by the person who I''m looking for? Looks like you''re more valuable than I thought."

    Caen raised his hand again.

    Karyk''s sister felt the same invisible hold around her throat. However, right then, the Death Generals attacked Caen.

    "Pathetically weak," the man with the ming crown shook his head lightly. "It''s really getting boring."

    He snapped his finger. The sea of me behind him shot out, engulfing the Death Generals. In an instant, the Death Generals were destroyed, unable to offer even the slight of resistance.

    Avilia was frozen at the sight. These people were stronger beyond her imagination.

    Karyk''s sister flew straight into Caen''s hands.

    "Where is that person!" Caen asked, tightening his grip. "I won''t ask twice."

    In his grip, with each second that passed, the girl felt her body being destroyed particle by particle, thanks to the abyssal energy which was poisonous for even gods, let alone humans.

 Chapter 613 613: Broken

    Karyk''s sister struggled to breathe, yet she was powerless before the man.

    All the protective formations that were carved by Karyk before he left were destroyed by Caen, leaving nothing that could interfere.

    The young girl knew that Caen was asking about her brother, yet she didn''t dare tell him. In her eyes, the man before her was no less than a monster who was going to kill her brother if she told him anything.

    Her face was pale, as she struggled to breathe. However, she still looked deep in Caen''s eyes, before spitting on his face. However, as soon as she spat, a barrier appeared before Caen''s face, protecting him.

    "You have lots of courage for an ant. And here I thought I should take some pity."

    He tightened his grip, before smashing the young woman on the ground, breaking even more of her bones. The young girl coughed out even more blood, as she cried in pain.

    Avilia couldn''t watch it anymore. She stood up, even against the suppression as she summoned her flying beast while attacking Caen personally.

    "You ants are really annoying for sure..." The young man with a ming crown over his head shook his head lightly. He raised his left hand, waving a single finger lightly.

    The ice gauntlet on his left hand shone briefly, as the surroundings turned freezing.

    Avilia found her legs frozen. Ice appeared around her legs, which started slowly covering her entire body.

    At the same time, the Beast she had summoned also froze. Its giant frozen body fell to the ground, shattering to pieces as if it was missing more than a pure statue made from ice.

    "Let her go! I''ll tell you everything!" roared Avilia, unable to save Karyk''s sister.

    "I''m sorry, but I''ve changed my mind now." Caen raised his head, ncing at Avilia. "You ants don''t deserve my mercy."

    A dark aura spread around Avilia. Right before her eyes, she watched her body slowly disintegrate into nothingness, being devoured by the Abyss.

    She couldn''t even resist. Within a few seconds, her entire body was in pain, slowly disappearing.

    However, before shepletely disappeared, she saw Caen ce his hand over the head of Karyk''s Sister, who screamed, as if she was going through immense torture.

    "I''ll get the answers I need, myself!"Caen''s cold eyes gazed at the young girl, as he infiltrated her head to get through her memories to know just who was the person that killed the True God and where that person was hiding!

    A single tear trickled down Avilia''s cheeks as her face cracked apart, like she was a stone statue...

    She didn''t regret that she was dying. What she regretted even more was that she couldn''t save the girl next to her. She also regretted that she couldn''t see Gabriel onest time. Her eyes closed, filled with regrets.

    As her breath slowly faded away, the memories of her past shed before her eyes like a movie reel. She saw the happy moments, and also the moments of grief and pain she had endured. But more than anything, she saw the pain of Karyk''s sister, who was helpless, all alone.

    "I see... So his name is Karyk..." Caen stood up, leaving the young girl on the ground whose face was covered in years. Her eyes were lifeless, as she went through so much pain that she even lost her sense of pain.

    It was as if her mind was fragmented because of pain.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Where is he?" Izac asked, as he waved his hand, making all the ice blocks nearby disappear.

    "He''s not in this world. He already left," Caen answered.

    "Where did he go? Let''s go and find that brat." Izacughed, as he cracked his knuckles. "This ce was more boring than I thought. It''ll be a pity to return just like that."

    Caen looked at the sky, frowning. It wasn''t often that he was seen frowning.

    He waved his hand, creating a portal before him. He stepped toward the portal.

    "Are you not going to kill this girl?" Izac asked Caen, ncing at Karyk''s sister.

    Caen smiled in response. "She''ll already dead. Her mind is broken... Killing her now will only get my hands dirty. However, I will make sure to leave a small gift for the young man.x

    He raised his hand, snapping his fingers.

    Multiple cracks started developing all around the world, which started breaking apart, being engulfed in the dark energy. The world that Karyk had turned into a domain was being destroyed and no one could stop it.

    And along with the destruction of the world, were to die the so-called ants who had managed to survive by hiding somewhere.

    Caen entered the Spatial Portal, followed by his friend.

    The group of young powerful gods disappeared inside the portal. Only a short moment after they left, the entire world exploded into nothingness... Forever disappearing from the universe.

    The young gods hadn''t realized that they had set something in motion with their act... Something big.

    ****

    While his world was destroyed, Karyk was inside the Temple of Ancestors, which was disconnected from the outside world. Even Gabriel couldn''t contact him in this ce, let alone anyone else.

    He also couldn''t feel his connection with his world in the first ce thus he had no idea what had happened there.

    Unaware of what was happening outside, he appeared in a Majestic Temple that was so vast that even he found himself lost.

    He had entered right after the Goddess of Light. However, he couldn''t find her in this maze at all.

    Not only was this maze as vast as the world itself, but there were also so many traps that even he found himself in a bit of trouble along the way.

    The only way to pass through the Maze was on foot. No one could fly, not even him. Moreover, another big thing was that all the magic was sealed in those maze. No one could use even the slightest of their abilities. They were like ordinary humans in this maze, with slightly stronger physical strength and defense.

 Chapter 614 614: Not Anymore

    "This Maze... Is there no other way to get to the other end?" Karyk took calm steps, lost in his thoughts.

    For the most part, he hadn''t faced any danger. Even though he couldn''t use any magic, he had managed to avoid most of the traps.

    Unfortunately, he had a bad feeling about this. He didn''t know why, but there was an ufortable feeling deep within his heart. It was as if something bad was going to happen.

    That feeling made him extremely ufortable, especially since this feeling was simr to the feeling he felt a long time ago... It was the same feeling he felt the day he lost everything, including his parents and his sister.

    It was a simr feeling to what he felt the day his entire world was destroyed in the mes of war.

    Karyk clutched his chest with a firm grip. As more time passed, this feeling became even worse. He didn''t even know why, but there were tears trickling down his eyes.

    He had forgotten how long it had been since hest cried, but today, he was crying and he didn''t even know why. Since he couldn''t use any magic, it was as if he was back in time to time he lived with his family, unable to use magic at all.

    After that day, he had be another person entirely. His grief and regret had changed him. However, that same feeling of regret was once again engulfing him again.

    He couldn''t help but look back. His back was covered in sweat, never feeling this week before. Unfortunately, there was no path behind him.

    Even if he wanted to, he couldn''t go back where he came from. The portal was closed and he couldn''t open it as long as he was in the maze.

    Even if the portal was still open, he had lost himself in the maze. Going back was just as hard as finding the exit of the maze.

    "Does it have something to do with Gabriel? But he is strong enough to take care of problems. He also has the army... Am I worrying too much?''

    Karyk briefly paused, standing in the same ce for quite some time. However, after some time, he started ignoring that feeling.

    No matter what it was, he couldn''t change anything. The only way for him to change the future was for him to get out of this maze and get the strength that he needed, so that no one was going to be able to take anything from him ever again!

    He didn''t want to be the same old weak Prince who watched himself lose everything! After a long time, he finally had a family! He had people who he truly could call friends. He wasn''t alone anymore.

    After losing everything in the past, he had lost his sense of fear orpassion. However, now he finally had something to lose again, and he didn''t want to lose it! He could sacrifice the entire world, but not the people he cared about.

    Karyk clenched his fists tight as he started running. Even if he was lost in the maze, he did his best to find a way out soon, no matter how long it took!

    Fortunately, he had noticed something. There were some paths where there were more traps while there were others which hadparatively lower traps.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He intentionally went on the paths with higher traps since it made him feel as if those were the right paths.

    However, as he went further, he couldn''t remain unharmed. The traps were starting to go beyond his limits.

    Metallic arrow shot out of nowhere, flying at the speed of light. Even as Karyk tried to dodge at his best, the arrow still stuck deep in his left shoulder, passing through his bones, leaving a small hole in his shoulder.

    Karyk held his bleeding shoulder, as he stepped back a few steps, taking a deep breath.

    He ripped the sleeves off his robe and used them to staunch the bleeding from his wounded shoulder. He couldn''t ess his spatial storage with its valuable medicinal herbs, so he made do with what he had.

    After stopping the bleeding, he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, before he rushed ahead once again.

    Even though the path was dangerous, he had to go through it! There was no way back!

    He rushed through the path. However, this time, multiple arrows shot out of all directions.

    Karyk once again tried his best to avoid them, but he still failed a few times as an arrow stabbed his left wrist. At the same time, another arrow passed through, barely touching his cheeks, leaving a bleeding scar behind.

    Another arrow stabbed through his calf, but Karyk didn''t stop. Even as his body was struggling because of his bleeding legs, he still kept running with the arrow still stuck to his calf.

    At the same time, he did his best to avoid as many arrows as he could.

    Fortunately, none of the arrows hit his vitals. When one was about to pass through his chest, he used his left hand to block the arrow, not caring about the pain.

    Fortunately, he managed to get to the end of the path, before slowing down. His body was so weak that he dropped to the ground, sitting with his back resting against the wall, taking out all the metallic arrows while also trying his cloth from his robe around his wounds to stop the bleeding to the best of his abilities.

    After resting barely for half an hour, Karyk stood up. He walked staggering, leaving a bloody trail behind him.

    "I can''t slow down... I won''t lose anyone this time... I''ll gain the strength to bend the world to my will!"

    The bloody trail he left behind slowly disappeared, as if it was never there, as soon as Karyk left. All the bloody arrows also disappeared.

    With his fists tightly clenched, Karyk went deeper into the maze, unaware as to what was waiting for him ahead¡­

 Chapter 615 615: One Last Step

    Karyk spent seven days in the maze, wandering from ce to ce in search of an exit. His entire body was covered in wounds. His clothes were tattered, but he still appeared full of life.

    Fortunately, in the seven days, one way or another, he managed to survive the eternal maze that was filled with traps in each step, each trap being strong enough to kill an ordinary man a thousand times over already.

    At the end of the seven days, Karyk finally saw the exit of the maze. The exit wasrge enough for thousands of humans to be able to leave at the same time.

    Moreover, it was only around ten meters away from Karyk. However, those few steps looked like a thousand, since between him and the exit, there stood a fierce beast, around fifty meters tall.

    Just the single teeth of the beast was bigger than Karyk''s entire body, able to rip him to shreds.

    The beast''s physical appearance was iparable to anything Karyk had ever seen before. Its scales were as ck as coal and had a red glow, it had wings so big they could cover the entire maze and its eyes were as fiery as the sun.

    For Karyk who couldn''t use any of his magic, facing this beast was like an impossible task. But he knew he had to try. Karyk slowly drew his sword that he had managed to pick along the way.

    The fierce beast didn''t move. Only its ming eyes looked at Karyk, like it was looking at a pitiful prey.

    ....

    A figure shot out, making it impossible to see who it belonged to. The figure crashed through multiple ming buildings, before falling to the ground, creating a crater.

    The figure belonged to none other than Gabriel.

    "The Lord of mes..." Gabriel wiped the blood off his lips as he pushed his body up.

    He was about to fight the Lord of mes when he felt something strange, as if his connection with his domain, that he shared with Karyk was cut.

    In the moment he was distracted,a ming spear came flying straight to him.

    He cast a Shield of Light, but the shield was broken right away by the ming spear. At thest moment, he used his aura to create a world before him.

    However, he could only create half a word before the ming spear hit.

    The word acted as a shield, but even if couldn''t stop the impact for long, before exploding, sending Gabriel flying through the buildings.

    Still holding the statue in his hand, the Lord of Dark mes flew closer to Gabriel, whose disguise was long destroyed.

    "Karyk... To think that you would show yourself here. You made things easier for me. I was about to go look for you myself."

    Gabriel stood up slowly, clutching his chest. "Do you know what you''re trying to do? You''re killing so many people to free that thing? Do you know what that thing will do after it''s free?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The Lord of Dark mes smiled cruelly. "Are you really asking me about the number of people I kill? You...? The person who killed millions just to save your dead sister? Do you have any right to tell me anything? Just how much blood is on your hands?"

    Gabriel frowned. It wasn''tpletely wrong. Karyk indeed killed many people, all to get back the one he held dear. However, as Gabriel, he was different from Karyk. Even though he also killed many people, he only killed those who went against him. He didn''t kill people who had nothing to do with him!

    Moreover, he also didn''t kill people in such a cruel manner to free an evil being!

    Gabriel wiped the blood off his lips, as he heard the Lord of mes continue, "I''ll kill as many people as I want! And I''ll keep killing them until I free my Lord from the shackles! The world shall be ours, and there will be no power which will be able to stop us, not even you, Karyk!"

    "Your era is long gone!" The man further continued. His eyes revealed a craziness that he didn''t use to have in the past. "The time where you used to be the strongest is long gone! Now, you shall be at my mercy! Even the King of the Upper Realm can''t stop me now, let alone you!"

    The Lord of mes raised his hand, summoning a burst of mes to surround Gabriel. The mes engulfed Gabriel in itself, as if trying to swallow him whole.

    The mes weren''t ordinary either. They were now the mes of a True God, which was hard to defeat even for Karyk in the past, without the external help from his Domain.

    Gabriel felt the heat emanating from the mes, but he remained calm. Even as his skin was being burned by the mes, he didn''t panic.

    He carved a word before him, aiming toward the Lord of mes.

    With each passing second, Gabriel''s skin burned even more, to an extent where even some of his bones were visible. However, he didn''t stop.

    As soon as the word waspleted, a bright beam of light shot out, destroying the Barrier of mes, creating an opening.

    Taking advantage of the opening, Gabriel flew out of the mes. At the same time, the bright beam of light continued straight to target the Lord of mes.

    The Lord of mes was momentarily stunned to see that Gabriel still hadn''t burned to ashes. For someone who wasn''t a true god yet, it should''ve been impossible! What shocked him even more was the bright attack that looked out of this world.

    "How long has it been since I saw something like this..." The Statue cackled, as if recognizing this attack. It was too familiar to him.

    A dark energy came out of the statue, which swallowed the entire attack, absorbing it inside itself.

    It was the strongest attack that Gabriel had managed to master in this time, but shockingly, it couldn''t do anything before that statue, which was still sealed!

    He could only wonder just how strong the one inside the statue was going to be if he was freed.

 Chapter 616 616: Arrival Of God

    "It''s not just the words that you use that are familiar. For some reason, there''s a familiar stench on this guy... Which is disgusting!" The Statue''s voice came. "Kill him!"

    "With pleasure!" The Lord of mes cackled as he stepped forward.

    With each step, a deep footprint was left behind on the ground as if the road under his feet itself was melting.

    His eyes shed with a demonic light as he raised his hand and summoned a raging inferno, ready to consume his target. But before he could strike, a figure darted forward.

    A dark mist spread everywhere, making it almost impossible to see anything.

    "Aren''t you taking me too lightly?" Gabriel frowned. "This is just the start. I am not letting yo-"

    Gabriel was amidst his sentence, when the Statue suddenly released a shocked gasp. "Leave right now!"

    "What?" Even the Lord of mes was confused. It was easy for him to take care of this mist. Then just what made the Statue worry so much?

    Even though the Statue was still partially sealed, what was there that could scare him to this extent? Was Gabriel really stronger than he expected?

    As the Lord of mes was still confused, he suddenly felt a terrifying pressure falling on his shoulder. He dropped to his knees, under the uncontroble pressure. Even though he became a True God, he couldn''t resist the pressure! However, he wasn''t the only one.

    Even Gabriel dropped to his knees, as the terrifying pressure came out of nowhere.

    The mist that he had conjured disappeared. There was an innate anger deep within his heart, rising for some reason. It was as if it was hated etched deep in his bones.

    The Lord of mes couldn''t even move under this pressure.

    "Did they find me?! I need to leave!" The Statue eximed. "If I waspletely unsealed, I could''ve taken care of it, but as I am now..."

    A dark energy came out of the statue, which shrouded the body of the Lord of mes. At the same time, the space under the Lord of mes split open.

    The Lord of mes fell inside the Spatial Crack with the statue, disappearing as they escaped, leaving Gabriel behind.

    Gabriel wasn''t the only one who was on his knees at the moment though. Almost everyone in the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western World was on their knees.

    Some of the weaker humans disintegrated, dying right away under the pressure. The rest suffered major injuries.

    For some reason, they all felt as if there was an invisible force scanning all the worlds, trying to find someone.

    Back in the Beast Forest, all the Beast Lords also sensed this energy. They all stood up, looking toward the sky with a grim expression on their faces.

    "Is it finally the day? They found us?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The Lion Monarch took a sip of his wine, ncing at the dark sky. His eyes revealed a fighting spirit instead of fear, as if he knew that sooner orter, this day was going toe, where someone was going to locate them, ande to annihte the rebels.

    "Huh? They''re not here for us?" He frowned after a few seconds, as he noticed the Divine Consciousness pass over him, without paying any attention.

    This made him feel really strange. Just what were these people here for in that case? Why was the Realm of Gods making an appearance in the Upper Realm after so long?

    Only the Central World was a ce which wasn''t scanned by the Divine Sense, since it was already a sealed world that was almost impossible to reach.

    However, the Lord of the Upper World in the Central Realm also felt that presence.

    "This strength..." He nced in a particr direction. "The Realm of Gods..."

    A mirror appeared before him, which revealed a scene where multiple ck portals opened above the skies of all four words of the upper realm, but no one came out of them.

    It was as if the portals were a warning, telling them to not try anything, since the portals were connected to the Abyss.

    "Is it the Prince who I heard was going around ying with various lower worlds? Did hee here to y instead?" The Lord of Upper Realm frowned.

    "My Lord, shall we go there and take care of it?" The Northern General asked, gazing at the mirror.

    The King of the Upper Realm shook his head. "Let them y around. As long as they don''t mess up too much, let them be. You''re no match for the person who ising..."

    He sat on the throne, keeping his eye on the mirror. "Only I can take care of it, but I can''t leave the Central World at the moment... If I do, everything I worked for will go to waste."

    The mirror revealed a grouping out from one of the Portal which was right above the City in which Gabriel was present.

    A young man, with a majestic aura around him stepped out. His robe fluttered behind him, giving him an impressive appearance, as if he was a god descending to the realm of mortals. Caen had arrived in the Northern World.

    "Caen... Son of the person who turned the entire universe upside down..." The King of Upper Realmmended, as his expressions turned serious. "He''s here for Karyk''s other half?"

    Initially, he thought that the guy was here to y around. However, it was too much of a coincidence that he appeared right where Gabriel was, and that too, after scanning all four worlds.

    Back in the destroyed city, Gabriel had managed to resist the pressure as the words on his bones started shining inside, shrouding his body in a unique aura of its own.

    He stood up, gazing at the group of people in the sky.

    At that moment, his gaze Caen''s gaze, who looked at him in amusement, as if he was a prey and nothing else.

    Caennded in the ruined city, around twenty meters away from Gabriel. "Finally got you... The puppet of my dear uncle¡­"

 Chapter 617 617: Abyss

    "Who are you?" Gabrielgazed at the young man, whose eyes felt somewhat familiar for some reason.

    Gabriel didn''t know why, but those eyes were somewhat simr to Karyk''s eyes, even though they were different in color.

    "Don''t tell me my uncle didn''t tell you about me?" Caen asked, raising his right hand.

    An invisible hand grabbed Gabriel''s throat, making him feel as if he was shocked.

    Suddenly, his body was pulled in the direction of Caen by an invisible force.

    Gabriel felt as if his throat was being choked, making him struggle to even breathe. However, even as his body was pulled forward, he used his fingers, carving an ancient letter before him.

    The ancient letter broke into smaller particles, absorbing inside his body.

    Caen grabbed Gabriel''s throat. However, right as his handnded around the young man''s throat, Gabriel''s body exploded, which surprised even Caen.

    Caught in the sudden Explosion, Caen''s body was propelled back. However, he soon regained his bnce.

    Despite that, his expressions were quite ufortable. It was rare that he was pushed back by such tricks.

    At the same time, the real Gabriel appeared over a roof in the distance. Thanks to his spell, his real body became an Exploding Puppet. At the same time, his real body appeared elsewhere.

    "Just what the hell is his problem?" Gabriel frowned. It was the first time he had seen that person. Not only did he attack for no reason, but his expressions made it appear as if he knew him.

    "Just where do all these peoplee from? Because of them, even that guy escaped." Instead of fighting the man, Gabriel also decided to retreat, especially since the man wasn''t alone.

    Moreover, the way he arrived, it gave him some ideas that the person was from the same ce as the Lord of Lightning whose blood was running in his veins.

    It made him assume that they were here for revenge. Even now, Gabriel hadn''tpletely uncovered his abilities, which made him believe that this wasn''t the right time to fight, especially without any knowledge about them. He slowly stepped back, deciding to leave.

    On the ground, Caen waved his hand, making his skin heal right away. He wasn''t quite surprised since he expected something like this. He knew that the pawn of his uncle wasn''t going to be weak. However, it still surprised him that the guy managed to hurt him.

    It was confirmed that this was the guy who killed the God of Lightning.

    "I must kill you today!" Caen raised his head, as his body started rising in the air.

    In the next moment, he appeared in the building right behind Gabriel.

    Before Gabriel could turn around, a dark sphere passed through his body, leaving a big hole in his chest. Because of the hole, even the immortal skeleton structure couldn''t stay intact.

    The dark Abyssal Energy rushed through his body, bingpletely chaotic like a dragon who was on a rampage.

    "Where are you going? Back to your Domain? Back to your sister? Your friends?" Caen asked, grabbed Gabriel''s hair, raising him in the air.

    He stepped to the edge of the building, so that Gabriel''s body was hanging in the air.

    Hearing the man''s words, Gabriel momentarilypletely forgot about the chaotic energy that was trying to destroy his body from inside out.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The bad feeling that he had been feeling for quite some time intensified. Why was this guy talking about that world? How did he know his sister?!

    "Unfortunately, you have no ce to return to. But don''t worry. I''ll send you to the ce where I sent your sister and everyone else in that world... To hell!"

    Caen stabbed his palm straight through Gabriel''s chest, which was still intact. He grabbed the young man''s heart with his finger, pulling it out right away.

    Gabriel''s eyes widened as he let out a blood-curdling roar. However, right then, Caen snapped his fingers.

    "Your voice is so annoying."

    A thread made of dark energy flew, sewing Gabriel''s lips, making it impossible for him to open his lips.

    "You want to fight me for the throne? With this pathetic ability?" Caen asked, shaking his head in disappointment.

    Gabriel still had the talisman to call the Beast Monarchs. However, because of his thoughts being clouded by his sister''s safety concern, hepletely forgot about his surroundings.

    Caen pulled out Gabriel''s heart from his body, before releasing the young man''s hair as his weak body fell down.

    Without his heart, it was impossible for Gabriel to survive. However, that wasn''t enough for the man.

    He still hated the man for even daring to stand against him. He wanted to make him suffer even in death.

    As Gabriel''s body fell down the ground, a ck portal to Abyss appeared under him. In the sky, Caen revealed a smirk.

    "Even in death, I want you to suffer... The Lord of Death? All elements are useless in the Abyss!"

    Gabriel''s body fell through the ck portal under him and the portal disappeared.

    After that, Caen raised his hand. All the ck Portals in the sky disappeared, as if he didn''t have any need to keep the world hostage anymore.

    However, at the same time, he looked in one particr direction where the Central World was.

    "You know I don''t like being spied on. Don''t make mee there, old man. Or I''ll forget all about the deal you had with the Realm of Gods..."

    The man waved his hand, destroying all traces of foreign energy in the surroundings, before opening the portal to the Realm of Gods.

    It took him only a few minutes to deal with everything. However, now he was sure that he was done. There was no threat anymore... Or at least he didn''t realize what he had done yet...

    Karyk was in the Temple of Ancestors, unaware of what took ce outside. At the same time, Gabriel had also fallen to a ce that was said to be a ce of no return, where no one could survive for more than a few minutes.

    Both the people had walked on a journey, whose destination was unknown.

    Caen thought that he had killed Gabriel by throwing him in the Abyss after destroying his heart. However, he didn''t realize that something else was happening with Gabriel as his body floated in the dark Abyss.

 Chapter 618 618: Nightmare Of Abyss

    In the Central World, the King of Upper Realm gazed through the mirror before him, watching Caen leave. He also didn''t forget the threat that the young boy issued to him.

    Cracks started developing on the mirror, which shattered into a thousand pieces, which all dispersed in thin air.

    "Arrogance has always been the downfall of even the greatest of gods..."

    The King of the Upper Realm closed his eyes, not reacting. Instead, he told the four Generals to leave and take care of the Upper Realm, which was in chaos currently. Only he was to stay behind.

    ....

    In another ce, the Lord of mes came out of a portal, appearing in a dark and unknown ce, whichcked any elemental energy that he feasted on.

    "Why did we run?! Just what happened?" He asked, looking at the statue in his hand. However, the statue remained silent as if it was an ordinary statue.

    "Someone came... Someone strong..." A gritty voice came from the statue.

    "Stronger than me?" The Lord of mes asked as he respectfully ced the frightening demon statue on the ground.

    "At your current strength, even a thousand of you wouldn''t have been able to stop the person... He felt... Just like him..." The Voice of the Statue always used to be arrogant and filled with confidence. However, even now it was serious.

    "If I had broken all my Shackles, I wouldn''t have any need to run. But as we are now, we can''t do anything! I need more blood! I need more sacrifice! The Shackles must be broken fast!"

    "I will make it happen!" The Lord of mes dered with crazed eyes. However, in those eyes, there was still some regret visible that he wasn''t able to kill Gabriel, who he wanted to kill for a long time.

    "Next time we meet..." He muttered, clenching his fist tightly.

    ****

    In the Deep Abyss, Gabriel''s body floated in the absence of gravity. He had stopped bleeding, but his body was still missing a heart, as there was arge hole in his chest now.

    He couldn''t breathe, and his clothes were covered in blood. However, for some reason, he still hadn''t fainted. It was as if even in the absence of his heart, there was still something that was keeping him alive.

    However, the dark chaotic abyssal energy kept destroying his body from the inside, as if trying to swallow him home. The Abyssal energy was even stronger in the Abyss.

    Gabriel floated in the space, staring at the endless darkness. His mind was hazy. All his thoughts were slow. In just a few minutes, everything changed and he didn''t even understand how it all happened.

    He didn''t know if the man was telling the truth about him killing his sister and destroying his word. But he didn''t think that it was a lie.

    Even though he wasn''t Karyk, the feeling deep within his heart for the little girl was still the same! She was his sister and no one could change that. The thought of losing his family again shook him to the core.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Many faces shed before his eyes... All the people who were dead in the destruction of his world... Avilia, the young girl who always stood by him, even though she didn''t need to.... His sister... Cylix and Novius who were probably back to life in their new bodies by now, and everyone else who worked with him through his journey... All were gone.

    More importantly, he couldn''t forget the face of Caen. Whenever he thought of that person, his eyes were filled with murderous intent! He wanted to destroy that person! He wanted to crush that man''s skull under his feet! He wanted to take everything from that man that he held dear, just like he took from him!

    The Realm of Gods... And everyone who resided in it... Gabriel started hating them all. He now believed in the words of the Beast Monarchs. Those people all deserved death!

    Unfortunately, he realized that it was toote. He couldn''t even move his body anymore, let alone return. Moreover the pain was bing overbearing...

    "Is this it?" He thought, being swallowed by the endless darkness. "Even after all that... Even after everything... I couldn''t protect anyone."

    "No! This can''t end like this! That man..."

    Even as he couldn''t move a single finger, Gabriel didn''t give up. If anything, it was his hatred that was keeping him going. He had to go back! He had to pay that man back! He had to destroy the realm of gods, even if it meant giving up his life.

    The pain was spreading through his body like wildfire, but Gabriel pushed through it. He gritted his teeth and with a surge of willpower, as he tried to move his hand.

    There was only one thing he could think of... Onest hope!

    Gritting his teeth, he gave it his all to bear through the pain, raising his trembling hand.

    He inserted his hand, that felt as heavy as a mountain,inside his pocket, bringing out a talisman... The Talisman given to him by the Beast Monarch.

    He didn''t know where he was, or if the Beast Monarchs could even help him in the first ce. However, this was hisst hope.

    He gave it his all, as he tore the Talisman to activate it.

    The talisman lit up, as soon as it was torn, bing the only source of light in the endless darkness. However, that light was soon swallowed by the darkness of the abyss again. But before that light was swallowed, Gabriel saw something that stunned him.

    It was as if there were thousands of frightening Nightmare Beasts all around, made purely from the energy of the abyss!

    Their sharp teeth could tear through even a god''s flesh in an instant! They were the Nightmare Beasts!

    It was as if all the Nightmare Beasts were hunters, about to leap at their prey to destroy its body, mind and soul!

    As soon as the light disappeared, Gabriel once again wasn''t able to see any, but he knew they were here. What he didn''t understand was why they weren''t attacking him? What was stopping them?

 Chapter 619 619: Hope

    Gabriel activated the Talisman, to contact the Beast Monarchs. However, even he didn''t know if they could help him, or if this ce was even connected to the Upper Realm anymore, or not.

    He didn''t realize that even if the Beast Monarchs could receive the information, they couldn''te here to help him. Even the gods couldn''t enter this ce, without being corrupted by the dark abyssal energy in this ce.

    For the most part, he was on his own, with no help from outside. He couldn''t rely on anyone else other than himself.

    An hour passed since he activated the talisman and there was still no response.

    One hour turned to two hours, which soon turned to two days, without any response.

    Over two days passed. Gabriel didn''t even realize when he lost consciousness due to pain in the endless darkness, but he finally regained consciousness.

    As he woke up, he realized that there was still no help. He understood that he was on his own. However, what surprised him even more was that he was still alive, even without his heart.

    Moreover, the Chaotic Abyssal Energy that was attempting to destroy his body had slowly started to disperse.

    He opened his eyes, unable to see anything in the darkness. He ced his hand on his chest, touching the ce where there was supposed to be a hole. But to his surprise, the hole had closed!

    He created a sphere of light, shining some light in the darkness, noticing his chest. The wound had healed indeed, but there was now a pitch ck mark in that ce, as if instead of his skin, the Abyssal energy had filled his wounds, creating a new skin that seemingly didn''t belong to him.

    Moreover, at the movement, he couldn''t see the Nightmare Beasts anywhere, as if they had all disappeared.

    He straightened his body, confused. He was not only able to breathe, but he also felt better than before, as if most of his wounds had certainly healed to perfection.

    "Wait... These light spheres...? How are my Elements working in this ce now?"

    When he first came here, he tried to use his elements, but none of them worked. He couldn''t even use his weakest spell at that time, but now without even realizing, he used one?

    This made him feel as if he had an opportunity to get out of this hell.

    He straightened and raised his right hand, trying to create a spatial portal to leave himself.

    "Why?! Why?! Why?!" He cursed in frustration, realizing that he couldn''t open a portal.

    The spatial energy here was intangible, making it extremely hard for even him to open a portal.

    He created the Mysterious Words to break the space, trying to stimte the spatial element of this ce, to create some opportunity for him.

    However, as soon as he started carving those words, he felt a terrifying pain course through his body. His body didn''t have even close to enough strength in reserve to create a word of that level.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Moreover, he couldn''t even use his surroundings to absorb some elemental aura, replenishing him. He stopped forcibly using the spell, feeling as if this ce was like the Nether Realm to some extent.

    He was convinced that there was no way that he couldn''t escape from this ce! Even the Nether Realm had an escape.

    "There must be an exit, even in this endless abyss!"He created even more orbs of light in his surroundings, looking around.

    As far as his eyes could see, there was endless empty space. However, the space was different from the space that he knew... It was much more chaotic and corrupt.

    He didn''t use any powerful spells, realizing that he had to consume his energy. However, he still had something that didn''t need spells.

    Now that he could use his elements, he could bring out his items from his storage.

    The first thing he did was bring out a sword that he was gifted by the Beast Monarchs. He still hadn''t forgotten the strange beasts that he had seen around him. Even though they didn''t kill him, he couldn''t trust them.

    It was said that the sword once belonged to the person who was the God of Worldly Laws whose skeleton Gabriel possessed.

    At the same time, he also brought out a change of clothes, getting out of the bloody torn clothes.

    He donned an attire that made his body feel even lighter in this space, making it easier for him to fly with less exhaustion.

    After changing clothes, he left the bloody clothes behind. Unaware of where to go, all directions were the same for him. He selected one random direction, and started flying there, hoping to find some world or some civilization which could help him find an exit.

    In the endless abyss, he saw no stars ors for as far as he traveled, which was strange for him. It was as if this space was some kind of person, but he knew that wasn''t the case either.

    This ce was just something else entirely... Something that he had never experienced before. Moreover, the more he traveled in this endless space, the more he found it familiar...

    "This ce..." Initially, he was too distracted to notice it, but with time, he finally realized that this space was very simr to the endless dark Abyss that he saw in his dream, where he heard some strange voices, calling for him!

    He wondered if it was just a coincidence or if it meant something more.

    Despite his curiosity, he decided not to linger on the thought for too long.

    Instead, he focused on searching... Searching for even a single life form. He didn''t care if it were the Nightmare Beasts or something else. He just wanted to find someone or something!

    After endlessly flying in the darkness for close to thirteen hours, he was starting to lose hope. It was as if there was just no end to this space! However, as he started to slow down, he finally saw something.

 Chapter 620 620: The Ancient

    In the vast nothingness where even the light from the spells couldn''t travel more than a few meters, Gabriel noticed something in the distance.

    It appeared to be a faint glowing aura, beckoning towards him like a distant lighthouse calling out to lost sailors.

    Intrigued by this mysterious phenomenon, Gabriel cautiously approached the source of the light.

    As he got closer, he could make out the silhouette of a figure bathed in the ethereal glow, standing motionless in the center of a strange array of symbols and runes etched into the barren ground.

    A shiver ran down Gabriel''s spine as he realized that the figure was not human, but something otherworldly and ancient, something that should not exist in this ne of existence.

    It was something like a Nightmare Beast, yet it had a humanoid form. It had long, curved horns protruding from its skull, and its lifeless eyes glowed with a sinister light.

    The being had four devil-like wings, two on each side, each wing having a span of five meters.

    The being had its eyes open, yet it was as if he couldn''t see anything with those silvery eyes that looked lifeless.

    Initially, Gabriel thought that it was a corpse of some creature from the Abyss, but the being wasn''t dead. It was clearly breathing, yet it remained unmoved, shrouded in the mysterious unknown glow.

    Gabriel cautiously approached the being, being careful. Thanks to the sphere of light, he was able to see the beings much more clearly. Yet from no angle, it appeared like anything he saw before.

    If anything, the being before him was simr to the statue he saw in the hands of the Lord of mes, but at the same time, it was much different.

    As he drew closer, he could feel a chill run down his spine, and a sense of dread filled him. It was as if his body was warning him of the dangers.

    "Just what are you?" Gabriel muttered, circling around the ancient unknown being who wore quite an unusual attire. The being didn''t answer, but instead, its gaze followed Gabriel''s every move, unblinking and cold. Gabriel noticed that its eyes seemed to glow in the dark.

    Seeing its eyes following him, Gabriel was quite taken aback! It wasn''t definitely alive, and it was awake as well, yet it wasn''t moving.

    Gabriel flew a little back, creating some distance between him and the unknown being. However, that Unknown being kept its eyes on Gabriel, particrly looking toward the young man''s chest, as if he could see that Gabriel was missing a heart.

    Moreover, he could also feel traces of a familiar aura from Gabriel''s wounds.

    The unknown being slowly approached Gabriel, finally moving. He kept whispering something in anguage Gabriel couldn''t understand.

    However, there was one word that Gabriel did recognise....it was a name... A name that stunned him.

    "Who... are you?" Gabriel''s face darkened. He wasn''t scared of death at this point.

    In response, the Ancient Being once again spoke. However, this time he spoke in anguage that Gabriel could understand.

    "I am..."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ****

    In the Ancestral Temple, Karyk was fighting the giant beast before him, unable to use any of his abilities! The only thing which he had to support him was that one sword that he had picked up along the way.

    Unfortunately, he soon realized that the sword was useless! The beast had such thick skin that even when he managed to somehownd a hit on the beast, the Sword could do nothing more than to leave a small scratch.

    It couldn''t pass through the physical defense of the beast. It was as if he was in an impossible fight against a beast that could kill him at any time! It was like he was being toyed with!

    However, he refused to give up. With each swing of the sword, he analyzed the beast''s movements and tendencies, hoping to find a weak spot. As the fight went on, he started to notice small cracks in the beast''s thick armor and gaps in its defenses.

    Unfortunately, his condition was also getting worse as he kept losing more and more blood.

    Determined to end the battle, he summoned all his strength for a final strike. Avoiding the beast''s sharp ws, he rushed toward the beast, aiming for the small crack in the beast''s thick armor.

    He used all his speed and strength that he could conjure, jumping up high. As his figure came down, he thrust the tip of the sword straight at the crack.

    "Argh!"

    He thrust the Sword down,nding a blow exactly where he wanted to. However, instead of being happy, his face was ridden in shock.

    nk ~

    As soon as the swordnded on the crack, the sword shattered into a thousand pieces, unable to bear the brunt of the attack.

    At the same time, the giant beast swung its ws. Its sharp ws sliced through Karyk''s skin, leaving a deep gnash on his chest while sending his body flying back.

    As Karyk collided with the distant wall, he felt excruciating pain as if all of his bones had shattered. Coughing up blood, he struggled to regain hisposure, but even standing straight was a struggle.

    In his hand was only the hilt of the sword, without any de. Meanwhile, the sharp fragments of the de of his Sword kept falling on the ground in the distance, creating clunking noise.

    It was at this moment, Karyk really regretted the fact that he couldn''t call out his God Tier Sword that he had made by materializing his World Tier Spell. If it was that sword, he was sure that the beast would''ve been gravely wounded.

    Karyk tossed the useless hilt of the Sword away, focusing on the giant beast that still stood before the exit of the maze.

    "Not only is this ce giving me a handicap, but it''s also going that far to make sure I don''t pass..."

    "That makes me want to do it even more..." Karyk clenched his fist, getting in a fighting stance.

 Chapter 621 621: Graveyard Of Death

    A bleeding figure rushed straight toward the giant beast without any fear.

    Karyk''s left eye was covered in blood, as the blood kept trickling down his forehead. However, despite only being able to see through his right eye, he skillfully dodged the creature''s deadly swipes.

    He appeared less like a human and more like a beast himself, who was fiercely rushing ahead.

    Roar~

    The majestic beast roared fiercely, watching an ant struggle before him. Following the roar, it took a deep breath, sucking all the air in the surroundings.

    It was as if there was a ck hole in his stomach which was sucking everything inside.

    Even Karyk felt the fierce pull as he found it hard to stay on the ground. His body started rising in the air, being pulled straight toward the beast''s body, along with everything else that could move.

    Karyk held onto the nearby wall of the maze to resist the pressure yet he failed to find a firm grip while his body was being pulled straight inside the Giant Beast.

    It was only after eating, the Giant Beast closed its mouth. Its task was done! It had killed the intruder!

    After taking care of Karyk, the beast sat back down on the ground right at the exit of the maze, returning to its usual duty.

    The Beast closed its eyes. The surroundings also returned to the usual calm. The blood marks could be seen on the ground.

    The silence didn''tst long, as the Beast suddenly opened its eyes in disbelief. It fiercely started roaring. However, his roar now was different from his previous roar as instead of anger, this time his roar was filled with anger.

    The beast stood up and started hitting his body against the wall, as if he had gone crazy. Unfortunately, nothing relieved him.

    A pitch ck Sword, appearing to be made from an unknown material sliced through his skin from inside.

    Multiple cuts started appearing all around the body of the beast, from the inside. None of its defense was able to protect itself against the unknown attacks.

    The wild guardian beast kept hitting against the wall repeatedly, yet nothing could help him. He kept bleeding more and more, before eventually he dropped to the ground.

    Its eyes lost their shine as its lifeless bodyid on the ground. The beast had died for some unknown reason.

    As soon as the beast died, the ck Sword sliced through its skin, opening a path from inside the beast.

    From the inside, a figure came out, holding the ck Sword. The figure belonged to none other than Karyk. However, for some reason, there was now not a single wound on his body, as if all his wounds had miraculously healed.

    Karyk came out from the beast''s body,nding in the distance. His breathing was heavy, yet there was a look of relief on his face.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Tired, he sat on the ground, cing the God-Tier Sword on the ground.

    Even he hadn''t expected that inside the beast, he was going to be free of the restrictions of the maze.

    As soon as he fell inside, it started counting as a different space, which temporarily released all the restrictions, allowing him to ess his storage as well.

    As all hope appeared to be lost, he pulled out the sword that he had been craving ever since he entered the maze.

    Now that he was out, most of his strength was again sealed, but it didn''t matter! Now he already had the Sword, which provided him with abigger advantage than he previously had.

    In the absence of his spells, he could only rely on his physical strength and his weapon!

    At the same time, he also brought out some healing pills, which helped him heal most of his wounds while he was inside the beast.

    "I should thank you for the help, I suppose." Karyk stood up, ncing at the lifeless body of the beast in the distance.

    He was finally able to leave the horrifying maze. Carrying the sword, he stepped out of the maze, leaving the area. He didn''t know how far he was from the Goddess of Light, or how she passed through the maze, but he had to catch up to her first!

    He passed through the exit of the maze, getting a surreal feeling as if he had entered apletely different space itself.

    He turned around, noticing the exit of the maze had disappeared along with the entire maze itself.

    "A Graveyard?" As far as his eyes could see, he only saw tombstones. The entire ce was filled with the aura of death.

    Moreover, this aura of death was stronger than any Soul Realm that he had ever seen. It was as if every single person buried here was no less than a god.

    Seeing a sight like this, his first thought was if he could awaken these dead beings from their tombstone to turn into his own soldiers. Unfortunately, even though he was in a ce brimming with death, he couldn''t use any powerful spells, as if the Restrictions of the Temple were still active on him, preventing him from using any powerful spells.

    "The Temple of Gods... ording to the Stories from the Generals, this is the ce which the King of Upper Realm identally stumbled upon in the past.

    This was also the ce which changed his entire life. It was only aftering out of this ce, he conquered the entire upper world.

    It was no lie to say that he gained his strength in this ce. Moreover, he wasn''t alone. All Four Generals had been to this ce at least once.

    This was also the ce where the Goddess of Light wanted toe the most, going so far as to be something akin to a follower of the king of the upper realm, and doing as he asked.

    However, now that Karyk was in this ce, he could feel that it was every bit as strange as he expected. He stepped toward the first tombstone, which had some words written on it.

 Chapter 622 622: A Life Of Death

    The entire Graveyard had no exit. It was like this was thest ce in the Temple of Ancestors. However, seeing the absence of the Goddess of Light, it didn''t make sense to him.

    He found it quite clear that this wasn''t the end, but this was just one of the sections in the temple. From what he could guess, the exit of the maze took everyone to a different ce, ording to their affinity.

    He had already felt the space change as soon as he passed through the exit, as if the space was being connected to the thousands of paths, selecting the best destination.

    ....

    Back in the maze, a long time had passed since Karyk left the maze. However, it was only now that another person reached near the end of the maze.

    The Goddess of Light was also in the worst condition of her life. Her whole face was covered in blood and she was walking with the support of the wall, barely reaching.

    However, as she came near the exit, she saw the corpse of a giant beast lying on the ground.

    "This...?" She frowned. Looking at the corpse, she was sure that the beast was killed only recently. And there were also some traces of the aura of death.

    "To think that you are actually here, and even ahead of me... But that''s for the best. I''ll take all the help you give me, my dear Karyk."

    She was sure that she wouldn''t have won against the beast in the condition she was in. However, thanks to Karyk killing it, she had an opportunity to pass without having to fight.

    "As a gratitude for your help, I''ll make sure to give you a quick death when I be a True God!"

    Limping, she dragged her weak body to the exit of the maze, passing through to the Ancestral Realm of Light.

    ****

    Karyk sat on one knee before the first tombstone, which was shrouded in a ck aura.

    There were some words on the tombstone, butthey appeared to be carved a long time ago. Some of the words were almost impossible to read, thanks to wounds that the passage of time left on the tombstone.

    Despite that, Karyk was still able to understand some.

    "Beyond death, before life..." Karyk read the strange line on the tombstone which made him wonder just what it meant.

    Unfortunately, most of the words after that were impossible to read.

    Unlike the partially destroyed line above, at the bottom of the tombstone there was a line which waspletely intact, as if it was carved just recently.

    Moreover, thatst line appeared more like a spell, and nothing else. Just a single nce at the long and Karyk found himself in a daze, as if he was lost in the passage of time.

    It was as if his consciousness was pulled out of his body, and shoved into a world unknown.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Meanwhile, his physical body remained still. His eyes were nk, as he remained seated like a lifeless statue.

    Even in this condition, the Marks of Death around his body slowly started increasing slowly. Moreover, dark energy from the tomb also slowly started flying towards Karyk, being absorbed in his body.

    ****

    An unknown amount of time passed before Karyk finally opened his eyes.

    He didn''t know how much time had passed, but it felt like an eternity. For a moment, he was so lost that he even forgot where he was or what he was doing.

    As soon as his consciousness was sucked by the tombstone, it was as if he liked an entire new life, from the birth to his eventual Death, experiencing everything that a mortal life had to offer.

    In the dream, he hadpletely forgotten just who he was. Instead, he lived a life as apletely naive man, unaware of any magic. He watched the loss of the people around him.

    Some died from sickness, some were killed by bandits while some died in idents. It was as if that dream was only surrounded by death, and nothing else. Wherever he went, death followed, killing everyone else around him.

    Most of his life in the dream was spent in istion, trying to avoid any other person, so he didn''t spread this death to others.

    In the istion, he tried to find out just why death was following him, unaware that it was a dream.

    In the dream, he spent close to fifty years, trying to understand death...

    "Did I see... Your life?" After a long time, Karyk came to his senses, realizing that what he saw was much more than a dream. It was like he was living someone else''s life...

    Even though the name on the tombstone was scratched out by someone, but from the small signs he could see, the name was exactly the name he was known as in his dream.

    Moreover, all the knowledge that this person had researched was now in Karyk''s head.

    He already knew as much about death as he could, since that was his main element. However, from the new memories, he managed to understand some new things about death from the perspective of a mortal who lived his life being hounded by death.

    "The aura of death hadpletely disappeared from here..." Karyk stood up, after taking one more nce at the tombstone.

    He moved into the next tombstone. If all these tombstones contained a life, that meant he had to live all their lives through their memories! He had to live thousands of times, and die thousands of times to break through his limits, and he understood that.

    Even though he was slightly concerned about living so many lives, to the point that he wondered if he was going to be the same person at the end of everything or not, not he still continued to the next tombstone.

    The next tombstone had even more deathly aura surrounding itpared to the first, but there was something different about this aura... It felt a little too familiar.

 Chapter 623 623: Never Enough

    The Aura in the front appeared very familiar to Karyk. Moreover, what was even more surprising was the name on the tombstone.

    The name belonged to none other than his father, the King of the Empire who partially caused the destruction of the world that led him to awaken his abilities.

    Confused, Karyk slowly reached out his hand, touching the tombstone.

    The entire process repeated again, as his consciousness was once again taken out of his body.

    When he opened his eyes, he found himself in the body of another person. However, he couldn''t control the body. It was as if he was just a spectator.

    He went through a new birth, experiencing the childhood of the man that he once called his father.

    He had heard his father mention his past many times, yet to personally experience it, Karyk realized that his father had lied to him! Either that, or that entire dream was a lie!

    From what he knew, his father was the only son of the Previous Emperor, born as the heir of the Empire, just one Karyk himself was bornter.

    However, in this dream, he saw something else entirely.

    The man whose memories he experienced wasn''t born as the heir. If anything, he couldn''t be in any worse situation.

    The man was born to a maid, who was molested by the Emperor at that time, which gave birth to the person whose memories he was experiencing.

    Unlike all the stories about how his father had a very privileged life, the reality that Karyk saw now was quite different.

    The day his father was born, his grandmother died. Since he was the Bloodline of the Emperor, the Emperor allowed him to live in the Pce, but never treated him like a proper Prince.

    Throughout his life, Karyk''s father only experienced scorn of other people in the world that was very modern for its time.

    Whenever a Prince was angry, they vented on his father, beating him half to death. At the same time, the Emperor ignored all the bullying, as if he didn''t care as long as no one died.

    As time passed and his father started showing some intelligence in the field of science and technology, the Princes felt even more threatened, worrying that their father might change their mind about the heir in the future because of this.

    In the life that Karyk experienced now, there were many attempts to poison his father to death. However, his father used his knowledge to protect him to the best of his abilities.

    He didn''t have any intention of taking over the throne in the first ce. All he wanted was to follow his Passion and explore the field of science to learn more about the universe.

    If anything, he was even nning to leave the Royal Pce after gathering enough money to fund his research.

    In the middle of the night, the young man left the Royal Pce without informing anyone. This was thest time he wanted to see the Royal Pce... A ce that had only given him emotional and physical wounds.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    However, before he could even get out of the City, he found himself surrounded from all sides, by people who carried the weapons that he himself had made to protect this Empire from enemies!

    Other than him and his father, no one knew about some of those weapons yet.

    Next to the men who carried the most high tech weapon, there was the Crown Prince and his other siblings. However, all of them had their murderous intent clearly on disy.

    "Are you really going to reveal your hands so openly? Have you no fear of father left anymore? What do you think he''ll do if you kill me?" The young man asked the Crown Prince. "Instead, why not let me leave? I''ll never show my face ever again. I just want to live in peace!"

    "Are you scaring me with father?! Who do you think gave me the soldiers with these weapons?" The Crown Princeughed. "Even father doesn''t want you anymore. We now control all your research and everything you ever made. It''s time we let you rest in peace forever, and even father approves that!"

    "Father?" The young man asked, taken aback. "I just want to live...is that too much? What is my fault?"

    No matter how bad his father was, and how much he hated him, but the young man always believed that at least in some small corner of his heart, he thought of him like a son.

    Karyk experienced everything that his father experienced, including his thoughts, his emotions and his heartbreak.

    "Why?!" The young man asked.

    "What is your fault? You think we don''t know how much you hate us? If you leave this ce and start helping the enemies, what are we to do? And even if you don''t leave, sooner orter, you''ll do something to harm our interest. Your knowledge is bing very dangerous, as proven by the weapons you make."

    " The Empire can''t keep someone as dangerous as you! That''s why, you need to die," the Crown Prince coldlyughed. "Just like that trash mother of yours died! You shall die as well!"

    The young man tried to respond, but no words came out. His heart felt like it was in pieces.

    Before a single word coulde out, the Crown Prince waved his hand.

    Following the single gesture of the Crown Prince, it started raining bullets over the young man.

    The weapons that he himself made were being used on him, making him bleed.

    In a few seconds, hundreds of bullets had prated his body, leaving all his clothes covered in blood.

    The man dropped to his knees, as the street under him was covered in blood. His vision started turning darker, as he thought if this was the end.

    In some depths of his heart, he felt somewhat relieved. He lived his life always on the edge, worried about being killed. He always tried his best to impress his father, but it was never enough.

 Chapter 624 624: I Am Chaos

    In some corners of his heart, he felt somewhat relieved... Finally... He could rest in the sweet embrace of death.

    The young man''s lifeless bodyy still on the ground as the continuous sound of gunfire came to a sudden halt. The young man''s eyes slowly closed.

    The Crown Prince smirked, looking at the lifeless body of the person who had always been a scorn to him.

    "Dump his body in some gutter and clean the streets. I''m going back." The Crown Prince told the guards, before he went back to the Royal Pce. His task waspleted.

    "This kid should''ve known better than to offend His Highness. Hopefully he won''t make the same mistake in his next life," one of the guards scoffed, cing his foot on the young man''s chest, kicking his body away from the puddle of blood.

    The other guards picked the body up, but as soon as they picked up the young man, they all revealed some surprise.

    Even now, they could still see that the young man was breathing... Even with so many bullets inside his body, he was still alive, which stunned them all.

    "He''s still alive!" The guard eximed.

    "How could he be alive? It''s physically impossible!" The other guard snorted, finding even the thought to be ludicrous.

    Even the young man himself didn''t know what was happening. He couldn''t open his eyes. It was as if his body was paralyzed. However, he knew that he should''ve been dead.

    Not only was he not dead, but he also couldn''t feel any pain in his body. It was as if there was something miraculous which was preventing even the death from taking him.

    The guards were still confused but they soon heard footsteps behind them.

    "No civilians are allowed here!" The guards turned around, aiming their guns at the stranger who had arrived.

    As they turned, they saw a man in the distance. The man appeared mostly ordinary to these people, other than the fact that he appeared like some heavenly Prince.

    Even the guards couldn''t believe that there existed a man so handsome in this world. The man had a serene aura around him. However, his attire looked strange.

    He was donning all ck, with a robe on his shoulders that fluttered with the wind behind him. What was strange was that no winds were flying at the moment, yet his robe was fluttering as if it had a life of its own.

    The young man opened his eyes, hearing themotion. His vision slowly started to return.

    Karyk was able to see everything that the man saw. Which meant he saw the dark robed man who had just arrived.

    "This man..." Karyk was stunned. The man didn''t have the slightest of aura around him. Moreover, at this point in time, there was no magic in this world. That person should''ve been a mortal, yet he wasn''t!

    Even though Karyk remembered everything from his original life, but he still felt that the man before him at the moment... He was the most dangerous person that he had ever seen, thousands of times more dangerous than the King of Upper Realm himself.

    His eyes were so expressive, as if they contained the entire universe in them. However, they also reflected some sadness.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    As Karyk was in this world, he didn''t know that his real body in the graveyard was going through another transformation. Moreover, a single tear trickled down his right eye...

    "We will count to three! Turn around and leave or we will be forced to take action!" The guards threatened the man in ck. However, the man didn''t respond.

    He just gazed at the person whose memories Karyk was experiencing.

    Without fear, the dark robed man stepped toward the young man who was covered in blood.

    The guards were furious. Not only was the man ignoring them, but he was also getting closer.

    At the moment, they didn''t even count to three. One of them fired the first shot, and the other guards followed suit.

    Within a few seconds, once again it started raining bullets. However, this time, the oue was different.

    The bullets left the gun, but instead of hitting the dark robed man, that just... disappeared mid-way.

    While the guards were still stunned, the bullets once again appeared. However, this time all the bullets came behind the guards.

    Thud~

    One after another, the guards kept falling to the ground as their own bullets passed through their skull.

    From the start to the end, the dark robed man didn''t even nce at the guards.

    All the guards died within a few seconds, shocking the bloodied man. There was no way for him to exin this phenomenon! He always believed in science yet even with all his knowledge, he couldn''t find a reasonable exnation of what just happened!

    The young man also fell to the ground, as the guards holding onto him died. However, instead of growing in pain, he noticed that his body wasn''t paralyzed anymore! He could move his hands and his body properly!

    All the bullets inside his body disappeared, appearing next to him. At the same time, all the wounds started healing slowly.

    "W-who are you?" The young man asked, still in disbelief. He was also a little scared. He kept dragging his body back, not even daring to stand up.

    "I... Am... Chaos..." The dark robed man finally opened his mouth. His tone was calm yet it made the young man feel like he was listening to a god. Just hearing that voice alone made him feel calmer.

    The young man didn''t know what the meaning of that sentence was. However, Karyk was stunned the most, since it wasn''t the first time he had heard the name.

    Chaos... The person who single handedly killed half the gods in the universe, including the creator of the Universe! He was the strongest being ever known in the universe... He was someone whose name alone was enough to make the gods tremble!

 Chapter 625 625: Night Of Blood

    "What are you?" The young man hesitantly asked. He didn''t know who Chaos was, but from what he saw, that man was not an ordinary human. And if he was a human, then he had surpassed humanity through some means.

    "What do you want from me?" he further asked, without even waiting for an answer.

    He also stopped dragging his body back, since his mind was finally working again. He realized that man was so strong, he could probably kill him with a single thought if he wanted to. There was no way he could run from that person.

    Moreover, that man had saved his life. It meant that he needed him.

    Instead of answering the question of the young man, the dark robed man raised his hand. A pitch ck portal opened before him.

    He inserted his hand inside the portal, bringing out what appeared to be a small child, wrapped in a ck nket to keep it warm.

    "I will help you kill all your enemies... I will grant you strength beyond your understanding... In return, protect him..." As he spoke, he couldn''t help but nce at the cute face of the little boy in his arms.

    For the first time, the dark robed man''s eyes revealed an emotion that Karyk couldn''t have expected from a man who was known for his atrocities! His eyes revealed care...

    He went down on one knee, reaching out his hand and cing the little boy in the arms of the young man.

    The young man looked stunned. He couldn''t help but ask, "Why me?"

    The dark robed man didn''t reply. Instead, he just reached out, gently touching the cheeks of the little boy, as if worried that he might hurt the child if he didn''t control his strength properly.

    After gently caressing the cheeks of the little baby, he retracted his hand. However, to his surprise, as he was retracting his hand, his finger was caught by the little baby.

    Chaos patted the cheeks of the little baby lightly, revealing the deep love he had in his heart for the baby. However, he freed his finger from the grip of the baby and stood up.

    The caring expression in his eyes disappeared, turning into seriousness.

    He raised his hand, opening up multiple portals right behind him. From the portal, many strange creatures came out that appeared like demons themselves!

    "A-aliens?" The young man eximed in shock, but Chaos didn''t exin.

    With a single gesture, Chaos sent the Abyssal Beasts straight to the Royal Pce to make sure that no one here could threaten the baby and the guardian he assigned.

    That was a long night where everything changed in the Empire. It was a total massacre, where all the Royals of the Empire were killed. Even the Emperor and the young man''s father were killed by the Beasts.

    It was unclear how the beasts knew, but they also ughtered all the loyal soldiers of the Emperor, cleansing the entire Empire from any threat.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    After cleansing the Dynasty, the beasts returned with their sharp fangs covered in blood.

    They returned inside the portal and the multiple portals closed, leaving the city covered in blood. However, this meant that the only Royal who was still alive was the young man, and no one could stop him now.

    The dark robed man turned his back on the young man as a simr portal opened before him.

    Chaos had an urge to turn around and look at the baby onest time, but he controlled his urge, feeling as if he might be able to keep up his resolve to leave if he did.

    "Protect him..." The dark robed man disappeared inside the portal, only leaving one sentence behind.

    The young man still couldn''t remove the image of the Abyssal Beasts from his mind. His hands were still trembling and he couldn''t believe that what he saw was real.

    If it wasn''t for the dead bodies of the guards near him, and a little baby in his arms, he would''ve thought that he was in a dream and nothing more.

    He looked down at the baby and felt a sense of responsibility for its safety. He didn''t know who the baby was to that godlike being, but he knew that the man cared for him! If something happened to the baby and that man returned... He didn''t even want to imagine what was going to happen then!

    The man embraced the little baby in his arms which was only a few months old. He stood up, and walked back to the Royal Pce, even though his clothes were covered in blood.

    For the next day, the news about the ughter spread in the entire Empire. It was called an enemy attack on the Empire, and the one person who managed to survive was the Prince born from the maid.

    However, even that prince had the blood of the previous Emperor, so there were not many objections to his enthronement. Moreover, even if there was someone who wanted to oppose it, they couldn''t do anything!

    After what happenedst time, the young man had also changed. When his father sent people to kill him, he realized that this world didn''t belong to the good people. One had to be a little brutal if they wanted to survive.

    He used his own weapons himself. Anyone who opposed him was killed in the most brutal way possible. In the end, all the ministers who were still left alive supported him.

    And thus, the man rose to the throne, taking the entire Empire under his control.

    Not long after, he married a woman, who could take care of the baby that he had received.

    Many people wondered just where that boy came from, but it was an unwritten rule that no one was allowed to mention that the boy wasn''t the Bloodline of the Emperor!

    Most of the citizens didn''t know it in the first ce, and the ones who knew decided to forget everything about it. It wasn''t their ce to know where that baby came from.

 Chapter 626 626: Deal With The Devil

    They only thought that this was the baby the young man had in secret, worried that his family might harm his bloodline. And now that he was an Emperor, he brought out the baby in the open.

    Karyk saw everything in these memories, which came as a shock to him! That baby... It was none other than him! He wasn''t the son of people he thought of as his father and mother! Instead, he was somehow rted to Karyk!

    For a moment, he wentpletely nk, watching the life of the Emperor progress, without paying any attention.

    The Emperor had a daughter after a few years, giving a sister to Karyk. The Empire continued progressing by leaps and bounds. However, the weapon technology also kept getting more and more dangerous.

    With time, the other Empires also started to create weapons of their own, as if it was a race on who could create the worst weapon of mass destruction.

    In the end, it all led to one huge disaster when a war finally happened. Most of civilization as people knew it, was destroyed.

    The mes of war caught the entire world, burning everything in sight... Karyk had always wondered how he managed to survive in that war when all the people in the city died.

    He didn''t know if he was lucky to survive that war, or unlucky. However, now he had a feeling that there was more to his Survival than he thought!

    At the moment of the explosion, his consciousness was pushed out of the dream. It returned to his body.

    He sat before the tomb in silence. He didn''t even know what to think. His family wasn''t his family... he was always kept in the dark. This made him feel that he had been so naive. He had lived two lives, yet he didn''t know a single thing about it. He didn''t even know just where his real family was, or who were his real parents.

    However, the biggest question in his head was about Chaos. He didn''t understand just who he was to Chaos... How was that man rted to him? Why did that mean leave him to a mortal if he was that strong? It was like a puzzle where most of the pieces were still missing.

    However, he knew one thing for sure. The only person who could answer him was Chaos, the ancient being who was already said to be dead...

    ****

    In one ce, Karyk was questioning his own existence.

    Meanwhile, in another ce, Gabriel was going through a conundrum of his own. A Demonic floated before him, made purely of Abyssal energy like the beings that were controlled by Caen.

    Initially, he couldn''t understand thenguage that it was speaking. However, after a few moments, the Demon did speak in anguage that Gabriel understood.

    "Free me!" The Demon asked Gabriel, in a voice that appeared to being straight from hell.

    Gabriel frowned in response. He couldn''t see any shackles around that demon, so what was he asked to be freed from?<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Are you asking to be free from this space?" He asked, wondering if the guy was like him and wanted to leave the Abyss. "If that''s the case, I can''t do anything. I''m trapped here myself."

    The Demon shook his head. He raised his right hand, and tried to gather the energy of the abyss around him. However, as soon as he did so, he felt a terrifying pain.

    Thousands of mysterious chains became visible around him that were keeping him in this space, making him unable to use even the slightest of strength.

    "These Chains..." Gabriel frowned, taken aback. When these chains appeared, even he could feel how strong they were. Compared to these chains, the chains created by Karyk''s Worldly Spell appeared like child''s y.

    "Who trapped you here?" The young man asked, wondering if it was Caen. If that was the case, then their enemies were the same! If he could free this guy, then they could find a way out! He could help him get revenge!

    The Demon was emotionless initially. However, as soon as he thought of the answer, a terrifying Bloodlust covered his entire body, which even made Gabriel move a few steps back.

    "Chaos!" The Demon spoke, as the murderous aura around him intensified. "I will kill him! I will kill everyone associated with him! I will take everything from him! Free me! Arghhh! Free me!"

    As the Demon lost himself in his intense enormous, he kept struggling fiercely. Even though he felt bone chilling pain everytime he struggled, he didn''t care at the moment. It was as if he had lost his mind!

    "Chaos?" Gabriel asked, remembering that Chaos was the same person who was behind everything that the Beast Monarchs went through. In his eyes, Chaos was no different than Caen, who sent him here.

    In that way, he felt that he was simr to the Demon before him. Both of them suffered at the hands of people who thought they were gods, to y with the destiny of others!

    Gabriel asked the Demon, "If I free you, can you take me out of this prison?"

    "Free me and I will grant you freedom from this ce!" The Demon roared as he continued struggling. "I will fulfill any one wish of yours, as long as you free me! Even if it involves bathing this entire universe in blood! I only want to destroy that man and everyone he loves!"

    "I want the destruction of the Realm of Gods! Can you do it?!" Gabriel inquired.

    He still hadn''t forgotten how Caen took everything from him, including thest bit of family that he had. He couldn''t let that man live in peace, no matter what! He had to destroy that person as well!

    "I will destroy that ce even if you don''t ask!" The Demon responde in a grim time. The Realm of Gods was his target as well, since that''s where Chaos was from!"

    "How can I free you?" Gabriel asked, deciding to do it. No matter what, he had to get out of the Abyss. He couldn''t just wait for his death here!

 Chapter 627 627: Life And Death

    "How can I free you?" Gabriel asked the Devil.

    "Blood..." The Devil spoke in a dark tone.

    Hearing his words, Gabriel couldn''t help but think back to the statue. Millions of people were sacrificed to free the statue and even then, it wasn''tpletely free. He couldn''t help but wonder if it was the same here.

    "Human Blood?" he asked, frowning. He didn''t think there were any humans here, other than himself. And he wasn''t going to kill himself to free this Devil.

    Fortunately for him, the Devil shook his head in response. "The Blood of Abyss..."

    "I need the Blood of Abyss to be stronger, to regain my full power," the Devil continued, his eyes glowing with a fierce determination. "Get me blood, and I shall free myself!"

    "What is Blood of Abyss? Where can I find it? And how much do you need?" Gabriel inquired.

    However, in response, the Devil closed his eyes. He raised his right hand, bringing it closer to his face.

    He opened his lips wide, revealing his sharp fangs which he stabbed inside his forearm.

    As he freed his hands from his lips, pitch ck blood started falling out, which slowly condensed into a small ck dagger, which shone in a mysterious dark light.

    The dagger floated in the empty space, moving closer to Gabriel.

    "A dagger made from my Blood... This shall lead you to the Abyssal Beasts! Take their lives with the dagger and it shall collect their blood."

    Gabriel reached out his hand, holding the dagger which brimmed with a mysterious power, as if it was trying to lead him in a certain direction.

    "How many do I need to kill?" Gabriel asked as he tried to hold back the dagger.

    "Kill! Kill! Keep killing until the dagger stops leading you! Only then it shall be enough!" The Devil spoke, before returning to its usual still position.

    The more he moved the weaker he became, and the more blood he needed. Moreover, since he had sacrificed his own Blood to create the dagger, he became even weaker in response.

    Gabriel gazed at the dagger in his hand. He didn''t know just how strong those Abyssal beasts were and how hard it was to kill one. On top, he didn''t even know how many he had to kill. Unfortunately, this was the only way out of this ce that he could think of.

    He couldn''t rely on anyone else but the Devil! No one else was going toe here to save him!

    Holding the dagger firmly in his hand, Gabriel flew in the Abyss, taking the direction that the dagger showed him. Moreover, he also noticed that when he held the dagger, his vision had improved, allowing him to see in the endless darkness of the Abyss.

    Unlike before when he didn''t see anything for days, this time he found something within half an hour.

    In the distance, he could see multiple strange beasts, flying through the abyss. Each of the beasts looked fierce and powerful. However, to Gabriel''s surprise, the thirty Abyssal Beasts in the distance were the same that he had seen when he first woke up in the Abyss.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    These were frightening but he remembered that they hadn''t attacked him when he was at his weakest.

    Unfortunately,he couldn''t repay their favor. He had to kill them to be free. He didn''t know why they didn''t attack him, but he had to.

    Taking a deep breath, Gabriel gripped his weapon tightly and approached the beasts. As he got closer, he could see fear in their eyes. However, more than him, that fear appeared to being from the dagger which was made from the Devil''s Blood.

    Seeing the Dagger, most of the Abyssal Beasts there went wild. The fear caused them to attack Gabriel.

    But Gabriel was prepared for the fight. He dodged their attacks and struck back with power and precision. Each swing of the Devil''s Blood dagger was deadly.

    To Gabriel''s surprise, a few strikes from the dagger were enough to take down an Abyssal Beast. Not only that, but he could also feel that his Elemental Reserves were once again filling up, the more he killed.

    Instead of exhausting his strength, he was gaining more. The dagger collected Blood of Abyss for the Devil. However, it also transferred some of that strength to him, to keep him going.

    Now that Gabriel was able to use his Elements thanks to the Dagger, it became even easier for him. The Abyss was filled with darkness after all, which was one of his Elements.

    Multiple dark shackles came out from the darkness, wrapping around the necks and the ws of the Beasts to hold them back.

    Even though the Shackles couldn''t hold the beast back for more than a few seconds because of them being stronger, those few seconds were more than enough for him to kill one.

    Unlike in the outside world, Gabriel managed to kill the Abyssal Beasts more easily. Within a few minutes, the group of thirty beasts was devoured by the Dagger, which appeared to be the weakness of those seemingly invincible beings.

    For the next few days, Gabriel kept flying through the endless abyss, killing the Abyssal Beasts wherever he found them.

    In her two days, he had killed more than a hundred thousand beasts. However, the dagger still didn''t stop leading him, as if it wasn''t even close to enough!

    Gabriel had been killing non-stop without taking any break, sometimes even forgetting why he was killing them.

    More than a week passed, and the number of beasts that he managed to kill had reached in the millions, but it was still endless...

    ****

    Gabriel endlessly went through the abyss, killing everything he could find. On the other hand, Karyk went through the graveyard with an endless number of tombs, living the lives of the beings buried here.

    Karyk lived multiple lives and suffered multiple deaths, learning the value of each life and each death. Meanwhile, Gabriel was starting to lose the value of death with how many he had killed.

    Both of them were forced to take a different approach in life by destiny, and neither knew what the other was going through, and how it was going to affect their fate¡­

 Chapter 628 628: Time

    The Upper Realm, which was initially shoved into chaos, had finally started regaining some peace as Caen departed.

    The Lord of mes also disappeared with the statue, making his whereabouts unknown. Moreover, the Four Generals had returned from their meeting with the Overlord of the Upper Realm, once again taking their positions.

    With their return, the stability had once again returned to the Upper Realm and people once again felt safe to some extent. However, one thing surprised all major ns.

    All Four Generals together dered that they were going to end the search for Karyk and that he wasn''t a threat anymore. All the search for Karyk was stopped, and it was said that he wasn''t going to harm anymore.

    Many people were unconvinced with it, since they thought that Karyk was being let go easily, especially after he ruthlessly destroyed so many cities, not leaving a single life alive.

    Fortunately, the Generals immediately addressed that concern as well, expressing that Karyk wasn''t behind that incident since Karyk was with them in the Central World at the time of the incident, which once again shunned the citizens even more.

    With Karyk, at least they knew who the event was, but if it wasn''t him, then they felt even more scared since they didn''t know a single thing about the person who destroyed the cities.

    The only thing worth relief was that the Generals were back to save them in case something like that urred again.

    Even though the Upper World returned to peace, it was different for the Lower Realms.

    The Lord of mes escaped the Upper Realm, but he next appeared through the Lower Realms, which was even more helpless against a person with his strength. He kept taking more and more lives, slowly breaking the Shackles of the statue with no one to stop him...

    ****

    It had been over a week since Gabriel''s world was destroyed by Caen. There was not a single sign of the world left anymore, other than the rubble that was floating in space.

    In the endless rubble, there was no sign of life. However, there did exist a pitch ck sphere that appeared like a small speck of darkness in the endless space.

    Only when one came closer could they see that what appeared like a small speck of darkness was a pitch ck sphere, existing in the center of all the rubble.

    The ck sphere was around twenty meters in diameter. From the outside, it was impossible to see inside the sphere. However, if Caen was here, he would''ve been quite upset to see that there were some people who managed to survive through this destruction.

    Inside the sphere, there was not just one person but more.

    In the center of the sphere, a young woman was lying, unconscious. There was no physical wound on her body, but she wasn''t fine either, as her mind waspletely fragmented, thanks to the soul search by Caen. The woman was Karyk''s Sister Zena.

    Next to Zena was Alion, the demigod who was Karyk''s friend. Alion had his hand on Zena''s forehead.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "How is she?" A man''s voice came from a distance.

    Not too far from him was a dark haired man who was maintaining the Dark Sphere which kept them all alive. He was Nyx, who had been reborn with all his memories from inside the Tower of Trials, thanks to Gabriel.

    Near him, Cylix was also present, who looked at the unconscious girl with great concern, especially since he came to know that the girl was Gabriel''s sister.

    Alion shook his head. "Her mind... It''s like her entire consciousness is broken into millions of pieces by someone... It''s surprising in itself that she''s still alive."

    "Is there a way to help the little girl?" Cylix asked, feeling concerned.

    "I... I wish I had. But I can''t help her. I can only keep her alive... But nothing more than that. Probably, only Karyk can help her, but even that''s unlikely since her problem isn''t rted to the soul but with her consciousness..."

    Alion didn''t know what to do. He had never felt this helpless. He even med himself that he couldn''t get there in time when they were attacked.

    He tried contacting Karyk repeatedly to inform him about what happened, but for some reason, he couldn''t get through to him. That only made him wonder if Karyk himself was... Dead.

    The person who could destroy this world wasn''t weak. And if Karyk was alive, then it didn''t make sense why he wasn''t here yet, since he should''ve felt the world being destroyed. This made him worry that Karyk was killed by Caen as well.

    "You''re saying that we can''t do anything but watch?" Novius frowned. "There must be something! There must be someone who can help her?! We can''t give up like that!"

    Even though he was extremely exhausted by keeping to this barrier, he didn''t care about that in the least. He still felt more concerned about the girl.

    "Someone who can help her?" Alion retracted his hand, letting out a sigh. He had been keeping the woman asleep since every time she was awakened, she cried and groveled in pain, as her mind broke apart even more. If he could, he would''ve helped her himself, even if it meant sacrificing himself. Unfortunately, that wasn''t possible.

    "Someone who can help her..." He muttered, realizing that there was possibly only one way to help the woman... There was only one thing which could help Zena.

    "The only thing which can help her is... Time!" He eximed as his eyes lit up. They had to find a way to reverse time for Zena!

    Hearing that, Cylix and Novius eximed at the same time, "Temple of Time!"

    They all knew that if it had something to do with time, then the only person who could have a clue on how to do that was the Head of the Temple of Time! There was no one else!

 Chapter 629 629: Passage

    "Where will we find him? Could he have survived this disaster in the first ce?" Novius asked Alion, wondering if the guy was dead as well.

    "If anyone could survive this disaster, it is that guy. Even Karyk couldn''t find him when he destroyed the Temple of Time. I am sure that guy will be alive!" Alion stated in full seriousness.

    "How will we find him then? If even Karyk couldn''t find him when the world was intact, how can we find him now after all this?!" Cylix wondered. It appeared quite unlikely for him that they could find that guy.

    That was the question which was bugging Alion as well. The only thing he could be assured of was that the guy had escaped before the world was destroyed. And there were multiple ces he could escape to.

    The most likely option was the Upper Realm, or the other Lower Realms where he could''ve escaped. However, when he thought clearly, he realized that the guy couldn''t do that.

    When Caen was here, if that guy had opened the passage to the Upper Realm, he would''ve been detected and killed. And going to another lower realm was just as hard, which left only one ce, for where one didn''t need to open any portal.

    "I think we will find him in the Nether Realm... The Realm which was connected to this world with a passage that was always open. If he wanted to escape undetected, what better ce than the Nether Realm?!" Alion eximed.

    He had a feeling that the Lord of Temple of Time wasn''t the only one who escaped to the Nether Realm either.

    Cylix and Nyx didn''t have the memories from the time when their soul was constantly being tortured in the Nether Realm.

    However, despite that, they felt a chill run down their spine as they heard that name. They didn''t understand why, but it was as if there was an innate fear, deeply carved on their souls.

    "Even if the world is destroyed, the Passage of the Nether Realm should still be open in this space! We just need to find it! Through the Nether Realm, we would even be able to get to the Upper Realm," Alion further stated. "In any case, we can''t stay here. Sooner orter, you''ll be exhausted and won''t be able to maintain that barrier!"

    He told Nyx to open a small space in the barrier, allowing him to leave to search for the portal. Amongst the people here, only Alion, a Demigod, could fly through this space, without being hurt.

    Nyx did as he was asked, letting Alion leave the barrier.

    Alion appeared on the other side of the ck sphere. Through the endlessly rubble, he started his award to locate the spatial entrance to the Nether Realm. Unfortunately, he had no idea where exactly it was, since in the destroyed space, he couldn''t even know his own location.

    He searched thousands of kilometers, without stopping, searching every spot carefully. It was as if he had circled an entire world in search of the portal.

    Fortunately, in the dark space, he did find what appeared like a spatial distortion. As he got close to the area of spatial disturbance, he finally found a spatial portal, buried in the middle of spatial debris.

    He pushed aside the debris to clear the portal. As he had been to the Nether Realm with Karyk before, he was convinced that he was in the right ce.

    After making sure that this was the right passage, he went back to the Dark Sphere. He informed Nyx and Cylix that he found the spatial portal. The only problem was how they were going to get to the portal.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Alion solved that problem himself as he pushed the spherical barrier in the direction of the spatial Portal.

    He brought the spherical barrier right at the edge of the spatial portal before entering the barrier.

    He picked up Zena in his arms. Holding Zena firmly in his hand, he passed through the barrier and entered the spatial portal without letting the space around them interact with them. Cylix and Novius did the same as they abandoned the ck Spherical Barrier.

    After Nyx passed through the spatial portal, his connection with the sphere was cut and the barrier finally disappeared.

    Nyx came out from the other side of the portal, appearing in the Nether Realm, only to find Cylix standing with his hands in the air.

    Even Alion had a grim expression on his face as he stared at the guards of the Nether Realm in the distance.

    It was as if half the forces of the Nether Realm were assigned to the portal to keep an eye on it.

    "If it isn''t the person who infiltrated our cityst time..." The Captain of the Guardsughed, ring at Alion.

    At the moment, other than Karyk, Alion was the most known Criminal since everyone knew he had infiltrated the Royal Cityst time, and that he worked with Karyk.

    Almost everyone had seen Alion''s portrait.

    Alion stood stoically, his eyes fixed on the Captain of the Guards. He could sense the hostility emanating from the guards, but he remained calm andposed.

    "I''m not here to fight. I''m willing to follow you to your King," he finally said, breaking the tense silence that had settled between them.

    At the moment, he didn''t think that he could fight all these people. In the Nether Realm, most of his advantages were taken from him since the surroundings were void of any elemental aura for him to recover his strength with.

    If he fought, it was only going to get worse for him as the fight went on longer. Moreover, protecting Zena was his biggest priority for now.

    The Captain of the Guards were slightly surprised to see Alion surrender without a battle. However, since Alion surrendered, he couldn''t do much either.

    He simply ced specially made shackles on Alion''s hands. Cylix and Nyx went through the same. Even though Zena was unconscious, the same was done for her.

 Chapter 630 630: Enemy Of The Enemy

    Like prisoners, the men were escorted straight to the nearest city.

    To Alion''s surprise, the City was the same as the one that he had infiltrated with Jia when he came herest time. The buildings and all the ces appeared the same, but there was one thing which was different.

    The security of the defense was much higher. Guards could be seen all around the ce. It wasn''t just for this city, but all the cities near the portal had been heavily fortified.

    Alion wasn''t sure if it was because of what he and Karyk did here in the past, or if it was because these people were worried that the person who destroyed Karyk''s world coulde here as well.

    In any case, there didn''t appear to be many ways to escape. He didn''t even know where to find the Lord of Temple of Time in the Nether Realm.

    If he wanted to find the guy in this vastnd, he couldn''t do it alone. He had to take help... He had to somehow convince the Overlords of the Nether Realm to help him, which appeared quite hard, especially with how much he and Karyk had offended them.

    It was already surprising that these people didn''t attack directly at first sight.

    "Who is that woman?" The Captain of the Guards asked Alion, intrigued why the young man was carrying an unconscious woman.

    If it wasn''t for the fact that he didn''t feel the slightest danger from the woman, he never would''ve left her with Alion.

    Not only did the woman not appear to be a threat, but if anything, she appeared to be very fragile, as if she could break apart with the slightest touch.

    The woman had a pale face. Even though she was very beautiful, something felt wrong with her.

    "Do you know what happened outside?" Alion asked the man.

    "I heard. The entire world was destroyed by someone. Then again, you people offended so many, that it was only a matter of time." The Captain of the Guards rolled his eyes. "If that person hadn''t done it, we would''ve done it sooner orter."

    His face was smug, but his eyes also revealed some concern, since he knew just what kind of strength was needed to do it. If that person came to the Nether Realm, it was unlikely that they could avoid this fate.

    "How are you sure that it was done by an enemy and not just a person who goes around destroying worlds for fun? Or have you ever thought if that person was from the Upper Realm? Don''t you have an enmity with the Upper Realm? If I was in your ce, I would''ve been more concerned..."

    Alion knew why they were attacked but he didn''t tell the people from the Nether Realm. Instead, he used theck of their knowledge and their fear of the unknown to his advantage.

    At the moment, the Nether Realm considered them an enemy and the only way to change this situation was to find amon enemy, which could force them to forget their enmity and work together.

    An enemy of an enemy was a friend. This was the thought that Alion wanted to subconsciously push to the Overlords of the Nether Realm.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He was brought inside the City Lord''s Mansion.

    The ce looked much cleaner now. It was as if all the blood traces that he had left behind on this ce were cleared. A new city Lord was assigned to this ce, along with more security.

    The Captain of the Guards approached the City Lord in private, telling him everything. Soon, permission was granted to escort the prisoners to the Royal City.

    With the help of the Silver Haired Undeads, the group was soon escorted right at the center of the Main City of the Nether Realm where the headquarters of all the Major ns was established.

    However, the prisoners were brought to the entrance of the Blood n, which was where the strongest person in the Nether Realm lived.

    Appearing in the main city, Alion noticed that the people here weren''t nervous in the slightest, unlike the people at border towns. It was as if most of them didn''t even hear about a world being destroyed.

    It was as if the secret was kept hidden from them. However, unlike the citizens, the Guards at the entrance of the Blood n Mansion were more alert and serious.

    Even though it was the Captain of the Border Guards who arrived, they still didn''t allow him an entry right away.

    They first checked all the guards thoroughly to make sure that there was nothing wrong with them and no one was being impersonated. After that, they asked for the reason behind the arrival of the Captain of Guards.

    One guard entered the pce with the reasoning, and only after getting permission from inside was anyone allowed to enter.

    Fortunately, the man didn''t have to wait for long. The guard soon returned, telling them that they could enter. In fact, he personally escorted all the people inside, including the prisoners.

    Instead of being taken straight to the Overlord of the Nether Realm, Alion and the others were taken to the underground cells where they were imprisoned for the time being.

    At the same time, the Captain of the Guards went to meet the patriarch of the Blood n to give him an update personally.

    "Do you think they will try to kill us?" Cylix asked Alion, since it was his first time here properly.

    "If we y our cards right, they won''t. However, they probably hate us quite a lot, so it won''t be easy." Alion let out a sigh, as he ced Zena on the ground.

    With each passing second, he could see that her condition was worsening. They had to find the Head of the Temple of Time as soon as possible.

    "Just wait a little longer. I promise you, that I won''t let anything happen to you. You''re my responsibility and I''ll make sure I get you better!" He patted the head of the little girl.

 Chapter 631 631: Offer

    Alion and the others waited in the Cell to be called by the King of Nether Realm, from where everything else depended on their convincing ability. However, none of them realized that at the moment, there was another person in the nearby cell right next to them.

    A woman in her early twenties sat in the next cell with shackles around her wrists which prevented her from using any magic.

    The woman was listening to everything that was being spoken in the nearby cell; however she remained silent. If Gabriel was here, he would''ve been slightly surprised to find her here since she was someone he knew.

    She was the first person who approached him after he Awakened the Element of Death. She was also the one who tried to kill him in the Tower of Challenges. She was Lira who possessed the Mark of Darkness.

    Even though she didn''t speak anything but she did understand a few things that were being spoken. Amongst them, she recognized the voice of Alion, thanks to the voice in her head telling him about it.

    If it wasn''t for Alion, she could''ve tried to talk to them so they could all escape. However, since Alion would have recognized her, she hesitated.

    In fact she still found it hard to believe that she was caught the moment she escaped to the Nether Realm after the other world was turned into a Domain by Gabriel.

    For the entire night, there was no movement. However, in the early hours, one guard approached the Cell.

    He told Alion to get out and follow him after unlocking the cell. All the others were to wait inside until Alion returned.

    Alion was wary, but didn''t see any other option. As they walked through the dark corridors, the guard told him to remember his pce and be respectful to their King.

    Alion didn''t react but he knew what he had to do. Thest thing he wanted to do was to antagonize that person. Thest time was already enough.

    After walking for merely ten minutes, he was brought before arge metallic door. The door was opened by the guards who pushed Alion inside before closing the door.

    Inside the Hall, there were multiple people present already. However, the ones who grabbed most of his attention were three old men.

    In the middle was the Head of the Blood n, who was the strongest person in the Nether Realm. On his left was an old man with dragon-like horns protruding out of his head. He was the Patriarch of the Nether Dragon n.

    On the right was a pale lifeless man, whose eyes appeared to be dead without any emotions on them. It was the Patriarch of the Undead n.

    All three of the strongest people in the Nether Realm were here, which showed how much importance they gave this matter.

    The destruction of a world threatened the entire Nether Realm and if even Karyk couldn''t stop it despite having a Domain of his own, then they worried about their ability of stopping this if it ever came to the Nether Realm.

    Moreover, they had also heard by Captain that Alion mentioned the Upper Realm being behind it, which made them even more wary since it was also their enemy.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    They wanted to know everything about that incident to make preparations for themselves.

    "Speak! Why did youe here? And what do you want?" The old man from the Nether Dragon n asked Alion at the same time as a heavy pressure descended on Alion''s shoulder to force him down to his knees.

    Alion didn''t resist. Even if he had to go down to his knees to save that girl, he was willing.

    "I came here for two things! One is to help myself, and the other is to help you!" Alion spoke, keeping his head down.

    "borate." The Head of the Blood n spoke.

    "As you already know, our world was destroyed by the Upper Realm. In that destruction, everything was lost. Even we barely managed to survive. However, there was one person who couldn''te out unscathed..."

    Alion told them everything that happened to Zena. However, he hid some important things like the real identity of the person who attacked them or why Zena specifically was targeted because he didn''t want them to know that Karyk was alive.

    "To save her, I need to find a person who might be hiding in the Nether Realm! That''s all the help I want!" He eximed. "And in exchange, I''m willing to help you. Because you know as well that sooner orter, you''ll be targeted by the Upper Realm as well. You''ll go through the same thing that we went through!"

    "We might not have the best of rtionships, but there is no one that I hate more than the person that destroyed our world, and I want to help you protect this ce and kill that person with everything I have!"

    "I need a new home to live, and I am willing to swear my loyalty to the Nether Realm. All I ask in exchange is that you allow me to save her!"

    The three leaders of the Nether Realm looked at each other but none of them spoke anything. They were told everything that they needed to know, which didn''t leave much room for questions. Alion also exined why he wanted to side with them, which didn''t appear to be a lie.

    However, despite that, they couldn''t agree to him without discussing it. The three Overlords told the guards to send Alion back to the Cell as they needed to discuss.

    In return, Alion was told that he was going to get their decision the next day. Until then, he had to stay in the cell.

    ****

    After Alion was brought back to the cell, the Guards moved to the next cell and brought the Lira out, escorting her to their Lords as per theirmand.

    Since Alion had just returned and was exining what happened to the others, his back was towards the bars, making him unable to see Lira walk past.

 Chapter 632 632: Freedom

    An unknown amount of time had passed since Gabriel started killing the Beasts of Abyss, slowly moving deeper and deeper into the Abyss.

    There was no sense of time in the Abyss. There was no day and there was no night, which made it feel as if he had been doing the same team without a break for years.

    Moreover, he didn''t even get tired thanks to the dagger made from the Devil''s Blood. With each life he room, his own life essence increased, removing all his tiredness, as if the Dagger was made especially to kill.

    Gabriel even forgot the count of how many beasts he killed.... thousand? Hundred thousand? Millions or even hundreds of millions? However no matter how many he killed, there were always more Abyssal Beasts to be found.

    It was as if there were an endless number of Abyssal Beasts in the Abyss that was beyond imagination. He was still at the edge of the Outer Zone, but the deeper he went, the stronger the beasts became.

    Even with the Dagger, it was bing slightly hard for him to kill them, and that was when he didn''t even reach the core of the Abyss yet.

    At this rate, he didn''t know if he could ever leave the Abyss. The end didn''t appear to be at sight since the dagger didn''t show just how many more he had to kill.

    However, right when he was in the middle of the battle, the Dagger in his hand started shining brightly, buzzing with incredible strength, before it wentpletely silent.

    Seeing that phenomenon, Gabriel was slightly confused. However, soon he understood what it implied. His eyes lit up. With a singlestrike he killed the rest of the Abyssal Beasts before rushing back!

    The Dagger was finally full, after what appeared like an eternity. He was finally done! All he had to do was to get back to the Devil and leave this ce! That was hisst hope.

    He didn''t know how deep he had flown into the Abyss, but thanks to the dagger, he wasn''t lost on his way back. Even then, it took him close to a week to return to the Devil who stood still in the empty space.

    The shackles around his body were still not visible, making it appear as if he was free to move. However, Gabriel knew that it wasn''t the case.

    As soon as Gabriel reached closer to the Devil, the Devil opened his eyes, sending the presence of the Dagger with a high amount of Abyssal Blood.

    Seeing the dagger, his eyes revealed a shine. He finally had what he needed to be free from the shackles! Time flew differently in the Abyss. He had been trapped here for an eternity. Seeing freedom in sight, he grew eager.

    Moreover, the mes of revenge intensified in his heart once again. He could finally pay back all the humiliation that he had received!

    "Give me the dagger!" He told Gabriel. However, to his surprise, Gabriel remained still.

    "How can I be sure that after getting the dagger and being free, you won''t backstab me?" Gabriel asked.

    "Unlike you humans, I don''t lie!" The Devil grimly stated. "If you help me, I shall help you once. Moreover, our revenge targets are the same. Why would I kill you?!"<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Even though it was a saying that one must never believe the devil, the Devil before Gabriel really didn''t appear to have a reason to backstab him since Gabriel''s presence was more helpful to him than his absence.

    Other than his words, there was no way for the Devil to prove it. The Heavenly Oath didn''t work on him, since he was already equal to heaven itself! Even Gabriel realized that the heavenly oath wasn''t going to work here.

    In that regard, he had no option but to go with his gut feeling. If he was right, he was going to be free. If he was wrong, he was going to be dead.

    However, instead of living for an eternity here, he still much preferred to take that risk.

    He made up his mind and tossed the dagger toward the Devil.

    The Devil raised his hand, grabbing the dagger. The chains entrapping him became visible once again.

    Instead of cutting the chains with the dagger, the Devil stabbed that dagger in his own chest, surprising Gabriel.

    Gabriel was slightly taken aback. However, he had a feeling that this wasn''t the Devil trying to kill himself.

    His instincts were proven right when the dagger melted and was absorbed within the body of the Devil.

    Even though Gabriel stood at some distance from the devil, he could still feel a terrifying torrential energy shrouding the Devil. With each passing second, his strength was increasing and it didn''t stop increasing.

    The Devil became much stronger as Worldly Laws appeared all over his skin, trying to stop him. However, all those worldlyws were shattered, unable to stop the Devil.

    One after another, all the chains started shattering into a thousand pieces, disappearing in the Abyss as the Devil started recovering his old strength!

    The strength that Gabriel felting from the Devil made him take a few steps back, feeling as if he was suffocating under the terrifying aura. The Devil''s strength was truly beyond his understanding.

    If the Devil was this strong, it made Gabriel wonder just how strong was the person who trapped him in the first ce, especially in the Abyss which was the home of the Devil.

    With this strength, Gabriel was even more convinced that the Devil could bring him out of the abyss, freeing him as well. His fists tightened at the thought of meeting Caen again!

    Thest time, he couldn''t do anything. However this time, Gabriel had made up his mind! Now he had a powerful ally as well! He was going to bring the Realm of Gods to ruins, destroying everything that Caen held dear, just like Caen destroyed everything he held dear!

 Chapter 633 633: Taste Of Freedom

    The shackles around the Devil kept breaking apart, one after another. As more and more chains broke, he was able to use even more strength to break the chains even faster.

    The chains that were made by a being that was considered to be the strongest broke like they were made of a thinyer of ss, unable to resist the onught of the brutal force resisting them.

    After an unknown amount of time, the chains were finally brokenpletely, freeing the Devil from its grasp.

    Even as the Devil was freed from the shackles, his strength didn''t stop increasing at all. The entire space around him was breaking apart slowly.

    Even the Abyssal Beasts at the core of the Abyss sensed that strength yet terrifying energy which made them tremble to their core.

    A massive storm of terrifying energy spun around the Devil, only getting bigger and bigger with each passing second. Even Gabriel felt threatened from the storm, feeling as if he might be devoured if he got closer to the terrifying storm. He kept moving back slowly.

    After a long time, a powerful road was heard,ing from within the storm of energy. Following that roar, the storm disappeared, revealing the Devil who now had not a single trace of aura around him, as if he was now able to control his strength perfectly.

    Moreover, the Devil appeared slightly different now. His wings had disappeared. It was unclear if he could call them out again or not.

    At the same time, his skin appeared to be more human-like. If it wasn''t for the identical horns on the head of the Devil, Gabriel would''ve even wondered if the devil had leftand another human appeared in his ce.

    Another thing that the person before him had inmon with the devil were his pitch ck eyes.

    The Devil nced at Gabriel in the distance. However, there was no malice in his eyes. If anything, he revealed a strange sense of understanding.

    He didn''t thank Gabriel for freeing him. However, he was somewhat grateful for the human that helped him.

    Initially, he used to hate humans a lot. However, he found some familiarity with Gabriel, since he was betrayed by the same people, trapped here.

    To him, Gabriel was less of a human and more of a person simr to him.

    "We didn''t introduce ourselves. I am Gabriel." Not showing fear, Gabriel came closer to the Devil who simply frowned.

    "We are leaving..." He didn''t respond more than he had to.

    He simply appeared next to Gabriel, surprising the young man with his speed. Gabriel couldn''t be sure who was faster? Caen or this Devil? However, he had a feeling that the man next to him was slightly faster and he still hadn''t shown all he was capable of.

    He raised his right hand. With a single movement of his finger, he managed to slice apart the space of the abyss which was said to be impossible to escape.

    The small spatial crack became bigger, until it was big enough for two people to pass through, and leave the Abyss.

    The Devil was the first to enter the portal. However, as he entered, his voice fell in Gabriel''s ears. "I am Ezekiel..."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Gabriel couldn''t help but shake his head. Even though the Devil appeared to be scary, but he wasn''t truly evil, at least ording to what he had seen so far. Moreover, Ezekiel also helped him get out of this ce. He was much better than the people that wanted nothing more than to kill him!

    "Thank you, Ezekiel..." He muttered before he also entered the portal, finally getting out of the prison.

    Even though he didn''t understand how he was still alive without a heart, but at the moment, it didn''t matter. What mattered was the destruction of people who took his family and his heart from him!

    As Gabriel stepped out of the Abyss, he appeared within one of the multiple Lower worlds of the Universe. He could finally breathe in the fresh air that wasn''t tainted by the Abyss! He could finally use his Elements.

    Moreover, to his surprise, as he came out, he noticed that his control over the Element of Light and Darkness had increased by a lot.

    He could also use his Elements freely now that he was outside, without needing that dagger.

    With a single wave of his hand, his clothes changed into something he made through the darkness.

    His entire attire changed to ck, along with a fluttering robe on his back which was made from the darkness. However, that wasn''t all.

    "Where are we?" He asked Ezekiel. However, Ezekiel didn''t reply.

    Ezekiel simply stood there in a daze, looking in the distance. It was as if he still couldn''t believe that he was finally out! After what appeared to be an eternity, he was finally free!

    The world before him looked unfamiliar. He had forgotten what the outside world was like. All he remembered was the endless darkness of the abyss, and the silence where he could only hear the beating of his heart and nothing else.

    However, now that he was outside, he could hear so many more things. He could hear the rustling of wind against the nearby trees. He could hear humans talking, hundreds of miles away from him. He could hear the chirping of birds and even the sound of rain from far away.

    "Are you alright?" Gabriel asked, waving his hand before Ezekiel. It was only after Gabriel did that, Ezekiel came out of his daze.

    "I want to see how the world has changed in the thousands of years I''ve been trapped..." Ezekiel spoke. His curiosity took over him.

    After an endless nightmare, he finally wanted to see just what he had missed.

    Even though it was Gabriel''s first time in this lower world, and he much rather wanted to go to the Realm of Gods first, he agreed.

    "Let me find where the nearest city is," he raised his right hand, creating small birds made from his shadow. However, Ezekiel simply shook his head, pointing in a specific direction.

    "People... There..." He spoke as he started flying.

    "Wait!" Gabriel flew behind Ezekiel who hadn''t even disguised his horns.

 Chapter 634 634: Scamming The Gods?

    Gabriel was worried that Ezekiel''s appearance could scare the people. However, before he could say anything, the young devil had left. It was also impossible for him to catch up to Ezekiel.

    By the time Gabriel reached the nearest city, Ezekiel was already standing in the middle of the City, curiously looking at the surroundings.

    Just as Gabriel expected, the humans in that area were scared immediately from the man''s appearance. Not only did the man have hornsing out of his head, but he also had pitch ck eyes that appeared like they could devour a person with just one nce.

    His sudden appearance was so scary that the humans started running, trying to get as far away from the Devil as possible. Everyone looked to get to a safe ce and to hide.

    Gabrielnded next to Ezekiel, letting out a sigh.

    Ezekiel asked, frowning. "Why is everyone running?"

    With how loud these people were, his heightened hearing sensation became an even bigger curse for him. He couldn''t help but rub his forehead.

    Before Gabriel could even answer, Ezekiel had had enough. He tapped his foot lightly in the group.

    The entire town was covered in an abyss-like domain, trapping all the humans inside.

    Not only were the humans frozen where they were, but they also couldn''t speak or make any movement. They couldn''t even move their pupils, as if they were frozen in time.

    Ezekiel rubbed his ears, feeling much better now that everyone was silent and no one was screaming.

    "Much better." Hemented, before ncing at Gabriel and asking, "Yeah, you were saying something?"

    Gabriel couldn''t help but facepalm himself. He held Ezekiel''s hands and flew away, dragging the devil with him.

    The devil appeared confused but he didn''t resist since he didn''t feel threatened. "What are you doing?"

    "We are going to a different city. This one is no good now. Also, before we enter the next City, you need to disguise yourself," Gabriel exined. "How did you expect them to react after seeing your horns and your eyes?"

    "My horns and eyes? What''s wrong with them?" The Devil asked in confusion. It was as if it was the first time he received this reaction.

    Gabriel couldn''t help but shake his head. "Humans are mentally weak. They are often scared of what they don''t understand. You appear different from them, which scared them. If I''m not wrong, in this world, there isn''t any being with horns or those eyes. So it''s better if you disguise yourself to fit in with them."

    Even though Ezekiel didn''t understand what Gabriel was saying, but he nodded. Gabriel was supposed to know more about this since he lived outside the abyss after all.

    The Devil closed his eyes. To Gabriel''s surprise, when he opened his eyes again, they appeared to be simr to Gabriel''s eyes in color. His eyes finally appeared normal.

    Not just that, but his horns also disappeared. Even though Gabriel could still feel that they weren''t gone. It was just that no one could see them anymore because of the powerful Illusion cast by Ezekiel.

    Since Ezekiel didn''t have any aura around him, he appeared like an ordinary human entirely.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Is it better?" He asked Gabriel.

    "Much better. We should get a better reaction now. However, one more thing. I''m not sure if the people in this world can use the Elements or any supernatural powers. That''s why, we should avoid using that, for as long as you want to experience what humans are like now."

    The Devil nodded once again. For just one day, he wanted to experience how much humans had changed. He wanted to experience all that he had missed.

    This time, Gabrielnded as they reached near the next City. Instead of flying inside andnding right at the center of the City, he and Ezekiel passed through the main entrance.

    This time, Ezekiel didn''t attract a simr reaction like before. There were no people who were running away from him, screaming. Everything appeared quite normal.

    Walking through the streets next to Gabriel, he could see ordinary people. Some were walking, as if they were in a hurry to get to their work. Others were selling items on the streets.

    There were also many kids nearby, ying with each other. It was an ordinary human city with no traces of magic like Gabriel expected.

    Ezekiel stopped before a street vendor who was selling bitter gourds. He picked it up, taking a bite.

    It had been so long since he ate something. In the Abyss, there was nothing to eat. If he wasn''t immortal, he would''ve died from hunger a long time ago in the Abyss.

    After that experience, it was his first time tasting something.

    However, as soon as he took a bite, he spat it on the ground.

    "It is bitter!" Heined to Gabriel, before ring at the vendor. "You dare use poison?!"

    Fortunately, Gabriel was right next to him. He stepped before Ezekiel, stopping him on time before he could have destroyed the soul and body of the vendor in front of him!

    "That''s not poisonous. Calm down. That''s a fruit which is supposed to be bitter. Here, try this." Gabriel in his haste picked up an ordinary and sweet fruit, giving it to Ezekiel to calm him down.

    Meanwhile the vendor looked at the two people as if he was looking at a group of crazies.

    "That''s one Silver Coin!" He frowned, asking for money for the fruits.

    Unfortunately for him, even Gabriel didn''t have any money, at least not the currency of this world. However, instead of that, he did have many treasures.

    He brought out a precious ne that he had picked up somewhere, cing it on the table. "Give us the currency of this ce in exchange for this. You can deduct one silver."

    The Vendor looked at Gabriel even weirdly. From Gabriel''s words, he felt that these people were from foreign and didn''t know anything about this ce. This made him feel as if he could really fool them.

    "This... This is barely worth one silver. However, being a kind person, I''ll let you go!" He took the precious ne, keeping it in his pocket. "Now scram!"

 Chapter 635 635: Good Humans

    "Now scram!" The vendor scolded Gabriel, keeping the ne in his pocket. "Next time, don''t take things if you can''t afford it. Not everyone here is as nice as me."

    Gabriel couldn''t help but be amazed at the audacity of this person. No matter how expensive the currency of this world was, it could never be worth a single fruit. Especially since he could clearly see the greed on the face of the person.

    "You should control that greed of yours. It might harm you quite a lot in the end." Gabriel reminded the man. For him, that ne was worth nothing. He had even more precious yet useless things in his storage ring. However, he did feel quite irritated because of the man.

    "Are you threatening me?" The Vendor red back at Gabriel.

    "This one was better!" Ezekiel chimed in, finishing the fruit he was given. He picked up another simr fruit and started eating as he observed the people in the streets.

    Seeing him nonchntly take the fruit even after all this, the Vendor was even more furious. Even though he got something more precious that his entire stock was worth, he didn''t consider it.

    "You, thief! I''ve had enough!" The Vendor reached out his hand. Before Gabriel could intervene, the Vendor''s hands were on Ezekiel''s cor.

    He tried his best to pull Ezekiel back but the man proved to be even heavier than a mountain.

    Even Gabriel has had enough of the man. He grabbed the wrist of the man, crushing it in his grip, taking his hands off from Ezekiel''s cor.

    Meanwhile, Ezekiel turned around, feeling someone try to pull him. However, by the time he turned around, he only noticed the Vendor''s wrist in Gabriel''s hands.

    "That''s enough." Gabriel told the Vendor. "Don''t test your luck!"

    The vendor didn''t know why, but he felt as if thousands of ants were crawling all over his body, biting him. However, he couldn''t even cry or scream. Some mysterious force was keeping him restricted.

    He could also feel an invisible hand around his throat, as if warning him that he could lose his life at any second.

    Fortunately, Gabriel didn''t want to spoil the experience of his new friend, who was here to experience how humans lived. They already had to run away from one town. He didn''t want to do the same since it was only a waste of his time.

    "Next time, I won''t speak. However, I won''t leave you able to speak either..." Gabriel freed the wrist of the man. "Use the extra you get from that ne to have your wrist treated."

    After freeing the man, he picked up a few more fruits from the stall, and gave it to Ezekiel.

    "What was that about?" Ezekiel asked.

    However, Gabriel simply told Ezekiel everything that happened, including the greed of the man.

    "There are many humans in every world. However, not all humans are good. Some are greedy, while some are outright evil. However, there are also some genuinely good people," Gabriel spoke. However, in between he stopped. When he thought of good people, he couldn''t help but remember Cylix and Novius.

    Both of them should''ve been back to life by now. However, the world itself was destroyed, which meant they were dead, unable to return.

    Cylix and Novius were the first two people who showed Gabriel that humans could indeed be nice, from the bottom of their hearts.

    They made him differentiate between the good and evil. They were also the ones who taught him so much about the world, and how he could safeguard himself.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    However, thinking about them also made him realize that he could never see them again. They were gone forever, just like his sister and Avilia, all because of Caen.

    Thinking about this, his eyes lowered and he stopped talking.

    Ezekiel noticed the change in Gabriel''s emotions but he didn''t ask. He had a guess that it had something to do with how he ended up in the Abyss. It was clear that the young man next to him had also lost many precious people to him, just like he had lost.

    "So we need what you call the coins to take things in this ce?" He asked, changing the topic.

    From where he was, there was no such concept. At least it wasn''t something he had seen before. No one ever asked him for money in the past, or even showed any difort as he took things. He always thought that''s how the world was supposed to be.

    "That''s how the world works in most ces," Gabriel came out of his daze and nodded. "At least in human society. I don''t know how it works in the Realm of Gods."

    "Wait a minute. I''ll be right back. I''ll exchange some jewels for the coins," he added, noticing a jewelry shop nearby.

    Since he wanted to give Ezekiel an experience of an ordinary life, he wanted to use the official currency so previous problems couldn''t ur again.

    He told Ezekiel to wait for him, as he rushed inside the jewelry shop, bringing some previous jewels from his storage.

    ****

    Only a few minutes had passed since Gabriel entered the jewelry shop to sell some jewels like an ordinary human would''ve, to get some money.

    He made sure to tell Ezekiel to not go anywhere else, and just wait for him right where he was.

    However, he didn''t expect that just shortly after he entered the jewelry shop, something was going to happen outside.

    The Vendor whose wrist was crushed by Gabriel came running, while holding his broken wrist. However, he wasn''t alone.

    There were close to ten guards next to him.

    "There he is! He''s the thief! He stole from me, and his friend did some evil magic and even broke my hand! Catch him!" The Vendor eximed.

    Half the Guards surrounded Ezekiel, aiming their guns at the man. "Where is that evil wizard friend of yours?!"

    "Evil Wizard?" Ezekiel tilted his head sideways. "If you''re talking about that kid, he went inside there."

    He didn''t have to lie to them. To him, these were just a bunch of ants.

    The other half of the guards rushed inside the jewelry shop with the vendor to catch Gabriel.

 Chapter 636 636: Changing The World

    Gabriel had thought that the world didn''t know magic. However, that''s where he made a mistake. Even though rare, this world also had something called the Wizards. However, the wizards were something that were considered taboo.

    The government had banned all magic, and all the wizards who were discovered, were to be shot down, along with their allies.

    Most people didn''t even know about the wizards in this world since they were so rare, and the government kept their existence a secret from most ordinary people, killing one whenever one was discovered.

    In fact, most of the time, only a small usation was enough and people were killed without any investigation. That''s how scared people were of Wizards, especially the government.

    ording to them, it was better to kill a thousand innocent humans than to let a Wizard escape!

    The only reason the guards didn''t shoot Ezekiel yet was because they wanted the information about the whereabouts of the so-called Wizard.

    As soon as they got the information, the Cops didn''t hesitate in taking out the person who was simply standing there, eating the fruit he received from Gabriel.

    Bang~

    Five continued shooting sounds were heard, followed by another five which came from inside the jewelry shop.

    The cops shot Ezekiel. However, to their surprise, the bullets didn''t harm Ezekiel in the least. The bullets hit him, and passed through his body. However, the wounds closed on their own, leaving no traces! Even the clothes of Ezekiel healed itself.

    Unfortunately for them, Ezekiel didn''t take this attack and the murderous intent of these people kindly. It was especially so since their bullet destroyed thest fruit that he had received, before he could even eat.

    The illusion around him disappeared. His ordinary eyes returned to their pitch ck color. His horns slowly became visible.

    As soon as the cops watched how Ezekiel looked in reality, they were marily frozen. The man before him... He wasn''t a Wizard! He was something that they hadn''t seen before.

    In fear, they started shooting recklessly at Ezekiel. However, this time, their bullets didn''t even reach the man.

    The yfulness in Ezekiel''s eyes had disappeared, returning to the coldness that he possessed when he was in the Abyss.

    He raised his right hand, giving birth to the abyssal energy around him. However, this time, he didn''t hold back his strength.

    The cops felt true fear, feeling as if they couldn''t breathe at all! It was as if the air itself had turned into poison! The Abyssal Energy kept destroying their body from inside, and outside.

    They held their throats, struggling for a single gasp of oxygen. However, they weren''t the only ones who were suffering from this.

    It was the same for the entire city.

    In the meanwhile, some bullets were also fired at Gabriel, who was just collecting silver coins. In fact, the cops didn''t even call him out, before they shot him from behind.

    However, unlike Ezekiel, Gabriel wasn''t hit. His ck robe, made from his element, acted like a barrier, which made it impossible for the bullets to pass through.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    However, as Gabriel turned around, he noticed the Vendor, who was hiding behind the cops now.

    "S-see?! I told you he does evil magic!" He eximed, telling the cops to keep shooting until they killed this evil man.

    However, to his surprise, Gabriel''s figure disappeared the next moment. He appeared right behind the vendor, grabbing him by his throat.

    The next moment, he disappeared again. He appeared high in the sky, as if he had simply teleported. However, he was still holding onto the middle aged vendor.

    "I told you, don''t test your luck!" Gabriel told the man. "However, since you''re so interested, let me test your luck as well. Let''s see if you can survive the fall, my dear friend..."

    "N-no!" The Vendor struggled, almost begging. However, right before his eyes, Gabriel released his grasp. He had given this man so many chances, but he still didn''t let them have a peaceful time!

    As Gabriel released his grip, the man''s heavy body fell down the ground. His screams echoed loud.

    Gabriel appeared back inside the shop. However, to his surprise, all the people inside the shop were dead by now. He should also feel the Abyssal Energy everywhere, which was poisonous to the humans.

    Frowning, he rushed out the ship. Just as he expected, there were more dead cops outside, and in the middle stood Ezekiel, simply looking in the distance at all the destruction he caused.

    "Are you alright?" Gabriel asked, stepping closer to Ezekiel.

    "It was my fault for trying to know these insects... They can never change..." Ezekiel coldly stated. His curiosity for the unknown new world, his happiness for freedom, and the endless entrapment, all of that had made him forget a lot of things rted to the past.

    However, slowly, he was remembering a lot...

    "I''ve wasted enough time!" He spoke, raising his right hand. "It''s time I give the Gods a visit!"

    Following the movement of his hand, the entire space before him was cracked open. The man calmly stepped inside the portal.

    Gabriel took a nce at all the destruction around him, before he also stepped inside the portal

    After the two entered the spatial crack, the portal closed on its own. The surroundings returned to normal, but an entire city has be barren for years toe.

    For the next few years, the government tried to find out just what had happened, yet they couldn''t find anything. They could only me the unknown into the wizards, increasing their forces that were made to hunt the wizards. The information about the Wizards was also made public.

    A new war was on the horizon for the humans and the Wizards, that had the potential to change the entirendscape of this World, yet no one actually knew just what happened in the city that started it...

    And the man who started it, had already left on his own journey, to get revenge for everything he was forced to go through!

 Chapter 637 637: Test Of Strength

    A Spatial Portal opened at the entrance of the Realm of Gods.

    Ezekiel stepped out of the Spatial Portal, apanied by Gabriel. This was as far as the spatial portal could take them, since from this point onwards was the barrier that protected the Realm of Gods from attacks from outsiders.

    It was said that the barrier had been present since ancient times. Other than the pure bloods from the Realm of Gods, no one else could pass through that barrier to enter the Realm of Gods.

    No one knew who actually made this barrier, since even for gods, it had always been there from as far as they could remember.

    However, what was certain was that the barrier was incredibly powerful, and it also served as a warning to would-be attackers that the Realm of Gods was not to be trifled with.

    One could attack the barrier with all their strength, but the barrier was able to reflect the damage by making it even more powerful.

    This barrier protected the Realm of Gods from outsider attacks. However, no one dared to attack this ce in the first ce.

    Let alone attack, most people didn''t even know where the Realm of Gods actually was. That was why there were no Guards at this ce.

    Gabriel reached out his hand, touching the barrier. However, he quickly took his hand back, feeling as if his hand was going to burn if he was a single secondte.

    Ezekiel hadn''t moved from the start. He simply observed this barrier, which protected the Realm of Gods from attacks by the Abyssal Beings as well.

    That''s why, unless someone opened the portal to the Abyss from inside the Realm of Gods, no Abyssal Being could enter the Realm of Gods.

    After a brief period of silence, Ezekiel told Gabriel to move aside. He was ready to attack! No matter what, he had made up his mind that he was going to break this barrier today and bring the Realm of Gods into ruins.

    Gabriel left the barrier to Ezekiel, before moving back. There was no denying that Ezekiel was stronger.

    Ezekiel raised his arm and with a screeching roar, unleashed a massive st of dark energy straight towards the barrier.

    The energy hit the barrier with a loud thud, causing a minor ripple on its surface but did not break through. On the contrary, the simr energy came back in his direction, bing twice as powerful.

    Ezekiel didn''t get to dodge the dark sphere of energy. Instead, he used his hands to grab the dark Sphere of energy, but not to stop it.

    Rather than stopping it, he maintained the momentum of the ominous Sphere of energy, rotating his body and increasing the Sphere''s power as heunched it toward the barrier with force.

    The sphere of dark energy shed with the barrier once again, causing an even bigger ripple. However, in the end, it was once again deflected. However, Ezekiel didn''t stop either.

    Even as Ezekiel felt his hands burn everything he caught the dark Sphere, but before his anger and his years of suffering, this pain was nothing.

    He kept firing the dark Sphere back, which kept getting stronger and stronger with each passing second.

    In fact, within a short time, the energy inside the dark sphere had be so strong that it could destroy a world with ease if it fell.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The dark sphere also continued getting bigger as more and more energy was gathered inside, until it was the size of a small star.

    Gabriel could only watch the scene before him in amazement. Ezekiel had such great control over his energy that it was stunning.

    Everytime he grabbed the Sphere and tossed it back, it appeared as if his body was in perfect synergy.

    However, he didn''t appear to be in a good condition either, as every time he touched that sphere which was bolstered by the energy of the barrier, he was hurt.

    ck blood trickled down his lips, but he didn''t stop, especially when he noticed a very small crack develop on the barrier. The crack was barely noticeable by human eyes, but for him, that was the proof that the barrier wasn''t invincible!

    Even gods couldn''t stop him! He just had to increase the momentum to the point that let alone the barrier, even if he wouldn''t be able to stop that attack!

    Every time the dark sphere shed with the barrier, it was reflected back. However, the energy pulses of each sh spread in every direction. The energy pulses could even be felt in the God Realm which was millions of light years away from the edge of the protective barrier.

    The gods in the Realm of Gods felt the terrifying energy pulses, which made even the ground tremble.

    ****

    After ''killing'' Gabriel, Caen hadn''t returned to the Realm of Gods. Instead, he went to another world to have some fun.

    There was nothing in the realm of gods for him, since his uncle Janus wasn''t there either. He also knew that he was only going to get a lecture from his mother for leavingand killing Gabriel, despite her warnings. That''s why he wasn''t in any hurry.

    Instead, he traveled to the world that he hadn''t explored before and continued having fun, not realizing that the Realm of Gods was under attack.

    Instead, he and his friends enjoyed their stay in the Lower Realms, using humans and every living being for their entertainment like pawns.

    Other than Caen, most of his friends even enjoyed sleeping with mortal women. Whenever they went, they asked for the most beautiful women to be gathered for their entertainment.

    On the contrary, Caen was not interested in such things, as he felt that touching a mortal was going to dirty his hands.

    He yed in many different ways with the mortals, as if they were nothing more than ants, who were born for his entertainment and nothing more.

    ****

    The Realm of Gods was under attack. However, neither Caen, nor Janus was there. Caen''s mother was the only person of authority who was still there.

    She was standing before the small pond, in which four mysterious fishes were floating.

 Chapter 638 638: Return

    In the mysterious pond, four fishes existed. However, amongst the four, two appeared to be somewhat restless. On the other hand, the remaining two appeared to be in a different world of their own.

    Caen''s mother reached out her hand toward the pond. However, as her fingers were about to touch the crystal clear water, she stopped. There were knocks on the door.

    She let out a sigh as she retracted her hand. She stood up, and nced at the door. The next second, her figure disappeared.

    She appeared on the other side of the door, appearing right behind the person who was knocking on the door.

    "I am here." Her melodious voice fell in the man''s ears who was knocking.

    The Guard turned around, bowing respectfully. "All the Gods are here, asking for a meeting with you. Lord Caen and Lord Janus are both absent as well... With the attack on the barrier getting stronger, the gods are getting restless."

    She nodded, her expression serene. "Tell them I will meet them in the main hall.''

    As she finished speaking, she disappeared once again.

    The Guard bowed once more before leaving to ry the message to the rest of the Gods.

    As Caen''s mother left the pond, she didn''t notice that something had started changing within the pond. The two restless fishes were slowly being shrouded in a strange darkness that made them even more restless.

    The Gods didn''t take action, even though they were eager to check who was daring enough to attack them.

    Under the new rules of the God Realm, no one could leave without informing the Guardian of the Realm of Gods.

    The only person who never followed the Rule was Caen, who even brought his friends without any permission, since he considered the entire realm of gods to be his own property.

    In Janus'' absence, the gods still didn''t ignore the rules and came to Caen''s mother, who was inmand.

    All the Gods gathered in the meeting hall. Seats were arranged for all of them, however, there was only one throne in the middle, which was empty.

    The Throne had been empty ever since Chaos destroyed half the Realm of Godsst time. Ever since then, no new King had been decided yet, but almost everyone knew who was going to be the next King. It was only a matter of time.

    All the gods could feel the ground trembling within their feet. The trembling was only getting stronger as Ezekiel''s attacks on the barrier were intensifying.

    Caen''s mother appeared next to the throne. However she didn''t sit down. She felt the ground tremble as well. Not just that, she could also feel a trace of the aura that she found familiar.

    Seeing the Goddess of Reincarnation arrive, all the Gods stood up. Not only was she Caen''s mother, but she was also the sister inw of the Guardian of the God Realm. And more importantly, she was the wife of Chaos.

    Even though that man had disappeared, almost everyone here still remembered the fear he had cast in their hearts.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "You may sit." The Goddess of Reincarnation gestured for everyone to sit.

    "This isn''t the time to sit! We are under attack!" One of the Old Gods eximed. Even though he had absolute faith in their barrier, he didn''t want to sit idly. He wanted to go out and crush the person who was attacking them.

    "We need to leave and destroy everyone who dares to attack us!" Another God stated. "Since we haven''t revealed ourselves for so long these people have started taking us lightly! We need to remind them just who we are!"

    The Goddess of Reincarnation remained silent, as all the Gods talked about going out and letting the world know their ce.

    "Silence." After quite some time, she raised her voice, making the entire hall turn silent.

    "Do you realize who is attacking us?" she asked.

    She knew that most of the power here only knew that someone was attacking them, but they didn''t know who it was. They didn''t even think just how strong the person had to be, if he could make the entire Realm of Gods tremble.

    However, she was different. She could feel exactly who that person was, as she was there when that person was sealed by Chaos! It was a being that even Chaos wasn''t able to kill, so he only sealed him from where he could never escape.

    "To think that he managed to escape... This should''ve been impossible," shemented.

    The reason Chaos sealed Ezekiel in the Abyss was because he was the only person who could enter the Abyss! No one else could enter that ce to help that being!

    As the woman thought about it, she realized that now there was another person who could enter the Abyss... her son! However, she was certain that her son wasn''t going to free that thing! Yet, she also had a feeling that her son had a hand in it, since he was also missing.

    "Who are you talking about?" One of the Gods asked. For the Goddess of Reincarnation to talk with such seriousness, he had a feeling that she knew the person who was attacking them.

    "The Demon of the Night, Ezekiel..." The Goddess of Reincarnation stated.

    Within an instant, the entire hall went silent. Even though such a long time had passed, many people remembered that name. It was the dark past of the Realm of Gods.

    When that incident happened, most of the Gods present in the hall were still children. However, they remembered it perfectly. Demon of the Night was a name that no one could ever forget.

    "Wasn''t he killed? How is he back?" An Old God asked, grimacing.

    Only a few people knew that he wasn''t killed but was sealed by Chaos.

    "Demon of the Night? Why is everyone so scared of him?" Another God stood up. "Even if he''s back, so what? If he was defeated once, he could be defeated again!"

 Chapter 639 639: Leave It To Me

    He further added, proudly. "Moreover, thest time, he didn''t have to face me! That''s why he could run freely! However, the current Generation of Gods is much stronger! We can easily kill him!"

    "That''s right! We aren''t the same as we used to be in the past! We can crush him now! We won''t even need Young Lord Caen to join! We would handle it ourselves!"

    "That''s right. He might be called a taboo, but so what? At the end of the day, he is just one person! We can kill him!"

    The Old Gods were mostly silent, since they had personally seen Ezekiel fight. However, the new gods only read about that incident, and didn''t know the kind of terror that guy possessed!

    Most of them were confident in their own strength!

    The Goddess of Reincarnation frowned, but she didn''t retort. Even she didn''t know how strong Ezekiel was,pared to his peak. He had been trapped all this time, so it was unclear just how weak he had be.

    Moreover, she also knew that the more she tried to stop these arrogant gods, the more noisy they were going to get. They were all siding with her son, after all. They were born arrogant, and only respected her for show.

    "We can''t sit idly. Even though the barrier is unbreakable, but if he somehow breaks it, the war will end up getting here. Instead of fighting the enemy in your home, why not crush him in his own territory!" The Father of one of Caen''s friends eximed.

    This was a perfect opportunity for them to show the Realm of Gods that the Goddess of Reincarnation was too cowardly, and unsuitable to lead the Realm of Gods. That way, they could push for early coronation of Caen, which was beneficial for him through his son.

    To prove the Goddess of Reincarnation wrong, they had to defeat the person that she thought to be scary!

    The Goddess of Reincarnation also realized what they were doing. However, she also understood that she didn''t have much of a choice.

    Moreover, at the end of the day, it was their own choice. This way, she could also observe just how strong Ezekiel currently was!

    "Fine. If you want to fight, I give you permission to leave the Realm of Gods. However, if you face any dangers, none of us wille to save you," she reminded them.

    "Heh, we won''t need help!" The red haired god rolled his eyes.

    He gathered the New Gods who were with him, and willing to fight. On the other hand, most of the Old Gods stayed behind. They weren''t as impulsive as the rest. Moreover, they had a simr thought as the Goddess of Reincarnation. They wanted to see just how strong Ezekiel was.

    With the permission from the Goddess of Reincarnation, the New Gods left the Royal Pce, filled with fighting spirit. It had been such a long time since they used their full strength or faced an enemy. Most of them were very excited.

    "The Demon of the Night..." The Goddess of Reincarnation muttered, remaining behind. She raised her head, looking toward the roof as the trembling of the barrier intensified.

    She took a deep breath before she also left. This ce was her home. She couldn''t rely on others. She had to safeguard this ce, even on the off chance that the barrier could be broken.

    Fortunately, there were some preparations made for a time like this, to protect this ce.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ****

    "Arghhh!" The small crack on the barrier kept getting bigger. However, the barrier still appeared to be far from breaking.

    Ezekiel''s entire arm was burned by the terrifying energy of the attack he was reflecting. Even some of his bones were visible, as his clothes were torn.

    Moreover, the dark sphere of energy had be so big, that it was asrge as the sun now.

    Gabriel could only watch in amazement. This was the strength that one could be proud of... The strengthparable to a true god... The strength that one needed to protect everything that they wanted to protect.

    Watching that, he had some regret in his eyes. If he could have a simr strength, he could''ve protected everything he cherished. He could''ve protected his home... He could''ve protected his family... He could''ve protected his friend... Heck, he couldn''t even protect his own heart.

    He subconsciously touched his chest, realizing that his heart was gone, recedby the energy of the abyss. He couldn''t even call himself a proper human now.

    He wasn''t a human and he wasn''t a god. He was something that he didn''t understand himself.

    While he was lost in his own thoughts, he noticed the nearby space getting unstable.

    Multiple spatial cracks developed in the surroundings. From each spatial crack, there came a person with a surreal aura. None of them appeared as strong as Caen, yet their strength was nothing to scoff either.

    If anything, they were stronger than the God of Lightning that he had killed, taking advantage of his own Domain.

    In total, there were twenty Gods who came from the Realm of Gods.

    Ezekiel also noticed their presence. "So they sent their dogs?"

    "Can you hold them back?" he asked Gabriel. "I can''t be distracted right now!"

    He was in a battle with the barrier, to see who was going to break first! The first step of bringing the Realm of Gods to Ruins was to first destroy this barrier! If he stopped for even a second, the barrier was going to heal itself, and all his work was going to be for naught.

    Gabriel nced back at Ezekiel, the person who was still trying to break the barrier even as he went through the pain of having his body slowly be destroyed.

    "Leave it to me... You break the barrier!" There was only one thought in his mind! He had to get to Caen, and crush his heart under his feet!

    This was his second time fighting a god without the help of his Domain. However, he promised himself that this time, he wasn''t going to lose! He could never lose again!

 Chapter 640 640: Failed To Grasp

    The space was dark, yet filled with multiple spatial cracks all over the ce, as if the space itself was breaking apart.

    Initially, the Gods arrived, thinking they were going to kill Ezekiel. However, when they saw Ezekiel''s attacks, they were momentarily dazed. Moreover, they also noticed that Ezekiel wasn''t alone!

    Right before their eyes, Ezekiel asked someone to stop them. This made them feel that they had an opportunity.

    They could kill Ezekiel much more easily when he was distracted. Some of them just had to hold Gabriel back, while the others attacked Ezekiel.

    Gabriel, a towering figure d in ck, stood before them, wielding a sword of shadows. The sword was made purely from darkness, but it felt even more dangerous since it had some traces of Abyssal Energy, which was quite harmful for the gods.

    A dark abyssal armor appeared around Gabriel, protecting his chest and most of his body. Before long, his entire body was shrouded in darkness to the point that it was even impossible to see his face.

    Only his calm yet cold eyes were visible through the darkness.

    "As I said before, these people really forget just what the Realm of Gods signified!" One of the Gods eximed, shaking his head lightly.

    Not only were these two attacking the realm of gods openly, but they were doing that without any fear, which made him quite irritated.

    "Do you know that you came straight to your death the moment you came here?!" the dark haired god stepped forward.

    The golden armor around his chest was so bright that it was lightning up the darkness of the space.

    A blood red robe hung behind him, having a phoenix embraced on it. The man didn''t carry a sharp weapon. However, he did have a gauntlet around each of his hands.

    He was known as the God of War, one known for his strongest fighting talents. It was said that a single attack from him could destroy a small world easily. Even some of the old gods couldn''tst long before him.

    He was also known as the most violent god, who wasn''t scared of most people. There were only two people in the entire universe who still scared him. One of them was Janus, while the other was Caen himself.

    In fact, Caen scared him more than Janus. That''s why he sided with Caen in the conflict of inheritance.

    Even when he sided with Caen, he still had an urge to fight him. Unfortunately, he felt that he was undoubtedly going to die, if he tried that. That''s why he was so eager to fight now.

    It was said that Ezekiel was barely defeated by young Chaos, in his early years. If he could defeat Ezekiel and his friend easily, that could easily prove that he was superior to Chaos. That was the confidence he needed toter challenge Caen!

    "You take care of the kid. We''ll stop Ezekiel before he destroys the barrier!" While the God of War stepped forward, the other gods focused on Ezekiel.

    The God of War was taken aback. He wanted to fight Ezekiel. However, he didn''t react. If anything, it was more urgent to protect the barrier. Moreover, he knew he could finish Gabriel fast.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    After that, he could take care of Ezekiel. He didn''t think the other gods were as strong as him, so there was no way they could end the battle that soon. In his eyes, they were only as good as cannon fodder, to exhaust Ezekiel.

    "Alright." The God of War stated as he mped his fist with each other.

    "None of you are going anywhere... As long as I can still fight!"

    Gabriel coldly stated. Right at that moment, over twenty clones came from his shadow, spreading out. Moreover, all the clones appearedpletely identical to him and had the same strength.

    If anything, it was impossible to know which of the clones was the real one and which wasn''t!

    This was the same spell that he had faced in the past. This was the spell that was used by the Dean of Academy of Elements when he fought him! In fact, with this spell, the Dean of Academy had almost defeated him the first time they fought. If it wasn''t for Raphael''s help, he could''ve easily lost that time.

    Through the end, he had always been trying to create his own version of the spell, improving it along the way.

    However, there was always one problem with the spell, that he hadn''t managed to solve. For him, the spell was still iplete. Despite that, he didn''t hesitate in using it.

    He wasn''t going to make the same mistake as he did when facing Caen! He decided to give it his all, right from the start. They had to break that barrier! He couldn''t let anyone interfere!

    ****

    Karyk had almost lost himself along the way. He lived so many lives through the various tombstones, gathering so much knowledge, that he had momentarily forgotten himself.

    Sometimes, he was a beggar, living a life that was no better than death itself. Other times, he was a child who died early due to sickness.

    Sometimes, he was a King who was killed, other times he was a warrior who saw death and destruction in the battlefield, having his own hands drenched in blood.

    Within a few weeks, he felt as if he had grown thousands of years old.

    However, as he went deeper, the lives he experienced were bing much different. He was starting to experience the life of gods themselves, who had died throughout the years.

    He didn''t know just what this ce was trying to do. He also felt as if this ce was especially prepared for him by someone... Everything was arranged in such a manner as if someone knew that he was going toe here in the future.

    All the lives that he experienced, everything he faced, it was as if all of those lives were trying to tell him something... something that he was still falling to grasp.

 Chapter 641 641: First Meeting

    As Karyk experienced so many lives, he did slowly start to learn the value of each life... In the past, other than his own life and his family, he didn''t care about anyone.

    However, after going through hundreds of lives, it was as if all the lives were him, and he was in all those lives. He was a god who was everywhere, yet nowhere. His hands in real life were covered in the blood of so many people. And now, all those thoughts were like a demon, trying to swallow him whole.

    Amongst the lives he lived, some were taken by his own hands!

    In one life, he lived as a weak father, trying to take care of his sick daughter. However, when he went out to buy medicine for his daughter, he was caught in a battle between Karyk and someone else, dying.

    Not long after him, his daughter also died of sickness. However, Karyk didn''t even know about it, until he lived that life himself.

    When he identally took lives, those lives didn''t have a story. They didn''t have a face. Those lives were insignificant for him. However, his inner demons were getting bigger slowly.

    He came out of the memory, holding his head tightly. The faces of the daughter, and all those people that he lost in those memories kept appearing before his eyes, making him feel as if his head was going to explode!

    "Arghhh! Stop it!" He roared, raising his head, feeling as if he was going crazy. However, these were his own demons, who were in his mind and his memories...

    He kept hitting the ground with his fist, making the ground tremble. However, wherever he looked, he only saw those strange memories and those faces.

    It was as if all these lives that he took, wereing back to haunt him.

    He was so busy fighting his invisible heart demons that he didn''t have time to notice that his entire body was finally covered in the Element of Death! He had finally reached the threshold ofplete control over death!

    He had reached the threshold of a true demon. His body was slowly going through a change. His skin became even better. His eyes became brighter. His height increased, albeit by only a few inches.

    His physical strength had also increased, along with the quality of his blood bing purer. His soul was already strong. However, it was also going through a change, awakening something that was buried deep inside all this time.

    Despite all the changes, Karyk didn''t notice anything. He roared wildly, feeling his head thumping. There was no escaping it! Even someone like him was failing to control himself.

    He felt so much in pain, that he was willing to do anything for even the slightest of relief, even if it meant entering another memory.

    With his bloodshot eyes, he nced at the next tombstone. His figure flickered, as he appeared a few meters ahead.

    He ced his hand on the tombstone, feeling his consciousness sucked inside. Finally, his mind felt at ease... Giving him some relief.

    However, the memory this time appeared to be different. This time, he wasn''t born as a mortal. Instead, he found himself in a world much different. Just the aura around the world was different. It was even purer than the upper realm.

    The memories he was now essing belonged to someone born in the Realm of Gods... The child of a real God!<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Even in childhood, he was physically stronger than a mortal adult. When he was just five years old, he could already pick up more than 100kg with ease, like it was a toy.

    His father was also one of the stronger gods, but he was always busy. As a child, he rarely saw his father...

    Fortunately, he had friends to keep himself busy. His friends were simr to him, and were children of many prominent families. However, one day, he noticed his friends beating another young boy.

    The boy had a frail body, akin to a mortal. His hair was long and dark, yet there was something about him that Karyk found familiar.

    Since he was in the memories of another person, he couldn''t change anything. The young boy whose memories he lived, simply just watched the dark haired man beaten.

    He stepped closer, asking his friend who that guy was. How was someone like that, who appeared to be so frail and weak, living in the Realm of Gods. Whose son was he?

    However, when he heard the answer, he was frozen. The boy was said to be the son of one of the three strongest gods of his time. However, despite that, no one was trying to save him.

    Things became even moreplicated when he heard what the name of the boy was. The person on the ground was known as Chaos.

    This was the first introduction between the person whose memories Karyk experienced, and Chaos.

    He still couldn''t believe that the weak and frail person on the ground was the same person who was going to destroy half the Realm of God in the future.

    After thrashing Chaos, one of the boys kicked him away.

    Karyk didn''t understand why these guys beat Chaos. He wanted to ask, but it was a memory in which this question wasn''t asked.

    Throughout the next few years, it became clear. Chaos had a really bad reputation in the Realm of Gods. It was said that he didn''t have the abilities of his father. He was no different than a mortal, with only a stronger Physique and nothing else.

    That''s why almost everyone looked down on him. For some reason, even his own father didn''t pay attention to him.

    On the contrary, Chaos had a younger brother, who wasn''t unlucky like him. His younger brother was named Janus, who had inherited all the abilities of his father.

    Most of the time, Chaos didn''t appear outside. Karyk almost never got to see him in these memories.

    However, when he was eighteen years old, it was time for the Inheritance Test of Gods.

 Chapter 642 642: Aizen

    The new world, selected for the Trial of Gods, was the world that was inhabited by multiple species. However, most prominent amongst them were the Demons.

    The world didn''t have the Sun, which was why it was mostly dark. However, thanks to the magic, there was light at ces.

    The Demons and the Humans lived together in the world, working with one another for the most part. It was the usual norm for this world and no one found it odd. There were norge-scale fights between the two groups.

    While the Demons were considered the Warrior ss because of their strength, the humans were mostly the business and merchant ss of this world. Despite that, there was no concept of money in this world.

    A few young gods, who had just turned adults, were sent to this distant world as part of their trials. And this was what started it all.

    Through the memories of the person, Karyk also got to see just what that world was like. It was quite a unique experience for him to see a world that was so innocent, yet also seemingly advanced. No one locked their doors here. Since there was no money, there was no greed either.

    However, things started changing with the arrival of the New Gods.

    The trials that the new gods had received were usually different from person to person. However, this time, they were coexistent.

    The Trial each god received was to establish their own kingdom in this primitive society, teach the people the art of war, and slowly conquer the entire world, defeating the Kingdoms of other young gods. It was all to be done without revealing their abilities to the outsiders. It was a race to the top.

    Even though it was a rule that no one could use their abilities, the young gods rarely took that seriously. All of them used everything they had to seed.

    Karyk saw the young God first explore the religion that was assigned to him. The area was mostly filled with the Demons, and ity on the Southern side of the continent.

    The young God quickly realized that the religion had a strong influence on the people and decided to use it to his advantage. Not only was this area filled with Demons who were stronger than humans, but this was also strategically at an advantage.

    However, it was also hard to suddenly be their King. However, he didn''t want to fail this trial. So he used the best tactic that he could think of... divide and rule.

    He himself killed some Demons in the region, and made it appear as if it was the work of the humans.

    Seeing the tricks used by the young God whose memories he experienced, Karyk was impressed as well as taken aback. This was certainly the fastest way to the goal.

    A year passed, and he kept using his tricks, slowly yet steadily instigating people. At the same time, he ced fear in the hearts of the people towards the unknown.

    The other gods also tried simr methods. The world where people were peacefully living their lives was slowly turned into hell, just because the young gods wanted to win a test.

    The test was about taking the gods'' skills into consideration, but it slowly became a game where the humans and the Demons became a pawn and nothing more.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    And the biggest pawn came out as a young demon, who had lost his entire family, to the tricks of the man whose memories Gabriel was experiencing.

    The young demon didn''t realize that he was helping his enemy, not realizing that the person was behind everything. The name of that young demon was... Ezekiel.

    Karyk experienced the memories of the God who Ezekiel worked for. However, he had no control over his actions. It was like history was reying for him to watch.

    The young God used Ezekiel and all the others to his advantage, always keeping them in the dark.

    The world where everyone lived like brothers had be a battlefield where everyone was willing to stab everyone in the back.

    In the war between the gods, there were no friends...no family... No ns. Demons were made to fight their own Kin from other kingdoms, along with humans. It was the same for humans.

    The war raged on for multiple years, as the number of people who were killed kept increasing with each passing day.

    That''s how it went, until most of the gods were out, leaving only two Kingdoms in the entire world. One belonging to the God known as Aizel whose memories Karyk experienced. On the other side was another god, known as Tien.

    Ezekiel had lost everything in this war. He became nothing more than a cold blooded killer, and the most well known name in the entire war, even in the other Kingdom.

    He had no aim... No purpose. He even forgot why he was fighting. So many years had passed since he lost his family. He still didn''t know who killed his family. All he knew was that every day, there was a new battle where he had to kill.

    He had to take lives, kill the people that used to be friends... It was as if he waspletely brainwashed by Aizel to the point that he even stopped thinking about everything.

    He didn''t care about the consequences of his actions anymore, he just followed orders without question. But deep down, he knew that something was wrong. He longed for the days where he could live without fear and without bloodshed. He just couldn''t understand where things went wrong...

    And then, finally it came...the day for the much awaited final war. The war between thest two kingdoms...

    One side was Aizel, who conquered the entire south, even after facing so many other gods. On the other side was Tien who had conquered the North.

    The battle was fierce andsted for days. The ground shook with the force of their armies colliding, the sound of swords shing and screams of the wounded filled the air. It was a disy of power and might, a fight to the death.

    However, after a long battle, the victor finally emerged... It was Aizen.

 Chapter 643: Reward

    Chapter 643: Reward

    Since no god was allowed to kill another god in this trial, Tien wasn''t killed even after he lost the war. However, the winner was decided when Tien lost his entire army.

    Ezekiel sat on his knees after the war ended. His left arm was cut off in the battle. Most of his body was covered in blood. Even though he had won the war, his eyes were still empty. This was the end of this long war, yet he didn''t feel happy. He felt... Nothing. It was as if his heart had turned to stone along the way.

    Even if he won the war, he knew that he already lost everything in the process.

    On the other side, Aizen walked closer to Tien, reaching out his hand to help Tien up.

    "Looks like you won the test..." Tien let out a sigh, as he stood up. "Congrattions."

    "Hahaha, this was nothing. I was destined to win right from the start," Aizenughed happily. He had won the trial. And finally he had the right to be even stronger and join the Council of High Gods.

    Ezekiel sat on his knees, ncing toward Aizen, seeing the manughed. He could also hear the words of Aizen.

    Tien asked Aizen how he did it. How did he find an army who was so strong and brutal in the fight for his cause. While Tien had to work so hard and offer rewards to everyone who fought for him, or force them, but that was ineffective.

    Even if he forced someone while scaring them that he was going to kill them if they didn''t, but they still couldn''t fight with as much zeal as Aizen''s army, which was one of the main reasons ording to him behind his loss.

    In response, Aizen smirked. He didn''t shy away. Now that the war was over, he proudly told Tien how he used the emotions of these people to manipte them.

    "You thought of them as people. But I thought of them as pawns. That''s why you lost, and I won," Aizen stated.

    Each of his words stabbed deep in Ezekiel''s heart who was listening from a distance.

    As Aizen described everything, from how he secretly killed people and everything else... It was all chilling. One incident Aizen described was almost identical to how Ezekiel had lost his family.

    He had never found out who was behind that. Thanks to Aizen, he had always calmed other kingdoms for that. However, to find out that Aizen was behind that... He felt his heart had shattered into a thousand pieces.

    Not only did he not take revenge for his family, but he also helped the person instead. He killed his own people, to achieve the tasks given my Aizen, like a good dog.

    Ezekiel couldn''t believe how naive he had been. Aizen had manipted him for all these years, and he had been blind to it. He had lost everything, including his left arm. He didn''t even know if he could live to see the next day, with how much blood he had lost.

    However, his heart was so broken that he couldn''t think about that at the moment. He held his Sword firmly in his right hand, pushing his frail body up.

    He dragged his weak body, walking toward Aizen.

    Aizen noticed Ezekieling toward him. However, he didn''t realize that he had heard everything that he said.

    "If it isn''t the man of the war! My most precious gem!" He happilyughed. "I shall give you a reward! What do you want!"

    He was quite happy and in the best of moods. He didn''t mind giving a few rewards to the so-called pawns, before leaving this ruined world.

    Ezekiel''s face was always emotionless, so Aizen didn''t find anything out of the ordinary. Moreover, Ezekiel didn''t reveal any killing intent. He was too tired to even think.

    "You will reward me?" Ezekiel asked.

    "I will!" Aizenughed. "You worked hard, after all. Do you want me to heal your left arm as a reward? Do you want me to grant you even more strength? Or do you want precious treasures and herbs! I am in a good mood today. So before I leave, I shall grant it!"

    Ezekiel nodded in response. "Then give me..."

    He raised his weak right arm, which was still holding his bloody Sword.

    "... Your life." He stated, as he thrust his sword.

    His sword passed through the chest of Aizen, stunning him.

    He nkly looked at his chest, from where the Sword passed through. However, instead of revealing any anger, he revealed an amusing smirk.

    "To think that you would aim for my life..." He grabbed the Sword, pulling it out of his chest.

    His wound healed right before Ezekiel''s eyes, surprising him. Even a sword straight through the chest couldn''t kill him.

    "You don''t even know who you''re trying to kill. Other than a God from my home world, no one can kill me, let alone an ant like you!" The man stated, before he kicked Ezekiel''s chest, sending him flying back.

    Ezekiel felt most of his bones break, making him go pale. Even with his strong physical defense, he couldn''t resist even an ordinary kick from Aizen.

    "And here I thought, I should reward you...who would''ve thought that you wouldn''t appreciate my kindness at all." Aizen approached him with a devilish grin.

    "Now, let''s see what we can do with you," he said before grabbing Ezekiel by the hair and lifting him up. "Shall I kill you? But I know how well enough to know that you don''t fear death. So what shall we do so that you shall remember me forever until your death?"

    "I have a suggestion..." Tien stepped forward. Even though he had lost, this was a good way to let out his frustration. Moreover, by attacking a god, this pawn had insted the dignity of gods.

    Hearing the conversation between the two gods, and even the suggestion of Tien, Karyk was also taken aback. Even though he knew it was just a memory, but that suggestion felt too... unreal¡­

 Chapter 644: The Last Embrace

    Chapter 644: The Last Embrace

    The God of Death... The entity who was associated with Death lived in the Realm of Gods. He was someone who had sole control over death, considered to be one of the strongest beings.

    However, the God of Death was also considered to be the most proud over their lineage as the gods.

    Even though his personality was considered to be the most extreme amongst the gods, he was still an important member of the High Council of Gods, and a good friend of Aizen''s father.

    The God of Death was known to be very reclusive, rarely interacting with others outside of official council meetings. However, currently, his name was being mentioned by Tien, in his suggestion.

    Hearing the suggestion, Aizen revealed an interest. For the person who dared to make him bleed, that punishment seemed worth it.

    He grabbed Ezekiel by his hair, dragging his body across the bloody battlefield. Now that the Trial was over, he could use all his abilities.

    He healed Ezekiel''s hands properly, beforeraising his body in the air, tossing it away. However, while Ezekiel was still in the air, multiple Celestial Shackles came out of the group, wrapping around his hand, legs and his neck.

    Seeing the sight, Karyk could only sigh. These people were too far gone. When Aizen was born, he was a good guy, living a sheltered life. However, with time, all the arrogance and brutality had seeped into him, making him what he was today.

    Leaving the man trapped here, Aizen opened a portal back to the Realm of Gods. He left the world with Tien.

    The few people who had survived the war watched Ezekiel shackled in the air as if he was some great criminal.

    A few of his friends tried to free him. However, before the Divine Abilities of the Gods, they were nothing.

    Ezekiel remained in the air, with his eyes closed. His mind was filled with darkness and anger. However, more than anything, it was filled with hate... Hate toward the people who used their lives like pawns, destroying their peaceful existence.

    While he was trapped, Aizen returned to the Realm of Gods, where he was weed by someone from the High Council, along with his father, who congratted him for victory over the other youngsters.

    The celebration for himsted for one week straight which was attended by many family friends.

    As soon as the celebration was over, Aizen''s father transferred his divine powers to his son, which could only be passed through the bloodline. With that, Aizen had finally be a high god. He had finally reached his goal, but he didn''t forget Ezekiel either.

    In this life, there was only one person who had made him bleed, and he wasn''t going to forgive that person. After everything was settled, he approached the God of Death, requesting for one favor.

    The favor he asked, was very simple... He wanted a few mortals to be revived. Reviving gods was almost impossible, even for the God of Death. However, reviving a few mortals was an easy task.

    He agreed immediately, after hearing the reason. If anything, he followed Aizen back to the distant mortal world, and personally revived the people that Aizen requested.

    However, in exchange, he collected many more lives. Most of the people who had survived the tragic war had to lose their lives in exchange.

    In the end, only one person was revived... The Father of Ezekiel.

    When Aizen appeared before Ezekiel with his father, Ezekiel was frozen in fear.

    When Tien mentioned that idea, he didn''t believe that it could actually be possible in the first ce. However, now that his father was actually in front of him, it was definitely true. That meant what they wanted was also...

    Ezekiel lost all his anger, only being filled with fear and dread as he began pleading to stop all this.

    "Kill me if you want! It was I who sinned, not him!"

    "It''s no fun killing the person who already lost their fear of death, isn''t that so?" Aizen responded, before raising his hand.

    For a mortal, it was impossible to resist him, especially now that Aizen was even stronger.

    The Shackles that had wrapped all around Aizen''s body started moving, making him move as if he was a puppet.

    Aizen made Ezekiel pick up the sword that he had used to stab him. Ezekiel used all his strength to resist, but his body couldn''t. It was like he was a puppet whose thread was in someone else''s hands.

    Aizen smiled as he watched Ezekiel pick up the cursed de.

    "Now, let''s see if you truly fear death... Your father''s death," he said. The de glinted in the dim light.

    Ezekiel''s body moved closer to his father, who also couldn''t move under the heavy pressure.

    However, more than anything, his father was stunned. He didn''t understand what was happening. Thest time he remembered, everything was peaceful. It was like it was just yesterday. And now, there was only death and destruction.

    Ezekiel''s nerves became visible, as he resisted with all his might, trying to break the chains. Unfortunately, his resistance, his pleading, and everything he tried was useless.

    His hand moved on its own as his Sword stabbed through the chest of his father, who had just returned from death.

    Aizen brought his father back, just to make him kill his father as a torment.

    It was only after Ezekiel stabbed his father, that his father was free of the heavy pressure on him. He could finally move.

    His father could see the struggle on his son''s face, and the pain in his eyes. He had gained an understanding of what was happening. His son was being tormented with his life...

    He ignored the pain of a sword being thrusted in his chest, as he stepped closer to his son, letting the Sword stab deeper.

    He ced his hand over his son''s head. He gave his son a tight embrace, feeling how much pain his son was in.

    It was in Ezekiel''s embrace that his father took hisst breath...

 Chapter 645 645: The God Hunter

    Ezekiel''s pitch ck eyes kept shedding tears, as he tightly embraced the body of his father.

    However, as if not letting the momentst, Aizen waved his hand. The chains tightened around Ezekiel, pulling his body back.

    His body was once again pulled back, hanging in the air by the shackles of a High God. At the same time, his father''s body dropped to the ground.

    "I thought a lot about what your punishment shall be. However, I felt that this wasn''t enough either. I want you to suffer for as long as you live, unable to even take your own life."

    The men rose in the air, moving closer to Ezekiel.

    He opened the mouth of Ezekiel, cing a small fruit in his mouth. The fruit melted in Ezekiel''s mouth, entering his body.

    "Treat this as my gift to you. This is a fruit to grant a mortal additional hundred years of life... This should be enough for you to watch your father rot, and think about your mistakes..."

    He lightly patted Ezekiel''s cheeks, like he was an elder, ying with a kid.

    After finishing, he moved back, and disappeared. He left Ezekiel''s father''s body right before him, bleeding.

    Ezekiel''s bloodshot eyes couldn''t even bear to see his father like this. Every moment of his existence was painful for him... A pain that felt like dying a thousand times every second.

    Days passed by, but Ezekiel remained motionless like a statue. The memories of his past actions, and his regret, all haunted him relentlessly. His mind was a battlefield, and his thoughts were the soldiers fighting against each other. He didn''t know how to escape, how to find inner peace. It was his personal hell.

    Ezekiel felt like a prisoner to his own mind, constantly reliving the same painful moments over and over again. In all those moments, one thing wasmon... They were caused by the gods that they treated like guests...

    ****

    Aizen returned to the realm of gods, and continued his work.

    A few decades passed away, and he hadpletely forgotten about the incident with Ezekiel. With time, he climbed even higher in the Council of Gods.

    The Realm of Gods didn''t even know that an incident like that had happened. And even if they knew, they wouldn''t have cared.

    Over a hundred years passed, and it was clear to Aizen that the mortal who dared to stab him once upon a time had already died. He didn''t even try checking.

    In this time, he had a child of his own... Everything was going good for him, until one day everything changed.

    A terrifying news spread, that the God of Death had died suddenly! No one knew how a being like that died, yet this sent a wave of shock amongst all gods.

    However, that wasn''t all. In the next few weeks, more and more news came... News about more gods dying.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    It was as if all the Gods that were outside the Realm of Gods were being hunted by someone... Or something.

    Moreover, one thing wasmon amongst all these deaths. Some ash was always found on their forehead, as if they were the ashes of someone''s body being burned.

    Moreover, on the bodies, one letter was carved each time.

    The first letter discovered on the chest of the God of Death was ''A'', the second was ''I'', and the third was Z."

    Like that, the first five bodies each had a character, which ultimately made up one name alone... Aizen!

    The deaths of the gods continued, yet no one knew who was behind that. How were they killing these gods without possessing Divinity of their own? No one knew the answer. All they knew was that this was associated with Aizen in some way!

    The High Council of Gods interrogated Aizen multiple times, trying to find something. Many gods that were killed were from the High Council as well, after all.

    Unfortunately for them, they couldn''t get any concrete answers. Throughout the hundreds of years, there wasn''t a single event that Aizen had made. He had taken so many lives that even he didn''t know who it could be.

    For the most part, he believed that it was the work of another god, who was jealous of his achievements and was targeting him. Other than gods, no one should''ve been able to kill another god.

    All the gods were starting to live in the fear of the unknown, not knowing who was targeting them. Most of the gods didn''t leave the Realm of Gods alone, always traveling in a group of two. Only the truly confident ones traveled alone.

    No matter how many gods left the Realm of Gods, there was one who never left. It was Aizen, always hiding in the God of Realm, feeling as if it was the most risky for him to leave.

    Unfortunately, he soon realized that he wasn''t safe in the Realm of Gods either, when one day, someone finally invaded the Realm of Gods.

    It was Ezekiel, holding a god by his throat. His body wasrger, and he was nothing like he used to be in the past.

    He waited for Aizen to leave, but when he didn''t, he decided to enter the Realm of Gods himself!

    He captured one of the Highest Ranking Gods alive, and forced that man to open a portal straight to the depths of the Realm of Gods.

    Only Highest Ranking Gods could open the portal to the Realm of Gods, that could bring another person with them. The rest of the gods could only open portals that allowed them and other gods to pass through, which was useless for Ezekiel.

    The day Ezekiel invaded the Realm of Gods, the entire ce was turned upside down. Ezekiel was like apletely demonic being, with a presence that was darker than night itself.

    He entered the mansion of Aizen... He entered the house of the person who took his everything, with the intention of taking everything from him!

    That was the day when the Gods finally saw the demon, who was known as the God Hunter! They finally realized just what kind of Nightmare he was! And they also understood why this guy was able to kill gods without Divinity!

 Chapter 646 646: Tricks

    Karyk was pushed out of the scenario, as soon as Aizen was killed. However, not before seeing the face of Ezekiel. It was definitely the same person that was left trapped to rot.

    Not only was he back, but for some reason, he was stronger than ever.

    Karyk felt slightly taken aback. However, through these visions, he received more questions than answers. Just what happened to Ezekiel after that? Who stopped him?

    Since he heard no mention of that person, he quite believed that Ezekiel had most probably died in that war, but not before having his revenge.

    Deep inside, he knew that Ezekiel had a reason to do all that. If he was in that guy''s ce, he would''ve tried to have revenge as well. He would''ve brought the Realm of Gods crashing down as well, without thinking about the consequences.

    However, he still felt some deep anger towards Ezekiel. That man was trying to have revenge. It was fine. However, he went far and beyond.

    Karyk lived Aizen''s life through those memories. He felt a connection with Aizen''s children... The ones who were nothing like Aizen. Unlike their greedy and cruel father, the children were pure and innocent.

    However, Karyk watched those children be killed right before his eyes, as if it was Ezekiel''s method of making Aizen feel the pain before killing him.

    Even as he was out of the dream, he still felt his heart tremble... The face of the children, when they were killed right before his eyes, kept shing through his eyes.

    The people who had no responsibility were killed by Ezekiel. And it was clear that they weren''t the first who died.

    He himself had killed so many innocent people, but he did that unintentionally. He didn''t particrly target the innocent.

    On the other hand, Ezekiel was so clouded in hate, that he had be a demon, forgetting the difference between right and wrong.

    The man who once used to be so innocent that he didn''t even know how greedy a human could be... He had now be a Demon, who killed someone''s child to make them suffer, using the life of those kids as pawns.

    Ezekiel had be the thing that he hated the most...

    However, it was clear that Ezekiel had failed in the end, since the Realm of Gods was still intact, because of Chaos... who was consideredto be the powerless god of his era.

    Karyk ced his hand on his chest. His head was getting a little dizzy. However, he stood up, and moved over to the next tombstone.

    As he read the inscription on the stone, he couldn''t help but feel a pang of sadness in his heart for some reason. He didn''t know why he felt sad, just at the sight of the name inscribed on the tombstone.

    For some reason, he felt a little hesitation, as if his heart was telling him that he didn''t need to see this...

    As much as he was hesitating, he still ced his hand on the tombstone, facing his consciousness sucked by the tombstone.

    ....<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Gabriel fought with the Gods, trying to hold them back. The Dark Space became even darker, as a differentyer of darkness spread out, one which was under direct control of Gabriel.

    The Gods were not pleased with Gabriel''s actions and retaliated with their full force, unleashing their wrath. However, for some reason, they realized that they couldn''t even hit Gabriel.

    Inside the dark mist, he was like smoke. He was everywhere, yet he was nowhere. And this ability belonged to all his clones as well.

    Not a single attack was able to touch him, no matter how frightening. It was as if this Darkness was his Domain and he was the only God within this domain. He was one with this darkness.

    He was only responsible to hold them back, so he didn''t directly engage with them unless he had to. Through his darkness, he made it impossible for even the gods to see more than a few meters.

    It was as if he made all the gods lose their directions, so they couldn''t know where Ezekiel was.

    "Enough with these futile tricks!" The God of War raised his spear. The spear shone in beautiful bright light, illuminating his surroundings. However, the God of War didn''t stop there.

    He raised his left hand, bringing out another Spear, appearing to bepletely identical.

    He raised both the spears, hitting one against the other, making a cross.

    The sh of the two spears sent a terrifying wave of destruction all around him. Lightning sparkled around him, and space shattered. It was as if even time had stopped for a brief moment.

    The impact of the attack was so powerful that all the dark mist around him dissipated, revealing Gabriel in the distance. He was finally out of Gabriel''s Domain.

    He wasn''t alone either! All the other Gods also used their power attacks to free themselves. One dissipated the domain entirely, while other used their weapons to cut through the element of darkness itself.

    Even though the Young Gods hadn''t fought in a long time, they were still not someone that could be taken lightly. All of them had lived for at least hundreds of years, training and perfecting their abilities with the help of their parents.

    The amount of control that they had over their strength couldn''t be ignored.

    One after another, all the Dark Domains were broken.

    The cracks on the barrier of the Realm of Gods had also be bigger, as Ezekiel continued attacking. mes of revenge flickered deeply in his heart.

    He hadn''t forgotten his oath! He wasn''t going to forget hisst! He had taken an oath to destroy the Realm of Gods, and no matter the cost, he wanted to see through to that!

    On the other side of the barrier, he soon noticed a vague figure... It was a woman, who stood inside the barrier, gazing at him.

    She was Caen''s mother, the Goddess of Reincarnation. Ezekiel and the Goddess of Reincarnation faced each other, with a barrier filled with cracks in between them.

 Chapter 647 647: Battle With Gods

    Ezekiel noticed the woman on the other side. For a moment, he was taken aback. He couldn''t help but remember the past. His eyes looked around, as if trying to find a trace of Chaos.

    However, for some reason, the woman was alone, which made him slightly surprised.

    He still remembered that day, when he had killed Aizen. Even that wasn''t enough to calm his anger. His home was destroyed! Everything was taken from him! He had to sacrifice so much, just for revenge. And that wasn''t enough!

    He was filled with anger and heartaches, not wanting anyone else to suffer the same fate as he did at the hands of these gods. After killing Aizen, he continued his onught.

    Aizen was the one who started it all, yet Ezekiel decided to be the one to finish it, so that these people could never again y with the lives of mortals like him.

    That day, he killed so many Gods, yet none was able to stop him.

    He didn''t realize, but he was also partially lucky that day, since most of the powerful gods from the High Council weren''t in the Realm of Gods.

    The Realm of Gods was mostly left undefended, only protected by ordinary Gods that failed to stop Ezekiel.

    Many gods died that day, with signs of destruction visible all around the Realm of Gods. That level of destruction was unprecedented, and never seen in the past.

    That level of destruction was only surpassed thousands of years in the future when Chaos himself came to destroy half the gods.

    However, when Ezekiel was fighting, he killed everyone in his path. There were no gods or demons. There was no right or wrong! In every single person in the Realm of Gods, he saw the shadow of the people who killed him.

    While he was killing everyone at sight, many gods came in groups, trying to stop him. However, all of them failed. None couldst against the Abyssal Energy that Ezekiel possessed, which was the bane of all gods.

    After Ezekiel killed the group which came to stop him, he turned his attention to his surroundings, noticing the Goddess of Reincarnation.

    His eyes were pitch ck, filled with demonic intent. He rushed toward the Goddess of Reincarnation.

    However, that was when everything changed... A young man, with a weak and frail body appeared before the Goddess of Reincarnation, standing in Ezekiel''s path.

    That was the first time Ezekiel had seen Chaos... The God who appeared frail and weak. There was no unique aura around him. If anything, he appeared like a mortal.

    Chaos had long red hair that fluttered with the wind. His eyes appeared sleepy, and his clothes were quite ordinary.

    To find someone like him blocking his path, Ezekiel was initially surprised. However, he didn''t stop attacking, not realizing how grave a mistake it was.

    Other than Chaos, his little brother Janus and the Goddess of Reincarnation, no one was there to see it...

    After that day, it was the first time Ezekiel was seeing the Goddess of Reincarnation.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    She appeared to be slightly older, and more mature. There was a calm aura around her, as she watched the constant attacks on the barrier.

    However, she soon shifted her gaze to another person. She looked in the distance at Gabriel, who was fighting the other gods, holding them back.

    The New Gods came to fight Ezekiel, but they hadn''t even reached home so far. They were being held back by Gabriel.

    Gabriel wasn''tpletely fine either. He could hold the gods back, but it wasn''t easy to keep that up for long. They had already destroyed his Domain, freeing themselves.

    Gabriel''s lips were bleeding as all his domains were destroyed, hurting him in the process. However, that only motivated him more.

    He realized that he couldn''t just hold them back, as he was soon going to run out of strength like that. He had to take the offensive. He had to fight head on.

    He created two swords. On his right hand was a sword made purely from light. On his left hand was a Sword of Darkness.

    "Are you going to stop hiding now?" The God of War asked.

    The God of War soared through the starry void, his Spear aze in his hand. He was on a mission to destroy Gabriel, who had been holding him back, like an annoying insect that just refused to let go.

    While one of his spears was burning in mes, his other spear was frozen, as if it was pure ice. The space around them turned colder, even, sending a chill nearby.

    Gabriel was cloaked in the shadows, surrounded by darkness. Yet, there was light in his eyes.

    The God of War wasted no time. He charged at his enemy, shing with his ming Spear. The God of Darkness dodged and countered with a st of dark energy.

    The God of War blocked the dark energy, with his bare hands. However, he still felt the impact shake his arm. The dark energy also had something strange.

    He felt his gauntlets slowly crack apart, as if they were being destroyed by the impact, which shouldn''t have been possible.

    He immediately took off his gauntlet. A new gauntlet appeared around his hand. He realized that there was something in that dark energy, which wasn''t good for him. Something simr to... traces of the Abyss.

    He couldn''t help but look towards Ezekiel. He had heard that this was what helped Ezekiel cause so much destructionst time. However, it was clear that even Gabriel had this.

    The only way to counter that was to avoid that entirely, making sure he didn''t let the dark energy invade his body.

    The only god who could remain unharmed even if stabbed by the Abyssal Energy was Caen, thanks to his inheritance from his father! On the other hand, they had to be careful. They couldn''t rx.

    "Be careful of his attacks! Don''t let them touch you!" He roared, warning the other Gods who were fighting Gabriel''s clones.

 Chapter 648 648: Destroying The Obstructions

    "You should pay attention to yourself!" Gabriel eximed, as he appeared behind the God of War, swinging his sword, as if intending to take his head off.

    The God of War, sensed the danger. With his ming spear, he blocked Gabriel''s Sword of Darkness. At the same time, instead of moving back, he thrust his Ice Spear spear at Gabriel''s chest.

    Unfortunately for him, Gabriel also blocked his attack with his Sword of Light as well. Both of their attacks were blocked. However, that was just the beginning.

    The two gods continued their battle, exchanging blows and spells. The God of War fought with fury and courage, while Gabriel fought with anger and bravery. They appeared almost evenly matched, both powerful and ancient.

    However, that came as a surprise to the God of War. He was one of the strongest Gods, amongst the New Gods, who were born in thest ten thousand years. Yet, he was being held back by a youngster, who was evenly matching him?

    Moreover, only he knew that even though it appeared to be an even battle, in reality, he was at a disadvantage, since he had to avoid being hit even a little.

    The Abyssal Energy was like slow poison to him. The more this battle went on, the more he was going to get wounded, and the weaker he was going to get!

    As true gods, they could almost heal all their injuries instantly. However, the attacks that contained Abyssal Energy weren''t that easy to heal. That''s why, most of the gods considered the Abyss to be a forbidden ce. This was like the natural bane to their healing.

    The battle raged on, creating shockwaves that rippled through the space. Stars exploded and distants shattered as the gods fought. Spatial Cracks kept developing all around them with each sh, as if the space itself was having a hard time, in trying to keep up with the battle of two powerful beings.

    After a long time, the God of War saw an opening and lunged at Gabriel, aiming for his heart.

    Gabriel saw it too and sidestepped, grabbing the God of War''s arm and twisting it. With a sh of his Dark Sword, he sliced the left arm of the God of War, making his arm fall along with his Ice Spear.

    The God of War roared in pain, feeling his arm sliced off! The pain was the worst pain he ever felt in his life. He couldn''t heal his arm either.

    He swung his ming Spear, only to have Gabriel dodge and move back. After taking off his arm, Gabriel immediately moved back, not getting caught in the counter.

    However, the God of War didn''t let Gabriel leave that easily.

    He was furious, and unable to take the fact that he had lost his arm to a youngster who didn''t even live for three decades.

    He charged at Gabriel with full force, his eyes filled with rage and determination to take revenge. Gabriel on the other hand, was calm and collected, analyzing his opponent''s moves and patiently waiting for the right moment to strike. The battle between the two was far from over, and the oue was still uncertain.

    The sound of a shing sword and spear echoed through the battlefield as the two warriors matched each other''s strength and skills.

    Unfortunately, just as the God of War feared, he was getting weaker. After his arm was cut, the Abyssal Energy was raging inside his body. His vision was getting blurry.

    It was getting hard for him to even remain focused. He couldn''t even see Gabriel properly with his eyes. It was only through his Divinity that he could even sense Gabriel''s presence.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    With time, he realized that the Chances of his victory were slim. If anything, he started fearing his death. Even though he had Divinity, Gabriel could kill him.

    "I shall end this with onest blow!" He roared, raising his ming Spear high in the sky.

    A terrifying amount of Godly Energy gathered around him, condensing into thousands of spears above him.

    Gabriel stood still, unfazed by his attack. He took a deep breath. His entire aura changed as well.

    A terrifying Divine Energy appeared around him. The Sword in his right hand disappeared. He raised his hand gracefully, using his finger like a pen, and his Divine Aura as the ink to write on space.

    The God of War was taken aback, seeing that familiar scene. He couldn''t even recall how long it had been, since he saw those Ancient Words.

    He was stunned. The only user of Worldly Laws should''ve been dead already. At least that''s what he heard. That person was killed by Janus.

    "As expected, it''s the Traitors who are attacking us! Looks like some managed to survive!" The God of War eximed.

    He also felt that they had a traitor in the Realm of Gods. Why else would these people just happen to attack when neither Caen was here, nor Janus!

    "It doesn''t matter! Today, I shall get rid of the Traitors and their inheritors!"

    The surroundings shook as the God of War brought the spear down, shattering the space and unleashing the fury of the heavens.

    Gabriel alsopleted the Divine Word, almost using most of his energy in the process.

    The Divine Law shed with thousands of Ancient Spears. A bright light enveloped the battlefield, and the sound of thunder reverberated through the air.

    Arge section of the space waspletely destroyed, turning into a small ckhole of nothingness. Almost all the gods felt the space around them tremble.

    The barrier of the Realm of Gods used the space as a form of energy in maintaining its barrier. However, when the space itself was destroyed, the barrier also became weaker.

    Ezekiel''s attacknded at the center of all the Cracks at the same time, when the barrier was weakened, not even letting the space recover.

    The barrier thatsted for an eternity finally shattered into a thousand pieces... The Shield that protected the Realm of Gods was gone, with nothing to stop Ezekiel this time.

 Chapter 649 649: Paint Everything Red

    The barrier that stood tall from as far as one could remember finally broke down, shattering into thousands of pieces.

    The New Gods who hade out to stop Ezekiel were momentarily frozen in ce, watching the barrier break. It was as if they had witnessed an impossible sight.

    Even the Gods who were back in the realm of gods looked at the sky in confusion, watching the barrier disappear. It was a sight like never before.

    The barrier wasn''t the one thing that was destroyed. The God of War stood in empty space, taken aback. As the space was destroyed in front of him, it destroyed half his body as well.

    Blood trickled down his lips as he saw half his body missing, as if it was swallowed by the destroyed space.

    Gabriel wasn''tpletely unharmed either. However, his condition was still better, since he had moved back as soon as he could.

    His entire body was injured. However, he didn''t think about that. He didn''t celebrate that the barrier was broken either. Instead, he rushed to the God of War, taking advantage of the moment. He didn''t want to give the God of War time to heal.

    His pitch ck sword stabbed through the chest of the God of War, who couldn''t even protect himself at the moment. Only his eyes looked in disbelief. Even after giving it his all, he had lost... He had been killed by a man much younger than him.

    Ezekiel''s powerful attack had destroyed the barrier, thanks to Gabriel. However, that attack didn''t stop yet. After being reinforced by him so many times, it was so powerful that even after destroying the barrier, it still flew straight ahead towards the Goddess of Reincarnation who stood in its path.

    "Dodge!" The New Gods stopped their battles, reminding the woman to dodge. Now that the barrier was broken, they had more to think about.

    The Goddess of Reincarnation ignored their suggestion. She remained standing where she previously stood.

    She raised her right hand gracefully, before gently flicking it.

    It was as if the space itself momentarily changed, changing the direction of the attack, following her movement.

    The attack barely missed her, flying past her. It struck a barren world behind her. A pitch ck explosion took ce, which swallowed that entire world, swallowing millions of stars. The space which was already so unstablepletely broke apart.

    In the absence of space, even time behaved unconventionally. Everything slowed down to extremes, as if time itself had stopped in the absence of space.

    Ezekiel gazed at the Goddess of Reincarnation, with a frown on his face. "Is your friend not going to show up to protect you today?"

    "I don''t need anyone''s protection," the Goddess of Reincarnation answered.

    All the New Gods that hade to face Ezekiel appeared next to the Goddess of Reincarnation.

    The Old Gods also arrived. Now that the barrier was broken, they had no choice but to face this Nightmare.

    The battle had momentarilye to a halt. Gabriel wiped the blood off his lips. He found it strange that Caen hadn''t shown up either.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He appeared next to Ezekiel. The numbers weren''t in his favors, but he knew that this was going to be the oue when he arrived here.

    "You don''t need anyone''s protection?" Ezekielughed coldly. "There''s that Arrogance that all you gods possess! Just like that man possessed! Why would you think that mere ants can crush you? However, today I will end this once and for all! I will see how long he can hide!"

    The Goddess of Reincarnation didn''t respond. She just watched the space around them slowly recover.

    "Stop being stubborn and stop this. With your strength, you should help this world, not try to destroy the bnce!" An old manmented.

    He didn''t understand why Ezekiel was so stubborn and wanted to destroy the Realm of Gods.

    "Oh, believe me. I''m helping this world by getting rid of you parasites!" Ezekiel roared. "This is what I sacrificed so much for!"

    His hand hadpletely healed by now as well. He raised his right hand, calling forth a Sword that even the Goddess of Reincarnation had never seen before.

    It was a Sword that was darker than night. Even space and time could easily be sliced by that sword. As soon as he held the Sword, the air surrounding him darkened.

    The temperature plummeted, and a gust of wind cut the area. His eyes glowed with a sinister crimson color that sent chills down the spine of many. If Ezekiel appeared dangerous before, then he became even more dangerous with that Sword.

    "I will take care of them. You enter the Realm of Gods, and find the guy who hurt you, and make him suffer" Ezekiel told Gabriel.

    Since he had brought all the strongest gods in that ce to him, most of the realm of gods was unprotected.

    "Have your revenge," he said, as he raised his right hand gracefully.

    Even the destroyed space couldn''t stop Ezekiel from opening a portal. After opening the portal, he gave a sword to him.

    Even though the Sword wasn''t as strong as his own sword, but it was the same sword which he used in the Abyss to kill so many Abyssal Beasts! It was made from his blood!

    Ezekiel was already informed that Caen could control Abyssal Beasts. To take care of that, he handed over that Sword again.

    After handing over the sword, he lightly pushed Gabriel inside the portal. He didn''t want Gabriel to fight for him. He only brought Gabriel here so that guy could have his revenge. This was him offering his gratitude for Gabriel freeing him.

    As for himself, he was willing to face all the strongest Gods alone, even if that put him at a disadvantage.

    After the postal closed, Ezekiel took a deep breath, before roaring, "Chaos! Stop hiding! Or until you show yourself, I''ll keep killing! I''ll keep killing until I paint everything red!"

 Chapter 650 650: No Home

    A portal opened in the middle of the Realm of Gods.

    Gabriel stepped out of the portal, only to be assaulted by the purest godly energy that was spread throughout the atmosphere.

    The air was different here, pristine and pure, and there was a strange energy pulsing through everything he could see.

    It felt ufortable, yetfortable at the same time. It was the purest form of energy, which was conflicting with the Abyssal Energy that had resided in his body, in ce of his heart.

    The Pure Godly Energy had a strange rtionship with the Abyssal Energy, something akin to light and darkness, or life and death.

    The Realm of Gods was really vast. It was also a really beautiful ce, like nothing that Gabriel had ever seen before. It was truly the ce where gods dwelled.

    He could see many floating inds, spread all throughout the Realm. All those inds were surrounded by a mystical white mist.

    There were gigantic pces made out of crystals that shone bright under the sun, and gardens full of exotic flowers of different colors.

    As he wandered around, Gabriel couldn''t help but feel strange. He expected to be attacked by multiple gods as soon as he stepped out of the portal. However, no one was here.

    It was as if all their attention was attracted by Ezekiel, giving him almost free reign.

    In the vast Realm of Gods, it appeared very hard to find Caen. However, Gabriel''s attention was soon attracted by the Pce, which looked different from the rest.

    It was not only the tallest, but it also had something about it that the otherscked. It looked more Divine. Moreover, there was something that seemed to be calling to him inside.

    He could also feel a trace of aura which was quite identical to what he felt from Caen, which made him feel that this Pce belonged to Caen, the man that he was looking for.

    Caen hadn''t shown up to fight, even as the barrier was being destroyed. Which made Gabriel think that Caen was hiding in his pce.

    He flew closer to the Majestic Pce. He cautiouslynded on the ground and pushed open the grand doors of the Pce.

    As he stepped inside, he was immediately struck by the grandeur of the interior. Crystal chandeliers glimmered high above him, and tapestries depicting scenes of battles hung from the walls.

    Along the way, he came across some maids. The maids were stunned as soon as they saw someone they never saw before, intruding in the Pce.

    "Apologies, but I can''t allow you to alert anyone yet."

    Dark Shackles came out from the shadows of the women, wrapping around their hands, feet and their mouth. They could neither move, nor make any noise. It was as if they could only remain standing like statues.

    Gabriel walked closer to the maids, who could only watch him helplessly.

    A dark spear appeared in his hand. He ced the tip of his spear on the throat of the first maid.

    "Make any unnecessary noise and you''ll die."

    As he finished speaking, the lips of the maid were freed, allowing her to speak.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He raised his left hand, creating an illusory image of a young man. "Where will I find him?!"

    The maids were taken aback as soon as they saw that image. Even though they didn''t speak anything, their pupils betrayed the fact that they knew him.

    "I won''t ask twice... Where is he?!"

    The tip of his spear lightly pricked the neck of the woman, yet Gabriel didn''t kill her.A drop of blood trickled down the maid''s throat.

    "L-lord Caen isn''t here," the maid replied. "He isn''t in this world."

    Gabriel let out a tired sigh, pushing the spear forward.

    The woman''s eyes widened, as the spear passed through her neck. Within seconds, her eyes closed and her body went weak.

    Gabriel moved over to the second maid, aiming his spear at her. "I don''t have much patience. Where is he?!"

    The Maid was momentarily frozen. She knew that Gabriel wasn''t going to believe it if she told the truth that Caen wasn''t here. He would think that she''s also lying, which would mean the same fate as the other maid.

    However, if she lied, then also she was going to be killed, since Gabriel was going to ask her to lead him. She didn''t know what to say anymore.

    Finally, the Maid trembled and uttered, "I swear on my life that I do not know where Lord Caen is! He left a few days ago, and hasn''t returned! He is most probably having fun in a Lower World!"

    Gabriel was taken aback for a moment. He saw the fear in her eyes. Even after seeing the fate of the other maid, she still stuck to that same answer. Either she was telling the truth, or she was too loyal.

    Her words appeared to be the truth. However, he refused to believe it! He came all this way to find that guy, but he wasn''t even here? That was uneptable.

    However, even if that was true, Gabriel didn''t care! His oath still remained! He was going to take everything from Caen, before finally taking his life!

    Even if he wasn''t here, it didn''t matter! This whole ce needed to be destroyed, just like his world was destroyed by Caen! It was exactly like Ezekiel said... These gods didn''t deserve to live! This ce didn''t deserve to exist!

    "I-i told you the truth... C-can you free me?" The Maid struggled to breathe, feeling the shackles tighten around her throat.

    Gabriel ignored her entirely, as if he didn''t care in the least. The shackles kept tightening. The maid felt suffocated.

    Soon, a cracking sound resounded in the air. However, Gabriel had long walked away.

    Along the way, Gabriel saw many maids and guards. However, none of them were left alive.

    Dark Spears came out of the shadows of everyone that he came across, taking their lives. As he went deeper in the pce, only bodies were left in his wake.

    His eyes didn''t reveal a shred of emotion. He had to destroy everything! Just like his everything was destroyed, he wanted to destroy it all!

    He wanted to make sure that Caen didn''t have a ce to return to, just like he didn''t have a ce to call home anymore!

 Chapter 651 651: The Throne

    Gabriel walked through the long beautiful hallways. The walls were bright, as if they were made with something simr to gold.

    Everything inside this pce was grand. The chandeliers hanging from the ceiling sparkled in the light, casting glimmering reflections on the floor.

    The intricate details in the architecture were breathtaking, with every corner adorned with stunning sculptures and paintings.

    However, wherever Gabriel passed through, things were destroyed. The statues were broken, the portraits were torn, and the bright walls turned darker.

    It was as if the Pce before him, and the pce behind him werepletely different ces. One was heavenly grandeur while the other was hell.

    asionally, he came across the guards. However, he didn''t slow down. In his trail, there was only blood. He didn''t feel bad for them. He was only filled with hate and anger for everything... Everything in this ce was rted to Caen... Everything had to be destroyed.

    While walking through the hallway, Gabriel stopped before a giant door that looked different from others.

    He pushed the door open, revealing a beautiful Royal Hall. The Royal Hall waspletely empty. However, the main throne was still there, along with seats for guests and other gods.

    Gabriel stepped inside the Royal Hall. This was the ce where the strongest god was supposed to reside... This was the pce that belonged to Chaos once upon a time, passing down to his family after his disappearance.

    In the past, there used to be a High Council of gods which took all important decisions rted to the Realm of Gods. For more important decisions, they consulted the Ancestral Gods.

    However, after thest great war, everything had changed. The previous High Council of Gods was destroyed. New High Gods came to their ce. However, they didn''t hold that much power in the realm of gods when it came to taking decisions.

    Most of the decision making powers were held by Janus, who became the strongest being in the Realm of Gods. This was the Pce where all the important decisions were taken, right in this hall.

    Gabriel walked to the center of the Royal Hall, which was surrounded by tall pirs adorned with precious gems.

    There was only one portrait in the Royal Hall. It belonged to a man. The man appeared very handsome. He was donning ordinary attire, which was further covered by a dark robe.

    Even though it was just a portrait, there was something about it that was different from the other portraits.

    The man had no crowns or essories, except one. There was a bracelet on his hand, which was covered with various gems.

    This was the first time Gabriel was seeing the man. However, he didn''t know why, but he felt as if he knew that person... It was a really strange feeling, that he couldn''t understand.

    He stepped closer to the portrait. He had heard a description about Janus, which convinced him that the man in the portrait wasn''t Janus.

    If anything, his description matched more with the man he heard so much about... The man that changed thendscape of the entire universe.... The first man who killed an Ancient God, before disappearing forever.

    It was the portrait of the man that Ezekiel hated the most. It was also the portrait of the man that all the Beast Monarch held immense hatred for!

    In fact, he had never heard any good things about this man! The only thing he had was strength, and nothing more.

    Gabriel reached out his hand to tear off the portrait. However, he didn''t know why, there was still a strange feeling that he couldn''t understand.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    His fingers touched the portrait, which was made from material that couldn''t be found on earth.

    He took a deep breath, before taking a step back. A pitch ck Sword appeared in his hand.

    With a single sh, he cut the portrait in two halves, watching it burn in dark mes of abyss.

    As Gabriel left the Royal Hall, almost everything was caught in mes. Even the main throne had started burning in his dark mes of abyss.

    The throne that Caen wanted to sit on, was burning in Gabriel''s mes of hatred.

    Gabriel went deeper in the Pce. There was still a lot to destroy... At the same time, he was hoping that he was going toe across Caen along the way.

    asionally, he could hear the floor tremble, like there were constant earthquakes. He was convinced that it was because Ezekiel was fighting.

    He wanted to end faster and go out to help him. He increased his speed of search.

    After around ten minutes, he reaches another room. This time, the room was locked. The door of this room appeared even stronger than the door of the Throne Room.

    However, even this door couldn''t stop him.

    Wondering what was being kept inside this room, Gabriel raised the sword that he received from Ezekiel.

    With a single sh, he not only cut the barrier at the entrance of the door, but also sliced the door in two halves.

    He kicked the broken door open and stepped inside, ready to face whatevery ahead.

    The room was dark and filled with an eerie silence. However, as soon as he stepped inside, the room lit up, sending someone''s presence.

    As the room brightened, Gabriel observed his surroundings. Strangely enough, he couldn''t find anyone here. This ce appeared like a garden, more than any secret room.

    The only difference was that none of the flowers here could be seen anywhere else in the world.

    There was another thing in this garden... A small pond was in the center of the garden.

    Gabriel stepped closer to the pond, stopping barely a meter away. The water in the pond was crystal clear, so much so that it almost appeared as if there was no water in the pond.

    There were also four unique fishes floating in the pond. However, strangely enough, only two of them were creating ripples as they swam.

 Chapter 652 652: Help

    Two days had passed since Alion met with the Lords in the Nether Realm. He ced his side forth and asked for help. However, in thest two days, they hadn''t heard anything in return.

    He waited in an underground Cell with Cylix and Novius, along with unconscious Zena.

    "It''s as if theypletely forgot about us. Are we going to stay here all our life?" Cylix asked Alion. He was shackled, unable to use his full strength. However, he still hated the thought of simply waiting here when the decision of the other side was clear. They weren''t going to help them.

    Even Alion was getting tired of waiting. It had been such a long time, yet there was no response. If they were to respond, it would''ve been long ago. They couldn''t afford to wait too long.

    Alion nodded in agreement. "It seems like we can''t rely on them anymore. We must prepare to escape on our own."

    "With these chains, most of our abilities are sealed. How do you expect us to escape from this ce? We are at the depths of their main building." Noviusmented. Zena''s head was lying on his thighs, still unconscious.

    Her face waspletely pale, but fortunately, she was put to sleep before their powers were sealed. There was still a lot of time before she could wake up again, albeit in pain.

    "I''ve been studying the guards and theyout of this ce. We can make a break for it tonight when they change shifts," Alion pointed out.

    When he left the cell to have an audience with the leaders, he had made sure to memorize the entireyout, considering all possibilities.

    Hours passed, and it was finally midnight. However, they still didn''t receive any response. Alion couldn''t wait any longer.

    He stood up, and walked towards the bars.

    Outside, there was no one. Not a single guard. Just as he expected, guards often left a few minutes earlier before their shift ended, without even waiting for the other guards to arrive.

    The guards in the night shift weren''t in any hurry to get here either, since they really didn''t think there was any urgency. No one could escape from this ce, ording to them.

    "The question still remains. How will we leave? Without our abilities, how will we break the doo-" Cylix posed a question, but before he could even finish, he saw Alion grab the bars, and simply bend them.

    Unlike the other Demigods, Alion wasn''t strong because of his Divine Abilities. His real strength came from his constant physical training. Even if his Divine Abilities were blocked, his real physical strength was more than enough topensate.

    That''s also why he didn''t reveal much worries from the start. He could get free at any moment.

    After creating an opening by bending the bars, he pulled his hands apart, shattering the shackles that were tying his hands, using his inhuman strength.

    "You know you could''ve just told us, instead of making us worry all this time." Cylix stood up, clenching his fist.

    Alion grabbed the shackles of Cylix and shattered them as well, before doing the same with Novius.

    In an instant, all of them were freed from the shackles.

    Alion stepped out of the room, with Cylix. Carrying Zena, Novius also stepped out.

    After stepping out, Alion straightened the bars, to make sure that the guards didn''t know anything was wrong. The cells were dark anyway, so it was hard for anyone to know that someone was missing.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The group of four was free of imprisonment, but they weren''t out of danger yet. They still had to get out of here.

    "Wait..."

    As Alion and the others were leaving, they heard a voiceing from a nearby cell. The voice was husky, as if the person who spoke had a sore throat.

    "Help me as well... Please. They will kill me if I can''t escape," the woman in the cell spoke. Her head was covered in a hood, making it hard to see her face properly.

    "I''m sorry, but we don''t have time to help anyone else." Alion spoke, shaking his head.

    He started leaving. Even if the other person was in need, he couldn''t afford to take another burden. They were in a race against time.

    Unfortunately for him, Cylix didn''t think the same. Someone was asking for help.

    Moreover, since the girl was in the cell, that meant she was an enemy of this ce as well. Abandoning that person was no different than sending her to her death.

    He tried to convince Alion that they should help if they could.

    After a little back and forth, Alion eventually agreed. He bent the bars again, helping the girl out.

    The girl stepped out of the prison, thanking them profusely. However, her voice remained heavy. None realized that the woman was intentionally changing her voice as she was worried that Alion might recognise her. That''s also why she hid her face.

    She raised her hand. Alion grabbed the chains and broke them. However, as soon as he broke them, he frowned.

    "You''re also a Dark Mage?" Even Novius was surprised. It meant the girl was either from their destroyed world, or from the Upper Realm.

    Alion removed the hood of the girl, revealing her face.

    "It''s you!" He eximed, after seeing the face of the woman. She had seen the woman a few times, and knew exactly who she was.

    She was the Holy Priestess of Darkness in their world. She also had a conflict with Gabriel. However, that conflict didn''t be anything major.

    However, not long after that, she also tried to free the Goddess of Nature from the tomb, something which he saw with his own eyes.

    He knew exactly who this woman was... Or rather which spirit was apanying her.

    "Long time no see, Alion." A man''s voice fell in Alion''s ears,as an Illusory spirit appeared next to the woman.

    It was the Spirit of the God of Darkness. However, since he was dead, his strength had fallen a lot.

 Chapter 653 653: Path To Freedom

    It became even worse when his Ancestral Staff was stolen, which was real and not a clone.

    In the end, all his ns to recover his strength and regain his body were spoiled by Gabriel.

    Alion clenched his fist. However, before he could do anything, the God of Darkness spoke, "Remember where you are. If we start fighting here, it won''t be good for any of us."

    "Moreover, we aren''t enemies. I know I tried some things that were harmful for your friend, but that was only because I wanted to regain my body and my strength. However, now, all of that is behind us. There are much bigger problems, if you haven''t noticed."

    Alion knew that he wasn''t lying. Even if he was, he wasn''t strong now. If anything, he was at their mercy so he couldn''t scheme much. He relied on a little girl to even exist, after all.

    "You''ve be quite pathetic," Alion eximed, shaking his head lightly.

    "All thanks to your dear friend. Just because I helped him under threats of death, all the other gods went against me after he was killed. If anything, I suffered from the actions of your friend! Otherwise, you know what would''ve happened to you if you had said that in the past."

    The Spirit of the God of Darkness was weak, but it still remembered everything. It still had arrogance and pride, especially before a Demigod, who could be crushed by him with a flick of his finger when he was at his peak.

    The hallway was dimly illuminated by torches and the sounds of guards could be heard in the distance.

    "We can talkter. First, get out of here!" Lira eximed, as her expressions darkened.

    She motioned for them to follow her and quickly made her way through the maze-like corridors of the castle. The others also followed her, going in the opposite direction to where the guards wereing from.

    They had to find a way out before they were caught and had to fight against an entire army.

    "How do you know there was a route here?'' Alion asked Lira. He only knew of one route, and it was where the guards wereing from.

    "I am the darkness itself. I can see what others can''t, especially now that my abilities aren''t sealed," Lira replied.

    She also used her abilities to make sure that none of them made any footstep sounds.

    After taking a long route through the underground prison, Lira led them all to a metallic door at the other end.

    "I have been in this cell for quite some time. I heard a lot of conversation between the guards," she spoke. "From what I heard, this was anotherentrance door, which was here because of an incorrect design. After realizing that this entry to this cell was not needed, they sealed it. We would need to open it to get out of here."

    "Leave that to me," Alion chimed in, gesturing for others to step back.

    The Spirit of the God of Darkness told him to stop. "Anyone but you! If you open it, you''ll definitely make too much noise. I can''t trust you with this."

    Lira also agreed. It was different when it came to bending the bars. However, breaking an entire door was going to be loud.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Leave it to me then. I know what to do."

    Cylix took the lead, hearing the footstepsing closer. They didn''t have much time to argue here.

    He ced his hand on the door, closing his eyes. He used a Wordless Chant, casting a spell.

    His palm started shining in bright light. However, Novius shrouded their surroundings in darkness, to make sure that no one could see the light in the dark cell.

    The bright light spread throughout the corners of the door, turning into molten liquid which slowly started cutting all the joints.

    The door creaked open slowly. They could hear the guards getting closer, but they had to go through the door before it was toote.

    Fortunately, as all the joints of the door were cut, the door started falling.

    Lira took the lead now, and held the door from falling on the ground with a thud.

    She made sure that the door was gently ced on the ground.

    After the five of them passed through the opening, Lira used the same door to block the opening so the light from this area couldn''t brighten the dark maze-like area.

    They continued to move forward, keeping their footsteps as quiet as possible.

    They were out of the prison area, but they were still underground. Since this area was sealed, the construction wasn''t continued and there were no stairs to lead up.

    Fortunately, none of them needed stairs. Cylix, Novius and Lira used a flight spell. On the other hand, Alion simply jumped,nding on the half constructed tform on the ground floor, from where the stairs were to connect if they were ever made.

    "From here, it''ll get dangerous. We are on the ground floor, and getting out without getting discovered... It would be quite unlikely. But if we are discovered, you two shall run. I''ll hold the others back."

    Alion told the n to Cylix and Novius. All of them couldn''t be caught. If they were discovered, one of them had to stay behind to hold the others back. And he couldn''t expect Lira to be that person. He decided to stay behind if that was ever the case.

    He was the strongest in the group, and had faith that he could give the others enough time to escape.

    Cylix and Novius knew that they could not argue with Alion''s decision. They agreed to the n and continued to move quietly through the bright corridors, trying their best to avoid everyone.

    As they were just about to reach their destination, they heard a loud sounding from behind them.

    They all froze in their tracks and turned around to see what was going on. To their surprise, they saw a group of guards running towards them, their weapons at the ready. They were discovered¡­

 Chapter 654 654: Distraction

    The narrow hallway echoed with the sound of pounding footsteps. Alion slowed down, frowning as he looked back.

    He didn''t expect them to be discovered so soon. Not only were they discovered, but the Guards from the Blood n had gathered to stop them, rushing in their direction.

    d in dark attire, he gripped his sword tightly, its de glinting ominously in the dim left.

    Behind him, Cylix and Novius were also taken aback. There were too many guards. They thought about helping.

    "Leave! Don''t forget the n! Get out of here! I''ll find youter!" Alion roared, realizing what they were thinking without even looking back.

    Unlike Cylix and Novius, Lira wasn''t hesitant. She didn''t want to be caught again. Without a second thought, she started leaving.

    "But you-"

    "No but! Get out of here! You''ll only be a distinction for me! Leave!" Alion cut Cylix''s sentence, not even letting him finish. They had a chance to escape, but only if he could hold back the approaching Guards long enough.

    The Guards belonging to the Blood n were a formidable force in their polished uniforms. They were a fierce force who became strong the more they fought.

    Their biggest advantage came when fighting against more people since the more blood they shed, the stronger they could get. On the other hand, the enemy couldn''t recover their strength in the Nether Realm.

    This was one benefit of the Nether Realm for them who were born here, and lived all their lives here.

    The guards charged down the corridor with shields raised and weapons poised for battle.

    Alion stood his ground. He refused to let fear cloud his mind. He knew the lives of hispanions depended on him. Their escape was more important for now!

    As for him, even if he was caught, it didn''t matter. Saving Zena was most important.

    As the first Blood Warrior lunged forward, Alion sidestepped with lightning speed, evading the deadly strike.

    With a swift counterattack, his sword sliced through the air, finding its mark. The Guard crumpled to the ground, lifeless. Alion barely had a moment to register the victory before the next assant closed in.

    Alion tried to reserve as much strength as he possibly could, only taking advantage of his fighting skills and nothing else. Unfortunately, there were just too many enemies and the hallway wasrge.

    The hallway became a tempest of shing steel and thunderous shouts. Alion attacked while protecting himself, making sure he didn''t bleed. His blood was the strength for these guards.

    <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    His movements remained fluid and calcted. Each stroke of his de was a testament to years of training and experience. Sweat trickled down his brow, but he pushed past exhaustion, fueled by the knowledge that his friends'' lives hung in the bnce. He couldn''t falter here.

    The Guards, sensing their advantage in numbers, pressed forward, their attacks growing more relentless. Alion''s muscles strained under the weight of the onught, but he refused to yield. He parried a sweeping blow from one Guard, then spun around, delivering a powerful kick that sent another crashing into the stone wall.

    Time seemed to warp as the battle raged on. Alion''s breath came in ragged gasps, his body aching from countless cuts and bruises. Yet, with every step the Guards took, he matched them, his movements bing more precise, his strikes more devastating.

    He didn''t let a single guard pass through. Unfortunately, their battle was making the entire ce tremble, alerting even more people that something was wrong, including the higher ups in the Blood n.

    Sensing an opening, a group of Guards attacked at once, overwhelming Alion''s defenses. He staggered under the onught, getting wounded.

    His clothes were bloodied. But even in his moment of weakness, he fought on, refusing to let despair seep into his heart.

    Summoning every ounce of strength left in his weary body, Alion executed a dazzling disy of skill. His sword danced through the air, each swing feeling a Guard with lethal uracy. The remaining Guards faltered, their resolve wavering under the weight of their fallenrades.

    With a final, mighty blow, Alion cleaved through thest adversary, sending him sprawling to the ground. Silence descended upon the hallway, broken only by thebored breathing of the wounded.

    In the meantime, Cylix and Novius had traveled very far, along with Lira who located the passages with as few guards as possible.

    Even though she didn''t care about others, she did care about her own safety and always selected the right Passage, avoiding most of the dangers along the way.

    "The sounds of battle stopped. The battle is over. Should we wait for him?" Novius nced back, feeling the vibrations stop.

    "Only if you''re stupid. Just because the battle stopped doesn''t mean it''s safe. The vibrations from the battle had probably alerted even the ones who didn''t previously know. Staying close to Alion is the worst thing you can do right now!" Lira eximed, suggesting against stopping.

    "If we want to get out, we need to use him wisely. He is the distraction which will attract most of the enemies, while we take the opposite route to escape. Without him putting himself at risk, there''s no escape for us from this ce!" She further stated.

    If possible, she could''ve run on her own. However, she knew that she could use Cylix and Novius to her advantage in case she needed another shield like Novius. Moreover, she had heard their goals.

    It was to find the Lord of Time, who had disappeared, scared of Karyk! If they could really Achieve that, she wanted to be with them. Because she also had something to do with that person.

    She needed to find him to fulfill her own personal mission, and if these two could help her in any way, she would join them on their quest. The thought of finding the Lord of Time filled her with both excitement and apprehension.

    To achieve that goal, she first had to save them and get them out safely.

 Chapter 655 655: Fury

    Just as she expected, most of the attention went toward Alion. Even Alion understood that fact. That''s why he didn''t follow in the same direction as the others.

    To make sure that he didn''t lead the other enemies back to Cylix and Novius, he ran in the opposite direction. Not only did he go in the opposite direction but he wasn''t subtle about it either.

    Instead of escaping, he was going straight toward the hall where the three Overlords had met him. It was as if he had only one simple goal in mind.

    Along the way, he killed everyone who stood in his path. He still hadn''t used his Elemental Energy to fight, only relying on his physical strength.

    The enemies were clearly caught off guard by his sudden change and the ferocity with which he fought. As he got closer to the hall, he could hear the sounds of battle intensifying. It seemed that his n was working, at least for now.

    Most of their attention was directed toward him, especially with the potential of their Main Hall being attacked.

    What could be more embarrassing for the Blood n than their main hall being attacked by someone.

    If that happened, they were going to be theughingstock of the other two great ns. Their security was going to be called useless if they couldn''t even stop a single attack. Their entire reputation was on the line and that was all that matters!

    If just to stop this, the higher ups had toe, then nothing could''ve been more embarrassing than this.

    Alion''s heart was prepared. He knew that it was unlikely that he could defeat the Patriarch of the three great ns, especially in their stronghold. However, his aim was only to keep them busy, so all the security of the n could be directed to stop him.

    As he neared the entrance of the hall. He could already imagine the chaos and panic that would ensue once he breached their stronghold. The thought of the Blood n''s leaders scrambling to defend their precious main hall brought an amused smile to his face.

    Even if it was going to be hisst moment, he was proud. If he was to die, what could be better than spreading chaos through the strongest n in the Nether Realm. Moreover, before losing his one life, he was to make sure that he was going to kill many more people.

    As he reached therge double doors leading into the hall, Alion didn''t hesitate. With a powerful kick, he sent the doors crashing open, shattering their grandeur.

    The noise echoed through the hall, drawing the attention of everyone inside. Alion stood at the threshold, a lone figure radiating defiance.

    The sight that greeted him was even better than he had imagined. The high-ranking members of the Blood n, the elite warriors and strategists who had mocked and belittled him, now stared at him in disbelief and anger.

    Theirposed and haughty expressions crumbled, reced with fury and confusion.

    The Patriarch of the Blood n wasn''t here for some strange reason. Simrly, the Patriarch of the other two great ns weren''t here either. It was unclear where those two had gone, but Alion had a really strange feeling about this.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    It wasn''t often that the three strongest beings of the Nether Realm left Central City.

    The room erupted into chaos as Alion charged forward, his movements a blur. He darted between the Blood n members, striking with precision and brutality. His physical prowess astonished many.

    With each punch and kick, he shattered bones and sent bodies flying. The element of surprise gave him an advantage, and he exploited it to the fullest.

    But it wasn''t just his physical strength that caused the Blood n members to falter. Alion''s unyielding determination and the fire burning within him were palpable.

    It was as if he had tapped into a well of limitless power, fueled by the years of training and determination he had gathered.

    ¡¤?¦Èm The once pristine hall was transformed into a battlefield. The sh of steel against steel, the grunts of pain, and the screams of the wounded filled the air. Alion fought with a fervor that seemed inhuman, fueled by the desire to bring the Blood n to its knees.

    Word of the attack spread like wildfire throughout thepound. Guards and warriors who had been patrolling the area rushed back to defend their leaders. Alion''s diversion had worked, drawing the attention away from Cylix and Novius.

    Outside, in the chaos of the ongoing battle, the small escaping group seized the opportunity to gather their strength and regroup. They had no doubt that Alion would draw the Blood n''s focus, but now they needed to find a way to escape unnoticed. They couldn''t let his sacrifice go to waste.

    Back inside the hall, Alion pressed forward relentlessly. He knew his time was limited, and he needed to make every strike count. The Blood n members fought desperately, their rage evident in their eyes.

    Amidst the chaos, Alion caught sight of a figure d in ornate armor, the leader of the Blood n Army. It was the same person who had captured him near the entrance of the Blood n.

    Their eyes locked, and a surge of recognition passed between them.

    Driven by a mix of emotions, Alion made a beeline for the Leader of the Guards. Their sh was fierce, each blow a culmination of years of desire. One had the desire to protect his home, while the other had a desire to protect his friends!

    The leader of the Guards fought skillfully, but Alion had finally started using his Elemental Energy. Before the Leader of the Guards, he couldn''t hold anything back, especially since his strength wasn''t able to keep up.

    The Leader of the Guards fought with a level of fury that surpassed any technique or training.

    Their battle raged on, the sh of their weapons reverberating throughout the hall, making the walls crack apart and the entire mansion tremble.

 Chapter 656 656: No Mercy

    Unaware of the oue inside the mansion, Lira and the others finally managed to leave the mansion.

    Along the way, they only saw two guards who were standing at the entrance. However, they quickly took the two guards out, before disappearing into the giant city like ghosts.

    Even as he ran, Cylix kept ncing back, watching the mansion slowly fall apart. However, it wasn''tpletely destroyed before the battle noises finally stopped.

    It was as if the battle hade to an end. Cylix and Novius somewhat hoped that it was Alion''s victory and he was going toe out safely. However, even as some time passed, Alion didn''te out. What happened in the mansion became evident.

    "Looks like the oue is what I expected," the God of Darknessmented. "At least he bought enough time for us to get out."

    Cylix frowned, hearing him. He felt quite upset but he didn''tment. Even though they had saved Lira, she and the Spirit didn''t feel any sense of sadness toward Alion. They only thought about themselves.

    Unfortunately, they were together now. And this world was unfamiliar now. They needed someone''s help to find the Lord of Time. Whether they liked it or not, it was clear that the God of Darkness was their best bet since he was from the same era as Alion and the Lord of Time.

    The group of three, carrying an unconscious girl disappeared, getting out of the City before the City could be locked down. However, they didn''t leave before kidnapping a few Silver Eyed Undead to help them teleport.

    ¡¤?¦Èm .....

    Back in the mansion of the Blood n, the battle hade to a halt.

    The Leader of the Guards was standing on one end. His lips were bleeding, and there were wounds all over his body.

    On the other end, there was Alion who was just as much hurt, if not more.

    He was on his knees, with some mysterious chains around him that kept him down. However, he wasn''t looking at the leader of the guards, but at another person.

    With the Leader of the Guards, he felt that he still had a chance to win. However, amidst the battle, he noticed a few figures appear in the hall out of thin air.

    And the ones who appeared were no ordinary people either. They were the Patriarchs of the Three Nether ns, who had returned.

    The Patriarch of the Blood n was surprised after seeing such destruction. His eyes revealed a trace of surprise that this was all caused by one person.

    He swiftly intervened in the battle, easily restricting Alion who tried to resist only to fail.

    "You and your friend... Why are you two always creating trouble?" The Patriarch of the Blood n asked, taking calm steps towards Alion. "You two have caused so much damage throughout the years, challenging our authority. Do you expect me to be merciful?"

    He stopped just a few feet away from Alion, reached out his hand. He ced his hand on Alion''s head, only to grab the young man''s hair, raising him up in the air with his hair.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "That was the limit of our mercy. Not anymore. It''s time the world knows the consequences of offending us!" He looked deep in the eyes of Alion, which revealed no regret.

    "Tomorrow, you shall be executed in front of everyone in the city!"

    He tossed Alion at the guard''s feet beforemanding, "Make preparations!"

    ****

    While the battle had alreadye to an end in the Nether Realm, another battle was still raging near the Realm of Gods.

    Multiple stars exploded from the aftereffects of the intense battle. Thews of time and space were so twisted that they couldn''t even keep up. It was as if whenever the battle ured, the surroundings itself was destroyed.

    And it was all to take down Ezekiel. Even the Strongest Gods couldn''t hold him back, scared from his Abyssal Energy. If it wasn''t for that, all of them were certain that they couldn''t win.

    The longer they had lived, the more they cherished their lives. They cared about their lives and fought in a manner that made it obvious. Unfortunately, that much wasn''t enough.

    Ezekiel, consumed by his insatiable thirst for power, unleashed devastating attacks upon the gods. He was relentless, his Abyssal Energy crackling and pulsating with each strike. The gods fought valiantly, but they were no match for Ezekiel''s overwhelming power.

    Among the gods, there was one who stood out¡ªhe was known as Ardyn. Even though Ardyn wasn''t the god of time, his abilities were somewhat simr, allowing him to manipte time to a small extent.

    He possessed some mastery over time itself, and he used this ability to his advantage. Ardyn manipted the fabric of time, bending it to his will, trying to find a weakness in Ezekiel''s relentless assault.

    As the battle raged on, the gods began to realize that their individual efforts were not enough. They needed to unite their powers andbine their strengths to have a chance at defeating Ezekiel. Ardyn, with hismand over time, took the lead and devised a n.

    He gathered the remaining gods and formed a circle, each deity contributing their unique abilities to create a powerful barrier. This barrier epassed Ezekiel, trapping him within a temporal prison where time stood still. For a brief moment, the chaos ceased, and the gods seized the opportunity to gather their strength.

    Ardyn, his eyes shining with determination, stepped forward. He concentrated his powers, drawing upon the essence of time itself. He channeled the energy through his body, surging with the might of centuries. The gods watched in awe as Ardyn transformed into a towering figure, radiating an aura of immense power.

    With a voice that resonated throughout the realm, Ardyn spoke, his words infused with the authority of the Ruler of Time. "Your reign of destruction ends here. The gods stand united against you, and we shall bring forth your downfall."

    Ardyn extended his hand, and time began to flow once more within the barrier, but it moved at an elerated pace. The gods unleashed a barrage of attacks, theirbined might striking Ezekiel from all directions.

    Thunderous booms echoed, and the air crackled with energy as the battle reached its climax.

 Chapter 657 657: The Only Path

    Ezekiel, weakened by the onught, defended himself. The raw power of the gods momentarily overwhelmed him, his Abyssal Energy faltering under the weight of their collective strength. With each strike, his form flickered, his once formidable presence waning.

    As the battle neared its conclusion, Ardyn, his body still infused with the essence of time, approached Ezekiel. His eyes bore into Ezekiel''s, filled with a mixture of determination andpassion. "Today, your death shall provide peace to the spirits of all those whose lives you took!"

    Ezekiel''s gaze was cold and emotionless. The gods watched with bated breath, hoping that their foe would beg for forgiveness.

    However, the darkness within him prevailed. With a scornfulugh, Ezekiel spat, "Are you expecting me to apologize? To you all? Redemption is for the weak. I embrace the Abyss. You think this can stop me?!"

    Ardyn''s expression hardened, mingling with determination.

    "So be it. This is the end," he dered, his voice resonating with finality. The gods unleashed their remaining strength, a final assault that shattered the barriers of reality. The ensuing explosion engulfed Ezekiel, engulfing and his malevolent presence from the realm.

    Silence fell upon the battlefield as the gods caught their breath. The realm was scarred, the fabric of time and space disrupted by the cataclysmic battle. The gods mourned the loss of their fellow gods, but they were also happy that the battle was over.

    Unfortunately, they soon received the shock of their lives as the destructive forces that had shrouded Ezekiel stopped.

    Strangely enough, he was still there! His body still existed. Moreover, something was different about him!

    Two demon-like wings came out from his back, which wererger than before. His horns also grew longer. His eyes were still pitch ck, but instead of his aura weakening, it strengthened.

    His torn clothes had disappeared, recing them with clothes made purely from dark and destructive energy. His figure also appeared somewhatrger.

    "This is not the end. This is just the beginning!"

    Ezekiel''s voice boomed through the air, resonating with a newfound power. The gods watched in shock and disbelief as he rose from the wreckage, transformed into a being of darkness and chaos.

    The once-defeated Ezekiel had returned, reborn with a sinister aura that surpassed their wildest imaginations.

    They always wondered why Chaos had sealed Ezekiel, instead of just directly killing himst time. They thought he grew soft or was merciful at that time, in his early years.

    However, they didn''t realize that the reason Chaos didn''t kill Ezekiel wasn''t because he was merciful. It was because it was actually impossible to kill Ezekiel! He was a being which couldn''t be killed. He was born from hatred, and that hatred was inextinguishable.

    Ardyn stepped forward, his expression filled with concern and caution.

    "What have you be?" he asked, his voiceced with both curiosity and apprehension. "How can a mortal gain so much power?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Ezekiel''s lips curled into a wicked smile, revealing his sharp, fanged teeth.

    "I have embraced the true depths of the Abyss," he replied, his voice dripping with malevolence. "The shackles that once bound me have been shattered, and now, I stand as the embodiment of destruction."

    The gods exchanged uneasy nces, unsure of how to respond to this newfound threat. It was like Ezekiel was actually the God of Destruction!

    Ezekiel''s transformation had elevated him to a level beyond theirprehension, and they realized that defeating him would require even greater sacrifices.

    As the gods prepared for another confrontation, Ezekiel unleashed a devastating wave of dark energy, obliterating everything in its path. The gods scattered, desperately trying to evade the destructive force. The realm shook under the impact, and cracks formed in the fabric of reality.

    Ardyn, his determination unyielding, stepped forward once again. He knew that defeating Ezekiel in this form would be a monumental task, but he couldn''t stand idly by while darkness consumed everything he held dear.

    He didn''t care about the battle of the throne or the benefits. He only cared about protecting the ce that he called home, at least until Caen or Janus could return! They had to stop this monster until then, if they wanted their homes to be protected!

    "You have be a Demon!" Ardyn called out, his voice resolute. "I implore you to remember who you truly are. Your path doesn''t have to be one of destruction and despair. Stop this!"

    Ezekiel''s gaze flickered for a moment, a hint of amusement mingling with his malevolence. But then, his sinister grin returned, and he raised his hand, summoning dark shackles that coiled around Ardyn, binding him in ce.

    "You speak of a path?" Ezekiel sneered. "Which path? The path that your people took to destroy my home? The path that your people took to bring my dead family back to life, so they could kill them before my eyes?! The path that made you ruin the lives of millions of innocent people?"

    "You call me a Demon?! But in my eyes, you are the Demons! And you shall always be the demons! You are the beasts who only understand onenguage! And that''s the only path for me to follow until I raze this entire ce to the ground!"

    "There is only one path worth following¡ªthe path of power. And I have embraced it fully!"

    ¡¤?¦Èm He gazed at his hand, shrouded in the darkness of the abyss. "If I had this power before... If I had this strength... I could''ve protected them... They wouldn''t have to die... They wouldn''t have to suffer."

    In his cold and emotionless eyes, finally a flicker of emotions shed. However, those emotions soon disappeared as he remembered his cause.

    With a swift motion of his hand, Ezekiel unleashed a torrent of dark energy toward Ardyn. The trapped god struggled against his restraints, his determination fueling ast-ditch effort to resist.

    But just as the darkness was about to consume Ardyn, a blinding light burst forth, dispelling the shadows.

    "He''s not fighting alone!" One of the gods shouted, his voice infused with a newfound strength.

 Chapter 658 658: The Unbreakable Pond

    A bright burst of energy came straight toward Ezekiel.

    A dark barrier appeared around Ezekiel, shrouding him in a dark sphere, protecting him.

    Even though Ezekiel was protected in the embrace of the dark barrier, the impact of the attack still sent him flying at a speed that wasn''t visible to the naked eye.

    It was as if the dark sphere had traveled thousands of light years in an instant before the strength behind that attack was finally exhausted.

    The attack was strong, to the extent that it caused Ezekiel''s barrier to crack as well.

    Back in the battlefield, everyone looked at the Goddess of Reincarnation, wondering if she had killed Ezekiel.

    Unfortunately for them, they heard a loud demonic roar across the gxy.

    The Goddess of Reincarnation helped the man who had used time to hold back Ezekiel for a brief moment. Fortunately, he still wasn''t hurt. He was only somewhat poisoned by the Abyssal Energy.

    "This monster... Just what does it take to kill it?!" One of the Gods asked, frustrated.

    A Spatial Portal opened before them, and Ezekiel stepped out, covering the distance in the blink of an eye. He waspletely unharmed.

    "Are you finally going to stop hiding behind others?" he asked the Goddess of Reincarnation. He was still slightly surprised that Chaos hadn''t shown himself.

    "Let''s see if your death can force that guy to appear!"

    Ezekiel''s voice echoed with determination, his eyes aze with an unwavering resolve. The Goddess of Reincarnation, her expression unreadable, observed Ezekiel''s unscathed form with a mix of caution.

    Ezekiel''s grip tightened around his weapon as he took a step forward, his dark aura pulsating with increasing intensity. "I care not for the puppeteer. If it''s Chaos I seek, then Chaos I shall face! Even if I have to kill you all to bring him here, then it shall be!"

    As the two powerful beings stood face-to-face, a surge of energy crackled in the air around them, the atmosphere growing heavy with anticipation. The battlefield fell into an eerie silence as all eyes focused on this sh of titanic forces.

    But before Ezekiel could make his next move, the Goddess of Reincarnation raised her hand, creating a swirling vortex of ethereal energy. The vortex expanded rapidly, engulfing the entire area and distorting reality itself. Ezekiel felt his surroundings shift and warp, as if he was being transported to another realm.

    In an instant, they found themselves standing in an otherworldly ne¡ªa deste wastnd consumed by perpetual darkness. The sky above was a canvas of swirling nebs and cosmic storms, casting an ominous glow upon the battlefield.

    Ezekiel scanned his surroundings, his senses heightened. He could sense an overwhelming presence, an entity lurking in the shadows.

    This ce didn''t feel like an illusion. It was reality! It was as if they had traveled far across the gxy to an unknown ce.

    ****

    Back near the Realm of Gods, the Gods were surprised to find the Goddess of Reincarnation disappearing with Ezekiel.

    Only a sentence from her appeared in their mind, where she told them that she was going to hold him back. Everyone else was given a different task!

    She didn''t ask them to find Caen. If anything, she wanted Caen to be away from this mess. Even though her son never listened to her, and was always stubborn, she refused to let him risk his life here. She still loved him just as much!

    Instead, she was ready to give it her all, even though there was a chance that she might not return alive.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ....

    "If you think you can hold me back, then you''ve never been more wrong." Ezekiel could see his surroundings were barren. The Goddess of Reincarnation couldn''t be seen, but he could feel that she was here.

    "Huh?"

    His expressions soon grew surprised, as he noticed even more presences! These presences were very familiar... These were the auras of the Gods that he had killed thest time he invaded the Realm of Gods.

    "You brought them back to life? No, that''s not it. These auras are much weaker. It''s... Reincarnations?" Ezekielmented, slightly taken aback.

    "If I''ve killed them once, I can kill them again. Did you forget?" he asked, revealing a devilish look in his eyes.

    At the same time, he was excited that he could once again kill the God which killed his family! He killed his father twice! Now it was his turn to kill that guy twice. For him, instead of danger, this was a pleasant surprise.

    He knew that the Goddess of Reincarnation was trying to dy him, but he didn''t care.

    ****

    Back in the Realm of Gods, Gabriel stood in the Pond, fascinated by the fishes.

    He reached out his hand to touch one of them.

    Urgh~

    As soon as his finger even touched the water in the pond, his body shot back as a terrifying pain spread throughout his entire being.

    There was something protecting this pond. Something that he failed to understand. It made him even more curious. Just what was this pond? Why was its defense even stronger than the defense of the Realm of Gods itself?

    He stood up again, patting his clothes. His fascination with the fishes only increased.

    He pulled out the sword that he received from Ezekiel and used the Abyssal Energy to slice through this resistance.

    He stepped closer to the pond again, aimed his sword at it and thrust it down.

    Boom~

    It was the same oue again. The Pond protection didn''t break. Instead, to Gabriel''s surprise, it was the sword made from Ezekiel''s blood that shattered.

    Even the Energy of the Abyss couldn''t harm the pond. Gabriel once again flew back, falling in the distance.

    This came as a shock to him. He wiped the blood trickling down his lips, before standing up again.

    This time, he tried the Worldly Laws to attack the pond, but the oue remained the same. The more he attacked the pond, the more he hurt himself. Something was really strange.

 Chapter 659 659: Celebration Of Gods

    Caen was sitting in the Royal Court in a Lower World on the Throne of the King.

    He was calmly drinking the mortal wine, watching Two Leaders of their Kingdoms fighting in the Court, bare handed for his entertainment.

    The other young gods were also present, sitting with beautifuldies in theirps, enjoying the battle of mortals.

    Not only were they enjoying themselves, but they were even betting on who was going to win, cing various Treasures on the line.

    The Kings who were fighting were horrified. They never believed in Gods. However, now they had no choices but to go with the whims of these gods.

    These gods could kill them with a snap of their fingers. The only way out was to keep these gods satisfied and entertained.

    Caen leaned back on his throne, a smirk ying on his lips as he watched the mortals fight for their lives.

    His eyes flickered with amusement as he sipped his wine, relishing in the chaos unfolding before him. The young gods surrounding him cheered andughed, reveling in the spectacle.

    As the battle reached its climax, one of the Kings managed tond a decisive blow on his opponent, causing the defeated king to crumble to the ground. The victor stood tall, his chest heaving with exertion, and his eyes met Caen''s.

    Caen raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the mortal''s audacity.

    "Impressive," he said, his voice carrying across the court. "You have earned my favor."

    With a wave of his hand, Caen summoned avish reward for the victorious mortal¡ªa small fruit from the Realm of Gods.

    The king was excited, receiving a reward from a god. He was so excited that he took the fruit and ate it right away.

    As he ate the fruit, he thanked Caen repeatedly. However, his face soon turned pale. He felt really ufortable, as if his body was in pain.

    The pain soon spread through his entire body.

    He gazed at Caen, who had an interested look on his face.

    "I never told you that you should eat it. You can''t me us for your stupidity," Caen smiled.

    The King opened his mouth to speak, but before he could even let a word out, his body exploded in a gruesome sight.

    The young gods around him erupted inughter.

    "These mortals can''t even handle the energy of a simple fruit. Pathetic."

    Caen turned his attention back to the festivities, his mind wandering. Another set of mortals were brought over to fight, this time being the Queens.

    Even though Caen watched these battles, trying to get some amusement in his boring life, deep down, a part of him longed for something more.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The monotony of godhood, the endless cycle of amusement, was starting to lose its luster. There was a restlessness within him, a desire to explore the unknown, to challenge the boundaries of his existence.

    In that moment, as the mortals continued their revelry and the young gods basked in their own glory, Caen made a silent vow to himself. After gaining the throne of the Realm of Gods, he was going to venture beyond the confines of his throne, and find his own path in the vastness of the cosmos.

    Little did he know that the events unfolding in the Realm of Gods would soon set the stage for a confrontation that would shake the very foundations of their world.

    The sh of titans and the pursuit of Chaos would draw him into a web of destiny, where the choices he made would shape the future of all realms.

    With newfound determination, Caen stood from his throne, the wine ss in his hand forgotten. He cast onest nce at the mortals, who continued their battle.

    Ignoring the battle, he left the Royal Court to bask under the moonlight.

    He didn''t understand why, but there was a really strange feeling deep within his heart. And that strange feeling was making him feel really ufortable.

    As he walked through the moonlit gardens, a whisper of unease grew louder in his mind.

    He gazed up at the stars, wondering just why he was so restless recently. He had already done everything he set out to do. He killed the pawn of his uncle who could''ve been a threat to him in the future.

    Now, there was no threat to him and his position. Then why was this feeling eating him up?

    In the end, he decided to simply go back and finish his short vacation. This feeling was bing overbearing. He had to check if everything was fine back home! He had to understand what this strange instinct was.

    In the end, he returned to the Royal Hall. One of the Queens was lying dead. And the other queen who won the battle was sitting on thep of a young God, whose hands had slid inside her dress, ying with her like she was his property.

    "Enough ying. We are going back," he told the young gods, without wasting a single second. At the same time, he snapped his fingers, turning all the mortals in this room to dust.

    "Just when it was starting to get fun," one of the young godsined. "Why are we going back so soon? After so long, we managed to sneak out again. I heard the next world is called Earth. It was going to be so fun. I''ve always wanted to see that and y around."

    "Earth? Isn''t that where the Last Godly Trial took ce, where Lord Chaos killed most of the participants?" Another God asked. "I want to see that as well. Let''s go there. We can go backter."

    Caen frowned. The aura around him intensified.

    "I said we are leaving. Is there anyone who opposes it?" he asked.

    The other gods could see that he was being very serious this time. No matter how much they wanted to y around, they couldn''t disagree.

    "I agree. This ce was getting boring. Let''s go back."

    "Exactly. I was missing my family as well. Let''s leave."

    One after another, the young Gods stood up, dropping their ns of visiting Earth.

 Chapter 660 660: Different

    Gabriel was still focused on the strange pond before him, when he noticed that the sound of battle had stopped. The ground wasn''t constantly shaking anymore. It was as if the battle outside hade to a halt.

    He was curious about the oue. He had seen how strong Ezekiel was. So he was sure Ezekiel wasn''t going to be defeated. That made him feel that the battle was Ezekiel''s victory.

    Eventually, he decided to leave the Pce. He nced at the strange pond onest time, before turning around.

    It doesn''t matter even if the pond was anything species. It had to be buried with the entire pce!

    As Gabriel walked out of the pce, he destroyed every foundation of the Pce that helped it stand up.

    Right as he stepped out, he destroyed thest foundation as well, watching the entire pce crumbling down, burying everything inside.

    However, as soon as he stepped out, he noticed that the once chaotic battlefield had transformed into an eerie stillness. The air was heavy with an unusual silence, devoid of the sh of weapons and the cries of warriors.

    The entirendscape seemed frozen in time, as if nature itself held its breath in anticipation.

    Gabriel''s brow furrowed in confusion. He scanned his surroundings, searching for any signs of life or movement. The bodies of fallen godsy scattered across the ground, their limbs twisted and lifeless.

    The vibrant colors of their armor and banners had been dulled by ayer of dust and ash, adding to the destion of the scene.

    His gaze shifted to the horizon, where the sun hung low in the sky, casting long shadows over the battlefield.

    The golden hues of the fading daylight danced upon the motionless forms, creating an eerie spectacle.

    He cautiously walked further, his footsteps echoing through the silence. Suddenly, he heard a soft rustling sound, like the whisper of a gentle breeze.

    Turning towards the source, he spotted a figure emerging from behind arge boulder. It was Ezekiel, his once majestic armor now marred with dirt and bloodstains.

    "Ezekiel!" Gabriel called out, relief flooding his voice. "What happened here? Why is everything so still?"

    Ezekiel approached with slow, deliberate steps, weariness etched upon his face. His usually bright eyes were filled with a mix of exhaustion and sorrow.

    "It''s over," he replied, his voiceced with a heavy burden. "The battle... it reached its conclusion in a way I never expected."

    Gabriel''s eyes widened, waiting for Ezekiel to borate. His heart raced, fearing the worst.

    "I failed..." Ezekiel began, his voice filled with remorse. "We fought fiercely, but in the end, neither of us could emerge victorious. The power she unleashed... It was unlike anything I''ve ever witnessed. It consumed everything in its path."

    Gabriel''s mind raced with questions.

    "Consumed everything?" The gravity of the situation weighed heavily on Gabriel''s shoulders. "So, what is the n now?"

    Ezekiel''s eyes revealed sadness and disappointment. His face was pale, as if itcked any trace of blood.

    Ezekiel stepped closer to Gabriel. His legs stumbled, as if he suddenly lost bnce thanks to weakness.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Gabriel subconsciously reached out to help prevent Ezekiel''s fall. However, as soon as he reached out his hand, he felt a strange sense of danger... The feeling he received from Ezekiel was different...

    At thest moment, he stopped himself and jumped back. Unfortunately, that didn''t happen before Ezekiel thrust a sword, which managed to slice through Gabriel''s flesh.

    If Gabriel was just a littlete, the sword would''ve sliced through him.

    Ezekiel who was stumbling previously stood up straight. His eyes revealed surprise. "How did you see through me?"

    "You''re not Ezekiel," Raven frowned, watching the wound on his shoulder slowly heal.

    "Who am I?" Ezekiel asked. His face slowly transformed into Gabriel''s face.

    "I am you," the man spoke.

    However, his face once again changed. He transformed into a woman, who was none other than Gabriel''s mother.

    One after another, multiple versions of the man appeared all around Gabriel, all having faces of people that he knew, including Alion, Zena, Cylix and Novius.

    "I am the God of Illusions," the man spoke,ughing. "The man who will be killing you."

    Even though he couldn''t see through Gabriel''s memories, he could see the people dear to Gabriel and use them in illusions to his advantage.

    His fighting strength wasn''t high, which was why he hadn''t gone to fight Ezekiel. However, onnd, his illusions were the strongest, which could entrap even some gods.

    Gabriel stood amidst the swirling illusions, his mind assaulted by images of his loved ones.

    The God of Illusions had trapped him in abyrinth of deceit, using the faces of those he cherished most to weaken his resolve. The figures circled him, their voices echoing in his ears, calling out to him with pleas for help and cries of despair.

    A mixture of anger and determination welled up within Gabriel. He refused to sumb to the illusions, knowing that they were nothing more than a facade, a cruel trick meant to distract and confuse.

    He closed his eyes, focusing his mind.

    "You already told me that these are illusions. Do you think this will work?"

    Gabriel swung his sword in a wide arc, shattering the illusions around him. The figures dissipated into thin air, leaving behind only echoes of their voices. Gabriel opened his eyes, his gaze fixated on the true form of the God of Illusions.

    "You will not deceive me!" Gabriel dered, his voiceced with unwavering determination.

    "This is just the beginning." The God of Illusions snarled, his illusions flickering and warping as Gabriel''s resolve intensified.

    He unleashed a barrage of illusory attacks, but Gabriel moved with agility and precision, dodging each strike with calcted grace. However, amongst thousands of Illusory attacks, he mixed some real attacks to fool Gabriel.

    It was as if the first attack was to convince him that illusions were useless, making him lower his guard, while the second attack was the real attack.

 Chapter 661 661: Both In The Right

    The ground beneath him shifted and twisted, but he kept his footing, his focus unyielding.

    As the battle raged on, things became even more dangerous. Sometimes, the entire world was upside down. It was as if reality itself was being warped, fooling his mind into subconsciously reacting.

    With each swing of his sword, he shattered the illusions, piece by piece, yet he felt as if he was being toyed with.

    The God of Illusions frowned, hisughter turning into frustrated growls.

    But the deity was not one to give up easily. He conjured even more borate illusions, distorting Gabriel''s perception of reality.

    The world around him morphed and contorted, threatening to overwhelm his senses. Doubt crept into Gabriel''s mind, and for a moment, he faltered.

    "Not real..." Gabriel shouted, shaking off the encroaching doubt. He kept his eyes closed. Instead of trusting his ears and his eyes, he trusted his senses. He temporarily shut down his vision and healing abilities, so he couldn''t fall for the illusions.

    He centered himself and relied on his instincts. In the darkness behind his eyelids, he found rity. He visualized a shield of pure light surrounding him, repelling the illusions with its radiant power.

    With renewed determination, Gabriel charged at the God of Illusions. His movements were swift and precise, his strikes fueled by unwavering belief in his senses. The illusions shattered upon impact, crumbling away like fragile ss.

    Having his illusions broken so easily, the God of Illusions was stunned b

    In a final act of desperation, he conjured a massive illusionary creature, towering over Gabriel with menacing eyes and sharp ws.

    He didn''t realize that Gabriel couldn''t see it, or be intimidated. Still, Gabrielunched himself at the beast, shing through its illusory form.

    As the creature disintegrated, the God of Illusions revealed himself once more, his face twisted with rage.

    Gabriel seized the opportunity, delivering a swift and decisive strike, piercing through the deity''s defenses. The God of Illusions let out a howl of defeat, dissipating into nothingness.

    Silence fell upon the battlefield, broken only by Gabriel''sbored breaths. He unsealed his senses, and opened his eyes.

    He looked around, his eyes filled with a mix of exhaustion and triumph. The illusions that had once gued thend had vanished, leaving behind a sense of rity and freedom.

    With a weary but satisfied smile, Gabriel sheathed his sword.

    Finally, he was able to see his surroundings clearly. The previously destend was clearly thevish realm of gods, with floating inds in the surroundings. The dead bodies of gods around him happened to be illusions as well.

    In reality, there were no dead bodies nearby. Everything was exactly the same as it used to be when he entered the ce.

    However, something was different. There was a formation on the ground that had covered the entirend and the sky.

    It was unclear what that massive formation was. However, it covered the entirend of realms. Moreover, this formation only appeared after Ezekiel was taken away and the battle seemingly stopped.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    The formation was unfamiliar and unknown, and it stretched as far as his eyes could see. However, more than the formation, he was concerned about Ezekiel.

    He flew toward the direction where the battle had taken ce in the empty space.

    Within a few minutes, he flew past the borders of the Realm of Gods, stopping in the battlefield.

    The signs of the battle were still present there. The space was still trying to repair itself, after all the destruction. Unfortunately, Ezekiel was nowhere to be found. Not just him, but the gods weren''t anywhere either. It was as if everyone had just disappeared.

    He couldn''t even use the Sword given by Ezekiel to trace him since the sword was broken.

    ....

    In the mysterious unknown world, Ezekiel was surrounded by the Gods that he had killed throughout his life. The gods were reborn. Even though they didn''t have as much strength as they did in the past, the sheet number of them was in the hundreds.

    The Goddess of Reincarnation watched everything from a distance. There was a thoughtful expression on her face.

    She felt bad, and even a little sad that she had to do this. The reason she helped the Gods in their rebirth was because she felt sad for them. They died to protect the Realm of Gods.

    With Janus'' help, she created a new world for them to live, where they could slowly regain their strength. Unfortunately, now that things came to this, she had no choice but to bring Ezekiel here.

    This was the only separate dimension that was strong enough to hold back Ezekiel, since this was made by the only person who could bepared to Chaos.

    To save the realm of gods, she had to sacrifice the gods who had once died.

    Unfortunately, she still didn''t know why Ezekiel had killed them, and why he hated the gods so much. Ezekiel never exined, before he started ughtering everyone.

    From her side, she couldn''t let him go crazy. There were many children in the Realm of Gods, who needed their protection. Even if Ezekiel had a valid reason to be upset, she couldn''t let him destroy everything.

    This was also the same realm she tried to stop himst time. Thest thing, Chaos came to help her. However, this time she was on her own, while Ezekiel was even stronger.

    To save the children and the lives of the people in the Realm of Gods, she was willing to sacrifice everything, including her life.

    That''s why she had alreadymanded the Gods to abandon the Realm of Gods temporarily, and take the children with them as well.

    She had effectively told the gods to abandon the Realm of Gods, since she wasn''t sure how long she could stop this man for.

    If she failed, she was willing to die, to buy a few more minutes for the others to escape from the Realm of Gods.

    It was a war where both sides were right in their own way. One wanted to have revenge, while the other wanted to protect. Both had their own reasons, yet no one was ready to listen to the other.

 Chapter 662 662: I Know Why

    Amongst the reincarnated gods was the god who once tortured Ezekiel, and even killed his family. There was also the god who had given the idea to bring Ezekiel''s family back to life, only to kill them.

    At the moment, both those gods were stunned to see Ezekiel in the distance. They hid behind the other gods, remembering the past.

    He was cursing his fate. Even as he was reborn, Ezekiel found him. More than himself, he was cursing the person who brought Ezekiel here. It was his biggest nightmaree true.

    He slowly retreated, looking for a ce where he could hide. Unfortunately, his movement attracted Ezekiel''s attention.

    Ezekiel didn''t stop him though. He let the man leave. There was no way this guy could escape after all. Just like him, this guy was also trapped here.

    Before the cowards who he wanted to kill by taking his time, he had to deal with the other insects.

    Unlike the cowardly God who was the cause of all this, other reborn gods didn''t run. They were furious, seeing the face of the man who killed them for no reason.

    They had always wanted one more chance to have their revenge and now this was their opportunity.

    The unknown world in the middle of nowhere was trapped in its own space, detached from everything else.

    There was no way out of this ce, as an extra seal had been cast by the Goddess of Reincarnation. The seal on this world further reinforced the restrictions.

    Furthermore, the seal of this world was connected to the lives of every person here. It was impossible to break the seal, if even one person was alive.

    This was the method the Goddess of Reincarnation coulde up with, to dy Ezekiel. She was willing to sacrifice everyone here, just for that one extra moment, allowing the innocent people in the Realm of Gods to leave.

    As long as the people were alive, the Realm of Gods was going to survive. She just had to wait for Janus to return. Even if she wasn''t here by that time, it didn''t matter. She had faith that Janus could take care of the rest in her stead.

    The world which waspletely silent, suddenly was caught in the storm of battle.

    Explosions and destruction were everywhere, as the battle started to kill just one person.

    Unfortunately, that one person was proving to be impossible to kill. The Reborn Gods didn''t know that he couldn''t be killed.

    Only the Goddess of Reincarnation knew that fact, but she kept that hidden from the reborn gods. She didn''t want them to give up. She wanted them to hold on for as long as they could.

    As the battle erupted, the sh of godlike powers reverberated through the deste world. The reborn gods unleashed their fury upon Ezekiel, their desire for revenge fueling their every attack. Lightning crackled, mes roared, and the ground quaked under the sheer intensity of their onught.

    Yet, no matter how fierce their assaults, Ezekiel stood unwavering. He disyed a level of strength and resilience that defied their understanding. With each blow he weathered, his smile grew, as if he was enjoying it.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    After being trapped for so long, he was enjoying every moment of his revenge. He was enjoying their futile struggles, like he had struggled once upon a time. They had switched ces now.

    The reborn gods soon realized that their efforts were futile. Their attacks, once filled with confidence and vengeful intent, now seemed insignificant against Ezekiel''s invincible visage.

    One after another, more and more gods kept falling, being sliced in two halves. Even their souls were destroyed this time, removing any hope of rebirth.

    Desperation crept into their eyes as they grappled with the realization that they were powerless against him.

    With a resolute gaze, Ezekiel faced his enemies head-on. He could sense their fear and desperation, and he understood the pain they had endured. The more pain they felt, the more excited he felt, as if he had turned into a real demon who craved death and destruction.

    He also knew that their suffering could never justify the torment they had inflicted upon him and his family.

    As the battle raged on, Ezekiel began to take control. He unleashed his own formidable power, a force born from his desire for retribution. The very essence of his being seemed to merge with the world around him, amplifying his strength and resolve.

    The sky turned dark, as if Ezekiel had taken over this world entirely. This had be his domain.

    One by one, the reborn gods fell before him. Their arrogance and cruelty crumbled in the face of Ezekiel''s ruthless nature.

    He fought for a desire for revenge, but also to ensure that no others would suffer the same fate as he had.

    The battle was fierce and prolonged,sting for what felt like an eternity. The once-silent world became a grand stage of destruction, each sh of power ripping through the air with devastating force.

    The reborn gods fought with desperation, unwilling to ept their impending defeat.

    But Ezekiel, fueled by an inner fire that burned brighter than any god''s wrath, pressed on. He refused to relent, pushing himself beyond his limits, until finally, he stood alone amidst the ruins of his adversaries.

    Breathing heavily, his body battered but unbroken, Ezekiel surveyed the aftermath of the battle. The once-mighty godsy defeated, their powers extinguished. He felt a mix of emotions¡ªsatisfaction, relief, and a glimmer of hope for a future where no one would suffer as he had.

    In the silence that followed, Ezekiel''s gaze shifted towards the horizon. He knew he still wasn''tpletely done. The barrier was still intact, and there were three people who were still alive here.

    Two of them were the gods who turned his world upside down, while the third was the Goddess of Retribution.

    "You want to dy me. I think I know why." Ezekiel raised his head, looking into the distance.

 Chapter 663 663: Death Is Mercy

    "You want to abandon the Realm of Gods? Save your people? Hah? Do you think that will change anything? If all my people had to die, for your people''s whims, then why should your people live?"

    "They can run, but where can they hide? I have taken an oath! I will destroy every single god in existence, ridding this world of your vile presence!"

    His voice was so loud that it echoed through the entire world.

    Even the two gods who were hiding in a distant corner like cowards felt chill running down their spines.

    They really regretted what they had done in the past. If possible, they would''ve gone back in time to p themselves hard, so that they never made this mistake! Either that, or they would''ve killed Ezekiel instead of leaving him alive!

    Unfortunately, it was toote for regrets. They could only pray that they were going to survive this.

    "It''s all your fault! If you hadn''t given me that idea, I would''ve directly killed him!"

    "Stop ming me! If you hadn''t messed with a monster like that, would we be in this situation?"

    The two gods argue amongst themselves, covered in sweat. Their hearts were trembling, worried that they were going to be discovered and brutally killed.

    "Even if I have to search every single world myself, and destroy it, I will! But the gods shall not live! Even in hell, they won''t find a ce to hide!" Ezekiel eximed.

    His figure rose in the air, before disappearing.

    In the next moment he appeared right before the Goddess of Reincarnation, who had been standing and watching.

    She didn''t interfere in the battle so far. Her expressions were uncertain, but something appeared different about her.

    It was as if her strength had increased by a lot.

    "Oh? You used them to make yourself stronger? What more could I expect from you?" Ezekiel''s sarcastic voice fell.

    He understood everything.The Goddess of Reincarnation had used her own divinity to reincarnate the gods. And now that they were dead, all her Divinity returned to her, along with the strength of all the gods that were killed.

    She absorbed all that strength greedily. It was clear why she didn''t interfere, and why she brought Ezekiel here.

    She used the reborn gods like pawns, sending them to their death and for a reason.

    "To stop you, even if I have to be a demon, forever hated by all in existence, I''m willing." The Goddess of Reincarnation looked at her hand. Even though her hands were fair and clean, she knew that now they were covered in the hands of the innocent.

    She herself felt tormented over what she did, but she knew she had no other choice. Her strength was nowhere close to the strength that Ezekiel revealed.

    "You used them, manipted their lives, and sacrificed their existence for your own gain," Ezekielughed, mockingly.

    He didn''t feel bad for them. If anything, he felt that this was poetic justice. They always treated the mortals as pawns. And in the end, they themselves became someone''s pawn, who used them for their goals.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    The Goddess of Reincarnation met his gaze, her expression a mask of conflicting emotions.

    Regret, guilt, and an unyielding resolve flickered across her face.

    "I did what was necessary," she replied, her voice tinged with sorrow. "To save my people, I''m willing to do it a thousand more times! I will protect my home, till myst breath! I will protect it until he returns!"

    With a surge of power, Ezekielunched himself at the Goddess of Reincarnation, his attacks fueled by the Abyssal darkness.

    Each strike resonated with the anguish he had endured, the anger of countless innocents who had suffered at the hands of the gods. Their sh shook the very fabric of the world, the remnants of their godlike power colliding with catastrophic force.

    The Goddess fought back with all the strength she had absorbed from the fallen gods, but to her surprise, even that paled inparison to Ezekiel''s strength.

    Blow after blow, he pushed her to the brink, his determination burning brighter than any divinity she possessed.

    The Goddess of Reincarnation even burned her own blood, but she still failed to catch up. It was as if Ezekiel was using strength that he hadn''t used yet.

    It was as if even all this time, he hadn''t used all his strength. His eyes were of the demon who wanted to give them a glimmer of hope that they could survive and win, only to take it all away in the end.

    Amidst the chaos of their battle, memories shed before Ezekiel''s eyes. The faces of his loved ones, the pain they had endured, and the promise he had made to avenge them. With each strike, he channeled his all.

    The Goddess, battered and wounded, finally realized how futile her efforts were.

    With each strike, she felt herself getting poisoned by the Abyssal Energy, even though she protected herself to the best of her abilities.

    Everyone had thought that only when Ezekiel''s strike left a wound were they affected by the poison of the abyss. However, there was more.

    A dark mist had spread everywhere in the world, merging with the world. It was as if this world itself had be an abyss, where even breathing was poisonous for her.

    The malevolent aura was even denser near Ezekiel. Even after she went against her morals, she still failed.

    As Ezekiel''s final strike connected, the Goddess of Reincarnation crumpled to the ground, her power dissipating.

    The poison had already weakened her. Her nerves were pitch ck. At the same time, she was also hurt because of the physical attacks.

    In the battle, half the world was destroyed, but Ezekiel remained unharmed, like he was an invincible god.

    The world fell into an eerie stillness, the echoes of their battle fading away. Ezekiel stood over the fallen goddess.

    Ezekiel reached out his hand, grabbing the Goddess by her throat. The Abyssal energy came out of his hands, invading the body of the Goddess of Reincarnation, slowly spreading all over her body while her breathing weakened.

    "Death is a mercy to you people, but that is the mercy I''m willing to grant!" Ezekiel''s cold voice fell in her ears.

 Chapter 664 664: Over

    Ezekiel''s grip started tightening around the Goddess'' throat as the terrifying poison invaded her body entirely. It was as if Ezekiel was a beast from the Abyss itself.

    Her vision darkened, and the world around her started fading out. Even breathing became hard. It was as if she was merely a mortal at the moment and nothing more.

    "This pain that you feel... It is nothing before the pain I felt. It will never be enough, yet this is me being merciful to you."

    He grabbed and tightened his fist until he heard a cracking sound. But he didn''t stop there. He bit his thumb, letting out some blood, which solidified into a dagger within his hand.

    He stabbed the dagger in the chest of the Goddess of Reincarnation, right where her heart was supposed to be.

    After stabbing the dagger, he waited for a few seconds, looking around.

    Strangely enough, the man he was looking for hadn''t shown himself yet. Last time, he was the first to appear when she was attacked, but currently, he was nowhere to be found. Thiswas strange...

    "Where is he?" He muttered, looking at the sky."Even after all this, he didn''t show himself."

    He didn''t believe that Chaos could be unaware of what was happening. However, even if that was the case, it didn''t matter. Ezekiel had made up his mind.

    Even if he had to search the depths of this universe, he was going to discover him, but not before destroying everything in his path.

    He tossed the body of the Goddess of Reincarnation aside, leaving the dagger stabbed in her chest. Her breathing had long halted.

    He turned his attention to a certain direction. There were still two more people to kill... The ones that he had deliberately left for the end.

    Hearing the scary silence, the two reborn gods looked at each other, wondering why the battle had stopped.

    "Is it over? Did he die?" One of them asked. They didn''t even dare to peep out, scared that they were going to be discovered.

    They both prayed to gods that Ezekiel was dead. And even if he wasn''t dead, now that everything was over, they hoped that he would leave, and wouldn''t remember anything about them.

    Unfortunately, just as they were lost in thoughts, they heard footsteps. Their expressions went pale.

    The footsteps sounded calm. As if the person was simply strolling around and not in any hurry at all. Despite that, with each footstep, they felt their heart skip a beat.

    Ezekiel knew where the two were hiding. If anything, he could also clearly see them, yet they didn''t realize. He wanted to enjoy this moment. He didn''t expect that he would ever have this opportunity again.

    Previously, he was so angry that he gave them a swift death, not thinking clearly. He had always regretted giving them such a quick death. This time, he had an opportunity to change that.

    Ezekiel stepped closer to the people, feeling their fear increase with each step. However, as he was merely ten meters away from them, he stopped and changed direction.

    The two gods soon heard the footsteps going farther. They keptplete silence, yet their mind was filled with hope. Maybe this guy actually didn''t know where they were or he would''ve killed them already.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    With the footsteps growing distant, they felt ted. Eventually, the footstepspletely stopped, as if the person had gone far away already.

    The gods cautiously peeked out from their hiding spot and silently whispered to each other. They couldn''t see anyone in the distance.

    It was as if Ezekiel had actually left. They had survived the clutches of death. Relieved but still on high alert, the gods slowly emerged from their hiding spot, scanning their surroundings for any sign of danger.

    As they cautiously made their way towards a nearby path, their hearts pounded with a mix of trepidation and gratitude.

    "Looks like he left," one of them spoke, sighing in relief.

    "That''s what it looks like," another voice came.

    Both the gods were happy, but suddenly, their smiles disappeared, as they both looked at each other. That voice wasn''t theirs. It was the voice of their Nightmare. It was Ezekiel''s voice,ing from right behind them.

    Ezekiel''s voice echoed through the air, causing a shiver to run down their spines. The gods turned around slowly, their faces drained of color, as they beheld Ezekiel standing there, a malicious smile etched across his face.

    "We are going to have so much fun..." Ezekiel''s devilish smile spread across his lips, while the dark sky above roared and lightning shed everywhere.

    ****

    Gabriel returned to the Realm of Gods, after he was unable to find Ezekiel on the battlefield.The strange formation was still present, but the realm was still void of life.

    It was as if all the gods had simply disappeared into thin air.

    He walked through the Realm of Gods, advancing toward the core of the formation.

    The closer he came to the core of the formation, the more unstable the space became. It was clear that this formation had something to do with space, and it was all at the core of it.

    Ezekiel reached the core of the formation. There was no one to block him along the way, except a few barriers which he broke with ease.

    However, it was only when he reached here that he understood everything. In the center of the formation, there was a spatial portal.

    It was a portal that used the aura of the Realm of Gods to activate. No one could guess the destination of the portal. And only the Gods could enter this portal.

    If anyone else tried to enter it, they were sent to any random location, far away from where the portal sent the gods.

    The portal was connected to thousands of strange andplex spatial tunnels, which made it impossible to navigate through.

    Thisrge scale formation was the safety precaution of this world, kept in ce by Janus which only the Goddess of Reincarnation knew about.

 Chapter 665 665: Clarity

    In thest message that the Goddess of Reincarnation left the members of the God Council, she informed them about this.

    In fact, before she even left her castle l, she had already activated it. It took some time for their formation to activate, which was why she gave it her all to hold him back, giving everyone a chance to evacuate, while taking the battle elsewhere to make sure Ezekiel couldn''t sense it.

    Before Gabriel arrived, almost everyone had already left the Realm of God. There was no one who knew where they went. But one thing was certain. Other than Gabriel, no one else was left behind.

    There was no way to chase after the gods. But more than that, he was curious about Ezekiel. Just where did that guy disappear?

    Instead of futile attempts of chasing someone inside the spatial tunnel, he waited at the entrance. There were lots of thoughts in his mind, but so far, he hadn''t had time to address them at all.

    With his gaze resting on the portal, he stood silently, lost in some unclear thought. Just a short time ago, he was in the higher realm, simply trying to kill the Goddess of Light.

    Yet, things somehow evolved in such a way that he was caught in a turbulent flow, and now he was standing in the Realm of Gods, all alone.

    He rubbed his forehead. He came here because of Caen, but he failed to even catch a glimpse of that guy.

    After a long time, he shook his head. So many things were happening around him that he had lost rity. He himself didn''t know just where he stood.

    He had lost everything. He had failed to catch Caen, and he was caught in someone else''s revenge who had disappeared, leaving him behind.

    As he remained deeply immersed in thoughts, he didn''t forget the subtle pain he felt in his chest.

    He ced his hand on his chest, but he couldn''t feel his heartbeat either. He didn''t even think that he was a human anymore.

    He was something that he himself failed to understand. Something different than a human or a god. Something that had be an existence that shouldn''t have existed. Something that he became because of Caen.

    He was only trying to stop the god of mes to save people in the Higher realm when these gods came down, and attacked him.

    His thoughts that were initially focused on rity, soon shifted to anger as he thought about the incident which led to this. His life, and everything had been filled with turmoils.

    He only wanted to have a world where he could live in peace and not be hunted down, and here he stood, at the peak of the universe, yet he felt that he was back at the starting point.

    He was once again the existence that he was back when he had first awakened his element. An existence that wasn''t considered a human. An existence that people wanted to kill even when he had nothing to do with them.

    "The only changees from absolute power," he muttered, with his hand on his chest.

    He looked around. This was the epicenter of the world. This was the realm of gods where the strongest beings in the world were said to live. To change the world, he had to first make the world fear him.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    That''s what he tried back in his world, and he had almost seeded, but there was only one w. His strength was enough for his world, but in therge scale of things, he wasn''t strong. That''s why he had lost everything.

    He came to a conclusion. There was only one answer to his problem. And it was the answer that he had known long ago. This world wasn''t for the nice people.

    To make a life where he could have peace, he had to be the person that made people tremble with just his name alone. He had to be something like... Chaos.

    He had to make everyone submit to him, and never even think about taking anything from him ever again!

    Finally, some rity appeared in his eyes. His goal was the Throne! The Throne that made everyone submit to him! The throne of the strongest being in the world, and he was willing to kill anyone for that!

    In any case, he didn''t have anything left to lose anymore! From here on, he had already lost everything he could lose, other than his own life.

    He looked over at the realm of gods. Instead of destroying this ce, he was going to make it his own! Caen took his home from him, and he was taking his home!

    In the distance, the formation slowly started dispersing. The portal also closed on its own, disappearing from existence altogether.

    The Gods had escaped, but for Gabriel, this wasn''t the end. If anything, this was just the beginning.

    ****

    Unaware of what had happened to his home, the Guardian and the strongest god in the realm of Gods, Janus was flying through the abyss.

    There was a thinyer of barrier that surrounded him. It was as if despite being in the Abyss, he was in an entirely different space. This was the ability which made him mostly immune to the poison of the Abyss.

    He flew through the endless Abyss, which spread so far that it was impossible topletely explore, no matter how much time one spent.

    Janus had been traversing the Abyss, as if he was looking for something. However, other than him, only one person knew what he was looking for, and it was the Goddess of Reincarnation.

    As he soared through the darkness, a faint glimmer caught his attention in the distance. Curiosity piqued, he quickened his pace and headed towards the source of the light.

    As Janus drew closer, he finally noticed the strange source of light in this endless darkness.

    It was a small, radiant crystal floating in mid-air, enveloped in a soft, ethereal glow. The crystal seemed to pulse with an otherworldly energy, beckoning Janus to approach closer.

 Chapter 666 666: Domain

    The small crystal was the only source of light in this darkness, yet it was strange to find it here.

    Janus was quite intrigued, wondering just what this crystal was. It was nothing like he had ever seen before. It didn''t have any aura of its own, yet it was somehow creating a strange energy in the Abyss.

    He grabbed the small crystal and kept it safely, before continuing his search in the Abyss.

    ****

    Gabriel was alone in the Realm of Gods. He didn''t even notice as he subconsciously walked back to the same pce which he had destroyed.

    His eyes looked in a certain direction, wondering what happened to the pond. Was it finally destroyed under the rubble or not?

    He reached out his hand, calling out the Undead Soldiers from his shadow.

    One after another, Karyk''s Undead Soldiers came out of Gabriel''s Shadows, finding themselves in unfamiliar surroundings.

    On Gabriel''s instructions, the Undead got back to work and started removing the rubble of the Pce.

    Hundreds of Undeads got to work. Only one Undead was kept back by Gabriel.

    He was Raphael, the only undead that was contracted by Gabriel himself. The only Undead that Gabriel felt close to.

    For Gabriel, all the other Undeads belonged to Karyk. No matter what, that''s who they were always going to be loyal to. However, Raphael was different.

    "Where are we?" Raphael asked Gabriel. He didn''t know why, but he felt that something was really different about Gabriel at the moment.

    "We are in the Realm of Gods... This shall be our new home... A home that belongs to only us..." Gabriel answered, looking at the mostly intact realm.

    Even though many battles took ce, this ce was still in good condition.

    Gabriel knew that this ce was still notpletely his. There were many formats spread all around the Realm, which he neither understood nor could control. They could be useful, or dangerous. However, he didn''t care.

    He decided to break to destroy all those formations. While the Undead Soldiers worked on removing the rubble, Gabriel sent his Shadow Warriors to search every corner of this world, including inside all the pces.

    They were to search for all traps, and Treasures that were left behind, so Gabriel could gain aplete understanding of this ce.

    He knew that in order to truly make this ce his own, he had to ensure there were no hidden remnants of power that could challenge his control.

    As his Shadow Warriors diligently scoured every inch, the rubble was finally cleared, only to reveal that the pond was stillpletely intact. Not only the pond, but its surroundings were safe too.

    Even the grass and all the nts in the surroundings were alsopletely safe. Gabriel still didn''t understand what this pond and these strange fishes were.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    He stepped closer to the pond and sat right next to it. "Just what are you creatures? Why do I feel such familiarity?"

    Unfortunately for him, the fishes couldn''t answer his questions.

    The surroundings were cleared and with time, the search of the entire Realm continued to see if anyone was still left behind.

    "This ce... So many wars happened for its control, and they abandoned it so easily to save their lives..."

    After some time, the search was finallypleted. Many precious treasures and books were discovered that were left behind, including the entire library which mentioned all the important events that happened in the Realm of Gods since the beginning of time.

    Gabriel observed the deste ce. It was like apletely abandoned city. A city where he was the only living person. Even Ezekiel was missing, and nowhere to be found.

    After a brief period of time, he realized that there was a possibility that Ezekiel might not return. They only worked together for amon goal after all.

    "There are no permanent friends..." He muttered, but at the moment, a thought shed in his mind.

    If there was one person in the entire world who could actually understand him, it was Karyk. They had shared the same fate and memories. Although they were different people now, at the core they were different.

    He decided to contact Karyk and tell him everything that happened. In the entire world, that was the only person he could consider a family after all... The only person who could understand his pain and the rage in his heart.

    Both of them had lost everything, thanks to Caen. Both of them had lost a sister. He had also lost Cylix and Novius, who were like family members to him, whose guidance helped him a lot.

    Another person he lost was a girl who stood beside him for most of his journey, even though it was for her personal reasons. It was the Holy Priestess of Summoning.

    Previously, Gabriel hadn''t felt it, but with her loss, he realized that she also held a ce in his heart without him realizing. Her presence... It was something that he missed, especially when he was never going to see her again.

    Gabriel closed his eyes and tried to contact Karyk. Unfortunately, it didn''t work. Let alone contact, he couldn''t even feel Karyk''s presence, which made him wonder if it was because of their distance.

    For him, a lot of time had passed. He didn''t believe Karyk was still inside the Ancestral Temple.

    "I am going down," hemented, looking in the distance. However, he didn''t want to leave this ce abandoned.

    There was another group which helped him after all... A group which had also lost their home thanks to Caen''s father.

    It was the group which he believed could serve him... They could be the people who understood this ce... The people he needed to keep it running.

    It was the group which was forced to run from the Realm of Gods when Chaos attacked this ce, destroying everything. It was the same ce where he got the knowledge to create puppets.

    After making up his mind, he opened a portal.

 Chapter 667 667: Invitation

    Gabriel opened a portal, connecting it to the Beast Forest in the Upper Realm.

    For most people, connecting directly to the Beast Forest was impossible, especially with all the restrictions applied by the Beast Monarchs but it was different for Gabriel, thanks to his personal connection with them.

    A portal connected the Beast Forest with the Realm of Gods.

    Gabriel entered the portal with Raphael, while telling the Undead Warriors to stay behind and wait for his return.

    On the other side, he stepped out of the Portal, appearing at the outer edge of the Beast Forest.

    He had been here a short time ago, but returning to this ce felt like it had been an eternity since hest came here.

    Last time, he was on a ship when he came here, but this time, he was on foot.

    As soon as he appeared in the forest, his presence was felt by the Beast Monarchs. However, they remained calm, realizing it was Gabriel, who they considered one of them.

    Gabriel''s figure flickered, as he moved through the Beast Forest like lightning, leaving a gust of wind behind him.

    After a short time, he reached the meeting ce of the Beast Monarch.

    "You finally return," The Lion Monarch asked, as he still carried a jar of wine in his hand. "You missed my wine, didn''t you?"

    He tossed the wine toward Gabriel.

    Gabriel grabbed the jar of wine, and took a sip. This feeling was nice... After all the fighting, this light hearted atmosphere was like a breath of fresh air.

    These people were good people in his eyes. At least much better than Caen and his people. For him, these people deserved to be in the Realm of Gods more.

    "I did miss this wine," Gabriel smiled in response. However, the Beast Monarchs could feel that something was different.

    He was much different than he used to be when he leftst time. They couldn''t guess what he went through, but it wasn''t simple.

    He also appeared to be a little stronger... Maybe even stronger than them. In fact, they couldn''t even see through him, as if ayer of darkness was shrouding him.

    "Did something happen?" The Lion Monarch asked.

    He had given Gabriel a personal talisman for him to call them if he was ever in danger. However, he couldn''t sense that Talisman on him anymore.

    "Nothing major," Gabriel shook his head. He sat down on a nearby rock, and intrigued Raphael as a friend.

    "Anyways, I came here with good news," he said after a brief pause.

    "Good news? Did you finish getting revenge on that Goddess of Light?" One of the Beast Monarchs asked.

    In response, Gabriel shook his head. So many things had happened in between, that he couldn''t even think about that. However, he believed that Karyk dealt with her already.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "I have good news for you. I''m here to take you back..."

    "Take us back? Back where?" The Beast Monarchs asked, looking at each other, confused.

    "Back to where you belong... Back to the Realm of Gods," Gabriel answered, stunning the Beast Monarchs.

    "This isn''t a good joke." One of the Beast Monarchs frowned. "How can we go back there? The Gods there are dangerous. They will kill us, especially Janus..."

    "The Gods have abandoned the Realm of Gods. And I don''t think they will return anytime soon."

    Gabriel slowly exined to them about what had happened after he left, including his meeting with Caen and more.

    He also talked about Ezekiel in brief, which stunned the Beast Monarchs. They had also heard Ezekiel''s name... The first outsider who had killed gods, despite not having the blood of gods.

    No one knew how he became so strong, despite being born mortal but he was a threatening existence.

    "Y-you freed Ezekiel? And he helped you? The gods ran away?"

    The Beast Monarchs looked at each other. The more they heard, the more disbelief they were in. So many things happened in such a short time.

    "So you lost your heart?" The Lion Monarch asked, focusing his hearing senses. He was unable to hear any heartbeating from Gabriel.

    He couldn''t understand why Gabriel was still alive, despite losing his heart to Caen...

    He was still alive, as if Gabriel was now an Undead, or something else entirely... Something beyond human.

    Even Gabriel didn''t understand why he was still alive. He thought it was because he had Karyk''s blood and a trace of Element of Undead. However, he didn''t care what the reason was. All that mattered was that he had managed to survive.

    He didn''t know how long he could stay alive like you, but every day was special. He had so many things to do... And he didn''t want to waste a single moment.

    "You areing with me. I will bring another guest. Until then, you get ready. And then we will be leaving."

    He gave them a time limit before standing up. He went to the Special Region in the Beast Forest which was known as the Legacy Garden... It was the ce where he met the Goddess in an illusory realm.

    He didn''t know if she was just a spirit or if she was well alive. If she was still alive, he wanted to bring her back as well, to work for him. And if she was a spirit, it was still wise to consult with her since she knew Gods the best.

    Gabriel entered deeper into the Legacy of Garden. After taking a shortcut, he entered the core region where everyone would''ve lost all their senses. However, that didn''t work on him. He could see everything.

    Unlikest time, there were no beasts who attacked him. No Golems tried to stop him either, allowing him to reach the center of the Legacy Garden for a second time with ease.

    Gabriel stopped at the center of the Legacy Garden, looking at a stone in the center which was immovablest time. He reached out his hand and ced it over the stone.

 Chapter 668 668: Parents

    As soon as Gabriel touched the stone, he disappeared from the ce. In the next moment, he found back in the same ce where he had met the Goddessst time.

    There was ake that seemed to stretch on endlessly. At the edge of theke, the woman was sitting, who seemed surprised to see that Gabriel had returned.

    More than that, she was surprised by the heavy yet dark aura around him. It somewhat reminded her of the Abyss. This strange feeling made her frown with difort. However, she could also feel that Gabriel was still the same person at his core, albeit he had changed a little.

    As Gabriel approached, he could sense her unease.

    "Do you never get bored looking at theke?" He asked, sitting next to the woman, letting his feet soak in theke.

    "Once you live for thousands of years, the concept of boredom stops existing. It''s something that we alle to terms with." The woman answered, shaking her head.

    Gabriel''s curiosity was piqued as he listened to the woman''s response. He couldn''t help but wonder what it would be like to have such an extended lifespan.

    Humans had a short life. However, it was different for gods. They had a life that didn''t end until they were killed. There was almost nothing that they hadn''t seen before. There was almost nothing which could surprise them.

    He wondered what it was going to be for him, if he ever reached that point in life. Was he still finding joy in the simple pleasures of life? Or would he be desensitized to it all?

    He shook his head, realizing that the future was still distant. At the moment, he hadn''t even achieved all he wanted to. For now, even his own life was in danger, let alone thinking about the future that might nevere true.

    Moreover, if there was ever a situation where he grew bored of his life, he could always find sce in the embrace of Eternal Sleep himself.

    For now, despite the struggles and uncertainties, he had a resilience that pushed him forward. At the moment, there was already no happiness left in his life, but he still had a goal.

    There was nothing that was impossible in this world. It was only a matter of reaching that point where the entire world could bend to his will. After reaching that point, he thought he could still have a chance to recover everything that he had lost...

    If Karyk could bring back his Cylix, Novius and his sister, then there was still hope. That''s the hope which still kept him sane to some extent.

    "I sense the scent of the Realm of Gods on you. Have you been to that ce?" The Goddess asked.

    She didn''t reveal much of a reaction, but she was still curious. If he went there, then how did he return alive. Or was it that he betrayed them and brought the people of the Realm of Gods to them.

    "I have been to that ce... And that ce will be my home from now on..." Gabriel answered, before exining the same thing he told the Beast Monarchs.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    In response, the Goddess revealed a surprise.

    "Ezekiel, huh. It would make sense why all Gods left then. There are only a few people who could stop that guy. The first was Chaos himself, who disappeared with the Ancestors during their battle."

    "Other than that, there''s Janus who you said wasn''t in the Realm of Gods? That means things aren''t over yet."

    "Thest person should be Caen... Though I''m not sure how strong he actually is. If I''m not wrong, the person who attacked you is also him. But I fail to understand why he would attack you?"

    Even though she had spent quite a long time after the War of Gods in this ce, there were still quite a few things she knew about the Realm of Gods.

    "It''s probably because of my Bloodline?" Gabriel guessed. "Because I have the Bloodline of the Rebels?"

    The woman shook her head. "From what I know, that guy doesn''t involve himself in such matters. And even if he was here for that, why did he kill you and not interrogate you to find us? That shouldn''t be the reason."

    Gabriel furrowed his brow, pondering the woman''s words. "Perhaps it''s something else entirely then. Maybe he mistook me for someone else, or maybe he had another motive altogether."

    She was quite curious about Caen''s reason, since that guy wasn''t simple. He was the Prince of the Realm of Gods, and the future King! His strength was said to rival his uncle¡ª the Guardian himself.

    She knew that Caen was a spoiled man, who loved ying with the Lower Worlds and even destroyed many. However, from what Gabriel said, it wasn''t that either. It was as if that guy especially targeted him.

    Gabriel further guessed, talking about how he had once killed a God and turned a world into his Domain, when he was one with Karyk. However, he left out information about Karyk.

    "You killed a God? Before getting the Bloodline of the Worldly Laws?" The woman asked, looking quite surprised. This was the first time she was hearing that.

    It didn''t make sense to her. It was understandable if he was able to kill them after getting his new Bloodline. However, at that time, he didn''t have the skeleton or the Bloodline of a God.

    Even with the help of a Domain, it should''ve been impossible to kill a god, unless one used the power of Abyss like Ezekiel. But Gabriel didn''t have that at that time either.

    That only meant one other thing. It was that Gabriel had the Bloodline of a True God before he even absorbed the skeleton! And that Bloodline couldn''t be earned. It was only inherited through their parents!

    She took a careful nce at Gabriel. There was much about him that she didn''t know. However, she realized that he had a history that he himself didn''t know.

 Chapter 669 669: Enoch

    He was the son of a True God... But whose son was he? How did he end up in a mortal ne? No rebels that ran from the Realm of Gods had a kid.

    And the Gods in the Realm of Gods would never have sent their child to be raised in the Lower Realm.

    The questions swirled in the woman''s mind, but she knew that now wasn''t the time to delve into Gabriel''s mysterious past. Even if she asked, it was unlikely that she was going to get any answers since it was clear that Gabriel himself didn''t know his past.

    What was even stranger was that she couldn''t sense his original Bloodline either. There was just something really strange about that. It was as if his Bloodline was much higher tier than hers... Something which made it even more surprising.

    When she used to be in the Realm of Gods, she was a member of the High Council of Gods.

    For someone to have a higher Bloodline than her, it meant they were either in an even higher position in the High Council, or... She didn''t want to think about that.

    There were more pressing matters at hand, and unraveling his origins would have to wait for another time.

    "I can see that there are many secrets surrounding you," the woman said, her voice tinged with curiosity. "But right now, we need to focus on the threat posed by Caen and the imminent danger that awaits you."

    "You have won the battle, but not the war. Because the ones Ezekiel faught, and the ones who ran away weren''t even the true protectors of the Realm of Gods. It appears more like you two got your timing right when Janus and Caen weren''t there."

    "You might have taken over the Realm of Gods, but you should still expect an even bigger danger looming over your head..."

    Gabriel nodded, realizing that she wasn''t wrong. However, that was exactly what he wanted! He wanted Caen toe to him! That was the person he was looking for after all.

    As for Janus... He didn''t know who this Guardian was, or just what kind of person he was. However, he wasn''t scared... Even if he was to face death, he was going to die after killing Caen first!

    The man who took his heart... He wanted to crush his skull under his feet, even if that was thest thing he did in this life.

    "I know that things aren''t over. If anything, they are just beginning.

    The woman stood up from her spot by theke and extended her hand towards Gabriel. "Come with me. There is someone who might be able to help you with this. Someone who has knowledge beyond anyone else in this realm."

    Gabriel took her hand and rose to his feet. He was quite curious who this person was.

    Until now, he thought that only the woman lived here. However, her words made him realize that he wasn''t quite right with that.

    Still, it was good for him. The more Rebels there were, the more people he was going to have, siding with him.

    He was creating his own forces for the battle that was toe... A battle to destroy all the Gods that stood between him and Caen!<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    He didn''t care even if he had to use these people like cannon fodder to buy more time for him to deal with Caen.

    Last time, Caen had the power of Abyssal. However, Gabriel knew that he was also different now. The Abyss coursed through his veins as well. Maybe for that reason alone... So he could kill Caen!

    Together, Gabriel and the Goddess traversed through the etherealndscape, passing through the vast expanse surrounding theke.

    Finally, they reached a towering structure that seemed to blend seamlessly with the surroundings. From a distance, the tower waspletely invisible. Only when Gabriel reached closer, he was able to see it.

    "It is an ancient library, known as the Repository of Knowledge. That guy really loves his book. That''s why, even when he ran from the Realm of Gods, he brought his books with him and made this library. This is his paradise and his home..."

    The woman led Gabriel inside, where shelves upon shelves of books stretched as far as the eye could see. Each book contained the umted wisdom and history of the realms, preserved over countless ages.

    A wise and elderly figure emerged from the shadows, his presence exuding an air of immense knowledge and power. He was the owner of the Repository, who guarded its secrets.

    "Greetings, Enoch," the woman addressed the librarian with respect. "Remember the boy I told you about before? Who received the Inheritance of Worldly Laws?''

    "This is Gabriel," she introduced Gabriel who was also observing the old man.

    The old man had a weak and frail body, as if he was a mortal who could die of old age at any moment. However, the man had an aura around him that was filled with vitality.

    Enoch peered at Gabriel, his eyes glinting with ancient wisdom. "Ah, that guy who you never stopped talking about."

    The old man smiled, nodding his head after observing Gabriel. "The threads of fate have brought you here, young man. Come, let us delve into the annals of time and discover the truths that lie hidden."

    With that, Enoch led Gabriel to a secluded chamber within the library, where ancient tomesy waiting.

    In this ce, time moved much slowly. Years in this ce were nothing more than mere moments outside.

    The old man asked Gabriel a few questions, regarding his life and the problems he was facing. After getting his answers, he revealed quite a surprise.

    He began his journey through the records of history, searching for clues and revtions that would shed light on Gabriel''s past and more.

    Days turned into nights as he went through the texts, deciphering cryptic passages and piecing together fragments of forgotten past.

 Chapter 670 670: Suspicions

    The old man had lived in the Realm of Gods for a long time. However, even he had never heard about a missing child of a High God. He went through all the records to see if there was ever a mention of something like that.

    Even if there was not a direct mention, he had a feeling that he could find clues to some extent. People often ignored history and didn''t realize its significance in the world around them. The future and the present were closely rted to history, in every way possible.

    The books in his library had a great amount of knowledge. Unfortunately, that was only the books in his own collection which were still iplete.

    After days of hard work, the man let out a sigh. He closed thest book as well, before sitting down.

    There were many strange things that he hadn''t noticed in these books before, which he was able to notice after going through them again. However, none of them had anything about Gabriel''s origin.

    "There is nothing in these books. If only I had the right to go through the Library in the Realm of Gods, I would''ve had a better chance..." The man ced the book safely in its ce.

    He turned to Gabriel. Despite being a respectable God, he bowed before Gabriel in apology for not being able to help him.

    "You mentioned something about the Library of the Realm of Gods?" Gabriel ignored the apology. He didn''t need that. Instead, he held onto the words of the old man.

    If it was about the Library in the Realm of Gods, then what could be better. He had ess to the Library... Let alone the library, he had the entire Realm of Gods under him for the time being.

    "Yeah. The books here... They are iplete. They don''t even contain even a fraction of knowledge held in the Library there. That ce has books that had everything in them, even the smallest of things from the beginning of time," the old man answered.

    He still remembered the Gods who wrote those books. It was a lineage of the wisest Bloodline in the realm of gods. Throughout generations, they were responsible for nothing down everything, including the smallest of things.

    Their knowledge was boundless, and their writings contained the secrets of the universe.

    Unfortunately, their writing was only kept in the Main Library and no one was allowed to read any of those books without the permission from every High Council Member.

    The old man had once been granted the privilege to read one of those books, and its words had stayed etched in his memory ever since. He still craved all that knowledge. Unfortunately, he couldn''t.

    "If I can get you to the library. Will you be able to leave this ce?" Gabriel asked the old man.

    "That is impossible. How can you get me to that Library?" The old man sighed.

    "That''s not the answer to my question. I asked if you will be able to leave this ce?" Gabriel asked. "Or are you all trapped in this ce?"<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    The old man gazed at Gabriel. "If you could get me to that Library, I can leave this ce, even at the risk of death!"

    "There won''t be any death." Gabriel exined to the old man about the Realm of Gods being abandoned already, at least for the time being. It was the perfect opportunity for the old man to enter that ce and go where he previously wasn''t allowed to go.

    The old man''s eyes filled with hope as he listened to Gabriel''s words. He understood that this was his chance to finally escape the confines of his current existence.

    If the Realm of God was empty, then this was an even bigger opportunity! Since they had lived in the realm of gods, they could handle the protective formations and maybe even activate them again including the main barrier with some modification.

    The old man also understood why Gabriel was willing to take them. He needed people to help him. At least that''s what he thought, not realizing that they were even lower than help. They were pawns.

    He agreed to leave with Gabriel, especially since he was curious about Gabriel''s origin. He didn''t care about who ruled that ce. After being in exile for so long, just going back alone was enough for them.

    "You stay here. I''ll convince the others. We shall all go there. It''s time we returned home..." The old man rushed out of the ce.

    Gabriel also walked out, but stayed in the main hall where time moved normally. He was really curious just how many Gods were actually hiding in this ce. So far, he only met two.

    He didn''t think there were going to be too many, especially since most of the rebels were already killed.

    After half an hour, the old man returned with a group of five. In the group, everyone was wearing ordinary clothes, that didn''t reveal the dignity of high ranking goes they used to be.

    It was as if they had lived their lives like mortals in this ce, slowly losing hope of ever returning. Their eyes were still looking at Gabriel suspiciously, but they decided to believe the old man.

    As Gabriel approached the group, he could sense the heaviness in their hearts, the weight of their past and the uncertainty of their future. He introduced himself, trying to ease their apprehensions and offer them a glimmer of hope.

    All five of them introduced themselves to Gabriel as well. However, the atmosphere still remained a little awkward.

    Gabriel could understand their reservations and the tension in the air. These gods had been living in seclusion and exile for so long, cut off from the world they once knew.

    It was only natural for them to feel uncertain and wary, especially when faced with a neer like Gabriel. They didn''t even know if Gabriel was actually being honest, or it was a trap to lure them out.

    However, they also realized that Janus didn''t need or lure them out. If he knew they were here, he would''ve invaded directly and killed every single one of them.

 Chapter 671 671: Gods Determination

    "I understand that trust is not easily given, especially in our circumstances," Gabriel began, his voice calm and reassuring. "But I assure you, I mean you no harm. I believe that together, we can forge a path towards a better future. You want your revenge and I have the same desire. Together, we all get what we want!"

    The old man, who had vouched for Gabriel, stepped forward. "He speaks the truth. Gabriel has brought me an opportunity to return to the Library of the Realm of Gods, to uncover the knowledge we have long been denied. And in doing so, we may find the answers we seek."

    The others exchanged nces, silently contemting the implications of the old man''s words. It was a risk to trust Gabriel and venture into the unknown, but they were tired of living in istion and yearned to return home. They had nothing left to lose.

    At this point, they had grown tired. Even death was better than rotting here.

    One of the gods, a woman with golden hair and eyes filled with determination, stepped forward. "My name is Lyra. I was once a High Council Member, but now I am nothing more than a forgotten relic of the past. If there is a chance to reim what was lost, then I am willing to take it."

    Gabriel nodded, acknowledging her resolve.

    Over the next few hours, Gabriel and the group discussed their ns, taking into ount the potential challenges they might face.

    Even though the Realm of Gods was Abandoned, but it didn''t mean the Gods couldn''t return, especially with Janus. So they had a short time to make arrangements for a battle in the realm of gods.

    They also knew that the Library would be heavily protected with traps, even in its abandoned state, and they had to be cautious to avoid triggering any ancient traps.

    The old man, whose name they learned was Ophelius, shared his knowledge of the Library''s protective formations and exined how they might be modified or deactivated.

    With this valuable information, Gabriel and the others began devising a strategy.

    As the preparations unfolded, the atmosphere gradually shifted. The gods started to let go of their initial suspicions and embraced the flicker of hope that Gabriel had ignited within them.

    They were no longer just a group of disced and forgotten beings; they were a united front, determined to reim their ce in the world.

    With every passing moment, Gabriel could see the transformation taking ce within the group. The weight on their shoulders seemed to lessen, reced by a newfound purpose and determination.

    They were ready to face whatever challenges awaited them, as if they had regained their lost passion. Moreover, they didn''t show any arrogance towards Gabriel.

    They all held gratitude toward Gabriel, and he had subtly be the leader of the group despite his young age, thanks to the support of the old man and the Goddess who brought him here.

    As the final confirmation was made, the old man looked at the gods gathered before him.

    "We stand on the precipice of a new chapter in our lives. Together, we shall return to our home that we were forced to abandon! Let us embark on this journey and reim what was once ours."<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    The gods, their eyes shining with a renewed spark of hope, nodded in agreement. The awkwardness that had lingered earlier had dissipated, reced by a sense of camaraderie and trust. They were ready to face the challenges ahead, guided by Gabriel.

    All the Gods followed Gabriel and left the special realm, stepping foot in the Garden of Legacy.

    The Gods looked at their surroundings in amazement. It had been such a long time since theyst came out. Even though their surroundings were normal, the feeling of freedom was beautiful.

    The threat still looked over their heads, yet they didn''t care anymore. Even if this was theirst battle in the realm of gods, they were ready! They weren''t going to be cowards like the past where they ran away to save their lives.

    After living like this for so long, they realized that a proud death was better than a humiliating life of cowards! This was an opportunity like never before, to take over the defense of the Realm of God.

    Janus was still the biggest threat, but they also held Ezekiel siding with them thanks to Gabriel.

    Unfortunately for them, even Gabriel didn''t know where Ezekiel was, or if he was going to ever return. He also didn''t know what his reaction was going to be, since that guy hated all gods.

