14-80

by kinyamsabajigin

It very good

7. 321-400

"Could it be that you're blind?"

Not just the envoy, but even Callum and the Saint Knight were stunned. Even though Gabriel's words sounded insulting, his voice and expressions were so sincere as if he was genuinely asking. They didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"You! You! You called me blind?" The Envoy stood up, stunned. Even though it wasn't clear, some could faintly see that his face was turning red in anger.

If he wasn't worried about being killed by the Head Priest later on, he would've already killed the man in one strike!

"It's not that I called you blind. I'm genuinely asking. Just because I'm standing, you say I'm perfectly fine. Could it be that you can't see blood trickling down my lips?" Gabriel asked.

undefinedIt was only now that the Envoy and the others saw a thin line of blood that was trickling down from the corner of Gabriel's lips.

The Envoy was so stunned that he didn't even realize that the blood wasn't there before. Gabriel intentionally made him bleed slightly to give the impression that he was genuinely hurt.

"I'm indeed sick. It's a genetic sickness which opens up an internal injury every so often. Since I didn't want to show you this unsightly sight, I asked my men to help you instead."

Gabriel didn't care about the man so being respectful didn't matter to him. All he wanted was for the man to leave. If they wanted to fight him, he wanted the battle to happen outside Arecia.

The Envoy didn't know what to say. When he entered, he genuinely didn't focus on Gabriel's lips so he didn't know if there was blood before or not.

"This is the first time I'm hearing about such sickness," the Envoy wondered.

"There are many firsts in this world. It was also our first time being attacked by a Church, wasn't it?" Gabriel asked. A tinge of sarcasm could clearly be felt coming from his words.

"Hmph." The envoy rolled his eyes and didn't delve into the matter. "Whatever. Sit down. I'm here to talk to you. The rest of you can go out!"

He directly commanded the Saint Knight and Callum to leave. Unfortunately, no one listened to him, which made his brows rise.

"You two can leave," Gabriel stated, telling them to leave as well. It wasn't as if he needed their protection. If the envoy tried doing anything, the one who needed protection wasn't him but the Envoy!

The Saint Knight bowed respectfully before he left the room. Callum also left the room.

After the two left, the Envoy brought his High Tier Staff since he wanted to use a stronger spell.

Gabriel didn't care what spell was used and just calmly sat on the bed. The spell didn't sound like an attacking spell in any case.

As the Spell finished, a barrier appeared around the room.

'A sound sealing barrier? Interesting spell...' Gabriel observed his surroundings, slightly impressed. By now, he had already guessed why the Envoy was here.

And just as he expected, the Envoy started telling him the truth about how they received the information about a criminal hiding in Arecia and came personally to catch that person. Along the way, he tried to act mighty.

Even though the Church attacked the helpless Empire, he still made the Church seem like righteous people who were fighting against evil.

"By forcing him to come out, and catching that terrifying criminal, we saved your Empire! If we hadn't arrived and caught him, sooner or later, he would've destroyed your Empire! You should be thankful to us!"

The Envoy proudly stated.

Seeing the pride and arrogance on the man's face, even though he lied so openly, Gabriel's face twitched unwillingly.

He had really never seen such a shameless person in all his life? Not only did these people attack the Empire, they even wanted the Empire and the citizens to be grateful to them?!

He could only scratch the back of his head in face of such shamelessness. "You're right! The Church is righteous! We don't know what we would've done without you!"

The Envoy grinned. "Exactly. We are! It's your blessing that our Church was willing to help your Empire deal with these matters!"

The more shameless this guy was, the more Gabriel felt like stomping on his foot. However, he controlled his urge.

"Exactly! The righteous Church of Flames is so strong! The strongest in this world! I'm sure no one can even hurt a single hair on your head! I wish I had such strength." Gabriel lowered his head, sighting.

The Envoy's face turned dark for a moment as he remembered the Church being destroyed by a person. What couldn't harm a hair? What strongest? He wanted to cough out a mouthful of blood at this statement! Let alone harming a hair on his head, there were people who killed the entire force they left behind!

'Fortunately, this guy doesn't know!' he thought, trying to hide his real emotions.

"Cough, that's right. We are quite strong!" He nodded proudly. "Anyway, I just came here to tell you about this matter. I hope you can spread the news about how righteous we are and how we helped you!"

After finishing, the envoy stood up.

Gabriel watched the Envoy leave as the corners of his lips rose up. 'This guy...'

The door opened and the seal on the space was broken as the Envoy stepped out of the room, leaving. From the start to the end, he never dropped his arrogant expressions. Now that he had finished dealing with the matter, he swiftly left.

The Saint Knight personally escorted the man outside while Callum entered the room.

"What did he say?"

Gabriel shook his head. "A bunch of nothing."

He walked to the balcony. Now that he had dealt with the matter, he wanted to see just how much damage this city suffered.

As he stood on the balcony, he noticed the condition of the City which was half destroyed. A lot of structures from before were missing entirely.

"That's a lot of damage. How long will it take to make things like before?"

"Probably a month," Callum answered. "The rescue work is almost complete but the construction will take longer."

Gabriel nodded and lowered his head, focusing on the entrance of the Castle. He noticed a huge crowd outside the Castle doors.

p1ease visi(t) nove1B(in).ne)t

"What are they doing?" he asked, frowning. For so many people to gather here, this didn't seem right.

"They are..." Callum hesitated. He didn't know what to say.

"Speak."

"They are here to ask you to abdicate the throne..." After a long silence, Callum finally spoke. "There are protests going on all over the Empire. The ones before the castle are but a small fragment of the people demanding that you abdicate…"

Gabriel stood inside the Garden of Legacy. His ring was still signalling that something was in this place, yet he still failed to find it. In the end, he came to a realization that there was a good chance about that thing being underground.

He still had no idea what it could be that managed to stimulate his ring to this extent. The last time his ring was stimulated, it was because of the God Tier Items Orbs of Time.

Unfortunately, at the moment, his face was quite unsightly. No matter how much he tried, he failed to dig the group. Even his powerful attacks couldn't leave a mark behind.

"No wonder this place was left unharmed in all that chaos before." He stood in silence with his arms folded around his chest, as if lost in deep thoughts.

undefinedHe had tried everything! He used his attacks! He used his various Numens! He tried his hands. He even tried digging using an ordinary shovel but none worked.

For the longest time, he was the only person in the garden since he had banned anyone else from even thinking about entering this place.

"I can't dig this place, but without digging, can I bring anything out? Just what is this garden?"

Even the Church of Flames couldn't bear his attacks, turning into rubble but this Garden was still intact. Not even a single blade of grass was harmed.

After twelve hours of not succeeding, he turned around. He didn't know what this place was, but he understood that for now he couldn't understand the mysteries behind this garden.

Turning around, he left the garden.

Outside the Garden of Legacy, the Royal Knights were wondering why Gabriel was inside the garden for so long. However none of them dared to go inside to check.

It was only when Gabriel stepped out that they straightened up.

"They still haven't stopped?" he asked the Saint Knight, looking at the crowds of citizens in the street.

For some reason, after what happened with the Church of Flames, the citizens had not only started blaming him for being a coward but that blame slowly turned into hate.

If there was one person in the Empire who was hated the most at the moment, it was him! Quite a lot of citizens even lost the fear of death after what they went through last time, protesting in front of him, demanding his abdication without worrying about their lives.

What was worse was that the Saint Knight and Duke Callum had used some really heavy-handed methods to stop people from making noise while he was still unconscious.

Even though they did it for his own good, in the end, it made the situation even worse as people believed the new Emperor was a coward hiding from the strong and exercising his strength on the weak!

He could still hear the chants of citizens who called him cowardly, asking him to step down and let the crown return to the Bloodline of the Alecton Family.

For some strange reason, the citizens also found out that the two Princesses were still alive and they wanted the throne to instead go to them as they lost all their faith in him.

"Should we kill the Princesses?" Callum asked.

Gabriel shook his head. "The Princesses aren't the problem. They are just being used by the citizens as an excuse to remove me. If we kill them, these people will just demand someone else to be made Emperor."

He understood just what kind of thoughts that these people had. Who became the ruler of the Empire was secondary. They just wanted him to step down, no matter what.

Even though Gabriel didn't show any emotions on his face as if he didn't care about anything that was happening around him, it would've been a lie if one were to say if he didn't feel hurt. These people were the ones he risked himself to save and these people were also the ones who wanted to push him out.

If it was up to him, he wouldn't even bother with this weak Empire since this place wasn't of much benefit to him. There were just two reasons keeping him here. First was his promise with Novius and the second and most important was that he wanted to solve the mystery of the garden first.

Gabriel stepped inside the Carriage with Callum and the carriage started going back to the palace.

Unfortunately, it hadn't even moved far when it was forced to stop. The yells of the citizens were even more clear as thousands of them had blocked the path of the carriage.

Gabriel could only rub his forehead in frustration. Even though the citizens were protesting, he couldn't help but feel as if something was unnatural about it.

"Your Majesty, people are blocking our path. What are your commands?" The Saint Knight asked. Last time, he dealt with these people quite heavy handedly and ended up making Gabriel upset. This time, he directly asked Gabriel.

Gabriel opened the door of the carriage. The more he avoided, the more these people became agitated. It was as if they didn't even want to give him a chance to move peacefully.

As Gabriel stepped out of the Carriage, he was able to see that amongst the people who were blocking his path this time, there were also quite a few people who were from the Knight Academy, one of the most prestigious academies in the Empire that trained Knights.

He could sweep all these people away with one wave of his hand. Unfortunately, he was supposed to be a Knight in this Empire and not a Mage.

He stood next to the Carriage, looking at the crowd ahead of him. Most of the citizens didn't have any weapons. They didn't even have sticks. They were just raising his hand, demanding Gabriel's removal from the Royal Palace.

The only people in the crowd who had weapons were the students of the Knights Academy. They all carried a treasure sword on their back.

"Chicken Emperor, abdicate!"

"Chicken Emperor, abdicate!"

"Chicken Emperor, abdicate!"

The Chants roared in the surroundings. The citizens had already given him the name of Chicken Emperor because he was such a coward.

"Because of your cowardice to stop them, my entire family died! Abdicate you bastard!"

"My entire life's wealth was destroyed! Abdicate!"

"You don't deserve this Empire! You're a shame to the Ancestors of this Empire! Abdicate Chicken Emperor!"

The more Gabriel saw the scene, the worse their words became. Gabriel's expressions still didn't reveal anything. He just calmly observed these people.

In the end, he just turned around and walked to the Saint Knight to discuss something when a flying projectile came from the back.

Bang~

A stone hit Gabriel's head, coming from behind. One of the citizens even dared to toss a stone at him. Even though Gabriel's physical body was powerful, it was still enough to make him bleed. And that wasn't the end either. Once a person started throwing stones, others joined in.

"Protect His Majesty!" The Saint Knight commanded the Knights who stepped forward, raising their shields to protect Gabriel.

Gabriel stood in silence in the rain of stones with his back facing the citizens. Blood dripped down his forehead slowly...

An incomprehensible feeling overtook his heart, filling him up with something he had felt many times before. The same feeling he felt when the people in his town turned on him, asking him to be killed.

The demands of people here were slightly different than the demands of those people, but in his heart, there was the same pain. These were the people he saved? These were the people he offended the Church of Flames directly for?

He slowly touched the blood on his forehead as he slowly muttered, "Good... Very good. Thank you for not letting me forget..."

undefinedHe didn't bother looking behind at all. Only his cold words echoed in the surroundings that made not only the citizens but even the Royal Knights tremble.

For a moment, even the Saint Knight wondered if he heard Gabriel right?

"Kill everyone here!" These words fell like thunder in everyone's ears. Even though they had beaten up people last time to make them calm down, but killing people and so many at that...?

"Your Majesty...?" The Saint Knight frowned.

Gabriel didn't explain himself. "Either you kill them, or I kill all of you with them."

Saint Knight was frozen in place. This was the first time he heard Gabriel be so emotionless. Usually, Gabriel was always calm, even in the face of criticism. That's why he didn't do anything to the citizens all this time. He even scolded them for beating the citizens last time, and now this...?

The rain of stones had stopped entirely. The citizens were still in shock. This Emperor... he wanted to kill them? Even the Royal Academy students who joined the protest were stunned.

Entering the carriage, Gabriel closed the door. He didn't even bother casting a healing spell, letting him bleed.

"This will make things quite troublesome in the future," Callum stepped inside the carriage. "I think we should-"

"I don't care what you think." Gabriel stated without much emotion. This time, even Callum felt that Gabriel was different. It was as if he had... stopped caring.

Callum didn't dare speak anything else for now. He felt as if he spoke more, Gabriel would've killed him as well. He just sat silently, worrying about the future.

If thousands of citizens were killed here, the news couldn't be kept hidden. The entire Empire was going to erupt in violent uprisings. He was sure that Gabriel knew about such a thing since they had discussed this before. However, Gabriel couldn't care less.

There was a knock on the door of the carriage. The door was opened and Saint Knight peaked inside. "Your Majesty, there are students of the Knight Academy as well. Should we let them go at least...?"

"If I single person left alive, I'll make you and your men compensate with your lives," Gabriel's cold voice fell in his ears, sending a chill down his spine.

"If the Academy has any problem with it, destroy the Academy as well! If ten raise their voice, kill ten! If thousands raise their voice, kill thousands! If millions raise their voice, kill millions!"

Each of Gabriel's words made Callum and Saint Knight's heart tremble violently. They could see that Gabriel was serious this time! It was as if the citizens of this Empire had lost any meaning to them and he wasn't going to hesitate in killing everyone if there was a need.

The Saint Knight closed the door. His face was slightly pale but Gabriel neither noticed nor cared.

Outside the carriage, all the Royal Knights looked at the Saint Knight with expectant eyes.

"Lord Saint, did he... Rescind the order?" They asked.

The Saint Knight shook his head as he slowly pulled out his mighty Sword.

"Knights of the Empire! Follow the commands of His Majesty!" He roared, pointing his swords toward the citizens.

Usually, even he was hesitant in doing something like this and felt as if his heart wasn't willing. However, for him, his life was more important than anything! He had a feeling that if he really let one person escape, he was going to die!

He had already seen how easily Gabriel killed people last time! Moreover, Gabriel was also the person who single handedly attacked the Church of Flames! There was no doubt that he could destroy this Empire and them if he wanted.

In his heart, he even tried to somehow justify his actions. "The Emperor was kind enough to ignore these people, not even allowing us to use the slightest force on them, yet they dared to attack His Majesty directly! They were given an inch yet they took a mile! Attack on His Majesty couldn't be accepted! Follow my commands and charge!"

The Saint Knight was the first person to charge. At the moment, even the students of the Academy of Knights were stunned. They had never expected the situation to turn like this! The Royal Knights were attacking them and there was clear killing intent in their eyes.

"Wait! Wait! I'm from the Knight Academy! You can't kill me! You're declaring a war on the aca-"

Slash~

Before the young knight could even finish his sentence, a cold Sword came slashing and took his head off in a single strike.

The screams of people resounded outside, but Gabriel just sat inside the carriage. His eyes were closed yet he wasn't asleep. He was hearing everything. His arms were folded around his chest. His head was still aching but the bleeding had stopped.

"If there is a civil war, the other Empires might take this as an excuse to invade," Callum softly muttered, shaking his head. He could feel as if turbulent times were ahead.

"I don't care even if gods came to take this Empire from me. They'll only leave their lives behind," Gabriel's cold voice was heard in the carriage.

Even though Gabriel only spoke a few sentences, Callum felt unable to raise his head. He didn't know just what magic was in these words, but he felt as if his heart was screaming and telling him to never offend this person, no matter what!

The slaughter lasted for less than twenty minutes. Even though the Knight Academy students who were in their early twenties were good fighters, before the Royal Knights, they still couldn't last long.

The streets were covered in blood and not a single person was left alive.

The carriage finally started moving again after the path was cleared, passing over the puddle of blood on the ground.

When the news of what transpired here spread, heavy waves were created in the Empire.

The person who was called Chicken Emperor was soon known throughout the Empire as Blood Demon Emperor!

Throughout the next two days, Gabriel didn't leave the Castle. He just remained in his bed, training in his dreams at night and absorbing the Soul Crystals in the morning.

He had realized that his own strength was the most important and everything else was secondary, especially now that he had offended the Churches even more.

Even though Gabriel didn't leave the Palace in the last two days, his name was still on the lips of everyone in the Empire and not for good reasons.

After the news spread that Gabriel had commanded the protestors who were blocking his path to be killed, the entire Empire was stunned! It was one thing for an outsider like the Church to do something like that, but for the person who sat on the throne to do it? Was he not a human?

undefinedThey initially couldn't believe it. No matter how much they disliked Gabriel and wanted him to step down, they didn't expect him to be capable of doing something like this. The people were discontent and the news about Gabriel's ruthless nature was like pouring oil in fire.

The protests of citizens grew, becoming even more large. Moreover, violent protests arose all over the Empire as citizens banded together. Usually the citizens shouldn't have been able to gather so quickly, but not many people realized that it was mostly because of the Academy of Knights!

The students of the Academy were killed! The new Emperor didn't even give face to the Academy by killing their students which made the Academy stand on the other side of him.

As if this wasn't enough, the other neighbouring Empires were also keeping an eye on the situation with greedy eyes, ready to take action. The Empire of Arecia was in a civil war and at its weakest. Moreover, they now had a righteous cause to attack the Empire.

Fortunately, for now, the Churches hadn't started caring about Arecia, not even bothering with sending a delegate. The matters of Arecia didn't concern them as long as it wasn't about a Mage.

Throughout the days, the protests became worse and worse. The Saint Knight didn't know what to do anymore. He just followed the previous commands of Gabriel and ruthlessly solved the protests by violence!

That method did work for a few days, but it also failed in the end as the Royal Knights started feeling as if they couldn't kill their fellow citizens.

Today was the third day since Gabriel's path was blocked outside the Garden of Legacy. The Saint Knight stood outside the palace, looking at a huge crowd gathering in the distance.

The crowd was like nothing he had seen before. In the lead were the leaders of the Knight Academy. As if that wasn't enough, the second layer of this Rebellion Army consisted entirely of the Royal Knights that had resigned from their positions to join the people.

At the third layer of the rebellion were the citizens who were also given weapons by the Knight Academy.

Next to the Saint Knight stood Callum, frowning.

"Half the members of the Royal Army have resigned and joined the rebellion. Even if we manage to kill them, the losses would be too many."

Callum knew just what this implied. The scale of this thing grew to a stage that even he hadn't expected and all of this happened in just two days!

"The losses would indeed be too many. After this war, we'd be like sitting ducks, open to attack from the Neighbors." Even the Saint Knight felt distressed at the thought.

In the end, he could only sigh and step forward.

From the other side, the Dean of the Knights Academy stepped forward, carrying a heavy sword on his back. It wasn't wrong to say that he was someone who was even stronger than the last Saint Knight. Even the current generation of the Saint Knight wasn't sure if he could take this guy down or not. The Dean of the Academy was his teacher once upon a time after all!

The Saint Knight and the Dean of Academy stood before each other. Behind each of them was a huge army but the rebellion seemed stronger at the moment in terms of absolute numbers.

"Lord Tize, do you know what you're doing leading this rebellion?" The Saint Knight asked grimly. "If you don't stop, the consequences would be unimaginable!"

"You should've thought about the consequences when you killed innocent civilians!" the Dean of the Academy snorted. "Now that you're on the backfoot, you suddenly remember the consequences?!"

"Innocent civilians? After all the Emperor did for the citizens, they attacked him with stones! All of them! That was no different than an open rebellion and they were dealt as such! We only followed the rules set forth by the Saint King! An Emperor's dignity cannot be sullied!" the Saint Knight coldly responded.

He knew just what Gabriel did for these people. Even when they did all that, Gabriel ignored them until things went too far. The Saint Knight knew that they went a bit too far in their actions, but if they were to look at the Royal Laws, this was indeed what they were supposed to do even if Gabriel hadn't said!

"An Emperor's dignity?!" The Dean laughed as if mocking the Saint Knight. "Where was this dignity when he was hiding in the Palace while the Empire was on the verge of destruction? Don't tell me this dignity only makes an appearance before weaklings?"

"So the emperor really is a person who is scared of the strong and mighty before the weak?" he further asked. "If that's the case, then we don't need such an Emperor! The citizens have spoken and they don't want this person in the throne! Today, even gods can't save him, let alone you!".

After finishing, the Dean turned around and went back to the rebellion army. Today, he didn't come here to talk. He was here to kill the Emperor and punish him for what he did!

"Today, I shall see just what the hell this so-called Blood Demon is capable of!" He stated, glancing in the direction of the Royal Palace.

The Saint Knight also walked back to the Royal Knights, telling them to stay ready. No matter what, he had to defend the Royal Palace to the last man!

Inside the Royal Palace, Gabriel had woken up from his slumber and his dream training. He felt as if his body was even stronger now. Unfortunately, for some reason the constant pressure acting over his body was also stronger now.

He resisted the pressure on his body and stood up, getting dressed in a new set of attire.

He walked to the balcony, hearing some commotion outside. A sliver of coldness flashed in his eyes as he saw the scene outside.

Gabriel stood in silence inside the room, looking outside. The room was filled with complete silence.

He calmly turned around, taking a casual glance around his room. His expressions were incomprehensible but in his eyes, there was a momentary shine as if he had noticed something interesting. He didn't express it. He just walked to the bed and picked up his golden robe, donning it around him.

After wearing his robe, he turned into a shadow and disappeared from the room.

As Gabriel left, the room returned to silence. The silence only lasted for a few minutes though.

A few minutes after Gabriel left, a person appeared in the room, coming out of the shadows, revealing their face.

undefinedA beautiful woman appeared in the room, having a slender figure and a charming face. However, she wasn't someone that Gabriel hadn't seen before. In fact, he recognised that woman all too well. He had met her at the start of his journey after all.

"So his guess was right. There was really something wrong with the new Emperor. Who would've guessed that it would be the case. The Emperor is none other than..."

A frown spread across her face as she thought about it. When she was sent here, she hadn't expected this to be the case.

"None other than the person who came to ask for Numens?" A voice came from behind, finishing her sentence and stunning the young woman.

The young woman was shocked as she turned around, only to find Gabriel back in the room.

Gabriel was standing with his back resting against the wall, observing the young woman that he only met a few times in the past.

The woman was none other than the maid of Lambard! He had always felt that the woman was special since she accompanied Lambard all the time and was trusted by him the most.

However, even he hadn't expected the woman to be this good. The woman managed to sneak inside his room, even though Callum was right outside the palace? Callum wasn't as strong as him, but he was still a powerful mage after all.

Even he found it hard to sense the presence of the woman. It was all thanks to his interaction with Avilia that he found out about people who could hide in the shadows to lurk.

It was only from that time that he decided to keep an eye on all shadows around him to make sure that he wasn't being spied on. That was also how he found the strange presence.

"Lord Gabriel!" The woman turned around, stunned. This guy actually knew about her being here? The entire thing about him leaving was no more than a trap to bring her out of the shadows?

As soon as she realized that she was caught, she instantly tried to get out of here! She was only sent here to observe the new Emperor on commands of Lambard who felt that something wasn't right about the new Emperor.

She wasn't authorised to fight at all.

"Huh? What did you do?" Her face turned dark as she realized that she couldn't leave the room! He was unable to turn into a shadow at all. It was as if the entire room was sealed by a strange power.

Gabriel doesn't bother explaining. He just played with a small orb in his hand, tossing it into the air and catching it like it was a ball.

"That! That orb?!" She exclaimed. She recognised the orb right away. As she had spent so much time with Lambard, she knew quite a lot about the Numens, especially about the Numens that Lambard paid quite attention to!

The Orb in Gabriel's hand was one of those Numens. It was kept in the Academy of Elements and was amongst the items that were stolen by Gabriel.

"It looks like Lord Gabriel has no intention of letting me leave." The woman frowned as her eyes showed a trace of killing intent.

"That depends on your behaviour," Gabriel answered. He already had a situation to deal with outside, but the woman before him was more important! He had always wanted to find Lambard's new location and this woman was the key to get to Lambard.

He didn't have any good impression of Lambard since that guy pulled back the ring of disguise before the time was up, essentially leaving him abandoned in the middle of the enemy zone. To say they were friends was an overstatement. However, they weren't entirely enemies either... At least to that extent. There was a really unique relationship between them.

"What do you mean?" The young woman asked, frowning. Even though she wasn't allowed to fight, it wasn't that she was scared. If the situation demanded it, she was sure she could fight back and get out of here!

"I would advise you to not even think about escaping. I promise you, no matter how strong you are, you aren't capable," Gabriel calmly reminded the woman as more and more Death Knights appeared in the room, surrounding the woman from all sides.

The Death Knights were created with the Head Priests of the Church of Flames as a base. Initially, Gabriel didn't know if they could use spells like the Head Priests even though they had a peculiar elemental mark which looked like the Elemental Mark of Flames.

However, throughout the days and his experiment, he found out that it was the case! The Death Knights, especially the evolved ones, could use their previous elements without any problem.

Moreover, what was the best part was that they had forgotten most of their memories related to their lives but they still remembered the basic things and their spells!

The only difference between their current spells and their old spells was that they could only control pitch black flames now and not the dark red or blue flames like usual.

Gabriel didn't care about that much of a difference though. He only cared about his fighting prowess that had increased by leaps and bounds thanks to that.

The young maid looked around, frowning. She didn't know what these creatures around her were, but she could feel a heavy aura of death from these lifeless beings! It was as if their strength wasn't weak at all!

"Does Lord Gabriel really intend to go against us?" she asked Gabriel coldly.

Even though she wasn't sure if she could successfully escape or not, she still wasn't willing to surrender.

"If something happens to me, Master will-"

"He will attack me?" Gabriel finished the woman's sentence again. It was as if he didn't care about that at all.

"Maybe that's what I want? He does have something that he owes me after all."

Gabriel walked closer to the young woman, not in any hurry. An aura of death filled the entire room, giving the woman a feeling of standing before death itself!

The young maid only came out to Arecia to investigate, never imagining being caught in such a way. She wanted to escape from this place, but the space was sealed and with her skills, even she was doubtful if she could escape.

She subconsciously glanced in the direction of the balcony, realizing that there was a chance of escape if she somehow reached the balcony and jumped out. However getting there was the real problem. She was surrounded from all sides by Death Knights.

She didn't know what these beings surrounded by the aura of death were. However, she had a feeling that they weren't weak in the least.

While she was lost in thoughts on how to escape, she felt something around her ankles.

Stunned, she lowered her head. Her eyes opened wide as she noticed dark shackles wrapped around her legs, making her unable to move her feet at all.

undefinedWhat was worse was that Gabriel was already within a few feet of her by now. The strange suppression became even stronger.

Gabriel finally stopped just as the distance between the two was around a meter.

"I'm sure you're wise enough to decide what to do."

As he spoke, he brought a small bracelet out of his storage.

Seeing the bracelet, the maid's expressions instantly turned dark. She knew what the Bracelet was! It was the Bracelet of Sealing that could make it impossible for her to use her abilities!

The bracelet only worked as long as it was worn willingly by the person. It couldn't be forced on a person. As for taking off the bracelet, that was almost impossible for the person who wore the bracelet. Only with the help of a second person could this bracelet he removed after wearing.

The young maid believed that this was amongst the items that was stolen by Gabriel in the Academy theft, not knowing that Gabriel hadn't found the Bracelet in the theft. Instead, it was given to him by the Heads Teachers of the Academy who wanted him to seal his abilities.

By holding the Bracelet of Sealing, the maid understood what Gabriel was implying! He wanted her to wear the bracelet on her own. That way, she was no different from an ordinary mortal who couldn't draw out even the speck of her abilities. It was hard even for a Holy Priest to use their abilities under the suppression of the bracelet after all.

She initially thought that even if she surrendered today, she could find a way to escape later on. However, who knew that Gabriel had already seen through her thoughts.

"I would advise you to be fast. As you see, I am somewhat just today," Gabriel muttered, glancing out the balcony. The battle had already started outside after all and it wasn't going in the direction that Saint Knight would've liked.

The young maid clenched her teeth, glaring at Gabriel. This man... Not long ago, he came to them for their help, and today this man had the gall to threaten them?

"I'll count to ten. If you still haven't decided, I'll think of another way to get to Lambard. But at that time, you might not be here to see him again. Think it through."

Gabriel didn't move from his place. He didn't lower his hand either. He just waited for the maid to pick up the bracelet herself. If not for the restriction of the bracelet, he would've forced it on her hand already.

"One..."

"Two..."

He started his count. The aura around him became more and more threatening with each passing second, making the maid feel as if she was standing before a god itself.

"Five..."

The count continued while the maid thought about ways to escape. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no other way out. Every way she could think of was riddled with problems. The chances of dying here were higher than the chances of living!

"Eight..."

"Fine! I'll wear it!" She clenched her left fist while picking up the bracelet with her right hand.

Since there was no way, she decided to follow through. It was better to live and wait for Lambard to save her than it was to die! Moreover, she still had some secret methods that she believed could help her.

'So what if I can't use my elements! I still have some Numens that Master gave me! After he leaves, thinking that I can't do anything, I'll show him what it means to underestimate me!'

Her eyes were filled with bloodlust as she wore the bracelet on her left hand.

As soon as she wore the bracelet, she immediately felt suppression of her magical abilities. Fortunately, she didn't need magic to be able to use a Numen. If that was the case, the Saint Knight wouldn't have been able to use the Sword!

"I did as you said! I surrender!" She glared at Gabriel. If glares could kill, Gabriel would've already been dead a thousand times by now. "I hope you won't regret this in the future."

Gabriel didn't reply. He didn't care about future regrets in any case. He only focused on the present for now.

"Good decision," he stated. "Now one last thing..."

Gabriel looked at the young woman from top to bottom. Seeing that strange gaze, the woman felt really strange. She had a really bad feeling about this.

Dark chains came out, wrapping around her wrists as well, restricting all her movements now.

"Wait! What are you doing?" She exclaimed as her face flushed.

"Don't touch there! Argh! You beast! What are you doing?!"

"Argh, stop touching me!"

The young maid's face turned red in embarrassment, shame and anger as Gabriel patted her body from top to bottom, not forgetting to check every place thoroughly.

Gabriel knew that the young maid worked for Lambard who was known as the Lord of Numens. There was no way Lambard would've let her go without giving her life saving treasures. He didn't want to remove the space seal before making sure that she had no Numens left on her body that could help her escape.

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"Argh, what are you doing?! Stop! You perverted beast!"

"Wait, wait, wait! Not the clothes! Stop right there! Argh!"

Gabriel didn't react to her words.

The young woman's face was as red as it could be, including her ears. Not only did Gabriel touch her all over, he even took off her clothes to make sure that there was nothing he missed.

She had never faced such humiliation in her life! Not a single person had seen her in such a condition, let alone being touched by a man like that!

She stood in the room, trying to cover herself with her two hands as all her clothes laid on the ground...

All of the young woman's clothes were lying on the ground while Gabriel held two items in his hand. One was a small piece of paper that he would never have known about if he hadn't checked thoroughly. And the second item was an inner clothing which could fool even the best of the best.

The piece of paper was an ordinary treasure that still hadn't reached the grade of a Numen. However it could still help a person teleport hundreds of kilometres away in an instant as long as the space wasn't sealed.

As for the inner garment, that was actually a Numen! Even Gabriel didn't know what that item was for or what it could do. However, he could feel Numen's aura as he held it in his hands.

"What does it do?" he directly asked the maid since it was a Numen that wasn't of any use to him. It was something that could only work for a woman after all. If anything, he could only give it to someone else as a gift.

"Protects against sneak attacks," the young maid exclaimed, clenching her teeth. Her eyes were filled with anger and shame as she tried to avoid Gabriel's gaze.

undefinedAt the end, she could feel her face burning in embarrassment. "If you've had enough, can I wear my clothes again?"

"Go ahead."

Gabriel had already checked everything and taken the treasures from her. There was nothing she could do anymore. All that was left was an ordinary piece of clothing.

The young woman wore her clothes again, even though she was missing a piece of her inner garment. Anything was better than standing before a man without any clothes.

Gabriel kept both the items in his space storage. The woman couldn't escape anymore so there was no need to waste his strength in space sealing. He removed the sealing, freeing the space.

Shatter~

As Gabriel was about to continue his discussion with the young lady, he heard the sound of glass shattering.

He walked to the balcony and noticed that the rebellion army had already infiltrated the castle.

It was supposed to be the Royal Knights who held the rebellion back, but on the contrary, it seemed as if the rebellion was holding the Royal Knights back, especially the Knights Academy!

While most of the Knight Academy Elders kept the Royal Army back, the other protestors rushed past the Royal Knights, infiltrating the Royal Castle. They weren't holding back either.

The people were so angry that they didn't enter the castle silently. Instead, they broke everything that they found on their way, from doors to old sculptures to doors.

"It seems you're really popular amongst your people and I can understand why!" The maid stated with clenched teeth. Her sarcasm couldn't be any clearer.

"Of course I'm famous. I'm the person who opens the door to an afterlife for them after all," Gabriel answered, without holding back.

"I've been too silent recently. These people will not understand until I take care of matters myself."

He had only been trying to train himself and leave the matters of fighting to his army. However, for now, that didn't seem to work. He decided to take things into his own hands to crush this rebellion once and for all!

"Find the Emperor and take him hostage!" One of the Knights who entered the Royal Palace exclaimed, followed by hundreds of people.

They were all being escorted by a maid who had betrayed the castle. The maid knew the room of Gabriel and was directly escorting them to his room.

"Take him prisoner? Nonsense!" Another Knight exclaimed. "We need to kill that bastard! He ruined our Empire through his actions! He doesn't deserve to live!"

"Right! He doesn't deserve to live!"

"We need to kill him!"

Most of the people agreed as they were filled with bloodlust. Even the people who were against the killing couldn't stop them as the majority wanted Gabriel's death. They could only give in.

In any case, for them it didn't matter if Gabriel was dead or alive. The throne was going to go to someone else.

The people didn't control their actions at all, leaving only destruction in their wake. They destroyed whatever they could find along the way from portraits to paintings.

Amongst the paintings on the wall, there was one painting in which Gabriel was standing with two young men next to him.

In the painting, the three looked really close. In fact, it was a painting that Gabriel made himself.

The people didn't know who the other two men in the painting were, but they recognised Gabriel in the middle.

"That bastard! After killing the citizens, he is living here in luxury, having his paintings being made?" One of the Knights exclaimed.

"I wonder who the two people next to the Blood Demon are. I've never seen them before!"

Not a single person recognised the other two people since none of them had seen Novius before, despite Novius being a member of the Saint King clan in the past.

"Who cares? The other two just be like bastards like the Blood Demon as well! If we find them anywhere, we should kill them as well!" One of the Knight Academy members scoffed with a cold face.

He reached out his hand toward the painting to tear it from the wall and destroy it.

Silence~~~

The entire hall was filled with chatter and calls for the death of the Blood Demon. However, at the moment, there was only silence as everyone froze in place with a pale face.

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Even the man who reached out his hand toward the painting on the wall froze. For a moment, his face was expressionless however, his face slowly twisted as he noticed that the hand which he stretched out was missing!

It was as if his hand was destroyed in an instant and he couldn't even see how it happened. It took a brief moment for the pain to reach his head.

"Arghhh!" He exclaimed at the top of his lungs, holding his shoulders as he dropped to his knees. His face was as pale as it could be.

He didn't even see just how it happened. There was only a shadow that he saw flashing before him, and the next second, his hand was missing.

As the Knight groaned on the ground, a dark mist started spreading out.

In the distance, everyone noticed a person... A man shrouded in darkness. However, they could still see that person's face.

Behind the man, they could see more people who looked completely lifeless.

"Blood Demon!"

The situation inside the castle wasn't good, but that was mostly the case for the intruders, especially now that they found themselves before Raphael.

They immediately recognised that person as the new Emperor. They were all talking so much, about how they were going to deal with the new Emperor when they found him. However, for some reason, they couldn't even speak now that Gabriel was actually in front of them.

"Arghhh!" The agonising screams of the young Knight whose arm was cut brought them out of their daze.

The Knights in the lead found their heads quite confused. However, their hearts were telling them that if they didn't kill Gabriel now, they couldn't leave this place alive.

They tried to put their fears aside as they all pulled out their weapons, aiming them at Gabriel.

undefined"If you don't want to perish at our hands, you better surrender this moment!" They commanded Gabriel.

Gabriel didn't respond. He just found it quite interesting that these people still thought that they were in the position to command him.

"What if I don't?" he asked in a calm voice. Even though his voice was calm, a lot of undercurrent could be felt from his tone.

"Then we would be forced to kill you! You already hurt one of us! We are still being merciful by giving you this opportunity!" The Knight in the lead glared at Gabriel.

Even though he was glaring at Gabriel, his main focus was on the people who stood behind Raphael. He didn't even know how his friend's arm was cut since none of the people held any weapons! Even Gabriel hadn't called out the Saint's Sword yet.

"I would love to see you try." Gabriel answered.

The Knight frowned but didn't hesitate. If this guy wasn't willing to listen, he could only use force! He still had many people! No matter how strong Gabriel was, they still had superior numbers, let alone their strength!

He raised his Sword to slash, however before he could even move his sword, his face went pale as he found a dark figure appear right in front of him. A palm came before him, grabbing into his face.

A booming sound echoed in the surrounding area.

The next moment, the Knight who had just threatened to attack Gabriel found himself coughing blood as he laid inside a crater on the ground, feeling as if his back was crushed. He didn't even know how Gabriel could be this fast!

The next moment, Gabriel disappeared amidst the crowd, appearing on the other side of the enemies.

He raised his right hand gracefully. "Shield of Undead!"

He cast a shield, not only blocking the path of escape but also to protect himself from what was coming next.

All the enemies were stunned to find Gabriel using a spell. For a moment, they couldn't even believe their eyes.

"T-that is a spell! He can use a spell!"

"Is he a mage?!"

"How can that be?! He hid that from everyone?!"

"So a Mage took over our Empire?! He fooled us all?"

Everyone that saw this was shocked to their core. From the start to the present, the Empire only had one rule for the Royals. It was that the Emperor couldn't be a Mage, no matter what! At this point, it was clear that Gabriel had fooled them by pretending to be a Knight.

Everyone was horrified at the thought of it! Not only was Gabriel a mage, but he also seemed like a powerful mage!

They didn't know what kind of spell it was that Gabriel used, but most assumed that it was a dark spell, which made them believe that Gabriel was a dark mage!

"He's a Dark Mage! That's why he hid from the Church!"

"He's the Devil!"

"We need to let the Churches know!"

"We've been infiltrated by the Demons!"

Most of them were of sound mind, realizing that they couldn't win today. Just one mage at the level of Gabriel was enough to kill them. The only thing which could deal with a Dark Mage were the Churches! If they could somehow get this information to a Church, all their problems were solved.

For the moment, all of them completely forgot that it wasn't the so-called Dark Mage who attacked the City and killed millions. That's how deep the historical bias had penetrated their bones at the moment.

Unfortunately, they couldn't find a way to escape at all. How could they even send the information to the Church if they were stuck here?

"We surrender!" One after another, they all raised their hands, surrendering.

Even though they openly surrendered, in their minds they were clear. It was only if they survived today that they could later leak this information to the Church later.

"We were wrong! Please forgive us!"

One after another, everyone dropped to their knees. Their words were asking for forgiveness, but their eyes were filled with hate.

Gabriel didn't even have to spend a second to understand what these people were truly thinking. It wasn't that they regretted attacking him. It was just that they foolishly believed that the Death Knights were dark mages like him and that they didn't have a chance of winning.

The Dark Mages were supposed to be very powerful after all. For ordinary people, it was understandable to think that they couldn't win. Even the Knights were the same.

"You want me to free you?" Gabriel asked, still maintaining the Shield of Undead.

Everyone affirmed and not a single person was rejected. In fact, they all pretended to be grateful and loyal to Gabriel, saying that they were fooled by the people and led astray to attack the Castle.

Gabriel didn't reply. He just closed his eyes for a moment. The Death Knights on the other hand of the crowd started chanting a spell in unison. Unlike him, the Death Knights couldn't use the Wordless Chants.

"Flame Storm!"

After the spell was finished, a storm of flame arose from the ground, covering the entire hallway.

The flame storm struck everyone in its path. No amount of screaming and crying for help was enough to stop the storm.

The screams kept echoing for a long time before they ultimately stopped. The attackers couldn't even run since on one side, there were Death Knights while on the other side, there was Gabriel.

The black fiery storm swept everything in its path, only stopping when it hit the Shield of Undead, unable to pass through. The Storm finally stopped.

As the storm disappeared, the hallways were completely clean. Only a few weapons could be seen lying on the ground. Even the walls were left scorched.

"You're all free now…" Gabriel softly spoke.

Just as he finished dealing with the intruders, he frowned and glanced back, noticing another strange presence. This time, the presence was much more powerful than Lambard's maid

"Are you here to stop me?" Gabriel's voice echoed in the hallway as his cloak flew with the wind.

He didn't show any change in expressions at all, from start to end.

"What do you think?" A woman's voice came in return.

"Stay out of my path then," Gabriel stated, realizing who the person was. "Since you said you'll be neutral, then stay neutral. Unless you really want to stand in my way."

Even though Gabriel knew that this person was strong, he wasn't intimidated. He had his own strengths, and now that his strength restrictions were removed more or less, he felt even more free.

undefinedMoreover, there was no formation in this Empire like in the Church of Flames which could reduce his strength by sixty percent. If anything, he was at his strongest in this Empire!

Even though he was still a few steps away from becoming a top tier mage when it came to magical strength, with the his three elements and two Ancestral Staffs, he believed that if things became worse, he could not only put up a fight against a Holy Priest but also win.

"As I said before, I won't interfere in what you do. I'm just here as a spectator..." Avilia came out of the shadows, appearing next to Gabriel. "In any case, they attacked you first. Maybe I would've been much worse for them if I was in your place."

Gabriel glanced at Avilia, slightly intrigued. So this woman really wasn't there to stop him. That was good. It gave him some freedom of movement while removing some risks.

"Do you have a Beast that can seal the space?" he asked after a brief pause.

"Why do you ask?" Avilia asked, frowning. She was sure that Gabriel already had a treasure like that.

When she was outside the castle, she couldn't sense anything that was happening inside the castle. It was clear that Gabriel had a way to seal the space inside the castle to make sure no one could see what was happening inside from outside.

"I have something that can do this. However, I can only seal a small space like this castle," Gabriel earnestly answered as he walked towards the exit of the castle to look at the commotion outside.

It didn't seem good for his army for the time being, since most of his army was already spread out throughout the Empire to stop smaller uprisings.

The army which was present outside the castle was limited and the force they faced was many times more. Despite their training, in front of the Knight Academy and their absolute number advantage, they were at a heavy disadvantage.

He wanted to go out and help them as well, but he was still hesitating if he should since he had a feeling that many eyes were hiding in the shadows, observing the battle secretly.

He could only prevent themselves from peeking inside the Castle.

"I see. So you want my help to prevent others from seeing you use your true strength to stop this uprising?" Avilia asked. "You can still think clearly it seems. Not bad. If you really used your element outside, even if you use the Element of Light, just for being involved in this Empire's matter, all the Churches would be here the next day to investigate."

"I know. I can't use magic as the Emperor, at least not in public. And I can't leave a witness escape who saw me use magic. I know that much. I'm asking you to seal the space so I can deal with the matter personally."

Gabriel didn't care about the enemies that were outside since they weren't enough to threaten him. However, if those people killed his entire army, it was a real headache for the future of the Empire. He had to stop them and he had to stop them with force this time since all other ways were closed.

"So will you lend me a Beast that can seal the space?" Gabriel asked.

In response, Avilia could only shake her head. "Even if I do that, it will benefit you. The others would still come to investigate if a barrier appeared in the middle of the City and the next moment the entire rebellion was killed, leaving only your army alive."

" This matter will definitely be linked to you and it'll lead to the same outcome. Even I might be linked with you in that situation."

Avilia understood how the Churches dealt with matters, even though she didn't deal much with them. She knew that doing something like sealing the space to kill people in the city was enough to attract at least the attention of the Churches since only powerful Mages at the level of a Head Priest could seal a small space, let alone sealing a space of that magnitude.

Even though Gabriel understood what she was saying and that it made sense, he knew that he couldn't stay out of this situation. He had to deal with this matter somehow and he had to do it while making sure to not reveal his identity before the ones who were hiding in the shadows, watching the show.

As Gabriel walked to the exit, he saw many intruders along the way. He didn't hold back in the least since at least the space inside the palace was sealed. All it took was a few shadow spheres.

At the same time, he sent his other Death Knights to check the other places in the castle to make sure that not a single person who dared to infiltrate the castle today was going to leave alive.

He stepped out of the castle, all alone. Even though Avilia was also nearby, she disappeared in the shadows once again.

Standing at the entrance of the Castle, Gabriel watched the people in the distance who were fighting the war. His Royal Knights held on firmly, but they were slowly being pushed back.

Callum could use spells to stop them right away, but on Gabriel's commands, he had resisted the urge of blowing away all these people in an instant, only using weapons to fight

The best warrior appeared to be the Saint Knight who had already killed many enemies. However, he was now being held back by the Dean of the Knight Academy and the best Knight of the Academy.

Other than Callum and the Saint Knight, the other Royal Knights were also performing well, but not enough to turn the tide of the war. In this situation, it was clear that it was only a matter of time before the Royal Army was going to lose the war.

That also lowered the morale of the army with each passing second since the army understood what kind of situation they were in.

Gabriel glanced in the empty space in the distance, shaking his head lightly. "Too many spectators today. What a headache."

In the end, he decided to deal with the matter in a different way.

He called out the Sword of Ulien which was now in the form that even the Academy of Elements had never seen before.

The bloodthirsty Sword in Gabriel's hands trembled with excitement as if it was able to sense the bloodshed on the battlefield. Holding the Sword, Gabriel felt as if the sword was finally home! This blood-covered battlefield... This ruthless war... This was where the sword was supposed to be!

The powerful aura of the sword spread far and wide. It could be sensed by everyone on the battlefield. There was not a single person on the battlefield who didn't glance in the direction of the Sword.

Amidst the various gazes, some friendly and some hostile, Gabriel walked to the battlefield holding the Sword firmly.

It was as if he could feel the urge of the sword. "You like to drink blood? Then today shall be a feast for you!"

"Look there! That coward finally came out!"

"He must be running away from the people who entered the castle!"

"Hahaha, as the saying goes, when it's time for a person to die, they will run straight toward their death!"

Finding Gabriel outside the castle, the enemies who were here to kill him were elated, especially the members of Knight Academy who didn't want the war with the Royal Army to stretch for any longer. The longer this war continued, the more losses they were going to have.

It was clear as day to them that the war was going to end as soon as they managed to kill Gabriel. As long as Gabriel was alive, his orders were valid and the loyal soldiers were willing to fight even their own people for him. However as long as Gabriel died, things were going to be much smoother.

undefinedThe Knight Academy didn't believe that the Royal Knights were going to continue fighting for a dead man!

"We will hold the Knights back! Kill the Demon!" The Dean of the Knight Academy exclaimed at the top of his lungs.

The archers in the distance who were hiding for this exact moment licked their lips in excitement. Finally it was time for them to shine. Their arrows couldn't pierce the Knights since it was a close battle.

The archers didn't want to accidentally hurt their own side by shooting into the crowd. However, Gabriel was standing in the distance, much closer to the castle which was the perfect distance for them to safely kill them.

While Gabriel's arrival made the enemies elated, the Saint Knight was absolutely shocked. He couldn't believe that Gabriel was out in the open at a time like this.

He was already informed that Gabriel was strong enough to hold back a few Head Priests. As long as Gabriel was inside the castle, he didn't think the people who snuck inside the castle could threaten him. Unfortunately, outside there were too many variables.

"Your Majesty, get back inside the castle!" he exclaimed, still engaging in the battle with the Knight Academy Dean. He wanted to pull back to help Gabriel but there was just no opportunity!

"Get inside?" Gabriel muttered, hearing clearly. "Won't that be a pity after such a nice stage has been prepared for me?"

He didn't want to take the step. This step was too extreme after all. If anything, he wanted to avoid bloodshed as much as possible. That was his goal at the start. Unfortunately, the people here didn't give him that opportunity.

"If I can't rule with love, I'll rule with fear. As long as I protect his Empire, I don't care!"

Gabriel took his first step toward the bloody battlefield, only to face over hundred arrows that were shot in his direction. The arrows covered every route of escape, making sure he was going to be hit, even if he managed to escape.

Gabriel raised the Sword of Ulien, pointing it toward the arrows. "Since you haven't seen this Sword in over a century, let me refresh your memory!"

Gabriel's feet moved making him appear as if he was in perfect sync with the flow of the wind. Strangely enough, his graceful movement created quite a contrast with the bloody reflection that the sword was leaving behind with each movement.

Slash~

A bloody arc of light left the Sword, flying straight toward the shower arrows.

The bloody arc hit all the arrows. Not only were the arrows stopped, but they disintegrated under the attack.

"Royal Knights! Heed my command! Move back!" Gabriel roared, commanding all his soldiers.

The battlefield was chaotic. It was hard to differentiate friend from foe when he used such large scale attacks. He wanted to have free reign as he decided to fight all the enemies alone!

The Royal Knights were stunned. Their new Emperor was calling them to retreat? None of them understood what he was planning. Did he not remember that these people were here to kill him and not them?!

Even the Saint Knight was surprised. Despite his confusion, he still listened to Gabriel's words.

"Everyone, retreat!" He also issued the same command as Gabriel.

All the Royal Knights didn't delay a single second as they all moved back, getting out of the battles that they were desperately engaged in.

Even the Saint Knight jumped back, creating distance from the Knight Academy Dean.

The Knight Academy was as confused as the Royal Knights. However, they didn't attack the Royal Knights when they were retreating, thinking that this meant Gabriel had decided to surrender.

The Saint Knight stepped back, standing behind Gabriel. The other Royal Knights also moved back.

Duke Callum also walked back under Gabriel's careful gaze. Unlike the Saint Knight, the Duke appeared to be more wounded. Then again, he understood why that was.

Callum was a mage and not a close range warrior. If he was allowed to use his magic, he could've killed at least half this army on his own. However since he was not allowed to use his Dark Element, Callum held back, only using physical boost and his Sword to fight!

Despite being forced to hold back, he didn't complain even once since he understood just why Gabriel told him to ignore his spells. Even he could sense that this city was under observation. He just didn't understand who it was that was observing them.

"Are you going to use your real strength?" he asked, standing behind Gabriel, wondering if Gabriel was finally going to use his spells.

"They aren't worthy for me to use it," Gabriel calmly answered. His voice was filled with confidence as well as anger.

"Emperor Gabriel, it is said that when a person stands before their death, they become wiser! It is good that you've decided to surrender! That would make things easier!" The Knight Academy Dean laughed. There was a clear hint of ridicule in his eyes.

"Don't worry. We will make sure that you have a fair trial! You won't be killed right away at least! And who knows, you must be lucky enough to get only life imprisonment despite committing so many sins!" He further stated, straightening his back. For him, the war was already over.

"A person stands before their death, they become wiser?" Gabriel asked, slightly intrigued by the saying. "How come you're still so stupid then? That saying doesn't seem to hold on much."

"You!" The Dean of the Knight Academy was stunned. This guy was still daring to insult him. "It looks like you really don't cherish your life! There's no need for that trial anymore! Today I shall cleanse this Empire with your blood!"

Gabriel had long realized this rebellion wasn't as natural as it seemed. No matter what, handling so many people, and that too in such an orderly manner, it couldn't be done without someone arranging everything in the back. There was order even within this chaos which was the strange part.

At the moment, Gabriel had a feeling that the Dean of the Knight Academy was the person who was heavily involved in this. He was also capable of arranging all of that.

"Let me see how you cleanse this Empire with my blood!" Holding his sword in one hand, Gabriel stepped toward the battlefield. With each of his steps, the aura of his sword was getting stronger.

If he wanted, he could've appeared in the middle of the battlefield right away. However, he didn't bother using teleportation. That was too eye-catching.

"It's true that the Holy Sword is supposed to be great, but it also depends on the user! I refuse to believe you can even draw a fraction of its power!" The Dean of the Knight Academy frowned. "In the hands of a weak person, even the greatest weapon would be a waste! Let me show you the difference between heaven and hell!"

undefinedThe Knight Academy Dean rushed toward Gabriel, raising his sharp sword. Strangely enough, his speed was so fast that it even surprised Gabriel for a moment.

