From what Gabriel had assumed, even though it was Novius, he was still supposed to have the same strength as the young Novius did before he entered the Towers of Challenges and left a figment of his conscience behind.
Didn't that mean that even before Novius was thirty years old, he still had so much Spiritual Strength that he could keep the Domain for that long? It was no wonder the two Founders were called to be comparable to the Holy Priests of their time.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the time to praise the enemy.
"I need to-"
Gabriel clenched his fist, but before he could even finish his sentence, his expression twisted as Novius disappeared. Gabriel felt a cold hand around his neck as Novius appeared right in front of him.
His grip around Gabriel's neck tightened as Gabriel's body started rising in the air.
"Humans often make the mistake of underestimating their opponents. Many people did that with you and ended up dead, but aren't you making the same mistake?" Novius declared as his grip only tightened, making Gabriel struggle to even breathe.
"It's disappointing. I thought you were strong enough to survive outside the Dungeon, but you aren't capable. And I don't feel like training you more. It's just a waste of time for me... I suppose I will actually kill you and wait for someone who can actually defeat me."
Gabriel was gasping for breath, and his head was filled with thousands of thoughts. He didn't know what to do. His body was aching in the grasp of Novius. Even his vision was starting to get affected. He was sure if he didn't do anything, he was going to die.
Unfortunately, he couldn't even cast his spell as some mysterious force kept his mouth sealed, making him unable to speak.
Dark Shackles also wrapped around Gabriel's wrist, bringing his arms behind his back against his will, tying his wrists right next to each other.
Even though Gabriel hadn't dropped his Ancestral Staff of Darkness, he couldn't move his hand either.
"If there is ever a next life, I hope you remember this lesson and don't die the same way!" Novius calmly stated. He seemed completely different than before, as Gabriel could see some bloodlust in his eyes now. It was completely unlike anything he had seen before.
"It's good to analyze the moves of your enemies, but you can't base your analysis on guesses. When you don't have enough information in battle and are in a situation like this where the enemy has more Spiritual Strength than you, there are only two feasible options."
"Either you use all you have instantly to win without giving the opponent the time to think. Or you escape so you can gather more information before facing the enemy. You chose the third option, which might be good in some situations, but not in most."
"You've made so many wrong decisions in our battle, but also some very clever ones which honestly surprised me. Unfortunately, not enough."
As Novius talked, his body started rising in the air, similar to what Gabriel had done with Novius.
After rising up to twenty meters in height, Novius finally stopped. He could see two ways now. Either he crush Gabriel's neck right now, or he does the same that Gabriel did to Cylix. In both cases, Gabriel was going to die.
"Hah," Novius let out a deep sigh. "So many expectations, only to end up in disappointment." Sighing, Novius decided on what to do.
"I suppose I will give you a quick death." He applied even more force around Gabriel's neck.
Gabriel couldn't free his hands. He also couldn't chant any spells, thanks to his mouth being closed. Initially, he wondered if this was it, but the more he heard Novius speak, the more his anger increased.
He didn't want to die! He didn't want to be disgraced. He wanted to win! At any cost, he wanted to win. It didn't matter how that victory came, but he knew he couldn't die like this! He had so many things to do in the outside world!
'No! I won't die!'
His grasp around his Ancestral Staff tightened. Gabriel couldn't move his mouth, but despite that, for some reason, his feelings seemed to be conveyed to the Ancestral Staff of Darkness.
Even Novius noticed this much. A faint smile appeared on his lips, which disappeared before Gabriel could even notice it.
"I always knew Cylix was weak. To even lose to a weakling like you, what a pity. I guess he really went easy on you..." He further continued taunting Gabriel.
Through Gabriel's training and his growth, he realized that Gabriel wasn't a normal person and his source of strength wasn't the same as theirs. While they grew stronger to protect the world and themselves, Gabriel grew stronger to have his revenge.
Gabriel's source of strength wasn't as holy like this since it was considered a major sin in their world... Gabriel's source of strength was anger, according to Novius.
The angrier Gabriel was, the more he was able to surpass his limits, achieving new heights. That's precisely what the goal of this battle was. He wanted Gabriel to reach that new height... A height that only a Holy Priest could do... The Wordless Chants!
The Wordless Chant was said to be a phenomenon where a Mage could cast a spell without even speaking a word, just through their thoughts. Unfortunately, it was something that only Holy Priests had been able to achieve. Even those two hadn't achieved that.
The only reason he closed Gabriel's mouth and tied his hands was to force this out of him! It was all to make him break the barrier between his consciousness and his words. And what better way to help him but by making him angry?
Novius knew that as long as Gabriel respected him in the battle, he wasn't going to win. He wasn't even going to achieve the Wordless Chant, so he went out of his way to force it out, and he succeeded as well.
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The Ancestral Staff of Darkness started shining, surrounded by a mysterious darkness.
Boom~
Novius' body was shot back like a bullet as some mysterious force hit him. Surprisingly, his hand was also missing.
The hand with which he was choking Gabriel was detached from his body. He couldn't even see what sliced his hand before his body was attacked once again.
Novius still managed to balance his body, but for the first time in the battle, he coughed out some blood, wiping his lips.
A dark aura surrounded Gabriel, who held the detached hand of Novius. The Dark Robe appeared behind him, still having the same symbol of the bleeding moon... Gabriel had cast his own Paradise of Darkness…
The Wordless Chant... It was something that only the Holy Priests of Elements were able to accomplish, but even for them, it wasn't as easy a task as it took them years to master it. Even the Holy Priestess of Water hadn't yet mastered something like this.
Fortunately, thanks to the interference of Novius, Gabriel actually managed to achieve it, casting a High Tier Spell.
Novius had expected Gabriel to achieve something like this with a little push, but still, he couldn't help but be amazed at the display of talent right in front of his eyes.
Gabriel's Domain was slightly different from his. It covered a slightly shorter area than his domain, but in terms of Potential and intensity, Gabriel's Paradise only looked much more complete in a sense.
Novius' right hand was missing, but he could notice it on the ground. As soon as it was sliced, it fell on the ground, leaving him with only one hand in this battle. As for his only hand that was left, he held his Peak Tier staff with it.
"Darkbolt!" Novius cast a new spell, utilizing the opportunity to attack Gabriel, who was still standing in his place.
Gabriel didn't move at all. Even his lips didn't move as it looked like he wasn't going to cast any spell to protect himself, but even without him speaking anything, a barrier appeared before him, which was further reinforced by the Dark Mist that was also in his control now.
It was as if a black sphere of protection had surrounded him to protect him from Novius' attack. The Sphere even made it impossible to see Gabriel inside it in all the darkness.
Novius glanced at his right soldiers. Without his arm, he felt as if he was missing something. If he wanted, he could've made a new arm since he was the Guardian of the Floor, but he didn't. He wanted to fight fair.
Boom ~
As Novius was thinking about which direction to take the battle, he felt a presence behind him. He also cast a barrier around him this time, but the attack came from such proximity that even with his barrier, he was tossed back, losing balance.
Just as he looked like he might be able to balance himself, Dark Chains came out of the ground, wrapping around his Ankles.
"Annoying!" Just like Gabriel had done, even Novius broke the shackles before finally casting the enhancement spells on himself.
The advantage of Wordless Chant was that no one could know what a mage was casting or which spells they had used, but the mage could very well know what the enemy was casting.
Noticing the enhancement Spells being cast, Gabriel also cast similar spells, if not more.
It was a world covered in darkness, and two Dark Mages fought each other to see who could be the last person standing. Unfortunately, it was hard to even keep an eye on the battle since both the Mages were so fast.
It was hard to even catch a glimpse of them with the amount of speed they possessed after the Enhancements. Only explosions could be heard as the two clashed with each other repeatedly.
The explosions weren't in the same place either, as the two also kept moving from place to place, not even keeping an eye on their surroundings. One moment, they were in the middle of the two Domains, and the next moment, they were five hundred meters away.
The battle raged on, and surprisingly, Gabriel was holding on his own. Thanks to the mission arm of Novius, he was also slightly weaker than he usually was, but in a battle, that was an excuse that couldn't be given.
For the first time, the Battle looked like the battle of two equals as both the opponents read each other's move. Both of them had their clothes covered in blood. For some reason, Novius appeared to be in a worse condition, but there was no regret or anger on his face.
He wasn't upset at the situation of the battle. Instead, he was excited! It had been a long time since he had a battle like this! It had been a long time since he enjoyed a battle this much. He was filled with excitement and fighting intent, enjoying every moment of the battle.
As time passed, both the Mages were running out of Spiritual Energy, but Gabriel was still able to hold up, thanks to the Soul Healing Pills of Cylix. However, even he didn't want to waste too many pills. He knew he had to end this battle right there and right now!
In their intense battle, both the men were already out of the range of the Dark Paradise. From where they stood, they could only see a dark domain in the distance.
Novius' lips were bleeding, and his face was already pale, but there was an excited smile on his face! This battle! It was exactly what he wanted.
'If it's like that, even outside, you might just manage to...' He tried to gather his breath, keeping an eye on Gabriel.
Gabriel also stood just ten meters away from Novius with a pill in his hand. His condition was slightly better than Novius, but not by much. Even his body was covered in cuts which were slowly healing.
He placed a Soul Healing Pill in his mouth, noticing the trembling of his hands return. That could only mean that his Soul was already nearly exhausted, and he couldn't take the battle longer.
He raised his Staff of Darkness. Even though he didn't chant any spell, seeing both the marks on his left hand shining, it wasn't hard for Novius to see what he was returned to cast.
"That spell? On me? It won't work. That spell works by entrapping a mage first in darkness before the explosion of light. I can easily pass through that barrier of light. I also have the Dark Manifestation, which can save me. You better not waste your energy on that!"
It was genuine advice that not most opponents would've given since almost everyone would've preferred to see their opponents waste their energy in this fashion.
Surprisingly for him, Gabriel wasn't looking like he was interested in listening. He knew about this flaw right at the start, and that's exactly why he wasn't using that spell before.
Since Novius couldn't hear that chant either, he could only guess what the spell was. In any case, he didn't feel threatened.
Even though Gabriel could chant without speaking, he intentionally spoke the last few words of the spell to make sure Novius heard him. All the preparation for the spell was complete. They were out of the Dark Paradise, so it was the best place for him to try something new... Something he hadn't tried before...
"Dark Entrapment of Light!"
"Huh?" Even Novius was surprised at the name. He hadn't heard of that spell before, but that sounded awfully similar to the Divine Entrapment of Darkness that he and Cylix had made. Just the elements were in a reversal...
"Don't tell me you...?" Even Novius was amazed at the possibility of what this implied. "Did you... Just create a new spell?"
If he was to go by the name and what he saw, this spell also used both the element and was similar yet opposite of their spell. They hadn't taught this spell. Did that mean Gabriel had learned the essence of their spell and management to reverse their components?
Even though they taught him how to understand a spell to create their derivatives or new spells, even that didn't expect him to do it on a High Tier Spell! Most people started by creating basic tier spells first.
Just as he expected, this was quite similar to the Divine Entrapment of Darkness. The only difference was that it covered the flaw of their spell.
The Divine Entrapment of Darkness used the Barrier of Darkness with the offensive spell of Light after trapping the enemy, but that's also where its flaw came since a Dark Mage of Novius' caliber could easily break through a Dark Barrier.
To solve the flaw, Gabriel had already decided to change some things in the spell, mainly changing the barrier.
"I was right!" Even Novius realized this much as a powerful Barrier of Light trapped him inside. Gabriel had switched the element of the Barrier.
For a dark mage, it was much harder to get out of a Barrier of Light without putting in a significant effort. Unfortunately, Novius didn't have time for that since, within seconds of the Barrier appearing, an explosion shook the earth, sending the tremors far.
Even Gabriel felt the tremors of the Earth as if an earthquake was coming. The spell was definitely very powerful for someone like him, but he still didn't know if this was enough to take Novius out.
Novius had Dark Manifestation, which made him almost immune for a short time. It was all going to rest on the strength of his spell. He had fulfilled all conditions to account for the dark manifestation of Novius. Now, all it came down to was the strength of his attack.
If his spell was powerful enough to break Novius' Dark Manifestation, he believed it was his victory, but if it couldn't, then this was it... Gabriel was already exhausted. If he didn't win now, he believed that he wasn't going to win later either.
Still, just to be sure, he kept a soul-healing pill in his hand, ready for any situation.
The barrier of light disappeared, revealing the inside, which was covered in smoke.
"It can't be..." Gabriel grimaced, noticing Novius standing in the same place. He looked just like before, perfectly fine. Did he survive the attack? This was bad!
Novius glanced back at Gabriel, flashing his same old smile. "You surprised me..."
He looked down at his left hand, noticing it start to disappear as well as if it was disintegrating.
"What?" Gabriel was surprised to see Novius disintegrate. What was happening?
"Why are you being surprised?" Novius asked, walking closer to Gabriel. His peak tier Magical Staff disappeared. "I should be surprised. A spell modification of the spell that we taught you? And one which could break my defenses too... Incredible."
"What is happening to you?" Gabriel asked, frowning.
"Your attack broke the limit of my defense," Novius answered as he kept coming closer to Gabriel. His body kept disappearing with time.
"This was your victory, young man. He reached out his left hand to touch Gabriel's head, but before he could, his only remaining hand also disappeared.
Novius dropped to his knees, coughing out blood on the ground.
Even though he didn't show it initially, the damage he took was too much for even him. Moreover, unlike Gabriel, he wasn't using any Soul Healing Pills or any other advantages.
"Open your mouth!" Gabriel reached out his hand with the Soul Healing Pill in hand to help Novius.
"Keep it," Novius answered, shaking his head. His eyes had already lost their shine, making him unable to see anything either. "They can't help me. I'm already dead, just living on the borrowed time for a few minutes."
"You are... Dead?" Gabriel also sat on his knees, not knowing what to feel. So he had won the battle, but for some reason, he still didn't feel like he had won anything. Instead, it was as if he only lost here... He lost Gabriel as well.
Novius nodded. "I only borrowed some time to tell you something important… Whatever happens, don't say yes to the Tower!"
Gabriel didn't understand what these words implied. What shouldn't he say no about? Unfortunately, he couldn't ask as Novius also lost his voice soon, unable to speak anything.
He coughed out more blood. He couldn't see now. He couldn't speak or hear either. He didn't even have hands. Whatever he was trying to say was something that was possibly forever lost unless he left some clues on the box he left behind for Gabriel.
Novius dropped to the ground. Even though he couldn't see, speak or hear, he could still feel a warm hand under his head, giving him support. He could only smile.
'Cylix was right... We couldn't be happier. I am glad we met you... Gabriel. But the outside world is more treacherous. Their actions mold your actions, but in that, you might lose your own path... So I hope you are able to stand firm...'
'Achieve what you want to... Don't let the situation influence you to lose your path... Do it, and you'll be a mage that stands on top of not only this world but the entire universe... You have something that others don't... Exception...'
There were so many things that he wanted to tell Gabriel now, but without words, those things could only stay in his heart.
He had so many thoughts in his heart, but they were all buried in him, disappearing forever as his body disappeared forever, turning into a speck of dark light.
Gabriel looked at his empty hands. Finally, it happened... Eventually, they were both gone… Finally, he was left all alone again.
Even though Cylix and Novius were gone, their presence had influenced Gabriel so much that even he didn't realize at the time.
The emotions that he tried to seal after he was betrayed by Maya... The emotions that he never wanted to carry again... He felt that same sadness as he did when he was killed, maybe even more. He also felt angry… more angry than ever.
He closed his eyes and just sat in silence, not realizing that their Speck of Darkness flew straight to his Ring of Necromancy, being absorbed by it.
Gabriel sat in silence on the battlefield, not speaking anything. Even his eyes appeared out of focus. His hands were still shaking, but he seemed not even to notice them anymore.
The Soul Healing pill that he had offered Novius was lying on the ground right next to him.
"A World which changes one's path..." After a long time, he finally said something.
He picked up the Soul Healing Pill from the ground and placed it in his mouth before forcing his tired body up.
"I won't let the World change my path... I will make one myself, safe from all external influence..."
The world around him also started disappearing. The battlefield was created by Novius, and now that he was gone, the battlefield also started disappearing.
Once the battlefield disappeared, Gabriel appeared back in the Throne Room. The Spiritual Form of the youngsters who had arrived on the 99th floor was still here, and all of them were slightly shocked. They had all seen Gabriel's battle, and it was just something else entirely.
They could see that Gabriel didn't use his Origin Element in the battle at all. So he managed to defeat the two Guardians of the Floor, all without using his main strength.
The two thrones in the distance were empty since the people who used to sit on them were dead. Without them, there was nothing left on this floor for him to focus on.
He shifted his attention to the door of the next Floor in the distance. The final floor... The Hundredth Floor.
From what he knew, in recent times, only Cylix and Novius had seen what was on that floor. No one in the Academy knew either.
"Don't say yes to the tower..." He repeated the last words of Novius. He still didn't know what those words implied, but he kept that statement engraved in his mind.
As Gabriel reached the Floor of the next floor, no one stopped him.
He placed his fingers on the door to push it open, but as soon as his fingers touched the door, he stepped back, feeling something strange.
He didn't know why, but as soon as he touched the door, he could feel that the Tower was directly talking to him as if it was a living being.
The Tower didn't use any words to talk to him. It was a really strange conversation as well. Gabriel couldn't hear anything. He could just feel what the Tower was trying to say, as if the Tower was directly in contact with his soul as he touched the door.
"This Tower..." The strange conversation came as a real surprise. It was as if the Tower was telling him that it needed a Guardian for this Floor and that it was offering that position to Gabriel.
The Tower was asking him to leave a figment of his conscience behind, along with a copy of his memories up to this point, so the Tower could have a new guardian... The Guardian who defeated their last guardian.
As Gabriel thought about the question, he remembered the words of Novius. "Don't say yes to the Tower!"
"So that's what he was talking about," Finally, Gabriel believed that he understood the meaning behind those words.
Even though Cylix and Novius didn't show it on their faces, being the Guardians of this floor took a heavy toll on them, especially since they had to be sealed in this Tower until they could be defeated by the next person.
Their real selves had made the mistake of agreeing to the Tower, thinking of the betterment of the future generation. However, Gabriel didn't want to do it.
Even though all he had to do was leave a copy of his memories, he didn't want to do it. Even if it was just a copy, if it was like Novius and Cylix, it was no different than a real person. Gabriel couldn't toss anyone into this hell just for the well-being of the future generations.
He didn't care how the others were going to be treated in this Tower or if they weren't going to have the proper guardians to face. It was none of his concern. For the Tower, he wasn't going to sacrifice himself.
If it was the requirement to go to the next floor, he might have considered it, but even then, he would've just returned after checking the Hundredth floor and destroyed his copy himself. Fortunately, that wasn't the case. There was no compulsion on him to take the Guardian position to get to the next floor.
Gabriel once again placed his hand on the door, but this time he didn't step back. He just told his answer, "My answer is no. I won't leave a part of me behind!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he pushed the door open and disappeared.
The Thrones were left all empty, without a Guardian...
"Impossible!"
House of Wind's Head Teacher, Lishen, was on the Guard duty of the Tower with Rem.
Their guarding duty was just about to end. By this time, they had all convinced themselves that Gabriel was already dead inside the Tower, but just then, Lishen noticed a change in the rankings.
Shocked, he pointed at the top of the Tower. "Look there."
Rem also raised his head. "How is this possible?"
[1 Gabriel Light 100]
Gabriel had reached the top floor! He wasn't dead. Instead, he was still moving!
Moreover, since the Academy had started keeping a track of the Rankings, Gabriel was the first person to reach the Hundredth Floor.
He had surpassed even Axion, reaching the highest level floor.
"This guy... Just how talented is he?" Lishen exclaimed. "He is still alive!"
Rem was also grim. He was thinking that maybe their problem was already solved since Gabriel had died. All they had to do was to have a student of theirs reach the 99th floor and retrieve all the stolen Numens.
Since there was a high chance that all the Numens were being carried by Gabriel after his supposed death on the 99th floor, they believed that the Numens could be found there.
Unlike the other Floors, where all the Floors were in separate spaces, the 99th floor was a combined Realm where more than one student could be present together even though they were traveling a different spatial floor.
It was clear that the next person who reached that floor was going to end up in the same space where Gabriel was killed. That was the case initially at least, but now...?
The Hundredth Floor was a different beast in itself... A beast that no one known to the Academy had faced before…
Three days later... The news about a person reaching the hundredth floor spread in the academy like fire. There was only one name on everyone's mind... Gabriel.
He was the first person, according to them, who had reached the top floor just when they all assumed that he was dead.
Surprisingly, even now, most people didn't know who this Gabriel was. The Teachers had kept that news a secret from everyone. Despite that, there were a few students who had managed to guess Gabriel's identity, like Garrick.
Garrick stood on his balcony, looking in the direction of the Tower.
"The Hundredth floor... A goal that I've been working towards for the last two years. The closer I got to my goal, the farther it seemed. Despite being a fourth-year student now, I couldn't even reach the 99th floor, and that guy in his first year... Just what is his identity?"
He also couldn't help but look back to the time when he jumped into the battle to protect Gabriel.
"Now that I think about it, I should've realized it right there. Even when he was facing Aira from fourth year, there was no shred of fear on his face. Now I understand why. That guy... He knew he couldn't be defeated. Even then, he was hiding his strength."
"If he had the strength to clear the Higher Floors, he could easily wipe the floor clean with Aira. Why though? How is he that strong at this young age? Just what is his past?"
The Hundredth Floor... It was the biggest mystery for everyone in the world that no one had an answer to.
It wasn't wrong to say that every person in the Academy wanted to know just what was there.
Now that Gabriel had reached the hundredth floor, it just proved that he was still alive, which put all the teachers on alert.
The Academy was once again sealed, and all the students were told to be back in their Dorms until the next instructions. All the Head Council Members were once again before the Tower, covering it.
"I wonder what he sees there..." Lishen wondered. Even he couldn't avoid the curiosity related to the top floor and what it was like.
"We can get all the answers I need once we can capture him," Xinci responded. "Just focus on the main prize. At the moment, it's certainly Gabriel."
"I know... We will definitely be catching him." Lishen affirmed. "No matter how long it takes, as soon as he comes out, he won't be allowed to leave the Academy."
"Since he just reached the top floor, he should at least be there for a day, if not more. I believe we should seal the space tomorrow," Rem suggested to Eliana, only to have Yoan from the House of Flame counter.
"You forgot how long he stayed on the 99th floor? It was as if he was having a picnic there. It's clear that he has no intention of coming out anytime soon. If I'm not wrong, he's intentionally wasting time inside."
"And why would he do that?" Xinci asked, slightly curious. Just why would someone waste time like that? What would it get them?
"Because he knows about the Academy. Think back to the time he stole all the items from our Museum. He knew exactly where we kept what. He also knew about the Academy a lot more than I would like to accept. In that case, it won't be far-fetched to assume that he knows about our space sealing formation as well," Yoan gave a hint. "Now, do you see why he's wasting time?"
"He wants us to waste our resources to keep the Space Sealing Formation up for as long as we can until we run out of our Spirit Crystals," Qin nodded, understanding what Yoan was implying.
"Of course. If I were in his place and knew all that, I would've done the same thing. He's intentionally wasting our time, waiting for us to exhaust our resources."
"In that case, that guy... He has lots of patience. He stayed on the 99th floor, despite probably being curious about the 100th floor," Xinci grimaced, understanding that the enemy wasn't as simple as they thought. The assumption of Yoan also made sense.
For them, Yoan's assumption made more sense than the reality, which was that the Guardians of the 99th floor were training Gabriel.
Xinci further continued. "With that kind of patience... He might be able to spend two or three months on that floor, just for the sake of it."
"That's right. If we place the Space Sealing Formation now, we would only be wasting our resources and have none when the time comes."
"So what are you implying we should do?" Lishen asked. "You have stated the problem but no solution. What if we don't use the Formation, and he comes out tomorrow and immediately escapes before we can seal the space?"
"The answer is simple. We just need to engage him in conversation. Keep him distracted until the Formation gets activated when he comes out. Instead of blindly activating it, we should wait until the guy is out of the tower."
"But-"
"It's true. That does make sense," Before Lishen could replace, Rem chimed in, agreeing with Yoan, which didn't happen often.
"We should only activate the sealing formation after he is out. It's better than blindly activating it like last time since that might be what he actually wants. If we don't use it blindly, we might be able to use it even if he comes out six months later."
"As for keeping him engaged, I'm sure I'll be able to find a way until then."
Since the beginning of the discussion, Eliana had been silent, listening to others' opinions, but she actually agreed with it, and the plan was finalized.
Seven days passed since Gabriel's name climbed to the top spot, and there was still no sign of him coming out.
At that moment, everyone could see the smug face of Yoan, who proved that he was right. Gabriel didn't look like he was coming out anytime soon.
"If I'm not wrong, we might be waiting for him for months."
It was Yoan and Rem who were guarding the Tower at the moment. Since their plan was to keep Gabriel engaged until the slave sealing formation was activated, they decided against having too many people here.
They didn't want to intimidate Gabriel right away by making him think that there were too many opponents for him to win. If that was the case, he could only run after all.
Both of them also had a crystal in their hands to signal Eliana in case Gabriel stepped out of the Tower since it was her job to activate the Space Sealing Formation after that point.
"You were right. It doesn't look like he's coming out anytime so-" Rem quite casually answered, but just as he was about to end his sentence, he stopped abruptly.
He could sense a strange aura coming from inside the tower. The door of the Tower of Challenges opened, making that aura even more prevalent.
"He..." Yoan was shocked to his core to see a person standing at the entrance of the Tower.
It was a young man who seemed barely twenty years old. Since Gabriel didn't have the Ring of Apophis, he couldn't keep up his illusion anymore, but he was sure he didn't need to either.
As soon as he appeared on Flood Zero, he realized something was wrong. There was no person here. The place was completely empty. It didn't take him long to realize why that was either. Still, even if he had the ring of Apophis, he wouldn't have cared at this point.
He didn't even try to hide his Aura as he stepped out of the Tower. It was unclear what it was that happened on the hundredth floor, but something about him was very different. It was as if he was more... dangerous.
As soon as Gabriel stepped out of the Tower, he noticed two Head Council Members. This just confirmed his suspicions. They knew.
Realizing that, a smile spread across his lips…
Gabriel stepped out of the Tower of Challenges, looking very different. Surprisingly, his name also disappeared from the Tower ranking on its own for some reason.
Axion's name was once again on top of the Rankings, brown on the 99th Floor.
Even though the top name on the tower had disappeared, none of the Two Head Teachers saw that since they were more focused on Gabriel.
Rem was holding a small crystal in his hand. He clenched his fist, crushing that crystal immediately into dust.
Eliana was sitting in her chair, looking out the window. She didn't know why, but she was feeling really uneasy today. The sky was also covered in dark clouds since the morning, as if it was going to rain.
"Why am I feeling so uneasy suddenly?" She stood up and walked closer to the window. She just couldn't shake off this feeling as if something bad was going to happen.
She decided to leave her office and take a walk around the campus to ease her mind, but before she could even take a foot out of her office, she felt the crystal in her pocket shake intensely.
She pulled out the crystal, which turned into dust in her hands.
"This..." Without thinking of anything, she rushed out of her office. She needed to activate the Sealing Formation! The crushing of the crystal meant that Gabriel was discovered by Rem!
"I suppose that's your real look?" Rem asked, trying to engage Gabriel in conversation. They needed to waste his time since they didn't want him to use a spell to escape before they could seal the space.
Gabriel didn't answer right away. Instead, he observed his surroundings. Even this place was too empty. Other than the Teachers, there was no one here.
"Did you already seal the entire academy?" he asked.
Hearing Gabriel now, Rem couldn't help but feel that Gabriel was really different now. The last time he met Gabriel, he had seen a rebel who rarely listened to commands. But even inside that rebel, Rem could see some fear and some hesitation, as if he was often worried about something.
Currently, that fear and hesitation were missing. It was as if Gabriel had complete clarity now. Moreover, even as Gabriel stood before the two of them, there was no worry on his face.
"We had no choice. It's just a precaution," Rem answered. "We don't want you to attack and kill the innocent."
"You don't want me to attack and kill the innocent... Did the Academy tell the same thing to the Church of Light when you handed over your students to be killed?"
Gabriel didn't care much about what happened in the past with the academy, at least not at this moment. However, he still found this hypocrisy amusing.
"Don't worry. I won't blame the Academy for this hypocrisy." He glanced down at his hands. He was still wearing his golden gloves, but they were now blood red, covered in blood. "We all have a little hypocrite inside us after all."
He didn't forget to count himself in the same batch as well since even he had to make many decisions that countered his stance, especially inside the tower.
Even as he spoke, barely any expressions could be seen on his face.
The two Teachers had also seen the blood covered gloves.
"May I ask whose blood is that?" Rem asked. From what he could remember, the Tower was unique in that thing. No matter how many beasts a person killed inside the tower before they left the Tower, the Tower always cleaned the blood on their clothes.
Not only did the tower heal a person right before they came out, but all their clothes were clean as well. Not even a shred of blood could be seen on a person's clothes, even if that person came out of a bloody battlefield.
That's what made this so strange. Why were Gabriel's hands covered in blood? And whose blood was it? Just who did he kill that even the Tower didn't want to clean?
Initially, Rem's goal was only to keep Gabriel engaged, but at the moment, he was actually intrigued. He had so many questions that he needed answers to.
"This blood?" Gabriel raised his bloody hands.
Rem nodded in response, wondering if there was another battle on the hundredth floor that Gabriel had to win.
Gabriel opened his lips to answer, but he stopped before he could even utter a word as he raised his hand, noticing a beautiful white barrier covering the entire Academy.
He could also feel some Spatial Disturbance in the surrounding area. Since he also knew some Spells of Light that utilize some of the Spatial Elements, he could also sense this change.
Even when Lira told him about the Academy, she hadn't mentioned a single thing about this security mechanism. It was Gabriel's first time seeing something like this.
"You brat, you are done for now!" Yoan, who had been silent all this while as Rem kept Gabriel engaged, finally started speaking.
He burst into a hearty laughter. They had succeeded in this mission of keeping Gabriel engaged until the Formation was activated. Eliana had succeeded.
"Now that the Spatial Entrapment Formation is active, you can't use teleportation spells inside the Academy! You can't escape now!"
"Yoan, calm down. Let me talk to him." Rem placed his hand on Yoan's shoulder to pull the Head of House of Fire back. He didn't want Yoan to instigate Gabriel since it was much better to take him down without a battle if possible.
"No need for that anymore." Yoan pushed aside Rem's hand. "Now that we have the Holy Priest of Darkness in our grasp, he isn't going anywhere. No need to be careful now! Within seconds, all the others will be here as well!"
"Holy Priest of Darkness?" Gabriel tilted his head to the side, slightly confused. Just what were these people talking about? Were they considering him the Holy Priest of Darkness? Did they not know that it was Lira?
"I'm not the Holy Priest of Darkness."
"Nonsense! You think you can fool us now, little brat? We know every trick that you pulled! You can fool Eliana and Rem, but not me!" Yoan refused to believe Gabriel's words.
At this point, almost all the Head Council Members of the Academy were sure that Gabriel was the Holy Priest of Darkness. No ordinary person could reach the top floor of the tower with such ease and release such a dark aura.
"You can't escape now!"
Just as he finished speaking, the other Head Council Members also started arriving, surrounding Gabriel from every side.
Other than Rem and Yoan, all the other Head Council Teachers were busy with their own work since they weren't on guard duty. However, as soon as they received the signal through the crystal, they all rushed to the Tower.
A bright flash came from the distance as if a bolt of Lightning was coming toward the Tower. A person could be seen inside that lightning flash who landed next to Rem.
The Head Teacher from the House of Lighting, Qin had arrived. Not long after him, the Head Teacher from House of Water Rin also arrived, covering the left side of Gabriel.
She only came here after making sure that the barrier was up. Sitting atop a Giant Eagle, the Head Teacher from the House of Summoning Xinci also arrived. She jumped down from the Eagle, landing on the right side of Gabriel.
The Head Teacher from House of Wind, Lishen also arrived swiftly, standing with Rin. It was uncle when the Head Teacher from House of Nature Loy arrived, but he was already standing right next to Xinci.
Six of the right teachers were already here. They had already covered all the paths, leaving no path of escape for Gabriel.
Rin and Lishen stood firmly on Gabriel's left, keeping a distance of ten meters from him. Xinci and Loy covered his right, and Rem, Qin, and Yoan covered the path ahead.
The only way left for him was behind him, which led back inside the Tower. Unfortunately, with Eliana's arrival, that path was also blocked.
"Give up. You can't escape. All your paths of escape have been closed. This Academy... It shall be your graveyard if you don't surrender!" Qin commanded Gabriel, who was still standing without much reaction.
Even when he was surrounded by so many Advanced Stage Mages, he still didn't react. He just glanced at all the Head Teachers, especially Eliana.
"Don't worry. I won't be going back inside the tower again. I'm done with it," he informed Eliana, who was standing at the entrance of the tower as if worried that he might enter the tower to protect himself as a last ditch effort.
"Enough talk!" Yoan roared, quite upset that despite being surrounded, Gabriel was acting as if he was in control! Did this guy have no brain?
"As I told you before, you only have one option if you want to survive!" Yoan tossed a small bracelet toward Gabriel.
Gabriel didn't touch the bracelet and just watched it fall to the ground at his feet.
He didn't pick up the bracelet. He just asked, "What is it?"
"That's Bracelet of Sealing," Yoan answered. "It's a Numen that will seal your elements if you wear it. It only works if the mage wears it himself, so wear it and surrender! After you wear it, we can stop considering you a threat, and there won't be a need to eliminate you!"
"Eliminate me?" Gabriel repeated the last words as he finally picked up the bracelet of Sealing.
Seeing him pick up the bracelet, most of the Head Council Members were slightly happy. If he was actually sealing his Element and surrendering, then they didn't need to fight and risk damaging the Academy.
There was only one person who was upset even now. It was none other than Yoan. He wanted Gabriel to reject their peace offer since he really wanted to kill the young man. It wasn't often that one got an opportunity to claim in the future that they killed a Ruler of Element with their own hands!
He clicked his tongue in disappointment.
"I should've known this coward would take the offer," he muttered under his breath.
Gabriel picked up the bracelet of sealing and observed it for a few seconds. "A Numen that wasn't in the museum..."
"Thanks for bringing it to me. Might come in handy in the future." Instead of wearing the Bracelet of Sealing, he kept it in his pocket, shocking everyone.
"This guy!" Xinci couldn't believe it. "He already stole most of our Numens, and he wants to steal even the one we gave him to surrender? This guy is just... Argh!"
Even Lishen didn't know how to react. It was as if they had left, giving the thief of Numens one more Numen to keep.
"Even if you keep it, it's not like you can leave this place alive. Either you wear that and surrender, or you'll die!" Qin's heavy voice reached Gabriel.
Even he was starting to get upset and feel a bit insulted.
"I've had enough!" Yoan was elated on the inside at the rejection, but he still pretended to be angry. He wanted to be the first to strike and kill Gabriel. "Why are we even talking to him? Let me kill that bastard!"
"Flames of the Warriors!" He roared as he rushed ahead before anyone could even stop him. A fire ignited around his right fist as he aimed to shatter Gabriel's skull with just one punch.
Within a blink of an eye, Yoan was already in front of Gabriel, throwing his punch ahead.
Boom~
His flaming fist landed on Gabriel's face. Most of the Head Council Teachers expected Gabriel to be flying back, heavily injured from the attack, but what happened next stunned even them.
Gabriel hadn't even moved an inch from his place. His face was already completely fine. It was as if he was made of the hardest of stones that couldn't be broken by a punch.
Even Yoan couldn't believe what had just happened. How was it possible? Gabriel hadn't used any spell since the beginning! Then how was he completely unharmed?