    Unfortunately, Gabriel couldn''t wait if he didn''t even know if Ezekiel was going to return, or if he was even alive!

    Gabriel and the others left the Garden of Legacy, reaching the Beast Forest. The Beast Monarchs were stunned at the sight of the gods they worshiped.

    They immediately dropped to their knees at the sight of the Gods who were the reason for their existence. When Gabriel said that he was going to bring more guests, they didn''t expect this.

    The Beast Monarchs were ustomed to only seeing their own kind in the Forest, and the sudden arrival of Gods was both awe-inspiring and unsettling for them.

    The Gods reacted calmly as well, telling the Beast Monarchs to stand straight. The Goddess who made this forest also thanked the Beast Monarchs for protecting this ce for thousands of years with everything they got.

    In return for their unwavering dedication, the Gods offered the Beast Monarchs a gift - a divine blessing to enhance their already formidable powers.

    Grateful and humbled by the gesture, the Beast Monarchs graciously epted the divine blessing, their hearts filled with a renewed sense of purpose and duty.

    "We should get back home..." The old man chimed in, revealing a beautiful smile.

    Gabriel led the group toward the Spatial Portal on the other side of the forest. However, at the same time, he also tried contacting Karyk.

 Chapter 672 672: Complete Control

    Gabriel tried contacting Karyk, but strangely enough, he couldn''t get through. Even now, he couldn''t contact Karyk, despite being in the Immortal World.

    Not only could he not contact Karyk, but it was as if Karyk had removed all the connection they had. He couldn''t even feel that connection anymore.

    He didn''t understand why that would be the case. He would''ve been fine if he couldn''t reach Karyk because of the distance, but topletely cut off their connections, especially after everything?

    Gabriel had a heavy frown on his forehead. He had a really ufortable feeling in his heart, and he didn''t understand what it was.

    He looked at the faces of all the Gods around him, and decided to enter the portal and think about itter.

    ****

    Through the portal, all the Rebel Gods returned to the realm of gods.

    Seeing the once familiar sight once again, all of them found their eyes getting somewhat moist. Some even dropped to their knees, touching the soil. This was their home when they never thought they were going to see ever again.

    In the past, they used to hate Ezekiel. However, currently they felt gratitude toward Ezekiel and Gabriel for making this a reality.

    "Stand up! Stop acting like a child. We don''t have time to waste! The war isn''t over just because the Gods retreated!"

    Seeing the Gods act like emotional children, Enoch couldn''t help but scold them. They didn''t have all the time in the world. They could rxter as well.

    First, they had to change the formations of this reason to truly make it their home, or at least make it into something that could benefit them if they were attacked.

    They had the knowledge as well as the experience. Some of them were involved in maintenance of these ces in the past as well.

    The other Gods also realized that they couldn''t waste time. They were back home but the danger wasn''t gone. This was an opportunity to make this ce a safe zone for them.

    All the Gods stood up, and spread out throughout the Realm of Gods. However, Gabriel didn''t let them go alone. He sent some Shadow Warriors with them to keep an eye on them.

    These Shadow Warriors were highly skilled in stealth andbat. Gabriel could see everything that these Shadow Warriors saw, as long as they were in the same realm.

    The Gods went to work, and slowly they repaired the formations throughout the Realm of Gods using all the resources that were left behind.

    With theirbined effort, the once crumbling formations began to regain their former glory. As the Gods continued their work, they could feel the energy of the realm growing stronger with each mended formation.

    The vibrant energy radiated through the realm, bringing life and vitality back to the divine beings and their surroundings.

    Gabriel watched the realming back to life with each passing second. The only thing that was missing was the main formation which was broken by Ezekiel. Unfortunately, none of the Rebels knew how to repair that.

    That protective barrier was part of an ancient formation. No one knew who exactly created that formation or how it was created. Repairing that was impossible.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    Instead, another protective formation could be created by them for protection, but all of them knew that a weaker formation was not going tost long. However, it was still better than nothing.

    "The Protective Formation around the Realm will take three days to bepleted. But In the meantime, we have created another formation. This spreads through the space around our realm and alerts us whenever any movement is sensed."

    The old man exined, before handing over a small token to Gabriel.

    "As you wanted, all the control of these formations have been connected to this badge," he stated.

    Gabriel nodded as he examined the intricate carvings on the badge.

    With determination in his eyes, he sped the badge tightly. So far, these people had done exactly as he wanted. They didn''t scheme or try to betray him. He also knew it was partially because they were thankful to him, and more because they were scared of Ezekiel.

    In their eyes, he and Ezekiel were together. They were the leaders of this realm. As long as the Rebels were allowed to live here, they didn''t care about who held the power. They weren''t strong enough to hold the authority either after all.

    Gabriel understood that fear and gratitude only went so far, and maintaining control would require a delicate bnce of power and influence.

    He needed to be constantly vignt, ensuring that their people remained loyal and united under him, for any cracks in his authority could lead to chaos and dissent.

    After giving him the control of the Formations, the old man sighed in relief. He was almost done with the task of repairing formation. Now the only thing that was left was to explore the Library as soon as possible.

    His heart was thumping in excitement, realizing that he would get to see all the books that he could only watch but never touch. In fact, almost no one in the Realm of Gods was allowed to read them, including the members of the high council.

    It was said that the secrets held in those books couldn''t be revealed or it was going to be a disaster. That''s why the High Council rarely agreed to let anyone read those books, except a few recent ones.

    "You want to go to the Library?" Gabriel asked, understanding what the old man''s expressions meant.

    The old man nodded, revealing a child-like excitement.

    "Alright. I''lle with you as well. I also want to see just what those books contain." Gabriel nodded, as he walked in the direction of the library. However, he stopped along the way, noticing a familiar sight in the distance.

    His eyes fell on the pond. He had been quite curious about that.

    "Do you know what that is?" He asked the old man.

    "That..." The old man looked at the pond.

 Chapter 673 673: Law Of Fate

    The old man looked at the pond. In his haste, he didn''t notice that even though he walked past it quite a lot of time.

    He stepped closer to the pond. The more he looked at it, the more he found it to be iprehensible.

    He looked at his surroundings, frowning. "Is this not the ce where Chaos'' Pce used to be?"

    "Yeah. I destroyed it," Gabriel answered. "However, no matter what I do, I can''t touch this pond. The barrier... It''s even worse than anything I have ever seen."

    The old man stepped closer to the pond in curiosity. He didn''t know why, but the four creatures swimming in the pond appeared to be special. And two of them gave him a very familiar feeling.

    He reached out his hand.

    "If I was you, I wouldn''t do that," Gabriel chimed in, but the old man didn''t listen.

    As his fingertips brushed the surface of the pond, a surge of energy coursed through his body. Before the old man could even react, his body flew back uncontrobly, falling far away.

    His entire arm that tried to touch the pond disintegrated, disappearing into nothingness. His fate was even worse than Gabriel when he had tried.

    He felt as if he had almost touched death. The old man groaned in pain, losing his left arm. Even as a Divine Being, he couldn''t heal his arm. It was as if his arm was forever gone in the face of the mysterious power.

    He stood up, his facepletely pale. Within a moment, everything he changed.

    The old man was still in disbelief. This barrier... It wasn''t anything ordinary. Instead, it was an incredible power which contained manyws of the universe.

    The old man had merely felt the tip of the iceberg but in that instant, he could recognise the Law of Fate, the Law of Space and Time, the Law of a Life and Death and the Law of Creation! And he had a feeling there was more.

    This barrier... It was beyond his understanding. Which made him wonder just what it was that the barrier was protecting? What was special about those four fishes in the pond?

    "Are you alright?" Gabriel asked, approaching the old man. However, he could already see that the old man wasn''t done.

    He ced his hand on the old man''s shoulder and tried to heal him. Unfortunately, he couldn''t heal that guy.

    "My arm is forever gone. You can''t heal it," the old man answered, letting out a deep sigh. He didn''t know why he was foolish enough to touch. He thought he would''ve been fine.

    Unfortunately, that power was beyond his understanding.

    Gabriel retracted his hand. "I suppose you don''t know what that thing is. If you did, you would''ve been careful."<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    He thought the old man would know something about it. Unfortunately, he only received disappointment in return.

    "I indeed do not know what that is," the old man answered. His eyes held curiosity as well. He never knew that there was something like this hidden inside Chaos'' mansion.

    He always wondered why Chaos became so strong. He couldn''t help but wonder if these things had something to do with that. He wanted to find out everything about that. And if there was something which could give hints about these creatures, it was the Ancient Books.

    He didn''t even care about losing an arm forever. Instead, he still rushed toward the Library with even more excitement. Now he had two mysteries to some. One was about this pond and the other about Gabriel''s origin.

    Gabriel nced at the pond once again. He didn''t know why, but he felt that he had some connection with it... He just didn''t understand what.

    He followed the old man towards the library. However, he had merely taken a few steps when he stopped.

    The badge in his pocket started vibrating. Through it, he felt that someone was detected in the space outside the Realm of Gods.

    "You go ahead. I''ll be right there," Gabriel told the old man, before he took a few steps back.

    His body rose in the air. Hovering above the ground, Gabriel activated his celestial powers, his eyes glowing with a faint golden light.

    As he focused his energy, his senses sharpened, allowing him to perceive the disturbance in the fabric of reality caused by the intruder.

    With a quick burst of speed, Gabriel soared through the air, drawing closer to the source of the disturbance. As he neared the outskirts of the spatial field, he finally saw the person who caused this disturbance.

    He finally calmed down after realizing that it wasn''t an enemy. Instead, it was Ezekiel. That man was finally back.

    His clothes were covered in Blood, but he was still full of vitality despite all the wounds on his body. If anything, he appeared to be very satisfied. It was as if he had just returned after doing something which he enjoyed a lot.

    In a distant spatial realm, the two gods who had killed the family of Ezekiel were lying lifelessly. However, their condition was so gruesome that even the devil would''ve been disgusted.

    Their faces were filled with horrors, even as they had died. It was unclear just what kind of horror they had experienced. However, one thing was certain. Their death wasn''t good. It was something that one wouldn''t even wish on their enemies.

    In the same realm, many more bodies were lying lifeless. One such body belonged to the Goddess of Reincarnation. The dagger made from Ezekiel''s blood was still stabbed in her body. The Abyssal Poison hadpletely reced her blood.

    It was a gruesome sight, with the once-beautiful goddess now transformed into a ghastly figure. The surrounding atmosphere was heavy with an eerie silence, as if the entire realm mourned the loss of their divine protector.

    The world which was created for rehabilitation of the Gods who had once died at the hands of Ezekiel had be their graveyard that could never be forgotten.

 Chapter 674 674: Impossible Decision

    "You are back."

    Gabriel observed Ezekiel, who was lookingpletely fine. That made him wonder just where he disappeared for such a long time.

    "And here I thought all the Gods would have run away while that woman was keeping me busy," Ezekielmented, looking in the direction of the Realm of Gods. "To think that some would still be left behind... Makes it easier for me."

    Gabriel understood what Ezekiel was thinking about. He was considering the gods present in the Realm of Gods to be his enemy.

    Gabriel had a feeling that Ezekiel''s ns could lead to chaos and destruction if he wasn''t informed about everything that happened after he had disappeared. Gabriel didn''t want him to kill the Rebel Gods.

    "All the gods did run away," Gabriel chimed in, standing in Ezekiel''s path.

    He told Ezekiel everything that happened from the moment that the battle had stopped, from the fact that Caen or Janus weren''t in the Realm of Gods at that time, to the fact that all the Gods used a Teleportation Formation to go somewhere.

    Ezekiel frowned, hearing everything. He couldn''t believe that even after knowing what Gods were truly like, Gabriel had still decided to work with them.

    Even if they could be used as pawns, Ezekiel didn''t agree with that. In his eyes, all the Gods deserved to die! There was no good or bad god! All these Gods were opportunists.

    They were working with Gabriel because they saw benefits. If that wasn''t the case, these same gods would have treated him like an ant, beneath their feet.

    Ezekiel''s expressions turned dark. "Do you realize what you''re trying to do?"

    Gabriel nodded in response. He had thought about it clearly. And he also understood that convincing Ezekiel was going to be hard, but he didn''t expect his response to be so sharp.

    "You freed me. And that''s why I decided to work with you," he said. However, he soon had a brief pause. "But this is different."

    Gabriel was quite taken aback by the sharp response of Ezekiel. He really didn''t differentiate between gods that allied with him and the ones who stood against him.

    "The more people we have, the better it will be! Isn''t that the case?" Gabriel asked.

    Unfortunately, Ezekiel didn''t answer. His mind was made up. In his eyes, all gods were the same. He didn''t care if the person before him was a True God or their child. He killed them all since they all led down the same path in his eyes.

    The only reason he even worked with Gabriel was because he couldn''t feel any Divinity from Gabriel. It was clear that Gabriel wasn''t a True God like the pure bloods. His blood was mixed, as if he was artificially created.

    If that wasn''t the case, he wasn''t sure if he would''ve let Gabriel live as well. His mind was only filled with one thing! Revenge and death! That''s the whole purpose of his life.

    He moved closer to Gabriel, cing his hand on the young man''s shoulders, slowly moving him aside.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "You are my savior. I don''t want to have any conflict with you. However, you shouldn''t get in my path. Don''t get involved in what happens next."

    After warning Gabriel, Ezekiel flew straight toward the Realm of Gods. Only Gabriel was left behind in the dark space, lost in his own thoughts.

    His mind was clouded. He understood what Ezekiel was going to do. He also knew that he couldn''t stop Ezekiel even if he wanted to.

    Moreover, having Ezekiel on his side was much more helpful than having hundreds of gods on his side! Ezekiel single handedly brought the Realm of Gods down to their knees.

    Unfortunately, he also felt bad. The Rebel Gods had helped him a lot. It was the same for the Beast Monarchs. Moreover, they didn''t do anything bad to him. They were always respectful and they just wanted to return home.

    If it wasn''t for him, they wouldn''t even be here in the first ce. If it wasn''t for him, they would''ve been living safely in the Beast Forest, away from all this conflict.

    Gabriel felt the weight of the guilt on his shoulders. His heart was somewhat heavy, understanding what kind of fate was in store for those unaware people.

    He had to make a choice. Was he going to hold on to the little bit of friendship with the Beast Monarchs and the Rebel Gods? Or was he going to hold onto his biggest weapon, Ezekiel who was the only person that could hold Janus back to some extent, giving him a chance to kill Caen!

    He had to choose between abandoning his biggest strength or abandoning the Rebel Gods and Beast Monarchs.

    Rtionships or the future? That was the choice he had! He clenched his fist, thinking that he should help them. He had to stand in Ezekiel''s path, even if it meant going separate ways. Unfortunately, his body simply refused to move.

    The memories of all the people back in his home world which were destroyed by Caen flooded his mind. He had lost so much along the way.

    Were these people more important to him than his sister and every other friend he had back in his world? Could he really abandon his revenge for the people he only knew for a short while?

    In the end, he made a difficult decision. His fists were clenched so tightly that they were bleeding. He also closed his eyes, slowly turning his back on the Realm of Gods. The gift from the old man, who gave him the Control of all the formations, remained in his pocket...

    Gabriel sealed some of his senses temporarily, not wanting to listen to their cries of help.

    ****

    Ezekielnded in the Realm of Gods, where he noticed the Shadow Soldiers and the Undead Warriors of Gabriel. He ignored them and focused on the Gods.

    Along the way, he came across one of the Beast Monarchs who had some godly energy in them.

 Chapter 675 675: Trap

    The Beast Monarch was taken aback after seeing Ezekiel. He respectfully greeted Ezekiel, but before he could even finish his sentence, the entire world turned blurry.

    His head was in Ezekiel''s head who held him by his hair. The Beast Monarch could see his headless body in the distance. In an instant, his head was separated from his body.

    Ezekiel tossed the head of the Beast Monarch in the distance. The headless body also fell on the ground at the same time.

    Dark clouds spread over the Realm of Gods, giving all the unaware gods a strange feeling.

    "Since Gabriel considers you a friend, I''ll give you all a quick death. I''ll make it easier for you," Ezekiel''s cold voice fell in the surroundings.

    It was as if the entire world was engulfed in darkness.

    One after another, the Beast Monarchs that came across Ezekiel were killed before they should even realise what was happening. In essence, Ezekiel made their death quick and painless, unlike the death he gave to the gods before.

    Within ten minutes, most of the Beast Monarchs were dead. And the ones who were left alive realised what was happening. They felt as if they were betrayed by Gabriel! This was indeed a trap! They were brought here so they could all be killed at once!

    Even the Lion Monarch who had helped Gabriel before felt his heart shatter. He couldn''t believe that Gabriel was betraying like that. And that too, after giving them hope.

    "Gabriel! You traitor!" He roared at the top of his lungs. "If you wanted us dead, why give us false hope!"

    In the space outside the Realm of Gods, Gabriel remainedpletely still like a statue, unable to hear any pained cries since he sealed his hearing senses. However, he also felt some pain, unable to help them.

    This was a choice that he made, not realizing that this was the start of his spiral down the path of darkness from where it was almost impossible to ever return.

    He had once been the protector of these people, the one who brought hope to those in need, but now he had be the harbinger of despair.

    His actions had betrayed not only the others but also his own ideals, leaving him trapped in a haunting cycle of remorse and self-doubt.

    Back in the Realm of Gods, the loud roar of the Beast Monarch was heard far and wide. It even fell in the ears of the Rebel Gods who were initially confused as to what was happening.

    They had a really bad feeling about this.

    The old man was inside the Library, going through a book. His expressions were of disbelief, as if he had found out something that made him tremble in disbelief.

    "He is..." He muttered, his face turning pale. However, before he could turn the page, he heard the loud scream of the Beast Monarch.

    Stunned, he ced the book back before rushing out, wondering if they were under attack.

    As soon as he stepped out of the Library, he caught up with the other Rebel Gods.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    He could feel a strange coldness in the air. The sky was dark, giving a deathly feeling. It was as if this ce wasn''t the Realm of Gods anymore. Instead, this was the Realm of Demons!

    The entire space was sealed, making it impossible to even use teleportation. They were like caged animals with no escape.

    "What is happening?!" The old man asked. However, before anyone could answer him, the head of the Lion Monarch came flying, falling at his feet.

    The old man''s face went pale. He knew that things had taken a turn for the worse. The once mighty and noble Lion Monarch nowy lifeless, a symbol of the impending danger that threatened the realm.

    Even after getting their blessings and bing as strong as a real God, he was killed so easily.

    Panic began to spread among the surviving gods, their confidence shattered and reced with fear and uncertainty.

    The old man, his heart heavy with sorrow and anger, looked around at the frightened faces of his fellow Rebel Gods. Their unity had been shattered, and their purpose seemed futile in the face of this unforeseen betrayal.

    "Gabriel... what have you done?" he whispered, his voice filled with both sadness and disappointment. It was clear that they could no longer rely on Gabriel who had led them to this trap.

    In the midst of their confusion, a voice echoed through the darkened realm. It was deep and menacing, carrying an air of malevolence that sent chills down their spines.

    "All gods shall die! This world shall be free of the Gods!"

    As the voice reverberated, everyone saw a person in the distance. It was a man, who had two hornsing out of his forehead.

    His presence was extremely demonic, with just a nce alone sending a chill down their spines.

    The person in the distance was none other than Ezekiel. His physical appearance left no doubt about his identity! He was the person supposed to be their strength but now, he was here to kill them with his own hands.

    The Rebel Gods braced themselves for the impending onught, their determination to protect themselves rekindled despite the despair that loomed over them. They knew they had to fight for their survival, even if it was a battle against Ezekiel.

    Anything was better than dying while not even trying.

    The old man stepped forward, his weathered face etched with resolve. "To think that the Great Ezekiel would use a trap to lure us here. I don''t know if he should feel sad or happy."

    The Rebel Gods exchanged nces, their eyes filled with a mixture of anger and determination. With a collective nod, they prepared themselves to face their formidable adversary head-on, ready to unleash their dormant powers and fight until the bitter end.

    "Trap?" Ezekiel asked, with not even a ripple of emotions on his face. "At least you have the same overconfidence and arrogance as the other gods. That never changes."

 Chapter 676 676: Entrance

    The surroundings were cold. All the gods felt their hearts racing. They realized that this was a battle where they weren''t going to survive. Even if they put up a fight, there was no escape from this.

    Still, they were filled with determination to not die for nothing. Even if they died, they wanted to die proudly. They weren''t going to escape again.

    The old man looked at the other gods next to him.

    "This might be ourst battle together. Even though I didn''t expect ourst battle to be this... But I feel proud that in this onest battle, we are together..."

    The old man raised his hand, calling forth a Trident that was his own unique weapon.

    The other gods also brought out their own unique weapon. In the meantime, Ezekiel didn''t attack them. It was as if he was giving them time to get ready for the battle.

    The old man was the first to move. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared. He appeared right behind Ezekiel, thrusting his trident. The entire space around him was getting destroyed in the attack, but he didn''t care.

    At the same time, the other Gods also moved. All five of them attacked at the same time, using their Godly Weapons filled with divinity.

    "If this is all you can do, then I am heavily disappointed," Ezekiel''s calm voice fell in everyone''s ears as their attacks were stopped merely inches away from Ezekiel''s body.

    It was as if there was a mysterious aura barrier around him. Their weapons couldn''t even pass through the aura barrier, let alone harm him.

    "As I said, I will make this quick as my thanks to someone."

    A powerful burst of dark energy came out from Ezekiel''s body, sending all the Rebel Gods flying.

    The burst of energy wave alone was enough to send the gods flying. It made the gods realise just how big a difference was between Ezekiel and them! It was even worse than they expected.

    Ezekiel hadn''t even moved yet they were hurt.

    A terrifying pressure descended on all the gods, making them unable to even stand up. It was as if a heavy mountain was pressing down on their bodies.

    Ezekiel turned toward the old man, who tried to force his body up, only to fail. He remained on his knees, even as his muscles bulged.

    He couldn''t even move an inch as he slowly stepped toward the old man in the distance.

    "I thought you would be able to put up some fight... Once again, empty arrogance with nothing to show for," Ezekielmented as he raised his sword. "I will send you to your eternal resting ce!"

    Ezekiel swung his sword, bringing it shing down. In the other ce, the old man closed his eyes. The other gods also closed their eyes, not willing to see this scene.

    Seconds passed. The old man held his eyes closed, but he didn''t feel any pain. He was still alive. Confused, he slowly opened his eyes, only to see Ezekiel''s face.

    Ezekiel had a confusion on his face. However, what was strange was that some dark shackles hade out of the ground.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    The dark shackles had wrapped around Ezekiel''s hands, stopping his attack before his sword could touch the old man.

    The old man frowned. Was someone helping him? Who did these chains belong to? Why was Ezekiel looking confused as well?

    While the old man was lost in thoughts, he heard the sound of calm footsteps. He looked towards the source of the footsteps. The other gods also opened their eyes, looking in the direction of the footsteps.

    "What do you think you''re doing?" Ezekiel asked, looking in the direction of the footsteps.

    His eyes rested on Gabriel, whose dark robe was fluttering with the wind with each step he took.

    Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck, as if he had a myriad of his thoughts in his mind.

    "I thought a lot about this... for a moment, I even made up my mind to abandon them for my ultimate goals. However, I couldn''t go through with it..."

    "I forgot one important thing along the way... I had forgotten the promise that I made to myself." As Gabriel spoke, more and more dark shackles came out of the ground, wrapping around the body of Ezekiel.

    "The promise that I will never let anyone take something that belongs to me... The promise that I won''t lose anyone again," he stated. "I can''t let it happen, even if it''s you..."

    Ezekiel stopped before the head of the Lion Monarch whose eyes were still open.

    He went down on one knee, closing the eyes of the Lion Monarch. "I am sorry for beingte..."

    From his storage ring, he brought a jar of wine that he received from the Lion Monarch previously and ced it on the ground next to him.

    "Do you realize what you''re doing?" Ezekiel asked. His expressions turned darker. "You want to stand against me for... them?!"

    "Please let them live... I don''t want to fight you if possible." Gabriel stood up, turning towards Ezekiel.

    Back in the empty space, he had sealed his senses, not wanting to hear what was happening. He had almost convinced himself as well. However, he couldn''t control the turmoil in his head. It felt as if he was going crazy.

    He was going to fight Caen and Janus! If he couldn''t even stand against Ezekiel to save his people, then did he really have the right to stand against Caen and Janus? Was he really going to abandon those gods after promising them a new life?

    Eventually, he opened his eyes, feeling a sudden change in him. His thoughts were filled with darkness and death. However, deep in there, he had the fear of loss... The fear of the same past repeating again and again!

    Eventually, his eyes turned cold as he decided that he couldn''t let it happen. Even if it was Ezekiel, he had to intervene.

    Ezekiel''s eysa rested on Gabriel, who was standing before him. Dark chains wrapped around his body, keeping him in ce.

    "You think these chains can stop me?" Ezekiel asked. If he wanted, he could break these chains in the blink of an eye.

 Chapter 677 677: Standing Up

    "You think these chains can stop me?" Ezekiel asked. If he wanted, he could break these chains in the blink of an eye.

    "I know they can''t," Gabriel answered just as calmly. He had spent time with Ezekiel. Who could know better about him? Gabriel knew exactly what Ezekiel was capable of, and it was clear that these chains couldn''t stop him.

    However, stopping him wasn''t his n. He expected Ezekiel to be confused since he was a prideful person. However, Gabriel also knew that if there was a battle, then also the best person to face Ezekiel was himself!

    Ezekiel''s biggest strength was the Abyssal Energy! It was the same energy which had no use on him. That poison didn''t affect Gabriel. However, even without the Abyssal Energy, the gap between the two was significant.

    What he was getting here was a simple distraction. He had a n which could avoid battle. However, if they couldn''t avoid a battle, he still wanted to make sure that the Rebel Gods weren''t caught in the Explosion of Abyssal Poison that was deadly to them.

    The Gods couldn''t use Spatial Teleportation since the entire space itself was sealed by Ezekiel. However, there was one method which still worked.

    That method had something to do with the Formations that were repaired by the Rebel Gods. Through the Control of the formation, one could still open up Portals in the Realm of Gods even if the entire world was sealed.

    The small control token of the formation was still in Gabriel''s hands.

    The Rebel Gods were looking at Gabriel and Ezekiel in the distance. Initially, they thought that Gabriel had betrayed them and led them to a trap. However, they were now realising that things weren''t as simple.

    While they were looking at the two in the distance, they noticed a teleportation portal open right next to them.

    The teleportation portal didn''t create a single spatial ripple, thanks to the boost of the formation. It was to the point that even Ezekiel didn''t notice it, since his entire attention was on Gabriel.

    The Gods looked at the portal next to them, before looking at Gabriel. They realised what Gabriel was implying. Gabriel was telling them to run, while he stayed back for this battle!

    The gods knew that they could potentially return to the Beast Forest after escaping and hide there like always. But after they left, they knew Gabriel was potentially going to have to fight Ezekiel alone.

    Fighting Ezekiel was no different than fighting death itself. They felt multiple emotions at the moment.

    In the end, the old man closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He stood up, not even looking at the Teleportation Formation. He wasn''t going to escape. He was going to fight with Ezekiel, even if it meant fighting to death! He couldn''t let Gabriel die for him!

    The other gods were also scared of death. However, seeing Gabriel standing up for them, they also turned their backs on the spatial portal.

    Gabriel noticed everything through the corner of his eyes, which made him quite stunned. He had created an opportunity for them, but they weren''t escaping? He felt like scolding them.

    "We won''t be running away! We won''t abandon you! This is our battle!" The old man started burning his divinity, as his strength increased by multiple folds. The other gods did the same.

    They all appeared between Gabriel and Ezekiel.

    "Leave! We will hold them back! Don''t worry about our old bones!" The old man eximed as the Divine Aura filled his surroundings.

    "You...?" Gabriel was taken aback. These people were really not escaping even after all this?<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    In the distance, Ezekiel''s expressions remained cold. However, the corner of his lips curved upward. It was rare for him to reveal a smile. He even forgot how long it had been since he saw a sight like this.

    He stretched out his arms. In an instant, the dark shackles broke.

    Everyone prepared for battle. Ezekiel was free and a battle was imminent... A battle to death.

    However, to everyone''s surprise, Ezekiel didn''t attack them. He simply turned his back on them, walking away.

    Gabriel frowned, seeing this sight. Ezekiel wasn''t going to fight? Even after these people stood against him, he wasn''t going to kill anyone?

    "You found some good subordinates... Maybe they are... different..." Ezekiel''s calm voice came, even as he didn''t look back.

    His cold heart had seen this sight after a long time. It reminded him of his home world, before all the gods invaded it! He couldn''t help but remember his parents standing up before him to save him, even though they knew that it meant eventual Death.

    A bond that surpassed the fear of death... And that too for a stranger who wasn''t one of them... This was a rare sight.

    He didn''t trust gods. It wasn''t wrong to say that he hated them to his core. That''s why when Gabriel said that he brought some back, he thought that they were sooner orter going to betray him. He thought they were just using him.

    Even though Gabriel wasn''t his family member, but he was somewhat akin to a friend who had saved his life. That''s why Ezekiel didn''t break the chains right away. He wanted to see what they were going to do.

    Were they going to be like other selfish gods and run to save their lives? Or were they going to try and save Gabriel? In fact, even though the Spatial Portals didn''t make any Spatial Distortion, he had already sensed them as well.

    He just didn''t react to that spatial distortion. He had made up his mind. If the gods were going to escape while abandoning Gabriel, he was going to crush their skulls right then and there.

    However, to his surprise, they made the right choice. They proved that they could be trusted, even if to a small extent. That''s why Ezekiel decided to let them be. He decided to let them work under Gabriel.

    As Ezekiel walked away, he waved his hand, using a never before seen ability. A strange aura shrouded the entire realm.

    Every Beast Monarch that he had killed was healed, and they came back to life, even stronger than before.

    "How long are you going to stand there for? Come with me," he told Gabriel.

    Gabriel scratched the back of his head as he followed Ezekiel. Things wentpletely against his expectations. However, he felt somewhat relieved watching everyone survive.

    The Lion Monarch opened his eyes. He noticed the jar of wine next to him that he had given Gabriel previously. He didn''t remember anything about the battle or even meeting Ezekiel.

    Confused about why he was here, he shook his head and stopped thinking about it. He picked up the jar of wine, and took a sip.

 Chapter 678 678: Ezekiels Depths

    Gabriel walked next to Ezekiel, still slightly taken aback by everything that had taken ce.

    "You don''t have to hold in your questions," Ezekiel stated, without even looking back. It was as if he could see Gabriel''s confusion.

    "You can bring people to life?" Gabriel asked. This was the biggest question in his mind. He couldn''t understand how Ezekiel brought the Beast Monarchs back to life. It was surprising that he could even do that.

    Even Karyk had to go through so many extra steps to bring the dead back to life. However, Ezekiel did that instantly right before his eyes.

    That made him wonder if Ezekiel could help him bring back his sister, Cylix and the others as well. A flicker of hope was ignited in his heart.

    If he could bring them back to life, then he could bring them to the Realm of Gods as well,pleting his small family.

    "I can''t," Ezekiel answered, to Gabriel''s surprise. "If I could, I would''ve brought my own family back to life..."

    As he spoke, he couldn''t help but look at the darkened sky. His voice sounded very deste and ancient, as he continued, "Life and death... It is beyond my control..."

    "Then how did you..." Gabriel frowned, looking at the Beast Monarchs in the distance. All of them were dead previously, but now they are all alive. It didn''t make sense.

    "I brought them back because they were never dead," Ezekielmented.

    "They were never dead?" Gabriel asked, frowning. "But I saw..."

    "You''re misunderstanding me. The reason they weren''t dead isn''t because I let them live. It''s because they were never alive in the first ce," Ezekiel vaguely exined. "Their existence... It''s better if you ask your friends about what they are..."

    Gabriel grew silent for a moment. His thoughts were filled with confusion. He tried to understand the meaning behind these vague words.

    "You are weak..."

    While Gabriel was lost in thoughts, Ezekiel suddenly chimed in. His voice didn''t have a mocking tone. Instead, it was as if he was seriously speaking.

    "You are strongpared to an ordinary god. But if I were to fight back, you wouldn''tst ten seconds," Ezekiel further stated.

    Even Gabriel felt that. Compared to Ezekiel, he was weak. Not just weak, he was very weak. He could hold back true gods or even kill a few. However, that was nothing in the grand scheme of things.

    "I don''t know how strong that guy who sent you to the Abyss is. However, he should be much stronger than the gods you''ve faced so far. Do you think you can win against them at this rate?"

    Ezekiel was genuinely serious as he talked. He had lost everything in his life. There was nothing left for him. He lost his world. He lost his family. He lost all his emotions in the process, never to feel anything again.

    However, when he saw Gabriel, he could see some simrities between them. He didn''t want Gabriel to make the same mistakes that he did.

    He was weak when he needed it the most. He couldn''t protect anything when his family was killed in front of his eyes multiple times. He couldn''t even finish his revenge without being sealed in the Abyss! Who could know better about the value of strength than him!<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    He knew how valuable strength was in life. He knew that weak people couldn''t even control their own fate. If he had strength before his world was destroyed, maybe his fate would''ve been different.

    Since he saw his own glimpse in Gabriel, he wanted Gabriel to be stronger while there was still time! He knew how brutal this world was.

    Gabriel lowered his head. His fists clenched tightly. He knew everything was true. He knew that Ezekiel wasn''t wrong. He had also noticed it long ago.

    Back in the Upper Realm, he thought he was stronger. However, he now realized that he had only scratched the surface.

    Ezekiel slowed down, ncing back at Gabriel. The sense of realization... That feeling of weakness... This was the same emotions he felt when he was left to rot in the world after his family was killed.

    He reached out his hand, toward Gabriel''s head, lightly patting him. It was simr to how his own father used to pat him when he was little. However, he stopped his hand before touching Gabriel''s head.

    After slightly hesitating, he retracted his hand.

    He turned his back on Gabriel, and continued walking. However, after a few steps, he let out a single sentence.

    "Be ready. From tomorrow, I''ll personally be training you. I can''t have my savior be so weak..." As he finished speaking, his figure disappeared, leaving Gabriel behind.

    Gabriel raised his head, looking at the empty spot. Ezekiel was going to train him? This was surprising. Ezekiel was someone who was crazy for revenge.

    He thought he was going to chase after the gods right away, until eternity. However, instead of chasing after them, he was going to train him? It was as if Ezekiel wanted him to be there when they killed the Gods who took everything from them!

    Gabriel''s thoughts remained confused. The more he got to know Ezekiel, the less he understood the man...

    ****

    Far far away from the Realm of Gods, there existed a World at the corner of the gxy.

    The world waspletely deste with not a single de of grass growing there. However, the ground was still covered in blood. Many skeletons could be seen all around the world.

    It was as if a massacre had taken ce in the world a long long time ago.

    The Barren World had beenpletely deste with not a single person living there. However, finally after what seemed like an eternity, there was some movement.

    A portal opened in the middle of the deste world and a Demonic Figure stepped out of the portal.

    His long dark robe remained still as there was not the slightest trace of any wind. Even after so long, the stench of blood was still so eminent.

 Chapter 679 679: Misunderstanding

    Ezekiel didn''t know how long it had been since he wasst here. It was as if it was just yesterday when this world was filled with happiness andughter.

    It was as if he could still see vast cities where humans and demons lived together like Families. Such a lively ce had turned into a barrennd.

    He stood at a certain ce, looking at the ground before him. This was where his house used to be. This was where he lived with his family. However, not a single sign of it was left there.

    It was as if what he remembered was just a beautiful fleeting dream. He sat on his knees, reaching out his hand to touch the bloody soil. The soul which was bloodied by the blood of his family.

    He still remembered his parents standing before him as they were attacking. Even after being stabbed multiple times, they didn''t move. Instead, they held those people back, while asking Ezekiel to run away.

    Ezekiel followed their instructions, running through the chaos, with the sound of his family''s screams echoing in his ears. He managed to escape, but the images of that day haunted him, and he couldn''t shake off the guilt of leaving his parents behind.

    "Father, your son is back..." He muttered. A single droplet of tear trickled down his cheeks, falling on the ground. It was unclear how long it had been since hest cried.

    He sat in the same spot as a statue, unmoving. This was the ce where he had spent the happiest years of his life. This was the ce which held his lost precious as well as his scariest memories...

    ****

    Caen had convinced them other God Children to return with him to the Realm of Gods, feeling that something was wrong.

    The other Young Gods also stood up, feeling a little bit of regret that they had to return so soon. However, they could do nothing about it. They all stood up and stood behind Caen.

    Caen raised his hand to open the portal. A portal opened before him. However, seeing the portal, Caen was quite taken aback. He hadn''t opened the portal yet! This portal didn''t belong to him!

    He frowned, wondering who it was that wasing right to him. His first thought was that it was his mother who was upset anding here to bring him back.

    Seeing that, he rolled his eyes. If his mother wasing, that meant everything was fine in the Realm of Gods. He was thinking too much.

    Instead of waiting for the person from the portal toe out, he opened another portal. Since he thought that everything was fine, he decided to dy returning.

    He was a stubborn person. He also paid attention to his reputation and his image. He knew how childish he was going to appear if he was dragged back by his mother. He couldn''t return with her.

    Even if it wasn''t his mother, he felt that it was someone sent by her to bring him back. The rebellious child in his heart awakened, bing stubborn.

    He couldn''t let anyone dictate his actions, especially not someone who he believed was working on behalf of his mother.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    He was determined to prove that he could make his own choices and pave his own path. With a newfound sense of determination, he opened a new portal and disappeared inside, leaving this ce.

    Shackles came out from the portal and dragged the other young gods in as well, since he was taking them with him. He had decided to drop the idea of returning. Instead, he thought about going to another world.

    Since he had heard a lot about Earth from the other Young Gods, that was the ce he selected as his new destination...the human society which was said to have advanced a lot, despite the fact that humans there couldn''t use magic in the slightest.

    As he and the other young gods disappeared in the portal, the portal closed. However, from the other portal, a tall figure came out, shrouded with Divine Energy.

    "He left?" The red haired god scratched the back of his head. His expressions darkness with distress.

    He was sent by the Goddess of Reincarnation. However, only because she wanted him to alert her son about what had happened. She wanted to convey a single message to her son.

    "Stay away from the Realm of Gods until your uncle returns!"

    This was one of the tasks she had given the other gods before she disappeared with Ezekiel. Along with that, she also gave them the coordinates where they could find her son, since she was the one person who could locate the young prince.

    Unfortunately, by the time the red haired god reached here, Caen had already left, making it impossible for anyone to detect him.

    "Just what should I do now?" He wondered, as he frowned. He looked at the people in the room. Most of them were dead, but some women were still alive, lying on the ground. It was clear that those Young Gods had left only a short time ago.

    "Couldn''t they have waited a few minutes?" He said with frustration, punching the nearby wall.

    With a single punch, the entire wall came crashing down. But it wasn''t the only thing. In the direction he punched, all the structure and the houses were destroyed upto thousand miles.

    The women in the group were horrified. Just when they were relieved that the young gods were leaving, someone else arrived! Their faces remained pale.

    The red haired men walked closer to one of the women. An invisible energy grabbed the body of everyone who was alive, raising them in the air.

    "Which of you knows where they went?" He asked. His voice alone was so powerful that some of the people had their ears bleeding.

    Terrified, the group looked at each other in fear and confusion, knowing that they had no answers to provide. The red-haired man''s eyes narrowed with anger.

 Chapter 680 680: Threads Of Fate

    The girls didn''t know where those people went either. Feeling the sudden pressure around her throat, she found herself unable to let out a single word.

    The red haired man was already frustrated. In his anger, he wasn''t able to control his strength. Cracking sounds resounded in the room, as everyone there lost their lives in an instant from the anger of the god.

    It was only after killing everyone there, the red haired god sighed. "These useless ants. They can''t be of help..."

    "Now where should I find the Young Lord? Would he go back to the Realm of Gods? That would be a problem if he does..."

    He stepped forward and closed his eyes, sending all the auras in the room. From what he could feel, there was no spatial energy of the Realm of Gods.

    He sighed in relief, realizing that the young gods didn''t go to the realm of gods at least. They went somewhere else to y around.

    "This spatial energy is weak. Not enough for the realm of gods. So they probably went to another Lower World... But there are so many... Sigh, can''t these guys make things a little easier for me?"

    ****

    An entire day passed and Ezekiel hadn''t moved an inch. It was as if he was a frozen statue that had no life at all.

    It was only during the next day, he slowly opened his eyes. He reached out his hand, grabbing a little of the soul, keeping it safely before flying high in the sky.

    He stood far away from the world in space, looking at the spherical world in the distance that appeared to be huge yet small at the same time.

    Ezekiel''s eyes revealed quite a lot of emotions as if this was thest time he was going to be here. He wanted to memorise his world... Every small detail about it.

    "I will get you justice..." He muttered, even if it takes an eternity.

    A Spatial portal opened behind him. His body flew back, entering the portal. He disappeared, and soon the portal closed. The space once again returned to the usual calm and silence.

    ****

    Another portal opened in the Realm of Gods. Ezekiel stepped out of the portal. His Divine Sense covered the entire world as he tried to locate Gabriel. It was time for him to start Gabriel''s training.

    Soon, he noticed the young man in a certain ce, near a small pond. For some reason, Ezekiel felt that something there was affecting his Divine Sense as well. The pond remained a hazy location for his divine sense.

    His figure flickered as he disappeared, appearing next to Gabriel in the next moment.

    Gabriel was surrounded before the pond, looking at the creatures in the water. He was so distracted that at the moment, he didn''t even notice Ezekiel''s presence.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    Ezekiel stood there silently, observing Gabriel for a moment. The young man''s fascination with the creatures in the pond reminded Ezekiel of his own curiosity and innocence when he was at that age.

    However, he could also see that the creatures in the pond weren''t so simple either. Something was really strange about them. They didn''t have life force, yet they were full of vitality.

    They appeared ordinary yet special at the same time. It was as if something was really paradoxical about them. He couldn''t see through them either, which was strange. It was as if their creatures existed yet didn''t exist at the same time.

    He also grew curious as to what this thing was. However, unlike the old Rebel God, he didn''t try to touch the pond. He could feel that it was dangerous... He felt more danger than anything he ever felt before.

    "Enjoying the view, I see," Ezekiel said, his voice calm yetmanding, causing Gabriel to startle and turn around. Surprise filled Gabriel''s eyes as he recognized Ezekiel standing there.

    "You''re here!" Gabriel eximed. He had been waiting for Ezekiel to return, since today was the day they were to start training.

    He didn''t know how a mortal like Ezekiel became so strong in the first ce. He didn''t know if he was going to be just as strong or not. However, he didn''t desire to fall behind! He wanted to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ezekiel. He wanted to be stronger!

    Ezekiel nodded, his gaze shifting back to the pond.

    "Indeed, I have returned," he replied. "It seems you''ve found a rather intriguing ce. May I ask what this is?"

    Gabriel quickly moved aside, giving Ezekiel space to stand beside him. The two of them gazed at the creatures swimming in the pond, their attention focused on the vibrant colours and graceful movements.

    "These creatures," Gabriel began, his voice filled with wonder, "even I don''t know what they are. However, something is really familiar about them. I just don''t understand what."

    He had thought that Ezekiel might be able to answer what this ce was. Unfortunately, from his question, it felt as if he didn''t know either.

    Ezekiel observed the creatures with a profound look in his eyes. "These beings are connected to the essence of life and hold mysteries beyond their ordinary appearances. They possess an innate harmony with the world around them."

    Gabriel listened intently, his curiosity piqued. "Do you know what they are? And why is it that I can''t sense them clearly with my Divine Sense?"

    Ezekiel sighed softly, his gaze fixed on the enigmatic pond. "You''re not alone. I can''t sense them either. It''s as if they are the personification of the world itself... Each of the four depicts a fate that is beyond my understanding."

    "They are entities that exist in the boundary between realms, neither fully in the mortal world nor in the realm of gods. As for why you can''t sense them clearly, it is because their presence resonates with a unique energy that remains hidden from most divine senses, including mine."

    Gabriel absorbed Ezekiel''s words, his eyes reflecting a mix of fascination and curiosity. Even someone like Ezekiel couldn''t understand these.

 Chapter 681 681: The Weak And The Strong

    "Even though I can''t see through them, I get a very familiar feeling from them... The same feeling I get from you." He sat next to Gabriel, pointing at one of the four fishes which was swimming far away from the other, as if in a world of its own.

    Gabriel followed Ezekiel''s gaze and focused on the lone fish swimming in solitude. Its scales shimmered with a gentle golden hue, contrasting with the vibrant colours of the other creatures.

    It moved with a graceful elegance, creating the most chaos around it.

    "That one," Ezekiel continued, his voice tinged with a mix of wonder and uncertainty, "is different from the others. Its presence carries a weight that surpasses mere existence. It holds a connection, a thread that binds it to something far greater."

    Gabriel leaned in closer, captivated by the fish''s radiance. "What do you mean, a connection to something greater? How would it be rted to me? Is it even possible?"

    Ezekiel''s gaze remained fixed on the golden fish, his voice barely above a whisper. "I believe so. It''s as if this fish is a manifestation of destiny itself, entwined with the fates of those who possess extraordinary potential. It resonates with the essence of greatness, drawing strength from their journey."

    Gabriel''s eyes widened, a mix of curiosity and surprise coursing through his veins. "Are you saying... this fish represents me? And those like me?"

    "You mean there are three more people, whose fate goes beyond understanding?"

    Ezekiel nodded slowly. "Who knows. It''s just a feeling I''m getting. Since even I can''t see through them, I can''t be sure. However, I believe this fish embodies the path you have chosen, the trials and tribtions you will face. It is a symbol of the extraordinary destiny that lies ahead."

    "Either that, or it represents the four destinies that will be in great conflict with each other in theing time... A conflict which might destroy everything..."

    As Gabriel absorbed the weight of Ezekiel''s words, a strange feeling surged within him. Now, it seemed that his fate was intricately intertwined with the enigmatic fish.

    "Destinies that can change the world? Does this include you as well?" he asked.

    Ezekiel went silent for a little, before shaking his head. "I don''t feel anything towards me."

    Even he was curious if his assumption was correct or not. If it was correct, then who were the other three that had their fates tied?

    He didn''t know what the future held for Gabriel, but he knew that Gabriel needed to be much stronger to face what was toe. He was even more determined to train the young man.

    "I never believed in fate... If everything is rted to fate, doesn''t that mean our actions have no meaning in our life?" Gabriel asked Ezekiel.

    Ezekiel smiled softly, his gaze still fixed on the golden fish.

    "Fate and free will are intertwined, yet separate. While fate may guide us along a certain path, it is our choices, our actions, that shape the oue. Destiny presents us with opportunities, but it is up to us to seize them and forge our own paths."<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    He paused for a moment, contemting his next words. "I believe that each individual possesses the power to create their own destiny. It is the culmination of their efforts, their determination, and their unwavering spirit. Fate may set the stage, but it is our choices that determine the final act."

    Gabriel pondered Ezekiel''s words, his gaze shifting between the fish and his mentor. He had always believed in the power of his choices, but the concept of destiny and its connection to the fish fascinated him.

    "So, you''re saying that while this fish may represent my destiny, it doesn''t determine everything? I still have the ability to shape my own future?" Gabriel asked, seeking reassurance.

    Ezekiel nodded, his expression filled with encouragement. "Exactly. You hold the power to shape your own future, Gabriel. Embrace the challenges that lie ahead, learn from them, and let them fuel your growth."

    "Destiny is not a fixed path but rather a journey full of possibilities. However, you can only write your own fate if you have the strength to bend fate itself."

    "While the weak are used by fate, the strong bend fate to their will. Without strength... You should know how cruel fate can be."

    Gabriel''s eyes shimmered as he absorbed Ezekiel''s words. The weight of responsibility and the vastness of possibilitiesid out before him both excited and daunted him. However, he was ready to embrace this new understanding and harness it to be stronger.

    "Thank you," Gabriel said sincerely. "I''ll do everything in my power to make sure that I don''t lose anything ever again... I will protect what''s mine...I will mould this world into a ce where no one can take anyone from me again..."

    Ezekiel ced a hand on Gabriel''s shoulder, a gesture filled with support. "Words themselves hold no power. Come, and prove your resolve with actions. Your training will start now."

    Ezekiel stood up, casually making a gesture. A dark portal opened up before him, that connected straight to the Abyss.

    "I''ve selected a ce for your training... The next time we return, hopefully you will be apletely different person."

    Gabriel stood up, looking at the portal from where the Abyssal Energy was sleeping non stop, conflicting with the Divine Energy of the Divine Realm.

    The two energies werepletely opposite yet they seemed to be heavily rted.

    The world around them seemed to fade into the background and the intricate bnce between fate and free will started tilting without them realizing.

    Little did they know that their journey together would take them to ces they never imagined, unveiling the depths of their powers, and challenging their beliefs about the nature of destiny itself.

    But with his unwavering resolve, Gabriel was prepared to face whatevery ahead, ready to shape their destinies and make asting impact on the world.

 Chapter 682 682: Back In Abyss

    As Gabriel took his first step into the dark portal, a surge of anticipation coursed through his veins.

    He knew that the path ahead would be arduous, filled with trials that would test his limits and push him to the edge. Yet, he was unyielding in his resolve to be stronger, to protect those he cared about, and to unravel the mysteries thaty before him.

    He knew that there was no better person to train him than Ezekiel, who was the strongest person he had met.

    The moment Gabriel stepped out of the portal, he found himself in a destendscape, surrounded by towering mountains and a barren wastnd stretching as far as the eye could see.

    The air was heavy with a palpable sense of darkness and danger. It was the Abyss, a realm teeming with chaotic energies and formidable creatures, yet it was different from what he had seenst time.

    Last time he was here, he only saw the endless dark space, never realizing that there could be a ce like this in the Abyss as well.

    Ezekiel, appearing beside Gabriel, spoke in a solemn tone, "Wee backto the Abyss, the realm of darkness and untamed power. Remember, I won''t go easy on you."

    Gabriel nodded, his gaze filled with determination. He knew that his journey in the Abyss would be more than just physical training¡ªit would test his mental fortitude, his willpower, and his ability to resist the temptations of the darkness. To be stronger, he had to surpass his limit in every way possible.

    Ezekiel continued, "The first lesson you must learn is to control the Abyssal Energy that surrounds us. It is a vtile force, but with the right guidance, you can harness its power and wield it as your own."

    "This is almost impossible for gods since their Divinity conflicts with the Abyssal Energy. However, your body is different. It''s already merged with Abyssal Energy, making it easier for you."

    With that, Ezekiel stepped forward, his body enveloped in a dark aura. He extended his hand, and from it, a sphere of pure light materialized.

    As the sphere floated before him, it emitted a radiant glow that pushed back the darkness, creating a small pocket of illumination.

    "You can use Light?" Gabriel asked in surprise.

    Ezekiel shook his head in response. "This isn''t light. This is the element of the abyss..."

    He further exined. "It is more versatile than you can ever imagine. Once you master the Abyss, how much strength you can draw depends entirely on your understanding."

    "Watch closely," Ezekiel instructed, his voice resonating with authority. "This is the Energy that the gods call evil, the essence of the Abyss. It is a force of Chaos and destruction, in stark contrast to the pure divine energy that the gods are more ustomed with."

    As Gabriel observed the sphere, he felt a profound sense of familiarity emanating from it. It was a stark contrast to the overwhelming darkness that surrounded them. He focused his attention, trying to understand the nature of this energy.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "Now, Gabriel," Ezekiel said, his voice calm yetmanding, "I want you to extend your hand towards thisEnergy. Feel its presence and try to connect with it."

    Gabriel hesitated for a moment, but then he extended his hand, reaching out towards the sphere of Light. As his fingertips brushed against the radiant surface, a surge of warmth and power surged through him, electrifying his senses.

    A spark of realization ignited within Gabriel''s mind. He understood that the Energy was not just an external force¡ªit was an extension of himself.

    It was a reflection of his own darkness that had taken the shape of light. It was as if the Darkness was just impersonating the Light, albeit to perfection.

    He could perfectly feel the warmth that a me should possess, even though it was more like an imitation.

    Ezekiel nodded, seeing the flicker of understanding in Gabriel''s eyes. "Good. Now, I want you to do the same with this Energy. This is the most basic step. Feel its chaotic nature, its raw power, and try to establish a connection."

    Ezekiel created another sphere with his Abyssal Energy, but this time, it wasn''t imitating anything. It was the purest and most raw essence of the Abyssal Energy.

    Gabriel withdrew his hand from the Light Energy Sphere and turned his attention towards the surrounding darkness. The Dark Abyssal Energy was different¡ªit pulsed with an untamed ferocity, threatening to consume everything in its path.

    Gabriel was undeterred. He reached out, cautiously, and as his hand came into contact with the Dark Abyssal Energy, a surge of darkness coursed through his veins.

    He felt an innate connection with this chaotic force. It resonated with his deepest desires, his inner conflicts, and his determination to ovee the darkness that threatened to consume him.

    In that moment, he realized that the Abyssal Energy was not something to be feared, but something to be understood and controlled. It was dangerous for others, but for him, this was an opportunity! This was an opportunity to gain an advantage over the gods, and cover the distance between the two.

    Ezekiel''s eyes gleamed with satisfaction as he witnessed Gabriel''s progress. "You have the power within you, Gabriel. The power to wield both light and darkness, to navigate the delicate bnce between order and chaos. Remember, it is not the energy itself that defines us, but how we choose to harness and utilize it."

    "If you can control the Abyssal Energy like I can, you can establish a bridge between light and darkness... A bridge between the Divine and the Abyss. It isn''t an easy path, and you might die if you try to force your want through. But if you seed, the end of this will be very rewarding."

    As Gabriel absorbed Ezekiel''s words, a newfound sense of purpose welled up within him. He had embarked on this journey to be stronger, not only to protect those he held dear but also to find his own ce in the world.

    He realized that destiny might be a guiding force, but it was his choices, his actions, that would shape his future. This strength was what he needed! This strength was what he wanted! Even if there was only a small chance of sess, he was still going to take that!

 Chapter 683 683: Heart Of Abyss

    With renewed determination, Gabriel turned his gaze towards the vast expanse of the Abyss. He knew that his training had just begun, and that he had much to learn and ovee. But he was ready to face the challenges ahead, armed with the teachings of Ezekiel and the unwavering resolve burning within his heart.

    After Ezekiel taught Gabriel the basics of the Abyss, imparting his own understanding to the young man, two days passed in the Abyss.

    It was only after he finished teaching the basics, he decided to go deeper in the Abyss. This was just the start.

    Together, Ezekiel and Gabriel ventured deeper into the Abyss, their steps echoing through the darkness. They were on a path of self-discovery, a journey that would unravel the mysteries of destiny and lead them to confront their own inner demons.

    Little did they know that their actions would send ripples throughout the realms, and that their destinies were intricately entwined with the fate of not just their world but the entire cosmos.

    The stage was set, and Gabriel, guided by his mentor''s knowledge and his own indomitable spirit, was prepared to embrace his extraordinary destiny and shape the future that awaited him.

    As Gabriel and Ezekiel delved further into the Abyss, the challenges they faced grew more treacherous. The very fabric of the realm seemed to conspire against them, twisting and warping with every step they took.

    Malevolent creatures lurked in the shadows, drawn to the presence of two beings so intrinsically tied to both light and darkness.

    Ezekiel guided Gabriel with unwavering determination, imparting knowledge and honing his skills. They practiced intricatebat techniques, blending the fluidity of divine grace with the raw power of the Abyss.

    Gabriel learned to harness the energies within him, unleashing devastating attacks that shook the foundations of the realm.

    Yet, it was not only physical trials that tested Gabriel''s mettle. The Abyss had a way of probing his mind, exposing his deepest fears and insecurities.

    In moments of solitude, Gabriel faced manifestations of his own doubts and regrets, struggling to ovee the weight of his past mistakes.

    Fortunately, Ezekiel was there, a beacon of guidance, reminding him that true strengthy in controlling their fears, not allowing them to define him.

    As their journey progressed, Gabriel''s understanding of the Abyss grew deeper. He began to discern patterns within its chaotic nature, recognizing the ebb and flow of its energies.

    He discovered that the realm was not simply a ce of darkness but a realm of unbridled potential, where one could forge their own destiny.

    One fateful night, as they stood on the precipice of a looming chasm, Ezekiel turned to Gabriel, his eyes shining with wisdom.

    "Gabriel," he said, his voice carrying a weight of significance, "your first year lies ahead. We stand on the threshold of the Heart of the Abyss'' Outer Zone, the epicenter of its power. It is a ce of immense danger. You might not return alive. Are you prepared to face what lies within?"<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    Gabriel nodded, his resolve unshakable. "I am prepared. I won''t let fears define me..."

    With a solemn smile, Ezekiel ced a hand on Gabriel''s shoulder. "Remember, the journey within can be as treacherous as the path without. The Abyss reflects our own inner struggles, and conquering them is the true key to unlocking our potential. Trust in yourself, and trust in the lessons you''ve learned. You havee far, but the true test begins now."

    "If you fail, then I will stop your training right here, and take you back... But after that, I will never train you again."

    Taking a deep breath, Gabriel stepped forward, his feet carrying him into the inky darkness of the chasm. "I have no intention of failing."

    As he descended deeper into the Heart of the Abyss, the air grew heavy with an otherworldly power. Whispers echoed through the void, reverberating with secrets and ancient knowledge.

    Within the depths of the chasm, Gabriel encountered trials that pushed him to his limits. He confronted his deepest fears, confronted the darkest corners of his soul. With each challenge he faced, Gabriel grew stronger, his spirit tempered like steel.

    Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months as Gabriel delved further into the Heart of the Abyss.

    Finally, at the culmination of his arduous journey, he reached a chamber bathed in an ethereal glow. In its center, a pulsating crystal suspended in mid-air emanated a harmonious blend of divine and chaotic energies. It was a strange yet unfamiliar crystal, quite simr to what Janus had found.

    Approaching the crystal with a mixture of curiosity, Gabriel extended his hand, feeling a surge of power resonate within him.

    As his fingertips brushed against the crystal''s surface, visions shed before his eyes¡ªvisions of something unfamiliar. He couldn''t see clearly. It was as if somepletely unrted scenes shed through his eyes.

    It felt like a hallucination, or an illusion, more than a vision.

    In that moment, Gabriel grew even more taken aback. The scenes he saw were quite iprehensible and far from reality. They all shed so fast that his mind didn''t even have time to register all of them.

    There was only one image that he was barely able to see. In those scenes, he saw him raising his sword against Karyk. It was a scene that briefly shed before his eyes, and he could barely even see it.

    Gabriel frowned, looking at the crystal in his hand in confusion. Just what was this thing? Was this another trick of the abyss like all those illusions he faced along the way in this trial? He was unclear. He just kept the crystal safely to ask Ezekiel about it.

    Afterpletinghis task and gaining a newfound understanding about the Abyssal Energy, Gabriel emerged from the Heart of the Abyss, his presence radiating a newfound aura of power.

    The trials he had faced had transformed him, sculpting him into a formidable force, ready to face whatever challengesy ahead. However, he was still far away from his goal.

 Chapter 684 684: Heart Of The Dragon

    Ezekiel stood waiting, his eyes calm without a trace of emotional ripples, watching Gabriel return.

    He could see the changes in the young man before him, albeit still not at the level that he would''ve been satisfied with. So far, he had only focused on the basics and letting Gabriel be familiar with the power by increasing his understanding through practice.

    Unfortunately, even he knew that just that alone wasn''t enough for Gabriel to surpass the limits. Understanding the Abyss was absolutely necessary, but there was one thing that was even more important... It was the power within...

    So far, Gabriel had managed to learn how to use the Abyssal Element from his surroundings.

    He could withdraw the purest elemental energy of Abyss, and use it for his advantage. However, there was way more that he needed. And most absolute amongst them was to create an Abyssal Core within him, that could store and create the element without limits.

    Everything that he had taught Gabriel so far, was all for the preparation of this.

    "I fou-"

    "You''ve surpassed my expectations. I thought it would take longer for you to return..."

    Gabriel tried speaking about the strange crystal, but Ezekiel cut him off.

    "However this was just the first step... Now we move onto the second step of your evolution..."

    Gabriel could only nod in response. He could also feel that he had gotten stronger, but this was not even close to the level he wanted to be at. The training had a long way to go.

    "What is the second step?" he asked, only to have Ezekiel point towards his chest where his heart was supposed to be.

    "The Source of Power... Heart." Ezekiel stated. "What happens next isn''t for you to do, but for me to finish since you aren''t strong enough to get it yourself."

    "The Heart?" Gabriel frowned, looking at his chest. He had no heartbeat. He had no heart at all, since his heart was pulled out and crushed. In fact he didn''t even know how he was still alive without a heart, so he didn''t understand what Ezekiel was talking about.

    "You will understand very soon."

    Ezekiel told Gabriel to follow him, and entered the Inner Zone of the Abyss, which was even more vast than the Outer Zone.

    To Gabriel''s surprise, Ezekiel didn''t stop there at all, and kept going further and further at a speed that was faster than Teleportation. Even Gabriel wasn''t able to keep up with him. Fortunately, Ezekiel helped Gabriel to stay closer.

    Along the way, they saw many Beasts of Abyss that were stronger than the Beasts of the Outer Zone, but Ezekiel killed them at sight, not letting anyone slow him down.

    As they traveled deeper into the Inner Zone, the air grew thicker and more stifling, causing Gabriel to struggle to catch his breath. Even with his familiarity with the Abyss, this was too much for him.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    Despite the challenging conditions, Ezekiel seemed unaffected entirely.

    "Where are we going?" Gabriel asked Ezekiel, wondering just how far was their destination. There seemed no end in sight, even though they''d been traveling for days.

    "The Center of the Abyss... To get a heart for you," Ezekiel responded vaguely, but didn''t continue. It was as if he expected Gabriel to understand from just that much information.

    "To get me a Heart?" Gabriel frowned in confusion. His heart was already destroyed. How could it be at the Center of the Abyss?

    "The Heart of the Abyssal Dragon... Like other Dragons, they are born with affinity for their surroundings. A human heart or a god''s heart can never have the same level of affinity with the Abyss as the heart of a Dragon, who are best at it," Ezekiel exined.

    "That''s why, we are going to get the heart for you... We are going to hunt the Dragon of the Abyss."

    "Isn''t that... Too big for my body?" Gabriel asked, taken aback. Dragons were giant species. Their heart alone was hundreds of feet tall. How could a Dragon''s heart fit inside him?

    "Leave that to me," Ezekiel calmly responded, as if he didn''t want to bother with exining. "Just know that it''s a good thing that you don''t have a heart yet. The process will be much simpler. If you had a heart, I''d have to rip it out to rece it, which would''ve been much more painful."

    "So even though Caen didn''t want to, you can say that it''s a blessing in disguise for you. And we''re going to take advantage of those blessings..." He further added, surprising Gabriel even more.

    Gabriel was white taken aback. Just what was he? He had the Skeleton of a True God of Laws. He had the Bloodline of True God of Thunder, he had the blood of Karyk, and now he was going to have the heart of the Dragon of Abyss?

    Just one of those things alone was enough to shake the world, let alone all of them in the same person.

    Ezekiel continued leading Gabriel deeper into the Inner Zone of the Abyss, their surroundings growing more treacherous and ominous with each step.

    The air crackled with vtile energy, and the ground beneath their feet trembled as if in anticipation of their arrival. Gabriel couldn''t help but feel a mixture of intrigue and unease, unsure of what awaited them at the center of the Abyss.

    He had never seen a Dragon in his life. However, he knew that Dragons were said to beparable to Gods, if but stronger. The Dragon of the Abyss could''ve been ssified as one of the Strongest Dragon Species since they were born and lived in this brutal environment.

    It was said that even in the Abyss, there were only less than ten Abyssal Dragons, all at the top of hierarchy v

    As they journeyed through the heart of the Abyss, the oppressive atmosphere began to weigh heavily on Gabriel. It felt as if invisible hands were pressing against his chest, making it harder to breathe.

    His vision blurred at times, and the whispers of malevolent forces echoed in his ears. But he pressed on, determined to ovee any obstacle in his path.

    Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they reached the Central Area of Abyss, bathed in a pulsating purple light.

 Chapter 685 685: The Dragon Of Abyss

    The Central Area of the Abyss was ten times the size of the outer zone and inner zonebined, to the extent that traveling from one end to another would''ve taken a month even for Ezekiel.

    Fortunately, they didn''t have to wait for long as they found the first Dragon of the Abyss.

    In the distance, towering above them, was a colossal creature¡ªthe Abyssal Dragon. Its scales shimmered with an iridescent glow, reflecting the chaotic energy of the Abyss itself. Its eyes glowed with an otherworldly intensity, seemingly aware of Ezekiel and Gabriel''s presence.

    "This is the Abyssal Dragon. Although it''s not the strongest species in the Abyss, when ites to affinity with the element, no species can beat them," Ezekiel spoke with a calm tone, his voice barely audible above the dragon''s low rumble.

    "Its heart holds immense affinity with the Abyss, and by obtaining it, you will gain the same."

    Gabriel couldn''t tear his gaze away from the majestic creature before him. The sheer size and power emanating from the Abyssal Dragon were awe-inspiring.

    He wondered how such a heart could possibly fit within his own body, but he trusted Ezekiel''s guidance. After all, Ezekiel had brought him this far, guiding him in the path to bing stronger.

    With a wave of Ezekiel''s hand, a surge of energy enveloped Gabriel, shielding him from the suffocating atmosphere. "Don''t step out of the shield. You might die. Let me handle the battle."

    He stepped forward, his eyes locked onto the Abyssal Dragon.

    In the vast expanse of space, a celestial battle of unimaginable power was about to take ce.

    Ezekiel, a being of immense strength, stood before the Dragon of Abyss. Even Gabriel could feel that the Dragon of Abyss was strong and terrifying. He wasn''t weaker than Ezekiel at all.

    At the moment, before Gabriel were two of the strongest beings he had seen so far.

    This monstrous creature wielded the true power of Abyss thanks to its affinity with its surroundings. On the other hand, Ezekiel also had his own control over the Element of Abyss that he had honed throughout the long years.

    Ezekiel, adorned in dark armor that gleamed with ethereal light, summoned his pitchck sword, its de shining with a terrifying glow.

    Gabriel had never seen Ezekiel use this sword before, but he could feel the aura of this Sword. It was as if this Sword could slice through multiple worlds at the same time.

    Ezekiel stood tall and became the Dragon of Abyss, not even trying to hide his presence since he knew that the Dragon had already sensed him. The only reason the Dragon didn''t attack was because it felt that the person before him wasn''t strong enough to face him.

    However, as soon as Ezekiel brought out his Sword, even the Dragon felt a sense of unease, as if the person before him wasn''t as simple as he thought.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    The Dragon''s dark scales reflected no light, and its eyes glowed with a sinister red hue, radiating pure malevolence.

    The Dragon could feel the killing intent of the person before him. He let out a roar, as if warning the man before him against disrupting its rest. However, Ezekiel had no intention of listening.

    As the battlemenced, Ezekiel charged forward with blinding speed, his sword shing through the void of space. But the Dragon was no ordinary foe. It unleashed waves of darkness that swirled around Ezekiel, attempting to ensnare him within its clutches.

    The darknessshed out, its tendrils coiling around Ezekiel, threatening to suffocate his divine essence.

    Undeterred, Ezekiel used his own ability, conjuring dark beams of light to counter the encroaching darkness. He countered Abyss with Abyss.

    To Gabriel''s surprise, Ezekiel''s affinity with the Abyss was no weaker than the Dragon. It made him wonder if Ezekiel also had the heart of an Abyssal Dragon. Was it one of the reasons he was strong and survived for so long!

    He didn''t understand how that was possible though. He had Ezekiel to help him kill the Dragon to get the heart for him. But who helped Ezekiel? He was sure that Ezekiel at the start wasn''t strong enough to kill a Dragon to get its heart. He was just a demon who could be trampled by the weakest gods.

    He had always wondered how Ezekiel gained this much strength. It was always shrouded in mystery since Ezekiel didn''t talk about it. But Gabriel was starting to feel that this wasn''t as simple as he thought.

    The sh of Ezekiel and the Dragon sent shockwaves rippling through space, creating celestial explosions that illuminated the battleground. Yet, the Dragon''s mastery over Abyss seemed insurmountable. Its powers intensified, engulfing Ezekiel in a shroud of imprable shadows.

    It was as if Ezekiel''s skin was being cut a thousand times every moment.

    Ezekiel fought valiantly against the all-consuming darkness of the Dragon. Even though they both used the Abyss to fight, they couldn''t control the other''s territory or domain. Both of their attacks were marked by them, which made it impossible for others to control them.

    Ezekiel invoked ancient incantations, calling upon a strange force. This was also Gabriel''s first time. He couldn''t understand a single word of those incantations but what happened next stunned him.

    A surge of divine energy coursed through Ezekiel''s veins, dispelling the encroaching darkness and restoring his vision. He unleashed a barrage of holy projectiles at the Dragon, piercing its scaled hide with beams of pure light.

    Just like the Abyssal Energy was the biggest threat to the Gods, the Divine Energy was also quite useful against the creatures of Abyss. Gabriel just couldn''t understand how Ezekiel was able to use Divine Energy as well.

    It appeared more than just using it. He could feel that Ezekiel was in a bad condition. It was as if he was also being harmed by the Divine Energy that he had summoned, like it was a poison that his body couldn''t amodate.

 Chapter 686 686: Right Moment

    Ezekiel was using a power that he shouldn''t have been able to use, especially since he was a Demon. However, he still used it. It was as if he was willing to harm himself in return for harming the Abyssal Dragon even more.

    He dealt twice the damage on the Abyssal Dragon than he took himself.

    But the Dragon was far from defeated. It bellowed a deafening roar that shook the very fabric of space, summoning forth a maelstrom of shadowy tendrils.

    They coiled around Ezekiel, constricting his movements and draining the divine energy.

    Gabriel watched the intense struggle between Ezekiel and the Abyssal Dragon. He knew that his mentor was pushing himself to the limit, using powers that should have been beyond his reach. It was a risky move, but Ezekiel was determined to obtain the Dragon''s heart for Gabriel.

    Gabriel couldn''t help but feel as if he needed to do something to aid Ezekiel. He couldn''t just stand there and watch Ezekiel suffer.

    Drawing upon the knowledge he had acquired and the limited control he had over the Abyssal Element, Gabriel channeled his energy into a focused beam of pure Abyssal power.

    The beam surged towards the Dragon, intertwining with the shadows that enveloped Ezekiel. Thebined force created a powerful explosion, momentarily dispersing the darkness and giving Ezekiel an opportunity to break free.

    However, thanks to him attacking, the protective barrier that Ezekiel had cast around him also broke apart, bringing him right under the gaze of the Abyssal Dragon.

    A terrifying pressure descended upon him. It was just an instant, but Gabriel felt as if he was being crushed by a mountain. It was a feeling that he hadn''t felt before. The pressure alone made blood trickle out of his nose.

    Ezekiel''s eyes met Gabriel''s for a fleeting moment. He appeared somewhat taken aback that Gabriel had ignored his instructions to help him. However, watching Gabriel suffer, he couldn''t stay angry. He knew that the young man did it for him, even after knowing what kind of danger it could attract to him.

    Gabriel''s expression hardened, determination burning in his eyes as he pushed through the pain. His figure rushed through the empty space, appearing before Gabriel.

    "You are so stubborn. Do you realize you could''ve been crushed to death in an instant by its pressure?"

    He raised his hand, casting another barrier around Gabriel. However, this time he didn''t leave it to the barrier. The Abyssal Dragon had already noticed Gabriel.

    He lightly tapped the barrier, casting anotheryer of protection to protect Gabriel from being hurt.

    It was only after making sure that Gabriel was safe, he turned to the Abyssal Dragon.

    "I don''t need your help. So stay out of my way." His cold voice fell in Gabriel''s ears.

    With a surge of power, Ezekiel got back to the battle. He unleashed a devastating attack on the Abyssal Dragon, redirecting its attention away from Gabriel.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    The battle intensified as Ezekiel and the Dragon exchanged blow after blow, their powers colliding in an explosive sh. Gabriel watched with great interest as his mentor fought with unwavering resolve, refusing to yield to the overwhelming might of the Dragon.

    He observed every single thing carefully, as if trying to learn Ezekiel''s fighting style since he was going to have the same ability. Ezekiel was his goal, but he wasn''t the destination.

    He wanted to reach Ezekiel''s level, and even surpass him!

    With time, the wounds on the Abyssal Dragon''s body increased. Roar of the Abyssal Dragon spread far and wide, making the other Abyssal Creatures in the surroundings tremble.

    Its attacks grew fiercer, its immense power threatening to overwhelm them both. But with each passing moment, Gabriel could feel the energy within Ezekiel resonating with the Abyss, strengthening his connection to the element.

    At the same time, he could also feel that his understanding and control of the Abyssal Element were growing exponentially, fueled by the knowledge he gained from watching the two powerful beings fight.

    As the battle raged on, Gabriel''s mind raced, processing the intricate details of the fight. He couldn''t help but imagine how the battle would''ve progressed if he was fighting the Abyssal Dragon.

    Since he couldn''t use brutal strength like Ezekiel, he could only try other methods if he was in that ce. He realized that he needed to find a way to exploit the Abyssal Dragon''s weaknesses, to find a w in its imprable defense.

    Drawing upon his newfound connection to the Abyssal Element, Gabriel focused his mind on deciphering the Dragon''s patterns and vulnerabilities. With each strike, each dodge, he studied the Dragon''s movements, its weak points, and the way it channeled its immense power.

    Suddenly, a realization struck him like a bolt of lightning. The Dragon''s attacks followed a distinct rhythm, a pattern that could be exploited. With this newfound knowledge, Gabriel devised a n, his mind calcting the precise moment to strike.

    Since Ezekiel was fighting, he couldn''t observe such minute details, but from a third person''s perspective, Gabriel was able to notice.

    As Ezekiel engaged the Dragon in a fierce close-quarterbat, Gabriel positioned himself strategically, waiting for the perfect opportunity.

    He felt the Abyssal Element coursing through his veins, empowering him with dark energy and lending him strength beyond his mortal limits.

    He knew that Ezekiel was going to scold him again if he interfered. However, he couldn''t sit idle. If the fight progressed like it did, Ezekiel was going to win, but it was going to take at least an hour more.

    Even if Ezekiel won, he would''ve been hurt a lot. Gabriel didn''t want the battle to drag on if he could help it. He was willing to be scolded if that''s what it took.

    In fact, he even thought about informing Ezekiel about this, but the Dragon was also a powerful being. The moment it realized that its weakness was discovered, it was going to be harder to take advantage of it!

    Time seemed to slow as the Dragon prepared for a devastating attack. Its massive maw opened wide, gathering energy for a destructive breath of shadowy mes. It was the perfect moment to strike.

 Chapter 687 687: Interference

    Gabriel focused his energy, summoning the Abyssal Element into a concentrated ball of darkness in his hands, and waited for the right moment. In his mind, a count was going on.

    "Zero." With a calm voice, he finally reacted as the count reached the end and at the right moment.

    With a swift motion, he hurled the sphere towards the Dragon''s vulnerable underbelly, aiming for a critical hit. The barrier around him cast by Ezekiel broke once again, making the pressure descend again, which made Gabriel cough out ck blood.

    The sphere collided with the Dragon''s exposed flesh, exploding upon impact. Dark tendrils spread throughout its body, disrupting its concentration and causing the fiery breath to dissipate harmlessly into the void.

    Ezekiel seized the opportunity, capitalizing on the Dragon''s momentary weakness. He unleashed a flurry of devastating blows, channeling his powers with unmatched precision. The Abyssal Dragon recoiled, its immense form quivering under the assault.

    Gabriel watched with awe as Ezekiel''s mastery over his powers reached its pinnacle. It was a sight to behold, a testament to his strength.

    Inspired by Ezekiel''s prowess, Gabriel''s resolve solidified. He wiped the blood off his lips, fiercely resisting the pressure that made his bones feel as if they were going to crack. He knew that to be as powerful as Ezekiel, he had to push his own limits further.

    The battle between Ezekiel and the Abyssal Dragon raged on, the sh of power echoing through the ethereal ne. Gabriel remained at the ready, prepared to lend his aid whenever needed. However, since the Abyssal Dragon was seriously harmed, it was clear that the battle wasing to an end.

    As the fight entered its final stages, Ezekiel summoned a surge of immense energy, channeling it into a single, focused attack. The force of his strike pierced through the Dragon''s defenses, piercing its chest with a burst of divine power.

    Ezekiel made sure to avoid the heart of the Abyssal Dragon, since that was what they were after.

    The Abyssal Dragon let out a resounding cry, its body convulsing in agony. It thrashed and writhed, its strength diminishing with each passing second.

    Sensing the Dragon''s imminent defeat, Gabriel surged forward, joining Ezekiel in a final onught. Theirbined powers enveloped the wounded beast, tearing through its remaining defenses and delivering the decisive blow.

    With a shuddering roar, the Abyssal Dragon finally died, its essence dissipating into the void. Its lifeless body floated in the endless space. The battle was won, but the toll it took on Ezekiel and Gabriel was evident.

    Ezekiel was even more hurt, but Gabriel was also bleeding from his nose and ears.

    They stood amidst the aftermath of the fierce sh, panting heavily as they caught their breath. Gabriel looked at Ezekiel, a newfound respect and admiration gleaming in his eyes.

    However, Ezekiel appeared quite furious. He lightly tapped on the back of Gabriel, "You never listen, do you? Why are you trying to throw your life away even after my warning?"<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    Gabriel winced at the tap on his back, but he couldn''t help but smile.

    "I couldn''t just stand by and watch you fight alone, knowing the risks involved," he replied, his voice filled with calmness. "I want to be of help, even if that means taking risks and pushing past the limits. Isn''t that what the entire goal was? To surpass the limits by taking risks?"

    Ezekiel''s anger softened, reced by a strange gaze. In the end, he could only shake his head.

    "You''re stubborn, just like my old man used to be," he muttered, a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "But I can see that you''re growing. Your instincts, your observations during the battle... they were impressive."

    Gabriel''s smile widened. To hear praise from Ezekiel. Fortunately, the man wasn''t too angry.

    Ezekiel''s expression turned serious once more as he put a hand on Gabriel''s shoulder. "You have great potential. Just remember, you must always be cautious and make wise choices. I won''t always be there to protect you. You don''t have to be that hasty."

    Gabriel nodded, his eyes reflecting on his actions. Even though he still believed that he was right, he also understood that it could''ve been risky.

    Ezekiel flew toward the floating corpse of the Giant Dragon in the distance. It was time to take what he came here for.

    Using his Sword, he made a cut in the chest of the Dragon''s Giant Body. A fierce aura of abyss rushed out, which wasn''t weaker from the Dragon''s aura. It was the aura of the Dragon''s heart. Even though the Dragon was killed, his heart was still alive.

    Ezekiel carefully extracted the pulsating heart from the Dragon''s chest, marveling at its sheer size and power. Gripping it tightly, he knew that possessing such a precious relic woulde at a great cost, yet the potential rewards outweighed the risks in his mind.

    The heart was huge. It was at least a hundred feet tall, and just as wide. Every time the heart pulsated, it felt a terrifying wave in the surroundings.

    For the time being, Ezekiel kept the heart in a temporary space that only he had control of. The aura of the heart was powerful enough to bring a lot of unwanted attention.

    Usually, most beings in the Abyss didn''t care about battles. However, with the aura of the heart, it was clear that their greed was going to surpass anything. They were going to be taken over by instincts, which he didn''t want to face, especially since it was the core of the Abyss.

    It was much better to use it in the Outer Zone since the weak beings there weren''t going to dare approach the heart, even after knowing how valuable it was. And even if they tried, they were going to be annihted.

    Therefore, the decision was made to relocate the heart, transporting it to a secluded area in the Outer Zone where it would be protected from both the power-hungry beings of the Abyss and the clueless ones in the lower realms.

 Chapter 688 688: Drawing Near

    Gabriel''s body floated in the empty space. His eyes remained close and his breathing stable, as if he waspletely unconscious. Even he didn''t realize what happened, when he suddenly started feeling sleepy.

    Fortunately, Ezekiel informed him that it was his doing, since he was about to start transntation of the heart, for which Gabriel had to be unconscious.

    Next to unconscious Gabriel was Ezekiel, looking at the young man before him. Everything was ready for him.

    He raised his right hand, drawing forth the giant heart of the Abyssal Dragon.

    The aura of the heart spread far and wide in the Outer Zone. Unfortunately, all the Abyssal Beings were weak in the outer zone. Just the aura of the heart alone was almost crushing them.

    They didn''t dare to get closer to where the aura wasing from, feeling as if they were going to be crushed by this aura if they even tried.

    A dark energy came out of Ezekiel, which slowly surrounded the mountainous heart of the Dragon. Once the heart waspletely covered, it started shrinking slowly. It was as if the space and timews were beyond used to manipte the size of the giant heart.

    As Ezekiel channeled his power, the heart of the Abyssal Dragon began to undergo a mysterious transformation. The dark energy surrounding it intensified, pulsating with an otherworldly rhythm. As it shrank, the heart emitted a haunting hum, resonating with the very fabric of the Outer Zone of Abyss.

    As the heart decreased in size, Gabriel''s body reacted to the changes in the environment. He seemed to be attuned to the heart''s essence, even in his unconscious state. His brow furrowed slightly, sensing the immense power converging around him.

    Ezekiel watched over him, not rxing even a little, knowing that the sess of the transnt was crucial for both Gabriel and his future growth.

    With every passing moment, the heart grew smaller, and its aura became more focused and potent. The dark energy that enveloped it shimmered with a myriad of colors, reflecting the diverse energies within the heart itself.

    It was a mesmerizing sight, one that could captivate even the most seasoned beings in the Outer Zone, had they dared toe close.

    As the heart reached an optimal size, Ezekiel carefully extended his hands, positioning the pulsating organ above Gabriel''s chest.

    The young man''s body responded subconsciously to the heart''s proximity, as if it recognized the presence of a long-lost kin. Though still unconscious, Gabriel''s breathing became more synchronized with the heart''s pulsations.

    With utmost precision, Ezekiel began the transntation process. His movements were fluid, almost dance-like, as he aligned the heart''s arteries with Gabriel''s own, connecting them seamlessly.

    The moment the heart made contact with Gabriel''s chest, a surge of energy coursed through his body, and his heart rate increased, as if awakening from a deep slumber.

    Ezekiel''s eyes glowed with a soft ethereal light as he continued to guide the heart''s integration into Gabriel''s being. The heart, once belonging to the mighty Abyssal Dragon, now merged with the young man''s essence, epting him as its new host. It was a delicate bnce, a dance between two souls bing one, facilitated by Ezekiel''s skill and the mysterious forces at y in the Outer Zone.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    The aura surrounding them intensified even further as the transntation progressed, causing tremors in the surroundingndscape.

    The Abyssal Beings, initially wary of the heart''s power, could now sense that the heart was bonding with someone, changing its rhythm. The aura of the heart also started subsiding. Their fear subsided, reced by a mix of awe and curiosity as they wondered if they should check themselves.

    Many Abyssal Beings instinctively flew in the direction now that the suppressing aura had weakened.

    As Ezekielpleted the final stages of the transntation, the heart settled securely within Gabriel''s chest. A profound stillness spread through the Outer Zone, and the dark energy that had once surrounded the heart dissipated, as if it never really existed.

    The heartbeat of the Abyssal Dragon now resided within Gabriel, and a new bond was forged between the young man and the enigmatic realm he had dared to explore.

    With the procedureplete, Ezekiel leaned back, wiping the sweat from his brow. He observed Gabriel''s peaceful countenance, reassured by the steady rise and fall of his chest.

    The transntation had been a sess, but the true testy ahead¡ªhow Gabriel''s body and soul would adapt to the heart of an ancient and powerful being.

    Sighing, Ezekiel looked toward a particr direction. "The promised time is drawing to an end..."

    ****

    Time seemed to slow as Gabriel''s consciousness started to awaken. His eyelids fluttered, and the young man''s eyes opened to reveal a gaze that held a glimmer of something more profound¡ªa connection to the Abyssal Dragon''s memories and knowledge.

    "Ezekiel," Gabriel whispered, his voice echoing with newfound depth.

    "How are you feeling?" Ezekiel asked, a mixture of curiosity and realization.

    "I can feel it¡ªthe heart, its memories, its power. It''s overwhelming, but somehow... familiar. My body... It feels more close to the Abyss... It''s like I can use the element without having to draw this power from the surroundings... I can feel everything around me..."

    Ezekiel nodded, a small smile ying on his lips. "That''s the effect of the Abyssal Dragon''s heart within you. It has bonded with your essence, and now you carry a part of its ancient power and abilities. But be cautious. You must learn to control it, or it might consume you."

    Gabriel took a deep breath, feeling the newfound connection to the Abyssal Dragon''s memories. He saw shes of its life¡ªancient battles, moments of solitude, and even glimpses of its wisdom. It was as if he had lived through those moments himself.

    However, through those memories, he saw something that he never expected to see. There was the presence of a human in these memories... A human who looked awfully simr to the person in the Portrait at the Pce of Chaos.

 Chapter 689 689: Palace Of Abyss

    To Gabriel''s surprise, the person lookedpletely identical to the portrait, albeit a little younger. In fact, the man looked even younger than him physically.

    But it wasn''t the age of the person that was surprising. It was his strength! Gabriel had never been in the presence of that person before, so he never knew how strong he actually was. However, in these memories, he felt everything!

    He felt what it was like to be in his actual presence, and the Kind of fear his presence could make one feel.

    The Abyssal Dragon fought Ezekiel, but before that person, he couldn''t even move due to fear. It was a strange feeling... A feeling that was iprehensible. However, the person didn''t attack the Abyssal Dragon in those memories.

    Instead, he floated closer, his eyes showing great interest. It was as if he was a child who had seen an Abyssal Dragon for the first time.

    The man even tried feeding some divine fruits to the Abyssal Dragon, not knowing that the Abyssal Dragons didn''t eat those fruits. If anything, these things were harmful for the being of the Abyss. However, in his presence, the Abyssal Dragon didn''t resist at all

    Strangely enough, the Divine Fruit didn''t harm the Abyssal Dragon at that time.

    After a short time, the man returned. Hundreds of years passed, but he never returned after that. However, he did return after a long long time.

    The next time the Abyssal Dragon saw Chaos was when he had finished sealing Ezekiel in the Abyss. The Abyssal Dragon watched from a distance, feeling scared of even approaching.

    The Dragon thought it did a good job hiding, but then he noticed a Divine Fruit floating towards him,ing out of a small portal. The Abyssal Dragon was stunned, knowing who sent this fruit. Even from a distance, he was noticed.

    After that, the man left. And he was never seen again...

    Gabriel rubbed his forehead, feeling all those memories. In the end, he told Ezekiel everything he saw in the Abyssal Dragon''s memories, including Chaos.

    Not just that, he also told Ezekiel everything that he hadn''t told before... Including the fact that Chaos was presumed to be dead since thest Great War of Gods, along with the fact that Caen was definitely the son of Chaos.

    Ezekiel had already realized most of those things on his own, so he didn''t reveal much surprise. He only said one thing...

    "He isn''t dead... He can''t be dead. He can''t die before I kill him with my own hands!"

    For a moment, Gabriel saw emotions of anger and hatred on Ezekiel that he had never seen before. However, those emotions soon disappeared as Ezekiel regained hisposure and his ice cold exterior.

    "He won''t die. He will reveal himself... I will make him reveal himself," he muttered.

    "Anyways, that''s not for you to be concerned about. Now your only focus should be to control that heart and learn how to draw its power. Until you are able to kill an Abyssal Dragon yourself, you won''t be leaving this ce."<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    ****

    In the Realm of Gods, the atmosphere was peaceful, even in the absence of Gabriel and Ezekiel. If anything, the people here were slightly calmer, since they didn''t see Ezekiel for a long time.

    All the gods still remembered the moment when Ezekiel was about to kill them. They were relieved that Ezekiel wasn''t here.

    Unfortunately, they were also worried that they might be attacked by Gods. Neither Ezekiel nor Gabriel was here. Gabriel had left this ce, while temporarily giving the partial control of the formations to the old man.

    But the gods couldn''t shake off the feeling of unease that lingered in the air. They knew that someone else, someone unknown, now had the potential to stir up trouble and they could only rely on themselves.

    Fortunately, a month passed, yet no one attacked this ce. It made the Rebel Gods rx a little. It was clear that the gods didn''t know that Ezekiel wasn''t here. That''s why they weren''t attacking. If anything, they were probably trying to find a new ce to settle down temporarily.

    The Beast Monarchs continued their training, using all the facilities of the Realm of Gods. With all the Divine Energy of the surroundings, they were only getting stronger with every passing day.

    Even the Lion Monarch could be seen training when he wasn''t drinking.

    The other Gods also found something to do. On Gabriel''s instructions, a new ce was created around the mysterious pond so no one could identally touch it.

    The Pce was even more Majestic, and it was made while keeping in mind all of Gabriel''s suggestions. Unlike before, the Pce this time was pitch ck, with a structure that made it almost impossible to reach the pond, which was hidden in the center of the Pce.

    The ck Pce appeared simr to Karyk''s pce that was destroyed along with the destruction of the world.

    In this way, the pce that was destroyed by Caen was made once again, where Caen''s Pce used to be.

    The reincarnated ck Pce stood as a keepsake of the lost world, serving as a reminder of the challenges faced and the perseverance that brought them there.

    From afar, the dark silhouette of the pce emanated an air of mystery... It was a Pce that stood out from all the rest of the ces in the surroundings.

    No one realized what the Pce was going to represent in the future. Even the ones who made this Pce didn''t know that long in the future, this Pce was going to signify the change of an era... The change of the era into something that no one could forget, even long in the future.

    It was destined to be a symbol of a point in time when the peace was just on the verge of breaking apart, yet barely holding on...

    The people who made the Pce looked at it proudly, after finishing the construction. However, they didn''t enter it after that point. They wanted Gabriel to be the first person to enter the Pce after it waspleted.

 Chapter 690 690: The Village Of Gods

    The God of Realm had been stabilized for the time being, and Gabriel continued his training in the Abyss, not showing his face.

    At the same time, the whereabouts of Caen were unknown as well. The Gods that were forced to escape the Realm of Gods couldn''t wait for an eternity. They knew they all had to find a ce for a temporary stay, and wait for Caen and Janus to return.

    As for the ce to stay, they all selected the same ce that they were teleported to. All the Gods had managed to hide every single trade of their aura, as they appeared in the Southern World of the Upper Realm.

    For most people, it was even impossible to feel a trace of divinity from them, as they made a new home in a human vige. In fact, even Gabriel wasn''t able to sense them when he arrived in the Beast Forest because of the distance and the hidden divinity.

    Moreover, thest ce he expected them to be was the Realm of Gods, since that was the ce which was closest to the Realm of Gods.

    The vige where the Gods had settled was mostly Abandoned, and had barely any humans living there. Most of the humans had abandoned this vige because this area was barren. It was impossible to farm here, or produce enough to be self reliant.

    Even water was scarce here, since the area had a drought from as long as one could remember. It had been years since it rained here. Even the little bit of water that the few remaining people in the vige consumed was brought from the distant town after much struggle.

    Despite the harsh conditions, a small group of vigers remained determined to revive the vige and make it thrive once again. They didn''t know how long they could have hope for, but they didn''t n to abandon their vige. It was the home where they grew up, and lived all their lives.

    The Vigers were poor, but they were more weing. When they saw the Gods arriving in a group, asking for permission to settle down, they didn''t deny them. The vigers had a big heart, and even let the gods live in the houses that were Abandoned.

    The friendly vigers barely had enough water for themselves, but they still treated the guests with respect and shared water, not knowing that the other group consisted of gods.

    For the Vigers, the other side were just humans in need. They shared their meager food supplies with the outsiders each day, ensuring that no one went hungry. Even the Gods were slightly surprised at how weing these people were.

    Every day, the Gods in the vige saw the humans praying to the sky, hoping for rain. It had been hundreds of years and it was a tradition for the vigers to pray.

    Even after all these years, their prayers weren''t listened to. If it was anyone else, they would''ve stopped, but these Vigers didn''t lose hope.

    "These people... Why do they still live here instead of going to a more prosperous ce?" one of the Gods asked. "Humans are so stupid and stubborn..."

    Many other gods nodded in agreement, wondering how the vigers could hold on to their faith for so long without any apparent results.

    However, deep down, they admired the vigers'' unwavering determination and resilience in the face of adversity. They felt impressed.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "These humans may not have divine powers or immortal lifespans, but their spirit is truly remarkable," said another God, his voice tinged with respect.

    As the days turned into weeks, the Gods began to interact more with the vigers, although they kept their true identities hidden.

    Some of them even helped with various tasks, bringing their own skills to contribute to the vige''s well-being as long as it doesn''t need them to use their Divinity. Some Gods even subtly healed the sick.

    Slowly, the vige started to show signs of life again. Many miracles started taking ce in the nearby region. Thend which used to be barren... Finally showed some signs that made the Vigers excited. It was as if something had changed.

    The Vigers didn''t think it was the work of the guests. They still thought it was the gods in the sky who were finally listening to their prayers. They did think that the guests brought luck to the vige, but that was it.

    The devotion of the Vigers to the gods in the sky grew.The fields, with the Gods'' assistance, began to yield some crops.

    Unbeknownst to the humans, the Gods had their reasons for choosing this vige as their temporary haven. The barrier they created to conceal their divinity also served to prevent any of their adversaries from detecting them.

    The barrenness andck of resources in the area discourage unwanted attention, offering them a respite from the chaos that unfolded in the Realm of Gods.

    As the Gods settled in, they learned more about the vigers'' culture, traditions, finding the humans somewhat intriguing. At least it was better than the boredom from all the waiting.

    They saw the determination in their eyes, the bond of theirmunity, and how they cherished their simple yet fulfilling way of life. The Gods couldn''t help but be impressed by the humans'' resilience.

    One evening, under the vast canopy of stars, the Gods gathered around a small fire with some of the vigers. The vigers spoke about their history and the legends they passed down from generation to generation.

    "There''s an old tale," said an elderly woman with silver hair, her eyes filled with wisdom. "It is said that a long time ago, during a great drought, a deity descended from the heavens and saved our ancestors. He granted them a gift¡ªthe gift of perseverance."

    "Perseverance?" one of the Gods asked, intrigued.

    "Yes," she nodded. "Our ancestors believed that if they held onto their faith and determination, no matter the odds, the deity would one day return and bring prosperity back to thisnd."

 Chapter 691 691: Leadership

    The Gods exchanged nces, realizing that this tale might have a deeper meaning than they first thought. Perhaps, in their own way, they were unknowingly fulfilling this ancient prophecy.

    They did wonder who that God was, who arrived here a long time ago. It definitely wasn''t one of them.

    Even though most of the Gods stayed away from mingling with the weak humans, there was another group which was more than happy to, since they didn''t find humans pathetic.

    As the days went by, those Gods formed strong bonds with the vigers. Theyughed together, shared stories, and even danced during festive gatherings. The once deste vige had transformed into a vibrantmunity, all thanks to the unity of both humans and Gods working together.

    On the other hand, the Gods who stayed away from mingling with the Gods, spent most of their times in destion, simply waiting and trying to think of ways to find Caen.

    The Gods in the vige were divided in two groups. One group that mingled with the humans wanted to wait here for Janus, knowing that everything was going to be fine by then.

    Moreover, they didn''t find it hard to stay in the vige and wait. It was better than risking their lives with Ezekiel. Most of the Gods in this group were the Gods who had either stayed neutral in the realm of Gods, or who sided with Janus and Caen''s mother.

    The other group wanted everyone to spread out, and search the other worlds to find Caen. Every moment that they spent here was irritating for them, especially watching the sight of Divine Humans mingling with a species they considered insects.

    They felt as if it was just bringing down their dignity.

    There was asional division and arguments between the two camps, but fortunately, there were no fights where anyone used their powers.

    However, as days passed, it was clear that both groups had different desires and it was difficult for them to work together. They didn''t even have a leader at the moment who they could all follow.

    Even though both groups had different thoughts, their end goal was still the same. It was to return to the realm of Gods. Both groups had different thoughts, but at the end, they were all on the same side.

    It was eventually decided that arguing was useless, since there was no side that every single god was going to be convinced of a decision. That''s why the Gods decided to use a different method.

    The first n of action was to select a new leader of the group, at least temporarily. No matter what, his instructions were to be followed. They were now using the same system of election that they had heard about from these humans.

    At the end of the day, it was decided that four people were going to stand for the position of the leader, two being from each group.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    From the group siding with Caen, the first person who came forward was a member of the High Council, who was extremely close to Caen. And the other person was the father of Caen''s friend.

    From the neutral group, the first person who came out was the person who had fought Ezekiel, and even managed to hold him back for a short time. He was the one who used the Laws of Time, and the person who was more close to Janus, the Guardian of the Realm of Gods.

    The second person representing the neutral group was another Neutral God from the group, who had stayed in the Realm of Gods and was responsible for evacuation when everyone went to fight. He was responsible for the evacuation.

    At the end, the four came forward for the leader position. Moreover, all four of them had something they stood for. They all expressed their efforts and desires, on what they thought was the best approach for the group as a whole.

    As the four candidates spoke passionately about their visions for the group, the atmosphere in the house remained grim, filled with tension and seriousness.

    The Gods, who had once ruled over realms and shaped the very fabric of existence, were now part of this small, remote vige, using the methods of mere mortals. However, they all believed that it was only a matter of time before they went back to their old glory.

    The candidate from the High Council, an experienced God, emphasized the importance of unity and staying true to Caen''s cause, who was the future King of the Realm of Gods.

    He also told everyone that Caen had inherited the control of Abyssal Beings from his father. He was the perfect person to stop Ezekiel.

    "Last time, Lord Chaos stopped Ezekiel! This time, we should trust his son to do the same! Instead of waiting and being scared about getting found, we should be more active and search for him!"

    On the other hand, the Lord of Time from the Neutral group stated that he believed that they should wait patiently, for Caen and Janus were bound to return and lead them to victory against Ezekiel. Instead of risking everyone''s lives, that Caen''s mother worked so hard to protect, they should wait.

    "As Gods we are immortal. Time for us is insignificant, so why be in such a hurry to the point of risking everyone''s life?" he asked. "It''s not as if Lord Janus and the Young Lord won''t be able to find us if they were to return!"

    The father of Caen''s friend spoke eloquently about the value of exploring new worlds to find Caen. He believed that their best chance of locating Caeny beyond the Upper Realm, where they could seek allies and gather strength to challenge Ezekiel head-on.

    Andstly, the fourth candidate echoed Lord of Time''s thoughts. He stressed the need for caution and secrecy. He believed that Ezekiel might still have spies, and that a coordinated, stealthy approach was the safest way to operate.

    He advocated for keeping a low profile and avoiding drawing unwanted attention to their group.

 Chapter 692 692: Modern World

    The debates were intense and thoughtful, with each candidate having their supporters among the Gods.

    The vigers in the Viges didn''t know why all the new gods had suddenly locked themselves inside a house. They even wondered if the guests were talking about leaving the vige since they had stayed here for quite a few days.

    Soon, every god was asked to vote for who they thought should lead the collective group. Moreover, the voting wasn''t secret. It was done with a show of hands for each of the candidates.

    Within a few minutes, the results of the votes were clear. Thepetition was mainly between the God who had the ability to manipte time, and the aid of Caen. The other two candidates received too few votes to be of any challenge.

    Unfortunately, in the end, it was the aid of Caen who won the battle, albeit by only two votes difference, bing the temporary leader of the group that everyone had to listen to.

    The Neutral Gods were frustrated, but it was an agreement that they couldn''t refuse now. They agreed to listen to the new leader of the group, known as Qiera.

    Qiera smiled confidently, as if he already knew that this was going to be the oue. His first instructions were just as everyone thought. They were to search for Caen!

    Other than the Children, all the Gods were to leave this ce and search every lower world until they found Caen.

    Half an hourter, the door of the house opened and everyone stepped out. Some looked quite happy, while the others had frustration clearly written on their faces.

    The search territory was finalized, and each of them received hundreds of lower worlds that they had to search through, a task which was hard even for gods, especially since they couldn''t use their Divinity excessively.

    For the rest of the day, the Neutral Gods spent time with the Vigers, telling them that most of them were going to be leaving the vige. Only two gods were to be left behind in the vige to take care of the Children.

    The Vigers felt quite sad that their Vige which had just started revitalizing and was full of life was losing such nice people. However, they didn''t try to stop them. Instead, they thanked all the gods who told them that they were going to return soon.

    At night, another celebration was held like a farewell party for the gods who were to leave. The festivalsted the entire night, where the Vigers drank without stopping, eventually passing out.

    The Vigers only woke upte in the morning, feeling a headache. They rubbed their heads as they stood up. The vige appeared very empty. It was clear that the people had left already. They could only see a few guests and the children left behind, that weren''t meant to leave.

    "I hope you all return soon..." The Vige Headmented. He had faith that the guests were going to return. In his mind, this Vige was their home as well now.

    "Huh? What is that?" While the Vige head was lost in thought, a loud yell caught his attention. He looked in the direction, noticing a viger pointing towards the sky.

    The Vige Head frowned, and he looked above. However, as soon as he raised his head, a cold droplet of water fell on his cheek.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    High in the sky, he could see dark clouds that he hadn''t seen before. He touched the droplet of water on his face in disbelief.

    For a moment, he even wondered if he was dreaming. It had been an eternity since he saw this! He soon realized it wasn''t a dream! It was actually raining in this vige! More and more water drops basked in the dried up ground.

    In his disbelief and happiness, the Vige Head didn''t even notice as his tears kept falling. His heart filled with immense gratitude as he watched the rain rejuvenate the once barrenndscape.

    His tears mixed with the rain that was washing his face. He didn''t move an inch, even as he was drenched in water. He couldn''t help but feel a sense of relief and hope wash over him, knowing that this rainfall brought a chance for new life and prosperity to his vige.

    The vigers emerged from their homes, their faces mirroring the same astonishment and joy. It was as if this was the start of a new era of this vige.

    Far away from the Vige, the group of Gods stood together, looking toward the Vige. They hadn''t left yet. Before they left, they wanted to leave a gift behind for these vigers.

    As the rain became even more intense, the gods turned their back on the vige.

    All of them created a new portal, entering in a different spatial tunnel from her other. All of them had a different area in this vast universe to Search... A search that felt like it was going to take an eternity.

    ****

    The world was at peace for the time being. However, not many people knew that that was just the silence before the storm, where most of the powerful people were busy, getting stronger.

    Karyk was still in the Ancestral Temple, going through a myriad of lives, feeling as if he was going crazy with each passing moment.

    On the other hand, Gabriel was in the Abyss, mastering the control of the Dragon Heart, learning from Ezekiel. With each passing day, his strength was growing by leaps and bounds.

    The Rebel Gods in the Realm of Gods were busy with their own training and research into the past of Gabriel. On the other hand, the Gods who had escaped from the Realm of Gods were busy roaming through the universe in search of Caen and Janus who were supposed to lead them to a war.

    A search had begun around the world for Caen. No one knew that Caen had just arrived in a world that had a significant connection with the Realm of Gods.

    Caen had arrived in Modern Earth, along with the Young Gods¡­

 Chapter 693 693: Special Effects

    Modern Earth was a ce filled with bustling cities, advanced technology, and billions of people. It was said that this world had no magic, and the elements here were so weak that it was impossible for those works to achieve anything significant.

    Despite that, this world had managed to achieve many miracles. There were vehicles that moved faster than the fastest wild animals. There were nes that helped humans fly, despite using no magic.

    There were even ships that helped humans travel to differents.

    The Young Gods were both intrigued and surprised by this world, which was so different from the realms they were used to. As they stepped into this new reality, Caen looked around, absorbing the sights and sounds of this vibrant ce.

    He was standing in the middle of a bustling street in the city of New York. Many people were walking around, with their heads down, looking at a small brick like object which had some lighting out of it.

    "So this is earth... what a strange world," Caen muttered, slightly fascinated.

    "These damn cosyers, they are just everywhere nowadays." While Caen and the Young Gods were standing in the middle of the street, a mocking voice came from nearby.

    A middle aged man walked past them, shaking his head.

    Since the Young Gods wore an attire of the Realm of Gods which wasn''t even close to the modern clothes of death, many people thought them to be cosyers or children ying around.

    Most people didn''t care, but there were asionally some mocking voices. Fortunay, the young gods didn''t understand their insults since they were unfamiliar with most of these new words.

    "Move aside, a*sholes," A cyclist went past them, barely avoiding hitting them. In fact, he didn''t even know how these people suddenly ended up in the middle of the street.

    "Did you see that? Just as incredible as I had heard. This world is full of fast-moving contraptions," Elysia, one of the Young Gods, eximed with wide eyes.

    "Yes, it seems like they''ve managed to achieve incredible feats without magic," Caen replied, equally intrigued. "Fascinating..."

    The corner of his lips crept up. The more fascinated a world was, the more he enjoyed ying with it. However, since he didn''t understand this ce yet, he didn''t know how to exactly y around.

    The group decided to explore the city further, but they attracted curious nces from the inhabitants at every turn. Some pointed at them, amused by their unique outfits, while others whispered to each other, assuming they were part of some event or gathering.

    Caen walked into the road, casually walking to the other side, while observing his surroundings like a child who was looking at everything for the first time.

    He abruptly stepped onto the road, causing the oing driver to be caught off guard. Frantically, the driver instinctively tried to hit the brakes, but s, it was toote to prevent a collision.

    He closed his eyes, feeling as if this was the end. He was going to jail for killing people. Even the people who wereughing at the weirdly dressed kids were horrified. But what happened next stunned them even more.

    A loud bang resounded as the car hit Caen. Airbags came out to protect the driver''s life.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    However, even with the crash, Caen didn''t move an inch. Instead, it was the car which was crushed after shing with him.

    As the dust settled, onlookers gasped in astonishment as they saw Caen''s body unscathed, standing amidst the wreckage. It was as if he possessed some kind of superhuman strength that had protected him from harm.

    Many people pulled out their cameras and started recording, barely even believing their own eyes.

    Somehow, both the driver and Caen were safe.

    The door of the crushed car opened, and the man crawled out, falling on the ground, breathing heavily.

    Caen looked at the man. He wasn''t sure how these vehicles worked, but one thing was certain. Humans were responsible for everything these vehicles did. He walked over to the person who was lying on the ground, looking at Caen in disbelief.

    He even wondered if he was having a dream, pping himself lightly to wake up.

    "Trying to kill a god and that too with such pathetic strength... Your sin can''t be forgiven."

    Caen''s words pierced through the man''s confusion, sending a chill down his spine. He had never encountered someone like Caen before.

    The boy was calling himself a god? However, the man found himself believing. Who else would be able to survive this crash without even a scratch on their body.

    Before the man could even speak, he felt a cold hand around his throat. His body rose in the air.

    He struggled to breathe, his eyes wide with fear as Caen''s grip tightened. It was then that he realized the true power of this self-proimed god. In a split second, Caen effortlessly snapped the man''s neck, ending his life with a chilling finality.

    Caen dropped the lifeless body to the ground, his expression unchanging as he turned his attention to the devastated wreckage of the crash. With a flick of his wrist, the twisted metal began to levitate and started gettingpressed by a divine power.

    Along the way, an explosion came from within the crushed vehicle, but it was contained by the divine power. Soon, the car was turned into apacted metal cube, no trace of the ident left behind.

    Everyone who was recording the scene with their phones was horrified. They couldn''t believe their eyes as they witnessed this extraordinary disy of supernatural abilities.

    Fear gripped their hearts as most people started stepping back. On the other hand, there were even some who believed that it was some kind of special act, using some special effects that they couldn''t understand.

    They even refused to believe what they saw with their own eyes. There was no way for this to be real! They had no way to exin this other than by special effects.

 Chapter 694 694: Play

    Caen looked around, taking in the shock and disbelief of the people surrounding him. For the mortals to react like this, it was clear that this world had no knowledge of gods or divine beings, and witnessing such extraordinary power was beyond theirprehension.

    Elysia, Fortunay, and the other Young Gods were quite calm. It wasn''t their first time Mortals die but their faces revealed no surprise.

    They had never seen Caen wield his power so openly and decisively before. His actions seemed drastic, but Caen knew that he had to establish some boundaries in this unfamiliar world. If they were to explore and interact with the inhabitants of Earth, they couldn''t afford to be taken lightly.

    "You gave him an easy death. What a pity," Elysia shook her head, sighing as if she truly believed that it was a pity.

    Caen''s expression remained calm, but his eyes showed no pity. "These mortals are really too courageous to even try to kill us despite such pathetic strength of theirs."

    Fortunay stepped forward, his voice gentle but firm. "That wasn''t fun. There are still so many people here. Can I have more fun?"

    He looked around, observing the crowd in this area. Everyone in the crowd felt a chill run down their spines as if they were being started by a predator.

    Caen nodded. "I wanted to start a fun game here after understanding this world. But who would''ve thought these mortals would be so pathetic..."

    "Let''s start the first game then," he further stated, tossing the smallpressed cube in the distance in a random direction.

    The cube was tossed casually, yet it flew thousands of miles at a speed that even missiles would''ve failed to reach.

    "Good." The Young Godsughed, looking at the people around them.

    There were many who recorded the scene of driver''s and uploaded it to various portals, while the others called the police to help.

    Unfortunately, before the Gods, even the police weren''t of help. The entire area was sealed by some divine power, turned into an arena by the Young Gods.

    Inside the sealed area, no one could enter. Even the cop cars had to stop outside, unable to enter. This was a ce which soon caught everyone''s attention.

    Many cop cars stood outside the sealed area, in disbelief as to what was happening. They didn''t believe in aliens, but they couldn''t exin this in any other way.

    Thanks to the barrier, the connection of the phones was cut as well, making it impossible for the people to upload anything else.

    "Since you mere mortals wanted to challenge our authority, then prove your worth!" Caen''s cold voice fell in everyone''s ears.

    In the center of the area, a small portal opened up, connecting directly to the Abyss.

    From the portal, a Nightmare Beast stepped out, walking on its four legs, having a wolf-like body.

    The eyes of the Nightmare Beast were blood red, and it was born in the Abyss, having an overwhelmingly dark presence.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "If even one of you can survive for ten minutes, I shall consider you worthy..." Caen spoke.

    The crowd gasped in horror as theyid eyes on the monstrous Nightmare Beast. Its presence alone sent shivers down their spines, and they couldn''t fathom how they were expected to survive, let alone challenge such a creature.

    Panic and fear spread like wildfire, and some even tried to run, only to find themselves bumping against the divine barrier that sealed the area.

    Caen and the Young Gods watched with detached interest as the mortals struggled with their newfound reality. Elysia shook her head, her expression a mix of boredom and disappointment. "This looks hardly worth our time. These mortals won''tst more than a few seconds against the Nightmare Beast."

    Fortunay grinned, relishing the thrill of the uing spectacle. "Oh, I bet you''re right. So let me help them a little. Let''s see if any of them manage to surprise us."

    With a slight wave of his hand, Fortunay used his own power. A single sword appeared at the door of every person in this Domain. It was up to them if they were to use this sword or not. However, the oue of the battle was already certain.

    These people had no way to defeat the Nightmare Beasts, but they could definitely survive for ten minutes if they used the weapons and their surroundings to their advantage.

    As the terror-stricken crowd reluctantly faced the monstrous creature, a few individuals among them began to show surprising bravery.

    Even though they were scared, they came to terms with this scary reality and picked up the swords.

    They hadn''t used a sword in the past, but now they had no choice. Gathering all the courage, some of them were prepared to fight for their lives.

    Their eyes met the terrifying gaze of the Nightmare Beast, and instead of crumbling, they found a resolve they never knew they possessed.

    Caen raised an eyebrow, slightly intrigued by their unexpected resilience. "Well. Perhaps there''s a glimmer of hope for entertainment after all."

    The battlemenced as some mortals attacked the Nightmare Beast with everything they had.

    Most of the humans chose to pick up the sword and run away to hide, while only a rare few stayed behind to fight back.

    In the eyes of the ones who were running away, hiding was the best option. They were in a concrete jungle with tall and strong buildings. There were many ces to hide for them.

    They sprinted through the streets, their hearts pounding in their chests, seeking refuge in any nook or cranny they could find. Some managed to scramble inside buildings and to rooftops, hoping to gain some advantage against the Nightmare Beast by hiding on higher ground.

    The adrenaline-fueled pursuit for survival turned the once bustling streets into an eerie ghost town.

    Meanwhile, the brave few who chose to stand their ground faced the Nightmare Beast head-on.

    Their swords shed with the monstrous creature''s ws and fangs. Every strike reverberated with divine power, creating shockwaves that shattered windows and cracked pavements.

 Chapter 695 695: Hope

    Even the humans who fought back were very surprised by the strength that they were showing at the moment! They knew that it wasn''t their strength! Instead, they were using the strength of these Swords which seemed to increase their strength. The Sword also had some divine power.

    Caen watched the unfolding spectacle with mild amusement. He marveled at how these mortals, who moments ago were living their mundane lives, had now been thrust into a life-or-death battle against a creature from the Abyss.

    To make this battle more fun, they had even given some Divine Swords to these people so the battle wasn''t too boring. Unfortunately, most of them people chose to escape with the swords or it would''ve been even more fun.

    "If they all fought together, they had a chance of surviving ten minutes. But now... The oue is already clear. What a pity," one of the young gods shook his head.

    As the minutes passed, some of the mortals'' attacks began to find their marks. They tried to attack different ces, in an effort to find weak points in the Nightmare Beast''s defenses and exploited them to inflict minor injuries.

    Their courage sparked a glimmer of interest within Caen''s heart. Unfortunately, they were still too weak.

    Even though he had chosen the weakest nightmare beast, these people were still unable to harm it, even with Divine Swords. Instead, one after another, they kept dying.

    Fortunay, observing the spectacle with a mix of curiosity and satisfaction, decided to intervene. He used his godly powers to create illusions around some of the mortals, providing them with the temporary appearance of greater strength and speed. The illusions also boosted their morale, urging them to fight even harder.

    These empowered mortals felt the surge of newfound strength and used it to their advantage. They coordinated their attacks, distracting the Nightmare Beast while others struck from behind. The creature roared in anger. Their attack hadn''t hurt it much.

    Elysia, too, joined the fray in her own way. She used her abilities to create protective barriers around some of the mortals, shielding them from the Nightmare Beast''s more devastating attacks. Elysia knew that she couldn''t let them die too quickly; or it was going to be too boring

    The battle raged on, and time seemed to stretch infinitely for the mortals fighting for their lives. Every second felt like an eternity, and yet, they persevered. They refused to sumb to fear and despair, fueled by the belief that they could ovee the impossible, thanks to the maniption of Elysia.

    "We can''t let the cowards have a fun time either. I''ll take care of them in the meantime." Caen created a new portal, calling a second nightmare beast.

    The powers who were fighting the first nightmare beasts were scared. It was already hard to hold back the first, but the second meant certain death.

    However, to their surprise, the second nightmare beast didn''t attack them at all. Instead, he rushed in a different direction.

    The Second Nightmares Beast ran in the direction that others had run to.

    It seemed that the second Nightmare Beast had a different target in mind. It sprinted through the streets, its monstrous form causing panic and chaos among the fleeing mortals. The ones who had chosen to run and hide suddenly found themselves face to face with an even deadlier threat.

    The game of hide and seek had begun with the second nightmare beast... A game which was filled with blood.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    The sound of screams filled the air as the Nightmare Beast pounced on its unsuspecting prey.

    Its ws tore through flesh and its fangs sank deep into the unfortunate souls who had sought refuge. The mortals fought desperately, but their resistance was futile against such overwhelming power.

    Caen and the Young Gods observed the unfolding chaos with a mix of amusement and satisfaction. The battle between the remaining mortals and the first Nightmare Beast continued, their numbers dwindling as the creature struck them down one by one.

    Those who had initially shown bravery now faced an even more daunting challenge as the second Nightmare Beast rampaged through the streets.

    Fortunay couldn''t help butugh at the spectacle. "Oh, this is getting interesting! Let''s see if any of them can survive this double onught."

    Elysia focused her attention on providing what limited aid she could to make it more interesting, reinforcing the mental fortitude of the people who were attacking.

    As the battle raged on, the mortals fought with every ounce of strength and determination they possessed. Their bodies bore the wounds of their efforts, but they refused to back down. Some managed to strike small blows against the creatures, drawing blood and eliciting roars of pain.

    Unfortunately, after the five minute mark passed, the Fierce Nightmare Beast attacked even more fiercely and strongly, as if it was hiding its strength before.

    Their hope of survival that they had gained previously was destroyed instantly. It was clear that they were being toyed with! They were intentionally given hope, only for it to be taken awayter.

    Minutes turned into what felt like hours, and the mortals'' numbers continued to dwindle. But amidst the chaos and despair, a glimmer of hope emerged.

    A group of individuals amongst the people who had run away, bound by their shared will to survive, banded together to form a united front against the Nightmare Beasts.

    Their coordinated attacks and strategic maneuvers caught the attention of Caen and the Young Gods. They watched intently as this small group utilized their individual strengths and the divine power of the swords to their advantage. The mortals'' efforts were far from perfect, but they disyed a resilience and ingenuity that was admirable.

    Elysia''s expression softened as she witnessed the mortals'' determination.

    "Perhaps it''s not the end here," she murmured, her voice filled with a mix of astonishment and admiration.

    Fortunay''s grin widened. "I must say, they''re putting up quite the show. It seems they''re not as pathetic as we initially thought."

 Chapter 696 696: Nyx

    Caen''s eyes gleamed with a newfound interest. He had expected a one-sided ughter, but the mortals'' tenacity had impressed him. He decided to lend them a helping hand.

    With a wave of his hand, Caen summoned a burst of energy that enveloped the mortals, granting them even more temporary enhancements. Their strength and speed surged, allowing them tond more powerful blows and evade the Nightmare Beasts'' attacks with greater agility.

    The mortals fought on, emboldened by this sudden surge of power. Their swords struck true, attacking the Nightmare Beasts'' defenses and inflicting more substantial injuries. Roars of pain mingled with triumphant cries as the tide of the battle slowly began to turn.

    Caen, Elysia, and Fortunay watched as the mortals, against all odds, managed to hold their ground. It was a testament to their resilience and the untapped potential within humanity.

    As the ten-minute mark approached, the first Nightmare Beast, something suddenly changed again.

    Caen revealed a devilish grin as he removed all the restrictions he had applied on the Nightmare Beasts.

    In an instant, the speed of the Nightmare increased to the point that the mortals couldn''t even see it.

    The mortals who were barely putting on a good battle until now found themselves helpless. They couldn''t even see the enemy. It was like a nightmare, where they were fighting against a ghost.

    With each passing second, a scream was heard as one of the humans had their neck ripped apart.

    The screams came from within the entire domain. The First Nightmare Beast swiftly killed everyone who chose to fight him.

    On the other hand, the second Nightmare Beast killed the ones who chose to escape.

    After a long time, the cries of help and the screams had stopped. Every single human within the domain was killed.

    "Nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds... What a pity," Fortunay replied, as if he was sad. However, his eyes revealed that he had quite a lot of fun.

    These humans never had a chance to survive ten minutes. They only helped them fight for so long to give them hope, since seeing humans fight with their lives on the line was fun. Especially the moment when all that hope was taken away when they were on the verge of sess!

    .....

    Thousands of miles away, in a different city, a car was driving down a quiet street.

    The sports car was one of the most expensive models avable in the market, as well as the fastest. However, the person driving the car was only in his early twenties, seemingly belonging to a very wealthy family.

    The young man was dressed in professional attire, as if he was just returning from a business meeting.

    Thepressed cube that was casually tossed by Caen came flying like a high speed projectile, soon traveling from one city to another, before its descent began.

    Thanks to the speed of the projectile, it had even caught fire, despite being made purely of metal. It was as if a ball of fire came crashing down from the sky.

    As the ming cube hurtled towards the city, the young man in the sports car noticed the strange sight in the sky. He instinctively hit the brakes, pulling over to the side of the road, watching the fiery object with a mix of curiosity, he stepped out of the car.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "A Meteor?" He initially wondered, watching the ball of fireing down.

    The cube descended rapidly, and as it neared the ground, the young man realized it was heading straight toward him.

    With the force behind that metal cube, it was strong enough to destroy the ce it fell, leaving a crater behind. However, the ce it was to fall was right over the expensive car.

    While the young man was focused on the projectile in the sky, his phone started ringing.

    He pulled the phone out of his pocket, cing it over his ears.

    "Yes Mom."

    "Ah..." The man scratched the back of his head, smiling wryly. On the other side of the call was his mother, who was scolding him for beingte.

    He patiently listened to all the scolding, without showing anyint.

    At the same time, the projectile came even closer to him with a force like never before.

    "I... Right... Yes... I understand mother... Ah, yes. I''m sorry... I''ll be right there. No, not at all. Of course I''m not at work... Yeah, I''m on my way back."

    The Projectile came awfully close to Nyx, as if it was going to crash after a few seconds but Nyx didn''t move.

    While he kept listening to his mother, he raised his left hand toward the projectile.

    It was as if time stopped, and the space was sealed in his surroundings. The ming projectile stopped mid-air.

    Nyx''s eyes glowed with an otherworldly aura as he controlled the cube''s descent with a mere gesture. The mes ceased to spread, and the projectile hung frozen in mid-air, suspended by some mysterious force.

    His mother''s voice continued to pour through the phone, blissfully unaware of the incredible scene unfolding just moments away from her son.

    Nyx concentrated, focusing his thoughts on the cube, attempting to analyze its properties. There was something peculiar about it.

    Initially he thought that it was a Meteor, but he soon realized that it wasn''t the case. Instead, it was an extremely condensed piece of metal. Moreover, he could also feel that thepression didn''t happen through ordinary means. Instead, it felt quite familiar.

    The cube floated closer to him. It soonnded on Nyx''s left hand.

    "Yes Mother, I know how dangerous it is. Yes, I understand I should be back on time. I''m sorry to make you worry. I''ll be more careful next time. No, don''t worry. I won''t use my abilities unless absolutely needed."

    On one end, Nyx talked to his mother, while on the other, he observed the piece of metal in his hand which had gotten a lot colder as soon as it touched his hand.

 Chapter 697 697: Home

    As he concentrated further, Nyx began to perceive faint traces of ancient symbols etched onto the surface of the cube.

    These symbols confirmed his suspicions. This was the work of someone using their Divine Ability.

    On earth, he only knew of two people who could use this. One was him, while the other was his father... He was sure that this wasn''t created by his father, which was why

    The cube was no ordinary object; it held a unique energy signature, one that Nyx instinctively recognized but couldn''t fullyprehend. It was quite simr to his, yet quite different.

    "Oh right, while I have you on the call, what''s for dinner tonight?" he asked his mother, while opening the door of his car.

    "Ah..." Hearing his mother''s response, he smiled wryly. However, he didn''t express his true thoughts.

    "Good. I''m so hungry already. Wait for me..."

    Sitting in the car, he closed the door and started the engine.

    "Well, Mother, I''ve got to go now since I''ll be driving. Yes, I promise to be careful. Love you too. Goodbye," Nyx said, ending the call with a smile.

    As he hung up, Nyx turned his attention back to the mysterious cube. It was in his hand, still emanating faint traces of its fiery aura.

    There was something about this object that intrigued him, and he knew he had to investigate further. However, he knew that he couldn''t do that right now. He had to get back home, if he didn''t want to anger his mother more. He ced the cube on the passenger seat.

    His car raced through the empty streets. The city lights illuminated the night as Nyx navigated the familiar roads, his mind preupied with thoughts of the enigmatic cube.

    As he pulled into his driveway, he hastily stepped out of the car, forgetting the cube inside. He entered the luxurious mansion that was recognized by almost everyone.

    This was the most expensive mansion in the entire world, and belonged to the richest man on earth, who owned thepany known as the Divine Corporation, which was the leader in almost every significant industry.

    There was not a single person in this world who didn''t know the name of this mansion''s owner.

    The Guards respectfully greeted Nyx who dashed inside the mansion in a hurry. However, even in such a hurry, he didn''t forget to greet the guards back.

    Nyx made his way through the grand halls that had opulent decor and luxurious furnishings that adorned every room.

    The mansion seemed to go on forever, with its array of exquisite paintings, extravagant chandeliers, and sprawling gardens. It was a testament to the immense wealth and sess of the family.

    Still, Nyx kept cursing in his mind just how big this mansion was. He was already runningte after all.

    Finally, he reached the dining hall. Right at the entrance, he slowed down. He took a deep breath, not wanting to show that he was sote that he had to run.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    Unlike his hurried visage from before, he waspletely calm as she stepped inside the Mansion.

    Inside the dining hall, there was arge dining table, which could amodate over thirty people simultaneously. However, at the moment, only 7 people were sitting around the dining table.

    In the main seat was the owner of the House known by everyone as Ryder Flynn, the man who changed the fate of earth. Although Ryder was in his 40s, he still looked like he was only in histe twenties, having slow aging.

    Next to Ryder, a chubby man was sitting, looking to be in his early forties. He was the owner of Dream Corporation. He was Ryder''s friend from his early years, but he was also one of the richest men, albeit not close to Ryder''s level.

    "Uncle Shu is here as well?" Nyx smiled wryly, scratching the back of his head. He finally understood why his mother was telling him to hurry. It was because guests were going to be here.

    "Only you werete, my dear brother," Nyx''s sister taunted her brother, who was merely a year younger than her. "You''ve been quite busytely. Don''t tell me you got a new girlfriend that we don''t know about?"

    "If only," Nyx rolled his eyes as he took his ce at the dining table, exchanging nods and polite greetings with the others present.

    "Sorry for beingte. Traffic was terrible," Nyx offered a causal exnation.

    Ryder chuckled, his warm, charismatic smile lighting up the room. "No worries. You''re here now, and that''s what matters."

    The mealmenced, and the conversations flowed naturally. They discussed business, uing projects, and thetest advancements in technology.

    Nyx, however, found it challenging to focus on the discussions fully. His mind kept drifting back to the mysterious cube he found earlier. He wanted to talk to his father about it right away, but he didn''t want to ruin the mood as it wasn''t often that the two feelings came together.

    "Is something troubling you?"

    Nyx''s expressions didn''t escape Ryder''s observation. He could see that his son was lost in some thought, as if there was something he was hesitating about.

    Nyx hesitated for a moment, contemting whether or not to share his discovery with his father. Finally, he decided to open up and said, "Actually, Dad, when I wasing back, I came across something. I found something I can''t stop thinking about... I''m not sure what it is, but it feels familiar."

    "It has traces of Divine Energy..." Nyx further stated. He didn''t have to hide it. Shu and his family already knew about the secret of Ryder and his family after all.

    "Hmm?" Ryder frowned, hearing the response. "Show me."

    Nyx nodded, as he was about to show his father. However, his expressions went nk. He realized that he left it behind.

    He stood up and rushed outside. "I left it in the car."

    Even though he could use his abilities to simply teleport that item here, he was under his father''s strict orders. He couldn''t use his abilities for things that could be done without it, or unless it was absolutely necessary.

 Chapter 698 698: Nephew

    After ten minutes, Nyx returned with the small object, only to find everyone looking at the screen in the distance.

    The screen was showing news about an incident that took ce in the next City.

    A video was also being yed on one side of the screen where a car hit Caen, only to be destroyed in the process.

    The car could be seenpressed in a small cube. Seeing that scene, Nyx couldn''t help but look back at the small cube in his hand. This was the same cube that was created frompressing the car.

    Nyx ced the cube on the table, catching Ryder''s attention. However, it was only for a fleeting moment. Ryder''s expressions revealed his anger as he watched Caen on the screen.

    "That little brat... He''s just like Janus described," He stood up. "Why can''t he be like his father?"

    The small cube floated in his hand. Right before everyone''s eyes, Ryder disappeared. The next moment, the live visuals of the barrier stopped. All the news channels stopped ying the news at the same time.

    "Does father know him?" Nyx wondered, asking his mother. From his father''s reaction, it was clear that Ryder realized who this young man was. Not only him, but he even knew his father.

    Nyx''s mother nodded her head, rubbing her forehead as if she felt a headache. "That boy... He''s technically your father''s nephew if I''m not wrong."

    "He''s the son of Uncle Janus?" Nyx asked, even more surprised. He could never have expected Janus'' son to be like this. Moreover, from what he had heard, Janus neither had a wife nor a son.

    "He''s not the son of Janus," his mother answered.

    "If he''s not Uncle Janus'' son, then he would be..." As Nyx thought up to this point, he realized what was happening.

    He remembered thest time Janus hade down to meet his father. Janus asked his father''s help, talking about Caen.

    He looked at the nk screen, muttering only a single word, "Caen."

    He remembered Janus saying that Caen was the heir to the Throne of Realm of God since he was the son of Chaos. However, Janus didn''t want the throne to go to Caen, believing him to be spoiled.

    ording to Janus, Caen had the blood of lots of people in his hand. He had destroyed multiple worlds, only for his entertainment. That''s why Janus came to ask for Ryder''s help.

    Janus wanted another person to take the throne, and he had only one option... Nyx.

    Since Ryder and Chaos came from the same origin, both of them possessed a simr bloodline, albeit a different soul. They also fought in the War of Gods together, which resulted in their victory. That made Nyx a Royal Blood Heir as well.

    Unfortunately for Janus, Ryder had refused the proposal, not wanting his son to be involved in this mess. He wanted his son to have a normal life on earth, simr to a mortal, which was why he didn''t allow his son to use his abilities to his advantage.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    Unlike Caen, who was a spoiled child that didn''t listen to anyone, or Gabriel lived a life filled with loss and suffering, Nyx has had quite an ordinary life.

    He was given good teaching of manners. He wasn''t arrogant and didn''t abuse his powers even once, to the point that even Janus was stunned at his humility when he met Nyx for the first time.

    Even after inheriting the powers from his father, Nyx still worked like an ordinary person in an office every day. Ryder wanted to maintain this life for his son and not push him on a verge to war with his cousin.

    Fortunately, Janus seemed to have another candidate, which was why he didn''t insist too much and left.

    It had only been a few weeks since that moment, and Caen was already here to cause trouble? It was understandable that his father was upset.

    Nyx felt a mix of emotions swirling inside him as he processed the revtion about Caen. It had shocked him to think that the person who killed innocent people on the screen was his cousin.

    He didn''t know what was happening inside that barrier, but he had a really bad feeling about this, as if he could feel that the people inside the barrier were facing death. This was too much to take in so suddenly.

    "Mom... Is dad going to kill him?" Nyx asked his mother.

    None of them had started eating, and now they didn''t have an appetite either.

    Nyx''s mother looked at him with a grave expression, her eyes reflecting concern and worry.

    "I hope not, Nyx," she replied softly. "Your father doesn''t want to resort to violence unless it''s absolutely necessary. But I fear that Caen''s actions may leave him no choice. It might be too much this time."

    She knew that if Ryder was forced to kill Caen, then this was going to break him. Even though he might not show it, Ryder still thought of Caen like family.

    As they continued to watch the nk screen, anxiety hung heavily in the air. The news channels had gone dark after Ryder''s sudden disappearance, leaving everyone in the room in suspense.

    "But why is Caen doing this after having so much power? Why is he misusing his abilities on mere mortals?" Nyx asked, trying to understand the motives behind his cousin''s destructive actions. "Is it really just for fun? How can killing innocent people be fun?"

    In response to his question, there was only silence. Even his mother didn''t know how to answer that question.

    The nk screen suddenly started showing visuals again. However, strangely enough, every headline about the recent incident had disappeared. They didn''t show any visuals anymore.

    Instead, the Anchors apologized to everyone watching the broadcasting, and told them that the news they showed wasn''t true, and that the video was fake and made to fool people.

    .....

    "Good. Make sure no news about this is broadcast. I''ll take care of everything else." In another ce, Ryder spoke on the phone, appearing right above the barrier dome.

 Chapter 699 699: Ruthless

    Since Ryder was the wealthiest and most influential person on earth, his words carried a lot of weight. A single sentence from him was enough for people to control all the news as he wants.

    Even truths were subverted, and this incident was covered as a prank. However, there was still a lot for Ryder to finish. He disconnected the call, and put the phone in his pocket.

    From high in the sky, he looked at the cops around the Barrier Dome, trying to gain an entry inside to save people.

    Some cops were even shooting at the barrier and using explosives, but nothing worked. The barrier was impossible to break using mortal means

    Ryder rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache. He didn''t want to manipte people, but he had no choice. He didn''t have the social fabric of the society on earth he destroyed so easily.

    The people of this world weren''t supposed to know of the supernatural. If they did, then he couldn''t even imagine the oue and he fear it could cause. Fortunately, the inciden was only limited to this area for now.

    Ryder''s eyes turned darker. An ancient divine energy surrounded his body. The energy spread out, shrouding all the cops and the people in the area.

    Within seconds, the entire city was covered under his abilities. All the cops, citizens or even the higher ups in this city that knew about this incident were controlled by Ryder.

    The people who were here were controlled andmanded to go back to their homes or work and forget everything that happened. On the other hand, the people who weren''t here simply had their memories erased.

    Ryder knew that manipting people''s minds like this was a dangerous game, but he believed it was the only way to protect the fragile bnce between the divine world and ordinary human society.

    He had seen the chaos that ensued when these two realms collided, and he feared what might happen if the truth got out. He liked earth for what it was, and didn''t want it to change.

    Once he was sure that everyone''s memories had been altered or erased, he descended from the sky andnded gracefully on the ground.

    All the people turned around like puppets, and walked away from this area. On the other hand, the cops kept their weapons and Explosives back. They got back in their cars and went back as well.

    The Air Force nes that were on the route to this ce also turned around, returning to their bases.

    Ryder took a deep breath, his heart heavy with the burden of the choices he had just made.

    He knew he had tampered with the natural order of things, and that always came with consequences. But he believed that it was necessary to prevent chaos.

    The city that was once bustling with life and energy now seemed eerily quiet, as if the very essence of its existence had been suppressed.

    The actions he was forced to take was nothingpared to the mess that Caen had caused. Ryder''s anger still hadn''t subsided.

    The small cube still remained in his hand. He casually tossed the cube high in the sky, after covering it with his Divinity to break the barrier before him.

    The Cube kept flying higher and higher, before it finally stopped and started the descent.

    As the cube came down, the Divine Energy around it only intensified, making it fierce to be reckoned with. However, strangely enough, that force was contained around the cube.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    The cube that was made from ordinary metal beingpressed had be something Divine.

    Soon, the Cube crashed on the barrier.

    The barrier that appeared unbreakable shattered like it was made from a fragile piece of ss. The impact caused a shockwave that rippled through the surrounding environment.

    The shockwave was so powerful that it caused buildings to tremble and windows to shatter, but as quickly as the force had erupted, it subsided. The barrier was gone.

    Inside the Barrier Dome, Ryder found a scene of devastation. The aftermath of Caen''s reckless actions was evident. Streets were littered with debris and overturned vehicles.

    Blood could be seen everywhere, as if bearing the witness of the tragic event that had taken ce here.

    On regr intervals, limbs of ordinary mortals could be seen, severed and scattered, as a haunting reminder of the chaos that unfolded.

    The once bustling area of the city nowy in ruins, its spirit crushed under the weight of destruction.

    Even though Ryder had expected something bad to happen, this sight was even beyond what he thought.As his heart sank, he couldn''t help but wonder how Caen could inflict such destruction upon mortals who couldn''t even protect themselves.

    How could a person enjoy this massacre?! How could someone who killed innocent Mortals be called a God?!

    He was angry when he came here, but now a trace of terrifying killing intent could be felt from him as he maneuvered through the wreckage, careful not to stumble upon any more remnants of the humans.

    The sky that used to be clear until recently had turned dark, shrouding in the dark clouds. Lightning cracked through the sky, illuminating the devastation below.

    The once vibrant streetsy in ruins, the echoes of screams and cries still haunting the air. He clenched his fists, pondering the sickening pleasure someone could derive from such destruction.

    The air turned freezing cold, having a trace of something inexplicable.

    .....

    Caen had just finished ying with the mortals. The sight was interesting, but he didn''t feel like it was enough.

    He stood up, preparing to leave, now that there was nothing fun left here. However, as soon as he stood up, he felt something strange.

    He suddenly looked up. The barrier broke right before his eyes, which stunned him. There was someone in the lower world who could break the barrier?

    An object fell right at his feet, causing the ground to tremble. Even Caen momentarily lost his bnce, finding himself in the middle of the crater with a metal cube before his feet.

 Chapter 700 700: You Caught My Little Gift?

    Looking at the Metal Cube, his frown deepened. He recognized this metal cube. It was something that he had tossed casually.

    He doesn''t expect someone to not only catch him, not to throw it back with an even greater force, enough to destroy the barrier. He didn''t expect there to be such strong people in this lower world which didn''t even have a trace of divinity in the surroundings.

    He raised his foot, stomping on the metal cube,pletely crushing it under his foot. The impact of his foot crushing down on the metal cube was so strong that it created powerful gusts of winds.

    The bodies that were lying in this area flew back helplessly, shing on the wall.

    Caen looked in a specific direction, feeling a certain presence which was quite strange. It was a presence that felt simr to his Uncle Janus, but for some reason, it felt even more heavy. The surroundings had turned cold.

    The sky was already covered in clouds, but asionally lightning could be seen shing in the sky, followed by a booming noise. Whenever lightning fell, the sky asionally brightened.

    Ryder stepped forward, his eyes glowing with a mix of anger and frustration. As he walked through the ruins and the lifeless bodies, he didn''t even flinch at the impact of Caen''s foot crushing the metal cube. However, the powerful gust of wind did make his long hair and his robe flutter.

    Caen narrowed his eyes as Ryder approached, his dark gaze fixed on the neer. Strangely enough, Caen couldn''t see through the man at all.

    At times, the man appeared like an ordinary mortal. While at other times, he appeared like a demon god who could destroy the world with a flick of his finger. This was a strange feeling that Caen didn''t receive even from his uncle.

    He didn''t know who the man was, but it was strange that there was such a strong person in this world and he didn''t even know about it. Ryder''s identity made him really curious, since Ryder clearly wasn''t from the Realm of Gods.

    Despite his initial anger and frustration, Ryder seemedposed and unshaken. There was a strange aura about him, an aura of someone who had faced numerous trials and battles. Caen couldn''t help but feel intrigued by this unexpected feeling he received from the man.

    Still, he wasn''t scared. Even if the man was strong, Caen had faith in his own abilities. Moreover, if he wanted, he could bring the entire Abyss here.

    "So, you''re the one who caught my little gift," Caen said, taking his foot off the crushed metal block, his voice smooth yet carrying an underlying tone of curiosity.

    Ryder didn''t respond immediately; instead, he surveyed the area, taking in the destruction caused by Caen.

    He could see two Nightmare Beasts. Their ws were covered in blood, along with their teeth. On the other hand, there were mortal bodies who died to those ws and fangs.

    The lifeless bodies scattered around them seemed to have been used for some kind of sick entertainment, and it only fueled Ryder''s anger.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    If Caen wasn''t the son of Chaos, he would''ve already killed him. However, he controlled his anger, thinking about Chaos'' sacrifice and Janus.

    "I don''t know what your purpose is here, but causing harm to innocent people is inexcusable," Ryder finally spoke, his voice firm and resolute.

    Caen smirked, seemingly amused by Ryder''s response. "Innocent? In this world, innocence is a mere illusion. They are merely pawns in the grand scheme of things. Isn''t it their privilege to be used by this Deity? But I suppose you won''t understand that, will you?"

    "I understand more than you think," Ryder shot back, a flicker of something unidentifiable crossing his eyes.

    As the two stood there, a tension began to build in the air, crackling like the lightning that asionally lit up the sky. Caen''s divine power pulsed around him, creating a formidable aura, while Ryder emanated an indomitable spirit that seemed to defy even the divine.

    Caen and Ryder faced each other, the air heavy with animosity and conflicting energies.

    The surrounding environment seemed to react to their sh of auras, intensifying the storm that raged overhead. Lightning continued to streak across the darkened sky, illuminating the battlefield briefly before plunging it back into darkness.

    Ryder''s eyes bore into Caen''s, as if seeing through the young man. He was no stranger to danger and conflict, having faced countless adversaries in his journey across worlds. He had seen the best and worst of beings, and he had learned that true strength wasn''t measured by raw power alone but also bypassion and empathy.

    Unfortunately, the person who stood before him was something akin to his own nephew. No matter how angry he was, he couldn''t kill him. If he did that, he didn''t know how he was going to answer Chaos if he ever returned.

    Caen, on the other hand, had lived a different life as the son of Chaos. He was raised in a realm where power and dominance were revered above all else. His growth was different.

    Thanks to badpany, Caen grew distant from his own family members, thinking that his own family members were against him. That''s why he didn''t learn any of the good qualities from his family.

    On one end, Ryder felt bad for Caen, who had to grow up being suspicious of his own family, even though his family never once tried to harm him. Thanks to that misunderstanding, his childhood waspletely opposite to what it was supposed to be like.

    Chaos'' absence and the responsibility of the next heir on Caen''s shoulder was another factor. Ryder knew that things would''ve been different if Chaos was there while Caen was growing, since he would never allow this.

    Caen had been conditioned to believe that the weak were expendable, mere tools for the ambitions of higher beings. This was exactly what Chaos had fought against... Yet his own son picked up that thinking.

 Chapter 701 701: No Self Identity

    ?

    His upbringing had forged him into a formidable warrior, but it had also left him with a cynical view of existence.

    The sh of ideologies and power could only lead to one oue¨C a battle of epic proportions. Ryder didn''t want that to happen, but he didn''t want to get involved either, since that was only going to make things worse.

    That''s why, he stayed away from everything rted to the Realm of Gods, only focusing on his own World and his children, giving them the best teaching he could. Even when Janus came and asked for his help, asking Nyx to put forth a im to the throne, Ryder refused.

    He knew his own son and didn''t want him to put his life on the line against his own brother. If Caen was an arrogant god who started from the top and considered everyone beneath him, then Nyx was the person who respected even the weakest, and started from the bottom.

    Even though Ryder owned the wealthiestpany on earth, Nyx grew up without any special privilege. Nyx continued his studies thanks to schrships. Moreover, when he grew up, he didn''t join his father''spany.

    Instead, he joined a much weakerpany, as an ordinary manager while keeping his real identity as the heir of the wealthiestpany a secret.

    Even now, Caen was working in that differentpany and was promoted thanks to his hard work and not because of his father''s name and influence.

    Caen looked at Ryder. He didn''t know why, but he wasn''t able to see the face of Ryder. All he could see was a blurry image before him for some reason. In that blurry image, only the eyes of the person were visible. And those eyes... They appeared to be filled with pity.

    Seeing those eyes, Caen couldn''t help but feel that the other person was looking down at him. The gaze filled with pity appeared to be mocking to him.

    "Are you looking at death?!" Caen asked as a trace of killing intent appeared in his eyes.

    "Death?" Ryder asked, letting out a sigh that seemed to rhyme with the worldlyws. "No. I''m looking at a child who is lost under the weight of his father''s glory...''

    "You..." Hearing the man talk about his father, Caen felt his lips twitch. "Then this lost child will send you to hell!"

    Without uttering another word, Caen lunged forward, his aura pulsating with divine might. He unleashed a barrage of energy attacks towards Ryder, each strike carrying the weight of his godly heritage. However, Ryder seemedpletely effortless as he evaded the attacks with nimble footwork.

    Ryder''s movements were like a dance, flowing effortlessly through Caen''s onught of divine power. His eyes remained locked onto Caen''s, calm and unwavering, as if he knew every move before it happened. With each dodge, Ryder appeared like a ghost, elusive and untouchable.

    Caen''s frustration grew as his attacks failed to connect, but he didn''t relent. He increased the intensity of his strikes, unleashing his full divine power, causing the ground to shake and cracks to form beneath his feet. But Ryder continued to evade with grace and poise.

    Caen didn''t use the abyss to his advantage, only fighting using his Divinity since he didn''t believe that he shouldn''t defeat the person with just his Divinity.

    "You''re not bad," Ryder said calmly amidst the chaos, "but you''re blinded by your own arrogance. Your father''s power may have shaped you, but you are not Chaos."

    "You had a choice to be something different, to break free from the chains that bind you to this destructive path. Unfortunately, you never selected that choice."

    "I heard your control over the Abyss is quite close to Chaos''. Why don''t you use that as well?" he asked.

    Caen''s mind was torn. On one hand, he was angry at Ryder''s words, feeling like the man was belittling him. On the other hand, there was a part of him that felt insulted.

    The man was indirectly saying that Caen was nothing more than his father''s shadow and he couldn''t win without using the inheritance of Abyss that he received from his father.

    The more Ryder asked for Caen to use the Abyss, the more Caen refused to use it. It was an inherent part of his nature to not do what others asked. That''s also why he never got along with Janus.

    As the battle continued, Caen started to notice something peculiar. Ryder wasn''t attacking back. He was only defending himself, effortlessly dodging Caen''s attacks without any intent to harm. It was as if he was trying to convey a message through his actions.

    "Why don''t you fight back?" Caen growled, momentarily halting his assault. "Are you looking down on me?"

    Ryder paused, meeting Caen''s gaze. "I don''t want to hurt you. I am here for a different reason."

    Caen''s anger red again, feeling like Ryder was mocking him with hisck of aggression. "Enough of your games! If you won''t fight, then consider yourself defeated!"

    With renewed fury, Caenunched an even more intense barrage of attacks, pouring all his energy into each strike. But no matter how fierce his assault, Ryder remained calm and elusive, a steady presence in the storm.

    Even Caen was stunned at how effortlessly Ryder was being. It was as if the difference in skills between the two was just too big, which didn''t make sense.

    He had the training in the realm of Gods as the heir to the throne. How could a person living on earth be more skilled than him? And why did he know his father? Caen couldn''t help but wonder if there really was no way to win other than by using the Abyss.

    Then, in a sudden shift of tactics, Ryder did something unexpected. Instead of dodging, he stepped forward into one of Caen''s strikes, allowing it to connect.

    Surprised, Caen watched as Ryder''s form shimmered for a moment, and the attack passed right through him, as if he was an illusion.

 702 Chapter 702: Battle of Divine

    702 Chapter 702: Battle of Divine

    "You are using trickery?" Caen asked, his eyes narrowing with a frown.

    "It''s no trick," Ryder replied calmly. "I have no intention of fighting you, and yet, I won''t let you harm anyone here either. So I can only show you how helpless you are here.... Leave if you don''t want to force my hand, because I won''t allow you to hurt any other mortal on earth."

    Even though he would''ve killed Caen because of what the young man did here, thinking about Caen''s family, he controlled his rage and only tried to teach the young brat a lesson that there were ces that he couldn''t approach.

    Ryder''s eyes narrowed, understanding Caen''s meaning. Caen was trying to trap him between a rock and a hard ce.

    He couldn''t allow the Abyssal Beasts to wreak havoc on Earth, but he also didn''t want to engage in a destructive battle with Caen, especially since the young man seemed to be consumed by anger and arrogance.

    Still if he had to choose between one, he knew what he had to choose.

    "You''re treading on a dangerous path, Caen," Ryder warned, his voice carrying a sense of authority. "Using the lives of innocent people as leverage is not something I can stand by and watch."

    Caen''s smirk only grew wider. "Then show this Deity what you''ve got. Prove that you''re not just all talk, that you can back up your words with action."

    Ryder sighed, disappointed that it hade to this. He had hoped for a peaceful resolution, but it seemed Caen was too far gone in his arrogance to see reason.

    "If it''s a fight you want, then a fight you shall have," Ryder said calmly, the intense energy around him transforming into a burning aura.

    With that deration, Ryder stepped forward, his movements more deliberate and focused. This time, he didn''t focus on dodging only. Instead, he had made up his mind. He had to teach his arrogant nephew a lesson that he was never going to forget.

    As Ryder stepped forward, the ground trembled beneath him, and a powerful surge of energy emanated from his being. His eyes glowed with a fierce determination, and his once calm demeanor transformed into that of a formidable warrior.

    Caen''s expressions faltered for a moment as he sensed the change in Ryder''s aura. However, he quickly regained hisposure, refusing to show any sign of weakness.

    "Finally, you''re showing some spine," he sneered, conjuring dark energy around his own body.

    The two stood facing each other, surrounded by an air of tension that seemed to affect the very fabric of reality around them.

    Caen charged first, propelled by his anger and arrogance,unching a barrage of dark energy attacks toward Ryder. The sinister sts streaked through the air, aiming to engulf Ryder in their malevolent power.

    Ryder''s eyes remained focused and steady. He moved with an almost ethereal grace, sidestepping the dark attacks effortlessly. As the energy sts passed him harmlessly, he countered with waves of golden light that met Caen''s attacks head-on, neutralizing them one by one.

    Their battle danced between light and dark, between the unyielding determination of Ryder and rage of Caen. Caen''s arrogance had clouded his judgment but he didn''t underestimate Ryder''s true strength.

    As the battle raged on, Ryder found opportunities tomunicate with Caen amidst the chaos.

    "You think power alone will earn you respect and dominance?" he called out, his voice carrying a mix of sadness and wisdom. "True strength lies not in the ability to harm others but in the restraint to protect and preserve life."

    "From where I''m standing, you''re weaker than an ordinary mortal on earth in many ways... Much weaker.*

    Caen''s attacks intensified, fueled by anger and frustration. "I don''t need your lectures! The only things I received in my life are lectures from people who think they are better than me, just because they are older! But they forget who I am!"

    The surrounding area kept getting destroyed in the battle between Caen and Ryder. The Abyssal Energy spread everywhere, even infiltrating Ryder''s body, but he didn''t show anychange.

    Ryder shook his head, still parrying each strike with measured precision. "Blinded by your thirst for power, you fail to see the bigger picture. There are consequences to your actions, and you must learn to face them."

    The battle continued, but it was against Caen''s expectations. Surprisingly, he was being pushed back even when he used the Powers of Abyss! He had never felt this feeling ever since hest faced a Janus, but even from that long onwards, he had only gotten stronger.

    Even after that, he couldn''t push Ryder back, who still appeared effortless. He couldn''t understand who this man was. Why was he as strong as Janus?

    ''No, he''s even stronger. What''s his identity?!''

    In a moment of frustration, Caen unleashed a devastating attack, attempting to overwhelm Ryderpletely.

    But Ryder, with a calm resolve, summoned an imprable barrier of light that repelled the onught. The shockwave from the collision sent debris flying in all directions, but the barrier held strong.

    "You can''t win this way, Caen," Ryder said firmly. "Power without wisdom is meaningless."

    Caen hesitated for a moment, a flicker of doubt crossing his eyes. But he quickly shook it off, pushing his powers further to the limit.

    "I''ll never back down! I won''t be lectured by the likes of you!" he shouted,unching a final, all-out assault.

    Ryder let out a sigh. He could see that words weren''t working on Caen. And since the earth was being kept hostage, he didn''t want to take it lightly as well. Even though he could protect Earth from Abyss, the harm it could cause was too much.

    While Ryder was still hesitating if he should actually hurt Caen, his eyes shifted momentarily, noticing something in the distance.

    Near a wall, he could see a small doll lying on the ground. Next to the doll was a body... The body of a little girl who had barely learned to walk. Even a child wasn''t spared by Caen.

 Chapter 703 703: Consequences

    ?

    A surge of anger washed over Ryder as he saw the lifeless form of the innocent child. His heart pounded with a mixture of sorrow and fury, solidifying his resolve.

    Seeing the lifeless little girl, he couldn''t remember the days when his own daughter was younger. He couldn''t even imagine what he would''ve been like if it was his daughter in that ce. This was truly a behavior that only demons could''ve had.

    His expressions faltered as he looked towards the dark sky. "I am sorry, but I can''t hold back anymore... Even if it''s your son..."

    Ryder and Caen were already so fast that the other young god''s couldn''t even see their figures. They could only see rubble asionally flying after each of their shes. However, what happened next stunned even them.

    They saw a figure helplessly flying back, crashing on the wall of a building. The walls broke yet the figure didn''t stop. The person passed through the entire building, leaving holes in every wall he came in contact with, before falling on the ground on the other side.

    The person who fell was none other than Caen. Initially, Ryder''s speed was the same as his. However, suddenly his speed increased so much that it was as if he had be a ghost.

    The aura around Ryder had changed. His eyes were filled with a bright blue light, radiating an intense energy that crackled in the air around him. The wind seemed to swirl and bend around Ryder as he stood up, his body emanating a seemingly unstoppable power.

    Strangely enough, his aura waspletely different from anything he had ever seen before. It was as if some ancient power was coursing through his body. A power that was different yetparable to his power of Abyss.

    Before Caen could stand up, thousands of bright shackles came out of the group, wrapping around his hands and feet, holding him back on the ground.

    Ryder''s eyes that used to be filled with hesitation now had clear killing intent.

    "You think this can stop me?" Caen roared. He pulled his left hand, breaking the shackle. However, just as he was about to free his right hand as well, Ryder appeared next to him.

    Before Caen could free his right hand, a foot came crashing down on his elbow. Caen''s arm was filled with his Divinity. Even a bullet couldn''t leave the slightest of scratch on his skin, let alone a sword. Despite that, he felt his bones crack under Ryder''s feet.

    Caen roared in pain, but beforehe could even speak anything,the shackles once again appeared and pulled his left hand back to the ground as well. He couldn''t react in time, and Ryder stomped on his left hand, breaking his other arm as well.

    "I will kill you!" Caen shouted through gritted teeth, his voice filled with rage and determination.

    Ryder didn''t answer. But the next moment, a foot fell on Caen''s left knee as well, breaking one of his legs.

    "Your arms and legs can''t make up for the lives that were lost because of you. I should grant you death. But no matter how much I want to... I still think about your family. So this shall be yourst reminder. When I toss you out of this world, if you ever return, I''ll kill you myself!"

    As Ryder spoke, he stomped on Caen''s other knee as well, breaking it. Usually Caen could heal his arms and legs right away, but Ryder also realized it. That''s why, everything he broke Caen''s hands and legs, he left a trace of his own aura inside Caen.

    Thanks to his aura, Caen couldn''t use his Divine Abilities to instantly heal his legs and arms. They could only heal slowly like a mortal''s hands or legs healed.

    "Since you don''t consider mortals as anything more than insects, then you shall be in pain like those insects!"

    Ryder made sure that this wasn''t all the punishment. Thanks to his aura, even when Caen healed his arms and legs, he was always going to feel the pain that he felt now at regr intervals.

    Caen writhed in agony on the ground, his body broken and wracked with pain. Ryder stood tall, his eyes still aze with that ancient, unyielding power.

    The other young gods who had been witnessing the battle stood in stunned silence, their hearts heavy with fear. They couldn''t help but wonder about the identity of the person before them.

    They all wanted to know who this person was. How could there be a person in a lower world who wasparable to Janus and stronger than Caen? How was it possible?

    In their entire life, they had only heard about one such person who wasn''t from the Realm of Gods but was said to possess powersparable to Chaos.

    "Ezekiel?" They all looked at each other in shock. That was the only person who was said to be this strong. However, from what they remembered, Ezekiel was killed a long time ago. So how could the person before them be Ezekiel?

    Moreover, Ezekiel was said to be a demon. Ryder didn''t look like a demon, unless he was in disguise. They wanted to know the answer, but they didn''t have the courage to ask.

    Even though Ryder didn''t look like a Demon, but his performance and ruthlessness had been nothing less than that of a demon.

    With each passing moment, Caen''s attempts to heal his injuries were thwarted by Ryder''s lingering aura. The pain never subsided, a constant reminder of the suffering he had inflicted on others.

    Ryder''s wrath was not only physical; it was a calcted and psychological torment, making sure Caen could bear the weight of his actions for a long time toe.

    Unfortunately, Ryder didn''t stop here. The shackles freed Caen. Ryder grabbed Caen by his throat, raising him in the air. The grip tightened, cutting off Caen''s air supply as Ryder''s eyes burned with a menacing rage.

 Chapter 704 704: Busy

    Chapter704 704: Busy

    Caen had never suffered this humiliation, even when he fought against Janus in his younger years. It was as if he was standing against a mountain, who remained unaffected by everything he tossed at him.

    Even after all that, Caen was only filled with hatred for Ryder.

    "Close the portals and get out of this world, and I''ll let you leave. That''s thest bit of consideration I''ll give you because of your family." Ryder''s grip kept getting tighter around Caen''s throat who couldn''t even use his hands or legs at the moment to fight back or attack Caen.

    Caen was going crazy in anger. He was so angry that he wanted to have all the Abyssal Beasts rush over to this world and raze it to the ground right before Ryder''s eyes.

    As if feeling Caen''s emotions, the two Abyssal Beasts that Caen had called forth to kill the mortals also felt hatred for Ryder. Without a second thought, they both jumped at Ryder, one intending to bite his leg while the other intending to rip his head off.

    Unfortunately, as soon as the two beasts came closer, they saw Ryder turn around. Ryder''s eyes fell on the beasts, making the beasts feel as if they were facing death itself. Before they could even react, they felt a burning sensation inside their body.

    In the fraction of a second, both their bodies exploded, their ck blood sshing everywhere. The groups of blood that sshed towards Ryder was stopped by a barrier along the way. His clothes remainedpletely untouched.

    He turned his attention back to Caen, who still hadn''t been able to move a single finger. Caen waspletely helpless, even with his Divinity since his instant healing was interrupted.

    "I will leave!" Caen spoke with clenched teeth, feeling a humiliation like never before. He could have the Abyssal Beasts destroy half this world, but it was clear that before going to deal with the Abyssal Beasts, Ryder was going to kill him.

    If he could at least move his hands and fight back, he wouldn''t have worried, but he was quite helpless at the moment. He noted down this hatred deep in his heart. Even if not now, he swore to himself that he was going to destroy Ryder!

    Ryder took a deep breath, calming down the turmoil in his heart. So many innocent people had lost their lives because of Caen, but he was still letting him go. This was a strange feeling, but deep inside, Caen was also his family.

    "This will be yourst chance." Ryder tossed Caen towards the other Young Gods who were just watching from a distance like spectators.

    The Young Gods approached Caen, and some of them helped him up. The others opened a portal to another Lower World. At the moment, the most important thing was for Caen to recover. They also didn''t want to be in the presence of Ryder, worried that Ryder might change his mind and kill them.

    With others'' help, Caen barely stood on the ground, feeling the pain coursing through his body.

    He looked up at the Young Gods who had helped him, but there was no gratitude in his eyes, only simmering resentment. With their support, he managed to be on his feet, though his body still felt weak and battered from the encounter.

    As the portal to another Lower World shimmered before him, Caen''s eyes revealed lots of hatred and blood list. Ryder''s face was deeply imprinted in his heart.

    Part of him wanted to stay and face Ryder again, to prove that he was not defeated, but he knew that would be foolish. Ryder was on a level of power that Caen had never encountered before, and his current state was in no shape to challenge him again.

    With a bitter taste in his mouth, Caen finally stepped through the portal, disappearing from that world with the other Young Gods.

    The spatial portal soon closed. The Young Gods were long gone. However, strangely enough, the portals connectingto the Abyss on the sky were stillpletely clear.

    Ryder turned his attention to the open portals, his gaze narrowing with concern. He wondered if Caen wasn''t going to kill the Abyssal Portals in anger. If that was the case, he made up his mind that he was going to find the young man again and drag him back.

    However, before that, he knew he had to act quickly to prevent the Abyssal Beasts from entering Earth. Caen might have left, but the threat still remained. Ryder clenched his fists, ready to face whatever came through those portals.

    But just as he prepared himself for another battle, a surprising turn of events took ce. The portals that connected to the Abyss started flickering, and then, one by one, they closed on their own. It was as if an unseen force was shutting them down.

    "Even though he''s stubborn, it looks like he still keeps his promise." Ryder let out a sigh. For a god, a promise they made was like thew of the world. If they went against their own promise, then it was no Despite all the hatred and anger, Caen had chosen not to unleash the Abyssal Beasts upon the world to keep his promise.

    different than going against their own existence, which was no different than destroying their Divinity with their own hands.

    Despite all the hatred and anger, Caen had chosen not to unleash the Abyssal Beasts upon the world to keep his promise.

    Even though the immediate problems were solved, there was still a lot of mess left to deal with. It was clear that the news couldn''t be suppressed anymore. Portals in the sky appeared all over the world. Anyone could have seen them. The entire situation was nothing less than a headache.

    "Looks like I''ll be quite busy in the next few days." He rubbed the back of his head in frustration

    The area of this city was also in a mess. The once lively city was now no different than a Graveyard. Bodies could be seen all around the ce.

 Chapter 705 705: I wanted to

    Chapter705 705: I wanted to

    Ryder walked towards the body of the little girl. He sat on his knees before the girl whose blood-covered doll was right next to her.

    "I am sorry. I couldn''t get you justice. Even though I talk about justice, at the end of the day, I''m still biassed towards people rted to me..." Ryder softly muttered, knowing that this was his biggest weakness.

    Even if Caen killed so many innocent people, he didn''t want to kill him. After all, the young man was the only child of Chaos.

    "Since I let him leave alive, I will carry his sins. If you all want to me anyone, then me me."

    Ryder stayed there for a moment, paying his respects to the innocent lives lost in the chaos caused by Caen''s actions. He closed the little girl''s eyes gently, offering a silent prayer for her and the other souls that departed too soon.

    Not a single person in this ce was left alive. The only thing he could do was take care of their bodies. His Divinity covered the entire city in an instant. All the bodies that were left there slowly turned into the specks of light, merging with the nature.

    At the same time, their souls were sent into the Cycle of Reincarnation.

    After dealing with the bodies, with a heavy heart, Ryder stood up and turned his attention to the devastated city.

    He knew he had to act quickly to prevent further harm and restore some semnce of order. Utilizing his divine powers, he began to mend the broken structures in the area, all the marks of battle slowly disappeared as the surroundings returned to their usual look.

    All the blood in that area was cleaned. Not a single speck of blood was left behind.

    Ryder''s focus shifted from the immediate surroundings to the broader picture. He knew that the news of the portals would spread like wildfire across the world. And this happening right after the viral video about the Caen was even worse. At the moment, it was hard to make anyone believe that it was a prank.

    He knew that people would be scared, confused, and seeking answers. He couldn''t allow chaos to spread even further.

    As he looked around at the city, Ryder felt a weight on his shoulders. He had always tried to protect his home and the peace from any external threats, but now it seemed like the threats were emerging from within.

    The idea that gods were meddling with the human world and causing such devastation filled him with frustration, especially since the god responsible for this was his own nephew.

    Making a decision, Ryder used his divine powers tomunicate with the leaders of various nations across the globe. He appeared before them in a form that they couldprehend, to reassure them.

    He could once again use his Divinity to erase everyone''s memories, but this time it was moreplicated. He had to cover the entire world in his Divinity and if he did that, this was going to break the bnce of this world.

    If the bnce of the world was broken, the bnce of elements was going to be broken, and many people might wake up with abilities due to the bnce being broken.

    This was no different than shoving this world in even more chaos, since no one could control just what kind of people were going to get benefits of this.

    If that didn''t happen, then another possibility was for earth to be apletely barrennd. He didn''t want this world to be shoved in chaos like many other worlds where this happened in the past, like the Nether Realm.

    Usually, not many people in this world knew about his real identity. However, it was time toe out.

    At the same time, he appeared before all the Global Leaders, who were trying to find what the portals were about. All the nations were getting ready for a war against the unknown enemy.

    Ryder appeared before them and tried to calm down. On such arge scale, this news could only be suppressed by the leaders of various Nations.

    Ryder gave the leaders of the world a brief exnation about the existence of Godly Beings.

    He informed them of the battle that had taken ce and how Caen was responsible for summoning the Abyssal Beasts. He made it clear that Caen had been dealt with, and the immediate threat had been neutralised.

    The world leaders were initially sceptical and wary of Ryder''s ims, but his disy of power and the sudden disappearance of the Abyssal Portals convinced them that he was speaking the truth.

    They agreed to keep the events a secret from the general public for the time being, while they worked on strengthening security and cooperation between nations to face any future threats.

    At the same time, all the Leaders were horrified by Ryder, but they didn''t reveal it.

    In the aftermath of the chaos, Ryder didn''t rest.

    As days passed, Earth began to recover from the ordeal. The news about the portals was slowly suppressed. And the people who even talked about seeing the Portals were called conspiracy theorists.

    Even most of the people who saw the portals in the sky started doubting their own thoughts.

    But deep down, many people knew that what they had witnessed was real. They couldn''t shake the sense of unease that lingered within them.

    There were whispers in dark corners and secret meetings held, as these individuals sought to uncover the truth behind the portals. Meanwhile, Ryder returned to his home, finally sighting in relief.

    He felt bad for the people who were termed as Crazy. However, that only made things easier for him. If they were all gathered and identified, he could erase their memories of the incident and make things return to normal.

    So he let the governments continue their actions and search.

    "Did you kill him?" As soon as Ryder sat down, his son appeared behind him, asking a simple question.

    "I wanted to," Ryder answered honestly. "Despite that, I couldn''t... I couldn''t get myself to kill him. Sometimes rtionships are soplex and filled with conflicting emotions. It''s difficult to make sense of it all."

 Chapter 706 706: Unknown Temple

    Chapter706 706: Unknown Temple

    "Will he return then?" Nyx asked his father, wondering if a thing like that was going to be repeated again. Many people had lost their lives this time and the world was turned upside down.

    "I hope he won''t," Rydermented. "Because next time, I won''t be able to hold back."

    He had already given Caen an opportunity. If the young man still didn''t listen, then he could only take drastic steps.

    ....

    In another Lower World, Caen and the Young Gods came out from the portal which closed behind them.

    The Young Gods helped Caen sit with the support of the tree.

    "Can you still not heal yourself?" One of the Young Gods asked.

    Caen red in response. If he could heal himself, why would he be walking with the support of other people?

    He couldn''t understand either. How was it that he wasn''t able to heal himself?! He could go back to the Realm of Gods and ask his mother for help, but he didn''t want to reveal his weak side to his mother, so he dropped the n.

    He was the next King. He couldn''t let anyone know that he was beaten to the point that he couldn''t even walk.

    Even though his bones were broken and he felt constant pain, he didn''t reveal it on his face.

    Caen took a deep breath, trying to gather his thoughts and hide the pain he felt from the Young Gods around him. As the next King, he knew he had to maintain an aura of strength and confidence, even in the face of adversity.

    "I''ll be fine. It''s only a matter of time before I heal myself," Caen finally replied, his voice strained but determined. "We have more pressing matters to attend to."

    He looked around at the Lower World they had arrived in. Thendscape was deste, with dark clouds looming overhead, and an eerie silence that hung in the air. Only a few trees were left and even those trees appeared to be rotten.

    No matter what, this ce was temporarily their home, and he didn''t want to leave until healing.

    The Young Gods exchanged concerned nces but respected Caen''s decision not to dwell on his injuries. They understood the weight of his responsibilities and the need for urgency.

    The reason they hade to this Lower World was to get away from Ryder...the Monster that they never expected to be hiding in a mortal world.

    Almost all of them had the same question. Just who was that guy? And where did hee from? They wanted to ask Caen, but they felt that even Caen didn''t know that.

    They also realized that talking about that person before Caen was no less than seeking death. He was just beaten by that person. His thoughts were all over the ce, and talking to him about Ryder could only anger him.

    They all pretended as if nothing had happened.

    On Caen''smands, the Young Gods left him behind to go search for a good ce to stay in this lower world.

    Caen was left behind, looking at his hands. He still couldn''t move them. Even moving a single finger was hard, since whenever he tried, Ryder''s Chaotic Energy coursed through his body, making it even harder for him.

    He looked at the sky above. "I don''t know who you are, butI promise I will return this favor to you very soon... I will kill you with my own hands! I will destroy the pathetic world, to protect which you even went against me! I will take everything from you!"

    As Caen clenched his fists, a surge of rage filled him.

    ****

    The Young Gods ventured deeper into the destendscape when one of them felt a strange energy pulsating through the air. It was as if the very fabric of the world had been disrupted by something.

    Even they didn''t know where this Lower World was, since there was no information about it. In their hurry to get out of that ce, they only looked for the closest Lower Realm World.

    The Young Gods were vignt, their eyes darting around, prepared for any potential threats. But what they found was something they hadn''t expected.

    Amidst the ruins of what appeared to be a once-magnificent city, they stumbled upon an ancient temple. Its grandeur was still evident, even in its ruined state. The temple seemed to emit a faint glow, drawing them in like moths to a me.

    Fortunay''s curiosity got the better of him, overshadowing the caution.

    "Let''s investigate," he said, mustering his resolve. "There''s something about this ce."

    The other Young Gods also agreed with him. They thought about going back and telling Caen about this ce, but they eventually dropped the n.

    If this ce really had something worth their interest, they wanted to see and take it first.

    As they stepped cautiously into the temple, they discovered inscriptions and symbols adorning the walls, depicting a strange scenery of this world.

    Fortunay, with his deep knowledge of the Realm of Gods, recognized some of the symbols as ancient runes used by the Elder Gods themselves.

    The thought made him stunned. Why would thisnguage be in a lower world that appeared to be abandoned? Moreover, what were the symbols that he couldn''t understand? It was as if thenguage was even more ancient than he had thought.

    "This ce seems very interesting," one of the Young Gods remarked, awe-struck by the ancient knowledge preserved within the temple.

    "This ce seems to be rted to the Realm of Gods," Elysia stated.

    Fortunay nodded, intrigued but also wary. "What a pity that I can''t understand anything more than a few letters."

    The Young Gods continued to explore the ancient temple, each step filling them with a mix of excitement and trepidation.

    The inscriptions and symbols on the walls seemed to narrate a forgotten history, a story lost in the annals of time. They had stumbled upon something that held great significance, but they couldn''t fully grasp its meaning without deciphering the ancientnguage.

 Chapter 707 707: Greed

    ?

    Elysia ran her fingers gently over the ancient runes, her curiosity piqued. "We should find a way to trante this. Who knows what secrets it holds?"

    Fortunay agreed, his mind racing with possibilities. "I might not fully understand it, but I can try to record as much as I can. Maybe in the future, someone from the Realm of Gods will be able to decipher this better."

    As they moved further into the temple, they came across an enormous chamber. From the beginning, they had maintained caution but they didn''te across any traps, which surprised them even more.

    All of them entered the Chamber, one after another.

    At its center was an altar, and on top of ity a peculiar artifact - a gemstone unlike any they had seen before. The gemstone emitted a soft, ethereal glow, pulsating with energy.

    Eris, the most impulsive among them, couldn''t resist reaching out to touch it. "This is amazing! I can feel its power."

    But as her fingers made contact with the gemstone, an unexpected surge of energy shot through her body, causing her to stagger back in surprise. The gemstone''s glow intensified, and the entire chamber seemed to respond to her touch.

    "Be careful!" Fortunay warned. "Don''t touch anything here!"

    Eris frowned, her excitement tempered by caution. "What do you think it does?"

    "I can''t say for certain," Fortunay replied, "but it must have some significance tied to this in this temple. We shouldn''t take it lightly. It might even be a trap. Don''t move out of its ce for now."

    Before they could delve further into the gemstone''s mysteries, a deep rumble shook the temple. Dust and debris fell from the ceiling, and the Young Gods realized that their exploration might have triggered something ancient and powerful.

    It was toote for Eris to be cautious since she had already touched it.

    "We should leave," Elysia suggested urgently. "If this ce copses, we won''t stand a chance."

    "The walls are made from something that even our Divinity can''t stop. This ce is definitely made by an Ancestor of the Forgotten Era. Even our Divinity is restricted now!"

    Reluctantly, most of the young gods stepped away from the mysterious gemstone and quickly made their way back to the temple entrance.

    Fortunay was thest person left behind. However, he didn''t follow after the others. His eyes shifted to the gem in the distance.

    "To hell with it! Not like we can return here! The trap is already triggered as well!" He ran toward the Gem. His heart pounded with a mix of excitement and apprehension as he reached out to touch the gem.

    He didn''t touch the gem this time, and directly kept it in his Spatial storage, before running away to catch up with the other young gods. No one saw him take the gem.

    As most of them reached the exit, the ground beneath their feet trembled violently, and the temple started crumbling around them.

    Without hesitation, they sprinted through the copsing ruins. The temple seemed determined to bury its secrets, and the Young Gods knew they had to escape before it was toote.

    The Young Gods pushed their limits, using everything to leap over debris and dodge falling stones. The ground shook beneath them, and the roar of copsing walls echoed in their ears. The temple was falling apart rapidly, and they had to get out before they were buried alive.

    Fortunay''s heart pounded as he ran, keeping the mysterious gemstone securely in his Spatial storage. He knew that what he did might have consequences, but the allure of the artifact was too strong to resist. He couldn''t bear leaving behind something so ancient and powerful without knowing its true purpose.

    Finally, with a burst of divine speed, they made it out of the crumbling temple just in time. The structure copsed behind them, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust and debris. The Young Gods were gasping for breath, relieved to have escaped the copsing ruin.

    "What were you thinking, Fortunay?" Elysia scolded him. "You took the Gem, didn''t you?"

    It wasn''t hard for her to guess why Fortunay was sote to catch up to them. She knew him better than anyone and understood what might have dyed him.

    "Because of your momentary greed, you could''ve been buried under the temple!" She eximed, as if scolding the man before her.

    Fortunay''s expression was a mix of relief and fascination. He didn''t mind her sharp words. He was only happy that he brought something so special with him.

    "I couldn''t help it. There was something about it that called to me, as if it held answers to questions we haven''t even thought of yet."

    Eris, who had touched the gemstone earlier, looked at him with a mixture of envy and anger. "All that after you told me to not touch it. So shameless!"

    Unfortunately, she couldn''t do anything about it.

    They decided to put some distance between themselves and the copsing temple before taking a moment to catch their breath. The gravity of their discovery sank in, and they couldn''t help but wonder just what this temple was, that even their Divinity was restricted inside suddenly.

    What was even more surprising was the fact that the Temple came crashing down as soon as the gem was touched. Most of them wondered about the person who made this ce, wondering its purpose.

    "Should we inform Caen about this?" Elysia suggested. "He might know about the temple and the gemstone."

    "No," Fortunay interjected. "Not yet. Let''s find a safe ce to rest first. We''ll need to take time to understand the ancient inscriptions and symbols on the walls and decipher their meaning. We found this treasure."

    "We should find a way to use it ourselves instead of handing it over to someone else," he further added. "As the heir, it''s not like hecks any treasures. So why don''t we keep this to ourselves this time."

    The greed in his eyes was clearly visible.

 Chapter 708 Seen

    708 Chapter 708: Seen

    The other Young Gods exchanged uncertain nces, torn between their loyalty to Caen and their desire to explore the potential power of the mysterious gemstone. Fortunay''s words resonated with them, and they couldn''t deny the allure of possessing such an ancient artifact.

    Elysia spoke up, her voice tinged with concern, "I understand your curiosity, but we shouldn''t be too hasty. This gemstone might be connected to the temple, and taking it without proper understanding could bring unforeseen consequences."

    Another Young God chimed in, "She''s right. We should be cautious. Remember what happened when I touched it? We don''t even know how it works or what it can do."

    "Are you all crazy?" Eris scoffed in disbelief. "This isn''t an opportunity that we get often. Don''t you want to get stronger? Do you always want to be treated like a weakling. Why did we find it? Why wasn''t Caen with us when we did? It was because this was our fate!"

    "Our fate led us here without Caen, before it wanted us to possess this and get stronger!" She further eximed. "Don''t be stupid and think about returning it! You would be wasting such a precious opportunity!"

    "I agree. So far, Caen doesn''t know what we found. Moreover, thews of this world are weak so he can''t sense it either, at least not in his current condition. We should take this opportunity. You all would be too dumb if you disagree."

    The other young gods exchanged nces. Most of them were already agreeing with Fortunay. And the rest were still torn between loyalty and greed.

    In the end, their greed took over. However, they didn''t want to think of it as betrayal. To justify it to their conscience, they gave themselves a different reason.

    They started to convince themselves that if they went back to Caen without concrete answers, it might just stir more trouble and distract him from his current mission of healing and revenge.

    In the end, all of the Young Gods agreed to keeping it a secret. Moreover, it was decided that the gem was going to stay in Fortunay''s possession since he was the one who brought it. However, all of them were allowed to study it.

    Aftering to a basic agreement of cooperation, things calmed down for the moment.

    Fortunay stood up, and observed the rubble of the temple. Just for the sake of it, he kept a small piece of the rubble in his storage as well, but sure if he was ever going to need it. He kept the piece which had one of the words from that ancientnguage.

    After everything was settled, they once again resumed their search of the Deste Land for a ce to stay.

    ****

    As they continued to explore the deste Lower World, they eventually found a hidden cave that seemed good enough to rest in.

    The hidden cave wasn''t easy to find unless one was lucky. In fact, it was aplete coincidence for them to discover it.

    They all wondered if they were going to find something good inside the cave like the temple, since it was certainly that one of the Ancient Gods hade here in the era that was forgotten.

    Even after they searched the entire ce, they couldn''t find anything at all. This cane was as empty as it could be.

    The only thing that was peculiar were the marks on the floor, as if something heavy was kept there, or moved from ce to ce. Unfortunately, they couldn''t guess what that was.

    It was long in the past after all, and no signs other than the marks on the ground were left behind. Only one thing was certain. It was that once upon a time, someone lived here.

    Fortunay carefully took out the gemstone andid it on the ground before the Young Gods. They all gathered around it, their divine senses trying to glean any information they could.

    "It''s like nothing I''ve ever felt before," Eris whispered, her eyes fixed on the gemstone. "It''s as if it contains a vast reservoir of energy, but it''s dormant."

    Fortunay nodded. "Indeed. I appears like it''s sleeping, waiting for the right trigger or condition to awaken its power."

    Elysia fingers hovered over the inscriptions on the gemstone. She didn''t touch the gemstone, feeling as if it was dangerous.

    "These symbols... I can''t fullyprehend them, but I remember seeing something simr in the Realm of Gods."

    "You saw the symbols on this gemstone? Where?" Fortunay asked, taken aback. Even Elysia shifted her attention to Eris.

    "Not these exact symbols, but something very close," Eris replied.

    "Doesn''t matter!" Fortunay eximed, getting eager. "Tell us where you saw it. If we can establish a proper link, we might be able to understand it more."

    Their collective curiosity was now a burning desire to unlock the secrets hidden within the gemstone. They knew that studying it in-depth and unlocking the mysteries of this gem could yield something unimaginable.

    "It was in the Pce, when I visited with my father," the woman answered.

    "Caen''s house?" Fortunay frowned. That was the ce they all collectively called the pce. "Where in the Pce?"

    "In the throne room," Eris replied. "There is a portrait near the throne."

    "The Portrait of Lord Chaos," Elysia stated. That was the only portrait they had seen that belonged to Caen''s father. Other than that, no known portraits were avable publicly.

    Curiosity piqued, Fortunay and Elysia exchanged intrigued nces before urging Eris to borate on the portrait further.

    Eris hesitated for a moment, before exining, "In the Portrait, Lord Chaos has a sword as well. Symbols simr to this were on the Sword."

    "The sword?" Fortunay frowned. He had also been to the Pce, but he never really paid attention to the Sword in the portrait. Let alone him, almost no one paid attention to the Sword since anyone who saw the portrait was only focused on the man in the portrait.

    "Are you sure that''s what you saw?" One of the Young Gods asked, realizing the gravity of the situation. If her words were true, that meant that Chaos and these Gemstones had some connection.

 Chapter 709 709: Vision: Heart

    Chapter709 709: Vision: Heart

    This wasn''t something they could ignore. Chaos was known to be the stronger being in existence after all. Anything rted to him was bound to be world defying.

    They were also certain that the temple where this gemstone was found was created a long time ago, before even Chaos was born. That further meant that this gem didn''t belong to Chaos.

    This gem, and Chaos, both had a threat that connected them to something. They just don''t know what this unified thread is connected to.

    Still, with the new information, they were more eager than ever to uncover the mysteries of the gem, to the point that they even forgot about Caen or the task to explore this world

    Over the following days, they dedicated themselves to understanding the ancient runes and symbols.

    They understood that to know the gem, they needed to know the ce that it was kept in.

    That''s why, fortunay brought out the book in which he had noted all the ancient inscriptions that were carved on the wall.

    Initially, he wanted to hand this over to the High Council, but that was before he found the gemstone. Now, he didn''t want anyone else to know about it.

    He and the others used their knowledge of the Realm of Gods to cross-reference the inscriptions with ancient texts they had studied.

    Slowly, they began to piece together fragments of the forgotten history and the potential significance of the gemstone.

    Unfortunately, what they could understand was only a tiny fraction of the inscriptions.

    Hours turned into days as the Young Gods continued their study of the gemstone and the ancient inscriptions.

    Their knowledge and understanding of the forgotten history deepened, but they were still far fromprehending the full extent of the gem''s power and significance. Each day, they grew more captivated by the enigmatic artifact, their eagerness to unlock its secrets driving them forward.

    Elysia was the one who made the most progress in deciphering the inscriptions. Her insight into the ancientnguage helped her even more.

    As she pieced together more information, she became increasingly convinced that the gemstone was not merely a source of power, but something even more profound¡ªa key. She just didn''t know what this was a key for.

    She kept tranting the inscriptions to understand more.

    Fortunay, on the other hand, focused on finding connections between the gemstone and Chaos. He became obsessed with understanding the rtionship between the two, convinced that this connection could lead them to the source of the gem''s power.

    He also wondered if this gemstone was the secret behindChaos'' sudden rise. If that was the case, then he could be the next Supreme God once he uncovered the secrets, or so he thought.

    As he delved deeper into his research, he noticed that some of the inscriptions referred to the gemstone as the "Heart of Eternity."

    The significance of this name was lost to them, but it filled them with a sense of intrigue.

    Eris, who initially advocated for seizing the gemstone, started to be cautious again. She couldn''t shake the feeling that they were treading on dangerous ground.

    The more they learned about the gem, the more she felt a growing sense of dread. It was as if the gemstone itself was aware of their attempts to unlock its secrets, and it seemed to react subtly to their investigations.

    One evening, while they were deeply engrossed in their studies, the gemstone began to emit a faint, pulsating light.

    It was barely noticeable at first, but it gradually intensified until the cave was bathed in a gentle glow. The Young Gods exchanged surprised nces as they sensed the strange phenomenon.

    "What''s happening?" Elysia asked, her voice tinged with confusion.

    "I don''t know," Fortunay replied, moving closer to the gemstone. "It''s as if it''s responding to something."

    "Is it reacting to us?"

    As he reached out to touch the gem, he froze. An unexpected vision shed before his eyes. He saw a vast cosmic expanse, a realm beyond anything they had ever known.

    In that vision, he saw celestial beings of unimaginable power, each holding a fragment of a greater whole¡ªthe Heart of Eternity.

    As soon as the vision stopped, the gemstone stopped shining. Fortunay returned to his senses, dropping to his knees as if his body had suddenly lost all the strength. He felt so weak in the vision, as if he was merely an ant before the Celestial beings. His heart was still beating fast.

    "The gemstone is linked to other fragments like itself," Fortunay gasped, trying to make sense of the vision. "It''s not just a single artifact; it''s part of something much greater!"

    Elysia frowned. "You mean, there are more of these gemstones scattered across the universe?"

    Fortunay nodded, still processing the vision. "Yes, and when bring them together..."

    "When we bring them together, then what?" Eris asked impatiently.

    Fortunay looked at all of them, before speaking a single sentence, that made all the Young Gods go pale.

    The gravity of their discovery weighed heavily on them. The gemstone they had found was not an isted artifact but part of a cosmic puzzle. Each gemstone held a piece of the Heart of Eternity, and when they all came together... The young gods found it hard to believe.

    "We need to find the other fragments," Eris said aftering out of her daze, her voice filled with a newfound determination. "If we can bring them together, everything would change!"

    "Agreed," Elysia chimed in. "But we must be cautious. The power we''re dealing with is beyond anything we''ve encountered before."

    Fortunay nodded solemnly. "We''ll need to be prepared. And we can''t let anyone else know about this¡ªnot until we have a better understanding of what we''re dealing with. We must hide it from Caen at all costs!"

    "I want everyone here to take a Heavenly Oath! If you try to tell it to anyone, your heart will be crushed under the heavenlyws and you will die instantly before you can speak anything!" He suggested, realizing how grim this situation was.

    The Young Gods vowed to keep their discovery a secret. They didn''t n to leak it either so they took the Heavenly Oath.

 Chapter 710 710: Heal

    Chapter710 710: Heal

    The Young Gods took a solemn oath, binding themselves to secrecy with the power of the heavenlyws. With their minds made up and their determination renewed, they set out on a mission to find the other fragments of the Heart of Eternity.

    Since the first Heart of Eternity was found in this world, they felt that it was highly likely that other fragments could be there as well. They wanted to find it before Caen could heal himself and join them. They also couldn''t stay away for too long without raising suspicions.

    Over the following days, they embarked on a journey through the Deste Land and beyond, using their divine senses to locate potential traces of other fragments. It was a challenging task, for the fragments were scattered across various realms and dimensions, hidden deep within forgotten temples, ancient ruins, and celestial spaces unknown to most.

    As they ventured further into the unknown, their bond as a group grew stronger. They were previously together because of Caen.

    It was because they wanted to stay close to Caen to use his influence, that''s why all of them stuck together. But now that they all shared a secret, they had the same goal, slowly getting closer.

    Together, they searched numerous ces in the Deste World which was akin to a relic of the forgotten past.

    ****

    It had been days since the young gods left. However, there was still no sign of their return.

    Through the days, Caen was left all alone, sitting with the support of a wall. He couldn''t even move his hands to pick a nearby fruit to eat, let alone stand.

    At regr intervals, the pain within his body was rising like a wave in the ocean. All his attempts to heal didn''t work, but not all was bad for him.

    Throughout the days, he had noticed that his wounds were slowly healing, albeit at a pace that was nowhere close to what a god should''ve had.

    Caen knew he couldn''t rely on his godly abilities in this weakened state. It was a unique experience for him, realizing that even divine beings could face vulnerability. As he sat there, he began to contemte what had brought him to this state of helplessness.

    It all started with an encounter with a man who came out of nowhere. A man who wasn''t supposed to belong to a Lower World. A being whose face was impossible to be seen, as if his entire body was being shrouded by a mysterious haze.

    In their fierce battle, Caen''s powers were drained rapidly, and he sustained grave injuries. It was a humiliation he never faced before, but it also made him think a lot about his own existence.

    He was the heir of the throne! He was the son of Chaos, the strongest being to walk this universe, yet he was defeated by a nobody.

    Now, stranded in this remote and destend, Caen had no way of knowing how far he was from civilization. He wasn''t even sure if any civilization existed in this mortal world since the young gods hadn''t returned from their search.

    Time seemed to stretch on endlessly, with only the cycle of day and night to mark its passing. He had tried talking to himself, but his voice barely rose above a whisper. It was as if thend itself conspired to keep him isted and alone.

    Despite his pain and weakness, Caen refused to sumb to despair. He had faced formidable challenges in the past and always emerged triumphant. He could be defeated but never broken.

    This time wouldn''t be any different; he was certain of that. But he needed to be patient and allow his body to heal at its own pace, even if it seemed agonizingly slow.

    During his time of solitude, Caen turned inward, seeking sce in his memories and experiences. He recalled so many memories, mostly rted to his childhood where he wasn''t so distant from his mother.

    He recalled the training he had received from his Uncle, but he also recalled how he was always looked down on and controlled by them. So many things had happened in his life, and he felt that he was lost.

    As days turned into weeks, Caen noticed subtle changes in his abilities. His hands could now twitch slightly, and he could sense a faint glimmer of his divine aura returning. It was a hopeful sign, and he intensified his focus on healing himself through meditation and willpower.

    ....

    In one of his meditative states, Caen experienced a vivid vision¡ªa reflection of his true self standing tall and proud, surrounded by a brilliant light. It was a reminder of the god he once was and the god he would be again. This vision fueled his determination, and he made a promise to himself that he would rise stronger from this ordeal.

    In his solitude, Caen also developed a deeper appreciation for the worldly aura around him. He observed the wonders of his surroundings and the beauty of the starlit sky.

    Even he could feel that this world wasn''t as simple as it looked. Something felt really different about this ce... It was not what a Lower World was supposed to have. This feeling was getting stronger as he healed more.

    Caen didn''t pay too much attention to it, since there was nothing he could do in his weakened state. He only focused on his slow healing. With each passing day, his speed of healing increased, as Ryder''s aura wore off from within his body for some reason.

    Four more days passed in the blink of an eye and the Young Gods still hadn''t returned.

    One fateful evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon, Caen felt a surge of energy coursing through his veins. The pain, which had been a constantpanion, began to subside. It was as if his body had finally gotten rid of the poison within his body.

    With newfound strength, Caen rose to his feet, feeling the ground beneath him with every step.

 Chapter 711 711: Obsession

    Chapter711 711: Obsession

    He walked towards a nearby fruit tree and plucked a piece of ripe fruit with his own hands. The taste was divine, and he relished the sensation of sustenance after what felt like an eternity of deprivation.

    As he continued his journey, Caen realized that this experience had made him realize a few things. He had gained a better understanding of himself and the people around him. Weeks had passed where he waspletely helpless and all on his own, yet the Young Gods didn''t return.

    He really wanted to see just what these people were up to, that they even abandoned him!

    "I really hope you didn''t return to the Realm of Gods while abandoning me here. Because if you did, I will kill you all..." He muttered as he stepped forward.

    ****

    The Young Gods had begun their search of the entire World. Even they didn''t expect that they were going to find any more fragments of the Heart of Eternity from this world, since the chances were so low.

    The universe was vast, and it was unlikely that two or more fragments were going to be in the same world. However, to their surprise, they managed to find more ces that seemed out of ce.

    Each fragment they found exhibited unique qualities, reflecting the essence of the realm it was connected to. Some held dominion over elements, others over time and space, and a few possessed the ability to influence the minds and emotions of mortals.

    Throughout their journey, Eris'' initial enthusiasm gradually waned, reced by a growing sense of concern. She realized that the magnitude of the potential consequences if they failed to keep it a secret was beyond what they could bear.

    Fortunay, on the other hand, was driven by an unyielding desire to be stronger. He wanted all the Fragments for himself! He wanted to go beyond Caen.

    He spent countless hours studying the second fragment they discovered, attempting to decipher the ancient inscriptions, hoping to get a vision from the Second Fragment as well.

    As he delved deeper into the mysteries of the gemstones, he became increasingly obsessed, to the point that some thought that he had gone crazy.

    Elysia acted as the anchor for the group, urging caution and foresight in their every decision. Her wisdom and understanding of ancient lore guided them through perilous situations, and she was the one who ensured they didn''t sumb to the temptations of the power they wielded.

    Unfortunately, even she was finding it hard to control those people.

    As for the other Young Gods, they each had their own moments of doubt and fear. The allure of wielding godlike power was strong, especially if they could be stronger than Caen. But the risks were too many.

    If Caen found out what they were trying to do, and that they kept this thing a secret from him, they couldn''t even imagine what kind of Nightmare was waiting for him.

    Some of them even had a thought that they should reveal this to Caen but they had a heavenly oath which stopped them. On the other hand, there were those who thought that they should forever erase that risk from existence.

    Since Caen was at his weakest, they wanted to take this opportunity to kill him so that there was no threat to them. They even tried to suggest that idea to the others in the group, only for Elysia and Fortunay to call this idea stupid.

    They could try to kill Caen now that he was weak, but it was unlikely that they could seed. Moreover, even if they seeded, it wasn''t a solution. The moment Caen was killed, his mother and his Uncle might be alert since the Royal Pce had his soulmp.

    To take out Caen was no different than alerting Janus, which they didn''t want at any cost, especially since Janus didn''t like them in the first ce.

    They knew that their actions could shape the fate of not just their world but the entire cosmos. They couldn''t risk anything.

    With tensions rising among the Young Gods, Elysia proposed that they take a temporary break from their search.

    They needed time to think, and to calm down since ever since they found the Fragment, they didn''t have the time to rest at all. Slowly, all of them had be obsessed with the Gems even without realizing.

    The others agreed, realizing that they had been swept away by their desires for strength and control.

    For the rest of the day, no one left the cave. No one was allowed to even look at the gem during this time. They were only supposed to meditate and calm down.

    Most of the Young Gods did as they were told and spent hours in silent introspection, to calm down their concerned heart. They wanted toe to terms with the decision that they had taken, without constantly worrying about death.

    They knew they had to find a way to reconcile their ambitions with their fears.

    Fortunay, still possessed by his thirst for power, struggled the most during this period of reflection. He constantly wanted to bring out the gem and continue his research, but he barely controlled his urges.

    Elysia and Eris had to reason a lot with him, to show him the dangers of his obsession, but his ego and desire for supremacy clouded his judgment. It was only to stop them from lecturing him that he agreed with their idea of a break, to show them that they were wrong about his obsession.

    Meanwhile, Caen, unaware of the Young Gods'' dilemma, was steadily regaining his strength as he walked deeper into the deste realm. His time alone in the Deste Land had forced him to confront his weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

    Soon, he ended up before the rubble of the temple where the Young Gods found the first gem. It was clear that it wasn''t long since the temple was broken. It was clear that this had something to do with the young gods, but he also sensed that none of the Young Gods weren''t buried inside the rubble.

 Chapter 712 712: Caens Fragment

    Chapter712 712: Caen''s Fragment

    He stepped forward and picked up a piece of the rubble, turning it around to find the ancientnguage written there. He couldn''t understand thenguage either, but he had a feeling that something big was going on, especially with the disappearance of the young gods.

    Frowning, he looked in certain directions and continued on his journey.

    As Caen explored the Deste Land further, he began to notice peculiar urrences. Thend seemed to react to his presence, as if responding to the divine energy that permeated his being.

    He stumbled upon ancient inscriptions and symbols etched into the very fabric of the world, seemingly left by a forgotten civilization that once thrived in this deste realm.

    Guided by his curiosity, Caen followed the clues left behind by this ancient civilization, curious about their history.

    It became even more clear that the Deste Land was more than just a barren wastnd; it was a repository of ancient knowledge, a ce where civilization never flourished.

    Even though there were signs and ancient infrastructure at ces, it became clear that it wasn''t manmade. So far, he had only seen signs of one person living in this ce in the past.

    It was surprising in itself that this Lower World wasn''t known. Its istion served as a protection, safeguarding its secrets from those who would exploit them.

    Caen''s healing progressed, and he soon regained full mobility and control over his godly abilities.

    With hisplete recovery, he could finally shroud arge enough area in his divine sense to help his search.

    While the Young Gods could only cover a small area due to the restrictions of this World, Caen was able to cover an area muchrger.

    ****

    Back at the sanctuary, the Young Gods finally reached a consensus. They realized that they couldn''t keep the fragments of the Heart of Eternity a secret forever.

    The oath they had taken bound them, but it also prevented them from seeking help from people with more knowledge. They needed guidance to navigate this delicate situation.

    "Should we contact our fathers and tell them about it? Thanks to the oath, we can''t tell them about the gems, but we can take help in tranting the unknown symbols to further our understanding," Elysia suggested. She was knowledgeable but her father was even more knowledgeable than her. She believed he could help them.

    "Did you forget that we can''t contact anyone outside? When we left with Caen, we left all our Contact Gems behind on his instructions, so that no one could locate us. We can''t contact our family and our family can''t contact us," Fortunay replied. "When we go back, we can ask them about it together, while making sure to mention nothing about the Heart of Eternity."

    "Yeah, I also can''t contact my family," Eris agreed. "We''ll have to go back for that, but we can''t do that until we finish the search."

    "I..." Elysia slightly hesitated, before bringing out a small Spherical Crystal. "I might have a way to contact them."

    "That..." Fortunay frowned, "You brought it with you?"

    "This is an inactive one," Elysia answered. "Even my father doesn''t know that I have it."

    Elysia held the Spherical Crystal in her hand, its surface gleaming with a soft, ethereal glow.

    "This crystal is a one-time usemunication device," she exined. "It is designed to send a single message to a predetermined recipient. I brought it with me as a precaution, just in case we needed to contact our families in an emergency."

    Fortunay''s frown deepened, but Eris leaned forward with curiosity. "So, who were you nning to contact? Should I contact my father?"

    She reached out her hand subconsciously, only for Elysia to pull her hand back.

    "My father," Elysia replied softly. "At the moment, we need someone who is fanatic of the ancientnguage. Only my fatheres to mind. He would happily trante for me if I just told him that it''s something I found outside a ruined temple"

    Eris felt a little disappointed, but in the end, she agreed.

    "Remember, you can''t tell him anything about the Heart of Eternity," Fortunay reminded Elysia once again.

    Elysia nodded and activated the crystal. A faint pulse of energy emanated from it, signaling that the message was being sent across vast distances to its recipient.

    ****

    In a distant world, a middle aged man was searching thoroughly, trying to find Caen. All of them had spread out to start the search but so far, none of them seeded in it.

    The man had only finished searching half the world when he stopped. A Crystal appeared in his hand. His eyes lit up in surprise. This was a message from his daughter. She was asking him to help trante some ancient words but he didn''t even consider the message.

    Instead, he was ted over something else. Through this message, he knew exactly where his daughter was. It was also evident that his daughter was with Caen, so he had effectively found the person they were looking for.

    The man informed all the other Gods who were on the search, sending them the ce where Caen was. It was some deste world with barely any signs of life.

    As soon as the Gods were informed, all of them stopped their search and decided to go where Caen and the other young gods were! Finally they could end their risky search!

    ****

    Meanwhile, Caen''s exploration of the Deste Land led him to an ancient underground chamber, hidden deep beneath the surface. The entrance was camouged byyers of rocks and vegetation, making it virtually indistinguishable from the surroundingndscape.

    As Caen entered the chamber, he was struck by the powerful aura that filled the space. It was unlike anything he had encountered before ¨C ancient and divine, yet strangely familiar. At the center of the chamber stood an ancient stone pedestal, and upon it rested a third fragment of the Heart of Eternity.

    The fragment radiated a soft, soothing light, and Caen could feel its profound connection to the fabric of the universe. He reached out to touch it, and as his fingers made contact, a surge of energy coursed through his body.

    Visions shed before his eyes, revealing the history of the fragment and its significance. It was the same vision that Fortunay had received. However, for some reason, he saw more than what Fortunay saw.

 Chapter 713 713: Betrayal

    Chapter713 713: Betrayal

    He also saw glimpses of the ancient civilization that once thrived in the Deste Land, a civilization dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. That broke his initial perception about no civilization existing in this world.

    These beings had been guardians of the Heart of Eternity, entrusted with the task of protecting the fragments and ensuring their secrets remained hidden from those who sought to misuse their power.

    The vision also revealed that the Deste Land was not originally deste; it was once a lush paradise, a sanctuary where beings from different realms sought wisdom and enlightenment.

    He found out that the Heart of Eternity had been scattered across different realms, but he didn''t know that two of its fragments were already in the hands of the young gods who he thought to be loyal to him.

    Some suspicions started rising in his mind. The previous Temple whose rubble he had discovered...it was clear that the Young Gods were there. He couldn''t help but wonder if the Temple was destroyed by the Young Gods intentionally because they also found a simr fragment.

    He wasn''t sure how true that possibility was, but for their sake, he thought it wasn''t true. If they really found a fragment and didn''t return it to him, that meant that they were nning to keep it a secret from him. This could also exin to him the reason behind their disappearance.

    "I really hope it''s not true, because if it is..."

    His fist tightened. Not only did they not return to him while he was injured, theypletely disappeared. He was already humiliated by Ryder, but this was even worse if it was true.

    These Young Gods were the people for whom he even went against his own family, trusting their words. The thought of their betrayal was infuriating, because it could prove that his uncle wasn''t entirely wrong.

    It could prove that Caen wasn''t as wise as he thought, which was a possibility that he hated the most. He didn''t want him to be in the wrong in his judgment of people.

    He kept the third fragment of the Gem in his storage before leaving the ce.

    After searching for a short time, Ceen finally discovered the Young Gods. He saw them all inside a small cave where they were all seemingly in meditation for some reason.

    As Caen found the Young Gods using his Divine Sense, the Young Gods also sensed it. They opened their eyes. Most of them revealed fear on their faces.

    Since Caen''s Divine Sense was covering them, it was clear that he had healed. Moreover, he wasn''t far either. Most of them wondered if they were caught as they started panicking.

    On the other hand, Fortunay and Elysia looked at each other.

    "Stop panicking. His Divine Sense saw us, but it didn''t see the Heart of Eternity. There''s no way for him to know. So unless you make it too obvious and make him suspicious, he will never know! Just act normal and let me handle everything else!" Fortunay reminded them, while also feeling relieved.

    If it wasn''t for Elysia to tell them to meditate and stay away from the Heart of Eternity Fragment, he would''ve had that out in the open and Caen would''ve sensed it. Fortunately, the worst was avoided.

    All his Young Gods stood up and stepped out of the Cave with Fortunay and Elysia in the lead. In the distance, they saw Caen walking towards them, albeit very slowly.

    Caen''s eyes locked onto Fortunay''s, and a tense silence fell over the group as they faced each other. Fortunay tried to maintain aposed facade, but he couldn''t help the unease creeping into his heart.

    He didn''t know why, but Caen''s gaze was making him nervous, as if he knew something.

    As Caen finally approached the Young Gods, he managed a faint smile, concealing the inner turmoil he felt.

    "It seems you''ve all been using your time well ," he said, trying to sound casual. "I''m d to see you''re improving."

    The Young Gods exchanged nces, not knowing how much Caen really knew. Elysia, feeling a mix of anxiety and guilt, decided to take the lead in the conversation. "Caen, your injuries... are they fully healed now?"

    "Yes," Caen replied with a nod, his voice calm and steady.

    "Thanks to your help, I''m back to full strength," he stated, with clear sarcasm. "But I must say, I didn''t expect to find you all in this remote part of the Deste Land. Looks like you''ve been taking your search really seriously, even searching a single cave for hours."

    Fortunay took a deep breath, trying to sound nonchnt. "We were curious about this ce and thought exploring it might lead us to some interesting discoveries. You know how eager we are to learn more about the world and its history."

    "After finishing our search, we decided to rest a little and we were just about to return to you."

    "Is that so?" Caen asked.

    Caen studied them for a moment, his gaze seemingly piercing through their words to search for any signs of deception. The tension in the air was palpable, and Eris couldn''t help but fidget nervously.

    "You worked hard. It''s not easy to search a single lower world for weeks," Caen remarked.

    His words were sharp, and everyone could feel it. He was clearly suspicious since there was no way searching a Single word for a ce to temporarily stay was going to take this long.

    Eris swallowed hard, her heart pounding in her chest as she struggled to find the right words.

    "We...we encountered unexpected obstacles along the way, Caen," she stammered, desperately trying to meet his probing gaze without flinching.

    "Obstacles like the Heart of Eternity?" Caen asked, observing the reaction of the people before him. Almost all of them were stunned, taken aback.

    Fortunay and Elysia still pretended to be ignorant, but the others failed. It was clear from their expressions that they knew about this

    "I must say, I don''t expect this from you all," Caen let out a sigh. "I feel likeughing at myself. You''ve made a fool out of me. You did what you wanted to do, and now I''ll do what I want to!"

    A dark sword appeared in Caen''s hands, made from the Abyssal Energy.

 Chapter 714 714: Caens Anger

    Chapter714 714: Caen''s Anger

    With a flick of his wrist, Caen pointed the dark sword at the ground, causing a crack to form on the surface. The crack extended rapidly, creating a deep chasm that separated the Young Gods from him.

    "I trusted you," Caen''s voice resonated with disappointment and anger. "I gave you my protection, and my trust, and this is how you repay me? By being greedy? Over a small thing like that?"

    "If you hade to me, and asked me to let you keep it, I would''ve done so without hesitation. But you..."

    Elysia took a step forward, her voice quivering with emotion. "Caen, we didn''t mean to betray you. We were afraid that if we told you, you might get hurt again or that others might try to steal it from you, when you were already injured. We were about to tell you as soon as we uncovered anything!"

    At thest moment, Elysia couldn''t think of anything else. She used the same fake justification that they had used to convince themselves that their actions were justified, while the reality was much different.

    Caen stared at Elysia. In the next moment, he appeared merely a foot away from her. "Please tell me you didn''t expect me to believe that? I would be quite disappointed if you really thought that I was this naive."

    His voice appeared cold, as if it came straight from the depths of hell, and nowhere else.

    Elysia''s heart raced as Caen''s proximity and tone sent a chill down her spine. She struggled to find her words, her mouth dry with fear.

    "I... I..." she stuttered, desperately searching for a response that wouldn''t further enrage him.

    Caen''s eyes bore into hers, his scrutiny unwavering. "Don''t waste my time with lies, Elysia. Your eyes already gave me the answer I needed."

    Leaving him alone, these people roamed over this world in search of the Fragments of Heart of Eternity. It was no different than then scheming against him, especially when he was at his weakest. He didn''t know how he was going to trust his back with these people after that.

    Still, he didn''t kill anyone. He took a few steps back. "Give me the Fragments you found."

    "Fragments?" Fortunay asked, taken aback. Since Caen talked like that, it was clear that he knew more about the Heart of Eternity than they thought.

    He didn''t understand if Caen knew about this world and the fragments beforeing to this world already, or if he also saw a vision. But at the moment, none of that mattered.

    Now that he was personally here, and none of them managed to uncover how to use the fragments, they couldn''t do anything. Not listening to Caen at this point was no different than asking for death.

    Every Young God looked at Fortunay at the same time, since he had both the Fragments.

    Fortunay nodded.He brought out the first Fragment that he had found, which floated in space before him, surrounded by the Divine Energy.

    Caen looked at the Fragment floating in space. However, his eyes still remained on Fortunay, as if he was looking at the depths of his soul.

    Caen could sense the immense power emanating from the Fragment, its energy pulsating with ancient knowledge and untapped potential. It was quite simr to the fragment that he had found.

    Still, Caen didn''t take the fragment. His Sword swung without a single word.

    A shocked gasp was heard and before anyone could realize it, a Young God dropped on the ground, lifeless. Caen''s sword sliced through their throat.

    "You want to try again?" he asked Fortunay. He didn''t know if Fortunay actually had another fragment or not, but this was the easiest way to draw more out if he had any.

    Fortunay''s eyes widened in fear as he glimpsed the lifeless body on the ground, realizing the gravity of the situation. Caen was really furious.

    Trembling, he reached into his pocket and slowly withdrew another fragment, his voice shaking as he whispered, " I... I have one more... I was about to bring it out as well."

    Caen observed Fortunay''s genuine fear and remorse. It was clear that there were no more Fragments.

    Caen kept both the Fragments safely, but even more, he hadn''t sent his sword back. Looking at his sword, all the Young Gods felt uneasy.

    None of them spoke anything, and they simply stood with their heads down, as if they were remorseful.

    "You all have been with me since my childhood. That''s why, I''ll be merciful to you despite your scheming betrayal," Caen spoke.

    The Young Gods sighed in relief, but their expressions soon turned pale as they heard the next part of his sentence.

    " I''ll grant you mercy by giving you quick and painless deaths."

    The Young Gods exchanged anxious nces, realizing the severity of their actions and the consequences that now loomed over them. Caen''s decision was final, and they knew there was no escaping his judgment. Each one of them felt the weight of guilt and regret for their betrayal.

    They could fight back, but winning against him was unlikely.

    Caen raised his sword, ready to carry out his sentence, but Elysia couldn''t bear to see such a fate for herself.

    "Caen, please," she pleaded with tears in her eyes. "I know we were wrong, but we can change. We can make amends, help you find the remaining fragments, and protect them together."

    "You really think I care about those fragments? They mean nothing to me. I wouldn''t care even if I can''t find a single more! I care more about you making a fool out of me! I care more about the fact that I was listening to the traitors, without even realizing it!"

    "I care more about the fact that because of you, I might be aughingstock in the eyes of the person who told me to stay away from you! I care more about my dignity than I care about these pieces of stones!" Caen spoke. "And that''s why..."

    He didn''t finish his sentence. However, ten pitch ck portals opened all around the Young Gods, from which the Abyssal Beasts stepped out.

 Chapter 715 715: Queen Is No More

    ?

    Over a hundred Abyssal Beasts surrounded the Young Gods. And all of them appeared to be bloodthirsty.

    "My Father, that''s right! I''ve told my father where we are!" Taken aback by the actions of Caen where he was refusing to listen, Elysia couldn''t control herself anymore. She didn''t want to die here.

    She could only use other methods to sway Caen.

    She brought out themunication orb that she had used to send a message. It couldn''t be used anymore, which gave ever more validity to her words, making it clear that it was used recently.

    "Our parents will be here soon! You ask have time! Stop right now and we''ll all forget what happened, returning to the way things used to be!" Fortunay also chimed in.

    "I know we made mistakes, but we never meant any harm to you. You were our friend and you''ll always be our friend! A gem won''t change anything! We just thought that you already have many treasures so we should keep them for the time being."

    "That''s the only reason we didn''t tell you! We didn''t n to harm you with it!"

    Noticing the brief period of silence, Fortunay kept speaking. Honestly, they didn''t tell their parents toe here, so he really didn''t expect them toe here, but Caen didn''t know that. He wanted to use this to at least survive.

    Fortunay tried to exin himself, hoping Caen''s anger began to subside. To make Caenrealize that perhaps his friend had made a mistake, but it wasn''t out of malice.

    Unfortunately, he couldn''t read Caen''s thoughts and didn''t know what he was thinking.

    However, in the end, his words seemed to work as Caen lowered his sword.

    The Families of these kids were his biggest support in the Realm of Gods, who supported him against his uncle. Even though he lost his faith in them, he still needed their support and couldn''t lose it.

    Even if he killed these people, he was sure that their families couldn''t kill them. However, he also knew that the repercussions of his actions could potentially lead to further conflict within the realm, and he couldn''t afford to jeopardize everything that he had worked hard to achieve.

    It was like a cooperation for achieving mutual goals. However, just as Caen was having hesitation, he noticed the young God that he had already killed.

    "We can destroy his body, and me that man on earth for his death!" Fortunay understood the meaning behind Caen''s gaze at the young God and even offered a solution. "Our families don''t know that he was with us in this world. It would be easy. That way, we can also take the support of our families against earth!"

    Caen pondered Fortunay''s suggestion. It made sense. In the end, he let an Abyssal Beast grab the young god''s body and return to the Abyss where the Beasts could eat that body to their heart''s content, bing stronger.

    Even though Caen agreed to work with them and pretended to forgive them, his trust was forever gone. He even made up his mind that he was going to destroy these people when he didn''t need them anymore after getting the Throne.

    "You said you will find more. We will continue the search before your family gets here."

    The Young Gods sighed in relief. It was as if they had survived a disaster. But they also had a worry. They hadn''t told their families toe here, and they couldn''t do that anymore. So they worried about what was going to happen when Caen found out the truth.

    They thought about what excuses to give at that time. Until then, they could only slowly gain back his support through finding gems for him.

    As the Young Gods hurriedly resumed their search for more Fragments of Heart of Eternity, Elysia and Fortunay exchanged uneasy nces.

    They both knew that their future interactions with Caen would be different, and the trust they once shared would be hard to mend. Nevertheless, they understood the gravity of the situation and the necessity of cooperation.

    All the Young Gods and Caen spread out, searching in a different direction. Unfortunately, after an hour all of them gathered together. They couldn''t find any more Fragments. It was as if there were only three fragments in this world.

    Caen didn''t mind the fact that there weren''t any more fragments here. It would''ve been surprising if all the Fragments were in the same world. But what surprised him was that the parents of his ''friends'' were still not here.

    He couldn''t help but wonder if they had lied to him again. But just as he was about to speak, he felt a blizzard of godly energies rushing inside the world.

    The sky split apart, and many godly figures appeared in the world.

    Even the Young Gods were stunned to find them there. What was even more surprising was that in the group, it wasn''t just their parents. There were too many gods in the group.

    Seeing so many people, Caen couldn''t help but wonder if these people came here in groups because they knew what had happened. Were they nning to attack and kill him here? Did the Young Gods tell them everything?

    With that thought, Caen frowned. A Sword appeared in his hand again as he faced the Elder Gods in the Sky.

    All the Godsnded on the ground, going down on one knee.

    "Your Highness, we are so d that we finally found you! So d!" All the Gods appeared as if they had found a treasure that they were looking for a long time.

    "Why do you look like you''ve been searching for me everywhere? Did my mother send you to find me?" Caen asked, feeling something off.

    "The Queen...she..." The Gods looked at each other.

    Seeing their long pause, Caen had a really bad feeling in his heart.

    "Speak!" Hemanded.

    Finally, the Gods spoke, "The Queen is no more... She has been killed."

    As soon as Caen heardtheir words, his grip lost all its strength. His sword dropped to the ground with a loud thud.

 Chapter 716 716: Breaking the News

    Chapter716 716: Breaking the News

    "Do you know the consequences of lying about this?!" he asked, grabbing the man by his throat. He didn''t care if the person was a senior or not.

    "He is telling the truth," the others also agreed. "We also wish this was a lie, but so many things have changed ever since you left."

    The Other Gods started telling everything that happened from the moment they were attacked, to his Caen''s mother sacrificed herself to hold Ezekiel back to give everyone a chance to escape.

    Caen''s grip loosened as he took a few steps back in disbelief. His heart sank, and a mix of sorrow and rage washed over him. His mother, the Queen, was gone. He felt a surge of guilt for leaving her behind and not being there to protect her.

    Elysia and Fortunay, too, were shocked and devastated by the news. They knew how much Caen loved his mother and what a significant loss this was for him.

    Even though he didn''t listen to her instructions and often argued with her, but in this entire world, she was the person he loved the most. He had never seen his father, so his mother was the only family for him in his eyes.

    The Elder Gods tried tofort Caen, but their words felt distant. He couldn''t even hear what they were saying, as if the entire world had gone silent at that moment.

    He felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility, knowing that he should have been there to prevent this tragedy. If he wasn''t stubborn and left the home, he could''ve been there for her. He would never have let her sacrifice himself.

    He raised his head, his eyes turning blood red. "You all... ran away? You all left my mother behind to die?!"

    "We wanted to stay behind, but we couldn''t even find her. And hermands were clear. She used her authority to instruct us to save the younglings and abandon that ce," the Elder Gods exined.

    "If it was up to us, we would''ve sacrificed our lives instead of her. But..." He paused for a brief moment. "That''s why we were looking for you all this time! Because only you can lead us. That man...I don''t know how he did it, but he can also use the Abyss. Only you can stop him."

    "Under your lead, we can kill both of those bastards and have our revenge!"

    All the Elder Gods were filled with anger as well. They felt ashamed that they had to abandon their homes. They also wanted to go back and fight those invaders under Caen''s lead.

    They would''ve felt even better if they had found Janus as well, but they didn''t even know where to begin the search for Janus. Not a single person even knew where he had gone. At least they knew that Caen was in the Lower Worlds but they didn''t even know where Janus was.

    Hearing their words, Caen couldn''t help but remember the person he fought on earth, wondering if that person was also involved.

    "Which two?" he asked. He looked at the God of Mirage andmanded, "Show me what they looked like."

    The God of Mirages raised his hand, casting a Mirage before Caen using his memories. He didn''t show just a still image. Instead, he showed moving scenes from his memories.

    He showed the entire battle where Gabriel held them back while Ezekiel broke the barrier.

    Seeing the scene, Caen couldn''t believe his eyes.

    "How can it be? How can he be there?" he whispered to himself in disbelief.

    The person in the Mirage was someone that wasn''t supposed to be alive! In fact he had killed him with his own hands so it should''ve been impossible for him to be alive.

    On the other hand, Ezekiel seemed unfamiliar. It wasn''t the person he met on earth. Everything that he saw went against his expectations.

    "Are you talking about Ezekiel?" One of the Elder Gods asked confusing Caen''s question to be about Ezekiel.

    "Even we thought that he was dead, but weter came to know that he wasn''t dead. Your father had trapped him in the Abyss, where he stayed trapped all these years while we thought for him to be dead," another Elder God replied.

    "We just don''t understand how he managed to free himself from the Abyss? And why after all these years? Just what changed recently?" He openly wondered. "It''s not as if someone else can enter the abyss and free him."

    had something to do with him.

    He shoved Gabriel inside the abyss after pulling his heart out, As he spoke, he didn''t notice that Caen''s fists were clenched so tightly that his palms had started bleeding. He realized something.

    Gabriel''s return and Ezekiel''s freedom... He felt that both of those had something to do with him.

    He shoved Gabriel inside the abyss after pulling his heart out, thinking for him to be dead and eaten by Abyssal Beasts. But now it was clear that Gabriel hadn''t died for some reason.

    Not only did he not die, but he met Ezekiel! He felt that Gabriel was the person who somehow freed Ezekiel from the trap. Indirectly, all that happened was because of him.

    Ezekiel was free because he refused to listen to his mother. If he hadn''t gone to kill Gabriel, Ezekiel wouldn''t be free, and his mother would''ve been free. In that sense, the main cause behind his mother''s death was himself.

    A sense of dread washed over Caen as he realized that his past was catching up to him, intertwining with the present in an unexpected and dangerous way.

    "Your Highness? Are you alright?" The Elder Gods didn''t know why, but Caen had suddenly gone Silent. His face was pale and his eyes focused on the Mirage.

    They didn''t know what he was thinking about, but they could see blood dripping down his hands.

    The Elder Gods could sense the torment within him. With a steely resolve, Caen made a decision¨C he would confront his haunted past! He had made a mistake, but that didn''t mean the people who attacked his mother were free of guilt!

    They had taken the most precious person from him... A person that was never going to return.

 Chapter 717 717: Pieces in Place

    Chapter717 717: Pieces in ce

    As Caen stood there, grappling with the weight of his past actions and their repercussions on the present, he felt a surge of determination.

    He knew he couldn''t change the past, but he could take responsibility for his choices and kill the bastards who attacked his home. Only his anger was his saving grace because it protected himself frompletely breaking apart emotionally.

    Only his anger kept his mind distracted from the reality of his loss.

    With a deep breath, he turned to the Elder Gods and said, "I will lead you in this fight. We will face Ezekiel and Gabriel together, and I will do everything in my power to make things right."

    The Elders revealed a gleeful look. With Caen''s support, they believed that everything was going to be right.

    "But first, we need a n. Take me to where the other Gods are staying," he spoke.

    His words stunned all the gods. Caen was known to be an impulsive person. n? Schemes? These words weren''t even in his vocabry since he solved everything with overwhelming strength.

    They had thought that he was going to attack Ezekiel as soon as he heard what happened, but the reality was quite different. .

    They didn''t know that Caen had just suffered a loss at the hands of a person where he couldn''t even fight back, all because he didn''t know anything about that person and underestimated everyone else. He didn''t want to make the same mistake.

    It was a different thing to lose a battle, but to lose a battle against the killer of his mother? He didn''t even want to imagine that. No matter how long it took, he decided to know everything about Ezekiel first, including studying his battle tactics.

    The Elder Gods nodded in agreement, relieved to see that Caen was at least taking charge and epting the burden.

    They knew that their chances of sess were much higher with him leading the way. Even if he didn''t directly attack, it was still better than nothing. It was only a matter of time.

    As they began to discuss their strategy, Elysia and Fortunay stood by Caen''s side, offering their unwavering support.

    Even though they were sad that their homes were taken away, they felt d that this happened, since this distracted Caen from their betrayal.

    Moreover, thanks to this, their families came here, before Caen could realize that they had lied about that as well.

    "We have found a small vige in the Upper Realm where we''re temporarily staying. All the Younglings are there as well." The Elder Gods informed Caen about their destination to meet the others.

    They also informed the other gods to return to the Vige as the search waspleted.

    All the Gods came together and opened a portal that led straight to the Southern World of the Upper Realm.

    Caen took onest nce at this strange and unfamiliar lower world where he had found the Fragments of Heart of Eternity.

    He didn''t know how strong Ezekiel was, but if he was strong to the point that even he couldn''t stand against him, Caen had a hope. Thanks to the Heart of Eternity, he finally had a chance to be even stronger.

    Previously, he thought himself to be the strongest, just like his father used to be. But now he realized that he still had a long way to go.

    Determined to reach new heights, Caen entered the portal of the Southern World.

    In the Southern World of the Upper Realm, Caen found himself surrounded by the lush beauty of an unfamiliarndscape. Last time he came to the Upper Realm, he had arrived in the Northern World to kill Gabriel. The Upper World was where it all started, and now he was back here again.

    The vige where the Elder Gods were temporarily staying came into view, a haven nestled amidst the vibrant foliage.

    As they approached, Caen noticed the Younglings, the next generation of gods, training and honing their abilities under the guidance of the Elder Gods who had stayed behind.

    Some of the Children were personally being taught by their mothers. Seeing the sight, he remembered his own mother.

    His expressions didn''t show it, but he felt grief like never before, thinking that he was never going to see his mother.

    In the past, he hated being scolded by his mother, but now he felt like he could give everything in his life, just to get that scolding again.

    Elysia and Fortunay stood close by, offering their unwavering support.

    As the Elder Gods weed Caen into the vige, Caen came out of his daze. Even now, the Vigers didn''t know that all the new people living in the Vige were gods.

    The Elder Gods introduced him to the Vige and the Vigers. But Caen appeared to be out of it, barely reacting to anything.

    "He''s tired after the long journey. Allow him to rest." The Gods who brought Caen with them chimed in, realizing that Caen wasn''t in the mood since he had just heard about his mother''s situation.

    They led Caen to a house that was already arranged in advance. The house had all the furniture reced by the Gods to be the best of ss, by god''s standards.

    As Caen entered the house, he could feel the divine energy radiating from every corner, reminding him of the immense power of the Gods. It was as if he was back in the Realm of Gods.

    "Rest well, Your Highness. The others should be back by morning. Then we can discuss what to do next." The Elder Gods closed the door after leaving the room, so as to not disturb Caen anymore.

    The Other Young Gods also found ces to live. Most of them went to their families. They couldn''t tell their families about the Fragment of Eternity because of the Heavenly Oath, but even if they could, they didn''t dare. They didn''t want to offend Caen anymore, especially at a time like this.

    For a period, the Vige had gained silence. But everyone knew that it was just the beginning. If it was a game of fate, then all the pieces were in ce and now the game of blood was to start.

    **************************

    [Author Note: End of Volume. Next Volume should be thest in the story]

 Chapter 718 718: The Child

    Chapter718 718: The Child

    Three months passed...

    The Rebel Gods in the Realm of Gods waited for Gabriel''s return for a long time, yet there was no sign. They could only wonder how the training of Gabriel was going.

    These three months had been very peaceful for the Realm of Gods. Even though the Rebel Gods prepared to be attacked at any time, nothing significant happened.

    With so much time in their hands, they were allowed to create many better defensive mechanisms, and also increase the range and strength of the existing mechanism.

    The Three Months had been the best months of their lives. Even though they had to constantly worry about being attacked, but they were finally at their home world and could do anything that they wanted.

    They all felt grateful for Gabriel. It all happened because of them. Even though they wondered why the Gods and Caen didn''t attack them to take back the Realm of Gods, they convinced themselves that it was because of Ezekiel''s presence. Even the arrogant gods had to be careful because of him.

    For the entire three months, the old Rebel God remained inside the library, going after every book like he had gone crazy.

    His eyes made him appear as if he hadn''t slept in a long time at all. But it was a sacrifice he was willing to make, for he knew that the knowledge hidden within those ancient texts held the key to solving his biggest curiosity.

    The biggest question that was guing his mind was about Gabriel''s origin, which even Gabriel told him to find out. On the first day itself, he had found some clues in the library in one of the books but it wasn''t enough.

    Using that one hint, he wanted to find a particr piece of information. Unfortunately, the Library was huge, and he only had one hand now, which dyed him a lot in the process.

    Suddenly, he dropped to his knees. The book in his hand dropped to the ground. His eyes revealed disbelief.

    "It can''t be... Is it really possible?" he muttered. "But the time matches what Gabriel told me about..."

    To find his origin, Gabriel had to first find the origin of Karyk. That''s why, he told the old man to find out about all the incidents that could be rted to him at the time of his supposed birth.

    He didn''t tell the old man that this information was about Karyk and not entirely about him. If anything, the old man didn''t even know that there was another person called Karyk, who was like the origin of Gabriel.

    "Thousands of years ago... During the battle between Ezekiel and Chaos... This information..." The old man was in disbelief.

    In the book, the history was mentioned which not a single person in the realm of Gods knew about, except the Writer who could use irvoyance.

    The Writer didn''t tell anyone about this to anyone, and just mentioned it subtly in one of the books, and no one found it.

    The Old Man couldn''t grasp it all. He was in disbelief. How was it possible? Even if he wanted to, he didn''t think he could tell others, because the history was soplicated and extraordinary.

    ording to the information, when Ezekiel attacked the Realm of Gods, most of the powerful High Council Members were out for a meeting with the Ancestral God that Chaos killed long in the future before disappearing himself.

    Since the Realm of Gods didn''t have most of the strongest High Council Members, it was the weakest it was ever left. And that''s also when Ezekiel invaded the Realm of Gods and attacked and killed anyone he could find.

    At that moment, only one person was able to stop him. The person that no one had paid attention to, until then. It was Chaos, who intervened to save the Goddess of Reincarnation.

    At that moment, he fought Ezekiel, and dragged him away from the Realm of Gods. Most people had thought that he killed Ezekiel, but no one really saw what happened.

    However, in the book, the unseen reality was mentioned.

    It was said that even Chaos wasn''t able to kill Ezekiel at that moment for some reason. Ezekiel was undying! That''s why, Chaos dragged Ezekiel inside the Abyss, and sealed him there forever.

    That''s where it was supposed to end. But when Chaos came out of the Abyss after sealing Ezekiel in the Abyss, he wasn''t alone.

    ording to the Writer of the Book who used irvoyance, Chaos had a child in his arms at that time.

    The old Rebel God couldn''t believe it. How could Chaos find a child inside the Abyss? How could a child enter the Abyss and survive in the first ce? He had so many questions but the book didn''t answer.

    The Book only mentioned that the child was frail, and its breathing was weak, as if it could die at any moment.

    Worrying about the response of people about an unknown child who was brought out of the Abyss, Chaos didn''t tell anyone about it. He knew that if he told anyone, the others were going to try to kill the child.

    For some reason, Chaos, who was known for his cold nature, couldn''t get himself to do that. He was connected to the Abyss as well.

    He knew what it was like for people to unnecessarily hate them, since his own father hated him because his abilities were rted to the Abyss.

    Unfortunately for him, the child didn''t look like he could survive. As more time passed, his breathing became even weaker. His life essence was weak, to the point that his heart was barely beating once every few minutes.

    ****

    Over four months had passed since Karyk entered the Ancestral Temple''s Graveyard.

    In these four months, he loved from one tombstone to another tombstone, absorbing all the information that he could.

    It started from memories of mortals, moving onto memories of Immortals and eventually, the memories of Gods that had been

    killed.

 Chapter 719 719: Divine Author

    Chapter719 719: Divine Author

    His appearance was haggard, with sunken eyes and pale skin. But within the depths of his exhaustion, Karyk''s mind was brimming with knowledge, which made him appear lost.

    The weight of the knowledge he had acquired was both a burden and a blessing, driving him to the brink of madness. Yet, Karyk pressed on, fueled by a relentless pursuit of answers.

    Throughout these four months, his powers had grown to the point that even he didn''t realize.

    However, after a long time, he was almost done with almost all the Tombstones, leaving only one...

    There was onest tomb left... The Tomb had no name at all. There was only one word written on it, "Divine."

    Without a second thought, Karyk ced his hand on thest tombstone, finally reaching the end of his journey in this Ancestral Temple. This was probably going to be thest time for him.

    As his hand made contact with the stone, a surge of energy coursed through his body. The tombstone began to glow with a brilliant light.

    Karyk''s consciousness was sucked in the tombstone.

    When he opened his eyes, he was once again a child. But it was clear that he was in the Realm of Gods again. But things appeared different.

    When he turned a few months old, one day he felt his eyes aching. Blood started trickling down his eyes as scenes started shing before his eyes.

    The scenes showed him what was happening in other rooms of his house, where his parents were rushing with him in their arms towards the Divine Physician to get him checked. In the scene, his eyes were bleeding

    As soon as the scene stopped, he fell on the bed, weakly. His face was covered in the tears of blood.

    Not long after, his mother entered the room. But seeing him in this situation, she screamed out loud. She rushed to her son, whose face was covered in blood.

    Hearing the loud scream, the father also rushed inside.

    After realizing what happened, even he was frightened. He picked his son in his arms and rushed out. This was the exact scene that Karyk had seen merely minutes ago.

    He was taken to the Divine Doctor, who checked him and eventually came to the conclusion that it wasn''t a sickness. Instead, it was the awakening of the boy''s Divine Ability... The Ability of Godly irvoyance, that was rarely seen in the ancient times.

    The doctor told them that there was nothing to worry about. The visions might be painful, but they didn''t put his life in danger.

    As time went on, Karyk continued to develop and control his Divine Ability.

    With each passing day, the boy''s visions became more vivid and urate, allowing him to see events unfolding way before they happened.

    Sometimes, the visions were about good things, not other times, they were about tragic disasters. However, the boy wasn''t able to tell others about his vision before they came to pass. It was like some Divine Restriction on him.

    The boy felt lovely and isted. Thanks to the vision, he knew almost everything, even things that he didn''t want to know. At times, he even felt as if he was going crazy, and he started to confuse reality with the visions.

    Seeing their child suffer, his parents also felt pain but they couldn''t help their son. Fortunately, as the boy became an adult, he thought of a solution.

    To not lose himself between the current reality and future, he started writing all his visions in a book, as they happened.

    Centuries passed, and the boy gained prominence in the entire Realm of Gods as the Divine Author. He created his own personal library with the books that he had written using his irvoyance.

    However, he didn''t let anyone read them until the events came to pass. His library of books that were written about the future events was only released after the time of those events passed.

    However, even then, this was valuable since this revealed many secrets that weren''t known about the events that unfolded.

    The ''history'' written by the divine author was the most urate and never failed. It became a sought-after collection for historians, schrs, and those eager to understand the true intricacies of the past.

    Unfortunately, even though the books now contained the past, it wasn''t good for the public. These books only caused discord amongst the people. It was as if everyone who read these books had some curse on them.

    After a series of misfortunes, the High Council decided to seal these books in a special library where no one could read them without permission from all High Council Members.

    At the core of it all was Karyk who was now living the life of Divine Author.

    This was also the longest life he had lived. A life that went on for over a thousand years.

    And after a thousand years of life, he finally saw a scene which had greatly interested him.

    He saw a scene of Chaos'' birth. Finally it was the era that Karyk really wanted to know about. Soon after, Chaos'' little brother Janus was born.

    Chaos was said to be weak. His father was one of the strongest beings of the Realm of Gods, but he hadn''t inherited any abilities of his father. On the other hand, Janus was younger but inherited the abilities from his father.

    Because of that, Chaos was always despised by people in the Realm of Gods, for being as weak as mortals. Only his little brother Janus rip him apart. However, just as their fangs were about to touch little Janus, they stopped.

    was always by his side.

    Along the way, Karyk saw a scene. In the scene, Chaos'' father had left the home when Janus identally used his power in his childhood, and opened a portal that connected straight to the Abyss.

    From the Portal Hundreds of Nightmare Beasts rushed out, all of them bloodthirsty, as if they wanted to devour everything.

    The Nightmare Beasts attacked Janus at the same time, willing to rip him apart. However, just as their fangs were about to touch little Janus, they stopped.

    In the distance, Chaos could be seen. His eyes were pitch ck, making him appear Demonic.He was speaking some unknownnguage, but for some strange reason, the Nightmare Beasts were listening to hismands.

 Chapter 720 720: The Useless God

    Chapter720 720: The Useless God

    They stopped the attack, and looked at Chaos.

    Unfortunately, at the same time, Chaos'' father arrived and saw everything. He felt disgusted, seeing his son being able to use the power of Abyss.

    Unfortunately, no matter how disgusted he felt, he couldn''t get himself to hurt his son. He made Chaos take a heavenly oath that he was never going to use this power again!

    In essence, he made his Eldest Son live the life of a mortal, even though the abilities he awakened were the most powerful and never seen before.

    Because of that oath, Karyk never used his abilities to control the Abyssal Beasts, and even tried to avoid using other Abyssal Abilities. He epted being detected by everyone.

    To avoid the hate he received, he started staying inside his house more and more, barely going out.

    Slowly, he learned how to use the abilities of ordinary gods as well, albeit he was very bad at it.

    Unfortunately, it wasn''t good enough for him. He wanted more. Since he couldn''t use the powers he was born with, he decided to do something much crazier. He decided to make powers for himself!

    "Bracelet of Immortality." In one of the Visions, Karyk heard this word.

    The Divine Author mentioned everything he saw in the book, but he never let anyone see what he was writing. It was right to say that he was the only person who knew Karyk''s secrets other than Karyk.

    Chaos continued his research and studies on the life essence of other gods, slowly collecting samples and condensing them into something new.

    Most people at the moment knew Chaos to be the strongest god. However, they didn''t know that Chaos wasn''t just strong. He was also a schr when it came to artifact creations.

    He used the life essence of over twenty gods to create one gem each, corresponding to their abilities. Moreover, he made changes to them, to make those abilities even stronger.

    Later, he started working to create a bracelet that could hold all those gems and use that power without breaking apart.

    In his rooms, the sound of a hammer hitting the divine metal could be heard regrly.

    Chaos was almost half done with the Creation of the Bracelet, when he stopped, hearing explosions outside.

    Standing up, he decided to check what was happening. Usually, there wasn''t amotion of this level after all.

    After months, Chaos stepped out of his house, only to catch sight of Ezekiel, who was about to attack the Goddess of Reincarnation.

    In this world, there were very few people he could call close to him. Other than his brothers, there were only two more people after all. And the Goddess of Reincarnation was amongst them.

    He didn''t know who Ezekiel was, or why he was attacking everyone here, but he couldn''t let him go crazy. At the rate Ezekiel was going, the next ce to be destroyed was going to be his house after all, where most of the gems he created were kept.

    To prevent things from deteriorating to the point that his home was at risk of being destroyed, he decided to take action.

    He appeared before the Goddess of Reincarnation, stopping the attack.

    No one knew at that time, but Karyk didn''t use even a trace of Abyssal Energy. He only used the extra abilities that he had learned, boosting them with the gems that he had created.

    He didn''t know if he could kill Ezekiel after using the Abyssal Energy, but there was no way for him to test without breaking the oath. On the other hand, it was impossible to kill Ezekiel using usual methods.

    That''s why, after dragging the battle away from the Realm of Gods to protect his house, he sealed Ezekiel using all he had.

    At that time, Janus also arrived to help Chaos, but no help was needed. Still, Chaos used Janus'' help.

    Since he couldn''t use Abyssal Energies thanks to the Heavenly Oath, he couldn''t open the portal either; he had Janus open the postal.

    After the Portal was closed, Ezekiel and Chaos disappeared inside the abyss, while Janus waited outside, waiting for his brother to return.

    The Divine Author couldn''t see what happened, insisted the Abyssal Realm, even with his irvoyance. Because of that, Karyk didn''t know either.

    After an hour, Chaos finally came out of the Abyss, but this time, he had a frail baby in his arms.

    Seeing the baby, Karyk was taken aback. It was the same baby that Chaos had given to his father in the Lower World! That baby was none other than him!

    He couldn''t believe his eyes. He came from within the Abyss? But how did he even get here? What was his real origin? Who were his real parents? He couldn''t understand a single thing. All he knew was that he was a few months old when he was brought out of the Abyss.

    Moreover, he appeared so frail that his breathing could halt at any time. He didn''t understand how such a frail boy survived inside the Abyss for so long? In the first ce, how did he even get inside?

    Unfortunately, there was no answer to these questions. Janus asked Chaos who this boy was, but Chaos only replied that he didn''t know. The only thing he said was that he found this boy inside.

    Moreover, the boy wasn''t found in the outer zone. Instead, Chaos said that he found the boy at the Core of the Abyssal Realm.

    "Inside the Abyss, he was fine. But outside, his breaths are so weak. It''s as if he can die at any time," Chaos stated, with a frown on his face.

    "Are you going to leave him inside then? At this rate, he''ll die here before we even get home. Moreover, the other Gods will kill him at sight. We aren''t strong enough to protect the boy..." Janus reminded his elder brother.

    Even Chaos agreed that his brother wasn''t around. He was talking sensibly, but he couldn''t seem to abandon the boy.

    Deep in the Abyss, when he found the boy, he was stunned. What was even more shocking was that he was in the most dangerous zone of the abyss, but no Abyssal Beasts harmed him.

 Chapter 721 721: Life Essence

    ?

    "He might be better inside the Abyss, but for how long? In that darkness... In that loneliness... No one should even have a life of istion like that. Being rted to the Abyss isn''t a crime. He doesn''t deserve to die or be killed, all because of his association."

    Chaos had already gone through it all, from never receiving his father''s love, to living a life of istion. At least he had his brother to keep him sane, but this child... He had no one inside the Abyss. He couldn''t abandon the kid.

    "But can he even survive outside? His life essence is running out. It''s as if he isn''t supposed to be outside the Abyss..." Janus stated.

    "If he isn''t suitable to live outside, then I''ll make him suitable! If his parents abandoned him, then I''ll ept him! If his life essence is running out, I''ll give him mine!"

    Chaos never expected himself to be married, let alone ever having a child. But as soon as he held the boy in his arms, he made up his mind that he wasn''t going to let the boy die, or live a life of suffering in istion.

    Chaos reached out his finger, to ce it on the little boy''s forehead. He wasing to give a fraction of his own life essence and blood to the boy, all to make him live.

    However, as soon as his finger came closer to the boy''s face, the little boy grabbed his finger with his tiny hands, like a cute little child.

    Seeing his reaction, a smile appeared on Chaos''s face.

    Watching his brother smile, Janus was taken aback. Even since his father made him take the Heavenly Oath, revealing clear disgust, he had never seen his elder brother smile.

    He didn''t even remember when was thest time his brother smiled. But seeing his brother smile, Janus felt so happy. In his heart, he thanked the little boy.

    "Don''t worry. I won''t let you get hurt," Chaos spoke, as he carefully freed his finger. He ced his finger on the forehead of the little boy, transferring his own life essence and blood to the boy.

    A god''s life essence was their everything. They never shared it with others, even if it was a fraction. Only the children of the Gods inherited their Life Essences. However, Chaos didn''t care.

    He didn''t hesitate even a little, even if it meant that he was epting the unfamiliar child as his son, granting him everything.

    The boy''s breathing became a bit more stable as soon as Chaos transferred some of his life essence. He stopped only when he felt that the child wasn''t able to take in any more of his Divine Life Essence.

    Unfortunately, the child still hadn''t healedpletely. He needed more life essence, but Chaos couldn''t do it without harming the child. He needed a different type of life essence which was strong but had a different core.

    He couldn''t take it from Janus, since he had already transferred enough Divinity. Any more Divinity in the child was harmful for him, but he still needed something strong enough.

    As he was lost in thoughts, he suddenly thought of something. He pulled out his Sword, which was tainted with Ezekiel''s Blood. Ezekiel didn''t have Divinity, but his life essence was almost as strong as the Divine Gods.

    Chaos used the blood on his Sword, and transferred the life essence and the blood from the sword inside the little child. Moreover, he was also born and lived outside the Abyss, so his life essence also did the job.

    His body stabilized even more as more life essence was transferred. Usually, even the tiniest fraction of such a strong life essence could kill an ordinary godchild, but the little Boy was able to take a lot more.

    With each infusion of the powerful life essence, the boy''s body grew stronger and more resilient, adapting to amodate the divine power flowing through his veins.

    The boy''s breathing finally stabilized. His fragile body healed, making him appear at least as good as a healthy mortal child.

    "He looks better now. But how will we solve the problem at home? The others would still not be fine with a child of unknown source, brought from the Abyss. We would need to take some precautions to hide him," Janus suggested, while sighing in relief that the child was better.

    "I won''t take him home," Chaos replied, even though he didn''t like this decision either. "If I take him to the realm of gods, how will his life be? If we simply hide him always, how would it be different from the life of loneliness that I want to prevent for him?" Chaos asked in return.

    "I want him to live a life that I couldn''t get... A normal life where he won''t have to hide. A normal life where he won''t be hated by everyone. And that''s why, I''ve decided... I won''t take him to the Realm of Gods."

    "You won''t? Then where will you take him?" Janus asked, but Chaos didn''t answer. He simply opened a portal and disappeared with the child.

    However, Karyk already knew the answer. From here, Chaos went to the lower realm where he found the person that Karyk always knew as his father.

    Chaos not only helped his father take care of all the enemies that could threaten Karyk''s life in the future in the lower world, but he also brought him to a position of the King, so that Karyk could have a life of luxury and happiness.

    *****

    Back in the Realm of Gods, the old Rebel God was still in disbelief.

    "A child with the life essence of the strongest god to walk this world Chaos, and the life of a demon who wiped half the gods in his anger, Ezekiel! This child... And that''s not all. His unknown origin can''t be ordinary either... Just what is this child?"

    The old man couldn''t believe that the past of Gabriel was thisplicated. If he hadn''t read it in the books of the Divine Author, he never would''ve believed it either! He finally understood why Caen tried to kill Gabriel!

    It was because Caen somehow found out that Gabriel had the life essence of Chaos, which made him a candidate for the Throne in the Realm of Gods! Moreover, Gabriel''s origin was even older than Caen, which meant he was the rightful King of the Realm of Gods!

 Chapter 722 722: Prophecy

    ?

    As the old Rebel God continued to read the ancient texts, he became even more intrigued by Gabriel''s mysterious past. The revtion about his connection to Chaos and Ezekiel, two of the most powerful beings in the Realm of Gods, raised more questions than answers.

    Unfortunately, the Book didn''t mention anything else about that child. It only said that Chaos took the child to some unknown Lower World before returning single handedly.

    The old man put the book back and continued his search, hoping to find more in the other books. Albeit that doesn''t happen. Other than that book, there was not a single mention of a child of unknown origins.

    But there was one book that he found which made him gasp once more. It was a book that he never heard about. It was the Book of Prophecies. The name of the author was nowhere on the book but one thing was certain. The book wasn''t written by the Divine Author.

    As he delved deeper into the books, he discovered many prophecies, most of which had passed long ago.

    There was a prophecy about the Fall of the Ancients at the hands of a young God. From what the old man could understand, it talked about the moment when the Ancestral God was killed by Chaos.

    There were Hundreds of prophecies but all of them were written thousands of years ago and had long passed. It included the Prophecy about the fall of the Realm of Gods, which was about the present time where Ezekiel attacked the Realm of Gods.

    However, on thest page, there was one more Prophecy. If as the only Prophecy that hadn''te to pass yet.

    The prophecy had been foretold ages ago in the book, but no one ever heard about it.

    "He shall be born from the Abyss possessing thebined powers of two supreme beings. He shall have the potential to bring bnce to the Realm of Gods or plunge it into eternal chaos. He shall-"

    The book didn''t continue, ending the Prophecy in the middle. Moreover, thest word itself appeared shaky, as if the person who wrote this Prophecy was at thest moments of his life.

    "He shall what...?" The old Rebel God frowned, wondering what the next words in the prophecy were going to be. Unfortunately, he couldn''te to terms with it. Only one thing was certain for him. It was that Gabriel was an important piece in the ns of fate. And he was d that Gabriel was on his side.

    Realizing the significance of this prophecy, the old Rebel God understood many things. He couldn''t help but feel a sense of responsibility, knowing that they held in their hands the fate of the entire realm.

    However, the old man was still left with many uncertainties. He wondered why Gabriel was still so weak, despite his extraordinary origins.

    With the strength of two of the strongest Beings, how could he still be so weak even after over a thousand years? Something didn''t make sense to him.

    Was there something stopping him from reaching his full potential? Or was it a matter of time? The responsibility of protecting and guiding Gabriel weighed heavily on their shoulders.

    As the Rebel Gods continued to strengthen their defenses and prepare for any potential threats, the old man struggled with the moral dilemma of revealing Gabriel''s true nature to him.

    Je knew that the knowledge of his extraordinary lineage could put him in danger and also make him overthink, but he also thought that the young man had a right to know the truth about himself.

    For the time being, he decided to keep the secret to himself.

    In the midst of these revtions and preparations, three months had passed. The realm remained peaceful, but an air of anticipation and uncertainty loomed over the Rebel Gods as they awaited Gabriel''s return.

    The old Rebel God remained in the library, seeking answers and guidance from the ancient texts, hoping to uncover more secrets about Gabriel''s past and the future that awaited him.

    The Rebel Gods didn''t know that in the three months that they were spending in training themselves and strengthening this ce, the Gods weren''t sitting idle either.

    In the Upper Realm, the Gods had made a temporary base. But for most of these three months, the vige was mostly empty.

    No senior gods could be seen there. Only a few gods were left behind to train the Young Gods. Almost all the gods were sent out to find the Fragment of Heart of Eternity by Caen.

    To make sure that they didn''t betray him or keep secrets after finding the Fragments, he made all of them take Heavenly Oaths.

    In these three months, close to four Fragments were recovered, which made a total of seven that Caen now possessed.While searching for the Fragments, Caen had alsomanded the Gods to search and look for his uncle, to find out if he was even alive or not.

    No matter how much he hated his uncle, he was sure that his Uncle couldn''t stay hiding if his mother was in danger. That only meant that Janus was either dead or trapped somewhere. If he was trapped, then Caen decided to free him, since he needed every support he could get.

    With each Fragment that was found, Caen felt a surge of power coursing through him, bringing him one step closer topleting the Heart of Eternity.

    At the same time, he wasn''t idle either. He had gathered every information about Ezekiel and Gabriel. This time, he wasn''t going to underestimate anyone.

    He soon entered the secret training realm that belonged to Janus. The realm was created and used by Janus to train himself, but Caen never entered that ce, thinking he was already strong enough. But things were different now.

    As news spread of his growing collection, rumors and suspicions started to circte among the remaining gods that Caen''s intentions may not be as noble as they had initially believed. However, without concrete evidence, they continued to follow his lead, unsure of what the future would hold.

 Chapter 723 723: Crashing Down

    ?

    Karyk, still trapped in the memories, watched Chaos return to the realm of gods. He thought that Chaos was going to be considered the hero of the Realm of Gods because he protected it, but things weren''t that simple.

    More than feeling grateful to him, many wondered how that trash was able to defeat someone as strong as Ezekiel. Just what secret was he hiding?

    Instead of thanking Chaos, they started interrogating him. But they were careful since Chaos had just defeated Ezekiel. They couldn''t underestimate him.

    A few days passed, and news finally spread about Chaos creating an artifact that had helped him in the battle. The unknown artifact made them all concerned, especially since that could only be controlled by Chaos.

    However, they also received information that the artifact wasn''tplete yet. This was an opportunity for them.

    And thus began the first war, in which everyone surrounded Chaos'' house. In that war, most of the Gods fought against Chaos, while no one stood beside him in his support.

    Even his own brother Janus was a part of the enemies. In the battle, Chaos killed arge number of gods before he was finally taken down. He was killed by his own brother, Janus who was the person that leaked this information in the first ce.

    After Chaos was killed, his artifact ended up in the hands of Chaos. It was a bracelet with over twenty special gems attached to it. Unfortunately, no one could control the bracelet, which slowly corrupted the entire Divine Realm.

    At that moment, Janus suggested that they couldn''t keep that item in the Realm of Gods, but they also couldn''t let anyone else control it. However, destroying it was also impossible.

    So he suggested the bracelet be dismantled, and all gems to be tossed in the Spatial Chaos so that even they didn''t know where these fragments were. The gods agreed with the n, and didn''t find it suspicious. They did exactly that, and that''s how the bracelet and the fragments ended up in different gxies.

    At that moment, it was the end of it... It was the end of Chaos... Or do everyone think, not realizing that he had already prepared a Vessel to be reincarnated into. And that vessel was none other than Ryder Flynn, a human on earth.

    Thanks to the Divine Author''s vision, Karyk knew more than the others. He saw how Chaos reincarnated in Ryder. With Ryder bing stronger, Chaos also became stronger.

    And the person who helped Ryder be stronger was none other than Janus, the person who had stabbed Chaos in the back in front of every god.

    Karyk was surprised to see the reality. This was all a trick of Chaos, who already knew that things were going to get messy when he intervened and defeated Ezekiel. It was only a matter of time before the truth about his artifact was revealed.

    That''s why he took the help of Janus. He had Janus leak this information so he could win their trust and everything could go as he nned.

    There were two main reasons behind his actions. First was that the Bracelet and the Gems needed thousands of years to gain energy, which wasn''t possible in the Divine Realm. But if he himself tossed it in the spatial chaos, then the energy fluctuations were going to alert everyone. So he had the Gods do that.

    As for the second and most important realm, it was that he wanted to be killed! He was bound by the Heavenly Oath, which couldn''t be broken. However, tied by that oath, he felt restricted, as if a part of him was missing. He felt iplete.

    With his death, he was finally free of the Heavenly Oath about not using the abyss, ever again.

    And so, over a thousand years passed and Chaos finally recovered. He freed himself from Ryder.

    Seeing that scene, Karyk was quite taken aback. It reminded him of his own situation with Gabriel. Him and Gabriel were simr to Chaos and Ryder in a sense. They were one, yet they were different.

    After freeing himself, Chaos gathered all the fragments and returned to the Realm of Gods, after which, it was only bloodshed and nothing more!

    When Chaos returned, he took everything back, eventually forcing the Ancient God of Creation toe down. The Ancient God of Creation was one of two Ancient Gods from whom all the gods originated.

    In the end, there was only one battle. It was a world shaking battle between Chaos and the Ancient God of Creation. To win the battle, Chaos sacrificed his soul and his entire existence. He disappeared with the Ancient God of Creation, sealing both of them inside a Sword that was lost in realms unknown.

    Moreover, since Chaos had to sacrifice his soul to seal the God of Creation, he had to sacrifice every single fragment of his soul, including the one which was inside Ryder. But that meant Ryder''s death.

    Fortunately, Chaos didn''t allow Ryder to die. When he took back thest fragment of his soul from Ryder, he had the second ancient god''s soul fragment enter Ryder.

    At thatst moment, Ryder was finally an independent person with no connection to Chaos. That was thest moment Chaos was seen. Everyone in the Realm of Gods knew that he disappeared, but no one knew if he was alive or not.

    Even the Divine Author couldn''t see it. The Divine Author tried to see into the future fate of Chaos and Ryder, but that was too much for him.

    Strangely enough, the memories stopped right there. It didn''tst until the moment of the Divine Author''s death, and Karyk''s consciousness was pushed out.

    He finallynded back inside the Ancestral Temple, where every single tomb started shining in a mysterious light. The entire Ancestral Temple started shaking, as specks of light came out from all the tombs, being absorbed by Karyk''s body.

    ....

    The Goddess of Light had stopped out of the hall, receiving her own inheritance. Her control over Light had finally reached its peak, but to her surprise, it hadn''t evolved. She didn''t gain the element of life.

    As she was on her way out, she felt the entire Temple shake, including all the passages.

 Chapter 724 724: Inheritance

    ?

    The shaking intensified, and a powerful energy surged through the temple. Cracks started developing in the passage walls, as if the entire temple coulde crashing down at any moment.

    The Goddess of Light was taken aback, wondering why the Ancestral Temple was behaving like this suddenly. Two beautiful wings made purely of right appeared behind her, illuminating the passage around her.

    With the help of her newfound power, she moved through the passage, going straight for the portal that was at the same ce from where she entered. She didn''t want to be inside the temple when it came crashing down.

    As the Goddess of Light approached the portal, the shaking intensified even further, making it increasingly difficult for her to maintain her bnce. The cracks in the walls grew wider, and debris started falling from the ceiling. Determined to escape, she pushed through, her wings pulsating with a radiant glow, guiding her path.

    The portal loomed ahead, shimmering with an otherworldly light. She could feel the immense power emanating from it, like a beacon pulling her closer. But as she stepped closer, an unsettling feeling gnawed at her heart. There was something off about this portal, something she couldn''t quite ce.

    She doesn''t think much about it, more concerned about the falling roof. Without stopping, she rushed into the portal.

    On the other side of the portal, the Goddess of Light came flying, falling on the floor right before the Lord of Upper Realm who was sitting high on the throne.

    "You seem to have grown a lot," the Lord of Upper Realm stated, letting out a sigh. He had expected quite a lot from her, but he was somewhat disappointed.

    "Where is Karyk? Why didn''t hee out with you?" he asked.

    "He didn''te out yet?" The Goddess of Light asked in return, slightly surprised. Karyk was ahead of her in the Ancestral Temple. In fact, it was because of him clearing the path that she was able to enter her destination that easily. Usually, he should''vee out long before her.

    Even after all that, she felt happy that he didn''te out. She knew that he had enmity with her. They couldn''t work together. If anything, he was going to kill her at sight if he came out. She was d that he wasn''t here.

    "The Temple would''ve alreadye crashing down, burying him under. It looks like he did something which made the Ancestral Temple upset. I don''t think he''ll being back now," the Goddess of Light spoke, not even trying to hide the happiness in her eyes.

    "Temples crashing down?" The Lord of Upper Realm frowned. "How is this possible?"

    Something like this had never happened. Moreover, how could one upset the Temple to the point that the temple would destroy itself? It didn''t make sense. Everything inside the temple was simple,as long as one passed the traps.

    Hearing about the destruction of the temple, he couldn''t help but feel that something was off.

    ****

    Many of the passages were destroyed. The Halls of other Elements were also destroyed, as if the Ancestral Temple was erasing itself. The specks of different colored lights came from every temple, slowly being absorbed in Karyk''s body.

    Even Karyk didn''t understand entirely what was happening, but he felt that the aura inside his body was changing. It was as if every element was entering his body to the point that his strength was beyond his own understanding.

    He didn''t understand why that was happening, or who actually made the Ancestral Temple. He also didn''t understand why only he was receiving these memories or why no one else gained this knowledge. More than anything, he didn''t know his origin.

    The shaking of the Ancestral Temple only intensified. With each passing second, the Tombstones started cracking apart, slowly turning into specks of dust, merging with the ground.

    Karyk didn''t know why, but he felt as if he could see the spirits of the people whose tombstones were breaking. As thest tombstone also shattered, there were hundreds of spirits in the hall.

    All those Spirits were ones whose life Karyk had lived through those memories. They stared at him with a mixture of sadness and relief, as if they were finally at peace knowing that their stories were carried on.

    Karyk stood up, gazing at all the Spirits. They were dead, yet he couldn''t feel as if they were dead. Their spirits simply disappeared slowly

    The Divine Author was thest Spirit. He looked at Karyk with a knowing smile. It was as if even at this moment, he could see a future that no one else could see.

    He opened his lips, as if about to speak something. However, he simply closed his mouth, shaking his head. His spirit disappeared, leaving Karyk with a sense of mystery and unanswered questions.

    He didn''t know why he didn''t see the rest of the memories of the Divine Author. How did he do it? Just why the memories stopped so abruptly, unlike with other memories. Thousands of questions were in Karyk''s hands.

    As he pondered over the maze of unanswered questions, he realized that he didn''t have too much time to waste here. The entire temple wasing down.

    He looked in the direction where all tombstones used to be, bowing his head in onest rite of respect. Thanks to all of them, he learned many things. In this regard, they were no different than his teachers, teaching through their life experiences.

    He left the hall, where he spent months without even realizing. Most of the passage was destroyed, but still enough was left for him to leave this ce.

    As he made his way out, he couldn''t help but feel a sense of gratitude for the sanctuary the temple had provided. It had been a refuge from the chaos and distractions of the outside world, allowing him to focus on his inner journey.

    Moreover, after everything ended, he finally regained some senses and felt less lost. His headache had also subsided.

 Chapter 725 725

    ?

    With the destruction of the Ancestral Temple, the Portal also started flickering, as it grew weaker and smaller.

    Seeing the portal''s condition, the Lord of Upper Realm could only sigh in response. "Did I expect too much from him?"

    He sighed, shaking his head lightly. The Portal became smaller and smaller, until it was only half a meter wide.

    The Goddess of Life had an amused smirk on her face. She had nned so many things to deal with Karyk, but she never expected that she wasn''t going to need anything at all. Her biggest enemy was already dead and not a threat to her anymore.

    She couldn''t help but feel a twinge of disappointment as well. Part of her had wanted the satisfaction of taking down Karyk herself, but she couldn''t deny the relief of knowing that she was no longer in danger.

    This had been the best day for her life as she finally controlled her Elementpletely. She was disappointed that her Element didn''t grow into the Element of Life but she believed that it was only a matter of time.

    Once she gained the Element of Life, she was convinced that no one in the world was going to be able to kill her.

    "Now that I''m done here, I''ll be leaving." The Goddess of Life stated. She wasn''t humble before the Lord of Upper Realm, unlike before. She had already received what she worked so hard for.

    Moreover, her strength was also much stronger. She considered herself to be on the same level as the Lord of Upper Realm.

    The Lord of Upper Realm frowned. He reached out his hand to speak, but he stopped. His eyes instantly turned toward the portal.

    The portal was the size of a football now, making it impossible for anyone to enter it. But at that moment, something crazy happened.

    Two hands came out from the portal, grabbing the two sides of the portal. Normally, it was impossible to grab the portals, yet this was happening.

    Not that the portal stopped from closing, but it became bigger. The hands forcefully made the portal bigger. Seeing the hands, the Lord of Upper Realm realized who this person was.

    The rings on those fingers werepletely identical to the ring that a certain someone wore while entering the Ancestral Temple.

    Even the Goddess of Light stopped, feeling a chill run down her spine. She turned around, only to be stunned.

    A unique and strange aura filled the surroundings. No one could grasp this aura, but under this aura, even the Lord of Upper Realm felt as if he was feeling a bit suppressed.

    The portal was forcefully opened once again, bing big enough for a person to pass through. Once the portal was big enough, dark shackles came out of the group, keeping the Portal in its ce.

    From the Stark white portal, a person finally stepped out. It was a man, with long hair cascading down his back. His clothes were dirty, covered in dust and dirt. However, even in these clothes, the man still appeared as Charmin as a Prince.

    Seeing Karyk step out, the Goddess of Light frowned. Even after all that, the man had managed to survive?

    She didn''t know why, but even after she became so strong, she still felt an innate fear from Karyk. It was even worse since Karyk appeared different.

    His eyes were still the same color, but there was something different in them, as if they were the eyes of a person who had seen through the world after living multiple lives.

    Her hands were behind her back. She gathered her aura behind her, condensing them into a sword of light, ready to take the chance.

    She grabbed the hilt of the Newly Created Sword, looking straight at Karyk.

    As soon as Karyk looked at her, the woman moved like lightning. Her sword aimed straight at the chest of Karyk.

    Karyk''s eyes didn''t reveal a surprise.

    The Sword of the Goddess of Light stabbed straight through his heart.

    "This time, stay dead!" The Goddess of Light eximed, ring at Karyk.

    "Life is so precious. Why do you want to give up yours?" A voice came from behind the woman. As soon as she heard the voice, she froze. This was Karyk''s voice.

    She couldn''t understand how it was possible. She had just stabbed him. He was before her. How could he be behind her?

    The Goddess of Light was in disbelief when she saw the person she had stabbed turn into smoke and disappear.

    Living through so many lives, Karyk had long started considering the grudge between them insignificant. What was a mere thousand years of enmity when he lived tens of thousands of years through all those memories. But that didn''t mean he could forgive everything.

    The woman used him and she used Gabriel. Not only that, she also betrayed their home, simply for power. And even after all that, she didn''t find up and kept trying to kill him even until thest moment.

    "How?!" The woman eximed. She moved like lightning, and swung her Sword around.

    This time, her sword sliced Karyk who stood behind her in two halves. Unfortunately, she felt even more distressed since the two halves turned into smoke.

    "I''ve killed many innocent people in my life, while letting evil people like you survive," words fell in the years of the Goddess of Light.

    The Goddess of Light felt as if she was going crazy. Her entire existence was shrouded in otherworldly powers as all the specks of light in the room turned into Weapons for her, creating a storm.

    The Lord of the Upper froze the space around him, protecting himself from light. It was only his Domain around him, and no one could harm him, but the same couldn''t be said about others.

    There were hundreds of billions of specks of light in the room. Light was everywhere, bing the strongest weapon. Even the throne in the hall was ripped to shreds in the attack.

 Chapter 726 726: Undead God

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    Even the Throne was ripped. The chaotic light destroyed everything in this ball, even the things that were made from the hardest material in the entire world.

    The destructive force spared no corner of the realm, reducing everything to rubble and shattering the grandeur. In the wake of this devastation, hope seemed like a fleeting memory. It was as if this was going to destroy everything in its path.

    After almost half an hour, the Goddess of Light finally calmed down, convinced that this was enough. She even felt that her attack had probably reduced the Lord of Upper Realm to ashes, but she also knew that the chances were low.

    And the Lord of Upper Realm controlled the space, which allowed him to shift himself to an alternate space, protecting himself. Karyk had supposed to have nothing like that.

    After she stopped her attack, the specks of lightning started slowing down. The room that was so bright that it was impossible to see anything finally returned to some normalcy as the brightness came down.

    The Goddess of Lightughed brightly, noticing that there was nothing where Karyk used to stand. Not even his ashes were left behind.

    As the dust settled, a faint breeze blew through the empty space, carrying with it a lingering sense of loss. The Goddess of Light, still chuckling to herself before looking at the Lord of Upper Realm. Just as she expected, the man waspletely unharmed.

    She realized that the difference between the two was too much. The Lord of Upper Realm was harder to kill then she ever could''ve thought.

    "Apologies for ruining your furniture," the Woman said nonchntly, with great calmness. She still acted as if she was his equal.

    "Don''t mind the furniture," the Lord of Upper Realm waved his hand, making another throne appear behind his eyes. "Though shouldn''t you be worrying about something else?"

    "Something else?" The woman frowned. She nced in the direction that the Lord of Upper Realm was looking at. Her eyes widened as soon as she looked behind her. There was a person behind her with no aura at all. The man felt a Mortal but just a nce at him caused her to be terrified.

    "How are you still..." The woman tried speaking, but she wasn''t allowed to finish her sentence.

    Karyk raised a hand, and the woman''s voice abruptly vanished. She struggled to form words, her eyes filled with fear and confusion.

    The Lord of Upper Realm''s also frowned in response. The methods that Karyk used were beyond his understanding. Only one thing was certain. It was that Karyk had gained something in the Ancient Temple that no one before him received.

    The growth that he went through was nice higher than the growth others went through.

    He possessed a power that surpassed anything the Lord of the Upper Realm had encountered before. As the woman stood there in silence, the Lord began to question the true nature and origins of this man who seemed to possess such immense authority and control.

    He thought at best Karyk would grow as strong as him and would be able to help him in what was toe, but the reality had surpassed his expectations.

    Karyk not only matched the Lord''s strength but even surpassed it, leaving the Lord in curiosity of his unparalleled capabilities. Unsure of how to proceed, the Lord simply watched and didn''t interfere.

    For what was toe, he needed someone strong. He needed allies and who better than the Lord of Upper Realm.

    The Lord of Upper Realm had heard tales of Karyk''s unmatched power in the past,since Karyk caused a lot of destruction in the Upper Realm, even troubling the Generals but it was never to the point that he had a reason to personally be concerned.

    He had long stopped interfering in the matters of the Upper Realm. The suggestion to hunt Karyk in the end also came from the Generals and he simply gave them a nod, having no feelings about it. He let them handle everything.

    Only when Karyk returned from the dead did he start paying attention to him. At the same time, he also needed his help.

    The Goddess of Light struggled to free herself, but her body simply refused to listen. She also heard sharp screeches in her ears as if there were evil Spirits all around her, screaming in his ears and holding her into ce.

    Thews of the world around her had twisted as soon as Karyk touched her, making her unable to even use her Abilities.

    "I don''t hate you..." Karyk spoke, but at the same time, his grip kept getting tighter. "I forgive you."

    As he spoke, his grip tightened. A cracking sound resounded. The woman''s throat was crushed. Even her light Armor couldn''t protect her. Her eyes were filled with hatred even as she died.

    Even after killing her, he didn''t release the Goddess of Light. Instead, a strange dark mist entered the body of the Goddess of Light through her nose, mouth and ears.

    The Undead Aura kept flooding her body until her entire body was surrounded by that aura.

    Since it was a Divine Body, there was a lot of rejection of this undead aura, but Karyk forced his way through. As the undead aurapletely consumed the Goddess of Light, her once radiant and pure appearance transformed into that of a dark, twisted figure.

    It seemed that Karyk''s n was seeding, corrupting the embodiment of purity for his own nefarious purposes. The Goddess of Light opened her eyes, but her eyes were pitch ck now. She had be an Undead servant of Karyk.

    After fully converting her, Karyk released her throat. The woman dropped to her feet. She intentionally went down on her knees, greeting Karyk like she was greeting her Master.

    Karyk looked upon the Goddess of Light, observing her transformation. The person who tried to kill him again and again was now fated to serve him for an eternity.

 Chapter 727 727: In Ruins

    ?

    The revtion of Karyk''s power and the unexpected transformation of the Goddess of Light left the Lord of Upper Realm in awe and contemtion.

    The grandeur of the room was marred by the recent events, the aftermath of their battle painted across the walls and floors. The weight of their choices hung in the air as Karyk''s newfound dominion over the Goddess settled in.

    Karyk, now in control of an undead servant with immense power, turned his attention to the Lord of the Upper Realm.

    The Lord''s eyes were fixed on Karyk, a mix of intrigue, and perhaps a touch of uncertainty present in his gaze. The two beings stood there, each aware of the shifting dynamics between them.

    "You''ve certainly surprised me, Karyk," the Lord finally spoke, his tone a mixture of acknowledgment and curiosity. "Your strength, your methods¡ªthey''re unlike anything I''ve encountered before. Ruthless yet justified."

    "Looks like your trip to the temple has been beneficial. So what did you find there?" he asked.

    "I''ve learned that in this world, power isn''t static. It can be reshaped, redirected, and even wielded in unconventional ways. But more than anything, it''s the meaning of life that I had failed to grasp before," Karyk answered, taking his hands off the Goddess of Light whose eyes were lifeless now.

    Even her Mark of Light had been corrupted and turned dark.

    Usually it was impossible for a God to be corrupted like this, but Karyk did it right before his eyes so the Lord of Upper Realm didn''t have any other choice but to believe it.

    The Lord of Upper Realm nodded, his gaze never leaving Karyk. "True. And it seems you''ve gained such mastery over this power that you canmand even the divine."

    Karyk''s eyes glinted with a deep resolve. "I don''t seek dominion for the sake of power alone. I only have one purpose."

    The Lord''s curiosity deepened. "And what might that purpose be?"

    Karyk paused for a brief moment before replying, "I just want peace. I just want to end all this bloodshed and return to my home... return to my family..."

    "Your home and your family..." the Lord of Upper Realm went silent. Usually, he wouldn''t have been so concerned about telling what had happened but with Karyk''s recent change, he wanted to be really careful with his words.

    "Why are you looking at me like that?" Karyk frowned. He didn''t know why but he found that man''s gaze suspicious.

    The Lord of Upper Realm sighed, his expression softening as he spoke. "I suppose I owe you an exnation. Your family... they''re no more. Your world, it''s been destroyed. And from what I know, all lives are lost with it. And even your other self... he has also been killed."

    Karyk felt his breath catch in his chest, his mind struggling toprehend the magnitude of what he had just heard. Even after going through so many lives... even after going through so many deaths... his love for his family had never faded!

    Even though he now found out that the girl wasn''t actually his blood sister and he wasn''t born in that world, but for him, she was his family. For a brief moment, his emotions weren''t under his control. It was as if the entire world had been plunged into the cold abyss.

    Even the Lord of the Upper Realm felt the terrifying power. To make sure that Karyk didn''t misunderstand, he rified right away.

    "Before you think that we did it, let me be clear. I have no hand in what happened. I had no reason to harm your family when I needed your help. And even if I wanted to, I couldn''t have left this ce to do anything."

    "As for my Generals, you know they can''t destroy the world that was under your domain. They aren''t strong enough!"

    The Lord of Upper Realm never needed to exin anything in his life. As he was so strong, no one even asked for an exnation from him. But this time, he felt that there was a need. If he needed Karyk''s help, then he had to be honest.

    Moreover, he had no reason to lie. It wasn''t because he was scared of Karyk.

    "Then who?" Karyk asked, wondering who was capable enough to harm his family but before the Lord could answer, he thought of something.

    When he had killed the True God of Lightning, he didn''t know where that guy came from. He waspletely unaware of the existence of the Realm of Gods but after going through so many lives, he knew many things. He even knew the power structure of the Realm of Gods.

    He knew their mentality and their mindset, along with their arrogance. If one of them was killed, it wasn''t surprising if they sent someone to have revenge! It was simr to what happened to Ezekiel!

    "The Realm of Gods?" He asked the man.

    "Oh, you know about it too?" The Lord of Upper Realm asked with a surprised look on his face.

    "I''m surprised that you know about them," he continued, "Not many mortals are aware of its existence. It is a realm beyond our own, inhabited by powerful beings who control immense powers."

    "Did they do it?" Karyk asked, his tone getting grim.

    The Lord of Upper Realm nodded solemnly. "Yes. The True God of Lightning you killed was a part of their hierarchy. Your actions would have provoked a response from them. But I don''t think that was the reason. It felt more like a personal enmity with someone really powerful, especially targeting you."

    The Lord of Upper Realm waved his hand, opening a spatial portal that connected to the ce where nothing more than the rubble of Karyk''s world was left.

    "You can see with your own eyes..."

    "... the devastation caused by the gods. It wasn''t even a battle but a total massacre. It''s clear that this was more than just a mere act of revenge."

 Chapter 728 728: Karyks Might

    ?

    Karyk stepped through the portal, emerging on the other side, only to be greeted by a horrifying sight. Destion... it wasplete and utter destion. The entire areay in ruins, with no semnce of life or remnants of anything remaining.

    The world that had flourished for millions of years was now left in ruins, its vibrant colors turned to shades of gray.

    As Karyk took a cautious step forward, a gust of wind carried a haunting silence that whispered of a forgotten past. The destruction didn''t seem recent; it was as if time had frozen amidst the chaos.

    Rubbles could be seen floating through the endless space. Many items from ordinary lives of people had survived this destruction and were floating in space, asking for justice.

    What was even worse was that souls were trapped in this space...they were vengeful souls that hadn''t managed to pass through to the Soul Land.

    Most people couldn''t see these souls, but for Karyk, they were right before his eyes. It was simr to the day he had gained the Element of Death. That day, the souls of the dead were ming him, cursing him and hating on him.

    Even now, the souls were ming him for not being able to protect them. Billions of souls, all in the endless space, questioning Karyk. But his eyes were only looking for one particr soul... the Soul of his sister.

    He searched through the billions of souls, absorbing them one after another to send them to Soul Land. He could bring a soul back to life by giving them a body, but when there were billions of souls, it was unjustified. They had to go to the Reincarnation Cycle to maintain the bnce of the universe.

    As he absorbed screeching souls one after another, he noticed one particr soul in the distance. It was the Soul of Avilia...the person who had helped Gabriel.

    Her soul was still intact and it didn''t appear to be crazy like others. Instead of ming him for not protecting them, Avilia''s soul had her head down, as if she was ashamed that she couldn''t protect Karyk''s sister.

    She had failed her responsibility and now she couldn''t look Karyk in his eyes.

    Karyk appeared next to Avilia''s soul.

    Feeling his presence, Avilia raised her head in confusion. She looked at Karyk, whose face was still simr to Gabriel. Avilia didn''t know that Gabriel and Karyk had separated.

    Guilt welled up in Avilia''s heart as she looked at Karyk.

    "I''m so sorry," she whispered, her voice trembling.

    Karyk reached out and gently cupped her face, his touch filled with forgiveness and understanding.

    "It''s not your fault," he said softly, his eyes filled withpassion. "I''m sure you did your best in my absence. But don''t worry. Now that I''m back, leave everything to me."

    As Karyk was touching Avilia''s soul, the glyphs all around his body started shining in a mysterious light. The mysterious light soon shrouded Avilia as Karyk stepped back.

    The mysterious light had formed something akin to a cocoon around Avilia. Now that Karyk had realized what he was truly capable of, he didn''t need Blood Crystal to create a body. And bringing one or two souls back to life wasn''t destroying the bnce of the universe either.

    Inside the Cocoon of Mysterious Light, a new body was prepared for Avilia that was fullypatible with her soul. Nothing about her was changed.

    While Avilia''s revival was going on, Karyk continued absorbing the other souls and sending them to the Cycle of Reincarnation.

    Other than Avilia, he didn''t bring anyone back to life. Even the people of the Empire who had helped him in the past... he didn''t bring them back. The world''s bnce was fragile.

    After half an hour, Karyk had searched the entire space for every soul that he could find. He absorbed all of them and sent them all to a Cycle of Reincarnation, but strangely enough, the ones that he was looking for...he didn''t find.

    He didn''t find the soul of his sister Zena. He didn''t find the Soul of his Demigod Friend Alion, and he didn''t find Nyx. It was as if their souls weren''t here.

    For a moment, he wondered if their souls was destroyed in the attack, but that also seemed unlikely since he couldn''t feel anything like that.

    "Did they survive?" he wondered to himself before flying back to Avilia''s Cocoon.

    Only a few minutes had passed but the creation of Avilia''s new body wasplete.

    As he watched, he felt a surge of energy emanate from the cocoon, a glimmer of possibility. It was clear that Avilia was alive again. Her return was sessful.

    As Avilia came back to life, the Cocoon of light shattered into thousands of light specks, revealing a beautiful woman inside, who waspletely without clothes.

    Her wless body was so beautiful that it could make anyone fall for her, but not even a shred of feelings shed in Karyk''s eyes.

    Karyk waved his hand. Clothes appeared around Avilia, covering her body. The clothes were also simr to the clothes that she usually wore.

    Not only did Karyk return Avilia''s body, but he also returned her element. Her connection with the Element of Summoning was once again established, and this time even stronger than before since the Goddess of Summoning was killed long ago.

    If anything, Avilia was even stronger now. She had be a partial god, with a fraction of Control over her element. Her strength wasn''t derived from another god now.

    It was a power that came from deep within her, a power that resonated with every fiber of her being.

    Avilia could feel the surge of energy coursing through her veins, empowering her with an unparalleled level of control andmand over the Element of Summoning. With this newfound strength, she knew she had evolved.

    Opening her beautiful eyes, she looked at Karyk.

    Karyk only asked her one simple question.

    "Where is my sister?"

 Chapter 729 729: Not a third time

    Chapter729 729: Not a third time

    "Where is my sister?" Karyk asked Avilia. No matter where he searched, he didn''t find the soul of his sister, as if it had simply disappeared.

    It wasn''t just the soul of his sister that he couldn''t find, but there were also a few other souls as well.

    Avilia didn''t know how to respond. Ever since she had turned into a spirit, her memory had be quite unstable. She didn''t know much from the moment she died to the moment she saw Karyk.

    Thest thing she remembered was Caen torturing Karyk''s sister.

    She told Karyk everything that had happened to his sister, and how torturous it was. In the end, she suggested that it was highly likely that his sister''s soul waspletely destroyed.

    Hearing the events that took ce, Karyk''s fists tightened. He couldn''t bear the thought of his sister suffering such pain, and a surge of anger consumed him.

