The light slowly died out.

As everyone regained their sight, a massive white door appeared at the center of arena.

Moments after, it slowly opened.

"The Sanctuary… It answered!" Nelson was elated.

"Huh?" Alexia blinked.

"The Gates only open on a certain day. And that day is today, when the Goddess' Trials commence."

"Wait, what?" Rose turned her head.

"What that means… The Trials are to be cancelled. Guards, take everyone out of here!"

And they did, in fact, take everyone out. Including even VIP guests. However, princesses (and one author) remained still.

"Didn't you hear me, princesses? Leave," Nelson was losing his patience.

"You were not the one who opened the Gates," Iris calmly retorted as she took out her sword, "therefore, it is not for you to decide who enters. Am I right, Shadow Garden?" she turned around to see a group of people in black suits surrounding them.

"Indeed, Princess Iris," a familiar voice reached their ears as blonde elf with sea-like eyes slowly walked closer to them.

"Once he appears, it is a given that his people will follow, miss Alpha," Iris weakly smiled.

"S-Shadow Garden! You- You are Shadow Garden!" Nelson's eyes widened in fear.

"Epsilon, control the place. I shall go in and find what we are looking for. Do not let anyone in," Alpha ordered to another elf with cyan hair, "And when I say no one, I mean no one. Not even princesses."

"What is it that requires so much secrecy?" Alexia wondered.

"You better not know that. At least, not yet," Alpha shook her head and turned to the bald man, "You are to go with us."

"W-What?! That's insanity! S-Sanctuary will not allow that!" Nelson panicked.

"Interesting," a light smile appeared on Alpha's face, "Then why did you want to go in before that?"

"I-I-" in the next moment he received a punch from Epsilon and went unconscious.

"I am sorry, Lady Alpha, I could no longer stand his meaningless talk."

"Understandable. Then we shall go," Alpha nodded and took bald man by the collar, "Princesses, I hope for your cooperation."

"Your point on this subject is pretty much interesting-"

"Alexia?!" Rose and Iris immediately looked at the younger princess in shock.

"But unfortunately, he awaits for my challenge," Alexia looked into elf's eyes.

Of course, she bet practically everything on these words. The words that were spoken to her by Shadow back then.

"…Do you think you are ready?"

"I am not, but how am I to grow if I can't even take the challenge the world gives me?"

"You should know that there are things in this world that you're not meant to see," Alpha squinted.

"If he thought I am not to see that, then he wouldn't even show it in front of everyone, now would he?" Alexia retorted.

"…You are walking on a very thin ice, Alexia Midgar," elf's face darkened.

In the next moment, a wave of pressure almost made the younger princess kneel. It felt like heavy chains shackling her whole body. However…

"…Still not quite his level," indeed, back when he released his ultimate attack the whole city was sinking into itself due to his pressure.

"You are walking on a very thin ice, Alexia Midgar," Alpha repeated once more.

"Hmph," Alexia felt the pressure increasing.

Iris was ready to go into a fight for her sister even though she knew that she would lose it, but as soon as she drew her sword…

"W-What's that?!" Rose looked at the door.

A marble door from before cracked before a wave of darkness swept from it. No one could hold their ground as they all were sucked into the passage.

"Is everyone alright?" Rose's worried voice reached everyone.

"Ugh, pretty fine…" Alexia groaned and stood up.

Alpha was not far away from them, studying the place they found themselves in, a frown adorning her beautiful face. As soon as she heard Alexia speaking, she turned her head.

"You do realize the consequences behind your words, correct?" false warmth was obvious behind her voice.

"Tch."

Iris' worried gaze was jumping from Alexia to Alpha as she gripped her sword tighter.

"Just because he found you to be quite amusing does not mean you got a free pass to do anything you want. He will extend his mercy one time. He will extend his kindness second time. The third time? He will drown you in the nearest river."

"Alright, alright, I got it, you can stop already!"

