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nTwo hours later, Orpheus and the girls were inside their classroom, waiting for their teacher. She came one hour later; she looked exhausted with a pale face.

n”Sorry, the competition, I meant the mock battle would be postponed. We have an emergency. A new ruin has appeared, and we are exploring it, but we discovered something. This ruin is different from any other ruins we have explored; we can’t explore it.”

n”All of you must have heard of Ruins before. Ruins are like dungeons or like forbidden zones. The dungeon Ruins had many levels and restrictions put on them. Normally you will be authorized to raid Ruins only a few months later, but as things are going on, we decided to let you explore ruins ahead of schedule.”

nTheir teacher’s words made most of them happy; the reason they enrolled in this academy was to have the right to explore Ruins, where many exceptional things awaited them. Most importantly, exploring Ruins could let you earn many points for graduation, and once you graduate, you can explore more Ruins. The reason why most families sent their children to the academies was that once they graduated, they would have the right to explore Ruins; one of their family members could tag along.

n”You will be sent on a mission two days later.”

nOrpheus frowned because, from their teacher’s words, they were not immediately going into Ruins but on a mission instead.

nAs if to confirm his speculation, their teacher said.

n”You will not immediately be sent inside Ruins but on a mission in one of the forbidden zones. I don’t have the time to explain about Forbidden zones as most of you are already aware of what Forbidden zones are. In case you don’t know, the library is there to help you. Continuing what I was saying, you will be sent to one of the forbidden zones for training before going into Ruins. Don’t be too disappointed as Forbidden zones are like another form of Ruins.”

n”You are dismissed; see you in two days.” She said before leaving.

nWhile most were confused, they visited the library to acquire more information.

nAs usual, Orpheus disappeared as soon as their teacher left. Ella, who was trying to talk to him, sighed.

nLily was frustrated; she felt she must do something for her other half.

nSomeone was more frustrated because a few days ago, he kept having those weird dreams, there were too weird and scary, and they felt like someone else memories. Grim became afraid to sleep.

nHe decided to leave to clear his ideas.

n•••••

nLate in the night, Grim Asmodeus was fighting against the sleep, but he still eventually fell asleep, and right after that, he started seeing those weird dreams again.

na man was standing with someone who looked like Grim but older; he had long white hair and a handsome face. His name was Lumis; there was another person whose name was Kratos.

nFacing the three was a man whose feature was blurred except for his crimson eyes.

nIt was this man talking.

n”So, Kratos, why are you here? Last time if I remember correctly, Aatox said that you wouldn’t intervene in our next fight. You even agreed to it, but now you’re here. Care to explain?”

nKratos smiled before answering ”Well, they offered me something I was searching for; I’m also curious about you. What are you? You do not look like the undead. What are you? You’re too powerful than us individually. I’m intrigued; please answer my question.”

n”Kratos, we did not come here to chat; we are here to kill him, do not ask any unnecessary question.”

nThe one called Lumis shouted furiously. Kratos glared at him, and he automatically shut his mouth.

nThe man with crimson eyes laughed,

n”I see, but even myself, I want to know what I am. Let’s finish our business here; some people are too impatient to die. I will kill you two today.”

nOne had to know that last time, he almost killed them; if not because of the other’s interference, he would have probably killed those two.

nLumis attacked; first, dozens of spears made of light were sent toward the man with the crimson eyes; he disappeared from where he stood, reappearing elsewhere. As if Grim had predicted where he would appear, he slashed at him with his sinister Black scythe. He sidestepped in the opposite direction dodging Grim’s Slash.

nGrim followed by firing dozens of dark beams at him, the man again but Kratos was waiting for him, he immediately slashed at him with his sword covered in gray light, the man hastily summoned a blood-colored Sword covered in black flame to block Kratos slashes.

n*Clangs* *Kaboom*

nWhen the two swords clashed, it produced a big explosion; using the recoil from the explosion, the man escaped from the encirclement of those three. He distanced himself from them.

nHe appeared far from the three, smiling, he muttered.

n”Interesting, now it’s my turn.”

nImmediately after saying that, he vanished.

nThe moment the man disappeared, Lumis was startled; his scalp went numb, and a strong sense of danger-filled his heart.

nHe rushed forward almost instantly, at the same time using the pure white sword in his right hand as a shield to block behind him.

nDang!

nWith an explosive sound, the man’s blood-colored sword slashed at the Lumis pure white sword, and a berserk power erupted like a volcano.

n*Kaboom*

nLumis spat out a mouthful of blood, staggering forward.

nThe man wanted to continue his assault, but he’s forced to switch into a defensive stance blocking Grim’s black scythe. Suddenly a black flame was shot out from the black scythe; sensing the threat coming from this black flame, the man tilted his head and left shoulder in the opposite direction; he barely managed to evade that deadly black flame.