    However he was certain about one thing. It was that his sister''s soul wasn''t destroyed. There were no signs of such destruction which left only two possibilities.

    One was that her soul was entrapped and taken by someone. And the other possibility was that she was still alive.

    From the portal behind him, the Lord of Upper Realm was looking at him. He didn''t step out of the portal, as if he wasn''t allowed to leave the Upper Realm.

    Karyk looked at the Lord of Upper Realm through the Portal. Seeing the portal, a thought shed in his mind. He realized that there was another portal in this ce. It was the Portal of the Nether Realm!

    If Alion was alive, along with his sister then they only had one possible ce they could escape to. It was the Nether Realm whose portal was always open in this endless space.

    Thinking to this point, he made up his mind to search the Nether Realm. At this point, nothing held more importance to him than to find his sister and Alion.

    With determination in his heart, he stepped towards the Portal of the Nether Realm, unsure of what awaited him on the other side.

    As he approached the swirling vortex, a surge of Mystical Energy could be felt around it. The energy was overwhelming and it only became stronger because of the aura of death outside.

    Karyk told Avilia to enter the portal to the Upper Realm and stay with the Lord of the Upper Realm for the time being, before he entered the Nether Realm.

    It was his third time in the Nether Realm, and the first two times, he had caused quite amotion in this ce. But this time, he didn''t intend to cause amotion. He only wanted to find some people. And if he couldn''t find them, then it was the time formotion.

    As soon as Karyk stepped inside the Nether Realm, he came across a huge army of the Nether Realm, as if the army was waiting for any intruder.

    The army included people from three Great Nether ns, each having their own special skills and weapons.

    Seeing another person step inside the portal, the Generals from the three Great Nether ns immediatelymanded their soldiers to surround Karyk.

    However, it was only after theymanded their people that they clearly saw who the person was. Seeing Karyk''s face, all the Generals suddenly froze in fear and disbelief.

    All of them were informed that Karyk was killed by the person who had destroyed the other world. But to see him right before their eyes, they were in disbelief. What was even more surprising was that he appeared even stronger.

    There were strange mystical marks that could be seen all over his skin, and those marks appeared to be alive as well.

    "Surrender and you won''t be attacked," the General from the Nether Blood n eximed, raising his spear toward Karyk. In his left hand, shackles appeared that were responsible for sealing a person''s magic.

    Karyk looked at the army of tens of thousands. Initially, he would''ve had a hard time fighting so many people since there was no way to recover energy in this ce. One had to conserve their energy as much as they could, but it was different now.

    With his final evolution, he was beyond the Restrictions of this lifeless world.

    Hended on the ground, merely a few meters away from the Nether Blood n General.

    The General subconsciously took a step back, not understanding why he felt so suppressed.

    Karyk didn''t attack the man. He simply raised his hand, creating two images in the air, one belonging to his sister and another to Alion.

    "I''m looking for these two. Have you seen them?" he asked.

    The General saw the two people, growing stunned. Not only had he seen them, but he was the person who had ced shackles around them.

    Karyk noticed the man''s men''s expressions shift. It was clear that the person had seen those two people.

    "Where are they?" Karyk asked.

    The General red back at Karyk. "We don''t work for you. We''ll be the ones asking you questions!"

    The tip of the General''s spear was merely a few meters away from Karyk''s throat. Even with someone like Karyk before him, the man still held onto his courage. Unfortunately, the person who was before him was in a different league.

    Karyk stepped closer to the man, not caring about the spear. If anything, the spear started disintegrating as Karyk stepped closer.

    The General was momentarily stunned. He jumped back,manding all his men to attack Karyk.

    But Karyk, unfazed by the General''s order, merely raised his hand and a powerful gust of wind knocked every soldier off their feet. As theyy incapacitated, Karyk turned back to the General, a calm yet determined look on his face.

    "I won''t ask a third time."

    The General felt that his body wasn''t in his control. His body rose in the air, the distance between his feet and the ground increasing. A mysterious force wrapping around his throat, tightening its grasp.

 Chapter 730 730: Soul Devouring Bugs

    Chapter730 730: Soul Devouring Bugs

    Alion had helped Cylix and Novius escape from the Pce of the Nether Blood n with Karyk''s sister.

    Unfortunately, to cause a distraction to help others escape, he was caught by the Nether Blood n''s Patriarch. Not only was Alion defeated by the Patriarch of Nether Blood n, but he was also trapped once again.

    At the moment, Alion was sitting in a prison cell. The chains around him had multiplied. They were made much stronger. There were shackles around Alion''s wrist, around his ankles, his waist and even around his throat.

    He was treated no different than an animal with all these shackles. These chains weren''t opened for even a single moment.

    Months had passed since Alion was caught, but in this time, he was not given a single drop of water to drink.

    The Patriarch of the Nether Blood n was furious at Alion. By helping prisoners escape, Alion had basically pped his entire n in the face, showing the Royal City that the n was pathetic.

    In his rage, the Patriarch repeatedly asked Alion to give up on the location of the other prisoners and where they were hiding.

    At the same time, he even used most of his army to search for those prisoners, only to fail his search. It was as if they had simply disappeared from this world. No one knew where they were hiding.

    As more time passed, the Patriarch of the Nether Blood n increasingly tortured Alion to have him confess everything.

    Despite the relentless torture, Alion remained steadfast, refusing to reveal the secrets of the prisoners'' whereabouts. He didn''t know their whereabouts in the first ce, but it wasn''t as if the Nether Blood n was going to believe him.

    The Patriarch''s frustration grew, leading him to employ even more brutal methods in an attempt to break Alion''s will. The cell was covered in Alion''s blood.

    Alion''s skin was burned in fierce mes. His fingers were sliced off and his eyes were stabbed by a sharp object. And the torture only intensified. If there was any other person, they would''ve been broken by this torture, but Alion kept his mouth closed, not even screaming a little.

    He didn''t give these people any pleasure of watching him suffer. Blood trickled down his cheeks as his eyes were stabbed, but he remained still like he was a lifeless statue.

    His determination to withstand the pain and not give in only fueled their sadistic desire to break him. They increased the intensity of their torture, desperate to see him break under their relentless assault.

    But Alion''s spirit remained unyielding, his willpower bing a shield against their cruel intentions. With each strike, he remained silent, refusing to grant them the satisfaction of witnessing his defeat.

    Hours turned into days and days into months, yet Alion''s resolve remained unshaken. The tormentors grew frustrated, realizing that their methods were futile against his unbreakable spirit

    In ast-ditch effort to break Alion, the tormentors shifted their strategy, attempting to dismantle his mental fortitude by subjecting him to psychological maniption and mind games.

    They tried to infiltrate his thoughts, nting seeds of doubt and despair, but Alion''s inner strength stood firm, impervious to their deceptive tactics. He remained rooted in his belief.

    Alion didn''t care what happened to him. Even if he died, he was fine with it. The only thing he wanted was for Karyk''s sister to be healed.

    It waste at night. Alion''s breathing was haggard. Both his hands were sliced off and he was left to bleed but Alion didn''t let the pain get to his head.

    In his mind, there was only one thought. He wondered if Cylix and Novius found the Lord of Time to heal Zena.

    "I hope they found hi-" he spoke to himself but amidst his sentence, he started coughing out blood.

    Alion''s vision blurred as he struggled to remain conscious. Thoughts of Zena''s well-being consumed his every waking moment, driving him to endure the excruciating pain. Even at this time, he didn''t pray for himself.

    The door of the cell opened, making Alion raise his head.

    Standing before him was the Patriarch of the Nether Blood n. In thest few months, the Patriarch had rarelye here. He didn''t personally torture Alion, but this time, his eyes appeared crazy.

    The Patriarch of the Nether Blood n stepped closer to Alion, stopping just half a meter away from him. His eyes observed the broken condition of Alion.

    "Even after all this, you haven''t given up. I don''t know if I should call you courageous or foolish..." the Patriarch stated.

    "Cough, cough... How about you call me by my name like everyone else?" Alion replied.

    The Patriarch''s eyes hardened momentarily, but he quickly regained hisposure. "Very well, Alion. If that is what you prefer."

    His voice carried a trace of begrudging respect. "I came here because today is yourst night. I''ve dyed your execution as much as I could because I wanted some answers. But I''ve had enough. In a few hours, you''ll be put to the most gruesome death that you can imagine!"

    "Is it finally the time?" Alionughed in response but hisughter appeared pitiful in this situation.

    "The Soul Devouring bugs will invade your body. With each bite, they will devour your soul, destroying everything about you. And I will watch with great pleasure..."

    Hearing about the soul devouring bugs, Alion''s expressions momentarily changed before recovering. He had heard about these creatures. They were the most frightening creatures.

    They destroyed a person''s body and soul in the most painful way, making it impossible for the person to even reincarnate. This was indeed the most painful death one could be granted.

    It was clear that the Patriarch was here to give him an offer. If he didn''t want to die in this way, he could only give up. Unfortunately for the Patriarch, Alion had no intention of giving up.

    He epted his death gracefully.

    Seeing Alion''s calm expressions, the Patriarch felt even more frustrated.

    "We''ll see if you''re still so calm when those bugs devour you." He grabbed Alion by his throat before dragging him out of the cell.

 Chapter 731 731: Punishment

    Chapter731 731: Punishment

    The Patriarch''s grip on Alion''s throat was tight, his eyes burning with a mixture of anger and twisted satisfaction. As he dragged Alion down the dimly lit corridor, Alion''s weakened body stumbled along, his steps faltering but his spirit unwavering.

    They emerged into arge chamber, its walls adorned with grotesque trophies and eerie artefacts. In the centre of the room, a circr tform was surrounded by a throng of the Nether Blood n''s members, their eyes gleaming with sadistic anticipation. Torches flickered, casting eerie shadows that danced around the chamber.

    As Alion was pushed onto the tform, chains rattling and clinking with each movement, a sense of eeriness settled over him.

    As Alion was ced on the tform, more chains came out of the tform, connecting with the chains that were around Alion already.

    The tform started moving on its own, leaving the Pce. Moving rapidly, it appeared in the centre of the City, with open surroundings.

    Strangely, the spectators were already in ce, as if they were informed that a traitor was going to be killed in the open.

    Many members of the Three Nether ns were around the tform, most of them looking at Alion with hatred.

    The Patriarch''s voice reverberated through the surroundings, his words carrying an air of finality.

    "Behold, the traitor who dared defy the Nether Blood n! Today, he shall face the ultimate punishment, a fate worse than death itself."

    Alion''s eyes scanned the faces in the crowd, his gaze locking onto Cylix and Novius standing amidst the observers. His pupils shrunk as he quickly shifted his gaze.

    In his mind, he was cursing those idiots for arriving at this ce that was most dangerous for them. Fortunately Zena and the Holy Priestess of Darkness weren''t with them.

    Still, he felt ufortable to see them there. It meant they had left Zena with the Holy Priestess of Darkness and arrived here to save him, which was beyond his expectations.

    He didn''t want them to do it. If anything, he was cursing them in his mind.

    He kept hoping that they weren''t going to interfere even if he was to die a gruesome death. Not only could they not save him, but they were going to get caught instead, and he didn''t want that. One death was better than three. Zena also needed them.

    Their eyes held a mixture of despair and determination, and Alion could sense their guilt over his predicament.

    The Patriarch raised his hand, and from the shadows emerged a cage. Inside it writhed a mass of grotesque, insect-like creatures, their translucent bodies shimmering in the torchlight. Alion''s heart quickened, but he refused to show fear.

    The Patriarch''s grin widened, savouring the moment. "Alion, you have onest chance to save yourself from this torment. Tell me where the other prisoners are hiding, and I might grant you a quicker death."

    Alion''s voice was hoarse but resolute. "You won''t break me. Do what you must."

    chittering creating a sickening symphony. They crawled toward The Patriarch''s amusement turned to rage, and with a wave of his hand, the cage opened. The soul devouring bugs spilled out, their chittering creating a sickening symphony. They crawled toward Alion, their sharp mandibles clicking with hunger.

    As the first bug approached, Alion closed his eyes briefly, remembering Zena''s smile, Cylix and Novius'' unwavering friendship, and the hope they represented.

    He steeled himself, ignoring the searing pain as the bugstched onto his skin, their ethereal forms causing agony that defied description.

    But Alion''s thoughts weren''t on the pain; they were on those he cared about. He thought of the bond they shared, the sacrifices they''d made, and the hope that burned within them.

    He let the pain wash over him, his consciousness teetering on the edge as the bugs devoured his essence.

    Suddenly, a blinding light erupted from his chest, pushing the bugs back. The light expanded, engulfing him in a cocoon of radiance. Gasps and murmurs filled the chamber as the bugs were obliterated, their malevolent existence erased by the surge of energy.

    When the light subsided, Alion stood transformed. His body emanated an ethereal glow, and his eyes held an otherworldly fire. The chains that had bound him shattered, falling away like dust.

    Cylix and Novius, both were stunned at the sudden change. In an instant, Alion''s aura had changed as if someone had helped him. But who? That was the question.

    The Patriarch''s fury turned to surprise, his control over the situation slipping through his fingers. He could see that a foreign power had interfered.

    Not only was Alion healed, but his strength had recovered, which should''ve been impossible in a ce like the Nether Realm. Someone was clearly transferring their strength to him.

    Novius and Alion exchanged nces, their eyes filled with a mix of confusion. The mysterious intervention had bought them an unexpected opportunity to turn the tide in their favour.

    As they were confused, they saw a portal open next to Alion. From the portal, a man stepped out, making both of them shocked. The person had a divine aura around him and his strength was second to none.

    Both of them could feel an aura like never before. That aura even surpassed the Patriarch''s aura.

    Even the Patriarch of the Nether Realm was taken aback, sensing the strange aura around Karyk which made him feel ufortable as well.

    Karyk didn''t even face the Patriarch aftering out of the Portal. Instead, he gazed at Alion, his eyes filled with a mix of sadness as he noticed Alion''s bloody clothes and his physical condition.

    Fortunately, his body was slowly healing and appearing less grotesque than before. Karyk''s heart ached for Alion, his dear friend who had fought valiantly by his side.

    "I am sorry for beingte," Karyk spoke, his voice tinged with genuine remorse. "I wish I could have been here sooner to protect you from harm."

    Alion smiled weakly, his voice barely audible. "No apologies needed, my friend. I knew the risks when we embarked on this journey. It''s a relief to see you safe."

 Chapter 732 732: Endless

    Chapter732 732: Endless

    Karyk''s eyes hardened as he turned to face the Patriarch, his presencemanding the attention of everyone in the surrounding area. The Patriarch''s unease was palpable, but he quickly regained hisposure.

    "Well, well, if it isn''t Karyk, the thief. To think that you''re still alive," the Patriarch sneered, attempting to mask his unease. "You''re just in time to witness the downfall of your dear friend."

    Karyk''s voice remained steady, carrying a weight that silenced the surroundings. "Let alone you, even this entire realm can''t harm my friend. Before I stand next to him!"

    The tension in the ce escted, the air crackling with suppressed energy. Members of the Nether Blood n exchanged uneasy nces, sensing the shifting dynamics in their midst.

    The Patriarch''s fury ignited, and he extended a hand, summoning dark tendrils that coiled around him like serpents. "You think you can challenge me, Karyk? You''re no match for the power I wield! You''ve forgotten your ce, haven''t you?! Do I need to remind you what happened thest time we fought?"

    Karyk stepped forward, his aura intensifying. "I don''t want to take lives, but I won''t stand idly by and let my friends suffer."

    The two formidable auras shed, unleashing a cataclysmic wave of energy that rippled through the surroundings. Alion watched in surprise, amazed at how strong Karyk had be. He could clearly feel that Karyk''s aura was suppressing the aura of the Nether Blood Patriarch.

    The other two n Leaders were also stunned by Karyk''s audacity. While they appeared next to the Nether Blood n Patriarch, theymanded their men to attack Alion and kill him.

    It was as if this was their open challenge to Karyk, taunting him to save his friend if he could.

    Thousands of Guards rushed towards Alion, while the Three ns Patriarchs attacked Karyk.

    Amidst the chaos, Cylix and Novius seized the opportunity to act. With swift precision, they also jumped into the fray, making their presence known.

    Cylix''s red-d figure swiftly moved through the crowd, his dual daggers of light shing, as he deflected the guards'' blows, stopping the Guards from getting close to Alion.

    Meanwhile, Novius used his Dark Magic, blocking the attack of the others.

    Karyk watched the battle which had started. The armies of the Nether Realm were rushing toward him, trying to take Alion and the others out. Meanwhile, the Three Patriarchs attacked him.

    Karyk took a deep breath, letting out a sigh. He raised his left hand, deciding to end the battle. He used his new toy to end the battle.

    A portal opened next to him. From the Portal, the Goddess of Light stepped out. The Goddess of Light was now lifeless and didn''t have any freedom. She was just Karyk''s puppet and nothing more.

    Not only did the Goddess of Lighte out, but she attacked directly. With a single attack, she sent the Three Patriarchs flying back. Her first attack didn''t just send the Patriarchs flying back, but also killed thousands of Guards.

    The Guards died from her attack but to everyone''s surprise, the aura of death surrounded them, bringing them back to life.

    The Guards returned as Undeads and started attacking their own allies. More and more Guards kept dying and returning as Undead to fight against their own army.

    The Nether Realm Army had their numbers decrease fast. They were horrified by the strange event happening. They were fighting against the Undead who didn''t feel pain. If anything, they were only made to kill and nothing more.

    With each passing second, Hundreds of Guards were dying and hundreds of New Undeads were being created. It was an endless process. And the person behind this all simply watched from a distance.

    The army that was getting closer to hurt Alion was now being pushed back by the Undeads. The entire ce had been basked in blood.

    Karyk''s gaze remained fixed on the chaotic scene before him. The Undead onught had shifted the tide of battle dramatically, their relentless and unfeeling attacks causing havoc among the ranks of the Nether Realm Army.

    The once-confident Patriarchs now struggled to maintain theirposure, faced with an enemy they couldn''t fullyprehend. If anything, they couldn''t even get past the Goddess of Light.

    As the Undead horde continued to swell, even the other members of the Nether Blood n were forced to divert their attention, defending themselves against the relentless assault of their formerrades turned Undead.

    Alion, still at the centre of it all, was protected by a shimmering barrier erected by Cylix. Novius''s dark magic continued to thwart The air was thick with the scent of death and the sound of battle cries, creating an eerie symphony that reverberated throughout the battlefield.

    Alion, still at the centre of it all, was protected by a shimmering barrier erected by Cylix. Novius''s dark magic continued to thwart the efforts of those who dared approach. Karyk himself remained calm, ensuring that none of the Patriarchs would seize the opportunity to strike back.

    Still, he appeared nothing more than a spectator. As if getting involved personally was too much.

    The Goddess of Light, his lifeless ally, stood there as a lifeless puppet, her once-glorious aura tainted by his control. He knew that he was tampering with forces beyond his understanding, yet he also knew that this was the only way to protect those he cared about.

    As the Undead forces pushed the Nether Realm Army back further, Karyk made a split-second decision. With amanding gesture, he signalled the Goddess of Light to kill the Patriarchs.

    The three of Patriarchs converged, their auras intertwining, forming a triad of power that resonated across the battlefield.

    In unison, they channelled their energy into a barrier, expanding it to epass the Undead forces. The barrier glowed with a brilliant light, purging the taint that had turned these soldiers into mindless killers. The Patriarchs destroyed a lot of undead warriors, making them disintegrate to give their people a moment to breathe.

    The Undead began to crumble, their lifeless forms disintegrating into the air, leaving behind only the residue of their malevolent presence. Unfortunately, more than the Patriarchs killed, new Undeads were being created.

    The Nether Blood n Patriarch, along with the other Patriarchs, stared in shock as their army kept losing people.

    Unfortunately, the Patriarchs couldn''t be distracted for long as spears of dark light rushed toward them.

 Chapter 733 733

    <h4>Chapter 733 Chapter 733</h4>

    The spears of dark light seemed toe from nowhere, their origin shrouded in mystery. They pierced through the air with an ominous speed, aiming directly for the Patriarchs.

    With quick reflexes, the Nether Blood n Patriarch conjured a protective barrier, while the other two Patriarchs followed suit. The impact of the spears against the barriers sent shockwaves rippling through the area, causing the ground to tremble and crack beneath their feet.

    Karyk''s eyes remained fixed on the Patriarchs, his expression inscrutable. The Goddess of Light beside him continued to stand motionless, her form a stark contrast to the chaos that surrounded her. Her power was undeniable, and Karyk''s control over her made him a force to be reckoned with.

    As the dust settled from the impact of the spears, a new presence made itself known.

    The barrier of the Three Patriarchs failed in holding back the attack. At thest moment, the Patriarch of the Nether Blood n managed to dodge the attack, but the other two couldn''t avoid the attack.

    The attack passed through their chests. The Dark Energy devoured all their strength, especially now that it was strengthened by Karyk''s dark aura.

    Before they could even attempt to heal themselves, the dark energy dispersed inside their bodies, spread throughout their blood.

    Their blood turned dark as the energy started destroying them from inside. With each passing moment, the Patriarchs could feel their life force dwindling, their bodies weakening.

    Right before everyone''s eyes, two n Leaders dropped to their knees, their faces pale while their dark nerves clearly visible through their skin.

    Their lifeless bodies fell on the ground. Just like that, two of the strongest beings in the Nether n were killed, a sight that no one had expected.

    Desperation filled their eyes as they realized the severity of their predicament. Consulting ancient texts, they sought a remedy that could counter the destructive power of the dark energy coursing through their veins.

    Only one of the Three n Leaders was left alive. But the situation became even worse for him as he saw the Death Aura gathering around the lifeless bodies of the Patriarch.

    The Nether Blood n Patriarch was horrified by the sight. Without a second thought, he rushed to destroy the bodies of the other two Patriarchs, realizing that Karyk was bringing them back to life. If that happened, then he knew it was the end.

    Things had already gone beyond his control. More than half their armies were undead now. And now the other two Patriarchs were dying as well. He didn''t know why it was happening.

    Deep in his heart, he was stunned at the strength of Karyk. That man hadn''t made any big moves yet everything appeared to be under his control.

    At times, the Nether Blood Patriarch felt that Karyk could finish this war in a single attack, not he was ying with them, like he was ying with Alion. He was having revenge and giving them a slow and hopeless death.

    The Nether Blood Patriarch feared that his own arrogance had blinded him, underestimating Karyk''s true power. As he witnessed thest remnants of his once mighty army crumble before him, he couldn''t help but wonder if there was any hope left for his faction.

    Deep in the darkness of his despair, a flicker of determination ignited within the Nether Blood Patriarch. He started absorbing the blood of the Soldiers that were dying, recovering his strength and even increasing it.

    At the same time, he gave it his all to get to the other two Patriarchs'' bodies to destroy them. Unfortunately, it was toote. The two Patriarchs hadpletely turned into Undeads.

    Both of them stood up, and attacked the Nether Blood Patriarch instead.

    Seeing the sight, Karyk let out a sigh. The battle appeared to already be over. In the next few minutes, the armies werepletely destroyed, leaving nothing but his undead army as far as the eyes could see.

    The Nether Blood Patriarch managed to kill the Two Undead Patriarchs but in the process, he also ended up getting injured. With the Goddess of Life entering the battle, he couldn''t stand it anymore and he also sumbed to his wounds, finally dying in the battle.

    As the dust settled, only blood could be seen everywhere. Karyk''s eyes held some strange emotions. He hated bloodshed, but he couldn''t control it.

    He turned the Nether Blood Patriarch into an Undead as well, bringing him back to life. This was the punishment of the Old Man for torturing his friend.

    Karyk assigned the Nether Blood Patriarch as the guard of Alion. The man who tortured Alion was fated to forever be the guard of Alion.

    As for the army of undead, Karyk didn''t need these people. He only used them temporarily. With a single flick of his fingers, the Undead Soldiers turned into specs of light, merging with the surroundings.

    Their souls were released to enter the Cycle of Reincarnation. Unlike the Nether Blood Patriarch, these people were innocent. They were just following the others. Losing their lives was enough of a punishment.

    He didn''t want them to serve him for an eternity, especially since they were weak.

    With the war over, the City once again regained its silence. Everyone who had seen the battle was still in disbelief, especially Cylix and Novius. Everything had been in Karyk''s control from start to the end.

    They had many questions in their mind but they didn''t even know where to start.

    "Where is Zena?" Karyk turned around, asking them a question first.

    Novius and Cylix led Alion and Karyk to the ce where they had hidden Zena. The ce was outside the City yet not too far. However, it was a hidden ce that the Nether ns couldn''t find even after searching repeatedly, mostly thanks to the Holy Priestess of Darkness.

    It was a room that was under the group, further reinforced by magic. Karyk broke the reinforcements easily, entering the room.

    "So you''re still alive as well¡­"

 Chapter 734 734: Fragments

    ?

    In the underground room, a woman was lying on a bed, unconscious. Next to the woman, there was another woman, who was dressed in all ck. However, Karyk''s attention wasn''t in any of the two.

    Karyk was looking at the Spirit next to the Dark Robed woman. It was the Spirit of the God of Darkness. However, because he was dead and only in a Spirit Form, a lot of his strength was gone.

    "Aren''t you still alive as well? Your return is even more surprising than mine." The God of Darkness replied, his spirit condensing to reveal his real face.

    Karyk didn''t reply to the God of Darkness. He knew all the tricks this guy pulled to regain his body, even going to the point of scheming against Gabriel. But all failed.

    For that, Karyk still didn''t hold any grudge. Nothing bad had happened because of his schemes since they never actually worked.

    "Shall I send you to the cycle of reincarnation?" Karyk asked the God of Darkness, before shifting his attention to Zena.

    "You..." the God of Darkness frowned. "I helped your sister so much. Is that how you''re going to repay me? You know I could''ve left her here and run alone, but I stayed behind despite all the risks. Shouldn''t you... help me return instead?"

    Karyk didn''t reply right away. He stopped before his sister. For a moment, the entire world had zoned out for him.

    The girl before him was his only family. Even though he now knew that she wasn''t his blood rtive or real sister, but that didn''t change anything. She was still family. To see her in this condition, he felt heartbroken.

    Karyk ced his hand over the forehead of the girl. He could see that her mind waspletely fragmented. He could only imagine the immense pain Zena must have experienced when her mind was shattered. This thought fueled his anger, but he calmed himself.

    Thinking about the past wasn''t a solution at the moment. He had to think about the future.

    His entire body was surrounded by his Divine Aura. He was going to heal her mind himself, or at least try to help her as much as he could. He wasn''t sure if he could help her recover her memory or her previous personality, but that didn''t matter at the moment.

    All that mattered was to heal her mind so she didn''t have to feel pain every second of her life.

    While he started healing his sister, he also cast a barrier around him and his sister to make sure no one could interfere. It wasn''t that he didn''t trust people here, but he couldn''t take any risks.

    After preparation wasplete, Karyk''s consciousness entered the Mental Realm of Zena.

    As he entered the ethereal realm, Karyk was met with a vast expanse of swirling colors and fragments of memories, all inplete destruction.

    He navigated through this surrealndscape, searching for the fragments of his sister''s true self that had been scattered and hidden away. To help his sister, he wanted to use one Core Fragment of her as a base. To select the core, he personally entered her consciousness.

    As Karyk delved deeper into Zena''s consciousness, he felt the weight of her pain and confusion. The swirling colors and shattered memories were like pieces of a puzzle that he needed to put back together.

    With determination, he began gathering the fragments, slowly starting to form a coherent picture.

    Amidst the chaos, he discovered a particrly vivid memory¡ªa moment when Zena was a child,ughing and ying with him. To his surprise, that memory was still preserved in the distant corner of her consciousness, even as she returned to life previously.

    For a moment, Karyk was in a daze, watching the memories that even he had marily forgotten. These were the happy days of his life where he didn''t have to care about anything else. He could live as a Prince in the safety of the Pce, having a peaceful life.

    Holding onto that memory as the core fragment, Karyk focused his energy on repairing the surrounding memories and emotions. He moved methodically, mending each broken piece with care and precision.

    Thendscape of Zena''s consciousness began to shift. The colors became less turbulent, and the fragments of memories started aligning.

    He saw glimpses of her past. Each memory held a piece of her identity, and Karyk was determined to bring them back together, as closely as possible.

    Meanwhile, in the physical world, the God of Darkness watched Karyk''s efforts with a mixture of frustration and concern. His ethereal form flickered, wavering as if affected by Karyk''s actions.

    He didn''t interfere, knowing that it was useless. Karyk''s barrier held strong, preventing any external influence. Moreover, even if he could interfere, he didn''t want to. Karyk was someone who could bring him back to life. So until he returned to life, he wanted Karyk to have a good impression of him.

    ...

    Back within Zena''s consciousness, Karyk encountered a particrly stubborn fragment¡ªa memory marked by pain and fear. It was a memory of the event that led to Zena''s mind shattering.

    Karyk hesitated, realizing that healing this memory would be crucial for Zena''s recovery, no matter how painful it was for her. With resolve, he reached out to the memory, offeringfort and reassurance to the young Zena trapped within it.

    Gradually, the memory began to change. The fear and pain subsided, reced by a sense of safety and protection. As this memory transformed, a ripple effect spread through the surrounding fragments.

    The shattered pieces started merging, forming a moreplete and coherent representation of Zena''s experiences.

    After what felt like an eternity of effort, Karyk finally saw a transformation within Zena''s consciousness. The swirling colors subsided, reced by a serene and tranquilndscape.

    Memories that were once fragmented and chaotic now flowed seamlessly into one another, creating a rich tapestry of her life.

    Exhausted but satisfied, Karyk withdrew from Zena''s mental realm and opened his eyes in the physical world.

 Chapter 735 735: Prepared

    Chapter735 735: Prepared

    The barrier around him and his sister dissolved, and he looked down at her with a mixture of hope and anticipation.

    Zena''s unconscious form seemed to stir, a faint smile crossing her lips as her mind found a newfound equilibrium.

    As the God of Darkness observed the scene, he felt surprised that it had actually worked. He wondered how Karyk became so strong.

    He felt a little jealous as well. He had once been a figure of immense power, but his actions had led to his downfall. Seeing Karyk''s strength made him reflect on his own choices. With a heavy sigh, he lowered his head.

    Karyk''s focus remained on Zena, his heart filled with a mixture of relief and gratitude that he had been able to help her find peace within her own mind.

    As he watched her serene expression, Karyk finally sighed in relief. For the next half an hour, no one spoke anything. Zena was healed, but she was still very tired and in deep sleep, so she didn''t wake up right away.

    It was only after half an hour that the silence was broken when Zena woke up.

    Her eyes opened, looking at the surroundings with initial confusion. It took her time to register everyone''s faces. Her thoughts were slow as well.

    Amongst the faces she saw here, it was only when she looked at Karyk that her expressions revealed a sense of recognition.

    "Brother...?" She asked.

    Karyk stepped forward, hugging his sister. He didn''t even realize as tears started falling from his eyes.

    After going through so many lives, his emotions were all over the ce. He didn''t have as good a control on his emotions as he used to have before. This was akin to a trade he made in exchange for the immense strength he received from the Temple.

    For a moment, Zena was at peace in her brother''s embrace. It had been a long time since she felt such peace, but that peace didn''tst long.

    Her memories red, as she remembered the moment when her mind was broken by Caen. The pain and fear rushed back, causing her heart to ache all over again.

    Karyk could feel his sister tremble in fear.

    "No one will harm you anymore. I am here. I promise that I''ll kill everyone who tries to harm you! That day... won''t repeat itself..." Karyk''s gentle voice fell in Zena''s ears.

    Zena closed her eyes and hugged her brother rightly, as tears rolled down her cheeks.

    While she was hugging her brother, her stomach started growling, making her face turn red in embarrassment.

    "You must be hungry. Eat something first."

    Karyk freed Zena from his embrace. He waved his hand, making a table appear out of thin air. On the Table, many delicious fruits appeared, each looking better than the other.

    He also turned to the others in the room. "You all too... eat something. You went through a lot in this ce."

    The table had enough food for everyone to eat. As they gathered around the table, the sweet aroma of the fruits filled the air, instantly brightening their spirits. They had been in such a hurry that they didn''t even have the time to eat.

    They were caught as soon as they arrived and put in a cell. There, they didn''t eat anything and after escaping, they still had to stress over helping Alion. Finally, everything was calm.

    The Nether Realm army was destroyed and they didn''t need to worry about being caught anymore. They could finally eat in peace.

    Novius and Cylix sat around the table. Alion also sat down. The Holy Priestess of Darkness initially hesitated before she also sat down, feeling hungry.

    The Spirit of God of Darkness moved closer to Karyk. "Ah, now that things are peaceful, can you help me as well?"

    Karyk looked at the God of Darkness. With a nod, Karyk agreed to listen to the Spirit''s request. No matter what happened in the past, it was true that amongst the Gods that betrayed him and worked with the Upper Realm didn''t include the God of Darkness.

    Because of that, Karyk decided to bring him back to life as well. He had a feeling that it was just the calm before the storm. There was something terrible waiting for them in the future. Even he didn''t know what it was, he was certain that it was helpful to have as much help as possible.

    Karyk began the arduous process of resurrecting the God of Darkness. It was much harder to bring back the God of Darkness than it was to bring back Avilia. This man''s Spirit was thousands of times more powerful than Avilia after all.

    If it was in thest, Karyk couldn''t even imagine bringing back the God of Darkness. Just bringing his sister back consumed millions of lives. Even the lives of the entire Upper Realm wouldn''t have been enough to bring the God of Darkness back.

    Fortunately, he didn''t need to take anyone''s lives now. It was an exhausting process, but it wasn''t harmful for him.

    He also felt that it was worth it, since along with bringing back the God of Darkness, Karyk decided to leave an imprint on the man''s soul that was going to destroy it if he ever thought about betraying him in the future.

    As God''s essence began to stir and form, Karyk could sense a dark, yet powerful presence emerging from the depths of the Dark Sphere inside which the Soul of God of Darkness was kept now.

    He knew that the God of Darkness would prove to be an invaluable ally in the impending battle that awaited them.

    ....

    While Karyk was bringing back the God of Darkness, back in the Abyss, there was another person who was emerging.

    "You finished your training faster than I expected. I think you''re finally ready now." Ezekiel gazed at Gabriel, who was shrouded in the frightening aura of Abyss. His strengthpletely beyond what it used to be in the past. His eyes also felt different.

 Chapter 736 736: Ezekiel or Karyk

    Chapter736 736: Ezekiel or Karyk

    Gabriel''s physique hadn''t changed, but he appeared slightly taller.

    The aura around him was calmer than ever, to the point that he could control it to a precision where not a trace of it could be sensed even by the strongest of people.

    It was as if he was nothing but a mere mortal with some physical strength. His eyes were filled with serenity, yet there appeared to be a storm brewing within them.

    Even Ezekiel couldn''t see exactly how much Gabriel had grown, but he had a feeling that Gabriel was able to defend himself now. In thest few weeks, Gabriel had trained non stop, challenging himself at every step of the way.

    Moreover, he had defeated many Abyssal Dragons without any external help, passing the test set forth by Ezekiel.

    Gabriel gazed at Ezekiel. After a brief pause, he spoke, "Thank you."

    Ezekiel had entered his life when he needed help the most. He was trapped in the Abyss, almost half dead when Ezekiel appeared like the light in the darkest of night, giving him hope that they could leave this hellish ce.

    Ezekiel had stayed with him while Karyk had disappeared. It was his other half who had disappeared, abandoning him. On the other hand, a stranger like Ezekiel had sided with him, saving his life.

    Not only did Ezekiel save his life, but he also helped him get stronger. Gabriel wasn''t sure if he was even going to be alive without Ezekiel.

    He waspletely broken when he found out that his sister, and everyone else had died on earth. But now, he felt like he was at peace with himself. Even though he had lost everything, he now had Ezekiel who was family.

    He knew just a word of thanks wasn''t enough, but that was all he could do. At the moment, his feelings of gratitude and familiarity towards Ezekiel was much stronger than it was toward Karyk.

    If anything, he felt abandonment from Karyk''s side. Deep in his heart, some hostility also rose up.

    Karyk and they were part of the same soul. Karyk was a remnant of the past while he was a being of the present. Karyk''s body was destroyed when he died, but with Gabriel''s birth, two souls existed in one body.

    If anything, both of them had an equal right on the body, but when it came to creating a different body for dealing with corruption of souls, Karyk took the main body and gave abody to him.

    The more Gabriel thought, the more he felt betrayed. Karyk had never sacrificed anything for him. He was always secondary to Karyk, who was stronger from the start. And when he needed Karyk the most, he disappeared.

    Unlike Karyk, Ezekiel had never stolen anything from him. Instead, Ezekiel had sacrificed his time and all his effort to train him, even though he didn''t have to.

    Ezekiel had to deal with a revenge of his own, but instead of going for his revenge, he started training Gabriel, showing he wanted Gabriel to be there when they took revenge. For him, Gabriel''s safety had more priority than revenge.

    Ezekiel could see the gratitude of Gabriel. He didn''t know how to react. It had been a long time since he lost his family. His father, mother and everyone else were murdered. But he didn''t know why, seeing Gabriel thank him, he felt happy. It was as if it was his little brother thanking him.

    He reached out his hand, ruffing Gabriel''s hair. "It was all your hard work. You don''t need to thank me."

    He soon took his hand back before opening a portal in the Abyss, connecting straight to the Realm of Gods.

    Gabriel and Ezekiel entered the Portal, walking shoulder to shoulder.

    Both of them stepped on the Realm of Gods at the same time. It had been a long time since they left this ce. Now the Realm of Gods looked the same yet different.

    Most of the broken buildings were repaired and there were also some new buildings, especially the Pce that stood at the center.

    "He''s back!" One of the Rebel Gods called out to others after catching a sight of Gabriel.

    In the past, all the Rebel Gods were scared of Ezekiel, but after Ezekiel let them live and made it evident that he wasn''t going to harm him, they started feeling a little morefortable.

    Within minutes, most of the Rebel Gods gathered. They left everything they were doing and gathered outside. Even the Old Rebel God stepped out of the Library.

    "Why do you look so bad?" Gabriel asked the old man, who had never once stepped out of the library in weeks. For some reason, he appeared weaker and older. It was as if he had aged a lot in such a short time.

    The Old God wasn''t sure if he should tell Gabriel everything he found out about the young man in the library. It was the secret of the past that didn''t need to be disclosed, especially since the origin of Gabriel was soplicated.

    "Now that you''re back, I''ll get better," the old manughed in response. "But what happened to you? I thought you went to train? Why do you look weaker instead of stronger? It''s as if you became a mortal?"

    Even the old man couldn''t see the secrets of Gabriel.

    Gabriel forced a smile. He waved his hand lightly. A terrifying aura storm appeared around him. It was no weaker than the terrifying aura that could be felt from Ezekiel when he used to fight.

    All the Rebel Gods were covered in sweat, feeling as if they were suffocating under the aura. Fortunately Gabriel made his aura disappear after giving a small glimpse to the others.

    Only after the aura disappeared did the Rebel Gods feel safe. Now all of them knew that Gabriel''s appearance didn''t reveal his true strength. He was much much stronger than he used to be in the past.

    "All of us were training as well, butpared to you, our growth is so insignificant," one of the Rebel Godsughed in self-deprecation.

 Chater 737 Chapter 737: Found

    Chater 737 Chapter 737: Found

    Gabriel could see that all the Rebel Gods had indeed grown by quite a lot. Even though it wasn''tparable to his growth, it was still a decent growth.

    All of them were forced to leave their home. They had lost all hope, but now that they were back, they didn''t want to lose their homes again. That''s why all of them were giving it their all. None wanted to fall behind as they were all expecting a battle in the near future.

    "That aside, what do you think of the Pce we created for you?" a rebel God asked, breaking the momentary silence.

    Before Gabriel could even answer, the Rebel God grabbed his hand and walked towards the Pce, excited. All of them had put a lot of effort in the creation of the Pce and were curious if it was to Gabriel''s liking.

    Gabriel had only asked them to create a small decent mansion to hide the mysterious pond, but he didn''t expect them to create a Pce like that, especially for him.

    The Pce was dark, unlike the Pce which used to be there in the past. It was slightlyrger and quite to Gabriel''s liking.

    Gabriel could''ve easily freed his hand, but seeing the excitement of the Rebel Gods, he didn''t. He walked with them and heard them talk about the Pce and every special thing they added to the Pce.

    "The Pond is in the most secure part of the Pce, shrouded in many protective formations. We have also strengthened the..."

    The gods talked about the details as they showed Gabriel around. It was only after half an hour that they finally finished showing him around.

    Gabriel thanked them for creating a Pce like this for him. He truly was grateful. However, he also knew that he couldn''t stay distracted over just a pce. He just went along with everyone else to not hurt their feelings.

    Now that they were done, Gabriel told them that he was going to put the Pce to use. He called for a meeting with all the Rebel Gods in the Throne Room.

    ....

    Within a short time, almost all the Rebel Gods had gathered inside the Throne Room.

    At the front, there was one throne which was for Gabriel to sit. On the lower tform, seats for other gods were arranged.

    Gabriel made some changes to the structure. A simr throne to his appeared next to his throne for Ezekiel.

    He couldn''t ept Ezekiel sitting on a tform lower than him. Their seats were next to each other on the same level.

    Gabriel wat is on the left throne. Ezekiel was thest person to arrive. But strangely enough, he didn''t sit on the right throne. Instead, he intentionally sat on the Seat on a slightly lower tform.

    The seat he took was higher than the seat of the Rebel Gods but it was lower than Gabriel''s throne. Moreover, Ezekiel also flicked his finger, making the second throne disappear.

    "What are you doing? How can you sit under me?" Gabriel asked, stunned.

    Ezekiel was his senior. In a sense, Ezekiel was his master as well. Moreover, Gabriel wasn''t greedy for authority. So Ezekiel''s behavior surprised him.

    "What''s wrong with where I''m sitting?" Ezekiel asked in return.

    He didn''t wait for Gabriel''s answer before continuing. "Every realm needs a king. And there should never be two kings. This realm... It is yours. Also, I would feel disgusted if I became the King of this ce..."

    In response, Gabriel only went silent. It was only in thest sentence of Ezekiel that he understood his true meaning.

    Ezekiel hated the Realm of Gods. This was the ce which took everything from him. Now that the old realm of gods was destroyed, Ezekiel could at least bear to be in this ce, but it didn''t change the fact that this was the ce that he hated the most.

    He never wanted to sit on the Throne of the Realm of Gods. Moreover, there was another reason for his refusal that Ezekiel didn''t tell Gabriel. It was a reason that no one but Ezekiel knew.

    For everyone, Ezekiel was invincible who couldn''t be killed. In their eyes, Ezekiel was an undying being. But only Ezekiel knew that it wasn''t the truth. His time was limited. He didn''t have long to live in the first ce.

    If the realm of Gods was going to change and start a new beginning, it needed someone who could rule over it for a long time. He neither had any desire to rule over this ce, nor the time.

    His time wasing to an end. He only wanted to finish onest task before his time ran out. It was to destroy all the remnants of the Realm of Gods that escaped!

    He wanted to finish his revenge before his Eternal Sleep. For him, that was the only way to calm his raging heart. Only when everyone rted to his parents death died could his parents'' soul rest in peace.

    Gabriel didn''t question Ezekiel''s decision. It was clear that Ezekiel had made up his mind and Gabriel epted it.

    Taking a deep breath, Gabriel started the meeting.

    "Have you found where the Gods that escaped are hiding?" he asked the Rebel Gods.

    In the time he was training, other than protecting this ce, the Rebel Gods had another task. It was to find the whereabouts of the escaped Gods.

    "We don''t know the exact location, but we managed to find out the rough location," the old man replied.

    "And that rough location would be...?" Gabriel asked.

    The old god raised his hand, creating something akin to an illusion of a world. It was a peculiar world that Gabriel recognized all too well.

    "The Upper Realm?" Gabriel asked. "Are you certain?"

    The old man nodded. "I''m certain. They are in the Upper Realm. They''ve hidden their traces quite well so we don''t know where exactly in the Upper Realm."

    "It doesn''t matter where in the Upper Realm. I will find them, even if I have to burn down the entire upper realm!" Gabriel dered as he stood up.

 Chapter 738 738: The Two Sides

    Chapter738 738: The Two Sides

    "But with only us, it''ll be hard to search the entire Upper Realm at the same time. This might give them a chance to escape if we can''t first locate their right ce," the old man stated, pointing out a problem.

    It was a genuine problem that almost all Rebel Gods had thought about. That''s why, they''ve been trying to find the precise location of the Escaped Gods but so far, they haven''t managed to locate.

    They didn''t even know which of the five worlds in the Upper Realm were those people in. It was as if they had simply disappeared after going there. There was some unknown energy that hadpletely erased their presence.

    "As Gabriel said, it doesn''t matter. Even if we have to burn the world down, we will find them. As for their escape, you don''t have to worry about that. I''ll seal the space around the Upper Realm. No one shall be able to escape!" Ezekiel, who had been sitting silently until now, spoke.

    "Start preparing for the war." Gabrielmanded the Rebel Gods. For him, it was the perfect time to attack the Gods. At the same time, he also hoped to find Caen there.

    The Rebel Gods momentarily looked at each other, before nodding. They had always thought they they were going to defend this world and the other side was going to attack them. They thought the war was going to be in the Realm of Gods.

    That''s why they strengthened the security so much, but to their surprise, the war was about to be held in the Upper Realm.

    With the meeting getting over, the Rebel Gods walked out of the Meeting Hall. Since the n of war was different to what they expected, they had a lot of preparation to make. They didn''t want to dy a single second.

    They immediately began preparation ording to the new battle n. The urgency in their movements reflected their understanding of the immense challenge thaty ahead. With the fate of their realms and their future hanging in the bnce, there was no room forcency.

    Only Ezekiel and Gabriel remained behind in the Meeting Hall. Only these two were the ones who didn''t need any preparation. If they wanted, they could''ve attacked the Upper Realm right away, but they decided to wait a few days until everyone else was ready.

    The biggest problem in this war was the fact that the other side had the number advantage, which made it a hassle. But with the addition of the Rebel Gods in the war, that burden was decreased to some extent, allowing Ezekiel and Gabriel to target the main people like Caen and Janus.

    Caen was known for his prowess and ruthless nature, making him a formidable opponent, especially thanks to the Bloodline he inherited from his father.

    On the other hand, Janus was strong in his own means. He was the brother of Chaos and had fought in thest great war. These two were the most formidable opponents on the other side.

    If there were to be a war, Ezekiel wanted to only focus on Janus, meanwhile Gabriel was going to focus on Caen and have his revenge. A rough n was already taking shape. The war was close.

    ....

    Back in the Upper Realm, there was another side that was preparing for war. It was the side led by Caen.

    After losing to Ryder on earth, Caen had realized that he needed more strength. He had always been reckless and barely focused on his training. But he had changed. In thest one month, he had spent most of his time working on himself diligently.

    It was as if his previous defiant attitude was changed with the loss of his mother. It was unclear if it was because of the embarrassment of his defeat, or because of the loss of his mother.

    For both these things, he med himself. If only he was stronger... If only he wasn''t as careless... if only he had stayed with his mother... If only he hadn''t impulsively attacked Gabriel and sent him to the Abyss... There were so many ''If only'' that could''ve changed all that happened, but the past couldn''t be changed now.

    While he focused on training himself, the search for the Mysterious Crystals also continued secretly.

    The Gods had gathered a total of four more crystals in thest one month, which they handed over to Caen as soon as they returned.

    With this, Caen had a total of six such crystals, only missing a few.

    "What about the rest?" Caen asked the second-inmand, keeping the Crystals safe.

    "We searched every ce we could, but he couldn''t find any more. There are only three ces we didn''t search..."

    "Those three ces are...?" Caen inquired.

    "The Realm of Gods is the first. But it''s unlikely for one to be there. If it was, it would''ve been discovered long ago," the man answered.

    "And the second ce is the Abyss. We can''t enter the Abyss, and even if we could enter and survive, it would be impossible to find anything in the endless Abyss."

    "And the third ce that we didn''t search is the lower called Earth, because you instructed us to stay away from Earth for the time being."

    With this, the man finished giving a brief. Even he didn''t understand why Caen told them to stay away from Earth. It was just a measly little of mortals that didn''t even have any magic. So what could be so threatening?

    He didn''t know what was actually residing on Earth. The Young Gods who had seen Caen getting thrashed didn''t tell anyone about that incident. It was as if the incident was buried under a rug, making it appear that it never happened.

    "So you''re saying the rest of the crystal can only be in two ces... Earth, Abyss and Realm of Gods? That makes thingsplicated." Caen frowned, feeling as if it was getting harder to collect all.

    For the time being, he dropped the n. Even though he only had a total of six, but those six were enough for the time being.

    "Fine. Six shall be enough for now. Leave me alone for a few days. Also, start preparing for a war! It''s time!" Caenmanded, sending the man out of the cave.

 Chapter 739 739: Energy Crystal

    Chapter739 739: Energy Crystal

    For generations, the realm of gods has remained unparalleled in its strength. It had been the strongest existence, where the strongest beings in the entire universe lived.

    Most of the people in the universe didn''t even know about the existence of the Realm of Gods but the ones who knew about them understood just how terrifying that ce was. Even the weakest people from the Realm of Gods could destroy worlds with a flick of their fingers.

    But now, that same Realm of Gods was fragmented, divided into two sides. One side was the Gods that were considered rebels in thest War of Gods and were forced to escape to save their lives. Now that side had control of the Realm of Gods.

    And the other side was the one that survived the War of Gods and was under Caen, the Prince of the Realm of Gods. For everyone, it was clear that Caen''s side was stronger than the rebels on its own, but with the mix of Ezekiel, things becameplicated.

    Most of the world remained unaware that the two sides were preparing for a war that held the potential of destroying the entire Upper Realm.

    Even the Lord of the Upper Realm was unaware of the trouble that was brewing. He had enough troubles of his own, to the point that he hadn''t been paying attention to much else.

    Still, the Lord of the Upper Realm knew that there were some gods who had been staying in the Southern World of the Upper Realm. He didn''t spy on them much. Even if he wanted to, he couldn''t because of a protective barrier being cast there.

    The only way for him to check was to send the Generals to the location, but he preferred to not do anything. So far, the Gods hadn''t done much to affect the Southern World. So he also let them be.

    All he knew was the ce where they were staying and nothing about their purpose, but he could guess a few things. He had already sensed the energy of Ezekiel when he was fighting in the Upper Realm.

    Because of that, he was certain that something big had happened in the Upper Realm which forced the Gods to escape. He wasn''t sure if Caen was in the Southern World as well.

    He didn''t inform Karyk about this, believing that Karyk hated Caen. He didn''t want Karyk to wage a war against Caen if the young prince was in the Southern World.

    He kept this information a secret for the time being, at least until Karyk was done finding his sister and he had calmed down a little.

    "I wonder if he found his sister." The Lord of Upper Realm looked through the portal, still being able to see the destruction of Karyk''s World.

    He couldn''t see into the Nether Realm so he was unclear if Karyk found what he was looking for.

    After a while, he turned his attention to Avilia. The young woman had juste back to life, which was incredible, no matter how many times he thought about it.

    Even after such a long time of death, Karyk brought someone back to life. That made him believe that Karyk was more important to his goals than he thought.

    He patiently waited for Karyk to return. At the same time, he gave some Energy Crystals to Avilia so she could also recover her strength and grow even more.

    "Eat the Energy Crystals. This should be of help to you. But just remember, the entire process will be very painful."

    Amongst billions of souls, Karyk had only brought this girl back to life. That just showed that she held some importance to him, no matter how insignificant. He thought that it never hurts to make a good impression on her.

    Avilia took the Crystal , which was brimming with strength that she never felt before. It was impossible to find something like this back in their world. In a true sense, it was a godly item.

    Avilia wasn''t sure if she could trust the Lord of Upper Realm or not. But Karyk asked her to stay with the man, which made her believe that he trusted the man to some extent. So she also decided to trust him.

    She didn''t care about the pain. She only wanted to be stronger so she didn''t die so pitifully next time. If his words were true, she wanted to take the risk.

    She ced the crystal in her mouth, and ate it at that moment without any preparation.

    As soon as the crystal was absorbed by her body, a surge of energy coursed through Avilia''s body, causing her to tremble in both pain and fear. It was as if her body was being broken apart by this terrifying energy.

    But she clenched her fists, determined to endure the pain and push through but it was proving to be extremely hard. She couldn''t control herself from screaming in pain.

    The pain intensified with each passing second, but Avilia refused to back down. She summoned every ounce of willpower within her to resist the urge to give up.

    Her screams had filled the entire hall. The Lord of Upper Realm sealed Avilia in a unique space so her screams didn''t hurt his ears.

    "I told you it was going to be painful. But at least the pain won''t kill you. So bear with it. You''ll be able to benefit a lot from it."

    The Lord of Upper Realm sat on the Throne, watching Avilia twist and turn in pain.

    His attention soon turned towards the Portal, from where he saw a few people enter the hall.

    The person in the Lead was the one he was waiting for. It was Karyk. But next to him, there was a young girl who looked the weakest out of all of them. But Karyk appeared the most protective towards her.

    In the back, Novius and Cylix follow Karyk, andstly, it was Karyk''s oldest friend, the Demigod of Strength.

 Chapter 740 740: Approval

    Chapter 740 740: Approval

    Alion hadpletely healed thanks to Karyk''s help. Even his hands that were cut previously had grown back, making it appear that nothing was wrong. Moreover, Alion appeared to have grown even stronger.

    Next to Alion was the Holy Priestess of Darkness, apanied by the Spirit of God of Darkness.

    "Avilia?" Zena eximed, watching her friend writhing in pain. The others also saw her in pain, watching her skin turn bluish as if she had been poisoned.

    The only one who wasn''t surprised was Karyk, as he nced at the Lord of Upper Realm Aliac.

    He realized what was happening. Avilia wasn''t poisoned. If anything, what was happening was a good thing for her.

    "Don''t disturb her. She''s going through something that''s helpful for her. She won''t die," Karyk spoke, casting a barrier that stopped Zena and the others from approaching Avilia.

    As the minutes passed, Avilia''s pain began to subside, and her bluish skin slowly returned to its normal color. Karyk knew that the transformation wasplete when Avilia opened her eyes, revealing a radiant golden glow within them.

    She stood up, her body exuding an aura of power. She wasn''t as strong as Karyk or Aliac, but her strength had grown by leaps and boundspared to what it used to be before. At this point, she could bepared to Alion in strength.

    "Looks like you brought some friends. As luck would have it, I have a few more energy crystals, enough for them." Aliac brought a few more crystals.

    Since one person could only take one of it in their lives, he didn''t give more to Avilia. Instead, his aura sent a crystal floating towards Alion, Novius and Cylix.

    A Crystal even went to the Priestess of Darkness and one to Zena. However, the crystal that went to Zena shattered into a thousand pieces, thanks to Karyk interfering.

    Zena wasn''t a mage or a Demigod. The strength she gained from the crystal wasn''t significant. For her, it wasn''t worth it to go through the pain only to be on the same level as an ordinary priest. Thus, Karyk interfered with her.

    All of them looked toward Karyk, as if asking for his opinions. "It''ll be painful but it won''t kill you. Eat it."

    As for Zena, he directly told her that it wasn''t useful for her. Instead, he was personally going to make sure that he stayed out of harm''s way as much as possible.

    He also thought about Gabriel, but strangely enough, he couldn''t feel Gabriel''s presence, as if the man didn''t exist anymore.

    He didn''t realize that it was the Abyssal Dragon''s heart that Gabriel absorbed that was interfering in the soul connection. He believed Aliac''s word and believed that Gabriel was no more.

    He felt angry at Caen for killing Gabriel. Not only that, Caen also destroyed his home world and so many lives, all for his anger. But still, he couldn''t get himself to find Caen and kill him.

    Caen''s father was the reason Karyk existed. Even after there was such great risk for Chaos to bring a child back from Abyss and give him life, he did it. He didn''t think twice before granting Karyk his essence, even at the cost of getting weaker.

    It wasn''t a lie to say that Karyk would''ve had a harder time surviving if it wasn''t for Chaos. Karyk felt grateful for the man who granted him everything, without hoping for anything in return.

    Before Karyk could even think about paying Chaos back, he was gone, forever disappearing from the world. Karyk couldn''t even thank the man for everything. However, Caen was still the Bloodline of Chaos.

    Karyk couldn''t convince himself to end the Bloodline of his Savior, no matter how much he hated Caen. His mind was conflicted, which was why he decided topletely stay away from the outside world.

    Novius and Cylix are the Crystal. Even the priestess of Darkness ate it after getting a confirmation from the Spirit of God of Darkness. Andstly, Alion also ate it.

    Aliac also surrounded the four of them by a different space, so their screams didn''t disturb others.

    As the energy crystals were consumed one by one, a profound transformation swept over Novius, Cylix, the Priestess of Darkness, and Alion.

    They could feel power surging through their bodies, their senses sharpening, and their abilities growing exponentially. It was as if they had tapped into a wellspring of untold potential.

    Novius''s control over the elements reached new heights. Darkness danced at his fingertips and obeyed his everymand, and the earth trembled beneath his feet. He could feel the world''s natural forces aligning with his will, turning him into a formidable elemental mage.

    Cylix''s body underwent a miraculous change. His once frail form became robust and muscr. His speed and agility were unmatched, and he could now move faster than the eye could follow. With newfound strength, he became a warrior to be reckoned with, his des striking like lightning, apanied by the Element of Light.

    The Priestess of Darkness, blessed by the Spirit of God of Darkness, felt a dark energy swirling within her.

    Shadows clung to her form, granting her even more strength. Her connection to the divine powers of darkness grew, allowing her to wield formidable spells of shadow and control the minds of those who dared cross her path.

    Alion, already a powerful figure, felt his strength ascend to incredible levels. His very presence became intimidating, radiating an aura thatmanded respect and fear. With a single thought, he could manipte matter and energy, reshaping reality to his will.

    As the transformation concluded, they gazed at each other in awe, realizing the extent of their newfound abilities. Aliac''s crystals had bestowed upon them powers beyond that were impossible to receive without centuries of hard work. All their mana reserves had also increased.

    Karyk, ever watchful, nodded in approval. He had guided them through this ordeal, ensuring that they could withstand the intense process of consuming the energy crystals. Now, they stood as a formidable team, ready to face whatever challengesy ahead.

 Chapter 741 741: Regret

    Chapter 741 741: Regret

    Watching everyone get stronger, Karyk''s thoughts drifted to Gabriel, the friend, brother and ally who seemed lost. His absence weighed heavily on Karyk''s heart. He couldn''t help but wonder how strong Gabriel would''ve been if he was alive.

    Since they were both part of the same soul, Gabriel was the one who Karyk believed knew him the best. When Karyk became stronger, it was Gabriel that he wanted to share every information with, as soon as he came out of the Ancestral Temple.

    Unfortunately, by the time he came out, he was greeted with the tragic information that Gabriel was dead.

    He could only raise his head, apologize for not being there when Gabriel needed him. If possible, he would''ve revived Gabriel as well, but finding his soul was impossible.

    "Can you get them a ce to stay here?" Karyk asked Aliac.

    Usually, no one was allowed to live in the Central World other than Aliac himself. And now, Karyk was asking for his friends to stay here. Usually, Aliac would''ve refused, but on the contrary, a smile spread across his lips as he nodded.

    "Won''t be a problem. Next to the Pce, you''ll find another mansion where they can stay. Everything they need will be avable there," Aliac replied.

    Even if Karyk hadn''t asked him, he would''ve suggested they stay here. If they stayed here, it would provide Aliac with the opportunity to observe the group closely, which could potentially benefit him in the long run.

    Moreover, if Karyk''s friends stayed here, it was evident that Karyk was going to stay here as well. It was for the best. With Karyk here, it was unlikely for him toe across the Gods that were hiding in the Southern World, preventing a potential conflict.

    There was an even bigger reason why he wanted Karyk here. It had something to do with the reason he had to stay in the Central World all his life. Most of the world waspletely unaware of the responsibility he carried on his shoulders.

    Unfortunately, he couldn''t tell anyone the reason, at least not now. He sat on his throne, watching Karyk and everyone else leaving the pce.

    After they left, his smile disappeared, reced by a calm demeanor. A sigh came from him as some worries reflected on his face.

    "I don''t know how long I can hold it back..." he muttered, looking in a particr direction. "I wonder if he''ll really be able to help."

    "As long as no other troubles are created in the Upper Realm, things should be fine for some time..."

    ...

    As Aliac was thinking to himself, Karyk came out of the Pce, looking at the Mansion on the side.

    Previously, there was no Mansion here, and only a Pce. But strangely enough, a mansion had appeared out of thin air. It was clearly the work of Aliac.

    Karyk was the first to enter the mansion and after making sure that nothing was wrong, he asked Zena and others to enter.

    The newly appeared mansion stood grandly beside Aliac''s pce, a testament to the mysterious power of the Central World''s ruler.

    Its architecture was exquisite, adorned with intricate carvings and shimmering crystals that bathed the surroundings in a soft, ethereal light. Zena and many others marveled at the opulence of their new amodations.

    Inside the mansion, the interior was equally impressive. Lavish furnishings, elegant tapestries, and a grand central hall greeted them. It was clear that no expense had been spared to ensure theirfort.

    While Karyk had initially expected resistance to the idea of his friends staying here, Aliac''s willingness to amodate them raised questions in his mind. What did Aliac gain from having them here? What was the true nature of his motives?

    As Alion and the others settled into their new temporary home, they couldn''t shake the feeling that they were being watched, not in a menacing way, but rather as if they were participants in some grand scheme beyond their understanding.

    Meanwhile, Aliac remained in his pce, his thoughts consumed by the burdens he bore. The mystery surrounding his true responsibilities weighed heavily on him, and he knew that the time to reveal them was drawing near.

    But he also knew that doing so would bring about consequences, consequences that could affect not only the Central World but the entire realm.

    The fate of Karyk, his friends, and the unfolding events in the Central World were now inextricably intertwined.

    While everyone settled into their new ce, Aliac''s voice was heard in the mansion.

    "Consider it a small gesture for my new friends. If you need anything, just ask me and it shall be delivered."

    Karyk understood Aliac''s words. He was subtly implying that everything in this world was under control of Aliac

    As days turned into weeks, Karyk and hispanions settled into their new surroundings. Karyk spent his time training and honing the skills of hispanions, taking advantage of the resources that the Central World offered.

    Every once in a while, Karyk would always think about Gabriel. The regret was evesting.

    One day, as he stood on a balcony overlooking the Central World''s breathtakingndscapes, he felt a strange presence. It was as if someone was watching him. Turning around, he was surprised to see Aliac standing there.

    "Are you thinking about Gabriel," Aliac stated, his eyes holding a depth of knowledge that unnerved Karyk.

    Karyk nodded solemnly. "Yes, I can''t help but wonder if there''s any way to bring him back."

    Aliac sighed, his gaze distant. "Resurrecting the dead is a perilous path, my friend. However, you''ve done that many times. But I am afraid even you can''t bring someone back to life if the person''s soul has beenpletely destroyed.

    Karyk was taken aback by Aliac''s words but he didn''tment on this. Instead, he asked a different question.

    "What do you need from me?"

    Aliac remained silent for a moment before speaking. "I have my reasons for bringing you here. Are you sure you want to listen? If you do, you''ll be involved in something that you might regretter on."

 Chapter 742 742: The Secret

    Chapter742 742: The Secret

    "What''s the worst you can get me involved in?" Karyk askedthe man, who was acting awfully cautious.

    He didn''t understand what could be the reason for Aliac to be so serious. Just what could threaten the man so much that he had to stay in the Central World for so long.

    From Karyk''s point of view, it appeared less like he was hiding from something, and more like something else entirely.

    "You''ll find out soon enough..." Aliac replied as he turned and walked away, feeling that it still wasn''t the time to tell Karyk. He still had to observe the man a little more, because this thing was that important.

    Aliac had just started leaving when he found Karyk appearing before him, blocking his path.

    "Now that you''ve made me intrigued, I can''t let you leave without understanding the situation," he told Aliac. "As for me getting involved in things, I''ll be the judge of that after hearing everything."

    "I should''ve known that you were going to be stubborn," Aliacughed in return. "But this works out as well."

    "Are you going to tell me now?" Karyk asked.

    "More than hearing from me, it''s something that you should see for yourself. Come with me, but we might be gone for some time. You should inform your friends. When you''re ready,e meet me in the Pce."

    "How long are we going for?" Karyk asked, feeling somewhat ufortable. Last time he was gone for a long time, his world was destroyed, and his family was killed, while he waspletely unaware.

    Reading Karyk''s thoughts, Aliac smiled. "Don''t worry about your family. Not even the Gods can enter the Central World without my permission. As for how long we would be gone... who knows. We''ll find out soon enough."

    Aliac walked past Karyk and left the mansion, returning to his own pce, realizing that many things were set in motion now.

    ****

    For the rest of the day, Karyk remained in the Mansion. He informed everyone that he was leaving with Aliac and might take a few months at most to return.

    "You''re leaving?" Avilia asked, slightly hesitant. She couldn''t help but worry if the past was going to repeat itself in the Central World.

    Even Zena seemed silent. She was also scared, but she didn''t tell Karyk anything. She didn''t want to be an obstruction in Karyk''s path, just because she was weak. If he was leaving, it meant he had something to do. She couldn''t be his weakness and force him to stay behind.

    "Why are you all worrying? We''re stronger than we used to be. I''m sure we should be able to protect ourselves if something happens! The past won''t repeat itself!" Alion eximed, standing proud. He was strongest in this ce if Karyk and Aliac were to be kept aside.

    Unlike before, they had all grown thanks to the energy crystal. Alion wasn''t certain if he could win against Caen, but he still had courage, trying to make others optimistic.

    "Don''t worry. The past won''t repeat itself. The Central World is the most secure ce. No one will enter this ce to harm you. But I''ll still leave some arrangements behind in case something does happen!"

    Karyk called out the Goddess of Light, who was now an Undead yet just as strong as before. Not just her, he also called out Jia and the Goddess of Nature who had been staying in his small world for quite some time.

    With those three here, the strength of this group had increased even more. But that wasn''t all. To be even more certain that people were safe, Karyk created a spatial portal in the Center of the Mansion. Through the Spatial Portal, everyone could leave this world if this world was attacked and they were in danger.

    The Spatial Portal distorted the energy of Teleportation, making it impossible for anyone other than him to locate the people who used the portal. He took many steps to ensure that nothing could harm his family.

    For the rest of the day, he spent time with the group, not training them but just sitting and talking.

    He told them quite a few things, especially about how he and Gabriel had separated a long time ago. Most of the people here didn''t know that and were stunned to know that Gabriel became a different entity than Karyk.

    That shock turned into sadness when they heard that Gabriel was killed as well. The one who felt the most hurt with this news was Avilia, Novius and Cylix, along with Zena.

    The next day, when the sun started rising, Karyk left the mansion early, thinking that others were still sleeping. To his astonishment, the rest of the group had already gathered at the entrance of the Mansion, ready to say their goodbyes.

    "I''ll be back soon. In the meantime, train hard. And don''t trouble Alion, alright?" Karyk asked his sister while patting her lightly.

    He also offered some words to the others, before leaving them behind.

    Karyk entered the Pce of the Lord of Upper Realm, Aliac.

    He walked straight to the Throne Room, where Aliac was already waiting. Not only was he waiting, but he seemed quite prepared, dressed like a proper King who was about to go on a conquest.

    "You''re right on time," Aliac stood up. "Let''s get going."

    A portal opened up before him. He entered the Portal, disappeared in the unknown spatial energy.

    Karyk surrounded his body with the Aura of Death to protect himself if needed. He still didn''t trust Aliac entirely.

    Only after taking precautions, he entered the Portal. The Spatial Travel was short, and in the blink of an eye, Karyk left the portal on the other side.

    As Karyk emerged, he caught sight of Aliac positioned at the forefront, his gaze fixed on something in the distance.

    He also raised his gaze and looked where Aliac was looking, only to be at a loss of words. "That is¡­"

 Chapter 743 743: Beginning of War

    Chapter743 743: Beginning of War

    Some time had passed since Gabriel returned from his training. In the meantime, all the preparations for the Wars werepleted by the rebel gods.

    Gabriel was sitting in the Protected Room, where the strange fishes and the mysterious pond was. He didn''t know why, but this was the ce where he felt most at peace.

    For hours, he watched the fishes. And there was never a single time where a fish repeated the same movement. Every time, there was a change, no matter how minute.

    Gabriel had gone to the old man a few times to ask him if he found out anything from the Ancient Library, about the fishes.

    Since Gabriel was more interested in the fishes, he forgot that he had also asked the man to find out about his past.

    As Gabriel forgot about this, he didn''t ask. And the old man didn''t answer either. And when it came to the fishes, the old man genuinely didn''t know anything at all.

    It was something that wasn''t mentioned in any of the Books at all. With even the old man failing in finding the answer, Gabriel could only give up on the mystery for the time being.

    For the rest of the time, he stayed in the secret room. On one particr day, there was a knock on the door.

    Gabriel stepped out of the room, only to find one of the Rebel Gods standing outside.

    "The Preparations areplete." The man delivered the message. "Everyone is ready for the War, and waiting for your orders."

    "Finally," Gabriel muttered as he exited the room, the doors gracefully closing behind him.

    ****

    Gabriel emerged from the grand Pce, his flowing crimson robe billowing in the gentle breeze.

    In Front of the Pce, all the Rebels had gathered. Almost all of them were ready for war. Their killing intent towards their enemies was so strong that even Gabriel could feel it clearly.

    There was no fear of death in their eyes. In thest few days, all of them had prepared themselves with the mindset that they weren''t going to return alive from this war.

    They were all ready to sacrifice their lives against the enemies, all to have revenge on what they had to go through all these years.

    With Gabriel and Ezekiel, they also had powerful beings supporting them. Moreover, it was only a matter of time before they were attacked. The war was inevitable. It was only about who took the initiative and the first movers advantage.

    In addition to Gabriel, Ezekiel also made an appearance. However, unlike the Rebel Gods, neither Ezekiel nor Gabriel were armed with any weapons.

    "You''re all still pathetically weak. If you enter this war, you will all die. Do you still want to enter this war?" Ezekiel asked the Rebel Gods.

    Even though he asked in a kind tone, as if giving them onest chance to get out of this war, the reality was different. Ezekiel wasn''t a kind person, at least not to anyone other than Gabriel.

    Even though he asked them a question, the oue of the question was already decided. Every single person who tried to show cowardice or run away, he was going to kill them right here and right now.

    Fortunately, no rebel gods fell for this trap. None of them were cowards.

    "We''ve lived for thousands of years like a coward, but not anymore! We won''t be hiding anymore, even if we die! This time, we must win!"

    "Gabriel helped us get our home back! How can we abandon him when he needs us?! Not in this life!"

    "We won''t run away!"

    One after another, they stood tall, ready to face the impending battle. Their determination was unwavering, fueled by the belief in their cause and the conviction that they would prevail against all odds.

    The rebels had found their strength in unity, and they were prepared to sacrifice everything for their freedom. Their unified voices echoed through the air, inspiring courage in those who had doubted and spurring them to join the fight.

    "In the war, I won''t be able to help you. The two of us might be busy, so you''ll have to rely on yourself. Are you certain you don''t want to think twice?" Gabriel also asked, genuinely giving them a moment to think about it.

    However, the unwavering determination in their eyes left no doubt that they were entirelymitted to their cause.

    Gabriel could only respond grimly. "I don''t know how many of us will make it back alive. But I do know that each and every one of you possesses the strength and courage to change the direction of the battle!"

    "This is a war for my future, but this is also a war for your future! A future that was taken from you by those in power! Together, you will fight to reim what is rightfully yours and build a world where you will never have to hide again!"

    The ce fell into an immediate hush after Gabriel spoke. However, as the Rebel Gods regained theirposure, a thunderous warcry erupted from their mouths, resonating throughout the vast expanse of the realm. The me of their fierce fighting spirit had been reignited, even stronger than before.

    Gabriel nodded in satisfaction. It was time to start.

    He raised his head, once again nning to return to the Upper Realm. But this time, his purpose was different. This time, he was there for a war!

    A portal appeared outside the Upper Realm. From the Portal, Gabriel stepped out. Another portal opened next to him, and Ezekiel arrived.

    Not long after, the Rebel Gods also arrived and stood behind them.

    Gabriel clenched his fist, looking at the Upper Realm. The four words were so cast. Each world wasrger than earth by multiple times, all spread out by a spatial barrier. But for Gabriel, it didn''t matter.

    Ezekiel raised his right hand, a terrifying aura spreading out from him. It was as if the Abyss had to life.

    The strange yet ufortable Abyssal Energy spread out, surrounding and sealing the Upper Realm.

    Other than the Central World, all the other Upper Realm Worlds were sealed.

 Chapter 744 744: Divine Sword

    Chapter744 744: Divine Sword

    The Upper Realm was sealed, leaving no chance for anyone to escape from this ce.

    One could break through the barrier with overwhelming force, but that was also advantageous for Ezekiel as that could give him the specific location of the enemy they were trying to find.

    Within seconds, darkness had covered the skies in the Upper Realm.

    ****

    In the Southern World, there existed a small vige. The vige was insignificant to the point that many didn''t even know about its existence. Only very few people used to live in the Vige.

    The Vige was surrounded by a barrier of its own, but the vigers couldn''t see that barrier. The barrier didn''t stop anyone from entering or leaving the vige, and remained invisible.

    The only thing that the barrier did was to prevent the aura of the Gods from leaking into the area. It also made it impossible for anyone to spy on this ce.

    The vige that could barely sustain in the past had be self-reliable, thanks to the blessings of the gods. Crops could be grown in the otherwise barrennd. It also rained more often.

    Even now, the Vigers didn''t know that the strange guests who arrived at the vige months ago were gods. They realized that these people weren''t ordinary, and had some powers, but that still didn''t make them think of them as gods.

    In the Southern World, there were many great ns that could use Mystical Powers. Some called them magicians while others called them with other names. The Vigers thought that the people were the same as them.

    Many times, the Vigers asked them why they arrived at the vige that was almost on the verge of destruction when people like them could''ve found a much better ce. But they never received an answer. With time, the vigers stopped asking and just epted the reality.

    The Gods and the Vigers lived in the same vige, having no conflict. At the start, the Gods interacted with the Vigers more, but with time, it was hard to evene across a god as the Gods started preparing for a war as well.

    A separate area was made in the Vige, where Weapons and other things were crafted by the artisans.

    Everyone was training extensively. The sound of thunder and explosions could often be heard, but the vigers were ustomed to it.

    The Vigers could feel that the Gods were preparing for something big, as if their lives depended on it. Some even wondered if these people were going to enter some war.

    They didn''t know when the supposed war was to start. But the Gods gave it their all when it came to strengthening themselves. They were going to attack the Realm of Gods, but they were just waiting for Caen toe out of his training.

    Unfortunately, before Caen came out, the war had already begun in a way.

    The Gods stood under the sky, looking toward. Slowly, the entire sky was turning dark. Darkness was slowly covering the Sword, but it wasn''t just the darkness.

    The Gods were more sensitive to it. They could see that it wasn''t just the darkness that was surrounding the world. Instead, it was the aura of Abyss. They could also feel the spatialws around the world bing moreplex, making it impossible for them to teleport or open a spatial portal.

    "I suppose it''s not the work of Young Lord Caen?" One of the Gods asked, his expressions turning grim. Other than Caen, there was only one person who could use the abyss. It was Ezekiel!

    "And here I thought, we would be the one attacking the Realm of Gods. To think that the War would take ce in the Upper Realm!" Another God sighed, looking back at the vige.

    Even though they had only lived here for a short time, after interacting with the mortal vigers, all of them had grown somepassion towards these mortals. None epted it, but all of them had started considering these mortals one of them.

    ****

    The Leader of the High Council rushed to Cave where Caen was training, to inform him that the enemies had arrived, but by the time he reached the Cave, Caen had already stepped out.

    He had already sensed the change in the worldyws. Caen''s expressions were serious, but more than that, his eyes were vengeful.

    He had long been ready for the war. But he wanted to strengthen himself even more! That''s why he didn''t start the battle. He wanted to end the enemies in one battle!

    He wanted to destroy Ezekiel who killed his mother! Although he believed he could have further developed his strength over time, his current level of strength was not inadequate.

    He was multiple times stronger than he used to be, when he had faced Ryder back on earth. Moreover, that was when he didn''t use the Crystals at all.

    With Crystals, he was no different than a being on an entirely different level. He didn''t have all the crystals, but the ones that he had possessed great power in itself.

    He wasn''t a coward. If anything, he was even more eager to crush Ezekiel''s throat and have revenge for his mother.

    "Is the sword ready?" he asked the God before him.

    He already had a weapon in the past, but for this war, he asked for that Weapon to be modified! He asked the Artisans to modify his Divine Sword a little! He asked them to add the Crystals that he had gathered into the Sword.

    "It''s ready." The God replied, escorting Caen to the ce where the divine artisan created their weapons.

    Caen''s Sword was already prepared, and ready for him to take it. The sword was still as dark as it used to be in the past, brimming with Divine Energy, but it was also different.

    The Sword appeared slightly longer yet a lot heavier. And more surprisingly, in the hilt of the sword, all the Special Gems of Life were embedded.

    Caen firmly grasped the hilt of the sword, lifting it, feeling a unique power course through his body.

 Chapter 745 745: Traitor

    Chapter745 745: Traitor

    As Caen lifted his modified Divine Sword, he could sense the immense power surging within it.

    The Special Gems of Life embedded in the hilt pulsed with an otherworldly energy, connecting with his very essence. It was as if the sword had be an extension of himself, a conduit for his determination to seek vengeance for his mother.

    The Leader of the High Council watched with a strange look on his face. He had seen the Sword when it was being created, but he didn''t feel anything special from the sword. But as soon as Caen held the sword, itpletely changed.

    "Young Lord Caen, your strength has grown exponentially. I must congratte you!" The Lord of the High Council congratted Caen.

    "Congrattions!"

    The other Gods also started congratting him.

    "Now isn''t the time for celebration..." Caen reminded the Gods. This war was going to be nothing like before.

    Ezekiel was someone who even his father wasn''t able to kill. That just showed what a big threat that man was.

    He didn''t know if the Sword could kill someone that was said to be a true immortal, but he didn''t care. He was going to kill the person that took the life of his mother.

    "Is there still no information about Uncle Janus?" he asked while cing the Sword in a specially made sheath.

    He walked out of the Building with the sword, the other gods following behind him.

    All the Vigers were instructed to stay inside their houses and not leave, no matter what happened. At the same time, the Children of the Gods were also told to stay hidden. Only the adult gods were going to fight this battle.

    "Still no sign. We kept an eye for any information about Lord Janus when we were searching for the stone, but there was nothing," the Lord of Upper Realm sighed.

    He knew that the battle would''ve been much more favourable for him, if Janus was also on their side.

    Janus was the strongest god in the Realm of Gods, and also Chaos'' brother. If he wasn''t absent when the Realm of Gods was attacked, things wouldn''t have deteriorated to this point.

    "I wonder if he''s hiding somewhere, afraid of Ezekiel," one of the Gods wondered. But only after he spoke it did he realise that he had spoken his thoughts out loud.

    To speak such words against the Guardian was enough to be killed. But fortunately for him, Caen didn''t react. In fact, Caen also had the same thought.

    How was it possible that Janus hadn''t returned, even after so much happened?! His mother was killed! Their homes were snatched, and a war was on the horizon, yet Janus didn''t return.

    "Only in troubled times can we truly see a person''s true loyalty," Caen muttered, his voice not loud, yet it was heard by everyone.

    "In thest great war also, he didn''t do anything. It was my father who did everything, and even sacrificed himself. And when everything was over, my dear uncle came out. And now as well..."

    "It would be better if you stop being naive, and thinking he woulde out and help us."

    Caen had already lost any trust he had on his uncle. His rtionship with his uncle was already bad in the past, but now it was even worse.

    Just like Gabriel felt that he was abandoned by Karyk, he felt that he was abandoned by Janus.

    "He has as much a hand in my mother''s death as those bastards. After I deal with them, I''ll find my dear uncle, even if he''s hiding at the ends of the universe! I''ll send him to my mother so he can apologise to her!" His voice carried a distinct hint of a killing intent.

    With a calm stride, Caen led the way out of the cave, his fellow Gods and warriors following him. No one was allowed to avoid this battle. No one was allowed to hide! Winning was the only option and loss wasn''t eptable.

    The skies above the vige had turned even darker, the aura of the Abyss intensifying. It was time to face Ezekiel and stop whatever dark ns he had set in motion.

    *****

    After the world was sealed, the only thing left to do was to draw out Caen and the other gods.

    Ezekiel wanted to destroy the four Upper Realm worlds simultaneously. Once they killed all the mortals, only the gods were going to be left. It was easy to find them after that. But Gabriel didn''t go with the n.

    He didn''t want to burn an entire house to draw out some rats.

    He took the lead this time. A terrifying pressure descended from the skies, covering every continent and every city in the Upper Realm.

    The Mortals who were confused about what was happening in the sky, fell to their knees, their bodies losing all their strength.

    Even the n Leaders of the strongest ns felt suffocated, as the terrifying pressure descended over them. It was like the wrath of gods had descended on the Upper Realm.

    Only the Generals of the Upper Realm remained standing, but even they felt ufortable.

    They flew high in the sky. It was their duty to protect the Upper Realm when the Lord of Upper Realm wasn''t here.

    The four generals soared higher and higher into the sky, steadily feeling the mounting weight of the increasing pressure with each passing moment.

    Soon, they reached the barrier that had surrounded the Four Worlds. All four Generals gathered together and attacked the barrier at the same time.

    Unfortunately, they were too weak to destroy the barrier erected by Ezekiel.

    In another ce, Ezekiel felt an attack on the barrier.

    "Are they finally showing themselves? But the attack seems too weak?" He pondered. He waved his hand, creating a small opening in the area of the barrier that was being attacked.

    The Four Generals flew out of the Barrier, only to be stunned as they caught the sight of Gods in the distance. And amongst the gods, they saw one familiar face.

    "You...?" They couldn''t believe Gabriel was standing there. And his strength... Even they felt suppressed even when looking at him.

 Chapter 746 746: Betrayal

    Chapter746 746: Betrayal

    The Four Generals were under the Lord of the Upper Realm. However, because Aliac didn''t involve himself in the matters of the Upper Realm, each of the Four Generals handled matters rted to the Upper World.

    Essentially, the four Generals held positions akin to rulers of the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western worlds within the Upper Realm.

    Moreover, all four of them had a bad rtionship with Karyk. In the past, when Karyk was killing people to collect enough life essence to bring his sister back to life, the Four Generals had gotten involved.

    They tried everything to kill Karyk. Unfortunately, Karyk wasn''t caught. After gathering the life essence he needed, Karyk left the Upper World and returned to the Lower World.

    The Four Generals still didn''t give up. They were the core people behind the deal with the Goddess of Light, which allowed them to send their armies to the Lower World, despite the powerful barrier Karyk had cast with a World Level Spell.

    It wasn''t wrong to say that Karyk''s first death was caused because of them. Thanks to Karyk''s past memories, Gabriel remembered them all too well.

    Gabriel didn''t know that Karyk had already forgiven them and made a deal with the Lord of Upper Realm. In Gabriel''s mind, these four were still his enemies.

    "You''re still alive?" The Northern General asked in shock.

    They had initially confused Gabriel with Karyk since both looked the same, but the temperament of the two was different, which made them know that it wasn''t Karyk.

    "What are you doing here?! Why have you sealed the Upper Realm?!" The Eastern General also inquired about Gabriel''s purpose.

    "Are you all intending to wage a war on the Upper Realm?!" The Southern General also chimed in.

    "You''re not a fool it seems," Gabriel''s voice finally broke the silence. It was evident that he harbored no positive sentiments towards the Four Generals. In fact, one could argue that he despised them as much as he despised the gods themselves.

    A Dark Sword appeared in Gabriel''s hand. "To think that I would have the opportunity to end a lifetime worth of enmity with my own hand."

    The Generals exchanged nervous nces, realizing the gravity of the situation they had found themselves in. If it was old Gabriel, they wouldn''t have worried, but it was clear that he was much stronger than them.

    Not just him, even the Gods that stood behind Gabriel were stronger than them. They could feel that even a single one of the gods could kill them.

    The most frightening of them all was still Ezekiel. They couldn''t even look at him without feeling as if their souls were being crushed constantly.

    It was clear that Gabriel''s intentions were fueled by a deep-rooted personal vendetta.

    The Four Generals moved back as Gabriel came closer. They tried to exin, but they couldn''t even open their mouths in fear. It was as if their body had refused to listen to them.

    They could feel that Gabriel was going to kill them. They were cursing themselves foring out to check what was happening! They pushed themselves on death''s door.

    "Wait! Stop! Karyk! That''s right! Karyk is one of us now! That means you''re also one of us! You might not know it, but things have changed! We don''t have any enmity now!" The Northern General eventually managed to utter some words, albeit barely.

    His heart was trembling, and so was his soul. In this situation, his kind had also stopped working. Let alone thinking that he could fight back, he struggled even to maintain his bnce.

    Hearing the man''s words, Gabriel stopped for a moment.

    "You''re lying! Why would he work with you! Has he forgotten everything we went through because of you?!"

    He didn''t believe the Generals. There was no way Karyk was going to work with these people who tormented them so much! There was no way!

    "We aren''t lying! We swear on the Heavens! Every word we said is the truth! We don''t have any enmity!" The Northern General eximed, putting all his determination behind his words.

    A Heavenly Oath couldn''t be broken. The stronger a person was, the worse the consequences of breaking a Heavenly Oath! This was the fastest way to prove that they weren''t lying.

    Gabriel froze in ce. These people were telling the truth! That meant Karyk really... His fists tightened even more!

    If Karyk was really working with them, that meant he had been out in the Upper Realm for a long time! He must''ve known what happened to their family and their world! Even after all that, he didn''t do anything?! Even after all that, the Upper World was peaceful?!

    The Killers of their sister were roaming the Upper Realm freely and Karyk was having fun with the Generals instead?!

    While he was suffering, almost dying in the Abyss, Karyk was here making friends? While he was training for revenge with his life on the line, Karyk was in the Upper Realm, bing friends with the Lord of Upper Realm?!

    Gabriel was already disappointed in Karyk, but he still held some hope. He thought that maybe Karyk was trapped in the Ancestral Temple or something else happened. He even thought that Karyk had died, and that''s why he didn''t do anything or save their sister, but all this time, he was here with his new Friends?

    All the hope he held for Karyk was broken. Even thest thread of faith was broken.

    The betrayal stung more fiercely than anything Gabriel had ever experienced before. Gabriel couldn''t help but feel an overwhelming sense of loss and abandonment. His heart had turnedpletely cold.

    "He''s one of us! You''re also one of us! That''s why-" the Northern General spoke, but before he could even finish his sentence, he froze.

    He was unable toprehend the speed at which it urred, as his body suddenly separated into two equal halves.

    The shock and horror that washed over him was palpable. He couldn''t even cry in pain before thest embers of his life burned.

    "I''m not one of you, and I never will be!" Gabriel roared.

 Chapter 747 747: Entering the Worlds

    Chapter747 747: Entering the Worlds

    In a sudden and startling moment, the Northern General met his untimely demise, leaving the other three generals utterly shocked and appalled by the distressing scene.

    The Southern General was the first to swiftly change course and attempt an escape, closely followed by the other two Generals. They found themselves unable to put up a fight, as witnessing the Northern General''s swift demise had shattered their resolve and courage.

    Gabriel raised his sword, watching the three Generals try to escape.

    His sword once again gleamed in the darkness. The sword sliced through the space, shooting out a terrifying attack that even destroyed the space it travelled through.

    The destructive energy engulfed the three generals. By the time the energy disappeared, nothing was left behind.

    After destroying all the Generals, Gabriel turned back to Ezekiel. His eyes felt dead.

    Ezekiel sensed a noticeable change in Gabriel, as though he was burdened by something deep within.

    Without hesitation, Ezekiel approached him and affectionately ran his fingers through Gabriel''s hair. "Don''t let the past hold you back."

    "Why do people change?" Gabriel asked, raising his head. This betrayal stung hard, especially since Karyk was like his other self.

    "There are many things that can change a person. It''s hard to give the correct answer, but most often, it''s power and greed that causes a person to change." Ezekiel wasn''t adept when it came to understanding the world, so he could only talk with his own experience.

    "Power and greed? Can it make someone abandon their family? Can it make them give up on everything, all for power?" Gabriel asked again.

    Ezekiel paused for a moment, before replying, "For some, it does. For others, it might not."

    "It all depends on the individual and how deeply they are consumed by it. Some people find themselves willing to sacrifice anything and anyone to hold onto power, while others are able to maintain a bnce and prioritize what truly matters in life." Ezekiel''s words carried a hint of sadness, knowing all too well the detrimental effects of power and greed.

    "I see." Gabriel looked in the direction of the Central World.

    Although his gaze remained icy, he no longer harboured any sorrow within. If the other person was willing to forsake their loved ones in pursuit of power, then it exined everything!

    It exined why Karyk didn''t show up to save him from Caen! Caen could benefit him more! Caen could provide him with more power, just like the Lord of Upper Realm could! It was aplete betrayal!

    The reason he couldn''t contact him when he needed Karyk the most was because Karyk had already abandoned him, leaving him to die!

    "We will begin the search for the Gods!" Gabriel stopped thinking about it. Everything was clear as day in his mind.

    Since his heart turned colder, he stopped beingpassionate like before! He was here and every second was important! To find the gods, he wasn''t going to wait anymore!

    He told two of the Rebel Gods to enter the Northern World and begin the search! The Rebel Gods were allowed to kill everyone they wanted! They were allowed to destroy entire cities if they found it suspicious, as long as they found the gods!

    Simrly, he divided the other Rebel Gods in groups as well. One group was sent to the Southern World, one to Eastern and one to Southern! Meanwhile, he and Ezekiel were helping to watch from above!

    The Rebel Gods agreed to follow themands. Small openings appeared in the barriers of the four worlds which allowed the Rebel Gods to enter! It was the start of the search!

    Ezekiel simply watched Gabriel, and didn''t speak anything. Even at this moment, Gabriel still wasn''t ruthless enough. To end the search instantly, he could''ve destroyed the four worlds, but instead, he sent people to search!

    Moreover, he only told the gods to kill when they felt something was suspicious, or it was needed to instil fear to aid the search! But still, Ezekiel was happy.

    Even though Gabriel wasn''t ruthless enough, at least he wasn''t foolishly kind either.

    ''If he''s like this, he should be able to protect himself, even after I''m gone...'' Ezekiel sighed, as he folded his arms. He closed his eyes.

    His Divine Sense expanded, scanning the four worlds once more. Regrettably, it yielded no results. The Gods remained motionless, their whereabouts still concealed.

    With curiosity, he cast a quick nce towards the Central World. A peculiar emotion flickered in his eyes as he turned his gaze in that direction, yet he refrained from taking any further action.

    ****

    The Search began. The Rebel Gods flew from the city to a city, searching every ce. Even though they were allowed to kill if needed, they refrained from it.

    They had lived in the Upper World when they came to hide. They also fought many people from the Upper Realm and took many lives, but not because they could. They only killed to protect themselves, but it was different now.

    There were a few cities that were weak and didn''t offer any resistance. The people of the City weed them like gods, not resisting in the least.

    On the other hand, there were also cities whererge ns were established. Seeing the sudden change, therge ns were suspicious. They thought they were under attack.

    As soon as they saw Rebel Gods flying towards them, they prepared to fight back. They took the lead and attacked the Rebel Gods.

    Unfortunately for them, the Gods proved to be stronger than they expected. Because of their attacks, their entire city was destroyed. Not a single person in the n was left alive either.

    The entire world was experiencing amon upheaval. Numerous prominent ns were obliterated within a matter of hours.

    In the Southern World, the pursuit was drawing nearer to the Vige where the divine beings resided.

    "I doubt they would be staying in the Southern World. This ce is the worst in the Upper Realm," one of the Rebel Godsmented, as two of them flew further.

    "Overconfidence is bad. Just focus on search," the other answered, only to stop as he noticed something strange in the distance.

 Chapter 748 748: Whats the hurry?

    Chapter748 748: What''s the hurry?

    The Two Rebel Gods felt a trace of energy. It was very subtle though, as if the only reason they could trace it was because they were so close to it.

    This raised their suspicions. The Rebel Gods looked at each other. Without speaking a word, they came to an understanding.

    Both of them hid their Divine Auras, as if returning back to their mortal selves. They had spent centuries, hidden in the Upper Realm, developing such skills which helped them survive.

    With their auras concealed, they cautiously advanced, ensuring minimal disruption.

    The ce used to bepletely barren in the past, but now it was different. The Soul was way more fertile and the entire geography of this ce had changed.

    Once a barren expanse resembling a deste desert in the middle of nowhere, thend now boasts a thriving lush forest, as if creating a natural boundary for something.

    "Should we inform Gabriel? This definitely has something to do with the gods," one of the Rebels asked, growing suspicious.

    The second god also shook his head in disagreement. "Simply relying on this is not enough for us to return. The level of uncertainty is still too high."

    Eventually, they both came to an agreement and decided to investigate further.

    As they ventured deeper into the mystical forest, the atmosphere grew increasingly strange. The trees looked and felt normal, as if no divine power was used to grow them, but at the same time, they felt different.

    The trees towered above them, their gnarled branches casting eerie shadows that seemed to dance in the darkness. Since the entire world was covered in darkness, it was like the darkness of nights.

    The night was unusually quiet, as if the very forest held its breath, aware of the powerful beings that now walked amongst its sacred groves.

    The subtle exchange of energy continued to intrigue the Rebel Gods. They knew better than to underestimate the source of this strange feeling.

    As they moved silently through the underbrush, leaves and twigs crumbled underfoot. Their senses sharpened, they were ready for whatever awaited them.

    Fortunately, no unusual incidents urred. They were not attacked while passing through the forest and did not sense the presence of any other beings. In the end, they managed to cross the forest without any harm.

    Emerging from the dense foliage, the Rebel Gods found themselves standing at the entrance of a vast, open meadow.

    The meadow stretched as far as the eye could see, bathed in darkness.

    As they stepped out of the forest, they could feel that strange energy to be even closer. They didn''t have to look around to find the source of the energy as they saw the traces of an invisible irrefutable.

    barrier.

    Inexplicably unnoticed to the naked eye, the barrier emitted unmistakable energy currents that pervaded every corner. Enveloping a seemingly unassuming town, its presence was irrefutable.

    The Rebel Gods exchanged a meaningful nce, their suspicions deepening as they gazed upon the seemingly tranquil town encased within the invisible barrier. It was evident that this ce was far from ordinary.

    "Looks like we found them." Both of them revealed a look of relief. Now that they knew where the Gods were hiding, all that was left was to gather everyone and attack this ce.

    However, they still didn''t inform Gabriel, unclear if the Gods were actually here or they already abandoned this ce, only leaving the barrier behind.

    Such a big change in the sky was a clear indication that Ezekiel was here, so it was strange that they weren''t attacked, even as they reached this close to the gods'' residence.

    They didn''t want to call Gabriel, only toter find out that the down had not a single god. As they approached the entrance, they made up their mind to confirm their suspicions.

    As they cautiously approached, they noticed that the town was unlike any they had seen before. Its architecture was ordinary at the same time as feeling otherworldly, with ethereal patterns etched into the buildings, and softly glowing symbols embedded in the ground.

    What stunned them the most was that there was a strange statue in the middle of the town. It was like their statue belonged to the god that the town''s people used to pray to. But still, they couldn''t recognise the person in the statue.

    They didn''t think much about it, since it was normal for humans to make statues of gods from their imaginations. Both of them remained outside the barrier, observing the town.

    The entire town appeared to be Abandoned, not a single person in sight. On the other side of the barrier, the gods couldn''t even feel a single life. It was as if the ce was actually dead.

    The gods exchanged confused nces, unable toprehend just what this heavy feeling in their hearts were. They cautiously stepped forward, passing through the barrier to test.

    However, as soon as they passed through the barrier, they felt suffocated, as if they had entered an entirely different world.

    The pressure they felt in this vige wasparable to what they felt from Gabriel!

    "He''s here!" The two gods eximed, confirming their suspicions. There was no one who could have this aura other than Caen or Janus! No matter which one or was, it was bad news for them.

    Fortunately, they were now certain that this was the ce that they were looking for.

    Both sent a message to Gabriel, saying that they found the ce, but strangely enough, their message wasn''t sent. Inside the barrier, their connection was cut off.

    The two realized what was happening. Both turned around, and immediately tried to get out of this ce to send the signal.

    But as they attempted to leave, they found themselves trapped within an invisible force field, preventing their escape.

    "Since you''ve already arrived, what''s the hurry to leave?" A voice came from behind them. The terrifying aura came closer and it wasn''t just one person. They could hear multiple footsteps.

 Chapter 749 749: Ill finish what you started

    Chapter749 749: I''ll finish what you started

    The two rebel gods heard a voice, resonating with an aura of primordial might. The sheer sound of itpelled a profound reverence and an inclination to submit.

    Fortunately, their mental fortitude was strong. They controlled their subconscious urges, remembering that they were stronger than that. How could they submit to the enemy?! Surrender was never an option.

    The two rebel gods turned back, and looked around them. There were tens of gods standing there, including High Council Members.

    It had been a long time since theyst met these people... They were the ones who were after their lives to please the new Rulers of Upper Realm.

    "So it''s the dogs of the family who ruined the Realm of Gods and killed the Ancestral God." The Rebel Gods sarcastically stated, ncing at the High Council Members.

    They were all loyal to the Ancestral Gods, but they switched sides as soon as the Ancestral Gods were defeated, like pathetic dogs. Not only that, but to show their loyalty, they killed the ones who refused to switch sides, forcing the rebels to escape.

    "You!" The High Council Members clenched their teeth, feeling insulted. But they didn''t attack. Instead, they waited for another person.

    "Your tongue is quite sharp for a group of cowards." The High Council Members surrounded the Rebel Gods.

    Even though the two of them were suppressed, they didn''t want to give these two any chance of escaping.

    On the other side, two High Council Members moved farther from each other, clearing the path for their King.

    As they moved aside, the Two Rebel Gods finally saw the person that they had only heard about in the past. A young man who appeared to be in his early twenties, but surrounded by an aura that was Divine yet Demonic at the same time.

    The young man stood tall, radiating an inexplicable power that sent shivers down the spines of those present.

    His eyes, a brilliant shade of azure, fixated on the Rebel Gods. He had a sheath attached to his waist, securing a sword within. But the hilt of the Sword was in open view. The embedded gems gave an otherworldly radiance, but the Rebel Gods couldn''t feel anything more from them.

    They struggled toprehend the nature of this sensation. Although the gems seemed devoid of any noticeable powers, an unsettling and enigmatic fear crept over them. The source of this dread remained inexplicable, as if the stones harbored both a threatening force and ack thereof.

    Caen stepped closer to the Rebel Gods, without being cautious. He didn''t even pull out his sword.

    "Are you working with Ezekiel?" he only asked a single question and nothing more.

    The Rebel Gods nced at each other. Since they couldn''t escape easily or send a message, the only way to alert Gabriel was if they were to die. Gabriel had their soul fragments. If they were to die, he was going to know right away.

    But the Rebel Gods didn''t intend to die over nothing. They wanted to at least kill as much as they found before meeting their end. And if an opportunity arose, break the barrier.

    Neither of them replied to Caen. Instead, they simultaneously darted towards him, brandishing their weapons. Caen, unaware and defenseless, stood only a few meters away, creating the ideal opening for them.

    The High Council Members were also stunned. Without thinking twice, they sprang into action, using their own powers to create a protective shield around Caen, but they were toote. Or so they thought.

    As the Rebel Gods drew nearer to Caen, a palpable storm of power engulfed him, radiating from their collective strength.

    Both of them had only one thing in their mind. It was to show Caen what they were capable of. They had both dedicated themselves wholeheartedly to their training. The time hade for them to demonstrate their true potential to the world and, if possible, eliminate a significant obstacle from the ongoing war.

    "I got my answer," Caen spoke, not showing much emotion. If anything, his eyes seemed disappointed.

    Ezekiel had killed his mother, and took so many lives, yet these rebel gods were supporting him. They had disappointed him thoroughly. Moreover, they were too weak for him to even draw his sword.

    The Rebel Gods came closer to Caen. Even a fraction of a second hadn''t passed. Just a moment more and they could take Caen''s head off.

    Both their swords came for Caen''s head from different directions, drawing closer to his throat. Even if Caen was to draw his sword out, he could only block one of the attacks.

    Unfortunately for them, Caen had no intentions of using the sword. Instead, he swiftly raised his hands, grabbing the two des without any protective gear, effortlessly blocking the impending attack.

    His grip tightened, the Rebel Gods unable to believe what they witnessed as their sharp divine des shattered before their very eyes.

    The des were made from the Divine Matter, which was said to be the strongest matter found in the Divine Realm. They had created these des especially for this war, only to watch them be destroyed.

    "H-how?" They asked, not understanding what just happened. It was as if Caen was in an entirely different league than they heard.

    As they tried to regain their senses, a sudden sensation of heat enveloped their neck. But almost as quickly, that warmth transformed into an icy chill as droplets of blood slowly trickled down their throat.

    Caen''s motionless body seemed to lean to one side, or so they believed. However, upon closer inspection, it became clear that it was their head that had twisted, fully detached from their body.

    Their heads were soon in freefall. They didn''t know what just happened. Caen''s hand was holding only their sword Fragments and they didn''t see any attacking. It was as if they just died on their own.

    Caen turned his back on the headless body of the rebels which their own.

    Caen turned his back on the headless body of the rebels which soon dropped to the ground.

    "I won''t make the same mistake I didst time. This time, I''ll finish what you all started," Caen''s cold voice came.

 Chapter 750 750: Face to face

    Chapter750 750: Face to face

    The forms of the Two Rebel Gods transformed into particles of light, dissolving both their physical and spiritual existence into these indistinct specks of light.

    The specks of light flew behind Caen, being absorbed by one of the gems in Caen''s sword.

    "Did you send everyone away?" Caen asked one of the High Council Members.

    "We did. But did we really have to send them away? Wouldn''t it be better for us to leave and draw the enemies somewhere else instead?"

    The High Council Members didn''t understand the reason behind Caen''s decision. Everything was ready. Everyone was ready and motivated for the War.

    The Kids and the ordinary vigers were sent to the underground basement to hide, but at thest moment, Caen changed his mind.

    Caen ordered everyone to escort the young gods and the Vigers to a distant location in the Southern World, as far away as could be.

    They didn''t understand why. If Caen was worried that the town was going to be attacked, that would''ve been solved if they had left and drawn out the enemies to them instead. Something didn''t feel right. Unfortunately, they couldn''t read Caen''s mind.

    "You don''t have to understand. Just follow my orders," Caen replied, not showing much reaction.

    Firmly clutching the handle of his freshly forged sword, he hoisted it high toward the sky, as if issuing a defiant decree to the heavens above.

    All the gems attached to the Sword''s hilt started shining brightly. It felt as though reality itself was being shattered, as a powerful beam of energy surged upwards from the Sword.

    The terrifying energy first hit the barrier around the town. The barrier shattered,pletely being destroyed. The barrier that had kept their aura hidden was gone, but the attack didn''t stop there.

    The beam of energy was still as fierce and dangerous. Space around it waspletely broken apart, leaving moving but emptiness as the attack shot up.

    ****

    High in the sky, Gabriel and Ezekiel were waiting for the cowardly gods to be discovered in their search.

    Gabriel suddenly opened his eyes. A frown formed on his face as he sensed the death of two of the Rebel Gods! It happened at the same time, as if they didn''t even have the time to resist.

    To kill both of them at the same time, it could only be the work of gods.

    "We found them!" Gabriel eximed, looking toward the Southern World!

    He opened a spatial portal, appearing right above the Southern World.

    Ezekiel also opened his eyes. He didn''t travel through space. Instead, with a single space, he travele thousands of light years to appear next to Gabriel, above the Southern World.

    Gabriel stepped out of the Spatial Portal, watching Ezekiel also appear next to him. But before even a second could pass, Gabriel sensed something.

    This time, even Ezekiel frowned. He grabbed the cor of Gabriel, pulling him back at thest moment.

    The Abyssal barrier that he had cast shattered by the beam of energy, which still hadn''t weakened. The beam passed through the spot where Gabriel had been standing. If Ezekiel hadn''t pulled him back, it was uncertain what would''ve happened.

    The barrier around the Southern World was destroyed, freeing the Space from the restriction. The Gods could once again use teleportation, but it didn''t appear like anyone wanted that.

    As the barrier was broken, the darkness seemed to have disappeared. A clear sky was visible again.

    Caen looked at the sky, his gaze on Gabriel in the outer space. At the same time, Gabriel also looked down, feeling the killing intent.

    He was surprised by this sudden attack, the power behind which was strange yet familiar. The attack was strong as well. This single attack was capable of killing an Abyssal Dragon, without even needing a second strike.

    The two enemies hade face to face.

    ce that no one other than Aliac had ever seen.

    This was also the biggest secret of the Central World and the realm ****

    [One day ago]

    Aliac escorted Karyk to the depths of his Pce, bringing him to a ce that no one other than Aliac had ever seen.

    This was also the biggest secret of the Central World and the realm Aliac never left the Central World.

    "This is...?" Karyk asked with a frown. Before him stood a peculiar portal, its appearance far from ordinary. Instead of the expected hues, it exuded a velvety ckness that seemed to radiate an eerie aura.

    Usually, a Spatial Portal was made using the Element of Space. It wasn''t too bright, but it wasn''t dark either. But the Portal before him was pitch ck, filled with a devilish energy.

    Just the energying from the portal itself made Karyk feel disgusted. It was nothing like he ever saw before. It wasn''t the aura of the abyss or anything close to what he knew.

    "What is this ce?" he asked Aliac. The only person who could answer him was the man next to him, who had lived in the Central World for thousands of years.

    "Remember I asked you a questionst night?" Aliac asked Karyk.

    "You asked me many questions," Karyk replied. "But none of them can exin this."

    "As I said, this can''t be exined. It can only be shown. Come, let me show you the true nightmare..."

    Aliac released a deep breath, mustering up the courage to take a step forward, gradually approaching the portal.

    It was the first time Karyk had seen caution on Aliac''s face. It was as if he was hesitant as well.

    Aliac moved forward. Right before Karyk''s eyes, he entered the eerie portal, disappeared from view. It was as if he was swallowed by the portal.

    "Something that can''t be told but only shown?"Karyk repeated, letting out a tired sigh. "Let''s see this Nightmare of yours in that case."

    He wasn''t sure what this portal was. There was much uncertainty about it. He wasn''t even sure if this was a trap or not, but deep within his heart, he wanted to see. Just what was this?

    He also stepped forward, entering the pitch ck Portal.

 Chapter 751 751: Divine vs Divine

    Chapter751 751: Divine vs Divine

    ****

    Their gazes locked, Caen and Gabriel stood on opposite ends of this newfound confrontation. The tension in the air was palpable, like the calm before a storm.

    Caen''s sword still radiated with the intense energy from the devastating attack he had unleashed.

    "I should''ve crushed your skull when I had the chance!" Caen''s killing intent was evident in his voice.

    After crushing Gabriel''s heart, he thought that Gabriel was going to die. He thought his lifeless body was going to be devoured by the Abyssal Creatures, but that was the biggest mistake of his life.

    Not only did Gabriel not die, but he also managed to free Ezekiel which led them to this point.

    Gabriel hated Caen just as much as Caen hated him, if not more. Caen had lost his mother, but Gabriel wasn''t without a loss either.

    Because of Caen, he had lost everything! He lost his world forever, as it was destroyed by Caen! He also lost friends and family! They were all killed by Caen.

    Both, Caen and Gabriel, were left alone in the world, both losing their family in this conflict. And it was all started by Caen in his arrogance.

    Before Gabriel could say anything, Ezekiel spoke, "To think that you could break my barrier... You''re indeed the son of that man. But the power that you used... It doesn''t seem to belong to you."

    His gaze fixated on Caen''s sword, specifically on the gleaming gems adorning it, as if he knew something about them.

    "If we''re talking about something that doesn''t belong to a person, aren''t your powers no different?" Caen asked, not being intimidated at all.

    Even if both Ezekiel and Gabriel stood before him, he was willing to fight them alone, all to have revenge for his mother.

    In thest few weeks, Caen didn''t just focus on finding these gems, but he also tried to find out as much about Ezekiel as possible. Fortunately, there were some people from the High Council who knew some things about him.

    From those people, Caen came to know that Ezekiel used to be a weak mortal as well, who was left to suffer until the moment he died. For Ezekiel to be this strong, it didn''t make sense at all.

    There shouldn''t have been a method for Ezekiel to be an Immortal who couldn''t be killed. Not only did he be an Immortal, but he also gained a power that allowed him to kill the Divine Gods.

    It was clear to Caen that something or someone must have intervened to grant Ezekiel such immense power.

    "I heard a lot about your immortality! How about I test it for you?!"

    In the blink of an eye, Caen appeared right before Ezekiel in outer space, swinging his sword.

    Ezekiel wasn''t known to dodge an attack. From what others knew, he was to block the attack, but to the surprise of everyone who saw it, Ezekiel dodged the Sword this time, appearing hundreds of lightyears away.

    Even though the attack missed Ezekiel, the space itself was destroyed, leaving a void in its wake.

    The sheer force sent shockwaves rippling through the cosmos, catching the attention of both mortals and celestial beings alike.

    Ezekiel folded his arms, standing in the distance as if not even the slightest interested in the battle at the moment.

    "I would''ve loved to face you, especially that peculiar sword of yours, but I''ve already promised someone that I''ll leave you for them..." He simply closed his eyes, not even bothering about Ezekiel.

    Caen''s lips twitched in frustration. Ezekiel was clearly looking down on him, even though this was a battle that was to decide the fate of the cosmos! The killer of his mother was looking down on him! This was a hateful feeling.

    "I won''t let you run away! Your life is mine!" Caen flew after Ezekiel, not caring about anything else. It was as if he was lost in madness.

    Caen abruptly altered his course, sensing imminent danger. Despite being in motion, he swiftly twisted his body, drawing the de of "I don''t have a death wish and neither did my sister!" Gabriel replied, each of his words filled with terrifying killing intent.

    his sword closer to his face.

    nk~

    A metallic sound echoed through the air as Caen''s sword shed with another weapon, sparks flying in all directions.

    "You have a death wish?! Let me fulfill it first then!" Caen roared, ring at Ezekiel who had attacked him.

    "I don''t have a death wish and neither did my sister!" Gabriel replied, each of his words filled with terrifying killing intent.

    Caen hated Gabriel for freeing Ezekiel. Seeing Gabriel blocking his path again, he was even more frustrated.

    To hurt Gabriel''s mind, he revealed a smile. "Oh right, there was her too. I quite enjoyed killing her as well. The way she begged was quite fun to watch.. "

    "Did she beg the same way as your mother did?!" Caen replied in the same manner.

    He had trained a lot in the Abyss. He was already taught how the enemy could try to y with his emotions. Ezekiel had taught him a lot of things and he was already expecting something like this. He used the same trick on Caen.

    "You! I will kill you!" Caen''s aura red, filling the air with an intense heat.

    The mes flickered around him, reflecting the anger burning within his eyes. It was the Divine me that he had learned to control through his training, but amidst the bright mes, there was also a different element mixed.

    It was the Element of Abyss which he had inherited from his father.

    The gems on the Sword also started shining brightly. All forces worked together, strengthening Caen''s attack by multiple times.

    The Sword was surrounded by a strange energy that mainly came from the Gems. Not only did that energy weaken Gabriel''s Sword but it also seemed to be destroying his sword.

    As Caen pushed forward, Gabriel''s Sword was effortlessly sliced through, surprising Gabriel.

    His once powerful weapon was now reduced to mere shards and Caen''s attack still didn''t stop,ing straight for his throat.

    Within the confines of the Pce in the majestic Realm of Gods, a once serene mysterious pond was abruptly transformed into chaos.

 Chapter 752 752: The Overbearing Strength

    Chapter752 752: The Overbearing Strength

    Gabriel was left in disbelief as his Sword shattered into fragments. In an instant, his form transformed into a mere shadow, dissipating into the depths of the dark void.

    Caen''s Sword passed through the empty space, missing Gabriel.

    Gabriel appeared once again, around ten meters away from Caen. His eyes focused on Caen''s Sword. To break his Sword with such ease, it couldn''t be an ordinary sword.

    Moreover, when his sword broke, Gabriel also felt as if something was trying to steal his strength. That sword in Caen''s hand, it was something dangerous.

    Usually, Gabriel would''ve used other methods to block the Sword, instead of dodging. But he felt threatened when he saw that Swording to him, as if a single scratch from the Sword could hurt him a lot. Without thinking about it, he dodged.

    "First you try to block my path and then you try to escape? You think I''ll let you run away now?!" Cash eximed. "You''re the cause of it all!"

    He flew toward Gabriel, raising his sword high. His Sword came shing as he put even more strength behind the attack.

    The attack this time was even more powerful.

    Gabriel''s instincts kicked into overdrive as he saw Caen''s furious charge. The dark void trembled with the intensity of his attack, an attack that had far-reaching consequences beyond anyone''s understanding.

    Gabriel had halted the battle from his side, trying to grasp the situation with the sword. Something about that sword was very strange. Caen shouldn''t have this strength!

    That Sword''s attack was almost as strong as Ezekiel''s full strength attack, if not stronger. And more importantly, Gabriel felt a strange sense of familiarity with that energy.

    With a swift, evasive maneuver, Gabriel avoided the devastating blow that would have surely hurt him. The shockwave from the missed strike sent ripples through the void, distorting reality itself.

    But the attack didn''t stop. Even though Gabriel had dodged, the attack still went forward through the space, hitting the Eastern World of the Upper Realm that was in the distance.

    Gabrielnded gracefully on a floating shard of reality, his eyes locked on Caen. A single attack and the entire eastern world of the Upper Realm was sliced in two halves.

    Billions of lives... perished just like that, because of a missed attack. The world split in two from the attack, but because of the ripples through the space, the two halves of the Eastern World exploded.

    The devastating explosion sent shockwaves throughout the Upper Realm, causing chaos and destruction in neighboring worlds as well.

    The once-thriving cities and grand structures in the worlds nearest to the Eastern World were reduced to rubble, as innocent beings became casualties of a catastrophic event beyond their control.

    The entire Eastern World had disappeared. Still, Caen didn''t care in the least. It was as if he had gone mad in anger. Even if he was to destroy the reality itself, he wasn''t going to let Gabriel or Ezekiel live.

    Far in the distance, Ezekiel remained emotionless, his eyes focused on the destruction in the distance. The sword in Caen''s hand was the only thing that caught his attention, since he understood what made it so strong.

    "This boy... He is overwhelmed by the power of those things... If he isn''t killed soon, the entire upper world will be destroyed."

    He could easily intervene in the battle. If he killed Caen, the battle was going to be over. But he didn''t interfere. The battle was for Gabriel to end. Only if Gabriel died was he to enter.

    While he was still lost in thought, Ezekiel flicked his finger, sending an aura de flying behind him.

    "Urgh!" A pained groan resounded. Merely a few meters behind him, one of the gods stood, holding onto his throat that was cut cleanly.

    Crimson fluid seeped between his trembling fingertips. Gradually, the man sumbed to death''s embrace.

    In his final moments, he had strategized to strike Ezekiel by surprise, never anticipating that he would meet his demise without even catching a glimpse of Ezekiel''s face.

    Although Ezekiel looked like he waspletely focused on the battle ahead, it was clear that his attention was all around him. It was as if he was waiting for someone.

    He was told that Chaos was dead. But he still had hope that the man was going to appear. He didn''t believe that someone like Chaos could be killed. The man who defeated him... He couldn''t die that easily.

    Not only Chaos, but there was another person. Although Ezekiel never forgot Janus who was the Guardian of the Realm of Gods and Chaos'' little brother, he had heard a lot about that man.

    Since he was Chaos'' brother, Ezekiel expected him to be quite strong. That''s why he waited, thinking this was a trap. But until now, Janus didn''t appear.

    "Is he really not going to appear... I suppose I should force them a little."

    He turned his attention to the Southern World where the Gods who supported Caen were standing. They didn''t fight with Caen, all because Caen had told them to stay away from his battle.

    If anything, they were only told to intervene when he was truly in need or if his life was in danger.

    ....

    The tension between Gabriel and Caen was palpable, their power surging like waves crashing against the boundaries of existence. This was not just a duel; it was a collision of divine wills.

    "If you''re only going to keep escaping like a coward then scram back to where you came from! I''d much rather face Ezekiel than his little pet!" Caen''s voice dripped with disdain and a hint of bitterness, as he continued to taunt Gabriel. But Gabriel remained silent, his eyes fixed on Caen, his expression unreadable.

    "You misunderstand," Gabriel replied, his voice resonating with a celestial timbre. "I didn''t seek to escape. I was just appreciating that Sword of yours."

    The fractured remnants of his shattered sword still hung in the air, their ethereal glow pulsating with a newfound vitality.

    Gabriel reached out his hand toward the broken fragments.

 Chapter 753 753: New Sword

    Chapter753 753: New Sword

    Gabriel reached out with his mind, drawing the shards toward him, weaving them back together with threads of his consciousness. As the pieces reformed, his sword took on a new, radiant aspect, a reflection of his unwavering resolve.

    With his reforged weapon in hand, Gabriel met Caen''s next assault head-on. He had observed enough. Caen''s Sword was strong, but his control over the sword was very weak, as if it was his first time using a weapon like this.

    With that, Gabriel had a rough idea on how to deal with it.

    As he reforged the sword with his divine will, he made a few changes of his own.

    The knowledge of the Laws of the World that he had acquired in the Upper Realm had greatly expanded by now. He could finally make full use of his borrowed Bloodline.

    As his Sword underwent refining, the intricate symbols representing the Ancient Characters of Worldly Laws were expertly etched onto the gleaming des.

    He used the Abyssal Dragon''s Heart within his body to manipte the Element of Abyss to carve those ancient characters, giving them other worldly strength as well.

    Moreover, he didn''t just have one Bloodline. He also had another Bloodline! The Bloodline of the God of Lightning. Lightning flickered around his newly created sword that brightened the dark surroundings.

    As he grasped the dual-bloodline sword in his hand, he could feel the immense power coursing through him, ready to be unleashed at hismand.

    With each movement, the de resonated with a divine energy, crackling with lightning and leaving a trail of devastation in its wake. But Gabriel still didn''t stop. If it was about a weapon, he wanted to show that he wasn''tcking.

    He bit his left thumb, making it blood. His blood drop floated through the space, being absorbed by the Ancient Characters. The blood drop contained the essence of Karyk''s Blood!

    Even though Gabriel hated Karyk, it didn''t change the fact that he had Karyk''s blood essence!

    With Karyk''s blood essence in the mix, the newly forged sword changed once more. Its hilt turned pitch ck, surrounded by a deathly aura. Sometimes it even appeared as if spirits could be seen circling Gabriel''s sword.

    Ezekiel frowned, observing Gabriel''s Sword. When Gabriel used his blood essence, Ezekiel felt his own blood react. It was a strange feeling that even Ezekiel didn''t understand.

    His blood shouldn''t have reacted like this, just because Gabriel used Gabriel''s majestic divine sword was finallypleted. It stood as a testament to both craftsmanship and mysticism. Its de, forged his blood essence. It was a strange feeling... A sense of urging. His frown deepened. He had many questions in his mind.

    However, he knew that asking Gabriel about it would be futile. There was no way for Gabriel to understand what he himself couldn''t understand.

    Gabriel never revealed much about his blood essence or the power thaty dormant within him. Ezekiel remained silent, deciding to keep his curiosity to himself for now.

    Gabriel''s majestic divine sword was finallypleted. It stood as a testament to both craftsmanship and mysticism. Its de, forged from an otherworldly alloy, gleamed with an ethereal brilliance. Ancient characters, etched into the metal, told stories of forgotten gods that had perished long ago.

    Lightning danced along the de''s edge, casting an awe-inspiring, electric aura that crackles with power. Its hilt appeared crafted from obsidian as dark as the abyss, within whichy an air of ominous elegance, contrasting the radiant intensity of the de.

    This legendary weapon embodied the perfect harmony between the divine and the arcane, a truly special weapon.

    Even though it appeared as if a long time had passed since Gabriel started creating his sword, only less than a second had passed.

    Caen didn''t interfere with Gabriel as he created a new Sword. It was as if Caen wanted Gabriel to have hope so he could watch his face when he crushed his hope under his feet.

    With each precise movement, Gabriel''s hands guided the ethereal essence into the sword, infusing it with a power that surpassed even his own expectations.

    The luminescent glow radiating from the de signaled the birth of a truly formidable weapon, capable of bringing both restoration and destruction with the swing of its master''s arm.

    Once Gabriel finished creating his sword, he raised his sword toward Caen.

    The battle started once again, as both the figures disappeared, moving at a speed that couldn''t be seen with naked eyes.

    The sh of their divine swords echoed through the void, each strike threatening to unravel the very fabric of reality. The heavens watched in awe as these two gods battled, their destinies intertwined in a cosmic dance of creation and destruction.

    The dark void bore witness to their struggle, an eternal testament to the consequences of their actions.

    Gabriel and Caen were not just fighting for their own existence; they were fighting for the bnce of all existence, a battle that would shape the fate of the cosmos itself.

    Unlike before, Gabriel''s sword didn''t break this time. Its ethereal glow radiated with newfound strength, matching the fierce determination in Gabriel''s eyes as he pressed forward, channeling the very essence of creation into each strike.

    Caen, on the other hand, brought the power of destruction, willing to destroy the universe itself for his revenge!

    ****

    While the battle in the sky continued, the gods that supported Caen frowned. They could feel that things weren''t going in their favor.

    By now, Caen should''ve killed that insignificant person and moved onto Ezekiel. If Ezekiel interfered at this time, then Caen could easily be killed.

    In the end, they couldn''t sit back and watch. They decided to attack Gabriel and help Caen finish it faster so they could surround and kill Ezekiel with Caen''s help.

    ****

    In a distant realm known as the Realm of Gods, a profound silence enveloped the surroundings. The once bustling realm was now devoid of any signs of life, as every god had gone to the Upper Realm.

    A portal opened high above the sky of the Realm of Gods. From the portal, a person stepped out. Janus had returned, but he didn''te empty handed.

 Chapter 754: Return of Janus

    Chapter 754: Return of Janus

    Janus stepped out of the Portal, finally returning from the unknown region of the Abyss. He knew it had been a long time since he left, but even he couldn''t have imagined how much had changed in the time he was absent.

    He moved closer to the City of Gods, only to be blocked by a barrier. This was the first time a barrier had blocked him.

    Usually, the barrier around the city was different. It was only made to block beings without Divinity, but that wasn''t the case for him. He could also feel that this barrier was different from the old ones.

    "Did they change the barrier? Why?" He had many questions in his mind, but he didn''t ponder much about it. There could be many reasons to strengthen the barrier.

    He used his Divine Abilities, passing through the barrier easily. No matter how effective a barrier was, it was useless before his abilities.

    After Janus passed through the barrier, he had a better view of the City of Gods. But this came as an even bigger surprise for him.

    The City looked quite unfamiliar to him. For a moment, he even wondered if he identally came to the wrong ce. So many of the buildings here were different from what he used to remember.

    What was even more astonishing was the primary residence where his sister-inw and nephew had resided. It appeared as though the historic pce had undergone renovation, sparking curiosity as to the purpose behind the transformation.

    Another thing that intrigued him was the fact that he hadn''t seen a single person so far. The Realm of Gods and the City of Gods at the core of it... It was allpletely empty. As if everyone here had just... disappeared?

    "Is there some meeting going on?"

    He still gave it the benefit of the doubt, finding a justification for this situation. After all, it was likely that there was some important meeting called in the Pce, where everyone was present. That could exin why every other ce was so empty.

    Hended before the newly created Pce. Even though it was a new pce, it was still his home, the house where his brother used to live. But still, Janus felt something strange. He didn''t have the same weing feeling as he used to have in the past whenever he arrived here.

    Janus ced his hand on the new door to push it open. But as soon as his hands touched the door, he felt a terrifying attack on his soul. An electric current coursed through his body. It was like some defensive mechanism of the door had activated.

    "Just what is happening?"

    Even as his soul was attacked by a Defence mechanism that the Rebel Gods had created for the protection of the Pce from unknown intruders, Janus remained unharmed.

    Given his immense strength, an assault of this nature held little significance for him. However, this caused him to genuinely sense that something was amiss.

    Unfortunately, he still didn''t think that the entire God Realm had gone through a war. He thought that maybe in his absence, Caen had taken the throne and took these steps to show him that he wasn''t wee here.

    Instead of perceiving it as a threat, he saw it as Caen indulging in his usual petty behavior.

    He didn''t bother opening the door and simply teleported to the other side of the door, appearing in a long corridor.

    Not only the exterior, but the entire interior had also changed. It was not like a renovation at all. Instead, it was as if the Pce waspletely destroyed before being recreated.

    "That little brat... Don''t tell me he really destroyed the Pce?! But his mother wouldn''t have allowed it. With sister-inw here, he should''ve never done something like this. Then why?!"

    For the first time, Janus started having a bad feeling about this. He didn''t take it lightly anymore. His Divine Sense spread through the entire pce.

    Although there were some obstructions that tried to restrict the use of Divine Sense within the pce, it wasn''t to an extent that could overpower him.

    After Janus searched the entire pce, his heart started sinking. There was no one in the Pce! His sister-inw wasn''t here, and even his nephew wasn''t here! Let alone them, not even a single servant could be seen here!

    Janus rushed straight to the Main Hall, where meetings usually took ce. But the Main Hall was also empty.

    Making him even more upset was the fact that his elder brother''s portrait was missing! Instead, there were two different portraits! These two portraits made Janus'' heart sink even more.

    On these portraits wasn''t anyone from the Realm of Gods. But it was the biggest enemy of the realm of gods!

    The first portrait belonged to Ezekiel! And the second Portrait was also recognized by him! It belonged to the person that had killed the God of Lightning... Someone who had the essence of his elder brother.

    For the portrait of an enemy to be in the realm of gods, and that too in the main pce, it could only mean one thing! The Realm of Gods had fallen! That also exined why the Pce was destroyed and recreated and why this entire ce was so empty!

    Janus stood frozen in ce as if he had been tossed into the depths of hell. His sister-inw... And his nephew... He didn''t know if both of them were alive. He couldn''t even imagine them being dead! No, he didn''t want to ept it!

    After his brother had sacrificed himself, it was his responsibility to save his brother''s family, but with this... he had failed!

    He didn''t care about the realm of gods for the time being. The most important thing for him was finding his nephew and his sister-inw to make sure that they were alive! That was all that mattered!

    He left the Main Hall and walked over to the Mysterious Pond. If there was one person who knew the secrets about that pond, then it was him. Because it was his pond! It was the first ever gift that his brother had given to him!

 Chapter 755: Fate

    Chapter 755: Fate

    The Pond within the new Pce became an even more fortified and impregnable space. Its security surpassed even that of the main entrance, akin to the imprability of a highly guarded treasury.

    The Rebel Gods responsible for constructing the new Pce may not have fully grasped the significance of the pond, but they were well aware of its importance to Gabriel. The entire Pce was purposefully designed and built to safeguard this precious body of water.

    Even Janus wasn''t able to teleport inside the ball. But it had less to do with the security of this ce and more to do with the nature of the pond itself. He couldn''t pass through the door because the pond messed with the spatialws of the ce.

    Additionally, he found himself unable to open the door due to it being securely sealed and requiring a specific ess that he no longer had. This entire pce was a stranger''s ce to him now, that treated him like a foreigner.

    Janus, being in a hurry, didn''t care about the method he used. Since the easy methods didn''t work, that only left one method.

    ....

    A thunderous noise reverberated through the entire pce. The door was forcefully thrown open as if they had been impacted by a powerful explosion.

    Janus walked inside the hall, stepping over the broken door pieces that were lying on the ground. Since the door couldn''t be broken, he simply had to break them open, and that''s what he did.

    Janus walked inside the hall, stepping closer to the Pond. As he stood next to the pond, looking down at the chaotic water of the pond that used to be peaceful and tranquil.

    Albeit the pond wasn''t tranquil anymore, but Janus had a look of relief on his face. His heart finally felt a sense of calm.

    "He is alive..."

    What he worried about the most was that his nephew and his sister inw were killed in the attack on the Pce and the destruction of this ce. But he was able to confirm that Caen was alive! And if he was alive, he felt that his sister inw was probably alive as well.

    He felt that they had managed to escape. His assumption was correct, albeit he didn''t know that his assumption got one thing wrong. Only Caen was alive, but not his mother.

    Janus finally came out of his daze, paying attention to other things. While most people were unaware about this pond, Janus understood it all too well.

    It was a pond of fate... Something that was iprehensible for many, and beyond thews of this universe.

    The Pond was not a part of this universe, as it had been brought back by Janus'' Elder brother.

    Janus had no knowledge of where his brother had discovered this peculiar object, but one day he unexpectedly arrived with it and presented it to Janus.

    Ever since Janus receive this Pond, he had been trying to study it, and understand all its abilities. From what he was able to grasp, the Pond was something akin to a prophecy circle, albeitrgely different as well.

    The Pond had the power to reveal fragments of present and future events, albeit in a cryptic and abstract manner.

    In the past, Janus would spend hours staring into its depths, deciphering the hidden messages and symbols that swirled within its waters. Unfortunately, he only rarely managed to decipher the meanings.

    The more he delved into its mysteries, the more he realized that the Pond held immense potential, beyond what he could have ever imagined. It seemed to possess a connection to something beyond the understanding of gods.

    The pond still had the same four fishes that he remembered, but the four fishes weren''t floating free of each other''s influence. If anything, two of them were moving in the same direction, often hitting each other.

    Seeing the phenomenon, Janus realized that something big was happening. And he had a feeling that it was rted to his nephew and Gabriel. It wasn''t just a small conflict anymore, but it appeared as if it was a battle to death.

    A battle between his nephew and Gabriel? The thought itself made him frown, especially since he hadn''te across Ezekiel in the realm of gods.

    his nephew!

    Janus nced at the pond onest time. He reached out his hand, From the two portraits in the main hall, it was clear that Ezekiel and Gabriel were working together. And if Ezekiel was fighting his nephew, that meant Ezekiel was there as well! At this point, it wasn''t a battle that his nephew could win!

    No matter how much Caen hated his uncle, Janus still loved him just as much. Although Janus didn''t want his nephew to be the next King of the Gods, but he also wasn''t going to have anyone kill his nephew!

    Janus nced at the pond onest time. He reached out his hand, cing his finger in the pond, closing his eyes.

    After a few moments, he opened his eyes. He had a look of understanding on his face, as if he had discovered the ce where the battle was taking ce.

    There was no way for him to know the exact ce of battle, but through the pond, he was able to discover the location where the fate itself was breaking apart.

    He stood up and left the hall. After he was out of the Pond''s Restriction, he teleported, appearing above the Pce.

    A Spatial Portal opened before him. He was going to save his Nephew!

    *****

    The gods who had chosen to align themselves with Caen, feeling the urgency of the situation,unched a coordinated assault on Gabriel.

    With a collective burst of divine power, they unleashed a barrage of celestial attacks, each one aimed at overwhelming Gabriel and his newly forged sword.

    Gabriel, now wielding his dual-bloodline sword, met their onught with unwavering determination. Although the attack came suddenly while he was in the middle of battle with Caen, he wasn''t surprised. It was as if he was expecting this.

    With a flick of his de, he created a protective barrier of crackling lightning, deflecting the divine onught that threatened to engulf him.

    The sh of divine forces illuminated the dark void, creating a breathtaking spectacle that rivaled the cosmic dance of Gabriel and Caen.

 Chapter 756: Enough to kill

    Chapter 756: Enough to kill

    ****

    Annihtion... It was an absolute annihtion. In the blink of an eye, half the gods that sided with Caen were killed, while the other half reacted fast and barely managed to escape.

    The Gods had finally intervened in the battle to find an advantage to Caen. Even Caen didn''t expect them to ignore his orders and interfere like his. He felt as if he was being looked down on.

    Just as Caen didn''t think the Gods were going to attack Gabriel, the Gods didn''t expect Gabriel to deflect his attack so easily.

    They believed that their assault would benefit Caen by inflicting severe damage on Gabriel, making it easier for Caen to eliminate Gabriel. After which, they could work together against Ezekiel.

    With their failure, they had only embarrassed themselves. At the same time, they upset Caen. But it wasn''t Caen that they had to worry about.

    With their interference in the battle between the two, they had upset another person. So far, that person was simply standing behind, watching the battle. He hadn''t even gotten involved because he wanted Gabriel to solve his grudge.

    He didn''t even bother attacking the Gods, waiting for Janus or Chaos to arrive. As long as the gods didn''t annoy him, he was going to let them live a little longer. Unfortunately, the Gods didn''t stay out of the battle.

    Although their attack hadn''t harmed Gabriel, that didn''t matter.

    Ezekiel finally got involved in the battle.

    The Gods felt a sense of doom. They didn''t know what this feeling was, but all of them tried to leave that ce as soon as possible.

    Unfortunately, only half of them managed to get away, and that too barely. The other halves died before they could even see the face of their killer. In a single moment, so many of them were killed.

    Amongst a mesh of mangled bodies, a figure could be seen. A man who was far away from this ce just a moment ago. It was Ezekiel.

    The sight made Caen distracted. He was about tomand his men but before he could speak, he felt a sense of danger.

    He raised his Sword, blocking Gabriel''s Sword. He himself didn''t have time to think about others.

    The Gabriel he remembered was a weak man, but the person who stood before him was nowhere close to weak. If anything, he was as strong as a High Council God if not stronger.

    Caen wanted to save his strength for Ezekiel. He believed he could finish this battle by simply using the power of the gems. But each attack that used the gems needed his blood! Every time he used the gems, his blood was devoured by the gems.

    The reason these gems were called the Gems of Life was because it devoured the other person''s life with every use. So far, Caen had only partially used it, that too only once, when he broke Gabriel''s sword.

    He had expected to kill Gabriel with just that, but he missed. And after that, he didn''t use the gems, trying to save his life for Ezekiel. Even if he was to die using these gems, he wanted to die in a battle with Ezekiel!

    He wanted to save the powers of these Gems to kill the undying being known as Ezekiel! This was the one thing that could kill the man!

    Caen was pushed back by Gabriel, barely managing to bnce himself. His mind was torn. He could only use the full power of these gems once, and that itself was going to leave him half dead. But if he used it on Gabriel, he wasn''t sure if just one attack was going to be enough for Ezekiel.

    For him, revenge for his family was more important than battle with Gabriel.

    "Switch the enemies! I''ll fight that man!" Caenmanded the Gods that had survived.

    He was sure that they couldn''t kill Gabriel. But for them, facing Gabriel was much better than facing Ezekiel!

    In this battle, Caen wasn''t sure if he could survive, but even if he died, he wanted to die in his own way, like a proud good that killed the Undying Being that even his father couldn''t kill!

    "I won''t let you leave!" Gabriel appeared before Caen, once again trying to stop him.

    While Caen cared more about killing Ezekiel, Gabriel cared more about killing Caen.

    "Get away from me!" Caen roared, raising his sword. Once again, he sacrificed some of his life, to partially draw the strength of the gems for the second time.

    He could actually feel his life being drawn out, as if something inside his body was dying when he used this power, but he didn''t care. He was only partially using the gems, saving his main attack for Ezekiel.

    Caen brought his Sword down. With the power of the gems, the attack was like nothing before. The reality itself was split apart. Not just the upper realm but even the worlds beyond trembled as a terrifying attack was created.

    The attack was strange. It came from straight ahead, but it couldn''t be dodged. It was as if the attack manipted the space itself. If one dodged to the left, the attack was on the left.

    If they dodged on the right, it was on the right. Even Teleportation wasn''t possible as the space was broken, turning into a void.

    Back on the ground, even Ezekiel frowned as he saw the attack. However, Caen didn''t stay behind to see if Gabriel could even survive the attack.

    Instead, right after attacking Gabriel, he flew toward Ezekiel, while the other Gods flew toward his direction to block Gabriel if he managed to survive the attack.

    The world itself was on the verge of breaking apart.

    "How much life do you even have left?" Ezekiel asked Caen whonded before him. Strangely enough, he didn''t even try to save Gabriel.

    It was unclear if he knew that Gabriel couldn''t be saved even if he tried, or if he just had that much confidence. But nevertheless, he was before Caen, once again talking as if he knew the gems.

    "Enough left to kill an undying bastard," Caen replied.

 Chapter 757: The End

    Chapter 757: The End

    For a moment, there was only silence which was broken by Caen''s sentence.

    "Did you really kill my mother?"

    His voice appeared to be trembling a little as if he still had hope that she might be alive.

    "Your mother?" Ezekiel repeated, realizing who Caen was talking about. "That''s correct. She sacrificed herself so some rats could escape. Unfortunately, her sacrifice will be in vain today."

    "Not only the ones who managed to escapest time, but even her own son will be dying tonight."

    Although Ezekiel spoke in confidence, his eyes were still asionally ncing at the sword in Caen''s hand.

    "Come at me. Let me see how well you can use borrowed power!" Ezekiel created a sword of his own.

    He didn''t step back. He also didn''t appear like he was going to dodge. Instead it was as if he was going to face the attack head on!

    Not only was he not scared, but he also used his abilities to create an illusion, showing Caen thest moments of his mother, in which she was killed by him. It was a brutal sight for Caen to watch his mother like that, which affected his mentality a lot.

    Caen closed his eyes. A single tear rolled down his cheek as he waved his left hand, destroying the illusion. But he couldn''t get that sight out of his kind.

    Caen''s fist tightened around his Sword. In a single attack, he was nning to kill Ezekiel. He made up his mind to give it his all on this one attack, sacrificing all his life aura to the gems of life.

    "No more running, no more hiding, no more losing," Caen whispered to himself, his voice filled with determination.

    He looked at the ground, weakly muttering, "Mother, your son will be returning to you today. I''ll ask for forgiveness then..."

    He raised his sword, his expressions bing solemn. Caen took a deep breath, channeling every ounce of his remaining energy into his final strike.

    The air crackled with a surge of power, as Caen started activating the gems one after another.

    As the first gem activated, the entire world turned dark. Not just the Upper Realm but even the worlds far beyond were covered in darkness, making it impossible for anyone to see anything.

    As the second gem lit up, it became impossible for people to breathe, as if all the air had disappeared from the universe in the movement. It was akin to an apocalypse.

    As the third gem lit up, Worldly Laws became invalid. The entire upper realm became a sealed zone where even the gods couldn''t enter or leave.

    Caen coughed out blood but he didn''t stop using his Life Energy. The mes of his life were getting extinguished just so the mes on the Sword could burn bright enough to devour this undying being.

    "More!" Caen roared, sending even more of his life aura. His entire body was in pain, as if warning him that he was entering a dangerous territory, but he didn''t care.

    "Today, I''ll annihte everything with me! This unfair world that took my father from me before I was born! This cruel world that took my mother from me! It doesn''t need to exist anymore!"

    His roar was so loud that it could be heard far and wide, as if the voice of heaven.

    With every breath, the weight of all his emotions pushed him forward, fueling his every move.

    The anticipation in the air was palpable as Caen prepared to unleash his fury upon the man who had taken everything from him.

    Unfortunately, Caen had forgotten about one thing. He had already made a big mistake that he didn''t even realize. He trusted the wrong person...

    As Caen was halfway through activating the Sword,pletely focused on Ezekiel, a figure appeared behind him.

    By the time Caen sensed it, it was toote. He had sealed the entire space, which made it even impossible for him to teleport away at thest moment. Before he could react, he felt the touch of a cold de pass through his neck.

    The cold de was pulled out, leaving a hole in Caen''s throat. What was even stranger was that his wound wasn''t healing. Instead, his entire body was slowly decaying, starting from the wound on his neck.

    The Sword that was stealing his life... Stopped as Caen''s grip weakened. He dropped to his knees, watching his entire body getting paralyzed. The Sword also fell at his feet, stabbing on the ground.

    Even now, Caen''s eyes were on Ezekiel. Ezekiel still hadn''t moved, but on his face was now a clever smirk. He knew it was going to happen! He didn''t just know it, but it was the reason he waited here for Caen to attack him!

    It was the reason he pretended like he wasn''t going to dodge! It was the reason he pretended like he was going to take the attack head on! It was all part of his n! It was all nned!

    The person who had attacked him walked before him with slow steps. He walked over to Ezekiel, standing next to the man.

    "Yo...u..." Caen barely managed to speak, his eyes still in disbelief.

    Far away in the space, another battle had concluded. Gabriel had survived Caen''s attack, but not without significant damage to himself. The right half of his body waspletely gone, making him appear like a broken corpse.

    But strangely enough, he was still alive. Not only was he alive, but slowly he was healing as well. The Gods that sided with Caen took advantage of the opportunity when Gabriel was weakened to attack him.

    Unfortunately, nothing seemed to be going in their favor. Their attacks were blocked. And the people who blocked these attacks made the Gods freeze in ce.

    "You... How is this possible?!" The Gods eximed, all having the same expression on their face.

    In a single moment, the entire situation had turned upside down. Back in the Southern World, Caen was in disbelief, feeling betrayed.

    But high in the space, the Gods had the same expressions. The ones who blocked them weren''t rebel gods. It wasn''t the Lord of Upper Realm either. They couldn''t believe their eyes.

    And the Craziness Begins

 Chapter 758 758: Annihilation

    ?

    Caen was on his knees, his clothing stained with his own blood. His throat had taken on a deep, ominous shade, as if a toxic substance was slowly permeating his entire body.

    His eyes remained on the person who stood next to Ezekiel. He never thought he would be seeing this person here, even when he was stabbed from the back.

    Standing beside Ezekiel was none other than the Vige Head, a prominent figure in the Vige where all the gods had taken residence.

    They''ve lived in this vige for so long, and were certain that these people were mortals, but only now Caen could see it wasn''t the case. They weren''t mortals. They were something else... They were like Ezekiel!

    Even in outer space, the Gods were also in the same shock! The people who saved Gabriel, giving him a chance to heal were none other than the Vigers!

    Every single viger that the Gods had shifted to a safe space, thinking they were just mortals who didn''t need to die in this war, was now here.

    The old woman who couldn''t even pick up a full bucket of water, needing the help of other vigers... The man who sweeped the vige to keep it clean... The farmers who couldn''t grow a single crop... They were all here.

    How was it possible? How were these people flying? How were they so strong? Did they give their true strength until now? But how was that even possible! How could they hide this from gods like them?

    Some of the Gods couldn''t believe their eyes. Just a short time ago, the gods were staying with the Vigers, celebrating with them, drinking with them, helping them by bringing in rain and much more. The vigers that got close to the gods were now standing against them.

    Moreover, now that they weren''t hiding, the Gods could feel a simr aura to Ezekieling from them. It wasn''t as strong as Ezekiel which made it clear that they were weaker than him, but still they were here against them.

    "You... Traitors?" A High Council Member asked the Vigers.

    One of the Vigers smiled. "To be Traitors, we would have to be on your side in the first ce. We were never on your side, so how could we be traitors?"

    "You..." The Gods felt furious. These people had long sided with Ezekiel. It was clear! So they had been fooled by these Vigers...

    "If you were against us for so long, why didn''t you try to kill us before?!" Another God asked. These people were living in the vige with them.

    They had many opportunities to backstab them and slowly take them out. Why did they pretend to be mortals until the end, only toe out now?

    "You think we didn''t want to?" Another Viger asked in return. "We wanted to kill you every single day. But we had to wait... We had to wait for you to find Caen!"

    "We also had to wait for you to find Janus and Chaos! Unfortunately, they didn''te! What a pity."

    The Vigers made it clear that they had been in contact with Ezekiel for a long time. The reason Ezekiel wasn''t in a hurry to find the Gods was because he already knew where they were hiding.

    He just pretended not to know, until the moment gods revealed themselves on their own.

    It was all because he wanted to drag out Janus and if possible, Chaos. Caen wasn''t his main target, but the other two were. Unfortunately, he was realizing that it was impossible to drag those two out.

    "If they still didn''te, it means they''ve actually died," Ezekielmented, looking around. "What a pity...I was looking forward to taking their lives and fulfilling our Lord''s Mission!"

    Caen raised his head, his face still pale as his life was slipping away. He couldn''t understand the meaning of Ezekiel''s words? Which Lord was he talking about? Ezekiel was already so strong! Who was above him? Was there someone else behind it all? Was this an borate scheme, where he was just a pawn?

    "But it''s still not aplete loss," Ezekiel spoke, ncing at Caen''s sword. "It''s time to finish it... With your own sword."

    He stepped forward, grabbing Caen''s Sword. Since the Sword didn''t have a soul of its own, it didn''t resist Ezekiel. Moreover, it felt familiar aura of Abyss, which was simr to Caen so it was even more easy to handle.

    "I was worried that there might be spies amongst the rebels that sided with Gabriel, who might leak the information to you all. But it looks like I was overthinking..." Ezekiel swung the sword, as if testing its weight and handling.

    On the other hand, Caen could only watch. He didn''t know what poison was in the Vige Head''s Sword, but he couldn''t even move a single finger now. His body waspletely paralyzed. Only his eyes could still move.

    Although his bleeding had stopped, the wound on his throat wasn''t healing.

    "You were right. You''ll be going back to your mother. But you were wrong about one thing. This time, I won''t be apanying you to death. But don''t worry, I''ll still send somepanions to keep youpany."

    He raised his Sword, bringing it down.

    ****

    High in Space, the Vigers had also overwhelmed the Gods. The High Council Gods couldn''t even counter them because the Vigers were in higher numbers. And each of them was strong.

    What was worse was that Gabriei had also healed by now! Trouble came from every direction.

    In less than a few minutes, it wasplete annihtion. Half the Vigers had died in the fight, but at the same time, every single good who took part in the battle was killed!

    ****

    In another ce, the Child of Gods were kept hidden, also taken away from Warzone because they were too young for the battle.

    A few Vigers also arrived at that ce. A brutal sight was left behind, only corpses of young gods, including children left behind.

 Chapter 759 759: No return

    <h4>Chapter 759 Chapter 759: No return</h4>

    Annihtion... It was aplete Annihtion. The High Council Gods were killed, unable to put up a fight, especially since Gabriel healed and joined the battle.

    Not a single god from the High Council was left alive. Not just them, but even the Children of the Gods were killed. No one came to help them.

    Gabriel didn''t know about the fact that even the Children of Gods were killed. He didn''t even know that the vigers were part of Ezekiel''s team. Ezekiel had kept him in the dark.

    Still, Gabriei didn''t feel bad. After all, these people came to help him when he needed it the most. It was unclear what he was going to think if he were ever to find out that these people killed even the innocent small children, just to remove every remnant of the gods.

    No matter how much Gabriei hated the Gods, he probably could never get himself to kill the Children. At best, he would''ve taken their Divinity so they couldn''t pose any threat to him in the future.

    After dealing with the High Council Gods, he looked towards the Southern World, which was still shrouded in darkness.

    He felt quite disappointed that he hadn''t managed to kill Caen, losing his opportunity, but he was certain that Ezekiel wasn''t going to miss this opportunity.

    Since he hadn''t sensed any attack of simr magnitude, it was clear that Gabriel hadn''t attacked again.

    He flew toward the Southern World, passing through the dark barrier of the world to help Ezekiel if needed.

    As he reached the Southern World, he noticed Ezekiel standing with Caen''s sword in his hand.

    Behind him, there was another person, who was dressed simrly to those Vigers that helped him. The man was old, but he certainly wasn''t weak.

    What caught Gabriel''s attention the most was Caen, who was on his knees, not even moving. It was as if he hade to ept the fact that he was going to die.

    Ezekiel raised the Sword, ready to decapitate Caen. He swung his sword, only to stop the de merely a few inches away from Caen''s throat.

    He looked above at Gabriel. "You came at the right time."

    He gestured for Gabriei toe down. "Since you''re here on time, I''ll give you the honor. Come and finish your enmity with your own hands."

    Gabrieinded on the ground, getting a better look at Caen who appeared to be in a bad condition. His skin had turned pitch ck, and the darkness was spreading all over his body.

    It was as if he was poisoned by something. However, even Gabriei didn''t know which kind of poison could cause this.

    Ezekiel stepped back after lightly pushing Gabriei close to Caen.

    Gabriei stopped before Caen. The man who had pulled out his heart, leaving him to die... The man who had killed his sister and took the lives of his friends... The man who destroyed everything that Gabriel was looking forward to returning to. It was this man who he hated the most.

    He wanted to kill Caen. He couldn''t even remember for how long he had been thinking of this moment. The only thing that disappointed him was that he hadn''t won the battle on his own. But it didn''t matter. He wasn''t going to let Caen live just for that.

    Gabriel raised his Sword. He was finally going to get rid of the man he hated the most.

    With a fierce determination in his eyes, Gabriel swung his Sword down towards Caen, his grip tightening as he reveled in the power coursing through his veins. The weight of his vengeance propelled the strike, cutting through the air with a resounding whoosh.

    Boom~

    A loud explosion took ce as a powerful aura descended, sending Gabriei flying back. The Vige Head was sent back flying.

    He raised the Sword of Life that he took from Caen. The sword came slicing the oing attack in two halves. He didn''t stop there, as a look of craziness shed in his eyes.

    He rushed toward Caen, realizing where that attack came from. It wasn''t Caen''s attack. It was more powerful, that left only one person... Janus!

    A Portal appeared behind Caen, but no one came out from the portal. Only a hand came out, which grabbed Caen by the Cor and pulled him inside the Portal!

    "You''re not going anywhere!" Ezekiel entered the portal before it could close, but as soon as he entered, the spatial tunnel exploded, sending Ezekiel flying out.

    Even in the Spatial Tunnel, Ezekiel had ced a trap, already expecting something like this.

    Janus knew that if he fought here, he was going to put Caen''s life in danger. Caen was already hurt, and a battle was the worst thing that could happen. For him, saving Caen was a bigger priority than the battle.

    Ezekielnded on the ground. His aura spread out. Unfortunately, he couldn''t trace Janus.

    Janus was a god who was a master of Divine passages, which made it already hard enough to locate him. But it became even worse because the spatial Tunnel had exploded, creating thousands of fragmented traces.

    Gabriel also frowned, looking at the broken traces of space. He hadn''t even seen the person who helped Caen. As soon as the portal opened, he was attacked, which made him focus on his protection.

    One thing was clear. Whoever helped Caen was clever. He didn''t go for a battle, and instead swiftly retreated after taking what he was here for.

    Gabriel touched one of the spatial fragments, observing it.

    "Who was he?" he asked Ezekiel.

    "That wasn''t Chaos. If it was him, you wouldn''t have been able to block his attack. You would''ve been dead. That leaves only one person..."

    "Should we search for him?!" The Vige Head asked Ezekiel.

    "It doesn''t matter though. Caen won''t survive. Even Janus can''t save him now. When that happens, Janus shoulde for revenge."

    *****

    In an unknown ce, Janus stepped out of the portal,nding on the ground with Caen in his arms.

    His face was filled with concern for his nephew, whose life was hanging by a thread. The poison had spread throughout his entire body.

    Janus tried to heal Caen, but he couldn''t. His healing powers don''t work on Caen. They only made the condition worse for some reason.

 Chapter 760 760: Void

    ?

    Janus exhausted every possible measure to heal Caen, but to no avail. The insidious nature of the Poison was unlike anything he had encountered before. It disyed an unprecedented level of hostility towards Divine Energy, exacerbating the situation instead of healing Caen.

    "So you finally returned, old man..." Caen weakly opened his eyes. Although his vision was blurry, he could never mistake Janus for anyone else.

    This was the Uncle who he had known since childhood. This was the Uncle who yed with him when he was a little child, being his most favorite person.

    Caen didn''t even remember how the two of them ended up with such hostility between them. Was it the words of his friends? Or was it his suspicions? It didn''t matter. What mattered was that he started hating his uncle, thinking he was after the throne.

    At this moment, the throne became insignificant. Caen was on the verge of death, and even he knew it.

    As hey there, gasping for breath, his uncle was thest person on his side. He could feel Janus'' concern towards him as his Uncle tried to do everything he could to save Caen, concern etched in his eyes.

    It was clear that his Uncle cared for him. He could''ve just let him die if he hated him, but he didn''t do that. Even if it meant risking his life against the army of enemies, his uncle came to save him.

    "Don''t worry! Nothing will happen to you. I''ll let nothing happen to you!" Janus eximed. He refused to let his nephew die! This was thest remnant of his brother... This was his own child!

    More than that, he was the nephew that Janus watched over since childhood. Although he didn''t want Caen to be a king due to his personality, that didn''t make him care any less for his Nephew.

    "You''ve always been bad at lying," Caenughed lightly, but even that was painful as ck blood trickled out of his lips.

    "I know I''m dying. I don''t regret my death... I deserved it for all the mistakes I made in this life. It all happened because of me... It all happened because I was paranoid towards your intentions... It''s all my fault."

    Even though it was painful, Caen still spoke.

    "I am the cause of it all. I''m the reason Mother..." A tear trickled down his eyes. In thisst moment, he missed the warm embrace of his mother.

    He wished he could apologize to her as well, one final time, to make amends for the pain he caused her.

    Memories flooded his mind, reminding him of their precious moments together, the love and care she had shown him throughout his life.

    Caen felt pain in his heart, but this time, it wasn''t because of the poison. It was a pain of regret.

    As his vision blurred and his strength kept fading.

    "Don''t close your eyes! I forbid you!" Janus roared, his face pale. "I told you I''ll let nothing happen to you! Even if Heaven wants to take your life, I''ll stop it! I can''t use another person!"

    He ced Caen on the ground gently. "Just wait a short time! I''ll go to Ezekiel and take the cure from him! Just don''t close your eyes until then! You must not!"

    He stood up and turned to leave, only to stop as he felt a freezing cold hand getting a hold of his hand.

    He turned around, noticing it was Caen who stopped him. He could feel Caen''s hand trembling. "Don''t go..."

    Caen didn''t doubt Janus'' strength, but the situation was too bad. Janus was alone. All the gods on their side were dead. On the other hand, the other side had Ezekiel and many more people like him. And now, Ezel even had his sword.

    His father was dead, his mother was dead and his life was also hanging by the thread. He didn''t want his uncle to also face his death for a futile cause like saving his life.

    Even if Janus defeated Ezekiel, he wasn''t going to hand over the cure. And without the Sword of Life, Ezekiel couldn''t be killed.

    Everything was against his uncle. And even if somehow his uncle could get the cure, by the time he returned, Caen was certain he was going to be dead.

    He could already feel his life slipping away.

    Although he was very weak, he lightly pulled Janus closer to him. Janus didn''t resist, tears trickling down his cheeks.

    Janus had gone to the Abyss, never expecting that something like this was going to happen in such a short time. His entire family was killed, and the realm of gods was taken.

    Even the Gods were killed. Everything was destroyed, but at this moment, he didn''t care about anything like that. He only cared about his nephew.

    He sat on his knees before Caen.

    ****

    Back in the Southern World, Gabriei was sitting alone, looking into the distance. He didn''t know why, but there was a strange feeling in his heart. He couldn''t understand it, but he felt as if something was wrong.

    He found himself in a state of confusion and emptiness. He had assumed that avenging his sister and restoring justice to his world would bring him a sense of relief.

    Yet, he discovered that it did not alleviate the overwhelming void within him. No matter what he did, he couldn''t bring back his sister and friends.

    He realized that his purpose had been tied so closely to seeking vengeance that he hadn''t thought about anything else. In this battle, so many people had died. An entire world was destroyed.

    Although it happened because of Caen''s attack, but that didn''t change much. So many lives were just gone, just like the lives of his world.

    As Gabriel was lost in thought, he heard theughter of one of the two Vigers.

    "Hahaha, you should''ve seen how those little kids were crying when I killed them! What a great sight! Even though they were children of so-called gods, before their death, even they were no different than mortals!"

    "Hahaha, I feel bad that I wasn''t there. I wanted to enjoy the sight as well. What a pity." Another Vigerughed.

 Chapter 761 761: Necessary Evil

    ?

    "What are you talking about?" Gabriel stood up, appearing right before the Vigers. "What children?"

    "Lord Gabriel." The Vigers greeted Gabriel respectfully.

    Gabriel ignored their greeting. "I asked you something. What children were you talking about?"

    "Oh, that. We were talking about the execution of thest remnants of gods. With their deaths, almost all of their Bloodlines are extinct," the Viger eximed. "This was Lord Ezekiel''s instructions. He said we need to finish what we start."

    "Finish what we start?" Gabriel frowned. He turned around and left. He went straight to Ezekiel to ask him.

    Ezekiel was discussing something with the Lord of the Vige when Gabriel appeared before him.

    "Why did we have to kill little children? Couldn''t we have devoured their Divinity?"

    Ezekiel looked back at Gabriel. He had already expected a response like this when Gabriei found out. That''s why he hadn''t told Gabriei about this n.

    Ezekiel had lived in the darkness for a long time, so his mind had already grown numb to the feelings of guilt, but Gabriel wasn''t the same. His mentality was still somewhat weak when it came to such things.

    "Do you think we are the bad guys because we killed some children?" he asked Gabriel. "Do you think they would''ve loved you if you had forgiven them and let them live?"

    "How many lives would they have taken for their revenge in the future? We took tens of lives to save thousands in the future. It''s the necessary sacrifice," he added. "If you want to call it evil, then it would be considered Necessary Evil."

    "How would they take lives if they were devoured of their Divinity?" Gabriel asked.

    "And you think they could never recover their Divinity once you devoured it? Are you certain that it was never going to happen?"  Ezekiel responded.

    He had been with Gabriel for quite some time, and for some reason, he was very fond of the young man. He considered Gabriel like a family, but he also knew that sometimes one had to be cruel to protect their future.

    "Being merciful to your enemies is being cruel to yourself. Remember that," he stated as he patted Gabriel''s shoulders.

    "For you, the loss of some children might be an unnecessary act, but it was necessary. At least we did it for a cause. But what about the gods? How many childrens did they kill? For what reason?"

    "Look at him." He pointed towards the Vige head. "Just like I lost my entire family, he lost his son and his daughter inw thanks to the Gods. Even his two year old grandson wasn''t left alive. It''s the same for every other viger!"

    "All of them are victims of the ruthlessness of gods. All of them are ones who have lost everything! They had been living with hatred for hundreds of years, all for this moment!"

    "This war, it was more than just our war. It was their war. It was the war of everyone who suffered, and it was a war to prevent something like this from happening in the future."

    "You see those children as helpless children, but they''ve learned the knowledge from the Realm of Gods. Even if you weaken them, or imprison them for life, it''s all a hidden danger that coulde to make us regret in the future."

    If it was someone else, Ezekiel wouldn''t even bother to exin his actions, but it was Gabriei so he went out of his way to justify his actions.

    "Look at me. I had no Divinity. I was born a mortal with only a slightly stronger physique, but today I''m able to y gods. Every single viger was also mortal, but they''re able to kill gods!"

    "Divinity isn''t everything in this world. There are thousands of ways for one to be stronger. Do you still think that we should''ve just devoured their Divinity and let them go free?"

    Ezekiel didn''t speak further. He had spoken everything he wanted to.

    Gabriel stood silently, not knowing how to respond. Ezekiel''s words made sense. Even an ordinary mortal could be strong, let alone those who had learned the knowledge of gods. Just leaving them free was certainly a potential risk for the future.

    He couldn''t find any reason to oppose Ezekiel''s decision. In some corner of his mind, he knew that this was a logical decision.

    Moreover, it wasn''t as if he hadn''t killed children. When he fought in the past, many houses were destroyed, so it was likely that many children had died as well. At least Ezekiel had a cause. It was for their safety.

    Ezekiel didn''t wait for Gabriel''s response. He could already see that Gabriei didn''t have anything to counter. It was only a matter of time before he came to terms with it.

    "If you''re ufortable with it, just me me for it. It was my decision, so you don''t have to feel guilty about it." He ruffled up Gabriel''s hair before walking away with the Vige Head, continuing his discussion.

    Gabriel watched Ezekiel leave. Even though he was apanied by the Vige Head, his back seemed lonely.

    Gabriel could only sigh in response as he turned around. He walked back to the house temporarily assigned to him in the Vige. They weren''t returning to the Realm of Gods as they were still waiting for Janus'' revenge after Caen''s death.

    Ezekiel didn''t want to make it difficult for Caen to find them. Janus was the only God left at this point, at least ording to their knowledge.

    Rather than actively searching for Janus, it was more strategic to adopt a passive approach and wait for him, akin to sitting ducks. Ezekiel was fully aware that Janus could recognize the trap, yet he awaited his arrival.

    "Are you certain that he will arrive? It would be no different than epting his death. Would he really be that naive?" The Vige Head asked.

    "Sometimes, this is the biggest weakness of gods... Their feelings for their family," Ezekiel answered. "And Janus is one such god, which is proven by the fact that he came here to protect Caen despite all of us here. I''m sure he''lle, if not for revenge than for cure."

 Chapter 762 762: Sealed Heart

    Three days passed. Ezekiel and the Vigers remained in the Vige, yet surprisingly Janus didn''t arrive. Even though everyone was waiting for one final battle with a powerful god who was going to arrive for revenge, marking the end of their quest, it didn''t happen.

    The Vige head was frowning, pacing back and forth as he grew impatient. He was also worried about what was going to happen if Janus didn''t arrive.

    It happened to be a coincidence that the gods arrived in their vige when they escaped from the Realm of Gods. It was why the Vigers didn''t need to find them, but it was different with Janus.

    Janus was much older, and probably the strongest god from the Realm of Gods. His knowledge was iparable to other gods that were killed.

    He had fought side by side with Chaos as well, learning a lot of things. What was even more irritating was his Ability, which made it impossible to find him.

    If he wanted, Janus could hide in the cracks of space for an eternity, waiting for the right moment to strike when they had their guard down. That''s why they were relying on the impulse of Janus. Unfortunately, their bet seemed to have failed.

    Even Ezekiel was slightly surprised that things didn''t go as nned. If Janus was the only god remaining, then he should''ve arrived here for revenge.

    He had lost his family, his home and even his army. He had nothing left, so how could he control his anger? Something felt out of ce.

    One thing was certain by now. It was that Janus wasn''t going to arrive impulsively, so waiting here was futile.

    Ezekiel finally decided to leave this ce. But he didn''t take the Vigers with them. Instead, instructed the Vigers to continue the search. They had only one enemy left now.

    "I don''t have much time left. So before I disappear forever, I want to remove thest threat. That''s why, you must find him at any cost," he reminded the Vigers.

    Although the Rebel Gods were strong, the Vigers were unique in their own ways, having a higher possibility of finding Janus.

    With his instructions, Ezekiel opened the portal and left for the Realm of Gods.  He wanted to take Gabriel with him as well, but Gabriel chose to stay behind, saying he wanted to stay in the Upper Realm for some time.

    With a sigh, Ezekiel nodded and left with the Rebel Gods. However, he left a soul mark on Gabriel which could alert him in case Gabriel was in danger.

    In the entire upper realm, there should''ve been no one who could harm Gabriel but with Janus atrge, he didn''t want to take any risk.

    After Ezekiel departed, the Vigers also left to search for Janus.

    The Vige that was once full of life with Gods and the ''mortal'' Vigers was now vacant, with only Gabriel standing there.

    He nced at the empty Vige before he left as well. His revenge was over. Caen was dead. As for Janus, he didn''t think about that at the moment, leaving that for Ezekiel to handle. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    For the next few days, Gabriei traveled through the Southern World. This was the world where he had first arrived when he left his world with Karyk. This was where he fought and took the invitation to attend the General''s Banquet.

    This was also the ce where he hadst seen Karyk before he left with the Generals.

    "Was the betrayal worth it?" he asked, looking at the sky as if talking to Karyk. He didn''t expect an answer.

    He was certain that Karyk was alive. But since he couldn''t feel any connection with Karyk, he felt that Karyk had intentionally cut the connection. Not only that, he forgot everything about revenge and sided with the Generals.

    Gabriel still felt anger toward Karyk for that. It was akin to a betrayal for him, especially since they were here to have revenge on the Generals. But his other half had forgotten his purpose,pletely abandoning everyone.

    Gabriel wanted to rush to him and ask him why, but he didn''t want to hear the answer. He didn''t even want to see Karyk''s face as he was certain that he was going to kill that Traitor if he saw him.

    By not doing anything and siding with the Lord of Upper Realm, Karyk hadn''t just betrayed him but also everyone back on earth that had died.

    He didn''t want to kill Karyk but he felt inherent hate in his heart. That''s why he didn''t even want to see that man''s face.

    After exploring the Southern World, he went to the Eastern World. He didn''t know what his purpose was. He was just aimlessly walking through the world like a lost traveler.

    Along the way, Gabriei passed through many cities. People still lived in fear in those cities, especially after going through the recent events. Still, life was slowly returning to normal and the broken structures were being repaired.

    The worst hit was the Western World which waspletely destroyed. Everyone in that world had died in a stray attack. Billions of lives were lost, and nothing but rubble could be seen.

    Lastly, he entered the Northern World. Previously, he had to take a special flying boat to get to the Northern World, but he was very different now.

    In a single step, he walked through space and appeared in the Northern World.

    He walked to the n where he had taken shelter when he first arrived here. The n was abandoned, not a single person in sight. It was all because of his order as well, since he had told the n to disband after they tried to kill him.

    Still, he was curious about the Patriarch''s daughter, wondering where she ended up. She was much different than her father, and he held no negative feelings towards her. After observing the ce, he left.

    In the best step, he appeared outside the Beast Region where he met the Rebel Gods and the Beast Monarchs. Gabriel walked from one ce to the other, as if he was trying to remember his past, recreate it to feel something in his sealed heart.

 Chapter 763 763: Audacity

    Chapter 763 763: Audacity

    Along the way, he saw many old ces, including the city where he had fought the Demon before he came across Caen.

    The City was in ruins. The signs of battle were still present, as if nothing had changed in such a long time.

    He was quite curious as to what happened to the Lord of mes and the strange demon after he escapedst time.

    The Lord of mes waspletely corrupted by the demonic statue thest time Gabriel fought him, only for the battle to be interrupted in the middle.

    He soon left the ruined city, appearing in a more prosperous area, the City which was protected the best in thismotion.

    It was the Domain of the Northern Dragon n, whose daughter he had a dealing with in the Beast Region. The n was powerful in the past, but with the death of the Generals, Gabriei was certain that the n was going to gain even more influence and strength.

    It was also possible that one of the next generations of Generals to rule over the Northern World was going to be the Dragon n Patriarch.

    He remembered that the girl had made him promise something in the Beast Forest. He wasn''t even sure why he remembered something like that at this moment.

    Maybe it was his way to convince himself that he was still his old self, or it was a method for him topletely detach himself after taking care of everything pending.

    He appeared at the entrance of the Northern Dragon n. The castle was majestic and its walls were so tall that it was impossible to climb over them. The only way to enter was through the main entrance.

    He could easily teleport inside the n, but he felt tired. Since he wasn''t here as their enemy, he chose to enter through the main gate.

    At the main entrance, a couple of guards watched him approach. The Guards raised their spears and stood before the door, but as soon as they looked into Gabriel''s eyes, their body went limp.

    Their spears dropped to the ground. They didn''t know what this feeling was, but it was as if a predator was approaching them. And it was when Gabriei didn''t even release his aura. It was just the innate feeling the two Guards received.

    "W-who are you?" They asked respectfully, simr to how they talked to their Lord. They didn''t dare be disrespectful since the fear this man ignited in their heart was higher than anything.

    They had the noble bloodline of the Northern Dragon n but even they couldn''t help but feel suppressed.

    "Ezil, daughter of your Patriarch... Can you tell her that someone from the Beast Region is here?" Gabriel told the Guards as he stood silently with his arms folded, like a guest who was waiting there.

    The guards looked at each other. Although they didn''t know who Gabriel was truly, but they didn''t dare dy. One of them stood up and went to the main mansion.

    The other guard stood straight, but fear was still clear on his face. He took asional nces at Gabriel who simply stood there with his eyes closed as if the world itself had gone silent for him.

    ...

    "Someone from the Beast Region!?" The young heir of the Northern Dragon n frowned as she heard the guard''s words.

    "Can you describe this person''s facial features?" Ezil asked, wondering if the person was the same as the one she guessed.

    She had been looking for Gabriei all this time, but she couldn''t find him, as if he had just disappeared somewhere. Thus she wasn''t certain if this was him.

    As the Guard described the man''s features, Ezil stood up, convinced that this was him.

    "Is he at the entrance?" She asked, draping a robe over her shoulders as she left her room.

    "Yes, hopefully." The Guard was certain that if Gabriel wanted to enter the mansion, no one should stop him. So it depended on Gabriel if he was still outside or not.

    The woman left the mansion, followed by the Guard. As she reached the entrance of the Mansion, she saw a man standing right outside. It was the same face as she remembered in the Beast Region, but at the same time, she felt unfamiliar.

    Gabriel opened his eyes, feeling her presence. He nced at the woman in the distance. His eyes were emotionless, as if he was looking at a stranger.

    Ezil froze in ce. Her heartbeat slowed down. She didn''t understand it clearly, but her back was drenched in clothes. She felt fear... true fear.

    She saw Gabriel in the Beast Region as well and he was strong there, but she still felt calm before him at that time. But now, she felt as if she was standing before a Giant who could simply crush her with ease.

    "Cough," She coughed to clear her throat as she stopped looking in Gabriel''s eyes. She felt that this feeling had something to do with his eyes.

    She misunderstood this as the effect of some of his skills which activated when someone looked in his eyes. As she stopped looking at him, her heart finally rxed a little v

    "Come inside."

    "I''m not here to enter your mansion," Gabriel replied, not moving an inch. "I''m here to fulfill that promise."

    "Promise?" The woman was momentarily confused but she soon remembered. That promise was the reason she was looking for him after all.

    Unfortunately, she didn''t have any need for that promise anymore. The Beast Monarchs had disappeared.

    The other major ns were also destroyed. And the Four Generals were killed. Her father was the supreme being in the Northern World now, with no one here stronger than him. He didn''t need help.

    "I''m sorry, but I don''t think there''s anything you can help me with now," Ezil answered him.

    She knew that Gabriel was strong, but could he be stronger than her father? It was impossible. So she didn''t need his help anymore.

    Even before when she made him promise, she only did so because she wanted his help to bring the Beast Monarchs and her Northern Dragon n closer to prepare for when her father was to challenge a General''s Position, but now there was no need. That position was as good as his.

    She simply smiled as she spoke, "So consider that promise to be fulfilled."

    She didn''t realize what she was missing up on.

    She thought about suggesting something else, asking Gabriel to work as her guard, offering him a position in her n. For any teenager, it was something to be proud about to be part of a General''s n!

    Moreover, she also considered him to be a talented man, so it wasn''t a loss for the n either.

    After a brief pause, she spoke, "If you really want to do something for me, then-"

 Chapter 764 764: Attacked for nothing

    Chapter 764 764: Attacked for nothing

    "If you really want to do something for me, then-"

    Ezil began to speak, but her words were interrupted by the approaching sound of horse hooves. It was evident that some members of the Warriors of the Northern Dragon n were making their way back.

    Shortly after, the carriage of the esteemed Northern n Patriarch came into view, following closely behind.

    The Guards opened the doors of the Mansion to allow an easy entry to the riders and the Carriage. After opening the door, the guards stepped aside.

    Ezil also moved aside. Gabriel nced behind at the approaching riders. He also moved aside to give them a path to proceed. However, as the riders saw Gabriel, they felt a chilling feeling in their heart.

    They interpreted this deep-rooted fear in their hearts as Gabriel openly disying hostility towards them. The riders gradually reduced their speed, signaling the carrier driver to do the same.

    One of the rivers jumped off,nding right before Gabriel, raising his Sword to point at the young man at the entrance.

    "Who are you?!" The Warrior asked. "Are you nning to hurt our Lord?!"

    Gabriel shook his head. He had no interest in killing the Patriarch of the Northern Dragon n since that man had done nothing wrong to him.

    "Down on your knees! You''ll be taken into custody for interrogation! We must find out the truth about you!" The Warrior was certain that Gabriel wasn''t any ordinary person. Was he an Assassin? Was he here to kill the Patriarch? His appearance at this exact time was suspicious.

    "He''s not a spy. He''s someone I know." Ezil tried to chime in, only to be stopped by the warrior.

    "Young Lady, even if he''s someone you know, but this can''t be ignored. He''s not an ordinary man. Even I felt a chill when he looked at me. For someone like him toe here, and at a time like this, this can''t be ignored."

    The warrior didn''t listen to her. When it came to the security of the n, the Warriors who always apanied the Patriarch had all the authority in the n that they could need.

    The Second Warrior alsonded on the ground. He approached the Patriarch''s carriage. He opened the door.

    "Why have we stopped?" The Patriarch of the Northern Dragon n asked.

    "Just some obstruction. There''s someone we suspect to be an Assassin. My Lord, please remain inside." The Warrior stated.

    "An Assassin? Since when did mere assassins start thinking they could assassinate me?" The Patriarchughed, as hefortably took a sip from the ss of wine in his hand. "Alright, it doesn''t matter. Take care of the matter. And if he resists, kill him."

    After issuing hismand, he closed the door and didn''t even bother to step outside, as if this matter was beneath his attention.

    At this moment, he was the strongest being in the Upper Realm after the Lord of Upper Realm. With the disappearance of the Generals, he could be described as the true Overlord.

    Although he wasn''t sure who killed the Generals, but it had all benefited him. He even thanked the killer in his heart.

    As the door closed, heughed thinking about the fate of the Four Generals.

    "Those idiots must''ve offended someone mighty. What idiots do not even know who they should never offend." The smirk spread across his lips, as he looked down on the Generals.

    "If I was in their ce, I would''ve been much more careful. There are mountains beyond the mountains after all, especially from the Realm of Gods."

    Little did he know...

    ****

    "Did you not hear what I said?!" The First Guard asked, his voice getting louder. "Down on your knees!"

    "I''m not an Assassin and I mean no harm to you. I just came here because I had made a promise. If that promise doesn''t go overboard, I wanted to fulfill it before I leave this ce forever. I will learn shortly," Gabriel exined.

    The Warrior didn''t care for his excuse. He felt embarrassed that he felt the feeling of fear when standing before a teenager, but that embarrassment also made him angry.

    "I told you to get down!" The Warrior roared as he raised his right foot, kicking Gabriel''s knees.

    Behind his kick was a strength that could even destroy a thick concrete wall. As for human bones, they couldn''t resist this kick. In essence, he had decided to break Gabriel''s legs to teach him a lesson.

    Unfortunately, as he kicked, his expressions distorted. He felt as if he had hit a mountain. Instead of hurting Gabriel, his own foot was hurt as his bones were crushed.

    "Arghh!" He roared in pain. Anger shrouded his face as he raised his sword, swinging with all his might. He didn''t even think clearly what it meant for his bones to break when he kicked Gabriel.

    His Sword came straight for Gabriel''s throat. But suddenly, his entire world turned dark. He didn''t even know what happened. One moment, he was about to strike Gabriel, and the next, he was engulfed in a consuming darkness,pletely disoriented.

    It felt as though time itself had frozen, trapping him in a void of ckness. It was a nightmare for him. In a single second, he felt as if he had spent an eternity there, going crazy. It was only after his mind waspletely broken that he died.

    Back in the real world, everyone saw the Warrior attack Gabriel but in the next instant, a strange mist surrounded Gabriel. As soon as the man touched the mist, his body simply disappeared.

    The other Warrior had just returned after briefing the patriarch when he returned, his eyes turning wide open. He saw his friend disappearing. It was no different than Gabriel openly attacking them.

    The Second Warrior was confused, but had no time to think about it. He didn''t move close to Gabriel like his friend but chose to attack from behind. Unfortunately, he froze as he saw Gabriel looking at him.

    His shadow behind him came to life. The Guard''s own shadow attacked him with the shadow of the sword. The shadow Sword prated the heart of Warrior from the back, making him cough blood.

 Chapter 765 765: Fulfilled

    Chapter765 765: Fulfilled

    Ezil watched the Massacre, horrified. She was strong but even she couldn''t defeat the two most trusted warriors of her father, but Gabriel managed to kill them in the blink of an eye.

    She was more scared than stunned, unable to believe that this was actually Gabriel. Gabriel nced at Ezil, who took a few steps back subconsciously.

    In the background, the door of the Carriage opened, as the carriage driver had informed the n Head about what happened.

    The n Head of the Northern Dragon n stepped out as soon as he heard that his guards were killed. He carried a weapon in his hand, unaware about the identity of the attacker.

    As he left the carriage, he could only find the body of one of his Generals. The other was simply missing.

    In the distance, he saw Gabriel''s back towards him. Gabriel was looking at Ezil who was stepping back in fear.

    That gave the old man an impression that Gabriel was about to harm his daughter. Without thinking, he rushed ahead. The ground under him cracked, as his body brimmed with his Draconian Strength.

    He thrust the Sword towards Gabriel''s back. Unfortunately for him, before his Sword could even touch Gabriel, the man before him disappeared.

    He felt a cold hand on the back of his head. Before he could react, his body rose in the air before being mmed into the ground.

    Gabriel grabbed the wrist of the n Head, turning it to make the man''s Sword face his own chest. The sound of his cracking wrist resounded clearly.

    The n Head couldn''t even resist as if some mysterious force was keeping him down. He could only watch his own sword facing him. His struggle was useless.

    "Wait! The Promise!" Before Gabriel could deal the final blow, he heard Ezil''s voice. "You said you''ll fulfill one promise as long as it wasn''t overboard."

    "I-i want you to let my father live! That''s my request!" Ezil eximed. Although she was not certain that Gabriel was going to listen to her, she couldn''t watch her father die.

    She put forth her request, remembering that Gabriel''s purpose ining here was to fulfill the promise. Initially, she didn''t consider the true value of the promise, but now it was toote and she could only use it to save her father m

    Gabriel nced at Ezil, before looking back at the n Head of the Northern Dragon n. He released the man''s wrist, letting his broken arm fall freely.

    The restricting force also disappeared.

    "With that, I fulfilled my promise." Gabriel spoke, as he turned around. All his connection with the Upper Realm was over now.

    Ezil helped her father up, watching Gabriel leave. She couldn''t even get herself to ask him to stay with them for a few days.

    Her face was filled with regrets. If she hadn''t looked down on him because her father''s position had elevated, it would''ve been so beneficial for her and her n.

    With the kind of strength Gabriel had shown, he was in an entirely different realm than them. For some inexplicable reason, she even thought that if she had yed her cards right, Gabriel could''ve helped her father be the true Lord of Upper Realm.

    The n Head, who was previouslyughing at the Four Generals for their foolishness, realized that he wasn''t much different than them. The only difference was that he had someone to save his life, while they didn''t.

    Ezil helped her father stand up, and supported him, taking him inside the castle. The castle was sealed for the time being, with the n Head telling all the n members to return.

    The n Head also instructed everyone to be more careful when dealing with unknown people, unclear if there were other people in the Upper Realm as strong as Gabriel.

    In the eyes of the world, the n Head of the Northern Dragon was the strongest expert in the world, but he knew that it wasn''t the truth. There were many hidden experts in the world.

    Some had chosen to live in seclusion or disguise their true abilities, making it difficult to discern their true strength. Nevertheless, the n Head had prioritized the safety of his n and did not hesitate to take precautionary measures, even if it meant retreating.

    ****

    After leaving the Upper Realm, Gabriel left the Upper Realm. A portal opened before him. He already had a destination in his mind. It was a ce where he hadn''t been for a long time.

    On the other side, he stepped out of the Portal, standing in empty space. In the distance, a lot of rubble could be seen floating in space. These were the remnants of a world that was destroyed... These were the remnants of his world.

    Thest time he left this world, it was protected. His family lived here, and his friend lived there. But now, no signs of life were left. It was the world that didn''t exist anymore. It was his home that didn''t exist anymore.

    He remained in the space, where his world used to be, just looking at the dark space. He could remember a lot of memories rted to the past, memories that had a lot of sadness but also a lot of happy moments as well.

    When he left this world, he had thought that he always had a home to return to, but now...

    He grabbed a small piece of stone floating in the space.

    "I am sorry..." He closed his eyes, apologizing. His heart was filled with grief, a feeling that was tormenting him.

    He securely kept the piece of stone in his Spatial Realm. At the same time, he sealed this entire space. Although his world was no more, but this was still where his home used to be, and he wanted to keep it the way it was.

    The entire space around the area was sealed in a dark domain, which no one should enter. This was hisst action towards his previous home.

    ****

 Chapter 766 766: First Time

    Chapter766 766: First Time

    Ezekiel arrived in the Realm of Gods, entering the mansion where he sensed the presence of Janus. However, that presence was starting to fade, as if he was here a long time ago, in such a hurry that he didn''t even erase his presence.

    Curious, Ezekiel followed the traces of that present, only to end up before the secret room. The door of the room was broken but no one was inside.

    The room had no precious treasures either. There was only a small pond, which made Janus'' arrival here strange.

    Ezekiel entered the room, wondering why Janus woulde here, even if it meant breaking the door?

    His attention went to the pond, which was the only significant thing here. In the pond, nothing had changed. There were still the same four fishes as there used to be in the past, all four of them swimming in circles.

    If one difference could be found, it was that one of the four was swimming very slowly.

    ****

    "Can something be done?" Janus'' voice was heard, in a faraway ce. His voice wasced with worries.

    He stood near the window, looking at an unconscious young man who was lying on the bed, his entire body appearing as if itcked any blood.

    The young man barely seemed to be breathing, his life force flickering as his life hung by a thread.

    There was another person present in the room, a man who seemed to be in histe twenties, but was slightly older.

    It was Ryder, the only person that Janus coulde to help at this moment. With no other method to save his nephew''s life, Janus arrived on earth, appearing in Ryder''s house.

    Initially, Ryder was surprised to see Caen in such a bad condition. He had fought Caen before... Or rather, he had beaten Caen before, but he hasn''t hurt the boy too seriously.

    He only injured Caen to the point that he could recover on his own in a week. It was just to teach Caen a lesson. But the condition in which Caen was right now... It was clear that someone had actually tried to kill him.

    Ryder didn''t even ask Janus about what happened. He directly took Caen from Janus'' hands, taking him to his room.

    Ryder ced the young boy on the bed, before he ced his hand on Caen''s forehead, trying to send traces of his Divine Energy inside the young man''s body to observe the situation.

    In the meantime, Janus simply waited silently in the back, hoping that his nephew could be saved. If even the young boy couldn''t be saved, he could never forgive himself!

    As Ryder concentrated, he felt a surge of darkness and malevolence emanating from Caen''s body. It was unlike anything he had encountered before. That poison reacted fiercely to his Divine Energy, as if the Divine Energy could only make the poison worse.

    After observing the situation, he retracted his hand, seemingly in thought.

    "Can something be done?" Janus asked at this point.

    "For that, you''ll have to tell me what happened? How did he end up in this situation?" Ryder asked. He wondered if Caen offended someone else with his arrogance, but still... Even if Caen wasn''t as strong as him, but he wasn''t so weak that anyone could hurt him like this.

    Who could be strong enough to hurt Caen to this point? The reason that Janus came here instead of attacking that person to get a cure of the poison also meant that even Janus wasn''t certain if he could defeat that person swiftly.

    Janus didn''t hide anything from Ryder. Ryder was the other half of his brother after all. Although his memories weren''t the same, he could trust Ryder like family. Ryder had never craved for the throne either, only desiring to live on earth with his family.

    Janus told Ryder about Ezekiel''s past. He told him how Ezekiel was a mortal, who unfortunately had to suffer at the hands of a few evil gods. Since then, he hated the gods.

    He talked about the time when Ezekiel was assassinating the Gods and that he even invaded the Realm of Gods, only to be stopped by Chaos.

    He talked about the seal, and how this matter had ended.

    "Even I don''t know what changed after that, but when I returned from the Abyss, everything had changed. The realm of gods had fallen, and all the gods were annihted. I only managed to save him, but I was toote as he was already affected by this strange poison." Janus sighed. It was evident that he was still ming himself.

    "All gods were annihted? By all, you mean..." Ryder frowned, his expression darkened.

    Janus nodded. "Sister inw is dead as well. Now Caen is the only remnant of my brother. So please save him... at any cost, even if I have to sacrifice my life for it!"

    Ryder nced at Caen. Although he disliked the personality of Caen, the young boy was still like a Nephew to him, that he cherished. That''s why he didn''t seriously harm Caen, even when Caen took so many lives on earthst time. And now, things were even worse.

    He ced his hand on Caen''s head, caressing the head of his nephew lightly. The boy had to grow up without his father. He never once saw his father, and now his mother was also gone...

    As Ryder was also an orphan, he could understand what it was like to be all alone in this world. In Caen, he could see Chaos'' face.

    "I''ll bring the cure." Ryder replied, shaking his head lightly.

    He had promised himself that he would stay out of the matters of the Realm of Gods, but this time, he couldn''t stay out.

    "I''ming with you!" Janus eximed. If it was a war, he was also ready to put his life on the line.

    "Stay with Caen. Someone needs to stay here to make sure his condition doesn''t deteriorate."

    Ryder created a portal. This was the first time he was going to enter the Realm of Gods after the Great War of Gods in which Chaos was seen for thest time.

 Chapter 767 767: Oath

    Chapter767 767: Oath

    Janus wanted to go with Ryder, but he controlled his urges and stayed behind with his nephew. It was only his powers that were keeping Caen in something simr to a cryogenic state, somehow saving his life for the time being.

    He knew that if he left and something happened to his nephew, then it was going to be toote to regret anything at all.

    His nephew was already the weakest he had ever been. His life was barely hanging on, and even with everything they could do, it was unlikely that he could be kept alive for more than a short time.

    So, reluctantly, he made the difficult decision to stay behind and ensure his nephew''s safety, leaving this important task on Ryder''s shoulders.

    Entering the portal, Ryder disappeared.

    ***-

    Not even the recent security mechanisms established in the Realm of Gods could stop Ryder.

    His portal opened directly in the City of Gods. He stepped out, wondering what kind of sight he was going to see. However, as he stepped out, he noticed that the ce didn''t look much different than he remembered.

    There were no signs of destruction,at least none noticeable. The buildings stood tall and majestic, and the streets wide and clean. The only difference was theck of people that could be seen in the surroundings.

    It seemed that the chaos of the war didn''t have much effect on the City of Gods. As Ryder walked through the streets, he approached the Mansion in the center, the ce that now belonged to Ezekiel and Gabriel.

    However as he approached the mansion, he noticed the door of the mansion open, a graceful man stepped out of the mansion, his long dark robe fluttering with the wind.

    Ezekiel had already sensed that he had a new guest.

    "Who are you?" he asked Ryder. He didn''t know why, but he found Ryder to be a little different. Simr to the Gods, but also an unique existence on its own.

    Not just Ezekiel, but the others also arrived. Although Ryder had passed the security mechanism, but the people of the City were still alerted about the intruder.

    Within seconds, Ryder was surrounded from all sides. Behind him, there were the Rebel Gods, along with a few Vigers.

    "My identity is insignificant. I just came here because I need a little something from you," Ryder raised his right hand, as if asking for something.

    "What if I don''t give anything to you?" Ezekiel didn''t even ask what Ryder wanted. It didn''t matter. Even if Ryder wanted a ss of water, he wasn''t willing to hand over anything.

    "Then I''ll be forced to involve myself in this matter, which I really want to avoid," Ryder sighed, his expressionsplicated. He just wanted to take the antidote and return home, not making thingsplex but he couldn''t return empty handed.

    "You''ll force Lord Ezekiel? Such arrogance!" One of the Rebel Gods was frustrated with Ryder''s arrogant tone.

    He wanted to show Ryder his ce, at least bring him down to his knees. With that anger, he rushed ahead, attacking Ryder.

    "You people... Why can''t you let me stay out of your matters like I want?" Ryder raised his left hand, snapping his fingers.

    The Rebel God who had rushed ahead froze in his ce, as if time itself had stopped for him. Cracks started developing all around his body, as if he was made of stone.

    Right in front of everyone''s eyes, his body shattered into hundreds of pieces. Ryder didn''t even look at the face of the attacker before killing him. This kind of strength wasn''t ordinary.

    Ezekiel frowned. Ryder''s face was surrounded by a hazy shroud, which made it impossible for him to see his face. But with the kind of strength that Ryder showed, Ezekiel was convinced that he wasn''t normal.

    Ezekiel applied his unique aura in his eyes, strengthening his ability to see through things. But even then, it proved hard to see through Ryder''s shroud.

    Fortunately, he did manage to get through Ryder''s barrier and see his face.

    Seeing Ryder''s face came as a surprise to him as he was taken aback. "Chaos? No, you''re not him. You just look identical. Who are you?"

    Ezekiel still hadn''t entered the battle with Ryder and he wasn''t scared either. He wasn''t worried that he couldn''t win. Instead, the only reason he didn''t attack was because he was curious about the identity of the man before him.

    Strangely enough, the man had Divine Energy beyond what any god could possess. Even the Chaos he had foughtst time didn''t have such pure and raw Divine Energy. It was as if this Divine Aura came straight from an Ancestral God.

    But just the Divine Aura, but the man also had some traces of being a mortal. It was as if once upon a time, he used to be a mortal as well. In that way, Ryder was more simr to him than he was to the Gods.

    "I''m no one you need to worry about. As long as you don''t attack my world, I won''t attack your side, as I am tied by an oath. But... I would still prefer that you give me what I want, or I''ll have to break that oath..."

    Ryder once again reached out his hand. It was an oath that had tied him up for a long time. It all happened when they had won thest great war.

    The Realm of Gods was given to Chaos and his family. Since Chaos was gone, many people were worried that Ryder, who was the strongest at that point, could control the Realm of Gods indirectly. Many also worried that he might just snatch the throne.

    Although Chaos'' family didn''t have such doubts, to calm the citizens of the Realm of Gods and to make them respect the Ruling Family more than they respected him, Ryder took this oath.

    Thanks to the oath, he wasn''t going to interfere in the matters of the Realm of Gods, no matter the reason. As long as his world wasn''t attacked by them, he couldn''t attack the Realm of Gods or involve himself in any war that involved the realm of gods.

 Chapter 768: I can do more than that

    Chapter 768: I can do more than that

    "Do you think you cane, tell me what to do and leave alive?" Ezekiel asked, his expressions darkening.

    Ryder was standing before him. Even Janus couldn''t have been so carefree before him, but this man had a strange demeanor that didn''t make sense.

    Ezekiel had gathered the information of every God in the Realm of Gods and even beyond, but he had never heard of a person who looked identical to Chaos and was even stronger.

    From Ryder, he could feel an ancient aura. It wasn''t part of his soul, but it appeared to be inherited from an ancient Power. That power was simr to the Divinity of Gods, but it was also more than that.

    "I can do much more than just that, but as I said, I prefer to resolve this peacefully," Ryder calmly stated, reaching out his hand.

    For him, earth was his entire world. He didn''t care what happened to the Realm of Gods. Even if Ezekiel kept control over it for a lifetime, it didn''t matter since it was just a piece ofnd.

    He had always considered the fight over this piece ofnd to be stupid. That''s also why he didn''t let his son participate in the battle of the throne against Caen. It wasn''t because he was worried that his son couldn''t defeat Caen, instead it was because he found out insignificant.

    Most people still thought that Chaos had fought the Ancestral Gods to win the control of the realm of gods, but Ryder knew much better about the reality.

    "What do you want?" Ezekiel asked. It was unclear what he was thinking.

    "The Antidote to cure Caen''s poison," Ryder stated.

    "You want me to hand over the cure so he cane and trouble me again?" Ezekiel scoffed. He wasn''t even taking the negotiations seriously. He just wanted to know Ryder''s identity and his motives.

    "I will prevent him from leaving. He won''t trouble you anymore."

    "I''ve killed his mother! I''ve taken over his domain and killed every god in existence except a few. You think he''ll let that grudge go?" Ezekiel smirked. He already knew that Caen was going to be crazy for revenge.

    Although he was surprised that Caen was still alive, Ryder''s presence here was evidence that it wasn''t for long.

    Hearing about the death of the Goddess of Reincarnation, Ryder''s fists tightened. But he maintained his expressions.

    "I will convince him. But if he still leaves, the next time I won''t interfere to help him," Ryder responded. For now, saving that little brat''s life was more important than anything else.

    Although he was asking nicely, he didn''t expect Ezekiel to hand over the antidote. More and more people were starting to gather around him, surrounding him from all sides.

    Ryder already expected a battle to ensue. However, to his surprise, a small vial appeared in Ezekiel''s hand.

    He tossed the vial and turned around. "I hope you''ll stick to your promise."

    After stating his peace of mind, he entered the Mansion once again. The Vigers also moved aside, clearing Ryder''s path. They dispersed as well.

    Ryder stood with the vial filled with a dark gray liquid in his hand. He didn''t expect things to resolve this swiftly.

    Initially, he doubted that it was fake medicine, but he could feel a strange energying from the vial which was clearly countering the trace of poison that he brought with him.

    This medicine wasn''t fake. It was the real antidote.

    He opened the portal to return and left the realm of gods, trying to make it thest time he was here. He departed.

    A short moment after Ezekiel left, another portal opened in the Realm of Gods. This time, Gabriel stepped out of the portal, just missing Ryder.

    ****

    Inside the mansion, the Vige Head followed after Ezekiel.

    "My Lord, why did you give him the cure? Do you really expect him to keep his promise? If Caen heals, it''ll just give them more fighting Strength!"

    Ezekielughed in response. "That is, if they can heal him."

    "What do you mean?" The Vige Head asked in confusion. "What you gave him was the real antidote. It''ll definitely heal him in two weeks. So what are you implying?"

    "You''re correct. That cure will heal him in two weeks. But do you think they''ll have two weeks?" Ezekiel asked.

    He further stated. "How many days has it been since you failed to find a single trace of Janus? Finding him is our priority now. And with this medicine, we''ll be taken straight to him.''

    "You mean... You can track that medicine?" The Vige Head asked, only now realizing what Ezekiel meant.

    "I''ve left a soul trace on the vial. Even an Ancient God can''t detect that trace, let alone him. That man will lead us to Caen and Janus." Ezekiel had a clear n and with this, he had thest piece in ce as well.

    He closed his eyes, sending the location of the vial. A smile spread across his lips. "So it''s that small world."

    "Start preparing. We''ll soon be going on a conquest."

    The Vige Head had a wide grin on his lips. He hadn''t thought that Ezekiel was going to think so far. With this, everything was in ce! They had the location of theirst few targets as well.

    "I don''t know how someone like that man stayed under our radar, but this time, we''ll have to deal with him as well," Ezekielmented, thinking of Ryder.

    The Sword studded with the Gems of Life appeared in his hand. "This little thing might have an opportunity to show its might."

    "Oh the irony. He came here to save that boy, only for him to die at that boy''s Sword. Fate is indeed very fickle." Shaking his head, Ezekiel entered the Royal Hall.

    The Vige Head turned around and left with excitement in his eyes. Soon, they were going to finish thest remnants of god as well. They were going to finish their mission!

 Chapter 769: Behind it all

    Chapter 769: Behind it all

    Back on earth, a portal opened inside a majestic Mansion. A man stepped out of the portal, carrying a small vial in his hand.

    As soon as Ryder entered the room, he noticed Caen who was having a hard time even breathing. Even with the help of time, Janus couldn''t protect Caen anymore.

    From the looks of it, it was clear that Caen could die at any moment.

    Ryder didn''t have time to exin anything. He opened the vial, moving Janus aside.

    He opened Caen''s lips and poured the liquid inside Caen''s mouth, before using his Divine Energy to help Caen absorb the effects of the liquid.

    Even with the curepletely being absorbed, Caen''s condition didn''t improve. He was still suffocating, his skin almost breaking apart. His entire body had turned darker, as if he was turning demonic, his divinity slowly being devoured.

    At this moment, he barely had any divinity, and that too was barely holding on.

    "Is it not working?"

    At this moment, Janus didn''t ask how Ryder managed to get the cure or if it was actually even a cure in the first ce.

    Ryder also had a frown. He was certain this was a cure, but strangely enough, this hadn''t healed Caen. He ced his hand on Caen''s forehead and tried to probe the condition of the young man.

    After some time, he finally sighed.

    "It is working, albeit slowly. Since his body has beenpletely infiltrated by the Poison, it can''t be cured in an instant, but I can see it''s working. At this rate, it should take him a few weeks to healpletely," he exined.

    Hearing the exnation, Janus sighed in relief. With Ryder''s confirmation, he could finally put his worries down. His nephew was going to be saved.

    Still, he also stepped forward and checked for himself, just to be sure. He also confirmed that it was working. Moreover, by now, Caen''s breathing had also improved, albeit still notpletely. His heartbeat was still all over the ce.

    "How did you get the cure so soon?" With his other concern over, he finally paid attention to Ryder. "Did you fight them?"

    Ryder shook his head. "I didn''t fight. Even if I had fought, there was no way to prevent them from destroying the cure if there was any. The risk was too big. On top of that, you already know about my oath."

    Ryder walked over to a chair and took a seat. "You were there as well after all."

    Janus lowered his head. He never wanted Ryder to be forced to take an oath like that, but there was no other choice at that moment. Still, that oath wasn''tpletely binding.

    Someone like Ryder could easily free himself from an oath like that. But if he wasn''t doing that, it just meant he didn''t want to.

    "How did you convince them to hand over the cure? I doubt you were able to scare Ezekiel with just words," Janus inquired. Even now, his thoughts were in confusion.

    "I made him a promise. That I''ll leave the control of the Realm of Gods to him, and that neither you, nor Caen will target him again," Ryder told the negotiations he had, all to solve this matter with peace.

    "You did what?" Janus eximed in disbelief. "Did you forget what they did? Do you expect me to let them live freely?"

    "As I said, I made a deal that I made," Ryder couldn''t respond to Janus in any other way.

    He also knew that Janus was emotional. In fact, he was also unhappy about what Ezekiel did. But he also knew that further fights weren''t beneficial for anyone.

    If he was to side with Janus, then Gabriel had to die, who was rted to Chaos. And if he was to stay out of it, then Caen was going to die. And at worst, even Earth could be pulled into a war, life herepletely destroyed.

    He wasn''t afraid of fighting, but he wanted to save as many people as he could. As far as Caen''s mother was concerned, he was certain that they could find a way to bring her back to life.

    She was the Goddess of Reincarnation. Even if her soul waspletely destroyed, there were still ways for her to be brought back to life. That''s how Chaos had also brought her back to life. All they had to do was find the Sword in which Chaos was sealed.

    "At this point, you should know your priorities well. Find the sword... Everything else can be corrected after that. But if you attacked them with just the two of you, you''ll lose," Ryder further stated.

    "But if you joined us-"

    Janus tried speaking, only for Ryder to cut his words.

    "Even if I joined you, can you say for sure that we''ll be able to kill him? When someone wants to escape, it''s much harder to stop them. I''m strong, but if you want to escape from a battle with me, even I''ll find it hard to stop you. Are you certain Ezekiel won''t have any such methods?"

    As Ryder spoke, he tried to be as rational as he could. What worried him wasn''t a battle with Ezekiel, but the aftermath. Even if he won the war, if he failed to kill Ezekiel, then things were going to get messy on earth. And there was an even bigger concern that he hadn''t told Janus.

    From what he heard, Ezekiel used to be a mortal who was at the mercy of the gods. For him to be an Immortal that even someone like Chaos couldn''t kill, it wasn''t a simple matter. It was certain that someone or something was behind this.

    Any impulsive action was foolish, at least until the secrets were uncovered. He had a guess as to what was behind Ezekiel''s immortality, but he couldn''t investigate further as it was dangerous even for him.

    That''s why he wanted the Sword to be found so that Chaos could be freed. Until then, he wanted to maintain the status quo.

 Chapter 770: Humane

    Chapter 770: Humane

    Janus listened to Ryder''s exnation, his expression a mix of frustration and concern.

    Although he didn''t agreepletely, he didn''t argue with Ryder either. At the moment, the most important thing for him was the safety of his nephew. As for revenge, it could wait longer.

    Looking at his nephew''s condition, he dropped the idea for the time being. But that didn''t mean he had forgiven Ezekiel. He couldn''t be in peace until he killed Ezekiel!

    Seeing Janus'' uncertain expressions, Ryder sighed. He stood up and walked over to Janus, cing his hand on his shoulders.

    "We''ve been friends for so long. I know what you''re thinking. And as I said, I''m not going to stop you if you want to fight him to death. However, think about it clearly."

    After speaking, Ryder left the room, giving some privacy to Janus and a moment for him to think. He was certain that Janus was going to make a smarter decision.

    Janus sat on the bed next to him, holding his young nephew''s hands. His mind was filled with so many thoughts. For the first time in his life, he felt at a loss. Deep in his heart, he felt anger. He also felt guilt for his failure.

    Most of the Gods were wiped out. And the Goddess of Reincarnation who could send them to the Cycle of Reincarnation was also gone. This truly looked like the end of everything. Everything was in shambles, with no clear path.

    "I am sorry... I''m sorry for everything..." he softly whispered.

    Out in the hallway, Ryder sighed, hearing Janus'' words. He walked down the stairs. He could understand what Janus was feeling right now. It was a feeling that could break even the best of them.

    "Is everything alright? You took so long toe down."

    As Janus reached downstairs, his wife approached him. She was unaware that Janus was upstairs or about the fact that Caen was hurt. Ryder didn''t tell her much, not wanting them to worry over nothing.

    "If nothing."

    ****

    Three days passed. Caen''s condition had improved, but only slightly. His breathing was stable and his skin was slowly regaining its luster, but there was still a long way to go. Caen still hadn''t regained consciousness, even after all this time.

    On the fourth night, Caen finally opened his eyes. His body was frail and weak, as if he was a mere mortal who barely had any strength.

    The Divinity inside him was almostpletely exhausted. What was left had barely kept him alive all this time.

    Caen''s eyes darted around the room, unable to fullyprehend his surroundings. He wasn''t sure where he was.

    He could remember that he was on the verge of dying in a cave, so this room waspletely unfamiliar surroundings. Soon, his eyesnded on Janus who was standing near the window, looking outside.

    His mind was still hazy, and he wasn''t sure if this was real or if he had already died and it was a dream. His chest felt heavy, but the pain wasn''t as bad as he remembered.

    He tried to speak, but his voice came out as a mere whisper, barely audible.

    Although his voice was barely audible, Janus heard him. Stunned, he turned around. His eyes lit up in happiness as he saw Caen regaining his consciousness.

    "Caen! Thank goodness you''re awake," Janus eximed, rushing to his side.

    Caen managed to crack a faint smile, relief washing over his tired face. "So I''m still alive."

    He looked at his hands, which were still pale. He wasn''t sure how he was alive when he had given up hope, but he was certain that it was thanks to Janus.

    Caen tried to sit straight, pushing his body up, only to groan in pain as if all his bones were broken. Janus rushed forward, helping Caen.

    "Don''t push yourself. Your body will have the option and it''ll take over a week to get rid of the toxins," Janus reminded Caen, but Caen didn''t care about that.

    He didn''t care about the pain. Even as his entire body was in pain, he reached out his hand, hugging Janus.

    "I''m sorry... I''m sorry..." He only repeated the same word, as if he was a child. Tears kept trickling down his cheeks.

    He had lost everything and now Janus was the only family he had left. He had also realized that he had always used Janus wrongly.

    If he hadn''t been stubborn and had gone through all the training that Janus was trying to give him, maybe the past could''ve been changed. He knew his fault, but more than anything, he felt regret.

    At this moment, he wasn''t a stubborn prince, but he was just the nephew of Janus.

    Janus didn''t speak, simply hugging back his nephew andforting him.

    In that embrace, they found sce and forgiveness. They could share all their pain without a single word.

    After a while, the door opened and a figure stepped inside.

    "Oh? Looks like you''re up."

    Caen released Janus, finding that voice familiar. As he looked towards the door, he found Ryder standing there. His expressions turned darker. If he had his strength, he would''ve already called out a weapon. His eyes were full of hostility.

    "Don''t worry. He''s the person who saved you," Janus informed Caen, patting his shoulders lightly tofort him. "He''s also your Uncle.''

    Caen was taken aback. The man who beat him upst time was his uncle? Was that why he talked as if he knew Janus? But how could it be? How did he not know about another uncle? His father had another brother?

    "Little brat,st time you created so much trouble for me. You think I would''ve let you go if we weren''t rted?" Ryderughed. In an instant, he appeared next to Caen, roughing the youngling''s hair.

    "Though you look more pleasant to the eyes now. You look more... humane."

    He took the boy''s wrist into his hands and sent his divine energy to check the conditions of Caen''s body.

 Chapter 771 771: Self Strength

    Chapter 771  771: Self Strength

    ?

    "Everything seems normal. Although he''s still very weak, it''s only a matter of time before he gets better. Since you''re up, stop staying in the room ande downstairs to eat something. It''s almost dinner time."

    "A god doesn''t need food," Caen replied, still finding it hard to trust Ryder, especially since he couldn''t even see the face of the man before him. Even now, his face was surrounded by a vague haze, as if he was hiding his face from him.

    A person that couldn''t even show his face, it made Caen feel strange. It was only because Janus didn''t show hostility towards this man that he had his guard lowered, but that didn''t mean he trusted Ryder.

    "That''s only true for the Gods who aren''t hurt," Ryder lightly flicked the forehead of the young man. "Do you still see yourself as what you were before you were hurt? Your body is still affected by the poison and your divinity is trying to counter it."

    "While your divinity takes care of your body, don''t put more burden on it. You should start caring more about your body, or even the best cure in the world might lose its effect."

    Caen lowered his head. He tried to see the condition of his body, but it was just as Ryder had said. His strength was almost non-existent to the point that he couldn''t even see through the condition of his body.

    He didn''t argue with Ryder. Even if it was just to keep Janus happy, he listened. He moved to the edge of the bed.

    He didn''t ask for someone''s help to help him stand. Although Janus stepped forward to help, Ryder gestured for him to stop.

    Caen''s feet made contact with the ground as he rose to his feet. However, his body felt incredibly feeble, causing him to nearly lose his bnce as he stood, relying on the nearby bed for support to stabilise himself.

    Ryder watched Caen try to bnce himself. Although Caen had some arrogance, at the core, he had a confidence in himself and a desire to improve himself, at least in this moment.

    The events that he went through had certainly taught him a lesson, making him learn that he had to rely on himself. At times, he was going to be all alone, facing his enemies. He understood that all too well.

    After some time, he removed his hands from the bed and stopped taking support as he dragged his frail body towards the exit.

    Ryder smiled as he watched the young man putting an effort. At this rate, he was certain that Caen was soon going to get better. Moreover, the young man had regained control of his emotions, which wasn''t an easy thing.

    Ryder opened the door and stepped outside. Caen followed behind, albeit slowly. Janus walked next to Caen, ready to provide support whenever Caen needed.

    The three of them reached the stairs, which was much harder for Caen, pared to just walking.

    Caen still didn''t ask for help. He took a step forward.

    "That''s enough for now," Ryder spoke as he snapped his fingers. In an instant, all of them appeared downstairs, next to the Dining Table.

    At the dining table, Ryder''s family was already seated. His wives, his son and his daughter had already taken a seat and were waiting for them.

    However, as soon as Ryder''s son Nyx saw the new guests, he stood up. He had already met Janus multiple times and knew who he was. But the one who surprised him was the young man next to Janus.

    He had seen that young man before, at least on the TV. It was the person who had taken over a small part of the City and killed multiple people. His father had gone to deal with him personally. And now this person appeared with his father and Janus?

    "Father, he is..."

    "I know what you''re thinking. But don''t worry. He won''t do the same thing asst time. As for his identity..." Ryder introduced Caen.

    Janus had already talked about Caen in front of Nyx in the past, especially when he suggested Nyx topete for the throne because he didn''t think Caen was the right person for that responsibility.

    It was only now that Nyx found out that the person who had attacked Earthst time was Caen!

    Nyx didn''t have much hostility over that incident, because quite a lot of time had already passed.

    Moreover, Nyx hadn''t seen the same sight of the lifeless bodies of Caen''s victims that Ryder had seen, so he didn''t know the true extent of the viciousness that took ce at that time.

    Moreover, after finding out that Caen was his cousin, his hostility further went down. Seeing Caen''s condition, he could see that the boy was hurt. He appeared no different than a weak mortal at the moment.

    Through the conversation, Caen didn''t speak. He just looked at Nyx that Janus introduced as his cousin.

    Although his Divinity was weaker, but even then, he could see that Nyx wasn''t an ordinary person. At the moment, Caen couldn''t see the true extent of his strength.

    For some reason, Nyx reminded him of Gabriel... The Current Gabriel who was strong and dangerous.

    He also understood one more thing. The people here appeared to be more familiar with Janus. It showed him that this wasn''t the first time Janus was here.

    It made him think of all the times that Janus had left the realm of gods, no one knowing his destination. And now, he had a rough idea where his uncle used to go. This also made him believe Janus'' words. Ryder was his uncle.

    Before much of an exnation could be given, everyone heard a growling. It came from Caen''s stomach, which made him slightly embarrassed.

    In his mind, he cursed his frail body. In the past, he could live for an eternity without eating as the only purpose of eating was to give them a feeling of satisfaction, but he was different now. His body truly needed food.

 Chapter 772 772: The last message

    Chapter 772  772: Thest message

    "Enough of talking about that. It''s time for dinner " Ryder stopped the conversation and took his seat while gesturing for Caen and Janus to do the same.

    Janus also took his seat, but Caen didn''t do the same. Instead, he did something that no one had expected him to do. For the first time in his life, he lowered his head.

    He had already apologised to Janus, but he hadn''t done the same for Ryder for all the trouble he created for them. Now that he was certain that Ryder was truly on his side, he felt guilty for one more thing.

    "I am sorry for what I did in the past."

    Even Janus couldn''t believe what he was seeing. Caen was truly a new person. After this near death experience, he had truly improved. If Caen was like this in the past, Janus was certain he never would''ve had any regrets.

    Ryder remained silent, yet there was a hint of admiration in his expression. Despite his previous negative perception of Caen, he found himself slowly changing his opinion. Acknowledging one''s faults and offering an apology required great strength of character.

    And thus, Caen had be something akin to a part of the family, with even Nyx epting him. None of them believed that Caen was truly a bad person. He had only lost his way thanks to outside influence, but now that he was back on track, they all epted him.

    Amidst what appeared to be an ordinary moment, significant shifts were silently altering the course of people''s destiny.

    Nyx and Caen, an unlikely pair destined to never cross paths, unexpectedly found themselves intertwined, creating ripples within the threads of fate, a ripple which no one in this moment could understand.

    However, while Caen was eating with Ryder''s family on earth, preparations for war were moving forward at full speed in the Realm of Gods.

    Even the Rebel Gods didn''t understand what was happening at the moment. However, the Realm of Gods hadpletely changed. They saw many figures d in dark attire appear out of nowhere. They all supported Ezekiel, but their originals were unclear.

    They weren''t the Vigers that they had seen. They weren''t gods either, but their strength wasn''tcking inparison to a god.

    Even the Rebel Gods couldn''t see through the strength of those people. It was as if there was a mysterious shroud around those people. When the Rebel Gods tried to see through, they could only see a great void.

    This void radiated an energy that resonated with Ezekiel, as if they were connected in ways beyondprehension.

    The figures surrounded the main mansion, as if to protect Ezekiel. They had formed an imprable barrier that shielded him from any harm.

    It was evident that these mysterious individuals were here to ensure Ezekiel''s safety and sess. But where were they from? It was the biggest mystery that the Rebel Gods couldn''t understand.

    They couldn''t ask Ezekiel about it. They wanted to ask Gabriel, but they hadn''t seen Gabriel in a long time. Gabriel hadn''t left the mansion after entering it.

    ****

    Deep inside the mansion, there existed a secret ce with the mysterious pond. The hall didn''t have any ce to properly rest. However, this was the only ce where Gabriel could be truly at peace with himself.

    Since his return, he found himself drawn to this hall. Resting on the ground beside the tranquil pond, he gazed at the ethereal stars that adorned the ceiling.

    The sound of soft water ripple from the pond soothed his troubled mind, providing him with a rare sense of tranquillity in the midst of chaos.

    It was in this refuge that Gabriel found sce, allowing his thoughts to drift into the endless silence.

    This was the only ce where he could peacefully sleep, not having any nightmares. It was as if he was in the embrace of his mother, whom he hadn''t seen ever since he was little.

    The memories of her warm smile and gentle touch enveloped him, offeringfort in times of uncertainty.

    In this haven, Gabriel could momentarily forget the harsh realities of the world, finding respite in the simple joys and innocence of the past before he awakened the Element of Necromancy and was pushed into the war of his previous life.

    ****

    Gabriel was sleeping peacefully while preparations for war were going on at full speed. However, the leader of the war was also idle at the moment, sitting on the roof of the mansion, ncing at the night sky above.

    "Don''t worry mother, father. Even if I have to sell my soul to the devil, I will finish it. You won''t have to wait for long! Soon, I''ll be apanying you..." Ezekiel spoke, his voice barely audible.

    His fists remained tightly clenched to the point that his hands were bleeding. But he didn''t seem to notice, or hepletely ignored it.

    ****

    Two more days passed, and finally the preparation for War wasplete. A multitude of shadowy figures, donning dark hoods, amassed in the Realm of Gods, greatly outnumbering the Rebel Gods. The sheer presence of these people was enough to overwhelm most of the gods.

    The preparations for thest great war wereplete, a war that was destined to see bloodshed like never before.

    Ezekiel appeared outside the secret hall where Gabriel was staying. However, he didn''t call out to Gabriel to apany him. He didn''t tell Gabriel about the war either. This time, he didn''t want to drag Gabriel to it.

    This was his burden to bear and no one else''s. He had thought about informing Gabriel since it involved Caen who Gabriel hated the most, but Caen was already half dead. Even with cure, he was still at his weakest.

    After thinking about it, Ezekiel didn''t tell Gabriel that Caen was alive. In this war, he was going to handle everything himself.

    He didn''t speak a single word and just ced a single letter outside the door, before turning around and leaving. His life energy was almost exhausted.

    This was thest war he could ever take part in and even if he won, he wasn''t going to return alive. So he left hisst message for Gabriel in the form of a letter.

 Chapter 773 773: Elzera

    Chapter 773  773: Elzera

    Inside the hall, Gabriel could hear some footsteps outside. He nced towards the door, frowning. Usually, no one came here since no one was allowed to disturb him. If there was one person who coulde here, it was only Ezekiel.

    Gabriel sat up, waiting for Ezekiel to enter. However, to his surprise, he heard the sound of footsteps growing fainter, indicating Ezekiel was moving further away. Gabriel couldn''t help but wonder why Ezekiel hade all the way here only to leave without meeting him.

    He stood up and walked towards the door. Opening the door, he stepped out. As he stepped out into the hallway, he noticed that no one was there. Ezekiel had already left.

    Bewildered, he contemted seeking out Ezekiel for direct answers. However, just as he took a step, his attention was captivated by an envelope lying on the ground.

    Curiosity got the better of him, Gabriel bent down and picked up the envelope, examining it closely.

    It was a in white, seemingly ordinary envelope.

    "Did hee here to leave this letter? But why did he leave it at the door?"

    Many questions remained in Gabriel''s head. At the end, he could only think of one possibility. This letter wasn''t something urgent and Ezekiel didn''t want to disturb him so he left it out the door instead ofing in to greet him.

    Still, the content of this envelope intrigued him. Walking inside the hall, he tried to open the envelope, only to be blocked by some restriction. It was a restriction created by Ezekiel himself.

    Not much power was put behind the restriction. In fact, it was just enough power tost for a few more days. After that, the restriction was going to break on its own.

    Gabriel didn''t want to wait that long. Moreover, the restriction made him even more intrigued about the contents of this letter.

    He used his own Divinity and the power of Abyss to try to break the restriction, but the arcane energies within the letter reacted violently to his attempts.

    The surrounding elemental energy began to shake, creating a tempestuous storm. Unfortunately, with his current strength, this violent energy wasn''t enough to throw Gabriel off.

    It would''ve been different if Ezekiel was here to constantly reinforce the restriction of the letter, but in his absence, it became much easier to break the restrictions. With each passing second, the restriction became weaker, until it finally disappearedpletely.

    With the restrictions gone, Gabriel could easily open it. He tore the envelope open and pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper.

    He sat next to the pond as he unfolded the paper. The letter was written in the Ancient Language that barely anyone could understand. It was thenguage of Ezekiel''s world.

    Since everyone from that world was killed by the gods, Ezekiel was thest person to know thisnguage. For some reason, during the training, Ezekiel taught thisnguage to Gabriel.

    Although Gabriel wasn''t fluent in thisnguage, he was able toprehend the words to some extent.

    As Gabriel studied the letter, he noticed a familiar symbol at the top. It was the symbol that he had often seen Ezekiel use, even in thend of Abyss, especially when he was teaching him thisnguage.

    It was a single word, with a straightforward and uplicated meaning. This word served as a way to bid farewell.

    As Gabriel reflected on the symbol and its meaning, he couldn''t help but wonder if Ezekiel''s intention in using it was meant as a final farewell or if there was a deeper message hidden within the letter.

    As he immersed himself in the letter, a whirlwind of emotions swept across his face.

    Gabriel''s eyes flickered with curiosity as he unraveled the intricate web of emotions conveyed through every word in the letter.

    This wasn''t just a letter. Instead, it was the life of Ezekiel. In this, he mentioned everything that no one knew about him.

    Many people knew that Ezekiel used to be a mere mortal, left to suffer in a world stained with blood by the gods. From a helpless mortal, he had be the Nightmare that could scare anyone.

    Almost every God knew about his significant transformation, but no one knew how. No one in this world knew what happened to Ezekiel from the moment he was left to suffer in his world to the moment he appeared in the Realm of Gods for revenge.

    In this single letter, Ezekiel wrote everything, as if he wanted someone, even if it was just one person, to know the real him.

    He spoke about the exquisite beauty of his homnd, dering it as his most beloved ce in the world. He also expressed regret that now that world was nothing more than a blood stained barrennd, a witness of the gruesome history.

    He also talked about the fact that he had hidden his home world. He told Gabriel the coordinates of the world, so that Gabriel could find him.

    He didn''t mention why he was telling Gabriel about that world. Gabriel wasn''t certain either.

    Was it because he didn''t want thend to be forgotten in the great void? Did he want the Land to be returned to its past glory where innocent lives could flourish once again after the war was over? Gabriel wasn''t certain, but from the words, he could feel Ezekiel''s regret.

    Upto this point, he had already heard Ezekiel talk about in bits and pieces in the past, but what he mentioned after that was something he had never said before.

    "Elzera?" Gabriel muttered, reading the next paragraph, his expressions getting solemn. As he went further, his expressions kept getting darker and darker.

    ****

    In an unknownnd, Karyk finally stepped out of a portal with the Lord of Upper Realm. Even with a spatial portal, it took them such a long time to reach this ce.

    "Wee... Wee to our personal hell... Wee to Elzera," The Lord of Upper Realm stated.

 Chapter 774 774: The Last Hope

    Chapter 774  774: The Last Hope

    "Elzera?"

    Karyk looked at the surroundings. He couldn''t find anything extraordinary in this ce. It was just like a normal world. In fact, if it weren''t for Aliac''s words, he would''ve thought that he was somehow back in his world before the advent of magic began.

    There were some traces of elemental energy, but it was very weak. Compared to the Realm of Gods, the energy here was almost non-existent.

    The azure sky mirrored that of Earth, with a sun veiled behind a nket of clouds.

    "Why do you call this ce our hell?" Karyk asked. Even with his strength, he couldn''t feel anything out of the ordinary.

    He also didn''t feel any danger. As far as his senses could cover, there was no life form. The ground beneath his feet was covered in a plush bed of grass, extending as far as the eye could see, creating an illusion of an infinite and peaceful meadow.

    The tranquility was disorienting, given the ominous title that had been given to this ce. Karyk couldn''t shake off the feeling that something was amiss, yet he couldn''t pinpoint what it was.

    "You think that because you haven''t experienced this cepletely," Aliac said, gesturing for Karyk to follow him.

    The two of them walked through the ce for half an hour before Aliac finally stopped. As far as the eyes could see, there was no obstruction.

    "Try walking ahead," Aliac spoke as he remained still.

    Karyk could still sense nothing. He stepped forward, soon reaching right next to Aliac. With slight suspicion, he scanned the surroundings once again. Still he couldn''t feel anything out of the ordinary.

    As he moved further, he unexpectedly encountered an invisible barrier blocking his path. A frown formed on his face as he reached out to touch the barrier.

    The barrier was right before him. He could even touch it, but strangely enough, he still couldn''t sense it, which should''ve been impossible.

    "Confused why you couldn''t sense the barrier?''  Aliac asked Karyk, who looked back.

    "Even I couldn''t sense the barrier. That''s why this world is so strange. The barrier isn''t made using the Divine Energy. It also isn''t made using Elemental Energy.

    "It''s made with something really strange, which we arepletely unfamiliar with. Not only can we not feel this element, but..." He stepped mid sentence.

    He took a few steps back before speaking, "It''ll be more efficient for you to personally experience it. Attack the barrier and try to break it."

    Karyk raised an eyebrow, skeptical of the suggestion. Still, he wanted to know more about this ce as well. He also wanted to know why Aliac was more wary of this ce.

    He created a dark sphere with the Aura of Death, using his Divine Aura to further strengthen the attack. Although it wasn''t his strongest attack, but it was powerful enough.

    After finishing the creation of his sphere, he effortlessly swung his right arm, shooting the dark sphere with precision towards the barrier.

    The sphere collided with the barrier, causing a momentary flicker of energy. However, what happened next was something that Karyk hadn''t expected.

    His attack didn''t cause even the slightest of damage to the barrier. Instead, that strange energy of the barrier devoured his attack, bing even stronger.

    This was the first time he had seen the Divine Aura being devoured like that.

    He nced back at Aliac. Whatever this new element was, it felt dangerous. It was the perfect counter for the Divine Beings of their world. And it was just a barrier.

    "So the reason I can''t feel any Divine Energy in this ce is..." He muttered, but he already had the answer.

    The weak traces of the Divine Energy in this ce made him certain that this world wasn''t a barrennd. It also had the Divine Energy, but that energy waspletely devoured by this strange new element.

    ****

    Gabriel read the letter in his hand, in which Ezekiel talked about his experience.

    "It was the day I met him... He was the one who freed me from the Eternal Punishment of the Gods. He also healed me, and gave me a purpose and the strength I needed to fulfill this purpose."

    "We didn''t know each other''snguage, but I could feel that he was like none other. His presence was different from the present of the gods. It wasn''t overwhelming like the Divinity of Gods. Instead, it was something... something else entirely."

    " It was like something that existed yet didn''t exist at the same time. One moment, he felt that he was just a mortal who had lost his way. And the next moment, I felt that he was a Divine Being who could destroy the entire universe if something angered him."

    "I had lost everything. I didn''t have anything to offer him. I wasn''t strong. I wasn''t clever and I didn''t hold any influence either. I could be of no use to him, yet he reached out his hand towards me."

    "With him, I entered the World of Elzera. A world that could only be described in one word... magical."

    "They had an entire civilization. It was a civilization where even the weakest person was stronger than the gods who had destroyed my family and my world."

    "It was only in that world, I realized howughable I truly was. I... lost everything at the hands of someone who couldn''t even bepared to the weakest person there. I was pathetic... But I also had hope. It was a hope that I had lost, yet it was reignited."

    "It was a hope for revenge. If I could learn from them, even if I couldn''t get as strong as them, I could still have my revenge. And for that, I was willing to do everything! My life held no value for me. Even if I had to sell my soul to the devil, I was willing!"

    "Elzera... It was myst hope. It was a hope that I couldn''t afford to lose."

 Chapter 775 775: Gone Forever

    Chapter 775  775: Gone Forever

    The letter mentioned many things that were beyond Gabriel''sprehension. It talked about an entire civilization that was beyond his wildest imaginations.

    It was a civilization of beings that were true immortals. They couldn''t be killed, no matter what. Even the strongest attack in the world couldn''t leave the lightest scratch on their body.

    It was so unimaginable that Gabriel even wondered if Ezekiel was joking with him, just for him. This civilization was stronger than even the Ancient Gods that he had read about. However, there was one thing that was different about them.

    While the Gods could have an infinite lifespan until they were killed or they intentionally went to Eternal sleep, the beings of this unknown civilization had a lifespan of only two hundred years only.

    After one turned two hundred years old, they died. It was a fascinating thing. The beings that were invincible under the age of two hundred couldn''t live a single day more than their life spans.

    Another thing that Ezekiel mentioned was that the world of these people was filled with miracles. They were technologically advanced, but at the same time, they were strong on their own.

    Ezekiel talked about seeing Giant Towers in the new world. Those were towers that seemed to be reaching out to the Sky.

    He described how these towers emitted a mesmerizing glow at night, illuminating the entire surroundings, casting a magical atmosphere upon thend.

    Ezekiel went into great detail as he talked about this new civilization and the ce they lived at. It was as if he wanted Gabriel to know everything about them that he could.

    He called this new world, "Elzeria."

    What surprised Gabriel even more was the physical characteristics description of Elzerians. ording to Ezekiel, they lookedpletely identical to humans. If an Elzerian stood next to an ordinary human, it would''ve been impossible to differentiate between them if one didn''t know better.

    There were only a few differences, and that difference was hidden. It was their eyes.

    Elzerians possessed eyes that were a mesmerizing shade of violet, a color so distinct and vibrant that it seemed to hold a universe of mysteries within them. However, their eyes only revealed their violet shade when certain conditions were met.

    As for the conditions, even Ezekiel didn''t know.

    "When I was brought to Elzeria, I didn''t know how my life was going to change forever. But it was also because of them, that I had survived. They granted me the ability to have my revenge! They were the reason I was able to possess the strength I have."

    "They were also the reason I couldn''t be killed by the Gods. Many people wonder why I can''t be killed. Some even feel jealous. If only they knew the cost I had to pay for it..."

    Gabriel continued to diligently read the letter, carefully turning the pages to the next one once he had finished reading each page.

    Ezekiel mentioned that he wasn''t truly immortal like the Elzerians. Instead, when it came to him, it was nothing but a false illusion.

    "I can be undying for a short period of time, but everytime I do that, I lose a part of my soul that is forever destroyed. Because of this, I survived many attacks, making others think that I''m undying. But the reality is... I''m dying."

    Reading Ezekiel''s words, Gabriel was stunned. So this was the secret of Ezekiel''s immortality? He borrowed life from his future self? Gabriel could only imagine the pain Ezekiel went through every time he sacrificed a part of his soul.

    It was a pain worse than death, yet Ezekiel still kept going, thanks to his strong will. His desires for a better world, for a future where no one else would have to suffer like he did.

    For a world without gods... Even if he had to be a ve of the Elzerians... Even if he had to sacrifice his life... Even if he had to follow anymand, he was willing.

    For him, his life held no value other than a stepping stone to his goals.

    "Most of my soul is destroyed already. I''m all but an empty shell living on borrowed time, all so I could fulfill my vengeance. And this time, it will be thest. It doesn''t matter if I win or lose this war, but this will be myst war..."

    "With my death, start a new era... An era where no more Ezekiel''s will be created. An era where no more innocents will die."

    Gabriel''s fists tightened. He could feel the pain that Ezekiel must''ve gone through. He was always emotionless, never showing how much pain he was in.

    Even when he killed the Children of Gods, he was still pretending like he didn''t care. But in reality, he only did that because he wanted to end this cycle of hate and anger.

    It was just as he said. He didn''t want another Ezekiel to appear and start this arc of destruction. For that, he was willing to be the devil that was going to kill even the innocent!

    Ezekiel took all the sins on his shoulders so that the others didn''t have to! He carried the weight of his actions and the scars that could be evesting. Yet, he held his head high, never looking back and focusing on the goal.

    No matter how hurt he was, he didn''t show it. Even when he taught Gabriel, he still pretended to be fine. Even when Gabriel med him, he pretended to be fine. Even when he knew that these were thest few days of his life, he pretended to be fine.

    There were no more words on the letter. That was the end. Gabriel remained in a daze, looking at the end of the letter. He could feel that there was more that Ezekiel wanted to write, but he held back.

    Ezekiel didn''t have any family left. He was all alone in this world, yet he didn''t just want to disappear. For the entire world, he was the devil. But he didn''t care. However, he cared for Gabriel like family.

    He never had a son, but Gabriel was like a son to him. And he was leaving this son forever.

 Chapter 776 776: Traitor

    Chapter 776  776: Traitor

    For quite some time, Gabriel remained in a daze, his thoughts in a constant swirl of confusion.

    He stood up and left the room to catch up with Ezekiel to hear directly from him. If fighting was bringing Ezekiel closer to death, he had to stop him. He also wanted to know if there was any way for Ezekiel to have a longer life.

    If Elzerians gave him this ability, then it was a high possibility that they could help him even more. Throwing away his life at the moment was something that had no benefit.

    Gabriel stepped out of the room, the letter still in his hands. Unfortunately, the entire Pce was already empty. Not a single person was left behind.

    After leaving the Pce, Gabriel saw that no one was outside either. All of them were gone already. The trace of their auras was left behind. Although those traces were still very weak, it was enough to prove that it hadn''t been long since they left.

    He was prepared to follow after them. Even if he couldn''t stop the war, he could lead it to make sure that Ezekiel didn''t have to burn his soul ast time. He created a Spatial Portal, taking a step forward. However, before he could enter the portal, he stopped abruptly.

    A frown creased his forehead as he felt a presence behind him. It was a very faint presence, to the point that he barely even noticed it.

    The person behind him wasn''t someone he had met before, as the presence felt different. It didn''t have the Divinity of the Gods.

    With caution, he slowly turned around, his hand instinctively reaching for the hilt of his sword.

    As his gaze fell upon the figure, he grew stunned. It was a human, yet not a human. The person only looked like a human but in reality, it wasn''t a human. If it wasn''t for Ezekiel''s letter, he never would''ve recognized that person.

    The person before him had beautiful violet eyes that seemed to radiate an otherworldly glow. There was no doubt about it. It was someone from Elzeria...

    For quite some time, Gabriel remained silent, simply observing the person in front of him. He wasn''t even certain how to react. These people were Ezekiel''s saviors and possibly the only people who could save his life at the moment.

    The person before him was a girl, her figure hidden under a dark cloak that appeared to be made from a very unique material. Her hair cascaded down her shoulders in soft waves, a stark contrast to her piercing, violet eyes.

    "Who are you?" Gabriel asked, not revealing that he knew about Elzeria already.

    "Don''t worry. Even if I find out that you know, I won''t kill you," the woman spoke, her voice calm yet yful as if she was teasing Gabriel.

    Hearing her words, Gabriel was taken aback. How did she know what he was thinking?

    ''Did she read my thoughts?'' he thought, his expression getting solemn.

    "Who knows? Maybe I did, maybe I didn''t," the woman further stated. Although her words seemed vague, but it was clear that she was ying with him again as her response was enough to confirm that she could read the other person''s thoughts.

    Gabriel''s expression darkened. For someone to be able to read his thoughts was both shocking as well as scary.

    Although the woman could be described as a beauty by human standards, but she was frightening. Not only was she from Elzeria and a true immortal who couldn''t be killed, but she could also read another person''s mind.

    "Why are you here?" Gabriel asked, trying his hardest to keep his thoughts clear so as to not think of anything in her presence. He didn''t want to unintentionally leak more than he already did.

    "I am here to punish the Traitor. But who would''ve thought that I would find something so interesting here," the woman smiled, but it was clear that something really dark lurked within her.

    From what he learned about Elzerians, they rarely left their world. In fact, even when one of them found Ezekiel, it was the first time they had left their world. As for the reason they rarely left, no one knew. Even Ezekiel wasn''t certain and only had a few guesses.

    "Traitor?" Gabriel asked, having a bad feeling about this. Was there an Elzerian in this world who had betrayed Elzeria? Or did she mean someone else by the term Traitor? He couldn''t help but think of the worst.

    "You''re right. The Traitor I mentioned is the exact person you''re thinking about," she spoke, her voice still calm even as the atmosphere became heavy. "I''m here to kill the Traitor Ezekiel!"

    As soon as the woman mentioned Ezekiel, Gabriel''s killing intent surged. It was as if his surroundings were thrown into the depths of the Abyss. He was trying to save Ezekiel and she was here to kill him?

    He wasn''t even certain about her identity other than the fact that she was an Elzerian. As for why she called Ezekiel a traitor, he wasn''t certain either.

    In his letter, Ezekiel mentioned all his interactions with Elzeria and there was nothing that could lead him to be ssified as a Traitor.

    "I don''t care who you are or why you want to kill him. But I can''t let you do it. Since you''ve already read my thoughts, you must know how important he is to me!"

    "Oh?" The woman tilted her head sideways while blinking innocently. "But isn''t he already dying even if I don''t do anything? Isn''t he already a dead man walking? What would it change if I killed him?"

    "If it''s because you think he can be saved, then it''sughable. There is no way for him to be saved. His soul is gone beyond recovery. Even the strongest of us can''t heal him. But even if we could heal him, we wouldn''t do it for a traitor!" she further spoke.

    Although she was still talking nicely, but something around her had changed. It was a different kind of atmosphere.

 Chapter 777 777: Invader

    Chapter 777  777: Invader

    The surroundings grew noticeably colder as she continued, her words slicing through the air like a well-honed de.

    "It is not our duty to save him, but rather to ensure that I bring him back with me. Who would have thought that I would be stumbling upon something so intriguing in the process?"

    Her demeanor brimmed with curiosity as she fixed her gaze on Gabriel, her thoughts inscrutable. It was as if she had stumbled upon a fascinating artifact that had piqued her interest.

    Gabriel couldn''t shake a growing unease as he observed the ever-shifting emotions on her face. He remained uncertain about her true motives and why she intended harm towards Ezekiel. He wanted to ask, but before he could, she spoke.

    "I would relish a more extended conversation with you, but I must attend to another matter. Nevertheless, once I return..." she stated, a smile gracing her lips.

    With those words, she produced a stunning silverpass, a peculiar device devoid of directional markings, bearing only a single arrow pointing in a specific direction.

    Her eyes fixed upon that arrow, and in the blink of an eye, she vanished. It wasn''t teleportation but rather a departure so swift it mirrored teleportation, leaving even the watchful Gabriel momentarily bewildered.

    Unlike her, Gabriel was already aware of Ezekiel''s destination. He couldn''t be certain if he could rival her flight speed, but he possessed alternative means of travel. With his destination clear, he created a spatial portal before him.

    His purpose was clear¡ªhe needed to reach Ezekiel before she did.

    ....

    As dawn broke, the sun gently illuminated the world, ushering in a new day on Earth. While some woke up from sleep to embark on their daily routines, others made their way home after a night of work or celebration.

    None of them knew what was toe. It was only when the sky suddenly turned dark in the middle of the day that they realized that something was wrong. It was as if the night had suddenly descended in the afternoon.

    Confusion and concern spread among people on the streets, their footsteps quickening as they sought shelter and tried to make sense of the inexplicable phenomenon.

    As the darkness loomed, whispers of fear and spection filled the air, mingling with the fading sounds of everyday life. Even in ces that were warm at this time of the year, freezing cold could be felt.

    Panic started to pulse through the cities, causing a ripple effect of chaos and uncertainty.

    Spatial portals appeared simultaneously across different regions of the world, giving way to mysterious figures cloaked in dark attire.

    It was as if in the blink of an eye, the entire earth was taken hostage by an unknown force.

    Many people saw the dark robed beings standing high in the sky above various countries, as if they had covered the entire sky of earth.

    Many onlookers were left in awe, for the sight they beheld was unlike anything they had ever seen before. Some couldn''t help but question if it was a mere illusion, fueling suspicions. There were even whispers of a potential terrorist incident involving the use of hallucinogens, further deepening the confusion.

    Fortunately, the mysterious beings didn''t ughter the citizens. They simply remained still in the sky, their arms folding around their chest as they looked down on humans of earth.

    Another portal opened, high in the sky. Ezekiel stepped out of the Portal, his eyes possessing a coldness like never before. This was hisst task and possibly hisst day.

    "Janus..." He spoke softly, but his voice still reached every corner of the world.

    Even the humans who were thousands of miles away from him heard his words clearly.

    "I know you''re here," Ezekiel stated. "Are you going to step forward so we can end this today? Or are you going to run away, forcing me to kill everyone in this world?"

    The worst thing for him was if Ezekiel escaped. Another troubling thing was Ryder who could be an obstruction. Both these problems had one solution. It was to use the hostages so that no external force could interfere.

    "I havee to offer you a chance," Ezekiel continued, his gaze unwavering. "A chance for you to have your revenge. Are you going to take this opportunity, or are you going to run with your tail between your legs?"

    Everyone heard Ezekiel''s words and both looked at each other''s faces in confusion. Who was this Janus? Did their life really depend on the actions of this person? Wasn''t it an illusion?

    "I will give you thirty minutes to decide." Ezekiel went silent and started waiting. He could try searching for Janus himself, but it was counterproductive, since he wasn''t certain if Janus could have some trap waiting for him.

    Instead, he wanted to draw Janus to him.

    ****

    With the sudden unexpected change, everyone was shocked but the Governments reacted fast. From the words of these people, it was clear that they could attack innocent humans at any time.

    All the Government Leaders swung into action. They were taken to safe shelters where a temporarymand center was established.

    At the same time, the military was givenmand to start preparing for a potential battle against these...beings.

    The military got into action fast. The Missiles were aimed at the beings who were stationary in the sky. Multiple missiles were even aimed at Ezekiel that could be fired at any moment.

    Army Vehicles also rolled out, only to be stationed in the areas from where they could have a direct view of the dark robed beings.

    Soldiers were on high alert, their fingers poised over the trigger, ready to defend their people and homnd in case these outsiders started attacking.

    The tension in the air was palpable, as each member of the military held their breath, waiting for the moment when these unknown beings would make their move.

    In response to the potential risks, other organizations were also actively involved in facilitating the evacuation of citizens from affected areas.

 Chapter 778 778: Initiative

    Earth hade to a standstill with the appearance of multiple strange beings. It wasn''t the first time a god had arrived on earth to harm them either.

    It hadn''t been long since Caen had done the same. However, this time, the Governments weren''t as unprepared. Ever since the incident with Caen when they came to learn about these god-like beings, they had been preparing for emergency situations like this.

    Although the citizens were kept in the dark about this potential threat, almost everyone in the Military and Higher Defence Staff was informed about this in the past. That was also a reason why the Army wasn''t as shocked at the sight of beings that could fly.

    They had spent a long time preparing for a situation like this. Nheless, they were taken aback by how quickly this day had arrived.

    "What do you think? Will we be able to return alive today?" One of the Soldiers asked as he kept his gun aimed at the dark dark robed person in the sky.

    "Who knows. I''m not even sure if our bullets can kill him in the first ce. We''ve never faced things like these ourselves. Even thest time..." The other soldier sighed as he kept an eye on the Evacuation Team.

    He was one of the soldiers who were sent to stop Caenst time. However, he couldn''t even pass through Caen''s barrier.

    He didn''t know what happened after that, but by the time he came back to his senses, he had realized that he was back at the base.

    At that time, he had thought that he had a weird dream, but soon he came to know that other soldiers also had missing memories. If it wasn''t for the Government to be open with them, they still wouldn''t have known just what happened.

    Although they didn''t see it with their own eyes as the scene was cleaned, but what they heard was horrifying. Thousands of people were killed that day. And it was just one person who did it at that time, but now there were so many more. He could only imagine how much damage these people could cause if they were given an opportunity.

    "I have a clear view. Should I shoot and test if our bullets can get through?" The first soldier asked, his aim straight at the head of the dark robed being in the sky.

    "Hold still. Ourmands were clear. If they don''t attack, we won''t either. They are here to look for someone. If that person appears and they leave, then we won''t have to fight. But if that person doesn''t appear, I myself will empty all my bullets in that bastard''s body!"

    The Soldiers were slightly concerned, but they held their ground without running away. They were ready to fight, only waiting for the instructions toe.

    Most of the weapons were aimed at Ezekiel who appeared to be the leader of this group.

    ****

    While the dark robed men were waiting in the sky for Janus to appear, one of them heard an annoying sound nearby.

    Frowning, he opened his eyes and looked in the distance, noticing a helicopter circling around him from the distance.

    At the entrance of the Helicopter, a camera was focused on him with a reporter next to the camera, givingmentary.

    "These idiots! Did they not get the instructions?!" The nearby Army General was also stunned to see the helicopter. Even the army wasn''t using helicopters since they didn''t want to take risks.

    Inside the helicopters, they had very limited mobility, especially against the people who could freely fly and destroy any obstruction in their path.

    "What an annoying sound." The dark robed man stated, his voice filled with annoyance.

    "Get me through to them!" The Army Generalmanded his men, but as soon as he finished his sentence, he froze in ce.

    He saw the dark robed man flick his finger lightly. With a light flick, the space itself was split apart right in the middle of the helicopter. In the blink of an eye, the helicopter was swallowed by the ck hole that was created.

    The reporter couldn''t even react as she was devoured by the spatial crack with the helicopter.

    "Much better." The ck robed man closed his eyes once again.

    "This..." The Army General was frozen in ce. He couldn''t believe what he saw. When he was told about these people, he was informed that they were like gods, but even then he hadn''t thought that they were going to be this frightening.

    "These... These are what we''re up against?" Everyone who saw the scene was taken aback. The high morale of the army started flickering.

    Everyone began questioning their abilities, wondering how they could possibly defend against such formidable adversaries. If they waited for them to attack, did they still have a chance to win?

    The one opportunity they had was to attack when these beings weren''t looking so they could''ve had a chance to attack. Because none of the soldiers believed they could survive the attack.

    The ck robed man''s power seemed limitless, and the sheer destruction caused by the spatial crack left them feeling helpless. And that was just one of those beings. There were many more all around the world.

    Even the General, known for his unwavering determination, couldn''t help but doubt their chances of victory. He thought about changing a n.

    He turned around and tried to contact the Defence Headquarters to tell them that they needed to change the n! They couldn''t wait anymore! They had to take the initiative and attack these beings. Moreover, they all had to do it at the same time to increase the chances of sess.

    They had to kill all these intruders at the same time, because if one was killed and others found out about it, they could take measures and after that point, this battle was as good as gone.

    With a sense of urgency, he ryed the information to the Defence Headquarters, emphasizing the critical need for immediate action. He knew that every second counted, and the fate of their mission rested on executing this coordinated attack wlessly.

 Chapter 779 779: Last plan

    Chapter 779  779: Last n

    As the Army General desperately conveyed the urgency of their situation to the Defence Headquarters, a sense of unease washed over the military base. It was a pivotal moment, and they had to act swiftly if they stood any chance against these god-like beings.

    Unfortunately, they didn''t receive the orders. They were told to still hold back and wait. Even the Military Headquarters didn''t know what they were waiting for. However it was themand of the President who was the leader.

    "Dammit!" The General sighed in frustration, expressing his exasperation with a forceful stomp of his foot.

    Despite the urgency of the situation, the bureaucratic constraints continued to impede their work, leaving him feeling as though their concerns were not being taken seriously enough.

    In the sky, the dark-robed beings continued to hover, awaiting the appearance of Janus, the one they sought. Ezekiel maintained hisposure, but with each passing second, his pressure was intensifying.

    Even the soldiers felt that pressure which made them feel that the weight on their shoulders was increasing with every second.

    As the minutes ticked away, the moment of decision was drawing closer. The Army General kept looking at his watch. Five minutes had already passed and only five remained yet there was no sign of the person that Ezekiel was looking for.

    ****

    "We still can''t get through to him?"

    At the moment, Leaders of Various countries were in a meeting through video conferencing and all of them looked troubled.

    "We can''t." The President of the United States stated, his fist clenched on the table. "I''ve sent my men for him. I don''t know who these people are looking for, but that person should know about it."

    "You don''t think he would''ve tried to stop them if he could, just likest time? Could it be that these people are the friends of the intruder that ''he'' defeatedst time? If that''s the case, won''t that mean they''re here for him?" Another country''s leader suggested.

    They were basically putting their lives in the hands of someone that they didn''t know much about. He felt somewhat ufortable.

    The President of the United States opened his lips to speak, only to stop before he could utter a single word. A message was delivered to him through the transmitter in his ear.

    "What do you mean no one is here?" He couldn''t control his temper. His voice grew louder.

    After receiving the exnation, his expressions turned darker. The person they were waiting for was the same person who had taken action thest time they were invaded by a godlike being. They were waiting for Ryder.

    Unfortunately, they were unable to contact him. And even when they sent someone to personally deliver the message, it was discovered that no one was at Ryder''s Mansion at all.

    "What happened?" Other Countries'' leaders also appeared restless, realizing that there must be some bad news.

    The United States President exined what had happened, his voice cold as he tried to control his anger.

    "It''s just as I thought. These people are here to look for him because of what he didst time. Realizing that he can''t face them, that bastard ran away! We never should''ve trusted him!"

    "That''s correct! How could we trust one person for our safety when he could easily escape whenever he wanted?"

    "He brought this problem to earth and now he ran away? What are we going to do now?!"

    Most of the Leaders were taken aback by the revtion, their expressions a mix of disbelief and frustration.

    It was clear that they had ced great faith in this person, relying on him to protect them from unknown threats. Now, with his sudden disappearance, they were left feeling vulnerable and betrayed.

    The room fell into an uneasy silence, only for silence to be broken by the US President.

    He looked towards one of his men in the back, remembering that he had received a suggestion from one of his Generals.

    "I have a n!" He eximed. "But I would need all your help to make sure we don''t fail."

    The Dark Robed Beings were in the skies of many countries. And to kill them at once, the attack needed to be in perfect sync and the leadership on the same page.

    Having exhausted all other options, this became the sole viable solution. Rather than waiting for ten minutes to pass, risking an attack from these god-like beings, they decided to proactively take the initiative and eliminate them by shooting them down.

    As they didn''t have much time and no better option, the other Leaders agreed to the n. At that moment, the n was put in motion.

    As soon as there were only ten seconds left to thepletion of ten minutes, they were going to attack.

    ****

    The General whose n had been rejected received new instructions, telling him that they were going through with the n. A unifiedmand was established involving many countries.

    The Soldiers in other countries were already prepared and with the confirmation, things became much easier for them.

    With the clock ticking, the soldiers synchronized their watches and made their final preparations. As they counted down the seconds, a sense of anticipation and readiness filled the air amongst the multinational forces.

    As soon as the eighth minute was over, all the preparations wereplete. Multiple weapons were aimed at the beings in the sky, with perfect calction.

    Air Force nes also took to air, their engines roaring as they ascended the sky. The pilots were experienced and well-trained, ready to defend their homnd at any cost. On the ground, tanks stood ready, their armored shells serving as a formidable presence.

    As the ninth minute was over, the Soldiers felt their heartbeats bing faster. Only fifty seconds were left. One Soldier had started a countdown.

    Even in Missile Launch Command, multiple missiles wereunched to strike a few seconds after the ground assault was to begin. They didn''t want to leave even a single shred of these beings behind.

    "Nine..."

    "Eight..."

    "Seven..."

    "Six..."

    "Five..."

    "Four..."

    "Three..."

    "Two..."

    "One..."

    "Fire!"

 Chapter 780 780: Onslaught

    Chapter780 780: Onught

    In a synchronized disy of power, the multinational forcesunched their assault at the precise moment, a hail of bullets and missiles hurtling towards the dark-robed beings hovering in the sky. Many held their collective breath as the projectiles closed in on their targets.

    Explosions echoed through the atmosphere as the ordnance struck the target, unleashing a storm of destruction. The dark-robed beings, who had seemed invulnerable, were engulfed in mes and smoke. The sky lit up with a dazzling disy of firepower as the assault continued relentlessly.

    While the firing continued, roaring engines of fighting jets responded as multiple fighter nes could be seening from the distance, using even heavier fire at the Target to leave no room for escape.

    Amidst the chaos, everyone in themand centers around the world waited with held breaths.The situation was tense and not a single person spoke a single word.

    ****

    The sound of constant gunfire responded repeatedly.

    Even if the dark-robed beings were gods, it was clear that they couldn''t get out of this unharmed without substantial damage,

    The climax of the operation arrived as the remaining missiles, bullets, and energy sts converged on the dark-robed beings. The sky kept erupting in a blinding disy of light and fire. For a few moments, it seemed as if the very fabric of reality was torn asunder.

    After a long time, the General finally gestured for his men to stop. The deafening roar of weapons stopped.

    When the smoke and debris started clearing, the world held its breath once more, waiting to see if their desperate, synchronized assault had been enough to destroy these beings. Since nobody fell from the cloud of mes, many thought that their bodies had turned to ashes thanks to this much firepower.

    But as the smoke dissipated, a faint glow emerged from the wreckage, revealing the unmistakable presence of the beings they had sought to eliminate.

    Their ethereal forms flickered with an otherworldly energy, seemingly untouched by the onught. A collective gasp echoed through the ranks of the soldiers, who now faced an even greater threat than before.

    "How... is this possible?" The General eximed in disbelief. Let alone being killed, these people didn''t have a single scratch on their bodies.

    They were still standing high in the sky with arms folded around their chest as if they didn''t even notice the childish attacks of the humans. Even their clothes were perfectly fine with a single tear.

    "What''s the update?" A cracking noise came from the transmitter.

    The General subconsciously picked it up. "We are screwed..."

    Ezekiel opened his eyes, a deste sigh escaping his lips. "He didn''t show up... Did I expect too much from him?"

    He had thought that Janus was going to show up. If not him, then at least the person who took the cure from him was going to show up. But none of them appeared.

    "Did they find out..." Ezekiel muttered, ncing at the ring on his finger. His expressions remained iprehensible.

    "If they''re not showing up, then I''ll make them." He raised his right hand, clenching his fist. The sky became even darker. Every single person on earth felt the surroundings be even colder, making them shiver. At the same time, they also felt a strange fear deep within.

    The dark robed beings opened their eyes. Their gaze fell on the soldiers. The time was finally up. Ten minutes were over.

    As the dark robed beings slowly descended, a sense of unease washed over the soldiers. Some frightened soldiers couldn''t control their nerves and started shooting withoutmand.

    Unfortunately, their bullets couldn''t harm them. Let alone harm them, they couldn''t even touch these beings. The bullets kept stopping a few feet away from the dark robed men.

    It was as if there was some invisible barrier that was protecting them. But even worse was that the bullets didn''t fall to the ground after being blocked.

    All the soldiers watched with horrified expressions as their bullets were sent flying back toward them. The situation quickly turned chaotic as the soldiers scrambled to avoid their own bullets.

    Unfortunately, the bullets were now even faster and stronger. Even when a bullet hit a bullet proof vest, it wasn''t stopped. Leaving a hole in the bullet proof vest, the bullet passed through the soldiers bodies. Some even had a hole left in their head.

    This was just the start of the ughter.

    As Earth faced an imminent attack, the identity of the person Ezekiel was searching for remained unknown. Furthermore, the whereabouts of this person were also shrouded in mystery, leaving everyone perplexed.

    At that moment, they wanted to know his location just so they could tell it to the intruders and save their lives. Unfortunately, no one knew where he was.

    While everyone wanted to know Janus'' whereabouts so they could hand him over to Ezekiel, Janus wasn''t even on earth. He had left somewhere with Ryder and even Ryder''s family didn''t know where they went.

    Although it was conveyed that the mansion was empty, in reality, there were still a few people inside the mansion.

    Caen was still inside the mansion, looking out the window at the dark sky. He understood that these people were here for him as well. Unfortunately, his strength still hadn''t recovered. He was still as weak as ever.

    Janus and Ryder weren''t here either, which made him curse the timing. He didn''t know what to do as people of earth were being attacked. And he could feel that one of the enemies was nearby.

    Behind him, Ryder''s wife and Nyx were inside the mansion as well. Nyx wanted to go out to help since he still had his strength.

    Just like Caen was the son of Chaos, Nyx was the son of Ryder who had inherited his father''s Strength. Just like Chaos, his father was also very strong, if not the strongest person he knew.

    Unfortunately, Nyx was being held back by his mother who felt worried and didn''t want him to go out until Ryder returned. She didn''t know why, but she felt that if she let her son leave, he might

    never return.

 Chapter 781 781

    Chapter 781781

    An assault had begun on earth with destruction spreading everywhere. Not a single country managed to avoid the chaos.

    Explosions could be seen all around, as clouds of mes rose from ces. Many buildings came crashing down. Every resistance proved futile. Every ce from where the dark robed beings passed through, nothing but death was left behind as if they were grip reapers who arrived here to deliver the divine punishment.

    One such Dark Robed Man was walking very close to the area where Janus and Ryder were staying a few days ago. Unfortunately, he couldn''t sense anything extraordinary.

    Within minutes, many bustling citiesy in ruins, with eerie silence recing the sounds of life. People cowered in fear, hiding in whatever shelter they could find, praying for the nightmare to end. The world seemed to hold its breath, waiting for a glimmer of hope to break through the darkness.

    There was only one person who hadn''t acted yet. It was Ezekiel, who was still standing high in the sky looking at the destruction taking ce on earth.

    His eyes held a strange emotion that was hard to grasp. It was as if he wanted to stop this carnage, while at the same time holding strong.

    Looking at the scenes of destruction, he was reminded of the scene where his own world was destroyed, all because some gods wanted to y a game. Where he used to be in the past, earth''s citizens stood now. And where those cruel gods used to stand, he was standing.

    In this circle of life, he was brought to an end where he had be what he hated the most. But still, he couldn''t grow soft. He didn''t have much time left.

    He had to make a choice - to either continue down this path of destruction and be the monster he despised or find a way to break this vicious cycle. Deep down, he knew that the only way to honor his former world and its citizens was to find a way to end the reign of these cruel gods once and for all.

    Even if he had to be a monster that he wanted to eradicate, he couldn''t fall back. He could only keep pushing and wait for Janus to show up.

    He hated the sight of destruction and innocent people running to save their lives, but he didn''t close his eyes. He watched the sight clearly, as if he wanted to remember all his sins even in hisst moment. He wasn''t going to run from his actions. It was his burden to carry.

    While Ezekiel was focusing on the scene before him, his expressions changed abruptly. He suddenly looked above, feeling another presence. It was a very familiar presence.

    High in the sky, he noticed a woman. Though she possessed an unmistakable human form, her enchanting eyes shimmered with a remarkable hue of violet.

    Her flowing golden hair cascaded down her shoulders, glistening in the sunlight as if she were a celestial being. Ezekiel''s expressions  darkened as he recognized her. Time seemed to stand still as their eyes locked.

    "You seem to be having fun," the Woman spoke, with a slight trace of smirk.

    "What are you doing here?" Ezekiel asked with a frown. Subconsciously, he moved his right hand behind his back.

    Before he could get his answer, he sensed another presence. A Spatial Portal opened and Gabriel stepped out.

    As soon as Gabriel stepped out, he caught a glimpse of the woman which stunned him. She had clearly flown to this ce, yet she was faster than him using a Spatial Portal?

    "Just what is she?" he subconsciously spoke. This woman had defied allmon sense. Because of that, he waste.

    "Did you miss me so much?" The womanughed, ncing at Gabriel. "Don''t tell me you fell for me at first sight?"

    Gabriel remained silent, manifesting a Sword forged from the depths of his purest energy. It was as if he was ready for a battle. He knew why this woman was here. She herself said that she was here to kill Ezekiel.

    "He has nothing to do with me. Let him go..."

    To Gabriel''s surprise, Ezekiel appeared in front of him, hiding him from the woman''s view.

    The Woman simply smiled but didn''t respond. It was impossible to read her thoughts.

    "What are you doing? She''s here to kill you!" Gabriel eximed, not understanding why Ezekiel appeared like he didn''t even have the courage to face her.

    Ezekiel stood defiantly against the gods, defying them single-handedly. He confronted the most formidable enemies even during his weakest moments. Despite facing dire circumstances, he disyed unwavering courage every time.

    However, this time, there was a noticeable change in him. Who exactly was this mysterious woman? Why was Ezekiel pleading for her to leave him be? Gabriel had many questions in his mind. Unfortunately, Ezekiel didn''t answer him.

    "I might consider your request if you let me finish what I''m here for..." The woman spoke. As if Ezekiel already knew what she was here for, he didn''tment.

    He looked back at earth. He still hadn''t finished his goal. He couldn''t let things fall apart. Although he knew why this person was here, but he couldn''t give up at this moment.

    "Seems like you''re still unwilling..." The woman sighed. "Why don''t you ept my goodwill? Are you really going to make me work for it?"

    "Did your brother agree to this?" Ezekiel asked.

    "He did." The womanughed as she tossed a small crystal towards Ezekiel.

    Ezekiel caught the Crystal, his expressions getting solemn. But still, his eyes contained resistance. He wasn''t going to end this here.

    Gabriel didn''t understand what they were talking about. So many things were unfamiliar to him and without knowing the past of these two, he couldn''t grasp things clearly.

    Although Ezekiel discussed various topics in his letter, he did not mention anything of this nature.

    Although Ezekiel didn''t say anything, the woman appeared to have received her answer already.

    "If that''s the case, then so be it." The smile on her face disappeared as she prepared for what was toe. However, before she could do anything, her expressions changed to a look of curiosity.

    She looked in the distance, feeling a powerful presence that even surprised her.

 Chapter 782 782: Protection

    Chapter 782  782: Protection

    Lestia looked in the distance, feeling a unique presence that intrigued her as well.

    "Is this the person you''ve been looking for? The one who managed to defeat you even when you carried that thing with you?" she asked Ezekiel, an intrigued smile spreading across her lips.

    Ezekiel also looked in the same direction, carrying a frown. That wasn''t it. Although he also sensed that presence just now, it definitely wasn''t Chaos.

    "It''s his little brother... He''s finally showing himself." Ezekiel was certain that this was the aura of Janus. That man was finally here.

    He looked back at Lestia. "Ten minutes... That''s all I want. After ten minutes, I''ll willingly give myself up. These ten minutes of my life are all I ask of you..."

    He was certain that he couldn''t face Lestia. He could only win if he used all his hidden cards, but in that case, he couldn''t face Janus. A battle with Lestia was enough to exhaust thest embers of his life, which he had been saving for this moment.

    Lestia cast a curious gaze in Ezekiel''s direction. Despite being here on a mission, she couldn''t help but contemte the possibility of bending the rules ever so slightly. The choice rested solely in her hands.

    "If a dying man requests me like that, no matter how evil I am, I can''t help but agree to your request," the woman spoke, sighing.

    However, just as she finished her sentence, she burst intoughter. "Hahaha, Did you really think I''ll say that? Do you really think I don''t know you''ll die even if you win? Ten minutes of your life? Why should I even give you one minute? Every second of your life belongs to us now! You''ve failed!"

    A shackle appeared in the woman''s hands. "Since I''m here, I can only finish my task."

    Lestia hurled the Shackles with the speed of a striking snake towards Ezekiel, aiming to immobilize him and render him helpless.

    "You!" Ezekiel clenched his teeth. His aura red as well. Although he didn''t want to waste his life essence here, but he had no choice. With this stubborn woman, he couldn''t leave unless he dealt with her. Unfortunately, this was thest thing he wanted.

    He called out the Sword of Life that he had taken from Caen.

    Seeing the sword, the woman''s eyes revealed a surprise as she recognized the gems embedded on the sword. But instead of being concerned, she appeared even more excited.

    "To think that this was here." Her words contained a hidden meaning.

    Ezekiel prepared to block the attack while telling Gabriel to leave. Gabriel wasn''t weaker than him. Although Gabriel couldn''t be immortal by exhausting his life essence, his strength wasn''t much weaker. Ezekiel had taught Gabriel everything he could.

    Despite that, he didn''t tell Gabriel to find and kill Janus. It wasn''t that he didn''t trust his strength, but he didn''t want Gabriel to put his life on the line for his grudge.

    However, a look of astonishment crossed his face as he witnessed Gabriel materialize right before his eyes. What shocked him even more was that Gabriel didn''t flinch, but instead positioned himself directly in front of him, shielding him from the attack.

    "What are you doing?" Ezekiel asked Gabriel, stunned. He didn''t expect the young man to fight for him. Did he really not know what kind of existence he was against? Did he not read the letter?

    "Finish what you''re here for," Gabriel told Ezekiel, a smile appearing on his lips. His entire body was in pain as the attack was more powerful than he expected, but he didn''t show it.

    He was here to save Ezekiel''s life, but it was certain that there was no way. Even if Ezekiel didn''t fight today, the woman wasn''t going to let him go. Ezekiel was truly standing at the edge of a cliff.

    Since he couldn''t save Ezekiel''s life, there was only one way he could repay Ezekiel for everything he did for him. Not only was Ezekiel like a master to him, but he was also family.

    Gabriel didn''t want Ezekiel to die, unable to fulfill the goal that kept him going even after he lost everything. Giving him this opportunity of revenge was thest thing he could do for the fatherly figure.

    Ezekiel was stunned. On one end was his lifelong desire. On the other end was Gabriel who was putting his life on the line for him. In the end, he could only choose one.

    Ezekiel stood there, torn between his desire for revenge and the loyalty and sacrifice of the young man who had be like a family member to him. The Shackles were closing in, and he had to make a decision. The seconds felt like an eternity as he contemted his choice.

    The young man had no blood rtion with him, yet he didn''t hesitate to block an iing attack for him.

    With resolve in his eyes, Ezekiel came to a realization. Even if he were to finish his revenge, but if he were to sacrifice Gabriel in the process, then it wasn''t worth it. Even in death, he couldn''t forgive himself.

    Ezekiel, at least in this moment, didn''t think about revenge. Even if he had to waste all his hidden cards and lose all hope for revenge, he was willing.

    The ring in his right hand started shining.

    "How can I run and leave you behind? Am I that cowardly?" Ezekiel sighed. It was he who brought this trouble here after all.

    Lestia, surprised by Gabriel''s decision, burst intoughter. She doesn''t attack again. She simply watched with great interest, as if something amusing was taking ce.

    "It''s no use for you to stay and fight. I have a method to escape when the timees, so don''t worry about me." Gabriel tried to convince Ezekiel. All he had to do was dy this woman after all.

    Ezekiel hesitated for a moment, contemting Gabriel''s words. It was true that they both could fight the woman and still hardly win. Escaping was a better option, at least for Gabriel. But could he really dy that woman without getting hurt?

    Before he could speak further, Gabriel took the lead and attacked the woman, roaring "Don''t waste this opportunity! Are you going to get cold feet aftering this far? Is this battle worth a thousand years of vengeance?"

    Ezekiel hade to a decision, but with Gabriel''s words, his mind wavered again. It was really easier to deal with Janus than it was to deal with this woman. If Gabriel could dy her for a few minutes, he could kill Janus and return.

    In the end, Ezekiel thought of something. He ced a Talisman on Gabriel''s back. In case Gabriel''s life was in danger, the Talisman could switch their ces, basically trading their lives! On the other hand, if his life was in danger, the Talisman wasn''t going to activate.

    Only after making sure that Gabriel was safe, he decided to leave.

    Gabriel attacked the woman while Ezekiel flew away in the direction of Janus who was watching from a distance.

    "I really can''t hurt this little friend. Do we really need to fight? I mean, isn''t your friend already dead? Who are you fighting for?" The Woman disappeared as Gabriel''s attack passed through her body.

    Surprisingly, she appeared hundreds of meters away, right in front of Ezekiel who was flying towards Janus. Her hand transformed into a w, being stabbed in Ezekiel''s chest.

 Chapter 783 783: He was already

    Chapter783 783: He was already

    The woman materialized directly in front of Ezekiel. Her hand morphed into a menacing w, plunging into Ezekiel''s chest.

    A torrent of blood spurted forth as Ezekiel gasped in agony, his struggle to break free intensifying. Suddenly, an unexpected surge of energy coursed through Ezekiel''s body.

    It was as though a mysterious force attempted to heal him, just as it had done in the past. However, simultaneously, a counteracting energy seemed to thwart the healing.

    Each effort to restore him appeared to exacerbate his condition. Even the immortality he had obtained at the cost of his own life seemed futile.

    "I warned you, I cannot allow any further dy," the woman whispered into Ezekiel''s ear before retracting her wed hand.

    Everything unfolded so swiftly that by the time Gabriel could respond, the ordeal had concluded. Gabriel could only bear witness to Ezekiel''s pale body and the blood-stained wound in his chest.

    The woman cast a fleeting nce back at Gabriel, who stood immobilized, "You look upset. But you should know that it was inevitable. He was dead before I even arrived here.

    "I''ll kill you!" Gabriel came to his senses, his heavy bloodlust covering all his surroundings. Even the woman was slightly intrigued how a young man could have such heavy bloodlust.

    She watched Gabriel attack her like a maniac, his every move fueled by an inexplicable rage. The Woman didn''t react in such a manner. It was unclear why she didn''t attack Gabriel in return or why she even paid such attention to him, but she was easily able to ignore his attacks.

    It was as if this world was her yground. No matter how fierce an attacknded on her, it was ineffective. She was truly immortal, as mysterious as described by Ezekiel.

    Even gods couldn''t kill her. It was an ability that went beyond heaven. That''s the only reason why the lifespan of this species was limited to only two hundred years.

    While gods weren''t truly immortal, they had a lifespan of thousands of years at least. On the other hand, an Elzerian could only live two hundred years, no matter how strong they were. It was a way for nature to bnce itself.

    "No matter how many times you attack me, it won''t change anything. It''s not as if Ezekiel didn''t tell you about us," the woman stated.

    Although she wasn''t informed about it, she knew that Gabriel knew about them. She knew everything as she managed to read his thoughts the moment she met him. However, that wasn''t the reason she paid so much attention to him.

    Even an attack that could easily destroy a world was ineffective against the woman.

    Far in the distance, Janus watched the scene with a frown. He was out of this world when Earth was attacked, but he managed to sense that his nephew was in danger and arrived here.

    As soon as he arrived, he saw that the earth was under attack and Ezekiel was talking to a stranger and unfamiliar woman.

    Even Janus couldn''t see through that woman, but he was able to feel that she wasn''t ordinary. He didn''t know if she was an ally of Ezekiel or an enemy. Janus was prepared for any case.

    Not long after, he saw Gabriel attack the Woman and Ezekiel flying toward him. That made it clear that the woman wasn''t his ally.

    What happened next was even more shocking. Ezekiel was known to be an immortal who couldn''t be killed, but with a single attack from the woman, he was hurt beyond measure. His wounds weren''t healing either.

    Even more extraordinary was that the Woman remained unaffected by constant attacks of Gabriel that were almost on the same level as his attacks.

    Back on earth, the attacks had stopped. All the dark robed beings stopped their attack as soon as Ezekiel was attacked by the woman. All of them were looking at the sky, watching Ezekiel being caught in mysterious shackles that became stronger the more Ezekiel bled.

    It was as if the entire earth hade to a halt, only to witness the conflict between two godly beings. The sky had darkened, crackling with the energy of their fierce aura.

    ****

    Aliac and Karyk remained inside the barrier in Elzeria. Karyk tried to break the barrier, only for his energy to be devoured. Not only did the barrier not break, but it became stronger.

    "Is there no way to pass through the barrier and enter the other side?" Karyk asked.

    Aliac had kept this ce a secret. He had been guarding the upper realm all this time, afraid of this ce. There was no way he didn''t know more about this ce. And to know more about this ce, it was clear that he had passed through the barrier.

    Instead of wasting much time trying to find a way through, he asked the Lord of Upper Realm directly.

    "There is one way to pass through the barrier. And that is to control this new element itself," Aliac answered.

    "Are you able to control it?" Karyk asked, slightly surprised. It was an element that he hadn''t even seen before. It went against his understanding. It countered his Divine Energy. To understand and control this was easier said than done.

    Only people of this world that had lived in this ce and evolved in this ce should''ve been able to understand this. So how could Aliac achieve that?

    "Me? You give me too much credit. There''s no way I can control it," Aliac sighed in disappointment. "But I know someone who can."

    He brought a unique small bell from his pocket that was made from crystal clear ss. He brought an iron needle as well. He hit the bell lightly with the iron needle. A barely audible chime was created that an ordinary mortal couldn''t even hear at all.

    However, strangely enough, following the chime, Karyk heard some movement outside the barrier. Someone wasing in their direction.

    "Your friends?" Karyk asked, surprised that Aliac had people here that worked with him. Was this truly a hostile ce?

    Unfortunately, he received his answer when he saw the shocked face of Aliac.

    Aliac grabbed his wrist, running back to hide behind a nearby tree, telling Karyk to not make any noise.

 Chapter 784 784: Mirror Pair

    Chapter784 784: Mirror Pair

    In the midst of the chaotic field, shrouded by a domain, the arrival of unexpected guests and Aliac''s cautious nature added anotheryer of intrigue to the unfolding events.

    Although Karyk couldn''t see the people who had arrived, he could feel their strange aura that had enveloped the surroundings before they even arrived here.

    The air around the strangers crackled with an aura of primal energy, and their presence radiated an otherworldlymand over this strange new ce.

    It was a group of four, being led by a woman. Strangely enough, the woman lookedpletely identical to the woman who had attacked Gabriel back on earth.

    The woman stopped right outside the barrier, her piercing eyes briefly locked onto the barrier as if she noticed something.

    The barrier was slightly stronger, but she could also feel that there were some impurities in the energy of the barrier, as if another source of energy was momentarily mixed in.

    The barrier was capable of purifying any unorthodox element, but since she could still sense it, it made her convinced that this energy wasn''t absorbed long ago. Moreover, the energy was gathered at a specific part of the barrier as if someone had attacked it from the other side.

    The corners of her lips crept up. She hadn''t expected there to be any intruders at this moment.

    Within moments, she breached the barrier with an ease that was almost insulting to Aliac. It was as if the barrier recognized her and allowed her passage.

    "Are the guests going to reveal themselves?" she asked, her eyes yfully looking at the tree behind which Karyk and Aliac were standing.

    It was as if she already knew where the two guests were standing.

    Unlike her, the three Guards that arrived with her hadn''t normal anything strange. The essence was so minute that even she barely noticed it.

    Although they couldn''t see the intruder, the Elzerians who apanied the woman knew that she was never wrong. They immediately spread out, focusing on the tree.

    At the same time, the three Elzerians attacked the tree from a distance.

    The tree couldn''t resist the attack and exploded. Fortunately, Aliac cast a barrier to protect himself and Karyk from the explosion on time.

    "Just my luck that I had to meet a Royal." Aliac scratched the back of his head, as she stepped out of the clouds of fire.

    Karyk remained in his ce, his eyes paying attention to the woman who appeared to be leading the group.

    "You''re that insect who keeps blocking our path?" The woman looked at Aliac, a smile appearing on her lips.

    She hadn''t expected to meet the guest. In fact she hadn''t even seen him before, but she was able to read his thoughts which allowed her to know that he was the one that had troubled them so much.

    "To think that the turtle who never leaves his home would appear here. Is it my luck, or your bad luck?" Sheughed. If her words didn''t contain such a heavy killing intent, herughter could''ve mesmerized anyone.

    Soon, she also noticed Karyk. She looked at the young man in the distance, but when she looked at him, her smile disappeared. She wasn''t able to see through the thoughts of Karyk, as if there was a barrier in his mind that was preventing her.

    Despite her skills, she failed to see through a man. It had never happened before, which slightly surprised her. Just who was that man?

    "Is that how you wee your guest?" Aliac retorted. Although he maintained a calm face, his inner thoughts were chaotic.

    Justing across the woman itself was a problem, but the longer they stayed here, the more dangerous it became if the others arrived.

    He sent a mental transmission to Karyk, telling him to run without looking back on the count of three.

    "What about you?" Karyk asked Aliac. He still didn''t know the extent of the woman''s abilities or if he could actually hold her back. Moreover, was there really a reason to run?

    "I''m not worried about her. I''m worried about what she represents. If we have to fight here, we''ll be at a disadvantage, especially since she can''t be killed. And if something happens to us, then it''ll be the end." Aliac remained firm in his stance, unaware that the woman could read his thoughts.

    Very few Elzerians had these abilities to the point that Aliac had nevere across one of them.

    The Woman couldn''t help butugh in response. "I came here to wee a few guests that were about to be brought back. But who would''ve thought I''d get to see you two as well. That makes things more fun."

    Just as Aliac''s count was about to end and he prepared to attack to distract her, the woman simply disappeared. Or rather, she moved so fast that it was almost impossible to see her movements for Aliac.

    "Oh? You can keep up with me?" The woman''s surprised voice came from behind Aliac.

    To her surprise, Karyk hadn''t taken his eyes off her and he was able to see her movement clearly. The woman didn''t know why, but under Karyk''s gaze, she felt strange. She couldn''t understand this feeling. It was something ufortable.

    Also turned around, cursing his luck. Just as he was about to attack and leave, the woman moved. And now she was blocking the exit while the three Elzerians blocked the other side.

    "Looks like there''s no other way but to fight..." Karyk spoke, raising his right hand.

    Although the elements in this world were extremely weak, but he didn''t need the surrounding elements anymore. After his awakening, he had be the element itself. He had be death.

    Deathly aura condensed around his hand, taking the shape of a heavy sword.

    "Oh, Mister Guest wants to fight?" The woman yfully asked. However her eyes didn''t match her yful smile. Her eyes appeared cold.

    She didn''t like things that she couldn''t understand, and Karyk was one of those things. And what she didn''t like, she preferred to destroy.

    On one side, Karyk prepared for a battle. On the other, Gabriel was fighting another woman that lookedpletely identical.

    It was as if an identical battle pair was created on both sides. Gabriel looked like Karyk while the other woman looked like the ones before Karyk. However, there was something different at the core of each fighting pair.

 Chapter 785 785: but not you

    Chapter785 785: but not you

    "What is your name?" the woman asked Karyk.

    This was the first time she had asked someone''s name as she was intrigued about Karyk''s identity. She still wasn''t able to see through his mind, making her feel as if something was really wrong with him.

    With Aliac, at least she knew who he was, but Karyk gave her a strange feeling.

    Still, she didn''t take any special measures to protect herself against any attack as if she wasn''t even concerned about being attacked and killed.

    As an Elzerian, she hade to understand her immortality to perfection. Even as a child, she had been trained as a warrior to the point that she had lost all her sense of pain.

    For an immortal warrior, only pain was their biggest enemy as it could break their mind. Every Warrior in Elzeria was training in a simr manner from their childhood. Although it could be considered brutal, it also made them remove their biggest weakness.

    Karyk didn''t answer. He only observed the woman. Although she was different from him, he could still feel her aura. It had a unique essence to it that resonated with him. He just didn''t understand why he found this aura to be familiar.

    He had thousands of years of memories. Was there someone in those memories who used a simr aura? Or was there something else? He couldn''t quite put his finger on it.

    "Can you let us leave?" Karyk asked the woman, although he could already guess her answer. There was no way the woman could let him leave.

    What was worse was that he still didn''t know the equation between the people of this world and Aliac. The man had tried to be so mysterious that he didn''t exin everything clearly.

    The woman appeared to be surprised at Karyk''s question. After some time, she burst intoughter, shaking her head. "Leave? Do you really not understand where you are?"

    "Did you really not tell your friend anything?" she asked Aliac.

    Her thoughts were clear. If she couldn''t read Karyk''s mind to find his identity, she was going to make Aliac give her the answer. The only reason she talked about Karyk with Aliac was to trigger his subconscious memories about his interaction with Karyk so she could find his identity.

