"Face your doubt from behind, and begin the process of understanding. By searching forwards, where to reach will manifest." Placing her hand and raced it across the surface of the Door of Hope, Ocelia spoke the new sentence for Forus.
He stood behind Ocelia as his face frowned, sinking into his thoughts. In the moment of silence, Ocelia also had her assumption and did not want to disturb her husband, thus keeping her mouth closed and enjoying the soft music in the atmosphere.
Before entering the Door of Hope, Ocelia would read the clue out loud for Forus to hear every time, and she would also wait for him to think about it until he either gave up or placed together all the pieces and formed speculation. Only after that would they process to push open the door and stepped towards the unknown.
"Let's go. We need to get out of this place as soon as possible. If any powerhouses arrived and found our secrets, things would only get worse from there." Forus spoke softly as his hand touched the door, exerting his strength to force it open. After the last clue, Forus and Ocelia could deduce that they were the ultimate victors of the competition.
The sight that greeted Ocelia and Forus was not the same as before. In the previous tests, behind the Door of Hope would be the same set of the chamber, having identical structure as well as design and decoration. Even the numbers of the torches and candles on the lanterns would number the same, not more or less.
However, after entering the last Door of Hope, the hallway seemed to stretch itself towards infinity, showing no sight of the end. Although the other side of the chamber at the edge of the horizon had covered itself with a silver mist, both Ocelia and Forus could faintly feel the imposing presence emitting out from the fog, beckoning the arrival of the successors.
Instead of the usual lanterns and torches as the source of light within the tight-shut chamber, this hallway had many transparent orbs of glasses that each held a glowing ball of brightness, having the appearance of a mini star. They hang themselves from the ceiling, sending forth yellowish rays in all direction. With the little stars, they dimly illuminated the dark hall to reveal the majestic lustre of the ancient time.
In contrast to the empty hallways that Forus and Ocelia had encountered since the first test within the Tower of Succession, this hallway had filled itself with various statues of warriors, showing different postures and auras, wielding countless treasures and weapons. They positioned themselves along with the chamber as if they were the guards of this place.
Each of them emitted their unique aura that represented their glory, overflowing with might and wisdom, overshadowing both Ocelia and Forus, dwarfing them into insignificant in comparison. Fortunately, with the careful design of the owner of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, the Tower of Succession had already restricted their auras from carelessly flowing towards Ocelia and Forus and unintentionally annihilating them.
The weakest of the statues reminded them of the Dark Hand that appeared during the nightmarish nighttime that almost killed the two of them. If not for its sadistic tendencies of torturing its victims, Ocelia and Forus might not be able to last until the day time came. However, the couple could not feel the strongest of the statues, as at some point, their aura became so powerful that it was impossible for them to judge. They had surpassed the second-ranked sorcerers and went towards the legendary realm of the third-ranked, becoming the stuff of the legend.
Only the grandness and majestic atmosphere remained within the hallway, encompassing all space within the chamber, overshadowing the faint music in the background. The tiny stars that hang onto the dark ceiling enhanced the aura, turning them more life-like and exalt.
In the eyes of Ocelia, the ceiling extended towards infinity, turning from the tiny and narrow hallway into the dark sky of the night, illuminating the land with its stars. The statues became the imposing landscape. With their appearance as grand as mountains, aura as vast as oceans, they dominated heaven and earth, looking down from above at the insignificant mortals.
Just as Ocelia was admiring the scenery, her gaze ventured far into the distance, landing onto a figure that appeared to block the path towards the end. The person was kneeling onto the ground, coughing and panting as she struggled to stand up. Although her clothing had gotten torn apart, her fierce and determination aura could not hide from Ocelia, showcasing her ruthless disposition and attitude.
The gentle wind of the night sky blew as her long, crimson hair flared a little, swaying with the breezes as they slowly rested onto her shoulders. Her sharp blood-red pupils contracted as she held herself from screaming in pain, gripping her hand until blood seeped out as she did so. As Ocelia continued to observe the figure, she unexpectedly gasped a mouthful of air as she laid her eyes beneath the chest of the maiden.
A fist-sized hole appeared in her vision, exposing the scenery behind the person as blood continued to drip out from it. However, as Ocelia inspected carefully, she saw that the blood did not drop downward, but slowly moved upwards instead, and the fist-sized hole did not expand but contracting. Not only did the injury not worsening, but the lady in front of her could even reverse its damage.
"You all can kill me, Witch of the Scarlet Snow, but you can never extinguish the legacy of us, the Icy Scorpion Sect!" Under her hazy mind and heavy breath, the Witch muttered before she suddenly came into a halt. After she recovered her sense, the Witch started surveying her surrounding before putting her attention towards Ocelia and Forus.
