The interior of the castle was full of spark as every bit of light would get reflected on the mirror-like surface of the building, creating the flashy dot that would, in turn, continue the cycle. As the entire realm was full of reflective material, the source of light was only some dimly-lit candles that hang above the glass lantern.
On the floor, a man suddenly jointed awake and screamed in pain. However, before he could do anything dangerous, two more figures quickly moved in and restained his body. Only after a minute of consultation and reassurance could the man finally calmed down and stopped his action.
"So, we didn't die, did we? Damn, this test is outrageous! How can we even defeat those puppets?" Thinking about how the dark figure broke his prized treasure with only one punch, he wiped the sweat off his forehead and sighed in frustration.
Although he knew that his treasure wouldn't last long against a first-ranked sorcerer, it could still stall them for three moves or so. However, that black flame betrayed his expectation and broke his gauntlet in only one hit. To think that his style of facing attack with another attack would backfire so hard.
"I don't know about you, but that female puppet is the worst, defeats us so fast we didn't even have time to take out our treasures." The water-based sorcerer complained. He fell for the Fire Spirits disguising as fireballs and got overwhelmed immediately, dying without any chance to show his true capability.
"Hey, cheer up. Even if we lose, we still have some hope left. After all, she is still in there. I even sacrifice myself to gain her some time to finish her array. With her summoning formation completed and a little luck, I think she could score us a kill." Boasting about his heroic death, he waited for his friends to praise him. However, they remained silent and only scoffed at him.
The man and the array master were in love, and the two knew about it long ago. After all, all of them were childhood friends and played with each other for so long. If not, then they wouldn't form a group that centre around the array master, as she might abandon them when danger arose.
Thinking about the power of the summoning array, which could overwhelm even a weakened first-ranked sorcerer if left unchecked, the two regained some hope and sat together with the man. They would wait for the array master before doing anything else.
Not long after, the girl snapped open her eyes and sprang up from her sleep. As soon as her eyes caught the man's silhouette, tears began to rain down upon her face. Before he could react, she threw herself onto him and cried a great deal, not caring about the other two who had to cough fakely to remind them.
...
"Those puppets, I think there is something strange about them." After a long while, Ocelia spoke while watching Forus studying the black substance.
After accidentally touching them, the liquid got absorb into Forus' body, healing his wounds and replenishing his sorcery energy. Not only that, but they also seemed to raise his sorcery mastery a little bit. Although it was so negligible that it might as well be nothing, a small thing would become bigger when one added them together.
"That should be the case, and judging from their reaction, it's either that the puppets have something controlling them or they are a type of living creatures." Although Forus said that it could be one of the two, both Ocelia and he believed that it would be the latter.
However, witnessing the scene where gauntlet-user puppet jumped in to block the attack for the array-master, as well as the agitated reaction when the array-master saw the destruction of the gauntlet-user, Forus deduced that they might be a group of living beings.
The thoughts of killing others didn't stir his mind. It would be his and Ocelia's death or their death, and Forus would never place the lives of strangers above those whom he cared. He would even slaughter an entire city merely to kill those who tried to harm his family.
After absorbing most of the black substance and collected the rest as a sample, Forus and Ocelia continued to walk through the chamber. The structure of the hall was the same as the previous one, having the same decoration and design. Not only that, at the end of the hallway, the same Door of Hope also appeared before the two.
"The first play ended, and so shall the second. Moving downwards, endlessly, mindlessly." The runes on the surface of the Door of Hope changed, and so, Ocelia translated it for Forus.
Without any hesitation, Forus exerted his strength to push open the second gate, revealing the next chamber.
...
Stepping through the Door of Hope, Mabilis began to observe the surrounding while Iracia stood guard in front of him. In term of power, after gaining some rewards from the realm of forests, Iracia became stronger and more aggressive while Mabilis turned more scheming and devious.
The chamber behind the Door of hope had the majestic design, showcasing how much power and resource the powerhouse that stood behind the construction of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin. With the help of torches along the walls, the closed chamber did not give off the suffocating sensation. Instead, due to its deliberate decoration, the place looked wide and spacious.
"Mister Mabilis, from your previous display of knowledge, did you perhaps know something about this place?" Iracia questioned without hiding her intention. If Mabilis had some ideas about this place, this would be the best time to share with his partner and joined together to overcome the obstacles.
However, despite her expectation, Mabilis merely shook his head and continued to meditate, using his power to deduce something else he had in mind. With the new ability that he had received, Mabilis could surmise many things from the clues he had. The more he knew, the more he learnt, and the more he understood, the easier the test became.
As Mabilis was making use of his skill, Iracia moved around to observe the walls of the chamber. She found that although there was no trace of any cleaning spells or any living creatures within this room, there was no dirt or dust that would accumulate within the abandoned place.