    "Hmm?"

    Her trick worked as well, but something strange happened. Whenever anything rted to Karyk came up in Aliac''s thoughts, she couldn''t see it.

    It was as if her abilities wentpletely nk whenever anything rted to Karyk came up. She could see through Aliac''s thoughts, just not anything rted to the man who intrigued her.

    "How?" She was even more stunned now. Even if Karyk had an ability to protect his mind, but Aliac didn''t. Still, everything rted to Karyk was nk in Aliac''s mind.

    It was as if something strange was interfering with her abilities, akin to fate ying some trick.

    She couldn''t help but wonder if Karyk could also protect Aliac''s mind. But if he had this ability, why wouldn''t he shield Aliac''s other thoughts? That didn''t make sense.

    The more she tried to understand Karyk, the more confused she became. All she knew was that Karyk was dangerous. Something was really wrong with him and she didn''t want to let that man go.

    "I can let anyone leave, but not you!" She spoke, her tone getting cold.

    "I see." Karyk sighed. Although he didn''t know the entire equation between this world and Aliac, he was certain that Aliac was trying to protect their world from these people. And so far, the woman appeared to be a threat.

    "I''ll have to make my way through you then." Karyk''s aura red, the Deadly Sword in his head shrouded in a powerful aura of death.

    For a moment, even the barrier that was stealing the energy of other elements failed to steal the aura that created Karyk''s sword. It was beyond its limit. The more the barrier stole, the more Karyk supplied it, thus maintaining the form of his sword.

    "Sigh. I wanted to avoid the battle and leave, but since it''se to this point, then we can only fight and then leave." Aliac also brought out his twin daggers as he rushed towards the other three Elzerians.

    Although these people couldn''t be killed, if they could temporarily be hurt, then it could grant them an opportunity to leave.

    Karyk''s sword de pulsated with dark energy. Across from him stood a woman, her ethereal presence radiating an eerie, undying aura. She was an immortal, a being untouched by the ravages of time.

    Karyk''s malevolent and chaotic aura shed with the woman''s serene still aura. With a thunderous sh, their battle began.

    The Sword of Death cleaved through the air, leaving trails of shadowy mes in its wake, while the immortal woman gracefully dodged his strike, her movement faster than anyone Karyk ever faced before. Her movements were as fluid as the eternal river of life itself.

    Their sh echoed throughout the hellish realm. Karyk''s sword carved chasms into the ground, while the undying woman''s strikes created ripples in the very fabric of the surroundings.

    Although she could just stay standing and watch him attack in desperation, the woman attacked back as if she didn''t want to hold back this time. She didn''t just want to see Karyk despair in realization that she was undying. Instead, she wanted to dominate him with her strength.

    As sparks and shadows filled the battlefield, the woman''s eyes held a knowing calm, contrasting with the rage that flickered in Karyk''s crimson gaze.

    Their battle seemed endless. The woman could not be killed, and Karyk''s true strength after his awakening was yet untested.

    The woman wielded a spear that was evenrger than her. It created a contract with her slim physique, yet she could wield the heavy spear as if it was nothing.

    Even more surprising was that the spear appeared to be guiding itself in the battle, changing its direction and weight ording to the attack that was used. It was as if the spear had intelligence.

    Each sh of their weapons sent shockwaves through the realms of existence, threatening to unravel the world itself.

 Chapter 786 786: Sync

    Chapter786 786: Sync

    Ezekiel was stabbed by the woman, his life and death unknown. Ezekiel''s eyes remained closed, his hands tied by the mysterious shackles as his body floated in the air, restrained by the woman''s powers.

    Even as the woman faced Gabriel, she still didn''t let Ezekiel fall. Her purpose wasn''t to just kill Ezekiel but also to bring his body back.

    She didn''t take the battle against Gabriel seriously. With the immortality that she had, no matter the opponent, she didn''t have to feel threatened.

    Janus didn''t interfere in the battle. He watched the scene from a distance, his eyes filled with intrigue about the identity of the woman. No matter how she was attacked, she remainedpletely unharmed. It was an immortality simr to what he had seen with Ezekiel. No, it was even stronger.

    He was certain that Ezekiel had something to do with the woman. It wasn''t a coincidence that the two had simr abilities. But if they were on the same side, why did she attack Ezekiel? There were many questions in his mind.

    "Huh?" Gabriel had been fighting the woman for quite some time, but it was just now that he started feeling something strange.

    His body had be lighter the more he fought. There was a strange synergy between his movements, to which he remained oblivious.

    He didn''t realize that the reason behind this was Karyk. Although the two had their connection cut, something was still linking them. At the moment, Karyk had also started fighting the woman, and strangely enough, both their movements werepletely identical.

    No matter how long Gabriel was taught by Ezekiel, the thousand years of memories couldn''t be overwritten. The fighting style of Gabriel still remained very simr to Karyk.

    When Karyk attacked with a horizontal sh with his Sword of Death, Gabriel attacked with his Sword of Darkness. His movements were precise. He didn''t realize as some traces of death also merged with his attack.

    Previously, his attacks were only able to wound the woman. The wounds had been healing right away. But now, something was different. Although her wounds were still healing, but unlike before, she was now starting to feel pain.

    She had trained all her life to be immune to pain. She couldn''t even recall how long it had been since she felt pain, but with every attack that even managed to graze her body, she felt a pain that made her feel like she was bitten by a thousand poisonous ants.

    "How can you make me feel pain?" The woman facing Gabriel asked at the same time as the woman facing Karyk asked in another dimension.

    The same question came from both women, yet neither Gabriel nor Karyk answered.

    Karyk wasn''t just satisfied with hurting the woman. Although he could see that the woman had good healing, but he didn''t believe in their immortality. With thousands of lifetimes that he had gone through, he hade to learn one simple concept.

    Life was a privilege, but death was the reality. Life couldn''t overwhelm death as death was supreme. The woman before him signified true life of eternity, while he signified death.

    Life couldn''t ovee death. Even the Ancient Gods had fallen in this world, killed by others. So how could someone like her be above the Ancient Gods? He was certain that it wasn''t the reality. He believed that there was a way to kill her.

    Although the woman saw his attacks as random attacks, trying to hurt her, but every attack of Karyk held a meaning. All his attacks were filled with precision, probing the woman''s abilities. Moreover, with each wound that he inflicted on the woman, he sent a trace of death inside her body.

    Even if a body was immune to poison, but if a person was poisoned thousands of times in an instant, then they couldn''t survive. He was destroying her body without destroying it.

    If her ability of healing was overwhelming, then he just had to destroy her without destroying her at once.

    As seconds passed, Karyk''s attacks became shaper and more lethal. His each attack left a deep wound. He had also understood the ability of the woman''s spear.

    It was true that her spear had a life of its own and she was close to perfect when it came to handling that spear, but there was still a big w to it. The biggest advantage of the woman was that her speed was incredible, but thanks to the spear, her movement had slowed down a little.

    At the same time, her strength was high butpared to him, it was a littlecking. With her strength, Karyk was clear that she couldn''t defeat him unless his strength ran out. He could clearly see her purpose.

    She also knew she couldn''t win in a short time, so she was trying to dy him with this battle. It was just as Aliac had described.

    Unfortunately for her, Karyk had no interest in falling for her ns. He had finished studying her.

    "On the count of three..." he sent a mental transmission to Aliac. Since the woman was focused on Karyk, she didn''t read Aliac''s thoughts at the moment and didn''t know that Karyk even sent him a message.

    Aliac received the message, his expressions flickering. He mumbled under his breath, "Is that even possible?"

    "All your effort is futile. I''m a true immortal! I''m undying! You are only wasting your time!" The woman eximed even as she was being pushed back by Karyk.

    "Nothing is ever undying before overwhelming strength," Karyk answered, his voice cold. As the Lord of Death, he knew what death implied. Even the Undying Soldiers that worked for him weren''t really undying.

    Although they could live for an eternity, but that didn''t mean they were undying. It was only a matter of someone destroying them with overwhelming strength!

    At that moment, his aura red suddenly. The barrier of this world around the forest had constantly been trying to absorb his aura from his Sword, but even it was overwhelmed. This was the moment that Karyk was waiting for.

    As his aura red, the barrier that had already been weakened to the extreme, finally shattered.

    In another ce, Gabriel also prepared to give it his all. In his left hand, another sword appeared. It was the sword of life that Ezekiel had stolen from Caen, only toter hand over to him.

    Karyk raised his Sword of Death, the barrier around the forest shattering into millions of pieces as a terrifying aura of death shot out from his Sword, creating a pir of death which could be seen even thousands of miles away.

    Gabriel also raised the sword of life, using his life force. Another frightening tower of aura storm was created around earth that even started shattering the space itself.

 Chapter 787 787: The Emperor

    Chapter787 787: The Emperor

    A powerful storm of aura had created a towering tornado that could be seen from heart distance.

    The Elzerians stationed in the city closest to the forest had already received the urgent message from the team in the forest. They wasted no time and quickly made their way towards her location.

    However, their senses were soon overwhelmed by a powerful and unexpected aura storm, leaving them shocked and unsettled. Although they were a great distance away from the first, the towering sight still left them taken aback.

    Even farther away was the Royal City of Elzeria, almost on the other end of the continent. At this moment, the people in the Royal City couldn''t see the tower of aura, but many still felt a strange unease.

    They felt as if the atmosphere had suddenly be heavier for some reason.

    Numerous powerful beings in Elzeria experienced a simr sensation. Their collective gaze fixated in the direction of the vast expanse of the forest, located several million miles distant from their current position.

    Despite theirck of understanding, everyone could sense that the root cause of their uneasinessy in that particr direction.

    The King of Elzeria was resting in his Chamber when he stood up, frowning.

    "Gisel went to the forest, correct?" he asked. It was unclear who he was talking with as no one else could be found in the room.

    "She went there to retrieve the traitor." A calm voice came in response. It was impossible to locate the source of the voice that appeared to havee from every direction simultaneously.

    Without waiting, the King donned his royal attire before stepping out of the room. His gaze asionally towards the direction of the forest.

    "Your Majesty!"

    By the time the Emperor stepped out of his chamber, multiple people appeared in the hallway out of the shadows, greeting him respectfully.

    The Guards of the Emperor were the elite. Each of them capable of destroying multiple worlds in an instance, but in front of the Emperor, they also appeared to be greatlycking.

    The Emperor didn''tment. Instead, he kept walking, his expressions dark.

    "That foolish girl. Just what trouble did she get herself into now?" he wondered out loud, his tone filled with concern as well as anger.

    Soon, he reached a certain room, the entrance of which was sealed and could only be opened by the Emperor himself.

    The Shadow Guards stopped in their tracks and didn''t approach the room. The room was a ce that they weren''t allowed to approach. It was the holy ce of the Empire where only the Emperor of each generation was allowed to enter.

    The Emperor opened the door.

    Even as the door opened, the Guards couldn''t see anything inside. It was pitch ck. As the Emperor entered the room, he disappeared into the darkness. The door closed on its own.

    The Guards didn''t understand why the Emperor entered the temple at this hour.

    They were also curious about this strange disturbance in the atmosphere, and hearing the Emperor''s words, they were certain that this change had something to do with his sister.

    The Emperor''s tone was also filled with concern, akin to her being in danger, which made his decision even more surprising. He didn''t go to help her. He didn''tmand anyone else either. Instead, he just went to the temple?

    They all thought that it meant the girl didn''t need any help, or so the Emperor thought. She was an immortal after all. Moreover, she was supposed to be near the fortress City.

    Although the guests at the fortress City weren''t as strong as them, but they were strong enough to solve any problem that could arise.

    Still, the Guards wondered just what was causing thismotion? Who could be strong enough to even alert the Emperor?

    Although they were curious, they didn''t think much about it. They disappeared into the shadows as if they were never there.

    ****

    The room that the guards thought to be filled with darkness was as bright as day. It''s just that the Guards weren''t able to see anything inside. Only the Emperor was able to see clearly inside the room.

    Many people wanted to know just what was inside the Ancient Temple. They had never seen this ce, but they could still imagine.

    Most of the people thought the Ancient Temple in the Royal Pce to be an amazing ce that was no different than a small world of its own. The others thought that it was a ce that was grand and luxurious.

    Almost everyone had their own thoughts about what the ce looked like, but no one came even close to guessing what this ce truly looked like on the inside.

    The Ancient Temple was neitherrge nor grand. It was neither luxurious nor majestic. It doesn''t contain a world of its own either.

    If the others were to see what the ce looked like, they could only be shocked. The Ancient Temple was nothing but a small room that was only five meters wide and just as long.

    Inside the room, there was nothing except just one statue that stood at the center of the room.

    The sculpture bore a striking resemnce to a human, perhaps more urately an Elzeria, adorned with captivating violet eyes.

    The only notable distinction between the sculpture and a true Elzerian was the presence of twelve ethereal wings graciously spread behind it, almost resembling those of an angel.

    The Emperor took a deep breath. No matter how many times he entered the temple, he was always overwhelmed.

    He looked at the sword that was lying at the feet of the sculpture. Slowly walking towards the sharp sword, he picked it up.

    He turned the sharp edge of the sword towards himself as he ced it on his shoulder. Holding the sword firmly, he swung it with great strength behind it.

    The Sword passed through his throat, taking his head off which fell at the feet of the Sculpture.

 Chapter 788 788: Forgotten Child

    Chapter788 788: Forgotten Child

    The Emperor''s head rolled to the side after falling on the ground. Still, his body remained standing.

    The feet of the statue were painted red by the blood of the Emperor. The blood was slowly absorbed by the statue.

    At the very same moment, the severed head of the Emperor disintegrated into dust, disappearing from sight.

    Astonishingly, a new head appeared on the Emperor''s body, presenting a grotesque and surreal spectacle.

    The new head had a sinister look, with hollow eyes that seemed to pierce through anyone who dared to look into them. Fortunately the sight didn''tst for long as the healing process was soonplete.

    After the Emperor had healed, he went down on one knee, as if paying respect to the statue of the Archangel, the one they all originated from.

    "Father, your childes to greet you and ask for your advice."

    The Statue remained still, but its eyes moved, as ifing to live.

    "The forgotten child returns..." Only one sentence came from the statue in response before the Emperor could even ask a question.

    "The Forgotten Child?" The Emperor raided his head, not understanding what that meant.

    "Father, your child doesn''t understand. Please enlighten me," He stated.

    Unfortunately, the light in the eyes of the statue had already started dimming.

    "Father?" The Emperor called out. Unfortunately, the eyes of the Statue hadpletely stopped shining by now as it returned to the scary silence of the past.

    The Emperor was left with a sense of unease and curiosity as he stared at the lifeless statue. The only reason he came here was to ask about this strange chaotic disturbance in the worldlyws, along with the feeling of unease in his heart.

    He thought that aftering here, he might be able to get answers. He truly expected to get some rity. Unfortunately, instead of rity, he only received more confusion.

    "The Forgotten Child has returned?" He stood up, his expressions filled with confusion.

    Although he didn''t understand what it meant, but he had a feeling that it involved something important. Usually, the statue only answered all questions in a single word.

    In the past, he could ask one question and get a yes or no answer aftering here. But this time, he couldn''t even ask before the statue answered on its own. It was the first time something like this had happened.

    Although he didn''t know what it meant, but he couldn''t let it go. Previously, he wasn''t going to check himself. But this time, things had be much moreplicated.

    He left the temple, his long robe swaying in the gentle breeze as he made his way through the hallway.

    The Shadow Guards once again appeared behind him, apanying their Emperor.

    Unlike before, the Emperor didn''t remain silent.

    "I am going out. You shall deliver my message to Aleron," hemanded. "Tell him to go to the Royal Library and find out everything rted to the Forgotten Child."

    The Guards didn''t ask any more than the Emperor had already told them, despite their curiosity.

    The Emperor walked through the long hallway. Space before him started bing unstable as the small jade embedded in one of his rings started shining in a beautiful white light.

    Before long, the space before himpletely broke apart, creating multiple spatial cracks. There appeared to be a total of hundred spatial cracks.

    The Emperor ventured into a spatial crack among the numerous rifts, vanishing amidst the unpredictable surge of spatial energy.

    Surprisingly, he entered alone, not apanied by any Guards. Even the shadow Guards refrained from joining him, as they did not dare to do so without his permission.

    The Spatial Crack led the Emperor to the Fortress City that was closest to the forest where his sister was supposed to be.

    Since he only had a rough estimate of the cause of themotion, the Fortress City was the closest he could get, especially since the worldlyws were in shambles closest to the core ofmotion.

    He appeared near the wall of the Fortress City. Before the others in the fortress could even react to his presence, the Emperor flew towards the fortress, his speed even breaking the threshold of Teleportation.

    In the blink of an eye, he appeared inside the Forest where everything supposedly began. When he reached near the forest, he became even more certain that this ce was the cause of it all.

    The first thing he noticed was that the barrier waspletely shattered and a multitude of energy traces could be felt, mostly an unfamiliar and disgusting aura could also be felt by him.

    The Emperor soonnded inside the Forest. Half the forest waspletely destroyed. Most of the trees that were harder than the hardest of metals of this world hadpletely disintegrated.

    Arge crater could also be seen in the center of the ce. The Emperor frowned at the sight before him. Strangely enough, he couldn''t feel any presence.

    It was as if the person who caused it all hadpletely disappeared. But what concerned him even more was that he couldn''t feel the aura of his sister either.

    Although his sister was weaker than him and his shadow Guards, but it didn''t make sense for her to disappear like that. Moreover with her immortality, it was impossible for her to be killed.

    His first thought was that his sister was kidnapped, which made him even more concerned about the identity of the threat.

    Unfortunately, he soon realized that his prediction wasn''t quite correct. As he traveled further, his expressions turned dark. He almost felt like vomiting.

    Although he had gone through a lot of torture during his training, but the sight before him still left him feel what he never felt before.

    Not far from him, he saw a hand... Just one hand and that hand belonged to someone he knew all too well. It was the hand of his sister, but that hand wasn''t all.

 Chapter 789 789

    Chapter 789789

    zar found a hand lying near the crater. Seeing the hand, he was instantly able to recognize who it belonged to. It was the hand of his sister who had led the group here, but it didn''t make sense to him.

    The hand should''ve disappeared when she healed. So why was her hand still here? Before he could think about it, he saw more scenes that left him aghast. There were rings of his sister lying in the distance, covered in blood.

    He rushed towards the rings. As he examined them, he realized that the rings were scattered in such a way that it formed a pattern, as if it was an intentional message left behind. Unfortunately, he wasn''t able to understand the message. It wasn''t thenguage of this world.

    This message was intentional, as if left here by the intruder to show that he wasn''t scared to reveal his identity or his affiliation.

    zar remained silent, his expressions dark. With the sight that he saw around him, something had be abundantly clear. The person who did it was not from this world. Moreover, that person was somehow able to kill them.

    The scenes here pointed towards the same notion that the people here weren''t kidnapped. Instead, they were actually ughtered. They were true immortals, but someone had managed to kill them. It was the first time that this had happened.

    "The Forgotten Child..." The only clue that the King had was the name that he had received from the statue of Archangel. He didn''t know how that person had managed to kill his people. There weren''t any clues left behind, other than the fact that it was something that had neutralized their immortality.

    His expressions remained grim as his terrifying killing intent shrouded the entire forest, which was already left razed in destruction.

    ****

    Back in the Central World of the Upper Realm, Karyk stepped out of the portal in the basement of the pce.

    His face was pale and his body left weakened with how much he had exhausted himself. A trail of blood trickled down from the corner of his lips. More trails of blood hade from his eyes, as if they were tears of blood.

    He wasn''t able to wipe the blood as even in his weakened condition, he was carrying another person on his back.

    The Lord of Upper Realm Aliac had already passed out. Even though the attack didn''t target him, but he was still hurt in the process to the point that he couldn''t even maintain his consciousness.

    Only Karyk knew how he dragged this guy all the way back. However, now that he was back, he finally breathed in relief.

    He was back. Now he wasn''t restricted by the strange element. He could recover his strength from the surroundings. Although it was a slow process, but it still made him recover to some extent.

    After returning to the pce, he released Aliac, letting him fall to the group. He didn''t even carry Aliac back upstairs or wait for him to wake up. He simply closed the door of the portal and sealed him with his Death Seal. With this, even Aliac couldn''t open it this time.

    He had a lot of questions about Elzeria, but with Aliac in an unconscious state, he couldn''t ask for the time being.

    Seemingly tired, he sat on the ground with his back resting against a wall, finally wiping the blood off his face.

    He drank some water as he thought back to the battle. Although the other side was called immortal, but he had realized that the reality was far from it. They could be killed. Their bodies were filled with a strange energy that felt simr to the aura of life that could heal them infinitely.

    But that also had its limits. The only problem was that no one had managed to damage them past that limit. It was hard after all. Even for him, he had to exhaust all his mana reserves to create the torrent of deathly mana to kill them.

    After going through his awakening, his aura of death had be purer. It was a qualitative change that helped him this time. He was certain that if he had the same quality of death aura as the past, killing them would''ve been impossible.

    Unfortunately, he still didn''t understand why it was his aura that had be this pure. Even the Ancient God of Death of this world didn''t have an aura like this. He wondered if it was rted to his past.

    Despite his purer element of death, he still had to struggle. Just to kill those few people, he was left in this condition despite his awakening. He couldn''t think what would''ve happened if there were more people.

    "Without ''Death'', it''s impossible to kill them. Just what are those people?" he thought out loud as he nced towards the door in the distance.

    ****

    At the same time as Karyk, Gabriel had also attacked the woman in front of him. He gave it his all in the attack. He even used the Aura of Abyss, his Element of Life and Death as well used fragments of his soul to activate the Sword of Life to kill the woman.

    In the moment that the attack fell, it was as if the sky itself had split apart. If not for Janus and Ryder protecting earth, the entire world would''ve been annihted with the stray aura of the attack that didn''t even target earth.

    Most of the attack had focused on the woman before him. What went to earth was only a small fragment of the attack, but that small fragment itself was harder to deal with.

    Fortunately, Janus was the God that was able to hide the world and protect it from this attack, albeit barely.

    As the attack fell, it was as if space and time itself had shattered. The woman was swallowed by the attack that appeared strong enough to destroy even the strongest of gods and demons.

    After a long time, the spatial destruction disappeared and the sight became clear.

 Chapter 790 790: Paying for friend

    Chapter790 790: Paying for friend

    The entire sky had been cleansed in the attack. Vibrant hues of orange and pink painted the horizon, as if the dawn of a new day.

    Not even a single glimpse of the woman could be seen anymore, as if she hadpletely disappeared. However, where she was previously standing, a small sphere of light was visible, surrounded by a gentle halo of energy. It pulsed with a calming aura, casting a serene glow on its surroundings.

    As soon as the terrifying energy of the attack disappeared, the halo around the sphere started getting bigger.

    Gabriel looked at the small sphere, exhaustion clear on his face. Having a bad feeling about this energy sphere, Gabriel attacked with the Sword of Life.

    His Sword passed through the illusory halo, unable to even touch it. It was as if some mysterious power was keeping the sphere protected. The sphere was no different than an illusion when his Sword attacked.

    The sword should''ve been able to cut any form of energy, yet it couldn''t touch the sphere.

    The halo around the sphere took a humanoid form. As soon as the halo finished taking shape, the light around it disappeared, revealing a woman inside. The woman lookedpletely unharmed. Or rather, she looked as if she had been reborn from destruction.

    The calm smile around her lips still remained the same as before. "Do you want to burn your soul to give it another try? You might get lucky this time."

    Although her words came in the form of a suggestion, but her mocking tone wasn''t hidden. Even if her body was destroyed by the Sword of Life, but she couldn''t be killed. They weren''t called immortal for no reason.

    As far as she remembered, but a single Immortal had been killed throughout history.

    Gabriel looked at the woman, still in disbelief. He had read the letter of Ezekiel, but even he hadn''t thought that even the Sword of Life couldn''t kill these people.

    The womanughed at Gabriel''s silence. Her figure disappeared. Gabriel prepared for her attack. Even if he failed to kill her, but the battle wasn''t over. However, to his surprise, the woman didn''t attack him.

    Instead, she appeared far away where Gabriel had kept Ezekiel''s body, floating amidst the protection of his aura.

    The woman easily shattered the protective aura cast by Gabriel as she grabbed Ezekiel. A portal appeared behind her.

    "Such a pity that I have to leave, but I need to take this guy back. Though don''t worry. I''ll definitelye back for you. Can''t lose you after all."

    "You''re not going anywhere!" Gabriel couldn''t let her escape and rushed to her. Unfortunately, he was toote.

    Her figure disappeared inside the Portal with Ezekiel''s body. The Portal closed after the woman, leaving no trace behind.

    "Arghhh!" Gabriel let out a frustrated roar as he passed through an empty space. The Portal was gonepletely.

    Gabriel stood there, his chest heaving with anger and frustration. The woman had slipped through his grasp, taking Ezekiel with her.

    Gabriel clenched his fists, his mind racing with thoughts. He needed to find a way to track them. He was sure that Ezekiel wasn''tpletely dead yet. When he took him, he had felt a small trace of Life.

    It wasn''t a life force belonging to him. Instead, it was something transferred by the woman when she had stabbed him. It was as if she needed him unable to fight while also needing him alive. Gabriel didn''t understand her intentions, but no matter what, he couldn''t let her do as she wanted.

    As he pondered his next move, a faint whisper seemed to echo in his mind. "How troublesome. The Elzerians have also starteding out. What a headache."

    "Who?!" Gabriel looked back, finding the source of the voice. In the distant building, he saw a young man standing. The man looked like he was in histe twenties.

    "You are..." He couldn''t recognise the man, especially since there appeared to be a hazy mist around the man which hid the real features of the man''s face, but Gabriel felt like he had sensed this man''s aura in the Realm of Gods.

    Moreover, it was only just now that he noticed another strange thing. When he was fighting with the woman, all the buildings within a hundred kilometers range were destroyed, all but the one that this man was standing on.

    He didn''t know why he didn''t notice it before. Was he too immersed in the battle to notice it? He was unclear why it was, but he felt that it wasn''t the case. It was more as if he just couldn''t sense the ce where the man was standing before. It wasn''t just him, but the woman as well.

    "I''m the man whose home you all trespassed on," Ryder spoke, letting out a sigh as he looked at the destruction in the surroundings.

    Janus also appeared next to Ryder, standing side by side.

    As Gabriel saw Janus standing next to Ryder, he was convinced that the two were together. In essence, Ryder was one of the enemies that Ezekiel had attacked.

    It was a war that was to end with the death of Ezekiel and all his enemies. Unfortunately, the oue was something that even Ezekiel couldn''t have expected.

    Ryder jumped down the building, softlynding on the rubble belonging to a nearby building. As he walked forward, the rubble started flying in the air.

    It was as if time was flowing in reverse as all the rubble went to their original ce and the buildings that were destroyed, once again started taking shape.

    It wasn''t just the case in this area but all around the world. A strange domain had surrounded the earth, taking all the areas under its control.

    "So much work. To think that I didn''t expect Ezekiel to break the promise with me and attack. How foolish of me," Ryder spoke, his expressions downcast.

    Not only did he not expect this, but he wasn''t here when this took ce either. Instead, he was in another world, looking for more items to heal Caen faster. By the time he returned, everything was almost over and Gabriel was fighting the woman.

    It was partially because of him that earth survived Gabriel''s attack.

    "Shouldn''t you be paying for your friend?" he asked, looking up at Gabriel, his tone sharp as Sword.

 Chapter 791 791: Trail

    Chapter791 791: Trail

    "It looks like you have something to say about the scene."

    Although the Emperor hadn''t spoken anything when he was watching the scene y out in the mirror, he wasn''t ignorant about his surroundings.

    He had seen the reaction of his sister when the man was revealed in the mirror. It was certain that she knew him.

    "I saw that person when I went out... Or rather someone who looks like him. Because I''m certain this wasn''t him."

    "And how are you so certain that this man wasn''t him if he lookedpletely identical?" The Emperor asked, his eyes sharp with curiosity.

    "Because the person I saw... He was with me at the time this battle here took ce," the sister replied, her brow furrowed in deep thought. "This man in the mirror was certainly someone else."

    "Exin everything!" The Emperor demanded, his voiceced with a touch of frustration. Someone had died here. It was a change that no one had expected, so he couldn''t ignore something like this.

    If there were more people like this, then it was even more dangerous to let them leave.

    The sister took a deep breath before she recounted everything that happened when she went to bring back Ezekiel.

    The fact that his other sister returned alive despite facing someone who looked identical to Karyk, it had somewhat confirmed that the other person wasn''t able to do something like this.

    In the battle scene in the mirror, he was also able to confirm that the Lord of Upper Realm and the obstruction in their path wasn''t capable of something like this. That meant for now, they only had to be focused on Karyk.

    "From what I could see and understand, that brat had a good rtionship with Ezekiel. It wasn''t just good. He was even willing to risk his life to save Ezekiel," the woman exined, taking a nce at Ezekiel. "We might be able to use it to our advantage."

    The Emperor didn''t react, but he had also thought of the same thing. There were two possibilities for Karyk and Gabriel to look alike. One was that both of them were rted somehow, which was the best oue for them.

    And the other possibility was that they weren''t rted but that still didn''t change the fact that Gabriel was strong.

    "I suppose you know what to do now?" The Emperor asked his sister, the meaning behind his words vague yet clear at the same time.

    ****

    Gabriel traveled through the endless space, chasing after some remnant traces of the woman. No matter how careful she was, he was still able to find some traces in the spatial transfer.

    Even since the woman left, he had been following the trail.

    Chasing after the trail, Gabriel soon reached the same ce where Ezekiel was born. It was the world that was hidden by Ezekiel in the past to prevent it from being destroyed.

    Although Ezekiel had told the location of Gabriel, even Gabriel hadn''t expected the trail was going to lead him here. But he also remembered that this was the ce where Ezekiel met the mysterious person for the first time.

    Gabrielnded in Elzeria, a hidden and enchanting world filled with lush forests and vibrant flora.

    From what he knew, the world was left in ruins after the destruction with not a single de of grass growing. But as Gabrielnded here, what he saw was a beautiful world, a scenery that was hard to find anywhere else.

    This was a world that was reborn from all the destruction.

    Gabriel didn''t understand what led to the change. For thousands of years, this world was barren, but within a few months after Ezekiel hid it, it was flourishing.

    He didn''t know that it was also because Ezekiel had used half his life essence to nourish this world. He had also used the blood of the Gods that he had in.

    As Gabriel made his way through the forest, a peculiar sensation washed over him, causing him to pause. He couldn''t ignore the mysterious energy that seemed to be affecting the space around him.

    With an unwavering intuition, he became convinced that within this very location, a concealed spatial passage that not even the gods could find if they hadn''t felt the aura of an Elzerian.

    After fighting with the woman, Gabriel was even more sensitive to this strange elemental disturbance.

    After searching for a short time, he stopped. There was nothing before him, but he was certain this was the ce. Just half a meter away from him was a portal that led to the other side.

    Unfortunately, finding the portal and activating it were two different things entirely. The Blood of an Elzerian or their aura... Only these two things could activate the hidden portal.

    Gabriel brought out the sword of Life that he had used to fight the woman. Although the woman had healed, but her blood was still on Gabriel''s sword.

    Gabriel used the Sword of Life as the key. As soon as the blood came closer to the portal entrance, the inactive portal came into appearance, its aura bing stronger than ever.

    Holding the sword in his hands, Gabriel entered the portal. As soon as he stepped through, he felt a sudden surge of energy coursing through his body, a tingling sensation that made him feel that the space itself had transformed in the core essence.

    He couldn''t feel any of the elements that he was familiar with. All such elements had suddenly gotten weaker.

    Although the spatial transfersted for only a second, for Gabriel, it was as if thousands of years had passed in the spatial tunnel. He had even forgotten how much time had passed, onlying to senses when he left the portal.

    The portal closed behind him as Gabriel appeared in the ruined forest.

    "You!"

    As soon as he came to his senses, he saw many human-like beings in the distance, standing in a group.

    To his surprise, every single one of them possessed captivating violet eyes. Among them stood the very woman who had abducted Ezekiel, with his lifeless body still adrift beside her.

 Chapter 792 792

    Chapter 792792

    Gabriel''s eyes narrowed as he took in the sight before him. The woman stood tall and confident, her violet eyes shining with a mix of surprise and amusement as she saw Gabriel.

    She seemed unfazed by Gabriel''s sudden appearance, as if she had been expecting him. She had intentionally left behind some trail since she wanted to draw him here, but even she didn''t expect him to arrive so early.

    If possible, she would''ve brought Gabriel with her in the first ce, but because of a certain present that revealed a trace of killing intent in the form of warning when she thought about taking him with her, she had to leave.

    She didn''t want to put her mission at risk for Gabriel as she didn''t want Ezekiel''s body to be destroyed if another battle was to begin.

    For that reason, she had to leave first. But she also understood Gabriel''s eagerness to retrieve Ezekiel. To help him in approaching her, she left a small trail behind. She had drawn him to this ce, but even she herself didn''t know it was going to work so well.

    She had thought that it wasn''t going to work. That''s why she had nned to go back, but to her pleasant surprise, she didn''t need to.

    Unlike her, the Emperor was surprised by his presence. He was even about to attack Gabriel but he stopped himself when he realized that Gabriel''s aura was slightly different from the aura of the person that he had seen in the mirror.

    If he hadn''t heard of the story of his sister, he would''ve still thought that this sat the same person, but after hearing her, he had managed to distinguish the two.

    Another thing that confirmed that this person was Gabriel was that the boy kept looking at Ezekiel.

    When Gabriel arrived here, he hadn''t thought that so many people were going to be waiting for him. His first thought was that this was a trap set for him.

    Just one Elzerian was hard to deal with, let alone so many of them, most of whom were stronger than the woman.

    "Did you really need to set a trap for me?" Gabriel growled, his voiceced with both anger and concern. He took a step forward, his grip tightening on the Sword of Life.

    Even if it was a trap, he now knew better. He knew that fighting against them was a waste of time, but that didn''t mean it was impossible for him to retrieve Ezekiel. The portal leading back was right behind him as well. If things went wrong, he could immediately retreat.

    The woman smirked, her gaze never leaving Gabriel.

    "You really made things easier for me bying here," she taunted. "Always so considerate."

    Gabriel''s eyes shed with a mixture of emotions- caution, frustration, and a hint of rage. He knew that Ezekiel, despite being alive, was still vulnerable, his life barely hanging by a thread. And it was Gabriel''s desire to bring him back, no matter the cost.

    Without wasting another moment, Gabriel surged forward, his sword held high. But to his surprise, the group of beings surrounding the woman moved swiftly, forming a formidable barrier between Gabriel and his target.

    Their movements were fluid and precise, their violet eyes shining with a mysterious energy. Gabriel realized that these were not ordinary beings.

    They possessed powers far beyond that of a regr god. They weren''t just immortal but they also had treasures that could even kill gods.

    Gabriel''s sword sliced through the air with lethal precision, slicing through the barrier, even surprising the Elzerian Warriors that had created the barrier. It was only now that many started paying attention to Gabriel''s sword and the gems embedded in it.

    The Elzerians were known to be fiercely loyal to their Emperor, their powers bound to his very life force. Yet here they stood, defending the woman. It was clear that the identity of the woman was as simple as he had previously thought.

    Moreover, throughout this time, his attention kept going towards the lone man standing in the distance. The man didn''t look like a warrior, but unlike the woman, no one was trying to protect him either.

    For some reason, Gabriel kept feeling that he had to be careful about that man. But before that, he had to take Ezekiel.

    After destroying the barrier, Gabriel moved like lightning, making it appear as if he was going to attack the woman in anger. Because of that, many Guards tried to stop him.

    Gabriel had no time to ponder about anything else. He didn''t want to fight them at the moment either. All he wanted was to take Ezekiel away.

    As for the problem about Ezekiel''s life force, he didn''t know how to solve this problem yet. But in any case, he couldn''t leave Ezekiel in the hands of these people.

    His focus was on moving past the Elzerians and reiming Ezekiel. He fought only when he had to, his determination unwavering.

    Each swing of his sword was met with an equally powerful counterattack from the Guards, their movements almost synchronized.

    So far, none of the Ministers even joined the battle as they were clear that Gabriel didn''t have a method to kill them. Even the King just stood in the distance, simply observing the young man in silence.

    As the battle raged on, Gabriel''s mind raced. He needed to find a way to break through their defenses, to reach the woman and free Ezekiel. Suddenly, an idea formed in his mind, a risky n that might just give him the advantage he needed.

    Summoning all his remaining strength, Gabrielunched himself into the air, dark aura wings appearing and unfurling behind him. With a powerful p, he soared above the battling Elzerians, his eyes fixed on the woman.

    In a daring move, Gabriel descended towards her, his sword aimed directly at her heart, ready to strike. As he drew closer, time seemed to slow down, allowing him to analyze every detail of her defensive stance, searching for any opening.

 Chapter 793 793

    Chapter 793793

    As Gabriel was about to strike, the woman vanished into thin air, leaving only a cloud of violet smoke in her wake.

    Gabriel was left surprised. How had she managed to escape? He scanned the area, searching for any sign of her, but she was nowhere to be found. It was as if she had vanished into thin air.

    Frustration welled up inside Gabriel, but he quickly pushed it aside. This was for the best as well, since the only reason he attacked the Woman first was for distraction.

    His main concern was Ezekiel. Amidst the attention fixed on him, people remained oblivious to a looming shadow gradually nearing Ezekiel from afar.

    Gabriel used himself as a distraction while sending his shadow to retrieve Ezekiel. And for the most part, it worked as well as a lot of attention had fallen on Gabriel. Many people were interested in him, especially after seeing the past in the mirror.

    Gabriel stood like a lone warrior before the Warriors of this world, surrounded from all sides. The Emperor and the Ministers still hadn''t moved from their ce.

    The Shadow soon reached Ezekiel, merely a few feet away from him. The countdown had already begun in Gabriel''s mind. Another shadow was already ced right next to the Portal as a backup.

    Just as the Shadow approached Ezekiel, Gabriel sprang into motion. A peculiar energy enveloped his body, causing his skin to darken. In a split second, he transformed into a shadow.

    Meanwhile, the shadow next to Ezekiel seamlessly transformed into Gabriel, as though he had effortlessly swapped ces with his shadow.

    The Elzerians were momentarily taken aback, their eyes widening in surprise as they realized what had just transpired. The real Gabriel now stood next to Ezekiel, his eyes never leaving the vulnerable form of his friend.

    Without missing a beat, Gabriel scooped Ezekiel into his arms and turned to face the Elzerians, his determination shining through his darkened features.

    The Elzerians, angered by Gabriel''s audacity,unched themselves at him with renewed vigor.

    But Gabriel was ready. With his newfound shadow abilities, he effortlessly dodged their attacks, his movements fluid and precise.

    He swiftly moved through their ranks, all the while protecting Ezekiel from any harm. The Elzerians, frustrated by their inability tond a blow on Gabriel, became more desperate and their attacks grew more reckless.

    As Gabriel fought, he couldn''t help but notice the Emperor''s gaze fixed upon him. It was a mixture of curiosity and something else that Gabriel couldn''t quite decipher. The Emperor had yet to make a move, still observing the battle unfold with a calcting expression.

    Gabriel knew he couldn''t waste any more time. He had to escape with Ezekiel before the situation escted further. Fortunately, the preparation wasplete.

    The same spell was cast again which further linked his body to the shadow near the Portal.

    Many attacksnded on Gabriel, but all the attacks passed through his body that had already turned into a shadow. The shadow was destroyed by the attacks, but by then, Gabriel had already switched ces with the other shadow.

    Gabriel appeared right next to the portal. He used the blood on the sword to activate the passage back. The swirling vortex of energy began to stabilize as Gabriel inserted the sword, causing the portal to emit a blinding light.

    Most of the n had moved ording to Gabriel''s expectations and now all he had to do was leave.

    Although he knew that the Elzerians could follow him, but now wasn''t the time to think about that. At least once he left this world, he wasn''t restricted by the elements of the world.

    He rushed to the portal, but to his surprise, a mysterious and formidable force abruptly repelled him upon contact. The portal swiftly sealed shut, seemingly manipted by an unknown entity.

    After a long time, the Emperor had finally made a move. His voice echoed as ifing from right next to Gabriel even though he was far away.

    "What''s the hurry to leave?" the Emperor''s calm voice echoed.

    Although the Emperor looked like an ordinary person, but there was something about him that made him stand out. Even his voice itself was magical.

    The Emperor''s voice resonated through the air, filled with authority and an undercurrent of darkness.

    Gabriel saw the woman appearing next to the Emperor, an interested smile on her lips as she looked at him. It was as if she was looking at her prized possession.

    The Emperor asked, his voiceced with a scary calmness. "You think you can simply take what is mine?"

    Gabriel''s grip on Ezekiel tightened, being clear that the man was talking about Ezekiel. "He''s not yours to keep."

    "Oh? If he isn''t mine, then do you think he''s yours? He''s a dog that I saved. His life belongs to me," the Emperor stated as he slowly stepped towards Gabriel.

    Gabriel''s grip tightened on the sword of light.

    "Don''t worry. I have no desire to hurt you. I''m just curious about one thing," The Emperor stated. "What would you do after taking him back? He''ll die the moment you do that. So are you here just to bring him back so he could die in your arms?"

    Gabriel''s eyes narrowed, his grip on the Sword of Life tightening even further. He wouldn''t let the Emperor''s taunts get to him. He knew what was at stake, and his mind was still thinking about his next steps.

    It was clear that the man had some authority. If he could take down the man, then everything else was much simpler.

    "If you''re so eager about saving him, then shouldn''t you be begging me instead of raising your sword at me? Because in the entire universe, only I can save him."

    The Emperor''s words weren''t a lie either and Gabriel knew it. The reason Ezekiel had managed to live so long was because of the Elzerians who saved him and taught him some methods that allowed Ezekiel to live longer.

    "What do you want from me?" Gabriel asked. Since the people had stopped attacking him, he was clear that there was something they wanted from him.

    In response, the Emperor smiled.

 Chapter 794 794: Trade with life

    Chapter794 794: Trade with life

    "I can see that you care about him. I can save his life. Not only save this life, but I can even grant him a longer life. A life filled with health, safety and protection. You can have it all. He can leave a life that he could only dream about in the past."

    The Emperor''s words sounded like he was giving him an offer, but Gabriel wasn''t certain what he wanted in return. Or was he just toying with him to give him hope only to take it awayter?

    "Doesn''t it sound too good to be true? But you can have it all. It all depends on your will. Do you want his life bad enough? Or do you care about yourself more? The choice shall ultimately rest on your shoulders."

    "If you try to leave, I won''t stop you either. You can take him with you. Treat thest few moments of his life as my gift to you."

    It was as if the emperor had reached out with both his hands. With one hand he offered Ezekiel''s life, and with the other he offered freedom but that freedom came with Ezekiel''s death. And the choice belonged to Gabriel who still didn''t know what the Emperor wanted.

    "Why should I believe that you can save him?" Gabriel asked the Emperor.

    As far as deals were concerned, he had made more deals in the past with others, so he wasn''t ignorant as to how a deal worked. But before taking the decision or even asking for help, he had to be sure that they actually had a method. He didn''t want to be a pawn.

    The Emperorughed. "I have never spoken a single lie. But if you still don''t believe me, then I shall grant you another greeting gift."

    He brought another unique crystal from his Spatial Ring. With a gentle cut to his finger, a small droplet of blood graced the crystal''s surface. As if with an insatiable thirst, the crystal absorbed the blood, transforming its hue into a deep shade of red.

    The transformation was mesmerizing. Once the process was finished, a beautiful royal symbol became visible on the crystal.

    The Emperor walked closer to Gabriel with the crystal. Gabriel took a step back, moving even closer to the portal.

    Seeing Gabriel''s caution, the Emperor stopped. He tossed the crystal to Gabriel who caught it carefully.

    "ce the crystal over his wound. You''ll start believing my words."

    With nothing to lose, Gabriel did as he was suggested. However, he still maintained his caution even as he followed the method.

    He ced the crystal near Ezekiel''s heart. As soon as the crystal came in contact with Ezekiel, it started shining in a mysterious light.

    The light intensified and a surge of energy flowed through Ezekiel''s body, causing him to move. The life essence in the crystal swiftly flowed inside Ezekiel''s body, the color of his face slowly returning. Even the wound around his chest started healing.

    Slowly, the crystal waspletely absorbed inside Ezekiel''s body, taking the ce of his missing heart. It was akin to an artificial heart.

    The effects were clear as day to the point that even Gabriel was surprised. Life essence was something that could never be recovered.

    There was simply no method to artificially produce it. Even with the sacrifice of millions of lives, the fundamental essence of life remained inessible.

    Even gods couldn''t transfer life essence in this manner, at least not when someone had exhausted all their original life essence. Even gods could only share their divine essence to modify the aura of a person, their bodies and grant him divine ability.

    In that way, God could create a being who could live for an eternity as long as they weren''t killed. Ezekiel was also one such existence who was able to live for an eternity. However, he was different in a way that he couldn''t be killed, unlike gods.

    Ezekiel was someone that broke the bnce of the world. Or so everyone thought. However, Gabriel knew better.

    Gods could live for an eternity, because their bodies were molded in such ways that they didn''t use their life essence at all unless they used special means like extracting their life essence for a special power, or used something like the sword of Life.

    Most gods never had to do that, and even if they could, they did so only once or twice.

    However, Ezekiel was different. Unlike the other gods, he had constantly been exhausting his original life essence that couldn''t further be recovered. Every time he died and had to use immortality, his life essence lowered, ultimatelypletely exhausted.

    In a situation like this, even a god couldn''t survive. Another person''s life essence couldn''t be taken as the life essence of other people was onlypatible with them. If this was possible, Gabriel could''ve shared his life essence already.

    "Your life essence? That''s the key?" It didn''t take Gabriel long to understand that.

    A person''s life essence wasn''tpatible with others. However, the logic of his original world failed in Elzeria. It was a different world after all.

    A thought crossed his mind. If he was able to connect enough blood from an Elzerian, couldn''t Ezekiel live for much longer? Even if he could just kidnap one Elzerian and leave, that was enough for a long long time.

    The Emperor could already guess what Gabriel was thinking. He smiled like apassionate man.

    "Only my blood can do it. Even amongst Elzerians, no one can transfer their life essence to others. And then if they could, why would they? They only have a life span of two hundred years."

    The Emperor''s words worked as an exnation but also as a threat to make Gabriel realize that it was useless to target the weak ones as they were useless. Only the King was able to do it.

    Moreover, with his exnation, the king also made another thing clear. He had a maximum of two hundred years of lifespan. And he had lived quite a long life already.

    So his remaining life span was previous. It became even more precious since he was an important person in Elzeria.

    Essentially, the King was trading him with his life.

 Chapter 795 795: Guardian

    Chapter795 795: Guardian

    Gabriel''s mind raced as he weighed the options before him. On one hand, he could ept the Emperor''s offer and save Ezekiel''s life, granting him a longer life.

    On the other hand, he could choose freedom and take Ezekiel away, but it would mean his inevitable death.

    The thought of losing Ezekiel was unbearable to Gabriel. It was because of Ezekiel that he had managed to leave the Abyss. It was because of Ezekiel that he grew so much.

    Ezekiel was his friend, his teacher and his family. And watching Ezekiel at the death''s door was too much.

    Unfortunately, he also couldn''t ignore the fact that epting the Emperor''s offer came with certain risks of their own.

    Gabriel nced back at Ezekiel, still unconscious but slowly regaining color in his cheeks. It was a miracle, a testament to the power of the crystal and the Emperor''s words. But could he trust the Emperor? Could he trust that this offer wasn''t just a facade and a trick?

    On the other hand, the Emperor was also pulled back by his sister.

    "What do you think you''re doing?" she asked. "You only have ten years of your life left! How can I let you sacrifice more of that for someone else?"

    She knew her brother better than anyone else. She also knew that when it came to promises, her brother never broke any.

    Her brother was a very stern person when it came to his beliefs. So this deal wasn''t a lie! Unfortunately, that also meant that he was willing to sacrifice his own life, which was already very limited.

    "If it''s just about that person, then I can do it myself! You don''t have to make a deal with your life on the line!" Her tone was stern, her hand tightly holding onto the wrist of her brother with a little fear in her eyes clearly visible.

    She had already lost her sister. She didn''t want to lose more. Her brother was a century older than them. While she had over a hundred years of life left, her brother only had ten years of lifespan left.

    They were very young when they lost their parents. Ever since then, it was her brother who took care of the two of them like a father. She understood why her brother was so serious about this matter, but she still couldn''t let him do it.

    The Emperor understood his sister''s concerns. With a tender gesture, he gently ced his hand on her head, his eyes reflecting his genuine kindness.

    "I wouldn''t if I had a choice. However, as an Emperor, my life belongs to my citizens. And to save them, I''m willing to sacrifice a few years of my life."

    "But why do you have to take this route? I can kill that person myself! Why do we even need this man''s help? And if it''s his help that we want, then we can force him! We can threaten him! We can take so many other paths that don''t take your life from you!" The woman eximed, her eyes brimming with emotions.

    "Little brat, you saw the past in the mirror. Even your sister couldn''t do it, let alone you. That man isn''t someone you can kill," the Emperor replied, the scene of an Immortal dying still fresh in his mind.

    He also hadn''t forgotten the words of the Archangel in the Temple. Something was really wrong with Karyk and he was sure. He had a feeling that the more time Karyk had, the more dangerous he was going to be. So they didn''t have much time.

    If possible, he would''ve gone after Karyk with all his might. Unfortunately, he couldn''t even do that.

    ****

    In the Central World of Upper Realm, Karyk was sitting in the mansion provided to him by Aliac.

    His sister was sitting in the distance, ying with a little shadow pet that he had created for her. Alion and the Goddess of Nature sat near him.

    The Lord of Upper Realm Aliac was sitting before them. As soon as Aliac regained consciousness, he immediately rushed here to ask Karyk about what happened after he lost consciousness in the other world.

    His expressions were still uncertain. He couldn''t believe Karyk''s description about the events that took ce. Although he had seen Karyk prepare the scary attack, it was still hard to believe that he had actually killed the Elzerians.

    Speechless and utterly shocked, he struggled to articte his emotions. The haze of confusion permeated his thoughts, rendering himpletely oblivious to Karyk''s Questions.

    "Are you going to tell me who those people were?" Karyk asked again after his first question was ignored.

    "Huh?" Aliac came to his senses this time.

    "Those people... They are the reason I can''t leave this world. They are the reason I''ve trapped myself in this world, guarding the Door."

    "As you already saw, they are people who can''t be understood by themon sense of this world. Their strength, their knowledge, their understanding of this world, it all surpasses ours."

    "Why are they your enemy?" Karyk asked. The way those people treated him and Aliac, it was clear that they treated them like enemies.

    Moreover, their strength truly wasn''t anything to scoff at. Even Karyk knew that he was lucky there were too few Elzerians facing him. Just one attack had exhausted him.

    If there were more, he would''ve had a much harder time in a world where there were no Elemental Aura to support his consumption.

    As long as he was in this universe, he was more confident in being able to protect himself. But in their world, things were much moreplicated.

    "They are our enemy because I''m the biggest obstruction in their path. I''m the Guardian... I''m the guard who blocks their path that would''ve allowed them to enter our world with all their might," Aliac answered. "What I''m about to tell you people is something that very few people in our universe know."

    ****

    Back on earth, a man looked at the stars in the sky. "Elzerians, huh. Things are really starting to getplicated."

 Chapter 796 796: Link

    Chapter796 796: Link

    "Due to certain restrictions, we can''t leave this ce for the time being. Amongst us, only my sister can leave this ce," the Emperor informed Gabriel who was curious about what the Emperor wanted from him.

    Although the Emperor didn''t go in detail, his words made Gabriel realize a lot of things. The reason this world remained unknown to the main universe was because people from this world couldn''t leave this world.

    He looked at Ezekiel, thinking about something. If they couldn''t leave this world, then how did they meet Ezekiel? It couldn''t be that woman who met him, since she could only live for two hundred years at most. That meant the person who brought Ezekiel back was someone else.

    Was there another person who could leave this world in that era? For the time being, it didn''t matter. What mattered was what the Emperor wanted in exchange for a few years of his life.

    "I have ten years of my life left. And each year of my life is equivalent to five years of Ezekiel''s life," the Emperor stated. "If you fulfil the deal, I shall grant Ezekiel five years of my remaining life essence. That will allow him to live for over two decades."

    The Emperor spoke with remarkableposure, knowing that fulfilling his promise would leave him with only five remaining years of his life.

    "What do you want from me?" Gabriel asked, still unclear what he had to do.

    "I want you to only do one thing... I want you to help us kill one person." The Emperor''s voice wasn''t loud yet clearly audible.

    "I want you to kill him." As he spoke, he created a holographic image from his memories that showed a young man.

    Seeing the hologram, Gabriel couldn''t help but frown. The person in the hologram was none other than him.

    "You want me to kill myself?" Ezekiel asked, his expression uncertain as he wondered if that Emperor was toying with him.

    "It''s not you," the Emperor spoke, while carefully observing Gabriel''s expressions to see through him.

    After hearing the man''s words, Gabriel was also taken aback. If this person wasn''t him, then it meant it was someone who looked just like him and was strong enough to catch the attention of Elzerians? There was only one person like that who came to his mind. It was his other half.

    It was clear that the person in the hologram wasn''t him but Karyk. It was the person that hadn''t shown his face ever since he left with the Upper Realm Generals. It was the person who didn''t do anything even when their world was destroyed and their family killed.

    It was a person who didn''t help him when he was almost killed and tossed in the Abyss. It was the person who had truly abandoned him, all in greed for more power. Instead, Karyk had started working with the Lord of Upper Realm, the same person that they wanted to kill.

    Gabriel didn''t have any fond feelings for Karyk anymore. In fact, he was also quite angry about him, but he still didn''t agree to finish the task.

    "Why do you want to kill him?" he asked the Emperor, curious as to how Karyk caught the attention of these people.

    "He killed my other sister..." The Emperor spoke, for the first time, some emotions flickering in his violet pupils. "The destruction you see around this ce... It''s all caused by him."

    The moment Gabriel heard it, he was stunned. He had tried everything to kill an Elzerians but he had failed. Meanwhile, Karyk had managed to achieve this in their world and even leave safely?

    As he looked at the destroyed forest around him, he was able to feel some remnant traces that he found somewhat familiar. It was clear that the Emperor wasn''t lying. This also exined why he wanted Karyk dead. Karyk had killed his family.

    "From your reaction, it seems I was right about you knowing him. But you don''t seem quite fond of him either."  The Emperor had been observing Gabriel throughout the time. From Gabriel''s expressions, he was also able to know a few things.

    On the other hand, his sister was one step ahead as she was reading Gabriel''s thoughts. Unlike Karyk, she didn''t find it hard to read Gabriel''s thoughts.

    Unfortunately, she could only read bits and pieces from Gabriel''s thoughts, as if what she heard was fragmented.

    "Since you know him, that makes things easier. I want you to kill that person. I will trade his life for my life. And in return, Ezekiel will live. The choice is yours."

    Although the Emperor acted as if he was offering a choice, but in his mind, he was already sure that Gabriel was going to take his suggestion. By now, he was certain that Ezekiel was more important for Gabriel than Karyk.

    "Why should I believe you? Even if I killed him, what is to stop you from not following through on the promise?" Gabriel asked, his words showing it clearly that he was almost convinced with the offer as long as a few trust issues could be solved.

    The Emperor stepped forward. He bit his thumb, letting it bleed lightly. The blood drop fell down, but it stopped in the air before it could touch the ground. The blood drop flew straight to Gabriel, hitting his forehead before he could even react.

    The blood drop was absorbed by Gabriel. At the same time, a strange red pattern appeared on Gabriel''s forehead, a symbol that looked simr to an ancient character.

    Seeing her brother''s expressions, the woman was shocked. "Brother, have you gone insane?"

    This time, she couldn''t contain her words, calling her brother insane before all the Ministers. She couldn''t believe what her brother was doing. This was even worse than offering five years of his remaining life to Ezekiel.

    Even the Ministers were stunned. In this ce, there was only Gabriel who didn''t understand the meaning behind the Emperor''s actions.

 Chapter 797 797

    Chapter 797797

    Neither his sister, nor the Ministers understood why the Emperor was willing to go so far. He was even putting his life on the line, all in a bid to kill Karyk?

    The Emperor also seemed to be in a hurry to have Karyk be killed, which also didn''t make sense. Was it just because Karyk was able to kill them? Or was there something more to it that he knew and they didn''t? None understood it.

    "What was this?" Gabriel asked, feeling the drop of blood inside his body. The drop of blood felt fragile as if it could easily be destroyed by him if he wanted.

    "You fool, you don''t even understand what my brother has done for you!" The Emperor''s sister yelled, still furious about all this.

    One of the Ministers stepped forward, sighing. "His Majesty had shared all his strength with you. Without the core essence, he can''t use any of his abilities. With this, he won''t have his immortality either."

    The Emperor reached out his hand, picking up a small branch from the ground, making a cut on his palm. Following the cut, blood kept trickling down for a few seconds, yet the wound didn''t heal on its own.

    Even for an Elzerian, it was impossible to control their healing as it was a passive trait. With this, it was evident that the Emperor had actually lost his healing abilities. He was no different than a mortal.

    Following that, the Emperor handed Ezekiel a talisman as well. Gabriel didn''t have to ask what the Talisman was for as he could see that the Talisman was connected to the Emperor.

    He could use the Talisman to directly teleport to Elzerian and that too, right next to the Emperor.

    In this way, the Emperor had given a solution to Gabriel. In case he was to go against his promise, then Gabriel could, at any time, teleport to his ce and kill him, especially when he didn''t even have his immortality left.

    If the Emperor was to go through his promise, he could only lose five years of his life and still have five years to live. But if he was to break his promise, then Gabriel could kill him, making him lose all his life.

    "This is all I can do to give you confidence. I haven''t once lied about any promise I made to you. I hope this is enough to convey my sincerity."

    As the Emperor spoke, his bleeding still hadn''t stopped. One of the Ministers stepped forward, and ced some medicine to the wound to help stop the bleeding.

    "What if I leave now and don''t follow through on the promise?" Gabriel inquired. The Emperor had put forth all his cards on the line.

    If Gabriel wasn''t to follow through his promise and instead try to kill the Emperor, it was highly possible now. So he didn''t understand why the Emperor went so far for him. Was he truly naive enough to trust a stranger?

    "You can, but as I said, your friend there will die. Unless I share my life essence myself, he won''t live. And you have no way to forcefully take it."

    The Emperor ced everything on Gabriel''s desire to save Ezekiel, and he was certain that he was right. This was also the best way to convince Gabriel to side with them.

    He could''ve tried to take Ezekiel hostage. It wasn''t hard to do for someone like him or even his ministers. However he knew that if he forced Gabriel, then there was a high chance of betrayal. He didn''t take the risk. For now, killing the uncertain factor known as Karyk was the priority.

    As for his life, he didn''t care about it. He was already on the verge of death with only ten years of his life left. Even if he died earlier, it didn''t matter much, as long as his people could live without the fear of Karyk looming over their heads.

    Gabriel gazed at the Emperor, his mind filled with conflicting thoughts. He couldn''t deny the sincerity in the Emperor''s eyes, nor could he ignore the sacrifice he had made. The Emperor was willing to give up his immortality and risk his life for the sake of his revenge for his sister.

    Deep down, Gabriel knew that he couldn''t turn his back on the Emperor''s offer as it was the only way to save Ezekiel. Although he and Karyk came from the same soul, but he didn''t hold any fond feelings for him, especially after the recent events. Compared to Karyk, he felt closer to Ezekiel.

    Taking a deep breath, Gabriel nodded slowly. "I agree."

    The Emperor''s face softened with relief, and a faint smile appeared on his lips. Half the work waspleted. Now all that was left was for Karyk to be killed.

    He nced at his sister, who was the only person that could enter the other World, at least until the door sealing this ce in the upper realm was broken.

    The only person who could apany Gabriel in this task was that girl. However, even with the two of them, it wasn''t easy to take down Karyk as Karyk wasn''t alone.

    The mirror had made it clear that the Lord of Upper Realm Aliac was with Karyk. Aliac alone was a headache, let alone Karyk. And even worse was that it was almost impossible to enter the Central World of the Upper Realm.

    His sister had tried that many times, yet she failed to achieve the task since Aliac was cautious. He never left the Central World and entering that world without his will was impossible.

    That was also partially the realm that they had sent Ezekiel to the other side. The entire mission of Ezekiel was to kill Aliac and open the passage.

    Unfortunately, Ezekiel had lost his way in his desire to have his revenge. His entire task was to draw Aliac out of the Central World, no matter what it took. Unfortunately, he couldn''t even get closer to the goal.

    He tried killing all the Divine Beings to weaken the barrier''s strength, which was a good thing. Unfortunately, the main task still remained unfulfilled.

    That''s also why the Emperor was angry at Ezekiel and sent his sister to drag Ezekiel back to this ce following his failure.

 Chapter 798 798

    Chapter 798798

    Two days passed where Gabriel remained in Elzeria like a guest. He was provided a house where he could spend some time with Ezekiel and confirm with his own eyes that this wasn''t a trick.

    Because the stakes were too high, the Emperor knew he couldn''t send Gabriel on his mission without a solid n. However, he also saw this as an opportunity to assess Gabriel''s true capabilities to make sure that he was actually capable of defeating Karyk.

    During the first morning, Ezekiel woke up. Gabriel told him everything that happened and how he was still alive. He also asked Ezekiel if everything that the Emperor told him was the truth or not.

    Even Ezekiel was surprised to hear everything that took ce in such a short span of time. He hadn''t expected that he would ever open his eyes in this life, but because of Gabriel, he was still alive.

    He felt touched that Gabriel came this far, despite such risks, all to save him. However, he also didn''t forget to scold Gabriel for doing such a stupid thing. If anything had gone wrong, he would''ve been dead as well after all.

    After he finished scolding Gabriel, he checked Gabriel''s body and confirmed that this was true. Everything that the Emperor told him was true.

    That also made Ezekiel confused. Was the Emperor really going this far to have revenge for his sister? Something That also made Ezekiel confused. Was the Emperor really going this far to have revenge for his sister? Something didn''t make sense. Moreover, how was Karyk able to kill an Elzerian?

    There were so many things that he never imagined to be possible.

    "If Karyk is able to kill an Elzerian, then he''s very dangerous for you. Even if you give it your all, there''s a chance that you might not return alive. I can''t let you do something like this for me."

    Even though his life was on the line, Ezekiel didn''t agree with Gabriel''s desire to face Karyk for the Elzerians.

    "I''ve already prepared myself for my death. How can I put your life on the line to live a few more decades?" he stared. "I forbid you from doing this! You will leave this ce and live your life on your own terms!"

    Unfortunately, his words fell on deaf ears as Gabriel had already made up his mind. He wasn''t willing to let Ezekiel die. He ignored Ezekiel''s protests and moved forward with the n.

    For the next few days, Gabriel was given many unique artifacts of the Elzerians that he was allowed to use for his battle against Karyk. He was also taught the ways to use such artifacts.

    He was also trained to use such artifacts to perfection. He was also taught a method of immortality, which was the same method taught to Ezekiel. With this, as long as Gabriel didn''t run out of life essence, he couldn''t be killed.

    Gabriel was also made to fight against the Elzerian Guardians as a form of training and assessment. However, all this was just a backup n.

    The main n of the Elzerians for Gabriel was something else entirely. They had learned of the rtionship between Gabriel and Karyk. Or at least they learned what Gabriel told them, which was that he and Karyk were siblings.

    He hid the part about Karyk being another part of his soul, or rather, the main part of his soul.

    This rtionship between the two was what the Emperor wanted to utilize. He wanted to take benefit of the rtionship between the two brothers to have Gabriel kill Karyk.

    In this way, they could remove that threat without having to go through a single battle.

    After two weeks, Gabriel was ready for his departure. The Emperor allowed his sister to go with Gabriel. She was not only to keep an eye on Gabriel, but also help him in battles if a situation like that came. But her main mission was also something else that even Gabriel didn''t know.

    In addition to the two, there was another person who had decided toe along. Despite Gabriel''s initial reluctance, Ezekiel persistently insisted on joining their journey. Although he couldn''t rely on his immortality, Ezekiel wanted to apany them to ensure Gabriel''s safety rather than remaining idle.

    Since he couldn''t stop Gabriel from fulfilling this deal, at least he could put his life on the line to make sure that Gabriel survived.

    Although Gabriel refused, but once Ezekiel started saying that he was to kill himself if he wasn''t allowed toe, Gabriel had no choice but to take him.

    "I hope you will be victorious," the Emperor also arrived in the ruined forest from where the three were supposed to leave. A lot was on the line for him as well.

    He stepped forward, whispering something in Gabriel''s ears. Neither Ezekiel nor the woman heard what the Emperor spoke. Gabriel''s expressions in response also remained iprehensible.

    Following that, the Emperor stepped back, a calm smile remaining on his lips.

    Gabriel turned his back on the Emperor, entering the portal that was opened by the woman. Ezekiel also entered the portal with them.

    ****

    Following the supposed death of Ezekiel, the war of gods was over. Janus and Caen returned to the Realm of Gods, which was recognizable yetpletely unfamiliar at the same time.

    There used to be a time where this ce was filled with life. Yet now, this ce waspletely lifeless.

    Caen looked at the dark pce that was created in the ce of his family home. He felt like razing this pce to the ground, but he controlled his urge. He wanted this Pce to be a reminder of the past that he never wanted to forget.

    This pce was the reminder of all his mistakes that led them to this end.

    Caen entered the Pce, where only his footsteps could be heard in absolute silence.

    While Caen went to the throne room, mocking his foolish obsession of the past, Janus went to a different ce.

    Janus entered the room where the unknown pond was kept secure, as if wanting to confirm something. However, as he entered, he felt a freezing cold in the room.

    The pond, which had been there for as long as he could remember, was nowpletely frozen over. Not a single fish could be spotted beneath the icy surface. Strangely enough, there was only one cryptic sentence visibly etched into the frozen pond.

    "From three deaths, shalle one life."

 Chapter 799 799

    Chapter 799799

    Looking at the message in the pond, Janus'' expressions turned dark as if he clearly understood what it meant.

    With little response, he quietly turned away from the ice-covered pond and departed the room, his thoughts in a mess. He turned his attention back to the pce.

    As Janus made his way to the throne room, he couldn''t help but be overwhelmed by the emptiness that surrounded him. The once grand and vibrant pce now felt like a deste wastnd. The echoes of his footsteps served as a constant reminder of what once was.

    Reaching the throne room, Janus took a moment to gather himself. With a deep breath, he pushed open the doors and entered the room.

    The sight that greeted him was both heartbreaking and disappointing. The Throne Room where his sister inw used to deal with the matters of the God Realm was empty. Even the portrait of his Elder Brother was missing.

    Behind the throne, Caen stood, looking at the Portrait of Ezekiel and Gabriel. It was as if the portraits were still mocking him about his failure.

    The room itself was in disarray, the walls marred with battle scars and some debris scattered across the floor.

    Janus clenched his fists, his anger boiling within him. He couldn''t understand why things had turned out this way. He had always believed in doing what was best for the Realm of Gods, but now he questioned if he had made the right decisions.

    "Let me take them down." Janus stepped forward. With a flick of his finger, the Portraits fell down to the ground, flying straight to Janus.

    The two portraits turned to mes as soon as they touched Janus'' hands, only dust left behind that flew away.

    Caen turned around, one of his hands resting on the throne. Seeing the sight, Janus inwardly sighed as he believed that Caen still had an obsession with the Throne.

    As he stood in the empty throne room, lost in his thoughts. Soon, he turned around to leave the Pce as well. As long as Caen was alive, nothing else mattered. But he still couldn''t forget what he had seen on the frozen pond.

    The message was clear. It was a destiny that couldn''t be changed. Even after all this loss, it still wasn''t enough for fate. It was as if destiny wanted more bloodshed.

    It wasn''t the pond telling him to do anything. It was just the pond showing him the future. As for how he took that future, it was on him.

    ''I won''t let Caen die. I won''t fail my brother again. Even if I have to break all my previous bonds,'' he thought, his fists clenched tightly as he made up his mind.

    Out of the four children of fate in this era, only one could survive. And he wanted that one person to be Caen, no matter how obsessed Caen was with the throne.

    Unfortunately, that also brought Janus in a moral conflict. The Four Fated Children of this Era were Caen, Karyk, Gabriel andstly, Nyx.

    While he didn''t care much about Karyk and Gabriel after knowing that they weren''t actually rted to Chaos, but it was different for Nyx.

    Nyx was the son of someone that could easily be ssified as one of the strongest living beings in this era. Nyx''s father Ryder was the one who brought the antidote from Ezekiel and saved Caen. Unfortunately, for Caen to live, Nyx had to die.

    This alone was enough to emotionally break Janus. He had never expected toe across something like this. To save Caen, he had to forget his own past and betray Ryder. He had to forget the bond going thousands of years back

    "Uncle?" a soft voice interrupted Janus''s contemtion, causing him to turn and face Caen.

    "Yes?" Janus responded, his gaze fixed on Caen.

    Caen released his hands from the throne and slowly approached Janus, his movements filled with a sense of purpose.

    "Although the God Realm no longer exists, there is something important that I must share with you," Caen began, his voice filled with remorse.

    "As I reflect on my life, I realize that I have been consumed by an obsession with the throne. I had misunderstood your intentions, harboring hatred towards you for far too long. My emotions, fueled by envy and resentment, had blinded me," Caen confessed, his voiceden with regret. "I now understand that I was never deserving of the throne."

    Caen knelt before Janus, a profound act of humility. "I implore you, Uncle, to assume the throne. Though there may be no citizens left, I shall be dedicating my life to rebuilding our home. I believe that you are the one who should be the King."

    Janus simply looked at Caen, not knowing how to react. He thought Caen still had some small obsession with the throne, but seeing his actions, he realized that he had truly changed.

    "With how you are now, no one deserves the throne more than you." Janus ced his hand on Caen''s head. "And I promise, I will make sure that we won''t lose anything anymore! No matter what I have to do!"

    Janus only spoke a few sentences before turning around and leaving. Caen remained on his knees, watching Janus'' distant figure disappear.

    ****

    Janus left the Realm of Gods, but this time he didn''t forget to cast a spell around the Pce. This time, he didn''t want to be ignorant in case the Pce was attacked again.

    Only after making sure that he could get alerted if anything went wrong, did he leave.

    He went straight back to earth, the ce where he spent many years helping Ryder in the past.

    Thanks to the efforts of Janus and Ryder, Earth has been fully restored. Moreover, since themotion this time was too big and almost everyone on earth saw it, Ryder had no choice but to collectively erase everyone''s memories of the past few days.

    With that, the earth had returned to normalcy, or so everyone thought.

 Chapter 800 800

    Chapter 800800

    Janus appeared in front of a majestic mansion that was surrounded by beautifully manicured gardens and a towering wrought iron gate. The mansion exuded an air of opulence and grandeur, with itsrge columns and intricate architectural details.

    The entire neighborhood was under the ownership of a single person, and right in the heart of thismunity stood the grand mansion. It boasted the reputation of being the most securely secure ce on earth, with an extensivework of security personnel strategically stationed throughout the entire area.

    As soon as Janus appeared before the Mansion, many snipers had taken an aim on his head. However, none of them pulled the trigger as they recognised Janus as a family friend

    Moreover, they weren''t surprised with the fact that Janus had appeared out of thin air. Most of the security personnel had already be ustomed to such a scene. Moreover, they were also one of the rare few people whose memories hadn''t been erased.

    Although Janus didn''t look behind, but he could already see the snipers and their aim.

    He stepped forward to enter the mansion, the guards opening the door for him. However, before he could enter, he heard the sound of roaring engines.

    He nced around, noticing a sports car arriving from the he heard the sound of roaring engines.

    He nced around, noticing a sports car arriving from the distance. The sports car stopped right at the entrance of the mansion, the door opening.

    "Uncle Janus," a young man stepped out of the mansion, a pleasing smile on his face.

    "Nyx." Janus muttered, his heart feeling heavy. Just like he had seen Caen since his childhood, it was the same for Nyx.

    He had seen Nyx just recently, but this time, things were different. His heart was filled with great burden since he had to take the life of the young boy.

    He could easily do that at the moment, but the biggest problem was the father of the young man. If he was careless, then even if he killed Nyx, Caen was going to die.

    "What are you doing outside? Come on in. Father will be happy to see you." Janus tossed the key to one of the Guards, leaving him to park the car inside the mansion.

    At the same time, he tapped Janus'' shoulder, as if telling him to follow inside.

    Janus trailed behind Nyx, his heart in turmoil. Looking at Nyx''s back, he couldn''t help but feel as if he was back in the past with Ryder walking before him.

    All his emotions were in a mess, his mind going through the long years he apanied Ryder on earth.

    Although he never entered earth at that time, he had always been supporting a mere mortal, guiding him through the journey of bing stronger.

    The mere mortal was the reincarnation of Chaos, his brother. With Janus'' guidance, Ryder had walked on the path of slowly covering the journey from mortality to divinity.

    Janus had been extremely careful throughout this time to make sure that the Gods who had killed Chaos didn''t find out about the existence of the reincarnation known as Ryder.

    It was with Janus'' guidance that Ryder collected the Ability Stones that Chaos had left behind in preparation for the right time.

    Through that long andplicated journey, Janus hade to understand Ryder, realizing that although Ryder was the reincarnation of his brother, he was different at his core.

    He wasn''t just the shadow of his brother. Instead, Ryder had a life of his own. He had experience of his own. He had rtions on earth, he had his own thinking and his own learnings.

    Once the majority of ability stones were gathered, it was time for Chaos to take control of the reincarnated body. However, Chaos also understood that taking over Ryder''s life was no different than taking his life away.

    Chaos used the ability stones to separate himself from Ryder, without taking over Ryder. And thus, Chaos and Ryder became two different beings with one origin, simr to Karyk and Gabriel yet different in many ways.

    Following his separation, Chaos left earth to finish the task that was left pending with his death. He collected the remaining ability stones that he had created before, andpleted the Bracelet of Immortality.

    Chaos also brought the Goddess of Reincarnation back to life, whoter became his wife and gave birth to Caen.

    After he was ready, Chaos single-handedly waged war on the Realm of Gods, destroying half the gods in the process, forcing the rest to flee.

    The battle also took a heavy toll on Chaos when the Origin God who created the universe appeared before Chaos to stop him.

    With no other option, Chaos used the Bracelet of Immortality as a Sword, sealing the Origin God inside. Unfortunately, to hold the Origin God in und seal, Chaos also had to seal himself.

    Ever since then, there was no information about the whereabouts of the two and the Bracelet of Immortality, no matter how much Janus searched.

    By now, Janus had almost lost hope of ever finding the Bracelet of Immortality. Janus had experienced a devastating loss¡ª his brother was gone. Adding to the weight of his grief, he couldn''t save his brother''s wife either.

    In this sea of heartache, the sole remaining connection he had to his sibling was Caen, a rtionship he cherished and was determined to preserve.

    Even if he had to betray Ryder and kill Nyx, he was willing to do it.

    Nyx led Janus to the main door of the house. He opened the door, revealing the luxurious interior.

    "Uncle, are you alright? You seem a little distressed?" Nyx asked Janus, even without looking back.

    Just like his father, he was also a god with Divinity of his own. Moreover, thanks to his father possessing the abilities of another Origin God, he was also born with abilities that not many held.

    Although he couldn''t read Janus'' mind, but he could feel that his Uncle''s heart was in turmoil.

    "Is there anything I can help you with?" Nyx asked, seriously trying to help.

    "When the timees..." Janus replied, his words vague.

 Chapter 801 801: Selfish

    Chapter801 801: Selfish

    "Is your father in his room?" Janus asked Nyx, ncing toward the stairs.

    Previously, he could teleport inside the house and directly in Ryder''s room whenever he wanted. However, since thest time this ce was attacked, Ryder had changed a lot of things.

    Following the attack and worrying about the future safety of his family, Ryder had ced extra restrictions on his mansion, making it impossible for any Spatial Portal to open inside his mansion.

    Not only that but Ryder had also ced a lot of other restrictions around the mansion as if he was preparing for the unexpected. Even Janus had never seen Ryder this cautious in the past.

    "I''m not sure, but if he''s at home, then he''ll definitely be in his room. In recent days, he rarely leaves his room," Nyx exined. Although his words also contained a hint of his curiosity, but he didn''t ask his father about it.

    "I''ll meet him upstairs. You don''t have to escort me," Janus stated, telling Nyx to not be concerned about him.

    Although Nyx wanted to escort Janus to his father''s room personally, once Janus said that it wasn''t needed, he didn''t force it.

    Janus had been here many times so it was understandable that he didn''t need any help. He was no different than a family member after all. Nyx didn''t intend to make Janus feel like an outsider.

    "If you say so." He bid his farewell, not intending to be stubborn about it. "But don''t leave directly after meeting Father. Mother will be upset if you''re not at the dinner table with him."

    Nyx took a different direction, going towards the kitchen to inform his mother about the arrival of a new guest.

    Janus watched Nyx leave. He repeatedly apologized in his heart about what he was about to do. Taking a deep breath, Janus walked towards the stairs to meet Nyx''s father.

    Soon, he was on the first floor, standing before Ryder''s room. It was the same room in which Ryder had treated Caen when his life was hanging by the thread.

    In the room where Ryder had saved Caen, Janus had to take his life. As Janus stood outside Ryder''s room, he couldn''t help but feel a deep sense of sadness and conflict.

    He knew that his actions would bring pain to Nyx and his family, but he was convinced it was the only way to protect Caen from a future that no one could change. He had to kill Ryder first when he was unaware. Only after taking out Ryder could he kill Nyx without worrying about revenge.

    "Are you inside?" Gathering his will, he knocked on the door, waiting for Ryder to invite him in.

    Ryder''s voice echoed from within, "Come in."

    Janus turned the doorknob and stepped into the dimly lit room. The air between them was heavy with unspoken words as Janus tried to find the right moment to reveal his true intentions.

    Ryder sat behind arge mahogany desk, engrossed in his work. An ancient book was ced before him, on which he had circles a few blurry words.

    Putting the pen down, Ryder looked back at Janus. "You''re back. How''s Caen doing now? Did you face any other problems?"

    Janus forced a smile, his heart heavy with the weight of the impending task. "No other problems. The Realm of Gods ispletely vacant. Gabriel can''t be found anywhere, and without Ezekiel, things seem to be getting better now."

    "Caen has also changed for the better. I''ve decided to let him take the throne, although it''s insignificant at this point. But I believe that he will make for a good leader now," he stated, stepping closer to Ryder.

    "That''s true. I suppose your biggest problem about his temperament has been solved. Unfortunately, in the process, so many had to lose their lives."

    Ryder sighed, as he shifted his attention back to the book before him.

    "I met Nyx when I wasing here. He said that you don''t leave your room much nowadays? What have you been doing all this time?"

    Janus stopped right behind Ryder, looking over his shoulder to look at the ancient book on the table.

    "Nothing significant. I guess you can just say that I''ve been trying to solve my curiosity," Ryder answered, picking up the marker again.

    With the marker, he could mark anything in the book without actually touching or affecting the old pages. All the highlighters floated a millimeter above the

    Even as Ryder went through the page, he didn''t forget to ask, "What''s troubling you?"

    Janus took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. "Nothing. I''ve just been thinking about the future. I''ve lost so many things in life. And I don''t want to lose anymore."

    "Winning or losing isn''t in our control, is it? We can only try our best in this world. Even Gods can''t be convinced on how long they can live after all. One moment, you''re alive and on top of the world, and the next moment, you''re taking yourst breath," Ryder replied.

    "The world has always been cruel. Who could know better than you?" he asked, not thinking much about Janus'' words. It was understandable to feel down after losing all his family.

    "But if there was a way to ensure that you could protect the one you cherish the most, but you had to ruin someone else in the process?" Janus asked, his left hand behind his back. "Is it right to be selfish then?"

    A rusted ck knife appeared in his hand, that he had brought back from the Abyss.

    "If there was a way to save someone they cherish at the cost of someone else, then everyone would take that path. There''s nothing wrong with being a little selfish for our family after all," Ryder answered, not thinking much about Janus'' words.

    He marked another word at the bottom of the page.

    "Thank you for answering." Janus spoke, taking a deep breath. "And I''m sorry!"

    With slight push, he stabbed the rusted knife in Ryder''s back.

 Chapter 802 802

    Chapter 802802

    The rusty knife pierced through Ryder''s back, bing stained with his blood as it entered his flesh. Blood spilled from the wound, tainting his clothes in a deep shade of red.

    Simultaneously, Janus cast a soundproof barrier around the room, ensuring that no noise could escape its confines.

    In the blink of an eye, the bloodied knife waspletely gone, disappearing entirely.

    ****

    Janus watched Ryder slump forward, his body weakened by the unexpected attack. He had expected Ryder to fight back, or to defend himself, but instead, he simply copsed onto the desk, right above the book.

    The marker fell on the table, slowly rolling down before eventually falling off the table.

    Even Janus hadn''t foreseen the knife working so effectively. This particr de was one of the two knives created by his Elder Brother. He had never seen his brother use them either.

    All Janus knew was that his brother had always warned him to steer clear of the knife, saying that he would die if he got a cut from them.

    Janus was unaware of its full capabilities, but he had only heard some vague words from his brother that this knife possessed the power to y even their father.

    Upon hearing such an exnation, Janus had been shocked, worried that his brother had crafted the de with the intention of killing their father.

    Moreover, soon after, their father mysteriously vanished. And one of the two knives had also gone missing, never to be seen again.

    Janus had always suspected his brother of killing their father, yet he never asked Chaos about it since he loved his brother more than his father.

    Subsequently, a war erupted against Chaos, diverting his attention from the knife. After that moment, this was the first time he had ignored his brother''s words and held this knife.

    It was all to kill someone that he wasn''t confident about killing through normal means. However, no matter how highly he thought of the knife, he hadn''t expected it to work so well. For some reason, he felt that it was a bit too easy.

    At the back of his mind, he still felt that something was wrong. He didn''t know if he was being paranoid because he had killed Ryder with such ease.

    Janus gently rested his hand on Ryder''s shoulder, allowing his aura to flow into his lifeless body, ensuring that he had indeed died.

    As the energy enveloped Ryder, Janus sensed the absence of any signs of life. However, an unsettling sensation lingered within Janus, as if something was not quite right.

    With a heavy heart, Janus withdrew his hand, his eyes brimming with a mixture of sorrow and regret.

    "I never wanted it to end like this," he whispered, his voice filled with remorse. "Once all the threats for Caen have been removed and peace is restored, I promise to apany you to the afterlife, where I will personally seek forgiveness."

    Janus removed his hands, slowly leaving the room with heavy steps. With Ryder gone, he could now deal with the main problem. He could now kill the biggest obstruction in Caen''s life at the moment.

    ****

    "Do you have a way to enter the Central World?" Ezekiel asked Ryder and the Princess.

    He had been on this mission for a long time, but even he never knew of any way to enter the Central World without getting Aliac''s approval. If he knew, then he could''ve solved this problem a long time ago.

    In the past, he had tried many things to draw out Aliac from the Central World, but he had always failed. No matter what happened in the universe, Aliac never left his shell.

    He was sure that it was going to be even harder now since Aliac and Karyk had killed an Elzerian. Both of them should know what it meant.

    "If I had a way to enter, would I need to sacrifice my brother''s life to take this kid''s help?" the Princess of Elzeria snorted before ncing at Gabriel.

    "Do what you''re paid for," she spoke before taking out a hood that covered most of her face, hiding her Elzerian features and those peculiar eyes.

    The core of this entire operation was Gabriel. Although she was the Princess, her brother had given themand of the entire mission to Gabriel. In this mission, Gabriel was on an equal standing with her, if not higher.

    "If we can''t force our way in, we''ll make them invite us in," Gabriel replied, a n already in his mind.

    Along the way, he had thought a lot about it, wondering if he was doing the right thing. But whenever he thought about how easily Karyk abandoned him and his family, he was filled with anger and rage to the point that he wanted to crush Karyk.

    Gabrielnded in the Northern World. Amongst the three remaining worlds in the Upper Realm, it was the most prominent one. It was also the one that was most important other than the Central World.

    "You won''t say anything," Gabriel reminded the Princess onest time.

    The Princess and Ezekiel stepped behind Gabriel, both wondering how Gabriel was going to call Karyk and Aliac out.

    They essed the Portal that connected to Karyk''s undead army. Although the Undead Army was connected to Karyk, but for the most part, Karyk had left him with Gabriel.

    From the moment Gabriel met Ezekiel, he never used the Army as it was too weak at that point. But now, he had a use for that army.

    One after another, he called the Undead Generals out of the Undead Domain of Karyk.

    Although Gabriel was quite far from the nearest city, even then the aura of the Undead Army was strong enough to be felt throughout the continent.

    Within minutes, all the Undead Generals were in front of Gabriel, one of them being a face that he still hadn''t forgotten. It was Raphel that Gabriel himself had summoned.

    Amongst all the Generals created by Karyk, only Raphael felt his own to him.

    Gabriel told Raphel to stand behind him and close his eyes.

 Chapter 803 803

    <h4>Chapter 803 Chapter 803</h4>

    Gabriel called out the Undead Army that Karyk had created in his first life. This was the army that Karyk had gone far and wide to protect.

    He had spent the longest with his army as he had many of his Undead Generals from even before he met any of his acquaintances. Their loyalty to Karyk had never wavered, and simrly, his faith in them never wavered.

    Unlike Karyk, Gabriel didn''t have such a close bond with them. The only Undead General he cared about was Raphael who had saved his life on many asions.

    Gabriel stood silently before the Undead Generals that he had inherited from Karyk. For a moment, there was only silence.

    A sword appeared in Gabriel''s hands as he finally stepped towards the Undead Generals.

    Seeing Gabriel walk towards them with a sword, Raphael couldn''t understand what he was trying to do. However, he held his faith in Gabriel and didn''t ask any questions.

    Unfortunately, his faith came crashing down as his pupils dted the moment he watched Gabriel swing his sword.

    At that moment, one of the Undead Generals was cut in two halves. As if that wasn''t enough, his aura and soul was alsopletely destroyed by Gabriel.

    All the Undead Generals were stunned about the sudden attack. Yet despite that, they didn''t fight back.

    They were absolutely loyal to Karyk, and it was Karyk who had told them to support Gabriel and listen to him. They could''ve at least tried to fight back, but that was no different than going against Karyk''s words.

    Despite the unwillingness in their eyes, they remained still, even as Gabriel kept killing them one after another.

    "What are you doing?" Raphael couldn''t control himself as he stepped forward.

    "Unfortunately, as he took a step forward, he heard Gabriel''s shout, "Stay where you are!"

    Raphael''s body froze in ce. For some reason, he failed to recognise Gabriel anymore. This wasn''t the person that he had fought against the world with. He was somethingpletely unrecognizable.

    Gabriel also didn''t stop either. If possible, he also didn''t want to kill them for no reason. However, Karyk had cut his connection with him, so he couldn''t contact him any other way. This was the only way to send Karyk a message, a message that he couldn''t ignore.

    Even the Four Generals of the Upper Realm had been killed by him long ago. If that wasn''t the case, he could''ve at least taken their help to deliver a message. In a short time, all the Undead Generals of Karyk were killed, their existencepletely erased.

    Gabriel''s clothes were stained in blood, making him appear like a demon that had returned from a bloody battlefield.

    After killing all the Undead Generals, Gabriel turned around, his gazending on Raphael who was still looking at him in disbelief.

    "Do you hate me for killing your friends?" Gabriel asked a question as he walked back, blood dripping down his sword.

    Raphael didn''t answer but his eyes were enough for Gabriel to get his answer.

    "To save my family, I had to kill yours," Gabriel spoke, not asking for any forgiveness at all. "You can me me for an eternity, but if I was given the same choice again, I would do the same."

    "You''ve changed... you''ve fallen..." Raphael spoke, his voice carrying a hint of disappointment on what Gabriel had be.

    For a short moment, a strange sadness also flickered in Gabriel''s eyes but he immediately hid it.

    Instead, he smiled as he said, "Time and circumstances change everyone."

    As Gabriel was about to continue, he sensed something. With a wave of his hands, he opened a portal to the shadow realm right behind Raphel.

    His figure moved as he appeared right in front of Raphael with the speed that Raphael couldn''tprehend. Before Raphael could react, Gabriel''s kicknded on his chest sending him flying back inside the portal.

    Once Raphael entered the shadow realm, the portal closed.

    "If I survive, we''ll meet again," Gabriel softly muttered as he watched the shadow realm portal closed.

    He turned and looked at the sky, feeling that presence getting stronger. His expressions once again became colder as he realized who wasing.

    "It looks like my message was delivered properly..." Gabriel spoke, observing the sky getting darker.

    "He''sing." The Princess also frowned. Although she had never stood before that person before, through the mirror in her world, she had sensed a trace of that man''s aura. It was the same aura that could be felt now.

    "I don''t feel Aliac''s aura. If he''s noting..." she added, revealing a concerned expression.

    Although she knew that killing Karyk was the priority, they couldn''t forget Aliac either. She thought that with Gabriel, she''d be able to enter the Central World where they would finally take action. But things appeared to be changing.

    "We can''t fight here! We have to enter the Central World!" she reminded Gabriel. "If we can''t, then the deal won''t bepleted and Ezekiel won''t get his life back!"

    "The deal I remember was different. I just have to kill Karyk. And if your brother doesn''t want to payter, then I can only kill him as well!" Gabriel replied, not falling for her threats.

    He didn''t care about the sealed gate or the hatred between Elzerians and Aliac. He didn''t care what they had to do. All he cared about waspleting the deal that he had epted.

    In the deal, there was no mention of the Central World. The deal was an exchange of Karyk''s life for Ezekiel''s life and nothing else.

    "You!" The woman clenched her teeth in frustration. Not only was Gabriel rejecting her, but he was also threatening that he would kill her brother. She hated the fact that her brother had provided Gabriel with so much power, including the Talisman to get to him directly and his immortality.

    But she knew she couldn''t let her emotions get the best of her. Although things had deteriorated from what she thought was going to happen, but still they had to go through with killing Karyk. That was true priority.

    She covered her face with a mask just to be safe since Karyk had seen her sister who looked identical to him. Ezekiel also prepared to finally see the so-called brother of Gabriel, the one who could even frighten an Elzerian!

 Chapter 804 804

    Chapter 804804

    As the sky grew darker, the presence of the approaching figure became more palpable.

    Gabriel and the Princess stood side by side, their eyes locked on the horizon. The tension in the air was thick, as both of them knew what was about toe.

    Suddenly, a powerful gust of wind blew through the area, causing the trees to sway and the ground to tremble. A spatial crack formed in the middle, slowly getting bigger.

    The figure emerged from the spatial crack, his dark cloak billowing behind him. He exuded an aura of power and darkness that could send shivers down the spines of even gods.

    However, the person wasn''t alone. Right behind the person, another figure could be seening out of the portal.

    Behind the mask, the woman''s pupils trembled as she saw the person behind Karyk. The person was none other than Aliac, the man who had been the biggest obstruction in their path.

    The man who had always remained hidden in his world was nowing out in the open? She didn''t understand the reason. Did he finally gain courage? Or did he feel safe because Karyk was before him? She didn''t understand the reason, but a smile crept up her lips.

    She was excited that Aliac was here after a long time. They didn''t need to search for him.

    Ezekiel was also surprised by Aliac''s arrival. Although it was a good thing that they had managed to draw out Aliac, he realized that it wasn''t as good as the Princess imagined.

    This world wasn''t Elzeria where the power of elements was limited. This wasn''t the ce where Aliac was at his weakest. Instead, it was the upper realm where Aliac had ruled for decades. This was his domain and the equation here was different.

    It would''ve been different if Aliac was alone, but next to him was the person who was even more troublesome than him. They hade nning to kill Karyk, but there were two powerful enemies before them now. This made him even more cautious.

    Before them stood Aliac, the powerful ruler of the Upper Realm, apanied by Karyk who had just returned after killing an Elzerian.

    When Karyk hade out of the portal, his eyes had revealed a trace of happiness at the sight of Gabriel. He had thought that Gabriel was dead, but after seeing him, he felt relieved that Gabriel was alive. However, soon his eyes shifted on the Undead Generals that had been ughtered, his happiness disappearing.

    He cherished the Undead Warriors akin to his family. The only reason he even gave them to someone else was because he had faith in Gabriel. However, seeing the gruesome sight, his fists subconsciously clenched.

    If they were just killed, he could''ve still revived them, but their soul itself was destroyed, leaving nothing behind that could be brought back, even in the form of Undead.

    "Who did it?" he asked, barely controlling his rage.

    Even now, Karyk didn''t think that Gabriel did it. He and Gabriel shared the memories of the past when they were one. So he was sure that Gabriel should''ve also cared for them, just like he did.

    There was no way Gabriel was going to kill them. So that left him with only one possibility. Someone else killed them.

    Unfortunately, he soon understood that this possibility was also wed.

    "There are no signs of battle. It''s like they didn''t even try to fight back," Aliac exined, observing the surroundings.

    No matter how much Karyk wanted to reject the possibility, but all signs pointed to the same thing. There was only one person here that his Undead Warriors wouldn''t even try to fight back, even when they were killed.

    "Why...?" he asked, his voice filled with mixed sorrow. He couldn''t understand why Gabriel killed them.

    He waved his hand. The aura of death arose from the ground beneath the bodies of the Undead, devouring their bodies, sending them to be buried in the realm of death where they could get eternal sleep.

    Although he couldn''t save them, he also couldn''t let them be dishonored like this.

    "Oh? So you still remember me?" Gabriel asked in response. "I thought now that you''ve be friends with big people, you''d be asking who I am."

    Karyk didn''t understand what Gabriel was talking about. He felt that Gabriel was like apletely different person now from what he remembered.

    "That''s not the answer to my question. Why did you kill them?!" Karyk asked, his voice getting louder.

    On the side, Aliac''s attention remained on Ezekiel and the masked woman next to Gabriel.

    He had a feeling that this had something to do with them. Something seemed amiss in this ce, as if all of this was intentional and they knew that they were going toe here after killing Karyk''s men.

    "You brought us here intentionally. What''s your purpose?" Aliac intervened, asking the question that he believed truly mattered.

    "Do I need a purpose to want to meet my dear brother?" Gabriel responded with a question of his own, as if deflecting the topic.

    "You brought my men''s blood as a greeting gift?" Karyk asked, his rage slowly crossing the threshold, his aura bing increasingly intense.

    Karyk''s aura of death spread out. Wherever his aura touched, all traces of life were devoured, even from barrennd.

    Gabriel, seemingly unfazed by the anger radiating from Karyk, maintained a calm demeanor.

    "Oh? So you can still feel emotions for your loved ones?" he asked, his eyes narrowing slightly. "It seems some Undead are more precious to you than real family."

    Although he was angry at Karyk before he even came here, he felt truly furious now.

    Karyk was furious over the death of Undead, to the point that he was almost ready to fight him. But simrly, when their world was destroyed and everything was taken from him by Caen, he sat back in the Central World, enjoying life with Caen? Just the thought alone made Gabriel furious.

 Chapter 805 805: Traitor Amidst

    Chapter805 805: Traitor Amidst

    "If I don''t hear a good enough reason for you killing them, things will get bad," Karyk, although having some goodwill for Gabriel, didn''t care about Gabriel as much as he did for his sister.

    Gabriel was created from a fragment of his soul. For Karyk, he was just as much a part of his family as his own sister, but not enough to be allowed to take his people from him.

    He had heard that Gabriel was dead, but not only was he alive, but he returned to do something like this?

    "What if I don''t answer?" Gabriel asked, stepping closer to Karyk. Both his hands remained behind his back, from which he gestured to the Princess and Ezekiel to get ready to attack.

    He stepped merely half a master away from Karyk, looking in his eyes.

    "Then I''ll have to take back the fragment of soul that I granted you. Someone like you won''t deserve a life," Karyk spoke, his expression stern.

    He truly didn''t want Gabriel to disappear. Because of being associated with him since birth, Gabriel had lost so many things in life. Because of his Element, Gabriel was made to be the enemy of his world. His friends had turned into his enemies, leaving him alone until he created a new life for himself.

    Although Gabriel was his second life, and a means to an end that wasn''t supposed to be an independent life, but after this happened, Karyk had started thinking of him as a different life form who had suffered for him. For that, he even wanted topensate Gabriel.

    He wanted to give Gabriel the happiness and family that he had lost. He wanted Gabriel to live an ordinary life.

    That''s also why he had gone with the Generals, taking all the risks while sending his army to protect Gabriel. If anything was putting their life on the line for his revenge, he wanted it to be him and not Gabriel.

    Unfortunately, things had started deteriorating from the moment they had separated. And now Gabriel feltpletely unrecognizable.

    He didn''t know what Gabriel went through as their soul connection was broken the moment he entered the Ancestral Temple. But no matter what, he couldn''t forgive Gabriel for what he did.

    Even now, he held himself back because he wanted Gabriel to give him a reason. In some corners of his heart, he still hoped that Gabriel had a valid reason and this wasn''t intentional.

    "The reason? It''s because of you. It''s all because of you!" Gabriel yelled, anger shing in his eyes. "You think I wanted things to end up like this? You think I wanted to lose my sister and my world?"

    " I didn''t have the strength to stop it but you... You could''ve done something! You could''ve saved them! Instead, you let it happen! Instead, you let the killer roam free! Instead, you worked with our enemies as if they were your friends!".The more he said, the louder his voice became.

    "I can never forgive you for what you did! Although Caen was the weapon who took everything from me, you are just as big a culprit!"

    Tears welled up in Gabriel''s eyes as he struggled to find the right words.

    "If I''ve lost everything, why should you have anything left? I will take everything from you! Just like everything was taken from me! I''ll make you end up with nothing, not even your life!"

    Hearing Gabriel''s words, Karyk was taken aback. He could understand a lot of things from Gabriel''s words. It was only now that he realized what was wrong.

    This was their first time meeting after separation, so Gabriel didn''t know that their sister and the Holy Priestess of Summoning were brought back to life by him. In Gabriel''s eyes, he was the culprit. Just like Gabriel was hurt, he wanted to hurt Karyk.

    Although Karyk was still in pain over the loss of his undead allies that had been with him for thousands of years, he couldn''t me Gabriel for it either.

    Karyk let out a tired sigh as he turned around, showing his back to Gabriel. "Come with me. I have something to show you."

    He gestured towards Aliac, who understood what he meant. Gabriel couldn''t be convinced with just words. Hence he wanted Gabriel to see everyone safe and alive with his own eyes.

    Aliac opened the portal to the Central World, understanding that it was all because of a misunderstanding. "We can return."

    Once the portal to the Central World opened, Aliac entered first to stabilize the Portal from the other side.

    Karyk looked at the portal, waiting for it to be stabilized.

    Meanwhile, Gabriel pulled out a dagger behind him as he stepped towards Karyk. For him, this was the perfect opportunity to finish the mission. However, before he could attack, he felt a hand grab his wrist, stopping him from using the dagger.

    Gabriel red at the woman who had stopped him, sending a Mental Transmission. "What do you think you''re doing?"

    "You can''t kill him yet! Can''t you see he''s taking us to the Central World? Once we''re there, we both can get what we want. Moreover, he''s still trusting you. You can kill him at any time!" the Princess informed Gabriel, firmly keeping his knife behind his back.

    After the portal was finished, Karyk turned around to find the hooded woman sticking close to Gabriel. He couldn''t help but shake his hands, finding their intimacy quite telling.

    "It looks like the other girl is going to be quite disappointed to find that he already has another woman," he softly muttered, but Gabriel''s love life wasn''t his concern.

    He stepped inside the portal after telling Gabriel to follow him inside if he wanted to get to the truth.

    Once Karyk disappeared inside the portal, Gabriel pushed the Princess aside. "Next time, don''t you dare interfere with my matters!"

    The dagger disappeared in his hands while Gabriel also entered the portal. Although there was a slight dy, for him, the oue was still the same.

    The Princess red, watching Gabriel disappear. ''Just wait until your use is over! Then I''ll show you what it means to hit me!''

    She also entered the Portal, followed by Ezekiel. After such a long wait, he was finally able to enter the Central World.

 Chapter 806 806: Aghast

    <h4>Chapter 806 Chapter 806: Aghast</h4>

    After waiting for so long, Ezekiel finally stepped inside the Central World. It was the same for Gabriel and the Princess of Elzeria.

    Many had only known about the existence of this ce, but none knew what it was from inside. Some thought it was some heavenly City inside the Central World. Others thought it was a world filled with treasure all around. However, it only remained a guess for many.

    After entering the Central World, Gabriel and the others observed their surroundings. This ce wentpletely against their expectations. It was nothing like they thought.

    The Central World was apletely barren world. In the entire world, only the Majestic Pce in the center was worth paying attention to. There was nothing else beside that, except a small house behind the Pce.

    The Princess was certain that the Pce belonged to Aliac. She was also sure that what she was looking for was inside the Pce. However, what she didn''t understand was that house behind the Pce.

    She wondered who it belonged to. She couldn''te to ept that the house belonged to Karyk. With the kind of strength and importance Karyk had shown, even Aliac couldn''t ignore him. So it didn''t make sense to her for Aliac to not give a simr sized pce to Karyk.

    Moreover, why was the other house so close to the pce? Instead of just being an ordinary residence, she thought that it looked more like this was to protect the house behind. With time, she grew curious as to what was inside the house.

    Karyk and Aliac walked towards the Pce. Gabriel and the others followed behind, all expecting to be taken inside the pce. However, the Princess and Ezekiel were most surprised when Karyk and Aliac walked past the pce. Instead, they went towards the smaller house behind.

    Although the house looked smallpared to the Pce in the center, its size wasn''t small in the least. It was just that the pce was huge.

    Moreover, the security mechanisms around the house were just as strong as the Pce.

    Karyk stopped before the barrier that he himself cast around the mansion.

    "Go on inside," Karyk stepped aside, opening a path for Gabriel to enter and watch with his own eyes.

    Frowning, Gabriel passed through the barrier, remaining alert as he assumed it to be some trap.

    The Princess and Ezekiel also tried to follow Gabriel, but they were stopped by Karyk.

    "You two will stay here," he told the two before passing through the barrier as well. "From this point on, it''s between us."

    Ezekiel''s fist tightened, as he worried for Gabriel''s safety. He only calmed down when Gabriel gestured for him to stop.

    "Don''t move from here if you don''t want to end up in a mess," Aliac told Ezekiel before he also ran after Karyk and Gabriel.

    He didn''t know if Gabriel had the same ability as Karyk to be able to kill an Elzerian. In any case, he wanted to make sure that everything went well between Karyk and Gabriel.

    Before long, Gabriel opened the door and stepped inside, disappearing in the house. It was the same for Karyk and Aliac.

    The Princess and Ezekiel were left behind, without anyone to keep an eye on them.

    "These idiots. Did they think I''ll listen to them?'' the Princess smuglyughed as she brought a crystal from her storage.

    She crushed the crystal that transformed into my multiple specks of light, which soon took the form of a girl who lookedpletely identical to the girl and also wore the same clothes.

    "Don''t let anyone touch it or this clone will disappear. And if they return, try to dy them for as long as possible," the Princess told Ezekiel as she left, going to the main pce.

    Ezekiel wanted to call out to her to stop her, but he controlled himself, worried that he might alert the others if he tried anything.

    In any case, he was more worried about Gabriel and had no time to babysit her.

    In the meantime, the Princess reached the entrance of the Main Pce. She pushed the main entrance open, taking her first step inside the pce, her eyes serious and looking around everywhere in search.

    She was determined to find the sealing door that Aliac used to enter her world and destroy it. This was the mission she had received from her brother. Once the door was broken, nothing could stop them from entering this universe and achieving their long cherished dream.

    The Princess didn''t know exactly where the door was, but she believed that it was at a ce that would''ve been the hardest to reach.

    She made up her mind to start from the basement, but she didn''t forget to check every room along the way.

    Just as she was near the stairways, she opened the door of one of the rooms. However, this time, she froze at the entrance as he saw what was inside the room.

    "How is this..." Her expressions were filled with disgust.

    ****

    Gabriel had entered the house, prepared for any trap. He was even ready to fight back in case there was an attack. However, what he saw made him freeze as well.

    Inside the room, he saw a woman, sitting on the couch and practicing her summoning skills. The girl was none other than the Holy Priestess of Summoning.

    If there was someone on earth that he could call his supporter, it was her. However, he had thought that she died as well.

    While he was still in shock, he saw another woman enter the room.

    The woman looked at Gabriel, eximing excitedly. "Brother, you''re back!"

    Excitedly, the young girl ran to Gabriel, as if a child weing her favorite person in the family.

    "You? It''s impossible!" Gabriel eximed, his face aghast as he stepped back subconsciously.

    Moving back, he hit Karyk who was standing behind him.

    The girl also saw Karyk, stunned as well to find two people, both looking like her brother.

    "How can you be alive? I heard that..." Gabriel mumbled in disbelief. "That''s right! It can''t be reality! You''re an illusion!"

 Chapter 807 807: Torn

    <h4>Chapter 807 Chapter 807: Torn</h4>

    Gabriel reached out his slightly trembling hands, gently touching Zena''s cheeks. It was only after he touched her that he was able to confirm about her being his sister. She wasn''t an illusion but a real person.

    "How are you... alive?" he asked. "I thought you..."

    He looked behind Zena and saw the Holy Priestess of Summoning Avilia also looking at him.

    Unlike Zena, Avilia knew about Gabriel separating from Karyk as she noticed the changes in Karyk and asked. Just like Karyk, she had also thought that Gabriel had died.

    Unlike Zena, she understood why there were two Karyk. The other was the person she had known for much longer. It was Gabriel, and he was alive. From his words, she also understood that he had thought they were dead.

    "So he''s still alive. Looks like we were all wrong about him," the Goddess of Nature Eia walked over next to Karyk. She had seen how down Karyk was about Gabriel''s death. With his return, she was certain he could lower his burden.

    The Demigod of Strength Alion also startedughing. "I knew nothing could happen to you. Where were you all this time?"

    He had known Gabriel for even longer than Avilia and the others as he had always been watching over the young man to make sure he didn''t die in his early days. Seeing him back, he felt as if the missing puzzle piece was also in its ce again.

    Zena looked at Karyk, momentarily stunned and unable toprehend why there were two brothers there. She also didn''t understand what the others were talking about.

    At that moment, Alion stepped forward. He understood that Gabriel was just as confused as Zena.

    "Looks like an exnation is in order." He ced his hand on Gabriel''s shoulder like a friend, taking him to the couch.

    Karyk tapped Zena''s shoulder and gestured for her to follow. Curiosity piqued, Zena followed.

    After making Gabriel and Zena sit down, Alion Alion started exining how Gabriel had separated from Karyk. He exined everything that he had personally heard from Karyk about the journey from the moment Karyk and Gabriel left their world to the moment they separated as two entities.

    He also talked about how Karyk was caught in the ancient temple and couldn''te out for the time being, only to find out that Gabriel had died when he returned.

    After that, he told Gabriel how Karyk went to their destroyed world and brought Avilia back to life. He also exined how Karyk saved Zena and them from the adjacent realm.

    He intentionally skipped the part about Zena''s mind beingpletely broken at that moment as he didn''t want anyone to be reminded of that moment.

    An unknown amount of time passed. Alion had finished his exnation. After the exnation, Gabriel spent some time with Zena and the others.

    He even spent time with Novious and Cylix, who had been like his brothers and teachers back in the tower of challenges. It was as if everyone that he cared about was safe and in this ce.

    At that moment, he felt very conflicted. He realized that he had misunderstood Karyk a lot. The man wasn''t truly enjoying life with the enemies. Instead, the truth was that Aliac was never the enemy, at least not directly.

    Moreover, it wasn''t that Karyk didn''t feel bad about their sister and others'' deaths. Instead, he had saved them and he had always kept them with him.

    The only thing was that he didn''t try to get revenge on Caen, but that was also because Karyk was busy saving Zena and then distracted by the matters rted to Elzeria.

    Unable to take it anymore, Gabriel walked away from the others, as if looking for a moment of privacy.

    He reached the balcony of the house, and looked into the distance where Ezekiel was standing.

    Ezekiel asked him in gestures if he was fine. Gabriel could only nod his head, but his eyes remained distracted.

    "It would''ve been so much better if you were as bad as I thought you would be," he mumbled, thinking about Karyk.

    He felt truly torn. On one side, there was Ezekiel whose life was on the line. On the other side was Karyk, the person who was Zena''s real brother and the one she cared about the most.

    If he killed Karyk, he would take a brother from Zena. But if he didn''t kill Karyk, he would lose Ezekiel.

    "What am I supposed to do here? What should I do now?"

    His mind had never been this conflicted before. It was already a hard enough decision to decide to kill Karyk but now all this happened.

    "What should you do about what?" While Gabriel was lost in thought, Karyk''s voice came from behind.

    Startled, Gabriel turned around to see Karyk standing there, his expression a mix of concern and confusion.

    Gabriel took a deep breath, trying topose himself. He couldn''t let Karyk sense his internal struggle.

    "Just...just thinking about some things," Gabriel replied, his voice slightly down.

    "Are those two of your friends?" Karyk asked, looking at Ezekiel and the Clone of the Princess in the distance.

    Gabriel nodded. At least it was true for Ezekiel. "More like family."

    "I see." Karyk muttered. "It''s good to have friends that you can consider your family. The Undeads you killed were also like my family. Unfortunately..."

    Gabriel didn''t know how to respond. It wasn''t just the Undeads that he killed. He couldn''t tell Karyk that his aim ining here was to kill him.

    Karyk sighed, his voice carrying a slight trace of sadness as he thought about the ones he had lost.

    "Nothing can be done about that. And I won''t me you. But it''s only for Zena''s sake. You''re as much a brother to her as me. Make sure to never disappoint her. If you do that, I won''t forgive you."

    After he finished, he turned around and went back in, but not before leaving a sentence behind. "One more thing, you can call your ''family'' in as well."

    "I won''t ask for your forgiveness. Because what I''m destined to do, I don''t think I''ll ever deserve it," Gabriel muttered, taking another nce at Ezekiel.

 Chapter 808 808

    <h4>Chapter 808 Chapter 808</h4>

    In one world, a brother was against a brother to save the life of a stranger who had be no less than his family. Meanwhile in another world, a friend had killed his friend, all to protect his nephew.

    After killing Ryder, Janus left the room, closing the door behind him. With slightly hesitant steps, he went down the stairs. With Ryder''s death only Nyx was left to kill.

    After Janus reached downstairs, he caught the attention of Ryder''s wife.

    "I was just about toe upstairs to call you both. The dinner is ready," the seemingly kind woman told Janus. "You can take the seat. I''ll call him down."

    "There''s no need to call him down. I just met him. And he told me to convey that he won''t be having dinner tonight. He''s immersed in some research and doesn''t want to take any time off," Janus told the woman, worried that she might find the lifeless body in the room.

    Unfortunately woman was like his sister inw. He didn''t want to see her broken after finding out about her husband''s death. That''s why Janus had nned to leave before she could find out, all because he couldn''t ept the guilt at this moment.

    As he spoke, his expressions were slightly off. However, the woman didn''t think much about it. She just thought that Janus was a little down since so much had happened recently.

    "He''s always like that. Is his research more important than his family? To think that he''s noting down even when we have a guest. Let me talk to him!" The woman insisted on going upstairs, slightly annoyed at Ryder.

    "Don''t!" Janus eximed.

    The woman was slightly taken aback by Janus'' tone getting louder.

    Fortunately, Janus further exined himself. "I-i mean please don''t disturb him. I already talked to him and it''s fine. Let him work. I''d feel bad if you forced him toe down, interrupting him."

    "You''re still so considerate. Alright. Let him be. Youe and have dinner. The others are already at the table."

    Janus followed the woman to the dining room, his mind racing with guilt and sadness. He couldn''t shake off the image of Ryder''s lifeless body from his mind, the blood staining the floor. But he had made a choice, a difficult one, to protect his nephew.

    For that, he was willing to kill anyone, especially the three fated stars that threatened Caen''s future like Karyk, Gabriel and Nyx.

    As he sat down at the table, surrounded by Ryder''s son, daughter and wife, Janus couldn''t help but wish that things had been a little different.

    The familyughed and chatted, unaware of the tragedy that had unfolded just moments ago. It was as if their world continued to spin, oblivious to the darkness that had crept into Janus'' heart.

    Throughout the dinner, Janus struggled to keep hisposure. Every smile, every conversation felt like a facade, masking the truth and the burden he now carried. He tried to engage in small talk, to distract himself from the overwhelming guilt, but his mind kept drifting back to the room where Ryder''s life had been abruptly taken away.

    As the night wore on, and the meal came to an end, Janus stood up, approaching Nyx.

    "Do you want to take a short walk?"

    Nyx, not thinking much about it, agreed to the suggestion. It wasn''t often he got to talk to Janus after all. Moreover he knew that Janus, despite looking like a young kid, was even older than his father.

    Janus led Nyx outside, away from the prying eyes and curious ears of the rest of the family. They walked in silence for a while, the weight of actions hanging heavy in the air.

    Nyx,pletely oblivious to Janus'' intentions, kept talking to him, asking him about various things like the past of his father. He knew some things about his father''s past, but there were a lot of things that his father never talked about.

    He wanted to know about the Ancient God who was named Nyx, just like him. He wanted to know why he got the blessings, and how that ancient God and Ryder had be such good friends that Ryder gave his name to his son.

    Along the way, Janus didn''t hide anything either. It was as if he wanted to tell Nyx everything, since this was thest night of his life.

    While walking through the empty street, he told Nyx everything about Ryder''s past. He even talked about his Brother Chaos, who was the reason behind Ryder''s existence.

    Hearing the story from Janus, Nyx grew fascinating. His father was his idol and he knew that his father was powerful, but even he didn''t know that his father had done so much in his life, from being the reincarnation of Chaos to bing a friend of Ancient God Nyx, to killing various gods who descended to kill him.

    "And that''s when you were kidnapped and the entire war of Celestial Realm began. Although it was a day of celebration since we retrieved Heaven, but it was also a day of sadness," Janus stated. "It was a day where I had lost my brother, and the day Caen lost his father before even being born. That day I promised myself that I''ll forever protect Caen."

    "You are a good person," Nyx stated, his heart feeling heavy and sad about everything that happened in the past.

    "No I''m not. I''m not a good person at all. Instead, I''m a devil who will do anything to achieve my goals. So please, never forgive me!" Janus stated.

    Nyx looked at him in confusion, wondering what he was talking about.

    "I think we should get back. We''ve almost reached the end of the city." Noticing the end of the city, Nyx stopped. He turned around, telling Janus to return with him.

    As he showed his back to Janus, a knife appeared in Janus'' hands.

    ''I am sorry!'' Janus thought, before lunging with his knife.

 Chapter 809 809

    <h4>Chapter 809 Chapter 809</h4>

    As soon as Nyx turned around, he sensed a heavy killing intent, that was like a Tsunami that had rushed to him in an instant.

    Before he could even react, the knife was merely a few inches away from his flesh. However at thest moment, Janus stopped before his de could touch Nyx''s flesh.

    Nyx also reacted by now, his figure disappearing. He appeared a few meters away, his face pale. He couldn''t believe his eyes as he looked back at Janus in disbelief.

    "Were you testing my reaction speed, Uncle Janus?" he thought, trying to find a logical exnation.

    He knew that he waste. If Janus hadn''t stopped, he would''ve been stabbed. So he thought that Janus never had an intention of truly hurting him.

    Unfortunately, looking at Janus'' face, he realized that he was wrong. In fact, Janus wasn''t even looking at him. He was looking behind Nyx.

    Nyx also turned around, looking behind him. Since he couldn''t feel any presence, he didn''t know who was behind him. It was only after he turned that he understood.

    "Father?"

    The person behind him was none other than his father. However, as Nyx lowered his gaze, he noticed that his father was holding onto a person by his throat.

    "Caen?" he muttered, growing even more confused. Caen was unconscious and his next was in his father''s hands.

    He didn''t understand what was happening. Weren''t all of them on good terms until recently? Then why? Why did his Uncle try to kill him? And why was his father treating Caen like that?

    His expressions kept shifting between shock, disbelief, confusion and anger as he tried toprehend the scene unfolding before him.

    Nyx''s mind raced, desperate to find an exnation for his father''s actions. Taking a deep breath, he finally found the courage to speak up.

    "Father, what''s going on?" Nyx asked cautiously, his voice revealing his surprise.

    His father turned his piercing gaze towards him, his grip.

    "That''s a good question," Ryder said before ncing at Janus. "Are you going to exin?"

    "What did you do to him?" Janus asked, his hands trembling at the sight of Caen. The only reason he still hadn''tpletely lost his senses was that he could see his nephew was still breathing.

    "Don''t worry. He''s alive... for now." Ryder spoke, yet his voice carried a hint of disappointment.

    "Return him to me! If anything happens to him, I''ll-"

    "You''ll what? You''ll kill me?" Ryder added before Janus could even finish his sentence. "Like you tried to in the past?"

    As he spoke, his grip around Caen''s throat tightened. "I never expected that you of all people would try to do something like this. After all I did for you?"

    "He has nothing to do with it! It was all my decision! He didn''t know anything! If you want to kill anyone, kill me!" Janus roared, almost pleading Ryder, the dagger falling to the ground as he dropped to his knees.

    "Father...?" Nyx called out, his mind getting only more chaotic. His father was actually going to kill the son of his brother? He didn''t know what to feel about that.

    "Don''t ask me to let him go! I have always been thinking that Janus is like my brother! But I keep forgetting! For him, I''m not even close to Chaos! Even after all we went through, he didn''t think twice before turning around and trying to backstab me?!"

    Ryder wasn''t in a mood to listen either. He had always stayed out of the matters of heaven, only focusing on earth and his family.

    He wasn''t greedy for power, but what he wanted was the safety and prosperity of his family. And Janus was trying to take his family for him?!

    The moment Janus came to the mansion, he had already sensed a trace of killing intent, no matter how well Janus tried to hide it. However, he refused to believe it.

    He didn''t want to believe that Janus could mean harm to his family. However, for his family, he still decided to observe. He created a clone of himself while staying hidden in the room, observing everything.

    The moment Janus stabbed his clone, he couldn''t believe his eyes. If he wasn''t certain that this was the reality, he would''ve thought that this was a dream.

    The moment Janus asked Nyx to follow him, Ryder understood what his true intentions were and why he tried to kill him. In that moment, Ryder broke his promise and interfered in the matters of the Realm of Gods.

    "Don''t punish an innocent person for my mistakes! It was all my fault! I was jealous of you and your child! I wanted to kill you both and take your Divinity to be stronger! I lost my mind to my greed! Kill me, but let him go!" Janus'' voice grew louder as he pleaded.

    He didn''t even try to move, worried that Ryder was going to kill Caen. Instead, he gave an excuse to take all the me on himself. He couldn''t dare to tell Ryder about the prophecy, certain that Ryder was going to kill Caen if he came to know that of the four children, only one could live!

    Ryder didn''t know Janus''s true intentions behind trying to kill Nyx. However, he could feel that Janus was lying right now! If he wanted to steal their Divinity, why didn''t he try to steal his after ''killing'' him in the bedroom?

    He could also feel that Janus'' face was filled with guilt, as if he didn''t want to do it but he had no choice either. There was only one thing that could force him to do something like this. It was his love for Caen.

    "You know, I can forgive anything. I could even forgive you trying to kill me, or take all my wealth and Divinity. However, when your weapon is aimed at my child, that''s something I can never forgive." Ryder spoke, his expressions darkening.

    In this moment, he wasn''t thepassionate person who was willing to let Caen go despite the fact that Caen killed so many people on earth. Instead, this time he appeared quite demonic.

    He wanted his hand. A spatial aura surrounded Nyx, sending him back home, not wanting him to see what happened next. However, before Nyx disappeared, he heard a cracking noise.

 Chapter 810 810: True Worth

    <h4>Chapter 810 Chapter 810: True Worth</h4>

    In the Upper Realm, Gabriel had made up his mind. If he had to choose one person between Karyk and Ezekiel, no matter how hard this choice was, his answer was clear.

    With a heavy heart, Gabriel followed Karyk back into the house, his mind still grappling with the weight of his decision. He couldn''t shake off the conflicting emotions that tore at him.

    On one hand, he wanted to protect Ezekiel. On the other hand, he couldn''t ignore the bond he had with Karyk, the undeniable connection they shared as brothers.

    As Gabriel reentered the living room, he found Karyk engaged in a conversation with Avilia, Eia, and Alion. Unlike the past, he truly felt like this was a family which he could''ve been a part of.

    However, unlike him, Ezekiel had no family. He only had him.

    Without speaking anything, Gabriel slowly retreated, leaving the house.

    Karyk noticed Gabriel leaving but he didn''t stop him. He thought Gabriel was going to call Ezekiel and the girl inside.

    He could also see Avilia''s gaze resting on Gabriel. She had so much to talk about but she held back. It was unclear if she was just shy or she felt that she wasn''t worthy anymore as she was the weakest here.

    Out in the darkness, Gabriel approached Ezekiel.

    He told Ezekiel everything that happened inside, not hiding anything at all.

    "We can still go back. We don''t have to go through with the n." Ezekiel stated as Gabriel returned. He could see some sadness on the young man''s face.

    He understood that it was because Gabriel still cared for those people. And for his life, he didn''t want to take Gabriel''s other family from him.

    "You know, in this life, one can get anything. However, it''s only after losing some things that we truly realize the worth of them. It was the case when I lost my family. I could do anything to get them back, but time can''t be turned back," Ezekiel said, cing his hand on Gabriel''s shoulder.

    "You have a family, one that truly seems to care for you. Don''t lose them only to have regrets."

    Gabriel looked at Ezekiel, but before he could say anything, Ezekiel continued. "I''ve lived a long life. And this life had been anything but beautiful. I''ve gotten tired of life. So maybe it''s for the better if I were to die. I could sleep in peace and return to my family in the afterlife."

    "I don''t want to lose you!" Gabriel spoke, his fists tightened.

    Ezekiel ruffled Gabriel''s hair as he smiled. "Who said you''re losing me? Won''t I always be alive in your memories? Moreover, what after five years even if it seeds? We''ll only dy the inevitable. You''re destined for a long life while I''m destined for a long awaited death.''

    Although he had heard Gabriel say that he hated Karyk, when Gabriel returned he had sensed the conflict in his eyes. And after hearing the story, he understood that it was a misunderstanding which was normal in families.

    "I don''t want to lose you either... I don''t want you to die!" Gabriel spoke, his voice breaking.

    No matter how strong he projected himself to be, deep inside he was just a young man who never had the love of family.

    "I will kill him! I will do it!" Gabriel spoke, not even realizing that tears were already streaming down his cheeks.

    "Will you? So you''ll take a brother from your sister? Won''t she hate you? Do you really want to lose her? Don''t be stubborn. You have an answer on what you have to do. You''re not killing anyone! And as far as my life is concerned, what if I won''t live for a few more years? Even if I''m to live a few more days, I''ll make it worthwhile!"

    Ezekiel didn''t show any fear of death. Instead he revealed a smile as if he was perfectly happy.

    "So, aren''t you going to introduce your family to this old man?"

    Gabriel felt torn, but in the end, he knew that this was for the best. He had to let Ezekiel go. Even if he killed Karyk, none of them were going to be happy. It was true that a few moments of happiness were better than an eternity of sadness.

    Gabriel dropped to his knees before Ezekiel, lowering his head. "You are, and you will always be my family."

    "A man should never bow his head to anyone," Ezekiel grabbed Gabriel''s shoulder, helping him up.

    He was about to enter the mansion with Gabriel when he suddenly realized something. He looked at the clone of the Princess in the distance.

    Although they had dropped their n, but that didn''t mean that the girl had done the same. It was only now he started worrying about where she had gone!

    "Dammit! This is bad! If she opens the door, then this world..." Thinking to this point, his expressions darkened.

    "We have to stop that girl before she destroys the sealing door!" he spoke as he ran towards the Mansion in the distance. "Go and inform Karyk and Aliac! I''ll try to stop her!"

    Gabriel also realized that something was wrong. It was only when he focused on the girl that he realized it was just a clone and not the real her.

    "That fool!" He ran towards the mansion to inform Aliac. Only Aliac could take him to the door faster since he knew where it was. They didn''t have time to search every floor for her!

    Pushing the door open, Gabrielnded inside the house. Karyk and everyone also looked at him, frowning.

    "I don''t have time to exin! The girl who came with me is going to destroy the sealing door! We have to stop her!" he eximed.

    Most people in the room didn''t know what sealing door he was talking about. However Aliac and Karyk understood, their expressions darkening.

    ....

    While Gabriel informed everyone, Ezekiel had already run inside the Main Pce, searching for the girl.

 Chapter 811 811: Loss

    Chapter811 811: Loss

    Ezekiel raced through the grand halls, his footsteps echoing in the empty corridors. The urgency in his heart pushed him forward, urging him to find her before it was toote.

    Fortunately, along the way, he was able to find some of her traces. He followed the faint remnants of her magical energy, leading him to the basement. As he turned a corner, he caught sight of a figure disappearing into one of the side rooms.

    Ezekiel quickened his pace, his eyes focused on the door ahead. Bursting into the room, he found the woman standing in front of arge, ornate door. She had a determined look on her face, her hand reaching out to touch the intricate carvings.

    "No!" Ezekiel shouted, his voice filled with desperation. Once the door was open, he could only imagine the devastation. Not only was Karyk going to be killed, but everyone else as well, including all of Gabriel''s friends whom he had just reunited with.

    He rushed towards her, his own magic swirling around him like a protective shield. "You can''t do this!"

    The woman frowned, her eyes filled with anger and confusion. "What are you doing here? Have you lost your mind?!"

    Ezekiel''s grip tightened, his voice filled with resolve. "I can''t let you do this!"

    With a flick of her wrist, the woman summoned a gust of wind, attempting to knock Ezekiel off bnce. But he stood firm, using his own magic to create a barrier against the forceful winds. He pressed forward, determined to prevent her from opening the door.

    The woman''s eyes zed with fury as she realized that something was wrong with Ezekiel. Without hesitation, she unleashed a torrent of destructive power towards Ezekiel, sending him flying back.

    "And what made you think you could stop me? Are you forgetting your ce?" The woman eximed, her fist clenched in anger. But despite her aggressive stance, she turned her focus on the door. That was her first priority after all.

    Ezekiel stood up, his chest hurting. He was already hurt because of his weak remaining life force, but even then, he couldn''t let the woman do as she wanted.

    Even in such a condition, he attacked.

    ****

    "What have you done?" Aliac roared in frustration at Gabriel after realizing that he had brought an enemy inside.

    The only reason Aliac allowed them inside was because he thought they were all rted to Gabriel who couldn''t try to harm Karyk. However, he realized that because of Karyk''spany, he had lowered his guard and made such a rookie mistake.

    It was also because he hadn''t expected the other side to take action so soon, and that too through Gabriel.

    In haste, he opened a portal to the basement of his Pce. Even he himself couldn''t directly teleport in the special room.

    Gabriel and everyone else stepped out of the portal, entering the distant room.

    As Aliac entered the room, he stood frozen. The door... It was in pieces at the moment. Not only was the seal broken but the door itself was broken.

    Gabriel was even worse as his pupils trembled, he looked into the distance, watching Ezekiel.

    Ezekiel''s chest was bleeding, the Princess''s ws inside his chest. Before he could even move, he watched the dark mes of the Princess shroud Ezekiel who was unmoving.

    "So you have betrayed us..." The Princess looked at Gabriel who was apanied by the others. "What a pity that you sent this trash to stop me."

    As the fire disappeared, not even Ezekiel''s ashes were left behind.

    Gabriel''s heart sank as he witnessed the loss of his dear friend Ezekiel.

    "I will ughter you!" He roared as he madly rushed ahead.

    Unfortunately, the woman was faster than him.

    "My task here is done. But don''t worry... We''ll meet again..." She moved back, disappearing inside the portal that was permanently open now that the door was broken.

    Gabriel was about to chase her inside the portal. However, before he could enter, he felt a hand hold into him, stopping him.

    "Don''t follow her. You don''t know what''s waiting on the other side!" It was Aliac who pulled Gabriel back, his expressions solemn.

    He didn''t know who to me for this mistake. He even med himself. Unfortunately, it was toote to regret now. Along with the door, the seal on Elzeria was broken.

    "Let me go! I''ll kill her!" Gabriel struggled, almost freeing himself from Aliac''s grip, his aura shrouding the entire hall.

    Fortunately, Karyk intervened, restricting him.

    "Come back to your senses! Will killing her bring your friend back?" he asked, his voice filled with concern.

    Although he didn''t know how Gabriel came to know that girl and what happened before he came here, he could see that Gabriel cared a lot about Ezekiel.

    Unfortunately, even he couldn''t bring Ezekiel back to life as not just his body but even his soul was destroyed.

    "Everything''s lost! Just when I had a glimpse of hope that we might end this, it became worse. Now the seal is gone. Nothing can stop them!" Aliac looked at the portal before him, his expressions solemn.

    He could already feel some of the strange energy from Elzeria slowly invading this world through the portal. And it wasn''t just this one portal. All around the universe, many such portals had opened. And none of them could close the portals now.

    The door of Central World had not only kept this portal closed but it had kept a seal on all other portals as well. However, with it being gone, things were about to change.

    Gabriel kept struggling fiercely. He hade here to extend Ezekiel''s life. But not only did he not extend his life, but even the few days of life he had left was taken. Gabriel med himself for all of it.

    His heart felt empty, and so did his mind. More than anything, he wanted to make those bastards suffer. He hadn''t hated anyone more than Caen, but now he did.

    He brought out the transfer talisman that the Elzerian King had given him in case they broke his trust.

 Chapter 812 812

    Chapter 812812

    Even Ezekiel had verified that the Talisman wasn''t fake after all.

    Gabriel tore the talisman, activating it. No matter what, he was going to bring Elzeria to ruins. Even if the Princess was immortal, her brother wasn''t!

    Her brother had sacrificed his immortality for this deal! First, he was going to take the most precious person to her, just like she had taken from him!

    The talisman was activated. A momentary spatial disturbance urred around Gabriel. Unfortunately, that spatial disturbance soon disappeared, nothing happening.

    Gabriel looked in disbelief. The Talisman didn''t work?!

    ****

    Back in Elzeria, standing at the Balcony of his Pce, the Emperor looked at the sky, a beautiful smile spread across his lips.

    "So she did it. The seal is broken..." he muttered.

    If Gabriel was here, he would''ve been stunned to see the Emperor. His entire aura was different, as if he was apletely different being.

    "You did good." After a while, he spoke as if talking to thin air.

    Behind him, his sister appeared, who had just returned. "Gabriel and Ezekiel betrayed us. They didn''t kill that bastard. Instead, they tried to obstruct me. We never should''ve trusted them!"

    "What a pity. I really hoped that they would''ve at least been useful in killing that guy. But it doesn''t matter. We''ll handle it ourselves now that the seal is broken. Just wait..." the Emperor spoke, his thoughts unclear.

    "I was able to kill Ezekiel, but Gabriel survived. He was apanied by that bastard you told me to stay away from. I could only return. But it''s dangerous for you! I''m sure Gabriel will try to use the Talisman toe here and assassinate you! I''ll always stay next to you!" The woman eximed.

    The Talisman was enough to bring Gabriel to the Emperor. However, that didn''t mean that the Emperor couldn''t keep powerful warriors around him to protect himself. She wanted to be the sword that protected her brother.

    The Emperor smiled in response. "You don''t have to worry. That Talisman is nothing more than a useless piece of paper now."

    "A useless piece of paper? But I saw it with my own eyes. It was real." The Woman frowned, unable to understand why her brother was calling it useless.

    "You''re right. It was real. But the reason I said it''s useless is because it won''t bring him to me. Although the Talisman is real, it uses my aura to find me. But did you really think I''ll let anyone keep my life in their hands?" The Emperor asked as he turned around.

    He walked past the Princess, without exining further. However, the Princess could sense something strange.

    "This... Your essence is different! How did you do it?"

    A person''s life essence was like their signature. It could never be changed or modified. However, her brother had done it! Because of that, the talisman couldn''t locate him because his previous essence waspletely erased. She couldn''t understand how her brother was able to do something like that.

    The Emperor didn''t answer. He simply disappeared in the dark corridor.

    Only his voice was heard, "Don''t think about things you shouldn''t know."

    ****

    "We won''t get anything by dwelling on it," Karyk said, noticing both Aliac and Gabriel appearing like they were going to go insane, albeit for different reasons.

    "Can we seal it again?" he asked Aliac, hoping for a solution to their predicament.

    Aliac sighed and contemted for a moment before responding, "It was possible with the right knowledge and tools. We could''ve attempted to recreate the seal. Unfortunately, the knowledge disappeared long ago."

    "If I had that knowledge, I would''ve reinforced the door long ago, instead of worrying about the seal getting weaker and asking for your help," he further added. "It''s useless now. This seal... It can''t be recreated."

    "There''s really no solution but to wait for their arrival?" he stated.

    "There''s one solution. A portal is both ways. Shouldn''t we go to their world and kill them because they can do anything?" Karyk suggested.

    Instead of worrying about what had happened, he was more interested in trying to find a solution.

    "Don''t be naive. Even killing a few of them hadpletely exhausted you. Will you be able to kill hundreds of them in their domain? The woman you fought and killed wasn''t even strong enough to beparable to their shadow guards."

    Unlike Karyk, Aliac wasn''t as optimistic. Although he also wanted to invade that world, but it was because he wanted to find more about the seal so he could reinforce it. He didn''t really have any hope of being able to wipe them out.

    Even after Karyk had killed some of them miraculously, he only believed that in the future, they could have a chance. But it was too soon. None of them were prepared!

    "Are you saying that we should sit back and wait for their arrival?" Karyk hadn''t really expected Aliac to be so hopeless. The man who was the overlord of the Upper Realm was now talking like a defeated person.

    "That''s the only valid option. In their world, we''ll be weakest since our Elements are non-existent there. But in our world, we have a fighting chance!" Aliac stood up. Although he was still filled with worries, he did appear like he had started thinking.

    "Even though their seal is broken, they won''t be hasty to enter our world. They''ll wait for our universe to change," he added. "If they arrived now, they would be weak. Not only is their element missing in our world, but it''ll even be hard for them to breathe here."

    "That''s what these portals are for. They''ll slowly change our world to make it morefortable for them, flooding it with that unfamiliar element. Only when it''s enough for them will they arrive. But that day... It might be a disaster for everyone."

    Karyk listened intently to Aliac''s exnation, feeling a mix of frustration and helplessness. He understood the logic behind Aliac''s words, but it didn''t make the situation any easier to ept. The looming threat of the enemy''s arrival weighed heavily on his shoulders.

    "What a headache."

 Chapter 813 813

    Chapter 813  813

    "How long do we have?" Karyk asked.

    "At best, two years. At worst, five months," Aliac replied. That''s all the time we''ll have.

    "So, what do we do in the meantime?" Karyk asked, his voice filled with frustration. "We can''t just sit back and wait for them toe. There must be something we can do to prepare ourselves."

    Aliac nodded in agreement. "You''re right. We can''t afford to be idle. We must use this time wisely to gather allies, strengthen our defenses, and learn as much as we can about our enemy. Knowledge is our greatest weapon."

    Karyk agreed with Aliac. If they fought in Elzeria, they were at their weakest without the support of any of this world''s elements. And if they fought Elzerians here, then at least their people could use all they had to fight. Unfortunately, that also meant that it was toote to fall back.

    The destruction of this world was going to berge-scale. Although they could protect some worlds, most of the worlds were going to be left defenseless.

    "Leave the knowledge gathering part to me. You''ll have to be the one to prepare a force strong enough to stop them in the future," Karyk told Aliac, his thoughts clear.

    "How are you nning to gather information?"

    "Isn''t the answer right before your eyes?" Karyk pointed towards the portal in the distance, his mind clear.

    "Did you not hear what I was saying? It''s impossible for you to defeat them alone!" Aliac''s concern was evident in his voice as he nced towards Karyk.

    "Don''t worry. I''m not going there to fight them. I''ll keep a low profile and just try to gather information. Moreover, if not me, then who? Are you confident enough in being able to return alive from there if you''re caught?" Aliac hesitated for a moment, understanding the weight of Karyk''s words.

    He knew he didn''t have the same level of expertise and stealth as Karyk did. Moreover, although Karyk couldn''t kill all of them, he was the only person amongst them who could kill those immortal beings.

    As long as it wasn''t a force of hundreds, Aliac was certain that Karyk could return alive.

    Although he didn''t want to ept and risk Karyk who was going to be the most important part of the puzzle, he knew that there was no other option.

    Both of them had their clear responsibilities. While Karyk was to gather information and take care of any unforeseen events, Aliac was to stay behind and prepare an army powerful enough to face the Elzerians.

    With the seal being destroyed, he had no reason to stay in the Central World either. He could actually go out freely and prepare his people.

    "Just promise me you''ll be returning alive! This will be a war lost from the beginning if we lose the only person who can kill them!" Aliac said, his worry still evident.

    It wasn''t wrong to say that more than worrying about Karyk, he was worrying about the losses in case Karyk died. No amount of information was worth Karyk''s life.

    Gabriel had been sitting, lifeless and empty as the Talisman had failed. He felt like he had lost everything, even his opportunity for revenge! He had been fooled, and even Ezekiel couldn''t catch it.

    However, when he heard Karyk mention that he was going to go to Elzeria, he came to his senses. Although he had lost the opportunity to directly kill their king, the burning me of revenge was still burning in his heart.

    "I wille with you!" Gabriel eximed, taking a deep breath. He had long stopped struggling with Karyk''s restraints.

    "No you''re not!" Without even considering the proposal, Karyk rejected the suggestion.

    "You can''t decide where I can and can''t go. Either you''ll take me with you, or I''ll find my own way. From what I heard, there are thousands of portals to that ce now!"

    Gabriel stood up, his eyes firm with no shred of doubts in them on what he had to do.

    "Do you remember what happened to our family thest time both of us left them alone? Who will you me this time if something happens to them? Will you me me again or find someone new to me?" Karyk''s cold stare pierced through Gabriel, but he remained resolute.

    He reached out and grabbed Gabriel''s shoulder, his voice filled with determination. "I understand that you want  revenge. But will it be toote to have revenge when the war actually starts? Will you be able to forgive yourself if you got your revenge now but lost Zena as well?"

    "And even if you might be able to forgive yourself, I won''t. So choose... Do you want an earlier revenge at the cost of your sister''s life? Or can you wait two years? I promise, that girl who killed your friends... you''ll be the one killing her with your own hands!"

    Gabriel''s resolve wavered as Karyk''s words sank in. He knew deep down that Karyk was right. Revenge was important to him, but not at the expense of his sister''s life. Zena was the only family he had left, and he couldn''t bear the thought of losing her too.

    He had already experienced losing her once. And no amount of revenge was able to get rid of the feeling of loss. Moreover, it wasn''t as if an earlier revenge was going to bring Ezekiel back to life.

    Although he had to wait, but in the meantime, he could be stronger and make sure that the next time he met that girl, he could make sure that she paid for everything!

    Taking a deep breath, Gabriel lowered his gaze and nodded. "I can''t risk Zena''s life for my own vengeance. I''ll wait. But promise me, that when the timees, you''ll let me be the one to bring justice to the girl who took everything from me! You won''t kill her!"

    Karyk ced a hand on Gabriel''s shoulder, his expression softening. "I promise, Gabriel. When the timees, you''ll have your chance. But for now, we need to focus on gathering information and preparing for the war ahead. Together, we''ll make sure no one else suffers the same fate as our family."

 Chapter 814 814

    Chapter 814  814

    Aliac observed the interaction between Karyk and Gabriel, feeling a sense of relief that Gabriel had ultimately made the right decision. While Gabriel had made foolish choices in the past, it was also true that they needed as many allies as possible in their uing war.

    Furthermore, Aliac knew that he would be upied with the task of finding and training individuals for this war, leaving him with little time to protect Karyk''s sister. If anything were to happen to her under his watch, he dreaded how Karyk would have reacted. He did not wish to bear that responsibility.

    Gabriel assuming that responsibility was a positive oue. With this, all the necessary pieces were in ce.

    Aliac understood that Karyk''s words had resonated with Gabriel, reminding him of the importance of family. They had all experienced the pain of losing loved ones in the past, and it was crucial that they did not allow their emotions to cloud their judgment.

    Shifting his attention to the matter at hand, Aliac addressed Gabriel. "Will you now tell us how you encountered that girl and why she was with you?"

    Previously, when Gabriel had informed them of the girl''s intent to attack the door, he had promised to exin everythingter. Now, Aliac and even Karyk were curious and wanted answers.

    Feeling the weight of their gazes upon him, Gabriel struggled to find the right words. He did not know how to exin that he had initiallye to kill Karyk. However, rather than resorting to falsehoods, he chose to disclose the truth.

    Gabriel recounted everything to Karyk that he had previously withheld. He divulged the events following his battle with Caen and how Ezekiel had aided his survival.

    He spoke of the War on Heaven that he waged with Ezekiel''s support, resulting in theplete annihtion of all the Gods, save for two survivors.

    Aliac couldn''t help but facepalm upon hearing this. The Gods had been in when they were most needed for the war. He struggled to find the right words, but ultimately managed to control his anger and listen silently.

    Gabriel proceeded to recount Ezekiel''s journey to Earth to seek revenge against the remaining God. He mentioned the woman who had killed Ezekiel and taken his body.

    He described their pursuit of the culprits to Elzeria, where they encountered the Emperor of Elzeria. Gabriel also revealed the Emperor''s offer to exchange Karyk''s life for Ezekiel''s.

    "He wanted your life in exchange for Ezekiel''s. And since I believed you had betrayed me, I agreed. Following that, I trained there for a few days and arrived here with that girl and Ezekiel."

    Karyk muttered, his expressionless face revealing little of his thoughts. "So this was all a trap from the beginning. You killed my Undead Generals to lure me out so you could kill me..."

    Gabriel nodded. "That''s correct. However, it was you who invited us in."

    He continued, recounting how his heart had changed upon discovering that Zena and the others were alive. He also shared everything Ezekiel had imparted to him about the significance of family.

    As they listened to Gabriel''s story, both Karyk and Aliac could sense the profound bond he shared with Ezekiel. They also recognized Ezekiel as a tormented soul who had lost everything in his life. Even when faced with his own impending death, he prioritized Gabriel''s happiness over his own life.

    Ezekiel had been willing to abandon their n and even risk death in an attempt to stop the woman. It became clear to them why Gabriel held such affection for Ezekiel.

    "I wish I had the chance to get to know him better. You don''t have to me yourself for what happened. If I were in your position, maybe I would have..." Karyk''s voice trailed off, indicating that he did not hold Gabriel responsible for the past events.

    Although Gabriel had veered off course and attempted to end Karyk''s life, Karyk could now understand theplexities of the situation they all found themselves in. He recognized the circumstances that had led Gabriel to make those choices.

    Aliac nodded in agreement, acknowledging the understanding that Karyk had reached. Despite the betrayal and attempted murder, Karyk was able to see the bigger picture and empathize with Gabriel''s motivations.

    "I at least appreciate your honesty," Aliac interjected, his voice carrying a tinge of respect. "It takes courage to share such a difficult tale, instead of lying to save your skin. Moreover, at the end of the day, you didn''t go through with it. Unfortunately, that girl still managed to seed..."

    Gabriel sighed, filled with a mix of apprehension. He had bared his soul, revealing the depths of his past and the pain that drove him. Now, he awaited their judgment.

    Aliac ced a hand on Gabriel''s shoulder. "We may not agree with all the choices you''ve made, but that doesn''t change the fact that we need you. So if you want to take your revenge while atoning for your mistakes, what better opportunity than now."

    Karyk stepped forward, extending a hand towards Gabriel. "Keep Zena safe. And that will be enough of apensation for me. Keep that girl safe, no matter what."

    "Even if I''m to die, I won''t let anything happen to my sister!" Gabriel spoke. He had enough losses. He wasn''t willing to ept any more.

    "In that case, I can leave at peace." Karyk spoke, as he turned towards the portal.

    "Are you going right now?" Aliac asked in surprise. Karyk had made no preparation after all.

    "What better time than now?" Karyk asked in return. "We don''t have time to waste. You should begin as well. The next time I return, I hope I''ll see the true preparation that doesn''t disappoint me."

    He stepped towards the portal, soon disappearing inside the bright light, only leaving onest reminder behind for Gabriel.

    Hearing the reminder, Gabriel remained silent. He looked at the spot where Ezekiel had died. He didn''t say anything and turned around and left the hall.

 Chapter 815 815: Tremors of Archangel

    Chapter 815  815: Tremors of Archangel

    "After such a long time, our dream will soone true."

    In a secret chamber, the Lord of Elzerians sat on his knees, praying to the Statue before him.

    "I haven''t forgotten the problem that you mentioned. That man... He must die! Unfortunately, now doesn''t seem to be the time for that."

    He remembered the Archangel Statue''s warning regarding Karyk''s presence, addressing him as the Forgotten Prince. Although he still didn''t understand what the prophecy by the Statue meant, but he knew that it showed what kind of threat Karyk was towards them.

    Out of millions of otherworldly beings, only Karyk had been able to kill them, which was a huge threat in itself. That''s also why he had sent Gabriel with his sister.

    The Initial n was for Gabriel to use his familiarity with Karyk to kill him while his sister released the seal on their world. Although his sister had seeded, Gabriel had betrayed them at thest moment.

    With this betrayal, things had beplicated since Karyk now knew that Elzeria wanted to kill them.

    Realizing the possibility, the King was certain that killing Karyk became even harder at this moment. After realizing that they were after his life, he was certain Karyk wasn''t going to step foot in Elzeria.

    Moreover, as long as the other world didn''t be useful with them after being covered in their element, it was risky for them to go there.

    "It''s only a matter of time before that ce bespatible for us. When that momentes, I will make sure that the boy doesn''t get to live long!"

    The Emperor bowed before the Statue once more before leaving. His fresh blood was still on the foot of the statue. Unfortunately, this time he didn''t receive any guidance as its previous guidance wasn''tpleted.

    As the Emperor walked away, he couldn''t help but feel a sense of unease. The failed guidance from the Statue meant that he would have to rely solely on his own decision-making about the uncertain future.

    From this moment on, it all depended on his own actions. However, he was confident in his abilities. Most things had gone ording to his n. It was only a matter of time before they left this ce. At that time, no one was going to be able to stop them.

    ****

    The Emperor hadn''t expected Karyk to enter their universe, despite realizing his intentions. At least not this soon.

    Unfortunately, against all his expectations, the person he was the most concerned about entered the universe of Elzeria.

    With the seal broken, Karyk wasn''t restricted to just the forest in Elzeria. All the space tunnels had shifted with the opening of new ones.

    With the Spatial Changes, Karyknded in apletely unfamiliar ce which was far too different from the forest.

    Unlike the lush green forest, he appeared on a small ind in the middle of a vast sea. There was no life around him.

    The air was heavy and filled with a sense of destion. Karyk looked around, his eyes narrowing as he took in his surroundings. The ind was barren, with jagged rocks jutting out from the ground and a dark, foreboding aura lingering in the air. It was a stark contrast to the forest from the past.

    The only good thing about this ce was the elements. Although they weren''tpletely non-existent like inside the forest, they were still very weak, barely noticeable.

    As he stood there, trying to make sense of his new surroundings, a feeling of unease washed over him. He couldn''t shake the sense that he was being watched, that there was something lurking in the shadows. Instinctively, he reached for his sword, ready to defend himself if need be.

    But as he scanned the empty ind, he couldn''t see any immediate threat. The only thing he noticed was a peculiar structure in the distance. It appeared to be a ruined temple, its crumbling walls barely standing against the tests of time. Curiosity piqued, Karyk decided to investigate, hoping to find some answers in this mysterious ce.

    As he made his way towards the temple, Karyk couldn''t help but feel a strange sensation wash over his spine. The closer he got, the more the sense of unease intensified. It was as if the very air around him was whispering secrets, secrets that he was not yet meant to know.

    Pushing aside his apprehension, Karyk stepped into the temple, his footsteps echoing through the empty halls. The interior was just as dpidated as the exterior, with broken pirs and fallen debris littering the floor. But amidst the ruins, something caught his eye.

    There, in the center of the temple, stood a statue. It was different from the other statue in the Emperor''s Pce as it was much smaller in size. However, other than that, it looked quite identical.

    This one was of a figure shrouded in darkness, with an ethereal glow emanating from its eyes. Karyk felt an inexplicable connection to the statue, as if it held the key to his purpose in this world.

    "Are you the God of this Universe?" Karyk asked, reaching out his hand towards the status. He didn''t know why, but from the strange statue, he felt an otherworldly energy emanating.

    The statue depicted a being that looked like an Archangel, sharp wings behind its back. However, it lookedpletely unlike any species he had ever seen before.

    As Karyk''s fingers were about to touch the statue, the ground itself started shaking.

    The tremors grew stronger with each passing second, causing Karyk to hesitate in his attempt to touch the statue.

    Right before his eyes, the earthquake tremors intensified, hurting the already forgotten temple. Cracks developed in the statue which came crumbling down right before Karyk''s eyes.

    It was as if the statue had chosen to be destroyed, rather than letting Karyk touch it.

    Not just the statue, but even the entire Temple started falling apart, piece by piece. Karyk gazed at the ruins of the statue as he frowned, slowly retreating from the breaking temple, his thoughts in a mess.

 Chapter 816 816: Mere Merchant

    Chapter 816  816: Mere Merchant

    What was the meaning of this? Why did the statue crumble before him? Karyk couldn''t shake the feeling that he had missed something. It was as if that statue had a trace of a will that didn''t want to be touched by him.

    As he stepped out of the dpidated temple, the shaking ceased, leaving behind a trail of destruction. The ind was now engulfed in an eerie silence, broken only by the sound of crashing waves against the rocky shore.

    Karyk knew that he couldn''t stay on this deste ind forever. The only thing on this barren Ind was the temple and even that was destroyed now.

    "I wonder where in Elzeria am I?" he muttered, walking back to the shore.

    He needed to find his way back to Elzeria, back to thend about which he wanted to know more. But how to navigate through the territory, he wasn''t sure.

    Gazing out at the vast sea that surrounded him, Karyk felt trouble brewing. He could fly away from this ind, but he wasn''t sure how far away Elzeria was. In a world where elements were scarce, wasting his strength without even knowing the right direction or the distance felt like a headache.

    He wondered if he should go back to the Central World and find another portal to enter Elzeria from. However in the end, he dropped the idea as he noticed that the Spatial passage back had already closed.

    With the Spatial turmoil, the location of the tunnel kept changing. He wasn''t even sure where it was connecting to right now.

    "Just my luck."

    With no other choice, he could only see one option. That was to guess a random direction to fly and hope for the best.

    As he prepared to leave, he changed his physical characteristics. The first thing he changed was to change his eye color so none could recognise him as an outsider. Next, he wore a mask that only revealed his eyes and nothing else.

    As for physical characteristics, he didn''t change much since Elzerians looked mostly identical to humans when it came to physicality.

    Once prepared, he started rising in the air and chose a direction in which the statue had been facing before being destroyed. Although he didn''t know where the maind was, he had a feeling that if the people of the maind had created this statue, they would''ve made it back towards them.

    Although it was just a theory, this was the only thing he had at the moment.

    With each passing moment, Karyk''s uncertainty grew. The wind whipped against his face as he soared through the sky, his mind racing with countless questions. What awaited him in Elzeria? Why did the statue crumble before him? And most importantly, what was the meaning behind it all?

    As he ventured deeper into the vast expanse of the ocean, Karyk couldn''t help but feel a sense of familiarity.

    The waves crashed below him, their relentless power a stark reminder of the dangers of the sea.

    Days turned into nights, and nights into days, as Karyk continued his journey. The sun beat down upon him, its rays casting a warm glow on the endless horizon. He flew tirelessly, his determination unwavering. Despite flying straight for seven days, Karyk hadn''t noticed any signs ofnd.

    Let alone the maind, he hadn''t even seen any other small ind where he could wait and rest. Just as he was starting to wonder if he chose the wrong direction, he noticed something in the distance.

    Even with his gaze, he could barely see clearly. However, far away from him, he saw something that looked like a ship, floating on the water.

    As he moved further, he noticed that it wasn''t just one ship. Instead, there was an entire fleet

    The fleet had surrounded what appeared like a bigger ship, making them appear like pirates.

    Karyk''s curiosity piqued as he watched the scene unfold before him. Pirates were a rare sight, even in his own world. However, he hadn''t expected to find pirates even in this ce.

    Pirates known for their ruthless nature and thirst for treasure were a regr sight in lower worlds, but to find them here was surprising.

    However, it also made him happy. For there to be ships in this ce, it meant he wasn''t far from thend. An even more important thing was that he now had someone that could give him the right directions and more information about this world.

    Aliac had given him something that he could use to inform Aliac''s informant near the forest area. Unfortunately, that method was useless since he wasn''t anywhere near the forest. He could only rely on these people.

    Even if there were helpers of Aliac in this world, Karyk couldn''t trust them.

    Hesitant but intrigued, Karyk approached the fleet cautiously, keeping his distance so as not to arouse suspicion. As he got closer, he noticed the distinct markings of rising waves on the ships, indicating their group.

    Karyk simply observed the battles, trying to understand the entire situation.

    The ship that had been surrounded by the Pirate Ships was muchrger and looked very expensive. However, it also looked to be the most damaged, clearly affected by the previous battles.

    On the deck of the Main Ship, a group of people dressed in luxurious attire stood, surrounded by the Pirates who were already on the ship.

    "Good decision! If you had chosen to fight further, you would''ve been dead by now!" The Pirate Captainughed, pping the leader of the group on the shoulder. "I like wise people who know when to surrender!"

    "Now tell me, where is it?" he further  asked.

    "Where is what?" The well dressed man asked in return, revealing his confusion.

    "Don''t test my patience!" the Pirate Captain frowned, his sword moving closer to the man''s throat, almost cutting it. "Do you think we don''t know what you people were transporting to the maind? Tell me where you''re hiding it."

    "I have no idea what you''re talking about. We are mere merchants, carrying ordinary goods."

 Chapter 817 817: Celestial City

    <h4>Chapter 817 Chapter 817: Celestial City</h4>

    "Oh? Since when did the most trusted subordinate of the City Lord of Celestial City start taking interest in ordinary goods?" the Pirate Captain retorted, revealing a mocking smile.

    "How did you-" The dark haired man''s face went pale, shocked at the revtion that these people knew his identity.

    He had intentionally used a Merchant Ship while hiding his identity. It was impossible for the Chaotic Sea Pirates to know about him! It was as if someone had leaked the secret information about his purpose.

    "I wonder..." the Pirate Captain startedughing, finding it amusing. "We''ve been chasing your ship for weeks. Did you think we didn''t know anything about you? If it wasn''t for the fear of losing that thing, we would''ve already destroyed the ship the moment you started running!"

    "How foolish of you to not realize why we didn''t take any drastic measures? Looks like you''re not as wise as you think!"

    The well-dressed man took a deep breath, his eyes scanning the surroundings for any opportunity. At first, he thought that these people didn''t know his identity.

    He thought that it was better to surrender and that after looting the ordinary items from the ship, these people were going to let them leave. He thought that way, he could keep ''that thing'' safe. But now that he realized that they were after ''that'' he couldn''t help but curse his decision of surrendering.

    It was toote now. But still, he couldn''t let things progress. Even with his death, he wanted to protect the thing that the City Lord wanted!

    "Are you thinking about an escape? It would''ve been possible in the past, but at this moment, it''s useless. Be a good man and tell us where it is. We''ll let you leave alive!" The Pirate Captain said, a sly grin spreading across his face.

    The captured man met his gaze with unwavering determination, refusing to back down despite the overwhelming odds stacked against him. "You will never let me leave alive. You know if I left, I''ll inform the City Lord. And even the Pirate King can''t survive the wrath of the City Lord of Celestial City!"

    Hearing the response, the Pirate Captain was shocked. After some time, he couldn''t control hisughter, his expressions turning dark.

    "Hahaha, maybe I truly underestimated you. You''re a fool, but at times you can be quite clever. You''re right. We can''t let any of you escape. After all, even I don''t want to face the wrath of that bastard who never leaves the Celestial City."

    "Let us leave! If you don''t stop me and leave right now, the City Lord won''t harm you. But if you kill us, he''ll find out!" The well-dressed man, finding an opportunity, took advantage.

    "Hahaha, you think we didn''t think about that? If you''re all killed, the City Lord would find us, ming us. But so what? You''re supposed to be hiding your identity. For us, you''re no different than an ordinary merchant ship."

    "We can just say that we don''t know it was his people and when the merchant ship started running, we attacked and destroyed it, following which everyone in the ship died and the ship sank. How can he know that we ever climbed on the ship?"

    "No matter how angry he is, he''ll never know the truth or the fact that we took what he wanted. And even he can''t dive to the depths of the Chaotic Sea to retrieve the item that he''ll never know is not there in the first ce!"

    The Pirate Captainughed like he was looking at an idiot, noticing the man''s hopes shatter.

    The Pirate King had already considered all the possibilities before deciding on this n. Even the City Lord of Celestial City couldn''t me them beyond a certain limit, at least not to the point of annihting them. It was an ''honest misunderstanding'' after all.

    Karyk listened intently to the conversation unfolding before him. The mention of the City Lord of Celestial City piqued his interest.

    He didn''t know who the City Lord was, or even what the Celestial City was, but the way both sides addressed him, it was evident that the man was quite powerful and influential.

    Although he could get a lot of information from the Pirates, if he could get the City Lord to owe him a favor, he could get ess to the maind, and even get more than he came here for.

    The only problem was that he had to hide his identity and limit the abilities he revealed. He couldn''t let anyone know that he was an outsider.

    Fortunately, after fighting Elzerian Emperor''s sister, he had learned quite a lot about their fighting style.

    As the conversation continued, Karyk noticed a momentary distraction among the pirates. It was the perfect opportunity for him to make his move.

    With his swift and silent movements, he descended onto the main ship, keeping himself hidden. As long as he didn''t want to, none of these weak people could see him.

    Although the Pirate Chief and the well dressed man were strong, they weren''t as strong as the Emperor''s sister, let alone his generals.

    He was sure if a General was here, they would''ve been able to see through his shroud, but fortunately that wasn''t the case.

    "How about this? If you tell us the whereabouts of that thing, we''ll leave your corpse intact and make your death painless?" The Pirate Captain asked. "Don''t forget, we can always search the entire ship even without your help. It''ll just take us a little longer!"

    "So make things easier for us and in return, we''ll make your death easier. Seems like a good exchange!"

    "How about I grant you an easy death and you make my escape easier?" The well dressed man asked. "Isn''t that also a good exchange?"

    "You!" The Pirate Captain''s expressions darkened. "Even to the end, you''ve remained a fool. Fine! If death is what you want, I''ll grant you death!"

    The Pirate Captain has had enough of negotiations. His patience was already limited and the repeated rejection made him even more furious.

    The well dressed man closed his eyes, preparing for his death as the pirate''s sword came swinging. There was no ce for him to dodge with other pirates all around him.

    Even his weapon was taken away and his spirit sealed. He could only ept his death. But even in death, he remained brave.

 Chapter 818 818: Misunderstanding

    <h4>Chapter 818 Chapter 818: Misunderstanding</h4>

    The Pirate Captain''s sword cut through the wind, approaching the man''s neck. The man clenched his fist, prepared for death.

    Just as the Pirate Captain''s sword was about to strike the well-dressed man, a blur of movement caught everyone''s attention.

    In an instant, Karyk appeared next to the well-dressed man, grabbing the man''s wrist to stop the sword movement.

    The Pirate Captain''s eyes widened in disbelief as he saw Karyk''s masked face.

    "Who are you?!" he demanded, his voiceced with anger and surprise.

    Karyk didn''t respond, instead, he tightened his grip. The Pirate Captain reeled under pain, his grip weakening as the sword fell from his hand.

    Karyk grabbed the sword''s hint, gracefully controlling the sword''s movement.

    With a single swing, he sent a powerful arc of energy that sliced through the Pirate Captain and the men who were behind him.

    Even after cutting through them, the attack didn''t stop and continued on its trajectory before exploding above the distant sea, sending tremors through the ocean.

    The impact sent a shockwave through the ship, causing many pirates to stumble and lose their footing.

    The well-dressed man stared at Karyk, his eyes filled with equal parts awe and confusion.

    "Who are you?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

    Karyk looked at him, his eyes filled with calmness.

    "I am just a passerby," he replied cryptically. "But it seems like you''re in need of some help."

    He grabbed the man''s shoulder, pulling him closer to move him away from the Pirates in the back.

    He had already taken care of the pirates on one side, but the other side still remained.

    With a flick of his wrist, Karyk summoned a gust of wind that disarmed the remaining pirates on the ship. They fell to the ground, their weapons scattered around them.

    The well-dressed man couldn''t believe what he was seeing.

    "How... how are you doing this?" he asked, his voice trembling.

    This was the Essence Control. He was certain that he wasn''t mistaken about this. However, that also caused him to be shocked. Essence Control was something that only the closest people to the Emperor could use.

    It was a special ability that was hard to learn. Only the Emperor''s family members and his most trusted people in the Capital City could use it.

    Although the Celestial City was far away from the Capital City, he was certain that he wasn''t wrong.

    There were many books regarding the Royal Capital in the Celestial City. He had also met someone who was from the Capital, passing through the Celestial City.

    He still couldn''t forget the moment when some people tried to rob that person, thinking he was a weak man. However in the next moment, the man had used the Essence Control to remove the weapons from the other side, crushing them without any effort.

    At that time, he was just a little boy who was amazed by the skill. Unfortunately before he could react, the man had disappeared. That battle was the most beautiful sight for him. And after so many years, he was seeing this skill again?

    Karyk didn''t realize what he had done. The few skills that he had copied after experiencing them be used in battle were all from the Capital. Even moreplicated was the fact that the skills were used by the Princess and her trusted people.

    Karyk wanted to show that he was an Elzerian to win some trust while saving the man. However he hadn''t expected the misunderstanding to be so big as he thought these were normal skills.

    The well dressed man watched Karyk''s every movement with fascination. It wasn''t just the essence control that Karyk was using but even the sword skills were the same from the Capital.

    It was impossible for these sword skills to be taught to anyone outside the Capital. Although there were some copied versions of these skills, he was sure this wasn''t a clone skill. It was too perfect for it to be a copied version of the skill!

    One after another, Karyk killed the Pirates. Although he didn''t know much about the pirates of this world, through their conversation, he knew there was a Pirate King behind their back, who was possibly closer in strength to the City Lord.

    Since he didn''t know how strong these people were, he didn''t want to take the risk. He didn''t want to be chased by the Pirate King.

    If the Pirate King was too strong, he couldn''t deal with him with these copied skills. He had to use his mail abilities, which could expose his outsider identity. If possible, he wanted to avoid that possibility.

    One after another, he killed the Pirates on the ship, erasing all the risks.

    "They are about to attack! We need to get off this ship!" Just as Karyk finished the pirates on the ship, he heard the schrly man eximing with panic.

    "What?" Karyk frowned. However, before he could even turn around, he watched the Schrly Man grab his hand, trying to jump off the ship.

    Unfortunately for him, he couldn''t even move Karyk. It was as if he was a child trying to move a stone. Instead, it was the Schrly man who was pulled back.

    "Stop resisting! We need to get off the ship now! Or we''ll die!" the man eximed.

    Karyk, although still confused, stopped resisting. He jumped off the ship.

    As if walking on the air, the schrly man ran away from the ship, creating distance. Karyk watched the man run, finding his reaction weird.

    Although he was faster than the man, he kept up with him, only using aparable speed.

    With Karyk''s back towards the ship, he sensed a powerful energy pulse that reminded him of a very familiar attack. It was a simr level of disturbance when the Princess had used her strongest attack against him in the battle at the sealed forest.

    Frowning, he turned around, watching all the Pirate Ships in the distance, their cannons aimed towards the ship. The Cannons fired at the same time, an attack that wasn''t weak in the least.

 Chapter 819 819: Destruction

    Chapter 819  819: Destruction

    As the attack hit the Merchant Ship, in the blink of an eye, the entire ship was blown up, sending pieces of wood and debris flying through the air in every direction. Everyone in the ship had died, not even their bodies left behind.

    "I was right. This is the same level of attack. The only problem is that this isn''t as versatile as her. Firstly, she could attack instantly, but these people need to gather energy for quite a long time. If I''m not wrong, they''re using a particrly interesting power source as well."

    Karyk created a shield before him that protected from from the aftermath of the attack as well as the debris. He even protected the schrly man. He couldn''t let his ticket to the Celestial City get ruined after all.

    "T-thank you!" The schrly man thanked Karyk, even more grateful to him. He was even more certain that Karyk was from the Capital and someone very high up. His tone became even more respectful.

    Although the City Lord of Celestial City was a powerful being in this part of the world, his strength was nothing whenpared to the Emperor and his Generals.

    Not a single person dared to go against the Emperor who was like a god. There were even rumors that only the Emperor could hear the voice of God.

    "We should try to escape. Within a few minutes, the Cannons would be ready again. When we create enough distance, it should be hard for them to aim. And with most of their powerhouses dead, they can''t chase us either!"

    "We should take a different direction. They are after me, so I will distract them! You''ll be able to leave!" The man eximed.

    He knew that even his master couldn''t take the responsibility of a high ranking member of the Royal Capital was to die here. On the other hand, his life was cheaper. Moreover, since Karyk was stronger, he also had a better chance of escaping alive.

    "When you leave this ce, please go to the Celestial City and hand this to the City Lord! Tell him everything that happened here!"

    The man handed a small bag to Karyk as he started running in a particr direction, loudly cursing the pirates to be sure they heard his cursing. He wanted to be certain that they only targeted him.

    Just as he expected, the Pirates were furious, their entire focus on him. He was also their target in the first ce.

    All the Pirate Ships started turning around, aiming at the young man. All ships targeted the man, keeping a small variation from each other, making sure that even if the man dodged, he was to be hit by one attack or another.

    Karyk watched the schrly man run, frowning. It was true that he could leave now. Even if this small group of pirates wanted to, they couldn''t stop him. Moreover, he didn''t have to go to the Celestial Lord and keep this item to himself.

    He opened the small bag, looking inside. As he saw the material inside, his frown deepened. "So this is what everyone is after?"

    He was sure that it was precious. Even if he couldn''t use it, he could sell it. But money was thest of his concerns. For him, information was everything.

    As long as this wasn''t a world ending weapon that could hurt his people, he didn''t care about it. And the item inside the bag wasn''t something that could be used for a war.

    In the end, he dropped the idea to leave. Even if he went to the Celestial City Lord with this, he couldn''t win hisplete trust. No matter what, the man was going to be even more suspicious about him and the story.

    He needed someone to distract the City Lord. That''s why he had to save the person.

    "You people are so troublesome. But you''re also my lottery ticket, so I can''t lose you."

    Karyk raised his sword, gathering a small amount of aura.

    Just like the Princess had done in the past, he used the Aura to attack.

    A single attack... With a single swing of his sword, he created a beautiful crescent moon that shot out towards the pirate ships that were still gathering the essence.

    Just like the Princess, he didn''t need to wait for his attacks. The only problem was that it used quite a lot of his reserves, especially since he first had to convert that essence to not get caught.

    The crescent moon of aura sliced through the air, heading straight towards the pirate ships. The attack was swift and precise, cutting through the ships effortlessly. One by one, the pirate ships exploded into mes, sending shockwaves through the ocean.

    The pirates on the ships could only watch in horror as they were decimated by Karyk''s attack that was no weaker than the might of theirbined cannon attack.

    Even until theirst moment, they looked at the unknown moment in disbelief. Until theirst breath, they were wondering who this person was. They were even cursing their luck foring across this scary person.

    But for Karyk, it was just another battle, another step closer to his goal in this new world. As thest pirate ship went up in mes, he turned his attention towards the schrly man who still hadn''t realized what happened behind his back.

    "How long are you nning to run for?" Karyk asked, his voice calm yet able to reach the schrly man.

    The man slowed down, frowning. He was sure he heard explosions. He thought it was because the ships had attacked him. But realizing he was still fine and Karyk was talking to him, he couldn''t help but turn around.

    When he looked back, his jaws dropped in disbelief. All the pirate ships that were about to attack him had been destroyed, their remains burning right before their eyes as they slowly sank in the water.

 Chapter 820 820: Loyalty

    Chapter820 820: Loyalty

    The schrly man''s eyes were wide with shock and awe, unable toprehend the power that Karyk possessed.

    Karyk walked towards him, his footsteps light as he closed the distance between them. He extended his hand, returning the bag to the Schrly Man.

    "You don''t have to run anymore," Karyk said softly. "I''ve taken care of the pirates."

    The schrly man took Karyk''s hand, feeling extremely thankful. His voice was shaky as he spoke, still struggling to process what had just happened.

    He was certain about Karyk''s identity, which made him even more intimidated.

    If Karyk was actually a General in the Royal Capital, that meant he was on a mission from the Emperor. While a General was out of the Capital, they had a high authority.

    A Royal General had the authority to execute anyone without consequences. Even a City Lord couldn''t stop him if he wanted to kill a person. That''s why the people from the Capital were such frightening existences.

    "I... I don''t understand," he stammered. "How did you do that? Who are you?"

    Although he had already guessed Karyk''s identity in his mind, he didn''t reveal that he already knew. If it was actually a secret mission, then just knowing the General''s identity itself was enough to be put to death.

    He didn''t want to take any risks. But if he didn''t ask, he had a feeling Karyk was going to be suspicious and think that he already knew. That''s why, he asked, giving Karyk an opportunity toe up with an excuse.

    Karyk''s eyes glinted with a hint of amusement as he casually answered, "I told you, I am just a passerby. As for how I did it... well, let''s just say I have some tricks up my sleeve."

    The schrly man stared at Karyk, a mix of fear and curiosity in his eyes. He had never witnessed such power before, and he couldn''t help but feel a sense of awe towards this stranger.

    Even the person from the Capital he sawst time hadn''t revealed this level of strength. He was certain that Karyk was a high ranking General, potentially from a top ranking family in the Capital. How else could he be this strong at such a young age?

    In any case, he knew it wasn''t his ce to worry about the man''s purpose.

    "No matter what. It''s true that you''ve saved my life. Unfortunately, I don''t have anything I can reward you with," the Schrly Man sighed, ncing at the bag in his hand. "I would''ve given this to you as a reward if it belonged to me. But this thing is very important to the City Lord."

    "May I ask why your City Lord would need something like this?" Karyk asked, pondering about the use of the thing in the bag.

    It wasn''t a weapon. It wasn''t even a treasure that could change the tide of a battle. This thing, although seemingly very important, had only a limited use.

    "Did you already look inside?" The Schrly Man asked.

    "Curiosity got the best of me. I hope you won''t mind."

    The schrly man smiled wryly, knowing his limits. He couldn''t do that even if he wanted to. He couldn''t me the man before him. He didn''t have enough courage in him to me the general.

    He still hadn''t realized that he hadpletely misunderstood the identity of the person.

    "You''re my savior. How can I me you? Moreover, even the pirates knew about it. I suppose someone had leaked this, so there''s not much secret to it," the schrly man said, trying to ease the tension.

    "This is the Nine Meridian Herb. It''s almost an extinct herb, that''s why it''s so precious. It''s said to be able to heal any disease or sickness, as long as it''s nothing too extreme. Even limbs could be regrown after taking it. Even for us, it took a lot of effort to find one."

    "But I never expected someone to betray us, resulting in this situation. Fortunately, you were there to save me."

    The Schrly Man briefly paused, as if lost in some thoughts. It was a big secret that could put the entire Celestial City in danger.

    "As for its use... Since it''s you, I won''t keep it a secret. Our City Lord is afflicted with poison. As for what kind of poison it is, we don''t know. All we know is that no treatment works on the City Lord."

    " Every passing day, his health keeps deteriorating. If it was someone else, they would''ve already been dead but he''s been barely holding on, suppressing the poison. That''s why, this Nine Meridian was ourst hope."

    Hearing the exnation, Karyk understood quite a lot of things. There was nothing suspicious in this story either since he had also confirmed that the herb had a healing properly along with a high amount of life energy. It could easily heal any poison.

    Since he wasn''t affected by a poison or suffering from any sickness, he didn''t need the herb which had made it useless for him.

    "If you don''t mind, would you minding to the Celestial City with me?" The man asked, looking at Karyk with hopeful eyes.

    He was all alone at the moment and he didn''t know when more pirates were going toe after him. If it was the Pirate King next time, he couldn''t even dare imagine what could happen.

    At any cost, he had to take this herb back safely and for that, he needed the help of someone strong like Karyk.

    Unfortunately, he also expected Karyk to say no. Why would a General be worried about a mere City Lord? He had prepared himself for a rejection, but his eyes widened when he heard Karyk''s reply.

    "Alright. I suppose I can provide you some protection as well. For the stability of the Empire, it''s good if your City Lord doesn''t die."

    Karyk didn''t know that the man was imagining him to be someone else. But still, he yed his cards right, expressing his loyalty to the Empire while giving him a reason to apany the man.

 Chapter 821 821: No life

    Chapter821 821: No life

    Even if he wanted, he couldn''t leave the man behind since he didn''t know the direction or anything about this ce. As much as he was helping the other side, it was all for his own benefits.

    The Schrly Man was excited as he heard Karyk''s response.

    "Thank you. Your help means more to me than you can imagine," the Schrly Man said gratefully. "I will forever be in your debt."

    Karyk nodded, a small smile ying on his lips. "Don''t worry about it. It''s a small thing."

    With that, they set off towards the Celestial City. The Schrly Man led the way, guiding Karyk through the endless sea.

    Karyk couldn''t help but be impressed by the man''s stamina. Even as they flew for days straight, he was able to keep going without resting. Compared to his strength, his stamina was nothing to scoff at.

    Along the way, Karyk asked the man questions rted to the situation of the Celestial City, trying to avoid much suspicion. He even gave the excuse that this was his first time traveling this far from his home, so he didn''t have much knowledge.

    The Schrly Man didn''t believe Karyk. However, he wasn''t suspicious either. Many Generals were often immersed in their training, having no time to learn about the world. So it made sense to him.

    It was clear that he was a valuable asset to the City Lord. He was given such an important responsibility by the City Lord, on which the Lord''s life depended on. Karyk had been quite curious about the man''s identity.

    Throughout the way, the man informed everything Karyk asked, without mixing even the slightest of lies in them.

    Thanks to him, Karyk was able to learn a lot about this world as well. It was quite different from what he had expected.

    At first, he had thought that it was a unified world under the control of the Emperor with no conflicts. However, the reality appeared different.

    Although the Emperor was the absolute ruler, that didn''t mean there weren''t inner problems. The biggest problem for Elzerians was the Beast Tribe.

    No matter how many times the tribe was wiped, they returned every month. No one knew how they were born or how they became so strong within a few months of birth every year. However, every year, the Empire was attacked by the Beast Tribes.

    Since it was an endless cycle, the Emperor didn''t bother much about it. He just established a few specific cities at the empire''s borders that connected with the Land of Beasts to prevent any beast tides.

    It was the responsibility of these border cities to stop and kill the Beast Tribes every year.

    The Celestial City was one such border City. However, it was also the City at most disadvantage.

    Not only was the Celestial City connected to the Beastly Area through thend border, but they were also attached to the sea from the other side.

    They were not only responsible for preventing the Beast Tribe attacks from thend, but also the Chaos of the Sea.

    Despite such disadvantages, the City hadn''t yet fallen and it was mostly thanks to the City Lord.

    "Unfortunately, the Month of Beasts is about to arrive. And if we can''t cure the City Lord, the City will fall. That''s why, the herb doesn''t just decide the fate of the City Lord but the entire city.''

    "If the situations were that grim, why didn''t you evacuate the City and ask for help from the Capital?" Karyk asked, getting quite intrigued about the equation between the Capital and Border Cities.

    The schrly man remained silent. If it wasn''t for Karyk being next to him, he would''ve already started cursing the Capital City. But next to a ''General'' of the Dynasty, he didn''t dare.

    "Ah, the Capital and His Majesty are rightfully busy with something important. So we didn''t get any response from the Capital." He carefully phrased his words, every word making him feel like he was walking on andmine.

    Karyk was about to ask more, but before he could do that, the Schrly Man eximed. "We''re there!"

    He felt relieved that along the way, they didn''te across the Pirate King.

    Karyk looked in the distance, able to see a coastal city with multiple ships waiting near the City''s Port.

    For the most part, he could feel that this was a normal world, simr to his own world. However, he knew that this was only half reality.

    Although the Border Cities looked ordinary, but that was because they were farthest from the Capital. He had repeatedly heard from Aliac that the Core of the Elzerian Empire was very advanced, akin to a new world in itself.

    As they neared the outskirts of the Celestial City, Karyk couldn''t help but feel a sense of unease. There was something off about the atmosphere, a tension that hung in the air. He couldn''t put his finger on it, but the entire city appeared to be tense.

    Sure enough, as they entered the city gates, they were met with chaos. The streets were filled with panicked citizens, running in every direction. Buildings were on fire, and signs of destruction were everywhere. It was clear that the city had been attacked recently.

    "What is happening here?" he asked the schrly man.

    The Schrly Man looked even more confused than Karyk. His face went pale as he ran towards the City Lord''s Mansion, praying that nothing happened while he wasn''t here.

    Karyk followed the man, having a bad feeling about this.

    As they reached the City Lord''s residence, they were met with a gruesome sight. The guardsy lifeless on the ground, their bodies covered in blood. Karyk''s eyes narrowed, his grip on his sword tightening. He knew that they were toote.

    Inside the residence, they found the City Lord, slumped over his desk, his breathing halted.

    "Father!" The schrly man rushed ahead, his heart almost stopping in fear.

    He ced his hands around the City Lord''s body, his face going ghastly pale. There was no life left in the City Lord''s body.

 Chapter 822 822: Possession

    <h4>Chapter 822 Chapter 822: Possession </h4>

    ?822 Chapter 822: Possession

    The City Lord was dead. Not just him, but everyone inside the Mansion was also dead.

    The bag filled with herbs fell on the ground as the Schrly Man dropped to his knees. Tears welled up in his eyes, grief and disbelief intertwining in his heart.

    ''So this guy was the son of the City Lord. No wonder he had taken this responsibility and knew so much. He buried himself quite deep.'' Karyk watched the young man from a distance.

    "It''s all my fault! I was toote! It''s all my fault!" the young man repeated, his voice trembling with anguish. He cradled the lifeless body of the City Lord in his arms, wishing he could turn back time and prevent this tragedy from unfolding. The weight of responsibility crushed him as he med himself.

    The Schrly Man looked at Karyk, tears streaming down his face. "No...no, please, there must be something we can do! Please help me! It''s you, you should be able to..."

    In the moment of grief, he stopped thinking straight. "You''re a General from the Capital! Please help! I''ll do anything you ask me to! Please save my father!"

    At that moment, he didn''t care about hiding the fact that he already knew Karyk''s identity.

    ''A General from the Capital?'' Karyk frowned, filled with confusion. He didn''t know why this guy had confusion like this. He wondered if it was because of the attacks he used.

    He approached cautiously and examined the City Lord, searching for any signs of life. But it was toote. The poison had done its damage. But he could also feel something more. He could see that someone had stimted the poison in his body to spread faster.

    Moreover, it had already been a few days since the City Lord died. But the Chaos in the city started not long ago. The death of the people in the Mansion was also recent.

    He could feel that whoever caused thismotion had been very sneaky. They used various methods to lead the City Lord to his death while also waiting. And the moment the City Lord died, they sprung into action.

    Silently, Karyk retrieved the Nine Meridian Herb from the bag and ced it gently on the City Lord''s desk.

    "I''m sorry," he whispered, his voice filled with regret. "We were toote. We can''t do anything about it. He''s been dead for days."

    The Schrly Man sobbed uncontrobly, his heart breaking at the loss of his father. Along with ming himself, he felt regret that he wasn''t here when his father died.

    As they stood there, the young man made a silent vow. He would find the one responsible for betraying them, for the attack on the city, and he would make them pay.

    Karyk watched the Schrly Man with a mixture of sympathy and curiosity. He could understand the pain of losing a loved one and the burning desire for justice that followed.

    The young man remained at his father''s feet for a long time, as if he waspletely broken.

    Meanwhile, Karyk left the ce, giving him privacy. He searched the entire Pce, which waspletely empty. It was clear that the attacker had already escaped after destroying every means of the City to defend itself.

    The City Lord was dead. All the Guards were killed. Although the citizens of the City were left alive, they were of no use.

    It was clear that whoever caused this, made sure that the City couldn''t protect itself when the Beast Tide attacked next. Another thing he was certain about was that this was the work of humans and not monsters.

    He walked through the city that was filled with chaos. Throughout his time there, he helped the City. First, he calmed down the City. If there were people who weren''t calm, he made them calm by revealing the slightest trace of his aura, filling them with fear.

    He also extinguished the mes that had caught half the City, removing all threats. Although there was a lot of damage to the City, but he made sure to protect what he could.

    "I know you''re all worried about the recent incidents. But I would advise you to stay at your homes and note out until we get a handle on the situation. But I promise you all, I''ll make sure the situation returns to normal within a few days!"

    Karyk spoke, his voice loud enough to reach every citizen of the Celestial City.

    "Those who tried to harm the City thought that they could destroy the Celestial City. But let me remind you one thing! This city had faced many beast tides that were said to be impossible to defeat ande out unharmed! The City had faced many problems, but we always came out stronger than before! And this time is the same!"

    "The ones who attacked us, thought that they could break us! But I promise you all, this city will return stronger than ever!"

    Karyk didn''t know what the end for this city was going to be like. However, he knew that he couldn''t let it fall apart this fast. He already had a rough understanding of the situation. He even thought of a method to take advantage of this situation for his benefit.

    All pieces were in their ce. All he had to do was put the pieces in its ce.

    "I was here to take information. But now that I think about it, taking the entire city for myself seems much better. Since the attackers prepared a feast for me, it would be unwise to not take advantage of it."

    The entire city was worrying about its future. But Karyk could already see the future of the City. It was a future that revolved around him. A future that could help him reach his goals faster.

    He was going to take possession of the City. He already had the trust of the City Lord''s son. With the City on its knees, he was the only hope for the City Lord''s son.

 Chapter 823 823: Desire

    <h4>Chapter 823 Chapter 823: Desire </h4>

    ?823 Chapter 823: Desire

    Karyk had already had a glimpse of the future. He wanted to be the City Lord and take the entire city, establishing his own force in Elzeria, a force that was only joint to expand.

    He had promised Aliac that he wasn''t going to fight the people of this world. But with such an opportunity, he had changed his mind.

    This city was farthest from the Capital. It was also connected to the Sea and the Beast Land. Even the Capital didn''t extend its hand to the City, which made this the perfect ce.

    As for information, did he even need to worry about information if he became a City Lord? The entire city was for his taking. But first, he had to solve some problems.

    Karyk returned to the City Lord''s Mansion, the young man still on his knees, his eyes lifeless.

    "How long are you going to sit there like a doll? Are you going to watch as the entire city falls apart?" Karyk asked the young man, entering the hall.

    The man lifelessly looked up. "Everything has fallen apart. Father is gone and it''s only a matter of time before the City is destroyed. This city is gone. But I won''t let my father''s death be for nothing! I''ll find the people responsible and kill them!"

    The young man stood up, his fist tightened. "Even if I have to go through hell, I''ll kill them!"

    "And how will you do that?" Karyk asked. "When you couldn''t even face some pirates, do you think you can face the people that got the best of your father? Do you think they''ll be weak? With your strength, you''ll only end up dying faster."

    "So you want me to stay idle and ignore my father''s death?" The young man weakly asked. Even he knew how weak he was, he couldn''t ignore it.

    "Or you can ask for my help." Karyk suggested, a calm smile spreading across his lips. "You said you''re willing to walk through hell for revenge. Working for me will be no different than entering hell. You''ll lose everything, but I promise I''ll let you have your revenge."

    "Not only will I help you get revenge, but I''ll also help this city, your father''s legacy, survive. So, do you want to enter this hell? Do you want to sacrifice everything for your revenge?"

    Karyk knew that the man wasn''t in his right mind, but he also knew this was the perfect opportunity. With the young man''s support, he could easily be the City Lord. All he needed was the support of this young man.

    The young man looked at Karyk. At the moment, he didn''t care about anything. He didn''t care about the man''s identity. He didn''t care if he was a General. He didn''t care what he had to sacrifice. All he wanted was the death of traitors.

    He went down one knee before Karyk. "I''m willing to give you everything, including this city. I''m willing to be your Servant as well. All I want for you to kill the people who schemed against my father! Even if I have to give my life for that cause, I''m willing!x

    Karyk stepped forward, smiling. He reached out his hand, cing them on the young man''s head.

    ****

    A few hourster, the schrly young man used an artifact to make sure everyone in the city could hear it. He told everyone to gather before the City Lord''s Mansion.

    The citizens of the Celestial City gathered in front of the City Lord''s Mansion, their faces filled with worry and fear. They had heard rumors of the City Lord''s death, but the confirmation only deepened their anxiety.

    They wondered what would be of their city, their homes, and their lives. Did they really have to leave their homes?

    As the crowd grew, the schrly young man stood on the balcony of the Mansion, his eyes filled with determination. Beside him stood Karyk, his face still covered in a mask, only his violet eyes visible.

    The young man took a deep breath, trying to steady his voice.

    "Citizens of the Celestial City," he began, his voice amplified by the artifact. "I stand before you today, not as the son of thete City Lord, but as a citizen of this brave city. With heavy hearts, we mourn the loss of my father, a great man who dedicated his life to the prosperity of this city."

    The crowd murmured, their expressions a mix of sadness and curiosity. They had not expected the son of the City Lord to step up so quickly, nor did they know who this masked man next to him was.

    "I understand the uncertainty and fear that fills your hearts," the young man continued. "But I promise you, we will not let this city fall. Together, we will rise from the ashes and rebuild what has been lost. We will seek justice for my father''s death and ensure that those responsible pay for their crimes."

    The crowd remained silent, their eyes fixed on the young man. They were unsure if all this was truly possible. The City had no Warriors left. It was the weakest it had ever been.

    Karyk stepped forward, his voicemanding and filled with authority. "The attacks on this city were not the work of mindless monsters, but of cunning individuals who sought to bring chaos and destruction. They underestimated the strength and resilience of the Celestial City, but they will soon learn the error of their ways."

    He paused, letting his words sink in. "I have seen the determination and courage of the people of this city. I have witnessed your unwavering spirit in the face of adversity. And I tell you now, that together, we will ovee this darkness and emerge stronger than ever before."

    The crowd began to stir. All of them were curious who this masked man was. He was the one who saved the City and calmed them when they were most panicked, like a leader.

 Chapter 824 824: New Lord

    <h4>Chapter 824 Chapter 824: New Lord </h4>

    ?824 Chapter 824: New Lord

    They saw in Karyk a leader who inspired confidence and a young man who would stop at nothing to avenge his father''s death.

    The young man raised his hand, calling for silence. "We will rebuild our defenses, strengthen our forces, and fight back against those who seek to harm us. I ask for your trust and your support, for it is only together that we can restore peace and prosperity to the Celestial City."

    "I''m sure you''re all curious about his identity," he added, ncing at Karyk. "Let me inform you all. This is the Elder Brother of my Father, and from today onwards, he shall be your new Lord, taking my father''s ce!"

    The crowds erupted in chatter, hearing the shocking news. They had thought that the young man was going to be the new City Lord. But instead, it was the masked men?

    "Can we trust an outsider?" One of them muttered.

    "What are you talking about? He''s the brother of our previous City Lord. How could he be an outsider? Are you doubting the Young Lord''s words?"

    "Correct. I also remember how the new City Lord helped us before. Even in this situation, he was calm and promised us a better future. I don''t know why, but I trust him more. And I want to see that better future!"

    "Since he''s the Elder Brother of the Previous City Lord, he should be very strong as well. I definitely prefer someone older more than the Young Lord. This seems to be the best choice!"

    There were some voices suspicious of Karyk, but the majority was supportive of him, remembering his previous promise.

    "The ones who attacked this city thought they could kill my father and everything was going to be over! But let me tell all these bastards if they''re listening. If they considered my father to be scary, then they have no idea what''s in store for them now that my Eldest Uncle is here!" the young man spoke, his voice loud and clear.

    "I want to tell those traitors! They can try all the schemes they want! They can try anything! But this time, only hell is waiting for them! A hell like never before! As long as he is here, this city will never fall!"

    Hearing the young man''s words, even the crowd was filled with an overwhelming wave of hope. They could feel how confident the young man was in the new City Lord. This also made them confident in the man.

    Even if it was an impossible task, they now felt that it was possible.

    The crowd erupted in cheers, a renewed sense of hope filling their hearts. They believed in their new leader. They were ready to fight for their city and reim what was rightfully theirs. They were once again confident.

    As the young man finished speaking, he stepped back, letting Karyk take the lead.

    "I know many of you would have questions about me. But as I said before, I will never let this city fall. Even if the sky falls apart, even if the earth cracks, the City will stand tall! Whether it''s the Beast Tide, the Chaotic Sea or the traitors within, I''ll be the wall that protects you from it all!"

    "However, for that, I also need your support. We need to rebuild the City. In that, I''ll need all your health. That''s why I''ll be opening a recruitment. The ones who are interested in bing a warrior, I''ll personally train them. As for the artisans and the workers that will be rebuilding the City, we''ll have many positions open as well."

    "Those who are interested can apply from tomorrow. And even if none applies, it''s fine. My promise to you all will still stand!"

    After he finished, Karyk also turned around and went back into the Mansion, apanied by the young man.

    As the crowd dispersed, the young man turned to Karyk, gratitude and determination shining in his eyes.

    "I hope you never forget your promise," he said. "I want the traitors to experience hell."

    Karyk nodded, a hint of a smile on his lips. "In due time. They''ll start moving soon, so it won''t take long. But for now, we have much work ahead of us,

    In the evening, the young man buried his father with all Elzerian rituals. A sense of regret once again washed over him.

    He knew his father''s sacrifice wouldn''t be in vain as he now had Karyk''s support.

    "Don''t worry father. I''ll send those bastards to the afterlife. They''ll personally ask for forgiveness there. But I hope you never forgive them either."

    Sitting before his father''s grave, the young man talked to his heart''s content while Karyk watched from a distance.

    ****

    The next day, the recruitment began. Many people applied for the recruitment, some because of their loyalty to the City while others because of a high pay.

    The only problem was that the number of people who applied to be warriors was very low, all worried that they might be used as cannon fodders during the month of beasts.

    In a city of millions of people, only slightly more than a hundred people applied to be Warriors, despite it being the highest paying job. And none of the people were even fractionally strong whenpared to the warriors who were previously killed.

    Despite the low number, Karyk didn''t worry. He didn''t care about the low number of the warriors. It was only a matter of time before more people started applying. All he had to do was to make the first batch strong.

    Not just strong, he also wanted to make them absolutely loyal to him. He wanted them to be more loyal to him than even the Elzerian Empire. He had already put his n into motion.

    Karyk carefully selected individuals from within the ones who applied. By the end of the process, only slightly more than thirty people were selected.

    And so, the journey to rebuild the Celestial City began, with the young man and Karyk at the forefront.

 Chapter 825 825: New Celestial City

    <h4>Chapter 825 Chapter 825: New Celestial City </h4>

    ?825 Chapter 825: New Celestial City

    The first task at hand was the infrastructure of the city. In the recentmotion, not only were the Warriors and Guards of the Previous City Lord killed, but quite a lot of buildings were also damaged.

    Even the border walls were destroyed. It was a border City that was the first line of defense. And oftentimes, it was attacked from both sides. Despite knowing that, the enemies destroyed the border wall, not even leaving a single lifeline for the citizens.

    It was as if they wanted to take away everyst bit of hope from these people. They could''ve killed the citizens, but they let them live, possibly for them to cause amotion or abandon the city.

    Karyk was sure that there were some insiders who were a part of this and they were still in the city, observing everything. That was also a good excuse for him to convince the young man to keep his identity a secret.

    He used every disadvantage to his advantage, taking control of the city. The previous city lord''s son was left as nothing more than a loyal puppet, blinded by Revenge.

    Although Karyk was using the City Lord''s son to his advantage, he also meant everything he had told the young man. He had decided to keep it as an equal exchange. He was receiving this city, and in exchange, he promised that he was going to give the killers of his father to the young man.

    Karyk stood near the border between the City and thend of Chaos where the wall was being repaired by the citizens. The good thing was that only warriors in the city were killed, but the artisans were still alive, which made things a bit easier.

    "Can we truly survive the next beast tide with just the people we have?" The Previous City Lord''s Son Arkam stood behind Karyk, looking at thend of Chaos in the distance.

    In the moment, thend of Chaos felt peaceful like any ordinarynd. But he had witnessed the true danger of that ce. Every year, he had experienced the brutal attacks of the beast tide, witnessing countless lives being lost.

    It was all thanks to his father that this city had survived, but even his father didn''t have an easy time. Moreover in recent years, the beast tide was only getting stronger for some reason.

    Even his father was worried about future beast tides. And that was when the city hadn''t suffered damage like this.

    Karyk didn''t answer. He didn''t know what the beast tide in this ce was like. Although he was confident that he could protect the city, but that was only an assumption at this point.

    "The city will survive the attack. However, the real enemy isn''t in the Land of Chaos. It''s a two way war. Since you''ve already chosen a side, you are caught in the middle as well. So you must listen to everything I say, without asking any questions."

    Karyk turned around, walking back towards the City Lord''s Mansion, observing the repair of houses along the way. Wherever he walked through, he was greeted by the citizens.

    "I''m not going anywhere. No matter what you ask me to do, I will follow through. All I want is for you to keep your promise. I want the people who schemed against my father and I want this city, my father''s legacy, to be protected."

    Arkam nodded. He stopped questioning Karyk. In this moment, it didn''t matter if his guess was correct or wrong. It didn''t matter if Karyk had ulterior motives or not. All he knew was that without Karyk, the city wasn''t going to survive. He was theirst hope.

    Just for the fact that Karyk had saved his life and was now saving their city, Arkam already felt a deep sense of gratitude towards him.

    "Good. I''m giving you your first task. I want you to gather information. I want every information about every powerful family in Elzeria. Not just that, I want every information you have on the Royal Capital and their strength. No matter how insignificant that information is, I would rather have it than to miss it."

    "Even about the Royal Family?" Arkam frowned. However, he just remembered that he had promised he wouldn''t ask any questions.

    "I will have it done." He nodded. "But for it, I will have to leave the city for some time. Will everything be fine if I''m not here?"

    "It should be fine." Karyk affirmed. It didn''t matter how long Arkam was going to take. Anything was faster than him gathering information personally since he was definitely going to miss a lot of things that a native wouldn''t.

    Moreover, he had a lot of things to do in the city as well. He wanted to establish his own domain as well. He wanted this city to be a Capital away from the Capital, a base of their power.

    Instead of letting the war drag onto his world, he wanted to try creating his own force here that could help him when the time came, something that was going to be absolutely loyal to him.

    To achieve his goals, the survival of this city was of utmost importance. If the city was destroyed, all this opportunity was no different than wasted.

    "The moment you return, you''ll see a new and improved Celestial City. Something that would not only be safer than it used to be, but even stronger."

    Arkam, after receiving Karyk''s affirmation, left Karyk, going back to the Mansion. He waste when he had to protect his father. If he had arrived a few days earlier, he could''ve changed the future. This time, he didn''t want to bete as the lives of many people in the city depended on him.

    Karyk watched him leave, observing him in silence. He didn''t know what the future was going to be like, but he had a feeling that if Arkam didn''t disappoint him, then things were going to be much better.

 Chapter 826 826: Just Orders

    <h4>Chapter 826 Chapter 826: Just Orders </h4>

    ?826 Chapter 826: Just Orders

    After reaching the Mansion, Arkam prepared for a long journey. With his position as the young master of the Celestial City, he had created many friends throughout the Dynasty. He even had many sources, especially many that were in the field of intelligence.

    He had made up his mind to approach them without failing. He even took some coins with him as a form of payment, realizing the value of information. Since he had been away from the city for quite some time, he didn''t know just how many changes this world went through.

    Karyk sat on top of the Mansion, watching Arkam depart. With his departure, there was no further obstruction. He was truly the only Overlord of the city and there was no one to keep an eye over him.

    "I just thank the intruders for killing everyone loyal to the previous City Lord. They gave me a clean te." Karyk muttered. He nced back, smiling. "What do you think? Shouldn''t I thank your masters?"

    "He found us?" A shocked voice came from behind. "Don''t dy anymore! Kill him!"

    Two assassins jumped out from the shadows, attacking Karyk from behind. Unfortunately, the assassins didn''t look happy.

    They didn''t feel any resistance to their des sliding through Karyk''s flesh, which convinced them that it was an afterimage.

    "I was thinking about thanking you, and here you are trying to kill me. I''m quite hurt, you know?" The two assassins felt a hand grab onto the back of their neck.

    Before they could react, they felt pushed down, their faces mmed against the floor.

    Looking up, the assassins saw Karyk smiling, his grip firm on their necks.

    "You were observing me throughout the day. Shouldn''t you have been more careful before attacking me?" Karyk asked as he mmed their faces to the ground again.

    "With your skill, you could''ve been the ones who attacked the previous city lord. If that was the case, I would''ve been more disappointed in his skills. But from what I heard, he wasn''t that weak. In that case, you are probably the informant of those people?"

    Even though Karyk kept asking questions, he didn''t give the people a chance to answer as he kept smashing their faces to the ground, a loud sound echoing at regr intervals as if a hammer striking a bell.

    Unfortunately, since no guards had been selected for the Mansion yet, no one was here to see a sight like that.

    Karyk didn''t need to wait for answers either, since he was already able to guess such basic things. The only thing he didn''t know was the identity of the people behind this and their reason.

    Unable to bear their skull getting mmed against the floor, even the trained assassins couldn''t control themselves as they passed out, their fierce resistance halting.

    Karyk finally released them, the floor already being covered in the blood of the assassins. Fortunately, both were still breathing.

    "Don''t worry. We have a long time to have a chat since you two won''t be going anywhere."

    He grabbed both of them by their ankles, dragging their bodies behind him as he went inside the mansion, disappearing in the darkness.

    ....

    "Where..."

    After an unknown amount of time, one of the assassins regained consciousness. He raised his head, looking around, only to find that he was in a dark ce.

    He was sitting on a chair, his hands tied behind his back.

    "Looks like you had a good sleep. You kept your friend waiting for so long."

    The assassin heard a voice. Only now he noticed a man standing in the distance, his back resting against a wall.

    He looked to his left, hearing some muffled voice. Next to him, he found the other assassin, which made him slightly scared.

    The other assassin was bleeding all over the ce, most of his skin burned, his nails pulled out. He didn''t even appear like a man anymore. He was trying to speak, but he couldn''t.

    "Your friend was quite stubborn, so I had no choice but to be a little... Harsh. I hope you won''t be like him, will you?" Karyk asked.

    With the second assassin, he had set an example. Now all he had to do was for the first to take the bait and submit.

    "I-i..." The first assassin didn''t want to experience the same as his friend. Dying was easier, but he didn''t want to be in the same condition. Seeing his friend like this had mentally affected him.

    Karyk''s voice softened as he continued, "I don''t want to hurt you. If you cooperate, we can find a way to resolve this peacefully."

    "So, will you tell me everything I want to know? Or should I get started? Don''t worry though, I won''t let you lie. Every time, I''ll hurt you and then heal you. I''ll keep repeating the cycle, just like I did with your friend. It''ll be quite fun, I promise."

    "I will tell you! I will tell you everything!" The man knew what he had to do. Loyalty wasn''t as important as his safety. He wasn''t like the assassins that were prepared to die after failing once.

    He was the most scared of pain. That''s why he was part of a team that gathered intelligence and rarely took assassination tasks. Even this time, he was simply observing Karyk, only attacking when he was discovered.

    But now, with his life hanging by a thread, he was willing to spill all the secrets he had gathered.

    "That''s much better."

    Karyk waved his hand, making a chair appear behind him, taking a seat.

    "Start from the beginning. I have plenty of time."

    The man gulped down, ncing at his friend again before he started telling everything like a parrot. He didn''t even try to mix lies with the truth, not taking any risks.

    "And that''s why those people did it. While they were gone, they left us behind to observe the situation and to make sure that the situation gets worse. We were also the ones who leaked the news of the City Lord dying to create more panic amongst the people. We were just following orders!"

    Hearing everything, Karyk stood up. Without saying anything, he left the hall. He had received a really interesting piece of information.

 Chapter 827 827: Land of Chaos

    <h4>Chapter 827 Chapter 827: Land of Chaos </h4>

    ?827 Chapter 827: Land of Chaos

    After leaving the hall, Karyk couldn''t help but feel a mixture of intrigue. The information he had just obtained was far more valuable than he had anticipated.

    It was clear that there were powerful forces at y, manipting the situation to their advantage. And the threads of this reached even his main targets, the Royals.

    As he wandered through the dimly lit corridors of the mansion, Karyk pondered over the implications of what he had learned and how he could use this to his advantage.

    Although the pieces of the puzzle were slowlying together, there were still missing gaps that needed to be filled.

    Deep in thought, Karyk made his way to the mansion''s library. It was a vast room filled with books, scrolls, and ancient manuscripts. Fortunately, the City Lord''s Mansion wasn''t burned.

    Although the information here couldn''t be asprehensive as what Arkam was going to get him, he still preferred to know as much as he could, especially if there was a possibility for him to understand more about the Chaotic Beasts.

    As he searched the shelves, his gaze fell upon an old time with a worn leather cover in the corner most shelf. There was no title on the cover of the book and it appeared like an insignificant book, but that''s what made Karyk intrigued.

    He pulled out your book and opened it, finding the title to be on the first page instead. The title read, "The Celestial Dynasty."

    "Is this the detailed history of the Empire? But from what I know, the Empire isn''t called this." Curious over the title, Karyk started going through the book. Carefully turning the aged pages, Karyk continued.

    As he went through the pages, he was slightly surprised. The content of the book felt more like a story and less like reality, because nothing that the book mentioned was the reality of the Dynasty.

    The book didn''t mention Elzerians at all. It didn''t mention the invincibility of the Royals either. It was as if the book was talking aboutpletely different people... An ordinary civilization. In fact, he wouldn''t have found it hard to believe if someone told him that it was a book mentioning his own world before the rise of the era of magic. However, at times, the book did feel familiar since it mentioned the Chaotic Sea.

    Karyk''s curiosity grew as he delved deeper into the pages. However, from the tenth page onwards, he found every other page to bepletely nk.

    Karyk''s brows furrowed in confusion as he turned each nk page, hoping to find some hidden message or clue. But to his disappointment, there was nothing but empty space staring back at him. It was as if someone had intentionally removed the content from those pages.

    Feeling frustrated, Karyk pondered the significance of these missing pages. Why would someone go to such lengths to erase the information? Was it really someone putting their imagination to work or was there really a civilization like that?

    If there really was an ordinary civilization, then how did they gain immortality to the point that they could even stand against the gods? Moreover, the book didn''t mention anything about beasts.

    In fact, ording to the book, the Capital of the Celestial Dynasty was in the area that was now known as the forbidden area of the Elzerian Empire. It was the ce that was now called the Land of Chaos.

    There were so many things about this book that didn''t make sense and he had no method to confirm the contents of the book. At this moment, he truly wished for Arkam to be here.

    Since he couldn''t wait for Arkam''s return, he decided to seek his answers from someone else.

    He closed the tome and carefully ced it in his spatial storage.

    As he left the library and made his way back through the dim corridors of the mansion, Karyk''s thoughts were consumed by many questions.

    Walking through the silent corridors, he returned to the prison cell where he had kept one of the assassins alive.

    The assassin had lived for a long time and worked in the field of intelligence, which made him the best person to ask these questions since he can''t tell anyone else. Unlike with others, he didn''t have to close the mouth of this guy.

    Stepping into the cold cell, he found the assassin bound and weakened, still sitting next to his lifeless friend.

    As soon as he heard the sound of footsteps, the assassin raised his head, his eyes showing a trace of concern as well as hope. He had already told Karyk everything. He didn''t know if Karyk was here to release him or to kill him.

    "I''m here to grant you freedom. But before that, I have one more question."

    "What do you want to know?" The assassin asked, his hope reigniting.

    "The Celestial Dynasty... Tell me everything you know about it." Karyk stated.

    "The what dynasty?" The assassin looked at Karyk in confusion, as if this was the first time he had heard about this.

    "Are you sure you want to keep secrets from me?" A knife appeared in Karyk''s hands as he stepped forward. "Now that I think about it, your friend might be missing you. If you really want to be with him, I won''t mind sending you there."

    "T-there is no Celestial Dynasty! I only know about Elzeria! If you''re using this trick to kill me, then do you really need it? Just kill me! You don''t have to use such excuses!"

    Although scared, the assassin stuck to his point. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn''t think of any Celestial Dynasty.

    Karyk observed the assassin''s expressions. From the looks of it, he had a feeling that the man before him wasn''t lying. But for him to never even hear about it, was this truly a fake story? Why else would it be unknown to the people here?

    He swung the knife. The assassin closed his eyes, only to be stunned when he didn''t feel any pain. He opened his eyes, even more surprising to find that he was freed of the chains.

    "You''ll being with me." Karyk told the man. "That is, if you don''t want to die."

    "Where are we going?" the assassin asked, having a bad feeling about this.

    "To thend of Chaos." Karyk smiled.

 Chapter 828 828: Not for you

    <h4>Chapter 828 Chapter 828: Not for you </h4>

    ?828 Chapter 828: Not for you

    Karyk''s smile sent a chill down the assassin''s spine. He couldn''t help but feel a sense of dread as he grasped the meaning behind his words.

    "You can''t go there! Even the Celestial City Lord wouldn''t dare! There''s a reason that ce is called the forbiddennd! No one who entered that ce has ever returned alive. Not even a General from the Capital would dare go there!" the man eximed, his thoughts frozen in fear.

    The thought of venturing into the forbidden area of the Elzerian Empire, known as the Land of Chaos, filled him with unease. He didn''t want to die there.

    "If you think following me there will lead you to death, do you think refusing my offer will lead you to life? I can kill you right now. What''s better? A confirmed death at my hands or the potential death in the Land of Chaos?" Karyk asked as he stepped out of the hall. "Why don''t you ask your friend what he would''ve chosen if he had an opportunity?"

    The assassin subconsciously nced at his lifeless friend, feeling a pang of regret. It was true that the Land of Chaos held a certain reputation, but he couldn''t deny that potentially dyingter was better than dying right now.

    If he were to die in the Forbidden Land, at least he would die knowing the mystery of that ce. But if he died here, he would''ve died as an assassin who had failed.

    Despite fear, the choice was clear for him. Sighing, he followed Karyk through the dimly lit corridors of the mansion.

    As they made their way towards the mansion''s exit, Karyk exined his n to the assassin. "I believe there is more to this Celestial Dynasty than meets the eye. And to help me, I need a guide. Although you''ve never been there, you can still be helpful in many other ways."

    "Are you nning on using me as bait if wee across any danger?" the man asked, his expressions filled with concern.

    Karyk was strong on his own, and when it came to the forbidden forest, his knowledge was limited. So the assassin knew he wasn''t very helpful. There was only one thing he could be of use for someone as strong as him, and that was to cause distraction. At least that''s what he thought.

    Karyk shook his head. "For now, I have no n to use you as bait, but everything will depend on how you behave. If you try to use any tricks, I might use you as bait just for the sake of it."

    Relieved by Karyk''s response, the assassin''s tense shoulders rxed slightly. "Since we''re both going to die anyway, at least I''ll feel d that I''m going to die with you."

    "Do you hate me that much? You''ll be relieved if I were to die?" Karyk couldn''t help butugh. "Shouldn''t an assassin control his emotions? You do realize that I control your life, right?"

    The assassin sighed. "Since I''m technically a dead man walking, what''s the use of controlling emotions? I would rather curse you even the moment I''m dying."

    He couldn''t believe he was caught in this mess. All he wanted to do was act as a spy in the city and report everything to the higher ups. He never expected to be caught and then forced to apany the person who caught him to a suicide mission, all to satisfy his curiosity.

    "But do you even have a n? It''s forbidden for a reason, and the dangers there are unimaginable. What if we die right after stepping in there? Won''t it be tragic?"

    Karyk shrugged. "I''ve never been there and I don''t know what that ce is like. How would I have a n? We will see what''s in that ce and deal with the matters as we gain more information."

    The assassin''s lips twitched uncontrobly.

    "Well, that fills me up with more confidence," he stated, filled with sarcasm.

    Karykughed. "Well, it can''t be as bad as what I might have to face in the future. Though if you want to help, I won''t mind if you give me a n."

    They reached a hidden door at the end of a corridor. Karyk pressed his hand against the door, tracing the intricate patterns carved into its surface. The door shimmered with a faint glow, and a soft click echoed through the corridor as it swung open.

    As they stepped into the hidden passage, a sense of foreboding filled the air. The walls were adorned with ancient symbols and markings. The passage was narrow and winding, leading deeper into the heart of the mansion.

    As Karyk entered the hidden passage, the assassin didn''t know but someone who looked identical to Karyk was standing at the balcony, looking at the beautiful city, his face still covered in the mask.

    Karyk and the assassin walked in silence, their footsteps echoing off the stone walls. The further they went, the darker and colder it became.

    "What is this passage?" The assassin asked, slightly confused.

    "As an information, shouldn''t you have known about everything in the mansion? Anyway, this is the secret passage that leads outside the city. With this, I can leave the city without being seen by anyone."

    "Are you worried that if someone found out that you''re not in the city, they might cause anothermotion? But did you not think this through? If you aren''t seen in the city for some time, the others will definitely get suspicious." The Assassin rolled his eyes. "It''s only a matter of time before everyone finds out about your absence."

    "Who knows? Maybe they''ll find out, or maybe not. That''s not for you to be worried about," Karyk answered as he walked in the lead, without being concerned about getting stabbed in the back as if everything was in his control for now.

    After what felt like an eternity, they finally reached the end of the passage, appearing outside the Border City.

 Chapter 829 829: Same Choice

    <h4>Chapter 829 Chapter 829: Same Choice </h4>

    ?829 Chapter 829: Same Choice

    The assassin looked back, the border wall of the city clearly visible. As he stared at the towering border wall, the assassin couldn''t help but be surprised that there was a hidden tunnel like this that they didn''t know about.

    Now he finally understood the reason poison was used to kill the previous city lord. If the City Lord wasn''t poisoned, then even if they had gathered people strong enough to kill him, they couldn''t have done anything.

    The moment they had passed through the security, the City Lord could''ve left through this tunnel that no one knew about. And then, he could''ve had his revenge. The n to poison had considered a lot of variables.

    Although it took longer, it was also more foolproof. The poison ensured that the City Lord couldn''t do anything. All they had to do was wait until he died on his own.

    That was also why they leaked the information about the herb being brought through the sea so his son could be dyed. Although the pirates didn''t manage to kill the City Lord''s son, spoiling some of the n, for the most part, it was a huge sess as the city lord didn''t get the herb in time.

    Unfortunately, because the City Lord wasn''t killed, a new problem was created, especially since he returned with another person and made him the City Lord. Moreover this person felt even more dangerous than the previous city lord.

    "If we die inside the Land of Chaos, those people would be quite happy. The old city lord is dead. The new one will be dead as well. And the City would be gone in the next beast attack. You''re making things easier for them."

    The Assassin still tried to change Karyk''s mind, hoping that he would go back instead of taking such a risk that was more beneficial to his enemies.

    Unfortunately for him, Karyk had made up his mind. He wanted to see just what was the secret of the Land of Chaos. Why were the beast attacks never ending? Why was it called the Capital of the Celestial Empire in the book, before Elzerian Empire even existed.

    He didn''t know if the book''s contents were true or not, but he had a feeling that he needed to check it himself. If the contents of the book were true and there was a reason the beasts kept attacking Elzeria, it could be useful for him.

    Even a General of the Dynasty couldn''t return alive from the Land of Chaos, which convinced Karyk that there were powerful beings hiding inside thend of Chaos. If those beings attacked the border City, it was clear that no one could stop them, except the army from the Royal Capital. Yet they didn''t attack.

    Moreover, even after knowing about their existence, the Emperor didn''t ce any army to the border City, as if he knew that the beings were never going to step out personally.

    He could feel that there were strange undercurrents running beneath the surface of thend of Chaos, but it was impossible to decipher their true nature. However, he knew that this was an opportunity that he was looking for.

    If he could solve the mystery, then he could definitely create a bigger headache for the Elzerian Dynasty.

    "If they''re going to be happy with my death, I''ll give them an opportunity." Karyk smiled as he stepped towards the distant Land of Chaos.

    ****

    Back on earth, Ryder returned to his mansion, greeted by his son who had been worried all this time.

    "Uncle Janus...?" Nyx asked, realizing that Ryder had returned alone.

    Thest he remembered, his father was holding Caen by his throat while Janus was pleading with him to let his nephew live. He didn''t know what happened after that as he was sent away. But he had a bad feeling about this. Did his father actually kill the son of Chaos?

    "Have you eaten?" Ryder asked as he walked past Nyx.

    Nyx shook his head, his mind still clouded with worry. "I couldn''t bring myself to eat when I didn''t know if you were alright."

    Ryder sighed. "There are times when we need to do something against our convictions. It would be best if you stopped thinking about what happened today. I just did what had to be done. That''s all there is to it."

    "Tell your mother to get dinner ready. After a shower, we will eat together." He went upstairs, entering his room.

    Nyx looked at his father until he disappeared. He didn''t know what had happened, but he felt that he shouldn''t be asking about it.

    Curiosity gnawed at Nyx, but he trusted his father''s judgment. He knew that his father hadn''t eaten for a long time either. He went to his mother, telling her that his father was back.

    In his room, Ryder stood before the study table, where the ancient book was still open. It was the same ce where Janus thought he had stabbed him, not realizing that it wasn''t the real him.

    "I really hoped he wouldn''t have done that. But somewhere, I also understand why he did it. If it was me, maybe..."

    He closed the ancient book, taking his clothes off before entering the shower.

    "What a troublesome prophecy... It dragged us all in..." He turned on the shower, letting the warm water cascade over his tired body. As the water washed away the stress of the past few hours, Ryder couldn''t help but reflect on the events that had unfolded and the information he came to find out.

    "I thought I would be able to keep my promise, and live in peace with my family. But this prophecy... If it''s true, it''ll drag Nyx to his death as well."

    Ryder clenched his fists, his conflict of thoughts clearly visible on his face.

    Today, he had done something for which he could never forgive himself. However, he couldn''t even afford to regret his choice as he knew that if there was another opportunity, he would''ve done the same thing.

 Chapter 830 830: Vacant World

    <h4>Chapter 830 Chapter 830: Vacant World </h4>

    ?830 Chapter 830: Vacant World

    As the warm water eased his weary body, Ryder couldn''t help but feel the weight of his actions.

    The events of the day had forced him to make a difficult decision, one that went against his very nature. But he knew deep down that there was no other choice. The prophecy had tied their fates together, and he had to do whatever it took to protect his family, even if it meant making sacrifices.

    As he stood under the shower, his mind wandered back to the ancient book on his study table. If he could unlock its secrets, he could potentially find a way to change their fate, but at this point, he didn''t feel like there was any possibility.

    He could only take other steps to protect his son. However, the more he thought about it, the more conflicted he became.

    "Chaos, looks like I have no choice. I''ll have to destroy everyst remnant rted to you, including..."

    With a heavy sigh, Ryder turned off the shower and dried himself off. He knew he had to face the reality that awaited him. The long period of peace was over.

    He dressed in fresh clothes and made his way downstairs, where his son, Nyx, was waiting with his mother and sister.

    As Ryder entered the dining room, he could see the worry etched on Nyx''s face. The young boy had witnessed the tense confrontation between him and Janus, and he still couldn''tpletely forget that.

    Ryder knew that now was not the time to discuss what had happened. He needed to reassure Nyx.

    He ruffled his son''s hair, like a doting father before taking his seat.

    "This smells delicious." Ryder spoke to his wife, trying to maintain a sense of normalcy amidst the chaos that surrounded them.

    His wife nodded. "Of course it would seem that way, since you haven''t eaten for days. That reminds me... Did Janus leave?"

    She looked at her son, only now remembering it. She remembered her son had left with Janus. But he returned alone.

    "Yeah, he won''t be joining us. He had something important to do." Ryder calmly replied, not exining further.

    Nyx nced at his father but didn''t intervene. He also sat down.

    "He left so early. He must be quite busy." Ryder''s wife sighed as she sat down, not thinking much about it.

    Ryder smiled at his son, grateful for his understanding and not asking any unnecessary questions. He knew there was a long journey before him, and he didn''t want them to worry or feel guilty.

    ****

    The Central World of the Upper Realm felt just as empty as always.

    There were only a few people living in such a vast world, yet for Gabriel, this world felt full. In this world, he had everyone that he could ever need. He had his sister here. He also had his teachers, Cylix and Novius.

    He even had the Holy Priestess of Summoning, who had been with him the longest and was very close to him. He also had the two demigods that had helped him in the past. Andstly, Karyk had also left the Goddess of Nature behind.

    This small group of people had be something akin to his family, removing arge extent of his loneliness.

    However, there was one absence which still stabbed deep in his heart. He sat before Ezekiel''s grave, talking to himself.

    No matter how many cherished people were around him, he couldn''t forget Ezekiel, who had granted him this extra life. Ezekiel had even sacrificed his life to try to protect this peace of his life.

    As Gabriel sat before Ezekiel''s grave, memories of their time together flooded his mind. He couldn''t help but feel a deep sense of loss. Ezekiel had been the one who had given him a second chance at life, and taught him almost everything he knew.

    "I miss you," Gabriel whispered, his voice filled with a mix of sadness and gratitude. "If I had a father, I wonder if he would''ve been like you..."

    He reached out and gently traced the engravings on the gravestone, as if trying to feel a connection to his fallenrade.

    The pain of Ezekiel''s absence was still fresh, even though time had passed since his passing.

    "I should''ve been the one to chase after her, instead of you. I should''ve... If only I..."

    Gabriel wished he could have done more to save him, to prevent his sacrifice. But he knew deep down that Ezekiel had made that choice willingly.

    He hadn''t thought about this at that moment, but now he understood that Ezekiel had intentionally sent him to inform others while he chased after the girl, because he knew how risky it was.

    And even after reaching that girl, he fought with his life on the line, all to protect this world that took everything from him, all because it was a world Ryder held dear.

    He didn''t even realize how much time had passed. With a heavy heart, Gabriel rose from his spot by the grave. He knew that he couldn''t dwell in the past forever. He had a responsibility. He couldn''t let Ezekiel''s sacrifice go to waste.

    He returned to the mansion where his sister and the others were waiting for him.

    Although his responsibility was to protect his family by staying here, he had made up his mind. He couldn''t stay idle and not do anything. However, he couldn''t leave them behind either.

    He informed everyone that all of them would be following him as he was going to the other worlds in the Upper Realm. He couldn''t stay behind while doing nothing. As a war was on the horizon, he had to help in his own way.

    While Aliac was searching for people in the ordinary worlds that had potential to be recruited and trained, he set up his mind on something else.

    Since he had made up his mind, the others also didn''t refuse him. And thus, the Central World was leftpletely vacant, holding no use anymore.

 Chapter 831 831: Land of Chaos

    <h4>Chapter 831 Chapter 831: Land of Chaos</h4>

    ?831 Chapter 831: Land of Chaos

    Karyk continued to walk deeper into the Land of Chaos, the mysterious and forbiddennd that had imed the lives of countless.

    As he ventured further, he couldn''t help but wonder why the ce had gained such a terrifying reputation. So far, he hadn''t encountered anything out of the ordinary.

    After passing through the forest at the entrance, all he saw was a desert. As far as he could see, all he saw was ck sand.

    Beside him, the assassin trembled with fear, his senses on high alert. He couldn''t understand how Karyk remained so calm in a ce that seemed to emanate danger.

    "Are you sure this is known as the Land of Death where every year the dead beasts return to life?" Karyk asked the assassin who was shivering while closely following behind, wondering if he was even at the right ce.

    "W-what are you talking about? Can''t you sense the dangers in this ce?" The assassin stammered, his voice filled with disbelief.

    Karyk nced at the assassin, his brow furrowing in confusion.

    "I don''t sense any danger," he replied honestly. "In fact, this ce feels strangelyforting to me."

    As if he was in a world of his own, the Assassin was already shivering, feeling extremely cold. His senses were repeatedly warning him of danger, as if telling him to return as soon as possible.

    Seeing such an extreme reaction, Karyk was confused. For the most part, this ce felt extremely normal. If there was one difference that he could feel was that he felt morefortable in this ce than he felt back in the city.

    He didn''t know what it was about the air here, but it made him feel extremelyfortable, as if he was back at his home and not in a foreignnd.

    The assassin looked at Karyk in surprise, finding this man weird. How could anyone find sce in a ce that had imed the lives of so many?

    He felt suffocated as if the very air around them held a malevolent presence. Every instinct screamed at him to turn back, to escape the Land of Chaos. Meanwhile the man before him talked like he was walking in a garden.

    As they continued their journey, Karyk grew more surprised with each passing hour. He had been walking for hours and covered a lot of distance, yet he still hasn''t seen a single corpse, let alone a beast.

    Within a few weeks, it was going to be the time when beasts attacked the border City. So how could this ce be so calm, as if there was not a single life here. Not even a single stray beast was visible.

    The silence was eerie, but there was no scent of decay or the lingering presence of undead creatures. It was as if thend had been untouched by death, contradicting the tales he had heard.

    The further they traveled, the more Karyk became convinced that there was more to the Land of Chaos than met the eye. The more ordinary it appeared, the more he felt that something was wrong here.

    There were only two possibilities he thought of. One was that the stories were nothing more than exaggerated myths, and the second was that there was a deeper truth waiting to be discovered.

    As they pressed on, Karyk''s senses sharpened. He began to notice subtle changes in the environment around him. The air grew heavy, and thendscape took on a surreal quality. Finally he was able to feel the scent of death, a scent that he was all too familiar with.

    Meanwhile the Assassin waspletely silent. He was cold to the touch, his face pale as if almost all his face was frozen.

    "Looks like we''re finally reaching somewhere." Karyk spoke as he turned around, only to see the assassin jump in his direction like a mad man, trying to kill him.

    "Have you decided to give up your life?" Karyk asked as he raised his hand. The body of the assassin froze in ce, akin to a puppet whose threads were in his control.

    Until now, the Assassin hadn''t shown the slightest sign of hostility. He hade to terms with their agreement, so his sudden attack felt strange. Moreover, now that Karyk observed carefully, he noticed that the assassin''s eyes seemed devoid of any emotion or consciousness.

    It was as if he was being controlled by someone else, a mere pawn in arger scheme.

    While Karyk observed the man, he once again moved, breaking free of the restrictions. This time, even Karyk was surprised as he hadn''t expected something like this. It should''ve been impossible for the man to free himself, at least not this soon.

    The Assassin once again swung his dagger, straight at Karyk''s throat without a single care of his life. But before the de could hit its mark, a sudden surge of energy coursed through Karyk''s body, casting a shield.

    He could kill the man, but he wanted to capture him alive to understand what had happened to him. It neither looked like spirit possession nor soul corruption after all.

    Karyk wanted to stop the man who wasn''t a threat to him. But to his surprise, the shield that even an Elzerian couldn''t break easily was sliced through by an ordinary dagger.

    Karyk''s frown deepened as the dagger effortlessly cut through the shield. He quickly jumped back, narrowly avoiding the strike. He didn''t understand how the assassin was able to do all this, or just where he gained this power from.

    It was still the same person with the same soul, so it didn''t make sense.

    "What are you?" Karyk demanded, his voice filled with a mix of confusion and curiosity. "How can an ordinary dagger break through my protective barrier?"

    The assassin''s expression remained nk, devoid of any emotion or response. It was clear that he was no longer in control of his own actions. Karyk realized that there was something much more sinister at y here.

 Chapter 832 832: Threads

    <h4>Chapter 832 Chapter 832: Threads </h4>

    ?832 Chapter 832: Threads

    Karyk spread out his senses, covering the surroundings in his domain, being able to observe every small thing within this domain. He didn''t even look at the assassin as he avoided every single attack. His entire focus was only on finding one target.

    "Found you." After a few seconds, he finally noticed something interesting.

    Among the chaos, Karyk''s keen senses picked up on a flicker of energy, a hidden presence lurking in the shadows.

    His figure disappeared,pletely vanishing. Even the Assassin looked all around, not knowing where to attack anymore. It was as if the target was just... gone.

    Hundreds of meters away from him, there stood a hooded figure, looking at the assassin.

    "Where did he go? Did he use some escape talisman?" A grim voice came. The hooded figure remained calm and silent, observing the perplexed Assassin with a steady gaze.

    "What a pity. He managed to escape. Then again, I doubt he would ever dare to return." The hooded figure mumbled as he turned around. The Assassin, in a Mechanical Manner, walked in his direction, controlled by invisible threads that were impossible to see with the naked eye.

    He walked for around five hundred meters before stopping. The hooded figure raised his hand, creating a strange yet familiar pattern in the air.

    The pattern in the air illuminated with a soft glow, revealing a hidden portal. The hooded figure stepped through the portal. The assassin also followed inside, still as lifeless.

    As the portal closed behind him, the Assassin stood motionless, the invisible threads releasing their hold over it.

    Not even the hooded figure realized that Karyk had also apanied them.

    As he appeared on the other side of the portal, he was surprised by the sight before him. He could see an entire city in the distance which looked as majestic as it possibly could. However, the entire city was surrounded by people that looked lifeless, just like the assassin.

    Following the instructions of the man, the Assassin followed him, standing next to the thousands of guards that had surrounded the city.

    Amongst the thousands, there were also a few very powerful beings, whose aura could still be felt from far away. They were the Generals of Elzeria that had arrived here, only to never return.

    Only now Karyk was able to see why they never returned. It was said that the Land of Chaos was and of lifeless, where only the dead beasts roamed. But seeing the sight before him, Karyk could feel that the reality appeared quite differently.

    The hooded figure approached the entrance of the city. With a single wave, the lifeless puppets moved aside, making way for the figure to enter. He entered the city, disappearing inside.

    As Karyk observed the hooded figure entering the city, he knew he had to follow. He blended into the surroundings, making sure not to attract any attention from the lifeless guards or powerful beings that surrounded the city.

    However, to his surprise, the moment he stepped closer to the city, the ground beneath him lit up, akin to pointing at him. All the lifeless guards looked in the same direction, their auras ring at the same time.

    "So much for being stealthy." Karyk sighed as he waved his hand, a sword taking shape in his grasp.

    He wanted to enter the city without getting seen, all because he wanted to know just how this city was rted to the beast tides. Unfortunately, his ns were spoiled and he was caught. Thatpletely erased the opportunity of peaceful observation.

    Karyk tightened his grip on the sword and prepared himself for the imminent confrontation. The lifeless guards started moving towards him with an eerie sync, their eyes devoid of any emotion or consciousness.

    It was as if they were puppets being controlled by some unseen force. The only difference was that they weren''t independently being controlled now.

    Karyk noticed the hooded figure standing above the city walls, looking in his directions. It was clear that he had also be alert. But other than him, no one else from within the city hade.

    Without wasting any time, Karyk unleashed his powers, channeling his energy into the sword. Elzeria was a world where the elements were limited, which made it a dangerous ce for using his strength without reserves.

    He couldn''t recover his strength from his surroundings within this ce. That''s why, he tried to avoid dragging this fight for longer. He also made sure to use the least amount of his strength that he felt was needed.

    The de ignited with a vibrant blue me, casting an ethereal glow around him. With each swing of his sword, he effortlessly destroyed the approaching guards, their lifeless puppets crumbling to the ground.

    As the battle ensued, Karyk noticed that the powerful guards hadn''t even moved. They were staying in the back, observing the fight from a distance. Only the weaker puppets wereing forward, but because their numbers were too high, they were also a problem in itself.

    Karyk kept ncing at the hooded figure on the city wall, certain that he was sending the weaker ones because he wanted to find out what he was actually capable of. At the same time, he was trying to exhaust him.

    Karyk continued to fight off the approaching guards, his sword slicing through them with precision and ease. This was the least exhausting method for him as he didn''t have to manipte much of his surroundings. All he needed was a sword reinforced with the slightest of his aura.

    He could sense the hooded figure''s gaze upon him, analyzing his every move. Karyk became even more convinced that he wanted to test his abilities and wear him down.

    As Karyk fought, he strategized in his mind. He knew he couldn''t let himself be overwhelmed by the sheer number of guards as that was a great waste of his strength. He needed to find a way to get closer to the city wall where the hooded figure stood so he could end it quicker.

 Chapter 833 833: Dangerous

    <h4>Chapter 833 Chapter 833: Dangerous</h4>

    ?833 Chapter 833: Dangerous

    With each swing of his sword, Karyk devised a n. He focused on the shortest route to the wall, avoiding, with each step, traveling hundreds of meters. While he maneuvered his way towards the city wall, he unleashed a powerful burst of energy, causing a shockwave that sent the guards flying backward, momentarily disorienting many.

    Taking advantage of the confusion, Karyk swiftly moved towards the city wall, dodging any guards that tried to impede his progress. As he approached, he could feel the power emanating from the hooded figure intensify.

    Finally reaching the base of the city wall, Karyk looked up to see the hooded figure staring down at him with cold, calcting eyes. The figure spoke with a voice that could send chills down anyone''s spine.

    "You''re the second person who has managed to get this close to this ce. But this is as far as you''ll go."

    As soon as he finished speaking, Karyk sensed danger. From behind, a powerful attack came flying in his direction that was stronger than anything he had ever seen.

    He had faced the King''s sister who was apanied by her guards. Butpared to the strength of a General, she wascking a lot. A General of Elzeria was not only older but many times stronger than her as well. And one such person was in control of these people.

    Karyk didn''t know how they were able to catch and control a person like his. He also didn''t understand how the Emperor didn''t send his entire army to raze this ce to the ground, even if one of the Generals was taken.

    He avoided the attack, albeit barely as the attack was too fast. The corner of his sleeves was caught in the attack,pletely disintegrating.

    "I''m the second person to get better. In that case, u suppose the first would be him?" Karyk asked,nding in the distance.

    The hooded figure didn''t answer. He just looked at Karyk, only his deep red eyes visible under the hood.

    "And here I was thinking about ending it without exhausting myself." Karyk sighed, his long robe fluttering behind him. "But it seems like I''ll have to put in a little more effort."

    The hooded figure smiled. "Show me what you''re capable of."

    "Are you sure you want to see?" A voice fell in the hooded figure''s ears. This time, even he was stunned as the voice came from right behind him.

    Before he could react, he felt a burning sensation on his fingers. The invisible thread that he used to control the puppets was forcefully burned, theplete control of this domain being snatched from him.

    "You!" He eximed as he turned around. But as soon as he looked back, he felt a hand touching his chest, sending him flying back.

    The hooded figure flew back, falling off the well. He quickly regained his bnce mid-air,nding gracefully on his feet, his eyes filled with a surprise.

    As far as he remembered, everything was in his control. Karyk was ying into his palm, about to fight the General. He was about to see just what this man was capable of, trying to find an opportunity to turn him into a puppet as well. But in an instant, everything had changed.

    "How...?" he asked, his thoughts in shambles.

    "Don''t you have more important things to worry about?" Karyk asked, sitting atop the wall, an amused look spread across his face.

    The hooded figure noticed that his gaze was in the distance. He traced Karyk''s gaze, his expressions darkening.

    Behind him, he noticed the General of Elzeria, looking at him with heavy killing intent like he wanted to rip this guy apart.

    Not just the General, not the others also looked at him with eyes of hate. Now that all of them were freed of the controlling threats, they were able to control themselves. They also remembered everything that had happened, from the moment they were caught.

    Even the Assassin that was just caught came to his senses, feeling a slight headache. He remembered fighting Karyk, and then following the hooded figure. At that moment, he felt as if his body wasn''t in his control. He felt like he was in a prison, only able to watch what was happening outside but not possessing any control.

    He had seen the entire fight from the start to the end. While he was under control, he was sure that Karyk could never win. But Karyk had once again surprised him, freeing him.

    He looked in the direction of Karyk, who waved at him in amusement.

    "If you don''t want to be caught in the fight of two giants, then step back," the assassin heard Karyk''s voice, directly in his head.

    He didn''t have time to be amazed by it. He stepped back quickly, realizing that the General and the others were going to attack the hooded figure. Until now, he hadn''t seen the hooded figure make a move personally, but he was certain that this guy wasn''t weak either.

    He also found it quite ironic. At first, the hooded figure wanted to see what Karyk was capable of. But in the end, it was he who had to reveal what he was capable of. In an instant, everything had turned upside down, and all Karyk had to do was free some people.

    The hooded figure frowned, realizing that it was a mess. He could control them one by one after weakening them. But with such arge number on the other side, it was almost impossible for him to control them.

    Even more troublesome was the fact that all these were puppets that hadn''t even taken part in a battle yet and weren''t exhausted in the least. He couldn''t help but nce back at Karyk, wondering if that guy had nned everything when he went past them without hurting them.

    He didn''t want to believe it. If this guy actually nned all this, then he could only imagine how dangerous this guy was. He wasn''t just strong but also far sighted.

 Chapter 834 834: Forgotten Name

    Chapter 834   834: Forgotten Name

    ??834  Chapter 834: Forgotten Name

    Above all else, he still couldn''t control how Karyk was able to cast his domain in a ce like this. Usually, casting a domain consumed arge amount of energy. However, that wasn''t possible in this ce.

    No one from Elzeria should''ve been able to cast a Domain in this ce. If they could, then the city would''ve fallen a long time ago.

    "So how...?" He mumbled under his breath.

    As he was lost in thoughts, he sensed danger. The General of Elzeria, eager to wash his humiliation with blood, attacked the hooded figure, mounting an even stronger attack. It was as if he had already gone mad in anger and didn''t think about conserving any strength. All he wanted was to rip the hooded figure in two.

    The hooded figure swiftly dodged the General''s attack, his movements fluid and precise. As the General''s attack missed its mark, the hooded figure retaliated with a swift counterattack, aiming for the General''s weak spots with invisible threads.

    Suffering from the invisible threads once, the General wasn''t as ignorant as before. He managed to defend against the hooded figure''s strikes, cutting the invisible threads.

    The first time, he had relied on his eyes which was why he lost. But this time, more than his eyes, he relied on his senses.

    The battle between the two powerful beings intensified, their attacks and defenses shing with incredible force. Karyk watched from the sidelines, analyzing their every move.

    He could sense that the hooded figure was skilled and experienced, but there was something different about him. He appeared slightly weaker than the General in this battle, but Karyk could feel that it wasn''t all there was to him. It was as if he intentionally wasn''t showing all he had.

    Karyk wondered if he was keeping his secrets because he wanted to use his full strength against him. For now, he didn''t have the correct answer.

    Realizing that the person wasn''t going to reveal his secrets, Karyk felt like watching was a waste of time. He left a shadow of his behind. Through his shadow, he observed the battle. While his real self shifted its attention to the other side of the wall, which was the actual city.

    He jumped down the wall, being separated from the hooded figure through a wall.

    As Karyknded on the other side of the wall, he found himself within the confines of the unfamiliar city. The atmosphere here was even more eerie and unsettling. The buildings were crumbling, their once magnificent facades now worn and decayed. The streets were littered with debris and overgrown with weeds.

    As he cautiously made his way through the deste streets, Karyk couldn''t shake off the feeling that he was being watched. Shadows seemed to move and shift. In this ce, he could feel the heavy scent of death.

    It was as if death hadn''t taken ce within the city but the city itself had taken ce inside death. The air was heavy with a sense of impending danger.

    As he explored further, Karyk stumbled upon an open underground passage. It was from within this passage where he felt the strongest scent of death.

    His mind was conflicted. On one side, he wanted to go deeper within the city and if possible, check the core region where he could see a majestic ce. However, on the other side, he wanted to check the underground passages that increased his curiosity.

    He was the God of Death, and such a scent of death fascinated him. It was dark, but his curiositypelled him to venture inside the underground passage.

    Through the stairs, he went down. However, even after he kept going down the stairs for half an hour, he didn''t reach the end. It was as if the stairs were taking him straight to hell.

    He could feel the temperature dropping drastically the further he descended. The air grew musty and he could hear strange noises, akin to inaudible cries.

    After what felt like an eternity, Karyk finally reached the end of the stairs. As he stepped onto solid ground, he was met with a chilling sight. The entire underground passage was filled with the corpses of beasts, their lifeless bodies scattered across the floor.

    As far as his eyes could see, there were beast corpses. He couldn''t even count exactly how many there were as the passage was covering the entire city. As per his expectations, there were millions of such beast corpses.

    He had never even seen such beasts as he was seeing in this ce. But some of them matched the description of the beasts he had heard about from Arkam. These were the beasts that every year attacked the Border City... At least a few of them.

    The species that Arkam had described was here. But strangely, that felt like the weakest. In the depths of the tunnel, Karyk could feel the corpses of beasts that were thousands of times more powerful, one that could raze the border City to ground in an instant.

    If those beasts came to life, Karyk wasn''t sure if even the General of Elzeria could match them. But what caught his attention was the strange energy emanating from their bodies. It was a dark, twisted force that seemed to be pulsating with an otherworldly power.

    He wasn''t sure what was happening in this ce. So far, nothing had made sense. Within the Land of Chaos, there was an actual city. And within the city, there were these beasts.

    "Is it the Capital of the Celestial Dynasty as mentioned in the book?" Karyk muttered. He had more questions than answers at this point.

    Karyk cautiously approached one of the creatures. As he got closer, he realized that the dark energy surrounding them was not inherently malevolent, but it did have traces of strong emotions.

    He decided to leave and continued searching. However, before he could move, he heard a voice.

    "Celestial Dynasty... How long has it been since Ist heard that forgotten name..."

    Karyk turned towards the source of the voice.

 Chapter 835 835: Alone

    Chapter 835  835: Alone

    ??835  Chapter 835: Alone

    There, standing amidst the sea of beast corpses, was a figure shrouded in darkness. The voice was deep and resonant, carrying a hint of sadness and nostalgia.

    As Karyk''s eyes adjusted to the dim light, he could make out the silhouette of a woman, her eyes glowing with a faint ethereal light.

    "Who are you?" he asked, his curiosity piqued by the mention of the Celestial Dynasty. With this, he was convinced that this ce definitely had something to do with the Celestial Dynasty.

    The woman stepped forward, her graceful movements contrasting the dark surroundings, making it appear as if she was floating.

    "You have entered our home. Shouldn''t you answer who you are?" The woman asked. "How did you manage to get past him?"

    "Him?" Karyk asked, thinking back to the puppet master. "I suppose you can say that he was kind enough to let me pass."

    "It doesn''t matter how you got here. It doesn''t change the fact that no outsider is allowed here," the woman spoke, her voice carrying an ethereal power within.

    Although she was surprised that there were still people who knew of this name, it didn''t change the fact that Karyk didn''t belong here. He was an outsider and all outsiders were their enemies, regardless of their identity.

    "I-" Karyk tried to speak, but before he could even let a word out, he felt the presence of death getting stronger, some of the dead beasts opening their eyes, as if they had woken up from their eternal sleep.

    Karyk looked at the woman in surprise, taken aback that she was able to control death as well. The person outside was able to control people with invisible threads, but this woman didn''t use any threads.

    She directly controlled the undead, something which he thought only he was able to achieve in the past.

    Even he couldn''t control the Undead Beasts here as there was something different about them. But this woman had no problem with this. She felt simr to him, yet different.

    As Karyk observed her, he noticed a scary calmness surrounding her. It was as if she had spent all her life surrounded by death.

    "It''s been lonely, hadn''t it?" Karyk asked as a mncholic smile appeared on his lips.

    Looking at the woman, he was reminded of his own past. With the destruction of his world, he had also been apanied only by the undead, a life that had taken a heavy toll on him. In the woman, he could see a shadow of his own past.

    He doesn''t know why she was surrounded by death or even had abilities like these, which should''ve been impossible for an Elzerian to possess.

    Moreover, he was certain that she had lived for a really long time. The pain and sadness in her eyes couldn''t be something gathered within just a few centuries.

    "If I''m not wrong, you''re not an Elzerian either? Is that why you hate all outsiders? Are Elzerians the cause of this downfall?" Karyk asked, understanding a lot of things by now.

    He was really curious why no one had heard about this ce, or why these people were living in hiding. But now he had a lot of his answers. The content of the book wasn''t a story. Instead, it was the reality of this world.

    However, that was only half the reality. Something had changed that reality, bringing the downfall of the Celestial Dynasty. And he was sure Elzerians had something to do with it. They were also the reason why all information about this ce hadpletely disappeared.

    Hearing Karyk mention Elzeria, the woman''s eyes turned cold. Before Karyk could continue, he felt a heavy killing intent aimed at him.

    The Undead Beasts around the woman stood up, showing their poisonous fangs. One of the beasts roared as he jumped at Karyk.

    Outside the city, the General of Elzeria was fighting the hooded figure. However, he was clearly at a disadvantage. All the other men who were freed were already killed by now, leaving only the General and the Assassin who was hiding in the distance.

    The General was covered in wounds, bleeding all over. Only the Assassin was unharmed, all because he was hiding in the distance, not even daring to get close.

    In the end, the General realized that he couldn''t win this battle. He understood that revenge was a distant dream when he couldn''t even harm the hooded figure, who was like a ghost.

    He attacked onest time, forcing the hooded figure to move back, avoiding the attack. But only when the hooded figurended in the distance, he noticed that the General didn''t continue the attack.

    To his surprise, the General turned around, and started running away. The General knew that he couldn''t survive if he stayed behind, especially since the others could join as well.

    He had to leave this ce and inform his Lord about everything! He had to tell the King!

    The Hooded Figure was about to chase after the General, but before he could move, he heard a loud roar of a beast. His expressions turned dark as he looked towards the City.

    By now, the General had also disappeared, leaving the ne, making it impossible to catch him. Instead of chasing after the General, the hooded figure ran towards the City.

    As he reached near the city wall, the invisible threads came out of his body, sending him flying high. As he was high in the sky, he didn''t forget to destroy Karyk''s shadow that was keeping an eye on him.

    Hended inside the city, only to hear a loud explosion. He noticed the ground break as a human figure was sent flying high in the sky.

    Even from outside the city, the Assassin was able to see the figure who bnced himself high in the sky. It was Karyk.

    "Who did he mess with now?" The Assassin scratched the back of his head.

    He also wanted to escape from this ce like the General. Unfortunately, he wasn''t as strong as him and wasn''t able to break free of this space to return. He remained hidden behind a tree.

 Chapter 836 836: One of them

    Chapter 836   836: One of them

    ??836  Chapter 836: One of them

    The Assassin watched as Karyk descended from the sky, hisnding causing a small crater in the ground. As Karyk stood up, dust and debris falling from his body, he looked around. A small cut was visible over his forehead, bleeding.

    The woman, still standing amidst the sea of corpses, observed Karyk with a mixture of curiosity. She hadn''t expected Karyk to be able to survive that attack. Not only did he survive, but he was also mostly unharmed.

    Right before her eyes, she saw the wound on his forehead healing.

    "So you''re indeed one of them," she spoke, thest semnce of emotions in her eyes disappeared. She was like the cold empress, who had sent this entire city straight to hell.

    Karyk, unfazed by the attack, patted the dust off his clothes.

    "I don''t know who you are or why you attacked me, but I want to make it clear that I''m not an Elzerian," he said, his voice steady and resolute. "In fact, I hate the Elzerians as well. That''s why I came here. We have both been touched by darkness. We can either be enemies or allies in this forsaken world."

    "Lies! All you people do is lie!" The woman''s shrill scream echoed in the entire city.

    Even though the Assassin stood outside the city, he felt as if his head was going to explode from this scream. His ears started bleeding.

    The Undead Beasts that had attacked Karyk came out of the ground, rumbling and growling with menacing intent.

    The woman''s ethereal light flickered, revealing a hint of vulnerability beneath her calm exterior. She had spent centuries guarding what remained of this ce, keeping it safe from the prying eyes of outsiders.

    The Undead Beasts flew straight to Karyk, its strength no weaker than the Elzerian King''s Sister whom Karyk had fought.

    "I told you I''m not an Elzerian. I have nothing to do with your problems! Why don''t you believe me?" Karyk asked, barely avoiding the attack from the Undead Beast.

    He didn''t even want to face this person. He had limited strength in this world. And if he wasted that in fighting these Undead Beasts, there was no end to it.

    The woman didn''t pay attention to his words. She only looked at him with cold eyes as Karyk dodged another attack.

    "Why would Ie here alone if I worked for Elzeria? Would I not have known what kind of ce this way if I worked for them?!" Karyk asked, avoiding another attack.

    Unfortunately, the third time he couldn''tpletely avoid it as the beast''s ws managed to leave a deep cut on his waist.

    The woman didn''t answer Karyk. She didn''t care if Karyk was telling the truth. She had lost trust in outsiders, and she wasn''t going to trust a stranger who appeared in her city with such ease.

    She could see that even though Karyk acted like an ordinary person, he was dangerous. She knew the strength of the Undead Beast that was attacking him. Even an Elzerian General would''ve had a hard time avoiding attacks like this.

    However, Karyk was able to achieve such a feat, although not with perfection. And that''s when he didn''t even use any extraordinary abilities. It was just his physical strength that he had shown until now. Moreover, all wounds over his body kept healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

    "Are you really not going to give me an opportunity to exin?" Karyk asked as he moved back, avoiding another attack.

    The more he avoided it, the faster the undead beast became, to the point where it seemed almost impossible to keep up.

    "Don''t me me then!" Karyk clenched his fist, a pitch ck me burned around his fist.

    As the Undead Beast came to attack him again, Karyk unleashed his full strength,unching a devastating punch infused with the ck me.

    The punchnded with a resounding impact, causing a shockwave that rippled through the air. The ck me engulfed the Undead Beast, consuming it in an inferno of darkness. The beast let out a piercing screech before disintegrating into ashes.

    The woman watched in astonishment as the powerful disy of Karyk''s strength unfolded before her eyes. Her cold facade cracked for a moment, revealing a flicker of uncertainty. This kind of strength wasn''t something that even an ordinary Elzerian General could possess.

    Although a General could also kill a beast with ease, but even they couldn''t destroy the body to this extent that not even a single shred was left behind.

    Karyk took a deep breath as the ck me subsided, leaving behind a trail of wisps that dissipated into the air. He looked at the woman, his eyes filled with determination.

    "I don''t want to fight you," Karyk said, his voiceced with sincerity. "But if you continue to attack me without giving me a chance to exin, I will defend myself. I''m not your enemy, but I won''t stand still and ept death either!"

    The woman''s gaze wavered, torn between her duty to protect the city and her growing curiosity about Karyk. She had been alone for so long, guarding this ce from outsiders, that she had forgotten what it felt like toe across someone like this.

    "Prove it," she finally spoke, her voice softer than before. "Prove to me that you''re not here to bring harm to this city. Prove to me that you''re not one of them!"

    Karyk frowned. Although he had an opportunity, he didn''t know how he could prove it.

    "Ah, that''s right." He suddenly thought of something, realizing that he had forgotten something really important. He was inherently different from an Elzerian after all.

    He removed his disguise while taking off the mask, revealing his real face. Just his eyes alone were enough to prove that he wasn''t an Elzerian.

    The woman looked at him with great interest as he removed his disguise. However, the moment the disguise waspletely gone, she frowned while looking at him.

 Chapter 837 837: Possibility

    <h4>Chapter 837 Chapter 837: Possibility</h4>

    ?837 Chapter 837: Possibility

    Karyk removed his disguise, trying to prove that he wasn''t an Elzerian. By now, he was convinced that she wasn''t fond of Elzeria, which made it safe for him to reveal himself.

    For him, the enemy of his enemy was a friend. Moreover, it was a friend who wasn''t weak either. He needed a force in Elzeria to stop the invasion, and he could see the first step of gathering that force right before his eyes.

    Every year, the Beasts attacked the Border City. They couldn''t pass through the border defences, but even then, they caused a great loss of life. And that was when the strongest beasts hadn''t even attacked the Border City.

    Since he had taken control over the Border City now, if he could turn them to his side, it was highly beneficial. The City didn''t need to worry about the attack from the beasts, which gave them time to develop. And secondly, he could support these people, using them against Elzeria.

    As soon as Karyk removed his disguise, the woman looked at him with a strange look in her eyes, her focus resting on Karyk''s eyes.

    She moved like a ghost, appearing right before Karyk. She brought her face close to his, looking deep in his eyes. Her face came so close that there remained only an inch of distance between their lips.

    Karyk could even feel her warm breath. Although she controlled cold lifeless beings, but she was very much alive. He was curious about her strange behaviour. However, he didn''t feel any malice from her so he didn''t push her back.

    He simply thought that this was because in this world, she hadn''t seen anyone other than an Elzerian for a long time, so she was fascinated with the difference.

    "Who are you...?" she asked, her face making it impossible to read her thoughts. "Where did youe from?!"

    Karyk was d that at least the conversation was finally beginning. He took a few steps back, creating some distance between them, before he started exining.

    He didn''t tell her his entire history. He only told her that he was from a different world, that was on the verge of being invaded by Elzeria.

    He told her how the seal was broken, allowing the aura from this world to spill over to theirs. He also told her how he came here to gather more information so he could prepare for what was toe.

    The woman looked at Karyk weirdly, still focusing on his eyes.

    She turned around, walking away while mumbling to herself. "Is it a coincidence?"

    She waved her hand. Following her gesture, all the Undead Beasts that hade out of the ground to attack Karyk returned to their old ce.

    Karyk followed the girl who appeared to be lost in her own thoughts. He was simply fascinated by how the principles she used to control the dead werepletely different from his.

    Another thing that fascinated him was that other than these two people, he hadn''t seen anyone else in this vast city. Even after such amotion, no one appeared to check.

    He didn''t know if the others didn''t care about thismotion or that there was no one else in the city in the first ce. In any case, the city appeared to be useful.

    "It must be a coincidence. It''s impossible after all!" The woman stopped aftering to a conclusion. She turned around, ncing at Karyk.

    "You said your name was Karyk?" she asked. "How did you find out about the Celestial Dynasty? There should''ve been no records left."

    Karyk pulled out the book from his storage space, tossing it towards the woman. "I found this in the City Lord''s pce when he was trying to gather information."

    The woman caught the book, opening it. She carefully started reading it. However, her reading speed was much faster than his. Within seconds, she finished reading the entire thing, until the point from where the pages were missing.

    "That City Lord... Can you bring him to me?" she asked after thinking for some time.

    "That would be impossible. He''s been long dead," Karyk informed her. He himself hadn''t met that guy after all. By the time he even reached the city, the man was long dead.

    "I want his corpse..." the woman stated.

    She controlled death in this world. Even if she couldn''t meet him when he was alive, she was sure she could at least find out what she wanted to know. Even being dead wasn''t enough of an excuse for her.

    "I''m afraid I can''t do that." Karyk refused.

    The woman frowned, her eyes turning cold. "Are you saying no to me?"

    Karykzily nodded before asking, "I think you have a huge misunderstanding. Since when did I start working for you?"

    Before the woman could respond, he continued, "Although I believe both of us can use each other, but I won''t be making you incharge. Just like I need you, you need me as well."

    "Why would I need you?" the woman asked, her eyes looking coldly at him. "Do you think I won''t kill you because you''re not one of them?"

    It had been a long time since someonest refused her. There was only one person who did that and survived. And it was someone she hated the most. And Karyk was doing the same thing.

    "Because you hate them more than you can ever hate me," Karyk answered. "You can''t have your revenge without me. If you could, you wouldn''t be trapped here."

    The woman''s expressions turned dark, the temperature suddenly dropping. "How do you know I''m trapped here?"

    "If you weren''t, would Elzeria be having such a peaceful time? With how much you hate them, you wouldn''t be hiding here. You would''ve caused a lot of destruction before being killed. And even if you don''t leave, you could''ve sent the powerful undead under yourmand."

    "At first, I was curious why you only sent the weaker beasts. But it all makes sense when I think of the possibility."

 Chapter 838 838: Thread of fate

    Chapter 838   838: Thread of fate

    ??838  Chapter 838: Thread of fate

    "I couldn''t understand how the Border City could survive your wrath when you had such powerful undead hiding at the depths of this city. If you had sent them, the city would''ve been wiped in a single day. But that wasn''t the case."

    "It all makes sense when I think of the possibility. It''s not that you don''t go out or send them. But it''s that you can''t."

    As Karyk spoke, he kept observing the woman''s expressions. With each word he spoke, he was getting more and more convinced that he was right.

    "The reason the Elzerian King didn''t bother about this ce is because he knew that you were a bird without any wings left. No matter how strong you are, if you can''t leave this ce, you''re nothing but a paper tiger."

    "I don''t know why you''re trapped here or why you could only send out weaker beasts, but it doesn''t matter. What matters is that you need my help. As I said before, both of us need each other."

    He stepped closer to the woman, reaching out his hand towards her. Although she was trapped, he knew that she was still very useful to him. If he could free her, he could gain a powerful weapon.

    And even if he couldn''t free her, just the knowledge he could gain from her was able to elevate his control over the dead to another level, allowing him to maybe even control the Elzerians.

    A pureblood Elzerian could only live for a maximum of two hundred years. Within those two hundred years, they couldn''t be killed through usual means. But from what he read, he came to know that even after their deaths, the body of a pureblood never deteriorated.

    All the bodies of the pureblood Elzerians were kept buried in tombs at various ces. If he could gain the ability to bring the undead Elzerians back to life, that was already a great achievement in itself. Even if they weren''t as strong as they were when alive, but just their sheer number was a weapon in itself.

    Thanks to Gabriel, he had lost most of his powerful undeads. Creating more was something he really wanted to do. Unfortunately, it was hard to find powerful Undeads like the Generals he had created.

    In his eyes, the hooded woman before him was no different than a treasure trove.

    "If you take my hand, I will take it as your confirmation to work with me. And if you don''t, I can simply leave. I''m afraid if I want to leave, even you won''t be able to stop me."

    He stood calmly with his hand held out, waiting. He could see the uncertainty and the hesitation in the woman''s eyes. She still had some distrust, but she was also wise enough to know what was best for her.

    "How can I trust that you won''t betray us?" she asked, frowning.

    Her eyes made it clear that if she didn''t get a convincing answer, she might not agree. Even if she had to wait for a thousand years, she preferred it more than getting betrayed again.

    "As I told you, I have my own home to protect. After the threat is over, I''ll return to my home. We might create the seal again. You will get your world and I''ll get mine. From then on, we will never see each other again."

    He spoke earnestly, hoping to ease her concerns. "I have seen a lot of blood and war. I''ve lost my family in the process. And now that I finally have something to protect, I want to end this conflict once and for all."

    The woman looked into his eyes. She could feel that he was being sincere. However, for some reason, she felt that his eyes were that of someone who had lived for millions of years. They were so deep that at times, it was easy to lose oneself in that.

    She didn''t know if she could actually trust his words. She didn''t know if she was being a fool. However, she decided to believe him, hoping she wasn''t going to regret it again.

    Sighing, she reached out her hand as well, holding his hand. "If you betray me, I will kill you, no matter what."

    As she spoke, an invisible thread appeared tied around her wrist. Another simr thread appeared around Karyk''s wrist.

    "This is...?" Karyk asked. Although he could feel neither danger nor obstruction from the thread, he didn''t like being tied like this.

    "Since we will be working together, we would need a way tomunicate. With this, you''ll be able to hear my thoughts when I want. And simrly, you can share your thoughts with me."

    Karyk heard the woman''s voice, but he didn''t see her lips move this time. It was as if the voice had directly appeared in his head.

    "Why do I feel like that''s not the only purpose of it?" Karyk asked, understanding that the woman wasn''t that simple.

    Although it took some time, he was able to analyse the thread. It didn''t just allow them to hear each other''s thoughts. But it also allowed them to locate each other''s position, even if they were gxies apart.

    It was clear that the woman still didn''t trust him entirely and prepared for an eventual betrayal from his side. The thread could only be broken when both sides were willing.

    "You''re able to analyse it? That''s right. In case you betray me, then even if I can''t leave this ce, I''ll make sure you never have a peaceful moment in your life," the woman agreed as she gestured to the hooded puppet master, telling him to take care of the destroyed street.

    Alright the city was mostly empty, she couldn''t bear seeing it damaged. This was her first andst home.

    "I don''t mind. It''ll make things easier for me as well." Karyk didn''t argue. It just located him and nothing more. Once they were done, they could break the thread willingly. And if she refused, he could just kill her to remove all potential threats.

 Chapter 839 839: Darkness that eclipse abyss

    Chapter 839  839: Darkness that eclipse abyss

    ??The woman stepped towards the Pce in the distance. The moment she took her first step, the surroundings changed. Karyk also felt some spatial disturbance as if he was being pulled to a different space.

    He didn''t resist the spatial pull, instead, he embraced it, curious about where the woman was trying to take him.

    The surroundings changedpletely. One moment, he was standing at the outer edge of the city, and the next moment, he found himself in a grand hall.

    Just the sheer size of the hall alone was enough to give away its identity. This was the Grand Pce that he had only seen from a distance.

    In the Grand Hall, there was only one throne, made from intricate jade carvings that glimmered under the soft light. However, the throne didn''t look like it was made for people like them. Instead, it looked like it was made for a Giant.

    "Is there anyone in this city besides you two?" Karyk asked the woman who was walking towards the throne, her back straight and graceful.

    "There are millions of Undead in the city, if you want to count them," the woman answered as she stopped before the throne, her fingers tracing along the patterns etched into the jade.

    "And the living?" Karyk asked. Although millions of Undead was a great fighting force, he wanted to know the true depths of these people.

    "Only me." The woman spoke, taking a seat on the throne.

    "Just you?" Karyk frowned, thinking back to the hooded man who controlled the Undead like a puppet.

    He hadn''t sensed any undead aura from that man. Instead, the man appeared to be full of life,pletely unlike an Undead Being. He had intelligence as well.

    The woman nodded, her gaze fixed on the patterns etched into the jade. "Yes, just me. I''m the only living being in this City of Dead. If you''re wondering about ''him'', then you will be wrong. He''s not alive. If he was alive, he wouldn''t even be able to step out of the city."

    Karyk was slightly surprised to hear that the man wasn''t alive. Even someone like him who had walked between life and death all his life wasn''t able to see any signs of death from that man.

    Although he hadn''t seen the face of the man inside the hood, he still found it surprising that he failed to see through the reality. He didn''t know if it was because the beings in this world were different from his, or if it was because thews of death worked differently in this isted world.

    "Not only am I able to control the dead here, but I even failed to discover one. This shouldn''t be the case. Something is really wrong with this city." He wondered as he thought back to the moment where he stepped in the Land of Chaos.

    "I read in the book that the Celestial Dynasty was very prosperous, but it waspletely different from the Elzerian Dynasty that I see. The people of the Celestial Dynasty weren''t immortal and everything about the world was different ording to what I read."

    "The book didn''t mention anything about Elzerians, as if they didn''t even exist at that time. So how did the world be what it was today? How did the Celestial Dynasty, once invincible, fall to the point that no one even knows about it?"

    "How did you reach the point where you''ve been trapped within your own city that''s nothing but a shadow of its former glory?"

    Karyk had many questions. Fortunately, now there was someone who could answer him.

    "Do you think our fate is pitiful?" The womanughed mockingly. "Our fate is nothingpared to the fate you will face if you fail to stop them from entering your world."

    "We couldn''t stop them from bringing carnage to our ce, even after we exhausted all our strength. We were brought to ruins, even at the cost of so many lives."

    "All we had left was this small city that we were somehow able to protect. But you... Things will be much different with you, especially since you don''t have them."

    The woman''s words hung in the air, heavy with a sense of foreboding. Karyk''s curiosity grew stronger as he listened to her speak. He couldn''t help but wonder who "they" were that the woman was talking about.

    "I don''t have who?" Karyk asked, his voice filled with uncertainty.

    The woman turned to him, her eyes filled with a mixture of sadness and loss. She looked behind Karyk.

    Karyk traced her gaze, looking behind him. There, he saw multiple statues. And one of them was a giant statue whose physique matched that of the throne, as if this giant throne was especially created for him.

    "You don''t have the ones who could hold them back, even at the cost of their lives. All your lives will be futile the moment their conquest starts. You can only stop them before the conquest begins. If not..."

    She didn''t finish her sentence but her meaning was clear. Unfortunately, her words also confused Karyk.

    She was implying that he could only stop them in Elzeria. Why was it only possible here and not in his world? What was different the moment this ''conquest'' began? Weren''t they supposed to be the strongest in Elzeria? Something didn''t make sense about her words to him.

    "Who are they?" Karyk asked. "And why can they only be stopped before the conquest begins? What will change once they enter my world?"

    "The beings that threaten your world, and the ones which destroyed mine..." she replied cryptically. "They aren''t Elzerians. The Elzerians are just ''their'' pawns..."

    "They are unlike anything you could ever have encountered. They are powerful, relentless, and driven by a hunger for destruction. They seek to consume everything in their path, leaving only chaos and despair behind. They are beings that shouldn''t have existed in this universe."

    "They are the ones whose darkness even eclipses the abyss. They are the ones that Elzerians address as Divine Archangels."

 Chapter 840 840: Forceful Measure

    Chapter 840  840: Forceful Measure

    ??"If they are that dangerous, how did you survive all this time?" Karyk asked.

    Even if the city was protected in the past, it didn''t mean it could be protected forever. It was especially the case since ording to the girl, the people who protected this city had already died.

    That''s why he didn''t understand why she was still able to survive. Why did the Elzerian King not enter this ce to kill her? It couldn''t be for the reason that the city was hidden. Although it was hard to find this city, it wasn''t impossible after all.

    If he was in Elzerian''s ce, he would''ve first wiped all hidden dangers that could be a bigger threat in the future. He didn''t believe that they were fools to not know this.

    "You have something that scares them..." Karyk came to a conclusion. This was the only thing that made sense to him. He believed that the only reason the Elzerian King didn''t wipe this ce was because he was scared.

    The woman frowned, observing Karyk. "Are you sure you aren''t one of them?"

    She didn''t believe that Karyk could guess something like this just from what she told him. However, she had herself verified that he was from a different world.

    "You''re correct. There''s something that scares them. That''s the reason they haven''t destroyed this ce yet."

    Hearing her words, Karyk smiled. If there was something that could even threaten the Elzerians, then it was even more useful for him. It could aid him massively in what was toe.

    If it was a weapon, he believed it could help him destroy Elzeria. Since the woman couldn''t leave this ce, he believed he could convince her to let him use it as well.

    "What is it?" he asked the girl, really hoping for it to be a weapon.

    The woman shook her head in response.

    "It is not a weapon," she said, her voice filled with a mixture of resignation and sadness. "It is something far more powerful and dangerous than any weapon could ever be."

    Curiosity and anticipation filled Karyk''s mind as he waited for her to reveal what it was. He couldn''t help but wonder what could be more powerful than a weapon.

    "What is it?" Karyk asked, taking a step closer to the throne.

    The woman shook her head, letting out a distant sigh. "I don''t know."

    "You know it''s not the time to hide anything. I need to know everything if we have to work together, especially since it''s something that can help us immensely!" Karyk eximed, believing the woman to be hiding it as if she was worried about telling an outsider.

    "If it scares them, that means they already know what it is. You also know what it is. So why can''t I know?" he asked again, taking another step forward. "What is it?!"

    The woman answered in the same manner. "I don''t know what it is. All I know is that it''s not a weapon."

    "If you don''t know what it is, how do you know it''s not a weapon?" Karyk asked, refusing to believe her. She was the ruler of this ce. It was impossible for her to not know what was stopping the Elzerians from ttening this city.

    "If I had known, do you think I wouldn''t have used it to free myself?!" The woman''s voice became louder, finding herself to be wronged.

    Karyk scratched the back of his head, sighing. She looked as if she wasn''t lying. However, this also made him slightly troubled. It was as if they had a treasure but they didn''t even know what it was. They were back to square one.

    "I want to know about the history of the Celestial Empire, from the moment it came into existence to the moment it fell. I want to know everything that isn''t mentioned in the book," Karyk told the woman as he kept stepping forward, only stopping when there was only one step of distance between the two.

    "Maybe there''s some clue in that information about what that treasure can be. Even if we can''t find the treasure, I can learn from your mistakes and make changes to my n ordingly."

    Karyk knew about the Elzerians. But he didn''t know how the Archangels blessed the Elzerians or for that matter, who they even were. He wanted to learn from the woman, not only the past but also the future.

    "It will take a long time to tell everything..." The woman said. "I will tell you what you should know."

    "There''s no need to worry about the time. I have a faster way." Karyk spoke as he covered thest step of distance. "I will apologise in advance."

    Before the woman could react, he ced his hand over her head, invading her mind. He forcefully started reading her memories.

    To prevent the woman from resisting, he froze her body in time. As he was in physical contact with her, things became a lot easier. By freezing her, he stopped her control over the Undead. He even stopped her from calling for help.

    He didn''t just want to learn the history of the Celestial Dynasty, but also all the secrets that she couldn''t tell others. More importantly, he wanted to learn how she was able to control the undead. The answer to all his questions were in the memories of the woman.

    He didn''t know how easy it was going to be to convince her to tell him everything. Thus, he took forceful measures. All the talks he did were only to get close to her. And now that he had seeded, he was finally able to enter her memories.

    In the grand hall, there were two people. But none moved, as if both were frozen in time. No one knew what was happening inside the Pce.

    ....

    The Hooded Puppet Master was taking care of the destruction within the city, using his puppets to do the repair work. However, he suddenly felt something was wrong.

    He looked towards the pce, feeling as if his connection with the woman was cut off. His eyes burned in emotions as he flew towards the Pce.

 Chapter 841 841: That child...

    Chapter 841  841: That child...

    ??Karyk forcefully entered the woman''s memories. Since his world''s fate was on the line, he didn''t care about being right or wrong. He didn''t care about what steps he had to take. Since he was just looking through her memories and not actually harming her, he didn''t think much either.

    As he entered her memories, he experienced the moment of her birth. From the birth itself, the woman was conscious. She remembered everything, including the expressions of her father when he was embracing her.

    Intrigued by the depth of her memories, Karyk delved further and witnessed the woman''s childhood filled with joyful moments spent with her family. He also got to experience the world of that era, which was ruled by the Celestial Dynasty.

    However, to his surprise, that Dynasty was nothing like he expected. It was a world consisting of many species, each having a different physical trait. And the most important amongst them were the Titans, who were Giant Beings, akin to the person in the statue.

    At first, Karyk had thought that the statue was of the previous king, since the size of the throne was so huge. But reality was quite different. The Titan wasn''t the King. Instead, they were ordinary citizens of the Celestial Dynasty.

    They were the strongest when it came to raw strength and also the most trusted by the Emperor of the Dynasty, who was the father of the woman.

    Unlike Elzerians, the Royal Family of the Celestial Dynasty didn''t have a limit on their life span. They could live for an eternity if they wanted. Unfortunately, they didn''t have the invincibility of the Elzerians either since they were much easier to kill.

    Karyk lived through the girl''s memories, where she was trained to be the next Queen. She was also taught all the principles of life and death by her father who helped her the truew of death in this world.

    Along with the woman, Karyk also learned the secrets that were only supposed to be known by the Royal Heirs of the Celestial Dynasty.

    It was just as Karyk had expected. The world worked onpletely different principles than his universe. Even life and death worked differently here, which was why he had always failed to control the dead here.

    Learning through the memories, he received the answers to most of the questions that were guing his mind.

    The training of the woman continued, and so did Karyk''s learning. With each second that passed in the real world, Karyk was living through hundreds of years of memories of the girl.

    Thews of death in this world spun around his body, without him realizing. They slowly kept merging with his own Death Laws, enhancing his understanding and control over the realm of the dead in this world.

    It was as if apletely new world had opened to him, elevating him to a higher being.

    For the most part, the memories were normal. Other than the training, there was nothing of significance that he found. For the most part, the Celestial Dynasty was an ordinary Dynasty, albeit very strong.

    However, the memories soon took an interesting turn.

    As Karyk was living through the girl''s memories like a spectator, watching from aside, he noticed the woman waking up from her sleep.

    At this point, the woman was already around two hundred years old, but for her father, she was still a child.

    "That''s right! How could I take so long to grasp this principle!" She stood up, excited as if she had gained greater understanding about what her father taught her.

    In the morning, she kept failing to learn, but now she had finally learned. The woman stood up, excitedly leaving her room to tell her father.

    Karyk followed her towards the Emperor''s room. However, he noticed the woman stop outside the door.

    From the inside, there were some voicesing, like his father was busy talking to someone. The woman didn''t disturb her father, but she was quite curious as to who her father was talking to.

    Through the crack between the door, she looked inside her father''s room. Karyk also moved forward, doing the same.

    Through the crack, he saw the Emperor standing in the room, his expressions dark.

    "I don''t care what you want. I won''t do it!" The Emperor spoke. "You can''t control us!"

    "Are you sure you don''t want to listen?" A voice came from the other side as another figure stepped forward.

    Even though Karyk couldn''t see that man''s face, he was able to see the back of the person.

    The person did have a humanoid physique, but he was also very different. The person had twelve ethereal wingsing from behind his back, akin to an angel.

    Looking from behind, Karyk couldn''t help but find familiarities between this person and the statue that he had seen when he first came to this world. At least both had simr physical characteristics.

    He had lived for hundreds of years inside the girl''s memories, but he had never once seen a species like that in the Celestial Dynasty.

    "That child..." the Emperor spoke, his voice loud.

    However, before Karyk could hear clearly, Karyk felt a dangerous sensation, as if his life was in danger.

    Karyk''s consciousness returned to his body, as he jumped back, barely avoiding the sharp threads that wereing straight for his throat.

    He conjured an aura sword, cutting the remaining threads that kept chasing after him.

    On the other side, the hooded man was standing next to the woman, checking to see if she was fine. After confirming that she wasn''t harmed, he looked at Karyk, his eyes filled with anger.

    The woman also slowly opened her eyes. As Karyk''s effect on her consciousness was over, she slowly regained her consciousness.

    The woman stood up, looking at Karyk. She couldn''t recall what had happened from the moment Karyk touched her. She felt as if she had been through a dream, remembering her younger days.

    "What did you do?" she asked, rubbing her forehead, feeling a slight headache.

 Chapter 842 842: One Condition

    Chapter 842  842: One Condition

    ??"I did nothing. I just checked your body to see if you had any Elzerian blood." Karyk lied, his face filled with innocence. "I wanted to make sure that I wasn''t being pulled into a trap by an Elzerian. I''m sure you can understand."

    The woman didn''t believe Karyk''s words. However, she also couldn''t prove that he was lying since she herself didn''t remember what had happened. Her mind was still hazy. One moment she was telling Karyk about her past, and the next moment she was here.

    "Can you tell your friend there to stop attacking me over a misunderstanding?" Karyk asked as he kept cutting the invisible threads that were chasing after him.

    The woman nced at the hooded figure, raising her hand.

    The man instantly stopped, recalling all the sharp invisible threads. The threads returned to his body, merging with him as if they were a part of him.

    Karyk remained silent, but deep down, he was quite upset. He still had a lot of questions left. If the man hadn''t arrived for only a few more minutes, he could''ve had all his answers.

    All because of such an obstruction, he lost such a great opportunity. He didn''t know what the Emperor was talking about with that winged creature. He didn''t know what happened after that, or even when the Elzerians first appeared.

    He also didn''t know how the Dynasty fell to this point, or why the woman couldn''t leave this ce. It was as if an important past of history was right within his reach, yet still so far.

    The identity of the hooded person next to the woman was also a mystery at this point. However, the one good thing was that he had managed to learn the principles of death in this world. All he had to do was learn them physically.

    He wanted to try them right now, but he controlled himself. He had barelye up with an excuse to fool the woman. Using the same methods before her was no different than giving away what he actually did.

    "You were telling me about the past of the Celestial Dynasty and how it fell. Now that I''ve verified that you aren''t one of them, I can believe you more."

    Karyk nodded, maintaining his distance from the woman. He could also feel that she was wary of him, so it was almost impossible to use the same trick again. He could only hear from her.

    The hooded figure next to the woman looked at Karyk suspiciously. However, he listened to the woman and took a few steps back.

    This time, he didn''t leave the woman alone with Karyk. He watched from a distance, not interfering in their conversation. He silently guarded the woman. The woman also didn''t send him away this time.

    The woman told Karyk the history of the Celestial Dynasty. However, what she said, Karyk had already experienced in her memories. He didn''t tell her though.

    He silently heard her describe how the Celestial Dynasty was a beautiful ce, where millions of people lived in great harmony.

    However, it was just as Karyk had expected. She didn''t tell him about anything about her training. She didn''t mention her father much either, as if trying to hide a lot.

    "Unfortunately, one day it all started falling apart. It started with their one visit," the woman said.

    Karyk started paying more attention. This was the part he was waiting for. It was what he failed to experience in the memories.

    The woman observed Karyk carefully. For a moment, there was only silence.

    "Do you want me to continue?" she asked.

    "Why won''t I?" Karyk asked in return. "To be able to protect my people, I need to know as much as I can."

    "I will tell you about the war and the downfall of the Celestial Dynasty, but on one condition." The woman spoke, cing one leg above the other as she sat like a queen.

    "You realize you''re not in a situation to put conditions before me?" Karyk frowned. "You need me just as much as I need you."

    "Maybe that''s true, but you''re in a race against time, not me," the woman said. "I have already lost what I could. I have no people to protect. The only thing I crave is revenge, but I can wait for that."

    "But what about you?" she further asked, her eyes appearing like the eyes of a cunning businessman that didn''t want to suffer a loss.

    Looking at her reaction, Karyk felt d that she had gone through her memories and learned her methods. With how she was, it was impossible for her to teach him even if he had begged when she was putting forth conditions just on telling the history of the war, which was of much less significance than her learnings.

    "If I don''t get this deal, I might have to wait for a thousand more years. I might never get my revenge, but I can still find other methods. But you..."

    "You will lose everything you hold dear when they enter your world. It''s just as I said, you''re in a race against time, and not me."

    The woman''s face remained emotionless, even as she talked about the destruction of an entire universe, as if it was not worth a single bit of her pity.

    "I see." Karyk frowned. "So we''re not in cooperation, but a business deal."

    "It''s just as you said. We''re just using each other because our enemy is the same." The woman smiled.

    Karyk couldn''t help butugh in response.

    "In that case, I''ll make sure to use you well." Although he wasughing, deep down, he felt slightly angry but he didn''t show it.

    "I have only one condition, and once you fulfill it, I''ll tell you everything you want to know," the woman stated.

    "And what might that condition be?" Karyk asked, his face impossible to read as well.

    "I want you to get me out of here!" The woman''s words fell in Karyk''s ears, surprising him as well.

 Chapter 843 843: Final

    Chapter 843  843: Final

    ??"You want me to free you?" Karyk asked, slightly taken aback. "How can I even do that?"

    From what he realised, the woman had been trapped here for thousands of years. If it was that easy for her to be freed, it would''ve happened long ago. Although she couldn''t step out of the city, the hooded figure could.