"It seems I really underestimated the Knights. Without using magic, they can still move this fast. What a pity that these earrings slow down my movement."

Despite being on a battlefield where he could only use his physical strength, he still wasn't free of the pressure exerted on his body by the earring. It was as if he was under constant pressure, which was even stronger than last time.

Even standing with that much weight being exerted on their bodies would've been hard for an ordinary Knight. However, not only was Gabriel able to stand, but he was also able to walk at his usual pace.

"Then again, for you, this speed is enough," he muttered as he raised his sword.

Within a few seconds, the Dean of Knight Academy appeared before Gabriel, swinging his sword. "You are so slow! Die!"

The powerful treasure Sword of the Knight Academy Dean moved at the speed of lightning. Ordinary people found it even hard to see the blade of the sword due to their speed.

Clank~

A metallic sound resounded on the battlefield. When the Dean's sword finally came into view, it was enough to surprise everyone. The Dean moved so fast that others couldn't even see his sword. However, that sword was still intercepted by Gabriel before it could touch him?!

Unlike the Dean's sword movement that no one could see, everyone could clearly see Gabriel's movement. To the ones watching, it was the most basic movement that was slow, even according to their standards! Despite that, Gabriel was able to block the Knight Academy Dean's sword?!

"With just your ability, I'm afraid I can't die even if I wanted to." Gabriel's face revealed a disappointed expression. "Though I agree about one thing. In the hands of weak people, even a treasure becomes trash."

The old man's face turned red as he glared at Gabriel. However, his anger immediately turned into astonishment and then into fear as he noticed something.

His Treasure sword...it wasn't just blocked! There were also cracks on it now, and they were spreading! He couldn't believe that just one clash with the Holy Sword and his treasure Sword, which was said to be the second best Sword in the history of the Empire, tied with the Saint Knight's Sword, was almost broken that easily!

"H-how could the gap be so big?" he muttered in disbelief. Before he could even come out of his gaze, a shattering sound resounded.

The sword that was cherished by many at the Knight Academy as one of the strongest swords in the Empire shattered like fragile glass. Pieces of the sword flew everywhere right before the old man's eyes as the sword broke.

Before he could even come out of the daze, he saw a bright red light. The next moment, the entire world turned upside down.

"Huh?" He frowned, finding Gabriel to be upside down. Not only that, Gabriel's body appeared to be rising. It took him quite some time to realise that it wasn't Gabriel who was rising but it was his head which was falling!

It was only when his head fell on the ground, rolling around that he understood what happened. He... One of the strongest Knights in the Empire... He was killed just like that, in a single strike!

"H..ow..." His lips bled as his vision turned dark. He finally lost his life.

"This death is too merciful for you!" Gabriel looked down at the head, stomping under his feet before passing over the dead body of the old man toward the battlefield.

This time, Gabriel swung his Sword with each step he took. With each movement of the sword, a blood red arc of destructive energy made an appearance in the world that killed anyone that stood in its path. With each step of Gabriel, hundreds of people died! Blood splattered everywhere.

Even as everyone rushed toward Gabriel, none of them could get closer to him at all!

The battlefield was filled with chaos and cries filled with pain. At the moment, even the Royal Knights couldn't help but close their eyes! They had seen a lot of bloodshed in their lives.

In fact, they also killed people many times in this war alone, but even they found this scene to be too gruesome! This was the strength... The strength to annihilate everyone in the path!

This wasn't the power that a human was supposed to possess according to them. They couldn't believe the strength of Gabriel. Some even wondered if they were imagining things. Even in the records of the Empire, the Sword wasn't said to be this strong after all!

The Royal Knights weren't the only ones who were surprised. Callum was even more stunned. Gabriel was a powerful mage who could kill even Head Priests with spells. But even his physical strength was this strong?

"This can't be explained just by the treasure. Even the Saint King was unable to use this much power according to ancient records. Just how could he...? Could it be something to do with him more than the sword itself?"

Callum had a strange feeling about this. The sword was strong, but he felt as if the sword was only able to show the extent of this power because it was drawing it straight from Gabriel's elements!

'Is he using his magic through the sword to disguise his use of magic?' he wondered. 'A Magic Knight? I wonder if this can be sensed by the ones who are watching this war in secret. They shouldn't be able to know. Even I can't be sure of my guess after all. Maybe it's actually the sword's true strength and I'm overthinking things?'

There existed an unknown space in the middle of nowhere. It was a place that was considered impossible to reach. However, it was also a place that Gabriel had seen a few times already.

It was a strange place, in the middle of an unknown forest where a majestic waterfall could be seen, having mystical properties in the water. If people knew about this place and its advantages, it could've easily led to wars. Fortunately, this place was impossible to reach. There were only two keys to reach this place in the entire world after all.

Under the waterfall, a man was sitting. His eyes were closed as he felt the water fall over him. If Gabriel was here, he easily could've recognised the man since this man was none other than the person who had been training him in his dreams to strengthen his physical body.

When Gabriel sat under the waterfall, he usually felt a lot of weight over his body. However, even he didn't know that the man on the other hand had to experience a weight that was over a million times more than what Gabriel experienced under the same waterfall. Despite that, the man never showed any discomfort to Gabriel.

undefinedAt the moment, the man had a frown on his face as if he was unable to concentrate.

He slowly opened his eyes, gazing into that distance.

"So much bloodlust," the man muttered, frowning. "He is changing and I can't interfere in his fate. If he doesn't find his way out of it..."

"He's still a child for now. For him to bear the burden of the Grimoire of Necromancy and all the souls it had absorbed throughout the millennia... all their negativity... all their anger... all their hate..."

He let out a deep sigh, closing his eyes again.

"I wonder if it was a blessing or a curse for him to reunite with Grimoire so soon. On one hand, it saved his life. On other hand, it pushed him down this path when he wasn't mentally ready. If he can't control his emotions due to the influence of the burden that Grimoire carries, it'll be..."

The man genuinely seemed worried about Gabriel. However, despite that, he couldn't tell the young man anything, otherwise he risked affecting the fate of Gabriel. No matter what, he wanted to let nature take its course!

It was fate that Gabriel found a way to get to him to strengthen his body, and that was the only thing he could do to help Gabriel.

The young man wasn't the only person who was seeing the battle Gabriel was going through.

In the Church of Wind, a mirror floated before the Holy Priest of Wind. The mirror showed the battlefield where Gabriel kept killing everyone who raised their sword against him.

Only the people in the back who were running were allowed to leave. Gabriel let the people who didn't have any courage to fight escape, but there was also a reason behind his actions. He needed people... People who had seen this battlefield spread the word about what happened here!

No matter what, the Churches already knew what happened here. He was sure of that. However, by letting some leave alive, he wanted to use them to spread the word to the ordinary citizens of this Empire to let them stop this rebellion.

After his current display, he was sure that not only were the citizens not going to come for his head, but the other Empires were also going to be wary. When he dealt with the Church of Flames, by killing a few, he saved millions. This time his approach was the same.

"This man... He is very interesting," the Holy Priest of Wind muttered, observing the battlefield. "Especially that Sword..."

The spies from other Churches were also keeping an eye on the battlefield, ready to take back this information that even they couldn't believe if they hadn't seen with their own eyes.

Fortunately, the battle didn't last long. From start to finish, it took Gabriel only ten minutes to end this war.

After finishing the battle, he observed the bloody sword which was trembling in excitement as if after a long time, it was allowed to have a feast like that. For some reason, Gabriel felt as if the Sword was thanking him.

There was one more thing that Gabriel noticed about himself which he didn't before. It was so strange that even he couldn't understand it properly. When he killed for the first time, even though he was killing an enemy, it wasn't easy mentally. It was the same second and third time.

However, something about him was different. Not only was he not phased by the killing, but in his heart, he felt as if he was more calm than ever. As if his heart that had always been chaotic was finally at peace for the time being. This was a really strange feeling.

He observed the bloody battlefield but didn't spend much time there. He simply turned around, sending the sword back in his storage.

"Have the roads cleaned," he told the Saint Knight before walking inside the castle, as if this thing wasn't even worth a second of his life.

The Saint Knight couldn't even reply. For a long time, he was in a daze at what just happened. This was it? That was the end?

When he found out that Gabriel had killed the last Saint Knight, he knew that Gabriel was strong. However, it was only now that he understood how strong he actually was! This man... He was a one man army!

The Saint Knight knew that even if he had his entire army and the help of every warrior in the city, he probably still couldn't defeat Gabriel.

Callum rushed after Gabriel, entering the castle as well.

"Are you alright?" he asked Gabriel, walking behind him.

"Why won't I be alright?" Gabriel answered calmly. "Anyway, the castle is in a mess as well. Get some people and clean up this place as well."

"Y-yes." Callum stopped in his tracks. "I'll check the status of damage."

Leaving Callum behind, Gabriel walked in the hallway, observing the defaced walls and the broken statues.

Along the way, he also noticed a mirror that made him stop.

He glanced at his reflection in the broken mirror.

Even though there were cracks in the mirror, he was still able to see his reflection. However, for some reason, he felt really odd as he looked at him through the mirror. It was as if he was the same yet he was completely different somehow.

He raised his right hand, touching the plane area of the mirror. However, as soon as he touched, that part of the mirror also shattered, even though he only touched lightly.

On the back of his right hand, he noticed another strange thing. The Mark of Necromancy was even darker now and slightly bigger.

The cracks on the mirror kept spreading until nothing could be seen on the mirror. It was as if even the mirror didn't dare to show his reflection suddenly.

"Why are you standing before a broken mirror?" Just as Gabriel was distracted, he heard a voice coming from behind him.

"Avilia?" Gabriel asked, turning around. Avilia was out of the shadows again. "Did you find out which forces were watching me?'

Avilia rolled her eyes. "Shouldn't you ask which forces weren't? All the Churches saw the commotion in recent days. All of them were keeping an eye on this city."

She continued, "However, there was someone else who was also watching. I just don't know who it was. It definitely wasn't someone from a Church."

undefined"Probably Lambard. That guy is getting intrigued as well it seems," Gabriel answered. Even though Lambard sent his maid here to investigate, he was sure that he was still going to keep an eye on the City at least.

"It's not him. I've already taken him into consideration," Avilia responded. "I don't know where he's hiding, but my beasts can easily sense his spying. The one I'm talking about is someone else. Someone who even my beasts can't properly sense."

When Gabriel was fighting, Avilia wasn't sitting idle either. She was using her beasts to find out just how many forces were observing this city.

Hearing Avilia's answer, Gabriel was slightly surprised. Avilia's beasts could sense the spying of all the Churches and even Lambard. However, they couldn't recognise what method that mysterious person used to spy on the City? Didn't that mean the person was more threatening than the Churches? But who could be more threatening than a Church?

"Temple of Time?" He subconsciously muttered, frowning. He had heard in the Tower of Challenges that the Temple of Time was an existence that could stand toe to toe with the Churches. However, they were even more mysterious.

Novius also told him that now that the orb of time had reappeared in this world, it was only a matter of time before the Temple of Time reappeared in this continent!

'Why would they spy on this city though? Did they find out that I have the Orb of Time? No, this can't be. They shouldn't be able to sense the orb. It's kept in the Grimoire. It's impossible for anyone to sense it. Then why? Just a random check? Or are they suspicious of me?'

Just the thought of being observed by the Temple of Time was a headache for Gabriel. The Temple of Time existed even in the Era of Karyk!

Moreover, the two sides had enmity since Karyk stole the Orb of Time from them. Despite this enmity, Karyk didn't destroy the Temple of Time like every other organization that stood in its path. That was enough for Gabriel to understand that the Temple of Time probably had as much strength as Karyk at his peak!

Since none of the sides could destroy the other completely, that only meant that both sides had more or less an equal level of strength.

'But that was in the past. I'm not Karyk. I don't have as much strength as him. I don't even have as powerful an army as he commanded. I don't know the strength of the Temple of Time, but they should still have a similar level of strength as they did in the past. The balance is already broken...'

Gabriel wasn't worried about facing the Churches since most of the Holy Priests were more or less similar to him, part of the younger generation who used Grimoires as their source of strength. He had enough faith in his Grimoire to face them. However, the Temple was different.

The Temple of Time was like a snake lurking in the darkness, bearing its poisonous fangs, ready to bite as soon as it was given an opportunity. What was worse was that no one knew where the Temple was even situated at all! They could appear anywhere and disappear right after.

Even when all Churches worked together in the past, they couldn't do anything against the Temple of Time!

Gabriel couldn't help but rub his forehead, feeling as if the times ahead were even more chaotic than he expected. There were Churches after him, there was Lambard who had a complicated relationship with him, and then there were the other Empires and now the overlord of the land, the Temple of Time!

Gabriel didn't know what the future held for him, but he knew that no matter what, the only thing which could help him was his own strength! He had to be the strongest... Only by becoming stronger like Karyk could he hold back the Temple of times!

'I need to find the mystery behind that garden, no matter what it takes! Time is running out!' He clenched his fist, having a general idea of what he had to do.

"You know about the Temple of Time?" Avilia asked, slightly surprised. Since Gabriel didn't appear much knowledgeable about this world due to his late entrance in the realm of mages, she didn't expect him to know the secrets that only the higher ups of the Churches knew.

Most of the mages didn't even know about the existence of the Temple of Time since it hadn't appeared in a long time. The ones who knew about it were already dead in this world!

"Am I not supposed to know?" Gabriel asked in return.

"I didn't mean that." Avilia shook her head, wondering if Gabriel misunderstood her words as her looking down on him. "I was just surprised. Even I didn't know about this before I took the highest position of the Church of Summoning and went through the records."

"Anyway, what you said could make sense. If it's the Temple of Time, it would make sense why I couldn't sense their identity. They are the most mysterious out of everyone. Even the Churches don't know the methods they use."

"I just don't understand why they would appear in this world again and take an interest in this city? Noticing seems out of the ordinary in this city, at least to me. Nothing other than..." She briefly paused as she stared at Gabriel. "Nothing other than you! You are the reason they are keeping an eye on this city?"

"Seems to be that way," Gabriel also had the same thought. He knew that other than himself, there was another strange thing in this city which was that garden.

However, there was no way the Temple was observing this city for that garden. The garden existed in this city from the beginning. If they could've sensed the garden, they would've been here decades ago.

It was most probably him who attracted their attention since he was the only new addition to this city in the last few days!

"They are observing this city because of me…"

"Even though you're quite an intriguing person with a few secrets, I still wonder how you managed to attract their attention. As far as I know, those guys have been obsessed with only one thing throughout their existence."

Avilia knew just why the Temple of Time used to create chaos in the past. They were searching for something to the point of being obsessed. It was only because they failed to find what they were looking for despite the amount of effort they put in that they stopped.

Even she didn't know just why those people would take an interest in Gabriel. From what she could guess, the Temple of Time most probably thought that Gabriel had something to do with what they were looking for. Only that made sense for her.

"That can't be. If you had something they were after, with their personality, they would've already destroyed the city and taken you hostage." She lightly shook her head, realizing that things weren't as simple as she would've liked them to be. There was something else... Another undercurrent that she didn't know about.

"It doesn't matter what they're after. I'll deal with them when the time comes."

undefinedGabriel didn't think too much about that. Even if the Temple of Time was spying, as long as they didn't directly take action, he couldn't do much. No one knew where they were after all. For now, he had only one focus... Solving the mystery of the Garden of Legacy.

He turned his back on the shattered mirror and went deeper into the castle. He still had a few things to do.

As Gabriel walked, he was followed by Avilia but he didn't care. Avilia was like a curious observer. As long as he didn't show too many secrets, he didn't care if she followed him. He couldn't feel any malice from her after all.

His mind was instead lost in some other thoughts.

'The Garden must have some secret that I must find out about! However, how can I? Even with my strength, I can't remove a single blade of grass from there. That means it's impossible to find the mystery behind the garden with force.'

He rubbed his chin, so deeply immersed in his thoughts that he even forgot about the surroundings for a moment.

'There must be another way to get that treasure. But what way is that? I've tried everything I could think of, even using the aura of the Grimoire but nothing worked. Even the eye of Osiris doesn't work in the garden. Where can I find the answers from...?'

As he walked, he noticed another mirror in the distance. The second mirror was completely intact. As Gabriel walked past the second mirror, he once again glanced at his reflection which appeared a bit blurry. He didn't think too much about it.

It was only after he took a few steps past the mirror that he suddenly froze! His eyes lit up suddenly.

"That's right! How could I forget it?!" He exclaimed.

Stopping behind him, Avilia looked at him in confusion. Just a few moments ago, Gabriel e was looking all gloomy, but now he was full of excitement as if he had solved a great mystery.

"What made you so excited?" she asked Gabriel

Gabriel turned around, revealing his bright face. "I need to leave the Empire for the time being. Can you help me with one thing?"

"Where are you going?" Avilia looked at him suspiciously. Whenever Gabriel left the Empire, that meant the world was in for a wave of chaos. She couldn't help but wonder just what he was after this time.

"And what help are you looking for? As long as it doesn't involve directly getting involved in your conflicts, I can think about it."

"Don't worry. I won't ask you to fight for me. I just want you to look after someone while I'm gone," Gabriel answered. "Follow me."

He was sure that after his current display, no Empire or church were going to attack the Empire, at least for a few months. This display was certainly intimidating for anyone who knew about it. This gave him the confidence of traveling freely. However, there was still one person he wanted someone to keep an eye on in his absence.

Gabriel took Avilia to his bedroom. Avilia didn't think much and followed Gabriel inside his bedroom.

Only after entering the room did she find out a young lady, standing in the middle of the room, being surrounded by three Death Knights.

"Who is she?" The Holy Priestess of Summoning asked. The young lady before her didn't seem very weak. If she were to guess, the young lady had strength comparable to a Head Priest of a Church. She could also feel that something was preventing her from using her abilities.

"She is a subordinate of Lambard. She was spying on me so I caught her," Gabriel explained. "In my absence, I wanted you to keep an eye on her so that Lambard couldn't take her back until I'm back. She'd be a burden if I take her with me and I don't want to leave her behind without oversight."

"Just that? I should be able to help you with that." Avilia smirked. "But I have one condition."

"What condition?"

"I want you to tell me where you're going and why you're going there?"

To keep an eye on a little girl was child's play for Avilia. In fact, she had thousands of ways to solve this problem.

For a moment, Gabriel was silent, glancing at the young maid in the distance.

Avilia also understood what he was implying. She cast an isolation barrier around her and Gabriel so that no one else could hear what they were saying.

After the Barrier was cast, Gabriel finally said, "I'm going to Lumen."

"What? The land of the Church of Light?" The Holy Priestess of Summoning frowned. That place was the riskiest for the time being, especially for a person like Gabriel since the Mages of Light were more sensitive to Darkness Element.

The Church of Light was at its weakest because of the absence of the Holy Priest of Light, but that didn't mean Lumen was weak. Not only did Lumen have the Church of Light, it also had the Academy of Elements which probably hated Gabriel to death! To go back there? Just what was Gabriel planning?

"It's too risky. Why would you want to go there?" The young lady asked Gabriel, not understanding his reasoning.

For him to take such a risk right after he went against the Church of Flames was confusing for her

"I need some answers, and the answers lie in Lumen," Gabriel briefly explained. "That's all I can tell you."

He didn't tell the Holy Priestess where exactly in Lumen he was going, or what his true goal was. His answers were vague enough to protect his real goals while also giving away some information to keep the young lady happy.

Avilia wasn't stupid either. She understood what Gabriel was trying to do here. However, she didn't interrogate too much. No matter where he was going, with her Shadow Beast following behind him, she believed that it was only a matter of time before she found out about this.

"When are you leaving?" she asked.

"Tonight." Gabriel answered, waving his hand to disperse the isolation barrier. He had already answered everything he wanted to.

undefined"Do you need to borrow a beast again?" Avilia asked, watching Gabriel who walked toward the balcony.

"It would be faster if I could," Gabriel replied, without looking back. Even though his relationship with Avilia wasn't very close, he knew that they were close enough for him to borrow a beast.

"One last question. Can I come with you?" Avilia inquired after a brief pause.

"Who will keep an eye on the girl then? I'm leaving you behind for a reason." Gabriel rolled her eyes. Why would he even need her to stay here in the first place if that was the case.

"It's not a problem. I can leave a shadow beast behind to keep an eye on her. She can't use any of her strength anyway. And with my other beasts around, as long as there is the slightest risk of Lambard coming in, I should be able to return immediately."

Avilia had expected Gabriel to immediately reject her proposal but she didn't expect him to have an attitude which made it seem like he might agree.

"Can you teleport back?" he asked the young lady. Even Gabriel himself could only teleport in short range. For the young lady to say that she could immediately come back from Lumen to Arecia? It was indeed surprising.

"I can switch places with my beasts," the young lady replied. "It won't be a problem."

"Something akin to the Undead Switch of mine." Gabriel frowned. It was only now that he realized that he had forgotten about such a versatile skill after all! The only problem was that he only had one Undead that he could use this skill on... Raphael.

This skill could only be used on the beings from the Realm of Death and not on the artificially created Death Knights.

That flaw made the skill a little redundant since he didn't want to leave Raphael behind. Raphael was his secret in case of emergency after all.

He didn't answer right away, taking some time to think about it. Honestly, taking Avilia with him wasn't bad at all. He knew the advantages of such a thing. Moreover, it wasn't as if he was going to collect some treasure that she could steal from him.

There were many safeguards in place even if he took her. On the other hand, her presence could help him get rid of a lot of unnecessary troubles!

"Alright. Assign a Shadow Beast to the lady. You are coming with me." After a long time, he finally agreed. This was also something which could help him bring Avilia closer to him for his future goals.

A graceful smile spread across the lips of Avilia. She knew it was going to get boring if she had to stay behind. Even if Gabriel didn't take her, she was planning to sneak out after he left, leaving only a shadow beast behind. However, now that he agreed, it was much easier.

She assigned a Shadow Beast to keep an eye on the young maid who was escorted to a prison cell by the Death Knights. At the same time, she also assigned some other beasts to keep an eye on the outskirts of the Empire so she could know whenever a threat entered Arecia.

At the moment, the Royal Palace of Arecia was completely under the protection of two Holy Priests!

It was six in the morning. Gabriel sat on the roof of the palace, looking at the rising sun in the distance.

If one was to just look at nature like this, the world appeared to be so peaceful. However, it was only when people looked deep within the undercurrent that they could see how chaotic this entire world was, especially for an existence like him.

"Are you ready?" Avilia arrived on the roof where Gabriel was waiting for her already.

Gabriel stood up.

Avilia raised her hand toward the sky. She didn't speak a single word and she cast a Summoning Spell.

A majestic Summoning Circle appeared in the sky which was close to thirty meters wide. From the Summoning Circle, a flying beast rushed out, spreading its beautiful wings so wide that for a moment, it felt as if the beast was covering the entire sun!

After circling the sky once, the beast stopped above Avilia.

Both Avilia and Gabriel flew up, landing on the back of the beast.

The majestic beast was beautiful as well as huge. It was enough to carry over fifty people on its back easily and still have enough space for everyone to rest comfortably.

"Where in Lumen City are we going?" Avilia asked.

"The Royal City," Gabriel answered. "It's time to go back."

As soon as Gabriel spoke, the Beast started flying. Its speed was many times faster than the peak flying speed of Gabriel.

"How many people in Lumen have seen your real face and believe that you're a Dark Mage?" Along the way, Avilia asked.

"Not many," Gabriel replied. "Only Izen and the Head Teachers of the Academy."

Hearing the answer, Avilia couldn't help but facepalm herself. "Doesn't that make it to almost everyone significant then?"

"Your aura is well hidden so as long as you don't come across a Holy Priest, no one should be able to sense your real identity. However, your face will give us away, creating some troubles," she continued on her train of thoughts, trying to find the safest option without creating too much noise.

"It doesn't matter even if they know," Gabriel responded. "In any case, it's impossible to achieve what I want in Lumen peacefully."

Avilia didn't understand what Gabriel was implying or what his goals were, but she had a really bad feeling about all this. Just what was this guy planning that couldn't be achieved peacefully? There were many questions in her head.

"Don't tell me you're really going to target the Church of Light?" she asked after a brief pause.

Avilia stared at Gabriel, wondering if he really had such a thought in his mind. He had attacked the Church of Flames not long ago, making them suffer like they never did before. It hadn't even been a week since then and he was now moving onto another Church?

Gabriel glanced at the young lady next to him, but didn't explain his true thoughts for the time being.

Receiving no response, Avilia could only roll her eyes and stopped asking. In any case, it didn't matter if he told him or not. As long as she was accompanying him, she was going to know what he planned when the time came.

Moreover, even if he planned to attack the Church of Light for whatever reason, it had nothing to do with her. It wasn't as if she was going to take part in that battle. She had already cleared her stance about this.

Silence ensued as no one spoke anymore. Only the sound of rushing winds could be heard as the beast raced through the vast sky.

undefined...

Three hours passed and the flying beast was already close to the Royal City of Lumen. Throughout the way, none of the two spoke anything.

Fortunately, they didn't come across anyone else during their journey either. Not many people could afford such majestic flying beasts that could fly at such an altitude after all.

At such a height, it was even impossible to observe the ground. Only the clouds could be seen under the flying beast.

"We are getting close to the Royal City. Do you really not want to use any disguise?"

The long silence was finally broken by the Holy Priestess of Summoning. According to Gabriel, there were many people who had seen his real face in Lumen. It was quite troublesome to enter without a disguise.

"You think I wouldn't have used a disguise if I had the ability?" Gabriel answered. He really had no way to disguise his face in a convincing manner. The only reason he was able to do it last time was thanks to Lambard's ring.

"If possible, I would've preferred to deal with Lambard first to get a disguise treasure," he added. "Even if I manage to find his whereabouts with the help of his maid, it's quite hard to deal with him due to the protective city he hides inside."

" He can't be handled in a short time. So I had to forget about that treasure for the time being. It's much better to wait for him to crawl out of his city in search of that woman. As for this trip, it can't be delayed."

"Do you really think Lambard will come out of his city for that woman?" The Holy Priestess of Summoning couldn't help but laugh.

She lightly tapped Gabriel's forehead. "Young man, it seems you really don't know that rat well. If there was a ranking of cowards, Lambard would've been at the top of that ranking."

"Even if you find his parents and kill them outside the city, he won't come out, especially when it's clearly a trap. To him, his life is most precious."

"I know it won't be easy to make him come out. Still, it's worth a try. If he doesn't come out soon enough, it won't be too late to go to his city personally."

Gabriel really wanted that ring of disguise since it was so helpful. However, trying to take the ring from Lambard was no different than trying to pull meat out of a lion's mouth.

Avilia had already told him that the Holy Priestess of Thunder and the Holy Priestess of Water attacked him together. Despite such an assault, he was still safe and sound inside the city.

If he had that kind of defensive capabilities, even Gabriel wasn't confident enough to be able to break his defence even if he found Lambard.

What was worse for him was Lambard's skill which helped him teleport his city to an unknown location. Even if he found that city, if he couldn't deal with it swiftly, it was no less than giving Lambard an opportunity to shift his city again. At that point, finding him would've been even harder.

Gabriel wanted to be Swift and decisive in his strike to make sure that he didn't give Lambard a chance to escape when he did so. That was why he didn't go there right away. First he wanted to be stronger! And the key to that strength was what lied in the Royal City of Lumen!

"Don't worry about me. I'll find my own way inside the city."

Even though he didn't have a way to disguise himself in a convincing manner, he still had enough confidence in being able to enter the City and about unnecessary attention.

For a brief moment, Avilia glared at the young man. "You really love to make simple things more complicated, don't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that with my help, do you really need to sneak around?" The Holy Priestess asked.

"What are you implying?" Gabriel still didn't understand what the woman was trying to say. He wondered if she meant that she was going to shelter him openly to make sure that no one harmed him even if he walked openly. However, he soon realized that with this girl's personality, that wasn't possible.

"I mean you don't need a Numen for such a simple thing. I'm enough for that."

"You mean with my disguise? You have a way?"

The young lady only smiled in response as she joined her hands. A small formation circle appeared before her in the air.

Gabriel curiously looked at the summoning circle which looked slightly different than the ones from before.

The summoning circle was also way smaller than the one before. It only had a diameter of twenty centimetres.

From the small formation circle, a small creature flew out. The strange creature was quite odd. It was like a small sparrow, but it was even smaller than Gabriel's finger. It was as if someone had made a miniature version of a seven coloured sparrow.

"What is this creature?" Gabriel asked, observing the tiny sparrow which circled the Holy Priestess of Summoning while the summoning circle disappeared.

"It's the Seven-coloured Illusory Sparrow. Don't look at its size. It's a high tier beast. In terms of sheer magical powers, it should be comparable to a Head Priest," Avilia answered, surprising Gabriel.

She raised her hand. The small sparrow landed on the beautiful hand of the young lady. "That's only based on the magical strength though. Its fighting strength is almost nil."

"You mean it can't even defeat an ordinary Mage if you sent it to fight?" Gabriel asked.

Avilia nodded.

"Then what's the use of its magical strength? It can't be that simple, can it? With the topic at hand and based on its name, I suppose it uses its magical strength to cast some omission?" Gabriel inquired, already having a rough guess.

"Exactly. With its help, as long as you don't come across Izen or another Holy Priest, no one should be able to see what you really look like. This should help you move freely."

As Avilia finished speaking, she sent a command to the little sparrow. The sparrow flew closer to Gabriel and landed on the young man's shoulders.

As soon as the sparrow landed, its body started shining, covering Gabriel in a mysterious light.

An illusion appeared around Gabriel, thanks to the little bird. In the illusion, he looked like a completely different man. He was slightly taller. His face was still young and handsome, but quite different from his real face. His hair appeared blonde and his eyes a beautiful shade of blue that could charm even the most stubborn of ladies.

"Not bad," Avilia smirked. She could see through the illusion, but she could also see what the illusion made him appear. "Though I must say, I prefer your real face. In this illusion, you look like a sheltered brat."

ven though Gabriel didn't care about how he looked, he was still curious about how the illusion showed him to the others.

Avilia realized what he was thinking about and gave him a brief description about his present looks.

"You need to keep one thing in mind. The Seven-colored Illusory Sparrow needs to be in contact with you for that illusion to work. So let it rest on your shoulder for the time being."

Gabriel nodded, observing the fascinating little beast. Even though the tiny bird was small, he found it to be quite useful. The bird wasn't as useful as the Ring of Apophis since unlike the ring, it couldn't hide the aura of a person and could only give a disguise.

"Being a Summoner is quite useful for sure." He was even more impressed by Avilia's abilities. The young lady had many beasts, and if all of them had a unique ability like that, that meant he really underestimated her.

undefinedHe had only seen three of her beasts and all three were amazing. One could fly many times faster than an ordinary mage. Other could use shadows and most probably could've been used for assassination. And the third could be used for disguise. The more he came to know about her, the more mysterious she appeared.

"You will disguise as well?" he asked the Holy Priestess of Summoning. "Or you'll be coming openly as a Holy Priestess of Summoning?"

Avilia chuckled as she shook her head. "I can't disclose my identity, can I? It would bring too much attention to us. I will enter like an ordinary Mage. I don't think many people here are familiar with how I look."

" The Priests from the Holy Church of Light didn't attend the Saint Summit either, so they haven't met me before. As long as I don't openly declare my identity, I doubt they would know who I am... At least as long as our luck isn't bad enough for us to come across the Izen or the Lord of Light."

Unlike Gabriel, her identity wasn't widely spread. Not many people had seen her before since she didn't deal with the matters of the Church as a representative. It was only recently that she attended a meeting and revealed her face but there weren't any people from Lumen there.

"That's good." Gabriel didn't ask too much about that, shifting his attention to his disguise. "By the way, can you modify this illusion a bit?"

"Modify how? And why?"

"I don't want anyone to see that I'm wearing gloves. If the illusion can show no gloves and only a single Mark of Light on my left hand, it would be good."

Gabriel had two marks. Previously, he was able to enter the City by showing his Mark of Light. However, now that mark had merged with the Mark of Darkness, making it look really strange. He couldn't show that to anyone. As for showing his Mark of Necromancy, that was even more out of question.

"That won't be a problem." Avilia nodded, sending another message to the little bird, modifying the illusion a little more.

Twenty minutes later... The flying beast started going down. Within seconds, it was under the clouds.

Now that Gabriel was under the cloud, he was able to see the Royal City of Lumen in the distance.

The Royal City was still far enough for it to look like a small dot in the distance.

"We will fly on our own from here..."

Avilia started rising in the air. Gabriel also did the same, following Avilia. None of them wanted Avilia's beast to be seen since it had the risk of exposing her identity.

As soon as Avilia and Gabriel got off the air, the majestic flying eagle disappeared into thin air, returning to the realm of summons.

"That's strange. Why don't I see the golden barrier anymore?"

After flying closer to the City, the small speck started getting bigger, revealing the beautiful city. However, Gabriel felt the City looked quite different. Last time he was here, there was a majestic golden barrier which stopped the entry of the Dark Mages. However, now that barrier appears to be missing.

"You brat, did you forget that you broke that barrier last time you escaped?" Avilia burst into laughter. Even she didn't know about this previously. If not for the meeting of Head Priests, she never would've known how much this city suffered in the hands of this young man either.

"They still haven't repaired that?"

Gabriel knew he broke the barrier last time. However, this was the City of the Church of Light. He had assumed that the barrier would've been back by now.

"You think it's easy to cast a barrier of that level?" Avilia rolled her eyes. "Only the Holy Priest of Light can cast that barrier and that too after a lot of effort."

"You mean Lord of Light isn't in the city?" Hearing the news, Gabriel was slightly pleased. One less expert of the Holy Priest level in the city made things a little easier.

"Yeah. From the news I've received, he went to the Forgotten City of Gods." Avilia affirmed. "The last time you caused the damage in his city, he was already out. If he was in the city, I think the outcome could've been quite different."

"Is he that strong?" Gabriel had never seen the Holy Priest of Light and had no idea how strong he was. However, from the rumours he heard, the guy didn't make any moves.

At least a few people had still seen Avilia in this world. However, it was said that no one other than the members of the Church of Light had ever seen the Holy Lord.

"I'm not sure how strong he is either since he never revealed himself or his strength. If I were to say, the current Holy Priest of Light is supposedly the most mysterious, even to us. However, if I were to consider the historical patterns of the Holy Lords, the Holy Priest of the Church of Light should be quite strong..."

"Anyway, you should really be glad that he isn't in the city. If you want to make a move on the City, it's the best opportunity you'll have."

Inside the Royal City, the Church of Light had been a hot topic of conversation throughout the days.

A long line could be seen outside the gate of the Church of Light . All the Mages who had the element of Light were called to the Church of Light today, especially the ones who weren't members of the Church of Light.

Usually, no one other than the members were allowed to enter the Church. However, for some unknown reason, the Church of Light came out with a sudden declaration a few days ago, inviting all Mages of Light.

The announcement didn't mention the reason at all. However, it was clear that this wasn't a small matter. Many people had a feeling that whatever it was related to was enough to change the world...

The golden barrier around the city which restricted the entry of Dark Mages was broken. However, that didn't mean it was easy for a Dark Mage to enter. The security around the city was increased in the absence of the Golden Barrier.

Surprisingly enough, a Head Priest of the Church of Light was placed at every entrance of the City. Moreover, the City had used some means to ban teleportations inside the city. No one could sneak inside in such a way. Whoever wanted to enter the City had to do so through the main entrance.

Gabriel advanced closer to the City entrance on foot, accompanied by the Holy Priestess of had also restricted her powerful aura to make sure that even a Head Priest couldn't see her as anything more than an ordinary mage.

There was a long line before the entrance of the City itself and surprisingly enough out of people who were trying to enter the City, more than ninety percent of them were Light Element Mages b

"I didn't know this City was such a desired place for Light Mages. There are so many Light Mages standing in line to enter the City." Avilia was slightly curious about just what could be attracting so many Light Mages to Lumen.

undefinedShe wasn't the only one who was surprised. Gabriel also appeared quite intrigued. Last time he came here, he had seen many Light Mages, but the other Element Mages were certainly more in numbers. However for some reason, at the moment the place was overwhelmed by Light Mages.

"There must be a reason for so many people to come here," Avilia muttered, glancing at Gabriel in amusement. "You know it, don't you? You came here for the same reason?"

"You give me too much credit." Gabriel shrugged. "I've no idea why they are all here. One thing I'm sure of though. They didn't come here for the same reason as me."

With time, more and more people entered the City after checking and verification. Slowly yet steadily, Gabriel moved forward in the line. However, the line hadn't shortened at all. As people entered the City, even more people joined the line.

"Whatever attracts these people should be special. Let me ask someone." Avilia couldn't let her curiosity torment her anymore. She decided to ask the people in her surrounding.

"Excuse me." She turned around, focusing on the man behind her.

The man who stood behind Avilia was in her early twenties as well. He was initially concerned about entering the City and didn't focus on his surroundings. However as Avilia turned around his eyes lit up.

The man was instantly dazed before the young lady's beauty. He had no idea that the person who stood before him was such a beauty.

"Y-yes." He stuttered for a moment as his face turned red. He had never talked to such a beautiful lady before. He didn't feel confident enough in himself. In the end, he could only lower his hand, sneakily stealing glances.

Avilia understood the thoughts of the young man clearly. However, she didn't react. It wasn't her first time seeing people like that. If anything, the man was much better than others before since he was at least not brazen enough. If he had been more brazen, she could've already thrashed him.

"I wanted to ask you why so many Light Mages have gathered here so suddenly. Would it be possible for little brother to enlighten us?"

"Cough cough!" The man was shy, but hearing the lady call him little brother, he almost felt like he had choked.

He had been thinking about how to get closer to the lady yet she had already made him a little brother? He couldn't help but scratch the back of his head in embarrassment. From the young lady's words it was clear that she had no interest in him and was intentionally speaking such words to make it clear to him.

He could only swallow that awkward feeling and explain. "It's because of the Decree of the Church of Light."

"Decree of the Church?" The Holy Priestess asked in confusion.

There was only one time when the Church had issued a decree, and that was when it fought the Church of Darkness years ago. And that was when they needed warriors in a battle against the Church of Darkness which was at its peak.

Even Gabriel was intrigued by this, paying more attention to the explanation.

"What Decree?" he asked.

The young man in the back frowned, noticing the mark on the back of Gabriel's hand. "Young friend, you're also a Mage of Light. Since you're here, I thought you came here because of that decree as well."

Gabriel shook his head. "I've no idea. I just came here for something else. What Decree could you be talking about?x

"Young friend, you've truly been a frog at the bottom of the well. Still your luck is quite good that you're here, despite not knowing anything." The young man smiled wryly. "Anyway, the Church issued a Decree asking all the Light Mages to gather before the Church of Light for a great opportunity."

"Great opportunity?" Avilia frowned, curiously glancing back at the nearby City.

"That's right. Apparently, the Church has recently decided to select a Holy Son of the Light. However, they don't want to restrict this to only the members of the Church."

"That's why, everyone has been called here. If destiny wills it, the person who is selected would immediately soar through the skies!" The young man exclaimed with fervour in his eyes as if he had been dreaming of this day and night!

"Holy Child?" Gabriel frowned. He held the hand of Avilia and pulled her closer to him, whispering in her ears. "What is that?"

He could've asked the question to the young man as well, however from what he could understand, the man already told them the content of the decree. Other than that, he could never have more information about such a thing compared to Avilia.

Avilia didn't immediately answer. She appeared to be lost in some thoughts. "A Holy Child? Something doesn't seem right..."

The young man in the back saw Gabriel grab the young lady's hands and turn her toward him. His face turned red in jealousy but he couldn't do anything. It appeared that the young lady had some line of special relationship with Gabriel so he let it be. He just closed his eyes, not speaking much.

"What are you thinking?" Gabriel asked the Holy Priestess who was lost in thoughts.

Avilia came to her senses and explained. "A Holy Child is a position that's said to be just under the Holy Lord of Light. A Holy Child is allowed to train under the Holy Lord, personally learning from him the spells that others can't even dream of. "

She continued with her line of thought. "The Church of Light has never had a Holy Child throughout their history though. For them to do something like this now of all times? I have a feeling it's not as simple as it looks. Something else is going on..."

"Why do you think that?" Gabriel asked. Even though he also felt that there was something more than caught the eye, he wanted to know why Avilia thought that

Avilia moved closer to Gabriel. She didn't want to use a barrier to isolate them since they were standing in a line. She brought her lips closer to Gabriel's ears and explained in a low voice.

"Other than the high tier members of the Church, only us Holy Lords have been informed about the absence of the Holy Lord of Light from the City."

"That's why most people might not find this odd. However, we should be able to see the flaw in this. Since the Holy Lord isn't in the city, why would the Church select a Holy Child now?"

"That's true. Since a Holy Child is essentially a disciple of the Holy Lord who is essentially guaranteed to become a High Ranking Member of the Church in the future, he should be selected by the Holy Lord himself." Gabriel also felt the same as Avilia. This was also the reason why he felt something was amiss.

undefined"There can only be two possibilities in this situation." Gabriel muttered, as if talking to himself. "Amongst the two possibilities, one might be extremely bad for us. As for the other, I can't say if it's bad or good for the time being."

"Oh? What possibilities?" Avilia asked. Since she was already sticking closer to Gabriel, she was able to hear his musings. "Let me know what you think."

Gabriel felt something soft sticking closer to his back. He initially wanted Avilia to move back a little. However, since they couldn't let anyone else hear their conversation, he let it be. If anything, he also moved slightly closer.

"The first possibility is that the Holy Lord of Light is still in the city. Maybe he returned from his trip already or maybe the Church lied to you about his absence in the first place? In any case, if he's in the city, the situation might not be so good for us," Gabriel answered softly.

Avilia's chin was resting on his shoulders as she listened to Gabriel. The two of them appeared so close, that if one was to observe them, anyone could've been fooled to think of them as two lovers.

"That's true. If he's in the city, he would sooner or later sense your presence the moment you get close to the Church of Light." Avilia also understood just what it implied. The Lord of Light was supposed to be one of the most capable Mages in the World after all, with skills that were granted by the Holy Grimoire of Light.

Amongst all the Grimoires, the Holy Grimoire of Light was known for its extremely versatile skills. It was said that there was nothing a Holy Lord of Light couldn't do if they were talented enough. That was also the reason why the Church of Light reigned supreme throughout the centuries.

Even though the Holy Lord of Light didn't make an appearance in the years, just the title and the prestige was enough to make people hesitate in offending the Church of Light.

"If you want to attack the Church of Light, you need to be really careful. The Church of Light is different from the Church of Flames. It's an entity in an entirely different league from what I've heard," Avilia reminded Gabriel.

She didn't care about fighting someone since she had skills and faith in her abilities. However, if she had to avoid fighting one person in her life, she would've chosen the Holy Lord of Light above all other current Holy Lords!

"I know. I didn't come here to destroy the Church of Light," Gabriel replied. "I came here for something else. However, now I'm really intrigued... I really want to pay them a visit..."

Initially, his purpose in coming here wasn't to fight the Church of Light. If anything, he didn't have anything to do with them. It was a useless task with not enough rewards.

"Not for the Church of Light?" Avilia frowned, wondering if she really misunderstood him. "Why did you come here then?"

"I came here for the Academy of Elements initially," Gabriel answered. Now they were already at that point, he just let her know. "There is something in the Academy that I need."

"The Academy?" Avilia smiled wryly. When Gabriel said he wasn't here for the Church of Light, she thought that it was good. He didn't have to fight a powerful person. However, after knowing his real intentions, she could only shake her head.

Didn't he just swap one powerful enemy for the other? She thought, staring at Gabriel. The Church of Light was powerful with their Holy Lord's presence. However the Academy wasn't weak either! The Academy had Izen, who could nullify all attacks on him! He was no weaker than a Holy Lord!

"That's right. I came here for the Academy. However, after seeing all this commotion in the city, I think I would be making some changes in my plans. I want to check what's going on with the Church of Light!"

Gabriel was here for something else. However, his current plans had slightly changed, all thanks to such a huge change in the city.

"You mean you want to deal with your matters at the Academy as well as deal with the Church?" Avilia rolled her eyes. She already understood Gabriel to some extent. This guy really wasn't afraid of death.

"That's right. I can't ignore the Academy since it has something that can help me get what I want..." Gabriel explained. "As for the Church of Light, maybe I would've avoided it if the first possibility about the Holy Lord being in the city was true, but I don't think that's the case."

"And why is that?" Avilia asked. "Also, what's the second possibility you thought about?"

"I don't think the Holy Lord of Light is in the city. If he was, he probably would've repaired the golden barrier. The Church could've claimed that they used some treasure to repair the barrier and hid the news about his presence. It wouldn't have changed anything. However the barrier is still missing. That means the Holy Lord of Light isn't here."

"As for the second possibility, it's simple. The Church of Light is lying about their purpose in calling all the Light Mages here. It's certainly not for them to select a Holy Child. They are using the Holy Child position as bait to call so many Light Mages here."

Gabriel already had a basic idea in his mind about the situation, which was what he was interested in.

"Why would they do that?" The Holy Priestess of Light asked, still so close to Gabriel that it appeared as if she was hugging him from behind.

"They probably wanted to invite all the Light Mages here, so they had to use powerful bait to attract everyone. However, I think whatever they called all the Light Mages here for is probably more precious than a Holy Child position since they mobilized all their forces," Gabriel answered, still keeping his voice low. "They just didn't want to tell the truth so as to not attract the attention of the other Churches."

His fists clenched as he stared at the City. The line kept getting shorter. He didn't know what the Church of Light had planned, but he could see that it was a perfect opportunity like never before, especially for someone like him who actually had the Element of Light!

"Whatever they have in mind, I want to see myself. If it's good, I want to take it for myself! I'm also a Light Mage after all. However, if it's bad, I would personally send them down the path of no return…"

Three hours... After three hours, the line before Gabriel finally shortened to the point where there was only one person in line before him.

After the person's identity was verified, he was allowed to enter.

The guards glared at Gabriel, seemingly tired after a day's hard work. "Hurry up."

Gabriel stepped forward. He could see that not too far from him, a Head Priest of Light was sitting comfortably on a chair. He wasn't paying much attention to people in the line. It was clear that he was just here in case of emergencies. The task of checking was left to ordinary Mages.

undefined"Another mage of Light." The Guards noticed the mark on the back of Gabriel's hands. Thanks to the illusion, they couldn't see anything more than an ordinary Mark of Light.

"What is your name?" The guard asked. "And where are you from?"

"I'm Raziel," Gabriel answered, making up a fake identity. "I came from the Empire of Yann after hearing about the decree from the Church."

"Another person who wants to be a Holy Child?" The guards sighed. There were so many people like Gabriel in the city already. They didn't think much about it.

The guard signalled another guard.

The second guard came forward, holding a small white sphere in his hand. He handed over the sphere to the main guard.

The main guard raised the sphere before Gabriel. "Send a little of your elemental strength to this orb."

Gabriel observed the sphere with a frown. He didn't know what that thing did, but he had a feeling it wasn't simple.

"What is that thing?" he asked.

"As a Mage of Light, you need to prove your identity. Only then will you be allowed entry into the city. Last time, a bastard entered the City using an illusion. That's why we have this verification now," Another guard explained a bit. "Once you use your Elemental Strength, no illusion can fool this sphere. Only if your Element of Light is real will this sphere shine."

"I see." Gabriel didn't show any expressions of fear on his face. If what the guard said was true then he didn't feel any need to worry. His Element of Light was real after all. It was a pure uncorrupted element, even though its mark had merged with the Mark of Darkness.

Gabriel didn't place his hand directly on the sphere, leaving merely an inch of gap between his hand and the sphere. At the same time, he used a small spell of light, sending his pure aura of Light to the sphere to prove his identity.

As soon as he sent his pure aura to the sphere, the sphere started shining. Moreover, that shine was even brighter than anything the guards saw before which proved that his element was not only more pure than others, but it was also quite powerful.

The guards looked at Gabriel in surprise. With this kind of purity, they thought of something and stepped aside. "Please enter."

At the moment, the guards were even more respectful for Gabriel as if they didn't want to offend him.

With the decree of the Church, the ordinary guards still believed that the Church was looking for a Holy Child and with what they just saw, they thought that Gabriel had the highest chance of becoming a Holy Child amongst all the ones that entered before him.

Gabriel took another glance at the Head Priest in the distance who still had his eyes closed, seemingly lost in meditation.

He entered the City and waited not too far from the guards for Avilia to enter.

"Name and purpose of entry?" The guards asked Avilia.

"I'm Riva. My purpose in coming here is to accompany my husband," Avilia answered, showing an innocent smile.

"Your husband? Where is he?" The guards inquired. They looked behind the young lady, wondering if the man behind her was her husband. However, when they saw Avilia pointing behind them, they turned around, noticing Gabriel looking in their direction.

"Ah, so you're the wife of that young man. You're quite lucky, young lady. If the young man is lucky enough, he might become the next Holy Child. Then you'll have the honour of being the wife of a Holy Child!" The guard laughed. "Please verify your element and then you can enter as well."

"You're right. I never could've imagined that an ordinary person like me would have the chance of being the wife of someone in such a high position," Avilia smiled as she raised her hand.

She verified her element through another sphere. She was also allowed to enter and catch up with Gabriel.

It was only when Gabriel and Avilia left that the Head Priest at the entrance slowly opened his eyes, glancing at the back of the two young people in the distance.

Inside the Church of Light, it was very crowded. One after another, young mages of Light were being invited inside the Church, only to be sent out a few minutes later. All the ones who were being sent out were being told to go back to where they came from.

No one outside knew just what was happening inside the Church of Light. All those who came didn't say anything either, it was as if they were commanded to keep their mouth shut.

Inside one of the rooms in the Church of Light, the Head Priests were sitting around a table. In front of them was a wall that was made entirely of glass which connected to another room.

Through this room, they could see what was happening in the other room. However, in the other room, no one could see through the glass to see what was on the other side.

All the Head Priests in this room had an angry and uncomfortable expression on their face as if they hated the whole thing.

In the middle of the table, a pure white book was lying, unmoving.

The Head Priests were often looking back and forth between the white book on the table and the youngsters on the other side of the glass window who were being called in and sent back one after another.

"I hate it!" One of the Head Priests said with clenched teeth as if he was so angry that he wanted to kill people right now?

"It's the seventeenth time in the last twenty minutes that you've said it," Another Head Priest scoffed. "You think we like it?!"

All the Head Priests in the room were upset yet they couldn't do anything about it.

"We have no choice but to do it."

"The City is just as lively as before." It was Gabriel's second time coming into the city. In fact, it wasn't wrong to say that this city was the place where he actually started his journey on the path of becoming the strongest mage.

The only difference this time was that there were less people with other Elements since there was no recruitment of the Academy of Elements. Instead, there were young light mages who came here to fulfil their dreams and become the Holy Child.

It wasn't wrong to say that other than the Head Priests of the Church of Light, only Gabriel and Avilia knew that it was nothing but a lie.

"So, are we going to the Church now?" Avilia walked next to Gabriel on his journey, wondering where they were to go next.

Gabriel didn't answer. He still hadn't decided where to go first. He wanted to go to the more dangerous place at the end so he could leave right after.

undefined"Can you check if Izen is actually inside the Academy?" In the end, he asked Avilia's help. If Izen was there, he wanted to deal with the Academy in the end. Without Izen, the Academy was an easier target after all.

"I don't need to check. I know he's in the Academy. So far, he hasn't sensed us because I'm hiding our presence. However, if we get closer to the Academy, it won't be long before he senses us."

As Avilia was answering Gabriel's question, Izen was sitting inside his office, busy in a meeting with the Head Teachers. The Academy had suffered many losses last time after all. They had lost all their inventory and spirit stones which they used to train students.

Izen and the others were trying to solve the problem of the Spirit Stones first since that was the most urgent task at hand. In fact, Izen had already asked the Royal Family of Lumen for a favor, asking them to give more Spirit Stones to the Academy for the time being.

"That makes it more complicated." Since he had verified that Izen was still inside the city, he decided to deal with the Church of Light first. "Tell me one more thing. Can Izen sense me inside the Church of Light?"

"What do you mean?" Avilia didn't understand what Gabriel was actually trying to ask.

"When I was inside the Church of Flames, I sensed that the space inside was different. It was harder to spy inside from outside even when I stood right outside the door. I want to know if it's the same with the Church of Light? Once I'm inside the Church of Light, can Izen sense me if he's nearby?"