He didn't realize that Gabriel had already used a spell. It's just that he didn't chant it. As soon as he was attacked, Gabriel used the [Dark Manifestation, which made him invincible for a short duration
It was a defense that even Novius couldn't break, let alone Yoan! The only flaw in this spell was that Gabriel couldn't attack as long as he was using this spell.
That wasn't a problem for him though. All he had to do was cancel the Dark Manifestation after he was protected from the attack, and he was free to attack. That's also what he did.
Once again, he used the Wordless Chant, this time using the Dark Maelstrom.
Yoan was still unable to believe how Gabriel was safe despite his attack.
"I will kill you, bastard!" He attacked again, but it was too late.
Boom~
A Dark Maelstrom hit him, and from very close since he was standing barely half a meter away from Gabriel.
Yoan yelled in pain as his body shot back like a rocket. He could even feel as if his ribcage was broken.
Yoan crashed into a tree in the back, coughing out a mouthful of blood. This attack... It was very powerful even for him.
All the Head Council Teachers were shocked to see Gabriel's attack. There was no doubt in their minds that it was a Dark Spell, but they never saw him Chant the spell!
,m "Wordless Chant!" Rem exclaimed, realizing what just happened.
"He mastered wordless chant? At such a young age? Just what monster is he?" Lishen also couldn't believe it. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he never would've believed that a man who was barely eighteen years old had mastered the Wordless Chant!
Gabriel didn't chase after Yoan to attack. Instead, he just stood his ground as if Yoan wasn't even worth his attention. He could see that none of the teachers here were as strong as Novius and Cylix.
"It seems you are all under a heavy misconception," Amidst the shock of the Head Teachers, Gabriel spoke. "If I don't leave this place, it won't be my Graveyard that this Academy becomes…."
Wordless Chant... Many people knew about its existence, yet only a rare few had seen it actually in action. Only the Holy Priests were able to use something like that, and it had been over a hundred years since there had been a significant war.
That was the last time where the Holy Priests took part in a large-scale battle and showcased their fighting skills, amazing everyone. Before that moment, even though people knew that the Holy Priests were strong, the extent of their strength was unknown.
It was that battle where most of the Mages saw the true strength of the Holy Priests.
Almost all the Holy Priests used Wordless Chants in that battle, proving the existence of something like that.
Before that war, most people only considered the Holy Priests to be stronger than the Head Priests of the Church, but that war revealed that even an entire army of Head Priests wasn't comparable to a single Priest at their peak!
A holy priest ruled over their Element, and through years of training, they had enough strength to flatten a city with a single spell. That war showed that the Holy Priests were truly the strongest beings in this world.
Even the Kingdoms couldn't stand before a single Holy Priest. That's why all the Kingdoms tried to maintain a good relationship with the Holy Priests.
Unfortunately, there was one exception... The Holy Priest of Darkness. Even before the War, the Holy Church of Darkness was always in isolation, never forming any bonds with any of the Kingdoms outside. The following war destroyed the Church of Darkness, but it didn't affect any of the Kingdoms since none was associated with the Dark Church.
The Church of Darkness still hadn't managed to recover from that destruction, but it finally had an opportunity since there was a rumor spreading in the world that there was a new Ruler of Element of Darkness.
At the moment, the entire Head Council was sure that the young man standing before them was the Ruler of Darkness.
They just saw him use the Dark Maelstrom, which was a well known spell of Darkness. Moreover, he used a Wordless Chant! There was no doubt in their minds now. This guy... He was the Holy Priest of Darkness...
Seeing Yoan hurt badly, Eliana wanted to rush to heal him, but she couldn't abandon her post. Despite Gabriel's assurance that he wasn't going to enter the tower again, she couldn't take the risk.
Fortunately, Rin came to help. She appeared next to Eliana, placing her hand on the young woman's shoulder. "Help him. We will need his strength as well. I'll block the entrance."
Eliana nodded and rushed to Yoan, who was injured, being hit by the Dark Maelstrom from such close proximity. She cast a healing spell on Yoan, healing his broken bones.
"He isn't trying to stop her," Rem commented, analyzing Gabriel's actions. Even when Eliana went to help Yoan, he didn't try to stop her. He didn't attack them either for some strange reason.
This guy... Did he really not consider them strong enough to be a threat? Or did he find some treasure on the hundredth floor, which gave him this confidence? Rem couldn't help but wonder. In any case, they couldn't afford to take Gabriel lightly.
Rem knew that even though Gabriel looked young, he was a really strange mage. Judging him based on his strength was no less than a huge mistake.
'But what then? How can we take him down without killing him? If he really is a threat, we really don't have a choice but to kill him, it seems.'
Until now, Rem wanted to solve this entire mess peacefully by capturing Gabriel alive so they could question him later, but at the moment, it seemed unlikely.
Gabriel momentarily glanced at Yoan, who was being healed.
"High Heal..." He even recognized that spell since he had also learned the same spell from Cylix himself. High Heal was just a slightly weaker version of the lost spell Holy Heal which Gabriel also learned.
Unfortunately, since he also had the Dark Element, the effect of Healing Spells was much lower on him than it would've been on a different Elemental Mage, but it was still better than nothing.
'All of them... They are scared.' Just like Rem was observing him, Gabriel was also observing the Head Council Members. He could sense it. He could feel their concern and their fear of the unknown.
'When I saw them for the first time in their office, they looked so aloof. They were deciding our future, even if it meant damaging someone's Spiritual Potential. They were like gods who could crush us whenever they wished but now... If I were to compare them to the younger Cylix, they would still be slightly weaker.'
'Even if they all came together, they couldn't take down Cylix and Novius. The Head Council... It's not as strong as I thought. If there is anyone in the Academy who could've taken down the younger versions of Cylix and Novius that I faced, it is only one person... the Dean of the Academy, Izen. In his absence, this Academy is very weak. But maybe that's for the best.'
'The only problem is that the Church of Light is still in the city and possibly the Holy Priest of Light as well.'
The Head Teachers still blocked Gabriel's path, motivated by only one goal... The goal to take him down.
"Just what are you after?" Rem asked Gabriel, who was still seemingly lost in some thought.
"Huh?" Gabriel came out of his daze, wondering if someone asked something.
"I want to know what you're after. What do you want to achieve? Do you want revenge for what happened to the Church of Darkness? Do you want to destroy the world? What exactly is your goal?!"
"Revenge for the Church of Darkness?" Gabriel glanced in the distant horizon in the direction of the City of Abadon.
"I can't destroy the entire world, can I?" he asked in return. "His home is in this world too."
When someone talked about the entire world, Gabriel couldn't help but remember the face of Novius when he spoke of his home. If he destroyed the world, that meant he was destroying the descendants of Novius as well.
" I don't have any plans to destroy the world, but I do have one other goal..."
"What goal?" Novius inquired.
"I'm sure you'll all know when the time comes," Gabriel answered, casting the Wings of Flight spell on himself.
His body started rising in the air as he felt like he needed to be somewhere else. There was no need for him to kill the Head Council Members.
"Where do you think you're going?!" As soon as Gabriel started flying away, he heard a shout from the back as a wall of flames appeared before him, blocking his path.
Gabriel stopped in his place, watching the wall of flames expand, surrounding him from all sides. Within seconds, Gabriel was sealed inside a box of flames that could burn any human to ashes on a simple touch.
Yoan was perfectly fine now, thanks to the healing spell of Eliana. Despite being healed, he was still feeling so insulted. Out of everyone here, he also had the worst anger. He couldn't allow Gabriel to leave after hurting him.
"Yoan, don't kill him! We can probably still force him to wear the Sealing Bracelet." Rem suggested, still trying to walk down the passive route.
He knew that if they killed Gabriel, they were never going to get any answers. There were so many questions that needed an answer, like how many Dark Mages were part of Gabriel's group? Where were they staying? What was their strength? And most importantly, what was on the top floor.
"Shut up!" Instead of heeding Rem's advice, he listened to his own rage.
He clenched his fist, filling the inside of the flaming box with a fire, leaving not even an inch that wasn't burned.
"I'm afraid I spoke too soon last time... It seems not all of you will be there to see it when the time comes," A voice came from the back, accompanied by a dark aura.
Yoan had trapped Gabriel in his Flaming Prison, but imprisonment wasn't his main goal. His main goal was to crush Gabriel, sending him straight to the depths of hell. He couldn't afford to let a Dark Mage insult him like that!
Gabriel was inside the flaming box, shaking his head. After what happened on the hundredth floor, he wasn't looking for a battle so soon, but it seemed that these people weren't going to let him leave without a battle.
"If that's the case," he muttered, calling out the Ancestral Staff of Darkness.
"Paradise of Darkness."
The entire space inside the Flaming Prison was filled with burning flames. Not even a mage with the strongest of defense could survive being burned to ashes inside the Flaming Prison.
"See? It was easy. You were all worried for no reason. The Holy Priest, my foot," Yoan scoffed. "He was no less than an insect destined to be crushed under my foot!"
"Something doesn't feel right."
Unlike Yoan, Rem appeared even more concerned now as he felt a strange feeling. It was unclear what it was, but he was still able to sense Darkness. The only difference was that it wasn't coming from one direction. He could feel Darkness all around him as if it was everywhere.
The Spatial Entrapment Formation that the Academy used was a precious formation that cost a lot of effort and money to be made. The best Mages and Artificers were used to create this formation.
Even running this formation was a costly affair as each minute it was active, the Academy had to use Hundreds of Spiritual Crystal. The formation worked by sealing the space inside the Academy so that no one could use Teleportation inside the Academy, but even the Formation wasn't without its flaws.
The major flaw of this Formation was that it didn't work inside the Domains. In other words, the effect of this Formation was non-existent inside a person's Domain Spell range.
Even though most people didn't know of this flaw or didn't have the Domain Spells, Gabriel wasn't in that league.
As soon as he was trapped inside the flaming prison, the first thing he did was cast the Paradise of Darkness which wasn't an ordinary Domain Spell. It was the most precious spell of the Founder of the Academy himself.
Inside the Domain Range, the Entrapment Formation was completely ineffective, which allowed Gabriel to leave the Flaming Prison without having to pass through the flames.
Just as Yoan was celebrating his achievement, he heard a cold voice coming from behind him.
"I'm afraid I spoke too soon last time... It seems not all of you will be there to see it when the time comes."
The Dark Mist covered most of the Academy, alerting even the students who were currently in their Dorms.
"You?!" Yoan turned around, stunned to see Gabriel behind him.
"Fireball!" He cast a spell right away in Gabriel's direction. Unfortunately, before his fireball could even hit Gabriel, the young man disappeared into the darkness like a ghost.
"I'll make it quick," Gabriel stated. Strangely enough, it was unclear where his voice was coming from. It was as if he kept changing spots. One moment, he was on their next. Next moment he was right. He was everywhere!
"Whirlwind!" Lishen cast the spell of Wind to clear the mist. He couldn't stay out of the battle anymore. It was clear that Gabriel was a threat that they needed to stop! No matter how impulsive Yoan was, they had to support him.
Heavy winds blew away the dark mist that was surrounding all the Head Council Members, only to reveal a ghastly sight that almost made Rin vomit.
A pitch black spear could be seen coming out of the ground. Even though the spear was also made of the mist, it was solidified, unaffected by the winds of Lishen.
What was more shocking was what was on top of the Spear! On top, there was Yoan's lifeless body, bleeding from his chest, which was impaled by the Dark Spear.
Generally, the Dark Mist would've returned to cover the entire place once again, but not this time since Gabriel canceled the Dark Paradise.
Eliana's face was already pale. She wasn't standing too far from Yoan, but even she didn't know how and when Yoan died. She didn't even hear a scream. It was as if right before Yoan was impaled by the spear, something had closed his mouth.
The Paradise of Darkness was Gabriel's Domain, in which the dark mist was his soldier. It was a spell that even threw the Head Council into commotion.
Eliana rushed to Yoan, destroying the dark Spear to bring his body down before casting a High Heal Spell.
"It's not working!" She exclaimed, seeing the spell not working. It was too late already. Yoan was already dead, and even she couldn't bring the dead back to life... Death was permanent that even gods couldn't reverse... At least, that's what she believed.
Yoan was dead.
"I can't sense his presence," Rem called out, unable to find Gabriel.
"I can't either. Did he run away?" Lishen asked. The Dark Mist wasn't returning, and the dark presence was also gone. None of them could feel the presence anymore.
"The exit! He's probably trying to leave this academy!" Qin exclaimed as he ran toward the exit of the Academy. Since none could Teleport out of the Academy, that left only one path to escape.
"Qin, wait! He's too powerful. Don't go alone!" Rem called Qin, but it was too late. That man was lightning fast and had already disappeared.
"I'll go after him!" Xinci chimed in. "I'm sure Qin is right! That boy is trying to leave! We can't let him!"
Xinci raised her Staff, casting a summoning spell. "Come to me, Nature Wolf!"
As soon as she finished her spell, a dark red formation appeared before bed. From the formation, it was as if a door to another world was open, from where a twenty-foot-tall beast jumped out.
The beast, which looked like a fierce wolf, had beautiful green fur. It was also known for its strong battle prowess and its great sense of smell which could help him find anyone as long as that person left behind some significant aura.
And that Dark Aura was already in the air everywhere now.
The Nature Wolf also ran toward the exit, carrying Xinci on his back.
"I'm coming after you too!"
Only the Head Council Teachers went to the exit, while the rest of the teachers were told to protect the Dorms to make sure that no student was hurt.
Against everyone's expectations, Gabriel wasn't really going to the exit. Instead, he went somewhere else entirely...
"Found you," Gabriel's voice broke the silence
In the mist-covered Paradise of Darkness, Gabriel was like a ghost, moving without making any noise.
Even though Yoan stood near Eliana, Gabriel was still able to kill him without anyone else even finding out. That was made even easier since no one expected him to be skillful enough to be able to kill Yoan in such a short time.
Another thing that came in handy was that the Paradise of Darkness was a spell that was unknown even to the Academy. The Academy heads only knew that their founders had some unique spells, but other than that, they didn't know anything.
They didn't even know that the spell that Gabriel was using was one of those secret spells of their founders.
A spell was powerful enough on its own, but it only became more effective when it was a large-scale spell that no one knew much about. Due to their complete unfamiliarity with the spell, they were only limited to their guesses, being forced to think that the Dark Mist only worked to decrease their vision.
Not even Eliana realized that Gabriel was able to control the Dark Mist to do anything he wanted. He was like a god who could mold the space here.
Before he even attacked Yoan personally, Gabriel used the Dark Mist to close Yoan's mouth. The dark shackles also wrapped around his hands and feet, holding him in his place.
Yoan couldn't even cast any spell. All he could do was struggle as his eyes widened. Without his spells, he couldn't free himself. He couldn't even make any noise. If he wanted to do anything, first he needed to free his mouth.
In his mind, he was even cursing Eliana. Their enemy had captured him, and despite being so close to him, Eliana didn't even come to help.
His struggle didn't last long either as a dark Sphere impaled his chest, passing through his heart and raising his body high in the air.
From the moment Gabriel closed the middle-aged Mage's mouth to the moment of his death, only a few seconds had passed, but those few seconds were like an eternity for Yoan.
His eyes were bloodshot, but he couldn't even scream in pain. His eyes lost their shine, and it was only then that Gabriel released his mouth.
"Hmm?" Gabriel had just finished killing Yoan, who tried to stop him when he went slightly tense. He could sense a presence that didn't belong to the Head Council Teachers.
His figure disappeared into the darkness. As he left, his Paradise of Darkness also stopped. It all happened in such a short time that no one could believe that Yoan was already dead!
Gabriel's figure appeared on the Treasure Hall's roof, which wasn't very far from the Tower of Challenges.
He could see a very familiar figure—someone who was watching his battle with the Head Council Teachers.
Even as Gabriel appeared on the roof, there was only silence there.
"Found you." Gabriel broke the silence, finally making the figure turn around to face him.
"Why are you following me?" Gabriel asked. "It's the fourth time I've seen you and the second time in the Academy. Just what are you after?"
Before him, there was no human. There was also no beast. There was only a Dark Spectre, covered in a dark shroud which made it impossible for anyone to even see the Spectre's face. At times, it even felt as if the Spectre had no face at all.
Hearing Gabriel's question, the Spectre lowered his head as if he was disappointed by something.
"I see... So you still haven't..." The lifeless voice of the Spectre reached Gabriel.
It was Gabriel's first time hearing the Spectre's words, who had never spoken before. The voice of the Spectre was completely lifeless, but it was certainly a voice similar to the voice of a man.
For some reason, he found that voice a bit familiar as well. It was as if he had heard that voice many times before, but he just couldn't remember when.
Even in the lifeless voice, Gabriel could sense some disappointment, as if the Spectre was expecting something else instead of the question.
"Wh-" Gabriel spoke again, but before he could even let a word out, the Spectre once again disappeared as if he was no more than an illusion.
"He left again..."
With the Spectre's departure, Gabriel was the only person who was left standing on the roof.
The aura of the spectre was gone, and even he couldn't feel that presence anymore. It was as if it was truly gone.
Gabriel stood on the roof, looking at the Head Council Teachers who were running toward the exit in hopes of catching him.
"It seems they can't sense my aura here."
He was sure that the Head Council Teachers wouldn't be running to the exit if they could sense him. However, he wasn't hiding his aura either, so it was unclear just what was keeping his aura from reaching them.
He observed the roof, mostly sure that it was the doing of the Spectre.
"Hmm?" Even though he couldn't find any formation that could give auras, but he did find something. There was a piece of paper where the spectre was standing previously.
On top of the piece of paper, there was a beautiful golden ring that was keeping the paper in its place, working as a paperweight.
"Is it because of the ring?" He walked closer to the ring that was emitting a special radiance. It was undoubtedly a Numen, but why would the Spectre leave this here? Was it for him?"
He picked up the ring, followed by the piece of paper.
Initially, he observed the paper that had something written on it.
There were only two words written on the piece of paper, and that too with magic. "Keep it."
"Is he giving this to me?" Gabriel frowned, shifting his attention to the ring that was clearly a Numen that wasn't from the Academy. It was also an ownerless Numen.
Despite that, he didn't wear the ring. His suspicious nature prevented him from wearing any Numen without enough information.
Fortunately, now he knew a method to understand a Numen. All he needed to do was just control it!
He bit his thumb and placed a small droplet of blood on the small Numen. As long as he was able to bind it, he could easily get the information about this Numen.
Amongst all the things he learned from Novius and Cylix, Gabriel considered this binding method worth the most. Even though it was common knowledge in this World, he wasn't sure if he would ever know about it if not for those two.
The Binding didn't take long enough as the ring was tied to him. His mind was filled with information about the strange ring.
"I see. So this ring hides every magical aura within a ten-meter range of it, no matter how strong it may be. Was this what the Spectre used to get inside undetected? But if that's the case, why would it leave it for me? Is he truly trying to help me? Or something else?"
Even though Gabriel didn't understand why this Numen would be given to him, he still wore her ring since he had made sure that the ring was safe.
In essence, the ring worked in a similar concept to something he had seen before. Just like Lambard hid his aura before Elora such that even the Holy Priest of Water couldn't sense his dark aura despite standing merely a few meters away from him, this ring also did.
The only difference was that this ring didn't just hide his own aura. It hid any aura within ten meters range of him from others.
With him getting strong, his aura had also gotten stronger. However, at the same time, he also worked on ways to improve his ability to control his aura and didn't feel like he needed the ring, but now that he had it, it was better to just use it.
After wearing the ring, he turned his attention back to the Academy.
"Did he come here this time just to give me that ring?"
In the absence of the Spectre, Gabriel had many questions. Unfortunately, the person who could answer him was already gone.
The Head Council Member had also left the place, going straight for the exit of the Academy, thinking they were going to find Gabriel there.
If he wanted, he could've also gone there to continue his battle from before. However, he decided against it. For him, it was no more than a waste of time and effort to fight the Head Council Members. This city was still the supposed home of the Holy Priest of Light, after all.
"Wings of Flight."
Two beautiful wings came out of his back, helping his body rise in the air.
The Head Council Teachers reached the exit. Strangely enough, there were no signs of battle. The guards that were protecting the entrance were still perfectly fine.
Eliana asked the guards if they saw Gabriel coming here, to which the guards could only say no.
"If he didn't come here, then where...?" Rem frowned, wondering about the whereabouts of Gabriel. He could feel that Gabriel was still inside the Academy.
Even Eliana was confused. However, it was also at that time she noticed the space sealing Barrier flicker.
"The Barrier!" she exclaimed as if she finally understood everything. She hastily flew back inside the academy.
Inside the Academy, other than the buildings that were shown to the students during their first day, there were a few more buildings, and one of the main ones at that was one that stored the core of the Space Sealing Formation.
Not only did the building house the Space Sealing Formation's core, but it was also the place where the Academy stored all their Spirit Crystals.
There was heavy security around the Storage Hall, but all the security personnel were lying on the ground, unconscious. It was as if someone had placed them into a deep slumber.
The main door was also open, revealing that someone had already entered the building.
Gabriel stood inside the massive hall which stored all the Spirit Crystals of the Academy, which wasn't just used to keep the Space Sealing Formation running but was also used for everything else in the Academy.
Gabriel was in the middle of the hall, observing the massive treasure trove. Unlike a Numen was a treasure that increased a person's strength without making him intrinsically stronger, the Spirit Crystals were treasures that made a Mage stronger internally, helping them increase their magical strength.
,m *
Eliana's face went pale as soon as she saw all the guards unconscious. She rushed inside the hall without wasting a single second.
As soon as she reached the central hall, which was supposed to store all their Spirit Crystals, she dropped to her knees. The massive hall... It was all empty now. All their Spirit Crystals were stolen, leaving no Spirit Crystals there.
Eliana gathered her breath before screaming at the top of her lungs. "Gabriel, you thief!!!"
Not only did Gabriel steal all their Numens, but he also took all their Spirit Crystals and the Soul Sealing Formation's core.
Eliana's rageful roar echoed in the entire academy. Unfortunately, the person she was screaming for was already out of the academy by now.
Gabriel was already out of the Academy and inside the Lumen City, walking on the crowded street. He had stolen so many things from the academy that if wealth was a criterion, that he was probably the third richest person in the entire Lumen Kingdom, only after the King and the Holy Priest of Light.
It was already night, and the moon hung high in the sky. The night looked almost identical to the night when he had arrived in the city. He remembered the night where he had promised himself that he was going to achieve his goal.
Even he didn't realize how his goals were going to change in such a short time, but he believed he had more or less achieved all his goals.
"I wonder when the city is going to be unsealed." Even as he walked on the streets, he couldn't help but overhear the conversation of the people that were walking ahead of him.
"I wonder the same. Ever since the Academy was attacked a few weeks ago, the entire city has been sealed. No one is allowed to enter the city or leave. We are effectively trapped here, waiting."
"I think it has more to do than just the attack on the Academy. Don't forget that almost half the Holy Priests of the Church of Light have gone to a war. I'm sure sealing the city was just an extra safety mechanism since the Holy Church of Light is running at half force."
The group of people kept discussing about the war and when they thought the city was going to be unsealed. Still, the only thing which caught Gabriel's attention was the war. Just who was the Holy Church of Light at a war with?
"War, huh."
Unfortunately, it appeared as if even they didn't know who the Holy Church of Light was at war with.
Another interesting piece of news was that the Church of Light was at half force currently. That meant it was at the weakest it was ever going to be.
A thought crossed his head, to which he soon wondered if it was worth it…
The Holy Church of Light... It was said to be one of the strongest powers in the World especially because of the Holy Priest of Light who was claimed to be the strongest of all the Holy Priests according to the people of the world.
Under normal situations, it was almost impossible to infiltrate the Holy Church of Light, but these weren't the normal situations. Half the Church of Light was out of the city, possibly in some war so their strength was already half of their peak.
Moreover, whatever half was left, he had a feeling that those numbers were going to dwindle even more if the Academy of Elements called for help.
Before this month, he hadn't even thought of infiltrating the Church of Light because there was a possibility of the Holy Priest being there. The Head Priests of Light were also more sensitive to the Darker Elements so there was a good chance that his Darkness could've been sensed if he even tried entering.
But what changed the equation in his favour was the ring that he received from the Spectre.
"The timing of receiving the Ring is really strange though." He glanced at his ring.
He couldn't help but feel as if the Spectre also wanted him to enter the Holy Church of a Light, which was the reason he brought this ring to him. With the ring, he wasn't sure if even the Holy Priest of Light could sense his aura.
Still, there was a lot of risk involved. If he infiltrated the Holy Church of Light and stole their treasures, he was going to make the entire Holy Church his enemy. Then again, it wasn't as if they already didn't consider him an enemy of humanity.
The two sides were already on two opposite ends where compromise was impossible.
Gabriel thought a lot about his future course of action, wondering if he really should invade the Holy Church of Light. After thinking for a long time, he eventually came to a decision...
"It is too soon for that. According to the people, the Holy Priest of Light hasn't gone to the war. I've already received enough treasure. I won't risk my life for my greed until I'm sure that I can take him on." He clenched his fist, deciding to not enter the Holy Church of Light.
Not many people in the world knew for sure that there was no Holy Priest of Light at the moment since the Holy Grimoire was yet to select the next Holy Priest. The Church of Light had done a good job in keeping that a secret, and it also worked.
Even Gabriel couldn't take the risk at the moment. It was one thing to fight the younger versions of Novius and the Head Council Members who were along the same strength range but it was a completely different thing to fight the Holy Priest of Light who could take the help of Ancestral Staff of Light.
He could see the Holy Church of Light within a walking distance already.
"Two guards at the entrance and a protective barrier all around." Gabriel walked past the Holy Church of Light, observing the safety mechanisms that he could see.
"It seems now that they are at half strength, they have increased their security even more. They certainly aren't taking things lightly."
Gabriel didn't stop before the Church of Light and kept walking as if he was no more than a commoner.
It didn't matter how much he wanted to do it, he wasn't going to risk it. Even though he had more than one Element and some powerful spells thanks to his teachers, he was still a Mid Tier Mage when it came to Magical Strength.
He didn't think he was ready to face a Ruler of Element until he became an Advanced Tier Mage. So far, he had only faced Lira, the Ruler of Darkness and that's also when she didn't have the help of her Ancestral Staff. He didn't even know how he survived that situation, but it gave him some insight into the strength of the Holy Priests.
Lira was supposed to be weaker than the Holy Priest of Light, even if both of them fought without an Ancestral Staff. At least that's what she used to think. In that case, Gabriel believed that fighting him at the moment was no more than stupidity since he was definitely going to use his Ancestral Staff of Light.
Gabriel felt a familiar presence once again, which made him raise his head. He could see the Spectre standing on the roof of one of the buildings, looking at him.
This time, Gabriel didn't chase after him since the Spectre could disappear again.
"If you have anything to say, come to me. I don't care why you gave me this Ring, but I won't let you, or anyone else define my path for me."
The Spectre shook his head lightly before disappearing in the darkness again. It was unclear what he was thinking. The only thing which was certain was that Gabriel didn't walk the path laid out for him by others. He thought clearly about his every future action, remembering the last words of Novius.
Even when Novius was dying, he only told Gabriel to make sure that he doesn't lose his own path because of the actions of this world.
The Academy of Elements was in chaos thanks to Gabriel, but the Holy Church of Light was completely silent, not realizing just how close they were from a battle with Gabriel.
The entire city had been sealed but that sealing was nothing for someone like Gabriel. He didn't leave through the main entrance of the city where most of the guards were placed. Instead, he stopped at the back of the city, observing the dome shaped Barrier.
Unlike the marking barrier from before that allowed all mages to walk past it as long as they didn't have the Element of Darkness, this barrier sealed everyone inside the city, making it impossible for anyone to get out of the city.
"The Protection Barrier cast using the Holy Grimoire of Light by the last Ruler of Light. A barrier that's said to be impossible to break... Let's see if the words hold some value."
Gabriel brought his Holy Grimoire of Necromancy out, along with his Ancestral Staff for the same.
"A barrier cast using the Holy Grimoire. If it was at its peak, even breaking it using another Holy Grimoire would've been hard, but after such a long time has passed since the barrier was cast, it's weakened. My Grimoire should be able to break it."
Gabriel raised his right hand, placing it on the barrier before him.
"Soul Explosion!"
[Boom]
"Soul Explosion!"
[Boom]
"Soul Explosion!"
[Boom]
"Soul Explosion!"
,m [Boom]
One after another, Gabriel cast five Soul Explosions, destroying five souls in the process, but it appeared to work as he saw a crack develop in the barrier before him.
"Soul Explosion!"
He cast the same spell one again. Following an explosive sound, the world returned to silence again. The cracks on the barrier kept spreading.
At times, it sounded like a glass was cracking. Within minutes, the cracks spread throughout the barrier, covering every place. Even the barrier at the entrance of the city was cracked due to residual forces.
"What?"
"How is this possible?"
"What is happening?"
Even the Mages who were assigned to guard the entrance couldn't see what was happening. All they could see was that the barrier that was supposed to be unbreakable was breaking.
Inside the Academy of Element, the Head Council Teachers were fuming in anger. They had finished searching the entire Academy but Gabriel was nowhere. It was as if he had already left the Academy.
"He can leave the academy, but he shouldn't have an easy time leaving the city," Qin exclaimed as he suggested they take the help of the Holy Church of Light to widen their search.
"I wouldn't be so sure about it," Rem's grim voice lacked any sort of optimism as he pointed up.
The other Teachers also looked up, only to see the cracks in the barrier of the Holy Church of Light.
Within the next few seconds, the entire barrier shattered, turning back into energy that merged with the nature again.
"He left the city..." Eliana summerized. She was sure that only one person could break the barrier. This only meant that he was already at the exit.
Even the Head Priests of Light were informed about the breaking of the barrier. They all rushed out of the Church to see it with their own eyes.
Even as they saw it with their own eyes, they still found it hard to believe. First, their initial barrier was rendered ineffective as a Dark Mage was allowed to infiltrate and now their second barrier was broken?
"Things are more serious than I thought," one of the Head Priests stated as his face remained covered with a concerned frown. "If the Grimoire doesn't select a candidate soon, it can get really troublesome even for all of us."
The Holy Grimoire of Light... Amongst the known Grimoires, it was considered by the people to be the strongest Grimoire in existence. This Grimoire was also used by the Holy Priest of Light to wipe out the Church of Darkness as well, which proved his superiority to the world.
Ever since the last war, not many people had seen the Holy Grimoire of Light being used since there was never a need to. And in recent years, let alone the Grimoire of Light, people hadn't even seen the Holy Priest of Light himself.
Despite the rumors that were out, not many people believed that the Holy Priest of Light didn't exist currently. This was just impossible to believe for many.
Almost all the citizens considered that rumor to be too stupid. The Church also maintained its silence, not openly paying any attention to these rumors, but secretly, the Church certainly influenced public perception to make sure that no one believed this, especially the other Churches.
Even since their last Holy Priest had died, the Church of Light had been patiently waiting for their next Holy Priest, but the Grimoire didn't select anyone. It was as if, for the last few years, the Holy Grimoire of Light had gone into a deep sleep.
It was only now that it was starting to wake up, making the Head Priests believe that the time for the appearance of the next Ruler of Light was near.
Unfortunately, it was still too soon to say when exactly. Even the Head Priests didn't know when the Holy Grimoire of Light could wake up entirely.
Until the time arrived, the Holy Grimoire of Light was supposed to be protected as if their life depended on it.
Even Gabriel didn't realize it at the moment, but he had really avoided a great risk by not entering the Church of Light without any plan. Even though it was true that the Church was at half its usual strength, but that didn't mean it was easier to infiltrate it now. If anything, now it was much harder.
When the Church was at its full strength, they were too confident. That also led to complacency. But currently, they didn't want to take any risk since they were weaker. That was also why they had activated all the traps inside the Church, including the defensive mechanisms.
They were burning so many Spirit Stones to keep all these traps up, but if anyone could afford that, it was them. Currently, it was almost impossible to reach the Holy Grimoire of Light.
Moreover, the supposed existence of the Ruler of Light inside the Church of Light was also a huge deterrent. No one could afford to verify if the rumors were true since that only meant inevitable death in case the Ruler of Light actually existed.
Despite all these safety precautions, all the Head Priests of Light were still wary as they watched the barrier shatter.
They weren't the only ones though. Around thousands of kilometres away from the Lumen City, a person was standing in the air, gazing in the direction of the Lumen City.
"The barrier of Light is broken?"
The young man looked like he was barely in his early twenties, but the aura surrounding him was something that was much more powerful than any Head Priests that Gabriel had come across. If anything, his aura was a lot closer in strength to the Holy Priests.
The young man was dressed in all black, having a cloak behind him which had raised collars. The cloak covered his shoulders as well. Not many people knew, but the cloak of this man was also a Numen.
Not only was it a Numen, but it was a High Tier Numen at that, which was said to protect him from any Magical attack in existence. The Cloak was said to nullify any magic attack that touched him.
This was also what made the man so formidable. One could argue that he was even more threatening than a Holy Priest, despite having slightly lesser Magical Strength.
The man had two-toned hair, with the left side of his hair being silver while the rest of his hair was grey.
"It seems I'm not too late. Eliana didn't exaggerate," the young-looking man commented, slightly curious. "I suppose it's time to meet our new guest."
His figure disappeared into the darkness.
The City of Abadon was under constant attack, surrounded by the forces of three Churches. What was worse was that the armies were being led by Two Holy Priests, which made it even more dangerous.
Despite such a massive force, the Defensive City of Abadon was still standing tall, just proving how strong it was.
Despite all that, Lambard still didn't appear to be in a good mood. Their side had suffered heavy losses. What was worse was that all these attacks were long range attacks.
He had expected the Mages to try to enter the city to attack from inside, but that wasn't the case.
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"Even after all this time, they are still so cautious. They aren't entering the city." The young maid also realized why Lambard was so upset.
Lambard smacked his fist on the railing in anger. "It seems they learned a lesson from last time. They know that we can't attack them properly when they are outside."
"If they had entered the city with their full force, they would've had a chance to capture us and bring an early closure to the war. But at the same time, we also would've had the advantage. We couldn't hurt them where it hurt the most. But they are too careful!"
Lambard's plan depended on luring the enemies inside. That's why he also gave them so many openings to enter the city without making it explicitly clear that those flaws in his defense were intentional.
Despite all that, the enemies weren't entering the city. The Trap just wasn't working.
"The long range attacks have less effect on the city since the barrier, and other defenses neutralize that. That's also why the city is still standing after so long, but if this continues like this, even I'm not sure when the defensive barrier might be broken."
Lambard looked up, noticing all the explosions outside the barrier. The attacks were mostly coming from the sky.
"Should I go outside?" The maid asked Lambard for permission. "I should be able to wipe them out."
"No. It would've been a different matter if there weren't two Rulers of Elements there. But at the moment, even I'm not confident if I can defeat them outside the city. It's not worth the risk."
Lambard rejected the suggestion right away. He knew just how capable the woman next to him was, and he didn't doubt that she could hold her ground against any enemy, but even he didn't want to take the risk.
"Then are we to stay here like sitting ducks?" the maid asked, not understanding just what her Master was thinking. "We are running out of time. If we don't do anything, things might take a turn for the worse."
Lambard didn't answer. He just looked in the direction of the massive army outside the city. Time was of the essence, and he knew that he really needed to do something.
"I suppose there is no choice but to..."
After a long time, he seemed as if he had come to a decision. All the Numens that were on him started shining as his body started rising in the air.
Gabriel had left Lumen City after breaking the barrier. Generally, anyone would've worried that they were going to be chased by the Church of Light now that they had broken the barrier, but Gabriel knew that they needed to find him first for that.
Even if the Church of Light found out where the barrier was first broken, they still couldn't find him because he had already taken some precautions, changing his direction.
He intentionally broke the barrier in a direction that he didn't intend to take, creating a false trail.
On the contrary, he took an entirely different route, using his Wings of Flight.
He was done in the city for now. He had already promised himself that he was going to return once he became an Advanced Tier Mage, but before that, there were many things he needed to think about and take care of. After what he saw on the hundredth floor, he realized that there were more important things for him to do first...