    He wasn''t weak either, so he should''ve been able to help her if needed. It was clear that she needed something that even the man in the corner couldn''t do. And he had a bad feeling about this.

    "You don''t have to know yet. First, leave this ce. He will guide you towards what I need," the woman spoke, before gesturing to the hooded figure to stand next to Karyk.

    "Why can''t you tell me yet?" Karyk frowned, finding this entire deal troublesome. It was much easier to forcefully read her memories. If only the man hadn''t interfered, he would''ve already had his answers.

    "Because even if I tell you, you won''t be able to free me. It''s not the time yet. When the timees, you''ll know what I need."

    The woman still didn''t answer Karyk. At the same time, she kept her guard up, observing Karyk''s every moment, not wanting to make the same mistake as before.

    "I don''t have much time. How long will I have to wait for my answers?"

    Karyk wanted to solve this problem as soon as he could, as he only had limited time before the Elzerians were to attack his world.

    "You''ll have plenty of time, even after freeing me. And when we fight together, it''ll only help you," the woman stated. "I promise that if you get me out of here, you''ll get to know something that can turn the tides of this battle for you."

    "What a headache..."

    Karyk started thinking to himself, observing his surroundings, wondering if it was beneficial to use some drastic methods. However, after thinking about it for some time, he dropped the n.

    It was indeed beneficial for him if he could get her out. Moreover, he also wanted time to grasp the knowledge he had stolen from her. Andstly, he needed time to develop the city and his forces as well. In that endeavour, the woman''s position was really important.

    "In that case, I also have a condition." Karyk stated after a moment of silence.

    "What condition?" The woman asked, her eyes narrowing.

    "Until the timees for me to free you, I want you to help me in every way possible. And by that, I mean that your friend here must listen to all mymands," Karyk informed the girl. "I don''t want an observer, but a weapon that I can also use."

    The woman let out a sigh. She hadn''t expected Karyk to realise her true intentions. If it was all about informing him when the time was right, she could simply use the thread between them.

    The only reason she sent the hooded man with him was because she wanted to keep an eye on him. She wanted to make sure she wasn''t betrayed.

    "Alright. As long as it isn''t anything harmful to the Celestial Dynasty''s future, he will listen to you." In the end, the woman could only agree.

    With the initial deal in ce, Karyk stood up. He reached out his hand, stepping towards the woman for a handshake.

    Unfortunately for him, the woman waved her hand. The surroundings changed, and Karyk found himself out of the city and back to the Land of Chaos where he had met the hooded figure.

    "There was no need to be afraid of a handshake." Karyk smiled, looking at the thread in his hand.

    "You don''t have time to waste on a handshake." A voice appeared in Karyk''s head, surprising him. It was as if the woman was right next to him, speaking.

    "Shouldn''t I be the one deciding what I can waste my time on?" Karyk asked in return. However, deep down in his mind, he was quite frustrated that the woman was so cautious. It made things more difficult for him.

    "While you''re at it, can you send the guy hiding outside your city here as well? Since I brought him here, it would be bad if I didn''t take him back." He told the woman through the invisible thread.

    In the next moment, Karyk felt some spatial disturbance around him. The assassin fell out of the Spatial Portal, falling to his butt.

    He looked around him, wondering if he was caught.

    "You are..." The moment he saw the hooded figure, he was horrified. He crawled back in fear beforeing across the feet of someone else.

    As he raised his head, he saw Karyk.

    "You''re caught as well?" He asked, his fear only increasing. Even Karyk was caught. That meant he had no escape.

    "What kind of assassin are you, to be so scared?" Karyk asked, grabbing the man''s cor. He raised him in the air, helping him stand.

    "Don''t worry. He won''t kill you. He''s a friend."

    "A... friend...?" The man looked with bewilderment at Karyk. "Wasn''t he nning to kill you just a short hour ago?"

    "Weren''t you also trying to kill me a short time ago?" Karyk asked in return, bursting inughter.

    Hearing Karyk''s words, the assassin felt silent as a shade of embarrassment spread across his face. He couldn''t believe he had thought that he could kill Karyk. He was like an ant trying to kill a dragon.

    "As I said, he won''t be killing you. Unless you do something worth getting killed." Karyk smiled at the assassin, but the meaning behind his smile was clear.

    The Assassin''s back was drenched in cold sweat. He promised himself he was never going to try to betray Karyk. This guy was too scary as he could even turn the hooded man to his side and return alive from the Land of Chaos.

    "Since you know better, it''s about time we return."

 Chapter 844 844: From Land of Chaos

    Chapter 844  844: From Land of Chaos

    ??Karyk nced back towards the depths of thend of Chaos onest time before he started leaving.

    "Oh, onest thing." On the way back, he grabbed the thread. "I''m sure I don''t have to tell you, but this time, you shouldn''t send the Undead Beasts to attack the border City. It''ll be bad if you lose your forces before you''re even freed."

    "Even if you kill them, I can bring them back to life. So how will I lose my forces?" The woman asked, as if looking down on Karyk. "But don''t worry. I won''t send them."

    "Who knows. If I were to kill them, you might find it ''very'' troublesome to bring them back." Karykughed as he shook his head. "Though it''s good that we''re on the same page now."

    .....

    Karyk reached the outer edge of thend of Chaos, from where he could clearly see the city walls. Most of the walls were still iplete, in the process of being repaired and expanded.

    Karyk reached the hidden entrance and opened the passage with the secret key. The walls moved to the side once the City Lord''s key was verified. The entrance to the underground passage leading back into the city opened.

    The journey back felt much faster as he was already experienced about the length of the tunnel. Before long, he was back in the City Lord''s Pce.

    The other end of the passage opened, allowing Karyk to step inside the Pce. However, this time he wasn''t alone. Two more people were behind him.

    "You can select any room you want." Karyk stepped inside the long passage while talking to the assassin. At this point, he knew that the assassin wasn''t going to dare leave the Mansion without his permission.

    The Assassin swiftly nodded and separated from the two of them, as if he was waiting for them. He felt intimidated just being in their presence alone, since both of them were too strong and scary.

    Moreover, both of them had almostpletely destroyed him. He blessed his lucky stars that he had survived long enough to switch his sides to them.

    After the assassin left to select a room for himself in this vast yet empty mansion, only the hooded person was left behind.

    "What''s your name?" Karyk asked the man as he walked toward the balcony.

    "I still don''t trust you." The man spoke clearly. "You meant harm to her."

    "If I meant harm to her, you think she would''ve been alive until the moment you arrived?" Karyk asked in response. "If I wanted to kill her, she would''ve been long dead. By the time you reached here, you would''ve only seen her lifeless body."

    "You can''t kill her," the man stated.

    "Are you challenging me?" Karykughed, pushing open the door that led to the balcony.

    "No, I''m not challenging you," the man replied, his voice filled with scary calm. "I am just telling you... Don''t even think about harming her. Otherwise..."

    "Otherwise?" Karyk asked, a slight frown covering his face.

    "Otherwise I''ll kill you first!" The man eximed, killing intent clear in his voice. Karyk could also feel sharp threads around his throat.

    It was as if the man was showing him how easy it was to kill him.

    "You''re a few centuries too young to be threatening me." Karyk snapped his fingers. All the threads that were around his throat were cut in small pieces while the hooded figure flew back, crashing against the wall.

    "As I told your master, I have no intention to harm her. I only want to protect my people. If she doesn''t be an obstacle in my goals, I won''t have any reason to harm her."

    Karyk stepped onto the balcony, leaving the hooded figure in the distance, a crack spreading across the wall where he had crashed.

    The hooded figure stood up, his deep red eyes looking at Karyk''s back through the hood.

    Karyk knew that the man was like a double edged sword. However, he also knew how to use such a sword. The key was with him, since the woman had already allowed him tomand this guy.

    He also knew that he was of use to the woman, so this guy could only threaten him, but never harm him. And even if he was to try and harm him, Karyk had taken enough precautions for his safety.

    As Karyk stepped onto the balcony, the moonlight illuminated his face, revealing a calm andposed expression. He could feel the cool night breeze gently brushing against his skin, heightening his senses.

    Under the beautiful moonlight, the city looked even more surreal, especially since the beautiful sea could be seen not far away.

    It was midnight, and there was no one that could be seen on the streets of the city. All citizens had contributed towards rebuilding the city, and were resting after a day of hard work.

    As Karyk was observing the empty city, he noticed some movement near the entrance of the city. The guards that were standing on the border walls could be heard, asking someone on the other side for their identity.

    "Hmm? Someone ising at this time? And in that direction... Isn''t it the Land of Chaos?" Karyk frowned, as he located the source of the voice.

    Before he could react, he felt the ground tremble. There was arge explosion as a huge hole appeared at the border wall. The guards atop the wall were horrified by this disy of power, especially since they weren''t professional warriors but ordinary civilians that were assigned the duty.

    Frowning, Karyk jumped off the balcony, flying towards the border wall.

    "Didn''t I tell you to not send any Undeads?" Karyk asked, holding the invisible thread.

    "I haven''t sent any. All Undeads are within the city." The woman''s response came from the other side, which surprised Karyk even more. If it wasn''t an attack by the Undead from the Land of Chaos, then who?

 Chapter 845 845: An Unexpected Guest

    <h4>Chapter 845 Chapter 845: An Unexpected Guest</h4>

    ?"He is..."

    As Karyk was halfway to the border wall, he noticed a figure step within the city through the broken portion of the wall. The man wasn''t even trying to hide his aura, which made him appear unafraid.

    However, the most surprising part was that it wasn''t an undead. Instead, it was a living person, and one that Karyk recognised all too well.

    "How dare you block my path?" The man eximed, his voice loud enough to awaken the entire city.

    The guards who had tried to stop him were killed in an instant, their bodies exploding under the pressure. Even many, who were in the nearby houses, felt their ears bleed as they woke from their sleep.

    "You had so many paths leading to life, yet you had to choose death," Karyk muttered, shaking his head.

    The man was the same General who had escaped from the puppet master''s control thanks to Karyk. However, it still took him a long time to find his way out of the Land of Chaos as he wasn''t sent back by the Queen of the Celestial Dynasty.

    It wasn''t wrong to say that he was impressive to be able to break through her space and escape, although it took a long time.

    Karyknded before the man, his face covered behind a mask. Fortunately, the man hadn''t seen him back in the Land of Chaos, so it was impossible for him to find anything suspicious.

    "You... Lead me to your City Lord without any dys!" The General told Karyk, his tone arrogant and filled with dignity. It was clear that he looked down on everyone.

    Even when he mentioned the City Lord, it was clear that he didn''t pay any respect to that title.

    Karyk nced at the broken city wall and the remains of the Guards that were just trying to ask the identity of this person. They were just doing their duty.

    "There''s no need to worry. A guest from the Capital is here. Please go back to your sleep." Karyk spoke, his voice also just as loud.

    His voice reached every corner of the city, but it was more soothingpared to the man''s voice that hurt everyone. It was as if his voice had some healing and calming abilities.

    The people who were scared and hid inside their houses, thinking that they were under attack, starteding out of their hiding.

    Karyk waved his hands, cleaning the blood and the remains of the Guards that were killed, his expressions impossible to read.

    On the other side, the General was also surprised as he saw Karyk use various abilities that felt no weaker at times. He didn''t know why but he felt a strange feeling when watching the masked person.

    He didn''t know if this was his misconception because he was still on high alert after his escape. After a few seconds, he shook his head and stopped overthinking.

    "I don''t have time to waste for your cleanup! Are you taking me back or should I send you where I sent those weaklings?" The man warned Karyk who had just finished cleanup.

    "Don''t worry. I''ll definitely bring you to your destination..." Karyk said, his expressions impossible to decipher.

    He turned towards the Pce in the distance. "Please follow after me. I''m sure the City Lord should be awake as well."

    "If he''s awake, he should''vee to wee me himself!" The General stated angrily. "Looks like he needs to be taught some manners as well."

    Karyk didn''t respond to the man. He had already seen what the future of this man was going to be, so there was no point in arguing.

    He led the man back to the Mansion in the centre of the City.

    Landing before the mansion, the General noticed that there was not a single guard here. It was as if this was a ghost mansion.

    "Our City Lord trusts his strength a lot. So he doesn''t have any guards to protect this ce." Karyk told the General without ncing back.

    "What an arrogant man," the Generalmented as he followed Karyk inside the mansion, not finding anything suspicious.

    Karyk led the man upstairs towards the floor where the Puppet Master was waiting for him.

    The General reached the higher floors, apanied by Karyk. He kept up the page with Karyk, only stopping when they reached the end of the hallway.

    "The City Lord is inside." He told the man as he opened the door.

    "To think that he still hasn''te out to meet me." The General confidently stepped inside the room without a second flight.

    Karyk also entered the room after the General before closing the door behind him.

    The General looked at the person who was standing near the window. The man''s back was facing him so he couldn''t see his face. However, seeing even the back of that person, he had a bad feeling.

    This physique was the same as that of the person who had caught him. It wasn''t just the physique but also the cloak that he was wearing felt simr.

    He still didn''t know if it was just the fear within his heart that was making him imagine things.

    He strengthened his back before asking, "Are you the City Lord?"

    "That would be the person behind you." The person responded. "As for me..."

    He slowly turned around, revealing those deep red eyes once again.

    The General was stunned at the sight. He couldn''t believe that the person had managed to catch up to him, and so fast at that.

    "Looks like your City Lord is already dead." The General clenched his fist, talking to Karyk. "You should leave this ce. This isn''t a ce for kids to stay."

    He still didn''t understand the meaning of the Puppet Master''s words when he mentioned the City Lord was behind him.

    "Weren''t you here to meet the City Lord? Why are you telling him to leave now?" An amused voice came from behind him.

    Hearing the words, the General''s expressions darkened. He turned around, looking at Karyk who was standing before the exit.

 Chapter 846 846: Pet Snakes

    <h4>Chapter 846 Chapter 846: Pet Snakes</h4>

    ?Karyk slowly removed the mask, first revealing his smile. And then, when he removed the disguise on his eyes, the General received the greatest shock of his life.

    "You aren''t one of us!" The General eximed, realising that he had fallen into a trap. This city had already fallen to the enemies and no one realised it.

    "How dare you people step within this purend!" The General eximed, his aura ring up. Even when he faced against two people, he didn''t lose his trust in his own skills.

    Even before, he had managed to leave when fighting the Puppet Master. He was sure that if he wanted to leave, not even the Gods could stop him.

    He raised his sword, swinging it towards Karyk. In the simr movement, he cast another attack, this time on the Puppet Master.

    In the closed space, his attack became even more dangerous. However, the real purpose of the General wasn''t to kill these two. He wasn''t naive enough to think he could easily kill them.

    He didn''t even know how many of them were in this city. His first aim was to distract them so he could escape. It was more important to deliver this information than it was to face these people.

    The Puppet Master swiftly dodged the General''s sword, his movements fluid and precise. Karyk, on the other hand, calmly raised his hand, creating a barrier that effortlessly deflected the iing attack.

    Had already reached near the window. Bringing his arms before his face, he jumped towards the window, intending to leave this ce.

    As he leaped through the shattered ss, shards glittering in the moonlight. The General was out of the mansion. Unfortunately, even as he was mid-air, he felt some threads wrap around his body, chaining him.

    He was pulled back inside the mansion, crashing against the wall.

    "I won''t allow you to leave a second time. There shall be no obstructions in her path!" The Puppet Master spoke, looking at the General.

    The General cut the invisible threads, freeing himself. However, his expressions had be even darker.

    "Since you came here to meet the City Lord, I''ll make sure you meet the City Lord." Karyk stepped towards the General.

    All Elzerians soldiers were his enemies. They were the soldiers that were going to be a part of the invading army. Letting one escape was no different than creating future trouble for him, since the changes of this city were also going to be exposed.

    At first, he had thought that he was going to have the Puppet Master control him. However, he knew that the Puppet Master was more loyal towards the woman than he was to him.

    Giving such a powerful weapon to the Puppet Master was no different than losing it forever. Instead, he thought of another n.

    "Give my greetings to the City Lord." Karyk stopped before the General, an aura sword appearing in his right hand. He merged that aura sword with everything that he had used to kill a pureblood Elzerian.

    "You think you can scare me with that? Even your masters can''t kill me! We are the superior species! We are the True Immortals!"

    The General gritted his teeth, as he spoke. His eyes carried the same old arrogance as if he looked down on everyone before him.

    "Instead, I shall be the one killing you inferiors!" He lunged at Karyk once again, his sword shing through the air with incredible speed.

    Karyk gracefully dodged each strike, his movements almost dance-like. He seemed to anticipate the General''s every move, effortlessly evading his attacks.

    Meanwhile, the Puppet Master observed with a calm demeanour, his eyes filled with a mix of curiosity. He wanted to see just what gave Karyk the confidence to face a pure blood Elzerian, since they couldn''t be killed.

    Even the Puppet Master couldn''t kill a pure blood. He had only barely managed to control his mind in the past, but now that he was more alert, it became even harder for him to repeat that feat.

    Karyk dodged the attack of the General by simply making slight adjustments to his position. As the General missed and went past him, Karyk appeared behind him.

    He grabbed the General by the hair, smashing his face on the hard concrete floor. Just the impact of the smash alone was so powerful that the entire floor broke, sending shards of concrete flying in all directions.

    The General groaned in pain, but Karyk knew that it was nothing for this guy. The Elzerians had a healing speed that wasparable to him, if not faster.

    Within seconds, the General''s face healed. His arrogantughter echoed in the entire hall.

    With a swift and precise movement, the General turned, grabbing Karyk''s wrist, trying to rip his arms off. However, before he could continue, he saw his hand flying high, blood spraying in all directions.

    He couldn''t even believe how fast it happened. He had only touched Karyk and now his hand was gone.

    As he was still in shock, the same happened to his other hand.

    His entire face was covered in his own blood as Karyk grabbed him by his throat, smashing him against a wall.

    "We can''t have you die without hands. I guess I''ll wait." Karyk smiled, watching the General''s hands grow again. Within a few minutes, he was perfectly fine again.

    "No matter what you do, you can''t kill us! We''re the true Immortals. We walk this path under the guidance of the Divine!" The General spoke, his bloody teeth in full sight, making his face appear gruesome.

    "It doesn''t matter. If your ''Divine'' stands in my path, I''ll crush him as well." Karyk spoke, cing the tip of his sword on the General''s chest.

    "Hahaha!" The Generalughed like a maniac. "You can''t even kill me, a mere footsoldier of the Divine Beings! And you talk about destroying them?! Hahahaha!"

    "I would''ve kept you alive to see that future. Unfortunately, I don''t like keeping snakes as pets." Karyk said as he slowly slid the sword in the man''s chest. "As for those Divine Beings¡­"

 Chapter 847 847: Swear your loyalty

    Chapter 847  847: Swear your loyalty

    ??"I will make sure to send them after you," Karyk spoke, his sword piercing through the man''s chest.

    Despite being stabbed, the man showed no signs of fear. He had endured countless stabbings and tortures, having been trained from childhood to ept his invincibility as a pureblood.

    However, his expressions began to change as he sensed something amiss. He felt his life force rapidly depleting, as if a corrupting force was devouring it from within.

    "You..." he uttered, a sense of dread creeping over him. It was the first time in his immortal life that he felt genuine fear for his own survival.

    Panic gripped his face as he struggled against Karyk''s grip. Initially, he had allowed himself to be restrained, wanting to demonstrate the futility of attempting to kill him. But now, he desperately fought for his freedom.

    Trapped with his back against the wall, the man kicked out at Karyk''s chest, hoping to shock him and create an opportunity to escape. However, Karyk''s strength and hold proved unyielding, and he remained firmly in ce, unaffected by the kick.

    In that moment, the General''s heart skipped a beat, realising that his kickcked any significant force. His body felt no stronger than that of a mortal. It was as if all his strength was being drawn out of his body, along with his life.

    Karyk tightened his grip on the man, his eyes narrowing. At the same time, shackles came out of the ground and the walls, circling like a snake around the General''s body.

    It was as if he was truly pinned to the wall with the sword stabbed in his chest.

    Karyk could sense the fear emanating from the man. Looking at the General who was struggling to be freed, Karyk didn''t feel even the slightest bit of pity.

    It was the same guy who had killed the innocent guards at the entrance of the city, all because of a little dy. It was the person who didn''t consider the others equal, as long as they weren''t purebloods.

    For him, only the Purebloods had the right to be proud and live with dignity. Everyone else was beneath their feet.

    "Since you loved showing off your strength to the ordinary people of this city, why are you scared now? Where did that arrogant man that I met at the city entrance go?"

    "You don''t know what you''re doing!" The man eximed, his face already going ghastly pale. "Release me this instant!"

    He was having a hard time even breathing. He had never felt anything simr to this in the past. Even his vision had gotten blurry.

    He had heard what happened when an Elzerian reached the end of their life at the age of two hundred. And what he read was simr to what he was experiencing.

    He wasn''t even close to turning two hundred years old, yet he was experiencing something that should''ve been impossible. He didn''t even know how Karyk was able to do it, but at this moment, it didn''t matter. All that mattered was his survival!

    "If threats had worked on me, I wouldn''t be here." Karyk spoke, creating a dagger in a simr manner. Although he had to spend a lot of his energy in creating these weapons, in the end, it was all for an important purpose.

    Karyk stabbed the dagger in the man''s heart as well, erasing thest embers of his life as well.

    Even in hisst moment, the man didn''t understand what just happened to him. One moment, he was on the verge of being freed from the Puppet Master, escaping. And the next moment, he came across this city.

    He thought he could use the City Lord to make the rest of his journey easier, never expecting that he was walking in the embrace of death.

    Even as he came here, he thought the Puppet Master was the biggest threat for him. He had never expected that the seemingly ordinary young man was a bigger devil than even the Puppet Master that he was worried about.

    He was really regretting his decision of entering the city, instead of just going past it. Unfortunately, in hisst moments, there was no medicine for regrets.

    However, although he regretted his choice, it didn''t mean he wasn''t angry at Karyk. Even in hisst breath, he prayed for Karyk''s death in a manner most painful in existence.

    Not too far from Karyk, the hooded figure observed everything silently. At first, he also thought that Karyk was just wasting his time. He thought it won''t be long before Karyk will ask for his help in controlling this guy.

    But the current oue was something he had never expected. It was the first time he had seen a pure blood Elzerian die. For him, it was something impossible. Even the Celestial Dynasty couldn''t kill a single pureblood in the entire war.

    The immortality of the pureblood Elzerians was the only reason that the entire Celestial Dynasty was brought to ruins, only able to protect the capital city, that too at the cost of everything.

    For him, it was as if he had seen a miracle take ce. If he wasn''t sure about his ability to see through illusions, he would''ve even thought that this was all an illusion.

    "How... did you..." He asked, struggling to even phrase a sentence properly.

    "Want to know the secret?" Karyk smiled, ncing back at the Puppet Master.

    The Puppet Master nodded. If he could learn the secret to killing them and implement that in his threads, he could kill so many more Purebloods.

    "I will tell you, if you swear your loyalty to me and ept me as your master," Karyk stated, as he pulled back the dagger and the sword, absorbing the remaining energy within.

    He grabbed the lifeless body of the General. "You can live in this room. The window is a little broken, but I''m sure you know how to take care of that. I''ll see you in the morning."

    Karyk stepped out of the room, taking the General''s body with him, still having a great use for it. He still had to test his new knowledge.

 Chapter 848 848: Making it my own

    Chapter 848  848: Making it my own

    ??The Puppet Master was left in his room that had gonepletely silent. His mind was still thinking about what he had just witnessed. He didn''t understand how Karyk was able to do something like that.

    Unfortunately, no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn''t reach an answer. In any case, he decided to inform the woman in the Celestial Dynasty.

    They had really underestimated Karyk. If he was someone that could kill a pureblood Elzerian, that meant things weren''t as simple as they thought.

    Just like Karyk, he could also directly contact the woman in the Celestial Dynasty. When the woman heard this news, she was also quite surprised.

    "You are saying that he knew he could kill them?" she asked, hearing theplete description of how the events unfolded.

    "That''s what I believe. He already knew he could kill them," The Puppet Master stated.

    The woman went silent for quite some time. If Karyk could actually kill them, that made her wonder about his intentions even more. If he could kill them, why did he need their help?

    "Unless... In their world, he''s the only one that can kill them?" she pondered,ing to a conclusion.

    At the end of the day, if Karyk was alone, then even if he could kill a few of them, that still didn''t make it an equal fight for him. The numbers were still against him.

    She was able to understand a lot more about why he wanted more information about Elzerians and had the confidence that he could win as long as he knew everything.

    "Keep an eye on him and inform me about his every move!" She told the hooded man, before the conversation stopped.

    The hooded man nodded. He also didn''t want to disappoint her. He had made up his mind that he was going to pay even more attention to his actions.

    He didn''t rest in his room. He stepped out to find Karyk. He wanted to see why Karyk took that General''s body. At this moment, he wasn''t naive enough to think that it was without reason.

    ....

    In her pce, the woman was talking to herself. Her mind couldn''t help but think about the implications.

    "If he knew he could kill them, that means he''s already killed quite a few of them."

    She believed that there was no way that the Elzerian King didn''t know about this guy''s existence.

    She even wondered if the reason the Elzerian King was finally preparing for another conquest was rted to Karyk''s existence. However after thinking about it, she dropped the thought.

    For them toe across Karyk, they had to have sent someone to his world. And if they already did that, that meant they were already nning on it.

    She wondered what was so special about Karyk''s universe that the Elzerians were so eager to go there. Just what did they want there?

    "No matter what they want there, I can''t allow them to gain it. If they be even stronger, it might be the end of the Celestial Dynasty entirely. For now, Karyk is the only key I have."

    Although she still had suspicions about Karyk''s identity, she knew she had no other choice but to work with him.

    ....

    The Puppet Master searched for Karyk. He went through many parts of the pce. However, there was one particr portion of the pce where he had no choice but to stop.

    He could feel a barrier in front of him, that was blocking the path. He could break the barrier, but he believed that if he did that, Karyk was going to be alerted.

    If Karyk was alerted, he could just stop what he was doing. Forcing his way there wasn''t an option. It could only create more troubles for their cooperation that was already standing on a shaky foundation.

    He gave up on his ns to spy on Karyk, at least in this moment. He could only return to his room, believing that he had a lot of time to uncover all of Karyk''s secrets.

    ....

    While the Puppet Master was returning, Karyk was sitting in his room. He had covered the entire area with his barrier as he didn''t want any distractions.

    Not far from him, there was the body of the General, a Pureblood Elzerian.

    This was the only test subject he had at the moment. It was also the best test subject he could ask for.

    However, before trying, he wanted to grasp the knowledge he had taken from the woman''s memories. Although it was knowledge of great significance, but it wasn''t something that was taught to him.

    Instead, he had heard the teachings given to that woman. What she was taught was specialized for her own bloodline. He was different from her at the core.

    He couldn''t use the teaching as she did. He had to turn it into something that was morepatible with his own Law of Death that he had been using all his life.

    Instead ofpletely erasing his own Law of Death to ept someone else''s, he wanted to strengthen his own to epass this world as well.

    epting her knowledge while forgetting his own was easy. But modifying his own concept of death was much harder. Still, he had made up his mind.

    He didn''t want to be iplete. Death was his eternal partner. It had been with him for as long as he could remember.

    So, instead of severing ties with his familiarpanion, he decided to embark on a journey to enhance his understanding of death and help his friend grow.

    For the rest of the night, Karyk remained still. He deciphered every word of this world''s knowledge that he had stolen. With that, he tried to find simrities between what he knew and what that woman''s father had known.

    Throughout the night, Karyk hadn''t moved from his ce. However the aura of death around him only became stronger. Some of that aura was even absorbed by the lifeless body on the ground.

 Chapter 849 849: The Different Past

    Chapter 849  849: The Different Past

    ??The night that began with Chaos, passed silently. The first rays of sun fell over the border city, bringing a new beginning.

    The people of the city starteding out of their houses. However, most of them were surprised as they watched the broken border wall that they had barely managed to fix.

    They could feel that it had something to do with the loud roar that they heardst night. However, none knew who to ask what happened. At the moment, many even wondered if it was another attackst night and the new city lord was also killed.

    Fortunately, their suspicions proved to be unfounded as they soon saw the city lord walking towards them, unharmed. His face was still hiding behind the mask, but from what they could see, he wasn''t injured.

    The new City Lord wasn''t alone either. He was being apanied by a hooded figure who walked behind him. The top half of the man''s face was covered in his hood, only revealing the lower half of his face.

    Karyk stopped before the people of the town, standing over the rubble of the broken wall. More and more people started gathering around him, waiting to hear what he had to say.

    "I''m sure you all have many questions about what happenedst night." Karyk began, mentioning the reason all the citizens were so uncertain. "I''m sure many of you are even wondering if it was a Beast Attack."

    The people of the town had lost most of the Guards that protected them from the beast tides every hear. In this moment, the next beast tide was something they were most scared about. If not for Karyk''s words at the beginning, they would''ve even abandoned the city.

    Unfortunately, at this moment, many were again starting to lose theirposure. They were wondering if the Beast Tide began earlier than usual as one the wall on the side of the Land of Chaos was broken.

    "I am here to inform you that this wasn''t a Beast Tide," Karyk eximed. "Last night, we had an unruly Guest that came from the Royal Capital. This was all done by him."

    He tried to take advantage of the situation. The citizens were already in a state of restlessness. He needed to create a viin for them to me if he truly wanted to win them over. He needed to create someone they could hate.

    Taking this opportunity, he wanted to turn them against the Royal Capital. Although he knew that it was a long process, but this was the right moment to take the first step.

    He told the citizens that it was the work of a General that came from the Capital.

    "The voice that hurt most of youst night... It belonged to him as well. He didn''t respect this city that protected the Elzerian Dynasty from the Land of Chaos for centuries."

    "He also didn''t respect you, the people of this beautiful city, whose ancestors had shed blood for the Dynasty!"

    Hearing Karyk''s words, the citizens felt their emotions re. They didn''t know that along with his words, Karyk was also using his magic to increase the effects of his words.

    In the distance, the Puppet Master watched Karyk''s actions. He could see that the man truly had no limits. He was even involving the people of this town in his ns.

    "The City is justing out of its grief. We have lost so many of our dear ones. I thought the Royal Capital would send someone to help us. I thought the Royals cared about us... Albeit..."

    Karyk let out a sigh, his eyes appearing to be filled with sadness.

    "I thought a lot about this. I wonder if I''m doing the right thing by telling you the truth. But I believe you have the right to know just as much!"

    Karyk raised his hand, creating an illusory scene nearby. The scene showed the meeting room in the City Lord''s Mansion. Karyk was sitting on his seat and the General was sitting on the other side.

    All the citizens looked at the illusion that was reying the scenes ofst night. None of them even thought of the possibility that the scene waspletely made up.

    It wasn''t a treasure that was showing them the past. Instead, it was just an illusion whose every aspect was under Karyk''s control.

    "He is very maniptive." The Puppet Master muttered under his breath, observing every action of Karyk.

    In his eyes, Karyk was like a poisonous snake that could bite everyone to achieve his goals. Although this snake was useful for their ns, he wasn''t sure if one day this snake was going to bite them instead.

    He still hasn''t forgotten what Karyk had tried to do with his master. Although he imed that he was just checking the bloodline, he didn''t believe that excuse in the slightest.

    If Karyk wasn''t of use to him, he would''ve rather preferred to kill this dangerous man right this instant.

    ....

    The scene in the illusion continued.

    "You im that you''re a messenger from His Majesty. Why should I believe you?" Karyk asked the General.

    In the illusion, he had changed the identity of the General. Instead of just a General, he was the personal messenger of the King who sat on the Throne of Elzeria.

    In response, the General ced the Royal Insignia on the table.  It was something that only the royal family members possessed. Although most of the citizens had never seen this, a few had seen its images in books.

    "That''s the Royal Insignia!" One of the citizens stated in shock.

    "Royal Insignia?" Another citizen eximed. "That means he really was sent by the Royals?"

    In the Illusion, Karyk recognised the insignia. He also reacted in a shocked manner.

    "You''re truly a messenger from the Capital? Then why did you break our border wall? Why did you kill our people?" Karyk asked.

    "You mean those lowly insects with dirty impure blood?" The General asked, revealing a clear disgust on his face. Only this hate wasn''t exaggerated in the illusion. It was a real hate that the General had carried.

 Chapter 850 850: Thats what I did

    Chapter850 850: That''s what I did

    "Those mixed blood insects dared to ask me for my identity?" The General revealed a smirk on his lips. "They deserved death! A second of my time is more important than millions of those pests that dared to sully our pure bloodline by existing?"

    "If you hadn''t arrived to wee me, I would''ve killed everyone in this city, turning this into a graveyard for centuries toe!" The General further eximed. "Honestly, I was quite disappointed that you came on time."

    Hearing the General insulting them, the citizens felt even more furious. Their blood was boiling. Some even felt like killing that bastard if possible.

    "You...!" Karyk''s voice carried clear anger as he looked at the man before him in disbelief. "You truly don''t care about their lives? You''re a Messenger of His Majesty! And they''re the citizens under the king!"

    "How can you toy with their lives?!" he asked. "Do you believe I won''t inform His Majesty?"

    "Hahaha!" In response, the man in front of Karyk burst intoughter. It was as if Karyk had told him the biggest joke.

    "You think His Majesty will harm me for those insects?" he asked with a sneer. "How many such towns do you think I''ve destroyed throughout the years? Do you think he doesn''t know?"

    "Let me tell you. Let alone this useless border City, even if I destroy all the lowly beings in the nearby cities, nothing will be done to me." The General continued, as if he didn''t care in the slightest.

    In his arrogance, he continued. "His Majesty has also killed millions of these lowly beings in his early days. It used to be his favorite sport to hunt them. Unfortunately, the poption of these insects never goes down as they keep breeding like animals."

    "We only do this world a favor by killing them regrly. We maintain the bnce in this world. We are the Purebloods. Only our lives matter!"

    He moved closer to Karyk as he continued. "Let me tell you another secret. It''s only a matter of time before we''remanded to kill all these insects. I estimate that within a year, we''ll have the others. And then, poof."

    The General keptughing out loud. "I''m only telling you because you''re a Pureblood like us. So you might survive. But for that, you should leave this city and return to the Capital."

    "Are you here to deliver this message to me?" Karyk asked.

    "That''s correct. His Majesty heard about your feats in the deep sea. He has heard a lot about your strength. That''s why he sent me here to inform you that you should join his army in the Capital. In any case, stay away from this border City."

    "And here I thought you were here to help this city after my brother died. But you all are..." Karyk didn''t even finish his sentence but it was clear that he was disappointed.

    "Help this city?" The Generalughed even louder. "Think about it again. Don''t make the same mistake as your brother did by rejecting us and staying in this godforsaken City to protect these insects."

    "Anyway, I''ve said all I had to. The rest is on your shoulders. Either you can join us, or you can make the same mistake as your brother and die at the hands of our people!" He stood up as if he was ending the conversation.

    "Your people?" Karyk''s voice became heavy as he asked.

    The citizens who were watching this illusion also gasped in shock and disgust. The Royals had a hand in killing the City Lord and all the Guards, most of whom were family members of the city residents. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    In that attack, every family had lost someone dear to them. But none of them could ever have imagined that the Royals were behind it.

    "You knew how strong your brother was. Don''t tell me you thought he could be killed so easily without our help?" The man smirked as he walked toward the window.

    In that moment, the illusion finally came to an end.

    "Now you all know what happenedst night!" Karyk told the citizens, letting out a sigh. "Those people... They don''t care about us. They only use us for their own use, until it''s time to get rid of us!"

    As Karyk spoke, his voice became louder. "Not only did they kill me brother, but they even bragged about it to me, knowing that there was no consequence for it!"

    "What do you think should''ve been done to those bastards who think you''re beneath them?!" His voice echoed through the entire border City.

    The citizens were already red up, filled with emotions. Their hearts were filled with hate towards the Royals now, who treated them no different than animals.

    Many of them wondered why the Royal Army wasn''t ced in this city to protect them from the Beast Tides.

    However, at this moment, all of them believed they knew the reason. It was because their lives didn''t matter. If anything, the Royals were already nning on killing them all so there were only purebloods left in this world!

    "What should''ve been done to them?!" Karyk asked, making his anger known.

    "Kill them!" Many of the citizens roared, making their voices heard.

    "Kill!"

    "Kill!"

    "Kill!"

    Before long, only one word could be heard in the entire town.

    In the past, none of them would''ve dared say anything like that, worried for their lives. But now, they didn''t care. They hated those bastards more than they loved their lives. In this moment, they even forgot that the Purebloods were true immortals.

    "That''s exactly what I did!" Karyk roared, a spatial portal opening behind him.

    He ced his hand inside the portal, dragging the General''s body out. He tossed the body at the citizen''s feet, revealing that he had already done so. He proved that he didn''t intend to back down from this war!

    Next to the man, the Royal Insignia was visible. Seeing the insignia, none doubted the illusion. They didn''t know that the insignia didn''t belong to this man. It was something Karyk took after killing the King''s sister.

 Chapter 851 851: Glorious Heights

    Chapter851 851: Glorious Heights

    The people who were roaring with great enthusiasm had gonepletely silent as they watched the lifeless body of a Pureblood at their feet.

    They were so shocked that they weren''t even able to react in time as if they had seen something impossible. It was only now that some of them had realized what they witnessed here.

    A pureblood was said to be impossible to kill. But there he was, lying at their feet, lifeless. A Pureblood was actually killed! And the one who killed them was none other than their city lord.

    After they came out of their daze, they looked at Karyk with an incredulous look on their faces. For them, the man before them was a Pureblood but he was different from others.

    He didn''t hate them for their mixed bloodline. Instead, he was even willing to fight against the other purebloods to protect them

    Within their heart, a respect like never before had made ce for the man before him, further boosted by their current hatred towards the nobles.

    "He had killed my people and he deserved death!" Karyk eximed, breaking the silence. "However, I also know that by doing this, I have stepped on a path that would bring me at a crossroads with the Royals!"

    "I don''t want to put you in harm''s way. If it''s a war, I am prepared to fight this war alone!" he roared. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    "You''re all free to leave this city and protect yourself. If you think I was wrong, you''re even allowed to expose what happened here to the Royals! It doesn''t matter! For as long as you live, you''ll all be my people and I''ll never take away your freedom from you!"

    "However I promise you one thing. Even if I have to go against the entire world, I won''t let this city fall! Even if I''m thest person left in this city, I''ll fight against those people!"

    As Karyk spoke, his voice was continuously merged with his magic, reaching deep within the hearts of his citizens. Most of the citizens felt great respect for him. Even in this moment, he was willing to be transparent to them.

    He wasn''t paranoid about their loyalty and didn''t take their freedom from them. He felt like a true leader, much more than the Royals. For him, everyone was equal!

    "I will never leave this city! You stood up for us, and I''ll stand for you! As long as I live, I shall always be loyal to my city lord!" A voice sprung in the distance.

    Many people nced back, noticing a man who was speaking. They didn''t realize that it was a man nted by Karyk as well, to further swing public opinion. The man was the same assassin who had started siding with Karyk.

    "Even if we leave, how long will we live? I can''t forget what they said! They''re already nning to kill us all in the near future! Even if we expose you to them, does anyone think that they''ll start treating us with respect? They''ll still kill us as we''re dirty for them!"

    On one side, Karyk had told them that they were free to leave, showing his benevolence. On the other hand, the assassin was telling others that it was better to stay here.

    In this way, Karyk made sure that he was going to win their absolute loyalty and crush any seed of betrayal right here.

    The Puppet Master looked at the assassin in the distance, wondering just how far Karyk had nned everything. He didn''t even know when the assassin was told about this ce.

    He couldn''t help but nce at Karyk, frowning. It was clear that Karyk also didn''t trust him entirely with his ns. Both of them were suspicious of each other, but neither of them could remove the other.

    They needed each other. The stronger Karyk''s hold over this city became, the better it was for their future ns. In the end, he remained silent and let the act y out.

    "He''s right! Why should we leave someone like our City Lord, only to go to people who want to kill us? If we''re going to die anyway, I would rather die in the city where I was born! I would rather die fighting!" Influenced by the assassin, another man voiced his thoughts.

    It was as if these words were contagious. Before long, everyone had the same opinion that they would rather die than betray the City Lord who was fighting for them.

    It had only been a few days since he became the City Lord yet Karyk had already won the level of loyalty that the previous City Lord couldn''t win even after a lifetime.

    The son of the previous City Lord, Arkam, didn''t realize just how much this city was going to change in his absence. With every passing moment, the city was changing beyond what it was meant to be.

    Previously, the only meaning behind its existence was to stop the beast tides. But now, the city was starting to think about itself, even if it meant defying the Royals.

    Karyk acted as if he was really touched by their reaction. "I could never have expected that I would gain this kind of support from you all. Even a lifetime''s worth of gratitude won''t be enough to thank you."

    "But I promise you one thing! As long as I live, I''ll bring this city to a glorious height that even the Royal City wasn''t able to achieve! It doesn''t matter how long it takes! I won''t let any harme to this city!"

    He got down from the rubble, walking over to the General''s body on the ground. He picked the body, keeping it in his spatial storage along with the Royal Insignia.

    "However, I also know that we aren''t prepared for this war at the moment. That''s why I ask you for time and your support," he said, his gaze roaming over the tens of thousands of citizens here.

 Chapter 852 852: Because Iéˆ¥æª“ not you

    <h4>Chapter 852 Chapter 852: Because I''m not you</h4>

    ?"One year... All I need is one year and you''ll see a new city. You''ll see a city that would be strong enough to protect itself from everything thates its way, even if it''s the Royals!"

    "They want to wipe out the mixed blood within a year? Let them dream! Within this one year, I''ll make you strong enough that even the Royals will have to think twice before attacking us!"

    "However, until we''re absolutely ready, we can''t afford a war. So I have one humble request from you all. If possible, I don''t want you to tell anyone about what happened here today. If the Royals knew, they woulde attacking before we''re ready."

    Karyk''s voice was filled withpassion and seriousness. The people responded in a simr manner, taking an oath to always follow Karyk''s instructions.

    They didn''t care how hard they had to train and what methods they had to follow. They wanted to be strong enough to protect themselves. They wanted to be strong enough to make the Purebloods regret ever calling them vermin.

    After telling everyone to be careful and wait for the next set of instructions, Karyk finally turned around.

    No one other than The Puppet Master could see the look on Karyk''s face at that moment. Karyk''s eyes carried no happiness, which surprised the puppet master.

    It was as if ever after he seeded, he wasn''t happy. He was just as serious as before, realizing that this was just the first and easiest step.

    He had only gained the loyalty of the citizens. But that didn''t change the fact that all the people left in this city were just civilians as all the guards had already been killed along with the City Lord in the past.

    They were the weakest people here. Let alone being able to fight the Purebloods, they couldn''t even survive against ordinary mixed blood guards of other cities.

    The biggest obstacle in his path was to prepare his own army. He had to make these people stronger by any means possible. He also had to start his own intelligence group that could spread out to other cities.

    All of this was a headache and took too much work. He wasn''t even sure how to start. For now, he just decided to focus on improving hisw of death so he could put his main n in action.

    As Karyk was returning to the Pce, apanied by the Puppet Master, he heard the chants from the citizens in the back.

    "Long live the City Lord!"

    "Long live the City Lord!"

    "Long live the City Lord!"

    The chants continued, echoing throughout the entire city. Even after he reached the Pce, he could still hear the echo.

    "What fools. They fell for such simple lies." While Karyk was just about to step inside the Pce, the Puppet Master spoke.

    "I didn''t lie to them when I told them I''ll make them strong enough to resist the Purebloods." Karyk''s words came in response as he entered the Pce.

    The Puppet Master was behind him. The doors closed on their own after both of them entered.

    "If you truly believe that it''s possible, then you''re a bigger fool than you look," the puppet master rolled his eyes, not believing Karyk in the slightest. "If it was that easy, you think the Celestial Dynasty would''ve fallen?"

    "The forces of our Dynasty which had a history of millions of years couldn''tst against their onught. You think you can, with the help of this small city?" he scoffed.

    "I believe I can," Karykmented. "You want to know why?"

    "Why?" the Puppet Master asked.

    Karyk halted. He turned around, looking deep in the man''s eyes. "Because I''m not you."

    After finishing, he turned around and returned to his room, the sound of his footsteps breaking the momentary silence between them.

    The Puppet Master remained behind, clenching his fist. He wasn''t sure if Karyk was overconfident or an idiot. But he didn''t like his words. It was as if Karyk was telling him that they lost because they didn''t have a leader like him.

    Unfortunately, he couldn''t counter those words as they had actually lost. None of their leaders even managed to kill a Pureblood while Karyk had done that right before his eyes.

    If they had a leader like him who knew a method to kill the invaders, the oue of the war would certainly be different. It was impossible to win a war where you couldn''t even kill the enemy after all.

    However he also believed that this was only possible if they had the huge army that the Celestial Dynasty had possessed. Even if they now knew of the methods to kill Purebloods, it was almost impossible to win the war with just a mere city.

    There were more Purebloods Warriors in this world than there were citizens in this small city. Even if all of them knew a method to kill a Pureblood, that didn''t mean they could actually do it.

    Just because two mortals could kill each other, didn''t mean one was going to win a war if they didn''t have the numbers to support the war.

    In the end, he let out a sigh as he turned around. He didn''t know if Karyk could actually seed or not. But he didn''t want to see Karyk''s failure. At this moment, both their futures were linked with each other.

    Although he didn''t like Karyk, he knew that his failure was the same as their failure. This was theirst option.

    No matter how hard it was to seed, the Puppet Master did pray for a miracle as he walked to his room. Along the way, he also told the Celestial Empress every action of Karyk, including how he gainedplete control over the city.

    The Empress appeared more and more impressed as he heard of Karyk''s actions. However her smile disappeared the moment she heard Karyk''sst words about the cause behind their failure.

    The words came across as Karyk disrespecting her ancestors, putting him above them. For that reason, she felt angry. Unfortunately, she couldn''t do anything about it.

    Still, she decided to never forget this disrespect.

 Chapter 853 853: Removed Limitation

    Chapter 853  853: Removed Limitation

    ??Karyk spent another night secluded in his room, his actions shrouded in mystery. It wasn''t until the following morning that he emerged, catching the attention of the Puppet Master once again.

    Even the Puppet Master couldn''tprehend if it was a mere misconception, but he couldn''t shake the feeling that Karyk had grown even stronger. It was an intangible sensation,cking any concrete evidence to support it.

    Driven by curiosity and a sense of being overshadowed, the Puppet Master knew he had to uncover the truth behind Karyk''s nightly activities.

    This familiar feeling of being suppressed reminded him of the time he stood before the sole survivor of the Celestial Dynasty.

    "Are you going to keep staring at me?" Karyk questioned, briskly passing by the Puppet Master.

    While Karyk desired seclusion to fully grasp his newfound knowledge, he also understood the implications of disappearing at such a critical juncture.

    It could potentially disrupt his ns and send the wrong message to the townspeople. He had made a promise to them, to create his own army.

    Simultaneously, Karyk had to find a way to contact Aliac and the others back in his own world, informing them of their ns so they could prepare ordingly.

    Lost in deep contemtion, he left the pce, aware that he could find a portal to return to his world. However, the predicament was in returning to this world.

    All the portals leading to this ce were in disarray. The portal that previously took him to the forest now transported him to the sea, on theplete opposite side of this realm. If he attempted to return for the third time, he couldn''t even be certain where he wouldnd.

    If fortune favored him, he would find himself in close proximity to this city. However, if he ended up in the Royal Capital, matters would be considerably moreplicated. Every moment held immense significance, and time was of the essence.

    Karyk knew that he couldn''t waste any more time trying to find a way back to his own world. He needed to focus on building his army and strengthening the city''s defenses.

    With aposed look on his face, he made his way to the training grounds where the citizens were already gathered.

    At first, only a few people had applied to guard the city but after thest night, that number had greatly surged.

    Not just the training arena but even the areas surrounding it werepletely filled with the waves of people. It didn''t matter if it was a young person or old. It didn''t matter if it was a man or a woman. All of them wanted to be stronger.

    They were all burning with desire to be stronger. None of them wanted to lose any more of their dear ones because they were weak. They wanted to be strong enough that not even the Purebloods could look down on them.

    Many of them had already started going through training. They had seen how the previous city guards used to train. Most of them were following the same movements while training, as if they didn''t want to waste even a single second.

    On the other hand, the rest were looking around, waiting for the City Lord to arrive and guide them.

    As Karyk observed the training, he realized that the peoplecked proper weapons and equipment. And that was just the least of their worries.

    Although many were following the training methods of previous City Guards, it was just a crude training. With just this level of training, they couldn''t rise above the rest.

    They needed to strengthen themselves. But before that, they needed equipment that could be used by them to protect themselves.

    Karyk could see that he had a lot of work to do to make his n seed. And the most important part of it all rested on the Celestial Queen''s shoulders.

    For now, Karyk made it his priority to gather resources and forge weapons and armor for his citizens. With that, he could give them initial confidence. Only after they were confident enough could they dare to follow him to the hellish training he had nned for them.

    As the people noticed his arrival, they cleared the path for him, moving out of his way. A path was created to the center of the training arena. Even the ones who were training had stopped, turning their attention to him.

    However, Karyk didn''t walk to the center of the Arena. Instead, he walked in the air, standing above them all so they could see him clearly. With this, he also gave them an impression of his strength.

    "I''m quite pleased that you''re all this motivated to be stronger. And I haven''t forgotten my promise either. But before you start training, I have two things to finish. First is that I want to remove the physical restrictions on your bodies that came through your mixed bloodlines!"

    "As for the second, you''ll see it very soon. For now, I want you all to gather outside my Pce, forming a line so that we can begin the first step of your rise!" he told the citizens as he flew back to the pce.

    He assigned the puppet master to make sure that these hundreds of thousands of people came in a line, since he didn''t want things to take longer.

    Although the Puppet Master didn''t like following instructions, he did as he was told as it was the instructions of the Celestial Queen as well.

    He made sure that there was a proper line made, leading to the City Lord''s Pce.

    Meanwhile at the entrance of the Pce, the Assassin was standing in a guard''s attire, carrying a sharp sword on his back.

    As the citizens started reaching the Pce, the Assassin made sure to send them in one after another.

    None of the citizens knew if they could actually be stronger. But even if it was a distant chance, they wanted to try.

    The first person to enter the Pce was an old man, whose son was a warrior for the City. His son had died protecting the City Lord''s Pce. Until now, the old man felt empty.

 Chapter 854 854: Erasing the Bloodline

    Chapter 854  854: Erasing the Bloodline

    ??He stopped before Karyk, who was standing in a grand hall, as if waiting for them.

    The old man went down on his knees, respectfully greeting Karyk. "This old man greets the City Lord."

    Karyk extended a hand to help the old man up, his eyes filled withpassion.

    He recognized the pain and sadness in the old man''s eyes. He could also see some disbelief.

    With a gentle smile, Karyk said, "Please rise, my friend. Your presence here honors me."

    As the old man got back on his feet, his eyes glistened with gratitude.

    "Thank you, City Lord, for your kindness and generosity," the old man eximed. "I never thought I would have the opportunity to stand in this grand hall... The hall that my son gave his life to protect."

    As he spoke, his voice carried his pain. For a father, losing his son in any circumstance was a tragedy, but to know that his son had given his life to protect others was both a source of pride and profound sorrow.

    "Your son was a hero of this city, as were many others. And I promise, their sacrifices won''t be in vain. The people of this city will certainly have the opportunity to take revenge for what they lost! I''ll make sure of that!"

    As Karyk spoke, he reached out his hand, cing them on the man''s forehead. "This might hurt a little."

    As he spoke, he sent his aura inside the man''s body, albeit only a trace of it. Afterprehending the knowledge of this world, he had a better understanding of the bloodlines of this world.

    The Purebloods were so strong because their bloodlines had no restriction, other than their age limitation. But the mixed bloods had no advantage to having a trace of Elzerian bloodline.

    It was as if when mixed with another bloodline, the Elzerian bloodlinepletely stopped working. This was also what made the mixed bloods so weak.

    They were also descendants of the Elzerians but because their ancestors married into other bloodlines, they had lost the advantage of the Elzerian Bloodline.

    The Elzerian Bloodline had be the secondary bloodline of the descendants who lost everything that came with it. But Karyk knew that the only way to turn their fates was to awaken their original bloodline!

    The only way to do that was topletely erase their main bloodline so only the Elzerians Bloodline was left. He wanted to turn them to Purebloods, something that no one had ever thought to be possible.

    Fortunately, Karyk believed he could do it. He had the knowledge of two worlds and various life forms throughout the millennials. He also used the knowledge of the Celestial Dynasty.

    Although he didn''t know if he could seed, but even if there was a small chance, he didn''t want to lose it.

    He used his aura of death topletely devour the primary bloodline of the old man. In this way, he strengthened his Elzerian Bloodline, while also gaining the essence of the old man''s other bloodline.

    The old man felt immense pain that made him roar loudly. Unfortunately, his voice never reached outside the pce that was covered in magic. This was also the only reason he didn''t do this back at the training ground.

    He didn''t want the citizens to be scared away after seeing how painful it was.

    Although the processsted for only a few seconds, the old man felt as if an eternity had passed. However, something unique also happened to him.

    His old white hair started turning into a beautiful shade of ck. The transformation brought a youthful glow to his face, smoothing out the wrinkles and restoring his once vibrant appearance.

    As the process ended, the old man fell to his knees, his breathing heavy. He subconsciously wanted to curse Karyk for hurting him by lying about making him stronger. But before he could utter a single word, he felt shocked, seeing his reflection on the floor.

    As he caught a glimpse of his reflection, he couldn''t help but smile with delight. His eyes had also tried violet like that of Purebloods. Feeling rejuvenated, he now had a newfound sense of energy.

    He could also feel that a newfound strength was coursing through his body, making him feel a strength like never before. It was as if everything Karyk had said was true. He had actually removed the restriction on his body.

    The old man didn''t know that his other bloodline was erased, but even if he had known, he wouldn''t have cared.

    He repeatedly thanked Karyk. The man before him truly felt like a god who could cause miracles. With Karyk at the helm, the old man truly felt that they should turn the tides of theing battle.

    Even the Puppet Master didn''t understand Karyk''s true intention when he said he wanted to create his own army. He had wondered how mixed bloods could challenge the Purebloods. But he hadn''t realized that this was the exact problem that Karyk was going to solve.

    However, Karyk didn''t just turn them into Purebloods. He also left a small seed of death inside their hearts while erasing their main bloodline. With this, he could control their life and death if they ever tried to betray him.

    "This is just the beginning. We have a long way to go." Karyk told the old man, patting his shoulder. "When you''re out, send the next person in."

    The old man nodded. He stood up and quickly left the grand hall. For Karyk, the old man was a walking advertisement. Even the ones who were previously hesitant and on the fence could turn their thoughts around with such a great walking advertisement.

    For the rest of the day, citizens kept entering the Grand Hall, and leaving excitedly. Every encounter took only a few seconds.

    However, even after being this fast, Karyk was only able to awaken around twenty thousand people throughout the day before the sun started setting.

 Chapter 855 855: Fortress City

    Chapter 855  855: Fortress City

    ??Karyk told everyone to return and have some rest as this process was going tost for a few days and no one was going to be left behind.

    However, despite his words, none returned home. None of them wanted to lose their ces in the line, excited to be stronger as well. They had all seen what happened to the ones that entered first. They also wanted to experience that.

    Hundreds of thousands of people slept on the streets, waiting for the next morning.

    Meanwhile, Karyk returned to his chamber, not giving any exnation to the Puppet Master who had a lot of questions about what he saw today.

    Unfortunately, he had a feeling that Karyk wasn''t going to answer him. Still, he told everything that happened today to the Celestial Queen, making sure to leave nothing out.

    The Celestial Queen became even more shocked as she heard what happened. It was as if everyday, Karyk was making one miracle after the other.

    On the first day, he entered the Land of Chaos and made a deal with her. On the second day, he killed a Pureblood. And on the third day, he turned mixed blood people of the city into Purebloods.

    At this rate, she wondered if he even needed her help in the first ce. At the rate he was going, it was only a matter of time before he was going to create an army of hundreds of thousands of Purebloods.

    Although they were all civilians and had no experience of fighting, but it wasn''t something that a little training couldn''t solve.

    She couldn''t help but feel as if Karyk was creating his own Dynasty in this world. She wasn''t sure who was going to invade the other world. Instead of Elzerians invading Karyk''s world, it was bing more like Karyk invading their world.

    "Just who actually are you...?" She muttered, her expressions grim.

    ....

    In the next morning, Karyk came out of his room and the awakening ceremony once again continued, amidst the great enthusiasm of the citizens.

    Every day, tens of thousands of people were awakening in the border city where previously, there was not a single pureblood.

    The Ceremony continued for an entire week. The atmosphere of the city hadpletely changed. The City that was previously weak and lifeless was now filled with life, bing stronger.

    As the ceremony continued, there were a total of Three Hundred Forty Thousand Seven Hundred Purebloods in the city. With that, this city became the City with the most number of Purebloods after the Royal Capital.

    After finishing the awakening, Karyk called upon the cksmiths and craftsmen of the city, instructing them to work day and night to create the best weapons and armor they could.

    As for the materials needed for that, he promised them the rarest of materials from the Land of Chaos. He had a deal with the Celestial Queen and didn''t worry about materials anymore. The Celestial Dynasty was known for it after all.

    Karyk himself even took up the task of learning the art of cksmithing, spending hours in the forge, hammering and shaping metal.

    Meanwhile, he also established a group of skilled individuals who would serve as the city''s intelligencework.

    Their mission was to gather information about the Purebloods, their movements, and any potential threats to the city. Karyk knew that knowledge was power, and having a strong intelligencework would give them a significant advantage.

    In the following weeks, the city underwent a transformation. The citizens trained rigorously, honing theirbat skills and bing stronger with each passing day.

    The cksmiths worked tirelessly, churning out high-quality weapons and armor. The intelligencework grew, gathering valuable information and ensuring the safety of the city.

    Karyk''s dedication and determination inspired the people. They saw him working alongside them, sweating and toiling to make the city stronger. He had earned their respect and loyalty, and they were willing to follow him to the end.

    As time passed, the city started to take shape as a formidable force. Karyk''s vision of a city that could stand against the Royals and protect its people was slowly bing a reality as people started to find that dream more usible now.

    The citizens, once seen as outcasts and vermins, now stood tall and proud, ready to fight for their home, even if it was against the Royal Capital. They were more loyal to Karyk than they were to the Royal Emperor.

    But Karyk knew that they were not yet ready to face the full force of the Purebloods and the Royals. He needed more time to train and prepare. With the support of the citizens and his newfound allies, he continued to push forward, determined to make the city unbreakable.

    As the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months, Karyk''s n started to unfold. The city had be a beacon of hope, a great fortress. The citizens were no longer afraid, but filled with a newfound confidence.

    The time had finallye for Karyk to reveal his next move. He gathered the citizens in the central square, where he stood before them, his voice filled with calm.

    "Today, I have gathered you all here to inform you about my next action. For the next few weeks or months, I won''t be in the city. But that doesn''t mean you can rx! I want you to keep being as cautious as before. I don''t want any mishaps and I''m not here."

    "As for your training, we''ll be bringing it to a higher level! I believe you''re now ready to put your skills to battle! That''s why, when I''m not here, my friend here will be leading you to thend of Chaos," he said, pointing towards the Puppet Master.

    "There, you''ll face the Undead Beasts. You''ll take part in an actual battle. This will be a training after which all of you will be a true warrior!" he eximed.

    "And when I return, I want to see a different side of you all! I want you all to be even stronger, coldblooded warriors that aren''t scared of spilling blood! Do you understand?!" he asked the citizens.

    "Yes!" It was as if the entire city roared in unison. Previously, they would''ve been scared at the thought of entering the Land of Chaos. But now, they weren''t.

    They had faith in Karyk to even put their lives on the line! If he believed they could do it, they also believed they could!

 Chapter 856 856: The Second Weapon

    Chapter 856  856: The Second Weapon

    ??It had been several months since Karyk arrived in this world, and during this time, he had been unable to establish contact with Aliac and the others back home.

    His days were solely dedicated to the city that now belonged to him.

    Karyk devoted all his time and energy to strengthening the people of this city, resulting in aplete transformation.

    Not only did the inhabitants be stronger, but even the city''s infrastructure underwent significant improvements.

    The city walls, now heightened, were constructed using the resilient materials Karyk had brought from the Land of Chaos, rendering them even more imprable. Furthermore, the buildings within the city werepletely reconstructed, and new infrastructure was introduced, including the creation of a Training Tower.

    The Training Tower, a personal project of Karyk''s inspired by the towers from his own world, became a focal point for the citizens. Day after day, they diligently trained within its walls, honing their skills and preparing for the challenges ahead.

    The cksmiths within the city also focused on their own tasks, creating weapons that could bear the strength of the citizens while also granting them edge in battle.

    Karyk also put the knowledge of his own world during the creation of the weapons. Every single weapon created in the cksmith Shops went through his inspections.

    None realised the reason Karyk was inspecting hundreds of thousands of weapons instead of the starting few, but they didn''t ask. No one knew that Karyk personally wielded those weapons for one specific purpose.

    With everyone now adequately prepared, Karyk believed it was time to advance to the next stage of their journey.

    They were ready to face the Beasts of the Celestial Dynasty, knowing they could eliminate them without any casualties. Additionally, the Celestial Dynasty remained unharmed as the beasts could be revived, creating a mutually beneficial situation for both sides.

    With the Puppet Master leading them to the battles, he didn''t worry about much else. Although the Puppet Master had always been suspicious of him, Karyk knew that he wasn''t going to betray them until he found out the secret of killing the purebloods.

    And even if he tried to betray them, killing hundreds of thousands of Purebloods was an impossible task even for him.

    With this, Karyk was confident enough about their safety to be able to leave this ce. He still hadn''t forgotten his main goal after all.

    In thest few months, he had also managed topletely grasp the Celestial Dynasty''s Knowledge, his abilities going through another boost.

    After telling everyone to be careful and wait for him, he departed from the city. All the purebloods came to the exit of the city, escorting their city lord that had changed their lives.

    It was because of their city lord, they had managed to regain control over their destiny. Their city lord had changed a dying city into one that was thriving.

    All the citizens promised themselves that they were going to train their hardest while waiting for him to return. Their city lord had be his shield. And they wanted to be his sword, even if they had to go against the entire world for that!

    Their loyalty towards Karyk had reached the level of madness where they could even kill each other on his single instruction without a second thought.

    Karyk walked out of the city, certain that when he returned, the Warriors that he had created were going to truly have evolved into monsters that could bring absolute carnage.

    Still, he wasn''t confident. The other side wasn''t weak. They had experienced many battles. Their training methods were also more effective than his.

    Their numbers were also too many. And more importantly, they had the backing of the Archangels that he didn''t know anything about.

    No matter how many times he asked the Celestial Queen about the war between the Celestial Dynasty and the Elzerians, she didn''t answer him.

    She also didn''t tell him anything about the Archangels, telling him that she was only going to tell him when she was free. However, to his frustration, she didn''t tell him the method to free her either, saying that it wasn''t the time yet.

    Karyk had realised that he couldn''t rely on the woman. He couldn''t depend on her whims. He had to make his own preparations so that even without her support, he could create a miracle.

    He knew that he couldn''t just rely on a city for that. He needed to find the second weapon that he had long thought about. He needed to find the Graveyard of the Royal Family of Elzeria. He needed to put his new knowledge to work.

    His main strength wasn''t in being a teacher. His main strength was being the overlord of death which could make even the dead fight for him. And that''s what his goal was.

    The moment Elzerians tried to attack his world, he wanted to give them a surprise that they never could''ve expected.

    He had expected to leave a long time ago as he kept waiting for Arkam to return with information about this world and the Royal Family that he asked for. Unfortunately, even after so many months, there was no news from Arkam.

    In the end, he stopped waiting and put the newly created intelligence team to work. With purebloods working for him to gather intelligence, things progressed much more smoothly. In every city, his people had established bases.

    As Purebloods, his men received respect no matter where they went, without attracting much suspicion. In this world, the purebloods were said to be the holiest beings after all.

    With their help, he had created aplete intelligencework that was spread far and wide within a few months. And thanks to them, he received all the information that he wanted.

    He knew theplete map of this world. He also knew the power structure in Elzeria as well as within various cities. He also knew just what kind of entity he was against. But more importantly, he knew where the Royal Graveyard was established in Elzeria.

    The Royal Graveyard was within the Royal City as per his expectations. However what he hadn''t expected was that it was right behind the Royal Pce, which made things veryplicated.

 Chapter 857 857: Too Perfect

    Chapter857 857: Too Perfect

    The World of Elzeria was vast. Although it had one Central authority which was the Royal Family, it had many regional authorities that worked under the Royal Family.

    The entirend in Elzeria was divided into smaller provinces, each province having families that held power in their region. Some provinces even had many great families that were often fighting with each one for more control.

    For the most part, the Royal Family turned a blind eye to these conflicts, leaving the families to solve their own conflicts.

    Only when it was a matter that could affect the stability of the entirend did the Royal Family be involved, sending the Royal Guards to solve the mess. However, there were only a few instances where one such decision was taken by the Royal Family.

    One such conflict had already started brewing in the city of Ember. Ember was one of the major cities of Elzeria that held a lot of value for even the Royal Family. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    Ember was the home to the best of cksmiths within Elzeria. It was also a city where most of the artifacts, technology and equipment was created for the Royal Family.

    Ember was called the heart of the Royal Army. Many powerful generals from the Royal Army could often be seen entering and leaving Ember for their personal reasons.

    Unfortunately, not everything was peaceful in Ember in recent times. All Ember citizens could feel tense undercurrents within three major powers of the city.

    No one knew when things could deteriorate to the point that the Royal intervention could be needed. Fortunately, so far things hadn''t escted to that point.

    None of them wanted to see Ember in chaos, especially since it was the city that could be called the strongest City, if one was to ignore the Royal City.

    However, there was one man who didn''t want peace in this city. He wanted to make sure that the bnce within the City of Ember was broken.

    "Is this all the information about the three major powers of the city?" Karyk asked, sitting inside a bar within the city of Ember.

    Outside the bar, a sign was hung, saying that the bar was closed at the moment.

    "That''s correct, City Lord." A young man answered Karyk. "I''ve verified all this information multiple times with my sources."

    "What a pity. I thought that the three families would burn this city to mes to solve their conflict. Unfortunately, it seems that the situation hasn''t deteriorated to this point yet."

    Karyk let out a sigh as he picked up the papers. "In that case, I can only help them to speed things up a little."

    He opened the papers and started going through them in detail, not in any hurry to leave. The entire bar belonged to him after all. This was a base established by the intelligence teams that he had sent out of the Border City.

    Since the Intelligence Teams had left after only a few months of their awakening, they weren''t able to go through the extensive training as the other citizens went. However, they were taught other methods.

    They were taught the methods of Assassins and other skills that Karyk thought could be of use to then. These people were an important part of the puzzle he needed to solve.

    He had paid special interest for a few cities, and Ember was one of them. It was not too close to the Royal City, but not far either. This made the city of Ember an ideal ce for him to put forth his n.

    For the next few hours, Karyk read through the papers, asionally asking questions about certain things to go into detail.

    "The three families are Frostheart, Starfall and Silverthorn. How would you rate them in terms of pure strength?" Karyk asked, curious to gather insight into the power dynamics of Ember.

    "It''s hard to know the actual strength of all three families as none have ever truly engaged in a full scale battle. We don''t know what all three of those families might be hiding. But the general perception is that the Silverthorn family is the strongest."

    "Frostheart is considered the second strongest. As for Starfall, they are generally considered weaker amongst the three."

    "Why do I feel like Starfall Family is the one that''s hiding the most?" Karyk muttered, his eyes gazing at the documents before him.

    The papers contained all the information that was gathered about the three families. Most of it was public sources while some was sourced directly through infiltration. However, Karyk felt that something was wrong with the information about Starfall.

    With the other two families, he could see many ws. Frostheart was arrogant and often boasted about their strength. They were also known for theirvish lifestyle and extravagant parties.

    Meanwhile, Silverthorn was also seen extending their influence. They didn''t leave a chance to show the other two families down. It was clear that these two families had a lot of pride and greed.

    However, Starfall was different. The Starfall was the most low profile which made people believe that it was because they were the weakest of the three families.

    As Karyk went through the information that was gathered about that family, he couldn''t help but feel that everything was too... perfect. It was as if they had created an entire fake world around them.

    Even the servants of the family seemed to be carefully chosen and trained to maintain the facade of simplicity, yet there was an undeniable air of intelligence andpetence about them.

    Karyk couldn''t help but smile as he put the papers back on the table. "How fascinating."

    "Are you going to use the Starfall Family?" The Bartender asked, curious about Karyk''s n.

    "I don''t want to use the Starfall Family. That would just make things more troublesome. Silverthorn is already considered the strongest in public opinion. It should be easiest to y with Frostheart."

    Karyk had made up his mind about what method he was going to do. In any case, he had to turn this city upside down, without revealing his presence.

 Chapter 858 858: The Silent Night

    Chapter858 858: The Silent Night

    The papers thaty on the table before him turned into ashes as Karyk stood up. The bartender, a keen observer, watched silently as Karyk left without uttering a word.

    Knowing that Karyk had not given him any instructions, the bartender refrained from taking any action on his own. He simply waited, anticipating the moment when Karyk might call upon him. Yet, deep down, he had a sense that the likelihood of that happening was slim.

    Leaving thefort of the bar behind, Karyk walked through the city streets.

    He wandered aimlessly, assuming the role of a mere spectator. His steps took him to the grand Mansions belonging to the city''s three major families.

    From a distance, he observed each mansion and its borate security measures. Karyk sought more than just the knowledge he had gained from his reading. He wanted to personally witness it.

    His first destination was the area predominantly controlled by the Starfall Family, known to be the weakest of the three.

    Despite their perceived weakness, their stronghold was guarded with utmost vignce. No one was permitted within a five hundred meter radius of the mansion, and the guards were strategically positioned to cover every potential vulnerability.

    As Karyk strolled around the vicinity, he couldn''t help but notice the watchful eyes fixed upon him. However, he remainedposed, revealing nothing suspicious.

    Without halting his stride, he continued his journey until the prying eyes lost interest in him.

    "They''re definitely hiding more than they show," Karyk smiled, believing that he could use this to his advantage.

    The City was filled with tension between the three big families. All it needed was a spark, which was his goal. He wanted to burn this city, drawing the Royal Family to this ce.

    It was only when all the attention was on this city that he could freely enter the Royal Graveyard without revealing himself.

    Next, he walked to the area under the control of the Frostheart family, known to be the second strongest. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    As he approached the territory controlled by the Frostheart family, he noticed a stark contrast to the previous ce. This part of the city was more lively. It was as if this area was the life of this city.

    He could also see many casinos in this ce as well. Many people that carried the insignia of the Frostheart Family could be seen entering and leaving the various establishments in this area.

    If the territory of the Starfall family felt cold and lifeless, then this territory felt more chaotic and filled with life.

    The security measures seemed less obvious, but no less formidable. The Frostheart family relied on subtlety and hidden traps rather than overt disys of force.

    Karyk carefully surveyed the surroundings and concealed guards positioned strategically throughout the area.

    He noticed that the guards were not easily distinguishable from the regr citizens, blending seamlessly into the crowd. Their presence was subtle, but their watchful eyes gave them away.

    As Karyk continued his observation, he noticed a particr building that stood out from the rest. It was a towering structure, adorned with intricate frost-like patterns. Curiosity piqued his interest, and he decided to investigate further.

    Entering the building, Karyk found himself in avish casino filled with the sounds ofughter, clinking sses, and the asional shout of excitement. The air was thick with anticipation and a hint of danger.

    He navigated through the crowd, trying to blend in while keeping a keen eye on his surroundings. The atmosphere was intoxicating, and he could sense the underlying power y happening within the walls of the Frostheart family''s territory.

    As he made his way deeper into the casino, Karyk noticed a secluded VIP section. It was heavily guarded, with a private entrance that led to an exclusive area. The guards stationed there were clearly more vignt than the rest.

    He remembered reading about this ce. It was where the direct bloodline members of the three major families could often be seen gathering.

    As for what happened beyond the door, there was not much information as even his people weren''t able to enter to check themselves. They had simply assumed that it was the area where the direct members of the major families could y around.

    Intrigued by what secretsy behind those guarded doors, Karyk approached the bar and ordered a drink, engaging the bartender in casual conversation.

    Through subtle inquiries, he managed to gather information about the VIP section. Unfortunately, most of the information he gathered was the same as what his people had given him.

    However, there was also one particr piece of information that he found interesting. It was about the people who were currently inside the VIP Area.

    With his newfound knowledge, Karyk discreetly slipped away from the bustling casino floor and made his way towards the private entrance.

    As he stood before the guarded entrance, Karyk assessed the situation. The guards were vignt, but he was confident in his abilities to navigate through their defenses unnoticed. With a deep breath, he prepared himself for whaty beyond the doors.

    Little did he know that his presence in the Frostheart family''s territory would set off a chain of events, triggering a power struggle that would shake the foundations of the city. The spark he intended to ignite was about to engulf the entire city in a ze of chaos and secrets.

    Unbeknownst to Karyk, he was not the only one with a hidden agenda. The other two major families, the Starfall and the Royal Family, had been making movements discreetly.

    Karyk finally made use of his abilities as he walked past the guards who weren''t even able to see him. Although the guards were strong, whenpared to the General he had killed, or the Puppet Master, they were still inexperienced.

    Before long, Karyk went past them, entering the ce.

    ....

    As Karyk stepped into the VIP section, he was greeted by opulence and luxury. The room exuded an air of authority and power, with influential members of the Frostheart and Silverthorn family present there. The only family that was missing was the Starfall Family.

 Chapter 859 859: Lighting a fuse

    Chapter859 859: Lighting a fuse

    Within the hall, there was a single table. Around the table, only two people were sitting.

    The first person was said to be the Eldest Son of Frostheart Family Head. As for the other person, she was the Eldest Daughter of Silverthorn Family Head.

    Behind Elien Frostheart, there were many powerful warriors of the Frostheart Family. Simrly, Lia Silverthorn was also apanied by her own guards who were standing behind her.

    The table waspletely empty, with only two cups of tea ced before them.

    As they sat in silence, there was an air of tension in the room, as if the fate of their families hinged on the oue of this meeting. Both Elien and Lia gazed at each other, not a single bit of respect in their eyes.

    Both of them were the heirs of their respective families, who had just started taking responsibilities. Both of them were filled with arrogance and confidence, wanting to expand their family''s influence.

    "With my help, it''ll be a child''s y to destroy that family. But I want something worth my time," Elien Frostheart eximed. "I will take sixty percent of the Starfall Family''s assets if I''m to work with you," n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Keep dreaming," Lia scoffed. "Do you think the Silverthorn Family can''t eradicate them alone? Why would I give you the majority of resources that we will win?"

    Elien smiled in response. "Because you are scared."

    Before Lia could respond, he continued, "Silverthorn Family is certainly strong enough to destroy that trash of Starfall Family. But that is, only if they''re alone."

    "But what if they weren''t alone?" Elien calmly took a sip from the cup of tea, as if not in any hurry. "What if you tossed the Frostheart Family in the mix? That''s why I said that you are scared."

    "What are you trying to say?" Lia asked, although she clearly understood what he meant.

    "You''re worried that if you attacked the Starfall Family, my family might side with them. And with thebined might of the two families, things might turn bad for you instead. It might be the Silverthorn Family that disappeared from this city."

    "If anything, that''s more beneficial to my family as well. You''re the truepetitor of my family. After you''re out, only the Starfall Family will be left, which is too weak to pose any significant threat to us. Moreover, your family is also richer. So it''s even more beneficial for us to take you out."

    "You''re asking me to support you in something that''s less beneficial for me. Why would I do that when I don''t get a worthwhile deal?"

    Each of Elien''s words were filled with a perfect analysis of the situation. This was the only reason that Lia even came to discuss this cooperation with the family she hated the most.

    Unfortunately, she had no choice but to agree. Her family really needed more resources as they were at a critical point.

    "What if I give this same deal to the Starfall Family? You think two can''t y this game?" Lia asked, still not giving up easily. Both of them were trying to gain an upper edge in this situation.

    Karyk stood in the back, simply observing the negotiations. He had gained quite useful information. If this deal went through, his aim could easily be achievable. He could easily fist in troubled water.

    Unfortunately, the deal appeared to have struck a standstill at this moment. And even if it went through, it could at least take a few weeks for them toe up with a perfect n of attack.

    He had a better n to escte things.

    He walked toward Elien, only to stop behind his Guards. He carefully pulled out a dagger that had the insignia of the Frostheart Family.

    "You think you can threaten us? Do you really want to antagonize us?" Lia asked. "I''m being kind enough to offer you fifty percent. It''s a fair deal and less troublesome for you. Even if you side with Starfall, your family will lose a lot when entering a war against us."

    "On the other hand, you won''t lose anything if siding with us. I think it''s beneficial for you. Don''t take my kindness for nothing. It would be foolish for you to say no," she added.

    Elien smirked in response as he opened his lips. However, before he could even utter a word, a voice came from behind.

    "How dare you act with such arrogance before Young Master?" the heavy voice said.

    Before anyone could even respond, a dagger came flying, right for Lia''s head.

    Shocked, Lia reacted swiftly, moving aside. The dagger missed her by a hair''s breadth, but the guard behind her wasn''t as lucky.

    The dagger stuck the chest of the Guard behind him, instantly silencing him.

    The room erupted into chaos as everyone tried to process what had just happened. Furious, Lia''s Guards also reacted.

    In an instant, the VIP Meeting Room had turned into a chaotic battlefield. As for Karyk who caused it all, he simply left the hall amidst the sounds of battles.

    What happened after that was just as he expected. Both sides suffered heavy losses.

    This was the territory of Frostheart, so Lia was at a disadvantage. In the end, she was able to get out of the Frostheart Territory, covered in bruises. Her eyes were filled with rage as he promised to wipe the Frostheart Family.

    The fragile bnce and peace between the three families was broken. It was as if someone had lit a fuse.

    As the news reached the Silverthorn Family, the Family Head was also furious. He couldn''t believe that the Frostheart Family dared to attack her daughter in their territory when she was there just for a cooperation deal.

    The Silverthorn Family gave amand for all their Warriors to gather. They dered war on the Frostheart Family while also approaching the Starfall Family to either side with them or stay out of the battle.

    On the other hand, the Frostheart Family was filled with confusion. Elien didn''t understand what just happened. He asked all his guards, but all of them said that they weren''t the ones who attacked.

    Unfortunately, it was toote for any exnations. The Frostheart Family also called for their Warriors to gather while sending an envoy to Starfall Family with the same message.

 Chapter 860 860: Each Other

    Chapter860 860: Each Other

    Both the Frostheart and the Silverthorn families simultaneously dispatched envoys to the Starfall family, each with strikingly simr messages.

    Both parties told the Starfall family to align themselves with their cause while simultaneouslyying me on the other faction.

    Each side alleged that it was the other family that initiated the plot to destroy the Starfall family, expressing frustration when their offer was declined.

    In the initial portion of their messages, both families presentedpelling reasons for the Starfall family to join them.

    However, in thetter half, they resorted to issuing threats as a means of persuasion. Both factions warned that if the Starfall family were to side with the other party, they would be the first to be destroyed.

    The Family Head stood in the main hall, with the letters from both the families. After he finished reading, he nced at the two envoys that were waiting for his answer.

    "My family is not interested in the war over territories. You two can return and tell your families that we won''t involve ourselves with anyone. We shall stay neutral and focus on the safety of our own people."

    The Family Head ced both the letters on the table as he stood up. He walked past the two envoys without sparing a second nce.

    "You''re making a mistake. Do you think if the Frostheart Family won, they would let your family live? After they gain control over our territory, who will they target next?" The Envoy from Silverthorn Family said right as the Family Head was about to leave.

    "Of course you know what will happen since this is your n," the Frostheart Family Envoy eximed, his expressions dark.

    He nced at the Family Head. "But he isn''t entirely wrong. He just switched the sides in the story. If anything, they''ll be the ones to destroy you if they win. In any case, rejecting us might be the worst decision of your life."

    "You still have time to change your mind!" he eximed, as if reminding the Family Head of the Starfall Family that it was in his best interest to y along.

    In response, the Starfall Family Head startedughing. He stepped out of the room.

    However, the moment he took a step out, threads became visible before the two envoys. The threads passed through their throat.

    Both their heads rolled over their shoulders, falling to the ground. Their eyes still open in disbelief even as he died.

    The Family Head walked past one of the Guards. "Send a message to both the families. Tell them that their envoys killed each other. Also tell them that we would sit this war out as we''re not strong enough to take part in it."

    The guard nodded as he disappeared.

    The Family Head further walked over to a dark haired man, whose beautiful violet eyes shone brightly.

    He stopped next to the man. "Why didn''t you tell me that you were bringing the n forward?"

    The dark haired man replied, "I didn''t have a hand in it. It wasn''t the right time for it either. Those two screwed up my n, but it doesn''t matter. I''ll make the arrangements."

    The Family Head nodded as he left the ce.

    However, the moment he left, the violet-eyed man''s expressions turned dark.

    He couldn''t help but mutter under his breath as he also walked away, "Was it really an ident caused by the two families, or there''s someone else who''s trying to fish in troubled waters?"

    As the man walked away, momentarily a badge shed on his chest. It was the same badge that Karyk had shown to the citizens of border City to prove that the man was an Envoy of the Royal Family.

    Sitting atop a roof within the Silverthorn Family Territory, Karyk was ying with thepletely identical insignia, as if it was nothing more than a toy for him.

    He also kept an eye on the surroundings, noticing things progress smoothly. The movements of the two big families weren''t hidden from anyone. Before long, the news spread in the entire city that the war between the two giants was about to begin.

    All the stores within the city were closed abruptly. People who were in the danger zones left their homes, temporarily shifting into the border areas of the city.

    After finding out that their envoys were also killed by the other sides, the two families couldn''t control their rage anymore. Both of them knew that if they swallowed this disrespect, they were going to lose all the respect they held within the city.

    In this city, influence was half the strength of a family after all.

    The battles that might start a few dayster, started much sooner. By the evening, the entire city was caught in the grasp of battles, explosions resounding all over the city.

    The Frostheart Family attacked the Silverthorn Family in their territory, and the other side did the same.

    What started as a battle between the lower echelon to check the strength of the other side soon escted to a full scale war in which the Family Elders also joined.

    Each family brought their terrifying treasures. There was bloodshed everywhere.

    The only people who survived were the purebloods as they couldn''t be killed. But each side captured the purebloods of the other side, taking them out of the battle and imprisoning them. Some were even tortured.

    After ensuring that nothing happened out of his expectations and watching the city burn, Karyk returned to his bar where his men were waiting for him.

    "My task here is done. I''ll be leaving for the Royal City," Karyk told his men. However, before leaving, he didn''t forget to take a bottle of alcohol. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Taking a sip, he stepped out of the bar. He was done here. As for the rest, it was for the Royal Family to take care of.

    Unfortunately, the moment he stepped out, his footsteps halted. He frowned, looking into the distance.

    Not too far from him, there was a dark haired man, the Royal Insignia shining brightly over his chest.

 Chapter 861 861: Shadow Guard

    Chapter861 861: Shadow Guard

    Karyk tried to walk toward the side, but the dark haired man stepped before him, blocking his path.

    "May I help you?" Karyk asked, looking at the man who was an entire foot taller than him.

    "I''m sure only you can help me," the man said, his voice not holding the slightest of friendliness.

    "How about youe with us for a little?" he asked, cing his hand over Karyk''s shoulder as if not giving him a chance to refuse. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    In response, Karyk politely but firmly brushed off the man''s hand and took a step back. "I appreciate the offer, but I''m afraid I can''t apany you because you can''t afford to have mypany."

    "Alright. I''ll save some time in that case." An aura dagger appeared in the man''s hand. "You''ve been observing the Three Great Families for quite some time. May I ask why you caused all this mess? Who are you?"

    Without giving Karyk a chance to answer, the man aimed the dagger at him. "But before you speak, let me tell you something. If I don''t find your answer satisfying, you won''t have the second opportunity to speak."

    Karyk could see that the man wasn''t alone here. There were a lot of men that were spread all around him. Some were even observing him from the rooftop.

    He could kill most of them, but if even one of them escaped with the news that someone was killing Purebloods, it wasn''t going to take long for the Royal Family to guess his identity.

    "But before you answer..." The Envoy ced the tip of the dagger under Karyk''s mask. "Let there be no masks between us."

    He raised the dagger, slowly taking off the mask. However, before he could, his wrist was grabbed by Karyk.

    "I''ll ask you again. Are you sure you want to interfere in my matters?" Karyk asked. "Can you truly afford the consequences?"

    "I''m quite curious to see what kind of consequences you can show me," the manughed. However within thatughter, a lot of anger was hidden.

    "I won''t be the one showing you the consequences, but someone else..." Karyk stated as he looked directly in the eyes of the Envoy of the Royal Family.

    "And who might be that someone else?" The Envoy asked again. For a moment, he thought that Karyk was exaggerating to try and escape. But when the man grabbed his wrist, he didn''t know why, but he felt slightly suppressed.

    Although he wasn''t showing anyrge movements, he had been trying to subtly free his wrist. But he couldn''t even move it an inch.

    Karyk reached out his hand towards his left. A spatial portal appeared next to him. His hand entered the Spatial Portal, grabbing a hold of something.

    He pulled out an Emblem from the Spatial Portal, but not before he shrouded the two of them in a barrier so that only the two of them could see what he pulled out.

    Karyk showed the emblem to the Envoy as he finally freed his wrist. The Envoy''s pupils widened as he saw the Emblem. It was identical to his own emblem. No... It was an even superior grade.

    Even amongst the Royal Emblems, there were different grades. The Envoy held the lowest grade Royal Emblem. Meanwhile the one in Karyk''s hand was the second highest grade.

    It was something that was only given to the Royal Family Members, Supreme Generals of the Dynasty or the Personal Shadow Guards of the Royal Emperor of Elzeria.

    There was only one grade above the one that Karyk possessed. And that was personally held by the Emperor.

    "This..." For the first time, the Envoy felt as if he had made a huge mistake. The Royal Family only had two girls other than the Emperor and one of that girl was dead. So he was sure Karyk wasn''t a Royal Family Member.

    As for Supreme Generals, they were all very popr in the Dynasty. They were supreme existences. He had seen all Supreme Generals and none of them ever tried to hide their fades. The man was sure that Karyk wasn''t one of them either.

    That only left one group of people... The Royal Emperor''s personal guards. No one had seen the faces of those people except the Royal Emperor. Even the Shadow Guards hadn''t seen each other''s faces.

    In his mind, Karyk was a Shadow Guard that worked directly under the Emperor, unlike him who worked under a Supreme General. That meant Karyk was his direct superior.

    He quickly retracted the dagger, not even daring to take the mask off.

    "Don''t you want to take off my mask now?" Karyk asked. He didn''t know the thoughts in the man''s head, but he was certain that the man was scared now.

    Karyk didn''t know if the emblem was going to reveal his identity, but the man''s reaction confirmed that it wasn''t the case.

    "I wouldn''t dare!" the man eximed, his face revealing true fear. He couldn''t believe he had tried to see the face of a Shadow Guard.

    If he had actually seen that face, let alone him but none of his men would have avoided a tragic fate. Even the Supreme General he worked for might be affected by it.

    "Good." Karyk removed the barrier that had covered the two of them. He was d that things had been solved without muchplications.

    "Lord Shadow, I would like to apologize for my prior actions and any inconvenience they may have caused," the man said humbly, bowing deeply to Karyk. "I assure you, it was never my intention to disturb or disrespect the Shadow Guards."

    Karyk nodded, finally understanding why the man was so scared. Amongst the information he had gathered, he knew that the Shadow Guards were the most mysterious people in the entire dynasty.

    They were the true force of the Elzerian Dynasty, which became even more threatening since no one knew what they looked like.

    "I truly misunderstood you. I thought you were some enemy, trying to harm the n," the Envoy stated, truly expressing his regret.

    All his men watched him bow before the masked men, none understanding what had changed in a short moment.

    ''n?'' Karyk frowned, wondering what n he was talking about.

 Chapter 862 862: Turning the waves

    Chapter862 862: Turning the waves

    "Since you''re apologizing, I suppose you understood my intentions?" Karyk asked, realizing that due to fear, the Envoy was trying to justify everything in his mind.

    Since his mind was clouded at the moment, it provided a lot of opportunities to exploit it.

    "I believe I do," the Envoy responded, regainingposure and straightening his posture. Nevertheless, the unwavering respect in his gaze persisted.

    "Is that so?" Karyk''s amused voice echoed in the man''s ears. "Let me hear what you understood. I want you to tell me everything. Even I want to know how clever people under His Majesty are."

    The Envoy hesitated for a moment, before answering. "We were told to make the Frostheart and Silverthorn Family fight each other so that the Starfall Family could take over the entire city." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    "At least that''s what I was told when I was sent here," he added. "But your presence here only means that His Majesty wants it to be done faster, which led you to take action."

    "However, if you had told me about this at the start, I would''ve done everything myself. You wouldn''t have to trouble yourself," he added.

    That was still the question in his mind. Everything was done by the Shadow Guard who didn''t even reveal his presence to him. If not for his men''s astute observation, they never would''ve known it.

    As he started thinking about it, the doubts in his mind kept getting bigger. The initial shock and fear was getting suppressed by the questions in his mind.

    How was it possible for the Shadow Guard to be noticed by his men? The Shadow Guards were the elite force of the Emperor who were masters of stealth. Then how was it easy for his people to find him?

    For a moment, he even doubted if the man before him was actually a shadow guard. But that Emblem was definitely a real one. It couldn''t be forged.

    "Why do you think I didn''te to you first then?" Karyk asked, noticing suspicions seeping in. He gave the responsibility of solving these suspicions to the man himself.

    "Also, why do you think you were so easily able to find me?" he further asked as he took another sip from the bottle of alcohol.

    "The moment you are able toprehend the answer, you''ll realize everything," he added as he turned around.

    There was no benefit in him staying behind. The more questions he asked, the more suspicious he could be.

    The man watched Karyk walk away whilezily drinking the wine.

    The Envoy simply scratched the back of his head, wondering, ''Why would I ask him if I knew the answer? These Shadow Guards are so unpredictable.''

    In the end, he stopped thinking about it. Even if he was suspicious, he didn''t dare to test it. It was much better to believe that guy than to risk his future.

    Moreover, Karyk had done the same thing they were trying, albeit making it faster. So there wasn''t much loss.

    The Envoy and his men returned to the Starfall Mansion. The City had started burning in the mes of Chaos. As for everything else, it was only a matter of time.

    ....

    While leaving the city, Karyk stopped at the exit. He saw a young child ying in the area.

    He approached the child, patting his head. No one noticed that at that moment, he secretly transmitted a message to the young boy whose violet eyes shone for a brief moment before being hidden in a fake blue shade.

    Karyk walked past the guard, leaving the city. On the other hand, the young boy returned to the bar secretly, delivering the message.

    Following that, the child and the bartender left the bar. Both of them went to the two great families in battle.

    While the bartender went to the Frostheart Family, delivering a message, the boy went to the Silverthorn, delivering another message.

    The undercurrents within the city of Ember were changing, and it was once again caused by Karyk.

    ....

    Completely carefree, Karyk had already gone far from the city.

    "By now they should''ve delivered the message," Karyk muttered, tossing the empty wine bottle aside.

    "To think that I was ying right into the Royal Family''s hand," he muttered, letting out a sigh. "If he hadn''t met me, It would''ve been such a mess. I should''ve been more careful with my n."

    "But it was definitely a surprise that the Royal Family wanted the Starfall Family to control the entire city. If the two major families had fought, the Starfall Family would''ve taken control of the entire city by destroying the weakened families."

    "In that case, the Royal Family would''ve had no need to send their armies. They would''ve gained absolute control without even trying."

    "But after the message is delivered to the two families, they should understand that the Starfall Family and the Nobles are against them. I''m sure they would destroy the Starfall Family first."

    "They would forget their differences in the face of survival. The Royal Family would have a very big headache in the future. But the more chaotic it bes, the better it gets for me."

    Karyk kept talking to himself as he slowly advanced towards the final destination which was the Royal City, almost on the other side of the continent.

    He had managed to decipher a lot of information from a few words of the Envoy. But there was still one thing he didn''t understand.

    "The City of Ember is still indirectly controlled by the Royal Family. It doesn''t matter if three families exist or one, the true ruler is the Royal Family. Then why would they want to change the equation in the city?"

    He had a feeling that it had something to do with the invasion of his world. He could definitely force the Envoy to answer him, but that could put his entire n to jeopardy. It was much better to use the two great families against them.

    ****

    Just as Karyk had expected, the equation within the city quickly turned as messages were delivered to the two families'' heads anonymously.

    The messages told them about the Royal Envoy staying with the Starfall Family. The message made it clear who was trying to fish in the troubled waters.

    The message even said that their envoys were killed by the Starfall Family to me this conflict. Even the attack on the Silverthorn Family during the negotiations was the work of the Envoy.

    Karyk shifted even his own actions on the Royal Family, leaving them to deal with the mess.

 Chapter 863 863: Drastic Steps

    Chapter863 863: Drastic Steps

    The undercurrents within Ember were undergoing a significant shift, all thanks to Karyk''s calcted moves. The two families that had been locked in a bitter rivalry had suddenly ceased their fighting.

    The heads of the two families met to discuss the mysterious messages they had both received. Although they had no knowledge of the sender, they found some truth in the contents of these messages.

    It was truly peculiar that the Frostheart Family hadunched an attack during the negotiations. It seemed as though someone had manipted the situation from behind the scenes.

    The deaths of the envoys added to the strangeness of the situation. Instead of returning to deliver the message, the two envoys had inexplicably killed each other.

    Furthermore, their bodies had not been returned. The only information they had was a message from the Starfall Family exining what had transpired.

    This turn of events brought the two families together in their suspicions. They also understood why the Royal Family might be trying to destroy them.

    "To think that they would employ such a scheme against us!" eximed the head of the Frostheart Family, his eyes filled with rage. "I will obliterate the Starfall Family and all those who aid them!"

    The head of the Silverthorn Family agreed, acknowledging that while they couldn''t afford to antagonize the Royal Family, the Royal Family also couldn''t afford to lose control of the city, especially with war looming. They were determined not to let this situation go easily.

    Both families decided to join forces and negotiate the terms of their alliance. They agreed to divide the avable resources evenly between them after victory.

    With the agreement reached, the prisoners from each side were released.

    Ember had now be a powder keg, on the verge of exploding. The Frostheart and Silverthorn families, united against the Starfall Family, were determined to seek revenge and regain control.

    ....

    The Starfall Family Head was walking back and forth, carrying a deep frown on his face.

    "This doesn''t feel right. Why did they stop the war? Why are they secretly meeting each other? Something doesn''t seem right!" n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The Envoy from the Royal Family was also confused. Since the Family Heads of the other two families had been directly involved, even he couldn''t sneak into their meeting to find out what they were discussing.

    It''s been over a day and there were no battles. Something truly felt out of ce, especially since he had finished all his preparations.

    "I don''t feel good. It''s really annoying when I don''t know what they''re doing there!" The Starfall Family Head eximed, ring at the Envoy from the Royal Family.

    "You must find-" he eximed, but before he could finish, the door opened. A man rushed inside, "L-lord!"

    "What''s the rush?!" The family head frowned. "Have you forgotten manners?"

    "I-it is urgent! The two families.... T-they have surrounded our territories!" the man eximed. "They''re forcing their way in, killing our men!"

    "What?!" The Starfall Family Head eximed in shock.

    Even the Envoy was stunned, not expecting something like this. What was even stranger was that his men hadn''t returned.

    He had sent them to keep an eye on the movements of the two families. If they were going to surround them, he should''ve already been informed about it. But none of his men returned. It was as if his men were killed already.

    ....

    Karyk stood outside the Royal Territory. It took him a total of seven days to get to this ce, the journey being longer than he expected.

    He had faced many troublesome things along the way, from treacherous terrains to unpredictable weather. But now, as he stood at the edge of the Royal Territory, he felt slight relief. He was finally here.... The home of people that he had to destroy.

    The Royal City of Elziria, the capital of the kingdom, stretched out before him, its grandeur visible even from a distance.

    The city''s towering walls, adorned with intricate carvings and glistening with gold ents, exuded an air of majesty that was unparalleled.

    Karyk couldn''t help but feel that the city was simr to the Royal City of Celestial Dynasty in many ways, but also different in some others.

    This City looked much more grand and majestic, with a unique architectural style.

    Karyk looked at the gates of the Royal City which was the only point of entrance. The entire city was surrounded in a barrier that was simr to what had sealed the Forest where he had appeared first.

    Looking at the barrier, he had a feeling that the entire city was under a simr if not more powerful seal.

    The entire continentcked the Elements from his Worlds. However, it was even worse within the barrier which made it even harder for him to use hisplete strength.

    As he was observing the city from a distance, he saw the gates of the city open. Multiple strange vehicles came out from the gates.

    There were hundreds of vehicles, all armored and surrounded by a magical barrier that made them even safer.

    Within the vehicles, he saw many purebloods. There were over a thousand of them, leaving the city. As for their destination, Karyk had a feeling that he knew perfectly well where they were going.

    "Looks like the Frostheart and the Silverthorn Family didn''t disappoint me," he muttered, as he watched the vehicles disappear from his sight.

    The Royal Family had sent their armies to quell the unrest within the City of Ember. They had nned everything perfectly, to the point where they wouldn''t have needed to send their army.

    Everything would''ve been handled by the Starfall Family after the other two families weakened themselves. But everything had fallen apart when the two families instead turned against the Starfall Family, destroying them in response.

    The Starfall Family had been destroyed, their Family Head imprisoned by the two families. Only the Envoy of the Royal Family had barely managed to escape while hiding his identity. He was also the one who informed the Royal Family about the n going sour.

    With the city of Ember in chaos, the Royal Family had no choice but to take more drastic steps and interfere openly.

 Chapter 864 864: Nothing can stop us

    Chapter864 864: Nothing can stop us

    Karyk stood silently, trying to think of a way to enter the city. He could enter by simply forcing his way inside. He could even use the same attack that he used to kill the Emperor''s sister and destroy the barrier.

    But in the end, he knew that both of these ns were troublesome. He didn''t want to make his exploration of the Royal Graveyard more troublesome.

    "It''s time for your help." He waved his hand, a Spatial Portal opened around him.

    The Spatial Portal was muchrger than before, appearing like a doorway. From the portal, a man stepped out, dressed in a General''s Attire.

    Strangely enough, the man was no other than the General who had escaped the Celestial Dynasty, only to be killed by him.

    His bloody clothes were changed. He was now wearing apletely identical attire that was much cleaner. These were the clothes that Karyk had his people make without telling them what these were for.

    The General was standing tall, but his face appeared slightly pale and his eyes somewhat lifeless. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    It took Karyk over three weeks to grasp the knowledge from the Celestial Dynasty and merge that with his knowledge sessfully. After that, it took him a few months before he finally managed to bring the General back as an Undead that was only loyal to him.

    It took Karyk over three weeks to grasp the knowledge from the Celestial Dynasty and merge that with his knowledge sessfully. After that, it took him a few months before he finally managed to bring the General back as an Undead that was only loyal to him.

    The General still had his memories and knew how he died. He also had his intelligence. But still, he held absolute loyalty towards his master.

    After bringing out the General, Karyk also pulled out a dark robe. He covered himself with the dark robe before hiding his face behind a mask. He also wore silver gloves in both his hands.

    "Do I look like them now?" he asked the General next to him.

    "You miss one thing..." The General answered.

    Frowning, Karyk looked down. Only now he remembered.

    "Ah, how could I forget." He brought out the Royal Emblem from his Spatial Storage, wearing that on his chest.

    "Now you truly look like a Shadow Guard of His Majesty," the General exined, respectfully standing next to Karyk.

    "Good." Karyk nodded. "In that case, it''s time we go back to your home."

    Karyk walked towards the Gate of the Royal City, apanied by the General.

    Although no one saw Karyk''s face thanks to his mask, they saw his attire and the emblem on his chest. Seeing that, their faces went pale.

    Shivering, they opened the door with great respect before moving aside.

    They did manage to recognise the General as well. It had been a long time since theyst saw him. They were surprised that he was still alive as they had thought he would''ve been dead since he didn''t return until now.

    Since the General was apanying a Shadow Guard, they didn''t ask questions. They believed it must be known by the Emperor anyway. A Shadow Guard only listened to the Emperor after all.

    As he approached the city gates, Karyk was greeted by the sight of bustling streets filled with people from all walks of life.

    Merchants disyed their wares, their voices blending into a lively symphony of trade. Citizens hurried to and fro, going about their daily routines, while the aroma of freshly baked bread and exotic spices wafted through the air.

    For the most part, it appeared like an ordinary City,pletely unlike the Royal City of a higher species.

    Karyk navigated through the bustling crowd, his eyes carrying some curiosity. The architecture of the city was a sight to behold, with grand pces and elegant buildings adorning the streets.

    The sound of music andughter echoed from the taverns and inns, inviting many to immerse themselves in the vibrant atmosphere.

    ....

    Within the grand halls of the Royal Pce of Elziria resided a magnificent statue, a portrayal of a majestic archangel adorned with six awe-inspiring wings on each side.

    The room itself was engulfed in an eerie darkness, with only the presence of the statue.

    It had been over half a year since the statusst made a movement. And it was at the moment when Karyk had first entered thend of Elziria.

    As Karyk stepped foot into the Royal City, a remarkable change unfolded. The once motionless statue suddenly sprang to life, its eyes piercing through the darkness with an intense crimson glow.

    "The Forgotten Prince..." A word came out from the statue as its lips moved.

    This was the first time the statue had made a movement without getting a sacrifice from the Royal Emperor. Unfortunately, this time no one was here to listen to its words.

    After a few seconds, the eyes of the statue closed on its own, the room returning to the darkness and the silence it previously possessed.

    ....

    On one end, Karyk entered the Royal Capital of Elziria. On the other end, the Emperor of Elziria was standing before the window, looking at the beautiful city.

    "I want to go out," he said.

    However, a sharp response came from the other side. "Absolutely not!"

    His sister stood behind him, ring at him. "You have already sacrificed your immortality to get Gabriel on our side, only for him to betray us!"

    "Now you aren''t immortal. It''s dangerous for you to take any risk. If you die, I will never be able to forgive myself!" the girl eximed.

    The young man weaklyughed. "I have lived for close to two centuries. Even if I hadn''t given away my immortality, I would''ve been dead in under a decade. Death is something that even we can''t avoid, so why worry?"

    "Moreover, since I''ve lost my immortality, I can''t even approach the Archangel within the temple as I can''t offer a sacrifice. We are without guidance. If I were to die, you would be the Ruler and you''ll be able to approach it and ask for guidance..."

    "I don''t need guidance! I need you!" the girl eximed. "Moreover, why would we even need guidance now? Everything is going as per n. Nothing can stop us now! We don''t need any guidance. We only need our emperor! We only need you!"

 Chapter 865 865: Just the two of us

    Chapter865 865: Just the two of us

    The Emperor let out a sigh. "One can never be too certain. You know who we work for. The moment we fail, we will lose everything."

    "I know that we won''t fail. I have faith in your leadership. Moreover, with the barrier gone, it''s only a matter of time before we are able to invade that world," the woman replied.

    "We were even able to defeat the Celestial Dynasty which was more dangerous than that realm can ever be."

    "If we didn''t lose that, how can we lose now? Especially since we have grown even more, thanks to ''their'' blessings."

    She further added. "Most of the Divine Gods of that realm are already dead and their Divinity free to be taken. What does that world even have that can stop us now?"

    "That world has a variable that the Celestial Dynasty didn''t," the Emperor said, looking out the window. "And it''s a variable that is something which can''t be ignored. Its existence alone is a threat for us."

    "Moreover, we have killed most of the Divine Beings from that World, but we still failed to find the thing..."

    The Emperor''s voice was filled with disappointment as he thought about it.

    "Our pawns managed to take over the Realm of Gods. However, they still weren''t able to find it. As long as that thing still exists, our work will never bepleted."

    Hearing her brother talk, the woman couldn''t help but get angry as well, thinking about that pawn.

    "It''s all our fault for selecting a man that useless. Not only did he not seed in a way we wanted, but he even attacked me when I seeded! He was a traitor amidst our mist! It''s a pity that he died so easily. If I had more time, I would''ve loved to make him suffer!"

    There are only three reasons they supported a man whose world was destroyed and he was left abandoned. They intentionally made him stronger so he could achieve these two goals.

    One goal was to destroy the barrier that prevented them from stepping foot there. The man failed that goal repeatedly until they used Gabriel.

    As for the second reason, it was because they wanted all the Gods who possessed Divinity in that realm to be killed. Since Karyk was alive, along with Caen and a few others, that meant he failed that goal as well.

    As for the third goal, it was the most important. It was for him to enter the Realm of Gods, takingplete control of it so he could retrieve the thing they were after.

    Although the third goal was halfpleted and they took over the Realm of Gods, but that thing wasn''t found, which made it all useless.

    "As the saying goes... If you want something done, you should do it yourself," the woman clenched her fist. "And soon, we will be able to do it ourselves and make our ancestors proud!"

    "But until then, I want you to survive!" she red at her brother, who she didn''t want to be reckless anymore. "Maybe after we seed, ''they'' will grant us more blessings and remove the restrictions on our lifespans?"

    "If that happens, you won''t have to die! You would be able to live with me for an eternity!" she stated as she stepped closer to her brother.

    She ced her arms around her brother''s waist, getting closer to him. "And then, we would be together forever... You and me... Forever."

    As she finished, her lips nted on his lips, slowly pushing him backwards until they were close to a bed. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    ....

    Karyk walked inside the Royal City, apanied by the Undead General. Most of the people didn''t find anything suspicious about them.

    Still, Karyk knew that if they were toe across a real General of the Royal Army or a shadow guard, it was only a matter of time before his identity was toe under suspicion.

    Now that he was already inside the city, he found an empty alleyway, where he changed his appearance using a spell, disguising himself as an ordinary citizen. He also changed the identity of the General, along with the clothes.

    With that, they could freely explore the city without anyone caring about them.

    A proper disguise, he felt confident that he could navigate the city unnoticed.

    He had already memorized a rough map of the Royal City which made it easier for him to know where the important ces were.

    As for finding the Royal Pce, it was something that even a child could aplish as that was the only structure within the city that was visible from every corner of the city.

    Once the disguise wasplete, Karyk and the Undead General walked towards the Royal Pce, only to split apart in the middle.

    While Karyk went towards the back of the Royal Pce, the General targeted the Western part of the Royal Pce.

    After a certain point, none of them were able to go forward as there was a guarded parameter which was protected by many pureblood warriors of the Royal Army.

    Fortunately, at that exact moment, a loud explosion resounded in the Western Part of the Protective Parameter. Someone had attacked the western part. And that person was strong as he was able to push through.

    Even the guards from the other Areas heard the explosion, rushing towards the Western area.

    Only a few guards were left behind protecting the Ancestral Graveyard of the Royal Family.

    "Since he''s having fun, it''s about time I start having some fun as well," Karyk smiled as he also took action. With most of the attention shifted towards the Western Area, he could freely move now.

    ....

    The Emperor and his sister were in the bed, void of any clothes when they heard an explosion. The Emperor stood up, looking towards the west.

    "Someone is attacking us?" He frowned. It was the first time something like this had happened.

    He didn''t realize that the Eastern Side was also attacked. Just that there were no loud explosions. However, the damage to the western side was even higher and purebloods were actually getting killed.

 Chapter 866 866: The only way

    Chapter866 866: The only way

    The Emperor and his sister swiftly dressed themselves and hurried to the windows, where they witnessed the unfolding chaos near the Pce.

    The sounds of battle reverberated through the air as they observed the Royal Army''s pureblood warriors being attacked by an unknown assant.

    To their surprise, both the pureblood warriors and the attacker possessed the ability to heal their wounds with ease, leading the Emperor to believe that the assant was also a pureblood.

    "Who would have the audacity to attack us?" the Emperor pondered aloud, frustration evident in his voice. Throughout history, the Royal Capital had never been subjected to such an assault. They were the true rulers of thend.

    Equally concerned, his sister replied, "It matters not who they are. If they thought they could seed with the help of a single person, they are sorely mistaken."

    "It is only a matter of time before our people catch him. Extracting information from them will be even easier," she added confidently.

    Although the attacker possessed strength, it was not enough to warrant the deployment of the Shadow Guards.

    The sister observed as their warriors gradually overwhelmed the assant, who fought with apparent disregard for his own life. Only when he found himself at a disadvantage did the attacker flee, blending into the crowded city streets.

    The sister observed as their warriors gradually overwhelmed the assant, who fought with apparent disregard for his own life. Only when he found himself at a disadvantage did the attacker flee, blending into the crowded city streets.

    The Royal Warriors pursued him relentlessly, determined to prevent any further destruction within the city.

    As the Emperor watched the attacker''s escape, he couldn''t shake off a feeling of unease.

    If someone dared to attack them, it meant they were aware of their formidable strength. So why would anyone act so recklessly? If their intention was to sow chaos, they could have targeted the city itself instead of the Pce.

    With a snap of his fingers, the Emperor beckoned his Shadow Guards into the room. They entered silently, standing before him with unwavering loyalty.

    "Conduct a thorough search of every corner of the Pce to ensure nothing is amiss. If our enemy isn''t a fool, this must be a diversion," the Emperor dered. "Should you encounter anyone, ensure they are brought to me alive."

    The Shadow Guards nodded in unison, their disciplined demeanor reflecting their unwavering dedication.

    With utmost efficiency, they dispersed throughout the Pce, meticulously scouring every nook and cranny, ensuring the safety of all who resided within its grand halls.

    ....

    The Western Side of the Pce was where most of the attention was ced currently. However, the Eastern Side had suffered the most.

    All the guards who had stayed behind to guard this area were missing. Only drops of blood could be seen at random ces, leading towards the Royal Tomb.

    The entrance of the Tomb was through a sealed area that led downstairs into an underground structure, atop which a loud angelic structure was erected.

    The entrance was further protected by a barrier that was even stronger than the barrier surrounding the city. Only the people who possessed the Royal Bloodline could pass through the barrier, making it impossible for anyone else to enter.

    Karyk reached out his hand, lightly touching the barrier. However, as soon as his fingers touched the barrier, he felt a powerful electric current coursing through his body.

    He quickly withdrew his hand, realizing that a part of his fingers was gone, turning to ashes. If he had kept his hand there longer, the entirety of it could''ve been gone in a few seconds.

    After he retracted his hand, he healed his fingers that recovered to normal.

    Karyk took a step back, his eyes narrowing as he assessed the situation. The barrier surrounding the Royal Tomb was not to be taken lightly. Its power was immense, capable of disintegrating anyone who dared to touch it without the Royal Bloodline.

    "How troublesome."

    There was no information about this barrier amongst the knowledge he was able to gather about this ce. He had an opportunity to gather royal blood when he killed the Emperor''s sister, but at that time he didn''t know that he might need it.

    With the troublesome barrier, things became slightly moreplicated for him. He also knew that there wasn''t much time. There was only so long that his Undead could distract the Royal Family.

    "I can break the barrier with brute force if I use the same method I used to kill that woman. But that would immediately give away my identity. Before long, I would be surrounded from all sides."

    Karyk observed the entrance carefully, thinking how he could solve this mess without exposing his identity. For a moment, he even wondered if he should kidnap another Royal to open the seal for him.

    He quickly dropped the idea, resizing that they were most probably protected by the Shadow Guards. Before he could even reach them, he would''ve been located.

    At this moment, he only had two options. He could either retreat and abandon this n, or he could rely on himself and find another method to enter that ce.

    After a long time, he let out a sigh, making up his mind. "In that case, I can only force my way in." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    He clenched his fists, aura gathering into his arms. He didn''t use his sword of aura or the method that he used to kill the Emperor''s sister. However, he was willing to let them know of the presence of an intruder into the tomb.

    He roughly estimated the location that the tomb entrance led to. Standing above the spot, he punched the earth with brute strength.

    If he couldn''t pass through the barrier, he was going to directly enter through the roof. Although the roof was also reinforced with the rarest materials from this world, it was still somewhat weaker than the barrier.

    As soon as Karyk''s fistnded on the ground, the entire city trembled. It was as if an earthquake had arrived. However, it wasn''t just once. The trembling continued as Karyk kept punching the earth, with every punch, the crater beneath him getting deeper.

    After the fifth punch, the ground beneath him disappeared as he fell down to an unknown space.

 Chapter 867 867: Hidden Chamber

    Chapter867 867: Hidden Chamber

    As the ground trembled, the Emperor''s expressions turned dark. He nced in the direction of the source of this disturbance. His expressions turned dark.

    He already had a bad feeling about it, thinking that the attack was a distraction. And now there was a loud explosioning from the direction of the Royal Tomb.

    Usually, the Royal Tomb was useless for everyone. It was just a ce where the Ancestors of the Elzeiran Royal Family were buried. That ce held no treasures or anything of importance. The only thing there were the lifeless bodies.

    As he thought about those bodies, his mind thought of something. "Impossible. She''s sealed here. She can''t be freed, so there''s no way she would get here to steal the bodies."

    "And even if she could steal the bodies, that''s no way for that girl to turn them into an undead."

    The Emperor kept talking to himself as he subconsciously walked towards the Eastern Side of the Pce.

    The Shadow Guards were also alert. Most of them rushed towards the area where the Royal Tomb was established, only to be greeted by a wide hole on the ground, as if someone had intentionally destroyed this ce.

    The Shadow Guards looked at each other''s faces. They knew that an intruder had entered the Royal Tomb. However, they couldn''t chase after him without the permission from the Emperor.

    Only the Royal Blood was allowed in that ce. Even though the intruder broke the rule, they couldn''t.

    They wanted to rush to the Emperor to ask for permission. However, before they could turn, they heard footsteps from behind.

    "What are you waiting for?" The Emperor''s voice came from behind, his majestic robe fluttering with the wind.

    He was apanied by the Princess. The Shadow Guards were shocked to see him outside. It had been a long time since the Emperor stepped out of the Pce.

    "We''re going inside." The Emperor told the Guards as he calmly walked towards the hole in the ground.

    "We can chase after them if you grant us permission. But you... It might be risky."

    The Shadow Guards were also worried for the Emperor who had lost his immortality. Moreover, his sister was weaker than an ordinary shadow guard, so both of them were someone that they needed to protect.

    None of the Shadow Guards wanted the Royals to take risks.

    "You think I didn''t try to tell him?" The Princess asked, rolling her eyes. "This time he''s too stubborn. He wants to see the intruder himself."

    The woman let out a sigh as she apanied her brother. She didn''t forget to tell all the Shadow Guards that their first priority was to protect her brother. Catching the intruder was the second priority since her brother was more important to her than a few dead bodies.

    The Shadow Guards looked at each other, nodding. They apanied the Emperor, for the first time entering the Royal Tombstone.

    None of them knew what they were going to find on the other side as there was no mention about the Royal Tombstone anywhere. Only the Royal Family knew what that ce was like. And now, they were going to see that as well.

    *****

    In the darkness, Karyknded with a thud, his eyes adjusting to the dimly lit surroundings.

    He found himself in a vast underground chamber, adorned with intricate carvings and statues of past rulers. The air was heavy with an ancient aura, and a sense of foreboding hung in the atmosphere.

    As Karyk stood up, he realized that he had fallen into a hidden chamber within the Royal Tomb.

    The chamber was filled with the tombs of the previous emperors and empresses, their resting ces marked by ornate carvings. Each tomb was carefully crafted, depicting the achievements and legacy of the deceased ruler.

    Curiosity piqued, Karyk approached one of the sarcophagi and traced his fingers along the intricate carvings. He was finally at the ce where he wanted to be.

    All the lifeless Ancestral Bodies of the Elzeiran Dynasty belonged to him. He could create as many undeads as he wanted from them.

    Suddenly, he heard a faint whisper, a voice carried in the wind. It spoke of forgotten knowledge, tempting Karyk with promises of power and immortality. It was as if the voice was trying to lure him.

    Karyk frowned in response. Although the voice couldn''t control him, but he didn''t understand how this was even possible? How were the dead speaking when they hadn''t even turned to undead yet? Just what was this ce?

    For the time being, he didn''t have time to think about it. One after another, he kept all the bodies in his spatial storage, leaving the conversion toter.

    Within a minute, he hadpletely emptied the entire ce. However, there were still some voices that he could hear. The voice looked more ethereal, as if they were just a figment of his imagination but there was also something real about them.

    Frowning, Karyk followed the ethereal voice, his steps guided by an invisible force. It led him deeper into the underground chamber, where a hidden door stood partially open.

    With a gentle push, Karyk entered a secret chamber, hidden from the eyes of all but those who possessed the Royal Bloodline. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    .....

    The Emperor and the Shadow Knights jumped down the hole on the roof,nding in the darkness safely.

    The Shadow Knightsnded behind him, safe on the ground. They waved their hands, bringing light to this dark ce.

    As the ce was filled with light, the Emperor''s lips twitched. He saw the entry ce empty. All the bodies of his Ancestors were taken by the intruder.

    His expressions turned darker as he looked at the passage leading into the distance.

    "Don''t tell me that person..." Without a second thought, he started running.

    The Shadow Guards followed after him, wondering why the Emperor looked so worried suddenly. It was as if the entire world was falling apart. Was it truly just for a few bodies? Or was there something more here?

 Chapter 868 868: The Last

    Chapter868 868: The Last

    Karyk reached the end of the passage,ing to a halt before a massive door that stood slightly open.

    With a light push, he swung the door open and stepped inside. However, as soon as he crossed the threshold, an unsettling sensation gripped him as the door began to close behind him.

    "No!" eximed the Emperor, his eyes fixed on Karyk from the other side of the door.

    Desperate to reach him, the Emperor sprinted forward, but his efforts were in vain as the colossal door sealed shut.

    "Arghh!" The Emperor''s roar reverberated with fury as he attempted to force the door open. Unfortunately, to his dismay, the door remained shut, refusing to budge.

    Even as he had hurried, he was still one step toote. Moreover, although he hadn''t seen the face of the person that entered, his back felt familiar.

    His sister and the Shadow Guards caught up to him, slowly realizing the gravity of the situation. For the first time, they had seen their Emperor react like that.

    They could only wonder what was on the other side of the door that the Emperor was going crazy over.

    Even his sister was unaware of whaty beyond that door, as her brother never permitted her entry into that ce. Only the ruler of the Empire had the privilege to ess it.

    With deep concern etched on her face, she gently ced her hands on the Emperor''s shoulders.

    "What is everyone staring at? Open the door!" Shemanded the Shadow Guards.

    Reacting swiftly, the Shadow Guards positioned their hands on the door, exerting all their strength. She too joined in, pushing with determination.

    Unfortunately, the oue remained unchanged. The door remained firmly shut, not budging an inch. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The Emperor stood in silence, his gaze fixed upon the closed door, seemingly lost in a trance. His pupils trembled, betraying a sense of fear that seemed unfamiliar to him.

    Observing her brother''s distress, the girl couldn''t bear to see him in such a state. Unfortunately, she was at a loss as to what she could do. There was an underlying intuition that even if they were to attack together, this door would not even crack.

    "What lies beyond that door?" she inquired, hoping to gain some insight into the source of his fear.

    "Beyond that door... There is... Chaos..."

    ....

    Karyk nced back at the sealed door, aware of the presence of people outside who were attempting to open it.

    The swiftness with which they caught up to him surprised him, but what truly astonished him was the fact that even the Emperor himself couldn''t unlock this door.

    It seemed that this ce was beyond the Emperor''s control, raising questions about its significance. The haunting roar from the Emperor still echoed in Karyk''s memory.

    Though Karyk was uncertain about the nature of this ce, he was sure that the Elzeirans absolutely didn''t want him to be here. With his attention no longer fixated on the door, he shifted his focus to the room itself.

    At first nce, the room appeared to be ordinary, resembling any other space. However, there was one striking difference.

    There was a pitch ck coffin positioned at the room''s center. Surrounding this strange ck coffin were seven more coffins arranged in a perfect circle, as if creating a formation around the coffin in the center.

    Karyk walked over to the first coffin amongst the seven surrounding coffins.

    The coffin had a symbol of the Elzeiran Royal Family and looked to be made from even better materials than the coffins outside which he had stolen.

    With caution, Karyk gently ran his fingers over the smooth, polished surface of the coffin. It felt cold to the touch. He could feel an aura of death on the other side which made him certain that there was a body inside.

    He carefully opened the coffin and was able to confirm his assumption. There was truly a body inside the coffin. And it wasn''t an ordinary body either. It was the body of the previous Emperor of the Elzeiran Dynasty.

    If the bodies outside were the bodies of Royal Family members, then this ce possessed the bodies of the previous Rulers.

    Realizing that, a smile spread across his lips. The Elzeiran Emperor couldn''t open the door, which gave him a lot of time to finish his work.

    Moreover, if he could turn the previous Emperors into his undead, he could truly create an army more powerful than before.

    "What a treasure trove..." He nced back at the door. "I suppose I should thank you for creating such a ce for me."

    ....

    "That ce carries the bodies of the previous Emperors," the Emperor told his sister, his expressions dark.

    "If it''s just the bodies, is there really a need to be this worried?" His sister couldn''t help but find it strange that her brother was behaving this way over a few bodies.

    It wasn''t as if they respected their ancestors that much to the point that they would lose their sanity if those dead bodies were desecrated.

    The Emperor went silent for a moment. His voice was grim as he continued, "It''s not the bodies that I''m worried about. It''s about what else is there..."

    "What... else...?" The woman asked, confused.

    ....

    Karyk walked from one coffin to another, opening all of them. In each of the seven surrounding coffins, he found a body that was stillpletely intact. However, there was not a shred of life in them.

    Even though it had been a long time since they died, he could still feel a mysterious power brimming within them.

    He didn''t know why, but he felt something familiar within the power inside them. It was a feeling that he had many times since he entered this world. He still didn''t understand what that feeling was.

    For now, he didn''t think about it. There was still one more coffin to open after all. It was the pitch ck coffin in the center that appeared to be the most precious one out of them.

 Chapter 869 869: Karyks Death

    Chapter869 869: Karyk''s Death

    Karyk approached the pitch-ck coffin, curious as to who the body in the main coffin belonged to. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    For it to be ced in the Center, he wondered if it was the body of the first ancestor of the Elzeiran Dynasty, the one from whom their lineage originated.

    As he ran his fingers along the cold, smooth surface, he felt a surge of energy, as if the coffin itself held an unknown power that even made him feel a chill run down his spine.

    It was as if every part of his being was telling him to not open the coffin for some reason. This was the first time he felt something like this. It was a feeling that he didn''t have even when he saw the Lord of Upper Realm or the Elzeiran Emperor.

    Even the person who destroyed the Heaven with Gabriel didn''t give him this feeling. At times, he felt that the coffin contained the end of this world sealed within.

    In normal times, Karyk would have listened to his instincts and avoided opening this coffin. Unfortunately, these weren''t normal times.

    With a deep breath, he slowly lifted the lid of the pitch-ck coffin.

    As the lid creaked open, a dark mist seeped out, enveloping the room in an eerie ambiance.

    He looked inside the coffin. And there, lying in the center of the coffin, was something that was thest thing he expected to see inside a coffin at such an important ce.

    There was no body inside the coffin, let alone one belonging to the Elzeiran ancestor.

    Instead, there was a pitch ck sword that felt like it was moving between reality and the illusory realm. The sword carried the aura of life, as well as that of death.

    At times, the sword was cracking, while at other times it was healing itself as if the sword itself was alive.

    The de was as ck as the midnight sky, absorbing all light around it. Its hilt was adorned with intricate engravings, pulsating with an otherworldly energy that felt familiar to the world where he hade from.

    What was even more surprising was that the coffin also had a formation carved within it. There were chainsing out of the formation. However, those chains didn''t appear to be there to restrict that sword.

    Instead, that formation was a formation that paused time within its coffin itself. It was as if the creator of this coffin made it especially to keep that sword asleep.

    Even though the sword was asleep, it still released such a menacing aura. It was like a true divine weapon... Something that shouldn''t exist.

    Karyk could also see that the Sword had an aura from his world. And that aura also felt somewhat familiar. But he never remembered seeing this sword in his millions of years of memories.

    Let alone seeing this Sword, he didn''t even hear about something like this existing.

    "Did this Sword reallye from our world..." he wondered, looking at the sword. The more he looked at it, the more he found it to be iprehensible.

    "Just who created this sword?" he muttered, as he subconsciously reached out his hand.

    He extended his hand, delicately brushing his fingers against the hilt of the Sword.

    In that moment, Karyk experienced a sudden stop of his heartbeat. Without warning, he found himself kneeling, his body drained of all vitality.

    Weakly, he copsed onto the ground beside the coffin, hisplexion growing ashen. Darkness enveloped his vision, making him powerless to fight against it as his body started dying.

    His heartbeat hadpletely stopped. Just from touching the sword itself, he died...

    ....

    An unknown amount of time passed before Karyk''s heart started beating again. His body slowly healed itself, akin to reversal of death.

    "Urgh..." He slowly rubbed his forehead, as he came to his senses. He could still feel the pain of death.

    "What a painful death..."

    Weakly, he pushed his body up. This time, his eyes carried even more apprehension towards the sword. Even someone like him had died just from merely touching the hilt of the sword.

    If it wasn''t for him being able to control life and death, he would''ve already been dead.

    "It was so troublesome to walk from the Land of Souls to my body. I don''t even know how much time has passed."

    There was nothing in this room which could allow him to see the time here. But one thing was certain. The Sword was truly the thing that made the Elzeiran Emperor so furious when he saw him enter this room.

    Karyk still didn''t know who created a sword like this. It was something that even a god couldn''t create in a single lifetime.

    Moreover, although for a brief moment, but when he touched the sword, he felt life within it. And it wasn''t just one life. There were two lives within this sword.

    Unfortunately, he couldn''t understand what these voices were trying to tell him. Before he could evenprehend, he was dead.

    "I don''t know what you are, but I will definitely find out." He gazed at the pitch ck sword, before closing the coffin again.

    He couldn''t afford to die more, as he wasn''t sure when Elzeiran Emperor was going to find a way inside. For now, he had stopped attacking the door, but that only made Karyk more concerned.

    After sealing the sword inside the coffin, he kept the coffin in his spatial storage carefully. He created a unique space just to carry that single coffin, keeping it away from his other belongings.

    After he kept the ck coffin safely, he turned his attention to the coffins with the Emperors'' bodies.

    He didn''t want to wait any longer. He had to start working on his Undead Army and break out of here! He was in a race against time, and it was a race that he didn''t want to lose at any cost.

    Not just the Emperors'' bodies, he also brought out the remaining Elzeiran Bodies that he had created along the way, cing them around him.

 Chapter 870 870: Success and Failure

    Chapter870 870: Sess and Failure

    Karyk carefully arranged the Elzeiran Bodies in a circr formation around him. Each body represented a Royal from the Elzeiran Dynasty, who had died after living their entire lifespan.

    After arranging all the bodies, Karyk walked over to each of the bodies, carving a formation on their chest, to further boost his chances.

    He also destroyed the previous formation on the ground before carving a new one that connected each of the bodies to him.

    After he was finished with the preparation, he walked over to the center of the formation and sat down before he started using his essence, transferring it to the formation beneath him.

    The bodies, once lifeless, started emanating a faint glow as Karyk infused them with his own essence.

    As he sat at the center of the formation, Karyk closed his eyes and focused his mind.

    He reached out with his consciousness, connecting with the life force of each Elzeiran Body. It was a delicate process, requiring immense concentration and control.

    After half an hour, the heartbeat of the first body started beating. It was the body of a lesser Noble. However, the process continued and as time passed, the heart of more and more bodies started beating.

    After one more hour, all the bodies had a beating hard except for the seven emperors'' bodies. He didn''t know why, but the more he tried to connect them, the more resistance he felt.

    It was as if there was a mysterious force trying to stop him from reaching the souls of these seven people. Even though he tried for a long time, he couldn''t seed.

    With the other bodies, he was able to find their souls and retrieve them. But with the seven emperor bodies, it was impossible. It was as if their souls didn''t even exist anymore, devoured by an unknown being.

    Without a perfect soul that couldpletely merge with them, the bodies were almostpletely useless for him.

    He tried finding souls amongst the ones that he had killed personally and tried with them. Unfortunately, even if the souls were able to enter the bodies, they couldn''t bear the burden. The souls were instantly destroyed.

    Seeing the strange reaction, Karyk had a feeling that something else was going on. With these seven people, it was impossible for any soul to merge with these bodies as something more thanpatibility seemed to be needed.

    He didn''t understand what that unknown thing was as that wasn''t mentioned in the knowledge that he had stolen from the Celestial Dynasty. It was as if an important piece of puzzle was missing for these people.

    After failing repeatedly, he decided to give up on these bodies for now. He couldn''t recover his energy in this ce and he had already exhausted almost all the essence he was storing inside him. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Instead of wasting it all, he chose to focus on the remaining bodies that had already recovered their souls.

    Slowly, he began to synchronize their movements, their hearts beating in unison like a perfect symphony.

    With a flick of his finger, Karykmanded the bodies to rise.

    All the bodies except the seven opened their eyes abruptly, their eyes glowing with an otherworldly light.

    Their faces appeared tock any blood as they had been dead for far longer than the General Karyk brought back to life. However, they were also inherently stronger.

    As if following hismands, the bodies stood tall, their expressions devoid of emotion, ready to carry out their master''s bidding.

    Karyk''s Undead Army was once againplete, even stronger than before. However, he didn''t share the same bond with them as he did with the ones before.

    His first undead Generals had apanied him from the beginning. He had chosen all of them personally.

    They were his soldiers but they were also his friends who had seen his entire journey and had been with him every step of the way, until they were sealed by him for thousands of years.

    After making sure that he had seeded, he weakly fell on the ground. His face waspletely pale and his breathing irregr but there was a satisfied smile on his face.

    He had seeded. He had finished creating an army of Elzeiran Nobles. With this army and the pureblood citizens of his city, he believed he could win this was definitely.

    It became even more possible with the addition of the remnants of the Celestial Dynasty. As long as he could get that woman to give him the remaining information, he could seed.

    He had already made up his mind that he was going to do that as soon as he returned. And if she still refused, he had more than enough leverage to force her. It was all for his family.

    "What a pity that I ran out of almost all the essence I''ve had. It looks like before going to the Land of Chaos, I really need to head back home. But that depends on me being able to leave this ce first..."

    He remained on the ground, where he could only see the roof. Since the Emperor hadn''t forced his way inside, he was certain that the man truly couldn''t enter. But that didn''t mean he had given up.

    Karyk was certain that the Emperor had already gathered all the remaining forces he had within the city, including all the shadow Guards who were probably waiting outside for him.

    The Undead General he brought with him was also dead, making it even more troublesome for him. He couldn''t even see what was happening outside because of the General''s death.

    Unlike a true pureblood, the Undead General wasn''t truly immortal. He did have strength and healing like a Pureblood, but killing them wasn''t as troublesome as killing a pureblood.

    "So troublesome," Karyk mumbled, letting out a sigh. "It would be a waste if all the newly created undead died in the city."

    He nced to the side, looking at the bodies of the previous Emperors. "If only they were also¡­"

 Chapter 871 871: Intentional Refusal

    Chapter871 871: Intentional Refusal

    He kept the bodies of the Emperors back, still not losing hope that in the future, he might be able to use that. All he had to do was find what was preventing him from being able to call their souls into these bodies.

    Once finished sending the bodies back, he stood amidst the undead nobles that he had revived. All of them were absolutely loyal to him, but at the same time, they were also sentient.

    "Do any of you know of a method to leave this ce without having to fight the people outside?" Karyk asked the undead around him, hoping one of them might know of something.

    Unfortunately for him, the undead shook their heads. They had never been to this ce when they were alive, so none knew much about the architecture.

    "In that case, it looks like there is only one answer." Karyk let out a sigh, gazing towards the door. He waspletely exhausted. So the only way for him to leave was to use his undead army.

    He sent half of the undead that he had created back to the Realm of the Dead, only leaving the remaining half behind to help with what was toe.

    He wanted to leave, but at the same time, he didn''t want to lose all the undead. In the end, he decided to sacrifice half of them.

    "Let''s begin." Letting out a sigh, he stepped towards the door, outside where he was certain an entire army was waiting for him. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    As he reached out his hand to open the door, he stopped before his fingers could even touch the door. His eyes noticed the thin thread tied to his wrist.

    "This..." He retracted his hand, thinking of something. With the General dead, his connection with the outside world was cut off. But he still had a connection with the Celestial Dynasty Empress.

    He quickly made his decision and pulled on the thread, sending a message to the Empress for assistance. He didn''t even need her to personallye. All he needed was for her to deliver a message to the Puppet Master and his citizens.

    He decided to use the Celestial Empress as amunication device as she was further connected to the Puppet Master.

    ....

    "What? You''re in the Royal City, and inside their tomb?" The Celestial Empress was shocked as soon as she heard about Karyk''s whereabouts.

    She had long been curious where Karyk was going when he left the city. However, she simply assumed that he was going back to his world for some time.

    Even in her wildest dreams, she never thought that this guy would be daring enough to enter the den of the dragon without the slightest fear.

    "I''m surprised you''re still alive despite entering the Royal City. Not only that, you even entered their sacred ce." The Celestial Empress still found it somewhat hard to believe, but she knew there was no reason to doubt him.

    "Now is not the time to be impressed. I need some help from you." Karyk stated as he stood with the support of the wall. "Do you know of a way I can leave this ce without having to engage in battle?"

    "You think I''m some god that can make the impossible happen?" The Divine Empress rolled her eyes. "It''s impossible for you to even teleport within the city."

    "The only way you can leave is if you break the barrier over the city and then you''ll be able to use a portal to leave," the woman suggested. She didn''t know that Karyk had already broken one such portal in the past, so she thought she was suggesting the impossible.

    "I would''ve if I wasn''tpletely exhausted," Karyk answered. He could barely use a small amount of his strength at this point as he had already used up everything he had been keeping, all to bring back the dead.

    The Tomb was filled with the aura of death which made it the best ce for him to perform this ceremony and he took that opportunity to awaken them here to increase his chances of sess.

    Unfortunately, even after all that, he had failed in awakening the Emperor level dead. He felt as if he had made a mistake by selecting this ce, but it was toote to think about it now.

    The Celestial Empress didn''t believe that Karyk could open the barrier. She simply thought he was exaggerating because he truly didn''t understand how strong that barrier was.

    "There are two more methods for you to leave that ce. One is for you to kill your way out, but that seems unlikely as well," the womanmented. "However, that''s your best option."

    "I didn''t message you to ask you about something so obvious! I contacted you because I want you to send the Puppet Master to the Royal City! I need him to create a distraction for me!" Karyk eximed, getting to the main point.

    The Celestial Empress scoffed at the suggestion. "You think I would make him do that? I would never sacrifice him for you. If he did that, he would be destroyed."

    "Moreover, he can''t do that in the first ce since he had to stay within a certain range of me or he would die. The Royal City is too far."

    The Celestial Empress made it clear that she had no thought about following through.

    "What about your Undead Beasts?" Karyk asked, still keeping his patience.

    "Samew applies to them." The woman calmly responded. "If they go too far from me, they lose my protection and die. It would''ve been different if I was able to leave this city freely, but as things are now, your suggestions are impossible."

    Karyk scratched the back of his head in frustration. "You know, you''re as useful as a piece of cardboard currently. What can you even do other than saying that you can''t?''

    He took a calm breath, trying to calm himself. "Fine. If you can''t send your people, I want you to send mine. Contact the Puppet Master and tell him."

    "I''m afraid that''s not possible either," the woman shook her head.

    "You know you''re really starting to upset me now. At this point, it feels like you''re doing it intentionally." Karyk clenched his fists.

 Chapter 872 872: Delusional

    Chapter872 872: Delusional

    "Intentionally like you stealing my memories?" the woman asked, surprising Karyk. "It took me some time, but I finally remembered everything you did that day. Do you think I would trust you after that?"

    "So you''re getting back at me for that day?" Karyk sat with his back resting against a wall, looking at the door in the distance. "Do you think you won''t lose if I die here?"

    "Aren''t you the one forgetting here?" The woman''s voice came in response, still filled with that eerie calmness. "I am not the one who will lose the most here. I''ve spent centuries sealed here. I can spend more centuries. You''re the one who doesn''t have time, not me."

    As she spoke, she calmly took a sip from the wine ss in her hand, as if not in any hurry. She could already understand that Karyk was at a safe ce for the time being as she didn''t hear any signs of battle.

    She wasn''t in any hurry to even consider the thought of helping the man who tried to peer into her memories without her permission.

    Instead, she allowed herself to enjoy the moment of tranquility. The faint aroma of ancient wine and the soft flickering of candlelight created a peaceful ambiance, even as she was talking about things that could affect the entire world and her future. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    After all, time was on her side, and she was in no rush to resolve the situation at hand.

    Karyk on the other hand didn''t appreciate her method. More importantly, he didn''t like that she was trying to toy with him when all he wanted was for her to deliver a message.

    "If you''re expecting me to grovel before you, then you are dreaming. I will ask you onest time. Will you help me or not?" he asked.

    "I will help you on one condition." The Empress stood up from her throne and calmly stepped towards the window.

    She gazed outside the window where millions of undead beasts were waiting for her. Amongst them were beasts that had never made an appearance before.

    The Beasts were as tall as mountains, being able to crush the entire city with just their bodies. It was as if she was prepared for the war that was toe.

    "What condition?" Karyk asked. Although he didn''t want to listen to her, but he still needed her. As long as her condition didn''t go overboard, he was willing to listen.

    "I want you to be my Eternal Servant..." The woman eximed, her words shocking even Karyk.

    "Ha... You must be insane." Karyk didn''t believe the girl actually wanted him to be her servant.

    "If you want to think that I''m insane, I''ll let you. But my condition doesn''t change. I want you to be my Eternal Servant," the woman repeated. "Don''t worry. The process won''t be painful for you."

    "I will teach you a seal that you need to carve on your chest. Once the ve seal isplete, I''ll be able to feel its presence. I''ll ept that seal and the process will bepleted."

    The more she spoke, the more Karyk realized that she wasn''t joking. She was absolutely serious about making him a ve.

    He had also seen that seal in her memories. It was a seal that could take away his independence, making himpletely rely on the woman. He couldn''t do anything she didn''t want. If she wanted him to watch his world be destroyed, that was the only thing he could do.

    The seal was very powerful, but it could only bepleted when both sides agreed to the seal. In the Celestial Dynasty, it was a seal that was used by the Emperor on his closest subordinates to erase the chance of any betrayal.

    In the memories, it was also mentioned that the seal could bind even gods. And oncepleted, there was no way to break the seal.

    "I will repeat what I said. If you think that I will agree to that seal, you''re out of your mind." Karyk didn''t even think about the offer and directly rejected it.

    "Don''t eat more than you can swallow. I will help you be free from your seal and I will take care of the Elzeirans and the ones above them. But if you want me to be your ve, then you''re delusional."

    The Empress let out a smile. "I have already ced my offer before you. You can take all the time to want, but I won''t be changing my mind. I will wait for your reply."

    After leaving thest message, she stopped talking and only gazed towards the city. However, her gaze was not looking at the beasts in the city. Instead, she was looking through space and time.

    She could see thend of Chaos where the Puppet Master was sitting, his back resting against a wall. His entire body was covered in blood, as if he had fought a hard battle.

    In front of him, there stood the citizens of the Border City that Karyk had turned into pureblood. But strangely enough, all of them had their hands tied with a strange rope that even the pure blood weren''t able to break.

    The Purebloods also looked like they were out of their senses. They were more like zombies than humans, not even the slightest of life visible in their eyes.

    ....

    "I was nning to try other methods to win you over," standing at the balcony, the Empressmented. "But you made things real easy for me."

    She wanted to find out the methods that Karyk used to kill the Purebloods. Unfortunately, she knew that Karyk wasn''t going to tell her the method. That man wasn''t an equal in this deal with her. Just like she kept her secrets, he also did.

    She wanted the puppet master to find his secrets but even after months of trailing Karyk, he had failed.

    The woman knew that Karyk was very dangerous if she couldn''t control him. It upset her even more when she found out that he had gone through her memories.

 Chapter 873 873: Welcome party

    Chapter873 873: Wee party

    She decided to take things in her own way. The reason she didn''t tell Karyk the way to break her seal was because she didn''t want to scare him with this impossible task.

    To break the seal, they needed the blood of hundreds of thousands of Purebloods. Just gathering so many of them was hard in itself, let alone without letting the Emperor find out.

    Fortunately, Karyk solved that problem without even realizing. Not only that, he sent the Purebloods in thend of Chaos so they could train.

    Instead of training them, the Puppet Master exhausted them with endless battles against the undead before slowly controlling the Purebloods, turning them into his puppets.

    There were some who resisted, which ended up in a flight that he wanted to avoid. The Puppet Master won the fight against the inexperienced Purebloods, albeit not without getting hurt.

    At times, he even felt like he was going to die, especially when the assassin who Karyk supported joined the battle.

    "I didn''t fail you, My Queen." The puppet master muttered, ncing in the direction of the Celestial Pce.

    He recovered his strength after resting for over a day. Unlike Karyk who wasn''t from this world, he could recover his strength with time. Even the heavy wounds on his body slowly healed with time.

    "It''s time for you to be free..." After he finished healing, he stood up. He went deeper inside the forest, followed by the Purebloods Puppets.

    "Soon, we will be free from this seal," the Queen muttered as she nced at the thread around her wrist.

    "As for you... It''s only a matter of time before you ept my offer, unless you want to die and lose your world forever. I await your response..."

    ....

    Karyk sat inside the deepest chamber in the ancient tomb, surrounded by the Pureblood Undeads that he had created.

    He didn''t understand why the Empress was suddenly so hostile, as if she didn''t need his help to free her. He wasn''t sure if she was serious or bluffing. In any case, he knew he didn''t ept her offer.

    He was stuck between the rock and a hard ce. He could either sacrifice all the Undeads that he had created and try to escape from the city, or he could ept her offer. Thetter was absolutely impossible.

    "I don''t know why you''re behaving like this, but you will regret this decision." Taking a deep breath, he stood up. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    He had made up his mind on what he had to do. Even if most of his strength was exhausted, he had to survive. The fate of his world depended on him.

    Even if he had to sacrifice all the Undeads he created, he was willing. However, just the thought of this sacrifice frustrated him. He was closer to death than he was to life.

    " I''m sure you can already understand my thoughts." He stepped before the Undeads. "I would have preferred if things were different. But currently, I have no other choice. I need your help!"

    All the Undeads nodded as they looked at their new master. It was as if they were d that they could help their master even if they had to die right after returning to life!

    "In that case..." Karyk stepped forward, lightly pushing the door.

    The door that was almost impossible to open from the outside, opened easily with the slighted push when done from inside. It was as if the heaviest door had be the lightest.

    Karyk expected to see an entire army waiting for him in the corridor, but strangely enough, the corridor waspletely empty.

    He soon found out why that was the case as he stepped above ground.

    As far as his eyes could see, he saw the Purebloods Warriors of the Royal Pce. He was surrounded from every side.

    It wasn''t thousands, or hundred thousand warriors. Instead, it was millions. He didn''t understand how the Royal City was able to gather so many warriors, all for him.

    At the front of the army, there were the Shadow Guards, along with a woman.

    "We meet again." Karyk smiled, looking at the girl who had entered the Upper Realm with Karyk. "Gabriel would''ve been very happy to meet you if he was here."

    "It''s you!" The girl wasn''t any less surprised either. Karyk was thest person she had expected to see here.

    It also made her feel more concerned since he was the only person who could kill a pureblood.

    "Also, should I be happy that you''ve created such a big wee party for me?" Karyk asked.

    "Well, it''s not every day we have visitors from distantnds. Consider it a gesture of hospitality," the girl replied, secretly telling the Shadow Guards to be careful of this man.

    "You don''t look very good." The girl observed Karyk, whose face was pale and his breathing unstable. "Did you use too much of your strength here?"

    As she thought of the possibility, her confidence grew. She knew that it was impossible for people from other worlds to recover their strength here, especially under their barrier.

    At first, she was worried about Karyk but as she realized that he was weak, she felt happy to see him here.

    "I must say, you solved us the trouble of chasing after you. Today, I will finish what I couldn''t thest time I visited you."

    "Are you sure you can?" Karyk asked, still not showing much fear. "How about you attack me and test for yourself?"

    The girl scoffed. "Enough of your bluffing! This is my world, and we''re the rulers here. You think you can fool us with that fake confidence?"

    "If you want me to test, I''ll be happy to!" A devilish glint shed in the woman''s eyes as she raised her sword, rushing straight to Karyk.

    "If only you had fallen for it, things would''ve been so much easier," Karyk scratched the back of his head.

    The girl appeared before Karyk. However, just as she was about to swing her sword, she saw a shadowing out of the group, hitting her in the stomach to send her flying.

 Chapter 874 874: Trophy

    Chapter874 874: Trophy

    The impact was strong enough to knock the girl off bnce, causing her sword to tter to the ground. Shended on the ground, coughing and trying to catch her breath as her body healed.

    Karyk stood there, his expression unreadable as he observed the turn of events. The shadow that had struck the girl emerged from the darkness, revealing a figure d in a dark cloak that only revealed the person''s face.

    It was a woman with piercing eyes and an aura of death around her. She stood before Karyk, her movements elegant, yet slightly lifeless.

    "You are..." The Princess looked at the woman, momentarily finding it hard to believe her eyes.

    "Mother...?"

    She had seen her mother die right before her eyes. She still remembered the day where she cried in her brother''s arms when she had lost her mother. It was impossible for her to forget this face! n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Although the face looked lifeless and pale, but it carried the old charm that her mother had possessed.

    Her pupils trembled as she sensed the lifeless aura inside her, which made her very different from how she used to be in the past. She was a person filled with life, never fighting. In fact, she hated violence the most, yet now she had attacked her?

    "How dare you?!" She roared, her rage strong enough to send waves of electricity crackling through the space. All the memories of her mother came flooding back to her.

    She hated Karyk, but he had crossed the limits by turning her mother into an undead! She had dragged her mother''s soul back to this body, and used it to fight against her own Empire?

    Even though her mother was listening to Karyk''smands, the Princess could feel that her soul was suffering.

    "I can never forgive you for this heinous act," she dered, her voice trembling with a mix of anger and sorrow.

    "If you had allowed me to leave, you wouldn''t have seen this sight..." Karyk let out a sigh as more and more undead came out of the ground.

    Most of the Undeads were recognised by the Shadow Guards that were more familiar with the Royal Family.

    They were the members of the Royal Family from previous generations. Although they hadn''t be Emperors, they were still very powerful in their era.

    "I will rip you to shreds!" The Princess stated as she attacked once again. Even if her mother stood before her, she was willing to destroy her and free her soul from this torment.

    "Don''t be scared!" The leader of the Shadow Guards eximed as he also rushed ahead. "The Undeads don''t have the immortality of the Royals!"

    "We''ve already killed an undead that had attacked the Pce before! Raise your swords and kill the undead!"

    The Shadow Guards also joined the battle, fighting against the Undeads who were much stronger than the General that they had faced.

    Still, the Shadow Guards didn''t fall behind. The sheer number of Elzeirans was too much for the Undeads that were created by Karyk.

    Surrounded by his undead, Karyk watched the enemies killing his undead. His expressions were still impossible to read.

    ****

    As the battle raged on, the Princess unleashed all her fury and power against the undead that bore the faces of her ancestors.

    With each strike, she channeled her anger and determination, fueled by the desire to free her mother''s soul from the clutches of Karyk''s dark magic.

    Karyk watched in silence, his eyes betraying a hint of thoughts hidden beneath his stoic demeanor.

    The Undeads fought back with a ferocity that surprised even the Shadow Guards, their loyalty to their master unyielding even in the face of their own destruction.

    Despite their low numbers, a few Undeads managed tost over half an hour.

    With a final, resounding blow, the Princess struck down the undead form of her mother, releasing the trapped soul from its torment. A blinding light engulfed the battlefield, dispelling the darkness that had shrouded her mother''s reanimated body.

    As the light faded, the Princess stood victorious, her heart heavy with both sorrow and relief.

    She gazed at Karyk, who was wide open. There was no one to protect him, all his undead already destroyed.

    "That was fast..." Karyk muttered, looking at the remnants of his Undead. "Don''t you think you were a little too ruthless on your Ancestors?"

    The Shadow Guards had killed the Undeads in such a manner that it was impossible to bring them back. Their bodies weren''t intent.

    Let alone intact bodies, it was impossible to even find out which piece belonged to which undead. That''s how bad the undead were destroyed.

    The Princess, now surrounded by her immortal soldier, turned to Karyk with a gaze that held a mix of disgust. "Where will you run now?"

    She stepped towards Karyk, raising her Sword. She was even more certain that Karyk couldn''t use any of his strength now. If he could, he would''ve already tried escaping.

    "Ah, is it toote to surrender now?" Karyk asked, scratching the back of his head.

    "Surrender?" The Princess asked, her voice filled with rage. "You want to surrender after defiling the body of my mother?!"

    "Surrender in the afterlife!" she eximed as she swung her sword. She didn''t want to see Karyk breathe even for a single second more.

    With a single swing of her sword, she decapitated Karyk. But she didn''t stop there. Her sword kept swinging, again and again!

    The echoes of her sword slicing through the air filled the surroundings. The Princess kept cutting Karyk, not taking any risks. She didn''t want him to return to life ever again!

    After she sliced Karyk a thousand times, she used her magic to light the remnants of his body in mes, only stopping when nothing more than ashes was left behind.

    "Gather his ashes... It will be my trophy!" After finishing, she turned to the Shadow Guards, seeming a little exhausted.

    She nced at her brother who was standing on the balcony of the pce, looking at the battlefield.

    The girl shed a smile to her brother as she kept her sword back and flew toward her brother.

 Chapter 875 875: Freedom

    Chapter875 875: Freedom

    The girl flew toward her brother. However, instead of waiting at the balcony for her, the Emperor personally came down.

    "Brother, I did it!" she eximed as her brother came closer to her.

    Her brother didn''t pay any attention to her and simply flew past, which surprised her. Her brother still had some concerns on his face.

    The Emperornded in the middle of the battlefield, ncing at the ashes. "Check to see if you find any storage rings. I''m going inside."

    Aftermanding his men, the Emperor entered the tomb as if he was looking for something.

    The Shadow Guards didn''t try to follow him as all the threats were taken care of. They could already sense that no one was inside the tomb anymore so the emperor was safe.

    Instead, they shifted their attention on trying to find any storage ring that the Emperor had asked about. They rummaged through the ashes, but they found nothing.

    The Princess alsonded at the entrance of the Tomb, wondering what her brother was trying to look for. If it wasn''t here, that could only mean that it was still inside the Tomb.

    ****

    "I''m sure I''m overthinking. Even he shouldn''t be able to touch that. If he had, he would''ve been dead. It should still be inside... I''m certain."

    The Emperor kept trying to convince himself as he walked towards the depths of the tomb, soon entering the room where the coffins of the previous Emperors were kept.

    He didn''t even try to check the bodies of the former Emperors, directly walking towards the ck coffin in the middle.

    "Please still be here..." he muttered as he carefully opened the ck coffin.

    The moment hepletely opened the coffin, his body froze. There was nothing inside the coffin. The sword was missing.

    It was really taken. Still, he didn''t lose hope. Even if it was taken by Karyk, it could only be inside his storage ring. Even if Karyk was killed by mes, his storage ring should''ve been fine.

    He took a deep breath, hoping that he was going to find it inside a storage ring in the battlefield.

    "Brot-"

    As soon as the Emperor stepped out of the tomb, his sister approached him again.

    Before she could speak, the Emperor asked the Shadow Guards, "Did you find the storage ring?" n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    "There is no storage ring on the battlefield." The men let out a sigh, not wanting to deliver this upsetting news.

    The Emperor''s expressions turned dark. "How can that be possible?"

    There were only two ways to take that sword without touching it. One was to put that inside a storage ring and another was to put inside a spatial storage that wasn''t tied to a ring but to a soul.

    If it was a storage ring, then they should''ve found it. And if it was a spatial storage tied to Karyk, then the sword should''ve appeared outside the moment Karyk was killed. It didn''t make sense that the sword wasn''t here.

    "It''s impossible!" The Emperor eximed. "Search properly! You must find the storage ring!"

    The Shadow Guards quickly began the search again even though they knew there was no ring. As they gathered again, they delivered the same news. There was no ring or sword anywhere on the battlefield.

    "How could it be...?" The Emperor looked around in disbelief. "If he''s dead, then it should''ve..."

    He froze amidst his sentence, thinking of a possibility. The only way the sword wouldn''t have appeared was if the person of that soul space was still alive.

    "Brother, why don''t you look happy?" The Princess asked. "Our biggest threat has been killed. We should be holding a celebration."

    "He''s not dead!" The Emperor eximed, reying the battle in his mind.

    He had always felt that something was wrong. Even if Karyk was weak, why was he standing still? Even a weak mortal would''ve struggled when their life was on the line. But he just stood there, as if he had epted his fate.

    While the Emperor came to a realization, it was already toote.

    The pureblood guards that were protecting the entrance of the city were lying dead on the ground. The vehicle that was used by the Border Guards was missing.

    .....

    Thousands of miles away, a vehicle could be seen racing in the desert, a young man sitting at the driver''s seat. The man''s face was slightly pale and the corner of his lips was bleeding.

    "I wonder how long it will take them to realize," he muttered as he nced behind.

    Now that he waspletely exhausted, he knew he was very weak in this world. He first had to recover his strength by returning to his universe.

    Fortunately, he had already identified his destination. Before even entering the Royal City, he had gathered information about the portal nearest to the Royal City that connected to his world.

    The only problem was that the portal was heavily guarded by Purebloods as it was close to the Royal City. In fact, it was the most guarded portal on the entire continent.

    ****

    The Royal City was in a mess at the realization that Karyk was still alive. Soon the Emperor was also informed that the border guards were dead and their vehicle was missing.

    It didn''t take him long to put the pieces together as there was only one person he knew that could kill a pureblood like the guards. His suspicions were turned to confirmation. Karyk was alive.

    All the cities were informed about this incident. The Royal Guards were told to stay alert and inform the Royal Capital as soon as they fought anything.

    Arge scale was spread over the entire continent, all in an effort to catch one person.

    ....

    In another ce, the Celestial Dynasty was surprised by the blood of hundreds of thousands of Purebloods, which powered a formation created to break the seal.

    The entire city was lit up with the power of the formation. Sitting inside her pce, the Empress felt that the chains around her soul were getting weaker.

    Slowly, cracks were developing on the chains. Eventually, the chains finally shattered.

 Chapter 876 876: Just a pawn

    Chapter876 876: Just a pawn

    The woman felt her body getting lighter as the blood of the Purebloods was slowly absorbed by the city in which she was sealed.

    One after another, the invisible shackles around her body kept breaking. The sealing over the city was getting weaker with each passing second.

    The blood was being drawn out from the citizens that Karyk had converted, and was being used by the Empress for her own benefits.

    The processsted the entire night, only stopping as the first ray of sunlight fell over the city. The Empress felt her body brimming with strength, the sealpletely breaking.

    The woman stood in front of the throne, looking at her hands. She couldn''t believe that she had sessfully freed herself from the seal.

    At times, she used to think that it was an impossible task as gathering so many Purebloods was a task that was impossible.

    Even after centuries, she had only managed to gather a few Purebloods thanks to the Puppet Master, which was far from enough.

    The Elzeiran Emperor had also stopped sending any Purebloods Warriors to the Land of Chaos, as if he understood what the woman was trying to do.

    She kept sending the beasts to attack the City, in hopes that Purebloods Warriors would enter the Land of Chaos to stop them. Unfortunately, the City Lord of the city and his warriors never entered the Land of Chaos, only protecting the city.

    Thanks to the previous City Lord, she never received what she wanted. She wanted to destroy the city, but thanks to the seal, she couldn''t send the powerful beasts outside the city either.

    Only the Puppet Master was strong enough to leave the Land of Chaos, but she didn''t send him, knowing that the City Lord was a cunning Bastard.

    She knew that the City Lord had prepared traps for the Puppet Master which always made her hesitate.

    Just as she was starting to lose hope, she felt the presence of a man in the depths of the city. The man appeared strange, as he talked about the Celestial Dynasty which was already forgotten by many people.

    She thought that the man was sent by the Elzeiran Emperor, but at the same time she doubted that possibility. Why would the Elzeiran Emperor send someone when she was sealed in the city?

    Even the Elzeiran Emperor should''ve known that it was impossible to defeat her when she was inside the city.

    She sent a beast to test Karyk''s strength, only for the beast to be defeated. The man was strange, as he used the skills of Elzeirans but at the same time he felt different.

    Even after fighting her beast, he tried to talk to her and told her that he wasn''t an Elzeiran. The moment the man removed the mask, the Empress was surprised that he truly wasn''t an Elzeiran.

    His features were different from an Elzeiran. He wasn''t one of them but he was as strong as them which confused her. She became intrigued about the man, wanting to know more about him.

    As she led the man to her pce, she had him exin his identity.

    The moment she heard that the City Lord was betrayed by his own people and died, her eyes lit up. Fortunately, no one was able to see her eyes at that moment.

    She heard Karyk exin that he was from another world and that the world was being targeted by the Elzeirans, which made him enter this ce to stop the Elzeirans.

    The revtion confused her as she didn''t understand why the Elzeirans were targeting Karyk''s World. Throughout the history, the Elzeirans had only attacked one world... Hers.

    The Elzeirans were the pawns of the Archangels who didn''t move without their will. Even when they targeted this world, it was because her father had refused to give them what they wanted.

    Instead, his father destroyed what they were after, forever infuriating the Archangels which led them to send the Elzeirans to this world.

    Ever since then, her world fell apart. The vast Celestial Dynasty was reduced to no more than a small city inside the Land of Chaos. Even the name of the Celestial Dynasty was forever erased from history.

    She didn''t understand what they wanted from Karyk''s World and why it took them so long to enter that world. Just what was in that world which was drawing them closer? Why were the Archangels getting impatient?

    She didn''t know the answer to many questions, but she was certain about one thing. Karyk was the city lord of the border city who was desperate to save his world. She knew she could use him for his benefits.

    She could use him to gather the Purebloods and eventually free herself. But she didn''t tell him about it, telling him that she was going to tell him when it was time.

    At the same time, she sent the Puppet Master with Karyk to the border city! With the previous City Lord dead, she didn''t have to worry about his safety.

    She made it look like the Puppet Master was simply there to keep an eye on Karyk, but the reality was that he was sent out of the Land of Chaos so he could slowly gather the Purebloods for sacrifice!

    Though her actions seemed secretive, her ultimate goal was to free herself and take revenge for her Dynasty, and Karyk was just a pawn for that goal.

    She wanted to use Karyk, who wasn''t ready yet. Unfortunately, her n fell apart as she heard that Karyk was able to kill a pureblood!

    She changed the mission of the puppet master from gathering the Purebloods to finding the secret about how Karyk was able to kill them!

    Following her instructions, the Puppet Master started trying to find out Karyk''s secrets. However, instead of finding out the secrets, the Puppet Master gave her even more shocking news that Karyk had managed to turn ordinary citizens into Purebloods! n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The moment she heard the news, she was shocked as well as happy. She told him to support that man! With his help, she could gather the Purebloods sooner.

 Chapter 877 877: True freedom

    Chapter877 877: True freedom

    Although she was happy that Karyk was able to solve her problems, she also understood that he was very dangerous! The reason he was turning the citizens wasn''t for them to be sacrificed. Instead, it was to create his own army.

    The more she thought about it, the more she started to be cautious of him! The man could turn ordinary people into purebloods! He could also kill Purebloods! She didn''t know what else he was hiding!

    She even felt worried that if he was too strong, he might refuse her request. At any cost, she wanted to win that man over. But as long as she wasn''t certain about his loyalty, she couldn''t keep him around.

    As months passed, Karyk''s army increased. The Empress also remembered what Karyk had done to her when he met her! She found out that he had read her memories!

    She didn''t know how much he read, but at any cost, she knew he was dangerous. If he read her memories, he could be a threat to her! No one else was allowed to know the secrets of the Celestial Dynasty after all.

    She wanted the puppet master to turn Karyk into a puppet but she wasn''t confident if he could. The puppet master was in a city filled with Purebloods. If a battle ensued, she was certain the puppet master was going to die.

    She knew she had to first free herself. Only with her full strength could she be confident enough about taking that man down. But the problem was, how to do that? How could she bring the Purebloods into thend of Chaos without Karyk finding out.

    She thought about it for days, but couldn''te up with any ns. Right at that moment, as if a blessing from gods, Karyk himself solved her problem.

    The Puppet Master informed her that Karyk was leaving the city whilemanding him to train the Purebloods in thend of Chaos.

    The Puppet Master asked her if he should stop Karyk from leaving and try to kill him. But the Empress stopped him! She asked him to let Karyk leave and ept Karyk''s n.

    Everything had fallen into ce for her. As Karyk was away from the city, she could gain her freedom while sacrificing the army he had created. And once she was freed, she could wait for him at the border city.

    Once Karyk returned, she was nning to take him down and make him ept a ve seal. Things couldn''t be better for her. It was as if the fate was supporting her.

    Just as the Puppet Master finished controlling all of Karyk''s Purebloods through trickery, the Empress received a message from Karyk who asked for her help.

    Hearing his request for help, the woman''s eyes lit up. This was an opportunity she couldn''t let go! Karyk was desperate and she could use it to turn him into a ve! That was the only way he had to survive after all!

    She rejected all his pleas for help while cing forth her condition that he had to ept a ve seal if he wanted her seal.

    She didn''t worry even when Karyk refunded her offer. She knew that it was only a matter of time. If Karyk truly wanted to save his world, he couldn''t afford to die. And if he didn''t want to die, the only option for him was to trade his freedom for his life!

    Only by bing a loyal servant to her, he could survive and protect her world!

    She waited for Karyk to contact her again, confessing that he was going to ept her offer. Once she turned Karyk into a ve, she could learn all his secrets, including the method to create Purebloods or to kill them!

    However, to her surprise, Karyk didn''t contact her even after hours passed. She was also distracted by the breaking of the seal and couldn''t afford to be distracted.

    Now that the seal waspletely broken, she started wondering why Karyk hadn''t contacted her. She knew that he wasn''t dead or the thread tied to him would have already been cut.

    "Is he still hiding and thinking about it?" She muttered, as she stepped out of the pce. "You have no choice but toe back to my embrace and give your everything to me."

    She walked to the exit of the city, on the other side of which the Puppet Master was standing.

    This was the threshold that she was never able to cross thanks to her seal.

    The Puppet Master greeted her with respect, "Empress..." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The woman looked at the threshold of the city. She had tried to pass through this ce many times, but every time she was seriously hurt. She couldn''t even remember how many centuries she had been dreaming about this moment.

    She took a deep breath and tried something that she had tried thousands of times before, all to no avail.

    She stepped forward, subconsciously expecting a barrier to stop her. But to her surprise, there was no resistance.

    Her feetnded on the other side of the threshold. She was finally free of this city! She was finally able to break the seal and change her fate!

    Although it took centuries, she had finally regained her freedom! She looked at the powerful undead beasts behind her who had also been sealed inside this city.

    In the next instance, hundreds of giant beasts stepped out of the city. The beasts that should fly, rushed into the sky, with nothing able to stop them.

    The Empress let out a smile as she looked around. "So this is what freedom feels like."

    "Congrattions, Your Majesty!" The Puppet Master went down on one knee, like a loyal knight before the Empress.

    "It couldn''t have been possible without you." The Empress ced her hand on the Puppet Master''s head before she walked past him.

    She advanced towards the border city, apanied by beasts that were powerful enough as Generals in the Royal Elzeiran army.

    There were also some that were so powerful that even she didn''t understand the true extent of their strength.

 Chapter 878 878: Hes mine

    Chapter878 878: He''s mine

    The Empire had intensified security measures around the portal nearest to the Royal City out of concern that Karyk might attempt to flee through it.

    All the Knights remained on high alert, resolute in their determination to thwart any potential security breaches and safeguard the Royal City at any cost.

    Multipleyers of protection enveloped the portal. The most formidable Pureblood Generals had encircled the portal, forming a Circle under the guidance of a shadow guard.

    A secondary circle was established by additional Purebloods stationed at intervals of five hundred meters from the portal.

    Their protective formation left no room for even the slightest breach, rendering it impossible for anyone to get past them.

    Adding an extrayer of security, a protective barrier was conjured around the area, designed to promptly alert them to any unfamiliar movements.

    "Do you think he would actuallye here?" One of the Generals asked the others.

    "He would have to be a fool if he decides toe here," another General asked. "I believe he would try to go as far from the city as possible and hide somewhere."

    "That makes more sense. That''s what I would''ve done if I was in his ce. I think it''s a waste of time to worry about him attacking this ce."

    Most of the Generals were certain that they weren''t going to be attacked. They were dealing with a person who had managed to infiltrate the Royal City and leave safely after all.

    If Karyk was able to achieve so much, it was clear that he wasn''t a fool. He knew about this world more than they thought. And a person like that could never make a mistake like going for the closest portal. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Almost everyone was certain that Karyk was going to go into hiding far away from the city or leave through a portal that even they weren''t aware about.

    However, despite knowing that they were safe, they didn''t lower their Guards. A shadow guard was here, keeping an eye on them. None of them could afford to look like they were taking the threat likely.

    They maintained their positions.

    ....

    Just like that, three days passed, yet there was no movement in the vicinity. Let alone a person, even a beast wasn''t sighted in the area.

    Even the team sent from the Royal City had arrived and told everyone that they didn''t see Karyk on the way. It was clear that Karyk hadn''t targeted this ce, and gone elsewhere.

    At the realization, quite a few Generals were disappointed that they couldn''t capture the enemy. Meanwhile the rest felt like they had already known this was going to happen.

    The Shadow Guard was told to return to the Royal City. The security around the portal was reduced to its usual level, and the rest of manpower was diverted to search parties.

    ....

    There existed a vast desert in the middle of the Royal City and the area with the closest portal.

    Multiple vehicles faced through the desert, returning to the Royal City. One of these vehicles carried the Shadow Guard that was being taken back to the Royal Pce.

    Half an hour after the vehicles disappeared, warm winds flew through the vast desert, carrying grains of sand into the air.

    The setting sun painted the sky in hues of orange and purple, casting a beautiful glow over thend.

    With the arrival of the night, the temperature in the desert decreased. The desert had gonepletely silent.

    The silence didn''tst for long. In the middle of the night, a hand came out from the ground. Within seconds, another hand came out.

    The hands were ced on the sand near them, as a person pushed himself upward, revealing his figure. As the man came out from the desert, sand trickled down his clothes.

    He looked around at the vast expanse of the desert while patting his clothes.

    The man was none other than Karyk, who barely had any strength left to use his magic. He started walking towards the nearest portal, walking over what seemed like an endless desert.

    With more winds, sand came flying that covered the metallic surface of the vehicle buried in the sand.

    ....

    On the next night, Karyk finally saw a glimpse of the Elzeiran Base in the distance. He could also feel the spatial disturbance created by the portal which convinced him that he was at the right ce.

    The security around the portal wasx, but it wasn''t weak. Just the barrier around the ce alone was troublesome enough since it could alert people inside the moment he passed through the barrier.

    Karyk waved his hand, calling out one of his undead.

    "After half an hour, I want you to pass through the barrier," he told the Undead as he started walking towards the opposite side of the barrier.

    Once again, he was going to use the same tactics he did at the Royal City, creating a distraction. He didn''t know how efficient this was going to be in a ce like this, but he had no choice.

    He had already sacrificed a lot of his undeads and his aura reserves. At any cost, he had to pass through the portal. He couldn''t afford any failures.

    As half an hour passed, Karyk was already at his position. As he was connected to the undead, he saw the Undead pass through the barrier. Not only did he pass through the barrier but he also made sure to destroy it so any other presence couldn''t be sensed.

    The Generals stationed inside the base were alerted as soon as the barrier broke. They were shocked to find out that there was an intruder. Many even wondered if it was Karyk.

    "I hope it''s him! I can only imagine the kind of praise I''ll receive from His Majesty when I hand his corpse over!" A General stood up, quickly rushing towards the north.

    "He''s mine!"

    "No, he''s mine! I''ll be the one killing him!"

    Most of the Generals grew excited. For them, Karyk was like a treasure that could lead them to new heights. All of them wanted the achievement of killing that bastard.

 Chapter 879 879: Late

    Chapter879 879: Late

    Almost every Purebloods in the entire camp rushed towards the direction to search for Karyk.

    Only a small group of Generals stayed behind, feeling regretful that they couldn''t join in. They were the core group and couldn''t leave the barrier.

    Not even trying to hide himself, the Undead created a lot of loud movements, making his presence known intentionally. Meanwhile, Karyk also entered the area,pletely undetected.

    "I should have enough strength for one more attack. But after that..."

    He walked towards the portal, lost in thought on how to handle this situation. At any cost, he had to pass through the portal with only one attack worth of strength left.

    As Karyk reached the proximity of the portal, he cast an invisibility spell on him. He could already see four Generals, one covering each direction of the portal.

    As soon as he entered the hundred meters range of the portal, the General facing his direction opened his eyes. Without a second thought, the General swung his sword, sending an arc of energy in Karyk''s direction.

    Karyk was stunned at being attacked. He quickly dodged to the side. However, instead of staying still, he started running towards the portal while avoiding the attack.

    "I had considered the possibility, but it looks like invisibility truly doesn''t work on stronger Elzeirans..." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    The other three Generals were also alerted as soon as they saw the attack.

    Karyk''s invisibility was over, and seeing him, all the Generals grew excited. It was as if they were predators who had seen a delicious prey.

    "Looks like it''s our lucky day!" One of the Generalsughed. "I can only imagine the faces of the others when they return!"

    Two of the Generals ran ahead to face Karyk. The other two stayed behind, keeping an eye on his every movement.

    "It''s truly your lucky day!" Karykmented as he raised his sword. He sent thest embers of his aura into his sword as he rushed towards the two Generals who came to attack him.

    The two Generals attacked him from different angles. They thought that Karyk could only block one of their attacks while the other was going to kill him. Both of them wanted to be the second person.

    However, to their surprise, Karyk didn''t swing his sword. Instead, he dodged the first sword while stepping over the second sword, jumping past the Generals.

    It was only when he was high in the sky that he swung his sword. He didn''t attack the Generals, only attacking the portal instead.

    The two Generals standing before the portal were stunned to see the attacking towards them. As the attack came closer, they even felt as if their own existence was in danger. It was a feeling that they never felt before.

    Fear gripped their hearts as they dodged to the side. The attack flew past them, entering the portal. However, the attack wasn''t the only thing that entered the portal. A pale faced young man had been following the attack closely behind.

    As the two Generals moved aside, Karyk also rushed inside the portal, disappearing into the space.

    "You fools! Why did you move?!" The first two Generals fumed, unable to believe that they allowed Karyk to pass through. If the news reached the Emperor, they were going to be killed.

    "We need to catch him!" The two Generals eximed, realizing that they couldn''t return without Karyk. They also passed through the portal, chasing after the young man.

    The two Generals who had dodged the attack also realized their mistakes. They didn''t understand why they were scared of the attack when they were immortal.

    They also entered the portal, having only one way to atone for their sins.

    ....

    An arc of destructive beam came out from a portal, striking thend. A deep crater formed where the beam hit, causing shockwaves to ripple through the surroundings.

    Following the beam, a young man also flew inside, falling right in the middle of the portal.

    Four more people came out from the portal, their violet eyes looking for Karyk. Soon, they noticed the young man weakly lying in the middle of a crater.

    Karyk coughed out a mouthful of blood, weakly pushing his body up.

    "So this is what it feels like to be as weak as a mortal. It reminds me of the days I entered the Realm of Death." He wiped the blood off his lips as he turned towards the four Generals.

    "So the news was right. You were weak. If you don''t want to be killed, quickly surrender!" A Generalmanded Karyk, aiming his sword at the pale faced young man.

    "Ha... Haha... Hahahaha!" Karyk burst intoughter as if he had gone mad. He ced his palms on his face as hisughter echoed in the surroundings.

    As he removed his hands, his blood red eyes shone with a deadly killing intent. "Aren''t you a step toote?"

    The Generals exchanged uneasy nces as they felt a chill run down their spines. They felt cold winds circling around Karyk as strange particles of light were absorbed inside his body.

    "It seems you have chosen death then!" The General eximed. Although he didn''t know what this scary feeling was, it didn''t matter.

    "In that case you can only..." he muttered. His figure disappeared mid sentence.

    "Die!" At the next moment, he appeared behind Karyk.

    His Sword sliced through Karyk''s body. However, his face went dark as he didn''t hear Karyk''s painful cry.

    Instead, a roar filled with pain came from the distance where the other Generals were standing.

    He saw Karyk standing behind the headless bodies of three Generals, blood dripping down his sword.

    Karyk''splexion recovered as he was out of Elzeira. The Elements here were free for him to absorb and recover his strength. Each passing second, he was recovering his strength.

    Moreover, he didn''t even need to use his own strength to attack. He could attack with his full strength just by using the elements in his surroundings.

    The General watched the three bodies copse. His hands trembled, not understanding why the three Generals weren''t recovering.

 Chapter 880: Two

    Chapter 880: Two

    The only surviving General looked at Karyk in disbelief. With a single attack, Karyk had managed to kill the other Generals who should''ve been immortal.

    Not only that, but he didn''t appear to be exhausted at all. Instead, they were the ones who were struggling to recover their strength in this world.

    He realized that he had fallen into a trap. Following Karyk was the biggest mistake of his life.

    He knew he had to run! He had to leave this ce if he didn''t want to die! He didn''t enter the portal as Karyk was standing before it.

    With no other choice, he turned around to run away. He ran into the nearby forest, trying to take advantage so he could hide.

    He ran as fast as he could inside the forest, his feet refusing to stop. As he ran, he kept looking back to see if he was being followed or not.

    Unfortunately, his steps came to a halt suddenly. Right in front of him, he saw a young man, walking in his direction.

    "H-how did you get here so fast?!" The General asked, his expressions growing pale. "And how did you change your clothes?"

    The man before him frowned in response. "Who are you?"

    "Do you know him, brother?" A voice came from behind the young man, revealing a girl in the distance who was eating a fruit, following the young man.

    Gabriel stepped before her sister, hiding him from the man''s view. Although he didn''t recognise the man, but after looking into his eyes, he was certain that the man was an Elzeiran!

    "What are you two doing here?" The General heard another voiceing from behind him.

    He looked back, to be shocked even more. Behind him, Karyk was standing, his clothes still drained in blood.

    The General looked back and forth between Gabriel and Karyk. There were two of them? He had no way to escape. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    "Since I''m going to die today, I''ll make sure you lose just as much!" He ran towards Zena, remembering that Gabriel had tried to hide her.

    He knew he couldn''t defeat Karyk but he could at least kill the girl.

    The General rushed forward, putting his all in his speed. However, he had only traveled halfway when Gabriel appeared behind him.

    The General felt someone grab his hair. He was abruptly pulled back, getting smashed on the ground.

    The General tried to stand up, but he couldn''t. Instead, a barrage of punches rained down on him, each blow stronger than thest.

    His face was almost distorted, despite his high healing. It was as if Gabriel didn''t care.

    The moment he tried to harm his sister, Gabriel had decided to make him experience a pain worse than death! The more he healed, the more he was broken by Gabriel.

    It was only after letting out his anger, Gabriel tossed the half unconscious man towards Karyk who cut him in two halves, killing him.

    Karyk kept his sword back in his spatial storage. He used his magic to wipe the traces of blood from his body and changed his clothes to his usual princely attire. He didn''t want Zena to see his bloody avatar.

    "Little girl, how have you been doing?" Karyk appeared before Zena, patting her head lightly.

    Zena had already learned that she had two brothers, both of whom looked identical. She didn''t find it shocking to see Karyk. If anything, she was happy that her second brother was also here.

    She hugged Karyk. "Wee back, brother."

    She didn''t know where her second brother had gone. The only thing Gabriel told her was that Karyk had gone out on an adventure and it was unclear when he was going to return.

    ....

    Gabriel led Karyk to the small camp they had created in the middle of the forest. There, he saw demigod Alion . The Holy Priestess of Summoning, Goddess of Nature, Nyx and the others were also there.

    All of them greeted Karyk, expressing their happiness that he was back safely. Almost all of them wanted to know what Karyk found out in Elzeira that led him to return so soon. But none of them asked.

    "Didn''t I tell you to keep Zena safe in the Upper Realm? Why are you at a ce like this?" Karyk asked Gabriel, gazing at the campfire in the distance where the rest of the group was sitting, giving them privacy.

    "It''s a long story," Gabriel answered.

    "I have plenty of time," replied Karyk, not understanding why Gabriel had left the sake space of the Central World, and that too with Zena whose security was their top priority.

    It was even worse since they were this close to the portal that led nearest to the Royal City of Elzeira. There could be no ce more dangerous than this.

    "Don''t tell me you were nning to enter Elzeira with Zena and the others?" Karyk stated. He really hoped Gabriel wasn''t trying to do something so stupid that could put Zena in danger.

    "Even if I wanted to enter Elzeira, I would''ve done that alone and not with the others. Why would I bring them here if that was my n?" Gabriel shook his head lightly, rifying that it wasn''t his intention.

    "Then what were your intentions when you came to this ce?" Karyk inquired. "Do you have any idea what would''ve happened if the Purebloods had entered from the portal? You would''ve lived, but what about Zena?"

    "That portal connects to the space near the Royal Capital. It had the strongest guards of Elzeira around it at every moment."

    "I know what happens when theye from the Portal. Because that''s what happened..." Gabriel replied.

    He further exined, "The Central World is filled with the Elzeirans who came out of the portal."

    "The reason I left that ce was precisely to keep Zena and the others safe. They appear to have made Aliac''s Central World as their base for the time being," he added.

    "They''ve already started entering this world? How can that be? I''ve never heard anything about it?" Karyk eximed, growing surprised.

 Chapter 881 Chapter 881: Sea King

    Chapter 881 Chapter 881: Sea King

    He had a vast intelligencework in Elzeira already. He was certain that the Royal Family wasn''t going to enter this world so soon. This world wasn''t suitable for them yet.

    In fact, the Royal Family was still waiting and preparing for the war. ording to his estimate, the invasion should''ve begun after a year at the earliest and maybe even two yearster.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Due to the conflict in the city of Ember which was the weapon''s hub for the Royal Family, and the recent chaos of the Royal City, it didn''t make sense for them to reach out their hands so early.

    "When did this happen?" he asked, wondering if it was after his recent actions in the Royal City. Was the emperor really so furious that he started the invasion early?

    He had no way to find out since he directly came here after escaping from the Royal City.

    "It has been over a week," Gabriel answered. "I don''t think they are part of the Royal Army though. Although they are strong, they felt different from the Royal Army of Elzeira."

    "How different?" Karyk asked.

    "Firstly, their attire. It wasn''t as refined as the attire of the Royal Army," Gabriel answered. He had lived with the Royal Family when they were training him to kill Karyk. There, he hade in contact with the Royal Family and learned more about them.

    He knew the way Royal Knights spoke. He also knew what kind of attire they wore and so on.

    "Although the Elzeirans that came out from the Central World Portal are different from Royal Knights, they are very strong. They also have that annoying immortality of the Royal Family."

    "I was able to defeat a few of them, but I couldn''t kill any. To protect Zena and the others, I could only abandon the Central World with them."

    Gabriel described as best as he could. He even told Karyk that if he didn''t have to take care of Zena and the others, he might have tried to enter the portal to find out more about them.

    "As strong as the Royal Knights, but different..." Karyk muttered, lost in thoughts. He wondered who they could be.

    "Do you have any more information about them?" he asked. "I told you all I knew," Gabriel responded. However after a few seconds, he thought of something and furthermented, "I do remember one more thing." "What thing?"

    "I did hear them mention some Sea King a few times. It seems that they were under that guy," Gabriel answered, remembering a few instances where he heard that name. "Sea King?" Karyk frowned. "I see. So it were the Pirates that serve the Pirate King. Only those people call their master the King of Seas."

    Karyk remembereding across some of the pirates when he saved what he thought to be a merchant ship. That was also what led him to enter the Border City, soon bing the City Lord of the small yet significant city.

    As he thought about the border city, he couldn''t help but think about the citizens, wondering how they were doing.

    He had sent them with the Puppet Master and now he had a bad rtionship with the Celestial Empress. He really hoped that the woman didn''t let out his anger on the citizens.

    He hoped that she wasn''t foolish enough to weaken his forces as they both had the same goal at the end of the day.

    "Pirate King? I didn''t hear about him when I was in Elzeira," Gabriel said with a puzzled expression. He thought the Royal Family was in true control of the entire world. Was that not the case? He wondered.

    It made sense to him that the Royal Family didn''t tell him about this. He was there only for training. He wasn''t a true guest to them. They just wanted to use him and didn''t bother to tell him more than that.

    "It looks like the Pirate King identally found the portal and sent some people to check things out. I doubt even the Emperor knows about it yet." Karyk thought out loud. "No wonder I didn''t hear anything about it. The Pirates kept it hidden too well."

    "Is the Pirate King strong?" Gabriel asked. He had faced the underlings of that guy. He could certainly defeat them easily. The only problem was killing them. He wondered if the Pirate King was on the same level.

    "I haven''t seen him yet. But I believe he should be as strong as a Shadow Guard of the Emperor," Karyk answered.

    "Shadow Guard?" Gabriel asked, confused. This was another thing he heard for the first time.

    "Oh, you don''t know about them either. I thought you would."

    "Are you flexing your knowledge now?" Gabriel frowned in response. "Unlike you, I wasn''t there for half a year."

    Karyk didn''t argue with Gabriel. He simply exined the power structure in Elzeira. He exined the strength of the Shadow Guards that were much stronger than the Generals.

    As he had seen their strength through his Undeads when he was leaving the Royal City, he understood that their reputation wasn''t for nothing.

    Those Shadow Guards were in an entirely different league than the Generals. It wasn''t surprising that the Pirate King was able to rule over the sea if he had that kind of strength.

    "I have a lot more information that might help us in the war. As I don''t want to repeat the same information again and again, I''ll tell everyone at the same time," Karyk stated as he wondered where the Lord of Upper Realm Aliac could be.

    "Do you know where Aliac is?" he asked Gabriel.

    "Thest time I heard from him was when he was going to earth," Gabriel replied. "He should still be there if I''m not wrong. Instead of waiting for his return, we can head there and save some time."

    "Is Earth safe for us to take Zena and the others?" Karyk asked.

    "It should be. I heard that there are no portals connecting to Elzeira on earth yet," Gabriel exined. "Then again, that doesn''t confirm anything. This ce also didn''t have any portals until a short time ago."

    "If there was, I wouldn''t have arrived here with them," he added, ncing at his sister and friends who were sitting around the Campfire.

 Chapter 882 882: A gift

    Chapter 882882: A gift

    "You''re saying there was no portal at this ce?" Karyk asked, slightly surprised.

    He knew that the portal in the Central World had changed the location after the seal was broken with the opening of new portals. But it was different for this ce.

    It had been a long time since the seal was broken and the portals were still changing ces? This made him slightly surprised.

    That meant even the safest ces could be the most dangerous at the time of invasion. No ce was safe to be used as a shelter for ordinary people.

    "There was none. I had properly checked the entire ind," Gabriel answered, also realizing the implications of this information.

    Karyk and Gabriel wondered if it was safe for them to even go to earth with Zena and the others.

    At first, he wanted to leave Zena and others with Gabriel as he went to earth. But since no ce was safe now, the only option left for him was to take them with him.

    "In that case, all of us will have to go to earth," he told Gabriel, who nodded.

    "Gabriel..."

    Gabriel walked towards the campfire to inform everyone, only to be stopped by Karyk who called out to him.

    Gabriel stopped and turned around. "Yeah?"

    Karyk raised his hand, a beautiful sword materializing before him. The sword was made from materials that Gabriel hadn''t seen in this universe.

    "When did you listen to craft swords?" he asked. He could feel Karyk''s aura inside the sword. It was evident that he had crafted this sword with his own essence.

    "When I was in Elzeira, I learned a few things about the Elzeirans. I found out why I was able to kill them." He tossed the sword to Gabriel. "Keep it. This will help you kill them."

    Gabriel raised his hand, grabbing the sword. The sword wasn''t as strong as the Sword of Life that he had snatched from Caen, but if it was able to kill an Elzeiran, it became a lot more valuable.

    "Through trials, I''ve managed to confirm. The reason I''m able to kill them isn''t because I''m stronger than them. It seems to have something to do with my life essence," Karyk informed Gabriel. "I''ve created that sword for you. Next time youe across any, you can go all out."

    Even though he didn''t understand why his life essence made him able to kill the Elzeirans, it was information that he couldn''t ignore.

    He had already tested his theory when he killed the Purebloods in the Royal City with just that sword and nothing more.

    Gabriel nodded and kept the sword safely. He didn''t thank Karyk and just walked over to the group near the campfire, informing them that they were going to leave.

    ****

    "You allowed him to escape?!" The Emperor''s cold voice echoed in the hall, sending chills down the spine of the Generals.

    Within a few hours, he was informed that Karyk had escaped through the portal, returning to his universe.

    The Emperor couldn''t believe how useless his people were. There were so many of them yet they couldn''t stop a single man who waspletely exhausted?

    He was so furious that he wanted to put them all to death, but he controlled his anger as that was only a loss to his own army with the war drawing near.

    "Four Generals were missing when we returned. I believe they chased after him. They might be able to bring him back...," one of the Generals spoke, keeping his head down.

    "They might bring that man back?'' the Emperor asked, his tone getting even more furious. "They couldn''t stop him in our own world! You think they can defeat him when he''s back in his home where he''s much stronger?"

    "Do you not understand the reason those four haven''t returned?" he further asked. "It''s more likely that they have already died!"

    The Emperor''s expressions were dark as he processed his thoughts. The sword was certainly taken by Karyk. At any cost, he wanted that sword back before the seal on it could be broken.

    Unfortunately, the mortal world still wasn''t ripe for their invasion. Sending his army there right now was more dangerous than anything else, especially with Karyk leading the other side.

    The best opportunity was when they had finished converting the other universe by filling it with Elzeira''s essence. They had already begun the process, but it couldn''t be finished so soon.

    Although the Emperor hated it, he knew he could only wait. If he was hasty, he could ruin it all. At any cost, he didn''t want to disappoint the ones above.

    He wanted to go to the Temple and ask the Statue what to do next.

    Unfortunately, without his immortality, he couldn''t even offer sufficient sacrifice of his blood. And if he wanted to bring her sister to the throne, he had to kill himself so she could inherit the throne and the blessing that came with it.

    He was feeling lost without guidance. He really regretted sacrificing his immortality to turn Gabriel to his side, only to be betrayedter.

    "You''re all dismissed. I want to be alone." He stood up and left the chamber, without sparing a second nce.

    If he had to die to get guidance, then he was willing to do it. For him, the future of Elzeira was more important than his own life!

    He decided to enter the Temple of Archangel without his immortality. Even if he was to die, his sister could take the throne and lead Elzeira.

    The Emperor went downstairs to the entrance of the Temple.

    "Make sure no one disturbs me," he told his Shadow Guards who was hiding in the dark corridor. "And if I don''t return without a few hours, tell my sister that I have passed away. She will be your Empress if that happens." N?v(el)B\\jnn

    The Emperor opened the door of the temple and stepped inside, leaving only a single message for his sister.

 Chapter 883 883: Earth

    Chapter883 883: Earth

    The Emperor entered the Temple, leaving the Shadow Guards stunned about his future. It was the first time they had seen the Emperor talk about his own death as if he was certain that it was going to happen.

    The Shadow Guards were absolutely loyal to the Emperor who had led them for over a century.

    Seeing him like this, all of them felt pain in their heart but even then, they followed thew of thend and didn''t try to stop the Emperor. They only hoped that he was going to return safely.

    Unaware about the concerns of his Shadow Guards, the Emperor entered the Temple, his eyes locating the majestic statue on the other end of the hall.

    The Statue had eyes closed, looking just as intimidating as the past. However, something felt different about it.

    As the Emperor stood before the statue, he didn''t understand what this strange feeling was. But it was as if he could feel someone''s presence inside the temple with him.

    Strangely enough, even with his skills, he couldn''t locate the presence. It was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. He didn''t know if he was just overthinking or if there was really something like that.

    The Emperor shook his head and stopped thinking about it, as he went down on his knees at the foot of the Statue.

    "Unlike before, I don''t possess my Immortality anymore. I can''t take off my head to satisfy the Lords above," the Emperor spoke as he pulled out a knife. "However, I will still give you everything I have!"

    He grabbed the knife in his left hand and cut off his right hand, letting blood fall at the statue''s feet. This had never worked when he had immortality.

    He could only sacrifice his head if he wanted to receive a response from above. As he had his Immortality, he could regrow another head so it wasn''t a loss for him.

    The only scary thing about that was the pain of death that he felt. But now, he didn''t have that immortality. He decided to test if the blood from his hand was going to work or not.

    Unfortunately, the test failed as the Statue remained silent.

    "I had a feeling this won''t work." The Emperor let out a sigh. "In that case, I can only ce my life at your feet. I hope you will ept my life and bless my sister as your next Envoy after my death!"

    "Glory to the Angels!" The Emperor eximed out loud as he ced the knife on his throat, taking his own life.

    He fell at the feet of the statue, his blood staining the floor red.

    The room fell into a heavy silence, the air thick with sorrow for the fallen Emperor. The statue remained unmoved, its enigmatic expression giving nothing away as if watching over the solemn scene with eternal grace.

    Just like that, the Emperor that led the Elzeirans had died. The man that Gabriel swore to kill with his own hands, had taken his own life.

    ....

    "Did anyone see my brother?" The Princess walked around the corridor, confused. She had looked in the Royal Chamber but she was told that the Emperor left after telling everyone that he wanted to be alone.

    She felt bad for her brother and wanted to cheer him up. But no matter where she searched, she couldn''t find her brother.

    After a long time, she was finally able to receive some answers as she was informed that the Emperor went towards the Ancient Temple that was inside the Royal Pce.

    Hearing about it, the woman grew stunned. She knew what kind of sacrifice was needed to have an audience with an Archangel in the temple. She also understood how weak her brother was now that he had lost his Immortality.

    Scared about the possibility, she ran towards the Ancient Temple that was created by their Ancestors inside the Royal Pce.

    It was a ce that only the present Ruler of Elzeira was able to enter. It was also a ce that was the most secure in the Entire Pce. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    It was guarded by the strongest Shadow Guards that never left their post.

    Even when the Shadow Guards were gathered to capture Karyk outside the Ancient Tomb, the Shadow Guards that protected the entrance to the Ancient Temple hadn''t moved. Their only duty was to keep the ce safe.

    The Princess rushed towards the Temple, only to be stopped by the Shadow Guards that protected the ce.

    "You''re not allowed to take a step forward."

    Only one shadow guard made his presence known, and that too because he wanted to stop the girl.

    "Did my brother enter the Temples?" the girl asked.

    "His Majesty indeed entered the temple. However, no one else is allowed to enter the ce." The Shadow Guard replied. "Please return."

    "His life is in danger! I need to stop him!" The girl eximed as she tried to pass through.

    Unfortunately, she was weaker than the shadow guards as she didn''t have the inheritance that her brother received after bing the Emperor.

    "We are following His Majesty''smands. You aren''t allowed to enter." Although the Shadow Guards knew that the girl might be the next ruler but until then, they had to follow themand they had.

    They didn''t let the girl pass through, no matter how hard she tried. It was only after the Emperor didn''t return for hours, they decided to give her the message that the Emperor had left behind for her.

    It was an era of change.

    ****

    Earth was a modern world that was said to not possess even the slightest of magic. Still, it was gathered by many powerful beings, going through several godly wars.

    No one understood what made earth so special when it was so ordinary at first nce.

    A portal opened in the middle of nowhere on earth. From the portal, Karyk stepped out, apanied by Gabriel and the others. It was the first time they had arrived on earth.

 Chapter 884 884: Strange People

    Chapter884 884: Strange People

    "This is earth?" Karyk asked as hended in a foreignnd that felt strange. He had been to many worlds, but Earth felt different.

    Most of the worlds at least had some traces of heavenly elements, but this world waspletely void of them. He would''ve even confused it with Elzeira if Elzeiran elements weren''t missing either.

    Even as the essence from Elzeira was invading their universe, earth had managed to remain untouched for some reason.

    "This is indeed earth," Gabriel affirmed. He hade to this world to protect Ezekiel from the Princess of Elzeira once. He was certain this was the right ce.

    "Why would Aliace to this weak world?" Karyk pondered, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Is there something of value here that we are not aware of." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Gabriel nodded in agreement, his eyes scanning the horizon. "There appears to be a god who lives in this mortal world. I think Aliac wants to turn him to our side."

    "A god that Ezekiel failed to kill?" Karyk asked, quite interested in that God for whom Aliac had personally arrived here.

    Ezekiel had wiped most of the gods but he also couldn''t kill the one residing on Earth? This was also surprising to him.

    He had a feeling that the reason the essence of Elzeira had failed to invade this world had something to do with that person.

    "How long has it been since Aliac came here?" he asked as he focused on the location of the nearest city.

    Once he finished locating the nearest city, he opened a portal.

    "It should''ve been over a week," Gabriel answered, stepping inside the portal with Karyk.

    "Over a week and Aliac is still staying here? It looks like he hasn''t seeded in winning over that person yet," Karyk muttered, stepping out of the portal.

    He found himself in the middle of the road, noticing a lot of vehicles racing past. The vehicles were different from what he saw in Elzeira. These ones appeared to use no magic for some reason.

    He tried contacting Aliac through his divinity, but strangely enough, he failed to reach him. It was as if Aliac was somewhere where even his divine consciousness couldn''t reach.

    He stood in the middle of the road, lost in thoughts. Because of a group appearing in the middle of the road, the traffic came to a halt.

    The sound of horns started responding. A few people also started scolding Karyk and his friends from their cars.

    "What are you doing? Clear the path!" A bystander stepped forward, grabbing Karyk''s wrist who was still lost in thought.

    "Do you want to get arrested or something?" The bystander asked Karyk who was looking confused at him wondering why he was pulling him.

    Karyk nced at the man, who appeared to be just a mortal. Even if the man attacked with all his strength, he couldn''t leave a scratch behind on them. The young man wasn''t a threat.

    "You are...?" Karyk asked, slightly confused as he freed his hand.

    "It doesn''t matter who I am. Next time don''t walk in the middle of the street unless you want to spend the night in jail." The man rolled his eyes. He picked up his bag that he had dropped while pulling Karyk back.

    After picking up the bag, he left the group behind, not wanting to engage with these weirdly dressed people any longer.

    "Such strange people. They are lucky that I saved them," the manmented while walking away.

    He had only traveled a short distance when he suddenly stopped. His eyes widened, looking at the man before him.

    "H-how did you get here?" he asked, shocked.

    The group that he had left behind was standing in front of him now. He looked around, noticing something strange. He was back on the spot where he met the strange group as if he hadn''t moved even an inch.

    He rubbed his forehead, wondering what was wrong with him. Was he hallucinating?

    He left once more, but the same thing happened again. He found himself right in front of Karyk again. He was stuck in a time loop, unable to break free.

    "We are new here. Would you be able to guide us for a little?" Karyk asked the young man who felt like he was going crazy.

    After trying a few more times, he finally gave up, dropping on his knees. He couldn''t escape this cycle.

    "Is this somehow your doing?" he asked Karyk. Although he didn''t want to believe it but there was no other exnation. These strange people were too suspicious, and not just because of their attire.

    "Are you talking about the endless circle you''re stuck in?" Karyk inquired.

    "It is indeed my doing." Gabriel stepped forward, reaching out his hand to help the man up. "We are in a hurry. So would you please guide us? Once you''re done, I''ll free you and even give you some rewards."

    "H-how can you do something like this? Does magic really exist?" The man stood up, amazed that these people were actually able to do something like this.

    He had always thought that magic was fake. It was just the sleight of hand that magicians used to fool people and sell out their shows. But what he saw had gone far beyond the scope of sleight of hand.

    "Where do you want to go?" the man asked, holding firmly on to his bag.

    "We want to find someone. Is there a ce where we can go for that?" Gabriel asked the man.

    They could use their abilities to create arge-scale disturbance so they could draw Aliac. But they didn''t want to be misunderstood. They were here to find Aliac and not to wage a war after all.

    "You can go to the police station if you want to file a missing person report. They should be able to find the person," the man said. He started leading Karyk and the others to the Police Station.

    "Did you lose a child?" Along the way, he asked.

    "He''s thousands of years old. I doubt we can call him a child," Gabriel honestly stated as he followed the man.

 Chapter 885 885: Finding Aliac

    Chapter885885: Finding Aliac

    "Thousands of years old?" The dark haired man repeated in disbelief. "I see, you do know how to joke."

    "Anyway, did you lose your friend in this area?" he further asked as he looked back at the reaction of the group.

    "Urgh..." he smiled wryly, seeing no confirmation in their reaction. "Did you at least lose him in this city?"

    The reaction remained the same. It was clear that they didn''t know if their friend was in this city.

    "This state?" The man asked.

    "Not sure," Gabriel answered after a long time.

    The dark haired man''s expressions turned weird, almost on the verge of wing his skin. "Please tell me you are sure that you lost him in this country?"

    Gabriel shrugged in response.

    "For God''s sake, please tell me he is at least on this continent?" the man asked, his voice getting louder.

    "Are you messing with me?" He couldn''t control his emotions anymore. "How is anyone supposed to find your friend if you don''t even know the continent in which he was lost?"

    "Are you saying that the Police Station can''t help us?" Gabriel asked, taken aback. He thought it was going to be easy to find Aliac without taking drastic steps.

    "Argh, you people know magic but you don''t seem to have anymon sense. Are you from another world or something?" he sarcastically asked.

    "Indeed we are." Gabriel nodded, making the man freeze in ce.

    "W-w-what?" the man stuttered, trying to find a response. These people were from another world? How was that even possible? Were the others in the sr system even inhabitable?

    "Please tell me you''re joking?" he asked, slightly scared now.

    "You''re not our friend for us to jest with you," Cyclix stated, seemingly amused by the man''s reaction. "Though it is surprising that you people didn''t know about the existence of other worlds. Weren''t you attacked just recently by Ezekiel? How could you not know?"

    "Attacked? Ezekiel? Who are you talking about?" The man didn''t understand what these people were talking about. Were they supposed to know something? What attack?

    "It seems someone has messed with your memories," Karyk stepped forward, realizing what was happening. He already had a feeling that something was wrong with the people of this world and now he was certain.

    He stepped forward and ced his hand over the man''s head. The man froze in ce, his body refusing to move. He felt a headache, as if some mysterious force was invading his mind.

    Not only did Karyk remove the force that was keeping the man''s memories restricted, but when he was at it, he also read his memories to gather more information about this world.

    "I see. So that''s why he pulled us to the side..." Karyk removed his head, understanding a lot of things about this world and itsws.

    The man dropped to his knees, tears streaming down his eyes as he remembered all the horrifying things from the time their world was attacked by godly beings. He couldn''t believe that he had forgotten about something like that.

    He also remembered seeing Gabriel when their world was attacked. Realizing these people were invaders, he was horrified. He tried to crawl away from them, scared out of his wits.

    The ordinary citizens around them looked at the man crawling on the ground in confusion.

    "Is he putting on a y? His acting is quite good."

    With time, a lot of attention was gathered on the man who finally managed to stand up and ran away from there.

    This time, he wasn''t pulled back. Gabriel freed the man from the loop, realizing that they didn''t need him anymore.

    "Did you find out where we need to go?" he asked Karyk.

    "I do..." Karyk nodded. In the man''s memories, he had seen the godly beings that had stopped the invasion. One of them was Janus, a being from the Realm of Heaven. The other person was unknown and definitely not from heaven.

    In the man''s memories, Karyk also saw a lot of information about that man who was no less than a celebrity on this earth. Almost everyone knew the face of that person, who was the wealthiest person in the world.

    Karyk also understood why the man had erased everyone''s memories.

    Since the man was very famous, his address was also in the public domain. That made it easy to find him.

    "So where are we going now?" Gabriel asked Karyk who appeared to be lost in some thought.

    "We''re going to meet him." Karyk waved his hand, opening a portal to the location. Unfortunately, he felt some resistance when he did that.

    There was some barrier preventing direct teleportation to that ce. He changed the coordinates of the other side of the portal.

    The portal opened right outside a wealthy part of a distant city. The entire area was owned by the person and also protected by him.

    It was said that even cops weren''t allowed to enter that ce without special permission from the higher ups. It was truly owned by the person, without any government intervention.

    .... N?v(el)B\\jnn

    At the present moment, Aliac was sitting inside a luxurious mansion on earth, unaware that there were some people looking for him.

    In front of him, there stood a man who looked like he was only in histe twenties, even though he was much older.

    "Are you really not going to side with us?" Aliac asked. "I''ve been trying to convince you for over a week, yet you just don''t agree. Do you not understand how dangerous it will be for everyone when that day arrives?"

    "I told you, I''m not interested in dealing with your matters." The man didn''t even bother being kind with his replies.

    Nevertheless, his gaze softened as he looked at Aliac.

    "I understand your concerns, but I have my own path to follow," he said calmly. "You can leave now."

    "I will keeping until you say yes." Aliac stood up and prepared to leave.

    "Are you sure? The next time youe, I might just kill you." The man''s cold voice echoed in the hall.

 Chapter 886 886: The answer you need

    Chapter886886: The answer you need

    Aliac paused for a moment, his eyes narrowing as he ssessed the man before him. The threat didn''t seem to faze him. Instead, a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

    "You wouldn''t dare," Aliac retorted, his voice filled with confidence. "You may be powerful, but you know that I have something you want. Something that you need."

    The man''s expression remained impassive, but there was a flicker of curiosity in his eyes. "And what might that be?"

    Aliac took a step closer, his voice dropping to a low, persuasive tone. "Knowledge. Secrets that even you don''t possess. I can give you the answer that you''ve been searching for a long time."

    "And what answer would that be?" The man asked, his voice turning colder.

    "The whereabouts of Chaos." Aliac smiled. However, as soon as he finished, he felt a gust of wind fly past him.

    In the next moment, a sword was aimed at the back of his neck. "I would advise you to be very careful with your next words."

    "Ask away," Aliac replied, not moving in the slightest.

    "How do you know I''ve been looking for him?" the man asked, the tip of his sword merely a few inches away from Aliac''s neck.

    "Although I didn''t leave the Upper Realm, it didn''t mean I didn''t have the ability to gather information. You think I wouldn''t know someone as significant as Chaos..."

    "The revels from Heaven had entered the Upper Realm after losing to Chaos when they went into hiding. I came to know a lot of things thanks to them. Things about Chaos and... you."

    "In that case, why did you pretend to not know me?" the man asked, removing the sword.

    His Sword disappeared as he walked back to the chair in the distance.

    "Because I didn''t have to," Aliac answered. "I didn''t want to remind you about your past. I thought we could simply focus on the future to save this universe. But since that deal fell apart, I can only make a deal with you."

    "Even if I believe that you know about me, why would I believe that you know his whereabouts? Even Janus couldn''t find the location of the sword in which the two of them were sealed after their fight."

    The man picked up the ss of wine from the table, waiting for the man''s answer. "If you''re thinking about using this bluff to make me side with you, the consequences might be even worse for you."

    "I don''t need to bluff. I know the location of that sword," Aliac said. "However, I can only tell you if you agree to help me."

    The man''s interest was piqued, but he still maintained his distance. "And what do you want in return?"

    Aliac smiled, his eyes glinting with cunning. "Your help. I want you to help us win this war. Once that happens, both of us will get what we want."

    The man considered Aliac''s proposition for a moment before finally nodding.

    Although he didn''t want to join this mess, he had to find the location of the sword that was said to be lost in the Abyss.

    Even after searching for years, Janus had failed to find any clues about that sword. It was as if the sword had simply disappeared in thin air.

    .....

    "This seems to be the ce." Karyk stepped out of the portal, noticing the presence of a strange energy barrier in the distance.

    The entire area was said to be owned by a single person. There were multiple grand mansions spread throughout the area, making it appear like an ordinary luxurious neighborhood. However, it was anything but ordinary.

    Karyk could see that all the mansions were created strategically. Karyk hadn''t even passed through the barrier yet he could already feel many eyes on him.

    On the roof of the mansions, there were a few figures keeping an eye on them.

    Just a few steps forward and it was impossible to use teleportation even for him. It was clearly a barrier that was on the same level as the High Council of Gods.

    "It might be dangerous from this point onwards since we don''t know what kind of person Aliac is meeting," Gabriel stated, also noticing the presence around them. "I''ll stay with the others. If things can go wrong, I can take them to safety."

    "That would be for the best." Karyk nodded. "I''ll go meet Aliac then."

    He approached the barrier, keeping his guard up. As he got closer, he could feel the energy crackling in the air, indicating the power and strength of the barrier.

    If a mortal was to pass through the barrier, he wasn''t going to feel anything. But if someone like him with Divinity was to pass through, they were going to find it more painful.

    The stronger a person was, the harder it was for them to pass through the barrier as long as they didn''t have the bloodline of the owner that cast the barrier. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    With a deep breath, he stepped through the barrier and entered the wealthy part of the city.

    Strangely enough, he was able to pass through the barrier without feeling the slightest bit of pain. It was something that should''ve been impossible as he was a stranger to the owner of the barrier.

    He couldn''t help but wonder if there was something wrong with the barrier.

    Walking through the beautiful neighborhood, Karyk couldn''t help but feel a sense of intrigue.

    Each mansion exuded a strange aura that was different from thest. He followed his instincts, leading him to the grandest mansion in the area that was said to belong to the other of this ce.

    ....

    "Looks like a new guest has arrived."

    Back in the mansion, Aliac was in the middle of finalizing their deal when Ryder frowned.

    He waved his hand, creating a small portal before him. In the portal, he could see the image of the person that had passed through the barrier.

    "It''s... him?"

 Chapter 887: Trap

    887 Chapter 887: Trap

    ....

    The continent of Elzeira buzzed with activity of Royal Guards asplete lockdowns were enforced in every city. However, the movement extended beyond just the Royal Guards.

    In the past few days, City Lords from various cities had left their posts and flocked to the Royal City in response to mysterious invitations. It seemed that almost every influential person in Elzeira had received an invitation.

    The invitations provided no exnation as to why they were summoned. However, since they all carried the Royal Seals, none could refuse the invitation unless they wanted to offend the Royal Family.

    They had already seen what happened in the city of Ember. All three major families in Ember had suffered a lot. The power structure of the city waspletely changed overnight once the Royal Army marched in.

    No other city lord wanted to be subjected to the same sharp response. They rushed to the Royal City as fast as they could.

    Spections ran rampant among the ones who were invited. Some believed the invitations had something to do with the recent turmoil in the Royal Capital, while others suspected it was connected to the city of Ember.

    A Royal Knight also went to the Celestial City, which shared a border with the Land of Chaos. Unfortunately, the man was never to return after giving the invitation.

    The Royal Knights stopped before the Celestial Empress, his eyes lifeless as multiple invisible threads remained connected to his body. Behind the man, the Puppet Master stood.

    "Hmm? The Royal Family is inviting everyone to the Royal Capital?" The Celestial Empress said in surprise as she went through the invitation.

    "Could it be that they had caught Karyk and wanted to execute him before all the city lords to show their might?" she wondered.

    She had really thought that Karyk was going to plead with her for help. Unfortunately,b even after so much time had passed, he didn''t contact her. It made her believe that he was caught by the Royal Family.

    "That stubborn fool. Was his freedom really more important to him than the safety of his world?" She folded the invitation back, putting it aside.

    The Puppet Master frowned, deep in thought.

    "Won''t this affect our ns? If he is caught and killed, we might never know the secrets he holds. If we don''t know how he was able to kill the Elzeirans, it would be quite a loss."

    "That is true. It would be a great loss if I can''t find out his secrets. I wonder if I over yed my hand... I was too hasty." The Celestial Empress felt a headache as she thought about Karyk.

    In her mind, he was caught. However, she was certain that he was still alive. She could still feel that thread. The only difference was that she wasn''t able to contact him, as if the connection was cut.

    She believed only the Elzeiran Emperor with the support of Archangels was capable of blocking the connection of this thread.

    The thread had be useless. She couldn''t contact Karyk, nor could she find his whereabouts. The only thing she could know was that the other person was still alive.

    "Tell me... Did the Emperor catch the person who caused amotion in the Royal Capital this time?" she asked the Royal Knight who was now under the control of the puppet master.

    "I am not certain." The Royal Knight answered in a lifeless voice. "However I did hear that he managed to escape. All the lockdowns are in ce to capture him."

    "Did you see him escape personally? Or you just heard about it?" The Celestial Empress further asked. Even after hearing it, she didn''t believe that Karyk could actually escape after being trapped in the tomb. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    She even thought that the Royal Family had intentionally spread the fake news that Karyk had escaped.

    It was a trap that the Royal Family ced to lower the guards of Karyk''s supporters if he had any. As for the Lockdowns, it was to find Karyk''s supporters and nothing more.

    This excuse allowed the Royal Family to spread their army in every city without alerting the local powers there.

    "I wasn''t there," the Royal Knight answered. "I only came to know about it through the instructions I was given."

    "What do you think? Could he truly have escaped?" The woman asked the Puppet Master.

    "It should''ve been impossible, even for someone like him. And if he had truly escaped, he would''ve been back at the Border City as he still doesn''t know what happened to his people." The Puppet Master put forth his thoughts.

    He had already spread out arge scale formation around the city. If Karyk had even approached this ce, he would''ve known. But even as almost a week had passed to the supposed escape, he wasn''t here.

    The Empress nodded. "I also believe that he shouldn''t have been able to escape. If he was capable of that, why would he ask for my help? He couldn''t block the thread''s connection either."

    "I suppose we can only find the truth ourselves," she added, picking up the invitation again.

    "Are you nning to attend?" the Puppet Master asked.

    The woman nodded slightly. "I believe this is necessary."

    "It is dangerous. Allow me to go in your stead!" The Puppet Master insisted.

    "I know. I''m not going to wage a war... yet. As long as I want to escape, even ''he'' won''t be able to stop me. I''ll just go there to confirm if he''s actually there or not."

    The woman kept the invitation in her storage ring. "This is final. You will stay behind and finish the preparation."

    Although the Puppet Master didn''t believe that it was a good idea, but he couldn''t reject the Empress just like the Shadow Guards couldn''t refuse the Emperor even as they knew he was going to die in the Temple.

    In the end, he could only nod. "I''ll prepare everything by the time you return."

    ....

    Karyk pushed open the door of the Grand Mansion in the center.

    As he took his first step inside, he was surprised to find multiple shacklesing out of the through, wrapping themselves around his body like a poisonous snake.

 Chapter 888: A friend of mine

    888 Chapter 888: A friend of mine

    "May I ask what you''re trying to do?" Karyk asked, releasing his dark aura.

    The shackles around him slowly turned dark, cracks appeared on their surface before they ultimately shattered under Karyk''s aura.

    "How did youe here?" Aliac asked, surprised to find him here when he was supposed to be in Elzeira.

    Seeing Ryder''s reaction, he had thought that some intruder had arrived. That''s why he didn''t stop him from using the shackles. However, he didn''t expect the intruder to be Karyk who had returned.

    "Wait, how did you even find me here?" he further asked, realizing that it should''ve been impossible for Karyk since he was inside the barrier.

    "Is he the person you were looking for?" Karyk asked, ignoring Aliac''s questionspletely.

    He nced at the man who stood behind him, dressed in a modern attire of earth with ordinary jeans and a white shirt. Even though the man was dressed ordinarily, his divinity couldn''t be hidden.

    Looking at the man, Karyk was still somewhat fascinated. Although he had seen the man in the memories of the person who helped him find this ce, looking with his own eyes, he was still surprised.

    What surprised him wasn''t his strength but the person''s face.

    Most ordinary gods couldn''t see the face of this man as there was an illusory mist around him. But someone like him was able to see through the mist. And this face... It was the same.

    "How could you have the same face?" Karyk repeated, his gaze resting on the man.

    When he awakened his divinity in the ancient temple, he had lived the life of many beings. Many of those Divine Beings were from the Realm of Gods where a deity named Chaos lived.

    Although he didn''t experience the life of Chaos, but he did see some of his journey through other people.

    It was Chaos who had stopped Ezekiel thest time he attacked the realm of gods. It was also Chaos who had sealed Ezekiel inside the Abyss from where Gabriel freed him.

    However, more importantly, it was Chaos who brought him out of the Abyss when he was just a child. It was Chaos who gave him some of his life essence, allowing his body to be ustomed to this strange world like he was a native.

    If it wasn''t for Chaos, he might have never been freed from the Abyss. He might have grown up inside the Abyss and maybe even died there, never seeing the light of day.

    Not only did Chaos bring him out of the Abyss, he also gave him to a wealthy mortal family so he could experience a normal childhood without being caught amidst the struggle of gods.

    If it wasn''t for the destruction of his world, he never could''ve awakened his innate divinity. He would''ve forever lived an ordinary life of a mortal, being the Prince of the Dynasty and then bing a king.

    He had always thought that the mortal family was his blood family. But only after going through the awakening at the ancient temple, he realized that it was far from the truth.

    He didn''t know who his parents were. However, if there was one person in this world who could truly be called his father, it was Chaos. And strangely enough, the person before him looked just like him.

    Ryder was also looking at Karyk. He had seen Karyk when he had killed the God of Lightning in his world. It was before he became a bigger threat to the Upper Realm. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    At that time, he hade to learn that Karyk carried the essence of Chaos. He had even thought that the boy might be the son of Chaos. He soon dismissed that thought and let Janus handle the matters of his family.

    It wasn''t until he came to learn that there were four people in this era who were going to shape the destiny of this universe. And amongst the four, only one could live.

    The remaining three had to die if one wanted to survive! One of those four people was the Son of Ryder, Nyx. The second was the son of Chaos, Caen. And the remaining two were Karyk and Gabriel... Both of theme from the same source.

    When he saw Karyk here, he was surprised. For a moment, he even thought about killing him right away. Although he didn''t want to take anyone''s life, he had to save his son.

    In the end, he deferred the thought with the excuse that he first had to see what this boy was truly capable of.

    The moment Karyk entered his house, he used the most basic spell of entrapment, trying to see how fast the boy could break it.

    Even if it was Aliac, he would''ve taken a few seconds to break something out this caliber. However, Karyk broke that in an instant as if the shackles were made from dry sand.

    He also noticed something strange. He could see that Karyk possessed the divinity of Chaos, but there was something else as well.

    Even he couldn''t decipher what that something else was. It was a strange feeling for him. It was somethingpletely foreign. It wasn''t divine, but it wasn''t demonic either.

    Sometimes it was there, other times it wasn''t there.Sometimes it felt real, other times it felt just like his misconception.

    It was the first time that Ryder was at a loss. He was certain that the boy truly had a strange fate.

    "If you two have finished observing each other, let me introduce you two." Aliac broke the long period of silence, realizing that they were interested in each other.

    "This is Karyk, a friend of mine," Aliac first introduced Karyk. "He is an important part of the war that is toe. He is also the most important key to winning this war. As long as he lives, we have a chance to win."

    "And why is that?" Ryder asked.

    "Because he''s the only person I know that can kill the Elzeirans!" Aliac eximed, surprising even Ryder.

 Chapter 889: Keep your enemies closer

    889 Chapter 889: Keep your enemies closer

    "He can kill them?" Ryder asked again, finding it intriguing.

    A god in this world could only be killed by another god who possessed Divinity. That''s why Karyk was able to kill the God of Lightning.

    If he didn''t possess Divinity, he would''ve found it impossible to kill a god, no matter how strong he was.

    Most people thought that an Elzeiran was an immortal being as not even another Elzeiran could kill them. But Ryder had always considered the possibility that it wasn''t the truth.

    He was sure that they could also be killed. It''s just that the method to kill them was unknown. Just like one needed Divinity to kill a god, something was needed to kill an Elzeiran. And Karyk supposedly possessed that.

    He wondered if it had something to do with this boy''s true origin. Was his original simr to an Elzeiran? Then again, even an Elzeiran couldn''t kill another. Was this boy''s origin even higher than the immortal beings?

    He knew that he didn''t really know much about this boy other than the fact that he had a trace of Chaos'' life essence.

    "I was even more surprised than you, but I saw it with my own eyes. With him around, I believe we have a good chance."

    "And Karyk, this here is the person I came to find. In this world he goes by the name of Ryder Flynn," Aliac started introducing Ryder to Karyk.

    "He is the person that can be said to be on the simr level as the being once known as Chaos," he further added. "I''m sure you heard about the disappearance of Chaos?"

    Karyk nodded. "He was killed in heaven, but he was reborn on earth."

    He further continued, "After recovering, he went back to heaven, where he fought an Ancient God. He disappeared with the Ancient God at the end of the battle. It''s said that both of them died together."

    "That''s mostly correct." Aliac nodded. He had thought that Karyk had no interest in other people so he might not have known something like this, but he was surprised.

    "Ryder is the person that Chaos reincarnated as when he first died. He recovered inside his body. And when he recovered, he created a new body for himself and left to wage war on heaven." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    "You can say, their situation is simr to you and Gabriel, but in reverse. Ryder still possesses all the abilities of Chaos, but none of his soul or divine essence. Meanwhile Gabriel possesses your divine soul but none of your abilities."

    Aliac finished exining Ryder''s situation. However, even he didn''t mention it at all. In fact, even he didn''t know most of it.

    He only knew why Ryder was alive, but he didn''t understand why he was this strong? Since Chaos had disappeared, Ryder should have died. But he was still alive.

    He didn''t possess any of Chaos'' essence, but he did possess an unexinable power that seemed to defy all logic. It was not weaker than the power of an ancient god.

    Although he also wanted to know how this was possible, but he knew that there were some secrets that couldn''t be asked.

    Aliac knew there was more to Ryder''s story that he had yet to uncover. Perhaps with time, the truth would reveal itself, shedding light on the strength that now resided within Ryder.

    "I know it might look like an impossible war where it''s better to just abandon it, but if we fail here, then no ce will be safe."

    Aliac stood before the two of them, his voice sounding earnest.

    "If we want to win it, we not only need a n but also strength... Strength that can crush anything! And the two of you possess that strength."

    Ryder knew that it was directed towards him, since only he was uncertain about joining this unnecessary war.

    He knew about the Elzeirans. Although he had never visited Elzeira, he knew more about them than even Aliac.

    He wanted to deal with these problems himself as he thought that Aliac and the others might only drag him down. He also had to deal with the people who could be a threat to his child.

    However, now that one of those ''threats'' was standing before him, he knew that he couldn''t stay out of it.

    ''Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.''

    This was a saying on earth which he wholeheartedly believed in this moment.

    "As I said before, I will work with you." Ryder nodded. "But don''t don''t forget your promise."

    Karyk looked at Aliac, wondering what promise these two were talking about. In any case, it was none of his concern. He was only surprised because this man looked like Chaos who was his savior and like a father he had never seen.

    But this man didn''t even have a small fraction of the soul of Chaos. He was just a stranger to him who looked the same as the King of Gods.

    "That is much better." Aliac smiled. However, he suddenly thought of something and turned to Karyk.

    "That reminds me... How did you even find me? No, before that... Weren''t you in Elzeira to gather information? How are you back so early? Did something go wrong?"

    He had a lot of questions about Karyk''s sudden appearance.

    "Gabriel told me you were on earth," Karyk answered. "It was easier to find you after that. As for Elzeira... It is a long story."

    "We have time." Ryder chimed in as he walked over to the couch. He sat down and picked up the ss of wine. "Since your friends are here, they can also listen."

    As he took a sip of wine, he tapped his finger on the wine ss lightly. Multiple spatial cracks opened in the middle of the room.

    Gabriel and the others stepped through the portal, as if a mysterious force had suddenly pulled them inside. The entire group appeared in the middle of the great hall inside the Central Mansion.

 Chapter 890: More than courage

    890 Chapter 890: More than courage

    Gabriel stood outside the barrier, waiting for Karyk to return. However, only a few minutes had passed when he felt a mysterious pull. Before he could even react, portals opened before him and pulled him inside.

    Stunned, he pulled out the weapon given by Karyk, believing it to be the work of Elzeirans. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    As soon as he stepped out of the portal, he was prepared to strike first. It was only at thest moment that he stopped after noticing Karyk''s presence here as well. There was no killing intent here either.

    Still, he held Zena''s hands and pulled her behind her.

    "Oh, you''re here as well?" Aliac asked, even more intrigued that someone as cautious as Gabriel had brought his sister and everyone else along.

    "Weren''t you supposed to be in the Upper Realm?" he asked, slightly surprised.

    The reason Gabriel hadn''t entered Elzeira was because he had to protect Zena. That''s why he stayed behind in the upper realm. Someone as cautious as him was willingly arriving on earth?

    Karyk had remained silent in the back, but the moment Ryder brought Gabriel and his sister here, his eyes shed heavy killing intent. The sky above the mansion darkened and the roaring of thunder could asionally be heard.

    Cracks started developing around the barrier that enveloped this area, overwhelmed by Karyk''s aura even though he hadn''t taken action.

    "It seems you care a lot for them." Ryder could feel the barrier weakening. Even though there was a seal on the spatial movement, he was free from that seal.

    He could bring anyone here or send anyone outside as he was the owner of this barrier. But Karyk''s aura was just as strange. Even though he was inside the sealed space, he was showing that he was able to break this barrier at any moment.

    "Since we''re interested in each other''s family, let me help you out as well." Karyk''s words echoed in the hall as the barrier finally shattered.

    Karyk raised his right hand, multiple portals opening before him. More people arrived in the hall, as if mysteriously pulled out of the void.

    Seeing the people, Ryder''s brows furrowed. Amongst the people were his wives, his daughter and his son Nyx... The one whose fate was in conflict with Karyk, Gabriel and Caen.

    Just as Ryder had brought Karyk''s family inside this hall from outside the barrier, Karyk did the same. His actions were even more surprising since Ryder''s family wasn''t even in this city.

    Since Aliac had beening to this ce a lot, for their safety, Ryder had let them stay in another city. Only a few people knew about their whereabouts.

    Aliac looked back and forth between Karyk and Ryder. He could feel that the atmosphere was tense. Although they hade to a deal, it was as if they were walking on a thin piece of wire.

    A single mistake and everything could fall apart, especially since both of them had reached their hands out to the other''s family.

    "Father...?" Ryder''s daughter asked, looking around in confusion.

    "It''s fine. There''s nothing to worry about," Gabrielforted his family.

    With a wave of his hand, he brought his family behind him. However, only he knew just what kind of thoughts he was hiding within his heart.

    He had already seen Gabriel and the others who were outside the barrier. The only reason he brought them here was to show Karyk that he knew about them. He hadn''t expected Karyk to do something like this.

    Aliac scratched the back of his head. He thought Ryder was stubborn, but he had forgotten that Karyk was no different. Both of them were like dragons and their families were their reverse scale.

    When Ryder''s child was kidnapped by heaven, he had gone there to wage a war directly. Meanwhile when Karyk''s family had died, he had started walking down the path of bing the ruler of death.

    "Hello, Sister-inw. We meet again." Aliac tried to break the tense atmosphere by speaking first.

    He greeted Ryder''s family respectfully. Normally, mortals weren''t worth his attention, but these mortals were rted to someone special.

    "I was just telling Ryder that I bought some gifts for you. Thest time I came here, I didn''t bring any. So I wanted to give you some gifts personally."

    He made up a story, making them believe that it was Ryder who brought them here, so they didn''t worry.

    Ryder also agreed as he didn''t want his family to think much about it. He didn''t want to tell them that they were forcefully brought here.

    Aliac even gave a few gifts from the upper realm to Ryder''s wives. He gave a fruit of longevity to his daughter. Andstly, he gave a treasure sword to his son Nyx.

    "Huh?" As soon as he gave the sword to Nyx, he grew slightly surprised. He hadn''t noticed it before, but when he came in contact with Nyx, he noticed something strange.

    Nyx possessed Divinity that his sister didn''t. He didn''t just possess Divinity, but he was brimming with it. It was as if he was born with the blessing of heaven.

    "Now that you have given them a gift, you can step back," Ryder chimed in, telling Aliac to step back.

    Aliac nodded, still thinking about it in the back of his head. Ryder also told his family that they could return to their rooms and that there was no need to leave now.

    Ryder sent his wives and his daughter back, only keeping his son Nyx behind. At the same time, he observed Karyk''s expressions to see if he was revealing any hostility towards Nyx.

    He wanted to see if Karyk knew anything about the fate between them. However, seeing the expressions of the young boy, he understood that wasn''t the case yet. Only a few people knew about something like this after all.

    "You are quite courageous," Ryder told Karyk after his family returned to their rooms.

    "Try touching my family again and I will show you more than just my courage..." Karyk''s voice echoed in the hall.

 Chapter 891: The best defence

    891 Chapter 891: The best defence

    Ryder didn''t react sharply to Karyk''s words, but he could see the threat hidden within. The young boy was warning him.

    "I had no intention of harming them." After a brief pause, he finally spoke. "I saw them standing outside, and invited them inside. If I had any intention of harming them, then excluding one, all of them would''ve been dead by now."

    "If you want to take my hospitality in a negative way, then you are free to do so," he added, his voice calm yet heavy.

    As he finished speaking, he waved his hand. Multiple seats materialized in the hall, creating a ce for Karyk and the others to sit.

    "I believe it was also a misunderstanding. We are on the same side, so no point in getting angry." Aliac also interfered, seeing Ryder trying to take a step back.

    He had truly thought that the two of them might go crazy and fight, but fortunately, both of them were pretty calm... If it could be called that.

    He knew the reality was that none of them wanted to fight in this ce. Both their families were in the same mansion. If a fight ensued, both of them could lose their loved ones.

    Both of them had seen the loved ones on the other side, creating a fragile bnce.

    To give Karyk slight push, Aliac tried to calm the atmosphere. He was the first to take a seat, pulling Karyk with him.

    "That reminds me... You still didn''t answer how you are back so soon? Did you face some danger there? What is the situation on the other side?" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Aliac further changed the topic and asked Karyk why he was back so fast.

    "Since you''re here, I suppose it''s less about dangers on the other side and more about some information that you have gathered?"

    Karyk nodded and he started exining. "You were right about it. Elzeira has already started preparing for the invasion. And their forces are in the millions at least."

    He further started talking about the power structure in Elzeira, including the Shadow Guards and what kind of strength they possessed.

    He also talked about the kind of preparation that was being made on the other side, including the weapons that he had never seen before. If he hadn''t sent his spies to the city of Ember, he never would''ve known about something like this.

    "Millions of Purebloods?" Aliac frowned. That number was even beyond his expectations. This was the number of trained soldiers after all.

    Every Pureblood was strong enough to face a god on his own. And there were millions of them? If they were allowed to enter this world, then the losses were going to be too high.

    Aliac had thought that it was better to prepare his forces and face them here, instead of entering their stronghold. But now he wondered if that was even possible.

    It wasn''t as if the Elzeiran Army was going to enter from one gate. There could be hundreds of thousands of gates that had opened all around their universe.

    They couldn''t intercept all of the Elzeirans. Even if they were able to protect a few words, the rest were going to be destroyed. And it was only a matter of time before they werepletely surrounded from all sides.

    Facing such arge army was like facing a horde of zombies. The only difference was that these zombies had intelligence and couldn''t be killed.

    "Do you think we can win?" Aliac asked Karyk, trying to understand his thoughts.

    Karyk had seen that world more than he did. He also managed to gather so much information. He also understood the strength of their own universe. He was the only one who could do proper analysis about their chances.

    "We have a chance of winning." Karyk nodded. "However, we won''t be able to save anything. We might win this war, but we will still be losing in the end."

    He believed that as long as he didn''t have to worry about running out of his spiritual energy, he could keep killing the Elzeirans.

    In this world, he could definitely keep gathering his spiritual energy. But the problem was that his life wasn''t the only thing that was at stake.

    He couldn''t protect everyone with just his own strength. His eyes couldn''t help but nce at Zena and the others for a brief moment. He could win, but all of them might die.

    Millions of worlds might be destroyed if the Elzeirans were allowed to enter this ce. They might win, not only a few of them could survive.

    That wasn''t even the main problem. There were also the Archangels above the Elzeirans, about whom Karyk had limited knowledge.

    He knew that the Elzeirans had something to do with the Archangels. Even if they won against the Elzeirans, he wasn''t sure if the Archangels could send more Elzeirans. This war was something that couldst for an eternity, until nothing was left but death.

    "Why do I feel like you''re implying that we should..." Aliac frowned, feeling as if Karyk was hinting at something.

    "If we want to save those precious to us, we have only one choice... We need to enter Elzeira. We need to take this war to them before they can bring it to us," Karyk eximed. "In this situation, the best defense would be a good offense."

    "I would''ve loved to do that as well, but the continent of Elzeira is strange. When we are there, we can''t gather the Spiritual Energy that we end up spending," Aliac stated.

    They were back to square one. The problem was still the same. If they stayed here, they could fight freely but they might lose everything.

    If they fought in Elzeira, they could minimize the losses to their universe but they couldn''t fight freely.

    "The biggest problem is the elements of that world. They aren''t suitable for us," Ryder also agreed with Aliac.

    "What is your solution for that?" he asked Karyk.

 Chapter 892: Taking the war to them

    892 Chapter 892: Taking the war to them

    Karyk paused for a moment, contemting the question. He knew that finding a solution to the problem of the unsuitable elements in Elzeira was crucial for their sess.

    Just because of that, he had to escape back to his own world. He didn''t even have enough strength to return to the Border City. It was fine since this wasn''t a war, but if this was to happen during the battle, it could create a lot of problems.

    "After observing the situation and gathering information, I believe there might be a way to ovee the element problem," Karyk responded.

    He further exined, "I have taken control of a small city on the outskirts of Elzeira. We can establish a base there. And if we can connect a portal between the city and this world, we might be in a much better position."

    "That would allow us to go back and forth between the two worlds safely whenever we are exhausted," he added. Although he couldn''t solve the problem of spiritual energy, he could make it easier for everyone to recover their strength.

    There were many of them. While two of them handled the city, the other two could return. They could take turns recovering without interrupting their ns.

    He also had the Purebloods Citizens that he had turned. They were absolutely loyal to him. With their support, he could further enhance their chances. And now, he also had some Royal Undeads of Elzeira with him.

    He had a lot of hidden cards that could allow him to at least hold down the border city.

    "You managed to control a city in Elzeira?" Aliac asked, slightly surprised. No matter how distant a city was from the Royal Elzeiran Capital, it would''ve been impossible to take over the city without being discovered.

    He didn''t understand how Karyk was able to do something like that? Did he truly do that without getting discovered? Or could it be that he was discovered and didn''t know about it? Could the Royal Elzeiran army already be waiting there for them?

    He had a lot of questions in his mind as this sounded incredible. Just the possibility of this being sessful was extremely low. Even if they weren''t discovered, their chances were low.

    If they went to Elzeira, it meant that was theirst stand. If they failed, there wasn''t going to be anything stopping Elzeirans from entering their world.

    Karyk understood what Aliac was worried about. Just for that reason, he told Aliac about the incidents that took ce after he entered Elzeira.

    He exined how he met the city lord''s son and helped him. He also talked about the time he entered the city and found that the City Lord was dead and how he was pronounced the new city lord.

    He also exined that the City was almost abandoned. The Royal Pce paid no attention to it as it was right next to the Land of Chaos.

    That was the perfect ce for them to set up a base, especially as the citizens could provide them cover since he had theirplete support.

    "This might be the only opportunity you have of sessfully stopping the invasion. I''ll give you time to think about it," Karyk eximed before growing silent.

    He didn''t talk anymore. He only asionally nced at Ryder who was right before him. Unlike Aliac, Ryder hadn''t said anything about this ce. He neither praised it, nor criticized it.

    "What do you think about this?" Aliac asked Ryder. Although this n was dangerous, but it was also the only viable option they had to save their world from destruction.

    Still, he was certain that Ryder was going to reject the n. Ryder only cared about Earth. He didn''t care if the rest of the world was destroyed. And if he refused this n, they could have no other choice but to select a n for theirst stand, which was going to be earth.

    If this was the ce of theirst stand, then they could still win, albeit at the cost of the rest of the universe.

    He had already expected Ryder''s answer, but he still asked.

    "I agree." Ryder only said a few words, shocking Aliac.

    "You agree?" Aliac asked, wondering if he had misheard something.

    "This n seems decent. If there really is a suitable city like that, I agree." Ryder nodded as he stood up. "You can finalize the necessary details and then inform me when you''re done." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    He left Aliac and the others behind, leaving with his son as if he didn''t have any more time for them.

    He went upstairs, with his son where his family was staying. He knew they might be confused, so he had to exin some things to them as well.

    "There are many rooms on the ground floor. You can make yourself at home." His words echoed in the hall as he climbed up.

    For the rest of the day, no one saw Ryder anymore. All they saw was that a powerful barrier had appeared that separated the first and second floor. The barrier was more powerful than even the barrier that had protected the mansion.

    Aliac had no intention of going upstairs in any case. Since they had reached cooperation, he didn''t want to cause any misunderstanding.

    He helped Karyk and the others find rooms on the ground floor.

    Initially, Karyk didn''t want to stay here but in the end, he gave up and decided to stay here. Earth was the safest ce at the moment after all.

    Zena and the others also found a room, where Karyk personally cast his own barrier that was no weaker than the barrier Ryder had cast upstairs, protecting his family.

    It was only after that, he met Aliac with Gabriel. All three of them discussed the n and how they had to enter Elzeira.

    They couldn''t directly reach the Border City of Elzeira as there was no portal in that ce. The closest portal he could remember was in the territory of Sea King.

 Chapter 893: The Conflict

    893 Chapter 893: The Conflict

    The portal that led nearest to the Border City was in the territory of the Sea King. It was also one of the only few portals that even the Royal Elzeiran army didn''t know anything about.

    Although they had to go against the Sea King to use that portal, but it was still the safest option for the time being. They could try other portals, but they weren''t aware where those portals were going to lead then.

    "It seems we first need to regain the Central World." Aliac agreed with Karyk''s n.

    As he was on earth, he hadn''t known that the Central World was taken over. But now it wasn''t the time to be worried about that. They had to take control of that ce.

    He asked Gabriel about the number of enemies and their strength, wondering if it was easy to regain control of that ce or much harder.

    Throughout the night, they went into the details about the n and what was toe after that.

    ....

    Karyk and the others thought that Ryder was upstairs with his family. None of them realized that he had long disappeared.

    After giving a brief exnation to his family to calm them down, he left the mansion with his son Nyx.

    At the present moment, he was walking on the desertednd of Egypt. He stood before a pyramid, remembering thest time he hade here, he had gained an inheritance.

    However, this time he wasn''t here for that. The pyramid contained no inheritance at the moment. He had taken it all. But the pyramid was still the most secure ce on earth. This was also the ce he used as a prison.

    "I''m sure you have a lot of questions," Ryder said, ncing at his son. "It''s about time I told you some answers."

    He ced his hand on the pyramid surface, releasing a few traces of his divinity.

    Sensing his divinity, a passage opened inside the pyramid. As they descended into the hidden passage, Ryder began to exin some things to his son.

    "I''m sure you already know that our world is in danger," he said, letting out a sigh. "The danger is far greater than anything before. However, that isn''t the only thing that I''m worried about. I''m also worried about your safety."

    "My safety?" Nyx asked, looking at his father. He had only learned about a few things from his father''s conversation with Karyk.

    ording to that, there was a special called the Elzeirans that was going to invade their world. From what he heard, their strength was incredible but the bigger problem was their immortality.

    Still, he was certain that his father couldn''t be worried about that. He was sure he could protect the earth. But why was he worried about his safety then?

    The stairs ended as Ryder reached the lowest depth of the floor. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    The dark hallway stretched out before him, illuminated only by flickering torches mounted on the stone walls.

    Ryder ventured further into the unknown, stopping only when he reached inside the hall at the end.

    "This..." Entering the hall, Nyx grew stunned. In front of him, he could see two people that were sitting on the ground, divine chains shackling their wrists to restrict their movements.

    "They are still alive?" Nyx asked, his eyes revealed slight happiness along with some concern. The people before them were Caen, the current Ruler of Heaven and Janus, his uncle.

    At first, he had thought that his father had killed both of them since they tried to kill him. But they were still alive.

    Caen was in deep sleep, possibly induced with magic. Janus was still awake and raised his head, at the sound of footsteps.

    His eyes contained no hatred even as he was captured. In fact, he didn''t know why Ryder had even let them live when he tried to kill his son. Was it really because of the past they shared?

    "The remaining two children of fate are staying inside my mansion now," Ryder said, making sure Janus heard him.

    "Why are you telling me that? I have already lost." Janus replied, neither showing happiness nor sadness.

    At first, he had also wanted to kill Karyk, Gabriel and Nyx, to save Caen. Out of the four children of fate, only one could live. That was predestined. That''s why he tried to kill Nyx as well. However, he had failed.

    He wanted to plead for Caen''s safety, but he understood that it was impossible. Just as he was about to kill any threat for Caen''s safety, Ryder also had to do the same for Nyx''s safety. All four children of fate were at crossroads with each other.

    The only difference was that Caen and Nyx at least had a guardian with them who knew about this fate. Karyk and Gabriel were all alone,pletely unaware about the fate that was toe.

    "Are you going to kill Caen now that you have the opportunity to kill the other two as well?" Caen asked.

    He still didn''t understand why Ryder had let them live. Was he truly going to leave them alive? Was he trying to keep them entrapped for life so that they could live yet never be a threat to Nyx as per fate?

    It was certain. If they were all trapped for eternity, they couldn''t harm Nyx. Unfortunately, Janus knew that it wasn''t how fate worked.

    Ryder didn''t answer Janus'' question. However, some emotions flickered in his eyes.

    He had treated Janus like his brother. He had the help of Janus before he even awakened. It was only because of Janus that he was able to live for that long.

    Although Janus was only helping him because Chaos'' soul was resting inside him, but that didn''t change anything. Janus was a friend... No, he was family.

    Even Ryder felt conflicted about this. He knew that he had to kill them for his son. But at the same time, he couldn''t get himself to do something like that. In the end, he could only entrap them, leaving the decision forter.

    He wanted to find a solution to this problem. And if he couldn''t find any other solution... He didn''t think about that at that moment.

 Chapter 894: Guest

    894 Chapter 894: Guest

    "I don''t have the answer to your question yet," Ryder informed Janus. He didn''t know what the future held for them. All he knew was that he was willing to do whatever it took.

    "Maybe time is the only thing that knows the answer," he added as he stopped thinking about the future for now.

    Instead, he changed the topic. "I came to tell you that I am close to finding the sword."

    Janus raised his head, hearing Ryder''s statement.

    ....

    It was early morning. Throughout the night, Karyk, Gabriel and Aliac had remained awake, while sending everyone else to sleep.

    All three of them knew that they didn''t have much time. They had to take back the Central World to establish a connection with Elzeira.

    After discussing throughout the night, they finally had a rough idea on what they had to do. ording to the n, Karyk and Gabriel were going to enter the Central World.

    The two of them were going to kill the men of Sea King who were protecting the Portal. It was only after they regained control of the Central World could the n move forward.

    Aliac wanted to go with Karyk and Gabriel as well, however in the end, he was rejected.

    Karyk told him that he had to stay behind to keep an eye on Zena and the others. Moreover, there was another reason he didn''t want Aliac toe.

    He was taking Gabriel with him to test if the sword he created could actually kill Elzeirans.

    He hadn''t even told Aliac that he could create such weapons. It wasn''t because he didn''t trust Aliac with this information. However, the less people know, the better.

    He also knew that Gabriel needed to get ustomed to using this weapon. In the war that was toe, both of them had to be stronger so at least one of them could survive even in the worst case.

    "Fine. I won''t apany you. But what about Ryder? He might be of help to you. If you take him with you, you won''t have to worry about the safety of Zena and others either," Aliac suggested.

    In response, Karyk shook his head. Although he didn''t trust Ryder, he also didn''t want to take him with him. There were a few things about that man that he found suspicious.

    He knew that Ryder wasn''t going to harm Zena and others before their deal was finished. However, just in case, Karyk had taken precautions.

    He had ced some Royal Elzeiran Undeads in Zena''s shadows. This time, not even gods could stop her from leaving if her life was in danger.

    "It won''t be needed. We will handle the rest," Karyk eximed. "You just need to keep an eye on them."

    "If you say so." Aliac, although confused, nodded.

    He wasn''t sure if just the two of them could take care of the Central World which was filled with the underlings of the Sea King. However,pared to what was toe in the future, this was indeed a small test.

    "When hees downstairs, you can tell him that we have gone to the Upper World to regain control over a portal. You can go through the remaining n that we discussed with him."

    Karyk stood up after exining all the minor details to Aliac.

    He walked towards Zena''s room. He opened the door carefully, noticing Zena who was sleeping peacefully. There was another barrier around her that had been cast by Gabriel.

    Both of them had been protecting her in their own ways.

    "While we''re busy in the Central World, you can take his help to train the people you have gathered," Karyk said as he created a Spatial Portal before him.

    Aliac nodded. He didn''t know why, but he found it somewhat strange. For centuries, he had been known as the strongest being in this universe, but within just a few months, he had met so many people that became stronger than him.

    Just in this group alone, he felt that Ryder and Karyk were somewhat stronger than him. As for Gabriel, he couldn''t even see through the young man to judge his strength as Gabriel hadn''t revealed hisplete strength yet.

    It was clear that the four of them were the team that formed the resistance to Elzeirans. At first, he thought he was the leader of his team. But as more time passed, he realized that there was actually no leader in his team.

    All four of them tried their best to protect their home in their own ways. All four of them did what they preferred or what they thought was right.

    In the end, even he wasn''t sure what the future held for them. Was the leader going to emerge during the war? He wasn''t certain. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    ****

    All the powerful beings in Elzeira were invited to the Royal City. For that reason, the security of the Royal City was also strengthened even further.

    A Royal Knight could often be seen inside the city. Not only did the Knights protect the ce, but they even guided the guests.

    Almost all the guests had the same question that they asked the knights.

    "Why were we called here?"

    Unfortunately, they didn''t receive the answers from the Knights who simply told them that they will find their answerster.

    Instead, they simply guided the City Lords towards the Royal Pce.

    The City Lords were amazed by the grandeur of the Royal Pce and the intricate details of its architecture. Most of them had never been to the Royal City after all.

    They had only heard about this ce, but it surpassed even their wildest expectations.

    As they entered the pce, they were greeted by the Generals who brought them to the throne room.

    The city was huge. Even as hundreds of thousands of guests arrived in the city, it never felt crowded.

    However, soon everyone''s attention was attracted by a screeching sound that wasing from the distant sky.

 Chapter 895: Sea King

    895 Chapter 895: Sea King

    Many people inside the city, including the Generals looked in the distance, frowning.

    Although the screech sounded like it was the warcry of a beast, it seemed to being from far away.

    Most of the people couldn''t see that far away. However, powerful people were able to see just what was giving this noise.

    As they looked carefully, they saw a Giant Flying Whale in the sky, that seemed to be ridden by a man, donning beautiful blue attire.

    The Flying Whale had glistening silver scales that shimmered in the sunlight, creating an ethereal glow around it.

    Its massive wings spanned across the sky, casting a shadow over thend below. The sight of such a majestic creature left many people in awe and disbelief.

    The Generals, with their keen eyes trained for battle, immediately recognized the significance of this extraordinary sighting.

    They knew that the arrival of the Giant Flying Whale could only mean one thing... A powerful person was approaching the city.

    A Giant Whale like this could only be found over the vast sea. And there were only a few people there who could control such a creature. And the only person that came to everyone''s mind was the Sea King!

    However, the Sea King wasn''t a subordinate of the Royal Elzeiran family! So what was he doing here? Was he here to create trouble? Did the Sea King really grow so arrogant that he started thinking he was able to return alive after causing trouble here?

    This ce wasn''t the sea! The Sea King might have advantage over the sea, but in the Elzeirans Royal City, there were many Shadow Guards that could take him down, let alone the Emperor!

    Whispers spread among the crowd as they spected about the reason for the Sea King''s arrival. In any case, the Sea King was a significant person.

    As long as he wasn''t here to cause trouble, it was given that the City wasn''t going to create trouble for him.

    Elzeira was about to enter a war with another world. They didn''t have time and resources to waste on the Sea King.

    If he didn''t want to annoy them, they were also willing to wee him. Who knew.... He might even help them in the war after all.

    The city gates swung open, and a hushed silence fell over the crowd as the Giant Flying Whale gracefully descended towards the ground. The man, dressed in his resplendent blue attire, dismounted from the creature''s back,nding with a grace that belied his imposing presence.

    His piercing violet eyes scanned the crowd, his gaze seemingly able to prate the deepest secrets of those he looked upon.

    The man exuded an air of confidence and authority, instantlymanding the attention and respect of all whoid eyes on him. He was the Sea King who ruled over the vast sea.

    Although it was mostly because Elzeira never paid attention to the seas and the Sea King never tried to harm the Royal Ships over the sea, he was able to remain in power without much conflict.

    However, none could forget that he was stronger than a General. Most of the people here hadn''t seen the Shadow Guards of the Emperor. However, the Sea King was said to be at least as strong as the Shadow Guards.

    "I am General Marcus,mander of the city''s defense forces," one of the Generals spoke, his voice filled with curiosity. "We wee you to our city. May we inquire about the purpose of your visit?"

    The man smiled with knowing glint in his eyes. "I heard you were inviting everyone to an important event in the Royal Pce. It seems that the invitation meant for me was lost on the way. It doesn''t matter. I still came to attend."

    The General maintained his calm expressions, but inwardly he was cursing.

    The invitation meant for you was lost? Who the hell even wanted to invite someone as troublesome as you? There was no invitation meant for you. That''s why you didn''t receive any! Can you have any self awareness?

    The General didn''t express his thoughts and simply nodded. "It seems you are here to attend. Please enter."

    The General couldn''t send this guy back now that he was here. Since the man was already here, the best they could do was amodate him. As long as he didn''t cause any trouble, his presence didn''t matter.

    Still, the general sent some people to the Royal Pce to inform the Princess about the appearance of the Sea King.

    ****

    Inside the Royal Pce, a young girl was standing behind an empty throne. Her eyes looked at the throne nkly.

    This was the throne where her brother used to sit. However, there was no one to sit on this throne anymore. Her brother had left her alone in this world.

    Although she was about to go through the coronation and be the Empress of the mighty Elzeiran Empire, she didn''t feel happiness.

    She was willing to sacrifice a hundred such thrones for her brother. Unfortunately, she wasn''t even given an opportunity.

    She couldn''t even apany her brother in hisst moments. Let alone apanying him, she couldn''t even retrieve his body from the temple as she couldn''t enter before her coronation ceremony.

    Only she knew how broken she felt. She felt like she was left all alone in this world. There was no happiness in this world for her. All that was left for her was to fulfill her brother''s desires! All she had to do was win the war that was toe!

    She had to take the throne and enter the temple, serving the Archangels! Although it was only a fleeting hope, she believed that the Archangels might bring her brother back to life if she seeded.

    The Archangels were beings that couldn''t be described with themon sense of this world. They weren''t mortals. They weren''t gods either. Even she didn''t know what they actually were. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    All she knew was that nothing was impossible for them. They were like the true reincarnation of heaven!

    She had to bring her brother back to life, even if she had to destroy everything in her path.

 Chapter 896: The Rumour

    896 Chapter 896: The Rumour

    The burden of responsibility weighed heavily upon her shoulders, yet her unwavering devotion to her brotherpelled her to make any necessary sacrifice.

    Lost in her thoughts, she was abruptly interrupted as the imposing doors of the main hall swung open, ushering in a Shadow Guard who bore urgent news of the arrival of the Sea King.

    Despite not having undergone her coronation, which deprived her of the authority tomand the Shadow Guards, she still possessed the highest level of influence as the sole surviving member of the Royal Bloodline.

    Formally, the Shadow Guards were constrained from assisting her until after her coronation, but they made every effort within their means to support her leading up to her coronation.

    Hearing the information about the Sea King''s arrival, even the Princess grew surprised.

    The Sea King was strong. Although he wasn''t strong enough to wage war against the Elzeiran Empire, but he was still capable of bing a headache for them as long as he was in the sea.

    Amongst the powerful people of Elzeira who weren''t under the control of the Elzeiran Empire, the Sea King was one.

    Her brother had tried to call the Sea King to the Royal Pce many times in the past. However, the Sea King had always had his subordinates reject the invitation, saying he wasn''t there.

    It was clear that the Sea King was scared of her brother. He was scared to step on the surface, worried that her brother could harm her.

    Someone as cowardly as him had stepped inside the Royal Pce without even being invited? She didn''t understand what he was doing here. Did he find out that her brother was dead?

    She quickly pushed aside that possibility. It was impossible for anyone to know about her brother''s death. Other than her and the Shadow Guards who guarded the Temple, none knew that her brother had died.

    It would''ve been impossible for the Sea King to know about it. Was his arrival just a coincidence in that case? She didn''t know the reason behind his arrival.

    Whatever being the case, he couldn''t create much trouble during the coronation ceremony, especially since the entire Royal City had been turned into a fortress. If he tried anything, the Shadow Guards could kill him.

    "Have a Shadow Guard keep an eye on his every movement," she told the Shadow Guard.

    "I''m afraid you can''tmand us yet," the Shadow Guard stated as he turned around.

    The Princess lowered her head. For a moment, she had forgotten that she couldn''tmand them. She wasn''t her brother.

    She thought about calling and giving this responsibility to a few Generals. However, just as the Shadow Guard was about to step out of the hall, he stopped.

    "Since he might be a threat to the Empire, I suppose I might as well keep himpany." He lightly muttered, as if he was talking to himself. However, his words were clearly targeted towards the Princess.

    He found an excuse to finish this task, while making it appear as if he wasn''t doing it because he wasmanded by a Princess.

    After he finished speaking, he disappeared.

    In the distance, the Princess looked at the slowly closing door in silence. The Shadow Guards were still loyal to their family. Although they pretended to be stubborn when it came to rules, deep down they were always looking out for the well-being of the Princess and the Empire.

    The Princess smiled softly as she watched the door finally close, feeling grateful for the unwavering support of the Shadow Guards. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    She walked forward, her fingers grazing against the armrest of the throne. She was all alone in the hall as she sat on the throne where her brother used to sit.

    "I will definitely win this war," she stated, looking at the portrait of her brother that was hanging high on the wall. "For you... For our people..."

    ****

    The General was apanying the Sea King around the city.

    Although it looked as if he was trying to take Sea King on sightseeing, the Sea King realized that the General was only trying to waste some time while he waited for further instructions from the Royal Pce.

    He didn''t expose the General. If anything, he also enjoyed seeing the Royal City. He had never been here. He was the King of Seas who always tried to avoid the Elzeirans Empire, realizing how threatening they could be.

    As they strolled through the bustling streets, the Sea King couldn''t help but marvel at the vibrant culture and architecture of the Royal City. It was definitely much more prosperous than the Ind where he resided.

    After showing him around, the General brought him to a store that sold some drinks.

    He got a drink for the Sea King, while taking one for himself.

    "I heard there was an outsider who robbed the Graves of Royal Ancestors?" The Sea King asked as he picked up the drink.

    Hearing the question, the Generals spat out the drink he had just sipped.

    "Cough, Cough." He quicklyposed himself and replied, "Yes, there have been rumors circting about such an incident."

    "Rumors? Are you saying it didn''t happen?" The Sea King asked, looking at the General in amusement.

    Beforeing here, he had already investigated what happened here. He knew about the man who the Elzeiran Empire was searching for. He also knew that the man was from another world.

    However, what he didn''t understand was how that man managed to escape alive? He had a feeling that something was wrong with the Empire.

    Could it be that the Emperor wasn''t as strong as before? How else could he allow that man to escape?

    He had also heard some rumors that the Emperor had grown weak and that he hadn''t shown himself outside for months. Whether it was true or not, he wanted to verify himself.

    Just to rest the rumor, he personally came to meet the Emperor. He wanted to see if the Empire was still as dangerous for him as it used to be in the past.

 Chapter 897: Balance of Power

    Chapter 897: Bnce of Power

    He was invited by the Emperor many times in the past, but every time, he was scared of the Emperor. It was because he had seen how strong the Emperor was.

    The Emperor was the most dangerous Pureblood in the Elzeiran Empire.

    Usually, the Sea King couldn''t even dare to test the strength of the Elzeiran Empire, worried that the Emperor might capture him instead.

    However, this time, he was sure that the Emperor wasn''t going to do it. Even if the Emperor was strong, he probably wasn''t going to fight because he was saving strength for the war that was toe.

    The Emperor had a bigger enemy, so the Sea King was certain that even if he came now, the Emperor wasn''t going to pay as much attention as he would have given him in the past. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Still, the Sea King was careful and respectful. He didn''t create much trouble and followed the General, who was much weaker than him.

    "Whether it happened or not, I''m afraid it''s not for the Sea King to be worried about."

    The Sea King was waiting for the General to answer him, but he heard another voice that came from behind him.

    He was surprised. He hadn''t even noticed the presence of another person getting so close to him. It was only when the man spoke that the Sea King sensed him.

    He turned around, noticing a dark robed man standing behind him. The man had a mask on his face, from which only his eyes were visible.

    Although the Sea King couldn''t see the face of the person, he was sure about this man''s identity. There was only a single group in the Royal Pce who wore masks like these.

    "To think that a Shadow Guard came to wee me." The Sea King smiled in response. " I must say, I feel honored."

    Although the Sea King talked as if he was grateful, his voice didn''t carry any sense of gratitude. These were just fake words.

    If anything, he was even more suspicious now. Just why were so many influential people invited here? Usually, the Emperor wouldn''t have sent a Shadow Guard for someone like him. He should''ve been insignificant for the Emperor.

    He felt that the rumors might have been true. The Emperor was truly weaker now! If he wasn''t, he wouldn''t have been so cautious. Still, the Sea King didn''te to a conclusion. It was just a theory after all.

    ****

    While the Sea King was engaging with the Shadow Guard, a woman had arrived at the entrance of the Royal City, apanied by the Puppet Master who had disguised as the City Lord of the Celestial City.

    After checking the invitation of the Puppet Master, the guards allowed him and the Celestial Empress to pass through. The two of them entered the city with more ease than they expected.

    "So this is the city established by the invading bastards..." the Puppet Master muttered under his breath, his eyes scanning the surroundings with a mix of curiosity and disdain.

    The Celestial Empress, on the other hand, maintained aposed and regal demeanor, her gaze fixed ahead as they made their way deeper into the city.

    As they walked through the bustling streets, the Puppet Master couldn''t help but notice the stark contrast between the Elzeiran Empire and their own Celestial City.

    Even when their Celestial Empire used to be prosperous, their Royal City wasn''t like this.

    The architecture, the people, even the atmosphere felt different. It was a constant reminder of the power dynamics at y, and the reason they were here.

    The city was filled with powerful people. They hadn''t even reached near the Royal Pce, yet they could still feel many powerful auras...

    No matter where they looked, they could find Purebloods. If anything, it was harder to find a mixed blood in the Royal City than a pureblood.

    It was no wonder the Royal City was called the strongest City in the Elzeiran Empire.

    Seeing this city and this kind of strength, the Puppet Master was even more certain that Karyk couldn''t have escaped from this city. He was sure that the boy was caught!

    Fortunately, the Emperor still didn''t know that the border city had fallen. Thanks to the Emperor''s invitation, they had a golden opportunity, one that they couldn''t afford to miss.

    If they yed their cards right, they could find Karyk and help him escape in exchange for him epting the ve Seal. If they were lucky enough, they might even use him to kill the Emperor after freeing him.

    In any case, they had a great opportunity here. It was the best first outing for the Celestial Empress after her freedom.

    However, they had to be cautious as any misstep could have dire consequences.

    As they approached the Royal Pce, the Puppet Master and the Celestial Empress were met by a group of guards.

    The guards, adorned in the Emperor''s royal colors, looked at them with a mix of curiosity.

    The Puppet Master handed over the invitation, and after a brief inspection, they were allowed to advance towards the Royal Pce where all the important guests had started gathering.

    Along the way, the Puppet Master observed the sea of influential figures from various factions, all gathered in one ce. Most of them were being escorted by the Knights. And only a rare few had received a General as their escort.

    It was a delicate bnce of power, each person carefully watching the others.

    The Puppet Master''s eyes soon fell upon the Sea King, who was engrossed in conversation with the Shadow Guard.

    The Sea King''s presence alonemanded attention, and it was clear that he held significant influence in his own right. The man was not only apanied by a General, but there was a hooded figure next to him who was even stronger than a General!

    The Puppet Master made a mental note to keep an eye on this guy, realizing that this man was dangerous.

    Feeling as if someone was looking at him, the Sea King frowned as he turned around. His gaze fell on the Puppet Master.

 Chapter 898: Killing Or not Killing

    Chapter 898: Killing Or not Killing

    ****

    A portal opened in the midst of the Central World. Usually, only Aliac was able to open a portal to this ce which used to be his home. Aliac was the true ruler of this ce. However, things have changed a lot in thest year. Now this world had been taken over by the Elzeirans who weren''t even part of the Royal Army. The subordinates of the Sea King could be seen all around the world. It was as if this world had be their base. Karyk could see that there were hundreds of Elzeiran Pirates in the Central World. Their strength varied a lot as well. Some were as strong as an ordinary knight of the Royal Army. While only a rare few were strong enough as an elite knight. Karyk was sure that the Sea King had more powerful subordinates, but he couldn''t find any here. It made him certain that this was just a small team that was sent here to scout the area and set up a foothold for their operations in this new universe. It was impossible for the Sea King to not know about the fact that the Elzeiran Empire was preparing to invade a new universe. For him to set a base before the Elzeirans was a strange development that even Karyk hadn''t expected. Although Karyk had never seen the Sea King, but he had heard a lot about that man. The man was said to be an impulsive person who didn''t think before doing things. However, he was also said to be very cautious. It was no surprise that he didn''t send any powerful pirates to this world. He was still very careful. "Should we start taking back our world?" Gabriel asked Karyk, pulling out the sword that he had been gifted. Karyk didn''t answer. He simply remained silent, thinking about something. After a brief moment of silence, Karyk spoke, ""I have a better n."

    "We won''t kill them... yet," he added. "Instead, we''ll kill the others."

    "The others?" Gabriel asked, slightly confused about the n. They weren''t going to kill these people but they were going to kill someone else?

    As he thought about Karyk''s words, he realized what this guy was thinking about. He had known this guy the best as they used to be the same at a point in time. "I see." Gabriel let out a smile. "That does sound better."

    Karyk cast a shroud over his body, turning invisible. Gabriel also did the same. This kind of spell was useless on a General level being of the Elzeiran Army. Karyk had found that out the hard way when he was trying to return to his universe. But fortunately enough, the people here weren''t that strong. The cautious nature of the Sea King benefited him. He didn''t send any powerful warriors, worried about a trap. It also allowed Karyk to freely move. Karyk passed towards the Royal Pce, apanied by Gabriel. Even as the Pirates walked past them, nothing odd was discovered. Karyk entered the Pce which belonged to Aliac. As Aliac had already told him all the secrets about this ce, Karyk didn''t have to walk through the front door. Instead, he was told a secret passage that could lead him directly to the underground floor with the portal. The n for them was simple. If they attacked these pirates, it was highly likely that a few of them might escape. If they escaped through the portal, they could alert the pirates on the other side. If that happened, it was going to be much harder for them to enter that world through this portal. Karyk didn''t want to lose this portal as this was the closest portal to the border city that he knew about. Moreover, he had also wanted to capitalize on this opportunity. At the moment, the Pirates on the other side werex. They didn''t expect any dangers. It was also the best time for him to strike. Karyk had sacrificed a lot of his undeads when he was trying to escape from the Royal Capital of Elzeira. And this was the opportunity for him to gather some powerful corpses. Although the pirates couldn''t be a strong undead like the Royals, but there was still the Sea King!

    The Sea King was strong. He wasparable to a Shadow Guard. Normally, it was impossible to kill a Shadow Guard because they rarely traveled together. Even if he wanted to kill one, it would''ve taken him some time, which would''ve been enough for other Shadow Guards to arrive. The Sea King was different. He was no different than a Shadow Guard walking alone. And even if he went missing, no one was going to know his absence! n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    If he could control the Sea King, he could control the Pirates and the entire Oceanic Region of Elzeira! He didn''t even have to kill the pirates tomand them after that moment. He could simply use the Undead Puppet Master to lead the pirates. It could be another weapon for him. He had thought about creating the Border City as a base. But now he had a better idea. He could simply use the Pirate Ind that had a portal now. He could just bring all his Border City citizens to the Pirate Ind. And even if that was hard, he could still have many other uses. After a brief moment, Gabriel and Karyk appeared in the room that possessed the portal. It was such an important ce, yet there was no person guarding this ce. On the contrary, there was a presence outside the door where the guards stood. "Although there are no Guards here, there might be many on the other side," Karyk told Gabriel. "Are you prepared?"

    "I''ve been preparing for a long time." Gabriel nodded. He had been wanting to enter Elzeira for a long time, especially to kill the Elzeiran Emperor so he could have his revenge. He now even had a weapon that made it possible for him to use hisplete strength without worrying about their immortality. His grip on the sword tightened as he stepped through the Portal, followed by Karyk. ....

    As soon as the two of them entered the world of Elzeira, a pair of eyes opened in an unknown ce.

 Chapter 899: We have a guide

    Chapter 899: We have a guide

    In an unknown ce, there was absolute darkness. It was a space that seemed to stretch as far as the eyes could see, with no end at sight. At times, it seemed like a prison. At other times, it felt like the end of the universe. However, amidst the darkness, a pair of eyes opened. The eyes were bloodshot, but they held something iprehensible within them. "Is this the beginning?" A deste voice echoed in the endless void before the eyes once again closed. The endless void returned to its old silence, but something was different this time. ****

    In another ce, a figure was flying high in the sky. It was a world unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. Even the clouds were red, as if they weren''t made from water vapors, but instead made from blood. The figure was flying through the clouds, the angel-like wings on their back shimmering in the eerie red light. As they soared higher, the figure noticed that the world had started shaking. This was the first time Archangel had seen something like this. In the distance, she noticed the ground itself splitting apart. As ifing straight from the depths of hell, a strange yet ancient tower came out from the vast crack in the ground. ****

    In another ce, Gabriel stepped out of the portal. As soon as he stepped out, he noticed the presence of people around him. Without a second thought, he moved with the sword raised sharply. The Pirates had been standing near the Portal, but it didn''t mean they were guarding it. They werezy and weren''t even alert as they didn''t expect someone to be able to arrive without being detected by their teams on the other side of the portal. Before they could even react, a beautiful sword shed before their eyes. Thest thing they saw was ayer of blood left behind by the sword. Their heads were removed from their bodies. At that moment, they weren''t scared since they were immortal. They even thought that the other person was a fool who thought they could kill him. But the moment they realized that their healing wasn''t working, it was toote! Something was wrong with their healing. They dropped to the ground, their expressions frozen in shock as they realized their immortality had been stripped away for reasons unknown. In their final moments, as darkness closed in, they found it absurd. They had thought that they were going to die after living their full lifetime. Yet death came unannounced. "Looks like I don''t need to help," Karyk stepped out of the Portal, noticing the bodies of Pirates around him. "I''m not weaker than you," Gabriel replied, wiping the blood from the sword. "The only thing Icked was a method to kill them."

    "I know you aren''t weak," Karyk smiled as he made the bodies disappear. "But next time, can you please leave their bodies intact?"

    The bodies were more or less useless for him the moment they lost their heads. He could still bring them back, but it wasn''t the same. Gabriel nced back at Karyk, realizing why he was asking for intact bodies. That also made him remember how he had killed Karyk''s Undeads in the past. He still felt regret over his past decisions. It was because of him that Karyk lost his Undead Generals that were like his family. As he still felt guilty for it, he wanted to make up for that. "Next time, I will be more careful," he stated, as he kept the sword back. Karyk was slightly surprised that Gabriel had agreed to this easily, instead of being stubborn. In the end, he also smiled as he ruffled the hairs of Gabriel. They used to be the same person in the past. However, now they were two different people. They had their own conflicts in the past, but at the end of the day, the two of them could still trust each other. They were still a family. And with time, their rtionship was only improving. With Gabriel backing him, Karyk felt even safer. This was someone he could trust his back to. "Now that I think about it, I should have left one alive." Gabriel looked around, scratching the back of his head. He had thought that the other side of the portal was going to be the base of the Pirates. However, it was only an ind which was only upied by the Pirates that he had already killed. If he had left some alive, he could have then guided them to their true base. "This certainly seems troublesome," Karyk also agreed. Even he hadn''t expected the pirates to not make a proper base on this ind despite finding out about the Ind. "Or could it be that the Sea King himself wasn''t informed about this portal yet? These pirates were acting independently?" n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    He had a lot of questions about this situation. How could so many pirates be sent to explore without the Sea King''s Knowledge? "Looks like everything isn''t as peaceful amongst the Pirates as we thought," Gabriel chimed in. "I believe there must be a few influential people amongst the Pirates who aren''t satisfied with the Sea King."

    "That would make sense. If it''s another influential pirate, he could afford to send a proper team without arousing much suspicion. And he definitely wouldn''t make a proper base here, as that would be too conspicuous."

    Karyk agreed with Gabriel''s theory. However, they still had to find the whereabouts of the Sea King''s base. After a brief pause, he nced back at the portal. "Wait a minute for me. I''ll be right back."

    Karyk turned around and went back inside the Portal, believing that the portals were mostly stabilized now. Gabriel remained behind, wondering what Karyk was going to do. "Surely he couldn''t be..." He muttered, but before he could even finish his sentence, he saw Karyk return. He was grabbing an unconscious Pirate by his cor. "Now we have a guide."

 Chapter 900: Demolition Squad

    Chapter 900: Demolition Squad

    "How kind of him to be our guide." Gabriel gazed at the unconscious man, slightly amused by Karyk''s tactics. His idea wasn''t bad. If they didn''t have a guide, all they had to do was drag some back. "Shouldn''t you have killed the others? If they notice someone missing, they might return and try to inform the others?" he further asked, thinking about returning for a short time to take care of the rest. Now that they had secured this ce, they didn''t need to worry about them crossing this portal and alerting the others as long as they were here. "Are you talking about them?" Karyk waved his hand. A portal opened above him, connecting to his spatial storage. Multiple pirates fell out of the portal. All of them were dead. And as they were killed, someone made sure to not harm the bodies much. It was clear who did it. "Looks like we really think the same." Gabriel shook his head lightly. "Next time, I''ll keep my mouth shut."

    "There''s no need." Karyk sent the bodies back. "I prefer having someone to talk to."

    Gabriel nced back at Karyk, not saying much. Since they used to be the same person in the past, he knew that Karyk had lived most of his life alone, having no one to talk to. He was only apanied by death most of his life. That''s also why he started creating his undead Generals to keep himpany. Although Gabriel was now a different person, that feeling was still intact. "How long until he''s going to wake up?" he asked, changing the topic. "I can read his memories to make things easier."

    "Be my guest." Karyk stepped back. Although he could also perform a soul search, he let Gabriel handle it. Gabriel stepped closer to the unconscious man. He ced his head on the man''s forehead, closing his eyes to focus. As he delved into the man''s memories, a flood of images and emotions washed over him, making him stumble briefly before regaining his bnce. It was as if he had lived the life of that pirate. Although he had used this skill before, but this was his first time using this on an immortal being. It took him a moment to gather his own thoughts and separate reality from the memories he read. He didn''t know that Karyk had lived through the memories of hundreds of immortal beings when he was in the Ancient Temple. That experience had changed him a lot. Gabriel sifted through the memories carefully, searching for the key information he needed. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    "It seems we were right. These people weren''t sent by the Sea King. That makes things a little easier." Gabriel searched the unconscious man, bringing out a few items that could be used to contact the Pirate Base. As there were a lot of Pirates, it was possible to recognise everyone''s face. That''s why, every pirate was issued a token that allowed them to enter the base. After taking the token, he tossed it towards Karyk. "You''ll have to change your clothes."

    "Are you really asking me to wear these clothes?" Karyk looked at the clothes of the Pirates that were dirty. The clothes had that pungent smell that seemed to linger in the air. "It should make things easier," Gabriel exined before he started stripping the unconscious man whose token he had taken. All the other bodies were bloody. Their clothes were also covered in blood. Karyk looked at Gabriel who had changed clothes swiftly. In the end, he also agreed to y along. He could use invisibility, but the base was going to have powerful pirates that could sense his presence. If he was invisible, it could only make them more suspicious. In the end, he selected a pirate whose clothes he took. He also took the token from the pirate. The two men that had donned a clean princely attire were now dressed in an attire that made them look like pirates. The clothes were covered in dust, appearing as if they hadn''t been washed for months. Karyk used his abilities to remove the smell from the clothes to protect his senses. Gabriel also sealed his sense of smell when it came to the clothes. "Are you going to kill him? I don''t see much use for him now." Gabriel looked at the unconscious Pirate who was half naked now. "It would be a hassle to drag him along. But he mighte in handy. I suppose I can keep him alive for now." Karyk sent the unconscious man into the shadow realm where most of his Elzeiran Undeads were residing. Even if the man was going to wake up, he couldn''t do anything to them. ....

    Karyk and Gabriel walked towards the shore of the ind, seemingly not in any hurry. They had just sent a signal to the base and it was going to take some time before a ship was sent here for them. To make their infiltration more effective, they used disguise to change their faces as they weren''t sure if the ship that was sent to pick them up was going to have people who knew them. "In his memories, I saw that there used to be a temple here."

    Walking back, Gabriel saw the rubble of an ancient temple in the distance. "It was said that the Temple was cursed so not even the Pirates used toe here."

    "But one day, one of the pirate ships discovered that the Temple was left in ruins. It had broken down. The Pirates came to investigate, and that''s when they discovered the portal."

    Along the way, Gabriel exined to Karyk about the things he had learned from the pirate''s memories. "It''s interesting. The day this temple broke down, it was the same day that you left the Upper Realm for Elzeira. You wouldn''t happen to have anything to do with it, right?" he asked, thinking of something. Karyk shrugged. "What do you take me as? Am I some kind of demolition squad that goes around destroying temples?"

 Chapter 901: All night long

    Chapter 901: All night long

    Gabriel looked at Karyk suspiciously. "Are you certain you had nothing to do with it?"

    Karyk rolled his eyes. "Although it''s true that I was present here when the temple broke, I really had nothing to do with it."

    "In any case, the temple was very old. The walls were already covered in cracks before I even entered. It''s not a surprise that it fell apart on its own," he further added. "Did you find anything inside?" Gabriel asked, wondering what kind of temple it was that even the pirates were advised to never approach it. There wasn''t much information about it in the memories of the pirate. The young man had joined the pirates not long ago. He hadn''t been to this ind when the temple existed. All he had heard were the warnings. "There was just an old statue inside. I think the statue broke at the same time as the temple," Karyk exined, as he looked back at thest time he was here. He was also very curious about the temple. At that time, he didn''t know much about this world. He also didn''t know why a Temple like this was created in a ce like this. But after staying in this world for some time, he came to know quite a few things. Amongst the information he had gathered, there was one about the existence of a simr Temple inside the Royal Pce. He wanted to check it thest time he was here, but in the end, he had to leave. At that time, he wasn''t sure whose statues were inside the Temple. But thanks to the fragments of the memories of the Celestial Empress, he was able to learn a few things. During her era, there weren''t any temples like this in this world. However, he did remember thest bits of her memories before he was forced out. The girl had gone to tell her father that she had learned a new skill. But her father was busy talking to someone. She only looked at her father through the crack in the door. From there, she saw the back of the person her father was talking to. It was a creature that looked neither human, nor the demon. He wasn''t like any species she had known. The being had angel like wings, and two horns protruding from their head. Karyk wanted to find out more about the person and why he came in contact with the Celestial Emperor. What did the Celestial Emperor refuse him for? What was the Archangel asking?

    Was it because of the rejection that the Archangels sent the Elzeirans to this world? If they were really that strong, why did they send the Elzeirans instead of directly destroying the Celestial Empire?

    There were a lot of questions in his mind. However, there was barely any answer. All he knew was that the statues inside those temples had simr features to the archangel who he saw in the Celestial Empress'' memories. He couldn''t help but wonder if the temples had been created by the Elzeirans. It made sense if they made one in the Royal Pce, but why did they create one in such a faraway ind?

    Was it really a coincidence that the portal connecting to the Central World had opened on this ind?

    He wasn''t even sure why the statue broke in his presence. The temple was certainly in a bad condition, filled with cracks. But the statue waspletely intact. It looked as good as new. He was clear that the statue didn''t break because the temple broke. Instead, it was as if the temple broke because the statue broke in his presence. He didn''t tell such things to Gabriel, mainly because he himself didn''t understand it properly. He didn''t want Gabriel to worry about the same thing. "What kind of statue was it?" Gabriel asked, bringing Karyk out of his daze. "Just some weird statue," Karyk answered vaguely. "Since it''s broken, there''s not much use talking about it."

    "I just asked because when I was a guest of the Royal Army, I also heard something about a temple. It was said that only the Royal Emperor was allowed to enter the temple," Gabriel responded, feeling as if Karyk was hiding something. "Unfortunately, I wasn''t able to gather more information. So it''s interesting to know that there was also a temple here, which was special in its own ways." N?v(el)B\\jnn

    Although he felt that there was something that Karyk wasn''t telling him, he didn''t insist. He knew that when needed, he was going to be informed about this. For now, he only had to focus on setting up a base. He had to take care of the pirates. ....

    Soon, the two of them reached the shore of the Ind. In the distance, they could also see a vast pirate ship moving towards them. They could fly to the ship directly, but they decided to wait as that was what ordinary pirates did. "They should take us to the person in charge of the invasion. Since that person is hiding this secret from the Sea King, we might be able to take advantage of the situation," Gabriel told Karyk while waving his hand at the Pirate Ship. "Are you saying that we should seperate?" Karyk asked. "That''s no point in separating." Gabriel shook his head. "I''m saying that we shoulde up with a nice story so we can get close to the person."

    "That''s correct. Through him, we should be able to get to the Sea King." Karyk nodded. It wasn''t often the two of them worked together in such a manner. Buthe felt that it wasn''t bad. ....

    The Pirate Ship stopped near the ind. A pirate from the shipnded on the Ind. He didn''t even ask for the identification token. Instead, he stepped closer and hugged the both of them. "You are back faster than I thought," the Pirate stated. "I still saved some wine for you!"

    He ced his arms around Karyk and Gabriel''s neck before flying towards the ship. "We would be drinking all night long! I won''t ept any excuses!"

 Chapter 902: A new guest

    Chapter 902: A new guest

    "We would be drinking all night long! I won''t ept any excuses!" the Pirate eximed, leading Karyk and Gabriel towards the pirate ship. As they boarded the ship, the atmosphere was lively, filled with rowdyughter and the smell of alcohol. Pirates of all shapes and sizes were gathered, celebrating their recent victories and plundered treasures.