What Gabriel wanted to try was more complicated than a game of chess. He had to create a delicate balance between two things. He had to make sure that Izen couldn't interfere in his matters before he was done dealing with the Church of Light's matter.

Last time, Izen had managed to sense him, even though he wore the ring. This time, he didn't want Izen to sense him and enter the Church to expose his identity again.

"That? You don't have to worry about that. Once you enter the Church of Light, even if I'm not near you to shield your subtle aura, Izen can't sense you. Unless Izen or a Holy Lord is directly inside the Church of Light, they can't sense you because the space inside a Church is protected from outside prying. It's the same with every Church."

"I see." With the new information, Gabriel was slightly relieved. This meant that Izen couldn't interfere and expose his identity, no matter what he did inside the Church.

As for Izen entering that place, it was almost impossible. He was sure that even Izen wouldn't be allowed to enter the Church, especially in the absence of the Holy Lord of Light.

Even amidst the crowd, the two youngsters walked unobstructed, immersed in their discussion. While most of the Light Mages were taking the shortest route of reaching the Church of Light, Gabriel took the longer route, only to avoid the Academy for the time being.

After taking the longer route and under the protection of Avilia, Gabriel finally reached the Church of Light, only to be stunned at the size of the massive line before him!

There were already over five hundred people in the line, waiting patiently.

Fortunately, each person who was entering the Church was coming out after merely a few minutes. That meant he had to wait for around six or seven hours. The time was long, but it wasn't too long.

Gabriel stood in the line while Avilia stood in the distance, keeping a subtle eye on him. At the same time, she also observed Izen secretly to make sure that Izen didn't suddenly come out of the Academy without them realizing.

Three hours passed and Gabriel moved forward in the line to the point that there were only three hundred people before him. He didn't know what the Church was trying to do, but one thing was clear. They hadn't succeeded so far.

Two more hours passed. It's been over five hours since Gabriel entered the City and he was finally close to entering the Church of Light. There were only seventy people before him now. The speed of people going in and out was much faster now.

At the same time, the meeting between Izen and the Head Teachers had finished as well.

Izen has issued all of the Head Teachers some instructions. Head Teacher of House of Lightning Qin, and Leader of House of Summoning Xinxi were assigned the task of going to the Royal Palace. They were in charge of bringing back the Spirit Stones from the Royal Palace.

Head Teacher of Element of Earth Rem, and Leader of House Of Wind Lishen were tasked with overseeing all the repair work, including the repair of all the protective formations that were damaged last time.

The other Head Teachers were also issued other important tasks to improve the working of the Academy. Only the Head Teacher of Light Eliana hadn't been told to do anything.

"Eliana, come out with me." Izen told Eliana who was the only person left in the meeting with him now.

"Where are we going?" Eliana asked Izen. Izen didn't usually tell her to accompany him after all. Whenever Izen left the Academy, he left all alone.

"I'm just getting bored, sitting here all week," Izen replied as a tired sigh was heard in the room. He stretched his arms lazily, yawning. "I heard the Church of Light has been busy with selecting their Holy Child? Since it seemed interesting, I thought we should check it out as well."

With his hands in his pocket, Izen left the office. Two beautiful wings appeared behind his back as he rose in the air. Eliana also followed the man. Both of their destination... The Church of Light!

Izen left the Academy and flew toward the Church of Light, being accompanied by Eliana who looked like a little girl, creating a stark contrast with her position and real age.

Izen hadn't flown for a long time before he slowed down. Even his expressions changed to some extent.

"This aura, it feels familiar..." he mumbled as he increased his speed.

Eliana was initially confused as to why Izen would suddenly slow down. However, before she could ask anything, Izen increased his speed again.

undefinedThe two of them soon reached the Church of Light, landing at the entrance. While Eliana observed the entrance of the Church of Light, she noticed that Izen wasn't focused on that. On the contrary, Izen was looking elsewhere.

"Is something wrong?" she asked Izen who glared at a person in the distance with a frown on his face. His hands were behind his back as if he was a worldly expert.

Izen didn't explain much to Eliana right away. He just started walking in the distance, keeping his eyes on one particular person.

In the distance, a person stood without much care in the World. It was clear that the person had also noticed Izen.

Izen stopped on the other side of the road in front of the young lady. "Holy Priestess of Summoning... I had a feeling that it was a familiar aura. May I know what you're doing here?"

As Izen spoke, he didn't forget to observe the surroundings. There was no way this girl would come here for no reason. She didn't even leave her home until there was something worth her attention after all.

"Can't I take a walk outside?" Avilia responded. There was not much reaction on her face. However, in the inside, she was somewhat relieved, looking at the entrance of the Church of Light.

'He's really lucky, it seems. Saved by a few seconds. Otherwise...'

A few minutes ago...

Gabriel stood in the line. It's been hours and even though the line had been moving quite fast, it felt extremely slow with how many people there were. There were already over five hundred people behind Gabriel in line now. It was said that Light Mages were somewhat rare, but if one was to look at the City, they never would've thought that.

Avilia was standing in the distance. She had been quite calm all this time, but for some reason, she currently had a frown on her face as she looked into the distance.

"Looks like it's time to leave," she muttered as she walked toward Gabriel to inform him of something. However, she had only taken a few steps before stopping as she noticed an old man in the distance who was observing Gabriel.

The old man had the Mark of Light on the back of his hand. He was none other than the old man who they had seen sitting at the entrance of the City. The old man initially didn't pay much attention to them as far as she had seen.

However, now that he was returning to the Church after finishing his task for the day, switching his position with another Head Priest, he was more focused on Gabriel who was in the line.

"You." He stopped before Gabriel who had over a hundred people before him in the line.

Gabriel looked back at the old man. Initially, he thought that the old man noticed some flaw in his illusion, but from the man's reaction, that didn't appear to be the case.

"Come with me," the old man coldly told Gabriel. It was as if even though he paid attention to Gabriel, he still didn't think that Gabriel was worth his respect for the time being. It was just that he felt that Gabriel had the potential for the time being after the spirit sphere's reaction to his pure aura.

When Gabriel was tested, no one knew that the man who appeared to be sleeping at that time was also paying attention.

Gabriel didn't resist. The old man was strong, but he wasn't a threat, at least to him. If anything, the old man could be used.

Gabriel stepped out of the line and followed the old man who took Gabriel straight to the front at the entrance of the Church. Since the man had seen Gabriel's potential, he took the young man directly to the Church to get him tested.

As he was accompanied by a Head Priest, no guards dared to stop him from entering the Church. Moreover, for the time being, not a single person noticed who he really was!

Gabriel took his first step, entering the Church of Light. As soon as he entered, he actually felt as if he had stepped inside an entirely different world! The aura of Light inside the Church of Light was incomparably pure.

Just being present inside the Church of Light was beneficial to him as he felt his Element of Light being stimulated and his strength increasing.

'No wonder this place is called the Holy Land for Light Mages.' He thought, not realizing just how close he was to getting caught by an old acquaintance.

Merely a few seconds after he entered the Church of Light, Izen and Eliana arrived outside the Church of Light. The two sides missed each other only by a small gap.

Since Gabriel was inside the Church of Light, Izen couldn't sense him. Instead, he noticed Avilia who was still staying there, in case of an emergency.

Avilia didn't explain her reason for being there and Izen knew that it was impossible for him to get an answer out of her. Despite her not answering, Izen knew that her presence had something to do with the Church of Light.

Curious, he glanced back at the Church. He already had a feeling that something was wrong with the Church selecting a Holy Child in the absence of the Holy Lord of Light.

Avilia's presence only confirmed his suspicions even more. Something else was going on here... Something that was enough to attract the attention of this demoness!

A calm smile appeared on his face, hiding his real thoughts. "Eliana, you shall take a look inside as well. It's not bad to become a Holy Child after all."

"I don't want to be a Holy Child," Eliana responded. She was already quite old and experienced. In fact, she was comparable to a Head Priest already. Wasn't becoming a Holy Child something similar to being demoted in seniority at this point?

"Do as I said. Enter the Church and investigate. I want to know everything that's happening inside. And if you really end up becoming a Holy Child, it's not bad either. The Holy Lord of Light really knows some decent spells that would be beneficial for your growth."

Izen didn't let her reject. He couldn't enter personally, however, if it was Eliana, there was no problem. The Church didn't place any restrictions on who could try after all. With Eliana's capabilities, he was sure that she was the best person to investigate.

With Izen's persistence, Eliana couldn't reject it. Even though she was still confused, she understood that Izen wanted her to investigate with the excuse of applying for the position of a Holy Child. This way, she could get an easy entry inside.

The Holy Priestess of Summoning didn't care who Izen was sending inside. As long as he wasn't personally going inside, everything else was fine. Despite how capable Eliana was, Avilia believed in her beast and its disguise skills. No one under the Holy Priest level could see through!

She just stood back and watched as Eliana entered the Church of Light. Since she also had a special position, she wasn't stopped from entering either. If anything, the Head Priest who had taken Gabriel inside also noticed her.

After Eliana entered the Church, Avilia turned around and started leaving. Everything else was now on Gabriel's shoulder. She understood that if she stayed there for longer, sooner or later Izen was going to realize that she was waiting for someone.

Another problem was that she believed that as long as she didn't leave, Izen wasn't going to leave either. Just like her, that man was going to keep an eye on the Church and if Gabriel happened to come out, he was going to be recognised.

She left a small shadow behind to keep an eye on the Church and left.

With a Holy Priestess roaming around in the city, Izen couldn't rest easy. The woman had enough strength to cause a large-scale destruction after all.

He had to accompany her to make sure she didn't create any problems in the city. He followed behind the young lady as if he was a cop who was following a thief to make sure that the thief couldn't steal.

undefined"How long are you going to follow me?" Avilia asked after walking for a few kilometres. Even though her initial intentions were to make Izen follow her subconsciously to drag him away, she still had to show some unwillingness to make Izen feel as if she didn't want him to follow her.

"How long are you going to stay in this city?" Izen asked in return. The answer to Avilia's question was clearly hidden in his question.

"Am I not allowed to walk in the city without supervision?" Avilia coldly asked.

"Don't take it the wrong way." Izen shrugged. "With your strength and your notoriety, it's only fair that I keep an eye on you to avoid any future troubles. If you want to roam freely, you are welcome to go to other cities and I promise I won't follow."

The Academy had already suffered heavy damages in recent weeks. They couldn't afford any more damages, especially related to Avilia. If Avilia caused any large-scale destruction in the city, the Royal Family was going to be hard pressed to deal with that.

With the expenses of repair that were going to pile on, there was no way the Royal Family could afford to help the Academy with Spirit Crystals. In essence, the reason Izen was keeping an eye on Avilia was less because he wanted to protect the City and more because he wanted to protect his own interests.

The Holy Priestess of Summoning stopped in her tracks and turned around, looking straight into the eyes of Izen. A mysterious energy covered her entire body as a two kilometre wide Summoning circle appeared above her head in the sky.

"Also, what gives you the impression you would be able to stop me if I want to try something?"

Avilia's voice was cold and emotionless. However, it was also filled with authority as if she really was a deity looking down on all mortals.

"Izen, you might be strong, especially with that Robe of Nullification, but it would do you good if you don't overestimate yourself. Your robe is nothing before me since my Summons can't be affected by your robe," she reminded the man in front of her. "If I want, I can crush you under my feet in the next three minutes. So you better stay out of my way and not give me a reason..."

A terrifying aura spread in the surroundings. For a moment, time seemed to have stopped as silence spread...

Gabriel had entered the Church of Light and he was being escorted by the old Head Priest. However, the Head Priest stopped mid-way, turning around, gazing at Eliana who had also entered the Church.

"I didn't expect her to be interested in the position as well." He walked back to the young lady after telling Gabriel to wait for a few seconds.

Gabriel also stopped and looked back. He was immediately surprised to see Eliana in the distance. The woman looked like a young girl who wasn't even a proper adult yet. However, underestimating her was the biggest mistake anyone could make.

When he was at the Academy, he often interacted with her and knew that she wasn't an outright bad person. However, she wasn't flexible either.

Gabriel watched the old man discuss something with the young lady before he brought her with him as well. Amongst all the Light Mages that came inside the Church, most of them were accompanied by Holy Priests who were only there to maintain order. Only Gabriel and Eliana were accompanied by a Head Priest personally.

The old man brought Eliana to Gabriel. He didn't bother introducing both of them as he himself didn't know Gabriel's name at the moment. He just told the two of them to follow him and not to get lost.

Eliana followed the old man deeper inside the Church of Light, walking next to Gabriel. She didn't know why, but she felt a familiar feeling from Gabriel. She just didn't know what it was.

"Have we met before?" she asked, trying to remember if she ever saw the young man before. Even though she couldn't remember seeing that face before, but as time passed, that strange feeling of familiarity was getting stronger.

"I don't think so," Gabriel answered, not even looking at the lady next to him. "It's my first time in Lumen."

"Where are you from then?" Elina inquired. Usually, she wasn't the one to talk much. She couldn't care less about the people around her. However, she really wanted to know why she felt so familiar.

"Yann." At this point, Gabriel had been too lazy. He didn't even make a full sentence. From that point on, no matter what the young lady asked, his answers ended in only one sentence.

If others were to see their conversation, they would've genuinely believed that Gabriel was an arrogant man. However, Eliana didn't notice it.

In the end, Eliana could only stop asking questions. Even though Gabriel answered all her questions, she still had no idea why she felt familiar to him. According to his answers, they couldn't have met before.

'Was I really wrong? But he really feels familiar. It's as if we really met before. However, his face... I can't recall. Wait... Could it be that he's using an illusion? Is that why I feel familiar but can't recognise his face?'

Eliana immediately looked at the hands of Gabriel, trying to see if he had the ring of illusion. Fortunately, in Gabriel's illusion, he made sure that no ring or gloves could be seen.

Eliana couldn't find anything strange in his hands either. However, her suspicions still didn't end. She understood that it was possible that the illusion could've erased the ring from being seen.

'I have to hold his hands to know! No matter what illusion, before touch, all illusions fail!'

She didn't know why, but she couldn't let it go. If the young man was actually using an illusion, it reminded her too much of Gabriel who had robbed the Academy clean! And if he was the same man, she had to test herself!

Eliana walked next to Gabriel, wondering how she could hold his hand. She could've just forced herself, but since she wasn't sure, that option wasn't the best. If she was wrong, then it could very well look as if she was attacking someone for no reason.

In the end, there was no better way than to be subtle about it, even if it was embarrassing. She slowly reached out her hand toward Gabriel, trying to hold hands as if she was a girl in love who wanted to be held by her lover.

Gabriel didn't glance at the young lady. If anything, it was impossible for him to see what the girl was trying to do. However, that was because Eliana didn't know the reality. Even though Gabriel wasn't looking at her, his entire attention was on the girl as she was focusing more on him.

He had a feeling that the girl had noticed something about him. When he saw her reaching out her hand closer to his hand, he understood what she was trying to do.

Eliana's hands were merely a few inches away from Gabriel's hands, just about to touch him.

undefined"Senior, can you tell me what we have to do to be selected?"

Gabriel took a few steps forward right as Eliana was about to touch him. He acted as if it had nothing to do with Eliana and it was only because he wanted to ask the old man a question.

Eliana frowned at the failure. However she still wasn't sure if Gabriel's action of avoidance was intentional or a coincidence.

Gabriel walked closer to the old man, walking right next to him.

The old man didn't think much of it. He simply explained, "There is only one test. It'll be the aptitude test. We'll take you to a room. On the other side of the room will be the other Head Priests who will check your aptitude."

Eliana also fastened her pace. She took the left side of Gabriel, who was on the left of the old man. At the moment, Gabriel was in the middle of the Head Priest and Eliana.

Eliana once again reached out his hand as Gabriel was focused on the old man.

"Huh?"

Gabriel suddenly bent forward, touching his feet just as Eliana was about to touch him, once again avoiding her hand.

He picked up a small piece of stone that was lying in the middle of the hall. "Strange. Who placed a stone here?"

He pushed the stone to the corner before standing up again.

Along the way, Eliana tried many times to hold Gabriel's hand, but every time, he did something to avoid her hand while making it look coincidental. Even after Gabriel avoided her five times, Eliana still wasn't sure if it was intentional. She just couldn't confirm it.

'This guy! Just what kind of luck does he have? He always avoids my hand without even looking at me! Is it really a coincidence?' She grimaced. 'If that's the case, then I've had enough of being subtle! This time I'll forcefully hold his hand, no matter what the aftermath!'

Eliana had made up her mind this time. No matter what, she wasn't going to let Gabriel avoid it.

"We're here."

She stepped closer to Gabriel, only to hear the old man's words. Just as she was about to take action, the old man tapped her shoulders.

"That's the room. Go inside first!" The old man told Eliana who was monetarily in a daze.

"Go inside?" she asked.

"That's right. Enter the room and get tested. I was about to send Raziel first, but you're more talented from what I've seen throughout the years. You should get tested first."

The old man knew Eliana was as capable as them. At the same time, she was much younger. This was enough to show her talent. If anything the old man had more faith in her succeeding!

Eliana looked back and forth between Gabriel and the door on the other side of the hallway. In the end, she sighed and nodded.

She was here to test! She was here because of Izen and this investigation was her mission. As for Gabriel, she believed she could test him later as well. He wasn't running away anyway.

She pushed the door open and entered the secret room.

On the other end of the room, the other Head Priests of the Church were sitting comfortably. At the moment, they had already lost hope of someone being selected.

"I told you. This isn't going to work!" A dark haired Head Priest spoke, breaking the long silence. "This was a waste of time and resources!

A few of the Head Priests had already fallen asleep on the chairs, only to wake up as they heard the angry shout.

"Not like we had any choice." Another Head Priest sighed. "After a long time, the Holy Book has become active again! That means the Holy Book wants to select an heir."

" If it wants to select an heir, why did it reject us?"

"Exactly! Who could be more talented than us? Are you sure nothing is wrong with this Grimoire?"

"When it became active, we thought it would select one of us to lead the Church. Who knew that all of us were rejected! It doesn't even react to our presence as if we aren't worth its attention!"

"Let alone us, we've had all the Church members tested secretly and the Holy Book didn't select anyone! In the end, we had to invite outsiders!"

All the Head Priests were quite upset. If it were any normal times, they wouldn't have tried something like this. They already waited such a long time after all.

"Did we have any choice at all? We can't go on without a Holy Priest now. The World is in chaos. The Church of Darkness is making a return again. The Church of Flames have suffered heavy losses. We can't ignore this any longer. We need a Holy Priest, even if it's not one of us!"

They have hidden the information about the absence of a Lord of Light for so long. However, it was getting harder and harder with each passing second, especially now that all the Churches were getting more and more active. They couldn't sit idle.

Unfortunately, they couldn't openly declare that they were selecting a Holy Priest either. That's why they came up with this secret method to invite people and test them without having them realize.

In their initial plan, if they were to find someone, they were going to secretly train that person for a few months and then reveal that person as the old Holy Lord before the entire world!

"Wait. Isn't that Eliana? Isn't her position high enough? She came to be a Holy Child as well?"

All the Head Priests were lost in discussion when one of them noticed Eliana in the other room.

"Who cares why she's here. As long as she can win the favor of the Holy Book, I don't care. Moreover, if she's selected, it'll probably be good. She's already quite strong. With the Holy Book, she might directly reach the peak and lead our Church to great heights!"

The Head Priests were quite interested in the appearance of Eliana. They glanced at the Holy Book, expecting to see a reaction from it.

In the end, all of them sighed in disappointment. "As expected, the Holy Book pays no attention to her either. At this point, I don't even know what this Book is looking for! It keeps rejecting everyone!"

The Holy Grimoire was completely unreactive, filling every Head Priest with disappointment.

On the other side of the glass, Eliana was standing silently, wondering what she had to do. After a few minutes, she only heard a voice echoing in the room which told her that she failed. She was told to leave the room and send the next person in!

Eliana thought she would be asked to do something after entering the room, or at least asked to show her skills. However, for some strange reason, all she had to do was stand there before she was asked to leave the room.

She was still confused as to what the purpose of this whole thing was. However, she couldn't do much. She turned around and left without questioning it.

She was sent here to find the secrets behind the current action of the Church. However, she hadn't noticed anything strange so far.

Outside the room, the old man had a feeling that Eliana was going to succeed. She had the potential according to him.

undefinedAs Eliana came out of the room, he initially had high hopes. However, seeing her disappointed expressions, he realized that she had failed.

'Even she couldn't succeed? Are we destined to fail?' he wondered.

"You can leave," he told Eliana. The outsiders were only allowed inside for the purpose of testing. Other than that, they weren't allowed to be there.

Eliana still wanted to test Gabriel. Unfortunately, as if Gabriel had expected it, he was standing on the other side of the hallway, away from the path that led to the exit. If Eliana wanted to get to him, she had to take a different path, which was going to make the old man take action

Eliana glared at Gabriel. Her eyes expressed some anger. She turned and silently left.

Gabriel watched the young lady leave. 'She really has suspicions about me. If I'm not wrong, she'll probably be waiting outside for me.'

"Stop wasting our time. There are many people waiting to get tested." The old man pushed Gabriel toward the door to make him hurry up.

Gabriel pushed the metallic door open and entered the empty room which really had nothing inside.

There was only a glass in front of him which showed his reflection and nothing else. In the reflection, Gabriel finally saw what the illusion made him look like.

After taking an initial glance at Gabriel, the Head Priests lowered their heads as if they didn't think the guy had any chance of success.

The Head Priests didn't even bother looking at the Holy Grimoire before asking Gabriel to leave.

"You can leave." They told Gabriel.

Gabriel was intrigued. He could sense that someone was on the other side of the room. Other than that, he also had a familiar feeling. The feeling was similar to what he felt from the small white orb that was taken from the Museum of Elements from the mysterious box by someone else.

What he felt was the purest aura of Light which wasn't something a Head Priest could possess.

Even after being asked to leave, he didn't turn to leave. Instead, he stepped closer to the glass before him, trying to feel that strange yet pure aura from close. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling that the Church's action had something to do with what he was feeling.

"Hmm?" The Head Priests frowned, watching Gabriel step closer and ignoring their command.

They asked Gabriel to leave again. However this time also they were ignored.

Gabriel stood barely a meter away from the glass wall. He raised his left hand toward the wall.

"You brat! You really don't know the difference between life and death, don't you?!" Seeing them be ignored a third time, the Head Priests couldn't tame it any longer.

One of them smacked his hands on the table, standing up. A powerful aura spread out, targeting Gabriel to force him down to his knees.

Before the aura could even reach him, Gabriel's hands touched the glass wall.

Crack... Crack...

The glass started cracking even though Gabriel touched the glass very gently. The glass wall shattered within a second, revealing what was on the other side.

At the same time, the Head Priest's aura clashed with Gabriel, as if it was a torrential storm that could destroy anything.

The aura pushed down on Gabriel. If it was another person, they would've already been on their knees with broken bones, but Gabriel still remained standing, more focused on the beautiful white book in the distance!

It didn't take him long to realize what that book was! That book was the Holy Grimoire of Light! Looking at the book in the middle of all the Head Priests, everything was revealed to him! He finally understood the purpose of the Church of Light in organizing this event!

'The rumor about it was true! The Holy Lord of Light... He doesn't exist!'

Gabriel was more immersed in the beautiful white book in the distance. As for the pressure acting on him, he didn't feel it much. That pressure was nothing before the pressure of the statue of God of Flames that he experienced before!

If anything, it was way weaker! Moreover, ever since he came across that statue, he had trained his body and was much stronger now!

Seeing Gabriel completely ignore his aura as if it wasn't nothing before him, the Head Priest who had targeted Gabriel felt his face turn red as if someone had slapped him in front of everyone!

"You!" He clenched his teeth, not holding back. At this point, he didn't even care if he was to kill Gabriel in the process of punishing him.

He had decided to teach the young man a lesson that he was to never forget!

"Divine Punishm-"

He chanted a spell, but before he could even finish, his body froze. He felt a chill run down his spine. The world went silent in the moment as a terrifying yet powerful aura spread out from near him.

The aura was so powerful that he felt as if he was suffocating. His body was forced down to his knees! All the other Head Priests who were standing were forced down to their knees as well, as if they were nothing but weak puppets before this aura!

As for the people who were sitting on the Chair, they fell down to the ground as the chair under them broke!

The terrifying aura wasn't just felt in the room either. It spread far and wide. Everyone who was a Priest of Light went down on their knees subconsciously as if a deity had appeared before them.

The aura slowly covered the entire city.

Avilia and Izen were far away from the Church of Light when they felt this strange mysterious aura. Both of them had experienced this aura before. They both understood what it was.

"The Church of Light... They fooled everyone..." Izen frowned, looking in the direction of the Church.

"So that's what it was about!" Avilia also understood what was happening. However, there was still a frown on her face.

Back inside the room in the Church of Light, all the Head Priests looked toward the Holy Grimoire of Light! Their faces turned pale as they saw the Holy Grimoire flying in the air, shining brightly!

The Holy Grimoire floated mid-air, stunning everyone who saw it. All the Head Priests understood what this implied! It meant that the Holy Grimoire of Light had finally selected a person!

Dazed, everyone looked at Gabriel in the distance, only to find him standing silent. Gabriel's eyes were blank and his face expressionless. At the moment, it was as if he was an unmoving statue!

It wasn't that Gabriel was shocked to the point that he couldn't move. However, he just couldn't. As soon as the Holy Grimoire of Light awakened, Gabriel found his surroundings changed. Everything around him turned stark white, filled with light. He couldn't see the room or anyone present in it!

Gabriel looked all around, only to find a white light that was enough to blind ordinary people. As he turned around, he noticed that the white light had started dimming and the surroundings started taking shape.

He found himself standing near a cliff. Surprisingly enough, that cliff was the same where Hawrin had pushed him to his death. But at the moment, Hawrin wasn't there. Instead, there were three people there!

Gabriel couldn't see the faces of those three people as all three of them had their backs toward him. He could only notice the back of their hands!

The person on the left was a young woman who was donning a beautiful white dress. Not a speck of dust could be seen on her clothes, as if she was so pure that even the dust refused to sully her clothes. A serene aura could be felt around that woman.

On the back of the woman's left hand, Gabriel noticed the Elemental Mark of Light that he had seen many times before!

On the right, there was a slender young man, who had a cold aura around her, that reeked of darkness. The man had the Holy Mark of Darkness on the back of his left hand.

What attracted the attention of Gabriel the most was the person in the middle. Even though Gabriel couldn't see that person's face, he felt extremely familiar with that person.

The man had short light blue hair and appeared like a Prince from his attire. However, his aura felt the most dangerous out of the three of them, suppressing the auras of the other two without even trying!

The man had no elemental Mark on the back of his left hand. However, the same couldn't be said for his right hand! On the back of his right hand, the young man had the Holy Mark of Necromancy that was the same as what Gabriel possessed.

Gabriel felt really curious about the three people. This scene was clearly not a dream, but it wasn't reality either. It felt something else entirely. Subconsciously, Gabriel started stepping closer to the three people.

Even as Gabriel stepped closer to the cliff, the two men didn't turn around. On the contrary, it was the young woman on the left who turned around, glancing at Gabriel with her pure eyes.

It was only when the woman turned around that Gabriel noticed a beautiful white Grimoire floating before her. The woman's face had no expressions initially. However, as she noticed Gabriel, she seemed a little surprised.

She glanced at the young man next to her before looking at Gabriel again. Her lips crept up, as if showing a bit of a smile that wasn't quite a smile yet.

A small white arc of light appeared next to Gabriel, leaving a small cut on his finger.

"Argh!" Gabriel gasped in pain. It was quite different from the pain he ever felt before.

The young lady slightly nodded before turning her back on Gabriel again.

Gabriel reached out his hand, about to speak something but before he could even let a word out, the world turned white again.

When the stark white light retreated, Gabriel found himself standing back in the room inside the Church of Light where he previously was. He felt a little pain in his left hand. As he looked down, he noticed his finger bleeding.

The Holy Grimoire of Light floated closer to him, coming right under his finger that was bleeding. As soon as a drop of his blood fell, the Holy Grimoire of Light captured it and absorbed it, making a blood connection with the young man.

What was even stranger was that after the Grimoire absorbed his blood, the cut on his finger healed on its own.

Gabriel felt a connection with the Holy Grimoire of Light, similar to what he felt with the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy. The only difference was that the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy felt like something which truly was a part of his body but the Holy Grimoire of Light was slightly different.

Gabriel sent a thought to the Holy Grimoire of Light to see if it could also disguise itself as an accessory. Within a blink of an eye, the Holy Grimoire of Light turned into a small bracelet that wrapped around Gabriel's left wrist.

The suppressing aura that had forced everyone to their knees had already disappeared as soon as the Holy Grimoire of Light was bound to Gabriel. The Head Priests could move. But still, none of them stood up. They all looked at Gabriel in a daze while remaining on their knees.

The door of the other room opened and the old man who had escorted Gabriel inside the Church rushed in.

"He is selected?" He asked. There was excitement in his eyes at the same time as some jealousy. He wanted to be selected by the Grimoire but he had failed. At the same time, he was happy that the Church had finally found a Holy Priest!

"Send every outsider out! And seal the Church! Without our permission, no one is allowed inside!" The other Head Priests also stood up one after another, taking charge of the situation.

"Also, activate the defensive formation!" Another Head Priest exclaimed. "Make it harder for even a Holy Priest to probe inside!"

"Yes!" Some of the Head Priests spread out. They had already found their new Holy Priest. Now all that was left to do was to suppress the information from the world until Gabriel was ready to appear before the world as the Holy Priest of Light.

Gabriel didn't focus on what the people around him were saying. Instead, his mind was still focused on the white Grimoire before him. He kept thinking about the scene he saw with those three people at Cliff?

According to his information, before him, there was only one other person who had the Holy Mark of Necromancy and that person was Karyk!

'That means the person in the center was Karyk! To be able to stand beside him, the other two people must be... The Goddess of Light and the God of Darkness?' A frown engulfed him the more he thought about it.

Izen was on the other end of the City with Avilia when he sensed that powerful aura of Light that disappeared soon after. However, it wasn't before he noticed something.

"That aura... It's the aura of the Holy Grimoire!" He frowned. "Did the Church really fool everyone by claiming that the Holy Priest of Light wasn't in the City?"

He only felt the aura of the Grimoire which could only be used by the Holy Priest. It was enough to make him believe that the Holy Priest of Light was still in the city. What really surprised him was that the Church of Light lied to all of them by claiming that he wasn't there.

"Or did he just return to the City?" He wasn't sure just what the case was. However, he decided to check things out personally. He left Avilia behind and flew toward the Church of Light. If the Holy Lord of Light was in the city, he was sure that Avilia wasn't going to play around the city for long.

Avilia didn't speak much. She also flew in the direction of the Church of Light. Her thoughts were slightly different from Izen.

undefinedGabriel was inside the Church. If the Holy Lord of Light was really inside, he would've caught Gabriel the moment he stepped inside the Church. Since that wasn't the case, she was convinced that the Holy Lord of Light wasn't there! However, it couldn't be denied that the aura she felt was indeed the aura of the Holy Grimoire of Light!

These two points made her realize one thing! It was that the Holy Lord of Light wasn't in the Church but the Holy Grimoire was there! That only meant one thing... There was currently no Holy Lord of Light in the world! If there was, the Grimoire wouldn't be away from him.

All the absence of the Holy Lord of Light, and the rumours, they all started making sense to her. She understood everything! The Church had lied to everyone. It wasn't that they lied about his absence from the city. Instead, they lied about him existing entirely!

'Calling all these people here, inviting them inside the Church one after another as if they were trying to find someone and now the awakening of the Holy Grimoire? There's no denying it anymore! The Church wasn't looking for a Holy Child! Instead, they were looking for the next Holy Lord of Light that could awaken the Grimoire!'

Avilia understood the Church's mindset. For far too long, they had been without a leader. Moreover, they were also weak in this way so they couldn't let the information leak. That's also why they were so secretive about this entire thing. However, she was still confused about one thing!

The Holy Grimoire of Light had awakened! That meant it selected the next Holy Lord! She was really curious as to who it was! The next Holy Lord was new, so she didn't have to worry about him finding Gabriel right away.

That meant Gabriel was at least safe enough to be able to exit safely. Unfortunately, there was still Izen outside. She knew things could get really complicated if the two came face to face.

Izen landed before the Church of Light, only to find a defensive barrier already being activated. All the Mages of Light who were invited here were told to go back where they came from. What was even more shocking was that three Head Priests were standing outside the Church of Light, personally guarding the place.

Eliana found Izen returning. She rushed to him and caught up.

At the same time, Avilia was looking around the crowd, trying to find Gabriel. Strangely enough, she couldn't sense Gabriel anywhere.

Since everyone was already pushed out of the Church, she thought that Gabriel was also made to leave. Unfortunately, she still couldn't feel his presence.

'Did he already leave his city?' She wondered. She stared at Izen. 'Probably because he expected Izen's return and didn't want to fight yet? Maybe it's for the best.'

She looked into the distance, wondering where Gabriel could've gone next. According to his plan, he wanted to go to the Academy of Elements next, but if that was the case, she could've still sensed him.

What was even stranger was that she couldn't sense her Sparrow that she lent to Gabriel for his disguise. It was as if Gabriel had cut her connection with the sparrow somehow, or he was somewhere where even she couldn't feel the sparrow.

If Avilia wanted, she could've cancelled the summon. Even if she couldn't reach her sparrow, the spiritual sparrow would've disappeared. Fortunately, he didn't do it. She let Gabriel keep it. No matter where he was, she felt that he probably needed it.

"I want to meet your Holy Lord." Izen approached the Head Priests who were guarding outside the Church of Light.

"Our Holy Lord just returned from a long journey. He's resting now," the Head Priest gave an excuse. "If you have anything important to talk to him about, you can leave a message with us. We'll deliver it to him when he finishes resting."

There was no way the Head Priests could allow anyone to meet the Holy Lord, especially someone the calibre of Izen who couldn't be stopped by ordinary means. Izen was strong after all.

They didn't want anyone to know that they had just finished selecting a Holy Priest as that would've meant that the Holy Priest of Light was at his weakest he was ever going to be. That could've stimulated the Church of Darkness to attack the Church of Light since it would've been the perfect opportunity for them!

They didn't want to go down the route of the Church of Flames, especially since it was going to be even more embarrassing if they were to have their Church destroyed while their Holy Priest was still there! What they needed the most was time... Time for their new Holy Lord to become as strong as the previous generation of Home Lords!

Izen was rejected but he couldn't do anything. He could force his way inside the Church, but that wasn't a good option as that would've easily offended the Church of Light and brought trouble to the Academy of Elements.

Moreover, he didn't know much about the Holy Lord that he never met before. He still wasn't confident enough to fight him, especially for no reason.

Izen still had no idea that the Holy Lord that he was so respectful toward was none other than the person that he intercepted and fought against not too long ago.

Gabriel stood inside the Holy Church of Light, feeling extremely weird. The people who were supposed to be his enemies had their heads lowered before him as they treated him respectfully. However, he also understood why that was the case.

The Holy Book of Light now belonged to him. Even though he hadn't checked any spells in the Holy Book yet, it didn't change the fact that he was supposedly the new Holy Lord of Light as well as the leader of the Church of Light.

He also knew that it was all superficial. The Head Priests of Light only respected him because they thought he was someone who could lead them to hear heights against their enemies now that he was selected as the Holy Lord.

It didn't take a genius to guess what their reaction was going to be if they found out who Gabriel really was.

Gabriel was quite fortunate that even the strongest person inside the Church of Light was only a Head Priest who couldn't see through the illusion at all. That wasn't the case for the other Holy Lords. He could've fooled these Head Priests, but he couldn't fool the other Holy Lords if they ever came to meet the Holy Lord of Light.

undefinedLet alone the fact that his illusions were useless against the other Holy Lords, just his aura alone was enough to let them know who he really was.

"Follow us," The oldest Head Priest told Gabriel as he left the room.

Gabriel didn't have much choice but to follow them. He went after the old Priest. The other Head Priests followed Gabriel from behind.

At this point, it looked as if all his routes of escape were sealed by the Head Priests who walked around him with him in the center. Fortunately, there was no hostility yet.

"My name is Qian," the old Head Priest told Gabriel while walking in the lead. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions at this point. For example, what just happened?"

Gabriel didn't answer. He already knew what happened, but he didn't tell them.

"As you must've heard, we were looking for a Holy Child to train under the Holy Lord? At least that's the news we spread," Qian responded even as Gabriel didn't reply. "However, that was not the truth."

None of what the old man said came as a surprise. Gabriel remained unreactive.

"What is the truth then?" he asked.

Qian seemed somewhat fascinated as he heard the calmness in Gabriel's voice. He couldn't help but take another glance at the young man behind him. Usually, any ordinary youngster would've been flustered with no information about what happened. However, Gabriel was still calm and composed.

"Maybe the Grimoire really didn't select a bad person," he muttered. "He isn't as strong as us, or as talented as Eliana, but he does have some qualities of his own."

No matter how much Qian wanted to be the next Holy Lord, they couldn't force it. The Holy Grimoire had rejected them. Now they could only accept the decision unless Gabriel made some grave mistakes in the future.

"The truth is something that we kept hidden from the outsiders for a long time," Qian explained, scratching his chin. "The truth is that we weren't looking for a Holy Child. Instead, we were looking for a Holy Lord."

"Ever since our Holy Lord died a few years ago, we told everyone that the Holy Book has already selected the next Holy Lord for our protection. Since then, we've been walking on a thin rope with all the lies and stories to keep this information hidden. We also waited for the Holy Book to start selecting a candidate again."

The Head Priests were already very tired after hiding this information for a long time. It had been very hard on them throughout the years. Unfortunately, they had no choice. The Church of Light had always been very overbearing and they had a lot of enemies.

Even though openly no one dared to offend them, there were many who were waiting to strike as soon as they were given an opportunity. That's why they had to hide! Only a Holy Lord could've acted as a deterrent after all.

"By now, you probably guessed what happened today. The White Book that you saw before is the Holy Book of Light, also known as the Holy Grimoire of Light. It has selected you. That means you're our new Holy Lord and we'll do everything we can to train you so that you can stand atop this world to take your rightful place!" Qian exclaimed.

Gabriel didn't know how to react. He could just shake his head lightly. Even though these people spoke such heavy words, he knew the truth. On the inside, they were just greedy for their own benefits. As long as they could raise a Holy Lord, they could go back to their overbearing ways of the last.

Moreover, let alone helping him stand on top of the world, as long as the truth about him was out, they would probably do everything within their means to destroy his body and his soul altogether so the Holy Grimoire of Light could've been free of his control. There was no way they would've trained him!

"Do you have a family?" Qian asked for some reason.

"Why do you want to know?"

"If you have a family, we can shift them here to keep them safe. It's the responsibility of the Church after all," the Head Priest answered.

At the time, no one knew that Gabriel was the new Holy Lord. However, that wasn't going to be the case forever. The Church of Light didn't want anyone to get control of Gabriel's family since that could have been his weakness! They had to protect the weakness of their new Lord if there was any.

"I don't have a family," Gabriel replied. "I'm an orphan."

"That's great!" Qian exclaimed, only to realize that his words might've been inappropriate. "Cough, I mean it's great that you've been able to come so far all on your own. You're very talented."

"Don't you still have a wife though?" Just as Qian was satisfied that Gabriel was all alone, another Head Priest chimed in. He was also the one who brought Gabriel inside the Church.

When he saw Gabriel at the entrance of the City, he had heard Avilia mention that she was his wife. He still remembered that.

"How do you know that?" Qian asked his old friend.

"Because she came with him and mentioned it. She is still outside if I'm not wrong!" White haired Yaze answered.

"What are you waiting for then? Since she's his only family member, let's bring her inside." Qian turned around. "Let's bring your wife back as well. I'm sure she'd be surprised."

Instead of going deeper into the Church, he went toward the exit. He didn't go alone and brought Gabriel and others with him as well.

As soon as the Head Priest told Gabriel to go with him to bring Avilia back, he monetarily froze. Was this guy really asking him to go out with him? Was he really looking to cause a large-scale war?

He knew that there was a good chance of Izen being outside along with Avilia. There was no way he wouldn't have sensed the large-scale commotion caused by the Grimoire of Light. As long as Gabriel was inside the Church, Izen couldn't sense who he was. However, once he left, everything could go bad!

He still had the Death Knights inside his Grimoire. He had faith that he could hold on even if Izen and the others joined forces. However, winning wasn't easy unless Avilia joined forces with him. He had a feeling that Avilia wasn't going to work with him. He had to do everything himself!

"I think my wife would've already left by now. She was just escorting me here," Gabriel gave an excuse. "After helping me get here, she probably left for the next City since she had something to do there."

"There's no loss in checking. Maybe she's still waiting?" The old man who brought Gabriel inside the Church replied. Gabriel felt like thrashing the old man but he controlled himself.

undefinedGabriel kept his silence. He had a feeling that the more he spoke, the more suspicious he was going to make others. He had to do something on his own.

'Izen would be outside. If he's there, he probably already met Avilia. He also knows that Avilia is the Holy Priestess of Summoning. If these idiots went out, claiming her to be my wife, it could be quite a headache. Even if I hide my face and don't step out of the Church, it would be troublesome.'

'As if Izen's attention wasn't enough, once the other Holy Priests know that Avilia has a husband, they'd come here as well. The best thing here is if Avilia already left. But if she hasn't...'

Gabriel was already near the exit. Just like anyone outside couldn't sense who or what was inside, anyone inside couldn't sense outside either. He didn't know if Avilia and Izen were still there or not.

"Do you have a mask?" he asked Qian.

Even though he also had a mask, the mask he had was already used when he destroyed the Church of Light. He didn't want to use that mask with this identity. Moreover since Izen had already seen him before and the illusion was useless before him, he wanted to use a mask to hide his face.

"Why do you need a mask?" Qian asked, confused. Something didn't seem right but he didn't think too much about it. In the end, he didn't even wait for an answer before giving a face mask to Gabriel.

The mask not only covered the top half of Gabriel's face but also the left side of his face, leaving only a small part of his face visible Gabriel immediately placed the mask on his face. With this, he at least had some measure of protection.

'If I stand at the entrance of the Church, just inside the threshold, Izen shouldn't be able to sense. The Head Priests of the Church wouldn't find it too odd either.'

'Now there's only one more thing left to cover...'

After a brief pause, he spoke again. "Can I ask you for one more thing? When you invite my wife inside, can you do it without letting any outsider know that she's married? It's for her safety in the future."

"Ah, I see." Qian smirked, as if realizing something. "So that's why you wanted a mask! You're thinking about the future! Not bad, young man!"

The group of Head Priests finally reached the threshold of the Church of Light. From here, they could see outside and the outsiders could see them. However, the space on either side was different. One more step and Gabriel could've been sensed by Izen!

Izen was outside the Church of Light with Avilia standing not too far from him. The Church of Light had already refused to allow him a meeting, saying that the Holy Lord was resting.

Since he didn't want to force them, he was willing to wait or leave. However due to Avilia's presence in the city, he couldn't go back yet. He had to wait for her to leave first.

During this time of waiting, Eliana informed her about Gabriel, a young man who she saw inside the Church that she found somewhat familiar. She also expressed her doubt about the identity of Gabriel to Izen.

"Everyone who went inside is outside except that young man. I have a really bad feeling about this," she told Izen.

Izen didn't ignore her concern either. She knew that Eliana wasn't the one to exaggerate things. If she sensed something wrong, then he was sure that there was definitely something wrong about that young man.

However, one thing still didn't make sense to him. Even if Gabriel really used an illusion to fool everyone inside, he couldn't have fooled the Holy Lord of Light.

'Since he isn't out, does that mean he has already been killed by the Lord of Light? The aura we sensed before... Was it the Holy Lord using his strength to kill that intruder? That could also explain why everyone was told to leave right after...'

He had thought of a possibility. Due to his misunderstanding about the Holy Lord of Light being present inside the Church of Light, he couldn't think of any other possibility. Out of everyone in this World, the Holy Lord of Light was the only one who was truly immune to even the greatest of illusions!

"He's probably already dead. Don't think much about it," he told Eliana.

Unfortunately, just as he finished his sentence, the door of the Church of Light opened, revealing a group on the other side.

Even Izen was surprised since that group included all the Head Priests.

One of the Head Priests pointed in his direction. However, his finger was pointing more toward Avilia.

"As expected, he sensed Avilia's presence," Izen muttered, giving some credit to the Holy Lord of Light, again misunderstanding the situation.

However, one thing confused him. Amidst the group of the Head Priests, there was one person... From his build, he looked like a young man who was barely twenty years old.

The young man stood with his hands behind his back.

"There! He is the one! He's the one I was talking about!" Eliana pointed at Gabriel.

At the moment, Eliana was pointing her finger at Gabriel. The Head Priest was pointing a finger at Avilia. Also, Izen and Gabriel were looking at each other…

Izen was informed about Gabriel by Eliana. According to what she said, Gabriel was most probably using an illusion. However, the illusions were useless to him. Unfortunately, even while ignoring the illusion, he couldn't see much since Gabriel was wearing a mask.

Despite that, he still found Gabriel somewhat familiar. It was as if he had seen the young man before. The body built of Gabriel reminded him a lot of the young man that had escaped from his hand last time. However, he couldn't believe that to be the case. How could it even be possible?

From what he knew, the person that escaped from him was a dark mage. There was no way he could've entered the Church of Light and survived so far, especially with the presence of the Lord of Light inside. At least, that's what his mind was telling him. However, his heart... It was saying otherwise!

Head Priest Qian noticed Izen's strange look. He couldn't help but wonder if Izen had already recognised that Gabriel was their new Holy Priest of Light.

"That shouldn't be possible. Even if it's him, he shouldn't be able to know that much. Moreover, it wasn't Izen who looked here first. It was Eliana who pointed here. Does it have something to do with Eliana?"

undefinedHe stepped out of the threshold of the Church of Light along with another Head Priest. The second Head Priest went to Avilia while Qian went to Izen and Eliana.

"Lord Izen, may I ask what you two are doing here?" Qian asked.

At the same time, the other Head Priest stopped before Avilia. "Young Lady, would you like to come inside the Church for a little while?"

Following Gabriel's instructions, he didn't tell her anything, especially that it had something to do with her husband. Avilia also didn't speak much. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that it had something to do with Gabriel. Not only was he safe, but he also appeared to be extremely respected.

Seeing this sight, she had an absurd thought. 'Don't tell me that the aura and awakening of the Holy Grimoire of Light was related to...'

With wide eyes, she stared at Gabriel. That young man never failed to amaze her.

Gabriel was just standing inside the Church of Light, right on the other side of the threshold. Both his hands were behind his back. To an ordinary person, it looked as if he was an arrogant expert who looked down on the entire world in his arrogance. However only Gabriel knew the truth.

He wasn't standing with his chest held high and his hands behind his back because he was arrogant. It was just a show to make him look arrogant. His real purpose was to hide his hands behind his back. The illusion wasn't effective on Izen.

Gabriel understood that if Izen was allowed to see his hands, he would've recognised that Gabriel was wearing two gloves, hiding his real elemental Marks. At that point, it was quite easy for Izen to realize the truth.

Izen didn't answer Qian. He just watched Avilia advance toward the Church of Light with a frown on his face. He could already see a small bird sitting on Gabriel's shoulder. He hadn't seen that bird before, but it was clear to him that it was a summoned beast, most probably belonging to Avilia.

That meant Avilia knew the young man inside the Church of Light and that both of them were together.

"I'm afraid I'm not the only one who knows him. Lady Avilia of the Church of Summoning also knows that young man," Izen expressed, revealing the real identity of Avilia.

Qian's jaws dropped as he stared blankly at Avilia. The lady who was supposed to be their Holy Lord's wife was the Holy Lord of Summoning? Just what kind of sh*t luck was that? Did their Church gain a powerful ally just like that?

The Church of Summoning had been neutral in most conflicts, especially since the new Lord took over. Despite them rarely taking action, no one could ignore their presence. Who could've thought that their Holy Lord was already married and that too to an ordinary person?

According to them, before Gabriel was selected as the Holy Lord of Light, he was quite ordinary.

"From your expressions, it doesn't look like you knew." Izen noticed the subtle change in the old man's expressions. "Then I suppose you also didn't know that lady Avilia lent a small bird of hers to the young man in the back? You probably don't know that what you saw as the face of the man was no more than an illusion that was cast by that bird?"

He didn't know what kind of relationship Gabriel had at this point with the Church of Light, but the other side appeared to have some respect for him. He wanted to expose Gabriel and then watch the scene unfold so that he could find out the real identity of Gabriel.

Qian grimaced, looking back at Gabriel. The young man was using an illusion? Such a high grade illusion that they couldn't even sense it?

He glared at Avilia, understanding that if it was the work of a beast lent by Avilia, then it made sense. Avilia was capable of something like that.

Fortunately, they didn't think that Gabriel wanted to fool them. On the contrary, he felt as if Avilia did that just for the safety of Gabriel. She was his 'wife' after all!

"Lord Izen, I'm afraid you are wrong. We already knew about this," Qian stated, lying without blinking. "Anyway, If that's all, I'll be taking my leave now."

Qian didn't feel like spending too much time outside. They had a lot of things to do. Moreover Avilia was already inside the Church of Light by now.

Qian turned around and left Izen behind as he went back to the Church.

"Qian, I think there's a possibility that the young man inside the Church of Light is the Lord of Darkness!" Unable to ignore anymore, Izen finally said, making almost everyone freeze in their place.

"Lord of Darkness?!" The people outside the Church of Light exclaimed in shock. Even the Head Priests had unsightly expressions.

"Lord Izen, are you saying that we're all stupid enough to allow the Lord of Darkness inside the Church of Light and not even realise it?" Qian coldly spoke.

"Lord of Darkness is a young man, having the same age and body built as the young man behind you. Even though he's behind a mask, the similarities are uncanny. Moreover the Lord of Darkness has a way to hide his aura and use illusions. If you don't believe me, ask him to show me his hands! I want to check myself!"

Silence... There was absolute silence as Izen spoke of the possibility of Gabriel being the Lord of Darkness. Even though it was only a possibility that he suggested, but even then it couldn't be ignored!

The one saying that was the Dean of the Academy of Elements after all. He was an existence that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Lord of Light!

Unfortunately that's also why Gabriel hated him. Even after so many precautions, the man was still able to sense something. A subtle killing intent flashed in Gabriel's eyes which he hid instantly.

He couldn't show his hands. If he did, it would've confirmed Izen's suspicions.

The Head Priests looked back and forth between Gabriel and Izen. Some of the Head Priests wanted to allow Izen to check Gabriel just to be safe. However there were also some who felt that allowing Izen to do as he pleased with the Holy Lord was the same as allowing him to trample on their dignity!

undefinedThe Head Priests of Light were known to be arrogant and dominant. How could they allow others to do as they pleased? No matter what, this was a mockery of their dignity! They couldn't let themselves seem too weak.

There was also one more thing! They had faith in the Holy Grimoire of Light! There had never been a case of the Holy Grimoire of Light selecting a Dark Mage, let alone a dark mage who already had another Holy Grimoire! That was just a crazy thought!

"Izen, you're getting quite bold, aren't you? You're claiming that I'm working with the Dark Lord?" Now that her identity was already exposed and it was known that she lent a bird to Gabriel, even Avilia couldn't let the truth come out. "Or do you think that only you can see through illusions?"

"Who knows? It might explain why you've never joined the other Churches in their actions against the dark mages, won't it?" Came Izen's scathing remarks out of nowhere.

"If I'm with the Dark Mages, doesn't that mean I'm the enemy of this city?" A devilish smirk spread across Avilia's face as she cracked her knuckles. "Since you've already given me the title, how about I do as you claim and kill everyone here? Can you stop me?"

Even though Avilia didn't summon anyone, just her words alone were enough to send chills running down the spine of many people here. Even Izen frowned. This girl really didn't care about the consequences of her words or actions. No wonder she was called the crazy priestess by the others!

"If you're not wrong, isn't the solution simple? Just show me his hands!" Izen exclaimed. "If you'd rather go to war with the entire world rather than showing his hands, doesn't that say something about me potentially being right?"

It didn't matter if Avilia was standing before him. As much as Izen didn't want to fight her, if it came to that, he was ready as well. He wasn't someone who was scared of others! Moreover he had never fought Avilia. He just heard stories about her. He didn't know how much truth was in those stories!

"You want me to show my hands?" Gabriel asked, chiming in. His voice was calm and his tone wasn't loud. However, his words were very clear. Almost everyone heard it.