"Hmm?" As Gabriel was flying away from the Lumen City, he noticed a person coming toward him from a distance. The person wasn't chasing him from behind but coming from the front.
Gabriel already had the Ring, so he was sure that his aura wasn't leaking. He had already purified his Gloves as well, which were hiding his Elemental Marks.
The person who was flying toward him stopped movement as soon as he entered ten meters range of him.
Gabriel also stopped. It was clear that the man wasn't just an ordinary traveler since he recognized that person.
"I guess I should give you credit for destroying that barrier?" The young-looking man asked, making Gabriel frown.
'Dean of Academy of Element, Izen...' Gabriel had expected him to be the last person that he could meet here, but it was as if the situation was already as bad as it could be for him.
"Interesting... Very Interesting," Izen observed Gabriel from top to bottom as his eyes shone in a mysterious blue light.
"Not even a shred of any Elemental Aura, yet you're flying." To him, it was immediately apparent that Gabriel was the person who broke the Barrier of Light.
Moreover, he also matched the description that was given for Gabriel in Lia's letter... A young man who was in his early teens, possessing a Dark Element.
Another thing that convinced him about Gabriel's identity was the fact that he was coming from the direction of the city. Not many people would've left the city after the Barrier was broken without understanding the entire situation... Unless they were behind breaking the barrier in the first place.
"I suppose you're using a Numen to hide that Aura of yours, and if I'm not wrong, that Numen isn't one of ours. Lambard, is it? The person who gave you these?"
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He wasn't sure just how many Numens Gabriel possessed before he entered the Royal Academy of Elements, but one thing which was clear was that he was now in possession of all the Numens from the Academy of Elements along with his own Numens.
If Izen were to guess, he could've readily accepted that, at the moment, Gabriel was the person who possessed the most Numens in the entire world, even more than Lambard.
Even Gabriel realized that the situation was a mess. He had faced off against Cylix and Novius. The two were definitely strong, but Izen had lived for a really long time.
Unlike the younger version of Izen, who was on the 99th Floor, this Izen was the real deal. He had gone through a proper growth, learning more magic, mastering his spells, and eventually becoming the Dean of the Academy.
It was clear that he was still nothing before the two founders of the Academy at their peak, but the thirty years old versions of the two Founders inside the Tower weren't the same. This Izen was stronger than anyone he saw inside the Tower.
"Izen Lazarik." Gabriel clenched his fist. His expressions were more or less constant, but in his eyes, there were a lot of emotions that were coming through, including concern.
He didn't want to have to fight anyone around this time, at least not Izen or any Holy Priest.
"Oh? You know my full name?" Izen was quite impressed that Gabriel knew his complete name. He hadn't told anyone his complete name, at least not in the Academy, so it was quite interesting for him that Gabriel was able to know.
Initially, he would've thought that it was because Gabriel used some mind-reading spell on him, but that was impossible. His robe not only protected him from all Magical Spells but also fortified his mind from mental attacks. There was no way anyone could read his mind or see what he was thinking.
"Anyway, it doesn't matter how you know. What matters is that you'll be coming back with me to the Academy. I'm sure you'll have a lot to answer there."
Now that Izen was here, there was no way he was going to let Gabriel leave. And defeating him was a headache even for an experienced Holy Priest, let alone Gabriel. Still, he wasn't going to surrender here!"
"What if I say no?" Gabriel went down in altitude, landing on the ground.
Izen also landed on the ground, a short distance away from Gabriel.
"I'm afraid you don't have any choice in the matter." Like a surreal expert, Izen stood with his hands behind his back.
"You will have to come with us, even if you don't want to," Another sentence came, but this time from the back.
Gabriel looked back, noticing another Izen behind him. There were two Izen.
"If you resist, then we'll have to use force to bring you back." The voice was heard again, but this time, coming from the left.
There was another Izen!
"No matter what you do, we'll be taking you back." Another one! A fourth Izen appeared on his right.
"Now it's on you to decide if you want to surrender peacefully or force my hand."
"If it's the latter, it would be quite bad for you."
One after another, the voices multiplied as there were over twenty people surrounding from all sides, forcing a circle of ten meters radius with Gabriel at the center.
There were so many Izen, and it was impossible to find out which of them was the real one. It was certainly a Spell of Light, but it was flawless! Every Izen here had an entirely identical aura.
Even if he tried to attack one of them, it wasn't clear if that one was going to be real.
Gabriel had already used Paradise of Darkness once, so using it again was definitely more burden on his soul, but that was the only spell he could think of at the moment which covered such a large area.
If it was just one person, he could've used his Wrath of the Dead, but with so many, it was only a waste of his most powerful spell.
Eventually, he realized that he had no choice in the matter. If he didn't want to waste his spells, he needed to use the Paradise of Darkness. The Domain spell gave him control of a larger area and also increased his senses while weakening the senses of the enemy.
He used the Wordless Chant to cast the Paradise of Darkness.
A Dark Mist started rising from the ground, covering the surroundings. The Domain of Gabriel had returned, even though it was taking some heavy toll on Gabriel at the moment.
"Hmm? This spell?" Izen was taken aback as soon as he saw the mist. It wasn't because he was scared of this spell, but it was more of an astonishment since he had seen that spell being used before!
Unlike Eliana and the Head Council Members, who couldn't recognize this spell, Izen was different. In his younger days, when he was still allowed to enter the Tower of Challenges, he had managed to reach the 99th floor.
It was at that place where he faced Novius. It was a sound and thorough defeat. He didn't even last there for two minutes before being defeated, and the biggest contribution to that defeat belonged to the Paradise of Darkness. He couldn't even fight back in this Domain.
Even after coming out of the Tower after losing, he didn't tell anyone about what happened inside the Tower.
"How do you know the Lost Spell of the Founder?" Izen asked Gabriel, surprised to see the young man use the spell.
"He taught me," Gabriel answered. "Maybe because you've all thoroughly disappointed him."
"I see. So that's the case." For some reason, Izen didn't doubt Gabriel's words. It was a known fact that Novius never taught this spell to anyone in the world outside. He never wrote the spell anywhere either. The spell was always only in his head.
It wasn't impossible to see that he could've taught that spell to Gabriel.
"I suppose you already told him about the situation of his lineage?" The only question left was why Izen would teach him this spell, and Gabriel's words already answered that.
Even when he went inside the Tower last time, he was careful enough not to tell them what happened to the Dark Mages outside, but it appeared as if Gabriel had told them. No wonder they were upset. Izen could also see why they would teach Gabriel that spell.
Gabriel was supposed to be the Holy Priest of Darkness and one of the few Mages of Darkness remaining. Novius certainly wasn't going to let him die as well. If anything, he taught this spell to Gabriel so he could protect himself.
Gabriel was also a dark Mage, so he also had an affinity with the spell, so it wasn't too shocking.
"I must say, that spell is really good. I myself lost to that spell, but times are different now. Despite my looks, I am not going anymore. I've had decades of time to prepare and train myself, so I would never find myself in a similar situation again."
Despite being in the middle of the Paradise of Darkness, Izen didn't look scared. If anything, he was only amused. It was as if he was sure that this spell was harmless to him for some reason.
Dark Shackles came out of the ground to trap Izen while Gabriel disappeared in the dark mist.
The Shackles wrapped around Izen's wrists and ankles, only to shatter as soon as they touched his body. Even Gabriel, who was hiding in the darkness about to attack, was stunned. Izen hadn't used any spell yet he broke the Shackles? How?
A Dark Spear came out of the ground, attacking Izen, but as soon as it touched Izen, it also turned into specks of light and disappeared.
It was impossible to see just what was happening. It was the first time Gabriel was seeing such a phenomenon. It was as if no matter what, Izen was immune to his Dark Paradise.
"If it was anyone else other than me, the spell could've helped you win. Unfortunately, the tricks are useless before me." Izen's eyes shone mysteriously as he looked to his left.
The other Izens also looked in Gabriel's direction as if they were all able to see him even in the Dark Mist.
Gabriel didn't know what those eyes were, but it was clear that they helped Izen see through things. He used those same eyes to try to see his aura, and now this.
Three of the twenty Izens moved at the same time. Gabriel turned into a Shadow, switching places. He appeared in a different place, but even there, he wasn't safe as another clone of Izen attacked him even there.
"Darkbolt!" Gabriel raised his left hand and attacked. Unfortunately, even his dark bolt disappeared as soon as it touched Izen. He wasn't harmed in the least.
Gabriel flew back, ending up in the same place as before. His face was filled with questions. He had no idea what was happening here. Why were his spells not working on Izen? Just what was this secret?
"As I said, if it was someone else, it might've worked, but unfortunately, you ended up with the wrong enemy. All your spells are useless against me as they can't even touch me. Let alone me; they can't even touch any of my Clones."
Gabriele knew that something like this should've been impossible. There was no way Izen could be immune to magic spells. According to him, that could only mean one thing...
"You are using a Numen."
"Hoh?" Izen was slightly impressed that Gabriel had managed to guess the secret even though he hadn't clearly spoken about that Numen. "Not bad. Very perceptive."
"You're right. It's all thanks to a Numen. No matter which spell you use, they don't affect me. At least I haven't come across a spell that could bypass the defense of my Numen to harm me." Izen confessed now that Gabriel had managed to guess.
He could've denied it and lied, but he didn't see any need to. Even if Gabriel knew about it, he couldn't do anything. Moreover, even if Gabriel knew that he had a Numen, which item of his was that specific Numen was another impossible task to find.
"A Numen that cancels all forms of Magic." It sounded impossible. If Gabriel hadn't seen it with his own eyes, even he would've found it hard to believe, but now that he did, it was certainly as true as it could be.
At the end of the day, his Dark Paradise was also a Spell, along with the mist. No matter which spell he used, Izen was unharmed. If that wasn't proof enough, then he didn't know what was.
Gabriel clenched his fist. "I see. So spells are useless on you. But what about physical attacks?"
He didn't want to lose even here. So what if he couldn't use magic spells to hurt Izen? All he had to do was change strategy, and that's what he did as he called out a blood-red Sword!
A Numen that could nullify all Magical Attacks was something that not many people in the world even considered the possibility of existing.
Only a few people knew about a Numen like that, and Lambard was amongst those people. Amongst the treasures that Lambard had been craving throughout the years, the Cape of Nullification was at the top of his list.
It was one of the Highest Tier Numens in existence, holding an even higher grade than the Protective City of Abadon that Lambard possessed. Not getting the Cape of Nullification before Izen could get his hand on it was the biggest regret of his life which he couldn't change.
"If only I had received it before that man, I wouldn't have to worry even when facing the Holy Priests. If only I were a little faster there!" Lambard flew high in the sky, stopping right under the barrier of his city. From there, he could see the entire battlefield.
He could see the two Holy Priestesses in the distance. A pendant around his neck started shining as he used one of his Numens.
"Elora, are you sure you want to attack me? Even after all the help, I provided you? Talking about a traitor, you should be the biggest one! Only a few weeks ago, you were enjoying our hospitality, and now you are trying to destroy the same city?"
Thanks to his Numen, his voice managed to reach far and wide. Every person on the battlefield heard his words, momentarily stopping their attacks.
Elora squinted her eyes. "You mean before you had Ruyi killed by the Dark Mages that you worked with?"
Unlike Lambard, Elora didn't need any Numen to get her words across. "You have not only betrayed our trust, but you've also betrayed humanity! And we can't forgive you for that!"
"Betrayed humanity? Such heavy words! You think anything that doesn't happen according to your wishes is a betrayal of humanity?" Lambard scoffed in response. "Elora, heed my words carefully. No matter how much you attack or what force you bring, you can never bring this city down!"
"As for you!" He shifted his attention to the second Holy Priestess. "Thalia, the Ruler of Lightning. I expected Elora to be a coward, but your cowardice certainly came as a surprise. You're even afraid of entering my city to kill me, and you all talk big about destroying this city? How preposterous!"
"You!" Thalia was already very impulsive, and the words of Lambard only angered her more. "If that's what you want, I'll kill you right this instant!"
Lightning flickered around Thalia as she rose in the air, flying straight to the city.
'Heh, as easy as taking candy from a child!' Even though Lambard didn't show it, he was quite happy that Thalia took his bait. If she truly came inside the city, he could actually find ways to destroy her, weakening the enemies and scaring them off.
"Wait!"
It was as if Elora could see what Lambard was trying to do. She appeared before Thalia, blocking her path, so she didn't fall for the trick. Elora was much younger than Thalia, but she was certainly more mature and less impulsive.
She understood the situation much better and knew just how cunning Lambard was. There was no way he would've asked them to come in if there was even the slightest chance of his defeat in that.
"Don't fall for his trick. He's trying to instigate you!" Elora exclaimed. "Just think about it. He's forced to address us and use such cheap tactics to bring us inside the city. Why would he do it if he wasn't worried?! That must mean that our attacks are working, and the city's Barrier could be broken anytime now! Don't fall for it!"
Lambard was slightly taken aback by Elora, who managed to guess his intentions. Still, he didn't give in. "Yes, find excuses for your cowardice."
"As I said before, you can use any excuse you want. It won't hide the fact that you are cowards. Take my suggestion. Keep attacking from outside the city and after a month or so, when you get tired, leave. In any case, you won't be entering the city."
Lambard's amused waves of laughter echoed on the battlefield as he expressed his carefully decided words to send a subtle message.
He went down again, landing back on the balcony next to his maid.
His amused expression disappeared, turning into a grim face as soon as he landed away from the view of his enemies.
He entered his room, sitting on a throne studded in gems as he waited for the two Holy Priestesses to come to a decision. Even though he wanted them to enter the city, he was ready for any decision. He just preferred one over the other since that was better in the long run.
"He can't do anything to me even if I enter the city. I'll kill him from the inside! That man has grown too arrogant! It's time I bring him back to his place!" Thalia exclaimed, holding her Ancestral Staff of Lightning firmly.
"I know you can defeat him, but we shouldn't forget the past. The City of Abaddon is said to be a Numen which makes him even stronger as long as he's inside the city."
"It doesn't matter. Even when he's being supported by the city, I'll defeat him!" Thalia was still upset over being called a coward. Still, it wasn't that she wanted to throw her life over an insult. She genuinely believed that she could not only protect herself inside the city but also defeat Lambard.
"We shouldn't forget that he isn't alone there. It's most certainly a trap!" Elora also held onto her position firmly, trying to bring Thalia out of her impulse. "The Ruler of Darkness might be hiding inside. Ruyi made the mistake of underestimating them, and she paid the price with her life. I don't want them to succeed again!"
"We should stick to our initial plan! Even though the City of Abadon is a powerful Numen, before our attacks, even it shouldn't be able to last long. I'm sure we are close, and that's why he is getting nervous! Once we took their protection from them, they would be no more than the sitting ducks for us!"
"Arghh! Fine! I'll wait longer!" Thalia took a deep breath before she flew back, landing in her place. She resumed her usual long-distance attacks on the city.
"How disappointing." Lambard could only sigh in response as he watched the attacks resume. It was clear that his instigation didn't work! These people were just too stubborn.
"I really wanted to avoid it, but they left me no choice. What a waste... After all these years, for them to force my hand..."
A scary silence filled the entire room.
Gabriel stood before Izen, holding a demonic red sword. The sword had a strange red luminescence as if it had been bathed in blood many times before, only to now belong to Gabriel.
"The Sword of Ulien, also known as the bloodthirsty sword which can even slice through the hardest of metal without any trouble." Izen nodded without much surprise at the sight of the Sword. "Not a bad Sword, but I'm afraid it belongs to the Academy. You'll have to return it."
He didn't have a hard time recognizing the sword since it was discovered by him in the first place. He was the person who personally placed that Sword in the Museum of Elements.
Gabriel held the sword's hilt firmly. He couldn't defeat Izen with his spells, but Izen could still use his spells on him. That meant he was fighting a Magician as a Swordsman. If that were the only problem, he still would've been fine with it, but that was the least of it.
There were many major problems before him. Firstly, he still didn't know which of the twenty was the real Izen since all the clones could use the same Magic and had the same aura.
"This is your last chance, young man. If you decide to attack me now, there is no going back. If you surrender now, I promise you won't die. But if you..."
"If I fight you, I'll be killed?" Gabriel finished Izen's sentence. "I can't die yet. I can't surrender either. So I'll have to reject both of your offers."
"You don't have a choice in the matter."
"There's always a choice." Gabriel took a deep breath. It didn't matter who he was facing. He couldn't afford to lose. Novius and Cylix died at his hands to help him progress. He had to keep on living even if it was for them.
He couldn't die here. If he died, then all their training and their deaths were going to be for nothing. He couldn't let their deaths go to waste. Even if it was the hardest battle of his life, he had to win!
"I see." Izen was hoping that Gabriel was going to surrender after realizing that there was no hope of victory, but as he saw the determination in Gabriel's eyes, he received his answer. No words had to be said.
Since the Paradise of Darkness was useless on Izen, Gabriel canceled the spell. Usually, he would've cast the Night of Darkness in a situation like this to make sure that the enemies couldn't see his attack, but he was sure that it was going to be useless as well.
He couldn't weaken his enemies. Since his Spells couldn't affect Izen, he used them on the one that they could still affect. He used those spells on himself, casting spells to boost his strength, speed, defense, and stamina.
As soon as he was done, he selected a target out of the twenty. He flew to the closest Izen, intending to destroy them one after another until he found the right one.
"Too slow even now." Even as Izen saw Gabriel get close to him, he could only shake his head in response.
He simply snapped his finger, casting a small spell.
Boom~
A sphere of light appeared right before Gabriel, exploding as soon as he got close to it.
Gabriel cast a shield before him at the last moment, but to get the shield faster; he couldn't cast a stronger one. The shield also shattered as Gabriel's body flew back.
Boom~
Another explosion occurred as Gabriel's body was still in the air, hitting straight in his back, sending him flying ahead.
Gabriel couldn't even control his body as the Explosions kept targeting him, not even giving him a chance to balance himself.
It was certainly not the work of one person. It was as if all the clones were working independently while sharing the same thoughts. That also allowed them to cast more than one spell at the same time. It was really no different than fighting twenty powerful mages.
If Gabriel weren't wearing the clothes that he received from his Ancestral Staff of Necromancy, all his clothes would've been burned to ashes.
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Unfortunately, even with those clothes that weakened the impact of the attacks, the damage wasn't entirely nullified.
Gabriel felt the burn all over his body which made him groan in pain.
"As I told you before, you stand no chance against me. To defeat me, you can only use physical attacks. But to land an attack on me, you first need to get close to me, which is impossible for you."
Izen wasn't exaggerating either since this was Gabriel's only path to victory. He had to get closer to Izen... The real one. But how?
First, he needed to escape the chains of explosions. Even as he was in such pain, he thought of a way.
'Dark Manifestation!'
He used the Dark Manifestation, making him invincible for a few seconds, finally escaping the chains of Explosion as his body landed on the ground.
From what he had observed, those spheres of Light were invisible and stationery. As long as he didn't hit them, he could avoid being hurt. Unfortunately, by now, he was sure that the entire battlefield was covered in them.
Wiping the blood off his lips, Gabriel pushed his body up. He was back in the encirclement of Izen, right at the center.
His clothes were covered in blood already. The attack took a hefty toll on him. It was as if Izen had calculated everything, from the strength of the impact to the direction his body was going to fly. At times, it even felt as if Izen could predict his future movements.
That kind of spell should've been impossible to execute for any ordinary Mage of Light, but when there were twenty such mages, the difficulty certainly came down a lot.
"Holy Heal." He placed his hand on his chest, casting a healing spell. He couldn't fight with the condition his body was in unless he healed himself first.
"Hmm? A holy spell?" Until now, Gabriel had only used the spells of Darkness. That's why Izen was so surprised to see him use the Holy Heal of Light.
"How are you using that?" he asked, quite surprised. "As a Dark Mage, you shouldn't be able to use that."
"There are many things that we shouldn't be able to do. Yet we are doing," Gabriel answered, slightly sarcastic. He was quite upset after what he went through, and he still had no idea how to get close to Izen... At least for now.
He knew that if he couldn't get close to Izen, he had no chance of winning it. At worst, he could be killed right here if he didn't find a way…
The only way to get out of this situation was to get close to Izen and destroy all the clones. Unfortunately, that was the real troublesome part.
He didn't know just what this Numen was that Izen was using, but the effects of that Numen were even covering all his clones, making them immune to all the magic as well.
The Numen was amazing and even he wanted something like that, but taking that was looking like an impossible task since he had to defeat Izen first.
"A dark mage who can use the spells of Light? The spell that you used was certainly not an illusion as far as I can see. That would mean that you..." Izen's gaze lowered, resting on Gabriel's gloves.
Even with his mystic eyes, he wasn't able to see through those gloves and that's what made him so suspicious. A man who was hiding his Elemental Aura along with his hands that had the Elemental Mark that he had received. Both of that seemed to make sense if he was trying to hide something from others.
"You have awakened with Light and Darkness?" he asked, no matter how impossible it sounded. If that was the case, it could explain why Gabriel was trying to hide it and trying to not use the Element of Light unless forced.
Gabriel didn't answer right away, even though Izen was more or less correct.
'If I try to get close to him like before, he'll use the same spell to attack me. All those explosives might already be in place, just waiting for me to move. Attacking him from the front doesn't seem like an option. From the back?'
Escaping from Izen was almost impossible since Izen was probably only faster than him who was a Mid Tier Mage who was only weaker once all his spells were made ineffective.
"If you're not going to attack, allow me the opportunity. We should start finishing up." One of the twenty Izen disappeared, appearing right behind Gabriel, reaching out his hand which was shining in a mysterious light.
"Not so soon!" Gabriel turned around, swinging his sword with full strength. He still had some awareness of his surroundings and his sense of danger.
His Sword sliced through the wind but it was unable to find Izen who had again disappeared. Gabriel's face turned grim as he realized that Izen had again disappeared. He could feel the same sense of danger from the back now, but before he could even stop his attack, a cold hand landed on his back.
Boom~
Gabriel felt as if a powerful bomb had exploded right next to him, burning his skin again. The explosive momentum sent him flying ahead.
Gabriel had tried to fight as a Warrior inside the Tower of Challenges as well, but that was mostly against ordinary mages. Most of the time in important battles, he relied on his magic. Rendering his magic useless was exploiting the weakness that he never knew existed.
The back of his clothes was once again covered in blood, but the clothes were still unharmed. If one was to look at the condition of his clothes, they never could've guessed that Gabriel's body was so badly burned.
Thousands of Swords made purely of the Energy of Light appeared in the direction he was uncontrollably flying in, all aiming at him.
"Maelstrom!" He cast an explosive spell but this time, he didn't attack the enemy. He used the spell on himself, making it hit his own chest, having no choice. Controlling his body's momentum at the moment was impossible, at least without any external factors.
The Maelstrom was a spell of his own, so it couldn't hurt him, but it could still create a pressure of wind around him.
Just as he planned, a wind pressure was created around him as soon as the Maelstrom hit him, stopping the forward momentum.
Not only did his forward momentum slow down, but it also gave him more control over his own body, helping him balance himself.
Instead of hitting the Swords of Light, he changed his direction and flew straight up into the sky, using his Wings of Light.
The battlefield was too dangerous for him unless he found a way.
"Arghh!" Gabriel was flying up to get a moment to breathe and gather his thoughts, but he hit something.
Even he hadn't realized it before but there was an invisible dome shaped barrier around them which prevented him from leaving the zone. It was only when his body touched the barrier that it momentarily became visible.
Not only did the barrier stop Gabriel, but it also sent a burning sensation inside his body, giving him even more pain. It was something similar to being electrocuted, but not quite.
Gabriel was weakened even more as his Wings of Flight disappeared on their own, sending him falling down.
Thud~
Gabriel dropped to the ground, making the group tremble for a moment with the impact. He didn't know what that barrier was, but it was as if the barrier targeted his soul directly, taking whatever bit of strength he had left.
There was only one light in the darkness for him and it was that he still hadn't lost consciousness.
He brought out a Soul Healing Pill, even though moving his hand was proving to be a hard task in itself.
Since his Soul was already so exhausted, it was as if his body was also giving up on him. Even though with a trembling hand, Gabriel brought the Soul Healing Pill closer to his mouth.
Kick~
One of the twenty Izen appeared next to Gabriel, kicking his hand to send the pill flying in the distance.
The pill fell around twenty meters away from Gabriel.
Another Izen pickled to the pull, slightly intrigued. "A Soul Healing Pill? I thought these things went extinct. You are certainly quite resourceful, aren't you?"
"Let's see how resourceful you can be when you're inside our prison."
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Gabriel clenched his fist. His body was very weak, but his anger was at its peak. He didn't want to give in now.
Even though his soul was completely exhausted, he still pushed his body up.
Izen could only smile in response, watching the young man stand up again, even though he clearly had no chance against him.
"You won't accept defeat, will you?" Izen asked, shaking his head in disappointment.
"Not until I will." Gabriel answered as he placed whatever last bit of strength he had inside his one last attack as he swung his Sword, using his most powerful strike.
Izen disappeared again before the strike could even hit him, making the attack miss. Weakened, Gabriel couldn't control himself anymore as he dropped to his knees.
Izen appeared behind Gabriel. "Since you won't surrender, let me knock you out first then."
He raised his right hand. "Oh Goddess of Light, I-"
"Hmm?" Izen was chanting a spell, but he stopped in the middle as his face went slightly serious. He turned around, looking in the back, feeling a new presence.
Izen had already taken note of Gabriel's resistance. It was clear that the boy wasn't going to give up, at least not until he was knocked out completely.
That's exactly what he decided to do as he started casting a spell, only to stop midway, sensing a strange presence in the back... The presence wasn't weak either... If anything, it was very powerful now that he thought about it
Not only him, but all other Izen also looked in that direction.
Even Gabriel was surprised as he felt that presence.
"How...? How could he be here? And why...?" he muttered under his breath, not understanding anything.
In the distance, there was a beautiful red formation on the ground that appeared like a summoning spell. Strangely enough, Gabriel hadn't cast any summoning spell. He had promised someone last time that after he cleared the Tower, he wasn't going to Summon that person for at least a week.
That's why, even now he was hesitating in calling that person. He didn't use his Summoning skill. Then how was he here? Did he come on his own? Could he even do that? There were many questions on Gabriel's face as he turned around, looking at the formation in the distance.
Within a few seconds, a man was completely visible. It was also clear that this aura belonged to him.
Gabriel could feel the warmth spread all around. The temperature had suddenly become very hot with the arrival of that being.
[A few moments ago]
[The Realm of Dead]
The Infernal King had just finished letting out his anger on the Damphirs who dared to attack his horse. In his anger, he went straight to the Kingdom of Damphirs.
Amongst all the Undead Kingdoms, the Damphirs were the Weakest and also had a really low number compared to other Kingdoms, but despite that, it was unheard of that one person was able to destroy an entire Kingdom alone.
The Infernal King stood outside the Royal City of the Damphirs, watching the entire city burn in beautiful blue flames that made the sight look even more beautiful.
"Those who attack the ones I hold dear... They shall pay."
It took him only a week to destroy this entire Kingdom. It was a good thing that the other Kingdoms didn't try to interfere in the war. It was unclear what would've happened if they did, but for now, it was a swift victory of the Infernal King which made his name even more prominent in the Realm of the Dead.
The Kingdom was destroyed and all that was left for him was to watch the kingdom burn, but as he was enjoying the sight, he also had an uneasy feeling for some reason.
He didn't know what that feeling was, but it was as if he needed to be somewhere urgently. It was as if he didn't hurry, it was going to be very bad.
"Is he in... trouble?" He wondered, looking in the distant horizon.
A man stood on the barren land, surrounded by the aura of death. His eyes burned brightly as he observed his surroundings.
It didn't take him long before he found Gabriel, sitting on his knees in the distance. He was surrounded from all sides by men who all looked alike.
Gabriel didn't even have enough Spiritual Strength to be able to cast a complete spell of healing. The wounds on his face and body were clearly visible as well. The only good thing was that he was still safe and conscious.
The Infernal King clenched his fist as he started walking toward Gabriel.
"I don't know who you are, but your aura reeks of something evil. Drop to your knees and surrender. We would allow you to live," Izen warned the Infernal King. It was his policy to warn an enemy first before going all out.
The Infernal King didn't heed to the warning. He simply raised his right hand.
"Burn." Only one word came out of his mouth.
Surprisingly enough, that one word was enough to make Izen's body burn in deep blue flames. Before he could even react, his body burned to ashes, disappearing.
One of the Twenty Izens were killed, but the others still existed which made Gabriel assured that the real Izen was still alive. He was also the most powerful out of them all since all the clones only had a fraction of his strength. He was also sure that the real Izen hadn't even made a move since the beginning.
"Hmm?" All Izen were slightly surprised, watching one of the clones burn. "Our Numen makes it impossible for any Magical Spell to hurt us. That means your fire..."
Gabriel also came to the same conclusion. The Infernal King wasn't using any spell. Even though he was also called the Sorcerer King, he wasn't really a mage.
The flames that he used weren't a spell, they were his Bloodline ability! That meant they were able to pass the defenses of the Numen that protected Izen from all the Magical Attacks.
It appeared as if the tides had turned in their favor, but still not entirely since Izen was yet to make a move.
"I need to help him as well!" Gabriel called out another Soul Healing Pill to heal his Soul now that everyone else was distracted.
Unfortunately, now that the Soul Healing Pill was in his hand, he couldn't do anything with it since his hands weren't listening to him. It was as if his hands had turned into a stone, unable to move.
"The Hundredth Floor was right... My body is weak. If I don't hurry there..." Gabriel looked at his hands. He could never forget what he found out on the Hundredth Floor which made him understand himself more.
He knew that it wasn't just an ordinary phenomenon that was happening. It had much deeper routes and that's why he was in a hurry to leave the City and avoid more battles if possible.
Unfortunately, the situation didn't allow it.
"Come on... Listen to me!" Gabriel placed all his strength, just to raise his hand now. He needed to use the Soul Healing Pill if he wanted to fight back now. He could even heal his soul normally with time, but time was what he lacked.
He didn't give up and kept putting more and more effort in raising his hand.
"I am not this weak! No! I refuse to give up!"
He let his body lose momentarily before trying again. The only thing he changed was that he closed his eyes this time.
Surprisingly, he was finally able to move his hand. It was still heavy and for him, it was like he was a child who was lifting a heavy hammer, but he didn't care! The battle was just beginning…
Just trying to move his hand was a task in itself, making Gabriel look up occasionally, wondering just what kind of Barrier it was that hit him. He was already on the weaker side recently, but the barrier sucked even more of his strength as soon as he clashed with it.
Fortunately, he was still able to move his hand eventually, finally placing a Soul Healing Pill in his mouth before lowering his hands again.
He didn't try standing up yet, letting the pill take effect. Moreover, since the Infernal King was already here, that meant things were getting better.
Izen was the worst enemy for him due to his Magical Immunity Numen, but that wasn't the case for the Infernal King who wasn't using magic.
"Careful! There is a barrier around us! As soon as you touch it, you'll be weakened!" Since Gabriel already had a clash with the barrier, he had a rough idea as to how much of an area the barrier was covering. It had become visible for a few minutes right after he hit it.
Unlike him, he believed the Infernal King had no idea about that barrier as the barrier only came into effect when people tried to pass through it and not attack.
Hearing the warning, the Infernal King momentarily stopped, barely a few inches away from the barrier.
"I wonder just what exactly you are... You look like a human, but there's something about you that doesn't add up. That aura which is covering you... It disgusts me." Izen was still quite curious about the identity of the person who arrived here.
The spell formation that was used was slightly different from the summoning formation that he was used to.
The Infernal King didn't answer the man. Instead, he just raised his hand, placing them on the barrier which was right before him. Just as Gabriel had expected, the barrier came into existence and tried to steal the life energy of the Infernal King as well to weaken him just like it did with Gabriel.
The Infernal King just tilted his head, slightly confused. He could feel nothing from the barrier. He wasn't weakened at all. If anything, it was no more than an ordinary banner for him.
The phenomenon even surprised Izen. He didn't realize that it was because the Infernal King had no life energy at all. Because of that, the barrier couldn't take anything from him. It was reduced to an ordinary barrier for him.
Now that the barrier was visible to him, a dark fire started burning around his hand which was on the barrier. Surprisingly, the flame started spreading all around the barrier, as if taking over it. For a moment, Gabriel and Izen were covered in a dome of flames as the fire covered the entire Barrier, destroying it.
Even Izen's Barrier couldn't resist the Infernal King's flames and eventually broke, removing all resistance. There was no restriction anymore. The flames also disappeared along with the barrier, opening up the battlefield.
The Infernal King walked closer to Gabriel, who was still on his knees. Izen didn't try to stop him and just watched his actions. For some reason, he was really intrigued with the identity of this person.
"A mage? No, what he used wasn't magic. A Summoned Being? No, they would've been stopped by the barrier. Then what...?"
In the meantime, the Infernal King stopped before Gabriel, reaching out his hand to help Gabriel come.
"You didn't call me here," he stated, breaking his silence.
"I could've handled it myself. It was all within my control," Gabriel answered, for some reason not accepting that he needed help. However, he couldn't help but tell the real reason as well after a momentary pause. "Also, I promised you I won't. I'm done breaking a promise with you."
He reached out his hand, holding the hands of the Infernal King who helped him up.
Even as Gabriel stood up, he still didn't look like he was at his best. A lot of his life energy was sucked by the barrier, which left him weakened. The Soul Healing Pills only healed his soul, but his life energy was a different matter altogether.
"You are hurt," Infernal King stated, noticing Gabriel covered in blood. Gabriel didn't even have time to heal himself this time.
"This much is nothing. I can still fight." Gabriel responded, not giving in. He knew that with the Infernal King's help, they had a real chance of winning.
The Infernal King didn't listen to him, simply stating, "No you can't. I can sense it... Your life energy is weak. If you don't stop, things might get really bad for you. I'll take care of them."
"I'll be fine. Just letting the Soul Healing Pill take effect," Gabriel answered. He knew just what the reputation of Izen was. With the amount of strength he was supposed to possess, even for the Infernal King, it wasn't easy to defeat him... At least not the real him.
The Clones of Izen could use his strength, but only a small portion of it. They were also weaker than the real one. The only advantages they had was that they shared the effect of Izen's Numens and that they could use the same spell that Izen knew.
"One of them is the real one. All the others are clones. If we kill the real one, others should disappear as well. But finding the real one... That's the problem."
Defeating Izen came later. First, they had to find him and that was the problematic part.
"A problem which isn't a problem at all," The Infernal King raised his right hand. "Why find the real one when we can destroy all of them."
He placed his hand on the ground.
Boom~
Dark blue flames rose from the group, covering his surroundings in an instant.
The battlefield changed to a pit of fire in an instant. The Infernal King made sure that the flames didn't even touch Gabriel. As for himself, his own flames couldn't hurt him.
Gabriel could only see the flames in his surroundings. Even he wondered if this was the right way. Could it actually work?Was Izen really going to be destroyed with this? Everything was going to be revealed soon, but for some reason, he didn't believe it was that simple.
Just as he expected, as the flames disappeared, the scorched battlefield was once again revealed to the naked eye. There were nineteen Izens before, of which eighteen were clones. However, there were only eighteen left now. One was missing...
Gabriel turned to his left, realizing that even the Infernal King wasn't there anymore…
Izen had already seen the Infernal King use his flames to destroy one of his Clones. And with everything else that he saw later, it was clear that the flames weren't made using any magic.
That could only mean that they were the real Bloodline abilities of the Infernal King. As much as he didn't want to believe that the Infernal King was a summoned beast, he knew he had to treat him like one. He couldn't leave everything to his Numen which was ineffective against the Infernal King's Flames.
As soon as the Infernal King attacked again, the real Izen took action. This time, he didn't leave everything to luck and cast his strongest Barrier around him and all his clones, one that could especially stop the Infernal Flames.