"Arrogance only has a place to be when you can back it up with your achievements, you better well remember that," Alpha shook her head, "As of now, you have no qualification to challenge him. I shall close my eyes on that on his behalf… For this one. Now, since you are here, I believe it's time to explain our goal."

Alpha collected her thoughts.

"It is believed that the hero Oliver cut Diablos' left hand in the past."

"Yes, that was said in the legends," Natsume Kafka took out her notepad.

"And that hand was said to be sealed here, in this sanctuary."

"What does that have to do with your goal? Do you want to find his hand?" Iris' finally calmed her heartbeat.

"That would be great… But our actual goal is to find the truth behind Cult of Diabolos."

She slowly walked forward.

"And that statue… Depict hero Oliver."

"But… That's a woman?" Alexia was confused.

"Indeed. However…" she slowly removed her mask, "Her face is identical to mine."

Alexia looked closer only to realize that, indeed, she was looking at a living copy of the ancient hero,

"Y-You are that elf?!…" Nelson that everyone thought to be out spoke in surprise.

"Ho, it seems you know of me. I wonder, why…" Alpha smirked.

With a flick of her hand she poured her magic into the statue. Moments after, the statue came to life. As it turned around, yet another portal opened up.

"If you wish to see what happened, this place will give answers. After all," Alpha looked up, "This place is a living proof of the catastrophes and fierces battles from millennia ago."

"Umm, now excuse me for that, but was it really necessary to summon this… Strange energy?" a beautiful woman with raven hair peered her charming violet eyes on an unassuming boy.

Yep, that boy is Cid.

"Honestly? No. But I don't want to wander around too much so let these boys scout the way," he shrugged.

Right after freeing his lovely Violet he realized that he came a bit unprepared, after all. The place was way superior in trying to absorb his magic, to the point where he had to spend a whole minute to re-calibrate it. Then he realized that this Sanctuary could not affect his Shadow Magic. Then he realized that this place was summoning memories of Violet. Then Violet started punching the shit out of these memories.

In the end he realized that he could not waste so much time as he still wanted to get her out of this place so he went in Shadows for a bit to make a deal with entities; they would get to experience brand new memories in exchange for finding a way to the core. He went a bit overboard when opening up Connection Point with Shadow Realm, but he hoped nothing too bad actually happened… It's not like it would affect outside world, right?

Moving on, as Violet said, it was the core that was responsible for keeping this place afloat, so if he smashed or otherwise took care of it they would be free… Thought Violet also whispered that she would disappear after that as she's nothing more but a memory. Sucks, but he already has an idea.

Then a bunch of dead people marched towards them. Seems like Sanctuary did not like sudden intruders, after all. Eh, it's fine, while Shadow Entities scout this place, he can focus on fixing that little problem of his lovely Violet.

Namely, her not having a proper body.

They slowly watched everything.

The truth about the Possessed. The truth about the heroes.

They were nothing more but a bunch of kids that were experimented on by the Cult of Diabolos. Cult's researchers injected the Cells of Diabolos into poor children. Boys' organs ruptured from violent energy, while girls developed Possession. And only three of them actually could resist the effects of Possession.

These girls would later be named as three heroes that stopped the Demon from destroying everything. And the left hand of that Demon was cut off by hero Oliver and sealed within this very Sanctuary. Cult would later use this hand as a source of Diabolos' Cells and, later on, the products made from them: Tears of Diabolos.

Of course, even the perfected version had nasty side-effects and had to be taken yearly in order to continue its effects. Moreover, only twelve of perfected Tears could be produced yearly, creating a need for twelve best organization's members. Twelve Knights of Rounds.

And Nelson turned out to be eleventh one.

The therianthrope named Delta tried to attack him, but he suffered no major injuries. Moreover, it turned out that the Sanctuary was siphoning the magic out of everyone but Nelson himself. What made the situation even worse? He could summon the copy of legendary hero, Oliver.

It seemed like everything was lost.

Until a gigantic claw made of darkness itself made its way through Sanctuary's walls. The elven hero, Oliver, tried to attack it, only to be discarded away by a mere wave of the claw as its owner finally appeared.