"Yes." Izen nodded. He had once lost Gabriel last time. He didn't want to do the same again. Previously, he didn't have much enmity with Gabriel. The Academy even stayed out of most of the conflicts between the Church. It was Gabriel who went to them and harmed their interest by robbing them first!

"Alright. If you want to see my hands, I'm willing. But currently, I don't see any benefits to doing so. Since I'm neither a servant nor a slave of yours, just doing something because you want me to do it is impossible," Gabriel replied. "However, I might do so if I get some benefits as well. How about it? Since you're so confident, would you be interested in a bet?"

"What bet?" Izen glared at Gabriel. For some reason, he had a really bad feeling about what Gabriel was going to ask.

"You want to see my hands. And I'll show you my hands. If you're right, I'll surrender to you and let you kill me," Gabriel stated. His statement brought a smile to Eliana's face. However her smile soon froze as she heard Gabriel's next sentence.

"But... If you're wrong and I turn out to be innocent, according to the bet, your academy will belong to me!"

Citizens gasped in shock as they heard the content of the bet! This was indeed a ruthless bet! If Izen was right, then Gabriel was going to lose his life! However if Izen was wrong, Gabriel was going to win the entire Academy of Elements! No matter who won, the landscape of the Lumen City was going to change!

Izen didn't show much reaction on his face. In fact, other than Gabriel and Avilia, only he was looking calm. Everyone else was shocked, including Eliana and the Head Priests. This kind of bet was too risky, for both sides!

However, the one who was more at a loss was Izen, at least according to the Church. No matter who won, the Church was in a win-win position. If Gabriel lost, that meant he really was a dark mage. His death would not only be justified but also save them. And if Gabriel won, they could get the ownership of the Academy!

Izen on the other hand felt quite complicated deep inside his heart. Even though he trusted Eliana, he didn't truly sense Gabriel's aura since Gabriel was still inside the Church of Light. If he could at least send his aura, he could've been a hundred percent sure about his assumption.

Unfortunately, his confidence wasn't a hundred percent now! If he lost, he was going to lose the Academy of Elements, making the Academy a subsidiary of the Church. The risks were too many and the rewards didn't seem to be worth it!

He didn't have to be in a hurry to expose Gabriel even if he was a Dark Mage after all. He could just wait for Gabriel to leave the Church of Light in the future and test his assumption at that time. There was no need to be hasty.

In the end, his mind won over his heart, convincing him to not take the risk.

"I can't bet the Academy on line!" He told Gabriel.

Gabriel felt slightly surprised deep in his heart. He was only bluffing with his confidence. He didn't expect it to work either but it did! His bluff really worked!

As Gabriel received the answer, he was quite pleased. It meant that Izen wasn't willing to take the risk. He wasn't a hundred percent sure which helped him about a lot of troubles.

"In that case, I advise you to stop wasting our time with these rumors and leave."

Gabriel took a few steps back, still facing Izen to not reveal his hands. The Head Priests and Avilia were already inside the Church of Light and the doors of the Church started closing once again. Since Izen wasn't confident either, the Head Priests didn't take his words seriously. They trusted their Holy Grimoire's selection after all.

Even as the door started closing, Izen's eyes remained focused on Gabriel. He didn't take his eyes off until the door completely closed. As time passed, his feeling about Gabriel being a dark mage only got stronger. However, he actually had many doubts that made him think that there was a good chance about him being wrong.

If Gabriel was a dark mage, would Avilia really work with him? Even though in anger, he had spoken such words about Avilia working with Dark Mages, he wasn't quite convinced of that himself.

undefined"Something really strange is going on..." He stood before the Church of Light as the others started dispersing.

Once the doors closed, Gabriel could finally relax. For the time being, he didn't have to fight anyone. At least as long as he was inside the Church of Light.

"Do you all have some enmity with Izen?" he asked Qian. "I never met him yet he targeted me. It makes me think as if he was actually targeting the Church of Light to ruin your reputation. Is that the case?"

Gabriel couldn't let people suspect him so he changed black into white and made it appear as if Izen was targeting the Church and not him. That way, he could get the help of the Head Priests in one way or another.

"Even though we don't have a deep friendship between the Church and the Academy, there shouldn't be any enmity either. So we have no idea what he was trying to do." Qian shrugged, not taking Izen seriously. Even though Izen was strong, since he wasn't a Holy Priest, the Church didn't consider him worth their respect.

In the eyes of the Church, they were true Nobles, devoted to the gods. As for Izen, he was just a strong commoner. No matter how strong a commoner became, he wasn't worthy of their respect and consideration.

"It might be because he knows something about me being selected as the new Holy Priest," Gabriel responded. "Maybe he had doubts about that so he wanted to test. I never thought he would come up with such an absurd story to make me show my Mark of Light though."

The way Gabriel talked, even the gods could've been fooled. There was not the slightest hesitation in his eyes. His words were flawless as if they came from his heart without any falsehoods.

"Maybe. That guy is really cunning after all." Qian nodded. "I suggest that you don't leave the Church anytime soon. He might be keeping an eye out. If you have something to do outside, you can tell us and we'll do it for you."

The Head Priests had finally received a Holy Lord. They couldn't let anything happen to him until he was strong enough to protect himself.

As much as the Head Priests were surprised about Gabriel's talents and calmness, what stunned them even more was the girl that walked next to him. If it wasn't for Izen, they never would've known that Avilia was the Holy Priestess of Summoning! Such a strong existence was the wife of their new Holy Lord!

With the backing of Avilia, even if Gabriel wasn't a Holy Lord, he would've been treated with extreme respect by anyone!

"Stop looking at me if you don't want me to permanently blind you." Avilia didn't even have to look around to know just who was staring at her. It was only before Gabriel that her words were calm and considerate. Before the others, she was still the demoness that was unpredictable.

Hearing the threats coming from Avilia, right inside their headquarters, some of the Head Priests felt their lips twitch but they didn't say anything. They stopped looking at her. The woman was already hard to deal with after all.

The Head Priests took Gabriel with him to the depths of the Church of Light, stopping right outside the huge golden doors. The doors were similar in size to the door that Gabriel saw in the Church of Flame. It had the Mark of Light and a seal on the door.

When he went through a similar door in the Church of Flames, he was immediately pushed to his knees by the statue on the other side. He didn't know if there was a similar statue of the Goddess of Light on the other side of the door. However, if that was the case, he really wondered if something similar was going to happen.

Unlike the Church of Flames where the room was seemingly already open and explored many times, the room here appeared to be sealed. From the amount of dust gathered, it looked as if the room hadn't been opened in a long time.

"This is the most important place of the Church of Light. Ever since the last Lord died, no one entered this place," Qian explained. "Only a Holy Lord can open the seal on the door. That's why, only you are allowed to enter."

"Please go inside. You shall receive a blessing from the Goddess of Light."

The Head Priests took a few steps back after explaining. They also told Avilia to step back. Even they weren't allowed to enter, let alone Avilia. This was the holy ground of their Church after all.

Avilia was really curious about what was inside the room. However she also felt that these Priests weren't going to allow her to enter. She still wanted to see what was inside though. She sent a small shadow to hide in Gabriel's shadows. She couldn't see what her sparrow was seeing, but it wasn't the case for her shadow beast's clone.

As soon as Gabriel and her Shadow Beast entered, she believed she could finally see just what secrets lay ahead.

Gabriel could feel the shadow beast clone attach to him, but for the time being, he didn't care. It wasn't a big deal. If anything, this way Avilia could know when he was in trouble inside and come to help!

Gabriel could feel his heart beating heavily as he stepped closer to the doors. Taking a deep breath, he placed his hands on the door.

Gabriel placed his hands on the door, feeling a flood of energy rushing toward him. Only he could feel that storm of energy around him. He felt as if he was being torn apart by that destructive energy. It was as if the door was warning him to take his hands off if he didn't want to die.

Gabriel's face turned pale. He wondered if this was a trap by the Head Priests. They were the ones who told him to place his hands there to break the seal!

Just as he was about to take his hands off, the destructive energy suddenly disappeared as his white bracelet sent a soothing energy around his body, forming a protective layer around his body that could specifically counter this destructive energy.

For some reason, Gabriel felt that even his Dark Aura or the aura of Necromancy couldn't counter this destructive energy in such a short time, but this pure white energy of Light that came from his Holy Grimoire of Light instantly neutralized it!

"So it was a defensive mechanism to keep outsiders away..."

undefinedGabriel didn't take his hands off anymore and just waited there. After some time, everyone heard a heavy click. The seal was temporarily removed and the heavy door started opening.

Only half a meter wide opening was made between the doors before the door stopped opening.

Gabriel took his hands off and passed through the small opening to enter the holy region of the Church of Light. The shadow clone also followed Gabriel inside.

After Gabriel entered, the door closed on its own...

Avilia was quite eager to see just what secrets were inside this holy region. However, before she could even see anything inside, her face went pale. She coughed out a mouthful of blood as she felt her body heavily injured!

"H-how?"

She held her chest, feeling extremely weak. It was as if she was injured! As soon as her Shadow Beast Clone entered the holy region, the clone was destroyed by something. And because of the connection, even she was injured!

Even a Holy Lord shouldn't have been able to destroy her Shadow Beast Clone in such a short time. However, that happened! She didn't know what was on the other side, but it was terrifying! She felt as if she could've been easily killed as well if she had passed through that door!

All the Churches had such Holy Regions where they have tributes to the statues of their gods and goddesses or prayer. The Church of Summoning also had one! However, this place was very different.

In other places, the Head Priests could also enter and they could also invite others if the others earned enough merit! However, in this place, even the Head Priests couldn't enter!

Only the Holy Lord could pass through! That's why she wanted to know just what was different about this place! She hadn't expected herself to get injured instead!

'In such a place, could Gabriel survive? He has the Element of Darkness and his weird element as well. Whatever lies on the other side, he probably can't fool it...'

At this point, she even wondered if Gabriel could come back alive from the other side.

Gabriel walked through the door, finally entering the other side.

As soon as he stepped on the other side, he felt a strange energy all around him. It was as if he had walked to an entirely different world altogether. He couldn't sense any of the natural aura that he could sense back at home!

What was even stranger was that the small sparrow that was sitting on his shoulders disappeared abruptly, as if the summon was cancelled. The shadow beast clone that was following him was destroyed as well. Only he stood in that place with no prying eyes.

"This place...?" Gabriel didn't remember seeing the place before. Moreover, for some reason, even though he had walked into a hall in the underground area of the Church of Light, the sky above his head was clear!

He could even see clouds and a sun above him! He didn't feel any teleportation so he was sure he was still underground! For some reason, in this small hall, there existed an entirely new world altogether!

The world was vast. As far as his eyes could see, he saw no end.

He cast flight spells to check his surroundings using the sky, but the flight spell didn't work. Let alone his Flight Spell, none of his spells could work at all!

All the illusions around him had dispersed, revealing his true self. Even the mask that he was wearing was shattered, falling to the ground!

Only his clothes that were the artefacts he had revived with his Ancestral Staff were still intact.

"What is this place?" The curious eyes of Gabriel looked around everywhere as he tried to make a sense of the situation.

He could see him standing in the middle of nowhere! There were nine fall stone slabs standing all around him, forming a circle and he was in the center.

All the stone slabs were similar in size. However, all of them had a different color. There were no words written on the slabs. The stone slabs didn't look like ordinary pieces of slabs either.

There was something special about them that even Gabriel could understand. It was as if the stone slabs were very profound. He couldn't even look at a stone slab for more than a few seconds without experiencing a heavy headache. This place really wasn't simple.

He couldn't see any statue of the goddess of Light in this place, making this place different from the other Churches' Holy Regions.

"What are these slabs?" he wondered, talking to himself.

"They are naturally something good for you."

Gabriel was still lost in his thoughts when he heard a voice. The voice belonged to a woman!

Gabriel couldn't believe that there was another person in this strange place. He abruptly turned around, noticing the blue stone slab behind him.

Next to the slab, he could see a woman in her early twenties, standing lazily. The woman had a strange fruit in her hand which she had already taken a bite out of.

She was dressed in a beautiful white gown that highlighted her mature aura even more.

"Who are you?" Gabriel frowned. The woman next to the slab... He had never seen that woman! It wasn't the Goddess of Light he saw in the dream when he received the Grimoire either! So who was she? That was the question.

"Don't worry. It's not surprising that you don't know that old hag," another voice came from another direction. The voice this time had some arrogance mixed in, as if the person who spoke had quite the arrogance.

"Don't worry. It's not surprising that you don't know that old hag," a man's voice came from a distance. The voice was filled with some mysterious power, as if it perfectly complemented the laws of heaven.

Gabriel turned around, noticing another person in the place. It was a man, donned in a beautiful silver robe that fluttered with the wind, making him look even more mysterious.

Just like the woman before, the dark haired man also had the Mark of Element of Light on the back of his hand.

The man stood with the support of the blue slab with his arms folded around his chest. His eyes remained on Gabriel, as if he was judging the young man from top to bottom.

It really intrigued Gabriel to see the man call the young woman an old hag, especially since he looked much older than the seemingly young lady. The man had a well built body and looked to be in his early thirties.

undefined"Can you two stop bickering like kids? Is that how you want our first impression on the little one to be?" Another voice came as a third person appeared near another stone slab.

"Let them play around. It's been a long time since we had a person come here." Laughter echoed in the place as a fourth person appeared.

One after another, more and more people appeared. What was surprising was that all of them stood near a stone slab! There were nine stone slabs and there were exactly nine people around Gabriel!

Amongst the nine people, there were five women and four men. Most of the nine people had a friendly tone and were talking to each other as if they had been friends. However, there was one amongst them who wasn't speaking anything.

The person who stood around a dark golden slab was standing silent. He had only once taken a glance at Gabriel and from that single glance, Gabriel could see that the man wasn't friendly to him. Fortunately, the man didn't do anything. He just stood silently, not even taking a second glance.

"Can anyone tell me where I am?" Seeing no signs of the people around him stopping their chatter, Gabriel had no choice but to intervene and stop them himself.

"Little brat, can't you even let us talk for a little? It's been a long time since we last met with each other," the dark haired man rolled his eyes. "You're quite eager to become a Holy Lord, aren't you?"

"Long time since you all met? Who are you all?" Gabriel inquired. He couldn't feel much from them. Their identity was unclear. All he could sense was that all nine of these people were strong, at least that was what came across from their behaviour.

"We are your seniors," the young woman who was the first person to appear explained. "We are also the ones who decide if you can become a Holy Lord or not."

The woman didn't speak more than she needed to. However what she said was enough to surprise Gabriel. They were going to decide if he could become a Holy Lord? Why did he never hear such a thing before? Just who were they all?

They all claimed to be his seniors and all of them had the Element of Light. From their words, Gabriel had managed to form some guesses but he waited to hear from them first.

"Didn't I get selected by the Holy Grimoire already? So why do I need your permission to become a Holy Lord? Just who are you?"

The place was strange and the people here were even stranger. Gabriel wasn't even sure if this place was safe for him or not.

"You're right. The Holy Grimoire selected you. But did you really think it was that simple to become an overlord of the millennia old heritage of Light?"

Gabriel could see some people laughing, probably at how naive and ignorant he was.

"You are the previous Holy Lords?" he asked after a brief period of silence.

He wasn't sure if his guess was correct. However that was the only thing he could come up with when they claimed to be his seniors.

Before this moment, he had already become the Holy Lord of Necromancy. However, he didn't have to go through something like that.

According to his guesses, it was because he was the first person to be selected by the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy after Karyk himself! That's why he had no seniors! It was different with the Holy Book of Light.

"Not bad, kiddo. From just the small hint, you've managed to decipher our identity. You are much better than Guo." The first woman laughed as she glanced at the man who had been silent from the start. "He was the last person to come here before him and we had to literally spell everything out for him and even then he couldn't guess."

The middle aged man known as Guo rolled his eyes, scoffing. He didn't say anything.

Gabriel also looked at the man. 'So he's the person who waged a war on the Dark Mages! Is that why he showed his hostility toward me?'

The middle aged man glanced at Gabriel again. Gabriel felt a little suppression acting on him as the man glared. However, it was nothing before what he faced at the Holy Church of Flames. Gabriel remained standing tall.

"Enough." The first woman gently spoke. As if her words were sprinkled with a mysterious healing force. Not only did Gabriel feel as if his soul became stronger after hearing her, but the suppression of Guo also disappeared.

Guo scoffed but still didn't react.

"You are the first Holy Lord?" Gabriel asked the woman who looked to be the youngest here. He didn't pay much attention to Guo for now.

"Oh? Why do you think that?" The first woman to arrive here smirked. "Don't tell me it's left because I came here first?"

"That's not all. Even though that also plays an important role in my guess," Gabriel answered. "You said Holy Lord Guo is the last Holy Lord to be here. He also appeared last. That makes me think you all appeared in proper order."

"What else?" the woman asked, taking even more interest in Gabriel.

"The person who appeared after you called you an old hag," Gabriel answered, only to hear the stifled laughter of the second man who appeared here. The others also looked as if they were trying hard to suppress their laughter. It wasn't often they heard the first Holy Lord be called an old hag by a newbie.

The first Holy Lord glared at the second Holy Lord as her face turned slightly red. If glares could kill, the man would've been dead a thousand times by now. She was cursing the second Holy Lord in her heart so much for addressing her like that in front of a Junior!

Gabriel pretended to not notice and continued, "From the way he spoke, many things became clear. He only addressed you like that. He talks to everyone else like his junior. That's why I think you became a Holy Lord before him and everyone else. As for him, he should be the second Holy Lord of Light."

"I like this one," the Second Holy Lord laughed. "Little brat, your personality is quite similar to mine. Later, when it comes to selection, you should select me. My skills would suit you a lot."

"Selection?" Gabriel looked at the Second Holy Lord. "Can you tell me what Selection?"

"Why don't you guess that as well," the first Holy Lord jokingly stated.

undefined"If I had a skill to predict the future like that, wouldn't I be a god?" Gabriel asked in return. "I'm just an ordinary human, so I'll have to rely on you all."

"Fine, fine. I was just joking." The first Holy Lord didn't continue messing with Gabriel. She quite liked the kid after all. "Let's get serious. We don't have much time here after all."

"As we already told you before, you aren't a Holy Lord yet. Even though you've been selected by the Holy Grimoire, that's the extent of it. So far, you have no spells from the Grimoire and if we don't agree, you won't get any spells either," the first Holy Lord explained. "To become a true Holy Lord, you need to get approval from us all."

"And what do I do to get your approval?" Gabriel asked, observing every Holy Lord around him.

He didn't really care about receiving the approval or spells of light as he already learned a lot of powerful spells of Light in the tower on the ninety ninth floor, but if he could get them, he was obviously willing to try. Each spell of a Grimoire was said to be as precious as an elixir of immortality after all.

"That depends on you. You can try anything you want. As long as you get all our approval, you will be set," the first Holy Lord explained.

"And what if someone isn't willing to give me their approval?" Gabriel inquired, especially looking in the direction of the ninth Holy Lord.

He wasn't sure if the others here could sense his other Elements since the gloves he received with his Ancestral Staff of Necromancy were still in his hands, hiding his Elemental Marks.

All these Holy Lords here were strong, but they were just a spiritual avatar. They weren't real. So it was unclear just how much of their old strength they possessed or how much they could sense.

From the reaction of the others toward him, Gabriel didn't think that they knew about him already being a Holy Lord of Necromancy. However, Guo's reaction made him think otherwise.

"Simple. If you can't get someone's approval, you still have a chance to pass the trial without their approval. There is another method. Unfortunately, succeeding like that is quite hard," the first Holy Lord answered. "Especially for a young one like you!"

"What other method?"

"Simple. Just beat them up until they give their approval," the Second Holy Lord smirked. "That is, if you are capable of that."

"If I'm not wrong, you're concerned about little Guo's approval, aren't you?" he further asked. "It's true that he has some bad blood with Dark Mages. You are tainted by the Dark Aura, even though it's very weak. You surely had a relationship with the Dark Mages."

"We don't care about that, but he might. He might not be willing to give you his approval," the first Holy Lord said, as if she was able to read Gabriel's mind. "We can't convince him for you. Everything depends on you at this point."

Gabriel finally understood just what this was about! At this point, everything was clear to him! These people really couldn't see his other Elements! The Gloves were working.

Unfortunately, even though they couldn't sense his other Elements, they could still see some hints of the Dark Element since he had used a Dark Element spell before entering this place to strengthen his physique just to be safe!

Because of that, they thought he had some friendship with the Dark Mages! The others didn't care about that. However, Guo was the one who waged a war with the Dark Mages. He clearly hated them.

'No wonder none of them seemed curious about my elements. They don't know yet! If it was their real body, they would've known right away!' Gabriel sighed in relief. With this, the approval process became much easier.

From what he understood, he could probably convince almost everyone with words. As for Guo, the man was strong. Fortunately, he was also the weakest out of all the Holy Lords here since he became a Holy Lord the last.

Fighting against the first and the second Holy Lord could've been harder, but with Guo, Gabriel felt he had a much better chance, even without his Necromancy and Darkness.

"Little brat, Guo is the weakest out of all of us. Even though it's not easy to defeat him, if you can, I will be willing to give you my approval!"

"If you can, me too!"

"If you can defeat a previous Holy Lord, that shows your capability. I would also be willing to agree."

Out of the eight remaining, seven had already agreed to give Gabriel an approval if he could defeat the ninth Holy Lord.

Though they all talked about testing Gabriel, Gabriel's face twitched in frustration. He was sure that these people had already decided to approve him.

However, just because they wanted some entertainment, they hid their approval behind him defeating Guo, not even giving him an opportunity to convince Guo using other methods.

Guo also felt his face twitched. All his Seniors were underestimating him so much. He couldn't believe that they all thought that he was so weak.

"Even though I might not be equal to you all in strength, if you think that a kid can defeat me, aren't you underestimating me too much?" Guo clenched his teeth in anger. "Anyway, if that's what you want, I'll agree! I'll show the kid the difference between heaven and earth!"

"And while I'm at it, I'll also deal a light punishment to him for working with the Dark Mages, even though I'd forbidden it!" The ninth Holy Lord stepped forward. With each of his steps, the space around him cracked, as if the space here wasn't enough to support his true strength!

"A person who ignores my commands and works with the Dark Mages has no right to get the blessing of Light!"

Guo was the weakest out of nine who were present here. However, he still had years of experience of being a Holy Priest who had mastered a lot of the Holy Spells himself. His strength could never be underestimated. Even Gabriel understood that.

Despite having some really decent spells of Light that he learned in the Tower of Challenges, he wasn't a hundred percent sure if he could win since his one of the most powerful spells of Light was something that relied on him using the Element of Darkness.

Gabriel understood perfectly well that in this battle, if he couldn't win, he might need to expose his other Elements. That's why he needed to do something for a safety net. He needed to make sure that no matter what he did, he could succeed.

"Are you ready to challenge him?" The first Holy Lord asked Gabriel.

Gabriel didn't reply immediately. It was as if he was still thinking of something.

undefined"Are you getting cold feet?" The seventh Holy Lord asked, frowning. Initially, he was happy that Gabriel was a confident young man. However his hesitation in answering was concerning.

"Before I agree, I want to make something sure," Gabriel responded, taking a deep breath. "Are you all sure that I will become a Holy Lord if I can defeat him? What if you all found another excuse later on to reject me?"

The Holy Lords were taken aback. Was this guy really saying that he couldn't trust their words?

"Are you saying that we might go back on our words?" The Second Holy Lord frowned. "Young man, do you really think we would do something like that?"

"It's not that I think that. However, there is always a possibility. Who knows what might happen in the battle. If you change your mind later on, it'll be a waste of my time to go through this battle!"

Gabriel understood that he needed the approval of these people to get full control of the Holy Grimoire. As long as he could get that right here, he would've never needed to return here.

"How do you want us to prove our words then?" The Fourth Holy Lord asked. "Don't tell me you want us to take a Heavenly Oath?"

"That's exactly what I want." Gabriel didn't even waste a single second before responding. As long as these people could make a Heavenly Oath, he didn't have to worry about anything!

"I want you all to make a Heavenly Oath that as long as I can defeat him, you would all help me become the strongest Holy Lord of Light!"

When he suggested the Heavenly Oath, he carefully crafted the words. The Oath that he spoke of wasn't just about him getting their approval anymore. It was very subtle, but the oath was more about the others doing their best to make him a strong Holy Lord of Light!

That single oath covered a lot of things in it. Not only did it mean they had to give him their approval, but they also couldn't show any bias in helping him in the future if there was ever a need!

It wasn't as if the other Holy Lords didn't think of what his words implied. However, they didn't think too much of it. For them, Gabriel was just a youngster with hot blood who didn't know how vast the world truly was.

"What do you think?" The second Holy Lord asked the first.

"Well, it's never happened before that a newbie had defeated an old Holy Lord for approval. If the young man can achieve that, he'll certainly create history. I don't mind helping a talent like that if he really can achieve that." The first Holy Lord was not only not worried about this Heavenly Oath, but she was even more impressed.

They have Gabriel an inch, but Gabriel was trying to get even more! This kind of greed for future strength was worth admiration.

"I think the same." The Second Holy Lord nodded. "I don't see any problem with that."

One after another, all the Holy Lords agreed. Guo didn't believe that Gabriel could achieve it, so he also agreed. For him, Gabriel was thinking about eating more than he could swallow.

All the Holy Lords looked at the sky and said in unison, "With Heaven as our witness, we all take the oath! No matter what method you use, as long as you can defeat Guo, we will not create any obstruction for you! Instead, we'll instead help you unlock the strongest potential of Light!"

As soon as the Heavenly Oath was completed, thunder flashed in the sky, as if acknowledging the oath!

"Good." With that kind of Oath, Gabriel could finally lower his guard. Even though he wanted to use his element of Light to win, if he couldn't, he was safe to use other Elements! The wide gap between the ninth Holy Lord and him had shortened by a lot!

"You can begin now!" the First Holy Lord clapped her hands. Gabriel felt a strange force around his body, grabbing him. He couldn't even resist that strange force of space.

The spatial force made him and the ninth Holy Lord disappear.

Both of them appeared in a different place in the Holy Region. The Eight Holy Lords appeared in the sky, observing the battle like gods who were watching the mortals play.

Gabriel and the ninth Holy Lord stood on the ground on rocky mountain terrain.

"I will not go easy on you!" The Ninth Holy Lord exclaimed. "Nor will I allow you to surrender."

"Is that what you said to the Dark Mages when you slaughtered them all?" Gabriel asked in return. "However, I am not like them. It's still unclear who will try to surrender."

"Your arrogance is really high. But before true attention, arrogance can only lower its head!" The Ninth Holy Lord raised his head toward the sky. An incarnation of the Ancestral Staff of Light appeared in his hand.

It wasn't the real Ancestral Staff, but since this was the Holy Region, the Ninth Holy Lord could use it and it had the same strength as the real Ancestral Staff.

Even though Gabriel was sent to the Holy Region, he still hadn't received the Ancestral Staff of Light from the Church of Light. He just realised that he came here unprepared.

"Today, I will trample your arrogance under my feet!" The Ninth Holy Lord exclaimed. Just like Gabriel, the ninth Holy Lord had also mastered the Wordless Chant!

He didn't speak any chant, but Gabriel still felt a disturbance in the energy around him. The battle had already begun!

"Do you think he can win?" The Second Holy Lord asked the first.

"The chances are low. I can't feel the presence of the Ancestral Staff of Light on the kid. It looks like he came to this place unprepared. Without the Ancestral Staff, even if he knew some powerful spells, the efficiency would be quite low," the first Holy Lord answered. "The only way he could've won was if the Ninth was underestimating him."

"That doesn't seem to be the case for now." the Second Holy Lord sighed. "Ninth is going all out from the start. The kid really can't win."

"We can't do anything about it. He should've come prepared," the third Holy Lord scoffed. "With just this kind of ability, the kid made us take a Heavenly Oath. He really overestimated himself. Even if he fails now, he can only blame himself."

"That's true. But I don't think it's that simple. Just look at the kid. Even in this situation, he's so calm. It doesn't look like he's faking his calmness." The first Holy Lord smiled. "I wonder where his confidence comes from."

undefined"I guess we'll know soon enough." The Second Lord also took great interest in the battle. It wasn't often they got to see that. "I'm really curious about the level of present day mages."

The battle between the Ninth Holy Lord and Gabriel, who was supposed to be the tenth Holy Lord of Light, began.

Right at the start, the Ninth Holy Lord went all out. His body split up in ten. The spell was quite similar to the spell that Izen had used in a battle against Gabriel. All the ten clones had the same aura and looked the same. Moreover, all ten of them could use the same level of strength!

If anything, Guo's control over this spell was even stronger than Izen!

The ten clones of Guo surrounded Gabriel and it was unclear which one of them was the real Ninth Holy Lord.

"This thing again!" Gabriel scowled, seeing the same thing again which had troubled him so much last time.

He boosted his strength, speed and endurance simultaneously before casting a flight spell. Finally in the battlefield, he was able to use his Spells of Light. There was no restriction here.

His body rose in the sky. Unfortunately, at the same time, a rope made of white light appeared around his ankles, pulling him straight back to the ground.

Just as his body was about to be smashed on the ground, Gabriel cast protection spells around him.

A spherical barrier appeared around him. The barrier hit the ground, leaving a deep crater behind. Inside the Barrier, Gabriel was still perfectly fine

Gabriel didn't have any of his items inside this place. He didn't even have the Sword of Ulien to cut the ropes around his ankles. Fortunately, he had learned how to create swords with his own energy.

Specks of light gathered around his right hand. A sword made from the aura of Light took shape. Gabriel swung the Sword, cutting the shackles around his ankles.

Unfortunately, the time he wasted in cutting the shackles and protecting himself from the fall, Guo had already taken action.

A mountain appeared above Gabriel's head. The mountain looked like a treasure that was real and unreal at the same time. It had the weight of a real mountain at least.

The mountain came down. As soon as it touched Gabriel's barrier, the barrier shattered immediately.

Thump!

The earth trembled as the barrier smashed on the ground, right where Gabriel was standing. None saw Gabriel step out of the way. It was clear to everyone that this was the end of Gabriel.

Even the Holy Lords in the sky frowned. It was clear that Gabriel was at a disadvantage but the battle still ended too soon. Something didn't seem right! Just as they were looking at each other in confusion, they sensed something. All their expressions changed, turning much darker.

A dark aura spread in the surroundings.

"The difference between one with an Ancestral Staff and one without isn't something that could be overcome so easily..." Guo was internally mocking Gabriel for thinking so highly of himself only to die so soon. "Let alone the fact that even if you had the Ancestral Staff, you couldn't win! You really thought you were something, weren't you?"

"Is an Ancestral Staff so important?" A cold voice came from a distance, making Guo monetarily freeze in shock! This voice... It was Gabriel.

His expressions darkened as he turned around, noticing Gabriel standing in the distance. Gabriel looked perfectly fine as if he wasn't hurt at all. What was even more shocking was that his aura was unstable and it was only getting stronger.

Gabriel knew that Guo wasn't lying. Even though Cylix was a powerful mage who taught Gabriel and was defeated by him, it was also partially because Cylix didn't do his best. Cylix also didn't have an Ancestral Staff! Moreover, Gabriel was allowed to use his Element of Darkness in that battle, which had helped him win.

Unfortunately, it was different with Guo. Not only wasn't Guo not going easy, but it instead looked as if the guy really wanted to trample him under his feet. He was also using the Ancestral Staff!

"Of course an Ancestral Staff is important!" The ninth Holy Lord scoffed. "But you can just forget about it! After you lose, you will never become a Holy Lord! You'll never get an Ancestral Staff! You'll always be an ant!"

Guo called Gabriel arrogant. However, from his tone, it was clear just how much arrogance he personally had.

"I wanted to avoid this if possible." Gabriel's voice was low, but still, everyone here was able to hear each of his words clearly. "But since you've already said that you won't let me get an Ancestral Staff, I'd like to see how you keep your words!"

The Dark Aura around Gabriel suddenly strengthened a lot. Seeing that dark aura, all the Holy Lords were shocked! This wasn't the aura of someone who was just working with the Dark Mages! It was instead the aura of...

"I can't hold one Ancestral Staff?" Gabriel asked as his voice became louder. A mocking gaze appeared in his eyes.

He raised his left hand toward the sky. The dark aura around his left hand intensified and started taking shape. Within seconds, a pitch black staff appeared in Gabriel's hand!

Seeing the Ancestral Staff, all the Holy Lords took a step back in shock. It wasn't their first time seeing this staff! They all knew what this Staff was!

"Ancestral Staff of Darkness!" The ninth Holy Lord exclaimed.

Gabriel wasn't done either.

"The difference between one with an Ancestral Staff is big. What about the difference between one with an Ancestral Staff and one with two?" Gabriel's cold voice penetrated deep inside everyone's heart here as he raised his right hand. The space trembled as if a god was being invited into this lowly place!

The Ancestral Staff of Darkness had appeared in Gabriel's hand which was shocking in itself, let alone what Gabriel was trying to do next.

After the first Ancestral Staff appeared, the light in the surrounding dinner but it wasn't enough. It was only when Gabriel started bringing forth the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy that the Holy Priests felt suppression.

They were the Holy Priests! When they lived, they were the mighty existences that no one could offend! If anything, it was the others who bowed before them to get their favor. Even though they weren't as strong now since it wasn't their real bodies, but to be suppressed to this extent was shocking to them as well.

"This kid..." The second Holy Lord grimaced. "How can he have the Ancestral Staff of Darkness? Is he a Holy Lord of Darkness? In that case, how could he be selected by the Holy Grimoire of Light? Just what is his identity?!"

The Third Holy Lord's brows rose as his expressions darkened. "More than the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, I'm concerned about what he's trying to do now! For some reason, I feel fear... A fear I never felt before! Should we stop him?"

undefined"Don't stop him!" the first Holy Lord exclaimed. "I want to see more!"

Even though she also felt concerned, she still wanted to see just what this kid was capable of!

When Gabriel asked them to make a Heavenly Oath, everyone assumed that Gabriel was just being childish. However, at this point, they all realized that there was more to it! The young boy had many hidden secrets inside him!

The space trembled. The Holy Region was strong, but even it wasn't enough to contain the strength of what Gabriel was trying to call forth! The Ancestral Staff of Necromancy had never made an appearance since the era of Gods after all! At least for the Holy Lords of Light!

"You are the heir of Darkness?!" The Ninth Holy Lord coldly exclaimed. "Good! Very good! Previously I was thinking about only hurting you badly! But now, I'll destroy your complete soul! You won't be the first Holy Lord of Darkness to die at my hands after all!"

"Come, accept your death!" All the Clones of the Ninth Holy Lord flew toward Gabriel. The real Ninth Lord was also hiding in the clones.

"Argh!"

Thunder crackled in the sky as all the clones of the Ninth Lord dropped to their knees under the heavy suppression as soon as they reached closer to Gabriel! A new Ancestral Staff appeared in Gabriela hand... The Ancestral Staff of Necromancy.

The secret realm that was created for this battle shattered before the might of the Ancestral Staff of Darkness. Everyone appeared back in the middle of the Stone Slabs.

Gabriel was still standing in the center. However, the Ninth Holy Lord was sitting on his knees, unable to even stand up! At least he was still lucky enough! All his clones couldn't even survive. His clones were destroyed just by the pressure alone.

Gabriel coldly looked at the man before him. Initially, the man was just fighting. But in the end, he had outright spoken that he was going to kill Gabriel!

The other Holy Lords stood near their stone slabs. They all looked at the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy, only to be frightened!

They didn't recognise what this Ancestral Staff was since they never saw it before. Let alone recognising it, they couldn't even look at the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy!

The first Holy Lord was breathing heavily, as her entire body was covered in sweat. She had tried to probe the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy.

Unfortunately, as soon as she looked at the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy, she felt as if her soul was about to be sucked inside the Ancestral Staff! She felt that she couldn't even offer any resistance! She barely managed to take her eyes off the Ancestral Staff!

None of them realized that the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy was invincible before Souls! The Necromancer dealt with souls and the undead after all! No matter how strong they were, they weren't in their real bodies! Before the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy, they were like little chickens sitting on a chopping block.

Gabriel hadn't even called out his Grimoire yet and the battle was already over which came as a little surprise to him as well. He felt as if he had really overestimated these Holy Lords by calling the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy and that the Ancestral Staff of Darkness was enough!

"Y-you! Don't act reckless!" The Ninth Lord roared, noticing Gabriel looking at him, as if he was trying to think how to kill!

"If you do anything to me, you will sever the path for all the future generations of the Holy Lords of Light! The Goddess will never allow it!" he exclaimed. "No matter who you are, before the Goddess, you would be nothing! Don't make her take action!"

"The Goddess of Light?" Gabriel asked. "Is she alive?!"

"Alive?" The Ninth Holy Lord scoffed. "You're just a little frog at the bottom of the well! I don't know where you got the Ancestral Staff from, but don't overestimate himself! Before the gods, all your effort is futile! You can't go against Heaven!"

"Is that so..." Gabriel muttered. He stepped closer to the Ninth Holy Lord who felt confident that Gabriel wasn't going to kill him! Killing him was the same as offending the Goddess after all! All the Holy Lords had an important role for the future after all!

"You're saying I'll be going against Heaven if I kill you?" Gabriel asked when there was only half a meter of distance between him and the Ninth Holy Lord.

At this closeness, the suppression acting on the Ninth Holy Lord was even stronger than before! He couldn't even raise his hand anymore.

Despite that, the Ninth Holy Lord was still as haughty.

"That's right! Before a god, you're nothing but a small blade of grass that they can trample on anytime! So don't go overboard!" The Ninth Holy Lord roared. "You want my approval? I'll give you! Just retreat, apologize to me and abandon the path of Darkness!"

"Do I need your approval?" Gabriel asked. "I've already received all the approval. Yours isn't needed anymore."

He didn't care what they meant by the future path of the Holy Lords being obstructed if one of them died. It was none of his concern. Why should he care what happened to the lineage of the Holy Priests of Light!

"And as far as me offending Heaven is considered, you think I care?" he asked, not having a single shred of fear in his eyes. "The moment I walked on this path, I'd already stopped caring about my life and death!"

" I don't have friends! I don't have a family! I don't have anyone in this world who will cry over my death or miss me! I don't have anything in this world to be scared for!

"If Heaven wants to go against me, they are welcome to try! If your goddess wants to trample me, she is welcome to try! No matter who tries to kill me, I'll slaughter them!"

"I have no gratitude and no hate. The ones who don't stand in my path will live. The ones who stand in my path will die whether it be gods, Demons or the Heaven itself..."

Usually, Gabriel wasn't that impulsive. He generally wouldn't have bothered with the Ninth Holy Lord or go this far. However, for some reason, his emotions were in turmoil at the moment!

He held the two Ancestral Staffs in his hands while standing in the Holy Region of Light, feeling some indescribable feeling. There was some hidden anger... Some unfulfilled desires... Some rage... Some sadness... Even he couldn't understand what he was feeling.

"Even if I'm nothing but a blade of grass before a god, this single blade of grass will go against Heaven if they try to suppress me! This single blade of grass will become the bloody sword that slaughters them all!"

Even Gabriel didn't realize what it was; however, for a moment, he was like a completely different person that looked down on all the gods as if they were nothing but a speck of dust before him!

The Ninth Holy Lord opened his lips but no words came out. It was as if he was being choked by the pressure. His soul was being suppressed. It was clear that he was close to being destroyed entirely.

"Young man, stop!" the Second Holy Lord couldn't help but intervene. Now that things had reached a dangerous level, if he didn't do anything, he was sure that the Ninth Holy Lord's Soul Fragment was going to be destroyed!

Gabriel didn't react right away. It was as if he stood there in silence, not saying anything. At the same time, the Ninth Holy Lord started screaming, as if his entire soul was being torn apart.

The ring of Necromancy on Gabriel's left hand started trembling in excitement as it turned into a speck of light. The speck of light flew before Gabriel and changed shape into a black book.

undefinedAs if the suppression of the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy wasn't enough, as soon as the Grimoire appeared, even the other Holy Lords couldn't remain standing.

One after another, all the Holy Lords dropped to their knees, barely supporting themselves with their hands from falling flat.

The first Holy Lord was the one who resisted the most out of them all, but even she couldn't remain standing for long as she also fell!

Gabriel didn't even realize what was happening around him. It was as if he was in a completely different zone for now.

The ground in the Holy Region of Light started trembling as all the Holy Lords fell to their knees.

The Head Priests of the Church of Light were standing outside the Holy Region. They had no idea what was happening on the other side of the door. Even Avilia was waiting eagerly for Gabriel to return and tell her what he saw.

"It's been over half an hour. How long will he take?" one of the Head Priests wondered. "From the information we have, none of the previous Holy Lords spent so much time inside. Could something have happened?"

The Head Priests had some records of the past. The records didn't mention what was on the other side of the door. All it mentioned was that a new Holy Priest was to be sent to the Holy Region as soon as he took his position. They did the same, but for some reason, Gabriel spent more time there than others before him!

"I don't know. We can only wait." The other Head Priest sighed, shaking his head. Even if they wanted to know what happened, it wasn't as if they could do anything. Going to the other side was no better than actively looking for death!

As everyone else was wondering what could've happened to Gabriel, the ground suddenly started shaking. The shaking wasn't subtle either as many of them lost their balance instantly, falling to the ground.

Only a few of the Head Priests could stay still, despite the earthquake. However, even they had to take support of the wall for safety. Only Avilia was standing without any support. She hadn't moved at all from her place.

The earthquake wasn't just felt in the Holy Church of Light. It spread out, covering the entire city.

Izen had returned to the Academy of Elements when he felt the earthquake. He immediately understood that it had something to do with the Church of Light! This earthquake wasn't natural!

Even the Royal Palace was alarmed as the Emperor went to the balcony, looking at the City which was trembling. The earthquake was so intense that many of the houses of commoners that didn't have proper structure or foundation came crashing down.

Lumen was suffering from the earthquake. However, the person who caused this earthquake had no knowledge of it.

Gabriel didn't even understand himself what he was doing. It was as if a hidden urge had taken over him. This feeling was uncomfortable, but it also made him feel extremely powerful. It was as if he could do anything!

The Ninth Holy Lord's Soul was ripped to pieces. The fragments of the Soul flew toward the Grimoire of Necromancy, as if the Grimoire wanted to swallow the delicious soul of a Holy Lord! Even though it was just a small soul fragment and not the main soul, it was still something that the Grimoire of Necromancy preferred to hold.

The Soul Fragment flew toward the hungry Grimoire of Necromancy under the eyes of the other Holy Lords. All the Holy Lords felt their faces turn pale. It was as if they were before a Predator that wanted to eat them!

If they had their real bodies, they could've at least fought back. However, as they were now, they couldn't do anything! They couldn't even resist the suppression.

The soul fragment of the Ninth Holy Lord was about to enter the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy but just as it was a few inches away from the Grimoire, it stopped!

A surreal aura swept over the entire Holy Region as the trembling of the ground stopped. The space that was breaking apart also stabilized.

The Soul Fragment of the Ninth Holy Lord flew back, far away from the Grimoire of Necromancy. The Soul Fragment flew back to the stone slab where the Ninth Holy Lord was standing when he appeared.

As the Ninth Holy Lord appeared next to the stone slab, his soul fragment started healing, taking old shape once again. It was as if the soul was completely healed!

Even the other Holy Lords saw that, their eyes lit up! The pressure of the Holy Grimoire was still there, but it wasn't as intense as before! They could at least stand now!

The Holy Lords were able to stand. However, they didn't stand up. Instead, they arranged their positions properly, standing on one knee as if they were greeting a superior.

"Goddess!" They all shouted in unison, looking in a different direction from Gabriel.

In the different direction, they could see a young woman standing. The woman had a charming, pure yet powerful aura around her.

She was dressed in a beautiful white gown that looked no more special than an ordinary gown. However, only the ones who knew the reality knew that even if all the Holy Lords attacked that ordinary looking gown together, they couldn't leave a single scratch on it.

The woman wore no accessory. Her hands were bare. She had no weapons either. She was like a mortal, at least from the initial glance.

Gabriel looked in the direction of the woman, having a familiar feeling. It was as if he had known the woman...

"Goddess of Light..." he muttered.

He had seen the woman once before! She was the same person that he saw when he was selected by the Holy Grimoire of Light! At that place, she was standing next to someone who looked like Karyk and the God of Darkness at the Cliff.

"Since when did you stop calling me by my name?" The woman asked. Her voice was so melodious that it could make anyone fall in love with her instantly. Unfortunately, her voice had no effect on Gabriel. Gabriel was truly immune.

Gabriel felt as if he knew the woman more than just the one time he saw her. However, at the same time, he felt as if he didn't know her at all. It was a strange feeling that he couldn't understand.

He didn't know why, but a single word came out of his lips, "Theia..."

Listening to the name, Theia went completely silent. Many incomprehensible emotions flashed in her eyes.

"Theia..." Gabriel subconsciously spoke a name, not realizing why he did so. It was as if he knew yet didn't know the girl before him.

Moreover, the more he tried to remember, the more his head started aching. It was as if there was a powerful barrier that was stopping him from remembering, no matter how hard he tried.

The more he tried to remember, the more hurt he felt. At the end, he couldn't help but grab his thumping head as his veins popped up, becoming clearly visible.

Both the Ancestral Staffs disappeared as he freed them to grab his head instead. Only the Ancestral Grimoire of Necromancy was still out, floating before him.

Theia gazes at Gabriel who was in pain. Unfortunately, she didn't do anything to help the young man. She just watched silently.

undefined"Who.. are... you...?!" Gabriel spoke, still experiencing the tormenting pain. "Why do you seem so familiar?!"

Gabriel's headache only increased yet he didn't give up. He had this strange feeling for a long time, as if there was something important which he didn't remember. It was the same feeling ever since he received the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy!

All the Holy Lords were before their stone slabs, watching Gabriel wreath in pain. Most of them didn't know what was happening or why the Goddess was even here! Even though the Ninth Holy Lord said that killing him could cut the path of future Holy Lords, that wasn't entirely true!

As long as Gabriel didn't kill more than half of them, it didn't affect much! There was no need for the goddess to appear! So why did she come? That was the question in their heads! It also looked as if the arrival of Theia had more to do with Gabriel than the Ninth Holy Lord. It was as if saving the Ninth Holy Lord was just an afterthought!

Another taking that stunned them was that Gabriel looked as if he knew Theia! Even they hadn't known the name of the goddess! How could he know? He wasn't even a Holy Lord yet! So how?

The Ninth Holy Lord had barely survived. He was covered in sweat as he barely remained standing with the support of the stone slab. Killing intent flashed in his eyes as he glared at Gabriel in the distance. Gabriel was at his weakest according to him! For him, it was the best time to strike!

The thought appeared in the eyes of the Ninth Lord and he decided to kill Gabriel.

"Argh!"

The Ninth Holy Lord dropped to the ground, roaring in pain. He only had the thought to kill Gabriel but he hadn't even taken a step yet. Despite this, a mountain-like pressure descended on the Ninth Holy Lord!

The pressure was different from the pressure of Gabriel! It was more like the pressure of the goddess herself!

Covered in sweat, the Ninth Holy Lord looked at Theia, only to find her looking in his direction.

"Don't even dare to touch him in this state. If you try and the protection on his soul activates, even I won't be able to save anyone here then..." Theia's cold voice fell in the ears of all the Holy Lords. Theia's voice was cold but it was also full of concern.

Even though she was a goddess, she was saying she couldn't save them?! This was horrifying in itself for the Holy Lords! Just what kind of person was Gabriel that even the Goddess was afraid of going too far?! Just what was his identity?

Gabriel monetarily even forgot his surroundings. All his focus was on a headache that kept increasing. He didn't even think about where he was or what he was doing! All he wanted was for the pain to end!

"Goddess... The space is becoming unstable. If you don't do anything, this place will be destroyed!" The First Holy Lord stated. Even though Gabriel didn't do anything, just a fraction of Gabriel's uncontrolled power was enough to destroy this place! The space was becoming more and more unstable.

Even Theia was concerned about this. If she didn't do anything, the Holy Region could be destroyed. Unfortunately, she had a lot of restrictions in this place, especially since the person before her was... him. One wrong step and things could get out of control.

"Are you still not going to show yourself?" After a brief pause, Theia softly asked. "Or are you waiting for this place to be destroyed before you show up?"

No one here knew who Theia was talking to. All they could see was that she was looking at Gabriel when she spoke.

The Holy Lords wondered if she was talking to Gabriel. Just who was she asking to show themselves? What was happening?! The Holy Lords were nothing more than just spectators at this point.

While everyone was confused, a strange yet powerful aura spread out. The aura was so powerful that it was almost equal to the aura of Theia.

Unlike the soft and surreal aura of Theia, the new aura that appeared was as heavy as a mountain as if the owner of this aura had tempered himself in the heavenly thunder itself!

"Finally you decided to show yourself." Theia folded her arms, glaring. If you still hadn't shown yourself, I would've had to drag you here myself!

Gabriel was still in pain and didn't know what was happening. His earring started shining brightly as a speck of light came out of the earring.

A young man appeared behind Gabriel. None of the Holy Lords recognised the person. However, if Gabriel could see, he could've recognised that person easily! It was the same person that was helping him train his physique under the fountain.

"A mere spiritual avatar thinks it can drag me anywhere?" The man behind Gabriel asked, coldly. "Why did you have to appear here? Do you know what disaster you almost caused?"

The man placed his hand over Gabriel's head. Gabriel doesn't understand what it was, but all the pain and headache suddenly disappeared. Sleepiness took over and he couldn't even keep his eyes open.

Even though Gabriel felt sleepy, he was still relieved that at least the pain had stopped. He didn't know who the male voice belonged to. He couldn't even turn back to see that person. All he remembered were the words that were spoken before he fell into a sweet sleep, away from all the headache.

At that moment, Gabriel fell asleep. The man stepped forward, supporting Gabriel by holding his shoulders.

"If the Spiritual Avatar isn't enough, do you want the real me to come?" Theia smirked. "You know what will happen to you if I actually come, don't you?"

"Theia, you're playing with fire. I might not be able to stop the real you, but I'm not the one you should be concerned about if you came, am I?" As the young-looking man spoke, his eyes subconsciously looked at Gabriel who was peacefully sleeping. Finally, his face was calm and there was no pain.

Even Theia understood what the man was implying. There was only one person who could kill her here, and that person wasn't the man who helped Gabriel.

Theia didn't respond to the statement. She had her own calculations after all. "Take him and leave this place. We are done here."

The man didn't stay back to argue either. He turned around. However, before leaving, he didn't forget to speak his mind. "You shouldn't have involved him by giving your Grimoire to him. I hope you won't regret your interference in the future..."

The Holy Lords almost had their jaws dropped. There weren't many people in this world who could talk back to the Goddess in such a way and leave alive! They wondered just who this guy was! They couldn't see any Elemental Marks on his hand which meant that he wasn't a god from the Era of Gods either! So who was he?! Throughout the nine generations of Holy Lords, none had seen him!

undefinedOnce Alion disappeared with Gabriel, only the Holy Lords and the Spiritual Avatar of Theia were left behind. The entire Holy Region was submerged in silence. No one dared to speak anything before the goddess. It was so silent that it looked as if not a single person was here!

After a long time, the first Holy Lord managed to gather enough courage to speak. She went down to her knees respectfully. "My lady! What was the identity of those two people?"

"The identity of those two?" Theia didn't take offence to the question. She knew that everyone here had the same question.

Unfortunately, despite the question being a fair question, she didn't answer. "You're not qualified enough to know who those two are."

After speaking, her spiritual avatar disappeared as well.

Back in the real world, the Head Priests were still waiting for Gabriel's return. The door of the Holy Region didn't open. However, none of them realized that Gabriel wasn't inside the Holy Region anymore.

Alion had already brought Gabriel out of the Holy Region. He brought Gabriel to one of the rooms in the Church of Light and placed him on the bed. He covered Gabriel with a blanket.

He didn't want to interfere more than he had to. If it wasn't urgent, he wouldn't have appeared in the Holy Region at all!

Gabriel peacefully slept on the bed as Alion observed the young man to see if he had any wounds. Fortunately, there were none.

"You really make one worry, don't you?" he tapped the forehead of Gabriel lightly. "It's a real headache though. God of Flames should also know about your appearance after what you did last time. Then there's the God of Darkness. And now Theia also knows. Everything is happening so fast..."