As soon as the attention of the Witch descended onto Ocelia and Forus, they felt a cold shill as their breathing quickened and turned difficult, threatening to stop their heartbeats. As if the world was about to crumble onto them, Ocelia gripped her chest as she circulated her sorcery energy to counter the pressure of the Witch's gaze.
With one flicker of light from the Mask of Sun and Moon, the pressure lessened in an instant, helping Ocelia regained her breathing tempo. Unfortunately, Forus did not have any mystical treasure like the Mask, so he had to rely on himself to endure the pain. However, for Ocelia to not worry about him, Forus acted as if he had some extraordinary treasure and had already diluted the stress on himself.
A strand of information traversed through the void and entered the mind of everyone who presented themselves within the last hallway, conforming into the soul directly without any warning. As soon as everyone learnt the detail within the ray of light, the music faded to silence as the atmosphere became tenser and tenser.
"If I can kill those two kids, I will be able to return alive...?" The Witch mumbled to herself in a soft voice, revealing profound emotions as the memory of her past flooded onto her.
If she could return, she could catch her enemies off-guard and finished them off, restoring the supremacy of her Icy Scorpion Sect! If she could reestablish the glory of her sect, then she would do everything for it, even if it meant killing two innocent sorcerers.
As her killing intent manifested, the pressure on Forus and Ocelia also intensified, signalling them that things were about to go south. Without using anything, the Witch could effortlessly suppress both Ocelia and Forus, showing their vast differences in sorcery mastery.
However, even if she could flick her finger and kill both of them at her peak, she could not do it now. After getting injured by her nemesis, whose power was equal to her, she could not use all of her power as she got severely injured and needed to maintain at least half of her capability to stop the invading Elements in her body as well as healing the internal and external wounds.
"You two, please state your name. I am the Witch of the Scarlet Snow." Before killing those innocent sorcerers, she had already decided to engrave their names into her memory, and later, when she had already solved her problems, she would create two tombs for them.
"My name is Forus, and she is my companion, Ocelia." Before Ocelia could speak, Forus moved past her and stood in front of her. Although his physique was not abnormally large enough to cover the view of Ocelia, she still felt overwhelmed by his back that her mouth kept shut and her hands extended forwards to touch the unsurpassable wall that protected her from all danger.
"I'm sorry, you two. If we meet in another circumstance, I would have congratulated you. However, for the sake of my sect, please forgive me." With a hint of bitterness in her voice, the Witch slowly forced herself to stand up and prepare to attack, channelling her sorcery energy while observing the actions of the couple.
The Witch of the Scarlet Snow did not doubt the liability of the rewards. As someone who had stepped onto the realm of second-ranked sorcerers for hundreds of years, she had the right to know many secrets and background history of the Sorcery World, including the existence of the Thought Domain.
She knew about the might and influence of the Thought Domain, whose authority echoed throughout the Sorcerer World and was the top force that spanned the development of the ancient past. Although she knew that its grand period had long since passed, its everlasting impact still remained. For it to drag her, one of the best second-ranked sorcerers within her region, without leaving any chance for her to resist, the Witch had already aware of its enigmatic ability.
A hand extended towards Forus' and grabbed tightly at it, causing him to look back, facing Ocelia with his eyeless face. Although they said no words and showed no feeling, Forus could still resonate his heart with Ocelia's, feeling her worry and anxiety. Even without anyone saying anything, the two were smart, knowing that the next struggle would be tedious and deadly. They understood that they would have to confront the formidable force that was at the realm of the second-ranked sorcerer.
"Don't worry, no one would die in here, remember? At the very least, I would not die before I see Matia's face." Blowing a soft wind at Ocelia's forehead, Forus used its hand to pat onto her thin layers of hair, feeling its sea-like movement.
"I understand, miss Scarlet Witch. However, we also need to pass the test." After teasing Ocelia, Forus turned his head towards the Witch nodded, expressing his intention of fighting. Without any hesitation, Forus dashed Forus as Ocelia retreated to support from behind.
"They are just like us, don't you think so too, Victris?" Her crimson eyes turned watery, as she suppressed her emotions and sighed, mixing the profound truth and memory within her breath.
The Scarlet Witch moved her hand lightly, waving it towards the approaching Forus and channelled her sorcery energy. Without any warning, the air around her dropped and manifested into rains of icy spikes, darting towards Forus in all directions.
A group of potions swang outwards as Forus willed for them to break, gushing out various liquids that turned into many sorcery spells to counter the spikes. Although some of the pins managed to slip through and stab onto Forus, his unusually sturdy skin did not get too much damage, at most a few scratches.
"As expected, not only did my power regressed, but it also faced the suppression of the different region too." Seeing the exceptional art of alchemy, the Scarlet Witch got surprised for a second before deducing the possible reasons.
As she had already tested her remaining power, the Witch did not try to hold back this time and process to raise her capability to its limit, aiming to finish the battle in one clean strike, saving both time and energy.