    It was clear that the ship hadn''te from the main base directly. Instead, they were also returning to the main base after plundering another ship when they saw the signal. They were also in a very good mood because they had managed to rob a lot of treasures this time. The Pirate Captain stood at the helm of the ship, overseeing the festivities. His booming voice echoed across the deck as he addressed the crew. "Wee back! Master would be really happy to find out that you''ve returned."

    "And since you''re back, I''m sure you found something important to report?" he further asked. But soon he realized that he might have asked more than he was allowed. Only their master was supposed to know such things. The more people knew about it, the riskier it became. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    If only these two knew about it, then even if their master wanted to silence people, he was going to kill only these two. But if the others knew about it and the master found out, the others could be at risk as well. "There''s no need to talk! Tonight, we are going to celebrate your return! It shall be a celebration like never before!" The Captain of the ship quickly changed the topic. He raised the bottle of alcohol, weing the guests. The crew cheered in response, raising their tankards and shouting in excitement. Karyk and Gabriel exchanged nces, realizing that their n to infiltrate the pirate organization was off to a promising start. These people weren''t asking any questions. It was clear that they were more scared of the answers that they might receive than anything else. As the night went on, Karyk and Gabriel found themselves engrossed in conversations with various pirates, understanding more about the current situation at their base. They listened carefully, gathering information about the pirates'' activities, alliances, and their leader, the enigmatic Sea King. It seemed that the Sea King''s power and influence extended far beyond what they had initially anticipated. It was especially the case for the people he had gathered. It was well known that the Sea King was strong, but they just found out that he wasn''t the only person who was strong. In recent weeks, another person had arrived at Pirate Ind who was said to be just as strong as the Pirate King. The Sea King called that person a friend. But no one knew about the identity of that person. The only thing they were certain about was that the person wasn''t a part of the Elzeiran Empire. Hearing about that person, Karyk was really curious about who it could be. He had a good intelligencework but even he didn''t know of a person who was as strong as the Sea King while not being a part of the Elzeiran Empire Royal Army. The only person he could think of was the Puppet Master. But he didn''t believe that the Puppet Master was going to work with the Sea King. He wondered if that new guest was going to spoil their ns. He also managed to learn another thing worth interest. It was said that the Sea King wasn''t even on the Pirate Ind. He had left the Ocean Region. As for where he went, no one knew for certain. Some said he went to take a dragon. Others said he went to kidnap some great Generals from the Elzeiran Empire. There were also rumors that said that he went to the City of Ember which was quite chaotic during recent times. In between the revelry, Karyk noticed a pirate who seemed more observant than the others. His sharp eyes andposed demeanor stood out amidst the chaos. Intrigued, Karyk decided to strike up a conversation with him.

    "Quite the celebration, isn''t it?" Karyk remarked, nodding towards the rowdy crowd.

    The observant pirate nced at Karyk, a hint of curiosity in his eyes. "Indeed, it is. But celebrations can sometimes be a smokescreen for hidden motives and secrets. Careful who you trust in this world, my friend."

    Karyk couldn''t help but feel as if the man before him was not actually a Pirate. He looked more as if he was trying to fit in. There wasn''t much suspicion in his eyes so it was clear that he didn''t doubt his identity. But still something was odd about him. He was clearly new to this ship. Karyk''s interest was piqued. "You seem to have a keen eye for details. I take it you''ve been with the pirates for a while?"

    The observant pirate nodded, his expression bing more serious. "You should run. I don''t know what that man sent you to do, but I am sure he will kill you the moment he gets what he wants from you."

    Karyk and Gabriel exchanged a knowing nce. This observant pirate could be their ticket to uncover the secrets of the Sea King and the temple. He also appeared to know more than met the eye, especially about the mission in another world. They had to gain his trust and delve deeper into the mysteries that surrounded them.

    As the night wore on, the observant pirate revealed himself to be named Roderick. He was an orphan who had recently joined the Pirates. He wasn''t strong, but he was a wise person. Even though he joined only recently, he had managed to make a ce for himself. He didn''t have loyalty toward the pirates, but he still stayed with them. A person as cunning as him was trying to get close to them. Karyk had a feeling that there was something he wanted from them. He had a purpose in revealing his ws.

 Chapter 903: The Master

    Chapter 903: The Master

    "Do you realize that you can also get killed if we tell others what you''ve been saying?" Gabriel asked the young man. "I know you won''t do that," the young man answered. "And why won''t we do that?" Gabriel asked, wondering why this guy was so confident about this. "Because you two have worked with the Pirates for a long time. I''m sure you know your master well enough by now to understand what he is going to do to you, once you be a burden."

    The young man made his thoughts clear. His words also convinced Gabriel that he truly didn''t know who they were. He was still thinking that they were the pirates who had returned from the other world. Only very few people amongst the pirates should have known about their mission. So it was surprising that someone who was new to the group knew about it. "Even if you are correct, what else can we do?" Gabriel asked the man. "I''m sure you aren''t asking us to betray, are you?"

    "I''m not asking you to do anything." The young man let out a smile. "It''s for you to decide what you want to do. I just thought I should express my thoughts."

    The young man didn''t overstay his wee. Taking the bottle of alcohol, he walked away, leaving Karyk and Gabriel behind. With how rxed the young boy was, it was certainly surprising. Although he justified his actions, but if was clear that his reasons were lies. Someone who had managed to survive for so long... How could that person be a fool to put his life on the line, just to express his thoughts. "What an interesting man," Karyk let out a smile as he took a sip of the wine. However, he didn''t worry about the man''s threat. He might have been concerned if they were actually pirates, but they were far from it. They were able to protect themselves. Karyk alone was strong enough, let alone Gabriel who was now able to kill the Purebloods as well. With just the two of them, they could kill all the pirates if they wanted. But that wasn''t their n. Killing the pirates was no different than wasting their resources. Instead, they wanted to use these pirates for the days that were toe. Although they could kill the pirates, they would also have to exhaust a lot of strength. If they did that, they could only return to recover, which was even more wasteful. "I don''t know what he wants from us, but it looks like we will soon find out." Gabriel took a sip of the alcohol, not sparing another nce at the young pirate. The alcohol of the pirates wasn''t the best alcohol, but it wasn''t bad either. It was at least better than the alcohol he had tasted before. ....

    For the next few days, Roderick didn''t approach them. It was as if he was waiting for them to approach him instead. Unfortunately for him, the two of them didn''t approach him either. They weren''t in any hurry either. After all, they had plenty of time to deal with that boy after they dealt with the so-called master of this group. With time, the ship reached near a Majestic Ind that was over a hundred timesrger than the previous ind. In fact, they couldn''t even see the ind for a long time, even if it was right before their eyes. It was only after their ship passed through a strange just that the ind became visible. The beautiful Ind had lush greenery, towering mountains, and crystal-clear waters that was a sight to behold. There were also hundreds ofrge pirate ships anchored along the coastline, hinting at a lively and bustling piratemunity thriving on the ind. "Finally we are back home." The Captain of the Ship eximed. The Captain''s voice echoed through the ship, evoking a sense of excitement among the crew. Karyk and Gabriel exchanged nces, knowing that they were finally here. The ce was much better than they had expected. The number of pirates was also big, and so was the protection. It wasn''t surprising that the Pirates had managed to survive so long in the ocean. They had managed to hide their base well. Even the Elzeiran Empire didn''t know the right position of the Pirate Ind that was said to be constantly moving in the ocean, changing its location. As the ship docked at the ind, the bustling atmosphere became palpable. Pirates of all kinds, adorned with tattoos and weapons, moved swiftly on the dock, theirughter and conversations filling the air. It was clear that this ind was the heart of the piratemunity. They hadn''t even gotten off the ship yet they could already see many pirates who were as strong as elite knights of the Royal Army. "The Master must be waiting for you. You can go ahead, I''ll take care of the things here," The captain of the Ship reminded Gabriel. Gabriel nodded. Stepping off the ship, Karyk and Gabriel blended in seamlessly with the crowd, their disguises ensuring that they remained inconspicuous. As Gabriel had seen the memories of the real pirate, he knew the man that they had to meet. He also knew the ce where they had to go. As they made their way deeper into the ind, they noticed a grand pirate tavern, its doors wide open invitingly. "It should be here," Gabriel said, deciding to step inside.

    The tavern was filled with rowdy pirates, theirughter and cheers filling the room. The smell of alcohol and smoke hung in the air, creating a fun atmosphere. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    However, as soon as Gabriel entered the bar with Karyk, the entire bar went silent. All the pirates looked towards them. "Look who is here... Is your vacation finally over?" The Bartender looked at Gabriel as he opened the door back. "You can go inside. Master is waiting for you," he stated.

 Chapter 904: Still of use

    Chapter 904: Still of use

    Karyk closed the door behind him as he entered the room in the back with Gabriel. Inside the room, they came across a pirate, who was dressed in colorful clothing adorned with shiny jewels and intricate embroidery, giving off an air of mboyance.

    "Is he the one?" Karyk asked Gabriel, who was looking at the man sittingfortably in the distance. "You bastard, did you forget how to greet your master after being away for a few weeks?" The bearded man asked, his eyes narrowing. "He is the one." Gabriel nodded, confirming the identity of the person. This was the person who had sent the team to investigate their world. This was also the person who was known as the right hand man of the Sea King. Although the man appeared mboyant and careless, his strength wasn''t weak. He was known as one of the strongest pirates on the Ind. He was also one of the three direct subordinates of the Sea King. But unlike the other direct subordinates, he didn''t like the Sea King. Only a few knew that the man was always scheming. If it wasn''t for the sheer strength of the Sea King, he would have long overthrown him. Despite his ambitions, he knew that he needed to be patient and wait for the right moment. And that right moment came in the form of the discovery of another world. That''s why he didn''t tell even the Sea King about this and sent his team to investigate directly. He hadn''t expected any of them to return so early. But since they returned, he also believed that they had information worth sharing. Usually, when his subordinates were before him, they instantly greeted him while going down to their knees. He could often see fear in their eyes and that fear excited him. But strangely enough, he couldn''t see any fear in the eyes of these two people. Instead, he felt something strange. It was as if theypletely disregarded him. He didn''t know how his subordinates could change this much in an instant. "Looks like I really have to train you again."The bearded man reached out his hand, grabbing a whip. "Since he''s the one, I suppose that makes things easier." Karyk cast a barrier inside the room, making sure that no sound was going to leak outside. The bearded man stood up, attacking with a whip that if hit, could leave a deep red wound on the skin. But before he could hit, he saw the barrier. He grew stunned. His subordinates couldn''t use a barrier like this. "Why are you?" he asked, his expressions turning darker. He was sure that these people weren''t his subordinates.

    "Do you understand the consequences of infiltrating Pirate Ind?" he asked, his voice low and calm, emanating a sense of authority. "Do you not fear death?"

    "Would you believe me if I say we are your fans?" Karyk''s voice came from right behind the bearded man, who grew stunned. But he reacted just as swiftly, turning around. His whip flew across the room, destroying everything in its path.

    If it wasn''t for the barrier, even the entire establishment would have been destroyed. All the tables and chairs inside the room were broken. Only destruction was left whenever the whip moved. But to the man''s surprise, the two men had disappeared. If it wasn''t for the barrier, even the entire establishment would have been destroyed. All the tables and chairs inside the room were broken. Only destruction was left whenever the whip moved. But to the man''s surprise, the two men had disappeared. "You should have been serious from the start. Looking down on us wasn''t good for you," A voice once again appeared behind him. And this time, before he could react, a sword passed through his chest. The bearded man could break the barrier if he had given his all. He could even put up a fight, at least to some extent. But instead, he looked down on them, only using the whip. This was the biggest w in the immortal beings. As they were certain that they couldn''t die, they weren''t as serious about battles. Instead, they preferred to gauge the strength of the enemy with each attack, so they could have more fun hunting the enemy down. It was the same for the bearded man. No matter how strong he was, he looked down on Karyk and Gabriel. He believed he had all the time in the world after all. But he hadn''t expected that even his own life was on the line here. He wasn''t even given the change to get serious as Gabriel''s sword passed through his heart, making him cough blood. He looked at the blood in disbelief. He didn''t even remember how long it had been since hest saw his blood. But worse than that was the fact that he could feel that his body wasn''t healing. "What... did you do?" he asked, his expressions growing pale. "Why am I not..."

    "Life is precious. You should have cared more about it." Karyk appeared in front of the man, looking at his blood staining his clothes. He slowly removed his disguise, revealing his real face which was that of a young boy that wasn''t even an Elzeiran. "From another world...?" The man finally realized the identity of the other side. He had sent his people to investigate the other side of the portal. And now, someone had entered this world disguised as those same men. He found itughable that it took him so long to realize it. He had thought that he was sending his people to the other world. He thought he could use the other world. He hadn''t realized that there were monsters in the other world that were able to kill them. Even as his vision turned dark, he felt regretful. Had his actions invited the wrath of someone that they couldn''t afford to offend? Instead of going into the other world, he had brought them into his world. He wanted to say a lot of things, but no words came out of his lips until he finally died, falling on the ground. "Don''t worry. I will bring you back." Karyk ced his hand on the lifeless body of the Pirate Chief. "You are still of use to me."N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 905: The Treasures

    Chapter 905: The Treasures

    Karyk closed his eyes and focused his energy, channeling his essence into the lifeless body of the Pirate Chief. It was much more exhausting to bring back the Royal Family members who had been dead for centuries. They were also very strong during their eras, which made it even harder. But it was much easier to bring back the Pirate Chief who had just died. It didn''t use much of his essence either. A faint glow enveloped the man as Karyk''s necromantic magic took effect. Slowly, the man''s eyes fluttered open, now devoid of life and filled with an eerie glow.

    The Pirate Chief rose from the ground, his body now under Karyk''s control. No longer a living being, he had be an undead servant, bound to obey Karyk''s everymand. The man''s mboyant attire and bearded face now appeared even more sinister in his undead state. "Wee back," Karyk said, his voiceced with a chilling tone. "You are now mine tomand. Serve me faithfully, and I may grant you the opportunity to be one of themanders of the Undead Army I''m about to create."

    The undead Pirate Chief nodded, his movements stiff and unnatural. As he had just awakened as an undead, his mind was still hazy and not fully stable. Still, he knew that his fate was now entwined with Karyk''s, and he had no choice but to follow his new master''s orders.

    Gabriel watched with a mix of curiosity as Karyk gained control over the once-powerful pirate. He had also possessed these necromancer abilities in the past. Unfortunately, he had lost them. He started his new journey with abilities that were much different from his initial era. He was slightly surprised that Karyk was able to turn even the Elzeirans into an undead. He still found it fascinating that it was possible. He knew that having an undead servant would prove useful in their mission to gainplete control over the ocean. Instead of making it a battle between their world and this world, they wanted to make it a battle between the Ocean Region and the Surface Region, ushering into the era of a new power that could rival the Royal Family. "Now, we shall continue our investigation," Karyk dered, his gaze fixed on the Pirate Chief. "You will provide us with any information you have about the people who work for you."

    "I also want to know every small detail about the Sea King and where he went."

    The undead Pirate Chief nodded once again, his eyes slowly recovering intelligence as time passed. With time, he appeared more alive. Although some ws could still be mother, it was hard to notice unless one was stronger than the Pirate Chief or more observant. The Pirate Chief had be a mere pawn in Karyk''s grand scheme.

    For the next few hours, the Pirate Chief informed Karyk about details that ordinary pirates didn''t know. It was information that only the Sea King and the three pirate chiefs under him knew about. This information included the locations of all their bases and how one could easily find the whereabouts of Pirate Ind, even though it often changed location. It was a secret that could expose Pirate Ind to dangers if the secret was exposed to the Elzeiran Empire. But it was a tightly guarded secret that no one under the Pirate Chief knew. It was a secret that could expose Pirate Ind to dangers if the secret was exposed to the Elzeiran Empire. But it was a tightly guarded secret that no one under the Pirate Chief knew. The pirate chief also informed Karyk about the people who were the strongest and their strengthpared to the Warriors of the Royal Army. Although Gabriel had read the memories of one of the pirates and knew the rough knowledge, what he came to find out from the Pirates was surprising even for him. The Pirates weren''t stronger than the Royal Army, but there were quite a few strong beings amongst them. Just the pirates alone could sweep their upper realm if they had sent theirplete force through the portal, instead of just a small investigation team. What made the Pirates even more dangerous was that not even the Pirates knew about every member. They had many spies that had infiltrated the Elzeiran Empire. Their sheer number was also huge. It was another secret closely held by the Sea King and the three Pirate Chiefs under him. This intricate web of secrecy and power dynamics within the pirate ranks made them a formidable force to reckon with. Yet, amidst the secrecy and power struggles, there was a sense of unity and camaraderie that bound the Pirates together in their pursuit of their goals.

    The Undead Pirate Chief didn''t hold any secret back. He couldn''t do that even if he wanted to. He was only serving one master now. He told Karyk and Gabriel about the weakness of all the Pirates that were evenparatively strong. He also talked about the Sea King''s strength and his perceived weakness. The undead pirate chief also exposed all the treasures that had been gathered by the Pirates throughout the years. Any significant treasure that a pirate gathered was donated to the Pirate Chief that they served under. And all the Pirate Chiefs had their own treasury.

    In total, there were three such treasuries in Pirate Ind. Each Pirate Chief could only open their own treasury and not the other two. Only the Sea King was able to open all three treasuries as he wished. Moreover, even if the Pirate Chief wanted to take out a treasure from their treasury, he needed to take the permission of the Sea King who had the list of all the items kept in the treasury. Although the undead Pirate Chief didn''t know what the other two treasuries had, he told everything that his treasury had contained. "This is the key to open the treasury. But once a treasury is opened, the Sea King would get alerted. That''s why, his permission is often taken before opening one." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    The Undead Pirate Chief handed over a golden key to Karyk, which had a unique mark carved on it. "What does this mark mean?" Karyk asked the undead pirate chief. "It is a symbol assigned to me. It represents my legion," the Undead Pirate Chief answered. "Being the Sea King seems to be quite beneficial. No wonder you were scheming against him." Karyk smiled, keeping the key.

 Chapter 906: Intuition

    Chapter 906: Intuition

    Karyk didn''t have any intention to open the treasury yet. Although the treasury contained some decent treasures, it wasn''t worth his attention. He was more interested in the three legions of the Pirates and the Sea King. "Where is the Sea King now?" Gabriel asked the undead Pirate Chief. "I heard that he hadn''t been on the ind for quite some time." N?v(el)B\\jnn

    "The Sea King went to the Royal City of Elzeira," the Pirate Chief answered. "The Royal City?" Karyk was slightly surprised. He had been inside the Royal City not long ago. He was sure that it must have been turned into a fortress the moment he left, to make sure an incident like that never happened again. The Sea King was scared of the Elzeiran Empire. It wasn''t a secret for anyone. For a person like that to go to the Royal City at such a sensitive time?

    "Isn''t he too cowardly for that? Why is he going to the Royal City when he used to stay as far away from them as possible?" Karyk asked. "I''m not sure. Though I did hear from some Pirates that something big is happening in the Royal City," the Pirate Chief said. "The Royal Elzeiran Family had sent an invitation to every influential person in the Elzeiran Empire. The Leaders of every city had also been invited."

    "An invitation to gather at the Royal City?" Karyk hadn''t expected something like this. He thought the Royal City would have been sealed at the moment. But they were inviting all the powerful people in the Empire?

    "Is the invasion going to happen before the expected date?" Gabriel chimed in. He could only think of one reason for an invitation out of nowhere. It was to inform everyone about the invasion. "That should be unlikely. Our world still isn''t prepared for them to invade. The essence that they need to use their powers haven''t been absorbed by our worldpletely yet. It would be foolish for them to invade so early."

    "Who says they can''t be foolish?" Gabriel asked, not removing any possibility. "Did the Sea King also receive an invitation?" Karyk asked the undead Pirate Chief. "Not to my knowledge." The undead pirate chief shook his head. "I believe he went there on his own to see what was happening there."

    Gabriel continued asking him more questions, but Karyk appeared to be lost in thoughts. An invitation was sent to all the City Leaders. Didn''t that mean an invitation was also sent to the Border City?

    And if someone hade there with an invitation, it wasn''t impossible for them to not notice the abnormalities. There were protection mechanisms everywhere. All the residents of the city were Purebloods. The city had various new buildings that were inspired by the architecture of their world. If it was discovered, it would definitely be reported to the Royal Family. The most likely oue was that the envoy had been captured by the residents and the Puppet Master, not allowed to go back. If the envoy wasn''t a pureblood, it was even more likely that he was killed. But that didn''t change the oue. If an envoy disappeared from the border city, right after the Royal City fiasco, the Royal Family was definitely going to believe it was his work!

    The Royal Family was definitely going to be led straight to the border city, and it could put all his ns in jeopardy. He wanted to contact the Celestial Empress to have her contact the Puppet Master, but he hadn''t forgotten how she had replied when his life was on the line and he asked for the same thing. He hadn''t forgotten her intentions of turning him into a ve if he wanted to leave. As he was distracted after returning to his world, he hadpletely forgotten about this matter. He wanted to go directly to the Border City and check the situation. He wanted to check up on the residents and take precautions in case they were exposed to the Royal Family. If possible, he wanted to have them abandon the city for the time being, if they weren''t prepared. Unfortunately, they were in a reallyrge number. No matter where they went, they were going to be too eye-catching. The only other option was to bring them to Pirate Ind. He was even more certain that he had to hurry now. He had topletely take possession of the Ind. "I heard that there is a guest on the Pirate Ind who is as strong as the Sea King. Tell us more about him."

    Karyk was distracted by his own thoughts when he heard Gabriel''s question. He also paid attention to the answer. "There was one person. We don''t know who he was. We only know that he was the Sea King''s friend. Other than that, even we don''t know much," the Pirate Chief answered. Sincehe didn''t know about the identity of that person, he couldn''t answer clearly either. "What did he look like? Was he a pureblood?" Karyk asked. The only person as strong as the Sea King should be a Shadow Guard after all. He wondered ifthe Royal Family already started getting in contact with the Sea King? Was this why he went to the Royal City?

    "We didn''t see his face." The Pirate Chief shook his head. "But I doubt he was a pureblood."

    "How can you be certain of that?" Gabriel asked. "Just an intuition," the undead pirate chief replied. "Our intuition is rarely wrong."

    "Why do I find it hard to believe?" Gabriel couldn''t believe that this guy actually said that his intuition was always right, when he had been fooled by their disguise. If they could fool him, why couldn''t a pureblood?

    "Since he has left, there''s not much point talking about him. We need to get the ind under control faster." Karyk stood up. Even if the Sea King was close to the Royals now, it didn''t change his ns as he was nning to turn the Sea King into an undead in the first ce.

 Chapter 907: A Betrayal

    Chapter 907: A Betrayal

    With the help of one of the Pirate Chiefs, things became much easier for them. Karyk and Gabriel disguised themselves again, before leaving the room with the undead Pirate Chief. They made sure to use their magic to make the Pirate Chief appear more alive, or at least how he usually looked. The Pirate Chief left the bar and entered a carriage that was always waiting for him outside. But to everyone''s surprise, he didn''t enter the carriage alone. He entered with two subordinates who had just returned. Many pirates looked in surprise. Generally, the Pirate Chief hated sharing the carriage, even if it was with someone important. But this time, he was doing that?

    They couldn''t help but wonder just what these two people did to gain the favor of their master, who was one of the three leaders under the Sea King. Gaining his favor was no different than entering the upper echelon in an instant. The Pirate Chief''s approval was highly coveted among the pirates, as it brought not only status but also protection and ess to valuable resources. The carriage rolled on towards the Sea King''s stronghold. It was the stronghold where the Sea King stayed. However, it also had a stand hall where meetings between the three Pirate Chiefs were often called to discuss important matters. Usually, the meeting was also attended by the Sea King, but currently he wasn''t on the ind. The carriage traveled through the long yet narrow ind, reaching the center of the Ind where a grand mansion stood tall. The Mansion was protected by elite pirates. However, none of them was as strong as a pirate chief. As soon as the pirate guards saw the carriage, they opened the gates, allowing the carriage to pass through. They couldn''t stop a Pirate Chief. However, looking at the carriage, they couldn''t help but wonder if another meeting was going to be called today. Was something significant happening that required a meeting? Thest meeting happened a long time ago, when it was decided that they were going to send some pirates to rob the ship in which the son of Border City Lord was traveling. Almost a year had passed since that moment. The Guards were sure that something big was going to happen. But even they didn''t have any inkling about reality. The Carriage stopped after reaching the entrance of the Mansion. The Servants who were responsible for maintaining the mansion came out of the mansion, greeting the Pirate Chief. However, even they were surprised to see two more people stepping out of his carriage. "No need to stare at them. They are my informant who will be briefing in the meeting." The Pirate Chief eximed as he stepped inside the mansion, followed by Karyk and Gabriel who acted like real subordinates. It was only after they entered the meeting hall that the two of them rxed. They took the main seats as they still had to wait for the other two to arrive. The Undead Pirate Chief had already sent them a signal to gather for a meeting, but it was given that they weren''t going to be in any hurry to arrive. It was just as Karyk had expected. The other two Pirate Chiefs arrived after two hours, even though their bases were less than an hour away from the Sea King''s threshold. "What did you call us here for?" One of the Pirate Chiefs entered, his eyes cold. He hated the fact that he had to travel so far when he was just enjoying with women back at his base. "I hope this is worth it." The second pirate chief also chimed in. It was only after they entered, they noticed that there were two more people in the room. "Who are they?"

    "Did you forget what kind of ce this is? How dare you bring insignificant people here!" Both the Pirate Chiefs were stunned as usually ordinary pirates weren''t allowed here. They were even more upset since one of the two was sitting on the Sea King''s seat, while the other was sitting on another main seat. Even when they had a meeting without the Sea King, none of them were allowed to sit on the Sea King''s seat but this guy was sitting?

    The atmosphere in the room grew tense as the two uninvited guests remained seated, unfazed by the Pirate Chiefs'' astonishment. While the Pirate Chiefs were filled with confusion, they noticed that the third pirate chief wasn''t before them anymore. At the next moment, they heard a clicking sound. Turning around, they noticed the Undead Pirate Chief who had closed the door behind them. "What do you think you are doing?"The two pirate chiefs had a bad feeling about this. Was it a trap? They wondered. They were preparing to pull out their swords when they felt someone appearing behind them. Hands came from behind them, closing their mouths. Meanwhile, swords stabbed their back, urately locating their hearts. One of the Pirate Chiefs was killed by Karyk, while the other was taken down by Gabriel. And none of them could resist in time. "You are lucky to be epted by my Lord." The Undead Pirate Chief told the dying men. ....

    The Servants stood outside the mansion, wondering what the meeting was about. As long as the meeting was taking ce, none of them were allowed to enter the mansion. To their surprise, within half an hour, the three Pirate Chiefs came out, making it the shortest meeting in history. The three Pirate Chiefs told the Servants that they were going to be staying in the mansion for the time being. They told the Servants that they didn''t need to wait outside. They could enter and continue their world. They also told them to start preparing food for a grand feast.

    After issuing theirmands, they went back to the mansion, leaving all the servants stunned. The servants looked at each other, wondering what was happening. Although the Pirate Chiefs were allowed to have meetings at the mansion, they couldn''t stay here since this mansion belonged to the Sea King. "Is this... A betrayal?" One of them wondered out loud.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 908: The Emperor is

    Chapter 908: The Emperor is

    The Sea King''s Mansion was taken over in his absence. And it was done by none other than his three trusted subordinates. The Servants could do nothing but go along with their wishes. In the absence of the Sea King, they were the leaders after all. Moreover, most of them didn''t even believe that this was a betrayal. All of them knew how strong the Sea King was. The Chiefs would have to be fools to go against him. This made them think of another possibility, which was even more shocking. They had heard the rumors that the Sea King had gone to the Royal City of Elzeira. "Could it be that... He was captured there?" One of the Servants thought out loud. She was certain that the Pirate Chiefs wouldn''t betray their leader. That left only one possibility. The Leader had been captured by the enemies and he wasn''t in any condition to return. Since the Sea King was captured, it was certain that he was never going to return. And in his absence, the pirates needed leadership. Was that why the Pirate Chiefs decided to take over?

    If that was the case, it was perfectly going to exin why such a sudden meeting was called. It was also going to exin why the meeting onlysted for a short time. If the Sea King was caught, it was a matter of survival for the Pirate Ind. The Pirate Chiefs couldn''t afford to waste time, so it was granted that they had agreed on something. As one raised the possibility, the others also started believing it. And before long, it wasn''t a possibility for them anymore. Instead, it was certainly for them now. The Servants entered the mansion and decided to perform their duties and take care of their new leaders. However, the rumor wasn''t just limited to them. This rumor started spreading like wildfire.

    Within hours, it had spread over the entire Pirate Ind that the Sea King had been captured and that the Ind was going to be managed by the Three Pirate Chiefs. While everyone on the Pirate Ind was thinking that the Sea King was in imprisonment of the Royal Family, getting tortured, the Sea King was actually eating snacks while sitting in the Royal Pce. He wasn''t alone either. The other important guests were also sitting in the main hall of the Royal Pce. Every person who had even any significance in the grand scheme of things was here. That included the Shadow Guards, the High Generals, the City Lords, the Merchants, the weapon makers, the Alchemists and so on. They were all waiting for one person as they looked at the empty throne before them. The King still wasn''t here. They all wondered what was taking the King so long to arrive. They had eagerly been waiting for the reason for this invitation to be revealed. Was this a deration of war as they expected? Or was there going to be a Royal Wedding? Was their King finally going to get married?

    There were many possibilities in their King, and all they needed was a confirmation. After a long time, the main doors of the hall finally opened. Two Shadow Guards entered first. However, behind them, there wasn''t the King! Instead, it was his sister who had donned the Royal attire adorned with the Royal Seal. Behind the woman, there were more shadow guards who made sure that she was protected. The woman walked towards the Throne. As she stood before the throne, she looked at the empty throne. Her eyes revealed sadness, but she took a deep breath. She turned around to face the guests. The Sea King straightened his back, realizing some things. His expressions darkened in shock. "Don''t tell me the Emperor..." he muttered, but didn''tplete his sentence. "Then this meeting is for..."

    The Shadow Guards stood behind the throne. For the first time, they had made their presence known in suchrge numbers. Their aura was so powerful that even the strongest of guests felt suppressed. "I would like to thank you all for arriving on such short notice," The Princess stated,addressing all the guests. "It is with great sadness that I have to inform you about the passing away of my dear brother and your Emperor," the Princess stated.

    Hearing her words, all the guests were shocked. Even the ones who had already thought of this possibility found it hard to believe. How could the Elzeiran Emperor die? He had the strongest immortality amongst all the Elzeirans. And he wasn''t two hundred years old yet. So how could he die? If it wasn''t because of age, that could only mean that someone had killed him? Was it really possible for someone to kill an Elzeiran?

    Many of them had heard of this rumor that there was a person who could do this, but they all thought this was an absurd rumor. So how?

    The Princess'' voice quivered slightly, but she maintained herposure as she continued, "Hence, today you are all invited to attend the Coronation Ceremony. I will be taking the throne, bing your Queen. If you have any objections, please raise your hands." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    None of the guests dared to raise their hands. They weren''t fools to do something so oblivious. As if their objection was going to change the oue. The Shadow Guards were behind that woman. If they raised their hands, they were certainly going to be killed. The Celestial Empress had also merged amongst the guests. She was also shocked to find out that the Elzeiran Emperor was dead. How could it be possible? She came here, thinking they were going to talk about Karyk and execute him. But it was the other way around? It wasn''t Karyk who was to die, but it was the Emperor who was dead?

    The only person she knew who could do something like that was Karyk. But wasn''t he asking for her for help? How could he kill the Emperor when he was asking for help?

 Chapter 909: Language of Gods

    Chapter 909: Language of Gods

    The Celestial Empress'' mind raced as she tried to make sense of the situation. She couldn''t believe that the Emperor was dead. The thought that Karyk, who had sought his help, could be responsible for the Emperor''s death was baffling. As the Princess continued her address, the Sea King''s thoughts drifted back to the meaning behind the Emperor''s death. It meant there was a threat looming over the Elzeiran Dynasty. It also meant that whatever the emperor was trying to do was really dangerous. At first, he didn''t take the invasion ns of the Emperor seriously. In his eyes, there was no enemy who could stand the might of the Elzeiran Empire. It was only now he realized that he might have been more optimistic than needed. "Just what kind of Pandora''s box have you opened?" The Sea King muttered, feeling slightly concerned about the future. Just one person from the enemy''s side had managed to enter their Royal Capital and kill the Emperor before leaving. He didn''t even know just how many people like Karyk were in the other world. What if there were hundreds of such people? What if there were thousands?

    Until now, the Purebloods had lived a life where it was impossible for them to die before they ran out of their lifespan. The worst thing that could happen to them was simply being sealed until the moment of their deaths. But this time, there was a real possibility of being killed. He knew that he couldn''t sit on the edge now. He had to take part in this conquest. If the Elzeiran Empire was destroyed, his ind could be left. "If he hadn''t been captured, that meant he actually escaped?" The Celestial Empress also had her expressions go dark. She had thought that her connection with Karyk was cut by the Elzeiran Empire. But that guy was long dead. That meant Karyk himself had achieved this feat. She couldn''t help but look back to the moment she had threatened him. It was still fine, but what she did with his people to break her seal... She knew that she had already burned all the bridges between the two. Karyk might hate her just as much as he hated the Elzeiran Empire. Previously, she wouldn''t have worried about him since she didn''t consider him a threat, but by now, she knew better. She had heard a few things about the incident at the Royal City and how many undead Elzeirans had attacked and it took the Shadow Guards to destroy them. Karyk had entered the ancient tomb and then the Undead helped him escape. There was only one meaning behind it. Karyk was able to raise undead, just like she could!

    It was an ability that he kept hidden, even from her. Not only was his personal strength high, but he could also have an Elzeiran Undead Army. What made him even more dangerous was that he wasn''t from this world. Since he kept so many things hidden from her, she was certain that he also hid things about his world. Could there really be more people like him in his world? Could he have more allies?

    The more the Celestial Empress thought, the more her expressions darkened. ....

    Soon, the Coronation Ceremony began in the Royal Pce. When the guests came here, attending a coronation Ceremony was thest thing they might have expected. But it was actually happening! n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Today, the Princess was going to be the Empress and take the throne that previously belonged to her brother. The Coronation Ceremony was handled by the Leader of the Shadow Guards whose position was the most special in the Elzeiran Dynasty. Many people even said that he was the strongest warrior in the Elzeiran Dynasty, who was even stronger than the previous Emperors. It was said that even the Emperor couldn''t order the Leader of the Shadow Guards. It was the only existence that was beyond the Emperor''s control. Or rather, the Emperor himself kept the Leader of Shadow Guards out of his control. As for the reason, no one knew. The Leader of the Shadow Guards was responsible for the Coronation Ceremony. He was also the one who provided the Ancient Oath that the Princess had toplete. The Princess started chanting the Oath which was in anguage that most people present in the hall could understand. There were only three people who had ever heard thisnguage before. The first was the Leader of the Shadow Guards. Not only had he heard thenguage before, but he also understood it. The second person was the Celestial Empress. Although she didn''t understand thisnguage, but she remembered hearing simr words. This was thenguage of the Archangels. The third person was certainly the Princess who had previously heard her brother speak thisnguage in his sleep.

    She personally didn''t understand thisnguage either. She just repeated what the Leader of the Shadow Guards was saying. The entire chant was long. It took over an hour before the Princess finished the oath. However, as soon as she finished, she felt something strange. An unfamiliar knowledge was entering her head. A part of that knowledge was about thisnguage. It was as if she was suddenly able to understand thisnguage!

    She finally realized the meaning behind that long oath. It was basically praying to the Archangels and offering to be their eternal servant, in life and in death!

    "From today, you shall be the Empress of the Elzeiran Empire and follow the will of the ones above!" The Leader of the Shadow Guards ced a crown on the woman''s face. All the guests started congratting her. However, the woman appeared to be distracted. "It''s time..." The Leader of the Shadow Guard said. "Time for what?" The Empress asked. "Time for you to have a meeting with ''them'' and retrieve your brother''s body." The Leader of the Shadow Guards escorted the Empress with him, leaving all the guests behind. The Celestial Empress was close to the Empress as she walked past. With just one attack, she could kill the new Empress, ending the Royal Bloodline. However, just as the thought crossed her mind, she noticed the Leader of the Shadow Guards nce at her. She felt like a sharp de was resting against her throat. If she tried to move, she was going to die. The feeling only disappeared when the Empress left the hall with the Leader of the Shadow Guards.

 Chapter 910: For her sake

    Chapter 910: For her sake

    After ensuring that everything on the Ind was in order, Karyk left the management to the Undead. Since they were under hismand, they could contact him if the Sea King were to arrive. However, it seemed unlikely that this would happen anytime soon. ording to the information he received, the Sea King had gone to the Royal City and the invitation was for the present date, making it impossible for him to return in time.

    Even if the Sea King rushed back at his fastest speed, it would still take a few days. During this time, Karyk nned to take Gabriel to the border city. He wanted to not only show Gabriel the city and its citizens, but also assess the situation and take any necessary precautions.

    Simultaneously, Karyk also intended to visit the Land of Chaos for a face-to-face meeting with the Celestial Empress. He expressed his confidence to Gabriel, saying, "I''m sure you will love the city as well. If everything goes smoothly, it could be the perfect base for us."

    "The Sea Looks quite chaotic today."

    As Karyk and Gabriel flew above the vast ocean towards their destination, the Border City on the end of the Elzeiran Continent, Gabriel remarked on the chaotic appearance of the sea. Karyk nodded , before exining, "I heard about it when I was herest time. It''s the season in which the creatures inside the sea start getting restless."

    "They attack the border city and there are often many losses for the citizens. But this time, there''s nothing to worry about."

    "Before I left the city, I made sure to strengthen the defense. And even if the city was attacked and the formation I left broke, the citizens should be able to handle this situation."

    In his eyes, the citizens were Purebloods. Except him, none could kill them. And they were also trained properly. They were more than capable of protecting the city, as long as they weren''t attacked by the Royal Army. Gabriel didn''t ask any more questions. He didn''t know much about the ocean or what kind of City that was. He had only heard Karyk mention it a few times. He appeared to be quite attached to this city. It was understandable as they had lost their world. They had been guests in the Upper World, but they were just outsiders there. They were guests and it wasn''t their home. However, in this world, Karyk had inherited a city. The citizens also loved him. The citizens had be his own people. Gabriel didn''t know if it was because Karyk was a Prince before he awakened his abilities of death, but he appeared quite different when he talked about his citizens. Gabriel could only smile in response. He felt happy that Karyk had something that he liked. And maybe, this was for the best. After they defeated the Elzeirans, maybe they could truly make this ce their home. Their own universe had a lot of bad memories for them. But this world... Once the Elzeirans were gone, this was quite a good ce to create a home and free themselves of cause and effect. After flying over the ocean for a long time, Karyk finally caught a glimpse of the city walls. He could see many sea creatures already attacking the city walls. But they couldn''t breach the wall, thanks to the formation and the materials used in the creation. Gabriel and Karyk didn''t attack the sea creatures. There was no need for them to waste their precious energy. The more they saved, the longer they could stay here without the need to return. Karyk passed over the wall,entering the city. Gabrielnded next to him, observing the city which had quite a familiar architecture. He also noticed the training tower. "Looks like you took quite an inspiration while renovating this city," Gabriel said as he walked around the city, looking at various buildings. "But why can''t I see anyone here? Why does this look like a ghost city?" he asked. Karyk was also confused. Why was no one in the city? He couldn''t even sense a single person inside the city. He turned towards the Land of Chaos. "They must have entered the Land of Chaos for training." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Even though the Celestial Empress is evil, it looks like she also knows the importance of having an army. The Puppet Master must be training them more," he added. "The Puppet Master, huh. You mentioned him a few times." Gabriel nodded. "Are we going to wait for them?"

    "We don''t have the time to wait," Karyk answered. "In any case, I was nning to go meet that woman and see if we could still co-operate or if she wants to burn all remaining bridges because of her stubbornness."

    Karyk left the city and entered the forest, which was known as the Land of Chaos. Along the way, he could see some signs of battle. It was clear that the citizens had fought the Undead Beasts. But strangely enough, the marks appeared very old. It didn''t look like this was a recent battle. "Did they not return from the first time they entered the forest?" he wondered as he went deeper in the forest. He still didn''t think about any mishaps. They were just dealing with some undead beasts when they were immortals after all. Unfortunately, the moment he entered the depths of the forest, he started noticing blood. This time, it wasn''t the blood of the Undead Beasts. Instead, it was the blood of the Purebloods! And it was all over the ce. It was as if the Purebloods were attacked by something. At this point, it didn''t appear like training but something much worse...

    "Your expressions have gotten worse. I assume something went wrong?" Gabriel asked, observing Karyk. "For the sake of that woman, I hope nothing went wrong. Because if she..." Karyk didn''t finish his sentence, but his meaning was clear. He flew deeper into the forest until he saw the entrance of the city where the Celestial Empress was sealed. Apanying that sight was something much more gruesome.

 Chapter 911: Karyks Oath

    Chapter 911: Karyk''s Oath

    Apanying that sight was something much more gruesome. There was blood staining the earth. Not even worse than that was the City. The City Walls had spikesing out of them. The Pureblood citizens of the city were like dried up corpses, hanging by the spikes that had passed through their hearts. Their blood had created a river that was circling around the city. It was clear that even when the Purebloods were still alive, their lives were no worse than death. The only way a pureblood could be killed in this world was when the Pureblood gave up on his immortality. That was also what the Elzeiran Emperor had done. Since he didn''t have his immortality, he had died. And it was the same sight here. They were still alive when they were impaled. They could feel the pain, but they couldn''t move. It was as if they were constantly under torture. Even the children from the city that had awakened their Pureblood Lineage were in the same situation. It had created a horrifying sight. To escape that torture, the citizens were begging for death. They didn''t want to face this torture. They gave up their Immortality, which was absorbed by the barrier of the city. When the blood and Immortality of hundreds of thousands of Purebloods had been absorbed by the city, the barrier that was sealing the Celestial Empress broke, freeing her. For her own freedom, she had sacrificed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Purebloods that were sent here to train!

    They weren''t enemies. Instead, they were willing to fight the Elzeiran Empire, yet she didn''t hesitate even the slightest. For her, freedom was more important!

    Karyk remained still, not moving. Gabriel was also shocked as he took in the devastating sight. "What... what happened here?" he asked, his voice filled with disbelief. Were these people the citizens that belonged to the Border City? Just how could they end up in this situation? They were all corpses. They didn''t have a single drop of blood in their bodies. Even their bones appeared to have been melted when they were still alive. The spikes on the wall hadpletely destroyed their healing. Karyk slowly walked towards the city, each step feeling heavier than thest. Soon, he reached the river of blood that was surrounding the city. He walked over the river, his eyes nk. "City Lord, we will kill anyone who tries to harm you!"

    "Our City Lord is the best."

    "When you return, we will definitely show you how strong we have be! Just look forward to it!"

    There were many bodies that belonged to the people that had made many promises to him before he was leaving. There were also children, who treated him like a hero. There were people who were willing to die for him. These people would have been happy if he could have died on the battlefield, helping Karyk. But they had died a death so scary that it could even scare great demons. In the distance, he noticed another man. It was the assassin who had be his subordinate. It was a cowardly assassin who had been scared yet was forced to enter the Land of Chaos with him. "Are you alright?" Gabriel asked Karyk. Both of them had seen death before. Both of them had been in wars and killed countless people. Gabriel didn''t feel much for these people since he didn''t know them, but he knew Karyk was different. "No, I''m not alright. I want blood... I want to make her experience a life worse than death!" Karyk spoke, the sky above him getting darker. "She showed me the death she can grant others. I''ll show her a strength that she can''t imagine even in her wildest dreams!" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    It was as if this was the promise of the God of Death himself. The sky itself roared, feeling the rage of Karyk.

    "The freedom she craves... The freedom for which she sacrificed these people... I will take everything from her, until she is begging for death herself."

    Karyk raised his hand, summoning his undead behind him. He didn''t enter the city as he had already realized that she wasn''t there anymore. It didn''t take him long to understand why she killed them. But it didn''t charge anything. If he hated someone at this moment, it was the Celestial Empress. His hate for her was even stronger than his hate for the Elzeiran Empire!

    She wanted to turn him into a ve. He could have overlooked it because of theirmon enemy. But this... She had shown him something that made him want to repay her in the fullest. The Undeads behind him started moving. They spread out around the City walls, and carefully started taking down the lifeless bodies. One after another, the bodies were brought down and ced on the ground in the back. Gabriel didn''t interfere. He didn''t even say anything. He knew that it was the time in which Karyk wanted to be alone with his thoughts. There was a time when he was the same. When Ezekiel was killed, he was the same. He just wanted to be alone. He could also understand Karyk''s hate. It was the same as his hate for the Elzeiran Emperor. "This blood... Get inside, it will help you." To Gabriel''s surprise, Karyk was the first to speak. Despite the anger in his heart, he hadn''t lost himself in his emotions, at least not to the point of insanity. "Inside this river of blood?" Gabriel asked. He could also feel that his body wanted to get inside the blood, which was reacting to him. But he resisted that feeling. This was the blood of people who were close to Karyk. But now he was asking him to do that?

    "They are dead. Although their blood and Immortality was used to break the seal, a lot of it is left. Get inside and absorb it. Your body will be reborn andbe stronger."

    Gabriel''s body was merged with the ancient skeleton in the Realm of Death. Karyk had also granted him the blood essence of another god, whose lifeless body had turned the entire Realm of Death into thend of blood. He was more than capable of absorbing the Immortal blood of the Elzeiran Purebloods. Karyk was now gifting him this river of blood so Gabriel could be reborn, much stronger than before.

    At the same time, he had also nned to grant his origin essence to Gabriel, so that he could kill the Elzeirans without needing any weapons made by him. "But you..." Gabriel looked at Karyk. "You can also absorb it and be stronger. So why...?"

    "Does one brother need a reason to help another?" Karyk asked, pushing Gabriel in the river of immortal blood.

    He wanted Gabriel to be stronger. There was no point if he was strong while Gabriel was weak. He knew he might have to face an Archangel in the battle that was toe. Even if he was to die in that battle, there needed to be someone who could protect his family. And Gabriel was also part of that family.

    "I will give you everything I have. So be stronger... So strong that you can survive, even if I fall. Strong enough that you can escape with Zena and find a safe haven for yourself!"

 Chapter 912: Gabriels Change

    Chapter 912: Gabriel''s Change

    Deep within the river of blood, Gabriel''s transformation continued to unfold. As the essence of the Elzeiran Purebloods merged with his own, his body underwent a profound metamorphosis. The power surged through his veins, infusing every cell with an otherworldly energy.

    With each passing moment, Gabriel''s physical prowess grew more formidable. His muscles bulged with newfound strength, and his senses sharpened to an unparalleled degree. He could now perceive the subtlest fluctuations in the environment, sensing the flow of energy around him. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    But it wasn''t just his physical attributes that underwent a remarkable change. Gabriel could feel a profound connection to the immortality of the Elzeirans coursing through him. Their eternal life force fueled his own strength, granting him the same level of invulnerability. He became a being that could not be easily killed.

    And yet, there was more to his transformation. Karyk, witnessing Gabriel''s eptance of the blood and the essence, knew that he had to grant him even greater power. The only way for an Elzeiran to meet their demise was through a weapon infused with Karyk''s new essence. And so, Karyk bestowed this essence upon Gabriel, removing the restriction that would otherwise bind him.

    Now, Gabriel was not only immortal but also untouchable. No weapon, no matter how imbued with his own essence, could bring him harm. He had be an invincible being, capable of surviving any battle, no matter how dire.

    As Gabriel remained submerged in the river of blood, Karyk observed with a mixture of pride and sorrow. He took sce in the fact that Gabriel would survive, regardless of the oue of the impending war. But he also knew the weight of immortality, the burden of witnessing the end of civilizations and the passing of countless loved ones.

    Karyk had experienced the loneliness that came with immortality firsthand. Yet, he believed it was a sacrifice worth making. For Gabriel to endure, to live on and protect the world, it was a necessary choice. And in doing so, Gabriel himself would find sce and purpose in their shared eternity.

    "I apologize for burdening you with this," Karyk whispered, his voiceden with remorse. He knew that he, too, could absorb the blood and gain strength. But the potential within Gabriel was far greater than his own. He saw the opportunity for Gabriel to receive the blessings of the blood river, to unlock its secrets and harness its power.

    As Gabriel''s transformation progressed, the symbols etched upon his mysterious skeleton grew more pronounced. They shimmered with an ancient power, covering every bone and exuding an aura of indomitable strength. Gabriel had awakened the very essence of the world itself, a power that hadin dormant within him until now.

    With his newfound abilities, Gabriel surpassed even the gods that the skeleton once belonged to. He embodied the essence of this world, bing a force to be reckoned with. With every passing second, the blood in the river kept decreasing. It waspressed and absorbed inside the body of Gabriel. The essence of immortality from one person would have been enough to cover his heart. But with so much blood, every part of his body had absorbed immortality. Karyk had a feeling that when Gabriel stepped out of the river, even he couldn''t kill Gabriel. But that was exactly what he wanted. Gabriel was a part of him. However, when he recovered his memory, he had created a new body for Gabriel''s Ego. He had always regretted that he had to make that choice. This was a way for Karyk to repay Gabriel, making sure that he was even better than him!

    After he finished the transfer of essence, he stopped and let the blood take care of the rest. With every passing second, the blood in the river decreased, until the entire river waspletely empty.

    Gabriel was lying on the floor of the river, his clothes tainted red with blood. If anyone saw him, they would have thought that he had died, not knowing that it wasn''t his own blood. "I''ll bring him back myself." Karyk stopped his undead who were about to go down to bring Gabriel out. He jumped down,nding next to Gabriel, who was unconscious. The pressure of absorbing such dominant blood was too much for him, even if he was strong. The pain made him pass out, but he wasn''t harmed. Karyk could see that Gabriel was only sleeping as his bodypleted the transformation. "From now on, you will bring this world to a new era, even long after I''m gone."

    He picked Gabriel in his arms, before flying above. He reached the floor and carefully ced Gabriel on the surface. ****

    The new Empress of the Elzeiran Dynasty was brought to the temple. She had been here many times, but she was never allowed to go past the guards. Only her brother was allowed. This time, she wasn''t stopped though. The Shadow Guards respectfully greeted her, allowing her to get past them. She was the Empress. She had the permission to enter the Temple of Archangel established inside the Sect. "I am certain that you know how to contact them. Don''t lose yourself when you see your brother''s body. The first thing you need to do is greet them," the Leader of the Shadow Guards reminded the girl one more time. Now that the girl was the Empress, it was her responsibility to be the Envoy of the Archangels. The girl nodded. She pushed the door open, entering the dark chamber. The doors closed behind her and the multiple me torches on the wall lit up on their own, remaining some of the darkness.

    In the dimly lit room, the Empress saw the statue of the great Archangel that she had only heard about. She was suppressed right away. This sight was truly more shocking than she could ever have expected. She felt her blood boil. Not far from the statue, she saw the corpse of her brother who had died while trying to contact the Archangels. She wanted to rush to him, but she controlled herself, remembering the warning. She first had to greet the Archangels and then think about anything else.

 Chapter 913: The lost child

    Chapter 913: The lost child

    As the Empress approached the statue of the great Archangel, she felt a wave of reverence wash over her. The statue towered above her, its majestic presence filling the room. She took a deep breath, steadying herself, and bowed before the statue, her head lowered in respect.

    She pulled out a sword, remembering what she had to do for an audience with the Lords above. "Great Archangels," she spoke with a voice filled with sincerity. "I stand before you as the new Empress of the Elzeiran Dynasty. Ie seeking your guidance and blessings at this critical time."

    As she finished speaking, she swung her sword, killing herself. Her blood fell at the feet of the majestic statue, painting it red. Meanwhile, the woman fell on the ground, her head rolling next to her body. The blood that had been spilled was absorbed by the statue. The head also turned into specks of light that were soon absorbed by the Statue. An ethereal light began to emanate from the statue. The room seemed toe alive with a gentle energy, as if the Archangels were acknowledging her presence.

    Fortunately, her healing also began. Unlike her brother, she still possessed her immortality. Hence, her body recovered at a pace clearly visible to the eye. After a few seconds, the girl opened her eyes. She had trained her healing many times, but the death she experienced here was nothing like before. Even her healing was much faster than before, which shocked her. Was it because she had be the Empress?

    She pushed her body up, rubbing her throat lightly. The feeling of death and that pain was still something that was fresh. She could feel that she wasn''t alone in the hall. The statue had opened its eyes, which were shining in a mysterious light. It was as if the Archangel had descended. "I am honored to take on the role of the Envoy of the Archangels," she continued, her voice unwavering. "I understand the weight of this responsibility and the importance of maintaining a connection between our world and the divine realms."

    "I also haven''t forgotten our purpose. The goal won''t be forgotten! We will move forward with this war and conquer that world! I will finish what my brother couldn''t. I will find what you have been looking for!" she eximed. She didn''t know why, but she felt as if the Statue wasn''t happy. Instead, under the gaze of the statue, she felt as if they were disappointed. In that moment, she felt a presence, a whisper in her mind. "Your brother has disappointed us. And so have you."

    The voice of the Archangels, speaking directly to her. Just hearing the words of the divine, she felt as if she was going to go crazy. The Empress froze in ce. Why were they disappointed? She didn''t understand. But she did feel that she might die here if she didn''t satisfy them. "May I ask, what did we do wrong?" she asked. ****

    Gabriel was still sleeping, as his body was finishing the transformation. Karyk, on the other hand, was watching the bodies of the citizens of the Border City. He kept the bodies in his Shadow Realm. He didn''t know if it was the right choice to bring them back as Undead. But in this war, he wanted to give them another opportunity. They had been killed by the Celestial Empress. He wanted them to have an opportunity to have their own revenge, apanied by him!

    He wanted her to watch their faces as she died! He wanted her to remember everything she did which led her down this path. Moreover, in this war, he couldn''t afford to lose. Just with the Pirates, he didn''t have enough numbers. He needed the citizens of the Border City. They would have been much stronger when they were alive, but even as Undeads without immortality, they were still capable of turning the tides in his favor, especially with the weapons that he had created. He was nning to hand over those weapons when they returned from the training. He had never expected those weapons were going to be handed over to the Undead. He could turn them into an undead, but he didn''t have enough reserves to turn them all. The world wasn''t suitable. And he didn''t have time to return to his world. Hence, he sent them to his Shadow Realm, leaving this matter forter. For now, the most important thing was to protect Gabriel and make sure he seeded. He couldn''t allow anyone to hurt Gabriel when he hadn''t sessfully transformed. "Hmm?" While he was watching over Gabriel, he felt someone observing him. He couldn''t locate the exact position of the person, but he could roughly estimate the direction. It wasing from the direction of the Royal City.

    "Have you watched enough?" Karyk asked, waving his hand. He cast a barrier around him, covering the entire ce in the shadow of death, making it impossible for anyone to see through.

    **** n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Back in the Royal Pce, the Statue momentarily closed his eyes, before opening them again.

    "What you had to find... hade to you," the voice of Archangel appeared in the Empress'' head. "You had an opportunity... But you failed. You have disappointed us. The Forgotten Prince... is here."

    "The Forgotten Prince?" the Empress asked in confusion. "Are you talking about the Child, to find whom we destroyed the Celestial Empire?"

    "He came here? How could that be?" she muttered. To find that child, they had searched all around this world. They had destroyed the Celestial Empire after the Emperor failed to hand over the child to the Archangels. Unfortunately, even as they destroyed the Celestial Empire, they failed to find the child anywhere. Ever since, they had been looking for him. The only reason they were trying to invade the other world was because they believed the child was there! It was the Celestial Emperor who had sealed this world after all. They believed that the child was in the other universe, but they couldn''t enter that universe because of the Celestial Emperor''s Seal. Ever since then, they had been trying to destroy the seal, but it was protected by Aliac in the Central World which they couldn''t enter.

 Chapter 914: The Child that lived

    Chapter 914: The Child that lived

    The forgotten prince... It was the title given to a newborn child by the Archangels. It was a child that was born to die, yet survived. It was a child who wasn''t supposed to live. The Archangels were beings that could destroy worlds with a wave of their hand. They were the beings that had long surpassed the realm of gods. They were primordial beings, whose origins were unknown. Yet, there was someone that the Archangels had failed to kill. And that person was the forgotten prince. The Empress didn''t know why the Archangels called that child the Forgotten Prince. She didn''t even know why they wanted to kill him so badly. All she knew was that they were obsessed with the death of the child. To kill him, the Archangels had destroyed multiple higher worlds, only to discover that the child was brought to the world known as the Celestial World, ruled by the Celestial Dynasty. Even though the Archangels were supreme beings, they still sent an envoy to ask for the child to be returned. However, the foolish Emperor of the Celestial Dynasty refused to hand over the child. The arrogant Emperor thought that he could survive, just because the Archangels couldn''t personally descend to this world. His arrogance soon became his downfall as the invasion of the world began. The Archangels didn''te down. They didn''t need to in the first ce. They simply sent a species that was their ve... A species whose world the Archangels had destroyed. "Is it because we destroyed your world that you have intentionally been making mistakes to be an obstruction for us?'' the statue asked. Even though it was just the voice of an Archangel who hadn''t descended, the Empress still felt a chill. Her legs turned weak as she dropped to her knees. "We would never dare!" she screamed in fear, worried that they might be misunderstood. "Bing your ve has been our biggest blessing! You destroyed our world and killed those who opposed it, but you also blessed those who surrendered!" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "We have always been loyal to you! We can never dare to betray our lord!" the Empress stated. She truly didn''t care about the destruction of their world. In fact, she didn''t even remember something that happened thousands of years ago. She wasn''t born at that time. She had only heard about stories of that time, and in all those stories, the Archangels were glorified!

    Even her ancestors knew that the Archangels were beings that they could never afford to offend again. They weren''t even worth being called insects before those great beings. That''s why they had been trying their hardest to please the Archangels. Unfortunately, until now, they hadn''t been able to do that.

    Even when they destroyed the Celestial Dynasty, they came to find out that the Emperor had sent the child to some unknown realm, all to screw them over. The Celestial Emperor didn''t have any rtion to the Forgotten Prince. He was just someone who had been handed over the child that the Archangels were after. At first, he didn''t take the Archangels seriously, mostly because of his sense of justice and arrogance. He thought that since the Archangels couldn''t descend, they couldn''t do anything other than talk big through their envoys. Unfortunately, the moment the invasion began, it was aplete ughter. Before he coulde to his senses, half his Empire had been ughtered. In his rage, he was more willing to kill the child in an unknown realm, then to hand him over to the people who killed his citizens. Unfortunately, he couldn''t kill the child, no matter how hard he tried. As the Elzeiran Armies drew closer to the Royal City, he panicked that they might get what they wanted, despite taking everything from him. Since he couldn''t kill the child, he sent the child to an unknown realm, believing that if the Archangels couldn''t find him, it was somewhat of a revenge for him. "You have failed me repeatedly. You didn''t catch him, even when he was right before your eyes," the Statue''s voice echoed in the Empress'' mind, making her feel like she might be crazy. "Right before me? In our world...?" The Empress came to a realization. There were only two people who hade to this world and were in front of her. One was Gabriel, and the other was Karyk. It was clear that one of them was the child that the Archangels called the Forgotten Prince!

    She couldn''t believe it! Their Target was right before them, yet they couldn''t do anything. If he could have captured him when he came to the Royal Cityst time, they could have already finished the task, without any need to invade any other world!

    If they had done that, then her brother wouldn''t have died!

    "One more opportunity!" The Elzeiran Empress stated. "Just one more chance! I''ll drag the forgotten Prince to you!"

    She realized that she had made a mistake. It was understandable why the Archangels were angry. She couldn''t afford their anger. She still needed their blessing to be stronger. The Ruler of the Elzeiran Empire could be many times stronger after ascending to the throne, all because of the blessing. She didn''t have that blessing. If she didn''t receive it, she couldn''t be stronger. She was going to be the weakest ruler of the Elzeiran Dynasty in history. "It is toote. You have disappointed us far too many times. We have seen your ipetence!" the statue stated. "We will send someone else to handle the matters from now on!"

    The statue closed its eyes and the room returned to silence once again. The conversation had ended. The Elzeiran Empress nkly stared at the statue. Had they really lost the favor? Did she be the biggest sinner in the history of her n?

    She didn''t know who was going to be sent here. But she did know that it was going to take time!

    "I will capture him before someone arrives!"

    She knew she had only one way to regain the favor. Before someone was sent here to take the lead, she had to catch the Forgotten Prince!

    "I will bring him to your feet!" she stated as she bowed before the statue. "Even if I have to sacrifice everyone!"

 Chapter 915: Gabriels change

    Chapter 915: Gabriel''s change

    It was a long dream. Or rather, it felt like a long nightmare in which Gabriel felt as if he was drowning. In the nightmare, he tried to get out of the water but no matter how hard he tried, he didn''t seed. He kept failing again and again. It was as if a strange force kept pulling him down into the ocean, trying to bury him in the depths of the unknown. He was suffocating. Each breath felt like a struggle. He didn''t know how long he had resisted with all his might. A day? A week? A month? A year? Or centuries?

    He felt like he was never going to escape this ocean. He was going to be buried here. However, as he was about to drown after struggling for an eternity, he noticed a hand that was reached out towards him. He couldn''t see the face of the person who extended their hands. Still, he reached out and grabbed on to that hand which was hisst hope. As soon as he held that hand, he felt a warm essence enveloped him. All the difort started disappearing. The dark sky started changing color as a beautiful sun rose above. The ocean disappeared, and he found himself standing on the clouds, looking down at the world below. He looked around to find the person who had reached out his hand to help him. He didn''t even know if it was actually a dream as it all felt so real. After looking around, he found the person whose back was turned towards him. The man had a beautiful red robe that had a peculiar pattern on it. He felt that he had seen that robe before, but he didn''t remember where. It was as if all his memories were hazy at the moment. He couldn''t even remember his name presently as his mind was hazy. He reached out his hand, about to ask something. But before he could utter a single word, the other person spoke. "How long are you going to sleep?" "Who are-" Gabriel tried again, but once again his sentence was cut off. "It''s not the time yet. But remember, my child. You must not-" N?v(el)B\\jnn

    The man started speaking with each word, his words started feeling distant as cracks started developing around the world. Before Gabriel could hear theplete sentence of the person, the worldpletely shattered. Gabriel opened his eyes, noticing his hand was grabbing onto his chest tightly. His heart was beating so fast like never before. Gabriel also noticed another strange thing. Something appeared different about his heart. When he faced Caen, his heart was ripped out of his chest and destroyed. Ever since then, he had been surviving with a fake heart that Ezekiel created. But this time, something was different. This heart... It felt real. It wasn''t a fake heart. It was a part of him. He also felt itching on his back. It wasn''t his heart that felt ufortable, but his back. He moved his hand behind his back, to itch but he was stunned as he felt something on his back. There was somethinging out of his back...

    In disbelief, he created a mirror before him and looked at his reflection. The moment he saw his reflection, he grew stunned. From his back, there were two angel-like wingsing out. But the wings looked different from the Archangel Wings delivered in the statues. His wings were different as one wing was white, depicting purity. His other wing was pitch ck, like the darkest corruption in the world. It wasn''t just his wings that made him different from before. He also noticed a crown above his head. The crown wasn''t real. Instead, it felt like it was made from the essence of this world. It was real, yet illusory at the same time. He tried to touch the crown, but his hands simply passed through. There were also more differences in his body. His hair was now golden as well as longer. They came down to his back. As he inspected himself further, he realized that a sense of power radiated from within him, enveloping him in a warmth that felt familiar yetpletely new at the same time. He was bare chested so he could see that there was no wound on his body. He was perfectly fine. Or rather, he was even better than before. He felt a power inside him that made him much stronger. And the strangest part was that he could absorb the essence of this world. He didn''t need to return to his own world to recover his strength when he exhausted himself. His eyes, once a shade of blue, now glowed with an otherworldly silver light. The silver pupils made him appear like he had lost his vision, but he was able to see even more clearly than before. He also felt he was taller than before. He also looked older. If at first, he looked like he was in his early twenties, then he now looked like he was in histe twenties. His body was stronger. He didn''t just look like someone who used magic, but a warrior who used a heavy sword to fight. "Just what... happened?" He didn''t understand what was happening.

    Thest thing he remembered was that he had jumped into the river to absorb the blood essence. After that, he had been inside that nightmare which felt awfully real for some reason. "Is this because of the blood? But these wings..."

    Elzeirans didn''t have wings. Even Archangels didn''t have wings like this. So he didn''t understand how he had these wings. He looked like an Archangel but also different. "It looks like you are awake." A voice came from behind Gabriel, apanied by the sound of the door opening. Gabriel turned around, noticing that it was Karyk who had arrived. Unlike him, Karyk looked just like before. There was no change in him. If anything, he looked slightly exhausted as he had used his essence to help him.

 Chapter 916: The New Skill

    Chapter 916: The New Skill

    "What happened to me?" Gabriel asked Karyk. He had expected to be stronger after absorbing the Elzeiran Blood, but this change was too drastic. Even he couldn''t recognise himself now. He would have believed it if someone said that his soul entered another body. What was harder to believe was that this was his original body. "You can say that you have evolved into a higher being," Karyk replied. Even he didn''t understand why the change was so drastic.

    "How does it feel to be a true Immortal?" he further asked, revealing a smile. Although Gabriel looked different, he was still the same person. Moreover, Karyk had confirmed that he truly had the characteristics of a true Immortal. It wasn''t wrong to say that even if everyone in this war was to die, Gabriel could still survive. Gabriel could be defeated. He could be sealed, but he could never be killed. "Get dressed ande out for a walk with me."

    Karyk tossed some clothes to Gabriel that were made ording to his new physique. They even took into consideration his new wings that he wasn''t able to retract. Gabriel wore the new clothes, still feeling slightly ufortable in this new body. After getting dressed, he went out with Karyk, only to notice that they weren''t in the Land of Chaos. They weren''t on Pirate Ind either. They were back in the Border City, which belonged to Karyk. The Border City looked more like a ghost town now. The streets that used to bustle with life were now eerily quiet.

    "Are you alright?" Karyk asked Gabriel. "Shouldn''t I be asking this to you?" Gabriel asked in return. After all that happened, he could see that Karyk had changed. Although he wasn''t revealing it, but it was clear that he was different. He had seen what happened in the Land of Chaos. It was a betrayal that hurt him even more since he was the person who had sent the citizens to the Land of Chaos to train.

    He had told the citizens to trust the Puppet Master and follow his lead. If they didn''t trust him, maybe things could have been different. In essence, he was partially responsible for their death. He had promised them that he was going to let them live a long and safe life, but he led them to their death. The citizens were scared that the Royal Family was going to kill them, but instead, they died at the hands of his so-called allies. The citizens'' trust in the Puppet Master was ultimately misced, leading to tragic consequences. "Why won''t I be alright?" Karyk asked, revealing a calm exterior. But Gabriel could feel that he wasn''t calm. He was only faking it to not make others worry. But deep within him, there were mes that were raging to swallow this entire world. It was a wrath that could engulf Elzeira. Gabriel didn''t pursue it anymore. He knew what kind of feeling that was. There was a time when he was suffering from something simr. Even Ezekiel spent his entire life, trying to find a way to contain his inner demons. It was a constant battle that consumed him. For his revenge, he was willing to do anything. Even when he was about to die, he was only thinking about his revenge. He didn''t want Karyk to fall down that same spiral, but he couldn''t change anything. The only way for Karyk to free himself was by killing the Celestial Empress. And he didn''t need to do anything about that. He was certain that Karyk was more than looking forward to making that vile woman suffer. "I am feeling slightlyfortable with this sudden change, but I can also feel that I have be stronger. I''m also able to absorb the essence from this world."

    Gabriel reached out his hand, giving a demonstration. The essence from this world started gathering in his hand, being absorbed by him. "That''s... Impressive." Karyk had a feeling that Gabriel could receive this ability, but he wasn''t certain. Now that he was seeing it with his own eyes, he was slightly d. "That''s not all there is to it," Gabriel smiled as if he wasn''t finished with the demonstration. "I can convert this essence to the essence of our world and then..."

    He gathered the essence of this world in his right hand, absorbing it slowly inside his body. With his left hand, he released the essence. However, the essence was different now. It wasn''t the essence of this world. It waspletely transformed into the essence of Gabriel''s universe which his body was more ustomed to.

    The transformation was mesmerizing, as shimmering lights flickered and danced around Gabriel, creating a sense of harmony and bnce between the two essences. "This is..." Karyk was also surprised as he saw the strange scene. Gabriel was able to transform the essence and release it. He was basically converting the essence into something much more pure. "Try it," he told Karyk. Karyk reached out his hand, cing them on the essence of his world that Gabriel had created. He noticed that he was able to absorb that essence. He was slowly recovering the strength that he had used up already. He usually had to return to his world to recover. But now, he was able to do that right where he was. Gabriel wasn''t exhausting himself either. He was already full. He was simply converting one essence into another. If they could create a barrier around the city and transform all the essence inside, it was no different than creating a small part of their world in this city, allowing their warriors to recover. Within seconds, Karyk recovered all his strength, feeling more refreshed than before. Gabriel finally stopped. "How was it?"

    "This was impressive," Karyk agreed. "This might be a game changer entirely." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    He used his newly recovered strength and cast a barrier around the Border City, creating a separate space. Inside the barrier, it was like his own domain. It was simr to what Ryder had created around his mansion on earth. Gabriel understood Karyk''s n. He also went along with the n and transformed all the essence inside the city that was separated by a barrier.

 Chapter 917: Annihilation

    Chapter 917: Annihtion

    "Are we leaving?" the Puppet Master asked as he followed the Celestial Empress who left the mansion. The Celestial Empress nced back at the mansion in the direction of the Ancient Temple. She could feel a presence that was simr to what she felt when she was a child. It was the present of an Archangel. However, it wasn''t as strong as before. It was clear that no Archangel had descended. Not even an Archangel Envoy had descended into this world. Instead, it was simply their consciousness that had awakened temporarily, but that itself was strong enough. She walked away from the Pce, lost in thoughts. Things had been moving in a direction that she hadn''t expected. She had thought that the Archangels had lost an interest in her world, ever since their Empire was destroyed. It was because they didn''t find what they were looking for. Since what they were looking for wasn''t in this world, the Archangels naturally didn''t pay attention to this world. She had thought that as long as she was able to defeat the Elzeirans, she could have her revenge and rebuild her Empire, while the Archangels searched in other words. But now that she felt their presence, it was clear that they hadn''t abandoned this world. "I have miscalcted!" she eximed, her expressions darkening. "What a huge mistake! They haven''t abandoned this world! If anything, they are paying even more attention to it!"

    She kept walking away, talking to herself. With each passing second, her expressions worsened. One after another, she was receiving disappointing news. First, she came to find out that Karyk was strong enough to escape from the Royal City while killing the Elzeiran Emperor. And now, things have be even worse. She didn''t even know how Karyk was able to kill the Elzeiran Warriors without having them abandon their Immortality!

    Things had been going against her expectations one after another. And the moment she thought about Karyk, she was even more upset. She had burned all her bridges with him, killing the warriors that he had created. She had thought that she didn''t need to care about them as long as she was free. She had also thought that she could control Karyk when he epted the ve seal to save his life. But none of that happened. Soon, the Celestial Empress left the Royal City. She wasn''t stopped by the Guards either. The Coronation Ceremony was officially over and everyone was allowed to leave. Most of them stayed behind as they wanted to have a meeting with the new Empress to make sure there were no new rules that affected their city. There were also a few who left the city, without waiting. They were certain that the new Empress wasn''t going to be brave enough to make any drastic changes. She was much weaker than the Emperor after all. Even her elder sister was stronger than her, but she had died long ago. In this chaotic situation, many people were certain that the statue quo wasn''t going to change. Hence, they didn''t need to stay here for longer. The Celestial Empress stepped out of the Empire. But before she could go far, she coughed out blood suddenly. Her face went pale, as if she was hurt. The puppet master was stunned. He didn''t see anyone around him. There was no presence. So who could have hurt her?

    Although he couldn''t see the enemy, he cast thinyers of protective magic around the Celestial Empress to shield her from further harm. He also used his threads to surround her. Even if the enemy was invisible, his threads could kill them.

    "Who?!" The Celestial Empress wiped the blood off her lips. She didn''t look around him as she knew that the enemy wasn''t near her. "Who is killing them?!" She roared in rage. She didn''t understand what was happening. But one after another, her most powerful undead beasts were being killed!

    Even if they were killed, she could bring them back to life. But the problem was that they weren''t just getting killed. Instead their souls were getting torn apart. It wasn''t someone who simply wanted to kill them. Instead their Target was her!

    She was connected to their souls as she had brought them back to life. She felt the pain that their soul felt when something ripped their souls into thousands of pieces. It didn''t stop. The pain continued and only became worse. Someone was killing her entire army and at a speed that should''ve been impossible, even for a Shadow Guard of the Royal Family. She had left her undead army near the Border City when she came here. She didn''t want to be discovered with them. But now she wasn''t there and someone was killing them. Someone was tormenting her soul, weakening her even more. She felt rage and anger but she couldn''t do anything. She was too far from the border city. .... N?v(el)B\\jnn

    The Border City was now surrounded by a Magic Dome.

    Inside the Dome, the essence of this world waspletely purified. It was as if a small world was created within thisrge world. There was not a single person inside this city. But not far from the city, many beings could be seen. There was an area warded off from the rest of the world. Within that zone, the unknown beasts of the Celestial Empress were resting until someone barged inside. After that point, a true massacre began. The beings within the warded area were killed in the most brutal way. It was as if the person killing them wanted to make it as painful as he could.

    There were thousands of beasts, some who were as strong as Royal Generals. But they couldn''t offer any resistance.

    The strongest beasts were dying as fast as the weakest beasts. Being Undeads, the beasts never felt fear. But this time, they truly felt fear. It was a feeling that they had never felt before. It was a fear that came from the depths of their souls.

 Chapter 918: Fickle Fate

    Chapter 918: Fickle Fate

    "You shouldn''t have hurt my brother''s people. Since you walked down that path, you can only me yourself."

    A man stood before the Royal City of the long destroyed Celestial Dynasty.

    Majestic wings could be seen behind his back, making him look like an angelic being. "This is thest city of your forgotten dynasty that you worked so hard to protect. It''s time for it to disappear as well... Let it be forgotten! Let it be the beginning of your downfall!''

    Gabriel''s wings spread out as he rose in the air. All the essence of the Land of Chaos started gathering around him. It was the first time he was using his newfound strength to attack. It was also the first time he was testing some new spells. These were spells that he always wanted to try, but he wasn''t able to do that. Not only was his body not strong enough to contain the necessary essence to cast these spells, but there were more restraints as well. But now with his new awakening, those restraints were removed. He was able to cast spells that went beyond the threshold of World Tier spells that were known as the strongest spells to have ever been cast. These were the Chaos Tier Spells... Named after the godlike being who killed Ancient Gods in the past great war. "Starfall!"

    The essence gathering around him disappeared in an instant, as if it was sucked in by a ck hole. It was the middle of the night, but the sky turned bright in an instant. It was a sight that was seen all around the world. Many people saw burning stars falling from the sky, one after another. It was a scene that was never witnessed before. The scene became even more majestic near the Land of Chaos. From there, it didn''t just look like small stars were falling. It was as if the multiple suns were falling from the sky. The entire continent trembled as soon as the burning meteors made an impact. The city that had survived as thest bastion of the Celestial Empire... In the blink of an eye, it was turned into a sea of mes and rubble, marking the end of an era. .....

    In another ce, a young looking man stepped out of the Celestial Empress'' Domain. Inside the Domain, her undead were staying. But if one was to look inside now, they could find nothing more than carnage. All the Undead Beasts had been killed. There was blood everywhere, and a scene that was enough to make anyone vomit. The young man stepped out of the domain, holding just a single de. Fresh blood dripped down the tip of his sword. The young man stood there, his eyes cold like the depths of the ocean. The bloody Sword soon disappeared, returning to his shadow realm. His clothes were still stained with blood. He waved his hand, casting a cleansing spell. All the blood stains disappeared, leaving behind a pristine, untouched attire. At the entrance of the Domain, he left a few words for a specific person. "Run... Run as far as you can. Because the moment Ie for you, I will grant you a fate that will make your soul tremble..."

    ....

    Not far from the Elzeiran Royal City, the Celestial Empress was on her knees. She had constantly been coughing blood as one after another, wounds were left on her soul. Within minutes, all her Undeads were killed. Their souls were also ripped to shreds, hurting her soul in return. She had be stronger the moment she was freed from her seal. But now that she was injured, she was weaker than she had been when she was sealed. "Which bastard..." She wiped the blood off her lips as she struggled to stand up the moment it all stopped. The Puppet Master stepped forward to help her up but she pushed him away instead. At the moment, she didn''t want anyone to be with her. She wanted to think about this. Who could have done this?!

    Was this a trap set by the Elzeiran Dynasty? Was the news about the Elzeiran Emperor being killed a lie?!

    Or was it someone else... Someone much worse?

    "We are returning!" She told the Puppet Master. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    ....

    "Weird people..." High in the sky, the Sea Emperor was also leaving the Royal City on his beast when he saw a girl on her knees not far from the Royal City, coughing blood. He simply shook his head as he flew past them. Now that he had confirmed his assumption and learned about the fate of the Emperor, there wasn''t much for him to find out. His curiosity was solved. Now all he wanted to do was to return to the Pirate Ind. This was the perfect opportunity for him to spread his influence. The Emperor was dead. It was the time where the Royal Family couldn''t spare any attention to the edge of the continent. Without the Emperor, they had a lot of problems to solve for themselves. What better time for a pirate than when thend was in chaos. He didn''t realize that the true Chaos wasn''t in the Empire, but it was on Pirate Ind, all because his Pirates touched something they shouldn''t have. ....

    The Elzeiran Empress didn''t know who the Archangels were going to send to take care of this situation. But she knew that she couldn''t wait for them. She had to take the lead. She had to find the Forgotten Prince before the person sent by the Archangels arrived and took all the credit. As soon as she left the Temple Room, shemanded the Leader of the Shadow Guards to gather all the Generals and Shadow Guards in the Royal Hall. She now controlled all the power within the Empire after her coronation ceremony. And this was time for her to use that power. Her goal had changed. She didn''t want to conquer another universe now. There was no need for a war. All she had to do was capture the Forgotten Prince!

 Chapter 919: Discovered

    Chapter 919: Discovered

    While the Shadow Guards had started gathering at the main hall, the Empress herself was nowhere to be found. She only returned after giving her brother a proper burial, only to find everyone waiting for her. She didn''t know if she was going to seed or not, but one thing was certain. She couldn''t afford to fail. She didn''t have the time to n everything properly, but she did gain an important clue after her conversation with the archangel statue. The information she was able to gather, She came to learn that Karyk was still there. She had assumed that he had escaped back to his world, but that didn''t seem to be the case. It was clear that he was still here. And if he was still here that meant she still had an opportunity to catch him before the reinforcements arrived.

    The only problem was finding him in this vast continent. He could be hiding anywhere after all. "That man is still here." She told the Shadow Guards as she sat on her throne. "That man?" One of the Shadow Guards asked. "The person who robbed the graves in our Ancestral Land! The person who managed to escape even after all that! That man!" The Empress stated. "He... Didn''t he already escape? Our people chased after him through the portal after all?" A General asked. He was one of the few who had been guarding the portal from which Karyk had escaped. He had seen the other Generals chase after him inside the portal but none returned. From then on, the portal was heavily guarded but none had entered. "He is still here. It means that either he didn''t leave, or he returned from another portal. That''s not the question. The question is about finding him!" the Empress stated. "We don''t have much time. We need to find him, and we need to capture him. The future of our species depends on it!" She exined as much as she could without exposing things that only the Royals were supposed to know. "If he is still here, then I might have a possible idea about his whereabouts..." Slightly hesitant, one of the Generals voiced his opinion. "You do?" Another General asked. "How can you know something that we don''t?"

    "I''m not certain either. It''s only a guess for now, but if he''s anywhere, I believe it''s that ce!" The General firmly stated while still remaining slightly hesitant. She was worried about the possibility of being wrong, especially since they probably had only one opportunity due tock of time. His words made almost everyone in the hall react in their own way. Only when the Empress raised her hand, the hall becamepletely silent. "Where do you think he is?" she asked. She pretended to be calm, but waves of turmoil were rising in her heart. She really believed that it was the right ce. Because if it wasn''t, then everything was going to be over. "I believe he''s at the Border City," the General stated. "The city that connects to the Land of Chaos?" the Empress asked. "What makes you think that he is there?" "It''s because the guard I sent there to deliver an invitation to the Coronation Ceremony still hasn''t returned. If that man is there, it would exin why he didn''t return."

    "And not just that, I noticed quite a few strange things about that ce recently. Usually, we would be receiving letters for supporting them against Sea Beasts and Monster attacks. But this year, we didn''t received none."

    "I was about to go investigate that ce myself after the coronation ceremony, but now that you mention it, I feel that it''s highly likely that he''s there."

    The Empress went silent as she heard the exnation. If it was that man, it wasn''t shocking for a Guard to go missing. That man was able to kill them easily after all. Moreover, the only reason for a guard to disappear was if he had seen something that he shouldn''t have. Hearing his exnation, she also believed that it was highly likely that he was there. At first, she was wondering how he was able to control the undead of this world. But if he was near thend of Chaos, it could be possible that he learned that thanks to the undead beasts in the Land of Chaos. Although it was only a possibility, she had no choice but to go with this possibility. She could only ce all her cards on this one bet!

    "We are going to the Border City!" shemanded her men. "I will have the army prepare for departure!" The leading General nodded but before he could leave, he was stopped. "No, there''s no need to prepare an army. The enemy is a necromancer who can even control the Royal Blood. Against an enemy like that, arge army will only be dangerous for us!"

    She didn''t want to have her army turned into an undead and having to face them. Against a Necromancer, numbers werepletely useless, especially if the numbers were made from mediocre guards. "I will go with the Shadow Guards!" the Empress stated as she stood up, issuing her finalmand. "But your Majesty-" N?v(el)B\\jnn

    "I don''t want to hear any excuses. We don''t have time to make all the mistakes. It''s better to die in war than to fail!" The Empress eximed. Everyone could see that she was in a hurry. But none understood why she was in such a hurry. Just what was it that scared her?

    In any case, the Generals could only agree with her. ****

    In less than a day, the Empress left the Royal City, apanied by the Shadow Guards. This time, even the Leader of the Shadow Guards apanied her.

    Unlike the others, he knew about the Archangel Commands. He also understood why the Empress was in such a hurry. He had to help her catch that man, no matter what! And he had to do that before the person sent by the Archangels arrived.

 Chapter 920: Shouldnt you pay attention

    Chapter 920: Shouldn''t you pay attention

    It had been a few days since Karyk left earth with Gabriel, but he still hadn''t returned. At this point, even Aliac was starting to be concerned about it. Moreover, Ryder also kept asking him a lot of questions, which he had no answers to. At the end, he decided to check the Upper Realm himself to see why the two of them hadn''t returned when they were just supposed to kill all the intruders and then return. ....

    The Celestial Empress didn''t return to the Border City. She was already hurt by the injuries to her soul when her undead was killed. In this condition, she didn''t want to fight the person who killed her undead. It was especially the case as she noticed the movements of the Shadow Guards that flew towards the Border City. Almost all the Shadow Guards had left the Royal Capital. She didn''t know if they were going there for her, but she had a feeling that they weren''t. The death of her undead and the Shadow Guards going towards the Border City with the empress was rted. She was certain of it. There was only one possibility that made sense to her. It was because of Karyk. The Empress wouldn''t have gone there with such arge force if it wasn''t for Karyk. She was filled with rage towards the killer of her brother, so it made perfect sense. She was slightly d that the Empress was going to kill him. Both Karyk and the Elzeiran Empress had be her enemies. It didn''t matter who lost the war. One of her enemies was forever going to disappear. Meanwhile, the other enemy was going to be left weakened beyond measure.

    It was a win-win situation for her. All she had to do was to take advantage of the situation. And for that, she had to recover first. She turned around and returned to the Royal City. The Guards had already seen her as a guest so they didn''t check her identity again. They just saw that she appeared hurt and needed help. They allowed her to return to the city, not thinking much about it. For the next few days, the Celestial Empress stayed in a hotel room, recovering her soul wounds. At the same time, she made ns about the future. In case the Empress was going to die at Karyk''s hands, that was for the best. She could have her revenge on the Elzeiran Empire without having to lift a finger. ....

    "You are alive?" The Sea Kingnded in front of his Pce amidst the shocked reactions of the Pce Guards. "Have you lost your sanity? Why won''t I be alive?" the Sea King asked.

    It wasn''t the first time he left the Pirate Ind. So why were his guards behaving strangely now?

    "Hmm? These Carriages?" He noticed the Carriages of the Four Pirate Chiefs. "Are they having a meeting here?"

    The Guards looked at each other''s face, hesitating. One of them finally exined everything to the Sea King. As the Sea King heard, his rage increased. In the few days he wasn''t here, he was dered dead and the Four Pirate Chiefs had taken all the control of the pirates?

    "Absurd!" he roared in anger as he pushed the guards aside. He barged inside the pce that used to belong to him. "The four of you,e out and exin yourself!" His voice echoed in the hall. "Four won''t be needed. Just two will be enough to exin," a voice came from behind the Sea King, followed by the sound of the door closing. The Sea King turned around, noticing Karyk standing before the door. "Who are you?!" The Sea King asked. He could see that the man wasn''t an Elzeiran. Was he a mix-blood?He wondered. "Don''t you recognise your new master?" Karyk asked. "My Master?" The Sea King scoffed. "Just for that statement alone, I will rip your tongue out of your mouth!"

    Karyk smiled calmly, his eyes filled with a mischievous glint. "Are you sure you want to pay attention to me, when he''s behind you?"

    "He?" the Sea King frowned. He didn''t feel any presence behind him. But he couldn''t help but turn around after hearing Karyk''s words. Was there really someone behind him?

    As he turned, he saw another person, standing behind him. It was a young man, having angel-like wingsing out of his back. The Sea King couldn''t believe his eyes. There was nothing specific like that. The Archangels were gods for them, but the Archangels didn''t have wings like this. Was this an illusion?

    The Sea King blinked in disbelief, trying to make sense of the scene before him. The young man with angelic wings stood there, emanating a powerful aura that sent shivers down his spine.

    It was a feeling that he had received only when he stood before the Elzeiran Emperor, who forced him to hide in the Ocean. No, it was even more threatening than that. "Who are you?!" he asked Gabriel. "Shouldn''t you not take your eyes off the person that you just threatened?" Gabriel asked, his voice calm butced with a hint of warning. The Sea King turned around, only to find Karyk standing right before him. A sword passed through his chest before he could even react. "I''m afraid I would have to keep my tongue," Karyk said, pulling out his sword before stabbing again. The Sea King gasped for breath as pain coursed through his body. He fell to his knees, clutching his chest, unable toprehend what was happening. Blood trickled down from the wound, staining his clothes. To his shock, his wound wasn''t healing. This was the first time in his life he had experienced something like this. It was just like what he had heard... About the person who had infiltrated the Royal City.

    It was the person who was said to be behind the death of the Elzeiran Emperor as well. The person that could kill a Pureblood.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 921: The right time

    Chapter 921: The right time

    The Sea King''s vision blurred as he struggled to stay conscious. He looked up at Karyk, his eyes filled with disbelief. He couldn''t even mind a finger. He could only watch his blood stain his clothes.

    The Sea King finally understood why the Elzeiran Empire was so scared of this man. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    In the end, he smiled. He had thought that the Elzeiran Emperor was the one he needed to be scared of. But he now understood that there was apletely different entity who far surpassed him. After centuries, it finally looked like an era of change had arrived. The rise of the Elzeiran Empire was facing their biggest threat ever. "They thought they were the predators. But it seems..."

    He coughed out blood before he could even finish his sentence. He took hisst breath, receiving a death that he never expected. Not only was his life taken, but everything that belonged to him was also taken by these people. He had worked so hard throughout these years to create a force for himself. But that force was taken from him in an instant.

    The Pirate King had died. But only Karyk and Gabriel knew that he was dead. Because for the pirates, he was still going to be alive. "Arise~" Karyk ced his hand over the Sea King''s head, using his necromancy. The Sea King''s heart had long stopped beating. But following Karyk''smand, his eyes still opened.

    Unlike before, his eyes were slightly lifeless. His chest had stopped bleeding and the wounds healed. "Change clothes." Karyk tossed new clothes at the Sea King who was the newest addition to his Undeads, and maybe even the strongest. It was because this was the first time Karyk had tried something new. Karyk had allowed the Sea King to retain his memories of the past.

    He allowed the Sea King to remember who had killed him, along with all his original skills. It was as if the Sea King wasn''t an Undead but his real self. The only difference was that he had absolute loyalty to Karyk. Even though he knew that Karyk had killed him, he still couldn''t hate him. He still couldn''t defy him. He still couldn''t even think about revenge. Karyk was his absolute master and he was a servant now. He was a servant who had to help the master that killed him. The Sea King changed his bloody clothes with a new attire given by Karyk. These were his own clothes that were taken from his room. Once he changed his attire, it was impossible to differentiate him from his normal self. "You are too dangerous," the Sea King told Karyk, who was waiting not too far. He touched his chest, feeling the wound was missing. His heart wasn''t beating even now. It was clear to him that he was now dead. Seeing how he couldn''t hate Karyk, he realized that he was being controlled. "A Necromancer..." The Sea Kingmented. In the Royal City, he had heard that Karyk used undead Elzeirans to escape. At that time, he found it hard to believe. But now, he had no other option but to ept it. He was a clear example. He was an undead. He clenched his fist, not knowing what to do next. Did he really lose his freedom?

    "If you want your freedom, then help me destroy the Elzeiran Empire," Karyk reminded the Sea King. "After that, I won''t have any need for you. I will release you from my control."

    "Although you will be an undead, you will have your freedom!"

    The Sea King rolled his eyes, his expressions of torment. He had never imagined such a proposition, but the thought of regaining his freedom stirred something deep within him. It wasn''t as if he had any choice. Even if he didn''t agree, Karyk could simply force him to follow Commands. Deep down, he felt that he couldn''t say no if Karyk was tomand him. So this offer from Karyk was no different than an opportunity for someone who was at the end of his rope. "If you want to destroy the Elzeiran Empire, now is the best time. If you give them time, they will be stronger," the Sea King told Karyk. "Why do you believe it to be the right time? Also, what was the meeting about?" Karyk asked. He knew that the Royal Family had invited every influential person in the continent. The Sea King had also returned from there. Neither Karyk nor Gabriel knew what that meeting was about. But for the Sea King to say that it was the right time to attack, it was clear that something had happened. "The Elzeiran Emperor is dead. His sister had her Coronation Ceremony. As she is weak, it would take some time before she''s able to gain as much control as her brother."

    "The Elzeiran Empire is in turmoil now. So there won''t be a better time for this," the King stated. "The Emperor is dead?" The one most affected with this revtion was Gabriel. He appeared before the Sea King, grabbing him by the cor. "How can he be dead?"

    The Elzeiran King was the person that Gabriel hated the most. He, along with his sister, was responsible for Ezekiel''s death! For a long time, Gabriel had been thinking about the time when he was going to kill the Elzeiran King. And now he came to find out that the Elzeiran King was dead?

    "You don''t know? Weren''t the two of you the ones who killed him?"

    The Sea King asked, ncing at Karyk. He thought that Karyk had killed him. Was he misunderstanding something? Or was it that Karyk killed him without telling the other person?

    Noticing the Sea King looking at Karyk, Gabriel frowned. He turned to Karyk. "Did you kill him?" He remembered that Karyk had promised him that he wasn''t going to kill the Emperor. That was his prey after all! So how could Karyk break the promise and kill him?!

 Chapter 922: Inform Her

    Chapter 922: Inform Her

    "Don''t look at me like that. I didn''t kill him," Karyk replied calmly. "I don''t even remembering across him."

    "The ones I saw when I was leaving the Royal City were his Guards and his sister. And I didn''t even kill them since I had no strength left after creating my Undead,"he further added. "I''m certain that guy was alive when I left."

    Karyk knew that there was no possibility that he had killed the Elzeiran Emperor. As far as he remembered, the Emperor was still alive when he left this world. That only meant that the Emperor had died between the time he left and now. "Are you certain that he is dead?" he asked the Undead Sea King. "I saw the coronation of the Empress myself. It can''t happen unless the Emperor is dead."

    "Did they say that I killed him?"

    "That..." The Sea King went silent. He realized that he was never told how the Emperor died. He had only assumed that he died during the attack on the Royal City. But no one had told him the same. "I just guessed that it might be you. But if it wasn''t you, then who? No one can kill a pureblood except you."

    "Unless he gave up his immortality. Then anyone could have killed him," Karyk chimed in. "Giving up his immortality? Why would he do something so absurd?" A pureblood never gave up his immortality, especially someone who had been training since birth to resist pain, no matter what. Only weak Purebloods who hadn''t been trained and were scared of pain could do something so absurd, but the Emperor wasn''t one of them. Karyk nced at Gabriel. The Emperor had already given up his immortality to make Gabriel believe him. Although he hadter betrayed him, that immortality was still gone forever. Without his immortality, it was possible for the Emperor to die. But even then, he had a lot of security around him. The Emperor had Shadow Guards protecting him all the time.

    It would''ve been impossible for him to be killed, unless it was done by someone who was close to him. The only person who matched the description was his sister, the New Empress of Elzeira. "He had already given up his Immortality a long time ago. So it isn''t that shocking," Karyk informed the Sea King. "What do you think? Could his sister have killed him?"

    "That''s also impossible. If she killed him, the Shadow Guards would never let her ascend the throne, even if she was thest Pureblood."

    The Sea King refuted the possibility sternly. He didn''t even consider it. "Moreover, that girl had been obsessed with her brother. So it''s impossible for her to do it."

    Amongst the three, none knew how the Elzeiran Emperor died exactly. "Even though I don''t know how the Emperor died, it doesn''t change the fact. The Empire is still unstable because of his death. It is the best time to take control of the world."

    The Sea King stated, acknowledging the opportunity presented by the current situation. As long as the Elzeiran Empire was defeated, he could regain his freedom, so he was more eager to finish it faster. Karyk could also see that there was merit in this suggestion. It was the best time to take action. With this, they could stop the war before it could spill to their world. "In that case, I want you to do one thing for me. Send a message to the Elzeiran Empress that you found me in the border city," he suggested to the Sea King. "What? You want to inform her?"

    "Why else? It''s to bring her where I want her to be."

    "But... Why do you want to inform her? If you do that, you would lose the surprise factor. She wille prepared!"

    The Sea King didn''t understand what was going on in Karyk''s mind. Why did he want to take the harder route by informing her instead of doing a surprise attack?

    "Don''t stress your head." Karyk ced his head on the Sea King''s shoulder. "Do as I told you."

    As he finished speaking, he walked past the Sea King, taking Gabriel who was still distracted. One of his targets of revenge was already dead. He felt like he was at a loss. "So what if the Elzeiran King is dead? Isn''t it the girl who killed Ezekiel? She is still alive. So snap out of it," Karyk told Gabriel, taking him with him. There were still a lot of things for them to prepare for the iing war. They didn''t have much time left. "That is true..." Gabriel came to his senses, not understanding why he felt so bad. Was it just because of revenge? It was true that the Empress was the bigger enemy for him after all. So why was he feeling like this over the death of the Emperor?

    Although he hated the Emperor, it shouldn''t have been enough to affect him this much? He couldn''t help but look at his hands, wondering what was going on with him. "One of us needs to go inform Aliac and the others on earth. The more people we have here, the better." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Karyk stepped out of the Pirate''s Mansion, looking at the beautiful sky. "If you go there, they might ask a lot of questions about your sudden changes. So, should I be the one going there?"

    Gabriel nced at Karyk, surprised that he wasn''t sending him. Most of the time, Karyk was the one to stay behind while leaving minor things to him. Was he finally starting to give him the same level of importance? He couldn''t help but smile. They were truly bing more like a family. "I will handle the rest here." Gabriel nodded as his wings spread. "I will start preparing some traps around the Border City."

    He soon disappeared into the sky, leaving Karyk behind. Time was of the importance and the time for their final resistance was drawing closer. He wanted to have everything prepared before that time so they could be ready to greet the Empress.

 Chapter 923: A wild mutt did it

    Chapter 923: A wild mutt did it

    "Sending someone there... Do you believe it is the right decision?"

    In an unknown realm, a voice echoed through the void. It was the meeting hall of Archangels, but it was vast enough to epass a gxy within. There were many godlike beings in this meeting, but it was impossible to see any. A normal person couldn''t see them even if they wanted, as seeing their real form was enough to make a person go crazy. They were beings who could create, or destroy. They were the people who could decide which star lived and which star died. They were the Archangels in their real form. They were beings who remained unknown to most of the universe, yet they had the most power. "There is no other choice. Your Servant has failed. They had the person right within their grasp, yet they allowed him to leave."

    Another majestic voice echoed in the great void. There was slight frustration hidden within the voice. "It is clear that leaving the matter of the Forgotten Prince to you was a mistake. We should have sent someone else right from the start. If we had done that... The Forgotten Prince would have been in our grasp."

    "There is no point in arguing." A third voice chimed in. "The past cannot be changed, what matters now is how we move forward."

    "I agree. I''m not here to argue either. I am just here to ask the Council''s permission to send ''him'' there. He will bring the Forgotten Prince to us."

    "I don''t agree. We both know what kind of a person ''he'' is. Instead of capturing the Forgotten Prince, he might destroy that universe entirely if ''he'' is angered."

    "That''s correct. We all know his temper. After a long time, we found the Forgotten Prince. Only his soul can open that ce. If he died, then all those years of search would go to waste!"

    The groups of Archangel Council Members were split into two groups. One group agreed with sending the person in question. While the other group opposed it. "We can only send a person once there. And even the cost of that is too high. Are you certain you want to send someone else? This time, we can''t afford failure! Don''t forget!"

    "But the chances of failure are higher if we send him! I can''t agree!"

    "I don''t need your permission! Even if you don''t agree, ''he'' will be going there! I have already told him to prepare!"

    "Are you defying the Council?!"

    "You don''t represent the Council!" The defiant voice rose up. "How many here agree with sending him" there to handle the Forgotten Prince?" Instead of trying to convince everyone, he ced the question before the Council Members. Only with the permission of Majority Members of Council could the doors to the other universe be opened, and that too for only one person to be able to go there. Archangels were too powerful, so they couldn''t go there. At the same time, the ves had failed them, so they didn''t want to send another ve species either. That''s why, the suggestion was to send ''him'', who was an Archangel but at the same time, not an Archangel!

    He was someone who had the blood of Archangels in his body, but at the same time, he had another Blood. The blood of a ve species. That''s why, he never received much attention from the Archangels, until he started showing his talent. Despite not being a true Archangel, he was fierce and could crush anyone under his feet. Still, he was looked down on. His entire life, he was called a lowlife and hated by many Archangels. This hate made him develop a temper. Some even said that he had gone crazy who didn''t listen to instructions. He was someone who didn''t care about the rules. He was as strong as a real Archangel, despite not being a pure Archangel. That''s why the cost of sending him down was weaker. An Archangel couldn''t be sent there as the fate shackles could hurt them. But the cost of sending him was much less. Even if he died on the way, there was no problem for the Archangels that wanted to send him. When the proposal was put forth, the ce wentpletely silent. All around the gxy, stars started rising. These stars were the answers from Council Members. Some stars were bright, which meant that the Archangel agreed with the suggestion. Meanwhile some stars were dark, which meant that they were opposed to the suggestion. In a short time, the voting wasplete. And the number of bright stars was higher than the number of dark stars by just one! "It looks like the decision has been made," The Archangel who put forth the proposal stated. "Fine. Send him. But if he fails, you will have to pay for it. If the Forgotten Prince dies instead of being captured and brought here, you will be responsible."

    "I''m different from you. I can take responsibility for my failures. But when are you going to take responsibility for your failure?" N?v(el)B\\jnn

    "Enough with the arguments!" The other Constetion intervened. "Since the decision is made, this shall be it for the meeting."

    "Make preparations for sending him. And make sure he knows why he''s being sent there. Tell him to keep his anger in control and not destroy that universe. Otherwise..."

    One after another, the Archangels started leaving the meeting. The universe returned to the usual silence like never before. ....

    In another ce, there stood a dark haired man. His fists were covered in divine blood, but the blood didn''t belong to him. Instead, it was the blood of a young boy lying at his feet. The boy had Archangel-like wings on his back that were stained in blood. "You wild mut, my father won''t let you go!"

    "Your father?" The green haired man smiled. "Since he won''t let me go, why don''t I give him more reasons?"

    The half blood archangel revealed a devilish glint as he ced his foot on the back of the Archangel. He grabbed the wings of the Archangel with both his hands and started pulling on them. "Tell your father, a wild mutt did it!"

 Chapter 924: I wouldnt move a finger

    Chapter 924: I wouldn''t move a finger

    The dark haired man grabbed the wings of the young Archangel, pulling them with all might. The wings of the Archangel were ripped in half as he screamed in pain. Even though Archangels could heal their wings with time, the pain wasn''t something to scoff at. Their wings were connected to their souls. Ripping a wing was no different than ripping a part of their divine soul. The young Archangel couldn''t take the pain anymore and passed out, divine blood dripping down his torn wings. "For someone who called me blood dirty, he is quite weak," the dark haired half archangel tossed the torn wings aside. He turned around and started leaving. Unlike the true Archangels, he was easy to spot since he only had one wing on his left side. This was how he was born as half blood. He could not fly like an ordinary archangel, but he didn''t care about that. He used other abilities to levitate and never felt like he was inferior. Even though many looked down on him, he didn''t care. He didn''t even care about his life and death. "Stop right there!"

    As the half archangel was leaving, he noticed that an Archangel Enforcer appeared before him, blocking his path. The enforcer looked behind the young man, noticing a young man with his wings torn apart. "This time, you have crossed the limit. I don''t believe even your uncle can save you from punishment now."

    The Archangel Enforcers were the divine beings that were just slightly weaker than the Council. They were responsible for punishing the ones who broke the rules. They were also the reason that this universe could continue, since a world with such powerful beings could easily fall apart if the rules weren''t followed. For them, the biggest threat to the rules was the young man before them. He wasn''t even a pure Archangel. He was a defective being who didn''t even have wings like them. He was someone hated by many, yet he was arrogant. He never followed rules. He beat up people that offended him. It was only because his uncle was a High Council Member that he was allowed to do as he pleased. As long as he didn''t go too far, then the Enforcers let him be. This time was different. This time, he had ripped the wings of a young Archangel. Ripping the wings of an Archangel was the biggest crime that he could havemitted. "Are you certain that the old man can''t stop you?" the young man asked, gazing behind the Enforcer. The Enforcer frowned, feeling a presence behind him that even made him feel suppressed. He turned around, noticing an Archangel whose divine aura was so powerful that the Enforcer could barely keep his eyes open. He couldn''t see what the person looked like, but it was clear that he was stronger. He was a Council Member. There was only one Council Member who was going toe here to protect this man. "Lord Aztec, your nephew has ripped an Archangel''s wings. Even if it''s you, I can''t let him go." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The Enforcer was suppressed, but he still resisted. At the same time, he called the other Enforcers. As the other Enforcers arrived, they were stunned to find Archangel Aztec here. They also noticed the unconscious archangel in the distance. It didn''t take them long to realize what had happened. "Lord Aztec, even as a Council Member, you can''t stop us from performing our duties."

    It was as if the entire sky was covered by Enforcers. "I am taking my nephew with me. It''s the decision of the Council. You can talk to them about it."

    Aztec was surrounded by Enforcers but he didn''t show the slightest care in the world as he appeared behind his nephew. He grabbed the dark haired boy by his neck, flying high. "Until we confirm it with the Council, we can''t let you take him."

    The Enforcers appeared before Aztec, blocking his path. "Can you take the responsibility for what happens next?" Aztec asked, his eyes narrowing. The Enforcers grabbed their weapons. Just the aura around an Enforcer was so powerful that even one percent of it could destroy a like earth a thousand times over. The Archangels were prepared for what was toe. Even in the face of a Council Member, they didn''t hesitate. "Let them go."

    Fortunately, before things could progress, a voice appeared behind them. "Lord Arion?" The Enforcers noticed another Council Member had appeared. "Let them go," Arion repeated. "This is the decision of the Council. You can''t harm that child."

    "But he..." One of the Enforcers tried to speak, but before he could finish, he felt a mysterious force shutting his mouth close. The Leader of the Enforcers also appeared, who was another Council Member. "There is no need to argue. The Council needs that boy. You can''t harm him."

    The Enforcers looked at each other, not saying anything. They didn''t understand why the Council needed someone like this boy. They could only step back and let the boy be taken. "Take the boy for the treatment," the Leading Enforcer told the others, pointing at the young Archangel whose wings were ripped. He then moved over to the half archangel. "Your anger is still the same. But I hope you can keep that anger in control for what we need you to do. If you can''t, then you and your uncle will regret whates in the future."

    The Leader of the Enforcers disappeared after leaving his words behind. "Best of luck child. Although I have no faith in you and voted against you, I do wish that you would seed," Arion also chimed in before leaving. "What were those idiots talking about? Do something for them? I wouldn''t even move a finger for them, let alone do something."

    Even in this situation, the dark haired boy didn''t have the slightest care. He didn''t fear death or torture. So why would he work for the people who made his life a living hell since childhood?

 Chapter 925: And who will kill me?

    Chapter 925: And who will kill me?

    The Elzeiran Empress reached the Border City, apanied by the Shadow Guards. She looked at the city that was surrounded by a domain that didn''t belong to this world. Looking at the barrier, her expressions twisted. She was certain that this was a barrier created by Karyk. It confirmed her assumption that Karyk was actually in this city.

    She had finally found his location. Now all that was left was to capture her and take him back, so she could receive the forgiveness of the supreme beings. "Break the barrier!" Shemanded the Shadow Guards. One of the shadow guards raised his hand, making the sky turn dark. A bolt of lighting fell from the sky, targeting the barrier. It was an attack that was even strong enough to destroy the barrier of the Royal City, let alone this measly barrier. "Huh?" The lightning bolt reached the barrier, but before it could hit, the bolt itself disappeared, akin to being devoured by someone. "Are you not going to run anymore?" A voice echoed in the surroundings as a figure appeared atop the barrier. The dark sky made it hard to clearly see the person, but his figure was visible. It was clearly a man, but what was strange was that he had wings behind him. It was as if an angel of death had descended. The Elzeiran Empress felt a heavy killing intent descend upon her. It was as if she was tossed in the sea of suffering. Just a simple gaze by the man and she could feel his desire to kill her. It was hate like never before. It was only when the Leader of the Shadow Guards stepped before her that she felt some relief. "It looks like the Supreme Beings refused to bless you. Is this why we are here?" The Leader of the Shadow Guards was certain about what happened. The Empress was supposed to have her strength increase by leaps and bounds once she entered the ancient temple. But she returned without any difference. It was clear that the supreme beings were upset. And her insistence on capturing the man was another reason that made him suspicious. The Leader of the Shadow Guards understood her intention. "That is correct. They me us for not being able to capture the Forgotten Prince. Only by capturing him can we return to their good grace," the Elzeiran Empress nodded. "The Forgotten Prince? Are you saying that he... Is this the one we had been looking for all this time?"

    The Leader of the Shadow Guards was also stunned. They hated Karyk because he was a threat to them. But he didn''t expect him to be the target of their thousands of years of search. If they could actually capture him, it was going to put an end to their thousands of years of mission in this lowly world. "If they want him, they will get him!" The Leader of the Shadow Guards stated, lightning cracking around his fist. As Karyk and Gabriel looked the same, the woman couldn''t differentiate between the two. She didn''t know that the person in front of her was not Karyk. Standing on the dome shaped barrier, Gabriel looked at the Empress, his heart burning with anger. There was a time when he was working with that woman. But this same woman killed Ezekiel, taking someone precious from him. Ezekiel only had a short life left. But even those short moments, he wasn''t allowed to live. To stop her, he had given away his remaining life. For Gabriel, Ezekiel wasn''t just a person. He was his teacher. He was his brother. He was his family. He was his savior. And this woman... She took his savior from him. With the Emperor''s death, only one target remained for his hate. It was this woman who killed him with her own hands. "Young Man, if you surrender, we promise you that we will not kill you!"

    "You can promise to not kill me, but can I promise to not kill her?" Gabriel spoke, his voice echoing through the entire realm. Unfortunately, Karyk couldn''t hear his voice as he had already passed through the portal that returned him to the Central Realm. As soon as he stepped out of the Portal, he heard the sound from outside. Thest time he left, he had only kidnapped one Pirate from here. The rest of the Pirates were still left behind since he didn''t have time. This time, however, he was able to sense the scent of death. He could hear the sound of battleing from outside. No, it wasn''t the sound of battle. It was the sound of one sided ughter. Someone was killing the Pirates as they made their way towards the basement. He pushed open the door and stepped out of the room, noticing thest guard outside fall to the group, his body disintegrating. "So there you were..." On the other side of the hallway, Karyk saw a young man from earth. It was Ryder, who was in cooperation with them and Aliac. In a sense, he was the only Ancient God of this universe that was still alive. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    It was the person who killed all the Guards here. But even after so much bloodshed, the man''s clothes were still in pristine condition. It was as if he was a divine being walking amongst the mortals. "What are you doing there?" "You were taking so long to return, I thought I should check myself."

    "I didn''t need you to check. Did you think I was going to die?"

    "Who knows? Maybe you might die soon."

    "Oh? And how will I be dying?"

    As the tense conversation continued, a sword materialized in Karyk''s hands. The door in the back opened, interrupting the conversation. Aliac walked inside. "There are truly so many rats in my home."

    "Huh, Karyk? So here you are!"

    Unlike Ryder, Aliac appeared slightly pleased to see Karyk. "What took you so long? Since the Pirates were still alive, I thought something went wrong."

 Chapter 926: You are just a gift

    Chapter 926: You are just a gift

    There existed a city that waspletely empty. All the Citizens had long been killed, yet this city was in the middle of a storm. On one side, the city was connected to the Land of Chaos. On the other side, the city was connected to the chaotic sea where the sea monsters were constantly attacking the border wall. And on the third side, there stood the strongest people in the Elzeiran Dynasty. Right next to the Empress, there were a few Shadow Guards. All the remaining shadow guards had long disappeared,pletely erasing their presence to make it impossible to find them.

    Their strength was truly something beyond the realm of gods. Their abilities were divine that came with the blood provided by the Archangels. And now, that same blood was a part of Gabriel. With absorbing the blood, Gabriel also felt this same divine power. It was different from what he had before, yet it felt awfully familiar. Unlike the Pureblood Elzeirans, he didn''t feel like his abilities were linked to the Archangels. Still, he could use them all. No... He had surpassed all the Pureblood Elzeirans. He could do everything that they could do, but better. If it was his old self, he wasn''t sure if he could face them all. He couldn''t even feel their presence in the past. But now, even when they erased their presence, he could still feel them. A Shadow Guard appeared behind Gabriel, still invisible. The dark sky made it even easier for them to hide. It was as if they didn''t exist in this realm, but in apletely different realm. "So you won''t surrender?" The Leader of the Shadow Guards asked, standing next to the Empress. Gabriel conjured a sword as he turned around. The beautiful de of his sword shed in the darkness. Blood sttered everywhere as a groan resounded. The blood stained Gabriel''s pristine clothes as well as his Sword. Next to him, the invisible shadow guard became visible, his eyes still in disbelief as his head rolled sideways. He couldn''t say anything, but his eyes made his question clear. If he could ask, he would have asked only one question. How? How did Gabriel know his position? The Shadow Guards hadn''t released any killing intent either. They were told to not kill the young man. Instead, they only wanted to cut his hands and feet. So no killing intent should have been present. So how were they detected?

    Not just the dying Shadow Guard, but even the Empress had the same question. They had even distracted Gabriel with conversation so the hidden shadow guards could take him out. But even with distraction, he had managed to kill one? It would have been seen as an ident if Gabriel had just killed one Shadow Guard. But instead, this was just the beginning. It was the beginning of a long nightmare as Gabriel disappeared. In the darkness, only the blood could be seen, flying from ce to ce. And this blood didn''t belong to Gabriel. One after another, all the hidden shadow guards were being targeted. And unlike Karyk, Gabriel didn''t have to worry about getting exhausted. With his evolution, this world had be his own territory. He was the ruler of this ce and no one else. He was the only Overlord here. Every corner of thend belonged to him, his power was absolute. Even the Empress couldn''t detect Gabriel when he disappeared. She had the purest Bloodline in Elzeira. So how could Gabriel use their abilities? As the origin of this Bloodline, how could she not detect him? She didn''t understand what was happening. What was this man? How was he capable of doing that? Not long ago, he had to run from the Royal City! They could kill him easily if they used the Shadow Guards. But now, this man was like a butcher... An unseen beast who was devouring every threat in his path. Soon, Gabriel once again appeared, right where he was previously standing. But this time, his clothes werepletely stained with blood. His clothes had turnedpletely red. All the Shadow Guards that were hidden in the darkness had died. Their bodies were falling from the sky, one after another. Many of those bodiesfell inside the city. Looking at those bodies, Gabriel didn''t look happy. "I guess he would be quite upset that I didn''t leave the bodies intact for him. To make up for it, I can only give him yourplete body." N?v(el)B\\jnn

    He raised his bloody sword, pointing it at the Leader of the Shadow Guards. Amongst all the Pureblood Elzeirans in this world, the Leader of the Shadow Guards was currently the strongest after the Emperor died. "The Forgotten Prince isn''t half bad. No wonder they want you..." The Leader of the Shadow Guards stepped forward. "You have even managed to surprise me."

    "But dear Karyk, if you think that this is enough to help you, then you are wrong. Because unlike them, I do have the blessing of the divine!"

    His aura red, unlike any Pureblood Elzeiran. No, it was something beyond that. Even the world itself was trembling as soon as the aura was released. It was the blessing of Archangels. Most people thought that only the Emperor had received one. But only a few knew that the Leader of the Shadow Guards was another existence that had this blessing. The blessing allowed the person to draw out the power of an Archangel, at the cost of their life! Even if one sacrificed their entire life, they could only draw out a fraction of their power. But even one percent of their power was enough to destroy multiple worlds. "Karyk?" Gabriel smiled, not appearing even the slightest intimidated. He did feel a little disgusted for some reason. This aura... He felt like he didn''t like it. It was an innate hate that even he couldn''t understand. "I''m afraid you are confusing me with my Elder Brother. You are just a small gift for that brother of mine. A gift that I will make sure to wrap properly!"

    Once again, Gabriel disappeared. And this time, the Leader of the Shadow Guards didn''t stay behind. The sound of swords shing resounded, space itself split apart with the impact.

 Chapter 927: The end of Elzeira

    Chapter 927: The end of Elzeira

    As Gabriel shed swords with the Leader of the Shadow Guards, thebined power was enough to send both of them flying back. The Leader of Shadow Guards was truly in a different league, especially after he started using his life essence to use this unknown power. His movements were faster and more precise. And his strength was beyond the limits of this world. The sh of their swords echoed through the empty city, a battle that seemed to defy thews of nature. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    Even the barrier that Karyk had created around the city started cracking with this immense power. As soon as Gabriel managed to regain his bnce, two portals opened next to him. One of the portals was on the left, from which a pitch ck spear came out. The other portal was right in front of him, from where a dazzling light emerged. Both the attacks targeted Gabriel, leaving him no room to escape. A blinding light covered the area as the attacks hit their target. "You aren''t allowed to kill him!" The Elzeiran Empress roared. They had to capture the man alive! That was the only reason they hade here. If the person was killed, they could never afford to answer the beings above!

    "If only that attack was enough to kill him," the Leader of the Shadow Guards wiped blood off the corner of his lips, looking at the crater in the distance. It was the ce where Gabriel was standing before. In the depths of the crater, Gabriel was still standing, perfectly fine. His one hand was holding onto the dark spear that targeted him. The spear cracked and turned into glowing fragments that dissolved into the air. "He is fine even after that?" The Elzeiran Empress was initially worried that this attack might kill Gabriel. But what shocked her even more was that he didn''t even have a single scratch. "To capture him is harder than it looks. The battle itself would destroy this realm," The Leader of the Shadow Guards reminded the Elzeiran Empress. This world had be their home. All their people lived here. Their entire strength was consolidated here. He knew that he could do much more, but it was also clear that Gabriel hadn''t given it his all either. If both of them were to fight to death, this entire world might not be able to bear the burden. The choice belonged to the Empress. Was she going to sacrifice this world to capture this man? Or was she going to let him go for now?

    With clenched teeth, the Empress spoke, "If this world is the cost, I am willing to pay!"

    She knew that the sacrifices could be limited if she just waited for the person sent by the Archangels.But if that happened, they were going to lose everything. So what if she had to sacrifice this world? So what if she had to sacrifice all her people? So what if she had to sacrifice this world?

    As long as she could capture the Forgotten Prince and win the favor of Archangels again, this world was nothing.

    The Archangels were beings that could create anything. They could turn impossible into possible. They were the true divinity in the universe. They were her only hope of bringing her brother back to life. And for that, she was willing to do anything! Even if she had to sacrifice her own life, she was willing. The Leader of the Shadow Guards looked at her, his expressions solemn. He soon nodded his head. "If that is your desire, then let the end begin!"

    ....

    The people of Elzeira were just getting to learn that the Emperor had died. Many powerful people were trying to take advantage of the situation. Some were even celebrating that the Emperor was gone. But the celebration didn''tst long. They felt uneasy for some reason. It was as if they could sense a disaster. The ground had started trembling, and it wasn''t just happening in one city. It was happening all over Elzeira, even in the Royal City. The deep sea was also rippling with unusual activity. High waves started rising, as if trying to swallow everything in its path. Even the Pirates that were in the sea watched the scenes before them in disbelief as their ships were swallowed by the sea. Those who could fly, managed to survive temporarily by abandoning the ship. And those who couldn''t, drowned or became food of the sea creatures. The undead Sea King stood atop his Pce which was in the center of the Pirate Ind. Even from here, he could see the high tide in the distance that was thousands of feet tall. The tide wasing straight for the Pirate Ind which was in its path. One after another, all the inds were swallowed by the sea, all living beings on the ind were killed. The Sea King flew high in the air along with the other undead subordinates of Karyk as he watched the Pirate Ind submerged in water. "It looks like I won''t live to see the day I regain my freedom," heughed in frustration, looking at the sky that had started cracking apart. Not just the sea, the sky and space were also bing unstable. Lightning bolts were falling from the sky in a dazzling disy of power, illuminating the chaos below. Karyk was exining things to Aliac when he noticed water spilling out from the portal that connected to Elzeira. It was as if the portal on the other side was already drowned in the depths of the sea. From the portal, an unknown sea creature also came here, only to be killed by Karyk. "Looks like the situation there has somewhat changed. We can''t wait," he told Aliac as he entered the portal that was filled with water. "In that case, let me apany you. Either, we will die, or we will win." Aliac took a deep breath as he also entered the portal. Andstly, the person to enter was Ryder.

 Chapter 928: Let it end

    Chapter 928: Let it end

    Karyk came through the portal and found himself under the water. Even as he was under water, he could feel how chaotic the sea was. It was truly like the end of this world had arrived. The beasts that often remained hidden in the depths of the Ocean had also starteding up. With the water covering all the Inds, drowning was the least of anyone''s worries. Even on Pirate Ind, many people who couldn''t fly were devoured by the sea creatures. "I don''t have time for you."

    Karyk ignored the Sea Creatures. He didn''t even attack them, not wanting to waste any strength or time. He dodged them and flew up. Even if he was under water, the Sea Creatures couldn''t catch him. Before long, Karyk flew out of the sea, his clothes still soaking wet. Aftering out of the ocean, he looked at the sky above, his expressions darkening. He had thought that the sea was bad. But the sky looked even worse. There were cracks in the sky. The ominous cracks in the sky kept spreading. And amidst those cracks, a void was being formed. The world was slowly getting destroyed and it wasn''t because someone was targeting this world. Instead, it was simply due to the battle between two people. Hundreds of lightning bolts fell from the sky in the distance. A giant shield appeared, blocking the bolts. The battle was taking ce millions of miles away, but the vision could be seen all over the realm. This was the extent of the battle. Aliac also dodged the sea creatures and flew out of the water, standing next to Karyk. "That... What did you do?"

    "I don''t think it''s done by me. But I might have a hand in it." "You mean... Gabriel?" "He is fighting someone."

    "In that case, shouldn''t we go and help him?"

    "He''s my brother. Do you think he needs help?" Karyk smiled in response. Although it looked like both sides were on equal footing in the battle, Karyk knew Gabriel better. That boy hadn''t even gotten serious. It looked more like he was trying to exhaust the other person. "Are you saying he can win? To me, it didn''t look that easy."

    "It''s because he is not making it easy. It is intentional."

    "Why is it intentional?" He didn''t understand why Gabriel was doing that instead of quickly finishing the battle if he was capable. "It seems it''s because he''s still upset about Ezekiel. How Ezekiel was pushed to the end of his lifespan by Elzeirans, he''s trying to do the same to the other side."

    "That means that Woman must be there as well. In that case, things became a lot easier."

    Ryder also passed through the portal and appeared in the depths of the sea. Unlike the two of them, he didn''t avoid the Sea Creatures. He killed every sea creature that became an obstruction for him. He was thest person to fly out of the ocean. "This world will notst long at this rate," he said, looking at the battle in the distance. "Isn''t that for the best?" Aliac asked. "If this world is destroyed, so will their armies." N?v(el)B\\jnn

    "Because this world is now connected to ours. If this is destroyed, the impact will be felt in our world as well, unless you are able to close all the connecting portals."

    "If we could close them, why would we worry about being invaded?" Aliac hadn''t thought about it, but when he considered Ryder''s words, it made sense for him. This world wasn''t independent anymore. It was connected to their universe. If this world was destroyed, all the worlds that were connected through the portal were going to be destroyed as well. Excluding earth, most of the others were connected to Elzeira now, including the Central World of Upper Realm. ....

    The Elzeiran Empress tried to look at the battle in the sky, but she could barely keep her eyes open. Most of her strength was spent trying to stand firm in her ce. The battle above was in a realm that she never could have imagined. She didn''t understand why Gabriel became so strong. She had seen him fight in the past, and he was even weaker than her. In fact, the first time she met him, she could kill him instantly if she wanted. She had even teased him about his weakness. Now, he lookedpletely different. He was fighting on an equal footing with the Leader of the Shadow Guards who was burning his life force. With every passing second, the Leader of Shadow Guards burned his life force, he grew older. His hair had already turned white, his face covered with wrinkles. Even though he wasn''t wounded, but it was the same for Gabriel. And unlike him, Gabriel could fight for longer since he wasn''t burning his life force. "How are you able to...!" The Leader of the Shadow Guards felt his strength leaving him as his life force neared the end. He thought he could finish this battle fast, but he had failed. Not only was Gabriel keeping up with his speed but he was also using the same strength. Instead of attacking, he was only focusing on defending, making him feel like he was getting toyed with. "You should end it fast. If this world is destroyed, our world will also be affected."

    As Gabriel was enjoying the battle, he heard a voice. "You are back." He didn''t even need to look at the person to know who it was. "In that case, I will end it now."

    ....

    Gabriel didn''t bother looking at Karyk, but the Elzeiran Empress wasn''t the same. Things kept getting worse for her. Karyk was also here before they could even take out Gabriel. Karyk wasn''t alone either. On one side, there was Aliac. And on the other side, there was the god she had seen on earth. She hadn''t fought him. When she went on earth to catch Ezekiel, this man had just watched. But even then, she had felt that he was dangerous.

 Chapter 929: When he comes

    Chapter 929: When hees

    How did this happen? One moment, everything was in their control. Her brother was alive. Their army was strong and the other side was weak. They had opened the portals to the other universe by breaking the seal. They seeded. All they had to do was wait and invade that world. Everything was going right for them. So how did she end up here? What went wrong?

    She had lost the favour of the Archangels. Her brother had died. Most of the Shadow Guards that she brought with her dead. Even the Leader of the Shadow Guards was on the verge of death. She was left all alone in this world after losing everything. In the sky, the Leader of Shadow Guards was killed, his head flying high. He couldn''t heal. Blood rained from the sky, staining the earth and the chaotic ocean. "Ha... Haha... Hahaha...." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The Elzeiran Empress looked up at the sky, drops of blood falling on her face. "She isughing now? Does she still have some hidden card?" Aliac pondered out loud. "It''s more like she has gone crazy after seeing the end of her legacy," Rydermented. He had seen this scene many times in the past. This was a person who couldn''t believe what was happening in her life. "Hahahaha!"

    The Elzeiran Empress dropped on her knees,ughing like crazy. "It''s over. It''s all over...."

    As sheughed, tears also appeared in her eyes. Ryder and Aliac watched in silence, not feeling even the slightest of pity. "You have won... You have taken everything from me, except my life."

    Karyk looked at the lost Empress. Even he didn''t expect to see her like that. Was this really the end of this war? They had finally protected earth?

    "I''m afraid it''s not easy to take your life. Since it belongs to someone else. Someone who hates you much more than I do," he told the Empress. Just like the Celestial Empress'' life belonged to him, this woman''s life belonged to Gabriel. She had killed Ezekiel, who was dear to him. Ever since then, Gabriel had been looking forward to the day he could have his revenge.

    Unfortunately, the Emperor died long ago. The woman was the only one left. Gabriel wiped the blood off his face, his beautiful yet deep gaze looking at the woman below. There was a time when people used to be on their knees before this woman. There was a time when he couldn''t even move when the woman looked at him. There was a time when he had to beg her to let Ezekiel live. There was a time where she was at the top of the world and he was at the bottom. And now, that woman had fallen from heaven. No, she was dragged down from heaven by him. And this was just the beginning. Gabriel came down,nding in front of the woman. The Shadow Guards were dead, and the war was basically over. With no one tomand them, the hundreds of thousands of soldiers that were part of this woman''s army couldn''t do anything. If she had known this was going to happen... If she had more time... She would have tried to be more careful. She would have tried to get Karyk''s weakness, so she could use it against them. But time was what she didn''t have. She was blinded by her thoughts of winning the favour of the Archangels. She was also scared that Karyk could turn her army into undead, so she only brought the Shadow Guards. At the end of the rope, all her mistakes were shing before her eyes. She could have changed this fate if she had killed Gabriel when she met him. She could have changed this fate if she hadn''t let Karyk escape from the Royal City. All those opportunities were lost. But still, sheughed even as tears streamed down her cheeks. "You are right. It is over for me. I have lost," she said, amidst herughter, wiping her tears. "I have lost, but you haven''t won either. Kill me now before hees. I''ll go ahead and wait for you in the afterlife!" She had lost. There was no opportunity for her to capture Karyk and bring him back. As she failed even if she survived, she was going to be killed by the Envoy of Archangels who was going to be sent here. Instead of dying at his hands, she preferred losing her life to her enemies. At least she could be one with her brother in the afterlife. Instead of a coward who died because of her failure, she preferred to die in war. "Before hees?" Gabriel''s eyes lit up as soon as he heard her. "Is your brother still alive?" There was only one person stronger than the force this woman brought with her. It was her brother and the previous Emperor. He had heard that the Emperor was dead. But hearing her words, he wondered if he was alive. Was it truly their n to tell others that he was dead?

    "He is alive?" Karyk was also surprised. Undead never lied, and he heard from the Undead Sea Emperor that the Elzeiran Emperor was dead. "My brother?" Hatred shed in the woman''s eyes. "My brother died because of you! And now, you will also die!"

    "Because it''s not my brother who will being. Instead, it would be someone who shouldn''te here! Someone sent by them! And when hees here, you''re all dead!"

    "You''re all dead! Hahahaha!"

    The Elzeiran Emperorughed even louder, her eyes showing madness. It was hard to know if she was speaking such things because she had gone crazy, or if what she said was actually true. "Who is she talking about?" he wondered. "I can get the answer, but I''ll have to kill her for that," Karyk suggested. "No need. I will just read her memories." Gabriel refused right away. He ced his hand on the woman''s head, trying to read her memories. ....

    In the Royal City of Elzeira, a blood red portal opened in the Royal Pce. From the portal, someone stepped out. As soon as his feet touched thend, the entire city disintegrated into nothingness.

 Chapter 930: The Destroyer of World

    Chapter 930: The Destroyer of World

    A person emerged from the portal. On his back, there was one wing which was more prominent. But the other wing was missing, which gave him a strange appearance. As soon as his feet touched thend, a wave spread out with him at the centre. Everything that the wave touched, disintegrated into nothingness. Except for the Statue of the Archangel, everything in this city was destroyed. The young man, who only had one wing, looked at the barrennd where a city used to stand before. No matter how much he rejected, he was still forced toe to this lowlynd by his uncle. "You can send me here, but can they stop me from handling things my way?"

    He turned to look at the Archangel Statue. The statue hadn''t moved, but he still felt that it was watching him. "What an ugly statue. I don''t like the look on your face."

    He ced his finger on the tall statue that was worshipped by the Elzeirans. In their eyes, this was the statue of the Divine with which they could contact the Archangels. But in Aexin''s eyes, this was just an ugly and pathetic statue that was useless. Cracks started spreading across the statue which was unable to resist the force hidden in Aexin''s finger. The Statue started glowing, its eyes opened. The sharp gaze looked down on Aexin, like a mighty being. "It looks even more ugly with eyes open."

    "Stop what you are doing! Focus on what we sent you there for!"

    "I know. You sent me here to bring the child that you all call the Forgotten Prince. And I would do that, if he is kind enough to surrender. If not, the Prince might disappear forever."

    "You... Did you forget the consequences?"

    "As if I was ever worried about your consequences." Aexinughed. "You better pray that he isn''t frail enough to die on the way back."

    "If he dies, you will pay for it." N?v(el)B\\jnn

    "Great. If my dirty blood can pay for the life of someone you''ve been searching all your life, then it sounds like it''s worth it."

    "You! You are crazy!"

    "You just found out?" The cracks on the statue had covered itpletely. Aexin gave it a slight push, and the statue shattered. The debris scattered across the ground. "Now that this ugly thing is gone, shall we get back to work?"

    He turned to look in one particr direction where a lot of powerful people could be sensed. They were powerful by this world''s standards, but in his eyes, they were just decent. "Although I would be happy by destroying the hopes and dreams of the ones above, I suppose I would bring him back."

    "Even though they are trash, my trashy uncle is still my only family. I will give him some face."

    He couldn''t fly using his wings like the other Archangels, but he could levitate. It was slowerpared to an Archangel''s speed, but not by much. He started rising in the air and flew toward the ocean on the other end of the continent. He didn''t avoid any city on the way. He didn''t even stop at those cities, but still the cities in his path were destroyed just because he flew past them. Although he was half Archangel, even the half blood on the Archangel side was beyond the limits of this world. Even worse was the ability of his which destroyed everything in his path. He didn''t care if these people were supposed to be on the same side or not. They were ves of the Archangels who were sent to this world. For these people, Archangels were divine beings that could bring forth a new era for them. For Aexin, these fools deserved to die for being so naive.

    "Hah, worshipping those old fools. How pathetic..."

    ....

    Gabriel was about to try reading the woman''s memories, but before his hands could touch her, he felt something. There was a bad feeling rising in his heart. His blood was getting restless, and it wasn''t a good kind of restless. Not just him, but the others could also feel it. With each passing second, that feeling became worse. All of them looked in the same direction. It was in the direction of the Royal City. "Hahahaha... Someone is here. They sent someone! It''s over! Looks like I won''t have to wait long in the afterlife!"

    The Elzeiran Empressughed. She didn''t need to look around to see who wasing. Although she didn''t know the identity of the person, but she could guess. Her blood was the purest royal blood. It had a connection to the Archangels. Even this blood was feeling suppressed. She felt like going down on her knees and worshipping the person who wasing. It was a deep desire that was rising from her heart and her ancestry. This could only mean one thing. The Archangels hadn''t sent another ve this time. They had sent someone who carried their blood!

    A divine being was here! An Archangel was here. Its presence was undeniable. "I can''t face divine beings after my failure. I am pathetic and deserve to die!"

    Herughter continued, but it was a self depreciationughter now. Her tears didn''t stop. Her mind had be unstable. The closer that person came, the crazier she became. It was as if she was hypnotised. Her eyes were slowly growing nk. "I deserve to die! I deserve to die!" She kept repeating. Slowly, she gave up on her immortality just like her brother had done. With everyone distracted, she picked a dagger. Gabriel came to his senses, seeing her pick a weapon. He took a step back, believing like he was going to be attacked. However, the Elzeiran Empress used the dagger on herself. The danger stabbed her chest, yet instead of showing pain, the woman looked happy. She kept stabbing herself again and again, her body falling on the ground. "I am so...rry..." Herst words came as a whisper.

 Chapter 931: You want to live mine?

    Chapter 931: You want to live mine?

    Everyone watched the Elzeiran Empress kill herself. None could stop her. She was more scared of what wasing than she was of them. It made all of them wonder just what could have scared her so much. "This is getting dangerous. You three should leave." Karyk told the others. With the Elzeiran leadership dead, the war was as good as over. Earth was safe, but that was only as long as the Archangels didn''t follow them back. Someone needed to stay behind. And he wanted to be that person. "I don''t know who ising. And in this world, I have more of a free reign since I can recover my essence faster. You should leave."

    Gabriel didn''t agree with Karyk this time. "Listen to me. If the enemy is weak, I can stop him. And if the enemy is strong enough to kill me, none of your three would be of any help."

    Karyk didn''t want to drag their universe into this mess. He had a rough idea about the person that wasing. He also knew who the Elzeirans were looking for. Although he didn''t want to believe it in the past, but he had long known this truth. He appeared in the Abyss at around the same time that the Celestial Empire was destroyed. The Celestial Empire was destroyed because the Archangels were looking for a child. He was taken by Chaos and sent to his new home. And ever since then, the Elzeirans had been trying to enter their world. For many, it was a mystery. No one knew who created the seal around their universe that stopped Elzeirans from entering. Karyk had a rough idea. There was only one person who could do that. And it was Chaos, the same man who brought him out of the Abyss. He had long known that he wasn''t a human. He wasn''t a god either. He wasn''t born in Abyss but still he survived there. He was a being that wasn''t supposed to exist, yet he did. He wasn''t born in the Celestial Empire either. But still, the Celestial Empire didn''t give him up. They were scared of something more than they were scared of the Archangels. Even at the time of their extinction, they didn''t give up on the child. It was the same kind of fear that the Elzeiran Empress had for the one who wasing. Just like she was scared of the Archangels, the Celestial Empire was scared of someone who scared them more than the Archangels. Karyk didn''t know why that person didn''t interfere when the Celestial Empire was destroyed. Was he dead? But even then, his fear lived. The Celestial Empire was brought to ruins, but they didn''t let the Archangels get what they wanted. The Elzeirans wanted one thing. The Archangels wanted one thing. It was the child... It was him. Even though Gabriel was created from his essence, it wasn''t the same. He was the child, and Gabriel was an entirely different being. So Karyk was sure that Gabriel wasn''t going to be targeted if he left. "It doesn''t matter. I am fighting with you!"

    "Don''t be stubborn! It''s my fight! From now on, it has nothing to do with our universe! The person ising for me and only me!"

    Gabriel and Karyk entered into an argument as Gabriel didn''t agree. "How do you know he ising for you?!"

    "Because this entire war began because of me! And only I can end it!"

    "If you stayed behind, you would only be my weakness! Don''t forget, that world is your home! Our family... Your family is there! Zena is there!"

    Karyk could feel the enemy getting closer. Even as he wasing from the other corner of the continent, his speed was very fast. At most, he could get here in a few minutes. "Did you forget that I am immortal?! I have the blood of Elzeirans! You are weaker now! You will die if you stayed here!"

    "It doesn''t matter if you are immortal. There are always ways to counter immortality, just like Elzeirans could be killed!"

    You never know what the enemy could do! And even if I am not a true immortal, I am no less than an immortal! If I leave, this will never end!"

    "Today, it''s one person. Tomorrow, a thousand wille. How many wars will our world have to face? Just their presence alone will destroy our universe!"

    "I still can''t listen to you!"

    "Stop being stubborn! Think about Zena. Do you want her to die because you were stubborn? I have lived my life. I have lived more lives than you can imagine! Even if I die, it''s worth it!" n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "But you... You haven''t even lived your own life enough, why do you want to live mine? Leave, and live the life that I couldn''t! Give Zena the happiness that she deserves!"

    "You!"

    Gabriel clenched his fist, clearly seeing how Karyk was trying to emotionally manipte him. "Also, you three have more important things to do!" Before Gabriel could say anything, Karyk continued. "This world is weak now. It should be possible to seal the portals again if you threebine your powers. So return and seal the portals before this world is destroyed and take our world with it!"

    The cracks in this world were increasing and it wasn''t hidden from anyone. The fight with the Shadow Guards had already brought this world on a verge of destruction, and now... Another presence was making it worse. "If all of us fight here, then what''s the point of winning if this world and ours is destroyed because it can''t bear the burden?!"

    "You three must close the portals and cut the connection! If you don''t, you won''t have anything to return to!"

    Ryder had been silent all this time, but he could see that Karyk was telling the truth. If this world was destroyed before they could seal the portals, then Earth was also going to be destroyed. His family was back on earth. "I am returning."

 Chapter 932: The Answers

    Chapter 932: The Answers

    He was the first to agree. He didn''t have any favourable feelings for Karyk as the prophecy said that Karyk and Gabriel could be the cause of death for his son. Still, he could see that the current Karyk wasn''t someone who could do that. He hade here to judge Karyk and Gabriel to see if they needed to be killed. But seeing Karyk want to sacrifice himself, even if it was for his sister, it was praiseworthy. "If the portals aren''t closed and our universe is destroyed, we won''t have any ce to return to. I wish I could stay and help, but the portals must be closed. I will listen to you."

    Aliac also agreed to leave. He had only started working with Karyk to protect his universe. They weren''t friends. He didn''t have a bond with Karyk like Gabriel shared with him, hence he didn''t want to sacrifice himself and his cause for no reason. "I..."

    Gabriel was the only one who was still hesitating. Just as he had thought that they might all return and live a life detached from suffering and pain, they had to decide on who was going to sacrifice. "Even if I never return, I will still live. You are me, did you forget?"

    Karyk appeared before Gabriel, patting his head lightly. Both of them looked the same age, but Karyk was thousands of years older. For him, Gabriel was still too young to sacrifice anything. "Give Zena the happiness from my share as well. And don''t let anyone harm my dear sister, alright?"

    Gabriel was at a loss of words. It felt like a final farewell. A farewell from which there was no return. "I can-"

    "No arguments with your elder brother now. Listen to me. If we both stay here, none of us wins. But if you leave, you win. And what more could I want than your win?"

    Karyk ced his hand on Gabriel''s chest. "You lost your heart because I couldn''te to your help. So this time, let me be your shield."

    He lightly pushed Gabriel away, before turning around. "Now leave! Leave!" N?v(el)B\\jnn

    Gabriel clenched his fist so tightly that his hands were bleeding. Even his immortal healing couldn''t keep up. "I will close the portal! But you must survive! You must return, or I will never forgive you!"

    Gabriel turned around. He flew towards the ocean, apanied by Ryder and Aliac. All three of them were needed to seal the portals again. Karyk smiled. He didn''t look back, but he felt happy that the three of them were leaving. With that, even if he was to die, he could die knowing that his family was going to be safe. Ryder was flying next to Gabriel, when he heard a voice appear in his head. "I don''t know what hostility you had with me, but I never meant you any harm. I am sure you must have your reasons, but I hope you won''t harm my family because of it."

    Ryder looked around, noticing Karyk looking in his direction. "I promise. I will keep your family safe, as long as my family isn''t put at risk."

    Ryder''s voice echoed in Karyk''s head as well.

    His meaning was clear. Just as Karyk could do anything for his family, he could also do anything for his family. It was something in which both sides could be right, yet both of them could be wrong. Karyk didn''t respond back. He had faith in Gabriel. Firstly, Gabriel wasn''t going to harm anyone. And even if he did, he was going to protect Zena. As Gabriel also had true immortality now, as long as he didn''te across Archangels, he was capable of facing anything. The three of them soon disappeared in the distant horizon. They entered the ocean at the approximate location of the return portal. They located the portal and passed through it, returning to the Central World which was already submerged in water. .....

    "So much for freeing me. It looks more like both of us will die here!"

    While three people left, the Undead Sea King arrived, receiving Karyk''smand. Karyk also brought his remaining Elzeiran Undead out of the Shadow Realm, which included his newly created undead as well. "You are already dead. So why are you worried about death? I should be worrying about it."

    Karyk smiled. He was looking forward to seeing the Archangel that wasing for him. He didn''t know if he could win or not. Unlike Gabriel, he couldn''t absorb the essence from this world after all. In this world, his essence was limited. There was only one thing he was looking forward to. He wanted to know his true identity. Even after living through the memories of so many people in the Ancestral Temple, he only knew that he came from Abyss. Aftering to this world, he came to know that he came to Abyss from the Celestial Realm. He still didn''t know where his true Origin was. Where was he born? Who were his true parents? Why did he have to suffer so much? Why were Archangels after him? Even if the Archangels were after him, how did he manage to survive for so long? Just what was his true identity? How was he rted to Archangels when he wasn''t an Archangel?

    He didn''t know most of these answers, but he believed that someone who could answer him wasing to him. The only person who could answer him was the person who was looking for him. Karyk finally saw a silhouette of a person in the sky, flying towards him. "Huh?" The person did look like an Archangel, but at the same time he didn''t. He had only one wing after all. Even with one wing, that person felt dangerous. Even the air around him was decaying and a void was being left behind him. "You are the ones those old fossils call the Forgotten Prince...?"

    Aexinnded on the ground, looking at Karyk with frustration. "It''s because of you that I had toe here. And I''m honestly quite angry. So I hope you won''t mind if I let out some of that frustration on you."

 Chapter 933: I want to break you

    Chapter 933: I want to break you

    Aexin looked at the woman, lying not too far from Karyk. "So she already died. No wonder they had to send me here. Their ves were just as useless as I thought."

    "Are you an Archangel?" Karyk asked the man, who looked very different from an Archangel. He did share some traits, but he was also different in many ways. He only had one wing, and his physical traits were also different. "Am I an Archangel? That''s not for you to know about," Aexin replied. "And secondly, I didn''t give you permission to talk to me!"

    Aexin disappeared. By the time Karyk could react, he was already in front of him. Sending danger, Karyk flew back. He avoided being touched, but still he was shocked as he touched his throat. His skin had decayed, and he felt some pain in his throat. He was certain that Aexin had missed him, yet he was hurt?

    "They told me to not destroy this ce if possible. I have to control quite a lot, but still I''m impressed. You are a lot better than the kids above."

    "Who are-"

    Karyk tried asking again. All he wanted was answers about his identity. He was less interested in the fight. Just like Aexin, he also didn''t want to destroy this world. At least until the portals were sealed, he didn''t want to fight back. If the world was destroyed before the portals were sealed, earth was also going to die with this world. At first, he had thought that he could drag this out by talking to him. But the man didn''t look like he was interested in talking. Before Karyk could finish his question, the man appeared behind him. Karyk dodged the man''s fist again, usingplex footwork. He again avoided the man, but once again he wasn''tpletely unharmed. He felt the right side of his face decay. His healing was trying to keep up, but it was having a hard time. Karyk had just finished dodging when the man attacked again. With quick reflexes, Karyk twisted away from the man''s strikes. Unfortunately, this time, he couldn''t avoid the attack as the man expected him to dodge. He changed the direction of his attack, aiming where Karyk had dodged. His fistnded on Karyk''s chest, sending him staggering backward. "I told you, I am frustrated. So I hope you don''t pass out too soon." Aexin cracked his knuckles. He was involved in many battles in their world. He had beaten many Archangels, despite not being a pureblood. He was someone who expressed himself with his fist. Despite the blow, Karyk stood his ground, focusing on his breathing. It wasn''t hurt by the punch as much as he was hurt by the effects of it. It wasn''t just his skin that had started decaying, but he also felt his heart and his bones affected by this decay. "I see that you don''t want to tal-" Karyk spoke again. And once again, before he could finish, the man moved. His fist came straight for Karyk''s face. "In that case, let me repay this favor in kind!"

    Karyk''s fist was covered in the essence of death as he gave up on dodging. If the man wanted a fight like this, then he was going to give him that. If the man didn''t want to answer when he used his words, he was going to make the man answer with his fist. Karyk moved aside, making the man''s fist miss. However, just like before, the man changed his direction, as if creating a battle dance. "Did you think this will work?" Aexin stated as he swung his fist towards Karyk''s neck with precision and force. His fistnded on Karyk''s neck, but he didn''t feel any resistance. Karyk''s figure turned into mist, as if he was never real. "I just have to make it work!"

    Words responded around Aexin as a fistnded on his face, sending him flying back. He quickly regained his bnce and stood firm, revealing surprise. "No wonder they want you. You definitely aren''t ordinary..." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    He rubbed his cheeks, feeling something wrong in that punch. It didn''t have the essence of decay. But he still felt like the tissues of his face were dying after that punch. It was simr to his decay, but also different. "No wonder your people had troubled those old idiots for so long. I have changed my mind now!"

    He further added. "I was nning to take you back alive. But I''m so excited now that I might not be able to control myself. I might actually break you!"

    A smirk spread across his lips, but behind that smirk, there was excitement. It had been a long time since someone had hurt him. Only those old idiots back home were strong enough to hurt him. He couldn''t break them, because there were too many of them. And they were also very strong. But it was different with Karyk. Karyk was someone that they wanted the most. And he was also someone that he wanted to destroy. It was like he was a delicacy for him. ....

    Gabriel was standing on the Central World which had turned into an ocean. Aliac was standing in another point in the Gxy, which was near the Abyss. It was also the second point where the portals were most concentrated. Andstly, it was Ryder who was standing in the Realm of Gods where another focal point of the portals was. All of them were connected and were able to hear each other''s messages. "On the count of three, give it your all! We must close the portals!" Aliac sent a message through his thoughts. "One..."

    "Two..."

    "Three..."

    An earthquake was felt in every world in the universe as three divine beings used all their might. Gabriel used everything he had, all in an attempt to deal with the portal. There was nothing more that he wanted than to just enter Elzeira to help Karyk, but he had to protect this world. He couldn''t leave this ce. Between Karyk and his sister, he chose his sister as Karyk wanted.

 Chapter 934: Cruel

    Chapter 934: Cruel

    Gabriel, Ryder, and Aliac stood before the looming portals that connected their universe to Elzeira. As they gathered their strength, Gabriel, with his deep understanding of ancient spells, began reciting incantations in the form of a world tier spell. His voice resonated with power, forming a barrier around the portal, preventing it from expanding further.

    Ryder also maneuvered through the chaotic energy, slowly sealing the essence of the portals. Meanwhile, Aliac tapped into their innate connection with nature, channeling the energy of their world. Together, the trio pushed themselves beyond their limits. They could feel the immense pressure building, the weight of their universe hanging in the bnce. With one final surge of energy, Gabriel, Ryder, and Aliacbined their abilities. Their powers intertwined, creating a synchronous flow of energy that radiated a brilliant light, illuminating the darkness that surrounded them. The unified force they conjured was stronger than anything they had ever experienced before. The portal trembled under the overwhelming force unleashed upon it, struggling to maintain its existence.

    All three core points of the portals were targeted at the same time. In a climactic moment, the portals copsed on themselves, imploding with a thunderous roar. The energy dissipated, leaving behind only a faint trace of its once formidable presence. Gabriel, Ryder, and Aliac stood exhausted as they looked at empty space where once a portal used to be. Their universe was now free from the influence and connection to other dimensions. The threat that had loomed over their world was gone, and their efforts had not been in vain. The fate of Elzeira couldn''t affect their world now. With the portal sealed, Aliac sighed in relief. This had been his dream for such a long time. He had been guarding the portal in the Central World as he was worried about the Elzeirans entering their universe and destroying it. Now that the portals were destroyed, there was nothing to worry about. He was finally free. He didn''t have to seal himself in the Central World. He didn''t have to worry that if he left, the portals were going to open. "Finally... It is over."

    He still couldn''t believe that this was real. They had done it. There were so many sacrifices along the way, but they had actually done it. Ryder didn''t show much reaction even after sealing the portal. He had a lot of thoughts in his head. He had joined this team in order to judge Karyk and Gabriel to see if he needed to eliminate them. With Karyk gone, all that was left was Gabriel. But in the end, he didn''t do anything. "Since I made a promise to you, I will keep it. I won''t harm them, unless they..."

    He didn''t finish his sentence. He opened a portal back to earth and stepped inside, returning to his family. Aliac also returned to earth. That was the only meeting ce they had. It was also the ce where he wanted to celebrate as that''s where they came together.

    The two of them had remembered Karyk''s sacrifice, but it didn''t affect them much.

    The only person this affected the most was Gabriel, who stood there, feeling empty. Ezekiel was gone. Ezekiel had died trying to protect his family. And now, Karyk was also gone, trying to protect his family. Everyone he knew well enough... Everyone he was close to... They were all gone. "You must return! You just!" He muttered, looking at the ce where the portal of the Central World used to be. He waited there for a long time for Karyk to return. An entire day passed as he kept waiting, but no one returned. With the portal destroyed, it was impossible to connect to this universe. Still he had faith that Karyk could return. He was someone who made impossible into possible. Gabriel remained there, waiting. A second day passed, but there was still no reaction. No one returned...

    At this point, Gabriel was finally starting to have second thoughts. "You can''t die. Don''t go too far with this joke."

    A third day passed, but nothing changed. The Central World was still covered in water from Elzeira, but the person he was looking for didn''t return. Gabriel couldn''t take it anymore. He had waited for a long time. He wanted to go back and check himself. He had left a mark on Elzeira before returning, expecting something like this. With the mark, he could open a temporary portal to Elzeira. He tried to locate the mark, no matter which part of the dimensions it belonged to. "Huh?"

    He searched for the mark for a long time, but he couldn''t find anything at all. The mark waspletely erased. "It should have been impossible. That mark can''t be erased, unless the entire dimension is destroyed."

    The moment hepleted his train of thoughts, his expressions froze. Karyk had sent him here, warning him to close the portal. This was the reason he did that. He knew that once that universe was destroyed in the battle, all of them were going to die there. Not just that, not all connected dimensions could also be destroyed. It was as if he knew this oue. He knew that the Elzeiran Dimension was going to be destroyed. No... He destroyed it himself to erase the person who came for him as well. With the Dimension destroyed, not a single being in that universe could survive. It didn''t matter if they were mortals or gods. Elzeira waspletely gone. And it took everyone else with it. "You lied to me..."

    Gabriel dropped to his knees at the realization. The words Karyk told him were all lies. He was never nning to return in the first ce. Gabriel clenched his fist. His aura became unstable along with his emotions. A dark energy started spreading out from his body, as he felt like he was drowning inplex emotions. "There you are. Your sister kept asking me about you. She almost ate my head." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Hearing a voice, Gabriel raised his head, his eyes still nk. He saw Aliac standing behind him. And next to him was Zena... Gabriel and Karyk''s sister. "Brother... Are you... Alright?" Zena asked. Even as she appeared slightly scared, she was more concerned about Gabriel.

 Chapter 935: Changed Fate

    Chapter 935: Changed Fate

    "Take care of Zena."

    That was the only thing that Karyk asked from him. She was not a sister by blood for Karyk. She was only a part of the family in which Karyk had been adopted. But still, he never treated her like an outsider. Even after knowing the truth about hisplex origin, Zena was still his sister for him. She was as real as a sister could be for them. Zena was the person that kept them grounded. No matter how broken this world became, she was their anchor. Tears streamed down Gabriel''s face as he realized how cruel Karyk was. "Did he tell you to do this?" he asked Aliac. Aliac pretended to bepletely ignorant about this question. But after being red at by Gabriel, he came clean. "He told me that he might never return. And in that case, you would be really broken. He told me that the only person who can bring you back and keep you sane is Zena." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "He told me to help you with Zena if you were ever lost. This was hisst request for me."

    Aliac sent his response through his thoughts, making sure that Zena didn''t hear it. Gabriel lowered his head. "You are really cruel. You gave me this immortality. You gave me your family. You gave me this peaceful world, and a life worth living."

    "And in exchange, all you kept for yourself was pain. You gave me a family. You gave me friends. You gave me everything, while staying all alone yourself. You cruel liar..."

    Tears kept streaming down his face. Zena came forward. She couldn''t fly originally, but with Aliac''s help, she was able to walk on the air. She didn''t know why her brother was crying. Why did he look hurt? She felt hurt, seeing her brother cry. She stepped forward and went down on her knees, hugging Gabriel tightly. "Karyk is nevering back..." Gabriel said, not wanting to hide anything from Zena. "Who is Karyk? Is he a friend of yours?" Zena asked, seemingly confused. Gabriel raised his head, frowning. "Did he..."

    He realized something. Karyk had expected his death long before he entered Elzeira with him. No, he was prepared for death long ago. He knew that it was inevitable with the kind of people he was against. He was the person that the Archangels were after. Only with his death, could this quest of Archangels stop. Karyk had erased Zena''s memories about him before leaving, so she didn''t get hurt with the news of his death. Zena didn''t remember having two brothers. In her new reality, she only had one brother. And that brother was Gabriel. For quite some time, he looked at Zena''s face. Zena wiped his tears. "Did you have a fight with a friend?"

    Gabriel nodded. "With my best friend. He is too cruel."

    "He sounds like a bad guy."

    "He is the worst."

    "Why do you feel sad for such a bad person? He''s an idiot for fighting with my brother. He should be the one crying, not you!"

    "He really is an idiot... An idiot who was left all alone at the end of the road..."

    ....

    [Three Dayster]

    A great cmity was stopped that could have brought destruction to this entire world. Yet most of the people in this world never even knew about it. Gabriel left earth with Zena and his friends. No one knew where he went. He didn''t even inform Aliac about this. It was as if he had just disappeared to unknown corners of the universe. Aliac returned to the Upper Realm. The first thing he did was clean water from the Central World and kill all the beasts that had managed to enter through the portals before they were sealed. He also started showing himself more often to the other worlds of the Upper Realm. He was no longer the Ruler of the Upper Realm that never showed himself. He actively participated in the matters of the Upper Realm. He had realized the importance of creating a powerful force. He started many training academies throughout the upper realm that could help people break through their limits. He named the Academy, "Karyk''s Academy of Magical Excellence."

    The person who was once considered the greatest criminal of the Upper Realm and was chased to the ends of the universe to be killed, had be the hero of the Upper Realm. God''s Realm, on the other hand, had be deste. No one lived there anymore. The structures of the past still existed there. The library that contained great secrets was still present. Even the Royal Pce in the center of God''s Realm waspletely intact, except the broken roof that was caused by Janus. In the center of the pce, there was a pond where four fishes used to swim in the past. Next to the pond, there stood a man, looking at the calm waters. In thest, there used to be four fishes in the pond, all signifying a character of this era that was favored by fate. It was said that only one of them could live by the end of this era. Surprisingly enough, there was only one fish in the pond now. As for who that fish represented, no one knew. "Did he change fate by stopping the invasion?" The person in the hall muttered, looking at a single fish floating in the water. "Does it mean I don''t have to break my promise to him..."

    He turned around, and just as silently left the Pce, his footsteps echoing in the silent hall. The man opened a portal outside the Royal Pce and stepped inside. The other end of the portal opened at the sealed depths of a pyramid on earth. In the depths, a person was sitting in the ground, chained and unable to move. "It seems there was no need for you to go that far, Janus," Ryder stated. Janus weakly raised his head, his eyes were still filled with hatred. "Did you already kill the other two?"

    "There is no need to kill anyone. The fate appears to have changed."

 Chapter 936: Who could survive

    Chapter 936: Who could survive

    There was only silence in the hall as Janus didn''t reply. He didn''t care about fate anymore. He had already lost everything, including his nephew, thest remnant of his brother''s family. "I came here to free you," Ryder told Janus, breaking the absolute silence. "You should kill me while you can. Because I will never forgive you for what you did."

    "Even though you were at fault for that?"

    "If I was at fault for that, you should have killed me. But Caen did nothing wrong. She didn''t even know about it. But you still killed him. I can never forgive you for that."

    Janus didn''t care about freedom anymore. There was no point in freedom for him. Even death was better, as he knew that if he was freed, he could never sleep in peace. His life''s only purpose was going to be revenge. He was only going to think about hurting Ryder and his family, just like his own family was hurt. "Kill me. I am tired..."

    "If I kill you, who will take care of Caen?" Ryder asked, looking at the lonely figure of Janus. "You are truly vile. If you take his name again, I will kill you!" Janus'' clenched his fists. Caen was dead. He saw it happen with his own eyes. Ryder taking his name was no different than using the dead to hurt him. "Fine. I won''t take his name. He can do that himself."

    Ryder opened a portal. Through the portal, a silhouette appeared, which shocked Janus. It felt too familiar. Soon, the person stepped out of the portal, shocking Janus. The person was none other than his Nephew, Caen. The young boy was lookingpletely unharmed. If anything, he just looked like he had been sleeping for a long time. "No matter how bad I am, I could never have killed Chaos'' son. Just like he is your nephew, he is also my nephew."

    "But that night..." Janus tried to ask, but he couldn''t even finish his sentence as he felt like he was choking with emotions. "That night, you tried to kill my son. So I just wanted to teach you a lesson. What I killed was just a clone I created. I never brought Caen with me that night."

    Janus heard Ryder, shocked at the revtion. He didn''t understand. How could he not recognise a clone that night? Was it simply because he was too emotional? "You said that fate was cruel. Only one of the four could survive. I could kill Gabriel and Karyk as they were strangers to me. But it was much harder to do anything about my own nephew."

    "No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn''t kill him. He''s not my son, but he''s still family. I could never choose one over the other."

    "To make sure that my son wasn''t at risk, I just put Caen in a deep sleep while I tried to find a solution."

    "I was nning to do the same with Gabriel and Karyk. If all three of the fated children were asleep, the fate couldn''t take ce. In the meantime, I wanted to find a solution to change fate."

    "Who would have thought that the one to change fate wasn''t me, but one of them..."

    He stepped forward, and started opening Janus'' chains. "You can''t me me for lying to you, and keeping you in the dark. Think of it as a punishment."

    As soon as Janus was freed, he lunged forward and punched Ryder. "I was right. You truly are vile."

    Ryder didn''t resist the punch. But in the best moment, Janus grabbed his wrist and hugged him like a brother. "But I am still thankful to you."

    He hated Ryder for such a cruel trick, but he also knew that he deserved it for what he did. Just being left alive was more than enough mercy. In the next moment, he rushed to Caen and asked if the young man was alright before hugging him as well, constantly apologizing. "Are youing, or not?"

    Ryder opened the portal back to his home. "My son still thinks I killed you two. So isn''t it only right for you to make things clear to him as well? I can''t have him looking at me like a killer all this time."

    "Also, my wife was quite upset that you left without eatingst time. So we''re going back. And this time, you''ll be living with us."

    "Oh, and onest thing. If you evere across any such problems, don''t take it all on your shoulders. Together, we could find solutions to any problems like we did in the starting days of our journey."

    "You had been a friend since before I even started rising in this world. Without you, I might not be here. So I would always help you, no matter what." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Janus entered the portal with Caen, following after Ryder. He still felt guilty, but more than that, he felt relieved. It was as if he was given a second chance. And this time, he wanted to make sure he didn''t make the same mistake. "Did you find the sword in which Chaos was sealed with the Ancient God?"

    Janus stepped out on the other side of the portal, asking Ryder. Caen also grew interested in the topic. He had long heart stories about how his father was the strongest person in the world who won the great war of gods. His father had even stopped the God of Creation, sealing him in a sword with himself. The sword itself was a treasure as it was created using the Bracelet of Immortality, the greatest treasure of his father. But more than that, his father was inside. That was why his uncle had been looking for that sword all this time. Ryder shook his head. "If only it was that easy."

    "The only clue I had was that it was in the Abyss, but I couldn''t find it there either," Janus added. "Could it be that someone took it from the Abyss?"

    "Who could even survive inside the Abyss except us? It''s impossible."

 Chapter 937: A new day

    Chapter 937: A new day

    Ryder remembered that there were two people who had entered the Abyss from what he heard. The first was Ezekiel, and the second was Gabriel. After thinking about it for some time, he shook his head. It was impossible for it to be them. Anyone who happened to even touch the sword would have died after all. He remembered that Ezekiel and Gabriel were alive when they left the Abyss. So it was impossible. But then where did the sword go? He couldn''t think of an answer. ****

    "Are you still thinking about him? It has been over three months now."

    The Priestess of Summoning approached a young man, who was sitting at the edge of the cliff, looking at the setting sun in the distance. The young man didn''t respond to her words. He just appreciated the beauty of the sunset. Most people didn''t know where Gabriel had disappeared to. Even Aliac and Ryder didn''t have a single clue. For them, it was as if he just disappeared with his family. None of them even tried to look for him, wanting to give him the peace that he deserved. It has been over three months since then. In those three months, Gabriel had found a small corner of the gxy where he found a world that looked very simr to the world where he lived in the past. In this world, there were many elements of magic. People could also awaken elements and then use those elements to use spells. Just like his world, there was also conflict in this world between various Elemental Mages that each had their own organizations. However, Gabriel didn''t care about their conflict. "I am fine. You shouldn''t worry about me."

    They had created a small paradise for themselves in a mountain range that wasn''t very far from the nearest city. Most people from the city didn''t dare enter the mountain range because there was a spell cast by a powerful mage that made it impossible to enter the mountain range. The same spell that created problems for inhabitants of this world offered no resistance for Gabriel and the others that came with him. "You went to the City. How was it?" Gabriel asked the young woman who sat next to him. "It is a fun city. Next time, you should alsoe with us."

    "It won''t be good. As you already know, wings aren''t normal in this world. There would be a lot of trouble if I came with you."

    "You can just hide your wings. I''m sure you can use spells like that, even after your evolution."

    "If you can''t, I can summon a creature that can cast an illusion around you. No one else would be able to see your wings."

    "Why are you so insisting?" Gabriel asked in return. "Are you worried about me?"

    "How can I not worry about you?"

    "You know, I''m not a child. I don''t need a babysitter."

    "I''m not trying to be your babysitter?"

    "Oh, then what are you trying to be?"

    "Apanion... Just like I used to be, before Karyk''s soul awakened."

    The Holy Priestess of Summoning ced her hand over Gabriel''s hand. "I know that things can never go back to the way they used to be. But you need to start a new life. That''s what he would have wanted as well."

    "How do you know what he would have wanted?"

    "Because at the core, you and him were very simr. And I could see that he cared about you just as much, as much as he cared about Zena," the woman answered. "Just like he wanted Zena to have a good life and live happily, he wanted you to do the same. And if you don''t do that now, would that really be respecting him?"

    Gabriel went silent momentarily. He simply looked back at the setting sun, which was marking the end of the day. "When a day ends, it''s only so a new day can begin tomorrow. You should also have a new day in your life. This is your new life, and live out like one."

    The Holy Priestess of Summoning took her hands off as she stood up. "I hope you seriously think about it. That would make Zena happy as well."

    She slowly left, leaving Gabriel alone with his thoughts. "Am I allowed to ept this new day?" Gabriel muttered softly with no one to hear him. ....

    The next morning, the sun rose high in the sky again. "Is brother noting today as well?" Zena asked, looking back at their house. She still couldn''t see Gabriel. It had been weeks since she even saw him. "He is busy with something important. Give him more time." The Holy Priestess of Summoning patted Zena''s head, letting out a sigh. "Are you two talking about me?"

    The door suddenly opened and Gabriel stepped out of the house. He looked different from before, as he was wearing more ordinary clothes from this world. He had also hidden his wings with a spell, making sure that no one else could see them, even if they existed. "Brother!"

    Zena excitedly hugged him. Gabriel hugged her back. "Did you miss me?"

    "A lot!*

    Gabriel smiled. "Good. I would have been angry if you didn''t."

    "Looks like he is starting to feel better now."

    In the distance, Cylix and Novius also watched Gabriel. In the distance, the Holy Priestess of Summoning smiled beautifully. "I know it''s not easy for him, but he seems to be trying."

    ....

    [In another universe] n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The High Council of Archangels had gathered for another meeting. Tempers were running high in the meeting. "It is all your fault for sending that idiot! I told you that you will have to pay if he screws up!"

    "Who do you think you are to me me? As if you did anything right in the first ce!"

    There was a lot of back and forth urring between two groups. The cause of this was one person. It was a person who was lying on a table in the middle of the hall.

 Chapter 938: The Failure

    Chapter 938: The Failure

    It was the meeting ce where the strongest Archangels had gathered. Each of them were beings that were unfathomable. Even an ordinary god could go crazy, just by seeing them. Their entire being was something that wasn''t supposed to be witnessed by others. It was like a mortal looking at the divine forms of the divine beings. Currently, all these powerful beings were involved in an argument like ordinary people. With each wave of their hand, with each decibel of increase in their volume, multiple universes were being destroyed. "We should never have listened to you! We knew that sending that problematic child there was a mistake!"

    "He didn''t listen to us even here. Why did we even expect him to listen to us in that lower universe?"

    There were manyints targeted at Aexin''s Uncle. Although he also argued back, but he knew that they had made a mistake. He knew that his nephew was troublesome and didn''t listen to them, but he didn''t expect something like this to happen. Even if Aexin was a loose cannon, he was still someone who, at the end of the day, got things done. But this time...

    He looked at the young man who was lying on the table before them. The person had a trace of Archangel bloodline, but he only had one wing even in his physical form. He was none other than Aexin, who was sent to capture Karyk. They had told Aexin to bring Karyk back without destroying Elzeira, so as to not hurt the forgotten prince. But they couldn''t keep an eye on him since he destroyed the statue as soon as hended there. It was only when they felt a wave of destruction, they realized that something had really gone wrong. The world of Elzeira was destroyed, along with the reality of that world. They couldn''t descend to that world, but they could still locate Aexin and bring him back. Even the destruction of reality couldn''t kill Aexin as he had half of Archangel blood running in him. Still, the condition in which he was brought back was out of their expectations. Aexin was unconscious, and his entire left arm was missing. Even if the world was destroyed, it shouldn''t have affected his body. They could also feel that his arm was cut with a sword. They wanted to ask many questions. Did the Forgotten Prince die? How was the reality destroyed when they told him to be careful? Was it the Forgotten Prince who sliced his arm? How could that be possible? n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Even with so many questions, they could do nothing more than wait for him to wake up. Even their abilities couldn''t wake him up after all. While they waited for him to wake up, tempers were running hot in the meeting. Most of the me was given to Aexin. Most of the people already looked down on Aexin because he wasn''t a true Archangel. He was just a product of a High Archangel''s lust. If it wasn''t for his Uncle who was a higher being like them, the boy would have been killed a long time ago. Because of his uncle, they let him run free, even as he did many wrong things. But this time, he had made them really upset. His arrogance was still fine if he had seeded. But he failed, which made things worse. "It doesn''t matter what you say. Before we decided on sending him, we have already said that you would bear the consequences if anything goes wrong because of his temper!"

    "Because of this boy, we might have lost the only chance to get the Forgotten Prince, who probably isn''t even alive anymore!"

    Without the Archangel Blood, it was impossible to survive the copse of reality, even for the Forgotten Prince, especially the one who had never known about his origin. "I will call for a High Meeting. And the consequences would be dire!" The High Archangel who had opposed this n stated. The Leader of the Guards also agreed. "If enough people support the resolution in the meeting, you will be expelled. As for your Nephew, death is inevitable!"

    "I will see how you do that." Aexin''s Uncle wasn''t scared. Although he had failed, but he still had enough influence and support. He didn''t think that he could be expelled. There was no way enough people were going to agree with that. He had too many allies in the council. The only thing he worried about was his Nephew. He wanted to know what just happened, and that the Forgotten Prince was actually alive. There were a lot of questions. Aztec picked up his nephew, and left the meeting ce.

    The date of the next meeting wasn''t yet final as all the members had to be invited for that. Until then, he wanted to find more answers. ....

    Three days had passed before a message was delivered to Aztec, which informed him that the meeting fate was finalized. It was decided that the meeting was going to be held in a week''s time. All the members were going to return for the meeting, including ones that hadn''t shown themselves for thousands of years. The matters rting to the Forgotten Prince had even made those old fossils take interest. In thest three days, Aztec waited for Aexin to wake up. He did everything he could to help his nephew wake up faster. It wasn''t simply because he cared for his nephew. It was also because answers were important. If the Forgotten Prince was still alive, they had to know that. He also wanted to find out how the Forgotten Prince was able to defeat Aexin. Just what happened in that ce? Two more days passed before Aexin finally made some movements. His eyelids fluttered, as he slowly opened his eyes, feeling pain in his left shoulder. He could see a familiar ceiling. He was back in his uncle''s house. He turned his head to notice his missing left arm. Scenes of the past shed in his eyes, his eyes ring in anger.

 Chapter 939: It was

    Chapter 939: It was

    He struggled to sit up despite the pain. As he looked around the room, he saw his uncle, Aztec, sitting by his side with a calm expression on his face.

    "It seems that I have failed." He rubbed his forehead, feeling a little frustrated. Not only did he fail, but he had also lost his left arm. It was the first time he had lost like this. He still couldn''t believe it. "So, when is my execution?" he asked his uncle, already expecting the oue. He was told about the consequences of failure before he was sent there. Even if he had killed Karyk, he could still have tried to escape as the Archangels couldn''t descend. But now that he was back, there was no avoiding the consequences. "In a week''s time."

    "And what about you? What consequences are there for you?"

    "You think they can give me any consequences? I should be fine for the most part. But it would still be very troublesome to hear all of them in the meeting."

    "I see." Aexin lowered his head. "Those old idiots can never change. However, I don''t think they will execute me. Because it wasn''t my fault this time."

    "They didn''t tell me something like that could happen. If I had known, things could have been different."

    "Was he Stronger than you?"

    "Stronger than I expected, yes. But stronger than me? Not quite."

    "I see. It looks like you underestimated him and lost your arm. And after that, you grew angry and failed to control your strength, destroying that realm identally and killing him?"

    Aztec had a rough idea about what happened from Aexin''s words. He himself epted that Karyk was stronger than he expected. "But even if that''s the case, it''s not anyone''s fault but yours. I really shouldn''t have sent you, knowing your temper. What a misjudgment on my part."

    He appeared very disappointed as he stood up, ready to live. He had thought that even if his nephew was arrogant and short tempered, he was still someone who knew the importance of this task. With this failure, he had truly disappointed him. "You have quite a wild imagination," Aexin rolled his eyes. "It''s not what happened. He isn''t the one who sliced my arm."

    "He isn''t?" Aztec stopped at the threshold of the exit, turning around with a surprise. There was someone else who was able to hurt his nephew? It would have been possible if it was the Forgotten Prince, but for another being from that lowly world to be able to do that? How was that possible? "Was it someone from the ve Species that was sent therest time?"

    They already had two factions here. One was in control when Elzeirans were sent there. And the second was his faction. He had sent Aexin because the Elzeirans had failed. But was it a trap by the other faction to drag him down? If that was true, then this really could be used in the next meeting to not only save his nephew but also to have revenge. "Who was it? The new Queen of Elzeira? Was she granted a blessing by them like her brother, behind our back? Even then, she should be very weak. She must have used a trick. Such sneaky bastards!"

    "Stop overthinking. You keeping up with absurd stories." Aexin denied once again. "It wasn''t an Elzeiran."

    "You think those ves could even get close to me? Even if they schemed against me, they could never harm me."

    "Then, was it remnants of the weak Divine Empire that survivedst time?"

    "Not them either."

    "Then who was it?! Who cut your arm?!

    "It was..."

    Aexin told Aztec everything that happened from the point that he met Karyk to the point that they started fighting. He even told Aztec how he was already nning to kill Karyk at that time, but as the story progressed, Aztec''s expressions turned darker. By the time the story ended, Aztec left the room in silence. He quickly sent a message to all the Council Members, telling them to bring forth the final meeting. Along with the message, he also sent one extra sentence. One after another, the message was received by everyone who had already agreed to have a meetingter. They didn''t know why Aztec was in such a hurry suddenly. Did he want to be punished so bad? Some people were even smug about it. But the moment they read thest line, their expressions became stern. Even the ones in the faction that hated Aztec couldn''t control themselves as they stood up, shocked. "That''s impossible!"

    "If he is lying, then expulsion won''t be the only consequences he faces!"

    "How can it be true?"

    There were many different reactions amongst the ones who received the invitation. Even the old beings that rarely attended the meeting were shocked. They didn''t dy anymore. They didn''t want to wait for the next meeting. All of them left their realms. The meeting was going to be held right now to verify if the content of the letters were true. Aztec returned to his room after sending the letters. He helped Aexin up, telling him, "We are leaving right now!"

    "Where are we going?"

    "You will find out."

    ....

    Aztec brought Aexin to the entrance of the special realm which was an amalgamation of multiple reasons, twisting and turning together. People could even call it the center of various realities, where the meeting was going to take ce. "No matter what happens, do not open your eyes when we enter!" n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "What will happen if I open my eyes?"

    "If you are lucky, you will only lose your kind and be paralyzed forever. If you are unlucky, then believe me you won''t want to know what might happen."

    Just to be sure, he personally ced a special blindfold around Aexin''s eyes so that he couldn''t see anything even my mistake. After properly blinding his nephew temporarily, he entered the realm with him.

 Chapter 940: Memories of a lifetime

    Chapter 940: Memories of a lifetime

    ....

    As the first rays of sunlight gently filtered through the clouds, a man stirred in his sleep, awakened by the rhythmic sound of waves crashing against the shore. Slowly, he opened his eyes, squinting against the brightness of the morning light. A dull ache throbbed at the base of his skull, causing him to frown and rub his temples.

    Confusion clouded his mind as he tried to recall hisst memory. Where was he? How did he end up here? The man sat up, his body feeling heavy and sluggish, his mind struggling to shake off the remnants of sleep. As he surveyed his surroundings, the sight before him only added to his bewilderment. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Stretching out before him was a pristine beach, its golden sand shimmering under the early morning sun. The azure waters of the ocean stretched as far as the eye could see, the waves crashing with a soothing rhythm. The man''s gaze traveled along the coastline, taking in the picturesque scene. Palm trees swayed gently in the warm breeze, their leaves rustling with the wind.

    The air carried a salty scent, mingled with the scent of tropical flowers that bloomed along the shore. Beyond the beach, a dense forest stood, its lush green canopy reaching towards the sky.

    He slowly rose to his feet, his legs feeling unsteady beneath him. With each step, he left footprints in the soft sand. His head was still acting as he momentarily found it hard to remember anything. As he cleaned the wet sand that was stuck to his body, he noticed multiple bruises over his body that hadn''t healed yet. The bruises still looked fresh. Even his clothes were torn. He could see something like a robe, but it was mostly torn. More than half of his previous robe was missing. Every movement brought him closer to the water''s edge, where he knelt down, his hands sinking into the cool wetness of the sand.

    As he gazed out into the vast expanse of the ocean, the man''s confusion kept increasing. A few scenes of the past shed in his mind. He remembered being attacked by a person as the world around them was falling apart. He raised his head, looking at the beautiful sky above. But momentarily, scenes of cracks in the sky shed before his eyes. It was as if he had actually seen the sky fall apart. The entire world had turned red right before his eyes. But now, it was allpletely normal. He didn''t understand what he was remembering. Fortunately, with each passing second, more and more memories were returning. The sound of the waves crashing against the shore was so soothing that it was helping his hurting head. It was easing his headache and calming his racing thoughts. Before long, he was able to remember what the person attacking him looked like. That man wasn''t human. He was much more than a human, as evidenced by the single wing that wasing out of his back. He couldn''t believe that these were his actual memories. He was fighting that man on an equal footing? No, their fight shouldn''t have been possible!

    How could he fight like that? It was like a god was fighting. At this moment thousands of years of memories were trying to present themselves to him. These memories also included the memories of the ones he had lived in the Ancient Temple. He remembered living in a Kingdom as a Royalty. He remembered a sister, a loving mother and a good father. It was a happy memory, but that memory was soon reced by the memories of destruction. It was a destruction that was caused by his father. The next few memories were filled with a world that truly looked like a dream. In that world, he was only apanied by death and nothing else. ....

    More than a week passed and Karyk didn''t move from the beach. He sat there, facing the beach as hisst memories returned to him. He remembered his death at the hands of the Generals of Upper Realm. He even remembered his world tier spell and his rebirth. He remembered his conquest of the Upper Realm, as well as his war against the Elzeira. All these memories were making him remember who he really was. And the more he found out, the more shocked he became. It was as if he was watching his life y before him that he had forgotten somehow. Strangely, there was one memory he didn''t remember. He didn''t remember the oue of his battle with Aexin. Thest thing he remembered was that they had started fighting. Everything after that was aplete nk, until the point he woke up in this unknown ce. He could feel the essence of this ce. This ce wasn''t his universe. But it wasn''t Elzeira either. It was something very different, but for some reason this ce felt morefortable than any other ce. Another thing that surprised him was that his wounds hadn''t healed. "Is that because it came from a real Archangel, even if a half blood? It seems my healing doesn''t work against them."

    There were scar marks all over his body, including arge scar across his chest. Even though Aexin didn''t use a sword, but he was still able to leave scars on his body. That was how sharp that strange essence of his was. "If it is a characteristic of all the Archangels, then it seems to be a good choice to have Gabriel leave first. Even his healing might not be able to keep up."

    "Hopefully, he is already back with Zena and living a happy life, unaffected by me."

    "But I don''t understand. What happened during that battle? If I am alive, I suppose I won? Was I thrown into this space after the world was destroyed?"

    He didn''t know why, but he didn''t believe it to be that simple. Even if he was fighting on equal footing with Aexin, his strength was still limited. Unlike Gabriel, he couldn''t recover his strength there. So it was only a matter of time before he lost due to that handicap. But here he was, still alive.

 Chapter 941: Child of Heaven

    Chapter 941: Child of Heaven

    As Karyk sat on the beach, contemting his memories and the unanswered questions that gued his mind, he couldn''t help but feel a sense of unease. The pieces of the puzzle didn''t quite fit together, and he couldn''t shake off the feeling that there was more to the story than what he remembered. He could also feel that it was something important that he shouldn''t have forgotten. He stood up and tried opening the entrance of his shadow realm where he was keeping all his other items.That was also where he kept some food. He usually didn''t feel hungry, but in this ce, he was starting to feel the hunger. It was a hunger that he hadn''t felt for a long time. "I can''t open it. Strange."

    He tried again, but no matter how many times he tried, he wasn''t able to open the entrance to his shadow realm. As he was struggling to open his shadow realm, another memory shed before his eyes. It was a memory from his battle. He remembered opening the shadow realm entrance there. But he still couldn''t remember what happened after that. "Did he do something to seal it?"

    He tried something else. He tried using his abilities in other ways, like creating a new robe for himself. But even that didn''t work. He wasn''t able to use any of his abilities on this ind. He did not feel anything wrong with his body. He was clear that his abilities weren''t sealed. But he still couldn''t use it here. There was something in this ce which was stopping him. "Is this also the reason these wounds haven''t healed? Or that''s something entirely different?"

    He tried testing if this ind only affected his elemental abilities or his physical abilities as well. He tried to use his physical strength. In the past, even without using anything extraordinary, he could still do push ups with just a finger. This time, he was not able to do it. It took a lot more effort to even do it with one hand. His physical strength was also restricted here. "I suppose I can''t even fly here."

    He was thinking about opening a portal back to their universe, if possible. But let alone opening a portal through the spatial barriers, he could not even fly. It was impossible for him to leave this ce. "It seems like I was thrown into a ce that is the worst for me. But I cannot waste too much time here. I have to leave this ce!"

    He looked at the vast sea, which appeared to have no end. He could make a boat and try to leave this ind, but there was no guarantee if his abilities were going to work on the sea. On the contrary, if he failed to find another Ind in the sea, he could suffer for a long time, especially with this hunger. He was thinking about his next course of action when his stomach started growling. "First, I need to have something to eat."

    He looked at the forest behind him. On one side, there was sea. And on the other, there were depths of the forest. He could see two options before him. First was trying to catch fish in the sea, and the other was to find some fruit in the forest. "Forest it is."

    He tossed off the remnants of his torn robe before walking towards the forest. "If it is an ind, there could be people living here. If I can find even one person who can understand me, I might be able to learn more about this ce."

    "But if Ie across a beast in the forest... Can I still kill one?"

    He could not bring out any weapons. He could not use his aura either. At that moment, he had only his bare hands without any extraordinary strength. With a strong mentality, he decided to take the risk. Before entering the forest, he broke off a sharp branch from the trees. He used stones and other tree branches to sharpen the edge of the tree branch, making it a spear. "To think that I would be using such primitive tools."

    He held the wooden spear in his hand, preparing to enter the forest. "Oh? It seems you are up. I am sorry for not meeting you earlier."

    A voice came from the direction of the sea, shocking Karyk. He turned around, pointing his spear in the direction of the voice.

    "There is no one here?" He looked all over the beach, but he could not find anyone there. The beach waspletely empty at the moment. "That definitely wasn''t my misconception."

    He was certain that he heard the voice. That only meant someone was hiding from him. "Are you going to show yourself?" asked Karyk, stepping towards the sea and away from the forest. "I am here." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    The voice came again, this time he clearly saw something odd. There was definitely no one on the beach, but in the sea, he saw the surface of water rising. A creature that looked like a whale came to sight, arge amount of water sliding off its majestic skin as it breached the surface. "You were the one speaking?"

    Karyk wasn''t shocked to find a whale speaking. He had already known about a few beasts that had awakened divinity even in his own universe. But it was still surprising as this wasn''t his universe. In this world, even he couldn''t use much of his abilities, but there were still creatures like that. "You said you were sorry to not meet me earlier? How do you know me?" Karyk asked, trying to see if this thing was a friend or an enemy. Even if it was an enemy, he knew that he wasn''t able to kill a creature like this in his current condition. This whole thing was very strange for him. "I don''t know you. But I did find you when you fell from the sky, directly into the ocean. I brought you to the surface so you do not drown."

    "It was the first time I''ve seen someone fall from the sky. Are you the child of heaven?"

 Chapter 942: The place he was born

    Chapter 942: The ce he was born

    In an unknown void, a voice came, that was heard by only one other person. "You made your presence known when you saved him. You know what that means."

    "I understand. The Angels know that we are still alive. But I could not watch. If he had died..."

    "Do you really believe that he is ready to find out?" N?v(el)B\\jnn

    "If I didn''t think that, I would not have sent him there. I would not have sent him to the ce where he was born."

    "You have taken a big risk by sending him there. This time, even you won''t be able to interfere. The casualty has already taken a heavy toll on you this time. You are dying..."

    "It doesn''t matter. Even if I die, I can''t let him die. If I exchange my death with his life, it is a worthy trade."

    "You truly are a fool. Just how far can you go for him?"

    "If I am a fool, then let me be. If only I was a fool in the past, then maybe we wouldn''t be here."

    There was only a moment of silence. The silence was broken after a long time when the first voice was heard again. "Does it hurt? Watching your existence being erased by the casualty, slowly."

    "It hurts a lot. If possible, I wanted to see more. But it seems that''s not possible. I will be erased forever, but you must live. You just watch over him. You are the only person now... You are the only person that I can trust."

    "I will watch, but I will not interfere."

    "You say that, but I know that you are also a fool. But I do hope that you won''t need to interfere. Because when you do..."

    .....

    As Karyk stood there, facing the creature that emerged from the sea, he couldn''t help but feel a lot of curiosity.

    He did not understand what this creature meant by calling him the child of heaven. Did he mean a god? Because as far as he knew, heaven wasn''t a living being. It was just a term that mortals gave to the gods above. If heaven did not exist, how could it have a son? The only thing closest to heaven were the Gods like Chaos that he heard so much about. "Thank you for saving me. But I don''t think I can be called a Son of Heaven, as I don''t even understand what that is."

    "You don''t understand? But you came from the sky, just like they hade..."

    "They? You are saying someone else came as well?"

    Karyk frowned at the realization that Aexin could have fallen here as well. He could not use his abilities here, but that did not mean Aexin could not. "Did you see another person that came from the sky around the same time as me, or after me?"

    "I only saw you falling from the sky. There was no one else that came with you. But the Children of Heaven came long before you."

    "The Children of Heaven, as you call them, came from the sky like me?"

    The Whale affirmed. "They did. They oftene and then leave shortly after."

    "They can leave as well? I see. So they are able to use their abilities here. It''s either that, or they have something that allows them to avoid the restriction of this ce."

    Karyk didn''t know how he could use his abilities here, but he had a clue now. These were the Children of Heaven. "Where can I find the Children of Heaven? Is there a city somewhere?"

    "I don''t think you can reach that ce. If you are not a Child of Heaven, it is impossible."

    "I don''t know if I am a child of heaven, but I still want to find them. There are a few things that I need to know. I know you already helped me a lot. But can you help me onest time?"

    "This... It is dangerous. I-I can''t help you. I will die if I am caught near that ce."

    "You can take me as far as it is safe for you. After that point, I will travel by myself. Is that better?"

    Karyk didn''t force the Whale. There was no way he could force such a creature when he couldn''t even fight something like an ordinary bear in his current condition. The Whale looked a little hesitant. After thinking for some time, he gave his answer, "I can''t. I thought you were a Child of Heaven, so I helped you. That''s the extent of what I can do. If I do anything more, even if I don''t go near that ce, my mother will beat me."

    "I am sorry, but I will have to leave."

    The Whale turned around, clearly not wanting to help. Even it was scared to go near that ce for some reason. Karyk knew that it was getting harder to convince the Whale. It didn''t want to do it, no matter how much he tried. *Alright, can you at least tell me how far I have to travel and the directions?"

    If he could not take the Whale''s help, he could still try it himself. It was better than sitting idle, waiting for his death.

    ....

    Gabriel had been traveling with his sister and friends in the new city. It was the first time he had properlye out with them. This world was very weak by his standards. He specifically selected it because it was most simr to their world, while also not being dangerous for them. Even if the people here were strong, they weren''tparable to even Novius and Cylix, let alone him. Gabriel went with his sister to y games on the street, where rewards were given on sess. He also helped her with a lot of shopping, carrying her stuff. However, along the way, he suddenly stopped. "That..."

    "Brother, can we get that?" Zena turned around, but she was surprised to find her stuff on the ground. Her brother was not there anymore. Far away from Zena, Gabriel jumped over an old wall,nding inside. There, he saw a Temple which looked simr to the temple of Archangels in Elzeira.

 Chapter 943: Uriel

    Chapter 943: Uriel

    The Temple was surrounded by walls on all sides with no door. If he hadn''t jumped over the wall, even he would not have seen the entrance. Gabriel approached the temple which lookedpletely identical to the Temple of Archangels he had seen in Elzeira. He didn''t understand what it was doing in this universe. Archangels hadn''t been able to enter this ce. That''s why they had sent Elzeirans who were trying to invade. How did something like this appear in a ce like this? Did it have something to do with the destruction of Elzeira?

    As he entered the temple grounds, he felt a strange energy emanating from within. The air was heavy with a sense of strange power, and the atmosphere seemed even stranger. Inside, Gabriel found himself in a vast chamber adorned with intricate carvings and statues. The walls depicted scenes of celestial battles, divine beings, and etherealndscapes. All these statues depicted Archangels, but they were different from the statues in the Royal Pce of Elzeira. These Statues did not have faces. It waspletely nk where faces were supposed to be. There were no eyes, nose or lips. It was as if someone intentionally didn''t carve out the faces. The ceiling stretched high above, adorned with a beautiful mural depicting the heavens and the stars.

    Gabriel could not find anyone else here. Despite being in the center of the city, this ce waspletely empty. As Gabriel explored further, he came across a central altar, adorned with candles and offerings. The candles were only half burned. It was clear that they were lit not long ago. Someone was definitely here. A gentle breeze blew through the temple, causing the mes of the candles to flicker and dance. Gabriel felt a presence, a subtle whisper in his mind, urging him to approach.

    He stepped closer to the altar, frowning. He did not know what was happening. Were the Archangels about to descend?

    Even if that was true, he approached the altar. Even if it were the Archangels, he wanted to find out about Karyk''s whereabouts. He did not believe that he was dead. Suddenly, a soft glow enveloped the room, and a figure materialized before him. It was a being of radiant light, with wings unfurled and a serene expression on its face.

    "Wee, guest," the being spoke, its voice melodic and soothing. "You have been guided to this sacred ce for a purpose. I am Uriel, the guardian of this temple."

    ''Guided?''

    Gabriel was certain that he came here himself. Was there something about being guided here as well? He was certain that the radiant figure could not see him. It was like a recorded message that was yed on its own when certain criteria was met. Uriel smiled warmly, his light illuminating the chamber even more. "This temple is a sacred sanctuary, a ce where the Children of Heaven once gathered. It holds ancient secrets that had long been forgotten, passed down through generations. As for why you were guided here, it is because you possess a unique connection to the divine."

    Gabriel frowned. "A connection to the divine?"

    It was true in his case, but he had a feeling that the person wasn''t talking about that. It was clear that someone was supposed toe to this ce. That person was the true recipient of this fate that the person was talking about. "Are you an Archangel?" Just to test his theory, Gabriel asked something that he wasn''t supposed to know. Uriel''s gaze was kind yet piercing. "You have lived the life of a mortal in this world all your life, but now that you have awakened, it is time to return. Return to your true home." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Hepletely ignored Gabriel''s words. Or rather, he could not hear them at all. That made Gabriel even more convinced. This was a one way conversation where the other side could not even see him or react to his words. It was definitely a message that was recorded long in the past. As Archangels could not descend to this ce, even in avatar, this message was sent here a long time ago. "You carry within you the essence of the divine, a spark of celestial energy. That is why you have been drawn to this temple."

    Gabriel had confirmed that he was being misunderstood as someone else. But it did not matter to him. This misunderstanding was for the best as it opened a path for him to enter the world of Archangels! Those people had sent someone to kill Karyk. He did not even know what condition Karyk was in if he was even alive. He had promised Karyk that he wasn''t going to think about revenge, but that promise depended on Karyk''s words that the Archangels weren''t going toe for him. The Archangels did note to target him or his family. But technically, they dide for him, even if it was because of a misunderstanding.

    He wanted to live a peaceful life as he had promised. But he also could not forget the past. He could not forgive. He was someone who loved settling the scores. It was even more important as Karyk was his family. Uriel extended a hand towards Gabriel, the light radiating from his being intensifying. "Take the Crystal on the Altar. During the night of the first eclipse, crush this crystal and it will open a path for you."

    "Together, we shall unlock the depths of your celestial heritage and guide you towards your true potential."

    With that, the person disappeared. The hall returned to normal, but a crystal was clearly visible in the middle of the altar now. Gabriel stepped forward and reached out his hand to grab the crystal. "Who are you? How did you find this ce?"

    Just as his fingers touched the crystal, a voice came from behind him. "You must be the person Uriel was looking for."

    Gabriel picked up the crystal and kept it in his Spatial Storage.

 Chapter 944: I dont talk to puppet

    Chapter 944: I don''t talk to puppet

    Behind Gabriel, there stood a young woman. Her long hair came down to her waist, draping over her shoulders like a waterfall of silk. "Who are y-"

    She opened her lips, but before she could evenplete her question, she stopped. A sharp pain spread around her throat as a thin line of blood spread across her throat. "I don''t like talking to puppets."

    She heard a voice and footsteps that were getting distant. The man was no longer in front of her. She wanted to turn around, but she couldn''t. She lost blood as she dropped to her knees, holding her throat. She tried to stop bleeding, but she could not do that. At this moment, her life shed before her eyes as she was surrounded by her blood. She was born in this world, but she had never seen her parents. She was an orphan. There were many people in this world who were able to be mage, after awakening elements. But she was not one of them. She had dreamed of bing a mage many times, but the fate did not support her. She lived a life of suffering, only being able to watch other less deserving people be mage. It was only a few days ago that she discovered this ce. There was no door to enter, but she was able to pass through the wall to discover this Temple. When she saw the statues here, she could feel that they were special. They were not like the fake gods that the mages of this world worshiped. Ever since then, she had beening here everyday whenever she was free. She came here, lighting up candles so that it was never dark in his ce. She really hoped that one day, the god would take mercy on her and grant her an ability so she could be a mage. However, when she came in now, she saw another person here. She was stunned. She could not believe that another person found this ce. Shocked, she asked the person how he came here, forgetting that it was dangerous. She did not expect to end up in this situation. In the Temple that was his hope, she became a sacrifice. "If the Archangels want you so much, I can only send you somece else. Sleep well in the afterlife..."

    Gabriel''s words fell in her ears before the sound of footsteps finally ceased. Her eyes closed and she took herst breath. .....

    "There you are!"

    As soon as Gabriel returned to the group, Zena sighed in relief. Even though her brother was older than her, she was still worried that he was lost. "I went to get you this."

    Gabriel gave a small candy to his sister that he picked up on the way back, not telling her where he actually went. The others could see that it wasn''t all there was to it but they couldn''t ask any questions about it. ....

    "Can you at least tell me how far I have to travel and the directions?"

    Karyk asked the whale-like creature who had refused to take him there personally. "If you could swim as fast as me, it would take you just a month to get there. If you just follow the direction where the sun rises, you will end up at the ce."

    "If I could swim as fast as you?"

    Karyk was certain that he could not swim in this ocean, where even more creatures like this whale could be present. It was especially the case since he could not use his abilities properly in this world. Even if he could swim here, he couldn''t swim for a month straight. He was going to drown, and next time there might not be a whale to save him. He could only create a boat, but the boat couldn''t move as fast as a whale could. Even if the waves and the wind were to support it, the boat could still only move a hundred times slower than a whale. At that rate, he was certain that it was going to take him around ten years to reach his destination. And where could he find a boatrge enough to store food worth ten years of consumption?

    "You said your mother will not agree. Can you take me to your mother? Maybe I might be able to make a deal with her."

    He could not let this whale go. He was sure of that. The only way for him to make this journey was if he had the help of a creature like this. If not, then he might never reach his destination. He could never die here because of his Immortality, but he could also never get out of this ce. He had to take this risk. He had to find a way out of this world. He had to reach the ce where the so-called Children of God were staying. "Y-you want to meet my mother?" The Whale was stunned and taken aback. Even in the sea, most were scared of his mother. No one wanted to meet her. Even he didn''t want to meet her if he didn''t have to. So why would this man want to meet her?

    "You don''t know my mother! This is not a good idea! You shouldn''t even think about it!"

    "Even if it''s not a good idea, this is something I must do. Can you help me this one time?"

    "This..."

    The Whale looked hesitant. "If I do that, mother will find out that I tried to save a Child of God. Even if you say you aren''t one, she would still believe it!"

    "You can say that you did not save me. Only the two of us know that you saved me. Just tell her that you were swimming when I approached you and asked for this meeting!"

    "No! I can''t take you to her!"

    The Whale turned around and started swimming away. Karyk frowned. If he had his abilities, did he have to ask this creature? He could have flown himself. Or he could have turned this entire ocean upside down. "Looks like I will have to find another method." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Sighing, he turned around and thought about going inside the forest to look for something. "I can''t bring you to her, but I will talk to her about it. Oh she is willing, then it would have nothing to do with me! But if I don''t return, just take it as a refusal!"

    The Whale''s voice came.

 Chapter 945: Just a little greedy

    Chapter 945: Just a little greedy

    ....

    [Two Days Later]

    Gabriel was sitting under the moonlight, looking at the beautiful sky above. There was just one more day before he could use the crystal of Archangels. But as the time drew nearer, he was feeling more hesitant. He wanted to do this, but at the same time, he could still hear Karyk''s voice who told him to live his life in a peaceful manner with Zena and the others. If he entered the world of Archangels, that peace was never going to return. And he would have to leave Zena behind. If he could find Karyk, it was fine. But if he could not do that, he wasn''t even sure if he could ever return. There were two choices before him. He could either select revenge, or he could kill his desires and focus on his family. If he selected revenge, he could leave Zena with the others. This world wasn''t too strong. With the Holy Priestess of Summoning, Novius, Cylix and two demigods, they could certainly protect her as long as nothing unexpected happened. But could he take the risk based on an assumption that everything was going to be fine? Could he really leave everything behind and just focus on himself?

    On one end, there was Karyk when he wasn''t even sure if he was alive or not. On the other hand was his sister and thest wish of Karyk. Everything depended on his decision. If he made a wrong choice, he could never forgive himself. He had been thinking about it for two days straight while spending as much time as possible with Zena and the others. Within these two days, his firm will had only gotten weaker. He only had one more day. Tomorrow night, it was the moment to use the crystal. If he used it then, there was no turning back. But if he gave up on the crystal, he could never get this opportunity again. "Brother, what are you doing here alone?"

    Gabriel was looking at the crystal in his hand when he heard Zena''s voice. He kept the crystal back in his Spatial Storage. "What are you doing here now?" he asked in return. "I was looking for you inside the house. But you weren''t there. I was told that you were here."

    "Did you need something?" Gabriel asked gently. "I need my brother, what else?" Zena hugged Gabriel from behind. "Thest two days have been so fun. I am so happy that I could spend so much time with you."

    Gabriel couldn''t help but smile in response. Zena had grown up, but she was still a child. "What would you do if I told you that I had to go somewhere for a long time and I might never return?" "I would be really sad. But if you have to do it, I would understand that you must have an important reason. But the thought of never seeing you again... I can''t bear it."

    Although Zena was speaking calmly, but Gabriel could feel that it was filled with sadness as if she already expected that there was a possibility of that. Seeing her sad, Gabriel also felt hurt. His will was only growing weaker. "Is it right for your brother to be a little selfish and hold onto his family?"

    "There is nothing greedy in wanting your family," Zena replied. "Aren''t I greedy for my family, you?"

    Gabriel lowered his head. He also wanted to be greedy, but he was conflicted. "Protect Zena. Never return..." Karyk''s words echoed in Gabriel''s head, apanied by Zena''s words that it was fine to be greedy. "Will it not be evil to abandon someone for your family?"

    "If I had to abandon the entire world for my brother, I would do it in a heartbeat. So it''s not evil."

    "What if you had to abandon a brother for the safety of your family?"

    Zena grew silent. Why was her brother talking like this? Abandoning brother for family? Her brother was her only family. How could she think about this example?

    "Can''t you save both?" she asked. Gabriel shook his head. "You can only save one person."

    "If you can only save one person, then it''s not your fault. Instead of abandoning one person, you are saving one person. So choose the person you love the most."

    "The person I love the most...?"

    "Correct. If all three are family, no matter who you save, the other person will be happy. So why not save the person you love the most?"

    Zena didn''t think seriously about this example. She only had one family member ording to her. She did not remember her other brother. So she only came up with these words. "Save the one you love the most. I see..." Gabriel ced his hand over Zena''s hands. "I think I have an answer now."

    "You can return home. I will be right there."

    "Are you feeling better now?"

    "I''m feeling much better, thanks to my dear sister." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    "Thene home fast. A delicious dinner is waiting for you!"

    Zena freed her brother and started walking back, d that she could help her brother. Gabriel stood up and watched Zena leave. "I do have an answer now. Even if this answer might be wrong, that''s a sin for me to bear. I will select the person I love the most... No, the person ''we'' love the most."

    He brought out the crystal of Archangels that could only be used the next night. He crushed the crystal and tossed the remnants off the cliff after destroying itpletely. "I will be greedy this time. I will select to live my own life. If you are alive, I hope you can forgive me for being selfish..." He gazed at the bright moon in the sky before turning his back on it. That same night, the temple of Archangel in the city was also destroyed, but no one even took notice of it. Thest remnants of the Archangels were also gone from this world, as a man chose to be just a little greedy.

 Chapter 946: A Crafting God

    Chapter 946: A Crafting God

    ****

    It had been over a month since Karyk woke up on this godforsaken ind. In thest one month, he had finished searching the entire Ind. At first, he was worried that there might be strange beasts on the Ind just like they were in the sea. Fortunately, there was no other life form on this ind. It was as if no living being had ever stepped on this ind in the past. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    The ind was leftpletely untouched. Despite that, the Ind was perfectly suitable for a human to live in. There was a forest here with many trees that had fruits. Although these fruits weren''t seen in other worlds, a few of them were still edible. There was also a clear water pond in the middle of the forest. If it was earth, it was an Ind that could have easily been turned into a perfect tourist destination. Thanks to this ce, Karyk was not starving at least. He was able to eat as well as gather some fruits so he wouldn''t have to enter the forest again and again. After gathering fruit or water, he waited near the shore for the Whale to return. Time kept trickling away. Soon, days turned into weeks. And now it has been an entire month. There were no signs of the Whale. "It seems I truly have been abandoned. That whale is not returning. I would need to find a solution on my own. I need to leave this ce."

    Karyk gave up on waiting for the Whale to return. Instead, he started preparing to leave this ind himself. He could not swim so far. So he needed a boat. Fortunately, there was nock of wood in this ce. There were also many vines to be used as rope. It was the first time Karyk had been building a boat as in the past he never needed one. Before the destruction of this world, there were many modern ships if one wanted to travel over the sea. After the destruction, the era of demigods arrived and he was able to use magic to travel. He also learned to fly with time, so no sea could stop him.

    He could also use teleportation in the past. Hence, he never needed to learn how to make a boat in the most ancient manner. He had a rough idea about what he had to do. First, he checked various species of trees on this ind to find out the least dense trees. Then he tested those trees by dragging them to the sea to check how suitable they were. Only after finding a suitable tree, he started cutting the tree to create a boat that wasn''trge enough to just carry him, but also to carry some fruits for him to eat on the way. It was a journey that was said tost for a year, but it was better than wasting that same year on this ind. "Even if I ate in moderation, I would still need a lot of fruits on the journey. The boat needs to be bigger."

    Every day, he worked from morning to night, without a break. Even cutting a single tree was taking a long time, as he had to do it like an ordinary person. After two weeks, he finally had enough trees and wines to craft his boat. He had also gathered a lot of fruits and discovered a method to purify the sea water, thanks to a very unique nt species that worked like a filter. With that, the need for carrying water was over. He could purify the sea water on the journey. One more week passedpleting the final process and giving it finishing touches. All that was left was to check if this thing was actually going to float as he had assumed. Karyk ced all the fruits in a specific section of the boat to protect them on the journey, before he removed thest bit of sand with his hand, allowing the sand to be cut with sea. Sea water rushed on the Ind through the canal he had dug. It came with high pressure and carried the boat with it into the sea. Karyk ran after the boat and jumped over it, right before it entered the sea. "Huh?"

    The boat had just entered the sea when he saw a tide rising in the distance. The level of water started rising and his boat came sliding back on the Ind with the water, only to be stopped on the sand. "What is that thing?" As the water slid down, Karyk noticed the giant whale in the distance. It looked a little bigger, but it was certainly the same one he had seen in the past. "It doesn''t matter. Mother has agreed to meet you. You cane with me."

    Hearing this whale, Karyk''s lips twitched. What did he work so hard for? What was all this effort for? Couldn''t this whale havee a few weeks earlier? He was happy that he at least had an opportunity to travel faster, but it still left a bad taste in his mouth. "No point crying over spilled milk." He sighed. Even if some of his efforts were wasted, but it didn''t matter. If he could save a few months in the long run it was worth it. Moreover, this time, he could also meet the mother of this whale, who sounded like a prominent force in the sea. If he could get her on his side, it could help him learn a lot of things about this world and those so called Children of Heaven. He was sure that there was no such thing as a child of heaven. It was someone ying a trick with the natives of this world. But it didn''t matter. If they coulde to this world, that meant they also had a way to leave this world. That was all that mattered and nothing else. He didn''t care who was fooled here. All he cared about was a method to leave.

 Chapter 947: Worst of them all

    Chapter 947: Worst of them all

    Karyk took a deep breath and pushed aside his frustration. For now, it was all for the best. "I wille with you." He entered the water and swam towards the whale. Climbing over the giant creature was an entirely different problem on its own. After reaching the Whale, he tried to climb. But the skin of the Whale was so slippery and wet that it was almost impossible. "You really can''t fly. It seems you''re truly not a Child of Heaven."

    The Whale could see that he was having a hard time climbing its body. It entered the water and swam under Karyk so that he was right above it. After that, the Young Whale came up slowly, carrying Karyk who was holding on to it tightly. "This weakness is really pathetic."

    Karyk felt frustrated at his weakness. He had never felt this ashamed of his own strength. He needed this creature''s help to even get on top of it? "I must find a solution to it at any cost."

    With the Whaleing out of the water, Karyk felt like he was standing atop a giant mountain. The vast expanse of the ocean stretched out before him. One could truly marvel at the beauty of the sea. "Are you ready?"

    "I am."

    "Then I will get moving. Don''t fall."

    The Whale slowly started moving. As if being considerate to Karyk, it did not enter the waterpletely. "Will your mother being to the surface to talk to me? Because I can''t talk inside the water."

    "Do not worry. Mother also doesn''t like anyone entering her home. So even if you wanted, she wouldn''t want you there. She wille to the surface."

    "That is good."

    Karyk sat on the back of the Whale as the creature increased its speed. The sea winds whipped through his hair, asionally making it harder for him to keep his eyes open. "Do you know why the so-called Children of Gode to this world? What is so special about this ce?"

    "I''m not sure. I never talked to them. But Mother hates them a lot. That''s why I never could have mentioned to her that I saved you. Or I would be hated."

    "Is there a reason she hates them?"

    "I don''t know. She never tells me such things. But Uncle Drike says that it''s because they are bad people. So he also warned me to stay away from them."

    "If everyone warned you to stay away from them, why did you not listen to them? Why did you save me?"

    "Because you looked like you needed help. You were going to die."

    "Can Children of Heaven die?"

    "I haven''te across anyone, so how would I know? I just didn''t want to have anyone die while I simply watched."

    "You are good. But it''s often the good ones that die early. I am grateful to you, but if your mother hates the Children of Heaven, she must have a good reason. What if you had saved one and they killed you?"

    "This..."

    The Whale truly appeared to be stunned, as if it did not think about that at all. "If I saved them, they would not kill me, right? They wouldn''t be so ungrateful."

    "How would you know that?"

    "Because no one in the Ocean is that Ungrateful. Everyone is so nice and helpful."

    "The world is much bigger than you can imagine. There are people who kill without thinking. There are also many who have the blood of millions on their hands."

    "Are you also one of them?" The Whale asked. Karyk looked at his hands. He knew he was not a good person. In his battles, so many innocent people had died. Even in Elzeira, it was his fight that led to the destruction of that world. How many innocent people died that time? He could not even count. So many people that worked for him died as well. "I am probably the worst of them all." He knew he couldn''t be counted as a good person. No, he was a cmity. But he did not regret it at all. Whenever he looked back at his actions, he had a calm smile on his face. After all this time, things appeared to have settled down. Gabriel was now back in their universe, probably taking care of Zena just like he asked. With him in this world, he was certain that the Archangels would have thought of him as dead as well. They wouldn''t think that he survived the implosion of a universe. For now, things had settled. Even if he was to die in this world, he did not regret it. Because his family was living. But still, he wanted to leave this world. Now that he was considered dead, he could return and live his life with his family. Either that, or he could never see them again to not put them at risk. He could insteadfind a way to kill the Archangels once and for all. However, that also appeared unlikely at this moment. He had a hard time dealing with one Archangel, how could he handle more? He was still very weak. There were so many things he wanted to do. He wanted to enter the Land of Archangels to find out his past. He wanted to know what rtionship he had with them. Why were they after him? Why was he abandoned as a child?

    With him considered dead, he thought he could have an easier time if he was to enter that ce stealthily. In any case, he had to leave this ce first. Only then could he do anything that he wanted. "You don''t look like a bad person." The Whale stated. "Do you have any idea what a bad person will look like?"

    "Why didn''t you kill me if you are a bad person?"

    "Because I am a different kind of bad person. As long as no harm befalls my family, I don''t want to hurt anyone."

    "Isn''t that a good person then? If someone tries to harm my family, I would also kill them, even if it''s a million or more."

    Karyk could only smile in response.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 948: Ruler of Sea

    Chapter 948: Ruler of Sea

    ....

    The journey over the seasted for hours before the young Whale finally stopped in the middle of nowhere. There were no inds nearby, or anything where he could stand other than the Whale''s back. He was certain that if he was left here, he would have a hard time finding a ce. After the young whale stopped, it made a strange noise which was loud yet not ufortable to hear in the least. "Mother should be here soon. But remember, don''t make my mother angry. Or even I won''t be able to save you."

    "I wasn''t nning to make her angry either."

    If possible, Karyk did not want to interact with a being like that. All he wanted was some information and to reach his destination. But the young whale did not know much. If he wanted to have some answers, he could only get them from the being that was the mother of this young whale. Only a few minutes had passed when Karyk noticed that the surface of water in the distance started rising again. "It seems she is here."

    The surface kept rising but it wasn''t rising from a small area. It was like an entire Ind wasing to the surface. The Whale this time was evenrger than the Ind where he was staying previously. It was impossible to even go from one end to the other end in a short time. Even the young whale looked a hundred times smaller than the giant being. After some time, Karyk saw the eyes of the Mother Whaleing out of water, which were looking at him like they could stare in the depth of his soul. The Mother Whale looked at Karyk who was standing on the back of her child. She tried to see if there was any hint of malicious intent in his eyes, but that didn''t seem to be the case. "You are not one of them."

    These were the first words that came from the Mother Whale. She did not open her mouth to speak, making it look more like she wasmunicating with thoughts. "I don''t know who you are talking about," Karyk replied. "What do you want from me? Why did you approach my child?"

    "I apologize for approaching your child, but as you can see, I did not intend to do any harm. All I wanted was some help."

    "Why should I help you?" the Mother Whale asked. She did not even ask what help he needed. All she wanted to know was why he believed that had any obligation to help them. Karyk knew that this was the most important question. They didn''t owe them anything. Instead, they could even kill him if they wanted. So why would they help someone who wasn''t beneficial to them? It was useless and futile Along the way, Karyk had been thinking about this question a lot. He knew he could not beg for help. This needed to be a trade. It needed to be a trade that she could not say no to. In this trade, he needed to exchange something that was worth their time and help. But what could he give them? He had a lot of treasures in his Spatial Storage, but he could not open that storage. He could not bring anything out in this world. He understood that if he failed this trade, he might never return. "Because in exchange, I will grant you something just as important."

    "Oh? And what would that be?" The Mother Whale asked. She did not take his words seriously. She could see that Karyk was different from the people they called Children of Heaven. He was weak. He was so weak that she could kill them easily. So what could such a weak person give them? "I will give you freedom," Karyk dered. "Freedom?" The Whale asked in surprise. "And what makes you think that we don''t have freedom?"

    "You have freedom, but I can see that your freedom is limited, because of the Children of Heaven. I don''t know what is your rtionship with them or why you hate them, but I can give you freedom from them."

    "If you help me, I can make sure that they will never return to this world. That would be the freedom I will grant you."

    After thinking for a long time along the way, this was the conclusion Karyk came up with. He could not give them any significant treasure. But if he was able to get their help, he could give them something much more important. The Mother Whale warned her son to not approach the Children of Heaven. Why would the ruler of the ocean do that? Because she was worried about the safety of her child. In other words, she was scared of them. The only thing he could grant them was the thing that they needed the most. It was the freedom from this fear. "A weakling like you? You think you can talk big like that? Even I can kill you, and you think you are strong enough to stop them?"

    "I was strong enough to stop them. And if I can recover, I can make sure that they never return to this ce again. And that''s why I need your help," Karyk exined. "As you already know, I am not from this world. I fell here from another dimension after battling someone strong. But in this ce, I noticed that I can''t use my abilities."

    "Something is restricting me here. As long as I can find that thing and remove it, I can take care of the so-called Children of Heaven."

    He knew that he could not make her believe him. Especially since he appeared so weak. But he still told her the truth, to at least find a way to get to his answers. Only if she knew what was restricting him could he find a way to leave this ce. And even if she did not know what was restricting him, he could at least make an excuseN?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 949: The Heaven

    Chapter 949: The Heaven

    He could fool them into believing that he needed to go to the City to be free of this restriction. The basis of the lie was the truth. "You were strong enough to defeat them? Do you want me to believe such stories?" the Mother Whale scoffed in response. "What proof do you have?"

    "I don''t have much of a proof, but I do have something that might make you believe me."

    Karyk started taking off his clothes that he had tied around his wound to keep them hidden. This was the wound he received when he was fighting the Archangel. It wasn''t just the wound that was still left on his body. But there was also the essence of the Archangel that was mixed in that attack. So some traces of that were present as well. "This is the wound I received in the battle. If you observe it closely, I am certain you can feel a trace of the kind of existence I was fighting."

    The Mother Whale could not feel anything clearly from such a distance. All she could see was a wound. "Fine. I will check. But if it isn''t enough to prove your words, then you can only return and never approach my son again!"

    Karyk wondered if the Mother Whale was strong enough to feel this essence from a distance. Because of the giant bodies of the two Whales, they were very far from each other. He thought about jumping in the water to approach her, but to his surprise, he noticed that her body started shining in the next moment. The Mother Whale''s body started shrinking, until it was even smaller than the Child Whale. And soon, she transformed into a human form entirely. The Mother Whale looked just like a woman in this form. Looking at her, no one could guess that she was a Giant Whale instead of a human from earth. Her long ck hair came down to her waist, covering her butt. But from the front, everything was visible. As a Whale, she had no concept of clothes. So even in the human form, she did not wear any. The Mother Whale stepped forward on the water, as her breasts glistened in the sunlight. Gracefully, she extended her hand towards the Child Whale, patting him lightly. After that, she jumped andnded gracefully on the back of her child. She walked forward and stood right before Karyk. If it was anyone else, they would have been charmed by her well endowed human form, but Karyk looked at her face, his gaze never wandering even once. The woman reached out her hand and carefully touched the wound on his body. However, as soon as she touched the wound, she felt her heartbeat stop. For the first time, panic appeared on her face as she stepped back in horror, falling on he butt. "W-what was that?!"

    Just from the essence, she could feel how horrifying the person was who caused this wound. She had thought that the Children of Heaven were strong and dangerous. But the essence of this wound was something entirely different. It was like a horrifying monster, looking back from the Abyss. It had been a long time since the wound was made, and most of the essence of the attack had dispersed. But even then, it was so horrifying. She gazed at her finger, noticing that her flesh had decayed a little just froming in contact with the trade of essence. "H-how are you still alive after going against that kind of existence?!" she asked, not carrying any dignity that she did in the past. "I wonder." Karyk vaguely answered. Even he did not remember how the battle ended. All he remembered was that he was fighting to the best of his abilities while the world around them was being destroyed. The next time he opened his eyes, he was in this godforsaken world. The sights and sounds of this new world were unfamiliar to him, and yet there was something in the air that soothed his weary soul. It was as if he had returned to his home after a long time. "Was that the kind of existence you could face and survive before you came here?" The Mother Whale asked, after calming her heart. "I did note here. It would be more urate to say that I fell here, after that world was destroyed in our fight. All I want is to find a way to return."

    "And for that, I need to understand what this world is like, and why it is stopping my abilities. Once I am able to use them, I can help you get rid of your enemies. After that, I can leave."

    "That way, we both get what we want." N?v(el)B\\jnn

    He stepped forward and reached out his hand towards the woman. "As I said before, I can offer you freedom. In exchange, what I want is the same... Freedom."

    The woman looked at his hands..

    At first, she thought he was a weakling who just wanted to use them, but she could see that wasn''t the case. He was a dangerous existence. No, she was more than dangerous. If the people who came here were strong and called the Children of Heaven, then this man was not like them.

    He was not in their league. If they were the Children of Heaven, then he was...

    "The Heaven." The Mother Whale mumbled under her breath. "Did you say something?" Karyk asked, not hearing clearly. "Nothing. I said that I will do anything in my abilities to help you. As long as you can get rid of them, it doesn''t matter what I have to do!"

    The woman grabbed Karyk''s hand who helped him stand up. "That was all I needed."

    Karyk did not know why this woman hated the so-called Children of Heaven. But it was the best for him. Because of their hatred, he had something to trade. He finally had an opportunity to find out more about this strangely familiar world.

 Chapter 950: The Civilization

    Chapter 950: The Civilization

    Karyk and the Mother Whale had formed an unlikely alliance. "What do you need from me?" The Mother Whale asked Karyk. Karyk replied, "I need a method to free myself from this world''s restrictions. I need something that could at least allow me to use my abilities."

    Although he told her what he needed, he did not expect her to know an answer. It was all just a step toter convince her to take him to the City. However, to his surprise, the woman''s answer wasn''t what he expected. "Something that can free you from the restrictions... I think I know what that could be."

    "You know?" he asked. "If I''m thinking right, then it must be that." The Mother Whale nodded. "It''s because of that Civilization."

    "Are you talking about the so-called Children of Heaven?" Karyk inquired. The woman shook her head. "I am not talking about them. They are strong, but even they couldn''t do something like that."

    She knew what kind of existence Karyk had fought, just from that essence. Even the Children of Heaven shouldn''t have been able to stop his abilities to this extent if he could fight an existence much more threatening and survive. If it wasn''t the Children of Heaven, she could only think of one thing... The Civilisation. "Is there another Civilization in this world?" Karyk asked. He knew about the beings from other worlds entering this ce. The beings of the Sea called them the Children of Heaven. He thought that they were the only Civilization here. "I am talking about the Civilization that had created this ce. Even I don''t know much about them as it has been a long time since they disappeared."

    The Whale Mother tried to remember as much as she could, but the information she had was also limited. There wasn''t much mention about that Civilization, other than the fact that they had created everything in this ce. The creatures of the sea that had seen that era were said to be very fortunate. However, they never talked about that era, even until the point they died. She herself talked to her Grandfather about this, but he didn''t tell her anything except a single sentence. He told her to forget about them.

    She wasn''t certain if this restriction was because of that Civilization, but if anyone could do this, she believed it were the people who made this ce. "When the Civilization was flourishing, no one dared to enter this ce. But after they disappeared, people from other worlds started arriving. They were the Children of Heaven."

    "They treated this world like a ything, but more than that, they had a reason toe. They were looking for something rted to that Civilization."

    "How are you certain that they were looking for the Civilization?" Karyk asked, slightly intrigued by the information he gathered. There was a Civilisation which was able to restrict all his abilities? Even Elzeira wasn''t able to do thatpletely. Even that ce allowed him to use the essence that he already possessed. He could feel the essence of the world, no matter how little. He could also feel his abilities in that world. But in this world, it was as if something had been keeping him in apletely nk state. He was quite curious about that Civilization? He felt that it was something that had even surpassed the Archangels. Even the Archangels weren''t able to turn Elzeira into a world like that. If they could do that, they wouldn''t need to fight the Celestial Empire. In that way, this civilization was far ahead. Another thing he could feel was that this world wasn''t a low world. It was much more powerful than Elzeira. He could not use his abilities, but he could still feel it.This world was a universe in itself. A much higher realm than the God Realm from his universe. The woman looked at her child, as she thought about Karyk''s question. She did not speak the answer out loud as she did not want her son to hear it. "Because when they first arrived, they came looking for us." She conveyed her words using her thoughts, sending them directly to Karyk. She told Karyk how the Children of Heaven arrived in the Oceanic Region. It was when her son wasn''t born. They came to ask them about the Civilization. They wanted to know everything that they knew. They thought the Oceanic Species knew about the Civilization as they lived here from the time before that Civilization disappeared. "They also asked us about the key..."

    "My father did not know what they were talking about. But they did not listen. In anger, they killed my father. Our people tried to fight back, but it was useless."

    "They were too strong. In that fight, a lot of our people died. Even... Even my husband..."

    They called it a war. But Karyk could understand from her words. It was just a massacre. She simply called it a war because she did not want to disrespect the death of her family. If she called it a war, at least she could say they died in a war, instead of saying that they died like insects. Hearing her words, Karyk finally understood why she hated them so much. It was clear why she warned her son against meeting any Children of Heaven. It was because she was worried that she might lose her only son as well. However, what made him even more curious was the Key. He vaguely remembered the half Archangel Aexin also mentioned some key when attacking him. The Archangels also appeared to be after a key, which they thought was rted to him. ''Are the Children of Heaven... The Archangels?'' He could only think of the worst. If they were really Archangels, then it was the worst match for him in a ce like this. If this ce was filled with Archangels, then things became much moreplicated for him.

 Chapter 951: The Key

    Chapter 951: The Key

    He couldn''t help but think of the worst. "The Children of Heaven... Can you describe what they look like?"

    "Most of them look very different. Some of them look like you when ites to physique. The others look likepletely different Species," the Mother Whale answered. "A group consisting of various species?"

    Karyk frowned. He did not know much about the Archangels. He only had Aexin as a reference. Was it possible that every Archangel looked like they were part of a different species? That looked highly unlikely. The statues also possessed a humanoid form with wings after all. It also did not make sense for them to work with different Species when they considered themselves Overlords. ''Could it be that the ones here are not Archangels, but still rted to them?''

    He thought back to the Elzeirans. They were also rted to the Elzeirans and knew a lot. But they were ves of the Archangels. Even if the beings here were not Archangels, they could still be rted to them. Just to confirm his suspicions, he asked again, "Did they have wings?"

    The Mother Whale nodded. "Some of them did have wings. But they did not look like you. They looked more like beasts. The ones who looked like you did not have wings."

    Karyk could only nod in response. If that was the case, he could at least rx a little. As long as they weren''t Archangels, he had an opportunity to find a way to recover. ''The Archangels probably still do not know that I''m here. The longer it stays that way, the better it is for me.''

    He did not know how he ended up in this world. Was it actually a coincidence that he was back to the source of the so-called key that Archangels wanted?

    He wasn''t sure. But it looked less like a coincidence for him. It was as if someone had nned it. "Did you ever see any Child of Heaven who looked like me, and had wings?" Karyk asked again. "Think carefully."

    The Mother Whale shook her head. "I did not. But it''s possible for there to be someone like that. It''s possible for me to not know, since I did not see them all. I only saw the ones who attacked us."

    Karyk also realized it. Just because she did not see it, did not mean that an Archangel had never arrived in this world. The Mother Whale could not leave the Ocean. Even if she could leave, he was certain she wouldn''t have done that, thanks to fear. Even if an Archangel had ever arrived here, they were probably treated like Royalty. They wouldn''t be made toe here, just for interrogation of these beings that they considered lowly species. He knew that this world was still like andmine for him. But it also came with a great opportunity. It was a ce that the Archangels wanted. Even if he couldn''t find anything here, as long as he found a way to use his abilities here, he could at least screw over those bastards by destroying all the remnants of that Civilization. He might even destroy this entire world to ruin their ns. They hadn''t found anything, despite such a long time having passed. But that did not mean they couldn''t find anything here. The only way to make sure it did not happen was by destroying this world altogether. As for the Oceanic Species, he could save a few by taking them to his universe. For those things, one thing was most important. He needed to be able to use his abilities. For that, there was only one way. "I want to go to the Land of that Forgotten Civilization. Can you take me there?"

    "I..." The Mother Whale looked hesitant. Although she told him she was going to help him, she still did not want to go near thend where she coulde across them. "Do you have to go there?"

    "If I want to kill them, I need to free myself. If it''s caused by the Civilisation, I can only find a solution by going there," Karyk exined. If it wasn''t so far away, he would have gone there himself. Unfortunately, it was going to take years to reach that ce if he used an ordinary boat. "I know you might be scared of them. But are you really going to live this? Are you really going to forget what they did?" He pushed forward. "This might be yourst opportunity to have revenge. If you give up now because you are scared, how long until they return for your family?"

    "If you are scared, how long can you guarantee your safety? How long can you protect your son? How long can you protect your home?"

    He knew it was wrong to do this, but it was the only thing he could do without his strength. He could only use her emotions to make her help him. "Just because you go there, doesn''t mean they will notice you. We can enter thend without being caught. All you need to do is get me there. I can handle the rest myself."

    "After taking me there, you can return to your son. I won''t force you to walk thend with me. But in the end, the choice is yours."

    "Will you take your fate in your own hands? Or will you live at the mercy of the people that took your everything?" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The Mother Whale was truly scared. But she wasn''t scared for herself. She was scared for her son. If she went to the surface and was caught, she might be killed. But that wasn''t all. Her child might be dragged in this as well. It wasn''t just her life that was on the line.

    Even if her child wasn''t dragged in this mess, who was going to protect him if she died?

    Most of the Whale Species had died in the massacre. Only she had managed to survive. There was no one else to take care of her son. "I know how alluring the thought of giving up can be. But if you give up now, you might lose more than you will protect. So, will youe with me?"

 Chapter 952: If only

    Chapter 952: If only

    The Mother Whale hesitated for a moment.

    After a deep breath, she nodded slowly. "I wille with you," she said.

    Even if she was scared, she did not want to lose this opportunity. This may be thest opportunity for her to have revenge for her husband and father. Their lives were unjustly taken from them. All this time, she had been hiding, knowing that she couldn''t do anything. With Karyk in front of her, could she afford to hide again? Could she still justify this cowardice?

    She knew that she could not do that anymore. She might never be able to forgive her if she lost this opportunity and her son lost his life in the future because of it. With the Mother Whale in agreement, Karyk sighed in relief. The Mother Whale was not only faster but also stronger. With her, he could make this journey a lot shorter. It was also going to be a lot safer with the Ruler of these Oceans as his aid. "When are you nning to go there?" the Mother Whale asked. "As soon as possible. If you are ready, I can leave right now."

    The Mother Whale nodded. She reached out her hand and held Karyk''s hand as she jumped into the water with him. Inside the water, she swam like a mermaid, getting away from her son. After creating sufficient distance, she started transforming into her real form, a majestic great whale. Karyk was initially shocked when the Mother Whale jumped in the water and took her with him. But when she transformed, he found himself on her back. The Mother Whale looked at her son, who hadn''t heard half their conversation. He only heard what Karyk said, and even that appeared vague. The only thing he understood was that his mother was willing to help Karyk. "Return home, and for the next few days, don''t roam around. You are not allowed to leave home until I return," the Mother Whale warned her son. "But mother..." The young whale tried toin. However, hisint wasn''t heard. "Do as I said!"

    The young whale could never ignore themand of her mother, especially since he was scared of her. He did do things that she did not ask her to do. He even tried to save Karyk when his mother had warned him against saving Children of Heaven. But even then, he did not tell her because he was scared of her. With her issuing amand directly, he could feel that she was being serious. "I will do as you say." He turned around and returned to the depths of the water, even if it was just for this moment. "Are you sure he would listen to you?" Karyk asked, even after the Young Whale left. "He always listens to me. He should be fine as long as he doesn''t leave home," the Mother Whale stated. Karyk did not say anything else. He knew better than her. The Young Whale was slightly rebellious. Even if he did not act like that in front of her, he did do things that she advised against. He couldn''t help but wonder if he was going to listen to her this time. ''I hope he does listen.'' ....

    For the next few days, Karyk traveled with the Mother Whale. As far as his eyes could see, there was only a vast sea. He had only seen a few Inds along the way, but they were very rare. Another thing he noticed was that the Mother Whale was certainly much faster. But there was something else about her. Even when she moved so fast, he still could not feel any winds brushing against his skin. It was as if she was controlling the wings to make sure that he wasn''t pushed back. This made the journey a lot smoother. He could even sleep peacefully at night, as if he was actually on an Ind. When it came to food, he did not have to worry about that either. He had gathered some fruits on one of the inds and carried them with him. "This world is truly fascinating." Karykid on the Whale''s back, looking at the stars above. "How different is this cepared to where you came from?" The Mother Whale asked. In this long journey, they had barely talked. Karyk had already received every information he could gather from her. "This ce is very simr. In fact, it is a bit too simr to where I came from," Karyk replied. The sky was simr. Even the position of the stars were also the same whenpared to his destroyed world.

    If he didn''t know better, he would have thought that he was back in his world. Still, he found this ce to be very fascinating. Was it really a coincidence that this world looked so simr to his world?

    "Does your world also have beings like me?"

    "Talking Great Whales?" Karyk asked. "I don''t think there were any. We did not have any talking beasts... Unless you count the beasts that call themselves humans."

    "Humans...? What are those beasts like?"

    "Dangerous."

    "Are they strong like you?"

    "They might not be strong like me, but what made them dangerous was their ambitions. Even in a world where magic did not exist, they found ways to destroy the world."

    Karyk could not help but look back to his days as a Prince. He hadn''t awakened any magic, and he still thought that he was a normal human. He still did not know what might have happened if humans hadn''t destroyed the world in their wars. Could he still have awakened? Would he still be living an ordinary life there? n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    He knew it was impossible. Even if he hadn''t awakened, he was still a being that did not belong to that world. After he reached adulthood, he wasn''t going to grow older. Even if that world wasn''t destroyed, it was only a matter of time before his life changed.

 Chapter 953: Jealous of humans

    Chapter 953: Jealous of humans

    He might even be considered a monster after some time when people realized that he was not growing older. He was not sure what would have happened then. Only one thing was certain. If that world was not destroyed in the war, his future really could have been different. His sister would have grown older and died. Gabriel would never exist. He wouldn''t have to go to the Upper Realm to save his sister. The other Holy Lords wouldn''t have be his enemies. They wouldn''t have awakened either, so their world would have been normal, forever remaining unaware about the existence of others worlds. In that case, he might never have met the Upper Realm''s Lord. The reason Elzeirans were able to open the seal to their universe was because of Gabriel. He brought the Elzeiran Princess to the Upper Realm. If Gabriel did not exist, and he was still in his world, the seal would not be destroyed either. The Elzeirans would still exist, but they would never know of his existence. Maybe that was the only way he could have lived an ordinary life. "Sometimes human greed causes consequences far beyond their expectations. And many unrted people get trapped in those consequences..."

    So many things had happened. Many words had been destroyed. Even more lives were lost. And all of that could have been avoided if the humans hadn''t destroyed their own world in wars. "Humans sound very dangerous." The Mother Whale grimly stated. She did not know what kind of beast the so-called humans were. But if even Karyk talked about them in this manner, it was clear that they weren''t simple. "Dangerous... I suppose you are right. Their weakness bes their strength. Even if theycked physical strength, they were able topensate for it."

    "If only they used this intelligence for something better, it would have been so much better."

    Karyk did not even know why he was talking about them with a being that did not even know what humans were. But he still felt a lot better when talking about it. He had been carrying a heavy burden all this time. So times like these were rare when he could talk about his true thoughts. If he had told these same things to others, they might have looked at him in disbelief. They would have told him that he was a godly being. Why did he consider humans dangerous? Others could not understand his thoughts. He was a powerful being, but that''s not what he wanted to be. He would have much rather preferred to be a mortal, free of all these things. "Sometimes I feel jealous of the humans that live their entire life without even knowing of such existences." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Why didn''t you kill those humans if they were so dangerous? You said they were physically weak. So if you killed them, could they have stopped you?" The Mother Whale asked. Karyk could only respond calmly. "I could definitely kill them all. But why would I do that?"

    "Because they are dangerous." The Mother Whale stated. "Aren''t you also dangerous? Who isn''t dangerous in this world? I''m not a judge. If I start killing indiscriminately, I might break the bnce of the universe."

    Karyk himself did not understand just what he was, or where he came from. All he knew was that whenever he became involved, things became veryplicated. He could truly kill humans, but why? The moment humans caused this trouble, he was too weak to stop them. And now, he was too strong to be affected by them. Humans were dangerous, but not for him... At least not anymore. If he started killing them, he was only taking away their happiness. Was it because he was scared? Was it because he was jealous of them? It was none of these things. Just because he could not live a life that they did, he didn''t want to take their lives. Moreover, even if he did that, what if it created a bigger monster instead? Ezekiel was only created because the Gods toyed with the beings from his worlds, killing them all. "If I killed them just because I was annoyed, how would I be different from the Children of Heaven that killed your people?" Karyk stated. The Mother Whale went silent. Hearing his words, she gained more understanding of this person. Even if he was stronger than the Children of Heaven, he was different from them. If only the Children of Heaven were like him, her family would have been alive. For quite some time, she did not speak anything. She just felt a lot more at peace. She wanted to help this man even more now. ....

    Another day passed. "We are reaching near thend," the Mother Whale stated. Karyk could not see thend. But he believed the Mother Whale. She could see much farther, especially since he could not use his abilities. "Do you see any Children of Heaven?"

    "I don''t see any. But that might be because we will be reaching a different area. I can''t go to the City directly. Still, I will have to be careful."

    Another hour passed and Karyk was finally able to see thend. This time, it did not look like another Ind. It was a proper continent. He had finally reached his destination. The journey that might have taken him over a year on a boat, waspleted in three days. He was expecting the Mother Whale to drop him right here as she did not intend to go to the surface. But she went further. She went even closer to the shore, before transforming into her human form. She held Karyk''s hand, helping him up as she walked on the shallow water, reaching near the shore. "Are you not returning?" Karyk asked, remembering her saying that she wasn''t going to go to thend with him. "I changed my mind. Since I am here, I will apany you. I don''t know how much help I can be, but I should be able to protect you as long as we aren''t going against a Child of Heaven."

    She did not want Karyk to fail. But she also remembered that Karyk was weak now. She was much stronger than him. After hearing his words, she was more convinced that he was someone she wanted to help.

 Chapter 954: Wall of Devouring

    Chapter 954: Wall of Devouring

    "Is this the City?"

    From a distance, Karyk observed the City enveloped by walls on all sides.

    There were no openings or gates in the wall, making it impossible to enter the City through conventional means.

    The only method of entry was by flying over the towering walls, although this posed the risk of being easily discovered.

    Consequently, Karyk could not spot any Children of Heaven outside the city either. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Another day had passed since the Mother Whale told him that she was going to apany him. Karyk hadn''t rejected her suggestion. If anything, he was happy that he could bring her with him. It was also thanks to her that he was able to find this ce. But from here, real troubles began.

    "That appears to be the City," Mother Whale agreed with Karyk. "But even I did not expect there to be such walls."

    Even though she had never seen the City, this was exactly the ce where the City was said to be. "I don''t believe you can fly, can you?" Karyk asked, just to be sure. If she could fly, he would have already known about this. "I can''t fly," the Mother Whale nodded. "Wait, where are you going?"

    She saw Karyk go out of hiding and approach the wall.

    "To check the wall. It will be useless toe here if I can''t even find a way to enter," Karyk answered. He had observed for a long time. There was no patrolling in this area. It was clear that the people inside the City did not expect anyone toe here. Only the Sea Species were left alive, so it was also a valid expectation. Why would Species from Sea be walking on thend? And even if they could walk, they can''t enter without flying. "You''ll be killed if you are caught!" The Mother Whale called out meekly. "Believe me, I know it as well." Karyk wasn''t a fool. He knew the dangers. It was even more dangerous for him because of his identity. But still, he had to find a solution for this problem. Moreover, he had also been feeling uneasy for a long time. As soon as he saw these walls, he had been feeling strange. It was like something was calling to him. With every passing moment, that feeling became stronger. Even he did not understand the origin of that feeling. But he had a strong intuition that following it was something he had to do. Trusting his instincts, Karyk came out of his hiding and approached the wall. The Mother Whale was still hesitant. She had apanied him here, but she still did not want to die. She had to protect her son. After a long time she sighed in frustration before jumping out as well. She approached Karyk and picked him up. "You are very slow. The longer you spend walking, the riskier it is."

    She carried Karyk and ran towards the wall. Normally, it would have taken at least ten minutes for Karyk to reach that ce. But thanks to her, it took less than a minute. The woman ced Karyk on the ground, right next to the wall that was marked in the patterns of the Forgotten Civilization. "Even I don''t know what this wall is made from. Just I''m clear that it is impossible to break this wall."

    Even if she attacked the wall in her real form, it was impossible to leave even a single scratch. "A civilization that could make such a thing. It is truly strange to think that they disappeared so suddenly," shemented as she reached out her hand to touch the wall. Just as her fingers were about to touch the wall, she stopped. She felt danger. It was an innate feeling that was warning her against this action. It was as if she was being told to not touch this wall if she did not want to die.

    "No one would disappear without a reason. They were probably killed," Karyk said as he carefully observed the wall. "Who could kill them? It can''t be that easy. If there was a battle, the beings in the Ocean would have sensed it. But I don''t think I ever heard about that," the Mother Whale responded. "Just because you don''t hear about it doesn''t mean it did not happen."

    "There should still be signs of that battle. If that Civilization was actually killed, why are these walls still intact, without even the slightest signs of damage?''

    The Mother Whale found it hard to believe that there was a battle here. A battle between that Civilization and someone who could threaten it should''ve left this cepletely destroyed. "Not just this ce, but this entire world would have been destroyed. A world could not bear this," she stated. Karyk agreed with her. He knew it already as his battle had destroyed a world just recently. Even if this world was strong, it shouldn''t havested this long. There were truly no signs of battle in this ce. But he still felt like something was wrong. The disappearance of that unnamed Civilization and the appearance of Archangels... He had a feeling that these two were clearly rted. Did the Archangels destroy the Civilization? He wasn''t certain. He reached out his hand and touched the wall. Unlike the Mother Whale, he did not feel any dangers. "Please... Hea...ven..."

    "Did you say something?" Karyk turned around, hearing a voice. "What are you talking about?" The Mother Whale asked in return. She just noticed that Karyk was touching the wall. At first, she was shocked. But she soon realized that nothing had happened. Was her intuition wrong?

    "I heard a voice. Did you say something just now?" Karyk asked again. "I did not say anything." The Mother Whale reached out her hand to touch the wall as well. Since nothing happened to Karyk, she thought her intuition was wrong. Her fingers touched the wall. However, at the same moment, she felt her heart skip a beat. She lost consciousness and her body was sent flying back.

    "What-" Karyk reacted fast, but he noticed that he could not take his hands off the wall. Instead, he felt a pull. Something was pulling him closer to the wall. Before he could react, he was pulled inside the wall, disappearing within.

 Chapter 955: The Core of Civilization

    Chapter 955: The Core of Civilization

    Karyk found himself inexplicably pulled inside the wall, as if it possessed a life force of its own. In that moment, darkness enveloped his surroundings, leaving him disoriented, unable to see anything. Conversely, the Mother Whale, although experiencing a burning sensation, regained herposure and searched for Karyk, only to discover his sudden absence. He had inexplicably vanished without a trace.

    As Karyk was pulled deeper into the wall, his surroundings underwent a profound transformation. Rendered powerless, he could offer no resistance as he was transported to an unfamiliar location.

    The absence of any light made it impossible for Karyk to see his surroundings. The darkness created an imprable veil, leaving him utterly blind.

    Deprived of sight, Karyk relied solely on his instincts and heightened senses to navigate this unfamiliar realm. These primal instincts assured him that he was no longer on the surface.

    The atmosphere within this confining space had a humidity, suffused with a dampness that clung to the air. The earthy aroma of soil permeated the surroundings, evoking a sensation simr to being within a cave.

    He was surprised to be alive. He thought he was going to be devoured by the wall, but instead, he was brought here for some reason. "The Wall isn''t controlled by those people. So it shouldn''t be them."

    He had heard that this wall was created by the Civilisation before they disappeared. Even the Archangels could not control this wall to this extent. At least that''s what he thought, but he couldn''t be certain. He did not know what had happened since the Civilization disappeared. "Is it a prison?" He pondered for a moment as he stepped forward to check if there was any exit. There were a lot of questions in his mind. It would have made sense for this to be a prison that trapped people who tried to pass through the wall. But Mother Whale had also touched this wall. Why wasn''t she brought here?

    That made him think that this might not be a prison but something else entirely. He stepped forward in this darkness, soon hitting a wall. He ced his hand on the wall, and with the support, moved forward to check if the other end was closed as well. This time, he was able to walk without an obstruction. He did not feel any presence here. It was as if he was all alone here. But even after walking for an hour straight, he did not react anywhere significant. It was as if this cave was stretching for an eternity with no end at sight.

    "The Voice that I heard when I touched the wall..."

    In the darkness, he had a lot of time to think about what happened before. He could still recall that voice that the Mother Whale had not heard. "What help was that voice talking about?"

    He had a lot of questions. If that wall was created by the Civilisation, and it was alive, then was that the voice of this wall?

    Was this wall asking him for help? It should have known that he was weaker than the Mother Whale. So why was he asked for help, instead of Mother Whale?

    "Are you still here? Can you hear me?" he called out, wondering if he could talk to the thing that sent him here. "Is there really no end to this?"

    Another day passed and Karyk had only been walking all this time, without rest.

    He resisted sleep, even though he would have liked nothing more than being able to sleep. He resisted anger, even though his stomach was growling. "...is...back..."

    Karyk did not know if he had started hallucinating because of hunger andck of sleep. But he was asionally hearing strange voices. The voices were different from what he heard outside the wall. But whenever he asked a question out loud, he did not get any response. It was as if only he could hear them and they could not hear him. It was the fourth day and Karyk was starting to have second thoughts. What was the point of walking when there was no end to this ce? Yet, deep down, Karyk knew he couldn''t give up. The farther he went, the more these voices increased. All these voices were saying the same thing. "Prince... back..."

    Karyk knew that the Archangels called him the forgotten prince. And now these voices were doing the same. Sometimes, he was really certain that it was because his mind was making these things up. But he still wanted to believe that there was more to it. "Either I die in this ce, or I reach the end..."

    With each step, he pushed forward, driven by a glimmer of hope that there was indeed an end to this endless expanse. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months as Karyk continued his lonely journey. The voices grew louder and more persistent, echoing in his mind like a haunting melody. Karyk hadpletely stopped thinking about it. After a week, he had even forgotten why he was walking this arduous path. He thought he was going to die from hunger andck of sleep, but strangely enough, he was still alive. Even when his hunger had been overwhelming him for so long, he was still alive. He did not know if this was because of his Immortality. That should have been impossible as his healing and immortality should have been sealed here as well. Still, for some reason, this was the reality that he wasn''t dead. He was like a man, aimlessly walking while forgetting that he even had a destination. All he knew was that he had to reach the end. As he pressed on, Karyk''s senses became attuned to the subtle changes in his surroundings. The dampness in the air gave way to a gentle breeze, carrying with it the scent of fresh grass and blooming flowers.

    It was in stark contrast to the scent before. The oppressive darkness gradually receded, reced by a soft glow that emanated from an unknown source.

    And then, with a surge of exhration, Karyk caught sight of a faint glimmer of light ahead. It flickered like a distant star, beckoning him onward. Renewed with energy, he quickened his pace, following the light that promised an escape from the depths of the cave.

    As he drew closer, the light grew brighter, illuminating a vast chamber that stretched out before him. The walls were covered with intricate carvings, simr to what he had seen on the main wall, albeit more intricate and detailed. And at the heart of the chamber stood a figure cloaked in ethereal radiance.

    It was a being unlike any Karyk had ever seen. Its presence exuded an aura that made even Karyk feel intimidated. "You havee far, young prince," the figure spoke, its voice resonating with a melodic harmony. "I did not expect you to return safely. But you are toote... Everything has been lost.*

    "Who are you?" Karyk asked. Even though his vision was blurry from weakness, he could feel that the man was strange. Was he an enemy? Even that was not clear. "You seem tired. Don''t you want to rest?" The man waved his hand, conjuring a bed and a few fruits for Karyk to eat. "I asked you a question!" Karyk insisted.

    The man slowly turned around, revealing his face to Karyk. "You are-"

    Seeing the face of the person, Karyk was truly shocked. "How are you here?!"

 Chapter 956: Taboo

    Chapter 956: Taboo

    Karyk was taken aback when he saw the face of the person standing before him. It was a face he could never forget because it was his own reflection staring back at him. In that moment, he couldn''t help but wonder if Gabriel had somehow managed to find his way here, despite Karyk''s instructions to seek safety elsewhere.

    However, Karyk knew deep down that it couldn''t be Gabriel. "No, it can''t be him," Karyk muttered to himself, trying to dismiss the thought. The initial shock began to subside, and he started to believe that this was simply impossible. Even if Gabriel had wanted to reach this ce, it would have been impossible.

    Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, Karyk mustered the courage to speak to the person who bore his resemnce. "Who are you?" he asked, his voice filled with both confusion and caution.

    The man ced his hand on his chest, bowing gracefully. "I am but a humble servant," he replied. "A relic from a long-lost era."

    Karyk had a lot of questions. Did this person bring him here? Who was he really? The man appeared real, yet Karyk couldn''t shake the feeling that he was not real. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    While hecked the ability to discern illusions, he could sense that this wasn''t an illusion either. As Karyk stood there, a sense of uncertainty washed over him. He couldn''t help but wonder if the man before him was responsible for bringing him to this ce. "Did you bring me here?" he asked the man, his voice filled with curiosity. In response, the man simply shook his head.

    "A mere servant is not capable of bringing anyone here," he answered, his tone carrying a hint of authority. Karyk continued to observe his surroundings, his eyes scanning the room. It was not particrlyrge, measuring only three meters wide and two meters long. The space waspletely empty, devoid of any objects, except for the intricate carvings adorning the walls. "If you had no hand in it, why was I the only person who came here? Why was the woman next to me pushed back?"

    As he took in the carvings, Karyk couldn''t help but wonder why the woman he had been with didn''t apany him to this ce. His gaze lingered on the wall, searching for any clues or answers. The familiarity of the carvings and the overall atmosphere of the room struck Karyk. It felt as though he had encountered them before, although he couldn''t recall where or when. To his surprise, Karyk noticed that the path he had taken to get here had vanished. The chamber now appeared to bepletely sealed off, isting him from the outside world. Despite this, he didn''t sense any immediate danger.

    "Why would an inferior species pass through the wall? That would be disgraceful."

    "Am I not an inferior species to you then?" Karyk asked. Currently, he was weaker than the woman. He did not know the standard of this world, but could a powerful being like that Mother Whale be called an inferior species?

    That tone was only suitable for two kinds of people here. The Children of Heaven or the Civilisation. He did not believe that he was talking to a Child of Heaven. If that was the case, he would have been killed or captured by now. Instead, there was no hostility. "You are the soul of this wall?" he asked. "A soul...? What an interesting term. That makes me feel like I am alive." The person startedughing. But beyond thisughter, his eyes were revealing pain and sadness. "You were left behind by the Civilization?" Karyk asked the man. "Don''t tell me the so-called Children of Heaven are looking for you?"

    So far, he could only take a guess. Even if this man was not the thing that they were looking for, he definitely knew where that thing was. "The Invaders? If they were looking for me, I would have long destroyed myself. As I said, I am but a servant of the Civilization, a guide with no importance for others."

    "So you were left behind by the Civilization. In that case, you must know what they are after?" Karyk asked the man. The man smiled, gazing at the carvings in the wall. "I know what they are after..." "And that would be...?"

    "The answer is all around you. All you need is to take a look around."

    Karyk had already been observing the carvings. But he still could not understand. Most of these carvings were too vague. He could not even understand these characters. In some ces, there were drawings of lightning strikes, and people being hit by lightning. But other than that,it was impossible to understand anything. "Sometimes, greed can be a person''s biggest enemy. Even the great Civilisation could not survive the results of their greed. It is only a matter of time before the result of their greed swallows the entire world."

    "Greed of Civilization?" Karyk''s fingers trace over the carved marks on the wall. A vague feeling arose in his heart, but that feeling was still unclear. "I thought the Archangels were the greedy ones, who were after the treasure of the Civilization. Are you saying that it''s not entirely urate?"

    The man did not answer. He only grew silent with time. "It is not my ce to answer that question. If I even tried, I would disperse. I can only guide you towards the answer, because you..."

    He did not finish his sentence. "If you want an answer, go to the center of the City. Experience the answer yourself. And you will understand the taboo that the Civilization touched..."

    The man tapped the wall a few times. A passage opened in the wall. Unlike the passage before, the path now wasn''t dark. Karyk could also feel that all his exhaustion and hunger had disappeared just like that. "If you can reach the answer, you will realize how futile it all was. You... Me... Civilization... Archangels... Nothing matters... What started, must end."

 Chapter 957: Descendant of a Sinner

    Chapter 957: Descendant of a Sinner

    Karyk looked at the open passage that appeared to be leading him somewhere. He nced back at the man onest time, but the man had already turned his back on him, as if he had nothing else to say. "Can you answer onest question before I go?" Karyk halted for a moment. "Who am I? And how am I rted to this ce?"

    The man did not answer. The only response that came was silence. "Is it that you can''t say, or you won''t say?" Karyk changed his question, but there was still the same silence. The man remained unmoving, as if he had returned to being nothing more than a statue. Feeling a sense of resignation, Karyk took onest look at the man before turning away. As he walked off, he couldn''t help but wonder if his answers were waiting at the end of this passage. After Karyk left, the opening in the wall closed, making it impossible to return to this room. The man who looked identical to Karyk slowly turned around, looking in a particr direction. "The descendant of a sinner... That is what you are. I wonder what you would feel when you reach the answer. Will you feel sadness? Will you feel true despair?"

    The man''s words echoed in the fall, as his figure started dispersing. "After so long, I can finally sleep..."

    His figurepletely disappeared, akin to being torn. The room returned to the darkness, like an insignificant ce. ....

    Karyk navigated through the seemingly endless hallway, reminiscent of the passage he had taken to arrive at this point. However, to his relief, the hallway proved to be shorter than expected. After only half a day of walking, he arrived at its end, where a door stood before him.

    Gently cing his fingers on the door, Karyk gave it a light push, causing it to emit a creaking sound as it opened. Beyond the door, a set of stairs led upwards, as if calling him to ascend. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    Climbing the stairs, he soon found himself facing yet another door, positioned directly above him. Undeterred, he exerted the usual amount of strength required to open such a door, only to be pleasantly surprised as the door opened easily.

    Stepping out, Karyk finally emerged onto the surface. As if guided by unseen forces, the door closed on its own. It was at this moment that he realized the door he had just opened was an astonishing fifty inches thick. When closed, it became virtually impossible to discern its location, even though he had just passed through it. It was as if a touch of magic lingered in the air.

    "Fascinating."

    He looked around and observed his surroundings, noticing that he was inside the City already. He could even see the walls that were surrounding the City. Just a few days ago, he was standing on the other side, thinking about ways to enter the City. "It would have been good, if she could alsoe here."

    The Mother Whale did not know where he had disappeared. He wasn''t even sure if she was waiting for him, or already left. It was a waste to lose such a good helper for him. He had heard a lot about the Civilization before he came here. But when he was actually inside the City, he found this ce to be more ordinary than he expected. There was nothing extraordinary here, other than the fact that the city looked awfully empty. He was standing in the middle of the street, but no one was here. He could not see even the guards here. "It seems they really did not expect anyone to be able to pass through the wall."

    The less security there was, the better for him. He had to reach the center of the city to find the answers after all. ...

    Karyk cautiously made his way through the deserted streets of the City, his every step echoing in the silence. The buildings around him stood tall and imposing, their windows dark and lifeless. It was as if the entire City had been abandoned, left to decay in the hands of time.

    As he wandered deeper into the heart of the City, Karyk couldn''t help but feel a sense of unease creeping up his spine. He couldn''t shake the feeling that he was being watched. Every now and then, he would catch glimpses of movement from the corner of his eye, only for it to disappear when he turned his head.

    "Did I underestimate them?"

    He was not sure if he had already been detected, or if he was overthinking because his senses were weakened. In any case, he did not waste a single second. As he walked, Karyk noticed a faint glow emanating from a distant building that was in the center of this City. It appeared like the ce that the man was guiding him towards. He quickened his pace and soon found himself standing before the grand ce. The ce looked different from every other building in this city. It also looked much older, as if it had already been wrecked by someone. Karyk stepped inside the building, being extremely cautious. At first, he had thought that the building was the residence of the leader or the main pce, but when he was inside, he realized that he had been wrong. This was not a pce. It was more like a grand library, albeit one that had been almost destroyed. The floor was covered with books that were either torn or destroyed. Did the Children of Heaven do this? Or was this a safety measure by the Civilization? He did not know the truth. All he knew was that he was guided to this ce for some reason. Without hesitation, Karyk stepped inside, his eyes widening at the sight before him. The library was vast, its shelves stretching as far as the eye could see. Most of these shelves were empty as most of the books had either been destroyed, or lying on the ground for people to step over.

 Chapter 958: Unable to Control

    Chapter 958: Unable to Control

    ... "When will we be able to leave this hellhole?"

    In an unknown corner of the city, a young man was sitting with a group of friends. All of them held a bottle filled with alcohol. "This ce really sucks. Even after so many centuries, we haven''t managed to find it. What''s the point of staying here?"

    The group of people had different physical characteristics, but one thing was the same for them. They were all strong. Just the aura that they were emitting, even if not as strong as Aexin, was enough to destroy a weaker world, without even trying. "If it was up to me, I would''ve destroyed this world and returned home. But those old fossils would be really angry. We can only stay here, until our shift is over."

    "So another hundred years."

    The group of youngsters were the people that were called the Children of Heaven by the people of this world. Everyone thought that they were here on vacation, or to have fun in this world. But only they knew that they had been forced toe here. Every century, there was a different group that was sent here. They had two goals. The first goal was to protect this ce, and the second goal was to search for something "If even our predecessors failed to find that thing, what did they even expect from us? As for protecting this ce... What is the point of protecting this useless ce?"

    All of them hated this ce. They felt like this ce was more like a prison for them. It would have been fine if they had to stay here for a few weeks but a century was an entirely different matter. "Why did our luck have to be so bad? Out of so many people, our names had to be selected."

    "I have only been here for a few months, and I feel like I am already going crazy. How did the others manage to stay here for so long?"

    "They must have suffered a lot. No wonder all of them were looking at us with a pitiful gaze when we were changing positions."

    "Pitiful gazes? They looked at us like we were about to be executed. We need to find a way to get out of this ce!"

    "If you are talking about running away, then forget it. We would be killed, if discovered. Even though this ce is bad, at least we can return alive."

    "If we tried to escape or abandon this mission, we are going to die. I don''t know about you, but I definitely don''t want to die." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    "Urgh, why did I have to be here!"

    A few of them were calm, but there were a lot of them who were cursing their luck out loud. "Instead of getting frustrated, how about you find the thing we are here for?"

    "You f*cker, did you think it is that easy? We have already confirmed that the key isn''t here! Who is to say that the other thing was also destroyed by them?"

    "I don''t think they would have destroyed that thing. It is a glimpse into their past, left for the key. Destroying that thing was no different than cutting all ties to the key."

    "That reminds me, I heard that the key was discovered in a small world."

    *How did you hear that? Haven''t you been with us all this time?"

    "Just because I''m here doesn''t mean I don''t get messages from my family. As you already know, my family is an expert in that. So I often get information from outside."

    "Then are you serious? The Key was discovered?"

    "At least that''s what I heard. I don''t know if they were able to recover the key, as it''s hard for them to descend. But if it''s them, it''s only a matter of time before the key is discovered."

    "When that happens, we won''t need to stay here. With the key, we won''t need the Fragment of the Past."

    "If it''s true, then it''s the best news I''ve ever heard! We might be able to return within a few weeks at best. Now that the key has been discovered, the Archangels won''t let it go!"

    Laughter echoed in the hall. The atmosphere that was filled with anger, looked much more pleasant now. The ce became much more pleasant, as everyone looked happy with the news. They started enjoying the night much more. Instead of a prison, this ce had once again be a temporary vacation spot for them. "Since we are about to return soon, how about we have some fun here in the meantime?" One of them suggested. "What are you talking about?"

    "I heard from one senior that they went hunting in the Ocean. Before leaving, we should try that as well. It might be fun."

    "Hahaha, that''s right. It should be very fun. I still remember my hunting days. My family used to take me to lower worlds, and we hunted those mortals for fun. I miss those good days."

    "Then it is agreed. Tomorrow, we will go hunt in the ocean! We will take out the trash that the seniors failed to clear!"

    The man raised his ss. "To the Vacation!"

    "To the Vacation!" The others also raised their sses. Most of the people here were drunk in power. However, there was one person who looked out of ce here. The person was sitting near the window, with a ss in his hand. Unlike others, he was drinking slowly, as if enjoying each sip. Soon, a shadow came flying from outside, merging with his shadow. The man, who had been drinking calmly until now, stood up. A smile appeared on his face as he muttered, "Interesting. Are they finally unable to control themselves?"

    He jumped out the window, leaving the celebration. No one noticed or cared about his disappearance either. He walked towards the center of the city, where the library was situated. "For them to go to the library... It seems that the assumption was correct. That thing is being kept there.

 Chapter 959: Heavens Path

    Chapter 959: Heaven''s Path

    Karyk wandered aimlessly from one room to another, unsure of his purpose or what he was supposed to be searching for. He had been instructed toe to this location, but it was clear that the ce had already been devastated. Even if something of significance had once resided here, the chances of finding it now seemed highly unlikely. "There must be something that they haven''t managed to find yet. But where would it be?" He checked the walls, wondering if there was any secret opening anywhere. But none of that existed. The entire ce looked as ordinary as possible. After thoroughly searching every room, he couldn''t help but let out a sigh of disappointment. Doubts started to creep into his mind, making him question whether he had made a mistake and ended up in the wrong location.

    The library, supposedly situated in the heart of the city, was a matter of perspective. Depending on how one defined the center, it could be argued that the library stood at its core.

    "I''m fairly certain that this spot should be the exact center point of the City," he murmured to himself.

    Coming to a stop at a peculiar spot within the library, which happened to be roughly at its center, he found himself in yet another ordinary room. Books were scattered across the floor, seemingly abandoned and forgotten.

    After an unsessful search for anything of significance, he decided to take a chance on a random thought. His gaze fell upon a book thaty on the floor, right next to his feet.

    The book was covered in dust, and also looked torn. It also looked like many people had stepped over the book. The condition of this book was even worse than any other book. He picked up the book. At first, he could not see any title on the book. But the moment his fingers touched the book, the name started getting clearer. The book was titled, "Heaven''s Path."

    "Heaven''s Path... What a grand name for a book." Karyk was about to open the book, out of curiosity. "Just when I thought you were useless, you found Heaven''s Path. Not bad."

    The sound of footsteps echoed in the ce. Karyk looked towards the entrance of the ce and saw a man stepping inside the room. Karyk did not know the identity of the person, but he felt danger. Even without his abilities, his heart was repeatedly warning him that there was danger. "No wonder people could not find it. It was hidden inside such an insignificant book," the dark robed man spoke. In the next moment, he appeared before Karyk. "I would be taking this."

    He reached out his hand to snatch the book for himself. But the moment his fingers touched the book, he was sent flying. He crashed against the library walls which made the entire wall tremble. "It seems I was overly optimistic. I should have realized that they would take extra caution."

    The man patted his clothes as he stood up. He could see the book was still covered by a protective aura. And that protective aura was also covering Karyk now. "Since you are able to touch it, you must be a remnant of those idiots," he said. "I had a feeling that sooner orter, one might show up. But I did not expect it to happen during my time."

    "Would you be kind enough to hand over that book?" He reached out his hand. His voice was calm as he asked for the book. He appeared like a poisonous snake that was waiting to strike if he did not receive what he wanted. "Are you the so-called Child of Heaven?" Karyk asked in return. From the man''s reaction, he was convinced that these people were in this world for this book. But what was the reason they wanted this book? Why did the Civilization protect it so much? That remained unclear to him. "A child of heaven? Do people still use that name?" The man rubbed his forehead, as if he was feeling cringed by that name. "It seems you have been with the creatures of this world. No wonder it was so hard to find a remnant. So they had been hiding you." "Why do you want this book?" Karyk asked, after confirming the identity of this person. The man appeared momentarily surprised as he heard Karyk''s question. "I see. You don''t know anything about that book. No wonder you are so stubborn." The man''s sigh echoed in the silent library. "Don''t tell me you thought that book is a treasure that could grant you immense strength or something?" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "If you think that way, then you are a fool. That book is not a treasure that can make you strong. It won''t lead you to a treasure either. That book is nothing more than a journal."

    "A journal?"

    "Correct. I suppose you can call it a book that shows the history of this ce. You can use that book, but it will be useless for you. Because the moment you finish, I will kill you and read your memories."

    "So why do you want to make things hard for both of us?" he asked. "Hand over the book, and I will act as if I did not see you tonight."

    "A book depicting the history of the Civilization?''

    Karyk had a rough idea about what he held in his hand. If the man was not lying, then it was the collective knowledge of the Civilization that probably mentioned the so-called sins that they hadmitted. The reason these people wanted this book was because they wanted to see the past? He did not know why they would want to see that past. But one thing was clear. He could not let them see it. The only problem was escaping after using this book. He only had the barrier temporarily. The moment he finished using the Book, the barrier was going to be over.

    After that, it was just as the man said. He could be killed, unless he found a way to free himself through this book. "Your offer is interesting, but I would have to refuse."

    Karyk opened the book, shocking the man.

 Chapter 960: Just Humans

    Chapter 960: Just Humans

    As Karyk opened the book, a blinding light erupted from its pages, filling the room with a radiant glow. The dark-robed man shielded his eyes, momentarily blinded by the sudden burst of light. As the light subsided, the man opened his eyes, his expressions dark and filled with rage. "I really hoped that you wouldn''t choose this method. But since you have decided to take this path, then I would also fulfill my promise."

    He looked at the ce where Karyk was previously standing. But this time, Karyk was nowhere to be found. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    "The moment you return, I will dig every memory in your mind. And after that, I will kill you in the most painful way possible."

    He really cherished his time. That''s why he wanted Karyk to hand over the book. But instead, the book was used. Until Karyk experienced everything that was left to experience in the Book, he could not return. And until he returned, the man could not learn the contents of the book. He could only wait for Karyk''s return, and each passing second made him more angry. Still, he kept this to himself. He did not want others to know about this. Since that day onwards , the man did not leave the library. Even when the others came to check on him they found him sitting in the library, reading a book. "Since when did you start taking such interest in books?" One of them asked. "I was getting bored. Some of these books do keep me entertained."

    "If you''re bored, that''s all the more reason for you toe with us. We are going out to hunt. It will be fun."

    "I am not interested. You can have fun in my stead as well."

    The man refused to leave this ce. He did not want to miss Karyk when he was going to return. "As you wish."

    The men did not insist any further. Just asking him once was already more than enough as they were not very close to this person. The group of youngsters left. ....

    Outside the city, the Mother Whale had waited for Karyk. But she did not find him anywhere. After a long time, she thought that something might have happened to him. Even if he was strong in his original world, he had be weak here. So it wasn''t shocking for him to die. Even she had barely survived being attacked by the wall. It was impossible for Karyk to survive after being devoured by the wall. Still, she waited for an entire day before giving up on hope. She was disappointed. She came this far to help Karyk, and he died before even entering the City. She could not me him either, as she hadn''t told him to be careful of the wall. If only she had been more cautious, this wouldn''t have happened. Even if she med herself now, she couldn''t change the past. She could only give up on hope of having revenge on the Children of Heaven. She left, intending to return to her child and forget that she ever tried something like this. As she was walking through the forest to return to the Ocean, she felt many powerful auras. She looked above. Through the gaps in the trees, she saw many powerful figures fly past her. Her pupils trembled, as she recognised these people. They were the Children of Heaven. She wondered where they were going, in suchrge numbers. Thest time she saw something like that, they hade to the Ocean and killed her entire family! Once again, she saw them flying towards the ocean. Her face grew pale and she started praying that she was wrong. Even her family wasn''t able to stop themst time. If they actually wanted to kill everyone in the Ocean, then it couldn''t be stopped. Still, she wanted to save her son at any cost. Even if she had to sacrifice her life, she had to protect her family. She also started running towards the ocean. As soon as she reached the ocean, she jumped in the water. By now, the Children of Heaven had disappeared into the distant horizon. She could not even see them anymore. She quickly transformed into her real form, and went into the depths of water. She moved as fast as she possibly could, trying to reach her child before the Children of Heaven could. Fortunately, there were a lot of oceanic species in the way. If the Children of Heaven wanted to kill, those species could keep them busy and give her time. ....

    Back in the library, the young man sat with a book in his hand. "Those short sighted bastards. They don''t think about anything other than entertainment. Fools."

    "At least I won''t be annoyed by them for some time."

    He shifted his attention back to the book in his hand as he continued waiting for Karyk. "I am very curious about what you are experiencing. But it is fine. The moment you return, I will find out everything."

    ....

    "How long are you going to sleep?"

    A kicknded on his back. It came with great force, making Karyk groan in pain as he woke up from his sleep. He found himself in the outer edge of the city. He could still see the Wall created by the Civilisation. But the City appeared much newer. He could even see a lot of people around him. The pain in his back was evident. He rubbed his back and looked at the person who had kicked him. "You are...?" He did not recognise the person. But one thing was confirmed. The people here were all humans. He was surprised to find out that the so-called Civilisation was no more than a group of humans. "Is this the past kept in the book?" he thought out loud. "You brat, what are you muttering?" While Karyk was lost in thought, the person who had kicked him, grabbed him by the hair. He raised him in the air. "If you don''t want to die, don''t mess up! Tomorrow is the Prince''s birthday! If you mess up, I will kill you myself!"

 Chapter 961: Even the Angels

    Chapter 961: Even the Angels

    "The Prince''s birthday?" Karyk mumbled under his breath, his expression filled with confusion. The uncertainty lingered in his mind. He was unsure if he had truly traveled back in time or if it was merely an illusion held within the pages of the Book. Would his actions in this moment have the power to alter the course of the future, or was he merely a passive observer?

    Amidst the uncertainty, one thing remained clear to him. He found himself in an era of civilization. Whether real or illusory, the significance of this moment could not be undermined. It held the key to unraveling the secrets behind the secrets that the Archangels sought, as well as the key that they called him. "Are you listening, brat?" The sharp voice came again. Karyk raised his head. He did not know what he was supposed to be doing here. What was his identity? If it was just an illusion, then how was the old man talking to him? ''Is my illusion based on another person''s reality in the past?'' N?v(el)B\\jnn

    He did not know who had written the book that was called Heaven''s Path. But if he had taken someone''s ce in this illusion, then it could only be the ce of the book author. ''If it is an illusion, my actions should not change the flow of things much. If I tried, I would most probably be thrown out of the illusion, and return to reality, without getting the answers I need.''

    He did not know if this was an illusion or reality. But he could not take the risk to rest it either. If it was an illusion and he wasted this opportunity, he wasn''t sure if he could ever return. Not just the answer rted to the key, but even the answer rted to this world was kept in this illusion. Even if he could not find what the Archangels wanted, as long as he found a way to use his powers in this world, it was good enough. In this illusion, his first priority was finding the thing that kept powers suppressed in this world. Just as he came to a decision, he felt someone hit the back of his head. "If you understand, then answer me! Seriously, I don''t understand why they select idiots! Where do they even find people like you?" The old man kept looking down on Karyk. Karyk did not argue back. If it was the real world, he might have thought about killing this man, but in this world, he did not try to do that. His first priority was letting this illusion follow its pace. If he had to work in this part of the illusion, he was willing. As long as he could get close to the other workers, it was a good opportunity to get answers. "I will get to work." Just to get the old man off his back, Karyk agreed with him. He joined the group of other youngsters, who were also leaving the City. From the era he came, the walls around the city were closed. There were no gates in the wall. But in this era, there was a huge gate. He did not know if the wall had closed itself when the Civilization disappeared, but it again convinced him that the wall was more alive than everyone knew. He just did not know the method to control this wall. Could this wall cover the entire city, including the sky? He didn''t know. The only thing certain was that the Children of Heaven did not know the method yet. Karyk followed the group of simrly dressed people. Along the way, he tried talking to them. But none answered or seemed interested in replying. In the entire group, not a single person was talking to each other. Instead, they all looked at each other like they werepetitors. "Are you new?" Just as Karyk was about to give up, he heard a voice. "How did you know?" Karyk asked back.

    "Because you are trying to talk to them?" The young man answered. "If you worked with the group before, you would have known that they wouldn''t reply."

    "Is there a reason for that?"

    Karyk did not know why these people hated talking so much. They did not even tell him their names. "If the old man saw them talking, he might think they are wasting time, and cut their pay."

    "Then why are you talking to me?" Karyk asked. The man scratched the back of his head, feeling a little embarrassed. "Because all my pay for today has already been cut. In the morning, I spilled water on the old man. So basically, I''m working for free today."

    "Even if he wanted to, he can''t cut any more. Instead, you should be worried about yourself."

    "You are the first person who has slept at work. And now, you are talking with me. Do you also want to work for free?" The young man asked. "I don''t mind working for free. It''s just one day. Instead, I am more interested in having a nice conversation. Since we''re both working for free, you won''t be scared, right?"

    "Scared? I have never been scared." The young man proudly stated.

    "In that case, can you tell me where we are going?"

    Karyk did not even know what they were supposed to be doing. He was just following the group of youngsters that was following the old man that kept nagging him before. "You didn''t even know that? How did you even get selected?" The young man was surprised. "I am honestly impressed by you. And here I thought, I was the worst at my job."

    "I am really curious. Where are we going?" Karyk asked again, ignoring the jokes. "We are going to the Ocean. The Oceanic Species are going to bring the gifts for Prince''s birthday. We just have to escort them and the gifts to the Pce."

    "It''s the first birthday of the young prince after all. So many people areing from far away. I heard even Angels will being!" The young man said with excitement.

 Chapter 962: Divine Will

    Chapter 962: Divine Will

    "Gift from the Ruler of the Ocean, and Angels in attendance?"

    Karyk had a lot of questions in his mind. He wasn''t sure if the Angels were the same as the Archangels from his era. He could only verify this assumption if he could see them. Until that moment, he did not want to leave this illusion. "Can you tell me more about the Angels?" he asked the man next to him. "The Angels? I don''t know much about them either. I just know that they are very strong. They seem to have good rtions with the Empire."

    "In their Prince''s coronation, representatives from the Empire had also gone. So it''s only fair for them toe."

    The man kept going on and on about the Angels. But everything else he said was of no significance. He could not describe their looks, as he had never seen them before either. He only talked about the stories rted to Angels. As per his own words the Angels were close to the Divine Will of Heaven. "What is the Divine Will?" Karyk inquired, getting some useful information amidst a bunch of rumors. "No idea. I am just telling you what I heard." The man shrugged innocently. Even he did not know the meaning of these words. He just told them because he had heard a lot of people talk about this in the past. "Ah, that''s right." He suddenly thought of something. He looked around to make sure no one else was paying attention to them. He moved closer to Karyk and whispered in his ears. "I heard that even the Empire is trying to get close to the Will of Heaven. They say the Prince is the key for that. But I don''t know what that means either. Still, it must be important. So keep it to yourself."

    Karyk remained silent. His mind had a lot of questions, but he also managed to get a rough idea. The destruction of the Civilization had something to do with the Divine Will. But what was the Divine Will? He wasn''t sure. Was it a treasure that the Angels possessed? Did the Civilization try to steal it? Was that the reason for their enmity?

    Even if it made sense, he could feel that this wasn''t the entire truth. How could the Civilisation steal a treasure from the Angels? And what did it have to do with the Prince? Why was the Prince called a key?

    "Wait..." His thoughts came to a halt suddenly. "Prince... Key..."

    Weren''t these two terms associated with him as well? The Elzeirans called him the forgotten prince. Meanwhile, Aexin called him the key. The more he thought about it, the more it started making sense. He was experiencing the past of the book''s author. But that did not mean he was not a part of this past in a different way. Was he the Prince whose birthday was being celebrated? Was this the reason he was able to pass through the wall that protected the city? It was because he had the blood of the Civilisation?

    Was it really a confidence that he ended up in this world? Or was this a scheme? n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    He did not know what was true and what was false. He did not even remember the oue of the battle. Could it be the scheme of the Archangels to send him to this world? Because they wanted something from him, which they believed he would not do if he was forced. A lot of suspicions were rising in his head. Was he intentionally allowed to live? Was him reaching this library also a part of that n? ''No, if this was the n, they would have made me end up near the city, not on an abandoned Ind with no other way to reach the City.''

    He quickly dropped the thought, noticing a lot of ws in that. If it was a n, why would the subordinate of the Archangels try to stop him from using the Book? It was more like the subordinates did not know that he was here. The man in the library did not even recognise him as the people Archangels were after. He could not forget the possibility of it all being an act, in which even the Mother Whale and her Child were taking part. Even if that was the case, he wanted to understand. He wanted to understand if this was truly his past. Was the reason he ended up in Elzeira rted to the Civilization? If that was the case, it also made sense. If the person watching over him was from the Civilization, it made sense for the Celestial Empire to not give him up. The Civilization was as dangerous as the Archangels for them. ''But did they not know that the Civilisation was gone?''

    If he was truly a prince, then the disappearance of the Civilisation was rted to him and the Divine Will. "We are here." The young man told Karyk, bringing him out of the daze. "Huh?" Karyk came out of the worst of his own thoughts, noticing that there had already reached the shore. In the ocean, he could see many Giant Whales that were even bigger than the Mother Whale he saw before. ''These must be her ancestors. They were truly closely rted to the Civilisation. Still, they refused to pass on this knowledge. That is truly strange.''

    The Ruler of the Ocean stepped out of the water, taking a human form. For Karyk, it was a human form. But for these people, it was the form of the Civilisation. The old man that led this group, greeted the Ruler of the Oceans. Even though the old man was just a servant, the Ruler of the Ocean was very respectful to him. That was the dignity of the Civilization. Even servants received respect, because they represented their masters. "What are you all looking at? Take the gifts and carefully take them back!" The old man was all smiles with the Ruler of the Ocean, but when he looked at the young servants, he was the same old grumpy man.

 Chapter 963: Return

    Chapter 963: Return

    The Ruler of Ocean arrived with a few escorts of his own. Their strength was evident as all of these escorts had carried the heavy boxes that contained gifts. A single box, that they carried with a single hand, took over ten youngsters to pick up and put on the carriage. And there were tens of such craters. "Let''s go. If we are lucky, we might get some benefits as well." The man next to Karyk patted his shoulder as he rushed forward to help carry the boxes. Karyk stepped forward as well. Since he was in this ce, he could only y along. He helped the young man carry the box. "Huh? Is it just me or does the box feel lighter than the others made them appear?" The young man who apanied Karyk revealed his surprise as their group managed to pick the box much more easily. "Could it be that they were putting on an act to make it look like it was hard work?" He thought, revealing a clever smile. He told the others in the groups to put on the same act. "Is this..." Karyk was more surprised than them. It wasn''t because the box was lighter. Instead, he could feel that the reason these boxes became lighter was because of him. He was able to feel the same strength that he hadn''t felt ever since he came to the world of Civilization. ''Is my power not sealed here because it''s an illusion? Or is it because the thing that stopped me from using my powers hasn''t been put to use in this illusion world of the past?''

    He tried using his other abilities, and they also worked. His feet rose a few inches in the air, to the point that it would have been impossible for anyone to notice. He was able to confirm that he could use flight as well. It wasn''t just his strength, but he could use the other abilities as well. ''It couldn''t havee at a better time.''