He raised his head. It was as if he could see through the roof and directly into a forbidden place. "I hope I'm just overthinking things. Even they wouldn't be crazy enough to..."

"Hmm?" Alion came to his senses as he looked toward the door. He could feel some movement outside. His body turned into a speck of light as he disappeared again.

"I sense his presence from this room!" Avilia came to the room. As soon as Gabriel came out of the Holy Region and inside the Church, she was able to sense him again.

She came straight to this room. Other than Gabriel, she couldn't sense anyone inside the room

Half the Head Priests also followed her, even though they didn't believe her.

"How could the Holy Lord appear inside this time straight from the Holy Region?"

Despite not believing her, they still couldn't do much. They couldn't stop her. She was a Holy Lord and the wife of their new Holy Lord. They could only accompany her to keep an eye on her.

Avilia opened the door and saw Gabriel lying on the bed. His breathing was calm and it didn't look as if he was hurt. However, she didn't understand why he was suddenly asleep as soon as he came out.

She moved closer to Gabriel, wondering if something was wrong with him

The Head Priests were behind Avilia. She thought quickly and realized that Gabriel wasn't wearing a mask anymore! And he wasn't under any illusion either! If any Head Priest saw him, they could see his real face!

For a moment, she even regretted leading them here. In the heat of the moment, she could only cover Gabriel entirely with the blanket.

"Is it really the Lord?" The Head Priests also stepped inside the room, only to find someone who was covered from head to toe in a blanket.

Since they couldn't see who was inside the blanket, they couldn't confirm Gabriel's identity. However, they were slightly convinced. This room was supposed to be empty after all! And no stranger could get here!

"That's right. He's sleeping. Don't disturb him. He must be tired after what he went through at that place."

Avilia didn't let anyone get close to Gabriel. Even though it was none of her concerns, she still wanted to leave the matter of revealing his identity to Gabriel when he woke up.

Moreover, she loved chaos but not mindless chaos. Things had just started becoming interesting for her. A Dark Mage was now the Holy Lord of Light! The longer this farce went on, the more fun it was for her when Gabriel revealed his identity! It was all too soon for now!

"Y-yes. We wouldn't disturb the Holy Lord!" The Head Priest respectfully said. "You can stay with the Holy Lord. We would make sure this area is sealed! No one but us would be allowed to come here. There won't be any disturbances!"

The Head Priests didn't know why Gabriel was asleep, but they could wait. Moreover, there was no problem in leaving Avilia here. She was Gabriel's wife and both of them had confirmed it. If anything, he was safer with her than he was with a Head Priest!

All the Head Priests respectfully stepped out of the room and closed the door without making much noise. Next they went downstairs to inform the other Head Priests to tell them that the Holy Lord was already out and there was no need to wait next to the door anymore.

Only Avilia and Gabriel were left in the room, all alone!

After an eighteen hour long sleep, Gabriel finally showed some signs of waking up. It wasn't often that he received such a peaceful and comfortable sleep.

Before he could even open his eyes, he felt a warm breath brushing against his neck. There was a comfortable warmth around him. Moreover, he felt as if his arms were wrapped around something soft.

Confused, he slowly opened his eyes, only to have his eyes widened in surprise. He was wide awake as soon as he realized that he wasn't in the Holy Region anymore! Instead, he was lying on a warm bed.

What was more shocking was that there was another person on the bed right next to him. Moreover, the other person was extremely close to him!

undefinedThe other person was none other than Avilia who was somehow sticking extremely close to him physically. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was calm. From the signs, it didn't appear as if she was faking it! She was actually asleep.

However, what was this situation? How were the two of them in the same room and on the same bed? That question kept rising in Gabriel's head, especially since he wasn't much different from her.

Even his own hand was wrapped around Avilia's waist while her graceful hand was resting on his chest as she remained so close to him that there was no room between the two of them. If both of them weren't wearing their clothes yet, it could've easily been misunderstood into something else entirely.

Gabriel didn't make any movement. He first tried to make sense of the situation.

'From what I remember, I was in the Holy Region. I won the test and was about to kill the Ninth Lord when someone arrived and intervened. Who was it? Why can't I remember their face? Just what happened after I defeated the Ninth Lord?'

Gabriel was so confused. He knew he saw someone in the Holy Region but he just couldn't remember anything. It was as if the part of his memories were clouded.

'How did I get out of the Holy Region?' he wondered. 'If Avilia is here, that means I'm definitely out of that place. But why can't I remember coming out?'

Before finding out about what happened in the Holy Region, there was another question in his head that he wanted the answer to. He didn't remember how he came here. That also meant that he didn't remember if Avilia was here when he arrived and fell on the bed or not.

If Avilia was already here sleeping when he came, that meant he was the one who snuck inside. In that case, he could easily be misunderstood by Avilia if she woke up and found him here. If that happened, he knew that it would be hard to explain.

On the other hand, if he was already in this room when Avilia arrived, why would she sleep here? That also didn't make sense. Since he was the one who didn't remember, he considered the first possibility more prominent.

'I have to leave without waking her up.'

In the end, she just decided to go with the safest option. No matter who snuck inside, he needed to get out of here before Avilia woke up!

He looked at the sleeping face of Avilia. Usually when Avilia was up, he never really noticed her face that carefully. However, now that she was so close to him and sleeping, he could see more clearly.

Avilia looked really beautiful as she slept. It was as if she was a beautiful princess of some Empire. Just by looking at her in this situation, no one could've guessed that she was someone who could kill without blinking an eye.

Avilia's face was close to Gabriel's neck as she was in his embrace like a little kitten. If he wanted to get away, he first had to take out his hand from under her. But doing so without waking her up was harder to execute.

'If I find out that it was someone's scheme to get me in this situation, I'm going to teach them a nice lesson!'

Gabriel slowly pulled out his arm from under Avilia's body.

"Umm?"

Gabriel had managed to pull out a little when Avilia seemingly made a noise.

Gabriel immediately closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. If Avilia woke up, it was better for him to pretend to be asleep. He didn't want her to misunderstand him even more if he truly snuck inside subconsciously.

Avilia was sleeping comfortably. However, feeling some movement, she came out of her deep slumber.

She slowly opened her eyes, still in a monetary daze.

As she came to her senses and saw what was before her eyes, her eyes widened as well.

She had been waiting for Gabriel in this room for so long, that she didn't even realize when she fell asleep herself. As there was only one bed, she slept on the bed.

The bed was so big that five people could sleep comfortably. That's why she thought that could rest if she took the other corner. Now that she opened her eyes, she was shocked.

Both of them were sleeping in different corners of the bed. However, now they were both in the center of the bed in each other's embrace as if they were passionate lovers.

Avilia's face turned slightly feverish as she felt Gabriel's hands around her slim waist.

'How did this happen?' That was the biggest question in her head. 'Fortunately he's still asleep. If he was up and misunderstood me, I wouldn't know how to explain the situation myself...'

Avilia sighed in relief that she wasn't seen like this by anyone, not realizing that it wasn't the case.

[An hour ago...]

The Head Priests of Light arrived near the room but they didn't enter. They were still curious that Gabriel wasn't up yet.

"Could something have gone wrong?" Head Priest Qian wondered. "I think we should at least check once. It's been too long..."

The other Head Priests also agreed. They opened the door and carefully peaked inside so as to not disturb anyone inside.

Through the small opening in the gap, the Head Priests saw inside the room. As for what they saw, it made their expressions quite awkward as if they had done something wrong.

Inside the room, there was only one bed. On the bed, two people were lying close to each other. Both people seemed asleep, but the closeness of the two was enough to surprise the Head Priests who had been single all their lives. It was enough to make them believe that the two youngsters were indeed husband and wife.

Avilia sighed in relief that she was safe. She didn't realise that other than her, everyone else saw the scene already, including Gabriel.

She didn't immediately get up from the bed either as her guard was already lowered. She didn't think Gabriel was going to wake up anytime soon and felt a little lazy to get up as well. As much as she wanted to deny it, she really felt comfortable in Gabriel's embrace and wanted to stay like this a little longer.

Avilia gazed at the face of Gabriel who looked even more handsome from this close. She couldn't help but poke his cheeks lightly. "Little brat, bless your stars that you're asleep. If you had seen..."

She didn't even know what she could've done if he had seen, but she didn't think so far.

undefined"Though I must say, you don't look half bad. At least better than everyone else I've seen before," she muttered, as if talking to herself. Since Gabriel was asleep according to her, she could finally speak without worrying.

Gabriel kept his eyes closed, still pretending to be asleep, hearing everything she said. At this point, everything was clear to him. He finally understood half the situation. It wasn't him who snuck here, but it was her. However, he still didn't know why.

Since he already had his answers, he could stop pretending. No matter what, he wasn't at fault. Moreover, he also needed his answers from her.

"Thank you for the compliment," he softly spoke. Since they were so close to each other, even as Gabriel kept his voice low, in Avilia's ears, it was like thunder. Her face turned red.

"You, you, you are awake?!" She exclaimed as she tried to get up. However, she couldn't offer any resistance. Gabriel's arm was still wrapped around her waist. She didn't let him get up.

"No, I'm just sleep talking. You can continue. I didn't see anything," Gabriel casually answered.

At this point, Avilia's entire face was flushed red in embarrassment. "Continue what?! I'm not a pervert! Stop talking nonsense! I-i was just here to make sure that no one attacked you when you were asleep!"

Gabriel didn't reply. He just opened his eyes and looked in the eyes of Avilia. Even without any words from him, Avilia felt even more embarrassed. It was clear to her that he didn't believe her. Let alone him, even she wouldn't have believed her if she was in his place.

Avilia had never felt this embarrassed in her life. Just as she was about to do something, Gabriel freed her. He didn't go too far in messing with the young lady. No matter how childish Avilia acted at times, Gabriel hadn't forgotten her real identity.

He pulled out his arm from under her waist and let her be free as he sat up.

He had slept for so long that his entire body felt lazy at this point. He stretched his arms and asked, "Tell me the truth. How did I get here and what happened after I entered the Holy Region."

Avilia also sat up. She was still embarrassed that Gabriel saw her and heard her call him handsome. However, for now, she knew it was better to forget that it ever happened.

She informed Gabriel everything that happened after he went inside the Holy Region. She also informed him about the strange earthquake and how he appeared in this room directly.

After that, she didn't forget to inform him of her side of the story as to how she stayed behind in this room to protect him and how she fell asleep, only to end up in this awkward situation with him.

"So that's how it was..."

Gabriel had no reason to doubt her. With her personality, it was clear that she wouldn't have done this intentionally. What was more intriguing to him was his sudden arrival in this room.

He knew what happened after he came to this room but what happened between the time when he was about to kill the Ninth Lord and the moment he arrived here was still blank at this point. That was a question which no one here could answer.

He wondered if that was always going to be a mystery to him...

After waking up, Gabriel went for a shower while Avilia left the room. Now that Gabriel was up, she didn't need to protect him. He was already strong enough for that.

Avilia stepped out of the room, finding the Head Priests waiting outside. She didn't know why, but she felt as if their gazes were different now. At least compared to before. Previously, they still looked at her with some suspicions but now that suspicion was gone to some extent.

She didn't understand why that was the case. She didn't think much of it. She just informed the Head Priests to bring another mask for Gabriel as the last one was broken.

Gabriel stood under the shower. Little droplets of water washed his skin which was even better now that he had received the blessing of Light.

Ever since he had started training his physique, his skin had hardened and his physical defence increased. However, now that he was blessed by Light, his skin returned to how it used to be in the past while maintaining the same level of defence and physical strength!

Gabriel cast a small barrier around the bathroom to make sure that no aura leaked out of the place. It was only after casting a barrier that he took off both his gloves. It had been long since he himself saw his Elemental Marks after all.

He wanted to see if he had actually passed the test or not as he didn't remember anything.

As he took off his gloves, he noticed that the Mark of Light which had merged with the Mark of Darkness was more overwhelming now. Each stroke of the Mark of Light was not only thicker but contained more power than before.

The Mark of Darkness was slightly underwhelming. Even though it was also stronger than an ordinary Mage of Darkness, but it wasn't comfortable to the Mark of a Holy Priest.

As for his Mark of Necromancy, it was in a different league altogether.

Since he usually wore his Gloves, he didn't notice it before. However, his Mark of Necromancy had spread out so much that it covered his entire hand, even covering his fingers! It was emitting a strength that was overwhelming the combined strength of Light and Darkness and it didn't appear to be its limit either!

Gabriel looked at the Mark of Necromancy with a frown, having some apprehensions. Why was this Mark spreading? Was it going to spread to his entire right arm slowly? What about his body? He had so many questions!

Gabriel wore his gloves once again before leaving the shower. He dried his body using a simple spell and wore his clothes.

He could also see a similar mask to what he wore before lying on the bed. It was as if someone left it here for him. Since he hadn't reminded anyone about it yet, it was clear that this was the doing of Avilia.

"That girl..."

He walked up to the bed and picked up the mask, wearing it directly. He was about to leave, but stopped right before the door, remembering something.

Even though he had a mask, he had no illusion anymore. Izen had already warned the Head Priests about him, telling him about his Mark and gloves to check for. If he didn't have an illusion, the Head Priests could clearly see his gloves which wasn't ideal.

undefinedHe stood before the door, opening it lightly. After opening the door, he placed his hands behind him and stood like a surreal expert as if he knew that the Head Priests were right outside.

Just as he expected, the Head Priests were in the hallway, waiting for him. They were already informed about Gabriel waking up.

"You're up. Good." Qian greeted Gabriel. "Come, we will give you a tour of the Church and show you other important places today. After that-"

"Not yet." Gabriel didn't leave the room. "I have to train myself first and learn the new spells. In the meantime, I won't be leaving this room. I want you to make all the arrangements. No one other than Avilia is allowed inside this room. Do you understand?"

Qian and the other Head Priests looked at each other but they didn't question it. What could be better than Gabriel wanting to immerse himself in his training. The faster he did so, the faster he could be ready for his meeting with the other Holy Lords.

"We will do as the Lord asked." The Head Priests respectfully stated as they stepped back.

"One more thing." The Head Priests were about to leave but were stopped by Gabriel. "Where is Avilia? Where did she go?"

"Lady Avilia left the Church not long ago."

"Did she tell you where she went and when she'll be returning?" Gabriel asked. It was surprising that Avilia left the Church without telling him at all.

"She didn't say anything. However, from what I know, it looks like she already left the City. We don't know when she'll be back," Qian answered. "Maybe she had something to do at the Church of Summoning? We'll make sure to bring her here when she returns."

Gabriel nodded. "Alright. You can leave. Make sure to remember what I told you. In the next few days, no one is allowed to enter this place. Even if a Holy Lord comes, find some excuse and don't disturb me."

"We have become an expert in doing that throughout the years. Holy Lord don't have to worry about anything." Qian smirked as he retreated. They had done nothing more than finding excuses ever since their Holy Lord died last time after all.

After the Head Priests left, Gabriel closed the door and took off the mask, tossing it on the bed. He locked the door from inside. He brought a defensive artefact to make sure no one could enter without him finding out.

It was only after making sure that everything was set, he walked to the bed. He had received the Holy Grimoire of Light and the approval. Now all that was left for him to do was to see just what kind of spells he received.

According to the stories he heard, a Holy Grimoire usually gave different spells to every new Generation of a Holy Lord. It was rarely the case of a spell being repeated. Moreover the spells that they received were supposed to be the spells that could help them there most. That was what raised Gabriel's expectations from it.

Right now, the biggest problem for Gabriel was that he needed something to hide his identity before Izen or other Holy Lords. Avilia's summoned beast's ability was comparable to a Head Priest. It couldn't fool a Holy Lord.

The only thing that could fool a Holy Lord was a powerful spell of another Holy Lord! That's what he wanted the most from his Grimoire!

The Element of Light was said to be the most versatile element in this world. It was also the spell which had great illusion abilities. That's also why this element was used in most of the clone spells in battle against him by the Ninth Holy Lord and Izen.

"I hope you won't disappoint me." Gabriel glanced at the bracelet on his left hand. "I went through a lot to get your control after all."

His left bracelet transformed into the purest of light which floated before him. The sphere of light started taking a rectangular shape before finally ending up as the Holy Grimoire of Light.

Gabriel already had lots of experience of handling a Holy Grimoire. He already knew quite a lot about one. Currently, he didn't even need to touch the Grimoire. The Holy Grimoire opened on its own, revealing the first page.

Just the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy, the first page of the Holy Grimoire of Light didn't have a spell either. Instead, it had a quote...

Gabriel read the quote word by word. "No Darkness can dim the light that shines from within..."

"Strange. This quote seems so simple yet so complicated at the same time..."

He didn't think too much about it and turned to the next page.

One by one, he kept turning the pages and learning the spells that he received. Most of the spells in the first few pages were mid tier spells which didn't impress Gabriel much. Those spells were nothing before the spells that he learned from Cylix.

Despite being unimpressed, he learned all the spells. It was only the later spells that truly impressed Gabriel.

There were five High Tier Spells in the Grimoire and one Origin Tier spells as well! The Origin Tier Spell made Gabriel's eyes lit up. The spell tier was the same as his Army of Undead.

Amongst the five High Tier Spells, there were two which he was really impressed by. He knew that they could really come in handy in the future to achieve his goals. However, what he was really happy about was the Origin Tier Spell! That was what he was looking for!

"Rebirth of Light!" The spell's name itself was something that Gabriel never heard before. However, it was still quite an interesting spell from what he was able to grasp
For the next twenty four hours, Gabriel stayed inside the room, mastering all the new spells that he had received.

Even though he had already mastered an Origin Tier Spell before, it was different this time. With Necromancy, he felt as if it was a part of his body. Not only were learning Necromancy spells easier, but they were also easier to execute without any previous practice at all.

However it was different from the Element of Light. Even though he had the Holy Mark of Light, it still felt different, as if the Light wasn't entirely a part of his body but an external help. Just learning the spell wasn't enough and he needed to practise the spell as well.

He understood that it was time to leave this place. He also knew the best place to practise these spells. That place was also his real destination when he came here! He still hadn't forgotten his original objective.

Before leaving the room, he still practised one spell which didn't need a large space to practise. The spell was none other than the [Rebirth of Light]

undefinedAfter six more hours, he finally left the room, casting the Rebirth of Light around him.

The Rebirth of Light was an Origin Tier Spell. Because of that, it also consumed a lot of his spiritual strength every second. Fortunately, he had a lot of spiritual reserves to last for quite some time even while keeping the spell active.

Gabriel stepped out of the room. Just to be safe, he still hadn't taken off his mask. He was quite curious to see the reaction of the Head Priests.

"W-what?" As soon as the Head Priests saw Gabriel step out of the room, they were shocked.

They couldn't see Gabriel properly. Let alone see him, they had to struggle to even keep their eyes open. Gabriel was like the reincarnation of Light itself! His body was made purely of light! They didn't realise that it was all thanks to the shield of aura that was around him now.

Not only did the Rebirth of Light spell give Gabriel a powerful shroud which hid him and his aura entirely, but that wasn't all! If anything, that was just an additional advantage of this spell. The main advantage of this spell was that it gave Gabriel an even higher degree of control over the element of Light!

As long as he was using the Rebirth of Light, whatever spell of Light he used had twice the usual strength! His spells were more powerful and they were more in sync with nature.

There was one more advantage of the Rebirth of Light! In this form, Gabriel was able to ignore all the barriers. No matter how powerful a barrier was, he was able to pass through it easily, as if he was a ghost!

This spell was quite bizarre. It wasn't an offensive spell or a defensive spell. If anything, it was an auxiliary spell which boosted his other skills. However, despite that, this was the spell that Gabriel liked the most!

Seeing the Head Priests' stunned expression, Gabriel was quite pleased. It was clear that the spell was working.

"Where is the Ancestral Staff of Light?" he asked the Head Priests.

The Head Priests initially couldn't even confirm that the person before them was Gabriel since all they saw was a person made purely of light. However, Gabriel's voice convinced them that he was the same person.

"My Lord, this form... It's...?" Qian curiously asked.

"I'm just testing a new spell. Don't think too much about it. Just take me to the Ancestral Staff," Gabriel responded as he told them to hurry up. He didn't want to waste the duration of this spell since it consumed a lot! He still had to reach his destination while keeping this spell active!

A short time later, Gabriel finally stepped out of the Holy Church of Light.

As he left, he didn't expect the huge commotion he was going to cause. When the people on the street saw him, under his mighty aura, they immediately dropped to their knees.

The spell that Gabriel was using for a basic disguise was so powerful that just the aura in this form alone could push an ordinary person to their knees subconsciously.

Two beautiful wings appeared behind Gabriel as he flew straight into the air. He had already informed the Church of Light that he was leaving for a short time to practise outside.

The Church tried to convince him to stay behind, saying that they could help him train but Gabriel didn't listen.

The Church didn't even know where Gabriel was going. They didn't dare follow him for the time being and just waited for him to return. In any case, they weren't worried that he was going to just run away! Who could dare abandon such a precious position after all!

On the other side of the City, Gabriel landed at the entrance of the Academy of Elements, gazing inside. It was his second time being here.

The two guards who stood at the entrance, guarding it were covered in sweat as soon as they saw Gabriel. They didn't know who the person was! They couldn't even see through the bright aura of that person at all! However, they knew that the person was certainly strong!

"M-may I know what brought Senior here?" One of the guards respectfully asked, lowering his head slightly. None of the guards dared to point their weapons at Gabriel.

"You don't need to know. Someone will be here soon enough." Gabriel stood in silence. He could easily enter the place, but he didn't need to. Now that Izen couldn't recognise him, he believed he was in a much better situation.

Not long after Gabriel finished, the two guards saw more bright beams of light in the sky. A few seconds later, Izen landed on the ground before them, facing Gabriel

The other Head Teachers also arrived next to him, all looking at him with hostility. It wasn't often a powerful stranger came to their doors after all. Fortunately, they could sense that he was a Mage of Light, thanks to the bright aura that was surrounding Gabriel.

Strangely enough, even they couldn't see through that aura!

Izen tried to use his special skull to peek through that shield of bright aura to see the real face of Gabriel.

In the end, he closed his eyes, feeling pain in his eyes. No matter what, he couldn't see through Gabriel's aura shield. He knew that if he tried to force his way, he had a small chance of being able to see through. However, that also meant that he was going to suffer a heavy backlash and injure himself.

"Who are you?" he asked, frowning.

"Who are you?" Even though Izen had some guesses, he still asked.

Gabriel didn't immediately answer. He looked past Izen inside the Academy of Elements. He was still somewhat far from his destination.

"Little boy, shouldn't you be capable enough to know who I am?" Gabriel asked as he patted the head of Izen as if Izen was a junior and he was older.

Frowning, Izen stepped back as if to avoid the hands of Gabriel.

Gabriel ignored the movement and continued, "Then again, I can't blame you. I haven't shown my face for a long time, after all."

undefined"I came here because I heard that you came to the Church to meet me a few days ago. Since I was busy with something, I couldn't meet you then."

No one had seen the so-called Holy Priest of Light in the past. Gabriel decided to take advantage of the situation to pretend to be a Holy Lord who had held this position for years. With that, he could avoid a lot of troubles.

"Holy Lord of Light?" Izen asked. He didn't know why, but he felt somewhat suspicious, even though he was convinced that the aura of this man wasn't something that the ordinary mage of Light could possess.

"Why do you hide your face?"

"Think of it as me training myself. You don't need to concern yourself with my affairs," Gabriel shrugged. "Anyway, aren't you going to invite me inside, little one?"

Izen's face twitched uncontrollably as he heard the Holy Lord address him as if he was a little child. He couldn't see just how old the Holy Lord was, but how could he be older than him? That didn't make sense to him.

He had a bad feeling about all this, but he didn't understand why. It was as if he was missing something really important. However, no matter what, he couldn't reject the Holy Lord of Light. In fact, he had gone to meet the Holy Lord first. Now that he was here, he had to be a host.

"Please come inside first. We should be talking inside in that case."

No matter what, now that the Holy Lord of Light was here, he could only accompany him inside. Moreover, he also had another reason for bringing Gabriel inside the Academy.

He could see that Gabriel was surrounded by an aura of Light which hid his appearance. He had an item in his office that should dispel all auras. Inside his office, no disguise could be maintained. No matter who the person was, their real face could only be revealed!

No matter why Gabriel was using a disguise, Izen was sure that he was going to see Gabriel's real face to see for himself.

Izen flew inside the Academy, accompanying Gabriel. The Head Teachers flew inside behind them, keeping an eye on the Lord of Light.

Usually, the Church of Light members were very arrogant. For their Holy Lord to come here alone without much fanfare was indeed surprising.

"Hmm? Is that the Tower of Challenges?"

Right when everyone was getting close to Izen's office, Gabriel slowed down.

He landed before the Tower of Challenges, observing the names on the list of the top achievers. His name was still on the top, above Axion's name. He was also the only person who had managed to reach the Tower of Challenges last time.

"This is the place where we train our Juniors. One has to be under thirty to be able to enter," Izen told Gabriel. He didn't know how old Gabriel was, but the way he talked, Izen could only guess that he was at least a middle aged man who wasn't qualified to enter the tower.

"I've heard that it's very hard to clear this tower. I'm quite interested in trying for myself," Gabriel smirked. "I wonder if you would be kind enough to allow me an entry?"

Finally Gabriel was where he wanted to be! This was his destination! This was the reason he came back to this place, travelling so far.

Currently, his biggest problem was that he didn't know how to solve the mystery behind the Garden of Legacy. No matter what he did, he couldn't find anything. He needed answers that he couldn't find through ordinary means.

There was only one source where he believed he could find those answers. It was the Mirror on the hundredth floor of the Tower of Challenges! The mirror was supposed to know everything! It was also what told him about the weakness of his physical body and also how to solve that problem.

Last time, he wasn't strong enough to take the mirror with him. This time, he wanted to try again. Even if he couldn't take the mirror back, he could at least get more answers after reaching the top floor once again.

"Allow you an entry?" Izen asked, slightly taken aback. "Are you younger than thirty?"

"Do I look older?" Gabriel asked in return.

Hearing his response, Izen's face twitched even more. Was this guy messing with him? He hid his body behind the aura of Light and had been addressing him as a Junior and now he was saying he was younger than thirty?

It wasn't often that Izen felt angry, but it was one of those times. Just how could the Holy Lord be so shameless?

"We don't allow an outsider to enter the Tower. Only the Academy members can enter," Izen responded, subtly rejecting Gabriel.

He didn't know why, but he didn't want to let Gabriel enter. No matter what Gabriel was here for, Izen didn't want to let him succeed before he saw his real face.

"That's good. Since I'm not an outsider, I should be allowed to enter. Thanks for the approval." Gabriel shrugged. Without wasting a single second, he stepped forward.

Izen appeared before Gabriel, blocking his path. "What is the Holy Lord trying to imply? Why aren't you an outsider?"

Gabriel tilted his head to the left. "Aren't you my little brother? How can I be an outsider in my little brother's academy?"

Even though Izen didn't show it on his face, his blood was boiling. This man was even more shameless than he expected!

Before Izen could react, Gabriel had already moved past him and entered the Tower.

"What should we do now?" Lishen asked Izen. He could see that Izen didn't want the Holy Lord to enter. Let alone him, everyone could see it, except the Holy Lord himself!

Izen coldly looked back at Gabriel.

Before he could say anything, the Head Teacher of Eartha Rem chimed in. "It looks like he's determined to enter. If we try to stop him, it might make the two sides enemies."

"So what? This place isn't a playground!" The Head Teacher of Flames scoffed! "Even if it's the Holy Church of Light, we can't let them do as they please."

If anything, Izen agreed with the Head Teacher of Flames more! No matter what, he couldn't allow Gabriel to enter! He had to stop the young man!

Izen understood that Rem made more sense. Since Gabriel was so determined to enter, they could only stop him by force which meant establishing a bad relationship with the Holy Church of Light which was already known to be arrogant.

, deep inside, he had a feeling that he couldn't allow Gabriel to enter the first floor of the Tower. It was a very strong feeling as well.

He chased after Gabriel inside the Tower of Challenges.

Gabriel seemed completely ignorant to the others. It was as if he wasn't in any hurry. He was just observing the surroundings like it was his first time here.

"This place is so beautiful. Nothing less expected from an ancient structure!" He exclaimed, ensuring that everyone heard it.

undefined"Holy Lord, as I said before, you can't enter!" Izen appeared before Gabriel. Without the crystal, Gabriel couldn't enter in any case, so he didn't worry. He just had to send Gabriel back first.

"Why can't I enter?" Gabriel asked, turning around.

Izen couldn't see Gabriel's face, but he expected Gabriel to be angry. He didn't realize that in reality, Gabriel was quite calm. It was as if he had already expected all this.

"Because these are the rules established by the Academy! Only members of the Academy can enter! Brothers and sisters of members can't enter. Otherwise, we'd have to allow millions of family members of our students inside as well. I hope you can understand."

Even though they had come to this point, Izen tried to reject Gabriel with logic to keep some decency.

"Is that so?" Gabriel muttered, letting out a sigh. "I'm that case..."

He turned around and started leaving. The others sighed in relief. However, their expressions became still as they saw Gabriel stop right before the exit.

"Before I leave, I do have one question to ask!" Gabriel turned around.

Suddenly, the entire atmosphere became heavy! All the students who were already inside the Tower felt as if they were suffocating. They all dropped to their knees. Even though the students were strong, they were nothing before a powerhouse like Izen, Gabriel and the other Holy Lords!

Even the Head Teachers felt pressure as heavy as a mountain in their shoulders.

"What question?" Izen asked, standing still. It was as if he was the only person here who wasn't affected in the slightest by Gabriel's aura.

"My question is simple." Gabriel stated, sounding calm initially. However, the question that followed stunned even Izen.

"What gave you the right to decide the rules?!" Gabriel's cold voice echoed in the entire hall.

Gabriel didn't use any spell. He didn't do anything out of the ordinary and just asked a question. However, there was just something about his sentence that gave Izen a bad feeling.

"What are you trying to imply?" Izen grimaced. "This Tower was established by the Academy founders. Who will have the right to decide on the rulers but the Academy? These rules were decided by the Academy!"

"My little Izen, you might be able to fool your little students and your subordinates, but do you think you can fool the entire world?" Gabriel asked. With slow steady steps, he reached closer to Izen.

"Our Church has existed since before your founders were even born," Gabriel stated. "As much as I respect the two founders, do you think I won't know the truth about this Tower? This Tower existed in this place before your founders came to this area! If anything, this tower was the reason your Academy was established here in the first place!"

"Even though this Tower doesn't belong to you, we didn't trouble you in the past and let you do as you please! But did you really think you could pretend to own this place before me? Did you think you could show off your measly rules before me?!"

The more Gabriel spoke, the louder his voice became until his words were like thunder, striking at the hearts of everyone present here!

Out of everyone, only Izen knew the truth about the Tower of Challenges which was passed down from one generation of Dean to the other. He was shocked to find out that Gabriel already knew about that truth as well! That meant the Church knew for a long time as well!

"I don't care what you do with the things you create," Gabriel said firmly. "However, if you try to show off your rules for the things that don't even belong to you, what's stopping you from one day saying that the sun and the moon were created by you people?"

"What's stopping you from making rules about how much water we could drink, saying you created water?!"

Gabriel went to the Teacher who was tasked with giving the entrance crystals to the students. Izen and the others didn't even move as they were still in a daze about what Gabriel spoke. Gabriel wasn't even looking at them yet they felt the pressure.

"Just because we are lazy enough to not bother you all, don't think you can take a mile instead of an inch!" he spoke. "And if you're still unconvinced, I dare you to stop me! I swear to Heaven that the next moment, I'll wipe your entire Academy!"

Gabriel's words sent a chill down everyone's spine. Even the Head Teachers felt concerned. It didn't look as if Gabriel was joking.

They had Izen who was said to be strong enough to a Holy Lord. However, the Holy Lord of Light was said to be a special existence! Even they weren't sure just what he was capable of!

Just as they expect, Gabriel really wasn't joking. The Academy was established by Novius and Cylix. If possible, he didn't want to destroy it! However, Novius and Cylix already told him that they were done with the Academy after the wrong path the Academy selected! If anything, they gave Gabriel the permission to do as he pleased with the Academy!

Since Hantie already had the permission from the two founders to do as he pleased, why was there a need to be concerned.

He hadn't mastered a lot of his spells but he understood them enough to be able to fight Izen!

Since Gabriel already fought with Izen once before, he understood the things that he needed to be careful about. The first thing was the Robe of Izen which nullified all magical attacks. Because of that, he had already been training with the Sword of Ulien to improve his battle skills.

Another thing which Izen had was his ability to create clones that could use his powers. Gabriel also had the same skill now that he was the Holy Lord of Light! He wasn't scared!

"Holy Lord, you should watch what you say. If we really fought, I might just accidentally kill you!" Izen's cold voice came in response.

Gabriel glanced back, looking straight back at Izen. "Try it. And I promise your head won't remain on your shoulders…"

The Head Teachers were in a daze as they heard Gabriel threaten Izen. It wasn't often when a person threatened the Dean of the Academy. Gabriel was not only arrogant, but he was also not holding back at all. It was as if he thought that he really ruled this place.

"You!" The Head Teacher of Light Eliana couldn't take it anymore. No matter who it was, she couldn't let them insult Izen! Even though Izen was the Dean of the Academy, she considered him like her elder brother! To see him get disrespected in such a way...

"Me what?" Gabriel shifted his attention to Eliana. He understood that Eliana had helped him last time, but that was when she didn't know him. After she found out about him, she was also a part of the people who tried to imprison him. He didn't feel much gratitude toward her.

Moreover, Eliana was also the one who recently told Izen about his suspicious identity, bringing more trouble to him at the Church. If he couldn't solve the situation at that time, he knew that all his plans would've gone down the drain.

As soon as Gabriel's focus landed on Eliana, Eliana felt a heavy pressure on her body. It was as if a mountain was resting on her shoulder.

undefinedEliana was a Mage of Light. No matter how powerful she was, she was still suppressed before a Holy Lord of her Element! The other Head Teachers were in a much better condition and so was Izen who had the help of his Robe and higher strength.

"That's enough." Izen stepped in front of Eliana, stopping the heavy pressure that was affecting her.

At the moment, even though Izen wasn't speaking much, a lot was going on in his mind. He was angry! He was frustrated! And he was having a hard time controlling his anger!

First, Gabriel robbed the Academy and killed the previous Head Teacher of Flames! That incident was the reason the Academy of Elements currently had the worst reputation in a long time. The Academy was already insulted and it had become a laughing stock of the Churches and the Royal Family that knew about the robbery!

As if that wasn't bad enough, the Holy Lord of Light was here to disrespect them in the open?! It would've been a different matter if they were alone here, but many students were here as well, seeing everything.

Even Izen couldn't ignore it anymore.

"Since you're so eager, I would love to see how you take my head off!" Izen finally couldn't control his anger. His robe fluttered as a strange pressure was emitted from his body.

His aura countered Gabriel's aura for the most part, allowing the students and the others to be able to stand up.

He knew that today's actions could easily make them the enemy of the Church of Light, but he didn't care! Today, someone insulted him before his students! Someone had threatened to kill him before everyone else! His bottom line had been reached!

"The Church of Light had been arrogant for far too long! It's time someone puts it in its place!' Izen stated. He has had enough! "The rest of you, vacate this place. Take all the students to a safe distance!"

Eliana and the other Head Teachers acted fast, telling all the students to follow them. Thanks to Izen's aura, they could finally move freely.

Gabriel genuinely didn't expect a response of this kind. He really thought that Izen was going to give him a path to enter the Tower. It was surprising to see that Izen would instead fight and make the Church his enemy than to step aside!

The old man behind Gabriel, who was responsible for giving them crystals that recorded their achievement and allowed them to teleport out easily, also stood up to leave. However, as soon as he stood up, he fell down.

Gabriel reached out his hand toward the old man. "Before leaving, give me the stone..."

The old man was horrified. Gabriel was close to him. He could kill him at any moment. On the other hand, Izen hadn't taken any action since he was still waiting for the place to be vacated first so that the students weren't hurt!

The students who were in this tower were the future foundation of the Academy after all!

The old man was already sweating. He didn't have much courage. He just picked up a stone which corresponded to the Element of Light and gave it to Gabriel. He didn't even have the courage to carve a name for the stone.

Gabriel received the stone and kept it in his pocket, allowing the old man to leave as well.

Within a few minutes, the ground floor Tower of Challenges was completely empty, leaving only two people inside. There was around ten metres of distance between the two people.

The doors of the Tower were still open. Izen didn't even bother to have the doors closed since he was sure that the Holy Lord of Light wasn't going to be a coward enough to run. It was the same for him.

If they were already in this situation, he was ready for the aftermath. He believed that today, either he was going to die or Gabriel!

If he died, it was going to be the end of the Academy of Elements which couldn't survive the next full strength attack of the Church of Light! However, if he managed to kill the Holy Lord of Light, the Church was going to be no more than a Headless Snake which couldn't do anything.

Also, who was even going to dare to attack the Academy which had a person who was strong enough to kill a Holy Lord?!

The fate of two huge organizations was on the line and over a small thing!

Outside the Tower, a lot of teachers were standing. Students also started gathering. Amongst the students, there were many who had known Gabriel when he was a student here.

In those students, there was also one particular student that Gabriel had partially even forgotten about after so many things happened in quick succession. The person was Maya...

"Why do you always stand in my path?" Gabriel asked, sighing. It was the second time that Izen had blocked him. First time, he was blocking him from leaving. If the Infernal Emperor wasn't there, he would have probably been killed at the time!

Izen didn't answer. Since things had reached this point, there was no point delaying the battle.

Just like last time, Izen used the same trick. His body split up into twenty clones, all having the same aura and strength as him. All the clones surrounded Gabriel from all sides.

This time, Gabriel was already prepared for it.

"That same trick won't work everytime..." Gabriel responded, raising his left hand high up.

What happened next surprised even Izen. Izen had managed to create twenty clones. However Gabriel... He managed to create over forty clones already, and all were the same as him!

Previously, Izen enjoyed the number advantage to take care of his enemies. He hadn't expected that this time, his enemy was going to use the same trick as him to deal with him!

For each of Izen's clones, there were two of Gabriel's clones!

Gabriel didn't stop there either! He didn't have much of a mastery of his new spells of light. Moreover, Izen also had the robe of Nullification. Gabriel doesn't want to hold back anymore. For that, he took some extra steps. .

He called forth his Ancestral Staff of Light and immediately cast a spell! The spell cast a barrier around the Tower. The entire tower was covered in a white shroud. No one who wasn't as strong as Gabriel could pass through the barrier! That wasn't the biggest advantage either!

The biggest advantage was that no one could see what was happening on the other side of the barrier. No auras leaked outside either! Moreover, Izen couldn't leave this place without killing him either!

Izen was trapped! And he was trapped with someone that the world called a Demon! What was even better for Gabriel was that he didn't need to hold back any of his Elements inside this shield!

Izen wasn't an enemy that could be defeated without going all out. It was already clear from the first day he met Izen. If anything, for Gabriel, Izen was as big a threat as a Holy Lord. It was best to take him out so as to avoid any future troubles!

Gabriel knew he couldn't defeat Izen just by using his spells of Light that he hadn't mastered entirely. It was the same as when he faced the Ninth Holy Lord. He had to take help from his other Elements.

In the entire Lumen City, there was only Izen who could sense his real identity if he didn't use the Shroud of Light to protect him. He couldn't always go out in the city with the shroud. So it was much better to take Izen out already.

Izen looked around at the barrier. It was really strange. Why was Gabriel wasting his strength on a barrier? Was he really worried that someone was going to attack from outside? Or was there another reason behind it?

"Enough wasting strength now," Gabriel said as he stretched his arms lazily. The shroud spell cost a lot of his strength, each second he kept it active. Initially, he expected to easily enter the tower. But now that he was in a battle, he couldn't waste his time anymore.

undefined"Weren't you curious about my face?" He asked after a brief pause. "I'll let you see in that case."

Gabriel wanted to kill Izen now that he was here. To reveal his face before Izen was also another reason that he was giving himself to kill Izen. After Izen saw his real face, there was no way he could let Izen live. It was just an additional motivation for himself to go all out today.

Gabriel cancelled his Shroud. The aura of Light that was surrounding him slowly retreated before ultimately disappearing.

Finally, the shroud was off and Izen was able to see Gabriel's face.

"It's you!" Izen subconsciously took a step back, shocked. The man before him was none other than the so-called Holy Lord of Darkness that he fought before! It was also the person who robbed the Academy and was behind their downfall.

"You're the Holy Lord of Darkness! And you're the Holy Lord of Light? How is that possible? Impossible! It must be an illusion!" Izen exclaimed, shocked.

He was usually very calm, but seeing someone like Gabriel who defied all the laws of nature, even he couldn't remain calm.

"Who am I? Don't you know?" Gabriel asked in response. "I'm the person who was attacked by you when I was leaving this city. I'm the person who was almost killed by you. I'm the person who you didn't even give a chance to talk before you attacked!"

"Oh, and one more thing..." He called forth another Ancestral Staff... The Staff of Darkness this time.

On one hand, he held the Ancestral Staff of Light and on the other hand, he held the Ancestral Staff of Darkness. Two conflicting auras spared inside the Tower. However, thanks to the barrier of light, no one outside could sense that aura at all!

To the outsiders, everything appeared normal.

The Head Teachers of the Academy wanted to enter the Tower to make sure that Izen was alright. However, they couldn't even pass through the barrier.

Even the Head Teachers didn't realize that there was another Holy Lord there.

High in the sky, Avilia stood, looking down at the Academy. She had been here for quite some time but she didn't interfere. She wanted to see just what Gabriel was going to do. Was he really going to kill Izen?

Other than keeping an eye on the Academy, she was also here for another reason. She was making sure that no other Holy Lord could peek inside the Academy to see what was happening here. Since she was supposedly with the Holy Lord of Light, she didn't need to hide her presence here anymore.

Other than Gabriel's shield that protected the Tower, she cast another shield herself to protect the entire Academy from the prying eyes.

"This guy really loves to make enemies wherever he goes" Avilia smiled wryly. "Then again, maybe it's for the best. The louder he gets now, the more weight his voice will carry in the future... Maybe it's time for the world to see the rise of another..."

Inside the Tower, Izen was feeling slightly uncomfortable in his heart. He wasn't scared and he was still confident that he could fight on equal terms with Gabriel.

However, there was still a strange feeling inside his heart, as if he was facing a disaster like never before. It was as if he was a prey who stood before a Predator.

"Do you think you can survive now that you've exposed your identity?" Izen asked coldly. "As soon as I get out of here, the entire world will know who you are! You will be hunted to the ends of Earth until you're found and killed!"

"Hunted like the students at the Academy were hunted by the outsiders?" Gabriel tilted his head slightly as he asked, seemingly amused.

At the same time, a dark mist also started covering the entire area. The dark mist gave Gabriel even more control over his surroundings. His clothes were also covered in a layer of dark energy which increased his defence even more.

"You don't have to worry about me being hunted though. I've had enough of being hunted already! This time, I'll be the one hunting and removing all obstacles!"

"And you, little brother... Are the first obstacle!"

As soon as Gabriel finished, his figure disappeared inside the Darkness.

"You overestimate yourself!" Izen roared as he also raised his Peak Tier Staff, casting a quick spell.

A majestic sun appeared above his head, brightening his surroundings. For some reason, no dark mist could get close to him. Whatever tried to get close to him was destroyed by the sun's light!

Gabriel didn't attack Izen directly. He appeared above the sun instead.

He placed his hand on the blazing hot sun that was as hot as a real sun. However, Gabriel's hands didn't burn! He covered his hand in the Holy Light to protect himself! The Light had a unique effect against the Darkness. However, when Light was faced with Light, the effects were heavily reduced.

Izen had created the sun to destroy his surroundings and kill Gabriel who was hiding somewhere in the darkness. However, before he could even throw the majestic sun, his face went pale.

It was as if the sun above him lost control! Not only did the sun lose control, but for some reason, it was a thousand times heavier, as if someone was pushing this sun down instead!

Izen was stunned. The sun he created using his spell to attack was so heavy that even he couldn't control it.

Under the heavy pressure, even Izen couldn't feel that he could remain standing. There was no way for him to use it.

Above the Sun, Gabriel used a spell to increase his weight even more to push the sun down. At the same time, his dark mist turned into shackles around Izen's ankles.

Unfortunately, before the shackles could capture him, they stopped. It was as if the shackles couldn't even get close to Izen due to his robe of Nullification.

The other clones of Izen haven't attacked yet. They were instead surrounded by Gabriel's Clones. It was as if Gabriel was just using his clones to hold Izen's clones back from interfering in this battle.

undefinedUnlike last time, this time Gabriel didn't want to waste his time on the clones. He had already found the real one and he focused on that person!

Izen couldn't take it anymore. His figure turned into a speck of light and shifted places. The sun crashed on the ground as Izen released it from his control.

Izen appeared around fifty metres away from the sun which crashed on the floor, having no one to stop it.

Gabriel was taken aback as he realized that there was no resistance under the sun. He hastily jumped back, landing in the distance while the explosive energy of the crash spread everywhere.

All the clones were sent flying by the torrent of destruction energy. The real Izen was still fine since his Robe of Nullification took care of the aftermath for him. As for Gabriel, the shield of Undead appeared before him, protecting him as well.

The two Mages stood facing each other in the middle of the field which was covered in cracks. The cracks on the ground were slowly healing themselves.

Izen was furious. Gabriel had managed to make him abandon his own attack. For a mage, that was an insult to him! He stepped forward, eyes blazing with determination as he shouted out his incantation. A bright yellow light shot from his staff and hurtled towards Gabriel at lightning speed.

Gabriel reacted quickly, raising his own staff and countering with a brilliant black light that collided with the yellow one mid-air, sending sparks flying everywhere.

Izen was undeterred though. The two Mages continued casting spells back and forth at each other until finally they both unleashed powerful blasts of white energy that met in the center between them. The force of it shook the ground beneath them as it exploded into millions of tiny pieces that scattered across the sky like stars before fading away completely.

Both Gabriel and Izen stood at some distance from each other. Izen was looking very tired but Gabriel wasn't different. Gabriel had already spent a lot of his strength in maintaining his shroud from the Church to here. That already left him somewhat exhausted, let alone the battle here.

"Your attacks are strong," Gabriel muttered, frowning. "And your defence is impeccable."

Thanks to his robe, Izen still wasn't seriously hurt. Izen appeared impulsive but he was very careful and didn't allow Gabriel to close in on the distance between the two. It was as if he knew that if Gabriel was allowed to get close, he could use the Numens to attack him.

The Robe of Nullification protected him from magical attacks but not from physical attack and impacts.

"I should say the same to you," Izen responded. "But if that's the extent of your attention, then it's time to end this!"

Gabriel didn't reply. Instead, he just looked at the floor. The cracks had developed as an aftermath of their battle. Their attacks could've easily destroyed an ordinary building but this place was self healing.

"You're right. It's time to end this." Gabriel's calm voice echoed in the surroundings as his aura solidified.

Initially, he was worried about something when he started fighting here. He was worried about damaging the tower seriously with his attacks. He still had a lot of things to do in the tower after all. That's why he had been keeping control of his attacks to test if the tower could actually contain his more powerful attacks.

Now that he had confirmed that the Tower was actually self healing and not easy to destroy, it was as if a heavy burden was taken off his shoulders.

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

Izen didn't know why, but he suddenly had a bad feeling about this. He didn't want to give Gabriel a chance to attack.

His body was covered in a bright luminescent light that increased his defence even more. At the same time, he attacked with his most powerful spells. The natural energy in the surroundings started going out of control as if it wasn't ready for Izen's control.

"Heavenly Rupture!" Izen finished his spell.

At the same time, Gabriel also opened his eyes. Just like Izen who cast one peak tier spell, Gabriel also cast spells. However his spells were more instantaneous since he didn't need to spend much time on these spells.

"Wrath of the Dead!" Gabriel cast a spell of his own. However, he didn't stop there. No matter how exhausting a spell was to him, he didn't stop there!

If one peak tier spell wasn't enough, he started casting another!

"Spectral Burst!"

"Dark Oasis!"

One after another, Gabriel cast three peak tier spells! One was a spell of Necromancy, other was a spell of Light and lastly was a spell of Darkness!

Izen had just finished his peak tier spell when his eyes opened wide! He had just cast one spell while the man before him already cast three supreme spells, each of different elements? Just who was this monster?

Even Izen didn't realize that Gabriel hadn't cast three spells. In total, he had cast four spells. As for the fourth spell... It was something Izen didn't know about yet.

As Gabriel finished four spells, he dropped to his knees, slightly exhausted.

His Spectral Burst was a spell he learned from Cylix in the past. It wasn't a spell with a lot of destructive power, but it was still very useful on our own.

The Spectral Burst and the Heavenly Rupture were both same tier spells. However, Spectral Burst was more useful for Gabriel. The spell cast a level of protection around him which made Gabriel immune for a short time.

That was all Gabriel wanted... All he had to do was to avoid this one attack of Izen! If he could do that, he was prepared for everything else! However, it was unclear to him if the Spectral Burst could actually stand against the Heavenly Rupture...

While Gabriel was facing the Heavenly Rupture, it was as if the Heaven and earth around him was splitting apart. Even the space was becoming unstable. It was as if the heavenly rupture wanted to destroy him from his core, ripping him apart entirely.

Even the self healing of the tower couldn't keep up with the destruction.

Gabriel was already exhausted. He had placed all his cards on the field already. Now it was up to his cards.

The Spectral Burst brought an explosive burst of energy around Gabriel's body, resisting the Heavenly Rupture. Fortunately, spectral Burst was also a spell of Light, which decreased the advantages Heavenly Rupture held against the other elements.

While Gabriel was facing the strongest attack of Izen head on, Izen wasn't in any better condition either. He was facing two of Gabriel's attacks at the same time.

undefined****

Outside the Tower, no one could even sense an iota of energy fluctuations. None of them could even expect that the battle inside the tower was so fierce. All the saw was the shield of light around the Tower fluctuating slightly at times.

Avilia kept her eyes on the Tower of Challenges. Even she couldn't see inside the Tower. However, she could at least feel the spatial disturbance around her. It was clear that the battle inside was raging on.

To be able to affect the space outside the Tower despite the Barrier, Avilia understood just how fierce the battle inside the Tower was.

She personally had absolute confidence in being able to defeat Izen as her real strength relied on her Summoned Beasts and not her spells which could be nullified by Izen. She was Izen's bane. But it was different for Gabriel.

"I believe you will win..." She clenched her fist, having confidence in Gabriel. She hadn't seen him fight using his spells. At best, she saw him fight as a warrior in Arecia. She didn't know just what exactly Gabriel was capable of. However, she didn't want him to lose.

Unfortunately, as Avilia was focused on the tower, she felt a strange energy fluctuation around her.

She frowned as she turned around, sending the energy fluctuations becoming even stronger. The winds suddenly increased in speed, making even her long hair and robe flutter.

Before long, a man arrived behind Avilia, as if he had appeared out of thin air.

"You're here too," the young-looking man stopped next to Avilia, floating in the air. There was a surreal aura around the man that made him look no weaker than Avilia.

"Holy Lord of Wind," Avilia muttered. "What brought you here?"

She didn't express much surprise even though she was slightly shocked to find him here. His arrival here wasn't a good thing for her and Gabriel.

If the Holy Lord of Flames was the most straightforward Holy Lord who did as his heart desired, then the Holy Lord of Wind was entirely different. The Holy Lord of Wind rarely showed his true personality. If anything, he always hid in the shadows despite the immense strength he possessed.

It was said that when it came to the current generation of Holy Lords, the Holy Lord of Wind was the most cunning! There was never an instance where the Holy Lord of Wind was said to have made a mistake!

"Shouldn't I ask you this question, Lady Avilia? I had no idea that you'd be here." The Holy Lord of Wind asked as his eyes subconsciously glanced in the direction of the tower. "Why are you here?"

Even he could feel the spatial fluctuations as if a battle was taking place. There was no aura in those spatial fluctuations so he couldn't feel any element but it was clear that there was a battle of two giants going on.

"I'm not your subordinate. I can go anywhere I want," Avilia rolled her eyes. "I don't have to report to you."

The Holy Lord of Wind smirked but didn't reply. No one had ever seen him getting angry in the past. It was as if the guy never felt anger.

"The Holy Lord of Light is back it seems," the Holy Lord of Wind observed the Tower of Challenges carefully, noticing the white barrier around the tower which prevented him from looking inside.