A Magical Barrier covered all his clones and even the real him, protecting them all from the flames. Even though the Barrier did weaken due to the flames, looking like it was going to break soon, the barrier did manage to survive the initial attack, maybe because the Infernal King didn't go all out, expecting this to be enough.
Even as he stood in the fire, protected by only a barrier, Izen only had a single thought...
'This guy is more of a threat than Gabriel. If I let him stay here, he would destroy all my clones. I need to get him away from here and leave Gabriel to my Clones. He is much more helpless against my Numen, so he should be easy for them to take down and drag back to the city. In the meantime, I'll handle that... Thing."
As soon as the flames stopped, real Izen made a move, appearing right behind the Infernal King.
The Infernal King also sensed the presence, attacking as well.
Izen blocked the attack with a Magical Barrier as a formation circle activated under the two of them. Both of them disappeared from the battlefield.
Real Izen decided to deal with the Infernal King personally, taking down this beast forever. As for Gabriel, he was left alone with Eighteen Izen Clones, back in the same problem.
"Now that I've dragged your friend away, what now?" One of the Clones asked. "He won't be coming back anytime soon. At Least not alive."
Gabriel clenched his fist, understanding what was happening. He was sure that Izen wasn't stupid enough to send a clone after the Internal King. That meant everyone else who was left behind was a clone.
At least now he knew who the real one was, but he still had to face the rest of them, and in his weakened condition.
Gabriel glanced at his hands, slightly thoughtful. "If I could, I wanted to avoid it... But..."
[A few days ago...]
The Hundredth Floor was a place that everyone dreamed of reaching. Gabriel finally managed to make this a reality as he stepped on the hundredth floor after sacrificing Cyclix and Novius.
Before stepping on the floor, even he had his own imagination as to what he was going to find. On one hand, he thought he was going to meet more enemies. On the other hand, he expected to find lots of treasures on the top floor... Treasures that were said to hold incredible powers.
He expected a lot, but reality was often disappointed as he realized when he reached the top floor.
Unlike the lower floors, the top floor was much smaller. It had no monsters. It wasn't filled with treasures either. If anything, the top floor of the tower looked slightly identical to the top floor of the tower that he saw in his dream when he lost his consciousness in the Prison of Darkness of Lira.
The only difference was that there was no crack on the door and there were no windows inside the tower.
After seeing this floor, he was convinced of one thing. Both the towers were made by the same people and there was a possibility that there were more of such towers spread out in this world.
The top floor of the Tower was more or less empty. There was only one thing that Gabriel found interesting... There was a ten foot tall mirror in the centre of the hall, showing him his reflection.
The mirror looked very ordinary but there was something strange about it as well. For some reason, the mirror didn't look old at all. The entire hall was filled with dust as if it wasn't cleaned for centuries, but the mirror was still as clean as new.
"Is that the treasure I'm supposed to receive?" Gabriel wondered as he walked closer to the mirror in the centre of the room. "I don't feel any special energy coming from it. It doesn't feel like a Numen at all. Was it a prank?"
When he stood before the talent measuring Mirror of the Academy, even there he could feel magical energy from the mirror, proving that that was Numen. But this Mirror, it had no such energy.
Moreover, he could also see that a part of the mirror was embedded in the ground as if the mirror was placed first and then the flooring was done.
"This Mirror is definitely not something I can take. If I tried taking it, it would break. But other than it, there is nothing here. Were there ever any treasures here?" he wondered, soon remembering that he wasn't the first person to reach here.
"Ah that's right. How could I forget? Cyclix and Novius' real self reached this floor. If this floor had any treasures in the first place, they took it. If not then, then the ones before them."
It was clear to him why there were no treasures here. At least that's what he thought as he placed his hand on the Mirror, checking it.
"They didn't take anything." Just as Gabriel finished thinking out loud, he heard a strange voice echoed in the entire hall as if someone else was speaking.
"Huh?" He raised his head, surprised. "Who is speaking? Show yourself."
"No one took any treasures from this place before. All they took was knowledge... A knowledge that was worth more than any treasure." The voice came again, but Gabriel couldn't find anyone
There was no presence in the hall at all. Was it a Spirit?
"Where are you?" Gabriel asked again.
"Before you," the same voice came again.
Gabriel looked ahead, noticing the mirror before him which was showing his reflection.
"Are you the Mirror?" Gabriel asked, frowning. The mirror was speaking? So it really was no ordinary Mirror? And knowledge worth more than any treasure? What did it mean? There were so many questions in his head.
Gabriel looked at the Mirror, only finding his own reflection. Strangely enough, his reflection nodded in response, as if answering his question without any words.
"My reflection?" Gabriel frowned. The mirror was using his reflection to talk to him?
"What... are you? And what did you mean that the ones before me took something worth more than any treasure?"
"What am I?" The reflection repeated the question.
"I am but a guide of lost souls, using your reflection to temporarily answer you," Eventually it answered. "As you have managed to reach this place, you have earned a reward like all others who came before you."
"What is my reward?" Gabriel asked. At this point, it was clear that the mirror wasn't an ordinary mirror. It didn't look or feel like a Numen but it most probably was one. It was somewhat disappointing to him, but he still remained optimistic.
"Three answers," the Mirror Reflection responded to Gabriel. "Acknowledging your achievement in reaching here, you've been awarded three answers. No matter what question you ask, you'll get an answer."
"Is that the same reward you offered others before me?" Gabriel asked. This reward was quite strange.
"Shall I count that as your first question?" The Mirror Reflection asked, quite amused. "I won't mind you wasting your three opportunities with questions like this."
Gabriel frowned. "No, it's not one of my three questions."
He retracted his question. He was just curious about it, but if it was truly his reward and he could get any answer in the World with this Mirror, then he couldn't waste even a single opportunity.
"I see." The mirror reflection nodded. "So what is your first question?"
"My first question is about the Orbs of Time. What are they?" Gabriel let out. He had a question about them for a long time. Even though Cylix and Novius did tell him a bit of its history, even they didn't know about its use or anything about its origin. All they knew was that the Temple of Time was looking for it.
The Mirror reflection went silent for a moment. "The Orbs of Time... Alright. Your question is accepted."
"What is your second question?"
"Aren't you going to answer my first question before we move onto the next?" For now, Gabriel hadn't decided on a second question. He wanted to wait for the answer of the first question and if there was something in that answer that he wanted to know more about, he could've asked about it later.
"You need to tell me all three questions before you get any answers." The Mirror Reflection clarified. It was as if this was a restriction in place to make sure the people couldn't change their questions according to the answers.
Gabriel clenched his fist. His only reward was that he could ask questions and even in that he didn't have freedom? Unfortunately, he couldn't force the mirror either.
"Alright. My second question is about the Temple of Time. What are they? What are their goals? What's their strength?"
"That's three questions," the mirror responded.
"Fine. I'll shorten it. How did the Temple of Time come into existence?"
Since he didn't want to waste two of his questions on this one thing, he tried to form a question that could encompass everything important that he wanted to know and this was it. If he knew how the Temple of Time came into existence, he would've known about their goals and their past.
"And third question?" The Mirror asked.
Gabriel wasn't hasty in asking the third question. This was his last question and he wanted to make it count. He didn't want to waste his last question.
'What should I ask last? Should I ask how to become the strongest mage in the world in the shortest time? But what if it said that I can become that by training more? That can be a wasteful question. Shall I ask about my enemies? No, that's not it either.'
He couldn't help but fall into deep thought. He had so many questions but he could only select one more.
'Shall I ask for ways to bring Novius and Cylix back? But what if they don't want to come back? Wouldn't I be forcing them? Shall I ask the Mirror about my father?'
Even though he told Novius that he didn't care about his father, there was still some curiosity in his heart about the man who abandoned them.
'Or should I ask about this Tower? Who made these towers and why were they made? The Tower's origin had been a mystery in this world as well. The Mirror might be able to answer. Or I can ask how Karyk died?"
Eventually, he rejected all the questions in his mind and came up with something else. There was one question that no one in this world could answer him. He couldn't even ask anyone about it. He knew that this might be his last chance of getting an answer to that question.
"I've decided on my last question. Why do I keep living Karyk's life in my dreams?"
It wasn't just once that he lived a dream that appeared more like Karyk's past. Initially, he thought it was the Grimoire's way of showing him then memories of its first master, but he couldn't be sure about that.
The dreams were more realistic than they should've been. Moreover, for some reason, there was a strange and uneasy feeling in his heart whenever he was inside house dreams. It was as if he knew those people in the dreams... Just what was happening with him? He wanted to know more.
"Is that your final question?" The Mirror Reflection asked in response.
Gabriel nodded. "That's right. That's my last question."
"I see. Then that finishes your three questions. Not bad," the Mirrors Reflection nodded, seemingly quite impressed at the questions Gabriel came up with.
They were all questions that weren't easy to find an answer to. At least the last question was something which no one in this world knew about.
"All your questions are accepted."
The Mirror held the right of rejecting any question if it felt like it, but all the questions that Gabriel asked were within the rules and all of them were accepted.
"Your first question, about the Orbs of Time. The Orbs of Time are the most precious treasure of the Temple of Time, which was once used as their energy source. It was also what made them a formidable force. Until one day when the orbs were stolen by-"
"By Karyk," Gabriel finished the sentence, only to have the reflection agree.
"What are they used for?" Gabriel asked.
Unfortunately, the Reflection didn't answer this time. "I've already answered your first question, and you have no questions left."
"Your second question, how did the Temple of Time come into existence?"
"The Temple of Time was made right after the Greatest Disaster, where the world was destroyed in the war. In the Era of Gods, an arrangement was reached where the peace was maintained for the most part. But there were also some people who didn't agree with it."
"They were the people who couldn't accept the past, and that's why they wanted to change it. They wanted to go back in time to before the great tragedy and change the future of this world so that the great war that destroyed the world never took place."
"With that single goal, an organization was made of like-minded individuals, and it was named the Temple of Time."
The Mirror Reflection answered about the origin of the Temple of Time, but nothing more.
"Wait, since the past hasn't changed, that means the Temple of Time hasn't succeeded?" Gabriel asked, thinking of something. "And they've been looking for the Orbs of Time as if their life depends on it. Could it be that... the Orbs of Time what they needed to go back in time? Is that why Karyk took these from them?"
The Mirror Reflection only smiled but didn't answer. It just skipped to Gabriel's last question. "Your third question. Why do you keep living Karyk's life in my dreams?"
Gabriel was slightly frustrated that he wasn't getting answers. That's why it was important for him to have questions left before getting answers, but he couldn't do anything.
"The answer to that question is as simple as it can be," the Mirror Reflection answered. "You aren't living anyone else's life in your dreams... You're just living your own life in your dreams."
"What do you mean?" Gabriel asked, slightly confused. What did she mean by that? He hadn't seen a single thing from his past in his dreams. In those realistic dreams, he never once saw Maya or his mother in his childhood. How could it say that he was his own life."
"I've answered your question. Now it's on you to understand those answers," the Mirror Reflection didn't clarify anymore. "It's time for you to leave now."
"Also, I know what you're thinking. And no, I'm not a Numen. You can't bind me to force me to answer. You can't even touch me. If you don't believe me, then you can try."
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It was as if the Mirror had managed to read Gabriel's mind, who was actually thinking about binding this Numen. If the mirror was bound to him, was there really a need for him to worry about limited questions? This all-knowing Numen could be a great help.
Unfortunately, it was as if the Mirror had managed to read his mind to know what he was thinking.
"Do you mind if I try?" Gabriel asked. It was better than not even trying.
"Go ahead." The Mirror Reflection nodded as if it didn't worry at all, despite knowing everything about Gabriel.
Gabriel stepped closer to the Mirror and bit his thumb to make a Blood Mark on the Mirror to bind it.
"Huh?" Surprisingly, his hand simply passed through the Mirror, unable to even touch it. It was as if the Mirror was no more than an illusion.
If his blood couldn't even touch the Mirror, there was no way he could bind it.
"I see what you meant." Gabriel stepped back, letting out a sigh. "It was still worth a try."
Since he was done here, there was nothing more he could do. He cast a little healing spell on his hand before bringing out the crystal that was able to take him back to the ground floor.
"Before you leave, there is one more thing I think you should know."
Just as Gabriel was about to tap the stone on the ground, he heard the Mirror call him.
He stepped. "What?"
"Even though I should only be telling you three answers, but I'm feeling a bit generous today. It's been a long time since someone came here last... That's why I'll tell you something that I'm sure you need to know."
"Tell me what?" Gabriel asked. Something he really needed to know? What could it be?
"Your body... It's weak," the Mirror Reflection expressed.
"I know. I'm only a Mid Tier Mage. I should be getting stronger with time," Gabriel responded, believing that she was calling his physical strength weak.
"That's the problem. You don't have time." The Reflection stated. The voice that appeared to be coming from every direction in the hall was a bit more grim as it talked about it.
"What do you mean I don't have time?" Gabriel turned severe as well. That statement... It appeared to have more meaning than one. He was sure that the mirror wasn't just talking about him being weaker than the enemies he needed to face. Then what was it? What time?
"Your Soul... Even though it just momentarily awakened recently, that made your soul a lot stronger. Unfortunately, that's not always a good thing."
"Your soul is too strong, even for your own good. Your body can't keep up with your soul strength. Because of that, the more of the Spiritual Strength you use, the more you'll hurt your body in the process," The Mirror answered, talking about something that even Gabriel hadn't known anything about.
"With time, it'll get worse for you as your body will eventually give up, sooner or later. You should really do something about it."
"My body will give up?" Gabriel frowned upon hearing.
He had experienced something similar when his hands trembled in the past after using his Spiritual Strength and High Tier Spell. However, Cylix told him that it was normal. Then what was wrong? Was Cylix wrong? Was there more to it than he knew?
"Yeah, I'm sure you already experienced the trembling. Your body is stronger than an ordinary mage, so an ordinary High Tier Spell or two shouldn't have put so much burden on your body to hurt it, so something is different. I'm sure you could've guessed that much too."
Gabriel nodded. He did feel something was wrong, but he just couldn't put his finger on it.
The Mirror Reflection continued, "Your physical threshold is much higher. That's why a high-tier spell shouldn't have affected you as it does a normal mage. That weakness in your body after using a heavy spell isn't the same as what happens with the others. Instead, it's a sign of your health getting worse."
"And with time, it'll only get worse. You can relieve the symptoms with those pills for the time being, but after some time, even those pills will become useless if you use them often."
"Moreover, your soul is connected to the Origin Element. So those exact spells take the most toll on your body as well. The more you use them before strengthening your body enough, the worse it'll get for you physically with time. That's why you need to solve this problem urgently."
"Is there a solution?" The information that the Mirror gave him was scary, especially since he had no idea that it was happening to him. He still tried to keep his calm to understand the situation better to see if he had any choice.
"There is one that I can think of. You should strengthen your body to the same extent that it can keep up with that soul of yours. There should be one item that can help you with that right away. Something you should be able to find in Arecia. It's their Royal Treasure, after all."
"Do you mean the Arecia Empire?" Gabriel asked. It hadn't been long since he last heard that name. It was the homeland of Novius!
"Yes. The most important Treasure of the Arecia Empire is the only thing that should be able to help you immediately. Until then, I advise you to try to limit the use of stronger spells, especially spells from your Origin Element of Necromancy, as much as possible."
" Only use them if there is no other way. You can try to handle things with other elements that you share for now as well. However, if possible, avoid battles altogether unless you absolutely have to fight."
[Present Time]
Gabriel stood, surrounded by Izen's clones from all sides.
"If I could, I wanted to avoid it... But…"
Even as Gabriel received the Grimoire of Necromancy, he had only received two Spells and that too, low tier spells. According to Lira, it was because he wasn't strong enough to use more powerful spells and it was the Grimoire's way of protecting him.
However, with time, he realized that he needed a more powerful spell if he wanted to rob the Academy. He had no other choice but to request the Grimoire for more powerful spells.
That's where the cycle began... A Cycle where he started receiving more powerful spells. From that point on, he had become a Mid Tier Mage straight from Novice Mage and learned High Tier Spells of other Elements as well.
He couldn't have guessed just how much burden such a thing was placing on his body since he wasn't even aware of a phenomenon like that. As if to make things worse, he entered the Tower of Challenges where he had to use his powerful spells more often than not.
He only used to think that the reason he felt so weak after using a High Tier Spell was because his soul was exhausted, but it was only thanks to the Mirror on the top floor that he found out just how troublesome this matter actually was.
Affording to the Mirror, he was on a clock. The more he used his powerful spells, the shorter his time left was going to be, since every time he used ones, he was harming his body.
The Mirror didn't say that he was going to die if he fought people, or used powerful spells, but it did suggest him to avoid any battles if possible.
Fortunately, he was also told the solution of this problem. All he needed to do was find one item. Until then, he wanted to avoid fighting or using any powerful spells since he wanted to make sure that he had enough strength left in case of emergencies in the future. He didn't want the Soul Healing Pills to become ineffective for him.
That's also one of the reasons he didn't fight the Head Council Members properly, only killing Yoan. That was also a main consideration for him when he decided against infiltrating the Holy Church of Light.
Before anything, he wanted to go to the Arecia Empire and take what he needed.
It was his biggest consideration in not using any powerful spells of Necromancy until now. Even though it was a powerful element, that's what also became its biggest flaw at the time when his own body was struggling to contain the power of his soul.
He wasn't even sure if his Necromancy Spells were going to work or not, as they were also part of his magical spells. If they were also going to be nullified, using powerful spells was no less than a waste in this situation.
Fortunately, now that the Infernal Emperor and the real Izen weren't here, this was also what provided him with a perfect opportunity! With Izen's absence, the effect of Magical Immunity on his clones should've been weaker due to distance. At least he believed so.
If he was ever going to succeed with his Necromancy Spells, it was now.
He also called out his Ancestral Staff of Necromancy, which arrived, accompanying a powerful aura of death with it that even made Izen's clones flinch for a moment.
Even the real Izen who had just started fighting the Infernal King was shocked as he momentarily stopped in place. As he was connected to the clones, he could see what they were seeing and feel the Ancestral Staff's aura.
The Ancestral Staff of Darkness was something that was kept at the Academy of Elements for the longest of times.
He had seen the Ancestral Staff of Darkness quite a few times. In the first glance itself, he was sure that the Ancestral Staff that Gabriel was holding onto wasn't the Ancestral Staff of Darkness!
For some reason, he had a bad feeling. It was as if he had to go back to Gabriel and if he didn't, all his clones were going to die! Even though the clones were created using a spell, it wasn't as easy to recreate them.
It took him close to three decades to create twenty such clones who could share his strength. If they were all destroyed, he could only regain one each year. They were akin to limited resources which he didn't want to lose. And seeing the arrival of Ancestral Staff, that's what he worried.
"I need to get there to stop him!" He started flying back.
"You aren't going anywhere!" Izen had just moved when a seventy feet fall wall of blue flames appeared before him, blocking his path.
"Stay out of my path!" Izen roared in rage.
The Infernal King didn't listen to the man and attacked.
"Fine! I'll kill you first and then capture your master!" He joined his hands together. "Blessing of the Goddess!"
He cast another spell which cast a barrier around him. As the barrier only had to concentrate on him, it was much much more stable than the barrier he cast on everyone else before. It was also more resistant.
While the real Izen was being held back by the Infernal King, Gabriel already finished the preparation.
He raised his head, looking at the sky that was covered in clouds. A strange yet powerful energy started filling up the entire surrounding, giving even the clones of Izen a bad feeling.
All the Clones attacked together. However, this time, it was as if Gabriel wasn't going to hold back. He wanted to avoid using his Origin Element, but now that he did, he wasn't going to be stingy. If that's what he needed to destroy them, he wasn't going to hold
"Shield of the Dead." He cast a protective spell around him.
"What... is... happening?" All the clones rushed to Gabriel to attack him, but as soon as they got close to him, they saw thousands of evil spirits appear out of nowhere. The Dark Spirits surrounded him from all sides, as if creating a whirlpool around him, protecting him from all kinds of attacks.
The screeches of the Dark Spirits were painful and scary. The screeches of the Dark Spirits alone were enough to scare an ordinary human into submission.
"What in the..."
All Izen Clones were shocked. They had seen many Dark Spells, but a spell that uses the evil spirits? And the Ancestral Staff that they didn't see before? Was this guy really a Dark Mage? They couldn't believe that anymore!
There was no way that this person was just a Dark Mage! But then what was it? Despite so many questions, they all couldn't waste time. They attacked at the same time.
"Curse of the Dead!" Gabriel also finished his spell…
As if answering Gabriel's roaring command, the skies also roared as dark lightning flashes through the sky, signaling the beginning of a scary storm that covered all the Clones and Gabriel in its embrace.
The attack was a high tier spell and one of the spells that he had used to kill the remnant of the Top Ranker Mage of Light from the Academy in the Tower of Challenges.
It was just his second time using a spell like that... His Seventh Spell and his second most powerful offensive spell! Unfortunately, he also expected the backlash to be just as strong for using something like this at the situation he was in.
Still, he didn't care. If he needed to win here, then this was the only way. If he didn't do anything, not only was he going to lose here, but even the Infernal King might've been killed.
He had to make an example of these Clones! An overwhelming example that would've made even Izen think twice before attacking him next time.
A strange dark energy spread everywhere, turning the entire surrounding dark. It was as if an ungodly dark power had completely covered the battlefield, making everyone blind to what was happening in the battlefield.
The dark energy was only a tiny bit similar to the Darkness of Novius, but it was something more...
It was the energy of death which was the most unholy form of element, consisting of all the broken hopes, dreams, and infinite rage billions of dead beings! Darkness was a powerful Element, but not as powerful as the Element of Death which walked over the dead bodies of billions of beings in the universe.
Where there was life, there was death and the death was the only thing which was inevitable for a person! All those who lived had to die sooner or later!
"Who... are you?" The Clones asked, realizing that none of their attacks were able to destroy Gabriel's Shield of Death!
Just what was this guy? How could he be so strong? Not only did he cast such a powerful defensive spell, but it was clear that he had cast a powerful offensive spell as well? They could feel the chaotic energy in their surroundings getting more powerful with each passing second.
Gabriel could hear the Clones even from the other side of the Shield of Spirits and so could they.
Hearing them ask who he was, even Gabriel was momentarily confused. Just what was he? He raised his head toward the sky, noticing the energy of death getting stronger.
"I am death..." After some time, only three words came out of his mouth which sent a chill down the Clones' spines for some reason.
The Dark aura of death was so powerful that it was even able to surpass the spatial restrictions that had covered a large area.
The strange phenomenon outside the city was something that couldn't escape the observation of the people in the City. Since it was happening so close to the city, even the Head Priests of Light could feel that disturbing energy.
They knew they had to check it out. They needed to know just what was happening. The teachers of the Head Council at the Academy also saw the dark clouds in the distance. Leaving a few Head Council Members back, most of them flew to the source of Darkness to see.
For a moment, everything turned dark, as if the entire space had disappeared momentarily. It was so silent, that not even a single scream could be heard. The winds had also stopped flowing.
Fortunately, the darkness soon started retreating, revealing the condition of the battlefield. A huge crater, having a diameter of two kilometers and a depth of one kilometer was left behind, seemingly scorched.
Only one person was visible, standing in the middle of the Crater... It was a young man, only eighteen years old. He was holding an Ancestral Staff in his hand, using it as a support to keep standing. For some reason, he felt as if he was going to fall if he didn't take the support of the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy.
Surprisingly enough, there was no one in his surroundings. All the clones that Izen had left behind were missing, as if they were swallowed by death itself.
This kind of attack, it wasn't the Infernal King's first time seeing a spell like that. He had seen Gabriel use that spell before. He knew just how powerful that spell was, but currently it was even stronger!
He also knew just how heavy this spell was for Gabriel. The last time he used this spell, it left him unable to fight anymore. Was this the case again? That was what he feared. If any enemies had survived, and Gabriel was unable to fight, then he was in danger! He had to get back to Gabriel! That was his priority.
Fortunately, there was no one stopping him. As soon as Izen's clones were destroyed, he felt a Soul crunching pain since all those clones were connected to him. He held his chest where his heart was supposed to be, looking in the direction where his Clones were before. He couldn't feel their presence anymore!
"W-what was..."
While he was distracted with what had happened, the Infernal King already left the battlefield without even him realizing.
The Infernal King reached Gabriel, who was standing with the support of his Ancestral Staff. His eyes were still full of fighting spirit, even though he wasn't in any condition to fight.
"Told you, I could handle them," Gabriel told the Infernal King, flashing a weak smile.
Unfortunately, his body was so weak that it was as far as he could take it for now. His eyes closed as he lost his balance.
The Infernal King stepped forward, holding Gabriel who had lost his consciousness due to being exhausted. If he wasn't here, Gabriel would've already fallen to the ground.
The Ancestral Staff of Necromancy disappeared as well, returning back to the Mark of Necromancy where it was kept.
The Infernal King just stared at Gabriel who had given this battle his all. "Yes, you did it. You won," he spoke. "Now rest, Gabriel..."
He placed his hand in Gabriel's pocket and pulled out a Soul Healing Pill. After opening his lips, he placed the pill in his mouth.
"Leave the rest to me. I'll make sure no harm comes to you anymore..." The Infernal King clenched his fist, looking in the direction of the city, from where he could feel some powerful auras coming toward them.
A huge pillar of deep blue fire rose from the barren land, rising high in the sky. It was so high that not just the people of the Royal City but people of the faraway City could also see that flaming Pillar.
The City of Apophis was being bombarded by the Church of Lightning and the Church of Water simultaneously which was placing a lot of burden on the City's defenses.
Lambard had tried a lot to draw the enemies inside the city, but they just refused to fall for his trick. Lambard knew that his city was definitely strong enough to outlast the attack for months without any troubles, but that was the case at the current pace of attacks.
The Two Holy Priestess hadn't yet used their stronger attacks. Moreover, once other Churches joined in, it was only going to be harder.
Another option which he had was to go out and fight. With his current fighting strength, he was sure that his maid alone could destroy at least half the event army, bringing their number down.
The problems were the Two Holy Priestesses. Even with his Numens, facing the two at the same time was an impossible task, especially since he didn't have the Robe of Nullification that Izen possessed.
Lambard wasn't someone who wanted to take a risk when there wasn't an absolute chance of victory. That's why he preferred not to leave the city in this situation. That left only one other choice...
"Looks like I'll have to end this fight prematurely..." He stood up and left the room. "After I did so much to establish our city here, now this."
His heart was filled with anger, as if all the hard work that he had placed behind establishing himself here had gone down the drain, and there was only one person he could blame for this...
He went to the deepest section of his castle. It was the place where only he was allowed to go. It was where the core of the City was present.
After twenty minutes, Lambard reached the depths of the Castle where he hadn't gone in a really long time.
"Time to end this war... For now."
He sat on his knees in the core of the city and closed his eyes.
He started speaking some words, but it was unclear just what he was saying as those words weren't a part of the language... At least not the language that was known around the world.
After half an hour, he finally opened his eyes, feeling the entire room filled with spatial energy.
"It's been so long since I last used it..." He stood up, letting out a sigh as he left the room. Slowly, the Spatial Energy started spreading out of the room.
It took twenty more minutes before the Spatial Energy surrounded the entire city, taking the city in its embrace.
Lambard returned to his room, where the maid was still waiting for him.
"Master, what is this strange energy that I feel?" The Maid asked Lambard. It was even her first time seeing something like this.
"This is another safety mechanism of the city," Lambard answered. "One that isn't often used."
"Will it kill the enemies?" The maid asked.
Lambard shook his head. "As I said, the city is only for defense. It can't attack anyone as long as they are outside the city."
"Then what is this strange energy for? What does it do?"
"You'll know soon enough." Lambard didn't directly answer. He just stood near the window, observing the spatial energy that had covered the entire city.
Before long, the Spatial Energy formed a dome around the entire city, covering it in a beautiful white light.
Even the forces of the Churches outside the city were stunned, wondering just what was happening. For a moment, they all stopped attacking.
No one could see inside the city through that white barrier. It was the same for people inside the city who couldn't see what was happening outside the city.
After only two minutes, the white light disappeared.
"What?" As soon as the White Light Barrier disappeared, the young maid exclaimed in shock. There was no enemy outside the city now. Were they all killed? What was happening? Didn't Lambard say this wasn't an energy that was going to attack anyone?
"What happened to the Church forces?" she asked in surprise.
Just as shocked as her were the forces of the Churches. After the white light disappeared, they were all taken aback to see that the place where the city used to be was completely empty!
"Invisibility Cloak? What trickery!" The Holy Priestess of Lightning scoffed as she cast another attack. Even if the city was invisible, it didn't matter! The attack was still going to land.
Boom~
Her attack of Lightning came falling from the sky like the Wrath of Heaven. Strangely enough, it didn't face any barriers at all.
The Lightning fell on the ground, leaving deep craters behind.
"It's not invisibility?" Elora was also surprised to see the attack hitting nothing. If it were just an invisibility, the attack would've still hit it.
"No, they aren't invisible," Lambard told his maid. "And they aren't killed either. It's not that something happened to them. Look around the city once again, and you might realize..."
The Maid flew high in the sky and observed her surroundings. The area around the city was definitely different. But why?
"Ah, did we...?" It didn't take her long to realize just what might've happened. She landed back near Lambard.
"Yeah. I teleported the entire city to avoid that mess. We'll just have to contact all our sources again and give them this location," Lambard informed the maid.
The City of Apophis wasn't called an absolute fortress of defense for no reason at all, as it had many such tricks to protect its citizens, and one such trick was Teleportation to a different part of the world.
The Teleportation couldn't be used randomly and needed a huge amount of energy to be gathered before it could be used a second time, but Lambard believed it was worth it in this situation. This gave him more time.
"Where are we now?" the maid asked Lambard. "Are we still within the boundaries of the Lumen Kingdom?"
Lambard shook his head. "Not anymore. If I'm not wrong, we should be inside the land of the Arecia Kingdom..."
"Where did they go? What happened to them?" the Holy Priestess of Lightning raged as she flew where the city used to be. It was clear that the city wasn't there anymore.
"I feel remnants of Spatial Energy." Elora also landed next to Thalia. "It's as if a large-scale Teleportation took place..."
"A Teleportation that covers the entire city? Is that even possible?" Thalia was taken aback. It was her first time hearing of teleportation of an entire city!"
"If it's a Numen, maybe. Lambard is more resourceful than we expected. With him working with the Dark Priests, he would definitely be a headache in the future..."
Elora came here to destroy a future threat when they had a chance, but even she didn't expect an outcome like this. Lambard was supposed to be an ordinary human, but thanks to his Numens and the wealth he had amassed, he was a very powerful enemy for the future... An enemy that they needed to take care of.
"It doesn't matter where he hides. Even if he is hiding in the depths of hell, I'll find him. He has upset the wrong person now!" Clenching her fist, Thalia stood up. She had decided that no matter what, she was to wipe out Lambard the next time she met him.
Elora nodded. It was time all the Churches came together. As she was thinking of what to do next, she felt something strange.
She looked to her left. "Hmm? What's that?"
Thalia also looked in the same direction, noticing a bright blue pillar of light.
"That's... Lumen Royal City? Is it under attack?"
A bright pillar of Blue Fire rose from the ground, engulfing two people inside it.
The fire was so hot that even the ground had started to burn under its heat.
Izen was in shock as to what that spell was. Just what was Gabriel? Even a few seconds of him being in a daze allowed the Infernal King an opportunity to get back to Gabriel.
However, as soon as Izen came out of his daze, he decided something.
"No matter who or what he is. He is a threat to this World. He is too dangerous, especially with the side he is following. I wanted to capture him alive to get some answers, but it looks like I have no choice but to kill him."
He flew in the direction where the battle took place between his clones and Gabriel. However, just as he reached near, he saw a beautiful yet demonic fire engulf the two, forming a huge pillar of fire.
At the same time, the Head Priests of the Church of Light also arrived, slightly surprised to find Izen here.
"Dean Izen? You are also here? Would you like to explain what's happening here?" One of the Head Priests asked.
Not long after them, the Head Council Members also arrived, who all sighed in relief after realizing that Izen was back. They had seen this type of fire before when the Museum of Elements was robbed. It didn't take them a long time to guess just who was inside these pillars!
"With Lord Izen here, there is no way he can escape anymore!" The Head Council members could finally relax. Izen wasn't too late.
"Inside that pillar of fire is an enemy who wouldn't stop at anything before he destroys everything because of the troublesome past," Izen told the Head Priests of the Church of Light.
"I'll tell you more later. First, I need to stop him. I would advise you all to step back."
The Head Priests didn't understand half the things, but they listened to Izen and stepped back.
"You too..." Izen told the Head Council Members, who also retreated.
"Is he about to cast what I think it is?" Rem wondered, talking to himself.
"It seems that way," Xinci nodded. "It seems Gabriel has really pissed him off. The kid is dead now."
"We will get to see the strongest spell of Lord Izen. Aren't we lucky? I've never seen him use it. He didn't use it even when they caught Frost Giants of North," Lishen exclaimed. "This Gabriel is definitely something special to make him use something like that."
Just as they all expected, Izen started casting a spell. The natural energy in the surrounding trembled with each word of the spell, as if realizing the implications of that spell.
"Hmm?" Even the Head Priests were stunned, feeling the changes in the surroundings. "They were also quite curious to see just what spell it was. Were they going to see the true strength of Izen that he never showed before?"
"Look, the energy of the tower is weakening!" One of the Head Priests exclaimed, noticing the Flames of the tower getting weaker.
"Lord Izen is only halfway in his spell; it is clear that this shouldn't be because of his spell. Is Gabriel coming out? Is he going to surrender finally after realizing the strength of Lord Izen?" Xinci chuckled.
"That would definitely be a wise decision on his part," Rem commented. "The choice is between death and surrender, after all."
Izen was also surprised to see flames weakening, but he didn't stop casting his spell. Even if Gabriel tried to surrender, he was going to kill him. That guy was too dangerous.
Izen had almost completed his spell, leaving only the last sentence. He kept chanting his spell, but just as he was on the last word of his spell, he stopped, seemingly shocked at the sight of something.
The flame pillars had entirely stopped, but that wasn't shocking. What was surprising was that...
"There is no one inside?" The Head Priest of the Church of Lightning exclaimed, finding no one there. It was as if the pillar of fire was empty right from the start. Did someone fool Izen? They wondered.
"They..." Izen clenched his fist. Even he was slightly taken aback. But more than that, he was angry. They managed to escape from right within his grasp. Just how?
"This guy..." Eliana also couldn't grasp the situation. Did Gabriel really manage to fool Izen? Just what kind of monstrosity was he that he could even fool someone like Izen and escape? That man... He definitely wasn't simple.
While everyone was shocked after noticing that there was no one inside the pillar, around twenty kilometers away from them, a young-looking man was walking through a deep forest.
A beautiful blue flame burned in place of one of his eyes which couldn't be seen clearly since the man was covering most of his face thanks to his cloak.
Strangely enough, no aura could be felt from the young man, despite the fact that he was the Infernal King! It was all thanks to the ring that was given to Gabriel by the Spectre, which hid the aura of everything within ten meters of him.
The Infernal King was carrying another young man, who was unconscious.
He couldn't help but glance in the direction of the city of Lumen once again. He wasn't a person who wanted to run away from a battle as it was insulting to him, but currently, he chose to do it for the sake of Gabriel.
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He believed that he could fight them, but he couldn't protect Gabriel if he were going to fight. And if he was dragged back by Izen like last time, Gabriel was going to be helpless in the situation he was in.
For the sake of Gabriel, he decided to retreat.
Carrying Gabriel, he couldn't help but remember the first time he met the young man. He absolutely hated the young man who had forcefully established a contract with him. He considered Gabriel, a weak man who wanted to rely on his strength. That was also what he hated about him the most.
Still, having no other choice, he decided to help Gabriel with that theft. The second time Gabriel called him, he hated Gabriel even more since Gabriel had broken a promise. He wanted to kill Gabriel if possible, but that's when he saw that Gabriel wasn't entirely the same as he thought.