    He needed as much help as he could get to investigate the reality of this world. He could not do that if he was no different than an ordinary person in this world. Even if he wanted to observe the Archangels, he needed his skills. Until that point, he tried to keep his abilities hidden. He stopped using his strength, to not make it more evidence. "Huh?" The young man next to Karyk had been putting on an act to pick something heavy. However, when this thing actually became heavy, he almost dropped out. He barely managed to hold onto this box after putting all the strength he had. The others also had the same expression on their faces. It finally matched the other groups. They carried the box from the shallow water, and barely managed to put them on the carriage. If it was just one box, it would have been fine. But they all looked like they were in for the worst time of their lives. There were over a hundred boxes in the hands of the oceanic creatures that could not step on thend. The youngsters kept putting their bodies in stress as they moved to the shores and carried boxes back. One after another, the carriers were being filled. Karyk could easily put all these boxes on the carriage. The Ruler of the Ocean could also do the same. But the Ruler did not want to do such small things. Simrly, Karyk did not want to show his abilities. He also kept the act and kept making trips with the group. After what seemed like an eternity, the carriages were filled with the gifts. All the youngsters were sitting next to the carriages, covered in sweat. Fortunately, none was hurt. Karyk also sat there, apanying the others in their moment of rest, especially since they were only given ten minutes to rest. This also made hime out of his high expectations. He had thought that the people in the Civilization were beings that were extremely powerful andparable to Archangels. Unfortunately, the reality that he saw was quite disappointing. These people were no different than mortals from earth. They did not have any special abilities or strengths. They were weak. No, weak would be an understatement for them. He wasn''t sure how the Civilisation was able to flourish with such weakness. They did not even have the technology that he had expected. What advanced technology? They were still using carriages to bring the gifts back to the City. Even the earth was more advanced with electric vehicles. But here, they still used carriages that were pulled by humans, not even animals.

    This ce felt even more backward than medieval Empires. How could a ce like this be remembered as the peak civilization in this world? And how could they make a wall like that? He had a lot of questions in his mind. He wanted to ask these questions, but he was cautious about his surroundings. ''It seems like I will need to make a trip to the Royal Pce to find these things.''

    He closed his eyes, lost in thought. "Enough rest! We don''t pay you to sleep! Ten minutes are over! Get up!" The old man yelled loudly, even though it was evident that not even five minutes had passed. The Ruler of the Ocean also looked somewhat impatient, as if he was in a hurry to meet the Emperor of Civilization. It was clear why the old man did not let anyone rest anymore. The youngsters had no choice but to stand up. The Ruler of Ocean and the others sat inside another specially crafted carriage. The group started moving back towards the city. "Don''t you feel bad? You all are being treated like this?" Karyk asked the talkative young man next to him. "Is there a reason for this?"

    "Treated like this? Stop pretending like you don''t know. This is the life of people like us. We are not like the people in the inner area of the city. Of course this is all we can do." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The young man answered, his voice tinged with a little sadness that he quickly hid.

 Chapter 964: Difference

    Chapter 964: Difference

    Karyk listened attentively to the young man''s response, his curiosity piqued. He could sense a hint of bitterness in the young man''s words, indicating that there was more to this situation than met the eye. He could not feel sympathy for them. If it was about being poor, he had seen that a lot in other worlds. In every world, there was a social divide between people. He just hadn''t expected that the civilization he heard so much about, was just this in the end. Did the Archangels even need help? If this was the extent of this civilization, a single Archangel could destroy it. Not even a proper archangel, but Aexin alone was able to destroy this ce. So why were they so respected by everyone? So far, he hadn''t seen strength. He also hadn''t seen any advanced technology like he saw back on earth. Despite that, the Civilization was so respected in the pages of history. ''Can ordinary people really create a wall that has a soul? Can ordinary people create a book that could reveal the past in this manner?''

    No matter the reality before him, he found it hard to believe that this was the extent of the civilization. If this was true, then it meant they hadn''t disappeared, but they were ughtered. "If I''m not wrong, your name was Rezen, right?" The young man asked. He stopped thinking about things that couldn''t be changed, and focused on the present. Karyk did not know the name of the book writer, so he nodded at whatever name he was given. "I am Qien. It''s good to finally have someone that I can talk to. If you are free tonight, do you want to have a drink?"

    "Didn''t you say that you will receive no money today?" Karyk asked. It wasn''t that he didn''t want to meet the young man. It could certainly help him ask questions that he could not ask here. However, he did not know themon sense of this world. Was it really normal to invite someone like this, especially when they were all supposed to be poor?

    "Don''t worry about it. I have saved some money. I just want to have a drink and vent. But if you don''t like it, I will not force you."

    Qien was not too forceful. He quickly rified his reason while giving Karyk a choice to refuse. "It is fine. I would love to have a drink, since it doesn''t look like I will be getting paid today." Karyk nodded. "Hahaha, that''s true. Then after we finish, I''ll take you to a nice ce." N?v(el)B\\jnn

    ....

    The carriages filled with extremely expensive gifts were escorted back to the City. The path ahead was cleared. Whenever a carriage was stuck due to heavy weight, the youngsters were called forward to help it. Fortunately, it did not happen many times during the journey. By evening, the group returned to the giant border wall. The carriage passed through the gate.

    As Karyk walked past the wall, he ced his hand on it, thinking if he was going to be pulled inside again. If he could talk to the Spirit one more time, he believed it could be useful. The Spirit had opened a passage that led straight to the inner city thest time. Instead of infiltrating the inner city the normal way, the secret passage was much more useful. Unfortunately, even as his hand touched the wall, there was no reaction which disappointed him. ''Just as I thought. Probably it hasn''t developed a spirit yet. Or it doesn''t react the same way because the Book Author did not know it could do that?''

    When the carriage was about to enter the inner city, all the youngsters were stopped by the old man. "This is as far as we need you."

    He quickly got off the carriage and started paying a single coin to every youngster. It was only when he reached Qien, he just red and walked past him. "Next time, don''t make the same mistake."

    To Karyk''s surprise, the old man handed him a coin. Even though he was scolded, he received the ie, which made him really intrigued. He had been talking all this journey, just like Qien. He had also been caught sleeping. But even then, the man was paying him? So why wasn''t he paying Qien? Just what big mistake did that guy make to have a pay cut for a day?

    Qien told him that it was because he was talkative. But it looked strange now. Why was he talkative when the others werepletely silent throughout the journey? Who was he talking to?

    Moreover, if he was really talking, then it wasn''t enough to cut paypletely. Even though he was talking, he received a coin. Even if he was to consider that Qien was a repeat offender, it still felt odd. If he was like that, why was he hired by the old man? In this world, it was hard to survive without money. At least that''s what Qien told him. Why was Qien doing something like that intentionally, and that too every day to the point that he wasn''t paid?

    On top of that, he was saying that he had enough money to invite him for a drink? He didn''t know why, but he had a feeling that something was really wrong with Qien. "Ah, you are so lucky! Even after all that, you still got paid! The old man must really favor you! That is all the more reason for us to celebrate!"

    The young man grabbed Karyk''s wrists and started running. Karyk looked back, and saw armored guardse out from the inner city. The Ocean Lord greeted the guards but the guards did not even react. They simply escorted the carriage in the inner city. ''I see. It seems there is a lot of difference between the inner and the outer city.''

    Karyk had thought that the people in this civilization were all like the old man and Qien. But when he saw the guards, he was able to feel that they were strong. Even a single guard appeared as strong as Aexin, if not stronger.

 Chapter 965: Thief

    Chapter 965: Thief

    Karyk''s observation of the guards was cut short as they entered the inner city, apanying the carriages. Although his observation was brief, he quickly discerned a stark contrast between the inner and outer areas of the city. Despite both being part of the same city, they seemed like entirely different worlds. It became evident why the outer citizens were treated poorly while the inner citizens held more authority.

    In his future visits to the city, Karyk had only entered the inner part directly, leaving him unaware of what the outer city was like. This time, he was able to see more clearly. If the inner city was spacious, the outer city was itsplete opposite. Apart from the main road leading from the gate to the inner city, there were no other properly constructed paths. Even the alleys were narrow, allowing only two people to walk side by side. The abundance of houses in this area made it resemble a slum rather than a thriving neighborhood, especially all the houses that looked like they could fall apart at any time. ''This is truly strange. If the inner city was so well made, then why is this part of the city so bad? It should have been easy to solve this problem for people that are strong. Unless, they intentionally left it this way.'' n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    He could not understand why the Civilization would let arge portion of their poption live like this. It was as if this wasn''t a ce for them to stay, but instead a punishment. In this world, there was only one city, so these people could not go anywhere else either. Karyk apanied the man as he walked through the narrow alleyways, not knowing where he was actually going. asionally, he saw a few people along the way. They were worse dressed than Qien, looking no different than beggars. Inparison, Qien looked like a prince. "How far is that ce?" Karyk asked. "Not far. We will get there soon enough," Qien answered. However, even after a long time passed, they did not reach the destination. At this point, even Karyk was starting to get suspicious. It looked like Qien was intentionally trying to take him as far away as possible for unknown reasons. Karyk did not think much about his suspicions. Even if he was right, he could handle some small problems now that his powers were back. If anything, he wanted to see what this person had in mind. ''I wonder if the author of the book also came to this ce with him? Or did I already sway too far from his memories?''

    The illusion of the past was still ongoing, so he had a feeling that he hadn''t changed much of the past. ''Maybe even if I hadn''t started talking to anyone, he would have approached me first. It might also be part of the memories.''

    Karyk let the young man lead him deeper down these confusing alleys. And after a long time, he finally stopped. In the ce he stopped, Karyk could already see the giant border wall that was only a few feet away from him. However he was on the wrong side of the city. He was on theplete opposite side of the gate on the outer wall. He was as far away as possible. "It seems we came too far. Is this where you live?" Karyk asked, looking around. He noticed a few houses in this area. "Which one is yours?"

    Qien released his grip on Karyk''s hand and took a step back, announcing in a resounding voice, "I have brought the person." In response to his words, the doors of the nearby houses swung open, and a multitude of people emerged, each clutching makeshift weapons in their hands. "You took so long this time. Were you deliberately trying to keep us waiting?" admonished one of the men, delivering a light p to the back of Qien''s head. Qien chuckled amiably, massaging the back of his head. "Sorry about that, we encountered some unexpected dys on the way here. But we''re here now," he reassured the man with a friendly smile."

    The bulky man opened a scroll and checked the portrait within, before looking at Karyk. Malice appeared on the man''s face.

    "Hmm, it seems to be the same person." "Are you people thieves? And here I wondered, what big thing was going to be waiting for me. I must say, I am a little disappointed."

    Karyk had thought that there was some bigger secret here since the writer of these memories included them instead of directly starting from the day of the birthday celebration. However, he was only left disappointed. If it was just an attempt to rob his coin, then it was insignificant. He did not care about the coin either. Ever since he regained his abilities, he did not need to eat much. He could go on, without resting as well. So the currency of this world was useless for him. "You are calling us the thief?" The man looked at Karyk, as if he was looking at a shameless person. "Before we start breaking your bones, hand over the thing you stole from the Inner City! And don''t even think about lying! Your neighbor saw youst night! He is also the one who informed us."

    "So hand it over, and we might let you live, as long as you promise not to tell anyone!"

    The man raised his bat, gesturing that he had a short temper. "Hmm? I stole from the inner cityst night?"

    Karyk was taken aback. He was really surprised by this information. The owner of these memories was a thief who had stolen something from the inner city? How could he achieve something like that? Then again, he had a feeling that these people weren''t lying. Moreover, when he appeared in these memories, he was already caught sleeping. It was highly likely that he was sleeping because he was tired after the theftst night. He was quite curious. Just what did this person steal? What was so important for him to take such a risk? He even included this in his memories? It could only be something important.

 Chapter 966: A bad person

    Chapter 966: A bad person

    "What do you think I stole?" Karyk directly asked the people before him, despite not thinking that they would know. These people were more or less ignorant and thought they could get something valuable. Although the men did not answer, their nk reaction was enough for Karyk to understand everything. "In that case, I will ask you a different question," he stated. "What makes you think that you can take something from me?"

    At first, he was willing to hand over all his money, because he did not want to change much of the past. He did not want to be tossed out of the past. He thought that this was the part of the past where they were supposed to rob him sessfully. There was no way for the book writer to defend himself because he was just a weak man. He thought that the man was probably beaten as well. He did not ept to be beaten to stay close to the past. However, he was nning to give the money over. However, that was all before he learned that the book writer was supposed to be a thief. If it was a person who could infiltrate even the inner city, then was it really possible for him to be beaten and robbed?

    Although it was hard for Karyk to constantly guess the past and future based on the circumstances, he tried to do it as much as possible. "I thought he was beaten and robbed. If it was just that, you people would have been safe. But since that''s not the case, can you really do something to me?"

    If the news about him stealing from the inner city was disclosed, it was problematic. He didn''t have to think hard to understand what the book author did to these people in the past. "Huh? You are asking me what makes me think I can take something from you?!" The leader of the group burst into an arrogantughter. "Did you all hear this bastard?" he asked his followers, finding it hard to control hisughter. "Does he really think that he is the Royal Knight or something? A mere thief, and such arrogance?"

    He had imagined a lot of ways this could go. He thought that the person was going to be scared and beg for forgiveness right away. He even thought that he was going to hand over the item he stole, but to think that he was talking back to them?

    "Boss, maybe he has gone crazy. He would regain his sanity after being hit a few times. Should we?" A young man in the back chuckled, raising a metallic bat. "Go ahead. But make sure you don''t identally kill him. If that thing isn''t with him, then it would be impossible to find it."

    "Don''t worry boss. I will make sure to only break a few of his bones." The young man proudly stepped towards Karyk. He raised his bat to hit Karyk. "You brat, you can only me yourself for what''s about to hap-" His words were cut in the middle of his sentence. He saw Karyk turn upside down, followed by a thud. His head fell on the ground, slowly covered in a puddle of blood. "I will repeat the same question. What makes you think that you can steal from me?" Karyk stepped forward and ced his foot on the young man''s head. He gently pushed the rest of the man''s body, which was still standing. The body soon fell on the ground. Everyone in this area looked at each other''s faces. They could not understand what they had just seen. The boss of this gang even rubbed his eyes and pped himself to wake up from this dream. Karyk hadn''t even moved, so how did his follower die? Only people from the Inner City should have strength to perform miracles, so how?

    "Y-you are from the Inner City?!" After realizing that this was not a dream, the man eximed in shock. The others in the group were also horrified. Did they just try to rob someone from the Inner City? It was as if they had run straight to their deaths. Everyone in the outer city knew that they should never offend people from the inner city. Even the gangs never dared to do such a thing. Still, when they heard that someone had robbed the inner city, they thought it was an opportunity for them.They could steal the item, without having toe across anyone from the inner city. "It is impossible! How can he be from the Inner City? He was just an ordinary worker! The old man at work also treated him like one! And ording to our informant, he had lived here all his life!"

    Qien did not want to believe it. He had already done his due diligence before doing something like this. Why would someone from the inner city live in this area all his life? "But that was a miracle! Only Inner City people can perform miracles!" Another man eximed.

    "We have made a huge mistake! We never should have done it!" n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "I don''t want to die!"

    Almost the entire group had lost their morale in an instant, not even daring to fight back. The boss was the first person to drop to his knees. He started apologizing profusely, saying that he wouldn''t have done it if he had known. He even offered to work for Karyk instead, making sure that no one troubled him in the future. The others in the group also fell to their knees, repeatedly hitting their heads like maniacs, begging for forgiveness. Their foreheads were covered in blood, but they kept going. "Not long ago, I told someone that I was a bad person. But he did not believe it," Karyk said, raising his right hand. "At least you would die knowing that I am indeed a bad person."

    He knew that keeping these people alive could be useful. But he wanted to stick close to the past he believed had urred. And that involved killing everything that became an obstruction for him.

 Chapter 967: Young Prince Karyk

    Chapter 967: Young Prince Karyk

    ....

    "You can open your eyes."

    The entire ce waspletely silent, and that silence was only broken when Karyk spoke. Qien was lying on his knees, his eyes staying close in fear. It was only when he heard Karyk''s voiceing from right beside him, he slowly opened his eyes. As he opened his eyes, he was surprised to find that the entire ce waspletely empty. The gang members weren''t there anymore. Even the body of the person killed was not there. All signs of blood were also erased, as if nothing like that ever took ce. Qien felt like he was going crazy. Was this all an illusion? No! He was certain that this was the reality!

    This ce was one where he had promised to meet the gang members that paid him. If they were here, the gang should have been there as well. "Did you... kill them?" His voice was trembling when he asked the question. "What do you think?" Karyk asked in return before grabbing Qien by his cor and helping him up. "If you don''t want to join them in the afterlife, you would listen to me, right?" n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    "I-i will do everything you ask! Just let me live!" Qien begged, his eyes wide with fear. Karyk released his grip and studied Qien for a moment before speaking, "Good. Then guide me to the person who informed you about my involvement in theft."

    Qien did not know if Karyk was actually going to let him live or not. Still, he wanted to give it his all. He did not want to be killed in the most brutal of ways. If he had known that something like this was going to happen, he was certain he would have said no to this n. "T-this way..." He quickly wiped the sweat off his forehead. He took onest nce at the ce where a person had died, reminding himself that it could be him if he made a mistake.

    Karyk followed the young man. Although he had to kill a few people, he had received a lot out of it. He was able to test his abilities and confirm that nothing was wrong with them. He also had a proper informant. Now he didn''t have to beat around the bush to find answers. ....

    In the inner city, there existed a Royal Pce. The Pce was the most protected space inside the City. It was the ce where the Rulers of the city lived. It was also the ce where the young prince of the Civilization lived. The young prince was cherished by his parents to the point that they didn''t even allow him to leave the pce, worried that he might get hurt. In the entire city, there was no one who could even care to hurt the prince. Since, the Emperor was overprotective of his son. "Soon, my baby Karyk will be ten years old. Time moves so fast. It feels like just yesterday, you were born."

    In a room, decorated mostvishly, a beautiful woman sat on the bed. She was cupping the face of a young boy that stood before her, also dressed in a Royal Attire. "What gift do you want for your birthday?" the woman asked her son. "I want to go out and see the city." The young boy said without hesitation. He had always heard the stories about the world outside this Pce. He even heard a few maids talk about such things when they thought he wasn''t listening. He had always wanted to leave the pce, but he was never allowed. "This..." The queen mother was stumped for words. "Ask for anything else, and your mother will make it happen. But it is dangerous outside. If you are hurt, I will never be able to forgive myself."

    "I won''t be hurt! I am a grown man!" The young boy pouted. "Mother, please...?"

    "How about it? When you turn twenty, I will take you out myself?" The Mother asked. She didn''t like disappointing her son either, but she could not agree to this either. Even if she was to agree, she knew that her husband would not agree. Even though this was their city, they knew that there were many hidden enemies there. Everyone knew that the prince was their weakness. If someone found out that the Prince was outside the Pce, it could really be dangerous. The Prince lowered his head. "Alright. I will go back to my room." He was truly disappointed, already having an answer. They were never going to allow him. "Wait, you didn''t tell me what other gift you want?" The Mother asked. "I''ll be fine with anything." The young boy left the room, apanied by the maids. Outside the room, the young boy remained silent. However, a lot of thoughts filled his mind. ''Mother thinks I am weak. I will leave the pce myself and prove to mother that I''m not weak when I return in the morning!''

    ****

    In another corner of the city, Qien knocked on the door. An old man opened the door. A happy smile spread across his lips as he saw Qien standing outside the door. "Qien, it''s you! I suppose you have already seeded? You must be here to give me the promised reward!" "I''m not sure about the promised reward, but I am definitely here to give you a reward." Another man''s voice came from behind Qien. Before the old man could react, he saw Karyk in front of him. His throat was grabbed as Karyk pushed the old man inside the house. Qien also entered the house and closed the door behind him. ....

    Half an hourter, the door closed and Karyk stepped out of the ce with Qien. "Which one is my house?" he asked Qien. Qien pointed towards the neighboring house that had a lock on the door. Karyk had already checked his pockets but he couldn''t find anything that was stolen. He didn''t know where that thing was hidden but he believed only that house could give him a clue. He was convinced that the mystery of the past revolved around the thing he had stolen.

 Chapter 968 Chapter 968: Stolen item

    ?

    968 Chapter 968: Stolen item

    Karyk searched through the entire house that supposedly belonged to him.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Qien waited outside the house, keeping guard. Many times, he thought about running away while he had the opportunity.

    Even though Karyk hadn''t killed him yet, he knew that it was only a matter of time. Still, where could he even run? He could only try to run to the Inner City, but he wasn''t going to be allowed in.

    In his eyes, Karyk was also from the inner city. So even if he managed to enter that ce, he was not safe. He could try to approach the guards, but without knowing the identity of this person, it was also useless.

    He had already made a mistake by underestimating this person. He did not want to make the same mistake again. If the guards were also working with him, then what? He didn''t want to test this theory.

    Instead, he decided to rely on Karyk. If he did everything as Karyk asked and showed that he was harmless, maybe he might survive. At least that''s what he believed.

    "I really shouldn''t have left home today," he sighed, seemingly tired as he stood with his back resting against the wall.

    "But why did he have to ask me about his house? Shouldn''t he have known his own house? Whatever, it''s not my ce to question it."

    Outside, Qien was talking to himself. And inside the house, Karyk was searching for something all around the house.

    He had roughly learned from Qien that he had stolen a scroll. But even after searching most of the house, he failed to find anything resembling a scroll.

    "Where did this guy hide it? Why make it so difficult?" Karyk pondered out loud after finishing the entire search.

    "Hmm? That..."

    As he was cursing the thief, he noticed a small crack in the otherwise very decent wall.

    He walked closer to the wall and touched the crack. The ce looked like it was recently repaired, but still a crack was left. It was as if the person who did it wanted to leave a mark behind.

    Karyk created a knife with his aura and stabbed it in the crack. With the knife, he started taking the wall apart while being extremely careful to not damage the scroll if it was there.

    Soon, he found a smallpartment in the wall that was hidden behind a newly created wall ster.

    "This should be the thing he stole."

    Karyk took the scroll and opened it carefully, revealing what appeared like a map of

    this City. However, there were a few points marked in the map that were clearly near the Royal Pce.

    As he had been to the inner city in the past, he was able to recognise that ce. It was not too far from the library where he found the book.

    Next to the map, there was a smaller map which depicted the Royal Pce and the position of all the guards.

    "A map of the Royal Pce with all guarded positions marked? Who would have something like this? And why?"

    Karyk did not know who this map was stolen from. But he had a rough idea as to what was happening. Ordinary guards weren''t allowed to have this thing.

    The Royal Pce would not create this map to be leaked, as it risked their safety. So it should only mean one thing.

    There was someone inside the pce who had a high enough position. That person created this map. As for the reasons, Karyk had a rough guess.

    "Does this have something to do with the sudden disappearance of the people here?" He had a lot of questions as many things were taking ce in this city. Someone was nning to infiltrate the Royal Pce. Since the map was supposed to be stolen recently, he was convinced that they hadn''t tried it yet.

    "Tomorrow is the Prince''s birthday. The Archangels are probably going toe as guests. The divine will, the disappearance and this map... It looks like I will really have to make a trip to the City."

    He memorized the map, especially the position of the guards in the inner city and around the pce before leaving the house.

    "Keep an eye over my house," he told Qien. "But if you tried to scheme anything, I might not be able to promise you safety."

    After warning Qien, Karyk disappeared into thin air, again shocking him.

    "Another miracle... He is definitely from the Inner City!" Qien eximed. He didn''t waste any time and entered the house and did as he was asked.

    ....

    "Young Prince, are you sleeping?"

    A young servant gently asked as he checked in on the Prince''s room.

    He saw someone on the bed, covered in a nket from head to toe.

    "He must be really tired today. To think he slept so early."

    The servant confirmed. However, just as he was about to close the door, he felt someone grab his wrists.

    He was pulled inside the room. Before he could react, he felt someone tying his hands.

    "P-Prince, what are you...." The servant was stunned to see the person as it was none other than the Prince.

    He tried to free himself, but he couldn''t. Even though the Prince was young, he was very talented in miracles.

    "I am going out on a walk. Stay in this room until I return." The young prince told the servant, dragging his body towards the bed.

    "Mmm! Mmmmm!" The Servant could not even speak as his mouth was also tied. "Don''t worry. I will free you when I return. And I will also heavily reward you!"

    After throwing him in the bathroom, the Prince closed the door. He took a deep breath, before starting a transformation.

    His body started growing and his clothes also changed to the clothes that the young servant was wearing.

    "It is good that I didn''t tell my mother about this ability. Or she would have

    strengthened security even more."

    The prince hadpletely transformed into a servant before stepping out of the

    room.

    "The Prince is sleeping. Don''t disturb him tonight as tomorrow is a big day for him." He told the guards in the corridor as he left.

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 Chapter 969 Chapter 969: Plan stays

    ?

    969 Chapter 969: n stays

    Karyk walked through the dimly lit streets of the City, thinking about ways to enter the inner city.

    He had an ability that could turn him invisible. He had even used that ability in Elzeira, but he was not certain if this was going to work in front of the Guards here.

    He was quite curious about the identity of the person who wrote this book. How did that person not only manage to enter the Inner City but also steal something and return without being caught.

    As he made his way towards the Inner City, Karyk couldn''t shake off the feeling that time was running out. The Prince''s birthday was tomorrow, and with the Archangels expected to attend, the situation was bing increasingly dangerous.

    As he approached the entrance to the Inner City, Karyk''s gaze focused on the guards stationed there. He had memorized the positions of the guards from the stolen map, and now he needed to find a way to get past them without raising suspicion.

    He knew that a direct approach would be useless, as the guards were likely to recognize him as an outsider.

    With his mind working quickly, he formted a n. He decided to use his ability to create illusions to test if this skill worked on the guards.

    With his illusion, he created a young child who ran towards the city entrance. The Guards quickly turned towards the child and warned him that he was not allowed to

    enter.

    "So they can see the illusion and think that it''s real. It might be easier than I thought."

    Karyk disguised himself as a member of the Royal Pce guards, one who had escorted the Carriage previously.

    With guards constantly changing positions at regr intervals, it was quite unlikely for these guards to know if that person had left the inner city or not.

    Taking a deep breath, Karyk activated his aura and focused on creating the illusion. Slowly, his appearance began to change, morphing into that of a different guard. Once he was satisfied with the illusion, he approached the guards with confidence. The guards simply watched him walk past them and did not try to stop him. He was a little surprised that he was able to enter the inner city this easily.

    ''No wonder people are already nning to infiltrate the Royal Pce. Their security is not good enough.''

    With their attention diverted, Karyk passed through the gates of the Inner City, his illusion holding up.

    Inside the Inner City, Karyk navigated the bustling streets. The ce looked very simr to what he had seen in the future.

    The only difference was that it was not abandoned anymore. It still looked like a proper city, unlike the ghost city from the future

    In another part of the city, a tense meeting was underway.

    m~n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    With a resounding m, a man forcefully brought his palm down on the table, his anger visible on his face.

    "You lost the map, and you''re just informing me now?!"

    "I thought I could find it, so I didn''t mention it earlier. But it seems to have vanished.

    I suspect it has been stolen," another person responded, showing no remorse in their demeanor.

    "You fool! Do you realize the consequences if the map falls into the hands of the Guards and they be more vignt? If it reaches the Royal Family, our entire n will crumble!"

    "I have conducted some research, and as of now, it appears that the guards are unaware. Their positions remain unchanged, but we cannot rule out the possibility of a trap. Should we consider canceling the n?" A feminine voice spoke up, filling the

    hall.

    "We cannot afford to dy the n any longer. Tomorrow is the brat''s birthday, and we must execute our mission tonight! Although it carries inherent risks, we still have to infiltrate the pce."

    "Remember, our main objective is the death of the Prince! If he survives, the Divine Will may..." The man''s sentence trailed off, his words hanging in the air, marking everyone''s faces go dark.

    "Even if it is a trap, we need to kill the Prince. Even if we have to die in the process, we must! Remember, the Angels are with us. But if we fail, the consequences would be worse than death!"

    ****

    "The Prince is sleeping early tonight. Don''t disturb him," a young servant told the guards outside the Prince''s room.

    He did not want anyone to check the room and find out that the Prince was not there at all. After making sure that no one was going to check, the disguised Prince walked away from the room.

    He had only one goal. It was to leave the pce and see the beautiful city. This way, he could prove to everyone that he was old enough to leave the Pce safely. The young prince had to walk through a lot of intersections that were heavily guarded. At every turn, he was careful to not reveal any w.

    He did not want toe across anyone that knew this servant and wanted to talk to him. He didn''t want to expose any ws. Fortunately, he only came across guards

    who were more focused on protecting the Pce than anything else.

    "Why are you here? Who is watching over my son?"

    Just as the young prince was about to reach the stairs, he heard a woman''s voice. He could never forget this voice as this was his mother''s voice.

    He was almost covered in sweat, worried about getting exposed. Still, he tried his hardest to not reveal any w.

    He had seen his servant talk before his mother. He might not know how to act in front of this servant''s friend, but he definitely knew how to act before his mother.

    "The Prince fell asleep earlier tonight."

    "Was he angry?" The Queen asked, lowering her head. Even she felt sad when her son

    was angry at her.

    "He did not say anything, but most probably he was sad. He should be better when he wakes up."

    "I hope so. You can leave."

    The Queen walked past the Prince, without even realizing that it was him.

    The young prince quickly reached the stairs and rushed to leave the pce.

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 Chapter 970 Chapter 970: Same yet different

    ?

    970 Chapter 970: Same yet different

    Karyk observed the Pce from a safe distance. The once abandoned pce looked full of life now. Light could be seening through most of the windows of the well lit pce.

    He also saw the Carriage that had brought the guests from the Sea Region. The Pce was standing in front of a smaller mansion not far from the Pce.

    The Royal Family did not trust the guests enough to keep them in the pce and arranged other ces for them.

    There were also many guards spread all around the pce, and their position was just as seen on your map. Guards were assigned in front of the guest mansion to keep them safe as well.

    "The map is definitely correct. Since the positions haven''t been changed, that must mean that the infiltration has not happened yet. If something like that had happened, this entire ce would be inmotion."

    Karyk positioned himself ording to the map. He also created a few shadows to cover other weak points. He wanted to see the person who was infiltrating the pce.

    He covered all the weak points in the defense that were marked on the map. All that was left to do was waiting.

    One hour passed as he kept waiting. But nothing happened. The guards remained in their ce like statues, and he had not seen anyone trying to enter the pce yet. Another hour passed, and it was almost midnight. But there was still no movement. It was only when another hour passed that Karyk noticed someone. However, that person was not trying to enter the pce. Instead, that person wasing out of the pce.

    Usually, there was nothing suspicious at peopleing out of the pce as there were many people who worked for the Royal Pce. However, Karyk was quite careful.

    If it was any other night, he might not have thought much about it. But it was the night before the grand celebration. And the person was leaving after midnight.

    "Is he the person who created and leaked this map?"

    He sent a shadow to follow the servant, trying to see where this guy was going to do. At the same time, he nned to stay behind.

    The guards did not try to stop the young servant. They looked like they recognised him instead.

    Soon, the shadow started following the young servant who had left the threshold of the Pce.

    The servant left the ce and the farther he went from the pce, the faster his

    speed became. It was as if he really wanted to get away from the pce. His actions made Karyk even more suspicious.

    Before long, the young prince had gone so far from the pce that even the silhouette off the pce was not visible.

    He entered an empty alley and made sure that no other person was there. Once at the end of the dark alley, he sighed in relief.

    "I did it! I left the pce!" He eximed in excitement, throwing his fist in the air.

    His body started changing as he stopped the transformation skill which was exhausting to keep up.

    Moreover, he wanted to prove that he could safely explore the city as a prince without getting hurt. Staying in a servant''s disguise all the time was useless for his goal as he wanted to prove a point.

    The Prince thought that no one was there in the alley, looking at him. He did not notice a shadow hidden in the darkness, that was sharing vision with Karyk.

    As Karyk saw the servant transform into a young child who looked no older than ten years of age, he grew even more surprised. As far as he had heard, there was only one child in the Royal Pce and it was the Prince himself.

    Once the transformation was over, the Prince turned around, revealing his bright and mischievous smile. He looked like he had truly done something great. It was the satisfaction of achieving a long time goal.

    Karyk saw the child-like innocence in the young boy''s eyes. Moreover, the boy did look simr to him. It was almost identical to the way he looked when he was ten years old.

    "This does not make sense. I was not ten years old when I was discovered. I did not look that old at least. I did look like a baby when I was brought out of the abyss." "So why does he look like me? And why was he called the Key in this era, while I was called the Key in the future."

    Karyk had initially thought that he might be the Prince of this era, but he had dropped that thought when he found out the age of the Prince. But still, he could not let go of the feeling that the two of them were interlinked.

    Looking at the boy was only looking back at his past, which should not have happened.

    "Should I approach him instead?" Karyk thought about changing his n.

    Even if someone was to infiltrate the pce, what could they even achieve? The Emperor and Empress were too strong. They could not kill them. As for killing the servants, what could that even achieve?

    He had already guessed the goals of the infiltrators even though he had not seen them. The only thing that they could do was either steal something, or kill the

    Prince.

    Stealing something was impossible, because the map did not mark the treasury. And even if that was the n, could the Royal Family make it easy to steal a treasure? Although he already guessed the n, he did not know why they wanted to kill the Prince. In any case, he considered the possibility that he might be wrong.

    Still, he changed his n. This time, he left his shadows here and went to meet the Prince himself. It was not easy to meet the Prince at other times, as he was heavily protected inside the pce.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Only by meeting the Prince could he confirm just how they were rted.

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 Chapter 971 Chapter 971: For no reason

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    971 Chapter 971: For no reason

    The young prince came out of the alley. He wore the most ordinary clothes he was able to find in the pce. Although those clothes also looked very luxurious, it wasn''t enough to reveal his identity.

    Many people noticed a young child walking alone on the empty streets of the inner city. Even a few royal guards saw him along the way, but none of them recognised him.

    Even inside the pce, only a few people had seen the Prince who was the most protected person in the entire Empire. It was impossible for the city guards to know. The Prince innocently looked at the surroundings. He could see the streets that were filled with people. There were shops all around.

    No one recognised him. He felt the true freedom. People were not stepping out of his way so he could get past them. No one was greeting him while lowering their heads. More importantly, no one looked scared of him.

    Instead of others stepping aside for him, he had to move aside so he did not hit anyone. It was truly a new experience. He was seeing the sights that he had never seen before.

    Previously, the pce was his entire world. But now, his world has be hundreds of timesrger.

    "Mother was worried for nothing."

    While the Prince was walking alone, there was a sweet scent that caught his

    attention. He was attracted to a small store that was selling pastries, and he couldn''t resist going to the store.

    "Do you want one?" The seller asked the young boy. Looking at his attire, he did not think that the boy could not afford it.

    The Prince nodded.

    The seller handed him the pastry on the te and without a second thought, the Prince ate it.

    "Mmmm, this is good. Why don''t you make it avable to the pce?" The young boy asked.

    "The Pce?" The seller looked at the young boy. "You have quite a good sense of humor for a child. Why would those from the pce buy from us? They probably have their own chefs who are much better than us old folks."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Are they?" The Prince did not think that they were. He had been eating what they made all his life, so even their delicacies had be very ordinary for him.

    Instead, he much preferred the new taste of this pastry.

    ''When I go back, I will tell my father to bring this man to the Pce.''

    The young prince kept eating pastries one after another, until he finished a total of

    ten. Only then did he feel full.

    "That should be enough." The Prince rubbed his stomach and started walking away. "Where are you going?"

    The seller came forward and grabbed the Prince by his cor.

    "Are you trying to run away without paying? You wear such nice clothes. I''m sure you won''t be stupid enough to not pay, right?"

    "Pay?" The Prince looked at the old man in confusion. "What do you mean pay?"

    In the pce, he never had to pay for anything. He did not even understand the concept of paying since this was his first timeing out of the pce.

    "Stop acting like a fool. I thought you were a good child, but are you just a thief?! Pay up, or I will have to call the guards! Not only you, but even your parents will be punished!"

    The old man threatened the young boy, but the boy still did not understand what the man wanted.

    "I-i don''t understand."

    "You don''t understand? So you really have no intention of paying! In that case, you can''t me me for what happen next!"

    The man pulled the Prince by his cor and started dragging him towards the Pce. "I will pay for him."

    Someone grabbed the man''s wrist and stopped him before he could approach the guard.

    It was a young man who ced a few coins in the old man''s hand. "This should be enough to cover for him."

    "Hmph, you must be rted to the child. Next time, teach him to pay instead of running!" The old man released the Prince''s cor and walked back to his shop. The Prince rubbed his neck, still confused.

    "What was that thing you gave him?!" he asked. "And why did you help me?"

    He did not even know who the man was. But the way the old man reacted to the piece of metal, he was clear that it must be something important. Why would a stranger give something important for no reason?

    "Do I need a reason to help people?" The young man turned around and went down on one knee, so they were at the same eye level.

    "As for that piece, it is called a coin. People work the entire day, and they are pain coins. And then they can use the coins to pay for things they want."

    The young man heard the answer, trying to understand thispletely unfamiliar concept.

    He did not notice that the man in front of him looked strangely simr to him as he

    was more immersed with this foreign concept of coins.

    Karyk could only smile as he exined the concept of money in detail. When he was in front of the young child, he felt more familiar.

    For a moment, he even felt like he was looking in a mirror to the time he was in the mortal world at the age of ten. There was only one small difference between him and

    the young child.

    The boy had darker pupils whenpared to his blue ones.

    "Are you lost? Do you want me to be your guide?" he asked the boy.

    "Why would you want to be my guide?" The boy asked curiously.

    "Because I have a lot of free time. I might as well spend this time helping you. It''s just as I said before, one doesn''t need a reason to help someone."

    Karyk was clear that a boy who didn''t even know the concept of money was naive enough to believe him. He didn''t know that there was no one who helped someone for no reason.

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    1

 Chapter 972 Chapter 972: The Ceremony

    ?

    972 Chapter 972: The Ceremony

    The Prince had never seen the outside world. In the Pce, no one dared to scheme against him or lie to him. He had grown up in a ce where he did not even know the meaning of dishonesty.

    He believed Karyk''s words wholeheartedly. This was a man who genuinely wanted to help him.

    ''Mother said that it is dangerous outside. But I see no dangers. They were really worried for nothing. In the morning, I will take him to the Pce with me.''

    The Prince innocently looked at Karyk, feeling extremely grateful.

    "I... I would like that," the young prince said, his voice filled with a little excitement. "I have always wanted to explore the city."

    Karyk nodded. "In that case, consider me your guide to the wonders of the city."

    Karyk brought the Prince with him. Along the way, he truly acted like a guide. Even he did not know much about this city, so he made up a lot of stuff about the surroundings.

    He pointed out interestingndmarks and told fascinating stories about the city''s history.

    As they walked, the young prince listened intently to Karyk''s words, his eyes shining with wonder.

    He couldn''t believe how much he had been missing out on all these years, confined within the pce walls. The sights, the sounds, the scent of the city were all so new and exciting to him.

    They visited the grand marketce, where merchants gathered to sell their items. The young prince marveled at the vibrant colors, the exotic spices, and the beautiful handicrafts.

    He wanted to purchase a few things, but he controlled himself, realizing that he did not have any money. He did not want to rely on Karyk to make him spend more.

    As if understanding the young man''s hesitation, Karyk went forward and bought a few trinkets as souvenirs for the Prince.

    Fortunately, the person he possessed had quite a lot of coins in his storage. It was something a person could never earn in the outer city, so this was clearly stolen. With this money, he could be considered very wealthy in the outer city, but he still worked for a one coin wage to keep up the act.

    Next, Karyk took the prince to a park filled with blooming flowers and towering trees. The prince had seen an even more beautiful garden in the pce, but this one had a charm of its own.

    It wascking a lot of variety and was filled with imperfections. But these imperfections made the Prince even more excited.

    He ran through the grass, feeling the cool breeze on his face, andughed like an excited child.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "This is so fun!" the young boy told Karyk.

    Karyk observed the boy with great surprise. Just what kind of life did this boy live that such small things made him so happy?

    ''I have been observing him for quite some time, but I fail to find anything special. He looks simr to me but he is different. He also feels simr to the citizens of the inner city in terms of his aura.''

    Karyk did not see anything extraordinary that might make people want to kill him. Why was this boy called a key for the Divine Will when he was so ordinary? How could he lead to the destruction of this civilization?

    Karyk had a lot of questions in his mind. He even wondered if he was wrong with his initial assumption.

    "Where are we going next?!" The young boy asked after returning back to Karyk.

    "Aren''t you tired of running around? Don''t you want to return home?"

    "Return home? I won''t! I can''t return home before morning!"

    "Why not? Did you run away from home?"

    Although Karyk had already assumed the answer, he acted ignorant.

    "This..." The Prince lowered his head. He silently nodded.

    "I will tell you the truth." Karyk was a good person in his eyes, so he did not worry about revealing his identity.

    The only worries he had was that Karyk might change his behavior and start acting more respectful.

    "But you have to promise that your behavior towards me will not change after knowing the truth!"

    "I promise." Karyk nodded.

    The young prince took a deep breath.

    "My name is Karyk," the Prince stated. "I am the Prince."

    He raised his head. Although Karyk''s reaction was not drastic, some traces of surprise were visible.

    The Prince did not know that Karyk was not surprised by his identity as a prince. Instead, he was surprised by that name.

    He had not expected the Prince to have the same name. Was it really a coincidence that Chaos had given him this name?

    The more he tried to convince himself that the Prince was different from him, the more these signs appeared.

    "Why did you run away from home if you were a prince?"

    "Because my parents won''t let me leave. They are worried about my safety. For years,

    I have been requesting them to let mee to the city, but they have always rejected

    me."

    "They said that I am not safe and that only after the Ceremony, I can be allowed to leave."

    "Ceremony?" Karyk asked. "Did they mean your birthday ceremony?"

    The young prince shook his head. "If I was allowed to leave after my birthday, I would have waited until tomorrow. But it is not the birthday ceremony." "They say that it''s some great ceremony which will change the future of this city. They don''t tell me when they will have this ceremony. I try to believe their words, but I think they have been lying to me."

    "They are worried about my safety, so they give excuses for the ceremony. I thought they would never allow me to leave, so I came myself to prove to them that I am old enough to protect myself!"

    The Prince kept exining things that he had hidden deep in his heart for a long time. And each of his words were registered by Karyk.

    ''A ceremony which can change the future of this city? The key... I see. His parents have not been lying.''

    "Do you know anything else about the ceremony they talked about?" Karyk asked the

    Prince.

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 Chapter 973 Chapter 973: My son

    ?

    973 Chapter 973: My son

    The Prince shook his head.

    "I don''t know anything else about it. All I heard was that heaven itself wille for blessing..."

    He could not help butugh. It was absurd to think that Heaven woulde to bless him. What was heaven? It was not a living thing.

    It was just a made up thing to justify things that no living being could control. It was a force of nature, which was only someone''s figment of imagination.

    Although he was a child, he knew that his parents were just making things up the moment they talked about heaven.

    While the child wasughing, Karyk waspletely serious. In this world, he had learned to not underestimate things. If the King himself said that Heaven wille down, was it truly a lie?

    Even his ownmon sense made him unable to believe it. He had seen many gods in his own universe. They were what the mortals called heaven, but this was truly just a made up thing.

    In this world, even Gods could be killed. There was no supreme being that was able to control everything in the universe. Even Chaos hadn''t been able to do that.

    Just to kill the Ancestral God, Chaos had disappeared. What about the Civilization and other universes that remained unknown to them? The universe was truly bigger than anyone could have imagined.

    "Hmm?"

    Karyk was deep in thoughts when he suddenly turned serious and looked towards the pce.

    One of his shadows has noticed a group of unfamiliar people gathering around the Royal Pce.

    ''Are they starting now?'' he thought. ''Should I mess with them a little?''

    He could easily alert the guards with his shadows and screw over the infiltrators. However, in the end, he didn''t go forward with the n.

    He was not here to change anything as this was just a world existing in someone''s memory. He wanted to see how things unfolded with the Infiltrators and the Royal Family.

    The strangers targeted the weak point in the protection of the Pce. But they didn''t just Target one weak point. They targeted multiple weak points at the same time.

    Most of them managed to get past the Guards, surprising Karyk at how easy it had been for them.

    After passing through the external protection, they changed their clothes with that of the Guards that were already arranged for them.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Karyk had one of his shadows follow them as they entered the Pce.

    While inside the pce, he took advantage of the situation. One shadow split into

    hundreds of shadows and started going in different directions.

    A shadow followed each of the infiltrators while the rest went to check the rest of the pce to see if anything of interest could be found.

    "Are you listening to me?"

    The young boy ced his hand on Karyk''s shoulders and shook him.

    "Huh?" Karyk came to his senses, momentarily disconnecting from his shadows.

    "I said, are you bored? Do you want to leave?"

    The Prince looked disappointed that he was boring Karyk to the point that he had phased out.

    "Not at all. I was just thinking about something. Anyways, do you want toe with me? There is an entirely different part of the city that we can explore next."

    As long as the people didn''t disappear tonight, Karyk had thought of a way to make his way inside the pce officially. And the Prince was the key.

    As long as he was inside the Pce openly, he could attend the birthday celebration and uncover even more things. But for that, he had to correct some things.

    He was a citizen of the outer city. If he was discovered inside, it could cause trouble. Hence, he wanted to be in the outer city when the guards came to find the Prince. He could just act like he met the Prince in the outer city. The Prince could also act with him to save his life. As for making his way inside the pce, it was as easy as putting in some nice words.

    The infiltrators had entered the pce. They directly went towards the Prince''s room, as if already knowing everything about its location.

    Along the way, they were not stopped. They wore the robes of Warriors that worked directly under the King, so ordinary guards did not bother to ask them anything. Only when they reached near the Prince''s room were they stopped by the Guards. The Prince''s Guards weremanded to not let anyone else enter the room, except the approved servants.

    "You can''t go f-" one of the Guards eximed, but before he could even finish his sentence, a stream of blood flew in the air as his head was separated from the body. "We are so close. Even if the others are alerted, no one can stop us now!"

    The Guards were shocked when they were attacked. None of them had expected this to happen. All of them were unprepared for it, especially since they thought these were the King''s men.

    Unprepared, before they could even react, they were all attacked. Explosions responded in the corridor as a battle began.

    A lot of the guards were killed during the initial attack, but the rest of them soon started fighting back.

    Unfortunately, their numbers were much lower. While the guards were kept busy, the leader of the infiltrators approached the room.

    He kicked the door open and saw someone sleeping on the bed, their entire body covered in a nket.

    He stepped forward and without waiting, stabbed a Sword through the person''s

    body.

    "Hmm?" He expected the nket to be covered in blood, but none of that happened. He didn''t even feel a proper resistance.

    With a frown, he took off the nket. Under the nket, pillows were gathered together to make a human figure. Seeing the pillows, the man was furious.

    "It was a trap! Spread out and find the Prince!" The manmanded while he personally started checking the entire room to confirm the Prince actually was not here.

    A few minutes ago before the explosion near the Prince''s room, the King was meeting with his wife. Both of them were standing near the window, looking at the distant

    sky.

    "Are you still feeling sad?" The King asked.

    "The time is drawing closer. Why won''t I feel sad? You are asking me to... My

    childa€|"

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 Chapter 974 Chapter 974: Heavens descent

    ?

    974 Chapter 974: Heaven''s descent

    "Everything is prepared. The Angels will be here tomorrow, and our son will turn ten years old. This is the only time we canplete this."

    "Don''t forget, the Divine Will is more important than anything, and only our child can."

    The King talked to his wife, not realizing that a shadow was watching him from a hidden corner.

    "But if we do this, we will lose him." The Woman was trying her hardest to control her tears.

    She had known that this day woulde for a long time. The moment they had a son, she was already told that this would happen. But now that the time was drawing near, she could not help but hesitate.

    "We can''t hesitate now. Just one more day, and... Heaven will descend."

    ....

    ''Heaven will descend?''

    Karyk shrouded the Prince in an illusion and entered the outer region of the city, getting past the guards. However, his mind was still focused on the words of the King.

    It was as if the King had nned everything. From their words, and the Queen''s sadness, a lot of things were bing clearer to him.

    ''So there really is a heaven... Or something that they call heaven.''

    In this world, a lot of things had different meanings than what he knew. Even ordinary subordinates of Archangels were called Children of Heaven, so he could not believe that the King meant what he was understanding.

    Still, it looked important. The Civilization that wasparable to the Archangels was going to sacrifice their only child to make heaven descent? Just what kind of existence was it?

    The more he thought about it, the more confused he became. Was he truly this Prince? He thought that at first, but with each piece of information he was receiving, that thought was looking more unlikely.

    Someone had protected him in Elzeira. He thought it was someone from Civilization, but that didn''t seem to be the case. They themselves wanted the Prince dead to

    achieve their goals. Why would they let him live?

    ''They need the Archangels for the ceremony as well, and they are nning to have it tomorrow. I suppose a lot of things will be clear by then. I must enter the Pce and see it through.''

    Karyk walked next to the young boy, who had no idea what his own parents were nning.

    The Prince thought that his family did not allow him to leave the Pce because they were worried for his safety. It was true. They were worried for his safety, but mostly because they didn''t want anything to affect the Ceremony.

    Karyk observed the young boy, who was looking at the powerful stricken

    neighborhood with fascination, finding it to be an entirely different cepared to the morous inner city.

    "Why are these houses so bad?" he asked Karyk.

    "Because this is the ce where the poor live. Remember I told you about money? The people here don''t have much money, so they can only afford this much."

    Karyk answered the Prince while simultaneously focusing on the Pce.

    He wanted to gather more information. Unfortunately, an explosion resounded in the Pce. The King stopped his conversation and the other powerful guards were also alerted.

    The infiltrators tried to look for the Prince, even interrogating the servants before killing them. Unfortunately, none of them received a good answer.

    They spread out throughout the pce and tried to look for the Prince.

    Unfortunately, the entire pce was on lockdown. Each of the infiltrators was caught and killed.

    Only the Leader of the group was left alive, but even he knew that he was in a deepn/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    mess.

    His throat was in the King''s hands, whose expressions were dark as he looked at his son''s room.

    "Where is my son?!"

    At first, the King was frightened at the thought of his son being killed. But in the entire ce, he did not find his son or even a body, which made him sigh in relief. At least his son was not dead.

    "You are asking us?! Even to thest moment, you want to mock me?" The Leader of the Infiltrators stared at the King in disbelief. "I agree that your trap fooled us! We should have been more careful. But do you think you can hide that child forever? He will die before you get what you want!"

    The King was a little confused by the man''s words. What trap was he talking about? Why did it look like even this man did not have his son? So where was his son?

    "Your Majesty, we found him in the bathroom."

    A knight came out of the Prince''s room, dragging a servant whose hands and feet were tied.

    "You are... The personal servant of my son? Why are you like this?"

    Most of the servants that came across the infiltrators were killed brutally. It didn''t look like their work to tie a servant.

    "T-the Prince tied me up!" The Servant eximed. "He used a Miracle and..."

    He exined everything that happened to him, including the fact that the Prince could use Miracles already.

    "So no son left the Pce hours ago?"

    The King was supposed to be angry, but instead, he startedughing. Although his guards had failed to keep his son in the pce, but it worked for his benefit!

    The Prince survived because he was not in the pce. He survived because he chose to leave the pce at the right time. Was it luck? The King did not know.

    All he knew was that he had avoided a disaster. The Ceremony could still be held as the Prince was alive?

    "Search the entire pce and find my son! Bring him back safely!" Hemanded his Royal Guards.

    His guards swiftly left the Pce while the King turned his attention to the man in his hand.

    The man had ugly expressions on his face. So it was not a trap? They had failed because of a child''s actions?

    If they simply observed the Pce while being cautious, they could have caught the Prince and killed him without having to enter the pce.

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 Chapter 975 Chapter 975: Please dont make us

    ?

    975 Chapter 975: Please don''t make us

    The Guards started searching for the Prince throughout the city. They started from the Inner City. Every single house was searched. And during this time, the Guards also took advantage of the situation.

    They searched every house thoroughly, and every suspicious person in the city was killed along the way, used of being a spy for the enemy.

    Meanwhile, the leaders of the infiltrator was dragged to the torture room for interrogation. And the King personally handled this interrogation.

    Karyk''s shadow also followed the King to see the oue of this interrogation.

    After searching through the inner city and failing, the Guards extended their search towards the outer region of the city.

    They again went from house to house, the number of guards being increased even more. Every person in the outer region of the city was scared as they saw so many royal guardse to their area.

    Most were trembling when approached by the guards. Some even died in fear as the Royal Guards never left the inner city under normal circumstances.

    Even when the guests were to be brought back from the shore, the task was handed over to people from the outer city. The guards only escorted the guests back from the Inner City threshold.

    "I think your family has already found out that you have escaped." Karyk was standing in the open, next to the Prince. "I can already hear somemotion. You should return."

    "Tsk."

    The Prince clicked his tongue. He thought that no one was going to find out that he was missing until he returned himself in the morning.

    He had made sure that no one could know his absence, so how did they find out? Did his mother go to his room to check? He wondered.

    "I thought I could stay until the morning. But it is fine. Even if I go back now, I have proved that I can walk safely. They might allow me toe out next time." The Prince was highly optimistic, even in this situation.

    Only Karyk knew that the Prince was wrong. No matter what he did, he was never going to be allowed toe out. If anything, tomorrow might be hisst day.

    ''His death and Heaven''s descent... I wonder how this unfolds.''

    Karyk was quite intrigued about the future. If it was the reality, he might have thought about changing a few things, but he knew that it was nothing more than the forgotten past mentioned in the book.

    He was not here to change things. He was just here to be a spectator and observe the destruction of this civilization.

    "I will go back, but you wille with me."

    The young prince held Karyk''s hand and asked towards themotion.

    The moment the Guards saw him, they all sighed in relief. The Prince was safe. They had finally found him.

    "You! Take your hand off the Prince if you don''t want to die!" One of the guards told Karyk.

    "I am not holding him." Karyk raised his hand, revealing that the Prince was holding his hand instead.

    "Y-your highness, this is...?"

    The Head Servant who apanied the guards in the search stepped forward, confused. Why was the Prince holding the band of an insignificant person who lived in the outer city?

    At first, he thought that the Prince was being threatened and held as a hostage. But if that was the case, why would he be brought here? The Prince could have easily been killed before they could even find him.

    "I came out of the Pce to see the city. This man helped me a lot, so he is my friend. I want him to attend my birthday celebration. He will being back with me."

    "But Your Highness, this man is from..."

    The Head Servant had a disgusting look on his face when he looked at Karyk. Even the influential people in the inner city were insignificant before the Royal Blood, let alone this man who looked like a beggar and lived in this pathetic ce.

    "This man is using you to climb higher. Don''t be fooled by him! Many powerful and influential guests will being. How can we lower the prestige of that event with the presence of this man?"

    "That is impossible. I hadn''t told him my identity when he first helped me. Hence, you are wrong! In any case, it doesn''t matter!"

    "It is my birthday, and as a Prince, I am telling you. I want him at the celebration. Or are you saying that my friend will lower the prestige of my own birthday?"

    The Prince had always been kept hidden from the world in the pce. He always did as he was told, but this time, he had seen the outside world. He also had things that he wanted, and now, he didn''t want to keep his thoughts buried beneath a faken/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    persona.

    "If you don''t take him, I won''t go back either!"

    "Your Highness, please don''t make us use force," the Head Servant said, bowing respectfully. "We only wish for your safety."

    The Prince released Karyk''s hand. Seeing his reaction, the Head Guard smiled. The Prince was listening, or so he thought.

    He realized that the reality waspletely opposite. The Prince wasn''ting towards them. Instead, he looked like he was preparing to fight back.

    "Try using force and I will have to fight back!"

    His clothes changed into royal attire.

    The Head Servant hesitated. If they actually fought, it wasn''t good. They might

    identally hurt the Prince if he was fighting back.

    The King had reminded him that the Prince wasn''t to be harmed. The Prince''s safety

    was more important than anything.

    After a brief pause, the old man sighed.

    "Fine. You can bring him with us. His Majesty will decide if this demand is to be

    epted or not. I can only bring him back with us and try to convince him for you."

    "Much better." The Prince held Karyk''s hand again and walked back towards the Pce, apanied by the Guards from all sides.

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 Chapter 976 Chapter 976

    ?

    976 Chapter 976

    Watching the guards leave, the people in the outer city sighed in relief. Finally they were leaving.

    The entire street waspletely empty and only the guards could be seen there, escorting the Prince back.

    The guards were on high alert, their eyes constantly scanning the surroundings for any potential threats. The Prince walked with confidence, his grip on Karyk''s hand never weakening.

    The King was interrogating the intruder when he was informed that the Prince had been found.

    "Good. I am also done here. Get rid of the body."

    The King turned around and stepped out of the cell, where only a body could be seen, hanging while most of the skin had been peeled out.

    Inside the pce, the King awaited their arrival for the Prince. His face was stern, his eyes piercing as he observed the Prince and Karyk enter the room.

    The Head Servant stepped forward, bowing respectfully before addressing the King. "Your Majesty, the Prince insists on bringing this man to his birthday celebration. He ims him to be a friend who helped him during his time outside the pce," the Head Servant exined cautiously.

    The King''s gaze shifted from the Head Servant to Karyk, his expression unreadable. Silence hung in the air as the King''s piercing gaze tried to see through Karyk.

    Karyk also tried to observe the King in secret.

    ''Is this the person who isparable to a real archangel? I can''t see through him at all. Just how much strength is he hiding?

    Finally, the King said, "Approach, both of you."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Karyk and the Prince stepped forward, standing before the King.

    "Fathe-"

    "Silence! You have betrayed my trust by leaving the pce without permission! Do you know how worried I was? I will talk to youter at great length! For now, go meet your mother! She has been worried sick."

    "He-" the Prince had thought that he could talk back to his father and exin his thoughts, but when the opportunity came, he wasn''t even able to utter a single sentence properly.

    His father was not proud that he had managed to leave and return safely. Instead, he was angry.

    "Don''t worry. I won''t kill him. If he is your friend, I will not harm him. I just want to talk to him. So go and meet your mother first."

    The Prince nodded.

    He released Karyk''s hand.

    "Father is a good person. He won''t hurt you. And after talking to my mother, I will be right back."

    "It''s fine. I believe His Majesty''s words. He will never lie," Karyk answered, but there was a subtle sharpness in hisst sentence.

    The King also noticed it, but didn''t react much.

    The Prince turned around and left the hall and went to meet his mother.

    The King''s eyes narrowed as he studied Karyk. After a moment of contemtion, the King spoke again.

    "Tell me, young man, what i

    your name?"

    Karyk answered the King''s question and gave the name of the book author whose memories he was studying.

    "How and why did you help me son? I want to hear from the beginning!"

    Karyk bowed respectfully before answering, "I came across the Prince coincidentally. At that time, I didn''t know that he was the Prince, but he did look like he needed help. Hence, I stepped forward to help him."

    "My son might be naive, but I am not a fool. I know that no one helps another person for free. I will ask you again! Why did you help the Prince? And did you know in advance who he was?"

    "Seeing that he was in need of assistance, I offered my help without knowing his true identity. It was a mere act of kindness. If I hadn''t helped, a young child might be in trouble. Your Majesty is overthinking."

    "There are thousands of children in need in the outer city. Can you help them all?"

    "If Ie across them and have the means to help them, I always try to help them as well. Unfortunately, as you may know, resources in the outer city are limited. So I can only help in the limit."

    The King regarded Karyk with a mix of curiosity and suspicion.

    He knew that the outer city was filled with people of lower status, and the idea of one of them bing the Prince''s friend was unheard of. It was even worse as the Prince was going to die tomorrow.

    However, if Karyk really wasn''t a threat, the Emperor wanted to allow the Prince''s request.

    This was the Prince''sst birthday. And if possible, he wanted to make it as happy for him as possible. After this birthday, all that waited for the Prince was hell after all. "Did you know that the Pce was attacked tonight? You won''t happen to know anything about it, would you?" The King asked, his eyes narrowing to observe even the slightest reaction to his question.

    However, he also sensed a genuine bond between his son and Karyk.

    Karyk had already expected a question like this. He even prepared for it in advance. He was shocked.

    "Impossible! Who would dare attack the Royal Pce? Does that person have a death wish?"

    "It wasn''t a person. It was an entire group. But it seems you truly don''t know anything about it. Either that, or you are putting on a really decent act." "However, it doesn''t matter," the King said, his tone contemtive. "If you truly wish to attend the Prince''s birthday celebration, I will grant you permission. But know this, the pce is a different world from the one you are ustomed to. You must conduct yourself ordingly."

    Karyk nodded, showing his gratitude for the King''s decision.

    "Also, two of my guards will always be with you!" The Kingpletes his sentence. "You must also wear a cor. If the guards judge you to be a threat to the Prince or you act in a suspicious manner, they can control that cor and kill you!"

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 Chapter 977 Chapter 977: Run Away

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    977 Chapter 977: Run Away

    Karyk was escorted to the Guest Room. However, he was less of a guest and more of a prisoner. Outside his room, there were guards that were constantly keeping an eye on him.

    Moreover, on his neck, a cor was ced that was no different than a ticking time bomb. One instruction from the overseer and it could have his head flying everywhere.

    "What a neat little toy." Karyk was lying on the bed in the room provided to him, his fingers brushing against the cor.

    It was a dangerous item that was used only on prisoners so they didn''t even attempt to escape. And even the strongest of prisoners couldn''t escape it.

    Not only did this give control of their lives to the guards, but it also sealed their abilities. Fortunately, this item was not able to seal his essence.

    He was not a part of civilization. And although it was the memory of the thief author, but he had still managed to retain his abilities in this ce.

    He didn''t want to mess with the illusion, but just deactivating the cor could not change the past. The only time it could kick him out of this illusion was if the cor exploded in the past but didn''t in this timeline.

    "If it exploded for him, then that''s already the end of the past. So why should I worry about being kicked out. In any case, I would be kicked out if they tried to use the cor."

    He used the essence of death to cover the cor. The essence of death slowly erased all the formations that were carved on the cor, making it effectively useless. It was no more than a fancy essory now.

    "That takes care of it. Now all that''s left is to see what happens tomorrow."

    He hadn''t seen a realplete archangel in the past. Even Aexin wasn''t a pureblood, so he was looking forward to seeing them.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    It was the morning of the grand celebration. Today was the day the Prince turned ten years old. Many important guests from the City had already started arriving from the

    start.

    All the preparations for the birthday banquet werepleted by the Servants. The security mechanisms were also strengthened to make sure mistakes likest night couldn''t be repeated.

    In his room, the Prince had already readied himself for the banquet.

    His mother, filled with an affectionate gaze, stood before him, admiring her beloved

    son.

    "Shall we proceed, mother?" the Prince gently inquired, eager to join the festivities and meet Karyk.

    His mother, unable to let go of her emotions, tightly held onto his wrist.

    "Can we stay a little longer?" she trembled, her voiceden with emotions as she clung onto her son''s hand.

    The Prince looked at his mother, a little confused. He had never seen his mother like this. She looked scared of something and just wanted to hold onto him. He didn''t understand.

    Was it because ofst night? After he returnedst night, he was informed about the incident where the Pce was attacked. His entire room was a mess. That''s why he slept with his mother.

    The entire night, his mother tightly held on to his hand. He even heard her saying that she was sorry.

    He thought it was because his mother was feeling guilty that she wasn''t able to protect himst night. If he was in his room, he would have been dead. Was that what scared his mother?

    "Mother, don''t worry. Nothing is going to happen to me. You should forget what happenedst night. Didn''t you hear, father strengthened the security? It will never happen again."

    "And even if someone does enter my room to hurt me, I can just beat him up! I have grown up! Did you forget that I managed to walk all around the city safelyst

    night?"

    The Prince ced his hand on his mother''s cheeks and looked in her eyes.

    "I will repeat it again. I will not be harmed. I will always be here for you, so cheer up!"

    He tried tofort his mother, but all he saw was her tears. Instead of calming down, his mother had started crying even more. She hugged him tightly and again said that she was sorry.

    The Prince didn''t know what to do. His words didn''t work on his mother. He thought he could only let the time heal her wounds and make her understand that he waspletely fine.

    After a long time, his mother finally stopped. She took a deep breath.

    "Run away!"

    "What?" The Prince appeared confused. His mother was asking him to run?

    The Prince was about to ask his mother, but the door opened right then.

    A man stepped inside the room.

    "Although you arete, there is no need to run to attend the banquet. The others can wait for our son."

    "Father..." The Prince looked back at the man.

    "Your mother is still affected by what happenedst night. Don''t worry. After today, everything will be over. Everything will be fine... For everyone."

    The King patted his son''s head.

    He held the Prince''s hand and took him out of the room. The Queen, nkly looked at the two of them leaving. Like a lifeless Puppet, she also stood up and stepped out of the room and followed after them.

    By now, Karyk had already entered the banquet hall, again being apanied by the guards. However, he was made to stand in the back.

    He could see that the King of the Ocean had also arrived into the banquet hall. He could also sense the presence of more powerful people in the hall. This was truly the gathering of the strongest.

    The guests were talking with each other and the hall was filled with noise. But the entire ce went silent as the Royal Guards made an announcement.

    "Angels have arrived!"

    Following the loud announcement, all the guests went silent and turned towards the

    entrance.

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 Chapter 978 Chapter 978: Gift of the angel

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    978 Chapter 978: Gift of the angel

    The entire hall went silent as soon as an announcement was made. Even the King of Ocean looked intimidated as he turned to the entrance, clearly being more respectful towards the new guests.

    The entire ce was so silent that even the sound of breathing could be heard.

    A figure was soon seen stepping inside the grand banquet hall. Even as the person walked inside, his footsteps could not be heard.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    He could be seen walking, but there was no sound. It was as if he was walking on the air and not the floor.

    The man was dressed in a beautiful ck robe draped over his shoulders. His appearance was simr to humans but different at the same time, as angel-like wings could be seening out of his back.

    There was also something strange about him. When people looked at him, everything felt fine. But if they took their eyes off him, they couldn''t even recall his face. Even their memories couldn''t contain the Angel.

    ''Is he... The Archangel?''

    Karyk was quite intrigued by the man who had walked inside this hall. He didn''te with anyone else. There were no guards apanying him as he entered the hall. Still, one could feel that he was strong.

    Looking at the man, even Karyk wasn''t certain if he could defeat this man, even if he was to use all he had. The man... Felt no weaker than the King of this Civilization.

    Compared to the half blooded Archangel that he had met before, this man was in an entirely different league, looking like he stood at the pinnacle of it all.

    Looking at the man, Karyk could feel that he was being protected by thews of this world.

    The Angel, shrouded in divinity, stepped inside the hall. His eyes looked at the surroundings, as if he was trying to find someone.

    "His Majesty, the King, has arrived!"

    Another announcement was made and from the other entrance, the King entered the hall, holding the hand of his son. His wife entered the hall behind him.

    The King of Civilization looked at the Angel. He didn''t reveal much surprise, as if he had already sensed the arrival of this person.

    No other guests dared to approach the King unless their names were to be called. However, the Angel didn''t seem to care about etiquette.

    He approached the King, his eyes asionally ncing at the young prince

    "You arrived earlier than I expected," the King said.

    "How can I bete when it''s the birthday of my nephew?" The Angel smiled as he

    patted the head of the young prince.

    The Prince looked at the Angel in confusion. Although he had heard about the Angels, this was the first time he was ever allowed to meet one. But why was the Angel calling him nephew?

    "I heard there has been something going on with your territory?" The King asked, changing the topic.

    The Angel also took his hands off.

    "Just a futile struggle of the peasants who want to go against the will of heaven." He observed the King with particr interest as he continued, "As you know, there are too many fools in this world who want to go against the will of heaven."

    "They don''t realize that they are too insignificant in the grand scheme of things. They want to keep struggling, thinking that they know it all. At the end, they all face the same end. Am I correct?" he further asked.

    The King narrowed his eyes. "You are right. Some people do think that they know it all. But it''s only a matter of time before they realize that they had been missing more than a naive fool who thought they knew all there was to know about our universe." The King and the Angel talked about a few more territorial matters, before the King ended the conversation, saying he couldn''t ignore the other guests.

    Meanwhile, the Prince asked to approach Karyk after seeing him in the corner of the rooms, but the King stopped him.

    "You can meet him after the end of the banquet."

    The King walked towards his throne and sat down. His wife also has a seat that was ced behind him, at a lower footing.

    Usually, the Prince''s seat was also supposed to be behind the King''s throne, but he was given a seat next to the King.

    The Angel was also provided a throne of his own, unlike the other guests. His seat was almost on the same footing as the King, signifying an equal position.

    The only difference was that his throne was ced on the left side of the hall with the King''s throne being on his left side.

    The other guests were also seated. And hence, the banquet officially began. One after another, the guests came forward and wished the Prince for his birthday. They also handed over their gifts.

    All the guests had brought more than one gift that was given to the Royal Pce, but the more significant gifts were given directly.

    The gifting ceremonysted for over half an hour, with the most significant gifting from the King of the Ocean, which was the Heart of Ocean.

    It was a gem that allowed the Prince to control the ocean to some extent. Quite a lot of people were surprised that the Ocean King actually gave such a gift, which made all their gifts pale inparison.

    Not just the Pce, but the entire city was told to celebrate the Prince''s birthday. The citizens of the city had even started praying for the Prince on his birthday. asionally, the King kept checking the Prince''s bracelet, where a thin white shine was getting stronger with each passing second.

    Lastly, it was the turn of the Angel to present his gift.

    "I am here to present you with a very unique gift."

    The Angel ced a small crystal in the Prince''s hand.

    "This crystal will be tied to your soul. Only you can use it. Even if you lose it, no one else will be able to see or use it. As for what this does..."

    The Angel smiled before continuing.

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 Chapter 979 Chapter 979: You dont belong here

    ?

    979 Chapter 979: You don''t belong here

    "What does this do?" The young prince asked innocently as he held the unique looking crystal in his hand.

    It was a gift that only he could use, and it came from an Angel. There was no way it could be anything simple.

    "Whenever you want to visit our ce, you can use this crystal. Of course, you should have your parents'' permission before that. However, if you are feeling naughty, you can use it even without their permission."

    With a smirk on his lips, the Angel cast a nce at the King before he turned around and returned to his seat.

    The Prince looked at the crystal in his hand. An item that could not only help him leave the pce but this world as well?

    He really loved the thought of exploring other worlds, but thinking about his mother, he lowered his head. He had just gone to the city, and she grew so worried. If he was to leave this world, what was going to happen to her?

    "I will keep it safe for you."

    The Prince was lost in thought when his father took the crystal from him.

    The Prince could only nod in response. Meanwhile, the Angel narrowed his eyes, but didn''t say anything.

    Karyk also paid quite a lot of attention to the crystal. It was an item that could open a path for him to enter the world of Archangels.

    With the Civilization''s disappearance, he was quite curious about the whereabouts of this crystal. Was it used before the Civilization disappeared? If not, then there was a high chance that it was still somewhere in the pce.

    As only the Prince could see it, it was quite possible that the Children of Heavens hadn''t noticed it.

    ''I should check the Royal Pce when I return. But... Even now, I don''t know what will keep my powers suppressed in the future.''

    ''So far, there''s no sign of anything. Is this something that only happens after the Ceremony, or with their disappearance?''

    Karyk remained silently, making note of all the important things he had to remember before returning.

    The Ceremony continued even after the gifting ceremony. It was onlyte in the night that the ceremony was finallypleted.

    Slowly, the Guests started leaving the pce after informing the King respectfully. The Emperor of Ocean also lowered his head respectfully before he left, returning to the Ocean.

    Lastly, it was the Angel who was the only person left behind.

    He also stood up, but before leaving, he turned to the King.

    "I hope you remember what I said at the beginning. Sometimes, trying to go against the will of the heaven is the worst sin that one canmit."

    Karyk had thought that the Angels were going to do something, even attacking the Civilization. But the man only issued a warning before he left the Pce.

    ''How strange... Do they really not have anything to do with this?''

    He had been observing the Angel for quite some time, but he never felt any malice that could have been directed towards the Prince or the Civilization. If it was present, then he had done a really good job in hiding it.

    While the Angel was walking past Karyk, he slowed down.

    "I don''t know who you are... But you don''t belong here. I hope you will remember your ce and don''t make things moreplicated than they need to be..."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    His words were only heard by Karyk, who didn''t understand if he was actually talking to the thief, or if he knew that he was in the future, observing the past.

    The Angel did not stay there any longer and left the hall, his words leaving a deep impact in Karyk''s mind.

    ''Making things moreplicated than they need to be? Funnying from the ancestors of people that tried to kill me....''

    Karyk watched the Angel disappear. His aura and every trace was gone, as if he was not in this world anymore.

    "It''s time for your friend to leave as well. You can go and talk to him, and then tell him to leave."

    The King patted his son''s head, telling him to go to Karyk. This was thest favor he was doing to his son.

    The Princended on his feet and walked to Karyk, his eyes filled with hesitation.

    "I thought I could convince my father to give you an official position in the Pce. But-"

    "Don''t worry. Thanks to you, I already managed to witness a lot of things that I never could have seen."

    Karyk did not worry about not getting a position in the Pce. He was only a temporary guest in the Pce after all. As for leaving the pce, there was no

    chance.

    Now that he had entered the Pce, it was impossible for him to be sent out. He had already passed the most difficult stage.

    "It might take a long time, but I promise that I will find a way!" The Prince promised Karyk, who only smiled in response.

    "I am not sure if it is possible." Karyk went down on one knee before the Prince. He

    already knew that the Prince might not live long.

    "If there was anything I could have done, then I..."

    He didn''t finish his sentence, noticing the King''s attention focused on him.

    He stood up. "I know I am veryte, but happy birthday."

    He turned around to be escorted out of the Pce by the Guards.

    The Birthday Banquet had officiallye to an end with all the Guests leaving.

    The Emperor held his son''s hand. "Come with me, there is just onest thing we need

    to do."

    "We-" the Queen tried saying something, but she closed her mouth before she could even utter a proper sentence. She just lowered her head and remained seated in her

    ce.

    The King took the Prince to the lowest floor of the Pce where even the Guards were not allowed to be present.

    "After today, you won''t have to worry about anything else. It will all be over..."

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 Chapter 980 Chapter 980: The Divine Will

    ?

    980 Chapter 980: The Divine Will

    "Father, where are we going?"

    The Prince walked through the dark hallway. This was the first time his father was bringing him to such a ce.

    Even though this was a closed space, the Prince still felt cold, as if he could feel freezing windsing from the other side.

    "Karyk, are you a grown up?" The King did not answer his son. Instead, he asked him a question of his own.

    "I am," the Prince answered. He was always treated like a child, never even allowed to leave the Pce. But this time, he wanted to tell his family that he was a grown up. He could protect himself.

    "In that case, are you willing to carry your responsibility?" The King asked. Instead of slowing down, he only walked faster, forcing the Prince to keep up with him.

    "Responsibility?" The Prince did not understand what his father was talking about. What responsibility did he have?

    "You are a Prince. Your shoulders carry the responsibility that might shape the future of this Kingdom. Will you carry that responsibility?" The King asked.

    The Prince still didn''t understand clearly. Was his father asking him to protect his people when the time came?

    "I will. As a Prince, I will carry the responsibility and protect my people!" he stated. "Even if that means you might have to sacrifice your life? Even if it means that you will have to ept your death? Even if it means that you will never see your father and mother again? Will you still ept this responsibility?"

    Without thinking twice, the Prince agreed. "Father has carried this responsibility. How can I stay behind? Even if I have to sacrifice my life, I will protect my people!" "Good."

    The King didn''t say anything else. Still, the silence only became scarier. The King could feel his son''s grip on his hand getting tighter. He could feel that his son was getting scared, but he didn''t react.

    After a long time, the King stopped before a ck door.

    "Remember the words you said. This is all... for our people. This is all for the Kingdom."

    Not far from him, hidden in the shadow, Karyk looked silently.

    ''What a good father. Protecting his kingdom? Protecting his people? If he really cared about all that, would the people in the outer city be living like that?''

    ''Protecting the Kingdom is just an excuse for him. In reality, all of this is to protect himself. He isn''t sacrificing his son for the Kingdom. He is sacrificing his son for

    himself.''

    ''With a King like this, no wonder this world fell apart.''

    The King opened the pitch ck door, and with that, even colder winds came out. "Father, it is too cold," the Prince said, shivering in the cold.

    "Don''t worry. After some time, you won''t feel cold anymore. Just bear with it for a little." His father did not care about his words and entered the room.

    Looking at the doors closing, Karyk also entered the room, hiding in the shadows. He barely managed to enter the room before the door closed.

    "This ce is..."

    The Prince looked all around him, absolutely shocked. He had never expected there to be a ce like this in the Pce.

    As far as his eyes could see, there was only desert. He could even feel heat rising from the sand beneath his feet. There was also a sun in the sky, which should have made this ce even warmer.

    Still, contrary tomon sense, there were freezing winds flowing from somewhere unknown. The freezing winds and the hot sand beneath his feet made this ce look even weirder.

    The King picked his son and started flying towards the source of the Frost. And not long after, he reached the source.

    There was an altar in the middle of the Desert, where a blood pattern was carved by someone. Although the altar was empty and there was no source of blood, the blood pattern looked very fresh like it wasst created.N?v(el)B\\jnn

    Seeing the blood, the Prince was a little scared. But next to his father, he didn''t show fear. With his father, he felt protected.

    His father was the strongest person in this world for him. No matter what he doesn''t feel the need to be scared. He hadplete faith in his father.

    "Father, what is this ce?" he asked his father.

    "This is the most important ce for our future. This is where we will gain the divine will and have the ceremony."

    "The Ceremony?"

    The Prince had thought that the Ceremony was just a lie his father made. But there was really a ceremony?

    His father had promised him before that he wasn''t going to be kept locked in the pce after the ceremony. He was going to gain freedom. Was today the day?

    The Prince grew excited. Today was the day he was going to gain the authority of leaving the Pce whenever he wanted. It was something he had been waiting for all his life.

    "Lie on the altar. I will begin the ceremony," the Kingmanded.

    Although disgusted by the blood, the Prince nodded. He walked over to the altar and lied down. Even in the dreams, he didn''t think that his father was trying to hurt him. Why would he? His family loved him the most.

    The King took a deep breath while looking at his son. It was as if he was saving the memories of his child in the depths of his heart, because today was thest day he was going to have a son.

    The King joined his hand and dropped to his knees.

    "I call forth the Divine Will!" he eximed at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing all throughout this desert.

    At the same time, he cut his wrist and made the blood fall on the sand. The blood, instead of being absorbed by the sand, moved towards the altar.

    The sky was without a sun from the beginning, but as soon as the blood of the King touched the Altar, a blood red sun started appearing in the sky.

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 Chapter 981 Chapter 981: Past, Present and Future

    ?

    981 Chapter 981: Past, Present and Future

    The sand under Karyk''s feet started turning darker. The freezing winds also came to a sudden stop. The entire ce hade to a sudden halt, as if the time itself had

    stopped.

    Karyk observed the fascination site before his eyes while the King''s back was turned towards him.

    The King kept chanting a prayer, appearing to be praying to the red sun.

    When Karyk looked at the red sun in the sky, he felt a familiar feeling rising from within. It was the same feeling that he felt when he hade to this world.

    He was even pushed out of his shadow while his abilities stopped working entirely. His abilities stopped working the same way they didn''t work in the future in this realm.

    ''I thought that the restriction on my abilities was due to some protective mechanism that was left active before the disappearance of the Civilization. It seems I was wrong.''

    The disappearance of his abilities had nothing to do with the protective mechanism. Instead, it had everything to do with the red sun and the King''s quest for the Divine Will.

    Now that Karyk could not hide in the shadows, it was easier to notice him if the King was to just turn around. Fortunately, the King was more immersed in the ceremony. Thanks to that, Karyk could also observe the entire scene much better. He had a better view of the Prince, who was lying on the altar, looking at his father in disbelief.

    He clearly wanted to say something, but he was not able to open his mouth. He could not even move his small body that was kept in ce on the altar by a mysterious force.

    Slowly, multiple cuts started appearing all over his body. From these thousands of cuts, blood trickled out and gathered in the altar.

    The King did not spare a second nce to his son, who was pleading for help with his eyes.

    The Prince also saw Karyk in the distance, his eyes carrying the same pleading look. He was looking for help. He wanted to be free. It hurts... It hurt too much.

    He felt as if multiple sharp needles were being stabbed all over his body. Before heid on the altar, there was a mask on top of the altar. But now, that same sacrificial mark appeared on his forehead.

    His pupils started turning darker while he started losing his vision. For him, the entire world was turning darker and no one was here to help him.

    Even Karyk did not help him, who was watching everything like nothing more than a

    spectator. For Karyk, this was not the present. These were just the memories of a forgotten past that could never be changed.

    ck tears of blood slowly streamed down the young prince''s cheeks while the Princepletely lost his vision. He could not even hear the loud chantsing from his father.

    He could neither see nor hear. He could not even smell the scent of his blood that had covered his clothes.

    After the King finished his chants, he opened his eyes. The entire world went silent the moment he stopped.

    He stood up and looked down on his son who was lying on the altar.

    A sword came out from the sand next to the Altar. The King grabbed the sword and pulled it out.

    "To the Divine Will, I sacrifice my son! Please descend and grace our world with your blessed presence!"

    He raised the Sword towards the sky and brought it crashing down to strike his son who could not even see his father''s attempt to kill him.

    The sword came shing down, even destroying the space on its path. The sword didn''t just sever the space. It severed the cause and effect. It cut through time and space and everything in between.

    The sword reached the Prince''s throat, but just as it was enough to touch him, the Prince was pulled away.

    The Sword struck an empty altar while a metallic sound resounded throughout the ce.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The Prince was grabbed by the cor by the person who pulled him away. "Although I know it''s not real... I''ve seen all I had to see. If it''s the past, then it''s about time to end this past and return to the present."

    Karyk held the Prince after saving his life. Even if it was the past, he didn''t want to have this illusion end with him watching the Prince''s death.

    He didn''t know what the thief did in the past, but this was enough of being a spectator for him.

    "What are you doing here? How dare you interfere in the Ceremony?" The King''s disbelief was clearly visible as he stood on the final step.

    He had been so close to achieving his ultimate goal, only to have someone disrupt his ns.

    "Aren''t you his friend? No! You''re not from... I see... So this is what they did! Do you even realize the consequences of your actions? ce him back on the altar before it''s toote!" The urgency in the King''s voice was evident as hemanded Karyk to return the Prince.

    In a desperate attempt to reim his son, the King lunged forward, reaching out to

    snatch the Prince away. However, his efforts were abruptly halted by a resounding thunderp that reverberated through the sky.

    Raising his head, the King saw a crack that had formed in the once-red sun. As the crack widened, mysterious beings emerged from within, resembling humans but adorned with magnificent wings that set them apart from mortal beings. "Archangels?" Karyk muttered, recognising that presence.

    "Those bastards! They were just waiting for an opportunity!" The King roared in

    rage.

    He looked at Karyk with a murderous gaze.

    "If you don''t want your past, present and future to be destroyed, kill that boy! I will stop the Angels! If you fail, then everything will be gone!"

    Karyk had obstructed the King''s n. But still, he told Karyk to end what he began.

    He didn''t understand why the King even thought that he was going to do it when he stopped him in the first ce? And what did he mean by past present and future?

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 Chapter 982 Chapter 982: Are you not scared?

    ?

    982 Chapter 982: Are you not scared?

    The Desert Realm began to fracture, with cracks appearing all around. The descent of the angels made the King even more serious.

    Instead of snatching the Prince from Karyk''s hand, the King flew to intercept the angels'' descent. He told Karyk to kill the Prince before leaving.

    Karyk had many questions racing through his mind, especially about the King''s words. Not only the King, but also the Angel at the Banquet had looked at him simrly after some realization.

    Were they really reacting to the thief in this memory? For some reason, it felt like they were reacting less to the thief and more to him, darkening his expression.

    He had an unsettling feeling that they could see the real him. Was this truly a memory? Or was the book a gateway to the past through possession?

    The biggest question in his mind was if he could actually change the past. If this was indeed the past where he had possessed someone, then it was highly likely he could alter a few things. But how?

    Who should he listen to? Should he kill the Prince as the King asked? Or should he help the Angels? No, the Angels were out of the question. But he also didn''t prefer the King.

    "What a mess they have created," he muttered.

    He looked at the Prince in his arms. The Prince was still bleeding and unconscious. Even with his abilities restricted, Karyk could easily kill him.

    "I know I might regret what I''m about to do, but..."

    He looked up at the sky, which had turned red. Red droplets, akin to blood, started falling like rain.

    "You can''t stop me from taking the Divine Will!" The King stood in front of the angels. Unfortunately, the number of angels only kept increasing as more descended from the crack in the sun.

    Thest angel to step out was the same one who had attended the birthday banquet. The other Angels moved aside for that Angel as if he were their leader.

    "You really ignored my warning," the Angel sighed, ncing subtly at the Prince. "The one who doesn''t belong here..." His gaze focused on Karyk. "Protect the Prince. If something happens to him, you will regret it the most."

    At this point, both sides had threatened him, wanting entirely different things. One wanted him to protect the Prince, while the other wanted him to kill the Prince.

    "These two really think I am their servant," Karykmented, frustrated that he was being looked down on.

    The people who wanted him dead in the future thought he would listen to them?

    Meanwhile, the person who wanted to kill his own son also thought the same. Unfortunately, no matter what he did, it would align with the desires of one of these two. He couldn''t kill the Prince while also letting him live.

    The Angels and King were on the threshold of battle, but neither side had started. Both were waiting for Karyk''s decision. Only then could the battle begin.

    If Karyk tried to protect the Prince, the King might try to kill him instead of stopping the Angels. If he tried to kill the Prince, the Angels might try to stop him, thus starting a battle.

    It felt like silence before the storm.

    Karyk was conflicted. The future he saw was where the King and the entire civilization had disappeared. Meanwhile, the Archangels started looking for the Prince.

    That only meant that the Prince had survived.

    The future he dreaded was where the Prince had survived. It was also the future where his entire family was put in harm''s way. If this was truly the past, could he change it by killing the Prince?

    If the Angels hadn''t descended, he might not have considered it. But with the Angels here, the entire picture became clearer.

    Since he had confirmed that the Prince and he were entirely different beings with just the same name, it didn''t matter if the Prince died.

    While Karyk was lost in thought, he heard the Prince''s weak voice.

    "Kill me..."

    The Prince opened his lips,ing out of unconsciousness. Although his vision was weak, he could still see his father stopping the Angels.

    "Do you even know what you are talking about?" Karyk asked the Prince. "Are you not scared of death?!"

    Just a few moments ago, he was looking with pleading eyes to be freed. And now, he was asking for death.

    The Prince weakly looked at his father.

    "I was and I am scared of death. I want to leave the Pce again. I want to taste the delicacies on the streets. I want to explore the world. I want to do so many things." The Prince smiled, hiding the pain he felt throughout his entire body.

    "But if that causes my people to be hurt, then is it really the right decision?"

    At first, he was scared. He couldn''t believe why his father wanted to kill him. Which father could kill their son with such ease? But when his consciousness started fading away, he remembered his father''s words on the way.

    Why was his father talking about responsibility and protecting his people right before they came here? Although he was only a ten year old child, he wasn''t a fool.

    If his father wanted him dead, and outsiders wanted him alive, then who was right? Personally, he wanted to live. But not at the cost of his father and mother''s life.

    If he lived and there was truly a cmity, could he ever forgive himself? Could he be the threat to his own family? Wasn''t death better than that? Even though death was scary, it was not as scary as the fear of hurting his family. "Kill me... I will listen to my father."N?v(el)B\\jnn

    The Prince weakly pushed Karyk away whilending on his feet. But his body was so weak that he immediately fell on the ground.

    He couldn''t even walk up to the Altar. Still, he tried to move to the altar, leaving behind a trail of red in the red sun.

    Karyk watched the Prince crawling towards the Altar. His expressions were impossible toprehend while he looked above at the sky.

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 Chapter 983 Chapter 983: For the greater good

    983 Chapter 983: For the greater good

    The King was looking at his son crawling towards the Altar. This time, Karyk did see some pain in the man''s eyes, but he didn''t reveal it.

    Was it truly this man''s greed? Karyk wondered. Meanwhile, the Angels revealed some disgust while watching the Prince crawl.

    "What are you doing? Stop him and take him out of this ce! We will destroy that Altar after we are done dealing with this man. We will heavily reward you, do not worry!" The Angel said.

    Karyk rubbed his forehead. He had decided to not be a spectator, but he eventually ended up in the same position.

    "I will listen to you," Karyk told the Angels, shocking the King. "But only after you tell me how to recover my abilities? From the moment you arrived, my abilities have stopped working. If I want to stop the Prince and take him away, I need my abilities." The Angels looked at each other. They didn''t say a single word while conversing with each other.

    After some time, one of the Angels tossed a small bracelet towards Karyk.

    "The reason you can''t use your abilities is because we have cast a seal on this entire world. The seal prevents the use of any abilities in this world, other than beast bloodlines," the Angel said.

    Karyk picked up the Bracelet and wore it around his wrist. He could see why the civilization which was so strong disappeared. The seal had basically made everyone useless.

    Strangely enough, the seal didn''t appear to work on the King. Was he too strong for this seal? Karyk wasn''t certain.

    "You fool!" The King was taken aback by Karyk''s actions. Unfortunately, his path was blocked by the Angels now.

    And finally, the storm arrived. A battle began in the sky where the King fought with multiple angels.

    Even Karyk was surprised at the sight of the battle. He had always thought that the Civilization was as strong as the Angels. But just one King of this civilization was keeping up with the Angels.

    Was it because the Angels hadn''t sent their King? Or was the leading angel actually the King of Angels but weaker?

    He wasn''t sure. He only observed the bracelet. As soon as he wore the bracelet, he was able to use his abilities.

    The first thing he did wasn''t to stop the Prince. Instead, observed the bracelet with his abilities, trying to see what was stopping this seal from taking effect on his body

    now.

    "A counter formation? So this much is enough to help me recover?"

    Karyk saw a counter formation pattern on the bracelet, which countered the seal of the Angels. As long as his body was in contact with the counter formation, he was free from the seal.

    "How interesting."

    Karyk used his nails and carved that formation on his chest. While his body healed the wound, the counter formation remained on his body.

    To check if it worked, he took off the bracelet and checked if he could still use his abilities.

    "It works. So much trouble because of this small formation."

    His first goal ining back was to find a method to free himself. And now with this formation, he had a method.

    Even if he went back, he could still use this formation and protect himself. But more importantly, he also found a method to potentially change this word''s past.

    He didn''t understand how it could change his own future, but anything was better than letting the Angels haveplete control over the future.

    He would still hesitate if he was the same person as the Prince, since killing the Prince would have killed him. But that wasn''t the case. He had confirmed... His past, present and future wasn''t linked with the Prince.

    Although he was still curious about other simrities like their name or the reason he was called the key in the future instead of this Prince, but now wasn''t the time to think about that.

    He stepped forward and picked up the Prince. However, instead of taking the Prince and leaving, he walked towards the Altar, stunning the Angels.

    "Thank you..." The Prince stated.

    Karyk ced the young man on the altar.

    "Don''t say anything. And remember, the outside world might not be as beautiful as you imagined. So don''t regret anything..."

    The Prince nodded, his eyes filled with a mix of relief and sorrow. Hey on the altar, preparing himself for what was toe. Karyk stood over him, his expression unreadable.

    The Angels watched the scene unfold with a mix of confusion and desperation.

    "What are you doing? We trusted you!" one of them yelled, but Karyk ignored the outburst.

    From his position, the King fought fiercely against the angels. He stole a nce at the altar, locking eyes with Karyk for just a moment. It was a nce filled with pain, regret, and an unspoken confirmation.

    Karyk raised his hand, and a dark energy began to form around it. The Prince closed

    his eyes, epting his fate.

    "For the greater good," Karyk whispered, more to himself than to anyone else.

    Just as he was about to strike, a powerful force surged through the air.

    The Leader of the Angelic Group gathered all his strength and attacked Karyk and the altar. The King also reached fast, but before he could stop the attack, the other Angels appeared before him, willing to die just to stop him.

    Thanks to the Angels, the King failed to stop the attack from getting past him. He could only watch as the attacknded on the altar.

    .

    Karyk''s aura knife stabbed the Prince''s chest, making the altar shine brightly. At the same time, the Angel''s attack alsonded on the Altar.

    A bright light and cloud of sand and dust engulfed the entire ce, hiding the altar from the view.

    As the dust settled, there was only a silence that followed. When the air cleared, the once mighty altar was nowhere to be seen, only remnants of its existence scattered

    around.

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 Chapter 984 Chapter 984: Everything and nothing

    984 Chapter 984: Everything and nothing

    The Altar was nowhere to be seen. Only its shattered remnants could be seen around. In ce of the Altar, there was a puddle of blood that had once been sealed. As soon as the Altar broke, the blood was released.

    Above the blood, a young boy was floating. A sharp blood red spike had impaled his chest, but it wasn''t Karyk''s doing. Instead, the blood itself had attacked the Prince on its release.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    High in the sky, the Angels came to a sudden stop, their faces distorting in anger and disgust.

    There was absolute silence around the entire ce which was only broken when the King''sughter echoed all around.

    "It''s done!" The Kingughed heartily as he looked at the spike in his son''s chest. The Prince was lying lifelessly with his eyes closed.

    He was not breathing anymore. Only a tear of blood was trickling down his cheeks. It was as if he could still hear his father''s voice even as he was being devoured by the abyss.

    Only the Prince could be seen in the puddle of blood, but Karyk was nowhere to be

    seen.

    The King thought that Karyk had died. It didn''t matter to him. After all, he had achieved his goal. He had sacrificed his son to heaven in exchange for the Divine Will.

    The King keptughing amidst the silence. He sounded extremely happy, but sadness was hidden behind thisughter. Even as he wasughing that he had seeded, tears kept streaming down his cheeks.

    He had won, but at the same time he had lost. He had sacrificed his only son for the future of his people.

    The Angels looked at the King and the Prince on the puddle of blood. They didn''t do anything. It was already toote. They had failed.

    "You have made the biggest mistake of your life," the Leader of the Angels said, extremely disappointed. He simply turned around and started leaving.

    As he was about to enter the portal to return to his world, he suddenly clenched his chest and stopped. He wasn''t the only one who had stopped. The others also stopped, appearing like they were in extreme pain.

    The King also looked stunned, not understanding what was happening. His entire body had started feeling weak. Slowly, a pain was rising within his body. And it wasn''t just the pain inside his body but also his soul.

    "What is happening?!" he asked, panicked. This wasn''t supposed to happen.

    He and all his people were supposed to be stronger after receiving the Divine

    Will! The luck and fate of their world was going to be improved.

    Heaven was supposed to descend to bless them! Then why was this happening? It shouldn''t have been this way.

    The Angels roared in pain, feeling the divinity inside their body being devoured by an unknown force. Their bodies were being corrupted!

    "What did you do?!" they asked the King.

    Even if the King had seeded, it wasn''t supposed to happen this way! They weren''t supposed to be tormented.

    Unfortunately, the King wasn''t in any position to answer as he nkly looked at his fingers.

    While the divinity in the Angels was being corrupted, the King himself was disintegrating.

    He saw his fingers start disintegrating, turning into specks of light that were being devoured by Heaven. Slowly, more and more of his body kept disintegrating, until most of his body was gone.

    "This wasn''t supposed to..." he couldn''t even finish his sentence before his bodypletely disappeared. The Angels barely managed to enter the portal without passing out, and disappeared inside the space.

    The Secret Realm at the depths of the Royal Pce was in a mess, but the outside wasn''t any better either.

    The Queen was sitting on her knees. Her eyes were lifeless as she knew that her son was never going to return. She couldn''t do anything to stop it. All she could do was watch.

    With her lifeless eyes, she looked at her reflection. Slowly, her body also started disintegrating right before her eyes. The Royal Hall becamepletely empty as thest of her disappeared.

    The Royal Guards, Ministers and even the most influential people in the city couldn''t escape. The entire city was filled with crises for help and painful roars.

    It was as if a monster had descended upon this city, devouring everything in its path.

    ....

    Karyk felt like he was suffocating. His body was being dragged inside the puddle of blood. He couldn''t even see any lighting from the surface.

    He could not swim upward, no matter how much he tried. He was simply being dragged to the depths of hell, embraced by the unknown blood.

    He didn''t know whose blood this was, or what it was doing under the altar. What did this blood have to do with the Divine Will and sacrifice?

    He felt extremely sleepy as his body slowly fell into the depths of the pool of blood. He couldn''t even resist this sleepiness. It felt just sofortable. He didn''t feel

    suffocation, or ufortable in the slightest.

    Instead, it felt like he was in the embrace of his mother after centuries.

    He didn''t even realize when his eyes closed and he fell asleep while his body kept falling.

    .

    After an unknown amount of time, Karyk came to his senses. He felt like he had slept for centuries, but at the same time, he hadn''t slept enough.

    He slowly opened his eyes. But he wasn''t in the puddle of blood. He wasn''t in any other space either. Instead, he felt like he was back in the abyss where Chaos had found him when he was a child.

    He didn''t feel like a child lost inside the abyss. No, he didn''t even have a body. He felt like he was everywhere and nowhere in the abyss at the same time.

    He was a small speck of dust in the abyss. He was the star in the abyss. He was the

    darkness in the abyss, and he was the void in the abyss.

    He was thews of the abyss, and he was thewlessness of the Abyss. He was everything, and he was nothing.

 Chapter 985 Chapter 985: Part of him

    985 Chapter 985: Part of him

    Karyk''s consciousness floated in the void.

    At this moment, the abyss was not merely a ce. It was a realm beyond the restraints of physical form, space, and time. Thoughts, memories, and emotion... everything was restrained within this abyss.

    For what felt like an eternity, Karyk drifted through the abyss with no destination. He couldn''t even feel any emotions in this state. It was as if everything in this universe was insignificant.

    He didn''t know how long he was in a state like this. Was it an hour? A day? A year? Or centuries? He wasn''t sure. All he felt was that he was slowly starting to lose himself in the passage of time.

    The life he lived before, felt like a small insignificant drop before the abyss and its vastness. He tried to protect his sanity, but it was proving to be harder than he thought.

    His consciousness felt tired and extremely sleepy again. But this time, he tried to resist the drowsiness as much as possible. He didn''t know why, but he felt that he might never return if he fell asleep.

    He didn''t know why he was in this situation. Was this because of the book that sent him to the past? How could a book do something like that? Abyss was something that was beyondprehension.

    Even Chaos hadn''t managed to understand the abyss. It was impossible to do something like this. He was certain this had nothing to do with the book. It was something else entirely.

    For a moment, he even wondered if something had gone wrong when he was returning to his time after witnessing thest.

    Was it because of that, he ended up in the abyss? But even if that was the case, how was he the abyss instead of simply being dead?

    "I call forth the Divine Will!"

    While Karyk felt like he was losing himself, he heard a weak voice echoing through the abyss. The voice also appeared to be addressing him!

    What surprised Karyk the most was that this voice belonged to the King! These were the same words that the King had spoken when he ced his son on the altar.

    "Why is he repeating those words again?"

    Karyk was confused, but his confusion only increased with time as the King continued speaking.

    He heard the chants that the King had spoken next. Previously, he didn''t understand a single word of what the King was saying. But now, every single word was understood by him.

    He didn''t understand how it was happening. The King was still speaking the samenguage and he still couldn''t understand thenguage. But he was still able to understand the meaning.

    "To the great heaven that was betrayed... To the divine will that was buried... Today, your faithful servant has arrived to ask for mercy!"

    "To the one that is inevitable... I, a mere King, sacrifice the most precious thing to me! In exchange, please grant us mercy!"

    At first, Karyk was only able to hear the words. But with time, he was also able to see the King through the void.

    With trembling hands, the King raises the ancient sword towards heaven, willing to strike his own son. The de shone under the red sunlight, casting a shadow over the young prince.

    "To the Divine Will, I sacrifice my son! Please descend and grace our world with your blessed presence!" The King roared at the top of his lungs while his sword came crashing down.

    Karyk did not understand what was happening. Why did it appear like the sacrifice was directed towards him? Why did it feel like the King was killing his son for him?

    As the King was about to strike the young prince, a person appeared and pulled the Prince away. As for the person, it looked much different from him.

    Seeing the person''s actions, Karyk was certain that this was not him! This was the real author of the book and the thief from this era. So what he saw was really the

    past?

    He hadn''t changed the past. It was exactly how the past was supposed to take ce. He thought he was changing history by snatching the Prince away from the King. He thought he was doing it out of his free will, but he was just reying the history as it took ce.

    Next, everything took ce as he had seen. The Angels arrived and tried to stop the King. But the King fought to stop them.

    The decision once again came to the thief.

    The thief didn''t ask for the method to be freed from the formation. He didn''t even consider a deal and tried to leave with the Prince to save him.

    Only when the Prince requested him to kill him, the thief stopped unwillingly. After a lot of internal conflict, the thief refused the Prince''s demand and tried to forcefully

    take him away.

    Unfortunately for him, the Prince was also stubborn. Despite being weak, he resisted and fell on the ground. He crawled towards the altar.

    In the end, the thief also couldn''t do anything but listen. Although he didn''t want to kill the Prince, he carried him to the altar.

    Most of the past that Karyk experienced was the same as how it happened in reality.

    But a few things were different because of his actions.N?v(el)B\\jnn

    The past hadn''t changed, but what Karyk experienced changed a little. The Angels hadn''t told the method to be free of the restriction to the thief as he didn''t ask for a

    deal.

    Karyk asked for a deal and not the method in exchange.

    Simrly, Karyk intentionally went after the Prince to get close to him, but it was truly an ident for the thief toe across the Prince and get close to him.

    Hence, he was more attached to the child. His interaction with the Prince waspletely natural. Unfortunately, it was all for nothing as the Angel attacked the altar to stop the thief and Prince.

    The oue was the same as what Karyk experienced... A bloody spike stabbing the chest of the Prince.

    Karyk was shocked, as he felt a connection to the spike. It was a part of him... That blood... That altar, it was all a part of him!

 Chapter 986 Chapter 986: A new existence

    986 Chapter 986: A new existence

    Karyk felt like he was everywhere. He was floating in the void without a body, yet he was also inside the pool of blood.

    The spike that stabbed the Prince''s heart was a part of him. The others hadn''t killed the Prince. It was him who had killed the Prince.

    Karyk could sense the young child''s memories being devoured along with his blood. Not just his memories, but his entire existence was being consumed by this abyss. Karyk saw the entire life of the young Prince y out in front of his eyes, from the moment the Prince was born to the moment he escaped the Pce and then returned, only to die.

    The Prince''s memories were being devoured, but they weren''t alone. His soul and body were also being consumed.

    The Prince''s body started disintegrating into specks of light, slowly falling into the puddle of blood, descending to the depths. Even his tears turned into light and merged with the blood.

    In that moment, the Prince waspletely gone, erased not just from this world but from existence itself.

    The Kingnded on the ground and began praising the Abyss in the same ancientnguage, falling to his knees.

    Unfortunately, his expressions soon twisted when he realized his body had also started disintegrating in a simr manner.

    The only difference was that his body was being devoured into nothingness, unlike the Prince''s, which was absorbed into the blood.

    Karyk could feel the Abyss seeping into the world where the Civilization lived through the blood.

    "Why?! This wasn''t supposed to happen?! Why are you...!" The King was in disbelief, his face filled with horror.

    The Angels were also taken aback.

    "This isn''t the Divine Will... This is..."

    Their expressions also turned dark as their bodies started freezing in fear.

    "We need to leave! Now!" The Leader of Angels stated. Even though weakend, the angels flew towards the portal where they came from.

    Karyk watched them try to leave. He didn''t want that to happen. He didn''t want the Angels to run away, only toe after himter. Allowing them to escape was dangerous.

    He only thought about it. However, it was as if the abyss took his thoughts as amand.

    Before angels could enter the portal, spikes came from the puddle of blood, filled with absolute darkness of the abyss.

    An Angel eximed.

    The spikes attacked the portal, destroying the portal to the realm of angels. At the same time, the remaining spikes impaled the chest of the Angels before pulling them back and drowning them in the blood puddle.

    One after another, the Angels also failed to resist and drowned in the blood like ordinary humans.

    They not only lost their divinity, but they were also devoured by the puddle of blood in a simr manner.N?v(el)B\\jnn

    More and more abyss seeped into this world. And everyone who came in contact with the essence of the abyss was devoured. It didn''t matter if they were young or old. It didn''t matter if they were innocent or guilty.

    They were all destroyed by the Abyss. The only ones who managed to survive were the ones that lived under the water, weakening the influence of the abyss.

    Within minutes, the entire world turned silent. The city that was filled with people becamepletely empty.

    The inequality within the inner and outer region disappeared along with the people that brought it into existence.

    The King wanted the Divine Will. However, instead, he brought something that devoured everything that the King wanted to protect.

    Only the buildings in the city were left standing, but no one was present to use them.

    As the entire world went silent, something else was happening in the puddle that appeared to be boiling.

    Karyk felt a heavy headache and his vision started to weaken. His consciousness also started to weaken. There was one thought in his mind... And he couldn''t understand what that thought was.

    The essence of the abyss had already gathered in the puddle of blood. But it wasn''t the essence without consciousness.

    Abyss had gained its own consciousness. Slowly, the devoured essence started gathering together in the puddle of blood.

    The essence started taking the shape of a human, as if the essence was creating an ideal form of the abyss based on what it had devoured.

    After what seemed like an eternity, an entity came into existence. It was a child who floated up from the depths of the abyss.

    The child looked simr to the Prince that was devoured first. However, there were some changes.

    It just looked the same, but the essence, the existence and everything else belonged

    to the abyss.

    The child also had a different eye color than the Prince which looked more simr to the leader of the Angels that had arrived here.

    Karyk could feel the connection to this being, this new entity born from the abyss. It was as if a part of him had been transferred into this child.

    No, not a part! This child was him! That''s why he felt like the Prince and him were different, although they looked simr. It was because the Prince wasn''t him in the first ce. Their souls were different.

    Did he even have a proper soul in the first ce? He wasn''t sure.

    He tried to move, to reach out, but he was still trapped in the void, a mere spectator to the unfolding events.

    The child floated above the puddle of blood, which had now turned pitch ck like the abyss itself.

    Soon, the vortex of the puddle calmed, and the blood solidified into a smooth ck

    surface.

    In the middle of the surface, a young child was lying, who looked like he was just born. But strangely enough, the child wasn''t crying. He was just lying there silently, looking at the red sky above.

    After what appeared to be another eternity, someone approached the young child. As for the person, it was none other than the thief.

    Even Karyk was surprised to see that the person had survived while everyone else was killed? Was this a reward for this man for bringing the sacrifice to him?

    The man looked at the young child silently. After a brief moment, he picked up the

    child and started walking away.

 Chapter 987 Chapter 987: Abyss itself

    ?

    987 Chapter 987: Abyss itself

    The world turned dark for Karyk.

    When he opened his eyes again, he was looking at the world from apletely different perspective.

    He found himself in the embrace of the thief who had carried him out of the puddle of blood.

    Despite being in the body of a child, Karyk could still feel his connection to the Abyss. It was as if he was being torn away from his true home while still being connected to his home.

    The thief left the hidden realm and appeared inside the Pce. Along the way, he observed his surroundings, searching for any sign of guards. To his surprise, he found the pathpletely empty.

    Not a single guard was present. It was as if everyone had simply disappeared into nothingness. He went upstairs and still couldn''t find anyone.

    Even when he left the Pce, there was no one to be found. All the Guards that were standing outside the Pce had disappeared.

    He covered the baby with a cloth and went to the city which had turned into a ghost city. The shops, the houses, everyone was still there. All that disappeared from this world was life itself.

    Karyk also realized what had happened. The people of this world and this civilization had not disappeared. Instead, they were devoured by him. They were devoured by the abyss itself.

    He wasn''t sure if this was what the King expected the Divine Will to be. This was no different thanplete annihtion without any bloodshed.

    Fortunately, the Angels were also killed so there were not many people who actually saw what happened. The only person who had seen everything was the thief.

    The man carried the child in his arms and walked towards the ocean, asionally ncing at Karyk''s face. He wasn''t sure if he was still the Prince that he remembered

    or not.

    Karyk had thought that what he saw in the book was the true history that belonged to him. But only now he realized that this was the point his history actually began. The Thief went back to his house with the child. He ced the child on the bed and started digging the ground.

    He dug for over half an hour before he found a ck box in the depths.

    "I don''t know if you can understand me or not. I don''t know if you''re the same person I wanted to save. I don''t even know if there is any point in all this..."

    The man carried the ck box and went back to the bed. He ced the ck box next to the child.

    He opened the box and brought a small pendant out of it. He ced the pendant around the young child''s neck.

    "I was nning to leave this world myself with that treasure. Unfortunately, even after decades, it still doesn''t have enough essence gathered inside it."

    "It can''t take me, but it certainly can take you to another world... I know it is dangerous. You might end up in an abandoned world or even die of hunger before you even see another person."

    "But it''s better than dying here, because Angels died at this ce. More wille... And they wille for you. In this world, there is no ce for you to hide."

    "If you are to die, you can only me your luck. I hope you will forgive me."

    The thief ced his finger on the young child''s forehead. But to his surprise, the child held his finger instead.

    He saw the pendant shining even more brightly than ever. From the unknown, the pendant was charging as more and more essence gathered in the pendant.

    It was to the point that even the pendant found it hard to contain. Slowly, cracks started developing on the pendant.

    "If it''s this much, both of us might-" the Thief''s eyes lit up. But before he could even finish, he heard another loud explosion.

    The roof of his house was blown away, and in the sky, thousands of Angels descended from the sky.

    "Is that the Prince?" One of the Angels asked.

    "Why is he so young?"

    "Did that man fail the ceremony and turn the child younger? No wonder he was punished..."

    "His failure killed even our people. What a fool... Did he think he could reach the divine will from this ce? If only he knew the right ce..."

    "It doesn''t matter. The key is still alive. We wanted to wait until he grew older. But at this rate, he might die before he reaches the right age. We shall take him with us..."

    The Angels continued their discussion until one of them noticed the pendant around Karyk''s neck.

    "Wait, is that...?"

    Before he could finish his sentence, a blinding light came from the pendant. The space shattered and sucked the Thief and Karyk inside.

    The Angels were left behind, furious. They could feel the destination from the trade of Spatial Destruction.

    It was a lower world where they couldn''t even properly descend without destroying everything and everyone within. If they forcefully descended and destroyed the world, the Key was going to be destroyed.

    Karyk was still in the Thief''s arm when he watched the sky change. He recognised this familiar sky and this world.

    It was a little different from what it was supposed to look like in the future, but there was no doubt in his mind. This was Elzeira before it was taken over.

    They appeared right outside the Celestial City, which was the city where he became the City Lord in the future. And not far from this city was the Royal City of the

    Empire.

    Everything started making sense for Karyk. Slowly, all the pieces were starting to make sense. The person who brought him to this world was the person that tried to save the Prince.

    It was the thief who left the book behind in the library, as if he was expecting Karyk to return to that ce one day to find his past.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    He thought Karyk would remember thest after seeing their meeting in those memories, not realizing that the person he saved waspletely different.

    He didn''t awaken the Prince''s memories, instead he awakened his own memories from the moment he was born out of the abyss.

    He wasn''t the son of Heaven. He wasn''t even the lost Prince that the world

    considered him. Instead, he was the Abyss itself.

    He was no life. He was the end of all life.

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 Chapter 988 Chapter 988: Terror

    ?

    988 Chapter 988: Terror

    The thief, still holding the child tightly, looked around the unfamiliar territory. He was visibly shaken, as this was the first time he had traveled through space.

    In stark contrast, the child in his arms remained silent.

    As the thief walked through the city, he realized that the people here dressed very differently, making him stand out even more.

    Another thing he noticed was that the people here were much weaker than him. They were even weaker than the ordinary people of the Civilization.

    "This seems to be a lower-level world," he muttered to himself. "That is for the best. This should stop them."

    What he didn''t know was that the Angels already knew his destination, even though it was selected at random.

    The only thing stopping them was the fact that they couldn''t descend without destroying this entire ce.

    "Language Comprehension," he whispered, activating a skill to understand thenguage of the people around him.

    He observed how they were looking at him and talking to each other. Initially, he was curious about what they were saying.

    Were they scared of him because he appeared out of nowhere? But as he began to understand their words, he realized they weren''t scared of him at all.

    "Where did this weird beggare from?"

    "Look at his clothes. How weird."

    "He''s holding the child like his life depends on it. Is that his child?"

    "I think he might have stolen that child."

    "Shh, don''t look at him. He might be crazy."

    Many people observed him, talking amongst themselves. Some even went to inform the Celestial Guards.

    Meanwhile, the thief approached a person nearest to him. "Who is the strongest person in this world?" he asked.

    The young man was taken aback. "The strongest person? There is only one person who can be called the strongest. It''s our Emperor."

    "Emperor? I see. That makes sense. Where can I find this Emperor?" the thief inquired further.

    "Are you really a fool? How can you be so close to the Royal City and not know where the Emperor stays?"

    The young man regretted even engaging with the strange man but answered

    nheless, pointing towards a ce that would be known as the Land of Chaos in the future.

    "Our Emperor stays in the next city."

    "Stay back!"

    As soon as he finished speaking, the City Guards arrived andmanded everyone to stay back.

    "You must be the guards," the thief observed, eyeing the men in shiny armor. "Lead me to your Emperor."

    "Lead you to our Emperor?" The Guards looked at the man even weirdly. His behavior appeared very suspicious.

    "Are you nning to hurt him?" he asked.

    "If he listens to me, I don''t believe I would." The Thief honestly answered. He just needed one thing from the Emperor and he couldn''t promise if he was going to hurt him or not.

    He already had a bad experience with a Ruler in the world he came from. He didn''t want to make the same mistake again.

    "You dare?!" The Guards couldn''t believe that this man actually threatened their Emperor while looking for him. His intentions were clearly bad.

    "Take him down and put him in prison. I''ll interrogate him himself." The strongest knightmanded his men.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The City Guards listened to themands and rushed towards the man.

    As they were about to apprehend him, the man suddenly raised his hand.

    The Knight thought he was about to surrender, but in the next moment, his face grew pale when he saw all the guards fall to their knees, their breathinging to a stop. Even the thief was surprised how well it had worked. In the world he came from, this spell would only cause a minor headache to the Guards that worked for the King.

    In this world, he had killed these people with such ease. He wasn''t sure if it was because the people of this world were weak or because he was of a higher existence in this world.

    The Knight also found it hard to believe his eyes. He didn''t even see how this person killed his men.

    "Take me to your Emperor," the thief told the Knight.

    "As if I would ever betray the Empire!" The Knight didn''t listen to the thief. He pulled out his sword and attacked.

    Unfortunately, his oue was the same. He fell on the ground, his breathinging to a sudden stop.

    All the citizens watched the City Guards being killed so brutally. They were horrified.

    Many even started running away from the man.

    The Thief appeared in front of the man who had answered him initially, stopping him from running. He asked the man to escort him to the Emperor, and the man couldn''t

    say no.

    The young man escorted the unfamiliar man with a child to the Royal City, which was again heavily guarded.

    Karyk watched the man take him to the Royal City. And along the way, many guards fell to the ground, lifeless. All those who tried to stop him were killed.

    The Thief brought him to the Royal Pce.

    All this time, Karyk was wondering just who had scared the Celestial Emperor so much that he was even willing to oppose the Angels instead of handing the child

    over.

    It was only now that he understood who this person was. This was a person who truly caused terror in the Emperor''s heart when he showed up with a child.

    Not only did the thief frighten the Emperor, but he also cast maniption magic on him. It was only after that, he handed the child to the Emperor and told him to protect him at any cost.

    The Angels didn''t know this ce, and even if they knew it, they couldn''t descend. He believed this was a safe ce for the Prince as the strongest person in this world

    was going to protect him.

    The Thief looked at the baby onest time before he left the Empire, forever to disappear from that world.

    Comment

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 Chapter 989 Chapter 989: Survival

    ?

    989 Chapter 989: Survival

    All the fragmented pieces of Karyk''s past were beginning to align as he relived forgotten memories.

    He remembered being handed over to the Emperor of the Celestial Empire by the man who then vanished into the shadows, leaving forever.

    Karyk had no idea where the man went, but he saw the man leaving a letter with the Emperor, instructing it to be given to Karyk upon his adulthood.

    Though Karyk had yet to read the letter, he was certain it held his origins. He also had a feeling that somewhere in the future, that man went to the world of civilization and left that book in the library.

    ''But how did I read that world in the first ce? Was that a coincidence?''

    He didn''t understand how he ended up in that world when he was at the death''s door, especially since the thief had taken the pendant with him while leaving. Fortunately, he was getting to experience all these parts of his life that he had forgotten. The Emperor protected him as if his life depended on it.

    At the same time, he also kept his identity a secret, even from his own daughter. Not even a few months had passed when the Angels sent an envoy to this world. They located the Emperor''s Pce and asked him to hand over the Prince.

    The Emperor outright refused, and hence the Elzeirans were sent here to not only take over this world but also bring the Prince back alive.

    Karyk had always assumed that he was tossed in the abyss because the Emperor didn''t want to hand him over to the Elzeirans.

    He thought the Emperor preferred to have him die, rather than let the Angels who destroyed his world seed. Unfortunately, he soon realized that it wasn''t the case. The descent of the Elzeirans and therge-scale essence of death that spread from the war yed a bigger hand in it.

    Although it didn''t destroy this world, a lot of instability was created in this world. Slowly, the space around the world began to crack apart, much like it did when he faced the half-angel Aexin in Elzeira.

    It was just Karyk''s luck that one such crack appeared in the very room where he was being kept. This crack pulled him into the unknown realm of the Abyss.

    He returned to where he had started, but this time in his human form.

    The Celestial Empirey in ruins. With countless sacrifices, they managed to protect only one city, which was forever sealed.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The Elzeirans didn''t force their way into the city as they sensed the Prince was gone. Ever since then, they began searching for him in worlds connected by spatial cracks. They checked every world but found not even the slightest trace of the Prince.

    There was only one world they couldn''t properly check because the only crack to that world was sealed on the other side.

    Far from all thismotion, Karyk remained at the core of the Abyss.

    Any other child, even if they were the offspring of a god, would have been devoured by the Abyss if sent here. But Karyk was different.

    Once again, he lost all sense of time. It felt like an eternity passed while he stayed in the Abyss, not aging a single day.

    The terrifying silence of the Abyss was broken only when two people entered it, locked inbat.

    One of them was Ezekiel, who had saved Gabriel when he was tossed into the Abyss with his heart torn out. The other was none other than the future King of Gods, Chaos himself.

    Chaos won the battle, but even he wasn''t able to kill Ezekiel. If Karyk hadn''t seen the future, he wouldn''t have known why this was the case.

    But having seen the future, he understood that it was because Ezekiel worked for the Elzeirans who granted him a certain level of immortality that was different from the gods.

    Even Chaos wasn''t able to kill him, but he still sealed him in the Abyss, forever making sure that Ezekiel wasn''t going to see the light of day. It was only when

    Gabriel came to the abyss that Ezekiel was freed.

    Ezekiel was sealed in the Abyss by Chaos, who was about to leave when he saw a child floating in the endless space.

    He found it hard to believe that there was a child here who was still alive, despite being in the Abyss. He didn''t understand how this child ended up here, but in the end, he decided to take the child with him.

    Hence, Karyk reached the point which he had seen in the Ancient Temple from the Heavenly Scribe''s perspective. He was the child who was brought out of the abyss. He was the child that Chaos gave his godly essence to help him survive out of the Abyss.

    At this point, Chaos wasn''t the King of Gods. He also knew that it was only a matter of time before he was going to be the enemy of all gods. He couldn''t take the child with him.

    As he couldn''t take him to the realm of gods, he left Karyk to an even lower world to have him live the life of a mortal.

    Only after having Chaos''s essence, Karyk started aging. Coincidentally, he became the Prince again. He was also named Karyk.

    He lived the life of a mortal until once again the world was almost destroyed because of wars between the Empires.

    Sitting over the corpse of those he believed to be his family, he awakened a trade of

    his powers. He awakened what he saw from the closest. He awakened death. Karyk already knew what happened after that, but he couldn''t help but go through his entire life again like he was watching a movie where he was the star. Everything progressed in the same manner until he came across Aexin after destroying Elzeirans.

    He was fighting half angel Aexin when the world around him started getting destroyed again. This time, he actually felt like he might die.

    It was from this point onwards, he didn''t remember how he had survived. But now

    that he was reying his life, he finally saw how he survived.

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 Chapter 990 Chapter 990: Cause and effect

    ?

    990 Chapter 990: Cause and effect

    Karyk helped Gabriel escape Elzeira. He had already started fighting Aexin, but he could see that it was hard to win this battle.

    The only way to stop Aexin was to destroy this entire realm with overwhelming strength. However, he wasn''t sure if Gabriel had managed to seal the portals or not. He tried to save this world for as long as possible, which brought him to even more of a disadvantage.

    One after another, cracks were appearing around the reality of Elzeira. At the same rate, wounds were appearing on Karyk''s body, which were not healing.

    There was something about Aexin''s attack which made it hard for Karyk''s healing to take effect. He also noticed that something else had gone wrong.

    His healing became even worse the moment Gabriel had finished the seal, detaching Elzeira from their reality.

    As soon as Karyk felt that the portal had been closed, he decided to let go and stop holding back. He was prepared to destroy Aexin and this world, along with himself. "This world isn''t half bad to be your graveyard!" Karyk raised his hand, releasing every bit of essence he had gathered in his body.

    The destruction of the world became faster. The cracks that were covering the entire world widened into a chasm, devouring everything in this world.

    ""You want to die together?" Aexin asked,ughing for the first time. "For a Prince of that civilization, you are very naive. Then again, you didn''t get any teachings, so it makes sense for you to not know."

    "The only person who will die here will be you!" Karyk retorted.

    "We shall see about that."

    Karyk was different this time. His essence had grown, now appearingparable to Aexin''s. Even if it couldn''t defeat him, it could still keep him confined as the world crumbled around them.

    "Before this world is gone, I will beat you to my heart''s content!" Karyk dered, charging forward with his hand outstretched.

    Aexin also advanced, his body splitting into multiple forms. It was impossible to discern which were illusions and which, if any, were real.

    Karyk attacked all the bodies simultaneously, obliterating everything in his path. The world around him turned pitch ck as reality itself disintegrated.

    "As long as you don''t remember your roots, you are nothing."

    A voice whispered in Karyk''s ear just as Aexin appeared behind him, his ws about to strike.

    Karyk swiftly turned around, grabbing Aexin''s wrist. But instead of feeling happy, he sensed imminent danger.

    "I told you..."

    The voice echoed from behind once more, while Aexin still stood in front of him. Another Aexin had appeared behind him and both were real.

    Karyk tried to dodge, but Aexin''s ws managed to rip a good chunk of flesh from his side.

    Karyk jumped back, his blood dripping to the ground as he assessed the situation. He could see two Aexin and he had just experienced that both of them were real.

    He also didn''t understand what was happening with him. Ever since this battle began, he had been feeling a haze around his memories.

    It was as if some unknown memories were trying to make their way into his mind, while the memories he knew became more muddled.

    He was certain that he had forgotten a lot of things during this battle. Even if it wasn''t permanent, he could feel the effect.

    His strength had increased, but his control and abilities had weakened. Or rather, he even forgot which abilities he had in the first ce.N?v(el)B\\jnn

    Whenever he tried to remember them, he only saw scenes of a puddle of blood in an unknown Desert which blocked his vision.

    "In a battle between past and present, both lose," Aexin said, appearing as if he knew what was happening with Karyk. "I will free you of these shackles. With death, neither your past nor your present will matter."

    "As I don''t have more time left, I will have to give you a quick death," he added, noticing that a majority of the world was gone already. It was only a matter of minutes before what was left was going to implode on itself.

    Karyk stood his ground. He wasn''t scared of death. If anything, he only wanted to drag this man with him to the afterlife.

    "Even if I don''t win this battle, I can still drag you to hell with me..." Karyk smiled, even as his face waspletely pale and clothes stained in blood.

    If he was scared of death, he wouldn''t have stayed behind in the first ce. The only regret was that he had failed to find his past.

    He didn''t realize that someone was watching him from the future. And that person was none other than him, who was reliving this moment.

    Karyk in the future knew that he had survived in the past. But how did that happen, he didn''t know until now.

    He received an answer when he saw a portal open behind Karyk. A man stepped out of the portal, having a pendant around his neck.

    He recognised that pendant. It was what helped them escape from the Angels after

    their descent.

    As for the person, the past didn''t recognise him. But in the future he knew that this man was the person who had saved him in the past.

    It was the thief who brought him to the world of Elzeira when he was a baby. Even if the man looked much older, it was impossible to not recognise him. However, one thing was strange about that man.

    All over his face, there was a ck pattern that looked like a tattoo. But that tattoo was alive and it was moving around his face like it had a life of its own.

    "It''s good to see you again, little prince," the old man looked back at Karyk, who was confused about this man who came from nowhere.

    Before he could ask anything, the thief ced his finger on Karyk''s forehead, immediately putting him to sleep.

    "If only we had more time to talk about it... But I''m sure you can find the answer yourself..." A portal opened behind Karyk and the man pushed him in the portal.

    "Where do you think you are taking my target?" Aexin rushed forward to stop Karyk, but the thief appeared in his path.

    His finger touched Aexin''s forehead, sending him flying back thousands of kilometers.

    "The cause and effect are truly..." The man sighed as he closed the portal where Karyk was sent.

    He tapped his foot on the ground, destroying what was left of this reality.

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 Chapter 991 Chapter 991: True Death

    ?

    991 Chapter 991: True Death

    Karyk came to his senses and found himself in a dark ce. There were books lying all around him on the floor, some books beingpletely torn.

    He was back in the library where he found the book that revealed a portion of the Thief''s past while also triggering his own memories in the process.

    He still couldn''t believe that what he saw was real. He didn''t even know what he could call himself. Was he a human? Was he the Abyss? Or was he something else entirely?

    "You are back."

    A young man was sitting not far from him. He closed the book that he was reading and ced the book aside.

    He stood up and patted his clothes. "You made me wait quite a lot. The others went to hunt and even returned after a sessful hunt, but you took so long to return."

    "Hunt?" Karyk raised his head and looked at the man who had warned him against opening the book.

    When he opened the book, the man looked quite shocked and upset. At that moment, he wanted to kill Karyk, but now he appeared very calm.

    "I''m sure you found the ce where that bastard hid the second key in those memories? Tell me the location and if you make it believable, I might not have to open that skull of yours to see them myself."

    "I''m not certain which second key you are talking about, but currently I am in a very bad mood," Karyk said as he raised his sleeves upwards.

    He used his nails and started carving a formation that he had learned from the Angels in the memories.

    "I truly don''t understand if you are brave or just a fool. You would rather have me kill you and devour your memories than tell me directly?" The manzily asked.

    "You know what''s the worst thing about you?" Karyk asked in return after finishing the formation on his hand.

    As soon as hepleted the formation, he was able to feel the restriction on this world being lifted for him. Even after so many years, the restriction was still as effective as ever, but the formation freed him from the effects.

    "The worst thing about me? Is it that I am too merciful?"

    "It''s that your arrogance reminds me of that bastard," Karyk answered, thinking about Aexin. It didn''t help that he had just relieved his battle with Aexin.

    That half angel was just as arrogant as this man. The only difference was that Aexin was more capable.

    "Although I''m not sure who you are talking about, it seems that you have already made your choice. I would have to..."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The man sighed, as if it was really a bother to even kill Karyk and having to read all the unnecessary information in his mind just to find the information relevant to him.

    However, as he was about to end the sentence, he came to a sudden halt. He saw something appear in Karyk''s hand.

    "Huh?"

    Until now, Karyk''s hand had beenpletely empty. But as he was speaking, he saw a heart appear in his hand. And strangely enough, that heart looked like the heart of his species.

    "Where did you..." He tried to ask Karyk where he received that heart from, especially since the blood still appeared to be fresh.

    Before he could finish his sentence, he felt something. He suddenly coughed out a mouthful of blood as he lowered his head and looked at his chest.

    It was only now that he noticed that there was a hole in his chest. The heart in Karyk''s hand belonged to him, and that fresh blood was also his.

    "H-how....?"

    He couldn''t understand how it happened. He hadn''t even seen Karyk move, so how did he attack and return to his position? How was he so fast that even the pain was slower.

    He dropped to his knees, blood pooling around him as his vision started to blur. "This... This is the feeling I had been missing." Karyk crushed the heart and tossed the remnants aside.

    He feltfortable like never before. There was no haze around his mind anymore. There was no restriction on his memories that could overwhelm his experience in this life.

    Instead, he felt moreplete. He felt more free as his Essence of Death had evolved into the essence of an abyss that felt more familiar. It was as if this was a part of his own body.

    Not only could he control the essence of the abyss, but he also felt connected to the abyss that was a part of him now.

    The Abyss was vast. It was so huge that it was able to swallow multiple gxies. But at the same time, the same abyss was able to reside in the depths of his heart, not appearing any wider than a particle of dust.

    Karyk watched the body of the young man who had taken hisst breath. The man waited here all this time to kill him, but even to the point of his death, he could not

    believe it.

    "Undead isn''t good enough. Why didn''t I realize it before? Instead of controlling the

    undead, I would rather control death itself."

    Karyk had seen quite a lot of ws in his ways, especially after he saw his life from beginning to the end. He also had a better understanding about the essence of death, which felt like just a small part of the abyss.

    What was death? Abyss was death itself. Everything in the abyss died as long as the abyss desired. What was life? Abyss was life itself as it had been born with death.

    Karyk walked towards the young man who was lying in the puddle of blood.

    "Arise, death!" Hemanded.

    All the books in the room started shaking following just two words from him. The man''s body lit in mes. His corpse was burned to ashes and so did every book in this

    library.

    The mes spread through the entire building and burned everything in its path.

    In the depths of the mes, a figure rose. However, that figure didn''t have a body. It didn''t have a soul or a bloodline either. It wasn''t alive, but it wasn''t dead.

    ThorSR+Magic castle

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 Chapter 992 Chapter 992: Close to family

    ?

    992 Chapter 992: Close to family

    A new entity rose from the depths of the mes, made purely from the essence of death. Even the mes that reached the dark figure''s body started dying. The floor beneath its feet turned ck.

    Karyk observed his new creation... A new form of undead. He had created something that didn''t exist or was supposed to exist.

    "This is how it should have been from the beginning."

    The figure had a humanoid shape but it didn''t have any other characteristics of humans. He did not have eyes but he could see. He did not have ears but he could listen.

    "Mas...ser...," said the unknown figure in a broken manner.

    "Kill all the servants of Angels that are in the city," Karykmanded the undead and left the hall without sparing a second nce.

    He didn''t bother killing the Children of Heaven himself. Instead, he wanted to check something else. He wanted to check the ce where he was born and the sacrificial altar.

    He left the Library. Using blink, he appeared right before the Royal Pce, which looked just as abandoned as every other ce in the city if not more.

    He entered the Pce and walked along the same halls that he had walked in the past. He could see how things around him had changed with the passage of time. These hallways used to be kept absolutely clean. There used to be lines of guards all around. But now, the halls were as empty as the endless void itself.

    Karyk went to the Banquet Hall where he had attended the Prince''s Wedding. Some of the tables were still there as the ones who were supposed to move them had disappeared.

    He walked over to the throne and looked at a ring that was lying right next to the throne on the floor.

    "She died as well..." Karyk muttered as he picked up the ring that belonged to the Prince''s mother.

    Even as the people were devoured by the abyss, some objects were still left behind. They were thest remnants and the proof that these people ever existed. Karyk had always been looking for his real parents. Every time he thought he found them, he realized that he was wrong. But now, he had an answer.

    He did not have parents, but the Prince''s parents were as close as it can get to his parents. The Prince was what the abyss based its life on.

    "If you hadn''t sacrificed your son, I might not be here. I don''t know if I should thank you for bringing me into existence or me you for killing your own son..."

    The ring in Karyk''s hand started decaying, until it turned into dust, slipping out of

    his fist.

    "I can''t even wish for you to have a good afterlife."

    He turned his back on the ring''s remnants and left the hall.

    He went downstairs, reaching the area where not even the guards were allowed to be stationed. Only the Emperor was allowed toe to this ce. This was also the ce where the Prince and his fatherst walked together.

    He stopped in front of the door that led to the separate realm inside the Pce. The door was still open, appearing like a portal to another world.

    Karyk passed through the door and took his first step into the desertednd of his birth that had been extensively explored by the Angels after the cmity.

    As far as his eyes could see, there was only nk sand in sight. Some footsteps were imprinted on the sand which had remained still for an eternity.

    These were the footsteps left behind by the thief when he was taking Karyk away from the altar. Even after the passage of time, nothing much had changed about this ce. It still looked exactly the same as that day.

    The red sun was visible in the sky, but it appeared to have been split in two halves. Karyk walked to the Altar where he remembered the King to have died. "Hmm?" As he reached the altar, he noticed that all the pieces of the broken altar were missing. Someone had taken the remnants of the destroyed altar with them. He didn''t have to think much to guess who could have done that.

    The blood under the altar was also missing. Only an empty well was in sight. To be cautious, someone had created a sealing formation atop the empty well.

    However, he wasn''t here for the altar. He wanted to see the blood that had devoured the Prince, but he didn''t expect to find that here in the first ce.

    The reason he came here was something else entirely. He looked at the ce where the King had died during the cmity.

    He wanted his hand. A gust of wing moved the ck sand from the location,

    revealing a ring buried beneath.

    The ring flew into his hand. This was the storage ring of the King and also something that he wanted the most.

    He looked inside the storage ring.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    "It is there. That''s good."

    He brought an item out of the storage ring. This was the same item given to the Prince by the Angel on his birthday.

    It was said to be an object that could create a path to the Land of Angels. Karyk wasn''t able to feel this object in the memories, but now that he was unsealed, he could clearly feel that this was an extraordinary object.

    It was brimming with the essence of space.

    The King didn''t want the Prince to use it, so he had taken it and kept it with himself. Thanks to that, it managed to survive.

    Karyk could only imagine what might have happened to it if this gift had fallen in the blood with the Prince.

    "We should go hunting more often. That was truly fun."

    "What else can we hunt? We already killed every living thing in the sea. There''s nothing left! That''s why I told you that we should let some live!"

    A dark figure appeared outside the gathering ce of the Children of Heaven. From outside the building, he was still able to hear their words, but these words were insignificant to him.

    He pushed the door open and stepped inside, leaving a trail of death with every step.

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 Chapter 993 Chapter 993: Fate of Death

    ?

    993 Chapter 993: Fate of Death

    "Who said we can''t have more fun? Didn''t we bring some entertainment with us? We can have them breed and then hunt them. They''re all beasts, after all."

    A young manughed while kicking a woman whose hands were tied.

    If Karyk were here, he would have recognized this woman. She was none other than the whale that had brought him to this ce. Unfortunately, she was now trapped in her human form, sealed in this form.

    "Mother!" The child beside the woman cried out, but he was powerless to help. His hands were also bound.

    He was the young whale who had saved Karyk from drowning. He was unable to transform into a human like his mother, but these people had somehow forcefully changed him into his human form before capturing them.

    Despite his human appearance and strength that exceeded normal human limits, he couldn''t free his hands.

    The woman looked at her son, her eyes filled with sorrow.

    She wanted to save her child and escape from these people, but she had failed. These people had annihted every living thing in the ocean while enjoying every moment of it.

    She simply wanted to take her son and hide from them, but they found her as well. She thought they were going to kill her and her son, but they brought them here. She and her son weren''t the only people here. She could see a few more captives who were also sealed in a human form.

    "I am quite curious to see if we can create a new species. I suppose we have quite a lot of time to find out, don''t we?" The Child of Heaven smirked as he brushed his fingers against the woman''s cheeks.

    Every ce his finger grazed against, a deep scar was left behind on her face. The woman clenched her teeth under pain, but she did not make any noise.

    "This ce is truly boring, but I am sure we can find some ways to keep us entertained." He turned around and walked back to his table, leaving behind the scared woman with the group of captives.

    "True, but then again, it won''t be as fun as hunting. But anything is better than doing nothing," another manughed and took a sip of his alcohol.

    "I remember there was one more guy, right? I haven''t seen him for a long time. Where did he go?"

    "That''s right. He didn''te on the hunt with us either, did he already leave or something."

    "Do you think he can? If he broke the rules, his family would be the first to kill him. He must be here somewhere."

    "Don''t bother about him. I saw him at the library. That fool is just sitting there reading those useless books."

    The conversation turned in an entirely different direction.

    Instead of talking about the ways they were going to find entertainment, everyone started talking about that one odd person who had never truly be a part of their group.

    "I never liked that person one bit. It always feels like he''s looking down on us. Just because he''s from a decent family, he thinks he''s something else entirely."

    "I

    agree. His gaze always annoyed me. It''s good that he is staying away from us."

    The group was immersed in the conversation when the door suddenly sprung open. Everyone turned towards the door and the ce went silent.

    "Hmm? What is that?"

    A young man rubbed his eyes, wondering if something was wrong with his vision. He saw a person step inside the hall, but he could not see that person''s face or even anything else.

    His presence was like a void, sucking the life out of everything it touched. Even the torches on the walls flickered and died, unable to withstand his dark aura of abyss. The Children of Heaven stood up. At first, they thought that the missing person had returned from the library, but all of them understood that it wasn''t the same person. They weren''t even sure if it could even be called a person in the first ce. This was the first time they had seen something like this.

    This person had a body, but at the same time, he didn''t have a body. It was just like the darkness that was trying to imitate a body.

    "Who are you? Are you also sent by ''them"?" Someone asked.

    They weren''t sure what this thing was, but it didn''t look like something that belonged to this world. It made them wonder if this thing was sent by the Angels.

    Was this also from a subordinate species like them? Was this another unlucky person who was stuck here?

    "Can you show us your pass to prove your permission?"

    A young Child of Heaven stepped forward. Although he felt like this person wasn''t normal, he didn''t think that it was someone who was here to harm them.

    This ce was under the Seal of Angels. Unless one was sent by the Angels, they could not use their abilities here. If the person could use them, it meant he was truly one of them.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    The young man reached out his hand, asking for identity proof.

    The dark figure also raised his hand, but he didn''t show any identity or pass. He simply ced his hand on the man''s head, grabbing his skull.

    Before the young child coulde out of his shock and react, mes of the abyss

    spread from the dark figure''s hand.

    The mes fell over the young man''s body like a tornado that was swallowing him whole.

    "Arghhh!" The young man''s painful cries filled the entire ce as he tried to stop the mes and free himself.

    "He''s an enemy!" The others came to a realization. One of them tried to save the young man, sending a cold gust of wind to freeze the mes.

    "Huh?" The cold winds failed to stop the mes. Instead, they caught the mes which spread through the wind like it was fuel.

    The mes reached the man who had tried to save his friend and swallowed him as

    well.

    The dark figure looked at the other Children of Heaven. They were all fated for death. This was his master''s order.

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 Chapter 994 Chapter 994: Origin

    ?

    994 Chapter 994: Origin

    The children of heaven watched in shock as one of their own died before their eyes, simply by being touched by those mes.

    They all retreated cautiously, creating distance from the shadowy figure.

    "Who are you?!" one of them shouted.

    They hesitated to attack, bing extremely cautious. They didn''t even know that person''s identity. Was he sent by the Angels?

    If that was the case, why was he attacking them? Had something happened outside during their absence that they were unaware of? That appeared unlikely.

    The shadowy figure remained silent. Even if it could speak, it saw no point in conversing with them.

    "Are you a friend of those insects? Or a creation of the civilization left behind?" another child of heaven asked.

    There were only two kinds of people who could be here. One was people with permission from the Angels and the second were those who were already in this world.

    "Since you are showing up only now, it must mean you are here because we captured them."

    The young man picked up one of the prisoners.

    "Are you here to save these insects?" He startedughing, convinced that he had guessed correctly.

    "Step away, or I will kill one person for every second you stay in this hall!" hemanded, testing if the shadowy figure cared about these people.

    The dark being remained unfazed. It raised a hand, and the abyssal mes leapt forth

    once more.

    The Child of Heaven, the one who had spoken, was engulfed in an instant. The prisoner he had taken hostage wasn''t spared either.

    His screams were cut short as his body was consumed by the mes.

    The others watched, their expressions darkening.

    "He is here to kill us all!" one of the Children of Heaven said through clenched teeth. "Avoid his mes, and we should be able to kill this bastard!"

    The hall erupted into chaos. Fireballs, lightning bolts, and razor-sharp gusts of wind shot towards the dark figure, trying to destroy it.

    But the figure destroyed all the attacks with its mes, which devoured the energy within those assaults. It struck back, and abyssal mes spread through the hall as if they were alive.

    The Children of Heaven were even more taken aback. Why was this fire so strange? It

    was able to devour their attacks like they were nothing.

    They thought only the Angels were able to do this. How was this person doing this? Although they didn''t know who this person was, they were certain that it was not an angel.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Angels were pure beings that were born from divinity. But this thing... It looked less divine and more demonic. It wasn''t just the darkness that made it different from the Angels but also its form.

    Even the Children of Heaven knew that the Angels didn''t look like humans. They just took human form to make things easier for them as seeing their divine form could make anyone go crazy.

    That''s why the Angels kept their divine form hidden in a different reality and took a human form with wings. But this thing... It was nothing like that.

    The Mother Whale watched the dark me flying everywhere in the room, targeting the Children of Heaven only.

    Every time the mes flew past her, she was frozen in fear and felt suppressed. She looked at her son who was not far from her, concern evident in her eyes.

    She knew that even if the dark me wasn''t targeting the prisoners, it was only a matter of time before they were going to die with everyone else. She had to get out of here.

    She observed the mes carefully and when she saw a flicker of those mesing towards her, she turned around and moved her hands just enough to have the flicker of abyssal me touch those shackles.

    Even the divine shackles that restricted their abilities didn''tst much against the speck of dark mes. The shackles were devoured by the dark mes, freeing her from their constraints.

    With her hands free, she freed her legs as well before standing up. She rushed to her child and picked him up.

    The other prisoners also asked her to free them, but she did not spare a single nce at them. She just wanted to get out of this ce with her son. Nothing else mattered

    to her.

    Unfortunately, the exit was being blocked by the dark figure and all the walls were surrounded by the dark me, sealing the Children of Heaven in this hall.

    The ce that was supposed to be their prison had turned into the prison of the children of heaven who weren''t doing great either.

    The Children of Heaven kept dying one after another, their resistance proving useless against this thing.

    Some of them sent a signal to their families, hoping for help. But even they knew that it was impossible tost until their families came here or this information reached

    the Angels.

    ****

    Karyk wore the King''s Ring. He had already taken the Prince''s gift from the ring, but there were still a few more things in the ring that he didn''t want to leave behind.

    He moved closer to the spot where the altar used to be. Instead of an altar, something like a well was in its ce, protected by a seal.

    All the blood from the well was missing, but still the seal was left behind. Karyk ced his hand on the seal and tried to break it.

    He used the essence of the abyss, overwhelming the seal. With an overwhelming strength, he destroyed the seal on the empty well.

    After breaking the seal, he jumped inside the well to see if there was anything left behind by the Angels.

    This was the ce where he was born. Even if he couldn''t find that blood, there were still a lot of answers he needed at this ce.

    He didn''t know whose blood was in the puddle and how it was even linked to the

    abyss in the first ce. It couldn''t be the blood of the abyss in the first ce as the abyss wasn''t a physical entity at that time.

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 Chapter 995 Chapter 995: Let me show you

    ?

    995 Chapter 995: Let me show you

    Karyk jumped inside the well, which felt extremely deep when he was drowning within the illusion of the past. But as hended at the bottom of the well, he was surprised to find that it wasn''t as long as he thought.

    The well was only around thirty feet deep. He snapped his fingers and created the source of light around him. Under the light from the mes, he observed the walls of the well.

    He could see that someone had scratched the walls, destroying a huge chunk of it. There was something clearly erased from the wall, forcefully.

    He touched the deep marks on the wall which made it impossible to see what happened to be in this ce in the past. Was that thing the reason for that blood? He wondered.

    "Just what were you trying to hide?"

    He could feel that the walls of this well were extremely hard. Even leaving a small scratch on the wall wasn''t an easy job, but someone had destroyed a huge chunk of the wall. It couldn''t be for no reason.

    "Did they expect someone toe here?" He thought out loud. If they didn''t expect someone to be able toe here, they wouldn''t need to destroy this.

    "But if they expected someone toe and already destroyed every remnant, then why was there a sealing formation above? Unless it was a..."

    Karyk looked above, his expressions darkening. He had destroyed the formation, but he saw another bright formation appearing above the well.

    "I see. That sealing formation was just a trigger to...''

    Before he could finish his sentence, a blinding light emerged from the new formation, falling inside the well like the wrath of heaven to destroy everything within.

    The light that fell from the sky reminded Karyk of the Angel''s attacks when they were fighting the king. The only difference was that the attack that a formation could conjure was weaker than an Angel''s full strength attack.

    "To set a trap, shouldn''t you stop underestimating the target?"

    Karyk''s shadow started getting bigger until it came out of the group, turning all his surroundings pitch ck.

    The darkness of the abyss that was born from his shadow shot towards the sky, shing with the light of angels.

    Within seconds, the entire light was swallowed by the darkness. The heavy formation in the sky started cracking as the Darkness swallowed the light, even reaching that formation.

    The entirend of desert had turned pitch ck at that moment. There was no light,

    or even any sound. The formation in the sky shattered into countless pieces, scattering across the darkenedndscape.

    Karyk jumped out of the well andnded on the ck sand above. The entire world was swallowed by darkness, but he felt like he was at home. He was able to see

    everything clearly even in the darkness.

    With his hands in his pocket, Karyk walked towards the exit, leaving another pair of footsteps behind that apanied the Thief''s footsteps.

    The child that was carried by the thief in his arms was now old enough to leave his own imprint in this world.

    The darkness in the world retreated and returned to Karyk''s shadow, returning the world to its original shade.

    He left the separate realm and returned to the Pce.

    "He seems to be having a good time." As soon as he came out of the Pce, he sensed the undead who were using the mes of the abyss.

    Karyk disappeared from the Pce and teleported outside the ce where the nightmare of the Children of Heaven was taking ce.

    Karyk pushed open the door, finding the mes of the abyss blocking the entrance. He walked straight through the wall of me that didn''t harm him in the slightest.

    He entered the hall and saw that the Undead had already destroyed all the Children of Heaven. There was only one who was left alive and even that one was on his knees, pleading for forgiveness.

    "I-I will leave this ce! I will never step foot in this world! Please let me leave!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The man had seen all his friends die. At this point, he was so horrified that he didn''t even have the courage to fight. At this rate, he didn''t even believe that he could drag this until his family sent someone here.

    The Abyssal Undead didn''t answer. He silently stepped aside, giving the man an impression that he was free to leave.

    "T-thank you! I will leave right away!" The man stood up, his legs still shaking.

    He tried to run towards the exit, but his footsteps came to a sudden halt at the sight before him. At the entrance, there were more Abyssal Undead! There wasn''t just one. There were already over five!

    "H-how?" He stuttered while turning around.

    Soon, he caught the sight of a human who was walking from the corpse of one Child of Heaven to the next. And every corpse he walked past, a new undead rose from the

    corpse.

    The young man was at a loss of words. This seemingly young man was behind it all? "I told you to kill them, but weren''t you too rough? More than half of them are nothing more than ashes," Karyk started chiding the Undead.

    He was only able to create around six more undead as every other Child of Heaven was destroyed beyond repair. He couldn''t bring someone back from ashes if their souls and body were destroyed to this extent.

    The young man was frozen in ce to see the Undead lower his head before Karyk, as if apologizing.

    "Sigh, it''s fine. It''s my fault for not being clear in the first ce." Karyk sighed while turning towards the young man. "It''s a good time that one is still alive. Let me show you how you are supposed to kill them."

    Karyk raised his right hand and pointed a finger at the young man.

    The young man stepped back and stumbled on his own feet as he fell at the feet of the prisoners.

    He felt a sudden pain rising within his body, even though Karyk hadn''t done anything other than point at him. His expressions soon distorted as the pain increased.

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 Chapter 996 Chapter 996: Devouring the world

    ?

    996 Chapter 996: Devouring the world

    The same ck me appeared, but this time even he couldn''t see it. He could just feel it. The me had lit up inside his own body. To be more specific, it appeared right around his heart.

    It wasn''t his body that turned to ashes but his heart that did. Even until he died, the man didn''t believe that this was all reality and not just a nightmare.

    Karyk walked closer to the corpse.

    "Arise..."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    The same darkness emanated from the man''s body and swallowed his entire body. It was devouring his body, but also creating something new.

    In front of everyone''s eyes, an Abyssal Undead arose. The body of the man was destroyed, and only this chunk of darkness that took a human shape was left behind. "That makes it seven."

    His shadow becamerger, covering the entire floor. All the Abyssal Undead fell inside his shadow and disappeared. The mes that were sealing the hall also disappeared. "I didn''t expect you to be here as well," Karyk caught the sight of the Mother Whale who was standing in the distance with the child in her arms.

    He waved his fingers and destroyed all the restraints around people''s hands and legs. The others looked at each other''s faces before they all lowered their heads respectfully. They didn''t know who this person was, but he had saved them. Without him, they might have died.

    Even if he hadn''t saved them, could they afford to offend him? Just one of those shadow creatures had destroyed all the Children of Heaven, and now he had seven? If he wanted to destroy them, could they even resist.

    "You don''t need to thank me. I just kept my promise with her. You can leave," Karyk told the others.

    The people in the hall were initially very hostile and disgusted at the Mother Whale. She had chosen to run away instead of freeing them. If there wasn''t the ming seal around the hall, she would have run away without looking back.

    But the moment they heard that she was associated with his man, many of them gulped down heavily, their backs drenched in cold sweat.

    "T-thank you." They thanked the Mother Whale as well who didn''t know how to respond.

    It was true that she had guided him in exchange for his help in killing the Children of Heaven. But she didn''t expect him to actually achieve this.

    She had even thought that he had died. But not only was he alive, but he was so strong when he returned. Was this why he was so confident?

    "I..." She didn''t know what else to say. She simply stood there at a loss of words. Karyk appeared in front of the Mother Whale. She subconsciously stepped back. "You don''t need to say anything. As I said, I simply kept my promise."

    He didn''t know that the two whales who helped him were kept as prisoners here. He thought they most probably escaped into the sea after his disappearance.

    He simply sent the undead here to kill the Children of Heaven and not to save them. It just happened to be a coincidence that they were saved.

    He moved closer to the young whale who was now in a human form. The young whale had been very naive in the past. He hadn''t seen enough of the world or the cruelty.

    This was why he saved a stranger like him without worrying about his own safety. But now, the child appeared to have seen what the world was truly like.

    The Child knew Karyk, but still he couldn''t let out the scenes of cruelty from his mind. When Karyk came close to him, his body started trembling in fear.

    "I told you, I was a bad guy." Karyk didn''t take it to heart. He simply smiled as he turned around.

    "You can leave, and don''t worry. From now on, no one will be able to harm this ce. My home will not be the yground of angels anymore."

    Karyk stepped out of the hall.

    The young child watched Karyk''s back getting distant. He clenched his fist. Even though he was scared, he gathered his courage and ran after Karyk to thank him. Unfortunately, when he stepped out of the hall, he failed to find Karyk anywhere. That man had simply disappeared.

    At that moment, Karyk stood atop the border wall. However, there was no reaction from the wall.

    "I see. You are truly gone," he mumbled under his breath, unable to feel any life from the wall. It was as if the spirit of the wall was already dying but it still held on in wait for him so it could guide him.

    "If I''m not wrong, you also thought that I was a prince... But I don''t me you." "I might not be the Prince that you all believe me to be, but I will definitely fulfill the responsibility of the Prince. This ce, I will take it back now."

    Karyk tapped his foot lightly in the fall before he flew towards the sky.

    He kept flying higher and higher until he reached the barrier cast by the Angels which had kept outsider''s powers in this world sealed.

    He flew past the barrier that failed to stop him. High in the space, he looked at the from outside the barrier.

    In the darkness of space, his shadow became bigger and bigger until it flew towards the world.

    His shadow covered the entire world, along with the barrier. Under the devouring of his shadow, the barrier of the Angels shattered in the blink of an eye.

    Soon, the entire world was consumed by his shadow, but it wasn''t destroyed.

    He simply shifted this world in his shadow, detaching it from every other form of

    reality. Even the Angels could not reach this world.

    After consuming the world, his shadow retreated. The ce where the world used to

    be, all that was left there was an empty space.

    "Thank you for everything..." Karyk muttered, looking at the empty space. A portal opened up behind him and he flew inside the portal.

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 Chapter 997 Chapter 997: Last sight

    ?

    997 Chapter 997: Last sight

    In the middle of nowhere, a Spatial Crack appeared. From the crack, a person stepped out, shrouded in a ck cloak.

    "Is this the ce you selected?"

    Karyk observed his new surroundings, noticing that this wasn''t earth. However, this was the ce where he had managed to locate Gabriel''s trace.

    When he made Gabriel leave, he thought that he was going to make a home on earth or the upper realm. But he didn''t expect Gabriel to find a ce like this.

    "Is this..."

    He went down on a knee and saw a few broken crystal pieces. The crystal had the same essence as the crystal that was given to the Prince as a gift by the Angels.

    He picked up the broken fragments, able to confirm that this was the same time. Unfortunately it was useless after being broken.

    "Did the Angels get their hands on this ce as well? Could it be because of..." He looked at the high cliff in the distance, from where he had felt Gabriel''s trace. He wasn''t sure if this was just a coincidence for this time to be so close to Gabriel. Did the Angels already find him?

    He shrouded himself with the essence of the abyss, turning invisible from even thews of this world.

    He flew towards the cliff, and soonnded on the top of it. Atop the cliff, he was able to see only one house. It wasn''t even a proper vi, but something very mediocre and ordinary.

    "How strange. I don''t see any trace of the Angels here."

    Karyk approached the house, but just as he was about to reach near it, he saw the door open.

    A girl stepped out of the house, carrying a bright smile on her face.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Zena..." Karyk muttered, subconsciously reaching out his hand. However, he controlled himself. Clenching his fist, he retracted his hand.

    "Brother,e fast! We will bete!" Zena called out while looking behind her.

    "me the others. They take too long to be ready." A young man stepped out of the house, adjusting his gloves.

    The young man looked identical to Karyk, but there were a lot of differences, especially from the moment Karyk had remembered his past.

    Apanying Gabriel, the Holy Priestess of Summoning also stepped out of the house. Cylix, Novious and the others also came out one after another.

    "They look happy." Karyk could see that there was genuine happiness.

    He had thought that Gabriel might be a little down, but he had also started a new beginning, leaving his past behind.

    Seeing them happy, Karyk couldn''t help but smile. The only reason he came to find Gabriel was because he wanted to check if his family was fine.

    In a way, this was thest time he was seeing his family and he wanted to confirm that they had the life they deserved.

    Zena held Gabriel''s hands and started pulling him.

    "Don''t worry. The fair willst for an entire week." Gabriel ced his hand on Zena''s head, ruffling her hair gently. "We have plenty of time."

    "Hmph, what if they run out of all the good things?" Zena pouted cutely.

    Karyk watched the entire group leave. Not only were they not able to see them, but they couldn''t even sense him.

    He wasn''t sure if it was going to work on Gabriel who had evolved, but it surprisingly worked well.

    "It is good to see that you are doing well..." Karyk stepped back, watching the others disappear in the distant horizon.

    "Now I can be free of worry and do what I must."

    He pulled out the spatial crystal that was given to the Prince as a gift. It was the same crystal that Gabriel had broken, but even more powerful.

    Usually, it was impossible to manipte the location in the spatial crystal, but Karyk had thoroughly analyzed it.

    He was certain that the coordinates set in the crystal were of something like their main residence.

    He didn''t want to appear in the middle of an angel group. He modified the coordinates in the crystal only a little to make sure he was brought far away from the predetermined location but not too far.

    "This much distance should be enough," Karyk grabbed the crystal and prepared to activate it, but just as he was about to activate it, he came to a sudden halt.

    "Hmm? Is that?" Frowning, he looked in a particr direction.

    His figure disappeared and in the next moment, he appeared in the middle of a city at an abandoned temple.

    "Someone unsuitable has taken the crystal."

    Two youngsters were standing in the middle of the temple hall, which had

    reappeared with their arrival.

    They had used an ability which started reying the past in the crystal. Even as all the traces were erased, but not enough time had passed.

    With the use of their abilities, they were able to see what happened at this ce. And what they saw shocked them.

    They saw a young man stealing the crystal and then killing the person who that crystal should have belonged to.

    "When I sensed that the crystal was broken, I knew something must have happened.

    It seems I was right. As for that person.... Isn''t that the one that the Angels have been

    looking for?"

    The men smirked at the realization. They had found information which could elevate their status immensely.

    "We must inform them!" One of them said.

    "I''m afraid you won''t be informing anyone." A voice echoed in the grand hall. "This is enough interference in their lives from you."

    "Who?!" The two men turned to find the source of that voice.

    With Gabriel''s abilities, he brought Zena and others to the city with teleportation. However, the moment hended, he also noticed something.

    "I will be right back." He told Zena before disappearing without them.

    He also appeared in the temple, but his face was only filled with surprise when he saw scorching burn marks all over the hall. There were no signs of any fight or any person being alive here.

    He didn''t understand what happened? He was certain he had felt an aura simr to Elzeirans.

    Zena was taken aback with Gabriel''s sudden disappearance. The others told her to have fun while Gabriel finished his work, but she was stubborn to wait for him." While she was looking around for her brother, she saw him standing at the end of an alley. He was waving his hands at her with a smile that appeared somewhat mncholic.

    "I am sorry for going away so suddenly." A hand was ced on Zena''s shoulder as she heard Gabriel''s voice.

    She turned to the person who touched her and grew shocked as it was Gabriel.

    "Huh? Brother? If you are here then who...?"

    She turned towards the end of the alley, but there was no one there anymore. She scratched the back of her head in confusion, wondering if she was hallucinating. Karyk had long since disappeared inside the alley. He returned to the endless space. Taking a deep breath, he brought out the Angel''s crystal and held it firmly in his

    hand.

    He activated the crystal and disappeared.

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 Chapter 998 Chapters 998: Repulsive World

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    998 Chapters 998: Repulsive World

    Karyk activated the Prince''s gift.

    A swirling vortex of energy enveloped him, pulling him through dimensions at a speed that made his senses blur. Other than slightly manipting the coordinates, he didn''t have any other control over it.

    Instead, it was as if an entirely different force was controlling his surroundings to make sure he wasn''t lost in theplicated spatial maze.

    The strange force hade from the gift that was given to the Prince. It didn''t harm him directly, but it didn''t particrly care for him either.

    If he didn''t have the protection of the abyss, he was sure he would have been ripped apart during this journey.

    As he uncontrobly flew through the spatial tunnel, he noticed another different thing from his usual spatial travels.

    Normally, he could only connect two different spaces in the form of a spatial tunnel, moving through them. And when he was within this spatial tunnel, he could not see anything else other than his destination.

    This time, the destination was the only thing he couldn''t see. He could see everything else along this uncontroble journey that took him past multiple worlds.

    He had started from the world where Gabriel was residing, but along the way, he also saw the remains of his own world fly past. Not long after, he saw earth zoom past him, mixed with a myriad of others.

    Everything happened so fast that he couldn''t even focus on these words.

    Every second, tens of worlds flew past him. Every minute, he zoomed across multiple gxies, at times even defying the barriers of time.

    Even with his fortified consciousness, he was starting to get dizzy along the way. However, he quickly came to his senses when he found himself kicked out of the spatial tunnel.

    When he reemerged, he was in an unfamiliarnd, shrouded in mist.

    As he was kicked out of the spatial tunnel, he maintained the same momentum which sent him flying forward. Even as he tried to control his body and stop, he was just too fast.

    Before he coulde to a halt, his body shed on a distant mountain, stuck within the giant hole created with the impact.

    In front of the size of the giant mountain, he looked no different than a speck of dust which wasn''t even visible from a distance.

    Despite that, the impact of this fall was so strong that tiny cracks started spreading across the mountain.

    As the cracks spread, they covered the entire mountain. And just like that, the mountain came crumbling down, burying Karyk within.

    Karyk, buried under the rubble, felt the weight of the mountain pressing down on him. Fortunately, his shadow had surrounded his entire body, covering him in a protective barrier right before the mountain was to fall.

    He could push the entire weight of the mountain aside with a proper attack, but he wasn''t even sure where he was at this moment. He didn''t want to catch any unnecessary attention before understanding his surroundings.

    He used his Abyssal Energy to push the stones away and create a small pocket of space where he could move.

    Every obstruction that couldn''t be moved, was drilled through with brute force. He created a tunnel of his own to get out of the rubble.

    With the giant mountain resting above him, the path out of it was also longer. To make his journey shorter, he didn''t step foot on the rocks and instead hovered through the tunnel towards the exit.

    Soon, he was able to feel the fresh air and see the lighting in from the distance. He increased his speed and soon came out of the rubble.

    After emerging from the rubble, he took a moment to catch his breath and sat on the rocks, under which he had been buried until a short moment ago.

    His eyes scanned the surroundings, trying to make sense of this new ce.

    He found ake spread around the mountain in which he was sitting. Or rather, this mountain had been floating on the massiveke that was as vast as a sea.

    There were even volcanoes right next to the mountain he had struck. Just a little off and he would have flown straight inside a volcano instead.

    Thendscape was strange. He saw twisted treesing out of the volcano that were alive. The trees not only had eyes but they also had a mouth which made them look even ugly.

    Those hundreds of feet tall trees were screaming something. Even from a distance, Karyk could hear their words. They were telling him toe closer, saying they had a treasure for him.

    "What a disgusting ce."

    Just the air of this ce alone made Karyk feel repulsed from the depths of his heart. Grrrr-

    Suddenly, a low growl echoed through the surroundings and the trees instantly went silent. Some were even shivering.

    From behind the giant volcano, Karyk saw two horns rise. And soon, a head also came out, appearing like a Wolf''s head.

    However, the wolf appeared to be so huge that his figure was barely hidden behind the volcano. It was at least half the size of a mountain which he had destroyed.

    As for the hundred feet tall trees, they looked no different than small bones for a dog. The wolf ripped through one of the trees, sat right next to the volcano and started

    chewing it.

    Karyk had an even better view of the wolf; it appeared next to the volcano, revealing its entire body.

    "What a strange world. Even an ordinary wolf is so huge?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    He didn''t even finish arranging his thoughts when he heard a screech in the sky. The wolf also raised his head, along with Karyk.

    Both of them looked at the sky, arge section of which had turned dark as an evenrger creature flew past them in the sky.

    Karyk couldn''t even see the entire body of the giant creature. All he saw was one side of its wings, each feather being iprehensiblyrge.

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 Chapter 999 Chapter 999: Not one of them

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    999 Chapter 999: Not one of them

    As the shadowy creature flew over him, Karyk watched in disbelief. He couldn''t even recognise what creature it was as he couldn''t see its entire body.

    In this world, even a wolf was the size of half the mountain. As for the bird, it was evenrger. And these were just two of the creatures that he had seen so far.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Karyk felt like he had appeared in the world of giants, where some things wererge beyondprehension.

    The enormous winged beast cast a giant shadow over thendscape, plunging everything beneath it into a temporary night.

    It didn''t even p its wings, but still the surroundings were caught in a windstorm.

    Some trees on the volcano were uprooted with the impact of the winds. Lava also flew high, caught in the storm.

    Even the rubble on which Karyk was sitting, started rising with the wind. It was as if the massive rocks had turned weightless.

    "A weird ce indeed." Karyk raised his hand, casting a barrier around the rubble where he was sitting. It protected him from the wind as well as the giant stones, trees and volcanic remnants flying everywhere.

    The storm disappeared when the mysterious bird was gone from Karyk''s sight. The darkness in the sky was gone and his surroundings became brighter again.

    The surroundings were changed a lot. Most of the trees were uprooted, and the rocks from his mountain were lying on the volcano.

    The only thing that hadn''t changed was the giant wolf that was still sitting, chewing on the twisted trees.

    He hadn''t moved even an inch, but still he waspletely fine. There wasva remnant around him, but none had managed to touch his fur.

    "Did he use a barrier as well?"

    Karyk didn''t know how the wolf waspletely fine even in that situation. He had been distracted by the bird, so didn''t notice what the wolf did. Was he just lucky or did it use a skill?

    The wolf, seemingly undeterred by the flying creature, resumed its meal, biting on the twisted tree as if it were a mere snack. Karyk, however, knew better than to underestimate the inhabitants of this world.

    It was clear that this world went beyond hismon sense. If these were just the ordinary beasts in this world, then what were mythical beasts here?

    His eyes drifted back to the misty terrain surrounding theke, which was unique in its own way. Even with his improved vision, he couldn''t see through that mist. He stood up, brushing the dust off his clothes, and began to walk along the edge of theke. His shadow followed behind, looking a little different from him.

    He didn''t have any weapon in his hand. He was walking bare handed, wearing clothes made from the essence of the abyss.

    His shadow, however, appeared to carry a shadow scythe that was evenrger than his entire body. The de of the scythe was in the form of a crescent moon that was over five meters long.

    As Karyk reached near theke, he noticed that the path had started to get even more uneven, with strange shaped rocks making the floor.

    Still, this looked to be the most ordinary aspect of this world,pared to the volcanoes and the giant creatures of this world.

    "Looks like I was a little hasty with my judgment," Karyk thought as he noticed the water of theke was not ordinary.

    His reflections in theke seemed almost too perfect, as if they were showing another reality. He crouched down and dipped his fingers into the water, feeling a strange warmth that contrasted with the cool misty air.

    Suddenly, the water began to ripple, and a face emerged from the depths.

    Karyk instinctively jumped back, ready for anything.

    "Who are you?" the face asked, its voice echoing as ifing from the depths of theke itself.

    "I should be the one asking that question. Who are you? Are you the spirit of thiske?" Karyk asked in return.

    The face was made from theke''s water, as if theke was talking to him. If it wasn''t someone''s ability, then it was the doing of theke itself.

    The face studied him for a moment. However, there was no response from theke. There was only absolute silence.

    "I see... You are not one of them..." Theke finally broke its silence while the face disappeared.

    "One of them?" Karyk frowned, wondering what this thing was talking about. Was he talking about angels?

    Before Karyk could even try to ask for a rification, he saw a crystal vinee out of the water, shooting straight for him.

    The vine wrapped itself around Karyk, forcefully pulling him towards the ocean.

    "Is that how it''s going to be? Since I''m not one of ''them'', you think you can consume me?"

    Karyk firmly nted his foot on the ground, shadow spikesing out of his body that prated the crystal wine that had wrapped around his body. Ordinary shadow essence couldn''t harm the vine, but when merged with the shadow of the abyss, the vine around Karyk''s body was destroyed into small fragments. His shadow also came out of the graina the beerus omike alleina the min a Hide all

    that hade out of the ground before it could even retreat inside water. "How did you do it?!" The face again appeared on the surface of the water, shocked. "You are not one of them. So how?! Who are you?!"

    "Who am I? You should have wondered about that before attacking me, shouldn''t you?"

    Karyk reached out his hand. His shadow appeared next to him and handed over the shadow scythe.

    "I don''t know what this world is like, but one thing is the same, no matter where I go. If you target me, I will return it a hundred fold. So... Let''s see what you actually are."

    He raised his scythe, which was strengthened even more. Karyk brought his scythe down, leaving the trail of abyssal essence in its wake.

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 Chapter 1000 Chapter 1000: Something useful

    Chapter 1000 Chapter 1000: Something useful

    The giant wolf was peacefully chewing on the tree,pletely unaffected by the massive bird that had flown past the sky.

    He hadn''t even raided his head, as if it wasn''t a new phenomenon. However, only a few minutes had passed when he finally raised his head and looked in the direction of theke.

    He heard a loud explosion that was apanied by a disgusting stench. He also saw an arc of darkness rise from the ground and fly straight ahead, destroying theke in its path.

    The Wolf growled weakly, and tossed the tree aside. With one leap, he flew high in the sky, directlynding in the middle of the evaporatedke.

    Karyk attacked the strangeke, which had attacked him first. He swung the shadow scythe, cutting through theke.

    The darkke retaliated, sending more vines toward Karyk, but everything proved insignificant before the devouring of the abyss.

    The strange water of the abyss, which had a life of its own, was devoured by Karyk, leaving nothing behind.

    Even the vines that hade from the depths of the water were nowhere to be found anymore. There was only an emptyke, with a deep ravine carved in the middle thanks to Karyk''s attack.

    He was about to check to see if there was anything special there which gave life to thatke. However, as he was about to jump down, he felt a rush of wind.

    The sky once again turned dark, followed by a massive figure appearing before him. The ground trembled as the Wolfnded in front of him, making him appear even smaller than an ant inparison.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "I should have expected to catch your attention."

    Karyk tightened his grip on the scythe.

    The giant wolf, now standing in the center of the ravine, observed the tiny human with a mix of curiosity.

    Its enormous paws left deep imprints in the soft, damp earth as it moved closer to the human, who had revealed that disgusting stench.

    Karyk, still gripping the shadow scythe, turned his gaze towards the wolf. His eyes, dark and piercing, met the creature''s bright, golden ones.

    For a moment, neither moved. Unfortunately, the silence didn''tst for long.

    The wolf growled again, a low rumble that seemed to shake the very ground, its eyes turning from curiosity to hostility.

    Even with its giant body, its speed was not affected. If anything, it was faster than an ordinary wolf.

    "So be it... I will take you with me as well."

    Karyk jumped back, avoiding the Wolf''s sharp w that made the ground beneath the crack with the impact alone.

    With a swift motion, Karyk swung the scythe, its de slicing through the air with a cold, whispering hum.

    "Hmm?" Karyk''s scythe flew straight for the Wolf''s w that hadnded on the ground, appearing as if someone was trying to stab a wolf with the smallest of needles.

    The Wolf didn''t even try to avoid Karyk''s scythe, instead roaring as if it was raged. However, he suddenly sensed an even bigger danger.

    It was as if a predator had opened its giant jaws to devour him whole. The entire area was covered by Karyk''s shadow, and this shadow was evenrger than the Wolf.

    He felt like the shadow had opened its beastly jaws to devour him.

    The wolf, sensing danger, twisted its massive body mid-leap, narrowly avoiding the shadow on the ground. Its fur rustled as itnded, skidding across the ravaged earth before regaining its footing.

    Unfortunately, that sense of danger was still not gone. He again leapt up in the sky, trying to get away from here.

    This human was strange. Even if it was disgusted by the human''s aura, he didn''t want to stay in his proximity. The human was dangerous, despite his small size. "Where are you going?" Karyk raided his left hand, his shadowing out of the ground in the form of a vine that wrapped around the Wolf''s body mid-air. The Wolf was strong, and even Karyk''s vines couldn''t stop him when he jumped. Instead, the strong wolf dragged Karyk''s shadow with him as well.

    "Since you are already here, then there is no need to leave."

    Karyk ran forward, his shadow appearing beneath him, forming a staircase that lifted him higher with each step.

    He sprinted up the shadow stairs, his target still too far away. As he reached the necessary height, he summoned all his strength and leaped higher.

    The vines restraining the Wolf tightened, applying more force to slow it down.

    The scythe in Karyk''s hand grew with each passing second, until he towered above the giant Wolf.

    The de of his shadow scythe expanded, appearing to the Wolf as vast and ominous as the moon.

    The Wolf tried to change direction upon seeing Karyk in front of him, but the vines held him firmly in ce.

    The giant Wolf saw the dark moon-like scythe sh before his eyes, its crescent arc descending straight towards his head.

    The Wolf roared, shaking the entirendscape with its might. The roar abruptly ceased as the scythe cleaved through the Wolf''s skull, slicing his body into two

    halves.

    The attack continued forward, its momentum unstoppable, eventually slicing the entire volcano in two, sendingva flying uncontrobly in all directions.

    The sliced up corpse of the giant wolf, who had stayed in this ce for centuries, fell from the sky. Even in death, it couldn''t believe that such a small existence had taken

    his life.

    The corpse of the Wolf was swallowed by Karyk''s shadow as soon as it fell. Nothing belonging to the corpse of the shadow wolf was left behind.

    Soon after, Karyk alsonded on the ground, standing on the tform made by his shadow, watching theva trickle down under the floating tform.

    "What a mess this ce has be... But at least I received something useful. Isn''t

    that right...?"

    The scythe in his hand disappeared, merging in his shadows.

    "Rise!" hemanded.

 Chapter 1001 Chapter 1001: Titans

    Chapter 1001 Chapter 1001: Titans

    A giant beast leapt out of Karyk''s shadow, having the same size and shape as the Giant Wolf that he had killed. The only difference was that it didn''t have any bones, or even flesh.

    The beast was made purely from the essence of death, that came into existence after devouring the dead wolf.

    Karyk jumped up andnded on the back of the undead beast which started running over theva,pletely unaffected.

    It didn''t have a sense of pain. And even if it was hurt, it could still heal itself as long as the essence of death was still connected with Karyk''s abyss.

    The shadow wolf ran over the sea ofva that had formed all around Karyk, soon reaching thend where theva was yet to reach.

    Along the way, Karyk saw another giant creature. It was a snake that was coiled around a mountain, sleeping.

    Not far from him, there were signs of battle. It was as if the Giant Snake had fought something, and in the end it won.

    As there were no remnants of the defeated beast or any signs of it running away, it was clear that the snake had eaten his target and was sleeping now.

    "Is everything in this world so huge? It''s like the world of the titans."

    He didn''t expect toe across a world like this, especially since the Angels he hade across in the past were the same size as him. He thought this world was going to be simr to his own world in that aspect.

    At times, he even wondered if he was in the right ce. Was the gift given to the Prince a trap set by angels?

    "That seems unlikely. If that was the case, Prince''s father would have noticed it when he checked it after taking it from the Prince. If it''s not a trap, that means this actually is the world where the Angels live."

    The wolf kept racing through the vast forest. asionally, Karyk came across even more giant creatures.

    Some creatures ignored him, while others attacked him directly. Thanks to that, he was able to increase the number of his undead along the way.

    The only beast he hadn''te across was a flying beast, just like the massive bird that he wasn''t even able to see properly.

    He asionally flew higher than the trees to see the right direction. But as far as his eyes could see, he only saw the giant trees spread across the entirendscape.

    "It looks like it''s going to be a long journey."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Hended back on the Shadow Wolf and kept going in the direction they had selected.

    Three months passed, and Karyk still wasn''t out of the forest. However, his undead army now had ten beasts, each having something unique about them.

    On the evening of the 90th day since he came to this world, Karyk told the Wolf to stop.

    The ground beneath them had started trembling. It wasn''t the first time it happened. Every time they came across a giant beast, a simr phenomenon was taking ce. The shadow wolf skidded to a halt, and Karyk dismounted, his senses on high alert. He called forth his scythe and started waiting for the beast toe closer. The wolf was also ready to attack the creature. However, the moment Karyk finally saw the glimpse of what wasing, he gestured to the shadow beasts to retreat. His shadow beasts returned to his Shadow, leaving only Karyk behind, who also hid swiftly himself on a tree branch.

    The trembling of the ground became stronger, and finally the thing came into light. It was a human, or at least something that looked like a human.

    It was a human that was a giant, even taller than the wolf he had killed. The arms of the Titan were as thick as the shadow wolf''s head.

    With each swing of his arms, he was uprooting the trees in his path to clear the way for him. The Titan was not alone either. There was an entire group of them that were uprooting a tree.

    Karyk initially didn''t understand why they were doing it, but soon he saw the answer. There was a chariot that was being carried by another giant.

    The path was being cleared so the chariot could pass through. The chariot was closed, making it impossible to see inside. Still, Karyk was clear that someone important was traveling inside the giant chariot.

    Karyk hid his presence as well as he could, flying back to other trees as the tree on which he was sitting was in the path of the carriage.

    Soon enough, the tree he was initially sitting on was uprooted. The titans picked up the tree and tossed it aside.

    The tall tree flew thousands of miles away, before falling on the ground with Looking at the strength of these Titans, Karyk could see that even he couldn''tpare to them when it came to raw strength.

    thud.

    Not just him, he was sure that even the half Angel Aexin wasn''t stronger than these Titans.

    "Are these another subordinate species of the Angels?" Karyk wondered.

    He didn''t know much about this world, but he knew that he had to follow these Titans. Even after three months, he hadn''t found an exit. Going in random directions was not the right answer.

    He decided to follow the titans to leave this Forest and even gathered more information about this unknown species.

    He even thought about making one of them his undead, but there were just too many of them here. Even if he was able to defeat them, their numbers were a big problem.

    He silently followed the titans and their carriage, quite curious about the identity of the person in the carriage.

    After walking for an entire week straight, the Titans finally decided to stop and rest. They went to hunt the beasts to have something to eat.

    The carriage door also opened during the wait and someone stepped out.

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 Chapter 1002 Chapter 1002: Link to angels

    Chapter 1002 Chapter 1002: Link to angels

    A woman stepped out of the carriage, covered in robes that appeared to be made from starlight itself.

    She was also quite hugepared to Karyk, but whenpared with the men that were clearing the trees, she was slightly shorter.

    Although she had a slender figure, the Titans around her appeared to be scared of her. Karyk wasn''t certain if it was because of her position or if she was actually stronger than then.

    Her face was hidden behind a delicate veil, only allowing glimpses of glowing eyes that were a lighter shade of red. Just her single pupil alone was as tall as Karyk''s entire height.

    Karyk watched intently from his hiding spot. Despite the immense distance, he could sense the raw energy emanating from the figure.

    It was a power that dwarfed even that of the Titans. He could not help but feel a slight trace of an Angel''s power from that woman, but he was sure that she was not one herself.

    It was simr to the Elzeirans who had received the blessing of an angel. With that, Karyk had a feeling that the woman was certainly rted to an angel, and maybe even a threat to him.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The figure raised a slender hand, and the Titans ceased their activities, bowing their heads in reverence. The woman began to speak in anguage that Karyk couldn''tprehend.

    It was as if she was speaking some ancientnguage which asionally sounded like chanting of a spell.

    As the figure continued to speak, the Titans responded in unison. It was clear that they were receiving instructions, though Karyk had no idea what those might be. Suddenly, the figure paused and turned their head slightly, as if sensing something amiss. Karyk held his breath, hiding himself in the tree''s shadow.

    After a few tense moments, the figure seemed to dismiss whatever had caught their attention and returned to their conversation with the Titans.

    As the sun began to set, the other Titans resumed their tasks. They were carrying a giant serpent that Karyk had seen coiled around the mountain before.

    He was quite surprised how they managed to catch the serpent so quickly, especially as it had been days since he came across it.

    Did they go so far and return? Or was the snake already moving towards this ce in thest two days? He wasn''t sure.

    The titans started peeling the skin from the giant snake. Another Titan used magic, and started cutting the giant creature into pieces. There was also a titan who lit a

    fire.

    "They aren''t just strong, but they can also use magic?" Karyk sat on the branch, watching the titans prepared food.

    Another Titan went inside the carriage and brought a chair for the woman to sit. Karyk saw the Titan go flying as the woman pped him, seemingly scolding him for something.

    Just a single p from the woman had sent the Titan flying a few hundred feet. And she didn''t even use magic behind that p. It was just her raw strength.

    The pped titan stood up, speaking something as if he was apologizing. Next, he took the chair and brought a different chair from inside the carriage.

    The only difference between the two chairs was the color and nothing else. Still, the woman finally appeared satisfied and sat on the chairfortably, waiting for food. Once the food was prepared, it was served to the woman. As for the other Titans, they only ate the leftovers, and that too after the woman finished eating and returned to the carriage to rest.

    The next morning, the titans again started moving. They again cleared the trees from their path, making sure there were no bumps in the carriage''s path.

    Karyk kept following the carriage and after two more months, he finally saw an end to the forest. Finally, there were no more trees in front of him. He was out of the forest.

    As for why he didn''t manage to find the exit before, he also found the reason. It was because this was not an ordinary forest.

    The edges of the forest were covered in illusion, which made the trees appear endless. If one didn''t make the right direction, they could keep walking through the forest and never find an exit.

    There was also a barrier around the forest which was removed by the Titans when they left the forest.

    After the titans left, the barrier started closing and repairing itself. However, before it could closepletely, Karyk also jumped out.

    The only problem was that there were no trees for him to hide behind now. He waspletely revealed in the ins.

    Fortunately, the titans that were escorting the carriage did not look behind. They didn''t even consider the possibility of being followed.

    Karyk wondered if he should still continue following them now that he was already out of the forest. The closer he went to them, the riskier it became.

    As they were connected to the Angels, he felt that there was no other choice. He made up his mind to follow after them.

    There was no point in maintaining distance as there were no trees to hide behind. He could only stick out more if he kept the distance.

    He straight flew towards the Titans. Once he reached the carriage, he went under the carriage, and found a ce to sit during the journey. Finally, he didn''t have to keep chasing them.

    To keep an eye on his surroundings, he sent a few shadows that hid in the titan''s shadows and constantly let him see the surroundings.

    One more month passed like this, and the carriage wasn''t stopped even once during

    this time.

    It was the beginning of the second month when Karyk finally saw a change in scenery. In the distance, he saw walls that were so tall that they looked like they were going straight to heaven.

    Even for the titans, it was impossible to climb over the walls.

    ''Is this their home?'' Karyk thought.

 Chapter 1003 Chapter 1003: Hunting a titan

    ?

    1003 Chapter 1003: Hunting a titan

    The towering walls seemed almost imprable, with no visible gap except the giant gates that were closed. It was simr to the walls around the Civilization''s City, but

    much bigger.

    As the carriage drew nearer, Karyk noticed the carvings and symbols etched into the stone. The carvings were simr to what he had seen in the Royal Graveyard of Elzeira where they buried their ancestors.

    It was as if the walls were depicting the legends of the Angels, worshiping them. The gates, equally massive, were guarded by even more titans that were wearing something that appeared simr to the Mage''s robe.

    The carriage came to a halt before the gates, and the titans escorting it bowed deeply.

    The woman in the starlight robes stepped out once more, raising her hand. A ripple of energy flowed from her fingers, and the gates began to open with a rumbling sound, revealing a city.

    The robed titans greeted the woman respectfully, stepping aside to clear a path for the carriage.

    Normally, they would have checked the carriage to make sure that no uninvited guest was here, but they weren''t fools to check and show their distrust towards this woman.

    The chariot moved into the city, and Karyk, still hidden beneath it, carefully observed his surroundings that looked less like a city and more like a world within a world. The carriage traveled through the roads, moving past the other giants that were clearing the path for this carriage.

    Soon, the carriage reached the grand pce in the center of the city.

    The woman exited the chariot and was greeted by a host of attendants. She spoke to one of them in the same ancientnguage while they entered the pce.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Karyk took this opportunity to slip out from under the carriage. It wasn''t easy for anyone to spot him, thanks to his small size alone.

    He was like an ant walking around the pce, which made things a little easier for him. He walked around the Pce, trying to find someone that he could use.

    The first problem he had was that he didn''t understand theirnguage. He had to solve that problem while also gathering information. And there was only one shortcut for that.

    He observed the Titans that had apanied the carriage. Most of them left in groups, appearing rxed now that they didn''t have to take care of the woman. There were also many of them that appeared as if they were extremely tired and just wanted to rest. One such titan was the one that was pped by the woman for

    making a mistake.

    Karyk followed the lone titan who had separated from the group. He walked behind the pce, where a special ce was prepared for guards and servants to stay.

    The Titan scratched the back of his head while yawning as he entered his quarters, not realizing that his shadow was following him with a purpose.

    Once he reached his room, he closed the door and sighed.

    Now that he was alone, he was like apletely different person. He started roaring in anger, letting out all the anger he had contained within him during this journey.

    He punched the wall in anger, remembering the moment he was pped. Unfortunately, he couldn''t harm that woman, so he could only let out his anger in this manner.

    Even after taking a full strength attack by the Titan, Karyk was surprised to see that the wall hadn''t even cracked. There wasn''t even any vibration that could let anyone know that someone was hitting the wall.

    One after another, the Titan kept punching the wall, roaring like a mad beast.

    ''I see. Not only is the wall not damaged, but the sound also doesn''t leak this room in the slightest. This might be for the best.''

    Karyk stood in the corner of the room, with his arms folded around his chest as he watched the Titan let out his anger.

    This was just the perfect ce for him toplete his task. He was going to hunt a titan.

    He wasn''t going to do that in the forest or some unknown ce, but he was going to do that in the ce where hundreds of titans were just around the corner. After hitting the wall hundreds of times, the Titan finally stopped as fists started bleeding. But strangely enough, the wounds on his fists healed at the same time on their own.

    Although Karyk couldn''t understand this man''snguage, he was sure that this guy was cursing that woman who appeared to be more unpopr than he expected. The Titan stopped attacking the wall, as if he had enough of hitting the inanimate thing. He turned around and walked back to the bed while Karyk hid behind the legs of the bed.

    The bed creaked and bent a little while the Titanid his heavy body on it, going to sleep after an exhausting day.

    Karyk waited for half an hour for the Titan to sleep. After waiting and sending no further movement from the Titan, he came out from under the bed.

    Just the height of the bed alone was around fifteen meters. Karyk flew higher to reach enough height where he could see the Titan on the bed.

    His shadow came out of the ground, carrying a shadow scythe. The Shadow handed the Scythe to him.

    As Karyk held the scythe, its de grew even bigger.

    The Titan had just fallen asleep when he suddenly felt a strange scent around him. Confused, he opened his eyes, only to see ck de sh before him.

    The moment his eyes opened, the scythe sliced through his throat, letting blood ssh all over. Some drops of blood even fell in his eyes, turning his world

    completely red.

    With a deafening roar, the Titanshed out in pain and anger, but no one wasing

    to help him as his voice didn''t even leave the room.

    As he struggled to stand up, but his body refused to listen to him. On the other end, he felt a shadow slowly climbing over him, swallowing him.

    Comment

    TS ThorSR Magic castle

    -1

 Chapter 1004 Chapter 1004: Creating an army

    ?

    1004 Chapter 1004: Creating an army

    Karyk hovered above him, his scythe dripping with the Titan''s blood.

    The Titan reached out with a trembling hand, as if trying to grasp at something, anything, but he didn''t have any strength left. His vision went dark.

    Karyk''s shadow engulfed him, making his entire body disappear into the darkness, leaving only the blood stained bed of the giant behind.

    The room, once filled with the Titan''s roars, was now absolutely silent. The owner of the room was dead, with not one person even knowing about it.

    For now, the room belonged to Karyk whonded on the bed. While his abyss was devouring the Titan''s lifeless body, the memories of the Titan were being transmitted to him.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Amongst the memories, there were a lot of useful things, especially rted to thenguage of this world. He also managed to learn what kind of world this ce was. He was able to confirm that the Titans were truly rted to the Angels.

    The memories of the devoured Titan showed Karyk that quite a few angels visited this ce. And every time they did, they were treated like gods.

    In fact, the woman who just returned in the carriage was someone close to the Angels.

    She was the representative of the Titans and the only person who was said to be able to talk to the Angels as the other Titans couldn''t understand thenguage of the Angels.

    It was because the woman was close to the Angels that she held such a prestigious position in thend.

    However, even if she wasn''t close to the Angels, she would still have quite a high position as she was the Eldest Daughter of the Titan King who only had two daughters and no son.

    "I see..."

    After assimting with the information he received from the devoured titan, he gained a decent understanding of this ce.

    The world was truly moreplicated than he had thought, as even beings like the Titans weren''t at the top of the food chain.

    Beforeing here, he thought that the Angels were the rulers of this world. But he also managed to learn that it was quite the case.

    Although Angels were strongest in this World, but they couldn''t be called absolute rulers, at least not in the current era.

    "The incident that destroyed the Civilization... It seems that the incident struck the Angels as well."

    Karyk slowly opened his eyes, realizing what he had to do. The Angels were looking for him as they thought that he was the Prince and the key, not knowing that the key was long dead.

    However, he also had a key... A key that could take him to the Angels and help him bring them to ruin. And that key was the woman who was close to the Angels.

    The Titan that he devoured was only an ordinary ve. The information he knew was only limited based on what he had seen or heard from others. But the Princess of Titans was different.

    She was the connection between the Titans and the Angels. She was also the one who knew most about them.

    He didn''t think that he could turn her to his side, but he didn''t need to do that either. All he wanted was the information kept in her mind, and there was only one way to retrieve that without the risk of being lied to.

    He flew higher in the air, but his shadow still remained on the bloody bed. From the shadow, a giant body engulfed in darkness came out, appearing the same size as the devoured titan.

    "Try attacking the wall," Karykmanded the Titan Shadow.

    The Titan Shadow got down from the bed and walked towards the wall which the original titan wasn''t even able to leave a proper crack behind.

    The shadow clenched his fist, and with all his strength, punched the wall.

    Once again, there was no vibration or impact that could be felt in the room. However, when the Titan Shadow pulled his fist back, Karyk noticed that a very minor crack was visible on the wall.

    The Titan Shadow was just as strong as the original titan. No, it had be even stronger as its entire body was made from the essence of the abyss.

    "Try using the dark mes," Karyk changed hismand.

    The devoured titan was only an ordinary titan who wasn''t able to use any form of magic. He only ruled on brute strength, unlike the Mages in the Titan Tribe.

    He wasn''t the ve titan anymore. He wasn''t restricted by the physical limitations with a body that defied all logic.

    The other undeads in Elzeira were able to use ck mes of abyss, even though they never actually learned it before.

    They used the same mes which he did. Hence, Karyk had a feeling that the Titan could do that as well. It was also linked to him after all.

    The Shadow Titan followed themand and raised his right hand, firing ck mes of abyss at the walls.

    This time, the entire wall was scorched ck in mes, but the mes didn''t stop. They kept burning, slowly but steadily devouring the wall.

    The wall had remained sturdy even in front of the full strength attack, but the mes

    were devouring the wall.

    Karyk waved his hand, making the mes disappear. He called forth his scythe, making it longer and bigger before tossing it to the Shadow Titan.

    "Use mes on it and cut the wall with all your strength."

    The Shadow Titan followed the instructions, the shadow de was shrouded in dark mes of the Titan, who swung it hard.

    With the mix of the scythe, the mes and the titan''s strength, the de was able to slice through the wall, leaving a deep ravine in the wall.

    Watching the three inch deep mark left on the wall which was still burning, Karyk was quite impressed. The Titans were more useful to him than he had thought.

    The corner of his lips crept up.

    "Shall we start hunting then?"

    He raised his hand,manding the Titan to keep attacking the wall.

    One after another, the Titan kept striking the wall, until he finally managed to create a door shaped opening.

    He opened a new path to the neighboring room. The Titan resting in the room woke up, only to see a giant titan shadow which sliced him with a ming scythe.

    Before he could react, a second titan was dead, devoured by the abyssal mes. Karyk

    didn''t stop and created a second shadow titan.

    The two titans worked together and kept opening a passage to the next room, without having to go through the main hallway.

    One after another, Titans kept disappearing from their rooms.

    Comment

    ThorSR+Magic castle

    +1

 Chapter 1005 Chapter 1005: Silent Tomb

    ?

    1005 Chapter 1005: Silent Tomb

    One after another, Karyk kept devouring the Titans in other rooms. Some were unprepared and easy to kill, while others fought back, only to be killed by therge number of undead titans that served Karyk.

    There were also many rooms that werepletely empty as the people residing in those rooms had not returned from outside. Karyk left a few Undead Titans near those rooms to wait for the person to return and be killed.

    It all happened so silently that not a single person outside of those rooms had a clue about it. Within the night, the entire mansion was filled with Karyk''s undead.

    Throughout the mansion, Karyk only came across the Titan Warriors, which were the lowest ranked. He didn''t see any Titan Mage or Magic Warriors as those with higher positions were allowed to stay at a different ce.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    For the time being, he didn''t care about them either. Even if he only devoured the warriors, he was able to make them use magic. He had turned Titan Warriors into Undead Titan Mages, who were most capable of using the Abyssal mes.

    Still, he wasn''t satisfied. He kept quite a few Undead Titans in his shadows and thought about increasing his forces.

    The night was still young, and within the night, he wanted to shroud the entire pce in his Undeads.

    Unlike before, he didn''t do everything himself. This time, he was creating a proper force to do things for him.

    He left the Warrior Mansion, having a rough idea about where the mages stayed, thanks to the Undead Memories.

    He went to the north of the pce, where another mansion was situated, which was even more grand than the Warrior''s Mansion.

    The Mage''s Mansion looked like a proper luxury pce, showing how much importance the mages were given in this world.

    Not just the size of the Pce, but the interior and theyout was also quite different from the Warrior''s Pce. The walls appeared to be made from a different material than what was used in the Warrior''s Mansion.

    The walls here resisted magic more than they did brute strength, which was theplete opposite of the Warrior''s Mansion which resisted strength but not magic. After observing the mansion for some time, Karyk tried to enter the ce, but he felt a strange force pushing him back every time he tried to enter. It was as if there was some kind of barrier.

    He noticed the Titan Mages being able to easily enter without resistance, but he wasn''t able to.

    "It looks like it''s not going to be as easy. I will have to force my way in."

    He walked behind the mansion, noticing a few Titan Warriors that were responsible for guarding the ce. He called fourth the Undead Titans and killed the Titan Warriors after casting his own spell to prevent the sound from leaking.

    Not having to worry about something like being spotted, he told the Undead Warrior to break the walls behind the mansion.

    He selected the corner most part of the wall to make sure they broke the wall of a room and not just revealed themselves to the hallway.

    Bang-

    The Titan Warriors used all his strength as he struck the wall. Although magic was useless on the walls, he still shrouded his sword with dark mes.

    The dark mes sliced through the portion of the barrier around the mansion, while the sword cut through the wall.

    Once again, the dance of death began as death went from room to room, killing the Mages that were resting after returning from a long day of work.

    The Mages were even worse at protecting themselves from a surprise attack, unlike the Warriors. One after another, the Titan Mages were being killed.

    An aura of death was spreading around the city of Titans, but not a single person knew about it until the moment death came for them. And it was all because of a tiny ant-like creature who could have been crushed between their fingers.

    While his Undeads kept killing the Mages, Karyk stayed behind to see what an Undead Mage was capable of.

    He called forth the Titan Mage who was the first to be killed. It was a female, who was surprisingly one of the few mages that he had seen at the entrance of the city. The Titan Mage didn''t have the same strength as the Titan Warriors. He made them attack the walls with brute strength, but their strength was not even half that of the Titan Warriors.

    On the contrary, their magic was even stronger. They weren''t just able to use the Abyssal mes but also other spells of Karyk that he was able to transmit to them. Moreover, the strength of their Abyssal mes was even stronger than that of Undead Titan Warriors, albeit still not as strong as his own mes.

    It tried to have them cast a protective barrier, which was one of his own spells. The Undead Mages even seeded in that. They were also able to cover muchrger area than Karyk alone could have handled.

    Unfortunately, the strength of the barrier was also weaker than his own barrier. Still, it was quite helpful in his eyes.

    He had gained an undead army that was quite decent. If all the Undead Mages were to cast the same spell, it could truly be a slight to see.

    He was quite impressed with his creation, which was more useful than anything he had ever produced before.

    With just a single of these Undead Titan Mages, he was sure he could have destroyed everything that stood in his path in Elzeira.

    Just like Angels had granted more strength to their subordinates, he had also done something with his Undeads. He had granted them the blessing of the Abyss.

    The only difference was that he turned them into his Undeads so that they could never betray him.

    As dawn approached, the once vibrant mansion was now a silent tomb, filled with the stench of death and the presence of the undead.

    TS ThorSR Magic castle

    1

 Chapter 1006 Chapter 1006: City of Dead

    ?

    1006 Chapter 1006: City of Dead

    One night... A single night is all it took for Karyk to take over the Warrior''s Mansion as well as the Mage''s Mansion, the two main pirs of the Titan n.

    Both the mansions were turned into a ghost town, and the numbers of so-called ghosts only kept increasing as more and more Titans returned to the Mansions to

    rest.

    The Mages who were supposed to guard the city entrance waited for the next group so they could return and get some sleep. But even as the sun started rising, the second group did not arrive.

    The first group waited a little longer, but nothing changed. No one came to switch ces with them.

    The Titan Mages were furious. They had already gone beyond their shift, but the people who were supposed to take their ces were still sleeping?

    "I will go and drag them back while also filing aint." One of the border guards told his group, believing that there was no point in waiting. He had to forcefully bring the second group.

    Unfortunately, half an hour had passed since he left, but he did not return either. They didn''t know that there was no returning once someone entered either of the two mansions as death was waiting for them.

    Karyk''s undead kept increasing in number. From tens, the number increased to hundreds and kept rising higher.

    Meanwhile, Karyk simply enjoyed the sight of his undead army getting stronger. With time, he didn''t just stop in the mansion.

    His shadows started going into the city. These people were rted to the Angels. Which meant they were his enemies. They were also ones who were going to help him establish his footing in this ce.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The scene that took ce in the Mansions throughout the night started taking ce all over the city. More and more people in the city started disappearing.

    The Guards who noticed this absence and started investigating on their own disappeared as well.

    It was as if the carriage of the Princess brought death with it inside the city. And now that same death was spreading, taking the entire city in its embrace.

    The more titans Karyk devoured, the stronger his forces became. He could also feel his own strength increasing with each Titan he devoured.

    Not only was the essence of a titan''s life being absorbed by the abyss, but the small fragments of Angel''s powers were also bing his, albeit very slowly.

    A Titan didn''t have much of an angel''s power. Even the fragments of the Angel''s strength that was given to a titan was only one in a hundred thousandth of the

    share.

    Even if it was a small fragment, with the sheer number of Titans that Karyk devoured, he was still getting the benefits.

    Karyk''s shadows even left the border of the city and Devoured the Guard Mages that were waiting for the second team to take their ces.

    They were reced by Karyk''s Undeads. The entrance of the city as well as the exit was in Karyk''s control now.

    From the borders, the trap of death was moving inwards with Karyk already present in the middle of the city, feeling the sweet feeling of devouring various lives. Whenever the abyss went, it devoured various worlds. There were no friends or enemies for the abyss. It was like a hungry beast that wanted to devour everything. With hisst returning to him, Karyk also felt like he was bing something simr. The more he devoured, the more his hunger increased. His body wanted him to take more and more.

    One titan wasn''t enough! Two weren''t enough! Hundreds weren''t enough either! He wanted to devour them all! It was just an innate craving that was rising within him. It was simr to how the entire civilization was devoured the moment he was born.

    The city which was filled with Titans had slowly grown silent. Titans could be seen all around the city before, but that wasn''t the case anymore.

    The outer portion of the city waspletely devoid of any living existence. Only Karyk''s undead titans could be seen asionally, and that too when they had to fight or kill for other Titans to be devoured.

    There were also a few powerful Titans who could use magic as well as brute strength. They also held higher positions in the city.

    Some of them noticed that something was wrong when their subordinates didn''t return from the outer city.

    They went to check on the scene themselves, only to be surrounded by Karyk''s undead. They fought as well as they could, only to be killed.

    Karyk''s undead weren''t just more in numbers, but they also had other advantages over the titans. They could fight without feeling pain and use the abyss.

    Even when they were hurt, they could just heal themselves. Until they werepletely destroyed in a single attack, it was impossible to kill them.

    The living titans were different. There were a lot of ways to kill them as Karyk had already tested throughout the night.

    If the two mansions were swallowed during the night, then the entire city was swallowed during the day.

    There were some Titans who noticed what was happening and wanted to tell the

    Royal Family.

    Unfortunately for them, Karyk had already taken over the two mansions that were around the Royal Pce. He had also reced the guards with his Undeads.

    The moment these Titans approached the Royal Pce, they were killed. The entire Royal Pce was basically sealed and that didn''t even know about it. Even the Princess could never have imagined that within one day of her return, her precious city was going to be turned into the city of undead.

    She was still inside the prayer room, looking at the statue which depicted an angel. It was evenrger than her in size.

    After some time, she left the prayer room, seemingly excited as if she had received

    good news.

    She approached the guards that were stationed inside the Pce.

    "Tell everyone to start preparing. They are going to visit the city soon."

    TS ThorSR Magic castle

 Chapter 1007 Chapter 1007: Ramblings of a fool

    ?

    1007 Chapter 1007: Ramblings of a fool

    The City of Dead... This was what a person would have called the homnd of Titans if they had seen what happened here.

    The only living beings in the entire city were the Titans inside the Royal Pce. Everywhere else, the Titans had already been killed and reced by the Undead.

    Normally, Karyk couldn''t turn so many Undeads at once as the amount of mana needed was astronomical. Even at his peak, he had a much smaller undead army, which took him years to create.

    However, this time he didn''t have to worry about it. The mana needed to turn someone into an undead was taken from their own bodies after devouring them.

    In essence, the Titans were paying for their own deaths, and that payment was used by Karyk to bring them back as Undead.

    The more of these Titans he devoured, the stronger he and the abyss was bing. The Abyss had stopped expanding a long time ago when he was born, but once again, it started expanding, breaking the various barriers that were cast around it.

    Even the entrance of the abyss where Ezekiel and Gabriel were trapped was broken open and the abyss started swallowing its surroundings.

    It started expanding towards earth and the realm of gods like a beast who had been hungry for millions of years.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The City of Titans was overrun by Undeads created in the Abyss.

    Once he finished devouring the entire city, he changed his goal to the Royal Pce which was already surrounded by hundreds of thousands of undead that could destroy the pce if they attacked at the same time.

    Karyk sat on the shoulder of an Undead Titan Mage which approached the Royal Pce. In front of him, there were two undead warriors while behind him, there were

    more undead mages.

    As there wasn''t enough space in the hallways, even more of his Undeads were simply hidden in his shadows.

    On the shoulder of the giant undead, it was hard to even see a small Karyk, as if trying to locate an ant sitting on a human''s shoulder.

    If one was to see him, they would have noticed a tiny human, who was carrying a small scythe on his shoulder.

    Having devoured so many Titans, Karyk felt that his strength increased quite a lot. Even in raw strength, he was stronger than a Titan. However, that wasn''t the only change.

    His body had started changing. His eyes had turned pitch ck, with no semnce of white visible. However, it didn''t affect his vision at all.

    There were also some strange marks that looked like tattoos that had appeared all

    over his skin. His hair had also turned into a bright shade of silver which created a contrast with his dark attire and dark eyes.

    Along the way, Karyk killed the remaining few guards that were still inside the Pce, yet to be turned into Undeads.

    The entire process moved smoothly. If anything, Karyk felt that it went a little too smoothly. He even wondered if that''s how easy it was supposed to be.

    With the memories of the guards inside the Pce, he gathered a lot more

    information about the interior of the Pce. He found the throne room as well as the Prayer Room which only the Eldest Princess was allowed to enter.

    He didn''t have to think twice to guess what was inside the Prayer Room. It was most probably another of those creepy statues of the Angels that they loved spreading all over the continent for some reason.

    He sent a few of his Undeads to the Prayer Room, telling them to destroy the statues. Meanwhile, he personally went to the Throne Room where the Titan King was supposed to be present.

    The doors of the throne room were covered with ancient Titan runes, standing as the final barrier.

    Only a Titan authorized by the Royal Family or those whose names were carved in the door by the Titan King personally were allowed to enter the ce.

    Standing over the undead titan''s shoulder, Karyk raised his scythe which grew evenrger than him.

    The scythe became sorge that it looked more suitable for a titan than someone as small as him. However, Karyk had no problem using such a long scythe with the strength he had gathered.

    With a single, powerful swing, the doors shattered, revealing the inner sanctum. The throne room was huge, with the ceiling so high that he felt like he was looking at the sky. But what drew Karyk''s attention was the figure seated on the throne. Unlike the Titans he had faced before, this one went different. It felt less like a titan and more like he was standing before the god of titans.

    Just the aura around the Titan King was so strong that he could destroy a Titan without him having to move.

    Fortunately, the Undead Titans didn''t have emotions. They didn''t feel fear or the suppression that came from Titan King''s Bloodline. If they did, Karyk was sure they already would have fallen to their knees.

    The Titan King rose slowly from his throne. His eyes locked onto Karyk. There was no fear in them, only a cold, calcting gaze.

    "What a cursed ability you have.... Even in death, the ones killed don''t find peace," the Titan King spoke, his voice resonating throughout the chamber. "Don''t worry. I will make you personally experience this cursed ability." Karyk

    tightened his grip on his scythe.

    The Titan King chuckled, a deep, resonant sound that could send chills down any person''s spine.

    "Just because you killed them, you believe you can do everything? I don''t know if I should call that overconfidence or the ramblings of a fool. What do you think?"

    ....

    In another ce, the Undead Titans barged inside the Prayer Room. However, the moment they entered, a bright light shed in the room.

    The undead titans were cut into thousands of small pieces.

    "Disgusting things..." The Eldest Princess said, looking at the dark pieces in disgust.

    She walked out of the hall, curious to see how these disgusting things came here. However just as she stepped out, she felt the disgusting presence behind him rise

    again.

    She turned around, noticing the undead pieces gathering together.

    TS ThorSR Magic castle

 Chapter 1008 Chapter 1008: The King

    ?

    1008 Chapter 1008: The King

    "Impossible," the Princess muttered, her eyes widening as the dark fragments started gathering to take the form of titans, just like before.

    It was as if she hadn''t managed to harm them even the slightest. Their numbers hadn''t decreased either.

    "What strange beings... I suppose I will have to destroy you properly..." The Princess raised her right hand, the magical essence started gathering at the tip of her fingers. Back in the throne room, Karyk maintained his calm gaze on the towering figure before him.

    The Titan King''s presence was suffocating, but he felt nothing. His undead nature shielded him from the overwhelming aura that would have crushed any living being. "Before I send you to the afterlife, do you want to tell me who you are?" The King''s voice thundered, echoing off the grand walls. He took a step forward, his massive frame making the ground tremble.

    Karyk smiled in response. There was the most powerful existence amongst the titans that was standing before him, but instead of fear, he only felt a strange sense of excitement rising within him.

    He was excited, not about the battle but the rewards of the battle. Just the thought of having the Titan King as an undead was enough to make him look forward in anticipation.

    The Titan King was strong, but when turning into an Undead, Karyk was sure that he could only be stronger. Just the frame of the Titan King alone was twice the size of an ordinary titan.

    Even the tallest titan undead that he had created only came up to the chest of the Titan King.

    Karyk also looked forward to assimting the memories of the Titan King and learning things that his other Undeads didn''t know.

    "You are smiling? It''s just as I expected... You truly don''t fear death, do you?" The Titan King asked.

    Karyk stood on the shoulder of the Undead Titan. "I am surrounded by death... This entire city is covered in death. There is nothing to be scared about death."

    "Since that''s the case, I see that there is no point in talking about it..."

    In a sh, the Titan King lunged forward, his enormous hand aimed to crush Karyk in a single blow.

    Karyk leaped from the undead Titan Mage''s shoulder, evading the attack with inhuman agility. The ground where he had stood splintered into a crater as the Undead Titan was ripped in multiple pieces from the Titan King''s attack.

    With swift precision, Karyk swung his scythe. The de, infused with dark energy,

    sliced through the air and connected with the Titan King''s arm. Instead of flesh and bone, it met an almost imprable resistance, sparking as if the attack hit some metal wall.

    The Titan King grunted, looking at the light scratch in his arm as the scythe had failed to leave any proper mark.

    "Interesting. You are somewhat strong for an insect. But that''s all there is to it." Karyknded gracefully, his eyes never leaving the Titan King. He was surprised to see how strong the Titan King''s flesh was. It was like an imprable wall that even his scythe failed to slice through.

    His flesh was stronger than the wall of the two mansions that he had destroyed with his Scythe.

    Looking at the Titan King, Karyk had a feeling that it was truly an entirely different existence than the Titans.

    "It''s been a long time since I fought, but..."

    The Titan King summoned a colossal warhammer from thin air, its weight causing the ground to tremble.

    With a roar, he swung it down toward Karyk, who met the attack with his scythe. The sh of their weapons created a shockwave that rippled through the throne room, sending debris flying.

    The war hammer struck Karyk''s giant scythe, breaking the scythe in two as it came straight for him. Karyk cast a shield around him, but even the shield wasn''t enough to stop the attack.

    Karyk used the impact of the shield breaking to send himself flying back before the hammer could even touch him.

    The Titan King was surprised to see that Karyk had managed to survive his war hammer. He was only sent flying, crashing on the wall.

    Karyk spat out blood as hended on the ground. The pieces of his scythe flew back to him, condensing into a new scythe in his hand. However, he was certain that it

    wasn''t a weapon that couldpare to the hammer in durability.

    The hammer of the Titan King was like some Divine Weapon that could destroy anything it touched as if it was a blessing.

    He realized that he had really underestimated the Titan King due to the weakness of the other Titans. But still, now that he was here, he wasn''t nning to leave empty

    handed. He wasn''t alone after all.

    Meanwhile, in the Prayer Room, the Eldest Princess unleashed a barrage of divine light, aiming to obliterate the reassembling Undead Titans.

    Yet, every strike seemed to only dy the inevitable. The undead were relentless. Just as they were getting destroyed, they were healing themselves. The only difference was that every time they healed, their size was bing smaller.

    Frustration etched across her face, she chanted an incantation, summoning a radiant sword.

    "By the light of the Angels, be gone!" She charged at the nearest Undead Titan, her sword glowing with holy energy.

    The de cleaved through the undead, severing them, but the pieces again began to reattach. Her efforts seemed futile against the unknown force that brought these abominations to life.

    As the battle raged on in both the throne room and the Prayer Room, Karyk and the Titan King continued their battle. However, the style was different now.

    The Titan King''s warhammer swung with the force, while Karyk''s scythe moved like a reaper, each strike aimed to sever the Titan King''s weak spots.

    All he needed was one opportunity to infuse his abyssal essence into the Titan King''s body. All he needed was one proper bleeding wound.

    His undead had also started involving themselves. The Undead Mages kept attacking with the mes of the abyss while the Warriors interfered in his attacks while attacking him from all sides.

    ThorSR+Magic castlen/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    +1

 Chapter 1009 Chapter 1009: New Addition

    ?

    1009 Chapter 1009: New Addition

    The Titan King, noticing the coordinated assault from Karyk''s undead army, unleashed a devastating shockwave with a swing of his warhammer, destroying several undead warriors in an instant.

    He turned his gaze back to Karyk, eyes zing with rage.

    "As I told you before, those insects are not enough to defeat me!" the Titan King said, his voice echoing like thunder through the throne room.

    Karyk, undeterred, tightened his grip on his scythe.

    "Who said they are not here to defeat you?"

    The Titan King barely had time to register the words before a barrage of abyssal fireballs streaked toward him from all directions.

    He raised his warhammer, creating a barrier of pure force that deflected the iing attacks. However, the momentary distraction was all Karyk needed.

    With lightning speed, Karyk closed the distance between them, his scythe aimed at the Titan King''s exposed neck.

    The Titan King''s body was fortified, making his skin harder than any Armor. His neck wasn''t an easy target either, but it was still the most optional target.

    A dark fire starter burning around Karyk''s scythe, the de getting as sharp as it could.

    The Titan King tried to block the attack with his warhammer, but the Undeads around him that he had previously destroyed, came back to life. It was as if they had been waiting for this exact moment.

    Shadowy hands came out, holding onto the Titan King''s arm. One undead wasn''t enough, so tens of undead were holding his arm. Despite that, the Titan King was able to move his arm, albeit slowly.

    The Mages also cast spells, dark vines came out of the shadows, wrapping themselves around the Titan King''s arm, feet and forehead.

    With each passing moment, the vines were breaking in front of the Titan King''s strength. However, just the small moment was enough for Karyk as he appeared before the Titan King.

    His scythe grazed the Titan King''s neck, drawing the first drop of blood.

    The Titan King roared while destroying all the vines that were holding him. The Undead Titans were still holding on to him, but he used his other hand to hold the hammer.

    He swung the hammer, targeting Karyk who was right in front of eyes. Karyk teleported in the back, but the hammer didn''t stop. It destroyed the Undeads that were holding the Titan King''s arm.

    The Titan King''s expressions were dark as he touched his throat, feeling a cut.

    Although the cut was only minor, it had managed to draw his blood.

    "It''s been so long since Ist bleed," the Titan King looked at his blood on the tip of his fingers. "This is truly annoying. A mere insect made me bleed... How disgusting..."

    He didn''t like that someone like Karyk had managed to make him bleed. Even though it wasn''t enough to win the battle, it still hurt his ego.

    "I will truly have to make an example out of you now..."

    He raised his warhammer, only to suddenly feel a strange, chilling energy that began to seep into his wound.

    "Poison? How cowardly!"

    He swung his warhammer wildly, trying to dislodge the dark essence that was spreading through his veins. However, the more he tried to remove what felt like a poison, the more he could feel how extraordinary it was.

    The poison was spreading all over his body, and even his inner essence wasn''t able to stop it. Instead, this poison was overwhelming his body. He could see dark lines spreading across his body slowly.

    "Shall we start for real? I am really looking forward to adding you into my collection..." Karyk smiled, standing on the throne that looked like a giant stage for someone his size.

    The Titan King roared in agony as the abyssal essence continued to spread. Karyk saw his opportunity. He chanted a spell, his scythe glowing with a dark, eerie light. "What is this poison?!" The pain in his body was only rising with each passing second, as if this Poison was slowly devouring him from the inside.

    His body was being swallowed from the inside and he couldn''t even do anything to stop it.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Stop this poison!" hemanded Karyk as he madly swung his hammer, destroying the entire throne room. Some of his attacks even broke the roof, flying straight to the sky, turning the dark sky bright.

    Karyk lunged at the Titan King, his scythe aimed at the neck again, where the previous wound still hadn''t healed.

    The Titan King, with a final, swung his warhammer with all his might, but Karyk was just too small for him. It would have been fine if he was just small, but he was just as fast and was able to teleport, avoiding any attack targeting him.

    The more annoying thing were the Undeads that refused to stay dead, creating one obstruction after another for him.

    Once again, Karyk''s scythe managed to slice through the Titan King''s neck, making the previous wound even deeper.

    One after another, Karyk kept attacking the same ce while their surroundings kept getting destroyed. And with each attack, the wound on the Titan King''s neck was

    getting deeper.

    The Titan King tried to kill Karyk, but he failed again and again. For him, Karyk was like a mosquito that he was trying to kill with a hammer.

    With each new wound, the Titan King also became weaker. By now, most of his strength was devoured by the Poison in his body that became stronger with each

    attack.

    The more he exhausted himself in attempts to kill Karyk, the weaker and slower he became. It became so bad that he wasn''t even able to block Karyk''s attacks even without the interference of the undead.

    The Titan King could see that he was at a disadvantage. The only option was to run away, but he was a warrior. Running away was not in the blood of a Titan!

    He could die but not disappoint his ancestors by showing his back to an insect. Unfortunately, that pride also became his downfall as Karyk made onest attack, his scythe suddenly getting bigger as soon as the de touched the wound that Karyk had been leaving on the Titan King''s neck.

    This time, his de managed to pass through the Titan King''s neck in a straight line, slicing all the way through to the end.

    The Titan King watched as the world around him started spinning while his pale face rolled down from his massive body.

    Thest thing he saw before closing his eyes was that the darkness around him was slowly pulling his body inside like quicksand.

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    ThorSR+ Magic castle

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    -1

 Chapter 1010 Chapter 1010: Change to perfection

    1010 Chapter 1010: Change to perfection

    The Titan King''s body was devoured by the darkness. His vision grew weaker, as he felt the surroundings change, as if his body had reached an unknown space.

    He couldn''t feel anything anymore. Even hisst thought was only about regret. He didn''t have regret that he was dead.

    The only regret he had was that he was killed by a person that should have been like an ant in front of him. He felt disgusted at himself for losing his battle, even as the abyss slowly devoured his body, mind and soul.

    Tired, Karyk sat on the ground, appearing like a tiny speck of dust in the grand room. The Titan King was stronger than his expectations, but in the end, it truly worked

    out.

    He had sent the Titan King to his abyss. All that was left was for him to get devouredpletely. He was looking forward to the memories of the Titan King that had lived the longest in this ce.

    More than that, he was looking forward to the undead he could make once the Titan King waspletely devoured.

    As he sat on the ground, the ck markings on his body had slowlye to life. The marks became deeper, making it appear as if a magic circuit was spreading all over his body.

    The more the Titan King''s devouring progressed, the more he felt like he was getting stronger. Something was clearly changing in his body, and at the moment, he couldn''tpletely understand that either.

    He just looked at his hands, that was covered in the ck marks that looked like it was made from abyss

    To check something, he created an aura de and sliced his skin a little.

    Drops of blood trickled out of the wound before his body healed itself right in front of his eyes. His healing had already gotten stronger, and he hadn''t even finishedpletely devouring the Titan King yet.

    More than that, he noticed the changes in his blood. The moment he awakened to his past, he had noticed that the color of his blood had changed into the deep ck of the abyss.

    Now that he had devoured almost all the titans, he felt some changes to his blood. There were a few traces of gold in his ck blood, akin to stars shining in the dark space of the otherworld.

    He looked at the blood drop, which slowly turned into specks of light after being exposed to the surroundings for some time.

    Strangely enough, those specks of lights didn''t disperse. Instead, they were absorbed

    back into his body on their own. Once the specks of light entered his body, they turned back into the blood that was flowing through his veins.

    The blood that he shed was now able to return to his body on its own. The blood didn''t just return, but it also made him recover faster.

    "How interesting," Karyk held the aura de firmly. To test the extent and speed of his healing, he didn''t just stop at a wound.

    He brought the aura de down, slicing his left arm entirely from the shoulder. The pain was bearable for him, as he watched his left arm fall on the ground.

    The same ck blood with golden specks sttered all around his sliced arm while his clothes were stained in blood.

    As if to his own surprise, he noticed that his arm hadn''t healed from the root. Instead his sliced arm turned into specks of darkness that flew to his shoulder,pleting his arm again.

    The blood that had stained his blood was also absorbed by his body. Even with naked eyes, he could see how incredible this was. His body was healed as if nothing had happened, and it didn''t even take him a minute.

    He was like the Undeads who could heal themselves as long as they weren''tpletely destroyed. If anything, he was even more special than that.

    "This is truly incredible..." Karyk watched in disbelief as the changes within his body were only increasing.

    He could also feel another change. He observed his body more carefully, realizing that his blood was behaving differently in more ways than one.

    Instead of flowing through his veins in ways that a human''s blood would, his blood was taking a different route. It was as if his blood was trailing the path of the ck markings on his skin like they were his new veins.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Although so much appeared to have changed inside his body, he still didn''t feel ufortable. Instead, he felt as if he was morefortable like this was how it was supposed to be in the first ce.

    The abyss had taken a human form, but it wasn''t the perfect form. It relied on civilization to create a human form as it was born as Karyk. It also used the rough understanding of the ones it had devoured whileing to life.

    At that point, it was more like being born as a human. But as he devoured more and more people, his body was adapting and changing from within, trying to reach the perfect form for Karyk.

    It became even better when he devoured the Titan King, as the information gained from the Titan King''s anatomy was unique in more ways than one.

    Karyk hadn''t even recovered the memories of the Titan King, but he still felt like he could change his body ording to the information he had gathered.

    His body was like the mold of the darkness within him. And with proper knowledge,

    this mold could adopt as per his wills.

    He wondered if he should test it to see if he could actually change his body into a titan and back to normal. For now, he felt that it was possible.

    He was also curious to try it right now, but he controlled his urges. He waited for the devouring of the Titan King to finish, which took longer than ordinary Titans.

    It wasn''t surprising as the Titan King was an existence in a different league than

    ordinary Titans.

    While Karyk was waiting, he suddenly felt something was wrong. His connection with the Undeads that he sent to the Prayer Room was suddenly cut.

 Chapter 1011 Chapter 1011: Pride of Titans

    1011 Chapter 1011: Pride of Titans

    Karyk felt as if his connection with the Undeads that he had sent to the Prayer Room was removed. It was almost impossible to forcefully remove that connection.

    There were only two ways to have it done. One had topletely destroy his Undeads, which was easier said than done as his Undeads could recover.

    The only other option was to seal them in a space where he couldn''t feel a connection to them.

    He wasn''t sure which of the two had be a reality, but one thing was certain. It was the work of the Princess, and the person who was closest to the Angels here.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Karyk didn''t go after the woman. Instead, he knew that she was going toe for him. In the meanwhile, he allowed for the Titan King''s devoured strength to flow inside his body uninterrupted.

    He stood up, holding the scythe that again became smaller, only being two meters long now. Holding the Scythe in his hand, he walked towards the throne.

    As he walked back, he staggered a little, feeling dizzy. The memories of the Titan King had started entering his body as the devouring had almost ended. The Titan King''s strength was also entering his body like never before.

    At the same time, the markings over his body were further getting refined, trying to reach a new perfection.

    He jumped high after reaching near the throne andnded on the seat. Holding his scythe in his hand, he sat on the throne, his back resting against the back of the throne.

    From a distance, it was even impossible to see him properly. What wasn''t impossible to see were his Undeads that were standing on each side of the throne.

    It was as if aplete Royal Court was created, with undead warriors standing on either side of the hall, holding weapons in their hands.

    Meanwhile, the Mages were close to Karyk, standing behind him like loyal subordinates. In the ce, Karyk was the only King.

    He was the King of the city where there were less living beings than there were dead. The hierarchy of the city had changedpletely, and it all happened within the short span of two days, before anyone could even have time to stop him.

    The princess of the titan tribe was looking a little pale as she gazed at the Seal that she had to cast around the Prayer Room to seal the Undead here.

    No matter how many times she killed them, they kepting back. It was even impossible to scare them as they didn''t feel pain. The Undeads were like zombies that followed amand.

    She knew that she could keep killing them, slowly chipping away at them. Each time

    she killed them, she could see them getting smaller. She knew that it was only a matter of time before she couldpletely destroy them.

    Still, she didn''t take that path as it was very time consuming. She could have others handle themter. For now, she sealed them using everything she had.

    Even though she had cast a seal that trapped the undead in a sealed space, but she could see that they were mindlessly attacking the seal.

    Ordinarily, it would have been impossible for anyone to break that seal. Even the Titans couldn''t break this seal. However, there was something about these undead that was harming the seal with every passing second.

    She was certain that even her seal couldn''t stop these annoying things for a long time. With each attack, they were harming the seal.

    She had to get the others to have them keep killing these things while she handled more important things, regarding the origin of these things.

    She had to inform her father and close down the entire city. She was even nning an entire city wise search to find the origin of these things. They couldn''t havee into existence out of nowhere after all.

    She walked back to the throne room where she was supposed to meet her father. However, along the way, she noticed something strange.

    She didn''t see a single guard along these hallways, which was strange. She didn''t even see any signs of battle, which made her shake the thought that they might have been killed.

    "Just what is happening at this ce?" she said with annoyance. Just recently she had received the information that a guest was going to being. And that guest was none other than an angel.

    She wanted to prepare a grand wee for them as it had been a long time since a representative of angelsst came here. She was even looking forward to it.

    Unfortunately, something had really gone wrong. Someone had chosen to target her at this exact moment. She even wondered if this was the work of her siblings who were jealous of her.

    "Did they have someone use some forbidden magic to create those abominations? The moment I find out the person responsible for it, I would truly make them experience hell!"

    Then if it was her siblings, she was willing to kill them. She was sure that even her father wasn''t going to stop her. For the Titan Tribe, she was their future. She was the future queen and their only link to the Angels at the moment.

    So was going to stop her if she wanted to do anything? Even her father couldn''t do that, as she had the backing of the Angels.

    Feeling pride about her links to the Angel, a smirk appeared on the Princess'' lips.

    She soon reached the entrance of the throne room, surprised that there were no

    guards here either.

    She ced her hand on the doors and pushed them open while entering.

    "Father, in the Prayer Room, some-"

    She didn''t even observe her surroundings as she started speaking the moment she opened the door. However, her words suddenly came to a halt as she finally noticed

    her surroundings.

    The Throne waspletely empty, and her father was nowhere to be found. Instead those dark abominations were inside the ce.

    "You made me wait quite some time, daughter of Trenes," a voice came from the direction of the throne.

    It was only now that the Princess noticed that the throne wasn''t actually empty. There was someone sitting on it.

 Chapter 1012 Chapter 1012: Titanification

    1012 Chapter 1012: Titanification

    "Who are you? How dare you sit on my father''s throne?! And where is my father?!" The Princess found the entire situation strange. Why was her father not here?

    She didn''t even think of the possibility of her father being dead. There was no way her father could be killed by these shadowy creatures. They weren''t strong enough! Even if her father was somehow killed, his body would have been here. It would have been impossible to get rid of such a huge body in such a short time. It hadn''t been long since shest saw her father.

    "Are you the forbidden magic user that my siblings hired?" The Princess asked, her expressions darkening.

    "Do you not realize my identity and my backing? Do you understand what a huge mistake you''re making by trying to go against me?" she asked, making her words as threatening as possible.

    She was backed by the Angels. There was no one in the Titan Tribe who didn''t know about this. However, looking at Karyk, she was sure that this person wasn''t from her tribe. It made sense for him to not know.

    This also made her realize that she could use him once she told him her identity.

    "I don''t know where my siblings found you from, but I will offer you onest opportunity! Tell me where my father is, and from today onwards, start working for me!"

    Her offer was lucrative ording to her. On one side, it was Karyk''s death while on the other, it was an opportunity to work for her, and indirectly getting protection from the Angels.

    "I am sure as a forbidden mage, you haven''t forgotten what happened to your kind. If I told the Angels that one of you is still alive, they would leave no stone unturned to kill you!" she further said after receiving no response from Karyk.

    "If you work for me, I would keep it a secret from them. I will also protect you. All you have to do is to use your forbidden magic for me only!"

    The Princess kept talking, each of her words trying to target Karyk. On one end, she gave him the carrot of safety while on the other, she showed him the stick of the Angels.

    Karyk looked at her in silence, the scythe resting over his shoulders.

    "I''m not sure what my siblings promised you, but they can''t save you either. Soe to my side!" the Princess repeated. "Prove your loyalty by killing my siblings, and I will take you on my side!"

    "Your siblings?" Karyk finally opened his lips, waving his hand. The shadow of the throne becamerger. From the shadow, two giant titans came out.

    The undead titans weren''t as tall as the Titan King, but they were still a little bigger

    than ordinary Titans. They were also different from Karyk''s other Undeads. They were also made from darkness of the abyss, but they looked more like human as the darkness had taken a more human shape. Their clothes were also recreated, but with the condensed darkness.

    Unlike the other Undeads of Karyk that had no face, these two titans had proper faces. And these were the faces of someone the Princess knew all too well.

    "How is that possible?!" The Princess grew shocked at the sight of the new undeads that Karyk had called forth.

    The two undeads were her siblings! Or rather, they used to be her siblings until Karyk killed them on his way to the Titan King. Killing the two siblings was also much easier than killing the Titan King, not taking much effort.

    "My siblings didn''t bring you here? Then who?" The Princess found it hard to believe that a forbidden mage was doing something on his own without being hired by someone on the inside. It should have been impossible.

    "Do you want to know the person who hired me?" Karyk asked as he let out a sigh.

    He stood up, the Scythe still being carried over his shoulder.

    "Yes. Tell me about the traitor and kill that traitor with your own hands to prove your loyalty to me! Or else-"

    "Or else you will tattle to the Angels about me?" Karyk finished the Princess'' sentence while jumping on the ground.

    The Princess proudly stood, as if it was a matter of fact. She didn''t even feel threatened. Unless the little person in front of her was a fool, he had to serve her! That was the only path of survival for him.

    Karyk stepped towards the Princess with his tiny body and small steps that didn''t appear threatening. However, as he took a few steps forward, the Princess'' expressions started twisting at the sight in front of her.

    With each step that Karyk took, his body was bing bigger. The marks on his body were also spreading with the change in his body type.

    On his back, ancient words were appearing that were in anguage that even the gods couldn''t read. No one could understand what these words meant even if they were to see them.

    Within seconds, Karyk''s body was half the size of the Princess and it didn''t stop bing bigger. The scythe over his shoulder also kept getting bigger as more and more darkness gathered at Karyk''s feet.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    With his body bing bigger, his shadow also grew bigger to the point that even the throne of the Titan King was underneath his shadow.

    The Princess subconsciously stepped back, finding it hard to believe even though she was looking at it with her own eyes. How was it possible?! Was there even a forbidden spell like that?

    Before she coulde out of her daze, Karyk was only a few meters away from her, his bodyrger than her. If anything, he appeared as tall as her own father, albeit a

    little slender.

    The clothes around his body had also berger with his body as they were also made from the essence of the abyss.

    His long robe brushed against the floor as he walked. His robe looked normal to his current size but if he was on earth, it was enough to cover a fewrge blocks of an entire city.

 Chapter 1013 Chapter 1013: What he wanted

    ?

    1013 Chapter 1013: What he wanted

    The Princess could not believe her eyes. For a moment, she even wondered if she was dreaming. How was it even possible?

    Just a few moments ago, Karyk was as small as an ant. He was so small that she could stomp him to death and he couldn''t do anything. But now, he was standing in front of her, appearing no different than a Titan.

    She didn''t understand. How was it possible for a person to be a Titan? There should have been no forbidden magic that allowed one to change their Species like his.

    She only had one question in her mind. Just what was this person?

    At first, she had thought that he was hired by her siblings to help them against her. On the contrary, those siblings were killed by her. And her father was also missing. She was starting to have a bad feeling about it all.

    She could feel that this person wasn''t hired by someone. He came here on his own, willing to go against the Titans despite knowing their backing.

    "What did you do to my father?" She asked, already preparing to contact the Angels. She tried to connect to the Statue in the Prayer Room, that was the only way for her to connect to the Angels.

    Her expressions suddenly turned darker as she failed to even sense that statue. It was as if the statue didn''t exist in its entirety.

    .

    In the Prayer Room, the Undead Warriors that Karyk sent to stop the Princess had already freed themselves of the seal, breaking it faster than the Princess expected them to.

    When Karyk was able to sense them again, he only gave them a single instruction. The instructions were to destroy the Statue in the Prayer Room.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    All the Undeads gathered around the statue, raising their swords which burned in dark mes. All the Undead Warriors attacked the statue at the same time while the mages in the back cast a spell.

    Theirbined attack managed to shatter the statue before it could even react. Thousands of small pieces of the statue flew everywhere in the room, losing their divinity.

    The statues were slowly swallowed by the shadows of the undead, sent into the Abyss.

    "What did you do to the statues?!" The Princess yelled at Karyk, looking at him with rage.

    She wasn''t this angry when she heard that both her siblings had been killed. She wasn''t even angry when she found that her father was nowhere to be found. This was the first time she grew angry, and was all for the sake of the Angels. She had truly been more devoted to the Angels than she had been to the Titans.

    "The statue is gone, as it should have been," Karyk answered.

    The Princess was momentarily frozen when she heard that the statue was broken. It wasn''t easy to break the statue, especially for the few Undeads.

    She had personally fought them and didn''t find them to be that strong. Unless they were hiding their abilities?

    This was the thought that truly shocked her. The Undeads weren''t using their strength when fighting her? That meant the seal was even weaker against them than she expected.

    Slowly, it all started to make sense. The Undeads didn''t want to kill her in the first ce.

    They wanted her to know about them to lead her to the Throne Room for an audience with her father. In essence, they wanted her toe to Karyk like a preying to the predator.

    She had left them there, confident in her seal. But the seal couldn''t stop them. And once they were free, they could attack the statue at the same time.

    She was in disbelief and enraged. These intruders had truly made a mockery of her. And even more than that, they showed disrespect towards the Angels by breaking that statue.

    "You fool! Did you think you achieved something by breaking that statue? Did you think you stopped me from contacting them?" She burst intoughter but her eyes were filled with rage.

    "You are truly a fool if you think that! Now that the statue is broken, he would definitely know that something is wrong here. He was already about toe here as a guest, but now he wille even sooner!"

    "What a fool you are! You truly prepared your own grave! It will be fun to watch you beg at his feet!"

    The Princess looked down on Karyk, her eyes brimming with pride and arrogance even in this situation. Sheughed at Karyk''s stupidity.

    "Hahaha..."

    Karyk also startedughing, which made the Princess go silent. Shouldn''t this person be trembling? Why was heughing? This didn''t make sense at all.

    Even when she told him about the consequences of breaking the statue, he wasn''t phased. It was more like he already expected it. Or rather, it was as if this was his goal in the first ce.

    Her lips parted as she had that absurd thought. Did Karyk actually want the Angel to

    come here? Was that his n? Did he really think he could survive when that happened?

    If it was anyone else, she would have thought that they had already lost their sanity, but looking in his eyes, she didn''t think that was the case. Her expressions grew darker as she thought that this might be Karyk''s n.

    "Did you-" She tried to ask him directly, but before she couldplete her question,

    Karyk spoke.

    "Since I am in a good mood, I will answer a question for you. Didn''t you want to

    know the whereabouts of your father?" Karyk asked.

    The Princess'' eyes narrowed. Why was Karyk suddenly talking about her father now?

    She had a really bad feeling about this.

    "Isn''t he already standing behind you?" Karyk further asked, pointing behind the

    Princess.

    The woman slowly turned around, the bad feeling in the depths of her heart getting

    even stronger.

    The moment she finally turned behind, her face grew pale. What she saw wasn''t her father, but an Undead that was made from the darkness of the abyss, looking just like

    her father.

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 Chapter 1014 Chapter 1014: I want you

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    1014 Chapter 1014: I want you

    The Princess had received the biggest shock of her life.

    Although she served the Angels and knew that the Titans were nothing in front of them, her father was an existence that was much stronger than anyone could have imagined.

    Her father was an existence that was the closest to a half angel in strength. He was a being in a different realm than the other Titans. Despite that, he was standing in front of her, lifeless just like her siblings.

    The person that she was threatening had managed to kill her father as well. It wasn''t just that he killed her father, but he did that in such a short time that it didn''t make sense at all.

    Even if a half angel was to fight her father, he wouldn''t have managed to kill her father in such a short time. So how did this ant like being managed to do it? "That''s it! This is not real at all. It''s as I expected, this is all an illusion."

    Her mind had snapped, and she outright refused to believe that she was seeing the reality. For him, it was either an illusion or a nightmare that she was yet to wake up from.

    "Your daughter seems to think that she is dreaming. Would you like to wake her up?"

    As soon as he finished speaking, the Undead Titan King raised his hand. He pped the Princess and sent her flying back.

    The Princess mmed on the wall in the back, her lips bleeding. The strength was no different than her father''s strength. The pain was also real. This wasn''t an illusion. This was the reality.

    Her father was killed and now he served this person. With that, everyone in this city had fallen to this person except her.

    "Do you feel that pain?" Karyk asked. "If you still think that it''s an illusion, I won''t mind having him try again?"

    "What do you want?" The Princess wiped the corner of her lips. She wasn''t a fool. She understood what kind of situation she was in.

    Karyk was someone who had even managed to defeat her father. It was impossible for her to face him. And even if she could have him, he wasn''t alone.

    If he fought with her undead father, it was even worse for her. The only thing she could do was wait for the Angels to arrive and take care of this bastard. Until that happened, she had to dy.

    "What do I want? Isn''t the answer simple?" Karyk raised his right hand, pointing a finger in the Princess''s direction.

    The Princess looked back, wondering if something was behind her for him to point.

    There was nothing behind her. The only thing in the direction of his finger was her. Her expressions darkened but before she could turn back to look at Karyk, the sharp de of scythe rested on her throat.

    "I want you," Karyk whispered in her ears, his body in close contact with the Princess'' body.

    Her face turned somewhat red as she felt his body. She was clear what he wanted. As long as it was to survive until the Angel arrived, then she was willing to do it. Life was more important than anything. Moreover, Karyk was also a titan at this moment.

    "Fine! I will give you what you want!" She ced her fingers on her shoulders and started removing her dress.

    "Good. It seems like I was worried for no reason. Have a safe journey, and say hi to your family."

    The scythe moved, taking off the Princess'' head with it. Her head and the dress fell at the same time, apanied by the bare body.

    "Now that the entire family is in the afterlife together..."

    His shadow reached out and shrouded the body of the Princess, swallowing it in its entirety.

    Karyk walked back to the throne, slightly confused as to why the Princess had suddenly started stripping after agreeing to die.

    "Weird people." He shrugged while returning to his throne.

    He sat on the throne, hisrge body making the throne appear the perfect size for him.

    He didn''t look out of ce anymore, but the ck marks on his body were again being modified as more data had been gathered from the Princess'' magic.

    The marks appearing on his body allowed him to use the magic that the Princess was able to use as the strongest mage in the Empire.

    If she was to fight, Karyk was sure that it would have taken quite a lot of effort to kill her. Although eventually he would have seeded, it would have been a waste of time for him.

    Instead of spending time fighting, he wanted to spend time absorbing the memories of the Princess who was the only person in contact with the Angels.

    With the devouring of the Princess, Karyk had gathered all the information he could about the Titans. He learned all their skills and magic, bing even stronger.

    Once he added the essence of the abyss to the newly learned magic, it could only be stronger.

    Fortunately, when the markings on his body were modified along with his body, he was made morepatible with the magic of this world.

    With every passing second, he was growing stronger while waiting for the guest to

    arrive.

    He was already nning to have an angel be dragged here by breaking the statue not looking into the Princess'' memories, he was surprised to find out that there was no need to break the statue as an angel was alreadying here as a guest.

    Just as the Princess stated, his actions only red the temper of the guest who was to arrive.

    In the memories of the Princess, he also saw quite a lot of things that made him interested. Just as he had heard, the Princess had actually gone to the ce where the Angels lived.

    In those memories, he also saw a familiar face. When the Princess went to the city of angels, she had seen Aexin, the half angel who had almost killed him in Elzeira. In those memories, Aexin was beating up some pure angels until the guardians arrived to stop him.

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 Chapter 1015 Chapter 1015: The only route

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    1015 Chapter 1015: The only route

    Karyk watched the scene that the Princess had noticed when she went to the City of Angels, but seeing Aexin in those memories was surprising for him..

    From her memories, she also found the identity of Aexin. Even though he was only half blood, he was the rtive of a high ranking person amongst the Angels.

    He was also quite strong for his age. Even with half the Angel bloodline, his strength wasn''t lowpared to the Angels with pure blood. At least that was the case ording to what he saw.

    He hadn''t seen the strength of the grown up angels, so he wasn''t quite sure how their Bloodline affected them when they grew up more.

    He had seen a few angels in the past who came down to save the Prince from Civilization, but they were inherently different from the Angels he had seen here. The Angels in the memories of this woman were quite different. It was as if they had changed a lot since thest time he saw them with civilization.

    He let the memories y out, learning the exact route he had to take it he wanted to reach the city of angels. He also learned a lot about the other species of this world that were no less than the Titans.

    There was another thing that surprised him. He thought that the Titans were the subordinate species of the Angels like the Elzeirans but that wasn''t the case.

    The subordinate species of the Angels lived in different worlds. The species that lived here had independence and their own civilization. They could ally with whoever they wanted.

    Just like the Titans were close to Angels, there were also a few other species that were close to other high ranking ns.

    The Princess knew even more about the world that revolved around the Angels than her father. She also knew that there were a few more species in this world that wereparable to the Angels.

    Although Angels had more dominance, but the other high ranking species weren''t weaker. There were species like the Fairies that lived in the forest.

    Druids and Elves in this world were closer to fairies than they were to angels. Simrly, there were a few more high ranking ns in this world.

    The Titan n was strong but it wasn''t strong enough to be included in the High Ranking ns either. They were only called a mid rank tribe in this world.

    In total, this world had five high ranking ns. The strongest of them was said to be Angels, but not by much.

    The other ns were the Fairies, the Monsters, the Demons. There was one more n but even the Princess didn''t appear to know about thest n.

    The other ns had only started rising after the Angels'' fall in the era after the

    Civilization. It was also the time when angels had started growing weaker.

    It was also why the Angels were so eager to find the key for some reason. For them, it all started with the sacrifice of the Prince and the only way to stop it was to find the same Prince.

    That''s why they had been trailing after the Prince and the thief who had escaped with the Prince. After a long time, they finally managed toe across the lost Prince in Elzeira before they lost him again.

    Ever since that moment, the Angels had been silent. The people from the Angel n were hard to see outside their n. Which was why the Princess was so excited to have the envoy of angels arrive to her n.

    This was the first time after the destruction of Elzeira that the Angels were opening up, and their first trip was to the Titan Tribe.

    This was an opportunity for the Princess to get even closer to the Angels, and she didn''t want to fail it. Going through her memories, Karyk could feel her excitement. After a few minutes, Karyk finished absorbing all the memories of the Princess. For now, his body had also finished changing.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    He understood everything he needed to know about this world, but it was only from the perspective of the Titans.

    "I need to know more. I need to devour more memories... Good thing that an angel ising to let me know everything."

    The best option for him to learn about a ce was to devour the inhabitants. The more people he devoured, the more he could learn. He could also learn about this ce from the perspective of different ns.

    It wasn''t just the knowledge that he wanted to gather, but also evolution. He had seen that his body was evolving every time he devoured someone. The more species he devoured, the more he could evolve until he was the perfect form.

    He didn''t feel like this in the past, but the more he used the abyss, the more he was starting to realize his own origin. It was a carnal desire inside him to be strong and perfect.

    It didn''t go against his goals either as only by bing stronger could he protect the people he cared about.

    For that goal, he didn''t just want to devour the titans. He wanted to devour the fairies, the Angels, the demons and every other major n.

    Only by gathering more information about those species with devouring could he improve more and more.

    He knew that he couldn''t just rely on what he knew in the past. There was a limit of magic that he learned in his original world.

    Death magic could make him strong, but it couldn''t let him win against the Angels and other higher species.

    He had already realized that w when he faced Aexin. He failed to defeat even half blood who was probably going easy because he didn''t want to destroy the lower world by releasing everything he had.

    If he took the normal route, he could barely defeat Aexin, but what about the pure bloods? What about the High Council of the Angels whose real form he didn''t even

    know.

    "It seems that''s the only route I can take."

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 Chapter 1016 Chapter 1016: Arrival

    ?

    1016 Chapter 1016: Arrival

    Karyk wanted toe to this world to enact vengeance on the Angels. They were chasing after him and he knew that they were never going to give up until they were absolutely destroyed.

    As long as the Angels weren''t destroyed, Gabriel and the others couldn''t have a peaceful life either. Hence, he came here to kill them.

    Even he didn''t understand what changed in the process, but the thoughts in his mind were more upied by bing a perfect being in the universe.

    It was such a strong urge that even the desire for revenge felt small in front of it. He was awakening to his true desires, bing the one he was born to be.

    He rubbed his forehead, sitting in absolute darkness wondering what had been happening to him.

    He didn''t dislike this feeling, but he still felt a little strange. He felt like he was bing a different person due to his desires.

    "It doesn''t matter. At the end, it all goes in the same direction." He stopped thinking about it. As long as he became stronger, couldn''t he easily have his revenge?

    His desires didn''t create an obstruction in the way of his goals. If anything, theyplimented it.

    He stood up and walked out of the Pce, apanied by the Undead Titan King and the other Undeads created from the Royal Family.

    He even brought the Princess back to life after learning everything from her memories.

    "Thest time I faced an angel, it didn''t go well. But this time, I will make sure the ending is different." He stood in front of the pce, looking at the darkening sky.

    He subconsciously licked his lips, as if he was also looking forward to tasting the Angel.

    He would have thought twice if the Angel was someone from the High Council of angels or a powerful angel who had lived for centuries, but the Angel that wasing was a much younger one.

    As per the memories of the princess, he was strong but not too strong. The only reason he was even considered important amongst the Angels was because he was the son of an influential person.

    The guest who wasing was a pure angel, unlike Aexin. His father was also the Leader of Guardian Angels in the City of Angels.

    As the Leader of Guardian Angels, the young Angel''s father was also a member of the High Council just like Aexin''s uncle who sent him to kill Karyk.

    Two wings appeared behind Karyk, a trait he had carried over from the past. As his body was that of a Titan, his wings were also much bigger.

    As his angel-like wings moved, a gust of wind was left behind. He rose in the air, looking over the entire city.

    From the great height, he could see that hundreds of thousands of undead titans were spread throughout the city.

    As he didn''t need them for the moment, he raised his right hand. Without using any words, he issuedmands.

    The Undead Titans looked in his direction toward the sky. A moon hung in the sky, casting Karyk''s shadow on the ground that kept getting bigger.

    His shadow soon surrounded the entire city. By the time his shadow returned, the number of Undeads had gone down.

    All the Undeads returned to the abyss, waiting for the next time he was going to call them. Only the Undead Titans of the Royal Family were left behind.

    Not long after, he saw a bright light sh through the sky. A portal appeared high above, appearing like a sun that brightened the sky at that moment.

    From the portal, an angel descended, his wings shining in a beautiful white light as if it was the purest form of energy.

    Karyk watched the wings of the person which looked beautiful, but they were quite different from the wings of original angels that he had seen when going through the memories of civilization.

    He could also see that the shine in those wings wasn''t real. It was as if the Angel was using the magic to appear then brighter, while in reality his wings werepletely back.

    "Interesting.... The sight they show to the others is truly quite different from the reality. No wonder they are known as Archangels amongst their subordinate species." "Only those subordinates know about the reality of these angels that had been corrupted for an eternity with the incident rted to the Prince."

    He also realized why the impression of angels he had seen in the memories of the Princess was so different and why they called them angels instead of Archangels like the Elzeiran Royals did.

    The Elzeirans knew that they weren''t angels anymore, but they couldn''t tell anyone. As subordinates of the Angel species, they were bound by some rules. Even if they knew the reality, they couldn''t do anything.

    Meanwhile, the Titans and the other residents of this world weren''t subordinates. They were just affiliates at best who were trying to get close to Angels. They only saw a beautiful illusion that the Angels had created to lure them in.

    He was sure that if he hadn''t appeared, it was only a matter of time before the Titans also became a subordinate species and were forced to leave this realm like others. The Angel descended from the sky, taking a nce at the city which looked extremely empty. He had met the Princess many times before, but this was the first

    time he came to the city of Titans.

    He didn''t expect the city to look so empty. Soon his gaze fell over on Karyk who was not far from him. Looking at the wings of the person, he was taken aback. These wings appeared to be made from magic. They weren''t real at all. But their appearance was what shocked him. These wings looked like the wings of original angels before corruption.

    Was this just a coincidence? Or was it an attempt of the Titans to let him know that they knew the secret? He shifted his focus on the people standing before the pce. The people looked like the King and princess, but he was shocked to see that they weren''t real people. He could also feel a disgusting stench of deathing from them.

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 Chapter 1017 Chapter 1017: If you think

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    1017 Chapter 1017: If you think

    The angel''s eyes narrowed. The stench of death was unmistakable, and it clung to the royal family members like a thick fog. It wasn''t just the aura of death but something else about it that made him feel disgusted.

    He spread out his senses and scanned the entire city, but he didn''t even find one person who could be considered alive.

    The only person that even came close to that distinction was Karyk, even though the aura of death was the strongest around him.

    "Who are you?" he asked as his eyes coldly looked at Karyk who was like a Giant before him. He was the same size as a human while Karyk was muchrger.

    Karyk didn''t answer. He gazed at the Angel, observing him. In the memories of the princess, this person was very strong. But when he actually looked at this person, he felt disappointed.

    He didn''t feel that same level of suppression from this angel that he had felt when he faced Aexin. He wasn''t sure if it was because something was special about Aexin or just because he had grown stronger after awakening his memories.

    "If you don''t answer, then I will have to make you answer." The Angel raised his hand. Akin to a divine being, he was able to control the sky above them.

    Following his movements, dark clouds appeared in the sky with thunder asionally shing amidst the clouds.

    "I will give you one more opportunity... Tell me what happened here and who dared to destroy the Statue?!" he asked, his voiceced with threat. Just a single movement and he could destroy this entire city with his judgment.

    "I''m not certain if I should be happy or sad," Karyk said, appearing to be somewhat split.

    "What do you mean?" The Angel''s expressions twisted. He didn''t understand why but he felt as if Karyk was insulting him. At least that''s the impression he received.

    "I want to be happy that I will get to devour an angel..." Karyk said, his words shocking the Angel.

    The Angel couldn''t believe what he heard. This titan was talking about devouring him? Since when did the Titans grow that arrogant?

    "But I am also sad that the Angel I get to devour is so weak," Karyk continued, rubbing his chin as if he was lost in thought. "Do you think someone stronger wille if I kill you?"

    Instead of seeing any fear in the eyes of this titan, the angel saw excitement when Karyk wondered if stronger titans were going toe for revenge?

    His face red up in anger, unable to take this insult anymore.

    "Since you want to die so much, let me fulfill that desire of yours!" He brought his

    hand down. The space around Karyk was sealed, making it impossible for him to move beyond a few inches.

    At the same time, thunder fell from the sky like the punishment from heaven, trying to destroy everything in its path. The lightning bolts fell over Karyk''s body one after another, strong enough to destroy even a titan''s sturdy body.

    The Angel watched the lightning bolts fall, his eyes narrowed. He had killed Karyk, but still his anger wasn''t gone. He even wondered if he had killed that titan a bit too easily? Should he have tortured him more for that disrespect?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    After hundreds of lightning bolts fell over the space, the angel stopped. As Karyk was already gone there was no need to waste more of his strength. The lightning bolts stopped and the space appeared clear, free from any light.

    As the lightning stopped, the angel was finally able to see what had happened to Karyk. And what he saw wasn''t something that made him happy. Instead, it was enough to surprise even him.

    He saw arge sphere of darkness where Karyk was supposed to be spending. And although it looked like it was a sphere of darkness, it felt different. It was something that even made his bloodline feel stimted.

    Soon, the dark sphere also started disappearing. And when it waspletely gone, it stunned the angel even more as within the sphere, Karyk was still standing perfectly calm, unaffected by the lightning in the slightest.

    It didn''t hurt him in the least. It was as if the lightning waspletely useless on Karyk. The Angel fumed in rage and disbelief as he attacked Karyk again, but the oue was the same.

    The lightning which was his strongest ability wasn''t able to hurt Karyk. As for his other abilities, they also weren''t able to go past that strange dark matter that Karyk could conjure at any moment.

    "If we''re done ying, shall I also get serious now?" Karyk touched the Spatial Seal that was keeping him in ce.

    The essence of the abyss came out through his finger, instantly devouring the spatial seal that was around him. With this, Karyk had noticed another thing about his

    abilities.

    He couldn''t just devour a person but also their abilities. When his abyss devoured the lightning, he felt like the knowledge rted to the lightning was transferred to his mind.

    He also felt the connection to the clouds that only the angel who used that ability should''ve been able to feel.

    He tested the ability with the Spatial Seal and devoured it with his abyss and the out in was the same. Once the spatial seal was devoured by his abyss, it was disintegrating and learning every information about it was transferred to his kind. His marks also kept changing with everything he learned, although to a very small

    extent. It didn''t move much until he devoured a new species, but devouring the abilities wasn''tpletely useless as it helped him evolve as well.

    The Angel watched Karyk raise his hand just as he did.

    "I don''t know how you survived my lightning, but you think you can use my abilities if you just follow my actions? A measly titan had grown too arrogant to think that he can copy abilities thate from our divinity!

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 Chapter 1018: Devouring an angel

    1018 Chapter 1018: Devouring an angel

    The Angel knew that it was impossible to copy his abilities. One could even dream about it. These were the abilities that only worked for an angel.

    Karyk wasn''t an angel so it was impossible for him to use it just by copying his actions. The young angel even looked at Karyk as if he was looking at a fool.

    An arrogant smirk remained on his lips as he didn''t even try to attack Karyk at this moment, waiting for him to make a fool of himself first. The smile on his lips kept getting wider.

    "What happened?" he asked with a mocking gaze. "Go on and use it, if you can."

    Although he wasn''t sure why Karyk was unaffected by his attacks or even the origin of that dark and disgusting energy, he was certain that the Titan was a fool, so it was only a matter of time before he could kill that titan.

    "Huh?" His face that was brimming with a smile suddenly grew more serious. He felt his connection with the lightning being removed forcefully.

    "How is it possible?" He looked at the sky. "Is someone else here?"

    He looked around, trying to see if any other angel was here. The only way for it to happen was if a stronger angel had taken control of lightning. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Only then could one snatch the control from an angel. He didn''t even think that this was the work of Karyk.

    Karyk brought his hand down, simr to how the angel had done. In a simr manner, a lightning bolt fell from the sky, being much thicker than before.

    The Angel was shocked. Was it really the work of Karyk? Even if he was an angel, he couldn''t remain unharmed by an attack like that. He tried to dodge the attack by entering a separate realm.

    "There''s no need to leave," Karyk made a gesture, a Spatial Seal appeared around the Angel.

    His expressions grew pale. He didn''t understand how it was possible. Not just the lighting but even his spatial seal could be used by that person?

    "You think you can stop me with my own ability?" The Angel came to his senses quickly and attacked the weak point of the seal.

    As the master of this skill, he knew exactly where the weakness of this seal was. He attacked with all his might, but the seal didn''t even move.

    "How is this possible?" His face darkened. It was his seal, so why was the weakness not here? It was as if Karyk hadn''t just stolen this skill but even modified it to remove all the weakness.

    "This is absurd! It''s impossible!" The Angel roared in rage. How could a mere titan remove the ws of his skill that even he hadn''t managed to do yet! It was impossible.

    His roars were soon submerged by the sound of thunder as the bolt of lightning fell over his body. One after another, multiple bolts kept falling over his body, making him roar in pain.

    After a barrage of lightning bolts fell on him, the attack finally stopped. Most of the young Angel''s clothes were torn, but he was still alive.

    His breathing was haggard and most of his body was aching. There were wounds all over his body that were healing.

    "I will kill you..." The Angel weakly stated as he let his healing continue. Although he didn''t understand how Karyk did it, but he realized that this person was dangerous. He couldn''t take it lightly anymore.

    He raised his head while his bodypletely healed, only to grow surprised as Karyk wasn''t there anymore.

    "Did he run away?" he thought, quickly shaking off that thought.

    "Why would I run, leaving the food behind?" Karyk''s voice fell on the Angel''s ears,ing from right behind him.

    He didn''t even feel how Karyk managed to approach him without being noticed. He turned around, his expressions growing even more absurd.

    This time, the person standing behind him wasn''t a titan. It was someone who looked like an ordinary human with dark wingsing from behind him.

    It felt as if the Titan had grown extremely smaller in that small movement, small enough to approach him without being detected.

    "You-" the Angel tried to move back, realizing that being this close to Karyk was dangerous.

    It was toote for him to move back. The time to escape was already gone. He saw a ck me sh before his eyes as the scythe came swinging.

    He brought his hands together, casting a shield. The dark scythe, apanied by a titan''s strength, shattered the shield in an instant. The dark de shed through the Angel''s body, making him bleed for the first time.

    The scythe didn''t stop there. As it sliced through the man''s body, it pushed forward, impaling his body.

    With the other scythe of the deing out from the Angel''s back, Karyk changes the direction. The scythe turned upwards and sliced through the body. The Angel''s chest and his head were sliced in two halves vertically.

    The distance between the two eyes of the Angel grew as both half of his bodies kept falling in different directions. Even in this situation, his healing kicked in, trying to keep both half of his bodies together.

    As the body of the Angel was being healed, he didn''t appear pleased. Instead, he was more scared as he couldn''t even use any abilities in this situation to escape.

    He could see darkness spreading around him. Starting from his feet, the darkness started devouring him. Even his healing was slower than the speed at which the darkness was creeping up on him.

    His head was still split in two. Only the lower half of his body was healed, but the darkness had already reached his chin. Before his head could even begin healing, the suffocating darkness swallowed him whole.

    The Angel was still alive when he was devoured by the abyss, possibly being the first person who was sent there alive.

 Chapter 1019: Hunting

    1019 Chapter 1019: Hunting

    The Angel was sent to the abyss while he was still alive. All that was left to heal was his head when he was swallowed by the abyss. As soon as he entered the abyss, he felt that even his divine healing had stopped. He couldn''t feel anything here. He couldn''t even feel his connection to his Bloodline. He was like the lifeless Puppet who could only see the endless darkness as his body floated in the abyss. While he was still alive, he watched the abyss devour his body and tear apart his consciousness. In the abyss, the painful cries of the Angel echoed, but no one was here to hear him. His face was distorted in pain. Even though angels were trained to control their pain, this pain was too much for him. He could feel his body, soul and mind being ripped apart as some unknown force tried to steal everything from him. In this moment, he wished that he would have been dead before he was tossed into this tormenting hell. There was no exit in this abyss. All that apanied him was a slow and painful death that was stripping him bare of his memories and knowledge. Every second felt like an eternity as death couldn''te sooner. ....

    Back in the city of Titans, Karyknded on the ground, quite pleased with the battle. He wasn''t sure if the battle was easy because the angel that came this time was weak or if it was because he had grown stronger. Although it was somewhat underwhelming because of his high expectations, the gains weren''t insignificant. Not only could he take the abilities of the Angel, but he was also gaining previous data from devouring the Angel. The marks on his body had again started changing as extra characters appeared on his back. The characters were small, but each of those characters consisted of information asrge as the universe. Karyk returned to the Royal Pce. He was done with the angel, and only had to wait for the devouring to bepleted. He was also waiting for stronger angels to arrive so he could devour them as well. This city was a trap for the Angels. When one went missing, it was only a matter of time before another came to investigate. He didn''t want to meet the high council members or powerful angels yet, but he was sure that they weren''t going toe here when they had so many people under them. While he waited, he let the devoured memories of the Angel being transferred to his mind. His thoughts were filled with the memories of the Angel he had killed, but strangely enough, the memories didn''t stop even when he was sent to the abyss. Throughout the angel''s memories, Karyk saw what happened when he was sent to the abyss and how he was tormented. This was the first time he saw how his abyss devoured people as he didn''t send any living beings before this. Karyk also gained more abilities of the Angel that he had devoured, which even surprised him. He didn''t expect an angel to know so many abilities that came from their divine bloodline. He didn''t have the Angel Bloodline but he was still able to use the abilities. The information rted to the Bloodline was imprinted on his body, which made these skills work. Were these marks even capable of containing Bloodlines? This was something he hadn''t thought of before, but now that he did, it appeared even more impressive. For the next few days, Karyk assimted all the information that he could. Not long after he had finished, another guest arrived.

    It wasn''t someone sent by the high council of angels, but someone from the family of the person Karyk had devoured. The person was older and stronger than the angel Karyk devoured before, but the battle appeared even easier. Apanied by the memories of the Angel, he knew all the tricks of this person He also used the abilities of the Angels which became even more perfect after removal of their ws by his abyss using information from other Bloodlines. The battle onlysted a few minutes before the second angel was killed and sent to the abyss. Within these few minutes, half the city had been destroyed, but Karyk couldn''t care less about this city. More days passed and when the two angels sent here didn''t return, the family sent even more angels. This time, it wasn''t just one angel but a group of warrior ss angels. This was a battle that proved much harder for Karyk as the number of angels was higher than his expectations. The remaining half of the city had been destroyed in the battle, turning into a barrennd. Looking at the scene, no one could imagine that once upon a time, a beautiful city of Titans used to exist in this ce. The battle was hard, but when Karyk called forth his undead army that was made of the titans, beasts and angels, the battle also became one sided. His army kept the angels busy, allowing him to deal with them one after another. In that one day, Karyk devoured twenty angels, increasing the number of his undead angels by twenty. His army became even stronger and so did his knowledge. He was able to learn a lot about the city of angels as well as the identity of Aexin who was sent to Elzeira to kill him. Karyk wanted to fish for more angels here, but he realized that things were bing more dangerous. With the disappearance of so many angels, it wasn''t unlikely for a high council member to arrive personally. He wasn''t sure if he could face them as the memories of these angels didn''t have any information about their strength.

    All he felt from their memories was that they couldn''t even raise their heads in front of the high Council members. The difference between an angel and a high council member was evenrger than the difference between an ordinary titan and the Titan King.

    n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 1020: Past sins

    1020 Chapter 1020: Past sins

    ....

    Three dayster, the sky above the city of Titans lit up. One after another, the entire sky was covered in portals, from which the Angels descended.

    The Angels were not only more in numbers but they were also stronger than any that came before them. There was one angel in particr which stood out from the rest.

    If Karyk was here, he would have recognised that person through the memories of the Angel he had devoured. This person was one of the High Council Members and the father of the first angel he devoured.

    Karyk had thought that these people were going to send powerful angels that served the high council but even he hadn''t thought that someone from the High Council was actually going toe here personally.

    He had underestimated how seriously the Angels took the matter of a few of them disappearing, especially when one of the missing was the son of a high council member.

    "This ce..."

    All the Angels were surprised as they saw the sight below them. There were no signs of any city being here. All they saw were signs of destruction which destroyed everything that used to be at this ce.

    There were signs of battle, where one side was clearly an angel. With the disappearance of the Angels, it was clear which side had won the battle.

    The High Council Member didn''t descend on the ground, his expressions solemn. He just watched the scene while the other Angels went down to investigate.

    The angelic warriors tried to find out who was the one that the Angels were fighting. It was impossible for it to be titans. The titans could never threaten them.

    "None of the traces here match any high n," an angel flew up to the High Council Member after finishing the investigation.

    They thought that it was another high n that did it, but the traces said otherwise. They were the traces of another angel.

    Was it the battle between two angels? That was impossible.

    No angel had left the city of angels in the recent few weeks, so it was impossible for there to be two angels who fought here, unless the group that came here fought amongst themselves.

    The angelic warriors looked at the High Council Member for his response, but he waspletely silent.

    The angelic warriors couldn''t feel it since someone had intentions erased a presence, but he could feel that the traces of the other angel were corrupt.

    It wasn''t the aura of a pure angel but an abomination that was tainted with an aura of death. Someone had tried hard to clear the traces of that disgusting aura, but it was impossible to remove it all.

    With how disgusting this aura was, it reminded the High Council member of something. His expressions grew darker. He was one of the members who had gone to the world of civilization after they were corrupted.

    Thest time he felt this aura, it was in the disgusting well that was sealed by them.

    It had only been a short time since the world of civilization had disappeared along with the well in thin air, and now this?

    He might have considered it a coincidence, but recently a long forgotten portal stone had been used. It was the stone that was given to the forgotten prince by the pure angels.

    The stone was supposed to bring someone to their city, but no one appeared there even when they felt the stone activate. It made them think it was just their misconception, but now he realized that he was over optimistic.

    "Is the past returning to haunt the present?" he mumbled under his breath. "It seems like the forgotten prince has decided to pay us a visit but he''s too shy..."

    He turned around, a portal opening before him. He couldn''t even collect the remains of his son as there was nothing left.

    "Good. Now that you are here, we will definitely show you a great wee." He entered the portal.

    The other warriors stood behind, confused. What were they supposed to do? They weren''t given anymand. Were they to continue trying to follow that trace or were they to return?

    With no clear instructions to search, they also decided to return, stopping the chase. They weren''t sure that they could find that person even if they tried. It was better to wait for further instructions.

    ....

    While the Angels arrived and left from the city of Titans, Karyk had already gone far away from that destination.

    With the memories of the Angels, he had the entire map of this world in his mind which helped him learn the location of various ns including the high ns of this world.

    Initially, he wanted to destroy all the Angels as soon as possible, not for now, he wasn''t in a hurry.

    Angel-like wings spread on his back as he flew over the vast forest where he had appeared when he first entered this world.

    The forest was still as huge as ever, but now he knew the route better. He had a Target in his mind as well, which was a n with an important ability.

    It was also something that could help him a lot in his path to perfection and his battle against the Angels that was toe.

    For some reason, he thought less about the Angels and the battle with them and more about gathering information from various species through devouring their kings and queens. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    He could devour the ordinary n members but that wasn''t enough. Usually, the kings were the perfectly evolved form of their species.

    For the next few weeks, a strange phenomenon urred. Various cities turned into ghost cities as the ns kept disappearing.

    No one knew who was making it happen but with time, the information had reached all high ns. Some of the devoured species worked for the other high ns after all.

    Another strange thing was that it didn''t follow any route. Sometimes ns in the North disappeared and other times in the South as if it was the work of more than one person.

 Chapter 1021: The Fairy

    Chapter 1021: The Fairy

    Many ns kept disappearing left and right. There was no pattern. Sometimes, ns in the far north disappeared, at other times it was south. Within a few weeks, the fear of the unknown had spread throughout the realm. All the High ns were ming each other for this, but no one knew who was exactly responsible. The only certain thing was that the one responsible was powerful. Suspicious of each other, the High ns stopped sharing information with each other. They made their own separate ns. Some set up traps in various n territories that they thought might be targeted next. There were also other High ns that sent their powerful beings as secret guests to their important subordinate ns to keep an eye on them. Almost every n was doing one thing or another to protect their people. There were only the Angels who appeared to be silent, mainly because they didn''t have any subordinate ns that resided in this realm. Even then, it was clear that something was going on with the Angels, as if they knew what was actually happening. ....

    "To think that I would have toe to this godforsaken ce." A woman descended, fairy-like wings being visible on her back that were distinct from the Angelic Wings. As soon as the woman descended, the entire Elf n went down on a knee. The woman was from the Fairy n, one of the five high ns. The Elf n was only a subordinate n to the fairies. There were many gazes of worship thatnded on the Fairy. The Elves were beings that were close to nature and the fairies were considered to be the gods of nature. They were the purest form of nature that the elves worshiped. Seeing a fairy, no matter their strength, was like seeing a divine being. It was even more special since the Elf n had been quite scared recently. They had heard the news of ns disappearing. They didn''t know if someone was going toe for them as well. They had made all the preparations, but still they felt scared.

    They even thought about shifting their city to another unknown ce, but it wasn''t easy to do that. Fortunately, at that time the Angels contacted them and told them that they were sending help. And now, here she was, their savior amidst the chaos. The Fairy''s presence alone brought a sense of calmness and hope to the anxious Elves. Her beautiful wings glistened under the sunlight filtering through the ancient forest where the elves lived. The Fairy, named Lysandra, surveyed the kneeling Elves with a serene expression. Although she was frustrated that she had toe here to babysit these people, she didn''t show her displeasure to their faces. Her voice, when she spoke, was melodious and soothing, yet it carried an undeniable authority. "Rise, children of the forest."

    "H-how can we stand before you?" The Elf Elder said, feeling hesitant. "Are you going to walk around with your knees then?" Lysandra said, almost revealing her frustration and her condescending gaze. She quickly controlled herself. "I mean, it would not be good for your health to be on your knees. Pleasure stand." She corrected herself. The Elves couldn''t say no to her twice. They stood up, still being respectful towards the Fairy. "Show me the ce where I will be staying," Lysandra told the vige elder.

    The Elder had thought that she was going to ask about the forest and if they had noticed anything strange, but she only asked about the ce where she was going to stay. Still, he was in no ce to question her. He simply thought that she might be tired. "R-right this way." The Elf Vige Leader nodded. He told the other Elves to return to guarding the forest while he apanied the fairy to the residence they had prepared. As the Elf Vige wasn''t a modern city like the city of Titans and other ns, they didn''t have many proper houses. Their houses were made within trees to be more connected to the forest. When Lysandra was brought to the ce that was supposed to be her residence, her lips twitched. Although she was a fairy that was born from nature, she wasn''t someone who liked mediocrity. Even in the city of fairies, they didn''t live in such shabby houses. Even a beggar there didn''t live in a ce like this, let alone a noble like her. ''Those damn higher ups. To think that I had to be the one toe here. Just my bad luck! The person who is destroying the cities, even that person wouldn''te to this godforsaken ce!'' There were a lot of things in her mind but she didn''t express them to the Elf Vige Leader. If these words reached the higher ups in the elf city, it was her who was going to be punished. Although it was a mediocre ce, she also had no choice. All other residences looked even worse, including one that belonged to the Elf Vige Leader. The one she received was the best of what this ce could offer. Frustrated, she simply entered the ce and told the old man to not disturb her until she came out herself. ....

    While the fairy entered the house, a person appeared outside the ancient forest. Karyk had changed a lot in the meantime. He had devoured a lot of species, strengthening a lot of his abilities. Now, he was able to open portals and go through them whenever he pleased. His body had also changed a lot. He still looked like a human but his pupils were different. They looked like the pupils of a dragon, with a narrow ck arc between. Even more ck marks had appeared around his body. He was also able to change his physique to various physiques. Even without changing his physique, he was able to use all the abilities. The most important part was that his undead army had grown even more. Now his undead army that hid in his shadow had more than a few million undead.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 1022: Path of the Demon\

    Chapter 1022: Path of the Demon

    As Karyk arrived at the entrance of the forest, he felt people observing him. There were also traces of killing intent as many elves were sitting on tree branches, hiding in the forest.

    Their divine arrows were aiming at Karyk, one movement and he was to be shot.

    One of the elvesnded on the ground, not taking his hands off his bow that aimed at Karyk.

    "Outsiders are not allowed here. Please return!"

    Although the elves found Karyk suspicious, they didn''t think that a single person was destroying the ns.

    "Outsiders are not allowed? Why is it that I feel the presence of a very interesting outsider inside?" Karyk asked, already noticing that there was someone beyond the elves here.

    There was something inside him that made him even more hungry as he felt the scent. It was his physique telling him that there was something really interesting for him inside.

    Until now, he hadn''t devoured any other high n in this world. The only high n members that he devoured were a few angels. From then on, he had been trying to draw more out.

    He could feel that it had worked. Someone from another high n had been drawn out. At that moment, the person was inside the forest.

    "You... Don''t tell me that I didn''t warn you!" The elf released his fingers, shooting out the divine arrow.

    The arrow flew straight for Karyk, leaving a divine essence trail behind it. However, the moment that arrow reached Karyk, a wall of darkness appeared between him and the arrow.

    The arrow struck the wall of darkness but failed to prate it. Instead, it was the darkness that devoured the arrow.

    Karyk raised his hand. From the same wall of darkness, a simr sized arrow shot out. The arrow wasn''t made of giving energy though. It was made of the essence of the abyss.

    The elf was stunned and couldn''t react when the arrow struck his chest. He watched in disbelief as a trail of blood stained his clothes.

    He dropped to the ground. The other Elves also knew that the man was hostile and dangerous. Without hesitation, they attacked him. Multiple arrows shot out at Karyk, but all of them were devoured by the sphere of darkness that appeared around him.

    "That man is dangerous! We need to return and inform the others!" An elf stood up. "Hold him back! I will return with the others!" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Where are you going?"

    The Elf turned around to leave but before he could even jump to another branch, he noticed Karyk standing in front of him, angel-like wings behind his back.

    With devouring so many species, Karyk had mastered a lot of abilities, one of which was shadow transfer.

    He could not only move his body from one of his shadows to another but he could also appear from other people''s shadows.

    "You... How did you-" The Elf froze in ce. He couldn''t even raise his bow when a scythe sliced through his throat, making his body fall off the tree branch.

    The body of the elf fell from the branch, onto the ground where Karyk''s darkness devoured his body.

    The shadows of other Elves also came to life, stabbing them in the back. One after another, the hundreds of elves that had tried to kill Karyk were killed. No one was here to save them, or even know what had happened.

    Once all the elves were devoured, Karyk waited for a few seconds to assimte all the memories and information about their skills.

    Unlike with the Kings of ns, it didn''t take long to devour a few ordinary elf warriors. Within a few seconds, he was ready.

    "It seems I was right. The Fairy is here. If I can devour her, I''ll be able to..."

    He didn''tplete his sentence and walked towards the core of the forest. A fairy was important in this world, even more so for him.

    Even if he knew the rough location of the fairy n, he couldn''t enter that ce. It was impossible as only through a portal could one enter that ce. And only a fairy could open the portal.

    He could forcefully break that barrier, but that much time was enough for the fairies to escape. That''s why he had been waiting for this moment.

    He intentionally left the elf n alone until now, only leaving a single undead here to keep an eye on them. All his hard work had paid off. With the fairies, it was truly the beginning of his rise in this world.

    He kept walking towards the core of the forest, killing everyone that came across him. Not a single elf that came in his path survived long enough to return and inform others.

    Karyk''s face didn''t change expressions even in the slightest even as he killed the elves. He had killed so many people that he had be numb to it.

    In the past, he had told the young whale that he was a bad guy. The young whale didn''t believe him, but looking at his own actions now, Karyk was even more sure that he was a bad person.

    He was killing so many people, most of whom had nothing to do with him. And it was all because he wanted to protect a handful of people. To save the mortal world from the Angels, he was willing to destroy the realm of gods.

    To stand equal to the High Council Angels, he was willing to be a demon and devour the entire realm. Only by bing perfect could he be confident that he could be prepared for everything that was toe.

    Soon, Karyk reached the vige in the middle of the forest. The old man had just returned after showing the fairy her house when he came across the dark robed man.

    "W-who are you?" he asked Karyk, taking a step back. However, his face was soon filled with horror as he saw darkness rise all around him, devouring everyone in the vige.

    He was thest person to be killed, looking back at the house of the fairy who hadn''t stepped out, as if not even able to sense anything.

 Chapter 1023: Taking you with me

    Chapter 1023: Taking you with me

    As the old man''s life was snuffed out, hisst thoughts were of the fairy. He didn''t understand. How could she note out to help them? Did she really not feel anything? How was it possible?

    His eyes closed as he took hisst breath before being devoured by the darkness.

    Karyk stood amidst the carnage, his eyes scanning the vige.

    The scent that had drawn him here was stronger than ever. The fairy''s house didn''t stand out much.

    If it wasn''t for her aura, he wouldn''t have thought that she lived at a ce like that, especially considering what he learned about them from the memories he devoured.

    The fairies in this world weren''t like the rumors. They were materialistic beings who loved living in luxury. They were called as gods of nature, but they had long abandoned that identity.

    The fairies were corrupted by this world as well. It was said that there was not a single tree in the city of fairies. Instead, it was a modern looking city with every luxury that one could desire.

    They were also not creatures who loved everyone. Instead, they hated other species, considering them disgusting.

    That''s also why the fairies didn''t allow any outsiders inside their city, not wanting their presence to make their city dirty. If it wasn''t for them wanting to protect their interests, Karyk was sure they wouldn''t have sent one of them here either.

    Karyk approached the door, cing his hand on the wooden surface. He could feel the powerful enchantments woven into the very fabric of the structure.

    It wasn''t the work of the elves either. It was something that was done by the owner of the house who didn''t want any disturbance.

    The fairy was sent here to protect the elves but she didn''t even consider that they were in danger. She even cast a noise suppressing magic on the door, preventing any noise from disturbing her.

    Even the scent from outside was masked as if she was disgusted by the scent of elves.

    There were also many protective charms that were cast around the house. They were meant to keep intruders out, but for someone like Karyk, they were merely a minor obstacle.

    He channeled the essence within him, letting it seep into the enchantments. The wood started rotting, the magic resisting for a moment before yielding to his overwhelming power. The door swung open, revealing the dimly lit interior.

    The inside of the house was different from the outside. The ce was much more spacious, making it clear that it was modified. It was like a proper luxury vi that was created inside this tree, all with the magic of fairies. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    There was also a firece to keep everything warm, but at the same time, a cold formation was cast to keep the ce cold.

    Karyk stepped inside the ce, intrigued by the taste of the fairies. This ce truly looked good, making him want to rest here after he was done with the task at hand.

    He looked around the ce, trying to look for the fairy but she was nowhere to be found. The moment he reached the center of the hall, a voice came from every direction.

    "Who are you? How dare you enter this ce?"