nHe didn’t even catch his breath before Kratos slashed at him from the left; he was forced to bring his already strengthened left hand to block Kratos’s black Sword covered in gray colored flame; those flame looked ghastly.

nThe man’s strengthened left hand and Kratos’s black Sword clashed

nClangs!

nUsing the recoil from his clash with Kratos, the man used his right leg to kick Grim in the chest sending him dozens of meters behind; Grim grunted.

n”Guh!”

nGrim spat a mouthful of blood before hastily stabilizing himself in the air as he looks in the man’s direction.

nOn the other hand, the man’s hastily cut off his left hand covered in that ghastly gray flame; when his left hand was covered in that flame, it started aging transforming into a mummy-like a hand from the wrist, and he was forced to cut off his arm if he didn’t want to suffer the same fate as his already cut off left hand.

nHe chuckled, saying, ”Kratos, you Death flame looked dangerous as usual.”

nTwo seconds his arm regenerated.

nKratos smiled before answering ”Thank you for the praise, but I’m more jealous of you, super Regeneration; it’s a total cheat, don’t you think?”

nThe man didn’t respond; he only smiled.

nGrim and Lumis’ eyes were filled with intense jealousy; they wanted to possess this kind of super regeneration, but alas, it is not possible now; maybe they will, after advancing into the high level. At their current level, advancing became extremely hard even though they were genius.

nThe four looked at each other for a while before the man slashed horizontally with his blood-red sword. This blood-red sword extends to hundred meters long, going in Kratos’s direction. When the sword fell, space trembled and seemed displaced, as if it was cut in two.

nKratos hastily bring his black sword in front of him, blocking Kyle’s sword.

n*Boom* Puh!

nA big explosion occurred with Kratos spitting blood from his mouth as he was blasted far away. The hand holding the black sword was split open with blood flowing out.

n‘Drip’ ‘Drip’ ‘Drip’

nThe entire space was silent as a drop of fresh blood dripped down from Kratos’ arm.

nHaving managed to push far away from the most dangerous of the three, the man vanished again, appearing behind Grim, slashing at him.

nGrim muttered,

n”Body of Darkness”

nHis body is transformed into black smoke,

n”Puff”

nHe disappeared; like that, he managed to avoid the man’s deadly sword.

nFrom afar, Lumis performed a complicated hand seal muttering

nGod Judgement

nImmediately, million Light-shaped medium spears (1,5 m) appeared in the sky; they shot down towards the man’s location.

nThe man’s expression changed; he rapidly used ‘Shrink,’ a small distance teleportation spell, he repeatedly used it to distance himself, but because of the number of those light spears, he couldn’t avoid them. Waving his sword, he started blocking some of the light spears.

nSuddenly, the man’s paled.

n”Crap”

nBecause in the distance, he saw Grim holding a twenty-meter-long black spear made of dark element; the black spear was sent towards him.

nOne had to know that, dark elements and light elements are opposite elements.

n*Kabooms*

nSpace trembled; the man hastily brought his hands in front of him to protect his head. He has blasted away.

nPuff!

nHe spat out a mouthful of blood, and immediately he said

n”You got me, Kratos, but do you think I would let you go like that?”

nNow that one could see that Kratos’s black Sword pierced through his stomach, it seemed that he appeared in front of the man after the latter was blasted away.

nKratos only smiled before his expression changed. He grunted because the man head-butted him; he felt dizzy; following the headbutt, the man gripped his left hand holding the black sword and yanked it.

nCrack!

nThat arm broke off, Kratos grunted again, the man swung his arm down, cutting off that arm, Kratos vomited blood, he quickly distanced himself from the man looking at his missed arm with a disbelief expression.

nThe man extended his arm, and space was compressed; he appeared before Lumis and thrust his arm into his body, crushing his heart.

n”One!”

nThe man declared, his eyes shone crimson, and his hair was turning crimson. He reappeared before the injured Kratos trying to finish him, but he only managed to destroy one of his eyes.

n”Shit!” The man clicked his tongue in annoyance.

nKratos fled with his tail between his legs, leaving Grim alone, the man appeared before him, and the dream was immediately cut off.

n”Hah! Hah! Hah! What was that? How can someone be so powerful? and the man had the same eyes as Kyle? What is going on?” Grim Asmodeus mumbled while clutching his chest. His body was drenched in sweat, he needed answers, and he knew where he would get them, just that he didn’t wish to ask for help from that thing.

nThe only thing that Grim remembered corrected from all those weird dreams was the man named Lumis asking him to avenge him and to wake up. He had no idea what this meant, but he knew he would soon get the answers he sought, as his head would explode if this continued any further.

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