The young man fought the enemies all alone, even though he could've forced him to fight. Even when the enemies looked like they were almost impossible to defeat, he was always in the lead in fighting them.
The Infernal King didn't even realize when he started respecting the young man that he absolutely hated. They ate together, they made plans together, and they even fought together.
All his interactions with Gabriel led to this point... A point where the Infernal King started considering Gabriel more than just a Summoner. Without even realizing it, he started considering Gabriel... a friend.
It was silent... Too silent. When Gabriel started coming to his senses, he realized that the surroundings were just too silent. He couldn't even hear the sound of the wind.
His head was thumping in pain as he suffered through a heavy headache. Fortunately, his body wasn't in pain. Even though he still felt as if his body was slightly heavy, it wasn't too hard for him to handle it.
He slowly opened his eyes, wondering where he was. The last thing he could remember was that he had just finished killing all the clones of Izen.
"Did I pass out after that?" he muttered as he came to his complete senses. He looked around, observing his surroundings.
As he observed his surroundings, he came to a realisation that he wasn't on the battlefield anymore. Instead, he was in what appeared to be a room. The room wasn't too big, but it wasn't too small either.
He was also lying on a bed which was particularly comfortable.
"Where am I?" Confused, he pushed his body up to sit.
He could see that he was in a different set of clothes. The clothes that were covered in blood before were nowhere to be found. Since he hadn't used healing before passing out, some of his wounds were still there, but it was as if someone had placed medicine on his wounds before wrapping them up.
Creak~
The wooden door in the distance opened and a person stepped inside the room.
"Ah, you're up!" The young girl's surprised voice filled the room.
The girl was dressed in a white dress, which wasn't luxurious by any means. Gabriel could already see some stitching on the dress that was done by hand, most probably by the girl herself. The dark haired girl was in her early twenties.
"Who are you?" Gabriel frowned. "Where am I? How did I get here?"
"Uh, I am Olivia. This is my house, or rather my father's house..." The young girl answered.
"Did you change my clothes?" Gabriel inquired.
He couldn't help but wonder if he somehow managed to escape the battlefield, only to pass out for the girl to discover him. His clothes were changed but his gloves were the only thing that weren't taken off.
He wondered if the girl had seen his Elemental Marks when he was unconscious. Did she already inform the Churches about his presence in that case?
"N-no. Your friend helped you change. He was also the one who brought you here when you were unconscious. Since ours is the only physician family in the entire town, he forc- cough, I mean asked us to help you," the girl explained. "It's good that you're up."
"My friend?" Gabriel couldn't help but wonder who she was talking about. Did she mean the Infernal King? Did that guy bring him away from the battlefield? That was surprising since he knew that the Infernal King hated leaving the battlefield in the middle of the battle.
"Where is he?" Gabriel asked, sliding off the bed to land on the ground. He still felt a little weak. It was just as the Mirror had stated. The more he used his abilities, the worse he was going to feel. It was like his body was facing a backlash.
In any case, he needed to retrieve that item from the Arecia Empire.
He picked up a glass of water from the nearby table and gulped the water down at once before walking to the girl.
"Your friend went with my father to retrieve some herbs from the beast mountain that were supposed to help you heal faster," Olivia answered. "The two of them should be back by evening."
"Beast Mountain? I see. So we are still in the Lumen Kingdom..."
"That's right. Ours is a small town on the outskirts of the Lumen Empire." Olivia nodded.
"Shouldn't there be a Church of Light branch here? Did you already inform them?" Gabriel opened the door to leave the room, followed by Olivia.
Olivia went silent for a few seconds before answering, "To inform them, don't they need to be alive in the first place."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean the first thing your friend did after coming here was to destroy the Church of Light," the girl answered. "Since you were asleep, it's understandable that you don't know."
"I see. So he already handled everything. If there is no Church branch in the town, the main Church can't be informed about our presence here. That way, no one knows we are here. And if they even find out, by that time, it'll be too late. Not bad."
Gabriel had only seen the Infernal King fight before but seeing him take care of the entire matter and thinking of the long term plan was really very refreshing.
"Where are my clothes?" he asked. In the new clothes, he felt quite uncomfortable. The clothes were a little loose since they belonged to Olivia's father who was on the healthy side.
"They were covered in blood, so we had to clean them up." Olivia took Gabriel to a specific room where his clothes were being kept. It was just as she stated, the clothes had been cleaned already. There was not even a speck of blood on them.
Olivia was really curious about the identity of these two people. One of them was covered in blood when he was brought to them. Even the second in the group was so powerful that he could destroy the entire Church of Light branch. Just who were these two people?
Gabriel closed the room after entering, leaving Olivia behind. He took off the clothes he was wearing and wore his old clothes that he received with the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy.
Wearing his old clothes, finally he felt a bit more comfortable. After getting changed, he opened the door and stepped out of the room.
Olivia had seen Gabriel when he was brought to her in a bloody condition, but now that there was no blood on him and he was back in his princely attire, even she couldn't help but find herself dazed for a moment.
'Now that I look at him, he is certainly very handsome, like a Royal Prince. Who would've thought that he would be an enemy of the Churches...'
Since the Infernal King destroyed the branch of the Church of Light, it wasn't hard for her to guess their identity. She didn't need to check their marks to realise that these two most probably belonged to the remnants of the Church of Darkness.
"You don't seem scared of us. Is there a reason for that?" As soon as Gabriel stepped out of the room, he asked the girl.
Most people would've been scared of them after finding out that they destroyed the Church of Light branch that the world considered their protectors. Still, strangely enough, he couldn't feel even the slightest bit of fear from her when she addressed him.
Even though the branch was way weaker than the Main Church of Light, it was still an affiliate so going against them was no different than going against the entire Church. Anyone would've been scared of them but not this girl. He wondered why that was.
"I won't lie, initially I was scared... Very scared." Olivia placed her hand on her chest, remembering just how fast her heart was beating when she saw the entire Church of Light burning in the deep blue flames.
She wasn't the only one. The entire town was scared and everyone wanted to run, only to have their escape routes be sealed by the Infernal King. No one was allowed to leave.
Everyone in the town expected them to be killed by these Demons. However, strangely enough, the Infernal King didn't touch anyone at all.
"After destroying the Church of Light branch, he asked everyone if there was anyone amongst them who could treat you. He also promised that as soon as we treat you and you are fine, he would leave without harming anyone."
'Stick and Carrot approach, I see. Not bad. First he instilled fear in them by destroying the Church Branch while also taking out a potential threat who could've informed the main branch and then they offered them the carrot to get their help.'
Gabriel was quite impressed to hear the story about how the Infernal King handled everything.
"My father was the only physician in the town, so he raised his hand and we took you in. Since then, we've been treating you as much as we can to our capacity."
"That still doesn't explain why you're not scared of us. Is it because you think you won't be killed if I'm healthy? Do you really believe everything that he said?" Gabriel asked, wondering if that was all there was to it.
"That's not all. Even after he promised us that he'll let us all leave if you're healthy, I was still scared. We didn't know any of you, and didn't know your personalities. We also couldn't be sure if what we were promised was true, but did we have any other choice?" Olivia responded.
"The person who could take out the Branch of Church of Light, just how long would it take him to exterminate all of us?" she continued, not even realizing that they were already at the gate. "That's why, I was still scared. But since that time, I got to know more about your friend by watching his actions. And I don't know why, but I think I can believe his words."
"What do you mean?" Gabriel asked, right as Olivia pushed the door open.
Olivia basked in warm sunlight as soon as she opened the door. The sun was high in the sky, shining brightly.
"That man... He was really worried for you. He never once left your sight. Throughout the time you were unconscious, he was always by your side. I don't think he even slept at all in the last two days."
"Two days? I've been here for two days?" Gabriel exclaimed, surprised. He was out for two days? How was that possible?
"Approximately two days, yeah." Olivia nodded. "If it wasn't for my father saying that he needed to get some herbs from Beast Mountain, I doubt your friend would've left your side even now."
"A person who can worry about their friends so much, I don't know why, but I can't bring myself to doubt him. That's why, I believe what he said. I believe that he would keep his words. I know I can be wrong as well, but we don't have a choice in the matter, do we?"
"I see..." Gabriel stepped out of the house, observing the streets that were completely empty now. That wasn't surprising either since not many people were going to dare to walk outside in fear of coming across the Infernal King.
"It's alright. If he promised you, I'll keep it. But there is one condition..."
"What condition?" Olivia asked. Wondering if he also wanted them to do something for him.
"Sooner or later, the Main Church will send some people to investigate. As soon as they come here, I want you to tell them something."
"Tell them what?"
"Tell them that we forced you to treat us. That should protect you from their wrath for helping us. If anything, you can also give them a clue about our next destination."
"Your next destination?"
"You can tell them that you heard us discussing where we were talking about going to the Yan Empire next," Gabriel responded.
"You aren't going to the Yan Empire, are you?" Olivia asked, wondering if this was truly their destination. Or was this to set a trap for them.
"I'm not. But that information should keep them busy for a bit. And for giving information like that, you might even be rewarded. We both win something in this deal, don't we?"
Since Gabriel hadn't told the Infernal King that he wanted to go to the Arecia Empire, the Infernal King took him in a different direction. They were still within the Lumen Empire, but they were closer to the Yan Empire territory than they were to the Arecia Empire.
That gave Gabriel an opportunity to send the enemies on a fake trail while he went to the Arecia Empire without any worries to retrieve what he needed from Novius' descendants.
Olivia wasn't sure if she should listen to Gabriel. It was going to be bad if she sent the Church to the Yann Empire only for it to be a trap. There was a small possibility that the Church was going to blame her.
But if she didn't do it, or even pretended to help the Church, they were definitely going to consider her and her father a Traitor for helping dark mages even though they were supposedly forced.
"It seems I have no choice in the matter, do I?" she asked Gabriel.
Gabriel only smiled in response. "That's quite true. If you don't do as I told you, the Church of Light will punish you as well. You have no choice but to do it. It's for your safety as well."
"You... Fine. I'll tell them once they come." Eventually, Olivia could only agree. "But can you tell me honestly. Are you planning to set a trap for them?"
"Trap them?" Gabriel couldn't help but let out a sigh. "If only I could..."
He didn't have any forces to split them up to be able to make a trap for them. Moreover, there was another place where he needed to be, so that was out of the question.
"Don't worry. There will be no trap for them. In reality, we are going to the Axin Kingdom. It's just to throw them off our trail that we need you to lie. It's because I don't want to have to fight again."
Even now, Gabriel lied to her about his real intention. He wasn't sure if Olivia was going to betray them or not. That's why he lied about his real destination as well, naming the Axin Kingdom instead of the Arecia Empire. That way, even if she betrayed them, there was no way that anyone could create trouble for them.
Olivia didn't comment, though she certainly was surprised that Gabriel told her where they were actually going to know. She wondered if this guy really trusted her.
Gabriel and Olivia walked on the empty streets of the town together. Gabriel observed the town which was in a much better condition than the town he was born in. Despite being near the border, the town wasn't shabby.
"You like our town?" Olivia asked, feeling that Gabriel was somewhat impressed at what he was seeing.
"It's not bad," Gabriel answered.
"Yeah. We don't lack anything in this town. Here, we do our own farming and create the things we need. Still, unfortunately this town has never gained the favor of the Royal Family. No one shifts to the town either, due to our proximity with the Beast Mountain which is overrun by fierce beasts."
"That fear is what keeps the town from growing. If not, I have a feeling that we could've become a city by now. Unfortunately..."
Olivia had lived in this town all her life and knew just what the ground reality was. The perception of this town amongst the outsiders wasn't good.
"Do the beasts ever attack the town?" Gabriel looked in the direction of the tall mountain in the distance which was clearly visible from where he was standing.
"Fortunately they don't. Otherwise our town would've been destroyed long ago," the young girl answered. "Though there are certainly times when one or two stray beasts come toward the city. But in that case, the Church takes care of them. Well, at least they did in the past. I believe we'll have to do that ourselves now."
Walking through the streets, Gabriel soon reached the spot where the Church of Light branch used to be. He could only see a burned building before him that was barely standing.
Not thinking much, Gabriel entered the burnt building out of curiosity. Not even the remnants of the bodies were left behind. It in itself was surprising that the building was still standing.
After looking around the Church of Light, he stepped back out. He could still notice a few gazes on him. The citizens of the Town were looking at him through the windows, most hiding behind curtains. It was evident that these people were scared and there was nothing he could do about this.
While taking the trip of the town, he didn't even realize when he reached the end of the town which wasn't very big.
He stood at the entrance of the town, which was also its exit. Looking at the direction of the sun, he tried to get a general idea of the direction he needed to take to get to the Arecia Empire.
'It should be that way... After he returns, I should get going. I also need to send him back to his home. He already did more than he needed to. He had been in this world for a long time. Since it's just traveling now, I shouldn't keep him here..."
He decided to send the Infernal King back to his home before leaving the city, not bothering him to travel together since that wasn't needed. From this point on, he needed to be more inconspicuous.
[Growl]
In his initial curiosity, he had even forgotten that he hadn't eaten anything in the last two days. His stomach had already started growling, bringing his attention to his hunger.
"Let's go back," Olivia suggested. "Now that you're up, you should eat something. You still need to eat to regain some strength. There's no better healing than letting the body do its work."
Gabriel agreed as he also turned around to go back, only to stop in his tracks as soon as he took his first step.
Frowning, he looked behind in the distance.
"What happened?" Olivia also turned around, wondering why Gabriel stopped. However, it was only when she turned around that she realized the reason.
In the distance, she could see a group of people coming toward their town on their horses.
The distance for now was too much so she couldn't see them clearly, but it was clear that they weren't from the Royal Army or the Church of Light.
Unlike her, Gabriel was able to see much more clearly. It was a group of six, all in their early twenties. Only two of them were boys while the other four were girls.
"Based on their attire, they seem to be from a wealthy family," he commented. "Do you know them?"
Olivia shook her head. "I don't remember seeing them before. My first time as well."
"I see..." Gabriel couldn't sense any danger from those people. At best, he could feel that they were as strong as Garrick from the Academy of Elements, if not slightly weaker. If the Royal City knew about his presence there, there was no way they were going to send people like them here. He was sure of that.
A group of six came closer to the town, noticing Gabriel and Olivia standing at the entrance.
"Hahaha, it seems there are already some guests waiting for us." A red haired man burst into laughter.
"That shouldn't be possible," the blue haired woman in the lead shook her head. "They should've had no information about our arrival. How could they be waiting here for us?"
All six people had Marks of Elements on their left hand, highlighting their prestigious positions of mages.
"Yeah, it must be a coincidence that they were at the entrance when they saw us. We shouldn't think too much about it. Just focus on our aim," Another woman chimed in.
"Qing is right! We can't afford to fail. This will be our opportunity to shine!"
As the people got closer, Olivia was finally able to see them clearly.
"From their attire, it seems they aren't from the Lumen Empire either."
"What do you mean?" Gabriel didn't know much about people's attire since he hadn't seen much of the world yet. If anything, he had only been to two major cities: Abadon and Lumen.
"The clothes they are wearing, they aren't from the Lumen Empire. These people... If I'm not wrong, they are from the Yan Empire. Their position inside our neighboring Empire shouldn't be weak either. They might even be nobles from Yan as well."
"Nobles from Yan? What would they be doing inside the Lumen Empire?" Gabriel was slightly surprised to hear that these people were from the neighboring Empire.
He had just told Olivia to use the name of Yan when the Church asked where he went. But the people of Yan were already here? Was this just a coincidence?
The horses got closer to the town, only stopping when they were a few meters away from the entrance of the town.
At such proximity, Gabriel could sense their strength even better. He understood that he was quite close in his guesses. All of these people were Mid Tier Mages. They weren't a threat... At least for now.
All six youngsters stepped down from the horse.
"Take us to your Town Head," the blue haired lady in the lead commanded Gabriel, not even glancing at Olivia.
Looking at Gabriel's attire, she believed that he was most probably the son of the town head. How else could he afford such decent clothes?
Fortunately for them, Gabriel didn't take her words seriously.
"He isn't in Town. He went to the neighboring City," he answered. "May I know for what purpose you're all here? When he returns, I'll inform him."
"No need. We'll talk to him ourselves when he returns," the red haired man scoffed. "Our words are precious and we prefer to not waste them on you."
He placed one of his hands on Gabriel's shoulder and the other on Olivia's shoulder before pushing them both aside to clear their path.
"Take us to the best accommodation you have, since we'll be staying here for a little while," he arrogantly stated, without even putting Gabriel in his eyes.
Thanks to the ring Gabriel received from the Spectre, let alone these people, even the strongest of beings would've had a hard time seeing his aura. For these people, Gabriel and Olivia were both commoners, none of whom had any magical strength.
"Yeah, I'm really tired as well," the Second Man also commented as he entered the city.
One after another, the other youngsters also entered the city with the Blue Haired girl being the last. Surprisingly enough, their horses also followed them inside without having to be guided. It was as if they were already trained enough to follow their masters.
Gabriel watched all the arrogant youngsters enter the town. However, he had already gone through a battle with Izen. For them, these people were kids and his tolerance level was higher, for now.
Olivia stared at Gabriel, wondering what his instructions were now. The city was under Gabriel's control. It was for him to decide what to do.
"What are you doing standing there like statues?" The red haired man, known as Rong, still hadn't given up on scolding Gabriel and Olivia. He was the most impatient out of everyone in the group.
"Didn't I tell you to lead us to the best place for us to stay? Do you know how precious our each second is? Even if we take your lives, it won't be worth a second of ours that we'll have to waste! So you two better behave! And if you don't, I'll have no choice but to create an example of you!"
'These kids... They don't know the difference between heaven and earth, do they?' Olivia was amazed at how stupid these people were being.
She believed that Gabriel was a friend of the Infernal King. These two fought the Church of Light and were most probably dark mages. Could these youngsters really afford to be that arrogant? She couldn't help but worry about the future as she glanced at Gabriel, wondering if he was getting angry.
Even Gabriel was slightly surprised at the arrogance level of this guy. Just because they thought he was an ordinary human, he was threatening to kill him?
Olivia held Gabriel's hands, just as he was starting to feel a bit angry.
Having his hands grabbed by the girl, he couldn't help but look at her. His mind was immediately distracted.
"Young Guests, the Town Head might not be back for a week. He went on an important trip. But if you still want to wait for him, we do have some accomodation available. Let us lead you."
Olivia took the lead. She had already watched the entire Church of Light branch being destroyed. She didn't want these to youngsters to be killed just because they were too stupid.
Moreover, if they were killed, the Yan Empire could even potentially start a war. Their town was not too far from the Yan Empire. If there was a war, she believed that her town was going to suffer the effects as well. So she had to save them.
"I must say, the girl is smarter than that stupid guy." Rong rolled his eyes. "Whatever. It doesn't matter who takes us. Just get us a place. We are already tired after a long journey."
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"Right away." Olivia still hadn't released Gabriel's hands as she also took him with her in the lead.
She just needed to keep them alive until Gabriel left the town. That was a hard task, but she believed she was the only one who had an opportunity.
She just had to keep these people in a house for a week. At best, Gabriel was going to leave by tonight now that he was healed. It was quite possible to protect these people!
Unlike the other youngsters, the blue haired girl was more focused on Gabriel who was walking in the lead with Olivia. She didn't understand why, but she felt as if there was something strange about that man. She just couldn't put a finger on it. She wondered if it was just her misconception.
"Are you all nobles from the Yan Empire?" Olivia asked, after some time, just to confirm her theory.
"That's right." Rong proudly stated, "My father is a Duke in the Empire!"
"Well, as a matter of fact, all our Fathers are Dukes of the Empire," the second man of the group chimed in.
"All except for Xin," he added, glancing at the blue haired girl in the lead. "She is the Second Princess of the Empire. Her father is not the Duke but the Emperor himself!"
"Second Princess?" Olivia exclaimed as great concern engulfed her.
Until now, she only thought that these people were from ordinary noble Families as they didn't have any guards with them. However, the reality was that they were all from the top families of Yann? This was even more dangerous.
She couldn't help but glance at Princess Xin before looking back at Gabriel. If a Princess was killed here, things were going to be even worse. A noble dying and a Princess being killed had entirely different significance as the latter ensured that there was definitely a war!
'No matter what, I need to ensure they stay alive!' Olivia clenched her fist.
'Princess and kids of Dukes?' Even Gabriel was slightly surprised. The Dukes held the most important position in the Yan Empire after the King.
The Dukes were even allowed to possess their private armies, which weren't weak. Just why were such important people here in this small town of the Lumen Empire? Just why did they want to meet with the Town Head? There was definitely something going on here.
"The Town Head won't be back soon. Why don't you tell us your purpose? We should be able to help you any way we can," Gabriel stated, trying to get some answers.
"Why we're here? That's none of your concern, brat. Mind your own business," Rong arrogantly stated. It was unclear what he was angry about, but whenever he talked to Gabriel, his tone was always worse than what he used with Olivia.
"It doesn't matter if your Town Head isn't here or not," he further stated. "It would've been good if he was here, but even when he isn't, it won't change much. We'll still finish what we're here for!"
Rong's friends didn't find anything wrong in his behavior or the tone he used. It was quite normal since he was a noble and from a great family.
Rong momentarily glanced at Gabriel. 'This kid... Despite being a commoner, his clothes are better than mine! He really thinks just because he has better clothes, he is equal to us and can ask us questions. He needs to remember his place!'
Even though all six of them were Royals, due to the attire that Gabriel received from the Ancestral Staff, he looked like the real Prince here. Even the calmness on his face and his expressions were a testament of someone who had gone through a lot. His temperament was also more of a Royalty, even without him realizing it.
Just that small thing gave Rong the impression that Gabriel was being pretentious, which made him even angrier.
Seeing Gabriel being scolded again, Olivia clenched her fist subconsciously. She had never seen such idiots! They were standing at the doors of death, and instead of stepping back, they were trying to break the door with a hammer to invite their deaths?
Gabriel could also feel Olivia's grip around his hand tightening. She was still holding onto his hand.
"Please don't misunderstand, my Lord. What my friend meant to say was that it'll be our pleasure to be able to help you all. In case you need anything, please tell us. We will get it done right away."
Before things could escalate, she took over the conversation again.
"Help? We don't need much," the second young man of the group, known as Huang, answered.
"Yeah. What we need, you can't help. You two are too weak. Moreover, if we needed more help, we could've brought mages who work for us instead. So don't worry about us."
For some reason, none of the Nobles said what they were here for, keeping that under wraps for now.
Unlike Rong, Princess Xin was not angry at Gabriel. Instead, she was more intrigued.
She didn't know what this was about that man, but for some reason, she felt as if the man was a deep abyss that she couldn't see through.
She was a mid-tier mage who was on the verge of becoming an Advanced Tier Mage at such a young age, yet she couldn't see through the young man.
She couldn't feel any magic from Gabriel, as if the young man was nothing more than an ordinary man, but she felt there was more to him than just that. At times, she even wondered if she was overthinking.
"Who made your clothes?" she asked after some time, starting a conversation with Gabriel.
"I found them," Gabriel answered.
No one made these clothes. Instead, he received them with his Ancestral Staff, so finding them was more accurate.
"Xin, did you really expect something else? How else can someone like him afford such clothes," Rong once again chimed in. "Some Royal of Lumen probably tossed away his old clothes, and this beggar picked them up to show off."
Insult after insult, Gabriel was really getting irritated at this point. He was on the verge of letting all his anger out, but he still controlled himself.
Olivia felt like slapping Rong! If he weren't a Royal, she would've already slapped him! That idiot! She was sure that if the guy knew that Gabriel was a Dark Mage of the upper echelon, he would've already wet his pants!
"T-there is the guest house! That's the best we have!" To reduce some tensions, Olivia pointed at the nearest house. They were finally at their destination.
She intentionally didn't take them to the center of the town since she didn't want them to see the destroyed Church of Light. It was better to keep them away from the center so they could easily leave and come to their residence without having to pass through the center of the town.
"You all, please stay outside. I'll go talk to the owner and tell him everything." She entered the house, taking even Gabriel with her inside. She couldn't afford to leave him alone with these Nobles.
She also had to inform the owner of this guest house about the new guests and how important it was that they didn't find out what happened in the town if they wanted to keep them alive.
Xin and the others waited outside the guest house.
"Did you all notice it as well?" A dark-haired girl known as Yui asked. Throughout the country, she had been the most silent, observing her surroundings more than paying interest on the conversation.
"Noticed what?" Rong asked, confused. He didn't notice anything strange.
"The Town..." Xin agreed with Yui. Even she had noticed this strange phenomenon. "There is not a single person outside in this town. It's like this is a ghost town."
"Now that you mention it, I see it too." Another girl agreed. She didn't believe she hadn't noticed it before. "Other than the two people who escorted us, we haven't seen a single person in this town. What is happening here?"
"What's there to be surprised about?" Rong burst into laughter. "You're all overthinking. This is a small town. What else did you expect from it? This town is near the beast mountain. It's clear that people would prefer to stay in much safer towns. Most of them would've already left this town, leaving this place almost empty. Just stop overthinking."
"That's quite possible," Huang agreed. "Instead of worrying about such minor things, we should keep our focus on the Beast Mountain. Don't forget what we're here for."
Even though the empty town was slightly strange, Rong's excuse also made sense for most. In any case, they hadn't sensed any danger in this town.
After around five minutes, Olivia came out of the house and escorted the six inside the house, where they were provided accommodation.
After showing everyone their rooms and helping them settle down, Olivia finally left the place with Gabriel. She didn't forget to tell the Guest House Owner to make sure that these people didn't see the destroyed Church.
Xin stood in her room near the window, looking at Gabriel on the streets, who was walking toward the center of the town. Even now, she couldn't take her focus off him.
"A ghost town, and that strange man... Something really doesn't feel right." She placed her hand on her chest. "Just why am I having this uneasy feeling? It's as if something really bad is about to happen..."
"I need to find out more about it." She made a determination.
She couldn't just relax in her room at a time like this with such a feeling. She was the Princess of the Yan Empire. She was always taught to be careful and be suspicious of others.
After a few minutes, making sure that Gabriel and Olivia had left, she came out of her room. She gathered her friends.
"What happened? I was about to go take a shower!"
"I also wanted to take a short nap. Do you have something to talk about?"
"Is it about what we have to do tomorrow? Is there a change in plan?"
All the Nobles tried to guess her reasoning for calling them out so soon.
"I just can't shake this feeling that something is really wrong with this town. I want to investigate," Xin answered.
"You're still on that?" Rong asked, shaking his head. "I told you, you're overthinking. It's a small town. There is nothing wrong here. Just rest and stop thinking about it. Tomorrow is going to be a big day. We need to be well rested."
"We can rest later. First, we need to get to the bottom of it. If I'm wrong, I'll make it up to you all in the future! Just treat it as a favor to me!" Xin was quite stern. That uneasy feeling wasn't leaving her.
"Argh!" Rong scratched the back of his head. "You are so troublesome. Fine. I'll do it."
"Let's get some answers so we can put your mind at ease!" Rong took the lead. He wanted to be done with it fast so he could finish his shower and go to sleep!
He went downstairs, followed by the others. As soon as he reached the ground floor, before others could even say anything, he grabbed the collar of the middle-aged man who was the owner of this place.
He pulled out the man from behind the counter and raised him in the air. "Tell us the truth! Why are you all hiding? Why isn't there anyone on the streets? If you don't tell me, even gods won't be able to save you today!"
Rong didn't expect to get any significant answers. He was sure that Xin was wrong, but if this man's confirmation was going to put her mind at ease, he was willing to bully him a little. He was confident that it was what he thought and that the people of the town migrated.
Rong was just bluffing. He wasn't intending to kill the middle-aged man at all since he knew that Xin was wrong. But he still had to put on a show.
Unfortunately, the middle-aged man didn't know this was an act. He believed that these people had already seen through everything, and if he didn't come out clean, he was going to be killed!
"D-dark Mage..."
The middle-aged man said only two words, but those two words were enough to send chills down the spine of the youngsters present there.
"What do you mean?" Rong was just playing before, but hearing those two words, even he understood that maybe Xin was right! There was something these people were hiding. His grip tightened around the man's throat.
"Tell us everything!"
"I really thought that you were going to kill them. Thank you for being patient." Back at her home, Olivia respectfully bowed before Gabriel.
Despite Rong talking in such a rude manner, Gabriel still didn't kill him. She knew that even if Gabriel had killed them, it wouldn't have mattered to him.
The man who was against all the Churches, why would he care if one measly Empire was against him too? That meant the only reason he didn't kill them was for this town.
"I am hungry," Gabriel stated. He still hadn't eaten anything. He didn't respond to her gratitude since he knew he hadn't done anything special. What he did was just a way of thanking Olivia for helping him.
She helped him heal faster when he needed it. He didn't want to put her in trouble right away by killing a bunch of idiots. In any case, it wasn't as if those people attacked him. Those were just some words. If he wanted, he could still kill them and clean the streets with their blood.
"Ah, right!" Olivia rushed inside the kitchen to get something for Gabriel to eat.
Gabriel walked to the dining table, waiting for the food to arrive. The Infernal King wasn't here yet either. The day felt so long...
"Two Dark Mages took this city hostage? They destroyed the Branch of the Church of Light?!" Huang exclaimed in shock, hearing the entire story from the middle-aged man.
"Nonsense. You're saying that the stupid kid who escorted us was a Dark Mage? Absolute bull*t!" Rong scoffed. Initially, he took the story seriously, but after hearing who these people considered a dark mage, he could only laugh.
"There is no way he is a dark mage! If he were one, I would've sensed it already! That man has no Magical Aura around him!" he further stated.
"I haven't seen him using any magic since he was unconscious when he was brought here. Maybe he wasn't a mage, and I was confused about him," the middle-aged man clarified. "But his partner was definitely a dark mage! I can never forget that sight of the Church of Light burning in blazing dark flames!"
"There is a Dark Mage in this town? I think we should leave now!" Huang stated. "Let's go back to Yan!"
"I agree. We shouldn't get involved in the matter of this town. This is getting too dangerous for even us!"
"Nonsense! How can you all be such a coward?" Rong roared angrily, seeing such cowardice. "Why are you so scared of a Dark Mage? Did you forget how they are hunted like dogs? There is nothing special about them!"
"Just think about it!" he further stated. "If it were really a powerful Dark Mage, he would've killed us already as soon as we entered their Territory. Even after being insulted, they did nothing. That means they were scared of us! They can't be very strong, can they?"
"If they are scared of us, that means they are weak and can be killed by us! Instead of running away, we should kill them and take their bodies back to Yan as proof of our achievement! Just think about the glory!"
"They destroyed the Church of Light branch. Can they really be that weak though?" Huang asked, slightly worried.
So far, he had only heard about the Dark Mages and their stories, but he never came across one. Being able to kill one of them was certainly an achievement but were they really capable? That was the question.
"So what if they destroyed a measly branch? It was a remote branch of the Church of Light in a small and useless town. Do you think they would've sent strong Warriors to guard this place? The priests that were assigned here must've been low-tier mages," Rong smacked his hand on the table before him as he responded.
"It's not that shocking that they were killed. If I'm not wrong, we could've killed them too, if they were really that weak. Moreover, didn't you hear? The person looked really young according to them. Don't tell me you believe that a man as young as that could be an Advanced Tier Mage?"
"That's true. Someone so young... If they were really advanced Tier Mages, they wouldn't need to come to such a small town for medical treatment." One of the girls agreed.
"If one of them was injured and had to be brought here for treatment, that probably means he was hurt in the Beast Mountain. A dark Mage who couldn't even protect his people from measly beast mountain beasts? How strong could they even be?" Rong further continued. The more he talked, the more he started to believe his own words.
"In any case, so what even if he is an advanced mage? When we all work together, it's not hard for us to take down an Advance Mage. This is an opportunity we can't waste. Not only can we kill a Dark Mage and gain all the glory, but we can also get the favor of the Church of Light by eliminating the one who killed their people. I think we shouldn't miss this opportunity."
The middle-aged man who owned the place was quite surprised to hear their words. Initially, he thought that these people were going to run after hearing what was happening there, but instead of running, they were planning to kill them?
"You!" Rong pointed his finger at the middle-aged man arrogantly. "You lead us to where those people are staying! We'll handle the rest."
"Calm down," Xin finally chimed in, stopping Rong, who she believed was starting to get quite impatient. "Even if it's true that they're weak, we can't be impatient. Within a few hours, our guards should be here as well. We should wait for them before taking any action."
"Yeah, we came first since they were slowing us down. But in a situation like this, it's better to be careful. We should wait for a few hours for their arrival... That way, we can take precautions against any mishap," Yui agreed with the Princess.
Unlike Rong, she wasn't impatient. Moreover, she was also slightly scared, even though she didn't show it.
"Come on!" Rong impatiently stated. "We can't waste time, can we? Where's the glory if we take the help of our guards? Even if we do all the work, the credit will go to them! We need to do it ourselves before they arrive! Just imagine the shock on their faces! Xin, come on! It can't be that you're scared of a few kids, is it?"
Princess Xin could only rub her forehead. She knew there was some risk in attacking first without back-up. What if they were wrong about the other side's strength?
They had come here for something else entirely. Who knew they were going to come across dark mages in a small town like this?
"It's not that I'm scared, but I just want to be careful. There is a reason the Church of Darkness was dreaded so much in the past. Even though I haven't fought any Dark Mage, the stories about them don't put me at ease. I don't care what you say in this. We will wait for our guards to catch up before taking any action!"
Xin didn't give Rong even an inch. She was stern in her stance since she didn't want to lose even a single person in this quest.
"Everyone, get back to your rooms. We will deal with the matter in the evening."
Xin made sure that everyone went back to their room, especially Rong. She also warned the middle-aged man against telling others that they knew about the situation of the town. In exchange, she promised to free the town of this hostage situation when her guards reached here.
,m The middle-aged man promised her that he wasn't going to tell anyone.
Even as Xin returned to her room, she couldn't sleep or rest. It was a town captured by the Dark Mages.
"They didn't kill anyone in this town except the Mages that could threaten them. It seems that the stories about them that they slaughtered entire towns were certainly somewhat exaggerated. I wonder what else was exaggerated about them?"
Xin stood near the window, looking at the city that looked so peaceful. No one could've guessed that so much was happening in this city.
"When our guards get here, we can finally put an end to it..." She muttered before turning her back to the window. She went back to take a shower.
In another room, Rong was pacing back and forth. This was the perfect opportunity for them to prove to their parents how capable they were. If their Advanced Tier Mage guards came here that was going to get quite troublesome.
Even if they killed the Dark Mages after that point, no one was going to believe that they did it without the help of their guards. That's why he wanted to do it before the guards arrived! It wasn't often that they could come across such weak Dark mages.
After ten minutes of pacing back and forth, he just couldn't take it anymore. He opened the door and stepped out of the room.
He glanced toward Xin's room. "If she doesn't want to come, then so be it. I'll go myself. I'll take care of it myself!"
He went downstairs and got in contact with the middle-aged man again, threatening him to take him to the place where the Dark Mage was staying.
The middle-aged man had no choice but to agree, even though he was scared.
Barely a few minutes had passed since Xin stopped looking out the window, missing Rong, who was walking away with the middle-aged man on a quest that he didn't understand the weight of...
"Where are you going?" Olivia asked Gabriel, who was leaving the house after he finished eating.
"I'm going to the Beast Mountain. I'm getting bored waiting for his return. I'll go meet him on the mountain. In any case, there's no need for him to gather any herbs. I'm perfectly fine now."
Gabriel only gave a brief explanation before he left the house, leaving Olivia behind.
The more he stayed in this town, the more he felt as if he was wasting his time. He had to be on a journey to the Arecia Empire.
Half an hour after Gabriel left, Rong arrived at Olivia's house with Rong.
"That's the house!" The middle-aged man pointed toward the mediocre house. "I can't go any farther."
He didn't dare step closer to the house since he didn't want to be seen.