He wanted to check from closer to see if he could sense anything. From his initial assumption, the Holy Lord of Light was figuring someone inside the tower and cast this barrier to stop any interference. However, that also raised a question. Just who was he fighting in a place like this?

The Holy Lord of Wind flew closer to the Tower and landed at the entrance, stunning the Head Teachers of the Academy.

Behind the Holy Lord of Wind, Avilia also landed.

Many people there recognised the Holy Lord of Wind, but rarely anyone recognised Avilia. If not for the powerful aura around her and the mask of Summoning on the back of her hand, many couldn't even guess that she was the Holy Lord of Summoning.

Eliana already knew Avilia as she had seen her outside the Church. To find two Holy Lords in front of them, even Avilia felt slightly concerned.

She couldn't help but wonder if the two Holy Lords were here to help the Holy Lord of Light! If that was the case, then it was really bad news for Izen!

"Who is the Holy Lord of Light fighting inside?" The Holy Lord of Wind asked before the Head Teachers could even speak.

After slight hesitation, Eliana responded. "He is fighting Lord Izen."

"Hmm? He's fighting Izen?"

This time, it was the turn of the Holy Lord of Wind to be surprised. Even he himself wasn't confident enough to be able to defeat Izen thanks to that robe of Nullification but the Holy Lord of Light was fighting?

"Why?" he asked. He didn't believe that the Holy Lord of Light who never made an appearance before was here to fight for no reason at all!

Outside the Tower, Eliana was explaining everything that happened today from the moment the Holy Lord of Light arrived at the doors of the Church to the moment they started fighting.

Meanwhile on the inside, the battle had already neared the end.

Gabriel's lips were bleeding. There were many wounds on him, but over-all, he looked safe. He had come out of the Heavenly Rupture without being seriously hurt.

He was sitting on his knees at the moment, not even having the strength to stand. Despite strengthening his physique, casting four high tier spells was already beyond his limit.

His breathing was weak as he looked at Izen in the distance. Izen was still standing, looking down at Gabriel. However, something felt strange about him.

His robe of Nullification was already torn! It was as if Gabriel's Wrath of Undead and Dark Oasis had already surpassed the limit of the Robe of Nullification. The robe couldn't take it anymore and was finally destroyed.

Even though Izen was standing, his face was deathly pale at the moment. "H-how could you cast three high tier spells?"

Izen had never imagined that there was a person in this world who could cast three High Tier Spells simultaneously. Let alone someone who could survive and remain conscious after casting all these spells!

Gabriel's lips were bleeding and his aura was weak. However, despite that, there was a calm smile on his face.

Looking at the calm smile, Izen felt as if something was wrong. There was a feeling of fear in his heart, as if he was actually standing at death's door. However, he didn't understand why!

Even if his robe of Nullification was destroyed, he was still in a better condition than Gabriel! He was still standing and had the strength to cast more spells! Shouldn't Gabriel be scared instead? Why was Gabriel smiling? Something was really wrong.

"Not three spells," Gabriel answered weakly as he raised his hand, pointing behind Izen. "There is one more..."

As soon as Gabriel finished speaking, Izen felt as if his heart was gripped by fear!

To survive the two attacks of Gabriel, Izen had placed his all on the line! Even his robe of Nullification was damaged in the process. However, now that everyone was over, he realized that something was wrong.

Not only was Gabriel still calm, but Izen also felt a presence behind him. Initially, the hall was blocked and no one from outside could enter this place so Izen didn't have to divert his attention to protect from others. It was only now that he realized how wrong he was.

He suddenly turned around, jumping back. Unfortunately, it was too late. Before he could even move, he saw a sword pass through his chest!

The Sword was being held by a man who looked more like a lifeless person than speaking who was alive! The man had a pale and expressionless face. In fact, he didn't even have much of a presence or breath of life! He was an undead!

The Undead was one of the weakest undead that Gabriel had created in the Church of Flames, the only one of his men who hadn't managed to evolve to a Death Priest. However, that also allowed him to have much less of a presence compared to the other Death Knights!

undefinedWhen Gabriel cast four spells, the first two of his spells were cast to accomplish one simple task. It was to destroy the Robe of Nullification as well as to distract Izen.

As for the third spell, it was to protect himself from Izen's attack. As for the last spell, it wasn't as complicated. Gabriel's last spell was just summoning a Death Knight who was already planted with a sword! The Death Knight was what was there to kill Izen?

The sword stabbed through Izen's chest. Izen coughed out a mouthful of blood as he looked at his bleeding chest which was impaled. He raised his head to look back at the Death Knight.

"You really are..." he weakly muttered but couldn't even gather enough strength to finish his sentence. His body went weak and he fell to his knees as all his strength left his body.

Izen's vision started getting darker and the entire world became blurry.

"Urgh!" The Death Knight pulled out the sword, making Izen grow in pain as he dropped to the ground, unmoving.

Izen used his Ancestral Staff as support to push his weak body up, slowly moving closer to Izen.

He checked the breathing of Izen and made sure that Izen was actually dead. It was only after ensuring Izen's death that Gabriel sat down and swallowed some soul healing pills that Cylix gave him in the past.

He was careful enough to not use them when not needed since they were close to losing their effect if he used them more.

After gathering some strength, Gabriel stood up. He looked back at the white barrier outside the tower. Now that he was out of strength, the barrier wasn't going to last long either, allowing everyone to enter the place.

"Carry the body..." he told the Death Knight as he sent his Ancestral Staff of Darkness back, only carrying the Ancestral Staff of Light.

Despite his weakness at the moment, Gabriel raised his Ancestral Staff of Light and cast another spell. "Purification!"

Gabriel wiped all the unstable auras that were spread throughout the hall, leaving no evidence that a spell of Darkness was ever used in this place. It was only after that that he prepared to leave.

[A few minutes ago]

The Holy Lord of Wind explained everything. If he wanted, he could break Gabriel's barrier and enter the Tower since he also had the strength of a Holy Lord. However, he held back.

It was clear that the Holy Lord of Light was in a bad mood at the moment. It was the same for Izen. If it wasn't needed, the Holy Lord of Wind didn't want to do something that could make them misunderstand his intentions.

He calmly waited outside for the barrier to stop working before checking inside. There was one thing he was sure about. It was that one of the two inside the Tower wasn't going to come out alive! Since the battle had stretched for so long, there was no way that it was going to end in a draw.

The Holy Lord of Wind just stood in silence.

"Who do you think will win?" he asked Avilia.

"We both know who will win. Why ask these stupid questions," Avilia responded without paying much attention to the Holy Lord of Wind.

The Holy Lord of Wind smiled.

"That is... Huh?"

Just as the Holy Lord of Wind was in the middle of responding, he stopped and looked at the tower. The barrier of light was flickering and it was getting weaker. It was clear that the barrier wasn't going to last long. That meant the battle was already over!

"Since the battle is already over, let's check it out." The Holy Lord of Wind didn't even wait for the barrier to stop entirely! Now that the battle was seemingly over, he wanted to check as soon as possible.

He casually flicked his finger. Everyone only saw the winds intensify and nothing more. The next minute, the barrier that had already weakened shattered.

The Holy Lord of Wind flew inside the Tower of Challenges after the barrier was gone.

Avilia also followed inside. She was also curious as to what actually was the result. The Head Teachers didn't stay behind either.

Over twenty of the most powerful people present inside the Academy of Elements rushed inside the Tower behind the two Holy Lords, concerned about the fate of their Dean. They didn't know who won and who lost. However, they were still worried.

As everyone entered the Tower, their eyes widened. There was not a single person who wasn't shocked at what they saw! The hall on the ground floor was almost unbreakable! Even if something was broken, it could heal instantly! However, at the moment, there was not a single part in the hall which wasn't broken!

Blood was everywhere! Craters were spread throughout the ground. All the walls were covered with cracks as if they were breaking apart.

Even though the Tower tried its best to heal all the damage, it was still too slow since the damage was just too much!

The sight that everyone saw before them was like a witness who was screaming and telling everyone about the devastation that took place in this place not long ago!

This wasn't a battle between two mortals! This was like the aftermath of a battle between two gods!

Gabriel felt the barrier getting weaker. He didn't know if the barrier could last long enough for him to recover. Just to be safe, he decided to leave the place and enter the first floor of the Tower which was in a different space entirely.

Even Gabriel didn't expect that only a few seconds after he entered the first floor with the Death Knight and Izen's body, the barrier outside the tower was broken and two Holy Lords entered the place.

The Two Holy Lords could see the signs of carnage. Unfortunately, there was no one else there. They couldn't find Izen or the Holy Lord of Light!

"This is strange. There was definitely a battle here, but even I can't sense any auras. It's as if the place was wiped clean of all signs of the battle other than the physical marks in the surroundings," the Holy Lord of the Wind touched the ground, frowning. "Even the blood traces have been cleaned. That's interesting. It's as if someone is trying to hide something..."

"What do you think?" he asked Avilia.

undefinedAvilia simply shrugged and didn't respond. In her heart, she had already guessed everything! Since this place was so thoroughly cleaned, that meant that Gabriel had won. It was clear that Gabriel used his other Elements and didn't want others to find out about this so he cleaned the place up.

There was still one question in her mind though. If Gabriel won, did that mean he killed Izen? And if that was the case, then where was Izen's body? Was the body destroyed entirely or was there something more?

'If the body was destroyed, it's nothing. However, if he saved the body and took it with him, does that mean he's planning to create another Death Warrior, this time with Izen?'

Avilia had already seen how strong Death Knights created using the Head Priests were. She couldn't help but wonder how strong a Death Knight created by using Izen was going to be.

Even though the majority of Izen's strength was due to the Robe, but even if one was to take out the robe, he was still more powerful than an ordinary Head Priest.

'This guy... Just what is his ultimate goal?' She looked at the entrance of the first floor. Since she was older than thirty, she couldn't enter that place. And even if she entered, she wasn't going to be in the same space on the first floor as Gabriel. Before the ninety ninth floor, she couldn't even meet Gabriel.

It was the same for the Holy Lord of Wind. The only difference was that the man had less information than Avilia which made him really uncomfortable. It was almost confirmed that Izen was dead. That meant the Holy Lord of Light wasn't weak at all.

Despite such a strong Holy Lord of Light, he didn't know a single thing about him, let alone knowing how he looked. That was what made him uncomfortable. He liked knowing about everything and planning accordingly. Missing pieces of information was what he detected the most.

"Looks like I really need to take a trip to the Church of Light." He turned around and left the Tower. It was clear that the Holy Lord of Light had entered and he wasn't going to come out anytime soon.

In the meantime, the Holy Lord of Wind placed his hopes on the Church of Light to get more information.

Avilia also followed the Holy Lord of Wind to keep an eye on him.

The Holy Lord of Wind went to the Church of Light and landed before the entrance, not hiding his aura. He wanted to let everyone inside the Church know that he had arrived.

Avilia also landed next to the Holy Lord of Wind.

One of the Head Priests stepped out of the Church of Light, slightly surprised to see two Holy Lords before the entrance. Fortunately, he recognised Avilia as a friendly figure. He assumed that Avilia was back to meet her husband.

"Lady Avilia, please enter. Even though your Husband isn't here, he should be back soon." The Head Priest exclaimed. "Our Lord was asking about you before he left. Now that you're here, he should be here anytime soon as well."

As Avilia came with the Holy Lord of Wind, he assumed that the two of them were close and that the Lord of Wind probably already knew about Avilia's marriage.

The Holy Lord of Wind was pleasantly surprised to find out that Avilia was married. A smirk spread across his lips. So far, none of the Holy Lords knew about Avilia's marriage after all.

On the other hand, Avilia's face turned dark. She couldn't believe that even after Gabriel told them to keep this story a secret, he blurted it out so openly.

Not only did this idiot tell that she was married, but he also addressed her husband as their Lord.

She couldn't help but look at the Holy Lord of Wind. She knew that he would've had to be an idiot to not understand who the Head Priest of Light was talking about. There was only one person they addressed with such respect after all.

"No wonder you were waiting above that Tower and hiding all the presence there." The Holy Lord of Wind looked back at Avilia with an amused glance. This was literally the most important piece of information he knew about the Holy Lord of Light which he believed he could use to his advantage in the future!

Back inside the Tower of Challenges, Gabriel was sitting on the first floor. He wasn't fighting at all. Instead, he just focused on his recovery. If anything, he sent the Death Knight to fight.

Gabriel didn't worry about climbing the Tower. He knew that at best, he could climb to the top floor in less than an hour this time. For now, what was more important was his recovery! It was only after he recovered his strength that he could cast the Army of Undead to turn Izen into an Undead!

"What a pity that the Robe of Nullification was destroyed. It could've been useful to me."

In this battle, Gabriel won. However, he still wasn't happy. He didn't gain as much as he wanted after all. The loss of the robe of Nullification was too much. He initially expected that the robe was going to survive this battle. That's why he planned the Death Knight to kill Izen in close range.

"Now I can only place my hopes on you. I hope you won't disappoint me when you turn into a Death Knight. You should be almost as strong as Raphael even without the robe…"

After regaining some of his strength, Gabriel finally stood up. He didn't have time to regain all his strength again since there was a time limit within the [Army of Undead] could be cast after the death of a person. Gabriel didn't want to miss that time limit.

Fortunately, there was still over ten minutes left before the limit was going to be over.

Gabriel still had some paleness on his face. However, he was much better than before. At least he could stand without any troubles and cast another Origin Tier Spell.

Gabriel called forth his Ancestral Staff of Necromancy to aid him in the spell.

The spell was long, but it was still easy to remember. With the Wordless Chant, it became even easier for Gabriel who finished the spell without much trouble.

undefinedA dark mist started rising around the body of Izen which was tainted with the aura of death that defied nature. The dark mist soon surrounded Izen and slowly entered his body through his nose.

Gabriel waited on the side for the process to complete. Now that the spell was effective, he was somewhat confident that he was going to succeed.

As Gabriel waited on the side, time kept passing. Soon, it had been over ten minutes since the dark mist entered Izen's body.

"Strange. Why isn't there any movement? Why don't I feel any connection with his soul anymore?"

As more and more time passed, even Gabriel was starting to get concerned. Generally, even after death, a body still had the soul of a person.

The [Army of Undead] used its strength to wipe the memories of that soul and turn it into a slave that could only listen to the caster while strengthening the body even more. That was how it was supposed to happen. However, something was different!

Currently, the soul should've already been discovered and wiped. However, let alone wiping the soul to a clean state, he couldn't even feel the soul at all!

"This is impossible. This shouldn't be!" Gabriel frowned, unable to understand. He had used the spell many times before, but never once did something so odd happen.

It was as if the soul... It didn't stay in the body for even a second after Izen was killed, which should've been impossible! A soul couldn't leave the body so easily! This was unheard of!

There existed an unknown place. The atmosphere of the place was quite different from the place where Gabriel currently was. In fact, the place was much richer in the natural aura.

The air was cleaner, the sun was brighter and the air was brimming with magical energy! If anything, this place could've been considered to be a tier above from anything that Gabriel had seen so far.

In the strange place, there existed a strange mountain. The mountain had all the properties of an ordinary soul, which should've been more than enough for plants to grow there. But for some reason, not a single blade of grass could grow on the barren mountain.

There existed many beautiful courtyards in the mountain, all being made into geological locations where the magical energy was the heaviest! The courtyards were beautiful, but there was nothing in front of the beautiful palace-like structure that existed on the peak of the mountain.

The mountain was heavily guarded. Not a single person was allowed to even step on the foot of the mountain without permission. Everyone knew about the temper of the person who lived at the highest palace.

Even the guards didn't want to make a mistake by accidentally allowing someone on the mountain and offending the master of the mountain.

Inside the palace atop, there was a secret room. The palace absorbed the magical aura from the mountain peak through the magical formations and transferred all that to the secret room which could only be accessed by one person.

A man sat inside the secret room in a meditative position. The man's eyes were closed for a long time as he absorbed all the aura from his surroundings. The more he absorbed, the stronger he became.

It was unclear just how strong that person was, but one thing was evident. He was a name that was feared by many!

There was a mirror in front of the young man who looked as if he was only in his early twenties. The mirror had a beautiful golden frame and looked out of ordinary.

The mirror existed in this room for a long time but it never made any movement in the past. Unfortunately, it was different now.

The mirror suddenly started shining. The entire dark room was filled with light which made the young man open his eyes in surprise.

The young man opened his eyes and looked at the bright mirror ahead. In the center of the mirror, he could see a beautiful speck of light that was the reason behind all this light.

Surprise was clearly visible in the face of the man as he saw the speck of light in the mirror.

If the other people on the mountain knew that there was something which could surprise even this person, they would've been shocked to their core! There was nothing this man hadn't seen in his life after all.

"In such a desolate place, someone was able to kill him?" The man stood up. Even though his movements were gentle like an ordinary human, with every step he took closer to the mirror, the entire mountain shook as if there was an earthquake!

The man stopped in front of the mirror, observing the speck of light. "Could it be the Holy Lords? That doesn't make sense. They aren't strong enough. With the robe I gave the little one for his protection, he should've been able to protect himself. Unless... Unless a god intervened...?"

"That doesn't make sense either. Why would a god go to that desolate world? Why would they want to offend me for no reason?"

The man was quite confused. Even though he was surprised that Izen had died, he didn't look particularly sad. It was as if he had already given up on most of his emotions in this life, including the emotion of sadness.

"Good thing I've placed something on his soul before sending him there. I should be able to know some things through his soul." As the man spoke, he observed the small speck of light as if it was the soul he was talking about.

The young man reached out his hand and touched the speck of light. As he touched the speck of light, he closed his eyes to assimilate the information.
In another room inside the palace, a few men and women were sitting, lost in meditation as well.

It was only as they felt the entire mountain tremble that they opened their eyes.

"What happened?" A woman asked, frowning. "Are we under attack?"

Another man opened his eyes. "Who would dare attack this place? It looks more like the work of Master! He should be upset about something..."

"Something that could upset Master?" Almost everyone in the hall was shocked. They knew just who their master was. He was a person who wouldn't frown even if the entire world was falling apart!

undefinedEveryone looked at each other in confusion. However, just as they were about to get to see what could've happened, they heard a shocked gasp of someone amongst them.

Everyone looked at the person who had exclaimed in shock, only to find him pointing at the front with dread.

The others also looked in the direction he was pointing at. At the other end of the hall, there was a small altar. The altar had some stone tablets, each with a name.

In total, there were around four stone tablets initially! However, correctly there were only three which could be seen there! As for the fourth one, it was broken!

"No wonder master woke up..."

Most of the people in the group understood what could've happened. There were only a few in the group who didn't understand. They were all the people who had just joined this hall. They were yet to be taught about these stone tablets.

"Senior, what does it mean?" A fourteen year old youngster asked.

"That means someone is dead," the old man answered as he walked closer to the Altar. He observed the broken stone tablet. "From the looks of it, it was the youngest brother of Master..."

"The youngest brother?" The young man asked as he became even more confused. He had never heard about their master having a brother at all.

"Master has three brothers. Two of them have been imprisoned by him. As for the third one, he was banished by master to a place that even I don't know about," the old man exclaimed, staring grimly at the broken stone tablet.

"These four stone tablets contain the soul essence of the master and his three brothers. In other words, these are just like a messaging beacon to let us and master know when one of them is dead," he further explained.

The ones who already knew about such things didn't show much surprise. However, the young ones were full of questions.

"Why would Master imprison his two brothers and banish the youngest?" The youngster asked.

"Don't ask what you shouldn't know about." The old man walked back to his seat and sat down. "Get back to what you were doing."

"Shouldn't we inform Master about it?" Another person asked.

"No need. He already knows about it." The old man casually responded before entering meditation again.

In the secret room, the young man managed to assimilate most of the information he could find.

He slowly opened his eyes which flashed with a confused as well as a cold look.

"This disgusting aura... How long has it been since I last felt it?" The young man frowned, looking at the mirror which didn't even show his reflection. "Are you back... Death?"

He wanted to read the memories of the soul that he had received to find out what actually happened. Unfortunately, because the body was attacked by the Death Knight, the aura of Death had already seeped inside the body and the soul, making it impossible to read through the memories of the person.

There was only one thing that the young man could sense for now. He knew what element of the spell killed his brother. And this presence... He could never forget this cold feeling.

The young man turned around, keeping Izen's soul with himself. He had already understood half the situation by now.

"No wonder Izen died. If it's him, then it makes sense. Izen could never face someone like him, especially in that desolate place," the young man turned his back on the mirror. His mind was still lost in something.

Back in the Tower of Challenges, Gabriel tried his best to succeed in his spell. Unfortunately, Izen never woke up. It was as if there was no soul to use at all! There was just a body which there was no use of!

In the end, Gabriel could only give up, realizing that whatever he did at this point was just a waste of time. He sent the body into his Spatial Storage of his Grimoire, not knowing what he was going to do with it. He just didn't want to waste it.

After storing the body, Gabriel gathered some more strength before he started climbing the Tower.

Unlike the first time, this time it was just like a walk in the part for Gabriel to climb the tower. He already knew what he had to do. The challenges were nothing before him now. In fact, he didn't even need to summon his Death Knights or Raphael to help him this time.

Throughout the entire time, he only used his new spells of Light to gain better control on them. He had already mastered all other spells after all.

Before long, Gabriel was already on the ninety ninth floor.

The floor brought back so many memories for Gabriel, especially the two vacant thrones where Cylix and Novius were sitting in the past.

In the present, there was no one on the throne. Other than the throne, there were still the soul clones of the ones who had reached this floor in the past before Gabriel.

The challenge was still the same as the first time. Gabriel had to defeat two of those soul clones to reach the next floor. The difficulty this time was much easier compared to last time when he had to face Cylix and Novius.

Gabriel once again chose the two strongest people here and swiftly passed through the trial. In fact, the soul clones already remembered Gabriel and didn't even want to fight him, knowing they had no chance. Yet, they still had to fight because of the rules.

After Gabriel passed through the trial on the 99th floor, he took one last glance at the majestic hall that was like his second home! It was where he gained his second family... It was where he met Novius and Cylix.

He couldn't help but touch the vacant thrones, remembering the past. He didn't say anything and went to the next floor.

While inside the tower, everything was peaceful and easy, outside the tower, there was an even bigger commotion.

Another person had appeared at the top of the tower ranking, reaching the top floor within a fraction of time that the second place took!

Unfortunately, there was no name before the first rank now. Since the stone which Gabriel was given was a stone without any name, now that he reached the top floor, the name place was empty. Only his rank and floor level was mentioned.

Despite having no name, some of the teachers were quite happy, especially the ones who didn't know that Gabriel had just fought Izen and killed him.

In fact, the ignorant teachers and students were happy that the Holy Lord of Light reached that place.

Last time, Gabriel had reached the top floor. They were initially happy but when they found out that Gabriel was a dark mage, all their happiness disappeared!

After that, whenever they looked at the top name, they felt disgusted and insisted that a pathetic dark mage was occupying that place! Now that a Light Mage had taken that place, they could once again relax and be proud that Light was superior to darkness!

"Finally we have someone who could defeat that Gabriel!" One of the students smirked. He was none other than the person who was beaten by Gabriel in the past.

Gabriel passed through to the hundredth floor, once again returning to the same familiar place. The people outside the tower had many assumptions for the top floor, believing that it had some incredible treasures.

Only Gabriel knew how wrong they were. There were no treasures here... At least none that could be taken away. There was only one item... The mirror of knowledge. It was what Gabriel came to this city for.

Gabriel stood before the mirror which didn't show any reflection initially. It took a few seconds before Gabriel's reflection appeared on the mirror.

The reflection was slightly different from the real Gabriel though. Its movements were different as if the reflection wasn't actually a reflection but an entirely different being who was present inside the mirror that took Gabriel's form.

"You are back again," the being inside the reflection commented. "It looks like you succeeded in getting the earring."

undefined"I did." Gabriel nodded, lightly touching the earring. "Thanks to it, I feel much better than before. At least I don't suffer as much backlash from the spells that I used to do before."

"Why did you come here then?"

Gabriel expected that question already. "I am here to get another answer. Since I've reached the top floor, I should be able to ask you three questions again. Shall we begin?"

The mirror reflection smirked. "Did you really think it works like that?"

"What do you mean?" Gabriel frowned. Was the mirror saying it was not going to answer?

"A person can only get three answers in their lifetime after reaching the top floor, no matter how many times he climbs. It looks like your trip here is a waste." The Mirror Reflection didn't care who came to it. If anything, it was more prone to following the rules.

Gabriel was slightly taken aback. He wasn't told of these rules in the past. All he knew was that one could get three answers after finishing the climb. He expected he could do so again.

Unfortunately, it looked like it wasn't going to be easy. Still, no matter what, he wasn't going to give up after coming so far.

Gabriel was already here and he wasn't going to leave without answers. Since he was stronger than he was in the past, he believed that there were more ways for him to get answers!

Last time, he wasn't able to even take the mirror with him because he wasn't strong enough. He imagined it to be different this time.

"Are these the rules of the tower?" he asked.

The mirror reflection nodded, not saying anything extra.

"In that case, I'll just have to take you out of the tower for the rules to not apply!" Gabriel exclaimed. "No matter what, I won't go back without my answers!"

At any cost, he had to find a way to get the secrets of the Garden of Legacy and this was the only place where he could get the answers.

"You're still not strong enough to be able to move me." The Mirror Reflection sighed. "You've just stepped through the threshold of the past..."

Before Gabriel could even get closer to the Mirror, he felt a mysterious restriction around his body. It was as if there were shackles that made it impossible for him to even get close to the mirror.

The spatial energy around him started getting unstable, as if something was trying to force him outside the Tower of Challenges!

Gabriel was completely surrounded by the spatial energy and it was so fast that he couldn't even resist before he was caught in it. His body started turning illusory.

Before he completely disappeared, he heard the words of the mysterious reflection in the mirror. "I know what answer you came here for. This one time, I'll help you again, but there won't be a next time! The answer lies in..."

The space energy completely engulfed Gabriel, sending him straight out of the tower of the Challenges and into the midst of the crowd outside.

The Head Teachers were standing outside the Tower of Challenges, looking at the leaderboard ranking. Their faces were dark. They knew that Izen was killed. Which meant, the Academy had lost their only powerhouse. Without Izen, they weren't as strong as they used to be.

For that reason, they hated the Holy Lord of Light even more than Gabriel who they believed was the Holy Lord of Darkness.

As soon as Gabriel appeared in the middle of the crowd, many youngsters around him noticed him right away.

Gabriel didn't have any masks covering his face. Even though his aura couldn't be sensed by the Head Teachers and the students thanks to his ring, they could still recognise him with his face. Many people had seen him in the past after all, especially the teachers.

"G-Gabriel?!" One loud shout attracted the attention of everyone onto Gabriel.

All the youngsters stepped away from Gabriel in shock, as if they were going to die if they stood near Gabriel for longer.

Even Gabriel was slightly surprised. As he came out so suddenly, he didn't have time to use a mask, letting others see him.

The Head Teachers also looked at Gabriel, shunned. They couldn't believe that he had managed to sneak inside the Academy without them finding out.

Fortunately, none of the Head Teachers attacked Gabriel. Without Izen, they weren't confident enough in defeating Gabriel. All of them were slightly worried about attacking him.

The Head Teachers considered two people as their enemies. One was the Holy Lord of Light who was inside the Tower of Challenges and the other was Gabriel. As much as they hated to believe it, they understood that only those two here could defeat each other!

Instead of getting in the middle and losing their own men, the Head Teachers believed it was better to let Gabriel remain here and wait for the Holy Lord of Light to come out of the Tower!

'As long as that bastard comes out of the Tower, he'll definitely fight with Gabriel. Gabriel isn't weak either! In their battle, both of them must be heavily injured! If that happens, we should be able to kill them both!' Eliana clenched her fist, struggling to control her disgust and hate from flashing in her eyes. She didn't want to alert Gabriel!

This was their only chance where they could kill both! They could blame the Holy Lord's death on Gabriel and take credit for Gabriel's death! No one could find fault with them! What was even better was that the Holy Lord of Wind and Summoning had already left the Academy!

Gabriel was taken aback. He was recognised. Fortunately, no one knew he was the Lord of Light who had entered the Tower before. That meant he could take advantage of the situation and have some fun!

The young students were looking at Gabriel as if he was a ghost. Only a few people had seen his real face. As for the rest, they only heard about him! Gabriel was like a legend!

The more the Academy tried to suppress the information about the Dark Mage Lord studying at the Academy, the more this information spread! At this point, there wasn't a single person who hadn't heard about Gabriel at the Academy.

Gabriel ignored most of the students here, even though he saw a few familiar faces. His attention subconsciously went to a young lady who was standing at the back of the crowd. It had been a really long time since he had seen that face.

There used to be a time when he loved a young girl that he grew up with. Being stabbed by her was the worst pain he experienced at that time, at least emotionally. However, after all this time, for some reason, he didn't have much feelings for the woman.

Let alone the feeling of love, he didn't even feel that she was worth her anger anymore. She was... Nothing!

undefinedMaya had killed Gabriel once. At least that's what she thought. But after she heard the stories about how Gabriel infiltrated the Academy and killed Hawrin, she understood that the Gabriel she knew before and the new Dark Lord were the same people!

To find out that the person she used to know was standing at the peak of the world now was a strange feeling, especially when she remembered that once upon a time, they used to dream of becoming the Head Priests together in the future.

To become a Head Priest was their goal which even they felt was almost impossible. However, it didn't even take Gabriel a year and he was already a Holy Priest, standing on an equal footing to the other Holy Lords. Even though he was despised by the world, there was no denying about his strength!

Watching Gabriel look at her, Maya subconsciously took a step back in fear! She didn't know what Gabriel wanted. If he was still angry, he could easily kill her.

Just a single glance of Gabriel and she felt as if she was being suffocated. There was just too much difference between the two of them. Maya was a strong student of the Academy, but that was all! Let alone a student or a teacher, even the Dean couldn't kill Gabriel!

Maya kept stepping back as fear engulfed her heart. Eliana noticed Gabriel looking at Maya. She had already heard about what happened between the two in the past from Maya herself!

Even if she didn't think she could kill Gabriel, she still couldn't let him kill a student right in front of her!

Her figure disappeared. And the next second, she appeared before Maya, hiding her from Gabriel's view.

Gabriel saw Eliana's swift reaction but he didn't care much. If he wanted, he could kill Eliana easily as well after all.

Instead, he turned toward the ranking list of the tower, glancing at the first rank.

Most people thought that Gabriel was upset to see that his name was second now. However, none realized that he just found it amusing that he could take the top two spots easily.

He didn't care about the students or even the teachers. Instead, his mind was still being occupied by what the Mirror Reflection said when it sent him out of the Tower of Challenges.

"The answer I'm looking for lies in my pockets..." he muttered the last statement of the Mirror, frowning. He couldn't believe it was that simple. The answer he was looking for was with him all this time? But what was the answer?

He checked his pockets. Most of his pockets were empty, but there was one pocket which had something that even he forgot about in the past.

"This..." Gabriel frowned, noticing the item in his pocket. When he received the item, he wanted to use it. However, because of everything that happened with the Arecia Empire and the Church of Flames, he completely forgot about it.

He brought out the item from his pocket that he had received from the Princess of Yann in exchange for sparing her life.

"The key to the Tomb...?"

According to the Princess, every Empire was given two such keys. It was the key that was used to enter a tomb which could only be accessed by youngsters.

"If I'm not wrong, she said the Tomb's entrance waa going to be accessible soon. The time should be near. If I'm not misunderstanding the Mirror, then I need to enter the Tomb to find the mystery behind the Garden? But whose tomb is it? How can its formation stop even the Holy Lords from entering if they don't satisfy the age criteria?"

While the students and teachers were worried about Gabriel's next action, Gabriel was more immersed in the ordinary looking key.

There were many mysteries behind this key and the tomb that could be accessed. He was almost sure that the tomb was created by a Demigod at least! Only they could have enough strength to even make a Holy Lord obey their rules!

"I don't know what's in this tomb that hasn't been explored all this time, but if that leads me to what I need, then I need to get there! Moreover, since every Empire gets two keys, Arecia should have two as well. Should I bring Avilia with me just to be on the safer side?"

"But I don't know how old she is. If she doesn't satisfy the age criteria, it'll be useless..."

He left most of his questions for later. He still had to leave this place first. But before that, he had to put on a show.

"Who is in the top place now?" he asked Eliana who was protecting Maya.

Eliana knew that it was the best opportunity. If she could subtly taunt Gabriel and awaken his fighting spirit, Gabriel was probably going to stay behind to fight the Holy Lord of Light! She couldn't miss this chance! She also couldn't let him know that the Academy had enmity with the Holy Lord of Light as well

"Do you really think you're some god?" Eliana snorted. "The top place is occupied by our great Holy Lord of Light, who just became a Holy Lord! Not only is he more talented than you, but he's also younger than you! With enough time, he'll definitely become your biggest nightmare in the future!"

Eliana didn't know how old the Holy Lord of Light was. She just said that he was young and a person who just became a Holy Lord to fool Gabriel. She was subtly letting Gabriel know that the Holy Lord of Light was more talented and a hidden threat for the future for him?

That way, she could get Gabriel to stay behind to kill the so-called young Holy Lord before he had a chance to grow. She didn't realise that the fake story she just came up with was actually the truth!

"Is that so? In that case, should I wait for him to come out and finish him off while he's still young?" Gabriel asked, already understanding her intentions.

"Well, I don't really hate the idea. But I also don't like wasting my time waiting." He further stated as he glanced toward a particular direction. "While I'm already here waiting, I might as well do something productive."

Eliana noticed where Gabriel was looking. Her heart skipped a beat as soon as she realized his intentions! The location where Gabriel was looking was the place where they stored their spirit crystals!

Last time, Gabriel had already robbed them clean! At least he was still sneaky at that time! But now, he was trying to rob them openly? Her face went pale as she cursed herself for trying to stop him!

Just as Eliana was trying to think of a way to get Gabriel to stop, Gabriel disappeared from her view as if he was never there.

She looked around to find where Gabriel was, but she couldn't find him anywhere. That was until she felt his presence behind her. Her face went pale. She hastily turned around.

As Eliana turned around, she saw Maya standing behind her, still confused. Unlike Eliana, Maya still couldn't sense anything. She was just shocked to see Eliana turn around so suddenly and Gabriel disappearing.

Eliana was frozen in her place, finding a young man standing behind Maya. Gabriel stood silently right behind Eliana. He didn't speak and just glanced at Eliana, as if he was telling her that her protection meant nothing and that he could kill anyone he wanted, as long as he desired!

From Eliana's expressions, even Maya realized that something was wrong. She slowly turned around. As she looked back, her face went pale. Her legs went weak as she dropped to her knees in front of Gabriel, as if she couldn't muster up even a little strength.

undefinedMany memories flashed in her mind about their time together. In their childhood, they used to be inseparable and the best of friends, who used to laugh and cry together. None of them expected that there would be a day like today, especially Maya. Everything changed so fast.

Gabriel glanced down at Maya.

Eliana wanted to do something, but somehow, she couldn't gather the courage at the moment. There were just too many students around. If she really started a fight here, the chances of victory were really low. Moreover, in the battle, the lives of the other students were going to be in danger.

She couldn't decide if she should fight Gabriel for the life of one student and put the life of the other students in danger, or let Gabriel do as he pleased as long as it saved the life of more students. That way, she could also get him to stay here, protecting their spirit stone reserves.

Her eyes subconsciously glanced at the top ranked name in the tower. The Holy Lord of Light was already on the top floor. For her, it was only a matter of time before the Holy Lord of Light came out. After that, things were much easier for her to settle.

In her heart, she was quite angry that she had to do this little bastard as he pleased, even going so far as to sacrifice the life of a student in the process. Unfortunately, she had no other option. She had already lost the support of Izen after all. All the responsibilities of the Academy were now on her shoulders.

"Gabriel, being a Holy Lord, are you really going to go so far as to bully little kids?" After a brief pause, Eliana asked. "You don't have the courage to face the other Holy Lords, and are turning to bullying the weak?"

"Lady Eliana, are you sure you have the moral right to say such a thing? Does anyone in this world have the right to say such a thing?" Gabriel asked. "When all the Dark Mages in the Academy were killed in the war, were they killed by other students who had the same strength as them or were they killed by stronger priests from Churches?"

"You should know the answer to the question as well as I do," he added. His tone was light, but his words were heavy. "The world has never been fair. It's always been strong, killing the weak, oftentimes for no reason at all."

It was something he already experienced after all. The moment he had just awakened, he was killed by Hawrin who was much stronger. Harin already knew spells and had the help of his brother who was a student at the academy while he hadn't even learned a single spell.

As if that wasn't all, the entire village had gathered to kill him when he had awakened the Element of Darkness, being led by the girl before him! If no one considered the strong and the weak at that time, did they really have that right?

"The concept of being strong and weak... The concept of righteous and evil... The concept of fairness in battles... It only comes into play for you all when you're the ones who are facing trouble. But when it's the people you consider enemies, you all just become blind spectators and nothing more. Am I right?"

There was not a single person in the entire field who dared to respond. They couldn't even find words to respond after all. Everyone understood that it was always strong killing the weak in this world. There was really no fairness in this world!

Moreover, even if they could respond, they didn't dare. The person before them was said to be a Holy Lord that even the Head Teachers were intimidated by!

"That reminds me..." Gabriel didn't care what the others thought. In fact, he had already surpassed most people here. His heart was already far above what anyone could imagine. Unfortunately, despite all that, there was still a little sadness in his heart whenever he remembered the past.

He looked down at Maya who was frozen in her place. Maya was just an elementary tier mage of water. She couldn't do anything if the teachers didn't help her.

Gabriel went down on one knee before Maya so that he could look straight in her eyes.

"Am I right?" he asked Maya.

Maya couldn't even open her mouth. She didn't know just what kind of person Gabriel had become now, but she imagined that he wasn't the same as the person she knew in the past.

? ? ? ? ? ?-?.?

All the stories she heard about him made him out to be a Demon Lord who killed without blinking an eye! It was also said that the last Head Teacher of Flames was killed by Gabriel and the other Head Teachers couldn't do anything to stop him at all!

"What happened, Senior Sister?" Gabriel asked. His face had no emotions, just like his voice.

When Maya looked in Gabriel's eyes, she found them to be quite different than in the past. In the past, Gabriel's eyes were full of dreams, righteousness and love. But now, his eyes didn't have a shred of emotion. It was as if he had already become a different person at his core after all the bloodshed.

Maya was completely silent.

Gabriel placed his fingers around the soft cheeks of Maya, gently caressing her face. "Weren't you going to kill me last time to eradicate the evil from this world?"

Unfortunately for Maya, his gentle actions didn't match his bloodthirsty eyes

Maya couldn't say anything but her eyes were enough to answer. A stream of tears trickled down her cheeks. It was unclear if Maya was crying because she was scared for her life, or because she was regretting her past decisions but Gabriel didn't care.

"What happened?" Gabriel asked. "Don't tell me you're taking pity on me by letting me leave with my life today? Don't worry about me. Be the hero you wanted to be. Right?'

Maya understood that Gabriel was being sarcastic but she was in no position to answer.

"You should stop. I know what happened in the past, but you shouldn't blame kids for that. If you were in her place, you would've done the same!"

Gabriel was talking to Maya when someone intervened, attracting Gabriel's attention.

undefinedGabriel glanced at the person who had spoken. "Head Teacher of Earth, Rem. It's been quite some time since we last met, hasn't it?"

"Leave her. I'll show you the Storage Room. You can take as many Spirit Stones as you want. Just don't hurt any student here!" Unlike Eliana who had to think about the Academy's interests along with the students' interest, Rem only cared about the students.

Even if they lost some Spirit Stones, he was fine with it. They could always find ways to get more Spirit Stones but they couldn't bring a person back to life! He also understood that only Spirit Stones could distract Gabriel at this point.

Gabriel only smirked in response. He didn't stand up. There was a smile on his face, but still, Rem had a bad feeling about this. It was as if a Predator was looking at him.

"I think you have some kind of misunderstanding," Gabriel said.

The sky above their head was already covered in clouds, as if it was going to rain soon. The wind was already cold, but it felt even colder thanks to Gabriel's intimidating aura.

"What misunderstanding?" Rem asked grimly.

"The misunderstanding that you're all in control, and that you can give me the Spirit Stones," Gabriel replied. "The truth is that you don't even have the right to negotiate with me. I can take whenever I want from this Academy and whenever I want! None of you can stop me this time. How can you give me something which is already mine?"

Many students felt a chill run down their spine, hearing the arrogant tone of Gabriel. Even the teachers couldn't say anything to Gabriel. Everyone understood that this arrogance wasn't blind arrogance! In fact, Gabriel had enough strength backing this arrogance! All their lives seemed to be depending on Gabriel's whims.

Rem was taken aback by the response. He glanced at the other Head Teachers. All of them felt so insulted! Even if Gabriel was strong, he was just too arrogant!

Eliana gestured for the other Head Teachers to stay silent and not take any action against Gabriel. It was as if she had already surrendered to Gabriel. However, the reality was different.

Inside her heart, she was already cursing Gabriel with all her might!

'If we didn't have to worry about the other students, do you think you had the right to be so arrogant?! Even if you're strong, if all of us had worked together, do you think we couldn't take you down?!' Eliana looked down at Gabriel in her heart.

She kept looking back and forth between the Tower and Gabriel, as if waiting for something. ' I'll see how much longer you can be arrogant!'

There was a long period of silence in which no one moved or spoke anything at all. The silence was calm yet scary.

After a long time, Maya finally managed to gather some courage. Her heart was racing and she was scared, but she still opened her lips, "What do you want from me? If you want to kill me, then do it! I won't resist as long as you promise that you won't hurt my family after killing me!"

"I was the one who hurt you! It had nothing to do with my family! I'm willing to pay the price!"

Maya didn't think that Gabriel was going to let her live! If he didn't want to hurt her, why was he even here and not getting the Spirit Stones? To her, it was clear that his end goal was to take her life! Since there was no way out of here alive, she tried to at least save her family.

"For the sake of all those years that you've lived with our family... All the care and love that my family gave you... Give them a path to life!" She exclaimed.

It was surprising that even in such a situation, her voice was still loud enough.

"Their love and care...?" Gabriel repeated. He knew that it was true once upon a time. The family treated them like their own. But that was all in the past... That was all before things changed that day.

Gabriel subconsciously touched his back where Maya's mother had stabbed him when he was trying to protect her from Maya's attack.

? ? ? ? ? ?-?.?

He rubbed his back softly. There were no wounds left on his back. No one could even see any signs of him being hurt there, but for Gabriel, that wound was never going to disappear. It was going to stay there forever.

"You're right. I really felt their love and care when I was stabbed in the back."

Drip~

The dark clouds in the sky couldn't contain themselves for longer. A raindrop fell from the sky, right on Gabriel's hands. Before long, more and more rain drops started falling as the rain intensified.

The rain droplets were cold and everyone's clothes were getting wet but none dared to move even a single inch from their place to look for a shelter.

Water trickled down Maya's cheeks, making it impossible to distinguish between ordinary water and her tears. Maya's entire body was drenched.

"I felt your love and care even more when you attacked me..." Gabriel's hand was still on Maya's cheeks but it slowly moved down.

Before long, his hands were already on Maya's throat. Maya felt a chill run down her spine.

Initially, Gabriel thought that he didn't care about the past and these insignificant people. He had come very far in his journey but the more he saw Maya, the more he was reminded of the past. He wasn't as aloof as he thought. There was still anger in his heart which was boiling like molten lava the more he looked at her.

Gabriel grabbed Maya by her throat and pulled her closer to him.

From a distance, it even looked as if the two youngsters were tightly hugging each other. However, only the ones with good perception knew the truth.

Gabriel brought his lips closer to Maya's ears. Even the sounds of rain couldn't prevent Maya from hearing what he wanted to say.

"On our last day on the roof, there was one thing I wanted to tell you. I wanted to wait until I became stronger before telling you."

Maya felt as if she was suffocating but she couldn't free herself. She didn't even dare ask Gabriel what he wanted to tell her.

Without even being asked, Gabriel took the initiative on his own. His feelings for Maya were different from what they were in the past before he was stabbed by her. They were more complicated now!

Gabriel didn't want those complications anymore! He wanted to kill the old Gabriel! He wanted his past to die along with everything his naive self cared about! And for that, he wanted to tell Maya the thing that his naive self had held on for so long.

Only by telling her could he end the fate that they had together, forever erasing his old self and take his first step into this new life... A life which had no place for Maya!

"I love you..." Gabriel spoke, stunning Maya. However, just before Maya could come out of her daze, Gabriel continued, "And I hate you..."

Maya froze in place.

"I want to kill you so bad," Gabriel further said. His voice was cold and filled with anger and hate. "I want to destroy you with my own hands and erase every semblance of that past!"

There was complete silence. Only the sound of rain could be heard by the people in the surroundings. No one knew just what Gabriel said to Maya, but from the looks of it, his relationship with Maya wasn't as simple.

"We need to save her. Her life is in danger," Rem secretly sent a message to Eliana. "We can't let him do as he pleases."

Eliana was silent for some time, not reacting right away. After quite some time, she sighed and agreed to do it.

"Wait a second. Do it on my signal. At that time, I'll take all the other students to a safe place. You'll hold back Gabriel. After a few minutes, I'll be back."

The biggest obstruction for her were the students who could easily become collateral damage. She wanted to take all the students back as only she could take them back and return within a few minutes.

undefined"Alright. Be quick. I am not sure how long he'll let her live!" Rem clenched his fists, prepared to attack Gabriel. He also sent the same message to the other Head Teachers, telling them the plan.

Eliana closed her eyes, calming her chaotic heart. Izen was already dead! She had to fill the shoes of the Dean now!

Even though Gabriel didn't show it on his face, he could notice that the Head Teachers appeared to be ready to attack him. He found it quite amusing.

'These people aren't half bad. To save a student, they're going to fight me? If only they were as brave in the past.'

Gabriel was still close to Maya who had prepared herself for the death that was to come. The only thing which she didn't understand was why Gabriel didn't kill her instantly. Instead, it looked as if Gabriel was momentarily distracted by the surroundings.

Maya mentally prepared herself and opened her eyes. Gabriel was also prepared for what was to come. However, just as the two sides were about to take action, both their expressions changed.

Something strange happened. The rain... It abruptly stopped. No... That wasn't it! As Gabriel looked around, he could see that the rain was still as intense as before. It's just that the rain wasn't falling over him or the Head Teachers. It was the same for the students!

? ? ? ? ? ?-?.?

Gabriel looked up, frowning. "Wind..."

As he looked up, he understood what was happening. It wasn't that the rain had stopped around them. Instead, it was because of some kind of barrier above their heads. And the barrier wasn't meant for them! It was meant for the two people who were standing mid-air in the sky.

It was as if one of the two people had cast a barrier to stop rain from touching them. Because they stood above Gabriel and the Head Teachers, the barrier protected the ones below from rain as well.

Amongst the two people in the sky, Gabriel recognised one! It was the Holy Priestess of Summoning Avilia. As for the other person, he hadn't seen him before, but he did recognise that person from the description that he heard, and thanks to the barrier that was used in the sky!

The second person was none other than the Holy Lord of Wind! The most mysterious Holy Lord out of all.

"How strange," the Holy Lord of Wind observed Gabriel. "I can't sense any aura from you, but at the same time, I can sense that you are no weaker than a Holy Lord."

"Are you the Holy Lord of Darkness?" he asked as he slowly came down, landing barely a few meters away from Gabriel.

Avilia had quite a complicated look on her face. She wanted Gabriel to avoid all unnecessary trouble as much as possible. Unfortunately, it was easy for a Holy Lord to sense Gabriel as long as they were in the near vicinity.

Since she was with the Holy Lord of Wind, she also had to accompany him here, even though she already knew what they were going to find. The only thing she could do was try to delay him, but that didn't work either. And here they were now, right before Gabriel.

What was even worse was that she couldn't show she was familiar with Gabriel. Many people knew that she was close to the unseen Holy Lord of Light. At the same time, quite a few knew what Gabriel looked like, and believed him to be the Holy Lord of Darkness.

If she sided with him at this point, it was going to alert all the other Churches to the point that they could assign even bigger threat to them. Currently, even though they took the Holy Lord of Darkness seriously, they didn't take him as seriously as they could.

But if Avilia was thrown in the mix, it was confirmed that they were going to feel even more threatened, to the extent that they were going to leave no stone unturned in their attempt to destroy them.

Her actions could also make the Holy Lord of Wind guess that Gabriel was also the Holy Lord of Light, which was even worse. The Holy Lord of Wind wasn't stupid after all.

To avoid that kind of situation, all she could do was treat Gabriel as a stranger and just watch how the situation developed.

Gabriel also understood what Avilia was thinking. He didn't want her to show her favour to him now either. Avilia was more like a spy in the group of the other Holy Lords. He didn't want this important piece to fall out of his chess board just because of a moment.

Seeing the two Holy Lords arrive, the Head Teachers couldn't be any happier! If there were two Holy Lords, they believed even Gabriel couldn't do anything! It was only a matter of time before the Holy Lord of Light also came out! Today was the day Gabriel died!

However, before that, they still had to protect the students since they didn't want Gabriel to use any hostages!

As Gabriel was distracted by the two Holy Lords, the Head Teachers took advantage of the situation. Eliana disappeared and the next moment, she appeared right before Gabriel. She placed her hand on Maya's back and the next second, both her and Maya disappeared!

She didn't leave with just Maya! She appeared before the other students and cast a flight spell on all of them at the same time, exhausting most of her strength!

At the same time, all the other Head Teachers surrounded Gabriel from all sides, as if providing backup to the two Holy Lords

"Holy Lord of Wind, and Holy Lord of Summoning." Gabriel also stood up. The situation certainly wasn't ideal, but nothing could be done about it.

Dealing with a Holy Lord was harder than dealing with a Head Teacher of the Academy, especially if he didn't want to show all his cards.

Moreover, it was an open space. Even if he cast a powerful barrier, a Holy Lord probably had enough secrets in his arsenal to be able to destroy the barrier and escape after he realized that winning against Gabriel wasn't easy.

Since there was no way to stop the Holy Lord of Wind from running away, that made things somewhat more complicated, especially since he had to fight Avilia as well to keep up the act and he couldn't go easy.

In essence, it was his toughest battle until now.

undefined"You recognise us. Not bad," the Holy Lord of Wind was somewhat surprised. For even the Holy Lord of Darkness to know what he looked like.

"You know, I'm curious about one thing though." The Holy Lord of Wind rubbed his chin curiously. "There are some rumors that state that the current generation of the Holy Lord of Darkness is a woman. However, other rumors state that you're the Holy Lord of Darkness. Are you really the Holy Lord of Darkness?"

"You're right. The Holy Lord of Darkness is a woman," Gabriel answered. There was no benefit for him to lie. It only attracted more enmity to him after all. Moreover, it was the first time he saw someone who managed to guess the truth.

The Holy Lord of Wind glanced at Avilia before glancing toward the Tower of Challenge in the distance. It was unclear just what he was thinking about.

"So you're not the Holy Lord of Darkness. I don't believe you're a subordinate of the Holy Lord of Darkness either. If anything, you're stronger than her," the Holy Lord of Wind commented.

Gabriel frowned. That guy... So he was still hiding things from him. He knew more than he showed! It was clear at this point!

"So what you said about hearing the rumors was a lie." From the way the Holy Lord of Wind talked, it was clear that he had already met the Holy Lord of Darkness Lira! In that case, everything he said before was just a test!

"Who says I can't hear rumors and meet the real person?" The Holy Lord of Wind smirked. "Though I must say, I'm more interested in you than I'm in her. You're not the Holy Lord of Darkness. And you're as strong as us. Moreover, even I can't sense just what element you use. Let me guess..."

The smirk only widened as the Holy Lord of Wind further commented, "You're the masked person who attacked the Holy Church of Flames, aren't you?"

"That means, your element is... the long lost ancient Element of Necromancy!"

...

Silence. For a moment, there was only silence everywhere. Even Avilia was stunned. Just how did this guy find out? He managed to decipher the answer just based on the little pieces of information he had? Even she wasn't capable of something like that!

Gabriel wasn't any less surprised either! The Holy Lord of Wind... He was dangerous! For the most part, his enemies were in the light while Gabriel hunted them from the darkness! It was the first time where another Holy Lord came down to the Darkness to reveal his reality!