    One after another, fairies started appearing around Karyk, all of them lookingpletely identical. They surrounded Karyk, all of them seemingly real.

    "That''s a very useful skill. I quite like it," Karyk said, observing the skill that created multiple clones of a person, all having the same abilities as the main person.

    Although the clones couldn''tst long, it was still enough time to crush any opponent, especially if one made the mistake of considering them an illusion.

    "It seems you were the one who is going around hurting the people of this world. Am I right?" All the fairies said at the same time in the same tone.

    "That''s correct." Karyk said, not moving much.

    "In that case, you are truly unlucky. If I wasn''t there, you would have survived. But I just had to be here to crush you," the fairy said, smiling arrogantly.

    Karyk didn''t respond much to the woman''s words. Instead, her shadows started bing more lively. Even the shadows of the clones started bing bigger as they wereing back to life.

    There were also undead elves that had aimed arrows at the fairy''s head without her knowledge. With a singlemand, he could kill this arrogant fairy and all her clones.

    "I will give you onest opportunity. Surrender and let me take you to the Elders for punishment!" the fairy told Karyk.

    Karyk was quite interested in the proposal. Wasn''t it the same as taking a lion in the den of sheep? Even if he surrendered and was led there, he didn''t feel as if there was any loss for him.

    Still, he didn''t want to ept the proposal. With devouring this woman, he could open a portal himself. Moreover, going there after taking the abilities of a fairy was more useful than going otherwise.

    "What a pity. If I couldn''t open the portal, I would have epted your proposal right away," he told the fairy, sighing.

    "In that case, you shall die!" The fairy clenched her teeth, saying with hostility.

    "I agree. In that case, you shall die," Karyk nodded. Just as the Fairy attacked Karyk, a myriad of shadows cake into life, each carrying a scythe.

    The scythes sliced through the fairies and their clones. Not giving them a proper chance, the undead elves also shot the arrows that impaled their skull.

    The fairy was in disbelief as an arrow prated through her skull. No arrow should have been able to hurt her, but something was wrong with the arrows of the elves. It was something that even her divinity couldn''t block.

    Even as she was dying, she still had a smile on her face as her attacknded on Karyk. Even in death, she was going to take him with her.

 Chapter 1024: Even if I become a monster

    Chapter 1024: Even if I be a monster

    As her attack struck Karyk, the image of him flickered and vanished.

    "Illusion?" the fairy mumbled as the world started turning darker around her. She didn''t understand. How could that person make illusions that could even fool her? Was she attacking a fake all this time?

    The real Karyk stood behind her, his expression serene and unbothered.

    "How...?" she gasped, her voice barely a whisper as life drained from her eyes.

    Karyk watched dispassionately as the light in her eyes dimmed.

    "Illusions can be quite useful, don''t you think?" he murmured, almost to himself. He walked over to her fallen body, bending down to close her eyes with a gentle motion.

    "Rest now, your time in this world is over."

    As he closed her eyes, his shadow started devouring her, sending her remains into the realm of Abyss where a million strong undead army was waiting for further instructions.

    With the fairy''s death, the enchantments around the house started to fade. The luxurious surroundings began to wither and decay, revealing the true nature of the ce-a hollow, lifeless shell of a tree.

    Karyk stood up, surveying the room onest time before turning to leave. He thought he was going to rest here for a little while after dealing with that fairy, but he didn''t expect the house to be ruined with her death as well. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    He stepped out of the ce and started waiting for more fairies to arrive. He wasn''t sure if the fairies could sense the death of one of their own as he hadn''t finished consuming the memories of one yet.

    While the memories assimted, he sat in the lifeless forest where not a single drop of flood could be seen anywhere. All that could be seen were empty houses created inside the trees.

    In a short time, he had gained a lot of memories, mostly belonging to the elves. He saw how they lived their lives within nature and how they used the power of nature to gather divine energy which they used to attack him.

    There were also a few memories that made him ufortable. It was the memories that made him remember his own humanity, tugging at his emotions.

    Whenever he gazed at those memories, realizing that most of the people he devoured were also good people, there was a small thought at the back of his mind.

    "You should stop."

    "No I can''t..."

    "How many innocent people need to die for your revenge?"

    "It doesn''t matter. Even if the entire realm has to die, I will make it happen. I will remove all potential threats for Gabriel and Zena."

    "Are you really doing all this for them? Or is it all for your quest to be a perfect being?"

    "Both goals end up at the same destination. They end with the death of the entire angel species."

    "If they are your target, go for them. Why do you involve people who had nothing to do with you or the Angels?"

    "Because they will make me strong. I can''t face the Angels yet!"

    "Did you even try? Are you sure you can''t defeat them? Or is it just an excuse to justify your insatiable hunger?''

    "Even if it''s an excuse, then so be it."

    "Are you really going to be a being like that? What is the difference between you and those people? Aren''t you bing the same as them?"

    "If I need to be one of them to kill them, then I will. If I need to sell my soul to this insatiable hunger, then I will."

    "You know you don''t want that either."

    "So what if I know? So what if I don''t? The world has never been just, and I don''t im to make it just. Yes I am selfish, and yes I am greedy. And maybe I am using this all as an excuse to give up on my humanity, but it''s toote to stop now."

    "It is never toote. You can still stop. There are other ways. Instead of fighting against the innocent, take their help against the Angels."

    "Hahaha... Take their help?" Karyk burst intoughter.

    No one was here to see him talk to himself. Only he was inside the entire forest, talking to his conscience.

    "I tried taking the help in Elzeira. I took the help of the suppressed Empress. What happened? She stabbed me in the back when I needed it the most. She tried to turn me into a ve and killed the innocent citizens that had given their loyalty to me!"

    "But she is just one person. I can''t judge the entire world based on her!"

    "I can judge this entire universe based on her! I have tried... Again and again, I have tried! And all I recieved was betrayal! Instead of taking her help, I should have devoured her! Yes, the only beings that don''t betray are those who are dead!"

    "Is that what you also think of Gabriel? Do you also want to turn him into an undead? Will he also be an obstruction on your part to perfection? Will you also use potential betrayal as an excuse to kill him?''

    "He is my family... He is my brother. He will not betray me!"

    "What if he does? Do you think he will support the kind of monster that you are bing?"

    "I don''t need his support! I don''t need toe across me! If I can make their lives safe, then it''s fine even if I spend all my life in this darkness!"

    "You will go crazy. Please don''t lose yourself."

    "It is toote. I have already lost myself long ago. Don''t you know, I''m a bad person. It''s toote to step back."

    "It is notte. You can still change."

    "I don''t want to change. I have started it and now I will finish it, even if I''m seen as the worst monster in the history of this universe!"

    Karyk sat with his back resting against a tree, talking to himself, his fist being clenched so tightly that they had started bleeding. His entire body was surrounded by his darkness and the marks spread over his entire body.

 Chapter 1025: The Final Destination

    Chapter 1025: The Final Destination

    "Your body is strong, but what about your mind? Can''t you see that we are losing it? You can''t contain so many memories... Your mind has started fragmenting."

    "Does that have something to do with me talking to myself?" Karyk smiled. "I must say, I never expected to be scolded by myself."

    "You haven''t even started devouring the High ns yet, but you are already like this. Would you not lose yourself if this keeps going on?"

    "That''s enough lecturing. I told you what I am going to do. As for me losing myself, that is impossible. I will make it so that even if I lose myself, some things will never be forgotten."

    "As if you can control what''s happening to us. Even if you have to devour people, do that in limit."

    "Limit? I''ve never known where the limit lies. Most probably, we have already crossed the limits long ago. Our birth itself had crossed the limit with the destruction of the Civilization to bring us to life."

    "We are not saints. Every step of our journey had been through the ocean of blood. From the moment we were born to now, our path had always been paved with the blood of the innocent."

    Karyk stood up, not even realizing that his words had changed. He wasn''t saying ''I'' or ''me'' anymore. Without even realizing, he had started calling himself as ''us'' and ''we''.

    "As we said before, it''s toote to wash this blood off our hands. The bloodshed had be a part of us, and it shall be our part until we reach the final destination."

    "And what is that final destination for us?"

    "We will see when we reach there. For more, we only have one destination."

    He raised his hand, already finished with absorbing the memories and abilities of the fairy he had devoured.

    With just the slight movement of his finger, he was able to use the fairy magic and connect to the city of fairies to open a portal for returning.

    "We are going there right now?"

    "That is right. If we are already broken, then let''s break ourselves more, until there''s nothing to break... That will be the final destination"

    A portal opened in front of Karyk that connected the ce to thend of fairies. With precise control, Karyk didn''t open a portal to the pce of fairy lords. Instead, he once again began from the edge of the fairy City.

    He entered the portal, disappearing into the unknown spatial passage.

    In another ce, he stepped out of the portal. He had seen the city of fairies in the memories of the fairy he devoured, which allowed him to confirm that he was at the right ce.

    He had appeared in the city of fairies that was established atop a floating Ind.

    The reason it was so hard to enter the city of fairies was because this city was on the floating Ind that constantly changed its location.

    Without the help of a fairy, it was impossible to even find this city. The ind was also surrounded by fairy magic that made it invisible.

    Even if the Ind was floating right above a city, no one could see it thanks to the fairy magic. Only a limited number of people had even seen this Ind and they could be counted with the fingers on one hand.

    "This is the ce," Karyk said, looking back. He was standing at the edge of the floating Ind. A single step back and he would have fallen off the Ind.

    "Who are you? How did youe here?"

    He didn''t expect to be weed so soon, but only a few seconds had passed before a few fairies appeared around him. They used the magic to restrict his movements, even trying to force him down to his knees.

    Vines came from the ground that wrapped around Karyk''s neck like shackles, trying to pull him down.

    "That was a fast reaction time. We are impressed." He had attacked multiple cities but unless he showed himself, mostly it was impossible to find him. But the fairies managed to do it.

    He wasn''t sure if it was just their bad luck that they happened to be here or if they sensed the portal''s opening and came to check. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The fairies were taken aback. They had used all they had but they weren''t able to bring Karyk on his knees.

    Instead, it was as if he waspletely unaffected. He even had time topliment them? Did this intruder not fear death?

    "As a reward, we will grant you a quick death," Karyk said.

    "Absurd! Who do you think you are to grant us... Huh?" The fairy had just started speaking, finding Karyk absurd. However, before she could finish her sentence, she felt something wet around his neck.

    She ced her fingers on her neck, touching the wet liquid that had started appearing around her neck. Her expressions grew pale as she saw that it was her own blood.

    She didn''t even feel it as a scythe passed through her neck, taking her life. The others were also in a simr condition. All the fairies saw were shadows behind the other Fairies that were holding onto the scythes that had attacked them.

    One after another, the fairies kept falling on the ground, their bodies slowly being devoured by Karyk''s shadows. Within seconds, all the fairies were sent to the abyss, sending more memories to Karyk.

    Each memory took slightly longer to absorb as these were the memories of the High n. However, Karyk didn''t wait for those memories to be absorbed.

    He was already here. He didn''t want to waste a single second.

    The Fairies didn''t know that the shadow of death had fallen over their holy city. The god of death had descended into this city, being led by the memories of one of their own.

    What followed was absolute annihtion. Every ce Karyk went through, bodies dropped to the ground, taken in by his shadows.

    There was no happiness or sadness on his face as he killed his way through the city. It was as if it was just a matter of fact.

 Chapter 1026: Too Broken

    Chapter 1026: Too Broken

    The city that was once vibrant began to fall silent as the shroud of darkness started spreading through the city.

    This was the first time that so much blood of the fairies was shed, and it happened in their own city. However, even if traces of their blood were left behind, their bodies couldn''t be seen as if some invisible beast had devoured it.

    Karyk''s mind was a chaotic sea of memories, each wave crashing with the force, trying to attack his sanity. He couldn''t tell where his thoughts ended and the memories of those he had devoured began.

    There was no room for hesitation or doubt, every step was a march toward the final destination he had spoken of.

    "Who are you?" a voice called out from the thickening darkness. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    A figure emerged, draped in the regal attire of the Fairy Lords. Her wings shimmered with a beautiful light, a stark contrast to the encroaching shadows.

    Karyk paused for a moment, his eyes meeting hers.

    "We are the end," he replied, his voice a chilling monotone, devoid of emotion or warmth.

    The Fairy Lord raised her staff, the space shattering with ancient magic.

    "I don''t know how you managed to get here, but you will not defile this sacred ce any longer," she dered, her voice echoing with authority of the fairy lord, who was inplete control of this city.

    This city was her domain, and she was the absolute ruler here. How dare some insignificant being enter her sacred domain and defile this ce while killing her people?

    Karyk was already moving, his shadows springing forth like hungry beasts. The Fairy Lord''s staff glowed brightly, a beam of light slicing through the darkness, but Karyk sidestepped it with inhuman agility.

    "You cannot stop us," he said, his voice merging with the will of the abyss. "It is beyond redemption, beyond salvation. You can me us, but in the end, you will have to be our strength."

    The Fairy Lord''s face darkened.

    "Arrogant words for an insignificant being!" The Fairy Lord had enough listening to this human. She could feel that he was strong, but was he strong enough to defeat her in her own domain? She didn''t believe it.

    With a flick of her wrist, the Fairy Lord gathered the fairy magic. The reality around Karyk started warping, as his surroundings changed. It was as if the world itself had changed as per his desires.

    The surroundings changed to the mountain cliff, where only one house exited. In front of that house, there was Gabriel who was ying with Zena and the others.

    Gabriel looked at him and gestured for him toe y with them. It was as if the memory was trying to consume Karyk who cared about his family.

    Karyk raised his scythe, slicing through Gabriel and the others. His scythe sliced through Gabriel''s body, as well as the others. The house, and even the entire reality around him shattered as his scythe destroyed the warped reality that was conjured by the Fairy Lord.

    "How did you free yourself so fast?" The Fairy Queen was taken aback.

    This was the first time she had seen someone free themselves of this in such a short time.

    This magic used the desires from the person''s heart to create a world that they wanted the most while making their current memories blurry.

    She had even tried to use this ability against an Angel. Although the angel was able to free himself, but he still took over half an hour for that. Meanwhile, Karyk freed himself before she could even move to attack him.

    "We are too broken to ept a desire like that," Karyk answered. If it.was him from the past, he might have lost himself, but currently it was impossible.

    Even if his current memories were made blurry during the effect of that magic, but what did that change? New memories from the devoured fairies were constantly appearing in his head, enough to make him realize that this was just an illusion.

    Even without the help of the new memories, he wouldn''t have fallen for it. He wouldn''t have epted Gabriel''s invitation as he hadn''tpleted his goal.

    Even if he didplete his goal, he didn''t feel that he could ever return as he didn''t trust himself. The more his mind was fragmented, the more dangerous he became for the ones around him.

    He was a being that could devour everything around him, the monster that was born from the desire of the abyss to have a life. He was the abyss, as well as the ruler of the abyss.

    He was the one that devoured everything, not because he was hungry but because he desired to devour everything around him. Was bing a perfect being just an excuse? Was revenge just an excuse? Was protecting his family just an excuse? He didn''t know.

    He reached out his hand, the markings on his body changed further. Along with the markings, the wings on his back also changed, appearingpletely identical to the wings of the fairies.

    "Come to us..." He raised his finger, aiming at the Fairy Lord.

    From all around the fairy lord, shadows jumped at her. She tried to shift the space but Karyk used the space sealing ability he stole from the angel to entrap her.

    As for her fairy barrier, it was also easy to break when he modified his own energy with the fairy energy. Dark mes rushed towards the fairy lord along with the shadows brimming with fairy essence.

    "You!" The Fairy Lord used everything she had to break the spatial seal but she wasn''t able to break an angel''s ability.

    It was especially hard as this wasn''t something that was made by devouring just one angel but by devouring multiple angels and condensing their essence.

    He has further reinforced the seal with the other Species essence that he had devoured.

    Although it had appeared that he was randomly going after ns to make himself intractable, but every n he went after was for a goal.

    At the beginning, he only went after the ones that could make his current abilities stronger or give him new abilities. Only the elf n was an exception where he went to reach the fairies.

 Chapter 1027: The Kiss of Death

    Chapter 1027: The Kiss of Death

    Karyk''s shadows engulfed her, silencing her magic. The darkness wrapped around her body, forcefully pulling her inside the abyss, despite her fierce resistance.

    She was the second person that was sent to the abyss while she was still alive, left to slowly be devoured in the realm of neither.

    The moment she was pulled in the darkness, she felt her surroundings change. The suffocating darkness that kept her restricted was gone. However, something much worse had taken its ce.

    It was as if she was sent to a different space where all she could see was a dark space spread as far as her eyes could see. In that space, she felt like she was being watched while something unknown was trying to devour more of her strength.

    The feeling of being watched became stronger as she started feeling weaker. She couldn''t even feel her connection with her world. She didn''t know where she was, but she understood that she had to get out of here if she wanted to survive.

    She had to break out of here, even if she had to damage the source of her life. Anything was better than dying here. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    She conjured the staff made from world tree, a one of a long artifact that only the Fairy Lord had. She didn''t even get the opportunity to use it against Karyk as every time she used it, it contained her life source.

    Now that everything was already gone, she held no hesitation. She raised the staff, but before she could utter a single word, a hand came from behind her, closing her mouth.

    Hands came from below as well, holding her ankles.

    Shocked, she looked down. What she saw beneath her was even more surprising for her as it was none other than her daughter who had been killed much before her.

    Her daughter''s skin was dark, made purely from abyss, but it was impossible to not recognise her. Unfortunately, she couldn''t feel any sense of life in those eyes of hers.

    She brought the staff down, stabbing it in the skull of the person holding her feet. As the staff passed through her undead daughter''s skull, she prepared to attack the person behind her to free her mouth.

    "Mother, why do you hurt me? Why did you abandon me?" Her daughter recovered right away, as if she was immortal in this ce.

    She climbed up, cing her hands on her mother''s cheeks. "Don''t leave me, mother. Join us..."

    "You are not my daughter!" The Fairy Lord tried to push the undead girl away but her hands simply passed through the body that was made from the abyss.

    On the other end, she felt more and more hands appearing around her, holding her body to keep her in ce.

    Even her wrists that had passed through the undead daughter''s body were kept in ce, making her unable to pull it back.

    "Don''t worry, mother. Master loves us a lot. Join us, and be one of us..." the undead girl said, looking at the Fairy Lord with lifeless eyes.

    "Never!" the Fairy Lord stated. She opened her lips to eat again, but before she could finish her sentence, her undead daughter nted her lips on her lips.

    A single kiss that came from a daughter, yet the Fairy Lord wasn''t able to push her away. She could feel that her undead daughter was drawing her life force with that kiss, each passing second her body growing weaker.

    As the kiss continued, wrinkles appeared on the Fairy Lord''s face as if she was growing old at a rapid face. With weakness increasing, she wasn''t even able to hold the staff of a world tree that fell from her hands, floating in the endless abyss.

    As a few more seconds passed, the fairy lord was nothing more than a bag of bones, appearing like an ordinary human that had crossed the age of hundred.

    .....

    Karyk entered the Royal Pce in the city of fairies, killing the remnants that had not joined the battle yet. Just like every other ce he went inside, the City of Fairies was also turned into a ground filled with death.

    After finishing, he sat on the throne where only the Fairy Lord was allowed to sit, prepared to ept the memories of the Fairy Lord.

    In this ce, he didn''t have to worry about anyone disturbing him. Only the fairies could enter and leave this ind, and all of them were gone now.

    He was the only person now who could open a Portal to the city of fairies, making it his personal domain.

    As her memories flowed into him, he felt some emotions, but it was quickly drowned in the sea of his fractured mind.

    Karyk called forth his Undeads, telling them to start repairing the city. Rather, he told them to remake this city which was going to be their home from now on.

    The city was to be remade as per Karyk''s will, leaving behind no remnants of the fairies of the forgotten era. An entire high species was made to go extinct by a single person that appeared in this world only a few months ago.

    As the time trickled away, the memories of the fairy lord were fully absorbed by him. At the same time, the undead mages kept working on reforming the city.

    From this moment onwards, this wasn''t the city of fairies but the city of abyss, where only those with the aura of death could live.

    After taking the memories, Karyk left the Pce. He looked at the bright sky that was shining above the city of darkness.

    He didn''t ask anything, nor did the silence of the fallen city offer any answers. Karyk knew that his journey was far from over.

    He turned away from the ruins, opening another portal with a flick of his hand. The path ahead was shrouded in uncertainty, but one thing was clear: there was no turning back.

    With onest nce at the deste city, he stepped through the portal, vanishing into the unknown.

 Chapter 1028: Gathering of the Lords

    Chapter 1028: Gathering of the Lords

    The city of fairies was being remade as the city of the dead. Most of the Undeads were left behind in the floating city to prepare the city as a fortress.

    The formations that were left behind by the fairies were mostly destroyed by Karyk when he came to the city. During his onught, most of the protective mechanisms had been destroyed.

    Some of those mechanisms were responsible for even keeping the city hidden from the world, being extremely important.

    Karyk left behind the Undead Fairy Lord and the other fairies who knew better about such things.

    Even though they were undead, they could still ess the memories that Karyk wanted them to ess. As for the memories that he didn''t want them to explore, it was kept sealed away from them.

    The Fairy Lord started working on the formation, not only repairing them but even strengthening them even further.

    While the undead were working hard to prepare the city for their lord''s return, Karyk had started going across the continent.

    The mysterious disappearance of various ns didn''t stop. If anything, the speed at which the ns were disappearing had only increased. Even the high n members that were sent to investigate had started disappearing.

    With things reaching this point, even the High Lords were starting to realize the gravity of the situation. At this rate, they were sure that the losses were going to be more than they could ept.

    Initially, they had been acting separately. However, now they had all decided to work together, especially since the Angels sent a message to every High n, inviting them to gather for a meeting of the Lords.

    There was never a time when the Angels ever invited the other high ns as they never even considered them equal. The invitation came as a surprise to the other High Lords as well.

    If even the Angels had started getting involved, didn''t that mean that the danger was big enough for even them to be concerned.

    Almost every High n epted the invitation, especially since the meeting wasn''t going to be held in the city of angels. If it was held in the city of angels, they would have thought twice, believing it to be a trap.

    The Angels also realized this, hence deciding the meeting location to be in the neutral city that was in the middle of the five high n territories. It was the only city that wasn''t under the control of any of the High n.

    It was also the city of trade where all the High ns could freely enter and leave without worrying about invading other ns'' territory.

    ....

    In the ruins of a city, Karyk sat atop a mountain of bodies that appeared to have created a throne for him.

    It was looking at a letter that had reached him from the city of fairies. This Fairy Lord herself brought this invitation to him.

    "The City of Necropolis?" He looked at the invitation letter. It was said to be the destination where all the Lords of the High ns were going to gather.

    As per the memories he had devoured, there was no lord of the Angels. They only had a High Council, which was made up of the strongest angels that had also lived the longest.

    He didn''t know their true strength, but he hade to understand that the High Council contained the Angels that were already ruling this world when he was born.

    The angel who had given the invitation to the young prince was also a High Council Member. He didn''t know how strong that person was, but he was definitely as strong as the Civilization King.

    Unfortunately, that person hadn''t fought properly, being devoured by the blood from where Karyk was born.

    "Looking back at it, I''m sure he was used for our birth as well." Karyk had been formed with the Prince''s body as a base, but that wasn''t all.

    When he was born, everything in his surroundings was devoured, the Angels being one of them.

    "Strange. Why don''t I have his abilities and memories?" he tried to look deep in his memories, but nothing came to his mind.

    He wondered if it was because he was only a child so he couldn''t take the abilities of that person properly.

    "You devil, I will kill you!" Behind Karyk, a young woman jumped up the mountain of bodies, attacking Karyk who was distracted by the invitation letter.

    The woman thought she could kill Karyk when he was not paying attention, but the moment she actually came close to him, she felt a terror rising from within her soul. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Karyk wasn''t even looking at her but she still felt as if she was being stared at by a monster. Her courage copsed in an instant, but it was toote to step back.

    She clenched her teeth and continued the attack, ignoring this feeling. However, the moment she reached close to Karyk, shadows came from the ground, grabbing into her ankles.

    She was pulled inside the mountain of corpses, her fate being unknown.

    Karyk didn''t react as if he hadn''t even noticed someone attacking him. He returned the invitation letter to the fairy lord.

    "Reply that you will attend. It''s about time we meet our old friends."

    The Fairy Lord nodded. A portal opened behind her and she disappeared within it.

    Karyk also stood up, jumping down the mountain of bodies. He walked away from the city, as the mountain of bodies started disappearing into the darkness.

    ....

    A week had passed since the invitation was epted by the Fairy Lord. The date of the meeting had been set as the first of next month in the City of Necropolis.

    Each High n sent their people to the city of Necropolis to check the safety and security of the city and make sure other ns didn''t set any trap for them.

    The only High n that didn''t send anyone was the Fairy n. Once the investigation was finished, the spies returned. The meeting was confirmed.

    Before long, the next month arrived. It was the day for the meeting of High n Lords, the strongest beings in this world to gather.

 Chapter 1029: Unexpected Guest

    Chapter 1029: Unexpected Guest

    ... The City of Necropolis was bustling with an unusual amount of activity. Merchants, travelers, and spies from various High ns mingled in the streets, trying to gather as much information as they could before the grand meeting.

    In the heart of the city stood the Grand Colosseum, a massive structure made entirely of ck stone and covered with ancient runes. This was where the meeting of the High n Lords was to take ce. The Colosseum, which usually hosted grand battles between various species for wealth and influence, had been cleared and secured for the grand meeting.

    The Leader of the city that was selected from amongst the citizens had taken extra precautions to ensure the safety and neutrality of the meeting. If even a single thing went wrong and there was a conflict, this entire city could be destroyed. As all the High ns were influential and arrogant, he didn''t want to displease them. He did everything he could to make sure the high ns had no trouble. At the same time he was also praying that the High ns didn''t start fighting against each other. Even if they were to fight, they should have left this city first. Unfortunately, he couldn''t force them out. So he could only pray that nothing like that happened. As soon as he heard that this was going to be the meeting ce, he had been stressed constantly. It was as if he had aged in an instant. There was no one who could understand the kind of stress he was under. Protective wards and formations had been ced around the Colosseum, and guards from all High ns patrolled the area, maintaining the safety. Although all high ns worked together to make sure this ce was safe, it didn''t mean they weren''t suspicious of each other. There was a tense atmosphere between the guards of each High n. The citizens of the city had been nervous throughout the time. Some had even left the city during his time, not wanting to y with their lives. Meanwhile, there were also few who were looking forward to gazing upon the high lords who were like the rulers of this world. Normally, they couldn''t even dream of seeing these people who were like stars shining in the sky. They only heard about their strength and exploits but never saw them. As the sun began to set, the higher ups of the High ns began to arrive. The citizens of the city formed a line to wee the High n Lords. The citizens remained on their knees as they remained in the corner of the path to not obstruct the lords. Some even tried to gaze up to see the people who were arriving. Unfortunately, their mentality was too weak. First to arrive were the Lords of the Monster n, their imposing figures casting long shadows as they walked. Their leader, Lord Drakon, was said to be a true dragon from ancient times. He was a towering figure with dragon scales on his body that shimmered in the fading light, leading the way. His eyes, like molten gold, surveyed the area with a mix of arrogance. Following him was the Lady of the Phoenix n which was also a part of the Monster n. The Monster n was thebined term given to the ns that consisted of the Mythical Monsters. Even though the Lady of Phoenix n wasn''t as strong as Drakon, her strength was still nothing to scoff at. Even more dangerous were her looks that should instantly make people go crazy. However, no one dared to get close to her. Even the strongest monsters could burn to ashes under the effect of her phoenix mes. It was even rumored that until now, she hadn''t been touched by any man. It was even said that the Dragon Lord wanted to marry her, but she had never reciprocated. No one knew how true it was, but they weren''t in a position to talk about this now. The Phoenix Queen''s presence was frightening for many, and her gaze was as piercing as the sharpest de. The men didn''t even dare to look at her, worried that they might lose themselves in her beauty. If they annoyed her with their impure gaze, they could only imagine what kind of nightmare waited for them The Serpent n, the Wolf n, and the Tiger n arrived as well, each bringing their own unique aura. It was clear that the Monster n wasn''t looking down on this event. They had taken it extremely seriously as the leaders of all important factions within the Monster n had arrived. The Lord of the City personally escorted the guests from the Monster n to the Colosseum. Around half an hour had passed since the Monster n entered the Colosseum but the citizens still didn''t stand up from their positions, worried that their ces might be taken by others. They couldn''t give up front row seats to gaze upon the divine beings. After another half an hour passed, the second high n arrived. It was the Demon n. Looking at the people from the Demon n, no one could associate them with the rumors about the demons. The guests of the Demon n were dressed in dark clothes, and their eyes were pitch ck. But other than that, they looked like humans. If anything, they could be said to be more charming than they were scary. The person who was leading the group was said to be the queen of demons. It was hard to even see her face as a strange mist was surrounding her body, making everyone feel like they could die if they ever touched that mist. There was one thing that surprised everyone. Amongst the group of the Demon n, there was one person that didn''t look like a demon. Her eyes were like that of a normal human. Even though she was beautiful, she didn''t feel like someone from the Demon n. She stood out a lot. Many wondered just what was the identity of the woman. She came with the Demon n and was walking next to the other demon n members. The only person who walked ahead of them was the Demon Queen.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

 Chapter 1030: Chapter 1030: The Fairies

    Chapter 1030: The Fairies

    ?

    The citizens couldn''t help but feel a chill run down their spines as they watched the group pass by. Many started specting about the human-like figure among the demons.

    "Who is she?" one citizen whispered to another.

    "How am I supposed to know?" asked the other, eyes wide with curiosity. "She must be someone really important. Maybe some leader of their subordinate ns?"

    The Lord of the City, still on edge, stepped forward to greet the Demon Queen and her entourage. He bowed deeply, his back drenched in cold.

    "Wee, Your Majesty," he said, his voice steady despite his inner turmoil.

    The Demon Queen''s eyes, hidden within the mist, seemed to pierce through him. She nodded slightly, acknowledging his greeting without uttering a word.

    The mysterious woman beside her, however, offered a small, almost imperceptible smile. It was enough to send a ripple of confusion through the gathered crowd.

    Leading the way to the Colosseum, the Lord of the City silently prayed that the event could pass without any incident. He could feel that the future of this city, and his own future depended on what was going to happen this one night.

    As the Demon n settled into the Colosseum, the atmosphere outside remained charged. The arrival of the next High n was imminent, and the citizens braced themselves for what was toe.

    Soon, the air grew colder, a sign that the Frost n was approaching, being the n that always stayed out of the limelight.

    It was said that this n had the least involvement in the matters of the outside world. They also stayed within their own frost domain which was so cold that just a single step inside and the person could freeze to death.

    All the n members had blue skin with ayer of ice atop their skin, simr to the scales that the Dragons had. They were also much taller than the other high ns, although still not as tall as the Titans.

    Even the tallest amongst the Frost n only stood at twelve feet height. Each of them also had a magical staff that was being carried on their back like warriors carried their swords.

    The temperature dropped noticeably, causing the citizens to shiver despite their thick clothing. The Ice n, known for their control over the elements and their icy demeanor, made their entrance.

    Leading the Ice n was Lady of Frost, her icy blue eyes scanning the surroundings with a sense of detachment. She couldn''t even remember how long it had been since she left their domain.

    She had even forgotten what people from the outside looked like. She looked at them with great fascination. She had heard their description, but looking at these people was a new experience in itself.

    Her long, silver hair flowed behind her like a frozen waterfall. Beside her walked anotherdy, her beauty as cold and untouchable as a winter''s night.

    Her very breath seemed to crystallize the air around her, and her gaze could freeze the bravest of souls.

    Unlike their Queen, she looked at the mortals here with great hostility, as if she was jealous that these pathetic beings had managed to catch the attention of the Lord.

    The Lord of the City, already feeling the strain of the day''s events, greeted them with the same courtesy.

    "Wee, Your Majesty. Your presence here honors us greatly."

    He repeated the same line that he had been saying to the others, trying to be as respectful as

    ever.

    "We trust that everything is in order?" The woman next to the Frost Queen asked, her voice as cold as the air around him.

    "Of course," the Lord of the City replied, trying to ignore the chill that seemed to seep into his bones. "We have taken every precaution to ensure the safety and neutrality of this meeting." Satisfied, the Ice n made their way into the Colosseum, their footsteps leaving a trail of frost on the ground. The citizens watched in awe, marveling at the power and majesty of these beings who seemed more like gods.

    Finally, as the sun dipped below the horizon, another one of the High n arrived. It was the Angels that descended from the skies. Their angelic wings with a radiant light, and their wings, made of pure energy, glowed with a celestial brilliance.

    Unlike the other ns, the Angels didn''t send too many people. There were only two angels that had arrived, and one of them wasn''t even a pure angel but a half blood.

    The person who arrived was Aster that Karyk had fought before. He was hovering behind his uncle, who was the one of the High Council Members.

    It was just as Karyk had assumed. The High Council of Angels had sent someone, but even he hadn''t thought that Aster was going to be here as well.

    The Lord of the City, now exhausted but still maintaining his calm, greeted them with the same respect if not more. "Wee, Your Majesty. We are deeply honored by your presence."

    He led the two angels to the Colosseum as well. The

    Angels had arrivedte because they didn''t want to wait for others to arrive. However, only when they entered the Colosseum did they realize that there was one n which still hadn''t

    arrived.

    "The Fairies haven''t arrived?" he asked as he stepped foot in the Colosseum, his eyes gazing over the lords of the other high ns that had already taken their ces.

    With all the High ns now gathered within the Colosseum, the stage was set for the grand meeting. Only one party was still missing.

    "It seems you brought someone quite interesting to this meeting." His eyes soonnded on the human that was mixed in the group of Demon n.

    He could feel a very familiar scent from that woman. It was the scent of Elzeira that had been destroyed. However, even though she had the scent of Elzeira, that woman didn''t appear to be

    an Elzeiran.

    The Demon Queen narrowed her eyes in response, but she didn''t say anything.

    Just then, another aura descended upon the city. Multiple portals opened above the sky that connected to thend of fairies. The fairies had started arriving.

 Chapter 1031: Chapter 1031: Closing the Net

    Chapter 1031: Closing the Net

    ?

    A portal opened outside the city, connecting to thend of fairies. The entire city turned its gaze towards the portal, eagerly waiting for the appearance of the fairies.

    Unlike the other High ns, the fairies were not feared by the people. There were no frightening rumors or stories of destruction and mass ughter associated with the fairies.

    The other High ns, however, carried a reputation that instilled fear. Their dominance was often linked to tales of violence and oppression.

    In contrast, the fairies were believed to be kind and close to nature, and this positive impression was present despite their rare appearances in the outside world.

    With the portal now open, the eyes of many people lit up in anticipation, waiting for someone to emerge.

    Inside the Colosseum, the High ns also sensed the connection to the realm of fairies.

    The Lords of all High ns looked towards the portal, their expressions filled with strangeness. They had encountered the fairies before and knew something wasn''t right.

    The essence leaking from the portal, which was supposed to be the pure energy of nature, felt much darker, as though it had been corrupted.

    "My Lady, this presence feels simr to what we felt at..." The members of various ns rushed to their lords, voicing their concerns.

    These were the members who had previously investigated the disappearance of their subordinate ns. Although they hadn''t found the culprit, the presence they felt then was eerily simr to what they were sensing now.

    "Oh? You mean it was the work of the Fairies?" the Demon Queen smirked.

    She had been quite curious about the identity of the people who brought such instability to the realm. She was sure that it wasn''t the work of a single person or a small group.

    To wipe out so many ns in such a short time, without leaving a single survivor, only the High ns appeared to be capable of doing that.

    She had already been suspicious about the involvement of a High n, and now her suspicions had been confirmed.

    One of the reasons she even came here was to find out which of the High ns it was. She had already expected it to be a trap, that''s why she took special measures beforeing here.

    Still, even she was surprised that the fairies were involved. She had assumed it was going to be the Angels.

    "They kept their intentions hidden quite well," the Lord of the Monster n said,ughing. However, within herughter, there was quite a lot of anger hidden.

    Most of the ns that were destroyed were subordinates to the Monster n. An entire monster forest of Giant Monsters had been wiped after all.

    "To think that they kept themselves hidden so well. And the world thought that they were better than us. How pathetic," another member of the Demon n said, not noticing the strange reaction of the human that was a part of their group.

    The young woman who hade with their group was looking towards the portals, her expressions darkened. There were many people who felt this essence for the first time in this world, but she remembered feeling this once before.

    "Impossible. It can''t be him. He should have been destroyed with the destruction of Elzeira. Even if he came here, he couldn''t have done all this..." She shook her head, refusing to believe her heart.

    If Karyk was here, she would have recognised that woman as the person who stabbed him in the back by destroying his city in Elzeira just because he refused to be her ve.

    There were only two more people who found this essence familiar. The first one was Aster who had fought and almost killed Karyk in Elzeira.

    As for the second person, it was his uncle and the person who was representing the Angels in this meeting. He was a member of the High Council of the Angels.

    He didn''t link this essence with Karyk as much as he did it with civilization. When the civilization had disappeared, the Angels had gone there to investigate and retrieve the forgotten prince.

    They couldn''t catch the forgotten prince, but they did find a secret realm in the depths of the Royal Pce.

    There was a well in that ce that even made the Angels hesitate in approaching it. This trace of essence felt very familiar to what was noticed in that ce.

    "The Forgotten Prince is here?" he muttered, the corner of his lips crept up. "Did he fall for the trap?"

    The Angels had already realized who was behind these disappearances. That''s also why they didn''t send anyone to investigate like the other ns.

    There was only one person who could have done that while also leaving behind such traces. The disappearance of the civilization world was also something that happened recently.

    All these things started happening only after Karyk had been taken by ''that person'', saved from Aster. He already expected Karyk toe for them, but even he was surprised at how brazen that person was being.

    It was as if the forgotten prince was trying to taunt them, throwing all caution in the wind. That''s also why the Angels decided to throw this trap.

    The meeting was arranged especially for Karyk, and it appeared to have worked. The person they were looking for was here.

    He brought out a crystal from his pocket, holding it firmly in his hand as if he could crush it at any moment. However, he didn''t do that yet. He first wanted to confirm that Karyk was here in the first ce.

    Only if Karyk was here could he close the. He couldn''t afford to be too hasty.

    "Don''t hide inside the Portal. Come out, forgotten prince," the Angel said, his eyes looking towards the portal with great expectations.

    The citizens also looked at the portal, wondering why no one was stepping out of it. They also didn''t understand why they could feel such an evil energy emanating from within.

    Something didn''t feel right. Was it really a portal to thend of fairies?

    "Look, someone ising out!" a person suddenly called out.

    Everyone''s eyes turned towards the portal in the middle. A person stepped out of the portal. However, to their surprise that person wasn''t an angel.

    It was a man, whose body was covered in strange markings upto his fingers. Only his face was somewhat cleaner. He was donned a long dark robe, which also had simr markings that

    appeared to be alive.

    The strangest part was that the person didn''t just have one shadow. Instead, he had more than

    ten shadows.

    "He is here!" The Angelughed as he finally crushed the crystal in his hand.

 Chapter 1032: Chapter 1032: The Great Distance

    Chapter 1032: The Great Distance

    ?

    As Karyk''s arrival was confirmed, the Angelic Lord crushed the crystal in his hand.

    The crystal shattered into thousands of fragments, each piece dissolving into a cloud of dust that quickly enveloped the area.

    The air was filled with a sudden surge of energy, catching the attention of both the citizens and the High ns who were in the Colosseum.

    "What do you think you are doing?" the Dragon Lord demanded, his eyes narrowing as he realized the true nature of the crystal.

    It wasn''t just a signal. It was also a seal that used thews of heaven to enclose a space and eliminate all spatial maniption within the realm.

    He looked at the Angelic Lord with hostility. The Fairy n was strange and rted to the disappearance of the subordinate ns. And now, the Angelic n had sealed the space so that they couldn''t open a portal here?

    His ws came out as sharp dragon wings that could even slice through the space appeared behind his back.

    The Phoenix Lady also stood up, her eyes narrowing as a majestic me surrounded her body. The other members from the Monster n also prepared for battle.

    "I knew I shouldn''t have trusted you," the Demon Queen also sighed, looking at the Angelic Lord with disappointment.

    The Frost n was the only n that was silent as the Frost Queen hadn''t given them anymand. It was as if she knew that it wasn''t that simple.

    She still hadn''t forgotten that one of the first ns that had disappeared was the Titan n which was close to the Angels. She even heard rumors that a few angels had also died, including the son of a High Lord of the Angel n as well.

    She didn''t think that the Angels were going to work with those people. If anything, this seal appeared like it was to stop someone else than it was to stop them.

    Just as she expected, the space was sealed. A barrier appeared around the city, closing Karyk within.

    The portal connected to thend of fairies also flickered before it blew up, unable to remain open within the spatial seal.

    Karyk had only taken a few steps inside the city when he noticed the portals behind him disappear before the Undead Fairies could evene out. However, there was not the slightest reaction on his face.

    Until now, there was only the aura of one pure angel inside the Sect. However, suddenly more auras red up, being just as pure as the aura of the Angelic Lord that had arrived.

    From various houses that appeared insignificant and empty, a group of people stepped out, covering the entire city in what appeared like a human.

    The citizens were stunned at the sight of those people as they all had angelic wings. They were angels!

    Everyone had thought that only two angels had gone for this meeting, not a single one of them realizing that the real number was muchrger.

    Moreover, the Angels that had stepped out were not weak either. They were as strong as the High Council Member of the Angelic n that had arrived before. They were all members of the High Council.

    Amongst the group, there was the Angel whose son had been killed by Karyk in the Titan n. There was also the angel who was the Lord of the Guards in the city of angels, along with being a high council member.

    The Dragon Lord''s eyes narrowed as he felt these auras re up. It was clear that the Angels had brought their elite force which was made purely of High Council Members.

    "You! Do you really want to break the bnce of power?" The Monster n Lord asked.

    If it was just the person in front of him, he was sure that they could have safely returned. However, with the current number of angels that were all as strong as him, it appeared impossible to return alive.

    "You don''t have to worry. You are not our target," the Angelic Lord said, not even sparing a second nce to the Dragon Lord.

    As he finished speaking, he flew high to catch the sight of Karyk who was still walking towards the Colosseum under the watchful eyes of the High Council Members of Angel n.

    His hands were in his pocket, as he walked as if he was taking a stroll.

    The Demon n and the others also flew higher to see who it was. If the target of angels weren''t them, that could only mean it was the person who had just arrived.

    They were curious to see who it was that could make the Angels mobilize their entire high council? Was it just to have revenge for the Titan n and challenging their authority? That didn''t seem to be the case.

    The young girl in the group of the Demon n felt frozen in ce as she saw Karyk.

    He felt like an entirely different person, appearing much colder as if the world had lost any significance for him. It was like he was the only being in this world and no one else existed.

    Even though this person had the same face as the one she had seen in Elzeira, she still couldn''t believe it. Was it really the same person? How did he be this strong? How did he manage to enter this world?

    Karyk raised his head, his eyes gazing at the girl.

    The moment his eyes fell on her, the Celestial Empress felt her entire back drench in cold as if she was shoved in the darkest of Hell.

    She didn''t feel this even when she was in front of the Demon Queen. She felt so small that she could be crushed with a single movement of his finger.

    "It is really him," Aexin was also taken aback as he watched Karyk.

    He had fought that person in Elzeira. Not just fight him, he had almost killed him. If it wasn''t for outside interference, he would have definitely killed that person.

    However, now that he looked at this person, he feltpletely opposite. If he was an ant in Elzeira, then in this ce he appeared like a giant mountain.

    "To think that the Forgotten Prince would pay us a visit," the Angelic Lord said, breaking the tense silence as he flew towards Karyk,nding right in front of him.

 Chapter 1033: Chapter 1033: The Real

    Chapter 1033: The Real

    ?

    The City Lord had been praying that nothing would go wrong during this meeting. Just one day... Just this one day had to pass peacefully, and everything would be fine.

    Unfortunately, fate had other ns. His expression darkened as he observed the seal

    enveloping the entire city. Something was clearly amiss.

    When the Angels emerged from hiding, even he was stunned. As the City Lord, he had no idea that so many Angels were hiding within his city, nor did he know when they had entered.

    It was as if the Angels hade prepared to eliminate every High n. The mere thought of the consequences of their actions and the future of the city sent chills down his spine, drenching his back in cold sweat.

    He dropped to his knees, cursing the city''s ill fortune. Yet, he hadn''t lost all hope.

    However, soon he noticed that the Angels didn''t appear to be targeting the other High ns. Even above the Colosseum, all the High ns were looking in this direction without much hostility between them.

    Looking at them, he felt that maybe he was wrong. The Angels didn''te here to trap other high ns.

    It seemed the Angels were targeting the dark-robed man who hade in ce of the Fairies. If the man would just surrender without much resistance, maybe.things could still proceed peacefully.

    The moment he thought about that, he slightly rxed. If it was just for this one person, it wasn''t as bad as he thought. With so many Angels and the presence of the High Council Members, there wasn''t much this one person could do.

    Even though he came from the portal of the fairies, he was clearly not a fairy. It was clear that he wasn''t from one of the High ns.

    He didn''t know any species that had Karyk''s traits, especially those markings on his body. Still, he assumed that at best it was some mediocre species.

    It was a well known fact that there were only five high species which were the strongest.

    "If it''s just for this one person, the city might still survive. But I still don''t understand one thing. Why did so many angels came for just one person? Ah, it must be because they wanted to capture him without causing any harm to this city!"

    He thought of a possibility to convince himself.

    "When you came here, I am sure you must be very confident," the Angelic Lordnded before Karyk. "Did you really think you could kill us like you have been killing those weak species?"

    There was no anger on his face. Instead, there was only satisfaction that he finally had the key in front of him.

    "So it was that person who went around killing our subordinates," the Dragon Lord heard everything that the Angels said to Karyk.

    He was so furious at Karyk that he couldn''t control his rage. He flew towards Karyk to kill him, even not caring about interrupting the Angels.

    He had barely moved before he came to a sudden halt as two Angelic High Lords appeared before him, blocking his path.

    "We would appreciate it if you don''t interfere. From now on, we will take care of it."

    "Who do you think you are to tell me what to do?!" The Dragon Lord roared.

    His draconic roar made the entire city tremble. Some weak people fainted right away, unable to even resist that roar. There were also a few who died right away.

    The Angels blocking his path remained unphased. Instead, even more angels came to block the Dragon Lord, preventing him from interrupting.

    "Are you looking at that?" The Angelic Lord asked Karyk while ncing at the Monster n and other High ns.

    "Because of you, they suffered quite a loss. If we don''t stop them, they will rip you to shreds right away. So what do you say? Should we stop blocking them?" he asked Karyk even though it was clear that he had no intention of that.

    "If you don''t want to die at their hands, you bettere with us silently," he said, reaching out his hand.

    He was intending to ce his hands on Karyk''s shoulders but the moment he did that, his expressions darkened. His hand simply passed through Karyk''s body as if he wasn''t real.

    It was just a shadow that had taken Karyk''s ce. It wasn''t even a shadow that could fight. All it had was Karyk''s aura.

    The moment the angelic lord touched the shadow, it dispersed. Its work waspleted. "This..." The Angelic Lord was stunned. He couldn''t feel Karyk''s presence anymore. That person was not in the city. Or rather, he never came to this city in the first ce.

    "If he is not here, then where..."

    The Angels had sealed the entire city. Because of that, not only was the space sealed, but also all themunication with the outside world had stopped.

    If they hadn''t stopped that, they would have definitely known Karyk''s whereabouts as there were angels who were desperately trying to contact them.

    "C-can we still not get to them?" In a mansion far away, a young angel said, his face

    completely pale.

    To take the forgotten prince, all the High Council Members had left the city, and now no one could reach them.

    While the Angelic High Council Members were waiting for Karyk in the meeting ce, the man in question had already entered their home.

    A Floating Ind could be seen above the city of Angels. However, the ind waspletely empty now. All the undead fairies had invaded the city of angels, being led by Kayak.

    There were Undead Titans who were crushing the mansions of the Angels beneath their feet. As they were undead, they didn''t feel pain.

    If anything, they were also able to use Karyk''s dark mes which proved much more useful.

    "If they don''t return, this city..." The young lords looked out the window, their facespletely pale.

    "Don''t worry. They will definitely return," a voice came from behind them.

    "I know they will return, but when? If they don''t return soon, we will be dead by the time they

    come back!" one of the young angels said, only to suddenly pause.

    He recognised the voice of every young lord in this ce, but that voice didn''t appear

    familiar.

 Chapter 1034: Chapter 1034: The Real Angels

    Chapter 1034: The Real Angels

    ?

    The young angels turned around, their eyes widening in horror as they saw the source of the unfamiliar voice.

    Standing there in the room that they had secured was the Lord of Fairies, who had been turned into an Undead by Karyk.

    She wasn''t the being of purity anymore; she had long been corrupted, turning into Karyk''s puppet. Her thoughts and desires had also been modified ording to Karyk''s whims.

    "How did you get inside?!" a young angel asked in disbelief.

    Her presence was overwhelming, a dark aura radiating from her that seemed to suffocate the very air around them.

    "Now isn''t the time to talk!" Another young angel attacked right away without the slightest hesitation. Even though they were young, they were still part of the great angels.

    The fairy queen smirked as she watched the attack.

    She waved her hand, using her fairy magic, now strengthened with Karyk''s undead power. If it had been her from before, fighting angels would have been a challenging task. But now, it felt much easier.

    Karyk had turned millions of beings into his undead. All of them became stronger than they used to be when they were alive. However, there were a rare few who had evolved even further.

    They were the Undeads who could speak. Karyk had only seven of such beings amongst his Undeads, and one of them was the Queen of Fairies.

    They weren''t just strong enough to help Karyk and use their own free will to do things as long as it should help Karyk. They could also use the shadow to devour people and send them to the abyss so Karyk could gain their abilities as well.

    The young angel''s attack was swift, a brilliant beam of light aimed directly at the corrupted fairy queen. But the queen merely flicked her wrist, and the beam was effortlessly deflected, crashing harmlessly into the wall beside them.

    "Pitiful," she sneered, her voice echoing with mockery.

    With a sudden burst of speed, she lunged at the angel who had attacked, her dark magic swirling around her like a cloak. The angel tried to react, but she was upon him before he could fully process her movement.

    Before the angel could even react, his surroundings turned dark as his body started feeling extremely heavy as if someone was holding on to his feet and pulling him down.

    He looked down, but he couldn''t see anything there. All he saw was his shadow.

    "You will serve my master," the fairy queen dered, raising her hand to cast a spell. "Just as I do."

    ....

    Outside the Pce, the undead Titan King wasughing heartily as he stomped on the mansions of the Angels, being another undead who could speak.

    The reason the fairy queen could have such an easy time was also because of him as most of the Angels that were supposed to guard the city were distracted by the giant being.

    They kept attacking him, trying to kill him. However, the undead Titan King just kept healing. Even if they cut off his limbs, there was a dark me that appeared in ce of the missing limbs, healing them before disappearing.

    The other Undeads that were able to speak were also causing havoc throughout the city of angels. Even though they weren''t strong enough to defeat the Angelic Guards, they were still strong enough to keep them busy.

    The Guards also focused on them, using them as an excuse to stay away from the dark robed man who was walking towards the central pce of the city of angels.

    There were a few guards who tried to stop him, but before they could even utter a single sentence, they were swallowed by his shadows.

    The young man didn''t even have to pull his hands out of his pockets to kill them as his shadow did everything for him.

    Looking at the condition of the guards who tried to stop Karyk, the others simply stayed away from him and focused on the Undeads, waiting for the High Council Members to return so that they could kill Karyk personally.

    Unbothered by the guards that avoided him, Karyk walked towards the central pce, leaving his undead to devour the Angels as he had something more important to focus on.

    He soon reached the pce. With a wave of his hand, he sent the gates of the pce flying, opening a path for him. He entered the pce.

    ....

    "This is... This is a trap for us!" The Angelic Lords in the distant city of meeting eximed as they realized what had happened.

    They thought they were going to trap Karyk, but it was clear that they were the ones who were trapped here. As for why Karyk would want to trap them, they thought of a possibility. "That bastard, he is going for the city!" The Angelic Lord eximed as his expressions darkened. "We need to leave!*

    He rose in the air, flying higher in the sky. The other Angelic Lords also flew up,bining their strengths to destroy the barrier that they themselves cast.

    Despite being strong, the sealing barrier couldn''t resist the strength of all the High Council Members. The barrier shattered, freeing them from the seal of the Angels.

    With the seal gone, the Angels opened a portal back to the city of angels while also trying to send the message to the city of angels.

    Even though they tried to contact the city, they didn''t receive any response from the other side which confirmed their worst worries.

    Soon, all of them entered the portals and disappeared within, returning to the city of angels.

    ....

    Karyk stood in front of a secret chamber in the central pce of the city of angels.

    It was not something easy to find. If he hadn''t devoured someone who knew about it, he would never have known that there was a ce like this in the first ce.

    Beyond that door was an entire universe where the Angels have their real bodies. It was even said that just seeing their divine bodies was enough to make people crazy.

    Although the person he devoured hadn''t seen it personally, but as per the stories he had heard, the real body of an angel was evenrger than an entire. Even titans were like

    ants in front of their size.

    That''s why angels used fake bodies, simr to an avatar.

 Chapter 1035: Chapter 1035: The Real Angels;

    Chapter 1035: The Real Angels;

    ?

    Karyk took a deep breath as he extended his hand towards the ancient door.

    His fingers emitted a dark mist, which seeped into the door, slowly devouring the protective seals that were cast on it.

    Normally, the seals made sure that only the Angels could open the door which was only opened for meetings that could decide on the future of this world.

    Even the seals that were cast by the strongest in this world were slowly decaying when they came in contact with Karyk''s Abyssal Essence.

    It was as if the seal was ake and Karyk''s essence was the poison that was slowly entering theke, contaminating it with each passing second.

    The purest form of heavenly energy was affected in the worst manner when it came to Karyk''s essence. The purer this essence was, the easier it was to devour.

    "This is it," Karyk muttered to himself, feeling the familiar yet stronger power emanating from beyond the entrance.

    It was the ce where the true rulers of this world were sleeping, also the doorway to thend that was unknown even to him.

    He had only known about this from the memories, but it was the first time he was finally going to see thend rumored to be the entrance of the world''s secret sanctuary.

    Just mentioning this ce itself was forbidden in the city of the Angels. If one was discovered talking about it, only death waited for them.

    Even the person whose memories contained this information was quite scared and worried that someone might find out that he knew.

    With the passage of time, the seal on the door grew even weaker before it waspletely devoured by Karyk, bing a part of his strength instead.

    With the seal gone, the door to the sanctuary was finally unlocked. Karyk ced his hand on the wall, pushing it.

    Even though the door was unsealed, it was still so heavy that even thousands of people could not open it if they were to push it together.

    He had to use all his strength to push the door open. Even then, he could barely push it. The door moved at the snail''s pace, even when Karyk used the Titan''s Strength.

    He summoned even more titans from his shadow, all of them pushing the door together with him. The speed of the door opening increased as more and more people joined in.

    As the door creaked open further, Karyk finally stepped inside. The undead titans and fairies stayed away, as if left behind intentionally to make sure no one could disturb their master. The door also started closing on its own.

    As Karyk went through the door, he was greeted by a vast expanse that seemed to defy the very understanding of the universe.

    In front of him was an entire universe in itself, a cosmic realm filled with stars,s, and celestial bodies. It was a sight that could drive ordinary beings mad.

    However, there was also something more. There was an unknown force that was constantly trying to invade his mind. If it wasn''t for the protection of his devouring essence, Karyk would have already gone crazy.

    Hovering in the center of this universe were the true forms of the Angels. They were colossal beings of pure, radiant energy, their bodies shimmering with divine light.

    The Angels looked like humans with wings, beings of divine energy that were closer to being a god than they were to a human. At least that''s the impression that people had of the Angels after seeing their false form in the world.

    What Karyk saw before him waspletely opposite to their divine forms.

    They didn''t look like humans at all. If anything, they looked closer to Monsters with grotesque figures. Their entire body was covered in eyes that were closed at the moment.

    Moreover, each of those eyes wererger than the entire universe in itself. These eyes seemed to contain a myriad of universes within itself.

    Each one of these angels appeared to be made from millions of gxies unto themselves, their presence overwhelming and majestic.

    Karyk thought titans were big as he appeared like an ant in front of a Titan. But in front of the Angels, he feltpletely insignificant.

    Their bodies were sorge that he couldn''t even see the entire body of an angel. Just in front of an eye of the Angels, he was even smaller than a speck of dust let alone their entire body.

    "So, these are the real Angels," he whispered, floating through the endless space.

    Just the aura emanating from the most of an angel was millions of times stronger than what he had seen before. It was said that the Angels in the world were strong. However, if they were in their real bodies, then their strength was beyond imagination.

    Looking at these strong beings, he did not understand one thing. How were these angels cursed? They were so strong, then how could they be cursed just because of his appearance?

    At first, he had thought that the Angels were cursed because of his appearance. He thought that''s why they wanted the Prince to remove the curse.

    However, looking at their real figures that were beyond his wildest imagination, it was clear that he had been wrong. Abyss could not curse these beings that could destroy multiple gxies without even moving an inch.

    Why were they looking for the forgotten prince? Why were they so interested in the abyss? And how exactly were they cursed?

    Looking at the real angels, Karyk only received more questions than he found answers.

    He also did not understand something. Why did these angels descend into that small gxy with their fake bodies? Also, their bodies were so huge, but why did it look like all of them had surrounded this one gxy.

    It looked less like they were the beings who were Overlord of the universe, keeping an eye on this gxy. Looking at their giant bodies around the gxy the size of a speck of dust for

    them.

    It felt less like they were interested in something insignificant and more as if they were supposed to be here for a reason.

 Chapter 1036: Chapter 1036: Devouring Infinity

    Chapter 1036: Devouring Infinity

    ?

    The colossal beings that could easily devour an entire gxy if they wanted, seemed to be interested in this one universe where he came from. And even in that once universe, they were interested in him.

    Was it really because of the curse? He wasn''t strong enough to curse them, so he was sure that the real reason was different from what they made the world believe.

    The beings appeared to be deep asleep. If he hadn''t known better, he would have thought that it was because they had sent their entire consciousness into their false bodies to find him. Instead, he could still feel the presence of consciousness within them. It was as if they only let a fragment of their consciousness with the false bodies while their real bodies and conscience was sleeping here.

    Just looking at the size of the colossal beings, Karyk wondered what was going to happen if he devoured them. If they were actually bodies that didn''t have consciousness, he would have already devoured them.

    Unfortunately, that wasn''t the case. He was sure that as soon as he tried devouring them, they were going to wake up. If that happened, could he stop them?

    He had to do something, and he had to do that without devouring these Abyssal beings. What else could he do? He wasn''t sure.

    The only other option was to return back to his universe and try to kill all the false angels. He wasn''t sure if it was going to change anything as long as the real angels were still alive.

    For now, this universe appeared to be imprisoned by these angels. Even if he killed the false angels, nothing stopped them from sending more. If he went too far, they might even destroy the entire universe.

    He had a feeling that they weren''t going to destroy this universe. Or rather, they couldn''t do that. Still, he didn''t want to take the risk.

    The universe was his origin. It was also where the abyss was physically present, which was his real being. The abyss was him, and he was the abyss. They were one soul that could switch between different bodies.

    If the universe was destroyed, the abyss was going to be destroyed with it. There was no escape for him.

    If it was just about him, he might have still taken the risk but the problem was that Gabriel and the others were also living in some distant corner of the universe.

    For now, he only had these options. Either he could try to devour the Angels and be killed. He could return and surrender to the Angels. And thest option was to fight the false angels for an eternity, always remaining inside the prison of a universe.

    All three options failed to satisfy him. He couldn''t surrender and let the Angels get what they wanted, especially since he wasn''t sure if they were going to destroy the universe after they received what they wanted from within.

    As for devouring these colossal bodies, even at the fastest, it was going to take a month to devour a body. It was impossible for them to not wake up during that time.

    As for fighting endlessly, that also wasn''t feasible as it was only a matter of time before the Angels were going to find his weakness.

    All the paths before him appeared to end at a dead end. With that being the case, he knew that he could only create the fourth path for himself.

    He couldn''t take the bodies of real angels with him, worried that they might destroy his universe. To stop that, all he had to do was make sure that his universe couldn''t be destroyed!

    There was only one way to do that!

    Karyk turned towards the universe, which consisted of billions ofs within, each having their own ecosystem.

    "You are truly crazy if you are seriously trying to do that." Karyk thought, once again feeling split over this decision.

    "When weren''t we crazy?" he smiled as he spread his arms. His shadow spread out, gettingrger andrger with each passing second.

    Soon, a dark shadow started surrounding the vast universe, spreading all around, as if trying to devour it whole.

    Karyk had already devoured the world of the Civilization to protect it, sending it within his abyssal realm. However, devouring and protecting an entire universe waspletely different.

    Devouring an entire universe meant devouring billions of worlds, their sun, their moon, their stars, their living existences. It didn''t just end with devouring the gxy.

    It was something that ced a burden over his soul, a burden that he had to carry all his life for as long as he lived.

    He had only begun and his face had already gone pale, his breathing bing haggard. The only advantage of devouring the universe instead of devouring a real angel was that the universe couldn''t feel being devoured, only to wake up and attack him.

    Even if devouring the universe took an entire year, it was still fine as long as the real angels didn''t wake up. As for them waking up, he was sure that was not going to happen unless their false bodies came to this ce.

    No matter how long it took, he had to devour this universe and send it to his abyssal realm where he could protect it.

    With each passing second, darkness started spreading throughout the universe that he was devouring.

    The Angels returned to their cities, only to be greeted by millions of undead that were wreaking havoc. Many of the Angels were angels who were turned by Karyk''s generals.

    In such a short time, almost half the city was already destroyed. Quite a few angels were left fighting who were alive. The majority of those who were alive were because they had been hiding.

    Now that the Angels High Lords were here, they were prepared to kill the Undeads. However, before the High Lords could react, there saw a strange phenomenon where the sky started turning dark as a dark mist spread.

    It wasn''t a phenomenon that was just seen in this world either.

 Chapter 1037: Chapter 1037: Arrival

    Chapter 1037: Arrival

    ?

    The sky in the realm of angels started turning dark. It wasn''t just the darkness that came due to the absence of light.

    It was a darkness that devoured the light itself, as if the entire world was being taken into the sweet embrace of the night.

    This phenomenon wasn''t confined to one realm; it was observed all around the universe. Even in realms where the subordinates of angels resided, the sky had started turning dark as the spatial essence became chaotic.

    During this strange urrence, it became impossible to use Spatial Essence, as if an unknown force was obstructing it. Thews of the universe itself were being modified by the abyss.

    Millions of worlds experienced the same event, with some fearing that this might be the end of the world.

    ...

    "That is right. That''s how you use that spell." In a seemingly insignificant world, Gabriel was teaching some spells to Zena.

    This world had truly be their home, a ce where they didn''t have to worry about constant fighting.

    Although there were some empires in this world that fought fornd and influence, it didn''t affect Gabriel and his family.

    He had been spending his time teaching spells to Zena, who had quite a talent for learning the spells of the undead.

    Having spent a lot of time in the realm of souls after her death, her soul seemed ustomed to the dead. When Karyk brought her back to life, her affinity increased even more.

    To some extent, even Gabriel was surprised by her talent. Although she was not as talented as Karyk used to be in controlling the dead, she wasn''t too far either.

    As Gabriel had the memories of Karyk from the past, including his spells, he had started teaching the same thing to Zena.

    After teaching her, he even nned to have her create her own undead army so she could protect herself if he wasn''t next to her.

    Karyk was gone, and he didn''t know if he was ever going to return. Gabriel didn''t even know if Karyk was alive or not. The only thing he knew was that he could not abandon Zena. As for the legacy of Karyk, he had already started passing it down to Zena.

    Every day, he had been mixing his divine blood in the food that Zena consumed to give her blood the divine properly and strengthen her body as well.

    "Brother, when are we-" Zena started saying but before she could finish, she suddenly clenched her chest andnded on her knees, as if her heart had suddenly grown cold.

    Gabriel was taken aback and tried to see if she was fine but he couldn''t see anything wrong with her. Everything appeared to be fine. It''s just that her undead essence appeared to be chaotic suddenly.

    "Stop using the magic," hemanded her, not knowing what went wrong.

    "I-i already did. It still hurts!" Zena eximed, her face pale from pain. She didn''t know why, but she felt pain all over her body. A strange sense of sadness also spread around her thoughts for some reason.

    Her body had started trembling as she felt fear in the depths of her soul. She looked above, looking at the sky that had started turning darker.

    Gabriel also looked above, his expressions turning solemn. "The Abyss..."

    He had been sealed in the abyss before so he could never forget this feeling.

    ....

    Back on earth, many people looked at the sky, appearing confused as today wasn''t supposed to be an eclipse.

    There were only a few people around the universe who could feel the presence of the abyss. They didn''t understand what had happened. For an eternity, the abyss hadn''t moved from its ce. It had been sealed near the god realm. People could only enter the ce and leave it. It was something like the forbidden zone.

    Currently, the abyss appeared to have started spreading all around the universe, breaking any seal that might have kept it in ce.

    ....

    Back in the unknown space, Karyk had been coughing blood, the ck marks on his skin covering even more of his body.

    He had only finished covering half the universe and that alone had already exhausted him. Even as he was connected to the abyss, his physical body was put in too much burden and so was his kind.

    Even though he wasn''t devouring any words, only keeping them in his abyssal realm for protection, but to do that, he had to devour thews of the world.

    That''s what he was doing. He had been devouring thews of the universe, refining this universe as something that belonged to him in its entirety.

    There were also some powerful people who were trying to fight him in the process, stopping the spread of darkness.

    He also noticed that there were a few small worlds that had hidden themselves from the Abyssal darkness, one of them being earth itself.

    He didn''t care about those words. Even if they hid from his abyss, they could still be taken to his abyss as they were still part of this universe.

    The main problem was thews of the world that were resisting him. He hadn''t moved even

    an inch from his ce, but his body and his mind was at its limit, trying to conquer thews of

    the universe.

    It was as if he was fighting with heaven itself. As thews were being devoured, more and more information infiltrated his mind.

    By devouring just onew, the information that gathered in his mind was the same size as the information he had gathered throughout his life by devouring so many people.

    His ears, nose and eyes were bleeding already, as his breathing became haggard. Instead of stopping, he used those same devouredws to increase his assault on them.

    At the same time, he felt that his Undeads were constantly dying. Normally, they coulde back to life using the essence of the abyss, bing truly undying.

    However, he was using the entirety of the abyss to devour the universe, not able to afford to spare any for his undead that returned to the abyss after dying, instead of healing.

    At the same time, he also felt the door of the universe in the pce of the Angels was opening again and someone wasing.

 Chapter 1038: The Real Target

    1038 Chapter 1038: The Real Target

    The Angels had gone past the Undead Generals, who were unable to regenerate. They stepped through the doorway that led Karyk to the real bodies of the Angels.

    Although Karyk could see them passing through, he could not shift much focus onto them. His entire mind was consumed by a singr objective: devouring the universe.

    He knew that if he stopped now, it would be a failure. All his hard work would go to waste. Moreover, he might even face bacsh if he lost control. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    In his weakened condition, he couldn''t get past the Angels to return to the universe. Staying here was a death wish, as the Angels were about to awaken their real bodies.

    In this situation, it made sense to think about his own safety. However, Karyk cared about that the least. Death was inevitable, especially for him. Even if death was toe, he wanted to embrace it on his own terms, not like a coward.

    The Angels passed through the doorway, feeling the presence of Karyk. However, they didn''t appear to be worried as they didn''t think it was possible for Karyk to harm their real bodies.

    Their real bodies were not corpses without a soul. They had souls and could protect themselves.

    "How disappointing. He didn''t even try to target the real bodies. Looks like he knows his ce," one of the Angels Lords eximed, looking at Karyk.

    "Look at that bastard trying to devour the universe. Do you really think he knows his ce?" Another High Lord asked, scoffing coldly.

    Only the Angelic High Council Members whose real bodies were in this space had entered through the door. All the other Angels were left behind, including half angel Aexin.

    None of them knew that even the ones who were called pure bloods were not pure blood Angels. They were just the creation of the High Council Angels.

    The Angels didn''t care about the destruction of the city or the destruction of the Angels that resided within that city. The only thing they cared about was Karyk, the reason they had to be present in this ce.

    "I was right. The Abyss came to life in the form of the Forgotten Prince. We have waited so long for him to be born, but when he was born, the bastard ran away. Let''s see where he runs now," one of the Angelsughed, floating closer to Karyk.

    He reached out his hand that transformed into the ws. He stabbed his w in Karyk''s back. His hand passed through Karyk''s flesh,ing out from the front, covered in blood.

    "You made us work so hard to find you. We went through so much, so doesn''t it make sense for you to go through some pain as well?" The angel asked.

    "Now that he is with us, we can finally return," another angelughed. "It''s been so long, I''ve even forgotten what home looks like. All because of this bastard!"

    "That''s right. We went through so much so he could be born. We even provided false information to the civilization about God''s Fate if they sacrificed their son. We even sent a few false angels to be sacrificed so nothing goes wrong with the birth of the abyss!"

    "Even after all that, this bastard dared to run away, making it so hard for us to find him. Thinking about that, it makes me want to cut him into smaller pieces!"

    The Angels didn''t even bother to awaken their real bodies as they believed that Karyk was already within their grasp. If anything, they were in the mood to celebrate.

    "No matter what we tried, he always kept escaping from our hands. To think that he became so brave that he dared to reach these filthy hands towards our neck?"

    The angel pulled out his bloody w. He grabbed both of Karyk''s hands, whose body was still seemingly frozen in time.

    "In that case, you won''t need these filthy hands, right?" He grabbed Karyk''s wrists.

    "Don''t y with him. Now that we have him, let''s take him back. We can finally abandon and devour this pathetic world," another Angel called out.

    "Hmph, mind your business. This bastard dared to kill my son! Although he was a fake angel, he was created by me! I will definitely teach him a lesson!" the angel with bloody ws said as he started pulling on Karyk''s arms.

    "Don''t go too far. Don''t make me kill you," another angel called out, narrowing his eyes.

    "Hmph, as if I am scared of you," the forest angel rolled his eyes. "Though don''t worry. I know the limits. As long as we take him alive, we can open that ce. I won''t kill him. I will just teach him a small lesson."

    "Isn''t that right?" he asked Karyk as he ced his foot on Karyk''s bleeding chest. With all his strength, he pushed on Karyk''s chest with his feet while pulling on his arms.

    He pulled off both of Karyk''s arms from his shoulders, letting blood ssh everywhere. In the endless space, the drops of blood flowed endlessly.

    "Are you done ying around?"

    "Hmph." The Angel scoffed but he didn''t do anything. He had been careful to not kill Karyk, not as if it was easy to kill him in the first ce.

    He tossed away Karyk''s arms like it was nothing more than absolute trash with no worth. The arm of a divine being could be called a treasure in the universe that Karyk came from, but for them, it was useless.

    They only cared about the essence of the abyss hiding within Karyk as well as that beating heart.

    He grabbed Karyk''s throat while reaching out his hand towards the point angels.

    "Being the Celestial Prison," he said.

    "Hmph, what a fool who couldn''t even control his emotions." Another angelzily said as he approached him, bringing out a dark sphere that looked like a smaller version of the universe.

    He handed the sphere to the angel holding onto Karyk.

 Chapter 1039: A Familiar Voice

    1039 Chapter 1039: A Familiar Voice

    The Angel holding Karyk by the throat took the dark sphere with his free hand, a sinister smile spreading across his face.

    The sphere pulsed with a strange light, a miniature universe swirling within it, full of dark energy that felt like it could seal anything within.

    He brought the sphere close to Karyk''s forehead, the mysterious energy in the sphere started trying to pull Karyk towards the sphere, as if trying to absorb him in the universe within.

    The sphere reached closer to Karyk''s forehead, however just as it was about to touch him, a loud bang resounded in the space. The door that led to the universe of Karyk shattered open as a burst of abyssal darkness spread out.

    Karyk couldn''t distract himself, but his mind could still control the devouring process of the universe. He just changed the direction of the devouring, making it move in two directions.

    Shocked by the explosive sound, the Angels turned towards the door, watching a barrage of abyssal essence flowing out of the doorways.

    Taken aback, the Angel who was trying to seal Karyk jumped back, not wanting to be touched by that disgusting energy.

    The dark essence didn''t go straight for the Angels, instead going for Karyk as if trying to attack him. In another ce, the devouring of the world continued, the speed only increasing as Karyk started burning his life essence to further strengthen his abilities.

    In the blink of an eye, the dark energy surroundings Karyk, covering him in a dark sphere as if creating a cocoon around him.

    They also saw the darkness healing Karyk''s hands, giving him the hands of darkness.

    "You think you can hide inside?" The Angels roared, calling forth a trident that was brimming with primordial energy. He tossed the trident at the dark sphere.

    Along the way, the trident devoured even the spatial essence of the universe. It was an object that could make any defense useless. As long as it targeted a person, it was impossible for that person to avoid it, no matter how many barriers he created.

    The trident struck the barrier, but as if it wasn''t a real object, the trident wasn''t stopped by the barrier. It passed through the dark cocoon, stabbing Karyk''s chest, making him cough out blood.

    "Watch out! You will kill him like that!" Another Angel called out, reminding the others that there was no point in catching Karyk it he was dead.

    The angel had created another trident, but he stopped as he clicked his tongue following the warning. It was true that they couldn''t kill Karyk, which appeared to be an easier choice.

    Karyk clenched his fist, grabbing the golden trident that had stabbed his chest. He pulled out the trident, not the sharp ends of the trident had gone missing.

    It was as if the sharp edge of the trident had turned into the poisonous snake that had invaded his body, slowly devouring it from inside.

    Karyk wiped the blood of his lips as he smiled, feeling the chaos and the destruction inside his body. He wasn''t sure how long his body could survive like this.

    If he focused on healing, he could get rid of the poisonous insect inside his body, but even now, he didn''t stop.

    In the various worlds of the universe, the people noticed that the ascent of the darkened had increased. In the blink of an eye, day turned into night and no one could understand what was happening.

    "What an absurd death..." A voice appeared in Karyk''s head, as if already assuming that he was dying. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    It was impossible to survive in this situation, and Karyk was sure that he couldn''t do that. Still, he didn''t hesitate. Even if he was going to die, he was going to die doing the most absurd thing possible!

    "Fine! I will w his body out in a different way!" The Angel said, approaching the dark sphere.

    The other Angels also surrounded the dark sphere. From every side, the spheres were attacked. Their attacks were also slowly wing at the dark essence that had formed the cocoon around him, making the protectiveyer thinner with each passing second.

    The other Angels had also sealed the door from where the darkness of the abyss came out to protect Karyk. With the passage sealed, Karyk couldn''t strengthen the cocoon.

    Inside the cocoon, the sound ofughter wasing, making the angels think that Karyk had actually gone crazy.

    Even though he tried everything, he was still a little short. He had only covered ny percent of the universe but the barrier was almost gone. Even he could see that this was a dead end.

    He grabbed the trident that was tossed at him, barely standing with its support. His clothes werepletely tainted red with blood. Tears of blood had left a dark yet fresh trail on his face.

    "What a pity... We could not find out what was beyond this ce. But at least, he..." He didn''t finish his sentence, simply closing his eyes as thestyer of the barrier also shattered.

    "Why don''t you try to create a barrier again? Go ahead," the Angel mockingly said, already realizing that Karyk was half dead.

    Karyk let out a sigh, looking at the darkness above him. He was surrounded by the real bodies of the Angels, but they hadn''t even taken action. He wondered if it was better to die trying to devour the real angel.

    The only thing that was certain was that he was never going to know. In any case, he wasn''t going to let them catch him alive.

    He had already realized that they wanted him alive, and that was exactly what he wasn''t going to give them. Even if he failed, he would rather die while taking all of them out. He had already gathered the essence needed to blow up this space inside his body.

    As for the essence that had devoured the universe, he decided to leave that as a gift for Gabriel.

    "Shall I try?" Just as Karyk was about to do it, a familiar voice came.

 Chapter 1040: Chapter 1040: Pawn

    Chapter 1040: Pawn

    ?

    "Shall I try?" Just as Karyk was about to do something drastic, a voice came from behind.

    In the endless space, another spatial passage opened. The passage appeared to have originated within the universe that Karyk was devouring, but it didn''t have the same route as the one Karyk had taken.

    Instead, it was as if the passage connected to an unknown lower realm which Karyk hadn''t even started devouring yet.

    Still, the voice felt a little too familiar. With slightly lifeless eyes, he gazed at the source of the voice. The other Angels also frowned as they looked at the source.

    From the spatial passage, a person stepped out, his body covered in a dark cloak that only revealed his face.

    As for his face, it was something that Karyk found all too familiar. It was the face of the thief who had saved him from the Civilization, thinking that he was the Prince.

    It was this person who sent him to Elzeira, and also the one who saved him from Aexin, sending him to thend of civilization so he could learn the past.

    This man could be said to be responsible for him being alive. Without him, he might have been caught by the Angels when he was just born.

    "My Prince, it seems you remembered quite a lot of things," the Thief smiled, gazing at Karyk.

    Karyk''s lips twitched in frustration. He recognised the look in the eyes of the thief all too well. It appeared as if things weren''t as simple as he had assumed.

    "Or rather, should I call you, the Origin of Abyss?" he asked, letting Karyk know that he already knew his origin. Or rather, it felt as if the reason he saved him in the first ce was because of this exact reason.

    Karyk felt likeughing. It was clear, all these people have been trying to use him as pawns for their own benefits.

    He thought the thief met the young prince by ident. He had thought that he saved the Prince because he grew attached to the Young Prince.

    Looking back at it now, it felt a little too strange. It felt all too intentional. It was as if the Prince didn''t identallye across that thief. Instead, it was the thief who made that happen.

    He wanted to ask him a lot of questions. It was also possible that the people who sent for the Prince to be killed weren''t the Angels. Instead, they were working for the thief.

    That''s why he had the map of the security mechanism of the pce in the first ce. It was all nned.

    He had always been wondering why the Angels would send people to kill him. At first, he thought it was because the Fate was something precious for them that they didn''t want to be stolen.

    As he learned more, he realized that it wasn''t the case. If anything, the Angels were the ones who spread this rumor so it could happen in the first ce. Why would they want him dead before that happened?

    It felt more like a game of chess between the Angels and whatever that thief was, where he was the pawn.

    His lips crept up as heughed. Until now, he thought that the thief was his savior. He didn''t like that he was used as a pawn by these people. No, he hated this fact.

    He didn''t say anything to the thief, remaining silent. These people all wanted to use him. Even though he hated it, he could only me his own weakness for that.

    He didn''t say anything as his life essence kept burning. He was even sacrificing the essence of the millions of Undeads that he had devoured to increase his own strength to devour the universe.

    Only a few important and core Undeads were left behind. However, if it was needed, he was even willing to sacrifice them.

    He had enough of being a pawn. Either he was going to devour this universe, or he was going to die here. What was the point in saving the Undeads? If he could survive, he could make more of them.

    No, if he survived, he promised himself he was going to turn these freaking angels into his Undeads. He didn''t want the fake Undeads either but the real ones that had bodiesrger than a myriad of universes.

    "You have finally stopped hiding, Watcher?" The Angelic Lord frowned, looking at the person.

    He had already realized who was the person that had saved Karyk from Aexin, all from the description he had heard. If it was just a thief, he wouldn''t have been so serious.

    The reason the Angels came to this space for a meeting and awakened their real bodies was also because they knew the real identity of this person.

    "Is the other one going to keep hiding? I didn''t know you were so cowardly?" Another Angel asked, already feeling another presence that was kept hidden safely.

    "Not bad. Even though these are your false bodies with only a small fragment of your consciousness, you can still sense me. No wonder you were given this responsibility," another person stepped out of the portal that appeared next to the thief.

    A man stepped out of the portal, appearing to be an extremely old man with white beard that came down to his chest.

    The Angels searched with their consciousness to see if there was anyone else hiding, but they could only feel these two people.

    One of the Angels flew back while the others kept these two people distracted. The angel flew back to his real body.

    Even though they knew that they could stop the two people, they didn''t want to take any risk with Karyk''s presence. Too much was on the line.

    They started to awaken their real bodies.

    The angel reached his real body, appearing even smaller than a speck of dust in front of it. He ced his small hand on the giant grotesque creature.

 Chapter 1041: Chapter 1041: Watcher

    Chapter 1041: Watcher

    ?

    The False Angel reached the body of the gigantic angel that belonged to his main consciousness. It was as if he was trying to return to the main body.

    Now that they found their real Target, they didn''t have to be concerned about this world. They didn''t have to stay in these false forms and could finally return to their real bodies to make things easier.

    As soon as the false angel touched his real body, his consciousness felt like it was being sucked inside the real body.

    The colossal form began to stir as if awakening from an ancient slumber, its movements slow and deliberate.

    Ripples of immense power emanated from the creature, its eyes opening to reveal a void of pure darkness. It was a sight that could break the will of even the bravest of souls. This was the true form of an angel.

    The Giant Angel opened all its eyes which were numbered in the thousands. Opening its eyes, there was nothing hidden from his view.

    With eyes all over his body, he was able to see through the gxies spread across the vast expanse. Even the smallest of beings were seen clearly.

    Just with the opening of the eyes, the two new guests felt suppressed, their expressions turning darker. It was as if they had failed to stop the angel and everything was over.

    "You coward, can''t you fight properly? Did you really have to run away to your real body?" Watcher asked, his expressions pale as he was suppressed.

    The huge angel didn''t respond. It just looked at Watcher with a myriad of its eyes. It reached out its hand, as if able to control all thews in the world.

    Watcher was stunned as he felt thews of the universe stirring around him. Pale faced, he opened a portal and tried to run away, as if wanting to leave Karyk behind. For him, life was more important.

    Unfortunately, before he could enter the portals, the force of the real angel caught into him. His body was pulled straight into the hands of the Angel.

    The other uninvited guest was also pulled into the hands of the Angel. With the huge body, it only looked like the angel had caught the smallest particle of dust in its palm.

    The angel opened its mouth, bringing the restricted bodies of the watcher and his friend near its mouth.

    Watcher resisted fiercely, trying to free himself. Unfortunately, he failed to free himself. He was tossed inside the mouth, consumed by the angel.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    With that, the two people who came to save Karyk had disappeared, unable to help him even in the slightest.

    The giant Angel turned to Karyk, who was still devouring the universe, appearing to be unconscious. Even in this situation, his devouring hadn''t stopped as if it was going with instincts only.

    Soon, the Angel grabbed Karyk as well, removing his connection with his abilities. The devouring finally stopped and Karyk was caught.

    The angel caught Karyk and sealed him properly, making it impossible to escape. After he finished, he smugly looked at the other false angels who had yet to return to their bodies.

    It was as if he was showing off that he had achieved the task that was assigned to them, single handedly.

    The false angels looked at him in jealousy, as if ming themselves for not being fast enough in returning to their bodies.

    The real angel who had caught Karyk was quite pleased with the look of their jealousy. He was evenughing.

    When the giant Angelughed, many gxies were destroyed just from the trembling alone. Even the universe where Karyk was living, shattered into billions of fragments, but the Angel didn''t stop. He didn''t need the universe anymore after all. Finally he could return.

    "Hahahah, I did it! I did it all myself!" The Angelughed heartily at the top of his lungs. Karyk weakly looked at the Angel who wasughing. He could only shake his eyes in pity as he watched the Angel frozen just as he was about to reach his real body.

    With hisughter, Karyk was sure that he had fallen into an illusion of Watcher and was seeing exactly what he wanted to see. He didn''t have to think hard to guess what he was seeing.

    The only thing that surprised him was Watcher. Even though the angel was in a false body with a consciousness that was only a fragment of the real consciousness, it was still impressive that he could trap the angel lord in an illusion.

    Just as he had expected, Watcher wasn''t an ordinary thief. Most probably, he wasn''t from this universe either.

    The Angels also appeared to know him, so he had a feeling that the two had a simr origin. As for their goal ining here, it was him.

    Although he didn''t like the feeling, he was happy that there was someone to distract the Angels. If the two sides fought each other, he could finally get what he wanted.

    He had already devoured the majority of the universe. Just a little more... Only a little more and he could hide the entire universe, finally freeing his consciousness.

    Then, he could at least make his own decisions. Even if he died after that, the universe wasn''t going to be found by the Angels.

    Even in death, his abyssal realm still existed. Although he wasn''t going to be alive in the sense he was now, but he was still going to exist even if it was in the form of a lifeless abyss.

    As for being reborn, he wasn''t sure. Maybe he didn''t even want to be reborn again as he had already grown tired of going through this life.

    Rebirth was even worse if it was because people wanted to use him as a pawn. He could only make his own wishes and follow his own goals. If he needed to be dead to do that, that''s what he preferred.

 Chapter 1042: Chapter 1042: Absurd thing

    Chapter 1042: Absurd thing

    ?

    The Watcher''s illusion was so strong that even the most powerful beings could sumb to it. The Angels, despite their might, were not immune to its effects.

    The illusion twisted their perception of reality, making them see what the Watcher wanted them to see. It was as if the very fabric of reality was under the Watcher''s control.

    Karyk, on the other hand, was focused on his task. The remnants of the universalws were dwindling under his relentless devouring. Each fragment absorbed brought him closer to his goal.

    However, with each passing second, he could also feel that he was reaching closer to his own end. Devouring the universe was still hard for someone like him.

    Suddenly, the illusion began to waver. The Giant Angel''sughter ceased abruptly as realization dawned.

    The Angel''s eyes, thousands of them, blinked as one as they tried to break free from the illusion. But it was toote. The damage was done. The Watcher''s trick had bought Karyk the precious time he needed.

    With the realization, the Angels finally woke up from the illusion. They looked all around, their expressions twisting as they realized that they were still in their false forms. If anything, they hadn''t moved an inch, let alone waking up their real bodies.

    The first angel to be fooled roared, a deafening sound that reverberated through the cosmos, shatterings and stars in its wake.

    "How dare you fool me?!"

    It was disgusting for him to think that he was fooled by a mere illusion, especially in front of everyone. He couldn''t even hide it. The others who were trapped in the illusion also woke up following the roar, realizing the same thing.

    There were only a few who hadn''t been trapped in the illusions. However, instead of helping their friends, they were just looking at them with a mocking gaze as ifughing at them for falling for such a trick.

    "What a pity. I thought it would keep you busy for a little longer. Even if you have a fragment of your consciousness in these false bodies, it''s still strong."

    The Watcher wasn''t happy either. Even though he had managed to trap quite a few angels in his trap, it came as a surprise to him that they freed themselves from their illusion so fast.

    Normally, it was impossible for a person to free themselves from his illusions without outside interference. That''s why he didn''t attack the Angels when they were under illusion and unable to move.

    Even the slightest of killing intent towards them or a physical attack was enough to wake them from this illusion, which was thest thing that the Watcher wanted.

    If anything, he only wanted to buy more time for themselves and Karyk.

    He nced in the direction of Karyk, who looked like he was in a worse condition.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    "I will kill you bastards!" The Angels, protecting themselves from any illusions rushed towards their real bodies.

    Once, it was easy to trap them in illusion but a second time was much harder, especially now that they were all alert.

    The Watcher and his friend knew that they couldn''t distract them. As for fighting them, it was even harder with their real bodies around.

    Fighting the Angels who had returned to their real bodies was like a human trying to fight a Gctic Titan. As they were now, they knew that they couldn''t win.

    "We can''t waste any more time. We need to take him away," the Watcher said as he flew towards Karyk. Even if he had to forcefully stop what he was doing, it was better than him getting caught.

    On one side, the Angels reached their real bodies. This time, it wasn''t just one angel who touched his real body. All the Angels did the same.

    Tens of real angels that had been in deep slumber around Karyk''s universe started waking up from their deep sleep as their false conscience merged with their real consciousness, letting them learn everything that had happened.

    It was as if the real angels were inheriting the memories of their false avatars that also contained information about the appearance of the Watcher and even Karyk.

    Normally, the real angels wouldn''t have woken up for insignificant things. If the memories were insignificant, they might have punished their own fragmented consciousness for wasting their time.

    However, this time the memories were truly significant. Excited, all angels opened their eyes, looking at Karyk. Even though they were at the peak of existence, their eyes still revealed greed as they watched Karyk.

    At the same time, the Watcher also reaches Karyk. He reached out his hand towards Karyk''s body to take him away. However, as he was about to touch Karyk, another dark barrier appeared around him.

    Karyk''s devouring reached its climax. Thest vestiges of the universe were being consumed. His power that had almost exhausted, started surging, a maelstrom of energy that enveloped him. The abyss within him expanded, a void that swallowed everything in its path in the

    universe.

    The Watcher, sensing the strange phenomenon subconsciously stepped back. He looked back at the Universe, shocked.

    The universe that was bright and filled with life was nowhere to be found. All that he could see was darkness that hadpletely hidden the universe within itself.

    In the endless darkness, he wasn''t even sure that he could find the universe in the first ce even if he wanted to.

    "He seeded?" he asked, looking in disbelief. Although he knew what Karyk was doing, he expected him to fail.

    If anything, the one reason he dyed the others was for Karyk to fail on his own and lose his life essence. At that time, he was going to give Karyk some of his life essence, making him

    depend on him.

    He never expected Karyk to actually seed in devouring a universe when he had only recovered his memories from the moment of his birth in his human form.

    "What an absurd thing I have witnessed. No wonder all of them were..." He mumbled, his eyes narrowing as they looked at Karyk.

 Chapter 1043: Never forgetting the favour

    1043 Chapter 1043: Never forgetting the favour

    Karyk''s body trembled violently as thest fragments of the universe were consumed. His form began to shift, dark energy coiling around him like serpents.

    The blood that he had lost previously started transforming into specks of life that were absorbed in his body.

    The Watcher could hardly believe his eyes. This boy actually seeded? But so what if he had awakened?

    Even though he freed his consciousness after finishing devouring, he couldn''t recover the life he had burned for that. His wounds had healed but his body was still in ruins.

    From the outside, he lookedpletely fine but it was clear that his body on the inside waspletely broken. It was like a wounded tiger who was pretending to be strong, trying to bite anyone around him even if he was dying.

    With the awakening of the Angels, the Watcher thought that maybe it was for the best. Even if Karyk was free, he was in a mess and couldn''t do anything against the Angels in their real bodies.

    If anything, as he was right now, even angels in their false bodies could destroy Karyk, let alone the ones who had returned to their real bodies.

    It was the perfect opportunity for Karyk to sh with them and realize the kind of despair that was waiting for him at the end.

    Only when he realized the kind of existence he was facing and how it was impossible for him to win, could he bepletely broken.

    When Karyk waspletely broken, they should finally sweep in and escape with him. He had already devoured the universalws, so it was even better for them. It was as if they had received an extra surprise that benefited them.

    Although it was shocking that Karyk seeded, but they believed that it was for the better as it gave them more control over the situation.

    The Watcher stopped his friend from taking Karyk away. He pulled him back, telling him to not do anything and just watch.

    His friend was slightly confused but he soon realized the realm behind it. He nodded and didn''t try to touch Karyk, realizing that even if he tried to help him, Karyk wasn''t going to listen.

    When the beast was wounded, it didn''t differentiate between friends and foes. Even if they wanted to drag him away, they had to take him down first which might make him even more hateful towards them.

    It was much better for him to lose his morals and beg for their help first.

    The two people stepped back silently, getting away from Karyk while still maintaining a close enough proximity to be able to help him escape as soon as needed.

    They couldn''t defeat the Angels but when they wanted to escape, even the Angels couldn''t stop them.

    While standing in the back, Watcher brought out a crystal that didn''t feel like it was from this world. He used the crystal to send a message, but the destination of this message remained unclear.

    The Angels, now fully awakened in their true forms, stared at Karyk with a mixture of surprise and glee.

    Their celestial eyes, capable of piercing through the fabric of reality, reflected the chaos swirling around Karyk. Karyk''s broken body wasn''t hidden from them.

    "You never fail to surprise us. Then again, with your origin, it should have been expected," he said, his voice shaking the remnants of space around them.

    Karyk, now enveloped in a shroud of dark energy, looked up, his eyes glowing with darkness.

    "You speak as if you know me," Karyk growled, his voice distorted by the energy coursing through him.

    The Angel''s smile was serene but cold. "Oh, but we do. Your agony is a symphony to us. Your despair, a delicacy as that''s what you deserved. And now, you stand before us, a broken instrument. It''s time to take you back."

    Karyk''s eyes narrowed, dark energy surging around him. "Are you sure you can take me away even if you wanted to?"

    The Angel''sughter echoed through the void. "Such false courage. But look at yourself, Karyk. Your body is nothing but an empty shell. You ate more than you were supposed to and destroyed yourself." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "At this point, it feels waste that we had to awaken in our real bodies just to deal with a broken child and two people who don''t know their ce," another angel said, its sigh echoing through the various gxies, destroying multiple words without any intention to.

    The Watcher and hispanion watched from a distance, their expressions unreadable. The Watcher whispered something to his friend, his words unclear.

    With a wave of his hand, the Angel summoned a wave of celestial energy, engulfing Karyk. The dark energy around Karyk shed with the celestial energy, trying to seal his body.

    Karyk screamed in agony, his body convulsing as the energies tore at him.

    But even in his pain, Karyk did not give in. The Angels waved their hand, a crushing pressure descending over Karyk. It wasn''t just an external pressure that was affecting his body but also something that was hurting his soul.

    He could feel an agonizing pain inside his body as the space around him started sealing up. He could feel thews of this space trying to capture him. He couldn''t even offer any resistance in his current condition as there was no life essence left to burn.

    He could only get more by actually devouring the people inside the universe he had devoured. However, that was also a time consuming process which didn''t help him in the situation.

    He nced towards the watcher who looked like he was concerned, but it was clear that deep down he wasughing, waiting for Karyk to be broken a little more, possibly even sealed before they were to jump in and help him just like they ''helped'' the young prince after he was overtaken by the abyss.

    Karyk could onlyugh in response, spitting out a mouthful of Blood.

    "I will definitely not forget this favor," he mumbled, gathering all his remnant abyssal essence at the top of his fingers.

 Chapter 1044: The Missed Exit

    1044 Chapter 1044: The Missed Exit

    Karyk, on the brink of copse, felt thest remnants of his abyssal essence gathering in his bloody arm that was missing a sleeve which had been torn off with his arm before. His fingers trembled as he channeled the dark energy. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The Angels didn''t take him seriously. It was the same for the Watcher who realized that now was the right time to help Karyk. Even though Karyk still hadn''tpletely broken, if they waited more, the seal was going toplete, making their goals even harder to achieve. The celestial energy continued to press down on him, trying toplete the seal around him. As if in a final desperate act, Karyk thrust his hand forward. The abyssal essence erupted from his fingertips, a wave of dark energy that tore through the angelic seal. The energies shed, creating a vortex of destructive energy around him.

    The seal destroyed the essence of the abyss while the abyss devoured the chaotic seal. The Angels'' smug expressions faltered as they realized what was happening but it was toote. The spatial fabric around Karyk began to warp and twist, thanks to the mix of several destructive energies that cannibalized each other. With the destruction, the ve itself was ripped open around Karyk, forming a chaotic tunnel that defied thews of the realm. Karyk''s body was pulled into the tunnel, the swirling energies consuming him. He didn''t know the destination that this spatial tunnel had, or if he was even strong enough to survive inside the chaotic spatial tunnel. Still, it was better than falling into the hands of either of the two sides. "I''ll save you!" The Watcher rushed towards the Spatial Tunnel, getting flustered as he saw his ns fall apart. He reached out his arm to pull Karyk back out of the spatial tunnel, only to see a Sword flying out of the spatial tunnel, tossed by Karyk. Watcher was shocked, feeling the poisonous Sword that was something Karyk had taken from the treasury of fairies. Even though the sword couldn''t kill him, it could still hurt him. Subconsciously, he dodged to the side, giving Karyk the time he needed. The Angels also came out of their shock, trying to bring Karyk back, but the spatial tunnel had already begun to close. Their celestial aura grasped at empty space as Karyk disappeared into the unknown, his body being swallowed by the chaotic void.

    With the chaotic destructive energy all around, they couldn''t even locate the source or destination of the spatial tunnel which was simr to the river of time, almost impossible to grasp. If it was the spatial tunnel that was inside a universe, they would have been able to find him. However, the spatial tunnel had opened when Karyk was outside the bounds of any of the universes, amidst the space of nothingness that separated various universes. In this space, there were no universalws, hence there was no proper flow of the river of space or time. The Watcher and hispanion watched in stunned silence. The Watcher clenched his fist, barely controlling his desire to roar at the top of his lungs. They came here to take Karyk with them, making him depend on them. He didn''t even realize when everything started falling apart. Was it when he refused to help Karyk, waiting for the right time? Or did he know it long before that? Hispanion nced at him. "Now isn''t the time to think about it. We have to leave!"

    Karyk was the main target of the Angels but it didn''t mean they were safe. Now that Karyk had escaped, they were the ones surrounded by the Angels who probably believed that they knew his whereabouts. Watcher''s lips twitched in frustration. He was so angry that he even burst intoughter, finding it hard to hide his killing intent. "For so many centuries, I waited in that godforsaken world for an opportunity! I lived like an insect in that civilization, even going so far as helping that brat survive! After all that, this is the reward I received."

    He looked at the Spatial Tunnel. As the chaotic tunnel sealed shut, the Angels'' rage echoed through the void. They floated in the remnants of the shattered space. It was the beginning of the Angels'' Wrath that was directed toward the Angels. The two sides that wanted to use Karyk as a pawn turned against each other now that the pawn had temporarily removed himself from the equation. ....

    Meanwhile, Karyk felt his body hurtling through the chaos, the energies tearing at his very essence. He could feel himself being pulled in all directions, the pain almost unbearable. But amidst the agony, there was a glimmer of something else. It was a strange, unfamiliar energy that seemed to be guiding him.

    He clung to that energy, trying to resist the flow of the space tunnel as his destination was different. Through the remnant of the familiar source that was guiding him through the battlefield of the destructive space, he tried to find an exit while feeling his consciousness fading away. The flow of the tunnel tried to pull him away from the direction he was going, which was a passage leading him to the universe he had devoured, which was also his home. He had no strength, but he could still feel himself getting closer to the entrance of his universe. Soon, he reached out his arm, trying to grab onto the spatial crack that was opened by the abyss that devoured his universe. It was the abyss guiding him to his reality. Karyk reached out his hand, trying to grab onto the abyss and enter the Spatial Crack. "Just a little more!" He reached out his arm with all his might, even as the forces of the space pulled him away with their natural flow. Unfortunately, even with everything he had, Karyk still fell a little short as he missed the exit by a few inches, getting lost in the river of space. He finally couldn''t stay awake anymore as his vision darkened while watching the exit getting farther and farther away, until he lost his consciousness entirely.

 Chapter 1045: Different Flows of time

    1045 Chapter 1045: Different Flows of time

    In the boundless void of the spatial tunnel, Karyk floated, unconscious.

    His body went with the flow of space that took him from one corner of reality to another corner without any aim or destination.

    Time lost meaning within the tunnel. Moments stretched into eternities, and eternitiespressed into mere moments. Karyk''s consciousness flickered, somewhere between life and oblivion.

    The Universe, which he had devoured with his Abyss, remained inside his shadow. Fortunately, the Universe was not destroyed by the Flow of Space and Time. Still, it didn''t mean that the universe wasn''tpletely affected either.

    Inside the Universe that Karyk had taken with him to protect, the flow of time and space had changed suddenly. Under the effect of the chaotic spatial energy, the flow of time had increased in the universe.

    While one a few seconds passed for Karyk in the river of space and time, centuries were passing inside Karyk''s universe.

    Civilizations were rising and falling. Old words were getting destroyed while new worlds were being created.

    New and more powerful Civilizations were rising. Wars were being waged, strength was being gathered and the prosperity of the entire universe appeared to have arrived.

    The False Angels had left the universe to return to their real bodies and now they couldn''t return to the universe. As for the half angels that were created in the universe itself, most of them were killed.

    In theing centuries, the hierarchy of the World of Angels had also changed. The Era of Angels had long passed as their entire city was destroyed.

    With the disappearance of the Fairies, only three High Species were left that gained control of the realm.

    With the resources of the Angels and Fairies, their strength had also increased by a lot to the point that they started reaching their hands out of their own realm.

    As the Angels were more interested in other realms, the other ns stayed away from getting involved to maintain the fragile bnce with the Angels.

    Now that the Angels had disappeared, the bnce had also broken. All three ns split the subordinate ns of the Angels, taking them under their wings.

    It was the beginning of the fragile peace which didn''tst long before the era of conquest began.

    The Three High ns also started approaching the other worlds. The world that caught their attention was either enved or destroyed.

    The entire universe had changed for the worst in thest few centuries. After a few million years passed, the situation became even worse.

    A new breed of conquerors emerged, born from the ashes of the fallen civilizations. They were relentless, driven by the hunger for power and dominance.

    These were the Warlords, known for their ruthless tactics.

    In the midst of this turmoil, the remnants of the old civilizations also appeared together in a desperate bid for survival.

    They formed the Coalition, a resistance movement that sought to restore bnce to the universe. This coalition was a diverse assembly of beings from different worlds, united by amon cause.

    The battles between the Warlords and the Coalition were fierce and bloody, stretching across countless star systems.

    s wereid to waste, and entire species were driven to extinction. The fabric of the universe itself seemed to be destroyed, all within what felt like a mere second in the river of space and time.

    Meanwhile, Karyk''s unconscious body continued to drift through the spatial tunnel, unaware of the chaos unfolding within the universe he had tried to protect.

    His mind was trapped in a dreamlike state, where fragments of memories and the broken parts of the worldlyws were overwhelming his fragile mind.

    All the memories of the people he had Devoured had already entered his brain. However, the memories of the people who were dying in his universe were also forcing their way inside his mind.

    As he had covered the entire universe in the abyss, he had reced death itself. Those who died didn''t enter the cycle of reincarnation but became a part of him, including their memories and their strengthbined.

    In those memories, he saw a world where there was no night as the sky was constantly covered in the darkness of the abyss. It was a world that was stained with bloodshed and war. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    As he was in a river of time and space, time had been passing much faster for his universe. While a second bad passed for him, centuries were passing for his universe which meant billions of people were dying every second, leaving their memories for him.

    Every second, he was absorbing the memories of billions of beings that spanned over centuries.

    In one vision, he saw a young warrior from the Coalition of Light, standing against a battalion of Warlords. In his hands, he held a weapon forged from the remnants of an ancient civilization.

    The civilization was extremely old and powerful for them, but it didn''t exist in Karyk''s time.

    In another vision, Karyk saw a world consumed by darkness, where hope was but a distant memory. The skies were perpetually shrouded in storm clouds, and the ground was littered with the ruins of once-great cities.

    Amid the destion, a lone figure stood, cloaked in shadows.

    As these visions yed out, a subtle shift urred within the spatial tunnel. The chaotic energies that had ensnared Karyk began to destabilize even more, as if responding to an unseen force.

    Thousands of spatial cracks appeared in the river of space and time as if some great power had sliced through the river of space and time itself.

    The sound of battle asionally came from outside the river of time as two great beings were fighting, their battle creating this destabilization.

    Thanks to the myriad of spatial cracks, a multitude of exits appeared in the river of space.

    Karyk''s unconscious body hit one of these spatial cracks, flying out of the illusory river of space and time, reaching one of the multiple unknown exits.

    Unconscious, Karyk''s body shot out of the river of space.

 Chapter 1046: Home

    1046 Chapter 1046: Home

    Karyk''s body shot out of the river of space, falling down as if being pulled by some great gravitational force. With a thud, his body crashed on the ground, akin to a meteorite falling from the sky. The impact of his fall was so strong that a crater was created around his body, the trembling of earth being felt for thousands of miles. Despite the brutal fall, he was still alive. His body didn''t appear to be badly injured, at least not more than it had been in the Spatial Tunnel already. Even for gods, the chaotic Spatial Tunnel was enough to rip them to shreds, but Karyk had survived that. With constant modification of his body through devouring, not just his blood and flesh but even his bones had changed, bing something much stronger. Compared to being gnawed at by the forces of space, a fall appeared insignificant. Still, it was enough to change the immediatendscape around him. The ground was scorched and cracked where Karyky, steam rising from the crater. He remained motionless, his body bearing the marks that appeared to be healing, albeit slowly. Now that he was out of the spatial tunnel, his body had a much easier time trying to heal him while establishing a connection with the Abyss again. As the people who died in his universe were devoured, he was recovering his life source. Still, the life of mortals was not worth much. Even if billions of them died, it was not even enough to recover a fraction of the life source he had lost topletely devour the worldlyws to conquer that universe The only good that came from the constant devouring cycle of death was that he was bing stronger and more perfect with each passing second, recovering faster. Days passed before Karyk finally appeared to regain his consciousness. His eyelids fluttered, then opened, revealing eyes that were pitch ck. There was no differentiating factor between his pupils and the rest of his eye, everything bing pitch ck while a myriad of stars could be seen in the depths of those ck eyes. He groaned in pain, each movement sending a jolt of pain through his battered body that felt even more stiff. With a great effort, he pushed himself up to a sitting position, surveying the alien environment.

    He could not even focus on his surroundings as his mind was constantly getting distracted by the overwhelming memories, most of which were suppressed by him. Now that he was out of the river of space and time, the flow of time in his universe had recovered. Still, thousands of people were constantly dying with every passing second, their memories not stopping for even a moment. As he sat there, memories continued to flood into his mind, overwhelming and disjointed. He saw shes of civilizations, battles, and the lives of countless beings who had lived and died within the universe he now carried within him. Each memory was a fragment of arger, iprehensible whole. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    After taking a moment to rest, he stood up, almost stumbling on his feet and falling to the ground again. It took him some effort to properly walk again, but even then he appeared unstable. He didn''t n to sit idle. He needed to understand where he hadnded, thanks to the river of space. The only thing he knew was that it couldn''t be the universe that was under the watch of the Angels. He had traveled a lot of distance, although he didn''t know exactly how much. Karyk''s eyes scanned the horizon, searching for any sign of life. He didn''t hold high expectations though. He could see the kind of destruction his fall caused here. Still, no one came to see what happened here, which made him feel that there was no Civilization here, at least none that was nearby. This also made this ce slightly safer as he didn''t have to worry about being attacked. He separated a shadow from himself, telling it to hide itself in the world. This was his way back to this ce as he nned to leave first. He had a rough understanding of the fate that fell into his universe thanks to the ruthless flow of time. There were billions of memories and he couldn''tprehend all of them. Most of them became abined mess. He still didn''t know what happened to Gabriel and his family. The millions of years that had passed in his universe definitely took a toll on them, but Gabriel was supposed to be immortal. Zena was also someone who was able to Master death to some extent, so he wanted to confirm with his own eyes that they were still alive. Another shadow came out of the group, creating something like a door in front of him that led to the universe where he was the only supreme god in the absence of any worldlyws. Not only had he devoured thews that governed the universe but he also managed to master them. He pushed the door open. With his weakened condition, even creating the door took a lot of effort, but it was still possible to urately connect it to his destination. The other end of the door connected to the mountain where he hadst seen Gabriel. It was the ce where his family had established their safe home, away from all the conflicts in a world that was so weak that no one in it could threaten Zena let alone Gabriel. On the other end of the door, Karyk stepped out of the darkness, finding himself into even more darkness. It was not night but the sky waspletely dark, as if the sun itself was swallowed by the abyss along with the worldlyws. In the darkness, he saw a silhouette sitting in the distance, facing the other side. Looking at the figure, a smile appeared on Karyk''s face. Even with his fragmented mind, there was something that he held dear. It was his family, and he was clear that this silhouette belonged to Gabriel. He walked towards Gabriel, his feet swaying a little with weakness.

 Chapter 1047: A shadow for the king of shadowsHoly Necromancer: Rebirth of the Strongest Mage

    1047 Chapter 1047: A shadow for the king of shadows

    With swaying feet, Karyk walked toward the person in the distance who was sitting on the ground. Despite the sound of his unstable footsteps, the person did not turn around, as if oblivious to the noise.

    Karyk couldn''t understand why Gabriel wasn''t responding to his presence.

    Although they had severed their souls, removing any connection between them and the ability to sense each other''s presence, that still didn''t diminish Gabriel''s inhuman senses. "Are you not going to react?" Karyk called out, his voice barely above a whisper, but it carried the weight of all the time that felt like an eternity. For Karyk, not even a few years had passed since he separated from Gabriel in Elzeira. But for Gabriel, centuries had already passed. There was no response from Gabriel. A chilling sensation began to creep into Karyk''s heart. He wiped the dried blood off his lips while closing the distance, with only a few meters of distance left between them. As he drew nearer, he could make out more of Gabriel''s presence. His once vibrant figure seemed diminished, almost ethereal. The air around Gabriel was strange, tinged with an unnatural stillness that Karyk hadn''t anticipated.

    It was definitely not like the Gabriel he had seen in the past who looked like he was enjoying his new life even in Karyk''s absence. "Gabriel," he called again, louder this time, his voice breaking the oppressive silence. Still, Gabriel did not move. Karyk''s concern grew. He quickened his pace, ignoring the pain that red with each step. When he finally reached Gabriel, he reached out a trembling hand and ced it on Gabriel''s shoulder. The moment his fingers made contact, Gabriel''s body flickered, like a mirage, and then dissolved into shadowy wisps.

    Karyk was taken aback. Why did Gabriel leave such an illusion behind for no reason? Something didn''t add up. If this was not Gabriel, then where was he? What happened here? He extended his senses, searching for any trace of Gabriel or Zena around the mountain. The world felt hollow, devoid of the essence he had once known.

    In the absence of the universalws that were devoured by him, many worlds had lost their prosperity and fate. Still, no world should have be this barren with just the loss of the universalws. While Karyk was lost in thoughts, he felt another presence. This time, it wasn''t the presence of a person but the presence of a formation beneath his feet. Or rather, it was a formation that had covered the entire mountain. As he was distracted by Gabriel''s presence, he had not noticed that formation but now, he could see it clearly. The formation had the familiar essence of death that Gabriel and Zena had mastered. "Did they make it?" he wondered while the formation waspletely activated. In the blink of an eye, the entire mountain blew up. A barrage of destructive energy spread around, making the entire mountain disappear. A dark cloud of smoke rose up in the sky, almost appearing insignificant in front of the darkness of the abyss that already lorded over the skies. The entire grand mountain had disappeared, leaning behind only a giant crater where it used to be in the past. With this kind of explosion, it was impossible for even a god to survive as the explosion took help from the formation that was made with the essence of death that could easily gnaw at a person''s divine energy. Despite that, one man still stood in the middle of the crater, right at the heart of the explosion. The man looked unharmed. Or rather, he wasn''t harmed any more than he was already harmed before he arrived here. Karyk was weak at the moment, still not fully recovered. Still, he came out of this explosion unscathed. Strange and mysterious golden characters of unknown origin circled around his body akin tos spinning around the sun. Even when he was weaker, he was still inside the universe devoured by the abyss. The Universal Laws that had disappeared from the universe were now a part of him. Even if he was weak, he could at least protect himself from this level of an attack. Compared to the injury he received in his life source thanks to his attempt of devouring the universe, this much was not even worth mentioning. Instead of being concerned about the attack on him, he was concerned about the source of this attack. Did Gabriel n this attack? Then was that shadow of Gabriel a trap?

    He wasn''t sure if this trap was for him in the first ce as it didn''t make sense for Gabriel to n a trap for him when he didn''t even know that he was alive. ''Or did he know that I was alive?'' he pondered, looking at the sky. Although the two had severed connection, but that didn''t change the fact that the abyss was a part of him. If it was Gabriel, he might have realized who the source of the abyss covering the entire world was. ''Is this his rebellious phase?'' he thought while patting his clothes as if trying to clear dust from the clothes that were already ruined thanks to the blood that mostly belonged to him. Tried, he increased his range, looking for Gabriel across the entire world. Fortunately, it didn''t take him long to find the real Gabriel, who was almost on the other side of this same world. "There he is..."

    He opened a Portal, stepping inside it, going straight for the new destination, not knowing it was actually Gabriel or another trap. Even for him, it was impossible to distinguish between a shadow and Gabriel as both of them had the same presence, intentionally. Even when the shadow was in front of him, Karyk hadn''t noticed the difference. He wasn''t sure if it was because such a long time had passed that Gabriel had made a lot of progress in his skills despite the limitations of the world. In the absence of the Universal Laws, a lot of the restrictions from the universe had also been removed.

    n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 1048: Chapter 1048: Welcome gift

    Chapter 1048: Wee gift

    ?

    In a faraway destination at the other end of the world, Karyk stepped out of the portal.

    Once again, he saw someone in the distance. It was Gabriel, once again looking in the other direction, only having his back toward him.

    "Is it another trap?" Karyk thought as he stepped towards the figure in the distance. To his surprise, the figure in the distance did react to the sound of his footsteps unlike the shadow before.

    Gabriel, standing in the distance slowly turned around, gazing at the person who had just arrived. Although it was an unexpected arrival, he didn''t look shocked.

    There was no sense of happiness in his eyes, only carrying a familiar yet unfamiliar gaze. "Why are you standing here alone?" Karyk asked, looking at his surroundings. This definitely wasn''t a ce where one came if they simply wanted to take a walk.

    As far as his eyes could see, there were only tombstones. He didn''t even count them but he could roughly estimate them to be in tens of millions.

    In the middle of the Kingdom of graves, Gabriel was standing. Karyk could even feel that Gabriel was the only person here.

    Karyk stepped forward, only toe to a sudden halt as multiple magic circles appeared all around him, all of them being fully changed.

    It was as if all of them were ready to attack, and each of these attacks contained more power than even the strength of the previous explosionbined.

    "What do you think you are doing?" Karyk asked, not even forming any protective shield around him. His face was weary as he was injured, but even then he didn''t think about protecting himself.

    Gabriel didn''t appear to have any hesitation in his eyes. Without even answering, he activated the hundreds of magic circles that had surrounded Karyk from all sides.

    At once, all magic circles that appeared to be fully charged shot out, all attacking Karyk. It was as if hundreds of previous explosions were condensed to a small space where Karyk was standing.

    The world seemed to freeze for a moment as the sheer power of the barrage of magical attacks was unleashed.

    The ground beneath Karyk''s feet shattered and exploded into fragments. Karyk''s silhouette was barely visible through the blinding shes of light and the deafening roars of the attacks.

    Yet, despite the overwhelming onught, Karyk did not fall. His eyes, though weary, werepletely calm as the golden words started circling around her.

    The devoured worldlyws were protecting him again. However, as he hadn''t recovered her, even the worldlyws weren''t at their full strength.

    Karyk''s body, though battered, stood resilient against the wave of destruction.

    After what felt like an eternity, the attacks finally stopped after exhausting their near infinite energy that they had gathered from this world.

    With the blinding barrage of attacks disappearing, Karyk''s figure finally came into sight, standing in the middle of the crater where a lot of tombstones around him hadpletely disintegrated.

    "I was right. You have grown stronger," Karyk said, patting his shoulder where his clothes were still smoking a little.

    Not waiting for a response, he continued, "It seems I was right about something else as well. The destruction of the mountain and the clone was waiting for me? What a grand wee."

    Even though he was attacked, Karyk didn''t counter. He was too exhausted to take such small things into his heart.

    He simply walked closer to Karyk while saying, "I am not here to fight. I just want to see Zena and others onest time before I leave."

    He ced his hand on Gabriel''s shoulder who simply pped his hand away.

    Gabriel still couldn''t believe just what kind of monster Karyk had be. Even though he had surpassed the limits of this universe, reaching the same level of strength as the false angels used to possess, he still couldn''t hurt Karyk.

    Then again, he was the person who had devoured the entire universe centuries ago.

    Was surpassing the limits of this universe enough to hurt a monster like this? He didn''t know that not even a year had passed for Karyk from the moment he devoured the universe.

    "I suppose you sent her to another safer world? Just tell me the location. I won''t evene in front of her. I will just see her and leave," Karyk said, not minding getting his hand pped. Still, even he could feel that Gabriel was treating him in a very hostile manner. Then again, even he didn''t feel the same level of affection as he felt before.

    Even though only a few years had passed but with so many memories in his head, there were only a few significant emotions he could recall.

    He couldn''t protect all his memories and emotions. If anything, he was surprised that he even maintained his sanity. It had already been a long time since he heard a voice in his head.

    He didn''t even have time to y at home in this universe, even though he was a god of this world now.

    He had a lot of things to do outside this universe as his world view had widened. He still wanted to crush the Angels, not knowing full well now strong they actually were.

    "Why do you have to just see her? You can also talk to her. It doesn''t matter anymore," Gabriel said as he started walking away.

    "Where is she?" Karyk asked, watching Gabriel leave after exhausting all his strength. He even appeared a little disappointed.

    "She is right behind you, watching everything," Gabriel answered. "The others are also there, including your friends. I''m sure they would have a lot to say to you, if only you could listen."

    "Behind me?" Confused, Karyk turned around. Despite turning around, he couldn''t find anyone behind him. There was literally nothing there.

    "Can you stop wasting my time? I''m really not in the mood." Karyk asked, his time getting louder.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Lower your head," Gabriel''s voice came in response.

 Chapter 1049: Chapter 1049: Because of you

    Chapter 1049: Because of you

    ?

    Karyk''s eyes narrowed as he hesitated for a moment before following Gabriel''s instruction. He lowered his gaze, scanning the ground around him. There, near the base of one of the remaining tombstones, was a small, intricately carved stone.

    A fresh flower was ced in front of the stone. The flower was still fresh as if it hadn''t been long since it had been plucked.

    As he looked closer, he saw a name inscribed on the stone: "Zena."

    In the surroundings, there were more tombstones, each having the name of someone he knew. There were the Demigods who helped him, as well as people who had helped Gabriel.

    He already expected the others to be dead as they didn''t have the lifespan of an immortal, but it should have been impossible for Zena and the Demigods.

    "These... These are their graves?" Karyk''s voice was barely more than a whisper, filled with disbelief.

    At the same time, he felt a little strange. He thought he would have felt more bad if something happened to Zena, but strangely enough, there was no sorrow.

    He didn''t understand why he felt this way. Did he really lose his attachments to everything else? Even though he couldn''t feel sadness, he knew what he should have felt.

    Gabriel, now standing some distance away, turned to face him. His expression was unreadable, a mixture of resignation and lingering frustration.

    "Yes. They have been here for centuries, waiting for you. Go ahead, talk to them. After that, scram. I don''t want to see you."

    Karyk silently gazed at the tombstones, unable to say anything. He couldn''t ept it. How could someone rted to him die? He was the one who lorded over death. He was someone who could do anything in this world that belonged to him.

    Even though he didn''t feel as much grief as he expected, there was still an iprehensible and uneptable feeling in his heart.

    "How did they die?" he asked as he reached out his hand, touching the name of Zena that was carved on it.

    He was sure that if Zena was dead, her memories should have reached him as well. It was the same for her soul. At the end of the day, it all came back to thest.

    Even in the past when he had first awakened his abilities, he had unintentionally devoured all the souls including the souls of his family.

    It was as if even after so long, nothing had changed. Even when he became so strong, he still couldn''t change anything. Once again, he had devoured everything like the day he had first awakened.

    "She should have been able to control death. How could she? Alion and the others were Demigods. They should also be alive. So how? And what were you doing when it happened?" he asked, clenching his fist.

    "You should be thest person to ask that. I have nothing to tell you," Gabriel said, gazing at the dark sky above.

    Even though he didn''t say anything, he understood better than anyone about what happened. At the end of the day, it was all thanks to Karyk.

    As Karyk devoured this world and the cycle of death, everything changed. Everyone who died in this world lost their souls forever, which was taken by the abyss above.

    The abyss in the sky was like a grim reaper, avoiding him was impossible. With the cycle of deathpletely being destroyed, Zena couldn''t control death.

    Her life span was no more than an ordinary person and without the ability to consume death, she could not survive long, especially since she couldn''t reach the level of a demigod.

    Gabriel tried to get her all the treasures that he could get. He did as much as possible to increase her life span as much as possible, but in the passage of time, it all became insignificant.

    He even tried giving her his blood, but her body simply refused to ept it. She wasn''t like him who was created from the blood of Karyk.

    She was a normal person in the past who was brought back to life, but her body was not that extraordinary.

    The only person who could help Zena survive was Karyk. As long as even the slightest ess to death was left for Zena, she would have lived.

    Gabriel had even tried to find Karyk after realizing that he was alive. He went from world to world but nothing changed.

    Despite the wait, no one came. Karyk did not return even when Zena died. After her, the war only intensified. One after another, the others also started dying, their souls being devoured by the abyss.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Not only did Karyk kill Zena by snatching her abilities, but he also devoured her soul which became one of the billions of souls throughout the centuries that healed him.

    In this world, Gabriel was the only person who was alive. He was also about to leave this world, that''s why he set the trap in the mountain to thank Karyk if he ever returned.

    He didn''t expect Karyk to actually return just as he was about to leave after seeing Zena onest time.

    "It is not my fault. For you, it might have been centuries but for me-"

    "There is no point in exining. The past is gone..." Gabriel raised his head. "You did what you wanted. Who am I to me you when I can''t even leave a scratch on your body.'' "Where are you going?" Karyk asked Gabriel who opened another portal in front of him as wings appeared behind his back.

    Gabriel did not answer, soon disappearing inside the portal and leaving this world.

    "What an annoying person," Karyk narrowed his eyes, watching the portal disappear. He turned back towards the graves. He didn''t realize how long he stayed there, but enough time had passed for his body to recover a little more.

    He ced his hand on the tombstones, trying to revive Zena but he could not do so. Zena''s soul had actually been devoured.

    He could bring her back as an undead which had the memories but he hesitated.

 Chapter 1050: A false creation

    1050 Chapter 1050: A false creation

    Karyk stood there, his hand lingering on the cold stone. He had faced countless enemies, conquered realms, and yet, here he was, unable to protect a single person.

    He hadn''t just failed in protecting that person but killed that person himself. The irony was not lost on him.

    He had always been able to manipte death, but this was different. The abyss had taken Zena''s soul, and that was something even he couldn''t counteract as it was a passive skill.

    The worst part was that he didn''t even feel that bad about it. That was the thing which hurt him the most. He had been fighting the Angels to protect Zena and Gabriel. He stayed behind in Elzeira to protect them.

    Even everything else he did, it was with the intention of protecting them. When did his goals change? He couldn''t even remember. It all felt so blurry that he could not even locate that long forgotten feeling.

    He turned his gaze to the other tombstones, each bearing names of those who had fought alongside him, who had trusted him.

    He had been so consumed by his own journey, his own battles, that he had forsaken the very people who had been like his family, especially Alion.

    A sudden gust of wind rustled through the graveyard, bringing with it the faint scent of the fresh flower at Zena''s grave that Gabriel had left behind. It was a stark contrast to the decay that surrounded him.

    For a moment, he closed his eyes, letting the scent fill his senses, grounding him.

    Looking at the tombstone, he couldn''t help but remember thest time he had seen Zena. He couldn''t even personally greet her.

    Looking back at the situation, he couldn''t help butugh. "Little Sister, your brother has returned. It seems he is a littlete though."

    "I know there is no afterlife for you. Even though I barely feel anything, I know that it would be too cruel to bring you back. It would be selfish... But..."

    "There is someone who needs you more than me. Even if it is selfish, return to us... No, return to him!"

    With a final nce at Zena''s grave, Karyk turned and began to walk away. He carried the flower that Karyk had left behind on the grave.

    Instead of a flower lying on the grave, a drop of blood was left behind. It wasn''t even ordinary blood but Karyk''s own blood that he had manipted to contain the essence of the Fairy n.

    Amongst all the ns, that was the only n which was more stable and had a long life without any drawbacks.

    He could also give her the false angel Bloodline for her return but he didn''t know how that was going to work now that the false angels were disconnected from the real angels.

    Gabriel was still strong but it didn''t mean Zena could be the same. Moreover, this time he didn''t want her to have the essence of death and lose her life because of conflict with the abyss.

    His steps were heavy as he gazed at the flower that slowly started dying in his hand.

    "I know you will hate me even more. But if that will be the reason for your existence, then I will give that to you..."

    A portal appeared before him. Even in his injured condition, he did not stay behind to recover. He left the universe, returning to the unknownnd outside the river of space and time where he hadnded.

    While he left, the drop of blood he left behind was absorbed by the tombstone which suddenly blew open.

    A bloody sphere rose from the ground, appearing simr to a human sized egg with strange patterns carved all around it.

    Gabriel had taken everything that he needed and was prepared to leave the world as well, only to feel a strange energying from the graveyard.

    The energy felt different from what he felt from Karyk. At the same time, it felt quite simr.

    He had promised himself that he was not going to return to that ce but it was the ce where his sister and friends wereid to eternal rest. He couldn''t control himself and went to check.

    The moment he appeared in the graveyard, he saw a bloody egg with the aura of death surrounding it. Still, it was different from Karyk''s aura as there was purity of nature hiding inside the deathly aura.

    The barrelnd around the graveyard started changing as well. New grass started growing in thend of death where not even a single de of grass had grown in the past.

    Gabriel cautiously approached the egg. His instincts screamed danger, yet something deeply personal kept him moving forward.

    The egg pulsated with essence that seemed almost alive, each beat echoing in the stillness of the graveyard.

    He extended his hand, hesitating for a moment before touching the surface. It was warm, almostforting, contrasting sharply with the aura of death that surrounded it.

    As his fingers made contact, a surge of energy shot through him. Images shed before his eyes¡ªmemories of Zena, of their childhood, of her learning her new skills.

    This was all Zena had gone through. These were her memories that were being imnted inside this egg.

    And then, he heard it. A faint heartbeat,ing from within the egg. Gabriel''s eyes widened in realization. He took a step back. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Karyk," he whispered, a mix of anger in his voice. "What have you done?"

    It was clear that Zena was dead. It was impossible for her to return. Karyk was creating another Zena with a different soul but the same memories. It was no different than creating a fake Zena from the memories of the real person.

    The egg began to crack, the lines spreading like spider webs across its surface. With each fracture, the aura of death seemed to recede, reced by an energy that was both ancient and new.

 Chapter 1051: Time Lord

    1051 Chapter 1051: Time Lord

    In a farawaynd, a middle-aged man walked with two youngsters through the heart of a vast desert.

    All three beings had lizard-like tailsing from their backs, covered with sharp spikes.

    If one were to ignore the tails, the two youngsters would appear no different from ordinary humans, except for their double pupils in each eye.

    The middle-aged man, however, looked nothing like a human. He had a human head, but the rest of his body was mechanical, made from an unknown metal.

    It was as if a human had donned robotic armor. For this man, it was his entire existence. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Soul!" one of the youngsters eximed.

    "What do you think?" the middle-aged man asked, turning to the other youngster, waiting for his response.

    "If it''s just the soul without the memories, then will that still be the same person? Aren''t the memories we experience what make us who we are? I think it''s the memories," the other youngster replied.

    "Without the same soul, isn''t that an entirely different person then?" the first youngster argued back. "Master, I am right, aren''t I?"

    "You''re both wrong," the middle aged man smiled. "It''s neither the soul that makes a person, nor their memories."

    "If it was the soul then people wouldn''t be entirely different beings in their reincarnation. And if it was just the memories, doesn''t that mean the existence of a person is futile?" he further asked, enjoying the confused expression on the face of the youngsters.

    "Then what makes a person?" the two youngsters asked at the same time.

    The middle aged man smiled in response. "The answer is nothing... The entire existence of a person is nothing but a culmination of circumstances. A person can change from one hour to the other. Can you say that I''m the same person I was before?"

    "Most people believe that we live for as long as our lifespansts. But is that really the care? In my opinion, we die each second. This is the strength of time that no one can go against, no matter how long you live."

    "In the vast river of time, every second we lose things precious to us without realizing."

    The two youngsters simply looked at the middle aged man with fascination. They couldn''t entirely understand the answer but they were still amazed.

    "Master is wise!" The two students eximed.

    The middle aged man smiled as he continued, "It''s not the answer I came up with myself. This answer was given to me by the person whose birthday celebration we are going to attend..."

    "The Time Lord?" The two students asked, shocked. "Master, are you really close enough for him to answer?"

    "Cough, you brats? Do you really have to hurt your master like that? Even though I am insignificant, but even I had an opportunity to ask a question to the Time Lord a million years ago when he was visiting our."

    "A million years ago? Just how old is he exactly?" the first youngster asked.

    "He is one of the ten oldest beings in existence, and most of them had already disappeared in the flow of time," the middle aged man eximed. "That''s why, no matter what, you must not offend anyone in the birthday celebration."

    "Any person who is going to attend that celebration won''t be an ordinary person. So you must be careful. If you offend someone stronger, even your master can''t do kuch!" he reminded his students carefully.

    "Master, do you mean that he is also an important person? Why does he look like a beggar then?"

    The middle aged man expected his disciples to be cautious after his warning, but to his surprise, they were more distracted by something else.

    They were pointing towards a young man in the distance, who was still wearing clothes that were torn at ces. The clothes were also covered in blood as if they hadn''t been cleaned in a long time.

    "Does that beggar also know the Time Lord?" the student asked again.

    "That is impossible. If he was here for the celebration, why would he look like he''sing out of some bloody battlefield? It must be a coincidence that he''s going in the same direction."

    "A coincidence?" the middle aged man wondered, looking at the young man who didn''t have any extraordinary traits.

    This entire world belonged to the time lord. Only for the celebration, it was opened. Moreover, only those who had the invitation could find this world to attend the celebration.

    How could a random man end up here? There was no such thing as a coincidence like that, especially since the entire world was surrounded by a protectiveyer.

    While the middle aged man was looking at the person in the distance, the young man nced back in his direction.

    Karyk''s lifeless eyes scared the middle aged man who subconsciously took a step back, feeling as if he was shoved in a deep hell.

    It took the middle aged man a brief moment toe out of his daze, noticing that the young man had already stopped paying attention to him.

    ''I was right. Anyone who can be invited to this ce isn''t a simple person. What a horrifying gaze... Just how many lives has that person taken?''

    "Master, are you alright?"

    "Ah, I am fine. Just remember what I said. Don''t offend any other person here, especially that person. Also, stop pointing at him!"

    The middle aged man only started moving when Karyk disappeared from his view, sighing in relief.

    "We die every second, huh. What a pathetic answer..." Karyk dragged his body towards the ce where he saw many other people moving.

    Along the way, he had been hearing what the others were talking about, which gave him a context about this ce.

    It wasn''t just a world of any Civilization, but a world that belonged to just one person. That''s why, no one came to investigate even when he fell.

    As for the person, his identity was also more interesting than Karyk had expected. It was a person known as the Time Lord.

 Chapter 1052: Chapter 1052: Above World Tier

    Chapter 1052: Above World Tier

    ?

    Karyk followed the rough direction, in which everyone had been walking. Along the way, he also used his magic to change his clothes, removing any stains of blood from them.

    His clothes were modified into something that could not be traced back to Earth or his gxy. Instead, a mechanical armor, simr to the man before, appeared around his body, also

    hiding his wounds and all the ck marks on his body.

    His body was still healing, albeit much more slowly now that the rate of death had slowed down with him leaving the river of time. Still, even in this weakened condition, he was stronger than he used to be when he started devouring the universe.

    Thews of the universe had be one with him, granting him many new abilities. As for his mind, it was more fragmented than it had ever been, but even then, he had absolute control over his actions.

    With the disappearance of his conflicting personality, he had also stopped using ''we'' when talking about himself.

    Along the way to the destination, he had seen many powerful species. There were those who were born with bodies stronger than gods from his universe. That meant even from birth when they were just babies, they were stronger than gods.

    There were also many species that had truly assimted thews of their own world into their bodies, being born akin to the children of heaven with the hand of their universe over their heads.

    There were also those mechanical advanced beings like he had seen before. They weren''t quite humans but at least they shared some physical traits.

    He had also seen many strange ships fly past him in the sky, disappearing into the distance. Whenever one such ship appeared, the group of the middle aged man and the two youngsters had revealed jealousy.

    Karyk did not care about the ships or what the other species were like. He was more interested in the person known as the Time Lord.

    Even in their universe, they had a person who could control time. He was the person who had started the Church of Time before disappearing forever.

    Even though that person was strong, he wasn''t strong enough to affect the flow of time for the entire, let alone the universe and beyond.

    On the other hand, the one known as Time Lord was said to be one of the oldest in existence, making it clear that he definitely knew about the Angels and why they were guarding the Abyss.

    For now, Karyk didn''t know if this person was going to be a friend or an enemy. Even if he wanted to be a friend, Karyk couldn''t trust him. As for being his enemy, he didn''t think he could afford that now.

    Still, he was not scared even if the situation came to that. More than that, he looked to this celebration as an opportunity to create more Undeads as he had destroyed the majority of his Undeads to use their essence when devouring his Universe.

    ....

    After walking for over half a day, he finally saw a grand mansion in the vastnd of nothingness.

    The Mansion was not the size of humans. It was so tall that it seemed to be stretching to the sky. It could even amodate Giants. Still, it was a little too small for the real Angels which made Karyk believe that they were probably noting.

    From the moment he had seen the real bodies of the Angels, his concept of space had changed entirely. He simply wondered just how huge the world was where the Angels lived with their real bodies.

    Karyk reached the entrance of the vi where the door itself was thousands of meters tall. He thought there were people going to check the invitation or make sure that no one invited came here.

    To his surprise, there was no such thing as that. It was just as the middle aged man had said. Only those who were invited could enter this world. Was there even a need to check again? That was no different than doubting the abilities of the Time Lord.

    As Karyk was about to enter the vi, he felt two powerful presence in the distance. It felt familiar. It was the same presence he had felt when the river of space and time was sliced, which had created an opening for him.

    Even though he was unconscious at that time, he still remembered this presence which had left a deep impression on him.

    Curious, he turned around and saw a young man with silver hairnding on the ground. He was carrying a heavy sword on his back which was the same sword that had sliced through the river of time temporarily.

    "I was about to win! If only that old man hadn''t intervened!" The young man, dressedvishly, appeared discontent as he cast angry res at the young woman whonded next to him.

    Unlike him, the woman wasn''t carrying any Sword. She was just wearing gauntlets on both her hands that appeared just as special as the man''s sword.

    The Sword and the Gauntlets, both appeared to be extremely special treasures. Even Karyk''s World Tier Chains felt nothing like a backwater toy in front of these items.

    The only thing that could evene close to these items was the Sword he had stolen from the Royal Family in Elzeira.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Unfortunately, he couldn''t even touch that sword as it devoured lives. Even he had died when he touched that sword before.

    Even though he came back to life with his abilities, that didn''t change the fact that the sword couldn''t be used by him, especially in battles.

    Ever since then, he hadn''t used the unknown Sword. It wasn''t good to simply die when fighting, giving the enemy an opportunity to destroy his body while he tried toe back to life.

    There was only one thing he was curious about when it came to that sword. What was the Sword of that Caliber doing in a mediocre ce like Elzeira?

    "Can you two stop fighting? This is not your backyard! We are here to attend a celebration!" Behind the two youngsters, an old mannded.

    From the two youngsters, Karyk could at least feel their Immense strength. With the old man, he couldn''t see anything. It was as if he was an ordinary man with no strength.

 Chapter 1053: Chapter 1053: Era of Destruction

    Chapter 1053: Era of Destruction

    ?

    The old man appeared very ordinary whenpared to the youngsters who had a suppressive air around her. Still, it was evident that the old man was only stronger with the way these youngsters talked about him.

    The two youngsters were strong enough to slice through the river of space and time, even if only a small fraction of it. If the old man was able to stop them, it was impossible for him to be weaker.

    "Hmph, mind your own business. Just because you look old, don''t think that you can guide us. Don''t forget that you are much younger than us!" The young man scoffed, as he entered the vi.

    "Younger and stronger," the old man smirked,pletely making Karyklose all the good impression of a wise old man that he had formed about him.

    It wasn''t an old man who had more experience and wisdom than the others. He just had more strength which he used to suppress the two.

    "Hmph, so what if you''re stronger for now? Don''t forget that your species ages fast. While I will be at my peak, you will be long dead," the young man arrogantly retorted, trying to hurt the old looking man in response.

    "Hah, what a nice way of saying that as long as I am alive, you can never defeat me," the old manughed out loud, revealing the immaturity that was quite contrasting to his old looks.

    He chased after the two youngsters, being just as smug. "So how about it? Call me Grandpa and I might kindly teach you?"

    "Hmph, are you sure you can afford that honor? Do you want me to tell my father that you want to be my grandfather?" the young man coldly asked in return. "If you''re brave enough, then don''t turn on your wordster."

    The old man''s face went pale as he heard about the youngster''s father. Although he was definitely stronger than the youngsters, it was a different matter when it came to his father.

    The old man had already lost his father due to the trait of his species characteristics. On the other hand, the young man''s father had lived for millions of years more than the longest living member of the old man''s species.

    The gap in strength was not much at that level. If anything, the old man''s father was stronger than his n Ancestors.

    If the young man''s father heard that someone from another species wanted to be known as his father, then it could really spiral out.

    "Hmph, I was just messing with you little brat. There is no need to be that serious." The old man quickly rified, turning extremely serious.

    Seeing his fear, the young man let out a cold chuckle before disappearing inside the Vi. The young woman and the old man also disappeared, only their conversation still left behind, lingering in Karyk''s head.

    Karyk also didn''t stay behind much longer. He also entered the vi, observing the other guests.

    He had also seen many ships that hadnded outside the Vi with the Guests long having entered the ce.

    "The young man is strong to the point that he can leave a wound on the river of space and time. His father will definitely be stronger."

    "As for the Time Lord, if I''m to assume his strength, it should be even more. This is truly a fascinating world which breaks all the concepts of strength that I have known before..."

    While to himself, Karyk also entered the vi, lost in deep thought. Fortunately, he had already changed his clothes, appearing much more normal now.

    With the Armor covering his body, he looked like he was from the Mechanical n which was known for their mechanical expertise. They were also the ones who had made all these spaceships that could be used by weak people to travel between worlds.

    The Mechanical n wasn''t a high ranking n as they weren''t strong themselves. It was only their technology that was stronger, but in front of absolute strength, even that technology couldn''t do anything.

    Even their most advanced ships could be destroyed by an ordinary member of a powerful species. Because of that, although the Mechanical n was known in the middle tier circles, it was insignificant at the top tier.

    As Karyk pretended to be from such an ordinary n, not many people paid attention to him. Only the other members of the Mechanical n who had attended as guests were asionally casting nces at him, failing to recognise him.

    Still, as the person was able to reach here, they believed that he was also invited. They didn''t do anything to that man.

    Even though there was over an hour left before the time of celebration, many ns had already gathered in the hall, not wanting to bete.

    As the Time Lord was known to care the most about being on time and punctuality, it was better to be early than to bete.

    Most of the High Ranking ns had already started mingling amongst themselves, talking about how they all knew the Time Lord to the point that they could receive an invitation.

    The hall was immersed in conversation when another group of people arrived, going unnoticed by others. It was the middle aged man and his two students who Karyk had seen on the way.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Karyk didn''t pay much attention to them. Instead, he walked closer to a painting hanging in the distant wall. He looked at the painting, which was very fascinating to him as it reminded him of himself.

    The painting depicted only darkness, with a few flickers of light in the middle. It was as if the painting was depicting darkness that had devoured everything with only a little resistance which was yet to be devoured.

    "Are you interested in that painting as well?" While Karyk was immersed in the painting, a voice came from behind him. "Apparently, it''s something that was made by a Master Painter, depicting the Era of Destruction."

 Chapter 1054: Chapter 1054: Uninvited Guest

    Chapter 1054: Uninvited Guest

    ?

    Karyk turned around to see a tall, elegant woman standing behind him. Just like the old man he had seen before, he couldn''t feel even the slightest trace of aura from the woman. She appeared like an ordinary mortal.

    She was also the only person here who lookedpletely human with no strange physical traits that differentiated her. Still, it was clear that she was far from human.

    Her attire was simple yet majestic, adorned with symbols that Karyk couldn''t recognise immediately.

    "The Era of Destruction?" Karyk asked, studying her face for any hint of her identity. Hearing his question, the woman''s eyes revealed quite a surprise but she recovered quickly.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "The Era of Destruction," she repeated, her voice barely audible. "A time when darkness nearly consumed everything, and only the bravest lights dared to resist."

    Karyk heard her words, asionally ncing at the portraits hanging on the wall.

    "I am Seraphina," she continued with a gentle smile. "It''s rare to see someone so deeply moved by a painting depicting that cursed era."

    She waited for Karyk to introduce himself, only for him topletely ignore her and focus on the painting.

    The words Era of Destruction werepletely unfamiliar to him but the portrait did make certain unknown emotions rise within him.

    "If people hate this portrait so much, why would someone hang it here for everyone to see?" he asked after a brief period of silence.

    Seraphina''s eyes sparkled with interest. "The battles we face are often not of our choosing, but they shape us in ways we cannot foresee."

    "One of the lights that you see in the portrait depicts the Time Lord himself," she further exined. "That''s why this portrait is very close to his heart."

    "The light depicts him? Then what about the other lights? Who do they depict?" Karyk further asked, certain that the other lights also depicted people who were on the same level as the Time Lord.

    They were most probably the true rulers of this era in this vast foreign gxy.

    "The other lights depict the-" Seraphina started exining, only to suddenly go silent.

    The room''s atmosphere shifted. The murmurs of conversation grew quieter as a figure appeared at the entrance of the hall. The Time Lord had arrived, catching everyone''s attention.

    At that moment, time itself appeared to have slowed down. Even Karyk could feel that his movements had slowed down. Or rather, his body was restricted by the uneven flow of time while his mind was free.

    His body could not keep up with his thoughts. It was the same for other guests. Not just this ce but this entire world was affected by the Time Lord''s abilities.

    The Time Lord was an imposing presence, cloaked in robes that seemed to shimmer with the passage of time itself. His eyes contained vast knowledge of eras that were looking forgotten, and when he spoke, it was as if the very fabric of reality listened.

    The Time Lord looked extremely young, as if he was only a teenager. However, no one allowed his looks to fool them. He was one of the oldest monsters in this universe.

    The Time Lord stopped in front of the two people whose fight had temporarily left a scar on the river of space and time.

    Fortunately, the river of space and time could repair itself, which was why he didn''t need to think too much about it.

    "I assume your father has been well?" he asked the young man first.

    "He has been extremely upset that he couldn''t attend the celebration personally. However, other than that, he has been healthy and well," the young man answered, his face slightly pale.

    In the presence of the Time Lord, he felt even more pressure than he did next to his father. This was truly an existence who stood at the peak.

    "Is it because of the Angels? It is true that they have been very restless recently." The Time Lord thought about something before shaking his head. "What am I even thinking? It can''t be that."

    He walked past the two youngsters, observing all the guests that had arrived here.

    He recognised many faces but there were also faces that he did not recognise as some ns had sent their youngsters because they couldn''t attend for important reasons.

    Amongst the people he could not recognise, there was also Karyk who was standing near the portrait on the wall. As he stood next to Seraphina, it appeared that they were from the same n.

    He didn''t pay much attention to Karyk, or else he might have noticed that the two of them were entirely different Species.

    "Wee, esteemed guests," the Time Lord''s voice echoed through the hall. "This old man is honored that all of you decided to grace me with your visit."

    The crowd listened in rapt attention, no one daring to upset the man who could make their ns disappear within a day.

    "Today is my birthday, but more than that, it''s the million year anniversary since the end of the Era of Destruction. That''s why, I thought about making this day even more special by inviting you all here," the Time Lord said.

    "As you all attended this special asion, I would also-" he continued, only toe to a sudden halt as he noticed another presence entering the world.

    "It seems we have more guests that are running a littlete. To think that the stars from the Era of Destruction will alsoe here. Hahaha, this old man is quite happy."

    The Time Lord increased the flow of time in this world, making the arrival of the new guests even faster.

    Soon, the door of the main hall swung open and guests who were on the same level as the Time Lord stepped inside. They were also ones who had lived from the Era of Destruction, being millions of years old.

    There were those who could enter this world but there were also those who were too big to enter this world. The giant existence of an angel, thousands of times bigger than this world, floated outside the world.

 Chapter 1055: Chapter 1055: Broken

    Chapter 1055: Broken

    ?

    "Everyone, it seems some old friends have arrived. Please excuse me..."

    With a swift wave of his hand, the Time Lord released an unrecognizable force, which forcefully sent all the guests into apletely different room.

    It was as if the Time Lord was concerned they might overhear something they weren''t meant to, especially with the arrival of these new and unexpected guests.

    "Are you also here to join in on the celebration with his old man?" The Time Lord spread out his hands, making it appear as if he was weing an old friend.

    "We don''t have time for your games," a dark robed person said, his body surrounded by the spatial essence which was just as strong as Time Lord''s essence of time.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "We need your help," another person chimed in. However, from his tone, it felt less like a request and more like a simple statement for which he wasn''t willing to take a no.

    "Does this have something to do with the Angels getting restless?" The Time Lord asked, raising his head.

    Even though there was a roof above his head, his eyes were able to see through the roof into the distant space where the True Lord of Angel was present.

    In a single ce, the Lord of so many Powerful ns had gathered, most of them being ones who had lived in the Era of Destruction.

    "That is correct. Those fools really did screw us all, now isn''t the time to fall out with them," the hooded figure said.

    Following his words, the entire world appeared to tremble as a mysterious voice prated through space.

    "Who are you calling a fool?" the Angel asked, letting his displeasure be known.

    "You, who else?! Who else is responsible for something like this?" The hooded figure roared back in rage.

    His voice also traveled through space, falling in the Angel''s ears, apanied by a myriad of spatial cracks.

    "As you''re all here, I suppose it has something to do with ''it''?"

    "That is right. ''It'' has escaped the seal. All thanks to these idiots who thought about using it. Not only did it get freed but it also appeared to have gained a conscience and a life," the skeletal figure next to the hooded figure chimed in, not hesitating in calling the Angels fools either.

    "How is that possible? Didn''t we assign the Angels to guard and make sure that there are no changes? What were they even doing? And even if it gained life, how could it escape?"

    The Time Lord was quite surprised by everything he heard. He was sure that the Angels hadn''t told them everything but still, it felt extraordinary.

    "Enough of this disrespect! If you don''t want to work together, then I will take my leave! I suppose you can handle it yourself!" The True Lord of Angel said, his voice making the vibrate again.

    If it wasn''t for the seal that the Time Lord had casted around the room where the guests were staying to prevent them from listening to anything, the voice alone would have made a lot of them go crazy.

    "After causing all this mess, you want to run away?!" The Hooded Figure raised his right hand, creating a powerful spatial chasm around the Angel Lord, as if prepared to attack in an instant.

    He was yet to let out his frustration for the Angels'' mistake.

    "If you want to fight, then I won''t hesitate!" The Angel also opened thousands of its eyes at the same time, letting all the gxies under their control connect to them, granting the power of faith.

    "Enough! Now isn''t the time to fight! Don''t forget our purpose ining here! The more we dy in finding ''it'', the harder it will be in the future."

    The skeletal figure interferes, making two huge skeletal hands appear in outer space. One appeared towards the Angels, blocking it. The other appeared in the direction of the spatial chasm, blocking the Space Lord.

    The skeletal figure turned towards the Time Lord and exined everything that had happened. At least that was what they had heard which they were able to verify through their

    own means.

    He told the Time Lord about the Abyss being born as a human in the gxy where it was sealed. He talked about it trying to attack the Angels.

    "You are saying that he managed to enter the River of Space and Time and the Angels couldn''t do anything?!" The Time Lord narrowed his eyes, finally understanding why they came for

    him.

    Amongst all of them, only the Time Lord and Space Lord could open and search the passage of the river of space and time. One by theirbined strength could this task be finished. "Hmph, if it weren''t for the two traitors to appear out of nowhere, nothing like this would have happened. It is all your fault for not killing all the Traitors!" The Angels fumed, not lying either.

    If it wasn''t for the person who saved Karyk when he was a child and their interferenceter on, it would have been impossible for him to escape.

    It was also a way for them to save their own dignity as they couldn''t ept that they had failed. Someone had to take the me and it was the traitors.

    ....

    In another room of the Pce, there was a seal which stopped them from hearing anything happening in the outside world.

    However, Karyk had already left out a shadow as a precautionary measure. In case something was to go wrong here, he could switch ces with his shadow on the outside.

    For now, he didn''t need to switch ces. Still, thanks to the shadow, he was able to hear everything that was being spoken between the Time Lord and the others, especially things that were rted to him.

    Through their conversation, he was able to gather a little more information about his situation, especially when it came to the abyss being sealed.

 Chapter 1056: Chapter 1056: Right there

    Chapter 1056: Right there

    ?

    It was the birthday of the Time Lord but he hadn''t expected to receive a gift like this. The other Lords had arrived at his celebration, only to deliver news that they needed him to work.

    Even though all the Guests had already gathered here, the Time Lord knew that he couldn''t do much about it. It was true that the more time they wasted, the harder it was going to be to find the person.

    For his personal reasons, he couldn''t make the same mistake as he did in the past. The oue was something that his world couldn''t afford.

    "I will join you," he told the other Lords while suggesting them to wait outside as he addressed the other guests, telling them to leave.

    Even though the Guests couldn''t afford to be offended by him, he still wanted to maintain the slightest of civility.

    "We will wait for you next to that annoying angel," the Space Lord was the first to turn around and disappeared.

    "Don''t make us wait for too long." The Skeletal Figure also disappeared with the others.

    Only the Time Lord was left inside the hall. He summoned all the guests back with his abilities, telling them that he had to leave for some urgent reason.

    "I am not sure when I will be able to return so we will have to end this celebration before it could even begin. You can rest in my mansion and explore it as you''vee from far away. Whenever you are ready, you can leave freely."

    He didn''t apologize to them for leaving so suddenly. Still, he didn''t force them out either, opening the mansion to them so they could rest.

    After exining briefly about the ces that they were forbidden to explore, he finally left as well.

    He appeared in the space above, appearing extremely tiny in front of the Giant Angel. However, the aura of these two was just as strong as the other Lords.

    The Angels guided the others to the location from where Karyk had disappeared. With the Time Lord and Space Lord, they could not only see through the past of the location but also guess the flow of the river to find the person.

    In a ce where a gxy used to exist in the past, there was only a void as the gxy had long been devoured by the Abyss and taken away.

    "That''s right. This is the same disgusting presence as the past. It''s just a lot weaker now," The Space Lord observed the void, unable to hide his disgust.

    Meanwhile, the Time Lord reced the scene of the past to see what actually happened here. Were there really traitors who stopped the Angels?

    With his abilities, the other Lords were also able to see the scene of the past where Karyk stepped out of the Gxy.

    Watching him in a mere human form was fascinating, especially since he was so weak that devouring a mere universe almost killed him.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    While the Lords watched the scene, they also managed to confirm that there was indeed interference from people who shouldn''t have been here. However, there were also a lot of things that were exaggerated.

    With the revtion of the past, it became clear to everyone that Karyk hadn''t entered the river of time and space with the help of the traitors. Instead, even the Traitors looked like they wanted to stop him.

    More than interference, it was the failure of the Angels in the matter. The Lord of the Angels was also stunned as this was the first time he had seen the scene. Until now, he only believed the story that his men told him.

    Seeing their absolute failure, he was fuming. He was even itching to go back to kill those who lied to him and made him feel embarrassed in front of the other Lords.

    Still, he could only act shameless for now. He couldn''t reveal his weakness.

    He changed the topic and asked, "As you can see, he entered the Abyss. Can you locate him?"

    The Space Lord nodded. With the urate point of entrance, they just had to follow the flow of the river to find that person.

    On the other hand, the Time Lord was feeling quite distracted.

    "What are you doing? It isn''t the time to be distracted." The Skeletal Lord called out to the Time Lord who came to his senses.

    "This face... This person... I feel like I have seen him before." The Time Lord had repeatedly been wondering about this. Karyk''s face was extremely familiar to him. He just couldn''t pinpoint where he had seen him.

    "You have seen him? That means he left the river of space and time? Or was it before?"

    "Left the river of space and time? Ah, that''s right! It was during the Celebration! This person was there!''

    The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Because of the fight of two rowdy guests, the river was wounded. It would make sense of an exit appeared there

    At that time, he didn''t think much about it. He didn''t even pay attention to all the guests that he couldn''t recognise as there were many youngsters. However, it was truly too much of a coincidence for a guest to have the same face and physique.

    "We need to go back!" he suddenly eximed, opening a passage into the river of space and time to return faster.

    "That means he was right in front of your eyes and you couldn''t even recognise him? Pathetic," the Angel, gleefully shifted the me of this failure to the Time Lord.

    Although the Angels had made a mistake, they were mere angels. The mistake of the Time Lord was much bigger. If he had recognised that person, they wouldn''t have toe so far.

    Now, happier, the angel followed the other Lords. The group of the strongest beings in the universe returned to the world of the Time Lord.

    The Time Lord quickly rushed inside his pce.

 Chapter 1057: Mockery

    1057 Chapter 1057: Mockery

    As the Time Lord entered the grand hall of his pce, he was met with an unsettling sight. The Grand Hall was almost empty, with most of the guests absent, taking a tour of the pce. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    With a wave of his hand, he summoned all the guests who were present inside the pce. Even those farthest from the Time Lord appeared before him as if time itself had reversed, their bodies moving back to their initial locations in the grand hall.

    Despite bringing everyone back, the Time Lord noticed that Karyk was missing. In fact, a few other guests were also unounted for.

    As the celebration seemed to have ended, quite a few guests had already departed. Even if all of them had left, the Time Lord wouldn''t have minded in the least. The only problem was that among those who left, Karyk was also included.

    The grand decorations, which were moments ago part of a night of celebration, now felt like a mockery of his situation. Karyk, the very person he had been trying to locate, had walked right out, and the Time Lord had allowed it.

    Usually calm, the Time Lord now appeared frustrated for the first time. He couldn''t understand why Karyk had left. Was it because he realized they were after him? If that was the case, why had hee here in the first ce?

    As he surveyed the remaining guests, their faces were a mix of confusion and relief. Some were even happy that the Time Lord had returned, feeling d they hadn''t left like those who thought the host was not helping them return.

    They now had another opportunity to show the Time Lord that they weren''t careless like the guests who had left. They were more loyal to the Time Lord, even willing to wait for him to return even when he had allowed them to leave.

    The Time Lord didn''t care about the selfish reasons of the Guests who had left behind. He was still feeling frustrated at his absolute failure.

    If the mistake of the Angels was big, then his mistake was even more embarrassing as he was the person involved in it directly.

    If the guests were still on the, he could have reversed the time of the entire, bringing them back. However, his control over time didn''t extend to those beyond his reach.

    It was no different than trying to reverse the time of the entire universe, which was just as dangerous as Karyk attempting to devour the entire universe.

    Karyk had only devoured a smaller branched universe and even then, he had almost destroyed himself.

    Meanwhile, this universe was even stronger with many incredibly strong existences. Even the Time Lord couldn''t manipte the entire universe with his abilities, especially since he didn''t even know which part of the Universe Karyk had gone to.

    Did he leave with one of the guests or did he enter the River of Time and Space again?

    He only had one method to find out. He had to view the past of this ce to find out the direction Karyk had taken.

    "The celebration is over. Leave now!" He told the remaining guests who looked at him absolutely stunned, especially since his voice sounded extremely cold now.

    The Guests couldn''t understand why the Time Lord had suddenly changed so much. Was he upset because so many guests had left? Or did it have something to do with his sudden departure before?

    In any case, they couldn''t do much about it.

    "In that case, we will take our leave."

    The guests respectfully bid their farewell as they left the mansion. Those who came in a Ship returned to their ships. Meanwhile those who came by ripping apart the space, returned through their own means.

    Even when the Guests left, they felt as if they were constantly being watched. They didn''t know why they had such a feeling but it clearly didn''t originate from the Time Lord alone.

    A few of them subconsciously looked in the distant sky, as if trying to peer into outer space, only to stop as they felt as if their heads were about to explode.

    "Hmph, a mere child tried to see through my shroud? He is lucky that I didn''t just kill him!" the Angel in the distant sky expressed using his thoughts that were only heard by other beings on his level.

    "He made all the Guests leave, but I can''t sense the child of the abyss here. Could it be that something had gone wrong?" The Space Lord asked out loud.

    "Hmph, why aren''t you calling him a fool like you did with me? Or do you not have the courage?"

    The Angel asked with a mocking gaze, enjoying lighting a fire between the Space Lord and Time Lord that were extremely close with each other.

    He was mocked a lot because his subordinates had made a mistake. Now that the Time Lord made a bigger mistake, he didn''t hesitate in highlighting the hypocrisy of the Space Lord.

    The Space Lord simply narrowed his eyes but he didn''t say anything. His expressions remained dark.

    ....

    When all the Guests had left, the was left void with no other existence except the Time Lord staying within.

    The Time Lord flew into outer space, informing the others about what had happened. He also told them that he was going to find Karyk.

    In the absence of any life forms of the to make things harder, he used his abilities on the entire, watching everything that happened from the moment he had first left the Banquet

    In the vision, he saw Karyk talking to a woman while appreciating the painting on the wall.

    "Hmph, he is appreciating that painting? Why do I find that insulting?" The other Lords also shared vision with the Time Lord, seeing everything. With this, they were able to confirm that the person in question was actually here.

    After the Time Lord had left, Karyk appeared to grow closer to that woman. In the end, it was the two who left together.

    "I see. So that''s where he went."

 Chapter 1058: Lives on Line

    1058 Chapter 1058: Lives on Line

    The Time Lord discovered Karyk''s destination which was the homnd of the woman. The woman wasn''t from a weak world. If anything, her world was an upper tier world, especially her n which was part of the higher tier ns. Still, with the four lords acting together, even the Supreme n would have to be respectful, let alone an upper n. With the destination set, the Space Lord tore through the fabric of space, arriving on the unknownnd where the woman''s home was believed to be.

    Due to his immense size, the Angel Lord couldn''t travel as easily, especially when it came tonding in the small world, which was smaller than even a single eye of his.

    He didn''t move in his true form, instead concealing it within a special realm essible only to him. He sent forth a false avatar, identical to the False Angels that Karyk had encountered in his world.

    The key difference was that the Angel Lord''s false avatar was infinitely more powerful, having twelve bright wings on each side, each wing spanning three meters wide.

    He also traveled through space. Even though he wasn''t able to control space like the Space Lord, he was still strong enough to travel through space with his raw strength, even in his false avatar form. The Four Lords appeared above the Pce that was taken by the n of the woman who had taken Karyk with her. The presence of the four Overlords was strong enough to be felt by every living being on this world. The n Lord was in seclusion, trying to break through to the next level of his strength which prevented him from attending the Celebration. Still, the moment he felt the powerful auras of four lords, his focus broke. All the hard work that he had done for his breakthrough went down the train as his d focus broke. He coughed out a mouthful of blood, his face growing pale as he faced the bacsh. At this point he was even farther from the breakthrough than he had been when he started his seclusion. He forced his body up. Instead of worrying about healing his internal injuries, he rushed out of the Pce to wee the guests. Watching him rush out with blood covered lips, his wife rushed to him, giving her a handkerchief. "Don''t rush. You are hurt!"

    "Don''t dy me! Do you want our n to be destroyed?!"The n Leader pushed his wife away, not wanting to dy even a single second more. He could feel that it wasn''t just one mighty existence that had arrived but many more. While he was rushing out, he felt the time of flow fasten. Before he could react, he found himself standing outside the hall. Standing outside the hall, he noticed that all the Guards of the Pce were on their knees, unable to even raise their heads to look at the new guests. Only he could raise his head as the four Overlords didn''t make things too difficult for him. Still, his face had grownpletely pale when he watched the four people. Even amongst the strongest beings of this Era, there were a few people who were considered absolute Monarchs. They were the Heroes who had lived through the Era of Destruction. Even the King of Heaven in the current generation had to be respectful to those people. Seeing even one of them was an achievement worth celebrating for a lifetime. That''s why he had sent his daughter to the celebration. He still couldn''t believe his eyes. Just seeing one of them was hard but four of them had appeared in front of him?

    "Time Lord, Death Lord, Space Lord, Angel Lord!" He recognised all four of them as they had their own distinct aura. He quickly went down on his knees. Even though he was the Leader of this world, he was nothing in front of these people. If they wanted to kill him, he was sure that he couldn''t evenst a minute. "Hmph, you are wise and have good manners," the Space Lord was the first person to speak as the space around the world distorted. "How could such a wise man have such a foolish daughter?" The four Overlords didn''t even move an inch as they simply appeared on the ground in front of the n Leader who was on his knees. "My daughter? Did something happen to her?" The n Leader grew pale as he realized that these people came here because of his daughter. He had sent his daughter to the Time Lord''s celebration, letting her broaden her horizons. He never expected that she was going to offend the Four Era Lords. "Don''t worry. Nothing happened to her. It''s just that she had done a very troublesome thing. As long as you cooperate with us, we will not hold out against you people. She will also be able to stay safe," the Time Lord said, appearing more kind. In front of others, he couldn''t me the woman for not recognising that cmity as he was guilty of the same mistake. Hence, he couldn''t hold her responsible. "Hmph." The Angel Lord carried a mocking gaze but he also didn''t intervene. "I-i will do anything the Lord asks me to do. I don''t know what my daughter did but we will make up for her mistake, even if we have to put our lives on line," the n Leader said, realizing that if they failed, it wasn''t just their lives that were going to be on the line. Even though he expressed his loyalty, he knew that he had no other choice. He could ask the King of Heaven for help but he was sure that the King wasn''t going to go against the Four Lords just for the sake of an upper n. It was especially the case since the King had just taken the throne and his rule was already standing on shaky grounds. He wasn''t going to cause more trouble at this point. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 1059: A Small Cost

    1059 Chapter 1059: A Small Cost

    ....

    Two hourster, the Ship leading the Princess of the n entered the atmosphere of the world. The shipnded in front of the Pce and the door slid open. The Princess was the first person to step out of the ship, growing surprised as she saw her father standing at the entrance of the Pce. "Father?"

    At the sight of her father, she was stunned. Her father had refused to attend the celebration of the Time Lord because he was at an important junction of his evolution. At first, she thought that hepleted his seclusion so he was outside, but he didn''t feel any stronger. If anything, he felt weaker as his face was slightly pale behind that weing smile. Although confused, she stepped down the ship and approached her father. Along the way, the n Head noticed that she was being apanied by a young man, who looked nothing extraordinary. Looking at the man, the n Head couldn''t understand what was so special about this man that could make the four Lords threaten their world. "How was the celebration? Did the Time Lord like the gift?" he asked his daughter, not sparing a second nce to Karyk, worried about making him suspicious. "I didn''t have the opportunity to give him the gift as he had to leave. Like others, I could only leave the gift there with our names," the young girl exined everything that happened, including the Time Lord''s sudden departure. "Ah, that makes sense. I was wondering why you were back so fast," the n Leader nodded earnestly, not letting it be revealed that he already knew it. If anything, he knew more than his daughter. Even though the Time Lord hadn''t said it, he was sure that the reason the Time Lord left was because of this young man as well. "Since I finished my seclusion early, I was about to join you there, but who would''ve thought that it would end." When it came to acting, the n Head didn''t falter in the least, appearing truly apologetic that he couldn''t meet the Time Lord. "Well, I can only hope that I will have another opportunity," he let out a sigh before finally paying attention to Karyk. "Anyway, who might this little friend be?"

    "Oh, he is a friend I met at the celebration. He was interested in the paintings so I brought him here to show our collection," the girl expressed, expecting her father to be happy. It wasn''t a secret that anyone who could be invited for the celebration of Time Lord couldn''t be an ordinary person. It was her way for her n to make new friends, especially since her father also shared the same hobby of appreciating paintings. "That would make sense." The man rubbed his chin, nodding. He ced his hand on Karyk''s shoulder. "Young man, since you''re my daughter''s friend, you can call me uncle."

    He pulled Karyk in a friendly gesture. "Come, uncle will show you his prized possession when ites to paintings."

    The young girl next to Karyk was taken aback by her father''s friendly behavior. Generally, her father wasn''t this friendly to people he met for the first time, especially if they weren''t on the same level as him. However, she didn''t think much about it. She just thought it was because Karyk was more important than she thought. Her father had managed to see what she didn''t. She even believed that Karyk was the heir of some hidden n as his features didn''t match any well known ns that she knew about. Her father definitely knew more about these hidden ns so it made sense for him to know about Karyk and treat him well. Karyk narrowed his eyes but he didn''t resist the man''s pull. "It would be my pleasure to see your collection, Uncle." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Karyk walked inside the Pce, apanied by the n Head. Along the way, he noticed quite a few guards who avoided his gaze. He also saw that the girl that had brought him here wasn''t following them. Instead, a middle aged woman who looked like her mother approached her, pulling her away. It all happened behind Karyk so no one thought he would notice their movements, especially since the n Head was keeping him distracted. After reaching the basement, the n Head stopped in front of the door at the end of the hallway. "Behind this room lies the paintings that can be called my life''s most precious possession. I am sure you will love it."

    He opened the room before stepping aside, akin to a good ghost who wanted their guest to enter first. Karyk didn''t step inside, only looking at him in confusion. However, the smile on the n Head''s face suddenly disappeared as he saw Karyk standing still. Now that he had alreadye this far, there was no need to act. "You demon, step inside!" With his hand already on Karyk''s shoulder, he pushed the young man inside the room before closing the door behind him. Even after locking the door, he didn''t feel confident. He quickly rushed upstairs, telling the servants and everyone else inside the mansion to leave. Even with the four lords inside the room where he had tossed Karyk, he didn''t feel confident about his safety. If the four lords were to punish the young man, they might identally destroy the mansion with the young man. If that happened, he didn''t want to be near this ce at all. His daughter and wife were already inside the ship. He also stepped inside the ship which rose, flying away from the Pce. The Servants also entered other ships, leaving the grand pce as nothing more than the ghost house that had been abandoned. "With your life, the Lords will not trouble us anymore. If anything, we might even get closer to the four Lords, bringing our n closer to prosperity that even the King can''t stop!"

    The n Head looked at the distant Pce with a wide grin on his face. Even if the Pce was destroyed, it was a small cost to pay for friendship of the four Lords.

 Chapter 1060: Chapter 1060: End Goal

    Chapter 1060: End Goal

    ?

    Karyk was pushed inside the hall, and the doors behind him closed on their own.

    Surveying his surroundings, he noticed many unknown sigils carved into the walls, forming something akin to a golden barrier.

    The sigils appeared to be alive, moving and trembling. They even covered the door, extending the barrier andpletely sealing the space inside.

    Turning his attention away from the sigils, which gave him a burning sensation, he shifted his focus to the four figures standing in the distance.

    In the center stood the Time Lord he had seen at the banquet. Just seeing the person proved harder as if his perception of time itself was manipted when he looked at the man.

    Another one was an angel using a false avatar. Having already encountered real angels, he didn''t mistake this for his real body.

    He wasn''t even sure how vast the real body of the Lord of Angels was going to be when just the bodies of ordinary angels were sorge.

    The other two figures in the hall werepletely unfamiliar to him, although he had heard their voices before.

    One had a skeletal body, reminiscent of the Undead he used to create.

    Unfortunately, this one was too strong. Although Karyk could sense the aura of death around this figure, it was a different form of death.

    The death he controlled was absolute, especially one tied to the Abyss. Meanwhile, the death that the skeletal being governed contained life within death itself.

    Even though both lorded over death, they were like fire and water in their essence. One was absolute death without a shred of life, and the other was partial death, seemingly as close to life as he was to death.

    "Who are you?" Karyk asked the four people. "I don''t believe we have any enmity between us. So why do I sense your hostility?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Oh? You can sense the hostility but still you are unaffected by it?" The skeletal figure asked as its jaws moved with a creaky sound.

    "There is no enmity between us? Are you saying that you don''t remember anything?" The Space Lord asked, taking a step closer to Karyk.

    Karyk stepped back, maintaining the distance.

    "Fascinating. Even though the Abyss has taken a human form, it''s truly fascinating to think that it abandoned the memories from that era. Even though it was not a human, I am certain that it was a living thing. So why?"

    The Space Lord rubbed his chin, circling around Karyk with fascination.

    "What''s there to be fascinated about? Now that it''s in human form, isn''t it better? It''s easy to annihte it," the Time Lord stepped forward.

    Karyk tried to avoid the Time Lord, only to feel as if his movements had suddenly slowed down to a snail''s pace.

    Before he knew it, the Time Lord was right in front of him, looking straight into his eyes. "To think that he is this weak. It makes me feel pathetic to think that we struggled against it in the past. All because of that one person..." The Angel Lord clicked his tongue, remembering the forgotten era of destruction.

    "If others saw him now and realized his real identity, then with how weak he is, won''t theyugh at us until death, calling everything about the great battle an exaggerated rumor?" The Space Lord also agreed with the Angelic Lord.

    "As if there are already not enough people who don''t believe it." The Time Lord smiled, shaking his head lightly.

    Most of the world had actually forgotten that era. most of those who lived that era had passed away. Only those who heard the stories passed down knew about it and the majority of them had already stopped believing in it.

    If it wasn''t the existence of ones like him who were strong enough to even keep the King suppressed, then their existence would have long since been erased from history by them.

    "To think that we used the seal of heaven around this ce because we were worried about him. What a waste. Anyway, now that he is caught, I will take him with me."

    The Angel Lord stepped forward to take Karyk. The Spatial Lord appeared in front of him, blocking his path.

    "Why will you take him? As everything is prepared already, it''s better to erase him from existence. With how useless you were, letting him escape, we can''t let you take him."

    "Stop being absurd. The failure to stop him was my subordinates. With me personally taking action, do you think he can escape? In any case, I only asked you for help to find him. Everything else is for me toplete."

    "Moreover, he was our responsibility in the first ce. It has nothing to do with you." The Angelic Lord ced a hand on the Spatial Lord''s shoulder to push him aside.

    Just as he was about to push the spatial lord away, his eyes narrowed as he watched his hand unravel like mere threads. His armpletely disintegrated.

    Even though it was a false body, it was still something created by him. Even a divine being couldn''t leave a scratch on his false body. However, in front of the Spatial Lord''s overwhelming abilities, the false body was as fragile as it could be.

    "Are you sure you want me toe here with my real body? What happens next, only you will be to me for it," the Angelic Lord said while his hand recovered, appearing like new. "There is no point in arguing about it. One side wants to kill him. Others want to take him away to kill him? Since the end goal is the same for both, then death it shall be."

    The Death Lord raised his hand, ignoring the argument between the two lords. Above Karyk, the Spear of Death appeared which could destroy any existence, even if it was a godly being. Even the Lords were hesitant when it came to taking this spear head on. Seeing the powerful aura of death emanating from the spear, the Time Lord stepped back. As he also wanted Karyk''s death to avoid any future troubles, he didn''t interfere.

    The only person who wanted to stop it was the Angelic Lord because they needed Karyk. That was the reason they even helped the Abyss be born as a human.

    As the spear descended so fast, even the Angelic Lord wasn''t able to react in time with his false body.

 Chapter 1061: Chapter 1061: False Flag

    Chapter 1061: Chapter 1061: False g

    ?

    n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    The spear came crashing down. The other Lords could only watch as the spear sliced through Karyk''s body from the middle, striking at his core.

    The body split in two, with each half falling in a different direction. The Death Lord had seeded but he didn''t appear quite pleased.

    He simply looked at Karyk''s body falling to either side with the spear stabbed in the middle of the floor.

    Just as Karyk''s body was about to touch the floor, it turned into dark specks of light that turned into nothingness in front of the eyes of the Lords.

    "That was...?"

    The other Lords also had their expressions darken as they realized what had just happened. They looked at each other in disbelief.

    "Please don''t tell me it''s what I think it is," the Space Lord asked the Lord of Death who walked over to the Speak, picking it up.

    "I didn''t harvest anything. So it is exactly as you think. That was not the real body..." The Lord of Death answered while the spear disappeared within his hand, being absorbed by his bones. "Since how long... Since how long had he expected something like this to happen?'' the Lord of Time rubbed his forehead, feeling lost.

    "Did the girl fool us?" The Angel Lord asked, clenching his fist. In his frustration, he didn''t control his aura.

    Not just the symbols that he had cast as a seal around the hall but the entire mansion itself disintegrated, leaving arge barrennd with no structure within.

    The Ship had already traveled far enough. Still, the n Lord was looking towards his mansion. When the n Head watched his mansion disappear, he felt relieved that they had left the mansion.

    He was still curious as to what the young man had done for the four lords to kill him in such a way that the entire mansion was destroyed.

    In any case, now that everything was supposedly over, he told his men to turn around. Even though the mansion and everything else was gone, the four Overlords were still behind. He had done what they wanted. He still had to talk to them to get even closer.

    Unfortunately, before the ships could even turn around, a mysterious force grabbed on to them. All the ships of the family were held by the mysterious force that pulled them back towards the barrelnd.

    The force was being used by the Lord of Space who wasn''t merciful towards the n which had supposedly fooled them.

    With a powerful force, all the ships crashed in front of the four lords, being left in no condition to fly again.

    Although the ships had crashed, no one inside the ship had been killed.

    "L-lord, did I do something to displease you?" The Clean head stepped out of the ship, holding on to the hand of his daughter with the other family members behind him.

    "How dare you fool us?! Where is the man that she took with her?!" The Space Lord asked, raising his hand.

    The n head felt the same mysterious force of space grab his throat, suffocating him. "I-i already sent him to the room you suggested! Was there another man?!"

    "That was not a person! It was a shadow clone of that man who shared the same essence! Where is the real person?!"

    "I-i don''t know." The n Head struggled as he answered. "Let me ask her!"

    With the force around his neck weakening, he turned to his daughter and asked her, "Where is the man that you picked up from the Banquet?"

    The girl was just as confused as she told everyone that the man was already taken inside the mansion by her father. To the question of it being a shadow, she suggested that it had been that way all this time.

    "It''s the same person I picked up at the banquet. He has never left my sight from the moment we left Time Lord''s Mansion. He was always with me inside the ship as well. So if it was a shadow clone, that''s what I brought!"

    "Do you think we are fools?" The Angelic Lord pped the woman away. His figure flickered as he appeared in front of her again, repeating the same question. "Where is he?"

    "I don''t know!" The woman eximed while blood trickled down the corner of her lips.

    Her father just watched and didn''t intervene, realizing his own weakness. He simply watched the girl being threatened by the Angelic Lord.

    "That''s enough. I don''t sense any lies in her words." It was the Lord of Death who intervened. With a wave of his hand, he sent the girl flying back to her father, healing her wounds at the same time.

    "Doesn''t that mean we just wasted time? The person who attended the banquet was just a shadow? Doesn''t that mean the real person was never there? We had always been trailing behind the shadow?" The Angelic Lord asked, his tone filled with frustration.

    The four lords were left confused. All of them had been fooled. Karyk had sent a shadow with the woman, as if he already knew about the Time Lord''s ability to glimpse into the past of the world.

    He intentionally made it clear that he left with the woman, sending the Lords on a wild goose chase.

    Meanwhile, the real Karyk was nowhere to be found. Even the Time Lord couldn''t find out the whereabouts of the real Karyk.

    If he sent a false g, it was clear that he was cautious. With so many guests there, he could have hidden his real body in the shadow of anyone, waiting for the Time Lord to go on a false

    trail.

    The Time Lord rubbed his forehead, thinking about all the possibilities.

    ....

    Just as the Time Lord assumed, Karyk had already left his words. However, he hadn''t left as openly as others had assumed, leading them to be fooled.

    He didn''t hide inside the shadows of the powerful beings. Instead, he hid inside the ship itself, that too by using the shadow that he had left outside the mansion.

    He switched his real body with the shadow, leaving only a n with the woman. Meanwhile, his real body had already left with the man who had sliced the river of time itself as his n was almost on the same standing as the Angelic n.

 Chapter 1062: Chapter 1062: New Place

    Chapter 1062: Chapter 1062: New ce

    ?

    Karyk had entered the ship of a young man who was powerful enough to affect the river of time with his battle.

    More than his own strength, it was due to the strength of his Bloodline, which was no weaker than the Bloodline of the Angels.

    Karyk had already observed that the Time Lord had been quite considerate towards the young man, despite his actions of affecting the flow of time.

    It was less like a lord talking to a subordinate and more like someone talking to their nephew. That became one of the reasons Karyk chose to board the man''s ship.

    He had also heard that the man''s father had a conflict with the Angels, which gave Karyka lot more confidence about using this opportunity to further his understanding of the world.

    It was clear that the man''s father was at least on the same level as the four Lords. Even if that wasn''t the case, he was at least close to that realm if he could afford to enter a conflict with the Angels and still survive.

    Throughout the journey to the man''s world, Karyk did not make his presence known. However, he also didn''t stay as a shadow either.

    As the ship was huge, there were many unused rooms that werepletely vacant. He entered one of the rooms beforeing to his real self.

    Even though many rooms were vacant, the power workedpletely fine in all of them.

    Karyk turned on the lights in the room, only after covering all the walls with his shadows, making sure that even if there were any cameras here, all they could see was darkness.

    The walls of the room werepletely ck, surrounded by the shadows. Even the wardrobe, bed and everything else was surrounded by the darkness, as if forming ayer above it.

    Even with the darkness painting the walls ck, the room still looked magnificent. It was akin to a room in a five star hotel, beingrge enough that one couldn''tck anything there.

    There were also windows that revealed outer space during the journey, creating a magnificent sight that one could never get bored of.

    In the endless space, there were many sights to see, including worlds with colorful rings around them, on which many ships could be seennding.

    The worlds were more advanced in this gxy. There were less broken meteorites floating in the space and more worlds that he had seen along the way, as if all the meteorites had been cleaned.

    "It is destroyed. It seems I was right about them locating me," Karyk touched the ss that created separation between him and the outer space.

    He could already feel the connection between him and his shadow being removed as soon as his shadow entered the room where the four lords were waiting for him.

    He didn''t know what happened after that, but it was clear that his shadow had destroyed itself.

    Even if the others hadn''t killed him, his shadow was already going to disappear if there was no connection with him. Without the connection, no one could detect him either.

    "The Four Lords... Huh." Karyk mumbled under his breath while turning around.

    He walked back to the bed and lied down, for the first time in a long while, while having an opportunity to rest properly like a human.

    He cast enough protectiveyers around the room that he was to be forcefully woken up in case someone even came near his room.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    After an unknown amount of time passed, he was forced to wake up. However, it wasn''t because someone came close to his room. Instead, it was because the ship had started shaking uncontrobly.

    Karyk opened his eyes, hearing sounds of explosions that could be heard even inside his room. He got off the bed and walked over to the window, gazing outside to catch the sight of the Angels following the ship.

    The Angels were attacking the ship, which appeared to have a defensive shield cast around it. The shield was barely keeping up with the attacks of the Angels.

    "Why are they attacking? Did they find me?" Karyk frowned, noticing the giant angels that were just asrge as he had seen.

    Fortunately, the Angelic Lord was nowhere to be seen. Compared to him, these angels looked quite small.

    When Karyk had gone against the Angels, he had noticed the difference between their strength. Even he had no other choice but to run away.

    On the contrary, they appeared very normal now that he was inside the ship.

    "Hmm? Isn''t it that man?"

    His eyebrows raised with intrigue as he caught the sight of the young man whose ship it was. The man had left the ship. Instead of hiding inside the protectiveyer, the man was outright attacking the Angels that even Karyk hadn''t fought properly before.

    "He is strong." That''s the only sentence that came out of Karyk''s lips as he saw the young man slice through the Angel''s attack with his sword.

    Looking at him like this, it was truly no surprise that the man was able to cut the river of time. It wasn''t just his bloodline that was strong but also his sword that was a treasure.

    Even without both of them, the man was very strong on his own. Ifparing raw strength, Karyk was sure that the man had as much raw strength as him even though he had received that strength after devouring so many beings.

    The only difference between them was their abilities. The man had experience when it came to using his abilities. It wasn''t surprising either since his father was certainly a special being. On the other hand, Karyk had to rely on himself. Everything that he learned, he had learned himself. The experience that he received, it was all through life or death battles.

    Even though the young man was strong, he was not able to keep up with the Angels as there were more than one.

 Chapter 1063: Chapter 1063: Unexpected helper

    Chapter 1063: Chapter 1063: Unexpected helper

    ?

    Even with the immense strength that he possessed, the man appeared to be at a loss. No one from this ship went out to help the man either, making it unclear if this was what the man asked or if he actually didn''t have any guards with him.

    Was he that confident when leaving his home that he didn''t bring any powerful guards with him? Or had he overestimated the family of the young man? Karyk was not certain.

    The only thing he knew was that the man needed to win. If he lost, then the entire ship was either going to be destroyed or taken by the Angels, which was a problematic proposition in itself.

    The only way to remove the number advantage that the Angels had was for someone to help the young man in keeping the second angel busy until he dealt with the first.

    Karyk wondered if he should be the one to help. Could he keep his real identity hidden when fighting the Angels? Only when he didn''t use the abyss could he have a chance but that also took away his biggest advantage.

    There were a few more ships that were passing through the area, boosting their shields to the maximum as they flew past, none of them trying to help.

    Most of them were merchant ships which had no loyalty to any side. They only went for profit and it was the worst decision for profit if they were to select a side.

    After observing the scene for a little longer, Karyk could only rub his forehead as he decided to interfere.

    Although this was dangerous, this was also an opportunity to win the favor of one side. As long as he didn''t expose his real identity, it could work out in his favor.

    He changed his looks, certain that his real looks were all over the ce already. The fairy-like wings appeared on his back, changing his species from a human who would have looked out of ce in this battle to a fairy.

    He wasn''t sure if fairies existed in this gxy, but anything was better than a human who was being chased by the four lords.

    Turning into a shadow, Karyk left the room and found the exit of the ship.

    He mmed the exit button, making a beeping sound resound throughout the ship as the door of the ship opened.

    The crew of the ship quickly rushed to check on the door, finding no one there.

    "Was it a bug?" The Maintenance Crew wondered while closing the door, their expressions still filled with worry as they waited for help.

    The only help that coulde for them was from the faraway homnd of the young man, but could they even survive until then? That was the question in everyone''s mind.

    The young man was strong and talented, but this was the one thing that all of them hated about him. It was that he was too confident about his own strength.

    He never took any guards, even scheming against the guards assigned by his family to leave them behind. Whenever he was asked about it, he said that he didn''t want any babysitter.

    Normally, it wouldn''t have mattered as their n was strong. No one would have tried to hurt the young man, worried about the retaliation.

    The major ns also stayed out of each other''s way. That equation had changed with the Angelic n suddenly changing, taking control over the ancient battlefield that many major ns were controlling in turn.

    As it was the turn of the young man''s family to control the battlefield during the presentation millennia, his n had no choice but to enter into conflict with the Angels that forcefully took control of the ancient battlefield.

    The Angels had surrounded the battlefield, even forcing everyone else away.

    They were one changing the agreement between the ns. Most of the ns didn''t care about it as the battlefield was mostly useless with no one being able to enter its core either.

    Because of a useless battlefield, the other ns didn''t want to fight the Angels as it was a loss for both sides.

    Even then, the young man''s n was the one which didn''t ept this decision. As they were presently in control, being forced out appeared like a challenge to their authority.

    Still, none of them expected the conflict to reach this point so soon. The Angels were attacking the young heir.

    It was clear that they weren''t trying to kill the young man, but what was going to be left out the young man''s family''s dignity if their heir was kidnapped?

    "How long until they get here?" In themand center, the Captain of the Ship asked.

    "Only ten more minutes!"

    "Only?" The captain rubbed his forehead, looking at the battle in the distance. "In this situation, ten minutes feels like an eternity."

    Even if the Angels didn''t harm them, the young man''s n was going to send them to their deaths if they failed to protect the young man.

    In this situation, their lives were linked to the life of the young man''s life who was fighting.

    "Captain, I see another life signature."

    "A third angel?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "No, it''s too small to be an angel. It seems simr to a human but not quite."

    "Show it on my screen!"

    The captain was stunned with the sudden revtion by his men. Hemanded them to present the new person on the screen, wondering if it was a friend or a foe.

    If the person could appear in the middle of this ce out of nowhere, he couldn''t be weak. Especially since they hadn''t seen any ships stop in this ce. The only other way toe here was if the man was traveling through the spatial tunnel without the help of any ship.

    It was not something that ordinary people could do as it ced a lot of pressure on their bodies. Even their young master could barely do it.

    If the new guest was as strong as their young master and wasn''t an enemy then it could definitely help them hold on until their real reinforcements arrived.

 Chapter 1064: Chapter 1064: Spirit of a Warrior

    Chapter 1064: Chapter 1064: Spirit of a Warrior

    ?

    Karyk, now disguised as a fairy-like being, emerged from the ship and swiftly flew towards the young man who was fighting the Angels alone.

    The Angels seemed surprised by Karyk''s sudden appearance, but they didn''t stop their attacks.

    "I will keep this one busy. You can take care of the other," Karyk told the young man without even bothering to identify himself.

    He blocked the attack of the Angel, using the barrier of the fairies that was further modified with his own undead essence that he secretly hid within the barrier.

    Even though it was his strongest barrier when he didn''t use the abyss, it was still barely able to hold a single attack of the Angel.

    The young man eyed Karyk skeptically, not fully trusting this unexpected ally.

    "Who are you and why are you helping me?" he demanded.

    "You looked like you could use some help. In any case, that''s not important right now," Karyk replied calmly. "What matters is that we work together to fend off these Angels. I can distract one while you focus on the other."

    Seeing the young man still hesitating in his suspicions, Karyk further stated, "If you don''t want my help, I can just leave. The decision is yours. Should I help or not?"

    The young man hesitated, but ultimately nodded in agreement. He knew he couldn''t defeat both Angels on his own, and this stranger seemed powerful enough to be of assistance.

    Karyk turned to face the Angel he had positioned himself against.

    Meanwhile, the young man surged forward, his sword glowing with an intense light as he shed with the other Angel. Once again, the very fabric of space trembled with each swing of the man''s de.

    Now that the man didn''t have to worry about protecting himself and the ship from the sudden attacks of the second angel, he could put all his focus on annihting the other.

    As Karyk didn''t want to reveal his true identity, he refrained from using his core abilities. In any case, he didn''t need to kill the angel.

    He just had to keep it distracted until the young man finished off the other one and came to his aid.

    When it came to keeping the Angels upied, Karyk was quite capable. He didn''t even need to rely on the abyss. His body had already been modified to contain the strength of a Titan and the essence of fairies and demons.

    Even without using any of his core abilities, Karyk was still strong enough to at least survive against a mere angel for a few minutes.

    Just as he expected, the young man didn''t take long to finish the angel when he could put all his focus on attacking.

    Karyk simply saw a bright light sh across the space while the Angel''s giant body was sliced in two by the young man''s de.

    "I shall thank you for keeping this one busy. However, I shall be the one to kill him," he dered.

    The young man didn''t waste a single second after killing the angel, which had been his target. He quickly came to Karyk''s aid, or rather, he came back to settle the score with the second angel, which had been annoying him like a persistent fly earlier.

    The Angel tried to retaliate, but the young man''s de seemed to slice through its attacks with ease.

    The more Karyk watched him fight, the more certain he became that the young man''s sword was quite special. It was less about his own Bloodline and more about his Sword.

    At the same time, the sword didn''t appear to be an object for him. Instead it felt more like an extension of his own body that had be one with him.

    Karyk maintained his disguise, ready to lend aid if needed, but the young man appeared to have the upper hand. His strikes grew more relentless, pushing the Angel back with each passing moment.

    Finally, with a swing, the young man''s sword cleaved through the Angel''s body, killing the second angel as well.

    Even after killing the second angel, the man didn''t stop. He kept cleaving the Angel''s body even more brutally, turning the giant body into human sized pieces that floated in space.

    It was as if he wanted to leave a memorable gift for the Angels that were going toe to recover these bodies. These bastards dared to attack him. Now that their conflict had reached this point, there was no need to be considerate.

    Karyk approached the young man, his expression unreadable.

    "You are quite strong," he remarked.

    The young man eyed Karyk warily, still unsure of this mysterious ally.

    When everyone else refused to even stay behind to help, a man appeared out of nowhere? It was too strange, especially since it was the first time he was seeing a physique like that. "Who are you, and why did you help me?" He aimed his sword at Karyk. "I hope you think about your answer carefully. If you lie, then I will forget that you helped me."

    Karyk paused briefly before answering, "My name is Kalyn, and I simply saw an opportunity to lend a hand to one in need. I have no ulterior motive, I assure you."

    "How did you judge that it was right to help me? What if I was a bad person?" the young man asked.

    "You don''t appear like a bad person. In any case, two angels ganging up on one person? It didn''t take much effort to guess who needed help," Karyk answered.N?v(el)B\\jnn

    "As a warrior, I wouldn''t have cared if it was a one-on-one battle, but not what I saw," he further exined. "In any case, I already know what a vile existence these angels are. So maybe I was also partially biased against them."

    Hearing Karyk''s reaction, the young man couldn''t help butugh.

    He nodded slowly, his suspicion lessened but not entirely gone. "Very interesting. You seem to have a warrior''s spirit. Though you''re right, they are truly vile creatures. It''s no wonder that many people hate them."

 Chapter 1065: Extinct

    1065 Chapter 1065: Extinct

    "I am Aelric Drike," the young man said, keeping his sword at his side before reaching out his hand, which was stained with the angel''s blood. Karyk didn''t care about the blood on the man''s hand. While it might be considered impolite to not even clean the blood before shaking someone''s hand, in this ce, he wasn''t sure what counted as proper etiquette and what didn''t.

    "It seems my family has finally arrived," Aelric said, looking into the distance after the handshake, feeling the trembling of the space. One by one, multiple warships appeared to have warped through space, surrounding the entire area. The entire space passage was sealed off as a battlefield.

    A warning signal was sent by the warships. Anyone who approached this ce would be considered an enemy of the Drike Family.

    Karyk had thought that the ships in which the young man was traveling had beenrge. Now that the warships of the Drike Family had arrived, that ship looked like a child inparison. Not only were these shipsrge but they were also weapons made for war. There were energy beans that had gathered all over the ship, as if ready to fire at a moment''s notice. Even though the beams hadn''t attacked yet, the strength behind them could still be felt from the distance. If all these ships attacked at the same time, even the remnants of an angel could not be found. From the ship in the lead, a man came out, his entire body being covered in a golden armor. The man carried a bloody aura as if he had been through thousands of such battlefields, destroying a multitude of enemies. The man observed the surroundings. He saw the body of an angel that was sliced in two. There was another body which was sliced in even smaller parts, floating across the space. On the grin face of the man, a smile appeared as he saw the scene. He had wasted time bying here even though he wasn''t needed here. Still, he didn''t feel like it was a waste as he saw the scene. It was clear that the two angels were killed by his nephew which was impressive for his age. It was evident that his nephew was quite talented. "Uncle." Aelric approached the middle aged man, followed by Karyk who was observing the middle aged man with great curiosity. Although the man didn''t feel as strong as the Lords that he had seen, he still felt a sense of danger when getting close to the man. It was as if something inside his body was alerting him about the threat that the man could possess. At the same time, the greed inside his heart also arose. He could only control the urge of devouring the man, especially since he was helpful for him. Moreover, he was not strong enough to kill the man. He couldn''t let the man sense even the slightest of murderous intent from him. Karyk even tried to avoid looking at him while reminding himself that there were better delicacies in this world. "Couldn''t you leave one for me?" The middle-aged man scolded Aelric.

    Aelric, who had been like a fierce warrior when faced with the Angels, appeared like a child for the first time.

    In his eyes, Karyk could see great respect towards this man. It wasn''t simply because he was family either.

    "What would one do for you? It wouldn''t even be enough to warm you up," Aelric answered. "Also, I didn''t know that you would be the oneing. If I had, I might have considered it."

    "Just considered?" The middle-aged man flicked Aelric''s forehead, sending him flying back a few feet.

    "That hurt!" Aelric rubbed his forehead and red at his uncle, but he wasn''t quite surprised by this behavior. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    He knew that if his uncle seriously wanted to attack him, one flick would have been enough to leave a crack on his skull.

    More than the punishment for killing both the Angels alone, that flick was the punishment for leaving home without guards. It''s just that his uncle didn''t say that outright. "Who is that friend behind you? It''s been a long time since I saw one of these extinct species. To think that one would still be alive?"

    The middle aged man simply disappeared and appeared behind Karyk, his fingers brushing against the fairy-like wings of Karyk. Feeling the man''s fingers on his wings, Karyk was quite concerned about being exposed. Even though the wings were based on real characteristics, it was also true that they weren''t actually a part of his body. He was even more worried about the man seeing through his disguise and all those marks that were covering his body. "Strange. From what I know, fairies used to be smaller. Has there been an evolution?" the man asked, making Karyk rx a little. It was clear that the man couldn''t see through the disguise which was a Bloodline Ability of the fairies. As he was using the abilities of fairies, it didn''t create any noticeable fluctuations either. He didn''t answer the man''s question, letting hime to his own conclusions as he had already done. Since the man suggested evolution, it was evident that this wasn''t a shocking concept to believe. This also gave Karyk a good identity to possess. He was the remnant of an extinct species. As the man''s reaction was less of a shock and more of a surprise, Karyk grew certain that the species he was confusing him with was not a strong one. That was even better. The only attention he caught was because he was from an extinct species but as the species wasn''t anything special, it was also still not enough to leave sshes across this world. Moreover, the Drike Family didn''t have time to worry about him. They were in a war now. Aelric was also surprised when his uncle mentioned an extinct species. He thought it was some species that he didn''t know about, not realizing that it was even more special. He exined everything that happened to his uncle, including how Karyk helped him.

 Chapter 1066: For Revenge

    1066 Chapter 1066: For Revenge

    "Oh? So he helped you?" The man from the Drike Family heard his nephew''s exnation, appearing slightly surprised. Although he knew a little about the extinct species, this particr species wasn''t known for their strength.

    He was slightly curious how Karyk was able to hold back one of the Angels despite the weakness that he inherited with his species. There was one absolute rule in the universe. The extent of a person''s talent and possible strength depended on their species as well as their own independent talent.

    That''s why a hierarchy had appeared in the universe, with a few top species and ns sitting at the absolute peak. No matter how much the weaker species tried, they couldn''t surpass them. At least, that wasmon knowledge. The Drike Family was not free of thisw either. As a top-tier n, their talent threshold was high. It mainly depended on the individual from their n as to how much talent they could inherit.

    Even if someone from the extinct fairy n reached the absolute threshold of their talent by some miracle, they could notpare to the Angels. However, that notion had been proven wrong, which made him take even more interest in Karyk than he would have wanted.

    ''Is this also because of evolution? Did their threshold change?'' he wondered, quite intrigued by Karyk. Fortunately, that was the extent of his interest. Karyk was just one of the remnants of an extinct n who had gone through a mutation.

    At his level, there wasn''t much he could gain from Karyk. However, he grew even more intrigued by Karyk.

    The evolution of a n couldn''t be copied, especially since the starting point of both the ns was different, akin to heaven and earth. In any case, it was impossible for a child to understand how his n even evolved as it was probably a process that took thousands of years andpeted before he was even born. More than taking anything from Karyk, he was interested to see just how much of a difference this evolution made for the n that was known to be the lowest in the ancient era. The person whose ns had broken past the shackles that were ced on them by thews of the universe... Just how much of a difference could it make for him? Just how far could he go in his life? As a warrior who wasn''t interested in the politics of the ns, the man was looking forward to seeing just how far this man could reach. "Are you in a hurry to return to your n?" he asked Karyk, wanting to give him some gifts to take back to his n as gratitude. Karyk shook his head. "Everyone else in my family is dead. I am the only one who managed to survive..."

    It was one thing he couldn''t lie about. He couldn''t just make up a family. Instead, he wanted to rely on the Drike Family that had the same goal as him. The Angels needed a key. Karyk wanted to know why they wanted a key. On the other hand, the Drike Family wanted revenge on the Angels. What could be better than to side with them? That way he could truly learn more about them. "Hmm? You can hold back an angel. Your family should be even stronger than you. So who could have killed them?"The man was slightly intrigued. An extinct n had made an appearance and someone killed them? Who could do something like that for no reason? "I believe you already know the answer," Karyk said while pointing towards the corpse of the Angel. "There is a reason I hate them with all my heart."

    "One of my family members identally offended an angel. The result wasplete annihtion. Only I survived..." Karyk had already thought of a story. There was no point in hiding his enmity with the Angels but he needed a justified reason. Moreover, now that the Drike Family knew that the Angels probably wanted him dead as well, could they truly abandon someone who helped their heir despite being at risk himself?

    The man from the Drike Family wasn''tpletely surprised by Karyk''s story. He had already heard about the overwhelming oppression caused by the Angles. Many families had been killed by them for even worse reasons. "Since they are your enemies, no matter where you go, you will be in danger. In that case, why don''t youe with us?"

    Just as Karyk wanted, a suggestion came from Aelric whose words held quite a lot of value. He even managed to convince his uncle. As the middle aged man from the Drike Family was already interested in Karyk''s growth potential, he also didn''t deny his nephew''s suggestion. If his nephew wouldn''t have suggested it, he would have been the one to do it. "Aelric is right. You helped my nephew. You have done us a favor. How can we let you leave? Come with us." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Karyk was inwardly pleased that his act had worked. However, he couldn''t agree too fast. "How can I do that? If you shelter the enemy of the Angelic n..." He didn''t finish his sentence but his meaning was clear. He was striking at the pride of the Drike Family. If they didn''t take him now, it could only mean that they were scared of the Angels. At this point, it became less about him wanting toe with them and more about them wanting him toe. "Hmph, let''s see what they can do. I will take no excuses. You areing with us. Aelric, him with you."

    The man turned around, his eyes truly shing with arrogance that only came with strength to not be scared of anyone else. "Don''t worry about the Angels. They have already burned all the bridges with my Drike n. Moreover, if youe with us, you might also have an opportunity to take revenge with your own hands."

    Aelric tapped the soldiers of Karyk. "The opportunity is in front of you. Are you not going to take it?"

    "Revenge..." Karyk mumbled in a low voice, still making sure that Aelric could hear him. His fist clenched as he finally added. "I wille with you!"

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 1067: Chapter 1067: Drike Warship

    Chapter 1067: Chapter 1067: Drike Warship

    ?

    Karyk gave Aelric the impression that he had been convinced to join them only because of a promise of revenge. The reality might have beenpletely different, but it didn''t matter at the moment.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Karyk followed Aelric back to the ship. This time, he didn''t need to hide inside. As a proper guest, he was able to enter the ship much more openly, apanying Aelric Drike.

    The ship he entered was not the original one in which Aelric had been traveling. Instead, it was the warship that had been brought by his uncle.

    Even though the Angels were dead, it was clear that the man was still cautious about his nephew''s safety. As the only male heir of the Drike Family, Aelric''s life held a lot of value to the family.

    After Karyk entered the warship, he was truly able to grasp the nature of these ships from the inside. If he hadn''t seen himself entering the ship, he would have been sure that he had been transported into an entirely different world.

    Inside the ship, it was a vast open space with the bright sky visible above. It wasn''t entirely an illusion either. It was truly a space that was this vast.

    Thews of space inside the warship were different to a shocking extent. Karyk looked back and noticed that he couldn''t even see the exit.

    This ship was truly a weapon of destruction but it was also something like a prison and a maze. Even if an enemy managed to enter this ship, they could not reach the true control room of the ship.

    If one wanted to reach the different sections inside this vastnd, they could only take the terminal points that were spread throughout the ship.

    For someone who had no knowledge about these terminal points and their connecting destination, Karyk had to be guided by the people inside the ship.

    This was also the ce where he was separated from Aelric who was taken by his uncle. Before leaving, Aelric did promise him that he was going toe meet him again after he was done talking to his parents.

    Aelric looked a little frustrated as if he didn''t want to leave with his uncle since he was being taken to amunication device where he was going to get scolding from his parents.

    It was at times like this that Aelric truly looked far different from a warrior.

    Karyk simply nodded and followed the servant. For now, he had nothing to do with Aelric. Aelric was the only way for him to get close to the Drike Family. Still, he couldn''t stick too close to that man out of his own desires.

    Karyk followed the servant, asionally asking him questions about the Drike family but the servant didn''t answer. He simply guided Karyk to the connecting points, which looked like the most insignificant spots on the ground.

    Even he couldn''t see anything extraordinary about these points until the servant stepped on them which turned them into portals.

    After taking multiple such portals, Karyk was brought to a house that was on top of a mountain, overlooking a Cliff.

    The scenery itself was beautiful but the house looked just as good, appearing no different than a pce.

    "This is the residence prepared for guests. You can stay here and if you need anything, just p three times and one of us will appear," the servant told Karyk while opening the door of the mansion.

    "If you can appear after just three ps, doesn''t that mean you will be observing me?" Karyk asked the man who didn''t respond.

    He simply walked away but his silence was enough of an answer. Although Karyk was a guest here and it was almost impossible for a stranger to navigate through this warship, it didn''t mean they were going to let him roam free.

    There were people who were going to keep an eye on him for as long as he was here. It appeared like a standard protocol since Karyk hadn''t seen anyone instruct these servants. It was as if they already knew their jobs.

    "The Drike Family is truly something." Karyk shook his head and entered the pce.

    As soon as he entered, he was greeted with a grand hall where a table was already arranged. There were chairs around the table with food already prepared. The food also appeared warm and fresh.

    Although Karyk didn''t need to eat much, he still stepped over to the table. He took a seat and started eating, not worrying about the poisons as they were all useless in front of him.

    Even if he ate a poison, it was only going to make him stronger after getting devoured by the abyss.

    If anything, he appeared somewhat disappointed that the food was perfectly normal. If anything, it was quite delicious. It was better than anything he had before.

    As Karyk finished his meal, he leaned back in his chair. He stood up and walked over to the window, looking out the pce into the distance.

    The thought of being in a natural environment within a warship was impressive. With every movement, he was able to notice someone watching him.

    Normally, it would have been impossible to perceive anything as the Drike Family Guards were extremely well trained. However, that much wasn''t enough to avoid Karyk''s observation, especially since his shadows had already spread out throughout the pce while he was eating.

    Thanks to them, he was immediately able to gain a rough understanding about this pce, having no need to go through every room to find the ces of interest.

    There was only one ce that truly interested him in this pce and it was the library in one of the upper rooms.

    He entered a library, the scent of aged paper and leather filling the air. Even though everything was so advanced here, these books were still old and familiar.

    Shelves were lined with books on various subjects, from history to geography. The only books that were absent were about magic, mechanical engineering and other arts that were considered family treasures in this world.

    Karyk ran his fingers along the spines, stopping asionally to pull a book and skim through its contents.

 Chapter 1068: Chapter 1068: Demoness

    Chapter 1068: Chapter 1068: Demoness

    ?

    Karyk immersed himself in reading the book about the history, which was written from the perspective of the Drike Family.

    The book provided detailed ounts of the founding of the Drike Family. It also discussed the other Great Families that were established around the same time.

    As Karyk went through the pages of the book, his understanding about this world only increased. With the book, he was able to learn the extent of power that the Drike Family actually possessed.

    The Drike Family was not just strong but it was also quite wealthy and influential. The Drike Family ruled over multiple universes, being an absolute Overlord.

    Not just the Drike Family, the other Great Families also had their own spheres of influence. Until Karyk left his universe, he thought that the universe was all there was to this reality. Now that his horizons had broadened, he came to learn that there existed thousands of such universes, most evenrger than the universe where he came from.

    For a great family, a universe was like a small speck of dust that they could crush whenever they felt like it. Most of them didn''t even bother to care about them.

    ....

    Karyk remained immersed in the library of the Warship, losing track of time as he shifted from one book to another. He was so engrossed in his reading that he forgot how long he had been there.

    It was only when he heard a knock on the door that he snapped out of his trance, realizing he had already read through half the library''s collection in just a few days.

    Reluctantly, he put the finished book back on the shelf and stepped out of the library, wondering why the spies had finally made their presence known.

    From the beginning, the spies had been observing him in silence. But now, they intentionally let him know that they were there, signaling that it was time to move on.

    The Guards informed Karyk that the ship had entered the domain of the Drike Family, and they were just moments away fromnding. He was instructed to make his way to the exit, where the young heir of the Drike Family was waiting for him.

    As Karyk didn''t know his way through the ship, the Guards were supposed to escort him out.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Karyk followed the guards out of the pce and followed them to various terminal points. After multiple spatial jumps through the terminals, Karyk reached the ce where he had first appeared when he entered the ship.

    Aelric was already there, standing next to his uncle. Behind them, thousands of powerful guards were standing, that appeared to be battle hardened.

    Each of those guards was multiple times stronger than the angles that Aelric had killed along the way. And they were just a small force of the Drike Family.

    If Karyk hadn''t read through the history of the Drike Family, he would have been quite surprised by the strength that he was seeing.

    Unfortunately, it also meant that the Angelic n was just as strong. Karyk was now realizing that he had underestimated the Angels a lot, especially since Aelric had managed to kill a few.

    If the Drike Family wasparable to the angelic n, that meant the Angels that hade to take Aelric weren''t even part of their army. It became clear that the Angels knew that Aelric didn''t travel with guards so they didn''t send a strong angel.

    With thousands of guards around Aelric and his uncle, it would have been impossible for Karyk to reach them. But as he was being escorted by the personal guards of Aelric''s uncle, no one questioned him.

    He was able to reach Aelric who was quite weing. He even apologized for not being able to keep up his promise.

    He had told Karyk that he was going toe to meet himter but he wasn''t able to. Not only was he scolded a lot but his uncle spent his time bullying, no, training him.

    It was only now that they were to leave that Aelric was able to sigh in relief. He was going to be free of his uncle, but on the other side, his family was waiting to scold him even more.

    "I am somewhat jealous of your family. They seem to love you a lot," Karyk told Aelric who wasining about his family repeatedly, as if he was a real tortured soul.

    Aelric couldn''t say anything against Karyk''s words either. Although his family scolded him, sometimes for good reasons, they truly loved him a lot.

    When he thought about Karyk who had lost his entire family because of angels, he could understand why Karyk was saying such a thing.

    Compared to Karyk, he was truly lucky that he still had a family.

    He tried to say something in response, only to stop when a spatial crack appeared in front of him, bing as wife as a door.

    The ship had finallynded and the doors had opened. On the other side of the spatial crack, he was even able to see a familiar face.

    "Oh god, no! What is she doing here?" Aelric quickly hid behind his uncle the moment he caught sight of the youngzy standing outside, as if waiting.

    The girl was holding a whip in her hand. Looking at the girl, Karyk was able to confirm that she was also from the Drike Family. Then why was Aelric so scared of her?

    Not only did the girl look younger than Aelric but she was also really beautiful.

    "Who is she? Why are you so scared of her?" Karyk asked Aelric who was hiding behind his uncle, repeatedly telling his uncle to close the door and take him away.

    "She is an absolute demon! I can''t believe that she came here personally! Why did it have to be her?!" Aelric didn''t even appear this scared when he faced the Angels or when he was standing in front of the time lord.

    The more Karyk looked at him, the more his curiosity increased.

 Chapter 1069: Chapter 1069: Strength and Intellect

    Chapter 1069: Chapter 1069: Strength and Intellect

    ?

    Aelric was hiding behind his uncle who stepped aside, making the hidingpletely useless. "You!" Aelric looked at his uncle in disbelief. But it was already toote as the girl seemed to have noticed it.

    The whip in her hand came alive as it flew like a snake towards the ship. Within an instant, it passed through the portal and wrapped around Aelric''s body, dragging him outside forcefully.

    Even though Aelric was carrying a powerful sword on his back, he didn''t use it to protect himself for some reason.

    "Don''t worry about him. It''s just the thing between those siblings." Aelric''s uncle told Karyk, noticing the confusion on the young one''s face.

    He tapped Karyk''s shoulder, gesturing to apany him outside.

    Karyk left the ship, apanying the Aelric''s uncle who wasn''t just the leader of the Drike Family''s Militia but also the younger brother of the Drike Family Patriarch.

    "Sister, release me this instance!"

    Stepping out of the ship, Karyk was able to hear Aelric who was struggling to free himself from the whip which was a treasure in itself.

    "You dare put me to sleep and run away for the birthday banquet alone?" The girl, who lookedpletely harmless before, pped the back of Aelric''s head lightly.

    "They are going to take their sweet time," Aelric''s unclemented, not even trying to hide the smirk on his lips as he watched Aelric get bullied by his sister.

    In the Drike Family, only the male heir could be the next leader of the family. However, despite that, his sister was just as valuable to the family.

    Aelric was trained seriously as he was meant to inherit the family in the future. On the other hand, his elder sister was highly respected, loved by almost everyone.

    Not only was she extremely talented, but she also had a remarkably pure bloodline, simr to Aelric''s in purity.

    Unlike him, she did not focus on bing stronger only. She also wielded significant influence in other aspects of the Drike Family, especially the business side of things.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    If Aelric needed any financial resources, he had to request them from his sister, as she managed the family''s assets.

    If Aelric represented the strength of the Drike Family''s next generation, his sister represented the intellect. Both of them were crucial for the future of the Drike Family.

    That''s why they were both supposed to attend the Time Lord''s Birthday Banquet. However, Aelric did not want that. It was the same reason he did not want to take any guards.

    When he was outside the family''s domain, he craved absolute freedom, especially since he was nning to engage in some fights with the heirs of other families.

    If his sister and other guards apanied him, they would undoubtedly try to stop him. Even though he knew he would be scoldedter, he still put sleeping medication in the drinks of the guards who were supposed to apany him the next day.

    He did the same for his sister, putting her to sleep so she couldn''t join him. Thereafter, he left alone.

    It was because he was not apanied by his sister that Aelric was able to engage in the battle with the girl, which resulted in the splitting of the river of time and space for a brief moment.

    Karyk did not know it, but it was because Aelric had left his sister behind that Karyk was able to escape the river of time and space.

    While Aelric was getting thrashed by his sister, begging for forgiveness, Karyk stopped looking at the sad scene.

    Instead, he observed his surroundings. This was the domain of the Drike Family, being multiple times bigger than his entire gxy.

    It was a world that was unlike anything he had seen before. In the surroundings, he was able to see the Warships that numbered in thousands, simply floating in the endless space that stretched to an eternity.

    There were also other ships that were simr to the merchant ships that he had seen along the way. There were also beings that belonged to other Species, that were pulling downrge boxes from the Merchant Ships.

    Looking at the scene, Karyk grew slightly confused. The Drike Family was able to manipte space to fit an entire world inside a Warship.

    Why didn''t they have rings or simr storage items that could keep things? Why did they need to transport things in boxes like ordinary Civilization?

    Karyk tried to see just what was inside those wooden boxes, using his shadows. One of his shadows sneakily entered the wooden box, only to get destroyed in an instant.

    Before his shadow was destroyed, Karyk was able to get a glimpse as to what was inside these boxes.

    There was a spatial disturbance inside these boxes which was what destroyed his shadow. These were not ordinary boxes but ones that were specially created to storerge amounts of things.

    Even though he didn''t know exactly howrge the space inside these seemingly wooden boxes was, he felt that it was at least the size that he had seen inside the Warships.

    There were even mechanical giants that wereing out of the merchant ships, carrying boxes that were hundred timesrger than the boxes from before.

    If one box itself could fit a world, then what about a box that was hundred timesrger? Looking at the scene, Karyk was really curious as to what the Drike Family was importing through these merchants.

    Was it in preparation for the uing war with the Angels? he wondered.

    After thrashing Aelric properly, the girl finally calmed down. She could now focus her attention on other people.

    First, she thanked her uncle for bringing his brother back safely. Next, she turned to Karyk who stopped looking at the boxes.

    "Are you curious about what''s in these boxes?" she asked, as if she was able to see through his thoughts.

    Her eyes were observing Karyk with great interest as it was also her first time seeing a species that was said to have gone extinct. By now, almost all higher ups came to know about Karyk who had saved Aelric.

 Chapter 1070: Chapter 1070: Earthly Drike

    Chapter 1070: Chapter 1070: Earthly Drike

    ?

    "How fascinating. Not only do you people still exist but you have also grown stronger than the books mentioned."

    She reached out her hand and touched Karyk''s cheeks. Unlike the way she dealt with Aelric, she was very gentle with Karyk as if she was observing a previous jade.

    It was her first time seeing an extinct species, which increased the value of Karyk in her eyes even more. Not only did he save her brother but he was also special in his own way.

    "Can I take a sample of your blood?" she suddenly asked out of nowhere, making Karyk step back subconsciously.

    He wondered if he had made a mistake by using a fairy as his disguise. He hadn''t realized that he was going to be such a rarity in this world. If he had known about it, he would have tried something else.

    "I can''t give you my blood, so please don''t ask," he rejected the woman.

    He knew that the Drike Family was very resourceful. They could find out a lot of things with his blood. It would have been fine if he was actually a fairy, but he was something else entirely.

    His body was under a disguise but not his blood. The blood in his veins was still filled with the essence of the abyss, which kept him alive.

    "Little girl, he is our guest, not a test subject. So please don''t scare him." Fortunately for Karyk, the middle aged man intervened.

    Although the girl was slightly disappointed, she nodded. She could not force Karyk to give his blood. It was true that he was a guest.

    "I am sorry. I did not think things through." She retracted her hand and took a step back. She apologized to Karyk, despite being the daughter of the Drike n''s Patriarch.

    "As an apology, please ept this from me." Without even waiting for Karyk''s response, she ced a ck card in his hand.

    "This is?" Karyk observed the strange card which was made from a really strange crystal, only being as thick as a metal card. In the card, there was only one symbol. It was the symbol of the Drike Family.

    "This card holds a hundred thousand crystals," the girl exined.

    For her, a hundred thousand crystals were nothing, but for most people, it was something that they couldn''t earn even if they worked all their life.

    The crystals were the currency used in this world, and the cards were used to hold the crystals. Karyk had already read a little about it in the books.

    Although he didn''t like being paid off, it was free money so he epted it with ease. In this world, he was extremely poor after all.

    "Shall we go home now? My father also wants to see what an extinct mutated species looks like. You are truly a freak of nature after all."

    The girl turned around, making a small gesture towards the distance. In response, a ship much smaller in sizepared to the Warships, came flying.

    Itnded in front of them, and the door opened. Karyk and the others entered the ship and were taken to the main residence of the Drike Family.

    Contrary to the grand interior of the warship he had seen before, the residence of the Drike Family felt quite ordinary. If anything, it was rather mediocre for a ce where such an important family stayed.

    There was no spatial maniption being performed here. All the rooms were their original size. Instead of a grand pce, this ce looked more like a beautiful vi.

    The moment Karyk stepped out of the ship, he caught the sight of a middle aged man who was sitting on the balcony of the vi with a cup in his hand, taking small sips.

    Looking at the ce, Karyk was quite surprised. He felt as if he hade to the house of an ordinary family on earth, instead of the Drike Family that ruled over multiple gxies.

    "Do you want some tea as well?" A voice came from behind Karyk while a cup was pushed towards him.

    Karyk turned around and watched the same middle aged man who had been sitting on the balcony. Without even the slightest spatial disturbance, the man had appeared behind him.

    He was still taking sips from the cup in his left hand while holding another cup in his right which was offered to him.

    The cup had ordinary tea, which further made Karyk think of earth.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Karyk looked back and noticed that the man was still on the balcony. He was at two ces at the same time, none of them being an illusion.

    Karyk reached out his hand, epting the courtesy of the man. "Thank you."

    Although he didn''t know who this person was, it was clear that he was from the Drike Family.

    With Aelric''s uncle, it was easily noticeable that the man was incredibly strong. On the contrary, the man before him felt extremely weak. He appeared even weaker than Aelric and his sister.

    Despite that weak aura, Karyk felt danger from the man. It was as if all his senses were screaming at him to be wary of the man.

    The only time he felt this strong sensation was when he watched the Lord of Time. While the Lord of Time was iprehensible, this man here felt just as incredible.

    Karyk didn''t go by the man''s aura, instead going by his instincts. And if his instincts were to be believed, this man was the Drike Family Head.

    He looked like a human and very different from his son and daughter, as if he was an entirely different species.

    Karyk took a sip of tea while observing the man. Even a single sip of this ordinary looking tea made him feel an incredible sensation. He could feel his strength increase. All his exhaustion from not sleeping properly was suddenly gone.

    Before he even knew it, he had finished the entire cup.

    "What are you doing, standing still?" Karyk wanted to ask the man what this tea was, when someone pushed on his shoulder. The person was none other than Aelric.

    "I am talking with him," Karyk said, pointing at the man in front of him, but when he looked carefully, there was no middle aged man in front of him.

    The man was still on his balcony, having a smile on his lips now.

 Chapter 1071: Chapter 1071: Killed more than you have

    Chapter 1071: Chapter 1071: Killed more than you have

    ?

    Karyk was surprised to see that the person that had been talking to him was never there. He could still feel the warmth of the drink that the man had offered. It definitely wasn''t an illusion, but it also became clear that the man had never moved.

    "It is nothing." Karyk regained hisposure, ncing at the man in the balcony who was the Lord of the House.

    He wondered if it was truly a wee from the man or just a show of force to make sure that the new guest behaved himself while he was here. This truly was the territory of the Drike Family, one of the few Overlords of the Vast World.N?v(el)B\\jnn

    The man on the balcony didn''t spare a second nce at him, taking small sips from his cup while looking in the distance. It was as if he was looking at more significant things.

    Karyk didn''t dwell on him either. He followed the others and reached the entrance of the mansion where thedy of the house was standing, followed by servants.

    "She is waiting for me at the entrance? Just how bad could things get for me?" Karyk could hear Aelricin. He was not as scared as he was when facing his sister but there was clear embarrassment on his face.

    "Mother, I am back." He gracefully bowed like a charming prince in front of his mother. Unfortunately, all his charm was tossed out the window when his mother grabbed him by the

    ear.

    "Mother, don''t do that in front of outsiders! I know I was wrong!" Aelric cried in pain but his mother didn''t release his ear.

    "Oh? You know you were wrong, but you still did it? Is it because I have been doting on you too much?" The middle aged woman red at her son, who was crying in pain.

    For warriors as strong as Aelric, their physiques had evolved to the point where normal things couldn''t hurt them. Still, he was truly in pain from a light pull off his ear.

    Karyk could see it on the young man''s face, which made him wonder just how strong this woman was. He could even feel some universalws getting disturbed with even the slightest of her movements, as if they were just there to serve her.

    ''What a fascinating family.'' Karyk thought, maintaining a poker face. He didn''t have to interfere in the matters of the family, which was probably for the best.

    He was just here for information and not to fight them.

    "Just you wait to see how I punish youter," the woman told Aelric before releasing his ear that had turned red.

    "There is more punishment?" Aelric rubbed his ear, almost appearing like he was going to cry. Normally, his mother was very easygoing. This time, she was truly angry.

    He also understood why that was the case, as he might have truly died if Karyk hadn''t done for his help.

    In his mind, he was really cursing the Angels. If they hadn''t attacked him and he would''ve returned without any problems, no one would''ve been this much angry. After all, it wasn''t the first time he had run away from home without protection.

    Aelric was cursing the Angels, while his mother shifted her attention to Karyk who was silently observing him.

    "You must be the child that I heard so much about," she approached Karyk. "You truly have beautiful eyes."

    While everyone else was fascinated by his winds and the prospects of mutation, she was the only one who seemed to be more focused on his eyes. It was as if his eyes were the doorway to his soul that she was trying to take a glimpse of.

    Karyk lowered his gaze, subtly hiding his eyes for reasons he didn''t even know himself. It was as if all his instincts were screaming at him to be careful against this woman.

    "Mother, you are making him ufortable." Aelric called out, only to regret it instantly as his ears were grabbed once again by his mother.

    "You are the person who saved the life of my foolish child. No amount of gratitude will ever be enough." She kept holding on to Aelric''s ears while ignoring his cries. It was as if shepletely forgot about him when she started talking to Karyk.

    "The Drike Family isn''t shameless enough to forget this favor. If there is anything that you need from us, then you can ask at any time."

    "I promise you. If there is anything that we can help you with, then we will help you. That is, if it doesn''t go against the interests of the Family. I hope you understand."

    She patted Karyk''s head like he was a child to her, her gaze filled withpassion towards him for some reason.

    Was it simply because he saved her child? Karyk wondered. He hadn''t done anything extraordinary after all.

    Even if he hadn''t done anything, Aelric would''ve been able to hold on until reinforcements arrived. At worst, he would have been slightly injured.

    "I would''ve loved to talk more with you, but I really have to reach a lesson to this brat."

    She called a servant and told her to escort Karyk to a room that was arranged for the guest inside the mansion. She also instructed the servant to arrange new clothes for Karyk since his old clothes stood out a little too much.

    She dragged Aelric back with her after finishing the conversation. Aelric asked his uncle for help, but all of them simply looked at him with pity.

    Thedy of the house was rarely angry but every time she was angry, even the Lord of the House didn''t argue with her.

    .....

    The Lady of the Drike Family appeared behind her husband after locking Aelric in her room to write a letter of apology with at least a thousand words.

    "Did you meet him? What do you think?" the man asked her.

    "I tried to hide it, but his eyes didn''t lie. He has killed too many people. Maybe even more than you have killed..." the woman told her husband, whose eyes narrowed.

 Chapter 1072: Chapter 1072: Manipulation

    Chapter 1072: Chapter 1072: Maniption

    ?

    "He killed more people than me?" The man on the balcony was quite surprised to hear his wife''s words.

    As the Head of the Drike Family, he had to walk over millions of corpses to reach where he was. He didn''t even know exactly how many people he had killed. His hand was tainted with blood.

    A young man who hadn''t even lived as long as him, had managed to kill more people? Just what kind of life did that person live?

    "Did you sense any ulterior motives?" he asked.

    He wasn''t a fool to think that it was a coincidence for Karyk to save his son. He just happened to be at the right ce at the right time? It didn''t feel right.

    "He does seem to have ulterior motives, but I couldn''t exactly see what it was. All I was able to find out is that he doesn''t hold any hostility for our family. If I were to guess, then he most probably wants to use the Drike Family''s authority for his goals."

    The man silently heard his wife''s words. He tried to control himself but ultimately he burst intoughter.

    "To think that there would be a person who wants to use our family. How long has it been since west saw a person that tried to manipte the Drike Family?"

    The man was amazed at Karyk''s audacity. He wanted to manipte the Drike Family? Was it because he underestimated the family''s intellect? Or was it because he overestimated himself?

    "Do you want to..." The woman implied something but she didn''tplete her sentence.

    "There is no need to go that far." The man lightly shook his head. He put the tea cup aside and stood up. "Even if he has ulterior motives, he still saved our son. I will not have him killed..."

    After he finished speaking, he walked past his wife. However, only a few stepster, he stopped andpleted his sentence, "... Without giving him an opportunity to prove his worth."

    "If he is truly worth our investment, then I might actually allow him to use our influence." He soon disappeared into the distance.

    His wife was left behind, looking into the distance with a strange gaze. She understood how hard it was to impress the Lord of the House, especially for a youngster.

    Even their talented daughter, despite how cherished and talented she was, hadn''t managed to win the acknowledgement of the Lord of the House. As for their son, he was even farther.

    Even though her husband said that he was going to give the young man an opportunity to win his acknowledgement in exchange for saving their son''s life, it was far easier said than done.

    It was more or less given that the young man was going to be killed in the process.

    "He really shouldn''t have tried to manipte the Family. Now that he has caught his attention, I don''t think anything can help him."

    She shook her head lightly and walked back inside the mansion as well, wondering what kind of test her husband was going to give the young man.

    ....N?v(el)B\\jnn

    Karyk was sitting in the guest room, thinking about the way that woman had been looking at him.

    "Did she see through me?"

    He tried using his senses to follow the movements of everyone in the house. More importantly, his focus was on the woman.

    Despite that, he failed. After a certain distance, he wasn''t able to follow her. There was an unknown force that stopped him. Let alone his shadows, even his consciousness couldn''t pass through that point.

    Thest thing he was able to see was the back of the person sitting in the balcony, who was approached by the woman.

    "This appears to be much harder than I thought." He fell on the bed and looked at the ceiling. There were no fans in the room but it was still very cold. It didn''t look like a work of magic either.

    He slowly closed his eyes, leaving some shadows to keep an eye on his surroundings.

    While appearing like he was sleeping, he observed his inner world, trying to see what Gabriel and his sister were doing.

    His consciousness lorded over the entire world, making him no different than the only god of this world.

    Many factions were still killing people continuously. At the same time, the growth of technology and development of infrastructure was also starting to keep up. Even earth looked no different than a fictional world of the future.

    Karyk kept shifting his focus from one world to the other, trying to find Gabriel and his sister. However, he wasn''t able to find them for some reason.

    Only a short time had passed since he brought his sister back to life and left her for Gabriel to guide. To his surprise, none of the two could be found anywhere.

    It was as if both of them had just disappeared into thin air. He was sure that they couldn''t have left his inner gxy as the gxy was cut from the outside forces thanks to the abyss.

    Despite that, they were nowhere to be found. He even wondered if they had died but that was just as unlikely with how strong Gabriel was.

    "Just where did they go?" He slowly opened his eyes,ing to his senses. "How could they disappear? Why don''t they ever stop making me worry about them?"

    He was lost in thought, only waking up when there was a knock on the door.

    "Young Master, it is time for the banquet. Are you prepared?" A maid''s voice came from outside.

    "It is already evening?" Slightly surprised at the loss of time, Karyk sat up. He picked up the clothes that had been arranged for him by the Drike Family.

    With a wave of his hand, he made his old clothes disappear. He donned the new clothes, being the first time in a long while he was wearing a clothes that weren''t conjured by his abilities.

 Chapter 1073: Chapter 1073: Mine

    Chapter 1073: Chapter 1073: Mine

    ?

    Karyk adjusted the cor, brushed his fingers over the intricate patterns, and then moved towards the door.

    As he stepped out, the maid gave him a polite nod, her gaze lingering on him for a moment longer than was strictly necessary.

    Although she had seen Karyk at the entrance, he looked even more charming in the attire of the Drike Family. His wings stood out with the attire, making him appear even more charming.

    It took her a few seconds toe to her senses, feeling slightly embarrassed at the sight she had shown Karyk b

    "This way, please," she gestured, leading him down the elegantly decorated corridors towards the banquet hall.

    Karyk followed the maid, making mental notes of theyout and the security details he noticed along the way.

    Soon, they reached the grand doors of the banquet hall. As the doors swung open, Karyk was greeted by the banquet hall covered in a warm glow of chandeliers in the ceiling.

    The hall was filled with people, all dressed in their finest attire, most of them being unknown to Karyk except the few who had apanied him from the ship.

    The table was also long, able to amodate around fifty people with only two seats being left empty. The first empty seat was the main seat on the farthest end.

    The second empty seat was between the seat of Aelric and his mother.

    Karyk''s entrance didn''t go unnoticed. Heads turned and many started observing the new guest.

    He could feel their curious eyes on him, assessing, judging.

    "He is the one? He doesn''t look anything special."

    "Is it true that he held back an angel despite a weak fairy physique? How strange."

    "That''s correct. He looks very weak. I think that even the weakest soldier of ours can defeat him.''

    "Don''t talk nonsense. Many people saw him hold back an Angel. Even the young lord was there. Why else do you think he was invited and treated so well?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "He must be a mutation."

    There were many whispers in the hall. Although they tried to talk in a low voice, their conversation still managed to reach Karyk who didn''t react.

    He simply followed the maid who escorted him to the seat that was arranged for him.

    Many people were wondering why there was an empty seat on either side of the Lady of the House. One belonged to the Lord of the House but what about the other? Who could be important enough to take that seat?

    Even though they knew a guest wasing, they couldn''t ept that it was for him. They simply thought a new seat was going to be brought to the guest, arranged at the farthest corner.

    "There you are!" Aelric''s voice boomed over the crowd, making everyone go silent.

    Aelric, now free from his mother''s disciplinary scolding, waved him over with a wide grin, appearing quite different from his appearance when he was outside.

    He looked a lot more friendly now, maybe because he didn''t have to put up an act anymore. Within the house, everyone already knew what kind of personality he had.

    His ear was still slightly red which stood out a little.

    Karyk exchanged polite nods with the other Drike Family Members who were sitting at the table, as he made his way to Aelric.

    "You don''t look half bad in these clothes. They also make you look less broody," Aelric remarked, pping him on the shoulder.

    "Is this for me?" Karyk asked, still not sure if the empty seat was for him.

    "Who else will it be for? My mother said that she wants to talk to you a lot, so she made sure the seat was right next to her." Aelric told Karyk, gesturing towards the chair.

    Karyk didn''t want to stay too close to Aelric''s mother, especially since he felt really strange around her. He felt as if she was suspicious of him, although she didn''t make it obvious.

    Her gaze was always trying to see through him, which made Karyk quite frustrated. Fortunately, even she couldn''t see through his disguise as he had actually used the physical signature of the Fairies.

    He had devoured true fairies which made him understand everything about them. As long as he didn''t use any other abilities, it was impossible to see through his false disguise.

    After Karyk took his seat, Aelric started introducing him to various family members and important figures from allied houses.

    It made Karyk understand the situation better. Most of the people here were part of various branches of the Drike Family.

    In essence, there were only five members in the main branch which was the core of the Drike Family.

    They were Aelric who was the next heir, his sister who controlled the finances of the family, and his uncle who led the Drike Family''s military.

    There was also Aelric''s mother who controlled the actions of the other branches, andstly, his father who was the absolute monarch of the family and the strongest warrior in the family,parable to an Overlord.

    It was also the Family Head of the Drike Family who was missing from the family gathering which surprised Karyk a little. He couldn''t help but remember his first meeting with the man which felt no different than a dream.

    The Lord of the House was sitting in his bedroom, ying with a red crystal. Even though he didn''t attend the Banquet, he could still see everything as the banquet''s scene was ying on the wall in front of him.

    "Are you sure you want that boy?" the Family Head asked. Behind him, his younger brother was standing, who was waiting for a response from him.

    "That is right. I believe that he can be a perfect fit if I train him a little."

    "That is usible. Unfortunately, I can''t agree with that request. I have something else for that boy." The Family Head answered as he continued ying with the red crystal. "If he survives, I might consider your request."

 Chapter 1074: Chapter 1074: Offer

    Chapter 1074: Chapter 1074: Offer

    ?

    "What are you nning with him?" the young general asked the Drike Family Leader.

    If even his brother was saying that the young man might have a hard time surviving, it meant that more or less, the young man was being pushed straight to his death.

    He didn''t understand why his brother was being so stern with the young man who had just saved his son. Was it because he noticed something that the others hadn''t?

    "I want to give him a rmendation for the battlefield," the family head answered, appearing entirely uncaring about his younger brother''s request.

    "The battlefield? You want him to enter the battlefield? You know what kind of ce that is! Even Aelric can''t survive that ce, let alone this guy! It''s especially the case now that the Angels are running rampant!"

    "I didn''t say that I will forcefully send him there. I just said that I will rmend him. If he epts the rmendation, I will grant him the quota of the Drike Family. If he doesn''t ept it, then it is his choice."

    The family head knew that he couldn''t force Karyk to enter that ce without upsetting his child who thought of the young guy as a savior and friend.N?v(el)B\\jnn

    At the same time, he couldn''t ept the young man who just wanted to use them. Hence, this was his test. If he was going to ept it and enter the battlefield, as long as he returned alive, he was going to be epted into the family.

    Even if he wanted to use the Drike Family, he was going to allow it.

    On the other hand, if he died on the battlefield, it meant he wasn''t worth it. He could only me himself for being too greedy.

    At the same time, the young man could also reject the rmendation for the battlefield, which was the most disappointing oue for him.

    The general also understood his brother all too well. Although the family head said that it was Karyk''s choice, he had already made up his mind.

    If Karyk rejected the rmendation, then the Family Head might make the young man disappear forever.

    "Why are you going so far for a young man?" he asked the Family Head.

    "One needs to know their own capabilities when targeting people higher than them. If the young man isn''t worth this much, then he can only kindly ept the punishment. This has been the absolute rule of the family."

    The general didn''t know what to answer anymore. He thought that Karyk was a talented seedling. Not only did he have a mutated bloodline, but he also had conviction to stand up against the strong.

    If the young man could join his forces, he might actually make a name for himself. Unfortunately, his brother had already decided.

    Although disappointed, he could only ept it. Sighing, he turned around to leave.

    "Oh, but it seems that you have taken quite an interest in the young man." As the General was about to step out of the room, the family head spoke. "He has three days before the opening of that ce appears. If he epts and you don''t want him to die, I might allow you to train him in the meantime."

    The General didn''t respond to his brother. He stepped out of the room, with only the sound of his footsteps growing distant.

    "Time Lord, Space Lord, and the others are looking for someone. At the same time, a mutated person appears who has walked through the sea of blood. How interesting..."

    "If you are truly that person, I wonder what kind of chaos you can bring to the battlefield. If you can truly bring the carnage that I felt from you, then..."

    The Drike Family Head didn''tplete his sentence. He silently looked at the red crystal. In the center of the crystal, there was a small speck of darkness that was frozen within.

    Even he didn''t know how long it had been since this speck of darkness had been sealed inside this crystal. It was something he had found on the battlefield when he first entered that ce in his younger years.

    He never expected to feel this same darkness inside the young man that had arrived here.

    ....

    The banquet continued in the family estate for close to an hour, with many people wanting to know about Karyk.

    A lot of them were interested in a person that had appeared with a mutated bloodline. It was especially the case as his bloodline was supposed to have gone extinct.

    They asked him about the kind of life he had, as well as his family.

    Karyk told them the same story as before, making them understand his grudge with the Angel n.

    After realizing how much Karyk hated the Angels, the Drike Family members started finding him even more pleasing to the eyes. They also hated those annoying creatures after all. After what felt like an eternity for Karyk, the banquet finally ended and Karyk was able to leave the banquet.

    On his way back, he was informed by Aelric that he was going to show him around the city tomorrow, to which Karyk agreed. Every opportunity to get closer to the family heir was for the better.

    At the same time, he might also get an opportunity to get a taste for the new Bloodlines in the city.

    Karyk returned to his room after agreeing with Aelric. He was even looking forward to tomorrow. However, he felt a strange presence inside the room as soon as he stepped inside.

    It was clear that he wasn''t alone. There was another presence here which he couldn''t see. "You have good senses." A voice came from the distance as ayer of invisibility was removed from the person who was sitting on the bed.

    "You are..." Karyk grew surprised to find the person inside his room, especially with the kind of identity he had. "What are you doing here?"

    "Why can''t I be here?" the person asked in return.

 Chapter 1075: Acceptance

    1075 Chapter 1075: eptance

    "This entire estate belongs to me. Isn''t that right?" The personfortably responded, not even trying to hide his identity. He was the family head of the Drike Family, also one of the Overlords in the universe. Although he couldn''t be considered the strongest, he was at least on the same footing as the Angel Lord. "I was just surprised to see such a prestigious person here, especially since you weren''t at the banquet." Karyk quickly regained hisposure. He had already seen the Time Lord. It wasn''t his first time being in the presence of a person who was this strong. "May I ask what brought you here?" he further asked, keeping a safe distance from the Drike Family Lord. With people who possessed such an absurd amount of strength, no distance was enough to maintain safety. Still, it was better to be farther than being right next to him. "You don''t appear scared." The Drike Family Lord smiled. "Is it because you trust us? Or is it because you trust yourself? Or is it both?"

    "As a prestigious family, the Drike Family will not hurt a guest. Isn''t that correct? Why would I need to be scared? I haven''t done anything wrong to the family," Karyk answered. The Family Lord nodded with Karyk''s statement. It was true that he hadn''t harmed the Drike Family''s interest yet. At the same time, he didn''t ignore the hidden implication behind those words. He hadn''t done anything wrong to their family. What about the other families? "I heard some really interesting news recently. Apparently quite a few families have been searching for a very interesting person, who seems to havee from a lower world. Do you know anything about it?"

    The words of the Drike Family Lord made Karyk realize why the Lord was here. He had already started doubting his identity. Karyk hadn''t thought that he might be exposed so soon. How was it even possible? Was it because the person saw through his disguise? That was impossible. Then was it a guess? A bluff?

    He had a strong feeling that the Drike Family Lord was bluffing. There was no way for him to be certain that he was the abyss, unless he used his abilities. It was more like the family lord was fishing for more information. Karyk remained unfazed. If anything, he was slightly confused as he answered, "A person from a lower world? Why would they look for such a weakling?"

    The family head observed Karyk''s reaction, trying to see even the most minute of fluctuations. Unfortunately, there was nothing strange in his reaction. If anything, he was a little too uncaring. "The angels are also responsible for his search. So I thought you might know something. It seems I was wrong."

    The family head stood up and walked past Karyk, approaching the door. "The Angels?" Karyk couldn''t control his killing intent which filled the entire room. Or rather, that''s what he wanted the family head to believe. Fortunately, he didn''t have to work too hard for this act. His rtionship with the Angels was far from friendly in the first ce. "If they are looking for that person, we need to find him first. We can''t let the Angels get what they want!" He told the family head, sounding quite restless. "If they are looking for that person, he might be beneficial for them. We can''t let them get what they want."

    Seeing Karyk''s reaction, the family head truly started doubting his assumption. Was Karyk really not that person? Either that was the case, or he was good at putting on an act. In any case, there was only one way to find the truth. "Forget about it. There is something else I had to talk with you about." The Family Head revealed a badge in his hand which he tossed towards Karyk. Karyk caught the badge, feeling a strangely familiar energy within. It was the trace of the abyssal energy. "There is a ce called the battlefield. It is opening in three days. If you ept my offer, I will allow you to enter the battlefield from our quota. That ce can help you get stronger, but it''s even more likely for you to not return alive."

    "That ce is controlled by the Angels. If you want to have revenge on them, you can go there. But if you care more about your life, you can toss that token back. I will arrange something morefortable for you, since you are the savior of my son."

    Karyk looked at the badge, which was clearly rted to the battlefield. Back on the battlefield, he had also heard about the shpoint between the Angels and the Drike Family. It was also because of a ce called the battlefield. The battlefield was a special ce that could be used by any family, with the priority being given to the main families. For a long time, it had been controlled by the Drike Family, until it was snatched away by the Angels. He had even heard rumors that the Drike Family might attack the Angels to take control of the battlefield back. He didn''t expect that instead of waging war, the Drike family was going to send him there through official means. It was no different than the Drike Family epting the control of the Angels over the battlefield. Karyk wasn''t sure what the Drike Family Leader was nning. Being sent to the battlefield so suddenly was a truly strange development. He was nning to ask the Drike Family for ess to the battlefield if they managed to recover control over it. He didn''t expect them to grant him ess on their own. "I will take the offer. If I can screw the angels, I am willing to enter." He didn''t give up on the act and epted the invitation. The Family Head nodded in silence before leaving the room, slightly surprised that the person was epting it. Did he really not know what kind of ce that was? "Now that you have epted it, you can''t reject itter. I will see you in three days." He waved his hand, disappearing from Karyk''s sight.

    n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 1076: Ancient Bloodlines

    1076 Chapter 1076: Ancient Bloodlines

    Karyk stood alone in his room, the badge warm in his hand with a faint abyssal essence. He was intrigued by the intentions of the Drike Family Head. It was clearly not a well-intentioned opportunity. He had read about the battlefield. It was known as the graveyard of all life, but also the most treasurednd. Only those younger than three hundred years could enter the battlefield, and almost none returned alive. The great families never sent their direct heirs, no matter how important the ce was. At best, they only sent the secondary heirs into the battlefield, that too with many life saving treasures. Without those treasures and support, survival was impossible. Those who had managed to return alive from the battlefield, were often from these great families that could afford such treasures. Those who returned alive were from the strongest families, which allowed them to enter with life-saving treasures. Even then, the chance of death was high. However, the greed of the families was never ending. Those who had returned alive from the battlefield had all be extremely important figures, their strength skyrocketing for reasons unknown. Karyk knew the decision was filled with risk, but it was an opportunity he couldn''t pass up. The battlefield was not just a ce of danger; it was a ce that had a link to him. Around the time the Angels had started hunting him, they also started attacking the Drike Family to take control of the battlefield. He was sure that the two incidents had a link. The angels needed him for something, calling him the key. He wasn''t sure if the key was needed for something inside the battlefield. That was the only thing that could make the Angels so restless. The angels were too eager to prepare everything as soon as they found out about his whereabouts. "Let''s see just what kind of ce this is." He kept the token in his pocket, looking forward to the battlefield. Now that the Drike Family head was suspicious of him, it was much better to be in the battlefield than here. Even the major families couldn''t interfere with the inner workings of the battlefield after all. The Lord of Time was also helpless in front of that ce. Even if he could trace him to this ce, there was nothing that could be done. ....

    The next morning, as promised, Aelric arrived to show him around the city. He didn''t know what kind of offer his father had made to Karyk. If he did, he would have been just as shocked. Karyk didn''t tell him either. He just listened to Aelric introducing various important ces in this world. He also led him to high ranking shops. Since Karyk had received money for saving Aelric, he could buy anything that he wanted. If there was something he wanted but couldn''t afford, Aelric offered to buy it for him. Karyk didn''t take Aelric''s help as the money he had was more than enough. He bought things that he might need on the battlefield, including food. He also bought a few treasures from this world. Although the treasures weren''t as good as some of the things that he already possessed, these were still extremely high tier treasures that could easily help one rule over the world he came from. As they walked through the bustling streets, Karyk subtly observed the people around him. He noted the presence of various bloodlines, each with their own unique abilities and strengths.

    He could feel the bloodlines all around him, some even making him want to devour them right away. Some were familiar with what he had read in the books. They were the remnants of ancient ns that were living in the Drike Family Territory. All of them carried a trace of various bloodlines, the mark of the powerful lineage that ran through their veins.

    Karyk wanted to send his shadows out to follow after these people, but he felt like he was being watched. In the end, he dropped the n for the time being. He only observed them, expressing asional curiosity about those ns. "You seem quite interested in the different bloodlines here," Aelric remarked, catching Karyk''s curious gaze.

    "There''s so much to learn," Karyk admitted. "Your city is very interesting."

    Aelric nodded, pride evident in his expression. "Indeed. Amongst the major families, the Drike Family hosts the most ancient bloodlines in our territory."

    "Once upon a time, their ancestors were also leading Major Families that were no weaker than the Drike Family. However, in the era of destruction, most of their families were wiped out."

    "They lost their influence, giving an opportunity to their enemies to destroy thempletely."

    "It was my family that epted the remnants, granting them a new home to live in. Since then, they have been contributing to making the Drike Family a leading force. What you see here isn''t even the tip of the iceberg."

    As the tour continued, they reached a training ground where young warriors sparred. Even Aelric''s uncle was there, watching some of the battles while appearing to be lost in some thoughts. "Do you also train here?" Karyk asked as they paused to watch a particrly fierce duel.

    "I used to do that a lot in the past, but nowadays, rarely," Aelric replied. "The people here are too weak for me."

    "That''s understandable." Karyk nodded, remembering how easily this guy had sliced through the Angels. "I could use some training myself," he said, talking to himself.

    "You''re wee to join these battles," Aelric offered. "You don''t have to work for the family. You are our guest. If you like someone, just invite them for a fight." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Maybe some other time." Karyk shook his head lightly and turned around to leave. He didn''t want to fight when there was a risk of exposing himself. There were too many eyes on him already. Aelric''s uncle nced at Karyk who was watching away. He still remembered his brother''s words where he was allowed to train Karyk if he wanted. "No amount of training can help him return from that ce. There is no point in training him." He shook his head in disappointment. Although Karyk was a good seedling, it was soon going to be destroyed and he couldn''t do anything.

 Chapter 1077: Hunting in anotheréˆ¥æªš territory

    1077 Chapter 1077: Hunting in another¡¯s territory

    The man had given up on Karyk. For him, the young man was no different than a dead man walking. Although it was a pity that a rare mutation like Karyk was going to die, marking the extinction of the fairy bloodline, there was nothing he could do. For the best few days, he immersed himself in training the warriors of his fleet, not even trying to meet Karyk. The Drike Family Patriarch was also slightly surprised that his brother wasn''t doing something foolish like trying to help Karyk, especially when he was the one who asked for Karyk to be given to him. For the first two days, nothing extraordinary happened. Karyk asionally went out of the mansion for a walk, only to return after half a day. Throughout the time, he was followed but there was nothing strange in his movements. After a certain point, even the people who were observing him started taking things easy. The number of people following Karyk were reduced to the extent that only one person was following him on the third day.

    On the third day, Karyk had again left home for a normal walk, as if trying to see the city onest time, not sure if he was ever going to return here or not. The guard followed him, appearing very bored. He was seeing the same scenery every day, which had grown quite stale for him. "Why did my luck have to be so bad. Out of everyone, I was the only one assigned here. Even training was better than this." He yawned, jumping from one roof to another. When there were more people following Karyk with him, he could at least talk to them. Now he was all alone. "Hmm??" His expressions turned serious, noticing that Karyk was taking quite a long time inside the alley where he couldn''t see properly due to the distance and obstructions. He was about to move closer to see what was taking the young man so long. However, just as he took a step forward, Karyk left the alley. He again continued following him, thinking that he was overthinking. While the person left, following Karyk, he didn''t notice that another person left the alley in the entirely opposite direction, having a simr physique as Karyk. The only difference was that the person didn''t have any wings or traits of the fairy n. "The shadow should keep him busy for some time," the person mumbled as he walked away silently, having his hands in his pocket. Now that he was able to move freely without having to worry about his actions being detected, he went straight to the area where it was the easiest to find people with the ancient bloodlines. The targets that were marked by him, started disappearing one after another. It all happened swiftly when they were alone. Some people did notice that they were taking a long time to return, but they didn''t link it to them being kidnapped. The number of people from the Drike Family Territory in the Abyss kept on increasing, their abilities and bloodline information being transferred to Karyk. After gathering some confidence, Karyk even went after the members of the Drike Family, who were much weaker than Aelric. Even though they weren''t influential enough to attend the Banquet of the Drike Family, they were still children of the branch families of Drike. Although their bloodlines weren''t the purest, it was still of a much higher lineage. Even if it couldn''t be perfected like that of the Drike Family Leader, Karyk still found it quite useful. With the Drike Family, he now had another code in his bloodline that could be merged with other bloodlines to create something new and improved. Only when it was evening and time for return, he went to the same alley and started waiting for his shadow. Just like before, he recovered his shadow and left the alley, followed by the guard from a distance. Many people had disappeared in the Drike Family Territory today, including some Drike family members. He was sure that it was only a matter of time before there was going to be amotion. He was trailed throughout the day. Even if someone wanted to me it on him, they couldn''t do that. He had a witness, thanks to the constant trailing. And even if they discoveredter that it was him, what could they even do? He was going to be leaving tonight. Even if there wasmotion, they could do nothing to him. They couldn''t enter the battlefield after all. He returned to the estate where the family head was already waiting for him. He didn''t even allow Karyk to step foot inside the estate, asking him, "Follow me." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Karyk followed the man without questioning him. Along the way, the family head told him that no one else knew where he was going. "The others are simply going to be informed that you chose to go to one of our territories to train. Even if you die, they will never find out what actually happened to you," the family head said, as if trying to scare him. "There is still a chance to turn around. Are you sure you don''t want to give up?" His words sounded like the whispers of a demon, luring him to show his cowardice. The moment he did that, he was going to be killed. Instead of having to go against the Drike patriarch, Karyk chose to enter the battlefield. It was closely rted to him after all. He refused thest offer of the family head as well. The two of them reached another battleship in the dock. "You can enter the ship. It will take you to the entrance of the battlefield. They will guide you through everything."

    Karyk nodded in silence and entered the ship, noticing there were quite a few people who hade to see him off. He could see the family head''s wife and his brother standing in the distance expressionlessly. "If I return, our rtionship might be quite different. Until then, it''s not half bad." Karyk thought to himself, gazing at the familiar faces before stepping inside the battleship.

 Chapter 1078: Chapter 1078: True home

    Chapter 1078: Chapter 1078: True home

    ?

    "Is this the entrance of the battlefield?"

    Karyk stood in front of a swirling vortex that appeared like it was far from safe as an entrance. It was chaotic enough to destroy anything that got closer to it.

    Even the strongest of meteorites were destroyed until nothing was left of them, with an unknown force that acted in all directions.

    "It is one of the many entrances of the battlefield," the Captain of the Battleship told Kayak, apanying him as close to the vortex as he possibly could.

    He appeared as if he was escorting Karyk to the battlefield, but Karyk could see that the man was ready for battle at any moment.

    He wasn''t here to escort him. Instead, he was apanying him to make sure that he entered the battlefield instead of getting cold feet and running away.

    "Normal people can''t even approach the entrance beyond this point. Only those who have the ess token made from the bones of creatures within the battlefield can pass through."

    "A token made from the creatures within?" Karyk looked at the token in his hand, which had the familiar essence of abyss.

    If the token was rted to him, it could only mean that the creatures within the ce were the same. Were they beings that were influenced by the abyss and mutated? He wasn''t entirely

    sure.

    The only thing he was sure about was that the person next to him wasn''t lying. The vortex did feel like it was carrying a simr essence as the token.

    Normal people truly couldn''t survive the energy of the vortex long enough to enter the battlefield unless the vortex epted them as one of its own thanks to the tokens.

    As for him, the token was not even a significant necessity. He could feel his entire body in sync with the vortex that was asrge as the moon of the earth.

    In front of the vortex, he felt as insignificant as a small ant. Still, it was at least smaller than the Angels.

    "If the portal is this small, can the Angels even pass through it?" he asked the captain.

    If the Angels couldn''t enter the battlefield with their real bodies, then they were truly at a disadvantage inside. Why did they even want control of the battlefield?

    "The portals that they use are much bigger. The only reason we came to this smaller vortex is because it''s the only one that hasn''t been discovered by the Angels yet. It is a well kept secret by the family."

    "Anyways, that is enough talking. When are you entering?" the Captain asked Karyk who was merely half a meter away from the range of the vortex. "Or do you have no n to enter?"

    "I am going. I just wanted to gather some information about that ce before I-"

    Karyk tried responding, only to feel a push on his back.

    The Captain didn''t even wait for him toplete before pushing him within the range of the vortex.

    "What''s there to know about? It''s not as if you will return alive." The Captain of the Drike Family turned around after pushing Karyk within the vortex.

    However, as he was about to return to the ship, he felt something wrap around his arm like a snake. He didn''t even have time to react before he was also pulled back, entering the range of the vortex.

    "No!" The Captain tried his best to leave the range of the vortex but it was toote. The forces of the vortex trapped him inside, making his body implode with the chaotic forces.

    The remains of his flesh and blood was devoured by the darkness that had pulled him back. After devouring him, the darkness returned to the young man who was walking toward the heart of the vortex.

    The shadow merged with the young man who appeared to bepletely free of the unknown forces within the chaotic vortex.N?v(el)B\\jnn

    Karyk was walking inside the vortex as if talking a walk inside the garden.

    Even if one had a token, they couldn''t travel through the vortex freely. Their bodies were pulled by the vortex and sent to the battlefield at random locations.

    Karyk, on the other hand wasn''t pulled by the vortex. It wasn''t even the token which was resisting the force but his own body.

    His disguise was removed on its own, his facial features returning to the normal. His clothes that he received from the Drike Family were torn apart, but his flesh didn''t have a single wound.

    He covered his body with the clothes he made using the essence of the abyss that weren''t affected by the vortex, soon reaching the core where the actual portal was present.

    "This feels truly familiar."

    The closer Karyk came to the portal, the morefortable his body felt. It was as if he was an animal that was returning to his normal habitat after wandering in the territory of other animals for a really long time.

    "Is this ce my real home?" He stepped forward and entered the portal that was the passage connecting this universe with the ce that the world called battlefield.

    As he crossed the threshold, a wave of energy coursed through his body like a current down his veins. And then, in an instant, he was transported to a ce known for craving blood of all those who entered it.

    He was pushed out of the portal like a meteor falling in the world.

    Uncontrobly falling, two wings appeared on his back. He quickly regained his bnce in the

    air while also reducing the speed of the fall.

    His feetnded on the ground gently and the dark angelic wings on his back disappeared swiftly, leaving only a ck robe that draped down his back.

    "Is this the battlefield I heard so much about?" Karyk looked at his surroundings, his expressions bing a lot more strange.

    He had expected the world to be barren with the stench of blood everywhere. It was nothing like he had imagined.

 Chapter 1079: Chapter 1079: Endless Path

    Chapter 1079: Chapter 1079: Endless Path

    ?

    Instead of a deste, barren wastnd, Karyk found himself standing in a lush and vibrantndscape.

    Towering trees filled with deep blue leaves stretched towards the sky, and strange flowers in colors he had never seen before spread across thend. The air was fresh, carrying a faint, sweet scent that reminded Karyk of honey.

    It waspletely unlike the lifeless ce that should have been associated with the origin of the abyss. Streams of water flowed through the air above Karyk''s head, their source hidden amongst the unknown.

    Karyk took a cautious step forward, being on high alert. Despite the beauty, a sense of unease was constantly in his mind.

    The vibrantndscape felt too good for a ce which was called a bloody battlefield. There was also an unnatural energy.

    "This ce is alive," he mumbled to himself, as the ground beneath his feet seemed to asionally tremble with a heartbeat of its own.

    Suddenly, the serene environment was disrupted by a distant roar, echoing through the trees and causing flocks of unfamiliar birds to take to the skies in panic.

    Momentster, a figure emerged from the shadows of the forest. It was a creature unlike any he had encountered before. It was massive, with scales that shone in the sunlight that

    managed to pass through the dense trees to fall on him.

    The creature paused, studying Karyk with an intelligence that was almost human. For a moment, there was absolute silence, as if the world itself held its breath.

    Karyk met its gaze steadily, feeling a strange connection with the beast. He could feel a faint aura of the abyss emanating from the thing.

    Slowly, he extended a hand, palm open in a gesture of peace. At the same time, he also released his own aura which was the purest form of abyss.

    To his surprise, the creature lowered its head slightly, acknowledging him before turning and disappearing back into the depths of the forest.

    Karyk watched it go, a multitude of questions filling in his mind. What was this ce truly? What was that creature? Why hadn''t he seen any descendants of the battlefield yet. Instead, all he saw was this peaceful ce.

    "Did I appear in the wrong part of the battlefield?" he wondered. Otherwise, it didn''t make sense that he wasn''t going to see even a single drop of blood.N?v(el)B\\jnn

    He couldn''t help but wonder if he was brought to an entirely different part of this ce. The only thing that could lead him to answers was the creature that he had seen before.

    He started following the beast that was walking away. The Beast looked back once, noticing his presence. However, he didn''t do anything. He simply kept walking away, letting Karyk follow him.

    Along the way, Karyk had seen a few more creatures in this beautiful forest. Some were even as tall as the trees here, but even they appeared to have cleared a path for the human sized beast that Karyk had been following.

    "This thing doesn''t seem to be lower in the hierarchy here." Karyk pondered, observing the beauty of this ce.

    If he hadn''t heard about the brutality of this ce, he really would''ve thought that he had identally entered the wrong world.

    He was certain that the Drike Family wouldn''t make such a mistake. The family head definitely wanted him to suffer after all. However, this was quite different from suffering.

    He had expected to fight for his life here, devouring every living thing here until he was strong enough. But the reality felt a little different. He hadn''t even seen any descendants to devour them.

    Just like the beast that he was following, the other beasts also didn''t try to harm him. They simply looked at him with a gaze like that of a curious child. It was as if it had been a long time since they had seen someone like him here.

    There was only one instance where a beast showed him slight hostility, especially since he had retracted his essence of abyss to see the reaction of the beasts.

    The beasts that he had been following, growled lightly, making all other beasts go silent in an instant. Even the beast who showed him hostility, had gone silent.

    Slightly trembling, the hostile beast moved back and disappeared into the forest.

    Meanwhile, Karyk fastened his pace and closed the distance between him and the beast that he had been following. There were only a few steps of distance between them.

    The beast didn''t react. It was as if he didn''t care. He wasn''t worried about being attacked from this proximity. Karyk wasn''t sure if it was because it trusted him, or because it was confident in his own abilities.

    "Are you the leader of this forest?" Karyk asked the beast.

    Normally, beasts who had reached a certain level, had abilities toprehend thenguage of others. They were able to speak in the samenguage.

    For a long time, humans and things alike had beening to this world. It was just as likely for thenguage to spread here. However, it was only a notion from him.

    Even as he asked a question, he didn''t receive a response. The beast couldn''t understand hisnguage.

    Karyk didn''t know where they were going, but for him, it was still the best choice to follow the beast.

    For two months straight, he did nothing but walk. There was not even a single moment of rest. asionally, he even wondered if there was an end to this journey. They had been walking on this endless path, seeing nothing but the trees and flowers.

    He had almost given up. He silently followed the beast, not thinking much about it. He was someone who had lived a long time. The flow of time didn''t matter to him to the extent it would''ve mattered for a mortal.

    Two months, turned into two years, but there was no change. The endless forest expanded to what felt like an eternity.

    At this point, Karyk grew tired of following the beast and finally stopped.

    "Is there an end or not?" he asked the beast, rubbing his forehead in frustration.

 Chapter 1080: Chapter 1080: Fallen Angel

    Chapter 1080: Chapter 1080: Fallen Angel

    ?

    The Beast, as if sensing the frustration of Karyk, came to a sudden halt. It turned around and looked at him before it suddenly increased its speed and started running away abruptly.

    "What?" Karyk was bewildered by this drastic change in the beast''s reaction. He

    subconsciously looked behind to check if there was an enemy that had made the beast scared, but there was no sign of life behind him.

    Two wings appeared behind him, and he started following the unfamiliar beast. He tried his best to keep up with the speed of the beast, which seemed to be gliding through the forest, as if it knew every inch of this ce.

    Within half an hour, the two of them had traveled more of the forest than they had done in thest one daybined.

    Near the end, the beast suddenly jumped high. Kayak also followed him higher into the sky, soon noticing the scenery beyond the forest.

    The two of them felt like they had passed through an invisible wall that allowed them to leave the forest and appear in a different part of thend.

    The beastnded on the desert ground, followed by Karyk who was relieved after leaving the forest. Finally there was a change of scenery for him. He was also able to smell the scent of blood that was nowhere to be found in the forest.

    He looked behind and couldn''t even see a single sign of the Forest, which appeared to be in a different realm of this world.

    "Is that forest the protectednd of this ce where you all live?" Karyk asked the Beast who once again grew silent.

    The Beast opened its jaws and roared at the sky. His roar was rolled with an unknown power that appeared to control the sand in the area.

    A sandstorm began to form, swirling around them. Karyk shielded his eyes as he tried to make sense of what was happening. The Beast stood there, but moving even an inch.

    As the sandstorm was reaching its peak, the beast raised a w and tapped the ground lightly. The sandstorm that felt like it was going to destroy everything in its path, suddenly halted as well.

    The desert once again regained the previous calmness, but the entire scenery in the surroundings had changed.

    As far as the eyes could see, there had been a in desert before. But now, there were mountains of deserts in the surroundings, where the storm of the sand had condensed.

    In the middle of the mountains, a valley had appeared since the level of sand went down. Kayak was standing at the entrance of the valley, looking towards the center where a giant lifeless corpse could be seen.

    "Is this the corpse of an angel?" Kayak flew towards the corpse, which waspletely identical to an angel. The only difference was that its size was much smaller, as if some unknown force in thisnd hadpressed it.

    Even though its size waspressed, it was still almost as big as the giant mountains that had surrounded the valley.

    "It looks like it has been dead for a long time."

    Normally, a corpse of an angel wasn''t going to rot even if thousands of years had passed. However, the flesh of the corpse was ruined at a few ces, slowly rotting. It made Karyk wonder just how long this corpse had been here?

    Even though it was only a corpse of an angel that had been dead for an extremely long time, it still had a trace of the aura it possessed when it was alive.

    Just that small trace alone made Karyk feel the same suppression that he had felt when experiencing the Angel Lord and the Time Lord before.

    "Even if thousands of years had passed, it''s still so strong. Then how strong was it at its peak? How strong was the person who killed it?"

    He even wondered just how much strength he could gain if he devoured this corpse. Could he even bear that much strength at the same time? He wasn''t sure.

    "Did you guide me here intentionally?" he asked the wolf-like beast which moved back to clear the path for him.

    The Beast nodded in response. It looked at the corpse, showing some fear in its eyes. It was as if it wanted to get close to it, but it was scared of the corpse at the same time.

    It raised its ws and pointed toward the corpse.

    "Are you telling me to enter it? Is there something inside?" Karyk asked, seeing the behaviour of the beast.

    The beast next pointed at Karyk, as if trying to imply something.

    There could be so many meanings to this that even Karyk wasn''t certain. Did it mean that there was something good for him inside? Or that he had to enter it?

    Even though he wasn''t certain about it, he had a feeling that he had to enter. Even his own Bloodline was getting executed the moment this corpse had appeared. There was definitely something good inside it.

    He made up his mind and approached the corpse of the Angel, most of whoe body was covered by creepy yet lifeless eyes.

    After reaching near the mouth of the Angel''s corpse, he used transformation and turned into a Titan to have an easier time opening the mouth of the Angel.

    After bing bigger, he grabbed the sharp fang like teeth of the Angels to open its mouth wide.N?v(el)B\\jnn

    While the mouth was raised, he transformed back into his real form and flew inside before the mouth could close lifelessly.

    The beast stood in the distance, watching in silence. It soon turned around and started walking away, its ears twitching as if he heard some sounds from farawaynd.

    Soon, it disappeared into the distance, leaving the corpse protected by the mountains.

    ....

    Karyk entered the corpse of the Angel, expecting a gruesome ce filled with rotten innards, but he was once again surprised as there was only one thing he could see here.

    There was another corpse.

 Chapter 1081: Chapter 1081: The Diary

    Chapter 1081: Chapter 1081: The Diary

    ?

    Karyk stepped inside the giant lifeless body of the Angel, feeling a change in the space around him. He felt his chaotic essence re up.

    It felt simr to what he had experienced when passing through the portal to enter the battlefield. His essence was the key to connect him to the right space inside the Angel''s corpse.

    He found himself standing inside a ce that was far from the disgusting scene he had expected from the interior of a corpse.

    In the center of the space, he saw a man standing in a meditating position, appearing to be deeply immersed. However, he could not sense any life inside that person, as if he had died just like that.

    Even the corpse of the Angel had started decaying to some extent throughout the long passage of time but the corpse of the man was stillpletely unharmed.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Karyk approached the man, feeling a strange sensation rise within his heart. He had never seen this person, but for some reason, his heart was filled with a strange feeling of sadness. "Who is he?" Karyk wasn''t sure what the identity of the person was.

    Why was he inside the corpse of an angel? Was it because he was hiding from someone inside this corpse? Karyk wasn''t sure.

    "Are you the reason I was brought here?" Karyk walked around the man''s corpse, observing it with great intrigue.

    The man was wearing clothes that looked very fancy. Not only did they look good but they were also extremely powerful artifacts.

    He used his divine sense to observe the artifacts, growing even more surprised. The clothes were able to reflect his divine sense, making it impossible for him to test.

    All he could see was that the clothes were extremely high tiered artifacts.

    He reached out his hand and touched the sleeve of the man, using his devouring ability to see if he could destroy the slightest part of the clothes. To his surprise, the clothes remained unharmed.

    Even his devouring didn''t work on the clothes. Even his strongest ability didn''t harm these clothes.

    "If even your clothes were such powerful artifacts, then you can''t be any ordinary person. Even the Drike Family Heir didn''t have anything close to this level after all."

    It was clear that the man in front of him wasn''t an ordinary person. But which n was he from? That was the question.

    He had read about all the major ns, but none of them had features that this man had. The man in front of him was like an ordinary human, with no special physical trait. "Should I try to devour him?" Karyk wanted to know the identity of this man. The only method he could think of was to devour him. Only then could he gain his memories.

    Even if he couldn''t devour the clothes, that didn''t mean the same was impossible for the

    man.

    He ced his hand on the forehead of the man, who carried a divine charm even in his death. He released the essence of the abyss to consume the person.

    "Huh, what?" The abyssal essence came out of his hand. However, as soon as it touched the man''s forehead, it quickly retreated inside Karyk''s body.

    He could feel his bloodline growing even more stimted, his mind overtaken by the same subconscious feeling of sadness.

    He didn''t even understand when or why tears were streaming down his cheeks as he looked at that man.

    "Why am I reacting in such a way?" Karyk''s face remained cold which created a stark contrast with the tears that remained unstoppable.

    The abyss couldn''t devour the man. Or rather, it refused to devour the man. It was like an instinct that was deeply imprinted in his body.

    Karyk retracted his hand,ing to terms with the fact that he couldn''t read the person''s memories.

    He started checking the man''s body to see if there was anything that could give away his identity like a n identification token.

    "Hmm? What''s this?"

    Karyk was patting the man''s clothes to check if there was anything of significance. Fortunately, it didn''t take long before he found something.

    He pulled out the object that had suffered through the passage of time.

    "A diary?"

    The diary''s pages had already turned yellow. It was so frail that he felt like it could be damaged if he wasn''t careful.

    Karyk ced the diary on the ground carefully and kept checking the man. Soon, he found another object hiding inside the pocket which was a ring.

    Karyk ced the ring next to the diary and continued the search. Albeit, there was no new object that he could find.

    After finishing the searcy, he sat in front of the person, facing the diary that was ced in between them.

    "It seems that you don''t just look like a human. You also share the human habits of writing diaries."

    Karyk opened the cover of the diary, being extremely gentle with it. On the first page of the diary, he saw a single sentence written.

    "Record of Project K."

    Other than the title, there was nothing else written on the first page. There was not even a name of the person who owned this diary.

    Karyk turned the page after taking another short nce at the lifeless man.

    "Day 1."

    "They expelled me, calling me a madman. But am I really mad? Or are they unable to understand? Why is it that they don''t understand what I''m trying to do? Why do they hate

    me?"

    "It doesn''t matter. Even if I don''t have a ce to call home, I will not stop. I will keep making progress, until the day I seed and everyone realizes that I was always right!"

    "Day 2."

    "I went to every n, asking for a ce to stay. Even the ns that I had helped in the past, rejected me. Is it because they are scared of them? It feels so ironic. It is fine. I will make my own ce. A ce where I shall be free."

    "I heard there was an uninhabited star. It seems to be the perfect ce for now."

 Chapter 1082: Chapter 1082: The Evolution

    Chapter 1082: Chapter 1082: The Evolution

    ?

    "Day 7: I finally reached the destination. The journey itself cost me half my life''s savings. With the remaining funds, I bought the materials needed in the initial phase. But it is fine. Such sacrifices are necessary. Once I seed, the entire world shall change."

    "Day 11: I wonder if they found out that I had stolen the specimen. I did leave a false specimen behind, but it is only a matter of time before they find out. I have to be fast."

    "Day 15: The specimen is finally showing some changes. I can feel a trace of aura rising from within. Although it is just a small trace, it gives me hope for the future. I am definitely on the right path."

    "Day 50: Why is there no further change? What am I doing wrong? Why doesn''t it work? Why?!!"

    "Day 116: It is strange. The specimen didn''t change further, but the world itself has started to change for some reason. Is it because of the weak trace released from the specimen? Is the world being transformed? It is worth researching. Maybe it''s the key for further progress."

    "Day 513: Today, I saw the first life form in this world that appeared. It is so small that it looks no different than an ant, but it is still life."

    "''"''Day 515: The first life form died. It didn''t survive my experimentation. Fortunately, more life forms are appearing. This world is truly bringing life. I will have more subjects."

    "Day 1008: I did it. There is a second change in the specimen. It seems to have absorbed the hostility of the life forms that were killed and sacrificed to it. The darkness around the specimen is increasing. This is good! This is so good!"

    "Day 2145: There is no further change. It seems that the specimen had stopped absorbing the hostility. Still, I keep injecting the darkness crystals merged with my blood into the specimen. Maybe I should bring the star beast corpse from thend of chaos and try to use their blood."

    "Day 3009: Life has been flourishing in this world. The small life forms had also evolved into something better. They appeared to have be more sentient, but why is the specimen not changing? What am I doing wrong?"

    "Day 8993: I have tried every ingredient that I could afford. I even stole what I couldn''t afford. I tested every ratio as well, but the specimen shows no reaction. Am I stuck at a dead end? The only positive thing seems to be that the beasts of this world are here to keep mepany. Otherwise I might have gone insane."

    "Day 1678: I am growing old. At this rate, I might die before I seed. Why do we humans have such a low life span? Why couldn''t we live longer like them? I feel so angry. If only humans weren''t so weak. If only we could also evolve..."

    "Day 1970: I can barely move my hands. It seems that I won''t live long. I am not sad that I am going to die. I am more upset at my failure. Were they always right? No, it''s impossible. I can''t be wrong! It is not over until it is over."

    Karyk kept reading through the diary. He could see that the characters written in the diary were shaky. The person writing them was starting to lose all strength at this point.

    He looked at the man in front of him, who looked extremely young. Even though he was supposed to be old enough to die from old age, here he was, looking like a teenager.

    "Is the person writing this diary a different person?" Karyk wondered as he continued reading to see if the person died or seeded first.

    ....n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Day 1999: I might not live beyond tonight. I can feel it. Since I am going to die in any case, I might as well die through my own experimental. I might as well die with my research!"

    "I will take the blood from the specimen and try infusing it in mine. I have tested my blood samples with the blood samples of others, but every time, it was a failure. I was so scared that I didn''t even dare to test it directly on my body."

    "However, is there really a need to be scared now? If death is, I will die with the specimen''s blood in my veins."

    ....

    "Day 2005?"

    "I am not sure how long it has been. Let''s assume it to be six days. I seem to have passed out from pain after injecting the specimen''s blood in my body."

    "Is this what they call a miracle? I have tested with my blood samples all this time, but the experiment was always a failure. There was always rejection between the blood samples. I should''ve died because of the specimen''s blood but I am still alive."

    "Is it a coincidence? No, there are no coincidences in this world. It must be the specimen! It has a subconscious! It kept me alive, epting me as one of its own! I was right! I was always right! Those fools never understood!"

    "Day 2006: My body has changed. I have be younger. I also feel that I have stopped ageing. I also seem to have gained some new abilities. Am I as strong as them now? I am not strong. More testing and data is needed to confirm that. Good that I have a lot of time now!" "Day 2090: I was right. I have truly grown stronger. I don''t need to steal resources from smaller ns. I can take them from the major ns now. I can have high tier materials now. The experiment will move more smoothly."

    ....

    "Day 2146: I robbed three major ns. I have enough materials for a year worth of experimentation. However, I seem to have offended the major ns. Unfortunately for them, they don''t know where I am."

    "Ever since the world has evolved, a seal had appeared around it. Only I can enter, or people permitted by me. Is this what it feels to have power? This is not a bad feeling at all."

 Chapter 1083: Chapter 1083: Aether

    Chapter 1083: Chapter 1083: Aether

    ?

    Karyk continued reading the diary, growing more interested in the so-called specimen that the person was so obsessed with.

    The man was stubborn, only having one goal in his life. Just to follow that goal, he had even surpassed the natural limitations of humanity. It painted a picture of a man who had been cast out by society. Despite that, he never lost hope.

    "Day 2460: I have decided to name the specimen ''Aether''. It seems fitting, as it has be a source of my life. Aether and I are one now. I no longer feel like the man I once was. My past self feels like a distant memory that grows faint with each passing second

    "Day 2909: The ns have sent emissaries to search for me so they could negotiate. They are unaware of my exact location but it won''t take long before they find me."

    "If I negotiate with them and show them the progress, maybe they will support me? With their support, I can gain even more power to perform experiments without a single care in the world. However, power is no longer something I want."

    "I will have to keep hiding and focus on Aether only."

    "Day 5481: The world continues to evolve due to Aether''s influence. Many new species appeared in this world while the previous species have evolved to grow even more intelligent. They can even talk to me now."

    "I have been sending them out to gather more material. With their help, I can focus solely on Aether. They can bring materials as well as information."

    "Day 9980: They have brought back some information. It looks like the outside world has changed a lot as well. Some new ns have risen to power, reaching the threshold to me called major ns."

    "It seems to be some n called Drike. How interesting. The bnce of power among the ns is shifting. I can only watch with detached interest and focus on Aether."

    Hearing the mention of the Drike n, Karyk''s expressions fluctuated a little. This person even mentioned the formation of the Drike n?

    From what he knew, the Drike n was established a long time ago as a major n. The person in front of him had lived for such a long time?

    It was as if he was looking at the world through the eyes of a person that had seen everything evolve while closing himself in this world.

    He had thought that the diary wouldn''t have so many pages as it looked much smaller. However, as he kept reading, he realized that the diary was an artifact as well.

    As he kept turning the page, the previous pages disappeared. No matter how many pages he turned, he was always on the second page in the diary with only the day changed.N?v(el)B\\jnn

    Karyk had many questions in his mind. He could only hope to gain the answers through this diary. He turned the page and returned to reading.

    ----

    "Day 12500: I''ve begun to experiment with merging Aether''s essence with other life forms. Maybe I can evolve a creature of this world just like I had evolved? It is worth testing."

    "Day 12907: The results are disappointing.All those creatures that I tested, had died as soon as I injected them with Aether''s essence. Aether isn''t epting them. My understanding of the aether is still iplete it seems."

    "Day 19760: I have achieved something remarkable. Aether has begun tomunicate with me, not in words, but in feelings. I can feel it. It''s not a living being yet, but it is something even more incredible!"

    "I can see glimpses of something far greater than I imagined. I have glimpsed the threads of fate."

    "Day 21765: I am no longer alone. I have created beings from the essence of Aether. I have seeded in evolving creatures of this world with the help of Aether! This is incredible! I feel like I am getting closer to the end goal."

    "At this rate, I might be able toplete Aether soon!"

    "The evolved creatures are loyal to me and hold a fragment of Aether within them. I can''t keep calling them beasts. They are a Higher Species now! They are part of something new! I will need to think of a name for them.

    "Day 21770: After thinking for a few days, I havee up with a name. I have decided to call them Aetherians. Although they don''t seem to like the name, I don''t have any more time to waste thinking about it."

    "Day 28898: The world outside is caught in the mes of war. These fools will never learn. They will keep killing each other. It''s a good thing I am not part of that world order anymore. Instead, I am part of something bigger. I can start a new world order myself!"

    "Day 87644: The war in the outside world seems to be over. Itsted longer than I expected. The winner of the war is a person who has dered himself as the Celestial King. How foolish. There will only be one king in the world, who is Aether. Until then, enjoy the false throne!" "Day 98660: They have found me! Why did it have to be now? I was so close topleting Aether! I have to stop them. I have to stop them at any cost!"

    "Day 12550: Is it all over? Almost all Aetherians have been killed. This beautiful world has been painted red by evil! I managed to stop them from taking Aether, but at what cost?"

    "The Aetherians are dead and my life source is injured. I don''t think I can live longer. It is funny. When I thought I was going to die, aether protected me. And now, I am dying to protect the aether. But I don''t regret it even a little."

    "Aether has grown self-sufficient. It will bepleted on its own, even if I am not here. Maybe even the bloodshed in this world will help Aether. The only thing I regret is that I won''t be alive to see it."

    "I won''t be here to see my child enter this world. Fate has been so cruel..."

    The diary ended abruptly. There were no further entries after that. It was as if the man had died after the entry.

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