"You did your part. You can go back. I'll handle the rest." Rong didn't bother the middle-aged man either.
The man was weak, so it wasn't as if he could help in the fight. His only job was to show him the place, and now he was done.
The middle-aged man bowed respectfully before he started running back.
After the middle-aged man left, only Rong was left on the street, all alone, looking at the house ahead.
"I heard you Dark Mages love to light buildings on fire?" He muttered, raising his left hand. "As it happens, I also love the same. Let me play around too."
The Mark of Flames on the back of Rong's hands shone brightly in blazing red color as he started chanting a spell.
Inside the house, Olivia picked up the empty plates and was going to clean them up.
"Finally, they will leave. The Nobles will be safe now. Thank God, I won't need to worry. Now I just need to think about the aftermath for when the Church's main forces come..."
Olivia carried the empty plates in which she and Gabriel had eaten; however, for some reason, she felt as if her surroundings were getting hot... Really hot!
Before she could even think about what was happening or leave the house, she saw a wave of fire filling up the entire house.
The entire House started burning in flames, thanks to the spell of Rong.
Rong just stood outside the house with his hands behind his back like he was a surreal expert who didn't put anyone in his eyes.
Just as he expected, he heard screams coming out of the house, but the screams didn't belong to any man. Against all his expectations, the screams belonged to a woman.
Rong watched a figure run out of the house.
Fortunately, when the spell was cast, Olivia was already near the exit. Looking at the flames, she didn't have any choice but to rush outside. Fortunately, she reacted fast before the fire could spread too much.
Even though she reacted so fast, she still couldn't avoid being hurt. Her skin was burned all over, and so were her clothes. Her face was pale as if it lacked any blood.
The pain of having her skin burned was so much that she couldn't control her painful cries as she dropped to her knees. Her face was filled with years as she cried in pain.
"Uh, it's just you." Rong didn't even bother taking a second glance at the woman who was crying as if she was nothing. He was after the big fish.
He was waiting for Gabriel's scream, or the screams of the dark Mage who was supposedly hiding inside that house. Strangely enough, there were no screams.
Let alone screams; he couldn't even sense any movements inside the house.
"Don't tell me they burned to ashes right away from my flames? They couldn't be that weak, could they?" Rong wondered, frowning. "No, if the girl could come out alive, they should've at least made some movements! Could it be that they weren't in the...?"
Realizing that he had attacked without even making sure if the Dark Mages were inside or not, Rong's face twitched in frustration.
"I wasted my spell for no reason? What a waste!"
He stepped closer to Olivia, who was still in tears, trying to overcome the pain. She had never felt so much pain before. She couldn't even go to anyone else for treatment since hers was the only physician family in town.
"Stop crying! You're hurting my ears," Rong arrogantly stated as he swung his legs, kicking Olivia.
Even as he kicked a girl who didn't have any Magical Strength, he didn't hold back even the slightest. Just his kick alone was enough to send Olivia flying back.
Olivia's forehead also started bleeding as she crashed on the ground in the distance.
"Don't expect any mercy from me, you traitor! You think you can help the Dark Mages against humanity and get no consequences?" Rong scoffed arrogantly.
"Humanity?" Even though Olivia was in pain, she forced her body to sit up again. "Do you even know what humanity is…? After all I did to save you people...?"
"Save us?" Rong burst into laughter. He appeared before Olivia, grabbing her collars as he raised her in the air. "You, an ordinary human, thought you could help us? By helping dark mages? You think those excuses are enough to hide your crimes?"
Carrying Olivia by the collar, he walked closer to the burning house. "Hurry up and tell me where you hid them! Where are those so-called Dark Mages!"
Olivia was already in so much pain, and on top of that, the people she tried to save were repaying the favor like that? She had never felt so betrayed before. She wondered why she even stopped Gabriel from killing these people! Did they really deserve to live?
For a moment, her mind was covered in anger and hate as she thought about telling them where exactly Gabriel went so they could court death themselves. However, she also remembered that the town didn't just have her family.
Thousands of lives depended on the lives of these people. If anything happened to them, there was definitely going to be a war between the two Empires. Just how many lives were going to be lost then? Could she really be selfish?
Even as her eyes were covered in tears and her body in torment, she still thought about the people of this town and the Empire.
Gabriel had just reached the bottom of the Beast Mountain, but before he could even take one step, he heard some footsteps.
Before long, he also saw who those footsteps belonged to. The Infernal King was already back? He was walking with a man who looked to be in his late fifties. The old man was carrying a bag filled with herbs while the Infernal King was empty handed.
The Infernal King walked with the old man, escorting him back. It was clear that they had gathered all the herbs that they needed.
The Infernal King also noticed Gabriel. Realizing that the young man was already up, he was somewhat relieved.
He walked up to Gabriel. "How are you feeling?"
"Better than ever," Gabriel answered. "I don't think I'll be needing those herbs."
He turned to the middle aged man in the back. "You must be Olivia's Father?"
"Y-yes." The middle aged man respectfully bowed. Even though Gabriel looked really young, he didn't dare underestimate the young man. He knew that he was too weak to even stand in the presence of the two before him.
He and his family were very weak after all.
"You and your family have helped me a lot. I wanted to give you some spirit stones as a reward, but I'm afraid if I do that, it'll only bring more trouble to you," Gabriel told the middle aged man.
He didn't lack the Spirit Stones since he had already robbed the treasury of the Academy of Elements. At the moment, he had no less wealth than a King. Still, he couldn't give the spirit stones to the middle aged man.
The Church of Light could send their envoys anytime to investigate what happened here, and if they found these Spirit Stones in the middle aged man's house, his entire family could be considered traitors to the Empire for helping enemies in lieu of financial aid.
"I don't want to owe any favour to anyone. If there is anything else you want help with, tell me right now, before I leave."
The middle aged man was quite surprised, hearing Gabriel's words.
Gabriel was so strong, that there was no need for him to even help anyone in return. In any case, it wasn't as if they could do anything to him. Still, despite all that, he was offering that?
For some reason, the old man couldn't help but feel that he was wrong about these people. They weren't outright bad, even though some of their actions were somewhat bad.
The middle aged man couldn't dare ask anything from Gabriel. In any case, it wasn't as if he needed anything. He was an ordinary man, living in a small town. What could he even need Gabriel's help for?
"I see..." Seeing the middle aged man's hesitant expressions, Gabriel understood that he wasn't going to ask anything.
"Since you don't need anything, I'll do things on my own." He brought out a small bag and placed around hundred Spirit Stones in it.
Compared to the vast amount of wealth he was carrying, these hundred or so were nothing for him, but the number was enough to horrify the middle aged man!
'H-hundred spirit stones? That's enough to bring anyone equal to a Lord in the City in terms of wealth! These people...'
He wanted to tell Gabriel that he couldn't accept such a gift, but Gabriel didn't give it to him in the first place.
Gabriel used one of his swords to create a hole in the ground. He placed the bag in the hole and buried it properly.
"It's better you don't keep it at home. When you need the money, or if you need to leave the Town, you can come back here and take them back," he told the middle aged man, stomping on the ground once where he had recently done filling.
"And with that, we're done. You can go back to the city and we'll be on our way..."
Since Gabriel was already in a hurry to get to Arecia, he decided to leave right from here without going back to the town. That saved some time.
The middle aged man watched the proud back of Gabriel as he walked away. The Infernal King also followed Gabriel, leaving the middle aged man behind.
The middle aged man was happy that the Dark Mages were leaving. Finally, they didn't need to worry about offending them and being killed. He didn't even try to convince them to come back to the town once again to have dinner or anything before leaving.
He took one last glance at the place where the bag filled with spirit stones were buried. He made sure to memorise this location so he didn't forget in the future. This amount of wealth was no small thing!
Gabriel walked with the Infernal King, going in the opposite direction of the town where they had taken shelter.
Initially, Gabriel hadn't spoken much. The two just walked in silence.
"Thank you," After a brief pause, Gabriel spoke.
The Infernal King didn't respond. He didn't even think there was a need for gratitude. He only did what he wanted to do after all.
"If it wasn't for you, I might've had to take more drastic steps," Gabriel further said.
"I'm just glad that you're safe," the Infernal King spoke. For some reason, he found this sentence hardest to speak since he was really bad at showing concern.
Gabriel only smiled in response. "How can I be hurt when you're with me?"
The Infernal King didn't respond. He just looked in the direction of the setting sun. "So where are we going now?"
"Our next destination is the home of Novius. Remember him from the Tower?"
"The guy who taught you?"
"Yeah. His home should have an item that I need to strengthen my body so nothing like before happens again," Gabriel explained everything, including what the strange mirror told him about his own soul.
,m "A soul stronger that is a burden to the body?" The Infernal King was quite surprised. He had never heard of such a thing. Just how strong was Gabriel's soul that even with his physical strength, the soul was so overbearing?
"Is this normal in this world!?" he asked.
Gabriel shook his head. "Not quite. I seem to be the unlucky one stuck with this problem."
"I can keep that problem in control thanks to these pills for now." He placed his hands in his pocket to bring out the Soul Healing Pill that he was keeping there.
"Hmm? It's not there?" He was surprised to find his pockets empty. Even though he had more Soul Healing Pills in his Spatial Storage, but losing the ones he kept in his pocket made him somewhat surprised.
"Did I drop them in Olivia's house?" He stopped, glancing back toward the Town. "If the Churches find them, it could be quite troublesome for her family. They'll think they received that as a bribe..."
"Ah, what a headache..." Scratching the back of his head, Gabriel eventually made a decision. He decided to go back to the town to retrieve the Soul Healing Pills.
Since that family had helped him so much, he wanted to at least make sure they weren't considered traitors to their own Empire.
Moreover, if they were considered traitors, their words weren't going to be taken seriously and the distraction was also going to fail since the Church would never believe them when they said that he went to Yann...
"We'll have to go back. What a waste of time..."
Gabriel could only turn around. Fortunately, he hadn't covered too much distance and the town was still in his view.
Back in the small town, Olivia was bleeding. Her vision was already blurry, due to all the blood loss and weakness.
"I'm asking you last time! Tell me where they are?!" Rong asked again. "Next time, I won't go easy on you!"
"They left the city an hour ago! I don't know where they are now!" Olivia exclaimed. Even after all this, she still didn't guide them toward the beast mountain. For some reason, she was willing to die herself to prevent a war.
"Looks like you don't respect my kindness. Let me show you the ruthlessness then!" Rong raised his right foot and stomped on Olivia's knees with full strength.
"Arghh!"
Rong applied all his strength behind his stomp which was enough to crush Olivia's kneecap, making her cry in pain.
Even the people who were watching everything from their house windows were horrified. They wondered if these people were really Nobles of the Yann Empire? Why was it that they looked more evil than the Dark Cultivators themselves?
"I'm giving you ten seconds. If you don't answer, I'll break your other leg as well..." Rong warned Olivia once again.
He was also somewhat surprised how far this girl was willing to go to protect the Dark Mages. He didn't realise that it wasn't the Dark Mages she was protecting... It was them!
"Ten..."
"Nine..."
Rong started the countdown while Olivia lay on the ground, crying while holding her broken knee. The pain felt worse than death itself.
She found her heart filled with hate for these people. Why was it that the Dark Mages were nicer to the citizens of this town than these people? Were these people really the good guys? Were the Dark Mages really that bad? No, this couldn't be! These people were the real demons!
Even as she lay on the ground in pain, she couldn't help but remember the face of Gabriel... Those kind eyes that seemed to have a hint of pain in them yet they were full of determination.
The eyes of a man who had enough strength to destroy all these people, yet he didn't do so, all because he didn't want trouble to come to her. A man who didn't need to help them yet did so on his own, even though he was insulted so much...
Tears trickled down her cheeks as she wondered if she was really going to die here. Was her death going to solve anything? She hoped it would... As long as it could save people's lives...
She closed her eyes.
"What are you doing?!" A shout came from the back, making the girl open her eyes suddenly. "What are you doing to my daughter?"
"Father, what are you doing? Run away!" Olivia screamed at the top of her lungs. Why was her father here? And if he was alone, did that mean that the Dark Mages had already left? In that case, she realized that her father's life was also in danger if he stayed there.
The middle aged man didn't listen to her daughter. The bag which was filled with the herbs that he gathered dropped to the ground as he ran to his daughter to help her.
"I see. So you're her father? That's even better!"
A grin spread across Rong's face. He was quite careful before to not kill Olivia since he believed she was the only one who could answer, but now he could go all out. Even if Olivia was killed, the old man could still answer.
Moreover, it was quite possible that her daughter's death was going to fill the middle aged man with so much fear that he was going to answer everything.
"Time up..."
Stomp~
"Arghhh!" Olivia roared in pain as the man crushed her other knew as well.
The old man couldn't watch it. He had just reached his daughter but he was still too late. Both her legs were crushed.
Before he could even touch his daughter, a foot landed on his chest, sending him flying back.
The middle aged man fell in the distance.
"What are you doing? You want to kill people of the Lumen Empire? You want a war with the Lumen Empires?" The middle aged man asked, standing up while holding his aching chest.
"Hahaha!" Rong burst into laughter. "A war with the Lumen Empire? The Lumen Empire might be somewhat strong, but do you think they'll go to a war with Yann over the death of two random people from an unknown town?"
"Today, even gods and demons can't save you! The only one who can save you from me is me!" He declared proudly. "Tell me where those Dark Mage bastards are hiding! Today, I won't go back without taking two lives! Either it'll be the lives of those two, or it'll be the life of you and your daughter!"
"So think carefully! Do you traitors want to sacrifice your lives for those bastards?!"
The middle aged man clenched his fist. The people from Yan were really arrogant. But why did they want to kill them? Did his daughter not tell them that those two already left?
"The two already left! We won't know where they went!" Olivia's father exclaimed.
"I see. So you want to stick to the same story. We both know that you're hiding them somewhere in the city! But if you don't want to answer, then so be it... I'll just continue playing around until you decide to answer!"
Rong sat on his knees before Olivia. He gently touched her tear stained face. "I don't know why you're protecting those people with your life, but I'll make you regret it."
"Let's continue our game. You have ten seconds... If you don't tell me their whereabouts, I'll break your right hand. After twenty seconds, I'll break your left hand. Don't make me cripple you, young lady."
Olivia already felt so weak. She didn't even feel as if she had the strength to speak. What could she even say? Her father already told them that those people already left. It was him who wasn't believing. No matter how many times she answered, he wasn't going to believe it.
This man... He had the answer right before his eyes but he chose to close his eyes because he didn't want to accept that he had already lost the Dark Mages. He refused to believe that they left!
"So are you going to tell the truth, or not?" Rong asked once again.
Olivia already felt defeated. At this point, it looked less like he wanted his answer and more like he wanted to let out his anger since he had lost his chance of gaining glory. He wanted to kill them to calm his anger because he felt like a failure!
Olivia didn't answer this time. She just gazed at Rong's face which was close to her face before spitting on him. "Kill me."
"You bit*h!" Rong raged as he cleared his face. It was the first time someone spit on him. This insult... It was too much.
He could already see people looking at him through their window. They all saw him being spit on.
"It looks like you don't respect my mercy! Then so be it! You embarrassed me before everyone else, let me return the favor! You forced me to do it."
Rong grabbed Olivia by her throat and raised her in the air. With his other hand, he grabbed her clothes.
"Since we already have spectators, let's give them something worth watching! Let's have them all appreciate your body!"
Since he felt disrespected by Olivia in front of everyone else, he decided to get back at her by giving her something worse! At this point, he felt like death was a mercy for her!
He wanted to make her experience hell while she was still alive!
"Let's see how you maintain that same bravery when you're without any clothes on your body before thousands of people! We'll see your courage then!"
As Olivia heard what those words implied, she felt as if her heart stopped momentarily in fear. Was he...?
Rong grabbed Olivia's clothes. With his strength, just a little pull was enough for him to tear her clothes before all these people.
Rong was about to pull, but around that same time, he froze. He could feel an aura like he never felt before! It was like the aura of a King! And that aura, it was filled with extreme Bloodlust!
Back in the guest house, Xin and the others also felt that same aura that was strong enough to cover the entire town! The powerful aura made them all feel a chill run down their spines! It was like death itself had come to this town!
Gabriel had received quite a few Soul Healing Pills from Cylix, so losing one or two wasn't a big deal for him. Despite that, he decided to return to the Town to retrieve the pill he believed he had dropped there to avoid future troubles for many.
For now, he hadn't sent the Infernal King back to the realm of the dead either.
"Hmm? There's fire?" As Gabriel reached near the town, he could see smoke rising from the distance as if something was burning.
He was quite curious about what was happening, but even he hadn't expected to find what he did.
As soon as he reached Olivia's house, he realized that it was her house that was burning and nothing else. Not only was her house burning, but her father was also hurt.
Olivia's neck was in Rong's hand. Just the sight alone made Gabriel's blood boil, let alone the threat that Rong used.
This kind of anger... It had been a long time since he felt such anger. Olivia and her family had helped him heal faster, and something like this was being done to them?
He couldn't control his Bloodlust, which spread far and wide. When he was calm and composed, his ring could hide his aura as if there was nothing there. However, when he was infuriated, even the ring couldn't do anything.
That powerful aura covered the entire town. There was not a single person in this town who didn't feel suppressed by that aura.
Xin and her friends were shocked to sense such an aura. It was so powerful and so chilling. They all came out of their rooms, looking at each other.
"Where is Rong?!" Xin asked the others. Only Rong was missing.
She knocked on Rong's door, having a bad feeling about this.
Even as she knocked repeatedly, the door didn't open. Eventually, she kicked the door open before barging inside.
"He's not here!" She exclaimed, feeling slightly angry. "He didn't listen to me! That idiot! We need to hurry. His life might be in danger!"
All young mages rushed out of the guest house.
Before this fierce aura, the mages could still walk, but the ordinary people couldn't even move. Olivia's Father subconsciously dropped to his knees, just like everyone else in the town.
Rong was about to tear Olivia's clothes when he also sensed that killing intent. His hand stopped where it was; however, before he could even turn around, he found Gabriel standing right next to him with a blood-red sword that was covered in blood.
That blood belonged to none other than him either. Gabriel had used the sword to cut the arm which was holding onto Olivia's clothes to tear them off.
"Arghh!" A sharp scream escaped his lips as his right arm was cut from the shoulders.
The Sword was so sharp that there was not even the slightest resistance when his arm was cut.
When Rong initially saw Gabriel, he couldn't feel any aura from the young man. Moreover, the young man looked like a coward to him, who couldn't even talk back. He didn't feel threatened by the kid. Looking at Gabriel's weakness, he considered the other person who was with Gabriel to be weak as well.
Unfortunately, it was only now that he realized how wrong they were. Now that Gabriel had stopped hiding his aura, it was clear just what kind of person he was. This kind of strength... How could such a young man possess all this strength? Just what was this guy? Was he even a human? No, he was a monster!
For the first time in his life, Rong felt it... the fear of death. He was the son of the Duke of Yan Empire. He had always been safe and never had to worry about his life. Only idiots would have dared to even hurt someone like him, but for the first time, he felt like he was looking death in the eye!
He raised his left hand and started casting a spell, not only to protect him but also to hurt Gabriel. At the same time, he also jumped back, freeing Olivia, who dropped to the ground, weak.
Both her legs were broken, making her unable to even stand.
Gabriel didn't do anything for her for now. Instead, he rushed after Rong. He let the young man live, even after he had used such sharp words previously. Despite all that, the young man wasn't content? He wanted to be more brazen?
Rong finished casting a spell, making a wall of fire rise from the ground that surrounded Gabriel from all sides.
"As expected, you just have a strong aura and not enough strength to complement it! For a moment, you scared me!" Rong exclaimed. Initially, he was scared, but after seeing Gabriel being trapped in his spell, he could sigh in relief. "You might be a dark Mage, but even you can't kill me! It's time you pay back for taking my arm from me!"
"Let me pay you back in full," A grim voice fell in his ears, coming from behind him.
Shocked, Rong turned around to find Gabriel behind him.
"Argh!" Before he could even react, his left arm was also cut, which made him scream even louder.
"You bastard, do you know who I am?" Rong stepped back. He had no arms, but even now, he hadn't given up. He didn't want to die. He had realized his mistake and knew that he was not strong enough to face this monster. He had overestimated himself. But that didn't mean he couldn't have Gabriel killed.
He knew their army was going to come soon. He just had to delay for a little, and then he should watch Gabriel be killed. Later on, it wasn't hard to get a Head Priest of Light to heal his arms!
"My Father is the Duke of Yan! If you kill me, even if you hide in the depths of hell, he won't let you live! Take this advice and stop what you're trying to do. Beg for forgiveness, and I'll forgive you!" Rong declared.
Hearing the words, only an amused smirk spread across Gabriel's lips. "Yan? Duke? Let alone you, even if the King of Yan were here himself, even he would be dead today for what you did!"
Gabriel didn't take the threat seriously. He was already against the Church of Light. What was a measly Empire? The only reason he didn't do anything was because he didn't want them to harass Olivia and the others in this town, but despite his mercy, they did it! There was no mercy anymore.
Gabriel walked closer to the pale-faced Rong, who kept stepping back.
"Wait right there!"
"Wait right there!"
As soon as Gabriel started walking closer to Rong, a shout came from the back.
Gabriel didn't even have to turn to know who it was. Rong's friends were here.
"I am the Princess of Yan! Stop right there! If you don-"
"If I don't, then what?" Xin hadn't even finished speaking when she heard some words.
Gabriel had disappeared from where he was standing and now was right behind her. She could feel his cold hand around her neck. All he needed was to apply a little pressure, and he could kill her.
"H-how?" The other Nobles were also stunned to find him right there. Wasn't he standing far away from them? How was he next to them in the next minute itself? Was this a teleportation spell?
They couldn't even react, and Gabriel had already taken their Princess hostage?
"Finish your sentence. If I don't, then what?" Gabriel asked again as his demonic voice made Xin feel chills deep down.
"You people came here, you destroyed houses there, and you tried to kill innocent people in this town. Do you think you have the moral high ground? You want to use your influence to scare me?" Gabriel asked.
"Raphael!" Gabriel called out to the Infernal King.
The Infernal King stepped forward.
"That guy used Flames to destroy Olivia's home. I want you to show him what true flames look like. But make sure not to kill him that easily," Gabriel instructed the Infernal King.
He was really angry, and there was no way he was going to let him live. It didn't matter if it was the Yan or Lumen Empire. Whoever made him angry deserved death!
The Infernal King, who was named Raphael by Gabriel, stepped forward.
It wasn't just Gabriel who was upset here. This girl and her family had earnestly helped them in the last two days. And for something like this being done to them as soon as they left for no reason at all? This was infuriating.
"You! Stay away!" Rong didn't know what to do anymore. When Xin arrived, he thought that he was going to be saved. He believed that together, they could take out Gabriel, but that looked unlikely now that Xin was Gabriel's hostage.
Moreover, dragging things for time also seemed unlikely. His only hope was the arrival of his army. He was really regretting not listening to Xin's advice and waiting for their companion armies to reach the town.
"Listen, I didn't mean-"
Rong tried to talk things out. Unfortunately, it was too late now. He had already crossed the line that he shouldn't have.
The Infernal King appeared before Rong, who was still speaking, grabbing Rong's tongue between his fingers.
"You speak too much," he said as a small black fire lit between his fingers.
"Aaa!"
Rong cried in pain as his tongue was on fire. It wasn't an ordinary fire either. The pain... He could feel that pain even in his soul.
He couldn't even control his tears that kept dripping out of his bloodshot eyes.
Until now, people had only heard about the brutality of the Dark Mages against the ones who offended them, but it was the first time for everyone here to witness that. Most people realized that the rumors weren't false at all!
"You are making a big mistake. You don't know the strength of our Yan Empire. You will have a chance. Let us all go, and I give you my word as the Second Princess of Yan that we won't pursue this matter!"
At this moment, it looked impossible for Rong to survive, but Xin didn't give up. Having revenge after their death was useless, according to her. If she could get their freedom in exchange for not pursuing this matter, it was much better.
Even though Rong was hurt, he could still be treated by Head Priests of Light after all!
"Strength of Yan?" Gabriel repeatedly. "Is Yan's strength more than the strength of all Churches combined? With my identity, I already have enough enemies. Do you really believe I can't afford one more?'
"Olivia!" Olivia's father was sitting near Olivia. He had carried her away from all the battle, only to find out that her breathing was feeble. At this rate, she wasn't going to live for long.
Olivia was hanging between life and death. Still, she was happy. She couldn't believe that Gabriel had come back to protect her. For some reason, that made her happy enough and sad at the same time.
The people who were called emotionless demons were the ones who were truly humans, according to her.
'What an irony...' she thought as her eyes started closing.
"This..." Gabriel also noticed Olivia's condition. He couldn't delay it longer, or she was going to die. After that girl helped him, could she really let her die? For him, the answer was no.
"I warn you, Princess. Leave while you have a chance, and don't dare hurt this town in the future. If anything happens to this town, let alone you, your entire Empire won't be safe from my wrath."
Gabriel freed Xin after issuing a warning and walked to Olivia, who was hanging by a thread.
"What about Rong?" Xin asked.
"He will stay here and accept the punishment for what he did. Heed my warning and be wise. Don't make the same mistake he did. It's for your and your Empire's sake," Gabriel responded as he sat before Olivia.
"Her condition is really bad. No medicines can help her now," he stated, observing Olivia's condition. He placed his hand on the young girl's chest.
He didn't prefer using his spells before strengthening his body, but for small spells, he could still use them without much worries.
"Heal."
Following one word, Olivia's body was surrounded by a beautiful golden light that covered her entire body.
The nourishing natural energy started entering Olivia's body, healing all her wounds. Her broken legs were healed, and so did her bleeding head.
Her heartbeat also stabilized within a few seconds.
"Um..." Olivia was in so much pain that she didn't believe she could live. Her face was covered in tears. She had already embraced her fate but didn't as she felt as if it was her last moment; all the pain in her body disappeared entirely.
Some strange energy filled up her body. It was such a beautiful feeling... Something that she had never experienced before.
"Light Magic? Healing?" Xin hadn't left yet. She wanted to see what Gabriel was going to do with Olivia, but seeing that familiar golden energy, her eyes widened.
There was no doubt about it! That was the Healing Magic of Light! How could a Dark Mage use the Element of Light?
"Sigh, finally we are here! Those young brats really move fast!" An old man sighed, looking at a small town in the distance. "They left even their own entourage behind..."
"Hahaha, old man, don't think much. It's not like they even need us anymore. They are already strong enough to protect themselves," Another man chimed in, laughing. "The Kids have grown up."
He wasn't alone. There were hundreds of Mages with him, all having the attire of Yan Empire.
Olivia's legs healed. The pleasant energy filled her body, giving her the strength she had lost.
Olivia's vision was still somewhat blurry, but she could still realize who the person before her was.
"You will be fine. Just rest here," Gabriel lightly patted the cheeks of Olivia before he stood up, turning his back to her.
He looked back at Xin. Seeing Gabriel looking back at her, Xin couldn't help but take a step back subconsciously. That feeling of suppression was too much. She could feel that she wasn't strong enough to face him.
Even if she tried to fight him together with the others, there was no chance of victory.
Rong was still in Raphael's grasp, but she couldn't do anything. It was evident that if she even tried to do anything, she was going to die as well.
She decided to take Gabriel's offer. One person dying here was better than all of them dying.
"We are leaving!" She declared as she turned around. The other youngsters were somewhat hesitant but even they weren't stubborn enough to fight after seeing the skills that Gabriel had shown.
The man was just too strange. He could use the Dark Spells, and the Spells of Light. Something was really wrong with him according to them.
The other youngsters also turned around and followed Xin.
Rong couldn't speak anything as his tongue was burned, but he still cried in pain, as if calling them to stop and help him.
Xin could only clench her fist and avoid those calls for help. She and Rong were friends. She didn't want to leave him to die. It was torture for her, but there was nothing she could do.
Without enough strength, she could only lead her other friends to death as well. If anything, she could only hope that these people were going to let Rong live until their army arrived.
Gabriel watched the youngsters leave but didn't stop them.
"Are you sure you want to let them leave?" Raphael asked Gabriel after the youngsters disappeared from their sight.
He also tossed Rong back to Gabriel as if the man was a toy.
"Don't worry. They will return in a few minutes," Gabriel calmly responded as he caught Rong. He carried Rong back to Olivia.
"What do you mean they will be back? How can you be so sure?" Infernal King Raphael wondered just what it was that Gabriel knew and he didn't.
"There is a small army outside the town, having quite a few advanced Tier Mages," Gabriel explained without showing much worry.
"The Churches are here?" Raphael was somewhat surprised that Gabriel could sense the enemies before he could.
"I don't think they are from the Church. The forces are too weak to be sent by them to catch us. This isn't the work of the Church."
"It doesn't matter who they are from. I'll go and handle them," the Infernal King stated. For him, there was no different between the forces of the Church and other forces.
He was already quite irrigated as he had to run away from a battle last time. This was a perfect opportunity for him to leave everything in the past and focus on the present.
Surprisingly enough, Gabriel didn't stop the Infernal King either.
Gabriel was sure that these forces were white weak by Gabriel's standard, despite having a few advanced tier Mages.
"Don't spend too much time. We have to leave as well," Gabriel told the Infernal King. From no angle did it look like Raphael was going to fight hundreds of Mages. Instead, from Gabriel's reaction, it looked more like Raphael was going to play with some kids.
"There," After the Infernal King left, Gabriel gave a knife to Olivia. "Get your revenge with your own hands. You can either kill him, or let him live. The choice is yours."
After giving the knife to Olivia, he stepped back. He had already made up his mind. It was a test for Olivia to see if she was really someone who deserved his help.
He had already decided. If Olivia let Rong live, even after all he did, he wasn't going to interfere in her matters and leave right away. He had already paid them back for helping him after all.
However, if she was brave enough, he was going to help her family to migrate to a different town where they could start a new life and not worry about being hurt by Yan. It was all her choice now.
Rong was lying on the ground. For some reason, he couldn't even move his body. Because of all the bloodloss, his body felt really happy for some reason.
He didn't have a tongue to cast his spells, nor his hands to fight physically. He felt as helpless as he never did. He had already stopped resisting, as if he had given up entirely.
Olivia held the knife in her hand firmly. If she wanted, she could kill the pitiful guy who wanted to strip her before the whole town. But still, in the corner of her mind, there was a thought about the future. Could she really afford to kill this person? He was the son of a Duke after all.
"I-i don't want to kill him. Please let him leave. It's enough..." After a long time, Olivia dropped the knife, still hesitant.
Gabriel just looked at Olivia who was on her knees now. She had made up her mind.
Hearing her decision, Gabriel was quite disappointed. But he didn't do anything. He had already given her a chance to decide. If this was her choice, then he didn't feel like there was any need for him to go out of his way to help her. The ones who couldn't help themselves even this much, they didn't need his help.
"If that's what you want." Gabriel turned to the old man. "Take the gift from the mountain and leave this town with your daughter."
Even though Gabriel talked in his usual manner, for some reason, Olivia felt as if Gabriel was quite distant now. Previously, she didn't feel this way. Previously, she could feel some friendliness in his tone, but now, that was missing. Did she really make him upset by not killing him? She wondered.
Unfortunately, she couldn't do anything. She couldn't kill him and bring a calamity onto her people.
Her father bowed to Gabriel before holding Olivia's hand and leaving the town.
Even as she left, Olivia occasionally glanced back at Gabriel.
Back on the ground, Rong felt somewhat relieved. Since Gabriel left his life in the girl's hand and she let him leave, did that mean he finally avoided the calamity?
Before he could even sigh in relief, a foot stomped on his head, crushing his skull.
Rong was feeling happy that he was left alive. If he wasn't killed, he could still survive and get healed.
Unfortunately, Gabriel had something else in mind. Just because he gave Olivia an opportunity to decide didn't mean he was going to let him live if she did.
Gabriel crushed Rong's skull without thinking twice. He didn't care what happened to Rong here.
The youngsters reached the exit of the town, only to find their armies there. Xin had never seen so excited to see her army as she was now. These people had finally caught up to them.
He ran to them to tell them everything and ask for their help in saving Rong. Unfortunately, as soon as she stepped out of the town premise, she saw a sea of flames rising from the ground that covered her entire army.
The Mages hadn't expected an attack out of nowhere.
Seeing a huge sea of fire cover her men, Xin and her friends were frozen in place. What was happening here? Just what? How could someone use a spell on such a large scale? And that too, this powerful? Shouldn't only someone on the same level as the Head Priests of Churches be able to do something like that?
She could only hear screams coming from the sea of flames. She was horrified, dropping to her knees. Just what was happening? Just what was this scary sight? So far, she had only heard of the past glories of the Church of Darkness and how strong they were. Was this their true strength? They were so strong? Did they really underestimate them?
Since the Mages weren't expecting to be attacked in such a small town, they hadn't taken any precautions. This attack came out of nowhere and before they could react, they were swallowed whole in the flames. The power of these dark flames were too much for their last minute spells.
The Mages didn't have time to cast powerful spells since they were attacked so suddenly. As for the weaker protection spells, they didn't even last a second before Raphael's dark flames.
Standing on one of the roofs, Raphael watched the destruction caused by his flames. It wasn't a new sight for him since even in the realm of the Dead, he had only recently destroyed the Kingdom of Damphirs. This sight had become a commonplace for him.
By the time the flames stopped, only ashes were left behind. The flames were so hot that even the weapons of the army were melted.
The only people from Yan who were still alive were the five youngsters who were on their knees, pale faced.
Raphael jumped down from the roof, landing behind the youngsters. These five were the last ones who were left here.
Raphael raised his hand to burn those five as well. They couldn't resist. They could only accept death! This was their destiny!
All the youngsters turned around, looking at Raphael who was about to kill them. After seeing the sea of fire and the strength of these people, Xin and her friends had already lost any hopes of resistance.
They couldn't even muster up the courage to fight back. It was their first time going through a situation like this since most of their lives, they had been sheltered.
Xin couldn't even move her hands as she felt like her hands were frozen in fear.
She closed her eyes, as if accepting her fate. These people weren't scared of their influence. They didn't care about money. They didn't care about taking hostages. There was nothing she could offer them in exchange for her life.
"That's enough." Just as the Infernal King was about to burn these people, a voice came from the back.
Xin opened her eyes, realizing that the voice was quite familiar. It belonged to the person who was with the Infernal King.
Just as she expected, she could see Gabriel coming in their direction. The Infernal King also stopped and looked back, wondering why he was stopped.
Gabriel stopped before Xia and went down on a knee as well.
"Are you scared?" he asked the young Princess.
The young Princess was shaking already. She could only nod her head. All her confidence from before was gone. For some reason, she felt even more scared of Gabriel than she did of Raphael.
"Why did you come here?" Gabriel asked the young girl. "I'm sure it wasn't to die, was it?"
"We..." The girl tried speaking, but it was proving hard for her to speak either. "We wanted... To train... On beast mountain."
Xin eventually managed to answer. Her heart was beating so fast.
Gabriel was quite disappointed with the answer. He was expecting something more special. He expected there to be some treasure that these people were after. To eventually find out that they were just kids who were here to train? However, it was clear to him that she wasn't lying.
He stood up. The five youngsters before him were at their mercy and he could do whatever he wanted with their lives.
However, he didn't feel like he had any personal enmity with them. Only Rong had angered him to that extent. These people weren't even there.
"Did you tell your friend to attack that girl?" he asked another question.
"We didn't! We told him to not do anything stupid! We would never hurt innocent people! He left without informing us! If we had known, we would've stopped him!" Another girl in the group answered.
In her mind, she was cursing Rong for bringing this calamity to them.
"One last question. Give me one reason I shouldn't kill you right here?" Gabriel asked his third and last question.
He didn't feel much anger toward these youngsters and he wasn't scared of their influence. To him, leaving them alive didn't matter either. He was initially planning to let them leave after all. But still, he was curious what reason they were going to give.