What was even worse was that he spoke it openly. Even the Head Teachers of the Academy heard what he said! Even Eliana who just returned heard what the Holy Lord of Light said which shocked her!

She hadn't heard about the Element of Necromancy in her life, but from what the man's tone implied, this Element was powerful and never seen before!

"No wonder he was strong enough to escape from us. This Element of Necromancy... It allows him to use other Elements freely?!"

Eliana didn't know what the element actually did. In her mind, the Element of Necromancy was like a Cloning Element which allowed a mage to use the abilities of other Elements! She had already seen him use the Element of Light and the Element of Darkness after all!

"If this is true, then his strength..." Eliana looked grim. If her guess was right, then Gabriel was more threatening than she guessed. Fortunately, the two other Holy Lords were here to kill him! She could finally relax a little! If Gabriel died, there was no threat anymore!

? ? ? ? ? ?-?.?

Gabriel hadn't used the Element of Necromancy in the open for the most part. His aura was hidden and so was his mask. Moreover, it's been so long since someone saw his element! Then how was the man able to guess? That was the question in his head.

"Did Lira tell you?" He asked the Holy Lord of Wind.

There were only three people other than Avilia who knew about his Element of Necromancy! One was Lira, the other was Lambard and the third was Lambard's maid!

Lambard was a turtle who wasn't going to leave his city. As for the maid, that was out of the question as well. The only one who was left was Lira! Not only did she have an enmity with him, but she was also the one who met with him.

"It doesn't matter how I know, does it?" The Holy Lord of Wind shrugged. "What matters is what can you do about this? The Holy Lord of Flames will burn you alive if he finds out that you were the one who messed with him. As for the others..."

The Holy Lord of Wind didn't finish his sentence. His implication was clear.

"The world is wary of the unknown," Avilia chimed in. "If this news spreads, you will become the first target of everyone... And a hunt will begin... A hunt like never before... A hunt that will put even the last Holy Wars, where the Dark Mages were wiped out, to shame."

It was as if Avilia was talking to herself, but in reality, she was reminding Gabriel without revealing herself completely.

"What if I killed everyone here?" Gabriel asked as he stopped holding back his aura.

The aura which was like a tsunami engulfed the entire Academy, flooding it!

The Holy Lord of Wind felt the power aura, but he wasn't even frowning.

"Hahahah!" Instead of worrying, the Holy Lord started laughing. "Incredible! So this is the aura of Necromancy! Truly incredible!"

"You're right. If you killed me, no one would know. But can you?"

After a brief period of silence, the Holy Lord of Wind further continued, "It's not that I'm underestimating you. Instead, it's you who is overestimating himself."

The Holy Priest of Wind, known as Yael wasn't known to be arrogant like the Holy Lord of Flames. However, his words were filled with such confidence that even Gabriel was forced to think twice.

He didn't know what Yael was truly capable of. Attacking Yael was quite troublesome, especially since fighting Yael right now meant fighting Avilia as well. His Necromancy relied on his summons. Similarly, Avilia could summon her beasts to keep Gabriel back. It was a complicated equation.

Another problem was that Gabriel couldn't stop Yael from leaving without Avilia's help which seemed unlikely for now.

In the end, Gabriel decided to take a decision which he didn't prefer. He glanced back toward the Tower of Challenges leaderboard before glancing back at the two Holy Lords.

undefined? ? ? ? ? ?-?.?

"Two Holy Lords before me, and a third one inside the Tower. It looks like you all are really prepared," Gabriel exclaimed, shaking his head lightly. "Too bad I don't have time to play around."

Since things were so complicated here, Gabriel let it be. He already had to go to the Tomb and didn't have much time. Let alone the fact that he didn't want to delay himself, but even if he did, the chances of successfully killing Yael were almost nil especially since the Element of Wind was known for its speed.

A dark mist surrounded Gabriel, slowly covering him from all sides.

"Don't worry. Sooner or later, I'll definitely come to you to continue this conversation." Gabriel's voice came from inside the mist.

Yael understood what Gabriel was trying to do. However, for some reason, he didn't try to stop Gabriel either. Just like Gabriel knew that he couldn't kill Yael or prevent him from escaping if things went south, Yael knew he couldn't kill Gabriel...

He just remained where he was, watching the mist engulf Gabriel. By the time the mist disappeared, nothing was there! Gabriel had disappeared and he was nowhere to be found.

The two Holy Lords didn't react to his disappearance. On the other hand, the Head Teachers of the Academy were fuming deep in their hearts! After so much trouble, they had managed to hold Gabriel back! They were in such a perfect situation to be able to kill him with two Holy Lords, but the Holy Lords allowed him to escape?!

"Holy Lord of Wind, Holy Lord of Summoning!' Eliana glared at the two Holy Lords. "How can you allow evil to escape?! Do you know how much trouble he can cause if he gets even stronger?!"

Yael turned to Eliana. Before Eliana could even blink, Yael appeared right before her, covering over ten meters of distance in an instance.

Eliana was stunned to suddenly find Yael before him. She subconsciously took a step back and fell on the ground.

Yael looked down at Eliana. With a simple wave of his hand, gentle winds started flowing which pulled Eliana up.

It was as if Eliana was caught by the shackles of the wind, floating mid-air!

"Holy Lord Yael, what are you doing?!" Rem stepped forth. Unfortunately, he had only taken a step forward when an explosion took place, sending him flying back.

"It seems you all forgot who you're talking to." A cold glint flashed in Yael's eyes as he looked around like he was looking at ants. He was a calm and calculating person, but that didn't mean he was a hero of justice.

"I'm neither your servant, nor your slave. I'm not obligated to do anything for you. Next time you talk to me in that tone, or try to teach me what I should've done, all your heads would be rolling on the ground..."

With a snap of his fingers, the winds that were holding onto Eliana disappeared, making Eliana fall on the ground with a thud.

Yael didn't speak further. With his hands behind his back, he started walking away as if he was a surreal otherworldly expert. What was surprising was that he wasn't walking on the ground. Instead, he was walking on the air like it was his morning walk.

Avilia also flew up, leaving distressed mages of the Academy behind, who had never felt this insulted before! Izen was dead and now everyone was treating them like they were nothing but trash!

For the people who were used to standing on an equal footing with the Church thanks to Izen, falling so far was even worse. They were nothing in the eyes of the Church without Izen!

"It's all because of him!" Eliana clenched her teeth, looking at the top rank on the leadership board.

The Holy Lord of Wind left the City, not dwelling there further. In fact, it was already the longest he had stayed in Lumen City. Initially, he was here to meet the Holy Lord of Light after sending the magic of the Holy Grimoire of Light.

However, now that he was leaving, he believed he had gained more than he expected! There was some new information that he managed to decipher.

"What do you think of Gabriel?" Yael flew out of the City with Avilia who was more or less keeping an eye on him to make sure he actually left.

"He's strong," Avilia answered, not telling more than she had to.

"That's for certain. There aren't many people who can use three elements after all," the Holy Lord of Wind responded. "It would've been surprising if he wasn't strong."

"Huh?" Avilia was stunned. Even though she expected Yael to know a few things about Gabriel, what he knew from just one meeting surpassed what most others knew. She couldn't help but have a bad feeling about this.

She realised one thing. Yael was a dangerous person.

Avilia thought about attacking and killing Yael to avoid any future troubles while she still had a chance.

"Are you thinking about attacking me to protect the secret of your so-called husband?" Unfortunately, before she could do anything, Yael further said, "Before you decide to attack me, let me remind you that I'm carrying Prison of Teiri with me. The moment you attack me, I'll have no choice but to imprison you."

Avilia went silent and didn't attack. Shock was clearly visible on her face though. The Prison of Teiri was a Numen on the same tier as the City of Abadon that helped Lambard before a leader of his generation!

Unlike the City of Abadon which was a defensive Numen, the Prison of Teiri was something that was purely for offence and capturing the enemy! It could easily be carried by the owner unlike the City of Abadon. It was a dangerous Numen! She couldn't believe that it was with Yael! This man... He was more dangerous than she thought!

None of the two Holy Priests stopped moving. However, both of them seemed to have their guard up.

"When did you get the Prison? Wasn't it lost ever since the last Holy War?" Avilia inquired. As far as she remembered, the Prison of Teiri was an item that was kept by the Holy Church of Darkness.

Many forces wanted this Numen after the war ended but no one could find it at all.

"After the last Holy War," Yael replied. Now that he already told about the existence of the Prison, there was no need for him to hide it. In any case, he didn't believe that Avilia could tell the other Holy Lords since her own secrets were much worse.

"So the Church of Wind got the Prison in the last Holy War and kept it a secret from the others?! You're all pretty good at acting!"

undefined"We just don't believe in showing off," Yael shrugged lazily.

"Why didn't you use the prison on Gabriel though?" Avilia asked. If Yael had something like that, he could definitely hold back Gabriel for a short while until the backup arrived. It didn't make sense as to why he didn't use it. Unless...

"You didn't want to stop him in the first place?" Avilia frowned. "Why?"

She couldn't understand just what Yael was planning and why he didn't take action before. Moreover, why was he telling her now?

Yael slowed down and glanced back at Avilia. "Because I don't have to do anything at all. He'll die even if I don't lift a finger. His existence... There's a reason why no one inherited this Element for centuries. You'll know soon enough..."

"I hope you don't throw your life away for him when the time comes. It would be such a waste..." The Holy Lord of Wind stepped out of the City, finally leaving the place.

Avilia was left inside the city, lost in thought. The words seemed to imply a lot of things which even she found hard to understand. Just what did Yael know that she didn't? And how was it that he wasn't surprised even after knowing that Gabriel controlled three elements? It was as if... That wasn't Surprising at all?

"The reason Necromancy had disappeared thousands of years ago?" Avilia frowned. No matter how she thought about it, she couldn't guess the reason. Necromancy was the most mysterious element after all. There weren't many mentions of it. Even some of the Holy Lords hadn't heard of that Element in the past, let alone knowing the mysteries behind it!

Avilia didn't know what Yael knew. However, she understood one thing. She had unintentionally gotten involved in something that was far beyond the understanding of this world.

Yael disappeared into the distance while Avilia went back to the Church of Light to find Gabriel.

When she reached the Church of Light, she was informed that Gabriel wasn't there. He hadn't returned ever since he left last time.

Avilia stood before the entrance of the Church, slightly concerned. Gabriel had left the Academy. However, he wasn't in the city? Then where did he go? How could he disappear like that?

Since she couldn't sense him, she assumed that Gabriel was inside the Church. If that wasn't the case, that meant that Gabriel was already far away from her.

"Did he go back to Arecia on his own?"

Since Gabriel wasn't there, Avilia also summoned her Majestic Eagle and left the Lumen City, going back to Arecia.

It was the second time Gabriel had arrived in Lumen City, and both times, he affected the Academy of Elements in a way that made it look as if he had some enmity with the Academy.

None in the Academy knew that Gabriel didn't even know anyone in the academy to that extent, let alone having an enmity. If only the Academy knew that Gabriel just wanted to look into a mirror at this academy this time and they lost their Dean for no reason, it was unknown just how much blood they would've coughed!

Leaving great devastation behind, Gabriel had left the City. However, he didn't directly leave. After he left Yael and Avilia, he hadn't left the Academy. Instead, he had gone to their storage!

The Academy still didn't know that all their Spirit Stones were once again robbed. Only a single spirit stone was left behind in the storage!

By the time the Head Teachers found out, Gabriel had already gone far away!

Gabriel travelled all alone this time. He was somewhat missing travelling on a summoned Eagle since that was easier and more comfortable. Sitting on the eagle, he could also train without having to focus on the other things.

Unfortunately, Avilia was with Yael and he didn't want to wait for her to get rid of Yael. He was already in a hurry!

After training in the tower, his spells of Light had improved once again. He also managed to increase his flight speed, which wasn't much lower than the speed of Avilia's eagle now.

? ? ? ? ? ?-?.?

Gabriel flew all alone in the sky during the day, only resting at night in the small cities that he could find. As far as the money was concerned, he didn't lack any either!

On his journey, he also saw many other people who were travelling in the same direction as him. Most of the people were Royals from various Empires! The Empires which were wealthy enough used Spirit Beasts to take their heirs to the Tomb. As for the less wealthy ones, they used luxurious carriages!

One thing was certain! All these heirs were doted by their families! There was not a single heir of any Empire who wasn't escorted by a powerful mage from their Empire!

The escorting mages weren't as strong as the Head Priests, but they were much stronger than the ordinary Priests!

It was the second night of Gabriel's journey when he landed in the city to spend the night there.

After finding a good hotel, he went straight inside and placed a spirit crystal on the table of the receptionist.

"I'll take a room for the night."

The receptionist looked at the spirit stone. His eyes lit up! The man before him was certainly wealthy! A spirit stone was enough for a person to spend ten days in that hotel after all!

"Young Sir, you're really lucky. We only have one room left here. You're just in time!" The receptionist turned around but just as he was about to pick the key, there were many shocked exclamations in the hall.

"The Royal Family of Yann is here!"

The loud announcement stunned many people in the hotel. Even the receptionist stopped paying attention to Gabriel while still holding the key in his hand. He looked toward the door.

Amongst the existing Empires, Yann Empire was in the top five when it came to strength. It couldn't be compared to smaller Empires at all, which was also why more attention was paid to them.

Despite so many Royals passing through this town and staying here, the news about the Yann Empire's arrival was still shocking.

The receptionist rushed out from behind the counter and ran to the door to greet the Nobles. For him, even though Gabriel was rich, he wasn't a Royal since he wasn't accompanied by an entourage. Accompanying the Yann Empire guests was more important!

Not long after the announcement, two youngsters entered the hotel. One of the two was a young man in his late twenties while the other was a young woman who was much younger.

undefinedThe two youngsters were dressed in noble attire and were accompanied by multiple guards. Most of their guards were high tier mages. It was hard for even strong Empires to dispatch so many high tier mages to accompany the youngsters. However, for some reason, Yann didn't hesitate.

"The man in the lead, isn't that the Crown Prince of Yann? Even he, the future Emperor, came? Incredible!"

"Look next to him, that's Princess Xin, his younger sister! She's just as beautiful as the rumors stated!"

"Shhh, are you looking to die?! If their guards heard you, you would die!"

Many people in the hall had already started gossiping as soon as they saw the arrival of two new guests. Thanks to their discussion, Gabriel had some ideas as to who had arrived.

Amongst the two guests, there was one name which he found quite familiar. He turned around, glancing at the two Royals at the entrance who were surrounded by guards.

The Royals hadn't noticed him, but he could see them clearly. Just as he expected, the Princess was none other than the little girl that gave him the key to the tomb to save her life!

"Protect the key and if possible, don't give the key to others this time! You have no idea how much our father had to pay to buy this key for you from the other Empire!" The Prince reminded the young princess, as if he was worried about something.

"Brother, stop talking as if I'm an idiot who goes around giving my precious items to others!" The Princess rolled her eyes. "I already told you what happened! I had no choice but to hand over the key to save my life! I'm lucky that I'm even alive right now!"

The young prince opened his lips to reply but before he could say anything, the Receptionist approached them.

"Welcome Guests. Please tell me how many rooms you need! I'll arrange it right away!"

"Give us seven rooms." The Prince told the receptionist before gesturing to the guards to pay the man.

The leading guard brought out a small bag which was filled with spirit stones and handed it over to the receptionist.

Seeing so many Spirit Stones, the receptionist was amazed. His respect for the Royals increased even more.

He hastily rushed back to the counter and brought out six more keys from the drawer. Adding the six keys with the one he already had in his hand, there were a total of seven!

Gabriel was somewhat surprised. The man had just told him that there was only one room left but in reality, there were seven left at that time? His selling tactics weren't half bad.

The receptionist held the seven keys in his hand but before going back to the Royals again, he handed over one spirit stone back to Gabriel.

"I'm sorry sir but we don't have any rooms left. Please try elsewhere." After placing Gabriel's spirit stone back on the table before him, he rushed out.

"Huh?" The receptionist had just taken a step out when he froze in place. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move a step. It was as if some mysterious force was holding him in his place.

Stunned, he looked around but couldn't understand what was happening! The Royals and the guards were standing before the stairs, waiting for the keys. The other guests were also in the distance! Only Gabriel was near him but even he wasn't looking at him!

? ? ? ? ? ?-?.?

Gabriel's back was toward the man while he stood silently just like before, looking at the single piece of spirit stone on the table.

"What is happening to me? Why can't I move?" The receptionist's heart started beating fast. His entire body was covered in fear. It was clear that some mage was having fun with him!

"Your Majesty!" He called out to the Prince in the distance. It was clear that some mage was messing with him secretly and only the Royals could help him!

Unfortunately, just as he called out to the Royals in the distance, Gabriel raised his hand toward the receptionist.

The mysterious force intensified even more. The receptionist's body flew back toward Gabriel. His neck flew straight into Gabriel's hand, only for him to be thrashed on the table right next to the place where he kept Gabriel's spirit stone.

Gabriel's grip around the man's neck tightened as he looked down at the man. "I don't think I asked you to give me a Spirit Stone."

The receptionist gulped down, feeling extremely scared. He wasn't a mage so he didn't know about the strength of the other people. He never expected Gabriel to be this strong!

Gabriel was busy with the receptionist but the Prince was also getting irritated by the wait for the keys.

"Did that idiot forget to give us a key?" The Prince frowned. He pointed toward one of his powerful guards. "You, get the keys for us. And don't forget to teach that man a lesson for delaying us!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The Guard left swiftly.

"The people of this town are so stupid. They can't even do one thing right. Making me wait? They're lucky I'm in a good mood today and won't have them killed by my guards!" The Crown Prince sighed. No matter how he spoke, the arrogance in his eyes was impossible to hide!

The Prince closed his eyes, expecting to hear the cries of the receptionist when he was beaten by his guards for delaying them. However, something strange happened!

The Prince felt a sudden gust of wind flash past him.

Thud~

The next second, he heard a loud noise which forced him to open his eyes.

"Did he go too far and kill the receptionist?" The Prince opened his eyes and looked behind him, expecting it to be the receptionist who was thrashed.

Unfortunately,as soon as he looked back, his eyes widened! The wall behind him was broken and it was his guard who was lying in the rubble, bleeding from all his orifices!

The Prince was stunned and so was the Princess and the other guards. Even though the guard that the Crown Prince sent wasn't the strongest in the group, he was still strong enough to deal with people in this small town!

For someone to not only attack him but to defeat him so badly, it was clear that the person wasn't a resident of this town. As there were so many Royal Families in this town at the moment, the Crown Prince's first assumption was that it was the work of the guards of some other Empire!

"For another Empire to dare attack my people?!" The Prince roared. "Who dares?!"

"Does it matter who dares? We just have to kill them all! Let their Empire know what happens when you mess with us!" Princess Xin exclaimed, just as angry as the Prince. For their people to be attacked like that, it was insulting!

All the guards who had surrounded the Prince and the Princess to protect them were forced to move aside by the Prince.

undefined"Let me see which bastard is so courageous!" The Prince exclaimed, looking straight ahead.

Strangely enough, there wasn't any big group in the hall. It was hard to associate anyone else in this hall with the Royals...

"That man!" The Princess pointed ahead, noticing Gabriel in the distance whose back was facing her! She could also see that the man was holding the receptionist by his neck! It was clear that the man had something to do with what happened!

"It must be him!" The Princess exclaimed. "All of you, go and teach him a lesson!'

Princess Xin had already suffered a defeat last time in a small village. She was already extremely embarrassed because of that. However, she didn't take it too seriously since that defeat was at the hands of the dark mages. But to think that even strangers in this small town dared to do such a thing?

"You! Kneel down before His Majesty!" All the Guards stepped forward. They were all ready to attack Gabriel at the same time.

Gabriel tossed the receptionist aside before turning around. A strange smile was on his lips which for some reason made everyone in the hall feel as if something was wrong.

"You want me to kneel down before you?" Gabriel asked, turning around and revealing his face.

Most people didn't think much of his face other than understanding that the man looked quite handsome but that was it.

"Young Man, kneel down! Don't offend the Royals! Keeping your life is more important!'

"That's right! It's not the time to be arrogant!"

The nearby spectators also couldn't stay out of it as they all started telling Gabriel to kneel down. It was unclear if they were telling it because they actually wanted Gabriel to save his life, or because they were just trying to be on the good side of the Royals.

"The kid looks so weak! How can he defeat one of us?!" One of the guards exclaimed. "He must've used some sneak attack! What a vile man!"

Since the guard who was trashed by Gabriel was already Unconscious, he couldn't tell the others what actually happened. Moreover, everyone happened so fast that the others didn't even see anything until they heard the thrashing sound.

Most of the people believed Gabriel used a sneak attack since he didn't look any older than twenty. There was no way for Gabriel to be as strong as a Royal Guard.

Even the Crown Prince was looking down at Gabriel.

"And here I thought there was some powerful mage who wanted to go against us," the Prince exclaimed in disappointment. "It's just a little boy using vile tricks to show off.'

"All of you, since he doesn't know how to kneel and ask for forgiveness, break his legs and make him kneel." The Prince commanded his men.

Since the Prince and the others were so focused on Gabriel in the distance, they didn't notice the weird expression of Princess Xin. The Princess was covered in sweat as if she was remembering something really tragic.

The same kind of fear that she felt last time once again engulfed her as if she was back into the moment where her entire army was wiped in one attack and her own life was on the line! The man before her... He was him!

The Princess' face was already pale. She opened her lips multiple times to stop her men, but no words came out of her mouth, as if she had already lost her voice in fear.

Her heart was thumping the more she looked at Gabriel. There were many thoughts in her mind! She knew she couldn't tell the others that Gabriel was the same dark mage who had destroyed their entire army! She didn't know how Gabriel was going to react to that after all!

If Gabriel didn't want others to know that he was a dark mage and she told them, she believed he was going to kill them all to keep a secret! However, if she didn't do anything and her men attacked him, they were going to be killed as well! In both options, they were going to die!

Her mind was so chaotic that she couldn't think of anything at all. She couldn't come up with any ideas to stop her men. It was as if her mind was in short circuit at the moment.

She saw her men about to attack Gabriel. There was no time and since she couldn't speak, she could only take some actions of her own to stop her men from attacking!

Through normal means, she couldn't stop her brother from attacking! The guards also listened to her brother and not her. To stop them from attacking, she saw only one option.

She rushed out, running straight to Gabriel.

The guards who were just about to attack to break Gabriel's legs stopped abruptly, scared that if they attacked, they might accidentally hurt Gabriel.

"What are you doing?" Even the Crown Prince was stunned.

It was the same for Gabriel who saw the Princess running toward him. He was clear that the Princess wasn't going to attack him. She knew better than to be so stupid. However he didn't understand why she was running to him.

Before he could think of a reason, the Princess stopped before Gabriel. She stood before Gabriel, facing her brother.

"No one is allowed to attack him!" She exclaimed, stretching her arms. Finally she had managed to regain her voice.

"Why? Do you know him?" The Prince frowned. "Even if it's the case, it doesn't matter! This isn't a playground. It doesn't matter if you know him. Even if he's your friend, he attacked our people! But for your sake, I won't kill him! I'll just have his legs broken and then he'll be healed later!"

The Prince didn't care even if Gabriel was a friend of Xin. It was about the reputation of the Royals after all.

The Princess felt so angry. She was trying to save her brother and the others but they were still being so stupid. She clenched her fist. If being friends wasn't enough, she came up with a new way to stop her brother!

? ? ? ? ? ?-?.?

"He's my boyfriend!" She exclaimed, but even having the slightest bit of embarrassment in her face.

If a friend wasn't enough to save Gabriel, she just had to show a stronger relationship to sway her brother. No matter how arrogant and short sighted her brother was, there was no way he could attack the person she was in love with! She knew her brother well enough!

"Xin, stop joking to save your friend. It's impossible for you to have a lover and not tell me!" The Crown Prince exclaimed, seeing right through.

Xin bit her lower lip. Her mind was already short circuit since she could already imagine the scene where her brother and everyone in the hall was dead! No matter what, she had to stop her brother without revealing Gabriel's true identity! She had to convince him!

She turned to Gabriel. Her brother definitely wasn't going to believe her words at this time. Even though she knew she was being stupid, for the sake of her family and the others, she didn't think too much.

She moved closer to Gabriel who was still confused as to what the woman was trying to do. Was she really stupid? Since when did he become her boyfriend? Did she lose her mind after his last interaction with her? There were so many questions in his mind.

"Sorry." While Gabriel was still lost in his thoughts, trying to make sense of the situation, he smelled a sweet fragrance as the woman came even closer to him.

Everyone who was present there had their eyes wide open as they saw what happened next. The Princess' lips were touching Gabriel's lips.

Even the Crown Prince couldn't believe his own eyes. He could only scratch his temple, wondering if she was telling the truth. There was no way she was going to kiss a friend just to save someone after all.

Everyone in the hall saw the Princess kiss Gabriel out of nowhere. However, none knew the truth.

Princess Xin suddenly rushed forward to kiss Gabriel only to find her body frozen in place as her lips were about to touch Gabriel's. It was as if some mysterious force was holding her in her place, making her unable to do anything.

From the back, it indeed looked as if the Princess was embracing and kissing Gabriel but only she and Gabriel knew the truth.

Gabriel didn't let Xin come close to him without taking precautions. He had already placed some safety mechanisms in place to prevent any sneak attacks.

The Princess' lips were so close to Gabriel that he could even feel her warm breath on his face.

undefined"What do you think you're doing?" Gabriel asked with a heavy frown.

"Trying to prevent a battle." Xin couldn't move her body yet she could at least speak.

It didn't matter how scared she was of Gabriel or how amazed she was at his unique abilities. Since she had already taken this step to prevent the battle, she had no other choice.

Gabriel didn't understand what she meant. How did her attempt to kiss her save a battle? If she really wanted to save her brother, there were way better methods.

"I don't need you to stop battles for me." Gabriel took a step back. Xin was free from the restriction and she was allowed to move.

? ? ? ? ? ?-?.?

To the others, it instead looked as if the two were finally done with their long kiss and were finally stopping their public display of affection.

"That man, no wonder he wasn't scared of the Royal Guards. He already made the Princess fall for him!"

"What a lucky man!"

Some spectators were praising Gabriel's luck since he was in a relationship with the Princess while the others were jealous of him.

Gabriel didn't care what others thought. He didn't need the support of a Princess to achieve his goals. He already had an Empire of his own after all? What Prince? What Princess? He was the Emperor!

He picked up one of the seven keys on the table, leaving the six keys for the others before leaving.

The Princess remained behind, not knowing what to do next. She had just pretended that Gabriel was her boyfriend and the man left without any reaction. If the truth was out, her brother was definitely going to find him!

"Cough, look what you did! You made him so angry that he doesn't even want to talk to me!" The Princess was riding a tiger and now she had to keep that play up. She couldn't tell the others the truth until she was back in Yann.

She explained the ignorance of Gabriel as him being angry with her because of her brother and the ones who attacked him.

The Prince was standing in his place. His jaws were dropped and he didn't even know how to react.

'Wasn't she also the one who asked the guards to beat the man up before realizing who he was? Now she's blaming me? What did I even do?' The Crown Prince could only scratch the back of his hand.

No matter how fierce or arrogant he was, it was also true that he doted on his sister for the most part. If she truly loved the man, he wasn't going to make her upset.

He walked closer to his sister and patted her head lightly. "Don't worry. No one can stay angry with my cute little sister. I'll apologize to him. Come."

"Argh." The Princess didn't know what to do. Gabriel had finally left. There was no need to approach that calamity again! Unfortunately she couldn't tell her brother that. "T-there's no need. He's a little shy! I'll talk to him myself. Just stay out of it and don't get close to him. I'll bring him to you myself when he's ready."

Gabriel was already in his room, having no idea that he was already made out to be a shy man who was the future son in law of the Yann Empire.

He closed the door of his room from inside and straight went for a shower. It was already late at night and he wanted to sleep after the shower and leave early in the morning.

"Go ahead. What are you waiting for?"

The Prince stood near Gabriel's room, poking the shoulders of his sister, telling her to knock.

Even as the Princess tried to convince him that Gabriel was shy, the Prince didn't let her do as she pleased. He also wanted to meet with his future brother in law and brought Xin with him to introduce the two.

"Don't worry. I'm sure he won't be upset. Who can stay angry with my cute little sister for long?" The Prince further motivated Xin.

At the moment, only the two of them were there to show their sincerity. The Crown Prince had already left their guards behind in the distance.

Xin's heart was racing. In her eyes, Gabriel was a ruthless dark mage who could kill without blinking an eye. What if she accidentally annoyed him by coming here and she was killed along with her brother?

Unfortunately, there was no way out. She couldn't tell her brother that she was lying before. If that happened, she knew her brother was going to make things even harder for Gabriel.

Seeing his sister still hesitate, the Crown Prince took the lead himself and knocked on the door before stepping back and pushing his sister ahead. "No need to thank me."

The Princess felt her face turn red in anger. What thanks? She was instead cursing her brother for being so dense. She wanted to run from there but couldn't.

Gabriel was still in the shower when he heard the knocking on the door. He ignored the knock for the first time, but when there was a second knock, he decided to check who it was.

He stepped out of the shower and donned his clothes before opening the door.

Opening the door, Gabriel noticed a young man and a young woman standing outside.

"What are you doing here again?"

"W-we..." The Princess initially stuttered but before she could finish her sentence, she froze, noticing Gabriel's expressions change. She grew scared that he was displeased.

She didn't know that she wasn't the reason behind Gabriel's surprise. It was just that Gabriel sensed the same presence and that presence was coming from inside the room.

Frowning, he turned around. When he entered the room, he was all alone, but currently, there was another person in the room. The window was also open now, making it evident that the second person entered through the window.

Gabriel left the Princess at the door and walked back to his room.

"Well, he's quite an odd one," the Crown Prince smiled wryly seeing Gabriel's bizarre behaviour but he didn't think too much. He held his sister's shoulder and entered the room with her.

As Gabriel hadn't closed the door, to them it seemed as if he was telling them to come inside. The Crown Prince just thought that Gabriel was shy like the Prince described.

Gabriel walked back to the room, and found a young lady, lying on the bed lazily.

The lady had a small fruit in her hand which she was eating while lying in bed.

"Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to find you? You ran without even waiting for me," the young lady exclaimed. She was none other than the Holy Priestess of Summoning.

"How can you abandon your poor wife like that?" She sarcastically stated as in the eyes of many people they were husband and wife, even though in reality, they weren't even that close.

"Isn't my wife the one who left me alone at the Church and disappeared, only to come back with an enemy?" Gabriel responded, shaking his head lightly.

"Is my husband angry at me?" Avilia jokingly stated, laughing charmingly. "Anyway, this time I came here to talk to you about that. There's something important that I need to tell you."

Avilia just finished speaking when she noticed that two more people had entered the room, looking at her in a daze, especially the Crown Prince.

"Wife? Husband?" The Crown Prince frowned. "This cheating bastard? He already has a wife yet he made my sister his girlfriend?"

He couldn't believe his eyes. The boy that his sister loved was a cheater?

"Your sister is his girlfriend?" Avilia couldn't help but laugh. She didn't believe this in the slightest but she still found this whole thing interesting.

She stood up and observed the Princess. "It seems my husband really found a beautiful concubine."

"When he told me that he was going to make a harem of hundreds of beautiful ladies, I thought he was coming. Who knew he was being serious and already started."

Gabriel's face twitched uncontrollably. What hundred people harem? What nonsense was she spouting?!

Gabriel knew that Avilia was just messing with him but the Prince took her seriously. Even the Princess' face turned slightly red. The man she thought to be so serious was really a person who wanted hundreds of wives? And he really was after her?

She didn't know why, but she was somewhat happy to think that Gabriel was actually interested in her.

When Gabriel stopped her from kissing him, even though she was relieved that she didn't have to kiss Gabriel, she was also somewhat upset.

? ? ? ? ? ?-?.?

She was considered a beauty matter wherever she went. Despite that, she was completely ignored by Gabriel which made her feel somewhat uncomfortable especially since it was her first time where she was about to kiss someone.

undefinedOther than being a Dark Mage, she couldn't find any flaws in Gabriel after all. He was a beautiful man and attractive enough.

"Y-you lecherous man!" The Prince was so furious that it looked as if he was about to cough out blood. "You were playing with my sister's heart?! I'll kill you!"

The Prince was so angry that without thinking twice, he was about to attack Gabriel. His sister was such a nice person that whoever she married was going to be heaven's chosen!

She also had the Yann Empire's backing! And after all that, the man dared to think of her as a second wife?! And even after all that, he wasn't satisfied and was planning to marry hundreds more?!

"Brother, that's enough!" Xin was really regretting her decision to bring her brother here. Unfortunately, before she could even react, the Prince attacked!

He has had enough! Not only did the man belittled their Empire by attacking his people, but he also insulted his sister? Even if his sister liked the man, he wasn't going to let her marry such a lecherous man!

"That's enough." Gabriel has had enough. He was not in the mood to play around with the two idiots who were instigated by Avilia.

With a single wave of his hand, a mysterious force pushed the Prince back. The Prince's body was flung back, making him fall outside the room.

The guards who were standing in the hallway in the distance were shocked to find their Prince on the ground in the hallway. They rushed straight to their Prince.

"You get out as well. This is my last warning. Whoever enters my room will be killed!" Gabriel also sent the Princess outside before closing the door.

It was only then that he turned to Avilia. "Have you had enough fun? Can you stop playing around?"

"If people don't play around, won't the world become boring?" Avilia chuckled. "Anyway, what's the deal with that stupid man? Did you really fall for his sister?"

"He's just an idiot," Gabriel responded before briefly explaining what happened here.

"So that's how it is. And here I thought you finally fell in love. It seems this poor wife was getting jealous for no reason." Avilia sighed as she laid back on the bed again, feeling somewhat tired after the long journey to find Gabriel.

Because of the thing that happened in the Holy Region of Light, the shadow which she left on Gabriel's trail was destroyed.

After that, she tried to assign a shadow again but for some reason, none of her shadows could get even close to Gabriel as if there was something mysterious about him ever since he came back from the Holy Region which was intimidating even her shadows.

It was because of that, she failed to keep track of Gabriel and had to employ other less effective ways to find him. It took her quite some time and effort but she finally succeeded and was tired now.

"I don't care how much you play around. But your games are starting to affect me. Since you instigated that stupid Prince, you will deal with him. I don't care how you do it. I am not in the mood to kill them."

Gabriel understood that the Prince was somewhat stupid when it came to his sister. He wasn't wrong to be angry either after hearing what he heard.

Even the sister wasn't entirely wrong since she was trying to save her people when she lied. She was just somewhat of an idiot according to Gabriel. There was no malice so no need to be heavy handed.

"There's no need for me to do anything personally." Avilia didn't even get up from the bed. She was a Summoner and she could be lazy all she wanted. She just cast a Summoning Spell using Wordless Chant.

Thanks to the Wordless Chant, Gabriel couldn't hear her spell which also hid the information about what spell she used.

Gabriel only heard some heavy noises coming from outside which didn't last long.

Within a few minutes, all the noises stopped and there was complete silence in the hallway outside.

"There, I dealt with them!" The Holy Priestess exclaimed as she cancelled her spell. "Now, let's get back to the reason I was looking for you. Something big has happened!"

At the same time, on the ground floor, the Prince and the Princess were sitting around a table. Before them, all their guards were sitting on their knees, groaning in pain. There were wounds all over their body as if they were flung around like toys. Fortunately, they weren't heavily injured and were allowed to go down.

Since the Prince and the Princess didn't attack personally, they were the only two people who were unharmed.

"Just what was that beast? He was so strong! Even none of my elite guards could put up resistance." The Prince sat with his arms folded around his chest, lost in deep thoughts. "Xin, are you sure you're not hiding something from me? That man... Just what is his identity for him to not be scared of us and even attack my men?"

"Brother..."

Xin had tried so much to avoid a direct conflict with Gabriel. Even though their men were beaten, she was sure that the beast didn't belong to Gabriel. If Gabriel had taken action, none of them would've been left alive after all. She understood it was the work of the woman next to Gabriel.

However, that made her worried even more. Last time, Gabriel was accompanied by a man who could use black flames and was as strong as a Holy Lord. And this time, he was accompanied by a woman who could use summoning and her strength wasn't any weaker than Raphael.

The more she got to know Gabriel, the more amazed she became! Everyone around Gabriel was extraordinary after all! Was he really just a Dark Mage? Just what was it about him that made her feel as if she was in the presence of God that had the right to look down on all the mortals!

"You're saying that he knows I destroyed the Church of Flames?"

Avilia had informed Gabriel about everything she heard from the Holy Lord of Flames. Amongst those things, what stood out was that the Holy Lord knew about him more than he expected.

"If he knows that much about me, could it be that he knows about Arecia as well?" Gabriel asked. He didn't care about his identity. Sooner or later people were going to know about it anyway. What mattered was the danger it could attract to Arecia if someone finds out about that.

"I'm not sure. He didn't mention it," Avilia answered, shaking her head lightly. "However, it would be wise to assume that he knows about that already. Moreover, he might not be the only one who knows. Sooner or later, it'll be impossible to keep Arecia out of trouble."

undefinedThe more one tried to hide something, the more it came to light. It was clear how risky everything was at the time being. Gabriel didn't like the feeling of being passive. He didn't like the fact that someone had the power that could be used to threaten him.

"What are you going to do next?" Avilia asked. With Gabriel's personality, she genuinely wondered if Gabriel was going to take the fight to the Holy Lord of Wind.

However, she didn't believe that it was going to change anything. The Holy Lord of Wind would've already taken precautions for that. He might've already arranged for the news to leak if something happened to him.

Unless Gabriel could kill all the Holy Lords at the same time, there was no way to stop them from teaming up against him like they did against the Church of Darkness if the news spread out.

Gabriel lied on the bed next to Avilia, closing his eyes. There was a little frown on his face as if he was thinking about something.

Avilia turned to her side and just gazed at Gabriel's flawless face, wondering what the young man could've been thinking.

For some reason, whenever she talked to Gabriel or was with him, she never saw him as a new Holy Lord. The way the young man schemed, the way he took actions, his decisive nature... Everything made her feel as if he was just as experienced as the rest of them if not more.

It was as if it was just Gabriel's inner nature that even he didn't know about. It was also this strange feeling which made her feel closer to Gabriel despite knowing him for only a short time. She really liked his company.

"I don't know how he knows so much, but I really hate the feeling." After a long time, Gabriel finally broke the silence. "If that's the case, I can only stop being passive."

"What are you implying?" Avilia asked, grimacing. Was he actually going to go on the offensive again? Or was it something else?

"The Holy Lord of Wind thinks he got my weakness after finding out everything about me. I won't let that be. I won't let that sword hang over my head," Gabriel replied, slowly opening his eyes and glancing at the charming face of Avilia. "It's time to come out of the shadows."

Avilia could only frown. She still didn't understand what exactly Gabriel was planning to do. However, his next words gave her a clear idea, shocking her!

"You can't be serious!" Avilia exclaimed in shock.

"I'm not in the mood to joke with you," Gabriel lazily responded. "After I'm done exploring the tomb, I will begin..."

"There have been eight Churches in existence for a long time now. It's time for the ninth to appear..." Gabriel stood up, patting his clothes that had formed a crease because of lying down for so long in them.

Avilia wasn't as carefree as Gabriel. She wondered if Gabriel didn't understand the implications behind what he was trying to do, or he was doing it knowing full well. Whatever being the case, she understood that a huge change was in store for everyone!

A Ninth Church... The Church of Necromancy was going to appear in this world, finally coming out of the shadows and into the light?

"When the time comes, you can either join others or side with me. I won't care what you choose."

After reminding Avilia, Gabriel left the room. Even though he could have some food delivered to his room, he was more in the mood to eat outside under the beautiful moonlight.

Usually, Avilia would've followed Gabriel right away, but for now, she was in a daze herself.

Gabriel went down to the ground floor. His attention immediately went into the large group from Yann. All the guards were still tending to their injuries while the two Royals were discussing something.

It wasn't often that Yann suffered such losses but they couldn't do anything about it. The Prince could only inform his father, but he didn't dare.

He didn't want to be scolded by their father. If he tried that, he knew his father was going to call the two of them back and never let them go to the tomb. For now, he could only swallow the insult!

At least the Prince had calmed down now. He was just about to leave this hotel to find a different place, not intending to stay here. Unfortunately, before he could stand up, he saw Gabriel come down the stairs.

For strangers, Gabriel was like a handsome prince who wasn't tainted by mortal sorrows. However, to the Prince, Gabriel was no less than a demon!

He could only look elsewhere, trying to avoid Gabriel's attention.

Gabriel also didn't want to pay attention to the two and left the hotel.

After eating outside, Gabriel returned to the room when it was already midnight.

Avilia was already occupying the bed sleeping comfortably.

Instead of taking the bed, Gabriel just slept on the couch for the night.

The soft chirping of birds with the arrival of morning could be heard even inside the room. Gabriel woke up from his slumber and his still sleepy eyes.

"For a person who is called lecherous by others, you're pretty innocent, aren't you?"

He had barely woken up when he heard the melodious voice of a woman.

"Whose fault do you think that I'm called lecherous by those idiots?" Gabriel sarcastically answered, standing up.

After getting ready, he and Avilia left the hotel together. By the time they left, the Royals of Yann had already left as well.

After one more day of nonstop travel, Gabriel and Avilia finally reached the destination!

"Is this the place?" Gabriel landed on a mountain peak, staring at the valley in the distance.

"That's right. That's the Valley of Death," Avilia answered Gabriel, pointing in the distance. "As far as your eyes can see from this point on, it's the area of the Valley of Death. The Tomb is in the centre of the Valley."

"Usually, there is a powerful formation all over the Valley with thousands of traps that could even kill a Holy Lord if someone tried to force their way inside. However, there is always time when the formation and the traps are their weakest."

"It's that time now. The traps are at their weakest and shouldn't be able to stop people as long as one has the protection of the keys."

Gabriel didn't doubt Avilia's words since he had also heard the same thing from Xin when he received the key. If the valley was still dangerous even with the keys, there was no way the Royal Families would've sent their youngsters to this place.

undefined"Now that the Traps are at their weakest, they shouldn't be able to stop a Holy Lord even without a key, right?" Gabriel asked, trying to understand how the traps actually worked.

"That's right." Avilia nodded. "They aren't as strong as usual so they can't stop a Holy Lord if one was to rush to the center of the Valley. However, that's the extent of it. To enter the Tomb, one still needs the key."

Gabriel understood the essence of how things worked. No matter what, the key was really important.

"That shouldn't be hard for you. You can just snatch the key from one of the idiots and get inside with me."

Since it was the case and he didn't know what was actually inside the tomb, he still felt that it was better to take Avilia with him as long as she could satisfy the criteria for entry.

Avilia rolled her eyes. "No need. I can't enter even if I have the key."

"I see. So you're older than thirty," Gabriel understood what she meant. There were only two criteria to enter the Tomb after all. One was the key and the other was the age!

"Hmph, barely over." Avilia scoffed. "Let me tell you, I'm still one of the youngest Holy Lord."

Gabriel didn't expect her reaction to be so interesting. It looked as if Avilia really didn't like talking about her age. Then again, Gabriel was only eighteen so he understood why Avilia was like that.

He believed that she felt as if she wasn't talented enough to be where she was after all this time while Gabriel reached that level when he wasn't even twenty. He didn't think too much about it.

"Alright. You can go back. I'll go alone. Until I'm back, try to protect Arecia."

After speaking, Gabriel jumped off the mountain. In the valley, no one could fly. However, he could still use other spells.

He used the spells to make his body stronger and as light as a feather before jumping off the cliff.

Thanks to the precautionary spells, he managed to land in the valley safely, despite the fall being over two thousand metres. From there on, he travelled on foot.

Gabriel had expected himself to be one of the first few to reach this valley. However, he was surprised to find many more youngsters along the way.

It was as if the youngsters had started the journey to reach this valley months ago, to be here at this time.

All the youngsters were dressed lavishly and had many life saving treasures that were given to them by their families, including some previous talismans.

As Gabriel wasn't greedy about these small human treasures, he didn't pay any attention to the youngsters and rushed past them.

"That's interesting. The closer I get to the centre of the valley, the heavier this gravity becomes."

After three hours of travel, Gabriel had started to slow down to some extent. At first, he thought the gravity was because of his earrings, but with more time, he realized that there were some external factors involved as well!

The earring was already applying external gravity pressure on his body which was hard enough to deal as it was. However, thanks to the valley, the pressure was even more!

"Without these earrings, it would've been a walk in the park to walk through this valley under the valley's pressure!"

Gabriel was forced to take rest regularly since it was getting more exhausting. Whenever his body was accustomed to increased gravity, the earring increased pressure on his body. It was the same for the valley. No matter what, the pressure was always beyond Gabriel's limit.

Despite all the disadvantages, Gabriel was still able to hold on and tread deeper into the valley.

The journey which should've taken him barely half a day took him entirely three days. The person who was in the lead at the start was now at the end!

Fortunately, after three days, he did manage to reach the centre of the valley, making him the last person to reach here!

Even the Royals from Yann were already there!

Everyone looked at the newcomers who had just come out of the forest. They saw Gabriel covered in sweat all over. Looking at this sight, the youngsters could only laugh amongst themselves.

"What a weakling. He can't even reach this place under such weak pressure without being half dead!"

"Must be an untalented idiot from some lowly Empire!"

"What a waste for him to have a key. He should've given that key to someone who deserved it more!"

There were over fifty youngsters who were already outside the Tomb, waiting for it to open. Amongst them, most were looking at Gabriel mockingly, completely underestimating him.

However, there were three people who didn't take Gabriel lightly at all!

Amongst those three, one was the Crown Prince of Yann while the other was Princess Xin! The two had already seen what Gabriel was capable of! That man was way stronger than all of them combined!

The two didn't understand why Gabriel was covered in sweat because of such weak gravity, but they didn't think too much. They didn't dare mock Gabriel! They had no intentions of courting death!

The third person who didn't mock Gabriel was someone who was standing in the distance. The person was covered in a good, making it impossible to see their face or even their figure. The person didn't speak, but occasionally glanced at Gabriel.

"It doesn't matter how weak he is! If he's weak enough to easily die inside, it can only be good for us since it means less competition! We can even use him like a human shield to check for traps ahead!" One of the youngsters laughed heartily.

Amidst all the mocking and the scheming against him, Gabriel's entire focus remained on the entrance on the entrance of the Tomb before him.

It was his first time coming here, but for some reason, he felt as if he had come here before and not just once. This feeling was very strong and didn't appear as a misconception.

The entrance of the tomb was really strange. It was as if there was just a thick slab of stone standing in the middle of the valley. Behind the stone slab, there was nothing! However, some spatial distortion could be felt coming from the mysterious stone slab which was covered in strange patterns.

Around the stone tablet, there were four stone pillars, each climbing to thousands of metres in height. For most people, it was impossible to even look at the top of these stone pillars.

The four pillars were shining at the moment as a thin stream of energy was being transferred from each of their keys to the stone tablets, as if providing the stone pillars with the energy.

undefinedEven the key that Gabriel held in his hand wasn't different. Unlike the ordinary royals, Gabriel could see the thin stream of energy even more clearly. It was like a single thread of energy but that energy was the purest form of energy.

Gabriel also felt a bit of deathly energy from the thread of energy. It was very subtle and very hard to detect for even the other Holy Lords but as it was his own element, he was more perceptive toward it.

After barely five minutes, the stone pillars stopped absorbing the energy from the key, as if they had had enough.

All the stone pillars started shining brightly, illuminating the entire valley. Even Avilia who was standing in the distant mountain could see four bright towering pillars of light.

"I wonder why this valley was made, and who made it? This isn't something any ordinary person could've made."

Avilia sat at the edge of the cliff with her legs hanging in the air. She didn't enter the valley but she still waited outside for Gabriel.

After the stone pillars started shining, a pathway opened inside the five meter tall stone tablet in the shape of the door.

For the most part, that entrance was like a Spatial Portal that led to the actual tomb.

"You, enter first!" The person who had suggested using Gabriel to test the path ahead commanded him to enter.

"That's right. If there are any traps, let him activate them before we enter!"

"He's so weak, we might as well get some use out of him before he dies!"

More and more people were thinking similarly. At the same time, the Royals of Yann were sweating.

'You idiots, if you want to die, do it yourself! Why are you dragging all of us down with you!' Princess Xin scratched the back of her head.

She decided to help Gabriel out of the situation for their own safety. However, before she could even chime in, Gabriel moved and entered the portal.

"Hahaha, see? The weakling couldn't even talk back to us!" The youngsters laughed. "Let him activate the traps if there are any! We will enter in two minutes!"

Many of the youngsters stayed still, waiting a little but it wasn't the same for all.

Unlike most of the people who were extremely cautious, there were some who weren't.

The person covered in cloak entered the tomb not long after Gabriel, stunning the others present there. That person was considered strong by others after all since that person was the first to come to this place.

With time, the others also started hesitating a little and entered the tomb, worried that the cloaked person might get the treasures if they delayed longer. They could've snatched the treasures from Gabriel, but not from the hooded person.

The Royals of Yann also didn't hesitate to enter.

After coming out of the portal, Gabriel found himself in a dark hallway that was illuminated by some shining white stones along the way.

There weren't many such stones. Only one could be seen every ten meters or so.

"This stone is strange..." Gabriel stepped closer to one of the stones, observing it carefully.

Just as he was about to touch the stone, he heard a shocked exclamation from behind. "That's a Heavenly Stone! We are so lucky!"

Gabriel turned around, noticing the others had also arrived there.

Most of them were staring at the stone with greedy eyes.

"The last few times, the people who came to the tomb were sent to different parts of the tomb. Most of them couldn't even find a single Heavenly Stone! Who knew we would be so lucky as to be led straight to one!"

"What is a Heavenly Stone?" Gabriel asked the people behind him.

The youngsters only scoffed in response and didn't answer, thinking Gabriel wasn't worth knowing. They were also worried that Gabriel was going to get greedy after knowing what it was.

"Little man, take your hands off and step back! That stone isn't something any random person can touch!"

"That's right! What if you made it dirty with your hands or damaged it?!"

"Your death won't be enough to compensate us if you damage it!"

Gabriel was getting more and more irritated with the tone of these youngsters. Initially, he didn't pay attention to them, but they were only getting more frivolous.

Xin noticed Gabriel's expressions. It was the same when he had attacked her brother. She wanted to punch all the youngsters right now!

To calm Gabriel, she came forward with an explanation. "According to the legends, the Heavenly Stones are said to be the stones that were created by gods themselves! While the Spirit Stones that we mages use were created by Demigods and Holy Priests, the Heavenly Stones were the creation of gods themselves!"

"Not only do the Heavenly Stones contain the purest energy of heaven and earth, but it's also more soothing for the training of a mage. Unfortunately, these stones are so rare that it's almost important to find them outside!"

"This stone is also the reason why so many youngsters come to this tomb every time it opens. This is the only place that we know where these stones can be found!"

With Xin's explanation, Gabriel finally had a better idea about these stones.

"No wonder I felt the strange energy fluctuations from this stone which is stronger than an ordinary spirit stone."

Gabriel touched the Heavenly Stone. The energy of the stone felt extremely familiar as well.

"This also partially confirms that this place was indeed made by a God. But why? Just what's the secret behind this tomb? And why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

So far, Gabriel had only heard rumors that this tomb was made by gods, but he was already more or less convinced that this was the truth. Even if it wasn't made by gods, this tomb was still from the Era of Gods!

What was still unclear was why someone made this place? He didn't believe that this place was made to give these Heavenly Stones to the youngsters. The stones weren't to be used as a gift. However, the stones didn't appear to be for decoration either.

He had a feeling that these Heavenly Stones had something to do with the reason this tomb was made. He just didn't know how the two things were linked.

"I need to go deeper to find out..."

He left the Heavenly Stone behind and didn't take it. Instead, he went deeper into the tomb, leaving the others and the Heavenly Stone behind.

undefined"Is that guy really an idiot? Not only did he not take the Heavenly Stone but he also went deeper inside the Tomb out of his own volition? We didn't even have to force him!"

The Royals who came to this tomb were quite amazed. They had already started considering Gabriel a big idiot.

At the same time, the Royals from Yann were different. They didn't know why Gabriel didn't take the Heavenly Stone but they had a feeling that there was a reason behind it.

That's why they didn't rush ahead. They stayed behind, waiting for others to take the stone first, just so they could verify if something was wrong.

Now that Gabriel was gone, the battle for the Heavenly Stone intensified between the youngsters. All of them rushed to the Heavenly Stone to take it first.

