At last, it was my turn to enter the portal. I was used to the feeling by now. A purple light enveloped me gently, and when I opened my eyes again, I found myself in a somewhat...unusual environment. The sky was purple, and it was raining. Lightning struck down from above, with loud thunders to accompany them.

But perhaps most bizarre of all was the structure in front of me - a massive, medieval-style castle, which I could only make out the silhouette of within this howling thunderstorm. Occasionally, I would get a clear look at the castle's true form - whenever the lightning bolts struck down, that is. Nevertheless, seeing as how there was nothing but water behind me with no visible land in sight for a good kilometers at the very least, I had no choice but to head inside this grand yet horrifying architecture.

My footsteps were drowned out by the splashing of raindrops hitting hard gravel all around me as I walked on the narrow pathway towards the only entrance of the castle - the front. I could deal with the rain and lightning, but these loud ass thunders were starting to irritate me.

When I reached the front door, it swung open of its own accord, as if welcoming me inside. I smirked. This was clearly no ordinary Gatekeeper, just as I had expected. If I had to guess, I would say this would be another one of the sixteen founders who wanted to meet me. Though...this is quite the welcome, if I do say so myself.

The others who had gone inside before me and came back all claimed the Gatekeeper was a werewolf. They never mentioned a dark castle or anything like that. That's how I was so sure this wasn't just a normal Gatekeeper. But...wasn't all this a bit excessive? I mean, if they just wanted to talk to me, why bother setting up such a huge castle, with such gloomy weather to accompany it?

Well...to each their own, I suppose.

I entered through the now-open entrance, and the moment I did, the doors slammed shut behind me. I sighed, having expected this.

Y'know...I liked Aluna and Sigil a lot more. Still, perhaps I can get some information off this guy, whoever he or she is. I hope so, anyway.

Inside the castle, it was dark. So dark, in fact, that I couldn't even see my own two hands if I held them out in front of me.

Hm...perhaps, he wanted to test me first before talking, to gauge whether or not I was worthy, or if I really did indeed possess special power?

Well, no point hiding anything then, I suppose. Aluna and Sigil already know, anyway, despite me denying everything. I was certain of that.

And...maybe it's not a bad thing to show these founders just what I could do. That will make them believe and value me more, which I can then in turn take advantage of.

Level One Light Magic - Illumination.

With that, I created an orb of shining white light. It was dazzling. I could see a lot better now, thanks to that. Controlling it so that it hovered above my head, I saw a hallway that led deeper inside the castle. There was no other way to go, so I headed inside without a second thought. It's not like I was escaping this place, anyway.

That being said, I wasn't too scared. I doubted Sigil and Aluna would be very happy if this founder killed me here. I definitely wouldn't die, but perhaps I may suffer some injuries, depending on the difficulty of this 'test' he had set down for me.

I ventured deeper and deeper.

*****

- A Short While Later -

After a little bit of wandering that seemed to bear no fruit whatsoever, I gradually began to get tired.

"Damn it, this place is like a maze...

" I muttered.

So far, I have been met with 58 dead ends, 62 death traps, and over a hundred twists and turns in total. Yes, I've been keeping track. If I didn't keep my mind focused on doing something simple, I would've lost it by now. The hallways were tight and suffocating, leaving no space to dodge if something came flying at you like a poisoned arrow or something.

Yes, I was talking from experience. I can't count the number of times I nearly got hit. I would've died a long time ago if it wasn't for my reaction speeds. Remember what I said earlier about this damned founder not killing me? I take that back. He was definitely out to kill me, even if not intentionally.

Hm? I hear something...

Suddenly stopping my movements, I discretely activated my Third Eye. Directly ahead of me, there seemed to be a horde of living beings - more specifically, hostile living beings. They didn't seem human, either. I counted.

1...2...10 of them in total. Not too bad. From the size of these dots, I would say they aren't too powerful enemies either.

If this founder thought mobs of this level were going to kill me, then he had severely underestimated my power.

Holding my hand out in front of me, facing outwards, I cast a spell in my mind.

Level Two Fire Magic - Abomination Flare.

A massive sphere of condensed energy shot out of my palm, blazing with black and red fire. A loud explosion ensued, followed by various high-pitched screams that didn't sound human whatsoever.

I smiled thinly as I watched the red dots via my Third Eye disappear, one by one. Unfortunately, I didn't have a suitable Level Three spell to use in this situation, so I had to use a Level Two one. Rune-type spells had virtually no range and could not be shot from a distance. Prison of Lightning was used to single out one individual tough target, and Electric Lash was out of the question. I couldn't use that thing properly without entering the actual room, after all.

Torrential Downpour could've worked, but I wanted something that could just destroy all of them in a single go instead of doing it overtime. Flood would end up hitting myself as well given this tight space with even ground, and Gravity Element spells just weren't suitable for this situation.

Moonlight Beam and Holy Ray had a relatively narrow firing angle, so it wouldn't have been able to wipe out all of them. Similarly, Metal Surge couldn't have hit them all, and Reprisal of Sound was similar to the two Light Element spells in the sense that they all had a narrow firing angle.

Once every one of them had been killed, and the fires extinguished on their own, I walked into the room...and was met with a barrage of poisoned arrows.

Snapping my fingers, I instantly cast a spell.

Level One Time Magic - Tempus Decel.

The arrows flying toward me seemed to slow, and I immediately ducked down to narrowly avoid them. If I didn't have my insta-casting ability there, I would've died.

"Tch...even after the monsters, there's more traps in the same damned room? What a guy,

" I muttered in irritation, then walked over to inspect one of the dead monsters' corpses.

That body shape...an ogre of some sort?

But before I could confirm, the bodies dematerialized, turning into shards of light and disappearing. It was like a video game, almost.

Sighing, I continued onwards. Luckily, there was only one way to go this time, so no more trial and error.

After that, I had to fight several more groups of mobs, before finally arriving at a large, open chamber.

"Bravo,

" a man's deep voice said, clapping slowly several times.

"You actually managed to make it here. I suppose that deserves due praise.

"

"You're...one of the sixteen Founders, I assume?

"

"Indeed I am,

" he replied.

"Count Draculus, at your service.

"

"Count...? A high-ranking Vampire noble?

" I murmured.

"Hmph. You are more knowledgeable about the outside world than I expected, human boy.

"

"Uh...do you hate humans or something? What's with the tone?

"

"That...is not important. Now, tell me about this...power of yours,

" he said, brushing past my question with ease.

"What power?

" I asked, still feigning ignorance.

"Don't play dumb with me, kid. I've been living for millennia. I'm not stupid.

"

He stared straight into my eyes. His irises were a bloody red, much like my own. He also had black hair, just like me. The only differences between us were the two fangs jutting out of his mouth.

"Tell me - or you won't be leaving here today.

"

I scoffed.

"Empty threats, empty threats. What are you going to do?

"

"Kill you.

"

The man responded with zero hesitation. It was clear he had murdered plenty of people before. That number was somewhere within the thousands, if not millions.

"Sure...you can try,

" I responded wryly.

"But...don't you think the other Founders would be a bit upset if you did?

"

The man suddenly became a swarm of bats before rapidly converging again right in front of me. The man glared at me dangerously, but I wasn't intimidated in the least. The emotion known as fear had been driven out of my body a long time ago.

"I'd advise against threatening me, boy. If I wanted to kill you now, even if God himself descended upon the mortal realm, he would still not be able to save you.

"

Despite his tone and gaze filled with killing intent, I smiled. It felt like I was staring at Death itself straight in the face, but perhaps there was just one thing this man misunderstood:

I wasn't afraid of death. Death was afraid of me.