"I can give you gold! Millions of gold coins! My family is very rich!" One of the girls stated. If there was a chance of survival, she was willing to take it! She was sure her father wasn't going to hesitate in giving this ransom.
"My father owns a lot of businesses! If you let me leave, I'll convince him to give half to you!" The only man left in the group declared.
One after another, all youngsters offered one thing or another. To any ordinary person, such advantages were enough to sway them but to Gabriel, they were nothing. He already had enough wealth and materials that he could ever need.
Seeing Gabriel unimpressed, Xin was even more scared. She finally decided to do something stupid to save her life!
"I will give you the Spirit Tomb Key!" She declared with clenched teeths.
Xin declared that she was going to offer the Spirit Tomb Key. Her words clearly shocked all her friends, who couldn't believe she had offered the Key! Seeing their reactions, even Gabriel could feel that this key was something special for them.
Xin never thought she would have to give away such a precious treasure. She was sure that if her father found out what she did, he was going to be really angry.
Unfortunately, she didn't have any other choice at the moment. She wanted to survive, and she wasn't sure if the items they had previously offered were enough to sway Gabriel. Other than that, she only had the Spirit Key, which she could think of.
"Spirit Tomb Key?" Gabriel was pretty new in the world of Mages. He didn't even know about the Numens until not long ago, let alone something like the Spirit Tomb Key. It was his first time hearing of something like that.
He looked at Raphael, who also looked just as confused at him.
"What do you know about the Spirit Tomb Key?" he asked. He wasn't sure if it was wise to tell the girl that he didn't know anything about it, but if he asked her in a different way, he knew he could get some answers.
He made it appear like he was testing Xin's knowledge.
"It's the key to the only known Tomb left behind from the Era of Gods," Xin answered. From Gabriel's expression, she didn't know what he was thinking. "There are only a limited number of such keys that allow entry into the Tomb, and each Empire only possesses two such keys with them..."
'A Tomb from the Era of Gods?' Gabriel was slightly surprised but didn't let it show on his face. If he wasn't wrong, the Tower at the Academy was also from the Era of Gods, but these people didn't know about it.
"One of our keys is held by my brother. The other is held by me. I am willing to trade that key for our lives!" The girl exclaimed.
She didn't know what the world was going to think once they found out that she had given one of the keys to a Dark Mage, but currently, she had to protect their lives first.
Despite her explanation, Gabriel didn't react, which made Xin wonder if he really didn't like the exchange offer.
She just kept her head down and really hoped that he would take that offer.
Gabriel hadn't heard about the Tomb before, but for now, he found it quite interesting.
"Fine. Give me the key, and I promise to let you leave safely in return."
Xin stared into Gabriel's eyes, trying to see if he was really serious. From her tone, it didn't look as if he was lying.
Eventually, she brought out a key that she was using as a pendant.
She gave the beautiful silver key to Gabriel.
Gabriel held the key firmly. Strangely enough, he could feel a really familiar feeling from the key. It was an energy quite similar to his Grimoire. The key was certainly not an ordinary key, but he wasn't sure how it was related to his Grimoire.
There were no strange marks on the key. It was only the shape of the key that was different than any key he had ever seen before.
"Where is the Spirit Tomb?" he asked the girl. "And when can people enter it?"
It was clear that the Spirit Tomb wasn't open yet. If it was, she was sure the girl would've already gone there instead of wasting time elsewhere. Even if she had already gone inside before, she could've given it to someone else in her Empire to enter. But she didn't. That could only mean that the Spirit Tomb wasn't open.
Xin didn't respond right away as she thought about fooling Gabriel. However, she was hesitating as well. What if she lied and was caught? That was going to be worse.
'Should I tell him that he can enter whenever he wants and let him suffer? If I don't tell him about the time when the protection around the Spirit Tomb is off, and entry is allowed, the Protection should be able to kill him before he even gets close,' she thought, but just the thought of trying to fool Gabriel was making her heart shake.
She was scared. She didn't know just what skills Gabriel possessed, but if there was one that helped him catch lies, then she was as good as dead after telling a lie. Moreover, she wasn't even sure if Gabriel didn't know about it and was just testing her.
Eventually, she let out a tired sigh and decided to play it safe. In any case, so what if she told him the safe time? By the time the Tomb allowed entry, the others with keys were going to be there as well.
As soon as their sides saw a dark mage, they were going to take action. It was better to let them handle things on their own instead of risking her own life...
"The Spirit Tomb is surrounded by protective formations that can't even be broken by a Holy Priest. The formation only stops working once every four years, and that too only for a short time. That's the rule where a person is allowed to approach the Tomb and use the key," she answered honestly.
"So that's why you aren't there," Gabriel understood why the girl wasn't there yet. It was because she couldn't. "When will be the time when the formation stops?"
"It happens once every four years. After exactly one month, it will be four years since it last stopped working. That should be the time you can enter."
Xin told Gabriel everything he asked and sometimes even things that he didn't ask, all in hopes of being able to leave this place alive.
Gabriel kept the key in his Spatial Storage safely. Even he didn't expect a trade like this in exchange for the lives of a few youngsters who he wasn't planning to kill in any case.
"You can leave." Even though he didn't need to, he kept his side of the deal as well and allowed them to leave.
Xin stood there, still suspicious. Were they really free? Could they really leave?
As Xin was confused, Gabriel stepped forward and placed his finger under her chin, raising her head, so she was looking right into his eyes.
"But remember what I said before... If you told anyone what happened here, the Yann Empire would become a relic of the past. I'll personally destroy it."
He freed Xin and walked past her, leaving a group of stunned youngsters behind. The Infernal King also followed behind Gabriel, leaving the kids alive.
It was only after Gabriel left that Xin dropped to her knees weakly. She could finally be assured that they had survived this calamity! She felt so weak. All the fear she felt before... Finally, she could relax.
"The Dark Mage who can use light... This going is too big to keep a secret. We should get back and inform our Elders." After Gabriel disappeared from their sight, one of the girls in the group commented.
"No! No one will say anything!" Xin clenched her fist. "That guy... He is terrifying. Even if he's a Dark Mage, I don't want him to become our Enemy. With the kind of strength he and his strength possess, we can't be sure if he'll really destroy the Empire! We should keep our promise to him!"
"But Xin, he is a Dark Mage. Can we really allow him to roam freely?"
"Who says he'll roam freely? He destroyed the Church of Light Branch in this town. He already has the Churches on his trail. Leave this matter for the Churches to handle. We shouldn't get our Empire involved in the War of Churches. No matter what, I don't want this kind of monster to become our enemy!"
Xin was usually the bravest of them all, but she wasn't stupid. She was more far-sighted than others. She had already realized that Gabriel wasn't throwing empty bluffs. That guy really meant it when he said that he was going to destroy them if they did anything stupid!
"Just the two of them are so strong. We don't even know how many people they actually possess in the Church of Darkness now. We didn't even know it existed until now! We shouldn't take the risk!" She further stated, still believing that Gabriel was part of the Church of Darkness.
She even expected a huge army to be behind him.
"What about Rong? How are we going to explain his death back home? And our entire army? What are we going to do about this? We can't keep such a thing secret, can we?" Yui asked.
That was the real problem. A son of the Duke had died. How could they explain it without mentioning a Dark Mage?
"You don't have to worry about that. I'll think of something... For now, get back. I don't want to stay at this place even a second longer..."
This was the place where Xin had seen an entire army being massacred like they were nothing. The chilly feeling still hadn't left. She wanted to get back to the Royal City as soon as she could.
"Do you really think she was telling the truth?" The Infernal King asked Gabriel. They had already gone far enough that they had lost sight of the group of youngsters.
"I am not sure. I couldn't sense any lies at least, but we need to verify the information from a third source," Gabriel answered.
"However, I do feel that they were telling the truth. According to them, in one month, the Spirit Tomb is going to open. And they came to the Beast Mountain for training. It looks like they were planning to train for the Spirit Tomb."
"Of course, I could be wrong as well. It's possible that they fooled me. If it comes to that, we'll handle it in a different way. But for now, I don't have many reasons to doubt them."
The Spirit Tomb was something he hadn't heard of before, so he wanted to know more about it for sure. Moreover, he had plenty of time to do that as well. There was still a month left before the Spirit Tomb opening.
That much time was enough for him to get to the Arecia Empire and retrieve the thing that could strengthen his body to the same level as his Soul. After that, he didn't have to worry about using Heavy Spells, no matter what.
"According to that girl, each Empire has two Keys to the Spirit Tomb. That also means that they have knowledge of it. In the Arecia Empire's, I'm sure we'll be easily able to verify this information from Novius' descendants."
After Gabriel was backstabbed in the past, lying at death's door, his Grimoire was the one that took him to safety, inside the mysterious place where he discovered the Ancestral Staff.
His Grimoire wanted to save his life, and so it did. But it also did something else. After being hurt, he was unconscious for close to two days, where he was constantly trapped in the same dream... A repeat of reality where he was stabbed.
The dream kept repeating again and again as if never wanting him to forget what had happened. With time, something inside him changed subconsciously until he finally let go of his extremely trusting and naive nature. No matter who it was, Gabriel never trusted anyone entirely... It was his self-preserving nature...
There was only one person he trusted completely with his life in this world... And it was the person right next to him.
"Are you still feeling uncomfortable with the Natural Energy of Earth?" he asked Raphael, who was walking right beside him.
Raphael was from the Realm of the Dead, so he was quite accustomed to the aura of death in his realm. The energy in this world was mostly filled with life, which was enough to not only make Raphael unable to use his complete strength here but also to make him uncomfortable.
Raphael nodded. "I don't think I'll ever get accustomed to it. But it's better than before."
"Do you want to go back home?" Gabriel inquired. Raphael had only come here to save him. He couldn't keep him here all the time as a guard. Raphael had a life of his own, after all.
Raphael didn't answer. He just silently walked beside Gabriel, keeping up with his pace.
"We are done with all the battles. For now, I only need to go on this journey. I doubt I'll have to fight anymore. And thanks to the ring, I don't think they'll be able to find me. If you want to go back, you really can..."
Even though Gabriel liked Raphael's company since he didn't have any other friends at the moment, he didn't want to be greedy.
Raphael eventually nodded. He had many things to do in the Realm of the Dead. He had just destroyed the Damphir Kingdom when he had to rush here to help Gabriel.
His Flaming Horse was back there as well. He didn't even know what the situation was like now.
He knew he had to deal with the aftermath there, and now that Gabriel was safe and healthy, he could leave…
[Thud]
"Hahaha, this place looks lively."
The door abruptly opened, and a group of men walked inside a restaurant.
Amongst the group of seven, none of the youngsters had any magical aura of their own, but all of them appeared quite strong. They were all carrying a heavy Sword on their back.
Gabriel was peacefully eating in the restaurant, keeping his identity hidden, but even he couldn't help but glance at the people who had just barged inside. It was their swords that attracted him the most.
The swords that they carried on their back weren't Numens; however, they were still stronger than ordinary swords. The swords appeared to be Artificial Artifacts made by the Artificer Families of humans.
The group of seven looked like Knights based on the attire they wore.
"Huh? There are no seats available?" One of the Knights let out after noticing that all the tables were taken.
This was the town that was closest to the Arecia Empire. After this point, one could only enter the Arecia Empire. Usually, the place didn't have many visitors, but from what Gabriel heard, quite a few people were resting here nowadays on their journey to the Arecia Empire.
The group of seven walked to the Manager of the Restaurant. Even the Manager seemed confused as to what to do. There were truly no empty seats. However, the guests weren't ordinary people either.
The Manager looked around the restaurant and noticed that all the tables were truly full, except one where only one person was sitting... Instead of getting a group to leave to make space, he believed that it was better to get just one person to leave.
'After that table is free, I can arrange some chairs there, and it should be enough,' he thought as he approached the table near the window.
"Ah, dear Guest, can you please vacate the table?" The Manager asked the young man who was sitting at the table.
Even though the young man was also dressed in an attire that made him look wealthy, but he was still just one person.
"My order isn't here yet," Gabriel told the Manager. He had just ordered after sitting down. Instead of serving his food, they were asking him to leave? He was too hungry to listen for now.
"Ah, Guest. Please try to understand. Those seven are distinguished guests from the Arecia Empire. We still need to maintain some relationship with them. So please get up. I'll refund you the money you paid, and at the same time, after another seat gets empty, you can take that! I promise no one will disturb you there."
If Gabriel didn't have the attire of a wealthy man from an influential family, the Manager wouldn't even bother talking to him so nicely. He would've just kicked Gabriel out to make space. However, believing that Gabriel wasn't a poor commoner either, he maintained his humbleness.
Gabriel glanced at the group of seven in the back, who were engaged in a discussion amongst themselves, not even bothering to look at him.
"I'm sorry, but I don't want to stand up for now. How about you give that same offer to them? When another table becomes empty, send them there."
If it were normal circumstances, Gabriel could've still considered it, but the group of seven wasn't powerful. They weren't even mages. No matter how much influence they possessed, for him, it was useless. Even their treasures were useless to him. There was no need to take them into consideration.
"Young Man, don't be so short-sighted," the Middle Aged Manager still didn't give up. "Those people are from Arecia and they are quite influential. From their attire, it's clear they are also from the Sacred Knight Academy."
"Please give me some face, and don't make things difficult for us," he further stated. "Moreover, aren't you coming to Arecia for that thing? If I'm not wrong, these people can make your life a living hell. The Knight Academy is incharge of that! So think of your own future as well."
"That thing?" Gabriel was somewhat surprised. What did he mean by that?
'There is no way he could know what I'm here for. Then what is he talking about?'
He was completely sure that the Manager couldn't read his mind to know what he was there for, which made his words even stranger.
"The Sacred Knight Tournament!" The Manager exclaimed. "What else if not that? Aren't you here like everyone else for the same thing? Come on, don't be arrogant and lose such a great opportunity in the process. Who knows, I might even be able to introduce you to these Knight Academy students."
"If you are kind enough this time, your future path should be very smooth. I heard that a Holy Priest is also going to attend the Tournament as a guest, along with the Knight King... It's such a perfect opportunity to show your skills to great people. Do you really want to lose it over food?"
"A Holy Priest?" Gabriel was slightly taken aback. A Head of Church was going to be in the Arecia Empire around the same time he was here? He didn't know what these Knight Tournaments were or anything about the Knight King, but what concerned him for now was the presence of a Holy Knight in the city.
If a Holy Priest was there, that spelled trouble. There was a great chance that the Holy Priest was going to stay in the Royal Arecia Palace as a guest. That did increase the difficulty of his mission and created some obstacles.
Gabriel went silent, losing himself in thoughts.
Seeing him go silent, the Manager sighed in relief. 'Even though this kid is slightly arrogant, at least he knows what's good for you. He is scared, and finally, he understands the gravity of the situation.'
"What's taking so long?"
Even though the Manager tried to convince Gabriel, since it took so much time, the Knights had already started paying attention to Gabriel. One of them even approached the table personally.
"Kid, scram out of this place if you know what's good for you!" The red-haired man placed his hand on Gabriel's shoulder, applying slight force as if showing off his strength.
Gabriel came out of his thoughts and looked at the red-haired next to him.
"Hmm?" The Red-Haired Knight was slightly surprised at the lack of Gabriel's reaction. Even though he didn't use too much of his strength, but the amount of strength he used should've been enough to at least make him groan in pain. Why was Gabriel not reacting?
The man's face turned slightly red in anger and embarrassment as he increased the strength with which he grabbed Gabriel's shoulder…
The red-haired knight increased the strength, applying even more pressure on Gabriel's shoulders. It was a matter of his dignity.
The other six knights from the Knight Academy didn't interfere either. They only watched the scene with amusement, finding the young man quite interesting.
Gabriel's strength had increased recently, increasing his defense as well, but even it wasn't enough to resist such pressure without the help of his spells. The red-haired man was going all out, after all. If it were an ordinary man instead of him, their shoulder would've already been crushed to a powder before this strength.
"Have you done enough?" After some time, Gabriel finally broke his silence. "If yes, then please go back and wait for me to eat."
"You!" The red-haired man was furious. Not only was Gabriel still not reacting, but he was talking as if he was dealing with a kid.
The manager of the restaurant couldn't help but step back. He had tried all he could, but it was already too late. It appeared as if bad blood had already been established between the two sides. It was too late for him to do anything, and he could only leave it for them to deal with...
'This kid, even after all my advice, he didn't listen. He really doesn't know what's good for him.' Sighing, the man went back, wondering what was going to happen next.
Even if Gabriel was slightly stronger, he couldn't face a Knight of the Knight Academy, especially since there were seven of them.
"Good! Very good! You really have some courage, kid!" Even though the red-haired knight sounded like he was complimenting Gabriel, from his tone, it was clear that he was being sarcastic. "But don't forget. Sometimes, courage without strength can lead to an early grave. I hope you remember that!"
"I couldn't agree more," Gabriel replied as he picked up the glass of water before him and took a sip. "So leave, and I won't pursue this matter anymore. I'll forgive you this time."
"Hahaha!" The red-haired knight was furious. But the other knights in the back found it quite fun. It wasn't often that they came up to people with such courage.
"You!" The Red Haired Knight raised his hand, placing it over the hilt of his sword on his back. He has had enough. He was so angry that he wanted to slice Gabriel's neck with one swipe.
"That's enough," A voice filled with authority came from the back, making the red-haired knight stop.
The young man turned around, "But Senior Brother, he-"
The voice belonged to one of the six people in the group. That person also had the strongest sword in the group and looked like the leader of the group.
"Relax a bit. There's no benefit in getting angry. It's not often we meet such amusing people after all. In the world we live in, we need courageous people. Shouldn't we be friends with such people instead of being enemies?" The young man, who looked like he was in his late twenties, stated.
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He stepped forward, stopping before Gabriel.
"I am Yuan, a Fourth Year Student in the Knight Academy of Arecia," the Dark Haired Man introduced himself as he reached out his hand. " What is your name?"
"Gabriel," Gabriel answered as he also reached out his hand. If the guy before him was a mage, he could've probably hesitated in shaking hands with them, but since the man wasn't a Mage, there was no risk in it.
Yuan glanced at the Manager in the back. "Instead of getting little brother to leave, why don't you arrange seven more seats here? We can eat with him."
Gabriel didn't react. As long as they weren't going to make him bother with a battle, he was fine.
The red-haired knight was still somewhat discontent, but he couldn't do anything other than agree.
"I would like to apologize to you for our little brother. He is somewhat impatient, but he isn't a bad person," Yuan stated.
"Anyway, let me introduce our side. The man you met before is Zack. He is my cousin and a first-year Knight at the Academy. I brought him with me on a mission, and we were on our way back when we decided to stop and eat."
Yuan introduced his side one by one, starting with the red-haired Knight.
Gabriel didn't speak in the middle of the introduction, but he did memorize all their names. It turned out that the red-haired man was just a first-year student? For a first-year student without any magic, his physical strength was quite impressive.
That made Gabriel wonder just how strong Yuan was. Since these people didn't use magic, judging their real strength was slightly harder than judging the strength of a Mage.
The Manager arranged seats for them around the same table. All seven Knights sat down, and finally, the food was brought.
With time, the two sides actually started getting along somewhat well. Moreover, Zack was a person who couldn't hold a grudge for long, and with time, he also calmed down. He realized that he actually was too impatient and tried to hurt a stranger.
Without even being asked to, he apologized to Gabriel on his own. Just as Yuan has said, the young man didn't look like a bad person on the inside. He was just slightly short-tempered and impatient.
"So little brother, are you a Mage?" After some time, Yuan finally asked.
Even when faced with Zack, Gabriel wasn't scared. It was clear that the kid wasn't weak and was confident enough about his strength. However, it was also clear that he wasn't a knight since he wasn't carrying a Magical Weapon. That could only imply that he was a mage.
Moreover, since Gabriel was hiding his hand behind his gloves, that made it difficult to see his Elemental Mark, which made him feel as if he wasn't wrong about his assumption.
Gabriel glanced at his hands. Previously, he could've at least shown his Mark of Light, but now that the Mark of Light has somewhat merged with the Mark of Darkness in his left hand, he couldn't even show that.
"Does it even matter?" Gabriel asked. "There are so many mages in this world. Mages aren't that hard to come across."
"True." Yuan nodded. Even though Gabriel didn't answer directly, his words were enough of an answer. The guy before them was definitely a Mage.
"Are you here to participate in the Knight Tournament?" Yuan asked.
Even though Gabriel didn't know what Knight Tournament was, from the name, it did sound like a battle of Knights.
"I am a Mage. How can I participate in the Knight Tournament?" he asked.
"Little Brother, could it be that you don't know anything about it?" Yuan was somewhat taken aback by this question. He thought everyone who came here knew about such basics. But this kid... Did he not even know these things? Was he judging by the name?
"Little brother, the Knight Tournament isn't a battle of Knights. It's not a battle tournament either. Don't judge by its name, as the name is quite deceptive. It's something else entirely..."
"What is the Knight Tournament then?" Gabriel asked Yuan.
He didn't know much about the Arecia Empire other than the fact that the Empire was stronger than the Yan Empire. Moreover, based on the name of the tournament, it really did sound like a battle tournament for knights. Was that not the case?
"You really aren't from around here, are you?" Yuan smiled wryly. "As I said before, the Knight Tournament is something in which everyone can take part in. Even mages who aren't Knights..."
"Is this for selection in the Sacred Knight Academy?" Gabriel inquired. If this wasn't a simple battle tournament, he could only guess that it was a selection exam for the Academy of Knights.
Just like the Lumen Empire had the Academy of Elements, the Arecia Empire had the Sacred Knight Academy, which trained Knights. Even though the Knight Academy was considered weaker than the Academy of Elements as a whole, it was still very powerful.
The Academy of Elements was the dream for people who awakened their elements. On the contrary, the Academy of Knights didn't differentiate between the people who awakened their elements and the ones who didn't.
They opened their doors for everyone as long as the person had enough talent since they didn't need an element to be a Knight.
"Academy Selection Exams like this? I wish," Yuan smiled. "Anyway, as I said, you should try participating. If you actually succeed, destiny's door will open for you."
"Destiny's Door?" Gabriel repeated, wondering if this was just a metaphor or something more. "Can you tell me directly? What is this Knight Tournament? What is the purpose of it?"
"Since you're not from here, I suppose you don't know about the Saint King either?" Yuan still didn't answer directly.
"Saint King?" Gabriel shook his head. He really didn't know any Saint King. Then again, his knowledge of this world was still in its initial stages.
"The Knight Tournament is related to him, so I think you should know about him first. That should help you understand what the Knight Tournament is," Yuan stated. "Do you at least know about the Era of Gods?"
Gabriel finally nodded. That was the thing he knew. It was the Era where Karyk and the other gods lived, along with the Demigods. It was the Era where all the Numens that exist in today's world came into existence...
"In the Era of Gods, there existed gods and demigods who could destroy cities with a flick of their fingers. However, at the same time, there also existed many ordinary humans. One of those ordinary humans was Lord Avalon."
"Since he didn't have any magical strength to stand against the Demigods, instead of accepting his fate of being weak, he decided to become strong based on his own hard effort. He started training his body in hellish conditions. Eventually, he even managed to break through the human limit, strengthening his body to such an extent."
"He was known as the first Knight, also addressed as the Saint Knight by the current generation."
Through Yuan's explanation, Gabriel was somewhat surprised. There was really a human who wanted to be as strong as the Demigods without possessing any magical strength?
"That person's willpower must've been quite strong," Gabriel commented.
"He certainly had a reason after all. Unfortunately, he was very unfortunate. He chased after this strength to win the heart of the woman he loved so he could protect her all his life. However, by the time he returned from his training, the woman he loved was already married," Yuan explained.
"What did he do then? Did he kill her husband?"
"He was an upright Knight. He would've never killed her husband. However, her husband did die from heart disease on his own after a few years," Yuan responded.
"Quite a coincidence," Gabriel muttered, slightly apprehensive of the story. Since it was an old story, it was quite obvious that some parts of the story could've been changed or exaggerated. There was no saying that Avalon wasn't involved in her husband's death.
"When that woman's husband died, she was troubled a lot. Their family went into a decline due to all the debt her husband had gathered, and eventually, things went sour as people kept targeting her. That's when the Saint Knight came and protected her. The Saint Knight protected the woman, fighting hundreds of people alone to protect the girl's dignity."
"According to the legends, the Saint Knight killed over a thousand people that day. It was a massacre that shook the entire city, even alerting the Demigods. It wasn't a small thing for an ordinary human to possess a strength like this after all."
"Shouldn't the Saint Knight be condemned for killing so many people?" Gabriel asked. Looking at the world's condition, he knew that an act like that would've been considered devilish, no matter how righteous it was. "Why would the Arecia Empire treat that person like an idol?"
"You're not wrong. The Saint Knight was condemned a lot for an act like that. The City of Gods even sent a Demigod to check the situation and deal with it accordingly," Yuan answered, taking another sip of his wine.
In the Arecia Empire, everyone knew of this story as it was very widespread. For many, it was like a myth or just an urban legend, but quite a few believed this story as well. This story was the foundation of this Empire after all.
Yuan continued with his story.
"So the Saint King trained to be able to stand against a Demigod without losing, and a Demigod had to come to exterminate him." Gabriel was quite interested in the story. "Even if the Saint King strengthened his body, I doubt he could've defeated a Demigod. The difference in Power isn't something that could be covered with training."
"You're not wrong. That was exactly what happened. The Saint King was defeated in the battle single-handedly. Even though he was strong, he was no match for a Demigod," Yuan agreed. "The difference in strength was just too much."
"So he was killed?" Gabriel asked. "Or did he run?"
"No. According to the legends, he wasn't killed. He didn't run away either. Instead, he stayed behind to delay the Demigod while giving the woman he loved an opportunity to escape first. That's when something happened..."
"What?" Gabriel asked, somewhat curious. Since the Saint King became a legend, he shouldn't have been killed so easily.
"An Army of Undead... Hundreds of Undead entered the City where the two were fighting."
"An army of Undead?" Gabriel frowned. "Why did it sound familiar...?
"That's right. An army of Undead, filled with powerful Undead beings. I'm sure it's hard to believe some of this, and you're not wrong. Maybe there is a certain exaggeration, but it's also possible that it's entirely true. The Era of Gods was a crazy time after all."
Yuan could see that Gabriel was taken aback to hear of the Undead. He wondered if Gabriel was finally scared.
"It was said that each of the Undead was as powerful as the Demigods." Yuan smiled. "Can you imagine strength like that? The Demigod stopped fighting and retreated. He didn't forget to attack one last time, giving a mortal wound to the Saint King before leaving."
"According to the myth, even though the Demigod ran, the Saint King was so hurt that he couldn't even stand. He dropped to the ground, and his body bled."
"He couldn't even hope to fight the Undead. He had already accepted his fate as he lost consciousness," Yuan spoke as he imagined himself in the place of the Saint King.
'An army of Undead, powerful enough to scare even Demigods? This doesn't sound like the power of a Demigod. The Power to control the dead? Undead strong enough to fight a Demigod? So an Undead like Raphael? This army... If I'm not wrong, it should've belonged to Karyk...'
' But what was he trying to do? Why would he send his army to a random city? Unless... He was looking for something and thought this could make the search easier?'
For a moment, there was only silence as Gabriel also lost himself in deep thought. He couldn't help but link this entire event to Karyk. There was no other person according to him, who could control the Undead that had this much strength!
After some time, he finally broke his silence. "What happened next?"
He wanted to know everything about Karyk if possible, and he believed that this story was as much a story of Karyk as it was the story of the Saint King, which could give him more clues about Karyk!
"What do you think happened? The Saint King was killed," Yuan sighed.
"Huh?" Gabriel was even more taken aback. Karyk killed the Saint King, who was unconscious? Why would he? There was no threat? This didn't make sense.
Yuan looked at Gabriel's grim expression, trying to control his laughter.
Eventually, he couldn't control it anymore and started laughing. "Alright, I was kidding. He wasn't killed, even though according to common sense, it should've happened."
"When the Saint King woke up, he found out that he was still in the same city. However, there was no Undead there. There was only one other person there, a young man, who was sitting in the distance, eating some fruit."
"Who was that person?" Gabriel asked, even though he already had some idea. It couldn't be anyone other than Karyk.
"The Devil," Yuan answered. "According to the Legends, the man was the Devil himself. He offered the Saint King his help in making him stronger, but in exchange, he asked for the Saint King's soul."
'That sounds like a certain exaggeration. I can believe the help part, but asking for the soul in return? I'm sure someone added that part in the story just for the fun of it,' Gabriel found it hard to believe the last part of the story.
He could believe that Karyk needed something from the Saint King, and that's why he decided to help him but to ask for his soul? That sounded quite unlikely. Karyk was already so strong. There was no way he needed the Saint King's soul. He really wasn't a devil after all.
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"The Saint King agreed to the offer. He sold his soul to the devil in exchange for strength to be able to protect the woman he loved. He didn't want to be killed by the Demigods or lose the woman. That was the Saint King! A person who was willing to even lose his soul to protect the woman he loved," Yuan further explained. "That's exactly why everyone respects him so much."
"So did Ka... I mean did the Devil help?"
"He did. After the trade succeeded, the Devil gave the Saint King something. It was a blood-red sword that was said to be able to cut the soul of a person itself. Even the hardest metal in this world couldn't remain unharmed in front of that sword."
'That sword.' Even though Gabriel had a calm exterior, on the inside, he was quite turbulent. It didn't take him long to recognize that sword! 'Isn't that the Sword of Ulien?'
He already had the Sword of Ulien. He was quite surprised that this was the sword of the legends. The Sword that was carried by a Demigod before he was killed and later carried by the Saint King?
"We all call that Sword the Saint's Sword. With the help of that sword, the Saint King really became more powerful. For some reason, the Demigods didn't attack him again after that point. He managed to protect the woman he loved and eventually married her."
"After that, he also established a Kingdom of his own, along with the Academy of Knights. That Kingdom was known as the Arecia Empire since the Saint King's full name was Avalon Arecia," Yuan finished his explanation. "That's why we all idolize the Saint King so much."
'Avalon Arecia? So the Saint King was the Ancestor of Novius? No wonder his family was against him leaving home to become a Mage. They probably wanted him to become a Knight since he had such talent. They wanted him to walk the path of his Ancestor, but he chose otherwise.'
Finally, everything made sense to Gabriel. The only question still left was about Karyk. Just what did he trade the Sword of Avalon for? Why would he need the help of the Saint King that he could kill easily? For some reason, the more he got to know about Karyk's past, the more mysterious it became.
Gabriel could only shake his head. No matter how much he thought about it, the answers weren't going to fall from the sky. For now, he needed to focus on things before him.
"What does this have to do with the Knight's Tournament?" he asked the young man before him.
"Of course it does. The Saint King was known as the first Knight, so this tournament was named after him. But it's also a part of our culture. In the Arecia Empire's culture, a man is supposed to be strong enough to protect their woman, just like the Saint King protected his."
"That's why this Knight Tournament is held... It isn't a simple battle tournament, young man. It's something where the next Prince Consort, future husband of our Eldest Princess, will be chosen!"
"A tournament to select the future husband of the Princess?" Gabriel asked, slightly taken aback. That was the last thing he could've expected this tournament to be about.
"That's right. It's a tradition in the Arecia Empire to select the husband of the Princesses through the Knight Tournament." Yuan nodded. "Last time the tournament was held around twenty years ago for our current King's sister. In the current generation of Royalty, this is the first time it is being held."
"That's why, not just Knights, but anyone can take part in the Knight Tournament. Moreover, there is no limit on participation. You don't have to be a citizen to Arecia to take part. The only limitation is that the person needs to be younger than thirty."
Yuan explained the most basic of rules to the young man before him who was completely unaware.
"So, changed your mind now?" he asked Gabriel. "If you can win this tournament, you can really open the doors of destiny for you. The Princess is a real beauty, and also the most talented person in the Knight Academy who not only is a powerful Knight, but can also use magic to fight."
"Her beauty is praised even in faraway lands. I also heard that a few of the neighbouring Princes are going to come personally to take part in the Knight Tournament."
Now that Gabriel was informed about the essence of the tournament, Yuan didn't believe that Gabriel could say no. Gabriel was a young man after all. Which young man could reject the chance of being married to a beauty that everyone was after? Moreover, once he won, he could become the Son in Law of the Royal Family. The offer was just too alluring.
"If I wasn't older than thirty, even I would've taken part in the Tournament. But my luck is so bad. I turned thirty one last month," Juan sighed, taking another sip of his wine.
From his eyes, his disappointment was quite evident. Since he couldn't take part in the tournament, he had already given up on trying to pursue the Princess.
"What kind of a person is the Eldest Princess of Arecia Clan?" Gabriel didn't answer if he was going to take part or not. Instead he asked a question of his own. He wasn't interested in taking part in it either. He hadn't even seen the Princess and felt nothing for her.
Moreover, he wasn't here to fight. He couldn't just enter a battle for no reason. What was worse was that one of the Holy Priests was going to attend the Knight Tournament as a guest along with the current Generation of Holy Knight. Fighting before then had the risk of exposing his identity. He didn't want to do that until he found what be came here for.
"Arecia Clan?" Yuan responded, slightly taken aback. "What do you mean? The Princess isn't from the Arecia Clan. A friendly advice, you shouldn't even mention those traitors when you're in the city."
"Traitors? Is Arecia Clan not the Royal Clan of Arecia?"
The first Saint King was from the Arecia Clan. And according to Novius, his family was the Royal Family. How could the man say otherwise then? Did something change? What happened to the Arecia Empire?
"You are right. The Arecia Clan was the one who established the Arecia Empire. It was the Clan created by the Saint King after all. However, things are different now. Arecia Clan isn't the Royal Family now," Yuan responded but stopped right after, letting out a sigh.
"Sigh, I'm afraid I can't tell you more than I did. Just remember that you should forget that the Arecia Clan even existed and don't mention their name ever again."
"Anyway, we are done here. We will be leaving now." For some reason, not only did Yuan not answer, but he also stood up, placing a few gold coins on the table.
The others also stood up. They had finished eating as well.
"Young Man, I really hope to see you in the Knight Tournament. Don't miss this opportunity as it doesn't come often. Also, remember what I said. Don't mention that Clan anymore..."
After giving the last bit of advice, Yuan left with his men, leaving the restaurant.
Only Gabriel was left behind, sitting in silence. Even though he hadn't shown it, his heart was filled with concern and anger.
He couldn't understand. Just what happened to Novius' family? They were the Royal Clan of the Empire and now even their name was considered a taboo?
"Novius was so happy when he mentioned his home, telling me about his family on his last day. He asked me to check up on his family once. Who knew something like this would've already happened? The Arecia Clan is long gone, replaced by another Clan? But why?"
This also created some troubles for him. He was expecting to ask for the treasure from the Arecia Clan directly, citing his relationship with Novius. But now that the Royal Family was different, he couldn't do that. Even if he tried, they weren't going to listen nicely. Things had become slightly complicated.
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He also stood up. Even though the Knight Academy students left gold behind, he also did the same, paying for everything he ate. He didn't want to owe anyone.
After placing the same amount of gold coins, he also left.
Leaving the Restaurant, he walked to his horse and climbed on it. The horse started racing toward the Royal City.
Even as Gabriel moved closer to the City, his thoughts were still on the Arecia Clan. If they were truly dead, that meant the entire lineage of Novius was wiped out? For some reason, that thought made him feel somewhat sad.
Novius had left this World to help him climb up the tower. Even until his last moment, he still believed that his family was fine.
Gabriel couldn't help but remember the moment Novius wondered if his little brother would've already had cute little grandchildren by now. If possible, he wanted to see them.
Gabriel glanced up, looking at the beautiful moon in the sky. "The World never stops changing... I am sorry, Novius. But we are too late. Your family has fallen, it seems..."
The world was vast. There were many kingdoms and Empires, but each of that place was quite careful about who they allowed in their Royal City since there were still a few Dark Mages in existence.
There were a lot of cities who didn't allow entry without checking the hands of a person to make sure that they weren't a Dark Mage. The Arecia Empire's Royal City was the same.