The Beast slowly floated into the room as the walls returned to their pristine state, its shining red eyes slowly scanning the surroundings. The body could not be described properly as its form was everchanging akin to the mist.

"W-What is that?…" Alexia gulped in fear.

"T-This!" Nelson's pupils shrunk, "That's- That's a Demon!…"

"What?!" Alpha's eyes widened in surprise, however she quickly calmed herself down, "Delta, what can you say- Delta?"

Beast-kin stared, unblinking. Her gaze was locked onto the Beast as she growled at it. The Beast itself only tilted its head as if it was confused. It slowly floated over to wolf-girl who became even more tense…

And then she suddenly relaxed.

"Safe, Lady Alpha! It won't attack!" Delta's tail waved around.

"Hm?" Alpha was dumbfounded but knowing Delta's instincts decided to trust her, "Then we are free to go further, correct?"

"Yuh-uh!" wolf-girl nodded.

"Then we shall go in. Princesses, follow us," Alpha went to the new portal, accompanied by Epsilon and Delta. Soon after everyone else followed her.

At the last moment Delta looked at the Beast. 'I can definitely smell Bossman's scent on that thing…'

Beast tilted its head in confusion. Then it felt the connection with all other Entities. They found what they were looking for. Time to go back.

Cid stared at the gigantic claw in front of him.

"That's…" his lovely Violet was strangely elated.

"You know what's this?" he turned around.

"…I think I should, but my memories…" she shook her head.

"Figures…" he sighed.

That thing was definitely part of some strong beast. He would even go as far as to say that if it was him before accepting Alexia's confession he would definitely feel pressured to go against that beast should it be at full power, and that speaks something.

However, that was not important right now. What was important is creating a new body for his Violet. As she said, she was but a memory of this place, and should she leave it without getting permission or when this place is destroyed, she would disappear as well. That will not do.

Cid wanted to create a body, but quickly ran into a problem.

He did not know how to create a body. Modifications, healing? That he can do. Making it from scratch and nothing but thin air and his own blood? Not on that level… Yet.

Fortunately, his Shadow Entities soon informed him about a strange gigantic hand somewhere deep in the Sanctuary. Of course, it tried to push them away, but he quickly released a bit of his energy to overpower the Sanctuary's anti-magic field.

Violet jokingly said that he was her gallant knight, at which he unexpectedly for himself blushed. After that she teased him even more, going as far as pressing herself against him, and that experience was way different compared to all previous times he was in touch with a woman.

His only saving grace was delving deep into Sanctuary's secrets, namely, how does this place actually function. Well, as he found out, it was collectively made from memories of dead powerful beings… Not collectively, more like, it spontaneously appeared after their dying wishes and memories clashed with each other. In short, it was a miracle of nature. And he was not willing to let it go without properly researching it.

But Violet wanted to be free, too. So first he will create a body for her, then he will let her go, and only after that he will start working with the Sanctuary.

Right, the claw. This thing simply radiated life energy. Just in case someone doesn't understand what he's talking about: It was still alive. Even after being separated from the owner, It was still living. Talk about a perfect material for his lovely Violet!

Cid asked for Violet to come closer. It was not because he wanted to smell her fragrance a bit… Alright, maybe it was, but that's not the only reason. Her memories still held, well, memories about how her body was supposed to be. He wanted to use them as a basis for creating a new one.

Then he started creating. He focused his senses on the claw and slowly poured his power into It. Of course, It tried to resist. Moreover, the entire Sanctuary started shaking around. Talk about power level when Its mere presence slowly breaks apart that dimension! That will not do.

Good thing he knows how to preserve this unique place.

"I…"

His entire being was slowly covered by dark energy.

"Huh? Wait, hold on, what are you doing?" do not worry, dear Violet, he knows exactly what he is doing.

"…Am…"

The shadows came to life.

"…Darkness."

Sanctuary sank in the void.