Only three people didn't join them. The cloaked person entered deeper into the tomb, ignoring the stones as well. The Royals from Yann just stayed behind for now.

"I got it first! It's mine!" After a long struggle, one of the Royals finally managed to place his hand on the Heavenly Stone.

The other Royals weren't content. They weren't willing to give in even a single Heavenly Stone due to their greed. However, as they were about to attack the Royal from the Dustia Empire, they froze in place.

Their faces turned pale, noticing a huge formation circle appearing around the Heavenly Stone.

There wasn't just a single formation circle! More and more appeared around the wall.

The youngsters felt as if something was wrong. They wanted to retreat while wondering why this formation circle didn't activate when Gabriel touched the stone! Unfortunately, it was too late to retreat now!

More than half the Royals who were closest to the formation circles and the Heavenly Stone felt their legs and hands freeze. They watched their skin decay with their own eyes as if their life was being sucked right before their eyes!

Their pleading eyes were begging the Royals who were still in the back and safe to save them! Unfortunately, no one dared to get closer at all.

The ones who were caught in the trap felt their skin and bones decay until they were nothing more than dust! Even their spirits were sucked by the formation, to be damned for an eternity.

The other Royals who were in the back sucked in a cold breath of air, feeling a chill run down their spine!

Over the years, many youngsters had entered the Tomb. Some of them even faced traps and died, but most of these traps were easy to avoid if one retreated! But this current trap, it was much scarier and almost impossible to avoid!

"The traps are scarier here... Did something change in the tomb compared to the last few times?"

"Or are we near the core of the tomb this time? Only that could explain why traps are scarier here?!"

Many Royals had many theories, but what had the highest possibility was that they were in the danger zone of the tomb... Unlike the past where most of the Royals appeared on the outer edge of the tomb, this time, they were taken near the core for some reason. They just didn't understand why!

They also had another question in their heads. Why were the traps only activated when one of them touched the stones? Why didn't it happen when Gabriel touched it? Why did Gabriel leave the stone behind? Did he know about the trap in advance? How did he know about the tomb traps so much? There were many questions in their heads but none of them even dared to take a step forward.

They were already so scared that they had lost all their courage. They didn't dare go deeper. If anything, they decided to walk away from the core and only try to take the Heavenly Stones once they were sure that they were near the outer edge!

Even though the Royals from Yann knew that Gabriel was special and had the potential to reach the core, they didn't dare to accompany him. They weren't his friends for him to help them after all.

They only sighed, looking in the direction that Gabriel went in before turning around. The Royals were greedy but they weren't stupid to that extent! Even though they understood that the core might have a precious treasure, they couldn't take it!

Not all royals had good thoughts though.

'So what if he knows how to avoid traps and take treasure? He's still a weakling who couldn't even reach the time without being half dead! If he can really find the treasure and leave the tomb alive, it still won't be too late to snatch the treasure from him!'

'Hahaha, I'll let that idiot do all the hard work and take the treasure from him when we leave this place! The treasure of this tomb can only be mine!'

There were many people who had already started coveting the imaginary treasure.

Unaware about the intentions of the outsiders, Gabriel went deeper and deeper into the tomb. The tomb was said to have thousands of traps to prevent people from reaching the core. However, none of those traps activated! For Gabriel, it was no different than a walk in the park.

He didn't even know that there were supposed to be traps here! He hadn't seen any after all.

After walking for close to ninety minutes, Gabriel finally reached the end of what appeared like a maze. He didn't know why there was a maze in between, but he managed to get out easily without losing his way even once.

He didn't realize that he was probably the only person in this tomb currently who could've had such a smooth journey!

After getting out of the maze, Gabriel found himself in another hallway which was even wider! At the end of the hallway, there was a majestic door which was made from a similar stone tablet that he saw at the entrance!

The walls in the hallway were slightly different from what he saw before as they were all covered in a mysterious pattern. He didn't understand what those patterns implied, but he felt them quite soothing.

He also felt as if the patterns were really beautiful. For others, they must just be random strokes on the wall, but for some reason, Gabriel felt as if they were a work of art!

Gabriel observed the patterns on the walls that appeared to be unbreakable as he walked closer to the door on the other end.

He reached the dark door and placed his hands on the wall, pushing it toward the inside.

The door looked heavy, but it easily opened with an ordinary push from Gabriel.

Gabriel walked to the other side of the door, however as soon as he entered, his expressions changed. For the first time inside the tomb, Gabriel felt shocked, losing his composure. For a moment, it was as if he froze in place.

'This can't be...'

The majestic room was filled with an oppressive power that was enough to kill an ordinary person before they could even take a single step inside the room.

Thousands of black shackles were coming out of the wall, filled with heavenly laws. All those shackles had only one purpose! Those mysterious shackles were keeping someone imprisoned in the middle of the room.

If one was to see just how much precaution was taken to keep one person suppressed, even a Holy Lord would've been shocked!

'This place...' When Gabriel entered the tomb, he had no idea what this tomb was going to be. However, he never expected to see what he saw! The tomb... It wasn't a tomb at all! Instead, it was a Prison!

That also made sense as to why it was so hard to get to the tomb inside the valley even for a Holy Lord! It was because the owner of the tomb didn't want anyone to reach this place!

undefinedGabriel still didn't understand where these keys came from if the creator of the tomb didn't want anyone to come to this place, but there was no way for him to find an answer.

The person who was suppressed in the core of the tomb was clearly a woman. Her face was already pale. Her hair was a beautiful shade of silver but since her head was lower in weakness, Gabriel couldn't see her face!

Despite being unable to see her face, for some reason, Gabriel felt as if that person's figure was familiar.

The person was dressed in a green gown which was torn at places as if the woman had furiously fought with everything on the line before being caught and trapped here!

The clothes were still covered in blood but Gabriel couldn't see any wounds. It was as if despite the suppression of this place, all the wounds of the woman had healed!

"Here to try killing me again? Even if it's you, you can't kill me, no matter how many times you try." The woman's weak voice echoed in the room. Her voice was weak yet it was filled with anger and hatred. For some reason, there was a bit of longing and sadness hidden in her voice as well.

She didn't even open her eyes but the way she talked, it was as if she thought Gabriel was someone she knew.

"Who are you?" Gabriel asked. Now that the woman already knew he was here, there was no need to hide! Moreover, the woman was suppressed so he didn't feel much danger.

The woman slowly raised her head, revealing her pale yet beautiful face. It took her some effort to even open her eyes in a weak condition like that.

As soon as Gabriel saw her face, he was even more shocked. The beautiful green eyes of the woman and that familiar face... He could never forget it! He had seen that face in one of his dreams before! The only difference was the colour of the hair! The one he saw in his dream didn't have silver hair!

Shocked, Gabriel hastily looked toward the hand of the woman to see if she really was the same person.

On the back of the woman's hand, Gabriel saw a beautiful green mark... The Mark of Nature. And it wasn't just any ordinary Mark that could be inherited by a Holy Priest!

"Goddess of Nature?" Gabriel asked, unable to believe himself that the woman before her was the Goddess of Nature!

'Why is she imprisoned here? Who could be strong enough to imprison her here for thousands of years? And why?'

There were many questions in Gabriel's head. He didn't know the Goddess of Nature well enough outside of that one dream! In his dream, he had even interacted with the Goddess of Nature!

'If I remember correctly, that dream was more like the past of Karyk! She and Karyk were friends, however, her brother had attacked and insulted Karyk's family in his arrogance, because of which he killed her brother!'

' It was only when she attacked Karyk that the dream was broken! I don't know what happened after that, but could it be that what I see is the outcome of that battle?'

'Could it be that this prison... It was made by Karyk to imprison the Goddess of Nature after that battle?! Then the Heavenly Stones... They were also created by Karyk? As for the purpose of those Heavenly Stones... Is it to supply energy to the suppressing chains in this room?'

'This whole mess is deeper than I expected. I can't even be sure of my own assumption. The Heavenly Stones have been taken by the Royals throughout the years. Doesn't that mean the suppression here has been weakening year by year?!'

'The person who spread the news of the treasure in this place... The person who spread these keys of entrance... Is it someone who wants to free this woman from prison?'

'This woman... If my assumption is correct and she was trapped by Karyk, won't she hate me to her bones because I inherited his element? If she gets free, won't I be the first person she kills?!'

While Gabriel was observing the woman, the silver haired woman was also looking back at him. Her beautiful green eyes that used to be full of life in the dream that Gabriel saw were now lifeless.

"Do you think these chains will be able to hold me back for an eternity?" The woman weakly asked as a tinge of hate flashed in her eyes. "The day I get free from here... I will bring hell to you."

Gabriel didn't know how long these chains could hold her back, but he didn't want to find out. If possible, he wanted the chains to last for an eternity as he didn't want to face a goddess that even Karyk could only trap and not kill!

"I have no enmity with you." Gabriel responded to the woman. For him, it was his first time meeting the woman in real life. "If you take a Heavenly Oath to never hurt me, I might think about freeing you!"

He didn't know how these chains worked or how to strengthen them. Since that was the case, he really preferred to come to a compromise which could maintain his safety.

For him, Karyk was dead. So there was no need for the woman to get revenge. As long as she took the oath to not hurt him, there was no need for him to keep her trapped.

The Goddess of Nature stared at Gabriel but didn't respond right away.

"After suffering for thousands of years, you want me to forget my hatred for you in exchange for freedom?" She asked after a long time. "You want a Heavenly Oath? I'll give you a Heavenly Oath!"

Gabriel had a really bad premonition. He didn't want her to take an oath anymore. Unfortunately, before he could speak, the woman took the initiative!

"With Heaven as my Witness, I take the blood oath that I will kill you!" The woman's cold voice made the entire tomb tremble.

The mythical black chains felt the trembling and used even more strength to suppress the Goddess of Nature.

The Goddess of Nature felt extreme pain throughout her entire body yet she didn't reveal any painful expression before Gabriel, as if she didn't want to show any weakness to the man she hated the most in this world!

'Such a vicious oath... It looks like she hates Karyk so much that you're not even willing to let an inheritor live... This woman...'

Gabriel could do nothing in a situation like this. He could only hope that the woman was going to be trapped here for at least the next hundred years, allowing him to become strong enough to protect himself from any calamity!

In the end, he could only shake his head and turn around. This tomb... It wasn't a treasure trove. It was the bringer of a calamity and he had to stop the other youngsters from taking Heavenly Stones and weakening chains!

"The next time I see you will be the day I come for your life!" Hearing footsteps becoming distant, the woman weakly spoke.

"I'll wait for that day," Gabriel's response came from the distance and the place returned to silence once again…

Gabriel felt a little headache. If possible, he wanted to kill the Goddess of Nature to avoid any future trouble. Unfortunately, it was impossible for him to kill her. Even Karyk couldn't do so in the past after all.

All he could do for now was to prevent her from escaping.

He just came here because the mirror told him that he was going to find a way to recover the secret hidden in the Garden of Legacy from this place. Not only did he not find any such treasure that could help him, but he instead found a woman who crazily hated him!

"What a loss." He shook his head in frustration. "Could it be that the mirror fooled me?"

Gabriel walked back in the same direction where he came from, trying to find the other youngsters to stop them and to take them outside.

undefinedUnfortunately, even as he walked back through the same route, he couldn't find them.

"They aren't here? Could it be that they walked in the opposite direction?"

After searching the outer zone of the tomb for close to seven hours, Gabriel finally found the group of youngsters. Along the way, he had seen around fifteen dead bodies. They belonged to the people who had been killed in the traps along the way.

Other than the ones who were dead, the rest were all alive. The Royals from Yann were alive as well.

"It's him! He's back!" One of the youngsters exclaimed, noticing Gabriel in the distance.

"That little idiot is still alive! He must've received the treasure at the core region! That's why he came back!"

"Core treasure, if I can get it, won't my Empire become the strongest? It's a place that can even hold back the Holy Lords after all!"

The people who were only dreaming of taking back the Heavenly Stones until now found their new goal as soon as they saw Gabriel! Their eyes shone with greed! Going through all the hardships to get a treasure was good, but what was even better was to just snatch the treasure without any hardship!

"He's just lucky to avoid traps! But so what? Without strength, the treasure will only be a waste in his hands!"

Gabriel was still thinking about the Goddess of Nature and wasn't in the mood to enjoy his surroundings. If that wasn't the case, he would've found their response quote shameless and amusing.

"Hahaha, yes!" The strongest Royal Heir in the group was none other than Crown Prince Asten from the Lumen Empire!

Throughout the dangerous journey with so many deaths, he had also become the leader of this small group, thanks to his talent of avoiding some weaker traps!

Asten was also the one who wanted the treasure of Gabriel the most. "Young man, sometimes a treasure can bring a great calamity to a person. If you leave this place with the treasure, you might attract the attention of bad people outside!"

"Let alone enjoying the treasure, you might even lose your life!" he told Gabriel. "How about this? You give that treasure to me and I'll protect it for you! When everything calms down, you can come to the Lumen Empire and I'll return it to you? Isn't that a great deal for you?"

Gabriel didn't answer Asten. In his eyes, Asten was the biggest idiot here. If anything, the Crown Prince of Yann was a better person to talk to.

He counted all the people who were here as well as the dead bodies he had seen along the way.

"That's strange. One person is missing... Did I miss a dead body? Or was the body destroyed by some trap? Strange..."

Gabriel was still trying to think. However, Asten was getting impatient. Not only did Gabriel not give him the treasure, but he also ignored him?

"Are you looking down on me?" Asten roared, bringing Gabriel out of his daze. "Since you don't want to appreciate my kindness, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

Gabriel stopped thinking about the missing person. Since he hadn't seen that person along the way, that meant the person was either dead or already left. There was no danger anymore.

He just had to take these people back. But before that, he had to convince these Royals who looked down on everyone!

"Don't worry. I won't blame you for being ruthless." Gabriel told Asten. "I hope you extend the same courtesy to me when I start getting ruthless."

"Hahahaha... You really know how to talk big!" Asten burst into laughter as a trace of killing intent flashed in his eyes. However, his laughter abruptly stopped as the trace of killing intent in his eyes disappeared, turning into pure fear!

He only saw a blinding light flash before his eyes. He couldn't even react! Everything happened so fast!

The entire world turned upside down for him as a thin blood red line spread across his throat.

Asten froze in place, deathly still.

The next second, Gabriel appeared before Asten.

"Don't blame me for being ruthless..." Gabriel repeated as he lightly touched the forehead of Asten, giving it a gentle push.

Asten couldn't even speak as his head rolled back, falling into the ground while his body was still standing.

A few seconds later, his body also followed, falling next to Asten's head!

All the Royals who were clamouring in the past for Gabriel to hand over their weapon were now frozen still as chill ran down their spines. They never expected Gabriel to be this strong! They didn't even see how Gabriel did it, but Asten was already dead! It was as if everything happened in an instant!

The Crown Prince of Yann was also scared out of his wits. He knew Gabriel was strong, but even he hadn't expected him to be this strong and ruthless! Finally he understood why his sister had lied to him to stop him from attacking Gabriel last time!

If he had known it in the past, even in his dreams he wouldn't have rushed inside Gabriel's room!

"I don't care what you came here to do. However, it's time for you all to leave!" Gabriel declared. "I'll count to three and whoever stays behind will be killed by me!"

Normally, the Royals wouldn't have listened to him. However, seeing what he was capable of, they didn't dare to stay behind. All of them brought their keys out and applied some of their spirit energies to the keys!

One after another, all of them were sent out except the people who were already dead!

After making sure that everyone had left, Gabriel sighed in relief. He did the same and left this place. There was nothing more to do here.

Gabriel left the Tomb but even he didn't expect that he was right about missing one person! And the person he missed was neither dead, nor did that person leave!

Only after Gabriel left the tomb did the cloaked figure finally come out of hiding.

The person rushed through the hallways, destroying all the Heavenly Stones along the way while also avoiding the traps! That strength wasn't something an ordinary mage could possess either. This time, no one could stop that person as the suppression of the tomb kept getting weaker!

Inside the suppression room, the chained woman raised her head. She could feel that the strength of these chains was getting weaker...

Ten minutes passed and the suppression was at its weakest. The Goddess of Nature felt as if her strength was finally returning to her body now that the chains couldn't suppress her. Unfortunately, it was still impossible for her to break the chains for now.

[Creak]

While the Goddess of Nature was thinking about how to break the chains and free herself, the doors opened.

She heard footsteps as someone stepped inside the room.

"It's time for you to be free…"

"It's time for you to be free..." The words were simple yet meaningful.

Even though the one who spoke didn't reveal their face, but from the voice, it was clearly a woman.

The Goddess of Nature raised her head. "Who are you? And how did you get here?"

After the Goddess of Nature looked carefully at the person before her, even she failed to see through the cloak. "Cloak of Yehua? It's not something that everyone can use... No wonder you were able to hide from his perception and reach here."

"Who are you?" She asked again.

undefinedThe cloaked woman didn't answer right away. She removed her hood, revealing her face. However, the Goddess of Nature was still confused as she had never seen that woman before.

The woman was clearly younger than thirty. Although she was strong, but not strong enough to be able to stand against a Holy Lord. Despite that, there was something quite different about her.

The Goddess of Nature was quite intrigued. When the woman took off the cloak, the Goddess of Nature was able to sense something that she couldn't before. It was a trace of a familiar aura!

"You... You inherited his legacy? Hah, he helped Karyk create this prison for me and his inheritor came to free me?" The Goddess of Nature appeared slightly upset. For thousands of years, no one came here and today, two people came one after another?

"You didn't tell me you were behind this prison?" The young woman frowned. As she spoke, she wasn't looking at the Goddess of Nature. Instead, it appeared more as if she was talking to herself. "If that's the case, won't she hate us? Isn't it a bad idea to free her?"

"Do you think I wanted to come here? Even I don't want to take the risk of freeing this demoness! She hates me after all!" A voice echoed in the head of the woman. "However, whose fault is it that you lost the chance of getting the Ancestral Staff? Without that, we can't achieve anything! I have no choice but to take this risk!"

"Whose fault is it that we lose the Ancestral Staff? Isn't that your fault? You told me to approach Gabriel and have him work for us!" The woman yelled in anger.

She couldn't believe that she was being blamed for it after she was already injured because of it!

If Gabriel was here, he would've been surprised as well to see who this person was! He had already met this person a few times and even travelled together!

The woman who rushed inside the Tomb this time was none other than the woman who had first approached Gabriel with the idea of robbing the Academy! She was the Holy Priestess of Darkness, Lira!

When she came here, she didn't expect Gabriel to come as well. As soon as she saw Gabriel outside the tomb, she was slightly worried, wondering if Gabriel somehow found out about their plan!

Fortunately, she soon realized that it was a coincidence for Gabriel to be here. Thanks to the cloak, she managed to hide her presence and wait for Gabriel to leave before taking action, just to be safe!

However, even as she did all that, she had no idea that the one who told him to come here had a hand in the creation of this Tomb as well!

The Goddess of Nature was slightly surprised to see Lira talk to herself. It didn't appear as if the woman was crazy.

"Could it be...?" The Goddess of Nature frowned as she thought of something. Her eyes shone with beautiful golden light.

Not only did her vision improve with the golden light, but it also allowed her to see through what others couldn't! Now that the suppression was weaker, she was allowed to use some of her abilities already.

"It's you!" The Goddess of Nature roared, seeing a small fragment of an injured soul hidden inside the woman. No wonder she was talking to herself! It wasn't that she was talking to herself but more as if she was talking to that soul fragment which was hiding inside her to heal itself!

She was so angry that she wanted to break the shackles and kill the woman and destroy that soul fragment!

The injured soul fragment trembled a little, sensing the killing intent.

"And here I thought, after being trapped here, you would have grown calmer. It looks like it had the opposite effect!" The small soul fragment came out of the body of Lira momentarily, taking a humanoid shape that no one but the Goddess of Nature could see!

The real shape that the soul fragment took was that of a human. The human had long black hair that came down to his waist. His eyes were pitch black, as if his eyes were where all the darkness in the entire world resided.

On the back of the man's hand was a pitch black mark, which was the origin of the Element of Darkness! It was the Mark of Darkness!

Outside the Tomb of Gods, Gabriel stood in silence, still trying to think just why he was sent here by the mirror.

Since Gabriel didn't speak, the other youngsters didn't dare to move either. They were worried that if they tried to leave, they were going to offend Gabriel and be killed.

On the other hand, Gabriel didn't think about those people at all.

'The mirror hinted that the key is the clue to getting what I want. And this key led me to this Tomb. That must mean the tomb has something that can help me explore the Garden of Legacy. But I don't think I found anything like that.'

'Could it be the Goddess of Nature? That can't be. There's no way I could free her. She shouldn't be what the Mirror sent me here for... But then what?'

Gabriel looked back at the Stone Tablet which was surrounded by the four stone pillars.

'Other than the Goddess of Nature, there were only the Heavenly Stones. Is that what the Mirror meant?'

The more Gabriel observed the entrance of the tomb, the more he seemed to realise something.

The Heavenly Stones that he saw inside looked as if they were chaotically placed at regular intervals, however slowly, he was realizing that there was something more to it.

The Tomb and the four stone pillars, the suppression room with all the Chains... And the pattern that the Heavenly Stones were creating... All of that appeared to have something in common.

"Do I really need the Heavenly Stones to explore that garden? Do I need to get back inside again?"

"Think clearly. Who is your bigger enemy? The person who actually trapped you here? Or I, who had no choice but to help him?" The man asked the Goddess of Nature, still trying to convince her.

He knew just how much malice and anger that woman had collected throughout the years. That's why he didn't want to free her if possible. Instead, he had placed his hopes on Lira. Unfortunately, that only resulted in disappointment and he had no choice but to take help from this woman!

He knew how dangerous it was to convince the woman but there was no other way for him right now!

The Goddess of Nature didn't answer. She still kept fiercely struggling to break the shackles to free herself without help!

undefined"No matter how much you try, you can't break the Chains that easily. Even though the chains aren't getting support from the formation that I gave him, these chains were still created with his own comprehension. Even without an energy source, it's not easy for you to break them without external help."

As the two giants talked with each other, Lira only stood in the back in silence. She couldn't believe that even an existence like that man was scared of the woman who was shackled here!

The Goddess of Nature still didn't answer. Her silence was like a refusal for the man. However, the man didn't give up! He didn't come so far to get a rejection!

"Even without my help, you should be able to break the shackles in a few years at most. However, do you think you have that much time?" the man asked, trying a different approach.

As he talked, his aura and his composure was something that no mortal could possess. It was as if he was a person who could talk to the Goddess of Nature on an equal footing!

The Goddess of Nature was already an existence that was beyond anyone's reach, however, currently that man didn't appear much different! He was no ordinary existence either, despite having a much weaker aura than the Goddess of Nature!

"You've also seen the condition he was in! Isn't it the perfect time for you to have revenge?" He reminded the Goddess to push her even further into agreeing with him. "If you don't take this opportunity right now, it can only lead to a disaster for you! You're doing nothing more than giving him an opportunity to succeed. And when he does... You don't have an opportunity again!"

"Can you really afford to waste time like that when such a heavenly opportunity is waiting before you?!" he asked while his voice became louder.

Despite speaking with such authority, the man didn't get closer to the Goddess of Nature! It was unclear if he was still scared of the Goddess of Nature or he was just worried about getting caught by the shackles as well.

"He is your real enemy!" he further stated. "He is behind all your suffering! I only played a minor role, and not because I wanted to! For that, I've suffered enough already! If you still don't want to work together, then I can only leave you behind and think of other ways for myself. However, after I leave, I hope you won't regret i!"

The man turned back into a speck of soul. He was already very injured and couldn't stay out for long. He returned inside Lira's body, exhausted.

"You can leave," he told Lira.

"Are you sure? So we came all this way for nothing?" Lira frowned.

"Or you can go and free her and watch her kill you!" The man's voice echoed in Lira's head. "Even I won't dare free her without making her promise that she won't hurt me!"

"Fine!"

Lira turned around and gave up as well.

"Wait!" Lira was about to leave the room when she heard the Goddess of Nature, telling her to stop. "I will work with you! Free me!"

"It looks like she can't hold back anymore! If her hate for me is like a droplet of water, her hatred for him is like the entire sea! To have her revenge, she will definitely work with me!" The man's laughter echoed in Lira's head. "Go and break the chains!"

"Are you sure I can break them? They look quite strong." Lira somewhat hesitated. The chains that were made from the comprehension of a god weren't easy to deal with! The shackles could even hold back a god, after all!

"Don't worry. Without the support of the energy formation, the Shackles can't draw much power. They can only spend everything they have in holding back that demoness. Take advantage of it and break the chains! The more chains you break, the weaker they'll get!"

"Moreover, as you break the chains, you might be able to receive some unexpected regards in the form of that guy's comprehension."

The man was quite pleased now that the Goddess of Nature had agreed to work with him. Everything went smoother than he expected.

'With the help of the Goddess of Nature, my path ahead will definitely be much smoother," the man thought. "Same can't be said for him...'

Lira brought a Sword out of her storage. Even though the Sword wasn't on the same level as the Sword of Ulien that Gabriel possessed, it was still a treasure that was cherished by many!

Holding the Sword firmly, Lira stepped closer to the first shackle!

Outside the Tomb of Gods, Gabriel held the entrance key firmly in his hand. He had convinced himself that he needed the Heavenly Stones, at least four of them, to create a similar formation in the Garden of Legacy to see if he could uncover any secrets that way!

He stepped closer to the tomb entrance.

The Goddess of Nature watched Lira get closer to the shackles. She didn't even remember how long it had been since the last time her heart beat so fast. After she was trapped here for so long, she had become more and more lifeless. With time, she even started losing hope of ever being free.

There was never a time when she didn't think about what the outside world must have become like while she was trapped.

Her heart was already closed for everything but hate. However, now that she was so close to freedom, her heart couldn't help but thump! She eagerly waited for the Shackles to break so that she could once again be free and leave this hell!

"Looks like this trip really wasn't a waste. With her, I'll definitely get back at him! It's time for the gods to return!" Lira clenched her teeth as she raised her sword high before bringing it slashing down with full force!

Everything was moving smoothly for Lira. Her Sword was barely a few inches away from hitting the shackles.

"Not good! Retreat!" Just as the sword was about to hit, Lira felt a jolt of current course through her body as she heard the panicked shout of the man.

She didn't know why the man was telling her to retreat at the last moment after being the person who told her to cut the shackles in the first place. However, she didn't have time to think about it. She could feel just how panicked that person sounded and listened to the advice.

Before her sword could touch the shackles, Lira jumped back. However, she was still too late. A strange energy flooded out of the shackles, causing what appeared like an explosion.

Lira's body flew back like a lifeless puppet, crashing on the wall in the back. She coughed out a mouthful of blood. Her face was already pale. Her entire body was aching! She even felt as if she would've died if she was a single second late!

undefinedNot only her, but even the Goddess of Nature was in a bad condition as well!

Her painful cries filled the room, as if her soul was in pain this time! All the strength that she had managed to recover with the weakening of the shackles was sucked dry again. The shackles that had grown weak were running at their full strength once again for some unknown reason.

"What happened?!" Lira roared in rage, wiping the blood off her lips. "Didn't you tell me the shackles were weak and that there was no danger?!"

"That bastard! I underestimated him!" The man's voice echoed in Lira's head. "He must've created another energy source!"

"When I gave him this formation, I thought he followed my arrangement for the Heavenly Stones! I didn't expect him to go one step further! He never really trusted me, did he?!"

"He used my plan, but that was secondary! For thousands of years, this prison was running in secondary defence!" The man exclaimed. "And I thought he used my arrangement as the primary form of defence!"

"In fact, he didn't even start the primary defence! He must've set the primary defence to activate in case of the failure of weaker defence! It's as if..."

The man couldn't even finish his sentence since he was so frustrated.

Lira finished his sentence, as if understanding what he was trying to say. "It's as if he expected you to come here to free that woman. Just how far did he plan?"

"Is there really no way for us to free her now?" she asked, knowing that if they couldn't do anything now, then this was the end of their journey to this place.

The man didn't say anything for quite some time. It was only after a long time that he sighed. "Since he expected this, there is nothing more we can do anymore. He must've created a hidden source of energy in this tomb. And now that the primary mechanism has been activated, if we try to find that source, you would only end up getting killed."

"Get out of this tomb now!" He warned Lira. "Don't worry about that woman anymore! She has no hope of ever leaving this place, unless those guys from above come down personally. Unfortunately, even they won't casually come down after what happened in the past..."

"Moreover, now that the primary mechanism is active, the main traps that even I don't know will start getting active! Before that happens, leave!"

The man was unwilling to leave yet there was no other path before him than to go back.

Lira turned her back on the Goddess of Nature who had once again lost all her strength. The Goddess of Nature watched Lira leave. Her eyes were lifeless again. All the hope that she had gained for freedom was crushed once again right before her eyes.

The suppression room once again returned to silence as the door closed again.

Outside the tomb entrance, Gabriel believed that the Heavenly Stone was the solution that he needed. There was only one way to get the stone and it was the tomb! However, just as he was about to enter, he stopped and glanced back at all the youngsters.

"Wait a minute. You guys were in the tomb for a long time, looking for Heavenly Stones, right?"

Gabriel stopped himself from entering the tomb again. He knew that the more stones he took from inside, the weaker the formation was going to be. So if the youngsters here already had some which was enough for him, then he didn't need to weaken the formation anymore. That was also safer.

All the Royals who fought fiercely for the Heavenly Stones had their faces turn pale. They understood what Gabriel was implying. After they went through so much effort to get inside and take the stones, Gabriel was asking them to hand over the stones?

"Senior, w-we didn't get any Heavenly Stones." One of the youngsters answered. "There were many traps and we couldn't get any! Just as we were about to go get some in a safer zone, we were told to come out."

The other Royals had their eyes lit up! If they stuck with the story, they didn't have to give the heavenly stones. As long as they could get out of this place and meet up with their guards, they believed they were safe.

'That's right! He wasn't there! He doesn't know we got the stones!'

"Yes Senior! If you want the stones, you might need to go inside again. If you want we can accompany you inside?! We all might get our first Heavenly Stone thanks to you as well!"

The others also played along, striving to fool Gabriel.

Unfortunately, none of them could succeed. Gabriel had no intention of letting them leave without checking personally.

Instead of believing their words, he checked everyones personally to see if they had a Heavenly Stone or not.

With his personal checking, none of the Royals could hide the Heavenly Stone that they had received, especially since the Heavenly Stone was something that couldn't be kept in an ordinary spatial storage treasure!

As Gabriel checked everyone, the Royals were so scared. They thought Gabriel was going to kill them after he caught them lying.

Fortunately Gabriel didn't make things difficult for them. The Royals and their Guards were too weak to cause any trouble. He let the youngsters leave after their checking.

In the end, the Royals were relieved to at least leave with their lives while regretting ever meeting this demon.

In the end, Gabriel was the only person who was left behind, looking at the Heavenly Stones before him.

"Only four Heavenly Stones. I thought they'll have more. However, four should be enough. I shouldn't be too greedy and risk freeing that woman..."

Gabriel picked up all the Heavenly Stones and kept them in his Grimoire which was one of the only few objects that could contain a Heavenly Stone.

Keeping the stone, he looked at the four towers once again. However, just as he was about to leave, he saw another figure come out of the Portal of the tomb!

For a moment, his heart froze. He didn't expect anyone to still be inside so when a figure jumped out, he thought the woman was free of the shackles.

It was only after he clearly saw who the person was that he calmed down. It was the cloaked person.

"So you were still inside..." Gabriel frowned. "How did you hide from my perception inside?"

Before leaving, he had checked most of the places and only then he left to make sure that there was no one behind who could weaken the formation further. However, for someone to still be left inside.

What was even stranger was that he didn't feel any aura from this person. It was as if the person before him was as ordinary as one could be, which didn't make sense…

The door of the suppression room inside the tomb closed once again. The Goddess of Nature was again suppressed and everyone had left the Tomb, including Lira.

"And here I thought I would need to personally get involved to stop them..." Out of nowhere, a calm voice echoed. "It's good that she wasn't freed."

A figure could be seen standing outside the room, standing with the support of the wall. The man had two earrings, one in each of his ears. His cross shaped earrings looked quite similar to the earring of strengthening that Gabriel was wearing to strengthen his physique.

"I thought you were being overly cautious when strengthening the defences of this place while making it. Looks like I was wrong." The man's voice echoed in the lonely hallway of the tomb before he disappeared.

undefined****

Outside the Tomb, Gabriel was standing before the cloaked person who had just come out. Initially, he hadn't thought too much about the person, but now he couldn't ignore that person.

"Take off your cloak," he told the woman before him.

Even after his command, there was no response from the person in the front.

He didn't realize that even though the woman's face was hidden thanks to the cloak, but that woman was currently biting her lower lip in anger.

It was as if her bad luck was so bad that even after so long, Gabriel was still before the tomb entrance!

'Old man, if you don't help me this time, I might really be dead! If he sees my face and decides to kill me, just think about what might happen to you!'

...

There was no response from the woman even after Gabriel asked her to reveal herself. He was already suspicious of the woman's identity but seeing her silence, he was even more sure that something was wrong about her!

Since so much was at stake with the tomb, he couldn't take any risk.

A voice floated in Lira's head.

At the same time, the woman's necklace turned into a speck of black light.

The black light took the shape of a pitch black book which stunned even Gabriel. It had been such a long time since he last saw that book.

"It's you!" He exclaimed, taken aback. "Lira!"

Lira took off the cloak, revealing her pale face. "You've already taken my Ancestral Staff. You want to take my life as well?!"

"Aren't you the one who wanted to take my life? I still haven't forgotten all the pain that you made my soul go through!"

Gabriel had always wondered where Lira was after that day. There were so many things in his mind that he just didn't have time to find her. Who knew that she was going to appear before him abruptly.

What was even worse was that this woman went inside the Tomb? Lira was strong and she stayed inside the tomb for so long. He couldn't help but worry if she freed the Goddess of Nature to get revenge on him!

'No! If she was free: with how much she seemed to hate me, she would've already been out of the Tomb to kill me! She couldn't have been freed!'

Gabriel didn't know what the woman did, but he couldn't let her escape now that he finally had her!

His Grimoire of Necromancy also came out on its own, floating before him.

Thud~

"Huh?" Gabriel called out his Grimoire but before he could even attack Lira, the young woman dropped to her knees.

Her dark Grimoire floated before her, but Lira didn't attack.

Instead, she abruptly exclaimed, "I surrender!"

Her response came as a surprise to Gabriel who was expecting her to fight. She had called out her Grimoire after all. Despite that, for some reason she surrendered?

He didn't understand what the woman was planning but he didn't lower his guard. He still had to find out from her what she did inside the tomb. He didn't lower his guard.

It was the first time he was regretting using the bracelet of sealing on Lambard's maid. If he could've used that on Lira, he didn't have to worry about it being a trick of hers.

"Recall your Grimoire!" Gabriel told the woman while a dark mist came out of the ground, turning into shackles which entrapped Lira in her place, making it impossible for her to move.

No matter what she was planning, Gabriel didn't want to leave any room for a mistake.

"You've really gotten stronger after all this time. You can even use my spells with close to perfection. No wonder you broke our promise and stole my Ancestral Staff after all I did for you!" Lira exclaimed. She didn't resist even a little.

It was unclear what the voice in her head said when she had asked for help, but it was as if she had no intent to fight.

"Broke our promise?" Gabriel asked. "Our promise was that I was going to give you the Ancestral Staff of Darkness. I intended to keep that promise but it was you, who came to kill me!"

He had already been betrayed a few times. He didn't want to give others a chance to betray him. That was why he tried to take the Ancestral Staff first before giving it to Lira.

The taming of the Ancestral Staff by him didn't affect the strength of Ancestral Staff for Lira at all. There was no loss to her, other than the fact that she couldn't have used it to attack him! He never expected her to try to kill him just for that!

Not only did she try to kill him, but she did so while tormenting his soul.

"If I wasn't lucky, I would've been killed by you already. The day you tried to kill me, our deal became invalid!" He exclaimed. "However, that doesn't make us equal, does it? Shouldn't it be a life for a life?"

After the dark chains shackled her, a pitch black spear floated before Lira. The tip of the spike was already touching Lira's neck. A little push and Lira could've been killed. Despite all that, there was not much fear on her face.

"Don't you think so?" Gabriel asked.

"You're right. And you're definitely capable of killing me. At the moment, I can't even resist," Lira replied, sitting still on her knees.

Not only did she not resist, but she also recalled the Grimoire of Darkness.

The Grimoire returned to be a necklace around Lira's neck.

Lira's actions were as bizarre as they were surprising. It was as if she didn't care for her life at all. Gabriel didn't know why, but he felt like something was really wrong! That feeling was only getting stronger.

Thrust~

The pitch black spear rushed ahead!

Gabriel didn't feel comfortable with how Lira was behaving. Not only was she not resisting but she wasn't showing any concern at all. She was just too calm.

Gabriel didn't take the risk anymore.

His spear throat forward, impaling Lira's throat.

Lira raised her head, looking straight in Gabriel's eyes. Her eyes still didn't reveal a trace of fear. It was as if she didn't even feel the pain. Instead, there was a trace of smile while Lira's body disappeared right around the dark spear.

At the same time, thousands of kilometres away, Lira dropped to the ground, breathing heavily. Her face was pale as snow and her body was weak. Her lips were bleeding as if she had been biting them to prevent her from falling unconscious.

undefined...

Gabriel remained outside the tomb, staring at the spot where Lira had been sitting before. He was still unclear how she achieved her escape. From the start to the end, he never felt as if the person before him was fake or an illusion.

If it wasn't for her calmness,he wouldn't have felt anything wrong either. Amongst all the spells of Darkness that he had known, there was none like this!

Moreover, ever since Lira appeared before him, he had also kept an eye on the surroundings to make sure that Lira didn't use any of her shadows to escape. Despite all the precautions, she still somehow succeeded.

Gabriel didn't remain behind. He cast a flight spell and flew high in the sky! It was restricted to flying in the valley and not even the best of the best could achieve it. However, since the valley was related to Gabriel, he realized that it wasn't a problem for him as long as he used the Element of Necromancy.

He flew higher and higher into the sky until everyone could see it! Even the young royals were forced to look above at Gabriel who was like a deity descending! Avilia also noticed Gabriel, being surprised that he was able to fly there.

What surprised her even more was that Gabriel was out of the tomb so soon. Generally, people spent a few days inside at least.

Gabriel remained high in the sky where cold winds brushed against him, making his long hair flutter with the wind. His eyes didn't look at Avilia or the youngsters. Instead, it appeared as if he was looking at his surroundings, searching for something.

Gabriel searched the entire Valley carefully. Even for Lira, it would've been impossible to escape this valley so soon. Unfortunately, even after searching the farthest corners of the valley, he couldn't find Lira. He could only return to the cliff where Avilia was waiting for him.

"You look concerned. Did something happen?" Avilia asked, approaching Gabriel from behind while he was still lost in some thought, looking at the valley.

"I saw her," Gabriel answered.

"You saw who?"

"The Holy Priestess of Darkness, Lira. I thought I had her but she escaped!" Gabriel explained everything that happened. However, he hid the matter of what he found inside the tomb, only telling Avilia about Lira and the matters relating to her.

"So you're saying she was standing near you but you couldn't sense her." Avilia was also somewhat intrigued. There weren't many things that could hide someone from the perception of a Holy Priest, especially one like Gabriel who had such a powerful soul strength.

"If she had used a spell for it, the spell wouldn't have lasted this long. Even if there is such a spell, it must consume a lot of strength. If she was using it the entire day, she wouldn't have had the strength to escape." Even though it appeared as if Lira was talking to herself, Gabriel understood that she was talking to him.

"It's probably a treasure that she found," Gabriel agreed. And his first thought went to the cloak that she was wearing. The cloak looked as ordinary as a cloak could, but still, the more inconspicuous a thing was, the more it had the ability to surprise one.

"Do you know of a way to find her now?" he asked Avilia, still not losing the opportunity. No matter what spell Lira used, she was most probably still around somewhere.

"If we could sense her aura, it would've been easy to find her. But if she really has a treasure as you describe, it'll be quite hard. It's like finding an ordinary needle in a haystack," Avilia answered. But she still cast a spell.

A formation appeared before her, from which a shadow beast jumped out!

It was Gabriel's first time seeing a shadow beast in its complete form. The Shadow Beast was as tall as the two of them. It was like a fierce beast who had impeccable speed and stamina. However, just by looking at it, no one could have expected that it was a shadow beast since the only pitch black part of the beast were his two eyes.

As for his fur, it was a beautiful shade of white, just like his two beautiful tails.

"Even though it's not easy to find her, I can send some shadows to search around cities. However, we're looking for the Queen of shadows who should be the best at hiding. I won't expect her to be found so easily."

The Shadow Beast disappeared into the shadows. He split into thousands of shadows and easily rushed in a different direction in search for the Holy Priestess of Darkness.

Gabriel sat at the edge of the cliff in silence, looking at the sky above which had darkened. Stars were already visible in the sky. He didn't look like he was in a hurry to leave this place.

"Avilia, I want your help with something..."

"What help?" Avilia asked, wondering just what could this guy need other than her fighting strength.

"I want this entire valley to be sealed. So that no one could enter this valley and that tomb. If we can't stop people from entering, sooner or later, it'll lead to a great disaster," Gabriel answered, lying on the hard rock, having a clear view of the sky.

For him, Lira had already escaped and to find her was almost impossible for now. So the next best thing he could do was to secure this place.

"Why?" From what she had heard, there were only a few Heavenly Stones inside. Even though they were like a treasure, they weren't worth taking action personally. She didn't understand why Gabriel was so serious about this tomb. It was as if she found out something about the tomb that even she didn't know.

"What did you find inside?" she asked directly.

"You don't need to know what's inside. Just know that if people don't stop entering, something really bad will happen. Can you take care of it for the time being?" Gabriel didn't reveal anything.

He didn't know what the impression of the Goddess of Nature was on others. In any case, it was definitely better than Karyk's impression on others. The more he hid it, the safer he felt. He just went with being vague. It wasn't a lie that something bad will happen after all. The only thing was that it was bad only for him!

"You don't need to worry about that. The valley will close now. Even I won't be able to enter until it's next time of the opening. At that time, if you're busy, I'll send someone to stop people from entering."

"That's good."

Gabriel could finally relax a bit. The valley opened once every few years because of weakening of natural energy. So for a few years, he was safe. That allowed him to deal with matters of importance without being distracted. However, for now, he just wanted to rest under the starlight.

undefinedHe occasionally glanced at the four towers in the distance. This trip here led him to some answers but it led to even more questions. He found out about things that made him realize just how shallow his knowledge about the World had been.

He used to think that all the Gods were dead but he was realizing that it wasn't the case. If the Goddess of Nature could survive for so long while being trapped, then what about other gods? What happened to them? Were they also alive? If they were, then where were they?

'Are you alive as well? Karyk?' Gabriel thought, looking at the beautiful moon in the sky.

Gabriel didn't realize when, but he eventually fell asleep. Fortunately, he cast a spell around himself to alert him in case there was even the slightest of danger. That spell could not only wake him up from his sleep, but also teleport him in a short range to protect him.

He didn't leave his protection on Avilia.

The beautiful yet cold night was silent enough to not disturb Gabriel's sleep at all. If anything, sleeping at such a height was even more comfortable for Gabriel.

During his sleep, he once again found himself near the waterfall where he was usually training.

Alion was still under the same waterfall, training his body. Alion was bare chested and didn't use any accessories other than the two earrings that matched the one with Gabriel.

Looking at those earrings, Gabriel often wondered just where the second one was which he could use. He didn't know if having two was better for training or if two of them increased even more pressure on the body.

He also jumped inside the water after taking off his shirt and swam to Alion. Silently, he sat under the waterfall without disturbing Alion and started training himself.

After Gabriel closed his eyes, Alion opened his eyes and glanced at the man next to him. He closed his eyes again.

It was the morning. Since there was no shade at the top of the cliff, the sunlight fell straight on Gabriel's face, waking him up from his long yet comfortable slumber.

He sat up and stretched his arms. His body felt so comfortable. After going through the pressure in the valley and the night's training, his body felt more relaxed.

Avilia was still at the Cliff. She was already up yet she hadn't woken him. Instead, she was sitting near a fire, cooking something.

"You know how to cook?" Gabriel stood up, patting the dust off his clothes.

"How do you think I survived in this world before becoming a Holy Lord?" Avilia asked, smiling wryly. "I won't praise myself too much, but I'm the best chef that I know. You're lucky to be able to eat my cooking."

Gabriel didn't take Avilia seriously. However,he didn't think of her as a narcissistic person either.

He didn't realise that he was really in for a surprise. It was only when he ate what Avilia had made that he understood that she wasn't lying at all.

"It's quite good. How about you become my official chef?" Gabriel asked jokingly.

"How about I push you off this cliff?" Avilia answered in the form of a question.

"If you agree to my request, I'll let you push me off," Gabriel answered, even though he knew she was never going to agree. Making a Holy Lord as his personal chef was impossible.

Moreover, it wasn't dangerous for him even if he was pushed off now! He wasn't the same weak person who almost died the last time he was pushed off a cliff. Currently, he had hundreds of ways to protect himself even without using his flight spell.

Avilia only glared at Gabriel but didn't answer. "Are we finally going back to Arecia? Is it time for you to execute your plan?"

Gabriel glanced in the distance in the direction of the Arecia Empire. "It should be the time."

"Is this plan also the reason you used violence against the citizens who resisted you?" Avilia asked, wondering if Gabriel had already thought this far in advance.

"Not initially." After a brief period of silence, Gabriel answered. "Initially, I just wanted to avoid the conflict and protect Arecia. But there were too many people who were working in the dark against me."

"They just used the excuse of me not coming to help to incite people. However, even if they didn't have that excuse, they would've found another excuse."

"I had to think of a way to deal with them. But the other Churches were also a headache. When the Church sent an envoy to me, it was clear that I couldn't hide my identity for too long."

"Once my identity was out, the resistance was going to be a thousand times worse than what it was at that time," Gabriel explained.

"So you let those people fan the flames to reveal themselves." Avilia frowned.

"Instilling fear with a thousand people against you is better than doing so with millions against you," Gabriel answered. "Especially since at that time, the other Churches would've been behind those millions as well."

"So you took this opportunity to control the people in advance?" Avilia asked.

Gabriel nodded. "I'm already called the Blood Emperor. So what if someone comes out and tells them that I'm a Dark Mage? It would be too insignificant. Moreover, after what happened in the past, the Empire's fighting force is weakened! Only the ones who are loyal to me are left. Instigating them would be impossible even if someone reveals my identity?"

"The scene of war would still be fresh in everyone's mind."

The more Gabriel spoke, the more Avilia became stunned!

When Gabriel fought against the people who wanted to kill him and remove him from the throne, she thought he killed them because of his anger! However, she was slowly realizing that Gabriel was just thinking too far ahead! Anger and heartbreak was just an excuse he used to show his own guards!

She knew that Gabriel was truly hurt on the inside at that time with the way people came for his head after all he did for them. However, he really didn't let his emotions control himself at that time! It was all for a bigger goal!

Everything that happened was what he had planned! As for the end goal, Gabriel was finally going to put it in motion! A goal that could send a wave of shock down the entire world! Gabriel had already planted seeds and now it was time to water that seed and watch it become a majestic tree!

This man... He was more dangerous and farsighted than she thought!

Gabriel's departure from the Kingdom of Arecia was in such a way that not many people in the Empire knew that he wasn't in the Empire at all!

Throughout the days that Gabriel was missing, the news about the deaths of most of the people who rose in an uprising against Gabriel was spread far and wide! The stories were even more brutal than reality, oftentimes exaggerated by the people who spread such news!

This was also what Gabriel wanted in the first place. More and more people were starting to acknowledge Gabriel as a blood Demon. However, they were also scared because of the stories. None of them dared to plan an uprising again.

The Royal Knights also didn't stop to curb any stories. If anything, they just let things progress. Amongst all the stories, there was also one more rumor that had started to spread under the Knights' noses.

undefinedIt was unclear where that rumor came from or if it was true or not, but at many places, stories were spreading subtly that Gabriel was associated with the Dark Mages!

Many other Empires had also sent their spines to the Arecia Empire to slowly infiltrate and find out more about the current situation. Many neighbouring Empires sent their spies which were currently in the Royal Capital!

If it was before, the news about Gabriel being associated with the Dark Mages would've been enough to shock people enough for them to demand a change in leadership or even look for outside help.

Unfortunately, currently the situation was just too strange and the citizens were just silent and only observing the situation.

In one such tavern of the Royal Capital, many prominent figures of the capital were sitting and having a good time. Since Gabriel had stripped all the Nobles of their powers, most of the people in the Empire suddenly became commoners and lost all powers! Even the strength of the Academy was curbed under such heavy measures!

Many people from other Empires noticed such things and thought about trying to take advantage of the situation. The Empire was at its weakest after all and perfect to swallow.

Unfortunately, after the intelligence gathering and all the stories they heard, even they didn't dare to be hasty! It was said that Gabriel had wiped out an entire army himself while he was only a Knight!

"I really pity you people, living under the rule of a demon! It seems even worse than it would've been living under a dark mage!" One of the spies sighed, talking silently to his informants in the Empire.

"Shh, don't speak so loud! If the Knights heard you, it won't be good! Don't get me in trouble with that Demon!" The informant looked all around the tavern carefully, making sure that no one heard them.

"You're quite popular in the Empire, aren't you?" In one of the private rooms on the first floor, two youngsters were sitting next to each other, looking at the entire ground floor through the glass window. "To me, it looks like you're sitting over a bomb that can explode at any time, with even the slightest fire."

"The entire world is a bomb for someone like me, no matter where I go. It's just a matter of my identity being exposed," Gabriel replied to Avilia, not being bothered about her words. "However, you don't have to worry about me. This bomb... It will only blow up my enemies. I will let Arecia be my downfall. This is just the start."

"Well, you certainly have some time now. The neighbouring Empires won't even think about attacking Arecia anytime soon. However, the same can't be said about the Churches. If you really execute your plan, it'll lead them straight to this Empire, won't it?" Avilia asked, still unclear how Gabriel was going to execute such an ambitious project while preventing the Empire from being destroyed.

Gabriel took a sip of his beer, finishing it in one try before standing up. "As I said before, they'll come to this Empire even if I don't do anything. Since I have some time before the execution, I would rather spend that time in preparation. However, before that... I need to go somewhere. You can go and wait for me at the palace."

Gabriel stepped out of the room, covering his face with a mask. However, before leaving, he turned around. "Oh, and tell the guys at the Palace to increase the speed. The formation that I stole from the Church of Flames is still not implemented completely."

"Tell them to finish it in a week. Also, don't think about sending a shadow after me. I don't want to have to destroy it."

Avilia heard Gabriel and rolled her eyes. However, she also stopped the spell that she was going to cast. This guy was really troublesome!

After Gabriel left, the room returned to the old silence with only Avilia behind. Avilia was still sitting in the room, thinking about the past and more importantly about the words that she had heard from the Holy Lord of Wind!

"Even if I don't do anything, he will die..." These words kept floating in her head. She didn't understand what the Holy Lord of Wind meant at that time, but she couldn't help but wonder if this was what he meant.

Even without him doing anything, Gabriel was executing such a dangerous plan. This was akin to turning the entire world against him in one stroke. This was just too dangerous.

However, she felt as if this wasn't right. She felt that there was more to the words of the Holy Lord of Wind than what was happening! Something much bigger.

In the end, she also finished her alcohol. She left a few gold coins on the table before disappearing as well.

She went straight to the Royal Palace of Arecia. After telling the current Saint Knight to fasten the progress of construction, she went to the room that was assigned to her to rest, still wondering just where Gabriel went and what was he trying to hide.

"Whatever. You can't hide it for too long. Sooner or later, you'll have to show me..." She muttered lying on the comfortable bed.

Leaving the tavern, Gabriel reached near the Royal Garden of Legacy which he had prohibited for others! Many Royal Knights were assigned outside a seemingly ordinary garden to prevent anyone from entering!

The Knights didn't even know why they were protecting a garden. It wasn't as if anyone was going to rob grass here. However, they followed commands.

"Your Majesty!"

The Knights that were getting bored guarding at night were stunned to find the Emperor in the distance! They all dropped to their knees respectfully.

"Enough with the greeting. Retreat and no one is allowed to enter within five hundred meters of the boundary of this garden, including you!"