The discovery raised her guard, and Iracia didn't explore further. Instead, she retreated towards Mabilis and stood before him. The distance would allow her to move in to intercept any ambush as well as dodge the unnecessary strikes.
As soon as Iracia were in front of Mabilis, he quickly opened his eyes and stood up. Before Iracia could ask about the result of the deduction, he gestured at her and signalled to let her know. Seeing the usual signal, Iracia stopped questioning him and took out a blade and a shield.
"I found that if we want to advance further, we need to pass the test first, and from the structure of the hallway, this would be a battlefield. We need to show our strength. Get ready. I can sense a fluctuation of sorcery energy." Mabilis spoke while taking out many talismans. He threw them into the air and watched as they disintegrated into nothing, releasing a ray of magical light.
The light started arranging itself into the shape of a star, turning into runes that would activate with a single thought from Mabilis. With the preparation completed, Mabilis took out his usual staff and stood behind Iracia, letting her took the role of the initiator while he supported her from behind.
Iracia proudly stood upright as the demonic dark-green wings behind her flapped according to her will, generating a weak breeze that swayed her artistic hair, dancing with the voice of nature. Her dark fleshly tail waved its pointy tip, sometimes messing her clothing and exposing her body curve as it moved. Although her previous temperament was elegant and mild, after acquiring the demonic wings and tail, changing her fate as an ordinary mortal to a half-demon, her body became slimmer and curve, igniting both male and female's heart with desire.
The black blade had a pulsating heart in the middle of its handle, extending its veins to connect to Iracia's hand and exchanging both sorcery energy and blood through them. The dark shield's many eyes continuously shifted their focus and alerted her of the change within her surrounding. With two cursed weapons in her hand, she would be able to control the tempo of the battle.
A faint tremble echoed the hall as a portal tore through space and opened the pathway towards the void, connecting two far away land together. Within the darkness of the void, three puppets stepped forth and entered the room, exerting their aura that tensed the peaceful surrounding of the chamber.
One had a female body, and others had the structure of a male. Although their surface was pitch-black, it could not hide the alluring figure of the female puppet or the suppressing aura of the man. However, the last one was the weakest of them all, and it did not have any unique quality that could make Mabilis wary of it.
Without any noisy taunts and complaints, Iracia moved and swang her blade at the strongest of them all, the male puppet. With a flap of her wings, she shot towards him at the speed of sound, reaching him in an instant before she struck downwards.
As her strike approached, the master puppet knocked its golden cane, creating a transparent barrier of ice, blocking the blade and redirecting its course. Although it could not stop the blow and broke after making contact, it gained him an instant to reap away while casting spell mid-air, avoiding the danger while counter-attacking at the same time.
The pieces of ice flew into the air after the impact. Some continued to float while others fell onto the ground, creating a path of ice and cooling the temperature of the surrounding. As soon as the master puppet finished casting the spell, the floating ice melted into the freezing fog and merged into a cloud of snow, raining ice shades and causing a small-scale blizzard.
While Iracia was retreating and using her Eyes Shield to block the ice shades, Mabilis willed and sent one of his rune towards the storm. It was magical in nature and thus incorporeal, phasing through the danger before arriving at the cloud. Although the master puppet tried to obstruct its path, he got blocked by Iracia using her earth magic.
However, because the storm was furious in nature and large in scale, Mabilis needed to expend most of his mental focus, unknowingly creating a hole in his defence. The female puppet saw the opportunity and seized it masterfully. She pulled the string on her bow and transferred a part of her sorcery energy into the bow and released it.
The sorcery energy moved into the bow and conjured a blurry arrow, flashing in red light and emitting burning heat. The arrow travelled outwards, unrestricted by the snowy storm as it transformed its shape into a snake, hissing aloud as it drove head-first towards Mabilis.
Iracia shifted a part of her attention towards the snake as she channelled her sorcery and flapped her wings, generating a strong wind to disrupt the trajectory of the snake and lowering its destructive power. However, as if it was a living being, capable of thinking complex thoughts, the snake sensed the oncoming wind and hissed again, shotting towards the side as it changed its course and narrowly avoided the wind.
The one who defended would fall into the passive state while the one who attacked would gain the upper hand, let alone the one who divided their attention towards others. The master puppet boosted his power with the excessive usage of sorcery energy and shot a giant icy spear, burning in the blue flame that absorbed heat and released cold.
The snake and the spear shot towards Iracia as she fell into a predicament. If she avoided both of them, the spear would run into Mabilis and interrupted him, causing their effort at dissipating the storm to go in vain. However, she could not block both of them without any injury either.
Gritting her teeth, she warped her wings around her body as she generated a wall of dirt to cover her body. With the Eyes Shield up front, she bit her tongue and spat out blood, letting it absorb her vitality and strengthened its defence at the cost of her lifeforce.
