After catching up to Martha, Sigil did not press for an answer and simply searched for a wood path familiar inside the forest. Since they were finding a familiar in a Forest Ecosystem, they were actually able to find some Wood Path Familiars, but they all had extremely weak potential and to get them to Adolescent Level or Mature Level is an extremely expensive project.

They all had a day to search for the Familiar in the Family Garden and the duo decided to take a break after an hour of searching.

Since Sigil was wearing some baggy clothes that were comfortable and yet combat ready, he was able to pack some essentials with himself. He took out a small bottle of water from the pocket near his knee and passed it on to Martha.

"Here you go!"

He took out another bottle of water from his other pocket and drank it whole in one go. He didn't throw the bottle away as it could be refilled when they encounter a water source.

"Hmm?"

He looked at Martha, who was sitting on a rock with a slightly dazed expression. She hadn't even drunk water yet. Seeing her like this, even Sigil felt somewhat strange.

He walked near her and sat beside her and placed his palm on her shoulder.

"You alright?"

He shook her slightly.

"Hmm? Oh, it's nothing!"

She shook her head and uncapped the bottle to drink the content.

Hearing her nonchalant reply, Sigil only rolled his eyes.

"Do you think I am a three-year-old kid?"

He scoffed and didn't ask her again. Since she wasn't willing to disclose her problems, he couldn't do anything about it and just giver her some space.

Martha also sighed in a depressed manner. She didn't like keeping things away from Sigil. But her physical condition may actually become a burden to her friends and she didn't want that to happen.

She looked at Sigil who had started to ignore her because of her own attitude and pondered for a moment.

"Do you think it's stupid that I want to change to Wood Path so suddenly?"

Her soft voice moved over to Sigil, making him feel slightly surprised. He really didn't think that she would speak up.

He thought about her question and then shook his head.

"I still remember your reason to walk through the Illusion Path."

He stopped for a moment and then looked towards Martha, who had a slight blush on her face.

"Hey! Don't speak of that night again and again."

She snorted.

Seeing her usual response, Sigil smiled silently and continued.

"You have researched on the path for a whole year and now you want to change it. There must be a reason behind all this... but you should always remember that I will fully support you."

He spoke solemnly.

Martha was slightly stunned by his response and then only smiled sweetly.

To Sigil, this response was more than enough.

After they had rested for some time, Sigil stood up again.

"Let's go! We can't rest our somebody else might take away the familiar belonging to you."

Martha looked him in the eyes and smiled.

"Yeah!~"

They both continued their search.

***

"Since most of them will only emerge tomorrow, we will hold another ceremony. The Elders of the family will be allowed to enter the garden tomorrow. You all are free to do whatever you want."

Saying that, John retreated as the whole group started chatting before dispersing.

Some of them were happy, for instance, other elite younger generation of the family, since they gained a top-notch familiar.

While some people had sour expressions like Linda.

'Hah? I decided to help him and that idiot couldn't even come and thank me? Whatever, I will punish him later!'

She snorted in her mind and went on her own merry way.

On the other hand, some people were downright murderous.

Ricardo was moving towards his apartment with a dark gaze as bloodlust flickered in his eyes many times. 

'I need to have that cub no matter what!'

He then thought back at how Ricardo 'easily' accepted the cub and frowned even more.

"All of this is a ripple effect? Nothing has been going right since my rebirth. What if something wrong with Sigil himself?"

He couldn't help but speculate. When he went over his past experiences, he did find that everything turned awry after Sigil interjection.

"Two days left before the invasion.... that won't do. I need to get the blood cub no matter what!"

He started making his plans. After all, he needed to have full preparations if he wanted to infiltrate the Family Head's mansion.

The family kept on functioning as usual and soon, darkness descended.

Near the outer boundary of the City, a small grey portal could be seen forming on the surface of the ground. 

Around the portal laid a number of corpses as their blood entered the portal and powered it even further. The blood flowed in like a swirling typhoon and the size of the portal kept on getting bigger and bigger.

Beside the portal stood a lovely lady in a black dress. Her blue hair fell on her shoulder and her eyes were red. Her smooth white skin created a graceful contrast with ger pitch black dress. Her beauty seemed to be even more enchanting when surrounded by numerous dead bodies as their necks kept on pouring crimson blood on the ground.

She was Bethany! At least, her body was Bethany's.

She suddenly spoke an unintelligible syllable and the portal stopped growing and the whirlpool of blood finally turned into a pool of blood.

From the other side of the portal, Bethany could hear some whispers as she frowned. She then replied in a similar fashion and a sliver of black smog emerged from her mouth and entered the portal.

"You guys will protect me. If someone sees us, kill that human or animal."

Bethany spoke coldly and sat back while numerous shadows emerged from inside her body.

Since this was her private operation, she did not mobilise her team and used her own slaves as protective measures.

The moment the shadows emerged, the surroundings turned even darker and whispers of women wailing could be heard near Bethany. Her pure white skin started to corrode and turned black while her blue hair turned purple.

Her eyes were shut tight and she kept her focus on the portal.

"Almost all the items are worthless while only some of them are precious. Did that person wanted to hide his true intentions and mixed in some useless items?"

She thought internally as she started collecting the items stated by the person.

Inside the mansion, John's body glowed silver and a small silver-furred wolf emerged from his body.

Wuuuu~

"Hmm? A portal to devil realm?"

John frowned at the sudden information.

He thought for a while before his fingers glowed dark blue and he started to draw an inscription in the air.

It looked like a big circle with an eye contained inside of it.

John whispered some words and then the whole inscription incinerated.

"You will follow the group. If they can't defeat the enemy, you will save as many family members you can and retreat as quickly as possible. Remember, you have to save them irrespective of their attitude towards me and the family. We can't be having internal conflicts at this moment."

John spoke and a cold whisper responded to his words.

"Understood... master."

Whoosh!

Sound of an object passing through the thin air could be heard and the figure left with a gust of wind.

After the figure left, the Wolf looked at John and snorted softly.

"Yeah, yeah. I am not that petty, you know. Either way, she will be returning soon. I have to keep this place safe until then."

John's eyes glowed slightly as he looked at the picture of a mature woman framed on his walls.

As if the picture heard his words, the smile on the woman's face turned even brighter.