Gabriel stood near the entrance of the majestic City but didn't move closer.
To get an entry into the City, a person needed to show their hands so the guards could check that they didn't have the Mark is Darkness.
Unfortunately, Gabriel's left hand actually had a mark of Darkness which was right next to the Mark of Light. He knew that if he showed his hands, it was only going to create trouble for him.
"I can't enter through the main entrance..."
He turned around after making sure that there was no way to get an entry through the main entrance without being checked. One thing was for good though. The City didn't have any Barrier like the Lumen City which marked the souls of the Dark Mages once they entered.
Now that he also had the Element of Darkness, that thing could've immediately disclosed his identity.
"Hah, little girl, there's no benefit in screaming. No one is going to save you. In these parts of the City, even the Knights don't enter!"
The laughter of a man echoed, mixed with the calls for help that seemed to be coming from a woman.
"Hmm? A part of City where even the Knights don't come?" On the other side of the wall, Gabriel was standing. He was still trying to find the best place to enter from since he didn't want to create a mess right at the start by accidentally appearing before a Royal Knight.
However, hearing the voices coming from the other side, all his doubts were clear. If there was no Royal Knight here, then this place was perfect. Moreover, he also believed that if he helped the girl, he could get some answers about the Arecia Clan and what happened to them.
On the inner side of the wall, the middle aged man licked his lips as he held the wrist of the woman who struggled to free herself. Unfortunately, her strength was nothing before the man.
"Scream! Scream more! Do you really expect the gods to send a saviour from the sky for you? Let me tell you, little girl! Tonight, even gods can't save you from me!"
There man raised his head toward the sky as he laughed out loud.
However, his laughed stopped abruptly as he actually saw something in the sky! It looked like a person who was coming down! The man's laughter stopped completely and his face was filled with shock. Did the gods really send saviour? No, how could that be!
Gabriel landed on the ground, not too far from the middle aged man.
He could finally see the man who had a scar on his face. As for the woman before him, the woman didn't seem to be from a poor family. From her clothes, she looked like she was fairly rich. Unfortunately, her clothes were torn at places.
"You! Who are you?!" The middle aged man asked.
"Please save me!" The girl also pleaded for Gabriel's help.
Gabriel didn't pay attention to what the girl was saying. His focus was mainly on the man.
"You said gods won't save people to save anyone? You're right. Gods have stopped sending people a long time ago. Nowadays, no one will come to save anyone," Gabriel stated.
Hearing the response, the middle aged man signed in relied. So this man wasn't here to stop him. It was just a coincidence that the man was here. Moreover, from his tone and his body, he looked like a weak cowardly man.
The woman's face also turned pale. Was this man really a coward? He wasn't here to help? Did she really have no hope in this world?
"Good! Now that you understand, then scram! Don't disturb my long night!" The man scoffed. Now that he knew that Gabriel was a coward, he didn't worry one bit.
Gabriel didn't leave. Instead, he appeared next to the middle aged man, grabbing the throat of the man.
The man's face turned pale. He used both his hands to get Gabriel to loosen his grip but nothing worked. The young man's strength was just too much.
Since the middle aged man was busy trying to save himself, the woman was freed. She hastily stepped back, shocked. This man was really helping her? Was he really not a coward? Did she misunderstand his words?
Gabriel brought his lips close to the man's ears and whispered, "Although the gods stopped sending people to save people, the Devil hasn't stopped sending people to kill. You're quite lucky today. Become a stepping stone for me..."
The middle aged man felt a chill run down his spine as he heard the words. He had never felt this kind of fear before. And this was all when Gabriel hadn't even released his Aura.
Crack~
The middle aged man tried speaking but he was so scared that no words came out of his mouth. Only a cracking sound came after a few seconds as the man's throat was crushed.
His eyes widened as the man took his last breath. Gabriel tossed the man's lifeless body aside. This kind of a man wasn't even worse his attention. The only reason he even killed the man was so he could approach the woman later.
He wanted to get some answers about the Arecia Clan from her and if possible, he wanted to do that without revealing his true identity.
It was the first time the woman saw someone die. She dropped to her knees, scared out of her wits. Just who was this person? Was he going to kill her as well? There were so many questions in her head.
Watching Gabriel step closer to her, her heart started beating faster. She was grateful to Gabriel for saving her. At the same time, she was scared of him.
"Are you alright?" Gabriel stopped before the lady. He could understand why she was scared so he didn't take it to heart. If it was him before his awakening, he would've been scared as well. Seeing someone die, of killing someone for the first time... Both were quite scary for an ordinary person.
He reached out his hand to help the woman.
"I-i am alright," the woman replied. Even though she was also scared, she couldn't offend Gabriel. She reached out her hand as well. If he really wanted to kill her, he could only help her.
"Ouch!" As soon as the woman stood up, she dropped to the ground again as her ankles twisted.
The young lady cried in pain. She was so scared of Gabriel that she didn't even pay any attention to her surroundings.
Gabriel sat before the young woman. "You are fairly weak. Someone like you shouldn't be in these parts of the City at a time like this."
Even as Gabriel talked, he placed his finger on the ankles of the young lady.
"W-what are you doing?" The young lady grew scared as soon as Gabriel touched her ankles, subconsciously pulling her leg back. However, Gabriel had already grabbed her head by now.
"Stay still."
Since she wasn't hurt much, he didn't need to use any high-tier spell. The smallest spell of Healing was enough to treat her.
As soon as Gabriel used his healing spell, the young lady felt a warm energy enter her body. She had felt a similar kind of energy even before.
She couldn't help but raise her head, looking at Gabriel with surprise. "You're a Mage of Light?"
"You can call me that," Gabriel answered as he freed the young lady's legs. "Your leg is healed now. You should be able to walk."
He stood up and reached out his hand to help the young lady up again. This time, the lady didn't hesitate. Even though the Arecia Empire was the Empire of Knights, it didn't mistreat the Mages either. The Mages of Light had an especially good reputation in the Empire.
"Thank you for helping me." After standing up, the woman respectfully bowed. "And I apologize for misunderstanding you. It's just that I never saw someone die..."
"Don't worry. If I hadn't killed him, he would've killed us or brought more people to deal with us. It was necessary, so don't think about it much," Gabriel explained why he killed the person. "However, if possible, I would appreciate it if you don't tell anyone what happened here."
"I-i won't." The woman agreed.
Gabriel had already won some of her trust, and that's exactly what he was after. Later, he offered to escort her back, to which the woman agreed.
Along the way, Gabriel talked to the woman, understanding more about her. He straight wanted to jump to the topic of the Arecia Clan, but he decided to take things slow to not be too suspicious.
"I am Shia Alecton," the woman introduced herself and glanced at Gabriel as if waiting to see the surprise on his face.
To her surprise, Gabriel didn't react at all. It was as if everything was normal.
"Hmm?" Shia was slightly taken aback. "You haven't heard of our clan, have you?"
Since he didn't react, she could only believe he didn't even know about her clan. If it were anyone else, they would've been shocked to learn her identity.
"I am new to the Empire," Gabriel answered. "Is yours one of the Noble Families of the Empire?"
From the attire of the woman, he was already sure that she was from a wealthy noble family in the Empire.
The woman could only smile in response. "So you saved me without any expectations?"
"You know my family is quite rich. We can give you quite a lot of rewards..."
"I don't need any rewards. You just happened to be on my way, and I helped," Gabriel answered. He wasn't looking to go with the woman to her clan since he wasn't sure what kind of security they were going to have.
If the Clan had all visitors show their hands to check for Mark of Darkness, that could be troublesome, so he didn't plan for it. All he wanted was to get his answers from her on this short journey back and then leave.
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"Are you sure you don't want any reward?" Gabriel's response again surprised Shia. Just what kind of person was he? He was rejecting rewards?
"What is your name?" She asked.
"I am Gabriel, a wandering traveler," Gabriel answered.
"Are you here to take part in the Knight Tournament?"
Gabriel shook his head in response. "I have no interest in marrying the Princess. I was on my journey and decided to stop in the Arecia Empire, which I had heard so much about. I heard stories of the Saint King even in my homeland and wanted to check the Empire myself and maybe meet the descendants of the Royal Arecia Clan."
" Unfortunately, I don't think the Royal Family will allow me to meet them, so I can only watch them in the Knight Tournament from the stands."
Along with his response, Gabriel intentionally injected some subtle words to turn the topic in the direction that he wanted. Not only did he pretend to be ignorant of the fact that the Arecia Clan was ousted, but he did so with such conviction that no one could guess that he was pretending.
"Arecia Clan? The Traitors? Sigh, it seems you're destined to be quite disappointed then," Shia said, letting out a sigh. "The Saint King was indeed great, and our idol, but his descendants were a disappointment... They spoiled the name of the great Saint King with their actions, and they were ousted."
Unlike Yuan, the woman didn't hesitate in talking about the Arecia Clan at all, probably because she was from a Noble family and there wasn't anyone nearby.
"Traitor! Did something happen?" Gabriel acted like he was shocked. "His descendants betrayed the Empire? Were they really so vile? It seems wealth and influence corrupted them as well."
To get in the good books of Shia and get her to lower her, Gabriel acted as if he believed everything she said and that the Arecia Clan really betrayed the Empire.
"That's true. Those bastards stole our Holy Sword and secretly sold it! The sword should've belonged to the Empire! It's because of them that the strength of our Empire went so down. After this scandal came to light, even more secrets were revealed, like the Arecia Clan planned to kill all Major Clans to make sure that there were no threats left to their power!"
" They colluded with foreign powers against their own people. Fortunately, it was revealed before it was too late. All Major Clans joined hands to destroy the Arecia Clan and take back the Empire that belonged to our people!" Shia explained. "It's a pity that we couldn't recover the Saint King's Sword. We don't even know where it is... If it weren't for those bastards!"
Gabriel silently heard all the accusations as he walked next to the woman. His hands remained behind his back, making the woman unable to see how tightly his fists were clenched.
According to her story, descendants of Novius were massacred! That was enough to make his blood boil. He had to really struggle to keep his emotions in control. As for their story, he could feel that there were some flaws in it.
Even though he didn't personally know the descendants of Novius, he found it hard to believe that they would do something so stupid. They would sell the Sword of Ulien first and then plan to kill the Major Clans? That didn't make sense. If they wanted to kill Major Clans, any sensible person would've saved their strongest weapon for an event like that!
Through Shia's story, Gabriel could feel that this was a conspiracy that was created to destroy the Arecia Clan, and no one thought about it deeply. Everyone went with the flow and started calling the Arecia Clan traitors!
"It was most probably the greed of the Major Clans which led to something like that...
"Are you alright?" Shia asked, noticing that Gabriel had gone silent. He wasn't speaking much.
"I'm fine. I just hate traitors, so I was lost in some thoughts. The Arecia Clan was truly evil to go against their own people. The Major Clans did well," Gabriel answered.
"So yeah, you can't meet the Arecia Clan in the Knight Tournament. They are already eliminated completely. Not a single person was left alive." Shia smiled. "You can still meet the current Royal Clan though. They are even better than the Arecia Clan! They are also more majestic!"
For a girl who was scared of watching a person being killed right before her eyes, she seemed quite amused to know that an entire family was wiped out.
"I'll certainly attend the Knight Tournament as a spectator." Gabriel agreed. "Anyway, thanks for the information. I will leave now."
"Huh, what? You are leaving?" Shia was shocked. After helping her all this time, the guy was simply leaving when they were almost at the exit? Did he truly not want to be rewarded by her family?
"Yeah." Gabriel didn't speak much. He was so angry after hearing her words, he wasn't sure if he would do something he shouldn't. He believed it was better to just take his leave and spend some time alone to truly grasp all this and calm his chaotic heart.
After his mother, Novius, Cassius, and Raphael were the closest to him in his heart. He really treated them all like a family, which also made him feel the pain to understand that the family Novius cherished so much was wiped while Novius was trapped in the Tower, waiting for a new challenger.
Novius had imparted all his knowledge to him, and Gabriel couldn't do anything in return.
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Gabriel disappeared from the Shia's view, not even looking back once. She just stood shocked.
"This guy..." She was quite fascinated by Gabriel. That guy saved her life. When he said he wasn't after rewards, she didn't believe him. She was sure that the rewards were why he was accompanying her back. However, right as they were near the exit of this outer area, he left?
Thanks to the stories of the Saint Knight protecting his loved one from dangers without any greed at all, Shia had always been really fascinated. She always wondered if she could ever find a person like that. But right now, she felt that she had found a similar person... A Mage who had the temperament of a proper knight.
"I hope we meet again..." She muttered as she started leaving. The longer she stayed here, the more dangerous this place could get.
"There you are!" Just as she was about to exit the outer area, she saw a group of Knights in the distance.
It was as if an entire search army was prepared to go into the Outer Zone to look for her! As soon as the Knights saw Shia, they all sighed in relief.
All the Knights were carrying precious treasures and seemed stronger than Yuan, who Gabriel met at the restaurant.
"You are finally here." Shia nodded. She wasn't very happy to see them. If it weren't for Gabriel, she would've already been forced by that man! These people were too late!
"Your Highness!" All the Knights went down on one knee respectfully, except the one who was in the lead.
The Knight Captain observed Shia to make sure that there were no wounds on her.
"Are you alright?" The Knight Captain asked.
"I am, no thanks to you!" Shia rolled her eyes.
"Who told you to leave the Palace without informing everyone?" The Knight Captain sarcastically asked. "You're lucky we found your maid dead on the streets and realized that something must've happened to you! Next time, please don't leave without the Knight Squad! Even though it's the Royal City, some parts are really dangerous for you!"
"I was left getting bored in the Royal Palace and wanted to see the City for myself without any guards. Moreover, everyone is already busy with the preparation of the Knight Tournament for my Elder Sister. I didn't feel like disturbing anyone. Who knew that even with my disguise, I was going to be kidnapped..."
The entire experience left Shia slightly shaken. If not for Gabriel, she wasn't even sure what would've happened. However, she also remembered that he told her not to tell anyone what happened there. She decided to keep her word.
Accompanied by the Squad of powerful Knights, the Fourth Princess of the Empire of Arecia went back to the Royal Palace.
Deep in the outer zone of the City, Gabriel was standing with his back resting against the wall, lost in thoughts.
He just looked at the moon. Every time he felt sad or lost, he just looked at the moon. Looking at the moon always provided him peace of mind.
Throughout the night, Gabriel just sat there in silence, not speaking even one word.
It was only in the morning that Gabriel felt someone touch his shoulder, bringing him out of his thoughts.
Looking to his left, he saw a woman who was in her late seventies from her looks.
"Young Man, is something troubling you?" the old woman asked.
Gabriel shook his head. "I am fine."
"You've been sitting here like that since the night," the woman further said. "I've seen you from my house. You don't look like someone who is fine. If there's anything, maybe I can help? Do you not have money to eat or something?"
Gabriel could only smile in response. "If money were the only problem, everything would've been so simple."
"Then what's the problem?" The old woman asked, sitting next to him. For some reason, Gabriel didn't feel bad in the company of the old woman.
"A question has been troubling me."
"What question?" the old woman asked.
"I promised my friend that I'll look after his family. But I found out that his family is already dead. I don't know what I should do. Should I kill everyone who killed them? But that won't bring his family back either. In any case, I've already failed him after taking all the benefits."
Gabriel didn't even know why, but he felt that he could tell the woman what his troubles were. He didn't go into specifics though.
"Isn't the answer simple?" The woman responded.
"Hmm?" Curious, Gabriel glanced at the old woman, wondering what she was going to say. "The answer is simple?"
"Didn't you say yourself, little one? No matter what you do, you can't bring them back to life. So even if you've promised your friend to take care of his family, at this point, there really is nothing that you can do about that. The only thing that you can do is not let this affect your inner peace..."
"Not let it affect me?" Gabriel also wanted to do that, but it wasn't that simple.
"Was that friend close to you?" the old woman asked.
"He was like family..." Gabriel answered, remembering all the training he went through in the Tower.
"Was? Is he dead too?"
Gabriel nodded in response.
"So his entire lineage is dead now... I see why you're so upset." The old woman sighed, understanding that Gabriel was upset because it was something like the last wish of his friend.
"But I'll still say the same thing. You can't change what happened. So instead of focusing on the ones who are dead, focus on the ones who are alive. That way, you can keep your promise to your friend." The woman pushed her body up and stood up.
"He was like a family to you. I'm sure you would be like family to him as well. Doesn't that mean one of his family members is still alive?" The woman asked as she lightly tapped the forehead of Gabriel. "And that member is you."
"You promised your friend that you'll take care of his family. So you need to take care of yourself. If you don't, won't he be upset?"
Hearing the woman's words, Gabriel was slightly surprised. Her words did make sense. In the short time he was with Cylix and Novius, they had been like a family. That meant Novius' family was still alive... through him.
"Sometimes answers are right before our eyes, but our judgement gets so clouded that we fail to see those answers," the woman stated as her voice grew distant. "You just need to find those answers..."
"Thank you. I understand what I have to do now." Gabriel raised his head, thanking the old woman. However, to his surprise, there was no one there.
He wondered if the old woman went back to her house. He also stood up and went to the house that the woman introduced as her own house. Since she had helped him, he wanted to thank her. He also wanted to leave some Spirit Crystals as his gratitude.
He walked to the house before him and knocked on the door.
The door was opened by a middle aged man. "Yes?"
Gabriel told the middle aged man that he wanted to meet the old woman and thank her. However, to his surprise, he was informed that no old woman lived in that house. The man didn't seem to be lying either.
"You might be mistaken. Check some other houses." The middle aged man went back inside and closed the door.
Gabriel went to the nearby houses and asked everyone, but he couldn't find that old woman.
After searching the entire area, Gabriel ended up where he started, confused. If the woman didn't live in this area, then who was she? Where did she come from? Why did she lie to him about her house? And more importantly, how did she disappear so suddenly?
There were so many questions, but no answers.
"Was I hallucinating?" Eventually, he could only wonder if he was imagining things. But it didn't look like a hallucination at all.
He could only give up for now and leave this place. It didn't matter if the old woman was real or just a figment of his imagination. What mattered was that he now knew what to do!
As soon as Gabriel left, the old woman was seen sitting right where he was sitting before. The woman looked in the direction Gabriel went in.
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"Just like him..." She muttered softly.
Gabriel stepped out of the outer zone and entered the main city, which was much different than the outer zone of the City.
The streets of the main city were much wider and a lot cleaner. A few statues were also erected at places where roads converged.
"The City is quite similar to Lumen City." Gabriel could see that the structure of the houses was very similar. He could only see a few differences in this city.
According to what he had heard, this city was created much before the Lumen City. That made him believe that Lumen City took inspiration from this place.
Along the streets, he could see Knights patrolling under streets. In fact, he could see more Knights in this place than the Mages. Moreover, people appeared to respect Knights more than they respected Mages.
Mages in this city were only slightly above ordinary citizens in respect. Above them came knights, and above knights was the Royalty.
In Lumen City, Gabriel had seen shops that sold man-made artefacts. However, in this city, the number of such shops was astronomical.
Since this city was filled with Knights who mainly relied on their own strength and magical treasures, this place was like the dreamland for an Artificer for sales.
Most of the shops were filled with customers. Amongst the customers, the majority were people who were aged between twenty and thirty.
"The Knight Tournament must have attracted all these people here. They all want a good weapon to be able to stand out in the Tournament."
It wasn't surprising to Gabriel that people were so crazy about the Knight Tournament. It wasn't often that a person got to marry the Eldest Princess of an Empire. And if they won this tournament, they were going to become the Prince Consort.
"I wonder if the Arecia Empire is the only place which selects the husband of Princesses like this," he wondered. He hadn't heard of this happening in the Lumen or the Yann Empire, so it certainly wasn't common.
In the distance, he could also see the Royal Palace. Since it was the tallest palace, it was visible from almost all corners of the City.
Initially, he didn't want to deal with the Royal Family. He just wanted to take the item that could strengthen his body and leave. But after the new discoveries, he had changed his mind.
"The Royal Family, huh. If I'm not wrong, the current Royal Family must be the Noble Family that planted all those lies and created such tides against Novius' descendants. It would be a pity if Novius' Empire remained in their hands."
He still couldn't forget the words of the old woman. Even though he didn't have a blood relation with Novius, he was no less than family. That's also why he decided to take action personally. He had decided...
"The Empire that belongs to Novius... In his stead, I'll take over this Empire! It shall belong to me!"
To become an Emperor... this was what Gabriel had finally decided on! The Empire was robbed from the descendants of Saint King and Novius. Now that all those descendants were dead, there was no way to return the Empire to its rightful owners.
The only way he could think of to make sure that the Empire remained in Novius' family was by becoming the Emperor himself. Even if not by blood, he was part of Novius' family, and he was sure that Novius would've wanted the same as well! It was better than letting the Empire fall into the hands of the corrupt Nobles.
"But how to achieve that... It's easier said than done..." He rubbed his temple, losing himself in deep thoughts. He had decided on an end goal, but the path to be taken to reach that goal was yet to be decided.
If he wanted, he could destroy the current Royal Family. With all the Knights protecting the family, it wasn't easy, but he believed he could achieve it. However, that wasn't the answer. Even if the current Royal Family fell, another corrupt Noble Family would be there to take its place.
He could kill all the Noble Families and forcefully take the throne, but if he did that, it was going to attract the attention of all the nearby Empires and even the Churches. If anyone found out who he truly was, it was going to become a full on war with the entire world, which he wasn't ready for yet.
Even if he successfully took the throne as a Mage of Death, the aftermath was the hardest to deal with. The Churches were never going to accept him as a legitimate ruler. At best, he was going to be considered an evil mage who took an entire Empire hostage. He was going to be attacked from all sides.
If he was alone, he could've fought them and escaped if the situation didn't go as planned. However, this Empire was the home of Novius. He didn't want the Empire to be destroyed.
"There is only one way to achieve it without attracting the attention of the Churches; I need to do it without using too much force and while keeping my real identity hidden. But becoming an Emperor without using force...? That's also quite hard. Is it even possible?"
The goal was extraordinary and almost impossible to achieve. In this Empire, he was new. He wasn't even a Noble, so becoming the Emperor through legitimate means seemed impossible. If he told anyone what he wanted to achieve, that person would've laughed at him for being stupid. However, Gabriel had made up his mind.
He had to do it. As for how that was the question he wanted to find an answer to.
As he kept walking in silence, wondering what the best approach could be, he noticed another shop nearby which was filled with youngsters.
"All these people were going crazy over the Knight Tournament, all to become... Wait... The Knight Tournament... What if..."
Becoming the Emperor without using force was almost impossible, but he finally saw a chance that he hadn't thought about before. If he wanted to be a legitimate Emperor, he had to first become a Noble and then create an opportunity for himself.
To become a Noble, there were two paths before him. First was that he could join the Knight Academy and later join the Royal Army. Then he could achieve some great merit in the army. After that, he could potentially be rewarded with the lowest noble position.
Unfortunately, that option was a long term investment, and it wasn't certain if he could even do it. And even after he became a Noble through that method, he was going to be the lowest-tier noble. From that point, even according to optimistic estimates, he believed it could take years for him to reach the position of Emperor, even with all his tricks.
He rejected this option outright. The only other option was to marry another Noble, which could directly make him a Noble as well. And what better opportunity than the Knight Tournament?
"If I take part in the Knight Tournament and win, I can become the Prince Consort. That can make things easier for me. Once I get access to the Royal Palace, it would be easy to retrieve that item as well."
"Moreover, if I play my cards right, without much bloodshed, I should be able to cover the distance between me and the throne. This way, I won't attract much attention from the Churches either. But..."
The second plan was the perfect option, according to him as it gave him a lot of room to maneuver. However, that also meant he had to marry someone that he didn't want to.
Just to reach the throne, he had to become the husband of a girl. That was his biggest hesitation. Even after all he went through, deep inside, he didn't feel that it was right to do that. To marry a girl just to use her to reach the throne and wipe her entire family from the inside? He just couldn't convince himself to do it.
He didn't feel any hesitation at the thought of killing the entire Royal Family for what they did, but using the Eldest Princess' emotions and marrying her to later leave her broken due to this? That was the troubling part...
He just couldn't convince himself to pretend to be in love, that too with a girl who was a complete stranger who probably had no hand in what happened to the Arecia Family.
In his childhood, he had lived in a house where he never saw the face of his father. He didn't know his father's reason for never being with his mother, but he could always feel the heartache his mother felt, waiting for that man even in her last moments. Those eyes… he could never forget them.
He didn't want to be like his father…
He wondered if there was a third option to achieve the goal that he couldn't think of yet. Fortunately, there was still time for the Knight Tournament. He still had time to think about it... Time to come up with a plan that he could be satisfied with.
Gabriel walked to the nearest hotel to get a room, only to find that the entire hotel was booked.
"Can you tell me where the next hotel will be?" he asked the receptionist.
"I can tell you, but I don't think you'll find a room even there. All the main hotels are booked. Because of the Knight Tournament, many wealthy people have entered the City. You can only try your luck and hope that you'll find a room, but it seems unlikely."
The receptionist was particularly kind. Not only did he give advice to Gabriel, but he also gave him a map. "This has all places marked. You can check the hotels marked on it. Everything else depends on your luck."
Gabriel took the map. Thanking the middle-aged receptionist, he left the hotel.
He left the hotel and started checking the map to see where to go. If the receptionist's words were true, he didn't expect to find an empty room in the central part of the City. Even for his search, he focused on the hotels that weren't in the central parts. If he could find a room, it could only be there.
"This one should be the closest." Gabriel decided on a location, and after memorizing the map, he folded the map.
Slam~
Gabriel was just about to place the map in his pocket and leave when he felt a push from behind him. Since Gabriel wasn't expecting something like this, even he was taken by surprise.
Fortunately, he presented his fall and managed to balance itself.
He turned around, wondering why anyone would push him. He wasn't doing anything. Moreover, there wasn't any killing intent behind that push. If there was, he could've sensed it. Then who and why?
(Author Note: If you were in Gabriel's place, what approach would you use to become the Emperor of Arecia? All suggestions and ideas are welcome.)
After balancing himself, Gabriel turned around, finally noticing the person. Surprisingly enough, it was a Knight and not an ordinary Knight.
The Knight who had pushed him wasn't just carrying a powerful weapon, but his attire was also different from any Gabriel had seen so far.
The clothes were dark, pitch black, with golden highlights. On the chest portion of the clothes, there was a badge attached which had the Royal Symbol of the Arecia Empire.
The man wasn't the only Knight either. It was a group of close to twenty Knights, all having similar attire. Looking at the Knights, Gabriel had a feeling that these people were a lot stronger than Yuan.
"May I ask why you pushed me?" Gabriel asked. Even if these people were strong, compared to Izen, these people weren't enough to intimidate him.
Moreover, if he wasn't strong, he was sure he would've already been lying on the ground. The perks who pushed him certainly didn't control his strength by much.
"We don't owe you an explanation. Scram," the Knight arrogantly stated before he opened the door.
The other Knights also stepped aside as if creating a path for someone to the entrance of the hotel.
As the Knights stepped aside, finally Gabriel saw another person. Behind all the Knights, there was a woman. The woman was dressed in a beautiful white dress that wrapped around her body tightly, highlighting all her curves.
The woman had beautiful brown hair and a slender face. She looked to be in her mid-twenties and someone from a rich family. However, unlike the Knights, who were filled with arrogance and confidence, the woman seemed a bit passive and timid.
She kept her head down as she entered the restaurant, without even raising her head.
After the woman entered, the Knights also followed after her. However, just as the first Knight was about to step inside the restaurant, a foot landed on his face, sending him flying back.
Boom~
The Royal Knight landed on the wall on the road. Everything happened so fast and was so unexpected that the other Knights were initially in a daze, shocked.
The brown-haired woman also stopped, turning around. She finally raised her head, revealing her beautiful dark green eyes.
"You, kid! What did you do?!" The other Knights finally came out of their daze.
One of them pointed at Gabriel. "Are you looking for death?"
"I don't owe you an explanation," Gabriel said, repeating the same thing that the Knight had told him. "Anyway, I don't like to owe things. We should be equal now."
Gabriel had already been controlling himself a lot in the last few days, but to be bullied even by these Knights? This was too much. If they wanted to see arrogance, he was going to show them arrogance! In any case, he had already thought of a third way to take the Throne while avoiding all the aftermath problems.
"You!"
The Knights were furious. It was the first time that someone had dared to attack a Royal Knight! Moreover, it happened in the central district with so many people around. The crowd had already seen everything and had started gathering.
The Knights knew that it was a question of their reputation now. If they didn't do anything now, they were going to become a laughing stock. They were Knights, and reputation was very important for a Knight!
All the Knights pulled out their swords, aiming them at Gabriel.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Gabriel asked.
He wasn't looking for much attention, but he knew that it wasn't a problem if he didn't reveal that he was a Mage. Even though he was dealing with Knights, thanks to the training and all the battles he went through in the Tower of Challenges, his physical skills developed significantly.
As long as he wasn't facing a monster, he was sure he could deal with them without the need of Magic.
Since he was here and didn't want to attract the attention of the Churches, he had decided to bury his past for a few days and take on a new identity... It was time for him to be a Knight for the others.
To reach the Throne, he had to do a lot of preparation. Since he had given up on using the Princess or serving the Royal Empire to get the Noble Title, he decided to use some different methods. And this was where he was going to put everything into motion.
"Despite being Knights, you people attack others for no reason. Saint King taught us that no matter how strong one gets, a Knight's job is to protect, not to hurt people due to their arrogance!" Gabriel declared. "You people got drunk in Power and lost the most basic oath of a Knight? It was only fair for me to teach you a lesson!"
"You! Who do you think you are to teach us a lesson? Do you even know who we are? You, a commoner, think you can teach us what it means to be a Knight? We are the Royal Knights assigned to protect Princess Azia! Attacking is attacking the authority of the Princess?"
"The Princess?" Gabriel glanced at the brown-haired woman who was standing inside the hotel on the other side of the glass.
He couldn't help but wonder if the woman was the Eldest Princess for whom the Knight Tournament was going to be held.
As soon as Princess Azia saw Gabriel look in her direction, she flinched as she lowered her head right away.
Looking at her response, even Gabriel was stunned. For a Royal, wasn't this Princess a bit too timid? She couldn't even look people in the eye? She was quite different from the Princess of Yan and the Princess of Lumen, whom he had met before.
The Knight that was kicked by Gabriel had already lost consciousness. Fortunately, he wasn't hurt too badly.
The situation was still tense as one man stood empty-handed before the Royal Knights, who were aiming their swords at him.
"Commoner?" Gabriel didn't pay too much attention to the Princess. He shifted his attention back to the Knights before him, who looked like they were going to attack if he didn't surrender.
"Are you sure I am a commoner?" Gabriel asked.
With his confident tone, even the Royal Knights were slightly taken aback.
The hidden meaning behind Gabriel's tone wasn't something that was only grasped by the Royal Knights. Even people nearby started thinking that something was amiss. This guy was a Noble? Or was he bluffing?
[A few minutes ago]
Gabriel had just stepped out of the hotel, and he was looking at the map, trying to decide on his next destination. He was so long on his map that he didn't even realize that a woman was standing behind him, waiting to enter the hotel.
The woman opened her lips, but she couldn't speak anything. She was just so timid. She even raised her hand a few times to tap his shoulder to attract his attention, but she couldn't gather enough courage.
Eventually, the Royal Knights who were accompanying her grew somewhat irritated. Instead of bothering to remind the unaware Gabriel to move aside, one of them pushed him aside without holding back any strength, not caring that it could hurt him.
[Present Time]
The current Royal Clan of Arecia climbed to the throne by pulling down the legitimate rulers. Their rise depended on the fall of the Arecia Clan. Now, it was his turn to repay the favor.
Gabriel understood that if he wanted to take the throne, he needed to pull down the current Royal Clan as well. Gabriel had already thought of a way to take over the throne without attracting the attention of the Churches.
He needed a third option, and he had decided on one. The only problem was that it didn't satisfy all the conditions that he was looking for, but it was the closest to what he wanted.
He wanted his plan to satisfy three criteria if possible. One was to use a legitimate method to take over the throne so as to not be attacked by the Churches or any uprisings in the future. He didn't want to give them any reason to jump into a conflict with the Arecia Empire.
The second was to avoid attracting the attention of the Churches onto him altogether. And third was to avoid bloodshed if possible so as to reserve his strength for true emergencies.
With his plan, he had satisfied two of the conditions already. He had thought of a legitimate way to take over the Throne. Moreover, that way, he didn't even need to marry a Royal or depend on the mercy of the Royal Family to be granted a Royal Title.
However, the problem was that there was a lot of potential in this plan to lead to a lot of bloodshed. However, this was also the fastest method to achieve this as well.
He had decided to come forward as the last remaining descendant of the Arecia Clan from the lineage of Novius! That way, he satisfied one of the criteria. With that claim, he was going to be from the lineage of the previous ruler, after all. And if he claimed to be from Novius' bloodline, that meant he had a pure bloodline of the Saint King!
He could also use people's devotion to the Saint King to make them side with him.
Through that method, he could certainly claim his right to the throne if he exposed how the Arecia Clan was betrayed and people were lied to about them.
That way, if he could convert this whole situation into less of a takeover and more of an internal conflict over succession, then he could avoid the interference of the Churches and the other Empires.
If this was an internal Conflict, then they had no valid reason to interfere since Churches were supposed to be neutral and only get involved in the matters of Mages or to be specific, dark mages.
If he could win the support of the people by revealing all the dark secrets of the Empire or even plant some seeds of doubt, half his goal was already achieved. The love in people's hearts for the Saint King was his biggest weapon after all.
He had planned to do all that while claiming to be a pure Knight. That way, the Churches were not going to pay too much attention... At least not to the extent of sending their Holy Priests to check out the situation.
That way, two of the three criteria were fulfilled. The only problem was that it could lead to a lot of bloodshed and potentially lead him down the path of fighting all the Royal Knights to reclaim the throne.
However, he had thought about that as well. He knew he needed support, and that's why he decided to make this the best show these people were going to see! It was time for him to show them what 'Descendant of Saint King' was capable of.
Currently, he didn't know all the secrets of this Empire. He didn't know which Noble Clan was still loyal to the Arecia Clan on the inside. Through today's incident, he wanted to spread the word that the heir of the Arecia Clan has returned to reclaim the Throne!
Once this news spread, he was sure that the ones who were truly loyal to the Arecia Clan were going to come forward to approach him, even if secretly. And if none came forward, that could only mean there wasn't anyone who was loyal to Arecia Clan, and all Nobles had a hand in their massacre. That way, he found freely take them all out.
Initially, he wanted to gather some more information before executing this plan, but after seeing the Royal Knights, what better opportunity than now?
Hearing the hidden implications behind Gabriel's words, even the crowd that had gathered started talking.
"Could this guy really be a Noble?"
"No, I'm sure the Royal Knights know all the Nobles here. How could this kid be a Noble? If he were, they would've already known him!"
"Exactly! This kid can't be a Noble! He's certainly bluffing! He's probably a commoner who wants to get out of this situation by bluffing!"
"Exactly! This damn liar, he dares fool the Knights?!"
Most of the people believed that Gabriel was lying, but there were also some objections mixed in.
"Wait. So what if he isn't a Noble of our Empire? What if he meant he's a Noble from a neighboring Empire? In that case, it's clear Knights wouldn't know him!"
"Ah, that's possible! A lot of foreigners have been entering the City for the Knight Tournament!"
"If that's the case, wouldn't attacking him count as a big political trouble?"
The Knights also thought about the same thing. Was this guy a Noble from a neighboring Empire? Then it could make sense why he was so arrogant.
"Are you a Noble from the neighboring Empire?" One of the Knights asked.
Gabriel shook his head. "I'm not a Noble of a neighboring Empire."
"Then who are you?!" Another Royal Knight asked, frowning.
This was the moment... The moment to finally put the plan into motion and plant the seed for the future.
"I am..."
