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Walking through the never-ending desert, a man wandered around it aimlessly.

He didn’t know what was going on and how he ended up where.

He wanted to stop for a moment and think about what was going on but he didn’t have the leisure to do this because his body wasn’t listening to his will.

After strolling through the place like a wandering soul, his eyes glimmered a bit as he saw two black dots before him.

‘There are people here.’He muttered to himself and increased his pace.

The black dots enlarged and two figures appeared before him.

As he came closer, his eyes widened and almost popped out from his socket seeing the scene.

Before him stood a beautiful otherworldly lady wearing a shining Knight’s armour and under his foot was a boy who was pulsating like a worm spitting blood.

“I don’t want to do this anymore. It’s really painful.”

“It hurts too much.”

“Please stop this. I want to get out.”

“Don’t kill me.”

“I beg you, please don’t kill me.”

“Please don’t kill me.”

The boy cried and sobbed pitifully but the woman’s face remained apathetic and cold.

“Is…Is it me?” Alex muttered with eyes of disbelief.

The sight was quite nauseating to the point he felt the urge to puke.

Before his sight was the other Alex who’s arms had been twisted, limbs had been snapped to the point that knee cap along with some bones had been scattered around the place.

His skin had been torn and a large gash appeared at the chest through which one could even see the organs.

The chest had been deformed and crushed and the face had swelled beyond recognition.

The only identifying feature was the golden blonde long hair of his.

“If that’s me then the lady must surely be the Goddess of War

“Stop whining like this.”The Goddess Of War spoke and stomped on Alex’s face without any shred of mercy.

BANG!

The face of another Alex lying out there burst into pieces like a bubble and soon his body disappeared.

Alex swallowed his saliva wondering what was going on. He knew it was pathetic but it wasn’t to the point where he sobbed like this or maybe did this initially but what troubled him was that he wasn’t able to remember it.

As his other shelf disappeared, Alex noticed a scene which made his body numb.

The Goddess Of War whose expression, he always remembered to be chilling cold suddenly slumped down on the ground with a deep sigh.

Her eyes faltered a bit and her face looked remorseful and quite guilt-stricken.

“I don’t want to do this. My heart wrenches every time I see him wailing pitifully. Isn’t it too much for him to bear?”

“Just for how long do I have to pretend to be cruel? It would be okay if he is an enemy but he is just a child who is doing his best to gain our recognition.” Goddess Of War spoke with a saddened expression.

“I wish I could also forget about this event like you but I guess I can’t. These painful memories would become my punishment for torturing you like this and I have to bear for the aeons to come if I survive.” Goddess Of War spoke with a self-deprecating smile.

Strength left Alex’s body and he fell to the ground. His body trembled after witnessing a scene which he could have never imagined in his life.

Alex whole shivered and a bright light flashed.

Alex may always talk about the hell that he went through casually but deep inside he hates it, he despises it and more than that he despises the Goddess for putting him through all this but the unseen sight his anger flared up.

He was the one who had gone through all this so why the hell is she acting pitiful.

Why the hell is she saying something behind back when she could have said this before him instead of maintaining the same chilling gaze devoid of pity and looking down on me as some insect.

“Are you seriously saying that you pity me after putting me through all this hell?”

“You hypocrisy knows no bounds. If you felt like this, why didn’t I say that to my face?” Alex’s body sprang up from his bed and he screamed like a maniac.

Mana surged from his body causing the walls to crack.

“Alex! Alex!!!”

Alex heard a scream and found two pairs of arms wrapping around him.

Alex’s body was drenched in sweat and he stopped his blabbering and looked out to find himself in bed with Riya beside her.

“Alex, it’s okay I am here. It’s just a nightmare.”

Alex took a deep breath and was about to mutter something but he stopped.

“You still can’t remember the nightmare,” Riya asked with a soft tone.

Alex didn’t speak and wondered why this happened after such a long time.

After he returned from Goddess Sanctum he used to have nightmares every night and surprisingly when he woke up, he wasn’t able to remember everything thing he saw in his nightmare.

He discarded it initially as it stopped after spending some time with Riya in Nevan but occurrence of something like that again fouled his mood.

“I should wake up and prepare for the meeting.”Alex mutters while caressing Riya’s hair to calm her down while many thoughts are running inside his head.

….

A tense atmosphere circled the room which was prepared for the meeting.

The meeting was going to take place secretly but for the event to take place secretly, many things needed to be taken care of.

The entire Lockhart Merchant was closed today for some reason and the security around it tightened.

The guards didn’t patrol in their uniforms, rather they wore casual clothes mixing with the common people’s group while loitering around the place.

Inside the room, Wilford sat with a heavy silence all around him.

The atmosphere was too calm and relaxing to the point that it made him sick.

The situation is a do-or-die for him. If he made any mistake here, his whole nation may have to bear repercussions.

CREAK!

After a long-awaited silence, the door opened and he saw a man with short black hair and with speck wearing noble attire walking towards him.

His strength was quite low and he seemed to be a researcher or an alchemist in some sort.

Wilford stood up to greet him trying to put on as sincere a smile as possible but his brows furrowed as he saw the man stiffened expression.

Alex after making his way,he assessed Wilford from head to toe with a calm look but as he tilted his head, his indifferent expression broke to the point that even his acting skills weren’t able to make up for it.

Noticing Wilford’s gaze, Alex coughed to unease the moment and spoke”Pardon My rudeness, Sir Wilford.”

“I was just startled a bit by your charisma.”

“You see I am just a Disciple rank while you are a great Honorary Knight whose rank cannot be fathomed by the lesser me.”

“Hahaha!”

“It’s okay.” Wilford chuckled and raised his hand for a shake.

Alex held both his hands and shook warmly.

‘He is stronger than the two Mythic rank Knights who accompanied Noah.’

The guy before him may look like he was in his 40’s but his real age had crossed a hundred.

With just a shake Alex was able to properly grasp this man’s ability. He has been wandering at the Peak of Mythic rank for years.

He was lacking in something due to which he wasn’t able to break the walls and enter Saint rank but unfortunately Alex wasn’t able to find that thing.

He could see something was off from his behavior but Alex wasn’t able to point it out.

Both internally and physically, he is ready to break through to the Saint realm but something is keeping him at bay.

Alex expected this guy to be just Mythic rank but he is more than that which forced him to tread his path carefully for now besides that there was another nuisance beside him that forced him to be on his guard.

And this nuisance surprised more than Wilford.A nuisance which Alex had never expected to see here in this place but it in a way it could be said as a pleasant surprise.